Traveling with parents tale - Time zone difference

Time zone difference

Previously we stayed at the room with no window. Therefore, we wouldn't know if the weather was hot, raining, or whether it's morning or night. In addition, my parents came from Jakarta, where the time there was one hour earlier than here, in Malaysia. E.g. If here was 7 am, Jakarta would be 6 am.

Despite they both were wearing watch on their wrists, they did not adjust the timing on it. They thought it was only one hour difference, therefore, not necessary to adjust. But they forgot that they too, could be forgetful about the time difference.

Well readied Mom (Pic source: Google.com)

In one occasion, I was awoken by a strong perfume smell. I found Mom doing her make-up and had already changed her clothes, ready to go out. I turned on my mobile phone and looked at the time. I immediately asked her, "Mom, where do you want to go so early like this?"

"Early? It's already 7 plus no??" she replied without stopping her activity.

"Ma, are you dreaming??? It's only 6 plus now. Please go back to sleep," I said.

"Haa??? Only 6 plus?? Not 7 plus ya?? I thought I woke up at 7 am just now," she replied me in shock.

After finishing her make-up, she sat down on the bed and started checking her mobile phone. I couldn't sleep anymore after that, because very soon, I was disturbed by a very loud Chinese old songs (with a maximum volume), or the sound and/ or with song that came from Chinese-made videos (those mostly showing unfilial son/ daughter together with their son/ daughter-in-law) sent by only God knew who they were.

And soon after, my mobile would vibrate and when I checked, it was the video that she just watched earlier and sent to our family What's App group ^^"

Another occasion was our first night after reaching Malaysia. Since we had nothing to do, we slept early (I remembered turning off the light at 10 pm at night since I couldn't stand the TV volume, and Dad immediately turned his TV off).

While sleeping, suddenly I heard familiar voice from a couple. I thought I heard it in my dream though.

(Pic source: Google.com)

Man: "Damn!!! It's only 4.30 am!!!"
Woman: "What time?" - with disbelief tone.
Man: "4.30 only. No choice la. We slept too early last night."
Woman: "Haa??? Only 4.30??? Feel like already long."

Ugghhh... I wanted to pee. I had no choice but to get up. I turned my phone charger off and headed to toilet with the phone. I turned it on and checked the time. It's 5.30 am.

When finished, I returned to my bed. I giggled and continued sleeping. I made it so quiet so I could sleep longer. And soon, I heard him snoring. Zzz..... Zzz..... 

Travelling with parents tale - Ghost in the room

The missing glasses case

As minimalist during travel, I only brought what I needed. So when I got up and found my glasses case missing from the side table I shared with Mom, I questioned my Mom who got up earlier than me and was applying make-up in front of the mirror at the corner of the room. "Ma, did you see my glasses case?" 

She turned her back and looked at me. "I saw it on the side table this morning. Don't have meh?"

"It's not there. If it's there, I wouldn't have asked you," replied me.

She stopped her make-up and walked to the side table direction, just next to me. "I saw it this morning right here," while pointing into the table. "How come it's not there now? Got ghost in this room meh? Which ghost took the glasses case???" Her voice became louder as she was curious who would take that worthless item from me and even angry on my behalf.

Suddenly my eyes saw something, just on top of the side table, a black underwear - which apparently belonged to Mom - beneath my glasses case.

Where the mysterious glasses case had gone ^^"

"Yes, I found the ghost. The ghost is spraying perfume right in front of me now," and I bursted of laughing out loud. Yes, very loud laughter in such early morning.

She turned her back again and she too laughed out loud when seeing what I pointed to her. We both laughed like crazy and let our dad wondered from inside the toilet, what's going on with this mother and daughter... ^^"

Travelling with parents tale - Eat and food

Malaysia food (Pic source: Google.com)

Just like Singapore, Malaysia a multicultural country. Majority ethnic group here was Malay (59%), followed by Chinese (32%), and Indian (9%). Their national language was Malay language, but English was widely spoken. So when coming to Malaysia, you'd expect many different food available across every corner of the street.

My parents though, especially Mom, had a choosy tongue when it came to food. Despite having traveled to various countries around the world, Chinese food was still their number one preference followed by Indonesian and lastly Western food. Indian food was no no for Mom. She felt that certain taste of the curry was too strong.The most she could take was Roti Prata as she tasted it before in Singapore.   Therefore, I found it such a waste to have famous Indian restaurant located just next to our hotel, but they both didn't fancy the food.

On our previous visit, we stayed for a week at the same hotel. We had eaten at the same coffee shops nearby, over and over again; mainly choosing the local Chinese food. So after some time we were pretty bored with it. We could imagine the taste of it even inside our dream.

One evening, dad was attracted by the mutton soup smell from the next door Indian restaurant. He loved mutton soup very much, but in Indonesians style. Apparently Indian style used different types of spices. But he was still willing to try. But we ordered at the wrong place. We should have ordered it directly from the waiter who keyed in our order in a small palm device. Instead, we went to the display counter where they sold white and Briyani rice with various cooked chicken, beef, and mutton dishes with vegetables.

