Teman raya sakan, weh!

It was indeed a fulfilling Hari Raya for my family and I. Alhamdulillah! It was really a Hari Raya at a most meriah tetapi sederhana proportion. But still, we had fun all the way. Bear with me, this is going rather long-winded. But as many years from now I probably won’t remember the details, the fun, and the joy, this entry is a marker of sorts.

30 Ramadan
Balik Kampung day. With my mom safely uprooted at my brother’s place in Shah Alam, we decided to push off from home after sahur. Which never happened as I stayed up all night right until sahur because was busy cleaning up the house (and Yan busy baking last minute cookies). And after subuh I went to sleep. Woke up only at 8.30am.
It was already 9am and the sun already up and bright when we left the house. And I was so ever prepared to be spending extra few hours in the traffic congestion. But it was indeed a beautiful Ramadan day as there was hardly any traffic worthy of balik kampung exodus on PLUS highway that morning. It was a breeze all the way right up till Tapah exit. Alhamdulillah. Macam bukan balik Raya lar pulak.... Sampai at my SIL’s place in Kuala Dipang, a couple of KM to the north of Kampar around noon.
And I went straight to resuming my sleep. Ahhh! Heaven. Woke up around 5pm, itupun my wife kata my MIL mintak gi beli mee goreng Mamak utk berbuka. Of all the food....
But malam raya was spent with just Kak’s and our family sahaja as the other brothers and sister and families would only join us the next day.

1 Syawal.
Woke up bright and early and feeling very much sihat. I’ve learnt the bitter lesson of not to gorge down food on the Raya eve as to jaga the tummy. A few Rayas ago I did just that and I suffered the morning after. Since I’m the only adult male around, I decided to go solat Raya in Kampar, mana ler tahu kot2 boleh terserempak ngan member2 lama. Kak’s young son Farid, dah lama lesap ikut kawan2 dia gi surau nearby untuk sembahyang Raya.
Anyway, Solat raya in Masjid Kampar sort of nostalgic as it was the place where I did my akad nikah many many years ago. And I only met my old classmate Amran Md Zain. Ropa dia macam tu jugak. Hmmm.
After the solat (which only started at 9.30am – rather late don’t you all think so) I rushed back home. Then we went to Yan’s kampung in Ayer Itam Labu – about 20 minutes away. First stop was pusara arwah FIL. Then we made our way to Yan’s aunt place, Wan Eda, not far from there. After the huu haa session with her children which happen to be our cousins yang jarang jumpa, we drove further in to Yan’s Uncle place Pak Usu.
And surprise, surprise, I met my old kawan baik from Form 6 days - Baharuddin. Sekarang dah jadi lecturer kat UPSI and dah ada anak enam. Last time I met Baha was like 17 years ago. Lepas sama-sama start kerja terus lost contact walaupun masing2 tahu rumah emak bapak masing2.
Then both Kak and us berpecah as we made our way to Temoh, my kampung. Ziarah kubur bapak and Azmir and opah and tok. Then pergi tengok rumah Mak jap and jumpa my cousin Lop. We also pergi beraya kat rumah my cousins kat kampung sebelah – rumah Kak Lebo and rumah Abg Udin. Oooh! Banyaknya makan. Beraya lar katakan.
After that I wanted to visit my other best friend masa sekolah in Kampar but the girls dah penat so decided to go home to rumah Kak. By then Yan’s eldest sister Yong and brother Abang Lan and their families sudah sampai. Cuma Nyah and the gang from Cheras saja still on the way.
So after solat jamak qasar, my head found a pillow and I drifted to lalalland in no time. Apparently, quite a number of sedara mara came by while I was drifting...... even Nyah and family pun sampai...
Around 10pm, Kak Encik and family also sampai to sleep over. She’s our cousin but the closest cousin and can be considered another sister even. After all she grew up in the same household as my wife and her siblings. And when she’s around, it was sembang2 session into the wee hours of the morning. The main topic of tete-a-tete that night warrant a separate entry but it was hillarious to the maximum, I tell you.
It concerned Kak Encik’s blow-by-blow account on what transpired while she watched our angkasawan blasted off into the space on TV a few days earlier. Suffice to say that Sheikh Muszaphar, you’ve got one die hard fan in Kak Encik. And she’s still praying that the capsule carrying our angkawasan back to earth will off shoot its target and land safely in Teluk Batik, Lumut instead. Yeah, Kak Encik lives in Sitiawan (not far from Lumut) and she’s seriously hoping that she will be able to welcome our hunky Dr back home personally. I say, whatever......

Rombongan Kak Siah pergi beraya
Baha and me - sekian lama tak jumpa

Group photos of the men in Cikgu Hasan's family. The uncles are all seated (plus the youngest cousin). Yang muda-muda sumer berdiri termasukla sorang uncle tu... hehe

The ladies group pix (MIL tak de sebab dia tgh shower). All the aunts are seated with the eldest auntie berdiri right in the middle... separating the cousins yang ayu sopan (on the left) dengan cousins yang lupa daratan di Hari Raya (to the right). Err, yang dentist tu should be in the right group lar!!!

