of chicken rice and burst tyre

warning. super long post ahead!

went to kuala kangsar immediately after work on friday to settle some payment and errands last week.

since we are going to pass by Ipoh anyway, why not make a stopover at the famous Lou Wong ban sprout chicken rice? it’s been a while since we went there anyway.

hmm.. did they change their signboard?

friday night crowd is not as as crowded as compared to weekends. but still the crowd i still there. and the crowd is not just chinese.

    and the food has arrived! chicken serving for two, a plate of bean sprout, 5 pork balls and two plates of rice. including 2 herbal tea, it cost us less than RM24.00.

it’s dirt cheap considering it is quite a big portion! the chicken rice stall in KL cost more. and the portion is way smaller.

after more than a year since we ate there, has anything changed?

yes. but not in a positive way…

somehow i think they have deteriorate a little. the chicken is not as smooth as what i had previously. lucky the the yummy taste is still there.

but my real disappointment come from the pork balls. to be frank, i’ve tasted better pork balls. but the soup is beyond terrible. it is sweet. but not due to the natural sweetness from the soup base or meat. instead it is more like due to added sugar. aiks!

i hope that they will not use this same soup base if people ordered ‘hor fun’ instead of rice.

i may be wrong. correct me if i’m wrong. anyway, it depend of people’s own preference i guess

if you asked me whether i will got to Lou Wong again, i will say yes! but not for the pork balls. at least until they change the soup base.

anyway, we continued our journey to Kuala Kangsar. little do we know that the worst are yet to come.

as we pass through Menora Tunnel (located between Jelapang and Kuala Kangsar), there will be a series of speed breaker (more like suspension breaker!).

and suddenly BAM!!!!!

the car in front of us hit something. less than 2 seconds later, it is our turn. there’s no way we can avoid that due to the speed we are travelling in.

what did we hit? we have no idea till now. all we know that it is yellow in colour, looks like an overturned wok and it is very solid, almost like a rock. must have dropped from a lorry due to the long speed breaker…

not long after, we saw more than 10 cars parking aside the emergency lane checking their cars. we continued our journey but something was amiss when the car was a bit noisy and shaky.

we stopped by the emergency lane not long after. and boy, that was scary as the emergency lane was very narrow. imagine buses and lorries wheezing past you inches away and they too flashing lights and horn at you as they are afraid of hitting us as well.

and we are only 12km from reaching our destination…

with no experience in changing tyres (we are unable to change anyway as the lane is too narrow to change alone), we decided to call the emergency guys from PLUS using the emergency phones located along the highway.

but then again, i never used those phones before. when i pressed the only button on the phone, there’s only one sound – static buzzing. oh great, the phone is not working, or so i think?

with the dark forest beside me, it reminds me of horror stories i heard in the internet. my wife is only afraid of getting hit by other vehicles. she got a point though.

anyway, after 30 minutes, we managed to get hold of the PLUS guys through our handphone. apparently they received a lot of calls in that area too.

changing tyres are not an easy feat even to those guys, imagine changing the tyres while facing the traffic. and i even have to direct other vehicles via flashlights to avoid being hit.

the next morning, when we went to the tyre shop to check the damage, there were three noticeable cracks

and the total damage for the tyre? RM140. damn!

and we think that the pork balls are lousy…

at last we are safe though.

Ipoh – Penang – Ipoh trip (10.10.09 – 12.10.09) Part 3

this will be the final part of my trip to Penang. couldn’t believed that it took me almost a month to post this crap…

as usual, the final part would be the most boring part as there will be less pictures coz at the end of the trip, we were already exhausted. not to mentioned there were quite a number of disappointments too. read on…

by the time you read part 3, you would have noticed we had missed out two important food that i should’ve tried.

yes, i had missed out Hokkien mee (or prawn mee) and Loh Bak.

not that i missed it intentionally, but due to lots of reasons (ie, not knowing which is the best place, closed shop, too full, etc etc), we did not have the chance to had the best Hokkien ,mee/Loh Bak.

but we did tried the lousiest Hokien mee in Gurney though… haha!

something that is not related to the food here…

do you know what’s this?

for the uninitiated, there used to be electric tram services in the island. but i guess it has been discontinued long ago.

left for Ipoh after having our breakfast after that. and so, it’s time to say good bye…

to Komtar. although i don’t really missed it

to the iconic Penang Bridge…

i loved this photo the most. cropped some of the ugly sides and made in Black & White.

there are to missions to be done once we are in Ipoh.

the 1st one – to have dinner at our favourite Chicken Rice shop, Lou Wong.

we failed miserably…

we never failed at going the shop whenever we were at Ipoh. but that day, we were lost!!! i couldn’t believed that we had been going round and round for almost and hour.

only to find the shop was closed on that day…

ended eating at the shop beside it. tasted ok, but not as smooth and portion a bit small. really felt disappointed.

and oh, i should’ve posted this on the 1st part. do you know how do i get the directions places of good food in Penang although we’ve never drive there before?

two things : Google Map & PSP.

by incorporating these two, i’ve managed to created an Al-Cheapo version of PSP. or more like a map. and the result? voila!!!

it served us quite well except where there’s a few occasion where the map were not updated. causing a great trouble for us and making us go round and round…

i guess it’s time to get a REAL GPS then. haha!

ok. back to the 2nd mission in Ipoh – Go to Kellie’s Castle.

which we failed miserably too…

he time wasted earlier had sapped most of our energy. so we decided to give it a miss.

