Indian Food & Taiwanese Elections

Just so you know, the two things stated above are not related, in case you are confused or what. They just happen to make up parts of my boring but random life.

First, the Indian food. Just now I went to an (Indian, duh) restaurant, called Kashmir, for dinner. (I just did some Google searching, apparently Kashmir is a mountain? Or a place, whatever, and has musk deers.) It's not your typical mamak stall that comes to mind first whenever Indian food is mentioned. To make things clearer, it sells authentic Indian food, North Indian to be exact, instead of Indian-Muslim cuisine that is more common here in Penang. The restaurant, which was located in the basement (it's below its bar/pub kinda thing) is not really eye-catching, and we wouldn't have known it if not for a friend's recommendation. Actually, it might be part of Oriental Hotel. I'm not sure. There were quite a lot of people, surprisingly, and even more surprising is the fact that a large part was Chinese.

Only the pub is visible in this picture. To enter the restaurant,  you have to walk down a stair case by the side.

The internal deco is quite nice, and has an exotic feel.

We didn't really know what to order so we just had what the waiter recommended. (Btw, the waiter is not Indian, he is African. It's quite unexpected to see an African working in an Indian restaurant. I suppose the world is becoming more and more globalised. He's quite a nice guy, seriously DOME should consider firing all their waiters and hire someone like this instead.) The food servings are quite small actually, so we had 2 tandoori chicken, mutton massala, vege, 8 pieces of garlic naan bread and a plate of briyani rice. The main point is, all these, plus some complimentary appetizers (not really complimentary, they serve it to you without asking but they charge you anyway) and it all adds up to...... *drum rolls* RM130++ Well I dunno about you if you are as rich as Flo you probably don't care but for me it's a lot. I mean, it's just the three of us. Usually we eat RM50 or so per meal. Actually no that's not the main point. I think I'm just not used to having expensive Indian meals. Well if you go to Top 1 cafe in little India it's just RM20++ Perhaps I won't be so shocked if we spent RM130++ in Miam Miam. Okay that's kinda discriminatory. I suppose I have to understand that Indian food is counted as exotic cuisine too, just like Italian food and French food, so it's probably normal that they charge as much. But hey it's expensive. We rarely spend that much on food except for buffets. Anyway I have to admit that the food is really nice. Especially the mutton massala. Definitely a must try for meat lovers. (It's RM30++ and the portion is too small for that price, to be honest. But then, it's delicious.) And try the lassi too. I had a sweet one. It's... really sour. Quite special but some might not like it. For me it's nice. I like the Pakora too. (It's kinda like deep fried mixed vege. I dunno how to describe. Owh and its included in the not-really-complimentary appetizers.)

 As for elections... If you have been following Taiwanese news you would know that the mayor elections were on today. And at the time of posting the results are out. Much to my disapproval. Well I'm not a supporter of either parties, I'm just dissatisfied that 柯文哲 was elected as the mayor of Taipei city. Why? Coz I can't stand him. The guy's a jerk, a Chauvinistic pig that objectifies woman. He once said that he supports polygamy coz it could raise the birth rates. 1. We have rights to not freaking give birth. 2. Seriously? Polygamy? You do know it's 21 century right? I bet you don't. 3. No person with the slightest hint of a brain would make such a politically incorrect statement publicly. How can such a terrible person win? Especially when his opponent offered to take no salary for the job. How can you Taiwanese people make such a terrible horrible choice?? I can't believe it! As someone whose soul is probably from Taiwan (I was conceived there lol.) I felt truly disappointed. You guys really let me down. How can you choose such a &%^$(# person as your mayor? I understand that a lot of people felt anti-Kuomintang this time for some reason but then you should pick the candidate not the party. It's just so.... unbelievable that people would choose such a womanizer who lives in ancient China or something as their leader. I now truly believe that this society is going to fall apart due to moral decay. What kind of people will vote for such a person? A. Brainless B. Insane C. Politically blind D. Too numb to care E. Sexist pig  No matter which, I'm certain such a society has no future whatsoever. (Btw, I can't believe this guy managed to get married. If I'm his wife I'll slap him and dump him.) Seriously the world is going to end. I won't be surprised if a meteorite hits Earth tomorrow and destroys the whole human civilization. Goodbye world.

