Week 1 Trip To Asia

Arriving At KLIA For Our Asian Visit 2009!

SM and I arrived KL's LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) on Sunday Feb 1 morning on an Air Asia flight direct from Tullamarine. The Airbus A330 was brand new, and it flew well. It was comfortable and the service was acceptable. SM did not like the sliding seat, though, and the seat cannot be reclined thus making the seat pitch constant. Can't see the logic but that's their way of providing a comfortable pitch but our backs become uncomfortable when we want to lie down and we can't! The LCCT @ KL International Airport was almost like a cattle market, there were already throngs of airline passengers in the departure terminal when we arrived at around 7am and we could feel that there was an organized chaos around us. My opinion is the LCCT is a shame! There is no wonder that Air Asia is not happy with the LCCT arrangement and if they have their way they will move to a better organized Airport!

Air Asia Airbus A330 In Cruise Mode

Landing Approach

Our friends Darren and Linda came to pick us up at the airport nd we had already pre-arranged to have breakfast at the famous Bak Kut Teh restaurant in Klang, situated just underneath the main bridge in Klang Town. The restaurant is owned by Leslie and Gianne's family. The business has been in existence since Gianne's grandfather concocted the BKT recipe! That was the highlight of the day..... landing in KL and going for a sumptuous BKT meal. Heaven. We were a little tired but rejuvenated by the good food and great company!

Darren and Linda were very kind to let us use their PJ condo and car during our stay. SM invited them and we all had a "welcome home" dinner at SM's family that night.

Darren's Son Derrick

Lazing Around

Lazing Around SSDD

Looking Out Of Dataran Prima At NKVE

Looking Out Towards Aman Suria

Looking At KLCC In The Haze

SSDD

Fire Works On Chap Goh Meh

Fire Works SSDD

Family Dinner

Chief Cook

Fantastic Home-Cooked Meal. Prawns Are My Favourite And The Chef Knows It

Monday Feb 2 was a public holiday in Wilayah. Despite that we went to the Subang Terminal 3 Immigration Office quite early in the morning, wanting to organize our new passports there. Because of the Wilayah holiday the place was FULL of applicants, I mean hundreds. We decided against applying for the travel documents seeing this "chaotic" situation but we did buy a couple of application forms at RM1 each. Why do we need to pay for forms?

Not Much Has Improved At The Malaysian Immigration Office

SM wanted to visit her sister who lives in Ampang. We went to pick up one of her nephews for lunch with us. Old Town White Coffee was well patronized, and we enjoyed the nasi lemak, curry laksa and toasts with butter and kaya, curry puff and coffee.

Now An Iconic Brand In Malaysia

Love The Lighting

Old Town Kopitiam: Very Charming Decor

This Will Be His FB Shot

Zhi Tao The Fat Cat

Curry Laksa And Ice Kopi For 姨妈

Zhi Tao And 姨妈

I Enjoyed My Other Favourite: Nasi Lemak

One Of My Favourites: Curry Puffs

Apparently there are over 300 franchisees in Malaysia and each franchise costs RM600,000 to set up initially! There must be money in this because the pricing strategy is very good. Below that of Starbucks (RM11) for coffee but slightly more than normal kopitiam's (RM2.80 vs RM1.80) . The meals are slightly more expensive than kopitiam's (on the average RM6-8 vs RM4-5).

Tuesday Feb 3 we went back to the Immigration Office, arriving there at 7.20am and determined to be amongst the early birds; and we were. Having managed to get our passport photos taken (RM10 for 4 pieces) and our IC photocopied (RM0.4 for 2 pieces) we submitted our application and lo and behold we got our new passports by 12 noon. The whole process took 4 1/2 hours. We were glad we did not have to go through the process again for at least another 4 years....

Wednesday Feb 4 we were in Bukit Gita Bayu in the morning to meet with some old friends. SM went out with her friends Vivian, Vanessa, and Mei Ling for lunch. I instead caught up with Teh and Ivy for a cup of coffee at their unit. Also we admired their passion fruit trees and nangka fruits which they help plant at the back of the units.

SM And Ivy @ Gita Bayu

Teh's Home-Grown Nangka @ Gita Bayu

Home-Grown Nangka Fruit Tree

Home-Grown Passion Fruit Tree

I then went to Seri Petaling for lunch for old time sake. We used to rent a condo in this suburb during 1998 to 2000. I saw a lion dance performance at one of the shops and I was surprised to see it was quite a multi-cultural thing nowadays in Malaysia. One of the guys playing the Chinese drum was an India man, and amongst the audience watching and snapping photos were Malay girls! Good thing!

