The day began on Saturday 6 October at 7:30am. We headed out from Petaling Jaya to the Kuala Lumpur Botanical Gardens. The original plan was to have breakfast at this famous nasi lemak at a stall within the Gardens, and then continue with a walk through the Orchid Garden and Herb Garden (both within the Botanical Gardens). Unfortunately, we had not considered that the stall would be closed during the Ramadan fasting month - which it was!
So, we drove out from the Gardens towards the city centre for breakfast. We took the decision to enjoy good old 海南餐 Hainanese cuisine at 鎰記茶餐室 Yut Kee Coffee Shop off Jalan Ampang. Since it was everyone's (other than me) first time there, we decided to order a little of all the good stuff - French toast, roti babi, 海南麵 hailam mee (Hainanese-style fried noodles), 豬腸粉 chee ch'eong fun and, of course, Hainanese-brewed coffee.
10:00am. After breakfast, it was back to the Botanical Gardens, to view the Orchid Garden and Herb Garden. A picture paints a thousand words, so I best let the pictures of the flowers speak for themselves.
By 11:00am, it was time to leave the Gardens, and rush to Jalan Imbi area. The reason: 王記 Robert Wong's famous 燒肉飯 siew-yuk faan (roast pork rice). The roast pork only emerges from the fire at 12:30pm, but orders are taken starting 11:30am. And believe me, the queue was long! However, it was well worth the wait. Absolutely crisp, succulent and sinful roast pork. That's my fat intake for the year!
1:00pm. After lunch, we headed over to Merdeka Square area, to visit The Cathedral of St. Mary the Virgin. It's a small Anglican church dating back to the late-19th century. The highlight of the church is the pipe organ sitting in an elevated alcove to the left of the altar. Were it not for the fact that I am Catholic, this would be a lovely place to hold my wedding reception... sigh.
2:00pm. The afternoon rain pulled our excursion to a temporary halt, so we sought shelter at the new KL Pavillion departmental store in Jalan Bukit Bintang (where the old Bukit Bintang Girls' School once stood). Just a toilet stop, and a chance to stuff our faces with cream puffs.
4:00pm. The rain had stopped. So, we left KL Pavillion and made our way to our next destination - Royal Selangor Pewter. The place was about to close by the time we arrived. However, the staff were kind enough to fit in a quick 10-minute guided tour of the place. We were given a short walk through the factory area, and finished off in the pewter products shop.
5:30pm. It was a little too early for dinner, and none of us were feeling hungry. So, we decided to take a one-hour walk around the KLCC Gardens.
7:30pm. Okay, everyone was finally hungry. Time for Mark to pull out his hat-trick for the day, with yet-another little-known gastronomical haven of KL. A little shop somewhere in KL's 秋傑區 Chow Kit area selling 麻辣板麵 spicy pan-mee (I shall not reveal the name and exact location, lest one of my favourite 'best-kept-secrets' gets swamped by a hoard of patrons!). If I may say so, my friends, initially skeptical about the dodgy area, left the restaurant with borad smiles on their faces.
What a fulfilling day. I crashed the moment I got home. The end.
