Recently, there has been news that this famous restaurant called Oriental Kopi is going to open its first branch in Singapore later this year. Many social media reported the news and it seemed like many people welcomed it too.
Tried it at KLIA2
I tried it once when I went back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia early this year. It has a branch at KLIA2. I went for breakfast on that day. There was no queue in front of me but the restaurant was occupied. I waited a while before the waitress greeted me and I got seated near the cashier counter.
I looked at the menu and looked at what other people were eating at that time. I placed my order for a cup of hot drink and a plate of dry mee siam. Check out the pictures below that I posted on my Instagram.
It is famous in Malaysia, and I would like to try them again. The picture on the menu showed black coffee with a piece of butter. However, when the waitress served my drink, it was a white coffee or coffee with milk. I felt odd but I did not request for a verification or ask for a change. I quickly placed the butter into the coffee, it melted and stirred well before started drinking.
It would be better to have it with black coffee without sugar to maximise the butter taste, or at least that is the original taste to enjoy kopi butter. Let me know if you have a better way to enjoy kopi butter.
Dry mee siam
One portion of mee siam which I think was reasonable. It was flavourful and not very spicy. The ingredients for the mee siam included some fried tofu puff, half of a hard-boiled egg, two pieces of cucumber, half of the fish cakes and sambal. The sambal was quite spicy so I did not mix it with my noodles.
Overall, I do not think it is worth ordering the dry mee siam. The ingredients were too little in my opinion. At one point, I felt so pathetic looking at the fish cake.
Maybe for other dishes, they might be tasty, generous portions and worth eating them. If you want to share, please let me know in the comment box below.
Go somewhere else for mee siam
If you are really keen to have mee siam, go to the local Malay food stall be it on the roadsides or at the hawker centres, they serve better dry mee siam with plenty of dishes (lauk) that you want to add on. These dishes are the dishes that they cook for nasi lemak. So, if I ordered the same or close to what I had that day from these Malay food stalls, I believe it cost less than what I paid here. Of course, I had to pay for the ambience, services, etc when I ate at the restaurant.
Address: ORIENTAL KOPI @ KLIA2 Arrival, L3 41-46, LEVEL 3, TERMINAL KLIA 2, Kuala Lumpur Int’l Airport, KLIA2 Arrival Lane, 64000 Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. Google rating: 4.1 stars (IMHO, I think I will give a 3.5 star for the food and worthiness of having a meal at this branch)
It is a coffee shop located at Pandan Jaya, Kuala Lumpur. I visited this coffee shop during my trip to Kuala Lumpur for the Chinese New Year. They started resuming their business on the third day of the Chinese New Year with most of the stalls opened in the early morning.
I seldom eat heavy breakfast in the morning but exception case when I am in Kuala Lumpur. I was told that their wanton noodles and curry mee are very nice. The pan mee is good too. However, during my stay in Kuala Lumpur, I managed to try two of them, the wanton mee and the curry mee from the same stall managed by a woman with a helper.
I liked their dark soya sauce concoction and the al-dente noodles. The sauce was enough for the whole plate of noodles. The ingredients included the green vegetables, char siew and wantons in a small bowl of soup.
I revisited the kopitiam and I ordered a bowl of curry meehoon as the lady boss had restocked the fresh cockles. No regrets, it was delicious and flavourful that I can drink the curry soup too.
Address: Jalan Pandan 2/3, Pandan Jaya, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia.
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The meat is flavourful, tender and well-braised. It does not have any strong smell or unpleasant taste. The thick gravy goes well with the white rice. I think that is a small portion for five of us but enough for us. When eating them, be careful of the small bones from this dish. It is one of their signature dishes.
Wuxi spare ribs
The spare ribs are much better than the lamb brisket, and it is another signature dish. I highly recommend this dish to you all because the meat is super tender, delicious, and flavourful. It is so easy to eat the ribs and the gravy is nicer than the lamb brisket, sweeter in a way and it is appetising. Maybe, the spare ribs can be eaten without rice too. We ordered a small portion, and I think it had 6 ribs on the plate.
Stir-fried long bean and eggplant with dried shrimp
Another popular dish, and simple stir-fried vegetables that we can do at home. It is not the normal long beans that we usually buy from the market. It is called snake beans in Cantonese, it is thicker and rougher than the long beans. The things that I did not like much about this dish were the oiliness because of the eggplant and dried shrimp, and the dried shrimp being too small.
