Rustic Duck Rice in Raub

This is not the best duck rice in the planet but it certainly is a very satisfying one. It is one of those "must do" places in Raub if you ever go there to join the weekend "jalan-jalan cari makan" horde of local tourists. One warning though, they sell out way before noon and so it is actually quite difficult to get anything from the stall if we follow the city schedule of eating lunch.

The stall is located in Kampong Bukit Koman (gold mining village) right at the edge of the small stream that passes by the village and sells principally rice and noodles with roast duck and char siew (barbecued pork). On the side, there are also the usual poached eggs and pig intestines in dark soya sauce as well as authentic Yong Tau Foo (stuffed Tau Foo). Their soup, sold separately, is intense, dark, herbal and very rustic. A good strong bodied soup for those who has the liking for such things...

 Authentic stuffed tau foo and tau foo pok

 Poached eggs and intestines are offered too, with rice or noodles.

Raison d’être of the stall - their plump and rustic ducks well roasted with crispy skin and a very nice fermented bean paste sauce. 

Traditional Chinese fares in Raub

In the once almost forgotten gold-mining village in Raub called Bukit Koman, there are 2 existing traditional Chinese cake makers that still survive thanks to the spurt in local tourism in recent years and of course, it didn't hurt that they got featured in TV and YouTube makan-makan shows. Well, now they are mostly fuelled in parts by the durian economy as a by product of durian tourism. One particular one called Chop Yoon Thye was the go to brand in Raub when we were children and recently, I made a stop to get some more "rustic" moon cakes after having had those fancy city ones ad nauseum with too much untraditional flavours and colours not to mention a few. These days, buying moon cakes is more like buying a fancy box with a few fancy moon cakes thrown in as a gift. Too much commercialisation of a traditional event I think...

 Well they updated the packaging to go with the packs - used to be rolled in a cylindrical packaging of white glassine paper with a red label.

 Modern packaging but at least the moon cakes still taste "traditional" a.k.a rustic. A good substitute to wean off the commercialized products in the city.

 The lady of the house. It was her husband's grand papa's recipe that we are having here...

 House speciality: a rather soft and chewy glutinous rice cake

 Outside the shop, they sell traditional fares like dumplings, "chien loong pau" (meaning pan-fried pau) and "ham chien piang" (meaning salted fried bun). All as hakka as can get...

 Even more - traditional Chinese cakes known as "char kor" (meaning tea cakes). The yellow ones are of mung bean paste filling and the redones red bean paste filling. The green one is called a "chit chang kau" or 7-layered cake.

 The dark one on the left is a "chu-yap pan" or herbal leaf cake. Seasonal.

 White one is always made of radish and dried prawn filling. All these cakes are made of glutinous rice flour skin, sit on a piece on Jack fruit leaf (never banana which is the hallmark of Malay cakes) and steamed.

Finally, the bane of my childhood: steamed egg cakes.

Up Gunung Jerai (a.k.a Kedah Peak)

If one drives along the North-South Highway en route to Alor Setar, chances are that one will catch the glimpse of this isolated rocky mountains from Gurun with some coomunication towers on the peak... well, the curiosity gets the better of me and so I booked a night at the Regency Jerai Hill Resort at the false summit of the Jerai Hills.

A view from above the barren clifts at 1000 M above sea level.

Basically the hotel is very basic for the price and being the only hotel up there, there isn't really any choice for food, which was very average as far as hotel goes....the route up was surprisingly easy and hassle free (if you are used to bends and curves on the road). As we were there during the dryer part of the year, even at 1000 m above sea level, it was basically quite warm - and the fact that the rooms only has ceiling fans was not very convenient not comfortable. 

The actual reason I went up for the trip was for a quick survey of the insect fauna - helas a disappointment with very little activities. The forest is basically dry, barren and the flowering plants do not have many butterflies on them.

Came across a flock of 5 Orange-Bellied Trogons on the way up to the tower.

and this Red Billed Malkoha on the side of the tarmac (there were 2 of them together)...

Lepidoptera activities was not very forthcoming for such an iconic collection locality in the past...

 Above - the striking day flying moth Milonia brassolis visiting Lantana

 a female Glassy Tiger fluttered by...

Another moth came to the flowers

The Common Earl, Tanaecia julii xiphiones was the "commonest" butterfly around the trail up the peak...

gnarled trees on the wind-swept clifts

view of the peak from Padang Tok Sheikh

 Above the bloom of the Bromheadia orchid...

 Moss and lichen abound near the peak

The red-trunked Eugenia is common...