Week 1 - A Week In Melaka (Part 1)

Because I have my periodic closing this week, and also for the fact that I do not have enough leaves to take for 2 weeks, I kinda abandoned Ben to fend for himself during the day for this week. XD Well it wasn't that bad cos I took Friday off, which means he only has to find his own lunch and visit Melaka himself for 4 days.


Monday - 22nd September 2008

Today's actually my mum's birthday. But since I'm not too bad a planner, I made arrangements with my mum (and dad and bro) to have her birthday dinner on Saturday so I can have dinner with Ben tonight.

So it was the first day of closing... that means I get off work late. I prayed there were no issues regarding the allocations and that the directors finish their meeting fast (because I can only run allocations after the figures have been confirmed and no adjustments are made by the directors during the meeting... which actually starts at 5:00pm wtf). Hallelujah~! They came out of the meeting at 6:00pm and no adjustments were necessary. I had already run the 'test' run and checked all the figures I could while the directors were having their meeting, so I saved about 45 minutes there. Completed my work at about 7:00pm (yay!) and headed home for a quick shower before dinner.

We had dinner at Secret Recipe. Figured it's more convenient to just eat dinner at a place that sells cake so he can just get his slice of cake as dessert... rather than eating somewhere else then heading to a cake shop and needing to spend money on another round of drinks. So I had some rice with chicken chop in BBQ gravy while Ben got a chicken burger. Mine wasn't bad, but Ben's burger was so hard.... like they overfried the damn chicken. Oh, we had ice-cream too cos it was part of their buka puasa promotion where every meal gets a free ice-cream. The promotion actually stated free ice-cream and sirap (syrup drink) but when we asked the waitress, she said the promotion was only for the ice-cream and the sirap was for other locations. Bleh it was clearly stated right there... but I didn't want to cause a ruckus so we ordered our drinks.

After dinner, Ben ordered a slice of moist chocolate cake which he said tastes pretty good (thank god... cos I'm worried everything he eats will taste bad... like the beef noodle and the otak-otak and the hard burger) and I ordered a slice of walnut brownie, my favourite. What sucks is that I was so full from dinner that I couldn't finish my brownie :( I hate wasting food... I finished my walnuts though cos they're the expensive portion of the cake lol. Walking back to the car and almost getting in, Ben remembered he left his camera at the shop. +_+ So he ran back and saw the waiter outside of the shop looking for him. *bonks Ben* So forgetful.... I wanted to follow too so I locked the car and headed back there.... and in the dark, I stepped on some soft soil and my shoes and heels and part of my feet got dirty. And it's soft soil due to oil or something oily cos the earth was oily.... so it was teh YUCK!

And I think now... for the picture some of you've been waiting for....

Waiting for our food to come at Secret Recipe



Tuesday - 23 September 2008

It is still closing week and although my 2nd day of closing isn't as bad as the first day, I still can't get off work THAT early. Today's plan was simple though, meet up with Lai Ching at Golden Mansion to give Ben a taste of a Chinese dinner, and maybe adjourn to a cafe for a drink and chat.

We had bai kut wang (pork ribs in sweet sauce), thai style chicken, some vegetable and shark's fin soup. First, ordering the shark's fin soup was probably a bad decision because although I wanted Ben to try out this dish, I kinda forgot it contained seafood. So after one sip, Lai Ching and I were left to finish up the whole bowl. Man, I think I had 5 bowls of that +_+ And that wasn't the only thing we had to finish....

Well there was a huge culture shock for Ben right here. We all had our plates of rice, and the dishes were in the middle. How we eat is we take whatever food we want on our plate, and eat it. If we need more, we take again. From Ben's upbringing, he takes all he wants on his plate and finishes what he took. So he was kinda having a culture shock seeing us taking a little bit, then taking again, then taking again. I guess the only logical explanation I could think of is that, for Chinese dinners there are usually about 10 people seated at the table. So I guess we don't want to grab a huge portion of a dish cos we're afraid others might not have the opportunity to take their fair share too. What was stubborn though, was Ben found it so hard to adapt to how we eat or how we do some things. Sometimes I feel like he's so stuck to certain rules of eating or rules of doing things that it can't be bent or made more flexible. You'll know what I'm talking about when we proceed further into his trip here.

Besides the culture shock, there were two other memorable things that happened during dinner. First, is that there was a huge group of elderly men having steamboat, 2 tables to be exact... and oh my goodness they were SOOOOOO loud and noisy. We could barely hear each other talking through all that noise! Second, is that Ben kept drinking his Chinese tea that the waitress had to refill his glass more than 10 times! I should have just told her to leave the jug on the table and let him refill it himself whenever he wants to lol.

Anyways, food was a lot (especially since Ben hardly ate his fair share of the dishes) and by the time we were done, we were SOOOOOOO full that I didn't feel like adjourning to a cafe for yet another drink. We suggested for Lai Ching to join us at the hotel lobby or to lepak by the poolside and chit chat but she wasn't really keen on the idea. So we parted ways and that marked the end of Day 3 in Melaka... as well as this post... for now.



