Sunday, July 08, 2007
Trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
On the 2nd of July 2007, Selene, Jon and myself went to KL for a short retail therapy trip. The day started like any other, I was awaken by my grandma to go eat my breakfast and get ready to go out with my friends. The only exception is that it was at 4.30 am. Took an hour to get ready to leave, before leaving, I called my bro Jon to check if he was awake, he was though grumpy....
Took a leisurely stroll to the T-junction near his place (1.3km away from my place). Waited for 10 mins while reading John Connolly's Every Dead Thing. We walked for 5 mins to the bus stop then ran like maniacs to chase the Service 7 bus. Got on, chatted, watched TV Mobile and then realised we were way too early....
We arrived at our stop at ard 7am. Decided for a light breakfast at the coffeeshop opposite Golden Mile Complex. Slacked around the area till 7.20 am then Jon went to get the tickets while I called the Lin Residence to discover Sel was still at home....
Thank God, she arrived in time to catch the bus and we were on our merry way to KL. The bus trip was largely uneventful except for the 1 hour plus pit stop for the bus to fix a tyre and the onboard movie (Pirates of The Carribean: At World's End).
We arrived at the Federal Hotel will little trouble if you consider the 1 hour wasted weaving through traffic as a minor thing. Min Chiee, our host wasnt too pleased to see that we were late but that wasnt important because we dumped our stuff at the hotel room. Locked the safe without creating a counter code so had to ask for help. We went for a quick lunch at a roadside stall near our hotel.
We went shopping after the escapades of the day. Got myself a new bag and travel phone at Sungi Wang and Lau Yat respectively, while Jon and Sel bought new accessories. The shopping there wasnt exactly fantastic but cheaper than Singapore so I guess it was okay. Dinner was at this place called Kim Gary's. Food there was imba good. Like the french toast was heavenly, peanut butter with lotsa maple syrup and butter... Delicious.
My steak spagetti was good so was everyone else's food though I ended up finishing everything up due to poor planning. Not to say it was anyone's fault, just that we were not used to the richness and quantity of Kim Gary's food.
Thus ended the first day.
The second day started with Jon waking all of us up to prepare ourselves for the day ahead. We got ready, took a monorail to some place called Dang Wangi then took LRT to Wangsa Maju. There we met Min Chiee, got into the car and went for a delicious breakfast. Our breakfast was curry noodles, fishball noodles and some other types of noodles.
After that, we went some shopping centre outside the KL city limits. Shopping there was not bad, got myself a new set of swimming gear. Walked around the shopping and got myself a lovely detox drink from Juice Works. Worked out the kinks in next few days' plans and ended the day eating a good nasi lemak and slacking in the hotel.
The third day was much more rushed in the morning, I woke up at 6am to wash off the sleepness from my body and soak in the tub for 1/2 an hour. Did the necessary preparations, went down to the streets to get a soya milk before, we all went to Wangsa Maju. Originally, we intended to take taxi to Wangsa Maju, but when Jon said the place we wanted to go, he nearly got dragged off his feet by the taxi driver driving off. Kinda funny but yet sad. The trains/monorail were crowded which wasnt so bad because it was smaller than Singapore's LRT/MRT trains so sama sama.
Arrived at Min Chiee's place to pick up her sis then went to a nice place to eat pig's bone tea or bak kut teh (in Cantonese). The food there was fantastic and the meat was delicious. Thanks to Min Chiee's Dad, we got to enjoy this great meal. The difference between Singaporean and KL bak kut teh is the thickness of the soup and the pepper in the soup. Needless to say, Singaporean bak kut teh has more cheap pepper and less thick soup.
The next stop was KLCC or Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. The place was huge and very cool. We split up to go shop for our own stuff. Met up with Li Yen and Li Shan for lunch and more shopping. We wondered around with the girls till around 3pm before going to catch Transformers the movie. The movie was great though my bladder decided to be cute and I ended up in another theatre for the last 30 mins of the movie....
Went to the aquarium in the basement which cost around 38 RM per entry. Kinda satisfied my need for animals and see an araprimia up close. Kinda rushed through the place because we made reservations at Madam Kwan's at 7pm. I enjoyed the aquarium and then rushed to meet Sel, Jon and Min Chiee at Madam Kwan's.
Madam Kwan's is a nonya resturant where they serve good food at decent prices. The Beef Rendang, Nasi Lemak, Achar and Assam Prawns were oh so delicious. The Bubu Char Char was rich and sweet. The third day ended with me arranging with Min Chiee to go swimming while Jon and Sel would meet us later.
A change in plans meant I was to go swimming in the hotel pool while the rest slept. I had my morning swim, trained a bit of lifesaving techniques, did 5 'majesty' runs. For those who are blur about this, its a lifesaving event. Quite a killer for those with poor lungs.
