The Gerik-Pengkalan Hulu Trail (Pt 4 - Finale)

After the slightly disappointing breakfast (or probably I was expecting too much), we moved on, or rather sped off to Pengkalan Hulu for our real job at hand. Wondering where in the world is this town? It's roughly 42 km north of Gerik, at the Malaysia-Thai border. Yup, Perak HAS a Thai border after all. The neighbouring town is Betong in Thailand. We did not manage to cross over this time, but someday down the line, we won't hold back our urges. (I meant that in a good way ... stop thinking otherwise) =P

If you're wondering what we did there, make a wild guess. I'm sure it's easy enough with all these photos assisting, no?

No, we're not officers from the customs department. We do not even wear uniforms. Nah ... nevermind. During lunch break, we inched our way closer to the border by crossing the custom, and proceeded to .....

Yup, DUTY FREE. Magic words for shopaholics?

Don't mind the cam whore ... LOL

We did not buy any chocolates, liquor, or cigarettes. But instead, we bought a tin of candies each. Yeah, supposedly on offer, 2 tins for RM10. No pic, sorry. "Supposedly" imported from UK.

Variety of fruits sold at the border

Various local fruits on display, but be reminded that the prices may vary, and not all variety is cheaper than the ones you can buy from your grocery store. But the 'dokong' is considered a steal, at RM5/kg, if buy in bulk, you can get RM4/kg even! But I'm no fan of the fruit, thus did not purchase any.

These, on the other hand, are my absolute favourite! But I dunno how to pick good ones from bad ones. Naive me? End up did not buy any as well. Muahaha ....

The final arch, leading to the town of pleasures .... (",)

Look at the camwhore @ work, again ...

Lunch was a simple meal in town, at a restaurant called C.K.S. Probably the initials of the owner? Dare not ask, to avoid being labelled as nosy outsiders. We had our meals here before, and the food quality was passable.

Braised Rice with Seafood (Wui Fan) RM3.50

Since there were only TWO of us, we did not order 'dai chow' but instead chose to have individual portions. KYT praised their 'Wui Fan', with lots of ingredients thrown in for good measures, and the rice braised and cooked to perfection.

Sweet and Sour Pork Rice RM5

My rice arrived much later, probably cz the chef was cooking for the next table which ordered the same dish. Though slightly pricey for a restaurant of such scale, the meat was deep-fried until crispy, and marinated well before frying. The tomato gravy concocted was just nice, tangy enough, yet not overwhelmingly sour.

Goodbye peaceful town ...

After the meal, we decided to skip the afternoon session at the customs, and proceeded back to Gerik for some unsettled matters. Truth be told, the authority/men-in-uniforms working there are a bunch of inefficient personnels. Sigh .....

~ The End ~