Paloh Trip #1 - The Railway Station.

Paloh? Why is that name so familiar? Most of you probably have not been to that town yet the name seemed to float in the peripheral of your mind. And it is not famous for anything outstanding. Then why have you known, yet not known about it? The above is the sleepy railway station of a sleepy town.

Well, I won’t tease you further. “Paloh” is the biggest budget movie of its time with great publicity and fanfare. It attempted to deal the serious subject of nationalism, duty, inter-racial love, during the last days of the Japanese occupation of Malaysia in the small town of Paloh. And what happened? It sank faster than a cement block in Klang River. More about it later. Meanwhile, lets take a casually stroll/drive round town.

I loved railway stations and it is not due to the railway ghost ha ha (see - The Ghosts & I), especially in small towns. When I stand in one and look down the track that disappear into the distance, I think about a slow journey to adventure, a sad parting (why always sad, beats me; maybe more romantic that way). But seldom do I think of a train bringing someone you wanted to meet. Airport seems to serve that purpose better. Got to get my head examined.

A picture of the Main Railway Terminal in Kuala Lumpur was painted on the wall of this railway station. It is quite old as the paint is starting to flake off. Ah, why did they paint a modern train in the grand Moorish architecture of that majestic building? One railway station advertising another – very generous of it. And someone parked a bicycle with a Malaysian flag against the wall, like that.

Maybe it belonged to these two boys who wanted me to take their pictures. So I obliged them and make them famous. I had many such requests but always in small places.

The modern ticket counter where you can buy a trip to get away from it all. Made me think of taking another train journey. The farthest trip I had taken on a train was to Bangkok. I had always had the notion of taking The Orient Express but one look at the cost was enough to discourage me for life. Sigh…

In the quiet open air waiting room of a small town railway station, my imagination always run wild. I looked at the passengers sitting there dreamily and I wondered what their stories are. Where are they going to? What are they waiting for? It is always a rich area for me spin tales.

Many railway station’s coffee shops are famous for their coffee and toast if they still retained the original purveyor. And it is a popular place for the local inhabitants to gather, exchange news and gossips and unwind. From the look of it, this is another popular such places and the judging by the crowd at this time of the day – late evening, the food should be good.

Motor bikes are parked under two huge trees while the local caught up with the latest news.

As we drove out of the railway station, a sudden drizzle descended on us. I saw this traditional Indian barber shop as we drove out and I took a shot out of our rain stained window.

The name of the shop is “White Rose” and the proud barber with one hand still on the head of his customer looked out his window as I took this shot. This brought back my childhood memory of sitting on a wooden plank placed on top of the armrest of the barber chair (too small to sit and disappear in it). The smell of the cheap jasmine perfume, the thick white cold lather, the flying scissors that went “clip, clip”, the sharpening of the dangerous looking shaving knife on the leather belt, the large white cloth that covered and trapped my tiny body within, the very loud boisterous upbeat Indian song that played to a completely different rhythm of the consistent clips, the beating of my young heart as the cold blade was placed next to my throat even though my Chinese chin has nothing to shave, the relaxing and enjoyable open palm slaps on my shoulder, the huge hands that massaged my tiny neck, and just when getting I was getting relaxed and drowsy, a sudden movement that twisted my head and the sickening cracking of my twisted head. It was a wonder that no necks were ever broken in the history of Indian hair cuts. All these memories came flooding back to me.

To be continued...

Port Klang Views #19 - Super Dredger & YTL Cement

We saw some structures ahead and sped on. By this time, the sea was getting quite choppy and sitting in front, the plank I was sitting on was whacking my buttocks. Couldn't take any good picture like that. So I shifted to the back where it was more stable. At that point I realized that there was no safety vest on the boat and I won’t last long in the sea. But it is kind of late to realize that, right? So best not to think of it and continued to enjoy the journey.

As we're heading towards the super-dredger, the clouds opened up and rays of lights broke through. A spectacular sight.

This is the super-dredger's drilling head. Massive, isn't it? You can imagine that when those teeth are turning, could chew up anything. This is a floating dredge and can sail to wherever it is needed. The drilling head cut the bottom and the ship pumped up the debris and spewed it out the other end for land reclamation.

