Fun under the Sun

Oh my...I miss writing so much (well, that what I always say after long hiatus isn't it :P) But yes, it's true! I miss writing but just couldn't fit the right time to pour what I feel. Or maybe when the time comes, I don't have the mood and heart already to blog about it. Sigh. Anyway, I still randomly post something on my IG (@aanandes), so check it out there. In fact, these entries also already posted in the IG but of course it isn't this details. Nothing beats good old blog right? ;)

I know Syawal is sooooo yesterday! But better late than never... because we had soooo much fun during last raya! So I have to pen down this! :D

Ok according to the plan, we will go back on the Saturday (Raya falls on Monday) which means we will celebrate the eve of raya in Terengganu. But somethings come up (work of course! It's always about work) that MrComot has to stayback in KL for the first and second day of raya. Of course I was a smitten and just can;t believe it, siap plan nak balik asing with the kids via flight ok, such a drama.

MrComot said that it's not like we don't go back at all, it just we go back later on the 3rd raya.

Of course it's a big deal, first day never the same with third day ok? If it's the same, might as well we go back the next 20 days, or even the next year! Haha..seee..sentap giler ok.

Anyway, after I calmed down, I was thinking, heck, why I need to spoil the festive season and sulk over small matter. It doesn't matter really because at least I can celebrate the first Eid with my in laws. Thank God they are in KL, else it will be super suck!

Talking about raya, both of us were very busy during fasting month and we don't even care about the baju raya and whatnot. Only on Saturday it hits us, alamak..tak best la takde baju matching2 this year. So on Sunday right before raya, gigih pegi cari baju ok. We only bought for MrComot and Zahra as Emir and Mommy already has baju melayu and kurung in Purple. We decided to go purple this year because two of use already have it, so don't have to buy new one for all four of us.

But the irony is, gigih beli baju before raya, but have none picture the four of us in it. Gahhhhhh!!

Ok talk about balik kampung, so since MrComot has to standby until 2nd day of Eid, we decided to go back the night of the 3rd Eid itself. This is our first time driving long journey at odd hours and oh mann....the road is super smooth BUT scary!! Because not many cars hitting it and there is no roadside lamp so it was pitch black.

Thank God we didn't hit anything random crossing the road that night, and we didn't see anything weird either *goosebump all over*.

So! These what we've been up to during the holiday in Besut. We had so so much fun and how I wish the place is just few hours drive away.

Scary dark. Thank God the kids were sleeping so we can have peaceful drive. I tried to stay up throughout the journey to accompany MrComot but terlelap jugak few times *sorry baby!*.

Plucking pucuk kemidi / paku-pakis / midin / fern shoots for bubur lambuk  my mom's style. Best dish ever. Just a simple porridge with lotsa ferns, fish meat, coconut milk, blackpepper. My comfort food. 

Scooping up sands at Pantai Air Tawar, Besut. 

Fresh mangosteen plucked from my dad's orchard.

Cooking a big batch of ayam masak merah with green view. There were couples of spring chicken freely roaming around and such a treat to my eyes.

Tapai (fermented rice) made in daun pisang (banana leaves) and original daun getah (rubber tree leaves). Yummy!

random find - mosses color died bug

Went to morning market and see all the villagers selling local stuff, from food to clothes. But you have to be very early here, before 8AM or it's hard to find parking.

Etak-etak, local snack. It's some-kind of shellfish, boiled with salt and you just eat it as it is.

Random fish monger in kain batik. So laidback! Nothing pretentious here.

Having boiled corn

while watching the chickens

handsome boy had to hold two of the corn...because it might finish faster than he can munch.

My mom with my grandma, at the original wooden house.

Went to hypermarket where basically nothing much there because festive season, all sold out I guess.

Had sup urat keting which is extremely delicious but heart clogging. MrComot pass this, not his kind of food (he is that "bandar" ok hahaha)

My dad making lempuk (durian flesh with sugar). You have to stir it for hourssssssss until it turns to a good goey dessert. Yum!

