Birthday Celebration @ Awana, Kijal

This posting was written months back but was left abandoned due to too many turn of events since then until now. So many stories left untold, so many distances traveled and so many new and exciting places explored. will slowly find the time to update and share our wonderful experiences and journeys that we went through the last three months.

This year Ibu's birthday falls on friday which is the start of the school holidays. Of course there are just too many things going on at the same time and things that need to be done. The obvious would be to fetch Abang from IQKL after the friday prayers. Then, we have to think of ways to send Adik for his camping at Janda Baik on saturday and friday itself is the wedding of Abah's cousin in KT. How are we going to squeeze Ibu's birthday celebration...

After some discussion, we decided to attend the wedding in KT since we missed the weddings of her two elder sisters before. Ibu took leave on friday to attend to some errants like marketing and cleaning the condo while Abah went to work as usual. Abah performed her friday prayers with Abang and took him back after the prayers. We have asked Pak Teh to help sent Adik for his camping so we could drove off to KT on friday. Still no celebration except for the wishes and cards. We finally left home around 4pm to Awana Kijal and finally checked in the hotel around 7.30pm.

It was quite a long drive and Ibu dozed off couple of time, tired of mopping and cleaning the whole morning on her birthday, what a pity. When we arrived, Pak Lang and family were there already and Dijah already enjoyed the pool. Both of us were quite exhausted from the journey that we decided not to go out and have dinner. Instead, we had our dinner at the Waterfall Cafe in the hotel serving italian and a mix of local and western food. We ordered pizza and char kuey teow and Pak Lang later joined us. Dijah was already in bed, tired of swimming probably. The place was a bit quiet with only a few tables occupied. I guess it would be full tomorrow when the school holiday starts. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the performance from the two piece band and they sang Happy Birthday to one of the guests. Well, it was a decent celebration after all.








The next day, we woke up before the sunrise and we later went to the beach for a walk before heading to the coffeehouse for breakfast. The breakfast spread was quite good. Abah then asked if we wanted to have lunch at our favourite place in Kuala Berang. Pak Lang and Mak Lang were quite interested to join although Pak Lang doesn't eat ikan sungai. We have been there a few times already just to eat our favourite ikan kelah masak tempoyak. The taste is just out of the ordinary, simply delicious. So, we headed off to Kuala Berang and arrived around noon. We are lucky that the fish is still available although we noticed that the price has increased two fold. Last time it use to be RM80 per kilo, now it is between RM100-RM250 per kilo. We chosed one that is slightly less than a kilo and that cost us around RM80. served with budu, ulam, kerabu mangga and ikan sungai goreng, the lunch was just awesome, so satisfying. Alhamdulillah. Pak Lang arrived later and they had theirs for RM60. Pak Lang finally succumbbed to the dish although he doesn't eat ikan sungai. Mak Lang enjoyed the dish and hoovered up every last bit of it. Well, there was one ulam that you can't find anywhere except here and is called "Gebe Lembu". Taste like a combination of mint and pepper but good.



We then proceeded to KT for the wedding. When we arrived, the pengantin were having their makan beradab. As usual, weddings are time to meet with relatives and exchange stories. It is also a good time to referesh the bonding. Ibu took the opportunity to meet her friend who happened to stay around the area and she later came and took Ibu to the beach next to the airport for tea. We had sotong celup tepung and keropok lekor, just awesome. There's so much to share and catch up but time was not on our side. Just after an hour, Gee has to send Ibu back to the wedding venue. Everyone already left and checked in at Permai Hotel.

That night we searched for a good place to have dinner. KT doesn't offer much options. We tried googled and Gee suggested a few places. We decided to go to Restoran Terapung Puteri which is within walking distance from Pasar Payang. On our way, there were just too many people and cars in the city centre, little that we know there were Hot FM Big Jam Concert at Dataran Syabandar and we actually shared the same hotel with Hafiz and the Hot FM Crews. At the same time, the stadium was also pack with people coming to watch the FA Cup match between Terengganu and Perak. We finally settled at Payang Serai Restaurant located at the Waterfront. They serve a combination of Thai and Chinese food, and the taste is quite good. Our group was the biggest that night with Umi and family, Mak Lang, Tok Abah and family, Pak Lang and us. It was a nice family dinner and everyone enjoyed. We retired to bed early.

The next morning, we got up early, packed our stuff and said goodbye to Tok Abah and Tok Mama. We had to leave early to be able to arrive at Janda Baik before 5pm to pick Adik from his camp. It was raining the whole journey that Ibu did not get the chance to stop at the shops along the way to buy keropok and ikan kering. We managed to quickly grabbed some keropok lekor only in Chenoh, just after Chukai. We stopped by at the R&R in the East Coast Highway and Ibu again had her favourite Ikan Patin Buah masak tempoyak. Overdosed of Ikan sungai masak tempoyak at this trip and arrived Janda Baik at 3pm. While waiting for adik to finished his programme at 5pm, we just relaxed under the tree and enjoyed the weather at Janda Baik. Finally reached home around 7pm. Although it was a short trip but it was meaningful to have this rare opportunity to spend time together without the kids. It was a wonderful birthday celebration after all.