Of Trips & Thoughts

I've just spent the whole morning watching Season 10 re-runs of Grey's Anatomy while having chocolate coated digestives.

Am back home again for a while.

Spent some time in KL before coming back home. Met up with long lost relatives, stayed in a really swanky hotel, satisfied all my food cravings and shopped (although not 'till I dropped).

We stayed near The Curve this time round instead of Bukit Bintang.

This was The Royale Chulan Hotel just behind The Royale Bintang. You're greeted by this really sweet smell as you get out of the car at the main entrance and it's so lovely. There was a wedding reception going on when we arrived. Everyone was dressed in gowns and tuxedos and champagne flutes were being served by smart looking waiters.

J came over that night and we had a bite to eat and some drinks at the coffee house which was open 'till about 2 in the morning (to our convenience xD).

The hallway to our room. Quite similar to the Taj Hotel we stayed at in Agra but that was in red and this was in blue.

And this was the infinity pool. Quite a sight it was.

Dinner was at Italiannies, to celebrate dad's birthday and mom and dad's anniversary since I couldn't

make it back sooner.   

So. Much. Food.

Needless to say I was a very happy child the entire evening.

Met up with dad's side of the family. They came down last year for our house warming. Reconnected after years.

They all knew my grandparents. I never got to meet my grandmothers. Spent a brief period of my childhood with one of my grandfathers before he went away so I never really got to experience having grandparents properly. When they all started talking about my grandmother and about the things she did and the kind of person she was and how she died, it took all I had to hold my tears back, as soppy as that sounds.

She was a welfare officer back in the day. One of the most important ones, so I'm told. She always looked immaculate in her saris and her neatly tied hair with that air of dignity about her. She was very highly respected and was looked up upon by everyone in the community because she never stopped helping people. I learned that she died of cancer. She went for an operation but there was a relapse six months later and nothing could be done. When they talked about how they took care of her in the hospital, how they were there with her until her last breath, it was devastating. And I wasn't even around at the time it happened. What more my dad must have gone through when it did.

It's sad, you know. So sad that I never got to meet this wonderful person who was loved by everyone around her.

I found an old black and white photograph of her once when we were in the old house and for a moment I wondered how the hell a picture of me was taken and managed to look so old. Only then I realized that it wasn't me, but my grandmother. I look so much like her now. Total dead ringer. I'll never forget the look on dad's old cousin's face when she met me for the first time last year. One look at me and she had tears in her eyes saying I was a reincarnation of my grandmother, asking me if she often appeared in my dreams lol.

We spent some time in Seremban as well.

Met one of mum's old schoolmates.

Had dinner with her and the family

After brunch we went back into KL to get a few more things and by dinner time we were back home yesterday.

Still have a few things to get before going back.

Assignments and presentations to finish and prepare for next week. 

This trip made me think about a lot of things.

Made me re-evaluate my goals in life.

And made me appreciate my family more than I ever have.