Epic weekend: An impromptu trip to Ipoh, dodgy hotels, losing my wallet and my car bumper

brussels

The Friday night out

It all started on Friday night at Brussels Beer Cafe. It was during this inspiring round of drinks that the impromptu trip hatched. I was supposed to meet Bonnie there and truth to be told I don’t even remember how I got to know her and inquiring minds want to know. I also had half a mind to FFK the drinks on Friday thing coz I was really sick but I’m glad I didn’t coz it turned out to be one of the best weekends I’ve ever had. πŸ™‚

We were having drinks in Jaya One when I finally got around to around to asking her how we know each other. It turns out that we don’t. She reads my blog, added me on Facebook and it was a random and casual β€œOkay, let’s have drinks sometime” that led to this particular day. Bonnie turns out to be 22 (!!!) and she’s a student at Monash. She also acts part time in local productions.

Anyway, it seems that we have something in common so we were just talking and suddenly I thought about going on a road trip. It was 12 am at the time and the plan was to head down to Ipoh for the dim sum.

house

I’ll follow her car back, pick her up, and then head down to Ipoh and stay the night at a hotel before waking up for breakfast.

Losing my wallet

The first thing that went wrong was losing my wallet. I think what happened is that I took it out and used my credit card to pump gas. I remember leaving the wallet on the boot of the car and taking the receipt but I did not remember taking the wallet back into the car. I suspect my wallet was still on the boot when I drove off. FML.

I had about 1-2k inside but what’s worse is the MyKad, driver’s license (!!!) and credit cards which I have to replace.

I only realized it when I got to Ipoh coz when it came to the toll, Bonnie paid for it but I was puzzled as to where my wallet was – it was supposed to be on the dashboard. However, after a prolonged search when we arrived there, it was nowhere to be found. My car can be a black hole sometimes, but it’s still a confined space so after looking into every nook and cranny, the most plausible explaination is that I left it on the boot and drove off.

Naturally, without any money, Bonnie had to withdraw from an ATM and we went in search of a hotel.

drive

She also took over the driving.

Dodgy hotels

room

I think we went to 5-6 hotels but all of them were full. It was insane! There’s apparently some kind of military function going on there and it was about 5 am when we finally drove up to this dodgy looking place called Shanghai Hotel.

bath

They had one room left and it was RM 40. I guess some would call it rustic and charming and maybe even full of character but it’s the kind of place where you’re afraid you’ll get syphilis, gonorrhea AND herpes just from sleeping on the sheets. >.<

This is what the hotel room looks like.

Anyway, my pillow had this really weird smell to it so I shared Bonnie’s pillow and we slept, fulling intending to wake up at 8 am in the morning.

dodgy

It was 11 am when I woke up.

Foh San dim sum

foh san

This is what we were down in Ipoh for. Bonnie swears by the lam mei pau. It’s a bun that’s filled with fatty pork and it’s absolutely fabulous. It was well worth the drive down.

foh san dim sum

We also had some other stuff – my usual har kao (prawn dumplings) and a memorable dim sum made with juicy succulent prawns and salted egg yolk.

lam mei

However, the lam mei pau was every bit as good as Bonnie said it was. We were afraid we’ve missed it but apparently even though the dim sim place tells you it’s no longer available, you can get it by going to the take away counter and ordering it.

ipoh white coffee

Try it, and thank Bonnie (or rather, her mom) if it works. We even got a box to tapau back home.

Caption: Why drink canned Ipoh white coffee in Ipoh?

Anyway, since I didn’t have a license and Bonnie was rushing for her class, she drove down instead. It was an interesting experience to have someone else drive you car at 160 km/h and swerving through lanes to avoid traffic. It’s like a roller-coaster, without the safety features. πŸ˜‰

bonnie

Oh, and I also lost my rear bumper somewhere during the drive to Ipoh.

shanghai

It’s not an epic weekend unless you’ve lost a car bumper, your wallet and all the identification in it, slept in a dodgy hotel and sped back to KL…and the weekend is still not over. Bonnie crashed at my place last night and helped me out with something I had to get done during the weekend.

I know it sounds like a tragic weekend, but it’s really an awesome one. Seriously, it’s not a havoc weekend unless you’ve lost something and now I’m driving with no driver’s license, MyKad and with a missing bumper.

bumper

Cop magnet much? This illegal PRC immigrant says yes. I’ve been diligently avoiding roadblocks so let’s hope I can keep up with that until Monday.

I had a great weekend. How’s yours? πŸ˜‰

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

57 thoughts on “Epic weekend: An impromptu trip to Ipoh, dodgy hotels, losing my wallet and my car bumper”

    • Heh! I wouldn’t say that bro. πŸ˜‰

      Just a bit of fun, like back in ’09 and ’10…impromptu road trips and all that.

