March - A Month of Full House

Mama told us the airport had been her second home this month. Just imagine, she picked nekwan and maknek up on wednesday afternoon the 9th, and on the very same nite, she had to drive to the airport again for babah. On early monday morning the 14th, babah went to the airport to bring nek ki to our home... waittt thats not the end of it, we went to the airport again in the afternoon as maknek's flight back to kuching was scheduled on the same day huhuhu... then the following day, we sent babah to lcct again for his flight back to miri...phewww I wonder if the lcct authority could reward us with some kinda parking privilege for frequent airport traveler like us *wink*wink*

As for me, I love going to the airport everytime babah is coming to visit us. I can't describe the feeling, seeing babah offering his strong arms with a big smile on his face whenever he spotted us...miss him badly huhuhu...and on the negative note I hate going to the airport, seeing babah leaving with teary eyes huhuhu...oh God, when are we going to stay together like a real family *sob*sob*sob*

ok ok, enough of the sad airport story. After sending babah to lcct, we stopped by at the famous hj samuri satay kajang restaurant. we really enjoyed the moment with nek ki and nek wan until we got lost on the way back home. mama blamed adeeb for losing her focus hehehe...seriously I tell you, he was throwing tantrums histerically like some crazy fellas acting in the soap opera hehehe. He said later to me that all he'd asked for was to sit on mama's lap, not nek wan's...hey dude, mama is driving la grrr wat a truly mama's boy grrr

you know wat, mama and her folks were having good times without me and adeeb. they went shopping in jusco balakong, then the following day auntie ma joined them off to gsc alamanda to watch movie...how could they left us at the taska *sob*sob*sob* for some kinda st***d movie???

er errr the merong mahawangsa chronicle?
oh nooo...babahhh, get me the ticket pleaseee...
you know how much I love epic movies :(
and errr stephen rahman hughes hehehe

Gganu Kite..

At about 1.30 pm, we left Pengkalan Kubor to head off to Kuala Trengganu. There are still lots of things to do and places to see in Kelantan, for example.. we were supposed to try Nasi Padang in KB and there was a Pasar Minggu near a masjid not far from KB on the way to Pengkalan Kubor, a must-visit according to nekwan, but time was not on our side. We took the coastal road passing towns like Bachok, Tok Bali and Kuala Besut heading to Kuala Terengganu..

the weather was cloudy, with moderate rain along the way till we reached Kuala Trengganu.. it was a bit scary as strong winds looked capable of uprooting the coconut trees along the coastal road and I was afraid that the wind could blow our small car out of the road..

thank god we finally reached Kuala Trengganu safely.. it wasn't that scary after all.. mama said I was exaggerating the situation.. 

at 6 pm we checked in to our hotel near Batu Burok Beach, it wasn't easy locating the hotel as babah forgot the address and when he called TM for the number, they could not find it. Turned out that the hotel name is Sumai Suite Hotel and not Sumai Beach Resort, but they should be able to find it from the word Sumai + Kuala Trengganu + Hotel, if the system work like google.. luckily our room booking was not cancelled due to late arrival.. otherwise it would be hectic to find another hotel, after half day of driving..

last night, we went out only for dinner.. we were tired and needed a rest, so after dinner we returned to our room. The next morning, I got up early as I just couldn't wait for breakfast.. I love breakfast at a hotel for its variety of food, and fruits..

then after that we went to Pasar Payang. This pasar is equivalent to Pekan Rabu in Alor Setar or Pasar Siti Khadijah in Kota Bharu. But for me, Pekan Rabu is more happening than the two..

we were not planning to visit the museum, and babah hadn't the faintest idea that Kuala Trengganu is hosting one of the best museum in South East Asia, I could be exagerating this one, but it looked like one of the biggest in Malaysia or possibly SEA

it looks like an old Istana.. and it's huge!

