THE INITIAL STAGE OF THE JOHOR BAHRU - XI'AN TRIP

How I travelled from Johor Bahru to Xi'an, in brief.

   1st SEPTEMBER 2026   

4:20 p.m. Took the KTMB ERL Train to Kuala Lumpur.

9:00 p.m. Arrived in KL Sentral [20 minutes behind schedule]

9:20 p.m. Took the ERL Express to KLIA Terminal 1 from KL Sentral

9:45 p.m. Arrived at KLIA Terminal 1

Met Puan Noor'aini Mohamed Nor, an ex-colleague of SMK Taman Universiti, who was accompanied by her husband and two children. She was catching her flight to Balkan.

10:00 p.m. Group members [who were strangers to me] started to arrive at the Departure Hall.

There were 28 people which were divided into 2 groups.

Group 1 [10 people] flew to Xi'an via Xiamen.

Group 2 [18 people] flew to Xi'an via Guangzhou.

I was in Group 1.

We were notified our flight to the Xiamen, the transit stop, was delayed for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

11:00 p.m. Checking in at the Xiamen Air counter.

   2nd SEPTEMBER 2026   

12:30 a.m. Checking in at Plaza Premium Lounge [READ HERE].

3:40 a.m. Departed Kuala Lumpur on Xiamen Air, original time 2:30 a.m.

8:40 a.m. Landed at Xiamen International Airport, and there was about only an hour to clear Immigration and run to the next awaiting flight.

9:45 a.m. Departed Xiamen for Xi'an.

12:00 p.m. Landed at X'ian International Airport.

Reunited with Group #2 from Guangzhou.

Group 1 members waited for the luggage that never arrived.

Because of the 1 hour delay, our bags were not transferred to the next vessel.

All the luggage was later sent by the airline company to the hotel and we got our bags at 11:00 p.m.

3:00 p.m. Arrived at Citadines Hotel.

Some people already started their shopping activity earlier.

THE BREAKFAST SESSION AT GRANDMAMA'S IN KLIA TERMINAL 1

The long wait for the flight home had to be filled with beneficial activity. Too early in the morning, the best thing to do was to have breakfast.

Grandmama's should be one of the latest eating places opened in the terminal. I happily marched in without any doubt upon seeing the Halal display at the entrance.

The restaurant looked expensive but the paper cup was a letdown. I just hoped that they would use a ceramic instead of the cheap paper containers.

I had Roti Telur [Roti Canai fried with egg] with curry and dhal gravy, accompanied by Teh Tarik. It was good and worth the money spent, especially after being away from home for 5 days. Now I have another option of an eating place when I am at the airport.

BLOGGING FROM KLIA TERMINAL 1

I am now blogging from Dunkin' Donut at Kuala Lumpur International Airport [KLIA] Terminal 1, at 3.30 a.m. I was on a holiday trip in Xi'an, China, for 5 days and guess it has already come to its end. I am now waiting for my next flight to take me home to Johor Bahru at Terminal 2 at 9:00 a.m. Just cannot wait to get some rest before starting work tomorrow.

Do expect my daily updates of my blog, as well as some pending posts of the past. Just pray that I will have enough strength and motivation to do that.

VISITING A FRIEND AT HER HOUSE IN BANDAR PULAI JAYA

31st AUGUST 2026 ~ I finally managed to visit a friend in Bandar Pulai Jaya, Puan Rumaiah Asan, who is now on medical leave after the small accident that happened at home almost one month ago. Two other friends, the lovely husband and wife couple, Mr. Khir and Puan Mazelina were also there to cheer our friend up.

Praying that Puan Rumaiah will be, literally, back on her feet real soon so we could out for coffee and gossip sessions like last time.

 

A NEW PLACE FOR LUNCH DISCOVERED IN TAMAN TERATAI

   31st AUGUST 2026    ~ Today was the National of Malaysia, celebrating its 69th year of Independence. My regular gastronomic adventure buddy and I decided to go for lunch outside.

He managed to find a restaurant on TikTok and we drove to Rantau Ikan Bakar Restaurant located in Taman Teratai. We arrived at about 2:15 p.m. and there were not many diners already. Fortunately, a lot of dishes were still available at that time.

It was a new eating place discovery for us. Now, we have found a good restaurant if we want to eat Nasi Campur - rice with dishes of our choice for lunch. I will be returning to try its other traditional Malay dishes.

ATTENDING THE WEDDING RECEPTION OF MR. AMIN SHAMSUDDIN

    30TH AUGUST 2026    ~ The second wedding of the day was of an ex-student of SMK Taman Universiti, Mr. Mohd. Amin Samsuddin. The venue was at Bricks Cafe & Homestay in Kempas, which accidentally near to the first reception attended before [READ HERE].

I met a few ex-students, an ex-colleague and parents of ex-students.

Fortunately, I managed to meet the groom and his lovely wife as I was leaving the place.

Wishing the lovely couple a blessed and happy married life ahead.