Friendly old Dutch couple

Whether it was fate or not, the meeting between my parents and a Dutch couple, Uncle Kenneth and Aunty Martha marked the start of a new and (hopefully) lasting friendship. It happened on a day when my parents decided to visit the temple. Driving along the road, they noticed an old Dutch couple walking slowly in the same direction. Winding down the car window, mum asked where they were heading towards. The old couple said they were headed to the temple as well. Since they were all going in the same direction, dad decided to give the old couple a lift. The old couple were so grateful for my parents assistance that they wanted to treat them to tea.

From right: mum, Aunty Martha, dad and Uncle Kenneth

The next day, my parents decided to treat the old couple to dinner so we headed to a quaint little restaurant only known to the locals called "Small Town". We introduced Uncle Kenneth and Aunty Martha to 'soya cincau' and 'Milo panas'. Uncle Kenneth really liked Milo because he said it was sweeter and smoother than hot chocolate! We also introduced them to chinese porridge, 'kungfu chao', 'lao shu fen' and black pepper udon noodles. After dinner they came over to our house for some late Chinese New Year visiting and we watched Andre Rieu on dvd.

The following day, we went to the temple again as it was the 15th day of Chinese New Year according to the Lunar calendar. After prayers, we had a delicious vegetarian meal and this time, introduced Uncle Kenneth and Aunty Martha to the fruit known as a pomelo. On that day we were blessed with simple yet good food, good company and good memories.

Dutchman's Pipe

Today I brought Uncle Kenneth and Aunty Martha to Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) for a nice morning walk amongst beautiful flowers and surroundings. We saw a very interesting plant known as 'Dutchman's Pipe' to which Aunty Martha commented that it looked more like a Chinaman's hat instead!

Kou Gen's Hamburger Spaghetti

After a good walk, we went for lunch at Kou Gen, a Japanese restaurant nestled in the midst of Tanah Rata town centre. I introduced Uncle Kenneth to hamburger spaghetti and we also had lovely apple pie for dessert. At the end of lunch, I left Cameron Highlands with a heavy heart to return to Kuala Lumpur as I had class the day after. It had been a great weekend returning home and meeting new, friendly people like Uncle Kenneth and Aunty Martha. I'm making a promise to myself here to visit the old couple in Holland when I further my studies in the UK.

Kou Gen's Apple Pie