Roadtrip : Bukit Merah, Perak

Roadtrip : Bukit Merah, Perak 3 – 5 March 2006

Pre – roadtrip : Thurs, 02/03/06

We are all excited, after all we’re going for a 10 hour + plus journey from Kerteh to Bukit Merah via Batang Kali.

Me, Azni & Izma went to Kemaman after office because we were quite fed up with doing PPA (for those who don’t know what PPA is, good for you, you won’t want to know)

Doing some last minute shopping –for the grand dinner – Back to Nature theme (green)

But first, some Ice Blended Coffee at Hai Peng. (But later I regretted it, too much coffee – felt a bit like hangover & I couldn’t sleep at all ! )

Some girlie stories, then it’s off to bed (thanks Ju for having me bunk in)

Race Day, 03/03/06

Wow! It’s amazing how all of us could wake up early !! ( I couldn’t sleep anyway, it must be that coffee). We’re all up by 6 am

Our team = me, Azni, Izma, Nue & P1644. Go Go Go Team 119 !!!

Take off from Kemaman Centre Point 7.30am.

The guys – Yuz, Hatim & Nazim were waiting for us already. They must be more excited than us, cos they took off from home at 6.45 am

We were all obsessed to be first in the Mystery Drive. And talked big, yes, I mean, boasting hahaha… Who cares, we want to win this badly ! We are already talking about what we should be buying with the winnings… yes, to that extent!

So many questions !! Frankly, I hate the questions on Petronas, but somehow they turned up to be the easiest ones cos we have many sources around, although somehow, some sources could have sabotaged us ( some near misses, which felt intentionally done, but, oh well, they have the right to do it anyway)

We first stop at Temerloh, with the idea that the “Harta Karun” questions must be about food. (It’s true actually) becos we are supposed to submit them (can’t be anything bulky, or expensive – so they must be snacks ! We are geniuses !! ) But then again, every one figured it out later anyway.

The road at Batang Kali is winding, and to top it off, we have our rempit queen, Izma on the wheels. You can imagine how thrilling the ride was!

And the girls are cracking off with some songs on the radio, while I am battling it off with my MP3 player. Your singing are not awful girls, I don’t mind it – it’s just that I don’t prefer listening to Malaysian radio because they are mostly repeating the same songs which some I could vomit to. I think I have a more extensive record collection than some of the radio stations combined – my, I like to boast huh.. But anyway, I don’t know most of the Malay & Indonesian songs. So, I shouldn’t boast – SORRY. Stop it OK??

Next stop is Tanjung Malim town. Our trusted guide, Yuz turns out to be rather doubtful as he brought us to a Chinese school and railway station and later turning back after he realized what he has done (I even saw a signboard stating Rumah Orang Tua – definitely wrong way). And another unrelated team was even following us. (Thanks Yuz, heheh)

Anyway, we have a so so lunch (breakfast was not good as well)

We wait for the guys finish Friday prayers, and somehow, forgot to pay for lunch, until it was time to go. Don’t worry, we eventually payed them.

3^rd stop is Tapah R&R, where the bulk of the clue is. A lot of teams are already here, and some asked for answers, but because we didn’t have the heart to tell them off, we give some. But they didn’t exchange, so it’s unfair. But we’re confident, so we don’t mind.

Hard at work

I think our team is the fastest to find answers at Tapah R&R, (but it turned out later that we have some wrong answers – must be that over-confidence feeling that we can’t help having, heheh)

The snapshot is fun! We got this all correct – thanks largely to Nue’s driving. (Jgn marah Nue, just joking)

We arrive at Bukit Merah 6pm with very strong body odour and can’t stand ourselves anymore. Luckily I got to shower first, sparing me from having to “OSOM” (you know, the scissors paper stone childish game) with Nue & Izma. Those 2 are really cute, they even OSOM to sleep on the floor (not really floor, but the makeshift bed) while me & Azni happily landed ourselves on the cushy queen size bed. Hey, I won’t mind having the 2 the next time around heheh

Tonight’s dinner is just informal, tomorrow’s the grand night. But we won a Lucky Draw, yeay!!! Ada ong jugak hari ni

Later we stroll along the wooded path of Bukit Merah lake, until we got bitten by insects, and have to find some other thing to entertain ourselves, although we know Nue already found her source hehe.

Team 119

Izma suggested the Bumper Car, and my, we really had fun!!! All of us in skirts and sweat !! Not really girlie huh.. pity Izma, she got her mobile scratched… cringe

OK, after all that sweat, we came back to a cranky air cond in our room, but luckily the maintenance boys were around to give us our beauty sleep.

We slept like babies and woke up almost 7am the next day. Tapi bangun solat tau.

Bitter -Sweet Day, 04/03/06

We woke up with a bad news from Azni. Her grandpa passed away. For the first time I saw Azni cried. I never saw her crying before. We are very saddened by the news. Azni & Izma have to cut short their trip and return to Kerteh right after breakfast. Nue wanted to go as well, I am feeling guilty, as I’m staying. Going back to UTP isn’t really strong an excuse, and I hope Azni & Izma will forgive me for staying back.

