A trip to the east coast : hunting for relatives...

One of the reasons we went back to the east coast was for my mother-in-law to introduce us to her long lost relatives. We joined the qurban in Lundang Paku where my husband's maternal grandmother used to live. So, with mak anjang in tow, we went to see my mother-in-law's cousins in Lundang Paku around 11 am.

Our vehicles... ours is the matrix...

We had breakfast earlier at the hotel...

The first house belongs to Pak Hasan, my mother-in-law's first cousin. He entertained us with stories of our relatives in Lundang Paku. And since they're preparing the ketupat for the aidil-adha, we were lucky to be the first 'taster' of the 'pulut'...hehehe. At first, I didn't want to take a bite because I was not overly fond of pulut (glutinous rice), but when I tried it, it was heavenly...sweet and lemak...So, we finished one whole plate... the kids were busy looking at all the animals around the house... they could see chickens, roosters, ducks, cats etc. After about half an hour, we started for the next house.

Pak Hasan, his wife and my sister-in-law...

We were served pulut, baulu and biscuits with tea...

Alia and afiq...

The person that we wanted to see in the next house was not there... so, we spent only about 10 to 15 minutes there. Just enough to shelter from the rain. Oh, yes, it was raining intermitently while we were travelling. When it rains, it pours... but only for a few minutes, after that it'll be drizzling lightly until the next pouring started.

Afiq and Natrah playing with Tok Ki'...

The next destination was a cluster of houses, where they're all related to each other and to us. We went to them all...hehehe. All that tea could make you want to go to the bathroom more than once...hehehe

One of tok's cousins...

Another cousin...

In one of the houses, we were served a delicious banana crisps (pisang sira)...freshly made...so delicious and crispy... we were even given some to bring back to the hotel... such hospitality will be remembered, insyaallah...

We were enjoying the banana crisps...old and young alike...hehehe

At the last house, they had prepared a sumptous lunch for us... there was such a spread, very simple but also traditional kelantanese food. There was ikan singgang, petai goreng, lada sumbat, telur masin, sambal and hot rice... It was really delicious...

The spread...

After the meal...

I was truly touched by all the hospitality shown to us... even though it was our first time there, we were received with open arms and served with the best that they had... I know that in this post, I highlighted the food mostly but I didn't convey the warmth of feeling that you're among your relatives, even though you hardly keep in touch but you'll always know that you have that connection, blood relation... sigh... I'm sorry, I'm feeling a bit nostalgic right now...hehehe... We went back to Kota Bharu around 4 pm.

A trip to the east coast : the first night...

When we arrived at the Grand Riverview Hotel at 5.30 pm, we were very tired and really in need of a rest. But the kids had different ideas, they were rearing to have fun...sigh... Well, it was quite rare that they got the chance to spend time with their grandparents and most importantly their cousins, Afiq, Natrah and Sofea...

Our 'stuff'...only minus the kitchen sink...hehehe

They were so noisy at the lobby...

It was prearranged that we would get connecting bedrooms opposite the hall. So, the kids had fun playing with each other. Finally when we (the parents) couldn't stand it anymore, we gave them permission to have a bath in the bathroom...at least we had 30 minutes of peace and quiet...hehehe...

Amir and Hadi, enjoying themselves...

Since we were still hungry, we ordered room service. Luckily we did so, because after Maghrib, my in-laws 'announced' that we we're going to Pasir Mas for a visit. It's my mother-in-law's hometown and where barely two weeks previously her older sister passed away. It was raining 'berek-berek' as the people from the east coast would say... It probably came from the sound of the rain on the tin roof of the houses...hehehe... well, that's my guess, anyway.

We arrived around 9pm. Our cousins just finished their dinner but we did eat sate, yeay! Parts of the house was also involved in the flood. When we were there, they were also busy trying to pump the water out...sigh... We met Mek Ma and family from Brunei, Ajis and family and also Mak Jak.

After that we went to see Kak Ana and family nearby. Kak Ana (my husband's cousin) used to take care of him when he was small in London years ago but we're still quite close... Even though it was cold and raining outside but inside, it was warm as we were laughing and busy catching up with each other. The simple hot tea also helped I guess... We finally bade our goodbyes around 11 pm.

A trip to the east coast : the journey...

On the 6th of December, the whole family went to the east coast of Malaysia to celebrate Eid-ul-Adha with my husband's relatives. At first, I was a bit skeptical because of all the reports of heavy rain and flooding throughout Kelantan, Trengganu and Pahang. But the day arrived and we decided to risk it. We started our journey about 7 am, early enough that the kids were still sleeping and still in their pyjamas before they were bundled in the car...hehehe...

