The Bus Is My Other Car.

Malaysia Family Trip 6-11 December

Two cars set off at 8am Friday 6 December morning, the start of a long weekend holiday with Hari Raya Haji falling on Monday. It took 4 hours to get from home to JB immigration via Second Link. We ended up skipping Malacca. The first two rest stop were so crowded that we have to go to the third one for lunch. By then it was 3pm and we were starving. The nieces weren't crying, surprisingly. It was no wonder when I saw their ammunition of tibits.

The third rest stop was Ayer Keroh - the one with an overhead bridge mall across the North-South highway. We ate at A&W restaurant and half-way, there was a black out. The electricity resumed in a few minutes. What a M****sia Truly Asia Experience.

We reached Port Dickson in the evening and had dinner at a 'tai pai tong'. I can't use the utensils before cleaning them again with wet tissue. The nieces didn't complain about the poor hygiene standards. The elder one was too tired; the younger one was too excited on her first overseas trip.


Fortunately that night, I wasn't awaken in the night by the "orchestra" in the same room as me - my parents being the musicians and their slightly obstructed windpipes being the instrument.

The next morning I had a free breakfast, thanks to the chaotic situation at the hotel restaurant, which had seating both inside and outside the restaurant. The wasn't really good, and the pool next to the restaurant had more people than water in it. The younger niece threw a tantrum because we didn't allow her to go there. It was slightly resolved when we took a walk along the beach, not very beautiful though...

We left Port Dickson, and drove to our 1400sq-ft KL serviced apartment, where all families will stay under one roof, but different bedrooms lah. Had late lunch at KLCC food court, ordered a variety of food. Bought some stuff, and took the monorail to Bt Bintang for roadside claypot rice. Wet tissues... check, sanitizer... check, go toilet at a shopping centre before proceeding... check.


Went back hotel, then me and bro-in-law went downstairs to get Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. On the way up, the elevator gave us a scary moment.

We pressed our desired floor - 23rd floor. The door closed. We felt the lift ascend, but the display shows the floor descending to B1. And suddenly, the display jumped to 24, increasing rapidly to 27! I thought I was in a nightmare where the lift will just shoot out of the building and explode. Then nightmare number two happened - the lift door opened. I held my breath and hoped the elevator doors did not open to 14th floor lobby, like it does in Chinese thrillers, with flashing lights. Fortunately, we were at level 23, and we rushed into the hotel room.

My night wasn't good. I had to sleep on an uncomfy sofa, and it almost make me vomit. The next day at One Utama wasn't good. The road to One Utama was jammed, the shopping centre was crowded because it was Hari Raya holiday. I felt like puking, took some medicine, and felt drowsy. The confusing floorplan of the shopping centre made things worse. After lunch I took an one hour nap on a sofa at a public resting area sponsored by Maybank. Things were better after a nap. Me, bro and sis-in-law ate at a Chocolate Bar, a first for me. The chocs cost the same as it would in Singapore, but they were sinfully delicious. I bought a CD at MPH, had dinner at the shopping centre. The shopping centre was empty after 7pm because the locals returned home for dinner, supposedly. Economy is bad...

This time Father gave me the king-size bed, while he took the sofa. So I shared the bed with Mother and the two nieces. Mother was telling the nieces bedtime stories... and those nieces were making a funny story out of it! They refused to sleep and kicked me etc. The next morning, I realised the bed had one more occupant - my father. Imagine 3 adults and two kids squeezing on a king-size bed!

We left KL for Fraser's. There's nothing to do at Fraser's Richmond Bungalow, so bro-in-law decided to play cards at night. This was when the devil's horns grew from the younger niece's head. First she plucked the hair on my hand, then she pulled the string on my hoodie. Last but not least, she brought out her bag of smelly undies and put them in front of me! I asked her to go away, which made her cry, really sadly. But I was happy because usually, she pretends to cry and gets all the attention. But I still lost money from that inauspicious bag of........

As usual, we visited Fraser's waterfall, went town, playground.

Then spent the day rotting away at the Bungalow. The Nieces were playing the customer-and-waitress game in my room. The younger niece started ordering normal food at first, then she started ordering more and more absurd "food" - like a rabbit (ok... still edible), then Santa Claus (Erm, I know Christmas was near the corner but...), and eventually iron and plastic (yes that will keep you quiet too while I take my afternoon nap, thank you)

After much rotting, we went back Singapore liao... to continue slogging before we can afford to go overseas and rot, buy clothes, eat again...

posted by 23degreecelsius @ 7:45 PM