A Brief Account of Lunch at Royal Lake Club Hosted by Aw ES on May 26, 2022

Mr. Aw Eng Sun hosted a lunch at Bunga Raya Restaurant, Royal Lake Club, Taman Tasek Perdana, KL on Thursday, May 26, 2022 inviting his hometown long-time buddy Dato’ Hj. Nik Mahmood Nik Hassan (former MD of L&G Bhd), Mr. Stanley Ong, Mr. Khoo Kay Hock and me.

A brief account of this occasion is as follows:

10.30 am:  Left home to walk to the nearest bus stop.

10.35 am:  Stanley picked me up at the bus stop, 10 minutes ahead of schedule. He is always 10 to 15 minutes earlier than any scheduled time for our appointments, be it meetup or meal.  He is a remarkably punctual guy!

11.25 am: Picked up Mr. Khoo at Happy Garden, KL.  

Mr. Khoo spoke about my column article regarding China politics published in NYSP just two days ago (he purposely bought NYSP on Tuesday to read my article) and shared many insider stories and some information about the China political leaders. Very impressive! I appreciate his advice for me to refrain from writing about China politics.

12.00 am: Arrived at Royal Lake Club. Mr. Aw and Dato’ Nik Mahmood were already waiting for us at the foyer.

12.05 am: Entered Bunga Raya Restaurant and started chit-chatting while Mr. Aw ordered food for us.

The dishes were: shark-fin soup, four season combinations, deep-fried Tilapia fish, kangkong belacan and bean sprout.  There was supposed to be another dish of sweet and sour chicken which was missed out to be served!

Dato’ Nik Mahmood (a PKR veteran and former Kelantan chairman) shed some light on the current political affairs and other interesting stories.  He also revealed his leg, back-bone, slipped disc, arthritis and other problems, seeking the advice from Mr. Khoo. 

I heard Mr. Aw addressing Dato’ Nik as “Mood” every time he spoke to the latter, signifying how close they are!

1.30 pm: As it was quite noisy in the restaurant and difficult to chat, Mr. Aw suggested we move to the foyer for coffee and continue our chit-chat there.   

Dato’ Nik Mahmood paid for our teh-tarik but he had to leave for another appointment at 2.00 pm. We managed to have a delightful chat for about 20 minutes at the foyer before a car came to fetch Dato’ Nik.

I found Dato’ Nik Mahmood a very friendly and pleasant person with a smiling face all the time. We were told that he has some ancestral Mongolian blood and no wonder Mr. Khoo’s first impression on him was that he looks like a Chinese!

Mr. Aw, Mr. Khoo, Stanley and I continue to chit-chat until 3.00 pm at the foyer. I totally enjoyed listening to the many interesting stories shared by the three of them.  

3.00 pm: We bid farewell to Mr. Aw and left Royal Lake Club.

3.45 pm: Stanley sent Mr. Khoo home.  As always, the very knowledgeable (in all fields) Stanley would share many useful information with me in our journey back to BSL.

4.15 pm: I returned home.

Picking up Mr. Khoo at his house

Bunga Raya Restaurant at Royal Lake Club

Dato' Nik Mahmood (pic left) and Mr. Khoo

Seated from left: 76-yr. old Dato' Hj. Nik Mahmood, 89 yr. old Mr. Khoo KH. Standing form left: 68 yr- old Mr. Stanley Ong. 82-yr. old Mr. Aw ES and the blogger

A selfie in front of Bunga Raya Restaurant

A wefie with Mr. Aw and Dato' Nik at the foyer

A wefie with Stanley and Mr. Khoo at the foyer

Delightful conversation among old and new acquaintances. (I met Dato' Nik for the first time, met Mr. Khoo for the second time.)

