will i am's delayed diary

With not much planned for the day, we had a leisurely breakfast buffet at the hotel, and later did some exploring of the grounds. One could really wear a tuxedo with pin tails, pair it with a top hat and walking stick, and not look out of place at The Majapahit. But then, you could be mistaken for a poltergeist. My favourite spot is the Cafe 1910 with its grand stained glass windows, and antique furnishing. Too bad we didn't have time for the pool.  Later in the morning, we took a Grab to Masjid Cheng Hoo , a Chinese-Muslim mosque that looks like a Taoist temple with its red Pagoda-like design. Its namesake is Admiral Cheng Ho, who had traveled to the  Malay Archipelago to trade and spread Islam. The mosque is actually pretty small and located behind a basketball court ( many Chinese temples in villages also have a basketball court ), so we were quite baffled when the Grab driver told us that we had arrived. Finished looking around in less than 30 minutes, and we were off to Raja T

Remember my cancelled trip to Danang due to well-timed cyclone? To make up for that, KH arranged a trip to Surabaya at the end of November. The itinerary included waterfalls, and volcanoes. Nothing too strenuous he assured me. The night before our departure, KH notified me of some bad news. Surely it wasn't another cyclone! Batik Air had chopped our direct flight to Surabaya into a transit at Jakarta! Because of that, our arrival would be late, making our schedule a little more hectic. The check-in queue at the airport wasn't too bad. And there was small consolation of a check-in cutie in my line of sight. Tall Thai boy from the looks of it. Pretty good leg room on the Batik Air flight, and we were given a cheese bun, and a muffin. At 4PM+7, we landed at Terminal 3 of Soekarno Hatta International Airport. Thinking back, it was 19 years since my last visit, and that terminal didn't exist back then. Pretty large and empty, and for some reason the airport authority has a th

Once inter-state travel was allowed, we made a trip to Teluk Intan on the weekend of All Soul's Day. KH hitched a ride but it was kind of a mistake because I miscalculated how many people could fit comfortably into my BIL's Serena. So it was kind of a squeeze for a couple of hours since my nephews are now the opposite of scrawny. Our routine is always to have breakfast at the food stalls at Lorong Maharani, and then hop over to the wet market for flowers. Sad that we couldn't find anyone selling Liew Kee CCF. This year, I had Little Monster recite the rosary at dad's grave. He nearly made it through the whole decade before he started to complain. Made a short stop at St. Anthony's Church too. The construction of the community center was finally completed. Before leaving Teluk Intan, we raided Sin Joo Heong for some heong peah and kaya puffs.   Our next destination was Ipoh. Stopped by at Asow Eatery Station for lunch. The cafe is actually located beside a large pla

Suddenly Singapore. That's the only way I can describe my day ( work ) trip to Singapore. Management suddenly wanted someone to standby in case there were questions about our cloud architecture. At T1 arrival hall, I had the opportunity to take a quick look at Jewel, and it's famous Rain Vortex, the artificial giant toilet in perpetual flush. Hehe. We arrived in the city a little before lunch, with enough time the for a quick bite. I chose the lei cha at Lau Pa Sat ( forgot to bring my Kopitiam card ). Unfortunately, the kopi quality had sunk very low. The presentation was at an office building nearby. Very modern with a cafe-like eating area for their staff. The whole meeting went without a hitch, and I didn't even really need to open my mouth. Money well-spent. With no work engagements left, I left for the airport really early to meet Tater. He looked great and refreshed. He treated me to a vanilla fig latte and a banana chocolate cake at Starbucks. It was gr

Started our day with breakfast, then morning mass at the hotel function room. Then it was off to Amman Citadel located on Jabal al Qal'a, one of the seven hills that make up the old city. It provides an amazing vista of the city where houses cover the hilly terrain like white moss. Sami says that there is a law, that states that buildings in the area must be constructed from white stone or painted white. From up there, we also got a great view of the Roman Theater , a landmark from the 2nd century. Historically, Amman Citadel was occupied by several great civilizations. The Romans left the ruins of the Temple of Hercules . There's also Byzantine ruins, and an Umayyad Palace . Next was a visit to CityMall for some shopping, but the mall was pretty dead. It was 10 am, but no shops were open with the exception of Carrefour. We spent most of our time raiding Bzuriyeh, a shop that sold premium dried fruits, nuts, and spices. Bought more Medjoul, figs, and macadamia. We

Morning mass was celebrated in the hotel function room. Then we set out to Petra . Halfway there we had a toilet stop at a souvenir shop that sold really pretty trinkets, intricate mosaics, and furniture. Then we had a short visit at Wadi Musa , purportedly where Moses struck a stone with his staff and water gushed forth for the thirsty Israelites. The spring was enclosed in a small building, and it was extremely cool inside. Locals come to take water from it. Not too sure about the cleanliness though... I spotted rubbish in the spring. Our lunch stop was at Silk Road Hotel where we had typical Middle Eastern fare with flatbread. From there we headed out to Petra Visitors Centre on foot. Our priest and several who were unfit, stayed back at the hotel. When we arrived at Petra Visitors Centre, the sun was shining brightly. We patiently waited for Sami to settle our tickets which were at USD50 a pop. Petra is actually a large archaeological park, but we only had time t

Sherry bid us farewell at the Allenby / King Hussein Bridge border crossing. As I had the best grasp of English, I got off the bus to answer some standard questions. A hunky Israeli soldier in aviator glasses asked : - Do you have a weapon? - Did you notice anyone else carrying a weapon? - Did anyone ask you to bring anything into Jordan? Wouldn't mind him performing a body search and disarming my 'weapon'. The immigration process between Israel and Jordan was much simpler compared to when we came in from Egypt. Our passports were bulk processed by Jordan immigration, and we didn't even need to offload our luggage. When we got back our passports, it wasn't stamped. All it had was a small barcode on the signature page. In Jordan, we got another Mandarin-speaking guide who went by the name Sami. He worked in China for more than a decade and married a Chinese woman who happens to be a practicing Orthodox Christian. All of us were surprised that his wife didn&