My Penang Treasure Hunt Post...

Warning. This is not a food post. It is a post for my other past time, treasure hunts. For the n00bs it is not(!) mencari harta karun. Well of sorts, but it is a game where by you are tested on

1) Good navigation skills ( which i don't have )
2) Good deciphering skills ( which i am not too bad )
3) Good driving skills ( which i don't have as well )
4) Pretty strong command of english and the misuse of it. ( which i have !! )

2 out of 4 skills is pretty good. They basically get people in groups of 4, one drive, 1 navigator and 2 hunters. Throw you a tulip ( which is like a manual GPS - but tells you to go how many kms, turn which way ) to locate your clue. When you stop a location, you get a question in which you need to answer before you move on. So it goes. I have been doing this hunt for since 2005. My company has treasure hunts bi-annually and only this year i started to join external hunts.

So, as usual, this year, it's the company hunt and they have taken to doing 3 days and 2 nights hunts in various places of Malaysia. This year, we got Penang.

I must say this year, i opted to join a new team. My old team was Tifa, TC and Tifa's partner. Some how or rather hunts with partners are not my idea of fun. Why? I get uncomfortable if they are unhappy or there were issues between partners. Rule # 1: Hunting with couples can be a bad idea if they are the "explosive" by nature kind.

TC and I are hunt regulars already and this year we opted for FF and JS. I must say i needed a break away from the regulars just to get my pace back and find my mojo again.

I must say this was my most enjoyable hunt so far! :) It started out to be an amusing day when the Driver- called everyone at 6:30 at the designated meeting place going "WHERE IS EVERYONE??" Er... still asleep. My house is only 3 minutes from that place. *SHEEPISH laugh*

Then the Navigator- who was telling everyone the night before to be on time... was late. Hahahaha.. Her hubby sped away to the meeting point to deposit a very blurry eyed wife to us.

Our first leg was from KL to Tanjung Malim in JS's small Kenari. I drove a kenari before but some how being the back seat driver takes some getting used to. Would you know it, i also felt a bit LOYA on the drive. It was bumpy - because JS was speeding 0_o doesn't help that i need to read a piece of paper on the way there... Almost to TM, i felt my earth move... *plastic bag please*..... larkee no motion sickness.. sigh.. Once he slowed down i felt better... aiyo...

The trip to Penang was pleasant enough and the hunt organizers - gave us a Rasa Rasa Penang book on the first night with instructions " No dinner from the hotel, eat until you pop " ... Whoopee!! They learn their lesson in Melaka, so they just let everyone enjoy themselves.

Now one thing good with going with this 3 is, they are willing to try everything and do anything. No real preference so going with the flow with them was awesome. Some more FF is my best mate in the office, her eating habits and mine r not that far off.

However, disaster struck on the second leg. The night before, we reach the hotel about 11 ( er.. terbanyak makan and terbanyak pusing pusing kat penang ) so we had to park at the Rotary Carpark. Rotary Carparks are buildings with slots in which you drive your car in and then a machine moves it to an empty slot. The guard told us to park at the empty slot next to his guardhouse. The next morning, when we reached the car, JS's car got broken into. The #%^&* thief, took a pen knife and cut the rubber encasement from the right back window. Here is what he stoled:

* A tripod
* A bag full of empty papers.
* OUR TREASURE HUNT SHIRTS!! They were nice ones...
* 2 boxes of tissue... eh?

It kind of spoil the mood for leg 2 in penang itself. JS was pretty stressed out about the car and during the hunt we even had time to *Make a make shift window for the car * look for glass fixers. Worse is, i spent the most boring time in the Penang police station. It's boring because it is just very empty, no proper visitor chairs and the hall way makes me feel as if i am in a japanese horror movie... creeps .... or is not my imagination..... hmmmmmmmm

At the end of the day, we had results session, er.... and song competition. <> and lucky draw. Sigh... the same few teams won again. We got 15 place which is not so good either in 25 cars. Our points were pretty high, around the 149+ onwards. This is getting boring, the same few teams keep winning :( ... I feel like the Ferrari Monopoly in F1.

All in All, it was a good hunt, even though i did not win, getting 149 on my own with my team was something to be proud of. My team was AMAZED that i know songs of the 60's, 70's ... .... to them means ....i am old *sobs*

Well, hopefully i can hunt with this crew again :) The trip back was awesome as well, we stopped @ bidor for the famous Pun Chun shop! Ok... gotta go. Done with the hunt post. Will talk about the food we ate later.