St. Anne's Feast
The Journey To Bukit MertajamFour days ago, I left Petaling Jaya at around 10.30pm enroute to Bukit Mertajam (BM) for St. Anne's Feast. The bus ride to BM was long (about four to five hours) and tiresome. As soon as everyone boarded the bus, we begun praying and singing hymns for a safe journey (stares at mom and gives discomforted face). I felt very odd, I know this is normal for every Christian group to do but I just feel like we should have stuck to just one prayer (overdoing things always seem desperate and hypocritical), we even said the
rosary (this is common la).
After awhile of restlessness, I finally fell asleep (rather uncomfortably). The bus made a few pit stops (to ease certain people's
bladders) at rather regularly visited rest areas such as at Rawang, Tampar ... bla bla !
Talk about coincidences ! I met all of my grandmother's neighbours and friends and my mum's cousin's from Malacca, all heading to BM too. So we ended up
chit-chatting with them for awhile. They had to leave first and not long after that, my group had to leave too.
At about 1am or so, I woke up from sleep to loud "Oh's!" and "Aahh's!". There was a red Kelisa in front of the bus, dangerously swerving from left to right, and scrapping the steel road dividers. The bus driver (Abang Kamal), safely kept his distance and drove carefully. As we reached a toll, the Kelisa cut through the
Touch 'n' Go line and rammed straight into the pole that prevents cars from passing through. Abang Kamal, told the toll attendant about the silly driver of the Kelisa. Not long after the Kelisa was freed from the toll, it sped off and we lost sight of it. However, barely 10 minutes later, we spot the driver taking a piss at the side off the road (everyone in the bus burst out laughing and cracking dirty jokes). After all that, the driver still drove fast and was swerving through the traffic like he was on a F1 track. That was the last straw for Abang Kamal, he called the police and not long after that, the Kelisa driver was apprehended.
Now, after all that drama, at about 2am or so, there was a motorcyclist with his wife, dangerously swerving on the
highway (seriously ! what is with all the swerving ?). Apparently, the motorcyclist was falling asleep, and his wife was trying to keep him awake (If your so tired, stop by somewhere la till you're ok la!). At one point, the motorcyclist swerved hard to the left, narrowly missing a speeding bus! Stupid people!
So much
Drama in one night !
The First Day Of My Pilgrimage to St. Anne's ChurchMy Group arrived in
Bukit Mertajam at about 7.15am. we first headed to the old church to begin our 'Way of the Cross' prayers. We were scurrying to all the life size statues to acually follow the 'Way of the Cross'. It was all over the Church's compound ! After that, my mum and I prayed in the old church and then headed up the hill to pray in front of St. Anne's shrine (it was not that high up the hill, but the steps leading up was too high from one another). Along the hill, was the old stations fot the 'Way of the Cross'. Any candles lighted will be put out within a minute or so to allow others to place their candles. In the old church, I met an old lady who asked for a box of our candles and was willing to pay with what ever she had in her purse. She didn't bring enough money to buy any candle so my mum and I just gave it to her. After donating some money to the church's fund, my mum and I headed for the Novena Mass. Then, just before leaving to have brunch in Penang, we bought a few religious souvenirs.
We all were left to find food in
Penang Road. Being that my mum has been there before, she took me to have Penang's famous 'nasi kandar' at a nearby restaurant. It was so good, but a little pricey. As we waited for the bus to fetch us all at an appointed place, I spotted a few fellow parishioners all from the Youth Club of Sacred Heart.
So after lunch, we headed to our hotel
'Tanjung Bungah' in Tanjung Bungah ! There was a jam, therefore, when we reached the hotel, all of us wanted to have a deep rest. When we finally reached the hotel, I noticed the people in the lobby were all rather muscular men. I turned to look at a banner hanging on one of the pillars in the hotel, the hotel was hosting the finals for a bodybuilding contest ! *smacks head* If three bodybuilders used the lift, no one else can use the same lift all together.
At about 3.45pm, after a long rest, some of us from the group (about 21 people) headed for the
evening celebrations in BM. This time, the church was packed as compared too in the morning ! I met up with my cousins and we all stood for the entire Novena mass at the corner of the left wing of the church. I met Priya and her sister Emma together with Emma's boyfriend Dennis (the youth leader). Somewhere in the middle of the church, I spotted Monica and managed a tiny wave to Stephanie. Sadly, after the mass, I could not take part in the procession because the bus had to leave at 8pm. The trip back to the hotel was a long one. The bus left BM at 9pm and reached the hotel at 10.30pm. By this time, my mum and I were dying of hunger. In the end, my mum and I had dinner at a nearby food court. The food was great !
The Second Day Of My Pilgrimage to St. Anne's ChurchWe were all awakened at 7am. My mum and I headed to the hotel's restaurant for breakfast, to only find that almost everything was almost gone ! all the bodybuilders had dug through everything ! I managed to eat a
pinch of fried mee hoon and fish sambal ! I mostly dug in later all the bread and jam.
A small argument broke out within our group. Some wanted to go for Sunday Mass, but as the priest said the day before, that there was no need for that ! So those who wanted to go argued with those who didn't want to go. I obviously didn't want to go ! I went for 2 Masses already !!! Anyways, to resolve the matter, the group leader declared that on the way back, we head to Ipoh for Mass in
St. Michaels.
So after checking out at 10am, we did some shopping in Penang Road. I bought so many cheap food and clothing !!! Then, I had lunch at that
'nasi kandar' restaurant again.
When we reached Ipoh, (by this time, my mum and I made a few friends already) the new friends, my mum, and I had a tea break at a nearby mamak stall. When the group reached St. Michaels, I was amazed ! It was very old looking and beautiful ! As we walked in, a strong gush of cold air brushed my face. It was fully
air-conditioned! The choir there was awesome too.
And after Mass, we stopped at
Tapah rest area for dinner at about 8pm. Seeing that the food court was extremely crowded, my mum and I had Dunkin Donuts for dinner. I finally reached Petaling Jaya at 10.30pm after the long long ride from Tapah.
On this day, about
11-14 people lost their lives, traveling from Ipoh to BM, because their bus over turned. May their souls rest in peace.
-conRad-
