Two of the better Chinese restaurants in the area are within
walking distance of the Arundina. One of them is Halal, the
other is not. Guess which one we went to.

It's called the May Flower and could be a neighborhood eatery
in any of a hundred cities I've been in (or ten thousand that
I've not seen). Round tables, grandpa alternately lording it
over the next generation and horsing around with grandkids,
the intermediate family members preparing vegetables or just
sitting around. Soft drink cooler in the back.

Black pepper venison sounded good, so I ordered that for me.
Came with ginger, carrots, green peppers, red onions, black
beans, a familiar preparation. The meat was very tender
although I believe not tenderized - it was just the cornstarch
that did this. I convinced lili to take a couple bites of it.
It was, she admitted, good, not really distinctively deer
meat, could have been flank steak.

For her I got the famous roast pork - precooked loin meat
stir-fried with garlic, Chinese celery, and scallions. Most
of it was fine, but there were a few famously overcooked
pieces that she gave me.

One small rice came with, or maybe I paid a quarter for it;
it was enough.

A large Skol beer was 14, bringing the total to MYR35.50.

-

We'd had the front desk call Kang Travel, the local agency,
to reserve spots on the 0700 minibus to Georgetown, Penang
for 35 a pop. The regular bus companies operate only to the
new bus depot at the end of the bridge for the same price,
which would necessitate a taxi ride adding 25 or 30 more,
so I figured this was the way to go. We were told that the
minibus stopped where the regular companies used to, at
Komtar tower right in the middle of town, but for 10 more,
we could get dropped off right at our hotel. We were
admonished to be in front of the hotel right at 0645, as
sometimes there are more stops to be made. The hotel is
locked until 0800, so we'd have to sneak out the side door
and out to the little parking lot.

So the alarm rang at 0530, and we were out of there, packed
and showered and everything, right on schedule, having
finished the last mouthful of that wine for breakfast.

0645 ... 0700 ... no vehicle. The morning clerk arrived
early, so at 0715 I asked him to call for us, and just as
he was dialing, the thing roared up at 0720. There was
another couple to pick up as well, so we were on our way
at 0730-ish. The driver was taciturn but not surly.

There are some interesting reviews of this service on the
Internet. Two issues - one, lack of promptness, which we
experienced, though only mildly; two, reckless driving,
which we did not. Yes, the guy often went 20 over the
speed limit, but no, he didn't seem to be driving in a
hazardous manner or to be doing anything out of the
ordinary compared to the other traffic.

As promised, he took us to Komtar, because that's where
the other couple had wanted to go, but when we got there,
they actually wanted to be someplace else, so after some
discussion, the driver got on his phone and eventually
went into a store to ask directions and eventually got
them to their destination, not charging anything extra.

Our destination was easier to get to, being on a main
street, and he got us there expeditiously, also not
charging anything extra. I gave him a ten anyway, which
he seemed not to have expected.