Typical Lion Dance Bringing "Good Luck" To Those Who Engage Their Services To Perform At Their Companies

Multi-Racial Crowds

I also observed something that are becoming common place in KL: 1) Private security at housing estates ie security guards "watching" vehicles going in and out of the estate and 2) loan sharks advertising their businesses with prominent posters in public places. These things seem to be more in abundance nowadays. I am sure the social security issues have now become more prominent. Nevertheless I question how effective the private security detail really is. And I pity those who live in landed properties as they normally spend a great deal of money providing protection for the homes and families. I have heard they not only pad lock their gates and fix frills over windows; they also lock down their ceilings with plywood, some also go for expensive alarm systems, and engage private guards.

I Could Not Believe A Shopping Center (Low Yat Plaza) Would Charge RM1 Per Entry For Patrons To Use Their "Premium Toilets"

Private Security Guards At Ends Of Each Street

"Ah Long" Illegal Money Lenders Advertising Their Services Everywhere One Looks On The Streets

More "Ah Long" Advertisements

A Nice Church Building In KL

My Ex-Company's Shah Alam Site Where I Spent 5 Years

Mustang Bearing Rego No LD3

Muscle Car Mustang

That evening Capt Mitch took us out to Kajang for Yong Tau Foo dinner. Beautiful, clean and scrumptious for only RM50.

Thursday Feb 5 Mitch took us to The Curve in Mutiara Damansara for shopping. More like window shopping because we did not have anything we wanted to buy that day. We ended up at Old Town again for strong local coffee (Kopi Gau) and toasts. This has now become a habit! SM went on with her friend Julie for shopping and other girl things. While Mitch and I went to Capt Quek's new house in KGSAS in Shah Alam. We caught up with Alice and Quek. I really admired their new home which is a semi D on a 5600 sq ft block. Huge master bedroom with an attached study and walk in robes. Love it. They invited us back for Cap Goh Meh (15th Day of Chinese Ne Year　初十五) celebration which we gladly accepted.

Cafes And Restaurants @ The Street Of The Curve (It's A Mouthful)

Marche On "The Street" @ The Curve
 

Happy Times

Happy Times Again

Two Pilot Friends

Isn't She Cute?

Coffee, Tea Or Me?

He He He ..... (Dirty Old Man (Pilot))

Friday Feb 6 Mitch and his boss Teo invited me to fly up with them to Ipoh for a quick trip. We flew up in Teo's Cessna 182 in the morning. It's a beautiful plane with G1000 PFD and MFD, auto pilot coupled to GPS. I found it a heavy plane to handle with the elevators and rudder in flight. Teo flew the first leg and I the return leg. I must say Teo flew very well. He landed Ipoh airport with a greaser of a landing.

Corporate Pilot Mitch Wong

Me And Cessna 182

Teo wanted to have Char Kuay Teow at Nam Heong @ Jalan Biji Timah in old town Ipoh because he has read that it is very good there. Our taxi man managed to find it but the CKT was disappointing. It was very oily and too soft. Not good. Anyhow after lunch we saw the weather was deteriorating with rain clouds encroaching the airport and we quickly got airborne and steered N118EH towards VFR Route 1. We were given 5000 ft by Ipoh Tower Route 1 (via Pangkor Island) was overcast after take off before we arrived Tango Alpha (Teluk Intan) and so we changed course to Route 2 and flew towards Bidor (we were near Kampar at the time). The weather there was acceptable and so we continued on. Soon we contacted Lumpur Info and then we were passed over to Subang Tower @ Rawang. We were given Runway 15 Subang and I landed around 2pm. My impression of the C182 was it was a very capable plane with its G1000 platform and GPS-coupled auto pilot. If I had a spare change of A$700,000 I would consider buying one!

N118EH You Are Cleared For Take Off

Rawang From 1500 ft

Kampar From 3500 ft

In the evening I met up with Boon Chee, Kong Ho and Fook Kheong @ Crocodile Farm Restaurant in Subang Jaya for a KL Sam Tet reunion dinner. It has been 30 years since I last met these former classmates and it was sure good to meet over cold beers and a sumptuous meal. These guys were great because they especially set up the reunion knowing I was in KL. Thanks Boon Chee, Kong Ho and Fook Kheong. We also made tentative arrangements to meet more fellow classmates in Ipoh on the 2oth Feb.