Hakka yong tau foo
This is the first time eating this yong tau foo, which seems popular among the customers. We ordered fried fu chuk (beancurd sheets), brinjals, bitter gourd and chilli to go with our main dishes. It did not come with soup or sauces. I wondered why. The yong tau foo without any sauces is a missing soul. So, I dipped them with the sauces from the lamb brisket or the spare ribs. It went well too with these sauces. I did not really taste the meat after mixing it with the sauce.
We ordered some to take away and this round we added beancurd too. They were supposed to pack them into boxes but they put them all into soup. I did not know whether there was any miscommunication between the workers and the helpers. I would not recommend taking away the fried fu chuk because it is best to eat them while still hot. The fried brinjal is always oily so if you do not like oily fried stuff, it is best to skip it.
At home, I ate them with and without the sauce. To be honest, the meat is quite flavourful even without any sauces. Both of the sweet and chilli sauces are great, the chilli sauce is slightly spicy, and it gives some kicks.
I am not sure about my MSG tolerance level but I did not feel thirsty after eating the food here. This could be a plus point. Overall, the taste of the food here is just normal, at an acceptable level, and the spare ribs are the star of the day. The price of one piece of yong tau foo seems to be on the expensive side, I am not too sure because it is a Hakka style. The rice portion is super small, likely I am a small eater.
The service is good, fast and attentive, but they do have a minor miscommunication. The location of this restaurant is quite near to the MRT or LRT station, walkable from the station if you do not want to drive here and look for a car park. The parking lots here are limited.
I would not be purposely coming here to eat but they have other dishes that are worth coming over to try them.
Address: Chuan Kee Hakka Restaurant 泉記客家饭店 Cheras, 14, Jalan Pudu Ulu, Batu 3 Cheras, 56100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Google link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/czUGaKBknQakWhH28 Google rating: 4.1 stars (IMHO, I will give 3.5 stars)
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It is a stall that sells Malaysia-style ban mian. According to a Google review, it has 4.1 stars at the Taman Sentosa branch. It has another branch at Taman Maju, not far away from here, and other branches around Johor. Based on the ratings at other branches, it seemed to be one of the good ban mian shops in Johor that I should try. It opens at night for this roadside stall, and if want to have them in the afternoon, the Taman Maju branch operates in a shop lot starting from morning until night.
It was my first visit with a friend who brought me to Johor Bahru (JB) for a short vacation. In return, I suggested good food for both of us to try. Of course, my friend knows better than I do when it comes to visiting JB.
Having my dinner by the roadside was normal in the olden days but I cannot find them in Singapore. It was my first time eating with my friend by the roadside and I was concerned about our safety too so I tried to locate a table that was safe enough for us to enjoy our meal. Unfortunately, most of the tables were occupied except one in front of the stall which was used by the worker to place chilli paste.
The auntie noticed just two of us and asked us to use that table and she would get other workers to clean up the table. Better than nothing, right?
Next, I ordered two bowls of mee hoon kway soup and this was how it looked like when it was served. I liked their soup, tasty sweet and a little hint of saltiness. It added fish balls, meatballs, and the most important ingredient, the mani cai. It has all the ingredients that I expected except the black fungus. It should have It was popping hot when it was served, thankfully, the weather was cooling and helped to cool down our bowl of noodles.
While eating it, I heard a lady order a vegetarian version of ban mian with just shredded mushroom and mani cai.
Instant version
I love the time spent preparing the wantons soup with fish balls, broccoli and ban mian. The minced meat was marinated for two hours and added some wood-ear that I took out from a box, an accidental discovery, and now I cooked it with minced meat and carrots. Additional shredded wood-ear I used to cook with mushrooms and minced meat.
The instant ban mian is no longer instant with all these ingredients that I added except the fried anchovies, and chilli that they provided. Overall, the ban mian is quite nice, if anyone drops by this stall, can buy some to cook at home. They have both soup and dry versions.
