I want to thank you guys for subscribing to my blog and dropping by every once in a while to check for updates. You have no idea how happy I feel when I’ve got people telling me to update my site. It feels nice to have my work appreciated online - both in writing and photography. As some of you may know, I have been doing a little bit of traveling; that’s the reason why I couldn’t update as often as I used to. Besides, from the start of 2008, I have been assigned to a new project that required me to clock in extra OT to get my work done. That left me with only weekends to update my blog - provided I stayed home and had no plans.
Last week, I took advantage of the long weekend and flew to Medan for a holiday. Lake Toba was beautiful, our hotel was beautiful. We stayed in three different hotels (or rather, guesthouses) throughout our trip, all of which were super cheap but good, except for one - the one we stayed in on the first night. It was dirt cheap, and the spartan room had only a bed, a washroom and nothing else. No table, no air-conditioning, no windows. Compared to the hotel I stayed in Bali (US$40/night), this one cost us only Rp40,000 a night. That’s about RM13.00! Super duper cheap ok. I can’t believe I spent a night there myself. It was quite an achievement. Here’s a photo taken from the room door (more photos later):
I’ve always loved traveling. When I was younger I didn’t have the means to go travel on my own. I managed to save some money since I started working and I was determined to fulfill my travel desires. To be honest, after my trip last weekend, I’m feeling a little tired from all that traveling already. Now that I can focus on my project, I actually feel quite relieved. I’ve just started to look at a new module which I have to work on today, and I’ll have to complete it by mid of next month. I’m glad things are falling nicely into place, considering I’m not gonna travel anywhere anymore in the foreseeable future. (Not to mention, the figures in my bank account are in the reds already… lol)
2008 has been kind to me so far. I made new friends, went to new places and picked up a new language. I remember not too long ago, I went gaa-gaa over this particular girl that I had even thought of postponing all my travel plans hoping that we’ll get to travel together. Come to think of it, it was a pretty silly idea. Anyway, as things didn’t work out between us, I decided that it was time to get real. AirAsia had been my best friend in the past 2 months, and Indonesia had been my choice of destination on two occasions. The people in Indonesia are really friendly and hospitable - especially after you’re done bargaining for a good price (for whatever services that they’re providing). All the beca (trishaws) drivers I encountered in Medan were friendly people. And I spoke not only in Bahasa, but also Mandarin and even Hokkien to the locals in Medan! It felt just like home!
The trip also brought me to three new friends, all of whom were great travel companions. We watched each other’s back and had a lot of fun. I was kinda sad that we had to part ways at the end of the trip. Then again, I guess I must get used to it by now. The last time I went to Siem Reap, I traveled with 4 other people - 3 of whom I barely knew. We got along very well and it was a good trip, but we rarely hanged out after returning to Malaysia anyway. Who knows, maybe my next trip will be with a bunch of new friends altogether? Oh well ;). Having humbly traveled to these destinations so far, I can’t help but feel grateful that Malaysia was always the better, much cleaner country. In Siem Reap for example, children run to you barefooted to ask for money. In Medan and Bali, the roads are dirty and dusty. So despite all the bad stuff I say about Malaysia, to a certain extent I am still grateful. But of course, there’s always room for improvement.
Last night’s flight was delayed twice. It’s unsurprising already, isn’t it? That’s what I heard. AirAsia’s night flights always get delayed to save trips. I guess that’s the price we pay for cheap airfares! Note to self: Never ever book night AirAsia flights anymore! I reached home at about 4:00am. I just had to take half a day off today. In fact I am dead tired right now. So good night and have a good week ahead!
P/s. I love my Jap language school. I had to skip a lesson last week and they just called me today to ask me to attend a ‘catch-up’ session 45 minutes before class this week. It is to fill me in with whatever I had missed last week. I certainly didn’t expect this!
