The time finally came --> our vacation!!! We had been counting seconds for it. Days at work this year were so packed with numerous meetings and courses, not to mention extra workloads. Not that we’re complaining but hey! Who doesn’t love holidays!! :p
24th March, our flight to KK was at 8.05am so in other words, we had to be at the airport as early as 7am. Lulu texted us up the day before, saying how excited she was about the trip and reminded us to be there early. Lulu and the other three BLA+1 members, Yatie, Rahimah and Kiem, my sister, Zima, and cousin, Yanti, joined the trip. So, there were seven of us altogether. On the way to the airport, I sent a fake text saying that I overslept! I bet Lulu and the girls were panicking as Yanti and I had the tickets!! :p Of course we weren’t late. We arrived at the airport just on time for check-in.
The plane landed with us girls laughing. Yatie was told by a lady sitting with her on the plane that there was a sticker at her back. When we checked for her, it was the yellow ‘Royal Brunei Airlines’ sticker that was attached on her pants. Lulu and I went into the airport toilet a bit later. It was hilarious as Rahimah kneeled down helping Yatie to take the sticker off her butt. “Suzi! Camera!” Lulu reminded me. So I took some pictures of the ‘funny’ scenes! Not a good start for Yatie hehe :D
Once reaching KK, we took taxis to Sutera Harbour Resort. Lulu had booked three rooms for us all; I would share a room with Zima and Yanti. We reached the famous hotel at about 9am. At the counter, we were told that our rooms were not ready yet, informing us that the check-in time was at midday. So off we went to the city, leaving our baggage at the hotel lobby. We went on the hotel’s shuttle to The Centrepoint. It was good that the hotel provided free transport for the guests; we could save some cash with that – the taxi fees from the airport to the hotel were RM20 and from the hotel to the city was RM10. We shared the cost.
We bought stuff we needed at the hotel; junk food and toiletries. My sister bought a traveling bag; it’s actually a buy one free one bag so, I paid for the smaller one :) It’s a bargain! I also spent RM20 on a pair of sunglasses. Yanti bought some Elle shirts (she’s an Elle’s fan!) and cute little pink tops with skirts for her nieces. We also bought three hats, for the next day’s beach games. Each cost RM44. Sheeesh!! Expensive huh! But we looked cute on them hahaha!
At almost 12pm, we gathered at the ground floor. The other girls bought shorts and Lulu had a big brown (looked like teddy bears pictures) box in her plastic bag. I showed them my sunglasses and minutes after that, I was showing Lulu the booth where I got them. She paid the same price for a pair that she liked. Yanti and Zima went downstairs buying some detergent. By 12pm, we rushed outside the shopping complex to catch our bus back to the hotel. So unfortunate, we missed it! It was now a few hundred meters from where we stood. To run after it wasn’t possible as we had lots of plastic bags in our hands, not to mention Zima’s new luggage. We didn’t want to wait for the next trip because it would not be operating at 1pm. So, we took taxis back to the hotel.
Only two rooms were ready when we reached the counter. Lulu and the other girls were already in room 1. We went up, tired; all of us rested on any space we could find; some lay down on the twin beds, some on the sofa at the corner of the room and others simply sitting on the floor. We were not happy having the twin beds. Lulu requested for king sized beds for all three rooms and so far, the two rooms that we were given had twin beds. The hotel receptionist said that they would send the key to room 3 to us once it was ready. We were hoping to get a king sized bed this time.
We waited for almost two hours for the key and finally, Yanti and I went down to ask the receptionist about it. One of the employees handed in the key, with an innocent smile on her face, agreeing that the room had a king sized bed. We went up to Lulu’s room, room 1, a bit irritated for the inefficient service. From there, all of us went to the third room. Reaching room 3, we had to struggle pulling our heavy luggage along the hallway. Why? The corridor was under renovation with dry paints and papers lying on the floor! It was dirty and smelly! I said out loud, “I’m NOT waking up with this mess!”
Opening the door to room 3, there infront of us were TWIN BEDS, not king sized bed. Puzzled and annoyed, I took the hotel phone. “I don’t want this room. I want to change!” “May I know why?” She dared asked me that!!
“It’s the renovation and all,” I replied. “Oh! That’s because your friend requested for rooms near one another.” I passed the phone to Lulu. “She’s blaming you for this!” Lulu had a moment with whoever it was on the other line. The rest of us were pissed, upset for having such treatment from the so-called famous five-star hotel!
