Went on a 2 day 1 night trip to Malacca with 9 other girls (Powerpuff girls, colleagues, ex-colleagues) as part of our farewell present to Angela and what a great trip it was. We stayed in a fantastic hotel right smack where the Saturday night pasar malam was and walking distance to the sights and great food. Our hotel was Hotel Puri, which was converted from some rich businessman's mansion from early 19th century. The facade was really classical and I love the old tiles, furniture and decor which was left mostly unchanged. The rooms themselves were comfortable and looked newly renovated. One of the room, which was a family room, was big enough for all 10 of us if we wanted to squeeze in together!
Fei was a whiz at organizing the trip from the bus tics, to accommodation and food choices. We tried the famous chicken rice balls, chendol, nonya laska, mee siam, nonya chicken wings, Portuguese devil's curry and other various scrumptious food. And everything was really cheap too! Though the weather was hot, we walked around quite a bit and i spent all my money on buying funny orangutan tshirts for myself and wilk, eating and alcohol on saturday night. I also exhausted both my camera batteries taking snapshots of various sights and people. The unfortunately thing was that while doing so i also accidentally dropped wilk's spare SD storage card which i did not noticed was in the camera bag (sorry!!). Hopefully no compromising pictures inside... well, with me and wilk, sometimes its hard to say (haha).
Anyway, good trip for all, great to catch up with WF and Zic and even MH ended up much more well-rested than her weekend at home. More poignant was that this would probably be the last trip (for a long while) for all the Powerpuff girls to take together before going our separate ways in the coming months. We laughed at how "lao er" was the first to go instead of this "lao da" here. And how even "lao yao" will also be leaving at the end of the year after "lao san". Seems funny at first but its really just the start of a series of goodbyes.
Saw everyone enjoying themselves and each other's company was nice. I think Angela was also touched and happy to have sometime to spend with the girls before she go. Can't say i did very much, cos' in situations like this, i am more often standing on the sidelines than jumping in the thick of action. Guess "lao da" is quite a boring person and has poor group skills. Hahaha. But i am very contented to look at everyone and watch what's happening quietly because it's difficult to shake off the fact that this is a 'goodbye'. Not just for Angela, but in some ways, also for myself. So I am just attempting to imprint people as they are, the way they talk, play, have fun and be themselves with my camera. It also gives me time to think about what these girls mean to me and who they really are as a person because sometimes when you are right in the midst of the action, you will hardly have time to do so.
Some of the things i found out and love them for:
If there were to be any more trips like this, always room LS & Kat together because they are both crazy, passion-filled, nutty girls that are just light up places with their internal sunshine. LS love taking photos just slightly more than posing for them while Kat love posing for photos just slightly more than taking them. In some ways LS is alot like me when i am channelling my sunshine bear from within. Her forwardness and candid look at life speaks volumes about her personality. In a lot of ways both Kat & LS are alike in both their outlook and their inherent optimism which can be really contagious (even lethal when they are together) if natural pessimistic folks are not careful. Both are not prone to show much signs of sadness to others but seems to have an unusual ability to see the best (or funny) side to any bad situation. Of course Kat is a little bit more of the shopping queen (great bargainer) & dress-up gal but just give LS abit more time and encouragement, i am sure there will be a day she will surprise up in that dept once she start to feel more comfortable with herself & more confident with a more feminine image.
Regardless of her sometimes quiet & aloof exterior, zic is just as girly and chatty as PS, which makes them great roomies because they share more things in common than they realized such as multiple-steps facial routines, the simultaneous neglect in bringing toothpaste and shopping. Perhaps the most amazing thing to me (but its really an utterly simple thing) was the fact that zic washes all her clothes by hand despite looking very much like a girl being waited-upon from hand to foot at home. And when she said it, it was with an easy smile and absolute candor that for some reasons pretty much floored me completely.
It is really hard to find anyone nicer than PS in the whole world so it is not surprising that there isn't much more nice things i can observed about this dear girl in this trip which i have not seen or said before. She was always cheerful and sweet, even when shopping for gifts, i wonder how much she has spent on others instead of herself. Of course there are times when i couldn't help but laugh about her confession of being clueless with directions (that was after we half worried that the reason of her, kat and zic being late was that she was lost), her genuine excitement when she spoke about talking to her roomie comparing facial products and finding her and zic eating the same type of ice cream together while buying things, like two peas in a pod.
Fi has a serious and mature side of her in managing her own life, not often seen in causal interactions. Yes, at times she can be abit grouchy (like me) but its funny to see how she takes the place of being the 'grown-up', rolling her eyes at the antics of the young ones, just as soon as she participates in them in the next minute. Guess that chirpy bouncy persona of hers, at times settles into a mature, firm young lady, with great sardonic wit. But most of all, to me, she will always be that funny humming girl with a penchant for white doggies (esp smiley ones).
WF looks so much more serious than she really is and understood rude jokes despite her rather prim & proper look. She is always smiling and steadfast in her conviction to do her part in saving our environment, talking the talk and walking the walk. Just being around her, a living example, constantly makes me think twice about using more plastic bag or turning on the aircon and doing my bit too. Ah, and she can drink as much as she said she can and sleeps in in the morning.
Fei isn't much different in how she handles work or relationships, in her attitude and organizational abilities. She treats everyone fairly and as independent adult, asking nothing more than being treated the same way. Being a roomie has one great advantage, no beating about the bush or having to feel like needing to bend oneself backward on either parties to accommodate each other. One thing though, she is definitely one who will be very house-proud and makes a damn good hostess. One of the most independent and emotionally confident person i've ever knew.
MH... is the least like anyone i know and the exact opposite of fei. I saw how she tries her best to be part of a group that is obviously quite alien to her and there's a little bit of the simplicity and guilelessness in MH that is both innocent and rare. It would be much easier to think of her as silly and easily taken advantage of but really, she is only trying her best to be what she thinks makes a good wife and Christian. It's strangely enduring the way she indulged in her little 'follies' like cuttlefish away from her hubby but it just bellies a greater problem of how much she can be subjected to being bullied if she does not start to understand her own worth. It will be too cruel to say that she ought to be pitied now that i saw her away from her "M" and know her a little bit more. All i can say is, i am just more worried.
As for Angela... I doubt there are any more things one does not know after working closely together for the past 6 years and being good friends for most of those years. The trip is really more for her to know the others and saying goodbye to them in her way than saying goodbye to me. Frankly, a lot of things can be understood without being spoken and like me, while we will complain like hell when we are angry, its unusual to see either of us share about sadness (even to each other) vocally. I guess we respect each other's way of coping with changes and life but its not without understanding where each other is coming from for the fear of being misunderstood. Besides, making farewell too touchy and weepy will just make Angela uncomfortable and who knows.. draw tears which i am sure she will loathe to show in public. :) Its better to go with a laugh than feeling like a million emotions are holding you back.
Will put the photos up soon. Wished that wilk's mac didn't die cos' he is really good at sorting out photos, editing them and posting up on flickr. Oh well...