We had our breakfast in Raub, Pahang. The place was packed with fellow travellers, most probably heading to the same destination like us. We spent only about 30 minutes in Raub and continue our journey at 10.30 am.

Aliah and her tok and her cousin, Afiq

The next several hours were spent in the car, we only stopped to answer calls of 'nature'... hehehe... It was drizzling and there were so many cars on the road. I could hardly believe it when at several points in the journey, we had 'traffic jams' in the middle of nowhere!!! Well, it was actually on the way to gua musang. Traffic was sometimes crawling. At one point, Hadi really 'had to go' and we had to stop at the side of the road for him to relieve himself...hehehe...

A view from the car...

I was so bored when I was driving (my husband and the kids were sleeping peacefully...cheh!) that I had time snapping some pictures... I was amazed when out of nowhere I saw this beautiful blue house in the middle of the 'jungle'... It must be owned by some VIP or even a local politician?!!! Wallahualam...

This is the beautiful blue mansion...

On our way, I could also see a lot of houses submerged in water. Pity... how are they going to enjoy their 'raya' when they have to worry about their properties and such?

A picture of the flood...

Another amazing picture...

But, I was uplifted with the show of human spirit when I looked at the 'situation' above... The stall was still operational and there was one customer (who to my horror and amazement?!!!) was enjoying his meal with his legs resting on the chairs...hehehe... who says we have to be in an ideal situation to live our life?!!!

After Krai, we stopped to have a late lunch (it was 4.30 pm) at the New Horizon Restaurant. I didn't remember what the food tasted like, but I remembered the feeling of extreme hunger... My goodness, we finished everything within 30 minutes... Licin-licau... hehehe... If you don't believe me, look at the pictures...

We finished everything...

The proof that we were starving...

We arrived at our hotel around 5.30 pm... More than 10 hours on the road... I could go to Dubai and back in 10 hours...sigh...what to do... balik kampung punya pasal...sigh...

I'm back in KL...

Yesterday, I came back from Trengganu, a day earlier than planned...alhamdulillah... We started our journey from Kemaman around 2.30 pm and arrived in Taman Tun around 6 pm. That would include our brief stopover at Kuala Kemaman tu buy satar and other 'fishy' stuff... hehehe...

I'll write about our trip to the East Coast in subsequent posts because I couldn't find my camera to upload pictures. I'm also on my way to KLCC to check out Kinokuniya and other shops...hehehe...So, au revoir!!!

I'm on the move!

I'm on the move!!! I'm currently in Kuala Trengganu. I've been travelling since Saturday the 6th of December. For the past two days I was in Kota Bharu, Kelantan... visiting my mother-in-law's relatives... The next few days, I'll be visiting my father-in-law's relatives... so, I'll update this blog when I arrive in Kuala Lumpur... so, see you soon... enjoy the holidays!!!

Super travellers...

As I said earlier, the kids were great travelers. They were so excited to go back to Malaysia and see their tok and tok ki (Hadi and Aliah). We chose the shortest transit in Dubai (only 2 hours) because we didn't want to tire the kids. It was a good choice because they slept on the flight to Dubai, woke up for a little stroll in the Dubai duty free shops and slept again on the flight to Kuala Lumpur... They went a little bonkers at the chocolate section in Dubai, though... hehehe

By the time we arrived in KL, they were really excited playing with their cousins that they didn't feel the time difference. So, they didn't have jet-lag at all, alhamdulillah... Enjoy the pictures of the kids.

All ready to go...

Amir and his orange juice... he was fascinated with that little slice of orange in the glass...hehehe

Amir insisted on interrupting Aliah's cartoon programme...

Amir's meal...

He was engrossed watching 'cars'...

Finally asleep...

The journey home...

We went to the airport around 5 pm on Friday, the 28th of November. The first song Haithem put on was 'Balik kampung' by Sudirman. I didn't know what hit me... but I felt terrible sadness... all I could think about was the line, ' semua sanak saudara menanti kepulanganmu nanti...dengan gembira'... It's definitely not true in my case... The person who would be there waiting for us at the airport was gone from us forever... I was on my way to finally see his grave... to finally confirm that he's not with us anymore...

There was a delay at the airport...administrative matters. We only managed to get into the lounge at Khartoum airport around 6.30 pm. The flight to Dubai was on time (8.10 pm) and arrived in Dubai around 12.30 am local time. I spent most of the time crying my heart out. I couldn't explain it, but the nearer I got to Malaysia, the sadder I became.