Stanley stressing a point on beating technique to clear blood clots

Lunch With Friends At Mei Wei Little Kitchen, PJ on May 13, 2022

I hosted a lunch with Mr. Aw Eng Sun (82 yr. old), Stanley Ong (68 yr. Old) and his friend Mr. Khoo Kay Hock (89 yr. Old)  at Mei Wei Little Kitchen (美味小厨), Section 17, P.J. on Friday, May 13, 2022. This is my turn to host a lunch subsequent to a similar lunch hosted by Mr. Aw at the same restaurant on Februay 17, 2022. 

Stanley picked me up with his car in front of his Forest Green Apartment of BSL at 11.10am and we went to Happy Garden, K.L. to fetch his friend Mr . Khoo.  

I learned that Mr. Khoo (born in 1933) was the founder of Pfizer Malaysia, a Chemistry graduate from Nanyang University (entering as the first batch of undergraduates in 1956, and passing out as the third batch of graduates), a Qigong master, Parti Gerakan veteran and many other impressive background. He is very fit and healthy at such a senior age.  A great acquaintance made possible by Stanley!

We reached Mei Wei Little Kitchen at 12.30pm and Mr .Aw was already waiting for us there.  He gave a copy of his son Tash Aw’s book entitled “Strangers On A Pier” to Stanley and me.  The front cover picture showed the author’s father i.e. Mr. Aw as the older of the two brothers when they were young. Mr. Aw must be very very proud of his son’s literary achievements!

I ordered Ham Choy Steamed Fish Head (潮州蒸鱼头 RM38.00)， Fu Kua Falam or Belly Pork with Bitter Gourd (苦瓜花腩煲 RM28.50), Garlic Kai Lan (蒜米香港芥兰 RM17.00), Sizzling Tofu (铁板豆腐 RM18.80), Chinese Tea Pot of Pu Er (RM4.80 + 4x0.80) and big rice (4xRM1.80). Total amount was RM117.50.

We had a good chit-chat while savoring the delicious dishes.  Both Mr. Khoo and Mr. Aw were very talkative sharing their valuable experiences in life.

After lunch at about 1.30pm, we walked over to the nearby Kwong Wah Ice Kacang (光华冰室 established in 1958) for cendol (treated by Stanley).  There was a long queue of customers at that time.  We chit-chatted while drinking the tasty cendol for quite a long time until the waiter chased us out (because other customers are waiting for seats) at 2.50pm. Truly enjoyable a get-together among new and old friends!

I returned home at 4.00pm. 

Waiting outside Forest Green Apartment for Stanley to give me a lift

Pic from left: Aw, Khoo and Stanley at Mei Wei Little Kitchen 

Receiving the gift of book from Mr. Aw

The boy on the left is the young Aw ES, the father of the author Tash Aw

Stanley receiving a copy of the book from Aw

A group photo (from left): Me, Aw, Khoo and Stanley

Belly Pork with Bitter Gourd

Sizzling Tofu

Teochew-style Steamed Fish Head

Our dishes

Kwong Wah Ice Kacang 

Long queue of customers 

The famous cendol of the kopitiam

Stanley and Qigong master Khoo

Aw chatting with Khoo, both more than 80 years young!

A pose with Stanley

A pose with Mr. Aw ES, my most respected and bosom senior friend

Half-day Downtown KL Tour on May 4, 2022

Inspired by a YouTube video by C Kology entitled “Chinatown Kuala Lumpur : The best 20 places your tour guide does not bring you (茨厂街 吉隆坡 20 打卡处 ) “ https://youtu.be/dqncVEBpTuM received from a friend a week ago, I decided to make a half-day tour to Chinatown to visit a few of the places mentioned.  I chose Wednesday, May 4, 2022 and later realized it was a mistake because it was a replacement public holiday for May 1 Labour Day and there were plenty of tourists this day.

My wife Soh Ai and I left home at 10.10am planning to take RapidKL Bus No. 590 straightaway to Hab Lebuh Pudu adajent to Chinatown.  We saw the MRT Feeder Bus T453 approaching at 10.15am and didn’t wave to stop it and board.  What a mistake we made as we waited until 11.00am and no RapidKL 590 came by at all.

