Honey4Boyz

Posted by Xian Jin Where else to spend a short break, but Ipoh? It was unplanned, spontaneous and out-of-the-blue when my dad decided to bring us to Tasik Cermin, a place embedded deep in his childhood, even though he had only been here a few times. From the outside, it was the most unappealing and unattractive of landmarks; construction, lorries and sand deterred visitors. Who would ever visit such a place?  The Tunnel that bridges reality to fantasy. Tasik Cermin - "Mirror lake" in Malay.  Mirror, mirror on the wall who's the fairest of them all? ps. me Struggling to get stones to skip more than 2 times. It was an enchanting and beautiful experience. Something so beautiful hidden from the world, disguised as a deserted and sandy land. I could stay here for hours, reading or relaxing under the tall, shady trees in silence. This hidden gem may not last long, however. Already, there are constructions ongoing, a...

We revisited Concubine Lane and my oh my, what a change! If the change can preserve some of these buildings, then perhaps it's not bad. Hopefully, it will not commercialise the living & working town until it becomes a mere tourist attraction.  Inside one of the shops, which has been converted to a souvenir shop with a display gallery. Others  are turned to cafes, snack shops and homestays. But they're not the same. Unlike the nearby Kong Heng and Thean Chun coffee shops which have survived the war and changing times. Remains of an old 1902 newspapers on the wall, now framed up and part of the wall decor. We're fortunate to visit the Hakka Miners' Club at Jalan Bijeh Timah, which is just across the road after Concubine Lane.  It's one of the prominent heritage buildings in the old Ipoh town, and was so exclusive it used to be only opened to its club members, which were mainly the rich Hakka miners and towkays (men only).  Built in ...

Posting by Xian Jin The Kiwanis Youth Camp is an annual camp organized by Kiwanis Club of Kuala Lumpur. This year it was a 5 day 4 night trip to the Earth Camp, Gopeng. The day before it started, I had mixed feelings because I was afraid to do some activities I have never done before but I was curious as this was my first time. We took a bus from a meeting point to the Earth Camp. In the bus, everyone was silent as we did not know each other. When I reached Earth Camp, I was amazed by the cleanliness of the dorms, the size of the place and the hospitality given by the staff there. After a brief intro, we were divided into groups and had ice breaking sessions. We played many games like the tug-of-war and it was dinner time. The food was way beyond my expectation. I finished dinner with a very happy stomach and went on to wash up. After that we had a meeting and we slept. The next day I woke up feeling refreshed after a good night’s sleep. We first did water rescue...

We played tour guides during the recent Raya holidays. Normally we would rather stay put in KL as it's usually deserted during the holiday. In our group, there're 13 people and one toddler. Perhaps it coincided with a long school break, so people could travel on different days, that's why we're spared from long traffic jam. So far so good..... until we reached Ipoh.  All hotels, big or small, were fully booked. Coffee shops were crazily crowded with people sitting as well as standing and waiting by the side of the tables. There's barely space to walk. A popular 2-storey dim sum restaurant was so packed until the customers have to wait on the roadside. The restaurants actually allowed people to stand around, crowding the places making them unbearably stuffy and hot. It's quite an experience for us and our visitors; we've never seen anything like this though we visit Ipoh so often. We heard that people started coming in at 6.30am as soon as the shops ...

Pit Stop at the Perak royal town, Kuala Kangsar. The 1st rubber tree in Malaysia was planted in this town. That's about all I knew about this place. Labu Sayong or water pitcher from Sayong village, known for its health value to help migraine, lower blood pressure etc due to the special properties inherent in the local clay. Before this, we didn't know much of labu sayong.  We didn't go to the village or plan this visit. Out of curiousity, we bumped into this unassuming workshop at No. 3, Kg Setia, Enggor, run by Mohd bin Harun.  Pakcik was very open and gave us a tour of his workshop and how he makes labu sayong. His warm, friendly welcoming people made a lasting impression on all of us - a trait that we've lost in the big cities. The traditional way of making labu sayong uses hands to mould the clay into the shape of a 'labu' (gourd-like vase) but this is too slow. Now, the clay mixture is poured into standard mould blocks. It's ...