perperlu

Three quarters of the way to Cameron, the aircon stopped working. It was too far to turn back, but the long weekend had only just begun!

We only made it to the hotel at around 7, cleaned up and went to have dinner at Watercress Valley – the real reason why we would go there again, other than the cool climate. I don’t know why the drive seemed longer than the one we took last year when we drove on the average faster this time. Maybe it really is more challenging with less adult and more children.

Watercress Valley is this restaurant with its own vegetable farm on the hills. Last year when we were there, we could see the beautiful view from the restaurant. This time it was pitch black cause we were late. Still the steamboat was great and the boys were surprisingly cooperative even though it was past their dinner and bedtimes. Must be how “funny” (said Isaac) it was dining in the rain despite being under shelter. The clouds drifted in so it felt like rain.

We only stayed one night because there really isn’t much to do up there. I wished the drive wasn’t so long so we could go for the steamboat more often.

The next day, we were supposed to drive to KL. I was not looking forward to the drive because halfway downhill we’d be feeling hot again. The kids don’t hide their feelings and will definitely make a lot of noise when they get uncomfortable. So we prepared ourselve for a lot of crying. Except, we didn’t factor in getting lost and frustrated! We were driving around aimlessly for I think 2hrs? I spotted some car workshops and we randomly chose 1 to get our car checked. What was truly frustrating was that even though we spoke the same languages as the people there, we couldn’t get any help with proper directions! The road signs in Malaysia have a lot of room for improvement! And the stupid map we bought, was no help at all!! Which reminds me, we should get a GPS if we ever attempt another road trip.

Just as we thought it couldn’t possibly get any worse, it suddenly poured. We had to close the windows, it was humid inside, the windows started fogging up! We were on some highway and the traffic was pretty heavy too and we could hardly make out the road signs. My mind was really quite blank cause what was the point in fretting since it would also get us nowhere – pun so not intended.

Des had arranged to meet some of his relatives who lived in KL, so despite the very tiring drive, we all still managed to have a very nice dinner at KLCC. They insisted to drive us up to Genting the next day when we told them we had changed our minds to take a day trip there given our car troubles and just maybe just find some place to go to in town.

Hmm, these relatives we hadn’t met for ages were very hospitable. It actually didn’t feel awkward at all the day and a half we spent together. Maybe they weren’t as overbearing as some other people.

Up on Genting the next day was frighteningly crowded! The queue to take a monorail ride took 4 times the amount of time for the ride itself! The place was noisy and so disorganized! I seriously doubt I would ever go there again. Isaac was rather disappointed he couldn’t go on some of the rides because he didn’t meet the minimum height requirements. I was secretly glad cause that meant we didn’t have to join the queue.

I didn’t take much photos cause I didn’t want to block the way for people passing. I kept imagining a disease outbreak and we’d all die from a stampede should someone just start a panic.

But we stayed there for most of the day. Des’ aunt had disappeared into the casinos. I wonder if that was the real reason she insisted to take us up there, so she too could have some fun while her children “babysat” us. I must say Des’ cousins are really nice and patient for waiting so long for us while we were queuing for this and that. They really made navigating the place a lot easier for us. If it weren’t for them, I think we would have left without even taking a single ride.

That night, they took us to another really nice dinner. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was, very tired from being in the crowd. I suppose if we ever met them again, this won’t be the last time we dined there The kids slept soon after we got back, I couldn’t bear to keep them up for the New Years Day countdown. From our hotel, we could see the fireworks at KLCC. More than 10mins of very impressive fireworks!

We slept in the last day before the dreaded drive back home. Supposed to have headed home after checking out at noon, but decided to wait till later in the day hoping that it would be slightly cooler. We made it back home around 10 I think. Everyone survived *phew*. Didn’t really feel like a vacation, felt like an adventure getting lost and all. Felt almost unsatisfied, so that’s why we might be planning something else come Chinese New Year! What a great way to avoid the relatives! I still hate Chinese New Years.