Went to buy keropok kering (fish cracker) from the maker and get wholesale price. Just for fun.

Went to Rantau Panjang (at the Thailand's border) and eat at random local shop. This is our first time eating randomly like this (with kids I mean! I am totally fine with this kind of shop) and they've been chasing flies and ants. Kids!

Totally flat after some shopping.

Raya is not complete with firecrackers isn't it

Freestyle

Making choc cupcakes with abundance of sprinkles of course

Harvesting rambutan. The tree is just right in front of the house.

And it is so low that the kids can pluck by themselves.

Being nice to the brother :D

So, that's it! The kids had a really good time and Zahra keep on asking when we can have long holiday and balik kampung again.

Sadly, no raya picture. We brought the raya clothes back thinking that we will wear it again and snap a picture together. But we are too lazy to do that, booo!

Beach Bums

Ok last entry about balik kampung during last raya. Bercinta betul nak finish this entry..

Anyway what is balik to east coast kalau tak pegi pantai kan? Yes we went there but only on the last day we were in Terengganu and too bad that we only get to spend less than 1/2 hour as it started to rain after that. Sigh. Kesian the kids as derang baru nak warm up main pasir. 

This is one of my favourite public beach in Besut - Pantai Air Tawar. It is a long beach with fine white sand. It has one small fresh water lake that connected to the salt water beach. Somehow the water doesn't mix but I didn't dare to taste as the lake doesn't look that clean haha. But the beach is pretty clean for a public beach and do recommend this place as it has a long stretch which spread the crowd and you'll have ample space to claim it 'your space'. One of my pet peeves is when I go to a beach where I get to see others bum like a few centimeter away. Bukan menenang kan otak..but lagi serabut ada la =D

Anyway, below are some pictures before the heavy rain.

Found a stick and drawing something

Look at his hair. It was verrryyy windy 

Zahra is happy as she gets to touch the sand

Enjoying the ambiance. Can you see the dark cloud is racing towards her? 

Ok before I close this balik kampung/raya entry, few pics form our last raya!!

A little drama on baju raya though. It is last year's baju raya because I don't really have the time to think about it. My baju lagi la..it's my normal baju kurung that I wear to office, but since it matches the others, belasah je la. But last year was our first time spending Raya with 4 of us, so gigih ok last minit cari baju. Siap ambil annual leave, went to Jalan TAR naik LRT (wisma yakin) and sebab dah last minit susah nak cari 4 pairs of us. Kalau Zahra ada, Emir pulak takde. Last skali jumpa for 3 of them only at BAK so belasah je ambil and went to BAK Kota Damansara to find mine, only to know that they have different colors in each branch ^@&#@&%^#@. So end up I wear my normal attire la. Last year wore my normal brown dress from poplook, and this year we were extremely busy so just recycle last year's. Is still fits them well so why not and for a change, I wore baju kurung instead of the same dress. Well, I'm not really particular with new cloth but bila Raya dah dekat tu, mula la sentap takde matching satu family hehehe..

My hensem boy. Look at the haircut! He looks like a girl! Well, it's because mommy cuts it *cough* *cough*

Four of us! 

Penyapu dan Emir tak boleh dipisahkan. During raya pun sibuk nak menyapu and that's when other  people is around! 

And doze off kepenatan haha. This is a rare sight because he can't really sleep without latching on me. He must be very tired that day.

Ok this will be a closure to  my Raya aka balik kampung entries! We had so much much much fun!!! It's definitely a fresh change of air, because my kampung is very kampung one! With all the trees, cows, chicken and duck. Maybe I should write about my kampung next time..before it becomes town :(

Ohh crap! I miss my hometown so much! And my mom and dad! Sigh..

Have a good day everyone!

Cooling Session @ Lata Belatan

A special separate entrance about this place that we went during last balik kampung, Lata Belatan :)

Ohhh ohhhh... how I adore this place. It's well known for its beautiful cascading waterfalls. I've been here long time ago..before having the kids..so it is like almost 5 years ago! I'm not a waterfall girl (I always prefer the beaches) but this place is serene and not overly crowded. The water is very clear and clean, and of course is cold. So I decided to bring the kids there.

