Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Sungkai - Perak, Malaysia (Overnight Excursion)

Have you realise how stressful life is these days? Indeed, I won’t deny. I am of course not at all talking about the headline grabbing glamorous social media life many are living, I am certainly referring to life behind the fast lane which bounces big balls of fire. Let’s call the big hard balls as the challengers, especially in the city, what matters most undisputedly is money. Money! No money, sorry to say everyone, we are doomed ding-dong-bell because in front of each step we take, money is the leader. Money may be sunny in a rich man world, nevertheless, money does not fall from the sky though some people I know are under the impression that by praying daily, god will throw money down. Unfortunately though, the reality is otherwise. Slogging non-stop for your career or business is the ringtone for proud-pride status and tagging with it is naturally stress.    

Really, I can really understand why because stress is akin one of my best friends too. Perhaps I have a tiny bit of liberty in avoiding the daily crawl and brawl due to working from home, but mind you, my stress level does sock-in the daily grind day and night lights out of me. Being married to someone who is highly committed to his business, my plate is forever bursting with a list of daily chores which monstrously ball wreck me against the wall. That’s why every now and then I break free by taking an excursion escape route (Port Dickson, Penang & Malacca). Just a day out of my house as well as out of city madness is absolutely a breather, this time I enrouted by tagging along with the couple to Sungkai. No plans whatsoever, in fact a free and easy going with the flow outing, we took a slow drive prior to arriving in Sungkai at about 1.00pm. Since we didn’t have any clue whatsoever on where lunch should be, a google search thereafter led us to the highly recommended Restaurant Choy Kee (Taman Sungkai Perdana). 
Walking in past 1.30pm before securing a table among the rest of the customers who were still streaming in none stop, we opted for their famed Pork Knuckles and Steamed Fresh Water Prawns and also included Kangkung Belacan,White Rice and Jasmine Tea. Our patience was tested for the next at least 15 minutes, well we had to wait and once the dishes arrived one after the other, we hungrily devoured in. Tender to its core and cooked alongside the core ingredients of soy sauce and black vinegar, atop with some blanched sawi/choy sum, Port Knuckles must be highly hailed. Walla! Fab fantastic.
The Fresh Water Prawns steamed with egg whites and tad-bit of Chinese wine, atop alongside crispy fried ginger, coriander leaves and spring onion was another pleasurable dish whereas water spinach/kangkung stir fried over flying high flame with belacan/shrimp paste, garlic and chillies further hunger triggered us (Restoran Meng Kee Old Klang Road). Despite struggling to polishing off every bit of it, we absolutely agreed that it was worth paying for such authentic Chinese tastes. Not cheap mind you though I can't exactly remember how much we paid. 
Thereafter, we walked to the shop next door. Initially we thought we will just glimpse at the various types of sweet, sour and savoury snacks, still, in the end we couldn't resist buying some albeit priced at market rate as in Kuala Lumpur.



We then drove around to view a couple of home stays and hotels. Noooo!!  Not to our liking, actually, you know what? What you see online is not what you get. So, back to driving again until we were satisfied upon stepping foot in Felda Residence Hot Springs. Welcoming woody-rustic reception area and our third floor room facing the far and beyond luscious greenery was nicely-cleanly set up and came with the always looked forward to toiletries and drinks facilities. However, I can’t comment on the wifi since I was contented with my own super data roaming.  


Checking into room to leave our bags, later we walked all over the wide huge area while noting the varieties of local herbs and then stopped at the hot springs  to dip our hands and legs instead of diving inside to avoid being blistered by its heat as well the hot weather. The clear cold mountain stream water pool further up on the other hand certainly was the cooling spot for splashing and kiddy-landing.
  



Almost half an hour of water fun, we then showered but the plan for a spa treatment didn't materialize because spa doors are pulled together by 6.00pm. No point whining or harping about it, next was dinner at the café over fried mee goreng and Chinese style gravy noodles. Pow-Wow!

Deliciously captivated our taste buds and one which caught up by surprise too, after lingering for a while at the reception, we returned to the room. I as usual generally can’t shut down by 10.00pm, so I played a few rounds of candy rush and then tucked into bed by 1.00am. Just as I dozed off, don’t know if I was dreaming but it was so real that I thought I noticed a huge black python crawling across the bed headboard, and just so soon I felt as if this frightening thingy had so tightly gripped my whole body until I couldn’t breathe neither scream. I tried, I really tried to break free and after a couple of minutes of struggling, I managed to jump out of bed. Ohhh-hell-mell! How could it been possible? All lights were on and my saviour Ganesha was beside me. How? Tell me please? Honestly, I couldn’t comprehend.
Whatever, sweat dripping and my heart almost at the verge of flying out of the window, I didn’t even dare to look into the mirror. Badly trembling, I sat on the chair to regain my composure, I drank some water, I prayed again and I told myself that if hammer horror occurs again, I will run to the couple’s room. Thank god. God had mercy. I slept off. Next morning as we walked to the café, the couple were shocked to hear about my first ever spooky tale. They of course freaked out and in return told me that I can always hop over to their room should spookiness attack me again. What an experience. Bang! Now, let me get back to track on how breakfast fared. Sadly, breakfast was shaky. Food was eatable, but blur service crawled at slower than tortoise speed.

Still, honestly, we sincerely appreciated the warmth humble gesture of those who served us. As we tucked into our meal, we debated whether we should stay for another day. Then again, considering there’s nothing much to do except sitting back to enjoy the serene view or another dip at the water pool, we agreed to drive back home. And so we did. Indeed, this one day Sungkai trip did wonders for getting rid of my stress, it will also go down in my history book as unforgettable. Unforgettable due to Mr Black Python's spookiness. 

Show some love by trending alongside "travel with nava-k"on every other social media please!!





9 comments:

  1. Looks loke you had so much fun amazing images.

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  2. Food presentation looks so so only but glad tasted good.

    Yikes...what a scary night. You mention Lord Ganesha protected you. What it there when you enter the room earlier or did you bring it along from home?

    We once encounter an amulet hanging on a flat screen tv in a hotel in ipoh.middle of the night 8cm hear hammering ound. So scary. I dare not get out of the bed. Lucky hubi and son were around.

    Next morning cepat cepat check out and find another hotel.

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  3. Nice place for destress and good food

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  4. OMG, you were in Perak too? Can't see clearly, but that looks like a jumbo prawn! xoxo

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  5. The place looks fun and cool. Too bad you couldn't stay for longer.

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  6. Yummy good, looks like you a had a great time

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  7. Seems you had so much fun!

    Thank you for your wonderful comment on my earlier post :)

    Maybe you’d like to check out my new post: It’s Raining Mint With Sequins Jacket!

    Follow me on Google Plus

    Love
    Akanksha

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  8. Stress is for everyone.. working home or out bt there is way out of this? Perhaps yes holiday or may be visiting a new restaurant and eat good food.. the food looked delicious from what I see.. nice pics!!

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  9. The food was well prepared with exception of some greens that came with the steaks, that were properly washed and therefore gritty. reservations at cracker barrel

    ReplyDelete

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