After my successful solo trip to Ipoh, I decided that it has been a while since I visited Kuala Lumpur. So I bought my return ticket to KL for the month of November. I have a few goals in mind for this trip. One, I was gonna splurge and stay at the Trader's Hotel overlooking the Twin Tower. Two, I was gonna visit all the Japanese bookstores there. And Three, it was gonna be a themed Japanese trip with shopping in Donki and mainly eating Japanese food cause I can't get any good ones in Penang. I take it around one week should do it. I won't even have to skip any of my visits to my Mum's. This was gonna be a research trip for my future self, in the event I ran out of money to travel to Japan, Kuala Lumpur was gonna be my backup plan!
My travelling bag. Yes, one backpack, and one carry on for my food and drinks and travel essentials that I need with me. Yes I carry my thermal flush with me, cause nothing beats warm tea when you are dead tired and does not want to drink any sugary drink or spend a fortune on any mineral water! Inside my bag I do carry a fold up bag for my shoppings :) I can survive on a small carry on cause I've gotten into the habit of washing my clothes when I travel, and bringing only quick dry clothes with me. It's amazing how easy it is to travel when you don't have to carry so much weight with you!
So on that faithful morning, I ate some of my Ipoh biscuit and milo cereal for nostalgic sake. It reminded me of my Ipoh journey, and I felt happy being able to go on the road again. I even purposely selected special window seats so that I can view the limestone caves of Ipoh on my journey there! Bummer, what a waste of effort as I will explain later on, lol.
The usual bus ride down to the Jetty. Saving 2rm on the journey with my Muntiara card. It's amazing how people don't fully utilise free transport even when the government offers it to them. I guess their time is much more precious than waiting around for public bus. Me? I love waiting around for buses, trains, ferries, planes etc :P
Next is the ferry ride from Penang to Butterworth. In 2023, this ride was still free, especially for Penang residence. Well in 2024, with the new upgraded ferries, we now have to pay 2rm, PER TRIP!. Daylight robbery! Cause even when it was not free, we used to only have to pay for one way, and the return trip was free. What a bummer. Need to factor this into my travel cost. I cannot now suka-suka go take train around Malaysia. Maybe I can explore taking buses around Malaysia instead....
Anyway, it was a beautiful day when I arrived in Butterworth Penang Sentral. The irony of the name has never left me. It was nowhere in the center of Penang. They just name everything Sentral and build a transport hub over it. But it's ok! Any blue sky day is a good day for me!.
I planned to eat the food from the train cafe this trip, cause the nasi lemak smell still haunts me from my Ipoh train trip. But I've also read that sometimes the food run out on the train. The horror! 4hours without food! So I popped into subway and got myself a vegetarian sub. Yeah, I realised I can be pretty vegetarian friendly when I travel. And I didn't mind spending the money, cause subway have given me a 20rm complimentary ticket to visit a miniature museum in KL. I love the wrapping of the sub too, it was showing sights of KL. How fitting!
Excited to be on the train, I went and took some photos of the cafe area. I don't quite understand why the tables and chairs are so tiny! And so few too! It's like they don't even want you to be seated there!
There is a long counter serving food and drinks. And it was not open until maybe 15minutes after the train departed from the station. I was seated nearby the cafe, so I thought my lunch would be secured. So I decided to eat my subway for my breakfast. Interestingly, a Mat Salleh sat next to me, and he packed a Nasi Padang to eat along the trip. He even greeted me in Malay!
Once the cafe started for business, I excused myself from my seat, and quickly went to get a pack of rice. I settled for Nasi Tomato for 10.50rm. It was expensive! But I've budgeted for the experience, so all was good! And the nasi, although very small portion, was delicious! Tasted awesome and smell awesome! When you order it, they actually heat it up for you. Then you bring it back to your seat and devour it.
After eating, I felt a lot better, and the AngMoh next to me started chatting with me. We chatted for 4hours! I totally missed the view of the limestone caves in Ipoh. It was surprising how much we can talk about, from work, to travel, to even tv shows! I bet we chatted for an hour just on Border Control series which I've been watching on Facebook. It was hilarious! He was a German living in Australia, and he was travelling with his 80+ year old mum who sat a few seats away. I guess I could have given up my seat for them to sit together, but I really wanted my window seat! And it was not my fault people booked last minute for the seats! But it was an enjoyable chat. And when we arrived, we said bye and disappeared from each other's life again. I guess travel mates aren't meant to be long time friend :) It was fun while it lasted. I could have offered to bring them around in KL, but this trip was for myself, and I wanted to be alone and enjoy it. So maybe next time. I know I'm not the most generous person. It just depends on when and where in life our path cross. So let's journey on!
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