Home Sweet Home

Thanks to CTY for fetching me at T2 upon arrival.

At first, I suggested to have dinner at Moon Bell Restaurant but as we were outside Centrepoint, he suggested this restaurant.

Since we arrived after 9p.m. there was only one table occupied with two persons.

The people on the other table were already eating but our food took forever to come out.

We were surprised at how good this fried rice actually tasted, though there were not much ingredients in them. But I finished them all.

CTY’s order of these noodles were quite salty to our liking. But he also finished them all.

Tonight he discovered that I do have a sense of humour, something he never expected.

Today's Happenings

We woke up after 7a.m. and while I was about to take my shower, I heard my mobile phone sounded indicating a text message had just arrived. I checked and it came from Sophia informing me how scared she was of her exam. I replied and meanwhile prayed for her.

Choo and I left her house after 8.15a.m. At first she wanted to bring me to a ‘mamak‘ stall where she could have ‘roti canai’ while I could have ‘nasi lemak’, but no ‘nasi lemak’ was available.

We ended up here for breakfast.

Choo had the bread.

I had the following. The food tasted ok, just to fill up the tummy before Sunday worship at St. Patrick’s Church.

I was glad I brought my jacket with me to church. The air-conditioner was on full blast. I recognised a few people but did not manage to say hello to them except to the pastor and his wife. Actually I saw the wife at one of the shops in Eastern Plaza last night. She looked familiar to me but I forgot who she is. It was only when Choo said hello to her, then she told me she was in the same line of thinking as me.

Choo also introduced to me a couple of her friends whom we ended having lunch with at a coffee shop called Aladdin, above Watsons in the town area. I sort of recognised Lim and his wife Hui Bing but I did not say anything until we were having lunch together.

Choo and Hui Bing had ‘Wat Tan Ho’.

This came to me but I did not order it. Curry Laksa. By the look of the amount of oil in the bowl, I was glad I did not order it.

Lim and I had this Prawn Noodles. I could not believe that this one was even better than yesterday‘s. I took my sweet time to savour it.

While we were enjoying the food and each other’s company, I asked the couple whether they used to attend St. Michael’s Church in Sandakan as Choo told me they were originally from there. Hui Bing said they were there more than a decade ago, which was also the time I was there and my memory once again did not fail me and they were surprised that I could still remember them.

Thank you Choo for lunch.

After lunch, Hui Bing joined Choo and I for shopping. First we went to the Filipino market to look at the handicrafts but we did not buy anything.

After that we went to the Central Market and I saw a few things I could buy to bring back to KK. But before that, Choo brought us to some shops to look at shoes and household stuffs.

I saw a pair of shoes I liked but none was available in my size. I did not give up and search for others and found one pair. Choo tried to bargain with the workers but they would not budge. But it was still cheap as compared to KK.

At the household shop, I bought an umbrella for Chloe and some satay sticks for CTY to use for his fragrance stuff since he was looking for them a few days ago at Karamunsing Complex when we went there to collect the Christmas tree.

We went back to Central Market and I bought the following stuffs for RM37.

Our shopping was not over yet. We went to another part of town and Choo bought a blouse for RM5.

Then we went to a material shop and as we entered into the shop, I started to feel dizzy looking at the multi-colours materials. We did not find anything we like at the Ground Floor and therefore proceeded to the First Floor. Each of us found something we liked. Since the materials were the last bit of the roll of materials, I bought a piece of tricolour that can be used as a scarf (but before that, I need to ask the tailor to sew the ends for me) and another piece which can make into pants for work.

We went to this shop located in an industrial area for afternoon tea, a shop originated from Sandakan.

Hui Bing and Choo told the boss of the shop that I would be posting up photos I took onto the internet so he specifically told me to take a photo of this, supposed to be originated from outside Sungai Wang Plaza, KL.

The crust of the egg tart melted in the mouth but did not have enough layers. The egg tart was not too sweet.

The ‘Polo’ bun was too sweet and when Hui Bing and I told the boss at the end, he said it is meant to be like that.

Choo liked this ‘pandan’ sponge cake.

Hui Bing paid the tab and was given 20sen discount cos of the photos on the internet bit.

Choo and I arrived home at 5.30p.m. I quickly packed and showered while Choo tried to cook some soup. I did not manage to eat dinner at her place and we left her house at 6.30p.m.

I told her we needed to hurry cos my flight was at 7.45p.m. and the latest I could check-in was at 7p.m. She told me not to worry.

I had to worry cos I had seen an incident where a guest on Air Asia at LCCT was disallowed to check-in eventhough the officer was still at the counter simply cos he arrived less than 45mins before departure time. I did not want this to happen to me especially when I need to be at work tomorrow.

The journey from Choo’s house to airport took just over 10mins and when we arrived, I could see there were a lot of passengers lining up to check in. The queues were so long until passengers were almost queuing from the entrance of the airport.

There was no officer manning the airport scanner for check-in baggages. I guessed that it must be their prayer time. I left my baggage at the machine as I was the second in line and went to survey the check-in counters. Only two counters were opened for the four flights that were due to depart in the next 2.5hours and the people queuing up did not look like they were moving forward at all.