p.s. I have just finished uploading pictures and all but I'm so sleepy now so only 1 post today... Awwww sorry give me some rest...

p.p.s. Does anyone here reads Options? The magazine complimentary with The Edge? Anyway there's this columnist Kam Raslam who is really humorous and witty and talks about a lot of random things. I've been reading it since for quite some time and I think my randomness might be inspired by him. Well if it's not because of him then it's because of Nicole. Lol.

This is too random to have a title

I'm back from Bangi and Melaka. I know I should post about all those stuff and all those pics but nah. Hey I have a perfect valid excuse this time! My camera ran out of batteries so I can't upload the photos into my laptop. And also, can anyone teach me how to transfer the photos from my phone (Samsung) to my laptop?

So to make up for these few days that I missed (and the days I will miss due to camp), I'll post double every day! One would be about my traveling stuff, the other would be whatever random thing that happened to pop up in my mind.

Today I went jogging. To be completely honest I hate jogging. I hate sports. Except swimming since I won't get sweaty. I really don't understand why people say that they feel energetic after working out. I think they are lying. It's not even remotely possible if you think about the human body structure. Every time I do sports I just feel tired as hell. Ugh. And sweaty. And sticky. Seriously how can anyone enjoy it??? I'm so sorry but I failed to understand it. Whatever.

Just thought you might like to know (actually I doubt that), I have finally decided to write on Wattpad. The problem is, as I have said, my writing style is quite set on Chinese mode. The more reason I should practice. But seriously, english doesn't even have a word for 妖怪. Well it's not like I have to write about that, it's just an example to show you that a lot of chinese terms can't be found in english. It's kinda annoying. And actually I have discovered my main weakness in creative writing. It appears so that I lack the ability to think up a plot. (And a title, for that matter. I still haven't decided.) All I can think of is scenes, random scenes that are nice (I think) but does not link up. There is no main plot... So the whole story will have no main point, and instead will be made up of random short sub-plots. Actually, me being me, I always get tired of books whenever it starts to get into the main plot. It's like once you have a plot, the story becomes predictable. Which is BORING. Unfortunately, there aren't much people like me.

Maksud tersirats

I have this... weird... behaviour kinda thing. It seems that, from a young age I use hidden meanings in my conversations. Without actually realizing it until today when I was absent-mindedly thinking about myself. (According to the test I mentioned in 'A Lot Of Weird Stuff', I'm an introspective person, not a narcissist.)

Anyway. As I was saying, I often tell someone specific things for a specific reason. How do I explain this without sounding too freaky? Okay, like, if I see an interesting article somewhere, I'll think of someone whom I'd like to tell this story to. For a reason. Of cuz, it's not like everything I say has a double meaning, it's just quite often...

The main reasons:
1. I thought that the person would react in a specific way, such as to disagree or agree strongly, so I would like to test out my theory.
2. I thought that the person would surely disagree or even be horrified by the views portrayed through the story and therefore I would like to agitate him or her.
3. I agree whole-heartedly with the views and I want to see if other people share the same thoughts with me.
4. I have long disagreed with the person's views but dunno how to tell him or her so I use the story as a media to express my views (and to hint at the person to stop trying to influence my with his or her views which I definitely does not agree with.)
5. I try to influence the other person who has opposite views with me through the story.

Mostly it's a combination of 2 and 4. I used to enjoy choosing controversial articles for my newspaper cutting assignment and write my own ever so slightly extremist views about it and see if it drives the teacher crazy. I think it kinda did, last year. Not exactly, but the teacher always give me bad marks... But this year the teacher seems to accept my views open-mindedly, but I suspect it's only because I'm one of the only persons who at least does the homework seriously instead of talking crap.

