Ambitious?

Behold my most recent purchase


*beams proudly

When I showed my mum, she sniffed and gave me this scornful look like I was some pathetic twit that ought to be squashed. She said, "HAAA??? LEARNING FROM BOOKS???" and then proceeded to launch into a lecture in Mandarin, only bits of which I was able to comprehend, "... you should be learning by speaking!... yakyakyakyak... come on I can speak to you in Mandarin!... yakyakyakyak... haiyo... yakyakyakyak". Isn't it funny how haiyo is still haiyo even in a foreign language?

From Mon to Tues I was in Taiping with MF and JG. I haven't been to Taiping in ages, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that nothing's changed (save for a new hotel or two, and a Tesco). The journey there was traffic free *ahem thanks to my great idea to leave the Merdeka crowd in KL behind to eat our dust. Before reaching Taiping, we made a pitstop in Ipoh to grab lunch. Had an assortment of foodstuff, including curry mee, fuchuk+meat/fishball soup and chee cheong fun. The chee cheong fun tasted a little different from what I'm used to... it was slimier and was mixed with minced meat. It had an interesting taste, edible nonetheless.

Our accommodation of choice in Taiping was the newly opened Flemington Hotel, just overlooking the Lake Gardens. It's bright and clean, and the interior decor is simple and modern. Our room was a little small though, with no proper cupboard. There was only a tiny, as-tall-as-my-knees cabinet on the floor and you can't exactly hang clothes in there can you. Behind our hotel is the infamous Taman Elia Thamby, a hotspot for ah kua watching. The Lake Gardens is beautiful during the day, but at night it doubles as a place for maksiat activities. Hahaha! We saw so many couples out to berpaktoh when we were on our way to the Night Safari. Speaking of which, the Night Safari is not fantastic. When I was in Singapee last month, I went to the Night Safari there and it was amazing! There was a guided tour, and the tram would stop at certain locations for you to get down and walk. Sometimes the tram would drive right through a bunch of animals feeding so that if you stretched your hand out you could actually touch them (although nobody did that la, but I'm just explaining how close we were). The tour guide would also point out where the animals were in their enclosures so that everyone could get a good look. Whereas in Taiping, it was kinda like "if you see then your luck la, if you don't see then too bad." The pathways were also really dark, although maybe it's better for the animals that way? There are, however, alot of animals in the Taiping Zoo, and it looked like a generally well-planned place. I just think I'd have enjoyed it far more if I went there during the day rather than at night.

Taiping is actually a great place to retire. Good (AND BLINKING CHEAP) food, nice weather, peaceful (don't have to worry about snatch thieves) and lots of retiree-type activities eg. pa san-ing up Maxwell Hill, taking leisurely walks around the Lake Gardens, watching the sunset from Flemington Hotel. Coincidentally, the town is also filled with "mature" people. It's kinda like the Cambridge of Malaysia. All in all, it was a very relaxed and relaxing trip. We didn't have to use our brains much except for when we were hunting for food. The highlight of the trip for me was probably the thor tau th'ng, a groundnut soup dessert. Took us awhile to figure out how to get there but we made it eventually, thanks to MF and JG's friend Michelle, who is from Taiping. It's reaaaaaaalllyyyyy good!!!!!!!!! I think it's just groundnuts boiled for a long time in soyabean water... the texture is akin to red bean soup and the taste is exquisiteeee. Ugh I can't even find a nice picture of it on Google. Just thinking about it makes me salivate, but it's gonna be awhile till I get my hands on some again :(

P/S No pictures cos I didn't bring my camera with me but I think MF will prob post some on her blog.