As both counters were open/common check-in counters, I tried to queue up at the end of one of the queues. The queue did not move as I waited for 5mins. I told myself I had to take matter into my own hands or otherwise I can bid my flight adios. I saw another short queue in front of the sign ‘No check-in baggage’. I quickly went and queued up there. But it was too late to turn back to the original queue when I realised that there was actually no one manning that counter and the people on this short queue were trying to squeeze into the existing queue.

I guessed desperate situation warranted my desperate action. The officer at the check-in counter told the people in front of my queue not to jump queue unless the passengers at the existing queue did not mind.

For once in my life, I had to make small talk to strangers so that I can benefit from it. The first guy I asked was also passenger on the same flight as me. He did not look friendly and therefore I left him alone. The two men at the back of this guy looked friendlier and I found out that they were also on the same flight as me. I asked them whether they minded I jumped queue and one of them told me it was ok since the plane cannot leave without me. I was relieved to hear that, for I knew if I saw someone jumping queue when I had waited for like forever, my temper would have risen.

I had no idea whether the passengers at the back of the rest of the queue were on the same flight as I do so I thought the flight would delay in departing Tawau. Upon 10mins of sitting down at the departure lounge after a short visit to the toilet, the announcement came for flight departure. I was shocked ie. if I did not jump queue, I really had to say adios to my flight. That was a close call. The flight was only 10mins late in departing Tawau.

I met some nice and friendly Malays as we were queuing up to board the plane.

I gotta say Tawau airport is the worst airport of all the airports I have been to. Oh man it is so chaotic. Most of the passengers around me were complaining and shared the same sentiment as me.

Nevertheless, thank you Choo for everything. I did enjoy myself.

Today's Happenings

Choo woke me up at 8a.m. so that we can go to town early since we have a full day ahead of us.

She decided to take me to the coffee shop opposite UiTM where she works.

The coffee shop was full when we arrived and one person who was waiting for a table available is her church member. When a table of people left, she suggested to her church member to sit down first but he told us to sit cos he was waiting for some people to arrive.

Choo knows all the workers in the coffee shop.

She had the 'Ko Lo Mee' with the following.

I had Prawn Noodles. This can be one of the best noodles I had up to this point. The soup was extremely concentrated, oozing with cholesterol. Everything in it tasted fresh.

With our tummy full, it was time to go shopping again. This time we started with the few boutiques around the coffee shop. Eventhough there were a lot of sales, I did not find anything I like except some dry flowers from a gift shop.

At the second shop we went to, I saw the worker came out from the toilet and so I asked her whether I can use the toilet. She allowed me and when I went inside the quite a big toilet, I saw the walls were stuck with so many stickers. I could not resist not taking photos of them.

In the last shop we went in this area, Choo requested me to try on one of the dresses. As I was trying on the dress, some of the stick ons on the dress began to fall off. I had to pick them up from the floor and put them inside my handbag. How can a customer buy such a dress when things are falling off from it?

After this we went to town to see Choo’s tailor. She bought two pants for me in KL and they need to be altered before I could wear them.

We went to a lot of clothes and shoes shop but we did not manage to buy anything.

By 2p.m. I was feeling famished and we went to the chicken rice shop that Choo usually goes to.

For Tawau’s standard I think the chicken rice is pretty good.

As we were finishing our lunch, we saw that the people operating the shop were having KFC for lunch. What an irony!

The owner of the shop paid for our drinks since Choo knows him and we paid him for the chicken rice.

Then it was time to go to another clothes shop. This time I found something to wear at home for just RM2 each and I bought two of them. I also bought three T-shirts at RM5 each, so altogether RM19 for 5 pieces of clothings. Gotta be the cheapest I ever bought.

I looked at the clock and the time was 3p.m. I told Choo we had to get out from that place since we had decided the night before to watch a movie. I quickly paid and Choo told the salesgirl to reserve some clothes for her.

Luckily the cinema is not far from where we were. Tickets are sold at RM10 each. (Oops that reminds me I forgot to pay Choo back the RM10. Gotta remember to pay her back)

We waited for ten minutes before the previews came on.

The more than 2.5 hours of 2012 movie put us on the edge of our seats created by the special effects telling of the coming of the end of the world. What I can conclude from the movie is that Life is unfair, which in the true sense it is. I do not want to spoil anything for anyone. It is a movie that some will like and some will dislike.

We went to this restaurant for dinner after the first one on the same row did not have mud crabs and a kind of shell that Choo wanna eat.

We sat next to a table of Europeans who were enjoying their food.

This was the first time Choo had these shells. I thought she would have eaten them before. I had more than half of them.

I had more than half of the veges as well, which were slightly overcooked.

This Wet Butter Crabs were over-fried and the sauce was definitely out but I still finished them all except for the top part of the crabs which I never like.

We had this for dessert. Thank you Choo for dinner.

Then we stopped by Eastern Plaza which is connected to Promenade Hotel.

Choo wanna get the cheesecakes at Promenade Hotel at 30% discount but the one she wanted was sold out.

Inside Servay Hypermarket I saw some sweaters selling at half price. And I found one black one which is not too thick or thin but just enough to provide warmth for less than RM20. My mission had accomplished and Choo does not have to keep an eye for me on the one at Milimewa anymore.

We went home and I took a shower before finishing eating the rambutans.