Lulu put down the phone, frowning. “Since when do king sized beds TWIN??” Apparently, so the lady explained to Lulu, that there were two types of king sized beds in the hotel --> one bed or two beds. WE DIDN’T KNOW THAT!!!
Downstairs, we cancelled room 3 and Lulu requested for an extra bed. Yatie, Kiem, Rahimah and herself shared room 1 while I, Zima and Yanti shared room 2. We complained about the renovation hallway. The lady behind the counter gave us two comment booklets for us to write down any comments about the hotel service. “That’ll be our pleasure!” we replied!
Soon, we caught two taxis heading Twin Sky Restaurant downtown. It’s a seafood restaurant suggested by Jack, the only ‘good’ employee we met at the hotel. He also briefed us on beach activities available there. At the restaurant, we could choose live sea creatures with rather expensive price. Finally, we ordered mussels, cuttlefish, (live) prawns and kailan vegetables. Lulu and Rahimah also ordered omelet with oysters cost RM15. We enjoyed the fresh cooked seafood despite our nuisance over what happened at the hotel. I took 2 tablets of panadol to lessen the headache I was having. We shared the price of all the food; RM40 per person.
From there we walked to The Centrepoint to catch the hotel’s shuttle. We reached it on time but the queue was so long that we couldn’t go on the bus. It was disappointing cause the door closed just as we reached it! We went back into the shopping complex, killing time as the next trip would be in 40 minutes. Yanti and I went to Burger King buying dinner while the girls went separate ways. We were on the first few rows queuing for the next bus and we reached the hotel at about 9pm. We went to our rooms. A few minutes later, Lulu called, asking whether her extra bed was mistakenly sent to our room or not. “No. Not here,” Yanti replied and hung up. What a bad day to start and bad night to end!!
That night, the three of us went down, walking around the hotel gardens and beach. After taking a few pictures and having burgers and chips for dinner, we went back to our room just before midnight. Before that, I asked for a broadband cable. “We’ll send it to your room,” she said. I replied, “Are you sure you’re going to send it?” Just a few moments in our room, the doorbell rang. Impressed for the ‘quick’ service, I went online chatting with Leng for a few minutes. Leng, also a member of BLA+1, couldn’t join us. I told her she was lucky she didn’t! I went to bed at almost 2am, after Yanti. Zima was still packing when I lay down on the ‘joined’ twin beds.
The next morning, I took some pictures of the sunrise at around 5.30am. It was beautiful with refreshing air and sounds of the birds flying in the blue sky. Yanti was taking shower, Zima was still in bed. At 6am, it was my turn to the bathroom. Zima went in after me. Yanti and I took pictures on the balcony which showed the Magellan Hotel and Sea Quest jetty. The sun had risen and its ray was now showing clearly from behind the thick white clouds. I snapped another few shots of its beauty!
By 7am, we were downstairs, while the girls from room 1 came soon after. Our breakfast was quick as we had to register at Sea Quest counter at 7.50am. As suggested by Jack, we should go to Manukan Island. So we did! We paid the RM45 boat fee per head. We stopped by Mamutik Island, sending off a couple there. We took some pictures of the island while we continued our journey to Manukan. At Manukan Island, we took some pictures on the jetty then off we went to the resort’s counter. We paid for kayaking and banana boat ride. Then we changed clothes at the ladies room.
Before we even started the games that we paid, we were left unattended by the Sea Quest employees as soon as they found out that we had paid the cost for the beach games at the counter of the Manukan Resort. Apparently, Sea Quest and Manukan Resort are two different companies. WE DIDN’T KNOW THAT!!! So, we went back to the counter and we were shown the place for kayaking by the man behind the counter. We realized that the Sea Quest workers tried to get us back by talking to the man but it was obvious that it wasn’t possible. The yellow shirt Sea Quest workers left us kayaking, disappointed.
