...... in tonnes of pictures, lengthy story and perhaps super long winded captions hee hee hee..

We spent, in total, 20 days in Malaysia. On paper, it might have felt long if we just stayed in KL. However, since us coming back to Malaysia has become annual thing, we have to cover as much place as we can, visiting as much relatives as we could and settle as much errands as we can afford. What errand you may asked? Just because we're currently living in Q8, our connection to Malaysia doesn't necessarily stop just like that. How I wish.. I meant, all the hutang piutang need to be settled, our condo maintenance fee, water bill fee, banking stuff, immigration stuff and all those typical blah.. Urghhhhh.. 

Anyway, our holiday was divided into 3 phases. KL --> East West of Malaysia aka Besut --> Southern tip of Malaysia onto Singapore --> KL again.

We arrived KLIA on 11th August. This time we chose Oman Air, transit for 3 hours at Muscat and flew for another 8 hours to Malaysia. 

It has become my habit to update my mom and my mother in law of our being. Even though I don't usually sms them on daily basis ( we used skype and actionvoip mostly to communicate ) due to high cost involved hehe, I'll make sure to report to them of our every movement in and out country. The first thing I did when I arrived at Sri Lanka airport was texting my mum and my mom in law of my Sri Lanka's number and the same thing goes when we travel to Europe. So, it is only natural when I texted my mum when I was at airport waiting for our flight home. To my surprised, my mom was kinda shocked and sort of reconfirming with me when was actually our arrival date. Ha ha ha.. I guess this one habit of mine turned our beneficial finally. If it wasn't for my sms, my mom have this expectation of  us arriving on 12th evening instead of 11th. Therefore, they have no plan whatsoever of going to airport that night. Phewww... It wasn't their fault after all. I wrongly informed them of our arrival DATE because my husband wrongly told me the DAY we suppose to be arrive at KL. All this mixed up was cause by multi time differences involved. Kuwait, Oman and Malaysia. Plus, what makes it more confusing was our flight is at 3 a.m in the morning of 11th, so naturally we were supposed to be at airport around mindnite of 10th, we need to board 3 hours from departure time. In short, the time difference is to be blame, not me, not hubby and not mom either hehehe...

After minus a day of jet lagged, we have like 2 days to hunt for baju raya. As expected, when doing last minutes shopping, you have to expect this few scenarios at least. Either you you found the design you like but can't find matching colours for all of your family or you found the matching piece but your size is not available anymore. It should be either one or both. So yeah, that's what happened so no matchy matchy this year. Bersyukur lah bahawa kita masih mampu membeli baju baru untuk keluarga dan diri sendiri. Some family can't even afford foods. Mode : Insaffff ..

:: Carik baju melayu untuk papa and nope, we didn't buy the one mannequin was wearing. Nice colour though ::

On 16th, we flew back to Besut via Air Asia and based on plan, we will spend 5 days there until third day of Eid Insya Allah. 

:: LCCT ::

I can't deny that the feeling of celebrating Eid is much more deeper when we're in kampung's environment. Eventhough it's supposedly my turn with my parents this year, I gave in when my husband said he wanted to go back to Terengganu. It's just a small matter to me and plus, we will be spending longer time in KL with my parents, I think it'll be only fair and appropriate if we spent the Eid at his hometown. Eventhough my heart really wanted to be with my side this year, given our circumstances and holiday that is too short, this arrangement is the best we could come up with. And since this is setahun sekali punya affair, I don't see a point bickering over small thing. Honestly, I wouldn't really mind. Being together is more important. My side or his side doesn't give much different lah as both are our families too. We definitely can't be with both side on Eid, so let's work with what we have. 

:: Sampai kampung je, menyangkul slaluh! Abes pokok bunga plastik tokwan derang kitai and play gardening  kat luar. Nasib baik lah tokwan, kalau Nenek, memang tangan korang kena kitai plak lepas tu hahaha ::

:: Bunga kertas tokwan. Sejuk je mata pandang ::

On Eid's eve, we went to gold shop in Jerteh to get the girls their piercing which has been decided since we're in Q8. This year, we finally decided that they're ready for this after much contemplating.

