Kuala Kangsar, a diminishing view

It was a rare view indeed, behind rows of modern shop houses in Kuala Kangsar, Perak.  I wouldn't think such view would last for much longer as old houses are changed to join the fashion of the day. Even the sugarlike plants at the front is difficult to find nowadays. These plants are natural alongside rivers and little streams.

a diminishing view, Kuala Kangsar

bangchik and kakdah

River Rhine going across.

It wasn't much of a holiday, it's actually WORK as the three of us and Alex the German guy went around Germany and Switzerland the past week. It's true as they say, flowers add colour in spring, leaves paint various shades of yellow and brown in autumn. It's River Rhine that attracted my attention as we moved along the river the first day and went up the viewing platform. Breathtaking is all I can say..

Rhein in German and Rhine in English, refer to a long river stretching from Swiss Alps to North Sea.

River Rhine 1

River Rhine 2

River Rhine 4

three beautiful houses at the top of the hill

Viewing platform - looking down

walkway to the top of viewing platform

Souvenirr Shop

Lovely colour of autumn

Autumn colour

Autumn colour as we were leaving 

___________bangchik and kakdah___________

Sauk, an old town in Perak

Sauk in Perak is an old town trying hard to embrace modernisation at manageable pace. It is nice to see the 360 degree views by the roadside.

to the back - pic1 SAUK

to the left - pic 2 SAUK

to the left a second later - pic 3 SAUK

to the right - pic 4 SAUK

___________bangchik and kakdah___________

my little vegetable garden

hills being majestic.

Limestone hills are majestic, showing everything about strength. They have gone through million of years with little change and trees learn how to grow on hard surface. There aren't many limestone hills in Malaysia.  Ipoh is famous with limestone hills forming exotic boundary. Gua Musang is another place where limestone hill rise to majestic height. Almost to the town of Kuala Krai, limestone hills form a nice backdrop to the oil palm plantations. The pictures were taken near Kuala Krai, Kelantan.

a limestone hill, so high almost like a mountain

View of oil palms, newly planted, and a few rows of old oil palms.

 Limestone hills rise steeply to the sky.

oil palm plantation with a small limestone hill.

bangchik and kakdah

View over Kuantan.

It's business trip to Terengganu and Pahang last week. We stopped at a number of places, one was Kuantan. I took a few pictures over Kuantan from 9th floor of M.S. Garden Hotel. Kuantan is beautiful in its own way....

Tenaga Nasional Berhad Building (National Energy  Company)

the river, Sungai Kuantan forefront.

a hotel, a bridge and a river.

Government office in the middle

a mixture

stadium in the front with 4 floodlights

bright yellow building, very catchy

a school on the left  got stuck in the middle of things

 I saw a few buildings with rather empty rooftops 

that can be turned into

profitable  green rooftop gardening

Modern buildings blend well with houses squeezed through avalanche of modernization, as more office and business space are needed. It is within this setting that Dato Burn fell in love with a Pahang girl, got married, and settled down. The river remain as it is, carrying everything to the river mouth. It holds the history of Kuantan over the many hundred of years.

Bangchik and Kakdah

Dragon fruits / buah naga by the roadside.

We were on the road again, meandering along East Malaysia coastal road. Weather was hot, sky was clear blue. There was this little stall that attracted us to stop. An old lady with her grandchildren made full use of shade under a casuarina tree. They were selling dragon fruits.

 Kakdah picked the good ones

These dragon fruits are known by many names:  

Malay Buah Naga

Vietnamese thanh long, Laos: mark mang gohn,  

Chinese huǒ lóng guǒ  

French:  fruit du dragon, cierge-lézard, poire de chardon, 

German: Drachenfrucht, Distelbirne,   

Hawaiian: panini-o-ka-puna-hou , 

Swedish: skogskaktus, röd pitahaya, 

Thai: แก้วมังกร (kaeo mangkon), 

Portuguese: cato-barse, cardo-ananaz, rainha da noite,  

Spanish: pitahaya roja,   

Other names are  :  Red Pitaya,  Red Pitahaya, Dragonfruit, Night blooming Cereus, Strawberry Pear, Belle of the Night, Conderella Plant 

 a lady with her grandchildren

 Kakdah selecting dragonfruits, but i wonder how she did, because they looked the same

 the lady said "add another one will make 2 kilo", as she eyed the scale.

five dragonfruits finally made 2 kilo.

