Last Day!! Yippppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Last day and I had to hang on to the very last bit of my sanity before hopping on the 6 pm flight back to Sibu. Nothing special happened.. more walking around the mall, not to mention a last minute mad dash to the $10 stalls to buy a watch for Lauren (my niece) because someone who shall remain nameless here, demanded that we buy her one as well since Logan (my nephew) got one. All I can say is why am I paying for your sins, Ah Here??????

Random pics:

This was my typical breakfast in an attempt to not inhale (Hiis eat fast.. very very fast!) too much calories first thing in the morning. A milk tea, 2 boiled eggs (Jealouskah, Weng?) and kaya (Malaysian eggy pandan jam) toast... so simple yet so delish. Also so deluded because the calories would be very high. RM$5

Typical example of stupid Asian superstitions - Notice how there's a Level 3 and a Level 3A but not a Level 4. Because if KL ever gets hit by a typhoon or something, it will probably go something like this "Ok take out building A, C and D. Let's skip Building B because it doesn't have a Level 4." Sweeeet. Phew, who needs insurance with this kind of luck on your side?

Now for the most important pic... MY loot... MINE ALL MINE. I was pretty well-behaved huh?

YES YES YES I survived the Land of Endless Malls... and I go back to the Land of Endless Meals... wish me luck.

5th Day in the Land of Endless Malls - Purgatory

Woke up feeling dreary.... not another day of shopping malls. Save me!!! We spent the day in Sungei Wang and Times Square, running around like headless chooks looking for presents to buy Monica's two brats. The mother was demanding that we buy buy buy for her kids so what were the doting grandparents to do? Probably more useful to have had given birth to a CHAR SIEW 40 years ago, said Mum. heheh

Anyway after much umm-ing and aah-ing, we managed to buy these for the kids:

Logan:
Lauren:

Mum wanted to buy more more more but the Scrooge, aka ME, said enough is enough! So that was all. Hey, this trip was meant to be all about me so why am I sharing my limelight with 2 under 5 year olds.... huh????? Is that fair I ask you???

We had lots of time to kill so Dad suggested going for foot reflexology. So we had a snack break (of course) and then went looking for a stall. I then came across a fish spa - basically a tub filled with fishes and you soak your feet in it and the fishes are meant to eat away at your dead skin... Yum yum... I didn't do it. Mum and Dad went for the combo deal - $25 for 30 minutes of fish soaking and 15 minutes of foot massage. Cheap! Mum really liked it and wanted to buy those fishes as pets in Sibu so she can soak whenever she wants.

Didn't take a close up photo of Dad's feet because most of the fishes were around Mum's feet. What does that tell you???

Dad fell asleep as usual. The lady that massaged his feet had her 10 year old son with her. He was so mature for his age. He was so chatty and was telling me how he just bought a watch. But he had two on his wrist because the older one was a freebie from KFC. He then offered to sell it to me for $4. Eh, do I look stupid to you, kid??? Don't answer that!

Below are videos of Mum and Dad having the fish spa and of the roller coaster in action. Steady leh??

Fourth Day in KL

Jennifer and Jayden were busy all day with wedding stuff so Mum, Dad and I had to amuse ourselves. So we hopped in a taxi to Sunway Pyramid which was about 15 minutes away from our hotel. This was when we met Mr Money Bags Taxi Driver luckily. Costed us about $15 including toll charges. Dirt cheap huh?

Greetings from Eygpt!!! Sunway Pyramid is an Eygptian themed mall with a theme park (Sunway Lagoon) right next to it. The theme park looked quite cool as it combined crazy rides, water rides and animal attractions. Value for money!

The mall fitouts are pretty impressive. Hey look! Valet parking for camels.

Mum and Dad in front of the Christmas decorations.

