The Highland in Melaka

.... except that the "mist" smelled badly.

The haze was around in the beginning of the week but it wasn't that bad yet. On Friday morning when I woke up for class, goodness! My room felt like an oven and it was overly smoky. Even my clothes in the closet smelled like smoke. I'm not a fan on face mask because I feel suffocated wearing it, but on that morning Mumy can't believe that I actually asked for one.

I took off my face mask when I entered the lecture hall but after half an hour or so, it was so torturing to not wear one. The whole class was smoky! It was so difficult to concentrate as our eyes were irritated.

Not going to point fingers and start blaming because I believe that everyone is selfish in a way or another. I just pray that the rain will come and hope that face mask will be out-of-trend soon.

 

Steady Pom Pi Pi Trip to SG

It was a crazy trip!

The gang of friends wanted to go for a holiday and we just couldn't decide on the destination. The destination plan floated in the air from Johor Bahru to Kuala Lumpur to Cameron Highland. We even thought of just staying back in Melaka and lepak together. During lunch with Dominic on Tuesday, we finally decided to spend our holiday in the neighboring country - Singapore! The land which trained my brain to the multiplication of two. Now lagi jialat; the rate is 2.4.

The last minute preparation was not fun. We had to drive quickly to the bus station to secure our seats in the bus which will embark at 1.30pm. Bear and sista wanted to stay an extra night but I was worried of not being able to get return bus tickets as Friday was Wesak Day. So, the agreement was that we will only stay back if there is return bus ticket for sale. Luck was on their side because Causeway Link booth did sell return tickets from Larkin to Melaka. We bought 2.30pm return bus tickets. One of our friend, TH did not have passport at the time we decided to go SG. She had to rush to UTC after work and make one. Her passport can't be collected that night so she had to go back the next morning. The next item to handle was accommodations. Agoda was our solution and after searching through, everyone agreed to stay in City Backpackers in Kallang for RM34 per person. All settled! Phew!

I was kinda freaked out in everyway I could on Wednesday morning, worrying about almost everything and only managed to cool down after boarding the bus. Bear told me that he will take charge and we were on the way to SG! There was only 5 of us in the bus because Jan Teo will meet us there.

The night before, we arranged with Jan Teo to meet in Bugis McD. When we arrived, she was no where to be seen!! She was suppose to arrive earlier than us because she passed the custom first. We thought we could get wifi in McD and we could contact each other through Whatsapp or Viber but............

SINGAPORE'S MCD TAK ADA WIFI! 

Every McD in Malaysia got wifi leh, why Singapore no have??? Once again, I freaked out and get it out on my poor Bear. Suddenly, my phone rang and it was SG number and I heard Jan Teo's voice. So relieved! Jan Teo was in another McD in Bugis (yes, there is 2 McD in Bugis) and she was so lucky to meet one of her SG friend who could borrow her a phone to call me.

After having our burgers, our adventure began; to search for the location of our accommodation. We consulted the MRT officer in Bugis and he told us to take a MRT to Lavendar and consult the officer there. When we reached Lavendar, the officer there said we should take an MRT to Kallang. *smack head* When we reached Kallang, nobody knew address we showed them. We walked a big round and later realised that the hostel is just opposite the MRT station. *smack smack head* At the hostel reception counter, we were told that our beds were not ready. I almost died! It seemed like they were not well organised. We wouldn't just sit there and wait for them to get organised so we put our bags at the counter and left for our planned destinations.

One of my high school friend met up with us and he was kinda like our tour guide that night. We went to Garden by the Bay and the view there just made all the tiredness and walking worthwhile. It was so beautiful.

After admiring the beautiful sights, we went to Marina Bay to watch the water fountain and light show. It was another session of woos and ahhs.There wasn't much story in it but the lights and fountain were cool.. It was a nice place to hang out. If I was given a chance to live in SG in the future, I don't mind going there every night just to sit there and relax with all those beautiful lights. Don't think I will ever get bored with such beauty.

Our "tour guide" brought us (except Dominic and TH) for supper. The food was so-so only, nothing impressive but he belanja so cannot complain lo. We had to take a cab back that night and the uncle was very nice. He wished us goodnight before we closed his taxi doors. We quickly check into our hostel. We booked a 8-beded room so obviously there were other guests in our room. The beds were fine and seemed clean but the washrooms were horrible! They stank so badly that you wana get out like immediately. Anyway, we decided not to shower yet as we wanted to go for a walk in Geylang. We wanted to go to Geylang for the famous toad porridge, but the real and main objective was to see prostitutes. HAHAHAHA.. Sadly, we only saw 2 drunk ones.

