That trip to Kuching 10-07-09

- Taken from Stefanie's blog, again -

Kuching is a wonderful place. I highly recommend people going there. With the food, the culture, those well-maintained old buildings, the art, there’s just so many things to see and savour.

RWMF, well, it’s overrated. The music especially. I love the exhibition and the cuci-ing mata part. The music, well, I’m not too over the moon about it.

The crowd was okay for most part. When they got wasted things became interesting. And annoying. And mind you, it wasn’t the mat salleh who acted like animals on heat. It was us. The bangsa Malaysia yang penuh dengan budaya ketimuran konon.

Punyala bikin malu. Mesti tu mat salleh bilang, ko tengok bah tu Asians, kejakunan.

I have nothing against displays of ‘affection’, not if you get a room and do it out of the public sight.

Seriously there was this couple who were doing it like eels.

Luckily, I didn’t get to see much of those. Two couples and my eyes felt like bleeding already. We left early because we were freaking bored. We couldn’t enjoy the music because it’s urmm, unenjoyable, and as good as the company was, we couldn’t indulge in our usual banter because the unenjoyable music was so bloody loud, it was almost impossible to talk.

That’s 10% of the trip. Other than that, I had a blast. Ben’s place is cosy. Ben, like I mentioned before is a wonderful host. Accommodating, frank and funny he made our stay a pleasant and memorable one.

The first night we were greeted by a barbeque, handled by the boys earlier. Amani picked us up at the airport. When evon called denn, he said they’re ‘on the way’. I laughed at that. I won’t be able to hear that phrase the same way after the reunion, thanks to denn and jas.
Oh, and evon almost mistook Amani, who is now Dr. Amani as ben’s fiancée. That was hilarious.

Dinner time, and there was Charlene and her husband-to-be. What a wonderful surprise.
I forgot to take photos during the dinner because I was so busy catching up. Sayang eh. Oh well.
Amani and Charlene told us they wouldn’t be able to go to RWMF because all hospital staff of Sarawak are banned from attending that event.

The second day was mostly spent on RWMF and sight-seeing around Kuching. Oh, and the museums. That was really fun. Sarawak is so rich with culture.

I love the cultural village as well, the place where RWMF was held. The atmosphere was fitting, it is a beautiful setting. And the exhibitions are interesting, what with the different longhouses of the different tribes in Sarawak.

Third day, denn was the first to go back. All of us went back at different times actually, so kacian si Ben who drove us around. Note to everyone, next time, kasi selaras masa balik. Ben brought us to eat kuching’s famous kolok mee, but ngam2 habis. Rugi betul oo. But indakpa, evon and I tried the mee suah, which was pretty good as well. It had red wine in it. Sadap. Skali after makan, nah pening. Both of us. Kuat pulak the liquor.

And it was during breakfast when Ben and Nel found out Milai is actually from KIK. And not KML. Nice job at deceiving them, Denn. Mati-mati lagi tu they thought Milai was from KML, and why the hell they couldn’t remember her. When Ben asked Milai which tutorial she was in, both me and evon cracked up. It turns out that all these while Ben and Nel were trying their best not to give away the fact that they couldn’t remember Milai being in KML.

And semua tu angkara si dennis.

After that, we went and bought the famous kek lapis Sarawak, and went sight-seeing at waterfront. Nel didn’t bring his camera, and he was frustrated. Kesian.

After sending Milai to the airport, Ben took us to this pottery centre. They have a lot of amazing stuff there. Cheap too. I bought a lamp and a mug.

After a packing frenzy, in which I forgot my towel, Ben sent us to the airport. Ben was just telling us about how in Labuan his name, andy’s and lawai’s were called out in the airport because they were late. Well, evon and I had that same experience there, gara-gara sebab mo makan KFC sebelum boarding. We really did ask for it didn’t we.

Plane ride, I was trying to savour every moment of it. We saw Labuan from the bird’s eye view. Evon took a few snaps I think.

That’s where it all started. Labuan.

If it weren’t for Labuan, we wouldn’t have gone on this trip. We wouldn’t have known each other. We wouldn’t have had this elusive chance to re-connect with each other.

During breakfast, Evon mentioned how we didn’t hang out with each other in Labuan. With Ben and Nel especially. It was all hi and bye. Milai was surprised. She thought we were all hardcore buddies, from the way we got along so well.

Nelson said that with KML, it’s always been a special case.

I agree, Nel. I wholly agree.

Jamal and his Jalangness(an update of Jamal activites and his whereabout)

Jamal: ui ari ya ko call aku ka? aku di italy la pok.
Me: ney la aku tauk..... knak sik sambut?
Jamal: dasar
Me: knak sik sambut?
Jamal: mahal la bengong ,ari ya aku pi san siro ,daknya ingat aku Kaka
Me:palak b***h Kaka !
Jamal: haha iboh jeles!
Me: Cney ko knek tok?

