We didn’t leave for our home town until the day before Eid this year. Linda had to work on Saturday since it’s the end of the month and we left early Sunday morning. We had suhoor at a mamak in Bandar Seri Putra and begin our long and sleepy drive to Tanah Merah. The road was jammed at the usual spot but thankfully not as bad as the day before where everybody’s rushing to enjoy the half price toll discount.
This is our first Eid without Adam. We had an emotional video call with Adam the day before Eid because he celebrated a day early in the States. We were particularly sad to see the food that he had on Eid morning - bagels with cream cheese, among other western food. None of the regular local Eid fare that we have here.
As always, we stayed at my parent in law’s place. There was only one other family present when we got there - Kak Cik from Bentong. The rest of them were celebrating Eid with their respective in laws this year. In the morning, we had our morning Eid prayers and went straight to Pasir Mas afterwards. My hometown was a bit more happening because a lot of people showed up this year. My siblings - Lina and Faiz, my Uncle Din, his wife and two of my cousins. Uncle Dib and family and of course Aunty Yati.
Mother was conspicuously absent this year since she was performing umrah for the last week of Ramadan and a week into Syawal. If I haven’t told you, it’s her sixth time going for an umrah. She asked me to visit her newly renovated kitchen/home. If you remember, she rent out 2/3 of our ancestral home to make money. And she wonders why we don’t visit her much anymore. Anyway, our old kitchen has two more beds, supposedly for us to stay in. Nobody took up on her offer except for my brother and his family. Sorry mother, but our house it’s not a proper home anymore. The house that I grown up in had gone.
After a brief stop at my father’s grave, we concluded day one of Eid this year.
On the second day, we visited Linda’s sister in laws in Besut. We didn’t waste this opportunity to visit the popular Bukit Keluang beach nearby and enjoy the sunset.
On the third day, we visited Linda’s office mate house near Kota Bharu. As expected, traffic was horrendous all over the place this festive season. And we took a long time trying to find her office mate’s house that I almost give up. Later we stopped by Aeon Mall Kota Bharu for a little bit of shopping before going home.
The rest of the week was uneventful until Friday where we went to Bachok to stay at a homestay near Melawi beach. For the peak season price of 480 ringgit, we get a small studio house with two queen beds on the 1st floor, kitchen, small swimming pool and beachfront access to the Melawi beach. The house itself was nice, I especially appreciate the washer/dry machine but it took me 9 and a half hours to finish our laundry. I learned to select synthetic or cotton dry mode next time.
Melawi beach itself, particularly the one right in front of the homestay was terribly dirty with rubbish strewn all along the beach. Sadly this is the norm for non-touristy beach from Thailand to Malaysia. But that didn’t stop us from enjoying the beautiful sunrise the next day. Will we come again to Amnis Tiny House? I doubt it.
The funniest thing happened when were about to drop off Yaya at her school in Kota Bharu. It was still closed for the holiday and it won’t open until the next day. So we had to send Yaya to her grandparent’s place first before continuing our journey home. We departed at 6.30pm and didn’t reach hour 12 hours and 30 minutes later. God only knows how tired and sleepy I was for the most part of the journey. To make matter worse, I could not find a single open coffee shop, even McDonald’s open after midnight. Remind me to get a portable water heater next time. French press I already have. That’s why I loath driving during the festive season. Traffic is almost always bad and driving on the road is literal torture. Can’t wait for the day I don’t have to do any of this anymore.
