FEI CHAI GANG RETURNS

I notice that; whenever I said something I vowed not to do.. I ended up doing it.

Despite still suffering from incessant cough (well, I got better – now I only cough at night), I went all out for the weekend: feasting on durians, piggin’ out, and reading till my eyes popped out. Well, at least I didn’t go boozing.

It is not a good idea to go boozing if you are traveling uphill to Cameron Highlands. You don’t have to drink too much to puke your guts out. By traveling uphill on the long and winding road, it is good enough to send anyone with a weak stomach rushing for the sick bag. It is funny that the first thing a fellow colleague greeted us was not – Hello! Welcome to Cameron Highlands! Instead, he said – did any one of you puke?

None of us vomited if you must know. But a few of us got really sick and dizzy. It is always good to sit at the front passenger seat or drive if you have a weak stomach.

And it is not a good idea either to pig out just before you travel to Cameron Highlands. My seven colleagues and I did everything wrong. (This is the new fei chai gang. The previous fei chai gang decided to semi retire for health reasons (semi means – they might return). Since I am the president and this position is for a lifetime, I had to look for new recruits. After all, this is what this blog is all about, ain’t it?).

Yummm!!

We stopped by Bidor to sample the famous duck leg wan tan mee. It was indeed superb. The wan tan mee itself is not bad either. We ordered everything there is on the menu – well, more or less. We had the duck leg wan tan mee, wan tan mee, roasted pork and duck and fried yam stuffed with pork.

Jambu air, jackfruit, petai & mangosteen and dragon fruit

Bidor is a small quiet town. Other than the duck leg noodles, it is also famous for its jambu air and petai. Along the main road, you could see hordes of traders trying to sell their petai and fruits. The jambu air are huge and juicy. I wonder how much pesticide and chemicals they have used to make them so big.

After the grand makan, we headed for Cameron Highlands. On the way uphill, I was beginning to feel a little bit queasy. I could feel the partially digested duck leg and wan tan mee; coupled with the durians from the night before, swimming ecstatically in my stomach. Geez. I tried to sleep to avoid thinking about vomiting, but it didn’t help much. It was a good thing that I told them to stop to view the waterfall along the way to get some breather. The waterfall along the way uphill used to be cleaner. It is sad that nobody maintain the place. It looked like a dumpsite.

When we reached Ringlet, just a few kilometers before Tanah Rata, where we stayed, we stopped by at our site office and greeted the colleagues there. Everyone seemed to know each other and the reception was welcoming (with the funny part of a manager actually asking us whether anyone of us puked in the car?). I was already nauseous and quickly find a place to sit down. Being new in the company, I was introduced to fellow colleagues. I was looking a bit sickly when I was introduced to Alex, a gentleman of Chinese-New Zealander parentage. Omigod! He is so gorgeous!! (Scenes from Superman Returns; a movie I watched the night before – suddenly clouded my mind. It is indeed a multiple orgasm movie! Not much of action – but Brandon Rough is drop dead gorgeous! Nose bleed).

I managed to maintain my composure and shook his hands firmly; and immediately felt better. Menggatalling lah tu… hahaha! Sigh. Too bad I didn’t take a pic of him.

3 tastes toufoo, herbs pork knuckles, seaweed soup and Indonesian curry fish

We had lunch at this restaurant that fellow colleagues used to frequent at Tanah Rata- Yoo Hoo restaurant. It wasn’t a fantastic meal but; there was nothing much to complain about apart from the slow in cooking – which was ideal; as I need time to recuperate from the long journey. The Indonesian curry fish was okay – if only the fish was fresher.

Cactus Farm

After dumping our luggage bags at our rented apartment, we headed to the main tourist attraction like everyone else – the cactus farm, the strawberries farm, the market and the pasar malam. The farms are nothing to shout about. They indeed have variety of cacti and flowers on sale – but I have somehow lost my interest in gardening since I left college. I am happy enough to take pictures instead – no need watering.

Flowers at the market

The local market is more or less the same as Bedugul, Bali, which I went earlier this year, if not more colorful. They sell mainly fresh produce - fruits, vegetables, potted plants, flowers and there is a handful of shop selling souvenirs. It is nice not to sweat while shopping in a market for a change! (Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur, Chak-tuk-Chak in Bangkok, Central Market and Russian Market in Phnom Penh are freaking hot!).

Everything Strawberries

A thing that one should not miss while being in Cameron is – to try to strawberry milkshake at Strawberry View – at the local market. The milkshake is not to DIE For, but the experience of having a strawberry milkshake, eating strawberries together with strawberries with cream with the chilly wind blowing in your face is priceless.

After a steamboat dinner, we head back to our apartment to freshen up. Being unwell, I decided not to go out again to yak the night away at Strawberry View. I guess I had caused my digestive system a major damage with all the food. I chose to read some books and watch some lame show on tv (In this apartment – we have only two channels – RTM 2 showing Citra warna – what a waste of tax payer’s money!) before calling it a night. Oh boy.. it was so bloody cold and I was freezing my ass off!! Big mistake for thinking Cameron Highlands is like Genting Highlands, no longer cold.

The monks at the temple

The last day was spent visiting the Sam Poh Chi temple and tea garden. We were shocked to see a beeline of people going to the temple. The queue – mostly elderly people, with umbrellas and folded chairs, waited to be blessed by a monk whom was said to have healing powers. This news had traveled all over Malaysia, and there were bus loads of people coming to visit the monk. The queue and parking were horrendous. We managed to find a spot at the nearby housing area and walked uphill to pay some respects at the temple.

Here, I saw two other monks, doing their regular ritual of kneeling at every step they take and walking up the temple (I am not sure what is it for) – donations poured in for the monks. Sometimes, I wish I could tell those people to give the donation at the donation box of the temple rather than disrupting the monks from their daily ritual.

The green land

As we made our way to the tea plantation, the images of the old man sipping Boh Tea and saying – Boh ada OOMPHH!!! ran randomly in my mind and was excited to see the whole stretch of tea plantation. However, I was quite disappointed that it was just a small plot of land for tourists to take photo with a café by the side. I was told that the previous plantation in Blue Valley had been shifted to this small plot of land. I didn’t ask the reasons – I was just trigger-happy and snapped away.

Little house on the Hill

We stopped by a fellow colleague’s house to have lunch and to visit his humble home. Lum’s house was a small, but nevertheless very cozy and surrounded by farm; which his father managed; filled with flowers, fruits and vegetables. Have you ever seen a maroon guava before? My fellow colleagues decided to help themselves with the maroon guava without being invited. How shameless! We were thrilled that each and every one of us was given two huge lettuces to bring home!

After bidding the Lum’s family good bye, we made our way back to Kuala Lumpur, but made a brief stop for some colleagues to buy pamelos and biscuits.

It’s cool to have colleagues from all over Malaysia. We were received very well by them. I felt instantly home when I am with them; mostly because I have my sister and cousin sister to share this with me – since we are all colleagues. Family indeed is the most important.. they would buy all things for the family without you forking out a cent. Hahahahah!!!!

Gosh, I am tired. This is quite a lethal post eh? I guess I won’t be blogging till I return from my Siem Reap trip this coming Friday. Be good everyone and take care.

All pics were taken using Canon Ixus 50. Please click on pics for bigger view.