Address: 60 36, Jalan Sutera, Taman Sentosa, 80150 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
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The day before flying back to Singapore, I managed to travel down to the Bukit Bintang area and explore the Lot 10 shopping mall. I did not have enough time to take a video of the Bukit Bintang area because the car came to pick me up in 15 minutes. However, I managed to take a look at the food pricing at Lot 10 Hutong, an air-conditioned food court that sells most of the famous and old-branded hawker food in Malaysia.
I noticed that some of the stalls are managed by foreign workers. I think they are well-trained by the owners and the owners trust them to deliver quality food to the customers. I used to eat the Imbi Road pork noodles and Soong Kee beef noodles here.
Supermarket shopping spree
Also, I helped to carry some of the heavy groceries at Lotus’s Ampang in the afternoon. In Malaysia, they did not provide plastic bags and encouraged us to use recycled bags. In Singapore, we just started in July. I bought chicken floss bread for my next day’s breakfast too. It was a box of four pieces. The taste was just normal so I did not share the photo here.
Lunch and dinner at home
I ate more mushrooms and fish cakes before I left for Singapore. I know I can get the same fish cakes in Singapore, however, the prices of the fish cakes have increased a lot, and it is not worth buying them anymore. I have no idea why the fish cakes’ prices increased so much.
If I crave fishballs or fish cakes, I will go for the Tiong Bahru Fried Fishballs stall. Their fishballs are freshly made, springy, and sell at reasonable prices. If I could keep them in the fridge, I would buy many of them, and cook them for my daily dinner.
Journey to the KLIA
From my house to KLIA is very far, and not convenient, so I followed my cousin’s car to the Bukit Bintang area the next day morning to catch a train to the airport. The morning traffic to town is hell because I have to pass by three schools. I did not see school buses nowadays, I asked my cousin why. He replied most parents send their kids to school. That explained why my area was so jammed. It was so different from my olden days, I walked to school at 7.00AM.
We took a shortcut, but the bottleneck is near the former Bulatan Kampung Pandan and the traffic light at Berjaya Times Square. It was a beautiful morning, and I wished that we could take the same journey back to Singapore after our trip.
I think I can relate when I saw the Touch N’ Go (TnG) machine was not working at Berjaya Times Square Monorail station. I know the need to have the NFC TnG card is better as we can top up from the mobile app just like how the Singapore Ezlink app does. Shopee Singapore sells the NFC TnG card.
I think it is uncommon for Malaysians to use credit cards to pay train fares. I am unsure about the train frequency in KL, and I waited for 7 minutes for the next monorail to arrive. I stopped at Imbi station and decided to take the next train from Imbi to Chan Sow Lin station, and changed to take MRT to Putrajaya Sentral. I could have gone to KL Sentral and gotten a bus ticket to KLIA2 but I wanted something more cosy. I’m unsure how much the bus ticket would cost, it used to be RM10 to RM12.
The whole journey from the monorail to Putrajaya Sentral cost me RM4.20 ($1.22). It is the cheapest transportation mode that I can find so far to reach Putrajaya from Kuala Lumpur. From here, I took the KLIA Transit to KLIA2. The ticket fare between KLIA and Putrajaya is not expensive because the stations in between serve the local people who commute to the airport to work. And that cost me RM9.60 ($2.79).
Overall, I think the train ride experience is good and comfortable. However, there is quite a bit of walking and transfer for this trip.
Breakfast before flying
I wanted to try one of the restaurants at KLIA2 after I checked in. But, the queue at the counter was too long. There is no kiosk to print out the ticket so I have to queue for my turn. It was almost 3 hours before the flight time, and I did not know why so many people started to check-in. Hence, I had to give up my breakfast plan and switch to some other place where I could have my breakfast instantly because it was almost 10.00AM, and I had to clear the immigration and security check before 11.10AM.
I think God wanted me to rest more so He delayed the flight, and I felt so bored waiting at the lounge. I hope that we are travelling together because we can talk to each other. I ran out of my data, and I did not want to connect to airport wifi to listen to my music. Guess, this was the time I disconnected from the social media world and phone.
Reached home, rained, and still need to work
I did not have time to get my lunch too because the flight was delayed too long, and I just took half a day off that day. I had to quickly rush home to continue my working day. I was a little unlucky, the moment I stepped down from the bus, the rain started drizzling. How much I could call and get someone to bring me an umbrella.
It did not happen, I went back to reality quickly because my project got into a small problem and my backup did not know what to do next.
