Pearl of the Orient - Episode 2

22 December 2007

Minggu ni aku ke Penang lagi...walaupun baru je minggu lepas ke sana. But this time around, it was purely leisure. I needed a break....I needed a break badly. Aku and HA had been planning to go to Taiping for a friend's wedding on 23 December 2007. In addition, I wanted to visit my old school, MRSM Taiping. It has been more than 12 years since I last visited my highschool. However, my recent discovery in Penang (I'm referring to Zurina's...read episode 1, people!) has created new interest for HA to drive up north to Penang. I welcomed the idea as I had personal shopping agenda of my own..hehe. So we both agreed that we would go to Taiping for one night and then to head north to Penang. I was lucky to be able to book a chalet in Taiping and also a bungalow in Penang. To make this trip more comfortable, I decided to rent a Nissan X-trail... walaupun sebenarnya aku tak drive. This beauty was delivered to my house on 21 December 2007.

Detour sekejap.... malam 21 December tu, Aku, Khairy, Y and family... had dinner kat Tamarind Springs. I let Khairy drive X-trail. Aku yang buta pasal kereta ni rasa X-trail ni quite comfy for people like me. Sekian.

We left home heading toward Taiping around noon on 22 December 2007. Aku ni yang dok tengah mencari Nintendo Wii had asked HA to make a stop kat Plaza Damas to make a purchase. Tak ade stock pulak. Hampeh!! Tak dapat la main Wii kat Penang. Oh, btw... MZ pun ikut ke Taiping untuk menghadiri majlis perkahwinan... tapi aku rasa, his main reason adalah untuk berjumpa buah hati pengarang jantung... kwang3.

Sampai di Taiping pun agak lewat dalam pukul 5 petang. Rupa-rupanya, the chalet that we booked is only a stone's throw away from MRSM Taiping. That very afternoon, we drove there. After introducing myself as one of the ex-Maresmart students to the guard, he, without hesitation, allowed me to make a quick tour of the school. Thank you bang! It was indeed a walk down memory lane. Teringat waktu dirotan, kehidupan di Aminudin Baki dan Ungku Omar, hiruk pikuk Dewan Makan, kegiatan di bilik darjah, di makmal dan sebagainya. Banyak yang dah berubah, namun bila dilihat hasil pencapaian akademik semasa pelajar-pelajar di situ, aku yakin yang Maresmart masih gah seperti dahulu... :). Di carta organisasi, terpandang gambar cikgu Shahrome and Puan Marsuria yang masih setia di Taiping sejak zaman aku bersekolah lagi. Deep inside, I plan to visit again and see and what way I can help the school.

Kemudian, aku, HA dan MZ balik ke chalet, KamaLodge where we would spend overnight. WE had our minum petang at the lodge. KamaLodge served very nice kueteow goreng.. Maya and Yaya came over to say hi. Rumah diaorang dekat jek...

Disebelah malamnya, aku dah merancang dengan Amy and Maya untuk makan kat mana-mana restaurant yang best kat Taiping. Setelah Maya dan Amy bermesyuarat, they recommended us to have dinner at Selera Malam Restaurant. Since they are both from Taiping, aku agak confident with their choice.

Malam pun menjelang (eh..macam cerita hantu pulak). Selepas diberi petua oleh the 2 beauties on how to get to the restaurant, HA, MZ and I pun gerak le dari KamaLodge. Mak ai...ramainya orang at the restaurant... tapi dah janji kat situ, so carilah jugak tempat duduk. Sementara menanti the beauties sampai.... aku pun dengan cepat placed my order...ye lah ramai orang kan. Tetiba jek si Maya telefon tanya kenapa tak sampai2 lagi... "Eh! dah sampaila...dah order pun". Si Maya cakap yang diaoarang pun dah sampai, tapi tak nampak pun our batang hidungs. Siasat punya siasat, rupanya Selera Malam ni ada 3 cawangan, and the three of us dah menenggek di cawangan yang salah... Sekian. Cepat2 we all cancelled our orders and cabut from there. Akhirnya baru lah berjumpa dengan the beauties di cawangan yang satu lagi.

Aku yang dah separa kebulur ni....cepat2 lah suruh Amy and Maya buat tempahan makanan... mesti selera ni.... Sembang punya sembang...makanan tak juga sampai-sampai... the two beauties dah bermacam-macam pose dah ambik gambar, makanan tak juga sampai...Dah dekat sejam, baru we found out yang diaorang terlupa nak masak our orders.... Hampeh gila. The two beauties dah naik angin dgn the restaurant. Cepat2 diaorang masak for us... tapi selera yang membuak-buak tadi dah hilang... masuk angin kot. Makan pun ala kadar je. Memang aku tak selera malam tu di resoran selera malam. Sekian. Sampai kat lodge zzz...

bersambung.....