Hari Raya Aidil Adha 2008

Aidil Adha (Hari Raya Haji) 2008.

This year the Hari Raya Haji (Aidil Adha) falls on Monday, 8th December 08. For Hari Raya Puasa (Aidil Fitri) in October last year, I spent the first day in Salmiah's hometown in Dungun, Trengganu and the second day travelling to Tronoh, Perak, to spend our third day of Aidil Fitri with my relatives there. I did not have the chance to go to Sg.Rengit in Johor after the visit to Perak at that time. However, to be fair to both of my relatives in Tronoh and Sg.Rengit, this time I skipped going to Perak because I was there in October last year. For this year's Aidil Adha, I took my family to Sg. Rengit, Johor to visit my relatives there before going to Dungun, Trengganu to visit Salmiah's relatives. Here, I am going to describe, with photos, about my journey from Ampang, Selangor to Sg.Rengit, Johor and then to Dungun in Trengganu.

You might ask, "why to Sg.Rengit and then Dungun?". The answer to that is that we should always foster closer silaturrahim with our relatives. This is only possible if we can visit our relatives as often as posible. I recalled that the last time I was in Sg.Rengit was in April this year. That was about eight (8) months ago.

We planned to leave early at dawn for Sg.Rengit, but due to a turn in an event, we could not do that. That morning of Hari Raya Aidil Adha, I had to leave my house in Ampang early in the morning to send Amin, Anita and Anuar to the airport. They were going to join their mum in London for a holiday. I thought that I could check them into the plane early and then returned to Ampang to begin the journey to Johor, but it was not to be that way.

L-R: Anuar, Me, Amin & Anita - taken at the departure hall just before they boarded the plane

After we parked the car in the basement, we went to the counter to check in. However, the staff at the counter informed us that the tickets had not been paid for. She told us we had to go to the MAS (Malaysia Airlines) ticket counter on the third floor to resolve it. So we went down to the MAS ticket counter. When we reached there, we approached the counter after our queue number was called. The MAS staff checked her computer and informed us that even though the booking was done, the information in her computer stated that MAS had not received the payment. I immediately used my mobile phone to call Yasmin to inform her about the situation. I passed the mobile phone to the MAS staff and they talked over the phone. Earlier, Yasmin explained to me that she had paid online to MAS using maybank2u.com and she had the receipt from Maybank to prove it. I overheard the MAS staff repeatedly saying to Yasmin that she could not issue the confirmation slip the if her computer did not indicate that the tickets had been paid. So I asked her what should I do? She said if I wanted the kids to board the plane now, I had to pay the amount in cash. Sounded like a blackmail, right? He he....

She suggested that I looked for cash for she did not accept payment by credit card either. So I told her I would go and look for the cash but meanwhile she said she would call a "certain department" to confirm about the payment already made by Yasmin through Maybank online.

Not wanting to see disappointing looks on the kids' face if they knew they were going to miss the flight, I rushed to CIMB bank on the fifth floor to try to withdraw the RM13,000 + required to pay for the tickets. I knew I could withdraw RM5,000.00 from the ATM machine and thought that I could withdraw the balance using my personal cheque. It was a disappointment to be told by the CIMB staff at the counter that I could withdraw a maximum of RM5,000.00 only with my cheque. So, I could withdraw for a maximum of RM10,000.00 ringgit only. My pocket contained less than RM700.00 and therefore not enough to make up for the difference.

So I said to myself that the kids just had to take another flight after MAS had confirmed receiving the payment from Maybank. As I was walking down the elevator towards the MAS Ticket Counter, where I earlier told the kids to wait for me, my mobile phone rang. The call was from Anita informing that she had received the confirmation slip from the MAS counter and therefore she asked me to rush to the check-in counter. So we rushed to the check-in counter with the confirmation slip. We were in the nick of time for the counter was about to close. I requested the MAS counter staff to arrange for an escort to bring the kids to the plane and that after they landed at the airport in London, the escort should not leave the kids until their mum turned up to claim them.

I accompanied the kids to the security gate and did not leave the airport until I had lost sight of them. It was almost 10.30 am by the time I got to the car park. I didn't reach Ampang until one hour later.

