Miri

 I drove mum and dad to Miri today from Brunei. Eldest brother helped me to get the pass to drive a Brunei car while being a Malaysian. Lucky thing is I don’t work in both countries.

Chaos but fun. hahaha. Mum and dad were fighting. I knew things but I guess just let it be. While driving, Dad said I am suppose to be the boss if I am the driver. I asked him where to go but he said anywhere because I am the boss since I am driving. He prevents mum from telling me what to do. After that, he himself making lots of comments. Hahahahaha. First, he asked me not to drive too fast. I drove a bit slower. Then he said I am driving too slow. Overtake that car. When I reached the traffic, he asked me to drive faster, it’s green! I drove slower. Partly, got car in front. Another part, traffic light should always drive slower. Who said I was the boss because I am driving… If mum said slow, dad say fast. When mum said fast, dad say slow. Anyway, he was trying to oppose what mum said. I knew it. Before that, mum said that road was bumpy so drive slowly. It was really bumpy and with lots of holes on the road. Especially the other side. You won’t see that a lot in sg but here, almost everywhere got holes…

73 years old mum and 77 years old dad. 36 years old me. Well. Bad combination. Mum got confused and also she doesn’t remember things. She is the guide. It was night time and both of them have poor eyesight. Especially at night. I think it is worse than before. Mum had been helping dad bath. Well, Dad used me as a leverage to tell mum things… hm…

We were suppose to set off at 12, then 2, then 3.30pm. I have been having sore throat. My throat were really really dry at night like 2-3 days ago. Then yesterday, I have runny nose. I told dad about it and he still asked me to go here and there. Today, my eldest brother said he is sick too and having runny nose. Dad asked him how he was and ask him to rest well. hmph. I sick no issue. Brother sick is different. hmph.

Putting that aside, eldest brother helped me make coffee in the morning. He got gadgets to make coffee. I think he has more interest in making coffee than the business. He doesn’t really have any interest in it. 

Dad’s car was really big. It’s like moving slowly but actually it was quite fast. I only know how fast I saw how fast I am reaching the bump.

Well, we managed to reach Miri before sunset. We went to Senadin because Dad said he wanted to go to the shop so that he can start calling my brother-in-law. In the end, we ended up spending an hour at the shop fixing it. Dad’s phone was dual sim and can be use in both Brunei and Miri but he doesn’t know how it worked. Actually it wasn’t the top up that has problem. It wasn’t the internet… Sigh. The guy who worked there wasn’t there. It was really tiring. His phone doesn’t work. Well, he didn’t want me to check it out as he grew impatient very soon. It was tiring when he did that. Only few minutes passed. He cannot wait. I went back to the shop and the girl ended up doing and doing over and over again and almost deleting whatsapp… Sigh, actually, it was the other side who doesn’t have whatsapp. His phone is definitely connected to whatsapp. The day before mum went to the shop to ask about her phone. She said she couldn’t seems to top up. I thought telco problem. She asked the telco how to check balance and the telco’s receptionist has excellent attitude. Not once did she sounded impatient and explained clearly. Provided the newsletter for my mum to refer to. She even asked mum if she understood and gave her options. Actually there are 30 dollars inside… The top up was successful. Mum didn’t understand the things she used to understand because she was the one who did for Dad when they were travelling back and forth Brunei and Miri. That was how I remembered 3 years ago. Mum is quite tech savvy. Now, wasn’t so much.

I asked her to tell me instruction like turning left or turning right. Dad would chip in but mostly to annoy mum… Mum on the other hand liked to tell me this place is what what what and what place is what what what. A lot of names. Miri has changed a lot. There were so many shops… I told them we should get back and drop our things first so dad can call then only then we figure it out how to solve his phone problem. I set mine earlier luckily. ReadyRoam comes in handy. 

Glad things were fine but dad grew impatient and mum grew impatient. Then me too. At one point, everyone shouting. I know them. Dad asked me not to say anything in the past but when it comes to complaining about mum of how she used to instruct him to drive and which direction. Mum was suppose to tell me direction but I think she panicked because it was dark. Glad that there was one time, I found a way to go the city from my Uni. Those road was still the same. :) We don’t have gps. I don’t even have a smart phone yet. My phone still those with no camera. I should have ask for more things. Well, not like I regretted but actually just want to squeeze the annoyance out. 

Finally, we reached home. The controller didn’t work. Mum said the gate’s switch was off. Including everything in the house… Need to climb in and turn it on. what???? We will need to borrow from neighbour. The neighbour, an uncle, my father’s age or younger, was kind enough to lend me the staircase. Mum said she can climb over and ask me not to. ????? In the end, I took the staircase, climb and jumped over. I have done it a bit better than I thought. Good that my legs and knees were in their best condition. Open the switch and mum called me to tell me where it was.

Helped Dad and everything moved from car to the house. Dad said we should go for dinner. After he seated down, he was tiring because he was shouting here and there. His hips were painful. He wanted to go out actually. Kept wanting to go with me and mum. I worried he couldn’t walk long and that will be detrimental to his hips especially the one not having operation yet while another still recovering after surgery but he wanted to…. Sigh. I think I thought wrong before this. He was the one who wanted to go out. Not mum. Mum wanted to go out but when we went out, I kept on buying things for Dad that I neglected her but she goes along with it. She wanted to buy things but every time after seeing the price she put back… Everytime going out to buy things always like that… In addition, my dad wants me to feed the fish and care for his plants. I don’t care about these things… He should be recovering and spending money on himself and getting better. Not these. The court case still up… sigh. Well, talking about dinner, dad said he wanted to check 4d. Dad then said he wanted to call her sister. Dad then said he wanted to check his phone on wechat… Mum was figuring the switches out…. Sigh. Then both of them said we needed to go out for dinner. It was almost 9pm then. Then Dad complained it was Mum. 😅 He was checking 4d lor. Sigh. Mum can’t hear me and Dad can’t hear me but my sore throat has been shouting and speaking out at the top of my lungs… that I think I will soon loose my voice. When we were out, lucky that there weren’t many cars. We lost our way again and again. Mum told me directions. She kept on telling what places it was as we passed by and I got carried away. It was dark, everywhere seemed dark. Reverse a few times… many times. We almost have no dinner but they let us have dinner. When we were gone, they quickly shut the door. I think they let us have our dinner inside because of my dad mobility. Thanks people. One more thing. Brunei and Malaysia normally people don’t say thank you. It sounded like an offence to some. After gone, I think it was night time and we lost the way. Driving further and further away… In the end, lucky I got map and my mum remember the house address by heart… Maybe should get her to remember more things or do more. Dad went home and said he was having tummyache. He needed to collect tool samples. Mum collected. Mum was the one who fixed things at home. I think the only thing Mum was bad at was teaching her children. 

We were back home safely.