By M.Zulkifli
It was another weekday when we wanted to get out of the Klang Valley for a nice, quiet breakfast, and so we decided on Tanjung Malim, Perak.
After a fuss-free, relaxing one-hour drive, we reached Yik Mun, the iconic pau shop synonymous with this Perak town, first opened back in 1926. But while munching on my pau kacang, the obvious question came up, “Where to next?”
Since we’re already in Perak, I thought about driving up slowly to Sungai Klah.
I whipped out my phone to waze but then I saw that Kuala Kubu Bharu was only about 20kms from Tanjung Malim. CONFESSION: I have never ever been to KKB before. Ditto the wife.
So, off we went! The drive was smooth and a pleasant one, with beautiful nature filling our sights, right, left and centre.
Now, as the name suggests, this is the NEW Kuala Kubu. What happened to the old one? Well, it was sunk by the waters of a broken dam back in 1926 (the first time it happened was in 1883, by the way), and the British relocated the town to a higher elevation. A totally true story!
Anyway, our first stop was Taman Tasik Milenium, a sprawling, beautiful recreational park hugely popular with the locals of KKB. You know how Malaysians simply love to compare our cool nature attractions with the likes of Switzerland and Pakistan? Well, I can say that this place is, “Macam New Zealand!” Masya Allah, Tabarakallah. Have a look…
If this park wasn’t 80kms from where we live, we’d definitely be here every other day lah.
BUT, that wasn’t even the highlight of this road-trip. Instead, it was our next destination, the magnificently serene and picturesque dam of Ampang Pecah.
The place itself was easy to find, and as you make the turning into the area, you will be greeted by the calming sound of cascading waters.
Being a weekday, parking was thankfully really easy. Once we found our spot, we walked closer to the water and just stood there for a while, admiring the stunning natural beauty of the place.
Too bad we weren’t equipped to have a nice little picnic though!
Then it was off to explore the town centre. Like most other small towns in Malaysia, pre-war buildings housing ol’ skool shops were the main feature with street murals adding some charm and colour. The old buildings have mostly been spruced up and it was a little busy when we got there close to lunch time.
High on the foursquare list of places to eat here was this 100-year-old, Muslim-friendly kopitiam called Sun Sun Nam Cheong serving supposedly the best Hainanese chicken chop ever. But after parking the car, we discovered that the place was closed on that particular day. Aghhh.
That gave me a reason to just drive around the nearby areas and experience more of the KKB charm before finally stopping at Bistro Schanteq (yes, that’s really the name).
It’s billed as THE place for nasi kandar in KKB, but we had the rice with sup daging and sambal asam, and laksa utara instead. Both were pretty good and judging by the lack of empty chairs, it’s quite a popular lunch spot with the locals.
Of course, KKB is well known for all sorts of cool outdoor activities like hiking, paragliding and especially whitewater rafting, but being a daytrip and on a fairly hot day, we ended the excursion after that satisfying lunch.
The trip back home was via the old trunk road and we made a stop in good ‘ol Rawang, but that’s a story for another day…
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