Taiping...no longer sleeping

I have always only associated Taiping with bijih timah, thanks to my past History classes. As compared to Ipoh, this small quaint town kinda takes the back seat when one thinks of where to go to in Perak. It was only recently that I start to develop an inquisitive mind of its Lake Garden and Taiping Zoo, thanks to Moon who kept promoting his home town and was especially adamant that his Taiping Zoo was wayyyy better than my Malacca zoo :P
So begins our mini vacation to Taiping.
First stop, a famous Prawn Mee stall known as Soon Lee.
Looks familiar? That's because it is only in Tmn Kok Lian, Jalan Ipoh.
Yup, we are still in KL. Derek wanted us to try this out first before heading out, and since he was the driver...
The noodles up-close but a bit blurry, sorry.
The murky soup can only mean that the prawn-based soup is thick and sweet.
I think our prawn mee expert, Yin enjoyed it too :)

This stall has been visited by not only A celebrity,
but a whole bunch of them!
the owners got some shares in TVB or wat..
After downing an entire bowl of noodles, it's time to have some fun with Derek's doggie.
"RomeO", you're sooo frigging cute and cuddly whose fur I stroked felt just like a teddy bear's.

"oh no, dun go, Romeo....Come with us to Taiping!"
Along the highway in one of the rest stops (Tapah I think), I stumbled upon this sorry-looking mini clock-tower (?) , which also looks like some bird-house designed to look like a Christmas tree. Forgot to check if the clock was still working though.
yahoo, we've arrived at our 6-star accomodation, Moon's Lodge!
Time to unload the car and to stretch those (numb) legs of ours.
Auntie Ng has the best well-kept and prim looking garden to welcome us.
What an English-style looking living room.
Yin longing to bang those piano keys..
Me in Moon's room. Poor Moon had to give up his comfy king-sized bed to his distinguished guests.
First up, an early dinner at a seafood restaurant known as Soon Lee. Whaddaya know, it had the same name as the prawn mee we had earlier.
There was gonna to be a wedding dinner at the same place too, but service was still prompt and the food of a good standard. Hence, we had a satisfying meal and here were some of our dishes, the Curry with Bread being my favourite.
What better way to down those oily food with a hot steaming bowl of herbal soup.
Moon with mummy dearest - can see his mummy misses her son so much, go home more often la, Moon! lol
Mark is one happy customer who's had his belly filled, while Derek looks like he's not had enough to eat.
Night falls and there wasn't much left to do, cept to try the Night Safari in Taiping Zoo. Here's a tip, tell them you're a local (from Taiping), and you get RM 5 off the normal ticket price of RM 16.
It was really really dark in the zoo and we did not bring any super duper cam cam so this was the brightest structure we shot..
..and the only primate we captured on camera.
While there weren't many animals we saw in the open during our 45-minute tram ride around the zoo (suggest walking if you have the time and energy and 'guts'...it could get creepy in the dark), it was still a joy watching some of them, my fave being the white-headed owl that kept bobbing its head up and down, left and right following the motion of passersby.
Hmm, I'm still thinking "how come no Penguin House geh?"...
Come morning, Moon brought us to this old-fashioned coffeeshop for brekkie. Guess we blended in with those ah-sams and ah-paks just nicely. We sat outside, facing the direction of this HUGE air-blower, and that made us a cooool bunch alright.
This curry mee(hoon) came highly recommended but due to my slight sore-throat that morning, all I'm gonna say about it is...'mmm, LOOKS hopeful'
I had Wan Tan Mee instead...Oops, minus the Wan Tan Mee.
This Pie Tee was scrumptious and might I say, it's pretty hard to find a good pie tee sold here in KL...if anybody has any recommendations...
One bowl isn't enough for Derek??
...obviously. lol.
According to Moon's parents, it had been raining very frequently and lucky us, it was clear blue skies for us that day. So, where else to head to but Bukit Larut, also known as the wettest place in Peninsula Malaysia (mmm History lessons again).
Take in the refreshing cool air and breathtaking view of the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia at the summit (1035m). A former tea plantation, Bukit Larut, also affectionately known as Maxwell Hill by locals, has the country's oldest hill resort.

We didn't stay at the peak though, but merely hiked like halfway up in about 45 minutes. I didn't bring my rubber shoes mah. If you're thinking, "Wahh have to walk up myself if want to stay at the peak wan ah??", don't worry..they have jeeps to bring you up.
During our climb, some of the places can be quite steep,

but I managed...in my jeans! hahaha...

Saw a snake midway up ..*gasp*
Oh, correction..my FRIENDS saw the snake, I didn't dare to look.

We had a little picnic by this longkang besar along the main road. The main attraction?
The coooool refreshing water ...

