Hi people!

This is a special edition after a temporary stoppage of my weekend story - a dedication to my ex-housemates and a show of appreciation to 'em. Memories for you and for me to keep....

As usual, our trips "terjadi" on public holidays and begins on Saturday as some of us like me are working half-day. Gee Beng was supposed to pick me up in Seremban when he's coming up from Segamat at 1.45pm. At 2.40pm still without a sign from him, I started to have an ABC of feelings - worry mix with impatience mix with concern mix with slight humour. Humour? Yeah, I can laugh at the fact that I've always (90%) waited for friends, example, even when I'm late for a gathering, I'm still early.

So I called to Gui to inform her about our impending lateness. We were suppose to gather at Gui's place at 2.30pm. Then I tried Gee Beng's handphone to see what's up and was relieved to find out he's arriving at the Seremban tollgate already. Just when that ABC of feelings begin to evaporate, another bowl came up when Abdullah advised that both Gee Beng and I go to Temerloh using the Kuala Pilah/Bahau way and meet them there. I was already grumbling like an old makcik when I heard this. I didn't like the split for a whole lot of reasons but mostly maybe because I just wasn't ready for changes.

Anyway, I lost that ABC feeling when I got into Gee Beng's car. 5 minutes - great! It was good driving the Kuala Pilah way coz after the winding road to Ulu Bendol, it was an almost straight road and there weren't many cars. We arrived at Temerloh at 6.00pm. Tried to get in touch thru Abdullah's handphone but due to my ignorance in handphone usage matters, I guess I left some unplanned messages to him. We didn't get an instant call to him and we were wondering which Petronas petrol station he'll be at later. Anyhow, we believed we've got ample time ahead of us and we decided to scout for other Petronas stations around (actually only 2 Petronas station at Temerloh). That gave us opportunity to get to know the town as well.

Well, after about 40 minutes later, Abdullah called and we met up near KFC. It was near 7pm and I guess most of us didn't quite fathom the idea of having dinner at KFC when we've got something else to try in Kuantan. So, my Seremban siew pau vanished in a matter of minutes as a temporary gastronomy relief before arriving at Kuantan.

It was really nice meeting up with the gang plus an additional member of Gui's housemate. It was certainly a far cry from our university days when we would go on trips travelling by public transportations especially buses. Nowadays, improvement alreadylah... got car loh.

I'm not sure of the time when we reached Kuantan (my watch is damaged because of my swimming activity), but we had a nice dinner of fish & sotong and mee. Unfortunately, I was having - what you call the monthly women's agony (what the heck - you're all adults, so I guess you'll understand what I mean - for those who don't, I strongly urge you to go back to biology classes). As a result, I had a very low appetite (so Gui, that's why I couldn't eat like when I was at 41 at that time).

And that's why you can see me "struggling" to finish the food. Also, that's why I didn't go gila-gila running into the sea when we were at Cherating beach. Believe me, I'm dying to take a dip at South China Sea's water.

Before arriving at Sing Hoon's home to stay for the night, we went to Teluk Chempedak. No Kuantan trip is complete without a visit to this famous lepak place. I had only been "thru" Kuantan once while on the bus to Kemaman - only remembering we made a stop at the bus station late at night. It was quite crowded at the beach, probably due to the festive season. The Hyatt hotel/resort overlooking the sea looked like a nice place to hang out for the capuchinno which we missed to try (someday in future). Signs of La Nina is very mild. The sea was a bit rough (well, the waves definitely looked rather raging compared to those in Port Dickson).

Had a nice cozy sleep at Sing Hoon's place but maybe for about 3 hours. Got up at 4.15am because we had to wake up early in order for our next big event - catch the sunrise at Bukit Lembing. As usual, I'll be the morning call person because I'm a light sleeper (say only because I didn't hear the telephone ring like Gui did). We left without Sing Hoon (near exam) to Lai Kuan's house who was joining us for the climb. It was a near one hour drive to the foothill of Sungai Lembing.

