Spontaneous

On Saturday, my dad gave me a surprise phone call and it went like this:

M00nie: Hello ?
Dad: Let me set the ambiance ... (starts hymning the 'mission impossible' song)
M00nie: What is it ?
Dad: Do you want to go to Miri tomorrow to send some documents ?

And that was it. The next evening, I found myself at the LCCT airport.

Though it wasn't exactly overseas, it was still over-the-sea and so I can't help but have this sense of independence and adventure.

It was the first time I have ever set foot into an airport ALONE. That very moment, I kinda felt like I am finally, officially an adult. There wasn't daddy to tell me what to do or where to go. Frankly speaking, I am one of those people who never really paid attention. The few times I traveled by a plane, I was just tagging along. Wherever the adults went, I followed. Without knowing what we were actually doing. All I knew was I was getting onto an airplane.

Even in the car, when I didn't know how to drive yet, I didn't pay attention to what roads my father took to go anywhere. Even places I've always been to, like my school or my granny's, I didn't know the way to it. When I finally got my licence, I had to pretty much learn the routes from scratch.

In the airport, I was looking for the counter to get my boarding pass. And you know where I lined up at first ? The AirAsia sales counter ! Yes I know I'm so bloody stupid.


As I got everything I needed, I wanted to go pee-pee. Now, that's one big disadvantage of being alone when you've got hand luggage with you. There aren't anyone to watch over your stuffs while you pee-pee. Though it was only clothes in my luggage, I just felt uncomfortable leaving it unwatched. So I had to bring it along with me into the pee-ing cubicle. Luckily my oh-so-pretty gym bag weren't too big for the hanger.


When it was time to board the plane, I didn't know where to line up for express boarding. So I lined up at the shortest lane. But guess what ? It was the lane for the old folks. Instantaneously, I could feel people staring at me. It's like I could almost hear them shouting: " What is this lah this girl, cut queue somemore wanna compete with old folks ! "

Anyways, all went well and I was in Miri. A 20 minutes or so drive by car and I was at the Imperial Hotel.

The hotel looked kinda old from the outside.

The interior was pretty old too. But the rooms were okay.


I got to sleep on two beds. Yay !

I gotta admit the sleeping part is a teeny weeny scary. It's the first time I've ever slept alone in a foreign land.

View from my room

The second day, I had 7 hours to spend before I could return to home sweet home. So I explored the Boulevard/ Imperial shopping mall connected to the hotel. Ok, that shopping mall is kinda pathetic. It has quite some resemblance of Fajar or Amcorp Mall. Before long, I decided to leave for Bintang Plaza. You see, there are only 3 shopping centres in Miri, and only Bintang Plaza has a cinema. I figured the cinema is the best place to pass time.

I hailed a taxi to take me there. Unbeknownst to me, Bintang Plaza is only a mere 5 minutes drive away. I could have just easily taken a 10 minutes walk over. But how much did the taxi driver charged me ? RM 10 ! Such a rip-off !

When I found the cinema, I searched frantically for a computer screen/ tv for the schedule of movies. But couldn't find one. The ticketing attendant then pointed me to ...

This !

They were still using the notice board kind of system. And I thought that MBO was the best example of a backdated cinema.

And then, when I wanted to purchase a ticket for a movie, the ticketing attendant told me that I couldn't, because there were no audience yet. Hmmph. In the end, I got myself a regular Pure Chocolate and sat at CoffeeBean for the remaining hours.

***

Well, overall the trip has been a great experience. Plus, I got paid just to bring some documents over, with all my expenses fully covered. How cool is that ?