The rest of the day was fun that we forgot what happened that morning. Everyone enjoyed kayaking. Lulu and I taught the ‘inexperienced’ ones hehe. The day was so hot that we could only spend 30 minutes of kayaking instead of one hour. Next, we rode on a boat to the middle of the sea and rode on a banana boat. Rahimah, Yatie and I tried the ride first, requesting it to topple! The rest of the girls didn’t dare to try --> only Yatie knows how to swim. The first try was awesome! On the banana boat, we went so fast that we bumped on the sea waves. Then on a narrow corner, the three of us fell into the sea! I saw nothing but blue waters. I heard nothing but the sound of my breath. And I tasted nothing but the salty water. Then I floated, seeing Yatie and Rahimah already on the water, gasping for air. The life guard was near us. We laughed, glad that we didn’t drown. Thanks to the efficient life guard and of course, the life jackets! We screamed, calling names of the girls on the boat. The next banana boat ride carried Lulu, Kiem, Zima and Yanti. They didn’t want it to topple so the ride was rather slow. They went round in circle for several times, with no sound coming from their mouths! I whispered to the boat driver to go faster. He did! Then the girls started screaming! Now, THAT was fun! Haha :D
The third ride carried the six of us, excluding Kiem. Yatie, Rahimah and I persuaded the girls to topple into the sea like we did. They agreed when we said that was the only time they could do it (we don’t have banana boat in Brunei, not that I know of!). The last ride was memorable. We found out we could go deaf falling into the sea with that sudden plunge, and Zima was a natural ‘float’! Haha! She didn’t go under the sea, she floated all the way! Amazing! Haha :p Lulu had to put some water into her ears to enable her to hear clearly. Then the smile carved on her face again and I announced to the group, “It’s positive! Lulu is NOT deaf!” Everyone laughed!
We then took a quick shower and changed to dry clothes. We spent the hour taking pictures with the blue and green sceneries. We ordered our lunch to eat at the hotel. The Sea Quest boat arrived after 1pm and sent us back to Sutera Harbour Hotel. We went up to our rooms. Room 1 girls planned to go to the city after changing. Us, room 2 girls changed and stayed at the hotel beach, waiting for sunset. We took pictures with boats, gardens, rocks, swimming pool and of course the sunset backgrounds. Feeling hungry, we planned to go to the city for dinner. Passing by the Boleh Café, we saw the Indian food buffet menu. For RM65, it’s worth trying. So, we went to Warisan Plaza by taxi. Yanti needed to buy something for her niece while Zima and I needed to buy some shirts for our dad. An hour later, we were at Boleh Café, enjoying the buffet.
The food was amazing! Even the curry was yummy! The three of us took pictures of the food we took, while an English woman next to us smiled looking at us. She must find us weird snapping pictures of our food :p We talked and joked at the café for almost two hours. We tried ‘ladoo’, the food that Zima and I always wondered how it tasted everytime we watched Bollywood movies! It tasted so sweet and thick of spices. We could taste its scent when it reached our mouth. We couldn’t finish it.
From dinner, the three of us went to the lobby. That night, there was a live performance by three ladies in black and a pianist. They were good singers who sang songs from different languages from Malay to English, Japanese to Korean. Amazing talent they have there! We could request songs by writing on a piece of card with comments, dedications and stuff. So I wrote down:
From: Lady in red
Dedicated to: All men at the lobby
Requested song: The Rose by Westlife
Comments: Enjoy the song!! :)
They sang it and read the card! Zima’s face turned red, as red as her top she was wearing that night! Men’s eyes were on her while Yanti and I laughed out loud!! Hahaha! :p We requested for more songs, eyeing the front door, to catch on the room 1 girls. Before we returned to our room, we went to check on the girls. Kiem and Yatie were already asleep. Rahimah and Lulu were awake. Updating our activities after we got separated that afternoon, we left room 1 and went straight to ours. I went online for a few moments, then it was almost 1am before I finally closed my eyes.
The third day was the longest day. After breakfast, Lulu and the gang planned to walk to Magellan Hotel and I told them we would do the same but they needn’t wait for us. Back to our room, the three of us couldn’t walk! We had diarrhea!! Yanti went in and out of the bathroom the most! We could only see Lulu and the girls walking along the path to Magellan and screamed their names. Of course they couldn’t hear us. It was too far from where we stayed.
We watched TV while taking turns to the toilet. I packed my things at the same time. By midday, we checked out, feeling weak. The girls were surprised seeing our pale faces. I was obviously weak as I wasn’t as loud as I used to be.
It was 5 more hours for our flight back to Brunei. So Jack recommended us to check out the local chocolate homemade factory, Simply Chocolate, 20 minutes drive from Sutera Harbour. With taxis, we went there, tasting banana, mango, durian, toffee and many more kinds of chocolates! All of us went back with bags of chocolate to bring home. I bought three boxes of banana and three boxes of mango chocolates.