Coming up:
Week 1 - A Week In Melaka (Part 2)

How fast can you type?

After what seems to be ages not hearing from Evilyn, she sent me a message asking me how fast do I type.... followed by a link. After refreshing the page 4 times for it to load, it finally did. Evilyn said she got 60 words per minute (wpm) for her best attempt.

I tried.

First attempt. 60 wpm. 3 errors.

I wasn't happy.

I tried again.

Second attempt. 62 wpm. 2 errors.

I improved yay :D Was kinda satisfied that I beat Evilyn. However, she went ahead and said "Yay! You're not miles faster than me! XD" which sparked the competitive egoistic girl inside of me, wanting to do even better.

Third time's a charm, I whispered to myself.

Third attempt. 64 wpm. 0 errors.

Now I'm super happy. Evilyn goes, "Damn!" and was motivated to try more herself while I went to take my shower. I came back to my PC with the message "w000000t!!!!!!!!!!!!! i have 65 wpm! XD" and without errors too. A fire burned in me.... oh it's on!

"Just you wait :p" was my last message to her before I tried again.... and...






I believe the term to use here is...

PWND!

Prologue - The Arrival

Ok ok I know this is looooooooooooooooooooooooooong overdue. +_+ I'm going to divide these into a couple of posts. One for each week kinda... I actually planned to only write about the 8-day road trip that I went on.... but then concluded that an 'introduction' is needed before that post. So... without delaying any more than I already have..... *lol* I present to you.... the post.

Sunday - 21st September 2008

I've been waiting for this day for quite a long time... about 6 months to be exact. [Lol that's like so weird cos I said 'about' 6 months to be 'exact'] Anyways, I left home in the morning and drove to KLIA to pick Ben up from the airport. OK before I go on... lemme explain who Ben is.

So early this year I kinda got into an online relationship with someone in WoW who I've known for about 3 years. We were just friends for a long time till early this year where we spent a lot of time online together and in game and well... we got closer and kinda got together. Now before any of you shoot me about not telling you I have a boyfriend.... I didn't want to tell anyone before we actually meet and that I actually like him in person, not just some online fling. So anyways, Ben decided to visit me and that's where this whole situation comes about :p

So anyways back to the story.... I arrived at KLIA and headed to the arrival hall. Checked the flight information and there was only 1 China Airlines flight and it has already landed. One problem though... the flight number wasn't the same as the one Ben informed me. Since that was the only China Airline flight which has landed and there are no other China Airlines flight scheduled to land, I assume that might be the flight. I arrive about 10 mins after the stated arrival time, so I rushed to the meeting place we've set out to meet. Looked around the meeting point, no Ben.

I kinda started to panic thinking if I got the right day, if he never actually came and that I've been stood up, if I got the time right between AM and PM, etc. I started calling my brother to ask about stuff and texted Vorcon too to try and calm down. My bro told me to get something to eat cos it was lunch time and I was getting hungry. But I couldn't sit and eat while being this panicky. So I kept moving back and forth from the arrival area and the place we decided to meet. [The map from the KLIA website was confusing and we thought the place we agreed to meet at was right at the arrival area. It was actually, except it's for domestic flights and not international flights] I think I paced to and fro about 15 times.

Everytime I'm at the arrival area I keep thinking maybe he's at the meeting area waiting, and that I didn't see him while walking from the meeting area to the arrival area (or vice versa) maybe because we happen to be on each sides of a pillar or a wall so it blocked out view. After my 15th time being at the meeting area and thinking the same thing and walking back to the arrival area, I spotted him. It was where the elevators were. He was walking towards the meeting area and I was walking back towards the arrival area so we kinda met halfway.

Man what a huge relief it was. I called my brother and texted Vorcon, informing them about the situation. We headed to Burger King which Ben says the burger tastes just like home, and then I got a shocking present. *points to below picture*



I reeeeaaaaaalllllyyyyyy like the necklace A LOT. The rubies are pinkish in the right light and that made me love it even more! The chain is really really thin which makes it rather fragile and there's always the fear of it breaking and me losing the pendant though. So after we've gotten our lunch, we headed to Melaka.

I drove straight to Equitorial Hotel (where Ben's staying for a week) and we arrived about 4pm. I dropped him at the lobby while I went to park. ZOMG the parking fee there is like RM5 per entrance now! It started at RM2, then RM3 and now RM5? Ridiculous! Equitorial Hotel Melaka management, if you're reading this, your parking fees are way too expensive! Anyways, upon checking in and making sure hotel guests have free parking (phew~!), a bellboy brought us to the room and I kinda forgot to tell Ben on the way to the hotel, that we don't really need to tip bellboys here. So Ben looked at me and asked if I had any small notes (He only had RM50 notes). Actually the bellboy had started walking away after showing us the way to the room and putting Ben's suitcase in but Ben's action/gestures of wanting to tip and asking me for smaller denominations made him wait. Opened my purse and the smallest was a RM10 note. X_X Oh well.... so the bellboy got a HUGE tip for dragging the suitcase (yeah he didn't even need to carry it cos it was the ones with wheels!) and showing us the room. Oh well...

