The journey

First, I have to admit that I’m a bad user of public transportation as living in a small city like Raub requires limited use of public transportation. Moreover, my house is just a walking distance from the town centre and to move around the district I’ll ride my motorcycle or my mom will drive me. For that, I can count using my fingers of how many times I used public transportation. Moving to Bandar Utama forced me to fully utilised rapid KL, taxi, LRT, monorail and KTM which somehow made me more independence now and I’m thankful for that.

It was on 8th of March and it was the first journey that required me to travel out of Selangor for the sake of our documentary. A day ahead, we discussed on the plan of going to Malacca. We will first travel to Pudu, take a bus to Melaka Central and meet the organizer of the Free Hugs Team Malacca there.

Early in the morning, we met up at Centrepoint and took a taxi to LRT Taman Bahagia. From there, we went to LRT Central Market and walked our way to Pudu. It was quit far to walk from the LRT but we had no choice as that was the only way that we know.

It was the first time I arrived at Pudu and the place was terrible as it was crowded and I felt suffocated and I wish that is the last time I’ll be in Pudu. Upon arriving, we went straight to the counter and bought our ticket, the four of us including Leong, Eliza and Ruby. It was written on the ticket that the bus wills departure at 11 a.m. and we still have an hour to go. Since we have not taken our breakfast yet, we went to the cafe to eat.

I was shocked with the way the restaurant owners treated us. They were gathering and forcing us to eat at their restaurant. I never encountered such situation in my life and it was irritating. Then, I chose to sit at one of the table and when I only ordered an orange juice, the owner showed a very reluctant face and asked, “Just orange juice?” At that time, I felt like punching her face. Hahaha~ At least I ordered something which she should be grateful for.

We arrived at Malacca Central at 1.30 p.m and met the organiser -cum-spokesperson of the Free Hugs Team Malacca, Kei Gui Yuan at the A&W restaurant. He was indeed a very good man and cooperated well with us. He tried his best to answer each of our questions.

Apart from Kei, he was also accompanied by his other three members who gave lots of info on Free Hugs to us. We end our interview at 3 p.m and went to have our lunch at the famous Nasi Ayam ball rice. It was delicious and the price was only RM 3.80. Every pieces of the rice that I chewed and swallowed was worth it!

We were lucky that they still have ticket to Pudu at 6 p.m and we arrived at Centrepoint around 9 p.m. It was undeniable a memorable journey for me as it was the first time I travelled such a long journey with my friends. I was hoping to buy some souvenirs but due to limited budget, I don’t. Thanks to Ruby, Eliza and Leong for that memorable journey. I will not forget it.