Commuting From Johan Setia to Sungei Way Free Trade Zone

My own apartment is near the Johan Setia LRT Station, in fact, I bought the apartment after the LRT3 started to build. Another reason I bought the house there during that time was because it was around 7km to my workplace. Well, I thought I would retire there, life happened and now I worked in Petaling Jaya. To avoid jam, I would leave my place before 6am and back home after 7pm. It was tiring. Sometimes, even after 7pm, the road was still packed with cars. Anyway, my apartment was built later than the LRT3 and I have been staying in my apartment for few years and finally, LRT3 aka LRT Shah Alam finally opened to public!

The week before, I already got the advise from a colleague who frequently took public transport, she advised me to download the 'moovit' app. I found it quite useful.

On the very first day of the opening 29th June, I woke up much earlier and went to the LRT Johan Setia, It was new and not much information available yet. There are 550 car parks available in LRT Johan Setia. That's the only information I got, When I reached there, there were cars but many parking lots were still empty. Generally, it's well-lit.

cark park in LRT Johan Setia

Car Park in LRT Johan Setia

Since I didn't know anything yet, after parking, I rushed to the main door. 

walkway to LRT Johan Setia

To my surprise, there're a few fellow commuters there and all waiting outside, the gate was still closed! I asked around and they told me the gate would only open at 6am. I was like, what! From what I read, the first train would start at 6am, and gate opened at 6am? How're we supposed to board the first train on time! A fellow commuter told me he purposely took leave to board this first train out of Johan Setia, and another commuter purposely drove from Bukit Tinggi to take the train at the first station. To my surprise, other than a few people who purposely came for fun. Others were like me, really intended to take LRT to work. 

gate to LRT Johan Setia

inside the LRT Johan Setia

At around 6am, the gate opened, and I think the staffs inside had a countdown. Anyway, everybody rushed inside. However, the first train started around 6.05am, ouch, my legs. 

fellow commuters

interval around 10 minutes

So yeah, I took the first train on the first day of LRT Shah Alam from the first station. Kind of memorable. From Johan Setia, the train is not packed yet, still got seats until after LRT Pasar Besar Klang. Then, from the station onwards, more crowded until Glenmarie Station. Many people got off in Glenmarie. 

inside the coach of LRT Shah Alam

From LRT Shah Alam Glenmarie Station, I rushed to LRT Kelana Jaya line to transit to LRT Ara Damansara. So many people walked together, bottleneck at the fare gate. My heart was racing. After teaching LRT Ara Damansara, I ran to the bus stop to take a bus, bus 772. I was lucky, by the time I reached the bus stop, the bus haven't reached yet, so I got to take the bus and reached Sungei Way Free Trade Zone (Selatan) on around 7.30am, I reached my company around 7.40am. I was too agitated that instead of the company card, I tagged using the touch n go card, the security guard couldn't stand it and laughing so hard. 

Instead of usual after 7pm that day, I left my workplace at around 6pm to go home. Initially I planned to take KTM at Setia Jaya KTM Station. However, after I crossed the Federal Highway, the train that I targeted already left! So I had to take bus. So for going back time, I took bus 772 to Ara Damansara LRT station, then from Ara Damansara LRT Station to Glenmarie Station. Finally, Glenmarie Station to Johan Setia LRT Station. I reached home around 8.30pm. The time taken was quite long.

For the next day 30th June, on the morning, I missed the bus 772 and had to waited for the 7.30am bus. However, I still managed to reach company before 8am. It's a scare, although my company allowed flexi hour and must be there at the core hour of 9am to 4pm, I had a daily meeting at 8.30am and I had to prepare before that. On both day, I did it in the train. If I couldn't do it if there's no seat, it would be bad for me. 

Anyway, I wanted to try rapid on demand during going back time. There's a stop from FIZ to LRT Taman Bahagia. I waited from 6.33am and the pick up time keep increasing until when it was changed to 7.45pm, I gave up and booked a grab ride to Glenmarie Station. I reached home around 9pm that day. 

at Glenmarie LRT Station

That's why from Wednesday, I continued driving. I have to figure out how to get to Glenmarie Station from my workplace more efficiently. I even have discussions with my colleagues who stayed in klang and other friends from FIZ on this last mile transportation. I think for the next round of public transportation commute, I would focus on KTM + LRT instead of bus. 

