Bentung

Today, i wanna talk about my home town bentung.
Bentung town is located around the hilly areas in the central of penisula malaysia..
I came to KL in 1989 right after i finished my secondary school for further study . Like what the chinese qoutes "ah ngau chut sang seang" the meaning is somesort like uneducated vilager go to big city....
not anymore.... bentung has gotten the city status since 2006... yeah at least there are some changes!!!! after so long and after all not so bad, i found few articles talking/promoting bentung when searching with googgle. ya I found the writing about Bentung Ice Cream, Bentung Sunday Market and breakfast at one of coffee shop around town Bentung Coffee Shop. The write ups and the photos are nice.
I start to eat bentung ice cream from young. I think they started the business before i born and I only know that now the ice cream business at bentung are from the same families.. I remembered that my parents always bring us for ice cream during my childhood years. Normally it is after dinner time... around 8:00pm and we went to Jaya super market or thong fatt for a walk and then go to kow poo for ice cream. The parking lot in front of kow poo use to be a big open air hawker center, with satay store, yau yu ong choi, nasi lemak and probably grilled chicken wing, and of course the ice cream and drinks from kow poo. I can't really recall any other food and i never been to kow poo for so long and i don't see the hawker center is still there .. just the kow poo shop is still surviving.



Nearby attraction at bentung are

• Chamang Baru water fall
• Batu 7, river
• Hutan Lipur Lentang (forest reserves)
• Kolam Air Panas (not recommended, caused here have nothing much to offer)
  

Other attraction further down to KL are

• Genting Highland
• Bukit Tinggi and few other resorts around the areas

The famous at Bentung are: -

• Ginger (The vegetables seller at KL try to con me… haaa. This is bentung ginger, very expensive one. Wanted to charge me Rm4.00 for one ginger… slightly bigger than palm size)
• Ice cream (check out here Bentung Ice Cream)
• Wantan Mee (wait till you try and you tell me. I am not fancy for wantan mee but my comment is the mee is nice… but too bad caused I didn’t buy the idea of eating the "mee" and caused my stomach full for half a day and couldn't take anything else) the wantan mee served with small portions of “char siew” and “wantan”
• Toufoo and Tau Fu Pok (probably Tau Fo Fa also caused I didn’t have any chance to taste it since many years back caused the store is close on Sunday)
• Soy sauce (“sau chi kong” brand)
• Durian
• Various kind of exotic foods (most will think this is for cruel people)
• “Sat ke ma” type of snack that make from flour and malts
• Kaya Puff
• Fresh Water fish

The famous simbalek nut from Raub is selling here (fresh stock from Raub) and of course I can’t left out this “tin kai mai” (frog meehon), where my colleagues is “sek tou fan cham mei” (wanted to eat again). My hubby also likes it very much. I dare not say the shop I bring them is the famous “tin kai mai” in bentung. This is rather a common food you can find at Bentung. Wait one find day and I will post the photo in my blog.

This is the special pre-post to satisfy my colleague who can’t find their way back to that restaurant, thus i hereby draw the map to “Nga Si Si”. I bring them to this restaruant caused the price here is cheaper. most of the restaurant (tai chow - chinese cuisine) at bentung is nice. The “ham yue fa lam poo” at Nga si si used to be very nice. The last time I eat there is not good at all (rated below average, for bentung standard)… hemmmm I couldn’t figure out either is the father or the son did it… recommended you to order steam cat fish as well. It is always fresh… the meat “Tan Nga” especially the “min g tan” and also try the “chui pai tou foo”. And if you want some more, ask the cook for the “la shou hou choi” /signature dish

Last but not least there is this home made “hong tou suet/ping” (red bean ice) sell by one of the store at Kampong Perting… I have never seen any similar one sell at some other places, simple preparation that suit my taste. Draw the map to this store? I think this is crazy, you will never find it, and somebody who knows kampong perting will understand. Not many know about this red bean ice, it’s not famous but is in my list of the food that I treasure for. The photo is coming soon. and the map to nga si si, almost kill me. “Nga si si” is open at night, business start from 5:30pm onwards

My Secondary School…..

Few days ago I bump into a guy in the lift at my condo. He asked “are you from Bentung” I am quite curious. We have short conversation and found out that there are few more units they are from my same hometown. The guy seems like knowing my father!!

