What a weekend!

It was a long Saturday for us last weekend. Tiring yes but we ended it with something amusing... well, to the kids it was.

We had 2 engagement kenduris to attend to. One was my niece's & another was HB's cousin. The timing was not on our side though. My niece's at 10.30am & HB's cousin at 11am. Whereabout? One in KL, somewhere in Jln Ipoh & another in Klang. We also had a birthday party invitation at 4.30pm. Luckily it was in Klang too, a walking distance from HB's cousin's.

OK. After the meeting between HB & I adjourned, we agreed to go to both receptions. How? One would advantage having us at the the early hours (macam lah penting sangat pun...) but the other had to be satisfied having us just on time for meal... ;-)

We left the house at 930am. All of us, including Nadeen & my helper. Reached the first kenduri an hour after that. We witnessed the meminang (marriage proposal) & the bertunang (engagement). Helped ourselves for an early lunch & by noon we were back in our old MPV heading to Klang. The traffic was siding us though. When we reached Klang, the ceremony had just ended & guests were ushered to the canopy outside for lunch. What a timing ;-)

After our second lunch for the day, we rested at my PILs'. HB not only rested but slumbered away. I joined the postmortem members discussing the ceremony ;-) Merely a listener...!

The birthday party started after asar prayer. We were served curry noodle, the best in town. 20 minutes to 6pm, we managed to get into our loyal MPV & drove to my parents' in Keramat. We were putting up the night there. But the day had not ended yet. My SIL bought us tickets to watch a theatre.

Which theatre? The Children Musical Theatre - Sinbad! Hehehe... School holiday maa!

It was on the way to my parents' that I realised the attires that HB & I were to wear for that night were still hung at my closet. Great..! What we had in our weekend bag were only round neck T-shirts...

About an hour after leaving the birthday party, I dropped HB at the latest Aeon Shopping Centre very nearby from my parents' place. He had to get a new pair of pants as the only thing he had was a pair of his rugged, faded jeans.

At my parents' I managed to get hold of a BI blouse which I normally wore during maternity & loaned from my mom a pair of slacks. I looked like... a pregnant mom but with high-heeled shoes. Good that I didn't bump into anyone!

The show was surprisingly entertaining. Ok... have to admit, I did sort of doze off for a couple minutes. It was too long & it was a long day for me. The girls enjoyed themselves though. I could tell from the looks on their faces. Even Balqis paid full attention to the 2 & half hour show. The casts of 81 were all children except for 1 adult. Loved the props. The songs were not bad too. Thanks Inda for the treat ;-)

Thanks to Yasmin & Wardah for being the shield to my maternity wear.. hehehehe!

Wardah & her cousin, Nuryn.

Penang - Day 2 (26 NOV 2008)

OK, hope I have not bored you with the sequels of my recent trip yet. No worries... This is the final episode of Penang. To my new readers you can read the 1st sequel here & the 2nd here.

Now, back to the journal. The following morning we were supposed to start off early. The latest was 8am. HB planned for us to explore the Botanical Gardens before it got too hot. We however managed to get ready only half an hour later... With 4 kids on tow, a half an hour buffer was an accomplishment. No? Hehehe...

Surprisingly it only took us another a half an hour journey to the garden. I remembered visiting there as a child with my parents. What was still vivid in my mind were the monkeys.... It was my first close encounter of its kind!

We had breakfast outside the entrance to the gardens. Found a stall selling nasi lemak, tosai & chapati but no roti canai (it seemed that roti canai was not as common as it isARFs in KL?) My girls are not really fans of nasi lemak, unlike their papa. They could have opted for the nasi lemak but all came already packed together with the sambal (chilly paste). So, like it or not they had to try the chapati (tosai they tried before but didn't like it).

They loved their chapati as much as I loved my nasi lemak (sorry no pic of the nl... I finished it up in record time! Hahaha!)

And Nadeen agreed on how yummy the chapati was...

Once done with breakfast, we herded towards the entrance. The garden was not as I remembered. It was huge unlike how I pictured it. Of course my mind then was only focusing on the monkeys but as an adult I noticed the greeneries, the nature & the peacefulness. Peaceful? Well, only for a few seconds... "Mama! Mama! Look!" "Mama... what's this called?" "Mama... Mana monkeys ni?" "Mammmmma..." Quite familiar in your household too I bet ;-)

The lush green of flourishing vegetation.

As I was so captivated by nature, HB brought the girls down to this green field. They had fun running here & there whilst I chose to follow the trail down the hill & snapped snapped snapped.

A close up of the girls

Wardah volunteered to snap a photo of me & HB with the greens at the background ;-) Err... Wardah, what happened to the lily pond behind us?

We also found this brook.

I was somehow attracted to this plant.

A close up of the flower

The fruits. But I had no idea what they were.

A group of preschoolers had fun with the water nearby.

Balqis was in one of her best behaviours.

Again her T explained why... hehehe.

The long walk was tiring. This picture says it all...

HB piggybacked Balqis & at the same time pushing the stroller with Nadeen inside.

HB was leaving for another one of his mount climbing excursion in less than a week. Piggybacking the girls was somehow a good workout... Here is Wardah.

Next was Yasmin.

... and the most challenging but full with pleasures (just admit it!! hahaha...!) was this exclusive shot by Yasmin.

