|C|andid |K|aleidoscope

9am - Got woken up by I can’t remember who, shuffling around the room.
9:30am - The breakfast queue was long, the service was bad and the food was lousy.
10:30am - The people in the hotel again didn’t know what we were talking about when we asked them about PasarRakyat Bus Terminal.  The guy had to make a phone call to ask where it is before he could tell us how to get there.  Even then, I was skeptical about what he said.

Hit the shops for a last round of shopping before we head home!  All three of us ended up going for a manicure and pedicure as it was so darn cheap!  RM55 for both services!

Our pampering session ran over time and we ended up having to rush, checking out from the hotel and buying mooncakes with cute packaging.

2:30pm - At least the cab driver knew where the bus terminal is.  Had to present our boarding receipt at a dingy looking office and wait for the bus to arrive.

My poor bag (which I incidentally also brought along with me to Bangkok) decided it could no longer withstand the ill-treatment it got from two overseas shopping trips, and snapped at the shoulder strap.  Lucky thing, it still had another handheld strap which I could use.  It must have felt it had had enough of the weight from my shopping and decided to give me a warning by snapping and not tearing completely.

3pm - The bus arrived and we were on our way home.  We only made one stop on the returen trip but the ride was comfortable and we again drifted in and out of sleep, gossiped and read.

8pm - We finally reached the Tuas Checkpoint.  While queuing up for my passport to be chopped, a cockroach decided to run across my feet three times.  I had no idea it was a cockroach the first two times I felt something.  I just stomped my feet a couple of times, thinking the feeling would go away.  On the third time, when I looked down and saw the cockraoch, I was superbly grossed out.  Till now, I am still traumatised by it and can’t help shuddering everytime I think of the incident.

9:30pm - We were dropped off at lavender MRT and while Bubbs and Rainbow shared a cab back, I decided to take the train as I was almost penniless by then.

MY KL trip with Bubbs and Rainbow happened at last, on 3 Sept!

3:30am to 5:15am - Drifted in and out of sleep… I was afraid I’ll oversleep and miss the coach
5:30am - Left the house to catch a cab to Bt Panjang Plaza… Had to still pay mid-night charges… damn it…
6am - Board coach and set off for KL!!

The journey was pretty much uneventful.  We napped, chat, read 8 Days, had drinks and toilet breaks during the two stops we made and watched Spider Man 2, which was showing on the coach.

12pm - We finally arrived in KL, Times Square and immediately set off to catch the local train service to our hotel, Cititel Mid-Valley.

We had to board the KL Monorail and switch to KTM at KL Sentral to get to Mid Valley.  Was pretty confusing.  The KTM train took awhile to arrive and everyone was trying to rush in as if it would somehow shoot off without warning (which can be the case as you do not know what to expect when you are there…).  At the Mid Valley ticket gantry, the queue was terrible but a guy appeared at the side suddenly, and started collecting single-trip tickets from passengers.

1pm - Looks of a hotel’s lobby can be very different from how the rooms are.  The lobby seemed okay but the room seemed kind of dirty and empty.  There wasn’t even a wardrobe, just a metal bar with hangars on it.  But the view was good.  We had Brad Pitt watching our every move (his Tag Heuer ad on a billboard).

After depositing our stuff, we immediately headed to the linked mega-mall, Mid-Valley and started our shopping.  As the Malaysia sale was at it’s last weekend, many of the shops had pretty good discounts and was crowded with people.

6pm - My bag was stuffed by the time we went back to our room.  After freshening up and putting our purchases down, we headed to town where Lot 10 and Sungei Wang was for more shopping and dinner.

More stuff were bought and by 9pm, I didn’t have much Ringitt left.  Had to be very careful with what I was spending on, as there is to be one last round of shopping the next day before heading back to Singapore.

11pm - After dinner at a Chinese eatery we found, we tried to get a cab that would take us using its meter.  No driver wanted to.  We had to settle with a fee of RM12 (Which is really cheap when divided by the three of us.. but being typical Singaporeans, cheap is not good enough.. Free is better).

11:30pm - Somehow, the people in the hotel didn’t know where our bus terminal is.  They have never heard of PasarRakyat Bus Terminal before and we ended up not getting any directions from them.

Not enough towels in the room!  But the housekeeping lady we spoke to refused to give us another one even when we said we dirtied ours.  According to her, we have to exchange the dirty one for a new one.  However, 45mins later, a guy came and gave us the new towel with no questions asked.

Room service was ordered and while waiting, I counted my expenses and packed my purchases.  As always, I am the one who bought the most.  Last November, the three of us went to Bangkok together and I ended up with the most stuff to squeeze into my bag.  This time round, it was the same.

The mushroom soup we ordered finally arrived and it wasn’t good at all.  Unidentified white stuff were found floating in it.  The sandwich was so-so but at least we had Matthew McConaughey entertaining us on The Wedding Planner as we ate.

It was about 1am when we finally finished cleaning up and went to bed, with Brad Pitt watching us deep in slumber.