Meeting Ian (First version)

As my blog entry title states, I went to visit Ian in Ipoh on Monday and came back last night. One new year resolution down... Travel, maybe meet with bloggers down south... aiks, I said south? Dang, Annie's gonna get me on this one...

Anyway, I departed up north on Monday in the wee hours of the morning, 6.45am to be exact. Grabbed a batch of freshly-made 'siew pao' from Seremban as a courtesy.

It was a lengthy four hour drive from me due to number of 'rest-stops' I took along the way. My first two hours of driving was unbearable, I kept feeling like dozing off. After that, my body somehow adjusted to the conditions, and the rest of the trip was relatively, smooth sailing. It was a bit too early for Burger King's at the Sungai Buloh Highway Restaurant, to my dismay, but hey, I'm gonna be gorging on Ipoh goodies so I let that slip this time.

Word of caution: it is better to take an escort with you for company and to keep you awake on long drives. Or make lots of stops. After my previous 'A Close Brush With Death', you'd think I've called off the trip. Nope, not for me, life is far too short for such fear and regrets.

I arrived in Simpang Pulai about 11am as estimated and by some sheer twist of fortune, parked directly next to Ian's car. Talk about being psychic, (boast... boast... boast...) Hey, it is my first time driving alone to Ipoh, an unfamiliar town. Anyway, thank God.

Well, basically, my time in Ipoh was spent eating, relaxing, hanging out and chatting with Ian. I find the food in Ipoh leaning towards the sweeter side. The famous chicken rice and taugeh, well was different. The chicken is very smooth in texture and lightly flavored. The other item that stands out in my mind was the Ipoh white coffee. The kopitiam version that I tried here was super sweet. I wonder how much condensed milk do they put inside.

How does Ipoh compare to Seremban? A few things come to mind. Spacious. The houses that I've seen are big or have big compounds. I couldn't quite get the hang of the map layout or roads most probably because I was chauffeured around =P. The pace of life here is much slower and more relaxed. I have to agree with Ian that local drivers are terrible with signal lights; they either don't signal or give misleading signals to indicate turning. We had trouble turning into other roads because most of the drivers insist on stopping in the yellow box. Where is the road courtesy?

I'm not gonna go into further details here. I'll probably edit this blog and add some pictures later.

Some of you would probably wonder how I find Ian in person. He is a great host and quite a gentleman. He is very considerate towards his friends and family. His views do not differ much from his blog entries so I had no jarring impressions.

We had a little discussion about blogging and one thing that was highlighted was that you cannot really know a person from their blog entries. Basically, it's not a wise idea to form an opinion of the blogger especially through individual entries. A blog basically reveals facets of the blogger's character as he or she chooses to reveal. It can be likened to being given pieces of a huge jigsaw puzzle. You can't really see the whole picture.

Having said all that, I must say that having the opportunity to meet a fellow blogger is a thousand times better than reading about them online. Anyway, I'm very grateful to Ian for making time out of his busy schedule of appointments to 'layan' this joker. Thanks, dude!