- At The Moment of My Mind -

Taking leaps of faith only to fall in step with Him.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Window Shoping : Lady Knife's Way of Lepak-ing

Hmm, nothing much happened on that particular Wednesday. I woke up around 10 at a silent house…ah, everyone is either at work or busy doing their own thing.

“Today I’ll be travelling to KLCC on my own for the first time! *Determined look* Yes, you can do it!”





After washing my laundry, I went of lala-ling outside. Don’t worry, Quin left me the house spare keys, so I wasn’t locked in and I could lock the doors when I go out ...unlike my own uncle from Canada who once stayed with my family, locked his own nephew and niece in their own house after escaping with the spare house keys while they were asleep. *swt* Not funny you know, we were locked upstairs and the toilets were downstairs.

One thing I noticed about Quin’s neighbourhood was it reminds me of those alley ways you see sometimes when you watch Japanese anime or movies. They were narrow and populated with kitties all over. I wouldn’t mind living in a place like that, friendly and safe, even with a park and school nearby.

Okay, other than being accident prone, I’m also a person who has no sense of direction whatsoever. When I wanted to look for the Malaysian Embassy to get my visa done, it took me an hour to get remotely close to the area then for some reason I ended up at Hua Ho in Muara. *swt* I went an entire circle and didn’t even reach anywhere near the embassy. In the end because I was such a lost cause and there wasn’t much time, I asked my uncle for help. *sigh* So much for trying to be independent.

So this time, I really tried my best and paid full attention the night before when Quin showed me where to go and what to do.



Right, see the large LRT station. Get ticket, go wait for the LRT and then board all the way to KLCC.

I think it was about 6 stops?

Finally reached my destination, hee, what to do, what to do? It was lunch time, so how about some lunch? I picked up a chicken and mushroom pie, got my trusty bottle of water and spent the next hour or so munching and day dreaming at the fountain.

Some of the pictures I’ve taken here turned out quiet nice.





Then it started to rain. Bugger. I couldn’t take any more pics. Oh well, what else is there better to do when it’s raining outside and I’m stuck inside a building full of branded bags & blings? Kinokuniya! ^_^




Hey, I’m not so hopelessly addicted to Kino la, this time I went there with a true purpose! To purchase ‘Thank you’ gifts! I don’t know about other people but I just don’t feel nice when I don’t get a little something for friends who have been so (maybe too) kind to me on this trip. I was thinking of a bottle of wine at first but then I don’t know enough about it to be able to choose a nice one. So, what do I know best about? Books of course! ^_^

So since I’m alone I picked this opportunity to hunt for the right books. After I found the right ones, I spent the rest of the afternoon lepak-ing and reading comic books. Most of the books are sealed but there are always some lying about free for all to browse through. Ah ~ I spent an afternoon in bookwormy bliss.


Later I returned the same way I came back. Wah! The train was packed to the max! Of course to the KL people it’s the norm but not for me! The last time I felt so smushed between people in a small compartment was when I was in Singapore’s MRT at 6pm.

Finally, I reached Quin’s place, then quickly showered, packed my overnight stuff (cuz I was going to stay over night at Spire’s place) and stashed the books somewhere.

PB, Quin and I then went for woe. Sorry I can’t remember much now about what happened at woe that day, except that it was fun and we got two castles, I think, Gary went and took the emp at Pron 333 at the very last few seconds.

Then at night, they sent me to Spire’s place to stay overnight. There I met her cousin (Spire – Sorry that I forgot your cousins name) and had a preview of her latest cosplay costume. (It’s sweet I tell ya. Sometimes I wish I can cosplay also. Haiz. But that would only scare people.) Then after I read a comic she had lying about, I immediately went to sleep.

Coming up – My Hobo Holiday at Pyramid.

To Be Continued…

Monday, January 15, 2007

The Perfect Storm

I remember that morning I woke up around 6 something because it was too hot in the room to continue sleeping comfortably. During my stay there, the fan in the room broke down for unknown reasons. Heck, I didn’t even verbally abuse it. It just gave out this pathetic sputter of life before it died. Since it was my last nite in the apartment, I couldn’t be bothered with complaining about it to the receptionist.



