Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The busiest 4 days ever... (17 - 20th March 2011)

Banyaknya aku buat benda dalam those span of 4 days... when I look back, macam unbelievable je... 

Those 4 busy days started with a short trip to Melaka and Muar (17 and 18 March 2011)

I had to attend 2 meetings, one on Thursday (17/3) at Pejabat Ketua Menteri Melaka, Menara MITC and the other on Friday (18/3) at TNB Melaka. Since the two dates coincided with school holiday week I thought the kids would be delighted to tag along as they usually did whenever I had to go outstation. But to my surprise the 3 bigger ones said "no, mummy I have my own plans for the holiday", almost in chorus...

Hm... I guess the kids are feeling that they are getting too old to still tag along with mummy whenever mummy goes outstation. Only the two small ones, Aqim and Nabil, who are actually not so small anymore, are still excited to come along whenever mummy steps out of the house...

Sedih jugak, bawa kereta besar, tapi 2 org anak je ikut... but what to do, I have to come at peace with my own feelings... I have to accept the fact that the kids will soon fly the coop and leave me in my empty nest... hwaaaaa... I'm so not looking forward to that...

I only booked a hotel on Tuesday... and didnt really expect that almost all the hotels were fully booked, in fact all the hotels that I called (Philea, Radisson, Equatorial, and a few others) were fully booked. So, when I called this particular not so grand hotel, I quickly reserved a room... adoi... nama je "Grand", tapi tak grand langsung... as the engineer at the MITC (the engineer that I had the meeting with) said, "Hotel tu memang teruk, I rasa dia dah ujud dari zaman Hang Tuah lagi kot..."... Nampak macam serious, tapi pandai pulak buat lawak engineer tu....


Actually I wanted so much to try the new hotel at Ayer Keroh... Philea Resort... tak pe lah, may be next time.

So, the room at Grand Continental was not that bad, we got a room with one single and 1 queen beds, ok lah for the 4 of us... tapi yg tak tahannya... hotel tu bau macam basement, hapak semacam...

But to Aqim and Nabil, the smell, the food, the room size, even the bed dont matter, as long as the hotel has a swimming pool... In fact, while I was checking in at the counter, Aqim asked the receptionist "Where's the swimming pool? Tak nampak pun...". The pool was actually on the roof...

Masuk je bilik, they immediately changed into their swimming attire and ran to the lift again to go up to the roof.. macam anak itik budak dua org ni terjun masuk kolam tu... splash!!!




After my meeting (around 4pm) we went to Taman Buaya (Melaka Crocodile Farm)... the place looked so dull and gloomy, it wasnt as lively and fun as it used to be... I think the last time I went there was more than 15 years ago when Muaz was still 2 or 3 years old. There used to be a bridge, where we could stand on it and watch the crocodiles right below us. The care taker said that the owner of the farm was worried that a child might fall off the bridge and become the crocodiles' free meal and if that happened, the farm would sure be forced to close down by the authority...




There are now miniature replicas of Malaysia's famous buildings and landmarks in the middle of the Taman Buaya... KLCC, KL Tower, Tugu Negara, Penang Bridge, PM Office, Masjid Negara, A Famosa and a few others...







It was quite boring actually, the 2 boys were actually whining... "Mummy, boringnya... let's go somewhere else..." I had to literally force them to stand or sit near the replicas for me to take their photos (even though there was a sign "do not enter" into the fenced area of the replicas)...

We went to board one of the Melaka River Cruise boats after that... and that was fun... we enjoyed the 45 minutes boat ride...




Last thing we did that evening, before we went for dinner, was went on the Revolving Tower of Taming Sari... the ride took only 10 minutes and the ticket price was the same as the ticket for the Melaka River Crusie boat ride (RM10 for adult and RM5 for kids) and it was worth it...




The next day, we checked out early before I went to my meeting at TNB Jalan Banda Kaba at 10 am. After the meeting, we went back to Muar... at first MJ planned to take the state road, but after Semabok, he decided to go through the highway instead... the weather was just too hot for a drive...

We stopped at Semabok (before continuing our way to the PLUS highway) for an early lunch at this restaurant...


The food was delicious... we had asam pedas, masak cili padi pucuk ubi, sambal sotong and pecal... aduuuh sedapnya... betul2 rasa home made, I really recommend this place to anybody who like lauk masakan kampung...



MJ and the owner of the restaurant... he looked so simple, and his restaurant pun nampak biasa je... but MJ said Haji Isenin is actually a millonaire...

I saw this newspaper cutting displayed at the back of the restaurant... MJ told me that Haji Isenin is the father inlaw of the owner of "Fadhilat Herba" who died together with his wife (Haji Isenin's daughter) and 4 children in a car crash 2 years ago... The accident made headlines in newspapers and TV... Haji Isenin claimed that he loaned RM1 million to his late son in law as capital for his company (Fadhilat Herba)...

We left Semabok at around 12pm and reached Pagoh Muar about an hour later...



Later that afternoon, we went to MJ's dusun durian, about 11 km off bound... the journey was really menyeramkan... but the view was breathtaking... but no photo sebab terlampau takut... lalu tepi tebing curam, masuk lumpur, celah pokok kelapa sawit... ada bekas tapak kaki binatang, entah2 harimau...err...

I didnt count how many durian trees were there, tapi memang banyak, and all of them were bearing flowers... in about 2-3 months insyaallah the trees will bear delicious fruits... yummy... cant wait...



I went back to Shah Alam with Nabil and Aqim petang tu jugak... because the 2 boys did not want to miss Raja Lawak Final... and I had my monthly breakfast meet with my breakfast buddies the next day...

My breakfst buddies... from left... Dr Aliza, Shima and Sab... we have been friends since the early 90s...

Later that day, I received a call from MJ that his friend, whom I also knew, passed away in Pattani Thailand. Arwah was once married to MJ's foster parents' daughter. So, that Saturday night, we went to Bangi (where arwah's house was) and stayed until about 1am... by the time we left, jenazah has not yet arrived... We decided to go back and MJ went back there after subuh. I decided not to go with MJ because I Amin, my second son, was going back to his hostel that Sunday.. and I needed to do some shopping for his needs as well as for the other kid's needs as the next Monday schools will be reopened after one week holiday.

That Sunday morning, I went to do grocery shopping alone, and cooked lunch after that.. after lunch, I took Amin shopping, and at around 5pm went to send him back to his hostel...

All those activities in four days... macam tak percaya je.... :)

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