X’mas @ KL
December 29th, 2005 -- Posted in travel | 1 Comment »Yeeeap! We are back from our KL trip! Ate a lot and shopped a lot but the main highlights were actually more of catching up with friends.
Day 1
Though the arrival time was not that late in the afternoon, the airport transfer plus waiting time for our room took up much of the afternoon. Both grouchy, plus a hungry wife, the trip almost felt like a mistake. It was only until we finally got food and the room ready when our mood peaked up. Not too bad after all… nice room, comfy bed, great location! Superb choice my dad made reserving that hotel. Not that expensive too, for the condition of the room and the view and location.
Ahhh… Comfy bed. (Notice my fetish for comfy beds every trip I make?)
Nice view of KLCC from our window.
Once rested, we quickly headed to explore KLCC and to grab dinner. However, before long, we realized that we were tired and wanted to call it an early night to recharge ourselves for the REAL SHOPPING at Sungai Wang. (Shopping malls aren’t exactly my kinda shopping venues anyway.)
Day 2
Recharged and ready for the shopping spree! We were supposed to meet up with Adrian, an old pal I got to know through mIRC during my days in US and lost touch after I returned to Singpaore until recently. (Bro! You’ve already said exactly what I meant say!)
Waited… Looked at watch… Another hour before our scheduled meeting time at Sungai Wang… Arrgh! Cannot wait anymore! Fuck it! We headed out and took the monorail to Sungai Wang. Started our spree first while waiting for Adrian. (Sorry, bro. We just couldn’t hold our excitement anymore :P)
View of the Tower from the monorail station
The place was PACKED!!! Human traffic congestion! That’s not the only dilemma we had… the other was that there’s TOO MANY SHOPS for just one day! Too many things to see + limited budget = did not buy much… N’mind. We’d give ourselves a two more days. Adrian and Marie joined us not too long after and accompanied us with the spree in the human infested building. Even brought us to the next building which is a heaven for gadget freaks like me. Lotsa iPod stuffs! Cheap computer hardwares too!
Must control myself from getting anything I don’t quite need… Must save for next shopping spree at Jalan Petaling… or Chee Chong Gai (is this how it’s spelled?)
Great hosts they are! They actually encouraged us to BUY BUY BUY while we were had the chance to enjoy the advantage of RM exchange rates. Good point, bro!
T’is actually the QUIETEST side of the building…
T’is tired and bored Sunsun… and for not getting anything at Sungai Wang
After hours and lotsa catching up and gadget shopping with Adrian (while we left Sunsun and Marie in Starbucks), it was time to head for dinner with Dad and the GM who works for him.
T’is satisfied Sunsun… after dinner
Hey! Dad looks kewl with my shades!
After that, we headed down for a quick spree at Jalan Petaling before they closed for the night. Told Sunsun “Don’t buy now. Look first. We’d come back tomorrow…”, but I got myself this…
I’m a happy boy tonight 
Day 3
Met up for lunch with Viv, a colleague who used to work in Singapore. Viv, a true KL resident, carries with her the warmth of one. Despite her busy schedule, she took the trouble to drive a distance to pick us up from the heart of KL city for lunch at Bangsar. Such a nice lady. Great tim sum indeed, Viv! We had great catching up on the days of OFT that I lost track of time for a little bit. I didn’t realize it was past 3pm by the time we finished and parted.
Dilemma. Could not decide where to go next. Viv wanted to drop us wherever we wanted to head next. Mid Valley? Some mall? Final verdict… back to Sungai Wang. Hahaha (Reminder: giant shopping malls are craps!)
So we walked most of Sungai Wang Plaza and BB (short for Bukit Bintang). The only treasure I found for this second day round were pirated music CDs. Yes they were dirt cheap, but that was not the key attraction. I was thrilled more by the variety of dance music genre I can NEVER find in Singapore CD shops (unless someone can tell me where to find albums of Yoji Biomehanika, Nik Fish, Lisa Lashes and the likes…).
Note: most CD shops in Singapore only offer softer genre… house, techno, trance, breakbeat, R&B… need to find local sources for harder dance genres… hard dance, psych/hard trance…
Sunsun, again, did not find much at Sungai Wang. Street style isn’t her type. She was more excited with treasure hunting at Petaling Street. Why am I not surprised? Petaling Street~> night market ~> cheap stuffs! Shopping heaven for girls!
Day 4
Not much during these two days. Spent most of my time (and poor Sunsun’s too) at my dad’s office. Dad needed some pointers how to improve efficiency of his general admin division. Started with presentation by the sales manager for 2006 projection. Not bad at all! The strategies for the new year made perfect sense. Keep it up, Mr. K! Now the only problem I could sense is the bottleneck caused by the rigid accounting/data system used for accounting/finance/wareshouse management, leading to too much manual data entry and too much double work. Growing business~> need faster/accurate processing = more hire / new system. (think I’d better stop boring anyone with further details…)
Anyway, highlight of the day was meeting up with Adrian and Marie again. This time round he brought us for a taste of KL local Bak Kut Teh. Excellent choice!~ I’ve never imagined such variety of ingredients in ONE BIG POT!
Notice the big pot… EMPTIED!
”... the logic of XYZ theory is..” ”... but the idea of ABC equation leads to…”
... and that was the debate on BKT (bak kut teh)
After food, it was coffee time! Headed to the next mamak joint at Subang SS15. Had non-caffienated drinks while we spent hours chatting about experiences with traffic police, super wide lanes on American roads, and miscellaneous funny stories of idiots and illogical policies we’d encountered. It was past midnight by the time we realized it and decided to call it a night. Adrian would be sending Marie to the airport in a few hours. Poor Adrian… gonna be zombified.
But hey! Losing track of time means we had GREAT TIME! Thanks for the host, bro! We’d make sure your next trip to Singapore one you won’t forget evil grinz.
