I'm coming home!

The Monsoon rain welcome me with a thunderous applause, hammering on the roof of my parent's house when I set my foot for another timeless visit to the charming and mystical land of my rightful birthplace, the Keropoklekor land. It marked the end of dry a season and the beginning of a wet season. It also marked the start of another cycle to my endless life  journey. Fate is gradually stretching its finger and touches my conscience - it is time to pack and go back. It is time to go home. I've finally decided to settle down and later spend my golden years in a secluded corner of the Keropoklekor land. I am going to open another chapter in my life. It is not  a new chapter but a reincarnation of time that fortify the umbilical connection between yours truly and a place where my childhood memory lingers happily waiting to be romanticize again and again. This time I am leaving my ghost behind for good, chained and chastised onto the world that I'd never want to look back.   

In my homeland, I saw many things are different now, but yet many things remain the same. The intimate feeling and the connection with the whole place and its people are as strong as ever. The fondness to having mankind favorite past time- a leisure siesta under a coconut tree watching the horizon has never changed. When I first felt in love with the salty breeze of the sea, it haunted me for life.  This is my destiny, prescribed by the Almighty. In fact this coincides very well with my planned life milestone, except a year earlier.  Most of my childhood friends who we used to play police sentry and ikan skila are  nowhere to find, probably struggling and joining  the rat-race army somewhere in the big city.  I need to  pick remnants of my previous life though to make a good compliment to spearhead and jump-start my new future.

As I am about to start my new journey, I can no longer ignore the inconvenient fact that I'm am also laving part of my colorful history behind. Many lessons had been learned. During my short alliance with that superficial life, many friends are made and friendship are forged. True friends are hard to find but upon finding one, they are a gem to be grasped upon.  I hope that portion of my life journey has made me wiser and even stronger.

An old friend of mine used to utter this lines to me when I was looking for an answer during one of our soul searching escapades in Ayer Keroh, Melaka more than two decades ago :  

Setinggi manapun sang helang terbang

pabila senja menjelang

hinggap dan kembali lah jua ia ke sarang

That wisdom speaks directly to my soul.

I am really looking forward to my new life. I hope the Monsoon, the whole critters of Keropoklekor land and the seafarers from the South China Sea will welcome me with their open heart. The world seems to stuck here in the Keropoklekor land for now. This is  home. This is a place where I belong.

Timeless and beautiful vista like this is a trademark of Keropoklekor land. It will be forever engraved in my heart.  This time it won't be a distant fatamorgana featured  only in my dream. I just open my window and the reality is revealed before my eyes day in and day out.

The face of Keropoklekor land has changed a lot. This gloomy and lifeless spot used to be a bustling jetty full of activities for  small diesel-engine boats to shuttle people from Kedai Payang to Seberang Takir and other kampung along the Terengganu river. These makeover and other modernization are now creeping into the life of local people. Oh yes...I almost forgot. Keropoklekor land is now a bandaraya.

These two lovely soul, my parent is the biggest motivation to me. The big decision to relocate myself to the Keropoklekor land is mostly inspired by them. They had done their best part to bring me up and put me where I am now. It is my part now to carry out a son's duty -  to serve them well. 

World cup live from d' lambo club

The sun was so kind to shy away behind the clouds when I drove back to the keropoklekor land on Friday for a holiday break with my family. It was quite a pleasant journey through the undulating LPT highway cruising smoothly with the speed of a Tomahawk missile. A 'saman ekor' is expecting anytime next week as I came face to face with 'mat misai' skodeing through his speedy scope on my uncivilized driving manner somewhere along Gambang stretch. No doubt about it. Momentarily I forgot that this is The Bolehland and Autobahn-alike is somewhat existed only in the brain domain of F1 wannabe.

We had several pit stops along the way to refuel, refresh and some quick photo snap on the beautiful beaches scenery just to satisfy my shutterbug frenzy. By this time, the sun have come out from its sanctuary and shone obstructively to the coastal inhabitant. It was hot. The air was so dry you can easily dry you hair faster here than using an air drier.

The heat if not managed properly could cause your brain to melt and become something unrecognizable but tasty more or less like 'bubur lambuk', or worst one could have a fever. The fever has spread indeed in this keropoklekor land as the moment I arrived the sight of my countryman succumbed to the word spread pandemic was very obvious.

So far I am very cautious and trying at any cost avoiding from being overheating thus catching this fever. The best advice is to stay at home or simply becoming a couch potato in the comfy of one's own house. Meanwhile, the lambo club sprouted vigorously throughout the keropoklekor land and their activity become lively when the dusk beat the day.

The lambo club members so engrossed watching Messi from Argentina dribbled the balls around the field. I stopped over briefly to greet my country men and secretly captured the moment on film for the whole world to see how ingenious and creative my country men when the football world cup is concern.

A few hour before the kick off. The place was a very close neighbor's lambo or probably more popular known as a geghe. For your intimate knowledge, the television was just unwrapped from the box delivered by Ah Fatt of Kuala Trengganu. The diurnal audience were all close relative, having a preview on the new TV performance.

A soft reminder to my fellow bloggers. The banner says it all. It is o.k to catch the fever but please do not get involved in any of the judi forms that are also sprouting alongside this prestigious sport.

Have a nice day guys. I am off to Bandor to sample some more delectable local dishes. Keropok lekor anyone?

I squid jigging with a sarong

At the moment of writing, I am still in the holiday mood. The adoring taste of salty remnant on my sunburned skin and the thought of pure silky breeze embracing my face from the open sea have made it hard for me to swing the mood back into its full working gear. In fact, I am still wearing my sarung when I type this field report. Interesting enough I found the idea flows openly while donning on that customary keropoklekor nation costume - free flow of fresh air down under probably contributes to excite some dormant brain tissues. This has let me to think in the near future, if there is a brainstorming session were to be held for example, we should probably do the same : wear a sarung, let ourselves loose and put in something that is less restricted. More issues could be resolved this way perhaps, you'll never know.

The six blissful days shying away from the sophisticated and yet complicated civilization has at least given me ample time to unclog my mind and detoxify my body from the urban pollution. I have been craving for this cleansing retreat, back to my lovely hometown for months. The chance came and without any delay we packed our thing and head back East, zig-zagging crossing Banjaran Titiwangsa and cruising along the scenic coastal area along the way. Bolehland is one of the beautiful country in this world. I love my country.

The journey through the Lebuhraya Pantai Timur was a bit turn off however. Almost half of its stretch, the surface is quite uneven and undulating like killer waves during the monsoon season. This is a real test to any vehicle's suspension and my newly recovered back is really at its mercy. My ass almost became numb driving through this bumpy road, and people will almost without fail to notice that I walked like a virgin after her first night at our first stop after that. Probably this is one of the clever way from the local authority in telling you that you are now entering their coastal territory and perhaps those experience is a preamble to the more exciting adventure awaiting to be explored. In a country that has conquered the moon with the help of Russians and a driver whom will be penalized with hefty road tax for driving a car with an engine capacity bigger than a bottle of 'budu', I think it is a high time we have a road surpassing the famous German Autobahns. Captain Kirk will be very happy, traveling to Ganu kita will be at a blink of an eye.

As promised, I kept myself out from this world. No computer screen to stare at, no answering to the phone, no lengthy meeting but myself, my family and not to forget nasi dagang and keropok lekor. My kids really love spending time in the many stunning beaches lining the coastal area. We spent almost every evening exploring the beaches, with my significant half and me staring at the passing sea wanderers or fishing boats on the horizon. Initially, I have the plan to join the squid jigging activities but seeing the random bright flashes coming from sky and the recent news on the harrowing experience in the sea, led me to decide not to pursue the intention.

One thing that struck me most whenever 'balik kampung' is that I will overstuffed myself with load and load of delectable food. The supply of food in endless. My mother from time to time will 'force' me to eat this and that. She always stressed that not everyday I will have to eat like that. What a good charm she is. As obedience as always, I have no way in saying no to the request of a mother. Numerous and endless invitation to 'makan pulut' has invariably put some concern in me too. Luckily I have my elder son as an envoy to me, an excuse no to attend to the invitation in person was done in a much diplomatic way. Other traditional staple food like sata, otak-otak and numerous 'kuih muih' were fully consumed with full of eagerness. The only regret that I have was not having the chance to visit one of the stalls that selling local homemade 'lempeng'.

After spending six blissful days, the unthinkable has finally dawned on me . I am back again to this planet, joining the whole human race wandering endlessly in a big cycle. Looking at the growing number of rats, bumping into each other each passing days has really made me realized that the cycle has no ending. Time is really moving faster and faster each time we inhaled our breath. Time is no more as precious as gold. Time is priceless, technically speaking.

The cousins reunion which took place once in a blue moon. The congregation this time was not with a full corum, due to the unsynchronized timetables between the siblings.

My youngest son with his first kite flying lesson on the beach, closely monitored by his mother.

Gentle waves crashing on your feet can be a good therapy, even for the kiddies. My kids can spend hours playing on the beach and seeking the wash-off treasures loitering the coastal area.

This is one of the local delicacies, 'sata' that was sold along the stretch of of shops at Pantai Teluk Mak Nik, Kemaman. I thought this was the best sata in the whole world, but my younger sister Cendawanintim promised to show me another unknown spot where the sata is even tastier.

Another shop that sold local produces along the main road leading to Cherating (near Pantai Chendor, to be exact). Personally, I think the keropok here is more tastier that the one in Losong.