Trip to JB ~ Day 1

Backlog entry: Our CNY holiday trip to Johor Bahru

This year the CNY holiday was a long stretch as Malaysia was on holiday mode from Saturday until Tuesday. Usually I would just stay in and do my usual house chores. And even if I become bored to death I would ask Uncle Din to take us out to Subang Parade. Sounds like a simple and subtle plan right? But that did not happen. Instead, we went to Johor Bahru to have our 1^st family getaway + visit Uncle Din’s BFF getting married.

Day 1

We embark on our journey early in the morning and arrived in Johor Bahru around 2.00 pm. We were supposed to check-in at Citrus Hotel located at Jalan Stesen. Much to our surprise this is not a hotel……….looks like a rumah kedai instead……….it is not a building by itself and it does not have a parking space. We had to park our car next door at Metro Building which charges us RM2 / hour. It was heavily raining when we had to walk from the parking to the ‘hotel’. Upon checking in, Uncle Din instantly asked me to check-in at another hotel. The hotel was kind enough allowing us to cancel our reservation and use their wi-fi for awhile. The best option that we had at that point of time was Selesa Hotel. So drove for another 20 minutes and thankfully Selesa Hotel was just nearby.  

I bathe Piya and pat her to sleep when suddenly I notice she was getting warmer. I chose to ignore it with the thought “maybe she’s tired…it’s nothing..” but things were getting worse after Maghrib. One of the obvious signs if your child is having fever is that she will be very needy and clingy. I notice this because she was throwing tantrums and became cantankerous. When Ayah placed her in his lap, hugging her tightly; she became calm and doze off. Without further ado, Ayah asked me to get ready and took us to find a clinic.

It was a disastrous night………..we drove for 2 hours and did not find any clinics operating. All were closed. Even the pharmacies were closed. What really upset the applecart was that It was only 8.30 pm and yet the town was ‘dead’……….this stupidity did raised my gorge………..my baby was ill and I could not find any clinics……. We drove through the night and passes by a hospital at Danga Bay. Ayah drove there and we took Piya inside crossing our fingers for the best. When we approached the counter, the officer checked Piya’s temperature and it read 39.1 deg. We were immediately asked to go inside the Partial Critical Zone where I bathe Piya with ice water. Piya was screaming and crying…….. poor baby.. Thankfully I brought fresh clothes and diaper along.. i even brought a pillow for her too. Later I shove a fever medicine into Piya’s anal and that helped to bring the temperature down…. We had a fast track number and was approached by a young lengloi / xiaojie doctor.. According to her, Piya did not get the fever due to tiredness nor rain. Instead she got infected from the babysitter…. Damn………..

The night ended with Piya becoming more stable. But viral fever works like that. You’ll be ok in one second and would be in high temperature mode in another second. We had room service twice that day and Ayah was worn out….. I ‘fainted’ on the floor next to Piya praying she would be fine soon…….