:: Road to womanhood. Many people said Alis resemblance me the most in this picture. Ye ker eh? I can't really agree because although she's my flesh and blood, she resembled my baby sis the most to my opinion. Adakah ini bermakna saya secomel ini? Muahahah muntah ijo! ::

:: Showing off her new earing. The piercing supposed to cost us RM 10 each, but since both my sis in law bought some stuff here, the piercing ended up free for both of the girls ::

We were pretty nervous to wait for Eid announcement because we started fasting a day earlier that Malaysia. Should Eid was decided on 20th, we will have to raya on 19th because we already fast for 30 days. It is understandable that you need to fast for either 29 or 30 das of Ramadhan. Not more and not less so it will become haram for us to fast on 19th. Anyway, as advised by ustaz in Q8 when we asked for his opinion, he said that we MUST have our "raya" on 19th but keep it discreet meaning we can't eat in public or showing off that we already beraya as other family members will still have to fast for one more day. It's a good thing that penyimpan mohor besar announced that 1st Eid is decided on 19th so basically we fasted for 30 days and Malaysian did 29 days which is also allowed in Islam.

:: I instagram-ed this pic on Eid morning. Dina, Alis and Erin with their raya outfit ::

:: Us di pagi Syawal. I chose brown this year for no reason. Although we didn't really matchy matchy to each other as my baju kurung was technically dusty pick instead of brownish, and the girls's browh hue is far cry differ from hubby, we did however successfully matched with my mom in law's curtain, sofa and dinding perfectly. We did blend beautifully with our surrounding I have to say kah kah kah ::

:: Match bukan ?? ::

And I shall let the picture do the rest of the job...

:: Tadi kami duduk, sekarang kami berdiri hee hee hee ::

:: Tokwan and Tokki with cucus. Incomplete group picture though, 2 eldest cucus went missing ::

:: Sessi mintak maaf or rather sessi collect duit raya instead ::

:: By sequence from eldest to youngest. En Muddy's eldest sister with her family ::

:: Us with errr extra 4 kids hehe ::

:: No 3 in the family. En Muddy's brother ::

:: Youngest sis of En Muddy and her husband. Yepp, the one that got married last year ::

:: The whole Mansor's clan ::

:: With my beloved wedded husband of 8 years. We celebrated our 8th anniversary on 2nd of Syawal. Happy anniversary to us :) ::

:: My mini me ::

:: One professional ( at the back) and one semi professional  ( at the front, of course) photographers in action. Gaya kena lebih, walhalllll ! ::

:: My mom in law will usually cooked Nasi Minyak on 1st Syawal, without failed. However, we're going to have a feast at Ayah Long house afterwards, and it looks like our schedule is full today with a visit to relatives and also friend's houses, therefore we just had satay for today. Plus, we will be going to host an open house on 2nd day of raya and my mother in law was planning to cook Nasi Minyak for that particular event, and also Nasi Kerabu ::

After makan raya, we make a move to our first ziarah of the day. Usually, it will be En Muddy's grandmother place at Jabi. However, there's a slightest change of plan today as En Muddy's eldest uncle, known as Ayah Long decided to do a gathering at their rest house called Villa Warisan first thing in the morning this year so all of relatives will be gather there instead of Jabi.

:: Ayah Long in the most left in the picture, Mok ( Muddy's grandma ) in the middle and MokLong on the far right during salam salam session ::

:: Ayah Long and his both son in laws ::

:: Me and Cik Da, Muddy's auntie, relaxing after a scrumptious Nasi Dagang and satay treat ::

:: Mom in law and Mok Long. Pic taken from Mok Long's FB ::

The rest of the day went by as planned. We tried to visit as many houses as we can. It's surely damn tiring. We were all sweating and sticky but most importantly, we're beyond happy. 

On second day of Syawal, as I've mentioned earlier, we hosted an open house from morning till evening and I've spent my whole anniversary day in the kitchen washing, washing and washing. Geez I got to see my man only by the end of the afternoon despite being under the same roof out of busyness. So un-romantic. Mannn the dishes is never ending I tell you. I was totally soaked by the end of the day. I don't even bother to put on make up whatsoever. Not even lipstick. All I need is my most comfiest cotton kurung. The dirty dishes needs me ha ha ha, the make up can wait.. Tired as hell, but seeing all the guess leaving full and happy, it is definitely ze most rewarding experience we had.

