Scrabbling Around

Just a little update on my uneventful life: there was a series of games event earlier this month (well, it started at the end of November) and I found myself selected to represent TheCompany for Scrabble. We started our practice in June, abandoned it half-way and only started again in mid-October (oops! Blame work for that!).

The Scrabble games took place on 3 and 4 December 2022. We were provided accommodation at Park Inn by Radisson Putrajaya and checked in on 2 December 2022 - Alhamdulillah for that as I wouldn’t want to commute from home or office every morning to get to Bangi. As I rode with my friend on Friday, I found myself helping to set up the tables for the matches the following day... setting up boards, drawing out the tiles and assembling them on the boards, setting the chess clocks and tile racks. I was this close to regretting hitching a ride from my friend.

It was a mentally and physically exhausting weekend. Definitely mentally exhausting if one has to play six games with all the stress that came with it on the first day and three games on the second day. Physically exhausting too for some reason even though I know we didn’t run up and down the hall or around the stadium. We were so exhausted that we didn’t even make dinner plans on Saturday and retired to our respective rooms.

Long story short: TheCompany won gold for Scrabble, its only gold for the whole tournament. Alhamdulillah. I suffered a very bad gastritis on Monday, so much so I had to get medical leave for the afternoon. My first medical leave of the year. So yes, we won, but at what cost.

Workwise, I’ve also been busy, like the rest of the office, carrying out year-end activities.

On the personal front, there’ll be no trip abroad this December because I’m literally grounded. There have been many times I feel like an only child for all the attention, help and support that my brothers give my parents and myself over the years.

39.5 Hours In The East Coast

I found out about my niece’s graduation ceremony the day before my trip to Alor Setar and spent some time that weekend searching for flights. Thankfully there was some offer on Firefly to encourage people to return home and cast their votes with the promotion period starting early so I managed to avail myself of the offer. I did have to reschedule my leave plan but all went well and clicked in place.

I had bought a graduation bear in early October and had pondered how I was going to bring flowers for my niece. Finally I decided to buy soap flowers (they last so much longer than fresh flowers for one!) and would be fragrant. After browsing Shopee, I placed an order and had the bouquet delivered to my colleague’s address so she could help bring it to the office. I then mulled how I was going to transport the bouquet to the airport. I browsed flower boxes sold by florists (they cost wayyy too much!) and had a brain wave when I was performing prayers (!) to used a recycled padded envelope. Sorted! I literally thought out of the box! Alhamdulillah!

I left the office on Thursday, 24 November 2022, early afternoon and made my way to KL Sentral. I then rode the empty 14:25 SkyPark Link train to Subang Airport. The bag drop process was surprisingly slow and I just about managed to drop off my bag before it was due to close (half an hour before ETD). I went in immediately and before long, we were called to board. The flight took off before its ETD and we landed into wet Kota Bharu an hour later. I took my time as my sister and family sans el nino were only arriving in an hour.

They arrived just before 18:00 and we drove off to Sabak for early dinner. After dinner, we drove to Jelawat, Bachok, where my sister had booked a homestay for the night. The new PM announced Monday as a holiday so I did try staying up a bit to finish some work but I was too sleepy, plus we had an early start the following morning anyway.

On Friday, 25 November 2022, I woke up early. We left at 07:20 and drove to the campus of UMK. Actually, only two guests were allowed in but as there were many empty seats towards the back of the hall, my other niece and I went in too. I continued my office work while my niece did her assignment while waiting for the ceremony to begin.

The ceremony started on time and it was not at all boring as there were brief breaks with some entertainment. It finished before noon and after taking photos, we left my niece there to catch up with her friends. We went for lunch first before dropping off my brother-in-law at a mosque near to the homestay. Then we returned to perform prayers and pack. My sister had to go and fetch my niece before the afternoon ceremony started.

We finally left the homestay at 14:25 and drove down to Terengganu. We stopped en route at Penarik Beach before having tea at a beachside restaurant. We reached the resort at Batu Buruk at 18:30. We stayed in and had lasagne and pizza for dinner.

On Saturday morning, my sister and brother-in-law sent me to the airport for my flight back to KL. The road leading to drawbridge was closed though so we had to make a long detour. I arrived just within minutes before the bag drop off counter closed.

We took off slightly earlier than ETD and landed just an hour later. Alhamdulillah for the rezeki to fly and for the good weather while we were there.

Day Trip To Alor Setar

I’d planned to visit Alor Setar and in mid-August, I redeemed some Enrich points to fly out on 18 November. However, due to the blasted general election, I decided to reschedule my trip to 4 November as I’d planned to take the night bus back to KL and didn’t want to arrive back having to vote in my groggy state. I went to purchase the ETS ticket a week before departure and found I should’ve just bought it online as buying it over the counter cost me RM1 more.

On Friday, 4 November 2022, I left home early. I’d arranged with the cabbie to pick me up at 07:00 and he arrived at 07:03. We reached KLCC at 07:21 and I crossed over to take the LRT to KL Sentral. I’m so glad and thankful that the trip took place when it did what with the LRT problems which started the following day (the problem started on 5 November but RapidKL only issued notice on 9 November)!

