Kampar Day 1: Lights, Camera, Action!

I normally don’t split entries of short holidays, but we snapped way too many pics on our first day, hence the need for this inaugural split lest your browser hangs at the sight of too many pics in a single post.

Having sworn not to organise another holiday after being FFKed far too many times in the past (seriously, if you were in my shoes, you’d be fed up too), I gave in again ‘cause I really wanted one myself – so after some planning about 2 months prior to the actual date, we decided on Kampar (against the initial Gopeng).

Our journey began last Friday on the 28th November – Jon came to my house at nearly 11am sharp, swapped his Saga for my Serena (as my family needed both cars, and Jon’s dad disallowed him from using his Vios to ferry a total of 6 people in a single car), pumped full my petrol tank, and then set off fetching the rest – Jess, Esther, Heng, and Kai Tzin.

We actually detoured a lot, ‘cause Esther wanted to drop by at Summit to get something (which turned out to be a pantyhose lol), I had to drop by my house twice to bring out my Theory of Music Made Easy Grade 1 book wtf and a torchlight with additional batteries (at two separate times), before we finally reached Kai Tzin’s house at about 11.45am, which was also when I swapped places with Jon so he’d be the driver and I’d be his co-driver (so to speak).

For some reason, we only reached Kampar at nearly 3pm.. it seemed as if Jon had been driving for quite some time. Other than one stop we made at a reststop to go to the toilet and buy some ice-creams, I can’t for the life of me figure out what took us so long. On the way to Kampar, Esther made a phone call to Suet too on her handphone, but her battery snapped dead a few seconds later lol.

#1 At this awesome row of stalls/restaurants that sell sinfully cheap and tasty asam laksa, among a range of other Chinese food.

#2 Said sinfully cheap and tasty asam laksa – only RM3!

#3 Delicious kuey teow fish ball!

We checked into the Grand Kampar Hotel (check-in time was 3pm, hence why we left Subang so late), and had Esther and Heng wait outside the hotel compound for a while, while the 4 of us checked in.. ‘cause our Family Suite purportedly only allowed 4 persons, but it was really big and could accommodate more than that. :) Also, the moment we arrived there, a bellboy immediately came with a trolley to help us move our luggages to our room.. I was really unused to that kinda service and luxury lol.

#4 Group pic!

#5 This series of 10 pics is really fun – I had a self-timer + continuous mode on, and for some reason, all of us tak tahan and kept laughing like mad lol.

#6 Pillow fight!

#7 Me and Heng sleeping (we really were sleeping – at least trying to – and not posing wtf).

#8 A cute pic of Jess with me stoning in the background.

#9 Female construction workers hahaha (Kai Tzin’s helmets really do come in handy – both in Gua Tempurung and as props wtf).

#10 Tight composition of Jess, Heng, Esther, and Kai.

#11 We really didn’t do much when we reached Kampar.. we mostly slept. This pic shows Jon sleeping and Heng using Jon’s laptop (free Internet connection too, but you gotta request the LAN cable from the receptionist. Internet’s not blazing fast but it’s better than nothing).

#12 Where we place our footwear.

#13 Our toilet! Bathtub + hot shower + actual toilet with another door to lock. 0_o Esther made a bubble bath but I used it myself wtf – I was reliving the childhood that I never had (or forgotten), playing around with the immense amount of bubbles, turning myself into a skinny Santa with white beard, etc wtf.

#14 Kai, Jess, and Esther who just woke up at about 7.20pm.

We got ready and left the hotel for dinner – but we first stopped by at Tesco Kampar (!!), the closest thing they have for a shopping mall. I asked to go there as I forgot to bring additional underwear.. yeah after backpacking twice I had forgotten something quite basic lol. Not a big deal anyway ‘cause I can easily buy ‘em.

#15 Makanan ringan mmm.

#16 More tidbits for the night and the next day.

#17 One of the two boxers I bought wtf. The nicer ones are all in larger sizes only haih.

#18 At about 9pm, we ate claypot chicken rice for dinner! Initially didn’t know where to go, so Esther called up her friend who gave us directions to this expensive-looking place.. “only about RM100 for the 6 of you” wtf. (Esther later told us that her friend is rich, so yeah.) In the end, our meal of claypot chicken rice cost about RM30 for the 6 of us.

#19 Went back to our hotel room, and tested out my entire photographic equipment that I recently bought. I don’t proclaim to be very good at it – still loads to learn. Thought this pic looks cool with the white light caught reflecting halfway from the umbrella. And because my Nissin flash unit kept going into standby mode after merely 5 seconds, I’ve had problems using my wireless radio trigger with it and always needed someone to help me press a button on my Nissin to ‘reactivate’ it again before I could actually fire the flash. -___-

#20 Jess, Esther, and slutty construction worker hahahaha.

#21 We couldn’t stop laughing.

#22 Another shot.

#23 Trying to surprise a bathing Kai Tzin but failed ‘cause he took way too long in the bathroom.

Ya and the next couple of photos are very self-indulgent hahaha nothing to do with Kampar at all.

#24 Jess and Esther.

#25 And another.

#26 Esther.

#27 Fulamak I like the poses here.

#28 Heng with additional props like a bra wtf.

#29 Jon looking good here.

#30 Me with our bottle of Tesco’s French white wine (two for RM52.50! ‘cause buy 1, the next 1 get 50% off).

#31 Secretary with Jon’s Chinese homework lmao.

#32 Damn yeng lo this pic!!

Seriously before we knew it, 2 hours had passed just like that.

#33 Us playing Jess’ The Game of Life. =] I love this shot ‘cause it also shows how spacious and lovely our room was.

#34 Having this game around was also cause for unsuspecting puns from Jess like, “Can you pass me my Life” hahahahaha wtf. After leading the game all the way, I started losing my money and finally lost wtf.

#35 Me, Esther, Kai.

#36 The Giant Chocky Stick that I bought from Watson’s next to the claypot chicken rice restaurant! HEAVENLY!

#37 I can’t remember when the rest started to use my camera to play around, but I think this was after I drank the wine while playing The Game of Life and dozed off after that.

#38 And this little obscenity.

End of Day 1.