I went back to my husband's mom's kampung in Pasir Mas, Kelantan, for Raya this year. Well, we went back there too last year but I didn't enjoy it then as much as I did this year. My boys were very small then - barely a year, and they were sick too. So, we had a pretty rough time. Sick children during festive period?? That is not something that one would like to have.
Now, this year was different. We travelled back to kampung by car (last year by train). We left early on Monday morning (29 Sept), "to avoid the jams at the bottlenecks", my hubby said. We started our journey from my in-laws' house at 0630 hrs. Not many cars yet. We passed Bentong roughly at about half-past 7. Had an argument in the car about the videocam. *sigh*...
Our first stop was at a surau somewhere in Raub, Pahang (I think), to feed Asyraff and bath him. He seemed to enjoy his time there. Aimar, his twin, was still sleeping. Probably tired because he woke up early that morning - so called bangun sahur lah! Done with the feeding and bathing, we packed and made a move. About an hour later we stopped again - at a mosque somewhere (I'm sorry I don't seem to be able to recall the name of the place) after Raub - this time for Aimar to be fed and bathed.
Now, this one stop was not as good as the earlier one. To tell you the truth, the mosque was big and nice on the outside but it was really dirty once you go near the toilets. Goshhh!! The smell!!! And the rubbish! I just cannot believe that some people would just leave their children's napkins like that! Yes, I can understand that it is not easy when we have children travelling on the road, but couldn't they just use their little brains and dispose their baby's diapers properly??? It was a very ugly sight the way they threw the rubbish. OK. OK. Maybe because it was early Monday morning, and the rubbish truck has yet to reach the place to clear them but still??!! GROSS!
Anyway, so we quickly fed Aimar and bathed him. Poor him, he was bitten by the ants while taking his bath at the tap near the rubbish bin (that was the only possible location for us to bath him anyway - the toilets were twice as dirty and they stink! Errghh! ). We continued on with our journey and we reached Gua Musang at about 1330 hrs where we stopped to feed the boys and give them time to do some stretching. We made a brief stop between Gua Musang and Kuala Krai to switch driver. I tell you, I was scared the whole time I was behind the wheel because of the way the other drivers drive their cars and also because of the long and winding road. Goodness! Most of the drivers drove their cars like mad men! No wonder accidents happen!
We switched again not far from Kuala Krai, and we reached Pasir Mas at about 1600 hrs. Ahhhhh....! What a relief...! We dropped by Che Su's stall just to give her a little surprise visit before going to Mek's house. It was an amazing sight - the jams, the number of people going around doing their last minute shopping, but the one thing that excite me was the festive feeling in the air... I felt like a child again...
