Monday, June 29, 2009

Work, Work, Work - The Trip

Work last week had me traveling all the way to Sedeli, Johor. I was in Felda Air Tawar 5, in DUN Penawar from Thursday till Saturday. Actually I was hesitant to leave folks at home, especially after Farah’s H1N1 scare. But this was one assignment I could not just delegate to my staff as it required establishing protocols with VIPs and some top ranks from client’s organization. So…H1N1 or no H1N1, I have to turun padang lah…sigh.

The program that we were doing was in conjunction with the AKOK event in Tanjung Sedeli, Johor. My team had gone down a couple of days earlier to conduct the “…bersama komuniti” program and activities. The closing ceremony was a combined community event and the YB ADUN Penawar had agreed to be the our VIP guest of honour.

The drive there took us almost 5 hours. Nasib baik I wasn’t driving. We had a driver booked for the trip, but still, sitting in the car for a two to three hours stretch was still somewhat an agony. Sakit sagala sendi-sendi di dalam badan, almaklum lah…di usia yang sebegini....errr “muda”.

As there were no nearby hotels, we put up at a homestay place in the Felda scheme. I was very, very skeptical with this arrangement in the beginning. I never like sleeping at other people’s house, well other than Mom’s of course. Even at MIL’s pun, I’d make all sorts of excuses to not do so. So this homestay adventure was going to be my first “sleep-over-at-another-person’s” home stint after the last one which I could no longer recall when. Takpe lah I told myself, if others could go through it, I was pretty sure I could too (sambil keeping my fingers crossed all the time)


Program participants practising the theme song - Our Children Our Future

That evening after we rejoined with the team which was already in Felda Air Tawar 5, we went over to Pantai Telok Mahkota in Tanjung Sedeli. Apparently this place was known as Jesson Bay last time, and this was going to be the AKOK site. Nothing much was seen at the site. Well the program wasn’t going to start till Saturday anyway. Unlike in the city, folks in the kampong area was very calm, no rush, no harsh sounds from motor vehicles of what sort. I asked myself if I could survive in such an environment. Well, my guess is, max I’d give myself a week. After that I was sure I’d be terlenting-lenting wanting to return to the concrete jungle.


Jesson Bay @ Tanjung Sedeli

That night we drove all the way to Tanjung Kapal for dinner. The restaurant offered us a spectacular view of cargo ships waiting in queue to unload at Pasir Gudang Port. Service was slow but he food was good at the restaurant – de Kapal, located a few km after the Sungai Rengit fisherman village.


The home where we stayed...all in all there were 7 rooms in the house

Spacious and well kept garden

We headed back to our homestay after that. This was it, my moment of truth was getting closer. When we got to the place….ahhhhh…all my worries flew out the window. The house which belong to Mak Sam and Pak Mail was beautiful, and it offered such a comfort. There was even a hot water heater in the bathroom. Ohhh thank you..thank you!!! Dalam kepala dah fikir dah, if tak de, hai terpaksa lah mintak permission nak boil water in the morning in order to have my bath. Urrgggg…tak ke mengundang soalan-soalan cupumas nanti.


Fruits from the garden - pulasan


the purple mangosteen

We were served dinner again when we arrived at Mak Sam’s house. Hai..dah kenyang but terpaksa makan jugak. Kena lah jaga hati tuan rumah kan. As we sat having dinner, we heard the soft ”boom” sound. One of my girls said, “Haa…itu durian gugur!!!” Ayoooo…got durian dusun lagi at the homestay!!! No wonder lah when we entered the house, I detected the “pleasant” aroma. Musim buah rupanya and the couple had all sorts of fruit trees planted in their backyard. Mak Sam said they have mangosteen, pulasan, rambutans and not forgetting the durians.

Hah..kopek..kopek..

That night after our second dinner, the team dijamu with durians. