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berlin-bound · 8 years

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kuala lumpur

30 jul - 1 aug 2016

So this weekend Kwan and I decided to take a trip to KL to meet Elena, who is in Kuala Lumpur for an internship!!!

Elena is a friend I made in Freie University Berlin; she is a part American, part Italian law student studying at Bocconi University in Milan, and is also a full on amazing person. When she said she was coming to South East Asia, I thought first “I can’t believe she’s actually coming”, followed very quickly by “This [i.e. up and going to an entirely foreign continent for a year or so] is so Elena!”

This was also the first trip that Kwan and I have taken together, and it’s been so amazing. I can’t wait for more with this boy. :)

Kwan and I went for yoga the night before at Yoga Lab, and it was such an intense class with Erica Tenggara. Headed back to his place before going to mine, to pick up my passport and pack. At around 1am, we set our alarms for 5.30am to catch our 7am bus from Golden Mile Complex and promptly fell asleep.

I am woken up by Kwan stirring next to me, bolting upright, and going “Babe isn’t it a bit bright for 5.30am???”

(Beat)

It is 7.15am. “Did our alarms ring???”

We check our phones. My alarm is set for 5.20am and 5.30am.

At the exact same time, Kwan and I shout “fuck it was set to weekday”.

So skip forward past the flurry of activity trying to get a flight/subsequent coach into KL. We end up getting the 930am bus (or 10am, I don’t even remember).

In a good turn of events following our first missed coach hahaha we got a car meant for UberExec to which ferried us to our drop off point for S$11. Hehehe. It was a nice ride, friendly driver, things were looking up!

(photo jewed from google)

Had breakfast at Middle Road Pork Ribs Prawn Mee near the bus set off point - my first legit proper Singaporean breakfast with Kwan hahaha. Even though I don’t particularly like the taste of liver, this was very yummy! Plus plus points, will probably come back for breakfast sometime.

Our coach set off around 9.35am (?) and we only reached the drop off point past Berjaya Times Square around 5.30pm. Long ass ride, but Kwan was legit the best companion I could ask for :) Sweet, funny, entertaining, sleepy, good-to-sleep-on... Keeping this boy thanks.

Played lots of Heads Up! on the way in and lol I’m not very good at this. Listened to some podcasts (Risk!) on the way in and they were very intriguing, heartwarming stories.

We got a cab into our serviced apartment (The Regalia) from Furama Hotel. Don’t take a cab from hotels because they rip you off with the no meter, fixed price bs. We paid 25RM for our 10-15minute cab ride in the public taxi, which isn’t much (about S$8) and thought it was cheap - until we figured out the pricings with GrabTaxi in Malaysia. Grab always says it’s high demand, and our 10-20 minute “high demand” rides would cost up to 8-10RM. EIGHT. RM. That is S$3. Not even the basic starting metre in Singapore.

Naturally, we Grabbed everywhere we went.

This was our apartment from the ground floor. It had a swimming pool on the 5th floor, and one more on the 37th (which is so gorgeous I could die; pics later). You would have to drive up a ramp to the apartment itself, so it seemed like you were riding into land that was made specially for the apartment. Pretty badass.

32nd floor studio apartment sort, with the floor to ceiling glass windows, if you like that sort of thing ;)

So we settle in a bit, shower, and text Elena to meet us at our place around 7.30pm so we can head out for dinner.

I hadn’t met Elena in about 2 years (gosh it’s been so long since Berlin) and I was so damn excited to catch up with her!!! BIG HUGS AND LOVE FROM SINGAPORE I’M SO GLAD YOU ARE HERE AND HAVING FUN <3

Kwan is also a champ and completely at ease with meeting a new person at random, without being a whiny little bitch about it or expecting to be rewarded for being a normal human being (lol yes) - something I absolutely love about this boy.

So much has changed in the last two years; Elena and I have both graduated, dealt with our respective pychos, and ended up meeting in KL. We reminisced about Berlin and caught up with each other’s lives and again I feel so lucky to have had my overseas experience, just for little moments like these :) Thankful for friends we make from the different phases and places in life. The freelance lawyer from Italy and the dying trainee- can’t wait til we both make it and maybe fly to a different continent to visit :P

Anyhow, after about 2 hours of updating myself on Elena’s life from the other side of the world, we Grab to Petaling Street to have the first of a few yummy meals.

Pictured above is the famous Kim Lian Kee @ Jalan Petaling. We decided to sit inside where it was airconditioned and less dirty (call me Singaporean).

