Bunny Goes Pahang Outing - Bentong and Chamang Waterfall

After finishing off at Mr. Loo's sawmill, we went to the waterfall highly recommended by Mr. Loo which was located in Bentong. He only gave us the nickname and not the actual name. Luckily, wasabi managed to google the name and it was Chamang Waterfalls. Surprisingly, it wasn't in my GPS...in fact when we got there, I was unable get a GPS signal...so scary...I forgot to check if my phone had signal or not.

We headed towards Bentong town looking for the famous tau foo fah but we were unable to locate it. Then, I remembered reading some blogs regarding old school ice cream that is runned by a family for a few generations. We reached Restaurant Kow Po and walked in.

They were packed with families and couples. We ordered home made ice cream that came in flavours like coconut, peanut, sweet corn, etc...they were yummy, creamy and not too sweet. They were a steal at only RM2.50 a scoop. Many tables were ordering the Ice Kacang but we were all in the mood for ice cream. However, I felt that the ice cream wasn't that cold which was rather weird and I actually licked up all the melted ice cream as it wasn't too sweet.

This is mine - banana and coconut. I love the banana ice cream...so fragrant...RM5

After ice cream, we followed Shaolin Tiger's instructions to Chamang Waterfalls. Just follow the Raub signboard in Bentong Town and along the way look out for the "Air Terjun Chamang" signboard...once we turn left at the direction pointing to Chamang Waterfalls, we went through a very windy, curvy, sharp bendy road to get to the waterfalls....abt 8km from the main road...some bends were so sharp that wasabi had to horn to alert any cars travelling in the opposite direction. Once we reached there, luckily many families were leaving already and we were amazed by the pristine clean conditions that greeted us. We parked at the parking lot and we didn't have to walk too far to get to the waterfalls.

Clear and clean looking running river water...

They even built this platform whereby people can sit or stand and pose for photos with the waterfall in the background...

Group pic with waterfall in the background and after that we went back to Desa Park City and back home. It was a truly enjoyable trip! Thanks Roger, Sun Shan, Samantha and Fung for coming!

 
We will plan for a Chamang Waterfall outing soon!

Bunny Goes Pahang Outing - Sawmill Plant

Mr. Loo was kind enough to bring us for an educational visit to his saw mill. He has about 2000 tons of timber and logs at his plant and his plant is just one of the hundreds in Malaysia. Can you imagine how much trees have been cut down??

Timber is the term used for trees that have been cut down whereas logs means a processed version of the timber whereby the tree's skin has been removed and the heart has been removed. The heart of the tree is worthless as it's too soft and not sturdy enough.

Tree bark...

This is the biggest timber that Mr. Loo has on his plant now. It's a total of 59 inches in circumference...almost 5 ft wide! The white marker actually reads 59 inches.

The timber is as tall as Samantha..!

My failed attempt at trying to climb to the 59 inch timber...got scared halfway...

Mr. Loo and Sun Shan. Thanks Sun Shan and Mr. Loo!

We past by this interested structure on the way to Mr. Loo's storage area. This is an abandoned drying oven which was used in the olden days to smoke dry the timbers that were transported using rivers back in the olden days. The timber would go in there for a few days in order to be completely dried before being processed. I love the colors of the bricks.

A section of the logs after being cut by machine. Sun pointed this out that there was one which was excatly a half half in color.

The crab pincer tractor that is used to transport timber from the storage to the cutting machines to produce logs. Mr. Loo has two...this is the smaller one.

As Mr. Loo's plant has many tractors, lorries, forklifts that uses diesel, he has his own diesel tank supply.

Mr. Loo brought us to attention with his green colored wood which was actually chemically treated to prevent termites, ants and other insects from eating it. This is done by request of their customers.

Once it dries completely, Mr. Loo will paint the wood according to the customers preferences.

Wooden separators are used to enable easier transportation of the planks and easier to pack according to order.

 I bet this would look even more interesting if I had cropped it...

A very big thank you to Mr. Loo for treating us lunch and a visit to your sawmill. Next up, Bentong ice cream and Chamang Waterfalls.

