The moment my plane from Labuan touched down for my KL weekend break, the days whizzed by like a bullet on hypersonic speed. From Thursday to Monday of 20th March onwards, it was a re-introduction to a life that was once droningly taken for granted. Now, it is confined to a corner of my existence as a luxury only once a month or so I take great pleasure in. Oh well. C’est la vie. So how was my return to a life more ordinary, as a city boy, as a mama’s boy (yes, I have to admit it. I love her cooking. Sue me already) and as a boy not yet willing to leave the city life just yet? To sum it up, all I can say is that it was a tremendous success story of how to meet as many people as I know in 5 days, and eat at as many places as my stomach can entertain in that same 5 days time. Here we go, city life rekindled!!!
Day 1 - Thursday
Day 1 - Thursday
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Next, I boarded my faithful Proton Wira that I had left behind for over a month and headed for KL city to meet up with SL. My immediate feeling of driving again? HOLY *&%$@&!!! Do the drivers here have a death wish or do they actually drive like this every freakin’ day??!! I was trying my best to avoid daredevils that think that if they flick on the left/right signal lights, they are immediately granted anti-collison superpowers by the heavens (or hell) and they zoom from the 3rd lane to the 1st lane in God-like gusto. Wow, so this is how the foreigners perceive us Malaysian drivers. Great. Malaysia certainly boleh!!!
Me and SL headed for 'Pavilion', and the grandeur and spaciousness of the mall hits me like a ton of bricks, the swoosh of the cool air-con sparked that ‘feel’ in me that made me sense I was in a city again, just by merely stepping into 'Pavilion'. Gosh, I didn’t know I miss KL that much. Energized, we walked around the mall and seeing all those flashy nice shops, I just had buy something (don’t forget I’m a ‘controlled shopoholic’, i.e. even when I want to control my shopping, I will eventually buy something, although the items I buy is not that expensive anymore. See the benefits of control? No? Doesn't make any damn sense? EXACTLY). Went to a few shops and eventually bought stuff at ‘Quiksilver’ that had a sale. I bought a ‘T’ and shorts, check it out:
Don’t ask me ‘bout the price, coz it’s cheap. Really. I swear it was cheap!!
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Not content with what we had so far, we walked out of 'Pavilion' and headed into the streets of 'Bukit Bintang' and immersed ourselves with the
choking dusty air and filthy smells of up-market back alleyways. AAAaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh, KL. Soaked with the aura of the KL heat, we dropped by ‘Lecka-Lecka’ for some ice-cream (RM10 for 3 scoops, it’s a steal!!) and chit-chatted, babbling about the times that I missed when I was away (i.e. the Election: “I go away for 1 month and this happens??!! I go away for another month and Tony Fernendes will be PM by then!!!” Hahaha) and of course reminiscing the times gone by when I was still in KL…
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Day 2 - Friday
Contented with my coffee wake-up call, I went back home and had lunch with my family for the second day running (I mean, give chance lah to them rite, once a month I only come back worr), and headed for ‘Restaurant Kar Heong’ again (I just can’t get enough of that place), this time had the ‘Hor Fun’ noodles.
Called a few friends just to gently remind them that I am back in KL and waiting for them to spend me some grand lavish dinners, the only person free on a working day Friday was SL, and so we headed for ‘Mid-Valley’ to take advantage of the jam-free parking. SL wanted to get a washing machine while I wanted to get a mini hi-fi set for Labuan. But my plans mutated from a mere mini hi-fi set to a LCD TV and then to an entire Home Theatre System. By then I realized my plans would need a whole 747 airplane to charter the stuff over, so I abandoned the entire plan (remember ‘Controlled Shopoholic’?) Sigh.
W
alked around and noticed that this new Chinese movie called ‘An Empress and the Warriors’ were showing, and it had a 50-year old Mr. Leon Lai playing a lead role. Remember him? He used to be this super-mega-ultra idol for Chinese music lovers back in the 90’s, and if you have seen his recent photos, he had hardly aged abit!!! Is it the powers of the ‘Fountain of Youth’ at play or the simple magic of ‘Nip & Tuck’? You decide. After watching the movie, i find that the film was not bad actually, nicely directed movie with good pacing that wouldn’t make the viewer feel bored and with decent performances from the actors to boot. Way to go Mr. Leon Lai!!!