:: By end of the day. My sis in law already changed her attire while lil Aysha just proves that in hot and humid weather like that day, less is more he he he ::

After our open house ended, my brother in law decided to take the kids to the beach nearby, Bukit Keluang beach. Initially, he just wanted to let them play with sand and maybe quick dip in the water but well, we always know beach and kids are never a good combination. They can't resist stripping off and jumped in the waves. Since there's almost 7 kids and my bro in law alone, he called up for extra helping hand to monitor the kids and my husband eventually had to go and play coast guard. They had a blast and I had good time stretching at home. My back is killing me. Standing for 5-6 hours straight is used to be no biggie to me, but not anymore. Signs of aging or lack of calcium maybe he he he...

That night, everybody started to feel hungry but nobody care to cook so my bro in law suggested that we eat at a restaurant owned by his friend called Anjung Bahtera. The famous "in" thing now in Malaysia is maggee ketam eh? Everyone is talking about maggee ketam so that's what we going to try that night.

:: Verdict : Adelah lebih sedap and memuaskan kalau di makan di rumah coz handling the ketam is quite a chores. Plus, we came with few small kids that can't handle the ketam by themselves. Although they provided penyepit, it doesn't help much to my opinion. We were quite famished when we arrived and having had to go through "hard labour" in order to eat, I am not impressed ! Too much work for a meal too simple ::

On Day 3, we make a move heading South quite early. By 11 if I'm not mistaken he he he. Early lah tuh considering we had full exhausting day, a day before. After done some calculation, it will took us 10 hours or so to arrive Singapore and since our route mostly involved 2 lane jalan kampung, my husband hesitated to allow me to drive. Banyak kereta musim musim raya nih. Although feeling a bit intimidated, I don't really mind. I am in need of a good long beauty sleep. We decided to stopped overnight at Kuantan so all of us could get a decent rest. My husband already made a prior booking at The Zenith Hotel, new hotel in town. 

:: The room is quite big and since the hotel is new, most of the furniture are in tip top condition ::

:: Kuantan town from our room's window ::

After check in, shower and solat, we headed out for dinner which also served as belated anniversary dinner. I googled while on our way which is the best seafood restaurant nearby and the 1st name popped up is Paksu Restaurant, so Paksu it is. 

:: I thought Pak Su is a Malay name, maybe short form for Pakcik Sulaiman or Pakcik Suhaimi. It turned out to be a chinese name, hence chinese restaurant ha ha ha. However, it's halal though so we just proceeded in and this is what we ordered. Fried Kailan with Garlic, Salted Egg Lobster, Kam Heong Tiger Prawn and Shark Fin Soup ::

:: And this! Their signature dish. Stuffed Crab something something. My husband finished all 3, must be sedap. I don't try this sebab dah banyak sangat seafood, muak la pulak. Plus, I'm having hard time finishing my tiger prawn. Eating with a tired body and sleepy head is a no go lahhh ::

The next day, early morning we make our move. But not before taking our breakfast first.

:: Alis and Nasik Lemak. Owhh it's been a while since we had Malay style breakfast in hotel ::

We didn't make many stop along the way mainly because there's not many place we can stop. It's all kelapa sawit right, left, behind and ahead of us. The kids also been sleeping the whole journey so we just drove slowly in and out village. I recalled my husband making few stops for gas and suddenly we already entering Johor border. While in Labis, suddenly my husband making a sudden halt. 