I'll admit that I enjoyed telling a story of controversial moral values to more traditional people to see if they freak out. Especially when I go on to say how much I agree with it. (For example, I think I'd enjoy telling a religious person that I support abortion rights. Unfortunately I never had the chance since I don't know any religious people.) Well I'm a mischievous person.

But sadly, most people are too dumb to get my hidden meanings. So next time I gaze at you meaniingfully after I tell you something, please reply instead of just saying 'Oh'.

......

It's just the start of the hols and yet I'm feeling bored. I seem too lazy to watch tv, read novels, or doing anything at all. All day I'm like, sit there in a trance, lazy to move, lazy to talk, lazy to think... My life is totally directionless.

Did I ever say that I need 12 hours of sleep a day to not be sleepy? Well, it's not true. I slept for 12 hours today and yet I'm still sleepy.

Actually if you think about it, me during hols is really unproductive. I can't even finish all those movies I recorded. Duhhh. But then, what productive things are there to do? Like writing my blog? *Shrugs*

As a matter of fact I've been thinking of writing novels on Wattpad. To polish up my English writing skills and my creativity. But it seems that the skill of writing stories is lost on me. I used to be able to write reasonable stories for exam in primary but not anymore. I feel like I have to do something about it but I dunno what. It's like, I dunno how to write, and the more I refuse to write, the worst it gets. So, I really should get started somewhere. But then, I seriously dunno how to start an English story. It's like, everything I write seems so immature so I'll end up deleting it anyway. It's like, everything I write is so... exam-ish. It's not elegant like a story should be... Chinese stories are different, as you can probably see in my other blog, it's at least... reasonably immature. Duhhh. Plus, I don't have a decent plot in my head. English stories are quite different from Chinese ones, especially in the fantasy aspect. And I can only write fantasy stuff coz surely you don't expect me to write real life love stories? Chinese fantasy stories usually have crossovers and demons. English ones have vampires and werewolves... Whatever I give up being productive and I shall go back to lazing around again.

Weird Memory

My memory functions kinda weirdly. Recently, I have discovered something about it: my memory works best when I just wake up.

It's like, I would be trying hard to remember something such as a name, a place, a movie or whatever, and failing miserably, but then after a night's sleep all of a sudden I would be like, EUREKA and finally recall it successfully. Proves that sleep is super important. I basically need 12 hours of sleep a day to not feel sleepy. That's just a random statement.

Oh and I am trying really hard to find out what this song is. Thing is, I have this short segment of a tune stuck in my head, and I can remember the lyrics too, just for that particular sentence. But then, when I typed into Google I can't find any song that matches. Nat says I might have unknowningly made up the lyrics myself. So yea if anyone knows PLEASE TELL ME. (The segment I could remember: 想起了 你的笑 慢慢流下了眼泪) I actually tried the music recognizing function in an app, but then it couldn't work... Pei Jiin says that it can only recognize the original version of the song sung by the original singer. Which is really stupid, since I wouldn't have to use the recognize function to search for a song if I know the title........ 

p.s. Was just trying out Wattpad. Can someone tell me why is there so much fanfiction about Zayn there?! It's like he pops up in every single story in the weirdest places. Seriously, why???

