BecauseAnna: December 2014

So after semester break, my parents along with my brothers came up to Perak to fetch me, they were planning on a 5 day trip up Northern states of Malaysia. Which are Perak, Penang, Kedah and Perlis.

We were having fun showing off our teeths to the camera in the car. Most of our times are spent in the car when travelling. Since we're already in Perak, so our first stop had been decided to be in Ipoh.

The place we went first is called Qing Xin Ling leisure and culture village. It's a place like nature with trees, mountains, lake, and beautiful sceneries. Daddy said it used to be free to enter, but now RM 3 is charged per person for entrance fee. We gave it anyway, should be worth it. I mean, they need money to maintain the place too right?

Though the weather is hot, the place is just breathtaking and beautiful. I've always loved nature. The water is clear and the trees are green, the place is definitely god-made.

There were many fishes in the pond as well, and we are allowed to feed the fishes with the food they provided located on the ground, but RM 1 is charged per packet, and no one is there to look after the things. Therefore the white notice board with red wordings printed on it: Greed destroys your life.

The place is so beautiful, it actually looked like the sceneries in those China traditional movies where they have this small pondok, and those chinese-y trees and stones and stuff.

With my brother in the middle of 2 mountains opening.

They have this wheel cart where i think it's already dysfunctional. Oh, and people are free to take ride on the bicycles provided there for free according to the guy. So maybe you can make use of the RM3 you just paid and cycle around the place. At least it's faster than walking, but that place isn't so big itself, so walking helps u see more things and also enjoy the view better.

Attempt on jumpshot on one of the big rocks there. There were many beautiful rocks there.

And we saw this opening on one of the mountain floor that looks like the maze runner opening, so brother took a shot here, i think it can be maze runner 2 poster. LOL

Look at the size of the leaf, i mean, WOW. It's so big!

Isn't the place a beauty? God creates beautiful things. :)
It's like back to ages ago.

Bro be like, should i stand amongst those stones in the lake? It'll look like i'm levitating though.

Nah, too much for a YOLO act.

Then of course i went for it.

And brother be like, yeah sure, let's do this.

They have this swing there. Oh and did i mention? There were places provided for people to stay there overnight.

We proceeded to 糖水街.

Because it's still 3-5pm around there, so most of the stalls are all closed. We couldn't order any cendol or famous 糖水 at that time because non of them provided any. So instead we ate some kuih and local delicacies.

These were really good! It's sticky and chewy on the outside, once chewed, the Gula Melaka will come oozing out from your mouth. We had second servings. :D

Bubur cha cha. Sweet and it was okay :)

Typical catholic, my family went to visit Ipoh's St. Michael church. It's a creatively and amazingly designed church. Love the place, amongst all those shopping malls, schools and highway of cars, stood this church where it stands quiet and firm.

Lovely large tree which i'm guessing a few hundreds years old? It's blooming with cute little flowers.

Praying at the grotto.

And just so it happened that after we exited the church, it started pouring really large drops of heavy rain, it wasn't heavy, but the raindrops were large, huge and coming in strong. We had to leave, and beside the church, is Ipoh Parade.

I missed this green tea macha the last time i came here, so i came back again to taste this beast!

And we had a hearty time shopping in the mall.

Lastly, we had a group shot at the parking lot, we can view ipoh from top here.

For dinner, we decided to eat 芽菜鸡, but other places were all overrated and crowded with humans. It's hot, crowded and noisy. So finally we settled at 老梁's. The place is air conditioned, they serve amazing and delicious 芽菜鸡, but i have no idea at all why no one visited their restaurant while others are all crowded where the roads are also occupied with their tables and chairs, while 老梁's are so empty with only 4 tables occupied by the time we finished. I just gotta say, theirs is as good as others.

so maybe next time when you guys go, and want to try out their local famous 芽菜鸡, try 老梁's. It's just as good as others and the chicken they give are very generous too. We had a hearty dinner that day, comfortable, cooling and hearty dinner. :)
i rate it 8/10

I heard that Ipoh is also famous for all these 烧包烧饼, i bought their egg tart and it was totally softened! Ew.

Day 2, daddy drove up to Taiping, where we got closer to nature once more.

It was drizzling, but not noticeable in the photo, it was tough for photo taking, but the scenery is just too beautiful to ignore. Sometimes we just stop by the road real quick, snap some quick shots and we were off.

Daddy said these trees have been here for a long long time. I believe they looked creepy at night. But daytime, they are just too precious to ignore.