      It’s fun to get away once in a while. πŸ™‚

      Reply
    • Thanks Lynthia! πŸ™‚

      Yeah, it was a memorable weekend indeed. I still can’t believe the sheer idiocy of me leaving the wallet on the boot at the gas station and then driving off. T_T

      Reply
    • Hello Eiling! πŸ™‚

      Well, I have to go JPJ to get my driver’s license back, go to immigration (have to check where to do it actually) to get my identification back and then go and get my ATM and credit cards back.

      It’s one task I do not relish, but oh well…

      I’m not sure if I have to lodge a police report on the driver’s license, for MyKad, you don’t have to anymore but not that sure about the driver’s license.

      …but yeah on the bright side, I had a lot of fun. πŸ™‚

      Reply
    • I don’t have a girlfriend.

      Me and the ex broke up before I went to Australia, it was a very amicable seperation, it was just not meant to be. I must say that I’m to blame for some parts but it was generally agreed that we both went into the relationship coz we WANTED to be in a relationship and not single since we’re both 30.

      Not exactly the best foundations for relationships so yeah, the trip to Hyatt in Kuantan was the trip which we made the concious decision to spend time together to talk about the relationship and where it’s going. 😑

      Reply
    • Nope, there was no boning, deboning, filleting or any shennigans. She’s still crashing at my place today but we’re just friends bro, platonic like tectonic plates. πŸ™‚

      Here’s Bonnie’s reply (she’s beside me):

      There has been a Bonnie & Clyde, but now its just Bonnie & Hyde and Sixthseal has been a great companion and I get to do whatever I please without worrying about him getting into my pants, or skirt for the matter. But today I wore denim shorts. Thank you very much.

      Reply
  1. Owhhhh yeahhhh….classic sixthseal =D

    You really have two alternate personas dont ya? Where’s your good buddy Veritas, he doing alright?

    Reply
    • Heh! Yeah, it’s been a while eh? I haven’t been up to Genting in like more than a year. Those were the days, just after drinks and then heading up or going to some random town to spend the weekend.

      It’s a lot of fun actually. Roadtrips FTW! πŸ™‚

      I don’t have an alternate persona. Heh! veritas is around no more, unfortunately. 😑

      Cheers bro and have a great week ahead.

      Reply
  2. Great job scoring at Tropicana. I wonder how the hell you managed to get six of them. You truly are a master of your craft.

    Reply
    • Hello there! Oh, I was just at Tropicana City Mall to catch a movie and get some dinner.

      I went to watch Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides with Bonnie.

      Cheers mate and hope you’ve had a great weekend yourself. πŸ™‚

      P/S – Thanks for being discreet about the six. I didn’t get what you meant at first and then I realized. Some places are just more lenient than others. Were you standing beside me at the cashier? Sorry for the rush to get to the cashier, had a movie to catch.

      Reply
  3. I was filling up the record book and I thought “hey this name looks familiar…”

    πŸ˜‰

    Anyway, I only managed to squeeze two out of them. And I would have introduced myself if I saw you in real life.

    P.S. Why don’t you use an alias?

    Reply
    • Hey there mate! Oh, so you were buying the same thing as well. Nice! πŸ™‚

      Anyway, I do use aliases. The stock turnover in that particular place is really low so you have to. My name was the first on that page and that’s from an entire month ago. There’s maybe 7 entries after that and 3 of them are mine too.

      Heh! I either use aliases or I get a friend to go in instead. I can usually get more if I do the talking though, so that’s what I do.

      BTW, they’re quite diligent about spotting aliases nowadays so I try to avoid that.

      Yeah, wish I had bumped into you, would have had a nice chat in real life. πŸ™‚

      Reply
    • Haha! It’s good to be impulsive sometimes and just do something for the sheer fun of it. πŸ™‚

      I love going on this random road trips (which almost always starts out from drinks in KL). It’s a lot of fun and good, healthy fun at that.

      Well, losing a wallet is not so fun but it’s always good to meet new people and make friends.

      I wouldn’t have gotten to know Bonnie otherwise and she’s an awesome person, she’s been crashing at my place for the past few days, she’s a fun person to have around. I enjoy her company. πŸ™‚

      Reply
    • Heh! The car bumper was WAY past overdue bro. It happened in 2010 I believe and none of the workshops has been able to put it back together properly. It just comes right off.

      I’m not sure why but I’m told that I require a new one and the bumper will not stay on at high speeds (above 140 km/h).

      I’m surprised it lasted this long, to be honest. It came off several times while driving to Sepang and the airport but this Ipoh trip really killed it. πŸ™‚

      Oh well.