Opinions

Just feel like talking about random stuff today. So here's some weird pieces of my mind.
1. Is it worth it to tell everyone about your blog?
Hmm. I think... yes? Well that's what I did anyway. Motive? Obviously, it is to attract more views. I dunno whether it is a success or a failure, well at least I have Shu Qi? XD But then again, there are a lot of cons too. The main thing is, I won't post stuff that's too private or too weird anymore. Which is kinda sad actually. And I try to avoid sia-sui stuff. And I am regretting the decision to link a ...... blog I share with Nat at the bottom of my blog, coz I'm not really sure I want to promote it to people I know... But then, some of them already knows. Plus, I wanna direct some traffic over there since it's kinda a lonely page with low views... As if I have high views, duh. Wait I can't believe I actually told you guys about the link. Okay fine ignore me. (By the way Flo if you visit here you might discover that I have a link to your blog too. Now thank me for promoting your blog. =P)

2. Do you feel more comfortable with exposing your life to a complete stranger or a familiar person (eg classmate, neighbour etc) ?
Stranger. It feels less threatening. This question is more or less related to the first one. I won't feel uncomfortable at all to write stupid stuff up here if no one knows who this blogger really am. It's like, if someone who knows me reads this blog, she'll probably think that I'm weird. On the other hand, if a random stranger reads this blog, she'll probably think that the blogger is weird but then she won't know it's me. Telling a stranger private stuff is almost perfectly safe as long as he never finds out your real identity. That's what I feel anyway.

3. Is it more embarrassing for a guy to be mistaken for a girl or for a girl to be mistaken for a guy?
The reason behind this is that, today I went to (another) Science fair with Nat and we both mistook a girl for a guy. Until we saw her long hair (tied in a bun). Back to the question, personally I think the latter is worse. Well, be it sexist or what, admit the truth that when people say that a girl is boyish they usually mean it in a bad way, but when one says a guy has feminine looks it's not necessarily a bad thing as it may mean that he has nice features. After all, aren't Korean stars hot? Sad case. But thankfully no one has ever mistook me for a guy. (I think.) In fact I recall someone disliking me coz she thought I was too girlish. But then I don't think so, it's not like I have a high-pitched voice, neither do I have a curvaceous body shape. Well.

4. Which one is more impressive, a novel that makes you sympathize with its antagonist or one that makes you hate the antagonist?
I seriously have no idea. Obviously, if the author tried to make you hate the antagonist but you ended up liking him, or vice versa, then it's a complete failure. Otherwise I dunno. But then, if a character is designed as the antagonist, he is supposed to be bad right, so most of the time we are supposed to hate him I guess. Nat says she thinks that making readers hate the antagonist is more impressive as it's harder, since hate is a more complex emotion. She also said that in my case, it's easier to make me hate someone than to sympathize with them... Which is actually kinda true, except for the fact that most of the books I read have no antagonist, or maybe I failed to recognize them? Except Blink of an Eye, where I really hate Omar, he deserves to die and thankfully he DID die. Yay. Oh and also Nat says she usually dislikes the protagonist rather than the antagonist. But then she is usually emotionless when reading. I dunno about protagonists and antagonists, but I know I usually support the wrong guy (the supporting character who is destined to lose to the main character) when the book has more than one male characters. Whatever.

Basic Human Rights

I know, I know I said I wouldn't bore everyone with school stuff, but I seriously cannot take it anymore and I need to let out my dissatisfaction somewhere. Plus, the only reader in this blog is only Shu Qi anyway... I'm sure she wouldn't complain.

Today instead of boring talks there was this insane group activity kinda thing. Again, the facilitator is a graduate here. (Seriously, dear juniors, I swear I won't ever come back to annoy you peeps okay?) She is 10 years younger than my mum but looks older. That's not the main point. The main point is, she is really irritating. And boring.

First, she made us split into 10 groups randomly based on the last number of our student ID. Seriously I hate it when teachers etc try to group us up with random people. You never know what weird people you could end up with. Thankfully most in my group are people I sorta know anyway so it wasn't that awkward. (Oh and a lot of peeps from my class cheated by all sticking together regardless of what group they're supposed to be in.) Then, she made us do stupid stuff like shout slogans and answer so-called common sense questions about the school. By awarding fake currency. Then there was a really lame investment game. Do not get me wrong, most currency games if carried out properly are fun, but hers is a total failure. Why? Because she was completely unplanned and do things randomly.

