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Long way around Malaysia road trip


Adrianli
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Long way around Malaysia road trip. SG->Kuantan->Kota Bahru->Penang->KL->SG

 

Decided to go for a long road trip, to somewhere unfamiliar in MY that I have never been before and may never visit again. Wife said ok but must stop at KL for her to shop. So I did all the planning and the places of interests to visit.

 

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21st Jul 2018

Set off from home at 6am in the morning. Reach Woodlands Causeway at 6.20am and there was a queue already formed. Same thing at MY side. Time check, 7.20am and we cleared both custom and immigrations. Exactly 1 hour to clear both sides.

 

First stop, heading to Kiang Kee BKT for breakfast. It has been a while since I travelled on Tebrau highway. There were some changes in the scenery, more urbanised but basically the roads still the same. Was driving at a leisurely pace and just follow the cars in front. Reached Kiang Kee BKT around 8.30am. Not too crowded, there are still seats behind the stall. So we settled sitting behind.

 

First look, it is the same old familiar piping hot claypot BKT. But after tasting it, the familiar taste is gone. Sad to say, IMHO, the taste has declined since my last visit couple of years back. Standard has dropped. The meat on the bones does not fall off easily already. You have to yank it off with your teeth. Very sad. I guess, with increased business, quality also suffer. But what to do, just eat lor. It will not be a must eat for me anymore, go into the “optional” category liao.

 

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After breakfast, 9am, set off to East Coast Mall, Kuantan on Route 3. The roads to Mersing was the same, up and down with left and right twisty bends. Took it slow as I don’t wish my passenger to vomit her breakfast on to my car mat. Was doing 80 to 90km/h. The scenery was the same old plantations and the odd kampong here and there.

 

It was until Rompin a sleepy fishing village that the roads are finally clear of traffic and twisty turns that I can allow my car to stretch her legs. 120km/h was the norm now, woohoo. The passenger did not ask for a pee stop and I don’t need a pee stop. The car was more than ready to continue on the journey without stopping, thatz the advantage of having a 70L fuel tank that I had it full tank from SG. Pekan town flashed by and at around 12noon, we are in Kuantan city already. It was slightly hazy when we arrived. There was a strong smell of burnt forest in the air.

 

East Coast Mall in Kuantan was one of our planned stop for rest, food and shopping. Had lunch, pad thai and proceeded to shopping in the mall. Then we crossed over via the back entrance to the mall next door, Kuantan City Mall. This mall was quieter but as modern as East Coast Mall. East Coast Mall attracts younger crowd cos it has a cinema within the mall. We did some grocery shopping at Giant, looking for lower priced household items and some necessities for the road trip like stocking up on mineral water to hydrate ourselves. They wanted to charge us for plastic bag but lucky we had our recycle bags with us.

 

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By the time we are done, it was already late, 4pm liao. Our hotel is another 1 hour drive up north. I chose to stay at Suria Cherating Beach Resort as it is located far north of Kuantan and near the border to Cukai town.  As we left Kuantan city, decided to top up the fuel to full so as not to fuel again the next day. Around 5pm, we reached the beach resort. Checked in, left our luggage in the room and went out for dinner. The room was dated which my wife disliked but it has some view of the sea.

 

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There was no better restoran nearby so I decided to just head to the familiar Tong Juan Restoran for dinner. Parking lots near the restaurant was difficult to get so we parked opposite the road and crossed over. The last time I was here, standard dropped so I was not expecting much. We ordered grouper, butter prawns, signature stuff crabs and vege. Surprisingly, food were fresh and the stuffed crab was great. The prawns were very fresh and qq. Shells easily came off and does not stick to the meat. Grouper was same as what we had in normal tze char in SG. Vege was crunchy and nice. Looks like they have improved. After dinner, we went next door which was selling local dried food stuff to buy some. As we were shopping, a whole tour bus of local tourist entered the shop. I chat with the tour guide and she told me they are from KL. Paid for our stuffs and left.