A drill worker was leisurely perching on the side of the vessel staring curiously at us. He was pleased we were there to release the boredom during his break.

We passed the dredge and you can see how far we are away now from the Star Cruise Terminal. This journey we are taking will trace almost the entire coastline of Pulau Indah from South Port. What you are seeing in the photos was what we saw all along the way. The photos are in sequence so it will be as if you are traveling with us.

The next structure we came across was the YTL Cement Factory. The two cylindrical structures are concrete silos which are used to store cement. They are used as temporary storage before being pumped into ships for export. Transportation of heavy materials were still the cheapest by sea.

Kurau enjoyed going under low places to force us to duck our heads. He wanted to prove to us how good his estimates are. He almost did not make it one time but that was much later on in our journey.

We then headed for this gigantic arm that reached high into the air. The green panel must be housing a belt conveyor that carried the cement to the end. From there the cement lifted by a chain elevator (probably, sorry don't much about the cement business and I'm not an engineer) to the top to drop into the ship that came to carry it. It has to be high enough to accommodate the height of the ship. The jetty is stretched far out to sea to get the desired depth for the ship to dock.

Another shot of the gigantic arm against the evening sky.

We went under the jetty to head to our next destination which are a number of storage tanks in the distance.

To be continued...

Trip To Yong Peng #2 - Then Eng Hin Chinese Biscuits.

We decided to drop into this shop (Eng Hin) selling traditional Chinese biscuits and cakes for my colleague to take home. It is mooncake season. I had bought a box of mooncake to take with me so I’m okay. Anyway I stepped in to have a look.

There were many varieties of oriental biscuits available for sales.

Freshly baked aromatic biscuits are arranged in a circular pattern in a large round rattan basket. The white pieces in the picture had not yet been baked. The little boy is playing with the Teo Chew mooncake stamping machine. Teo Chew mooncake is actually a biscuit which is quite different from the usual types of mooncake sold during this period. Watch out for your hand, kid.

These workers who are family members are transferring the filled dough onto the baking pans for baking in the gas fired oven. Baking only takes a few minutes.

These are how the looked like baked. They may not be very pretty looking but quite tasty. The fillings are groundnut paste that is sweet and slightly savory. They have a short shelf life and are generally eaten fresh not longer than a day.

This is a different variety topped with sesame seeds giving it an additional flavor.

The workers were a little suspicious of me clicking away with my camera. The owner came out and asked me why I was taking the photos. I gave him my sweetest smile and engaged in conversation of the production of his oh so delicious biscuits. He then invited me to the back of the shop which is his production area. He also made wet noodles for sales. We discussed on the qualities of flour for producing the various products. He told me a familiar story of first generation Malaysian Chinese who migrated from China with nothing but the shirt on his back and successfully build up a thriving business.

We bought the biscuits we wanted when her pregnant daughter-in-law stopped us just as we were about to depart. She insisted on presenting a box of Teo Chew mooncake for our journey. What nice people you find in small towns.

Trip To Yong Peng - First Yong Peng Fishballs.

Out of the spur of the moment, we decided to go on a road trip with a couple of my friends. I wanted to visit my goddaughter in Kluang whom I had not seen for sometime and my colleague wanted to go home in Paloh which is on the way. Another friend wanted to tack along and so we headed south for the state of Johore. On the highway, we saw this accident. A lorry had overturned on its side spilling oil palm fresh fruit bunches that are freshly harvested on the road closing one side.

One wondered how this could happen. A burst tyre? Careless over-taking? Over-speeding? Sleeping on the wheel? It was a straight wide road and this type of accident should not happened. Malaysia has one of the highest accident per capita rates in the world. And a lot has to do with the attitude of the drivers. We are all to be blamed.

Another bad habit of ours is we will slow down to have a look creating adding on to the jam. We have grown so accustomed to seeing this type of accidents on the road that it had made us insensitive.

