The Good vs The Not-So-Good

The Good

Ezekiel celebrated his 1st birthday on Saturday, and I saw my brother and my sister-in-law beaming with pride as they witnessed the crowd at the party. Felt so happy for them. After all, it has been quite an experience for the entire family. We welcomed a new family member, and took on new duties and responsibilities. *Ahem, yours truly has been promoted to an Uncle* For those who weren't at the party, check out baby Eze's beautiful cake. *Jealous hor*

A dear college friend Q got married at JB on the same day, so I traveled across the causeway to attend the dinner with a bunch of friends from NTU. Yes, we survived the traffic constipation at Woodlands, with compliments to the fugitive named Mas Selemat. While trying to keep sane on the road, my friend Y even joked that he probably would have had escaped to Malaysia because the JB checkpoint welcomes him with its "Selamat Datang" billboard messages.

The Not-So-Good

Justin was blackmailed! Yes, for the first time, in Malaysia, past midnight! I have to say if it wasn't out of desperation, my friends and I would not have given in to the ridiculous demands. We tried to get a cab to bring us back to Singapore at an original quote by the hotel reception - RM200 for 2 cabs. But just after 30 min, the price escalated to RM300 (they claimed it was midnight charge). By then it was already about 1225am, and we really wanted to go home, and on the condition that the cabs will take us to our doorstep, we agreed.

The unhappiness really began when we were in the middle of the journey. The driver informed us that we have to alight at Woodlands checkpoint, as that was the instruction from his "friend" who accepted the call from the hotel. We were furious and started to make a big fuss in the car. I think the driver was really getting afraid of us so we eventually negotiated a fare of S$20 to send us back to our homes in Singapore. By then, money was not an issue, our safety back home is. As our driver is an earnest Chinese chap who is also trying to make a living, we thought "oh well, as long we get home right?"

Lesson learnt - no more JB wedding dinners. Either that, I will choose to leave very early to avoid a similar fiasco.