Batam

I've never viewed Batam as an 'acceptable' holiday destination. I guess the preconceived perceptions of the place being a seedy rundown place frequented by old Singaporean ah peks to visit prostitutes in crummy hovels along with the occasional newspaper report of men maintaining mistresses there didn't help. Other than the fact that the best keropok (fried crackers) is to be found in Batam, Batam really didn't have much going for it. Or so I thought.

The past two days haven't been too bad though. Lots of eating, lazing around with cheap spa treatments and the daily swim. Batam's still filthy (though less so than Hanoi) and there's really not much to do besides eating and buying keropok (unless you like cheap t shirts). Then when you get tired, come back for a swim or pamper yourself at the spa. Prices are usually significantly cheaper than Singapore.



On the downside there's the occasional chance for bedbugs (horror of horrors), being accousted to sit 'taxi' (minor irritant though), the difficulty in communication 'Saya tidak bercakap Melayu' (more irritiating), blatant demands for tips (ok la guess that's the culture though) and did I mention bedbugs?? But ok all in all, it wasn't too bad at all. A good break. I'd say two nights is just nice.

I didn't buy keropok though. Sunning it before frying sounds like too much of a hassle lol.

Festivities & Holidays

So the festive season is upon us again, the time to make merry, enjoy the company of friends, lovers and family, blow a bunch of moola on merry making and gifts for friends & family. You can sense the festive mood, in the air you breathe, the glitzy kitsch of christmas-sy decor, the purposeful strut of shoppers thronging the malls, all intent on getting the best bargains & gifts.

Yet for yours truly, with each passing year the festive mood diminishes. I still partake in the festivities, merry making, money spending & gift shopping but the bright-eyed wonder and exuberant excitement just isn't there anymore. At most, a few fleeting sparks of excitement randomly surface closer to the actual date when the mood becomes almost infectious. The keyword being almost.

But I guess that's the price you pay for the loss of innocence and the inexorable onset of jadedness that inevitably accompanies knowledge. Though I guess it'd probably help somewhat if one's in love and has an other half to share one's life with. Singlehood has its pros and cons. Though there are times (like now) when you feel the cons more.

Festive seasons are often synonymous with holidays. This year has been no exception. Thanks to the highly enjoyable and relaxed work trip to Hanoi last week, almost the entire month of December will be spent out of the office. Of course with an upcoming trial the week after New Year, I'll pay for it when I return on the 29th but you know what they say, enjoy first, suffer later. Not the wisest principle to adhere to but a damn convenient one if I may say so.

It's a little hard to believe that just last week at this time, I was still at Hanoi Intercontinental Westlake, lazing at the pool with the ex PM on a cool and sunny afternoon. Now I'm surrounded by swathes of clothes, remnants of the shopping spree at Uniqlo and unpacked toiletries and electronics. A veritable mess, the typical scene of packing in progress, aelgtoer style. You would have thought with all that practice at packing last week, packing for Japan would have been a breeze. Unfortunately, any form of packing is a chore. I'm the kind who packs slow but unpacks really fast. Still have 6 more hours to pack though. Twiddles thumbs.

On an unrelated note, I'm glad I've finished the perfunctory Christmas shopping as well as the coming-of-age birthday present for JL. Feeling rather pleased and accomplished after completing the Deck a Quek project. Lol. Happy Birthday babe! I know you'll love the present. You better! hahaha

Packing.

I love going on trips. It's just the getting up which I hate. Or more specifically, packing. Just the act of cleaning that little mountain of clear bottles/jars and proportioning the necessary toiletries into the said thingamajigs is a fatigue inducing affair. You know how long it takes to wash those damn things, dry them and carefully portion out the 101 toiletries into them before packing it in? Long enough for fatigue to set in.

Don't get me wrong, I still love going on trips. And I'll still end up packing anyway even if it takes me all night to do so, usually cause I'm distracted by any other thing that doesn't relate to packing for the said trip. Finding old cds, downloading porn, on the phone with friends. You name it, I've done it. Well perhaps short of sex. Doubt I was ever distracted by sex while packing but that's mainly cause the opportunity doesn't present itself at 3am in the morning amid a pile of clothes, half of which you can't decide whether to fold, burn or pack.

But I digress. I love trips (in case you didn't know). I love trips which are sponsored even more. There is always something attractive about free stuff (and trips in particular) provided they don't come with too high a price (ie repulsive company which you wouldn't step out of bed for let alone go on a trip with). Work trips are perfectly fine (also depending on the company). I mean what's a bit of work if you get a nice all expenses paid trip (courtesy of client sans shopping of course) with good accommodation and expenses in return? Nothing seriously.

