Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Preparation

Kayrin and I have been playing the "fishing" game with a deck of cards in the evenings. It's the one, where we flip two cards and try to find matching pairs. Last night, she prepared the cards, laying them out nicely on her mattress while waiting to play with me as I quickly had dinner and showered after my return from work.
Half way through, I notice the little girl easily getting her pairs. As it turns out, she was paving the way to her being the winner by setting up the pairs next to each other! The conniving one ;)

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Three-Hour Journey

A three-hour trip out of Kuala Lumpur could take you quite far. Seremban for sure, Melaka too, and even Singapore at the speed that SF drives. From Penang, three hours in a car would take you to Ipoh and beyond.
The three-hour journey of mine started in KLCC at a bit after 6 p.m. yesterday. Back up a little, to about 4:30 p.m., when dark clouds rolling in from the Titiwangsa mountain range drenched the downtown area.
So, the rain brought floods and disrupted train services. I ended up walking along Jalan Ampang to get to a monorail station to try and find my way to KL Sentral, which would normally take me all of 10 mins and 5 stops on the train. Instead, I had to walk 20 mins, overtaking cars and buses in a bumper-to-bumper crawl. There was no proper pavement all the way and where there was a pavement to walk on, puddles formed, and pedestrians had to jump out to the path of traffic. It's quite an act. Jump out, swing bag(s) away from any potential snatch thief, avoid being hit by motorcyclist, and then deftly skip back to the so-called pavement while trying to avoid knocking into fellow pedestrians.
Then, upon arriving at destination, I looked up and saw where I'm supposed to head. Near but thanks to a lack of consideration for people who have to take public transportation, that means meandering through Brickfields' former railway depot (after darting into and out of traffic on the mainroad of Jalan Tun Sambanthan), and wandering through the bus and taxi stand in the gutter of KL Sentral. No signs to guide you. No fun. Some of our city planners should be down here with us.
I reached my destination. To a spouse whose face was as dark as the looming clouds at 5 p.m. Because he's had to wait for three hours in a hotel lobby. Nothing to keep him entertained except for his notebook. For me, another day spent battling my way home after work. The life of a worker bee in KL city.

And sore gluteal muscles (I call it butt muscle) I've now got. From walking on a slanted pavement.