Me & Nue shift into recluse mode and climbed in our bed. We feel really really nasty for not escorting Azni. After a long call session with Azni (they’re already on their way back), we feel better. We are not going to sulk in bed and we’re gonna win prizes for the sake of Team 119!! We may be separated but our spirits are strong !! Go go Team 119 !!

So, me and Nue take part in the Telematches, we even kidnapped some kids to pose as our ‘daughters’ (my ‘daughter’ is almost as tall as me, so I swap mine with Nue’s)

We won 2 prizes !! Not bad!! We reserve one prize each for Azni & Izma.

Cute baby orang utan

Next is Orang Utan island. Adam & Sonia are really cute ! Adam is especially good at posing for cameras. Baby orang utan in diapers and cot, complete with teddy bears is an unusual sight, but we saw it here. Don’t know the baby orang utan’s name, but he/she is really cute!! Eliyas, the toddler orang utan has also a very cute face. We are all admiring them with our ooohs & aaaahs

Trip to Eco Park is nice too, especially the Animal Show – Tango & Ronnie the bird (Nue, what type ? You should know) are really adorable. They played bowling (although Ronnie was a bit cheating, using both his/her beak and limbs) , basketball, magic and even doing math calculation! Tango calculated 5 + 70 correctly (although we all have a theory of how Tango did it).

As for Ronnie guessing the right bowl containing the ball, we figure that he/she senses the smell of nuts put together with the ball.

Calling ayam kampong

Hatim does a “stunt” as well – tapping castornet to call a bunch of ayam kampong haha.

The animal instructor has a very nasal (sengau) voice. Funny sounding, we all enjoy mocking him (how wicked of us).

So we’re getting hungry. Taking the chair lift is breathtaking (literally speaking), then we chow down like never before, (at least for me, what do you expect, I was really hungry)

After feeding, we couldn’t wait to splash in the water, after all Nani is already waiting.

So in the hot sun at 2pm we jumped into the pool. Kewl & refreshing ! We are joined by Fatin, my ex-boss’ 10 year old daughter who is really really friendly and seems to know all the joyrides (or rather joyslides) of the water park. I hope she doesn’t tell her father what we have to done to her. She is really a doll ! (Plus, I don’t have a sister, so she fills me in well). Surprise, surprise, Yuz and Fatin’s brothers join us later. (Agak malu juga di sini sebab main dgn budak2 yg lebih muda – macam tak matang aje, belasah je lah, janji ada geng)

Yuz & the brothers persuade me & Nue to try the boomerang. At first we were really scared (it’s really high you know, I always fear free falling – btw, anyone knows the term?) But once we tried, it wasn’t bad at all!! Nue couldn’t even scream (she left behind her high decibel voice). Wish Azni & Izma were here. Azni could have challenged Nue with her high pitch shrieks !!!

Then we have fun at the wave pool, the guys are doing some funny synchronized swimming stunts, only they look really ugly (with the hairy legs), and they’re not supposed to lean against the wall!! And Fatin’s brothers won the “Who can hold their breath underwater the longest” As usual, I became the judge, read: always choose the easiest job.

After 3 hours of baking under the sun, we have enough. (Dah hitam legam baru sedar diri).

Dressing up for the night, I have to ask for Nue’s assistance. ( thanks Nue ). Details not need to be elaborated here.

The cartoonist show is kewl – the Corporate Agenda & the rise of Petronas part. Especially funny is the training sketch, complete with Space Cop Gaban soundtrack. A must watch!! And Malaysia Malam Ini with a bogus doctor (Dr Shaari by Padi, very outrageous and Helium induced voice) and Mr Bigfoot (by Gayor @ Slash) as guests.

The moment of truth – announcement of Mystery Drive Top 10 winners.

9th place

We got # 9 – really disappointed !!! It must be all that boasting, serves us right. But we enjoyed the race anyway. Any Amazing Race takers ?

Bon Voyage – 05/03/06

It ends too soon. But to complete the roadtrip feeling, we stop at a few places. We have Laksa at Kuala Kangsar (a very clean & beautiful town). Abang Mok is also here. Then the K Kangsar R&R, buying some fruits (I need bananas for my digestion system). From here, it’s straight to UTP via Batu Gajah. Sorry, I know my mom is from Ipoh, but I don’t know the roads here, heck, I don’t even know (much) the roads in KL !! Forgive me.

So it’s the end of my tour at the extremely hot mining pools of UTP. We bid farewell, and the guys, & Nue continue their journey.

Thank you Azni, Izma, Ju, Yuz, Nazim & Hatim for the enjoyable trip !

Wish to have more trips with you and the rest of the gang yg jadik committee tu.

(Anyway, beware if Hatim & Nazim sets the questions for next year’s Mystery Drive, I don’t want to take part, haha !! )