Went back to the room, had a quick bath, got changed and then, with the help of Jon, roused Sel from her beauty sleep so we all would be on time to meet up with Min Chiee and go Time Square.
We arrived at Time Square at around 11am, so decided to go have lunch at the food court. Of course, on the way there, we stopped by the shops to do some shopping. I got 2 new shirts at 50RM, while the rest window shopped. The food at the food court was not exactly fantastic but hey in Singapore, food courts are not really that nice either....
After lunch, we went to look at accessories and other stuffs. Nothing really interesting to me.... That might have something to do with my lack of money and slightly stoned mental state(lack of sleep, not drugs!) . Interestingly, Time Square is huge but yet I found it kinda boring, so much shops but not much to buy..... HAHA!!!!
Sel and Jon decided that they wanted to try the indoor amusement park in Time Square. I did not really mind since it was 25RM for infinite rides. The place wasnt too crowded or too empty so there was little waste time waiting for rides. The rides were fun, a bit scary and really painful. Mainly out of my own stupidity and tiredness, I chose to take the painful rides which due to physics cause my/other people's body weight to crush parts of my body for short periods of time. Oh well.... No pain, no gain.
After completing the grand tour of the amusement park, we decided to go look for Min Chiee who didnt go with us. We found her at this shop called Ninchi or something. (The funny part was I asked Jon: "Where Min Chiee?", his answer was "Ninchi", "Where?", "Ninchi!", "Yes, Min Chiee!", you know where this is going....)
We found her with Li Shan, Li Yen and Ben. Now this group of people combined with me, Min Chiee, Selene and Jon D equals havoc and barrels of fun. Went around the shop looking at clothes and making fun of each other. Selene and I decided we wanted to have a second run at the amusement park, so went there, had fun, rushed back to meet Jon and Min Chiee before going back to the hotel to change for dinner.
Me and Jon changed into our more formal attire, Jon wearing a tie and me, a long sleeved shirt. Then we took the train to Wangsa Maju before meeting up with Min Chiee's mum and bro. We went to the nice resturant for dinner. Min Chiee's dad treated us to a fine dinner where we ate good fish, braised pork and yong tau foo. We had lots of fun chatting with her family before we went to Petaling Street to go shopping (again...).
I found Petaling Street kinda dodgy but Min Chiee and her sister were professional bargainers. We got a lot of stuff for ridiculously low prices including 6 shirts for 15RM each. The food there was very tasty and the clothes there were of decent quality and design.
The last day of our Malaysian adventure started on a more morose note. I woke up, had a long soak in the bathtub, freshened up and got ready to go for a good mamak breakfast. Mamak it seems is Indian Muslim food. I guess I slept earlier than the other 2 so was not so tired when the waking time came. Lets just say, plans changed and we took a taxi to Mid Valley Shopping complex. Mid Valley was kinda different from Time Square. It felt more like a Singaporean shopping mall, with a cinema and bowling alley and lots of overpriced goods on sale.
Went with Min Chiee, her sis, Li Yen, Li Shan, Dinesh, Kimberley and Ben for 2 rounds of bowling. Needless to say I got beaten. The 1st round, I lost to Dinesh by 1 point. The second round, Jon came by and jinxed my game. Actually, it wasnt his fault. I let him play and I got tired trying to catch up. Made a few mistakes. Oh well... Its only a game.
After we played bowling, we went shopping and then bade our farewells to Dinesh, Ben and the Li Sisters (actually Wong Sisters, but you get my drift...). Read my book while the rest were shopping. Met them up later before getting into the car to go for dinner.
Dinner was yummy, curry noodles, Kway Teow, Chicken Rice and Satay! Malaysian food is really nice and rather cheap. I miss the food but not the traffic. HAHA!!!!
Went back to the hotel, played cards for a while then hit the sack. I have no idea what the other 2 were doing but when it was time to wake up, they were rather tired....
The final day was just rushing to the bus station and realising we were way too early for Sel's bus so we had our breakfast, lazed around and then sent Selene off. Me and Jon wandered around the bus station before settling down in the lounge.
The bus journey back to Singapore was uneventful and upon reaching Singapore, I drove Jon and my dad home.
Thus ends my recount of my Malaysia trip. I might have missed facts or events so feel free to correct me. Thanks! (Thats if you know what they were!)
Disclaimer: This report was written under great fatigue so I do not claim responisbility for making myself or others look like fools.
On the 2nd of July 2007, Selene, Jon and myself went to KL for a short retail therapy trip. The day started like any other, I was awaken by my grandma to go eat my breakfast and get ready to go out with my friends. The only exception is that it was at 4.30 am. Took an hour to get ready to leave, before leaving, I called my bro Jon to check if he was awake, he was though grumpy....