Besides given the rarity of such work trips given the composition of my work (you hardly ever go on any work trips while doing matri), such trips are a welcome change from office work. So I am actually looking forward to the work trip with the ex PM (pupilmast) in Hanoi from Wed to the weekend. That coupled with the saggi bros upcoming bash the following Wed and the Japan trip the following Sat means the next two weeks are jam packed with fun and the need to pack.

I never know what to pack seriously. And more often than not after I'm finally done packing, I always have this nagging feeling that I've forgotten something. Which usually turns out to be true. Not the important stuff of course, passport, money, keys all survive the check before you leave the house checklist. Usually it's random stuff like my shaver, cologne, toothbrush. Nothing that's irreplaceable, just a matter of the cost of replacing those items. Not to mention the annoyance factor.

So it was that I was lamenting to JL about the fatigue-inducing ills of packing over msn and offering her a sum if she'd pack for me. Imagine a neatly packed bag with everything you need without the hassle of worrying what goes in and what stays out. Sheer bliss. I was still on Step 2 of the Packing Toiletries routine which can be summed up as follows:

Packing Toiletries (aelgtoer style)

Step 1: Clean them bottles/jars/thingamajigs

Step 2: Dry the thingamajigs thoroughly. This means quite a few wads of tissue paper.

Step 3: Select necessary toiletries. Proportion sum. Pour into thingamajigs.

Step 4: Paste little neat labels stating the contents of whatever fluid/cream/etc are in that particular thingamajig on the correct thingamajig.

Step 5: Pack toiletries into toiletry bag.

Which was when JL said that I should learn about packing light from her. Good thing I was still at Step 2, else I would have bungled up the proportioning bit from all the laughing. To understand why, I've included a tiny excerpt of our conversation. :)

JL says (12:23 AM):

omgomgomgomgomg
eh pack light ah
hahahaha
must learn from me
HAHAHA OMG SUCH AN IRONY

Aelgtoer- fucking hates ironing...grumbles. says (12:25 AM):

haha u? pack light!

Aelgtoer- fucking hates ironing...grumbles. says (12:26 AM):

u who brought your entire bathroom for a one night stay!!!!
dies of laughter

JL; says (12:26 AM):

go and die la you!
WAH LAO

Yes so if you want an expert in packing your entire house for one trip I'd recommend JL :) Proportioning toiletries into little bottles is so passe and inconvenient when you can just bring the jumbo pack of shampoo/face wash/moisturizer (insert desired toiletry) along. Hahahaha. Nvm stilllll love my crrrazzzy gf anyway. hahaha

Which reminds me. I'm still at Step 2 of the Packing Toiletries Routine. Omfg.

Excuse me while I blast some Pink. I'm not here for your entertainment, you don't really want to mess with me tonight! Not when I'm packing. Hahaha.

U + Ur Hand - Pink

Getaway

The weekend getaway was one which Sean and I had been looking forward to. Given our rather tight financial budget and the fact that we weren't free to take Monday off, we settled for a weekend stay at a budget hotel close to town. Which on hindsight wasn't really a budget hotel after all.

I suppose what made the room more interesting was the personal open-air courtyard attached to the room, complete with an outdoor rain shower. Which as you can see from the picture, we quickly put to good use.

We enjoyed the sun, attempted to sun tan, got horny and had sex with the shower on instead. Showered, then had sex again. There is something deliciously naughty about fucking in the sun, with the knowledge that you're so damn close to town, the iconic towering Swissotel Stamford visible over the wall against an azure blue sky.

The darkened glass sliding doors served as mirrors, reflecting the courtyard on that sunny afternoon and adding an almost pornographic feel to that atmosphere. Which of course just made us hornier. Like Sean commented, this hotel really knows what its customers want. Ha ha. The fact that the courtyard was directly opposite the other room's courtyard (which meant if you peeped over the wall, you would be looking into the other courtyard) wasn't a hindrance cause like we joked, if there were people staying next door and they came out at the same time as us and with the same intention, we'd have a competition. And you can be sure it won't be Karaoke.

The getaway naturally entailed a lot of sex. We fucked in the sun, fucked under the shower, on the bed; we would have in the toilet if not for the fact that it consisted of a space measuring no more than 1 meter by 1 meter. Which basically meant there's barely enough space for two standing adults, let alone two sweaty adults in various acrobatic positions.

Of course sex wasn't the only thing we did. There is only so many times one can go a day. The days of the Energizer Bunny are, for better or worse, gone. Which was where the pigging out and clubbing bit came in. The food we had was good, from the expensive but splendid spread at Town restaurant at Fullerton to the Yu Kee Kway Chap just a couple of streets away from the hotel. If there's one thing other than sex that Sean and I can agree on wholeheartedly, it's good food.