 

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On our way back to the resort, I told my wife that I come Kuantan must eat keropok lekor. So we stopped at the whole row of shops selling the same stuff. It is just at the border between Pahang and Trengganu. Too many shops to choose from, so I just approached one of the stall. The malay lady couldn’t converse in English and with my limited malay knowledge, I asked her if she can goreng(fry) the keropok lekor on the spot for us. She showed me her work of oil and said yes(boleh). As she was frying for us, a local malay family came to buy some keropok lekor. I was glad this family speak English and we asked what was Satar and they described it similar to our otah, basically made up of fish paste and coconut and then wrap in leaf and bbq it. They also told us that the raw keropok lekor can be kept for a week unrefrigerated. People here are so friendly and willing to chit chat and explain in detail to us. We brought the freshly fried keropok lekor back to the resort and had a nice supper before going to bed.

 

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22nd Jul 2018

 

Next morning, 7.30am I was up and ready. Went out and flew my DJI Mavic Pro drone. The view up there was great as there was no tall buildings at all. The misty forests make the whole area very scenic and mysterious. Great views looking south and north. The sea was calm, no large waves nor windy conditions. A quiet peaceful scene. Then my wife joined me at the pool side for breakfast. She said the karaoke session at the poolside last night went on till 11.30pm!!! But it didn’t affected me as I had already gone on deep sleep liao. She wanted to call the front desk to complain but the phone was not plugged in at all!!! Breakfast was lousy, no variety at all. I don’t normally eat breakfast so just some bread and butter was good for me.

 

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https://youtu.be/lsgKo7Sl5Ro

 

 

 

We packed up and checked out of the hotel. Next stop, Kota Bahru, here I come. Navigated using Garmin GPS and Wave on hp to E8 and drove northwards. The road conditions on E8 was atrocious compared to NSHW. Lots of patches of pot hole and especially near bridges, there will be a depression before and after the bridge. Was driving at 160 to 170km/h. On long straights, hitting 200km/h. Once hit 227km/h on my speedometer but a reveal of gps from my in-car camera shows only 218km/h. Within 45mins, reached the end of E8 and had to use Route 3 to head further north. Normal B roads, going at only 80 to 90km/h due to traffic. It was a Sunday and it was the start of the week here, not a holiday.

 

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At around  noon, we stopped at a roadside stall for lunch. Wife wanted to eat roti prata but the lady told us sold out already. So we settled for maggi goreng. Then I asked the lady to also fry a plate of assorted keropok. Simple fare but tasty and we bought some raw keropok from her too. After that we continued our journey. In the car, my wife say she not interested in visiting the many temples I have lined up in my itinerary. So I chose the one with a standing Buddha(Wat Phothikyan) and headed towards it.

 

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It took another 1.5 hours drive before arriving at Wat Phothiyan temple. It was located near Bachok beach area and inside a residential area. Upon entering the compound, there was a huge tree with lots of hanging paper wishes and then the tall Buddha. On the left was a temple with Goddess of Mercy in front, facing the standing Buddha. I am not a very religious person, so just walk around the compound, go in and give some cash donation and use their toilet. There were some visitors there for their fortune to be told as I overheard them chit chatting with each other. There was no altar to light any joss sticks so just survey the area where my drone can take off. There was a swift birdnest building next door and power lines overhead so have to be careful.

 

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Told my wife to relax in the temple while I went out and flew my drone. No one bothered me as I set up my drone. But as I begin to take off, an angmo guy came and say hello and gave the thumbs up. He came and see my screen of the magnificent aerial view of the standing Buddha that I was filming. Then the partner of the guy came over. She was asking their driver cum tour guide why the tree was full of deco. The malay driver told them that it is just normal deco. I corrected him. I told the lady that it was a wishing tree and people wrote their wishes on the paper and threw it up the tree. Then I machiam became their tour guide as they asked me further questions of the temple while I am flying my drone taking aerial videos!!! Multi-tasking.