:: Sisters. Both have so much loves for food and poses he he ::

:: My favorite rojak shop I always promoting here ::

:: Mak Lang, me, cikgu bedah, cousin Raodah and Alis he he he ::

:: They ( the mamaks) offered so many varieties you can choose for your plate of rojak. Ala like passemboq in Penang lah kan. But when I am the one who choose, it will always be extra kentang, extra telur rebus goreng, extra cucur bawang and nothing else ::

:: This is clealy my husband's plate lah kan. With sotong lah, paru lah and whatnot ::

After rojak time, we made a quick stop to Mak Lang's pizza shop, Canadian Pizza at Bedok. This is our first visit since the opening huhuh. Weakness of staying abroad, among many is you'll always be the last to everything and you'll prone to miss many many family important events. Everything have pro and cons right? So stay very very grateful with what you have, don't be greedy because you don't need to have everything  other's have cause Allah give you what you need, not what you want. If you take someone else rezeki now, Allah might take yours in double in future.. And stop living people's live, live yours! Just because other people life's look's fancy and good, doesn't necessarily it will work for you. Enough said, Wallahuallam

:: Specially made pizza by the owner summore ::

:: Everyone was still full from rojak so we had to declined the pizza. However, as we are heading to Kota Tinggi after this, my auntie insisted us taking 2 boxes of pizza of our choice together as buah tangan for Kota Tinggi's clan. As can be seen here, no matter how full you are, you can never resist hot cheesy pizza fresh from oven do you? We ended up gobbled half box of pizza on our way out ha ha ha ::

:: Farewell photo. We traveled more than 12 hours to Singapore but stayed no longer than 24 hours. Some might say we're just wasting our energy but nothing can beats reuniting with your loved ones after so long. We certainly have no luxury to stay any longer as we still have many places to visit within the short period of time but I am more than blessed to be able to meet them, albeit for a merely shortest time ::

We stayed another night at Kota Tinggi and headed back to KL the next day after making one quick stop to Melaka, my uncle place. Once we returned to KL, things were moving in a blink and below are things we managed to do in a week that is left.

:: Checking out The Curve and visited "Steve Job". Is it just me or same for everyone that The Curve's chain now has becoming confusing. There's The Curve, then eCurve and one more Curve that I forgot what it's name. Hubby need to repair his iPhone at eCurve, but we parked at The Curve so we ended up going back and forth. Duhhhh ::

:: Playing swirl game with Erin while waiting for papa settling his stuff ::

:: Treating myself to super yummy Claypot Chicken Rice, my favourite food court's food. This one is at The Garden food court. By far the legend among the legend. Other's that memorable was the one at Mahkota Parade's food court and The Mall but mind you, this was memory from yesteryears, from my teenage years. The quality might have changed now and most probably, those food court was not anymore exist. This one at The Garden anyhow, has everything a good claypot chicken rice should have. Generous gravy, tender and soft chicken, runny yolk, huge shitake mushroom and above all, the most important factor is the rice doesn't dried up and burnt too fast like other claypot I had before ::

:: Ooppss Alis and her love for exotic things. Yes, chicken feet is exotic by my book. This one is at Mydin Subang during our-yearly-stocked-up-Kuwait-ration's day ::

:: Visit to my cousin's place at Cheras. The girls have their first trial on wearing hijab. Although it doesn't last long, it's a good try. Baby steps girls ! Alhamdullilah ::

:: 4 lil babies that used to drove everyone crazy when they cried altogether at the same time, all grown up. They still drive us crazy at times though he he he ::

:: Midnite "party" with Ina's clan at Bangi ::

:: Ilhan had enough of kueh raya it seems and decided to chew mama's BB for a change ::

:: The night before departure. My uncle came to visit ::

:: Our flight is at 9:40 am initially so we already at the airport by 7 am. However it got delayed without any notice to 1130 am. Sigh... ::

So that's the end of our Eid story. Till the next chapter on our balik Malaysia story, hopefully next year. For now, I had to listen to the girls chanting every day rinduuu atokkk, rinduuu nenekkkk, rinduuu acuu... Nak balik Malaysiaaa.... 

Although sometimes they can be tad too annoying when they can't stop bothering me with Adik nak balik Malaysia!!!!, it is indeed undeniable that all of us right now are kinda home-sick, nenek-sick, atuk-sick and Malaysia-sick :(

Again as a closing, I would like to wish you guys again, Eid Mubarak wherever you maybe and stay healthy and safe during musim perayaan ni... Before signing off, take a quick look at photo below and try to guess what it is......

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