CNY 2010

We were talking about new year celebration last night when suddenly Hakim blurted, "Mana boleh sambut Tahun Baru Cina, kita bukan orang Cina". There's a truth in there - kita bukan orang Cina, however, we explained to him about the celebration. It's a celebration for the beginning of a new year for the Chinese not a religion festival. We mentioned to him that it was just like celebrating 1st January .... "mana boleh sambut 1st January, bukan orang Islam", he argued. And again he is CORRECT. I cannot argue further ... but slowly I explained to him about the celebration. It's not HARAM to wish them happy new year as there is no religious belief in it. It's only the way how we can show the warmth feeling that we, Muslim have towards non-muslim. Even not very satisfied .. Hakim except the explanation.

So, did we celebrate CNY? Of course not!!!!!! But we enjoyed the long break.

What do we do? WOW!!!! THE BEST of all .... It's a journey that brought us to Dungun-Kota Bharu-Sg Petani.
Tiring but very enjoying.
And whats make BEST???
It's the BEING TOGETHER with the family.

Malay proverbs says, "Jauh perjalanan, luas pengalaman" .... and I add ..... "banyak pengajaran".

Day 1: Shah Alam - Dungun

We begin the journey as early as 5.00 am (trying to beat the traffic). Alhamdulillah, we managed. But there were already many cars on the road. When we stopped at Genting Sempah rest area for solat Subuh, there were many people there too. i like to see many people at the musolla as it is a proof that there are still many practising Muslim in Malaysia, alhamdulillah. May ALlah bless us with taufiq and hidayah at all time. It was an enjoying journey. We stopped at Maran for breakfast, continue our journey and reach Dungun at about 12.30 pm. As the 'tuan rumah' was not at home, we satisfy our appetite with 'Nasi Kukus' at a restaurant on the other side of the road. Then we head to Kak Yan's house as her children were at home.

The interesting episode here is ...... JENG JENG JENG ... they didn't know that we are coming ......., they thought it's only Mak, Bapak, Din & Abang. I should have recorded their surprise faces when they saw us. He he he he .... we like to make surprises.

Mak & Din arrived at about 3pm. And abang about two hours later when we are already at the Kuala Abang beach. It's wonderful to look at the kids happy faces at the beach. Adults and teenagers were chatting happily. it's a pity that abang Man and Kak Nah were not there, or else it will be a wonderful and unforgetful gathering.

At night, we were served barbeque by the host. Umppp .... yummy yummy ..... macam kenduri. BESSSSSSSSSSTTTTTT......

Day 2: Off to Kota Bharu.
We decided to move on to Kota Bharu after lunch. It's a stop before proceeding to Sg Petani for a visit to our parents, mak & abah. Almost lunch time, abang persuaded everybody to go to K.Trengganu for lunch. So, we packed the cooked lunch and off to KT for another picnic at Pantai Batu Buruk. But the heavy traffic slowed our journey that we decided not to stay for lunch but proceed to Kota Bharu via Setiu, Permaisuri, Tok Bali & Bachok. It's a new experience for us in these areas. It's new scenery, and again we enjoyed. We arrived at the hotel at about 6pm. After solat Maghrib we went out to find food and tried to locate familiar places in KB. But .... KB has changed tremendously!!!! Islamic state proof to be managed well and able to developed without fund from the federal!!! ALLAHU AKBAR! 3X. Try to find the restaurant selling nasi air, but we end up eating nasi kukus again.

Day 3: To Sg Petani
We checked-out of the hotel at about 9 a.m. Since hotel's breakfast is only for two, another three of the family member have not had their breakfast yet. So we decided to find something to quiet the 'noise-making' stomach. We end up at a small 'warong' near the hotel. We ordered 1 nasi berlauk, 2 nasi air and 5 drinks. YES!!!! I finally managed to eat the long missed nasi air (tried maikng it few times but not the same as the one eat at a warong). For the first timer, Sabrina & Hakim, it's was love at the first taste.

We continued our journey to SP by taking the route to Pasir Mas, Tanah Merah & Jeli. It was again a very interesting experience especially for the kids for the diferent scenery as we are so used to driving on the highway. This time, it's driving through the villages, Kelantan villages. But ....ahhh .... it's a crawl. There were too many cars on the road until we reached Jeli. From Jeli, the traffic was smoother. We stopped at Bukit Bunga for a while (pantang nampak orang menjual!!), get something (he he), some drinks, food and move on. Our next look forward view is the Tasik Banding. Yes!!! it was a breath taking view. Subhanallah .. You have created all the beautiful things for us to THINK of you. Forgive us ALLAH ... Then which of the favours of your Lord will you deny? (Surah al-Rahman).

We reached Sg Petani at about 6pm, hungry.

Day 4: At Sg Petani.
My husband decided to visit one of her aunty who was not feeling very well recently and currently staying with her daughter. After making few calls, we were informed that she was currently at a nursing home ... hmmmm (talk about this in next posting). We visited her twice that day.

Day 5: BAck to Shah Alam
We left Sg Petani at about 9 am, after breakfast. But ... there are few stops along the journey. First stop, at Mak Nun's, next Teh's and finally my parents'. Since we just met my parents' in Dungun, so we decided its going to be a brief stop. But .... mak has prepared lunch for us. Thank you so much MAK!!! I hope I will be a loving and caring mum just like you ... Mak, you are always my dearest in my heart. You are always the first person I'll think of when I'm happy or sad .... I LOVE YOU SO MUCH MAK. May Allah blessed you with good health always so that you can continue your devotion to HIM unlimitedly.

After lunch (at about 11.45am), we hit the highway, a journey back to Shah Alam.

This CNY holiday is a vacation & ziarah for my family. May there's a reward for all the good deeds and nawaitu that we had done throughout the journey. May Allah forgive us for any unrealised wrongdoings. Amin.