This will end up being a super long winded Blog about 24 clowns contributing to the economy of Malang. I will try my best to break it up into sections and days so you fellas can scroll back to re-read any bits you missed during your morning toilet visit. I have been told numerous times, this Blog is best read when you are attempting to clear your bowels in the morning. And i honestly believe i should be paid for helping you pass motion with a smile on your face. Here we go.
This plan to visit Bromo again was made at the beginning of the year. We visited Bromo 2 years ago. It was so much fun eating volcanic dust and spicy sambal. And not having to be home 5 days in a row to wash the toilet made this trip impossible to miss. Proposal thrown out to the group. 24 immediately signed up for the trip. Madam President was given the task of handling the accommodations and ride plans with Antony. Ex-President Manta was given the task of making sure we had enough beer and the correct type of Single Malts for the 5 days. Long story short. Flight booked. Hotel booked. Beer pre-ordered. And away we go.
Day 0. / Thursday.
A few decided to come one day early to spend the night at the airport, seeing that the flight was at 0700 hours. Somehow, it made sense to these few jokers that arriving earlier to drink beer was an obligation they could not ignore. Turns out these few jokers were not the actual early birds. 2 even more extreme kiasu cuckoo birds were actually earlier arrivals. These 2 cuckoo bird were somehow unconvinced the group will actually show up in Surabaya. So, this pair decided to fly in to Surabaya a day earlier. Just to be sure the ride was proceeding as planned. Until today, we remain unsure if they held hands when they flew in.
By 0400 hours, the herd started trickling in. Managed to get all the clowns checked in at the counter without much drama this time around. Gerard did his usual, he brought enough to go for a war tour in Syria. And have enough left to visit neighbouring Turkey if the war ended early. You can never be too sure or under prepared for any eventualities.
Up and away.
Day 1. / Surabaya.
Landed without any hiccups. Checked out and found Antony grinning at us. Indra came along smiling. Iqbal the ever so friendly driver stood alongside. Familiar faces all over. Even the airport cleaner looked familiar. Hello said. Hands shook. Bikes counted. Bags loaded. The usual nonsense. Phone card bought. Phone checked. Correct data and password given and shared. Password repeated out again. Most Facebook pages uploaded. Whatsapp checked. WeChat checked. Recheck allocated data for the entire 5 days. Password rechecked again.
Into the van we obediently rolled in.
Lunch.
First lunch in Surabaya was in this non descript shop located at the side of the main road. The herd walked in. Lady owner almost ran out. All other guest could only stare. Aaahhh... this is how it feels like being a Chinese tourist from the village. Noisy. Uncouth. Phone camera snapping at everything that moves or hangs. Touching everything within reach. Made a fuss about the heat and the toilet without aircon.
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| Sambal and Basil. |
Lunch done.
Towards Halogen Hotel to unpack the bikes.
Arrived Halogen and all hell broke loose.
Antony and crew must have had so much fun watching the circus come to town. Watching 22 chimps pretending to assemble their expensive bikes. Knowing none of them knows what they were doing. A few tried looking like they knew what was happening. Dotty stood there blinking at her bike. She was hoping the blinking would somehow magically convince her bike to assemble itself. Oily and Aunty13 decided to join the blinking party. Jowei took his bike out and started scratching his hair that he doesn't have. CT and VC popped their 4th can of beer and started congratulating each other on the job well done. Their bikes remained in the box. That can wait. Chill beer getting warm is improper. Sacrilege if you ask them. Heavens no..... We are civilized people. Please.Fong decided to go for a walk. Tailook tried to ask the driver for help in Cantonese. Manta was getting very windy. Aldrich continued smiling at himself. Tycoon and Desmond decided to stop whatever they were doing and come out from their shared room to come help by watching. It was utter chaos for an hour or so.
Bikes done and loaded. Now it time to head towards Malang. A 2 hour drive to our designated hotel.
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| Watch the finger. |
Arrived at Harris Hotel.
Our accommodation / drinking hole for the next 3 days. We somehow managed to sort out who sleeps with who for the next 3 days. Towards our rooms. Time to finally start drinking all the beer we pre-ordered. CT and VC started to work out a proper and systematic plan on how much time they have left to drink.
" We have 3 hours before dinner. If we stop talking and just focus on drinking. I think we can catch up on the the 2 hours we had to stop drinking because MAS says we can't drink on the plane. Let's go bro.... Come."
The troop met up for dinner.
Dinner was in Araya. Some posh restaurant located 40 minutes away. The ambiance and setting was perfect. We can't help but gawked. It felt like we were transported to the set of " A Chinese Ghost Story ". I was waiting for Leslie Cheung to fly past.
Honestly.
I thought i was attending a Tycoon's wake.
Dinner took about 2 hours. As usual, someone did not get his food. Someone needed to go poo halfway through dinner. Fong wandered off and got left behind. Dotty eating someone else's share. Aunty13 posing with every other table and chair she finds. Manta flew all the way to Surabaya, and opted to eat Chicken Chop. Tycoon couldn't figure out why the Bebek was the size of his apple. Tailook wanted Cantonese Fried Noodles. Aldrich stopped smiling at the red lantern.
The bill came up to 3 million Rupiah.
Thank god we have beer to calm our nerves....
Back to the hotel.
I don't remember what time we finished drinking.
Day 1 ends in a blur of shouting and someone getting left behind.
Un'believable.
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