Not so long ago, me and my girl friend travelled to Bentong to meet up a friend and we were shown around Bentong. The trip was sort of last minute really but I was eager to go to Bentong because I know there is this famous homemade ice-cream and of course the hot spring which make the trip worthwhile. Besides, it only takes an hour to travel to Bentong so why not?
On the way to Bentong, we were dead worried that the weather would not be too kind to us. It looked like it was going to rain. Well, it turned out the weather was just nice the whole trip.
Upon reaching Bentong town, we were hungry like hell as we had skipped breakfast that morning. We were introduced to a food stall that is selling delicious wantan mee at the junction opposite Chinese Town-Hall.
The wantan mee was not bad at all. If you ask me, the best wantan mee that I have ever tasted so far is Guan Kee at China Town, Kuala Lumpur.
The bakery shop that sells tasty cheese tarts. The cakes are nice too judging from the look and the number of customers queuing up to buy them but we refused to give in to the temptation at this point.
We save our appetite for the homemade ice-cream!
Here you are the famous Bentong homemade ice-cream. The restaurant is located on the way to Bentong town and it is called Kedai Kopi Kow Po like 'Kaw Bo' in HokKein which means something like is that enough? Of course, this is just my speculation and I did not know if the owner did come up with the name just like that.
I tasted many different kind of ice-cream. I would say that this has got to be remembered as one of the best-tasting ice-creams in Malaysia! It tastes so much better than those exaggeratedly and unreasonably priced out there.
Apparently, The Ruler of the state loves the ice-cream according to the newspaper cutting on the wall. I ordered 3 flavours: Peanut, Chocolate, and Coffee. They don't taste like your average ice-cream which, usually, too sugary and / or dairy. Creamy texture but doesn't taste creamy at all. Suffice to say that the sweetness is subtle and the flavour takes you to the heaven, figuratively. Oh well, I think I fail miserably in describing the taste but trust me on this one, they are really good! Do not give the banana flavour a miss. You would regret it! RM2.00 per scoop.
If you have a Bentong friend, he / she would probably tell you that you shouldn't miss the rivers / waterfalls. After the meal and ice-cream, it seemed natural to cool down the body temperature a bit with the cooling river water!
We were brought to what the locals called Batu Tujuh river where it is located somewhere at the Bentong-KL old road about 10 to 15 minute drive from Bentong town. You would not miss it. It is on the right side of the road and there is a signboard 'Perting Terjun' or something like that. There is no reason why we can't appreciate our nature a little bit more. The river is beautiful and I am so glad that I was there. It takes the mind to serenity immediately. Enough with words, let the photos speak!
We chose a resting spot not too far from the junction. The river seems to be very popular with visitors as car after car drove pass us. There are couples and families taking up different resting spots along the river. The water was freezing cold as if filled with invisible ice cubes! Took me a while to go fully wet.
If you plan to visit this place, do take note that it does not provide public facility where you can change and bath. You have to think of other arrangement.
It is pity to see that the place is littered. Malaysian, be a responsible visitor clean up before leave!
While it was fun dabbling the icy water but who would resist the thought of dipping into hot spring water and cook up your body a little? Did it sound sadistic the way I put it? Ha ha.
Further down the same old road (Bentong to KL direction), in less than 5 minute, the hot spring is on the right. Surround by green hills in all direction, the place had many visitors at the time we reached there around 5pm.
There are two separate pools: One for the water that is lukewarm as shown above. Be warned that this pool is covered with dark green alga hence the water is somewhat dark greenish which makes it less desirable to dip in. The other one, which is my favour, would cook your body literally because the water is boiling hot and bubbles going up from the ground clearly visible from the surface. The water is clear in this pool so for me this is godsend.
The hot spring is at its hottest point at around the noon time so cleverly avoid your visit to the hot spring at that time.
On a serious note, I think it is kind of important to observe courtesy and be considerate whenever we are at the public places. It was totally irksome to me seeing one of the visitors bathing in one of the pools as if he owns the place! He soaped and washed off in the pool in full view of others!
Just like many other places of interest, the rubbishes were everywhere in the landscape and the public facility is poorly maintained which defeats the very purpose of having it at the first place.
We did not stay long. Took a bath at friend's home and then we went to Bentong's town for dinner.
By the time we reached Mee Heong Restaurant, it was 8pm and rain started to pour down so, was I lucky or what? Had it rained at day time, I wouldn't have half the fun of the day. The restaurant was packed with people.
With the waiter's recommendation, we ordered Indonesia sotong and Hong Kong fried chicken. The Bentong people definitely has international perspective if you ask me. What next? Hot-like-Brazilian-girl soup or sweet-sweet kawai Japanese girl desert. Come to think of it, it would be fun to name dishes with country names, don't you think? Give me one kick-ass Irish beer please. It may not look tempting from the photos (my photography sucks big time!) but the fried chicken is really good!
This is a dish that I can't recall its name but it's bean curd with fish paste in clay pot something like that. The other dishes not mentioning here are just usual stuff. Stir-fried vegetable and etc.
Time flies when you are having fun. We stayed for catching up with each other and departed from Bentong to Kuala Lumpur at around 11pm.
A pleasant trip indeed. Thanks Bernard for showing us around Bentong!
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