Morning Stroll YouTube card

Morning Stroll Along a Canal

There is a slight rise from our housing area up to a tarred path. Apparently many local denizens of Bintong use the path for jogging and bicycling. There are paths on both sides of the canal. I think it is a canal because there is a water lock nearby. The morning sunlight did us good. In any case check out the view during our walk in the video which I took last Sunday, and only completed editing today because [sigh] loads of things to juggle. Yes, it was the Alien RPG session following this stroll that got me in the right leg.

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Dusun Nakawan

Brunch in the Hills

Technically, it was not that far up the hills. Dusun Nakawan was more like “deeper into the jungle”. By jungle, I mean land cultivated as a fruit orchard. It has been a while since we came here, once, to have a drink perhaps. So this fine Sunday, I thought we should revisit it… to have more drinks. Check out the video above for actual moving pictures of our visit there.

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The last photo to Shane

Good High Street Food Game

Earlier in the morning Shane: How’s the new house? How’s things? Me: Getting better. Street food here is good btw. Plenty of chicken. Shane: Good good. Me: Place I moved to has high street food game. Shane: Ooooh. If ya ever get down there take some photos for your boy   Later that evening… Shane: Awesome. Unknown to me at the time, this was to be the last photo I would ever send him. I wish I’d sent him more.

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Beside the house is a school

Moving Day Doesn’t Happen Every Day

After months of planning (and years of pre-planning, looking for a house) we finally moved yesterday. Thanks to Ain’s effort in looking for and finding a house that we could rent affordably, is comfortable and convenient for Irfan grandparents to move about and use the bathroom. The last time we moved was eight years ago. We have more stuff this time around. Because at the old house, there was a built-in bookcase, there would be less shelves for us to bring our books over. So I took my fair share of books to my office. This is the first time we live in a bungalow. Here’s hoping for a more peaceful life here.

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Under the nipah fronds and above a swamp

Cousins Passing Through

And so it came to pass that cousin Razlyn informed us that she was dropping by for a day stop. Her daughters Shahidah and Nabilah (Irfan’s cousins), Siraj – a boardgaming fan, and her were travelling down from Thailand. They were there for a quick vacation by train. Earlier today, they arrived from the train station by the rideshare service Grab. There was a period of reintroduction for Irfan and conversation, then we set a course for Nipah Klasik for lunch. We had more fun conversations about education and family stories and such. After that Ain and I drove Razlyn around to check out Kuala Perlis, Arau, the main UniMAP campus, then headed north to see our old school in Beseri where we both had spent two years there. After that we headed home for drinks and solat. Soon it was late afternoon and it was time for them to […]

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All in

First Visitors of 2023

Our first visitors for the year were Teik Sing, Michelle, Ashley, Emma and Ezra. Day One As mentioned before, Teik Sing and I have been best friends since we were 7 years old at ACS Sitiawan. Here we are decades later – with homes timezones apart – still being friends, talking about ideas and stories, old and new. I wish I had the resources to someday visit his home and talk shop there. Because Ain had to take care of her parents who had been visiting since last month, Irfan and I went to their hotel to greet them. Coincidentally we were using similar models of cars. First of all, we went to have some lok chin along the Kuala Perlis shoreline. We talked and the kids got to know each other some more. En route back to Kangar, we stopped at Kota Kayang Museum, but it was about to […]

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Hisham and Ain at Ana Burger

Year 22: An Anniversary

It has been twenty-two years since we got married. Nothing to report other than a family dinner. Earlier that morning we had breakfast at a new place that appeared from the abandoned site of an old. Located in front of a nearby orphanage, it has become our new go-to place for breakfast. Their nasi kerabu is delicious with a lot of very fresh chopped vegetables. That evening, we had dinner at Ana Burger. Here are the images of the event:

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Mokti and Lepak King

Kangar Jaya After Dark

Tonight we went to scout the new township of Kangar Jaya at Seriab. We stopped for some ice cream at Mokti’s Signature, located beside Lepak King. Sometimes (well most of the time) there are no messages behind my posts, just pictures which I thought are pretty enough to be posted.

