The Wind Blows

Honestly, the Port Dickson trip was like the Yin of the Malacca one. While the impromptu rendezvous with my conquistadors to the latter was all sun and the open-air and subjecting our senses to what the ancient city (the tiny circumference we visited) had in stored, our end-of-semester getaway in Port Dickson was the mirroring Yang of it. Saved for the presence of a merry though aberrant company on either trip, our supposedly 3 heavenly days of beach and water, both salt- and chlorine-infested, were ruined by the irregular gushes of rain, flashes of lightning and peels of thunder. Not to mention the lack of good food within walking distance.

So, there we were, the 9 of us cooped up in the under-maintained and dust-coated 2-and-a-half-room apartment like trapped animals. Partially because we were condemned to by the accursed weather, partially because we luxuriated in doing so, just laying back and relishing the sense of weightlessness and detachment, the precious gift of a semester break. It felt refreshing somehow, waking up to a clean slate of an agenda and not needing to fuss about locations to sight-see or ways to get there for the rest of the day. Our moods dictated our actions.

Day 1

The journey down south reminded me of the song 'We Can Go Anywhere' by Jesse McCartney, then again it has always been the soundtrack when I'm travelling.

Slow down, things have been a little crazy

Right now it's time to get away

You can find out what it is you're really after

Time is on our side

Come on, we're leaving everything behind

You know that sun is shinning

We'll keep driving, doesn't matter where

'Cause we got that open highway leading out way

As long as you are there, yeah, we can go anywhere

Ohh, we can go anywhere, oh, yeah

The bubbling excitement, the overwhelming anticipation, the barely-contained hullabaloo, the high spirits. Which probably explains the horrifying experience of witnessing firsthand Karen cutting across the road in an insane manner and stopping squarely in front of a police officer to wait for the 2 other cars to catch up. Utterly shocking. Everyone freaked out, even that policeman. Karen adamantly claimed, and still so, that she failed to notice his presence till Seong Seong yelled at her and frantic calls from the rest of us started pouring in. LoL.

Self-checked-in at the Glory Beach Resort around 1pm...to a dust-bunnies inhabited apartment. Even the floors and other available surfaces were sprinkled with a blackish-grey layer of filth. Ugh. Damn potong steam. Attempted to hire a cleaning lady or staff to do the job. Pah. No such luck. They didn't even consider our 30 bucks bribe. For once, I wished they were corrupted.

And so, the 9 UCSI Contemporary Music Degree students were degraded to sweeping and scrubbing the floors (literally in fact, most of them got down on their knees and 'mopped' the old fashion way using wet rags) as well as washing and sterilising the toilets. Imagine our disgusted faces. But we made it in good time.

We became potato coaches for what was left of the afternoon. Watched some Chinese/Cantonese drama series, during which I rolled my eyes in annoyance so many times that my eyeballs could have gotten jammed to the insides of my head. I would rather be haunted by Hannah Montana and her cahoots anytime than puking all over myself watching any of those drama series. Their acting...*Shudders*

Anyway, BBQ was a failure. Big time. Each time the tiniest of a flame flare up, rain pelted down and we had to shift everything to the nearest shelter, which was more than 20 paces away. Then, the short heavy shower would pass and leave all in its path awashed. And Hueyuen would scuttle out to rekindle the fire while we schlepped the stuff back to the wooden bench. Barely 10 minutes later, rain would strike again. On its final round, the torrent of rain just refused to quit, so we simply squatted to curl ourselves up or paced about, all to ensure we would not ice over. When we could no longer stand the cold, we ran helter-skelter through a labyrinth of corridors that joined one block to another, squealing as we plunged into muddy puddles and giggling from the adrenaline rush and, at the same time, avoiding the onslaught of stray rain droplets. It was wickedly blood-pumping.

Our make-shift BBQ pit

It looks as if they were competing to ignite the fire

Kevin and Seong Seong

While we were seeking shelter from the rain.... Wanna see what was Jia Wen eating?

Honey on a slice of cucumber! Kevin's invention. So don't blame me if you're curious enough to experiment and it tastes weird.

We wound down after that, by lazing about and gossiping. Our human radios/TVs were functioning pretty well that night, don't you guys agree?

Day 2

Can you guess which was ours and which was the seniors'?

The leftovers from the previous night + breakfast

Flew a kite with a little help from Yvonne and the strong gust of wind. Seong Seong managed the other kite. The others were bent on burying Andrew in the sand, then proceeded to draw him a seductive 2D body, of which my camera was used to take a couple of photos but they would remain discreet till the subject grants permission.

Andrew, Karen and Hueyuen. Ha. Talk about digging his own grave.

Emo...


Seong Seong, Yvonne and me

Let me show you a magic trick...

+

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...albeit a disturbing one.

After cracking up over watching Andrew clawed and hauled himself out from beneath the sand, we went for a cool dip in the pool. We even had a game of 'monkey' and since none of us brought a float ball, we improvised by using goggles. Not before long, people starting staring at us, even the 3 bald sun-bathing Caucasians seemed highly amused, especially when we fought to get hold of the goggles.

Too bad it had to rain, though some gleefully took it as a cue to have lunch. And of all things, we (me, Jia Wen, Andrew, Kevin) ate KFC. The seniors had Cheesy Burgers, me thinks.

The best is always saved for the last. In this particular case, to me, was that night. Played Mafia for the first time, at least abiding a different set of rules. But it wasn't until the punishment that the game went uphill on the thrill scale. Andrew had to spell Mississippi in the air with his butt. I had to do the Banana Dance. Hueyuen was squashed by us on her back, a burden which she took gracefully...till I tickled the soles of her feet. Seong Seong and Karen struck a sexy and cheerleading pose respectively. Yvonne did the kawaii/la-la faces for the numbers 1 to 10. Jie Ying's punishment had yet to be carried out.

We could all now view our seniors in a new light. A positive one, I assure you.

Day 3

Had another round of cleaning up before closing the door to the apartment as well as, to yet another semester break. It was as if with every mile we drove, the grip of what lay ahead in Degree 2 tightened. Assignments were the oncoming storms, Jury 1 the ultimate hurricane. *Sighs in resignation* Adios, semester break.

Would you catch me if I fall?