Hari raya aidilfitri in Pasir Mas

Hari Raya Puasa 1444H

We departed home evening two days before Raya, and travelled our usual route over the mountains. We stopped for dinner at the Gurun rest stop. The food was not bad. Then Irfan pointed the car east and headed towards the mountains. We took our time. Irfan carefully manoeuvred us around a traffic accident site near Baling, then we stopped for a shut eye for at least over an hour at the Gerik junction rest stop. After sleeping I got some coffee and roti telur and took over from Irfan at around 3 am. We ignored the Panglima Bayu junction and headed for Tanah Merah. It was almost dawn, so we pulled over after the new elevated road for sahur. After that, Ain drove us all the way to Pondok Lubok Tapah. Then Raya happened – among other things.

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Hisham, Anya and Irfan at the table

Alien RPG: The Mei Mei Scenario

And so it came to pass Irfan and I tried a short, simple Alien RPG scenario for the first time when we were at Pasir Mas. Alien RPG: The Mei Mei Scenario Dramatis Personae Irfan plays Dr. Karmo the medic Anya – perhaps the youngest Alien RPG player in the world – plays Mei Mei the kid Mei Mei was alone, exploring the many dark corridors of the transport ship USCSS Anning Black. That was when she spotted seething dark mass in the shadows of the far side of the corridor. It was one of the alien creatures that had been let loose aboard the ship while most of the passengers were still in hypersleep. It began to creep towards the horrified little girl. She remembered the laser pointer in her pocket and how it used to distract cats. Then, Mei Mei pointed it to the wall beside the alien while […]

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Waiting on snacks and drinks in town

Two Cousins Doing Stuff

We headed back to Pasir Mas for a wedding the past weekend. Likewise, Anya and family also travelled back from the Klang Valley. With the looming threat of the virus, we decided to attend the wedding early before the bulk of the guests arrived. Also, we ate the food away from where other early guests were having their food. Additionally I did not take any photos at the feast. In the meantime, Irfan and Anya played together as cousins are wont to do. Here are some photos of them hanging out together. In other news we also visited Pantai Senok in Bachok, where Anya wanted to fly a kite. Here is the video of the occasion: We arrived home yesterday evening safe and sound.

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Pre-Aidilfitri in Pasir Mas

After our journey through Thailand to get to Pasir Mas, we finally arrived just in time for buka puasa at the dinner table with the family there. Nia and family were already there to greet us.

Here are some photos of the fun times over the days before we drove to Sitiawan for Aidilfitri!

Perak beckons.

Nia’s waiting for us at Pasir Mas

A Northern Route Back to Kelantan

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED. Yesterday, we travelled out of the country as a family for the first time. Granted it was only over the border into Thailand, but it was something that all this while was out of our ability to do for fiscal reasons. It was almost time for Aidilfitri and we drove from Padang Besar to Rantau Panjang via Thailand to reach Tok Bah and Tok Ma’s home in Pasir Mas! Ain did a lot of legwork done beforehand, getting the Thailand vehicle insurance and such, days before we departed. We mulled over acquiring some Thai currency although we did not plan on stopping anywhere to buy anything. However, we stopped at a currency exchange and converted some ringgits into bahts. It was lucky that we decided on it as we had to pay some sort of vehicle tax at the border. We used the phone’s Map app to navigate. […]

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Smashing

Nia and the Return Home

We had the opportunity to meet and play with Nia Nia again as Ayah Cik Farid and Cik Ma had a 24 hour or so overlap with our stay at Pasir Mas. The day before we had to depart, they arrived. She showed us how to draw. Also, she asked us to read Irfan’s old Hippo book. She especially liked dancing to the Mitchiri Neko toon on Youtube and picking out the odd cat out among the clusters of cute cat musicians on parade there. Irfan as usual was great with toddler-class cousins. Nia of course loved playing hide and seek at Tok Ma’s drapes in the living room. Later that afternoon, Nia Nia played badminton with her parents and Irfan. The next morning, we geared up for the return to Perlis. Nia played with her baby powder. She applied powder onto her cheeks and nose herself. Irfan gladly became […]

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New phone

Phoning It In

In the last month or so, the battery life of my Samsung phone which I bought over 2.5 years ago shortened and shortened. I thought it was bad when it only had an hour of energy at full charge. In the end it only had about 5 minutes of life at full charge. I had bought a fresh new battery when I was at Langkawi in July and clearly I was swindled. Physically, the phone looked like it had been beaten up by school bullies. The battery looked pretty chubby in the end. I needed to buy a new phone as mobile communications appear to be paramount at work. Thanks to Cik Ma, I finally got a new mobile phone as we rendezvoused at Pasir Mas. Even the photo quality of the phone is superb. Click on the thumbnail above to check out how luminiscent Tok Bah’s yard looks like […]

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Water's behind us

A Sojourn To Jerteh

And so it came to pass that Irfan, Ain and I took a vacation back to Pasir Mas, Kelantan. And during our vacation in Pasir Mas we took a sub-vacation south to Terengganu. Our primary objective was Kuala Besut, Jerteh. Kuala Besut was famous for its keropok lekor and other such seafood. For some reason, traffic was heavy. We randomly took roads that eventually led us to this keropok restaurant. Ain and I miss eating the Terengganu keropok lekor, which we once had quite frequently as I once worked in Terengganu. As we ate keropok and satar at the restaurant, the proprietors there were also processing raw keropok right there behind the sales counter. The raw keropok was then deep fried before being sold. For some reason, I did not get a photo of the satar, which I thought was more delicious than the keropok. Five metres down the road […]

