Day 2: Kuching

Second day just came like that. My brother had already left Kuching. He went back to Sibu one day earlier than me. Therefore, we would be seeing each other again very soon.

That morning, I wanted to bring the kids to taste one of my favourite dish – chao zhu mian. Unfortunately the stall was not opened. Yes, I was disheartened. Then we had second round at Top 10 Food Court – I wanted them to try different dishes. 

Since I was to meet my aunt and uncle for lunch, we went to a shopping mall nearby – The Spring. The kids were really happy to be in the shopping mall. It was like Penang does not have a shopping mall.

We kick-started our adventure in Kuching after lunch. We went to the museums first. There were a few other museums in one place. At least they got to learn something about Sarawak. Photography is not allowed though.

As we were driving towards the museum, we passed by a huge town square and in the middle of the field, there stood a huge tree. We had already marked that place for some photography. When we were there, we were excited to find out that it is a silk-cotton tree. There were cottons everywhere!

I drove them further up to Cat Museum. It was not as good as I used to think. The place was warm, it was like they were saving up the electricity. Some of them bought souvenirs so, I guess it was not that bad?

We went back to the town area after we came down from Cat Museum. We walked along Carpenter Street to hunt for food. We had kuay chiap and since I was not feeling that well, we did not stay for long. We did not waste our night in the hostel. Instead, we went to City One Megamall, a new mall that was recently opened. We walked around for a bit.

I was not feeling well that I vomited a few times. Fortunately they are a bunch of caring friends – when I was still inside the toilet, Timi went to get a drinking water for me while Muhau and Teany went to look for a pharmacy for me. I am so glad to have traveled with them. Really appreciated their good intention.

Day 1: Kuching

It was supposed to be an usual annual trip back home to visit my family members. However, it was not the same for this year. I went back with 5 friends of mine. We booked the flight tickets together last year during Air Asia’s promotion. It was not the first time for me to bring my friends back though. The last time I did that was back in 2005. Never would I imagine to be doing the same after 9 years. The only difference was my friends went to Sibu with me too.

My baby brother was already in Kuching. Therefore, he went to the airport to welcome us. Since my parents had moved back to Sibu, we neither have accommodation nor transportation. Therefore, we booked a few rooms at a hostel as well as rented a car from my mother’s friend.

The first thing that we had was Sarawak Laksa. Initially I was a bit worried that they did not like it since Penang was famous with its own Asam Laksa. Fortunately they love it. And now they are missing it. I also ordered gongpia for them to try. Mostly I wanted it but yeah, I wanted to have a taste what gongpia is. I go crazy over it because it is one of my favourite dishes back home.

After we had filled up our stomach with food, we decided to go for some adventure. I wanted to bring them to Semenggoh Wildlife Centre but it was still closed when we reached the place. Therefore, we decided to explore the nearest longhouse.

It was my very first experience to walk on a real longhouse. It was far different from the ones in Sarawak Cultural Village. Of course they no longer use the traditional stairway. Most of the things are modernised.

When it was almost two in the afternoon, we went back to Semenggoh Wildlife Centre to witness some real orang utan. We had to wait for about one hour or more for the feeding period. Fortunately we managed to see a pair of mother and baby orang utan. At least worth the sweat. One of out friends even went to the point of taking off his shirt. The horror.

After a long, tiring afternoon, we resumed our food hunting at night. My baby brother brought to us a place that is famous for its kolo mee, For your information, I am not a kolo mee fan but thanks to this stall, I like kolo mee. Of course if, only if, kolo mee was bought from them.

We continued second round of food hunting nearby where I brought them to taste my top dish, char koay teow tomato. Yes, it sounds weird but it is really good. Not all stalls that sell char koay teow tomato are good. For this, the taste of the tomato was not strong enough.

We ended our first day quite early because we would have a longer day the next day. Stay tuned!

Second Quarter of 2014

My first quarter of 2014 was happening. Many had said I was a very busy lady.

What about the second quarter of 2014?

Well, it did not slow down. It was as busy as the first quarter of 2014. However, I had a few happy trips during the quarter!

April started with my company’s event, Staff Townhall, to discuss the Company’s achievement and what we are still lack of.  We had all our main bosses from the Headquarter to join us. It is always during this time everyone is tense.

In that same week, I attended a Royal family’s kenduri. Apparently it was the wedding of our country’s 13th Raja Permaisuri Agong’s brother. How did I end up there? Well, one of my agents is related to them. Therefore, she invited me to their kenduri. It was an honour but, I guess I am not suitable to attend such occasion. Anyhow, it is a once in a lifetime thing and I am leading a YOLO life. Why not?

Of course I continued to attend Toastmasters meeting. During one of Penang Toastmasters Club’s meetings, I won my very first ribbon as the Best Table Topics speaker. I shared that the ultimate love, for a person, is to love yourself. I said this because all of us must realise that it important to fall in love with ourselves. We must be comfortable with ourselves. We must treat ourselves the way we want to be treated.

During the second week of April, yes it is only the second week of April, my Company sent us to attend a one-day training in Seri Manjung. Yes, just freaking one day. The training session was good. I love it. However, it was just too short. I believe I could learn more if they had made the training to two days. I wonder why they arranged it as a one-day training.

