Road Trip: Balik Kampung

It seems that we have not been going back to our hometown for ages. Even during the last school holiday, our earlier plan to go back had to be cancelled at the last minute because of ... what else.... work. Much to the dismay of everybody. But fortunately, I've got an appointment in Ipoh on one fine Friday and as such managed to plan it to coincide with the last weekend of the holiday. Horray!
So with a rather military precision we went home North. For the much desired break .... from the madness world of expensive life. Huh, tired!

When I was small, whenever we had a trip to the big old KL, my arwah bapak will almost always made it a point to stop over at Templer Park in Rawang for a picnic. Don't know why but that seems to be a very popular stop over for many motorists from north into KL then. That and the Tanjung Malim's Yik Mun's Pau restaurant. Even Yan's dad also did the same thing - I mean stopping over at Templer Par whenever they went to KL.
So in honour of the old family tradition, I decided that we, instead of having breakfast at home, berkelah somewhere along the way home. I'm glad we did it. It's fun. Lucky that we have lots of R&R along the PLUS highway. But I missed the serene surroundings of the Templer Park.

That nite, we had a belated birthday gathering of sorts for the Mak Mertua at a Char Kway Teow place in Kampar Bandar Baharu. Char Kway Teow dia penuh ngan air.
The reluctant birthday girl. Dia punya birthday dia yang kena belanja. Mean ....mean children and grand children.
Somehow, both Azian and I will always ended up at many Pasar Sehari near my SIL's place. This time we checked out a Pasar Pagi in Malim Nawar, a small charming town not far from Kampar. I find that these Pasar is delightful and you sometimes will terjumpa benda-benda interesting like.....
this one. This is apparently an ice cream maker. And we were mighty jakun.... .
And it cost only 50 sen per stick. Can you imagine it? Mine was strawberry flavour while Yan opted for Coke ice cream. Life is much much simpler there.
It's the case of langkah kanan too as one of the Yan's last remaining bachelor cousin got married that weekend... yes in Malim Nawar. Anak Pak Utih's Mat finally got married to a girl from Jerantut Pahang. So we bersiap2 to attend the wedding.....
where we met so many sedara mara - that's why we like to go to weddings. Long time no see. The pix above showed only a handful of relatives that we met that day... seated next to my Mak Mertua (to her left) were two of her brothers in law Pak Usu and the groom's father Pak Utih. Dah tua oooo.... both in their 90s. The rest of the people are Yan's cousins including our one celebrity cousin (seated the other side of Mak) hehehehe.
Dan the kenduri kahwin ada chicken chop...... yummmy!
We were so busy chatting up with so many sedara mara that we only met up with the Pengantin Baru as we were making our way back home....

Ahhh... bestnya balik kampung.