woke up really early (for the first time this hols) to get to school on time. ran into dr chan whilst i was at the drop off point too (it was kinda creepy lol.)
once all the logs were settled we boarded the bus and headed down to the tuas checkpoint. the entire bus ride was pretty quiet and generally uneventful, including the stop at the rest stop, during which the first thing zhixuan did was to buy overpriced keropok.
the bus pulled up at sunny inn a couple of hours after (unfortunately i did not feel compelled lugging my camera around so i didnt bring it so i dont have any photos until people start uploading them. edit: pics up!). sunny inn was well... slightly to the dingy side (there were quite a few complaints about the rumours of bedbugs D: and nigel renamed the place shady inn instead). the girls were put in the rooms to the left side and the boys were at the right, but there was a spill over of girls so cennie, me and yus bunked over at the boys side. which made me feel slightly safer, considering yus and i had most of the cash (ok, just yus, as i will eventually discover).
SUNNY INN. see the tiny sign where the staircase opens? thats the entrance to the inn.
the rooms were these tiny things with mattresses placed on the floor and a fan. some of us were luckier and got bedframes, although the ultimate lucky ones (only one room though: tricia, joyeo, anh and phuong) had an aircon too. (much to the displeasure of some other people lol) the toilet was communal as expected, and the shower had more space than i had anticipated, as well as an actual shower head! for RM10 per night (i swear this is the cheapest lodgings i have ever spent a night in) you cant get much, but it wasnt too bad. esp since there were no bedbugs! daniel checked for us xD
our room!
roomies (((:
after settling in we headed off to the chicken rice ball shop next to the inn for lunch. i dont really understand the intention behind rice
balls. some claimed its cos rice squished together is supposed to taste better, but im not too sure its anything that significant. but it was an interesting dish nonetheless that is supposedly unique to malacca, and it fit into our budget of RM8 per person so -shrugs-. although obviously RM8 isnt enough for some of the boys, but they didnt even eat that much when they added dishes (im comparing to the 3G boys, whom, im now sure of, are monsters). the shop was owned by a family, who had totally adorable children helping out that drove the girls (over the boy) and the boys (over the girl) crazy haha. i think its really rare for some of us to see kids helping out in family restaurants so many fell instantly in love with their hardworkingness, but its pretty expected in china so i was immune. although the littlest girl was really quite cute xD
once lunch was settled we headed out to purchase our logs for tmr, including stuff like ingredients for claypot rice, breakfast and hardware. it was then i realised that the whole of malacca did not have a dbs bank, which meant there was no dbs atm, which meant i could not withdraw any of the RM3k that was residing in my bank acct. which nearly killed me, but we managed to use my card as a visa card instead to buy some of the items so at least we did not deplete our cash too signficantly. )): thankfully yus was not too pissed off at me, but it did make me feel terrible ):
dinner was at a peranakan restaurant. (luckily. i almost thought we were going to have chicken rice for all 5 days lol) it wasnt too bad, tasted almost like chinese, complete with poor tea. the original itinerary indicated that we were supposed to head off to the village for a brief orientation before we begin work on tuesday, but there was a last minute change so we had a little r&r instead. so, after dinner we headed off to a nearby mall for a little window shopping. then i realised that the mall was the exact same one that i went with my family on our last malacca trip, so it was pretty cool xD (or that it indicated that these 2 were the only 2 malls worth visiting in malacca)
after we returned to the dorm, the groups split up for showers (:D:D) and then piled into the common areas to study. im not too good at studying with people, but it was pretty fun, and it meant i had smart people to consult when i got stuck :D
it was almost 1 when we all trooped to bed, but it was 2 before i got any rest at all, since certain boys are very good at being noisy enough to wake the whole hall with those thin walls. the first night was pretty rocky, and i woke up at 6 thanks to lester, who sat outside our room for 4 hours because he couldnt get any sleep.