Jamal: ....................................................................................................
.........(no reply from him...dammit! memang jalang ni org!)

KuITTHO reunion, err KML reunion...wateverlah

Jas in KL, transit for 1 day before heading to Kemamang(Ganu's way of saying it)
catch up with Jas and Asri and grab a few beer, all in the name of re-union...(honestly, who needs an excuse when it comes to beer) oh well...oh Jay and Denn also there!

Venue: Civitas ,Bukit Tinggi ,Klang

Mabuk-mabuk with Ben

Ben is in KL, accompanying his better half for work trip...(this guy is so free ar?)
minum-minum with him last night, talk crap as we usually do...and Denn(yea, The Man himself)also present...oh uninvited guest also make his appearance...a rat at the size of my arm, running around our table, wanna ask him for a beer with us, but i guest it just not into it...oh well.

Location: Cvitas, Bandar Bukit Tinggi ,Klang
Time: 10.30 pm


the love birds, all the way from Kuching


tgh buat muka manja la ni

Only KML can leave such a mark

So..kml’s first reunion.

It’s difficult to put into words how wonderful everything and everyone was.
You have to be there to know how awesome it was.

But still, I want to try.

Crit, evon, wek and me are the first people to be in Labuan.

At the sight of Labuan’s KFC, I got a little misty-eyed.

Wek stayed at her aunt’s place, while me, von and crit stayed in a hotel.

We went out, walked around a bit, looking for food.
Crit wanted pudding kelapa. Too bad tidak kesampaian pulak.

But we ate at this nice open-air restaurant. The food was good and the price reasonable. The company was priceless. Very puas hati.

Already the first night out with these two lasses had me cracking up.
And of course, we cannot run from telling ghost stories. Crit in particular had a lot to share.

After that we walked around some more, and went to find arjuna’s place. Saw arjuna giving orders to her workers. Felt a little awkward, so we stood around a bit until juna spotted us. Funny oh when fikir balik.

Apparently wandy and radim was somewhere around there too, but we didn’t see them. Only on the next night we knew.

The next day, we had complimentary breakfast in the hotel.
Walked around some more. Denn messaged, telling us that they’ve arrived. We went and meet them in front of our hotel.

Was delighted to see Mr.Boon, Jasmi, Denn and...and...

evon was the first to recognize suhail. I had to confirm..suhail the mystery man?
Yes it was indeed suhail the mystery man.

They hadn’t had breakfast so we joined them. Mr. Boon gallantly asked us girls to ride in Jasmi’s car while the boys walked.

Breakfast time, catched up. 7 years is a long time.
Mr.Boon hardly changed. He’s still round and funny and wonderful.

Jasmi is still the happy-go-lucky guy I remember of since the days of our orientation in KML. We were in the same LDK. Some things never change.

Jasmi came up with his ‘yang mana satu?’ answer when being asked about his fiancée. Hilarious. Then when crit used the same counter back when asked of her boyfriend, Mr.Boon was floored.

And suhail, oh suhail. I’ve never talked to him, or heard his voice. When he told us how he came all the way from Perak, how he planned his leave a while ago just so he could attend this, I was touched.

Evon, denn and jas left first to urus the apartment booking. Me, Crit, Mr.Boon and suhail the mystery man chatted some more. Mr. Boon asked me ‘susa ka jadi cikgu?’. I made a face. He laughed at me. Darn.
‘Baru kamu tau’ he said.

Then Jasmi came and picked us up. On the way there Mr.Boon kept pointing out at the obvious-looking matric students. Did we look that nerdy before? Hmmm.

We went straight to the girls’ apartment first.

Me and Crit rushed to the balcony first to check out the view. Nice. Pools with hot guys lounging around...Very nice view indeed.

Then we checked out the boys’ apartment, which is at the other end. Theirs’ was roomier. But we still had the better view.

Godwin called, saying he had arrived. Dengan selambanya Denn said they’re on the way. Padahal masi duduk-duduk sana. And then I don’t know how they got into this discussion about Perak’s political huha, but I remembered looking at crit and she said ‘serius juga’. ya bah. suddenly lagi tu.

Denn and Jas went and picked Godwin up, when wek called. She’s at the lobby. Crit and I ventured out confidently until we realized urmmm, we don’t know where the lobby is.
The whole gang headed down, with evon on the lead.

Met wek with her banner. Was a little surprised to see the place, it looked too exposed. But then again, I underestimated kmlians. Kmlians can turn any place on the earth into the most happening place. That’s what they did at night.

