Have you ever hiked to an interview? NO right? Usually you just take the train, or LRT or car or whatever transport there are to reach the interview place. But my interview place happened to be in "out of no where"
The story started when I received an invitation to attend an interview for a Research Assistant Position at Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies or CEMACS USM in short.
It was the 7th day of Raya so right after the trip from Grandma House. Mom asked me "soalan cepu mas" "Ticket flight dah beli belum?" Me ---> In shock
Guess what? I was so excited about Raya (first time Raya in Malaysia after 4years) I forgot to click "purchase" when I browsed for the flight ticket few days ago. So then Mom asked me to purchase the bus ticket, I told mom this "If i take the bus, I will get motion sickness then when I arrived at the interview place I will puke and be disqualified. Will you like that mom?" So without hesitation she gave me her Credit Card and said "Do what you must do".
I purchased the RM 200.00++ (stupid tax and all other extra expenses thing *curse3x*). Later that night Mom, Dad, little bro and Me went to My aunt house at Kota Tinggi for a night. I could not sleep that night, Mom was chatting with Aunty, they always do, I love to watch them chatting cause it shows how excited they are every time they met. I fall asleep exactly at 3.00a.m. Then Mom woke me up at 6.00a.m. Only 3 hours of sleep! I looked like a Panda no kidding.
(I'm skipping all unnecessary details, eg: check in plane, boarding bla2x)
Right next to my not so comfy economy class sit, two men in the age of 50 to 60 chatted and chatted and chatted. Usually noise do not prevent me from falling asleep but these two guys maybe just one of them happened to be a smoker who doesn't know that chewing gum existed (if you get what i mean). The breath!!! Stink so badly that my nose hurt, so I didn't sleep thanks to these businessmen.
After I arrived at Penang Airport, I took a taxi to Teluk Bahang, the cost? RM 85!! oh dear so expensive, but well worth it. The ride took about 55mins, it was actually a very interesting ride. The taxi driver talked so much about Penang; its history, tourism and place of interest. He was very friendly indeed.
As we reach Teluk Bahang, I was surprised to see that It was a dead end. No more road leading to CEMACS. Seriously??
Then the driver asked the locals, who told us about taking the boat ride, RM80 or you can walk for about 1 hour or so to CEMACS by trekking. Why on earth will I spend RM80 for a 10mins boat ride when my whole life I have been taking free speedboat ride? "Not worth it" I told myself.
He also told me that the boat from USM is coming in at 2pm, maybe I can fetch a ride with USM boat. That will take 3hours of waiting in the middle of nowhere. So I walked to the Customer service at Penang National Park Gate and asked for trekking details. The guide told me it will only take 35mins to reach CEMACS.
I looked at my baju kurung which was black in color, the hot sun, and my Aldo flats. I knocked my head twice then suddenly I'm already walking towards the National Park Gate. I guess my body had decided that we are going to walk to CEMACS, no hesitation. Then I changed into my Lacoste flip flop while praying that they will stay pretty until the end of the hike.
While I was trekking along the trail near the beach, I saw two mens fishing near the beach. I took some pictures, suddenly the branches moved. I was terrified, but curious, so I looked up and saw two monkeys eating fruits right above me on top of the tree branch. They are very friendly and cute.
At first the journey was very relaxing with small roads and bridge. Then after 10 mins, the trails became a little bit challenging especially to a girl like me who were at the moment wearing long baju kurung skirt.
I have to climb a little bit, then went back down a little bit, there were mud, I tried hard to step on tree roots to avoid the mud, It was hard but for the sake of the baju kurung and my flip flop, I did it anyways.
Not enough with the challenging 90degree trails, suddenly there were huge "batang pokok" HUGE really huge fallen in the middle of the trail, Guess what? I have to "langkah" or Jump or possibly turn back to where I started. So I climbed on the "batang pokok" and jump back down. Luckily I didn't fall, It will be funny if I did, especially with the baju kurung and all. At some point in the middle of the journey, I wanted to take off my long skirt. Don't worry I'm not that crazy, Of course I have a long sport pants underneath. But It will be rude and weird if I arrived at CEMACS looking like that.
After exactly 35mins, I reached a white sand beach with jetty and a gated building area. It must be CEMACS I told myself, so I cleaned all the dust, the fallen leaves and everything from my baju kurung. While one hand still holding my flip flop (I didn't realized it), I walked confidently to the gate. A man in uniform asked me this "Are you here for the interview ? The director will interview you at 2.30p.m.". I said yes and then he asked me again (while looking at my flip flop and my sand covered feet) "Adik jalan ke sini ke dik?" (ni mesti kes ingat aku budak belasan tahun macam pak cik taxi tu, ade ke pak cik taxi tu cakap "adik ni belasan tahun ni sorang2 nak pergi mana?" I'm 23 this year people!! 23!. I admitted that I hiked, he was shocked so he sent me to the cafe, and told me to rest there.
*numb finger* I'm already exhausted = you are reaching the end of this post.
In short, I was interviewed and had a tour at the facilities, returned to the port by speedboat with the director and another candidate. Had sun burn on my face. Was given a ride by the other candidate to the wrong bus station, bought the wrong bus ticket, had to take another bus to Mersing from Johor Bahru.
Special thanks to Fahmi (muzzer), Haris Arisyi and Shahrir for accompanying me that night and the Ikan bakar dinner. Thank you so much for saving me from the bus station. I slept all the way (9hours) from Penang to Johor Bahru. Also slept all the way from JB to Mersing. Had a stomach ache from eating ikan bakar. Thanks to you guys again :P.
p/s: I got the job!!! woahoo maybe the director was impressed by my determination *hiking in baju kurung*. She asked me twice if I really did hiked to the facilities.
Thanks for reading my lengthy post.
Night night peeps.
