I'll be missing you

It's been more than a week since I got back to KL, life is pretty much getting back to its normal chaos. But something still nags at me, a small fraction of memory that I can't seem to forget, no matter how hard I tried, somehow her face still lingers in my mind until now.

As I mentioned, night comes really early in Kota Kinabalu, so pretty much by 7, it's already pitch dark. The exhibition is supposed to last until 9pm, but there wasn't much crowd at the venue come night. So pretty much everybody packs up by 8 and do whatever they do, as for me and my colleague, it's trudge back to the hotel room and pretty much do nothing. Due to the fact that we've been standing around at the exhibition the entire day, we inevitably and unintentionally fall asleep really fast, often even before 10. That's the same process almost everyday, so I'm determined not to sleep so early at the last night we're at KK.

As usual, we're back to the hotel room by 7 something, but since it's the last night, we went out to grab a taste of the famous cheap seafood in KK. We got back to the hotel at about 11 something, watch some TV on Vision Four and started to feel sleepy, but since I'm determined to not sleep so early, I went downstairs to the lounge.

It wasn't much of a lounge, pretty much just a bar and some tables. There's a projector screen showing football, so I supposed watching football still beats doing nothing in the room. The bar is rather empty except for some local dudes watching football, I suspect maybe it's a Sunday night and there really wasn't that many guests in the hotel.

So I was happily sipping my RM 18 per mug Heineken while staring at the TV, then she came in. Looking all cute in her customary black skirt and white shirt uniform of the hotel waitress. My initial reaction wasn't really much enthusiasted, maybe just a second look and I return to the TV. It wasn't long later the game ended and there wasn't anything interesting on TV anymore, she's sitting inside the bar near counter, which is more or less right in front of me. Since there wasn't much else to do, I made a customary "Hi" and "How are you?" to her, since she doesn't have much to do anyway.

Pretty soon, the bar is empty except the two of us, she inside the bar and me sitting on the bar stool opposite her. I'd have to say that she's really cute, can't really say hot nor especially beautiful, but more of the innocent sort of girl-next-door cuteness. She's a native of Sabah; a Kadazan, which gave her that exotic look that I'm pretty much a sucker for.

We talked about a whole load of things; What to do in KK?, KK nightlife, the food, shopping, music, football (She Chelsea supporter), smoking, beer, the hotel, my job, her job and a whole load more that I can't even remember. She wasn't very fluent in English, but then again, everybody speaks abit of English in KK, so we spoke in abit of English + Malay + funny hand gesture combination the entire night.

It's almost 2am, and we've been talking almost non-stop for hours, the bar closes at 2, and the other staff start coming into the bar to pack up and close down. She have to start helping out as well, so I just excused myself and went back to my room, after I got her phone number of course.

My flight back to KL is the next day, but I didn't get a chance to meet her again though because since she finishes work at 2am, she starts the next day's shift at 6pm, which at that time I'm already on my way to the airport. Then again, I do have her phone number, so I managed to say good bye to her for the last time when I called her at the airport.

I'm not sure if you'll ever read this post, nor even realize the existence of this blog, but if you somehow do managed read this, I'd like to say that few hours we had, just you and me in the bar is one of the happiest moments I've had for a long long time. Take care, and I'll be missing you.



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Currently feeling: Emo, melancholy, tired, sleepy

Currently listening to: Oasis - Take Me Away

Kota Kinabalu: The place & the people

The place; Kota Kinabalu is really different from KL in alot of ways, its alot cleaner, alot quieter, alot fresher and hella lot nicer in general.

Night seems to come alot earlier in KK too, by 6.30 - 7pm, it's literally night already. I think the earliest time the sky turns night dark in KL is by 7.30. It's very quiet too at night, probably largely due to the fact that there's alot less motorcycles there than KL, and maybe it's just that I stayed at some god-forsaken place.

And speaking of god-forsaken place, the hotel I stayed in is really bad, it's the little fancy building on top of a small hill near Karamunsing area, the white hotel that's supposed to look like a castle. It's opened in 1989 (Proudly declared at the entrance) and I think it's never been serviced since then. The room has this perculiar musty smell of old buildings, the air-cond is a big-ass unit the size of a closet that is never cold, but will somehow freezes over overnight, everynight, the mini-bar fridge that smells weird and is never cold too and the TV is smaller than my office PC's monitor. And they they call themselves a 3-star hotel, and did I mentioned that they're part of a relatively large hotel group in Malaysia? It's pathetic...

Karamunsing Complex reminds me abit of Imbi Plaza, except that's its bigger and hella lot less dodgy. The upper floors of the Plaza is largely dominated by computer shops and hair saloons, so the entire place got a perculiar smell of saloons? Which reminds me, what smell are those anyway? No matter which saloon you go, its always that smell, I'm suspecting it's those solutions they used when perming hair, anyone got any idea?

The most common vehicle there is the four-wheeler pickup truck. From work-horse pickups like the old Toyota Land Cruiser Stationwagon to luxurious Range Rovers. Comes in all sorts of accessories you can think of on a pick-up truck, flatbed covers, crew cab, roof storage area, roof racks, snorkel exhaust pipes and hood spoilers. The most perculiar one I saw is definitely the one I saw parked at the hotel one morning, a big ass Toyota Hi-lux 3.0 that's converted into a low-rider, means no high suspensions like a typical pickup, complete with spoilers and car-parts brand names sticker on the door. I didn't check, but I bet it got a hige ass exhaust pipe as well to complement the sports pickup truck look.