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Nipah Klasik Youtube image

Nipah Klasik

We discovered this really neat restaurant recently. The eatery is nestled among a thick grove of nipah plants growing out of a swamp slightly south of Simpang Empat. Besides having food that we found delicious, the actual restaurant was built on stilts over the swamp. Visitors can sit at tables over the water. The water beneath is clean and clear. No bugs bothered us. Though there were some spider webs that Irfan kept his eye on as we had lunch there. Check out the video below for a walk-through of the restaurant over the swamp.

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21st anniversary 01

Anniversary: Year 21

For the first time ever, we celebrated our anniversary tonight at a hotel. Five years ago or so, I would have never dared to dream we could do this. In any case, it was the best choice as there was not many other patrons in the hotel cafe. Nothing much to report for the evening, other than the food was nice, the ambience was enjoyable, and I am pretty certain we can use the sofa set in the lobby to play role-playing games.

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Langkawi in the distance

Sunset During Pandemic

These days, after the car occupancy restrictions was lifted, we travel the state a bit for a change of scenery. This is not a big state so there are not many places to visit, but those we could does not disappoint us with the quality of their beauty. One such place is the the golden hour on the shore facing Langkawi Island. Also, we still wear masks as I do not believe in risking our health with the COVID-19 pandemic still hovering over us ominously. Click on the photos for bigger images.

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We wonder when the pandemic will end

Second Pandemic Eid of 2021

Sure, we had Aidilfitri a couple of months ago. Before long Aidiladha was before us. As usual we stayed at home. I imamed the Aidiladha prayers for Ain & Irfan. Ain made laksa johor with the help of my colleague Azreen’s pre-packaged spice. Ultimately we stayed at home and watched TV. (I put on The Empire Strikes Back for the most part.) And that was how we spent our second Aidiladha during the pandemic.

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Then we headed for Bukit Jerneh

The Outbreak Aidilfitri II

Previously, on “The Outbreak Aidilfitri”… It has been 12 lunar months since the last Hari Raya and now Eid has returned, just in time for another nationwide lockdown. So that means we are unable to balik kampung again during the festive season. We had actually planned to spend Eid at a hotel but I decided against it for safety’s sake. For both days of Eid, we went for drives all around the state, staying away from crowds and other humans in generals. Day One On the First Day of Hari Raya, we went to nearby locations taking family photos. We stopped near Irfan’s history teacher’s house because of the greening bendang padi there. The riceplants were starting to sprout at their tapak semaian turning their nursery plots green after a month or so of being mud brown. We also went to the Grape Farm at Sungai Batu Pahat. But we […]

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Home team send off

The Emptying of Nest Begins

And it came to pass that Irfan was accepted into a course at the nearby Polytechnic. For many weeks, we prepared for his going. Before long, we discovered that it was time for him to go. We drove him to the Polytechnic where he registered for his 2-week quarantine period. During this time, he would be living alone in a room with neither official activities not classes. Because entry protocols were strict, we had to follow the directions laid out by the security officers and the student facilitators. Even at the main gate, there were personnel in PPE taking our temperature from both sides of the car. The officers placed a green sticker on Irfan’s entry form which presumably meant that he was from the green zone. At his block, Ain had to ensure the facilitators that despite Irfan’s Kuala Lumpur identity card, we live in Perlis. The facilitators assigned […]

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Irfan and Anya with some wall critters

The Cousins at Kangar Street Art 2.0

Once upon a time, we posted a blog article about Kangar Street Art. Some time in the last year, they have upgraded the alley to Kangar Street Art 2.0. It looks much better now even though a lot of the previous murals have been replaced. Tonight, we visited the alley with Anya and family. Here are the photos of our jaunt. It was great to see the cousins Anya and Irfan have a lot of fun together.

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Irfan buys peas

Floating Market in Town

Earlier today, we visited the Floating Market in Kangar, which was located close to the Denai Larian in town. Denai Larian is what we called the River Esplanade in a blog post just after we moved to Perlis. Only once did we visited a honest-to-goodness actual floating market and it was when we chaperoned students to Songkhla How does this floating market rate? It was a pleasant place to visit. There are boat rides and food stalls; even picnic spots. At far end of the lake is a fishing pond.  Check out the video and photos below. Next time we visit we will rent one of the paddle boats!

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