I just hated last minute business assignment. Especially now that Mr. Hubby doesn't allow me to drive long distance alone. I have no problem travelling alone, be it driving or taking the flight, however now Mr. Hubby is rather paranoid, I can't explain why. Maybe it was caused by the 2 traffic summons I received due to speeding.

hahahah..

So, last Friday my customer confirmed that we're going to the production site (in Alor Setar) and start work on Monday morning. Well, that left me with only 2 days to plan for the trip. I made phone booking for flight ticket, went to collect it at KL Central, put some money in my Credit Card account and paid a quick visit to the gym (to ensure I was fit to travel? Hahahah)

Then, came the challenging part, getting a hotel room. Having not reading the papers or watching the prime news, I was so ignorant on the happenings in Malaysia that I didn't know there's SUKMA going on in Kedah. My goodness, I didn't get to book any hotel room. All the 2 stars and above were all fully booked, while the no-star ones only accept walk-in guests. It was so frustrating. Then I contacted my friends who work in Alor Setar.

Unluckily, one was on holiday at her hometown while another has been transferred to Perlis. My last hope was another girl-friend, but she was also not in Alor Setar... she's in KL attending a 3 weeks training. What a bad luck... *sigh*.

So, I just took the risk (and the possibility of having to spend the night at one of the mosques in Alor Setar), took the night flight and arrived there at around 9.15pm.

Once safely inside the terminal I started dialling all the hotel numbers I had. Out of the 4 hotels that accepted walk-in guests only, 2 were already full, 1 was not picking up the phone, leaving me with only 1 hope. Then all of a sudden Lady Luck was with me, the last hotel still had a few rooms left. Being the typical old-fashioned Malay woman I started having doubts. Hmmm... something must not be right with this hotel, why is it not full? Why was the receptionist sounded so eager to hear my voice? Is it haunted? Is it really bad, that not many people decided to stay there?

I pushed those thinkings aside after imagining myself sleeping on the carpeted floor of one of the mosques, or worse case would be having to sleep at the mosque's verandah.

So, I checked in and actually the room rate really surprised me. It was RM130++.... for a no-star hotel?

The room condition? Well, I couldn't find the right words to describe it... look at the photo of the 2 coffee chairs... hehehehe. It felt like going back to the 70s. It looked like the furniture were never replaced ever since the Grease Era.

However, I had a good night sleep. I set the alarm to go off at 7a.m, but at 6.20 I was already awakened. It was rather strange, I felt like somebody was calling out my name. I tried going back to sleep but I was already feeling fresh and ready to start the day.

Checked out at 8a.m, catched a cab and off I went to the customer's place.

At 2pm I was already on my way to the airport to catch the 3.15 flight.