Forty-Five Minutes, and a Different Pace of Time

Please click the photo above to play the daily videoSome days announce themselves as long before you've even finished breakfast, and this was one of them — in the best possible way. It started with the tail end of Argentina against Cape Verde, watched at a properly leisurely pace over a breakfast that ran considerably longer than usual. Cape Verde lost, in the end, but only in the strictest technical sense — a nation of a few hundred thousand people taking the reigning champions to extra time and very nearly further. They didn't win the match. They won a rather larger prize: the goodwill of everyone watching who wasn't Argentine, and quite a few who were. Football occasionally does that — hands you a result and a moral victory in the same ninety-odd minutes, and lets you decide which one matters more.

All that breakfast television meant rounds started later than planned, which had a way of nudging the whole day gently off its usual rails — no bad thing on a Saturday. Lunch took us to Melawati, and somewhere in the middle of it Anita peeled off to sort out an order of flowers, the sort of small domestic errand that keeps a household ticking along quietly in the background.

Then the real journey of the day began: out to Hulu Langat, to see Malis and Adri, friends going back to my Sheffield days, that particular vintage of friendship that survives decades and time zones with barely any maintenance required. Forty-five minutes by road, and yet it felt like considerably more than distance had been crossed. KL's hum gave way to something slower and greener — rural life proceeding at its own unhurried pace, entirely uninterested in whatever urgency the city thinks it's operating under.

I arrived tired enough to justify a short nap, which is one of the genuine luxuries of visiting people who don't mind you disappearing for twenty minutes. Afterwards, we wandered the orchard — two acres of properly fertile ground, durian, cempedak, rambutan, pulasan, banana, the whole generous catalogue of it. There's something quietly humbling about walking through land that productive, knowing exactly none of it required your effort. Just soil doing what soil does, given time and patience neither city life nor I have much practice with.

Dinner was cooked by Malis' mum, which needs no further commentary beyond saying it was the kind of meal that makes restaurant food look slightly try-hard by comparison.

On the way home we stopped at the Ampang vantage point, and Kuala Lumpur laid itself out below in a way that made the whole return journey worth it on its own — the city looking, from that particular distance, considerably calmer than it ever behaves up close.

Home now, properly tired, the good kind, and ready for bed rather sooner than usual.

Day Trip to Melaka

We reached Melaka just before 11, stopping for breakfast in Nilai R&R and was treated to some delightful nasi lemak at one of the stalls. We didn’t realise how gorgeous it was. Traffic was a breeze and we could’ve reached Dataran Pahlawan much earlier if not for the crazy number of traffic lights between Ayer Keroh and Bandar Melaka. It was borderline ridiculous!

Parked our car, and then walked to Jonker Street. Anita was more interested to explore the nice little hotels and B&B they had scattered around the area. None of which actually offered much parking spot! I snapped the photos away and the weather was really great. In fact it was too warm and we decided to have an early lunch and rehydrate ourselves.

We couldn’t find many outlets around there that we were sure as Halal, so we settled for the comfort of Hard Rock Cafe. While we were dining and enjoying the drinks, we heard some thunder coming from outside.

We couldn’t believe it! It was raining cats and dogs. And that went on until about 2 pm. It was still drizzling after that. We had a choice to make then. Should we brave the drizzle and go deeper into Jonker Street taking the risk that it may be raining heavier later. Or head back to the car and enjoy a quiet drive back to KL.

We decided for the latter, and drove past Sungai Udang - towards the entrance of Kem Terendak. We stopped at Klebang along the way for a touch of coconut shake. No time to break at Sungai Udang as Idlan had called my handphone as soon as arrived home!

The traffic coming back was heavier as it started raining when we reached Sungai Besi. A nice outing, but shame about the rain though. We could’ve spend a bit more time looking at stuffs for the apartment .... May be next time!

Overnight in Penang

After clinic on Saturday, I took a drive - a long one - up North to Penang. There is a conference session I plan to attend there on Sunday morning, hence a quick drive up, attend the sessions then drive back home the next afternoon after lunch. Luckily I cancelled my Monday clinic, so as to have some recovery time before beginning the week in full swing.

But the sessions were great. I had the chance to explore the hotel after breakfast, before the talks begin. The hotel was built in the 80s and it was obviously so. It reminded me of Equatorial Penang where I stayed when I was sending my Aunt off to Mecca last year. It was from the same era. The architecture was also almost similar. A central covered courtyard with the hotel rooms going up in a tubular structure. It was popular those days I was sure.

After the talks were done, I drove to Sungai Petani to visit my Aunt but she did not answer the door. I then drove back to KL, stopping at a couple of places for quick drinks and prayers.

A short and tiring trip, but worth it.

Leaving Melaka

We finally left the hotel at about 12.30 with Anita getting some take-out lunch for the boys. The rest of us would be stopping along the way to have our meal at one of the stores. We would like to go all kampung style and sample the local food.

We stopped a couple if times for my Mum to buy some vegetables and fruits. Theybwere fresh cheap compared vinegar we normally get from the supermarket in KL.

These were really nice mangosteen. Can't wait to eat them later.Not to mention some really fresh vegetablesFinally stopped for lunch at Masjid Tanah after driving past Sungai Udang - the entrance to our old school, MRSM Terendak. Since we were late, most of the dishes were already gone. We made do with what was left.

No more stops after Masjid Tanah when we drove past Alor Gajah and entered the highway at Simpang Ampat.

We didn't head straight to Gombak though. We had to sort out my Dad-in-law's cough. That meant a detour to Subang. More on the Melaka trip here.

Heading To Town

I wasn't sure if it was a blessing or a pain not having cellular signal at the place we stayed. At least we had wifi. So I could still blog and keep up with twitter and Facebook, and not to mention finding out about the news.

I managed to get the odd SMS or two, but calling out or sending off SMS was still a pain. Often the message out failed. At least we would be back to civilisation tomorrow.

We were waiting for my in-laws before we head out into the town for lunch and a bit of miniature golf which the boys were keen for.

More on the Fraser's Hill stay here.