Cuti-cuti Malaysia

9 October, Kuala Selangor

Planning often fails especially when it comes to punctuality.

Our original plan to set off for Kuala Selangor by 5.30pm was obstructed by the delay of the train and two friends being stuck in a meeting well past 5pm. Funnily, Mel ended up at the wrong building as she exited the station causing much confusion as I attempted to give her direction in the wrong place.

By the time we left the bank, it was close to 6pm. The journey was largely uneventful (thank god). As the evening was still illuminated by light, we made a stop at a restaurant first to have our seafood dinner. Irrational euphoria led to the order of 9 dishes - prawn, crab (2 plates), steam fish, vege (?), oyster (?) etc.

We left the restaurant around 8.30pm and stopped at some local stores to buy anchovies. Bad decision as later found out that the anchovies aren't fresh and covered with unknown white powder (common in the anchovies sold in city).

Arrived at firefly park around 9pm. Ticket per person cost RM15. Somehow, the price didn't seem to worth the experience. Very few trees were really lit with fireflies. Disappointing. Shall blame it on development (which I may have an indirect hand in).

10 October, Malacca

Made Mel wake up early to have claypot noodles for breakfast. My favourite.

Arrived at bank too early. Friends were late (tsk tsk tsk). Hence, began a long and boring journey.

First stop in Malacca - famous chicken rice ball shop. Only 11.30am but already long queue. Meal was good but I still wonder what's so great bout this apart from the rice ball?

Next stop - tour Malacca historical area. Took photos. Looked for shades (was a hot day). Went into a museum (mainly in search of aircon and seats). Not very cultured person. End of historic tour and back to food trail.

"Lunch" break in little shop near Heeren Inn. Had rojak, mee siam, chicken pongteh and cendol. Chicken is nice though the color isn't.

Checked into Baba House. Very, very, very slow service. Nice deco at reception. Can't say the same bout the room. Had to climb up winding steps and walked till the end of corridor to find room 205 (I think that's the no). First reaction - stuffy. Next - no window!!! Actually got a tiny, barely there, half-opened window facing the corridor. Only consolation is the cleanliness. If this is what they called deluxe, I have no idea how standard room will be like.

Rested before walk around Jonker Street in search of pineapple tarts and souvenirs. After much calls to our Malaccan friend, we still ended up not being able to locate the right shop. There were just too many pineapple tarts shops. Decided on the one listed in my friend's travel guide which shows a shop with the largest pineapple tart. Wrong choice. Too little filling, too much biscuits. Even the honey lime was too diluted. Seriously made lotsa wrong decisions.

Went back to room to put down things but ended up resting till about 6pm. Arrived at famous satay celup shop at 6.30pm. LONG QUEUE! Waited an hour. Finally got a table. Took some stuffs and started digging in. Once again, the feeling of what's-so-great-bout-this feeling appeared. Seriously over-rated.

Spent the evening going round Jonker Street. By then was very tired. Decided to find a spot to sit down with Mel and enjoyed the night while waiting for friends to appear. Ended the trip with supper at a coastside restaurant (can't remember name). Ordered carrot and orange juice. When order came, found the drink devoid of carrot taste while Mel's mixed fruit juice filled with carrot taste. Finally realised waiter made mistake.

Arrived at hotel close to midnight. Took shower in cold water as hot shower not working. Yet another complaint I have with this hotel. Aircon cannot adjust lower. Torn between freezing in room and turning off aircon completely. In the end, turned off aircon.

Woke up early for breakfast. Room already almost full at 8am. Managed to squeeze into small table at corner. Counted there are probably around 6 tables for a few hundred guests. Food not filled quickly for those who came later.

Left hotel for airport at around 9am. Bade Mel farewell. Not sure when will meet again.

13 October, Home

Saw Mel on msn. Both caught a cold! But mine worse cause came with sore throat (result of over-indulging in the twisted rope biscuits).

20 October, KL

Yet to send the postcard for Mel. Must send by this week or will be another 3 weeks before chance to visit P.O.

Tremor felt

It was probably around 6.30pm when I felt my chair shaking. It wasn't violent but the shaking was there. At first, I assumed it's the way I was sitting causing the chair to wobble. But it didn't stop even after I adjusted myself to a proper sitting position. Then I thought it's caused by the train crossing the track. Barely a few minutes later, my colleagues started commenting about the shake. And so the mystery was solved. We figured it was probably an earthquake somewhere in Indonesia.

I left before anymore tremor was felt. Half an hour later, staff were told to evacuate the building.

At another block, the staff reacted as we did. They gathered and sounded concern bout the tremor. But as quickly as they gathered, they went back to work. Goes to show that as long as you are not dead, your work is more important than your life :)

From the news: 7.6 magnitude tremor in Padang Indonesia