Look at the size of it! I'm just so tiny beside it.

We proceed to Tambun (if i'm not mistaken) to enjoy some seafood, the restaurant is located beside the jetty and although their food ain't cheap, they were fresh, mouth-watering and satiating.

I enjoy my time using the hammer to crack open dem crab shells and taste the delicious crab meat :D Especially when it's in a big bunch. WOOOOH!

Overall they're just too good to be true.

We attended mass that day after we arrived at the next place - Penang.

Church of the Divine Mercy, Penang.

And went to a famous restaurant 洗布桥 where they sell delicious Kuey Teow Teng and also Penang's famous white curry mee.

Before mixing the curry.

Look how the colour changes! :D

And the day ended there, the next day i woke up to Kedah's Gunung Jerai! Just kidding, of course i didn't teleport there. Yeah, so our next destination was Gunung Jerai. It was a sloppy journey up hill with cars honking each other at edges to prevent accident and to notify each other's existence along with enthusiastic bikers paddling their way up the hill to enjoy the final outcome:

Cold and misty wind with breathtaking view.

Mom totally glad she did not allow me to wear short pants once we got down from the car. The wind was cold, the air is cooling, overall, it's cooler than Genting and Cameron. It's a new city-getaway place for Malaysians. :)

There were lots of colorful flowers blossomed perfectly with the weather. The place... JJANG!

After that, we exit our way down the hill and stopped by Alor Setar to look for lunch. Lunch.... were nowhere to be found in Alor Setar. Finally, around going round and round the place, into the city area, there were only 2 miserable chinese restaurant spotted with little or no customers at all.

We tried finding a parking space, but there were none, all the space are fully occupied. Therefore we went up a shopping mall's car park area and parked there, walked down and into the restaurant - KEDAI KOPI JIN HOE.

There were only a few.. like 3 stalls operating that day, so we ordered Jawa mee, curry mee, chicken rice and also otak-otak. The price of the food did not exceed RM4. The food there are really cheap! Affordable, and surprisingly, delicious.

After satisfying our tummies, we proceed to the main course of the day, Padang Besar at the border of Malaysia and Thailand @ Perlis. We came out from the car park area, and daddy wanted to pay the person when exiting, the person said "9 kupang" (i think that's what the guy said), daddy thought it's RM9, LOL! But mom say "Here everything so cheap, parking fee where got RM9!" So it's 90 sen.

That place... is deserted. With only one university located amongst the grass and little or few trees. The place... is worse than Kampar. Nothing is found there. We passed by fields after fields, and it was raining. Mom kept talking about turning back. It was too scary. Even with GPS, we were scared, the road never seemed to end.

We also passed by one part where they state it's the hottest part of Malaysia.

Big brother said there were absolutely nothing! No landmarks, NOTHING! only grass and fields .. Now we get it, why it's called PADANG BESAR (Big field)

We just randomly walked around. As it was raining that day, so it's hard for us to go to the stalls located outside, indoor area keeps us dry. The place sell a lot of Malay clothings and sports wear, like jersey and stuff. Later, we entered the snack area, where they sell lots of biscuits, nuts, seeds, and so on. Stalls after stalls. We stopped by this stall after that:

The lady in the green tudung is really an enthusiastic worker, she kept pouring us free samples of biscuits and food for us to try, and daddy bought a lot of stuff from her, convincing technique 10/10. She even gave us an extra pack of mixed snacks for our journey back in the car for free. LOL.

We did not go back yet, not after we fill our stomach with Thailand food! TOMYAM and Mango sticky rice and more. :D

BACK TO PENANG~

The next day was Winter solstice, i really wanted to eat Tang Yuan, and my uncle went to pasar that morning and got us Tang Yuan. YEEHEE!! :D

We also went to Prangin mall that day and ate at Classic steamboat. Where we saw their advertisement, with only RM3 ! The workers there so friendly, keep talking to us LOL, then we assumed that they just have to pass us the food, and nothing else, because we are the ones managing our own food. So most of them are quite bored.

RM 3 set with TOMYAM as my soup base, delicious!

RM 3 set with a few add-ons.

Recommended. Satisfying and amazing :)

We enjoyed Magnum as well.

And next is Air Itam's famous asam laksa. :D

Because it's raining, it affects their business as well, very few people that day compared to the other days where you would have to stand at the side of other people's table waiting for a seat to enjoy your meal.