We left the hotel later and went to Wok & Pan for dinner and that was a bad first experience for Ben. +_+ I didn't know their Hong Kong Beef Noodle wasn't that great and well Ben ordered it and didn't like it, and my Wah Tan Hor wasn't that great either. I should have ordered a Western dish like chicken chop or something and swap food with him if he's not accustomed to our local taste. This alone brought me fear of all the other places I planned to bring him to. Scratched Satay Celup off the list, and ikan bakar is a no-no as well since he doesn't eat seafood.

We headed to Jonker Walk after dinner and I was kinda hoping I didn't bump into any relatives while being there. And just in case any of you readers don't know.... no, my parents don't know about Ben.... yet. LOL. Those of you who know my mum probably knows why it's still a secret. So we just walked there looking at stuff and nothing caught his eye to buy. I did buy something though... bought some otak-otak to let him try when we get back to the hotel. He did and didn't like it... now I figure out why... it's made of fish paste. GAH!

So anyways, back at the hotel, we waited till it was 12am and then HAPPY BIRTHDAY~! It might be a little lame, but I got him a DiGi SIM card with RM100 reloaded into it as a birthday present... and gave him my Nokia 3310 (I bought a second hand phone from my brother's boss for my own use) to make contacting easier while in Malaysia.


Coming up:
Week 1 - A Week In Melaka

I pity the girl marrying my brother....

Because he is a complete @$$! URGH!!!!! So today I'm on medical leave because I have sore eyes. In the evening my brother called and asked me if I had any plans for dinner and I said no. So he said let's have dinner together, and suggested to go to Dataran because he wants to get some tickets for the new James Bond movie out this Thursday. I'm fine with that. Then at 7 he suddenly calls me and tells me he walked to his car but forgot his car keys and he's lazy to walk back to the office to get it so he asks me to pick him up from work and we'll head to Dataran from there. I finally agreed (didn't want to leave then because I was waiting for him to come home before I started getting ready to go out) and went to pick him up. On the way there, he told me to pick another friend up. WTF? I didn't know we were going with other people. I asked him why he didn't tell me earlier and he said he forgot. I was worried my petrol wouldn't be enough because I know it's enough to get to Dataran and back but not detouring elsewhere to pick other people up. Fine.... I let it slide.

At Dataran we headed right to the cinema to get their tickets first as they were afraid it would get sold out... and then my brother realised he left his phone in the car. I told him to just forget about it but he said theives now have this advance technology thing which detects the battery of the cellphone and he's worried they might smash my car. S I G H . . . so lame.... so we headed back and took the phone. After dinner they wanted to look at TVs and they literally stood there looking at TVs for almost half an hour! I mean WTF? Sigh.... we ended up leaving Dataran close to 10 and I'm already frustrated by then.

And what do you know? My brother actually wanted to 'lepak' at his friends place for a bit too after we're done at Dataran. I pulled him aside and asked him why didn't he tell me any of this earlier... and he asked me what do I need to do at home. Like DUH.... even if I know your friend you're obviously doing something I'm totally not interested in so you can at least be considerate and think about me when you decide to go out like this. Sheesh. I'm more pissed because he did not tell me his WHOLE plans for the night because he knows if he did, I wouldn't have wanted to go and being the selfish, stingy, lazy, useless brother he is... using me as a driver is a huge opportunity, so he did. So he told me half of his plans so I'd agree, then later drop the bomb one by one. W T F dude.... seriously... and speaking of WTF... he doesn't even bother filtering the F word anymore when he's out with me. I hope one day he slips and speaks like that in front of my mum and gets a huge scolding.

So anyways, there I was so freaking pissed because I felt so used, and I was planning to drop by at the bank to withdraw some money on the way home from Dataran but thanks to his 'sudden pop-up' plans, I couldn't. I don't even know why I put up with him anymore. This is not the first time he's doing something like this, and it certainly won't be the last. Things like this makes me wish I never worked in Melaka. Living alone by myself is the best thing ever, not having to deal with idiots like him.

ARGH I was calmed earlier then posting this got me riled up again so I'm gonna stop here and chill before steam comes out from my ears. I usually eat when I'm stressed with idiots like this but I can't tonight because I need to fast because the doctor wants to draw some blood from me tomorrow for a test. +_+ I don't know what test he's planning to do but I'm scared T_T

Anyways.....as an update, I'm loading my 8-day road trip holiday pictures now and I'll do final touches to the blog post at work this week and then FINALLY post it. LOL.... I'm a lame slacker T_T Here's a photo-preview of my post: