Ramadhan Trip - Welcome to Kelantan in Peace

27th to 31st August 2010 provided an excellent window for us to take some break while enjoying some quality time with the family....took Monday for 5 days off! 27th Aug was the Nuzul Quran or equivalent to 17 Ramadhan 1431H and Malaysians know what 31st Aug is (this year it is equivalent to 21st Ramadhan and qualify as one of the dates for Lailatul Qadar). We decided to balik kampung since Faiz was on holiday, Dini started her mid term holidays on 30th Aug plus we thought it's a good time to spend this Ramadhan with Tok Abah, Tok Mama and Paksu since we will be celebrating Aidil Fitri in KL this year.

So at 10pm, the night of 16 Ramadhan, 26th Aug, we hit the road and headed into the darkness of the night looking at the sky .... there was an e-mail circulating around saying there'll be 2 moons that night and it was a hoax, the Moon and Mars were close when viewed from Earth but the size were far too different to appear like 2 moons. Surprisingly the traffic was low and so we had a relatively smooth ride back to Kuala Krai. Not many shops/foodstalls opened until we reached Kuala Krai itself at around 4am and just in time for sahur. After sahur and solat subuh at Masjid Al-Qadir, the driver had his bedtime rest.

The next day, 17 Ramadhan 27th Aug, Ibu went to fetch Dini from MTS as she could do outing that weekend and they both took the opportunity to do some shopping at Ariani Tanah Merah. We didn't do much the rest of the day, except for solat Jumaat at Masjid Ar-Rahman, Sg Durian and had iftar with the family, home cooked meal and juadah from Pasar Ramadhan. After Terawih, we did some spring cleaning to the house compound which was neglected after some renovation work. After some sweat, we went for late supper at Restoran Sri Thai to treat the boys for their hard work! Had some colek kerang, mee goreng double etc.

On 18th of Ramadhan/28th Aug, we went to do some shopping in Kota Bharu. Traffic was on the heavy side and we arrived at around 12 noon headed straight to Jalan Pintu Geng (opposite Nordin Batik) to get the famous ayam percik for today's iftar. Yes, it was a bit early but they already started selling since 11AM and by 3PM, everything is gone! We planned to have iftar in Kg Dewan Besar today with Tok Su and Tok Mae families.

The city of KB was very much alive and we did our shopping at Mydin and Parkson at KB Trade Center, and as we expected the crowd was less and it was certainly better to do the shopping here. Mydin, Parkson and other shopping malls in KB provide separate payment kaunters for family, male and female. We also bought some frozen 'Murtabak Di Raja' stock from a relative who sells this hot items at their house near the KB hospital. They make almost 200 pieces of murtabak daily and it is sold at RM12 per piece. Later on ,we did our solat at Masjid Muhammadi after which we did some more shopping at the stalls near the mosque. We then had our iftar at kampung and later on had to send Dini back to MTS while the boys stayed on with Tok Abah for Terawih.

We went again to KB on 19th Ramadhan/29th Aug 2010 to do some more shopping and this time round, Tok Abah and Pak Su joined us. We performed solat in Masjid Telipot, where Tok Abah would normally meet his friends, before we went again into KB. Less crowd today since it was a working day in Kelantan.... the timing was perfect for us! We first stopped at the Store to get some clothes for the boys, then visited Jaafar Rawas shop for Faiz's kopiah, then moved on to the Pasar Buluh Kubu to get their baju melayu and samping. Glad we finally settled with shopping.

On the way back, we stopped at Batu 2 surau for solat asar hoping to catch Uncle Mokhtar, but he was not there. We then proceeded to Tanah Merah to send some food for Dini's iftar at MTS and rushed back to Krai and was on time for iftar. Tok Mama already cooked for us including our favourite dish perut muda and limpa in air asam! After Terawih, we had another round of spring cleaning and the late supper.... everyone was happy and we managed to do things according to plan.

Monday 30th August/20th Ramadhan, it was very much a laid back day. We went to MTS to fetch Dini and as usual stopped at Pasar Tanah Merah to get beras, pulut and other cooking stuff which we normally buy there. Then, it was packing time, with the stuff we bought in KB and our ration plus our stock of murtabak and the fruits Tok Abah brought back from his dusun (rambutan, cempedak, dokong and petai), Ibu had a tough time trying to squeeze all the things inside the car. The car was really packed like sardine! Before we left, we have to entertain Pak Su first just to make sure that he is in good mood before he could easily let us go...so we entertained him by taking him to Krai's largest shoping complex, Econjaya to buy what he wants.On both Monday and Tuesday, we stopped by at Restaurant Tepi Sungai at tanah Merah to get some juadah berbuka. The selection of food, kueh-mueh, bubur, lauk-pauk etc was amazing...just look at the pictures.

After iftar and solat Maghrib, we made our move back to KL. It was the night of 21st Ramadhan and we headed south. The rain was so heavy until we reached Gua Musang and many people were stranded due to the heavy rain....the rain finally stopped when we entered Pahang. We break for a late supper at a tomyam restaurant in Bentong (it was a good one too!) before reaching home at about 2AM. After unloading the stuff, IQ went to send goodies to Mak Lang in PJ at 4AM before returning home for sahur and went to bed after Subuh. Later that morning, Thaqif had to attend a 3 hour tuition class and we had to send Faiz back to IQKL. It was Malaysia's 53rd year of independence and the 21st day of Ramadhan 1431H.

What a 5 day break it was....