Back at Sutera Harbour, it was still 3pm. We killed the time hanging out at the lobby area. Lulu, Yatie, Kiem and Rahimah ordered cold drinks. Room 2 girls didn’t order anything. The service charge was ridiculously expensive for us! We also took some pictures there. Just before 4pm, we got so bored that we took our luggage and asked Jack to call taxis for us. We wrote a comment on Jack’s efficiency in the comment booklet. We agreed that he should one day be a manager of the hotel so all the employees would be as efficient as he is!
At 4pm, we reached the airport. After checking in our bags, Yanti and I took the girls’ passports and tickets. We were in-charged of that. Our turn came. At the counter, a man in uniform screamed, “Flight BI826 cancelled!” That’s OUR flight! After some questions-and-answers sessions, we found out that the plane we were supposed to get onto had an engine problem thus it was cancelled and replaced with another flight that night, at 11.50pm. So we had 7 hours of boredom at the airport. To go to the city was out of the question as most of us were tired and broke. We did have Brunei dollars with us but to change it to RM, we didn’t think we had the energy going shopping for 7 hours, not even lesser! The RBA gave us dinner coupons at KFC. We had it at 5pm and checked in early. By 8pm, restaurants and small shops inside the airport were closed. There was a massage spot but the masseuses were all men! The toilet was nearby but it was dirty! We had to walk to the other side of the airport to use cleaner toilets. It was so cold as we had to wait for 7 hours in the air conditioned area!
We read magazines, took pictures and talked and talked and talked but the time seemed so long to pass! Even the novel I was reading seemed thicker, though I had read it since landing my butt on the chair in the waiting area. Never in my life wanting to leave the place I am on vacation in!! Never in my life regretting vacation that I was looking forward to. This vacation was just . . . unfortunate!
Within the hours, we recalled the unfortunate events in the three-day holidays. It was just too bad to be true! All the bad things that happened came one after another on every and each of the day! Just before boarding our plane home, we remembered the first day at the hotel, how bad it was! We were angry over the treatment that we got and feeling hungry as we hadn’t had our lunch at that time. Hence, we created a word to describe the event on that day --> HANGRY (angry and hungry). ‘Hang’ even expressed the fact that we had to ‘hang’ around at the airport for seven hours. So yeah, we are the “Hangry Ladies”!!
Reminiscing these series of unfortunate vacation, it made me annoyed while at times, made me laugh. As I said, it was just too bad to be true!!! Sigh! Now we’re back to square one! Counting days to the next vacation!!!
Once reaching KK, we took taxis to Sutera Harbour Resort. Lulu had booked three rooms for us all; I would share a room with Zima and Yanti. We reached the famous hotel at about 9am. At the counter, we were told that our rooms were not ready yet, informing us that the check-in time was at midday. So off we went to the city, leaving our baggage at the hotel lobby. We went on the hotel’s shuttle to The Centrepoint. It was good that the hotel provided free transport for the guests; we could save some cash with that – the taxi fees from the airport to the hotel were RM20 and from the hotel to the city was RM10. We shared the cost.
We bought stuff we needed at the hotel; junk food and toiletries. My sister bought a traveling bag; it’s actually a buy one free one bag so, I paid for the smaller one :) It’s a bargain! I also spent RM20 on a pair of sunglasses. Yanti bought some Elle shirts (she’s an Elle’s fan!) and cute little pink tops with skirts for her nieces. We also bought three hats, for the next day’s beach games. Each cost RM44. Sheeesh!! Expensive huh! But we looked cute on them hahaha!
At almost 12pm, we gathered at the ground floor. The other girls bought shorts and Lulu had a big brown (looked like teddy bears pictures) box in her plastic bag. I showed them my sunglasses and minutes after that, I was showing Lulu the booth where I got them. She paid the same price for a pair that she liked. Yanti and Zima went downstairs buying some detergent. By 12pm, we rushed outside the shopping complex to catch our bus back to the hotel. So unfortunate, we missed it! It was now a few hundred meters from where we stood. To run after it wasn’t possible as we had lots of plastic bags in our hands, not to mention Zima’s new luggage. We didn’t want to wait for the next trip because it would not be operating at 1pm. So, we took taxis back to the hotel.