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Well, you know how much I LOVE Japanese food, and ‘The Gardens’ offers plenty of options for this delectable cuisine. There’s ‘Yo! Sushi’ (the 'Sushi King' rip-off), ‘Sushi Zen’ (good for quick and easy set meals) &‘Yuzu’ (nice and trendy up-market place). But my current favorite is most certainly ‘Sushi ZanMai’, located on the upper floors of ‘The Gardens’. I remember when it was newly opened and I visited the place, it was empty and had more waiters than customers. Now, it is packed to the brim and I even had to queue for the waiting list!!! So you can imagine that the good word had spread, and the word is that it is now in 'Sunway Pyramid' & even in '1 Utama', so prepare yourself for the 'ZanMai' invasion people!!!
The stuff I stuffed into my face:
I LOVE salmon. This is the ‘Salmon ZanMai’ set which consisted of salmon sushi (duh), salmon belly (absolutely delicious), broiled salmon (tastes the same to me as any regular salmon), smoked salmon (too smokey) and salmon roll (makes me rock n’ rollin’).
Soft shell crab Maki. HEAVENLY!!!
Soft shell crab Maki (2nd order haha!!) and Ebikko.
Soba Noodles in beef broth.
It was the best dinner I had in months and it felt like I was in Japanese heaven for a whole few hours at least. And the best part of that is, SL spent on the dinner!!! WoooHOOoo!!! And I swear I saw ‘Takeshi Kaneshiro’ somewhere at the mall too. Or probably it was the food. Maybe it was just the food….
Day 3 - Saturday
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It’s Saturday and it’s time to meet and then get my grand lavish dinner like they promised me. I duly called-up an ex-colleague and decided to meet up at ‘The Curve’ later that day. But before that, I went to ‘Ikea’ to get some nice-looking lamps for my dully-lit room at Labuan. I choose 2 square-glass lamps and 1 reading lamp that gave out yellow light instead of the fluorescent white light that I currently have in my Labuan room. I like yellow light to white light, I guess because it is more calming, moody and more romantic haha. Room + Romantic lights = …..a good night’s sleep of course, what you thinking?!
Had dinner with my colleague SC at the
'Cineleisure’s ‘Ah Cheng’s Laksa’, and had the not-so-good 'Fried Chicken Nasi Lemak''. As usual, we have a lot to talk about, from serious things to complete utter nonsense, but we still talked until the shop wanted to close haha. But we still did not want to go back so early yet, so we headed to The Curve’s ‘The Apartment’ to enjoy its cozy surroundings for a comfortable chat. During that time, we ordered a ‘Strawberry Parfait’, but the strawberries were abit too sour and it kinda spoiled the moment. But honestly speaking, is there anything good at ‘The Apartment’ anyways? This place is seriously a sad case of looks-with-no-substance. But the décor sure is welcoming tho….
Day 4 – Sunday
Woke up to a new morning and of course, had my ‘hazelnut white coffee’ and this time around it was at ‘Old Taste Kopitiam’. Let me tell you that this kopitiam is a complete rip-off from ‘Old Town Kopitiam’, as the décor, concept and the main offerings are all the same. I think ‘Old Taste’ has a bit more variety in its menu, but an apple is an apple, you can’t get orange juice from it. And that’s my Forrest Gump moment for you folks!
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And then suddenly, out of nowhere, Ah Nei wanted a blowjob. And she was female. I immediately thought to myself, “WOW, 1 month away and females now openly wants blowjobs. 1 month later and there will be blowjob kiosks at 'Shell' stations nationwide!!!” But sadly, she didn’t literally mean a blowjob, she wanted a blow-ER. Ok, technically this still sounds like she is majorly horny for a blowjob but just wait: she wanted to buy a wind blower machine thingy to clean leaves or whatever from walls and stuff. A-HA!!! So we helped Ah Nei to finish her getting a blower job in ‘Carrefour’. By the time we finished, the contacted the other people that did not show up and eventually planned to have dinner instead at a nearby place called ‘Asia Café’.