Happy commuting!

Ceiling Fan Duster

I am afraid of height. So I have never clean my ceiling fan. I feel that it's going slow from the weight of the dust. So I search for ceiling fan "cleaner" in an online shopping app. And this "ceiling fan duster" comes out. The user reviews are very positive. So, I bought one.

ceiling fan duster (after use, forget to take photo before use)

There are 3 ceiling fans that I regularly use. And the one in my bedroom was so dusty. The result is the most obvious. It's cleaned and the dust didn't fly everywhere.

before clean

before

after clean

after

The ceiling fan in my living room was so so ok, not so dirty.

Before clean

after clean

I was quite worry that it's going to be another wastage, but I must admit that this is a good buy! Although I would prefer cleaning with a wet rag, the height issue is a problem for me. As long as the ceiling fans are being cleaned, it is a good job! 

Instant Noodle With Cucumber, Eggplant and Tofu

Well, I feel that the combo of instant noodle with cucumber, eggplant and tomato is suitable to me. Means I didn't have diarrhea after eating that.  Hahaha! So I bought again cucumber and eggplant, however, I didn't buy tomato due to it's so expensive this week. I bought tofu instead for the protein. 

The smooth tofu is quite cheap I think, it's just RM1.49 per block. In Japan, around that size, it's around 50 yen (around 15 years ago). A cheap source of protein. I like this kind of smooth tofu in soup only, I don't really like other types of tofu derivatives, like beancurd skin, tofu puff, etc. 

Taufu Lembut

Cucumber

eggplant

I separate the items I bought and finished in two meals. Since the cucumber and eggplant had high water content, I just added just enough water to cover the noodle. Then, I think the steam soften the cucumber and eggplant. It is done without too much water.

just add water slightly above the noodle

after done boiling (Maggi Mee)

Cintan Mee

One meal I cooked Maggi Mee, another I used Cintan Mee. All traditional flavour. I think next round I will buy leafy vegetables to test.

items for 2 dinners	price (RM)
Cintan Mee , Maggi Mee	0.95+0.90
Tofu	1.49
Cucumber	1.84
Eggplant	3.30
2 oranges	4.00
Sotong	1.20
total	13.68

*this is to document the price of the item in June 2026, maybe after 5 years, when I read back this, I can know how far the inflation goes!

Instant Noodle with Ingredients from Neighbourhood Mini Mart

I was staying on my own during weekdays. Normally, kopitiam was my choice for meals. Last Wednesday (public holiday), I felt that I needed more fresh vegetables in my diet. So after my breakfast (very late breakfast, hahaha, almost 10am) at kopitiam, I went to the Econsave to buy vegetables, I was lazy to go supermarket, if possible, I settled all my grocery shopping at the place near me. There are multiple mini marts near my place, but Econsave was the place with the most vegetables, other than Kedai Aceh. But I felt that sometimes Kedai Aceh was not that cheap.

Anyway, I bought tomatoes, eggplant and cucumber. I was worry at first whether I could finish it or not. Well, I finished all within 2 days with 2 dinners. When I as younger, after STPM, I worked temporarily in Econsave Supermarket (the big one, not the mini one) as cashier, on weekdays, around 6pm (after work for many people), there'll be a lot of people buying vegetables in very small quantity, example, 2 onions, 1 garlic, 1 bunch of green onion, 1 bunch of kangkung, etc. The total bill would be less than RM5. I think sometimes less than RM2. It was the time where one could get a huge big bunch of kangkung for RM1. Now the quantity is way smaller. 

Normally I didn't buy all this vegetables, the most I would buy fruits. So I have no idea the price in Econsave is cheap or not. Nowadays, fruits are not cheap anymore. Last weekend, since my nephew stayed with us over the weekend, I bought a packet of grapes, one small packet of cherries, one packet of frozen blueberries and 20 oranges (this is for praying), and the total cost was around RM65. I am grateful that these mini marts in Malaysia carried the fresh vegetables and fruits. I think (my opinion only) that Malaysia don't really have food desert, only problem is the affordability. I am not sure whether one could buy fresh vegetables using mykasih now or not, but 2025 cannot for sure.

