Friday
uncle Bill happy with his choice...
As my siblings were back in Kl for such a short time, we cannot really fit in any overseas trip. So we decided to make a road trip up north. We have also decided not to drive ourselves and truly gave each of us a chance to relax and enjoy the trip. The van was very punctual and we departed for Taiping right away to avoid getting into the Friday traffic jam.
Breakfast @ Bidor Braised Duck Herbal Soup Wanton Noodles
Our first stopver was at Bidor as my brother-in-law wanted to have the Braised Herbal Duck for breakfast. Our verdict: Nothing like they used to be, the herbal soup was rather cold with a oily smell, the duck meat chewy and the wanton noodles was so-so, quite a disappoinment for all of us infact. We understand that a lot of tourists patronise this coffeeshop, still there is no excuse for the bad service. Before we can properly place our orders, they were ready to have these "standard oders" on our table.
As the driver carried on with our journey, we sat back and relaxed with a mid morning nap, that's the beauty of not driving ourselves! We reached Taiping around lunchtime. My brother then introduced us to the Lighthouse Seafood Porridge, made famous by the "prosperous" chef from Hongkong. Some of us were still from the breakfast, so we ordered a portion to be shared. The big pot of Teochew-style porridge (rice that were boiled till the grains just burst open) came with lots of fresh fish, squids, prawns and fishballs.
After lunch, it's traight on to Kuala Sepetang to check out the Charcoal kilns...
The owner himself explaining the making of charcoal
After the charcoal factory, we detoured back to Taiping and its tea-time, so we dropped by the Antong coffee mill
After having our coffee fix here and more happy shopping, our next destination was to the Taiping Lake gardens.
How come only three sisters, where are the other two?
dark clouds...
suddenly our attention was caught by this....
a beautiful hornbill up in the tree.
The rainy weather made us drowsy and we napped in the van as it made its way down to Ipoh.
resting our legs and we were told that they have already sold out
Shopping time @ Ipoh...
After shopping around the square, we then made our way to Onn Kee Chicken rice for an early dinner to avoid the tourists crowds and also we wanted to have our supper at "Tong Sui" lane later the night. After dinner, we checked in to the Mu Hotel. We have to walk off some of the calories and we made our way to Railway Station area. Some of us did tai-chi, yoga and just walking around the park. Surprisingly the park was not packed, infact the town seemed very quiet and we realised it was a public holiday in Perak... the Sultan of Perak's birthday!
Never felt so joyful and happy as we "played" around the garden.
The Ipoh Railway station in the background.
A nightcap before we sleep at the Rooftop Bar...
time to sleep.... goodnight
