After a little (actually a lot) of coaxing, Gordon decided to join us. When he heard our plans to take the Coach, he immediately vetoed it. "Take the COACH? Are you NUTS? Do you know how long it'll take for us to reach KL?" - fill in your favourite expletives here - "the" - more expletives here - "COACH! I'm driving!"
So we ended up the 3 of us in Gordon's car busting traffic and cursing at the horrible Tuas jam. Gordon of course made the wrong choice of lane (more than once, I might add) and we waited for about an hour and a half at the Tuas checkpoint. I thought he was horribly restrained; more so than usual. However, thanks to some divine power - vested in the uniform of the checkpoint police - traffic eased up eventually and we burst through to the other side. May Mas Selemant grow several boils on his @$$.
Though this trip was about meeting magicians and magic, I really found the most memorable thing about the whole trip was the food fest that we had the moment we crossed the border - it was non-stop cuisine delight. There were times when I felt like puking from over-eating! It was nuts!
We had Nasi-Lemak for a late breakfast at the first R&R. Then it was straight up to KL. Gordon suggested we hit KL first since it was much further up than Melaka; that would make our return trip faster. It was an excellent suggestion and I honestly don't know what we'd have done without him on this trip. I would probably have died on the Coach halfway up...
Anyway, with Gordon's infinite road wisdom (I'm sure if he's reading this he's going, "GOT MEH?" in the usual lilt of voice that is so Gordon) we arrived in KL at record speed, only stopping a short while at the next R&R for some coffee. We had a little trouble finding the Hotel that David Lai (our Malaysian liasion) had booked for us, but eventually arrived at the Nova Hotel, about 10 minutes walk from the Times Square in KL and right smack in the middle of a tourist belt of food chains! Sigh.
David arrived to check us in only moments after our own arrival. The hotel was interesting: nothing too posh; it was functional at best and served more than the needs of 3 weird magicians looking for a place to rest their feet. The room overlooked the street below - food chains running in which and every direction. My only gripe was the weak air-conditioning. The temperature was set at its lowest and it still felt like room temperature - a step outside the room didn't make much of a difference. It served better as a very expensive fan than air conditioning.
Almost immediately after we had settled into the room, we went out for LUNCH. Can you imagine that - lunch! The WanTan Noodles we had along the food chain near the hotel Nova was really quite good; the style was very different from the typical Singapore noodles and much tastier! If I didn't have a small stomach, I might've considered a second serving. If I were Enrico, I might've had 3 - you know, all the energy has to go to the races and all. It would've been fun if he were around.
David saw us back to the hotel before running off to do his own stuff. He promised to meet us back at in the room that night and take us to the best Bak Kut Teh in Malaysia for breakfast. You see, Uncle Bob had 3 main food items on his agenda - these are foods he absolutely MUST have or he'd kill somebody whenever he were in Malaysia.
The 3 items are:
1) Bak Kut Teh - he couldn't stop talking about this... LOL. I imagine he probably dreamt about BKT that night after David promised him the BEST in Malaysia the next morning!
2) Hokkien Mee - I must admit that I'm also now a Hokkien Mee convert; it's really tasty and leaves you feeling like a million bucks!
3) Yong Tau Foo - Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to try this because his favourite stall was closed when we visited it - more on this in the Day 3 writeup - but fortunately, the next best thing was available.
We decided to go to Times Square after David took off. Uncle Bob suggested we walked there and Gordon's face became visibly pale - he hates the 'W' word. However, we couldn't get a cab and the hotel lobby receptionist nearly puked his guts out when we asked him to help us get a cab to Times Square. He used the "W" word on us. LOL.
It didn't take long to reach Times Square though I noticed that we made a huge circle around some buildings and ended up walking the longer route. Still, it gave me a better look at the city - which really is much like any other city: buildings that blot out the sky and smog that chokes the lungs; felt right at home. :). Uncle Bob would pepper the entire trail with recollections of KL and the people he's met - some friends, others less so. It was more than an entertaining trip; it was almost educational.