Dinner
I was so hungry after working, that I decided to eat out that night. At times, I feel how good it could be if someone cooks at home for me after a long day of work. For that night, I have to go out and settle my dinner. I ordered a plate of Assam fish head with rice. I was not eating alone that night so the fish head was a sharing portion.
Toward the end of my holidays here, the weather turned hot and sunny. I was able to take some good photographs whenever I went out of my house. The night view is great too because there are many highrise buildings in the CBD area. It would be a great view if we watch the night views from a highrise building too. I did not plan to buy a condo here like my cousin did. I think it is a good investment especially since there are many malls around and MRT and LRT stations are just nearby. The condo unit can be rented out for Airbnb.
I bought a coffee grinder some time ago and I brought home some coffee beans to test the machine. It was not a branded coffee grinder that my friend suggested. The only thing I forgot to bring along was the coffee dripper, so went to Daiso (I mentioned it in my previous post) to buy one. As I was not familiar with the new coffee grinder, there were some tests done to find the level of finest the coffee powder that I prefer. Also, the hot water at home was not so hot on my first trial. I got both of these fixed on the second day, and I had a cup of black coffee for that morning.
Old folk at home did not seem to appreciate it because it was milder than the local Nanyang kopi. It is alright, I want to give her a try too.
The morning breakfast was quite simple. I paired the freshly brewed black coffee that I made using the coffee powder that I had just grinded, with some breads at home. My aunt likes to steam the bread before eating them. I did not eat sweet jam, I took out the marmite, paired it with unsalted butter, and spread it on my bread.
It was tasty, you should try them. I ate vegemite when I was in Perth or Melbourne last time.
My cousin and my uncle came home with many vegetables. It was placed on top of the table in the kitchen, and I took a short video of them. They were fresh and cheap. Usually, my cousin will buy in bulk, and it can be kept for two weeks.
In the afternoon, I joined my family for a lunch gathering at Pandan Perdana. There is a restaurant that we go to often lately. It was a late lunch because we were waiting for my father. We ordered a few dishes including steamed fish, a plate of vegetables, steamed minced pork with salted fish, claypot pork leg, and lamb.
For dinner, we wanted to have something lighter after a heavy lunch. I helped my aunt prepare the peanuts and spinach that she wanted to use for porridge. It was cooked with roasted pork and usually, those were flavoured pork. We almost forgot about the green spring onions that my cousin bought. It goes well in porridge. I felt glad to help her so that she can take a rest and speed up the preparation too.
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After trying all the Malay food, I have to make sure I can hit some of the Chinese food too, however, my time in KL was not enough for me to try everything on my list. Maybe, it is good that we can plan a trip again, and eat all the food that I wanted before heading back home. When I go back home, I do not go out often because home-cooked food is delicious.
Drizzling in the morning
Then, I was thinking we were unable to have morning breakfast together on the weekend. It is rare for my family to go out of the house after COVID-19 because they are old folks, and we try not to get them exposed to the public so much, and to be aware of what they touch on and who they walk with.
God is good that morning, the rain stopped soon after that, and a bright sun arose. We changed and got into the car and went to the nearby kopitiam for a hearty breakfast, and took a walk at the wet market and 99 Supermarket before we went off.
It is rare that we go out on Saturday morning since Covid. My cousin goes out on Sunday for groceries and hardly will dine in at the kopitiam too. We shiok because we went out, ate breakfast, and walked at the market after that.
Again, I ate pork noodles. I think it is routine to order a bowl of pork noodles because I cannot get similar pork noodles in Singapore. Nothing is closest to this version. This time, I order the soup version so that the meehoon can absorb the pork bone soup. Coupled with hor fun, it gives the noodle a different texture when biting them.
The soup is delicious, sweet savoury and comforting. I added a few pieces of chilli padi into the soup, and it enhanced the spicy taste a little bit. They gave pork lard too, and it went well with the noodles and light soy sauce. I do not eat innards so I got myself a bowl with plain lean meat, some minced meat, and meatballs. Good point for this stall, they added green vegetables too. Overall, the portion is generous for a small bowl.
Also, I ordered a cup of hot teh-c to go with my noodles. It is a complete weekend’s breakfast. I was not the one paying for the drink and the food so I cannot tell how much the drink costs. The pork noodle should be RM8.00 ($2.32) for a small portion.