Food in KK in general wasn't much different from KL, prices are pretty much the same, maybe slightly steeper there on certain food. Except seafood of course, the cheapness of seafood there is phenomenal. It almost gave me a shock when my colleague started ordering during our first dinner there at a seafood restaurant, I was expecting the bill to be more than RM 200, but it came less than RM 100. I knew seafood there is cheap, but have no idea it was THAT cheap!

The people; I've got to admit that KK has got some of the most beautiful chick girls in Malaysia. My friend mentioned that its most likely that most of the girls in town are the aboriginals of Sabah, which is the Kadazans, and Kadazan girls are quite well known for being beautiful. They're very fair and looked a little like Malay with abit of Chinese features. But then again, maybe it's the exotic looks that's attractive, like Latinos and Japanese, the distinct look that you'll recognise at a glance.

Almost everybody speaks abit of English there, so it wasn't too difficult to communicate because I can never understand what they're trying to say when they're talking to me in Malay. Not to say my Malay is bad, matter of fact, I'm very fluent in Malay, it's just that they speak in very different dialect. The sounds of their Malay is very 'baku' and some words are different than the normal Malay used in KL. Mandarin is the common Chinese dialect there, and there are alot of Hakka people there, so I have no problem speaking to Chinese there.

Another very distinct thing about KK is that there are very few aliens (Banglas and Indons) there, even the construction workers are local. Unlike KL where everywhere you look, you're bound to spot an Indon or a Bangla among the crowd. I've no problem with Banglas, in my opinion, they're one of the most hard-working people I've seen and they're really here to work, not to do shit like the Indons. The lack of Indons also means you won't see hordes of them sitting around smoking kreteks and making noise and that alone makes the entire place generally cleaner, quieter and hella lot nicer.

When you sit down to eat in KL, it is a safe bet that there will be some fella approaching you selling pirated DVDs. But instead of selling DVDs, you'll be approached by people selling fake leather goods and watches, handy-craft and dried seafood in KK. I've seen a fella hauling a big ass crafted figurine of a horse going table to table at the restaurant trying to sell it off for RM 200!

The people there are rather friendly too, easily approachable and willing to chat. By the 2nd day of the exhibition, I already know most of the people around my booth and can start chatting with them. I've worked at Mid Valley for years and I think there are still a few guys that I've never spoke to at the shop next to mine. And the fact that they're friendly also helped when you're hitting on a chick at one of the booth nearby, although I never made any milestone success with any of the girls at the exhibition, but at the end there's her...

But that is another story.

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Before this, I was: MUDding

Currently listening to: Sarah Brightman - Any Dream Will Do

Currently feeling: Tired, restless, emo

I'm hauling my ass away

Yup, I'm hauling my ass away from KL to Kota Kinabalu this Tuesday. I'll be there fo a week, gotta attend a certain exhibition, so if anyone happens to stumble upon this post and happens to be at a certain exhibition in Centre Point Karamunsing Plaza, Kota Kinabalu next weekend, drop by and say hi. Can't recognize me? Simple, just look for the phattest ass in there. No, seriously, if you know that you'll be there next weekend, drop me an email and we can go have a drink or something, I don't know anybody there and I'm forecasting boring days ahead.

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Before this, I was: Watching TV

Currently listening to: OAG - Knocked Silly

Currently feeling: Bored, restless, argh!

Seriously... wtf?!

Seriously, what the fuck?

...is going wrong with the police?

...is going wrong with the justice system?

First, they condemned the act of kissing and hugging in public as a crime.

Second, they blame CSI for their lack of brainpower to solve crimes.

Seriously, what the fuck?

What's all this bullshit about upholding asian values that condemns the act of kissing and hugging in public? Who the fuck determines what is a proper asian value and what is not? Its the fucking over-zealous politicians who determines what's wrong and what's right, the people never bothered with 'Asian values', everybody is too fucking busy worrying about petrol values, car values, interest values, monetary values to even fucking bother with pointless bullshit like 'Asian values'

OK, maybe there -are- some sohais out there who scorns the act of hugging and kissing in public, but they are a fucking minority, since when do we give a fuck about what the minorities think? You don't like seeing people kiss and hug in public, fucking cover your eyes lar, or better still, walk away. Why the fuck would you want to make such a fucking big fuss about it?

I respect the fact that hugging and kissing in public is against the teachings of Islam, I'd understand if a Muslim couple is caught hugging and kissing in public and they should be charged under the Syariah court. But why make it a federal law? Means every bloody couple that's hugging and kissing in public should be charged in the court of law. Then shouldn't the act of politicians hugging each other during this and that summit meeting be condemned as well? And how the fuck do you explain this? Our very own prime minister, in full view, kissing his wife? If mrely hugging and kissing can be charged, then shouldn't the couples fucking in public at Bukit Gasing and Titiwangsa Lake in the middle of the night be shot?

Enough of that shit... now to the other shit, which almost made me keel over laughing!

"US crime drama CSI is helping criminals to escape justice, a senior
policeman in Malaysia has said."

What the fuck? CSI is American, and probably the only similarity between American and Malaysian police is both of them like donuts, oh wait, I think Malaysian police prefer roti canais more than donuts. Anyway, how can the actions of a team of American forensic officers help Malaysian criminals escape? If that's really the case, what about Gerak Khas? They show the workings of the Malaysian police force also, they're even more realistic than the Americans right? What would you call that then? Malaysian Police Escape Manual?

If truly CSI can teach criminals escape justice, the next thing you know the army is using Survivor to train the recruits survival skill, Ally McBeal to train aspiring lawyers and House to train doctors. Hell, we can even use Star Wars to train our next batch of astronauts!

Sohai betul!

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Before this, I was: Laughing my ass off!

Currently listening to: The Offsprings - Pay The Man

Currently feeling: muahahhahaa, wtf?!, bored, sleepy