BUT, we will definitely go there again next time!!! mark my words.

and off to home we go. but not without posting this:

yes… it rained for 3 consecutive days. have to drive real slow…

~fin~

Ipoh – Penang – Ipoh trip (10.10.09 – 12.10.09) Part 1

it’s the annual local trip for me and my GF at this time of the year. since last year we had been to Melaka and Cameron Highland, we decided to go to Penang or a purely glutton trip.

but of course, how can you skip Ipoh in a glutton trip? because of this, we stop by at Ipoh town to have dim sum breakfast.

let’s see, there are 3 main dim sum restaurant in Ipoh old town. the nominees are (Drumrolls)…

1. the most popular and newly located Foh San.

2. the 2nd most popular Yoke Fook Moon.

3. and of course, Ming Court which is very popular among Ipoh people.

our choice of the day was Yoke Fook Moon coz it was our 2nd choice anyway haha! besides, i don’t have the patience to wait at the crowded Foh San to have a few plates of Dim sum

look how many people is waiting for their turn!!!

compared to Yoke Fook Moon. i think most of the business went to Foh San now.

did not order much though. just a few normal items:

1. my favourite pork ribs. it’s a bit oily but at least they put a few yam slices at the bottom to absorb excess oil. yummy

2. Wo Tip. not really a dim sum dish. but it is still tasty even though it is not that crispy (coz it has been fried for quite some time). and instead of serving the ginger separately, they stuff it inside the wo tip.

3. char siu pau. the pau is definitely sweeter and with more filling!!!

. 4. siew mai. this in my opinion tastes the same as what we usually had. but GF said it tastes good.

5. and the last one is definitely har gao. they are bloody generous with the prawns there. each har gao contains 3 prawns. and the prawn’s texture are crunchy and fresh too!

what’s the damage?

RM20.90. tad too expensive. but with the generous portions and fresh ingredients, i don’t really mind.

after stuffing my tummy with dim sum, what next? let me give you a hint: Sin Yuan Loong or their rival Sin Yuan Foong? or…

Nam Heong?

we are too full to eat anything anyway, so i just went in to tapau white coffee from Sin Yuan Foong.

but there’s only one thing, everytime i drink coffee, i will get dizzy. but who cares right? it tastes great.

their coffee tastes great but the same cannot be said to their plastic bags.

the two corners of the bag got punctured by the straw when i was drinking it. causing a mess in the car. damn it.

and with a messy car, we continue our journey to Penang.

and…

just before we reach to the jetty, it…

rained heavy. visibility was down to less than 7m.

but miraculously, once we are in the jetty, it stopped.

view from the ferry.

and of course, we stayed a a budget hotel. looks old and with bare necessities.

but at least it has a balcony

and a great view too!!!

but enough about the hotel. lets just go straight to the food.

the 1st food that we crave for it asam laksa. where to?

the one which is located in Air Itam of course. and we spent the next 20 minutes going there (plus RM2 for the parking)

remember to look for this sign and you know you are in the right stall

the photos of the pot may gross some people off. but don’t let it deceive you!

the half eaten asam laksa. this is one of the tastiest asam laksa that i have eaten so far!!! just that the noodles are not springy compared to the one in KL. but still, i will rate it 10 out of 10!

in a nutshell, it is worth the 20minute journey!

next thing, it is time to go back to Penang Road and have the famous Cendol there.

nothing like a icy cendol to cool down the temperature before continuing our journey to Prangin Mall.

i noticed this in Komtar. do you noticed anything odd?

plagiarism at its best. haha!

for dinner, we went to a stretch of road just below Sunway Hotel.

it’s just a small stretch of road but the food there was good. better than those in Gurney Drive (more on that later).

food from top clockwise: seafood char koay teow, rojak, oo chien and satay (chicken and pork).

it’s our first time eating there, but i must say the food is good! although some of it are a bit pricey. but hey, if it taste good, i don’t really mind,

bought something back to hotel too.

it’s just an ordinary apom that you can get in pasar malam (just that it is fatter). but what i like is the presentation of it. they actually serve it on a banana leaf.

and oh. it rained on a saturday night… damn.

but fortunately, the weather is kind enough to stop not long after that. coz i wanted to take a stroll at the Upper Penang Road nearby.

coincidentally, it is the 10th anniversary of the Road. there were some shows and Lim Guan Eng was there. but i didn’t saw him though. below are some chicks dancing…

and yeah, that was where i stayed and that was my butler coming to me.

yeah right… i wished…

end of part 1. phew. what a tiring day…