Lok Lok

This is gonna sound kinda weird considering how often as I am prepared to drive up to my neighbor country, Malaysia, but I have always been hesitant to drive to JB. I have no qualms about driving solo to Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh. However,when it comes to Johor Baru, I get cold feet. Thousands of Singaporeans go to Johor every single day and many drive over just to stock up on groceries or pump cheaper pertrol over the weekend. Somehow I have the impression that Johor Baru is more crime filled than the other towns and have generally stayed away. So Clara and I got really excited when Rapheal offered to drive us over for some yummy lok- lok and went back to get our passports on super short notice!

For those who have no clue what lok-lok is – It’s food on wooden skewers that are either boiled in a steamboat or BBQed then dipped in satay or chilli gravy for consumption. I usually stay away from lok-lok because the hotpot they use to cook the food can sometimes cause me allergic reaction as they cook mostly seafood. However, this one that Rapheal brought us at Taman Sentosa seems to specialize in the BBQ version of lok-lok. It was superbly awesome! The rest of the guys also had “abalone” wanton noodles which was supposed to be very delicious as well but I gave it a miss. Both Clara and Rapheal had their fill to last them till the next trip they make back to Singapore from Melbourne!

While we were having our meal, there were lots of touts selling all kinds of merchandise. One of which was the paper wish lantern or the Kong Ming lantern. There were so many people releasing them in the air that we decided to buy and release one as well. It’s probably illegal so don’t go trying it just because you read it here!

We didn’t write our wishes or even had a lighter with us (totally impromptu)! After igniting flames using the car lighter, it took awhile before the lantern was ready to be release. We kept cheering it on to fly higher! Partly because it was a beautiful sight and partly because we realized how silly of us to release it in the middle of town with a petrol station nearby, even though that was what everyone else was doing! Luckily, all went to plan, and up it went in to the dark night joining other lanterns with wishes into the sky.