Best Hokkien Mee in Wangsa Maju

If you love Hokkien Mee, you will love this place. The restaurant's name is HCN in Taman Melawati,sandwiched between two rows of shops. For a number of years, this restaurant has been serving lunch and dinner daily but in recent months, I noticed that its fare has improved vastly. These days, if you come for lunch or dinner, you will also be given a complimentary bowl of soup, the size of which depends on the number of people in your group. 

Don't mind their descriptions in English, this is a non-halal Chinese restaurant.
There are other stuff than those displayed here. Ask the boss.

The food here is quite competitively priced and they have quite a range. There is now a menu with pictures (see above) for you to order from in case you run out of ideas. Alternatively, you can ask the boss or staff for recommendation. The bespectacled uncle who takes your orders can also give quite a good recommendation. And they dont try to kill you with an order so big that you cannot finish. In short, a reasonably run restaurant that has their diners at heart - at least that was how I felt.

HCN's hokkien mee  - the noodles do not reek of alkaline water.

The best here, I noticed recently, must be their Hokkien mee. I have eaten many and this time, I am surprised that the noodles do not reek of alkaline water (kan sui). These large strand noodles are made by hand, I guess. But the best is that the chef cooked it without making it too oily or salty - trademarks of good Hokkien Mee.

Location via Google Maps

Rejang's raintrees get some help

The Jalan Rejang trees have been here since the 1990s.

If you have been driving along Jalan Rejang in Setapak Jaya, you will have noticed that the barks of most of the raintrees here have been "stripped". Actually, what have been stripped are the parasitic plants growing on these old trees and they are called epiphytes.

Clean and without botanical parasites.

If left on the trees, these parasitic plants will eventually kill these magnificent trees, like they did in most parts of Jalan Ampang. Here, we thank City Hall for their initiative. Not only are the epiphytes removed, some of the loose branches have been trimmed. In view of the bad weather, this is a good precautionary maintenance. Still, be careful when parking under these trees, especially during rain and storm.

With the epiphytes stripped off the barks, the trees can grow without hindrance.

Check your EPF contributions in Dataran Wangsa

IN the past, whenever you need to check your EPF Contributions, you need to drive to Jalan Raja Laut. Not anymore since the last few years. The first EPF branch in Wangsa Maju was at one of the shop houses in front of Festival City. However, that one moved to Dataran Wangsa, Wangsa Melawati, recently. Here it is more visible to the traffic and there are plenty of parking lots nearby. The only problem is during after-school hours in the afternoon. There are plenty of cars driven by parents waiting to pick up their children.

KWSP Dataran Wangsa, which is a new development recently occupied.

Public parks in Wangsa Maju

Taman Sri Rampai Lake - very popular with recreational anglers.

There are a few places that you have enjoy an evening walk in Wangsa Maju area without going down to the nearest public park which is Lake TItiwangsa. Smack in the heart of Taman Sri Rampai is a public park circling the lake. You can have a jog here but I have seen mostly anglers who are interested in the area. Whethere or not they are just wetting lines or catching fish, who knows?

Opposite the Wangsa Walk, in the mornings, you can also see people walking up a hill opposite Section 4 flats. This is also another popular place for the senior citizens and those who want a workout for free.

In Gombak, sandwiched between Taman Ibukota and Medan Idaman in Gombak is a small Medan Idaman public park. There are some exercise equipment, a children's playground, and walking tracks and a small lake. This park is hugely popular in the mornings, but in the evenings, people of African descent take over the place to play football or watch the world go by.

Did I miss out any?

The lake within the Medan Idaman Park.

A good system of walkways for light exercises.

Wangsa Maju's first primary Chinese school

The school sits 500 metres from Genting Klang, on the opposite side of PV128. 

SJKC Wangsa Maju is the first Chinese school named after the constituency. This came about a few years ago, after a promise by the MCA. Politics aside, this school joins the several others that have been built in the Wangsa Maju constituency - SJKC Lee Rubber (or Nanyik as it is "Mandarinised"!), SJKC Mun Yee, SJKC Chong Hwa and SJKC Chiao Nan in Setapak, among others. These schools cater to the needs of the Chinese populace in Wangsa Maju constituency but I noticed that there are an increasing number of non-Chinese students in these schools because of parents' discerning taste for quality education. By the way, this school held its first sports day just last Saturday.

The school joins several other Chinese primary schools
in the Wangsa Maju constituency.

Sure or not?

What's in a name? Good feng shui!

If you care to look at the forest properly and not miss the trees, then you will come across something worth sharing. Saw this used car dealer located along Jalan Gombak. I like the name emblazoned on the single storey building. Dont worry, your money is in good hands!

Roadworks, roadworks, roadworks!

Roadworks along the lower reaches of Jalan Gombak.

If you are in Jalan Gombak, drive slowly the minute you spot these red and white striped barriers. All the way from the areas just after Setapak, until the 5th Mile, PuncakNiaga is digging up roads to lay pipes the Bunus sewerage systems. Worst hit are the areas at the back of Chong Hwa Secondary School and Setapak Garden. The construction sites sit smack in the middle of the road and in some places, oncoming traffic cannot be seen. Although there are flagmen to direct traffic, they are not very efficient as I have seen some to be. They do not use the standard green or red flag and you have to watch out for their actions to drive ahead or wait for oncoming traffic that you cannot see. Drive slowly and with vigilance.

This is in Setapak Garden, near the Teratai Mewah area.