Before I could finish my breath, I witnessed Toastmaster International Speech and Table Topics Contests for Division in Perak. I had witnessed a District Level of Humourous Speech and Speech Evaluation Contests but not this. Also, I was there to give my support to a few friends of mine who were the contestants.

When it ended, we could not stay to chit chat as some of us had to rush back to Penang to attend Papa Gerald’s Golden Anniversary. It was a lovely celebration. Imagine a pair of husband and wife have been sleeping with each other on the same bed for 50 years. That is really something to celebrate. I want to celebrate Golden Anniversary too!

Month of April slowed down after I attended another kenduri. It was a wedding of an ex-colleague of mine. Her love story was pretty interesting. Well, her husband is a friend of her brother’s. He showed an interest in her and proposed to marry her to her father. Her father look a liking of him and agreed. Of course she took an interest in him as well. Otherwise, why would she be marrying him? However, the problem is, you were not allowed to go out before the marriage. Imagine not being able hang out? This is like a blind marriage. You can still talk to each other over the phone but, it does not work this way, right? No idea. I guess some people could live with it.

No worries, my April is coming to an end and I ended it with a blast! I went to Singapore for a holiday! Well, I am not going to go further about it over here as I have posts on my trips here, here and here.

Think the pace of my life slowed down in May? Hold on to that thought first. I started the month of May with a trip down to Subang Jaya for a two-days-one-night stay. For what you asked? To attend a friend’s engagement party. You think this is crazy? I have more crazy things for you.

In that month, my babes in Penang and I finally had the biggest gathering! It has been a long time since we last all came out together with drinks and infinite laughter. We had a babe who came back from Kuala Lumpur for a holiday and two babes came all the way from Sungai Petani for this gathering. All of us bitched about everything throughout the night. A very memorable night indeed.

There was no major Toastmaster activities in May. However, we did make an effort to come out and have fun together. We had a bowling session! When we reached the place, we had to wait for about an hour to get a lane. Fortunately all of them were willing to wait and used that time to bond with each other. Such a lovely family, right?

Now you can think that the pace of my life had slowed down. It slowed down in the middle of May though. Nothing much was going on in that time. I used the time to rest to get my energy back because slow-paced lifestyle did not last for long.

By the end of May, we celebrated Bright’s birthday. This time we had the celebration at a club. I wonder if it is called a club. The music was loud and all so, I guess it is a club then? Anyway, I drank a lot that night since it was a special occasion. I drink occasionally. Since all of them came with their own other half and I was the only single, I had a cyber boyfriend who chatted with me. He was by himself as well. Therefore, like what he said, we were like cyber couple. It was that night we chatted a lot and for quite long.

The next day after Bright’s birthday celebration, I was supposed to meet my friends in the morning who came Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and also, Melbourne! Four of them, two pairs of couple, and they are all my hometown friends! Since I had a hangover and failed to meet them in the morning, I went to see them in the evening. One pair’s stay was short while the other pair’s stay was longer. However, I really had a great time with all of them and that was how I ended the month of May.

Though there was not much going on in the early of June apart from me finally signed up a gym membership, it was indeed a beautiful month. On the second weekend, I went back to Sibu. Going back hometown only, what. No, that’s not it. I went back with five other people. The family members I knew in MEF Toastmasters Club. I will go further on that trip with separate posts. Will do a throwback posts.

In addition to the trip, I took up a leadership role in the family. I was elected as the Vice President of Public Relations for MEF Toastmasters Club. Besides that, I was appointed as the Division Public Relations Officer for Division H. It was an honour and the journey ahead will be a challenging one. However, this will hone up my time management skill. Not a bad deal though.

When going to the end of June, I made a trip to Subang Jaya the second time for a two-days-one-night stay. For what again you asked? To attend AIESEC in Taylor’s Universtity’s A Decade of Excellence! Some of the alumnus for the past 10 generations would come together and celebrate with the new generation! I managed to meet up with people that I had lost contact with. Anyway, I will get into detail on this event in a separate post. Another throwback, ya?

What made this trip unforgettable was I finally met up with my cyber boyfriend. It was our very first time to see each other. He waited for me to get done with the dinner and when I was done, he made the effort to come to the hotel to meet me. Very sweet, no? I cannot believe why would a girl left such a near-to-extinction man for a faggot.

Anyway, I must admit that I had a great time with him. However, he is a stubborn person. He was really persistent to pay for my room and that he told me firmly if I ever missed my flight the next day, he would come see me and buy me a new flight ticket. Of course I would not allow that to happen! Yes, he offered but I was not raised to take advantage on other people and therefore, no matter how tired I was, I made sure I woke up the next morning to catch my flight, which I did. Oh ya, did I mention that he walked me back to my room? Awww.. now you are dying to know this man already, huh? Sorry, I ain’t gonna reveal who he is.

So, how I ended my second quarter of 2014?

Remember the cyber boyfriend aforementioned? Well, he came to Penang! I invited him to join my friends and I for a movie – Transformers. I knew he likes Transformers. On the day he was supposed to fly in, he missed a total of two flights. True story. However, that did not dampen his spirit. He bought his third flight ticket and finally flew over to Penang. Since then he labeled the movie as The Most Expensive movie.

Wonderful things are coming to me slowly. God is good. God is great. I am really blessed. If God did not give you what you wanted, it is not because you are not worth it. It is because you deserve even better.

This is so true and I do feel loved! By God and definitely, by myself!