It's like, there were no rules except for what she said. For example, she awarded people currency according to her mood. A correct answer can earn you 10-500 depending on what she felt. It's like she's playing god to this whole thing, controlling whatever results. Which made the whole thing pointless coz your effort (or its absense) made no difference really. Like, when she asked everyone to collect weird stuff like shillings and white hair (which Crystal has a lot) and in the end she was too lazy to check so she just gave us 50 each. Which meant its meaningless really.

To make things worse, it didn't ended at 10 like it's supposed to. Apparently, the crazy woman decided to take matters into her own hands by changing the schedule. We were supposed to continue tomorrow and let the other classes have their turn first. But no. She insisted on finishing today. Duh. To be honest I was really exasperated with this in particular because in order to avoid as many talks/lame stuff as possible I signed up for an exhibition visit tomorrow. And since tomorrow it will be other classes' turn it means I can now NOT escape. ARGH. (As for the exhibition, I'm kinda annoyed as well coz at first the teacher in charge promised a car to fetch us there and back school but now she said we have to walk. It's not far but I hate walkiing. Remind me to bring my umbrella.)

Supposedly after 10 we had to dance those 广场舞 (you know, the one the aunties in China always do?) (Most terrible stuff that horrible woman did: She wanted us to dance 广场舞 but she actually did NOT use 最炫民族风 music! How could she! Didn't she know that it's a must? Not using that song is violating the basic rules of the dance! What, you do not know that song? Go Google it!) but thankfully I never had a chance to find out. U reckon I would return after finally escaping? Me, Pei Jiin and Nat went to find our dearest PKK teacher to find some work to do. Yeah we actually asked her is there anything we could do. And luckily she did found something for us! *Best teacher ever* So in the end we went to the PJ room to label every single ball and bats etc with the words 'PJK PCGHS'. Yay. *I <3 PKK*

Nat said she wasn't that bad. Actually, main reason I can't stand her is because she violated my basic rights.
1. Right to talk. I am a human and I have the right to make noise/talk. It's bad enough to split friends up and yet she kept shouting at us the shut up. I seriously hate it when people tell me to shut up. I feel like slapping those people.
2. Right to sleep. I was resting in a comfy, dark, cool corner and yet she had to move us and therefore I have no place to sleep unless I lie down in the middle of the road.
3. Right to NOT respect her. Being rebellious I shall NOT award you my respect unless you proof that you are worthy. And she didn't. She treated us like 3-year-olds. She didn't respect ME so I refuse to respect her. And therefore I would be glad to ignore her instructions. What right has she to instruct me? I have the right to refuse to be instructed! And I seriously can't stand her way of playing god to the whole lame game and controlling everything. Seriously, don't you dare to try to control me!

Complete Strangers

So today us PKKs were given the (very important XD) task of printing out all the Form 3 people's co-curricular activity reports, stamping every single sheet of it (most of the time when you see the headmistress's stamp on your report cards, it's us behind it. Surely you don't expect her to stamp for all of us mere peasants?) and filing them into each report book respectively.(We accepted the task gladly since it would mean skipping the boring talks.)

Well, it's the perfect chance to look at everyone's photos.

And then I realized that most of the faces were completely unfamiliar. I was like, huh, this person exists? Why haven't I seen her before? You sure she exists?! And it's not just for classes that are located far away from my class, which would be logical to say that I never ran into those people before, I don't even know some of the girls from K3B and K3C, which is like, next to my class... It's especially unbelievable since I barge into K3B every now and then to find Patricia... I seriously can't believe there are so many complete strangers to me in our school. It's like I don't even have memory of seeing their faces before. Is the school too big or is my memory flawed?

