DAY 1
I was sleeping over at my aunt’s place on Wednesday night so that we could set off together; I only slept for a mere 2 hours coz I could not get to sleep. We departed early morning on national day itself by coach, cozy seats but too cold aircon. We boarded the bus to find our seats occupied, angrily, we were forced to separate seats, this is the time when a grudge was born between us and these 6 obasans. Throughout the trip, most of the time was spent on the coach traveling from one location to another. We stopped over for breakfast before moving on, and I had penang prawn mee, and the prawn was actually shrimp which was damn tiny.
1st day lunch: We shared the table with some other obasans, oh, it’s always the 1st impressions that counts, so when me and my aunts sat down, the 1st thing that we do is to wipe our utensils clean, and the other obasans were already distributing the large plate of chili padi and green chili that was meant for the whole table of us. They left us with nothing, so my aunt requested for another plate of green chili, when the green chili came, I scoop some onto my saucer or whatever plate you call that before distributing to my aunts and putting it back to the table, then 1 of the 6 obasans quickly reached out for that plate of chili and scoop whatever is remaining onto her plate. The food was served and the obasans hungrily dished it onto her plate of rice. 1 of them was so aggressive that she not only scoop for herself but scoop for her friends also, oh my, they’re adults and they should know how to scoop food for themselves right?? I was quite shocked by their table manners. The assam fish was served and they hungrily grabbed the food, obviously we can’t lose out to them or else we’ll be eating leftover food, it was quite nice, and soon it was left with the skeleton of the fish and its head, 1 of the obasan starred at the fish head looking so hungry and I could figured it out that she really wanted to have the fish head, so my aunt hinted to her, finish it up la, don’t waste food, but she still took no action. Sense of pride, I think of dunno whatever la, she don’t want to lose face…. Ok , I was three quarter full only, coz we had 11 on table. Fruits was served, again, they reached out for it 1st before us…
1st impression: typical kiasu obasan
We continued out journey and reached genting about 4 in the afternoon. I was half asleep and half awake coz it was a little rocky, I listened to my mp3 as it put me asleep. It was very misty on the day we arrived, which seldom is the case, but photo-taking can be quite magnificent. We checked in before leaving for dinner, initially we wanted to have Kenny Rogers but oh my, it’s like only 6.30pm when they had sold out their grilled chicken. We switched to Thai food and went shopping after that. I bought a pair of shoes which I found it relatively cheap compared to Singapore. After which we spent 6 hours in the casino hoping to win some money, but ended up burning a hole in my pocket after losing some hundred dollars. We went back to rest in the hotel but only managed to sleep for a few hours as we had to leave the next day to another location.
DAY 2
We had breakfast and left with some time which was less than a hour, we decided to try our luck again, we barged into the casino again before leaving genting and again was on a losing streak, initially I stuck jackpot but lost afterall. We checked out and left the cool mountain.
We set off for lunch halfway along the mid-mountain, and again we had to share the table with the 6 obasans.
2nd day lunch: We had Chinese cuisine, 5 dish 1 soup, and the moment food was served, my aunt stood up and scoop food onto my plate, there wasn’t any turning plate and the table was large, immediately 1 of the obasans followed us, and the next minute, all hands were crossing on the table, very ill table manners but if we still take on action, we’ll be left with no food. We know that it’s quite a sight to fight for food but we’re left with no choice la. Watermelon was served and they did the same, distribute the fork among themselves, and helped themselves to the watermelons, and 1 of them said out loud, it’s not sweet!!! And the rest of them, after eating a piece, stood up unanimously stood up and left the table, leaving the 5 of us to eat the un-sweet watermelons. Those people are like cave-woman whom has never eaten before. They have gone too far, I think…..
