This year, it was Sitiawan’s turn for balik kampung raya haji. We saw Gnana and Iskandar there. Here is a photojournal of the vacation. I have included captions. Any questions, please write below in the comments. Thank you. You’re welcome.
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On top of spaghetti all covered with cheese
A list of our family’s adventures through this simulated universe. Strangely, this is represented by several methods. Firstly, my thoughts in words and then a host of two-dimensional images configured for the human visible spectrum. Finally the blog itself as a medium of information. Also, sometimes there is cake.
Photos from Irfan’s MFLS Week
Irfan was chosen to go to Malaysian Future Leaders School, a 10-day programme that was not unlike my own Outward Bound School programme back when I was his age. There were team-building events, kayaking (at Timah Tasoh), hillwalking (which is basically hiking through the jungle for a day up a hill), abseiling at the Kangar fire and rescue station (no pictures of that here), morning drills and a whole lot of other events. Here is a selection of photos that we received from his organisers after the MFLS programme on their Facebook page.
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Irfan Camps Out at Timah Tasoh
From last Friday to last Sunday, Irfan attended a uniformed bodies co-curricular camp at the Timah Tasoh camp. Each uniformed body from his school sent 10 personnel to take part in the programme. He was one of ten Scouts from his troop to attend. After the camp, Irfan told me there were physical and mental activities that he enjoyed participating in. Furthermore, he got to sleep in a tent with his buddies. Here are pictures of us sending him to the camp, and then picking him up after. However there was no photos of his activities as phones were not allowed during camp.
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Marching Orders for Irfan
This might be Irfan’s final year at Semsira, his secondary school, and mine as the vice president of the PIBG (Parents Teachers Association). I was invited to attend the school’s Sports Day and I took some time to head there before a class. I was invited to sit up on in the gazebo with other members of the executive committee. Later, I even bestowed medals to winners of some events. The parade marched by and Irfan was with his scout group at the back of the column. Ain moved closer to snap a photo. The effects of dry season is apparent from the brown grass on the school field. There were five Sports Houses in his school, namely Bendahara, Laksamana, Temenggung, Penghulu Bendahari and Syahbandar. Each were named after titles in historic administrative titles of the region. Addendum (March 9): During an annual general meeting, the PIBG was dissolved and […]
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To Sitiawan and then Home
And so it came to pass that our vacation came to an end. But before that, we had to depart from Nia’s house. There was a flurry of furtive but sad goodbyes. We headed north towards Sitiawan using the old road we used to travel from KL. I thought I would try using the back roads via Kampung Kuantan. Ultimately we stopped at Sabak Bernam for lunch. Ain drove the rest of the way to Sitiawan. That night Atok and Opah treated us to dinner. The next day we went to Lumut. There might have been a fatal accident at the Lumut junction near the local Shell station. The next morning, we had breakfast at the Padang Astaka of Sitiawan before we geared up and headed home. We bade Atok and Opah farewell and hoped they would come visit us soon. We arrived in Beseri just in time for the […]
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More of Melaka
After the zoo exploration, we left our fate in the hands of Ayah Cik Farid and family as we journeyed to further nooks and crannies of the state of Melaka. We had lunch and stopped for zohor prayers. Then, our next stop was the Submarine Museum at Klebang Beach where the Ouessant, formerly of the French navy, resided. It was our first experience in a submarine even if it was a decommissioned one. Ain tried to shower in the sub’s head. Meanwhile, there were also a pair of old military fighters parked as exhibits at the museum, an A-4 Skyhawk and an F-5E Tiger II. Irfan and Nia inspected the fighter’s undercarriage closely. Later, we headed to the tourist district of Melaka town. By this time, our cash and phone batteries were running low. I hope we are able to visit the Flora de la Mar Maritime Museum next time […]
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Zoological Exploration of Melaka
Today is not only my birthday, but it is also Federal Territory day. Kuala Lumpur day. Ayah Cik Farid and Cik Ma both work in Cyberjaya, so they both got the day off. They invited us for a drive to Melaka. Since they live in the south of the Klang Valley, Melaka is just a hop skip away via the highway. First, we went to the Melaka Zoo. The zoo impressed me because at some points it seems like we were really in an equatorial jungle surrounded by real foliage. There were areas that were landscaped, but a lot of the exhibits were designed around what seemed to be old jungle terrain. Although it was our first time there, Nia’s family had been there before, so they took us around the zoo on foot. We opted not to take the motorised tour because we would not have the opportunity to […]
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A Two-Day KL Reconnoitre
After the visit to the Translation Institute, Bazli and I split up. He would return north later that evening after the benchmarking, while I had more than a week left to my vacation. First thing the next day, we headed back to Nia’s place from Aiman’s place. Since we were early, we explored the area near their house and chanced upon something called MesaMall. However, it was not built upon a mesa. When Nia returned from daycare, Irfan and I introduced her to the Lion King. She was saying Simba’s name in no time. The next day, we had breakfast and then later headed to a newly-opened 99 Speedmart along the Salak Tinggi highway. Nia tried driving but she gave up as could not reach weapon and shield consoles. One thing I noticed about Nia was that she liked to perform acrobatics on my back like Irfan once liked to […]