Elena let me pick, probably from the running joke since Berlin that all I do is think about, talk about, and eat food. At least with me you’ll never want for good food :P

We had their amazing Hokkien Mee, Sambal Potato Leaves, Fried Butter Chicken, 2 bottles of tiger and an orange juice, and their Claypot Loh Shu Fun (loosely translating to Rat Noodles- but only because of the way the white noodles are cut such that they look like rat tails; we’re asian, not (fully) insane).

The lard in the hokkien mee was to. die. for. I was this close to licking the plate. Thought the better of it, but probably going to have greasy dreams about this hokkien mee for some time. Elena really liked it too, and thankfully, because she hasn’t really adapted to the spice of asian cuisine yet.

The total bill came up to 100RM, which is about S$33. It was only this expensive because of the 2 bottles of tiger, which itself I think amounted to about 40RM? For the price, definitely willing to come back over and over.

Kim Lian Kee is at 49 Jalan Petaling, near the cross junction in the middle of Chinatown.

Would have loved to stay out a bit longer but Elena was still nursing a sort of flu, and I was down with some sort of allergy? Still not entirely sure what it was, but my eyes were really red and irritated, and my nose was sniffly. Kwan thinks it’s hay fever; it’s probably that and the dust and grime of downtown KL. Which explains the above picture where my eyes were so ridiculously watery and red that I guess walruses are a better alternative?

Got home and crashed, and we intended to wake up at 8am, but I didn’t really have a very good sleep ‘cuz of my nose keeping me up. Think I also kept Kwan up a bit, so we ended up waking up at 945am when Elena texted. We got ready and met up with Elena at 1115am to head to Yut Kee for brunch. When we got downstairs, Elena was eating her white almond magnum (which costs slightly less than S$2???!?!?) in a blasphemous show of ruining the sacred ritual that is mealtime.

Yut Kee was crowded as all hell. (Random people featuring the top of Elena’s head)

I kid you not when I say there were probably about 60 people queuing outside the entrance waiting for their names to be called. We gave our names to a nice friendly lady and were told it’d take about 30 minutes. By this time my nose was going crazy so took a walk thinking maybe we’d go somewhere less hot for coffee and serendipitously chance upon a quaint part of KL which is so hipster it has its own website (I googled to check what it was called): The Row @ Jalan Doraisamay

It seemed like a far better idea than to head into yet another mall, so we stop by a French bistro called Two Ox (OX82? oops) to have coffee. My eyes had swollen to the size of saucers due to the allergies so I was grateful for any place which was not so dusty that my insides feel like relics at a museum (which, uh, for some reason are unattended to? idk man i’m tired gimme a break). Thankfully the antihistamines that Elena gave me started to work, together with the clean airconditioning, such that by the time we left, my eyes were no longer as irritable and had gone down considerably in size (from ET to giraffe, maybe)

Picture of the KL squad 8) Haha okay some expensive coffee later we headed back to Yut Kee and felt like superstars being immediately ushered in (read: commanded to a corner of a table at the back) because we looked guilty when the lady told us we missed our name being called.

Tried to order half the menu but settled for the hainanese chicken chop, pork chop, and roti babi. I tried to get the roast pork special but it was around 1pm by this time and the roast pork had already sold out, although I saw one plate being kept away (LIARS!!!). We ordered the marble cake too but didn’t realise cakes were self-service until the slices had all been sold out.

The chicken chop was really good (best of the lot), but mushy sticky foods are I suppose a hit or miss with people. All 3 of us enjoyed it very much though. Meat was succulent, not tough in the least bit, and went swimmingly well with the gravy overdose. So good with the worcestershire sauce.

This is the roast pork we missed (picture above and below jewed off the internet). If you want the roast pork, be sure to reach there just when they start selling it around 11am. The roast pork is only available from Friday to Sunday from 11am to around 1pm.

Yut Kee Restaurant: Jalan Kamunting, Off Jalan Dang Wangi. Closed on Mondays.

We headed to Central Market after that just to walk around a bit, look at things, enquire (on Kwan’s part) about edible sea cucumber soap (what am I dating) and the like. I bought a super colourful owl phone cover for 25RM which is my new favourite thing - it makes my phone look so sleek compared to my old bulky cover too. Yay.

Kwan made a friend. And I bought a second hand ed of Gone Girl for about S$3.