Took a leisurely stroll to the T-junction near his place (1.3km away from my place). Waited for 10 mins while reading John Connolly's Every Dead Thing. We walked for 5 mins to the bus stop then ran like maniacs to chase the Service 7 bus. Got on, chatted, watched TV Mobile and then realised we were way too early....
We arrived at our stop at ard 7am. Decided for a light breakfast at the coffeeshop opposite Golden Mile Complex. Slacked around the area till 7.20 am then Jon went to get the tickets while I called the Lin Residence to discover Sel was still at home....
Thank God, she arrived in time to catch the bus and we were on our merry way to KL. The bus trip was largely uneventful except for the 1 hour plus pit stop for the bus to fix a tyre and the onboard movie (Pirates of The Carribean: At World's End).
We arrived at the Federal Hotel will little trouble if you consider the 1 hour wasted weaving through traffic as a minor thing. Min Chiee, our host wasnt too pleased to see that we were late but that wasnt important because we dumped our stuff at the hotel room. Locked the safe without creating a counter code so had to ask for help. We went for a quick lunch at a roadside stall near our hotel.
We went shopping after the escapades of the day. Got myself a new bag and travel phone at Sungi Wang and Lau Yat respectively, while Jon and Sel bought new accessories. The shopping there wasnt exactly fantastic but cheaper than Singapore so I guess it was okay. Dinner was at this place called Kim Gary's. Food there was imba good. Like the french toast was heavenly, peanut butter with lotsa maple syrup and butter... Delicious.
My steak spagetti was good so was everyone else's food though I ended up finishing everything up due to poor planning. Not to say it was anyone's fault, just that we were not used to the richness and quantity of Kim Gary's food.
Thus ended the first day.
The second day started with Jon waking all of us up to prepare ourselves for the day ahead. We got ready, took a monorail to some place called Dang Wangi then took LRT to Wangsa Maju. There we met Min Chiee, got into the car and went for a delicious breakfast. Our breakfast was curry noodles, fishball noodles and some other types of noodles.
The next stop was this place called Royal Selangor Pewter. Nice place. Lots of metal. The things they made were also cool. Beer mugs, shot glasses, souvniers, etc... All quite expensive but yet nice to look at and almost all screaming: 'buy me,buy me'. I bought a something to show I had been there before.
Pewter was nice but then we went to Batu Caves. The place was a bit too overcommercialised with people trying to sell religious trinkets and food stuffs from the bottom of the steps to the top. People asking us to read our fortunes, etc.... The caves were good. Cool and clean which was better than I expected for a cave.
After that, we went some shopping centre outside the KL city limits. Shopping there was not bad, got myself a new set of swimming gear. Walked around the shopping and got myself a lovely detox drink from Juice Works. Worked out the kinks in next few days' plans and ended the day eating a good nasi lemak and slacking in the hotel.
The third day was much more rushed in the morning, I woke up at 6am to wash off the sleepness from my body and soak in the tub for 1/2 an hour. Did the necessary preparations, went down to the streets to get a soya milk before, we all went to Wangsa Maju. Originally, we intended to take taxi to Wangsa Maju, but when Jon said the place we wanted to go, he nearly got dragged off his feet by the taxi driver driving off. Kinda funny but yet sad. The trains/monorail were crowded which wasnt so bad because it was smaller than Singapore's LRT/MRT trains so sama sama.
Arrived at Min Chiee's place to pick up her sis then went to a nice place to eat pig's bone tea or bak kut teh (in Cantonese). The food there was fantastic and the meat was delicious. Thanks to Min Chiee's Dad, we got to enjoy this great meal. The difference between Singaporean and KL bak kut teh is the thickness of the soup and the pepper in the soup. Needless to say, Singaporean bak kut teh has more cheap pepper and less thick soup.
The next stop was KLCC or Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. The place was huge and very cool. We split up to go shop for our own stuff. Met up with Li Yen and Li Shan for lunch and more shopping. We wondered around with the girls till around 3pm before going to catch Transformers the movie. The movie was great though my bladder decided to be cute and I ended up in another theatre for the last 30 mins of the movie....
Went to the aquarium in the basement which cost around 38 RM per entry. Kinda satisfied my need for animals and see an araprimia up close. Kinda rushed through the place because we made reservations at Madam Kwan's at 7pm. I enjoyed the aquarium and then rushed to meet Sel, Jon and Min Chiee at Madam Kwan's.
Madam Kwan's is a nonya resturant where they serve good food at decent prices. The Beef Rendang, Nasi Lemak, Achar and Assam Prawns were oh so delicious. The Bubu Char Char was rich and sweet. The third day ended with me arranging with Min Chiee to go swimming while Jon and Sel would meet us later.
