This idea was mooted after our highly enjoyable trip to Tanjung Sepat and Sepang Gold Coast.

After some planning and research, 3 families (SP family, Lee family, and my family) had finally agreed to participate in a road trip to Sekinchan and Kuala Selangor last Sunday. In total 7 adults and 5 children.

When we want something so badly, it won’t happen. But when we aren’t noticing, it comes… oftentimes at an unexpected time.

I am talking about child growth and development.

Sometimes children can give us the shock of our life by showing amazing skills that we think they don’t possess – if they are given enough time and the right environment.

Photo Credit: Mykl Roventine

I am impressed, to say the least, the principal actually took time to organize such an event – out of her busy schedule.

A week ago, my wife, J, and I attended a special Mother’s Day function at K’s kindergarten.

I thought the response would be lukewarm as it fell on a week day. But to my surprise, almost all parents came and joined in the fun, except parents of 3 kids.

My 7-year-old daughter has been going to Primary One since January this year.

I am glad J would share with us stories of what has happened to her in school that day, especially during dinner. I encourage that. After all, that is the best way to find out more about her school life.

Here are a few stories I pick up along the way and I would like to share them with you here. Also I am going to tell you how I (my wife too!) handled each one of them.

"Petang" by Abd Rasid Yusuf

I saw this event on TV last Thursday morning.

There were a few reasons made me want to go for it. Among others were:

• I was amazed by the art pieces I saw. I wanted to see the real thing.
• One of J’s strong interests is exactly painting. I wanted to expose her more to this.
• I wanted to decorate my home with paintings as the walls now are plain and empty.
• And the theme of the then showcase was nature - one of the things I love dearly.

My daughter, J, celebrated her 7th birthday on a moderate scale recently.

My wife and I vaguely suggested to our son to make a birthday card for his sister – thinking it could be an impossible dream.

But to our surprise, K took up the challenge right off the bat.

Before I proceed, let me tell you this: I shouldn’t have written this article because it doesn’t look good on me. I could have chosen to hide this from you.

But I go ahead and complete it despite my initial hesitation, for one main reason: I want you to know we are not perfect. And everybody has one or more weaknesses (in parenting our children). Despite this fact, I also want you to know what is more important is we do our best to minimize our weaknesses, or better still get rid of them.

I am not shy to admit I have some weaknesses myself. This is one of them...

After visiting Segari Turtle Sanctuary, it was about time to end our trip and go home. Before we did, we stopped by in Sitiawan for a bowl of cendol (a local dessert with shaved ice, coconut milk, and palm sugar) to cool off the hot day.

From my research, the best cendol you can ever have in Sitiawan is James cendol.

The famous cendol stall is situated right at the entrance to a Hindu temple on Jalan Lumut – within a walking distance from The Store supermarket or Uncle John Cafe.

Unlike the old days, now you can’t spot Uncle James in red bow-tie anymore (used to be his trademark) as the stall is now run by his wife and son.

This was the first time I tried James cendol. The palm sugar and coconut milk was very thick and overall the cendol was awesome and refreshing - though I found it a bit salty.

The price for normal cendol is RM1.50 while cendol with glutinous rice (pulut) is RM1.60. Both J and K loved the one with pulut. Yummy.

A Pleasant Surprise

On the way home from Teluk Intan to Bidor, we were happy to see a huge rainbow. One of the best we had ever seen! Simply awesome.

Note: This is the tenth and final article of Family Weekend Getaway: A Road Trip To Lumut series.

This was the main reason why we came to Lumut. Segari Turtle Conservation Centre is about 30 minutes' drive from Teluk Batik - on the way to Pantai Remis. To reach Segari Turtle Sanctuary from Lumut or Seri Manjung, you have to cross three bridges. Huge and beautiful rivers.

Follow the road signs and it will lead you to the turtle center in a remote beach somewhere in Pasir Panjang.

Even though the Segari Turtle Conservation Centre is not very big but it serves a very noble cause by conserving the sea turtles. This absolutely helps to prevent them from extinction. The center collects turtle eggs from the beach nearby and place them in the hatchery area of the center. After hatching, the turtles will be separated by size (or age) and put into respective pools to let them grow. Once they are big enough, they will be freed into the sea.

You can have fun at the beach there but when we were there, it was 3.30pm and the sun was glaringly hot. I must say the beach here is far better, cleaner than Teluk Batik.

Segari Turtle Sanctuary (Pusat Pengurusan Penyu)
Pasir Panjang, Segari,
Perak.

Opening hours:
Mon-Sun – 10am to 12.30pm, 2pm to 5pm
Fri – 10am to 12 noon, 2.30pm to 5pm

Entrance is free.

Note: This is the ninth article of Family Weekend Getaway: A Road Trip To Lumut series.

Next: Refreshingly Cold - James Cendol of Sitiawan

We reached Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock Seafood Restaurant at about 1pm. The restaurant was empty. But when we sat down and ordered, customers started to fill up the small, modest village restaurant.

Kampung Cina - where Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock Seafood Restaurant and a string of other restaurants are located - is a food haven for those who are looking for mouth-watering seafood at irresistible prices.

Again, this place was recommended to me by Wang Tao. We were supposed to have dinner here last night but we changed plan.

Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock Seafood Restaurant, which was originally started just to sell tuak (an alcoholic drink made from fermented coconut flower sap) and later moved on to include other food to go with the drink. Tuak is still available if you want to have a sip of the local beer.

We ordered four dishes: steamed ma yau fish, fried squids, fried fish (it is a popular dish here but I forget the name. The fish is small and long), steamed prawns, and vegetable.

The ma yau fish was very fresh and I didn't taste the “fishy” smell. It was very well done. The fish was sweet and tender.

Not many restaurant can prepare nice and tasty fried squids. But this restaurant really impressed me. Not to mention the squids were fresh, the fried squids here were tender, juicy, and succulent.

Overall the lunch was excellent and most importantly the price was highly affordable. Our bill came up to about RM60 – which was lower than what I expected judging from its popularity - which had recently shot up to sky after being featured on a local TV food program.

According to owner Ling Hock Beng, they catch their own seafood. In other words, they control the supply chain right from the source. And that also explains the reason why the seafood offered here is fresh and cheap.

Highly recommended!



Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock Seafood
Lot 135, Kampung Cina,
32000 Sitiawan
Perak
Malaysia
Opening hours: 11am to 10pm (Tuesdays off)
Telephone: 012-540 9478, 016-597 7756 (Ling Hock Beng)

Note: This is the eighth article of Family Weekend Getaway: A Road Trip To Lumut series.

Next: Up Close with Turtles at Segari Turtle Conservation Centre