 

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https://youtu.be/QLK7Fa4pGQU
https://youtu.be/ABx94Zd3yWg

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Completed my aerial filming, we packed up and decided to just drive to Bachok beach and have a look and see what it was like when Japanese troops landed on Kelantan to invade Malaya and Singapore. As we drove nearer the beach, we came into a temple with a standing Goddess of Mercy facing the beach and sea. We parked there, took some photos and wandered off to the beach for a stroll under the hot afternoon sun. The beach was beautifully flat and virtually untouched with any developments. My wife went to collect seashells along the tide lines.

 

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After that, we left the place and passed by a pair of cows. Was driving just next to them and they are not afraid of us at all. Very beautiful animals, seeing them at such close range.

 

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Have booked Crown Garden Hotel, its just a random hotel I chose that was near the famous market with secure parking facilities. As I drove towards it, I noticed that it was just off the main street of many Chinese restaurants and along the street there was a large signboard indicating Cheng Ho. I think it is the Chinatown of Kota Bahru. The hotel was more like a business hotel and our room got zero view. The room window was facing the next room’s window. Overall, ok hotel room with comfy bed. We then went out to the nearby Parkson Mall. This place is like a dead mall with very few visitors. Lucky it had a Giant supermarket. Then we left for dinner.

 

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I had already googled and found a blog recommending a thai Chinese restaurant in Kota Bahru. So after unpacking our luggage, we drove to the restaurant. It was peak hour traffic, 5pm and every other road was jammed. The restaurant was Cheng Mai Restaurant and located deep inside a residential area. Need to drive inside small tiny roads where u wonder if such a place actually exists!!! When we arrived, we were happy to see them operating and they were just next to a railway track. Very secluded place, if not for Waze gps, I don’t think I am able to find it. Except for the Chinese guy whom I assume is the boss, the rest of the staff were thai. Even the cashier lady, whom I assume was the lady boss was thai. We ordered what the blog recommended, prawn with bamboo shoots in curry, lime sauce lala, assam pedas fish and crab meat omelette which my wife chose. I love the curry sauce, thick and spicy. My wife love the lime sauce and it goes very well with the lala. Our favourite was the crab meat omelette, not the usual frying style, they make it fluffy and fried it to perfection with real crab meat in it. The bill came up to only RM77 for all we had, cheap cheap!!! It’s a gem find in Kota Bahru. I highly recommend this place if you are visiting Kota Bahru.

 

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After dinner, we visited KB Mall. It is very modern with lots of the usual shops in malls. Wife bought a pair of flip flops and we bought some facial wash at the pharmacies. There was Watson, Guardian and Caring just next to each other so we went to compare prices. After some window shopping, we went back to hotel to rest for the night.

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23rd Jul 2018

 

Woke up and had breakfast at the hotel’s café. Normal breakfast, not much variety. Wife don’t like cos got houseflies around the food. Had to persuade her to eat something like a toast bread. After breakfast, we went out to have a morning stroll to the famous market. Just a 5 min walk and we arrived at Siti Khatijah Market. It was huge with various levels. Also the main thing was it smells like a typical wet market. We just walk around the place and look see look see till my wife buay tahan the smell.

 

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As we walked backed to the hotel, we saw lots of people were crowding a shop so we also went to kaypo. It turns out that they were queueing for free medical consultation.

 

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We went back the hotel, took a bath, packed up and checked out of the hotel. The most exciting part begins as we now start to cross from the east side of Peninsular Malaysia to the west side through Gerik Highway. 10am, we left the hotel. As we drove towards Route 4, we turned into the nearest petrol station to fill up the tank to the brim so that no stopping till Penang our next destination. The drive on route 4 was filled with traffic. Very slow going, lots of trucks so lots of overtaking too. Moreover, it is a two way single lane road. So have to ensure that the other side clear then can overtake. As we got nearer to the northern tip, near the thai border, traffic was heavier. After passing the thai border, woohoo, the whole road to myself to chiong ah. But I maintained a reasonable speed of 90-100km/h on the twisty uphill mountain roads so as not make my passenger dizzy with motion sickness.

