to die

 You don't really die

                            - Lucy -

Ronda Malaya - d finale

 After dawn prayer and bath, Li was already waiting for us to have breakfast right in front of the studio @ MPKD kedai lama. It was a repeat of what I used to do here some thirty years ago, having breakfast at stalls by the row of kereta plet waiting for passengers. How time flew, and so old it made me feel. As if I wasn’t old hahaa

At half past nine, it was time to leave for the dreadful part of the journey: Kota Baru – Kangar. It won’t be as far as the day I drove from Pontian to Kuantan, but it would be the most challenging in term of road condition and so on, especially the part of Lebuhraya Timur Barat from Jeli to Hentian Titiwangsa, because we would have to drive up the hills for a couple of hours or so. Initially I drove via Salor Pasir Mas road heading to Rantau Panjang. And from Rantau Panjang we headed to Panglima Bayu, right before Jeli. Before reaching Panglima Bayu, at Lubuk Setol it was, a teenager riding a bike by the side of the road in front of me suddenly made an abrupt turn when I was about 20 meters away. I jammed the brake and the tyres screeched, surprising the kampong folk nearby. Phew! I couldn’t be more thankful to God for helping me avoid the crash. I just couldn’t imagine the scenario if an accident were to happen there. And so, we continued our drive. At about noon, finally, after maneuvering the car climbing up hills and avoiding potholes here and there, we arrived at Hentian Titiwangsa. Alhamdulillah. We took a breather for about half an hour, enjoying the scenery from the highland peak. 

Titiwangsa Rest Area

And then we drove on and the road condition was way better than the Jeli’s side of the highway. We passed Gerik and stopped for lunch before Kupang. Then we drove towards Gurun before taking the PLUS highway and exiting at Napoh. We passed by Kodiang I guess before reaching Kangar at 4 pm. Peh!  

Scenic 

Nazri Mat Alim and Ros came immediately to the hotel upon hearing of our arrival. We spent some time at a nearby park along sungai Perlis. At night, we had dinner at Mai Café. It was western food, entertained by Nazri and Ros. After sending Zu back to the hotel, I chilled with Nazri: driving around Kangar (how relaxed and peaceful Kangar is, coz everything is at a slow pace) and finally lepak in front of the hotel chatting away while having a spliff. While we were engrossed chatting away, a police patrol car stopped right in front of us. Nazri panicked but I told him to be cool coz we didn’t do anything wrong, excluding the spliff we had earlier lah hahaa. Luckily the police went away after being idle for about ten minutes. All in all, we spent almost three hours sharing stories and happenings. It was almost three am when I got back to my room for my sleep. (Kangar, in all honesty, is a very idylic place to live, especially so if u want a slow-paced life, with all d basic facilities n outlets..)

dinner with Nazri Mat Alim n family

The next morning after breakfast, we checked out but before heading to our final destination, Penang, we went to Nazri’s place at Bukit Kayu Hitam. Nazri wanted us to see where he lived, although he spent his weekday in Kangar at his in-law’s place because Ros was working in Kangar. Only after lunch we left for Penang. It’s not a long drive and I was expecting for us to reach our hotel there in the middle of Georgetown before three pm. We thought of taking the ferry at Butterworth since they were going to stop the ferry service by 31^st December but when we reached the ferry terminal, the queue of cars waiting to board the ferry was so long that I guess it would take us several hours before it’s our turn. So I took the Penang Bridge and reached the hotel at three pm just as I had planned. 

my darling at d paddy field

Straight away after checking in our bags, we headed for chowrasta which was just a walking distance from the hotel. Along the way I saw all these hawkers selling all sorts of delicacies: buah berangan goreng, ais tingkap Penang… Chowrasta was not the chowrasta I knew back then in the 90s. It was modern with shoplots nicely arranged. As before, I searched for the second-hand book seller. And I bought a couple of books for memorabilia. 

Chowrasta bro!!

 Then we walked along the lanes and streets in Penang, heading to Chulia Street and Masjid Kapitan Keling. We did not forget to see the street art tucked in the lanes behind the buildings. 

The roti man!!

Masjid amnde ni, klu lu tau?

in d ferry

penang island, view from d ferry

After walking and snapping pics here and there, we arrived at the jetty where we boarded the ferry for a return trip. It would be the second last day of the famous Penang ferry trip. As it was already sunset, we enjoyed ourselves standing by the fence in the ferry looking at the sun going down. Once we reached the mainland, we stayed in the ferry for the return trip. Since it was already eight pm, and feeling weary, we decided to stop a taxi to get back to our hotel. Nearby the hotel, we had nasi kandar for dinner before calling it a day. At 10 pm, my missus was already asleep but I stayed awake to watch the movie while enjoying a spliff. Guess it was around midnite before I finally slept.

The next morning, being early bird, we walked to the famous Roti Bakar Hutton Lane. Well, the roti bakar and roti canai were just ordinary I must say, but the location of the stalls was in a strategic place which made it a must visit. Sitting by the roadside watching people walking by and cars driving through along the post-war shop lots and buildings while enjoying breakfast was an enjoyable pastime. Once we were done, we got back to the hotel and packed our stuffs before checking out. Finally, we were going home. At ten, left for home, and as there was not so much traffic, we reached home sweet home at half past noon, just in time for lunch with the children. 

All in all, I had driven 2320km in distance, covering all the states in Peninsular Malaysia @ Malaya. It took us eight days and seven nites to complete the journey. Honestly, there were just other places we missed out and friends and relatives we didn’t meet. But that would happen in another trip on another day in the future if God willed it.

As for now I am thankful that I managed to do what I did. It’s an accomplishment personally, and for that I thank you God. Alhamdulillah.