Amin's Little Corner

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Day 7: Karak Highway, then Gombak…

Hase mentioned the fact that the day is Sunday, and it is the last day of school vacation (ala Spring break). Karak highway is usually packed during heavy travel days like this. I was least excited for the stop and go traffic at the insanely hilly and curvy Karak highway in the 5-spd green Satria that we're borrowing.

We left Temerloh ASAP for Gombak (at about 4:30 pm). Took the backroads to Karak town, and entered Karak highway…

PHEW, no traffic jam. Other than several 5 minutes session of terrential pouring of rain, road wasn't bad. Maybe there was a slight traffic jam, but nothing worth crying about. I think we got a good head start as people might be waiting until after Asar or even Maghrib to travel back home.

At Gombak (after exiting Karak) there was HUGE traffic jam going the other way - and thanks to the GPS it lead us through the innards of Pak Aa's neighborhood - bypassing all the traffic jam.

Random thoughts: GPS was invaluable. Anyone traveling needs one, the number of time it will save you is priceless. Just sometimes don't trust it too much as road signs are more often more correct than the GPS, but with the GPS you'll never get lost. We got Aishah's mom one… and Chineh ordered one.

We reached Pak Aa's place at 7:30 pm. Pak Aa and Mak Wan was out grocery shopping (and probably stuck in the traffic jam) - but the kids recognized us and let us in. Thanks! I gave the last matchbox car to Towfiq (sp?). When Pak Aa got back, we ate some good satay (again, sorry no pics) - and hooked up wifi on his Streamyx internet. This way, my laptop can connect wirelessly - and so can our phones.

Picture taken the next day when the others are at school

Blog Pak Aa and I created. http://gombaknews.blogspot.com/

After Isyaa, we logged in online and had a brief video session with ayah back in Indiana, PA. The kids had fun with exchanging teka teki with their Pak Long. My favorite…

"Kenapa anak babi tunduk bila jalan…?"
"…"
"Sebab dia malu mak dia babi…"

Lol, I thought this joke was a little too drastic myself… but they enjoyed it. Good grief, Pak Long…

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Hase's house in Temerloh...

2 carport (covered)

Master bedroom

Living Room

2nd bedroom

Hallway/2nd bathroom

3rd bedroom

Newly tiled kitchen/dining/3rd bathroom addition

View from the 3rd bedroom window

This is what RM100k will get you in Temerloh. Add RM15k for some renovation and you'll have a house good forever… It is located right beside a surau (small mosque) in a Melayu neighborhood… I'm jealous bro!

Monday, March 29, 2010

Day 7: Temerloh is the place to be…

After breakfast we went back to the hotel to shower and pack our belongings for our trip to Temerloh. We left Kuantan at abt. 12:30 pm to Temerloh. This time Hase took the backroads to avoid toll - and surprisingly it wasn't that bad at all. We reached Temerloh about 2 hours later.

Hase promised to take me to a place that served ikan patin masak lemak tempoyak. We went straight to an 'a la carte' eatery right away when we reached Temerloh that served that dish. The good ones are closed on a Sunday - so he said this is the 4th best one. It was pretty good, I can't imagine how good the 'best' one tastes... We'll leave that 'till next time, ok! Included are the dishes that we end up getting… It was awesome. Thanks yet again, Hase!

Ikan patin masak lemak tempoyak (Ayah's recommendation)

Paru-paru goreng masak pedas (Aishah's favorite)

Eggplant goreng

Ikan keli goreng and some ulam (Hase's pick)

Udang galah masak gulai lemak (tak beli, gambar je)

Ikan bakar (tak beli, gambar je)

Hase and Aatikah - and see the petai on my plate?

After lunch we went to the bus station to get Aatikah an earlier ticket to JB (4 pm). Hase dropped us off at his home and proceeded to send Aatikah to the bus station. Very good of Aatikah to travel to Temerloh every weekend - best of luck to both of them newlyweds! Hopefully her request to transfer to Temerloh goes through quicker!

Hase came back, we took some farewell pictures and left for Gombak.

PS: I left my watch after solat at Hase's house, but he was kind enough to ship it to me @ Kota Damansara - thanks again!

Day 7: Breakfast in Kuantan with Bro Zainal and family…

We (me, Aishah, Hase and Aatikah) woke up at about 9 am in the Tembeling Resort hotel. Abg. Zainal wants us all to have breakfast at Teluk Cempedak. We had some good Roti Canai, kuih2 and Nasi Dagang...

No pictures. We were too busy getting acquainted with Abg. Zainal, Kak Wati and the kids - that we forgot to take pictures! But here are the views from the hotel, ocean view, and the golf course that Abg. Zainal loves to play in (Kelab Golf Diraja).

The kids looked to be a lot bigger and older than what we remembered. They looked very well, too… We were so happy to finally see them again since the days at Penn State. After all they were the ones that hosted our 'Wedding Banquet' at Penn State back in 2006. Thank you for the great times then, and this time yet again…

Wish them all good luck and hopefully we see them again next time we're back in Malaysia.

Lucky cat...

This is the lucky cat that I got John - person I work with. He has a cat at home, and likes cat jokes in general. He was the one that showed me the cat piano youtube video. The Chinese writing on the cat writes "Millions and millions of moolah...". Haha. May it bring endless happiness to him.