Klang Bak Kut Teck Teh

I have so many food blog posts that I don't know which ones to start with. There are the Baling food post (which I cannot start on because most of the photos are with TY), then there's the Kampachi meal... @@

Decided to start on some of the recent ones. Went out cycling at Bukit Cahaya in Shah Alam with some of the old lifeguard friends. The hill is also where Skytrex is located. Rented bicycles at RM3 per hour, anyways the highlight is of course the meal to replace all those calories burnt.

Lye Siong brought us over to his girlfriend, Tien Sin's father's bak kut teh shop in Klang (off Jalan Besar) after I insisted we have the 'original Bak Kut Teh' and not the commercialized ones ^^"

Commercialized are the types of BKT that have been added with so many other ingredients that they have lost the true essence of BKT. This old shop Lye Siong brings us does not include meatballs, not beancurd sticks nor enoki mushrooms. It's made up of a simple equation of the broth, and the pork bones.

The shop has been around ever since Tien Sin's grandfather opened it. Even the shop sign is barely discernible. Apparently there have been food review TV shows who have approached the owner but he has refused simply because he doesn't like all the commercializing. Even some business owner has come to him wanting to reproduce his BKT in powdered form but he has also refused. I trust that this ensures quality control throughout all these years.

Cute little teapot.

Right. Enough talking, more on that reviews! ;)

Do not be deceived by its less than average appearance.

I have never tasted a better bak kut teh broth! The soup is so fragrant and rich in all sort of herbal ingredients. The pork meat so soft and succulent. Not all of the pork fat has been removed and when I sink my teeth into the soft fatty meat I almost melted.....

I tambah-ed like 2 more bowls of the broth cos it's simply omfgood.

When I say the BKT is simple, I mean it. No yu ca kuey (T___T) to accompany it. Not even chopped chilis or garlic!

Apparently, the brother of the owner also has another BKT shop just across the road. The shop is called Teck Seong (after googling, barely any results were found for this shop here). Lye Siong said that this Teck Teh shop is the first one to be opened. However, because the owner does not do much advertising/promoting hence the shop's business never seem to grow.

Which is why, a BKT shop this good, but it's only half-occupied. Only those who have been visiting the place for years or locals would ever know to visit this shop. Notice that even the shop sign does not declare this being a BKT shop lol.



I queried Lye Siong, whether his gf has learnt the absolute recipe for the BKT and Lye Siong said no (!!!) even though he has asked her to. I told Lye Siong that I would be more than happy to learn the recipe and cook for him when he wants to rofl.

Those green seaweed-ish stuff are the tea leaves.

Seriously I am going to learn how to make that fab BKT even if it kills me.


Jesselton City: The Aftermath

We reached our apartment at 6pm or so. Everyone was looking like crap (well most of them cuz they didn't shower at all, at least I did ;P), Evan wanted to puke in the bus with the extremely loud favorite movie of his Beyond Loch Ness on the bus...

I took a loooong shower, scrubbed every inch of skin I can reach to... waited for the others to finish cleaning up and finally had our tabao-ed dinner lol.

TY kerja... capturing all the stuff we brought for the trip. Lol. Let's see if I can list it all down: Snacks, counter pain, Yoko-yoko, bandages, contact lens solution, energy gel and power gel, raisins, ear plugs (for night in Laban Rata), toothbrush, glasses, extra contact lenses, headlamps, moisturiser, tissue, poncho, underwears, extra clothes, windbreaker, long johns.

Our hiking sticks lol. L-R SJ's shortest green stick, Evan's gold Gaga stick, Jo Lynn's bandaged stick, TY's tall black one and my own crooked one.

Wilson promised that he will bring over mentoku (local rice wine) and lihing once we finished our hike. True to his word, he brought all the goodies at 9:30pm. Swell guy, went the extra mile even though he's our travel guide. He even bought Javanese BBQ-ed meat and skewered chicken!

Hehehehhee.


Shall recommend him to anyone going to KK. It's a bit pricier but all worth it.

One by one falling apart because we were too tired. Wilson is the only one staying strong, that guy sure can drink! He told us stories about how he started drinking since very young when his friends cheated him into drinking wine, saying it's Ribena lol.

My favorite is the Lihing :) Sweet and smooth.

Kong-ed by 1am... only after making arrangements with Wilson to bring us to a FULL BODY MASSAGE!

Our session starts at 10:30am...

We went for the Kinabalu Climber's Package. The package lasts for 110 minutes and is supposed to relief fatigue, swelling, reduce muscle tension, prevent injuries and promote flexibility lol. The package also includes a body relaxation massage, hydrotherapy (which detoxify and release muscle aches) and thigh & foot massage.