Times Square was huge - I've only been here once a couple of years back with my students. In fact, almost every trip I've made to Malaysia had been work and everything was catered to; I never had a chance to explore on my own. This was the first time I had a chance to really walk the streets without any constraints. I relished in the freedom.
Our purpose at Times Square was not to shop though. If Gwen were here, she'd probably take the entire mall on and I'd be the battle weary husband lagging behind - zombie like - strapped down with shopping bags and armed with loaded credit cards. Thank GOD guys don't shop!
We sought the Magic Ring. It was a magic shop owned by Uncle Bob's good friend Fee Loong. At the 7th storey of Times Square, The Magic Ring had all manner of magic items from close up to stage. It was many times larger than the biggest physical magic shop in Singapore and probably stocked up on as much. It was like being transported into a completely different world when you stepped into the shop - posters lined the walls, different types of decks for sale were hung on a wall near the entrance; counters and shelves filled with magic were on display. You can see magic props even when you look up - parasols, ladders, collapsing straws, vanishing birdcages they hung in display!
Fee Loong was not at the shop. Uncle Bob gave his friend a call. The Magic Salesman (for lack of a better noun) spoke with us. When he heard his boss was coming down to meet us, he offered us coffee and seats - very nice of him. We sat for about 20 minutes discussing all manner of stuff in the shop - Uncle Bob recounting his experiences with Fee Loong and what they did together in their younger days.
'Uncle' Fee Loong (appended preffix in respectful endearment) came blazing into the shop. I say 'blazing' because this man carried such a powerful aura of excitement that it is infectious! He literally overwhelmed me with his personality and charisma. I have to admit that I'm not an easy person to get along with - I am extremely critical and cautious when making friends, probably the result of a nervous childhood - and there are few people I could take to instantly. The last two people that had that effect on me were Gordon and Enrico two/three years back. And now, Uncle Fee Loong.
Seriously, I find it hard to describe this man. He is just a very very likeable person whoose passion for magic is overwhelming - when he starts talking about magic, it really brings a smile to one's face: it's like a child delighted at his own cleverness showing off to his parents; you just love him for him. No pretensions or hidden agendas - he just loves his magic. And he'll make you love magic too.
Uncle Fee Loong convinced Uncle Bob to purchase a set of Cups and Balls (at virtually nothing - I think he only took a token sum from Uncle Bob because he knew Bob'll never accept it for free). It was really interesting watching the two of them reminising. I wonder if I would be like either of them someday - if I would be so lucky! We adjorned for coffee at the ground level shortly and more food. OLD TOWN WHITE COFFEE was in a word - fantastic.
We returned to the Hotel completely POOPED! I was so full I could hardly eat anything else. It wouldn't be long before the Magicians from the MMF came knocking. 5 of them came by - Sze Howe (who came by for one of the SMC gatherings earlier this year), Chris and his cousin Edmund, Shawn and Lai (I_never_regret). Soon joining them were Danny (Uncle Bob's first student) and Kenneth (Danny's student; Uncle Bob's grand student - if there's such a thing). Charleston came later but managed to squeeze his way in just before dinner. By then our room was packed to the brim!
We had a great session that lasted until the natural order of things took over and we had to succumb to the hunger pangs digging into our stomachs. We had a great dinner near the Hotel and stayed until about 2am where Kenneth and Charleston came up to the room for another round. We slept at about 3am.
Back row - left to right:
Gordon, Sze Howe, Shawn, Edmund, Chris.
Front row - left to right:
Uncle Bob, Lai, Danny, Kenneth
Surely, the finest experience of this trip was meeting two of the Veterans of magic - they reminded me how it is enough simply to love magic for what it is: not as gimmick of self-promotion and aggrandization, but an art form that is used as a gift of entertain to the people around us.
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