A Place That Was Not....

The past Hari Raya Aidil Fitri would be the first raya that we celebrated until we got bored to tears, at least on my part.... must be to my husband too, because of all the driving that he did. Yet he never complained... what a darling!

Before that, it was also a raya which was full of mishaps. Like for example, would you expect that getting to Ipoh from Kuala Lumpur would cost one RM55 by bus? Yes, it did cost me that. How?
During my long hours waiting for the bus to Penang, which was the normal occassion for me on Friday afternoons at Puduraya bus station, I bought a ticket to Ipoh, not on Friday as planned, but instead on Saturday, so obviously overlooked. It was a non-returnable, no refund ticket (apparently that normally happened during hari raya period). So the first RM17.40 wasted.

Then I asked my maid to purchase another ticket KL-Ipoh, this time buying the Transnasional ticket which was more expensive, RM20.50. With this ticket armed in my wallet, I went to Puduraya Station that morning. I went to Transnasional counter and on the big screen I saw the bus was scheduled on time. Feeling very satisfied and after noting the platform number, I went to buy myself The Star. I was engrossed in my reading, it was a very interesting piece on mix-marriages, and it featured the lovely celeb couple, Nash and Nur Shearney Iman Lee. At exactly 10.15 am I rose from the bench and headed towards Platform no 10 where I boarded an almost empty bus.

The bus journeyed to Hentian Duta where more passengers came on board. An Indian student couple was giving me the side looks and appeared dissatisfied about something. I was again reading more materials given for free by Karangkraf for all bus passengers. The girls then approached me and asked me to sit somewhere else, as they claimed I was actually sitting on their seats. I argued steadfastly that the seat was rightfully mine. Disgruntled, they went down to the counter and came back with a Transnasional official who insisted that I showed my ticket.

"Kak, ini tiket pergi Ipoh!" Ha! only then I realised iIve made the stupidest mistake... because of my regular trips back to Penang, my brain has somehow conditioned itself, but what a timing.... Shame-facedly I alighted from the bus. The Transnasional staff then advised me to get another ticket from another company since it would useless for me to get back to Puduraya. RM20.50 went the drain...

So with another RM17.50 and one and half hours later I reached Ipoh, much to the mirch of laughter of everyone....

My husband and the kids and my maid had already arrived in Ipoh by bus earlier (no glitches thanks to my husband). We broke our fast with Mak Nun and Pak Nif, who are my husband's uncle and auntie. Mak Nun cooked a ver tasty fish head curry, this is her specialty.

The kids having a blast with PS2 in Ipoh

The next morning was the beginning of another new experience for my children, taking the train to KL Sentral. We boarded at the old train station in Ipoh. I had my first visit to KTMB public toilets forever spoilt. The toilet was dirty and 'my nature's call' just refused to be answered, I had to turn back. Then feeling quite resourceful, I entered the toilet meant for the handicapped, thinking that in that pressing condition, I was quite handicapped to many things. Ahh... much better, unfortunately after having a most released time, I found the flush was not working. so there I was, standing for almost 10 minutes, manually flushing my waste using the hose.

Now after boarding the train, we were settled comfortably and the children were behaving so nicely with a cool blast of the air conditioning..... unfortunately, this just triggered the bladder to be active! My huisband and the kids looked for the toilets near the coach. What do you expect? Only 2 toilets out of six on the coach were opened for use and in there, every single flush was not working.... again? Luckily I had the sanitary wipes (armed for the H1N1 pandemic), so they were put to good use.

Thankfully we reached KL Sentral in one piece, amidst the hundreds of passengers and the trains that were delayed again and again, back to Bandar Tun Razak. After a much needed rest, my husband showed to me a write up in Utusan Malaysia (my father never read anything else, a.k.a. "Suara Keadilan diharamkan di rumah aku..."), where the top managerial team was feeling buffed for the KTMB's enormous Raya ticket sales and claimed it was due to customers' satisfaction of their good service. LOL... Malaysians have this illness, where they always think the best of themselves, a real "masuk bakul angkat sendiri" mentality. In my opinion, KTMB is the worst public transport provider in Malaysia, just look at the KTM Komuter... what a sorry state of unreliable service!

We spent 3 days in KL and the fourth day drove to Ipoh to celebrate with my husband's family and relatives. On the way we stopped at Tanjung Malim and visited Syed Osman and his wife Nanie at Taman Prima. In Ipoh, we visited Zalea's house and welcomed her back from Newcastle. Lea had just completed her MSc in Finance at Newcastle University. We also visited Tun Kamsiah and Hadhrami, my classmates from Medic school who are working at PUSRAWI and arRidzwan in Ipoh, respectively. Tun Kamsiah is a GP and Hadhrami specialized in Paediatric Endocrinology, which is a branch of medicine dealing with children with hormonal problems i.e diabetes, thyroid, etc. I had a great time!

