Happy New Year 2011

01 January 2011

What's the best way to celebrate a new year? Party? Sleep? Day dream?

No, no, no...(little Gabriel's favorite line). The best way to celebrate is to experience something new.

Kuala Selangor, Tanjong Karang, Sekinchan and Klang. They were all new to Daddy, Mommy and little Gabriel (in one way or another). So, together with Ah Gong, Ah Ma, Popo, Uncle Eric, Auntie Li Shan, Auntie Wee Li and the cousins, we departed for a one-day food trip.

We started our journey at around 10:30am. We took the Sungai Buloh->Kuala Selangor route. We passed through a few small towns. It was an eye opener to all of us, especially the super windy roads around the Ijok town. Beside that, Daddy got to experience a whole new driving experience (maximum speed of 60km/hr on certain roads).

Lunch was at Pasir Penambang, Kuala Selangor. When we reached the restaurant, there was no parking space, so we had to go back out to the main road to go back to the restaurant. Such a situation led us to a beautiful temple which we promptly stopped for a visit.





After a brief de tour to the temple, we finally found some parking spaces. While Ah Gong and Mommy were looking for a table, little Gabriel saw someone fishing at the jetty (a very small one).

We ordered sweet and sour crab, steamed bak chong fish, kam heong lala, oyster omelet, claypot tofu, stir fried vege, and deep fried squid. The food was ok (actually we were all a bit disappointed with the quality). However, the experience was first class. We got to dine next to a huge river and we enjoyed the breeze and magnificent view a lot. That made up for the food and of course the bill played a part too (it was RM190 for 14 of us).





After lunch, we continued our journey to Sekinchan as planned. On the way to Sekinchan, we passed through Tanjong Karang. We did not stop, but we did stop on the way back (more about that later). Sekinchan was known to be the "rice bowl" of Selangor, because it is one of the largest rice producing area in Malaysia. Beside that, it was also a fishing village. Hence, making it a very unique town.

However, luck was not with us that day, because the paddy field was harvested not too long ago. So, even though we got to see the endless paddy field, it was all "botak" (blank). We drove on a sandy trail in the middle of the paddy field for a few kilometer (thinking we can come out through the other end), but we decided to turn around because the road did not seem to lead to anywhere (with civilization :). Anyway, Daddy managed to take a photo of a non-botak paddy field on the way back.



Anyway, we did achieve some of our goals that we planned to do at Sekinchan:
(a) Find Jiann Chyi Restaurant that is famous for its shark porridge and dishes (but we did not dine that because we just had our lunch).
(b) Witness some fishing activities (we saw some fishing boats).
(c) Buy some Sekinchan famous rice (we saw a rice distributor, but it was closed due to holiday) - (but we did find out from a stall owner that we can buy some rice at Parit 6).
(d) Buy some Sekinchan famous "jagong" (we bought some :).



After visiting Sekinchan, we stopped by Bagan Pasir, Tanjong Karang to buy some fresh fish. It was the happiest time for the aunties (Ah Ma, Auntie Li Shan, Auntie Wee Li, Popo and Mommy :). The uncles (Daddy and Uncle Eric) were tasked to take care of the kids in the cars.



Since the other car was fully occupied, we got the honor to drive the big box of fish they bought.

We decided to take the Klang route back to KL, so that we can stop by for dinner and avoid the windy route we took earlier on.

On the way to Pandamaran, Klang, Uncle Eric and Mommy took a GPS lesson because no one knew exactly how to go to the restaurant that Ah Gong wanted to go. Finally, Mommy's GPS brought us to Pandamaran and Ah Ma showed us where the restaurant was (we set the GPS to Stadium Hoki Pandamaran :).

Dinner was at Kedai Makanan Laut Kebun Kelapa (yes another round of seafood). The food was much better than those we had during lunch. We ordered Teochew steamed bak chong fish with noodle, oyster omelet (we hated the one we had during lunch), sizzling tofu, fried chicken in lemon sauce, sambal kangkung, and stir fried vege.

While little Gabriel kicked a big fuss during lunch, he finished one big bowl of plain white rice during dinner. He refused to eat when any sauce, gravy, or soup were added to the rice.




All in all, it was a nice trip. We saw a lot, learnt a lot, and ate a lot. The biggest winners (we guessed) were cholesterol and blood pressure (due to all the seafood - just in case you didn't get it! :).