But before departing ‘Parade’, me and Ah Nei (did not blow each other) but waited at the long queues for some ‘Big Apple Donuts’. Yup, one whole dozen of them. I know they may not the as good as ‘JCo Donuts’ but when you are in Labuan, any resemblance to a donut is a good donut….
Back home, SL packed (stayed for 2 nights) and headed back home while I continued to watch the Super-Duper-Sunday that is still live on the telly. I was supposed to join V outside for the remainder of the match, but the skies decided to open wide that night, and the plan to meet up with V and football was abandoned. Oh well, at least Manchester United won by 3-0. WooOOOo-HoooOooOo!!!!!!
Day 5 – Monday
Monday began by receiving a call from TK. He just got back from Hong Kong, and
was asking for a meet-up to catch up with things. I wanted dim-sim, but it was already 12:00pm. Are there any restaurants that offer dim-sum during noon? Haha, not wanting to take the risk, I called up V to see if she can make it for a quickie meet-up during lunchtime. Agreed, me and TK went up to ‘Mid-Valley’ and had lunch at ‘Nyonya Colors’ (or ‘Colors of Nyonya, I forgot). It is located at the newly opened connecting passage-way between ‘Mid-Valley’ and the ‘The Gardens’ (just think of where the old ‘Rotiboy’ outlet is). I had the ‘curry mee hon’ which was decent, but not spicy enough for my taste. I heard that the ‘mee siam’ is good too, as well as the various ‘kuih-muih’ on offer. If you like tastes of nyonya, this place (with another outlet in ‘1U’) is the place to be at the moment ‘cause the customers come here in droves. Oh, and the cendol is not bad too.
I didn’t get my regular morning dosage of coffee in my blood
veins so we left the food place and headed for a drinks place. Nearby, there was an outlet called ‘I Love Yuuuuuu’ (I think that is how it is spelled hahah) and had the Hainan coffee which was superb. I also ordered the ‘butterfly bun’ just to get something to nibble while chatting. I tell you this bun may be expensive (I think RM1.30 for a piece) but it is sure is yummy. It reminds me of a ‘yau char guai’, but only much, much better. 'JCo donuts' has a new competitor in ‘butterfly buns’ in my book!!!!
It was almost 2PM and it was time to rush back home and pack. Yes, my flight is on the same day, 6PM, and I had not packed yet. Yup, I like my life exciting haha. But, come to think of it, what is there to pack? All my major stuff is in Labuan ;). By 3:30PM, my family fetched me to 'KLIA-LCCT' and duly checked in my luggage. However, being ‘AirAsia’ the low-cost airline, my plane to Labuan was grounded by heavy rain for half an hour or so. Probably they are just concerned that we, the customers get wet from the heavy rain… ;)
Touched down at roughly 8:30PM, hailed a cab and finally reached back into my Labuan room.
Day 6 – Back in Labuan.
I’m writing this in my room on a very rainy and yet humid, Bornese night. My feelings towards returning to my humble 2nd home? Definitely not as downcast compared to my first departure from KL, but to leave my comfort zone of loved ones and friends that I have affectionately placed inside that zone throughout my lifetime is always difficult to handle. Oh well, I guess back in Labuan it is time for me to return to building a new comfort zone and welcome new members into it.
And yes, I’m not stone-cold (was I ever?), so I would like to thank all my friends for the chance to hang out with you guys all over again (the Akurians, the Mediaplexians, and especially SL), thanks a ton for your time and planning!!! I know I didn't meet up with many more of you guys (not my fault, you guys claimed to be 'busy'. HHmmmpphhh), and also didn't call you guys up (okok, this is my fault), but when I'm back in KL again, I'll plan something, for sure!!! Additional info: I wouldn’t be back for my birthday in June for obvious reasons, as ‘Operation: Diversion from Theva’s Birthday Fate’ is in full commencement in my book. And for everyone’s info, birthday celebrations more than 1 month before or after a birth date is banned. It is. Honestly. There’s a law for it. I know. I got Kepala Singh as my lawyer. Dun play play.
Until next time, friends and family!!!