In the last two weeks, and even more so with the last weekend, I've been spending a great deal of time with my ex-uni mates, more than usual since I've been back from UK for two years, because a friend from Hong Kong was around. I first met Theodore in Newcastle, though never spoken to him until last week. It's like there is an unspoken rule that we all try to meet up with anyone who used to be from Newcastle, even if we have never met, or hardly know the person.
Me, Yvonne, Stephanie, Cynthia and Theodore went to Malacca for a day trip on Saturday, which was really good fun. Hehe... Cynthia's comment when we arrived, "I don't know who is more the tourist, Ee Wei or Theodore." Can't help it... the last time I was in Malacca was for a youth retreat and we didn't leave the hotel we were in.
When we arrived at Malacca, we had the famous Chicken Rice Ball for lunch, which was quite tasty actually (and Yvonne's primary reason to go to Malacca. Bringing Theodore sight-seeing was just an excuse). Then we proceeded to walk around doing tourist stuff, and half-way through I was feeling the heat getting to me so I decided to get a nice massage because the massage parlour had air-conditioning and because it was RM38 for an hour of massage, which to me is pretty cheap.
When the masseur proceeded to give me foot reflexology, I started giggling, which caused him to laugh as well. But because I couldn't speak Mandarin and as the parlour was ran by a Chinese family from China who spoke only Mandarin, Stephanie had to be my translator, to which I only gave her one word to explain why I was giggling, "Geli!" Heh... Malay word for "ticklish". And Stephanie had to tell me to stop laughing or my masseur could not continue, since he laughed whenever I laughed. After that whenever I had a strong urge to laugh I had to take the newspaper to cover my face.
After the massage he brought a pail of hot water, and since the first pail of water before the massage was luke warm, experience told me that the second pail would also be about the same temperature. So without hesitation, I put my foot into the second pail of water only to howl loudly and instantly lift my foot up again because the second pail of water was scalding hot!!
I must have been the most amusing customer for the day, because while all the customers were quietly enjoying their massage to the point of falling asleep in the midst of it, I was either giggling, making funny faces as I winced in pain or shouting out in pain.
After walking around a little more, visiting the quaint shops and historic places like the A Famosa ruins, we decided we were tired enough and it was time for dinner. With Yvonne's fantastic map, we got hopelessly lost for about 45 minutes until our Malacca friends managed to guide us to the famous Sate Celup restaurant. Sate Celup is something like Lok Lok (see pic below), where you dip the food that is skewered with a stick, into a pot of boiling soup. But instead of soup, the sate celup uses satay sauce. Mmm... it was very good... I ate the least, believe it or not. :P Heheh... I had 20 sticks, Yvonne, 21, Steph, 22, Theodore, 23 and the champion, Cynthia with 24.
Lok Lok
After dinner we finally headed back to KL, sticky, tired but feeling very good with the day's expedition. And oddly, it was during the journey back, when we stopped for Steph, Cynthia and Yvonne to use the rest rooms when for the first time I started to bond a bit with Theodore. Because I don't speak very good Cantonese, I felt shy talking with him, but being left alone in the car with him, I didn't have much choice. And then after talking for a bit, realised he was quite a cool person to be friends with. But unfortunately, before we had more time to get to know each other better, it was already time for him to leave. :(
Ah well... we did make grand plans to have other holidays together, either to Newcastle, Hong Kong or climb Mount Kinabalu. So if we actually do eventuate one of the plans, next time I meet him, I'll definitely be more friendly. :D
From left: Yvonne, me, Cynthia, Theodore, unknown. Err... dunno why Cynthia and Theodore looking so fierce
From left: Me, Stephanie, Yvonne and Theodore at a Nyonya type of house, having cendol
From left: Err... I don't think anymore introduction is needed anymore
Us sitting outside the A Famosa ruins. It was a hot afternoon despite our fears of it raining, and the brolly came in handy to keep us from heat strokes
Sitting in front of a huge ship although you can't see it. The photographer obviously thought we were more important than the ship