|
now | oldies | me | host | design chinese new year happenings in 2006 and 2007, i remember going to the doc post-cny because i had anxiety (hmmmm... wonder if i blogged that down.) this year, it seems i cannot afford that anxiety because i have already paid my dues. i had to get sick on the day that i intended to give my kiddies homework for the longest holiday weekend in singapore lah!! ;< it all started last saturday, actually (that will be 2nd feb), when i got caught in the rain with the husband after tuition. the next day, the sniffles came. i even cancelled religious classes because i wanted to sleep early to rest. monday just got worse. had to carry around the huge tissue box. felt like lying down all the time. even had to plead with the kids to not misbehave today because "teacher is not feeling well.." but that evening, the fever came full-blown... so had to skip school on tuesday. and despite saying i could not afford to, the doc gave me two days of mc, saying that the fever was still imminent when i went to visit. he said, "anyway, half day cannot study, what.. go in and out, celebrate then finish already, right?" funny how things seem to fall into perspective when someone else says it to you. last minute smses to sam to give out the cny goodies. received the smses of thank and get-well-soons, which were certainly a nice comfort when i woke up from every nap that i took. even had a "love ya!" so nice. ** okay, so i'm a travel buff. i ever told my mum that i would rather be spending my savings on travelling than keeping it for a nicer house etc etc. (maybe if i had to choose between shopping and travelling, that would be a problem... hehehe...) being married to another travel buff is a huge convenience as well. i mean, it's so nice to know that for every holiday we do not have to argue about "we can't go to xxxx because we have to save money etc etc". also he understands that i have to have a few days to travel with my friends, as i would understand when he needs his. however... travelling when one has a woozy head and blocked nose is never a nice thing. which was what i had to do. if i were to listen to my head, i would have backed out of the whole trip. but being me, i had to listen to my heart that said, "your mom needs this. going would make her happy. so you go." and i did. ** thursday, 0702 met cik sid and family at changi hawker centre. was told that the bumboat was leaving at 10, but we were all still rilek-ing kueh at 9.50. cik man said that he had already booked the bumboat so it wouldn't be a problem. wrong! when we reached the station at 10, the bumboat had left. so we had to do some waiting while dad and cik man try to get another. more waiting. luckily baby hariz was around to entertain us. finally got a bumboat at 11.15. slow, suffocating and sleepy. reached pengerang jetty at 11.50. sweltering hot but yet windy. nice weather, if you ask me. waited at a small warung for the taxi drivers to come. only one showed up - the ever-reliable pak aji. more waiting yielded no other taxi drivers. after about 45 mins and many phonecalls, taxi drivers ahmad and badol (pseudonyms) arrived. brought to lunch. didn't realize how hungry we were. more waiting after lunch for pak aji to come back from solat.  sometimes i think they don't have a sense of timing. of course, right to this point we thought that everything was going smoothly. up until now. apparently, ahmad, whom cik man has arranged to book our stay with, had made a big boo boo with accomodation. and turns out we did not have accomodation for the night. arghs! so on that day, three cabs were seen driving in and out one chalet to another, trying to book a room for the night. unfortunately, as with all the other resorts in south east asia, they were all fully booked for chinese new year. horrors!! tried to strike up conversation with the driver, badol. you know... the weather.. other visitors.. maybe, what the hell is happening?? but no.. we had to get the unfriendly, quiet driver. the husband was already on the phone, getting the brother to surf for accomodation in desaru (20 km away!!) no luck. so ahmad said that we could bunk in at his aunt's place. (like all 12 of us?? okay... if you say so..) only she was reluctant to.... haiya... thank god, pak aji (one of the taxi drivers, if you're lost) offered us his house. i mean, his second house, which he built in his plantation, for his children - except that they have all moved to johor bahru. i just hope that he has tv. no such thing!!  our humble abode for the night. humble it was. a simple kitchen with a double stove top. a toilet cum bathroom. a small room with a bunk bed. and a living room with a queen-sized thick mattress. oh, and lots of ants. those huge ants. and really - lots. oh, and NO TV!!!! arghs!!!! so the womenfolk (and by that, i mean NOT me) got to cleaning up. the menfolk sat outside to talk to pak aji. me? i was immobile on the floor... the medicines taking an effect on me. but however hard i tried, i only managed a 15-minute nap. haiya... so went out to snap pictures. taufiq was excited to start a bonfire to burn rubbish. and then i saw a wheelbarrow. or rather, i saw dad pushing one around. and so his cheeky eldest daughter decided to...  have childish fun with her husband. haha. after that, there seemed nothing else to do except shower, eat and sleep. at 9pm. heheh. so early. but it was super dark outside lah. no wonder those kampong people are so productive. heheheh. give me ths lifestyle and i think i would have 3 kids by 25. heheheheh. and today's nice pic of hariz is..  that handsome boy!! ** friday, 0802 so rich, our pak aji... so while we head back home, pak aji passed by on his motorbike. it seemed that the thoughtful one bought us some brekkie.  ingenious these malaysians! had brekkie, cleaned up house and ourselves and by 11.50, waited for the cab. went to lunch (at the same place, mind you...) and then head to our designated chalet. sunrising ramunia chalets, it was called. typical wooden on stilts chalets, with the beach at our doorstep. except that boss said that they had no water since that morning. haiya.... no choice but to check in. napped for about 10 minutes. and then joined the others at the beach. you must be there to see the kinds of things jakun city people do when at the beach. i won't elaborate. hehe.  one example...
highlight for today - getting hariz into the water. took him a long time. but in the end he did it - slowly wade into the water - with ME!! yeah!! hehehe. played uno and all sorts of funny games till wee hours of morning. this time, it was cik azman who amused us all.  taufiq called out cheat too many times.. and the water situation? solved. there was water. just that, i think, we had to take turns amongst the houses to use it. lessons learnt for today : and today's nice pic of hariz is..  his first wade was with me! ** saturday, 0902 i think lah... whenever i watch those surfing competitions i see waves like these... pics time.. many many today.  from our chalet.
washed up and then time to go home. we didn't get badol to drive us back today. we got a young fella, 28, i think. he is rather chatty and friendly. just my kind of driver. (every place that i go to, i like to talk to the taxi drivers to gather info on the place.) too bad we didn't get him from day one. so.. they sent us up to the jetty. we bade goodbye. lunch at dynamic in changi. and then we were home. today's nice pic of hariz is..  moments after waking up... ** would i go to teluk ramunia again? wasn't i turned off by the experience? my take on the people of pengerang - as i told the husband plenty of times there, sometimes it's like they don't have a sense of time. and from the talk with the chatty taxi driver, i sense that the people there like to take things easy. that a quality, relaxed life is what they want - rather than lots of money but no time to spend it. like he said, (loosely translated from malay), "here (in kampong) i wake up, do a little work (supplying fish at the markets), finish work at noon. i get to play soccer with my friends in the evening, go home, wash up, pray and then meet my friends for coffee at night. in the city (kuala lumpur, where he studied and worked for 8 years), i get up early, ride a bike in the jam to get to work, finish late in the evening, too tired to even meet friends. why would i want that life?" hmmmm... don't we all wonder...
augustana - boston Get Your Own Free Hypster.com Playlist. |
