Of Fish Balls Noodles & Fried Ice

I went on this MAD adventure last Saturday- solo trip to Kampar to meet up with some friends. The trip was one of the most frightening ones. Here’s the story:

I found out that the earliest bus to Kampar. I woke up at 6am, left the house at 6.30am, got to the Putra LRT station in PJ & went to Pasar Seni station to get to Puduraya. The only bus that leaves at 8am is the Edaran Express. In front of me, in the line, at the counter, was a man purchasing a bus ticket. At that time, it was already 7.40am. I was pretty anxious and excited as well. There was a sign that shows “8AM” at the counter.

As soon as the guy left the counter, the sign was removed! *Nooooo!!* I stayed hopeful & asked for the 8am bus ticket to Kampar. Jolly ho, it was sold out! Bummer!! The next bus to Kampar is at 10am! *pout* I got into an ‘auto-panic’ mode & started looking around for other bus companies to no avail. *sigh* I called my friend who’s in Kampar already & I just couldn’t get her! I had to call several times AND call some other people in Kampar to seek for help. Bah.

In the end, I made the decision to take a bus to Tapah, the next nearest town from Kampar; it’s 30minutes drive apart. To my greatest ‘delight’, all bus tickets to Tapah were sold out! LOL. “Cham” already. How ‘fortunate’. I kept asking around, & came to the Kesatuan Express’ ticket counter, where the lady told me that there’s a bus to Tapah at 8.15am, but it costs RM14! Bummer! A ticket to Kampar costs only RM11.50 :( & Tapah is before Kampar! Bleh. I went around like a mad woman to look for other buses that goes to Tapah to no avail, so I had no choice but to take that particular bus at 8.15am at RM14. Wonderful. Phase one of the madness settled. Moving on to Phase 2! *faints*

Phase 2 was at the bus lanes below the ticket counters in Puduraya. I saw my bus parked at Platform 18 already. To my greatest delight, I saw the sign on the bus which reads “Cameron Highlands – KL”. Wow. So does this bus actually goes to Tapah first or directly to Cameron? I waited in faith ‘til the ticket conductor arrived. I lined up in hopes to get into the bus quickly & avoid inhaling too much carbon monoxide. So much for lining up. When it was my turn, the conductor looked at the ticket and…

Conductor: “Tapah? This bus doesn’t go into Tapah…”
Ruth: What?? “I bought this from the counter & now you’re telling me that the bus doesn’t go there???” I asked him, raising my voice a little.
Conductor: "Wait wait." (shows me to stand aside)

The bus that I took to Tapah- Kurnia Bestari

I was quite mad, irritated, annoyed, & tired by that time. I had to pay more for a ticket & now I can’t get onto the bus. Argh. Anyways, to cut the story short, I got into the bus, which had no choice but to get into Tapah town before heading to Cameron Highlands, & myself, plus 3 more ‘victims’ of this madness were called to alight when the bus stopped at the roadside on the main street in Tapah. How ‘exciting’. Thankfully, my friend knows where I got off when I told her, & the trip after that was very much nicer than how it began.

I didn’t get to eat THAT much, but I guess this will give me the excuse to go to Kampar again! *lol*

Lunch at a coffee shop:Kampar’s famous fish ball noodles
Barli drink (it's not the pure barli like we get it in PJ. I guess 'barli' in Kampar is understood as 'fu chuk yi mai' (Cantonese for 'beancurd sheets + barli')
Dinner at Kam Ling restaurant (a couple from Kampar Wesley invited a few of us for a lavish dinner!)

Snack: “Ais Goreng”(literally means fried ice) from the pasar malam. This is the best food I’ve tasted in Kampar! Very unique & delicious too!!

Phase 1- Guy 'frying' ice

Phase 2- From Water to Ice!


End product....delicious & VERY smooth coconut-flavored slush! :P

Basically, that’s all the Kampar food that I had while I was there, cos I had to leave for KL after lunch on Sunday!! *sigh* Didn’t get to go to Gua Tempurung nor Batu Berangkai :( It’s back to work…I’m looking forward to the weekend again! *lol*


- Ruth