I drew the artwork above while in Sitiawan. It was the start of the second week of Ramadhan when we all drove to Perak for a long weekend to buka puasa with Irfan’s grandparents. Also, there was some business to be had in Ipoh with Wan Cu and family facilitating said business. It has been a while since we drove to their house in Ipoh from Sitiawan. I nearly got lost because the phone could not acquire the GPS signal long enough to tell us which direction we should take. But because of the ordeal we underwent, I think I will be able to remember it from now on. We left for home from Ipoh, heading north and parting ways with Atok and Opan at Wan Cu’s place.
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Comes A Nia Nia
Rania and family came back to visit us from Kuala Lumpur during the long weekend. We picked up Ayah Cik Farid and Cikma from the airport and had dinner with them at Kepala Batas. Nia Nia was asleep when she arrived, but woke up just in time for a meal. Nia Nia was still groggy from her sleep, but soon got her head back in the game upon spotting a cat and toddling excitedly after it. At home, Irfan began teaching her to operate his Rubik’s cube. Then suddenly there was a power outage! Thankfully Nia Nia did not give a crap. The next day, we went for a dinner at Kuala Perlis. We hung out at a restaurant across the road from the beach. Ayah Cik Farid showed Nia Nia the incoming tide, and she was impressed (and quite vocal about it too) with the rising tide and the […]
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A Vacation of Some Sort
And So It Begins The vacation began when Ivan came a-visiting from Petaling Jaya via the ERL. I picked him up at the Arau station and he gave me an early birthday present: the Rogue One Ultimate Visual Guide, which will eventually be its own blog post. Because of work, I had to spend the first day of vacation grading papers. But we did take Ivan out by the sea where we had some grilled lok ching and laksa. Gua Kelam With me on call for the grading work, we managed to take a trip to Gua Kelam. It was a work day so there were not many people at the park. Here are Ain and Irfan at the mouth into the dark tunnel of the shadowy realm. Once we got to the park grounds on the far side of the cave, Ain identified the spot where Irfan, Ayah Cik, […]
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16th Anniversary Dinner
Tonight is our sixteenth year together as husband and wife, so we took it upon ourselves to go celebrate with a dinner at a restaurant known as MaiCafe. As far as anniversaries were concerned it quite an enjoyable dinner and our second here in Perlis. I have said it once and I will say it again: I am blessed to have Ain beside me as a partner for 16 years. Though we began four years earlier, so this is actually our 20th anniversary together as a couple. Also, where would we all be without the presence of one Irfan Shafiq who is old enough to earn the Legion Flight Ring. Ain ordered her favourite meal, chicken chop with black pepper sauce. The portion was quite large that Ain was unable to finish it. Thankfully, Irfan was present to obliterate the chicken. Irfan’s spaghetti and meatballs were also quite delicious, especially […]
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Another Rainy Dinner by the Sea
In the past I have posted an blog article of us having an early dinner along the road by the sea at dusk in Kuala Perlis before. Again, it was raining but this time there was a spectacular sunset on display for us to view. The sun was about to set, although at first thick clouds over Langkawi Island blocked our view of it. Meanwhile the rain fell sporadically in fine droplets that we easily ignored. Irfan and I ordered the lok ching, which is various seafood and sausages on a stick, roasted over an open fire and dipped in various sauces. The sun revealed itself while the clouds arranged themselves in an aesthetically pleasing way for us to see. Other patrons of the roadside eatery walked into view on the wall of rocks that separated us from the beach, so I took a photo of them against the epic […]
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Misty Drives To and From Pasir Mas
Early Saturday morning we got into the car and headed out into the darkness towards Kelantan to avoid the festive season interstate traffic jam. As usual when even when the sun began to rise we were thick in the middle of mountain mist. The roads after Baling had pockets of very thick water particles which we had to dive into. Meanwhile, Rania and her parents got in front of us and reached Pasir Mas first. For two days, we played with her. She liked to hold conversations with us. I even babysat a couple of times her parents had to go downtown. Early Monday morning, we headed for Sitiawan. After sahur at Ayer Lanas, we stopped for Subuh at the last village after Jeli before the road went up the mountains again. The surau and its adjoining public rest-rooms seemed to be uninhabited and no other travellers stopped while we […]
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Nasi Kerabu: A Bus Ride Follow Up
During our bus trip over the mountains the other week, Ain made friends with a fellow traveller, a Kelantanese who lived in Perlis. She had a nasi kerabu restaurant in Kangar. That only meant one thing: we had to check it out. They only open in the mornings. When we were in Kelantan we were disappointed were unable to visit our favourite nasi kerabu restaurant there. It was a stroke of luck that we discovered one here in Perlis that sells delicious nasi kerabu comparable to the restaurant in Kelantan! We foresee many weekend breakfasts at this place.