2nd impression: Hungry caveman (ghost) who fast for a century
We continued our journey to Kuantan, it was 3 hours bus ride, and most of the time, I was listening to my mp3 hoping that it’ll put me to sleep or gazing out of the window, looking at oil palm trees or the beautiful blue sky, most of the time during the journey, both sides of the road were lined up with oil palm trees, rubber trees, trees, trees, trees…. It was only a minority that our coach passed by a rural village with cows and chickens running wild in the field or urban areas where there are shops. We reached our hotel and towed our luggage to the hotel lobby where we had a welcome drink while our tour guide handled the check-in process. To our dismay, we came to the wrong hotel!!!!! Grumbling, we towed our luggage back to the coach and the tour guide apologized profusely for his mistake. The itinerary was changed, we visited the batik village, and somehow I forgot to take some pictures, as what I know … Batik was only famous in Thailand…. We visited the factory and the shop front before leaving for dinner.
2nd day Dinner: We had a romantic dinner. The backdrop was South China Sea, with no buildings, a sandy beach overlooking the horizon, sun is going to set at any time, the sound of the waves washing back to the shore helps to relax, and it was a breezy evening, there’s the place we had dinner.
The sky meets the sea, a cool place for a relaxing dinner with waves washing as background music.
Food was served with the accompaniment of the flies. They were many of them flying around the food, and we were busy eating and chasing the flies off. Then my aunt told us that flies are harmless creatures, no need to fan them off, she just continued eating happily as she need not waste time chasing flies away, but the most of the time, the 6 obasans were busy chasing flies away, so we won the battle, we ate more than them obviously. This time, it’s assam fish again….. The fish head was grabbed by 1 of the obasans, and another obasan was choked by a long fish bone, then she left the table for the toilet, haha, now the food is for 10 persons, the tour guide came round to ask us how the food was, and the 1st thing he saw was that the fish head was not intact!!!! Watermelon was served again, and they grabbed a piece before us, we did not fight with them too, after them, my aunt turned the rolling plate towards us and took a piece, 1 obasan exclaimed it’s very sweet and they turned it back to them for the 2nd piece, obviously they were trying to gobble up the sweet watermelons la!!!
3rd impression: They’re really a greedy lot!!!
We set off to the right hotel this time round and it took quite some time to reach the resort. I could see the sun set, it’s a rare sight for me as I always never had the proper chance to see that in Singapore.
the sunset captured from the tinted glass of the bus
The red hot sun moves along with the bus, sinking lower each minute. The sky grew dark and we reached our hotel, it was a resort actually, very much similar to the 1 that I stayed in Desaru. We stayed in 2 different rooms and it was quite a big room, with a balcony overlooking the sea view, and a bath tub for me to soak, haha! The best thing I liked about this hotel was the TV channels, I was able to see the MTV channel and there was many new MTV screening. Shortly, we had to leave the room to move on to visit another tourist attraction. We were off to see the sea turtle lay eggs, the tour guide could not promise if we can really catch a view of it, but it was the main attraction for this trip. The road was only 1 lane, and there was not a single street lamp. We watched a video of the sea turtle laying eggs and we went to the beach, still there were no lights at all, but the beach was very outstanding with the white waves washing back. We were not allowed to switch on lights as it might frighten the turtles laying the eggs. We were there to release baby turtles, to put them back to where they belong, to have them regain their freedom. Each of us held a baby turtle on our hand, lined up in a straight line on the beach, and upon instructions, we released them and they made their way back to the ocean. There was a group of ang moh, snapping photos of the baby turtle they were holding, and it blinded the baby for a moment, it didn’t crawl back to the sea, while the fellow turtles rushes back to the sea. We went back to rest after it, we thought we were able to see the laying egg process but it was still early at night, and we didn’t want to wait till wee hours in the morning so we made our way back to the hotel. I turned on the TV the moment I stepped into the room and watched the MTV channel. I saw lee hom and selina new song, S.H.E new song, Mayday new songs and many others, I was really delighted.
DAY 3
There was nothing much for buffet breakfast in this resort but still we managed to have our fill. After breakfast, we strolled to the beach and took some photos and the sun had already risen up, missed another chance to watch the sunrise.
