Return to Padang Kota

After Carnivall, Julia decided to travel to Penang to visit our Grandmother, and we brought the whole troupe round. We reached there just before the traffic jam and had a quick stop at Pahang Road. Before Maghrib, we went to Padang Kota for a spot of laksa.

For some reason, the laksa was rather poor that evening. Maybe we ordered at the wrong stall. Even the pasembor was a bit off. But with all their cousins around, my boys were rather occupied with playing and never complained. A lot have changed at Padang Kota. It used to be a more open and happening place with food stalls lining up the streets. With Penang status as a Unicef Heritage City, there had to ‘clean their act’ so to speak and off went the hawkers. Instead, they were placed in purpose-built eatery, with the non-halal stalls occupying the front and prime end. A few years back, there were pickets going on, but it was quickly squashed by the politicians. The Malay politicians were busy filling up their own coffers I’m afraid rather than looking after the locals. Sad to say in it? I guess it was down to the pressure of getting more tourists in. The Mat Salleh of course like their drink.

However, the place has been much cleaner than I remembered although a lot more could have been done. A new pavement, more parking slots, cleaner toilets for a start I supposed. The boys spent the time at the playground until they were tired. It was not bad going considering they had been at the water park all day earlier.

A day of visits

Get up boys!After a long day of travel, a good night sleep can really do wonders. We got up pretty late the next morning, managing to head to the breakfast room just in time. The place was crowded and we had to sit out in the lobby, and the food was almost gone. We gobbled what we could as we planned to head out to Penang that day.

At the old mosque at the front of my Grandmother's houseFirst of all, we stopped by at one of my Uncles’ in Sungai Petani itself where we were joined by my parents. We then carpooled to the island, first stopping at my eldest uncle’s house at Pantai Jerjak. My cousin - his daughter - just had a baby girl. She was barely a week old. Well behaved. Slept the whole time we were there. It has been a couple of years since I stopped by my this particular Uncle’s house. After some drinks, we then headed out for some nasi kandar. To be perfectly honest, we were not really sure where to head. Some of the restaurants may be better avoided due to the holiday crowd. We settled at one o Penang Road. Not particularly good - Craven’s at Bukit Antarabangsa was much better - but enough to get by. Idlan refused to eat as expected but Irfan was really digging the pappadoms.

I don't like this restaurantI like this restaurantAfter lunch was done, we went next to my Grandmother’s at Pahang Road. It was the third day of Aidilfitri and most of my family has been around to visit. One of my Aunt was there, so was the Uncle from Sungai Petani. After a couple of hours, it was time to go. We wanted to stop by at another Uncle’s place in Seberang Jaya, but he did not pick up the phone. We were not sure if he was in. We headed straight back to Sungai Petani, got changed and went out again for dinner at another Uncle’s house in Kepala Batas - there were 8 of them from my father’s side, plus 3 Aunties. 

The boys playing with their cousinsMy grandmother's house is the one by the corner. Surrounded by high-rise apartments.The dinner was particularly good. Anita really liked the Raya cookies there. Apparently, my Aunt ordered them all the way from Johor. We hang around there for around a couple of hours before everyone getting tired. The day was done.

Selamat Hari Raya

Raya this year was kinda subdued. Maybe because because it was on a Friday. After the Aidilfitri prayers finishing just before ten, I was already thinking about not over eating because of the Friday prayers coming soon. That did not stop me from finishing the rendang and ketupat and the in-laws, before joining my Mum and Dad for more food. My sister had to travel to her husband’s hometown in Melaka soon after the morning prayers, so I rushed through for the obligatory family photos that morning.

Puan Anita putting the finishing touches on the bolognese

Then, I was back to Gombak, waiting for friends and relatives to come over. More TV and grumpy boys before Anita’s cousin came over later in the evening for dinner. What did I watch on TV? Well, I could not really remember since I spent most of the afternoon munching over the Red Velvet I picked up the day before at Bangsar! Super delicious!

We spent the evening packing since we were leaving for Sungai Petani the next morning. More about that later.

Sawah at 1Utama

Keeping away the pesky birdsWhen I was in the UK, during the cold o winter, one thing always kept me going. The decorations at the shoppings malls and around town centre during Christmas. There will be carols, Santas and the Santarinas of course, store fronts with gorgeous decorations. There were also blockbuster movies being released. All the TV programs will have special airings during these festive times. To cap it all off, there was the Christmas sale from Boxing Day onwards.

BubuI guess I was hoping for something similar come the festivities. The main issue with Malaysia maybe there were just too many celebrations for the malls to really invest in and make an effort to decorate their lobbies. There will be the Chinese New Year, Hari Raya, Deepavali and of course Christmas at year end. Last Raya, KLCC won hands down with Dato’ Lat’s effort. Chinese New Year, I must say The Curve had a really superb decor. I think this Raya, 1Utama will definitely win. For God’s sake, they brought in a whole paddy field into the lobby, removing the tiles and all. That was what I called effort!

On Merdeka Day, I had the chance to give it a visit. I was impressed. And judging by the number of visitors, plenty of people did as well. The children are running around. Family busy posing at the huts and scarecrow. Eager dads explaining what was on show to their city-dwelling kids. Some of which may never have been to a real kampung, let alone getting their feet dirty in the muddy paddy fields. One Dad was explaining his young boy how to use the bubu to catch fish. So sweat!

The floor tilings were removed, and the base was lined up with some plastic material on which real paddy were planted on a bed of soil. Some of it were already sowed, while the rest was still green. There was also a scarecrow, replica houses and some other kampung tit bits. I managed to browse through the upcoming programs they have in the days leading up to Aidilfitri. There will be demonstrations by real farmers, and other craft making shows. The programs were mainly for kids, and it was pretty obvious that the kids were enjoying what on show. It was a shame that I couldn’t bring Idlan and Irfan. I didn’t think they would have enjoyed the traffic and the rush coming in. Parking was already a struggle at 10.30 am. Imagine arriving there in the afternoon ……

Oh! So posh!

iPad? Rubbish bin?Brought the boys to Pavilion yesterday, since I had to hop round the corner to sort my credit card payment. Thought I would take my camera along to see what the decor was like there. Suffice to say I was disappointed. There was hardly anything, apart from a few decorated trees here and there. THere were not much in the way of Merdeka celebration either. Put it this way, the Ipoh Municipal would have closed the shopping centre if it were located in Ipoh - they insisted on all shops there displaying the National Flag - Jalur Gemilang - at the front of their establishment.

On the way back, I noticed that somebody just stacked away an empty box of iPad at one of the rubbish bins. A quick look around for cameras to make sure it was not a candid camera prank, I took the snap. Oh! So posh!