Taiping Heritage Ride ( 17-20 March 2016 ), Day 1 - Pre Ride Makanthon

Roasting coffee beans with woodfire

Sugar and margerine is added to the beans

Smelling good

Finished product

Workers packing the coffee

Coffee Beans

The Products in traditional tins

Sue and myself at Dr Sun Yat Sen's abode

Mini golf at Spritzer Eco Park

Cafe at Spritzer Eco Park

Syafiq giving us an excellent tour on the Spritzer factory

We met Richard's bikes first and foremost before meeting the person himself!

Strida folding bikes, a fixie on Gates Carbon Drive!

We arrived in Taiping in the wee hours of the morning. 3 am to be exact! Wearily, the whole family washed up and crawled into bed for the second time, finally able to stretch out horizontally.

Morning came too quickly. We ended up in the multi levelled new market for the family's favourite, super thin kaya toast. The toasts here are made by 3 petite old people. The bread are toasted twice, then each single slice is carefully cut to make 2 slices. Margarine and kaya are then spread to make what the locals call roti kahwin, a union of two spreads! As we have never seen any young folk helping out, we often wondered how long more we get to enjoy this toast.

VT's favorite fried "kueh kak" stall was not open. Similar to fried carrot cakes laden with eggs, bean sprouts and pickled radish, this version is made out of rice cakes. Truly, a poor man's food in an ex mining town. Ah Pek wasn't around through out our stay in Taiping giving rise to the fear that with his demise comes the end of the food we used to grew up with!

VT had to settle for second best, the Char Kueh Tiau from the stall next door. This is not the best CKT in town but beggars can't be choosers!

As it was only our first day in town, we were highly honed to our inner cravings. Chee Cheong Fun was purchased from Taiping Hawker Centre. This comes with Taiping's very own signature red sauce aka "theem chiong".

We did not have to worry about utensils. Ah Heng, the drink stall owner always provides clean plates, chopsticks and spoons for use. Even our local coffee barista knows the importance of good customer service!

At noon, we had a Starter Course of Tai Chien's famous popiah, char kueh tiau and Nasi Lemak. The popiah is uniquely Taiping as it is made out of thinly handcut turnips, slow cooked till soft. Many sellers these days, grate the turnips which destroys the structure of the food and becomes too watery. They do not add julienned cucumber and roasted peanuts to add bulk but instead scalded bean sprouts, tofu and eggs, then garnished with fried shallots.

We had a short half hour breather before we met Sue's family at Larut Matang food court for the famed Mee Rebus. Sue and Azmi had just collected Aman from Outward Bound School and had decided to drop by, enroute to Penang. The goodness of the noodles here lies in the gravy, which is made out of potatoes. Some may find this a bit bland but you need to savour it slowly.

After lunch, we brought Sue and her boys to Antong Coffee Factory. We had a pleasant surprise as they were roasting coffee beans when we arrived. This is done over a traditional woodfire stove! 

As the late Dr Sun Yat Sen's abode was just next door, visitors were given free access to the house. Other than a beautiful screen partition that needs some restoration, a giant green safe and some old memorabilia, there wasn't much more to see. However, one needs to appreciate the old architecture of the house itself.

We soon left for Spritzer Eco Park. We had made a booking for a factory tour at 4 pm but since we were early, the children while away the time at the maze. There was also a basketball court, a mini golf, a cafe and a gift shop on the grounds.

A pre-formed mineral bottle

The factory tour was an eye opener. We learnt that Spritzer's water are mined from underground, assuring a good mineral content. Inside the factory the production line starts with the pre-formed bottles that were blown to bottle size, then filled, labelled and packed.

It was here that we finally made contact with Richard and Jess. We had noticed their Strida and Carry Me bikes at Antong Coffee and these followed us to Spritzer!!! The factory tour sealed our friendship and we were to meet again on Day 2 and 3!

For us, our food mania continued with a dinner at Panorama hotel. This hotel has been around since the 80's and is a favourite among the locals. Their Panorama fried rice is a popular dish whilst their western food comes with a Hainanese twist.

We ended the night with chicken noodle soup or "Kai Si Hor Fun" from Golden Corner. The Kungfu here lies in the stock, smooth and thin hor fun and the standard Sambal Belacan that is a must among all respectable noodle shops in Taiping!

Braised chicken feet to go with the chicken noodle soup