 

At 12noon, we reached our planned rest stop at Titiwangsa rest stop. The view from the rest stop was breathtaking. Very beautiful, looking towards Royal Belum forest reserve and Thailand. The air was very cooling, same feeling as Genting or Cameron Highlands. It was about 25 degreesC. Toilet was expensive at 30sen per entry. We had our lunch at the only restoran, I had nasi lemak ayam. Lots of ppl also stopped and rest at this rest stop, especially motorbikers.  After lunch, I went to launch my drone to have an aerial view of the rest stop. It was just mountain tops as far as the eye can see.

 

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https://youtu.be/JBDyf5ZjnJM

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Continued our journey towards Penang. The rest stop was the top of the mountain on Gerik Highway. The journey was downhill now. Switched to manual and using the paddles to shift gears. It was so fun. With only one coach to overtake and it was pure fun drive after that. My wife cant take it and closed her eyes to sleep. She said she very scared watching me drive and overtake vehicles on the twisty mountain road. It was simply pure fun for me and I now appreciated the paddle shifters on the steering wheel of my car. Both hands were fully on the steering wheel to steer the car. But as I reached further downhill, I caught up with long trails of cars. It was fun overtaking them, the power of a turbocharged engine is really a must have for such a drive. One by one, I overtook them.

 

https://youtu.be/DIsQRB0Gaz8

 

 

After another 2 hours of pure driving fun, we reached Butterworth ferry terminal. I decided to take the ferry to Penang as it was the shortest route and allowed us a toilet break without having to stop at a petrol station. When we entered the ferry, it was already half full and within 5 mins, it set sailed for Penang island. Enjoyed the sea breeze, walked around the ferry and took photos like my first time there.  Actually, took the ferry three time already.

 

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As soon as the ferry reached Penang island, about 15mins ferry ride, we made our way towards Batu Ferringhi where our resort was located. My brother highly recommended Golden Sands resort to us after his excellent experience there last year. The drive to Batu Ferringhi was filled with slow traffic but it allowed us to have a look at the familiar sights of Penang that we had visited before. After about 45mins drive, we arrived at Golden Sands Resort around 4.30pm. Very secured parking with lots of security guards patrolling the grounds. Check-in was a breeze and we were lucky that our room was in the center of the building and on the top floor, 7th level. We had a great view of the entire resort facilities and the sea. Just one word, WOW. Very nice sea view. There was a balcony attached to the room, can just sit there and watch the day go by.

 

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Lots of activities were going on in the resort and on the beach. In the resort, they have various swimming pools from baby pool up to 3m pool. They also have futsal field, indoor slides for kids, Segway for kids, table tennis tables and lots of reclining sun bathing chairs. On the beach, the various private operators provide para-sailing, jet skis, banana boat ride or even offshore fishing. Also lots of massage stalls along the beach. I had been to Penang 3 times and never been to Batu Ferringhi beach. It was an eye opener compared to other beaches I had been to in Malaysia. We wondered around the beach for a while.

 

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We then went on to walk the streets. The pasar malam stalls were just preparing to open at 6pm. We walked the whole stretch till Hard Rock Cafe and came upon a public access part of the beach. Sat on a bench and watched the locals enjoying the beach. Decided to go to the huge kopitiam that we had walked past for dinner, its called Long Beach Kopitiam. There was a huge variety of food to choose from but missing Penang laksa and cendol stalls. We settled for oyster omelette, char kuay tiao, octopus, bbq stingray, satay and roti prata. All tasted average, nothing really stands out. Then we shopped at the pasar malam before going back to the hotel to rest for the night. Very tired from all the driving from Kota Bahru to Penang, I’ve did it crossing from west to east of MY. Total of 6.5 hours of driving.

