Alor Star Foodie Trip

It is rare that we can get all our Song nephews and niece with their spouses and children together for an outing. This is where social network comes to play and made it possible for us to coordinate the dates and get all on board way before they planned their trip back to Penang. All thanks Facebook.
Note: technology is integral to this blog post ;)

Enjoying "Lam Mee" before the journey starts.

And so the day began with how else but breakfast before the journey. And we rendezvous at Island Glades for the famous Lam Mee. Have to start with makan on a foodie trip right?

We had to go back to Edwin's apartment to get his phone (young and forgetful) and also a change of clothes for one of the kids. Then it's first stop at Bedong just a little North of Sungai Petani. And we were there just for Man Tau and Herbal Tea.

The ritual before any meal. Camera and smartphones eat first!

Steaming hot and fluffy on the outside and crispy and savory inside. Everyone tried to guess what's the ingredient but no winners here as we don't have a clue what's in it that tastes sooooo good. Secret recipe I guess.

Savouring his last bite!

Terence can't get enough of it and it goes so well with the Hor Yan Hor herbal tea with sour plum. Just the appetizer before lunch in Alor Star.

We travelled in 2 vehicles so we used an app called Voxer to help us communicate walkie-talkie style. Hi-tech stuff is just the thing for this bunch. After a leisurely drive where padi fields were the main attraction (you're talking about a group that NEEDS rice) we reached Alor Star, where our Song roots started.

Lunch was at a place where their Ah Kong used to frequent for lunch call Restoran LTK. Typical Alor Star choo char. And what a lunch it was. Evidenced by the plates left after the meal.

Big cheh cheh now got duty. Anthea watching over Emmanuel.

Food almost finish but notice the amount of rice still on their plates.

To work off lunch, the shop guy told us we must visit the Padi Museum when in Alor Star so we thought it's a good idea for rice kaki like us. So we took out Waze (remember I said we're a hi-tech bunch) and set towards the museum, passing Jalan Putra where their Ah Kong and Ah Mah used to stay. It was a longer journey than anticipated and signages were literally non-existence. Had to trust Waze to get us there.

Sam getting his children up-close to Mr. Lion.

Finally we arrived and spend much time (like all the time) shooting in macro mode on ants, flies, eggs, spiders, dragonflies and flowers. The children were fascinated by the lion sculpture at the entrance. Padi was not on the agenda and we cheapskate travelers refused to pay the entrance fee just to see how padi is grown and harvested. Being cheapo must have been a Penang thing ;p.

Shot of the day, the frozen still Mr. Fly.

And these are the very aggressive fire ants. Had to warn the kids not to go near.

And here is the proof. Fire ants that lined the drains and my shot of the day, a close up of a fly, like really really close. But we did find time to take the only group photo for the trip. Tada, two generation of Songs in one picture. Wish Pam, Ky-Shen and Jo Law was here. That would really complete the picture.

These are one of the most well behaved children we have seen. Make traveling with children a real joy!

Next stop is the home I was at as a toddler. It has now become a coffee shop so we decided to stop there for tea and coffee before going for laksa. This is after all a foodie trip right?!

This use to be my home till I was eight.

Terence loved the coffee here but Melinda and I found the tea so so only. Told them who stayed in which room and where the jambu tree and banana trees were. I also went to Flickr (hi-tech wat) and showed them classic black and white photos of the house when we were staying there. It was down memory lane indeed for me.

We decide to go somewhere for the kids as they have been so well behaved even though they are tired following us adults on non-stop eating. So it's to the Alor Star garden.

We walked quite a distance from the car park to get to some Malay stalls that sell laksa Kedah! Must eat whenever in Alor Star. It was just beside a man-made pond, where I used to go steal water plants for my aquarium. Hehehe...Fell into it once!

The long walk in the gardens to get to more food!

Chek chek faster faster shoot. You can see Edwin eyeing mine too.

The laksa coupled with ice kacang were the perfect tea before dinner. All the Songs prefer Malay laksa to Penang laksa because the noodles are made of rice which has a different texture. And the soup, yummy. Sour not sweet. No "Ong Lai".

The kids had some time running around and went on the swings. Poor things, this was the only time they got to have some fun. And they thoroughly deserved it for being so well behaved. Credit goes to the parents! Melinda got to carry Elliot, and at his age, just so cute with his adorable eyes. Heart melts.

Meet Elliot. Dreamy eyes...

By the time we left, the sun has set and it's time for dinner. I wanted to take them to "Hai Tau Kee" but it has shifted so we had to guess the location based on the direction given by the boss of Restoran LTK, where we had lunch. We finally found it on the other side of the river where the old market was. It's now more like a hawker centre but all the stalls are still there.

The place where excellent Alor Star hawker food congregates.

Our must-have orders are Alor Star "Wanton Mee" which is different from Penang's being lightly flavored and no "or tau eiu" and "Ying Yong", which we call "Char Hor Fun" in Penang. Terence loved it and said its better than the one at Bee Hooi. We also had "See Kuo Th'ng" but it is not so good any more with less ingredients. We also ordered "Ban Chean Kueh" and "O-Chean". Another feast and this one is to round up our foodie trip.

By now the kids are ready to call it a day and so are we. What a trip of non-stop eating.

Elliot and Emmanuel have gone to dreamland and we had our fill of Alor Star flavours and are already looking forward to the next trip.

Baby is Hungry!!!

Babee was back this weekend and wanted to have breakfast (and) lunch with us so it's Hai Onn for healthy toast and eggs.

Then she and wifey went to steam their hair while after dropping me at office.

And lunch is her favourite CRC Restaurant where surprise surprise she opted for something different - curry prawns.

Had a wonderful time catching up and wifey spent quality time with baby talking sweet nothings to her during breakfast.

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.

A very Indian Chinese New Year

We had a reunion dinner for the Tongs and since we are hosting this year we opt to go Indian for a change.

And so we booked Palace d'India and all were to meet there at 1.30pm. Melinda's sister and brother came over to "pai chnia" us first so I picked them up from Desa Bella.

I almost fainted when they came out of the lift. What have I gotten myself into. Here were three little "Indians" getting into my car.

They were taking this lunch real serious, dress code and everything.

We had great fun though, catching up, taking photos and the relatives watching Pam's wedding videos on iPads. The food was great too.

Well, next year won't be our turn so it'll probably be back to the usual lunch at a Chinese Restaurant.

The Three Little Indians

I'm the one in bright RED, very Chinese, thank you very much

They're the Tongs from Singapore, Sei Sam, JJ and Sei Suk watching Pam's wedding videos

Ku Che and Ku Cheong with Raymond watching on the other iPad

And here's one for the family album

Ku Che and Ku Cheong

Yee Suk and Yee Sum

And group photo after lunch. Everyone there except the photographer ;)

CNY Reunion circa 2012

Reunions are one of the most important of our Chinese culture's many special occasions and especially needful in today's busy society where everyone in the family is all over busy with their own life.

So at least once a year we get to meet and eat as a family. To see how the kids have grown over the year and catch up on the latest happenings.

With my parents gone, we meet at my brother's condo. It's a simple reunion with everyone bringing a dish or two, coordinated between the wives.

On the table are the must have jiu hoo char with fresh lettuce, bayam soup, curry chicken, lor bak, lap cheong, roasted chicken and sambal belacan. (Sorry no photos. By the time I remembered, they were half gone!)

So after dinner, we took the chance to take photo of each family members who were there.

Jimmie Song and Grace. Children are Henry, Joanne and Jessica

Steven Song, Josephine and Anthea

Edwin Song and Grace

Calvin and Olivia. And their cute daughters Sophia and Emma