Went UP Alor Star while going DOWN memory lane

Sis and Paul ko, my brother-in-law was up here from Singapore for a short break so we planned a trip up to Alor Star since they have not been there from such a long time ago. It was with an itinerary filled with food, glorious Alor Star food and familiar places from long ago. A nostalgic trip was on the menu.

So first stop was Sungai Petani. We took the South Exit so that we could take a slow drive through old town SP, where Sis could revisit the old bus station she remembered and the kok kok steamed rice where they would stop over for lunch before heading to Alor Star in the 70s.

Because Paul ko was in development before and he has seen Bandar Laguna Merbok township from the last trip, we decided to drop by Bukit Banyan, the latest hill development in SP. We dropped by to see two Terrace homes and one Semi-D show house. Quite an impressive development for SP standard.

From there we headed North towards Bedong where the famous Man Tau can be found in a quaint Kopi Tiam that also does great Hakka Choo Char. The owner was proud to serve us four Man Tau immediately when I told her my sis came all the way from Singapore to try this. We had our Man Tau with Hor Yan Hor herbal tea with sour plum. Not disappointed as the couple tried to decipher what's the secret ingredient to its unique taste. While eating, we saw someone carted away 90 take-away Man Tou.

The Man Tou and traditional Hor Yan Hor herbal tea.

Next up was lunch in Alor Star. We were torn between the coffee shop where our parent used to frequent or the new place me and Melinda went at Teluk Wanjah which served delicious GIANT Prawns and Black Pomfret fried with black sauce and chilli padi.

Since Pekan Cina was the first stop and we saw the kopi tiam was open, we decided to have lunch at the old place, Restoran LTK. Not disappointed. It was as good as we remembered it and by the time we finished, all plates were clean.

Restoran Low Teik Kee, still looking like it was 20 years ago.

The Char Siew Siow Bak was excellent and next came the Kor Kua.

Then the Sambal prawns and finally the Steamed Grouper. Paul ko said this was the better quality red grouper.

Then we went next door where a traditional sundry shop was still open. You don't see these in the cities any more.

The happy couple after lunch at the sundry shop.

With our tummies well fed after a hearty lunch, we took to visiting familiar places in Alor Star. We drove through the heart of town where the beautiful state mosque is still as majestic, surrounded by beautiful architecture that have been well preserved, like the State Museum and Gallery.

Jalan Putra was next, looking for the house of Ah Por, where sis and I stayed before. I was there till 8 but I remembered that house very well. It's still there but has been a coffee shop for many years.

The house where chi chi and I grew up in. We both had lots of memories there and remembered well who slept in which rooms, looking at the upstair's windows on the outside.

Then we went pass the river and took the outer ring road that led us straight to Jalan Sultanah, where I stayed till my move to Penang. Much have changed with so many flyovers under construction it took a while for me to find my way into the housing estate, originally known as United Park and later Jalan Sri Taman.

See, proof. That's 60A, Jalan Sri Taman, my home before I left for Penang.

We found the house, 60A and the unit beside 59A which my brother Jimmie stayed. We passed by Ah Por's house further down the road, then decided to look for Ai Tin Chi's house. I remembered it was the 3rd house but it seems it's now being rented out to an Indian doctor and two houses down, we found Ah Bah ko. Ai Tin Chi was down in Singapore and though we woke him from his afternoon nap, he was kind enough to offer to lead us to where the Malay Laksa is sold.

Meet Ah Bah Ko, my cousin-in-law. Woke him up from an afternoon nap!

Melinda, looking really happy with her three plants.

He gifted Melinda with three pots of flowering plants, with the white flowered Frangi Pani being supposedly a rare strain.

Next we passed by Ah Jee Ee's home beside a sundry shop fronting the football play ground where I frequent every evening. The football field is gone and now overgrown with trees and shrubs.

Finally, we left Jalan Sri Taman and headed for Laksa. We took a detour to Jalan Wanjah, pass the Kelinik Pergigian where I had my braces done for 4 years and showed them the stall where the BIG prawns were. It will have to be another visit for lunch there.

We went pass the old house at Jalan Putra again, this time from the side road, Jalan Lumpur, for more picture taking.

The same Jalan Putra house, this time from Jalan Lumpur.

Then it's Laksa, passing through Pekan Rabu. Yes! The stall was open even though Ah Bah ko said she's no longer there. The kind lady served us our Laksa, two with hae ko and two without. But she hurried us since my car was illegally parked and risked a summon. She was more worried about it than we were. Hahaha.

