Island holiday in Redang

When you work in a country on low budget, you get tired easily. Long hours and things which could be done by machines and robots are done by you.

So Friday lagi I dah cabut with my family to Redang Island. Semua pun cuti. We left before sunrise and took a cab from the airport to the jetty in KT.The boatride was 1.5 hours.Calm sea which did not remind me of Krabi rough sea. The boat stopped right at the doorstep of Laguna Resort. Like prisoners we were shooed to a hall and were briefed in Chinese and English. Are we in Macau, I thought - now surrounded by Chinese tourists who I found out later were drawn to the island because Laguna was featured in a Chinese movie called Summer Holidays (the house is now a convenience store which is also a souvenir shop).

We didn't get the seaview. That would be an additional RM1K said our economist child who did the booking and I told her time and again, a holiday will not be a holiday if it isn't expensive. She rolled her eyes.Her dad must be so proud of her sebab dad yang bayar holiday ni. :D

But we had fun snorkeling (but doing it in open sea was not my cuppa termasuk swimming with Malik the turtle). I saw baby shark too but Laguna is so pretty.I'd come this way again.Malam-malam berebut microphone with Z to sing our favourite songs.Then we went for spas.


I wanted to do the 1-hour jungle trekking cos' I wanted to see the kampong but Z and dad tak mau saying that would be 2  hours going and coming back.I told them trending now is jungle bathing. Baik bercakap dgn batu. :(

But we love Redang much than we do any other holiday spots (for me). Singgah rumah Zah on the way back cos' our flight was late in the evening...almost missed it..dropbag counter dah tutup but they let us drop our luggage tepi tangga plane.

karya kedua dalam siri ke laut kita untuk pameran
akan datang (ahaks)

Brunch guests

Pak Taib rang to say Dr Dzul and him were coming on Sunday. I said come for breakfast but our breakfast would be brunch since I had to do the pasar tani thingy first.

So we had nasi dagang brunch with vietnamese spring rolls and scottish tea. Dr Dzul is originally from Gopeng and we knew he was Mama's dentist in the 70s and 80s. :D Small world. His wife told me anak dia ada cafe.I asked kat mana. She named a cafe we so loved! What an honour to meet the parents of such enterpreneurial children.

I also found out a bit more about my uncle's teachers which included guru Tamar Jarlis' atok's. Patut le whenever we read the book/s, we were reminded of the same way my uncle mengubat orang. Same teacher! Found out in a blog on Tamar Jarlis...atok dia would meredah hutan Perak ke Cameron Highlands then melalui Lanchang to this place in Ulu Cheka or Jerantut to berguru with Pawang Nong (waktu tu masa melawan komunis or British..puak2 ni boleh hilang bila berhadapan dgn musuh..musuh tak nampak). Whoa! I'm tracing more of my uncle's gurus. Found a name last night. Tracing his anak cucu cicit. We ought to be friends. I miss him so.I would spoil him rotten with gifts every time I balik cuti from NZ, then from the UK, then Australia...he loved pipe smoking so his pipes semua dari luarnegara. My gifts.

Malangnya, according to his favourite cucu (slightly older than me), his manuscript on asal usul keluarga kami diambik one of the family members and has gone missing. Kak Yam (the cucu) said her grandad cakap kita ini dari keluarga baik2..itu sebab all the girls in the family cantik2.Haha. Ha riak! Riak! (he was referring to one of my aunties yang masa muda memang jadi rebutan.My mom pun) Then my third sister said, "Kak De pun!" Uwek..I said..nak termuntah. 

Ruyung dah nak pecah

darah yang kuat susurgalur Merah Ali >>> Sutan Mas

Tok Empat Kg Bolok, Tok Empat Yahya

Makam Sutan Mas, anak dan cucu

Masjid Kayu Cenggal built in 1930

Senibina rumah Rawa (ada loteng)

Memberi makan si Langsat

My Rawa research continues.

A few days ago ada member was added to our Rawa group. He asked bila JARO nak melawat kampung dia di Lanchang. I terus jumped in although soalan tu tidak ada mengena dgn saya. I was looking for that out of Raub Rawa Pahang connection.

I told Saudara R saya nak datang visit.He asked when.I said Sabtu depan? He said not possible with him but he could arrange with his uncle.I said fine.

Mlm Jumaat he called to ask jadi ke tak.I said jadi.He said tunggu dia at a petrol station. I did. We met for the first time tepi jalan tu.And Pak Taib was with him..the owner of our Rawa group online! MashaAllah...ini sudah bonus. So I pun bersalaman dgn isteri, kakak saudara R. Satu hubungan keluarga telah terjalin.Di tepi jalan sebuah station minyak.Begitu takdir menentukan.

