The Hunt for Akok Panas @ Tumpat, Kelantan

Kuih Akok is a sickly sweet dessert , some people described it as an egg pudding .The ingredients for making akok is simple  – santan, eggs, flour, palm sugar – but not all akok are created equal. Sometimes you see despicable and sad  looking akok at the stalls (especially at the pasar Ramadan)  – with the smooth surface, the too-light brown colour . And when you run into wrinkled akok with burnt bits at the edges- it might be your lucky day !

We usually get our akok from the stall at the market in Tumpat, but they sold out rather quickly and we were akok-less. Desparate, we asked our neighbour and a few Mak Ciks if they know of any akok sellers and they pointed us to the Akok-maker ! Wahhh, that is even better than getting akok from the stalls- which are just acting as the middleman  for the akok maker.

So we went for a walk…

We were told to take the road beside Masjid Ismali.  This  mosque was built back in year 1900 , you can read more about the mosque by clicking here

Walked past wooden houses

Yes, the Masjid was behind us now. I just noticed, what a lot of electrical wires we have in Tumpat…

Said Hi to Meow-meow, it doesn’t looked very pleased about being disturbed

After a few minutes walk ,the road stared to divide, take the right fork and you will see this view- coconut trees and all

Here we are – house number 66 C

A pile of delicious akok ready for sale

The akok molds on top of gas stoves

Charcoals are placed on top of the covers, the covers will go on top of the akok molds.

The akok seller also runs a small convenience stall. The prices of the Akok Panas 1Malaysia as listed on a sign  : 5 pieces for RM2, 50 pieces for RM20 and 100 pieces for RM40

Ah…this is what good akok looked like .

We bought 15 pieces of akok and headed home, saw a proud cockerel strutting his stuff

A sunny day for drying clothes

Said  Hi a second time to Meow-Meow

The akok are ready at about 9 am. The taste – Wonderful – these are good akok indeed.

 

Walkabout around Bagan @ Myanmar Day 4

Our itinerary for our third and last day in Bagan was – have a look at the market place then walk to the jetty and take a ferry. Have lunch and then catch the 3:30pm bus to Mandalay.

After breakfast, we started our walk around Bagan, our two navigator Chunny and W.Hoong checking out the maps to make sure that we were on the right path

Interesting window decoration

A grocery stall selling various goods : from onions to cigarettes, various sauces, dried food and of course the betel leaves

These two helpers were counting the betel leaves and stacking them into the baskets

A tea stall equivalent to our mamak stall

We arrived at the market and after a brief discussion, we agree to go our own ways to explore the market and meet back at the starting point in 30 minutes time. I walked with AhPhenggg..saw some clothing stuff, lacquer wares, groceries, then eh..saw something that caught my fancy – a wind chime..and then…a wood carving, and then lacquer wares..and we were later joined by Chunny..and we ended up at the stall for close to 1 hour…

After happily parting with our Kyats…we guiltily walked back to the starting point ( 30 minutes late) and err..thought of excuses for being late. We waited for a few minutes and couldn’t see W.H, after a few minutes WH joined us, excitedly telling us about the fish market and also offered us some kuihs that he brought at the stalls..and err..we just saw the souvenir shop..

We continued our journey to the ferry station…and on the way, we saw a barrel over an open  fire, seeing our kaypor faces, one of the guys took a long stick and lifted the contents..ah..they were boiling tar

We walked past the fire station

The local public transport..that ‘tyre’ seat looked rather comfy

Road making in progress..oh..so this was what the tar was for…this was very manual work…the ladies transport and spread the stones, then the steamroller run over that a few times to compact the surface

Peanuts being dried in front of a grocery shop

A clinic

Petrol kiosk , Ron 97 ? Ron 95 ?

Plastic bags free area…and Teapot condense milk

More interesting road signs ..the one on the left is about electrical safety , the others looked like religious related road signs

A more modern grocery shop with the banners of familiar names : Lux, Pepsi, Colgate, Palmolive …

An interesting looking house..

Another beautiful looking house..

While our cameras were  busily clicking away  ,  the owner of the house came out to the gate ..OHH…is he going to chase us off ? But he was smiling and invited us into his  compound..and let us take photos around the house..This is the open kitchen area and the kitchen

Mr Saw speaks good English..and we started to chitchat with him, and we were then introduced to his mother, his sister, wife and son….and then chairs were brought out and tea was served …then we were offered crispy peanuts in batter and palm sugar.. Here we were, 4 strangers from another country ..a bunch of  kaypors…and Mr Saw and his family welcomed us into his house and extend his kindness to us..and answered our unending questions patiently..

Grandmother and  grandson…

WH asked Mr Saw for the name of the kuih that he brought at the marketplace earlier and the next moment we know, Mr Saw started to talk to his sister and then he asked us when are we leaving Bagan, then Mr Saw said that his sister will go now to buy the kuih and drop that off at the guesthouse later while we go on our walkabout.  We declined the kind offer , and Mr Saw said that it was no trouble, there is a stall that makes this very well, and being local, they can buy it cheaply… Woooww….can you believe the kindness and hospitality of this family  ? 

We were deeply touched and yes, I believe that there is kindness in this world, there is good in this world………someone please pass me a tissue..

Shwegugyi, Gawdawpalin , Nathlaung Kyaung & Bupaya Pagoda @ Bagan, Myanmar Day 3

After a hearty lunch, we, I mean Osaka trotted to the next destination – Shwegugyi Temple.