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Chicken Stalking During Lunch
Upon our arrival in the Klang Valley for vacation, we headed for Nia’s house. We thought we would spend the night there as my work appointment in KL would not be until Monday. The night we arrived, a belated birthday party was held for the three sisters whose birthdays were close to each other’s. Meanwhile, the cousins quickly started playing together again. The next day, we went exploring at the nearby new mall that was opened a couple of weeks earlier. The Chinese New Year music were piped and decorations had been raised. I was sad that there were no good bookstores there. For some reason, my lower back also began to hurt. It was moderately painful when I shifted balance from one foot to the other. After the mall-walking, we went to the café along the country road towards Nia’s house, which had excellent nasi ayam. “Nasi ayam kukus […]
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Not Ain’s Food Truck
En route to Kuala Lumpur for a benchmarking assignment at ITBM, we stopped at the Ulu Bernam highway R&R stop where Ain discovered another eatery (closed, as it was already dark) with her name on it! As an aside, earlier in the day when we had stopped at the Gurun R&R for lunch, I discovered something unfortunate. I had forgotten to bring my wallet. So with Ain driving, we headed back home. It was three hours later when we passed the Gurun stop once again. What a waste of time. Oh, well…
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Ain’s Birthday Nasi Lemak
Earlier in the day, I had an idea and exclaimed, “Tonight, let’s celebrate your birthday somewhere amazing!” She asked, “Where?” I said with pleasure and pride, “The same place we had dinner yesterday!” So this year we celebrated Ain’s birthday at a nasi lemak stall in Kangar. We had dinner here yesterday. Ain had a nasi lemak paru but Irfan and I had roti telur. The sambal that came with the nasi lemak was excellent. Perhaps, it was too much on the sweet side. The moment went up to the stall to order a long line of patrons formed behind us. I was thankful we got there early. Soon it was over, because it was just a simple nasi lemak vendor which cost us RM13 including drinks. We will return to have more food there. Maybe tomorrow night. Maybe not. Happy birthday, my wife. You will always be nothing less […]
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New Glasses Pick Up
For the last year or so, Irfan was walking around with a pair of badly scratched glasses. Finally we had some money to blow on a new pair for him. We had decided to come to the neighbouring public university in the neighbouring state because I once spotted an optician’s office at the Varsity Mall there. It would appear we came to the right place as the cost of glasses here is less than half of what it cost in Kangar. Finally it was time to pick up the glasses. Unlike his old glasses, his new pair has ultraviolet filters. The shopkeeper even showed the filter working with a UV light source. Then we had dinner. It was not as crowded as when we were here before, presumably because it was examination season and a lot of students who completed them have headed back home. Then we headed home.
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A Long Way Since Year One
The new year begins with a new form for Irfan. The fifth form! Irfan has come a long way since his first day of Primary School, nay, from the first day of kindergarten! He has been through ups and downs. He has had many unforgettable experiences in school, both in Kuala Lumpur and here in Perlis. I pray for nothing but the best of futures for Irfan. May he have sufficient foresight and wisdom to weather the times ahead!
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Swinging Into The Spider-Verse
We went to the movies yesterday. Into The Spider-Verse was an amazing and spectacular effort in movie making. It has a well-sculpted story which juggles a lot of characters, giving each character (and not just any of the Spider-Men) a chance to shine. Also, the main characters are given a lot of set-up with entwining storylines which has big emotional payoffs. Some of the emotional payoffs also hit close to home. Although there have been many good animated comic book movies in the last three decades (Mask of the Phantasm is still a classic to me) this is the first one to integrate many physical idiosyncrasies of the comic book medium. Ang Lee’s live action Hulk featured comic book panels on screen, but it only served a simple purpose, i.e. show multiple viewpoints simultaneously. Into The Spider-Verse has comic book panels (with comic books in them), onomatopoeic text, thought panels, […]
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Not Ain’s Roti Canai Restaurant
We stopped at the restaurant in the photo above to get a teh ais ikat tepi on our way to my colleague Bazli’s wedding near Alor Setar.
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Cloudy Return from Padang Serai
Our return path from Padang Serai took us toward Butterworth, the primary population centre of Seberang Perai, the mainland part of Pulau Pinang. This was due to Ain’s love for Jeruk Madu Pak Ali which now faced the new Penang Sentral arcology. After acquiring the pickled fruits, we drove through the Pantai Bersih seaside highway. Dark rain clouds hung spectacularly over and across the waters towards the Island of Penang. They dared us to take a photo of them. So we did. Click on the images below to expand them.
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