We went back to hostel later and took turns to shower. That was my worst shower ever and I finally understood what mandi kerbau means that night. Dirty toilets really turn me off and if I have the choice, I would not bathe but I jalan whole day already tak kan don't want bathe. That was pretty all of Day 1.

Day 2 started early. The thought of going to the washroom was rather disturbing. I simply washed up and left that place when I was done. The sista suggested that we get a nice hotel later to have a good bath. Expensive tak apa, janji toilet cantik. HAHAHAHA.. We had breakfast in a mamak nearby before heading to the MRT station.

Our next destination was planned by me and I felt horrible about it. Wild Wild Wet opens at 1pm and we reached there at 9am. If only I were to check properly, then we would not have wasted so much time and money. That was my second attempt trying to visit Wild Wild Wet but tak pernah jadi. The first time was with Jan Teo and Zeph and it rained. No fate la..

We were so excited to ride on a double-decker bus!!! Sorry la, but we don't have many double-decker buses in Malaysia alright. I almost lost my purse in this bus. I was rushing to get off the bus when it stopped, without realising that I left my purse on the seat. Thank God Dominic glanced back and saw it. Really thank God! And also Dominic!! HAHAHAHA..

Next destination was Sentosa! We had an awesome time there. Bear brought me there the last time and I had fun so I thought the gang would have a good time too. And I was right!

The rides burned our pockets a little but it worth it. As usual, the skyline wasn't really an attraction. It was scary to be high up from the ground for the first ride but we kinda get used to it after that.

The highlight was the Luge! We just can't get enough of it. I played it before and it was still fun! They forbid us to race but there was nobody there to watch over so ZROOMM! We didn't really race race la, just simply took over each other. The best part was when we organised ourselves for photo and we bought it for SG$ 10. Quite pricey but worth the memory.

After that, we headed down to the beach but the Sun was burning. We stopped there for like a minute just for photo purpose. HAHAHAHAHA..

Before leaving Sentosa, we stopped by at Universal Studio to make the entrance fee of SG$ 4 worthy. I've been to Universal Studio but we were rushing for time so didn't manage to get photo with the Globe in blue. I only had black Globe with the words lighted. So that time was my chance.. :)

We had lunch and then it was time to say goodbye to the gang.

Bear, sista and I went along to search for hotel in Geylang. We walked until kaki boleh patah ah! The hotels were either way expensive or fully-booked due to the long weekend. I was grumpy and I couldn't help but to get it out on Bear...again... He was very loving though and cheered me up in every way he could, including getting a hotel fast. When we finally checked in, I fell onto the bed and started snoring until evening. Before heading out for dinner, I showered and it felt like heaven! I must really learn to appreciate clean toilets. We had a good dinner in Geylang street. They said the chicken rice there is good so we simply tried a shop we saw and it was really good. SG$ 18 for 3 persons.

One of my purpose of going to SG was to visit a shop selling cheap instax accessories in MacPherson. It was not really hard to find the place but the shop was very small and cramp. More like a office lot rather than a shoplot. The things there are really cheap! Bear said I should actually get my instax cam there. I spent SG$ 48.

We met up with my friend and he brought us to Night Safari. I felt that was the destination which don't worth the money lo. SG$ 35 entrance fee is rather expensive to see animals. I think Melaka Zoo only charge RM5, maximum also RM10. I understand that the maintenance there is high but I still feel the pinch. Don't think I will revisit. We rode on the tram which brought us around to look at wild animals. Nothing really impressive as it was dark and no flash photography was allowed. The biggest mistake we did there was to walk the trail. Goodness! The place is huge and we had to walk the whole freaking round to get back. One entrance, one exit. Freaking tired. We had to take a cab back that night again. Our cab passed by Geylang Lorong 12 to get to our hotel in Lorong 14. The whole of Lorong 12 was filled with prostitutes. One of them even waved at Bear. HAHAHA!

