|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| Hanoi: Day 1
Largely an administrative day. We changed money, bought train tickets to Sapa and wasted no time in renting a motorbike.
After many challenging u-turns and weaving through traffic chasing Hang on her bike, we reached the temple of literature. It used to be checkpoint two for Alan, SK and I when we were here the first time. Now, it's just another tourist destination. We were stopped by a policeman for riding on the pavement. He wanted to confiscate the bike, but nothing can happen when we don't speak their language. After a few moments of vigorous finger pointing, we got our bikes into the temple. That was a good rest for me before we continued our journey to meet Dawn's friend, Hien.
After dinner, Dawn tried riding for her first time. It was a terrifying experience, for all of us except Dawn herself. While we see her restarting the engine in the middle of the road after her engine stalled in an attempt to make a left turn, she almost seem to be enjoying herself. And she definitely need no horn with all her screaming, a personalized warning system indeed.
We retired soon after a couple of drinks. We still haven't gotten soap for Dawn, and she is fast running out of shampoo which has been nourishing her body hair all this time.
| | |
| Hanoi : Arrival Finally reached Hanoi!
It's hard to imagine that I was still having my exams 24 hours ago. But there's no time to waste!
Thankfully for Hang and Duong, Dawn and I got an awesome hotel, with a computer for us to use in the room, for only 20USD.
We have eaten three times already and we're here for only 5 hours. The last meal was a bit of a scare as we got lost and were almost locked out of our own hotel.
No photos now because I can't upload anything.
More to come soon!
| | |
| Back to KL
Part 2
I woke up the next morning not knowing what to expect. I've ditched my original plan to make a trip down to Penang. It was a lazy morning and we didn't move out until about 2 in the afternoon. Plans just seem to fall into place. It was bah kut teh with Chin Nam and then seafood with Peter Long. I'm amazed at how my mistimed trip has turned out quite pleasant spontaneously.
 
We treated Chin Nam to lunch where he headed back to UM for choir practice while we continued with our plan of catching a movie. Berjaya Times Square was not far from where we were and a good half hour saw us reach the place in time for a movie. The same however could not be said about the trip to UM where Chin Nam would drive us down to Klang for seafood. None of us knew that Imbi station would be so different from Hang Tuah Station. The platform at Imbi station was small and I wondered if there were ever times people had to queue at the escalator leading up to the platform. The train itself was inadequate to say the least. It had two carriages and the squeeze was unimaginable. Shoving and pushing were unavoidable. Seriously, this has to go down as a major embarrasment to KL's integrated rail system.
 
It took us a good one and a half hours to reach UM. Chin Nam never told us how long he has waited for us, but I didn't want to ask either. The drive to Port Klang was long, almost another 2 hours, but enjoyable nonetheless when we tried to inculcate in Chin Nam the 'wrong' values.
It was round two of seafood, after that in JB with Jessie and Meeiyin. This time it was three crabs, kang kong, sotong, cereal prawns, oyster omelette and noodles. These mouth-watering treats on top of Peter's entertaining stories made the hard work at Imbi station all worth it.
| | |
| Back to KL
Part 1
There was never any doubt that I would return to KL.Only the right reasons were begging.
The perfect opportunity came along soon enough.
It was a free day for my brother and Dawn who were in KL for a competition. They were planning to go Hard Rock Cafe. Hooi Ying would be free the day after, and I could pop by at Penang for some good food. And Pong was in KL for a debate. I haven't meet her for almost a year since my conference in Chulalongkorn University.
And so I packed my bag, for yet another trip to KL.
It was almost impossible to find the commonwealth hall in Bukit Jalil Stadium. 6 people pointed me in the wrong direction, until my brother came out to look for me. It was nowhere near where they pointed me to, and I wondered why can't they tell me they had no idea where the place was. Unless of course, if there were six commonwealth halls in the stadium.
Jessie had dragged Mei Fong and another medicine student out to meet us at Hard Rock Cafe. It was indeed a very nice gesture from her. But as the night dragged on, it became obvious we were not going to make it there in time. I was very apologetic, by the time we reached the place, it was way past 11pm and Jessie and friends had to leave the place.
The night however was never ending soon. I met up with Pong and her friend, Top. They were in KL for the World Universities Peace Invitational Debate which ended only a few hours ago. I dismissed the plan to go Hard Rock Cafe as Dawn didn't meet the age requirement. Instead, we made a long walk all the way down to Bukit Bintang, eventually stopping at some Arabian restaurant. I first met Pong when I was in Chulalongkorn University for an International Conference in January this year. She was part of her university team then. Pong is yet another impressive student. Debating competition has brought her to many places, and she speaks five languages: Thai, English, Danish, Japanese and Vietnamese.
The restaurant closed at 2am so we made our way to Hotel Impiana, where their university had an extra room as one of them left earlier. Pong retired early, she woke up early for the last round and it had been almost 24 hours since she last slept. And Top was really a nice guy, promising her that he would stay up with us, although it was obvious that neither of them wanted us to fall asleep in that room. Top would be making his way down to Singapore the next day, so we promised to meet up with him then.
It was also about then that Hooi Ying told me she would not be free to meet me in Penang later in the day, which means I would spend the time with the chess guys. The trip to Penang seemed more likely to be unrealized.
| | |
| Stay over at JB
Part 2
Jessie's house surpassed my expectation in every way. She lives in a two storey terrace house furnished with a Samsung flat screen TV and a piano in the living room. The house is impeccably clean, impressive for a house of that size.
Jessie has a rather chatty 11 year old brother, who is very entertaining in his own way. I will remember him for talking to me about doraemon in the wee hours of the morning because he drank coffee at night. Jessie's younger sister is 14, very well read and is the also the walking directory of City Square and Plaza Pelangi. My interactions with them are very peculiar. They will speak to me in mandarin and my replies are in English. For many Malaysians, English is easily their fourth language, Mandarin being the first, then Malay, followed by their dialect and then English.
Jessie herself is impressive. She not only reads heavy Chinese literature like Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but also English ones written by Jane Austen. It is really a pity, in my opinion, that she couldn't gain entry into NUS or NTU. According to her, the requirements to gain entry into NTU's material science engineering is 3.9 out of 4. Her STPM grades is only lacking by 0.1. Put through the same grading system, I am confident that half of the Singaporeans in that faculty would never have made it. Her hardworking nature would easily see her in the top 20% of NTU. This is a classic example of how the cards are dealt. But surely, for an intelligent girl like her, failure to study in Singapore is only but a small obstacle in her academics. Her immaculate upbringing is also evident in her self-discipline. Trival matters like having drinks and meals only in the kitchen are strictly adhered to which explains the impeccable cleanliness of the house.
We woke late the next morning. Breakfast, or rather lunch, was hotdogs, salad, bread and coffee, where for the first time, all seven of us shared a table for a meal. I was constantly perplexed by the words they used, which served as a reminder for me to brush up on my mother tongue.
And finally it was time for my brother to leave for KL, Meeiyin back to Segamat and me and Shihao back to Singapore.
Trips to JB will never be the same anymore with Jessie around.
 | | |
|
