Houston - The Day We Lost Dollars

“Yeay, shoppinggggggg! I tak kira, I nak shopping gegila! Dah datang jauh-jauh, tak shopping, tatau la…!”

And I really meant it. (You’ll see.)

After we get ourselves ready, we headed to the lovely red Pontiac Vibe and…

“Laaaa…pesal mendung je ni???” I sounded so damn frustrated.

“Kita gi Walmart dulu, beli roti ke apa-apa ke?”

We made a turn to Katy Freeway and went into Walmart open parking area. The rain started pouring down, drop by drop. We covered our heads with our bare hands and ran towards the entrance with displeased comment,

“Nape la building diorang ni takde indoor parking…buat la corridor ada bumbung ke apa ke…hish!”

Yup. Almost all less-than-5-storey buildings had no indoor parking, not even covered pedestrians being provided to shoppers.

We grabbed a loaf of bread, 2 packs of tuna and 2 bottles of drinks. Well, there were not many foods in HALAL logo on the racks.

“Take it and go!” like what Peter Russel always said.
“Wah, scan sendri, swipe sendri, bayar sendri?” what a surprise kan?
The best and easiest way of shopping, I must say. But it would be a hell of waiting if you were behind of someone who wasn’t on the run. Haha!

As you know, United States of America really encourage its citizens to use credit cards. Reason being? Easy tracking. (Too many lawbreakers kot. Ala macam dalam movie tu.) And you may give a jaw drop to the cashier if you pay in cash, believe me. Haha!

And so, hubby paid using his co. card lah. Plus, the conversion rate (dollar to ringgit) was cheaper at that time. (Setakat 10dollar pun nak guna card, pejadah ek?)

“Hmm…nak ujan ni, camne? Still nak pegi ke Forbidden Garden tu?”

“Dah ada dalam list, pegi je la…lagipun awal lagi…”

We later set the GPS to find the way to the next point of interest, the Forbidden Garden. Yes, we know, what the hell on the American land, you want to visit this Forbidden Garden that obviously not their original tradition, where we can experience it in China this coming July kan? Becauseeee, they had these Chinese imperial clay-soldiers exactly like what they had in Xian that we obviously WILL not visit this coming July. Period.

Along the way to the Forbidden Garden, we saw few elite housing areas, like cream of the crop lah. Super eye-catching! Same designs, different designs, one storey, two storey, pool or without pool, gated or without gated, they were extremely nice and pleasant to live in. Aww…(berapalah gaji diorang kat sini…)

“Alaaaaaaaaaaa…HUJAN LEBAT LA PULAKKKKK!”

We got confused few times with the directions, but finally managed to see the signboard of Forbidden Garden. The book said we should see a purple flag at the entrance, and when we lifted up our head, the entrance was closed!
“TUTUP? DAH LA JAUH!”

“Maybe sebab hujan ni, sebab tempat tu open air…takde building or bumbung langsung…” hubby consoled me.

“Kita gi Premium Outlets terus la…”

I smiled. I grinned. Like lil chucky, enthusiastically, waiting to kill his next door neighbor.

We quickly changed the GPS direction and chose Houston Premium Outlets. Got few locations in list, but the one that we chose was the biggest and best-est!

It was still raining…but this time, heavily. I looked at the back seat, no umbrella. (Ye la, keta sewa, datang skali payung ke pun…haha!)

“Camne ni kang? Premium Outlets tu dah la macam kat Phuket tu, kedai-kedai tak covered. Parking pun open.” Hubby described the crime scene.

“Tutup ngan jaket je la…” I planned the crime.

We looked at each other and continued the journey. We passed Walmart’s competitors like H.E.B, Krogers and Walgreens.

For another half and hour.

“BESAR GILEEEEEE!” I dropped my jaw when I saw how big the crime area was.

But the rain was tooooooo mad and poured even heavier. (Tak macam Taiping, dah hujan lebat, patu benti, dah la…ni lagi tak benti!)

We waited for a while in the car and had our lunch…bread and tuna, with SUPER YUMMY fruit punch in the bottle from Walmart!

“HAAH LA, SEDAP GILE AIR NI! KAT WALMART JE!” I stared at that 2dollar drink.

We waited.

And we waited.

For about 20minutes.

“Kita lari je la! Seriat skit kita lari…nak?” Kitorang dah tak tahan.

Yes, we did.

With jackets on head, 2 and half inches wedgie (tak tukar kasut nih), we ran towards the main entrance that showed big signage of Houston Premium Outlets and some of the branded names like Coach, Bebe, Calvin Klein and Burberry. (Tu baru empat ye…)

We squeezed into a very spacey food court area, where we can only get ourselves french fries, coleslaw, and whipped potato. (Sounds familiar huh?)
I got myself a pamphlet of shop list and marked those that I REALLY wanted to go in. That was the true way of speed-shopping ya (ahak, ahak, sambil mengangguk kepala dua kali.) Guess, Calvin Klein, Quiksilver, GAP, Tommy Hilfiger, and few other brands.