After packing the luggage into the Naza Ria, we finally left our house at Ampang at almost 12.00 noon to begin our long journey. We expected to reach our destination in 6 to 8 hours' time. It was a cloudy day and drizzling with rain most of the way that day. We took the North-South Highway at Sg.Besi Tol Plaza.

At about 2.00 pm, we stopped at the Ayer Keroh Rest & Recreation Area to perform solat jama' takdim, followed with lunch. The area was crowded with holiday makers. All of the seats at the eateries were occupied. If we had tried to eat there, we would probably have to wait for a table or two to be vacated and also ended up waiting longer for the food to be served. We would probably waste a few hours there if not for Salmiah, who had the foresight to cook meehun and keropok at home to be taken when we break for the journey. We therefore had meehun with fried keropok for lunch at one of the huts provided.

L-R:Salmiah, Syara, Syuhada, Syahir, Meena & Jowin at the hut just before taking lunch.

After the stop at the Ayer Keroh R&R area, we continued with our journey. Nothing interesting happened along the way until we reached a place somewhere at Yong Peng, where the traffic was moving slowly. We found out later that there was an accident between two cars. After that the traffic was back to normal and smooth flowing all the way. We took the Kulai Interchange and after briefly passing through the town of Kulai, we took the left turn at a traffic light to proceed towards Kota Tinggi. Just before Kota Tinggi, we observed heavy traffic on the other side of the road heading towads Johor Bahru. We concluded that they must be returning from a weekend trip to Desaru, a popular tourist spot in Johor. We did not stop anywhere along the way except at a Petronas station, which was at a junction to Desaru, to fill up the petrol tank. We reached Sg.Rengit at about 7.30 pm and straightaway headed for Suria's house.

L-R: Suria, Suhada & Syahir. Suria is my late brother Shariff's eldest child.

Suria is the eldest daughter of my late brother, Mohd Shariff, who passed away in April this year. Suria had prepared for us some traditional Johor lontong. Lontong is one of my favourite dishes and I enjoyed the meal. Everyone was hungry and that not much was spoken while we helped ourselves to the dish.

L-R: Meena, Syarah & Salmiah

Yusof with Fatimah. Yusuf is Suria's youngest child and Fatimah is her eldest child.

I introduced Salmiah and the kids to Suria's family. We chatted for a while during and after taking the delicious lontong meal. We finally left Suria's house at about 9.30 pm that night and drove for about 15 minutes before we reached our chalet, Titian Indah Sepang, which was the same chalet that I stayed during my last visit to Sg.Rengit in April 08.

Whilst we were lingering around at the lobby, Shahrin dropped by to say hello to us. Shahrin is Suria's younger brother. We chat with Shahrin for half an hour or so before he requested for permission to leave as he had to go to work the next day.

At the chalet's lobby - from left, Salmiah, Syarah, Meena & Syuhada

We checked into 2 rooms that night, one room for the ladies, consisting of Salmiah, Syuhada, Meena and Syarah and the other room for Syahir, Jowin and me. Each room consisted of one double bed and one single bed with an air conditioner and attached bathroom. Syahir and Jowin occupied the double bed and I took the single bed. It cost us only RM50.00 per room, dirt cheap, yeah?.

The next morning, while the children were fast asleep, Salmiah and I took a stroll along the beach. It was high tide at that time and the waves were quite strong due to the North East Monsoon season at this time of the year.

		Salmiah standing infront of the chalet and the Naza Ria which took us on the long trip.


Taken on the beach		We met a fellow stroller who's kind enough to snap a photo for us

Photo taken at a neighbouring chalet

After we returned from the beach, we told the children to tidy up and get ready to check out.

After we checked out from the chalet, we went to Suria's house. Last night Suria was kind enough to invite us for breakfast at her house that morning. She cooked and served fried rice and fried meehun with fried crabs and fried chicken. We helped ourselves to the bananas on the table before the food arrived.

