Driving Up Till Christmas

Bright and early the next day, KH and I had hand-drip coffee and pastries, before starting our road trip. Didn't make any proper stops until we reached Bidor. Explored the morning market a bit, and shared a bowl of noodles.  Roamed around the thoroughfare on foot, admiring the old shop lots. Even took a brief look at the tacky Petai Lane, and a giant fruits monument (something that small town councils like to do). Based on a recommendation in Google Maps, we had our second Bidor breakfast at Restoran Mee Wah. The wantan noodles were supposedly good, but it was NASTY! Generic kopitiam wantan noodles in KL taste much better. I couldn't touch the noodles after one bite. Horrid lye water after taste. And the meat can't be described as charsiew. Made a run for it after the old man at the goldsmith wasn't too happy that I took a photo of his shopfront. Perhaps he thought I might be scoping out the place for a robbery! 

Continued our journey towards the limestone hills of Perak. Our next stop was Ipoh. Arranged to meet the two top beauty queens of Perak, Ms. Bercham, and Ms. Kinta Valley for lunch at One Bite Nyonya. They were fashionably late, but since SK and Drew were already there, we started without them. As expected, the beauty queens of Perak filled us in on the latest news and gossip of our sisters in the northern state. Next up, we had coffee at Ferment, where Drew's paparazzi eyes spotted Joseph Schooling, a swimmer for Singapore's national team. 

SK and Drew stayed in Ipoh, while KH and I continued our journey to Penang via the Second Bridge. KH booked a room at Areca Hotel, a boutique hotel along Jalan Khoo Sian Ewe. Like many lodgings in the heart of Georgetown, Areca Hotel was converted from a row of old shophouses. Street parking was relatively easy to find, and the check-in was painless. Our second-floor room was a tad small, and KH wasn't very happy with the air-conditioning. There was some construction going on behind our room too, but I was too tired to care. Got a bit of rest before our evening activities.