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| At Spritzer Eco Park |
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| Bumping into each other at Siang Malam Hawker Center the day before the ride. Located at the century old markets, this remain a popular place for fresh and cooked food. Siang Malam though no longer holds the name of a 24 hour eatery; closed on Sundays and with stalls taking turns for breaks! |
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| Pigs slaughtered at abattoir and brought to the market as early as 10.20 pm. This photo sent to the group chat was the giveaway on Claudine's location !!! |
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| Traditional fixies with side carts fondly called "san lon che" |
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| Morning at Furama Hotel |
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| Arriving at Restoran Kakak |
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| Taiping Prison, 1879 |
Fast forward 22 months from their last kampung ride, Claudine and VT returned to their hometown yet again to host their cycling buddies. Once on 700c wheeled bikes in December 2014 and then again on Foldies during the spring equinox of 2016, this heritage trail ride marks their third conquest! So proud were they of their hometown, they never batted an eye when the requests flow in.
The 7 hour journey from JB can be very daunting, more so when they had to pick their youngest son up from school before heading to KL to pick the older boy. In between, they had to juggle lunch and dinner on the highway, weave through the rush hour traffic in the capital city and thunderstorms throughout the way!
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| Back during Claudine's primary school days, CCF were delivered hot to the stall by bicycle, pedaled by the stall owner's mother. Today, he is still operating from this stall. |
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| Even though Ah Lan Che aka Kakak to which the restaurant is named after has sold off her business due to old age, her prodigy, Ah Kau still remains. The soup is still prepared by him, a loyal staff that grew up and old with the famous name. |
The ride started early for them as they had to make their way to Furama Hotel to meet the JB folks. As they were ahead of schedule, they had the opportunity to tuck in some chee cheong fun from Pusat Penjaja Taiping before proceeding to Restoran Kakak with the rest for chicken noodle soup.
Meanwhile, the Singapore folks were still stuck in a bus plagued with a missing passenger and an unwarranted detour to Sungai Siput. They only arrive at Restoran Kakak, 2 hours behind the first group. Disappointingly, by 10.30 am, there was only one bowl of blood curdle left and they had to give Spritzer tour a miss altogether!
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| Finally a team! |
The 2 groups finally caught up during dinner time at Kuala Sepetang after a failed rendezvous at Burmese Pool, as the sky had started to pour right after lunch. So while the JB group visited the clock tower, the district office, the officer’s mess, the esplanade, the museum, the prison, the New Club, the assistant resident’s home, Aun Tong Coffee Factory and Spritzer Eco Park, the latter group managed similar sights while dodging the intermittent rain.
Photo Courtesy :
1. Susanna
2. Irene
3. Tan
4. Francis
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FUN FACTS on Spritzer Factory Tour
1. It takes 15 years for rain water to travel from surface to underground before they are pumped out at Spritzer
2. Preformed bottles are blown to actual size. At Spritzer, it takes 1 minute to blow 300 bottles.
3. Bottles are blown, washed, bottled, labelled via steam process, blow dried, scanned for rejects and packaged.
4. Spritzer produces 2 million bottles a day with a profit of RM0.10 per bottled water.
5. Spritzer was established in 1994 with a land size of 330 acres and RM200 million investment.
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| Vincent, our guide |
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| Preformed bottles |
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| A working pump, pumping ground water to the factory |
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| A file photo extracted from The Star Online. |
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FUN FACTS on Aun Tong Factory
1. Aun Tong is known as the nation's oldest coffee mill. Established in 1933, it is now run by the family's third generation
2. Coffee making process takes 60 minutes from roasting to grinding. Aun Tong produces 2 tonnes of black coffee in a day
3. Aun
Tong's office is housed in what was once the abode of Dr Sun Yat Sen,
the father of modern China. Even though he spent his days at this home
whenever he visits Taiping, it was Chen Chuifen, his wife that actually lived there for over 17 years
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| Coffee is still roasted with woodfire |
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| Sugar is added to the coffee beans during roasting |
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| Coffee beans left to cool after roasting |
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| The abode of Dr Sun Yat Sen |
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