Hari Raya 2008

And we're baaaack!

After 10 full days of Raya break. Sigh..

Dear Amir,

Where do i start? It was your second Raya this time. We went back to Alor Setar two days before Raya and the journey back home was really smooth as it was drizzling and you were asleep in your carseat most of the time.

You enjoyed being in Alor Setar mainly because you were the center of attention most of the times. Your uncles, Pak Cik, Pak Ngah and Pak Teh were all back from KL. You get along well with them. Your favourite being Pak Cik, i think cos he looks a lot like Papa. Mak Long arrived on 2nd day of Raya. It was indeed a full house and i bet your Tok and An shared your joy with all their presence.

With pakcik

Tok made ketupat daun palas, rendang daging and serunding, as usual. I made some rendang ayam to accompany the ketupat. I let you have a taste of the ketupat, and it became your favourite food for the rest of our stay there. Tok Nek on the other hand prepared her notorious nasi tomato. You had a taste of that too and was also into it.

On the first day of Raya, the three of us went green. hehe. It was your first baju melayu and you were one little dashing guy wearing it! We couldnt stop snapping pics of you! And the songkok, surprisingly, it doesnt bother you one bit. Of course it lasted only till noon cos by then you went cranky, had a cool shower, went topless and slept for 2 hours. I guess that's the only upset, the heat. Of course, the fact that aircondless environment really gets to you especially at nite that sometimes i let you sleep topless right smack facing the stand fan.

On second day, your cousins arrived from Taiping. You instantly clicked with them and became their shadow for the rest of the days. You were super hyper around them and insist to be part of their activities all the time. When they eat, you'll eat, when they bathe, you'll stand by the bathroom and watch, when they read, you'll sit next to them and listen, and when they really play with you.. you simply go crazy! You'd be screaming on top of your voice, clapping away, laughing when they laugh. The setback is that it makes you so tired at nite that it's difficult to put you to sleep. Plus the heat is not helping, although you were bathed again and again. So while your cousins were around, your bedtime went as crazy as 2am! It drives my ketupat-stuffed head crazy too!

Anyway, I guess the highlight of our Raya was eating non stop (isnt it always abt food anyway??) and playing tourist around Alor Setar. We were quite adventurous this time too and let you have a go at eveything we ate. Kuey teow iman, the popular keow teow by the roadside near Tok's place (which was enjoyed by you while seating on a stool, next to a makeshift stall, by the roadside, just like org besar-besar..hehe), laksa, nasi minyak at a kenduri, all the different kerepek and kuih raya and manymanymany other things.

Minus the binky, you look like all grown up waiting patiently for your kuey teow

A day before we left Alor Setar, Papa drove us around the town. We went to the Menara Alor Setar, Kuala Kedah, Pekan Rabu, etc. We also checked out the new Tesco this one day cos mainly it's too hot elsewhere, and for the first time you didnt refuse the trolley's babyseat. You also slept while seating in the trolley while we were browsing around Giant (yeah, another one of those hot days). I realised it just in time to hold your floppy sleepy head. It was so cute and pitiful.

Well, all in all, it's a great Raya. Tiring, fattening, broke-ing, the usual weariness of Raya yet all is good. I have to admit though that a weeklong break can get too long with a cranky toddler late nite EVERY nite for the whole week. But as much as i yearn for our aircond bedroom back home (i'm terribly spoilt, i know), i feel sad when we left kampung that day. Especially when we're the last to leave. Leaving Tok, An and Mak Su in the quiet house again. I can only imagine how they must have felt sending us away, one after another, after what seems to be a weeklong of fullhouse party.

But of course, i also have to admit that i was veryveryvery looking forward to our Penang trip on the way back, which was also filled with many gastronomical delights : )

But that's for another post.