Stop! Hamper Time!

I must say that the number of hampers this year for the Rays was more than I expected. Last Chinese New Year was quite minimal, I remembered only getting a couple of boxes of mandarin. It was plenty more the year before.

But this Raya was nice. And as usual, Anita and the boys were the ones pleased.

That Yearly Event

Every Ramadan, the Cellsafe Group would have a Berbuka with the staff and this year it was right at the end of Ramadan. This year it was at InterContinental, a hotel used to be known as Niko before.

In fact this was the only time Anita and I had the berbuka at a hotel, something that we loathe to do. But being the end of Ramadan, it was not as crowded as before. There was no real jostling for food and there was plenty to go about in the end.

The selection was OK, but I remembered that it was a better spot during the Niko days when the tables were lined up up to the main lobby.

None the less, it was great company and nice food. But it didn’t change my mind about having Berbuka at a hotel just yet. It was just too much hassle still ....

The Drive Home

I was dreading the drive home for the past few days. When the day finally arrived, I decided the route to take with the help of one of my cousins. It would be through the new Lebuhraya Pantai Timur via Kuala Terengganu.

The drive was smooth once we entered the highway, but getting to the highway entrance was another story all together. We set off from Kota Bharu after dropping my father-in-law at the airport. We left at around 11, but only entered the highway just before 4 pm. The drive was horrendous. It seemed that there was traffic lights every half a kilometer and getting though the lights easily took 20 minutes each.

The powerbank was charged!We stopped for lunch at Jerteh as we were starving. Traffic was heavy both ways but luckily the boys were behaving themselves. It was just the sheer number of cars, there were no accidents and to be honest, they could do with less traffic lights.

Once we entered the highway, it was smooth going until we entered the Karak toll just after Bentong. The traffic piled up again and we decided to take the Janda Baik road, again reentering the highway at Genting Sempah. We finally arrived at Gombak at 8.30 pm.

I slept as soon as I unpacked at the apartment. It was blissful sleep until I woke up thie morning to send Idlan to school.

A Day of Rest

I had a good night sleep last night, dozing off despite the TV blaring away. The 7 hour drive up to Kota Bharu certainly contributed. We set off just after noon and everything was moving swimmingly all the way to Gua Musang.

In fact it took us only 3 hours to get there. But the drive from then on was a completely different proposition. Kuala Kerai to KB took almost 3 hours. So many cars ... and too many roadworks. The initial estimate of getting to the hotel by 6 pm was certainly an optimistic one. But a 45 minutes delay was. To too bad.

The day then kicked off with a visit or two ...We soon got settled in, went for an early dinner with one of Anita’s Aunt joining us. Not long after, we were back to our room, hitting the shower and soon enough, I was already in the bed. But not after getting some family Raya photos from the morning sorted out.

Woke up this morning fresh, got the boys sorted out and we down for breakfast at the cafe. Unfortunately, the place was already packed, and we ended up in the smoking section.

Irfan had something to tell ...The rest of the day went by pretty swiftly. I went to the airport to pick up my father-in-law who caught the flight from KL in the morning. Then we went straight to one of my Anita’s Uncle’s place for lunch.

I spent the afternoon having a walk into town but it turned out to be a boring one.

Not much else happening in town ...Most of the markets were still closed and the shops were deserted. The malls were opened but it was nothing special. I turned back to the hotel empty handed, with only 10 shots on the camera. Next stop would be taking the boys for a swim at the hotel pool, before another family dinner later tonight. Hopefully another early night as I got a long day tomorrow.

Raya came Calling

It was not going to be the same compared to the previous year. Ba was no longer with us. We spent the evening before at my Mum’s place at Bukit Antarabangsa welcoming some neighbours dropping by for takbir after the Isya’ prayers.

I woke up early on the Raya morning, and it was raining heavily outside, cancelling my plans to visit Ba’s grave. The prayers came after that, also at Bukit Antarabangsa. Ba usually manned the Zakat desk. Since he was no longer around, the Imam was there in his place. I took some time talking to him and everybody mentioned that they missed Ba especially during Ramadan when Ba helped to manage some of the Surau events.

Prayers and then a short tahlil. We were off after that.

More food at Mum’s followed by the obligatory photos. I then set off to Gombak to join Anita’s parents before setting off for my long drive to Kota Bharu after noon.