I was hungry for tim sum and decides to go the Johore to satisfy my craving. My wife decided join. Hence we have to go to Midvalley Mall as she needs aircond. Meng Meng has good charsiew and dim sum as well. So I decided to try the food there. However, the dim sum is a huge disappointment. Plus the price is high. To scratch my itch, I have to go to Nam Heong. The egg tarts and beancurd are pretty good.
This is one of rare time I drove over. The drive is pretty good today. Half an hour each way.
This morning, I went to Johore at 6:30am. It is quite early and so I was hoping for smooth ride. But morning is peak hour for Malaysia workers returning home from night shift. Plenty of blue buses clogged up the bus terminal. So it actually took 2 hours instead of 1 and half hours off peak. However, I also got lucky. I managed to board T30 right away and save at least 15mins to half hour. There were traffic jams along the way. So the journey took slightly over an hour.
Today, I tried Hakka Yong Fu which was pretty good. So I buy back home. Cost RM20. Pretty good value. Unfortunately, my boys don't seems to like them. So I will not be buying back home again.
Also walk from Aeon Kulai to Commune Mall. It is nice and new but has limited shops. Only a Thai supermarket and a Kopitiam. I am happy to buy back yutiao at RM1.30 each. Basically about one third the cost in Singapore.
After my meal, I bought fruit fertilizers and burnt rice husks for my garden and took a bus to Paradigm Mall to buy grocery. I bought sliced beef and pineapple chicken. The meat are fresh and far better value than Singapore. At 2:30am, I left Paradigm Mall. I reached home at 4:30pm.
My trips to JB are by public transport. Today, my wife picked me up from Yio Chu Kang station.
It is so near yet so far. I have been reading and reviewing video on Kee Chup Chicken Rice. After looking at the map, I discovered it is very near the City Square Mall. So I checked it out yesterday. I discovered it is walkable. I shopped in Larkin for eggs, uncooked emping, and gula melaka. I am happy to try it out. It is quite nice. The chicken is tasty and soft even though it was deep fried for a long time. The rice is broken rice and tasted like mild version of hainanese chicken rice.
A picture worth a thousand words..
On Wednesday, 8 May, I took my wife to Baliban Braised Duck. She thought the food was good. I am happy. After lunch, I took her to Aeon Bukit Indah. But she is not happy as the shopping was not good. She also found the Aeon supermarket price was too high. Hence my happy trip with her evaporated! We took the bus from Bukit Indah to JB Sentral. She asked how long it will take. I told her about 15 minutes. How wrong I was. Frankly, I don't really time the trip back; if I did, I did not bother remembering. She timed and said it took 45 minutes. Hence, she said I lied and cheated her. She was not happy. My enjoyable trip to JB was marred by her disappointment. I will need to go there by myself. It is hard to meet her expectations. She wants comfort, aircon and good shopping. Whereas, I just want cheap good food and exploring new places and food joints. Hence the disconnect.
It was a dream of mine to travel the world backpacking. I have always wanted to be a "wanderer" or "liu lang han" in the Chinese Wuxia Novel. Travel cheaply and have adventures.
On 29 April 2025, I took my backpack and a bus to Johore Larkin Sentral. The
n I purchased a ticket to Terminal Bersepadu Selatan or the Bus Interchange in Kuala Lumpur. Cost RM35 plus RM1 for printing the boarding pass. At current exchange rate of 3.3, just over Singapore $10. The journey took about 5 hours. Reaching TBS, I asked the counters how to go to KL Sentral. The counter staff recommend KL Kommuter. So I went to buy the ticket from TBS to KL Sentral. Cost only RM2.40.
I ask where to go. The train comes in about 30 minutes. The journey was short and pleasant. KL Sentral is pretty amazing! Coming to Malaysia so many times in the past, this is my first time to KL Sental. It is massive! Although nothing compared to China's hub, it has MRT, LRT, intercity train and monorail. I usually stayed in Midvalley, 1Utama, Sunway and the Curve. Now that I experienced KL Sentral, I loved it!
The mix of old and new. NU Sentral is spanking modern mall. There are plenty of street side stalls. The food is amazing! I tried fried kway teow and it brings back memories of growing up. The taste is so nostalgic!
The next morning, I tried the wanton mee. It is a makeshift stall behind a temple. The wanton soup was same taste as wanton soup in 1960s.
It is spring holidays. B3 wanted to go somewhere. He found a deal with T'Way for $260 to Incheon return. We also rented a car and drove to Sokcho. The Sakura was not blooming yet. But the Seoraksan National Park is pretty amazing.
I went to Larkin to buy eggs. I love Malaysian eggs as they are cheaper and nicer. For the first time, I experienced the hustle and bustle of Hari Raya. Below are some short videos I took.