 

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24th Jul 2018

 

Woke up and had breakfast in the resort. There was a huge variety of food to choose from and a very large sitting area too. We chose to sit at the open air area. The staffs here were really friendly and ready to serve you. Every one of the staff will greet you and some will ask how was your stay. Feels really like a 5 star resort. There was so much food to try that my little tummy surrendered as I am not a morning person for food.

 

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After breakfast, we decided to walk around the resort and the beach. I decided to fly my drone and take an aerial view of the resort before those parasailing boats operate as I would pose a safety concern to them. Check out videos of my aerial shots.

 

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https://youtu.be/2XCblfmdxtI
https://youtu.be/cAws85mNs9w

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After that we retired back in our rooms. Just sitting at the balcony and watch the resort coming to life with the shouts and laughters of children running around and playing. The swimming pools were busy from morning till night. Still too full from breakfast, we decided to just have durians for lunch. Took the car and drove up to Teluk Bahang for hillside durians. The previous durian stall we patronised was not open so we just chose another one. I wanted to try red prawn variety of durian and was quoted RM15/kg. It was cheap compared to what my wife had in Balestier the week before, SGD10/kg. The seller recommended another variety to us, called “green skin”. Total RM45 for both durians, cheap in my opinion. The red prawn was sweet and very little bitter. It was also creamy and finger licking good. The “green skin” was a little bitter and creamy. Very full after finishing both durians. Then wife wanted mangosteen, so we crossed over to another stall to buy it as the stall we ate don’t have it. Tabao 1kg of mangosteen back to the resort to eat. Had to smuggle it in, although they don’t have the no mangosteen sign, only no durian sign. Don’t want to create unnecessary trouble. Wife finished all 1kg and said they we good. We stopped at the reservoir dam for a while, took some photos and drove back to the hotel.

 

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Weather was perfect after slight drizzle since noon. I persuaded my wife to go for parasailing. Let her choose either jet ski or parasailing. I said we came all the way here, must do something exciting if not wasted. So she took the parasailing challenge even thou she was afraid of heights. I have done parasailing twice in Pattaya and Bali so no problem for me. We changed to our swimming wear and headed out to the beach. The operator quoted us RM250 for tandem parasailing and RM100 for 20mins of jet ski. We took the parasailing and my wife was extremely nervous. As the boat brought us out to sea, I had to keep reassuring her that it was safe. We harnessed up and ready to go. The boat driver was kindly enough to provide us a transparent neck sling for our hp to take photos. I was hooked onto the rear of the parachute and wifey was in front of me. She should be happy that she had an unobstructed view in front of her. Instead my nightmare begins as the parachute took off. She was screaming at the top of her lungs that she don’t want to play liao. As there were lots of jet ski and other boats around, the boat will cut into the path of a wave created by them, thus a jerk/thug on the parachute line. She would scream even louder. Then she kept crying and crying. I had to console her and asked her to relax and lean back on me. She kept asking me to hold her with my legs and hands like teddy bear hug. Really waste money, so there were no photos taken as I was busy consoling her and told her to open her eyes to enjoy the view and sea breeze. She simply refused until we were reeled back onto the boat. What an experience for her but what a waste money trip for me. Ha ha ha.

 

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When we reached shore, she decided to go for a massage while I went for a swim at the pools. Went to get the pool towels, found a seat and use the towels to chope it. The 1.5m pool was filled with lots of ppl, cannot really do laps without someone in the way. So I went over to the 3m pool which was for adults only. This one, only one or two swimmers here. Great for me to do my laps, thou not as big the 1.5m pool. There was an angmo kid jumped into the 3m pool where I am and the lifeguard immediately blew his whistle and asked the kid out. The kid kept saying he knows how to swim. The lifeguard told him that he don’t care if he knows how to swim and point him to the sign indicating that the 3m pool was for adults only. Very good reaction from the lifeguards, there are at least five of them around all the pools at any one time.