Nor, Del and Sheli arrived. Catched up some more.

Head over to the boys room to do more catching up. Met Suzen, Alvin and Godwin there.

Mr.Boon was of course the centre of attention. Though I did remember Godwin’s tukang jaga pintu comment. Oh dear lord, I will forever remember the expression of his face.

Decided to go get lunch at UK. UK seemed a little less lively. Shopped for chocolate, then had lunch with this irritating waiter at our service. Some dude approached us, saying the last thing I expected ‘kamu dari kml ka?’
Wow. Even after 7 years, we are still recognizable. Guess we still have that vibe.
The dude turns out to be our librarian, Jun. Wow again.

We head back, got ready and started the party. While getting ready, Suzen kept singing lady gaga’s pokerface. I promised her to play that song during the games, which didn’t materialize. It will materialize though later, unexpectedly.

The party started, we posed for pictures, wek and godwin emceed. Both had their particular brand of humour, both are witty. Couldn’t ask for better emcees huh.

En.Kasbah gave his speech. Still had that likable, genuine spark in him. He said he remembered us as the badge with the least scandals. Wek said probably the most scandalous thing we ever came up with was Rizan’s birthday incident. Alvin agreed.

Azura gave her speech.

Hu ha hu ha, and it’s dinner time. The food was fabulous, and again, the company priceless. Suzen and Alvin are still the easiest people to talk to. Goku was entertaining. Wittier than ever. Talked to people I’ve never talked before, like Wandy and Radim.

Then it’s games time. Crit took the mike like a pro. We played tikam belakang. Unfortunately, denn, goku and miss tan couldn’t join in as miss tan had to go.

What was written on Alvin and Suzen’s back was hilarious. “kahwinla suzen’ ...hahahaha

Then it’s musical sarong time. I controlled the music. Mr.Boon suddenly had a call to take. Yeah right. But we got to see En.Kasbah menari poco-poco.

Then we had this karaoke session, which was the highlight of the evening. Del was supposed to sing, and she chose suhail the mystery man as her partner.
And he took the mike.
And he sang. And his voice was louder than del’s.
Wow. Wow. Wow.

Mystery man not so mysterious after all.

The comments that came after was hilarious as well. ‘suhail, I’m sooo proud of you’ wek crooned.
When they posed for pictures and suhail covered his face with his hand, Alvin and Goku were like ‘uh oh, he’s back,’.

Suhail was known as the mystery man due to his tendency to look away from cameras during photo-taking sessions and his barely audible voice. I remembered Alvin saying he also had the tendency to pop in and out of thin air, appearing and disappearing suddenly.
But not that night. That night, his voice was loud and clear, he posed for the camera without looking away. Except for that one moment when he covered his face.

He was the star of the night. Inevitably.

Oh and during the karaoke-ing session Sheli almost passed out. Poor girl. Thank goodness she felt better soon enough.

The night wore on, we said our goodbyes, posed for pictures, thanked the lecturers. Crit said the night is still young hence we should all go skinny-dipping. Just when the lecturers kept saying throughout the night that we were the badge with the least troublemakers and scandals.

We went to a pub at the hotel itself. The live band wasn’t bad but the singers were horrendous. When they sang ‘sweet child of mine’ I cringed. Since the singers were scantily clad, I’m sure the boys had no complaints though, hehe.

Jasmi and Denn requested for ‘pokerface’, and it was supposed to be dedicated to ‘KML’. Unfortunately, it was read out as ‘KAMAL’.

And so they played pokerface. Suzen’s wish did materialize in the most unlikely circumstance.
And I never thought they would think of asking for ‘pokerface’ to be played live.

Hung out a little while outside the pub when this singer cheekily ‘kirim salam’ to Alvin. Right when Suzen, his girlfriend is beside him. Si Alvin jugala kena kirim salam.

What me, suzen and evon did afterwards was...well, I shall not reveal the reasons. We hung out a bit near the elevator and posed for pictures while laughing at the highlights of the night.

The next day, I dunno who called one of the boys telling them to get up because we’re going over there to say goodbye.

We went over, denn was still asleep. As soon as he got up, they serbu him with money for the apartment rent. Hahaa..bangun-bangun suda kena serbu duit.

Took more photos, said our goodbyes. Told Mr. Boon I was so happy he came. He told me to be a good teacher.

Rushed to the terminal, and said our goodbyes some more. Felt sad but light-hearted at the same time. Goodbye Labuan. Goodbye wonderful people of kml.

7 years is a long time. But our days at kml still leave us with such a profound mark.

- taken from stef's blog -

24th June 09

It's been 3 weeks after the reunion huh? Damn bored haha ... any plans for the next reunion? huh? huh?