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Three of NABO

Aidilfitri 2017 at Pasir Mas

Eid Mubarak from Pondok Lubuk Tapah! Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitir. Maaf Zahir & Batin! Our family were clad in blue this morning, as Irfan demonstrated in the picture above. I’m wearing my old baju raya from several years ago, by the way. Irfan with Ciksu, Ayah G, Tok Ma and Tok Bah. Us in blue with Ayah Long, Aiman, Mak Long and Zara decked out in brown. The following photos were taken by Ciksu: Ciksu could not believe Irfan’s height. A trio of sisters. The entire roster of people at Tok Bah & Tok Ma’s house during Hari Raya in a single photo!

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The entire party

A Send Off to Mekah

For the first time ever, Tok Bah and Tok Ma in Pasir Mas got the opportunity to go on an Umrah pilgrimage in Mecca. We drove to Kelantan to see them off. En route, we got to see a herd of elephants, pale and monolithic, at about three a.m. along the Grik-Jeli highway over the mountains. They must have just crossed the road as their butts were to us. No, we did not stop the car to take photos. Tok Bah and Tok Ma would join a group of pilgrims from Terengganu and be escorted by Ain’s cousin and her husband in their journey. Many came from Pondok Lubuk Tapah and other places to see them off at the Kota Bharu airport. Yes, Ain shed tears at the airport. Irfan should get to know his cousins a bit more. Though I think his extraordinary height (and his somewhat introverted demeanour […]

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Jeli mist

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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Rania with uncle

The New Cousin Celebration

I haven’t met Baby Rania since she was born, so after that bus trip over the spine of Malaysia we finally arrived in Pasir Mas for her aqiqah ceremony where I finally got to meet her. She is quite a photogenic lady, she is. See, she did not mind me telling her about Yog-Sothoth at all. Her cousins were all over her as she liked to babble to them in baby talk. During aqiqah day, all the cousins of the house were lined up for a photograph. As usual the older three cousins were together up to something. Mostly, playing games on the tablet… … or the phone. Irfan also fed Rania milk in a bottle. Rania glances at cousin Aiman, probably thinking why Aiman is not looking and talking to her. Irfan also meets his second cousin (of the same age) during tahlil ceremony for the late Pak Su. […]

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Sik, dude

Homeward Bound Over the Hills

Aidilfitri vacation was coming to an end. We left for home from Pasir Mas at 0430 hours and arrived at the eastern end of the mountain roads just in time for Subuh prayers. By the time we reached the Titiwangsa rest stop an hour later, this was what we saw while the cold winds buffeted us: We got one amazing view from the top of the hills as the sun peeked over the horizon. If only we could stay up there and enjoy the view forever. The photos here could not do justice to the view because of the low light conditions, as well as the sun coming up right before us. It was like the top of the world, with the layer of clouds were like a carpet of whiteness in the valley far below us and the only explanation I can find… We stopped for breakfast at Baling, […]

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Yay greenery

Hari Raya at Pasir Mas

This year I was able to take a full week’s vacation for Eid vacation at Pasir Mas. I was able to take a vacation because I had a job to take a vacation from this year, which is one of the many things I am grateful for this year. We arrived a couple of days early so Ain could work her magic in the kitchen. There was also a lot of orange soda thanks to Abang G. Eid was on a Friday. Irfan and I walked to the masjid, and almost missed the Eid prayers but got into the back line just in time. The first day of Eid there was curried-fried spiral pasta with rendang and ketupat palas. On the second day there was nasi dagang Terengganu, Tok Ma and Ain’s speciality, which was a favourite among visitors! Also, Irfan stunned everyone with his height. Irfan was ecstatic that […]

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Pasir Mas cemetery

Ya Seen For Nyang

Last Monday, Irfan’s only living great grandmother passed away. She was 91 and only after her death did we learn that both Irfan and his Nyang shared a birthday. We departed for Pasir Mas to pay our last respects to Nyang. Because of financial reasons we had never balik kampung to Pasir Mas in the entire year of 2014. For a moment we had to cancel the trip which saddened Irfan a great deal as he was looking forward to meet his cousin Aiman who he had not seen since we left Kuala Lumpur. Then a cheque cleared at the bank. Irfan read Ya Seen at Nyang’s graveyard with Aiman at his side. Tok Bah and Tok Ma also read Ya Seen for Nyang’s departed husband who Irfan never met. Earlier, Irfan and Aiman also taught (or attempted to, as time was short) their second cousins to play Uno. Needless […]

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Lubuk Tapah flood

Flood in Pasir Mas

The country was struck by extraordinary flooding last month and many states were affected. There was even flooding a few kilometres from our new place here in Perlis. But nowhere is harder hit than in Kelantan. Here’s the house back in Lubuk Tapah in Kelantan, although thankfully Irfan’s Tok Bah and Tok Ma were with us when this occurred. Although we were thankful that they did not have to endure lack of electricity and clean water during the disaster, they still desired to return to check on the house, but were unable to because of flooded and severely damaged interstate roads. The waters have since receded and they have returned home, departing from Kuala Lumpur. Cleaning operation of the mud deposits is still underway. We are grateful that the flooding in Lubuk Tapah is not as severe as the ones further inland where dozens of houses were completely submerged by […]

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