Motormouth From Ipoh – A Malaysian Food Blog

Continuation from Chapter 3 – From Phuket to Krabi …

This chapter is all about the Krabi night market in Krabi town, situated about 30 minutes away from Ao Nang beach. To get from Ao Nang area to Krabi town, we took the ‘bus’ (more like a songthaew, or mini truck/tuk-tuk) for 50 baht /RM5 /USD1.40 per person. The bus plies the route all around Ao Nang; the main roads, at least. So you can board the bus almost anywhere if you’re walking parallel to the shores of Ao Nang beach. Take note that after 6pm (Thailand time), the rate increases to 60 baht/RM6/USD1.70 per person automatically.

When the tide is low, you can literally walk on waters …..

The ride was smooth, albeit the journey rather long on the bumpy mini-truck that we were sitting on. But the cooling breeze was all too welcoming, caressing our faces at the speed the bus was zipping past the other vehicles. And at that moment, I knew that This …. Is My Vacation.

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Continuation from Krabi/Phuket 2010 (Part Two) – Patong Beach, Red Light District & Thai Seafood in Phuket

The previous day’s endeavours had us sleeping in rather late, relinquishing every single minute of the morning, drawn to the comfort of our beds at Loveli Boutique Guesthouse. This was our last morning in Phuket, by the way.

A far cry from the congested, with bodies laid bare (literally) on the tanning beds the day before …. The world wakes up at 11am-ish in Patong of Phuket, it seemed.

A stroll around town revealed that even the locals in Patong do not practise an early to bed, early to rise concept. Completely understandable, given the rather ‘notorious’ moniker accredited to Patong as THE epitome of nightlife in Phuket. It was already about 10am (Thailand time, 11am Malaysian time) and yet the beach boys manning the stretch of beach beds and the masseurs plying the same route were barely up and running, judging from the pace they were setting up their respective businesses.

Breakfast of freshly grilled cuts of pork belly, and the evergreen Thai breakfast classic of noodle soup with chicken/pork

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For the benefit of those who felt tormented by the incessant ramblings, long-winded nonsense (ever so common if you’re here often), and millions of words jumbled into one single post, fret not.

I’ve decided to limit the relentless ramblings for this Krabi-Phuket 2010 in review, preferably in less than 5 posts.

Which of course, may NOT be possible.

Krabi  Bus Station is situated at a most rural of location, not too obvious from the main roads, and reminded me of those bus stopovers in smaller towns, like Gopeng in Perak, for example.

The two-way flight from Kuala Lumpur-Krabi-Kuala Lumpur cost RM140 / USD40 per person, courtesy of Air Asia. Yeah, book early for such promotions, and erm… as cliche as this may sound; Everyone REALLY Can Fly. For your information, a bus/minivan from Penang to Krabi which takes about 9 hours will cost you about RM70 / USD20 for ONE-way. And our flight took us a mere ONE hour. Go do the Maths, then come back.

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Pardon the hiatus, people. Happy New Year, no matter how belated this greeting may sound. But of course, it’s Happy New YEAR, not Happy 1st of January, so anytime’s fine I assume. I was down to Malacca/Kuala Lumpur for the past week, a much needed and deserved 2 weeks break from the office. Which is still undergoing renovation and smelling like glue+chemicals. But I have to admit …. the combination of stench was rather intoxicating. Wait, I am NOT being myself here …… Let’s do a short post on the Malacca getaway now, okay?

The Journey to the South started on the 30th of December 2009 – A most auspicious day. Don’t ask why.

And thus, we embarked on our road trip down south, preparing for the worst possible jam (remember that dastardly 7 hours jam from Penang to Ipoh back in November last year?) but pleasantly surprised by the smooth traffic all the way til Malacca from Ipoh. We did make a few stops here and there, to cater to those bursting bladders and incessant needs to satisfy the hunger pangs. NOT mine, definitely. For I was still in a state of unrest, bordering on turmoil if you will. That lingering effect of a stale prawn lasted me for TWO years, literally. Few days, spanning from the end of December until the start of the brand new year of 2010.

So you can imagine how my year started off with a BANG! (Not the most pleasant kind, for sure). Unlike 2009’s Tenji experience. Wait …. come to think about it, that was NOT much of a satisfactory start either. Oh well ….. deja vu then.

Pun Chun @ Bidor – Duck Noodles (RM6.60)

We stopped over at Bidor in Perak, at the most famous restaurant in the small town populated with a majority of Chinese eateries. You can read about my previous lacklustre experience back in 2008, when I felt disappointed with the quality of the duck thigh noodles back then. And equally dismayed at the shrinking in size, and increasingly pricey ‘Wu Kok’ (Yam puff).

But this visit proved otherwise, for we felt that the noodles (their own, QQ-texture/springy egg noodles aka wantan mee) tossed lightly in a mix of soy sauce, dark soy sauce and a dash of compulsory sesame oil scored brilliant, brownie points with us. Yup, in comparison to some other ‘over-rated’ versions of the same noodles (no prize for guessing which, you can dig for them in my archive), Pun Chun’s version was really good. My expectations was low, but surpassed indefinitely. And the upper thigh of the duck, cooked in a most wholesome and flavourful herbal concoction (you can slurp them all down without feeling the thirst, a sign of omission of MSG/flavour-enhancer) was tender, fork tender (or in this case, chopstick-tender?) with a slight tinge of gamey taste, exactly how I like my duck.

The yam puff was still …. erm, pathetically small and dry. And it’s RM1.60 per piece now. No idea what’s the fuss about them, as you can get other superior versions in dim sum outlets in Ipoh, and even some random stalls at the market. There’s a FANTASTIC variety sold at the Bercham morning market, though I have no idea which stall specifically.

Address : Pun Chun Restaurant – Duck Noodles, Wantan Mee, Yam Puff
38-40, Jalan Besar,
35500 Bidor, Perak, Malaysia
Telephone : 605-434 1554,605-434 1562

Okay, so what’s next? Off to the south we go ….. for some Seremban Siew Pow by the expressway !!!

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Last post for the year 2009 – Let me recap on some of the year’s highlights. Cannot write about food for the time being, for some specific reasons (P/S : You can find some hints in this post). So kindly allow me to gloat (ahem, NOT) or rather, write a complete summary of my travels throughout the year. You ready for this?(Go for toilet break, a smoke or something, this is gonna be LONG!)

1. HANOI ON A SHOE-STRING (FEBRUARY 2009)

No doubt one of the year’s most memorable moment was our Hanoi trip back in February-March of this year. Back then the weather was cool, almost freezing at times, especially when we were strolling around Hoan Kiem Lake near to Old Quarters. The incessant honking of motorcycles aside, the 8 days trip were filled with adventures and MISadventures (what else do you expect, with Motormouth around?), ranging from nearly frost-bitten on the deck of the junk boat at Halong Bay to getting pestered relentlessly by the natives at Sapa town. Not to mention the magnificent street foods of Hanoi, from the perennial favourite of many ; the Pho Bo (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup), extra ‘kaw’ Vietnamese coffee by the roadside (literally, as we were seated on those small plastic stools), and Banh My (baguette sandwich with PORK!).

We did dine at some restaurants, albeit not of 5-stars stature. Highway 4 Restaurant serves wacky snails, tiny crabs fried WHOLE, and delicious catfish spring rolls. Quan An Ngon remains as our top pick; a place for an extensive array of ‘cleaner’ street foods, all aggregated in one location.

For the whole itinerary, jump over to this post : HANOI 2009 – On A Shoestring Budget

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