The fun stuff about being in KL? There are many things to write about, especially being there in 46C Lorong Merbau.. let me weed out the uninteresting and boring stuff.. read on..
Food
The food there is the absolute best (is that even correct?), let me start.. the corner shop at our block has the most amazing chicken rice/char sau/sau nyuk, sau ap and I find my feet going in there automatically most days. And you know you are a regular customer when the guy chopping up the roasted meat greets and asks you, "the usual?" (which happens to be chicken and char sau rice ~ what can I say, I'm predictable). When I was extra hardworking and studied till 5am, I can hear the guys opening the shop and then the smell of those roasted meat would come wafting up to my room.. what agony to have to wait till lunch before tasting it! Then, every Wednesday, and only Wednesdays, the other stall sells Wong Chiu Gai rice. I'm drooling as I write this.. it's the best! Now, being a student, our sleeping/studying hours are all topsy turvy and it's nothing extraordinary to sleep at 2am and wake up 12pm and beyond, right? Now, every Tuesday night, I gotta set my alarm clock to wake up at 11am.. just so I can buy wong chiu gai rice on Wednesday, it was that laku!
Talking about waking up early, if I have a hankering for Nasi Lemak, I gotta wake up even earlier, at say 9am to get in line to buy the Nasi Lemak from a stall outside 7-11, located at the next block. Woooh.. I tapau 2 packets and I gotta lick the spoon, it was that yummy! (Oops, crap, did I just reveal more than I should?). Just beside the Nasi Lemak stall, is a shop selling economy rice, I think called Tian Tian Restaurant. Why do I remember that place? Cos their food is nice, a lot of variety, cheap but portions are little, and everytime I eat there, the wife will be scolding the husband (you good for nothing, useless bum, waste my money... you get the picture) and she doesn't care who hears that. So I learnt to tune out those unsavoury stuff while eating, or learnt speed eating, although I can't beat Vincent lah.
Now walking further down, there is this Ngiu Chap stall beside the Multi Purpose Hall (heck, I didn't even realised it was a multi purpose hall from all the years eating there, it was always the Ngiu Chap!) which had minced beef at the top, served with black chopsticks. I don't eat this that often cos it wasn't cheap. Across the street was a Bubur Cha Cha stall manned by a guy with 2 wives. The younger one helped him with the Bubur Cha Cha, the other one manned (or should I call it wo-manned? haha) the kin-chi rice stall. Bubur Cha Cha was a favourite on Sundays, when we splurged out.
So, Sundays, we'd go to the Pasar Malam for some Tiufu Fa.. and the Kap Piang. You gotta get the right stall since there are 2 stalls there. Kap Piang.. when we first got there, we asked the locals there where can we get that.. no one had heard of it before, until we realised it was called 'Chin Loong Pau (Cantonese)'... Kap Piang by any other name is still Kap Piang...
Hahaha... oops.. the good is always about food huh? Don't worry.. I'll continue on some other fun stuff besides food... to be continued. p/s I'm starving after writing this...
Monday, January 19, 2009
Cure For Home Sickness - 46C Lrg Merbau
Yup, that was the address of the place I called home in KL for years. Now, why stay in such a crummy place? Well, the rule that applies when you try find a place to stay; location location location. Firstly it was just off the main road called Jalan Hang Tuah so the bus stop was just a 3 minute walk away, it's another matter waiting for the non-existent bus sometimes. Secondly, if the blasted bus doesn't appear, either due to the bad traffic jams or the bus driver resting under some tree, I could take a 20 minute walk to college, passing some iconic monuments of KL, namely Stadium Negara and you can also see the KLCC Towers at a distance. Thirdly, you could say I stayed right in the heart of KL, cos it's 5 minutes by bus everywhere.. 5 min to Petaling St or 5 min to Lot 10/Sg Wang assuming there's no jam la, of course. Then in the later years, they built the LRT station just 5 min walk from my place. So.. location location location was the only reason we stuck it out there.