After the heavy breakfast, we went to the nearby wet market. My cousin wanted to buy food to be brought along for their trip back to Singapore. While looking around, I saw this gigantic curry puff sold by a Chinese stall. I am unsure how it tastes between Chinese and Malay versions of curry puffs.
Before I left, I bought 3 packets of fried economic noodles, and they cost me RM9.00 ($2.62). It served as lunch for my aunties and uncle.
Sunny in the afternoon
In the afternoon, we tried another type of dry Maggi noodles again. The flavour is cili ala kampung. I tried it often in Singapore. So, I knew the old folk cannot eat spicy, and I reduced seasonings. Then, we shared the fried economic noodles also.
The weather was good and finally, I could go out and walk around the shopping mall. I have a few things that I wanted to check out and if the price is good, I will buy them too. I brought my aunt along and we booked a Grab car to drop us at Sunway Velocity Mall. The Grab fare is RM13.00 ($3.78). For a person who drives, they will think it is a waste of money to book a Grab because we might not be spending as much as RM26.00 (for a round trip) for the petrol and parking fees. For convenience, I think it is still fine especially since we do not want to look for parking space in the late afternoon.
My aunt and I decided to use up the RM20.00 ($5.81) voucher to get a dessert here instead of having the waffle because I think it was more worthy to have the gelato. For a single scoop, it is RM9.00 ($2.62) and triple scoops are RM22.00 ($6.40). We ordered the premium flavoured because that was what was available, so an additional RM2.00 ($0.58) per scoop. I am unsure whether in KL, most of the gelato shops sell mostly premium flavoured or if it was just this stall called Frost N Bites at Sunway Velocity.
We chose tiramisu, pistachio, and berry yogurt flavours. They allowed tasting so my aunt and I tried one of the gelato, and I picked tiramisu as the third flavour as there was nothing much that suitable for old folk. It turned out all good, and it was a generous amount too. We paid the extra after deducting it from the voucher.
Sunway Velocity website has the floor directory, and it helped me to locate the shops that we wanted to go to so that my aunt did not have to walk so much. After we have gotten what we wanted from Daiso and Watson, we booked a Grab back home.
We ordered Grab food since the chef was busy cleaning the house, and Saturday was a no-cook day too. We randomly tried a restaurant at Desa Pandan. I thought it was a Halal restaurant because of the location, but it was not.
My moonlight hor fun has plenty of ingredients, and the portion was generous. It included squid, prawns, sliced meat, cabbages and an egg. Also, plenty of pork lards. That was how I found out it was not Halal. The taste was light so we added soy sauce to enhance the flavour and kept the chilli aside.
Next, we ordered marmite chicken rice for dinner from a nearby restaurant. Not a single night without rice when I was in KL. The meat was rather a big portion, mostly chicken breast or drumstick meat, the marmite sauce was thick and plenty that we mixed the sauce with white rice and fried egg.
Overall, we preferred the rice over the noodles.
The conversion rate from RM to SGD was 3.44.
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I managed to try a few different Malay foods during my stay in KL. I went out with my cousin in the morning to the nearby market and bought home nasi lemak for breakfast and some kuih tea break in the afternoon.
I bought myself a pack of nasi lemak and added bergedil and fried egg. I liked eating bergedil and beef rendang and these dishes always go well with nasi lemak. Since it was morning breakfast, I did not want to eat beef rendang. The rice was a lot and it went well with the sambal. The sambal was not spicy, and it was a little bit like the sambal in Singapore, sweet savoury sambal. We bought an extra 3 packs of plain nasi lemak too.
Unfortunately, I did not know how much my pack of nasi lemak cost because we bought additional packs too. A plain nasi lemak costs RM2.50 ($0.73). There was no bill given to us, and probably my cousin could remember it because she paid the bill.
I bought 4 different types of kuih for the tea break. They were ondeh-ondeh (glutinous rice ball with palm sugar), kuih dadar, or kuih tayap (rolled crepe with pandan juice and filled with grated coconut steeped in gula melaka), and kuih kodok, or jemput jemput pisang (mashed banana fritters). I bought the kuih lapis as well but I did not take a photograph of it. Each pack of kuih costs RM2.50 ($0.73).