Anyway, it was just another day another mall. I was all shopped out, truth be told (GASP! I KNOW!). So more aimless wandering around yet another mega mall. Where is a sheep when you need it, darn it?!!! After a few hours of looking around and a few snack breaks, Mum and Dad decided that we should go back to the Pavillion for the chai dao gui that escaped Dad's clutches (mouth) the other day. So we did. Had to get a couponed taxi for $23 because the mall is right next to the highway so we can't hail one from the side of the road and had to settle for what the mall offered.

Anyway before we knew it, we were at Pavilion. Oh before I forget, the taxi driver was a Chinese so Dad could converse with him instead of pretending to understand what the Malay taxi driver was jabbering away by responding with a Ya every few minutes...heheh. So Dad regaled the taxi driver with tales of his glory days as a police inspector in KL and how he used to walk everywhere from one forest to the next. (Forest, undeveloped suburbs, same difference). Dad ignored the heckling from his unwilling audience in the backseat who had heard the same story 2 times already.

We then headed straight for the foodcourt after dad waved goodbye to his fan. Cue evil laugh from dad *YOU WILL BE MINE, YUMMY FOOD". So that was how we came to have our second afternoon snack for the day.

Chai dao gui, aka Carrot Cake. It was probably the best one we had on this trip (we had this 4 times!)

Mum with soyabean and deepfried dough thingies (we had this way too many times).

I think we had steamboat again that night. Darn you yummy food. I need to get myself to a gym pronto. Or buy bigger clothes. Whichever is easier.

Third Day in KL

My youngest sister, Jennifer and her fiance Jayden arrived in KL the night before in order to prepare for their wedding reception next month. So we made plans to meet up at Mid Valley Mega Mall. We got there about 10ish and met up with the clingy couple around 11 am. Mr and Mrs We-would-be-there-around-9.30-to-avoid-traffic overslept or something... i tuned out.

Dad suggested going to Dragon-i for lunch. He said it's near the hotel or something and led the way. Wow, I am impressed with Dad's vast knowledge of useless information because he got us there straightaway. I knew I inherited MY vast knowledge of useless information from someone... hehehe not to mention my crazed urge to shop!Dragon-i is a restaurant that specialises in Shanghainese food. So we had to order the famed Xiao Long Bao of course. Pardon the photo... I forgot all about my duties as a blogger until I'd finish stuffing my face. The Xiao Long Bao was the best I've ever had!!! Tiny and delicate, these little morsels of dumplings burst in your mouth and you are treated to the most fragrant mouthful of soup. Yum yum.. I recommend it. We also ordered some other kind of dumplings and carrot cake, aka chai dao gui. Dad saw a stall at Pavillion selling chai dao gui the day before but he only saw it AFTER we had finished eating. So he had been going on and on and on (and on somemore) about going back there to try it. So this satisfied his urge for now.

After that, we wandered around the mall a bit more. A new extension just opened, The Garden Mall, which has more designer oriented shops. We walked around a bit and Jayden bought a pair of pants. We then spent the next 5 days (ok, more like 2 hours) at this jewellery shop that specialised in wedding rings. Jayden and Jennifer bought their wedding rings after looking through every single pair of rings in that shop. They narrowed their choices down to 2 pairs but Jennifer liked one pair while Jayden liked the other. They finally settled on the ones that Jennifer liked best. Ah Jayden, welcome to the family. The Hii girls rule the roost and don't you ever forget it!

After a snack break (dessert sweet soups and noodles), we walked around some more. I oohed and aahed over a peacoat jacket in Club Monaco but it was a tad expensive so I refrained (again!!).

Then we got bored so it was time for dinner. Jayden recommended this restaurant, Purple Cane Tea Restaurant that specialises in all dishes cooked in tea. I felt like a Kung fu master sitting in some pavillion sipping tea with fellow kungfu colleagues.... heheheh.... because of the rustic looking table and chairs.

If you think that these pots contain tea, you would be wrong. They are little pots of nutritious soups. We ordered two - one is basically a chicken soup with tea, the other is some sort of lotus seed?? soup with tea. They were alright... not a fan of soup.