The flight to Kuala Lumpur was a little bit delayed, so we started the second leg of the journey around 3.45 am and arrived about 2.30 pm in KLIA. I only slept about 1 hour out of 6. I just couldn't sleep... I kept on thinking about Ayang... Apart from that, I didn't have any worries... the kids were great travellers... Hardly a squeak out of Amir throughout the whole journey...

We spent the first night at my in-laws in Taman Tun. They were overjoyed to see the kids and how they had grown. Finally I could eat something that others had prepared...after 8 months of my own cooking... it was heavenly...hehehe

Early the next morning on the 30th of November, we drove to Sabak Bernam. We arrived at the gravesite around 10.30 am. The ground was wet... maybe because it's been raining for days... I instantly knew where Ayang was, he must be near my father's grave... True enough, they're near each other... in fact, Ayang's grave was directly on top of my father's... There they were... all three of them... Ayang's, my father's and my mother's all in a line... in 18 years, I've lost 3 of my closest kin...

I recited yassin for my brother but I was crying non-stop throughout. I felt that the sadness was greater than when I lost my parents... Ayang was not just a brother to me... I've taken care of him since 1998 or him of me (this was definitely true...because when my husband was working outside of KL, he was always there to help me, with the kids especially...). He was more like a son to me and of late he's a friend, too... I kissed his tombstone just to feel that I connected physically with him... but foremost in my mind, I want him to be blessed by Allah... al-fatihah...

When I reached my relative's house, most of my family was there... We had tahlil for Ayang... It's nearly a 100 days since he left us... When they hugged me, the tears came freely... We didn't need to say anything, we just shared the grief... I've finally come home... where I belong... among these simple folk who shared my grief, without words...without explanations...

Hadi : The Tiger...

Yesterday, Hadi came back screaming for me from the door... He wanted to show his painted face...oooo... He claimed to be a tiger... oh, okay... and he was very proud of it too... hehehe... Aliah was a bit jealous I think... until I started taking pictures of Hadi... (by the way, he insisted on crouching because a tiger's supposed to be on all fours...oh, okay...). Aliah started to get into the ludicrous positions...play acting's definitely her forte...hehehe...So, enjoy... They had fun yesterday... Luckily taking off the paint was not that difficult...sigh...

Crouching tiger...

Up close and personal...

It was Aliah's ideas to role-play...

Amir was amazed...

Over acting was more likely...hehehe...

I'm just taking a break from packing...hehehe... We're going back this afternoon...yeay!!!

Countdown update : 3 more days!

3 more days to go back to Malaysia!!! yeay! This would be the first time for the kids and me to go back to Malaysia since we came to Khartoum in April. Believe it or not we've been here for 8 months...wow, we have survived living in a foreign country! And the kids are still alive even after eating my cooking for 8 months...hehehe

I think our family and friends back home would be amazed at how big the kids have grown. I truly need to do some shopping for their clothes in Malaysia...such a good excuse to go shopping...hehehe... but truly, they have outgrown most of their clothes, especially Aliah and Amir, they are literally bursting at the seams!

The kids are so excited to go back and see their tok and tok ki'. And they're looking forward to so many things in Malaysia. But, Hadi's looking forward to one particular thing... he's looking forward to buy toys... hehehe... I'm the worst of the lot...enough said.

Actually, I haven't started packing our clothes, yet. Maybe, tonight. I only packed the 'souveniers' for family and friends. We got the tickets about two weeks ago... yeay! And we'll be in Dubai for only a couple of hours... the shorter the better...hehehe...oh, another thing... for our neighbours in Tasik Puteri, the 10 kg of khoruf's nicely freezing in the freezer...hehehe

The e-tickets...

'souveniers' for family and friends...

I don't know whether I'll be able to blog or not in Malaysia, but I'll try my best ... I have so many things to do around the house like catching up with my 'hill' of unfolded clothes before flying home...sigh...So, what can I say... see you guys there!!!

A trip to Shendi : Frolicking in the sand...

My kids were so looking forward to go to the pyramids. The funny thing was Hadi, in his mind, 'pyramids' and 'Egypt' were the same thing. During the journey, he kept asking ,"Are we in Egypt, yet?"... sigh... how can you explain to an inquisitive four year old that Egypt's very far away. Till this very day, he would refer to the pyramids as 'Egypt'!

Anyway, when we reached the site, he was very impressed. I think it fits into his image of the desert... clear blue skies and orange sand... Anyway, Aliah and Hadi went for a 'slide'... it was fun although the heat was terrible... They kept on going up for mineral water...hehehe... Amir tried to slide but he was too small...

Hadi and Aliah...sliding down...

Amir...

