Kow Po Revisited

Kow Po is that famous family-owned ice-cream parlour in Bentong. I tried their cendol (icy dessert of green jelly in coconut milk, sweetened with palm sugar) this time and was delighted to find a scoop of pandan (screwpine) flavoured ice-cream on it.

While home-made ice cream is their signature product, part of the appeal of the place is the old-school containers and high-back diner-style chairs of the 60’s. The place is also quite dark, perhaps harking back to the dimly-lit coffee-houses that served as courting venues during yesteryears.

There is also a Malay lady selling some killer nasi lemak and rojak for which I didn’t try. On weekends, there are literally busloads of people lining up to get in.

Map and directions to Kow Po in Bentong: http://www.mycen.my/kow-po-ice-cream-bentong/

Warung Ais Krim Kow Po, Bentong Heights, 28700 Bentong, Pahang. Tel: +609 222 1258

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f4.5, 1/50 sec.

#pandan #cendol #icedessert #kowpo #icecream #bentong #pahang

Finding Food

People caught without food were spared from looking at the lavish and sumptuous meals posted continuously by some unaffected west coast Instagrammers.

In my years of covering the monsoonal floods, I have come to admire how resilient the kampung folk are. They are used to the annual calamity and they adapt as best as they can.

In the countryside, those who are skilled at cast net fishing can find food in the flood waters outside their kampung house. This man told me I should have come a day earlier to see him catch a tilapia as long as his outstretched arms. I doubt it was the usual angler’s exaggeration. He said it can feed a hungry family.

Others wait for supplies or are fed where they are temporary housed at relief centers. Salute to the aid workers, uniformed personnel, volunteers and everybody in the chain for providing help to the affected. I brought my own Penang White Curry Mee instant ramen; the hipster fad or flavour of 2014.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 400, f4, 1/1000 sec.

#floods #banjir #fishing #aftermath #landscape #temerloh #pahang #malaysia #sonyalpha #a7r #zess #tbt

Watching Wet Soda Dry

An Indian grocery shop man drying goods that are salvageable. Most of the other goods inside the shop are permanently damaged.

Gotta love Temerloh people. Everywhere I go, from flooded villages to the suburbs to town, I am greeted with a warm smile. Not to make less of their sufferings but I think they are such resilient people. Exuding sunshine under the dark clouds.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 200, f4, 1/400 sec.

#floods #banjir #landscape #nature #smile #temerloh #pahang #malaysia #sonyalpha #a7r #zeiss

Picking Up The Pieces

Picking Up The Pieces.

One of the many unsung victims of the floods are the small independent businesses. Not many shops are insured or can insure against such natural disasters. The damages for each shop can exceed millions of ringgit.

At this electrical shop, this young man is trying to salvage whatever that is left. He is wiping and brushing mud off a LED bulb, hoping to sell it cheap. He can’t test it now as this part of town is still without electricity.

Expecting the usual annual floods, the shopkeepers and workers moved everything to the upper shelves. The fast rising water that swarmed the shop was unusually strong. The shelves, racks and goods collapsed.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f5.6, 1/80 sec.

#floods #banjir #landscape #damage #temerloh #pahang #malaysia #blackandwhite #sonyalpha #a7r #zeiss

Rural Crossing

Sweet Couple On The Road To Lake Bera.

The road from Temerloh to Tasik Bera in Jerantut has become a lake itself. What I found really inspiring and humbling here is the spirit of the people.

Despite the debilitating hardships, everyone remained friendly, courteous and ever ready to smile when they see a stranger with a camera.

Every resident I spoke to, voluntarily shared their harrowing story or take on the devastating floods.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 800, f4, 1/400 sec.

#documentaryphotography #floods #banjir #landscape #temerloh #pahang #rural #countryside #smalltown #malaysia #sonyalpha #a7r #tbt