so there we were....wave 1 (ape, pussy, tehsusu, CB+P and myself) gathered at my place at 7am (2 blardy latecomers...guess who???
) on 11 jul morning...we had to split into 2 waves as some could not take the necessary day off (wave 2 was curly, kevl and junior)...off we went at 0730...crossed the border around 0845...stopped for a top-up of gas and off we galloped towards malacca for a late breakie...
CB brought us to his usual kopitiam stop where we walloped bowl upon bowl of wanton mee...it was seriously cheap and fantastically hearty...almost a perfect meal to start things off...
then off we went again up the NSH...getting thru sungei besi into the heart of KL by around 1pm some...hurray we're here! about friggin' time!
after some roundabout driving and frantic cutting in and out of traffic getting honked by other irritated roadusers (no thanks to the wonky GPS and the flummoxed ape), we finally reached the Dorsett Regency and checked in around 2pm...i must say that i was pleasantly surprised by the rooms at the dorsett, considering the fact that it was quite cheap...the rooms are much better than the outside of the hotel would suggest and it's centrally located in imbi. crucially it's all of 2 mins away from starhill, 3 mins from pavilion, 5 mins from lot 10 and sungei wang, and 10 mins from berjaya times square....so central!
after a quick wash up we headed right off for a wander around the shopping centres...the missus was already agog with anticipation (little did i know!
)the highlight of that first day was undoubtedly our early dinner at OVERSEAS RESTORAN on imbi....i had first sampled the delights of this place about 18 months back when i was here with my boyz for cube's staggy and i had long been dreaming of returning for round 2...
and here's why...just have a look at this exquisite dish...the shio bak by itself would already been stonkingly awesome, with its flavourful meat and delightfully crisp skin...but it paled in comparison to the sweetly-succulent, babyass-tender char siew dripping in what seemed to me like melted molasses...
there were many moans and groans of pleasure when we dug into the food, but when we tasted the pork, i tell you...it seems like there was an orgy going on...fortunately for us, we were the first in the restoran for dinner so it was not that embarrassing (as if i would be...
)
after dinner, more running around the shopping centres...specifically at the berjaya times square...8 to 10 floors of shops...the feet were killing me after a short while...not too sure how the heck i managed to make it through...finished up with coffee @ DOME with the rest of wave 1...i was quite wiped out by this time, and it shows, eh? i was up @ 5.45am in the morning and had to drive and all that stuff...
in fact the ape and i waited for wave 2 to show...they left at 7.30pm, got caught up in the usual friday night exodus and jam at the checkpoint and only got in around 1.30am on saturday morning...by then, the ape and i had finished quite a few bottles of beer and i was tottering around on my last legs...
the next morning, some of them headed upto to genting and colmar tropicale for some more sight-seeing, but i decided to go with the missus for her orgy of shopping.
PAVILION is a very new shopping centre in the heart of KL...and oh my word it's frickin' humungous!
we spent close to 6 hours there including a stop @ starbucks for the obligatory double-espresso (to keep me going) and lunch @ madam kwan's (nasi borjari and durian chendol...sedap!!!!!)...the tenant mix at this shopping centre is just fabulous and i can safely say that the missus was in her element...in and out like a whirlwind from one shop to another...i nearly wore my feet down to their nubs keeping up with her...we finally made it back to the hotel early evening where i had to rest up before meeting the rest again for dinner...this time at chinatown/petaling street. i was looking forward to this, having heard curly and the ape talking incessantly about the beef noodles... and they were right! it was really delicious...too bad no one took any photos of the carnage...we were just too caught up in walloping the food.
after that walked around petaling street itself (the outdoor market) and then we adjourned to a nearby dingy alley for hokkien mee! if you had to eat in a nice clean environment, this is so NOT the place for you to go...the surroundings were decidedly seedy and dirty...but apeboi swears by the food! i opted to buy a ramly burger to eat instead as the missus had never eaten the malaysian version...tried a bit of it though....must say that it is probably an acquired taste...it's fried with lard and lots of black sauce which makes it very very heavy on the tum and coming after the beef noodles, i really wasn't in the mood for a huge amount of carbo and oil...it's nice to taste, but to really eat it, i think it would have been better to eat this right at the beginning of the bingefest at petaling street and not at the end...would have enjoyed it better that way...not that it was stopping ole apeboi from indulging big time...
we made it back to the hotel where i decided to knock out as i was still feeling the effects of lack of sleep and too much walking around shopping...
the next morning (our final day), some of us decided to head for the batu caves to have a look-see...i was not gonna miss this one since i hadn't been there before...the missus decided to continue shopping though...so apeboi, curly, junior, CB+P and i headed out after another big breakfast (no surprises there)...
i must say that the batu caves quite surprised me...it's mildly touristy of course but once there, you can sorta sense the sanctity of the place and how seriously the devotees take their commune with the hindu gods...
the 272 steps to the top kinda slayed me though...
we spent about 90mins at the batu caves max...truth be told, there isn't really that much to see...but worth a look if just once in your life...
on the way, back stopped by jalan ipoh to sample some dimsum...at least that was the plan...what was supposed to be a stop for a snack turned out to be another bingefest of eating...argh! my tum was soooo distended i felt nauseous...
unbeknownst to me, the missus was shopping up a storm at PAVILION again...we arranged to meet up there so that the rest could check the place out...and i went to meet her for coffee...
SIX!!!
count them, 6 pairs of shoes plus other things...all this in a hour of so...good grief...she was on a roll! well, at least she was happy...no, make that utterly gleeful!i on the other hand was dreading the carrying of the stuff and the drive home in the afternoon...was sooooo tired...i just wanted to crawl back into bed for some shut-eye...
we finally left KL after lunch @ KLCC (A&W fried chicken and coney dogs!!!) around 4pm that afternoon...the drive back down the NSH to singapore was nice and easy at an average of about 120 kmh...traffic was still surprisingly decent and we only had to deal with a bit of inclement weather (heavy drizzles)...
beforehand, we had already decided to try and avoid the major part of the jam coming back into singapore by first heading to gelang patah for charcoal-fried char kuay teow and deep fried chicken skin.....SHIOK!!!
finally got home around 2245 that night...all wiped out...i just took a shower and fell unconscious into bed...
so, was it a good trip all round.........i have no hesitation in saying HELL YEAH!!!!
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