The Slight Wait

The poor bride and groom would have to wait an extra 45 minutes unfortunately as the Juru Nikah was stuck as another couple turned up at the Mosque for their akad. He had to delay coming over to my Aunt's place, but at least, we knew that everything was all set for the happy couple.

I got to the Aunt's place very early to accompany my father-in-law. The boys and Puan Anita were still at the hotel. They should be having heir breakfast by now, and would join us later.

So, with the camera on the ready, I wait along with another cousin of mine for the Imam to turn up. Tick, took!

Restoran Hover

Pronounced "Hoover" by the locals, this restaurant is one of the more famous one in Kota Bharu. Every time my Dad-in-law returned to Kota Bharu, he would insist on a quick stop there.

What is unique here are the fried quail and the fresh sea turtle eggs, Puan Anita's favourite. When she was pregnant for Idlan, she craved for that, and his brother had to bring a crate of eggs all the way from Terengganu for her, and she finished them in record time.

Another unique feature of the restaurant was the way the food was served and the bill was summed. At the moment we sat down, the waiters would bring all the dishes for the day onto the table. And I meant ALL. You didn't have to ask, everything would be brought over.

You would only be charged what you took from the plate - you would be charged on the whole plate of dish obviously. And it would take skill for the head waiter to sun the bill. He would come over, look at each of the plate, mumbled for a bit. Sepuluh riyal, sepuluh riyal, lima belah, tigo puloh riyal, tigo puloh riyal ..... right to the end until everything was counted. I suspect that we would have a different price if we were to ask him to count again. But that was part of the fun ....

How about the food? I remembered that it used to be a lot better before. But this things often do .... The novelty of the billing was worth the trip alone though ....

Pengkalan Kubor

After much discussion, we decided that it was best if I did the driving to Pengkalan Kubor, with Puan Anita, her parents, the boys and the maids. The drivers were left behind at the hotel, and they spent the whole day venturing around Kota Bharu, doing shopping of their own.

We set off early, and arrived at the Duty Free Zone before 11 am. Traffic was easy, and despite today being a public holiday, the place was still empty. Anita wanted to buy some presents for her cuisine for tomorrow's wedding, while I was on the hunt for some replica football shirt. The Spanish colors to be exact.

Unfortunately they only had Small and XL available, so I ended up buying some rugby jersey instead and some gym shorts. The maids were the ones doing most of the shopping. Our maid is finishing her contract in 3 months and would be returning for good, while her niece who works for my in-laws would be staying on. When we got back to the van, I could see some blankets and crockeries which she bought.

It was getting really hot by midday, and good thing that we got most of the shopping done by then. We headed back to Kota Bharu for lunch, and at my Dad-in-law's request, we went to Hover in town. More on that later ....

Day for Exploration

What's the plan for today. Puan Anita, her Mum, the maids and the drivers wanted to go shopping at Pengkalan Kubur. And if all of them went, and I wanted to follow, I'll probably have to sit on the roof. Looks like I would be missing out this trip. But that's OK, Puan Anita could do the shopping for the two of us!

I'll probably be hanging around at the hotel with my Dad-in-law. Armed with my X100, I think I'm going to take a walk, do a bit of street photography and exploring. That should be great .....

Let's roll!

The Friday Sermon

It was refreshing to attend Jumaat Prayers in Kelantan for a change. The mosque tended to be bigger. The crowd a lot bigger as well, but more friendly. The places tended to be more comfortable. And since Friday is a public holiday, there were less hassle and bustle.

But this entry was not about that, but about the sermon. In KL, they all to a certain extend tended to be political, or at least, you could tell that it had been vetted by somebody from the Government Office. They tended to comment about what the Prime Minister did the week before, or anything related to the current political weather.

I'm not saying that the PAS Government, or the Jabatan Agama Islam had no say about what the khatib said - the khatib today read his sermon from a piece of paper - but what was said was a lot more relevant. Something you could relate with.

For example today, the sermon was about the coming school holidays, and the importance to take the children out for holidays during the school break, rather than cramp them with homework, or put them in camps and tuition. Sound advise if I may add.

There was not a single mention about politics. Everything was positive, and polite. We could do with some of this in KL .....