The last day was the real adventure. As I mentioned, we bought 2.30pm return ticket from Larkin to Melaka. Since Friday was a public holiday, we expected lots of people. So, our plan was to wake up at 10am, packed up, have some breakfast and hopefully reach Bugis at 10.30am or latest by 11am. 3 hours should be enough for us to get to Larkin. Guess what???! I woke up in the morning and my watch showed 10.45am! I literally jumped out of bed! The alarm clock we set didn't ring! We did everything at the speed of lighting and reached Kallang MRT at about 11.25am. My friend rang me and informed that his friend waited at SG custom for almost 2 hours and there was no bus to be seen. That really pumped up my gan jiong-ness. When we reached Bugis, the skies decided to pour and we had no choice but to walk in the rain. I was very happy when the there were not many people in SG custom. However, when we went down the escalator, there was a super long queue of people waiting for buses to JB custom. That was a bad. I think at least 6 buses passed by before it was our turn. I kept looking at my watch and was feeling very anxious the whole time. I did feel better when we arived in JB custom. There was a long queue at the counter but with Malaysian passport, we headed for the auto-gate system. I could not remember the time exactly, but I think it was roughly 1.30pm when we waited for a bus to Larkin. I was super, super relieved when we finally arrived in Larkin at 2pm. We still had time for toilet break and bought some food for the bus ride to Melaka.

Did I have fun this trip? Yes, I did but I'm kinda disappointed for not being able to visit Wild Wild Wet. And all the walking is not fun! I have no idea how SGians could walk so much! Some ladies could walk with heels! *salute* It was very thrilling to plan everything at the last minute but if I have a choice, I would prefer to plan properly first.

PS: Sorry for the super late post.. Need to get the blogging mood to kick in after so many years..

Dilemma and Disappointment

Not quite a good start for the beginning of June as I'm drowned by dilemma and disappointment. Yes! All these happened on the first day of June.

Let's talk about my dilemma first. My church used to have a good group of youth. However, since the marriage of the youth leader and her migration to the States, the youth group kind off flew off with her too. Besides that, many left for education purposes and there are not many left in the church. In April, I was kinda hinted to get involved in the youth ministry. Well, at least I considered it as a hint. Ever since then, I kept wanting to mention it to the church but I fail to have some guts. The heart wants to do it but due to my weaknesses, I tried to brush the thought away many times but it never fail to come back from time-to-time. Yesterday, the feeling came back strong and I talked to Bear about it. However, as he was encouraging me, my brain started to think of all the "what ifs". What if the desire is only temporary? What if I want to quit halfway? What if I fail? What if I don't do well? What if I'm not a good leader? What if I can;t think of ideas when I need to? What if I'm not consistent in organising activities? What if others don't like my activities? What if I don't understand the needs of other youth? What if I'm too boring for them? Trust me, there were more running passed my brain. The whole day, I was weighing the heart's desire and "what ifs" but I still fail to get a clear answer. Best of all, Pastor Tan preached on "Successful as a Christian" in church that night. The 3Rs (Revelation, Resolution and Reformation) he shared spoke straight to my heart. Guess I haven't been a sucessful Christian huh.. He offered alter calls and I do not know what glued me back to my seat. Maybe the flesh is not ready yet. I just need another confirmation before I really go into it. I really need to know for sure that it is what God wants me to do. 

Next, disappointment. We got to know about a 8-days Japan trip which was way cheap! We thought we got a good deal. Only RM2,400 per person with air tickets, accommodation and meals included. Hyper! My uncle went and asked around in other traveling agency and the cheapest was RM5k! My family was so happy and 12 of us signed up with deposit paid. We were so excited that we went hunting for winter clothes but they are so expensive! My granny followed my uncle to the mall EVERY WEEK to make sure that they don't miss the sales, if there are any. My family had already bought long john (RM52), gloves (RM21) and wool socks (RM8) from Sawks in Dataran Pahlawan. Yes, we were very excited. Our happiness came crashing down went Bear told us that they trip is on hold and maybe, cancelled. The agent of the traveling company was afraid that we would get cheated as the Hong Kong trip, which suppose to take place in June, got postponed 3 freaking times! Besides that, the company kept asking for more money. Frequent postponing and asking for more money don't seem to be a good sign. Hence, the agent was afraid that the same situation would happen to us too, so he put Japan on hold. The deposit will be returned to us but we were all very down. I have even chosen my sweater from Universal Traveler. October was the month we were looking forward to but now, I think it is better if it never come.

Like everyone, I hope June will be nice to me. Oh, results is out. I passed but she got 4 flat again. Kinda feel...discouraged. A new semester begins tomorrow and many killer subjects this time. I will try work harder..