Tonight is the last night I will be here in Malaysia for a long time… I’m sad that I won’t be seeing such a huge chunk of my family for a long time but I’m also excited to be going home to see my family and friends there. We ended up buying a new suitcase today because we had too much stuff. I’ve been behind with posting pictures and such but after I get back to NY, everything will be nice and pretty lol The internet connection I have here is slow and I’ve been super busy so I couldn’t upload all the pictures on time. I’ll have a more detailed blog of the past few days here when I get back so see you all in NY soon and everyone in MY in a few years… Who knows? Maybe I’ll hit the jackpot and be back sooner than planned

We woke up extra early today to go out for breakfast with the friends from the night before. They wanted to take us to a bak kut teh place and we were meeting at 8:45AM. The place was good but a stray cat kept waeving in and out from under my seat and the table, which freaked me out since I’m not a fan of cats. We had 3 pots of bak kut teh and bowls of rice. I love dunking fried dough into the soup and I think I’m going to try it when I get back to NY if I can make the soup haha

After breakfast, we went to pick up Grandma to head to a doctor our in Petaling Jaya (PJ). We tried getting the phone number but no one had it and it wasn’t listed with the information service. After the long drive out there, and some obscure roads, we found out that the doctor wasn’t in until 5PM so we drove back home. When we got back, the uncles went to their reunion and the rest of us went out to lunch at Pizza Hut since the kiddies wanted pizza. The Pizza Huts here are restaurants with waiters, menus and everything. we tried a funky pizza with meatballs in the crust and had a crispy one with pepperoni. We also got some garlic bread, which was thick and soft, wings that had an Asian flavor, and a molten chocolate cake. We were stuffed after all the food. We walked around the area to kill time and went into a few boutiques. The aunts were supposed to meet a friend but she was too busy and we went home to shower and rest.

My phone rang many times throughout the day from Aunt F and a few uncles trying to figure out who was going to take Grandma to the doctor later in the day. It was finally decided to that Aunt A would go with Aunt F. We had dinner plans that night with P’s family so the rest of us just relaxed at home. I ended up falling asleep waiting for us to leave for dinner. Aunt A couldn’t make the dinner since they were still waiting for the doctor so we were off without her. Everyone at dinner wasn’t very hungry and even talked about packing the leftover food before the food even came. The food was good but was a lot. We went over to check out the construction on P’s aunt’s house since they had just gotten their lights put in today and went home afterwards. Aunt A finally came home around 11PM. We were finally off to bed after the long day.

The day started off with a breakfast of Tiger Biskuits for me. P couldn’t find anything she wanted to eat so when we went out, we stopped by McD’s for some pancakes and sandwiches. Afterwards, we went off to pick up my aunt and uncle’s glasses nearby. My uncle went off to an office to settle some apartment stuff and Aunt F came to pick us up for Facials Part 2. I did not partake in the event this time since I found the lightening procedure unnecessary for myself. I waited with P and “read” the fashion and style magazines that were all in Chinese. I was pretty bored but luckily the magazines were thick so I was able to flip through a few before Aunt A was done. Going through them, I found it funny that companies that exist in the US and advertise tanning/tinted products advertised whitening products here. It’s understandable since it’s summer year-round here but still interesting to think about marketing at an international level. We went across the street to the Little Tree Café for lunch. It was a cute little place with pretty good food. Aunt A and I had chicken chops with prawn paste while P had pasta and tomato sauce. Aunt F came to pick us up. As we walked by the parked cars, I learned that people lift their windshield wipers up if they are parking in a spot for a long time, otherwise they melt onto the windshield. People here also double park and leave their car when there isn’t any other parking available. It makes driving down a street difficult sometimes but people seem to take it.

We met up with my uncle at Jusco to pick some stuff up for home. We went hom to rest and shower and we were out for dinner in Semenyih with some family friends. We stayed until closing and the friends came home with us to continue the conversation. They left close to midnight after they realized what time it was. Overall, it was a long but fun day.

We started the day off by leaving at 8AM to pick up Grandma for breakfast. We stopped by a place with various stalls and ended up eating noodles. We rushed to finish and met up with Aunt F and Uncle D for our trip up to the Genting Highlands Resort. The ride itself was about 2 hours but since I fell asleep, I didn’t feel it haha The roads going up the mountain were winding left and right quite a number of times. We stopped at the Chin Swee Caves Temple and taking a look around. There was an entire exhibit of the different gates of hell one would go through if they didn’t follow the Buddhist teachings. The sculptures were quite graphic, which P didn’t like and decided not to go through the rest of the walk. The life-sized sculptures showed people getting cut, stabbed, boiled, bloody and tortured by devilish looking characters. Even I was a bit squeamish walking by.

After we looked around, we were off to the resort. Aunt F and Uncle D went with Grandma to the casino whereas P, her parents and I went to the outdoor amusement park. When I came as a kid, I was never allowed to go on any rollercoaster rides since Grandma was always afraid that we would get hurt. I always went on the bumper cars and played some arcade games. This time, we went on a few rides like the spinning swings, got lunch and then went on a few others. Since the resort is pretty high up, clouds would roll in and out. While we were waiting for the Bumper Boats ride (essentially bumper cars but you’re on a little engine powered boat on water instead), the fog came in thick and then it started pouring. All the rides outdoors stopped operating so we headed inside to First World, which had shopping, food and an indoor amusement park. By this time, it was too late to wait for rides so we just walked around until the time came to leave.

For dinner, we headed to Restoran Chef Rasa (Ah Soon Ko), which is renowned for its preparations of shark fin. The shark fin and soup were delicious but incredibly filling. We were only able to eat some of the remaining dishes. After dinner, we drove Grandma to Klinik Britain to get her feet checked out since they were giving her problems the whole day. When she was done, we all headed home after the long day.

After staying up late the night before, we ended up having another late start. We left the house at 10AM and went out to Metro Mall. We just walked around a bit to kill time. When we were finally hungry, we went to a satay place in Kajang that’s supposed to be the best in the area. Compared to the one in Melaka, I felt the satays from the Melaka one were better. But that’s not to say this one wasn’t any good. The duck was okay though I felt it was a bit mushy. The chicken and beef were pretty good but the lamb was probably what stood out. These satays had twice as much meat on each stick so we only ate half as much.

After lunch, we went to the house of the friend with whom we had the lakeside dinner. One of her daughters was there, who is also a nationally recognized rhythmic gymnast, which I thought was pretty cool. Her posture was amazing and she’s had the chance to travel the world. I wasn’t feeling well and I ended up falling asleep for a little while until the 5 year old granddaughter shook me awake. We stayed awhile longer and played with the little girl (who was quite mischievous).

On the way home, my uncle drove by one of my other uncles’ old house that I used to stay in whenever I came to Malaysia. We thought it was abandoned but the outside wall was painted orange and we saw a garbage can and some other stuff behind the gates. Since it was close, we also drove by one of my aunts’ old house. I remember whenever we went to the pasar malam, we would end up at her house since it was right outside the market. She used to have 2 dogs and a few rabbits, which were all super cute and cuddly. This house was abandoned as it was visibly empty and garbage was all over the front.

We finally got home to rest a little and then we were out to Aunt F’s house for dinner and the largest pasar malam in the area. It was insanely crowded and you could just about buy anything. We stopped at quite a few food stalls and bought things to eat like cakes and tiny fried crabs on a skewer. I was really surprised to encounter tourists and realized that it was actually a stop on a tour bus. C had came with us and couldn’t really keep up so after we walked one side, P and C both just wanted to go home so we left and went home.