Clubbing at Play (having taken over the erstwhile Happy) proved to be an utter bore. I think I've probably clubbed so hard and blown so much on drinks previously that I've kinda passed that phase. Don't get me wrong. Clubbing once in a while is still fine and dandy. The last one at St James a few months ago wasn't too bad.

The crowd was there, your usual mix of youngsters, macho Marys, fag hags, a few straight couples, couple of queens and the boy-next-door gang. It's just that the music at Play was really Blah. I only recognised one Celine Dion song and the Big Girls don't cry hit by Fergie. About the only entertainment that night was provided by a youngster no more than nineteen years old who had a bit too much to drink. Swaying precariously like a reed in the wind, he brushed aside his friend who was trying to drag him off the floor, jumped on the stage and proceeded to dance like a drugged whore. Which I think he excelled in, with him ripping off his shirt and proceeding to lick another guy on the face. Mmm..slut.

Don't think I'll be clubbing anytime soon. Anyhow, the Getaway was nice albeit too short, I hope to get a decent short getaway out of the country during the call break if possible. But still any time spent with Sean is always time well spent and enjoyable to boot. So I return, my ass a little sore but sated and hopefully recharged for the remainder of the PLC course.

Broke Back

I'm Broke but I'm Back. Pun fully intended. Despite being without internet access for 5 days, the past few days spent with the Boyfriend was really relaxing and enjoyable. On top of the company, it was probably the only holiday so far whereby sex, shopping and eating was perfectly balanced out with just enough of everything. Plus the relaxed pace also meant we slept in till eleven plus /noon, got out just in time for lunch, a little shopping and exploring followed by either a coffee, then dinner, a little more walking and back to the hotel room. Naturally, a lot of brokebacking was in order too.

Nothing like those 10am-10pm shopping (imposed) marathons that always characterises a family trip to Malaysia / KL where one is made to walk the malls whether one wanted to or not and meals inevitably consisted of food court food 95% of the time which is farking boring ok. Come to Malaysia to eat food court food... So this time I planned our iteniary in advance, which really was a short list of where to go for the day and more importantly what to eat there. And because our mentality for shopping and eating is quite similar, Sean was more than happy to just tag along, though we did argue a bit over the best mode of transport to getting to Chinatown.

As expected, there really is a lot of good food in KL. You just need to know where to go to find it and the places we tried mostly lived up to expectations if not surpassing it. Except for lunch at the excellent Madam Kwan's and a mediocre dinner at some Jap restaurant, all our meals came out to less than RM 55 for two people. Which would probably make the miserly shopping bargain hunters scream. But like I said it's reasonable and I certainly didn't come to KL just to shop, food was a pretty big factor.

Travelling was done almost exclusively via the train/monorail system which was really convenient and cheap considering how close Corus Hotel was to the KLCC station and the fact that all the places we wanted to go to were acessible via the rail network, Bukit bintang, Mid Valley, Chinatown, etc. Money saved that we spent on food, shopping and lube. We bought three tubes... the first two were.. how shall I put it.. not very satisfactory. Especially the 'Pleasure inducing Tingling Sensation' durex one. Not good unless you like the feeling of having your ass on fire.

And we made good use of the hotel room though I kinda pity the housekeeping people who come to clean our room every day. It's pretty much a slum by the time we're done with it, wrappers on the floor, the sheets on the floor, our video & audio cables still attached to the TV. Still not too over the top though. Our 1pm-8pm schedule often meant we were back in the hotel before nine, often armed with cut fruits and a 1.5l mineral water bottle and the occasional supper. We both brought our respective lap tops and Sean got pretty hooked on Generals: Zero Hour.

So he'd sit there and play it on my laptop while I'd watch Bleach from the portable HDD I brought on his laptop which I hooked up to the hotel TV and this would usually go on to about 2 am when we'd call it a night. And in this way I finished about 53 episodes of Bleach over the entire trip that included the very comfortable aeroline bus journeys. Plus I finally got my Scissor Sisters 'Tadah' cd at Towers for 29.90 RM, a tad cheaper than Singapore.

So all in all I'd say this trip was a really pleasant one, not forgetting the fact that it was our 'honeymoon' of sorts, 5 years too late, well certainly our first out of Singapore. I'll probably come up with a short list of the nice places we ate at soon. So many things to do first though. Unpack, do the laundry, jumpstart my yaoi manga translation for the scanlation groups and finish the other 54 episodes of the Bleach anime!!!!! Wahahahahahaha.

Right, now I'll go take a shower.