 

After swimming, went back room, bath and got ready for dinner. We went back to Long Beach Kopitiam again for dinner. This time, we had bak kut teh, hotplate prawns, bbq chicken wings and ee fu noodles. This time, the ee fu noodles stands out. It was qq and chewy, wife say made from fish paste. Not the normal noodles. After dinner, we did some pasar malam shopping and then went to McD for cone ice cream before ending the night.

 

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25th Jul 2018

 

Breakfast again at the resort. Again, stuffed my tummy with food. The prata and fish curry was too good to resist having second helpings. Rested a while, I read the newspaper while wifey sip coffee. Then we went to play a few rounds of table tennis. She don’t know how to play so I taught her. At 9am, when the massage stall was open, wifey went for foot massage and was the first customer. I just sat around on the beach and enjoyed the breeze and people watch as they went for parasailing or jet skiing.

 

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After her massage, we went back to the room, packed up and checked out of the resort. Love this resort to bits. Will definitely return to this resort again and if you have kids, bring them here. They will surely love the place. The kids make the whole resort so lively. Although, can be noisy at times.

 

We drove to Georgetown and be a tourist. As we passed Gurney Drive, was surprised that they are reclaiming the sea front of Gurney Drive. They also fenced up all the way. No more seaside experience at Gurney Drive liao. Reaching the clan of jetties, there was a minor traffic jam due to lunch hour. Difficult to find parking but managed to get a parking spot next to Chew jetty.

 

Very surprised that Chew jetty was very commercialised. Lots of tourist walking around the jetty and the residential homes became shop fronts selling food and souvenirs. Bought some souvenirs and tried their homemade durian ice cream. Not bad, very tasty. The homes are just built on wooden poles and planks over the water. Nothing much to see as they do not allow you to enter their homes to see. Just look around and walk to the end and back. We moved on to the Lee jetty. No commercial activities at all, purely residential. Looks like the Chew’s are more enterprising. There was a guy sunbathing at the end of Lee jetty. Just took some photos and went to find lunch. We settled for wanton mee along the main road. It was tasty and the noodles were qq.

 

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Having been to Penang so many times, never once wanted to visit any of the wall murals. But this time, wifey asked to visit the wall murals in Georgetown. So we went and look for parking near these wall murals. All street parking were taken up so ended up with private parking lot for RM5. It was a very hot day. We found a few of the wall murals with google maps. Took photos and left. The most popular was the two little kids on a bicycle. After just 45mins of walking, wifey complained that she is melting due to the hot weather, thus go back to the car and drove to the hotel. The carpark guy was surprised that we were back so fast, easiest RM5 ever earned.

 

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As advised by bro @JohnSHL here in MCF, we booked Sunway hotel. The outlook of the hotel was not pleasing to the eye. But the location and room of the hotel was great!!! Secure multi-story parking also. There were lots of Singaporean and PRC at the lobby when we checked in. Quite a popular hotel I would say. The room was updated and modernised. Very clean and spacious. Windows on the outside was dirty thou.

 

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Rested a while in the hotel room, allow the sun to set then we went out for shopping at Komtar and 1st Avenue. Wondered around 1st Avenue mostly and bought a few stuff from a Korean theme shop, Yubiso. Went to Parkson and a backpack bag caught my eye while wifey went to ladies section and buy bra. She was able to clock points with her purchase and my purchase on her Parkson card. We then went for dinner along New Lane where Sunway Hotel was. Upon reaching, was surprised that the stalls were still closed so I asked the durian stall next door on the opening hours. He told me that they are closed every Wednesday. Aiya!!! No choice but to walk further up to a coffeeshop near Ban Heang main shop along Macallister Road. Lots of variety of food here, but still no Penang laksa or cendol. While a young couple at the next table were sharing a plate of chap chai png and a drink, the two of us were like hungry ghosts. Ordered char kuay tiao, oyster omelette, bbq stingray, pork skewers, popiah, chee chong fun and hokkien style noodles. All the food tasted much better than we had at Batu Ferringhi. The food that stands out the most was actually the chee chong fun. It was really smooth and not too thin like HK or too thick like SG. The accompanying sauces was the normal chilli, sweet soya sauce, rojak sauce and another one which I cant make out what it was. After dinner we went and have a look at Penang Times Square shopping mall which was next to Sunway hotel. Nothing much to see or shop and there were not much ppl there too. So we went to the Ban Heang outlet next to Sunway Hotel and bought all the goodies for giveaways.

