Bukit China

We could have stuck to the plan today. We set out this morning with intention of getting breakfast, wandering around the market, then heading across town to a megamall to check it out. We ticked of the first two returning to the small eatery that did chicken and rice balls that we enjoyed the other day. Then we turned right. Instead of heading in the direction we had planned, we too a stroll further along the street, poking our noses into small shops along the way. We paused to investigate what I'm fairly certain was a Sikh temple but unsure and also unsure if we would be permitted to enter so we kept going.

We reached an intersection and noticed a small crowd gathered across the road. A little further scrutiny and an element of deduction and we realised we had reached the Poh San Teng Temple. The small crowd was of course a tour group. This temple is dedicated to Tua Pek Kong (a Taoist deity of Peranakan folk religion practiced by ethnic Chinese in Malaysia, Singapore, and parts of Indonesia) and was founded in 1795 during the era of Dutch Malacca. A beautiful temple with lovely ornate ceramic decorative finishes.

Also on the site is a cenotaph erected in 1948 and dedicated to the memory of the Chinese slaughtered by the Japanese.

We continue to circuit the block passing a street vendor cooking noodles with bean sprouts and egg, earmarking it for breakfast another day. There is a row of lovely Peranakan shophouses, the end one of which houses a lovely cafe. We stop for coffee and tea.

We pass a large hall with people inside having their hair cut. It is customary to do so before Lunar New Year and apparently here today only, it is free. Richard isn’t tempted.

Back at the fruit market we buy a few pieces and also a “spectacular oversized muffin”. I later discover from a Malaysia Facebook group that it is called “huet kueh” and is a steamed rice flour cake . We tasted it and weren’t impressed and it seems this cake be meant to be used only as offerings.

Heading out for dinner, we first stop by an atm and since we are in this neighbourhood we decide to check out a porridge place we walk past often. It only opens for dinner and serves a variety of dishes all based on rice porridge. One of these is frog. We decide to share one with two pieces, meaning two whole frogs. Although the sauce is delicious the frog is incredibly fiddly, tiny as they are. I can see why the French just went for the legs. We discuss the whole question of eating on way back to the apartment and once there we look it up. I didn’t realise the endangered status of frogs as a whole. I mean, I’ve watched Luke Nguyen catch them in paddy fields. We won’t be eating frog again.Read more