Cucumber (timun hijau)

tomato

eggplant (terung pendek)

So for my dinner on Wednesday night, I had instant noodle with tomato, cucumber and eggplant. I bought Cintan Mi Springy Kenyal. I think it is new packaging, long time no buy Cintan.  

Cintan Mi (new packaging)

ingredients list

Like I said before, I don't really cook. So, I don't even have bowls to clean the vegetables, so I just utilized my cooking pot. And the only salt I have was in a small bottle, I think I bought that like 4 or 5 years ago. Well, salt won't expire, I sprayed a healthy amount of salt into the water for cleaning. 

cleaning in my one and only pot

salt from 4 or 5 years ago

After cleaned, I peeled the cucumber and eggplants and cut it into chunks. I didn't cut into thin slices, I felt that it's troublesome. For tomato, I just cut into 6 portions. The eggplant oxidized really fast, I think less than a minute, the eggplant started to change from white to yellowish already.

rubbing cucumber head and body (to remove bitter taste - the white thingy is responsible for the bitterness)

the eggplant oxidized fast

peeled and sliced

Then, I just put the instant noodle on the bottom part of the pot, then poured all the vegetables on top of the noodle, add water until slightly above the noodle, I plan to let the steam cooked the vegetables, well it works. Surprisingly, the eggplant tasted better than I thought. Actually I don't really like eggplant, but it tasted fine just by steaming and submersed in instant noodle powder soup.

simple 1 pot meal

On Thursday night, I intended to finish up all the ingredients, but I felt that I needed some protein, so I went to the 99 Speedmart to get tofu, however, I couldn't find white tofu, so instead I got frozen sotong. Well, this was the first time I bought frozen sotong. When I opened it, it smelled fishy. Anyway, I only used up like 4 rings. The rest still in my refrigerator. 

frozen sotong

frozen sotong

So for my Thursday dinner, I had Mamee Chef Tomyam flavour instant noodle. I put 4 rings of sotong on the bottom of the pot (I never defrosted it), then instant noodle on 2nd bottom layer, then all the vegetables on top. For this round, I didn't peel the eggplant, just cut into chunks. Add water until slightly above the noodle and boiled it. Another meal!

another 1 pot meal

Wednesday Dinner cost not including miscellaneous items

item	price (RM)
Cintan Mi 1 packet	0.95
Tomato	0.70
Cucumber	1.00
Eggplant	1.40
1 orange	2.00
total	6.05

For Thursday dinner, it is higher a bit.

item	price (RM)
Mamee Chef Tomyam 1 packet	1.75
Tomato	1.30
Cucumber	0.95
Eggplant	1.30
1 orange	2.00
Sotong	0.80
total	8.10

Well, I know instant noodle is not the healthiest meal around, but at least I compensated with vegetables!

Sweet Potato Planting

Around a year ago, a relative gave my mom many small sweet potatoes, it was given by her farmer neighbour due to it's irregular shape and small, it's not good looking enough for sale. Since the quantity was too big, it was distributed among family members. We cooked most of it, but some are too small, peeling the skin was too tedious, so I buried it in a pot. and after around five or six months, I harvested four small sweet potatoes. 

During harvesting, a small piece was chopped off, so I buried it back to the pot. And I have seen so many videos that sweet potatoes can be propagated from stem and leaves. So I took additional 2 cuttings from the plants and planted it. 

Last week, on first week of June, I "harvested" it again. Ok, this was all for experiment and fun. So, I just make sure I watered the plants, no additional efforts were being done. And I would pluck the leaves when It grew too much. I read somewhere that too many leaves could take the nutrients meant for the tubers.

sweet potato plant

Well, there were too many weeds. So I cleared it first.

cleared the weeds

After that, I pulled the plants. Surprisingly, two out of three plants didn't have any tuber. The one that grew from a chunk of tuber didn't have any sweet potato. 

the plant grew from sweet potato chunk

The one and only sweet potato I got was small and around the length of my finger. Hahaha. 

sweet potato tuber

sweet potato around the length of my finger

The harvest is very small, so I buried the tuber back and planted another two cuttings (one with leaves on it, another was the one with a chunk of sweet potato).

new planting

After around two weeks (13th June 2026), I went back to observe the growth. The one with chunk of sweet potatoes already grew new leaves. But the sweet potato haven't sprout yet. Will update in another six months i think, provided it is still alive then. 

after around 2 weeks

Have fun gardening!

