I feel i've been guilty of negative knee-jerk responses....like when ppl invite me to sth, i say 'no'; when someone says i like you, i say 'no'; when someone asks do you want sth, i say 'no'; when answering how are things gg, i say 'fine'; when someone ask me how is your trip...i say it's 'ok', when actually i cld've said 'it was great'.
Then afterwards i'd grimace inwardly, wishing i'd said more or "yes please"...
My first response to "how was the trip?" was "it was not bad but i wished we cld've seen more if not for the rain". I was reflecting on my weekend trip to Ipoh and Cameron when i realised that the truth of the matter is that it didn't take me long to list some things that were worth remembering. Amongst all the griping on what we didn't do, there were events that shone through (at least for me) and these ought to be retained.
For this trip, what was most important for me was the cultural exchange. Ipoh wasn't very much different from Spore in terms of architecture landscape but it was different in its people. I found it really exciting to be part of a whole Cantonese-speaking population. And they were not like the unfriendly Hongkongers i met in HK. The generousity extended was sincere. I enjoyed ordering food in Cantonese, listening to the stall vendors speak Cantonese, learning Cantonese with JL from Cat and LY etc. When we were in the Dianxin restaurant, an old lady held my arm and said sth to me in Cantonese when we left the table and i smiled bk....(which coincidentally reminds me of the Language of the Universe from The Alchemist which I'm reading now). Many thanks to LY and his family who also GENEROUSLY hosted us.
I remember how the fruit seller who supplied us with so much free fruits that I ate the most the nx morning, and the sweet corn that we had to lug back to Spore and which is still in my fridge. I remember the vendor selling honey who was generous with his compliments and with his honeycombs samples. I remember how some friends from Cameron drove down to help jumpstart our engine when our car broke down midway bk to Ipoh. Thank you lots!
When we were in Ipoh, we got to taste white coffee and I got to stock up on sweets and mashmallows :) We also got to visit the temples in the hills where we fed the tortises kangkong and the columbarium. When we drove up to Cameron it wasn't particularly scenic but i sorta felt like i sat through a geography lesson. Terraced land, landslides, freshwater streams, plantations.....flashed past. We were split in 2 cars and kudos to the drivers cos while we got to sight-see, it was tiresome for them to drive us for hours.
The climax of the trip wasn't Cactus valley for me, but the Pasar Malam. I can't exactly pinpoint why, maybe it was because we were recharged from the steamboat dinner, maybe it was the nice weather. Or maybe it was the whole buzz of the night mkt, its many stalls that sold flowers and tea and toys, and the sweet smell of fried food that wafted through the air.
Cactus Valley was also memorable. The place was brimming with flowers of every kind and we got to pose for so many photos until eventually my camera battery was exhausted. I enjoyed the opportunity to once again appreciate Nature. So much greenery and fresh air for our lungs that cannot be matched in Spore.
Unwittingly ever since we boarded the bus we were already part of this whole cultural exchange...the wakeful sleep we had on the coach watching some stupid show called "big bad wolf", the number of highway toll booths Cat n I were trying to count, the lack of streetlamps along the journey... In Ipoh, I found out Orange plus Watermelon juice is completely unheard of and if you order that you'll be charged double. I enjoyed shopping at the departmental store and listening to LY speak Cantonese and Malay to the salespeople depending on whether they were Chinese or Malays. It made me wonder what if I were born in Msia.....maybe my dialect won't be so bad afterall (and my grandparents wld be proud of me) and i can switch between languages easily. One part of the cultural difference which i failed to fit in was......"littering"....
Lastly, i'll remember the purple cabbage, purble broccoli, purple yam chips, chocolate-coated strawberries, and the vermillion roses we tried to 'sneak' past the customs (actually we just brazenly carried them past). I'll remember drinking so many cups of water in the morning as forfeits such that everyone was rushing to use the toilet. I'll remember the "Rock" game which we couldn't get enough of. I'll remember Cat getting high after the beer session on the first night.
Suprisingly yesterday AhGong made me a sour plum drink which I had for the first time 2 days back in Ipoh.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sheeyee/IpohCameronTrip
http://picasaweb.google.com/jun240885/IpohTripJuly07
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