L-R: Jowin, Syuhada, Syahir, Meena, Syarah & Salmiah


Alid (Suria's husband)		Suria and Burhan (Suria's eldest son)

We chat again during breakfast and Alid, who is Suria's husband, said that most likely they would spend next year's Aidil Fitri at Tronoh, Perak with us. We said to them that we really looked forward to their presence in Tronoh during that time. Before we left the house, we thanked Suria and her family for being such a good host to us. We then proceeded to the Muslim graveyard not far from there. My late mum, Noriah was buried there in 1996 and my late brother, Shariff were buried there last April.

Sitting near my late mother's kubor L-R : Jowin, Syahir, Meena, Syarah, Syuhada & Salmiah

L-R : Jowin, Syahir, Salmiah & Syarah

We left Sg.Rengit at about 11.30 am and took the right turn to Bkt Apin after about 10 Km from the Petronas Station where we filled the petrol the previous day. This road was a bit narrow and bumpy with patches. But there were not many vehicles, so it was quite a comfortable drive. About 45 minutes later, we reached a T-Junction where we took the left turn towards the town. We proceeded until we met another T-Junction. We took the right turn this time. This road was wider and smoother to drive. There were some winding turns but they were quite easy and tolerable. By using this road we finally reached Mersing, at about 1.30 pm. We stopped at a mosque a few kilometres from Mersing to perform the solat jama' taqdim. After performing the solat jama' taqdim, we drove to Endau and then to Pekan, and finally we reached Kuantan at about 4.30 pm.

Before we reached Pekan, we stopped by a roadside stall to buy some pineapples. We had the pineapple fruits cut into small pieces so that we could eat them in the car along the way.

Taking the road from Mersing to Kuantan was also comfortable. The road was in the same condition as the road from Bkt Apin to Mersing, except that it did not have that many turnings. When we reached Kuantan, we looked for a hardware shop to sort out the transportation of floor tiles to Salmiah's new house at Dungun. It took us some time to find the place because, mind you, neither Salmiah nor me were familiar with Kuantan.

After sorting out the transportation problem with the hardware shop, we continued with our journey to Dungun. We stopped at a Petronas station at Cherating to fill up the Naza's petrol tank. We had dinner at a nearby restaurant known as "Sri Pelangi". After the dinner, it was almost 7.00 pm. We continued with our journey and reached Dungun at about 9.30 pm.

We woke up in the morning of 10th December 08 (Wednesday) and went to the beach to take a walk. It was high tide and the waves were quite strong, stronger than those at Sg.Rengit, I should think. After the walk at the beach, we went to Kg. Balai Besar to have a look at the house under construction. Due to the rainy season, the progress was quite slow.

Salmiah infront of the house under construction

That afternoon, we went to Salmiah's elder sister's house for a khenduri doa selamat. Among other dishes, she also served delicious nasi dagang, an original Trengganu dish.

We helped ourselves to the food. Not all of Salmiah's brothers and sisters were there, except for Ali and his family who came down from Lenggong, Kak Nur and family from Kuala Lumpur and Luli and family from Kuala Trengganu.

After the nasi dagang at Jamaliah's house, some relatives decided to visit Salmiah's house.

The following day, we took a drive to Kuala Dungun to purchase some paints for the house. The bridge you saw at the background leads to Teluk Bidara and Tanjung Jara.

Front L-R : Meena, Syarah, Syahir & Syuhada at Kuala Dungun

After we bought the paint, we took the bridge from Kuala Dungun to Teluk Bidara beach. The water at Teluk Bidara was clean compared to the Dungun beach, but the waves were very strong and there were signboards everywhere advising the public not to swim in the area.

L-R : Syahir, Syuhada, Syarah, Salmiah, Meena & Jowin squatting.

Jowin infront of the Taman Rekreasi signboard.

L-R : Syuhada, Syahir & Salmiah

The next day, Friday 12th December 08, we visited the Muslim graveyard, where Salmiah's late mum and late dad were buried. We left for Kuala Lumpur at 1.00 pm on the same day and reached our house at Ampang at about 7.30 pm. The journey from Dungun to Ampang was quite smooth, maybe because we chose to travel on that day instead of on Sunday.

. Hari Raya Aidil Adha 2008

.

Hari Raya Aidil Adha 2008