Thankfully I did NOT discover a stranger's face in the stack of report cards of my class. Or else... Hmm, things would get interesting.

p.s. I forgot to add in one interesting incident yesterday at the fair. At the entrance of the waiting area for the workshop, there was this middle-aged woman worker who stopped me.
Woman: Where are your parents?
Me: ?? Home??
Woman: Oh, then how old are you? You can only enter without your parents if you are above 13.
Me: ... I'm 15...
I dunno whether to be happy or sad... But then, I was actually wearing my school t-shirt, which has big PCGHS letters (in Chinese) on it. AND a school logo. So, my dear lady, you do know that you have to be at least Form 1 to start middle school right?

PISF

Penang International Science Fair. At PISA (now known as SPICE after Setia bought it) which is really far away from the centre of my universe a.k.a. my house. (Have I mentioned before that, being a total failure at recognizing directions and routes, I literally take my house as the centre of the world? As in, if you ask me to show the way from my school to, say, a frequently visited restaurant, I'll have to go all the way back home and out again. No short cuts sorry.)

Well that's where I went today with a bunch of, prefects lol. Who would have known this day would come? Anyway that's not the point. The reason we went there is because the school entered us into some workshops. Free. Actually you wouldn't have guessed how many people I met there today who came on their own... I suppose the fair is quite famous and therefore attracts a lot of people. But it's my first time there coz lazy people like me rarely go to events.

My workshop is about nanoparticles, and in the end we were given a tiny bottle each of nano-gold... Which can supposedly be processed to cure cancer. But then, I dunno what am I supposed to do with it. But it's kinda cute... So I shall put it as a deco in my room lol. And the facilitators kept stressing that it's very expensive. (No offense but it's really a torture to try to understand Taiwan English. I think most of the participants cannot get what the professor is talking about, and everyone had this blank look.)

After the workshop we kinda walked around in the fair, PISA is really big for someone like me who has a complete absence of a sense of direction and therefore, I kept getting lost. For some reason I cannot find the exit on the 2nd floor and I had to go back to the 3rd floor to exit... Sheesh.

Oh and among all the things I did, one was kinda sia-sui (embarassing). You see, there was this stall from Keysight, if you complete all the three activities they give you a mug. I was like, hey I want that mug. I dunno why, perhaps it's because I need a new mug. Well, so I queued up for the activities, which was kinda lame actually. The main problem with the fair was that there were too many people and to do ANYthing you have to queue. Somewhere along the queue I discovered that everyone around seemed younger than me. I was like, what the hell am I doing? Then I was like, nevermind I want the mug and I'll get it.

I got it in the end. Photos next post. It's a really normal mug actually.

Sleep

I think I might have accidentally taken sleeping pills today...

Well, I slept for 15 hours today. That's a lot. I woke at 12 noon, (I slept at 12 midnight last night.) had lunch, and then slept again until 5. I almost thought I was sick... I wonder what's wrong with me?

And I had this crazy dream that my art teacher was going to film a horror movie, and asked us to act in it. The storyline was about monsters climbing out of a tv. So cliche. And somehow we went to a place with a lot of rumah setinggan(illegal housing) and big drains...... And I kept telling my teacher his props look too fake. Such a weird dream.

I feel sleepy even now. Good night peeps.

Nothing Important

Just a random update about whatever happened this few days.
1. I went to a new tuition. (That's why I didn't blog yesterday... Finding excuses desperately.) Malay. Why? Coz Nat dragged me. Why? Coz she was worried there might not be any other girls in the tuition, since its new and the teacher is from Chung Ling. So basically she kidnapped me. Actually I hate tuition but then I'm not really satisfied with my current Malay tuition so yeah. And also she threatened me not to lend me her books if I won't go. Lol. I'll probably have to decide which tuition to go to next year coz if I go to both of the tuitions I'll die. Not literallyther stay home but I rather stay home and sleep.

2. Okay this is random. That day Nat asked me, what would I do to encourage someone to study hard. So I said why should I care to encourage people to study hard? She said well, what if I'm promised 1 million dollars for the mission.
Me: Okay, in that case I'll tell the target, if she studies hard I shall give her 0.5 million dollars....
It's perfectly logical right?

