Post-Holiday

They say a vacation rejuvenates your tired mind and body but why do I feel more tired after a four-day holiday? I guess they mean a 100% selfish retreat because I had a day of selfless acts and though I was happy at the end of the day, it left me feeling battered. 

 

Hubs and I went on a road trip to Johor on Thursday. We had a wonderful time stopping for food and singing in the car. Then we had a great dinner spread on a floating restaurant overlooking Singapore. The next day was spent there where we skipped the touristy Universal Studios and armed with a map and an endless supply of cold water (from most 7-Eleven that we came across), roamed the city to immerse in the local essence.

Organised and sterile, Singapore has little in common with Malaysia compared to my initial perception before the Kuala Lumpur tour. First, the service of the KL hop-on hop-off tour bus is ridiculously slow. The conductor thought we were foreigners and with other tourists around us complaining, we didn't correct him because we were too embarassed to be associated with KL. 

Second, the sellers in Petaling Street are anything but customer-friendly. Rafiee almost got in a fight because one of them forced him to buy the sunglasses that he tried on. 

Third, we saw a foreign couple holding some decomposable fruit seeds trying to find a waste bin as an old Malaysian man just right behind them tossed his big empty plastic bag on the pavement like it's the most natural thing to do. I still don't understand people who litter. Is it lack of education or common sense? I think it's stupid, disgusting and reflects the person's upbringing. The parents most likely do it too so they fail to see how morally wrong it is. 

Hoping that things will gradually improve (unless you want to get beaten up for telling some ignorant strangers off), we concluded that KL can learn a thing or two from Singapore although I still prefer Malaysia in general because we have so much more to offer.

On Saturday we went to a small town in Johor to help out with Rafiee's cousin's wedding so by the time the clock struck midnight, both of us were already snoring like a bear. A kitten that we fell in love with in Johor Bahru was also sleeping in the same bed, a little girl we named Tumas after our two favourite kittens that we lost recently, Dumas and Tamas. It's a Hungarian name so it's pronounced as Tu-mash. We decided to keep her in our apartment when she started licking our fingers as if to say "Thank you for saving me from the street" or so I'd like to believe. 

As I try to motivate myself to keep editing the book (now 70% completed) in my family house right now, I can't help thinking about the pants and shirts I have yet to iron. Thank goodness I love my work so that takes away any post-holiday blues, but I honestly don't mind having more vacations. Ah well, don't we all?