KLANG, Feb. 9 -- Water. It's the stuff of life, right?

Like a mother's nurturing when you're in the womb - except for me, it was bak kut teh.

Though I'm neither Hokkien nor have family from Klang, my mother's one and only pregnancy craving was inexplicably bak kut teh.

No wonder I popped out resembling a fat piece of pork, with dong quai (female ginseng) and black garlic coursing through my veins.

She wouldn't settle for just any random bak kut teh either.

Lord knows, my dad tried bringing home whatever was on the way back from work, but only Telok Pulai Bak Kut Teh would do.

The original - spelled with an "o" - which my parents had been going to since before they were married, right on Jalan Teluk Pulai itself.

If the name rings a...