Yup, exams were over since last wednesday and I cannot tell you how glad I was that it's over. Met siyan, nat, manda and seok on friday for dinner and some havoc-ing. Haha actually it was to celebrate nat's birthday, but we stayed out late so I shall call it havoc-ing. [: It was also proof that s'pore's taxi system is rather screwed up. Oh well.
Then it was a hectic few hours after I reached home as I packed my stuff, preparing for my trip to malaysia with my dear and his family. (I think I slept at 3am or 4am...cannot remember now.) They picked me up at around 7.30am. As we passed the immigration checks, my phone's reception slowly dropped, until finally I could not use my phone as a phone.
*Bye Singapore, Hello Malaysia*
After a few hours on the road, we stopped at a rest point along the highway for lunch and toilet. I hate dirty toilets, and the toilet was rather dirty and stinky. Then I stepped into the food area, and was immediately bombarded with unfamiliar malay words, such that I became incapable of ordering any food besides nasi lemak. At least the nasi lemak tasted alright. Stopped for petrol at shell before continuing our journey. Their system in m'sia is different from s'pore. There, you have to pay before you can pump petrol. I still have no idea how it works.
A few more hours on the highway thundering down the road at speeds very illegal in singapore, and finally we reached Papan, where Jason's grandma lives. It's a small kampong place, quite traditional, with chickens roaming all over the place. The toilet system is interesting, one has to go out the back of the house for bigger businesses because it's the one with the flush. Haha and I went out there once in the night when it was raining, truly a once-in-a-lifetime expereince. Dear sheltering me with the umbrella, the other hand holding a flashlight, both of us wearing clogs as we made our way under low-growing pomelos to the outhouse.
The staircase to the upper level of the house is also interesting. It is very steep and the steps are quite small. Definitely very small for dear's foot. It's challenging to climb up and down the stairs, but I am proud to say I didn't fall at all. Since I always get jason to climb the stairs with me and be my bolster for when I fall..heehee.
At night, the bats and chickens and dogs would sing their songs, making it almost impossible to sleep. The bats will be screeching above our heads, scratching at the wooden boards on the outside of the house and just flying all around. If not for the mosquito net we had, we probably would had been sleeping with bats on the mattress. The dogs seem to like howling when people are preparing to sleep, and get into barking fits or fights in the wee hours of the morning. The roosters...needless to say, they start crowing at the first rays of sunlight, which is like, 4am? And they seem to be challenging each other with their crows, calling out till 9plus in the morning, their cocka-doodle-doos sounding like, well, dead chickens.
I cycled around the kampong with jason, avoiding dog poo on the roads and chasing terrified chickens. One particular chicken made us laugh as it tried to hide, running around and clucking endlessly, hiding here, hiding there. When it realised that we were coming closer, it escaped from its hiding place and ran to another, and another, and another.
The food there is good, from the wanton mee at the corner stall to the little restaurants in the marketplace. They aren't stingy with their servings too.
Left Papan on the third day and drove to KL. Kinda like a big contrast as KL is a city with road jams and tourists whereas Papan was just a quiet little kampong. KL's roads were crazy, and most of the time, no one obeys the traffic lights. Did a lot of window-shopping, driving jason mad until he almost forced me to buy something. And my mom called me to tell me to spend money. HAHAHA. Ok so yes, I bought a wallet, a watch (actually jason's mom paid for it) and a pair of shorts at KL's chinatown. It's pretty much like taiwan's street shopping. The stalls sell mostly the same things, but the fun is in the bargaining. I couldn't bargain, because I don't speak malay nor cantonese. So I had to ask jason's mom to help me.
We tagged along with dear's dad when he went to meet his old classmate for lunch. It was an old, musty restaurant that took us 15min to get to in the cab because of the jam. There were stuffed animals on the walls, all covered in dust and looking very eerie. Then there were the live cockroaches crawling around and scaring the hell out of dear's mom and me. Probably good food tastes good because of the environment, eh? Another thing I dislike is that m'sia doesn't ban smoking in enclosed spaces. Those smokers there are killing more people in air-con spaces than traffic accidents on the roads. They smoke anywhere and everywhere. Gosh.
Then it was a hectic few hours after I reached home as I packed my stuff, preparing for my trip to malaysia with my dear and his family. (I think I slept at 3am or 4am...cannot remember now.) They picked me up at around 7.30am. As we passed the immigration checks, my phone's reception slowly dropped, until finally I could not use my phone as a phone.
*Bye Singapore, Hello Malaysia*
After a few hours on the road, we stopped at a rest point along the highway for lunch and toilet. I hate dirty toilets, and the toilet was rather dirty and stinky. Then I stepped into the food area, and was immediately bombarded with unfamiliar malay words, such that I became incapable of ordering any food besides nasi lemak. At least the nasi lemak tasted alright. Stopped for petrol at shell before continuing our journey. Their system in m'sia is different from s'pore. There, you have to pay before you can pump petrol. I still have no idea how it works.