The dishes we got were (clockwise from top left):

1. Simmered Chicken with Chinese Herbs in Tea sauce, spiced with Black Lychee Tea - melt in your mouth texture... yum

2. Some kind of fish steamed with garlic and some sort of tea... didn't manage to note down the details - was alright.

3. Stir Fried Veges with Belachan, spiced with Long Jin Green Tea - typical veges dish.

4. Homemade Braised Beancurd in Tea sauce, spiced with Dong Ding Oolong Tea - quite nice, similar to Akl's special tofu without the crispy outershell.

5. Green tea rice (not shown).

Not bad, Jayden!

Jayden then drove us home... except he didn't know the roads too well so he had to basically drive to somewhere familiar first and then drive back into town to drop us off... lauya la you Jayden. Mum and Dad also bumped into some friends while walking to the car! The world is such a small place.

Second Day in KL

Hopped in a taxi and went off to KLCC, KL's premier luxury brands shopping mall. It is also home to the Petronas Twin Towers, Malaysia's claim to fame. This is where Sean Connery the old saggy guy got with the then young Catherine Zeta Jones in some movie.... before she married another old saggy guy, Michael Douglas. To be fair, the twin towers are pretty impressive and cool looking. I did feel pretty cool to be a (part time) Malaysian looking at them.

Went into Chanel and nearly bought a bag. Then I remembered that I am unemployed and the economy is down in the dumps so I refrained. Ok the real story is that I couldn't decide on which one and Mum insisted the one I didn't like as much was nicer. So I hesitated and left. THEN common sense kicked in and told me not to be so frivolous. Oh well, maybe when I landed my own geriatric billionare ala Catherine Zeta Jones...heheh.... i joke i joke.

I vaguely remembered Weng (hi, Weng!!) saying that there are free tickets distributed everyday to go up the towers. But there is a quota in order to minimise the disruptions caused to the office workers there. Anyway it was nearly midday by the time we got there so I wasn't too optimistic of our chances. Got to the entrance and the display said that the tickets being given out at that moment were for the 6.15 pm session. So we were going to turn around and leave but Mum insisted that I ask if we could get tickets to the next day's morning session. The guy behind the counter then gave me tickets to the 12.15pm session, aka 30 minutes away!!! Score!!! Yes, mother you are the wisest person in the whole wide world.

Wandered around the mall a bit more. Ate a light snack (one of many many meals everyday) and then headed back to the tower entrance. We had to sit through a quick introductory video about the Twin Towers and Petronas. Next, we had to go through a security checkpoint not unlike the airport baggage security checkpoint. Then we jumped in a super fast lift to go up to the bridge. It wasn't all that impressive because it was similar to all other towers, Auckland SkyCity etc etc.

Entrance to the Bridge. Can you spot my parents?

Obligatory photo:

Views from the Bridge:

Jumped in the lift to go back down after about 10 minutes (The Hii family being the killjoys that we are, was ready to go after 2 minutes heheh). There was an area with about 4 puzzles for the public to solve. Mum and I managed to solve the following two:

Forgot to take photos of the other two. Ok it was because I couldn't solve them so I didn't haha. One of them still hasn't been solved yet. Dad commented that Mel would spend all day trying to solve it and then be able to come up with the solution. Oh dad, so deluded.

Picture showing all the different towers around the world aka Men's Egos, Mine is Bigger Than Yours Neh Neh Neh Neh Neh:

Wandered around KLCC a bit more after that and then headed back to the mall underneath our hotel, Times Square. Hailed a taxi to go back and it was a bit of an uphill battle. 9 out of every 10 taxi drivers refuse to use the taxi meter. Instead, they would give us a quote. eg: $10 to go to Times Square when it only costs $5. It's easier to hail a taxi in the morning that would use the meter as business is a lot quieter. It's a lot harder in the afternoons when the traffic is really bad. Darn thieving taxi drivers!!! We did meet a taxi driver who is way way way richer than the average person though and so he played by the rules. Mr Money Bags Taxi Driver owns a house that he bought thirty years ago for $40K, now worth $1M and a three storey building which he rents out for $18K a month for $80K, now worth millions too. Nice work! He works 3 hours a day as a taxi driver to pass the time. Mum said his wife probably nags him too much so he works to avoid her... hehehe.

