Tanjung Tualang; my roots - Tanjung what???

Last weekend, my cousins and I (Club 29) took a trip to our maternal roots. Allow me to digress and explain Club 29. My 2 cousins (who are siblings) stay in the same road as me with our families. Their youngest sister stays with one of them and because our road number is 29, we call ourselves Club 29. Don't forget this as you will see it appear a lot in future blogs.

Back to our main topic, our mothers are from a small town very famous for its river prawns called Tanjung Tualang. It is a very small town that is caught in the time warp from the 30s. Its so small that you can drive through downtown TT or actually the whole town in 500meters. There isn't much info on this town or you could say a relative large village on the internet and if you google it, you may only see a map on google earth. You can check it out here or the link by the side.

http://www.maplandia.com/malaysia/perak/tanjung-tualang/tanjung-tualang-google-earth.html

It was another adventure for the city-slickers and our kids who has never been to a bonafide village, was acting all "jakun" or "ulu" or hillbilly about it. You can see the irony like a Batman spotlight shining from the darkest caverns.

Our mothers grew up in this little picturesque town back in the 30s. The primary school that my mom went to, is still there and plays a very important role to Tanjung Tualang-ans. The school is the prime (and only) wedding location for the residents. The cool thing is that our cousin in TT, who is actually our second cousin, owns a restaurant here. This TT cousin's grandmother is the sister-in-law of my grandmother (confused yet?). I have met his parents and siblings many times though whenever we meet, we have an awkward silence about us. Shy i guess.

The amusing thing is that my Club 29 cousins have not only met these cousins but never knew of their maternal roots in TT. Up until 5 years ago when I moved to Road 29, they have never even heard of TT let alone know that their mother, my aunt that is, is from TT. So anyway, eager for our children, the next generation, to discover our roots we started on our journey.

It only took us about 2 hours from KL inclusinve of trunk roads. It was very easy to navigate. You take the North-South highway to Ipoh and exit at Tapah. After the toll, turn right to Tapah but at the next traffic light which is a curve you gotta turn right to Kampar. Then go all the way (about 20-25mins) until you see a Petronas and turn left at the next traffic light indicating Teluk Intan. Continue to a while until you see the ONLY TT signboard which means you take a right. Follow the road, curve and all until you come to a T-junction, take right and drive for about 5 mins (cows avoiding included) and you will come to TT. Easy heh?

Our cousin, the restaurant owner is super vain. He looks like a smalltown gangster (probably is, don't wanna ask) with his white shirt, 2 top buttons open, grey jeans, immaculate gel-ed hair that is blow dried to perfection...and...wait for it....wearing clogs!! I forgot the thin mustache that he spots. He is also the chef and when he sweats at the stove, he will take a bath, change and continue. That goes on for a while. In between all that, he will find time ensure his hair stays immaculate.

We the 12 adults and our kids took up 2 of the restaurants 8 tables. We had:-
1) Prawns steamed with herbs and ginger
2) Fried Har-lok prawns
3) Paku vegetable (speciality)
4) Fried Pork
5) Steamed Soon Hock
6) Braised Frog
7) Oyster Omelette

I personally didn't think food was cheap for a relative's restaurant and a town like TT but it wasn't expensive either so it was cool. We then went back to our uncle's house and the kids had a hand in drawing water from the well (how cool is that!) albeit it was drawn by an electric pump la. They had fun plucking rambutans after my brother used a long bamboo stick to twist the rambutans out of the tree. There were turkeys, chickens and budgies that were meant to be sold. Kids ooohhh and aaahhh the place for a while before going back to their PSPs and Nintendos.

I always get a little sentimental when I experience a little history be it my family or just...history in general. TT is good place to drop by on your way to Ipoh (its only 45mins away). Head on down to Thong Lok Restaurant and say Alwyn sent you. They will fix you up with a nice prawny dish.