Bunny Goes Pahang Outing - Lunch at Mentakab

After Deer Land, none of us were keen to go back to the Elephant Park due to the huge crowd of people and luckily Sun Shan managed to call one of her suppliers in Mentakab which was about 25 mins drive from Lanchang.

We went to a local restaurant called Fook Kee to have lunch. We were famished and waited patiently for the food to come. We have Dou Miu (a type of bean sprout), golden tofu pillows, spare ribs, hot plate prawns and an ultra delicious wild river patin whose flesh was firm and sweet without any muddy taste at all.

Golden Tofu Pillows with crispy anchovies...and really fat beansprouts underneath

 

The healthy crunch to our meal...

 

The succulent pork ribs...very nicely done...still retaining its juices and meat falling off bones...unlike other places that I tasted whereby the meat is stuck stubbornly on the bones....

 

Hot Plate Prawns...

 

My most favourite dish...the river patin!

 
Thanks to Mr. Loo for the lunch! Next up is Mr. Loo's saw mill.

Bunny Goes Pahang Outing - Elephant Park and Deer Land Park

Yesterday we finally went to on a outing. Hunny was grumpy and didn't go as he hates the sun and heat. Met up with SDC and Samantha at BK, Mutiara D'sara and drove to DPC's Waterfront to meet up with SunShan and Wasabi at 7.45am.

We then followed GPS and drove to Genting Sempah for breakfast...only have Mc D and malay stalls open. Word of advice is that you may want to tabao other styles of food from home. We drove in Karak Highway till we saw the Lanchang exit and followed the GPS (which had a few malfunctioning errors along the way) till we reached signboards that said Kuala Gandah Elephant Conservatory Park. We were a lil unlucky as we were stuck behind a bus load of tourists heading the same way too.

Once we reached there, the park has lost its charm from the first time I was there 2 years ago( you can read it here and here). The little quaint village has been commercialised. The aboriginal village has been modernized and they no longer lived in their traditional handmade houses and were instead living in generic concrete homes. The park itself has also been modernized and is halfway building a grand concrete entrance...why couldn't they have designed something more nature looking and made from natural trees n plants?

We got our passes from the reception counter. Please note that the reason why we were there so early (we reached at 10am) was that visitor passes only limited to 120 people a day of which I think only 50 passes were available for participation of elephant rides and activities. The activities will only start at 2pm. Entrance is FREE but you can donate money too to further improve the center and its elephants. Activities include feeding the elephants, riding and bathing with the elephants.

We were disappointed when we couldn't get 5 riding passes due to the busload of people who were in front of us. We only managed to get 3 riding passes. Then, we were informed that there was no bathing activity as the river was overflowing due to heavy rains. We then went off in search of the elephants. We found them swaying happily to the malay music being played on.

After a while, they brought out 2 baby elephants. This is Langsat and she is a playful elephant who loves sugarcane,

This is Sam and I posing with the larger elephants.

After abt 1 hour there, we were feeling bored and decided to explore Deer Land which was a few KM from Kuala Gandah Elephant Park. I wasn't expecting much but deers but oh boy..was I so wrong...

We paid RM6 for ticket fees...no extra charges for cameras (unlike some throat cutting parks and zoos in Kuala Lumpur). We went in and were pleased by the clealiness and organized manner of the trails in the parks. Our first stop was the deer park. The deer were so friendly and gentle and what we didn't expect was that we were allowed in the deer park together with the deer. They were so tame that they stood still whilst we photographed them.

The caretaker of the deer was very friendly and informative. He taught us to hold the basket high and put the food up at a height for the deer to stand and eat the food (strips of veges).

This is wasabi and gf with the deer reaching out to the food...

Some deer would get so desperate and tug at the shirts in order to get your attention on them to feed them..lol...

This deer is partially blind in a eye due to cataract and is very twitchy. The caretaker always feed her lots as she cannot fight with the other deer for the food.

This is a funny bull deer who tasted his own pee and hated the taste. The caretaker said that deer often taste their own urine to check their hormonal levels.

This is he drenching his mouth and surroundings with own drool to cleanse away the disgusting taste...