Only two rooms were ready when we reached the counter. Lulu and the other girls were already in room 1. We went up, tired; all of us rested on any space we could find; some lay down on the twin beds, some on the sofa at the corner of the room and others simply sitting on the floor. We were not happy having the twin beds. Lulu requested for king sized beds for all three rooms and so far, the two rooms that we were given had twin beds. The hotel receptionist said that they would send the key to room 3 to us once it was ready. We were hoping to get a king sized bed this time.
We waited for almost two hours for the key and finally, Yanti and I went down to ask the receptionist about it. One of the employees handed in the key, with an innocent smile on her face, agreeing that the room had a king sized bed. We went up to Lulu’s room, room 1, a bit irritated for the inefficient service. From there, all of us went to the third room. Reaching room 3, we had to struggle pulling our heavy luggage along the hallway. Why? The corridor was under renovation with dry paints and papers lying on the floor! It was dirty and smelly! I said out loud, “I’m NOT waking up with this mess!”
Opening the door to room 3, there infront of us were TWIN BEDS, not king sized bed. Puzzled and annoyed, I took the hotel phone. “I don’t want this room. I want to change!” “May I know why?” She dared asked me that!!
“It’s the renovation and all,” I replied. “Oh! That’s because your friend requested for rooms near one another.” I passed the phone to Lulu. “She’s blaming you for this!” Lulu had a moment with whoever it was on the other line. The rest of us were pissed, upset for having such treatment from the so-called famous five-star hotel!
Lulu put down the phone, frowning. “Since when do king sized beds TWIN??” Apparently, so the lady explained to Lulu, that there were two types of king sized beds in the hotel --> one bed or two beds. WE DIDN’T KNOW THAT!!!
Downstairs, we cancelled room 3 and Lulu requested for an extra bed. Yatie, Kiem, Rahimah and herself shared room 1 while I, Zima and Yanti shared room 2. We complained about the renovation hallway. The lady behind the counter gave us two comment booklets for us to write down any comments about the hotel service. “That’ll be our pleasure!” we replied!
Soon, we caught two taxis heading Twin Sky Restaurant downtown. It’s a seafood restaurant suggested by Jack, the only ‘good’ employee we met at the hotel. He also briefed us on beach activities available there. At the restaurant, we could choose live sea creatures with rather expensive price. Finally, we ordered mussels, cuttlefish, (live) prawns and kailan vegetables. Lulu and Rahimah also ordered omelet with oysters cost RM15. We enjoyed the fresh cooked seafood despite our nuisance over what happened at the hotel. I took 2 tablets of panadol to lessen the headache I was having. We shared the price of all the food; RM40 per person.
From there we walked to The Centrepoint to catch the hotel’s shuttle. We reached it on time but the queue was so long that we couldn’t go on the bus. It was disappointing cause the door closed just as we reached it! We went back into the shopping complex, killing time as the next trip would be in 40 minutes. Yanti and I went to Burger King buying dinner while the girls went separate ways. We were on the first few rows queuing for the next bus and we reached the hotel at about 9pm. We went to our rooms. A few minutes later, Lulu called, asking whether her extra bed was mistakenly sent to our room or not. “No. Not here,” Yanti replied and hung up. What a bad day to start and bad night to end!!
That night, the three of us went down, walking around the hotel gardens and beach. After taking a few pictures and having burgers and chips for dinner, we went back to our room just before midnight. Before that, I asked for a broadband cable. “We’ll send it to your room,” she said. I replied, “Are you sure you’re going to send it?” Just a few moments in our room, the doorbell rang. Impressed for the ‘quick’ service, I went online chatting with Leng for a few minutes. Leng, also a member of BLA+1, couldn’t join us. I told her she was lucky she didn’t! I went to bed at almost 2am, after Yanti. Zima was still packing when I lay down on the ‘joined’ twin beds.
The next morning, I took some pictures of the sunrise at around 5.30am. It was beautiful with refreshing air and sounds of the birds flying in the blue sky. Yanti was taking shower, Zima was still in bed. At 6am, it was my turn to the bathroom. Zima went in after me. Yanti and I took pictures on the balcony which showed the Magellan Hotel and Sea Quest jetty. The sun had risen and its ray was now showing clearly from behind the thick white clouds. I snapped another few shots of its beauty!
