A very laksa weekend - part 2

Here’s part two. Will be a quick one as I am sleep deprived!

I got up really early the next morning. 430AM, pouring outside! Place was full of bugs, was bitten on my legs and arms, itchy bumps popping up all over. I searched my bed for bed bugs but I found none, no blood stains on the sheets either but I noticed some flying insects as they crossed the beam of my LED torch. Damn sandflies!

I couldn’t sleep much after that, found my two roommates sleeping out on the living room floor because they too couldn’t stand the bugs (or maybe my snoring scared them off?). :)

Proceeded into the kitchen and started to make breakfast at 5AM in the morning.  It was pouring outside, very chilly morning. There’s a mountain stream just behind the lodge and the sound of water thundering down was very loud!

I fried the mani chai bihun I meant to serve for dinner and had an early breakfast myself, sitting outside on the back balcony listening to the rain and rushing water, staring into the dark. It was very relaxing! I had two small bowls before heading back inside to try and get a bit more sleep.

A stream runs under this footbridge behind the lodge. Normally, the water flow is very tame, but that morning due to heavy rain, the stream was turned into a raging river.

Friends slept till about 7AM, then noises started to fill the lodge as daylight woke everyone up. We were all dismayed to find it still raining as we had plans to go hiking. I re-heated the mani chai bihun and served up breakfast, two big platterfuls for the hungry. Plates were cleaned up in no time!

A friend brought this sandwich maker which we put to good use! We made peanut butter sandwiches and butter tuna sandwiches. Would have loved butter kaya sandwiches but no one brought any kaya.

So while it poured outside, we sat around the big dinner table chatting and eating, sharing food each person had brought. My mani-chai bihun was long gone but there was plenty of sandwiches and snacks to go around, specially “imported” from New Zealand too! And chocolates from Korea and Japan and wherever else I forgot!

There was also a bag of fish keropok (crackers) which were round and oblong instead of flat. Friend said they looked like elephant suppositories hahaha! I got no photo of it, sorry!

Marshmallows and hot cocoa, English tea and bottled Diabetes (fizzy soft drinks!), orange juice and coffee… yum! But what messy eaters this group of people are! Well, you know what they say, if your dinner table isn’t messy, you’re probably NOT enjoying your food. Actually, I said that, there is no “they” :P

And so the waiting continued… rain and more rain. All we could do was talk and eat. We finished nearly all of the food! When it’s chilly and wet outside and you’re trapped indoors, that’s all one can do. :)

Fortunately, by about 1030AM, the rain stopped. We cleaned up the lodge, packed up our stuff and headed off for another mini adventure… hiking in the leech-infested jungle!

It was a really good weekend despite the incredible volume of water that rained down on us. It was one of many fun trips we often take as a group and I thank all of my outdoor friends for coming along and adding cheer to a wet and rainy weekend! :)