THE SHORT GATHERING AT KLIA BEFORE FLYING BACK HOME

My short trip to Subang Jaya/Kuala Selangor was about to end. A few friends [of UPM TESL class of 1993] and their family members were kind enough to meet me at Kuala Lumpur International Airport for lunch before my boarding time.

The first group to greet me were Mr. Ridwan A. Wahid and his family members. Mr. Ridwan and his wife had met and taken me to Shah Alam for breakfast in the morning and then it was lunch at the airport.

The chosen venue was the food court at the airport called Food Garden. The place was jam packed with people dining in on Sunday afternoon.

An hour later, another group arrived and this time it was Puan Hayati Ismail and her family. Mr. Faizam was the only one eating as Puan Hayati and her daughter had had their meal at a wedding reception before.

It was just a short gathering but we were still glad to be able to see each other again. I must be the lucky one to have friends who are always ready to entertain me when I am away from home.

BLOGGING FROM EMPIRE HOTEL, SUBANG JAYA

I am here at Empire Hotel, Subang Jaya, for my 3D2N stay. The main agenda is to attend an ex-colleague's child wedding reception in Kuala Selangor today. As usual, there are other sub-plots to the main storyline i.e. meeting friends.

This is one significant post in the blog as I will not be able to do the same thing again. You may wonder why. This is because the hotel will be closed down like forever starting September, which is kind of sad as I like this place very much.

I will start updating posts on my short trip to Subang Jaya starting tomorrow evening [if the flight is on time].

SPOT THE ERROR 214

The error is the word on the waiter's t-shirt.
And I am not going to tell.

GOING BACK TO IKEA FOR LUNCH

We went back to IKEA to have lunch as we needed to have lunch. The reward was to celebrate our success in chopping down a big tree behind my house, and to clear the huge trunk, branches and leaves as well.

Nasi Lemak + Meat Balls

As usual, the main dish bought at the cafe was the iconic IKEA meatballs. The rice of the day was Nasi Lemak but I was expecting to eat Fried Rice before coming.

One thing I like about dining in the cafe in IKEA was that I could drink the coffee as much as I liked. As I managed to retrieve my membership which I registered a long time ago today, the coffee was given free of charge.

Spring Rolls

As I was about to eat, someone approached me at the table and it was an ex-student of SMK Dato' Jaafar, Mr. Hazmi. He saw me coming in while he was enjoying his food with his father.

I guess next time I would have to take Mr. Eko, my assistant gardener, somewhere else for lunch. This was already our second time eating lunch here, after two months. However, he really fancied the Meat Balls as the were similar to the Indonesian Bakso.

SHOPPING TIME IN BATU

   26th JULY 2025    ~ After dinner in Malang, and before checking in at the hotel, we went for a short shopping trips at two places in Batu. Batu is a small city not as popular as other bigger cities in Indonesia, and here is a piece of interesting information about this place:

"Batu, officially the City of Batu is a city in the East Java Province of Indonesia. It is about 20 km to the northwest of Malang. Formerly, it was a part of Malang Regency; but in June 2001, Batu became an independent city (by Act No. 11 of 2001), with its own mayor and council."

SOURCE: Wikipedia 

The first shopping place we went to is called Kirangan. a two-storey building which was modern and would be appealing to both the local and foreign visitors. The place offered all sorts of items that could be bought as souvenirs and I just loved the t-shits sold here. I managed to get a few to bring back home.

 

The second place we went to was Brawijaya, another big 2-storey shopping building. There were food items sold here and I remember buying Tempe [fermented soya bean], Salak [Snake Skin] fruit  and Apple chips.

Everyone in the group got something to bring home during the first round of shopping trip and there definitely would be more.

THE ONE NIGHT STAY AT SEULAWAH GRAND VIEW HOTEL IN BATU

We checked in at Seulawah Grand View Hotel in Batu, one small city in Indonesia, on the 26th July, 2025 and stayed there for one night. The accommodation was chosen by the tour operator.

night view

morning view

There was a swimming pool right outside our bedrooms.

The package came together with breakfast.

We still managed to do a bit of shopping after checking out the next morning. PRECAUTION: Beware of the price tags of the items sold. I found out I could buy the same vegetable and flower seeds 75% cheaper somewhere else.

If you plan to stay longer in Batu, there could be better hotels in Batu. Luckily we just spent our time at the hotel overnight and everybody slept well due to the long day trip we had had.

[MY SURABAYA TRIP MAIN PAGE]