My husband was
invited to attend a wedding dinner in Teluk Intan last Saturday. He looked forward to meet up with
old friends and celebrate the auspicious occasion.
We took this
opportunity to travel with the whole family, my two kids and sister. As the distance between Juru Tol and Teluk Intan is approximately 228 km, we
certainly need to stay a night in Teluk Intan.
Otherwise, it would be tiring to return on that evening after the
dinner. The bride groom recommended us
home-stay instead of hotel.
The whole family
started the journey at about 16:00 (this is the earliest we can made it!) and arrived in Teluk Intan at around 19:15.
While travelling along the highway, there was intermittent rain especially
before reaching Ipoh. My two kids were
corporative, sit quietly along the journey. In fact, they enjoyed travelling and were
looking forward to this trip especially my elder daughter.
Upon arriving in
Teluk Intan, we tried to locate the location of home-stay from the map given to
us but we failed to locate the place and our calls to the home-stay place were
not answered. At last, my husband had to
call the groom (we tried not to disturbed him, at first) for help and he sent
another friend over to guide us to the home-stay place which located near the
crossroad of Jalan Changkat Jong and Jalan Sultan Abdullah. The name of the home-stay place is TNT Novelty
House.
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| TNT Novelty House - front window |
We quickly unload our belongings upon arriving, as my husband has to
leave for the dinner. As he left
in a haste to attend the wedding dinner with his car, we couldn’t go out to
have our dinner. Unfortunately, the
place we stayed, does not sell food but we did bring along some bread, snacks and drinks...
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| TNT - room wall |
My younger
daughter couldn’t sleep well due to unfamiliar surroundings and she had to wait
for daddy to come back from dinner before she could sleep. We check-in to a family room with one
queen-size bed and single bed in one room and two single beds in separate
chamber.
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| TNT - single wooden bed |
Room furnishing is simple and
we liked the bed wooden frame so much, which is made from solid wood.
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| TNT - wall design & mirror |
TNT Novelty House provides ample space for
guest to sit in their living hall furnished with wooden chairs, reading tables,
dining place, games corner, water fountain, TV room and laundry area. Its a place worth a visit to explore the beauty of wood work!
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| TNT - Living Area |
Drinking
water, water pitcher and other kitchen utensils are provided for guest.
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| TNT - Living Area |
The rental is only RM60/night for an air
conditioned room with attach bathroom. We
could park our car in the porch and there is a care taker looking after this
place in the evening. The
house-owner also stay-in. I consider
this place safe, quiet, clean, simple and economical for budget traveller. In fact, it is very clean!
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| TNT - games corner |
Since the
home-stay is located within the town of Teluk Intan, access to amenities such
as banks, petrol kiosk, restaurants and shopping mall is easy.
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| Teluk Intan Chee Cheong Fun |
The next morning,
we have to pack our belongings and head to the town to search for a small shop
selling “Chee Cheong Fun”, which is located before Pooi Yong School in a road
connecting Jalan Pasar and Jalan Pasir Bedemar. It was not easy to locate this shop, as the
sign board was hidden. In fact, when we
arrived at 9:45am, the shop was about to close but fortunately take-away is
still available and I bought four packets.
The Teluk Intan “Chee Cheong Fun” is not the same as the usual one sold
in Penang. It is rolled-up with meat
mixture fillings and served with pickled green chilli. I still love the conventional Penang “Chee
Cheong Fun” served with sweet sauce, prawn paste, and sprinkled with sesame
seeds, but this is something different to me and it taste different from the
conventional “Chee Cheong Fun”...
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| Teluk Intan Leaning Tower |
Before leaving Teluk Intan, the whole
family had a simple breakfast and then visited the Teluk Intan Leaning Tower
(Tilting Tower), the famous landmark. The leaning tower of Teluk Intan is the Malaysia equivalent
of the world famous Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy. It is located in the centre of the town. The tower is slanted leftward. It is 25.5 metres tall and from outside, it
looks like a 8 storey building. The
tower is located in the center of a square surrounded by Jalan Pasar, Jalan
Selat, Jalan Bandar and Jalan Ah Cheong.
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| Background Leaning Tower |
We did not walk around the tower as there were
crowded with people due to Sunday bazaar held around the leaning tower.
The whole family left for
Bidor, the next town before returning to Penang. Bidor is 42 kilometres away from Teluk Intan. This town is mainly an industrial area. When
one travels north of Bidor, one will see miles and miles of plantation on both
side of the trunk road covered with lush greenery, fruit orchards, oil palm and
rubber plantations.
Before the advent of North-South
Expressway, travelers had no choice but to pass through this town through the
federal trunk road. As this town is
famous for its variety of food, travelers frequently choose to stop-by at one
of the eateries before continuing their journey
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| Bidor famous 'Kai Jai Peng' 鸡仔饼 |
The most famous food in Bidor undoubtedly will be the herbal duck-thigh-noodle
available at one of the eatery that is the famous Pun Chun. The restaurant is
located on the main street. Pun Chun is
also famous for its 'Sat Kai Ma' (Chinese: 萨奇马)- a type of sweet dessert
and also 'Kai Jai Peng'（Chinese：鸡仔饼) which is the chicken biscuit. Apart from these, another shop next to it,
selling large curry chicken bun and hand-made animal figurine moon cake. We bought some of
these delicacies from Bidor for friends, baby sitter, parents and ourselves.
During our last stop to buy two
large curry chicken buns, my sister left behind a packet of mango she bought at
the market, in the shop after buying some moon cakes. She only realized when we entered North-South
Highway. As it was not too far away from
the Bidor town, we went back to the shop and was relieved to find that the shop
owner has kept the mango for us, thanks...
As last Sunday was Mother’s
Day, we celebrate it by sharing the large chicken buns with my parents, our
baby sitter and myself. Happy Mothers Day!
Besides these,
the other famous produces in Bidor are seedless guava, petai (stink beans),
soursop, mango and durian.
It was a
pleasant trip for all of us and we are looking forward for next short excursion
with the kids again.
