Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Road Trip

This is a post about the trip I made to Malaysia over the weekend.I'd probably write about some other thoughts and discoveries about my friends and people we see during our time there but there'd be another post.This is,purely,a post talking about the stuff we did there and the places we went to.And if that's boring,well,it's supposed to be like a diary entry to me anyway so it's supposed to suit my purpose,not YOURS.I need to put it down before I forget.You know,Before I Get Old.Another reason could be just that I worry I might suffer from amnesia.I never remember anything.

The whole trip started on Thursday night.Went by KTM into Malaysia (KL),supposed to be the 9:30 pm train but we arranged to meet at 9 pm.Being the usual punctual me,I arrived there at 8:45 pm.Big Mistake.My two friends,to be mentioned as Beast(He is a big,plump guy who talks a lot...like Beast,without the blue fur)and Angel(Quite a handsome lad and well-built.A bit like the X-men,Angel,without the wings...which kind of makes him a useless X-men,doesn't it?)arrived late...as usual.Everything I meet them,I've had to resort to arriving late just as to not wait too long,somehow Angel usually beats me to it by being even later.Angel was relatively ok this time,coming at 9:15 pm.Beast managed to arrive even later at 9:20.But we made the train.

The train ride was quite literally,a pain in the @rse.It was extremely bumpy and while we booked individual bunk beds,the shaking and rattling made the 8 hour trip virtually "unsleeepable".Angel,the wingless wonder,somehow managed to sleep soundly.Beast,like me,were being tossed all over the place.I didn't really know Angel slept weel though until later because I had pulled the curtains over to shield myself from the aisle lights.But Beast apparently couldn't sleep because he heard a snoring sound.His gentle investigation after poking his nose through Angel's curtains was that he was the culprit.So beautiful people snore too.Just in case,anyone is wondering,I don't snore.Beast snores too but that comes later.

We spent a short time in KL but continuing our journey to Gentings where we made a one-night sojourn.The food is terrible here,overpriced but the slot machines were wonderful.And of course it helps that I lost the most money out of the three fellows.An interesting episode occurred where Angel was refused entry into the casino twice.First because he wore sports shoes.So he went to chnage and came back an dthen they ejected him for wearing track pants.By that way,I think the guards probably just didn't like his face and didn't want him in in any way.My premonition is that even if he had went back to change into proper jeans or pants,they'd still reject him anyway for wearing red underwear or something like that.So we gave up entering the casino and went to Starworld instead,which is more like a slot machine arcade centre...and I proceeded to do fulfil my destiny.Lose money.Oh,we bowled too.Fancy coming to Gentings to do everything we ALREADY did in Singapore.Not my cup of tea,I am a useless bowler,averaged avout 50.Even some small geena who was watching us bowl was shaking his head everytime I took my turn.@#$%.Stupid geena.

The next day,we went back to KL where it was a food tour day.We had bak kut teh,lok lok,claypot rice and sambal sotong.Great food.You really have to eat the 大排档 to get the best food.And it's much cheaper too.KL itself isn't an easy place to move around if you didn't know it well.They have different LRT operators for different parts of the city and the taxis don't run on meters(bargain,bargain,bargain!).The shopping is not bad though.But having three guys there probably isn't such a good idea.A group of three gals would have found paradise but guys,we were just drifting around like zombies.Well,we went to Times Sqaure too.What a grotesquely gigantic building!The aisles are so big,you could play football along them.All you need are goalposts.Angel and Beast were bored and call it "The Times You'd Want To Forget".I just think it's not targetted at single guys walking around like zombies.Couples or families will like it better.

Next stop...a four hour trip up to Penang.I can't let this go without praising the Puduraya bus terminal system.Wonderful.We were scheduled to board our bus at Platform 4 at 8:30 am and we reached there punctually and patiently waited.Lo and behold.The bus was nowhere in sight.All the buses at Platform 4 was going to Ipoh.So there was this large group of people(including us)looking around anxiously and wondering if we had been conned.Then,out of the blue,from PLATFORM 1,our bus came at 9 AM.Wow...so the locations and timings stated on ticekts are actually random huh?

Penang.Great food.Some very pretty girls.That's it.We didn't really go to much places to eat besides Gurney and Kek Lok Si.But that's because our hotel was situated so far away,mosquitoes would have trouble trvaelling there.It's located at a beach but for all I know,it could be the end of the world.We were nowhere near the city cntre and it was all cabs,cabs and cabs.Very chor.Try the Asam Laksa,Cha Kuey Tiao,Mi Tai Mak,Satay and Rojak.Very different from Singapore and quite tasty.While at Gurney,keep a lookout for the girls as well.Tasty as well.I'm not the one who said that,mind you.

Anyway,the beach at Penang is a wretch.Full of seashells.After we have changed into our swimming trunks and went to the beach to take a dip,we elected to just sit by beach and let the tides bathe us in its glory everytime it gushes towards the shore.Bad mistakes.First off,the water is murky at best...nowhere near the pristine clearness in Bintan(but Penang is not known for their beaches anyway)and then the tides...geez,does someone remote control them or something?Seeing that the waves were not very forceful,we decided to sit further out since everything the tides came in,it only reached out waist level(and that's sitting down).I had the common sense to then say"Is that the best you can do?" and the lousy waves suddenly became big and pounded us left,right,centre.What's more,the waves always brought along whole tonnes of seashells with them and everytime the tides came in,we found our legs buried under seashells.Argh.And being the smallest guy,the big waves were tossing all over the beach while the other two bigger fellows were looking on in amusement and wondering what in the world I was doing,falling all over the place and drinking seawater.

I think I'd leave the return journey on AirAsia out.Indeed,I've already left out so many things,the last part of the trip back to Singapore wouldn't matter.Anyway,just to let people know,AirAsia is actually pretty good.But then it's free seating and you see guys scrambling on the plane like their lifes depended on it.It's a great trip overall and I certainly wouldn't mind going again.Actually,my mum suggests that we can go to Penang together.Hahaha...