Best Week of 2018 (Probably) - Part 1.

I'm not sure if it's just me or a Malaysian thing, but I find myself having more online friends in foreign countries, with the majority in Singapore. Perhaps online gaming isn't popular in my country, and this results in me not being able to meet with friends or gather with them because I'm miles away from them.

That doesn't mean I never met them. I traveled to Singapore multiple times, all with the intentions to meet my friends. Some meetings begin with some awkwardness, but it's always a joy to see the faces of the people I've chatted through a screen.

I've never met them in Malaysia. For them, it's convenient for me to travel to Singapore. And for some reason, they're terrified for their safety. They genuinely believe the chances of them getting robbed, raped or kill are high. Singapore is, of course, much safer than Malaysia, but there's no need for so much paranoia. Maybe.

But finally, I had a Singaporean friend visit Malaysia. We planned to meet another friend in Ipoh, hang out there for a few days and visit Genting. They will be staying at my home too.

I took a week's worth of leave since my cousin's wedding was during the weekend. I was excited for the trip since July started. I couldn't believe that I would meet my friends again so soon, traveling around Malaysia to boot. And a week off my job!

DAY ONE - SATURDAY

I took an early morning train to Ipoh. It was my first time taking a long distance train alone. I was nervous about it, but got on the train successfully.

Everything was fine until I noticed a figure approaching two seats away from me on the left. I couldn't see this person's face but I thought it was someone I knew. I thought he was the general manager from my company.

My immediate reaction was to hide my face. I took my phone out and immediately messaged my other colleagues. Probably not the best move, but I just wasn't sure what to do. By the time I messaged my colleagues, he already sat down and the guy in between us blocked the view of his face. I couldn't check if it was really him.

It was unbelievable, for me and my colleagues. I thought it was such a coincidence. Of all trains, of all times, OF ALL SEATS. There we were. I even wanted to book his seat, but had problems when purchasing it so I bought the window seat on the other side.

He soon realized it was me and messaged me. We greeted each other and didn't speak to each other again the whole train ride. When we reached our destination (we're both heading to Ipoh), we parted ways. That was it.

I waited for probably 10 minutes before my friends, Shin and Eamon, picked me up. It was only my second time meeting them, but it wasn't that awkward at all. Nothing weird about entering my online friend's car far away from my home.

After having bak kut teh, some coffee and kaya toast for lunch, we went back to Shin's home to put down our stuff. We took a break, played some Overwatch (of course), and decided to go to Kek Lok Tong. We didn't have any plans to visit anywhere, actually.

It was like Batu Caves minus the 272 steps.It's a limestone cave with statues of gods and deities. Towards the other end of the cave, it was a garden with a lake. We took a walk around the lake despite the heat, and watched Eamon get fascinated by geese. Such a city boy.

We sat in the cave, just enjoying the wind. We saw an uncle napping by a bench. It was just a chill moment.

Then, Shin decided to bring us to the Concubine Lane (二奶巷). Not because it was an interesting place to visit, but because it was popular. If you're a hipster, then you'll probably like it. I wasn't into hipster cafes and murals, so it wasn't really anything to me.

I did get myself an ice ball, however, because it was a childhood dessert my father used to have. I never tried it so. It was okay.

Then, we went to the Ipoh Parade Mall. We didn't really have any plans to shop or anything, we just went because we had no anywhere to go. We left shortly after, and returned to Shin's house.

I took a nap while they played Overwatch. When I woke up, it reminded me of when I was younger when my family still had a console and you could hear the sound of gameplay at home. It felt nice to relax with friends.

For dinner, we had chicken hor fun at 9PM. It was delicious and I thought it was interesting to eat with hor fun instead of rice. For a Singaporean like Eamon, it was much more flavorful than the food in his country.

We took a look at the market nearby but figured there was nothing. So we went home.

We met Shin's mom and greeted her. We've occasionally heard her voice through the voice chat and greeted her even though she could never hear us. So it was like a funny dream come true that we could finally greet her.

I had some durian and mangosteen (thanks aunty). Then, we played Gin Rummy and UNO till 2AM.

DAY TWO - SUNDAY

I woke up to the sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking. I got up while everyone was still asleep and sat at the living room. I went back to sleep and got up again later. Then, we went to get dimsum.

Then, we went to watch the Incredibles 2 since Shin haven't watch it. There we watched the Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse trailer which blew my mind off. I swear I'm going to watch it for the visuals.

