`____my voice-*

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Half a Batamese

It didn't seem like 2 years of separation from my mum's hometown. Friends always have this impression I visit the island every year. I was appalled at myself when I checked the passport and realised my last visit was in 2007, before I entered uni. Anyway, the weekend getaway was AWESOME. When I was a teenager, the trips were fun because I had the company of my cousins. We could talk all day at Ah Boy's house and still find the energy to play pool, watch movie, shoot hoops and go shopping together. This time, the mini holiday was great because I had lots of first times.

It was my first time meeting baby nephew Filbert. I felt extremely bad that I couldn't attend Ah Liang korkor's wedding a couple of years back, due to uni exams. When we were young, we hooked pinkies and promised to be there at each other's wedding :( But it's heartening to see that he's happily married and he has evolved to be a family man!

That's darling Filbert! The moment I saw him I went "Ooooooooo so handsome"!! :) Being a baby who's afraid of strangers, he didn't let me carry him on the first night. So, I had to devise a scheme and coax him with sweets the next day :D

If you're wondering why do I have such a weird expression in the next photo, it's because I was pretending to cry. Whenever someone cries, Filbert has been "taught" to sayang the person!!! Poor him, my cousin and I were taking turns to cry so that we could take photos of him kissing us :D We made him go to and fro to kiss the both of us, he was utterly confused at the end of 10minutes :)

It was also my first time doing my hair overseas. Evi and I went for hair spa and oh my gosh we had hair treatment, head massage, shoulder massage, hand massage, blow drying ALL AT THE PRICE OF SGD20!! I'm so going back to that place on my next visit. It was the first time I came out from a saloon feeling happy and satisfied with the condition of my hair. We were so ecstatic that we tipped our hairdressers :) My hair is supposed to look slightly curled at the ends, but the pictures seriously don't do justice. Evi's hair looks more curled because it's longer. I'm dying to grow my hair.

Evi is the sweetest cousin. She was not only the tour guide but the driver as well. Not that I treat her as a chauffeur though, she deserves a better title. Like, the daughter of Golden Prawn and Golden View's boss? The next time you visit Batam and you go to Golden Prawn for seafood, remember that's my uncle's restaurant! But sorry, no discount unless you go with me or my relatives :D

And what's the best part of the trip? We stayed in the suite room for a night, FOC. Many thanks to Ah Ming korkor for making the arrangements :) The suite room is like the second biggest room after the grand suite. And no one has stayed in the grand suite, not even my uncle and aunt. The room was only used once when some minister was on a trip in the vicinity. It's the first time I do check-in without paying a single cent and I check out whatever time I want. Luckiest girls on earth. I was screaming in delight when I entered the suite. We had a mega camwhoring session :)

Evi wanted to try out the Jacuzzi the next morning. I'm really very sua ku, I never knew that jacuzzis had lights. While she was busy filling the tub with water, I was snapping the pictures of the view from the eighth floor. There was only one word to describe - PANORAMIC. I promise the place didn't look like this two years ago. The view was so spectacular that I had to take it in sections. But gosh, you should have been there to see the attap houses and sea in shades of green and blue. The Go-Kart circuit is also visible, and I saw someone playing the flying fox from my hotel room!

Before the trip I had announced to the whole world that I wanted to try out the Go-kart at Batam. And true enough, the weather was superb on Sunday for a good spin. The circuit was packed in the morning with Singaporean tourists, but I had the whole circuit to myself in the afternoon!! :) Ah Liang korkor gave us access to the racer cars! Raced with Evi and Ah Liang korkor and played to my heart's content.

Initially I wanted to try the flying fox, but there was a greater bargain in store - I had my first experience of trying the obstacle course, all in mid air! Sua ku mah, didn't go OBS before. Half of the course links to the flying fox, so after a time of sweating it out I glided down towards the beautiful lake and admired the scenery on the way. It was such a pity that my camera battery went low on the last day, otherwise I would have brought my camera up to snap pictures from a bird's eye view!! The Go-kart is free because Ah Liang korkor is managing it. He paid a nominal fee for the obstacle course and flying fox since it was managed by a business partner. I'm really such a fortunate girl, didn't have to fork out a single cent for all the fun. Many thanks to Ah Liang korkor for accompanying me even though he was rather busy!

My only regret was that my camera was on low batt right on the last day when I could have taken loads of scenic photos. The memory card in Evi's camera was running out of space, so we had to make do with only a few pictures. The weather was so fine on Sunday that I wanted time to stay still. I don't know if I'll ever experience such a great weather the next time I'm there :(

More pictures will be up on fb! But fb is irritating me with the simple uploader function again. I can't seem to get to the usual page for photos upload. Catch me in person and I'll tell you more about the wonderful vacation! :)

i left my footprints (:
00:29Y