Our in-house lawyer-person just confirmed that I am to attend a session in the East Coast this coming Tuesday.
With Buster leaving for the
Lion City (and not bring his lioness!) this weekend, it'll be perfect. I get to be away from the office, and get to see friends like Crocy, AlphaBeta and Noora
*in hope to get free seafood din-dins!*. According to Mr-Lawyer-Person, I could get a lift from him and save me the trouble of flying. With the new highway, it takes about 2 hours to reach Kuantan..compared to before. Anyway, the drive always reminds me of the long hours we would spend travelling from good ol KT to KL those days.
When we were growing up, we used to look forward to our trip to KL. Mama and Aboh would make sure that we take at least one trip each year. One reason was to make sure we meet our family, since Mama's siblings were all in KL. Another was to shop for school things
- uniforms in Globe, books in Minerva, shoes, etc..etc., (you get the drift). And for me, the best thing about these trips were the car ride, and all the stops in between.
We would leave rather early in the morning, normally after
Subuh prayers. Equipped with cushions and enough food to feed an army, we would bundle up in Aboh's
white Peugeot 504 and make ourselves comfortable. T would always end up in the middle seat, while Abang and I would fight for the seat behind Mama (more room space!). Then off we went, taking the coastal road heading to
Kemaman. I just love the scenic route! More times than never, we were lucky to see the fishermen coming up the shore while the
tok peraihs wait for their catch. And the blue green colour of the sea was just..magnificent! I always had difficulty sleeping in moving vehicles so being the only one awake to accompany Aboh, we would often talk and I'd sing and he'd tell stories.
*smile*Our first stop was either
Dungun or
Pakato buy newspapers. An extra set of Malay dailies for Arwah Ki. And a magazine for us if we were behaving. We'd pass the beautiful
Kemasik beach, and climbed the
Kijal hill to get to Kemaman. It was rather steep those days..before we had the new highway. Right after we passed the Kemaman River (and the
ketam nipah man) we were already in
Chukai.
The stop in Kemaman was always fun because arwah Wan would buy so many food for breakfast.
Nasi dagang, bekang, laksa gandum, kuih guppal - you name it, they had it.
Cik Tik and
Cik Pah, my youngest two aunties, would also prepare goodies like cookies or homemade crisps for our journey. While the elders were talking in the kitchen, Abang and I would try to coax Ki to bring us around in his
basikal tua. And oh what fun it was!
With our tummies filled and our legs stretched, we continued on. An overload of food was damaging to the eyes, as Mama and my two brothers would be fast asleep even before we reached
Cherating. I loved this area because the names of the villages (
Kg. Sungai Ular and Kg Seberang Sungai Ular..how original is that?) as well as the beautiful view of the beaches. From there, Aboh would take the Kuantan bypass. Still full from breakfast, we rarely stopped at the rest area except for nature calls. Lunch stop would usually be either
Maran or
Temerloh, although we normally opted for the latter. Aboh with his fried noodle, Mama with her
ikan patin and us, being more interested in junk food rather than lunch!
I do remember other places we passed, such as
Gambang- the place we called the
Bintang Tiga town,
Lanchang- where I nearly posted a poison pen letter to my dad's evil ex-boss (that's another story!) and of course,
Karak- the town where they had a KFC outlet way before KT had ours!
Our final stop would be
Genting Sempah - the stop just before the tunnel. Mama would allow us to get
kacang rebus (steamed groundnuts),
jambu batu (guava) and sodas
*and if we were lucky, those red-coloured crackers which looked like some tangled mess*. Then, the most awaited moment..going through the
terowong. Those time, the tunnel wasn't as well lit nor was it as clean as it is now. It was very dark, and T and I would fight on who got to switch on the hazard lights. And we found it really funny to see our skin turning yellow because of the lighting.
Ridiculous, the things that impressed us back then!
Once we passed the tunnel, it was rather fast. We'd pass
Gombak and
Sentul (my landmark would be the La Salle school) and lo and behold, there we were in KL City. Happy as I was everytime we arrived, I couldn't wait till we would be on the move again.
As they say - what counts is not the destination, but the journey to get there.Mood of the moment : Lighthearted
