Vacation in Malaysia - Entry #1

18 Mar 2008

+ I was back at my flat in Dublin for a few hrs on 14th Mar, before heading back to the airport. Well, daffodils are finally out - I can smell spring in the air!

+ This is the entrance door to my flat - nice pic ay!

It was a nightmare – I was so close to missing my flight, from London to KL (MH1) owing to the delay with Aer Lingus from Dublin. It was partly my fault. I was given an earlier flight by the travel agent (I guess they knew what’s best for me). Instead of that, I changed to a later flight – in the name of wanting to spend a bit of time in Dublin doing my banking and running a few errands. It was good to be back in Dublin. I must salute the taxi driver who sent me over to airport – he was putting much effort to cut queues, not really but he was not losing opportunity at sight when he could speed off to make sure that I would be there on time.

Instead of 7:30 pm, I reached Terminal 1 Heathrow at close to 9:00 pm. I had one hour to do all the impossible. I had to go to Terminal 1 and I managed to make it within 10 mins. Phewww! I was impressed with myself. Despite the few minutes that I had at hand, I was also myself at the check in counter – asking for seat change to aisle seat, and asking whether the points have been captured in my Enrich. Then the whole scene began i.e. being apologetic as I braved myself through the security checks, taking my shoes off, passport – these are the reasons why I hate going thro’ Heathrow for any flight, unless London is my final destination!

Enough of that...

+ As mentioned earlier, mak was ready with all the lauks when I got home from the airport - gulai, since we eat lotsa gulai in Negeri Sembilan and nothing is complete without cili api in it

+ There was also; pengat (santan?) durian

+ Jimmy - my beloved animal - did not take long to warm up to me, but as always, he's got so much pride

By the way, MAS service, as always, surpassed my expectation (from that one glass of water as soon as I got my bum onto the seat; to clear my throat after that Heathrow-sprinting I did, to the meal left for me while I was fast asleep and to giving me a tip that’s L’Oreal-moisturiser-leaves-oily-effect-and-don’t-use-it. I am dead serious!). The flight was full of Brits/Europeans. They were taking advantage of the St Patrick hols (in Ireland), but generally the Easter weekend itself. On top of that, it’s school holiday in UK/Ireland. By the way, throughout the whole flight I could not take ignore this Gucci gentleman. He had this huge Gucci paper bag hung over his shoulder and he had this fashion sense that I had only seen carried by a tall lanky model on Fashion TV or so. Well, he was not so poised when he queued after me for the toilet an hour before we landed. Good fashion sense indeed – picture this; a earth yellowish cardigan, on top of a white shirt tucked into white jeans and finished with black belt and black pair of shoes. He was the diva of the flight.

+ KP Cendol Corner - the cendol stall I grew up with. I did not miss to buy RM8 worth of cendol, only to find out that I had to finish all of them :)

+ My first bowl of cendol - in my attempt to finish it all. That was 1st and last bowl. It's nice, but there's so much I could fill my tummy

+ The cendol place is close to the bus stand - the place that brings so much memory i.e. dreadful trips back to my hostel in Gentam after each school holiday. Bas United - on far right, the bus service I used frequently between kampong and Kuala Pilah

I landed at 6:05 pm, Sat, 16 Mar. I didn’t waste more time after greeting my family at the airport. We headed home. As expected I engaged all of us in talking about politics, and how BN had lost in the 12th General Election. Interestingly I didn’t see that many posters left on the roadsides, on lamp posts etc. Well, that exciting period had gradually ended I guess. I was so looking forward to see more of Pak Lah’s, Najib’s, Tok Guru’s face on the plastic sheets. I was to be disappointed then!

+ I was pleased to learn that my Baju Melayu for Raya is ready - I like the colour. My Angah/Abg Jeff are so great at taking care of my needs when I am away from M'sia. Angah was the one who sent the cloth to the tailor :)

+ Going through the wardrobe, I took notice of my mak's kain batek collection - impressive. There's also a pair of shades and luggage-strap; well it is wardrobe of absolute everything, haha

OK back to my holiday, as promised mak waited with her gulai daging salai (as requested by moi). It was awesome. And to end that, she had prepared some santan durian as dessert (akak managed to find some durian kampong on the way back home). Goodness. I was thinking – I am up for something real good and some nice kilos after this vacation. It did not scare me at all really. I was expecting that. I remember how I was let down by myself last time when I did not have that gulai patin tempoyak by end of my holiday in Nov 2007. It was my entire fault. I was not strict to demand what I wanted (haha). This time around, I know what I want and the concept is clear – kampong (eat your heart out Ning, this is real kampong, minus those gaudy gown designs that were hardly kampong! Ops)

I would have two busy weeks ahead of me – there are already six meet ups in KL I need to plan, some errands that I need to run (passport, EPF, income tax, cancelling that brain-dead Citibank for offering me credit card with an outstanding balance, yes you heard me right), sending the Aragi to Luke, looking for a room for my bro who’ll start his days at Toyota soon, building website for my sis’s business, kacau Dodol in conjunction with Maulidurrasul and bring the dodol to my eldest bro’s house on that public hol itself, visiting my bro at UIA etc. The list goes on. I even had to miss the kenduri arwah at my makcik’s in Seremban.

Today is third day of my vacation. I am already stressed out planning what to accomplish within these 2 weeks. I plan to go to KL tomorrow to meet and spend time with Faiz and Carlos for a day or two. I can’t wait to meet them, and Mak Wan of course – my other mak! After that, I will be right back in kampong again for the kacau dodol session on Wednesday evening, in kampong with the rest of the family on Thursday and back in KL again for half of the weekend.

+ Parcel for a friend