Started to climb about 6am? And it was a lot like climbing Batu Caves. Very exhausting walking up the steps. It was a bit misty and dark and we walked up guided by torchlights. There were many people going up the hill too.

Half an hour later, we reached the summit and I've got to tell you... it was truly rewarding coz the scenery was "fantabulous". It's like those Chinese paintings of hills with clouds and small "pondok" overlooking the mountains. It's like you're in a fairy tale - in the clouds like in heaven. It was cool and the air was really refreshing. People were practically queuing up for a good spot to catch the sunrise.

About 6.40 am and the sun pun masuk kerja giving us a spectacular "show" of one of nature's wonder. This was my first time watching a complete sunrise emerging from the hills. There is no other words except beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Camera shots were heard here and there. I too, made a photography practice with my brother's manual camera as well (but I've got 22 leftover shots to take, so it will take a while to see the outcome).

We stayed awhile on top of the hill admiring the sceneries around us while making imaginative jokes from great wall of China to Titanic jokes. As the winds blew away the mist that eluded the sight of the countryside below us, we got to see a clear picture of the "snaky" Sungai Lembing as well.

The walk down the hill was definitely so much easier. With the daylight on, I was quite thankful that our climb up was made in the dark coz the steep steps and the how far the summit was away was not known nor visible enough.

Breakfast was at the foothill of the small town below. Before reaching Kuantan, we made a short stop at a bridge to get a clearer picture of Sungai Lembing. So bungee-jumping jokes came naturally. On our way back, got to get a better view of Bukit Panching (the hill that looked like a human face from Bukit Lembing) which I think have some interesting caves around it.

Our next event included a tour around Kuantan - that is Kuantan by day because so far I've only views of Kuantan by night - all dark, no car, no people.... Our stops included the MegaMall (the latest shopping mall) where I managed to talk with some clerical staffs from my old faculty as UM's Computer Science faculty is having a booth there for the IT awareness promotion campaign going on.

Our tour included a bowling event at Kuantan Parade where I found my bowling skills were still intact. After that we had lunch and headed for our next item - to Kemaman. It was about more than an hour drive. Somewhere in between, Gee Beng got sleepy and I had the task of the "driver simpanan". I had a bit of adjusting to do as I wasn't used to driving with such a low seat and especially with an automatic gearbox. The left foot had to restrain from stepping on a no-clutch area and the left hand had to restrain from switching gears. Luckily, not driving in town, if not, sure buat benda bodoh! We didn't go straight to Gui's house yet because we want to make a stoppover at one of the stalls to taste samples of Kemaman's famous local delicacies like otak-otak, satah and lekor.

Next, rehat at Gui's place seketika and then we were off to the beaches. First to see-see, look-look at Pantai Chenor and then main-main at Pantai Cherating. The Cherating beach was nice (all East Coast beach are nice compared to Port Dickson!). Had a nice walk around (catch up some stories with Ching Ching). Of course, I agonize over the fact that I wasn't able to grab the opportunity of swimming in the sea. Made some photo shots and had a bit of fun with the tripod for automatic shutter release for a group photo. Nearly knocked down the tripod!

Had dinner at Gui's place. Her mother is real sweet, masak sedap-sedap for us. We also ta pau the stuff crab for dinner. Then while waiting for Kian Thye and girlfriend to arrive, some of us played ping pong and others tengok MTV over Astro. The ping pong they play so high level, so I better watch MTV instead!

When Kian Thye and partner came, we headed to Cherating beach to camp for the night. First time pasang camping tents at night with torchlights at 10.30pm for me. Lepas itu, celebrate Keen Wu's upcoming birthday. Unfortunately, my guitar skills all lost not because I don't remember how to play but I can't remember what the chords are for the songs. Goes to show what a waste I went for lessons - aiya, it's time to practise again.

