Monday, May 22, 2006

My Mother Sets Out On Adventure In KL - Part 1

Despite the fact that this posting is overdue by one week, I am still posting it because my sister wants to know every details of her activities in KL (Please note that my sister is an accauntant and a uncertified auditor who tracks records of all financial transactions on behalf of my splurging mother to evaluate whether she can be trusted to have lots of money in her account).

Last week, my mother was in town for a little holiday and a lot of shopping. The reason being, because she had been such a wonderful mother, and the Government somehow forgot to award Anugerah Ibu Mithali to this wonderful woman, I have decided to give her this little treat - return tickets (AirAsia, I can't afford MAS) to KL, fully sponsored accommodation (my rented house), free meals, and two dedicated tour guides-cum-chaperons-cum-chauffeurs (namely, me and him). The only cost she had to bear is the shopping money (with two monthly donors, she's extremely rich).

She arrived on Wednesday night, donned in her best blouse (green) and pants (white). Beloved was first to reach KL Sentral and found her sauntering about, looking as unlost as any other KL citizens. She could apply for KL citizenship, I warn you. She looked ready to conquer KL (minus KL Tower and KLCC, because she just hates height). Our first place of attraction was a restaurant by the roadside which served good food (by our standard, not hers). To her, Mom's cooking is the best (kudos, Mom!)

Thursday. I woke up and asked her, 'Would you like to take a rest today and begin your conquering feat tomorrow?' since I couldn't apply for leave. Adamantly, she replied, 'Over my dead body.' So, it was that then. I had to bring her to work, and after breakfast, I clearly described how to get to Masjid Jamek and she cheerfully went off on her first shopping spree and got lost. She was sooo enthusiastic that she managed to cover half of KL ON FOOT, I tell you. She walked all the way to Pudu but eventually she found her way to Masjid Jamek. In the afternoon, she walked back to my office laden with an armful of plastic bags. I had to carry this back to my office, dumped it on the floor and then we went to Sogo for lunch.

'Mak,' I asked after lunch, 'I'm sure you're tired and will need to rest at the surau in my office.' Full of energy, my 47-year old mother replied, 'Nonsense. I want to explore Sogo pulak.' My goodness. Being a wonderful daughter, I told her should she ever come across the word tired, the office have a comfortable, air-conditioned surau for her to rest. With that, I hurried back to my office for a meeting at 2.30pm.

That evening, she came back with three bagloads of tudung, kain and more kain. When I asked her, 'Mak, how much did you spend?' I regretted doing that because it nearly sent me into cardiac arrest. I'm sure she wouldn't mind that to happen because then I'd be rushed to IJN and she would get the chance to bump into Mawi (she's a big fan of Mawi). Being a responsible sister, I called up my elder sister to report her activities (I'm sure my sister also almost crashed her jaw on the table to hear our hard-earned salaries were happily spent on yards and yards of kain).

However, it was worth it because my mother was in such a jovial mood. She has plans to sell the kains when she goes back. We spent the night calculating how much profit she'd make. I just pray that she's right when she said the market are very, very good and things will be sold out in no time at all. Otherwise, she'd have 25 different tudungs to choose from to match with her 10 different new baju kurung.

The following day was a holiday and we brought her to Aquaria. This, I will tell in the second part of 'My Mother Sets Out On An Adventure In KL - Part 2'.