it was so huge that we had to get on the train to see the whole museum area

not far from the museum complex is another tourists attraction called Taman Tamadun Islam. We found it by accident and didn't even plan to visit it.. and what a nice surprise it was. The place is so beautiful and surprisingly there was no entrance fee! They offer guided tour around the island on a river cruise for a mere RM10 per person, so affordable! unlike The Sarawak River Cruise that charge RM35 per person. I think they should review their pricing to attract more customers..

these are some of the views along the river.. Pulau Duyong, the venue of Monsoon Cup and Masjid Kristal, which was built on an Island as part of Taman Tamadun Islam

that is not Al-Aqsa, but one of many replicas that you could find in TTI, there is a replica of  Masjid Negara and Taj Mahal among others

this must be the Heritage Bay Club at Pulau Duyong

Masjid Kristal

the next day before we left, babah brought us to Kg Losong Megat Husin to buy keropok lekor and then we return to the hotel to check out.. on the way to Kuantan we dropped by at the Masjid Terapung. Well, it didn't look like it was floating as the name may have suggested.. but it is still a beautiful masjid though, like lots of the other masjids all over Trengganu. The people here love their masjids very much if you look at the design of lots of them, even small suraus are so beautifully designed.. 

In short, Terengganu is a beautiful place.. just what I expected it to be, the people, the beach, the kopok lekor. But the only drawback is its distance from KL, that would mean 8 hours of drive ( in our car that is :-)) but 'I'll be buck' nevertheless..

kelate.. here we come!!

Of all the places, babah promised us that he will someday bring us to Kelantan.. the only state he hadn't been to.. he heard a lot about it though, from books, newspapers, from friends.. and about Hoover restaurant that serve delicious Nasi Padang.. god knows how much he love Nasi Padang with dendeng berlado.. fuhh!!

Babah came from Miri on Wednesday night, I was already sleeping with Adeeb and Nekwan when they arrived. Mama went to LCCT with Mak Nek to fetch babah and she didn't bring me cause it was too late. His flight was delayed by an hour and when they reached home it was already 1.30am. When I woke up at about 7 am, mama asked me and Adeeb to take a shower, I was surprised as it was still early.. we don't normally mandi this early you know. I got dressed after that but still a little bit sleepy and disoriented when babah said, 'Deena, get ready, we are going to Kelantan in an hour'. And I was like... where? Kelantan? Today?? No wonder Maknek and Nekwan were also here..

we stopped at a roadside stall selling jackfruit.. mama's version of the king of the fruits, cause she hates, no she despises durian.. hehe

have car will travel.. 224 km from Kota Bharu.. we've been driving like, the whole day.. and still 224 km to go.. arghhh!!

this is Kelantan.. true to its status as an Islamic state, the masjids, suraus even the signboards. We finally arrived at our hotel at about 5.45pm, just in time before the hotel cancel our booking..

we were starving.. as we didn't stop for meal, so that night babah treated us seafood at Pantai Cahaya Bulan.. apart from the seafood, babah ordered gearbox soup, which is the best I ever tasted, and it was also the first hehe.. the food was OK, great, but the restaurant is too near to the beach and it was sandy, and windy.. but who cares. I was starving and eating like there's no tomorrow..

the next day we went to town for photo-shoot, we didn't have much time you know as we have to check out from the hotel and drive to Pangkalan Kubor after that and we will leave for Kuala Trengganu in the afternoon
as you can see.. Adeeb enjoyed the view so much.. he said he had never seen anything like this before..

we spent barely an hour shopping for serunding, telekung and tudung at Pasar Siti Khadijah.. it was Friday morning and we could hear Tuan Guru Nik Aziz voice on the speaker, giving kuliyyah or ceramah from a nearby masjid..

at Pengkalan Kubor, there weren't much to see.. we bought tudungs and babah bought Man City jersey.. it was so so low-grade that the print on the jersey peeled off even before its first wash.. that's okay babah babah said, cause he doesn't really like the team anyway.. especially with big-headed players like Tevez and Balotelli playing for them..