Weekend Gateway @ Taiping

An offer to boarding school brought me to this old town. I have relatives who stayed here but they moved to other town a few years back.Even though I rarely spent time cruising around the town area during my schooling years, the memories it has built still remains strong.

TAIPING

I recently revisited Taiping last weekend. Such a wonderful visit though very short. Thanks to my friends who held their wedding dinner at one of the seafood restaurant in Taiping. That afternoon I actually had to leave my course earlier so that we could reach Taiping before the sunset.Three of us, housemates, departed to Taiping at 4pm and reached the town an hour later. The shops, houses, quarters houses, Kamunting prison and the bus station...all looks familiar to me. It has been 11 years since I graduated from the school. I came back several years later but only went to the zoo and to my relative's house.

Sentosa Villa...catched my eyes when I was browsing for accommodation, plus the special price that I obtained. I rarely go for holiday, so once I go, why not get the best place to stay? It is situated on the hill, some where five minutes from the lake garden. The room was clean and spacious enough, the bathroom I like the most. The view was superb, Subhanallah, such a picturesque natural view.

We left for dinner at 7.30pm, looking for Soon Lee Seafood Restaurant, located somewhere at the town alley. Parking was a challenge. Our friends prepared special table for Muslims, and we were served Nasi Beriyani, chicken, spiced prawn, cuttle fish , vegies, fruits and orange juice. Alhamdulillah. Thanks my friends for being concerned. Both couples look so cute and smart in their dressing. I wished to see captain in his formal military suit but he wore only blazer. There was no swords also. Yet the parents impressed me as they were wearing kebaya and batik. :) The event ended around 10 pm, we stopped by 7-11 to buy some snacks and headed back to Villa.I slept soundly that night as I was too tired from lack of sleep.

Good morning Taiping...woke up with wonderful feelings. However there was shortage of water for a while that made me unhappy temporarily. We had breakfast in the cafe, surrounded by nature. Chinese fried rice, mee goreng mamak, boiled egg, samosa, popiah, porridge, fruits, orange juice and a cup of coffee...safely entered my gastrointestinal tract. Then we had a tour around the villa. Very close to nature. Thank you Allah for giving us opportunity to reach that place.

We checked out at 11.30am...and decided to head to Ipoh. On our way, we stopped by a RM2 shop and bought many things..this kind of shop is rare...so we didn't want to miss it, and we also stopped by the lake garden to snap some memory photos. Along the highway, I saw greenish mountains and hills..and that made me remembered of our last usrah on surah As-Saff 1-3. The first sentence said, " Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth declares the glory of Allah; and He is the Mighty, the Wise." Even mountains and hills say prayers for Allah. We humans, with brains and hearts, should say prayer even more!

We reached Ipoh an hour later and headed straight to Batu Gajah, before reaching our destination, Kellie's Castle. With RM5 entrance fee, we had our own tour inside the so called mysterious castle. Glad to be able to see a castle again, after the last one in Ireland. It started to rain again when we finished our tour. We had a coffee break at its cafe before heading to R&R Batu Gantung, where we had mee curry, bought nasi lemak for dinner, had our prayers and finally shopped some fruits at cheaper price! I bought duku langsat, jambu air, guava and some sour fruits.

Our journey was uneventful despite the heavy rain, alhamdulillah. We arrived home at 7pm and that ends our weekend gateway...