At 11.00am, we took the MRT Feeder Bus T453 to Bukit Dukung MRT Station where we caught the MRT train in less than 5 minute upon reaching the station at 11.30am.

We arrived at Pasar Seni MRT Station at 12.00pm and began our tour of the city as follows:

1. Jalan Tun H.S. Lee - Guan Ti Temple Chinatown (关帝庙)/ Kwong Siew Association (广肇会馆) which is my clan association of which I am a life member.

2.  Tian Jin Hotel 天井酒店 - Walked in to “look see look see”.

3.  Jalan Sultan - REXKL.  A nostalgic visit of the former REX Cinema where I watched many movies in the early days.  

REXKL is now a community & cultural hub that occupies a historical site of one of the first theatres in the country before founded in 1947. After the first fire in 1972, Rex Cinema was rebuilt as a state of the art single-screen theatre with over a thousand seating capacity. In its heyday, the Shaw Brothers, and later on by Golden Screen Cinemas operated the theatre before another fire in 2002 that ended its glory days as a cinema. 17 years later, a group of creative entrepreneurs led by Shin Tseng and Shin Chang decided to re-activate this 60,000 sq.ft. building as part the mission to rejuvenate the forgotten part of KL by injecting new businesses, cultural agenda and creative programs into this otherwise dilapidated hidden gem.

REXKL features the city’s emerging craftsmen, restaurateurs and retailers, including Stellar Coffee, Lauk Pauk, Book Xcess, DH Paper Art, Outsider Bikes and etc. (Refer: https://www.rexkl.com/ ).

The most interesting facility is the unique BookXcess (Refer: https://www.thevibes.com/articles/culture/56137/bookxcess-rexkl-classic-cinema-reborn-as-a-bookstore-like-no-other).  I have visited its branch in My Town Shopping Centre 2 days ago on Monday, May 2, 2022.  

4.  Fung Wong Biscuits - Walked in just to “look see look see”.

5.  Nam Heong Chicken Rice - there were some diners when we first walked past.  But by the time we wanted to patronize, the restaurant told us all food were sold out and they were about to close shop.

6. Jalan Petaling - One of my main objectives for the trip was to buy Duck Leg Wrap (鸭脚包) from Sze Ngan Chye Speciality Salty Duck (四眼仔咸鸭) but the stall was not open.  The street was packed with tourists and very crowded.

1.50pm We took beef siloin wan tan mee (牛腩云吞面, RM10 each plate) and iced coffee (RM3/glass) at the coffee shop next to Kedai Kopi Lai Foong (丽丰茶餐室) amid large crowd of people.

We wanted to take RapidKL bus 590 at Hab Lebuh Pudu to return to Bandar Sungai Long, but after seeing the huge crowd of people especially foreign labourers, we decided to take MRT home.  But I made a mistake in the direction and found some difficulty in walking to Pasar Seni MRT Station.

2.35pm  Took MRT train from Pasar Seni and reached Bukit Dukung Station at 3.05pm.

3.30pm  Feeder Bus T453 departed and we reached home at 3.40pm.

Waiting for bus

Bukit Dukung MRT Station

Pasar Seni MRT Station

Guan Ti Temple

My Clan Association, Kwong Siew Association

Sri Maha Mariammam Temple, the oldest Hinud Temple in KL founded in 1873

Interesting mural painting at Jln. Tun H.S. Lee

Warisan Merdeka Tower (KL118) in the background

Tian Jing Hotel

REXKL

Basement Food Centre

REXKL bookshelves

Nostalgic cinema entrance to reserved seats

A pose in front of REXKL

Fung Wong Biscuits shop

Inside Fung Wong Biscuits

A crowded Jalan Petaling, the ChinaTown

Our beef sirloin wan tan mee lunch

Hab Lebuh Pudu bus station

Pasar Seni in the background

Walking to Pasar Seni MRT Station

Inside MRT train, crowded but many alighted at Bukit Bintang Station

Bukit Dukung feeder bus terminal