We were pretty early to the Chulia Mansion, which I fondly
imagined would be a restored shophouse complex, but it was
in fact a modern newish high-rise of maybe half a dozen
stories. Check-in was easy, with a MYR100 cash deposit
and the caveat that the room wouldn't be ready until the
posted time of 3. We stored our bags with the front desk
and wandered around the area, poking around the very little
Little India and ending up at the Wonderfood museum, which
was amusing but way too expensive - apparently some guy
whose profession was the crafting of plastic food models
for restaurants decided to make them as an art form,
creating everything from little dioramas of street scenes
to the world's largest sculpture of a cendol. It was tacky
as anything but enjoyable. During the time we were there
(weekday lunchtime) there were only a few other people there,
so we were given our own dedicated tour guide, who made sure
we gave the appropriate attention to each exhibit and touched
only the ones that were meant to be touched.

I waffle between thinking it was a unique experience, which
it was, and that it was probably the worst rip in town, which
it also was at 25 a head ($6).

After which, as promised by the reviews on the Internet, we
were hungry.

The Junk Cafe - someone on the Internet says that the burger
is the best in Asia, so how could we miss that, especially
since it was only a couple doors down from our hotel. It's
literally literally a roomful of junk, old street signs,
broken musical instruments, bric a brac of all sorts. We
were greeted and seated by a slightly wild-eyed young
Frenchman who, he said, was travelling with his girlfriend,
and he decided to plop down here for a few months while
she went wherever girlfriends go. We got a cozy corner
in the back with an old sofa, out of sight of the street,
which I suppose was a good thing. Or they wanted to keep
us out of sight, also probably a good thing.

lili was interested in a Bourbon and water, and the fellow
proudly announced that the house whisky was Chivas 12 year
old, so that's what she got; to my taste buds it was more
like that Mekhong 1 year old again. The price was right, I
think 12 or 13. I had a beer.

The much touted full of junk burger is advertised as being
dressed with onions sauteed in olive oil with a splash of
balsamic, "very sharp Cheddar," and four kinds of mushrooms.
We decided to split one; it came as a maybe 6 oz burger, fairly
plump, done medium (ordered as rare as possible, which the guy
said was going to be medium rare), on a sturdy and very good
bun, respectable fries on the side. The fellow said that the
beef was ground fresh in house every morning, and I suppose
that it really was. I certainly have not had a better burger in
Asia, and it certainly was one of the best I've had this young
year anywhere. Fries were unexceptional.

Back to Chulia Mansion, where our room, on the first floor,
was ready. It was pretty nice but a couple doors down from the
hotel's cafe, which meant it was not the quietest room ever.

The cafe is there mostly for breakfast, but there's apparently
a lot of catering done out of the kitchen; furthermore, besides
breakfast, other complimentary offerings include a beer or
glass of wine a day, a kilo of laundry a day, plus free coffee,
tea, and cookies and ice cream throughout the day (ice cream
stored in a freezer unsensibly located on the adjoining balcony
outside in the heat). Luckily, not too many people took
advantage of these last when we were in the room at night.