As I had endured days without tasting Indian food, I was very happy that finally I could order my favourite Briyani rice with fried chicken, plus cucumber onion pickles mixed with yoghurt. For dad, he ordered white rice with chicken curry and the same pickles. And mom? She was having no mood to eat Indian food. At first she refused to order. But after trying my fried chicken, she walked to the counter herself and ordered a plate of white rice with fried chicken. That's it.

Gained weight (Photo source: Google.com)

She was the reason why I gained so much weight from my last visit too. Everytime she did not like the food or could not finish her portion, Dad and I had to finish it as we both tried our best not to waste food. For her, she didn't care much.

Many times Dad and I had to exchange look over the food she could not finish. Especially those she ordered unnecessarily. E.g. Dad suggested her to share a portion with him. She would say she did not want to eat this but something else. At the end her food portion was big and she did not like it. She would just eat few bites and leave the rest untouched. Or morning time she ordered something. She would say she could not eat much early in the morning. But she did not make any effort to ask the seller to give less portion either. Haizzz...... 

This time we visited Malaysia again and stayed at the very same hotel. We reached the hotel quite late from the airport. We were all famished. As we walked towards the hotel's entrance door, many people had already seated outdoor. On their tables, many plates of satay (meat skewers) were seen. The fragrant smell of the satay being fanned on top of the charcoal had attracted Mom to immediately visit the restaurant once we checked in our room and put our luggage.

Delicious Indian food :D

Dad ordered 1 bowl of mutton bone soup (Sup Tulang) and 1 bowl of normal mutton soup. Mom ordered 10 pieces of Beef Satay. And me, I ordered my favourite Briyani rice with chicken curry, cucumber onion pickles with yoghurt, and fried bitter gourd.

My favourite dish ;)

I started eating first as my food was readily available. Their food came later as the satay needed to be grilled. Maybe Mom was too hungry. She said she wanted to try my chicken curry. Not only that. She also tasted both veg that I chose on my plate. Quite surprising for me. She said, "It's nice. This curry, I can eat. Sometimes other curry, I can't take it. Too strong." She smirked, as usual, her pattern in giving excuses, and continued, "Tomorrow morning we can eat here again. We can eat Prata." 

I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. Laugh because finally she could accept how delicious Indian food could be and cry because she should find out about it earlier so that we could have eaten it more often before. I still remembered vividly her desperation when she rejected to eat anything that night.

The quote (Pic source: Google.com)

So I replied her, "When people is hungry, I think everything will taste good." She was just smiling wide. Even this evening when I asked what should we have for dinner, she suggested the next door Indian restaurant almost immediately ^^"

Travelling with parents tales - Sleeping together

Me traveling with parents :D (Photo source: Google.com)

In our families I was the fifth and the youngest among my siblings. All of us were staying separately in many different countries, except my brother and I. My eldest sister stayed in Indonesia, same city with where my parents lived. However, I was the one who travelled the most - all over the world - together with my parents. If we joined the tour, we would usually stay at the same room (1 king or double bed for both of them with 1 single or extra bed for me). In certain countries I couldn't help but to endure the uncomfortable folded extra bed :"D

So sometimes I felt that I was very lucky to have good karma and fate to spend so much time with them although we stayed at different country and even at this age where I myself already had one teenager boy. Or maybe that's also the reason why I often felt as if I was still that single and young little girl who stayed under the wings of my parents (a.k.a no freedom), lol.... :D No matter what, I felt very grateful for all the chances and opportunities given by my parents to see the world around us :) Since 10 years ago we had travelled at least once a year together. Weren't I the fortunate one?

As I wrote this, I could also share with my siblings what they could not experience with my parents in their lives :) For this post, I just felt I wanted to share about our recent trips in Malaysia, where we spent at least a week under the same room and number of days at the country. 

Wake up!!! (Photo source: Google.com)

My alarm clock

First of all, as we had to stay together in harmony, we had to recognise and accept the different life styles that we all had. So, they both were early risers. At home they usually got up at 5 to 6 am everyday, while me, I slept quite late and got up late too. So I definitely did not need to turn my alarm on. They were my alarm clock. Especially my dad. He had a hobby and habit of watching TV with a loud sound and turned it on once he got up ^^" Anytime too. As long he's inside the room. 

Watching TV habit (Photo source: Google.com)

Watching TV

I had to give in for this. Personally I loved to be alone and stay inside quiet environment. A little music was fine. But I knew this was something he couldn't live without. Moreover while watching it, he often forced us to watch it together with him by commenting what he saw on TV. Even though I ignored him, he would still keep commenting as if we were interested. When it's too unbearable, sometimes I really had to put on my ear piece and looked at my phone so that it's clear that I wasn't interested on the TV show that he watched.