Chic Cafe Klang • Botanic

On the Hari Raya Haji holiday on 27th May, I went out for dinner with a dear friend. We stayed near to each other, but we didn't go out together as often. We were busy. Since we both did not have any activity on that night, we decided to have dinner together. We planned to have dinner in Botanic Klang. There are a lot of restaurants in Botanic. 

We decided to go to Chic Cafe, after all it's the first one that came out from google search. Initially I thought that it's a western style cafe that served pasta, steaks, some local favourites, etc. We only realized it's a Japanese style cafe when we reached there. There are so many restaurants nearby that area, there's even a lok lok restaurant next to it. On the corner lot, there's a bak kut teh shop that was full of customers although it's not even 6pm. Very lively area. 

When we entered the cafe, the waiter told us that we can have free rice or noodle top-ups. LOL. Before we ordered, we saw what other tables were eating, and the portion is not that small. So we ordered a rice set (丼)  for sharing. Apart from carbohydrate, of course we needed some protein, we also got the karaage chicken (fried chicken). And a pot of peach + pear + apple fruit tea. 

rice set

The cutlery and dishes in the shop are so cute. Even the sauce that came with the fried chicken was served with a duck shaped dish. Since we were sharing the rice set, we ordered a six piece karaage chicken set. Kind of regret, I over estimated myself. Although the food was good, we had to rest for a while to finish all. We should just order the three piece chicken set. There're variety of sauces, but if we got the multi sauces set, it's more money spent, so we just ordered with one type of sauce. Well, the fried chicken is good enough without needing the sauce though. 

karaage chicken with sauce (the duck shaped dish is cute!)

The fruit tea pot was good too. The combination of peach, apple and pear was good. It's nice after eating a big bowl of rice and fried chickens. Hahaha!

peach tea + apple + pear pot

Me and my friend stayed for around 2 hours. The business was so good on that day, we saw that there are customers queuing outside, so we left. It's a good 2 hour get together with great food. 

Accessories (Chomel Jewelry)

I don't wear jewelry, but I like it. I get great satisfaction by looking at it. However, real precious metal jewelry, especially gold is very expensive. I only bought like three pieces before, and my mom gave me a bangle that I wore when I was a baby. Although some said that buying gold is investment, I couldn't justify buying gold jewelry and not wearing it. Might as well invest in gold account from banks. 

Anyway, thanks to online shopping platform, I found many cheap accessories, however, after watching some reports on the high percentage (much higher than allowable limit) of toxic chemicals found on cheap jewelries, I got cold feet. So, I started to look at cheaper precious metal, which is silver. Not sure how long silver can maintain the price, it's increasing like nobody business. Looking at the silver price trend, I actually buy more silver jewelry pieces. LOL! Before it increases until not affordable anymore.

Anyway, my latest purchase was a ring and bracelet from Chomel. It's a Singaporean company from the website introduction. I wondered where it's manufactured though, maybe in China or somewhere in South East Asia. 

rose gold plated ring with cubic zirconia stones

rose gold plated bracelet with cubic zirconia stones

I studied materials engineering for my degree and majority of the courses were metallurgy (steel) related. I was very fascinated with the metals, was even thinking to work in steel mill before I graduated, nowadays, I am more interested on precious metals. I guess the main metal for the ring and bracelet is silver and then coated with rose gold. The description on the metal is 18k rose gold, which is an alloy of gold and copper. Given the colour of the ring, I think the copper percentage is not so low though. 

No matter what the metal is, both the ring and bracelet are very good looking. The surface finishing is smooth and I didn't feel any kinky corner. I only wore it once though. Now it's inside my drawer. 

the invoice

inflated plastic to protect the items

the items came with paper bag and paper box

velvet bag

cloth to clean the jewelry

Anyway, I think one of the important parts of a bracelet is the clasp, it's quite sturdy, not bad. 

clasp of the bracelet

I was not exposed to all these items when I was growing up. I like to eat, however, as I aged, not a wise decision to eat like I was in my 20s. All these accessories are part of my emotional outlet after food. Ahh, so beautiful!