We had a birthday cake, courtesy of Gui's sister's friend. Unfortunately, Kian Thye and girlfriend had to go off. So, we all just talk nonsense for a while before Abdullah suggested for us to go crab-hunting. Some of us went along like me who just wanted to kay poh to see the crabs. Of course, I'm a disgrace to the Malaysian Nature Society since I shouldn't "kacau" the crabs with pointing torchlights. But pretty harmless activity.

We passed by a beach bar which was playing some fun music and there were patrons dancing along. Lai Kuan looked ready to join the crowd but the others like me were a bit hesitant. Me, because I wasn't sure whether non-patrons can join in the party. So, Abdullah suggested we gulp down those beers we brought and get high and get brave enough to "go to the light". That we did, me, first time finish one can in a few minutes. Then 5 of us were of to the "party". So, Gui's housemate enquired whether we could join in and the answer was yes! So, we boogied lah. But unfortunately the songs got "untempo" eg. Jamaican style - reggae that make it not so shock lah. Abdullah ordered another round of can beers and so, in between dancing, minum lah sikit-sikit. Of course not high lah because only beer. But as the songs were not so popular the gwailo pun tak join sangat. We were joined by one of the bar worker, Patrick (actually he's a batik artist painter) who just enjoys dancing around.

Our last dance was for a rock number but I couldn't do the headbanging thing because I guess I don't like the rock song (I like rock but I dunno what they were playing) and I've never done headbang before. Before going back, pergi kunjung toilet dulu and then main-main with a dog over the bar while having a short chat with Patrick.

The night was beautiful. The sky was almost clear and the stars aplenty. Such loveliness, that some of us preferred to sleep outside the tents under the sky. Plus the sound of the waves splashing was real soothing. Sometime later however, a few drops of rain fell and that made us pack up some things to the car. I decided to sleep in the tent because the newspaper was getting teared up easily when I want to move about. I don't want to end up in sand the next morning!

At about 6 am, I woke up and was just raring to go. I mean ready to enjoy the morning beach. Someone asked about my Samsung exercise and so I took the liberty of "performing" the exercise for them but actually some joined in. I suggested for a morning jog on the beach - some training for our upcoming PJ Half Marathon. I don't have time to train so might as well take this opportunity to do so. 4 of us jogged and I can also tell you that it's the first time I went jogging on the beach. You see people doing it on TV but now you're doing it yourself. That's a nice experience as well.

Before going back to Gui's house, we took photos of us on the beach with the tents. I'm really glad I took the tripod along because it's simpler for us to take it ourselves rather than wait for someone to pass by. After makan a bit at Gui's house, courtesy of her mom's cooking again on some kuih, we minum coffee at Haiping? Coffee shop. I can't give comment much on the coffee because I'm not a good coffee drinker. Okaylah.

Next stop - Awana resort - one of the latest resort along Kemaman beach. Just see-see look-look as well. Nothing much - biasalah like resort loh. Then lepas itu nak pergi Club Med punya but unfortunately incorrect timing. Cannot bargain with the guard some more - so, tak dapat masuk dalam. For some of us like me no problem because we've came to visit before.

After lunch at Gui's house - this time porridge with fish, we were ready to head back home. Meng Heng has to go off early to pick up Sing Hoon in Kuantan. For those in need to go back early, followed Abdullah's car while both Gee Beng and me (orang selatan) in one car plus Gui's housemate who takut joining Meng Heng's car will be quite late.

The road we took back home thru Muadzam Shah was something like Kuala Pilah way - not many cars and straight. So it was quite convenient and we reached Seremban at about 6.45pm.

And so, that's about all about the trip. Thanks for the trip, I hope to come up with another one that is a climb up Gunung Datuk Rembau but first let me find out about it first.

Regards,
Li Li
ps. Meng Heng, heh, heh, I took a souvenir from Bukit Lembing as well. Maybe I'll start a collection of rocks from interesting places.