KL 3 Day Trip - A Visualisation - Day 1 (evening)

Boy oh boy.

Ok, so here I am. Midnight. Pissed. Probably the best placed to do this post, given it was going to be about drinking!

If you have any idea how hard it was to get that first sentence done then you know where I'm at.

Addendum. Ok, actually the main post. I did well to get a coherent sentence out the other night. But wisely I left it at that. Funnily enough I was doing a bit of KL reminiscing at the time too; with my old workmates and drinking partners: Dean, Russ and JR.

So back to business. And apologies to anyone who has found these posts thinking they might get some tourist insights into what to do in KL - believe me what I am proposing would be fun, but it is very personal in nature, and not written from the point of view of a visitor looking for a fun-filled first trip to KL. Anyhow, that said, onto my musings...

I figure there are two nights out to be had on the three day trip as the last one would best be a quiet one, given a likely early morning flight the next day. I am trying not to be too cliched in my approach, but frankly there is only one place that is a standout must visit for an evening out to me, especially within a restricted timeframe. That place is Changkat Bukit Bintang!

I posted about Changkat as we call it during my series of KL Bucket List items last year. I reckon if I were to go this time I'd probably start much the same way - find someone that's open early to chill, muck around on my phone, people watch and have a bite to eat with a few beers while figuring out my next move. One place I tried a couple of times and enjoyed as a one off place was Black Forest.

They have a nice porky snack menu, good beer selection, and a nice spot on the strip to people watch. I sometimes came to town early when meeting friends to avoid the traffic jam, and spent the hour or so here, or a similar place, chilling out and getting in the swing of things.

We had a few staples in Changkat, one of which has improved markedly in recent years since the old grumpy alcoholic owner buggered off, and that is Green Man.

Green Man is fabulous if you are a cricket fan, as it is one of the few places that will show it all day. Given that they open for breakfast, as an Aussie in KL it was simply wonderful to come down on a morning off, settle in for the first session of a test, and enjoy the day. As a drinking bar it is probably not one of the best, but for sports, decent snacks, and daytime boozing, you can't really go wrong.

My next option is actually next door to it and also shown in the photo above, and that is Healy Macs. This place is commonly regarded as the best pub in KL, and it has good reason to deserve this accolade. It is not cheap, but the variety of televised sport, the live music, the food and the drinks are just superb, as are the staff.

This dish is one of their signatures, the pork knuckle. We are talking superb here, and definitely a two person order!

So there are a few other places on the strip, some of which are worth a shot once in a while, and others - such as Front Page, while enjoyable, are suffering from lack of maintenance and cleanliness and have lost their lustre. My mate JR used to favour Locos because of its price, and while not bad, I have to say it wasn't my choice. He also loved the Whisky Bar, which is high end, but not the sort of comfortable place for chilling and sport watching that I tend towards.

I couldn't finish this without an honourable mention to Gypsy. This place was my first intoduction to CBB, back in 2009 when I started coming here both with friends and on my own. It was at Gypsy that I met JR the very first night he came to KL prior to starting at Penjom. It has reinvented itself over the years and it looking a lot nicer than it used to. But it still had the same core, and is still a fun place for late night drinks, or perhaps even to hook up, as I did on a couple of occasions back in those days.

So a night out for me in Changkat now would likely be a combination of all these places, for a bit of a trip down memory lane, perhaps the chance to spot a familiar face, watch a bit of sport, enjoy a bite to eat, and consume some icy Tigers while watching the world go by!

To finish off, I don't suggest hailing a cab in the street, as these are often the guys who will rip you off, not use the meter, and not be very helpful. I use either the grabcab app, which is superb, or walk up the hill at the non-Bukit Bintang end of the street, and hail a cab there.

I've had some wonderful nights on this street, and love the idea of going back for another go at some point!

Anniversary

Haha, I am not sure what prompted me, but this morning I decided to flick through my old Avocet files and found my 2010 timesheet.

It isn't a typo - Mac is actually March in Malay. As you can see, I had two five day breaks. Not entirely sure why, but that's irrelevant. What matters is that the Thursday night of my first break marked one of the most key events in my life.

That was the night I first met my wife.

I am not a believer in fate, but it is interesting how we met. We were both looking for a relationship, but let's just say, not love. However, as much as I don't like to espouse sentimental gibberish, life-changing love is exactly what we found.

We met online, with my wife responding to an ad I had placed. A few emails, texts and false starts later, we arranged to meet at Uncle Chili's bar/restaurant at the PJ Hilton in KL.

It was the first time I had been to the place, and it soon became a common port of call for us. It was either here or the Westin for many of our weekends in KL. It was an older hotel, but that generally means bigger rooms than is the norm these days, and the breakfast buffet was pretty darn good (the lunch one was just spectacular - we had Lala's 100 day feast here!).

I was flicking through photos online and found one that shows exactly where we were sitting.

It was the small round table with stools on the very left-hand side of the pic, half-way up. That's where I was sitting when my baby strolled into my life, wearing a beautiful flowing full-length dress and that amazing smile.

So 7 years ago yesterday. Incredible! I still remember having a little kiss in the carpark when we called it a night, and hanging out for our next date, which was to a halal cafe where musicians got up and played their own stuff. Very cool.

Anyway, more on that and subsequent events in another post!