The outlets were divided into left and right wings, where each wing had 4 rows that consisted of maybe 10-12 shops in a line (ha, kali lah!). We started from the left wing and we decided to have a window-shopping first.
BUT WE CAN’T! THE DISCOUNT, MARK DOWN, PRICE CUT, WHATEVER U CALLED IT, WAS TOOOOOOOO IRRESISTABLE! (Masa ni tanduk dah agak keluar.)

I accompanied hubby into his favorite outlet, Quiksilver. I TRIED to find anything that suited me, especially the sweat suit from Roxy, but all of them failed to please me. Damn! I need one! I walked out.

“Ayangggggg…U KALAH! I DAH BELI DULUUUUUU!” I saw a very wicked satanic laughed there. He got himself a hat. A HAT!
I stomped both feet and went straight into Guess outlet and guess what I’ve found,

“Super low waist slim skinny jeans named MARINA! Fuiyo!” I didn’t know that Guess had my name on it.
“I must buy! I MUST buy!” I stared straight to hubby’s eyes. I took one and tried it, peeeeerrrrfect! Kihkih!
Hubby didn’t get his at Guess, so we moved on. Next target, Calvin Klein. Guess how many times I had to force myself walked into this outlet? 4 times! 4 TIMES! You know how big was the Premium Outlet? As big as Dataran Merdeka! (See how athletic I can be?)

It was all because of my DISABILITY of making a VERY good decision on which handbags, which purses, and which jeans I SHOULD buy!

I had to take both designs (2 pairs of handbag and purse) and placed them next to each other, and I even asked one of a shopper, a lady, which one looked better…and she chose the one that I chose earlier, which was totally not the other design that hubby chose. (See, perempuan and laki, lain taste ek? But I didn’t say that what he chose wasn’t tally with what I want, sometime, sama gak…)

“Err…that’s mine…”

“But it was on the shelf…” MUKA BELAGAK TAK PUAS HATI.

“Ya, but I’m the one who placed it there so that I have a closer look with another design…I AM choosing…” MUKA AKU LAGI TAK PUAS HATI.

“But I took it first…” SHE TOOK THE BAG TAU!

“NO, I TOOK THIS BAG FROM THE SHELF RIGHT THERE. SEE, IT MATCHES THE PURSE, HERE…!” AKU DAH BARAN!

Then she said “OK…” and wandered around.

I quickly took a pair of jeans, both handbag and purse that I wanted, and hold them close. Cipet nyer KELING perasan duk US!

I queued. Panjang plak tu.

“Where did you get that bag?” DIA DATANG BALIK!

“There…over that side…” I pointed my middle finger to her butt (tak lah hahaha!)

She went over and in few minutes she came back.

“I can’t find the bag there, not the same design.” Muka agak tak puas hati macam aku tipu.

Pedulik hape aku ko jumpa ke tak! “Gottttttt…they have another 4-5 bags, with the same design…”

And she went off. Kimek tul! I told hubby and he even swore nastier. Haha! Dunnow whether she got one or not.

But I PAID! (Padan muka aku!)
We went out, and in a blink, I found myself in a perfume outlet called Perfumania. (It was not in my wish list!) I was looking for Paris Hilton for quite sometime, but I was too lazy to go to perfume shop back in Malaysia. So I asked for Burberry and Ralph Lauren, both 50ml, WHICH was not Paris Hilton punnnnn!

The time showed 6.40pm and all outlets were about to close. (Houston Premium Outlets CLOSED at 7.00pm on weekend! BLEH TAK???)

“Dah, dah…jom…”

“Jap, try masuh Coach, tengok, murah sangat ke pun…”
They had this coupon of 40% discount on any selected items by Coach, but my instinct was right, I dengan Coach still tak leh go la. (I still tak suka design C C C besar-besar macam “mak bonda” suka tu. I’ll stick to “hati remaja” la ye.) Unquestionable, you CAN get a Coach purse for RM300 and THAT was f**king cheap la kan. Even Kate Spade pun tak dapat harga tu (not me, Deb, Deb).
It was getting gloomy and the rain still had it’s on and off cried. We snapped few pics and ran back to the car, and hit upon the highway, headed back to the hotel.

On the way, we stopped at IHOP, the only place that you can enjoy your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late supper…a.k.a, it operates 24hours la. This time, hubby told me that we didn’t have to share a plate, coz the portion wasn’t big.
So we had this delicious tilapia and side dishes with Cholula hot sauce (better than tabasco), where a Turkish guy who served us, identified us as Thais and Indos. At last, Asians huh! But we told him that we are Malaysians and he sounded quite familiar with the country…(name…haha!)
We went back to the hotel around 10.00pm and I started to put together all the things that I bought for a pose. Hubby need to get his beauty sleep, for he had to work the next morning. (See our lost down there?)
Me? I was hooked with “The People Court” and I tell you la, this real-life plaintiff and defendant, drop their case from High Court, face to face, accusing and defending themselves for an amount as less as 90dollar, and shall accept whatever the judge’s verdict! No juries! It was a hell of excitement watching people fought bout their rented apartments, cars, alarm system, fridge (fridge?), and such. We should have THIS kind of court in Malaysia lah! What say you? I zzzz…