      Reply
  4. OMG. I would have gone crazy if I lost my wallet and that much money inside. I already lost MYKAD twice, if lose again it will be the 3rd time so I’m every careful now with my wallet. Hope you’ll get all your identifications back on Monday.

    Reply
    • Well, I’ve lost way more than that in casinos so it’s not the cash that bothers me but rather the documents. It’s really a bad idea to be driving around without a driver’s license and a MyKad and I haven’t made a police report yet coz I don’t know if I have to.

      I know you don’t need to do police reports for MyKads anymore but I’m not sure about the driver’s license. I’ll have to call JPJ to check about that.

      …but yeah, no identification and no driver’s license is usually a bad thing if you get stopped by police.

      I don’t think I can get everything back in one day, perhaps two days would be more realistic, considering the speed at which JPJ does stuff.

      Cheers bro! πŸ™‚

      Reply
    • Dude, if you can’t share a bed with a girl without sex then there’s something really wrong with you bro. Seriously. πŸ™‚

      Haven’t you crashed at a friend’s place before?

      I don’t think it’s an issue to be sharing rooms or beds. It’s just a place to sleep. Just coz there’s one guy and one girl in the room doesn’t mean everyone is about to start doing the horizontal boogie.

      She slept over at my place for the past two nights and we’re just friends. πŸ™‚

      Reply
        • It was three nights including Ipoh and if I hadn’t been sick on Monday evening and sent you back, it would have been four nights.

          I think you’re losing track of time. People tend to do that in my place coz I don’t observe normal hours. Heh! πŸ™‚

          Reply
          • Wah, 2 persons shared a room and nothing happen, wasted. Errrrr, i mean Bonnie, not you HB. Horizontal boogie???? Cannot be vertical? Side by side? Front and back? 69 or 96? Oh, 69 and 96 is no different. Or next time try 3 people share a room, “2 to 1” or “1 to 2”, up to you.

          • Heh! Well, she’s still crashing at my place. She’s sleeping right now but it’s a larger bed than the dodgy hotel so it can easily fit two.

            I don’t see a problem with her staying over, as long as I’m not busy with anything. It’s fun to have her around, the energy that she has is admirable. I wish I was 22 again. 😑

          • Yeah, totally get what you mean. I was surprised you had the energy to actually work that hard on your assignments. Great work Bonnie. πŸ™‚

    • It was actually only about 8 hours in total. Heh!

      We arrived at about 5 am, slept till 11 am. Bonnie wanted to wake up at 8 am but her alarm clock went off without either of us hearing it.

      Mine was the backup, set at 11 am so we only checked out of the hotel at 12:30 pm and went for dim sum.

      Good thing it was still open. πŸ™‚

      Reply
    • Cheers bro! πŸ™‚

      I like this tattoo she has on her neck – it’s her family name. Unique for a tattoo at that location with the family name.

      Reply
    • I would love to Suanie but unfortunately I can’t buy a car and a condo at the same time. 😑

      I’ll going with the condo first, reckon that’s more important.

      This car has been though a lot eh?

      Remember that time I got into this accident while driving blind drunk, called you at 3 am in the morning, too intoxicated to even tell you where I was and I had to pass the phone to the cops to tell you where I am?

      Thanks for that save Suan. <3

      Reply
    • Hello Fiona!

      No, I’m not drunk in the video, I was driving. πŸ˜‰

      I guess you can call it a natural high. Haha!

      I can be bubbly sometimes, or the opposite, depending on the time of the day and other factors.

      Hope you’ve had a great weekend too! πŸ™‚

      Reply
    • Heh! I know it’s a bit dodgy right? However, to be honest, the hotel looks MUCH BETTER in the morning. It’s surprisingly clean.

      Yeah, I do have Ipoh friends but they’re all working and living in KL so I don’t know anyone actually STAYING in Ipoh where we can crash there for the night at 5 am. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  5. That “Lam Mei Pau” sounds exotic to me, and that is unusual because I’m no newbie to dim sum. So I googled up the name and sure enough, it comes up as a person’s name. Are you sure you didn’t get the name wrong? All I could think of that fits your description is Nam Yu Bo. And oh yes, it is quite good.

    Reply
    • Hello sumdim!

      I’m not sure, it was Bonnie’s suggestion to go there for the lam mei pau. It’s made with fatty pork cooked till tender in a delectable sauce.

      I’m pretty sure I didn’t get the name wrong, maybe it’s a Foh San thing?

      I’ll ask again when Bonnie is awake, she’s sleeping right now and when she came over yesterday we only slept at 4 am so yeah, gonna let her be.

      I’ll reply again when she’s up.

      Cheers mate!

      Reply
      • well, they responded to lam mei pau… ? my family always stop there for breakfast on the way to penang. that, i’m quite sure. perhaps it is a foh san thing.

        Reply

Leave a Comment