Taiping, Perak, MALAYSIA

February 13 - 15, 2010

It happened to be a 4-day weekend for Malaysia. It was Chinese New Year, Year of the Tiger. We drove back and it took us almost 8 hours to reach Bagan Serai. The return journey was only 3 hours with one pit stop.

The trip back was in conjunction with "kenduri aruah" for Ton's late mother. We missed the kenduri anyway because of the jam. We stopped for lunch in Tanjung Malim at a mamak shop across the street from the famous Yik Mun Pau. We stopped for cendul pulut Haizar in Sungai Gedung just before we reached Bagan Serai. That was worth the stop.

In the evening we drove to Kuala Sepetang for prawn mee. After making a few wrong turns, we finally arrived at Mee Udang Mak Jah, a restaurant serving prawn mee made famous by newspaper and tv. The makeshift restaurant was beautifully done. We waited for a while before someone took our orders. After that the foods came super fast. We ordered 1 special for Ton and 5 regulars for Nina, Anas, Syamim & Arif (Anas' cousins) and me.

The front of Mak Jah Restaurant

The mee was above average. The gravy has strong prawn taste in it and there was a very generous servings of prawns in each bowl. The specials came with bigger prawns. Anas and his cousins were not really prawn fans and the three of us, adults had about a kilogram of prawns to finish. The mee also came with above average prices, from RM6 to RM11.

Mak Jah Restaurant at Dusk

The next day we drove into Taiping looking for the Kuey Teow Doli, again made famous by the media. After spending about half an hour looking for the place, we stopped at Taiping Museum, mainly to ask for direction. We went inside the museum and some of the exhibits were closed. Later I learned that Taiping Museum was the first museum opened in the country. We did not know that we were at a historic place.

The First Museum in the Country, circa 1883

We made a second attempt to find Kuey Teow Doli. By some chances or fate, we ended up right in front of the restaurant without actually realising it. So we had the famous kuey teow. I found that it was just ordinary. As a kuey teow lover, I had better kuey teow at roadside stalls. The price was heavily marked up. At least we could claim to have tasted kuey teow Doli in Taiping.

Jalan jalan cari makan!