Niece's Birthday Weekend

I bought a ticket to Kota Bharu in early August for last weekend. My niece’s birthday is on 16 November so I decided to fly there after work on Friday, 15 November 2019, and fly back to KL the following afternoon. On 1 October, I received emails from Malaysia Airlines informing that my flights had been retimed to depart and return to KL later. Oh well...

I arrived at the office early on Friday and managed to get my boss to agree to my plan to work through lunch and leave before 15:00 for KL Sentral. I then bought the KLIA Ekspres ticket + GRAB ticket online and after working through lunch etc, I arranged for GRAB to come. The driver was efficient and we reached KL Sentral at 15:07. I caught the 15:20 train to KLIA and immediately made my way to domestic departure to my gate.

The flight took off late as we had to queue at the runway. We landed at 18:00 and I immediately rushed out of the plane, hurried through the building, exited the airport and went to the bus stop. The bus for the city arrived less than five minutes later and was I glad I hurried! I was the sole passenger, making me wonder if the bus was running on schedule or I happened to catch a bus not running its schedule. We arrived at the bus station in the city at about 18:35 and I walked to CityPoint. I had made a room booking there and my niece was already waiting. I rang the apartment contact person and he arrived a few seconds later and showed us to our room. And yes, it would have to be at the very end of the corridor!

We went out for dinner at 20:00 and decided to check out Sun Two. After dinner, we walked to Mydin before returning back to the room. It started raining after 22:00 but we were already in our room, safe and dry.

I had made an appointment with a spa for Saturday morning but the spa had to cancel our appointment. Strewth!

We woke up to an overcast Saturday and went out after 08:00 to find breakfast. In the end, we had it at a stall by the market. We then went to buy some local delicacies at the market before returning to the room. I contacted another spa but it was fully booked so I decided to return to the market to do some shopping. Yeah, I was meant to shop after all.
We left at 10:00 and after checking the bus schedule, made our way back to the market. I bought some batik sarong, some prayer attire and some prayer sarong. We were back in our room at 10:45. Whoever said girls take a long time to shop has obviously never shopped with me!

We checked out at noon and after leaving my bag and water bottle at the counter downstairs, we walked to Grand Riverview Hotel for dim sum lunch, my birthday treat to my niece. After lunch, we performed prayers then I left my niece in the lobby while I went for a short stroll along the river.

We left the hotel at 15:10 and walked to the bus station. I collected my bag and when we reached the bus station, the bus for the airport was already there. It was an old, slightly shorter bus than the buses I’d taken before in KB. The bus left 5 minutes before schedule and we got down near my niece’s student digs. I was shocked and speechless when I saw the living conditions. Two bunk beds and tall cabinets in my niece’s room (if I could call it that). I’d like to be a landlady there too because it’s easy money.

I left at 17:05 and my niece accompanied me half-way. The weather had indeed improved and it was such a hot afternoon. There were two other ladies at the bus stop and one of them told me the bus would arrive at 17:30. And what do you know, the bus did arrive at 17:30 and it took only a couple of minutes to reach the airport bus stop. So glad I decided to take the bus and not GRAB.

We took off on time and landed at 19:25. I hurried through the terminal and went to perform prayers before making my way to the bus station for the 20:00 bus back to KL Sentral. I could see that it had rained earlier in Sepang.

And it was raining when we reached KL Sentral! Whoa. I waited for 25 minutes for the bus and finally arranged a vehicle via MyCar. I arrived micasa at 21:40.

Until the next trip to KB then.

Deepavali 2019 Weekend

I bought a ticket to Kota Kinabalu back in April and subsequently decided to treat myself and book Gaya Island Resort. CT wasn’t able to come so I asked my nephew, RH, to join me instead. I redeemed some air miles and as the flight back was full, I bought a single AirAsia ticket for him. We met at the airport on Friday, 25 October 2019.

