By Nicole Lee

Our annual getaway trip was upon us once again!

This year, the Alumni department brought our alumni on a memorable journey – a 2D1N stay at the luxurious AVANI Sepang Resort. Famed for its picture-perfect views of the ocean and impeccable service, the stay was to be the highlight of the trip.

All of us had gathered at SUSS at 5:00 a.m. to kick the day off, when, still groggy from the lack of sleep, we knocked out on the bus after our attendance was marked. It was a pretty peaceful drive across the border, and we met up with our respective tour guides soon after.

Our first stop was a quick breakfast at a nearby coffee shop. After making a beeline for the steaming hot food and drinks, we fueled up and got back on the road!

The first stop was Yong Peng’s Yoyo Native Food Products. A producer of an assortment of Malaysian and Asian snacks, Yong Peng was generous with their delicious samples and got our alumni all hooked at first bites. The shopping bags were piling up already!

What would come after a sampling buffet? A refreshing drink, of course! The second stop was at a local Dragon Fruit Farm. Our alumni tried the interesting drinks and explored the farm’s vast grounds after, snapping plenty of nature shots.

Our third stop was Arowana Malayan Food Industries. Here, our alumni truly went ‘insane’ with delight! There was a live showcase on the production of chips and crackers. Everyone tried the samples and rushed to get a bag of their own to bring home after. Some of the chips were almost 1 metre in length. I guess you can say our alumni went a little crackers over it!

Midday rolled around and it was time for lunch. We had a smashing meal at a local restaurant. The travelling distance between each stop was quite substantial so it was great to stretch our legs while tucking into a sumptuous meal! With fresh seafood and warm soup in our bellies, we hit the road again.

We were finally closing in on the hour to check-in! Our tour guide helped to distribute everyone’s room keys as quickly as possible so everyone could enjoy the view of the sun setting over the sea. Faith and I secured our keys last, and finally made our way to our room.

While the room turned out to be less fancy as the aerial shots of AVANI that we had seen, and the view wasn’t exactly unobstructed (we were caught between two terraces), it was still quite lovely. To be this far out at sea in such a comfortable room was indeed a treat for the soul-we were completely immersed in the quiet charm of our surroundings.

Our night was enlivened with one of AVANI’s nightly fire dance performance. It was quite spectacular! The fire dancers juggled and spit flames inches away from our faces. One of them was appeared to be a skilled gymnast, as he manipulated the flames into a hypnotic showcase. We didn’t even realise they had been performing for an hour when it ended. What a high note to end off the night with!

It had rained the following morning. Faith and I had slept in and were unaffected, but some of our alumni who had headed to the beach for a sunrise treat was instead got caught in the downpour. Poor things! Sometimes it pays off to sleep in 😛

It was a lazy Sunday for everyone so we had planned for a lighter itinerary. We checked out a quaint street where the famous Hai Yew Heng had set up shop. But the buns were sold out so fast that only a handful of us managed to try it. I was not the lucky handful.

One of the most raved-about stops of our trip was our lunch at Atlantic 1. The food here was divine to a fault. We couldn’t help taking extra scoops of everything from the rice to the seafood to the meats. And we had snacks just before this so it wasn’t the hunger talking – this was class A-star right here. We couldn’t have asked for any better meal to have finished the trip with!

We headed for our last dinner by the sea before heading back to Singapore. The sunset here was unforgettable. Our alumni whipped out their cameras and crowded around the best photo spot. Check out their shots on our Facebook album.

To conclude, it was a great trip! From the relaxing ambience of AVANI to the multitude of interesting pit stops to the spreads of delicious treats, our alumni had most certainly returned home with many more shopping bags and possibly also weighing little more.

Make sure to join us for next year’s edition! See you then!