A few more hours on the highway thundering down the road at speeds very illegal in singapore, and finally we reached Papan, where Jason's grandma lives. It's a small kampong place, quite traditional, with chickens roaming all over the place. The toilet system is interesting, one has to go out the back of the house for bigger businesses because it's the one with the flush. Haha and I went out there once in the night when it was raining, truly a once-in-a-lifetime expereince. Dear sheltering me with the umbrella, the other hand holding a flashlight, both of us wearing clogs as we made our way under low-growing pomelos to the outhouse.
The staircase to the upper level of the house is also interesting. It is very steep and the steps are quite small. Definitely very small for dear's foot. It's challenging to climb up and down the stairs, but I am proud to say I didn't fall at all. Since I always get jason to climb the stairs with me and be my bolster for when I fall..heehee.
At night, the bats and chickens and dogs would sing their songs, making it almost impossible to sleep. The bats will be screeching above our heads, scratching at the wooden boards on the outside of the house and just flying all around. If not for the mosquito net we had, we probably would had been sleeping with bats on the mattress. The dogs seem to like howling when people are preparing to sleep, and get into barking fits or fights in the wee hours of the morning. The roosters...needless to say, they start crowing at the first rays of sunlight, which is like, 4am? And they seem to be challenging each other with their crows, calling out till 9plus in the morning, their cocka-doodle-doos sounding like, well, dead chickens.
I cycled around the kampong with jason, avoiding dog poo on the roads and chasing terrified chickens. One particular chicken made us laugh as it tried to hide, running around and clucking endlessly, hiding here, hiding there. When it realised that we were coming closer, it escaped from its hiding place and ran to another, and another, and another.
The food there is good, from the wanton mee at the corner stall to the little restaurants in the marketplace. They aren't stingy with their servings too.
Left Papan on the third day and drove to KL. Kinda like a big contrast as KL is a city with road jams and tourists whereas Papan was just a quiet little kampong. KL's roads were crazy, and most of the time, no one obeys the traffic lights. Did a lot of window-shopping, driving jason mad until he almost forced me to buy something. And my mom called me to tell me to spend money. HAHAHA. Ok so yes, I bought a wallet, a watch (actually jason's mom paid for it) and a pair of shorts at KL's chinatown. It's pretty much like taiwan's street shopping. The stalls sell mostly the same things, but the fun is in the bargaining. I couldn't bargain, because I don't speak malay nor cantonese. So I had to ask jason's mom to help me.
We tagged along with dear's dad when he went to meet his old classmate for lunch. It was an old, musty restaurant that took us 15min to get to in the cab because of the jam. There were stuffed animals on the walls, all covered in dust and looking very eerie. Then there were the live cockroaches crawling around and scaring the hell out of dear's mom and me. Probably good food tastes good because of the environment, eh? Another thing I dislike is that m'sia doesn't ban smoking in enclosed spaces. Those smokers there are killing more people in air-con spaces than traffic accidents on the roads. They smoke anywhere and everywhere. Gosh.
The view from our hotel room at swiss garden, KL.After 2 nights at KL, we went up to Genting Highlands for one night. Nat would like it there, natural aircon 24/7. The temperature range for when I was there was about 14-17 deg. All I had was jeans and the jacket I wear in school. The view from our hotel room is just clouds, and ocassionally when the clouds are sparse-r, the winding roads that lead up to genting. The car ride up genting was very interesting because of the steepness of the roads, the tight turns and having to sometimes drive in a cloud. We visited the casino while we were there, and I managed to get in even though I was underaged. I guess I look old enough... I didn't like the casino, honestly. The cigarette smoke there is so bad I was choking. Then there were those blatant gambling addicts shouting 'PICTURE!' at the blackjack tables. Horrifying, the amount of money wasted away there. Don't like it, don't like it.
After genting, it was back in KL 'cos dear's dad had to meet some datuk for dinner. The 3 of us went back to jason's favourite noodle stall along the road for dinner. And I spent my remaining money on more clothes and footwear. Then, it was back in the car, through the causeway and back HOME! Gah, tired. Reached home at about 3am and woke up this morning at 10am. Haha..
After genting, it was back in KL 'cos dear's dad had to meet some datuk for dinner. The 3 of us went back to jason's favourite noodle stall along the road for dinner. And I spent my remaining money on more clothes and footwear. Then, it was back in the car, through the causeway and back HOME! Gah, tired. Reached home at about 3am and woke up this morning at 10am. Haha..
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