The Assam Laksa Kedah style. We plan to have the genuine Teluk Kechai Laksa on the next trip which is real Kedah Malay laksa, located on the way to Kuala Kedah.

Then we went hunting for chi chi's convent school. Had to use gps and finally after asking a student at Kolej Sultan Abdul Hamid, we found it.

Unfortunately, it's no longer the school she went to. It has all changed including the students there, mainly Malay girls in their tudung.

We then went to my school, Kolej Sultan Abdul Hamid, and that has not changed, everything there was as I remembered it, including my class rooms, the school hall and even the bicycle shed where I parked by bicycle. Even the football fields remained the same. So nice. More photographs followed.

That's me, the proud collegian! Notice how the school slogan is still in English. A rare sight in Kedah!

That done, our trip's itinerary came to and end and it was time to head back to Penang.

What a good trip blessed by good weather. We had good company, great food, nostalgic sights and plenty of lazy indulgences. Definitely more to come.

Rubber Seeds

Hard to imagine we could have so much fun with these simple seeds.

Meet Buah-Cina-Mati (top) and Kapok (bottom). My prized Champions!

Right after school under the post midday sun, we boys would go to the rubber estates and collect these seeds. There are specific types that we look for, highly prized being those with thick shells.

Here's why. One of the games we played is to take turns to try break another rubber seed by placing ours over them and then smash it with our palms.

Of course, the weaker seed would break and you'll have to give a seed to your opponent if yours broke. That's two, considering the one that just broke!

So how did I conned them? Haha...yes I was quite a rascal growing up. I would pick a strong seed, kapok and buah-china-mati being my favourites (more about the naming strategy later) and "modify" them.

First, carefully remove a layer of skin from the base of the seed where the stem was. Keep that skin cos you'll need to use it to patch back later.

Then use a thin wire and push into the hole and dig out as much of the seeds inside as you can. Can't get them all out? No problem. Drip a few drops of sugared water and leave your seeds where ants frequent. By the next day, they would have cleaned up the insides. Ants are hardworking creatures you know ;).

Okay, here's the hard part. Get a candle and drip wax into the hole to fill up the insides. Not easy as they clog up the hole quickly so it's a repeated process of drip drip drip, clean hole, drip drip drip, clean hole, drip drip drip. Takes a full half day for ONE seed but totally worth it. We kids back then have plenty of time. Less homework, or rather play first, homework later (what homework?) ;p.

Once it's full, heat the wax near the hole and quickly put back that skin to cover the hole.

You can see the seed on the right no longer have a skin to cover the wax while the other seed's skin has shrunk!

That's it! These are champions and have never been beaten, which accounts for why I still have them ;). There's another secret to making them look good. Rubber seeds all look alike except for their shape. So how does mine have distinct colours and shape? You need to remove it's outer skin. Break open any rubber seeds or those that have been cracked and use its fleshy insides to polish your rubber seed. It will gain a sheen and reveal its true colours. That's when you'll know what type of seeds you've got! The kapok have got ridges, that make them strong (looks like one of those aliens' shells) while Buah-Cina-Mati is wedge shape to give it a good hammer action. Which is stronger here? Don't know. Never pitted them against each other. Never will. Shared title lah.

Boring looking normal unpolished rubber seeds.

These are the capsules with three lobes = three rubber seeds

The way we find ours is because we know which tree has what seeds. That's how we got the name of Buah-Cina-Mati. You see, it is so sought after you won't find them on the floor of the rubber estate. To get them, you'll need to climb the tree to get it's seed capsule. That's where the story went that a Chinese boy fell to his death trying. Of course there are experts who climb them and sell the seeds. Make more money per ounce than tapping rubber sap I tell you. Real wan.

I love the sounds of crackling rubber seed capsules exploding and raining down seeds. When you hold them right after they fall, it's warm.

Another prank we did using rubber seeds is to rub them hard on the cement floor and touch a friend. It BURNS! And I tell you, do it properly and you leave a scar! Hahaha...

It's a shady escapade and we can spend hours here looking for seeds. Prized ones.

These are the kind of rubber estate that was behind my house after plots of padi fields. They are not the types you see along the old trunk roads that are well kept with lined trees and commercialized. There were lots of undergrowth, so we have to watch out for SNAKES. Oh yes, we need to watch out for bees too, cos there were lots of bee hives. You are not hard-core if you have not been stung by bees or face-off with a snake. Twice I had close shaves with cobras.

Other distractions here are spiders, the fighting ones. We catch them and put them in match boxes. Another posts perhaps about spiders :)

Those were the days. Good days where our cares in life was indeed so simple, just don't get stung!!!