I felt so satisfied that day and wanted to try the mee siam the next morning. Also, I wanted to eat the curry puff too. Although I can get it in Singapore, the price is cheaper in Kuala Lumpur.
After lunch, I tried to do some e-learning while helping out my aunt with the house chores. It would be better if I helped them to speed up the food preparation for dinner. And, as usual, our dinner at night is always home-cooked food. This round, I was able to eat my favourite dish, potatoes and chicken. Next time, I will cook them at home and share the recipe. It is a simple yet delicious dish.
The next day
I woke up early every day when I stayed at home. I loved watching the morning clouds, the sunrise and the people sending their kids to the childcare house opposite. It was the last working day of the week. I have some errands to do before I fly back to Singapore.
Mee siam
Mee siam in Malaysia is different from Singapore. Here, they do not go with gravy, and we can add our lauk (ingredients). Again, my cousin and I walked to the nearby market and we bought our breakfast.
I liked this kind of dry version mee siam, and I can add a fried egg or sambal sotong (squid). I bought the plain mee siam, and it cost RM2.50 ($0.73). I used to take away the fried mee siam at Masjid Jamek LRT station before going to work. My breakfast of that day was a plate of mee siam and a cup of black coffee at home.
The curry puff in Malaysia is really cheap. I bought them from the nearby market for four pieces and they cost me RM2.50 ($0.73). These curry puffs did not add the hard-boiled egg; they were plain curry potatoes. It was quite spicy and the skin was very crispy when I ate it fresh in the morning. I ate again in the late afternoon, and the skin turned soggy.
Running errands at Pandan Jaya
After breakfast, my aunt and I went out together and I managed to settle my personal stuff while running some other errands with my aunt. We found an all-in-one shop that can do photocopies and clothes alterations. At the back of the shop, two other smaller shops offer haircuts and photo shooting. They are quite run-down so I do not expect their quality to be good.
I was here to laminate my birth certification and develop 8 pieces of my passport photo. In total, the store owner charged me RM23.50 ($6.83). The lamination costs RM3.50 and the passport photos cost RM20.00. For the photo, it is definitely cheaper to do it in Malaysia.
Our things settled slightly after the lunch time so I decided to take away lunches from the nearby kopitiam at Pandan Jaya. This area is good and has almost everything that we need. The parking areas are quite ample and we can also park in the neighbourhood area and walk to the shops. Unlike, Taman Maluri, parking is a main problem.
In Malaysia, we have porkball noodles and pork noodles, and there are different types of noodles. The main ingredients for each type of noodle are different. I liked the pork ball noodles at Pandan Jaya and the pork noodles at Taman Maluri. On this trip, I went to get the porkball noodles because we were near the place.
The soup is super delicious, milky colour and porky taste. Usually, pork balls noodle has squarish pork balls in the soup. The portion for the big one did not seem to be a lot compared with the small one. The ingredients are the same; it is just an extra one more meatball and a fish ball (I do not know why I was given a fish ball but it could not be a fried meatball). I cannot tell whether the meatball is handmade or not. All ingredients are fresh at least. I wish to have more minced meat.
The noodles cost RM10.00 because I ordered a big portion and takeaway will charge an additional RM1.00 for the plastic bags. In total, it was RM11.00 ($3.20). I did not expect the takeaways with plastic bags can be chargeable. It is not even a plastic container. So, it would be better to bring my own Tupperware next time.
Dinner at home
I ate baked beans with eggs again. I was so happy that the chef made a big plate of baked beans with egg, and we cooked extra rice for that night because I knew I would be having more rice to go with the baked beans. It is my favourite dish.
My family likes to eat many kinds of vegetables, and usually, we cook more vegetables than meat. I learned about it during my previous trip back to KL in the year 2022. I am unsure whether it is a good and healthy move to eat less meat, but I know proteins are important.
French beans or long beans, broccoli and cauliflower are nice vegetables and I like to eat them too. These vegetables can be paired with meat or just plain cooked with salt, a bit of sugar, and oyster sauce it would taste good.
Wrapped up the night with a song
Starry, starry night Portraits hung in empty halls Frameless heads on nameless walls With eyes that watch the world and can’t forget – Vincent (Don McLean, 1971)
At one point, I made a wish too when I was looking at the sky. Very soon, the cloud covered the stars. I wanted it to be a dream come true, not disappearing.
