(Backdated)
I've been so busy that only after a week+ I'm actually able to blog about this. More about the busy period in the next post, but here's the lowdown on my experience to, and at, AFA MY 2012.
First up, it was supposed to be an 8-men skirmish to KL just for Saturday's concert (9th June). Planning and considerations started around a month before that and I was still undecided. Malaysia, especially KL since it's the capital, is getting more and more unlawful. Reports of daylight crime have been rising recently, and that scares me quite a bit. Thankfully, one thing in common with all the situations reported was that the victim was alone, or was alone with only one other person. An 8-men group shouldn't be too much of a problem, and we'll make sure we don't split.
Now I have a gripe with someone regarding trips like these that involve independence and important decision making — you cannot let yourself be controlled, or at least don't put up such a lousy fight. It's not the first time. This friend of mine pulled out last minute on us bringing our 8-men strong team down to a perfect section size. Well, no doubt he bared the cost since it was too late to cancel, but it's still not being thoughtful to the logistics of the group. Furthermore, I did forewarn him due to his "conservative parents" (that's the impression I got) that it's possible he might get barred, so make sure that the matter was clarified before committing! I don't know what happened, but it was more or less a repeat of a previous incident.
Anyway, so the rest of logistics went smoothly, and this would have been my first time with me being the only non-GEP in the group if not for another person who came along. I'm fine with that though. Due to timing issues, we had to stay over for 2 nights in KL in total. Fortunately, we managed to find a hotel that was right next to the convention centre where AFA was being held, so that meant +points for safety, +points for savings on transport, and +points for savings on time.
We took Grassland Express up to KL, and made one major stopover at a very familiar rest point. I had been there in Sec 4 on the way to LDP, and not much had changed since then. There was still Ramly burger being sold, and the ordering system from the other half of the food stalls are still the same.
Grassland Express, despite its name, is comparatively slow. Other coach buses were overtaking us along the North-south Highway even though we were doing roughly 100 km/h. I don't know why, but I guess it's safer if they went slower. Between time and safety, I really don't know which to choose. Both are equally valuable.
So we finally reached KL at like 9pm+. We started off around 3pm. So that's a full 6 hours wasted. Argh. And I'm told that in a car, with good driving conditions, 2 hours to KL is possible. Argh x2.
Still, despite reaching so late, we went out for dinner to.... Macs. Hey don't scoff! They had MC CRISPY!!! Yes. That "Fast Fried! Steam Marinated! For better tasting chicken!" thing from about 10 years ago. It still exists in KL (at least, until the end of this month). Oh, and then we still didn't want to sleep, so we played Tanto Cuore till 2am before finally deciding that we didn't want to be zombies the next day.