Cuti-Cuti Malaysia...

Last week, I went on a "cuti-cuti Malaysia" vacation with my family, my parents and three aunts from Singapore. (they are above 50s, ok. So basically, it was just like being a tourist guide for persatuan warga emas). My parents and aunts arrived at my house at 12 pm. After a short rest, quenching their thirst with some juice, we started our journey to Terengganu in two cars. We used the Karak Highway, then went on the LPT until we arrived at Kuala Terengganu at 9 pm. It was really tiring, but luckily I was only the map reader, not the driver. So, every now and then I could take a short nap throughout the journey.

That night, we stayed at Primula Beach Resort at K.T. The 4 -star hotel was quite good and cosy, nevertheless, we couldn't spend much time appreciating our stay at that hotel, since at 10 a.m the next day, we checked out and started our tour around KT. Our first place in the tour list was the Pasar Payang. Takkanlah gi KT tak gi Pasar Payang. IT was really a BIG test for me, since shopping around with warga emas was soooooo challenging. Just imagine, they could lost anytime, they were sooo slow, every now and then one of them would go to the toilet....bla..bla..bla. Memang mencabar, cos I'm the type of person yg mcm lipas kudung kalau shopping. So actually, eventhough we spent more than two hours there, we only went to half of the shop lots at the second floor only!

Then, we went to Masjid Terapung. It was built on a lake, we performed our Zuhur prayer there and took some nice shots around the masjid. After lunch, we went to the must-visit-place, and in fact the main reason my parents and aunts came long way from the South of Peninsular Malaysia to KT. It was Pulau Wan Man...

The main attraction at Pulau Wan Man is of course the Masjid Kristal. It was not so magnificient in architecture, but anyhow I think it's worth to be visited. It was made from glass, so, it looks like a sparkling mosque at noon, when we arrived there. What I like most about the masjid is the cool air-cond. Ha ha.....tak masuk akal kan...? But, as I entered the mosque, I felt like entering Masjid Nabawi...cos' it was so cooling in the masjid. (Oh, I miss Makkah and Madinah...)

Then, we went to the nearby Taman Tamadun Islam. It was still under construction, yet tourists and visitors were allowed to visit and enter the completed phase of that taman. My kids and my aunts were so excited seeing and snapping pictures of the replicas of mosques from various places. There were mosque from Brunei, China, Indonesia( Wali Songo), Iran and also Taj Mahal. However, as I saw Masjidil Aqsa's replica there, I felt so touch and sad, thinking of the future of that holy place of Muslim and the people of Palestine.

From Pulau Wan Man, we went to Pulau Duyung. I wanted my kids to see the traditional boat making. We reached there around 5 pm. After that, we dropped by at Losong and bought some keropok lekor. Then only, we continue our journey to Kota Bharu.

We reached KB at 10 pm, straight away checked in at New Pacific Hotel at KB. The next morning, still feeling exhausted, but we went to Pasar Siti Khadijah after breakfast at Hotel's coffehouse. It was Friday...so most of the shops around that Pasar and in KB in general are closed. Anyway, we bought some turtle's eggs, pulut hitam, madu kampung, tudung bawal (for my sisters) and several baju caftan. We had our lunch at at a special restaurant that served Turkish and Arabic dishes. Yum.yum....lama tak makan. Murah betul makan kat KB nie...tak mcm K.L.

After Friday prayer, we spent an hour at Pantai Chaya Bulan. The kids played kites with their father, while my Mom and I spent time talking and drinking coconut juice at the beach. Hmm...so relaxing. After that, we went to Pulau Melaka.....guess what? We searched Tok Guru's house! That was not included in our initial planning, but my dad really wanted me to find the Tok Guru Nik Aziz's house. So, I called my best friend, who is a Kelantanese. With her clear and good guide, alhamdulillah we arrived at Tok Guru's house and masjid at Asar. Tok Guru was not there, but we managed to snap some pictures of his markaz.

From Tok Guru's place, we continued our journey to Paloh Rawa, a relative's house. He is my father's long-lost second cousin. So we spent our night there, sharing our stories and it was so good to hear from them. Dapat mengeratkan silaturrahim. Actually, the main purpose of our journey to Kelantan was to visit our relatives here. My Dad is a kind of person yg suka menziarah sanak saudara, tak kira tua atau muda. Fifteen years ago, we had done a journey menjejak kasih to Kelantan, purposely to find our long-lost realtives there. So, this time, after fifteen years, my Dad brought his three sisters to visit them.

Staying a night at the "real" kampung was so great and indeed a new experience for my kids. They could see buffalos, cows, perigi, and the rubber plantation. The kampung is really a kampung, where everybody knows each other well, where we could experience staying in a wooden house with no window grills,where the kids couldn't run around the house cos there were scared of the sound of the wooden floor. The morning dew, the chill water, the simple life...ohhh...I love it so much.

The next day, we went to Jeli, to visit another relative. After that, we started to journey home, but this time around, we followed the Jeli-Gerik route. Since the air and scenery along Jeli-Gerik was so fresh (mountains along the way), we decided to switch off the air cond so that we could feel the nature around us. On the way, we stopped by about half an hour at a hot spring near Jeli.

Upon entering Perak, we spotted a very nice place. It looked like a big lake or a dam. We stopped by there. It was Pulau Banding (kalau tak silap), yg ada hutan simpan Belum. Apa lagi, seronoknya. We went on an hour tour around the island by boat. Subhanallah..cantiknya...rasanya mcm nak bermalam jer. Ada camping site lagi.....but susahlah cos bawak warga emas nie...bukanya boleh activity yg lasak sikit.

We reached home at 11 pm that day. Though the journey was sooooooo tiring, but it was an enjoyable one. I'm so satisfied cos I had the chance to make my aunts and my parents happy. Actually kesian betul dekat my aunts tu....they have money, they have time, but nobody wants to entertain them, even their own kids! Nak harapkan anak2 bawa berjalan...jgn haraplah. So terpaksalah menumpang kasih ngan my parents and my husband and I untuk entertain them.

Honestly speaking, the vacation was not our dream vacation. It was more like bringing them for a tour, melayan org2 tu (I prefer a vacation on an Island in Terengganu or Tasik Kenyir...) Trust me, bukannya senang nak pergi berjalan ngan 5 org warga emas...kena banyak sabar. However, kami berpuashati sebab we believe, if we make our parents and elderly happy, Allah will make us happy too. And, Allah Maha Menunaikan Janji, a day after I reached home, I got a good news. Allah has really made me happy. MasyaAllah..sekejap jer Allah dah beri balasan yg setimpal dgn keikhlasan dan kesabaran kami ingin menggembirakan org2 tua.

So..what's the great and good news then? InshaAllah next time I'll announce it.