a week in malaysia

-day 1 tues
had spent the night before packing and finishing up camp stuff
the houeshold woke up at abt 7
when to pick up my grandparents' and aunt's family's bags
ate wantan mee for breakfast at a nearby coffeeshop
headed home for another hour of packing
left home with a boot filled to the brim

reached church
my dad needed to enlarge something for the camp
plus we needed to collect the nametags and camp booklets to bring up
so our car got even heavier
aunty siew kheng prayed for us
and we finally left for malaysia at 10

made 2 stops along the highway
one at yong peng cos my dad claims he knows the place after the recce
and at ayer keroh for the usual AnW food
reached our hotel at 330
checked in and met the sales director of the hotel
we got pretty good service - i was sufficiently impressed throughout the camp
my parents had a free upgrade to a 1 room suite while the 3 of us shared a normal room
visited 1 function room we were going to use
slacked while my dad met that sales director to discuss things

left for a nearby shopping centre at abt 5 plus
we needed to buy tea time items - instant drinks and biscuits
we actually picked out nearly everything at a cold storage
but my dad thought they were too ex so we left everything there..
and trooped down to another mall across the street
well..it was lower class so things were obviously cheaper
we filled the trolley with what we thought was enough
and it was ALOT

returned to the hotel for dinner
cos of some arrangement we had a complimentary buffet dinner
food was pretty good
met the travel agent L who was there to help with the camp
played some cards before sleeping

-day 2 weds
had breakfast at the same place as dinner
back to hotel room for the 3 of us to pack and shift to my parents' room
did random camp stuff throughout the morning
dad and L were doing rooming stuff

we went out for a quick kfc lunch
dad got a call that the youth coach was arrving soon
yikes the camp was finally starting
after all the last minute drama and extra dose of God's grace

cars started arriving at abt 2 plus
and the coaches began to reach and the mess started
the lobby was filled with lots of people and bags
a long quene was formed by those waiting for their rooms
but some rooms were not ready yet!
brought my grandparents and cousins and aunt to my parents room
the kids had a lot of fun playing in the room
much to the dismay of their mom
returned to the lobby and was tasked to move all the youth up to the main hall
like some great exodus like that..with bags of lugguage no less
in the midst of everything
apparently L made a huge mistake with the rooming

camp programme started officially at 5
had mini group games
and cos this was a combined camp among the 3 congregations..
with alot of old people things were generally slower and tamer

had dinner which ws typical hotel food for church camps
got my room - shared with huili
we stayed on the exclusive ladies floor that the hotel had
only 4 rooms were taken by us
and only the youths could be given the rooms cos we were gender divided
the rest were mostly families which well..had fathers and boys

dad and L were majorly stressed over sorting out the rooming
my dad was really pissed of at the matter
but in the end i think the affected people were really nice abt it
and the fact that the hotel had a lot of one room suites helped

theme talk by uncle yeow kwang
he puts in so much effort into everything
really a guy i respect alot
back to room and bathe
huili had a bad luguage problem
her bag reset the password on its own so she couldnt open her bag
huili and i then went to jiamin and cheryl's room to play bridge
jem came to the rescue and solved the bag problem
we actually brought her bag down to their room
left at 1230 i think
slept abt 1 like that

-day 3 thurs
basic morning stuff - breakfast and combined worship session
some of my relatives came for the camp too had to make sure i "called" everyone
had theme talk 2
and after lunch it was free and easy:)

we took soooo long to decide where to go
cos there were abt 8 of us and so had different suggestions
in the end we managed to decide on midvalley megamall
cos it isnt too far away nor too small
L managed to arrange for the hotel van to send us there
for a fee of cos but it was convenient
abt 13 of us squeezed into there i think

reached and it was shopping time:)
gotten quite familiar with the mall having visited it twice last year
so wasnt as fun shopping there this time
plus i couldnt find anything nice and reasonably priced to buy
even the factory outlet was disappointing
we came up with a new disease - "eliza disease" characterised by lots of eating
some went for a movie cos it was really cheap by spore's standards
we even went goccery shopping for snacks and erm..milk for someone
re-met up[shopping bunch and movie bunch] for dinner
at a tepanyaki place which i thought esther was have refused actually
some of us bought pretzels to bring back and nearly missed the bus
we were running across the basement of the mall..all the drama..
and turned out..the van made another round while waiting for us

bs with jem that night
a few of us - did 2 tim
and it was interesting and insightful
we spent like 2 and a half hours on 2 chapters!