Dinner for that night was steamboat at Johnny's in Times Square. We ended up coming back here twice more. We are creatures of habit, ok? RM46 bucks for this spread.

Yum yum! All gone.

After dinner I discovered something totally cool!!! There's a full sized crazy roller coaster inside the mall!!!!! I am so going on it with the girls when we stay here next month... horhorhor... but have to do it when the parents aren't looking!

When Bad Travels Happen to Good People

Yipppeeee the day has arrived!!! Land where the biggest mall in South East Asia resides, here I come!!!! If I ever find the Enchanted Forest and go up the tree, I hope the land visiting at that moment is the Land of Shoes!! If you read Enid Blyton books when you were a kid, you'll know what I'm talking about.


Anyway we are taking the first Air Asia flight out to KL and then catching the connecting MAS flight to Bangkok. Air Asia is the no frills Malaysian airlines so everything is user pays. Eg: All checked in luggage costs money and you need to pay for it at the time of booking. If you bring more luggage on the day, you get charged more. Eg: $5 per luggage at the time of booking, $10 per luggage on the day. No nice cardboard boarding passes for Air Asia, instead you get a slip of paper. No allocated seating either which is why there's a stampede of wild beasts running towards the aircraft when the time for boarding came. Pay $20 and you get to board first.



Air Asia's redeeming quality apart from the dirt cheap prices? Its fleet of airplanes consist of new Airbuses.... sweet! Mum and Dad onboard the plane with leather seats:
Me being the sucker that I am, I had to try the food for sale onboard. I got the Roti Jala for RM6 and Mum and Dad got the ham and cheese sandwiches for Rm7. Roti Jala is pretty much curry mince wrapped up in a crepe type wrap with curry sauce. Not bad. Had 2 and Dad the human trashbin finished it off for me.


Mum heard rumours that the Bangkok international airport had been closed the night before due to political unrest before we hopped on the plane to KL. It was a bit late to cancel the trip since we weren't sure if it was true or not so we decided to get to KL and see what the deal was. Anyway, it was true so we had to go down to the MAS ticketing office to get our money back for the KL to Bangkok leg. Lots of other travellers were also inconvenienced as Thailand is a very popular holiday destination. Luckily our tour guide in Bangkok said that they are happy to reschedule all our tours and hotel accommodation so we may go once everything is settled and safe again. All sounded very straightforward here but it took us many trips to and fro and a lot of phonecalls to the travel agents before we decided on this course of action. There was the option of coming back to the airport the next day to try and get on another flight to Bangkok. But there is a chance that the flights would be full AND/OR the airport would still be closed. Luckily we didn't try.

Found a serviced apartment in town to stay at for the next few days. Mum suggested driving to Penang at some stage but we will look around KL for the next few days. The hotel counter also had "limousines"going into town for RM120. Mum and Dad said we just need a normal taxi that will take us from A to B and that it usually cost about RM70 to RM80. The guy then agreed to take us for RM80. Note to self: Limousines to Malaysians meant Mercedes. The trip from airport to city centre takes about an hour. We stayed at the Berjaya Times Square Apartments which coincidentally is where we would be staying when Jennifer has her wedding reception.

View from our 34th floor hotel room:
Me in the kitchen (which didn't get used heh):

We then went downstairs and hopped on the monorail to the neighbouring mall - Lot 10. This was the sight that greeted me when we got out of the monorail station. Being from Auckland, I felt a bit like Country Mouse coming to visit City Mouse heh.

Lot 10 was a bit boring so Dad directed us to Pavillion, the newest shopping mall in KL. Hello, designer shops! Christmas spirit was alive and kicking in all the malls and you can see giant Christmas trees everywhere.

Me and Mum in front of Coach.

Inside Pavillion. I didn't know where to start.
So that was the end of our first day in KL.