The entrance

There is entrance fee imposed, RM5 per entry per person if I'm not mistaken (and lesser for kids) but since we were there around 5PM and they are about to close in another 1 hour, we just paid RM5 for a bunch 7 of us. Semua atas budi bicara, maybe the guards tengok..alaa kesiannya, masuk je la haha.

Some crowds

This is at the bottom of the waterfalls. It's more like a river actually. If you fancy the splashing waterfall, you can climb higher.

Some sides got slides.

And very shallow, you don't have to worry about your kids.

Zahra having fun

Emir with mommy. Surprisingly, my hensem boy who loves water was afraid with the place that day (and keep on making that masam face). Maybe he was intimidated by the crowd and such big "pool".

But my eldest one enjoying it sooo much.Too bad it was almost dark so we have to spend there shortly. 

Funny thing happen though. The first thing Zahra said when I asked her to dip her feet into the water "Mommmy! Kena pakai shoes, banyak kuman!"


Hahaha...town girl sangat. But seriously, the water is very clear and clean that you won't worry such thing. And it's a flowing water, so actually you are enjoying fresh water all the time. It's definitely a very nice place to expose your kids to nature. If they are big enough, you can climb some path. How I wish we were there earlier and next time if we go there again, I'm going to bring my swimsuit and go wild with the kids!

Fun under Terengganu's Sun

Ok so here is the recap on our last balik kampung event. We went back for a week, that's the longest holiday we ever had! The kids had so much fun, like so much much much! Maybe because we rarely balik kampung, plus the festive season, all my siblings also gather at home so they had a lot of activities, ramai orang nak melayan. Ok so these what have the kids been up to!  ;)

Watching grandpa kopek kelapa the first thing in the morning. It was around 10AM and still in pajama hahaha

Making bubur assyura. It's a sweet delicacies made of coconut milk and sugar, mixed with sweet potato, peanuts, jackfruit and other stuff. Some people also add corn and sago pearl.

Having fun with the penyapu. I was about to bathe him that he saw the sweeper and refused to go into the bathroom

"Atas ni pun kotor mommy!"

 Watching grandma grilling the fish traditional way. It's bawal percik by the way, NYUM!

 And I find it interesting that the fish is as big as her face

Making delicious pineapple tarts, which is truly delicious made by my sister, but I didn't bother to get the recipe, because I'm not rajin enough to remake it hehe..

Putting on everyone else's shoes

 And chase the cat with that over-sized shoes

Making fat satay from scratch

Experimenting with cheese tart and Zahra was very excited to draw on the surface..

Which turned to these

Played some sparkles

And made crazy shapes

Admiring cock from far, because it might cluck your feet.

 And visit its home. This is how reban ayam looks like, baby.

Picking up sand

Forcing the little brother to touch the thorny durian

Hogging the grandpa's car just because they can. I won't let them do this back at home.

Helping grandma making kuih melaka - sticky rice with palm sugar in the middle and coated with desiccated coconut.

 Mixing butter cake

Get a whole big chunk of icecream! "This is one of the fortunate days you know, because my momma always says no cold stuff or you will get a flu!"

Can you tell how much they had fun? And that was in normal days..not to mention that we had trips to beach, waterfall and relatives houses. The best of time is when we were in the car touring the village and pass by cows or goats, they will gawk and screaming "mommmmyyyyyyyyy dadddyyyyy ada moooooooooo". Emir tak boleh cakap lagi so dia buat sound "mooooooooo" kuat-kuat. Hahaha so funny.

Zahra been raving about balik kampung til now, even I missing the time we were there. I wish we can go back often but time will be the main constraint. Well, most of the leaves used for babysitter's off day and I have to consider MrComot's schedule as well. He's been very busy this year, but I hope we can give a break soon.