Saying Goodbye

We got up very early for our breakfast. We were among the first to arrive there. Quick check out, followed by a short drive avoiding the traffic jam back to TH Hotel to say goodbye to my Aunt and Uncle. We were lucky that we managed to spend another hour with them before an announcement was made asking them to return to their rooms.

Again, the process was really straight forward, although it rained early that morning causing a bit of an issue with the open car park. The meeting area floors were also wet, but those were really minor gripes.

My Uncle had never flew in an airplane before - my Aunt visited me in Manchester before - so, he was rather apprehensive and nervous - especially with the couple of incidents earlier in the year affecting MAS. Once they were finally in - their flight would be later in the afternoon - we set off back to Sungai Petani to pick up one of my cousins who would be following us to KL.

I decided to take a quick nap before Friday Prayers, and finally we left for KL at around 4 pm, reaching KL just after 9. Tiring couple of days indeed, but well worth the effort ....

While driving back, I had switched Flightradar24 on, tracking their flight. It around 5pm that the flight took off, and by the time I went to bed that evening, it was just about entering Saudi Arabia airspace.

Up and Down

It was a hectic couple of days of driving. After sorting out my ward on Thursday, I drove up to Penang for my Aunt's send off. Straight to the airport as she had already embarked from her home, spending a night at the Tabung Haji Hotel in Bayan Lepas. That certainly cut down on her travel time as traveling after office hours from Sungai Petani could be a nightmare.

I arrived at around 5 pm, joining my Mum at the hotel. Next came my turn to find a place to stay for that night. It wasn't that hard since there were a fair few hotels near the airport. A quick net search got me a decent deal at Equatorial, about 15 minutes drive away.

I then took my Mum to the hotel for her to catch a rest as she had been with my Aunt for the past couple of weeks, helping her out with her packing and sorting out her house in Sungai Petani. She went to sleep until Maghrib, she was that tired.

Then we joined my Aunt and Uncle again at the TH Hotel while waiting for another Aunt and her family to come visit. Tabung Haji had prepared seating areas for families to say their goodbyes, complete with shades and fans, as well as stalls to buy food. Very comfortable, not like the old days .... more on that on another entry reminiscing on the time when I sent off my late Grandfather in the early 80s.

Pak Teh

That took us to around 10 pm. It was then that the real crowd built up. The car park was almost full and the resting area was filled to the brim. My Uncle asked if I could take him for dinner. Apparently about 20 years ago, he came across a seafood restaurant near Batu Maung, not far from Bayan Lepas.

The challenge was to get to the place place had changed a lot in the last few years. Luckily we saw a sign heading into Batu Maung town, pointing the way to Kampung Teluk Tempoyak.

The restaurant was about to close but when they saw my Uncle's Hajj tag, the owner quickly asked if we wanted anything. He then cooked some fresh ikan bakar and crab for us. It was the bomb!

It was almost midnight when we finally settled back into the hotels. Mum again hit the deck soon after. It was going to be another long day tomorrow ...