SY has family in the sleepy city of Kuala Terengganu. Due to the distance and the fact that weekend in KT falls on a Friday and Saturday, quite a number of her relatives can't make it down to KL for our wedding reception. With that, we 'brought' the reception to them instead ... well, sort of.
So the in-laws, the wife and I hopped onto one of MAS's 737 and and less than an hour later, we set foot on KT's spanking new airport, the Sultan Mahmud Airport. *Hope I got the name right* The new hub is way better than the old one with much cleaner amenities. From the airport, we took a 5 minute drive to KT's latest tourist spot ... their front page grabbing stadium which collapsed not too long ago. That's RM300 million in tax payer's moolah down the drain yo. We happily snapped away and noticed all around, others were doing the same. Haha ... well, at least now that twisted piece of junk metal is good for something.
SY's uncle picked us up in his very sexy 3 month old Honda Accord and we headed straight to Jalan Kampung Cina ... KT's chinatown of sorts. First stop, Kedai Kopi Ping An *again, I hope I got the name right :p*. From the outside, it looks like any other typical coffee shop. It's quaint and it's old but let me tell you this ... they serve THE F**KING BEST ROTI BAKAR EVAAAAAA!!! Ain't kidding yo. The locals call this kinda bread 'paung' and the base of the bread is laced with butter whilst baked. Before serving, the paung is cut in half, re-heated in an oven and on the sides, generous slabs of butter and 'kaya' (coconut jam). The blend of creamy salty butter, the sweet aromatic kaya and the crunchy-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside paung ... heavenly I tell ya!!! We also ordered fried kuay teow on the sides but that's nothing to shout home about.
After a hearty meal, we walked around the area and visited SY's relatives. Being such a small town and catering for an even smaller Chinese community, everyone seems to know everyone there. We were stopped every 5 paces or so by someone or another for a brief chat to catch up. The in-laws went into the nearby Thean Hou Gong temple to pray. Built in 1896 during the Qing Dynasty, this piece of heritage is actually listed under the UNESCO's World Monument Watch programme. Cool huh.
More family visits before we checked into our hotel, the Primula Park Royal hotel. I learned then that this hotel used to be one of SY's favourite hotel back when she was a kid. I wonder if it's still her fav resort now that she has been to Baros. :p
We took a decent nap and took a stroll by the beach when the weather was most pleasant. Heck, we even bought a kite and it soared high indeed fueled by the ever strong ocean bayou.
Our dinner 'reception' was at Ocean Restaurant and we catered for 3 full tables. The food was nothing less than scrumptious and for very good money too. We feasted on lobster, an assortment of seadfood, steamed red snapper, roasted chicken & duck, fresh greens etc. By the time dinner ended, we were most gastronomically satisfied. :)
While SY's mom continued spending more time with family, her dad took us on a leisurely drive around the city before heading back to the hotel to call it a night.
The next morning, we were treated to an authentic local breakfast at the hotel's coffee house and the main item on the menu was nasi dagang. Sticky rice drizzled with gravy and accompanying condiments, it was delish. Since we had time before our flight home, we went back to chinatown for more makan session. We simply couldn't resist having more 'paung' and some noodles. SY's aunt also insisted on us taking home boxes of keropok lekor (local fish crackers) etc.
Our tastebuds were worked overtime when we went to a temple somewhere in the outskirts for a vegetarian lunch. By that time, I couldn't really recall what I stuffed myself with but I knew the food was goooooood.
We slugged our heavy bellies to the airport immediately after lunch and took a relaxing flight home promising to return again for more of em' killer paung. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment