Rediscovering His Roots

Yup thats what he did when we took off on a short family vacation back to the east coast.

Golfman has never really been enthusiastic over the subject of balik kampung be it mine or his. but thats fine since both of us have made shah alam our 'kampung' anyway. Its been even more workable since our parents have also moved here. Years ago the hubby and his siblings (who are all working in Klang valley) had somehow convinced his parents to leave temangan and become city folks instead. together they bought an apartment for mek & cek and even after cek died mek is still staying there within easy reach of all her children. As for mak, she's been staying with me ever since i gave birth to my second child. so like i said there isnt much cause to be going back to kampung except perhaps to visit relatives once in a long while.

So you can imagine my surprise when he suggested going back to kelantan!! gawd, i've been trying to drag him there for ages. kelantan is a great place to visit... apart from his makciks, pakciks & cousins, i could also squeeze in a lot of cheap shopping sprees hehe. anyway without wasting any time i quickly applied for leave and rounded up the children, warning them to
be ready for anything. first of all it was the rainy season and since johor was already having floods, it was just a matter of time before it hits the east coast. next, even if it was right into the school hols we didnt believe in making reservations so we might very well just end up as backpackers. and to their credit the kids were very cool about everything. probably because they were bored out of their skull and cant wait to leave lol.

Abe was in a great mood all the time we were travelling and that certainly bode well for the trip, after all grumps was his second name. we took the gua musang route on our way down and made our way home via the coastal road. lucky for us the rain was manageable and according to the locals the possibility of flooding was still rather slim since it was raining intermittently and wasnt heavy either so it was quite a blessing for us since that made for really cool windy weather.

It certainly was a trip down memory lane for the hubby because we covered all his fav old joints and the places where he grew up.... home, school, park, the stretch of river where he'd once saved his younger brother from drowning, rail tracks, bendang, the office where he had his first job, his favourite nasi dage place, rumah sewa and loads others. coincidentally, we were also married in kelantan because back then my dad just happened to be the CO of the army camp there.... so memang banyak memories.

We've been back before but never as thorough as this so my theory is, the hubby, after travelling far & wide and becoming decidedly more jaded and cynical had
decided that before he lost sight of whats really important, it was time for him to
rediscover his roots and in the process, rediscover himself.

After 2 nites in KB and all that behind us, we we were all set were all set for the next phase of
our trip, a little beachcombing interlude. and where else if not at awana kijal?! there were
signs of swollen rivers as we crossed over from kelantan into trengganu but it still wasnt too
bad. while at awana we were blessed with sunny weather but the seas were a little too violent
for comfort. but we didnt really mind because the pool was good enough for us. whenever he's
around as chaperone the hubby has always encouraged me to swim so there i was donning on
my old swimsuit & tights along with my daughter. surprisingly, even the boys joined in. as
they grew older the boys had always avoided the pool but not this time, no excuses were cooked up. it certainly turned out to be a real 'family holiday'!!

Another 2 nites in awana and it was time to leave. the hubby had a game lined up sunday
morning but we couldnt ask for more because he had given his all during the short holiday together... yup, absolutely no golf whatsoever and that for him was a great 'sacrifice' indeed.

Mak didnt want to come along and even though i was worried i didnt want to force her. where she was concerned, she does what she wants. thank god she had my cousin stay over all the time we were gone otherwise i wouldnt have been able to enjoy myself as much as i did.

And after all thats been said and done, its still good to be back.