Now, less you think I cried everyday while in KL, I didn't. Sure I cried on the first day, not just because of the place, but because I was away from home, and it took me a week to get used to the place. But after that, I had to adjust, don't I? Those of us who were away from home, or who are still, you have to adjust and get used to the place. You might not like where you are right now, but you gotta get used to it, else you end up being miserable and time will really slow down and I think that will make things worse.
Next.. the fun stuff in 46C Lrg Merbau... to be continued...
Now, less you think I cried everyday while in KL, I didn't. Sure I cried on the first day, not just because of the place, but because I was away from home, and it took me a week to get used to the place. But after that, I had to adjust, don't I? Those of us who were away from home, or who are still, you have to adjust and get used to the place. You might not like where you are right now, but you gotta get used to it, else you end up being miserable and time will really slow down and I think that will make things worse.
Next.. the fun stuff in 46C Lrg Merbau... to be continued...
Cure For Home Sickness - The Tour
Doug asked me write something about home sickness and that got me thinking.. what can I write about that'll help him overcome his home sickness.. I can't think of anything except to relate my experience being away from home.
I went over to KL study at the time when my 2 brothers were already studying there, so I got a room in their apartment. Actually, I shouldn't call it that, apartment. It's more like shop lot .. like those you see in Segama. So, first time I walked up those dark steps, with its grimy green walls, I didn't have a good feeling about it. The front door opened to reveal more grimy green walls, and green tiles too! Aiyo.. I can't even begin to describe how it was like.. but I'll try ok? You all gotta use your imagination here.. think shop lot.
You open the front door to see the living room, with sofa and a big tv that doesn't work. There are 2 rooms off the living room, one which houses 4 working ladies, and the other a guy. The doors are green (what's with the green colour anyway?). Then you turn the other way to a corridor about 30 feet in length. The first door on the right is the kitchen (the only room that ain't green) which looks grimy, 2nd and 3rd rooms on right are the toilets (one has a shower, the other a water storage tank) and the 4th room, was my room (guess the colour.. yup.. green) and I shared that with another working girl. She's very clean and I must say I enjoyed having a clean room cos she'd mop the floor daily. Then you continue walking the corridor to the last room which was my brothers' room, and the biggest and nicest one of them all. It has a balcony there which looks out to the back lane and the next block of shops. That's the tour of the place.. Now.. along the corridor is where we hang our washing and we can see our next door neighbour at the next shop lot. It's an empty space that allows us to chat and greet our neighbours.
So that was the place I was going to call home for the next few years. I burst into tears...
to be continued....
I went over to KL study at the time when my 2 brothers were already studying there, so I got a room in their apartment. Actually, I shouldn't call it that, apartment. It's more like shop lot .. like those you see in Segama. So, first time I walked up those dark steps, with its grimy green walls, I didn't have a good feeling about it. The front door opened to reveal more grimy green walls, and green tiles too! Aiyo.. I can't even begin to describe how it was like.. but I'll try ok? You all gotta use your imagination here.. think shop lot.
You open the front door to see the living room, with sofa and a big tv that doesn't work. There are 2 rooms off the living room, one which houses 4 working ladies, and the other a guy. The doors are green (what's with the green colour anyway?). Then you turn the other way to a corridor about 30 feet in length. The first door on the right is the kitchen (the only room that ain't green) which looks grimy, 2nd and 3rd rooms on right are the toilets (one has a shower, the other a water storage tank) and the 4th room, was my room (guess the colour.. yup.. green) and I shared that with another working girl. She's very clean and I must say I enjoyed having a clean room cos she'd mop the floor daily. Then you continue walking the corridor to the last room which was my brothers' room, and the biggest and nicest one of them all. It has a balcony there which looks out to the back lane and the next block of shops. That's the tour of the place.. Now.. along the corridor is where we hang our washing and we can see our next door neighbour at the next shop lot. It's an empty space that allows us to chat and greet our neighbours.
So that was the place I was going to call home for the next few years. I burst into tears...
to be continued....
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