3. I think I shall quit writing stuff about school. I mean, most people who read my blog is in the same class with me so it's really meaningless. Anyway I really appreciate my blog visitors eheheh. Just don't make weird comments suddenly in school.

4. Right now I have 4 other tabs open and one of them is an online novel. I'm still pondering why can't I write stuff with more emotion.... Whereas Pei Jiin is so skilled. She told me to read more novels but I don't think it helps... For me, novels help me in writing descriptive stuff but not emotional stuff. I dunno why. Right now the novel I'm reading (it's really random) is super descriptive. It can dedicate one whole paragraph to describe the guy entering the room.... I'm not that good but at least I'm better than Nat.

Talks

As I mentioned before, exams are finally over. So, basically what we do in class now is chat, do handicrafts, or play games such as Mafia.(I'm sure you know this game right? If no, you can Google it. For some reason unknown to me it's also called Werewolf.)

Anyway, I'm sad to say, the good days are going to be over. Over. OVER. Why? Not because people are insane enough to start studying Form 4 syllables... It's just that, the school, which would never allow us to have any fun, always think up of new ways to torture us. And they call it the post-PMR(PT3? whatever) activities.

The main point is, all these stupid stuff, is all because someone went to tell Miss Ong that she's bored. Like, what the hell? How unpopular ust you be for everyone to ignore your mere and pathetic existence in class until you feel bored? Post-exam period is supposed to be the most relaxing and interesting time of the whole year! How mean must you be to complain to Miss Ong until the whole form must suffer with you?

To make matters worse, the 'activities' are all freaking talks! Last year, at least they did relatively fun stuff such as visiting the War Museum (one of the most haunted places in Asia. <smirks> I would really like to visit there with Nic heheheheh) and baking. (although it's really a waste of materials in my case since I cannot cook anything decent) Now, it's all freaking TALKS!!! And it's all stupid stuff given by the counseling teacher, who is renowned for talking crap. I hate hate hate motivational talks, they are nothing but a waste of time listening to shit.

I plan to plait my bracelet in the auditorium.

p.s. The bracelet is for Nat... I still own her a birthday gift... Shall post after I finish.

Yay I'm Back

Finally exams are over. Which means Nat, Flo and my dare shall now take effect. Well, to test each other's determination and perseverance, we have taken up a challenge to blog 50 posts in Nov and Dec. I should have started on Fri, but then I was in KL.

I'm sure no one would be interested in what I did in KL (and Ipoh) so basically this post is dedicated to... rest stops.

Personally I really dislike highways. I'm quite a scaredy-cat and highways make me freak out. Especially at night. It's so freaking dark. Well, that's why we need rest stops. Rest stops in Malaysia can be divided into two types: big ones and small ones. I'd advice you to go to small ones for the toilet, and big ones for the food. Coz the small ones have less people and is therefore cleaner.

When heading south we stopped at Taiping rest stop, which is quite small, have clean toilets, fruit stalls, and coffee vending machines. Nothing much. Last time I went to KL we also stopped at Sungai Perak rest stop, which is big, and if you have time you can take a ferry along the river. I would definitely recommend stopping at Tapah rest stop, they have awesome food. The white coffee shop is nice, and the curry mee from Express Stall is tasty and cheap. There's also Secret Recipe and Baskin Robbins. A must-stop for me.

As for northward direction, Tapah rest stop isn't really that special, maybe you could try RTC Perak rest stop instead. I haven't been there but there's a really big Agromall. Don't stop at Sungai Perak rest stop on rainy days as the toilets are located away from the main building. And it's kinda dirty. Semanggol rest station has small toilets which aren't really clean, a really big surau, and stalls that sell Islamic stuff. Oh and there's a shop selling dried seafood, opened by LKIM. Most importantly, Semanggol rest station has a lot of cats!!