We stopped by in the town of Yong Peng (Forever Peaceful) which actually has grown a bit more peaceful with the completion of the North-South highway. It used to be much busier in the old days as the road to Johor Bahru has to go through this town. I stopped for gas and to eat the famous Yong Peng fishballs again.

As I was filling up in this station, the owner came and asked me “so you’re coming home.” I did not go “huh?” but smiled. He engaged me in conversation about Paloh, which was also his hometown. Told me about the people I did not know and the changes about the place that I had not set my eyes on. As we talked, I realized that he was mistaking me for someone he knew at school when he was a boy. Anyway, it led to an interesting conversation with the most friendly petrol station owner I had ever met. He even waved as we pulled away. If ever I need gas within 50km of Yong Peng, I will head to his place. The girls even complained he only lavished all his attention on me, ha ha for once I beat them in the attraction department.

I asked him which restaurant has the best fishballs in town and he pointed us to this restaurant – Anthony. So we headed there. It is strange how a town can be famous for a particular type of food. For one reason or other, Yong Peng became famous for fish balls and in particular from a specific type of fish. So at a result, there are a number of restaurants here offering fishballs and travelers along the North-South highway will make a special stop just to savor the dish.

We will normally have the fishballs with noodles (either soup or dry types) and ordered an additional bowl of fishballs. But as we were still quite full from a heavy lunch, we skipped the noodles. I took an expectant sip and… it was just okay. I liked the fishballs from another shop which I previously tried better.

We then ordered two different types of fish cakes to try. One is a normal version while the other is a spicy version to go along with their special chilly sauce. This was again just okay so overall we were a bit disappointed but if we just always go back to the one we knew, we will never find a new taste. Anyway, our attempt here led us to our next discovery.

To be continued...

Port Klang Views #18 - Port Klang Star Cruise Terminal.

We are now heading towards the Star Cruise Terminal in Pulau Indah. Star Cruises is the third largest star cruise operator in the world. They operates two terminals, this one and another in the island of Langkawi. The jetty has a length of 200m and with dolphins 350m.

The building on the left is the terminal where passengers first checked in. It has five floors. The ground, first and second floors are open to the public and the top two floors are the corporate and administrative offices of Star Cruises. The building has a departure hall that can accommodate more than 200 passengers.

There was one cruise ship docking at that time. It was "Wasa Queen". This vessel has a gross tonnage of 16,546 grt, A length and width of 155.7m & 22m and a cruising speed of 17 knots. It has 218 cabins and can take in 608 passengers. You can go for a one day package with 3 meals included starting from RM98.00

We approached nearer for a closer look.

After making a turn, we went just under a pipe to come out the other end.

Wasa Queen loomed above us as we came out the other side impressively set against the setting sun.

Another view of Wasa Queen.

We were been curiously observed by the passengers as we passed the ship. People must be what these three jokers must be doing driving round in their little boat taking photos.

We then passed the ship and continued our journey leaving the Star Cruise Terminal behind.

To be continued...

Towing Car In Germany.

I was walking on a busy section in Hamburg, Germany when I saw this car been towed away. A belt was put under the car, strapped on and the car was lifted. These cars are illegally parked in this busy street and were removed to the police station by these car removers (for want of better word - understand they are under contract with the traffic department).

The owner of this car is blissfully unaware that his car is been lifted into the truck. He will come out to find it missing.

This young girl and her brother were working in a Sushi fast food shop. The commotion caught their attention and they rushed out to 'save' their car before it being towed away. Now safely on the road, the girl rushed to the shop to get some goods for delivery. Ha ha. You cannot fault their business instinct even at critical moments.

I was not so surprised by the fact that there is more than one tow truck as to find that they are of different types. This one placed a platform under the car, then hooked a chain to it and pulled the car onto the truck. Noticed the boy sitting on his father's shoulder giving his undivided attention. Maybe someday, he would want to be a car tower too. What fun!

This car is lifted into the second truck - another goner. If the rest of the cars parking there are not removed soon, theirs will hauled away too. See another truck waiting for the first to finish. They are serious about clearing the street in one go. In efficient Germany, be careful where you park your car - don't play play.