The place was somewhere in Terengganu, 
a state facing South China Sea.
Terengganu has perculiar accent which I can't comfortably imitate. A friend Sulong manage to hide his true accent most of the time, but at times he punctuates conversation with Ganu Kite "ak"..., and slip of tongue with "makang". WanZul on the other hand is different, claiming a true Ganu Kite from Besut , but comfortable only with Kecek Kelate. Bangchik remains secretive of his background with his own blend of Kelate....... I remember an associate, Jalil who after all these years, picked Pahang accent so well, that nobody knows he hails from Kuale Terengganu. Jalil has only Dato Burn to beat as outsider residing permanently in Pahang. ZolJobshi sticks to his Perak accent while working in Dungun for almost 5 years now. Some can switch accents easily, most cannot. Yes, Malaysia a small country yet the accents are numerous.

It was RM8 per kilo. Kakdah in the end bought 2 kilos of dragonfruits.

bangchik and kakdah

From Cherating to Tanah Merah, a view

On the 22nd of December, we started the journey home from Cherating very early in the morning.  We drove through coastal road, passing through places like Kemaman, Dungun, Kuala Terengganu and getting back inland through Kuala Berang. Whenever we came across an interesting view, we stopped for a breather and clicked. So the journey was terribly long....

 a roadside view around Marang.

 another roadside view around Marang

 a view of paddy field around Pasir Puteh

 a view of paddy field
at Kampung Banggol Judah, close to Machang.

It was during this journey home, that we visited nurseries along the way. Then the impatience grew as we asked about miracle berry plants. I will post the story tomorrow.

Bangchik and Kakdah

pemandangan dari Cherating ke Tanah Merah.

Ramadan Bazaar

Dr Ng Yen Yen, Minister of Tourism Malaysia said "The Ramadan Bazaar in the fasting month of Ramadan is yet another tourism products as well as a culture of togetherness among the people. The promotion of the bazaar will be intensified by the ministry as no other country has such wide array of delicious fare sold at numerous places nationwide."

from  bharian

 

from  gerobokkecil.blogspot.com

from shakilaseha.blogspot.com

from mynameisberq.blogspot.com

Ramadan is the month where Muslim will perform fasting from dawn to dusk, refraining from taking food and water. Peculiar to Malaysia, stalls will be up in almost every town and village where food are sold during this month. On the way home from work, people will stop at bazaar to buy their favourite food for breaking of fast at sunset. Some will just drop by and walk along to view the colourful fiesta!

But Kakdah loves to serve food to the family out of her own kitchen. So we seldom visit Bazaar Ramadan.  and all photos are copied from various sites.

   

bangchik

on ramadan bazaar

Seberang Perak, where sea is green.

paddy.

bangchik

A brief stop at Sungai Buloh and Seremban R&R

A brief stop at Sungai Buloh R &  R is a normal thing to do as we travel up and down the North South Highway. We did it again on the way back to Putrajaya after a weekend in Kakdah's hometown, Sitiawan. Both of us had a simple nasi lemak and air sirap whereas the two grown up boys were happy with burgers. While waiting for the two boys, we lazied around the resting hut and looked around.

on the way down

Kakdah

a truck full of new motorcycles

a nice wall with contrasting yellow bins

wall at the other end.

creeper

the tree covered with creepers

a beautiful tree with fresh looking shoots

a local palm, also known as palas.

The little gold honda city at the far end is Kakdah's.
We were able to really rest for this trip
because the two boys
took turn to the steering.

on the way up

a row of cars and blue bins

a row of palm trees

those trees are special because they keep shedding their skins

cars upon lorry.

lorries and cars

a pleasant corner of  the R & R

BANGCHIK