R took me and Fatin to restoran cousin dia.The whole clan was waiting and we went upstairs for powerpoint presentation of susurgalur keluarga Rawa di Kg Bolok which according to Pak Taib is a Rawa word bermaksud "the last stop". Sutan Mas...cucu kpd Yg DiPertuan Muda Tanjung Alai meninggal di kg itu...the last stop setelah sekian lama berpindah randah menyelamatkan Islam dan warisan.The family took me to his makam and we prayed at the old masjid not far from there...a beautiful masjid built in 1930 dibuat dari kayu cenggal dan bdk2 Aswara yang baiki masjid itu..buat ukiran yang lebih indah dan sungguh tenang solat di dalamnya.Sejuk. Mungkin di sini para ulema menyerahkan hati dan jiwanya kepada Allah.Bak kata Yusuf Estes...Allah just wants your heart.Keikhlasan itu.

We had lunch at one of the clan's...sedap betul ayam kampong goreng. Hancai my pledge to be vegan for a month! Then we went to see the gajah at Kuala Gandah.Tengok si Langsat buat lawak.Kasi makan tebu sampai dia terkentut besar.I missed that sebab sibuk beli tebu lagi but the clan told me in between laughs! I never met these people before, ok? But they felt so family.

Then Pak T ajak pi rumah dia minum teh sambil bercerita sejarah.Pak Taib is psychic.He can read things.I learnt more about sejarah Rawa - it has nothing to do with istana Pagar Ruyung yang ada sekarang.Mmg nama istana lama kerajaan Rao adalah Pagar Ruyung but tempatnya bkn di tempatnya sekarang.Asal cerita raja awal (bukan Tunku Rao) berkahwin dgn anak sedaranya sendiri yg tidak sepatut berlaku so they decided to memencilkan diri lalu membuat penempatan dan memagar istana itu.Itu timbul Pagar Ruyung.But no children.Pupus begitu sahaja.Wallahualam.The istana Tanjung Alai dah tenggelam (8 buah kampong gone except sebuah masjid di atas bukit).Yang DiPertua Rao was not a man but a woman.Hope to visit one day..agak jauh dari Padang.

Keluarga Rawa often are mystic people.Isteri Pak T told me her son who lives in another town rang her up the night before saying he had petanda ruyung dah nak pecah...besok ada orang nak datang bertanya sejarah ( me and Pak Taib). Actually they shared with me other stuffs but I was sworn not to make it public.Pak Taib said hanya orang yang ada pertalian keluarga yang kuat je would be shown things because org lain mungkin tidak dapat menerima perkara2 yg tidak terjangkau dek akal kita.I told Nik...dia mmg tak percaya.See?

Pak Taib masa public meeting tu told us he could not say more sbb nak cakap lebih je kena tampar oleh "kuasa ghaib".Patut le bila I tanya lebih2, dia menggeliat2 macam kena belasah..and he would not say much.Haha.We laughed about it but I understood.Tapi dalam pada itu...banyak juga I dapat.Takbir!

I love my new family.They reminded me of my old uncle.Yang juga mistik sbb dia ahli tasawuf.Jenis walaupun dia di Mekah, he knew what's happening to his home while away - wrote to his home caretaker not to allow his cat to sleep on his sejadah.Takut dia kencing kat situ.Whoa.

Alfatihah Haji Wahi Idris.

Professor Nasi Lemak

It's not so secret anymore at HS Building that I had to sell nasi lemak every day for the last 4 days as part of my fundraising activities. The kids helped me.Pagi2 a team of girls will collect my bakul nasi lemak to bring to DELL's office, sometimes arriving later than the Professor but they are all very sweet.We go through pain and joy doing this. I know they will grow well and will be successful as corporate leaders (like some are), educators, etc.

Biasa nasi lemak habis within 30 mins I arrive.Sometimes I get urgent texts saying where are you, we have gone thin, waiting for your nasi lemak. Haha. My colleagues are very supportive.I know some buy out of pity that I have come to this. Don't look at me. The powers that be, companies we write to semua kata takda duit and we have to move on.

So I wrote this http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/377976. God sent me a little angel who texted me and asked why don't you write to us? Takbir! (but no guarantee yet ya).

Sharifah and Khairani were really pushing the last 10 bungkus. We adjusted the price sebab hari dah petang. Still tinggal dua outa 10.On the way to return my bakul, Sharifah sold 2 to a guy. She said she just asked a passer-by nak nasi lemak? Nasi lemak ni extra sedap (and she said she senyum lebih sikit..hahaha). And SOLD!

Biar rugi sikit dari membazir. But maybe Z is right. She said I would not last a month. I'm thinking that if I hit that target of xxxx, I'll stoplah. We'll think of other ways to raise fund.Sapa je nak makan nasi lemak hari-hari. Prof Noraini ordered 25 for her students but later said I didn't feed her students good protein sebab my nasi lemak tak letak telur..letak ikan kering je (budget beb) ;D  Hari lain lain2 flavour OK? We have had tempe and telur and sambal hijau, sambal sotong, sambal ikan bilis. Bibik said I do this memanglah tak untung. Takpalah Bibik..berniaga sambil bersedekah.

And that is why I am not an enterpreneur.