The conversion rate from RM to SGD was 3.44.
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The weather in KL was pretty hot. While waiting for pick-up, I managed to take a photograph in front of the Maluri Pizza Hut branch. The view was quite alienating because of the three new buildings around Jalan Cheras.
I guess they are (from left to right), Parc 3 Residences, Cempaka Apartment, and M Vertica (dubbed Little Hong Kong because of the design). If you know the name of these landmarks, you can share them in the comment box below.
The first day I got home from Singapore, I managed to try some home-cooked food for lunch and dinner. These were simple dishes cooked by my cousin. I reheated the food over the stove and paired it with instant noodles and green vegetables. I cooked the green together with the braised mushrooms so that I can absorb the sauce. By the time the food was ready, it was 2.50pm.
The braised mushrooms were well-tasted and delicious meanwhile the fried eggs with long beans tasted slightly salty. It must go with the noodles. I took two packs of the Maggi dry laksa and cooked them. The dry laksa was quite spicy, luckily, I did not use both seasonings else I think my aunt would not be able to try them too. The lunch was quite heavy and I took my dinner at 7.30pm with bread and butter.
Now that I think again, I wondered why I did not get my food or snack before I reached home. Then, I could save time reheating and cooking my late lunch and dinner. I must remind myself to buy extra food before going home every time. On this trip, I brought home plenty of coffee beans to try out my new coffee grinder, and some vitamin drinks too.
I did not go out for the rest of the day and spent most of the time at home. Anna was with me too. The day ended at the usual sleeping time.
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My journey to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, begins with me travelling to Changi International Airport via EWL from Tanah Merah to Changi Airport. I took the MRT at 7.43am. The travel time in the morning is usually fast because it is peak hour. Once I reached the Changi Airport MRT, Terminal 3 at 8.05am, I took the Skytrain to Terminal 1.
I flew with Scoot, so after I got my boarding pass, I proceeded to immigration clearance. Again, I have a face recognition issue with my glasses on at the auto-gate. From travelling to immigration clearance, I took less than 50 minutes.
I have time for a hot coffee at Killiney at Food Gallery. This place is understaffed, and Wendy, the robot, cannot clean all the dirty tables. Singapore government encourages our people to return our trays and clean our tables after eating, and we hope tourists learn from us too.
The kopi-o is not as good as the Toast Box. Is there a Toast Box inside Terminal 1? The drink is served using paper cups. I am unsure whether the actual store at other branches does the same.
The total cost for transportation is $1.09, and the coffee at Killiney costs $2.00. I bought cranberry bread (mochi mochi cranberries) for $2.40 from a Japanese bakery shop called Gokoku Japanese Bakery in Tampines Mall.
My seat was a window seat on the right side of the aeroplane. But, on the wing, I did not have any nice view. Also, the sun shines too bright on my side. So hot, and needs to be covered with window shade. Luckily, the journey is not long. The aeroplane descended successfully and smoothly at KLIA2. This is my last time using my Malaysian passport or warganegara (Malaysians) auto-gate. Hopefully, soon, we can use the auto-gate with other countries’ passports. For today, I have no issues using the face recognition system and my immigration clearance.
Spent about 30 minutes around KLIA2
I tried to enquire where to get a TnG card before I departed from KLIA2. I went to KLIA Express/Transit counter, 7-11, and Watson to ask around, and they did not sell it. The lady at KLIA Express/Transit counter told me to go check at the MRT station when I reached Putrajaya Sentral.
After the mission failed, I went to queue at KFC to order a takeaway. My cousin wanted to eat the KFC from this branch instead stating that the taste was better than the other branches. I can easily get it from Aeon Maluri when I reach home.
I bought the snack plate set that consisted of 2 pieces of chicken, mashed potato, coleslaw and a cup of soft drink. I chose coke zero as there was no option to change it to mineral water. The price for the snack plate was RM17.99 ($5.23) and I paid an extra 20 cents for the paper bag. I decided to sit down after collecting the food, updated my arrival status, and checked some of the unread messages. Since I was quite thirsty and did not want to carry the soft drink back home, I drank it before I left the KFC restaurant.
