Balik Kampung

In Malay, balik kampung means going home to our hometown. Last Friday after dinner, my brother, sister and her family, her new Indonesian maid, Mom and I drove up north for three hours to our hometown in Sitiawan. We arrived slightly before one on Saturday morning, just the right timing to surprise Dad on his 66th birthday. Thankfully, Dad was home watching football in his favourite Ikea chair, and with my honking to the tune of "A Shave & A Hair Cut, Ten Cents", he knew instantly that the 'troop' had arrived. See, we have always surprised our parents by travelling after work on Fridays and arriving past midnight. To Dad, he said he sort of expected it. Plus, my sister's new maid arrived several days before earlier, and that meant Mom was 'free' to go home after being in KL for a month to help out with the babysitting (my sister has three little girls, and they can be a handful).

After unpacking our cars, my sister and her husband went hunting for food. We were a little hungry, and the first thing my sister and I wanted was asam laksa. About 45 minutes later, they came home with bags of food. Then, it was time to bring out the Secret Recipe chocolate banana cake from the car, and with six large and six small candles, my sister and I surprised my Dad with a birthday song, choired by the rest -- err, come to think of it, it was only the two older kids singing the Birthday song!

asam laksa

Dad is never a cake-lover, except for fruit cakes. This time, we could see he truly enjoyed and commented on the lovely chocolate banana cake. And since he knew it had travelled all the way from KL back home, he enjoyed it even more.

The kids had a whale of a time back home -- they walked the back lanes looking for and chasing cats, being pampered by their Grandparents and had a great time at the playground by the beach. The kids joined the other children there on the swing, slide and see-saw. It was dawning on us and just before we left the playground, my sister and I, each with a kid, went on the see-saw, and seeing how fun it was, the Grandparents and my brother went on it, too -- each with the same reason that the kids needed someone to hold them. There were laughter all around, but after a few ups and downs, we adults got a little dizzy, and that was when we decided it was time to go. Dinner in a chinese restaurant was great. Dad gave us a treat :)

popiah

Once back in our hometown, my siblings and I go along with the motto "Late to bed, late to rise". Breakfast would be nasi lemak from the wet market, and Mom would have finished with the preparation for lunch before all of us wake up. Mom even woke me up just to say she was going to get me some durians from the market, and by the time I woke up with my oldest niece, there were three large durians ready to be eaten! That's not it; after lunch, we all had the bottle of champagne I brought home and soon after my cousin brought cendol, and not wanting to give it a miss, I had some.

cendol

With a combination of all these local food and desserts, no wonder I am down with the cold, cough and a bad sore throat. My nieces were having a bad cough and cold, and I blame them! Hehehe! Mom and Dad just wanted me to have as much local delicacies as I could possibly eat or crave before I move over to the Middle East.

durian

Mommy & Daddy -- thank you very much!