Kwan of his own volition bought himself and his roommates robes - as a joke I think but honestly I can see at least Renato jiving in it. So they’re gonna have to host a party soon (esp if and when Elena comes to visit in August) and wear those robes. Really looking forward to this.

I really am very excited about this. Here is a teaser of Kwan in the auntie-esque robe. Next up, 4 boys sat holding hands in a circle wearing tie-dyed dresses singing Kumbaya. O pls lord let it happen.

We took a cab to Sungei Wang plaza where I tried to look for my M.A.C eyebrow pencil only to find that there is no M.A.C counter there (boo, hiss, scratch!). We did come across come competition for a korean agricultural thing, which they repackaged into “Korea Week”. The highlight was a trio of, I believe, gay Malay men, who called themselves “O.M.G” moving their hips to a korean song. Am extremely annoyed at tumblr that’s not allowing me to post this video......

I don’t think Kwan has been more proud of his country. Then again this could be wilful blindness at its best.

Since we couldn’t find the M.A.C, we decided to get Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tarts instead. Yum! Milky, good cold or heated up. Can’t wait ‘til Japan to have the BAKE cheese tarts mmMMMmMMMmm.

Ammnammnammm. We got a box of 6 for RM29.

Friends with the crazy eyes.

Had to have herbal bak kut teh while in KL so we walked about 15 minutes down from Sungei Wang Plaza to have second lunch.. Bak Kut Teh!

Walked past this amazing street art and had to snap a photo of it. Talent everywhere \m/

Walked past Restaurant Oversea and seriously contemplated stopping in to have the Char Siew and Siew Yok... Maybe the next time i’m in KL...

We got the original Klang style BKT with vegetables; pretty pricy at 30RM for a 2 person share, but it was really good and herby. You can really taste the spice and it definitely warmed my expanding belly. They were out of youtiao when we got there D: Would go back again tho for sure.

Sun Fong Bak Kut Teh, 37, Medan Imbi, Pudu, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

It started raining quite heavily literally the moment we got into our Grab so that was another lucky miss! Hehe.

Headed back to our crib because we wanted to make use of the amazing pool we had above. The pictures to follow will cause severe travel bug and photo op jealousy, quit now if u a little bitch.

(jk)

Of course, I had to #stopdropyoga #yogaeveryday #yogisoverseas #yogaeverywhere! I’m sure you’ve heard the age old question: if you go somewhere gorgeous and don’t take a yoga photo did you even go?? or something about trees falling and not making sounds. I don’t know.

Lol ft. my weird pinky toe wtf sticking out like Princess Diana having her afternoon tea.

Thank you random French boy for photobombing my shot tsk hahaha.

Just Elena being a model and stuff ;)

MY COUNTRY MY RULES. (Pictures inspired by the one and only Kwan; original shot below)

My boyfriend looking pretty decent in this photo, but the next shot on my camera is of him falling sideways- look, i dont even know ok.

Surveying his kingdom

The original Jesus shot. I really love this hahaha.

.... but why?

Bae :D

Hahhhaha “Asian boy meets Western woman for the first time.jpeg” (I actually really, really love this photo guys)

One of my faves from the day. :) This is literally all we do when there is a pool hahaha.

Pictures of me feeding my ego

And naturally...

Keepin it real.

Totoro <3

(Once almost-) Berliners! ;)

Got back, showered, too lazy to leave the house (man, I really wanted to try the Kin Kin Chilli Pan Mee, and have Claypot rice) and we tried to FoodPanda Nandos, but couldn’t get them to deliver.

So we went down to the mini-mart and got...

Heh. Made curry chicken, grilled cheese sandwiches, and mushroom soup, with a bit of red wine for dinner. The red wine was surprisingly decent (we were very wary at the start because ?? product of france made in malaysia but what?) - it was RM30 so definitely no complaints.

Elena had to leave after, and it was such an amazing time I didn’t want her to leave! Can’t wait til she visits Singapore soon x

Kwan and I watched Now You See Me before turning in and it was quite a good movie. Might catch Now You See Me 2 (and pray sequels aren’t always bad) - cmon be the LOTR of the magic movie scene!

Headed back up to the pool in the morning to take some last minute shots before heading back for our flight back in the morning. Thanks Kwan for being so patient and taking so many photos for me hehe.

Had the best weekend and the best start to my Call Break. Can’t wait for the next trip! Seoul, Busan and Tokyo, I’m headed your way!!!

x, Jolene

#kualalumpur #travel #southeastasia

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