The flight left on time and we landed at KKIA at 18:10. I waited for RH to disembark and seeing the long queue to clear the immigration, we decided to perform prayers first. We headed for the airport bus kiosk and bought tickets to the city. The bus was scheduled to leave at 19:15 so I went to freshen up first. The bus was already there when we left the building at 19:00 but it only left at 19:25.

We got down at the last stop and made our way to Jesselton Point. There was a night market that evening (I didn’t recall there being one on my past trips) so there were quite a few people around. There were a lot of cars too seeing it was Friday evening and the start of a long weekend.

We made a stop at Suria Sabah before continuing on to Jesselton Point. I checked in at the resort’s check-in office then as we still had some time before our boat was scheduled to leave, we walked to a couple of convenience stores nearby before deciding to return to Suria Sabah to look for a supermarket. We found one at the third floor of Suria Sabah, which I thought was a bit strange as supermarkets are usually either at the ground floor or lower ground floor. Oh well.

We returned to the resort’s office. A few other guests had arrived in our absence. We boarded the boat at 21:00 and the boat left shortly after everyone was seated and had donned on the safety jacket. We arrived at the resort and were greeted warmly by the staff. After taking advantage of the cold towel, we went to Feast Village for our late dinner. I dithered and finally decided to have steak. While waiting, I went up to the library to browse the collection and returned to my seat with a novel. We finished dinner at 22:45 and went back to the lobby before we were shown to our villa. It was a good thing we had performed prayers so after changing, I hit the sack.

Morning dawned early in that part of Malaysia so we woke up early on Saturday to perform prayers. I couldn’t sleep again though. At 07:30, I woke RH up and we then went for a walk around the resort before going for breakfast. We even found a small beach and sat down in the hammocks before returning to the lobby and then on to Feast Village for breakfast. We returned to our villa after that.

I stayed in after my shower and read my novel. RH decided to venture to the library to get some work done and returned at about 13:00. We had made booking to go to Tavajun Bay for lunch and our boat was at 13:30. We had satay and rice for lunch then rested before taking the boat back. It was starting to drizzle when we were there which progressed on to rain when we arrived at the lobby. We spent the rest of the afternoon indoors.

The rain was only petering off when we left for dinner, again at Feast Village. I felt quite full so was only picking at my main course. There was supposed to be a film show (movie under the stars) but because it had rained pretty heavily earlier, the movie was cancelled as the ground was wet.

On Sunday, we woke up early for prayers. RH went to the small beach to have a swim in the sea so I took the opportunity to run the bath and soak in. After dhuha prayers, I finished packing. RH had returned by then. We left the villa just before 11:00 (check-out time) and went to the lobby to settle the bill. After that, I went to the library while RH went to rest in one of the small rooms near the pool area.

We went to the Pool Bar at 11:30 for early lunch. We finished at 11:53 and rushed to the jetty for our boat back to the mainland. There were a lot of people returning at that time so we had to board the second boat. Back at mainland, we walked to our hotel. It was a good thing we managed to check in immediately, alhamdulillah.

https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/bkimd-le-meridien-kota-kinabalu/ 

We went out to the dry seafood market to buy some dry seafood products then went back to the hotel to deposit our packed purchases at the hotel store room. Then we went to Centre Point in search of an ATM (!). I walked on but RH decided to return to the room. It turned out that he couldn’t enter the room with the key card for some reason. I rang him shortly after to ask him to meet me at Wisma Merdeka. We then returned back to the hotel to rest.

I ventured out again that evening in search of dinner. It was raining then so I went to borrow an umbrella from the front desk. We had dinner in our room (very generous portion!) and had an early night.

On Monday (Deepavali), we woke up early again for prayers. We finished packing and went for breakfast at 07:20. I must say that the breakfast spread at Le Meridien was better than Gaya Island Resort (!!!). We returned to the room but couldn’t enter. None of our cards worked so I told RH to get help. He returned with a technical support staff. Well, the batteries for the room key had gone kaput and they needed to replace the batteries. But oh it took some time to do that. I went back to the lobby to use the washroom and when I went up again, the situation was still unresolved. Another hotel staff showed up with a laptop - I think she needed to re-programme the door or something.

