Raya Cina Roadtrip II : Palate-Pleasing Pusing and Photogenic Papan

One of my colleagues was born and bread in Batu Gajah. Her alma mater was SMK St. Bernadette's Convent located just beside a Chinese cemetery. Imagine all the stories. Anyway, I buzzed her while I was at the chapati shop, asking her about things to do in Batu Gajah. Strangely, her recommendation was for me to go to Pusing (just 5 KM away la) for some delicious kuih. Wing, an ex-colleague of mine, was nice enough to volunteer as my official Pusing guide. Picked him up from his aunt's home, and he directed us to the stall. The famous stall wasn't open, so the competitor stall was enjoying brisk business. All sorts of kuih were sold, and of course fried stuff. KH was also on a road trip of his own, and he met us there. Can't believe we actually loitered by the roadside, chatting, munching on kuih, and sipping cold soy milk.







Moving on, Wing brought us to Papan, a small town that looks like it's on it's last legs. Papan is a historic tin mining town, on par with many others in the Kinta Valley. But like all the others, the collapse of the tin mining industry was it's death knell.Sybil Kathigasu, a heroine of the Japanese Occupation in the 1940s once lived in Papan. She and her husband provided medical aid to the troops who were opposing the Japanese. She was tortured by the Japanese, and in 1948 passed away in Scotland due to complications from her past injuries. Today, Papan is characterized by one row of abandoned pre-war shophouses. Many no longer have occupants, nor a roof. Bushes and weeds had become their new occupants. A sense of nostalgia, and eerieness all rolled into one. Wing figured that I would be attracted to the 'feel' of the place.







Next destination was Ipoh (we left Wing in Pusing). When we first entered Ipoh, the traffic was quite clear. We immediately went to pai nien at Silver's house. We arrived before the host did, and that sent Silver into a frenzy. His parent's home was tastefully-decorated and had a beautiful garden. He served us with homemade cookies (the coffee biscuits were divine), and it was very memorable because I never had fresh coconut water (straight from the garden) during a CNY visitation.



Silver continued to be our Ipoh host by bringing us to dinner. Out of the choices he gave us, we decided on the charcoal fried noodles shop at Gunung Rapat. Surprise, surprise, The Tribe was also in Ipoh, so they joined us for dinner. Definitely a popular place judging by the crowd and lack of parking. The Monsters weren't thrilled with the choice of venue~ kept complaining about the heat and the smoke from the busy charcoal stoves. There were many chefs, so the orders didn't take long. Their yuet kwong hor is the star dish with excellent wok hei.





After dinner, mum and The Tribe checked-in at Indra Hotel Boutique Suites. However, KH and I continued with Silver. Another bunch of Ipoh boys were waiting for us at a J's Cafe and Bistro. Finally met the charming Cikgu J, Ipoh's sexiest teacher; John, excellent example of Ipoh hunkiness, King and Dom, both artistic souls. Later in the night, a few others joined us as well, but we couldn't talk as much. They're basically an Ipoh BFF group, very tight-knit, and addicted to Ipoh's multitude of bubble tea joints. :P

Back in the hotel, KH and I fooled around a bit, but we were a tad too tired for a long skank session!