How did Tok Tok Mee (Noodles) Get Its Name - Chinese Bamboo Clapper

When I was growing up in my hometown in Butterworth, there was a mobile (bicycle typed push cart) wantan mee hawker who uses a pair of bamboo clapper to attract customers. As the sound goes "tok, tok, tok", which anounces his arrival in our area would always excite us as a kid! I would quickly ask my mom for some money to buy a plate of wantan mee aka Tok Tok Mee; that is what we called it then. My good childhood friend would run back to his grandma's grocery shop and ask her for some money to buy one plate too. Then both of us would sit outside my house and savour our deliciousTok tok  mee! Those were the good old days. The tok tok mee sure tasted really good back then and until now I could not find any hawkers that could match the taste.

I came across tok tok mee again during my recent trip to Labuan but this is a different version of tok tok me that I knew since my childhood days. The texture of this instant noodle type of tok tok mee is almost the same as wantan mee (noodles) but they cooked it in clear starchy gravy instead of the usual dark soya sauce type like wantan mee. Anyway, maybe during the olden days, this similar vendor uses the Chinese wooden clapper to market his dish.

This is how theTok Tok Mee aka Wantan mee looked liked the one I used to eat back in my hometown when I was young! Missed the good old taste of it!

This  is how a pair Chinese wooden clapper that is made of bamboo looks like......

This is another version of Chinese wooden clapper that uses a long stick to knock the piece of bamboo....

Actually the nunchaku are adapted from a pair of Chinese wooden clapper. Peasants use the nunchaku to rebel against oppressive rulers because it doesn't resemble a weapon but looked like pair of wooden clapper so they will not get into trouble when they are caught carrying one! LOL!

The one I have below is made from steel!