Malaysian Golf Outing

Shoulda Stayed in Bed
It just wasn't our day. I left early in the morning from Serangoon with Ping-Ping and her friend MC towards Malaysia for a round of golf. We stopped for a quick breakfast at Toa Payoh and 30 minutes later passed immigration and customs on the Singapore side. We then drove across the bridge to Malaysia. First warning sign - I had to fill out a three page form but there was none being handed out until we arrived at the custom officer's booth - damn inefficient country. The customs officer was a young guy who looked through my passport and declared "nowhere to stamp." We blinked and looked over at him. "Nowhere to stamp." I was sure we had to turn around but Ping-Ping took over. She slid a 10 ringgit note ($3) inside the passport. "Not enough" came the reply. She then replaced that with 10 singapore dollars ($7.) "Not enough." Finally, she put in a 50 ringitt note ($30.) He somehow then found space to stamp.

MC was disgusted. Ping-Ping was just mad that she didn't have smaller riggit notes to bribe with - she knew she over-bribed and it bothered her. We drove for another 30 mintues into Malaysia to the resort. High on a wall were pictures of some Malaysian royalty. I wonder if a piece of all the bribes make their way to these two, like a Mafia tribute - they sure were dressed like that was the case.

The lobby was nice enough - a little dated, but considering you get a round of golf and a lunch for $20, there was no reason to complain.

I stepped out onto the patio to take a look at the course and was impressed. It was very well-kept and looked to have a lot of water obstacles, which I enjoy. "Do you think it is going to rain?" MC asked me. "Sure it will, but not for long." I answered. It was overcast and getting darker. Ping-Ping didn't bring her golf clubs so she had to rent a set. She also had to buy a hat since she didn't have one. By this time she was out of pocket significantly and was getting salty.

We were in the middle of the first hole when the sirens went off - we had to come back in because of thunder and lightning. We sat on the patio under the overhang - Ping-Ping and MC ate lunch. Within 30 minutes it was raining hard and not until 30 minutes after that could we go back on the course. All the while there was a constant rumble of distant thunder. On the 4th hole, one of our carts died so the three of us squeezed into one cart. Two holes later, the siren sounded again. We pulled over to the shelter and waited. 10 minutes. 30 minutes. 45 minutes.... It was 4pm already. We packed it in and left. We should have stayed in bed.