Woke up by a friend’s phone call, reminding me of her plans to go to KL, and wondered if I still wanted to go and spend the weekend there.
Thought really hard…..then figured since I had missed one trip just a week ago, I might as well go, instead of mopping up and down my apartment floor doing nothing.
So there I was, buffing up whatever thesis work that could be done that day (and a lot of things did indeed popped up :), even had to rush to the medical library to get this book recommended by someone that had also referred me to some other people as resource persons. Printed some materials for the road (hey, I did read it up you know ;) Prepared my email account to make sure that important emails were indeed accessible and that the mailbox would not be clogged (yet it was indeed clogged by someone who had sent me a 4mb email with pictures, just 15 minutes after I left for the library, thank you very much for letting me know what possibilities could occur….my goodness :P)
So there I was packed with books, my camera and trying to minimize the bag weight as low as possible (considering my abilities to travel very-very heavily :P), and convincing my self this is the vacation I need :)
We decided to take the train to KL, partly because the buses were fully booked, and partly because we estimated we’d arrive at a more ‘sane’ schedule, since the bus would have us arrive at around 3 something in the morning in a country where we had no zip codes attached to us.
The train was okay, we took the sleepers, despite the (thick) smell of feet (of course we first worried it was ours, then wondered it if came from the two big men across us, then figured it was something the train had ‘collected’ from the many passengers riding it. My nose was definitely stuffed when I got off, reminding me of a ‘similar-not-so convenient’ trip I had some time back…flying business class for 12 hours….yet that’s a different story all together hehehe)
All in all, the train ride was good. Queuing at the customs was indeed not a problem (something people had been warning me all the time), the only thing was that there was no clear guidance/signs on where and what was happening. Then again, we figured, for the sake of being adventurous, we just followed through, no complaints.
Arrived in KL’s central station around 7.40am, managed to wake up my good friend who was kind enough to pick us up.
We washed up, rested for a while, and headed for breakfast (brunch would be more appropriate I think). Had nasi lemak at this nice spot, which Rafiq claimed was what was left of KL’s traditional ‘kampung’. Cheha and I tried (hard) to make resemblances with the ‘kampungs’ that we have back in Jakarta, and came to the conclusion that the ‘kampungs’ here were very dry and a large part of the roads were mostly cemented, which might be the reason it had less of a ‘slump’ impression, at least for Cheha and myself.
Rudy had to go do some work, so Rafiq was fully responsible for showing Cheha the ‘real KL’ (it was her first trip there), I just followed along, since I don’t remember really doing the ‘introduction to KL-101’ before.
So we did all the works; drove through Muzium Negara, visited Universiti Malaya, went to Masjid Negara, and lastly went for a tour in KL Tower (Cheha and I even did the audio toursity thing). And of course took pictures like mad, having Rafiq as our (energetic) art director ;).
After Rudy was done with his work, we headed for Genting Highlands. Drove all the way up there, parked the car and took the Skyway cable car. Just when we were inside this cable car thing did I realize how nervous I might be, going up in mid air, relying on a cable to swing (yes I’m exaggerating) us up. So I thought…..be calm…be calm….then guess what, the thing stopped after 5 meters leaving us hanging hundreds of meters above a wild forest (no exaggeration this time). When the whole thing started to move again, did the ‘speaker’ voice out an introduction mentioning that this was the longest and fastest (my my…) cable car of 3.4 meters (yup, get all the info when you’re on the thing). The forest was really really deep, but it was really lovely. Wish you could see it.
Spending the day at Genting Highlands was fun. We didn’t really get on any of the rides, just had dinner and enjoyed the scenery. Cheha and I got a henna tattoo ;) was kind of fun. She hesitated, remembering that she’d start working very soon, yet I just went in, justifying that having it on the side of my hand would be quite discreet (not :P), and that being a student gives you the privilege of doing ‘stupid’ and ‘crazy’ things once in a while (like dying your hair red…hmmm….did I just say that? :P).
We headed back after having this nice dinner, and decided to go to hartamas for a quick teh tarik and snacks. Met my (malaysian) cousin there…hehehe…that was indeed pleasant, seeing a friendly face among the crowd of KL teens there. the quick the drink and snacks turned out to be very un-quick, one reason being the fact that Rafiq and Rudy (of course followed by Cheha and myself) actually ordered (heavy) snacks, and then….the rain just poured down like nothing else. The funny thing was that Rafiq kept saying….’hey there’s lightning…the rain’s going to go away fast…’ yup…..as fast as the next bunch of lightning…assuring us we’d be staying put for quite some time. And to ‘complete’ the (okay, ‘my’) evening, my cell phone battery went busted. It had given some sign of weakness which of course was un-‘fixable’ considering we were still on the road…and I guess it just cried out for mercy after being used extensively the whole day (hey….how can you blame me for missing someone that badly *guilty as charged* :P).
The rain was not getting any less, it was really really late, so in the end we just walked in the rain (Cheha and I using magazines on our heads, which wasn’t much help :P), heading towards the car that was (brilliantly) parked several meters away.
Woke up with a big headache (part rain, part lack of sleep, part from sleeping right under the air-con, part from being continuously exposed to smoke the whole day from Rafiq’s cigarettes * I definitely am not and refuse to be used to it*), took panadol, still felt it, then tried to ignore it. Had (a late) breakfast (eating the lemang we bought on the way to genting, which apparently uses curry and not ketan item like what I’m used to back home *definitely miss Jakarta food *), went for (an even later) lunch, and then headed for the twin towers and KLCC (yes, the Vinnci shoes was indeed one of the highlighted destinations for us there ;). Kept taking pictures, crossed the street and headed for avenue K (which is still awaiting for an official launching or something) took funny/crazy shots in front of the many ad posters put up in front of the many boutiques ‘to be’. Was indeed fun.
Rushed back, re-packed, and headed for the bus station, yet of course made a teh tarik stop (yes, again!) somewhere on the way. Cheha and I decided we couldn’t take another 8 hour journey sleeping in a train, and Spore was much more familiar for me, even if we would arrive around 3.30am there. The funniest thing was that Rudy had planted the idea of flying back, mentioning that the price was not very different from taking the bus/train. Turns out the price was for one of the budget airlines, arriving in Senai Airport in JB, which meant we still needed to figure out how to cross the border to Spore; and even if we wanted to do this, there was no way of buying the tickets to fly that same day or early the next morning. So the bus sounded like the best solution possible.
The bus was fabulous, very cozy and (yes ;) quick. One thing I don’t understand is how it could show this nice movie with Al Pacino in it, convincing me to wake up (yes, at this point I was wondering if reading in a moving vehicle was good for my eyes….*yup, excuses…excuses…excuses :P*)…and then....just as the story was getting exciting....the video stopped, just like that. Well at that point, arguing about the movie seemed useless, and sleeping seemed like a much better option. Well, the bus trip was nice.
So here I am back again where I started, my books ;)
-moenlite-
[still grateful for the weekend….;)]