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Bus Ride to Pasir Mas
We had an inaugural journey from here to Pasir Mas by bus. This meant I did not have to focus on driving over a long distance for the first time in a thousand years. This also meant I was free to take photos out the window as we trundled along the roads. It was a great experience. I have never taken an interstate bus since the nineties, in the days when I travelled from Terengganu to Sitiawan (or Kuala Lumpur) by bus every five or six days. As the vehicle barrelled southward from the bus station, I was amazed by the amenities available in the double decked transport vehicle. The seats were much more comfortable compared to the bus seats of old. Leg room were aplenty. And even better, we could recharge our phones at the power sockets. But enough about the bus, on to the pictures. There were numerous […]
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Boy Spells More Words
It has been more than a month since it last rained. The skies have been blue all day for weeks. I would gladly enjoy the view of the blue sky if it were not for the soaring heat. And it came to pass Irfan was selected to attend another Spell-It-Right competition in Kangar. He was apprehensive in joining company of English spellers for his school, but in the end he decided to jump in feet first. We braved the searing solar radiation to drive toward the hotel where the event was being held. And sear us it did. We thought we could take refuge in the hotel lobby, but for some reason it was still stifling hot within. Either the air conditioning was unable to overcome the heat radiating from hundreds of schoolchildren or the air conditioning was borked. There were three sessions: one for the primary students and the […]
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Rainy Dinner by the Sea
We cannot afford a lot. Most of our resources are currently being used to our debts collected while living in Kuala Lumpur below the poverty line. I even think twice refuelling the car. But one of my responsibilities is to ensure the family have fun. For many years, even when we were living back at the Tenth Floor, we all take pleasure in a good drive. We tell jokes, chide each other, sing along with the radio, make funny observations and try our best to make each other laugh. And we do. Laugh that is. It seems as if we laugh more here than we did back there. Weekends are when we take a drive somewhere. Sometimes when we drive somewhere, the time is just right for a meal. So we found ourselves by the sea in Kuala Perlis one dark, cloudy Friday afternoon after work as light began to […]
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A KL Incursion into the Caves
Then all too suddenly, we were visited upon by relatives from back in the Klang Valley, specifically Irfan’s cousins Aiman and Zara and their family. It was the first time they visited Perlis. As per the standard operating procedure, we took them around the state – the smallest in the country – starting with the bustling, tourist-filled bazaars of Padang Besar. Zara bought new a toy there. Ain brought them to her vendors of choice. The duty-free store at the Thai border is also a tourist favourite. Just as it was 25 years ago, I still wished Padang Besar had a decent book store, but I guess visitors here are more concerned with getting a good deal for wares rather than books. In any case, Zara got to ride in a duty-free shopping cart. The standard operating procedure ensured that we next visited Gua Kelam, where they appeared to have […]
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A Birthday Dinner Appeared Out of Nowhere
What words can I write that would do justice in wishing a happy birthday to a woman who has always been on my side through it all and still can smile and laugh with me? Probably nothing, except Happy Birthday. And sorry I forgot to take a photo of your burger. LOL! It’s as yummy as Irfan’s chicken chop up there.
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Yet Another Cousin Arrives
After our inaugural viewing of Star Wars The Force Awakens in Alor Setar, Cikma – who was very far along her pregnancy – was admitted to hospital for blood pressure that went through the roof. So first thing the next morning Ain and Irfan travelled to KL by bus to aid Cikma. But before their bus cruised into the city, young Rania Sumayyah was decantered into this world. Both mother and infant were healthy upon her arrival. Welcome to this universe, Baby Rania! Of course, Irfan is happy because he gets to meet with his cousins!
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15th Anniversary Pizza
Fifteen years since we that day Ain and I got married. We’ve had a number of anniversaries over the fifteen years. Fifteen years of juking and barrel rolling and Tallon rolling and drop kick Koiogran turn just to stay out of reach of blaster bolts from the rear. Sometimes, we would get it and it would hurt because it would mean I failed to keep my family from hurt and harm. Most of the time, we would pull through by the skin of our teeth. This was the first year we celebrate our anniversary without anyone attempting to acquire a target lock on us. It was amazing. I felt like it was the first time I managed to get the ship out of the asteroid field and away from the savage squad of pursuing fighters. We were able to spend some on pizza without worrying about the cost killing us […]
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A Bit Higher Than College Age
It is nearly impossible for me to form the words to explain and describe the experience of graduating from college with a Bachelor Degree in English Studies at age 42, on top of the multitude of experiences positive and negative I underwent in the last 25 years or so. I know I prefer to harp on the negative, but on the whole it has been gratifying. After all is said and done, I guess here and now having the family, friends and tools that I possess is where I am actually supposed to be. A big thanks to everyone that pushed me in this direction.
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We’re Not The Droids You’re Looking For
Irfan got a present from his aunt last weekend when two aunts visited. He got this great t-shirt filled with droids. There’s everything from the demolitions droid, some astromech droids, battle droids, a power droid to protocol droids. But there is no Bollux and Blue Max, sadly. So I too wore a t-shirt with a droid on it and took a photo of us. So we would have a photo. Of both of us wearing t-shirts. Of droids.
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