This morning I saw another neighbor a few floor beneath my unit, and she ask me whether my sister is visiting me on last Monday…. I guess she is one of them from Bentung and then found out that actually her sister is my elder sister and cousin sister classmate. We chit chatting for a while and she was surprised to found out that I actually study at this kampong school…. Ya it seems a bit odd…and its really long story. I think this is my fate!!!! I am very sure I will not me today if I go through the same school with my siblings.

I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters and I am the middle one and the only child in my family who ended up in Malay/National School. All my brothers and sisters are Chinese educated. I actually study Chinese syllabus during my kinder garden year. My father is very conservative and I should go to Chinese primary school as well. My parents told me that the school I suppose to go was full. For that particular years, students overwhelming and require early registration as compared to previous year.

No story books for me because all the reading material is in Chinese including news paper… I remember my sister got a lots book to read… all the Chinese history book, Chinese chest, philosophy… etc those all belongs to my father and story book especially the “wu shia siau shoa” that I couldn’t understand. Thus Till now I am still not picking up the reading habit but I really wish I owned those nice fairy tales story books with lots of pictures during my chilhood...
i still enjoy reading one now and I couldn’t stand those books with lengthy words…sure will fall asleep less than 1 minutes. I love books as long as got a lots of pictures…interior design magazine is my favorite

Nothing wrong studying in my primary school. It is around town and has mixed of malay, Indian and Chinese Students. Just the different is I always have no homework compared to my sibling and also I no need to remember the “chen fa biau”. (The time table. 2x2=4 kind of thing)…. I guess I am enjoying my childhood life… no tension, no exam, no study… play only. Believe me, I didn’t remember any exam, oral test or whatsoever until I grow up and look at my report card…..
Ohhhh….the english oral test must be the time when the teacher asks me to stand up and readlah and now I understand what is the once a year event where the teacher asking me about my father occupation, where I stay and etc and this is for lisan bahasalah… I really thought they wanna know my family orcare about me :)....... I really have no idea what is oral test during my primary school.

Then this is about my secondary school… the unique school located at Malay kampong off the town. hardly find any Chinese there and please imagine lah… I have cultural shock the first day at TAR college… first in my mind… why so many Chinese lah… (basically no malay in TAR) and this is totally the opposite compared to my secondary school …

Technically all the students from my primary school should proceed to the designated secondary school around town. Ya!!! But not for me and few other chinese students. I also have no idea who is implementing the student exchange program. Send the chinese student from town to the national school located at Malay kampung and vice versa..thus the malay being exchange to katholic school (still a national school) where majority of the students are chinese… and it only lasted for one year…. We are the first batch and the last batch……study at this kampong school which is isolated to the Chinese people in town. The people studying there are 99.9999% malay and majority of them are from rural area. (Settlement from plantation area under government plan)


Yeah….big different……… I don’t have many friends can hang out caused the malays are staying far from town and have different cultural background.. The biggest event is visiting classmate during hari raya.. I am really sua ku one… didn’t really read any news paper during my secondary school…..and life is just contained in a box… my school and home… I can count my chinese friends/school mates with my fingers but we are quite close to each other…no school bus from town caused no crowd..and we will normally take the normal bus and the driver... hate us and will always stop very far away from the bus stop..
Other might have choice to choose to study account but my school is really lousy… have no class for accounting, no girl guide or boy scout… and the worse is no class for mother tongue (caused too few students) and we are forced to stay in agama class. (Religion class) but we are allowed do our own thing. Yeah… but my principal is handsome “kwai lou”… don’t play play!!!

At first I was thinking… ya just spare me 3 years and after SRP I will go to form 4 back to town…. Dreaming lah…. My school upgraded and start offering science stream for form 4. Lucky me? I am the 2nd batch student and my request for transfer is not approved. @#$%$#@#
So sad… but then I say to myself never minelah…. Wait for my form 6 and then I will go back to school at town and study together with my long lost classmate during my primary school…haaaa… in 1988, the education ministry is implementing new policies that only students who have credit in Bahasa Malaysia can proceed to form 6 in government school (including science stream)….whylah wanna do this to me…my worst subject are languages and all the while I didn’t realize the important of it until I start working…
I am the top student for 5 consecutive years but doesn’t mean that I am good. I have no idea why I didn’t score well for SRP and SPM. My score have a huge gap compared to my closest competitor. I guess my teachers know me and they have the patient to read my writing… I failed to get credit for Bahasa Malaysia and that’s why I ended up study form 6 at TAR college and experiencing the cultural shock…… why so many Chinese one ahhhhhh and I used to “tuk loi tuk wong” (doing things alone) but of course I have changed so much during my part time study after form six… I learned to be independent, pick up English conversation skill, outspoken and overcome shyness. I am still picking up my social skills… and also my English grammar that I not really good at …