Wasabi suddenly noticed that this stud male's lil bro was bleeding and we were informed by the caretaker that the male stud had an hormonal imbalance causing him to be "hard" for a long time and went on a sexcapade till he bled there. The lil bro was also "jammed" and couldn't withdraw and they had to give him a jab to soften so that it can withdraw...poor thing...

Then off we went to see the other animals. There were rabbits, quails, birds, ferrets, chinchillas, python and we finally reached the Sun Bear's pen. As usual, the caretaker there opened the gate and let us in and we went in warily as we were scared of the bear. The bear was so cute and obedient. The bear sat patiently at its log and let people pose with it whilst snacking on peanuts. This is Samantha posing with the bear...

So cute when he's being treated with condensed milk....

This Sun Bear is 11 years old. Nice, right? This concludes part 1 of my visit to Pahang. Next up is Mentakab.

Bunny Eats @ Sushi Zen, Gardens MV

Last month I have been in MV and Gardens so many times as my Hunny was in fashion show shooting fever. As i was walking around, I felt peckish and decided to eat at Sushi Zen located on LG floor of Gardens.

I decided to order 2 types of sashimi - Sweet Prawn and Scallop whilst reminiscing of the ones I had at Kinpachi. I was disappointed as the quality didn't match up to the ones at Kinpachi although it was slightly cheaper than Kinpachi. The freshness wasn't there...*sigh*...and it was served slightly warm to me...I prefer my sashimi chilled next time please.

I love Ikura which are marinated salmon eggs. The bright orangey sacs which are bigger than ebikko (shrimp eggs) are a pleasure to bite with each release of the salty liquid encased within. So I ordered the Ikura Chawan Mushi.

My richly cholesterol laiden steamed egg...

In it, there were several surprises - A whole prawn, gingko nut, fishcake slice and mushroom

This meal wasn't cheap. It came up to RM50++ with a glass of refillable green tea. I won't be going back there anytime soon as I prefer Yuzu and Kikura Zakura's quality over this Sushi Zen's quality anytime.

Bunny Eats @ New Ipoh Chicken Rice Restaurant, MV Boulevard

There are so many things that we can eat in MV and Gardens and decisions on where to eat is such a difficult choice. On this day, we wanted something wholesome and Chinese, off we trotted to try the New Ipoh Chicken Rice Restaurant at The Boulevard MV (the row of shoplots sandwiched in between Gardens and MV) which is a branch of the huge Ipoh chicken rice restaurant located at Jalan Gasing.

This restaurant is newly opened.

The decor is very modern with fake garden beds on the wall. To me, somehow, the food and environment don't gel.

Here's some of the dishes we ordered....

L-R : Chicken gizzards and Liver, Thai Styled Chicken Feet Skin, Pork Platter

The chicken Gizzards and Liver were cooked just right...not overcooked at all, there was pleasant crunch to the gizzards and the liver was melt in the mouth texture. Yummy! Thumbs Up!

The Thai Styled Chicken Feet Skin Salad was another thumbs up. The skin was nice and collagen-ny crunchy and was served in a light sweet and sour slightly spicy sauce...very refreshing. Another Thumbs Up! This was my Hunny and I's favourite dish there.

The beansprouts were authentic Ipoh beansprouts. Can you see how short and fat they are? After tasting Ipoh beansprouts, I stopped eating our local long skinny beansprouts. However, they must have overcooked the sprouts as I prefer my sprouts lightly blanched to retain its crunch.

The most disappointing dish was the pork platter...we ordered a mixture of Roast Pork and Char Siew. The Roast Pork's cut was inferior with rough meat and really fatty bits. The Char Siew was too lean and it had the stinkiest porky smell to eat...yucks...! It really spoilt the mood of the whole meal. It also taught me a lesson that when in a chicken speciality restaurant, NEVER ORDER PORK!

Overall, it was a good meal. Just remember to order chicken based dishes and have their hor-fun in soup. Hunny and I had our Hor Fun in dry and curry flavour. We regretted now ordering it in the soup version as we tasted the soup and it was heavenly sweet with many hours of boiling the chicken bones and carcasses.