A Quick Balik Kampung (1-3 February)

Last Thursday(31st January), DH, Aina and I made a quick balik kampung (going back to our hometown). There were a few things to settle and also it was a good chance to visit some relatives. We decided to go back last weekend instead of tomorrow to avoid the heavy traffic. Oops, I forgot to mention that starting tomorrow, Malaysia will have a long weekend, with Thursday and Friday being the public holidays for the Chinese New Year.

We left Klang valley soon after 4pm (we waited for Aina to come back from school at 4pm). We stopped at the huge Petronas petrol station on Karak Highway for meal and prayers. With DH and I taking turns in driving, we managed to reach my in-laws' place just after midnight.

On Friday afternoon, we (DH, Aina, pa-in-law, ma-in-law and I) managed to visit our son in Pengkalan Chepa. We also took the opportunity to visit DH's nephew, Dini, who had just joined a nursing course in a nursing colege in Pengkalan Chepa too. Being one of the few males there, e was quick popular among his collegues :-)
The college was having a "Bubur Asyura" (Ashura Porridge) event.




I was lucky to be introduced to the deputy principal of the college, Kak Bee or better known among the students as "Bonda" (meaning: Mum). We had a great chat while waiting for the asyra to be ready.

After getting some bubur asyura, we left for our next destination - Bachok, to visit Che Nah's house. Che Nah is ma-in-law's sis-in-law. Her hubby was MIL's only brother but he passed away a few years ago. Che Nah had just had a new grand-son (born to Epa and hubby) :

Muizz Irfan, is Epa's second child. Pic "pinched" from Epa's album.

We went to Bachok via Kota Jembal (formerly known as Kedai Lalat). Along the too familiar way, we have on previous trips noticed a very nice "house" on the left of the road, near the river. We decided to stop by and found out that it is actually a nice restaurant, as blogged on that day. I tried to send other "photo blog" from my HP, but the connection was not good enough :-(

We only got back to Ketereh (that's DH's hometown) that night.

The following day (Saturday), despite the persistent drizzles and occasional downpours, we managed to visit a sick relative, an uncle whose son wedding on 8th February we could not attend and an auntie who recently came back from Haj. All done by 1pm.

Aina couldn't resist "sailing" her boat

At 2.45pm, I was heading towards Rantau Panjang with MIL, Aina and Cik (MIL's sister). We had our late lunch there :-)

A pretty nasty accident on the bridge, just before Pasir Mas.

Even though we didn't have much time to really shop, I managed to get some slacks and t-shirts for Aina as well as a kg each of cashew nuts (roasted) and pistachios. I can't remember when was the last time we were here.. maybe 3 or 4 years ago!

On our way back, I also managed to buy some keropok (fish crackers).

By the time we reached home, I was quite knackered!

And the next day (Sunday) we started our journey back to Shah Alam at 6.50am, soon after the morning prayers. We stopped over at Su's place in Paloh, just 30 minutes before reaching Gua Musang. Su (MIL's youngest sister) cooked nasi dagang for us (breakfast). Yummy...

We reached Segambut (at BIL's place) to drop MIL and PIL, and had lunch there :-)
The three of us finally reached home at 4pm, just about 72 hours after we started the "Balik Kampung" journey.

terms I adopted from the SAHP e-group:
Dh = dearest hubby
MIL = ma-in-law
PIL = pa-in-law
BIL = brother-in-law
etc..