The train left on time and I read for most of the trip. We arrived at Butterworth at 12:15 and I took the stairs out to exit and proceeded to queue to buy the Komuter train to Alor Setar. It cost RM7.10 and I scanned the ticket bar code and went down to the platform. The trip took 68 minutes. I decided to perform prayers at the station before calling Grab. I had to wait ten minutes for the driver. Fortunately, traffic was light and we arrived at the museum at 14:15. After taking photos outside, I went in (the museum reopens at 14:30 on Fridays but the guard allowed us in at 14:25).

Replica of Kacapuri Archway. That archway collapsed in 1970 and was rebuilt in 2000 by the Department of Museums

Museum resident cat

I left after 15:00 and was walking out when it started raining. It started with a drizzle which progressively turned heavier. I walked to Aman Central in the rain and had my late lunch at the food court. The rain continued falling steadily when I left.

I walked past Alor Setar Tower to Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah Gallery (built in 1922, this was previously the High Court building) but it was closed. The building was converted in 2007 to a gallery to commemorate the life of the previous Sultan. Nearby are the 18-metre high Balai Nobat tower built in 1912 to house Nobat musical instruments, and a replica of Kota Tengah Palace Gate. Across the road is the Big Clock Tower which was built in 1912 and initially functioned to aid the Zahir Mosque congregants in establishing the correct prayer times.

The Alor Setar Tower is the third tallest telecommunication tower in Malaysia 

Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah Gallery

Hall of Drums (Balai Nobat)

I walked across Alor Setar Square and noted that the Great Hall (Balai Besar) was closed. This hall was built in 1735 and was the official venue for royal events and functions. I headed for the Kedah State Art Gallery and asked what time it was closing. It was 16:35 then and it closed at 17:00 so I hurried in. This Roman-looking building was completed in 1912 and was originally the High Court building before it served as the office for the Public Works Department. It was converted to an art gallery in 1983 and houses art works by Kedahans.

The Great Hall

Kedah State Art Gallery

I left the art gallery just before 5 p.m. and walked to nearby Pekan Cina (Chinatown). I also wonder why Asians like to gravitate to Chinatowns when they’re abroad and then I realised that I do the same too haha. I don’t know why but I always feel at home in Chinatowns. The Chinatown in Alor Setar was small though.

Tanjung Chali Lighthouse

I then made my way back to the train station, stopping en route at the Tourist Information Centre (it was closed as it was already past 5 p.m. But it’s probably closed on Fridays anyway). There was a memorial within the TIC grounds for the three Japanese invaders who died while guarding the bridge against the British troop.

Tourist Information Centre

I arrived at the station and as the system was offline, proceeded to purchase my ticket for the train back to Butterworth from one of the machines. The best thing is the machines accept cards. I then went to cross over to wait at the platform 2. It was still raining. On the opposite platform, the train for Padang Besar was delayed.

Our train came on time and I was shocked to find it was packed to the rafters! So unlike the train from Butterworth where there was ample seat, this time most passengers had to stand. Someone gave up her seat before we reached Butterworth so I managed to sit for a short while.

At Butterworth, I made my way to Penang Sentral. At the ticket counter, I exchanged my soaked ticket reference for a ticket then went to perform prayers. After prayers, I checked out the dining options and decided to head out. It started raining again as I was walking.

I returned to Penang Sentral before 21:30 and sat to wait for my 23:58 bus. The bus arrived at 23:50 and left on time. I didn’t manage to sleep much on the bus as usual. We arrived at KL Sentral at 03:50 on Saturday. Alhamdulillah.

Return To Kuching

It was high time for my department to have its teambuilding – new boss, new colleagues – and after some surveys, the majority voted to have it in Kuching in mid-October. I opted to buy my ticket myself and shortly after, upgraded myself to business class. We were to depart on staggered basis so I decided to fly out in mid-morning so that I could have time to rest.

On Thursday, 13 October 2022, we landed in wet Kuching at 12:42. I didn’t check in my bag but my colleagues’ bags came out swiftly. I decided to join the guys and after listening to them dither, I suggested going directly to Damai Beach Resort as we would have a free afternoon and evening in Kuching on Saturday anyway. So after querying a cabbie (he quoted RM85) and searching (Grab cost RM72), I decided to check Maxim and managed to get a Perodua Aruz for RM51. The driver was nearby and three of my colleagues joined me. The drive took slightly more than an hour and was I glad that I decided to head directly to Damai! We arrived after 14:30 and had to register with the guard at the gate first before we could proceed to the lobby. I was told that my chalet wasn’t yet ready (although my colleagues’ rooms were) so I decided to perform prayers first.

I was not happy to be told that chalet 419 still wasn’t ready when I returned to the reception and after waiting for 20 minutes, I was given chalet 321 instead. So I went to collect my bag which I had wheeled to chalet 419 and dragged it to chalet 321. The room was a bit dark because one or two lights weren’t working. I proceeded to iron my clothes before going off to buy some food for dinner at the nearby foodcourt. The guys were having a meal but I didn’t join them as it was threatening to rain and I wasn’t keen to be caught in it on my way back to my chalet. The day cleared after a while and I went for a walk along the beach and was surprised to see the fierce and heavy waves pounding the beach.

