Pangkor Makan Trip, Seafood Overwhelm: Part 1

Part 1: Seafood overwhelm... that's how I will describe it! It was great to do another round of makan trip, this time with 6 cars, 17 adults and 5 kids... \(>O<)/. Since I was late and the last, I had to catch up with the rest at Sg Buloh R&R (also had to buy my walkie talkie battery there :P). From there we headed up north to Bidor along NSE. We are supposed to head straight to Teluk Intan for breakfast, but after a taking a toilet break (quite a long one, imagine so many kids and diapers change) at the rest stop, we decided to settle for breakfast in Bidor instead instead because we started late and everyone is hungry!(yes, yes, I know, because of me and yes, Bidor again like all my other trips). One thing good about the weather that morning is that it is not too sunny and very breezy, just nice for a makan trip. So in Bidor, where else better but the famous Pun Chun coffeeshop, I had the usual yam puff and duck drumstick noodles and a cup of good northern coffee.

Parking was a bit of problem as the morning market is just nearby, I managed to park at a proper spot but our dear friend KC got a ticket for parking illegaly :(.

You can also imagine the wait for this and that car and assembling everyone together since there are 6 cars and only 5 walkies. From Bidor, we decided to go ahead with our plan of visiting Teluk Intan and what better to see there but the Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan. I remember visiting it once when I was a little kid and that's about it. It may sound lame, I mean going all the way to Teluk Intan to see a tower that's not straight? But surprisingly I find the visit quite nice and cool.

The first thing that strikes you is the WIFI signboard, they actually WIFI enable the place, pretty cool for a small Malaysian town huh? I think the tower would look wonderful at night as I noticed a whole bunch of workers are fixing decorative lightings to the tower.

Anyway, I don't really want to dig into the history of the tower, since this is a makan trip blog after all, you can google it up la. Since we are in Teluk Intan, then its a must to stop by Hiong Peng factory and KC with his limited but like real Teluk Intan knowledge brought us. The shop name is Ta Sin Guan Tin, but the more popular once is the Tiger brand which I just found out that its owned by my colleague's uncle!!!

From Teluk Intan we moved on, heading to Sitiawan as our next stop, we are using the state roads with kampungs, farms and plantations along the way. Scenic yet educational, as we have silly question on the walkies like, "hey, George ar, what's that tree on our left" and the answer is "palm oil la!". One short-coming is we had no radio in my truck for this trip as it with the shop but lucky we have Jack's kids singing on air (walkie-talkie la) along the way to keep us entertain :).

You will know you are leaving Teluk Intan once you reach the bridge crossing the Perak River. As we are crossing the bridge, I also remembered how we had to use a ferry service to cross the river before they built the bridge. Back then we had to drive up from Klang to Kuala Selangor then Sabak Bernam before reaching the crossing. From there, we have to look out for the right plantation entrance to go into the estates' road. In the plantation, there is a ferry service which we have to pay a fee to cross. Its basically a big barge which you can drive onto, but that is actually more fun that a bridge.

Anyway, enough grandfather story, once across the bridge, we noticed that there are a lot of stalls selling this particular "Air Nipah" along the way. We then decided to stop and check it out, its actually juice harvested from a fruit on a short palm looking tree known as Pokok Nipah and it takes 6 hours to harvest a cup. Its RM3 for a small 500ml mineral bottle, expensive but it seems that a lot of work is needed. The juice is very sweet and we were told to drink it fresh or it will turn sour. They also have those which have been mixed with vinegar which I was told by the shopowner that's its good for those who have stones in their bladder.

I told one of my riders and our avid photographer Tien Soon (which all our photography credits goes to) that there is a stretch of beatiful and green padi fields along the way. Unfortunately it happens to be the harvesting season and they are actually clearing the land at the time we past and there is nothing much to see. But being us, the itchy makan trippers, we decided to stop by the road side anyway and check out the fields. There are really not much to see or photograph but someone everyone started to come out of their car, maybe its then strong cooling breeze but I got out too and it feels good. Feeling of getting out of the city I guess :).

We couldn't drive too fast as there are 6 cars and we need to wait for each other to over take heavy vehicles and we soon hear request for food from Jack's caravan of sunshines (his 4 kids in his Unser) who is hungry. So we rush a little and try to get to Sitiawan as soon as we can for some makan before lunch. However, upon reaching Kg Koh, his kids have fell asleep, hehe... kids, so unpredictable. Anyway, we then reached Sitiawan just before noon and decided to hunt for the infamous Gong Pia which is a Fook Chow biscuits.

For those who want to try this, its close on a Sunday and you have to go there in the morning to get it fresh out of the oven! The shop is actually next to Court Mammoth in Sitiawan known as Cheong Cia Gong Pia. It basically meat with onions and stuff being wrapped in in flour and roll to a flat shape then being baked in an oven like a piece of naan. Its exactly like eating Seremban Siew Pau but with a very crispy and slightly overburnt skin. My take is, its very nice but you have to eat it while its hot! I can't remember exactly how much it cost since we got KC to pay for us. This place also sells the local bird nest, which mostly are harvested from houses or shops which are turned into the swallow's nesting place after the birds flew in to nest. Don't you wish your house will attract swallows too? Overnite millionaire? con't part 2.