Qurban Ready

Early start as the prayers and Qurban would begin by about 8, and I had to go along with my father-in-law and uncles to the mosque and have a look at the cattle for Qurban later.

It seemed that all had been organised, in terms of cooks and other manpower. We didn't have to do much except to pay for their services.

It all started with the Raya PrayersPrayers done. Most of the folks went home to change.A quick discussion with my father-in-law before the ceremony begunTen cows - not all were ours - would be slaughtered later this morning. It was raining in the early hours but now the sun was out.

We were just done with the prayers and now waiting for the Imam to get things organised. Looked like the children on the kampung was already excited touting the cows. Good fun for them really.

The rounding up process beginThe children were told what to expect, so that there won't be any drama laterThe cows were then tied up and felledAnd the Qurban was doneFor the rest of my friends, colleagues and readers, Selamat Hari Raya Qurban.

More links on the trip here.

Grumpy Raya

Grumpy boys strikes again at Anita's Aunt's place. They were settled already for the day when we dragged them out into town. No wonder they had been up to their old tricks now and driving Anita up the wall. They refused to eat their dinner as well.

It looked like we had to stop for some McDonald's on the way back. Hopefully they were still opened as it's Aidil Adha tomorrow.

As for me, food was nice. I was happy. Selamat Hari Raya.

More entries on the KB trip here.

It's Hover Time Again

Our trip to Kota Bharu wouldn't be complete without visits to a couple of restaurant. And these were restaurants we wanted to visit a specific reasons.

The first was called Restoran Hover. A couple of attractions here. The main waiter who does the cheque at the end of the meal and the fact that they have fresh turtle eggs here.

You must understand how the system works here at Hover. The waiters would bring all the available items onto the table with rice as soon as you parked yourselves at the table.

You then picked the items you wanted to eat, and leave the rest. When you asked for the cheque, this elderly Malay chap will then come around and mumbled while counting up your bill. I put the video of how it was done at the bottom of the page.

When Anita was carrying Idlan, she craved for the turtle eggs. She didn't know that she was pregnant and we happened to be at Kota Bharu at the time. She kept on asking me to drive her to Hover, and while there, she gulped down ten eggs in one go! The calorie count must have caused her trainer to have a heart attack now!

When we told Idlan about this, he said that this was the reason that he did things slowly. Like a turtle! Cheeky boy!

The second restaurant was Sun Two - or affectionately pronounced "soon-too" by the locals. The attraction? Boiled cow tongue. I wasn't joking. I never developed a taste for it. But Anita can go banana on this. Even today, she wanted to go to Sun Two this evening. But it looked like we would be having dinner at one of her aunt's. Sun Two and the tongue would have to wait .....

More thoughts on this trip here.

A Look at the Pool

After breakfast, I decided to walk around the pool. I then realised that the hotel was actually quite small. They had a pool just by the coffee house where I had breakfast. And the pool was pretty big considering the size of the hotel.

From the 9th floor while I was waiting for the liftA long children pool separated from the main

It was just after 8 in the morning and already some family were already coming down to have a quick swim. My boys didn't bring their attire. I wasn't sure if they were keen to get wet later today.

The maximum depth on the adult side was 1.25m. The children area was more of a wading pool but it went the full length of the main pool. I reckon it must be around 25m from one end to the other. I was sure my boys would really appreciate it.

Nice deck chairsMore decks on the sideI doubt that many people were using the showerEven if the boys decided against coming down, I wouldn't mind going in there alone.

More entries here.

Changed Gua Musang

Gua Musang had certainly looked a lot different from what I remembered going back 4 years. A lot of new development. Gone were the greeneries around the main town, now with new houses and shops being built.

The train station still looked the same. Getting into the town centre was difficult though. There actually was a long queue. Best to stop at the shops in the surrounding area by the main road. And that was what we did after struggling to find a parking spot in town.

The old train station remained the sameRows of new shopsAs customary in Kelantan, the food was fantastic. I was hungry as well as I had breakfast before 6 am. It was around 11 when we reached Gua Musang and I could eat a horse.

From the signposts, they would have a KFC soon. There was already a cpouple of 7-Elevens. The place had certainly changed .....

Links from the trip here.