Weight Loss

Wow, I have just been doing a bit of a project of mine, and going through our photos, arranging them, getting rid of many duplicate copies, etc. And looking at myself in 2012, boy oh boy. I have lost a LOT of weight since then! I knew I had slimmed down some, but seriously, I have lost a lot of weight! HAPPY ABOUT THAT!

Will get onto the evening version of KL A Visualisation Day 1 soon....

KL 3 Day Trip - A Visualisation! - Day 1 (daytime)

I have been thinking about travelling recently - quite whimsically, as I can't see us affording an overseas trip anytime soon, but hey that's just life - for now.

So of course, with KL being my most recent port of call (and abode) and with some of my friends now departing KL for new jobs, a trip back there has been on my mind. I wondered what I would do if I had three days there, and thought it would make an interesting post. Both for reasons of nostalgia, and of interest, to see what would push further up the priority list compared to other things.

I thought this might be the subject of an interesting series of posts - I am thinking Singapore, Hong Kong, London, to name a few. Plus perhaps cities I have either never visited, or have not been to in ages. It would take some research, travel planning, and frankly a whole lot of fun thinking about travelling! So here goes with the first one - 3 days in Kuala Lumpur!

Day 1

I've been wondering how to approach these posts from the point of view of whether or not I would be travelling solo. These days travel is done as a family unless it is for work, and frankly I can't see too many work trips to exotic overseas destinations in my near future! However, for this post, there is some small chance that my previous employer would gain enough traction with their current due diligence interest to get some funds, pay me what they owe me, and perhaps need me to finalise any queries regarding the mine or the deposit. Still, I think I am going to write all these posts as if they are family trips, with perhaps some leeway for adult excursions after hours. They are all going on purely in my head after all!

So where would we undoubtedly stay in KL would be at our old haunt, The Westin, in Bukit Bintang. As I wrote in a previous post, my wife and I (and me on my own during my single days of 09/10) stayed here probably twice per month, racking up over 100 nights over a two year period.

We would probably arrive late evening and head to the hotel. We generally don't favour overnight flights these days, as they can be a nightmare with kids, but again for the sake of the post, I'll stick with that as a plan, so the trip can be planned around three full days in KL.

We're all early risers, so I reckon we'd start the day probably heading down to the breakfast buffet at Westin. I know my wife would likely be clamouring for mamak food (street hawker stalls) but I have a plan for that for later, and Westin has a wonderful buffet, which suits every palate.

The photo doesn't really do it justice, but gives an idea of the array of food - there would be easily a dozen different areas like this with various Asian options, Western staples, a bakery, fruits, you name it. Yum! I used to love it! Expensive, but not if included with your room, as is frequently the case in Asian hotels.

So that probably takes us to say 8am on Day 1. After breakfast I reckon we would wander across the road to Pavilion, my favourite mall in KL, grab a copy of Timeout magazine to peruse the latest places to eat, drink, shop and party, and perhaps a coffee at The Pressroom, which is in the open arcade area on the ground floor. Pricey, but superb, and a wonderful spot to sit and watch the world go by. When meeting friends at nearby La Boca or Malones for a drink, I would often arrive early, simply to enjoy a coffee and relax here. Great Spot!

From then (kids and wife willing!) it would be the start of our first little adventure. I used to love walking around KL (see many of my older blog posts), and I fancy the idea of walking from Pavilion, down Jalan Bukit Bintang, across Jalan Tun Razak, and up Jalan Ampang Hilir. This is our old stomping ground: firstly in Ampang itself, where I used to live in the old days during my initial year in KL in 08/09, and then at the start of our second stint in 13/14 at Mutiara Upper East condo in Desa Pandan, just a few minutes of Ampang Hilir. The walk would likely involve a refreshment stop at Great Eastern Mall, which is frankly a fairly average mall, but was very convenient for us when we lived in the area, and did have some good food (the beef noodle soup in the Japanese restaurant upstairs is a must try!).

The real goal though, is the hawker centre at the end of Ampang Hilir. It is here where the best pork noodle soup we ever found in KL was located. When we were in Desa Pandan we used to go there at least twice per week, sometimes more often! The photo below shows the outside of the food court. The stall we visited is visible in the pic, but hard to make out. I hope she is still there, as it would be marvelous to go check it out again one day. The food court was pretty good overall too, with a great bakery, good chee cheong fan, excellent pork ball noodle, and top notch Cantonese BBQ.

This would probably see us through until about 1pm I reckon. By now no doubt everyone would have had a gutful of walking, so I reckon we'd adjourn next door to the hawker centre to the Brussels Beer Cafe for a couple of cool drinks. When I looked on Google Maps, the picture of this area was taken basically when we lived there in 2013, so I have no idea if it is still there - check that, I just googled them and yes they are! I have some fond memories of that place. One in particular is going there for a couple the night my son Daniel was born. It's across the road from old Ampang Grocers, a staple of shopping for expats from the days before the western supermarkets came into being. It's still a decent place to shop even now.

So assuming we're looking at 2pm-ish, it'd be a blue cab ride back to the Westin for a rest. From there, I reckon I'd leave the clan to chill at the hotel, and wander down to Cathy's (again from a previous post) to catch up with Michael and have a few icy-cold and very well-priced Tigers. Then it'd be a quick wander through the elevated, enclosed walkway (a brilliant feature in KL, linking Bukit Bintang and KLCC, enclosed and partly air-conditioned, and a wonderful way to traverse the area), back to the hotel to decide on how to spend the evening!