weekend trip -
kuala lumpur

over the weekend (13 & 14 jan) drove up to kl on saturday and returned to singapore on sunday. ostensibly, it was to do some shopping in kl but i think ivy had another objective - to give her friend ian ,who was in kl, a lift back to s'pore.

we set off at 7.30 a.m. stopped at machap for breakfast. it rained all the way, up to melaka. the highway was not affected by the floodwater but the low-lying areas on both sides of the highway in johor were under water. kl was dry throughout; not a drop of rain fell during our two days there.

we made our 'compulsory' stop at pagoh, a place where we always stopped when we drove upcountry ever since the north-south highway was opened. pagoh was the southern most toll plaza when the highway was first ready. after that, came yong peng, before the whole length of the north south highway was fully open.

i had booked online the federal hotel. all those silly talks about the place being haunted did not affect my choice. paid rm$240 for the deluxe room. we added another bed, paying rm$80 for it. i had indicated that we would arrive at 3.00 p.m which was the check-in time. however, we arrived earlier than expected. we reached there at 12.30 p.m. after leaving our bags with the hotel people, we walked to lot10 for lunch.

did some shopping at lot10 and sungei wang before returning to the hotel to get the key to our room. had to wait another forty minutes before we could enjoy the comfort of our room. took a cab to mid valley. metered fare there was rm$6.40. return fare was rm$8.10. had dinner of bbq stingray, oyster omelette and dried chilli chicken at jalan aloy. bought cakes from secret recipe for supper.

on sunday morning, i got up at 6.40 a.m. and walked to puduraya, the bus interchange, to have breakfast. i was to walk there again later with ida. after her breakfast, we walked on to petaling street, china town. ivy went to attend a church service at petaling jaya (pj) with her melbourne friends.

there was the usual jam at the causeway. had a battle of nerves with the driver of a mercedes benz. he was trying his utmost to squeeze me out of my place. i refused to budge; in the end, he had to concede and allow me have my rightful place in the queue.