Once we arrived (it's SJ, TY and me... Wei Inn and Jo Lynn were there earlier because Jo Lynn has a flight to catch back to Singapore and Wilson being the great guy went back and forth for us), we were served with a herbal drink called misai kucing (cat's whiskers literally) lol. It's supposed to make us relaxed or something like that.




Lol.


Brown thighs!

Spa interior.

The guys were invited to start first (hmmph...sexist)

Wilson killed some time with me showing pictures of his wedding, Bajau style. One thing prominent in the pictures are the vessels of alcohol! Lol.

Soon after, I was invited to get into the spa. I was to shower and clean myself up first with this Bean Essence Shampoo. After that, is the hydrotherapy where I soak myself in this bubbling tub that massages different parts of my body lol.



Got guide some more lol. First squatted down, then move here, arch there rofl. Fun also lar but after that it gets boring and I kept looking at the timer. Soaked in the tub for 20 minutes.

Then dried myself up and put on the robes.

If you must know, the robes are available in L sizes only.

Then comes my favorite part! The massage is oh-so-divine... They use oil imported from the USA (the owner of the spa works there apparently). And the oil contains a mixture of eucalyptus, bergamot, grapefruit and ginger.

I sounded like their staff lol.


:D

When we were done and paid for the massages, Wilson drove us back to our apartments and got all our things packed. It was already around 1pm. Then he dropped us all off at this large food court and recommended for us to try the local cuisine.


TY ordered this weird set. Can't remember what it's called.

I ordered the fried fish set. Comes with black rice and fried long beans with egg. Fish is large but tough though.

Also asked the waiter to recommend a vegetable dish and he picked this one. Mixed onions or something like that. Contains spring onions, erm, onions and erm more spring onions.

After lunch we made a pit stop at Cocoa Boutique, the large shop sells local cocoa products and is not available anywhere else (as what we were told).


They even have a replica of Mount Kinabalu made of chocolates! Lol...

Only got a box which is Tiramisu. Tastes really good, in room temperature that is. After dumping the chocolates in the fridge, somehow it's not as nice.

And then it's time to say bye bye to Sabah... Damn shitty lor cos I never bought any fridge magnets from the Gaya Sunday market then of all the dumb things to do, I went to the airport to get one T___T Costs a whopping RM12 as compared to Gaya market when I can easily get 3 magnets for RM10!

*&($%&$(*&#$(@


See you soon Borneo!

Jesselton City: Glory on Low's Peak

1:15am when the alarm buzzed.

Practically had to drag myself out of the bed. It was a huge relief though that the counter pain must have worked, no soreness felt in my legs. Brushed teeth with the icy cold water in the rest house and washed face. Shivered through the whole process.

Had some breakfast, leftovers of miniature burgers, bananas, and more of that energy bar. Bundled up with more layers, long johns, thick sweatshirt, waterproof windbreaker, another pair of pants, beanie hat, double layers of socks, thick pair of gloves and a head-mounted lamp lol.... good to go! Sounds like a lot but I think movements still not as limited as when I was a bak chang in North Dakota.

Around 2:40am, all of us were gathered at the front hallway and our guide ushered us out the back way. Obviously it was still very much dark and even though most of us probably did not get enough sleep but everyone looked wide awake (in the dark anyway).

Our guide spoke, "Matlamat kita hanya satu, ke puncak." Super cool the way he spoke hahahahha.

With that, we started to climb. We have 2.7km standing between us and the peak. Rain started to fall and that didn't help matters. The trail here is pretty straightforward. There are stairs and also rocks and roots to cling and climb on to. Nevertheless, it is not any easier because the way up at some points are pretty steep too.

It starts getting tough when we reached a large boulder and there is a rope running through the length of it. I was like, what the helll..... lol.... And yes, we have to pull ourselves up on the steeper grounds and there are no safety harness whatsoever in case that you fall. The guides were very helpful though, gave me a hand here and there. I did not take any pictures on the way up as it was too dark to capture anything and also it's a bit of a hassle to dig out the camera when you have two hands trying to support yourself on the rope.

I think compared to the day before's hike, the second day is so much more tougher. When we reached the Sayat-Sayat Hut (last hut to provide water supply and also where a guide takes down our name and checks that we have our badge which meant we paid for a climbing permit), it was about an hour plus since we started. I was feeling relief, thinking that indeed the peak is getting close.

Wrong -___-.

Starting from Sayat-sayat, we no longer need to use ropes to elevate ourselves. But there are still ropes and we stay close to them. SJ, Evan, ZX and Uncle Joshua were further up front, TY and I were left alone. Poor TY some more carrying all his camera equipments. The grounds leading the way to the peak is not exactly tough, only a slight elevation but it was super tough on me I guess because I was feeling tired, my hands were cold and wet because the ropes we held on to earlier were soaked, it's still drizzling, and I started getting smallest waves of nausea. Took a couple of aspirin, hoping it will somewhat ease the dizziness.