For lunch, we had roast pork and charsiew from a truck at a market. Just that, no rice, just some coconut juice and pork. The reason behind it was because you don't want to let it get cold, so we ate it outside a closed restaurant. We ate using only our hands.

Weird experience, but the pork was very, fucking, delicious. I wished I could brought back some back home for my mom.

We returned to Shin's home and I took a nap again.

When we woke up, Shin was nowhere to be found. Turns out she had to attend her cousin's birthday dinner. Eamon played Portal 2 while I watched. We got out to have a late dinner after Shin came back. Our dinner was satay, rojak and stingray.

We stopped by Shin's cousin's house to pick up her mom, then we went back home. We played Monopoly and stopped at 2AM because I was dead tired.

DAY THREE (MONDAY)

This day was the real reason why we traveled all the way to Perak.

We signed up for a tour to see Blue Tears (scientifically known as dinoflagellates) and the 'Sky Mirror' which is basically shallow water on a flat surface of land that shows your reflection.

After getting the permission of Shin's relatives weeks before, me and Eamon joined their group. I guess you could say we strangers shouldn't really disturb a family's trip but they were okay about it and was nice to us the whole trip. I'm really grateful that they allowed us to join them.

Now arriving at Lijiang Tower.

We had laifun for breakfast, which was delicious. There, I had a fun time witnessing Eamon suffering because he did not understand Cantonese. I can't speak it either, but at least I can understand.

Before we got to gathering place for the tour, we stopped by the Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan. It's a tower that is slanted to the left. Not as tall as the tower of Pisa, and to be honest, nothing much. But the entrance's free so it doesn't hurt to look.

Okay, I don't know if I took this picture with the wrong angle or correctly.

We got to the office of the 9 Island Agency at Bagan Datuk after buying some stuff at Tiger Head Biscuit store. We were early but thankfully, they allowed us to check in.

I came for this trip, expecting to stay a night in a chalet by the beach. I thought it was going to be like my trip to Kukup at Johor when I graduated from secondary school. It wasn't.

We got into rooms that was literally steps away from the front desk, with nothing but mattresses, pillows and cheap blankets. There was plug points to charge your devices, and an air conditioner. There was a common bathroom, also steps away from our room, that males and females could enter.

After putting down our stuff, we had lunch at the restaurant opposite the 9 Island building/office(?). Maybe it was just my imagination, but I could hear the disappointment in Shin's relatives' voices, although they were saying that it wasn't too bad, lmao.

We went back to rest after our lunch. We were tired from the two-hour drive from Ipoh so we just knocked out.

At around 5PM, we were taken to a tour around the village. I realized that this whole village was responsible for this tour. Everyone (especially the younger adults) were a part of this operation, and I guess where their main income comes from.

A dude drove us around with a buggy, showing us the areas of the village. While doing it, he asked a lot of questions with lame answers. I guess the older people enjoy it? HAHA.

We gathered at the jetty at 6PM for our steamboat dinner, but not before smelling all the trash and guts along the way. Everyone was taking pictures of the sunset. You could see the reflection of the sun, and it was really pretty.

As the sun was about to set, we got on a boat and head to the middle of the ocean. We were about to see the blue tears.

Four years ago when I went to Krabi, my family and I took an island-hopping tour. One of the pit stops gave us a chance to see blue tears, but it requires you to dive into the cold water, which I did not do.

So, I was excited that I could see them this time. In my mind, I thought we would get off onto the shore, and it was visible to the naked eye. Well, I had this image in my head because of the comic GeMeiLia, lmao.

But that wasn't the case. We stopped in the middle of the ocean with the sun almost setting. Then, a guy took a net and started to scoop out the blue tears from the waters. He fished them out and placed them on our hands for us to see.

It was visible and pretty, but kinda sad. He reassured the China tourists that they're not living creatures, but they are marine planktons, which means they do have lives. We went back to the village after seeing the blue tears.

We went on 'firefly tour' after we got back to shore. There was maybe like, two fireflies? Then the lame guide pointed a huge light and said that was their biggest one. Okay.

We youngsters got ourselves some shandy and walked around the village. We didn't went off too far or too long. After getting back to our room, we played the never-ending game, Bluff. It was me who ended the game, again, because THERE WAS NO END TO IT?!?!?!

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Posting about all six days with my friends will be probably too long of a post so I think I will save the rest for Part 2.

Read Part 2 here.

Buh-bye.