 

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26th Jul 2018

 

Walked a short distance to a Dim Sum restoran for breakfast. It was crowded but still have seats. Took a few dishes, all not very nice. The chee chong fun lose to what we had last night. I only liked the egg tarts. But my wife was not impressed by any of them. Finished up and went back to the hotel to pack up and checked out.

 

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Left the hotel’s carpark at 10am. Very soon, we crossed the original Penang bridge. Traffic was a bit slow going on the bridge as they converted one lane to move at the opposite direction. Then connected to E1 of NSHW and going at highway speed. Traffic was slightly heavy, so mostly driving at the speed limit of 110km/h. Once clear of Taiping, there were lesser traffic and can really open up. I was following this Proton car in front all the way from Taiping towards Ipoh. He sped up, I sped up. He slowed down, I slowed down. He sort of clear the slow moving cars in front of me. Then when near Ipoh exit, he sped up to 190km/h. I also follow suit and was tailing him at 190km/h. He maxed out at 190km/h. Then he moved over to the left lane and allowed me to overtake him. I decided to show him the power of my car. Pedal to the metal!!! I overtook him and saw his door panel with the Polis logo!!! Oh sheet man!!! Looking at my speedometer, I was clocking 210km/h but my in-car camera gps indicated 205km/h. I slowed down, moved to the left lane. He overtook me on the right lane and I allowed him to zoom into the distance before picking up speed again. Was lucky that he never stopped me and I also checked Myeg, no summons issued. My bro told me that from the photo, this was a polis working car, not tp so he wont bother me one.

 

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Had a pee stop at Tapah rest stop. But both of us were still very full from breakfast so our lunch was sharing a cup of steamed kacang. Then we moved off. Nothing exciting to report, just normal drive on NSHW towards KL. Around 2pm, reached KL and exited the toll booths. Took me another 30mins to reach the hotel’s carpark due to traffic jams around the Bukit Bintang area as usual. Followed Waze who routed me to KLCC and then to Bukit Bintang.

 

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Staying at Ansa Hotel, my wife’s favourite hotel as they are next to the shopping belt. Upon reaching the hotel, we checked in and was told to wait 30mins as they were still cleaning the room. So immediately left our luggage with the concierge and went next door Fahrenheit  Uniqlo to shop. One hour later, back to hotel and brought our luggage up to the room. Left the luggage and Uniqlo shopping bags in the room and went out to Sungei Wang plaza to continue shopping. Wifey wana make new sun glasses so we chose one optical shop and went in. The guy at the shop was very knowledgeable and recommended clipped on sun glasses so that it served duo purpose. On hearing the price he quoted for me, RM360 all in including blue light reduction lens, I also made a pair. Too cheap to ignore. For the same price, I could only pay for the lens in SG. Here is frame and lens. But the frame is no brand one lah, looks good, light and sturdy to me so good enough. We then walked over to Jalan Alor and visited Wong Ah Wang for dinner. My usual go to place when I am there. Wife wana eat crab, so we had salted egg crabs, lala, chicken wing and vege. All was good, except the crabs. Tasted like dead for a while, not very fresh and smooth meat. So my wife asked the waitress and she said all their crabs arrived same day only. Still edible so just finished it. We went on to Pavilion to shop and went to the basement Food republic for dessert, cendol. Not bad, gula melaka and coconut milk were thick and generous. Lots of ppl ordered the same too. The angmo lady in front of me told the guy to replace the red bean topping to the red jelly topping, very interesting mix.

