Full week ahead

Looks like it's going to be a monster week. It will be a three-day week for me, before catching an evening flight to Kuching on Wednesday after work. I will be involved in a series of talk there, starting with a the MaxFamily patient support group meet up on Thursday. It will be more of a Congress giving the opportunity for patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia to meet and share experiences of their problem among their peers with Haematologists in the background offering guidance.

Then there would be the small matter of the Malaysian Society of Harmatology Scientific Meeting taking place at the Pullman, starting on the Thursday. I will be involved in a couple of the symposium as well as meetings. I will also be the photographer for the event, something I had been doing in the last couple of years. That should be fun.

Maybe I would be able to complete the list of things to buy which I would no doubt get off Anita. She has a cousin who is working there at the moment. I'm sure there would be plenty of stuff to do and things to blog. Really looking forward to that. The flight home would be on Sunday afternoon. Monday would be the Labour Day holiday, and I have taken Tuesday and Wednesday off.

All packed

Shirts. Checked. Tickets. Checked. Passport. Checked. Laptop. Checked. Camera. Charged. I'm all set for tomorrow. Managed to get some Singapore Dollars exchanged earlier in KLCC as well.

I planned to have breakfast with Anita after sending the boys to school. I will have to be at KL Sentral by 10, likely checking in from there before taking the ERL as I often do. I should reach Singapore by 1, which leave me plenty of time to check in and read the documents before the meeting at 5. Now, shall I sleep or should I watch some movies?...

Quick Day Trip

A long day it was with a return trip to Penang. Although the traffic was light, weather was not great. It was gloomy on the way up and it poured all the way on the drive home. Treacherous driving conditions meant I had to take extra time to get home, and I finally got back to Gombak just after 11.

Since I was watching the football match until 3 in the morning, I decided to delay my start. I only left KL around 8.30, and after a couple of toilet stops, I arrived in Sungai Petani just after 1. In time for a nice lunch at my aunts. Next on the agenda, the engagement.

The reason I drove up was to attend one of my cousin, Atiqah's engagement. It was meant to start at 3, but for some reason, the fiancé side arrive an hour and a half early. They cracked on with the event and when I reached the venue, all was done. Sigh! The fiancé were from KL, and as they plan to drive home the same day, they wanted to crack on early.

The engagement went fine otherwise with my Uncle acting as the spokeperson for the family. The wedding was scheduled around July, just before Ramadhan. My cousin just finished her studies and was currently looking for work. Typical of Penang engagement was the 'sugar feeding' ceremony, where the fiancée was fed sugar using a spoon by the female member of the fiancé's family. Anita had the ceremony done to her as well when we got engaged.

Take out timeSome kangkongand sotongAfter some tea, we headed across the pond to Penang Island to visit my grandmother. Since it may tire her to bring her across to Seberang for the engagement, we went across to meet her. She put on weight since we last saw her, which was a good thing. After about half an hour there, we left for Padang Kota to bring home to KL some laksa. The journey home was pretty smooth although it rained most of the ways. we made a stop in Tapah for dinner and prayers, and finally reaching KL after 11.

Jonker Time

In 2010 alone, I was in Melaka twice, but the trip I missed was with the KLickr gang during Ramadhan. I was not free on the day and from what I heard, the group really painted Jonker Street that evening. The couple of times I visited Jonker Street this year was always during the day, on the trishaw. I never experienced the fames evening market and all the eateries, plus the photos to be had. Maybe I will try again next year.

However during the reason trip, I snapped away while on the trishaw and I now understand what the place was about. It was filled with vibrant colours and subjects to be photographed. And that was during the day, when the place was not too busy. Imagine the mayhem at night …… 

Kuala Kangsar Weekend

We made it to Kuala Kangsar. It has been a while since we last went to our kampong house there. The boys were really excited. Since one of our cousin was looking after the place for us, everything was spick and span when we arrived. It has been raining in the last couple of weeks so we were expecting the worst. It did not rain and it only took us two and a half hour to get there from KL in our minivan.

Hungry when we arrivedWe had Upin and Ipin to thank for keeping the boys quiet during the journeyWe stopped by the town center when we reached there to get some laksa. That hit the spot certainly. I was just done enjoying it when I wrote this blog. The boys were jumping up and down in the bedroom after done running the whole length of the house while we were having laksa.

Finally made it!.... and laksa was servedWe had a few things planned for tomorrow but they pretty much depend on the weather. What ever it was, we will definitely be hitting the morning market first thing. Not sure what next though. We shall wait and see.