A change in plans meant I was to go swimming in the hotel pool while the rest slept. I had my morning swim, trained a bit of lifesaving techniques, did 5 'majesty' runs. For those who are blur about this, its a lifesaving event. Quite a killer for those with poor lungs.
Went back to the room, had a quick bath, got changed and then, with the help of Jon, roused Sel from her beauty sleep so we all would be on time to meet up with Min Chiee and go Time Square.
We arrived at Time Square at around 11am, so decided to go have lunch at the food court. Of course, on the way there, we stopped by the shops to do some shopping. I got 2 new shirts at 50RM, while the rest window shopped. The food at the food court was not exactly fantastic but hey in Singapore, food courts are not really that nice either....
After lunch, we went to look at accessories and other stuffs. Nothing really interesting to me.... That might have something to do with my lack of money and slightly stoned mental state(lack of sleep, not drugs!) . Interestingly, Time Square is huge but yet I found it kinda boring, so much shops but not much to buy..... HAHA!!!!
Sel and Jon decided that they wanted to try the indoor amusement park in Time Square. I did not really mind since it was 25RM for infinite rides. The place wasnt too crowded or too empty so there was little waste time waiting for rides. The rides were fun, a bit scary and really painful. Mainly out of my own stupidity and tiredness, I chose to take the painful rides which due to physics cause my/other people's body weight to crush parts of my body for short periods of time. Oh well.... No pain, no gain.
After completing the grand tour of the amusement park, we decided to go look for Min Chiee who didnt go with us. We found her at this shop called Ninchi or something. (The funny part was I asked Jon: "Where Min Chiee?", his answer was "Ninchi", "Where?", "Ninchi!", "Yes, Min Chiee!", you know where this is going....)
We found her with Li Shan, Li Yen and Ben. Now this group of people combined with me, Min Chiee, Selene and Jon D equals havoc and barrels of fun. Went around the shop looking at clothes and making fun of each other. Selene and I decided we wanted to have a second run at the amusement park, so went there, had fun, rushed back to meet Jon and Min Chiee before going back to the hotel to change for dinner.
Me and Jon changed into our more formal attire, Jon wearing a tie and me, a long sleeved shirt. Then we took the train to Wangsa Maju before meeting up with Min Chiee's mum and bro. We went to the nice resturant for dinner. Min Chiee's dad treated us to a fine dinner where we ate good fish, braised pork and yong tau foo. We had lots of fun chatting with her family before we went to Petaling Street to go shopping (again...).
I found Petaling Street kinda dodgy but Min Chiee and her sister were professional bargainers. We got a lot of stuff for ridiculously low prices including 6 shirts for 15RM each. The food there was very tasty and the clothes there were of decent quality and design.
The last day of our Malaysian adventure started on a more morose note. I woke up, had a long soak in the bathtub, freshened up and got ready to go for a good mamak breakfast. Mamak it seems is Indian Muslim food. I guess I slept earlier than the other 2 so was not so tired when the waking time came. Lets just say, plans changed and we took a taxi to Mid Valley Shopping complex. Mid Valley was kinda different from Time Square. It felt more like a Singaporean shopping mall, with a cinema and bowling alley and lots of overpriced goods on sale.
Went with Min Chiee, her sis, Li Yen, Li Shan, Dinesh, Kimberley and Ben for 2 rounds of bowling. Needless to say I got beaten. The 1st round, I lost to Dinesh by 1 point. The second round, Jon came by and jinxed my game. Actually, it wasnt his fault. I let him play and I got tired trying to catch up. Made a few mistakes. Oh well... Its only a game.
After we played bowling, we went shopping and then bade our farewells to Dinesh, Ben and the Li Sisters (actually Wong Sisters, but you get my drift...). Read my book while the rest were shopping. Met them up later before getting into the car to go for dinner.
Dinner was yummy, curry noodles, Kway Teow, Chicken Rice and Satay! Malaysian food is really nice and rather cheap. I miss the food but not the traffic. HAHA!!!!
Went back to the hotel, played cards for a while then hit the sack. I have no idea what the other 2 were doing but when it was time to wake up, they were rather tired....
The final day was just rushing to the bus station and realising we were way too early for Sel's bus so we had our breakfast, lazed around and then sent Selene off. Me and Jon wandered around the bus station before settling down in the lounge.
The bus journey back to Singapore was uneventful and upon reaching Singapore, I drove Jon and my dad home.
Thus ends my recount of my Malaysia trip. I might have missed facts or events so feel free to correct me. Thanks! (Thats if you know what they were!)
Disclaimer: This report was written under great fatigue so I do not claim responisbility for making myself or others look like fools.
# posted by Ian @ 7:38 PM 
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