Looked outside from the balcony for a moment, the sun was still sleepy also and the sea water just looked tempting. It made me felt like visiting the beach one last time because it was our last day in Penang. Thing is everyone was sleeping so soundly, I didn’t want to wake them up, so instead, I try to go to go back to sleep in the living room. It turned out to be too cold there, back to the room, then too hot, then back to the living, too cold, and so I alternated until it was 10 in the morning when Sala said I looked like I had a hang over.

-_-"

We all got busy packing up everything and getting stuff down into the cars. Then it was off for some breakfast. This time I ordered the famous Penang Prawn Mee. Sorry I didn’t take a picture of it this time, I was too hungry and it was too delicious. Heh.


The trip back to KL was kinda somber partly because everyone was kinda tired and because Penang decided to bid us farewell with a perfect storm. It rained heavily most of the way to KL where it only got worse, with thunder and lightning all over. At one time I was seriously scared ok, cuz the lightning was so close and the thunder was booming everywhere.

We all headed straight for dinner at EuroDeli where I was so tired I hardly remember what we talked about that time, was very blur. Then we finally reached home. Quin took me out again though, for a quick stop at HSBC and to show me where the LRT is and how to use it to go to Kino-, er, I mean KLCC. This is because the next day Quin and everyone else would be busy working liao and I would be left to my own devices. Heh.

Returned to her house and we managed to catch up on zzzs.



To Be Continued…

Monday, January 08, 2007

Play Play In Penang

I woke up around 10 something to see, of all things, people playing RISK. After a quick shower, a group of us went off to visit the beach at the Rasa Sayang Hotel.

I saw a lot going on the beach, there were some japanese folks sun bathing, some guy was parasailing (eee...parasailing...I wonder if I would have enough guts to do that one day.), there were also this lady learning to do tai chi from this old fella (I presume one of the hotel employees) and there were even people set up some kind of tent to provide foot &/or back massages.

Penang beach was kinda pretty cuz it glitters a bit from tiny pebbles. There was also boulders…I don’t know what’s my sakai fascination with the boulders on the beach. I guess my imagination subconsciously assumed that all boulders protruding from the waters has something mystical about it, something that’s just sitting there, begging to be explored. I mean who knows right? Maybe eons eons EONS ago a mermaid sat on one of these boulders while all her pretty mermaid friends swam and played around.

Okay, that may have been a tad overboard, heh, I mean if it’s long, long, long ago the boulder prolly was still part of a cliff or something.

The sand is very different from Brunei sand, ours are soft and powdery whereas Penang sand is kinda rough and exfoliates while you joyfully burrow your feet into it. It has more feel to it I guess. I wouldn’t mind being buried from the neck down in that sand, no need spa lo, 100% natural.

Still, have to be careful where you step, cuz joy of all joys there are horses on them beaches. A ride on them was about RM40 which was no fun since mostly what you do is sit on them while they lead the horse around by the halter. Bo-ring! Hee, I would rather ride the horse on a full gallop right down the beach, and perhaps break my neck along the way. XD Sadly though, the horses looked thin and malnourished even though they were all sporting shiny coats and a full mane. Cicak kinda got stuck on top of one. Hee Hee.

After visiting the beach, we had breakfast at one of the many cafes along the road. I dunno if I was hungry or what, but it was one of best omeletes I had in a long time. I love trying out omeletes in new places that serve them. I like to think a simple omelets can tell the diner a lot about the chef who made it. What I don’t like is the French fries. Why do people always serve French fries with omeletes? A toast would be nice or even a salad maybe, but French fries for breakfast? Meh.

Afternoon we all head out for lunch. Penang chow kuay teow wasn’t at all what I expected. I love chow kuay teow, next to kolo lau shu fen and kway chat soup, so I was kinda looking forward to it. Turns the Penang chow kuay teow is a lot of chow, little soy sauce and lots of little extras like mussles and small prawns. Keeps the meal interesting I guess.

Quin ordered laksa for herself but she let me have a bit of taste. Oh, that one taste was as good as it smells. I’m actually salivating from the memory.

Okay, that green drink right there, I have no idea what it is. I think it was either nutmeg or guava, or both, I dunno. The fella asked me what I wanted to drink first in hokkien then I went something like “Huh?” in mandarin, then the fella kindly repeated what he said in mandarin and I was like “Huh?” again. In my head though, I was thinking, “Siap!” I heard something like suan mei in there somewhere so I said, “Er, suan mei…” The man nodded and disappeared into the back of the cafĂ©. What just happened? A few minutes later he brought my drinks along with the others. *sweat* It was green with one sad looking 'suan mei' blobbling in it.

