i define a holiday as a week long retreat to a secluded island resort with a gorgeous beach. and i shall define what deserves the term 'gorgeous beach': crystal-clear azure waters, powdery soft white sand littered with beautiful shells and of course, sea wild-life that i can poke at [if their not slimey, of course].

and of course, KL is faaaar from that.

*sighs*

of course, i slept a lot in the car. at a certain point of time, mother dearest said, "don't sleep so much, your missing the view!"
i opened my bleary eyes and looked to my left. Palm oil trees.
To my right. Palm oil trees.

i looked at her, and went back to sleep where at least, i dreamt of more interesting things.

okay to be fair, it wasn't ONLY palm trees. sometimes, it was coconut or banana trees being strangled by random enthusiastic weeds. or a wide expanse of field either half-dying or very much alive with said weeds among rust, concrete rot and god-knows-what.

it was however, slightly more interesting when we detour-ed to visit my grand-uncle in the kampong areas. sadly, the novelty of cows chewing some form of vegetation among the pile of unidentifiable junk or haha tanning on the roads, refusing to get up until we cajole it with a few honks has since faded.

and CHICKENS. geez if i had to hunt for food, i would NOT even bother with chickens. such ugly things they are.
turkeys too.
another faaaar-off distant relative owned turkeys. fat murderous-looking things.

anyway, when we finally got to said Granduncle's place after a few customary wrong-turns and roundabouts, we stepped out of the cool safety of our air-conditioned car, my shoes crunching apprehensively on the gravel. with of course, the patented 'Cityslicker Pretending to Enjoy Kampung Life' smile plastered on our faces...though i think my dad sincerely liked it there.

he was having much fun plucking this rambutan-cousin fruits for my brother to eat from the tree. actual EDIBLE fruits straight off the tree! seriously, a rare sight in singapore indeed unless you're a rich bugger living in landed property preferring fruit trees to ah yes, decorative ferns and bamboos.

into the house we went, it's musty smell assaulting our noses. gingerly sitting on the sofa. watching and waiting as my dad made small talk.

we went out to the porch where my granduncle offered my mum fresh durian which apparently, tasted different from the kind we get here since it did not have to travel hundreds of kilometres before having to sit in piles under fluorescent lights for days before reaching the hands of my mother and other durian-philes.

they served us cakes and such which we would have eaten except for the fact that there were FLIES swarming the few plates. you know, back here, three flies simply hovering would be enough to set you running and whimpering to the Health Food Inspector.

but i suspect that in our situation, ye olde Inspector would be running and whimpering as well. :
not five, not six but TWELVE were dancing all over the food. yes we counted, out of boredom and curious disgust.

despite the fact the all four of us [mother included] took turns in frantically shoo-ing them away before our arms grew tired and we just well, gave up and didn't eat.

shoo!
*flies move around as if just playing along with us before settling back down to poke their what do they call 'em? ah yes, proboscis into various cakes and nibbles*
SHOO!
*flies flutter around, bored with the weak attempt of trying to get rid of them*
SHOO SHOO SHOO frantically waving arms
*flies buzz around for a nanosecond, mockingly, before again settling down to liquidify our food with their enzyme-rich spit*

*sighs*
if you can't defeat flies, what can we supposedly intelligent, sentient homo sapiens do?



shopping was..typical. we stayed in the new hotel that comes with a GIANT shopping centre boasting 14 storeys of shops [though not all open yet] and an ACTUAL indoor theme park!..which would have been fun if i had my friends along.

for all those three days, you know what i was looking forward to?

going home.

not because i hated KL -it's generally okaay i think- but because we always drive back at night. along the highways with only those reflective strips for light it gives an all-clear oppurtunity to see the STARS.
i went to sleep 5-ish and woke up dishevelled and disoriented to see that it was already night-time. bleary-eyed, i blinked away the blur-osity that too much sleep causes and was delighted to see the velvet sky DOTTED fantastically with blinking stars!

it wasn't as breath-taking as the last time i saw them in the same opputunity a few years back but still.

you never get to see that many here.

bloody light pollution.