30 Years and Counting…

I took a cab to LCCT today. The taxi driver is Pappy’s new friend. My dad, he talks to every possible taxi driver when he gets on taxis. His favourite ice breaking line would be “Where are you from?” and then when the taxi driver answers him of a place, he would think of some MP or Minister or some political figure from that place and get a topic started on that. It’s interesting to listen to the views of these taxi drivers. Some are very knowledgeable, you know why? Cos when you don’t see them drive, they read newspapers.

How did Pappy met this new taxi driver friend of his? Pappy took a cab from LCCT one day and this guy asked him if he has had lunch. Pappy said no and before you know it, the taxi driver took my dad to Dengkil to have “chap fan”. And coincidentally, he brought Pappy to my favourite “chap fan” stall in Dengkil. I really like that place. It’s located at the corner of Medan Selera Dengkil. Both corners have “chap fan” stalls so look out for the one that says “Peck Wan”. And guess what? The taxi driver treated Pappy to lunch.

And you know what? He treated me lunch today too. He brought me to a place I never knew existed. It’s located opposite of Concorde Inn, where you will see a board that says “Charterfield” and there will be some rows of shop lots. If I’m not mistaken and if my memory is working perfectly fine, road name is Jalan KLIA 1/60, which is the main road leading towards the rows of shop lots. I don’t remember the name of the coffee shop but there’s only one Chinese coffee shop around that place.

We had Wan Tan Mee which he claims to be one of the best Wan Tan Mee around. It was quite nice with big, chewy char siew. Throughout lunch and the ride from my house to the airport, he talked to me about his job, his wife, his 4-year old son and his unborn baby daughter. Quite a nice man actually. Speaks Hokkien but we spoke in Cantonese since I’m not fluent in Hokkien.

When I reached LCCT, I was just in time to check in, visit the toilet and then proceeded to the Departure Hall. The airport is crowded because of the school holidays.

I’m really getting sleepy writing this. Timestamp as of typing up to this point is 11:08pm. I’m going to just breeze through from this point onwards.

The plane took off slightly later than scheduled as there was a missing passenger on board so they had to retrieve his luggage and take it off the plane before we took off. Managed to get a seat next to the aisle, middle seat was left empty, a Malay girl was sitting next to the window. It was a perfect seat, not too cramped and I enjoy my privacy. The only bad thing was it was FRIGGING cold. I don’t know where the cold air was coming from because I had already turned off the air conditioning above me and also the one next to me, where no one is sitting. And because I think I’m strong enough, I didn’t bring any jacket so I had to endure 2 hours and 45 minutes of winter. But fret not, I’m still alive and am very hot now. After 2 hours and 45 minutes, I’m home. Can you believe that? I’m home.

I like that sight of the simple airport as we landed because it has been that way since I’ve started flying. And I hope it would remain like that. Those words SANDAKAN imprinted on the building, reminds me I’m home.

Pappy the dearest came to pick me up in his Toyota Land Cruiser, otherwise affectionately known as “Ninja”. Don’t ask me why but we refer that Land Cruiser here as Ninja. The newer and more expensive models, we call them Ninja King. I don’t know how that name come about but I sat on Pappy’s Ninja and I felt tall. Nice!

Went to have tea with Pappy. Having endured winter, I was feeling a little hungry. Went to have Teh Susu, otherwise affectionately known as “Teh Nai”. We have got to be specific when we order our drinks. Like you can just order Milo but here we always add a syllable after the name of the drink. It’s either Nai for milk, C, O, Kosong or Kau. And you can have Milo Kau Kau Ping.

I can go on and on but it’s 11:24pm now and I’m really sleepy. I’ll breeze through faster now.

Mummy was at home waiting for my arrival, dressed in a really sweet and colourful dress. Shortly after that, we went to Sandakan Yacht Club for the party. 🙂

Most of the guests are Mum’s and Dad’s friends so I sat next to one of Dad’s staff. Her name is Miss Wong. I’ve never been really close to her but tonight we chatted quite a bit.

It was dinner and dance. Mum danced the first dance with her dancing instructor. Dad doesn’t know to dance, else he would have led my mum to the first dance. I don’t dance too. Used to learn but am now rotten. Dancing takes a huge deal of confidence so you either go out there express yourself and dance or stay put in a shell. I am still stuck in my shell for now.

Dad finally got up to dance when the live band played a song where you can dance the Sumazau dance. A dance of the Kadazans. He came to me and ajak me to dance as well. Hehe.

“Happy Anniversary!” I wished both my parents when we were on our way home after the party.

“Thanks for coming”. Pappy said.

“No problem.”

So there goes, my parents are happily married (sometimes they do fight!) for 30 years and I wish them many many years and lots of love to come.