Having managed to open the door, we quickly entered the room and gathered our things. The hotel staff were still working on the door but left just before we did. We took the lift down and I quickly checked us out. RH then called for a Grab car to take us to the airport.

It took us 20 minutes to reach the airport and I quickly went to drop off my bag and box of dry seafood purchases. I rushed in and of course the security queue was long. I saw RH ahead of me and caught up with him at immigration. Then I went with him to his gate (his plane was at 09:50, mine was supposed to be at 10:05) and a good thing too for he didn’t hear the announcement and was wondering which gate to head for.

After seeing him off, I walked to my gate. A few minutes later, I had a message saying that the plane was delayed... to 14:00! We waited for further announcement then went to a counter to collect food voucher (a choice of either McDonald’s or Jesselton Food). I decided to go to the lounge.

At about 1 something, there was another announcement informing that the flight was further delayed to 15:00. What?! We managed to finish most food at the lounge but food was replenished. We finally were called to board after 15:00 and I dozed off while waiting for take-off. I believe we eventually took off between 15:30-15:40 for we landed at 18:10.

My check-in bag and box were out quickly and I took the 18:40 train back to the city.

As much as I love KK, after the delay on this trip, I don’t think I’ll return so soon... (my last trip there before this trip was back in September 2016, more than three years ago).

Missing

I wasn’t ready to be alone.
I wasn’t ready to say good-bye.
I wasn’t ready to be without you.
I wasn’t ready to lose you.
I wasn’t ready to live life without you.
I wasn’t ready at all.
I wasn’t prepared for this pain and heartache.
I wasn’t prepared for your absence.

Sometimes I still look around for you.
Sometimes I still hear your voice.
Sometimes I would think of asking for your advice and confiding in you.
But you are just not here anymore.
And there is nothing I can do about it.

How can this pain continue for so long?
How much longer can I bear this?
Will this pain ever leave me?
How long will it be until I can see you again?
As it is, I hardly ever dream of you anymore.

I miss you so, so, so very much, Mummy.
If you were to see me now, I hope I haven’t disappointed you too much.
I want to make you so proud of me.

I shall remember all your advice and words of wisdom.
I shall try to make you proud of me.
I shall live my life the best way I know how.
I want you to be proud of me.

Not a day goes by that I don’t think of you.
Not a day goes by that I don’t pray for you.
Not a day goes by that I don’t miss you.
But of late, the pain is so intense and is fresh again.

I would’ve thought that after nine years of separation, it would be less painful.
I thought the pain would lessen and become a dull pain but no. It’s still raw and deep.
Boy, was I wrong.

I have been so bereft, lost, adrift all this while, without you, Mummy.

Sometimes I feel like this blog and Twitter are the only outlets I have to channel my pain, grief, sorrow and anguish. I want to talk to someone but other people have their own problems too and I don’t want to impose. And some people just aren’t there for me.

~~~~~~~~

Last night, I was thinking about Mummy in bed when I suddenly started sobbing and crying like my heart would break all over again. I just miss her so much.

Last Wednesday night, I dreamt that we were missing Mummy. We were all looking for her. There were traces of her around, her clothes, her small pillow. But we couldn’t find her despite hunting high and low for her. It seemed that she had just disappeared and vanished into thin air. Then I woke up and the first thing I told myself was that she had already left us nine years ago. And no matter how hard I try and how much I miss her, she’ll never be back.

And on the following day (Halloween’s Day), I thought of her as I was walking home and tears immediately welled unbidden. I wondered how my sister felt about her absence as she and Mummy were very close. If I hurt this badly, surely my sister hurts even more.

Oh Allah, why does it hurt again and again every single time? Why doesn’t this pain lessen? Will it ever lessen? How long will I be in bereavement?