After just over a year in Switzerland, I finally got the chance to go back to KL for a few days for work. I took the opportunity to arrive on Saturday morning so that I could have a couple of days to attend to some personal matters. At exactly 5.30 on Saturday I touched down in Sepang. Straight away I called Jet, my cousin, who works with the company managing the connecting shuttle train between the main terminal and boarding gates (which I think is probably Malaysia Airport itself), and sat down for an early morning coffee. It’s better to do this than going straight to reclaim baggage - KLIA has probably the longest waiting time in the entire world. It’s so long that they are now considering reducing the frequency of the shuttle train, or slowing it down. I don’t know how less frequent it needs to be to solve the problem … once every hour?? Or they could make make it run at 1 km/hr. OK, I’m exaggerating a bit here, but believe me, it takes ages!
I took a cab to my sister’s place in Bandar Kinrara. Hmmm …. the taxi drivers these days are quite techno savvy. Mini TV onboard. Dr. Mashitah was giving a kuliah subuh.
I reached my sister’s house at around 7. My god! I was gobsmacked seeing the younger of my two nephews - Zaim. He’s big! So, what the mother’d told me earlier about him growing into a small giant was true. And with a couple of half-emerged font teeth, he needs some makeover.
The day was hectic. 9 AM I was at my condo in Duta Ria in Jalan Dutamas Raya something (see, no mention of “Segambut”:) anymore). They recently gave the street a new name. The old “Jalan 1/38B Off Jalan Segambut” was a bit unglamorous and being a new Hartamas / Kiara / Duta area, it had to go. A welcoming change to most residents in the area including me:). The high water bill for the past 10 months turned out to be nothing more than actual usage by my tenants. The recent increase in the cost had also contributed to it I would think. So, they will pay the outstanding amount. The condition of the peeling floor tiles was worse than I had expected. About 30 pieces had simply came off the concrete foundation. Pretty bad indeed. Ranjit, the management office guy, came to take a look and his response was “this one biasa lah. Other units also have the same proble“. OK .. that’s “very comforting” to hear. And indeed it was a common problem in the condo as I later found out. A friend who’d put in laminated floor when he first moved in had it even worse. The tiles underneath all of sudden just popped up and broke his wooden floor. Since I had no time to really think it through, I just agreed with the maintenance office’s suggestion to replace the broken pieces. It’s not a permanent solution to the problem, but it’s probably the best considering the fact that I don’t leave there now. If I were to do it properly, I would probably need to spend more time and money the get all the tiles removed and new ones installed.
Saifol, my tenant cum friend drove me to the Crowne Plaza hotel after we all agreed with the next steps to solve the water and tiles problems. KL looked pretty much the same as it did one year ago, except for a few new hotels under construction. After checking in I headed straight to Bukit Bintang to look for lunch. For whatever reason, the temptation to have good Malaysian food died. I felt a bit pening(dizzy) and didn’t have the usual apetite for my nasi (rice). In the end I settled for KFC in Sg Wang. Since I knew I had only a few hours before shooting off to Taman Tun for family dinner, I decided to quickly go for a quick massage at my favourite massage centre along Bukit Bintang road - Liang Xin. Aaaahh it felt good .. “one hour relaxation with a happy ending” as my dear friend Mathew likes to put it, BUT not with the same meaning he has (you know what I mean). For those who despise being massaged by men (damn! I felt gay when I tried this before) or old women with a thousand wrinkles and hands like the “toyol” (sorry I don’t remember the character’s name) in Harry Potter movie, this is the place to be. Although the common massages they offer are Chinese, try Balinese also - it’s really good. The ambience is so nice. And it also opens late until 3 AM.
After getting myself a new power supply unit for my PC and a new hard disk from Low Yat, I went to meet Mat Rat, a friend from the same boarding school, in Sg Wang. We spent some time finding the things my wife asked me to buy and then he drove me to Taman Tun to my Auntie’s place for a family dinner at a nearby seafood restaurant. Azmir, a friend from the first company I worked for in Malaysia came to fetch me at 11 and we ended up hanging out next to the Beach Club (cuci mata) until about 2 in the morning … I was so knackered by the end of it. And the worst thing was I missed my dental appointment the next morning.
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