Liew Kee Of Teluk Intan

It is so famous that it spawned so many imitations in Klang Valley’s pasar malam stalls or the night markets. The imitations tasted lousy, having tried the original. The iconic stall, Liew Kee is as famous as the Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan.

If it is your first time, you may be surprised to discover the restaurant to be a shack or a crumbling wooden house. There are maybe a couple of rickety tables outside for dine in. The main door is always locked and customers order takeaway packets through a gap. Things may have changed. This is based on my experience one late night, 9 years ago

The queue is always very long and I saw one guy buy 250 packs! Pity the hungry folks queuing behind him. The business started in the 1920’s when Port Anson was a thriving hub serving the whole of Perak. As with the old days, plain old newspapers (including the obituary sections) are still used as wrap.

The rice flour rolls are pockmarked with strange patterns because they are steamed with turnip, dried shrimp and fried onion crisps.

The delicacy is eaten plain or with pickled green chilies (instead of drowning it with yucky sweet sauce). I was there one night at 3 am. Since everything was so secretive, I was surprised the lady proprietor invited me in to photograph the kitchen from inside. Pics coming up next. No. It was not my charms. Maybe it was because I was with the MP’s special assistant. In a small town, people look up to the MP and will call him when there is a power failure or if a rubber slipper or flip flop was stolen. Life is such.

Are the CCF really that good? Yes and consistently so. Yumz.

#telukintan #telukanson #perak #liewkee #cheecheongfun #ricerolls #smalltown

To Fart Is To Prosper

The riverine town of Teluk Intan may be sinking due to river erosion and erosion of the coastline. It is a complicated and complex problem but the people there remain rather optimistic. The town seems to have the highest number of licensed gaming outlets east of Vegas.

Teluk Intan is so cool, in that it has a lottery shop that is a ride in (top left) at the time of my visit in 2008. Quite practical as many punters are motorcyclists and they can just ride up to the counter to place bets.

Also from my blog: The Seong Fart coffee shop has since renamed the contentious word to Fatt. It is similar sounding to Fart in Cantonese though. Or Huat in Hokkien. Both means to prosper. Even legendary Hong Kong actor Chow Yun Fatt foresaw potential problems when he decided to seek fame and fortune in the States. He smartly renamed it to Fat.

Was assisted by Ms Foo Mei Ling, special assistant to the then Teluk Intan MP.

A Tree In Sungai Lembing

While searching for the previous tree image, I found one image from 2007 photographed in Sungai Lembing, the historical mining town. There was also a tree in the middle of the road. That was ten years ago and I am not sure if it is still there. Maybe recent visitors can confirm.

Known as the El Dorado of the East, it was once a bustling cowboy town in Pahang. It had one of the world’s biggest and deepest underground tin mine while it was in operation. Today it is a sleepy, rustic town with a few relics still standing in the ghost town. It was like as if time stood still, all of a sudden.

2017 re-processing of the image made the colours pop. Originally, it was flat and dull. I still remember having a homemade pineapple ice drink with boiled pineapple cubes and attap chee at the stall across the road. Wonderful stuff.

My friend the famous turtle scientist and conservationist Pelf Nyok has a cousin staying there who can guide and ferry you to the famous rainbow waterfall. I didn’t go though. It was on the local hipster bucketlist during the last decade.

Olympus E-510, ISO 200, f10, 1/250 sec

#sglembing #pahang #tree #smalltown #tree #nature #heritage

Trees Are Poems The Earth Writes Upon The Sky

A re-visit to Pasir Penambang. the small seafood and fishing town off Kuala Selangor, brought a smile to my face. Happy to see the old tree in the middle of the road still standing and alive. In a society with scant regard for conservation and preservation of nature and old things, it was surprising to see the tree still in the middle of the road spared – four years on.

I last photographed it in 2013 and titled it King Of The Road – Small Town. Big Tree. Instead of using sepia, I used Nik Collection’s Color Efex Pro 4 Bi-Colour Filter for the current image It is similar to bi-color Cokin filters of old days.

Although published in my old blog and on Instagram, I made the mistake of not tagging it adequately. Finding the previous image was tough and it took a while.

Upper: Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f11, 1/640 sec. (2013)
Lower: Panasonic Lumix GM-1, ISO 200, f10, 1/320 sec (2017)

#pasirpenamambang #kualaselangor #smalltown #tree #nature #landscape

Cendol Ibrahim Banting – A Cursory Review

Off the bat, I like the metal bowl and metal spoon used. It always make the cendol concoction feels colder. Love the coarsely textured shaved ice too but the green cendol jellies tasted a little too salty. And it was not because of the santan (coconut milk brew).

I regretted not specifying “Kurang Manis”(less sweet) as some regulars did. Lessening the palm sugar can reduce the sweetness significantly. Not sure if it will do well with the saltiness of the cendol.
The shop sells its own complementary mamak rojak pasembor too. I tried it on a previous trip and it was quite good.

Panasonc Lumix GM-1, ISO 200, f7.1, 1/200 sec.

#banting #cendol #dessert #shavedice #drink #ice #localfood #foodphotography #foodreview #smalltown