Dearest,

Last night one of my housemates and I were talking about this relationship/marriage stuff and she said she believes I will get a "good guy" (Mandarin: hao de nan zhi) because I'm a good person (hao de ren). As if it's a foregone conclusion for good people to always end up with good people ;)

I'll be going to Penang, one of the northern states, on Wednesday to attend Mel's wedding. So glad for her. It was so funny, we were talking about how boring our lives are with just work, work and more work, and I commented that her life would be more 'happening' after marriage. She said, "Really?" I was like, "Yeah, at least you'll be having sex!!!" *rotfl*

Her wedding's on the weekend, but I'm taking a few extra days off and going up earlier. If I really want to travel there's no better place to start than in my own country, and Penang's one of those places people always talk about (though it seems to be more famous for FOOD than anything else!). So I thought I'd go up a bit earlier and explore the place a bit on my own.

After consultation with some Penang friends, I decided to drive up, which of course horrified Mom no end. "You're alone, you're a girl, it's so dangerous, you don't know the roads..." I was like, "Mom, it's only Penang, you know. Four hours' drive away. It's not like I'm going backpackking in Europe or something!" Fuong (whom I'll be staying with when I'm there) also thinks I'm very brave. Brave? Who, me???

But for once in my life I decided I shall be a little adventurous. The friends I spoke to said that the island's bus service is rather unreliable and that the taxi guys would fleece me -- they don't bill passengers by the metre! Anyway Mel said she could draw me a map to show me how to get to the places I wanna go, and Rachel (one of my housemates) said most of the roads are one-way so if I get lost or miss turnings, all I have to do is make one round and I'd end up right where I started. Doesn't sound too hard...

'Course I'm gonna do this on my own. Fuong said it was a pity she couldn't take leave in order to show me around, but I said not to worry, that's exactly the reason I'm driving -- so that I can get around on my own and explore the place. Bob suggested I park the car somewhere and just walk around town. Apparently the architecture's superb in certain areas of town coz you know, Penang was one of the Straits Settlements under the British and... oh, don't ask me, History was always my worst subject! *lol*

I'm looking forward to it; not at all melancholy or forlorn about doing it alone and that's good. Will be meeting up with other friends in Penang if they have the time. Most are working, so will probably have a lot of night mamak sessions :)