Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Discovery Channel & Wrath of Treasure Hunt God

Thanks to the kindness of my hosts, I discovered quite a lot of new stuff while I was in West Malaysia. I hardly had any chance to pay attention to the surroundings while I was hunting. But after the hunt, when I was more relaxed, I went for a short sight-seeing in Melaka.

This is the famous A Famosa—or rather, what's left of it. It's quite an impressive piece of architectural work; it's been around for about 500 years.

Beyond this main entrance, up on the hill, is the remnant of an old church, wherefrom one can have a wonderful aerial view of Melaka town.

I was told that this ship is some kind of museum. Unfortunately, it was closed for renovation; so I was only able to have an external cursory view of it. Who knows, maybe I will be able to check it out when I join another hunt to Melaka.

I was also introduced to some famous foods—lots of them—while I was in KL. This is the famous rojak stall in SS15. Notice the long queue. The queue was still there after I finished eating the rojak.

This was where we sat after buying the above rojak. That's grandmaster Margaret sitting beside me with her sweet smile.

And this is the famous rojak. Imagine the trouble we had to go through to eat this stuff!

On Sunday night, Hunters "R" Us and their family members were kind enough to bring me to a seafood restaurant. We had an assortment of food—VK was all out to unleash all the specialties. Indeed they were all so good; if only my stomach had more room to accommodate more food!

Then on Monday morning, KK Chai brought me to the famous Ampang Yong Tau Foo. This is a shot of it. I must have gained at least 10 lbs during those few days I was there.

But everything was just too good to be true. I found it quite surprising that the Treasure Hunt God didn't show his true colours up to that point. Those of you who've been following my blog all these while would know that He would somehow, one way or another, get to me in the end. I was beginning to wonder when...

I flew back to KK on Monday. On Sunday night, I checked my flight itenerary again just to make sure. My flight was to depart LCCT-KL at 1:40pm on Monday. So I had plenty of time on Monday morning. Well, as I said, KK Chai brought me around for a short "tour" and the Ampang Yong Tau Foo. But before we knew it, traffic was already building up. In the end it was clear that I wouldn't be able to make it to the airport before my flight if I took the bus from KL Sentral. So Chai drove me all the way to LCCT-KL. I arrived there at 1:20 pm; I rushed to the counter...

Then the shock! The board showed the flight departing for KK at 2:15 pm. I was told that I had already missed my flight. It turned out that I made a terrible mistake—1:40 pm was supposed to be my time of arrival in KK; the departure was at 11:10 am!

OK, calm down, Cornelius... No point crying over spilt milk... So I rushed to the ticket counter to buy a seat for the 2:15 pm. But of course, when you are rushing, you know, the queue was exceptionally long, and only one person handling the counter. And, yes, that person made sure that she took her sweet time handling her customers.

Anyway, to make the long story short, when it was my turn, I was too late for the 2:15 pm flight. So I had no choice but to get the 5:10 pm—that was the next flight out to KK. So I spent the next several hours lingering at the airport feeling like a total idiot, my 11:10 am ticket forfeited, and I had to spend another RM360 for that 5:10 pm flight. I really need to do something about this curse on me.

But you know what they say, some people just never learn. I'm going to KL again next week for the Beautiful Gate and the AMC hunts! How the hell did I get so damn obsessed with treasure hunts?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are liken the Kitchen God, your host feted you lavishy so that you will give a good report and it works ! :)

Cornelius said...

If I can help it, I'd like to be fair in my comments. If I find reasons to criticise, believe me, I will criticise!

I don't know if I was treated the way I was for the sole purpose of getting a "good report" from me. I doubt it very much. If it were me, I wouldn't go through so much trouble if I didn't want to, just for the sake of getting a "good report".

I am glad to have found good friends in KL—those who've helped me in many ways; hosted my stay in KL; helped me out with my blogs; sent me past hunts questions so that I could learn etc.

I just hope that one of these days, when and if I ever get to beat them in treasure hunts, they won't kill me.... hehehe

Moon said...

Hope you don't get offended. hehe. You do look fat in those photos. haha :D

Cornelius said...

Oh please don't remind me, my dear moon! Well, let me give you this ridiculous excuse anyway: As you know, it's been raining almost daily this lately. So I haven't been running.

But!! last night I started running on a treadmill in Y-Fitness! 4km+! Felt like dying! Don't you play-play, I am going to be sexy again soon!... hehehe.

But when are YOU gonna be sexy again? When are you due anyway? Will you be in time for my walk hunt kah?... faster lah!... hehehe

Anonymous said...

Perhaps in Cornelius's defence, the hunt T-shirts given out were kinda' small for his size.

Cornelius said...

Oh! But what a brilliant explanation, 2R1I! Yeah, that must be it, the T-shirt was just too small for me. I must write that down somewhere—I could use that excuse the next time someone tells me that I look fat!

The other thing I must remember is to be sure to pull in my stomach and hold my breath for a few seconds until after the photographer is done. Maybe then I will look handsome and sexy for my fans!

Julie Tan said...

Good tricks, i'll try to use that too next time.