...and anything to feed our rumbling tummies.

Which makes cendol the ideal drink after sweating it out.

Oh those slimy tiny green maggots overflowing from the bowl of milky white discharge...those beans must be their kidneys?

Why where there is a cendol stall, there HAS to be a rojak man nearby?
I'm beginning to think the buku Ekonomi can now add another example of Barang Penggenap : Cendol and Rojak.

dun play play...

How best to enjoy your cendol?

Look for a hot girl eating cool cendol.

These guys are obviously too engrossed in something else.

A quick rest at home and then it's off to Restoran Light House Seafood in Matang.
(Another seafood place?)
I had no idea Taiping is famous for that.

Anyway, the specialty of this restaurant is this....Seafood Porridge served in a huge claypot with tons and tons of fishball.

Same thing but with Tong Fun and of course, the fish balls again.

Our other dishes...loved the fried fishes. It was a joy seeing dem fellas again after so long...crunch!

Next, we drove to this house for a certain reason...

..to buy their famous Heong Peah..
In fact, all their biscuits were 'Suitable for Vegetarians' and made here at this house, so you can't get them any fresher and crispier :D

Here's a little peek at what went on inside that house before the uncle shouted at me for snapping photos. aiya, cannot meh?

Matang is also famous for their Mangrove Swamp. Someone told me it was the best kept in the world. Let's see...

Don't worry about wearing your slippers here for it has a wooden walk way all throughout the swamp so you won't be getting mud onto your feet. It's real shady too, even at 3 in the afternoon.

Moving on to Geography lessons, learn all about the types of mangrove there are,

and its existence.

See how straight and high up the trees can grow!

Come evening time, we headed over to the must-go Lake Garden for their picturesque scenery.

and breathtaking view of the trees stretching as far as to the opposite side of the road and over the lake.

The trees here are a favourite place for monkeys to swing from branch to branch

and for happy couples to take their wedding photographs.
Here's a demo...

Creative usage of the tree branches....just don't break them.

Or lie down on the plain greens...

A memorable spot to declare one's love.

This is the exact replica of a dinosaur once found roaming around this lake 50 million years ago.

okay, I was kidding.

But THIS, is a sight to behold.......the BIGGEST bunch of prickly cactus I've ever seen.
There should be a 'DANGER' sign on this baby.

I still can't believe we asked a stranger to take a photo of us posing like this. LoL.

Not sure if you heard the story of this Indian temple that harbours a family of wild pigs that many believed would bring good luck to them just by touching the pigs.
I'm not so much the superstitious kind, but we still decided to check it out anyway.
True enough, this place was flooded with people of all races, carrying with them packets of rice (which looks like tomato rice to me) to feed the pigs.

People were calling out and whistling to the pigs just to be able to stroke or rub their backs for the so-called 'good fortune'. There was this one lady that rubbed the pig's body with her lottery ticket. If it weren't for the wooden fences, I bet she wouldn't have mind giving the pig a hug too.

I, on the other hand found this place rather filthy and rather unhygienic. We didn't dare to stay too long either...wouldnt want to 'catch' something.
Look, nobody wanted to go near this baby pig...small pig, umm small fortune?

We preferred to touch this pig instead.....clean and white.

Our last night in Taiping, auntie and uncle Ng brought us to this nice seafood (again) restaurant called Lemon Tree in Matang.
We were supposed to eat at the restaurant across the road from this one, but the place was packed so this was second best.
For me, the best thing they've to offer is this Noodle dish.
I forgot the name but it was cooked to perfection, the taste like I've never tasted before...the mee had no tinge of alkaline (kan sui) at all and the broth just the right flavour. Now that I'm back in KL, I miss it sooooo much.

What's a seafood dinner if we do not order something from the sea?

CHeck out my HuGe prawn!

This Crab in Salted Egg and Curry Leaves is very good as well. You can even see how meaty the crab is.

They didn't have the proper utensils used to crack open the crustaceans, so we improvised by using these instead...the pliers-like tool to picking up those double-boiled hot soup canisters.

After numerous shots of Derek chomping away on the crabs, this was the best shot of him in action! Semangat betul la our fren.

Thumbs up from the Taiping boy, who has never eaten here before too.

Gaya la the man with the cigarette posing in the background.

Final stop was definitely in Ipoh town for my favourite half-boiled egg on toast!

How can you not drool looking at this....

So cool coz on this trip, we managed to save on accomodation, thanks to Moon (now) and Moon (15 years ago)

And especially to Auntie and Uncle Ng,

Much thanks for your awesome hospitality. We're still slightly embarrased we jiak (makan) free, not once but 3 times!

What a trip! Glad we managed to do so much in the short period of time we spent in Taiping.

That includes watching two late night premier league matches in Moon's place.