Relaxing Day

At the Duta tollWe reached Kuala Kangsar just after 9pm, taking us just over 3 hours. The lack of traffic helped. I did not have to do any of the driving, our driver did the honours. I was too tired to drive anyway, coming home straight after work, a day of clinic in the morning, followed by the Nurses Day party in the afternoon. I managed to leave earlier than usual to beat the traffic. A quick shower and packing, then off we went. The boys had a good nap all the way, and they were up and about well into midnight, before finally taken to bed.

Sunset near Sabak Bernam along the PLUS highwayWhen we woke up this morning, they were still asleep, so we sneaked out to the morning market quickly to buy breakfast. Nasi lemak, roti canai and other goodies, then munch them away until late morning. The main surprise was how cheap the food were. The same amount of food could easily cost twice as much in Taman Melawati market, but not nearly half as nice!

Beli! Beli!After breakfast, we left for Taiping as Anita wanted to get some cheap clothes for the boys. Idlan wanted to stay at home, so we only brought Irfan. Taiping was only 30 minutes away by the highway, and using GPS, we did not get lost finding the Taiping Sentral Shopping Centre, one of the new establishment opened there. It was next to a Tesco and was quite crowded that day.

Taiping Sentral Shopping Mall - next to a TescoAnita spent quite a lot on the clothes, but they were all on sale. Again, it could easily cost more in KL. We then had lunch at the A&W there before heading home. With nothing much to do, I decided to take a nap, then headed out again to get the famous cendol and laksa for tea.

Irfan coming out to playQuick strollLet's go this wayMy mum-in-law went to Ipoh to visit her relatives, so we stayed back at the kampung house. After tea, we then took a walk around the kampung and let Irfan loose with the camera. A few of the neighbours children came around, while Anita handed some chocolates and cookies to them. They promptly showed Idlan and Irfan around the kampung.

Back to baseTrooping inBy the time I wrote this entry, the boys were still up watching their DVD. We were planning for an early morning, heading again to the market for breakfast, followed by lunch at an ikan bakar place that my Dad has been talking about all day. Will see if the place was as good as he described it.

Slideshow of the trip can be found here.

Kampung Ahoy!

At our kampung house at the moment. Everything looked nice and welcoming although the area just outside the compound needed some weed trimming. It has been warm here lately with not much rain, so some of the vegetables we planted died. Never had green fingers anyway!

It has been close to a couple of month since we last been here. It looked like we were due to come here again!

The Daytripper

Picked up some pau for the nurses on the way backMy Father-in-law was feeling much better from the transfusion and currently there was no sign of any ongoing bleed. Puan Anita and the rest of the group left for Kuala Kangsar yesterday for today's doa selamat. After checking up on my father-in-law, I decided to surprise everyone by making my way up there. I set off at around 9.45. Managed to catch the tail end of the kenduri at around 12.15. The road was clear and the weather was fine.

Spot where the kampong house was located - Sg Chempias, Kuala KangsarEveryone was surprised when I turned up unannounced, especially Idlan. The boys spent the night at the kampong house and really enjoyed it. They did not even visit the resort. We just checked in and out. Everything went well until Idlan got freaked out by the number of people turning up for the kenduri. It was certainly more than expected. Luckily we did prepare extra food. Some of Anita's cousin's came up from Kuala Lumpur for the kenduri, so was plenty of the neighbors. Got to meet and introduce myself to them. Idlan was calmer when I turned up. Anita did some shopping and decorating on the house the day before. She also bought a TV and DVD player so that the boys can watch their cartoon. They already started asking about their Wii. May be next time we bring it up as well. I din't have time to snap away though. One of our cousin brought his dSLR and was given the picture detail.

After clearing the place, we had to rush back to KL as my mum-in-law wanted to take some of the kenduri food to my dad-in-law. Luckily he was only due to fast from tomorrow afternoon. I left the kenduri at around 2.30 and reached UMMC by 5.30. It was starting to rain by then, but the traffic was still light. I had some dinner earlier on and is now pretty knackered. Might as well call it the night! 'The Last of the Mohicans' was playing on the TV this very minute.

Our Little Home in Kuala Kangsar

The rear facade. The stairs lead to the kitchen.Kuala Kangsar holds an almost legendary status amongst those who were from the place. They swear that everybody from there were descendent of kings and queens. This once-proud town still hold the title of Royal City for the Kingdom of Perak. The Sultan still have his Istana there. All the royal ceremony were still hosted at the town. I passed through the town on many occasions, but never actually spent a night there, until last weekend.

Close-up of the staircaseThe heir is in the house - quite literallyPuan Anita's mother, my mother-in-law was from Kuala Kangsar. She was born and raised there before marrying my father-in-law, who is from Kelantan. She only returned there occasionally since. She now stays here in Kuala Lumpur. She is the last of her siblings, the last one passing away last year. But even then, most of her relatives have moved away from the town. There were still some of her nephews and nieces who were still there. Some of them lived in Kuala Kangsar all their lives. Some returning to their hometown upon retirement, to build their home at their inherited lands.

Puan Anita speaking to one of the buildersWhile Idlan and Irfan looked on.For the last ten years or so, the house where my mother-in-law was brought up in was left to rot. The last of her nephew moved away after one of my wife's aunt died. The area was left in a mess. A version of the haunted house I supposed. Five years back, the land was bough over by our family and now in Puan Anita's name. We were contemplating what to do with the piece of land, and the house. Then came the idea of actually clearing the place and turn it into a fruit orchard. But my mother-in-law was not very keen. It happened that one of our cousin actually managed to salvage some of the woodwork from the original building and gave it back to us. Why not we just rebuild the house according to the original plan, but with better material and with mod cons while we were at it. Six months and a few thousand ringgits later, that was where we were last weekend.

The house was almost ready. Since we only paid the local people to build the place, it took longer than what was originally planned. Some of the workmanship was rather shoddy, but we employed the local builders for a reason. Puan Anita went over last month to pay for the wiring and tiles with my mother-in-law whose was understandably proud of what was done. We also had the acid test last weekend, to see what my two boys felt of the place. They were ecstatic and wanted to spend the night there. Unfortunately, as the water and electricity was yet to be installed, we had to give it a miss. Oh boy! They were running along the wooden flooring like there was no tomorrow. As for where we stayed, it's a lodge called Resort Sungai Perak, and I will write about it in a different entry.

Clearly a work in progressMy mother-in-law inspecting the windowsills. This is the front end of the house where the lounge will be.Paneling preserved from the original house.We were planning to return there next weekend as we will be holding a 'doa selamat' ceremony as a way of introducing ourselves to the local kampung folks. We will also be inviting our cousins and relatives back to Kuala Kangsar, and should they want to return in the future, they will have a place for them to stay for a night or two. We were not planning to rent the place out, but rather to keep it as an escapade. The problem is, it takes around two-and-a-half hours to drive there, plus we also have an apartment in Port Dickson. I am sure we will think of something.