In Ipoh we were getting so choked up with emotions and food, that our stomaches just cried being fulled to the brim with food galore. My husband and I were depending on Daphne Iking's Cleanz Tea and Kinohimitsu, and to an extent on Herbal Lipo, to get rid of the 'mass'. Thank God, we did not suffer much from indigestion or diarrhoea or even constipation for the lack of vegetable and fibre, imagine all those high fat diet, accumulating in your intestines...

I would feel this raya write up incomplete if I hadn't mentioned the "Ketum happy Hour", so aptly named for the big bottle of air ketum that we 'tapau' from Pak Bab, my husband's uncle in Jelapang. OK, before I go further please dismiss from your mind the image of a group of highly stoned people at the table, in front of tall glasses. That did not happen. Ketum leaves have been studied for its excellent medicinal purposes, even in Imperial College London, by a Toxicologist friend of mine. Because the poor ketum leaves have been given a bad name by the drug addicts, I had to explain to everyone that we were not drug abusers. However..... my maid drank a cup and she was high for 2 full days, she did not sleep a wink and she was in a manic state all the way... so don't look down on Ketum, ever!

After 2 days in Ipoh, we decided to head east to Kota Bharu, much to the delight of everyone. I must say the children were missing Kota Bharu. My husband has not been back for almost 1 year and I wouldn't mind eating my favourite nasi kerabu again! So we were driving along the east-west highway and joined the bandwagon of people at the peak of banjaran Titiwangsa and enjoyed a breath of fresh air. The vendors and the toilet business were also fruitful (30 cents for toilet use). My husband? You can run your imagination wild there....

At the peak of Banjaran Titiwangsa

Back in Kota Bharu we booked into Min's Homestay and my children enjoyed visiting the monkeys again. The next day we searched high and low for our favourite breakfast items i.e nasi kerabu ayam bakar, nasi tumpang, nasi dagang ikan aya, kuih akak... to no avail. Of course, the vendors usually take a long Raya holidays and will only be back at business after a week or two.

Second from left is kak Yah, owner of Min Homestay, Kubang Kerian

We had our first taste of so many one-way streets in KB, new shopping places and demolition of many old places. The roads and the streets were bare and furthermore, confusing. New buildings were being erected, the Syariah Court Complex, the new bus station in Tunjong and KB Trade Centre. Tunjong, where we used to live has turned to another satellite town, the paddy fields were being destroyed for the new buildings.

Kubang Kerian has a new face with more shops mushrooming... I wonder with so many new shops, "sapa yang beli?". We had dinner at Hayaki Cafe, which was our favourite lepak kopi tiam place in front of Renaissance Hotel. It was still cosy, Wi Fi still there, but the food was still bad...

Meeting with Black and Ustaz at Hayaki Cafe

Upon arriving in KB earlier, I had sent a text to my old friend, Siti at USM asking whether she was at home, intending to drop by her house which was near to the homestay. She just answered "Kerja". Although a bit disappointed, I thought to call back later. My friend Shatriah had ealier responded that she was in Putra Jaya. Another text from Kak Zu said she was busy with urusan meminang that day. So I was left with no close friends to visit that day.

The next day, feeling freshed after breathing KB air, I text Kak Zu again, thinking she might give me a more positive response, another disappointment, "saya ke pasir mas...." another engagement/wedding. We made the necessary rounds to my husbands's friends' houses and we visited A.P Dr Wan's house at Jalan Bayam, he was my ex-boss.

At Dr Wan's house

At our favourite mamak restaurant in Grik, on the way back to Penang


Showing here how Aiza was crazy about the tandoori chicken

In the afternoon I called Siti again, this time she apologized that I couldn't come to her house, instead she invited me to come on the next day, because she was having an open house. I was heavily disappointed, again. What is the significance of raya visits, is the trend of making an appointment, the trend to stay? Are open houses the only time you meet with old friends? Where is the "openness" in Hari Raya, where you don't need to be formally invited?

For me, what matters most was seeing each other and catching up... not even a glass of your precious water or sugar, or kuih raya!

My husband was very sympathetic and shared the gloom on my face, said softly... OK, let's not come back to KB again, not for another few years! Clearly the current KB was a place so far from our fond memories of a place that was...