I knew I should’ve ordered something simple like cendol or barley. Thing is they put black sugar or gula melaka in their cendol so it’s something I just haven’t gotten used to just yet. The cendol I usually have at Simpur KB contains syrup, not black sugar…although some of them do but I always request them not to…like I said, I haven’t gotten used to the taste of it yet.

We went biscuit hunting after that. Terror some of the shops there I tell you, a simple biscuit shop with a nice looking lau pan in front can also sell a shopping catalogue displaying the latest in samurai swords and katana. Steady la.

After we secured a few boxes of biscuits, we all went off to spend the afternoon at a shopping plaza. Again don’t ask me where it was, cuz I have no idea. Poor PB had this ridiculous verbal misunderstanding with the basement parking ticket booth attendant. I think they need to re-educate that guy cuz he can’t seem to understand a bit of what PB was saying, in malay or otherwise. In fact, I don’t think the guy is registering that someone is speaking to him at all. He could be an android repeating the same words over and over in his built in recorder. Then the smart fella, who didn’t have enough change in his cashier to pay PB the balance, went off to the other booths to look for change. Good. Smart. Rajin. BUT, he left his cash register full of $$$ wide open. Good. Smart. Rajin. Employee of the month I tell you.

We were going bowling but then last minute changed to playing pool instead. I was kinda relieved, cuz I have no idea how to bowl and not really sure if I would like it, you know, that a clumsy, accident prone person like me, tossing a heavy dangerous object around. Not a good idea I tell you. Pool, I really like cuz I injure less people that way, including myself. You see there’s a lot of pool & snooker places around Brunei, so my friends and I spent many our college nights out in them. (Of course, always during our free time when there were no classes held, when exams were either over or not due and especially after we all finished our homework and assignments.) :P


So, when we’re done with that, we all went back to the apartment to shower or just relax. Then Sala and gang presented Pictionary the board game.

Omg, Pictionary…rofl. The rest is history. We spent a good hour or so laughing our heads off pointing at each others’ artistic monstrosity. Poor Eekie, she was already not feeling well at the start of the trip and there she is laughing so hard in her hoarse voice. But she couldn’t help laughing and neither could the rest of us. Haha. Even now while I’m typing this I’m still smiling at the memory. God, I have to get that game one day and have a go at it with my friends.

Memorable Artistic Highlights of Pictionary:-

‘Da Foot’ by Sala
‘Dic-tator’ by PB & Eekie
‘Down Under’ by Mareen (me)
‘West Monster’ by Quin
‘Accelerator’ by Mach
‘Dysfunctional Dolphin’ by Quin
‘Shark Dog’ by Gary
‘Air Rage’ by Eekie
‘Tedious Teddy’ by Spire

Sala has the original drawings and if he scans some of them, I will put them up in this entry but for now you will just have to use your imagination. ^_^

Only hunger drove us all out of the apartment and into Gurney for more hawker food. I will always remember the roasted chicken feet PB bought for me. Eeee, I want to go back and have some more. We also had one ton mien, (wan tan mien or what we call kolomee over here) where they fried their wan tan instead of boiling it.

Before you know it, it was already time to bid Pozart farewell. As Sala, Eekie, Spire and Gary sent Pozart home, PB and Quin decided to bring me to do some tourist-sy stuff. There’s a street where vendors would set up their stall and er, vend. There was some usual souvenir stuff like carved out wooden boxes or arts and craft things made in Penang. Then there were also some UNusual stuff there as well, samurai swords, short yakuza swords, copper knuckle dusters and even a tazer was for sale. Interesting, no?

Then the storm came. I tell you that was really a treat. To see the lights, from the little town area and the hotel, diffused and blurred by the rain…it’s really…something.

With all of us cozy inside the apartment, it called for a few more rounds of Pictionary. This time we were joined by Ben who is a hell of a guesser. Don’t know how he does it. He didn’t stay overnight though, but Gary did as he claimed the couch in the living room.

As Sala, PB and Ben started another round of RISK (they tried to convince me to play but first, I dunno how to play, second, I’m crap at rolling the dice and third, I was damn sleepy.) so Quin in the end took over while I went off to lala land.

To Be Continued…