Raub

Hello, welcome to Raub, Pahang.

This is a little gold-mining town back in the 1880s. It is a Hakka town today. We had an interesting day here in Raub although the sun could be kinder.

This mural was the first thing I saw as we were hunting for the famous Kim Fah Tea House. This tea house is famous for its homemade pastries. They also served eggs and good ole Hainan fresh bread or toast, with kaya and butter. They also have Chee Cheong Fun, flat rice noodles.

Coffee is pretty good here.

The crowd is crazy here. There were lines here and there. Even though business is good for them,  they have not worked out a systematic way of serving yet.

Half boiled eggs

Toast with kaya and butter

Fresh bread with kaya and butter

Chee Cheong Fun with stuffed chilles and fried beancurd skin

Downtown Raub

The famous Chai Tofu Factory situated in Bukit Koman. It is a real interesting village. Houses are situated at arm's length and a tiny road runs through all over. The cars were coming from all directions to visit this factory!! At first I thought it was a 'real' factory but it was actually a house-turned-into-factory. Not very convenient when everyone is trying to see how tofu is fried and how the soybean drink is made.

White tofu

Fried tofu or famously known as Tofu Pok to the Chinese

Soybeans ready to be made into a drink

Soybean drink

The road directly opposite the factory. We took a walk around the neighborhood as it was most intriguing. Houses were not in a straight line. Their main gate faced at all angles! It was as though they just built a house to their liking when they got the land. Some houses were really run down but there were people living in them still. Some were given a face lift and looking all modern and fancy.

Loved this laughing Buddha. He was sitting right outside a temple in Bukit Koman.

The view from the temple on top of the hill in Bukit Koman.

Sinn Loong Foodstuff. Another fascinating place that we stayed for a while. We enjoyed chatting with the lady boss here. She was patiently telling us how peanuts were roasted here and how they still do it in a traditional way.

Marinated peanuts drying in the sun

Getting ready the peanuts to be roasted in the oven

Traditional oven for peanut roasting

This Nanyang Beetle cost RM120 each. He is quite a cute creature. At first he was climbing all over the place, looking agitated.

Then the owner gave him a piece of sugar cane, he literally froze. Hugging the cane for dear life, he just refused to move. As he was at the edge of the box, he fell off once, hugging the cane!!! I told the owner that he must be high on sugar!!!

Peanuts were ready to be taken out from the oven, after roasting for 1 1/2 hours.

Manually picking out the bad ones and throwing them away.

What in the world is this? I called it the Giant Petai. I was captivated when the boss showed me how they took the seeds and made them into keychains (below).

Teng Yu Keong in Bukit Koman is famous for its ROAST DUCK, among other things. We were there at 12.45 PM and "No more duck," they said. Oh well, we still wanted to try their cooking so we ordered herbal soup and stuffed white tofu. Miraculously, 10 minutes later, the waiter informed us that they have half a plate of roasted duck left and asked if we wanted to try. We said YES PLEASE!

The crowd

Soft stuffed tofu - yummy

Roasted duck - very tasty. Oh, and their herbal soup is to die for!

This is the famous Hakka kueh shop in Bukit Koman.

Another stall selling rice dumpling.

A sundry shop in Bukit Koman

Oooooooooooooooooooh my RUFUS!

Haunting-looking shop house

Raub is also known as the Home of Musang King. The best durians can be found right here. We were a month late therefore durian was just over. We were lucky to taste the XO durian and I LOVE it. It is dry, flesh is thick and rich, and it has a tinge of bitterness which I love in a durian.

All in all, a most charming and educational trip for us. We wanna go back. Trust that Raub has more to show off.