a weekend in PD

Attending conferences is not really my cup of tea but if the conference is held at a hotel by the beach, I thought, why not? Besides, I have no plans for the weekend. Might as well fill my holidays by doing something useful and beneficial, right? When I was invited to join the National Legal Aid Conference at Selesa Beach Resort, Port Dickson for a three day two night conference, I did think twice about it since none of my friends from the Fraser's Hill trip are going. But then I thought if I didn't join this one, when else can I join? When I start work next month, I'm gonna have to take a day off if I were to attend such program. Since it's on national level, it's a great networking opportunity because I get to meet lawyers and people from various state bar and legal aid centers from all across peninsular Malaysia. I need the contacts so that when and if I decide to open my own firm in the future *fingers crossed* I know who to contact etc. I also get to broaden my perspective on what legal aid is all about. So off I went on Friday morning. Took a lift with two other lawyers cum Legal Aiders from KL, Puspa and Nik. We reached PD at about 2pm and immediately check in. the conference started at about 3pm and ended at 630ish. after which, we changed and hit the beach. We didn't get to do much on the beach because it was already late. After dinner, there was the night session which ended at about 11pm.

On the second day, the conference was held throughout the day. The conference was, well, a conference. hehe. Our minds were already thinking on what to do at the beach so the moment they called it a day, me and my two friends Kamie and Farah quickly changed and hit the beach. First we went on the free horse ride which was totally awesome! I remembered asking mum where can I go for a horse ride in Penang and I never thought that I would actually get the chance to go on one so soon. The hotel gave the free service so we grabbed the opportunity. At first the horse was a bit reluctant to let us ride him but after much persuasion by the trainer, it eventually gave in. it even peed when Kamie went onto him. hehehe. After the horse ride, the three of us went on the jet ski for 15 minutes. Then we built sandcastle while waiting for the rest of the gang to come down so that we can go on the banana boat together. The banana boat ride was awesome except for the part when the boat men purposely 'drowned' us. We all fell into the water and I accidentally bit my lips and it bled. Boohoo. We then played in the sea until about 730ish before we went back to our rooms and get ready for the bbq dinner, which was held by the beach. The spread was yummy; we chatted and had a really good time. There was even a free flow of drinks. We wanted to dance by the beach but the hotel did not have a good sound system. How boring. Later on after eating desserts, Kamie, Farah and I together with Hidayat and Kiang from Melaka went to search for a place to karaoke. We eventually went to Corus Hotel which is a few minutes away from our hotel and we got a room for two hours. We sang like we have never sang before, danced like we have never danced before and basically we had a blast (which leaves us with sore throat). The karaoke session ended at 1am and we went for a drink at a nearby mamak.

We planned to have another go on the banana boat the next morning and had promised each other to wake up and give morning calls and what not but come Sunday morning, everybody was too lazy to wake up. Instead of waking up at 730, we woke up at 845am. the conference was supposed to start at 9 but we took our own sweet time to get ready because we found out the other senior lawyers were drinking until the wee hours and we figured that there's no way that they could wake up either hahaha. The session eventually started at 10am. So we were not late after all. As for the two guys, they came in at almost 11. The whole event ended at 1pm. we checked out, had lunch, said our goodbyes, took pictures and head home. This time, I took a lift from Kamie who sent me home.

It was definitely another great and memorable experience and not too mention informative. I am glad that I went to the conference and that I met some really cool people. Ok picture time!