More than 10 years later, armed with my OWN passport (my sis and I used to share one with my mum), I am back in the country where everything is FINE!! hehehe....
Taking the morning 7.30am bus from Penang yesterday, I arrived in KL at 11.40am, was picked up by Aunty Lita and headed straight to grandma's house for lunch. There was Rendang Prawns, Spinach soup and Black Pepper Chicken waiting for us when we arrived. As usual, everyone commented on how I look (i.e. no weight gain from the last visit), asked about how apah, amah and Vay were etc. After lunch, we went to look for a money changer but none were open as it was Maulidur Rasul and 99% of the money changers here in Malaysia are Muslims.
Aunty Lita and I headed back home to have a short rest and also pack our clothing into one bag for easy travelling. Jared managed to come home for a very very short while, then he headed off to work.
Since our bus to S'pore was at 6.30pm, we had a light tea/dinner of Roti Telur and Roti Bawang before we boarded the bus. We also bought nuggets just in case. The KL-S'pore bus was something. I had my own AV set, complete with headphones. Unfortunately, I fell asleep while watching a movie and decided instead to listen to music the rest of the way. Upon arriving at the S'pore immigration, we were "detained" there for nearly an hour as one Dubai passenger had problems with his passport. Finally, he was detained and our bus was allowed to leave. We arrived at the S'pore bus station at around 1am, took a cab straight home and just got into bed.
I got up at around 8.20am today. Just as I finished brushing my teeth and washing my face, Uncle Stephen came home from work. :-) The three of us then walked to a nearby foodcourt for breakfast. I had coffee and chicken congee. As the portions of food here is big, Uncle Stephen had to finish my congee.
After breakfast, we headed back home where Uncle Stephen went to sleep, while Aunty Lita and I got ready for our outing. We first visited Uncle Stephen's mum, who lives in a nursing home. She was surprised to see us as she was not expecting any visitors. It's my first time meeting her and I must say...Uncle Stephen is the spitting image of his mother. Not only do they look so alike, their characters/personality also match. They both love to talk; they both love to laugh; and they are both loud! :-)
After spending about 45minutes with her, our next stop was Uncle Maurice's apartment. He lives on the upper most floor of the building and his apartment was instantly recognisable, what with all the plants outside his gate. Entering his apartment was like entering an ornament shop. It was filled with pictures, statues, plants etc. If entering his apartment was an experience, entering his room was like entering a mini Catholic gift shop. He had small figures of Jesus in places, Catholic scriptures/booklets everywhere, frames and frames of pictures of family members...I refrained from touching a single thing for fear that if I did touch just one small thing, there would be a whole domino effect!!
We had a Chinese lunch with Uncle Maurice, after which we headed to buy numbers. After walking back to his apartment and taking some pictures, Aunty Lita and I took the bus and headed to Toa Payoh for some sightseeing and shopping.
From the numerous taxi and bus rides I've had since I arrived on the island, the cleanliness of the entire city is spectacular. The roads are so clean, you can't even see a single dried leaf!! That's how clean the roads are!! Besides that, every building is so neatly and cleverly painted that ALL the buildings look new and clean. It's really pleasing to the eyes. Of course, being new to S'pore, I had a small problem when using the travel card. Nothing major or anything but funny enough to be told. You see, the travel card is for convenience. When you board the bus or take the MRT, you just have to tap the card. Unfortunately for me, I "tapped" the card at the wrong part of the machine and I thought it was not working. I was so worried that the bus would just close its doors and continue driving on before I could get down. I kept saying "the card's not working, it's not working" and I must have had a funny look on face coz Aunty Lita was laughing!!
That evening, the three of us headed to Changi hospital to visit Uncle Rufino (my grandfather's eldest bro). He had been admitted the day before. There, I met his wife Aunty Shirley, his daughter Jacinta and her husband Tyrone, and their two kids Naomi and Clarissa. This was the first time I've met all of them. I'm really glad that I managed to meet Uncle Rufino (or uncle Nonoy as he is known) this time. He's already 78 and with his weak heart and declining health, this may be the last time I get to see him. Now...there's only one other Soliano brother that I've yet to meet and that's Uncle Frisco.
After the hospital visit, we headed to Downtown East for dinner. We went to a place called the E! Hub. It was like a mini-Genting, with all the games and food courts.
As the day was long, we headed straight back home after dinner. Tomorrow is another long day. I'm not really sure what the plans are yet but there's the Night Safari that we'll be going to tomorrow night. Then it's back to KL on Monday morning. Sighs...
No comments:
Post a Comment