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.