Since I like this pix so much, here's another go... orang muda la katakan

2 Syawal

The early part of the day were spent at Kak’s place receiving guests yang datang beraya. It was only after Asar prayer that we drove up to Ipoh to Yan’s cousin Kak La in Bercham. And the mee rebus at Kak La’s place was sinfully delicious. Ishh! And we were stranded jugak at her place as the sky opened up real good. It was almost 9pm when we reached Yan’s sister place Yong in Simpang Pulai. The rest of the gang were already there and another feast of mee – this time mee kari lar pulak - awaited. As Nisah said, the mee was simply marvellous..

Second day terlupa pulak nak go snap snap happy. Only this one taken of my family before we ventured out to Ipoh.

3 Syawal

Apparently more people came over to beraya with MIL (like really ramai) but we weren’t there as we went to beraya at Pak Uteh's place - Yan's uncle - in Malim Nawar and later to my late grandmother’s place in Lahat. Only my aunts – Wancik and Chu - and their families live there now. Had lunch there – nasi dengan gulai masam, ikan bakar and air asam. Ooooh sedap!

We left for Kak’s place around 5pm and on the way back we stopped by Gopeng to buy Kelamai. Apparently only available in Gopeng, Kelamai looks like lemang only the buluh is rather white and its more like bingka rather pulut lemang. Sampai kat rumah we – especially those kids from KL macam anak Nyah and mine – were really amazed at this kelamai. Heboh satu rumah pasai kelamai. Hmm orang Perak yang praq senandung.

That night we had a bbq of burger and sausages. Jemu makan lauk raya ler nih. Another satisfying day indeed.

Inilah rupa rumah Opah in Lahat. When I was young, balik kampung means going to this house. 30 miles away from Temoh. The house has undergone renovation and tambahan sana sini like hundred times.

Gumbiranya bertemu Kelamai. Sessi membuka Kelamai. Nak kata jakun....

Oh ya malam tu ada sessi main bunga api. Tak sah lah raya kalau tak melanggar undang-undang, tak gitu? Arissa with her bunga api...

Ana and Hasri jadi chef bakar burger .

4 Syawal

The three families decided to go beraya di tepi laut in Lumut sambil beraya at Kak Encik’s place. Left home very early bearing the nasi lemak untuk dimakan waktu breakfast in Lumut. We had breakfast at Kak Encik’s before it was decided that rather than going to the more popular Teluk Batik (sure penuh ngan manusia punya) we booked a chalet for a day use at the Teluk Rubiah Resort.

Lagi bagus…. because it’s a private beach. Kena pulak Kak Encik had already prepared sumptuous lunch to go along at the beach. True enough there were only us berendam dalam laut that tengahari buta.

It was fun, fun and fun all the way. It was only at 6.45pm that we pushed off from Lumut back to KL. Lupa daratan…. Besok sudah kerja. Damn. And to make matter worse, the PLUS highway was jammed up especially from Slim River to Ulu Bernam stretch. Urgh. The journey that normally takes 2 hours stretched to six hours.

My anak dara posing tepi laut. Er anak aku ker begini?

Ha ha, ini laut kami yang punya!

And we played beach football too!

Bersantai di tepi pantai. Panas nya Ya Rabbi!

Yan's dream of riding a big motorbike finally came true that day. Here's Ana helping her Mak Yan naik motor. Ada clearer picture of her but I definitely cannot post it here, can I?

After a whale of a time at the beach, Hasri invited us all to his Atok's place - 10 minutes away. Oooh, impressive, typical rumah kampung. Kami sumer naik ke anjung rumah. Ramai rupanya kami... penuh satu ruang, habih berbalang kuih raya and berjag air limau.

That lady in blue tudung was my Form Two BM teacher. A charming lady really and I married her daughter (yang tudung hitam tu)

Anak-anak muda kami psoing depan rumah atok Hasri dengan rambutan muda - Alia, Fudhail, Nurul, Aisyah and Shida.

5 Syawal

Back to work dengan rasa lemah sekali. Hmm. And by lunch time, got a call that my aunts from Ipoh and an uncle from Penang are coming to our place at USJ17 to beraya. Oooh, rushed back early from work and together with Yan pergi shopping for something sebab at home there’s nothing. We decided to just prepare Mee Kari and for dessert, Fruit Cocktail.

It was only after 6.30pm Yan started to cook. Yang lain2, kemas rumah. Right after Maghrib, another phone call came in – this time from Abg Din, cousin Yan. Told us that they are coming too, enam buah kereta. And panic sets in. Kelam kabut. Open house pulak la jadinya. But in the end, semuanya selamat alhamdulillah. That night alone, almost 60 people came over beraya. Macam tak percaya…. Itu lah rezeki.

Arissa and her "cute little brother" Adi yang datang dengan tok and mak tok. Abah and Mama tinggal di Ipoh sebab kerja.

Tiga anak dara Mior dengan sorang anak teruna Meor

Wan checking out the spread. Anom sudah kenyang tak lalu nak tengok dah.

Yone and Wancik

Chu and Pak Su

One of the guest that night was Zul, who was my brother's classmate masa sekolah dulu. But he could not remember my brother even after I showed him the photo.

Keluarga Pak Hasan and Mak Nor enjoying the mee kari

Mee kari express, the menu for the night

And that was my Raya. How's yours?