Of Gulls, Terns and Sweet Childhood Memories

Seagulls or terns are mentioned in a soulful song Awan Yang Terpilu (Lonely Cloud) sang by Ning Baizura. An extract from the first lines of that song:-

Kerana cinta

Aku kembara

Bagai camar melintas laut

Mencari pohon untuk berteduh

Full lyrics are available HERE.  

Seabirds portal (screenshot below) with an interesting seabird life history database which reflects the global population trend of species such as Whiskered Tern (stable), Chinese Crested Tern (decreasing), Little Tern (decreasing), Little White Tern (stable) etc.

I would be transported back to my childhood in Kedah whenever I tasted the Nian Gao which were made by Aunty Yong (the sweetcakes as pictured below). She has a sister who lives in Kedah whom she visits often. I bought two of Aunty Yong's Nian Gao earlier this year hoping to relive the days when my late grandmother would cut a thin slice of the Kedah homemade sweet-cake for me when I requested to have some during my stay with her in my maternal family home in Lunas. I discovered the Permatang Pauh ricefields are located close to Lunas when I birded around that area with friends back in 2016, which can be read HERE.  More information about Permatang Pauh can be read HERE.

During my legal practice days, my taxi driver Mr. Khoo would stop by Yong Peng, Johor for morning breakfast, before we reach Johor Bahru. The journey to JB from Segamat started at 5am for both of us. We'd have a good breakfast in Yong Peng before I hit the courts and land office in JB for a day of non-stop work. On our way back to Segamat, Mr. Khoo recommended a local pastries shop called Eng Hin. It was a happy moment for me to learn that Eng Hin is still running their pastries business (their shopfront as pictured below). Their traditional Chinese biscuits are chewy and not sweet. The iPackTravel website blogger's yummy review of Eng Hin biscuits can be read HERE.  

A well-hidden noodles manufacturer was discovered recently in Yong Peng. Mee Hock Chew signage was plastered against a nostalgic-looking wooden house and it was this signage that led me to the location of this one-storey noodles shop-lot. The delicious smell of the freshly boiled noodles stopped me in my tracks. Who says one can only get free smells of cookies:) I could not resist buying their home-made mee suah and yee mee varieties. It looks like Mee Hock Chew is a major supplier to a number of restaurants according to their Facebook page HERE. A scene from the first Kung Fu Panda movie about Mr. Ping, the duck/goose character who just want to make the wonderful noodles and who wants to learn how to make tofu concludes this post.