Above: Hakka Noodles in Ipoh.
I broke with tradition today. After two dimsum breakfasts in Ipoh, I opted for Hakka noodles washed down by the famous Ipoh white coffee. All two coffees I had in Ipoh were excellent and cheap. It’s not hard to be good when you roast the beans in butter (or margarine) and add sugar, then make it superstrong and add sweetened condensed milk. That’s how the Vietnamese do it as well.
So, goodbye Ipoh. Overall, the Ipoh sidetrip was a good way to ease back into travelling life while feeling off-colour. I quite like the place; even though it is one of Malaysia’s largest cities, the old centre is very laid back. There was enough to do, none of which were “high pressure” “must dos”. And also it got me back into the hang of waiting for and using public transport in the heat.
My travel down to KLIA-LCCT (Airport) was uneventful today with Plusliner, even though we left about 8 minutes earlier without much warning. I could have been easily left behind. We arrived in less than three hours just as check-in at Tune Hotel at LCCT opened.
Kim was meant to arrive about the same time to start our adventure to Myanmar and Sabah. But he didn’t make it due to work commitments (he had expected to have quit flying by now and we booked his tickets during an AirAsia zero-fare sale). At the hotel check-in, I was once again reminded that I’m being stood up when I was handed two pre-booked towels for just myself 🙁
After dropping my bags, I took the bus and monorail to KL specifically the Bukit Bintang area. I have this routine for KL which include a blind-man massage then dinner at a mall (usually Pavilion) followed by ais kacang (icey dessert).
Then back to the airport hotel for the night. Including travel time, that outing killed 7 hours.