When the heat from the sun was too much for them, they played with the sand under the shade. Amir and Hadi were thrilled to be able to play with the sand to their hearts' content... Just look at how they enjoyed themselves...sigh...

Amir was making a lot of noise...

They were happy...

Aliah was screaming...

They were playing with so much sand that it got into their shoes, shirts and pants. They left a trail of sand everywhere they walked...sigh... When we reached the apartment, I immediately ordered them into the bathroom. I had to spray all the three of them with water. The funny thing was, Amir even had sand in his pampers...hehehe... I guess the sand was so fine that it got into the crack in his bum...hehehe... Serve him right for playing too much with the sand!!!

Amir was one happy boy...hehehe...

A trip to Shendi : The pyramids...

When we arrived around 11.45 am, I saw a group of sudanese selling trinkets and stuff outside of the gate. We were too excited to explore the pyramids to take too much notice. The plague outside gave the name of the pyramids as the royal cemetery of Meroe. Fortunately, we have among us En. Razali who could speak Arabic (he was an ex-student of KISAS). The entrance fee was 10 sdg for adults, kids free.

The trinket sellers...

The kids trying to find shade...hehehe

The plague outside of the pyramids...

En. Zainal was a bit nervous when he heard En. Razali mentioned that we're an 'usrah'... he thought that we had to be involved in an usrah before going in... hehehe... En. Razali was just explaining that we're a family (keluarga). We were laughing when we went in but looking at the little hill that we had to climb, we inhaled deep breaths...

Picture taken about a third of the walk up the hill...

The kids were already half way up the hill, while the adults inch our way up...literally, okay?!! I was with Hadi, while Amir's with my husband. I discovered that I had to walk fast in order not to be 'swallowed' by the sand... Actually, I was too heavy to stay in one place too long...hehehe... We were breathless by the time we were up there. Discovered a shady spot and the ladies took advantage of some rocks to catch our breath.

Picture was taken from our resting place...

We discovered that there were many little pyramids, not like in Egypt... I guess the technology was adopted in Egypt in a grander scale. They even used Sudanese labourers to build the pyramids in Egypt. I don't think the labourers were all that happy to be the servants of the empire... hmm... I should have read more on the subject because there was no guide and no leaflets to tell us about the pyramids in Shendi. I wish there was a guide to tell us about the history, instead we literally just roaming around the area.

After a while, I decided I'd better explore the area also... well, I did endure hours on the road not to enjoy this wonderful remains of an era. It was quite hot and we were easily thirsty. Aliah had fun with her friends while the boys kept me company.

My husband and Amir...

Amir was very cranky because of the heat...sigh...

As a family...in the shade...hehehe...

Mas and me...relaxing while watching the kids play...

After about an hour, we went down where all the camels await us... hehehe. We were delightfully surprised that Hadi agreed to ride the camel with Aliah. I was also glad that each and everyone of us managed to ride on the camels. Even the XXXL among us could ride (that includes me...hehehe). I just remembered that it was very high sitting on top of the camel and I had a scary experience when I tried to get on the camel. It suddenly lurched forward and nearly stepped on Amir. It was scary alright!!! Anyway, we felt like travellers during olden times sitting on a camel... Those single status engineers were wearing jalabiya, so they looked the part...hehehe...

Aliah and Hadi...

Amir and me...

En. Zainal with his camel... hehehe

En. Zainal was the last one to ride a camel and he was unlucky enough to get a temperamental one. The camel was making a lot of noise from the beginning of the journey until the end... from the picture you could imagine the noise the camel was making...hehehe...or was the camel protesting under his weight...hehehe... jangan mare ye En. Zainal... nanti kena jual... hehehe

Suffice to say that we had fun. We were making jokes how P.Ramlee got it right in his movie (3 Abdul)... we even recalled some lines like...'tumpuk2 tahi unta...). It was true, there were little mounds of camel s*** lying around... hehehe. After that we went to Shendi to have a picnic near the Nile river but lost our way. When we finally reached the spot, the men decided that it was not suitable for the ladies (on account of the place was where the sudanese men took their bath in the river without a stitch on...hmmm... could have make a very good entry that...hehehe).

Anyway, we finally reached a shady spot under a huge tree to consume all the food...not that we could finish everything...there were just too much food!!! We even gave some to a few sudanese sitting nearby. The only concern during the whole trip was the lack of toilets. There was one at the pyramids but nothing at all where we ate. So, we just went back to 'nature'... hehehe... imagine what you like but desperate times called for desperate measures. We used towels and even mats to cover ourselves...hehehe...

I truly enjoyed the trip... the visit as well as the company... We reached Khartoum during maghrib... Alhamdulillah...