The sun has risen, with it's ray shining in every direction and casting a reflection on the sea.
Have you seen a bird nest before? It's my 1st...
After our morning walk, it’s time to check out again, there was a bag of complimentary papers hanging on our door, I was happy, at least there’s something to kill my boredom on the bus, we continued to another place, traveled for 3 hours on the coach before having lunch at the city area in Kuantan.
3rd day Lunch: There was more dishes this time round, but still the battles carries on, food was already served on the rolling plate, right in front of the 6 obasans, they always had the priority to take food and they never offer to turn the rolling plate towards us, even rice which was served and self service, they always helped themselves before us. It’s another plate of assam fish and they were like scooping big servings before us, oh my, it’s really disgraceful. Watermelon was served with honeydews on a large plate and they tried to finish up the honeydews before us. We aren’t a petty lot, we are forgiving people, we wouldn’t fight over fish head or watermelons with those petty people. I wasn’t very pleased, my aunt told me to ignore them, just eat your fill….
4th impression: They are selfish people!!!
We went to visit Kuantan specialty local products, salted fish!!! Oh my, once the bus door opened in front of the shop, salted fish smell filled the bus, I don’t eat those, nor did I want to buy too, so there were other seafood products like dried scallops, ikan bilis, shrimps and others. I only managed to buy large ikan bilis for my mum, coz she always use it boil soup, my aunt helped me to choose, and she tried the ikan bilis, oh my…. I didn’t know ikan bilis could be eaten raw, or rather when it’s dried…. I dished out 1 of them in the heap of it, had a taste of it, and tried to analyze which will taste better when used to boil soup. I bought huge quantity hoping it could last long as I thought that it’s really big compared to those I had at home, maybe next time I could have better soups…. After which we sat on the bus for hours again. We went to the Lembing tin ore museum which featured many different types of stones or marbles or those amethyst, quartz etc…. We had to climb a steep slope before reaching the museum as it was built on a mountain.
My house in Kuantan? Nah, it's the tin ore museum overlooking the forested area...
The sun was scorching in the early afternoon, and I was panting after the climb. After the climb down, I spotted something interesting and educational.
This is a rare scene, a kitten drinking it's mother milk.
Another 5 minutes on the bus after the museum visit, we were at a local confectionary selling coconut cookies, we had free samples and it was not nice after all. Next to it was a old lady selling magazines, I grabbed an entertainment mag with S.H.E as the cover picture and surprisingly, it was only RM3.00 (SGD1.30) in west Malaysia.
Oh, please figure out the words in red to see what magazines i liked most...
Anyway, it’s to kill time on the bus, another few hours of bus ride and we reached a local temple, there was a tradition for people to walked the trail of the dragon from it’s tail to the head and luck will change after that. We prayed in the temple before leaving for dinner.
3rd day Dinner: Dinner was held at the city centre of Kuantan, and in the restoran, there was a 1 month baby dinner and a wedding dinner. We had our fill even though amidst the process of grabbing food. Again, it started off with the chili war, they always took lots of chili but end up wasting them, maybe they just want the chili to add on colour to their utensils??!! There was assam fish again, and they always had large serving before us, as they always food-grabbers, they always finish their dinner before us, watermelon was served and this time it was not too sweet and she exclaimed to her friends and they had 1 piece and left the table. Obviously, we did not waste food, we finished the non-so-sweet watermelons as it high in glucose and aid digestion. My aunt saw their utensils, bones everywhere and rice was not finished and she said that they wasted food. She even said that it took great pains for those farmers to grow that rice. It’s quite clear that they were ill table mannered and coconut brained maybe….
5th impression: They’re an atrocious lot, I’m really pissed!!!!