Before climbing a flight of stairs leading  to the gate of the temple- we came to  a stone slab depicting the history of Shwegugyi Temple in both English and Burmese. The temple was built by King Alaungsithu in 1131 AD. The name Shwegugyi means ‘the golden cave’

On our left , we saw brick foundations and pits – this looked like an excavation site- but from a web search- this seemed to be the what was left of the former royal palace which was made from wood. Which explain why Shwegugyi is also known as ‘Nandow Oo Paya’ which mean the pagoda in front of the palace.

Along the steps, there were souvenirs stalls and in front of the temple gate there was a stall selling sand painting

One of the figures at the entrance

Shwegugyi was said to be built within a period of 7 months and 7 days. One of Buddha image inside the main entrance of the temple

Another Buddha image at the passageways, the ‘effect’ of plastering of gold leaf was evident on the statue

You probably could see it more clearly with this close up

Shwegugyi is one of the few temples in Bagan where we could explore the upper floors of the temple- Yayy…we could see Thatbyinnyu temple from one of the windows

Stairways to heaven ?

The top of the central block were adorned by stupas. These hallow stupas make  a good temporaly hideaway for us  from the Myanmar sun

Part of the crew

Is the sky bluer in Bagan ?

We got a good view of the temples of Bagan from the top of the temple. On the top left is Dhammayangyi- evident that it is the largest temple in Bagan !

W.Hoong requested that we view an Hindu temple for a change. We had expected the structure to be very different from the Buddhist temple- but the red bricked Nathlaung Kyaung temple looked just like the other Buddhist temples in Bagan. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the structure- you can have a look by clicking here

Extracted from http://www.ancientbagan.com/nathlaungkyaung-temple.htm : Nathlaung Kyaung means ‘Shrine Confining Nats or Spirits’, a reference to a purported time when King Anawratha tried to banish Nat worship in Bagan. He is said to have confiscated all non-Buddhist religious images including indigenous Myanmar nats and Hindu devas. Then he ordered to have placed them in this shrine as part of an effort to establish ‘pure’ Theravada Buddhism during his reign. The king eventually gave in to the cult and standardized the current roster of principal Burmese Nats by placing 37 chosen images at Shwezigon Pagoda. This is the only Hindu temple remaining in Bagan. It is said to have been built in 931 by King Taunghthugyi, more than a century before Theravada Buddhism came to Bagan, following the conquest of Thaton. In design it resembles the Pyu Leimyethna or four-sided shrines of Sri Keshtra.

An image of Lord Vishnu inside the temple.

At the time of our visit, restoration work by UNESCO was taking place at the temple.  Below is another image at the temple

From the temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu, we moved on to Gawdawpalin temple. On how do we decide which temple to see, what we did was the day before, we did some reading from the guidebooks, printouts and also referring to a Bagan map- then discuss amongst the team what we would like to see or any special request or no opinion and do anything also can. Then before starting our trip for the day we would mention to our horse cart drivers what we would like to see ( or what we do not want to see) and then leave it to them to organize.

Back to Gawdawpalin …After walking passed the main gateway, we came to many shops along the walkway, the shops were selling things like sunglasses, perfumes and other ‘modern goods’. I am not sure are the target customers the locals or the foreign tourist ..

Gawdawpalin temple was built by King Narapatisithu -  the same King that built Sulamani temple.  But King Narapatisithu did not see the completion of the temple , his son Htilominlo completed the building of the temple in 1127. The temple is located at the bank of the Ayeryarwaddy River.The Buddha images inside the temple

A closer look at one of the seated  ‘guardians’ . Cute !

And last but not least a very different looking Buddha

The temple had a very large compound and we spent a bit of time walking the grounds of the temple. The temple has two storeys and reaching a height of 180 feet, making it the second tallest temple in Bagan. Gawdawpalin was badly damaged by the 1975 earthquake and was reconstructed in the following years.

The guidebooks mentioned that Gawdawpalin Temple has three lower terraces and four upper terraces , and we spent quite sometime to confirm this because at certain angles the terraces are hidden and we couldn’t count the figures mentioned in the guidebook. This gave us more time to look at the structure and appreciate the beauty of Gawdawpalin.

Next, we headed towards the Ayeyarwady River and came to Bupaya Pagoda.

I was looking forward to have a look at Bupaya pagoda because the pumpkin or guord shaped ( Bu) temple would be different from the other temples that we have seen..but sayang loorrr..the temple was undergoing reconstruction and was covered in attap mats.. Bupaya had been rebuilt after original Pagoda was totally wrecked by the 1975 earthquake.

The shrine hall

The first time in Bagan that I saw a Buddha image made from marble

A view of the Ayeyarwady  the boats are for charter to view the sunset

We were running late to catch the sunset ..and Osaka had probably suffered more whippings to speed him/her up. The other horse carts making their way to the lookout point to view the sunset

Run Osaka run….

The lookout point..and the first time I saw such a large collection of tourist, there were a lot of stairs to climb..

The novices and their mentor are here to view the sunset too

The setting sun and the stupas made an interesting view..

The ‘salted egg yoke’

After viewing the sunset , it was a steep climb down to mortal grounds

Not too soon..it was dinner time, we decided to try out Mann Sa Bai, which was a few minutes walk from our guest house ( the picture below was taken during daytime)The menu

I ordered steam rice with vegetable for 800K . Steamed rice with meat cost 1500K. there were plenty of vegetables plus tofu. This was not too bad, only complain was the portion was rather big lorrr

AhPheng had fried vermicelli with vegetable for 800K

W.Hoong must be feeling hungry for he ordered the Myanmar buffet. There were some really spicy sauces with the buffet

After our meal, we were provided with desserts- thin palm sugar slices delicately wrapped in papers…these were slightly sourish and very nice..we finished the whole plate of palm sugar within a few minutes..somebody please stop us..

With our tummies filled with palm sugar..thus end our third day in beautiful Myanmar..