This reminded me of my childhood time when I was in primary 1. He forced me to sit down next to him watching the news while my four siblings were having chit chat time about their lives together with Mom inside the room. Oh I envied them so much listening to their laughter from living room. To end the misery, I had to feign sleepy so that he'd ask me to go to my room to sleep immediately. Lol!!! :P

Toilet (Photo source: Google.com)

Toilet usage

For toilet sharing, we were quite agreeable on this. Usually after breakfast, dad would do his big business. So he would have breakfast once the restaurant opened, finished fast, and hurriedly went back to room to use the toilet. 

And in evening once we reached hotel, dad and mom would take bath first (they were pretty fast in this) and I'd always be the last one because I used toilet for some time as I had to wash my underwear and clothes almost everyday :) (Mom usually brought more clothes so she didn't have to wash it often while I preferred bringing less items while travelling).

Sleeping time (Photo source: Google.com)

Sleeping time

At night they slept early and dad often not happy if I slept too late or used phone in the dark. So, like now, I had to wait until I heard him snoring, then I'd use my phone secretly and covered myself with blanket :P There was one time when dad woke up for toilet and he came near to my bed to check if I'd fallen asleep or not as he might see the phone's light reflection from under my blanket. Lol!! It scared me to death and I had to act as if I was sleeping to avoid unnecessary comments. Hahaha... :D

Curfew? (Photo source: Google.com)

Curfew

As we all grew up in a not-so-safe city, my parents had set up curfew at home. We could not return home so late. 10 pm would be the ideal although once in a while, 12 am midnight was still acceptable. But more than that or sleeping at other people's house was not acceptable at all. 

This fear had always remained whenever we went back home and parents were around, even when I was on holiday staying at the same room with them. Yes we knew, it's for our own good and safety. But as we grew up, we felt we were getting better in taking care of ourselves and when we saw our aunt had relaxed her curfew towards our much younger cousins, we felt the world was unfair. 

When my friend was only free after almost 10 pm to have supper with me, I had to inform them faster just minutes before I left the hotel so that there wouldn't be any room for rejection. At least they knew I was in a good hand (they met up with my friend before). But for returning back time, I still felt like Cinderella, whose shoes and carts would change after midnight. And the next morning when my dad asked me what time I came back, I told him the time slightly early than the real time I came. Hahaha... Naughty me :P

Well, there were more stories to tell but clock kept ticking away. So let me stop here and continue at the next post OK? And as I end this post, I'm still hiding in toilet as if it was just the usual short toilet break in between sleep. Lol... Hope you enjoy reading this and you may be reminded of your time spent sleeping with parents when you're young :) Adios! Good night!!! ^^

Books read for the first half of the year 2017

Doraemon reads book, and so do I (Pic source: Google.com)

Below please find the list of the book I read for the first half of the year 2017:

January 2017

January 2017:

1 Singapore Love Stories - Verena Tay

2 Burial Rites - Hannah Kent

3 Kuan Yin: Accessing the Power of the Divine Feminine - Daniela Schenker

4 The Vanishing Year - Kate Moretti

February 2017

February 2017:
1 Management Tips - Harvard Business Review
2 Strange Weather in Tokyo - Hiromi Kawakami
3 Leadership Wisdom from the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - Robin S. Sharma
4 Six Four - Hideo Yokoyama

March 2017

March 2017:
1 Paris for One - Jojo Moyes
2 The Best of Chinese Life Philosophies - Leman
3 Si Cacing dan Kotoran Kesayangannya - Ajahn Brahm
4 Talking to Ourselves - Neuman Andres
5 One Plus One - Jojo Moyes
6 O's Little Guide to Starting Over - O, The Oprah Magazine
7 The Spy - Paulo Coelho
8 The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World - Dalai Lama XIV
9 Small Great Things - Jodi Picoult

May 2017

May 2017:

1 Chronicle of a Love Foretold - Monu Tamang

2 The Morning Sun - Mon Tamang

3 The Fine Art of Living and Manifesting A Peaceful Death - Khenpo Phuntsok Tashi

4 Wisdom of the Buddha - Venerable Wu Ling

June 2017

June 2017:

1 Buddha Gotama: Riwayat Buddha Untuk Keluarga - Handaka Vijjananda

2 The Fifth Letter - Nicola Moriarty

Secret of Balance Life :D (Photo source: Google.com)

Not bad... 23 books for the first half of the year. If you notice, I did not read any single book in April. It was due to the traveling journey to Bhutan that took me for more than 3 weeks. In June I traveled again and did not leave me with much time to read. March seemed to be book and tea craze month hahaha.... And the books that I chose to read were more on Buddhism too lately. Doesn't mean that I will not read any more fictions. I definitely do. Well, let's see how many more books I can read until the end of this year. Time flies dude!!! Do what you love while you are still alive! ;)