By 7am, we were downstairs, while the girls from room 1 came soon after. Our breakfast was quick as we had to register at Sea Quest counter at 7.50am. As suggested by Jack, we should go to Manukan Island. So we did! We paid the RM45 boat fee per head. We stopped by Mamutik Island, sending off a couple there. We took some pictures of the island while we continued our journey to Manukan. At Manukan Island, we took some pictures on the jetty then off we went to the resort’s counter. We paid for kayaking and banana boat ride. Then we changed clothes at the ladies room.
Before we even started the games that we paid, we were left unattended by the Sea Quest employees as soon as they found out that we had paid the cost for the beach games at the counter of the Manukan Resort. Apparently, Sea Quest and Manukan Resort are two different companies. WE DIDN’T KNOW THAT!!! So, we went back to the counter and we were shown the place for kayaking by the man behind the counter. We realized that the Sea Quest workers tried to get us back by talking to the man but it was obvious that it wasn’t possible. The yellow shirt Sea Quest workers left us kayaking, disappointed.
The rest of the day was fun that we forgot what happened that morning. Everyone enjoyed kayaking. Lulu and I taught the ‘inexperienced’ ones hehe. The day was so hot that we could only spend 30 minutes of kayaking instead of one hour. Next, we rode on a boat to the middle of the sea and rode on a banana boat. Rahimah, Yatie and I tried the ride first, requesting it to topple! The rest of the girls didn’t dare to try --> only Yatie knows how to swim. The first try was awesome! On the banana boat, we went so fast that we bumped on the sea waves. Then on a narrow corner, the three of us fell into the sea! I saw nothing but blue waters. I heard nothing but the sound of my breath. And I tasted nothing but the salty water. Then I floated, seeing Yatie and Rahimah already on the water, gasping for air. The life guard was near us. We laughed, glad that we didn’t drown. Thanks to the efficient life guard and of course, the life jackets! We screamed, calling names of the girls on the boat. The next banana boat ride carried Lulu, Kiem, Zima and Yanti. They didn’t want it to topple so the ride was rather slow. They went round in circle for several times, with no sound coming from their mouths! I whispered to the boat driver to go faster. He did! Then the girls started screaming! Now, THAT was fun! Haha :D
The third ride carried the six of us, excluding Kiem. Yatie, Rahimah and I persuaded the girls to topple into the sea like we did. They agreed when we said that was the only time they could do it (we don’t have banana boat in Brunei, not that I know of!). The last ride was memorable. We found out we could go deaf falling into the sea with that sudden plunge, and Zima was a natural ‘float’! Haha! She didn’t go under the sea, she floated all the way! Amazing! Haha :p Lulu had to put some water into her ears to enable her to hear clearly. Then the smile carved on her face again and I announced to the group, “It’s positive! Lulu is NOT deaf!” Everyone laughed!
We then took a quick shower and changed to dry clothes. We spent the hour taking pictures with the blue and green sceneries. We ordered our lunch to eat at the hotel. The Sea Quest boat arrived after 1pm and sent us back to Sutera Harbour Hotel. We went up to our rooms. Room 1 girls planned to go to the city after changing. Us, room 2 girls changed and stayed at the hotel beach, waiting for sunset. We took pictures with boats, gardens, rocks, swimming pool and of course the sunset backgrounds. Feeling hungry, we planned to go to the city for dinner. Passing by the Boleh Café, we saw the Indian food buffet menu. For RM65, it’s worth trying. So, we went to Warisan Plaza by taxi. Yanti needed to buy something for her niece while Zima and I needed to buy some shirts for our dad. An hour later, we were at Boleh Café, enjoying the buffet.
The food was amazing! Even the curry was yummy! The three of us took pictures of the food we took, while an English woman next to us smiled looking at us. She must find us weird snapping pictures of our food :p We talked and joked at the café for almost two hours. We tried ‘ladoo’, the food that Zima and I always wondered how it tasted everytime we watched Bollywood movies! It tasted so sweet and thick of spices. We could taste its scent when it reached our mouth. We couldn’t finish it.
From dinner, the three of us went to the lobby. That night, there was a live performance by three ladies in black and a pianist. They were good singers who sang songs from different languages from Malay to English, Japanese to Korean. Amazing talent they have there! We could request songs by writing on a piece of card with comments, dedications and stuff. So I wrote down:
From: Lady in red
Dedicated to: All men at the lobby
Requested song: The Rose by Westlife
Comments: Enjoy the song!! :)
They sang it and read the card! Zima’s face turned red, as red as her top she was wearing that night! Men’s eyes were on her while Yanti and I laughed out loud!! Hahaha! :p We requested for more songs, eyeing the front door, to catch on the room 1 girls. Before we returned to our room, we went to check on the girls. Kiem and Yatie were already asleep. Rahimah and Lulu were awake. Updating our activities after we got separated that afternoon, we left room 1 and went straight to ours. I went online for a few moments, then it was almost 1am before I finally closed my eyes.