Done laughing? Hahahaha! We were almost hopeless looking for the monkeys which explained us monkeying around... hehehe. But! As we were leaving we found a group of them at the exit. Not friendly at all! Scared my girls off.

We had to check out by 2pm & it was only 11am when we left the gardens. Requested HB to take us to town. Wanted to buy some souvenirs & goodies to take home. We searched the map for Chowrasta but failed in a couple of attempts. Of course it was due to the infamous one way streets in Penang. But I managed to shoot this beautiful ancient Masjid Kapitan Keling. Sorry, lacked of sharpness. It was a quick stop in the car shooting this & forgot to change the ISO of my dslr. Grrr...

We managed to find Chowrasta after the third attempt. These were some of the pickles snapped.

HB & Wardah, busy making choices.

But Balqis just could not stand the smell... :-)

Nadeen? As long as her human bottle milk was near her... she had nothing to complain.

By the time we were done shopping, it was already after 12pm. We were in hurry big time! True that we were allowed to check out by 2pm but the flight was at 3pm. The latest to check out would be half past one.

Still HB refused to miss the chance to help ourselves to the famous cendol in town which was very nearby. Since we were in hurry & none of the girls including me was not really a big fan of this mouth-watering dessert, I told HB to order only 2 bowls. One for him & another for the rest of us to share. Normally the girls & I would take merely a couple of spoonful of the cendol & HB would clean it off for us. Not this cendol though. The best we ever tasted...

The girls & their cendol.

The superlicious cendol!

Wardah, slurping...

Balqis, having her share & Yasmin was rather impatient for her turn.

HB finished first & hurried to get our lunch with Nadeen. I rushed with the other 3 girls to our rented car once we were done. Reached the car in time with HB , Nadeen & our lunch tailing behind us. Once at the hotel room I double checked the ticket & the flight was really at 4pm instead of 3pm. Now... that was a relief.

By then it was almost one. HB packed up our belongings whilst I fed all the girls who were at that time done with shower (in the car I had already briefed the elder girls on what to do once we reached the hotel room). Through with packing, HB hit the shower & I had my lunch of Nasi Kandar with chicken earlier bought at Line Clear. Even in hurry & hungry I managed to shoot this photo. Hehehe!

Nasi Kandar Line Clear

It might look simple but the taste was beyond delicious! Once HB was done, I too had completed my lunch. Rushed to bathe Nadeen. Dried her up & passed her to HB while I took my turn freshening up.(Very systematic eh? ;-D) We managed to get ready at quarter to check out time... Pheew! It was fun rushing! Hahaha... The girls? They are used to it.

Since it was quite early, HB took his sweet time driving to the airport. We savoured our last ride in Penang. Managed to see the Penang Bridge in broad daylight, found Penang Free school & passed Penang Snake Temple.

The girls at Penang International Airport

HB - "Let's go!"

We were early. Right in front of the entrance to the departure hall, there was a McD's. The girls wanted to snack on ice cream & some fries. I'm sure I had written before how Wardah & Balqis were the best of friends but also the worst of enemies? Well, I managed to capture them in happier time & in mmm... not so happy moment.

Balqis here was given the honour by Wardah to be the first, shaking on her McShaker. But when Wardah requested for her share in shaking, Balqis refused & ...

this was the outcome of the incident. Hahaha!

I left Penang without a chance of eating the stir-fries, the rojak , the laksa, the nasi briyani... HB, at the last minute had to mention about how delicious the Char Kuay Teow was at a cafe next to McD's. With ice cream in my hands, we proceeded to the cafe & ordered one Char Kuay Teow for yours truly ;-) Anyhow, it was not up to my expectation. HB agreed. Must be a different cook... Just not my day.

The Char Kuay Teow

The girls in the flight back to KL.

Goodbye Penang. Even in such short time & missing the chance savouring many of the locals specialties... I gained a kg! And that stubborn 1 kg is still there... grrrr! My girls? They had a wonderful time. In this trip alone, they experienced 5 means of transportation! ;-D


The End.

Hari Raya Korban 2008

Today, in the Islamic calender is the 10th of Zulhijjah, the celebration of Aidil Adha. Also known to us as Hari Raya Haji & Hari Raya Korban. My family as usual celebrated it in Klang with my PILs. Like Aidil Fitri (you can read here), after the prayer & breakfast we would normally make a move to my grandmother's house in Rembau. Not this year though. We chose to stay as to witness the korban (sacrifice) at their place.

For my non-Muslim readers, I googled for the meaning of Aidil Adha & came across this good article by The Star. You can read here.

Though it was raining from early morning, everything went smooth just as planned. Alhamdulillah... It was not the first time that my elder girls witnessed such rite. However, then they were too small to understand. This time not only that they saw it but also lent a helping hand.

Yasmin & Wardah in their creatively made disposable apron. Thanks Aunty Adik.

HB at work.

They were briefed on what to do.

Once the meat weighed, they were to transfer in into the plastic bags.

Good work girls...

As Wardah put it, "Mama the meat was so soft...". Hahaha! Surprisingly, neither of them complained of the smell.

The meat was then distributed to the poor in the village & later that evening we helped ourselves to Sup Tulang.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha.