the trip

it's been quite a while since i last travelled with my mum and GOD i almost wanted to die. i know she loves me a lot and wants to protect me and all. but i suddenly felt 10 all over again. and with my aunts travelling along, it was like mum + her obedient minions towering over me. :(

well, it started off with the early morning coach ride to genting. while waiting at golden mile for the bus to depart, my mum and aunts (let's call them "munts" for short) were like

"yayayayayaya (say this very quickly, in an auntie manner), stay close to us ah. here very dangerous wan."

"yayayayaya, keep your passport properly ah, later somebody steal it."

"yayayayaya, we can board the bus already. make sure you have all your luggage with you."

note, this was BEFORE i even boarded the bus. ON board the bus before reaching the border, my munts were like

"yayayayayaya, do you have all your bags with you?"

"yayayayayaya, do you still have your passport? take it down with u later k."

and upon reaching the border when getting off the bus at the checkpoint,

"yayayayayaya, you walk in front, so that your mother can see you."

i swear i was going to pull out my hair, just that i was suffering a major lack of sleep and hence i couldn't be bothered to snap back at them. and also because of this stupid lack of sleep, i brought the wrong bag down from the bus and left my passport in the coach when i got off to get through immigration. thankfully i rushed back in time to get it. this of course fueled the next round of "yayayayayaya,..."s.

(i don't even know why they must say yaya so many times when they can just call my name properly. sheesh.)

aunt: "yayayayayaya, next time you must put your passport in your bag and keep it close to you." (DUH I DID. just that i took the wrong bag down)

mum: "whole day so careless, give me your passport! i keep for you!"

thankfully after crossing the border, i just knocked out and hence no more "yayayayayaya,..."s till we reached the first stop. by then, my munts had called "yayayayayaya,..." about 20-30 times. josy kept track. i don't think i'm exaggerating. at all.

and when we reached the first toilet/meal stop, my mum started her "must-keep-yaya-in-sight-at-all-times" syndrome. she would either force me to walk in front of her (which was difficult because she walks very quickly and i like to stroll along slowly with josy) or if i'm walking behind, she will turn back every min to make sure i'm just behind her. in fact, she continued this practice way into genting highlands and KL. in fact, she did not let me wander ANYWHERE myself except for TWO instances.

for those who have been to genting highlands recently and the KL shopping malls, you would know that it is perfectly safe for two young female adults to walk around together. but no, my mum REFUSED to let me out of her sight. when i shop in KL, (it's not even those dingy malls like sungei wang but nice high class malls like Pavilion) she has to tag along. as such, my relatives and my godmas would tag along too. so, it's like josy and me leading the way, with 6 aunties, 1 uncle and my poor 16 year old guy cousin, following behind like sheep. IT'S A BLOODY INEFFCIENT MANNER of shopping because every time an auntie spots something (usually it's quite ugly) at a shop, all 10 of us have to stop and wait for them to be done. josy and i were on the verge of killing ourselves. josy's mum i.e. my godma tried to coax my mum into letting me and josy walk around by ourselves but my mum would hear none of it. apparently my dad gave her orders to keep an eye on me. oh lord give me strength. and the last night of our stay just made it worse. some ang mo tourist had her bag snatched just outside the hotel and the snatch thief hopped onto a bike and rode off. this reinforced her "group theory" where everyone should just STICK together in a group so that we would deter such incidents. i mean, i agree it makes sense when we are on the streets la but how's this going to happen in a shopping mall?!

so when were the two instances when she'd let me walk alone? well the first was when we spent more than 100 ringgit at isetan and hence were entitled to redeem a free christmas cookie. (un)fortunately, the redemption counter was one floor up and (shockingly) my mum told me to go up alone to collect it. i think she had forgotten that she was in malaysia for a moment because the isetan departmental store looks almost exactly the same as singapore. the second time was later on during the evening. my godma tried her luck at coaxing my mum to let me go shopping with josy alone. this time, (shockingly again) my mum allowed because she wasn't feeling too well. her nose was runny and i don't think she was up to following my and josy combing the whole shopping mall. and apparently while i was gone with josy, my godma told me that my mum looked at her after we ran off to shop and said, "if anything happens to my daughter u take full responsibility." LOL! and my godma also told me that the day before while shopping, my mum let me and josy shop at forever 21 while she stayed behind with the aunties to look at some auntie clothes NEXT DOOR to forever 21. during that period of time, my godma noticed my mum shopping listlessly and looking very worried and before 15 mins was up, she said "i'm going over to check on the girls" before scurrying off next door to find josy and me. i don't know whether to laugh or cry.

did i mention that she controlled what i wanted to buy too? (well it's also partly because i used up all my money and i needed her to pay for it, hence the need for her permission) i found this gorgeous pair of heels from charles and keith (which cannot be found in singapore!) but she refused to buy it because "heels are bad for your back!" right. so when am i going to wear heels then. when i'm 80 and on a wheelchair so that at that point of time, my back won't be affected by the heels? and when i want to buy halter or spag tops, my mum would also not buy it because my dad thinks it's indecent (i suppose this is not really her fault because i could tell that she thinks it's nice too. gah.)

ok, the trip wasn't all that bad. when we were at genting, i gambled at the casino for the first time! i played big small and lost 25 ringgit of my own money and 200 ringgit of my aunt's. i was damn suay. i would bet on big and odd, but the result would be small and even. like wth. at the end of it, my aunt asked me how come i don't have beginner's luck. HAHA. i so suck at gambling. but it was a really cool experience walking around the casinos in genting. it was super old school lah. like straight out of a 1980s hong kong movie.

and shopping at KL was GREAT! there was sale EVERYWHERE and the forever 21 and topshop outlets were HUGE. forever 21 had so many sections and i was just getting dizzy trying to go through every rack. well i perservered and managed to comb every section and rack in forever 21 (because josy and i went back to forever 21 like 3 times during the 2 days we were in KL. HAHA!) i managed to get quite a few stuff with my shopping allowance that my mum gave me (it wasn't a lot but it was enough) and i really wouldn't mind going back again! probably next year the same time so that it would be the sales period again and i can go shop like CRAZY! :)

ok this has been a long enough post. i would be surprised if you actually perservered to read till here.

shall post photos tmr or smth! (not that i have much)

good night!