The bus journey was quite fast as we were staying city area; it’s the right hotel this time round. We chucked our bag aside and I switched on the TV the very moment, oh my, my heart sank, the reception was not too good and there was no MTV channel, only the ESPN sports…. We washed up before going shopping, there was an Adidas factory outlet opposite our hotel, and we decided to check out the pricing. It was another disappointment as their series were outdated…. We went to the only shopping centre to shop around, it was not very well furbished, and there were many empty shops for rent. My aunt went to shop for a pair of slippers as hers is already worn off… I walked into a magazine store, there was a wide variety of books and magazines. Suddenly, something caught my eyes. It’s the Fahrenheit 1st photo album, I looked at the price tag, my mind vaguely did a rough calculations, I was astonished, the price was bloody damn cheap. I immediately grabbed a copy and paid at the counter, the lady at the counter said something to me, I was slow 3 seconds, I thought she was talking malay but I figured it out to be Cantonese, she said “handsome guys”, which I replied ya ya in Cantonese.
The "length zai" photo album which i got at an inexpensive price!
We continued shopping and came to Cold Storage at our final stop, shopped around aimlessly and decided to head back to hotel, oh well….
The 1 and only shopping centre in Kuantan, erm, are those cracks meant to be a design???
There was a Kenny Rogers restoran in that shopping centre, we wanted supper, my aunt fell in love with Kenny Rogers grilled chicken the last time she went genting but was disappointed this time round, as it was sold out in genting, so we took away our orders and had supper in our hotel rooms. It was very delicious and very tender, and after the supper, we were quite awake and full, so we chatted in the room, our topic centered on the 6 obasans who shared our table during our meals. We all bore a common grudge for those people, my aunts were so observant about them during meal times, and they told me all sort of facts la…. I never really noticed much about them maybe becoz I dunno la….. We chatted till 1am at night, I flipped my photo album before going to sleep.
DAY 4
I had a dream (not a nightmare), and was awoke by it at 5.30am. The hotel phone rang at 6am, it was the morning call, and we had to leave early today as we wanted to head home early, fearing that there will be a traffic jam in the evening. The food for the buffet breakfast was the worst for the past 3 days; we had no choice but to eat them to fill our stomach. We checked out and headed for our lunch, imagine, having breakfast at 7am and the next thing you know, having lunch at 12.30pm. It was a long journey on the coach, and I managed to catch a nap as I didn’t sleep well the past 3 days. I realized that I was now becoming a light-sleeper, at a mere touch or when the bus rock, I would simply wake up, and could not go back to sleep again. It’s another long bus ride before we reached our lunch venue. Oh my, last day le, lunch sucks as much as breakfast.
4th day Lunch: It’s all so plain and tasteless, food which is not so nice, yet food-grabber obasans are still in action, we were the last people to sit down in our round table, the next moment I know, there was no chili saucer left, I was fuming, immediately, I took the large bowl containing the leftover chili slices, fill it with soy sauce and place it right in front of me!!! No more assam fish but steamed HK-style fish, very tasteless, steamed medicinal chicken…. The next time I know, the large spoon which was used by all had knocked down my cup of tea, my face turned black immediately, I lost my appetite. When chicken was served, 1 of the obasans helped herself with the food and not only that, she actually used her chopsticks and dig inside the chicken as if looking for gold, OH MY, why can’t she use the ladle or spoon….. We are the ones eating those food, and I don’t want to be so freakingly hungry, ugly and selfish like her lo. I got nothing much to say, I just had plain rice and green veggies, pineapple was served and they had 1 before going to the ladies, 1 of the obasans came back from the toilet, asked us if the pineapples were sweet, my aunt hinted, it’s your luck to choose, there are some sweet and some not too sweet, see whether you’re lucky or not. Then my another aunt purposely pointed to a cube of rotten pineapple and said, try this la, this should be very sweet…..
6th impression: Please let those obasans disappear from my life forever…..
Our last destination for the trip was to the guan yin temple, another 2 hours ride. It was pouring, I’ve never met with a rainy holiday, now it’s my luck. We went to another local products shop in yong peng, top up those Malaysia snacks and others before heading back to the customs. It was home sweet home.