I don’t know how am I today if I go to form 6 in government school… and probably I am one of the local university graduates… ya no need to think…very straight forward and just study only.......
I faced quite a lot of problems after form 5 ... I lost my direction and in dilemma… indecisive wheter wanna take up fashion, interior, advertising? or continue form 6 or how? Money is an issue and I am very confused. No guidance… The first year in TAR was quite fun. Later the year my father goes to Taiwan to work. I was so down. two of my study kaki transfer back to government school.. Half blaming and keep up giving excuses… and basically can’t adopt to it… late to class everyday… lost in class..busy jot down the notes that I missed out and most of the time can't see from far and occationally miss classes as well.....ya sometime raining, no buses.... and many more excuses... Wasted 2 precious years there….

So I always curious when stranger come to me and ask whether I am from Bentung… normally I found out the answers that they know my father, big bro or elder sis. Once they was this con man at pudu raya who told me that he is my schoolmate…"you are from bentung isn’t… you are from that “”school isn’t? ohhh ya no... you are from different class and I used to notice you in school" and etc keep trying and asking me to go for drinks. Hmmm this is not work for me leh. I insisted that I don’t know him and at last he ask me for RM2 for drinks… of course I didn’t give him lah…

Happy 2007… my lucky year…

I believed this year will be my lucky year….yeah hoping for prosperous boar years…
CNY coming soon… and boar should be a good sign for me.
I remembered the last time I go out celebrating New Year was during the millennium years countdown at KLCC… ohhh boy… it’s was such a long time ago. No wonder I am still thinking that I am 28. Ya I think it is no harm!!! My heart will always be 28.

This year no countdown as well but I was with my hubby at his friend house welcoming the new years. It was quite fun…getting to know some new friends, chit chatting… eating and drinking… yeah I found out that I like Baileys a lots, a sweet drink that can make me feel goods. Aduh…. I have consistently drinking for a week… like addicted already… I think I shall forget the side effect of the alcohol and keep up this once in a while..

I have a good start of 2007. Yeah despite of increased toll rates, believe me… I kena “kau kau” for the saga highway and the karak highway. Daily leh… just saga itself cost me RM3.80… yeah and the weekend trip back to bentung… kau lik
Yeah what is so good ya … nothing big but just the feeling being lucky. I went to Genting to see uncle Lim. My first time, gambling on the casino table (playing the tai sei) … yeah although just wining less than RM200 but it’s really give me the umph….
I bet 4 times and win all rounds. … got the first two “tai” correct, strike the lucky number 10 and then the last game I also got it correct after last minutes decision to change the bet from “tai” to “sei”.. What next, just cabut lah and hoping this will bring me luck for whole 2007.
Yeah why only got so little ya…. After striking the number 10? (Payout 1 to 6) heeee have to offset the money that I lose for the machine lah… not even last for 5 minutes… RM100 gone to the machines…n thus decided to go for table betting.

I was giggling when I saw 10 lighten up on the casino table and the rest might think… aiya…sap sui lah… but this is my first bet on number for "tai sei" wor….of course excitedlah. i don't even have a chair to sit ... just throw my chips from far.

And of course my lucky feeling is not finish yet, we went for video games after casino. My hubby just loaded in RM30 and after few games seems like pening already… thus we go out and saw the fun fare type of game… I was standing there quite sometime try to figure out the game… the guy also tak layan me… and then I ask him what is all about … what can I get bla… bla…. price if we hit the color hole… I am so blur… look for the nearest hole which is red… tung tung tung… the ping pong hit the middle hole (jingle) which is the big price…. I was so happy… the day on my wedding anniversary and we like bringing back a new family member… tabby the tiger, because my hubby will always say wanna throw my soft toys and how to expect any on the bed… tabby now is on my bed… but aiya.. genting ha… mana ada bagi good quality toy one lah…the material is not nice to hug for sleep but tabby still considered family member lah sitting in my bedroom... very hard to get this status.

now is few day after new year but still wanna take this opportunity to wish everyone happy new year. A good ending of 2006 and good beginning of year 2007…..