I travelled home via KLIA Transit and MRT
I walked back to the KLIA Express/Transit counter and bought the train ticket to Putrajaya & Cyberjaya. I did not want to travel to Bandar Tasik Selatan and change the train to Ampang Line. Also, I did not want to take a train to KL Sentral because nobody would be picking me up from the city. The fare cost RM9.40 ($2.37). The train comes at the scheduled time, we can check the timing from the website, and the frequency is every 30 minutes. It is convenient for us to plan our travel time.
Ten years ago, the fare from KLIA to KL Sentral was RM35.00. I even made a TikTok photo of it when I found the old ticket in my drawer.
At 12pm, I went down to the train platform and waited for the next train at 12.18pm. Some QR code scanners at the gantries did not work well. The user experience was not good as I tried two times to get it properly scanned. The platform looked pretty empty even though the train has departed 12 minutes ago.
There are plenty of seats in the waiting area but it is not air-conditioned. During the daytime, we can feel the hot air around the station. There is a lift and escalator for travellers to use, so do not have to worry that we have to carry our luggage but I cannot guarantee that it is always working. The waiting area at the platform is a non-smoking area. There is a signboard showing us which platform to go to. No train conductors are checking our tickets. However, if you accidentally take the wrong train, the QR code scan at the exit gantry will detect it.
I went to platform B, KLIA Transit. The journey took me 18 minutes to reach Putrajaya & Cyberjaya station. At the stations, we can choose to take the lift, escalator or stairs. Most of the people chose to take the escalator and nobody go to take the lift. My guess was the lift might not functioning well.
In Malaysian culture, people stand on both sides of the escalator most of the time. In some places, we can see people standing on the left side, and other people can walk up the escalator on the right side. Since we are travelling from airports, most people carry luggage so it does not matter also.
Bus henti-henti
The train stopped at Terminal Putrajaya Sentral (TPS). It is an integrated terminal between KLIA Transit and Putrajaya MRT Line (MRT Laluan Putrajaya). After I exited the gantry, I proceeded to look for the Putrajaya Sentral MRT station. I bumped into this signboard in front of TPS. I got confused by, ‘bus henti-henti’. What does it mean?
The walkway from KLIA Transit to MRT station is all covered, but not fully air-conditioned. At the MRT station, we can take the lift and escalator to go up to the ticket concourse. There are plenty of ticket machines for self-service, and a passenger counter is available too.
Bought my TnG card
Here, I bought a normal TnG card (Touch n Go) card. It is not the enhanced version of the TnG card that we can top-up using the eWallet. We can top-up our card conveniently at the convenient shops so that is not a problem for the time being. The card costs RM20.00 ($5.81) with RM15.00 value-stored inside that we can use to travel. We did not top-up additional money into the card.
Putrajaya MRT Line
While waiting for the train to come, I took some of the pictures at the train platform. The station was well lighted, and windy. I took a video of the train when I boarded. The journey to Tun Razak Exchange MRT station and change to Kajang MRT Line to Maluri MRT station took about 53 minutes. The total cost was RM4.00 ($1.16).
I did not know why the price was different from what I checked on the website. Maybe, using the TnG card, the price is discounted compared to paying cash. The cheaper the better, right? Is it that we travel further the fare will be cheaper?
We can check the fare and the travel options from the Rapidkl website. The website has been revamped and we can use the web journey planner to give us the shortest route. They have a mobile app called Pulse that does the same. This is what it looked like when I tried to check the route.
Just for travelling, I took 1 hour 23 minutes from KLIA2 to Maluri MRT station, and the total cost was RM13.40 ($3.90). If I were to take the usual route back from the airport to Maluri station, it would be 1 hour and 8 minutes, and it would cost RM58.50 ($17.01) because the KLIA Express costs RM55.00 ($15.99) per trip. Even if I go by another route, it would take 1 hour 32 minutes, and it would cost RM41.50 (12.06).
Hence, I prefer to take MRT and KLIA Transit to go home or airport if I travel solo to KL. Travel via bus is an option too, we can check the price online. I am unsure how much it cost; it could be between RM10 ($2.91) and RM15 ($4.36). The bus travelling time depends on the traffic conditions on the road; it is estimated to be around 1 hour and 6 minutes.
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