The third day was the longest day. After breakfast, Lulu and the gang planned to walk to Magellan Hotel and I told them we would do the same but they needn’t wait for us. Back to our room, the three of us couldn’t walk! We had diarrhea!! Yanti went in and out of the bathroom the most! We could only see Lulu and the girls walking along the path to Magellan and screamed their names. Of course they couldn’t hear us. It was too far from where we stayed.
We watched TV while taking turns to the toilet. I packed my things at the same time. By midday, we checked out, feeling weak. The girls were surprised seeing our pale faces. I was obviously weak as I wasn’t as loud as I used to be.
It was 5 more hours for our flight back to Brunei. So Jack recommended us to check out the local chocolate homemade factory, Simply Chocolate, 20 minutes drive from Sutera Harbour. With taxis, we went there, tasting banana, mango, durian, toffee and many more kinds of chocolates! All of us went back with bags of chocolate to bring home. I bought three boxes of banana and three boxes of mango chocolates.
Back at Sutera Harbour, it was still 3pm. We killed the time hanging out at the lobby area. Lulu, Yatie, Kiem and Rahimah ordered cold drinks. Room 2 girls didn’t order anything. The service charge was ridiculously expensive for us! We also took some pictures there. Just before 4pm, we got so bored that we took our luggage and asked Jack to call taxis for us. We wrote a comment on Jack’s efficiency in the comment booklet. We agreed that he should one day be a manager of the hotel so all the employees would be as efficient as he is!
At 4pm, we reached the airport. After checking in our bags, Yanti and I took the girls’ passports and tickets. We were in-charged of that. Our turn came. At the counter, a man in uniform screamed, “Flight BI826 cancelled!” That’s OUR flight! After some questions-and-answers sessions, we found out that the plane we were supposed to get onto had an engine problem thus it was cancelled and replaced with another flight that night, at 11.50pm. So we had 7 hours of boredom at the airport. To go to the city was out of the question as most of us were tired and broke. We did have Brunei dollars with us but to change it to RM, we didn’t think we had the energy going shopping for 7 hours, not even lesser! The RBA gave us dinner coupons at KFC. We had it at 5pm and checked in early. By 8pm, restaurants and small shops inside the airport were closed. There was a massage spot but the masseuses were all men! The toilet was nearby but it was dirty! We had to walk to the other side of the airport to use cleaner toilets. It was so cold as we had to wait for 7 hours in the air conditioned area!
We read magazines, took pictures and talked and talked and talked but the time seemed so long to pass! Even the novel I was reading seemed thicker, though I had read it since landing my butt on the chair in the waiting area. Never in my life wanting to leave the place I am on vacation in!! Never in my life regretting vacation that I was looking forward to. This vacation was just . . . unfortunate!
Within the hours, we recalled the unfortunate events in the three-day holidays. It was just too bad to be true! All the bad things that happened came one after another on every and each of the day! Just before boarding our plane home, we remembered the first day at the hotel, how bad it was! We were angry over the treatment that we got and feeling hungry as we hadn’t had our lunch at that time. Hence, we created a word to describe the event on that day --> HANGRY (angry and hungry). ‘Hang’ even expressed the fact that we had to ‘hang’ around at the airport for seven hours. So yeah, we are the “Hangry Ladies”!!
Reminiscing these series of unfortunate vacation, it made me annoyed while at times, made me laugh. As I said, it was just too bad to be true!!! Sigh! Now we’re back to square one! Counting days to the next vacation!!!
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2 comments:
Ling...mmm..sorry to hear everything you have shouted in here. But at least we were having a vacation during the holidays. Wasn't like me dear..I just stay and having holiday in my own country. I even wish I could fly off to KK, KL or Singapore.
Believe me Mamashasha! You were LUCKY you didn't join us! I did have fun but overall, it was a waste of my time and money!!! And soon holidays are over yet I haven't had enough of my day offs! I want MOOOORE!!! Huhu :'(
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