 

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27th Jul 2018

 

Breakfast at Ah Hei BKT which I found during my last trip to KL. It was crowded but still have seats available. Food was as good as my previous visit, same good standard of herbal BKT. Love the soup, jin ho lim. Then its back to hotel to relax as no shops were open yet. At noon, no lunch as still full from BKT, wifey went to do her hair at Sungei Wang plaza while I went over to Low Yat Plaza to walk walk. The first three levels were selling hp and next three levels, PC stuff. Prices were similar to SG as I enquire on used ipad mini 4 and SSD portable HDD. So never buy anything. Then went back to Sungei Wang plaza and shop at my favourite shop, Mr DIY. After 1 hour in the shop, my wife came to find me. We continued shopping at Daiso and another round of grocery shopping at Giant in the basement. Collected our glasses and went back to hotel to deposit our shopping bags.

 

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We walked the streets of Bukit Bintang, the shophouses and back to Wong Ah Wang for dinner as my wife wana eat fish. Ordered one steamed grouper, chicken wings, satay, vege and rojak. Food was good, no disappointment this time. As we ate, two big groups of Taiwanese tourists arrived. They occupied 6 big tables and celebrated someone’s birthday with a cake. We asked the malaysian tour guide to sit with us as we saw her had to stand to attend to the needs of her tour group. So we made small talk with her. She was surprised we drove around Malaysia and came down from Penang. After dinner, back to Pavilion for shopping, wifey bought new handbag and bra at Parkson Elite while I sit around and looked at ladies looking at bra. Don’t know if they feel creepy that a guy looking at them shopping for bra. After clocking more points on her Parkson card, we went back to Uniqlo for another round of shopping. Ended the night with a blue berry Haagen Daz ice cream cone each.

 

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28th Jul 2018

 

Went to the cafe at the hotel lobby to have breakfast at 8am. The worker said that their cafe was not opened yet, asked us to wait for 30mins. So wifey went to tabao from starbucks while I went to the streets to tabao street food, cheap cheap RM5 for mine. Another RM1 for two sardine puff. Very yummy but forgot to take photo. When we went back to buy, out of stock liao!!!

 

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9.30am checked out of the hotel and went to the nearby car wash to have my car washed. It was so dirty from all the driving. Cost me RM15 for washing and vacuuming. 10am, we hit the highway via SMART tunnel. Traffic was heavy, knn couldn’t even hit 100km/h on the E2 NSHW towards SG. 12noon, reached Pagoh rest stop and we decided to eat at Ramly Burger. The burger patty was tasty but not as tasty as I remembered having it at pasar malams previously. Tabao a packet of the frozen patties to try at home. 2pm, reach MY custom at 2nd link. Topped up to full tank at Shell. MY custom and immigration was clear. But there was a queue at SG end. Followed two MY cars and took the extreme right lane which was opened from the opposite lane(road towards MY). It leads to only one counter but was faster as there were lesser cars using this lane. The custom officer saw my boot, asked me to close, too full to check. He went to the back seat and checked on my grocery bag and was satisfied that I had nothing to declare. 2.30pm and its home sweet home.

 

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At last completed 8 days 7 nights road trip around Malaysia. What a drive!!! Total mileage, clocking about 2,000km. Good to explore new places and visit some familiar places. Until the next long road trip, thanks for reading my long posts. [:p]

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Buy some batik while you're there.

 

Keropok lekor best eat those freshly fried ones.

 

Edit: posted before your titiwangsa post. So you've already crossed to west coast then cannot liao.

 

I am already back in SG. Anyway, I am not into batik, so is my wife.

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one day I am going to do a long way durian makan trip. Drive from SG to penang, along the way go visit durian farms for lunch and dinner.  [:p]  [laugh]  [laugh]

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