Ijok Rocks.

since photobucket is under maintenance, i'll just use blogger's photo uploader.

today's post: beggar's chicken and fireflies and Ijok, which is somewhere near Kuala Selangor, i believe.

don't know if anyone tried the beggar's chicken there, but you need to make reservations instead of just popping up at the restaurant like we always do. it IS as good as it was recommended on the tv. definitely worth the an hour journey. 2nd aunt's family and us started journey at 5.30pm, reaching btw 6.20pm-6.30pm.

that's the chicken wrapped in foil first, and then paper, and then the earth to cook. well the one above is already done, they're just removing the earth and paper to serve it.

clearly looks like the stove for the chicken or whatever they serve that way.

men in action, work in progress.
must be frigging hot-sauna doing that every day.

the outcome of it. really is VERY good, and they have duck and glutinous rice cooked by the same method. yummm.

we had other dishes as well. crabs, prawns, very impressive looking fish cake(can't be arsed to upload the picture), steamed fish, pig's stomach soup( i know they sound disgusting, but i bet everyone must have had it before already, no?it's all pepperish, my all time favourite), and some pork dish which mum and dad love it so much because they get to consume tons of fats.

the crab was good as well, juicy meat bits. :)

from left: yi szean, sister yin, me, and yen dhing.
my lovely-lovely cousins.

from left: dejian, deweil, pat and brother shen.

the.....females?
from left: mum, sister, yen dhing, 2nd aunt, me, grandma and yi szean.

we're done with dinner by 7.30pm and that's all of us.

what an actor and actress. ;P

after that, we headed for Kampung Kuantan's firefly. it was different than the one i went when i was still little, that was in Kuala Selangor i think but we didn't get to see the fireflies then because there were too many people queuing up and my parents and uncle ended up selling the tickets outside. it was like 12am already.

so anyways, since this is a good opportunity, only the young ones went for it. 4 on each boat, and by boat i meant very "safe" boats.....rowed by just a pair of macho hands.

those were the very classic boats we hopped on.
i had second thoughts when i saw the boats, because what if the boat drowns!? and if there's crocodiles in it, won't i get..... eaten... up....? crocodiles were brother's imaginaries, but it IS possible. we went anyway since mum bought tickets already. the crowd wasn't all that yet since we reached early and we only get to see the fireflies when it turns darker. i was very paranoid before our turn came.

awaiting for our turn.

in life jackets. glad i got a life jacket which haven't been worn because my cousins were complaining theirs stinks because they got theirs from other people previously.

i WAS still very paranoid. even more paranoid as far as i could remember. i'm only inches away from the brown water!

that's them.

HOWEVER...

the fireflies paid every bits of my paranoia away. very worth the danger, even more beautiful than any christmas tress with baubles and lights.

that's how a firefly looks like with lights. they look just as normal as the ordinary bugs. it was still in season when we went for it, so there were quite many of it on the trees, kept blinking with a constant rhythm.

you may get as paranoid as i could be before that, but it is worth the experience. after all, i bet you don't get fireflies at your home's garden, do you? :)

i don't know if there's much mosquitoes, but i did applied some cream which isn't a repellent, i guess they work the same or either mosquitoes didn't bite me because usually mum gets all the bites or there isn't much at all? i don't know, haha, still, just bring a repellent in case you want to visit.

with grandma.

it's always nice spending time with your families and relatives regardless of wherever it may be or what you do. it's about bonding and getting close, of course, having fun too. that could never be exempted because after all, it is about getting fun. when it's fun, everyone's happy, when everyone's happy, it's memorable.

and when you're walking down the memory lane sometime later, you'll notice how much you've never miss.

of course, life doesn't always go the right direction when you want them to. life is a circle, you know that. :)

what a long post today.

till then,
cheerio!