RBJTimban’s Crib

20th August 2008

Sat for my Penilaian Tahap Kecekapan at Sekolah Menengah Teknik, Betong. The paper, Kertas Umum, was a one hour paper, from 9 – 10 a.m. It was quite tough despite a good preparation I have made earlier. Right after the examination my family and I started our journey down to Kuching. My sister, Suzie, rode in our car too. I had planned for the journey to start at 11.00 a.m., so it would be nice once we reach the little town of Lachau by 12.30 p.m. for lunch. I drove cautiously as the load was ‘good’ for the car. At 12.45 p.m. we reached Lachau and had our lunch there. By 1.30 p.m., we hit the road again and proceeded to Kuching. As it was after lunch, I felt sleepy behind the wheel. My wife and the kids and also my sister kept me awake by talking about a lot of things along the way. After half an hour, and as the heat of the day rose, the car air-con gave way. All my passengers were quiet and I knew they were all sleepy. I had to turned my car radio on to beat the sleepiness. Yes. I stayed awake until we reached the town of Serian – approximately two hours from Lachau. I told them that we had to ease ourselves at the public washrooms by the roadside before continuing our journey to Kuching. It would be another one and half hour drive to Kuching. After the brief stop at Serian, we proceeded on our way. Finally, we reached Kuching, my sister-in-law’s place at Taman Kalien at around 3 something.

21st August 2008

As arranged earlier, Ken, my brother-in-law sent, my family and I in my car to the LCCT airport to check in. We brought along two big bags for the six-nights stay in Kuala Lumpur. After everything was done, we made our way to the departure gate and seated ourselves comfortably in the AirAsia boeng. I could see those eyes of astonishment and excitement among my three children. I told them that the flight would be very interesting (which I did not like very much). We took off at 1145 a.m and the weather over the Kuching was good. But when we hovered over the skies of KL, the weather was rough. I did not like the bumpy plane and a lot of bad imaginations came into my head. Despite the storm, we touched down safely at KL LCCT. From the airport, we took the airline bus to KL Sentral. We reached KL Sentral after an hour ride from the airport. It drizzled when we reached the station but we had to look for a taxi to take us to our hotel. After about 15 minutes of wondering, an Indian taxi driver offered us a lift in his van. He said he would lift my whole family if I agree to pay him RM30 for the trip. As we were new to the place, I did not mind the rate. The driver did not talk much, and my family and I were also silent. We simply enjoyed the city view through the van window. In less than half an hour, we reached Tune Hotels at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and checked-into our rooms in no haste.

22nd August 2008:

After breakfast, my family and I took the LRT to Putra World Trade Centre to get some info on how to collect the cloak for the convocation. We spent about half an hour at PWTC to look for the Dewan Merdeka where the convo would be held in 2 days time. From PWTC, we went on foot to the OUM campus at Jalan Sultan Ismail. The big sign board said that the campus is about 450 meters away. Along the way to the campus we met some of my course-mates from Sarawak and we felt that we were not strangers in KL! We spent about an hour at the OUM campus before going back to the hotel. I paid RM200 for the cloak, RM165 for the photographs, around RM100 for the souveniers, and drinks for the children. From the campus, we took a ride back to the hotel in a taxi. We learned that the route from the campus to the hotel was very short! I knew about this when the taxi driver told us a little bit about the places during the short trip. Later in the evening, my sister-in-law, Datin Z, arrived at the hotel from work. She invited the whole family for sight-seeing in and around KL. She took us to KLCC for dinner. I purchased a Pentax digital camera, since I have lost my Sony to a thief about a month ago. After dinner and much of the sight-seeing, she sent us back to our hotel, and I learned that the time was around 11 p.m.

23rd August 2008

It’s a ‘free’ day today. My family and I planned to take a walk around KL. Augustine and his family insisted to follow us. Earlier my sister-in-law had invited my family and I to have dinner at her place in Taman Mutiara, Shah Alam. She told us to bring Augustine and his family along. At 6.00 p.m. we took a train from KL Sentral to Shah Alam station. It was drizzling and the train was a bit crowded. When we reached Shah Alam it was already quite dark. My sister-in-law’s son, Kamil, picked us up at the Shah Alam station in his 7-seater car. From the station, he took us straight to their house. His mum had been waiting at the door to meet and welcome us.

Datin Z has a wonderful place. Despite the night, we managed to take a look around the house with the aid of lights. There’s also a family swimming pool in the backyard, and other ‘nice looking’ landscaping items. It sure was costly for a big house like hers but my wife and I just kept it to ourselves.

After dinner, we talked near her her swimming pool. My Theophilus and Timothy dipped their legs into pool. Finally at 11.00 p.m. I interrupted our conversations and told them that it was time to go back to KL. My sister-in-law offered to send us back in her car.

24th August 2008

My big day. Woke up early and get the whole family to have breakfast at the hotel. We did not go anywhere that morning as I had to get all my things packed. By 11.00a.m. we had our lunch at the hotel. A brief lunch as I did not want to rush to the convocation venue. After lunch we took a 7-seater taxi to Putra World Trade Centre. We made our way through the big crowd there. My wife helped me get dressed in the convo cloak and the mortarboard. There were so many people and the place was packed at all the five levels. By 2.30 p.m. I was among the hundreds of the other students lined up to get into the Merdeka Hall. We were ushered by the university staff. It was very well organised. By 3.00 p.m. the ‘historical’ event began with the pro-chancellor’s brief speech and followed by the handing of the scrolls. I was the sixth scroll receipient to receive the scroll that afternoon, and it was really heart-throbbing while on stage. I felt I was at the top of the world that moment. When it was all over, we proceeded to the upper level of the venue to have our photographs taken. It was a long wait as there were so many people around. By 7.00 p.m. my family and I had our photographs taken and after that we made our way back to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel, it was already quite late. Everyone was tired to even take a stroll to the nearest restaurant. Tired. We went to bed as early as 11 p.m. that evening.

25th August 2008

Another day in KL. I arranged to return the cloak to PWTC and collect the actual scroll and the academic transcripts from the varsity admin in the morning. I went there alone, as my family were still feeling tired. My wife spent the whole morning doing the laundry using the hotel machines. I went back to the hotel before noon. After lunch, we strolled KL again…

26th August 2008

We decided to take a walk close to the hotel. As we have seen a lot of KL everyone was very content. As we have been in KL for almost a week, we had bought alot of things. The children were happy with their toys, magazines and a couple of computer peripherals, whereas my wife, with her textile.

27th August 2008

We made our way to the LCCT in the hotel mini bus. The trip costed us RM190, and Augustine and I had agreed that we bear the fare ‘proportionately’. We arrived around 9.30 a.m at the airport, and my wife and I treated the children at the airport cafe. We had nasi lemak and hot drinks for breakfast there. After breakfast we checked-in at the counter for the 11.45 a.m. flight back to Sarawak. While waiting the children enjoyed playing the luggage trolley, especially Timothy and Theophilus. They took turns giving each other the trolley push. After a long wait after check-in, we were among other passengers made our way to the plane. Our plane took off 5 minutes before the ETA, and the skies above KL was stormy. Above Kuching, once again, the flight was ‘a bit bumpy’ too, like above KL. It was raining when our plane touched down on Kuching International Airport. Ken, was there, waiting for us. From the airport, we went straight to his house to for a short rest. Trevor and Timothy took some of our luggage in a taxi and left the airport for Betong. Everyone was relieved after the ‘rough’ flight. And we thank God for everyone’s safe touch down.