It's somewhat surreal hiking in the dark with the rain. At one point we were passing the South Peak (there are many peaks close to the summit) we got to witness the most picturesque view of all, the South Peak bathed in the moonlight with the full moon suspended above.

I suppose I should skip all the torturing details and fast forward. At the foot of the Low's Peak, the climb is tough! No guides around and TY and I cracking our heads on how to move past the huge boulders and rocks. Finally scaling up on the peak... wonderful feeling. It was aout 5:50am. Just about time to catch the sunrise. Oh! Rain stopped already too! :)

Caught a little rainbow above St John's peak.



At 4095.2m high above sea level, we scaled the tallest mountain in South East Asia :)

We made it! Months and months of training and advice fishing we made it to the peak!
Gam dong T__T

We didn't spend too much of a time on the peak. After TY and I arrived, (SJ, Jojo, Evan and ZX reached some time around 5:15am. Gila), Uncle Joshua, followed by the others, WI, JL, YQ and RW). My hands were still cold and I think temperature is about 5 degrees C. More picture taking ensued until we cannot tahan anymore so we started the descend.

This is similar to the wallpaper I have on my office desktop. Lol.

South Peak. Imagine the view without daylight, and a moon suspended above. Perfection.


Four of us were the ones at the back of the pack. We took our own sweet time down and taking pictures at every opportunity lol. It's not that we come here everyday!


Growth.

I looked so funny lol. And I also realized that I did not take many pictures with TY.


Rays of light trapped between Ugly Sisters' Peak and Donkey Ears' Peak.






TY with all his hair flat lol. Rare picture.

They should call it Bunny Ears' Peak.





Our guide took this for us lol. While all of us were going down slowly (coz it's wet and slippery in some places), our guide is practically skipping down.

I think descending is worse than hiking up because of the impact on our ankles and knees. Especially when we came to the rope point T__T and you suddenly see the great cliff that awaits if you lose your footing.

Tufts of soft fluffy clouds.



Small fall.

Also, do you know that the locals used to sacrifice a chicken each time a climb was made? Now it's only done once a year when only 7 chickens are sacrificed...


Great view. Even the worst photographer can capture a shot and it will still look pretty.

Phone booths at the Sayat-sayat hut lol. Didn't try to see whether it works or not.


This is probably my favorite shot. But it's taken by TY not me T___T
This plant is pretty elusive. Spotted some of the flowers on the grounds when we were hiking on Day 1 but couldn't find the source till now. Then I had to go to the loo first so I asked TY to capture these.



To think that we passed through all these great view but it was too dark to appreciate them.







Pretty !!

Wild, local strawberries that the guide pointed out to me. Tried some and they taste sour! Lol. But passable though.


Steps that lead the way up. The guide told me that these are called 'iron wood' or 'kayu besi' for its sturdiness and toughness. These can be used for many, many years before being replaced.

Close to our Gunting Lagadan hut, spotted this branch that looks like a snake. Lol. Charming.


One final shot of the view from our hut before packing all our stuffs back to Laban Rata. Oh I also managed a quick shower hehehehheh. I feel like Sizuka from Doraemon who cannot handle a day without shower lol.

Had our breakfast/lunch in Laban Rata after checking out. Gobbled everything we see. Wei Inn and the others start their way down first leaving Evan, ZX, SJ, TY and I because a few of us have the sudden urge to do #2 lol. Pity the toilet bowl really.

At 10:30am, we start our looooooong way down...

Found more wild strawberries which Evan love so much coz it's sour.

Toads Evan insisted we stop and take pictures of.





We were also lucky to find the endemic giant Kinabalu earthworm! Soon Jiun was the one who spotted it lol. He thought it was a snake at first until closer inspection ensued. It's about a foot long. And yes I think it looks gross.

We had to rush our way down to catch up with the first group as we were holding the coupons for lunch at the Timpohon rest house. And the lunch buffet stops at 3:30pm. Super kan cheong ... by the time we reached the start of Timpohon trail, we found out that we have to wait for a bus to pick us up! A quick call to Wei Inn brought some bad and good news... Lunch is already over, but the others got to eat because coupons aren't necessary. And they even tabao-ed for us!


The bus only arrived at 4:15pm.... Then we all got our certificates at RM10, each of us got two certificates - one for reaching the summit and the other one for using the Mesilau route. Collected our luggages that were left in the Park, then hopped into the bus to make our way back to our service apartments.... I was dead tired I slept practically the whole journey....

The Georgian Adventure - Hike to Chalaadi Glacier

Our third, and last hike in Svaneti. There are so many more places to hike and explore around Georgia, it was a hard decision to premature...