Chalet 321

My roommate arrived much later and told me she hadn’t performed prayers so I waited for her, all ready to open the door and all. After a while, she rang and asked where I was. I told her I was in the chalet waiting for her. She told me she was in the chalet too and wondering where I was. Eh? Turned out she was given the key to chalet 419 when she checked in. So I sauntered over and found that chalet 419 was better, brighter and looked much more comfortable than chalet 321. The only thing was the air-condition wasn’t switched on so my mate contacted the reception to inform of this before following me to chalet 321. She agreed that chalet 419 looked way better and more welcoming so she helped me carry my things to chalet 419. Luckily the two chalets are very close to each other.

Chalet 419

Someone from the hotel came over to turn on the AC and explained that the previous guest complained of some stench emanating from the chalet so we started breathing in but couldn’t detect any funny smell so we told her we wanted to stay. I had to return chalet 321 key and get another for chalet 419 so had to make another trek to the lobby. It was a good thing it didn’t rain at all despite the earlier dark clouds. It was getting dark then and my mate went out to have dinner at the foodcourt. I decided to stay in.

On Friday, we rose early as prayer times are sooner over there. I decided to go for breakfast after 07:30 while my mate decided to go earlier. I was not amused to find that my card didn’t work after coming back from breakfast. I decided to change the card later as we needed to join the rest and walk over to the Sarawak Cultural Village – after some group photos.

We entered SCV and were greeted by some staff who then proceeded to lead us all to some Zumba steps. Man, it was exhausting alright and I didn’t want to exert myself too much in view of the Amazing Race to follow. We had to answer a series of questions by visiting various ethnic houses and yes, some houses are built some feet above the ground and we had to scale steep staircases to reach the main room/hall. We also had to perform simple challenges before submitting our answers. Then we had a brief tea break before telematch (I don’t know why this activity still exists!). After that, we went into the theatre for the cultural show (air-conditioned!). We had another round of group photos after the show before returning to the resort for lunch. I was disappointed with lunch as most dishes were finishing and there wasn’t much choice to begin with.

After re-activating my chalet card, I returned to the chalet to perform prayers and rest. We ventured out at 15:30 for our CSR activity of picking litter off the beach. The beach was pretty clean so we finished pretty quickly. As a token of appreciation, the hotel provided us some drinks, sandwich wraps and fried noodles. I then returned to the chalet before venturing out again to watch the sunset.

We had an indoor BBQ dinner that evening. We also had door gift exchange, best dressed awards and lucky draw awards.

On Saturday, it was back to work with our discussion of the department’s business plan for 2023. That took almost the whole morning. We finished just before 11:30 and I went back to the chalet to finish packing. For some reason, most of us couldn’t enter our rooms and luckily I spotted a hotel staff and asked for help. We finished packing and after a final check, left the chalet. We piled our bags onto a buggy and walked to the restaurant for lunch.

The bus arrived at 13:00 and after loading our bags, we set off for Kuching – only to stop barely a km later as someone had included some bags belonging to someone else (hotel staff? Or guest?). Fortunately, it didn’t take long to locate those bags and we were soon on our merry way back to Kuching.

We stopped en route at Kubah Ria to stretch our legs and shop for some souvenirs to bring back. We then stopped at Warisan Layered Cake House at Jalan Tun Ahmad Zaidi Adruce for layered cake shopping. It started raining heavily when we were there and it didn’t relent until much later that evening.

The driver stopped near Riverside Majestic to let a colleague and her family down before continuing on to The Waterfront Hotel. The bus couldn’t get into the lobby drop-off, so we had to get down in the rain and retrieve our bags. My bag was among the first in so it was buried deep in the belly of the bus and I had to lift out some bags before I could even spot mine. Then I hurried into the hotel, eager to escape the rain.

We quickly parked our bags next to a pillar, made our way to the check-in counter, fished out our MyKads and then filled up our details at the next counter. I had observed the procedure and within no time, we had finished writing up our details. We then asked for our room cards and were in the lift in no time. It pays to be kiasu, you know.

I had a quick shower before performing prayers. We then ventured out to the Main Bazaar, yes, in the rain but I had already asked if I could borrow an umbrella from the concierge. I ended up buying some costume jewellery after dinner at the foodcourt of Plaza Merdeka. After dinner, we returned to our rooms and after prayers, I finished packing and rested.

Hotel resident cat ambassador

On Sunday morning, I had planned to have my breakfast by 07:50 as I had an early morning flight to catch. A friend called me and I was only able to end the call after 34 minutes. So I had a hurried breakfast – which I dislike doing – before rushing back to the room for my bags. I checked out and arranged for Grab to pick me up. The driver was nearby and it took less than 15 minutes to reach the airport. I didn’t have a lot of luggage so I chose not to check in.

We landed at KLIA at 12:45 and I reached home just before 14:00. So that was my second trip to Kuching and third trip to Borneo this year. Syukur Alhamdulillah.