Sam Tet Old Friends Boon Chee, Kong Ho And Fook Kheong @ Crocodile Farm Restaurant Subang Jaya

Saturday Feb 7 SM and I started our day making tracks to KL Sentral (main train, bus and LRT in KL) station in KL. We caught an aerobus to LCCT from there. The cost was low, only RM 9 per person per way, cheaper still had we been able to book for the trip on line @ RM 6.50! The journey to the airport took about 1 hour. We got our boarding passes on Air Asia flight to Singapore without a hitch. By the time we landed in Changi Airport Terminal 1 the complete journey took about the same time had we chosen to catch a bus (I recommend Aeroline Bus http://www.aeroline.com.my/) instead of flying. 

My brother Nick and his wife were at Changi to pick us up when we arrived Singapore by our Air Asia flight. We went for some local food (Kueh Chap and Soon Kueh) and coconut juice @ the Serangoon Garden hawker center since SM did not have lunch earlier on. Yum. We were happy that Nick was able to put us up at his Yio Chu Kang home.

One of my objectives to visit Singapore was to meet some of my ex-colleagues from Crown. Later on that night we met at Apollo Banana Leaf Restaurant at Racecourse Road for curry fish head, chicken Marsala and chili prawns. Those that I wanted to re-kindle friendships turned up: Teresa, KE, Cecilia, Edric, Yvonne, Joe, and Yap. It was sure nice to meet with them and caught up on their latest happenings. We enjoyed the meal together and went for a cup of coffee at Newton Circus later on. I was grateful that these ex-colleagues were willing to meet. It warmed my heart. Thank you guys for making the time to meet. Although we have parted company some years back I am grateful all of you have found new directions in your careers. I am reminded that life is a journey and we are well advised to make the best of it, no matter what the next turns are going to be. I hope to see you guys in one year's time!

Little India

Singapore Friends - Cecilia, Ed, Teresa, SM, Yvonne, Me, Yap. Joe was missing in the picture as he was struggling to fend off his kiddies at home!

+ KE Tan

Cecilia Looks So Charming

Sunday Feb 8 morning we left their home early to have breakfast with Sow Hon, Wai Har and their eldest daughter Yi Ting. I have known Sow Hon since our secondary school in the mid 1970's. Although Sow Hon was 2 years my senior at school but because we were in the scout movement we got on quite well. We chose to have Fei Fei Wanton Mee 飞飞云吞面(Noodle), chicken congee and Singapore prawn mee @ the Teluk Kurau area. The food @ any Singapore hawker center or non air conditioned food court is normally good and cheap. A small portion for S$2.50, a large portion for S$3. All very reasonable considering the higher cost of living in the republic. During this trip we found that the Malaysian food cost at food courts and hawker centers have escalated quite sharply.

Breakfast With Wai Har And Sow Hon @ Teluk Kurau

+ Yi Ting

Supposed To Be Famous Fei Fei Wanton Mee飞飞云吞面

Supposed To Be Famous Chicken Congee

Supposed To Be Famous Singapore Har Mee (Prawn Noodle)

We adjourned to their new home @ Butterworth Lane for a cup of Turkish apple tea and admired their photos taken during their recent Turkey trip. Sow Hon and I then made our way to NTU (Nan Yang Technological University) for a luncheon with the Sam Tet Singapore and Johor alumni where we met many familiar faces. Again long lost friendships were rekindled. I caught up with Chan Kiang Por and Chin Yong Yong, two of my ex-classmates I haven't seen in some 30 years. At the reunion I met with my ex-class mates Philip Lip and Chut Ngeow's younger brothers and they were able to provide me their contact details.

Old Class Mates Kiang Por And Yong 2x @ NTU

Sam Tet Singapore And Johor Reunion @ NTU

During this evening we met up with SM and Wai Har and her kids @ Marine Parade and we got my brother's family together at Roland Restaurant for a meal. The bill came to S$230, not good value for what we could have gotten had we gone for the famous Balestier Mun Tong Kee Chicken Rice which we originally thought of. Anyway..... We are grateful that we could meet these two families in Singapore and many thanks for sharing your moments with us.....

Landing in KLIA from Melbourne on Air Asia Airbus A330

Singapore Friends