From Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok : Tales of Day 1

8th March 2008, a day anxiously waited by most Malaysian adults as it was the General Election Day. Everyone was eager to contribute their votes to the candidates of their choice, some wanted to maintain the political status quo, while some were eager to "make a change". Well, as everyone now knows, it was a change indeed, a change that I personally would not imagine could occur in my lifetime.

But 8th March 2008 was not only significant for the General Election, it was also a very significant date to the J&Fs Bunch as a whole irrespective of those who are eligible to vote or not.

Yes, 8th March 2008 marked the first day of the Bunch Family Vacation, a vacation that the Bunch had eagerly been waiting for quite a while now.

Our last family vacation was to Pulau Kapas last August and this time around, it's Bangkok, Thailand.

So of we went to Bangkok on that fine 8th of March 2008. But not so fast, it was Election Day, remember! And we can't just pack our luggage without voting first, can we? So 8th of March 2008 became a very busy day instead.

The day started with me rushing Mrs. J to TAR College, Setapak as Mrs. J is a registered voter in the Wangsa Maju constituency. After having breakfast at one of the roadside stall at Taman Bunga Raya, I left Mrs. J to cast her vote on her own conscience and proceeded to the office as I had pick certain documents relating to our Bangkok's vacation which I had accidentally left behind.

Though the doors to the office would normally be opened on Saturdays, that Saturday was very different. The doors to the office were remained closed with the person with the keys was no where to be found. After patiently waited till 10.00 am and later told that the person with the keys would only be coming in after casting his vote, I sped of to pick up Mrs. J back home in the hope that I could still exercise my votes too. I am a registered voter at Kota Raja/Sri Muda constituency.

But I guess luck was not at my side as time was working against me. Right after reaching home, I took Maal (our Pet Cat) to his regular "Pet Hotel", a place where he would normally stay whenever we goes out of town.

As arranged a cab taking us to the Airport arrived at exactly noon and so and off we went, to Bangkok without me ever able to cast my precious votes.
But our journey to Bangkok was really a bit "bengkok" (twisted) as the aircraft we took did not land us at Bangkok's Srivarnabhumi Airport but at Bayan Lepas International Airport, Penang instead.

Ha ha, it was not an accident but rather it was planned as such. Our trip to Bangkok was to be via Penang with a night spent there. The fateful night that saw Penang having a new government from the opposition camp, just like Selangor, Kedah, Perak together with the existing opposition held state, Kelantan.

While the whole nation was witnessing and following the unbelievable election results over TV, we were at Hammer Bay, a place near Queensbay for a special dinner together with the families of the in-laws.

While we were enjoying the food, very nice I would say, our topic of discussions couldn't run from talking about the election results of which SMSs had been spreading around saying that Penang had been captured by the Opposition Alliance of DAP & PKR.


But most importantly, that night was also remembered as the night to mark my 45th Birthday, celebrated about 4 ours earlier than the stroke of midnight of the actual birth date which is the 9th of March.

And the wee hours of 9th of March was actually observed by getting glued to the TV, jumping from RTM1, TV3, Awani and Bernama TV for coverages of the election results.

In fact I did not at all sleep until the next morning, Day 2 of our vacation to Bangkok.

Jasni AJ