It's day two in Ipoh and having decided to wing it while I was here so i could indulge in a little chill out time, i decided to have a good old fashioned lie-in. I basically stayed in bed half the morning as once again, I was Fodmapped last night and I was a bit sick this morning.
I've been using the downtime productively today to update this blog before I forgot all the cool stuff I've seen, done and experienced while on this amazing trip. It's been a wild ride, lots of fun, lots of laughs, lots of Hari Raya songs (I can hum along to all of them now and know some of the words too). It's really Important to me to capture all of these memories in words now, I can add the pictures in later!
Breakfast forgaing has been frustrating today. I couldn't find anything suitable close by, so I found myself walking back to Ipoh Parade Shopping Mall. I settled for ramen noodles with sliced beef at Wong Kok Char Chan Teng, washed down with a nice iced lemon tea. Yes, I'm turning into a Malaysian - noodles for breakfast!
After smashing down the noodles, it was time for buying books and shoes. I found "Popular" and spent up large on NLP and Tony Robbins books, Bahasa Melayu lamguage books, a dictionary and a CD pack, plus a few magazines at $2 AUD each. $60 AUD later I had copies of "Awaken the Giant Within" and "Ultimate Power", four magazines, an NLP book similar to a textbook and a small Malay Phrasebook.
I went back to Esari shoes and bought another two pairs of sandals - the bronze pair that matches the black pair I bought last night and another pair in hues of purple. At $8 AUD each you would be crazy not to buy them and I didn't feel crazy. These shoes would be at least 5-10 times that price in Melbourne and nowhere near as comfortable! I like to think of Malaysia as the "Pretty Shoe Heaven of Asia".
By now I'd done the rounds of Ipoh Parade and was over it. It was time to try another mall. RM10 ($3.50 AUD) and a very entertaining taxi ride later (I'll upload the video later) I arrived at Kinta City Shopping Centre.
Kinta City has a Jusco Aeon, lots of brand stores and a pretty decent food court. It also had an MPH Bookstore where I found yet more NLP and Malay language books, some motivational bookmarks, a notebook and a shopping bag. These resources would have cost hundreds in Aussie so I was pretty darn stoked to get them here so cheap!
Lunch I skipped, in favour of an iced coffee and a piece of Malaysian cake. I looked in a few other stores but didn't see anything I liked until I got to Giordano, where they have National Day polo shirts.
Unfortunately, as I have now experienced in several cities in Malaysia, I was literally stalked and followed around the store by not one, but two staff members. I cannot begin to explain how annoying and frustrating it is to have this happen in EVERY STORE YOU GO TO!!! They don't do it to the natives, just to WHITE PEOPLE!!!
IMHO it is so rude and disrespectful to be literally stalked around a shop. It's happened in Penang, KL, JB, a little bit in Kuching and pretty much all over Ipoh (except in Esari shoes and the bookstores).
For Pete's sake, I want to spend money here, so unless you are going to help me do so, you can leave me alone! News flash, I've been working my ass off and saving for 10 months for this trip and all I want to do is buy myself a few things to enjoy when I get back home!
I was getting so annoyed by the stalking that I asked the two sales boys to stop. They didn't - in fact they got worse! So, I walked out.
Their female boss came over and got all up in my face, asking me if everything ok madam, to which I replied no, it's not. Please tell your staff to stop stalking me because I find it rude and disrespectful - I don't want to buy anything here now because even after I asked them to stop doing it, they got worse and I will take my money somewhere else!
She then said madam please come back, but I'd had it. I said no, thank you, but I don't want to shop here now and will go somewhere else. She then told the sales boys off.
So, every time I have been stalked in a shop (167 times so far, in six out of the seven cities I have visited within the last three weeks) I have walked out and gone somewhere else.
Take note shopkeepers of Malaysia, it is one thing to say hello to a customer when they enter your shop and ask if they need help with anything. However, it is quite another to watch the customer like a hawk and follow them right around the shop from two paces behind. We are not here to steal from you - quite the opposite, we want to buy things and support your economy. I find this stalking unacceptable and very, very rude.
We westerners read guidebooks before we come to your country and learn how not to offend you - so how about you meet us halfway by learning a little courtesy?
After the stalking incident I was well and truly over it, so I got in a taxi and went back to the hotel. On the way into the hotel lobby I discovered there was a gym next door. I went up to my room, dumped my bags, got changed, smashed down some asthma medicine and grabbed my headphones.
The gym was interesting. It was RM8 for a casual visit which was pretty reasonable (just under $3 AUD). However, they had 50 very uncomfortable spin bikes with no computers, one treadmill that was out of order, two fans for the whole building of about 450 square metres, no tv or computer screens on the cardio equipment and some seriously weird strength equipment. There was no aircon either, just a wall of open windows. It was 32 degrees and 87% humidity outside, so pretty soon I was drenched.
I did an hour on the spin bike and the female Chinese receptionist seemed surprised that I wasn't doing any weights. I told her I'd be back into it in Australia on Monday, jet lag and time zone issues willing. She seemed happy with that answer!
After a hot shower and a change of clothes, it was off in search of dinner. I'd forgotten it was the last night of Hari Raya (Ramadhan) and the fast had just broken, so everywhere was either packed out or booked out. I ended up having some dirty chicken at a greasy joint near the hotel. I felt dirty LOL!
So, after my dirty dinner, I read one of the NLP books and one of my magazines. I'm now off to sleep, as I'm heading back to KL in the morning and plan to go to the oldest and original Ipoh white coffee shop for breakfast. Should be good - I love Kaya Toast and Ipoh White Coffee! I even have a box of Ipoh white coffee to take home. Apparently they also do some orange buns that are to die for. Bring it on!
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