I got up at around 6:30am due to noises from the traffic outside SCC Gateway Chinatown Hotel despite the windowless room. Anyway, I washed up and get ready for the day ahead.
First would be to fill my stomach. I walked down Petaling Street Market, which was always quiet in the morning. Several food stalls were already opened selling local breakfast but without coffee. To save time, I walked into Tang City Foodcourt (唐城美食中心) where I could have a meal and coffee at the same time.
I looked around for something special or not so common in the towns that I had passed through. And I saw a stall, named Lian Kee (莲记), selling prawn mee and lam mee (淋面). A sense of familiarity struck me. I had been to this food court before and ate the same noodle dish from the same stall, though not sure if the owner was the same. I checked the date on my phone to ensure it was in 2024, not 2017.
The lam mee used the same thick noodle as the Hokkien mee I ate the night before. The dish looked appetising and tasted nice.
After breakfast, I retraced my steps through Chinatown to Pasar Seni LRT Station, up to the second level and followed a long overhead bridge to the new KTM ticketing platform — outside Kuala Lumpur Train Station.
The ticket to Batu Caves was RM2.50 (one-way) and RM5 (two-way), no concession for purchasing two-way. Since I would not be detouring to other places along the railway line, I purchased the two-way ticket to save the hassle of buying the return ticket later. The time was 8:49am.
I went to the washroom and missed a train, but it did not take long for the next Batu Caves-bound train to arrive. I boarded the train, waited for some time and it departed at 9:17am. There were not many passengers in the Friday morning. The train arrived at Batu Caves Station at 9:59am.
The half empty train gave an impression that there may not be a lot of visitors to Batu Caves but I was wrong. The place was crowded despite the unforgiving hot sun. Admission to Batu Caves was free, except the numerous art galleries. Fortunately, the tall Murugan Statue and the ascending steps to the large cave above were free.
I climbed the steep 272 steps up to the Temple Cave to tour the place. Apart from people, there were pigeons flying around too — you would not be able to tell the difference between a rain drop and bird droppings. Once the primary objectives were achieved, it was time to get out of the hot and crowded spot. I needed a shower too.
I was back at Batu Caves Station at 11:22am. A check on the train schedule showed the next train departure would be at 12:05pm. Since the train was already waiting in the station, I boarded it and enjoyed the air-conditioning for 40 minutes before it moved off.
Alighting at Kuala Lumpur Train Station was a good opportunity to check out the historical train station. I went out through the main entrance to take some photos of the buildings — the train station itself and the KTM Berhad office in another colonial-style building.
However, exiting from the main entrance of the train station put me on the other side of the fenced-up railway track. It took me some 15 minutes of detouring to get back to Pasar Seni Station and proceeded to the Central Market — “Pasar Seni” is Malay for “Central Market”.
Inside Central Market was rather modern — just another shopping mall in a historical shell. I briefly looked around, had a roasted chicken rice for lunch and left. I walked back to the hotel just several hundred metres away and showered.
After some thinking, I decided to head to Ipoh next. A quick check on the availability of both the hotel I wanted and bus ticket to Ipoh Amanjaya Terminal before I placed the bookings. For the bus ticket from KL TBS, I paid an extra RM1 to get a direct boarding pass. No way I would want to queue at any ticket counters in TBS, especially on a Saturday.
I stayed in the room until it was time for dinner.
At 5pm, I headed down to Jalan Sultan outside Petaling Street Market to a stall known as Hong Kee Claypot Chicken Rice & Portuguese Grilled Fish, which had a long queue the night before.
The stall was supposed to open at 5pm but when I reached the stall 8 minutes later, it was already more than half full. Those seated must had queue at the stall before it opened.
I ordered their small claypot chicken rice, added with a raw egg, and a vegetable dish. The claypot chicken rice was superbly cooked without a single rice sticking to the bottom of the claypot. It was really good. Despite ordering a small one, the rice was quite a lot and I could not finish it all.
After dinner, a short stroll around Chinatown to check on some street arts — the "Rage Against the Machine" artwork by Ernest Zacharevic was gone — and I was back in my room again, getting ready to check out the next day.