Road Trip Weekend

The road to "Pantai", Negeri Sembilan

My weekends are usually filled with house cleaning, catching up on work, napping, reading, writing and sometimes a good meal or two with friends and family.

Hubby works 7 days a week, if not at the office, then on his phone. A few weeks ago, he asked me if I'd like to follow him to Kuala Klawang as he saw some sign which said "Pantai" during one of his trips near there and there is no way a beach could be located there. I really wasn't in the mood to work or do anything productive, so I agreed.

We left in his Satria GTI (which is left idle during the weekdays and needs the exercise at least once a week) at about noon towards Negeri Sembilan. On these rides, it's always more fun to skip the highways and take the rural and more scenic kampung roads. We stopped over in Lenggeng for lunch at a Malay stall there.

I absolutely love authentic Malay food (and food in general) and piled up my plate with rice, fried chicken, one big prawn and ladies fingers. Hubby decided to try their fish and cow's intestines. The lady there said that the intestines have to be specially ordered and it's worth a try.

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Cow's intestines

The meal proofed to be really satisfying but not cheap at almost RM50 for the both of us due to the prawn and intestines.

We then continued our journey with a short pit stop to buy pisang goreng (banana fritters).

Quaint town of Kuala Klawang






















We finally reached Kuala Klawang, a typical small town with all the necessities available in a laid back environment. We made our rounds past the shophouses before driving on to the mysterious "Pantai". We stopped to buy some petai (stink beans) from a road side stall and found out that there really was no beach at the place named "Pantai". Not to be deterred, we continued with our journey before deciding to catch the sunset at Port Dickson to see the real beach which I've not gone to for ages.

The municipal council has done a really good job making Port Dickson pretty again. The beaches are clean and lit even at night so families can happily picnic and camp there.




After being mesmerized by the sunset for about 30 minutes, we then had a good dinner at A&W, Seremban. We made our way home after that, full, tired and happy.

DAY TWO

Hubby and I usually have Sunday brunch at a Roti Canai store at the Kenanga Fashion District but he proposed we drive to Tanjung Malim this time to check out a venue where the NFDP youth would be staying during one of their events.




I gamely agreed to another road trip. We used the scenic route passing Kuala Kubu Bharu and naturally wanted to try the local food. Did a quick Google search and discovered that they had a nice Asam Pedas restaurant there. The meal came to about RM20 for the both of us.

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Photo credit: Asam Pedas Kuala Kubu Bharu

Satiated, we then headed to Tanjung Malim where UPSI is located. 




From there, we drove to Institut Perguruan Sultan Idris (IPSI), with buildings with fine architecture built in the 1920s. 


Here's some history about the institution taken from their website:

In the process of looking for a suitable location, Tanjong Malim was seen as the most strategic and suitable place in meeting the criteria and geographical factors desired by Winstedt. In May 26, 1917 Tanjong Malim was officially chosen as the place for the construction of the college. 

A 64 hectare land was purchased in Tanjong Malim for $49,000.00 to build a campus and the construction work began in August 1919. Buildings were designed with medieval gothic characteristics. The construction work of the college was completed in 1922. SITC was inaugurated on 29th November 1922 by Sir W. George Maxwell, the Chief Secretary of the Government of the Federation of Malay States.

Sultan Idris Training College (SITC)

Meanwhile, the proposal to name the college Sultan Idris Training College (SITC) was presented to His Royal Highness Sultan Abdul Jalil Shah and His Royal Highness granted the approval. The name of Almarhum Sultan Idris Shah was then immortalized as the name of this college to show appreciation towards His Highness contribution in the educational field. Almarhum HRH Paduka Seri Sultan Idris Musyidul Adzam Shah was the 28th Sultan of Perak and had ruled Perak from 1989-1916.

The establishment of SITC was seen as the beginning of an era that influenced the thinking and educational spheres of the Malays. The Federation of Malay States Education Director, Sir Wolffe in his speech during the SITC inauguration said that, this day signified a historical day for the Malays because it (SITC establishment) was the starting point of the Malay’s vernacular education development. According to him, the Malays felt that this was a high recognition, and also a priceless appreciation for the improvement of the educational status for the Malay children. 

SITC developed rapidly. The intake for the trainees were not only limited to the Malays in Malaya but it spread to Brunei, British Borneo and Singapore. In March 1924, SITC produced its first 58 trained teachers. The number of trained teachers produced had increased from year to year. In was in this era that the effort was begun to build a Malay civilisation through the use of Malay language. The Pejabat Karang-Mengarang became the official mouthpiece to uphold and raise the standard of the mother tongue. This effort was carried out by Zainal Abidin Ahmad or popularly known as Pendeta Za’ba. 

The teacher training curriculum in SITC focused on the basic knowledge of teaching, besides handicraft and agriculture. From the moment of its establishment until then, SITC continuously excelled in contributing to the people and country. It was seen as the finest ‘university’ in training Malay teachers.

In 1957, in fulfilling the requirement of the Razak Report, SITC changed its name to Maktab Perguruan Sultan Idris (MPSI). Starting from this date, MPSI upheld the Malay outlook, character and personalities; this came with the change in the administration of SITC which was handed by the Europeans to the Malay scholars.

Although the name of SITC was changed, its tradition became the root to sow excellence in the institution during the MPSI era and also the following eras. The role of MPSI was not only to train and educate future teachers, but to be a platform to express the voices of the scholars and also the Malay nationalists.

Enough of history. When in Tanjung Malim, it would be a sin to leave without getting their pau and the best place as claimed by many people would be Yik Mun . Always crowded, you can opt to buy and take away or dine there. They have many choices when it comes to Chinese food served there, from rice to noodles.

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Yik Mun pau. Photo credit: syahril a. kadir

So for those planning to travel around Malaysia, driving down the old beaten path can be a fun thing to do when not in a rush. 

I sometimes wish I had more time to travel around Malaysia. There are so many places I've not seen. If you have more time on your hands, and want to cover more states, flying to the different states around Malaysia or to Malaysia on the cheap is possible with an AirAsia airline ticket and we offer some of the cheapest flights around.

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