-day 4 fri
morning programme was the same as thurs
had group time after lunch to plan for the "show time" in the evening
im amazed at how corny people can get
and my team was discussing in like chinese most of the time
cos there were alot of old folks from the chinese/foochow services
they were really sporting and we youths were the "im supposed to act THAT!!"

had a little free time
did our "ball" in seth's room and realised my aunt's room was next to his
so went over and played with my cousins
brought them up to my room - they are all ladies
they finished my kettle chips in like 5 mins!
they had fun with the view from my room cos it was on the 17th floor
cheap thrill but hey they are kids what
passed seth my "sister" shirt for the skit later

went but down for indoor games
played a couple of games and i was only worth 20 cents in one of them

dinner cum show time
was okkkk lah although the hotel prepared the ballroom nicely
with layed out cutlery and cloth napkins
the kids SU performances were the best
and my cousins were really cute:)
esp the 4 year old one who could fix her lightstick when it disconnected
and on stage..in the dark..

more bs at night with glori joining
i didnt feel like hanging out with the other youths
so ended up talking to jem in his room till 4
and half way his room had a pwer trip at like 2 in the morning
the poor technicians had to come up to solve the problem for us

i wanted to return to my ladies only room at 4
went up..got past the glass doors with the special card
openned my room door with the card-key
and realised that huili had used the safety catch!
i was stuck outside my room at 4 in the morning
dragged myself back to jem's room to his surprise
tried using the phone to call and wake her up
but it didnt work..
called esther in the youth gathering and arranged to get her card to sleep in her room
but i decided and pulled jem my bodygaurd along to try my room again
left jem in the lift lobby and opened my room door the max allowed again
me: *calling through the crack" Huili!!
her: *sleepy voice" huhhhhh...
me: you locked me out!!
her: oh sorry sorry..*came to rescue me with a super sleepy but quite cute look
i ran out to tell jem i got in already

-day 5 sat
still woke up at 730
had a combined feedback session which many of the youths skipped
it was basically appreciation and stuff and thanking God
checked out after that
lugged my huge bag down and loaded into my dad's car
after my dad ensured all 6 coaches had everyone
we packed into our car and headed for the seafood place for lunch
food was like that lor..was kinda glad when everything was over
and we headed off for berjaya times square for our family break

reached times square at abt 245 i think
went to check in after circling the carpark looking for a lot
met a formor church member
and i then made the discovery that sam's church camp was in the same place!
got out room and we went up
our 2 room suite was basically 2 different units that they connected together
through a common "foyer area" behind the main door
hope you get it
my bro and i changed up to go swimming but we went down it was raining a little
so the pool was closed
after waiting for abt 15 mins for the rain to clear
the pool guy told us that the clouds were still too dark

so we went back and proceeded to fall asleep like the rest of our family
i woke up at abt 530 and decided to reread 2 tim that we did for bs
ended up doing some Silence and Solitude while staring out of the window
it was quite nice..the quiet and the praying and staring at the view
did it till abt 630 when my mom woke up and was appalled that it was so late

it was still raining so we couldnt walk out to eat
we refused the food court there cos we had pior experience
ended up at kenny rogers' with was not as good as spore's
shopped a little
visited the cold storage there and bought alot of water
cos we thought the water from the kitchen's tap was a little dodgey
turned out it was the kettle's fault
and for the record we called housekeeping 4 times cos of kettle problems
and changed like 3 kettles i think
plus our hairdryer wasnt working too
and you thought it was supposed to be a good hotel

-day 6 tues
we had only 1 agenda for the day - conquer 1 utama another megamall
well..the parents and brother did..esther and i covered less than half
its sprawling and huge
my brother did the most shopping with reebok jacket and tee
esther and i each bought formal tops from elle
and my dad..he bought durians..

we wanted to look for a place where eating durians would be ok for lunch
but decided on a father's day treat for my dad
ended up at a hongkong food place
quite similar to its distant cousin in spore which i have tried
and i love the "ying-yong" [tea+coffee] drink
the lunch was really yummy:)

after that everyone went out for the mall for their durian fix
i ate a teeny bite cos i had earlier dared my dad to try something
i dun like durians..
but they really enjoy it
back for more shopping which actually is just trying clothes
left at abt 350 cos thats when the super cheap parking ends

back to our hotel
dad and siblings went to bowl
but i didnt feel like doing it so just walked around with my mom
the bowling alley is really high-tech and stuff

we walked out to a local coffeeshop for dinner
we ate there the previous time and found the food quite nice
but we forgot how ex the food was
my parents are sure that cos they know we aren't local
went to the next door shop for some deserts before heading back

-day 7 monday
finally my bro and i went swimming
at like 9 plus in the morning so the water was super cold
i took like 5 mins to slowly immersed myself in the water
we swam and played in the water till i got seriously high
till abt 1030 before going back to bathe and pack up
checked out and i tried loking for sam but couldnt find her
plus she didnt reply her smses

started the drive back at abt 1145
highway lunch at AnW again
reached spore before 5
unpacked and cleaned up the whole house


this took so much time. plus blogger wasnt really cooperative with saving my drafts properly. it was a good trip although rather tiring. i think the church camp was truely possible only because of God who was sovereign over the whole matter. thank God my dad and my family survived the stress.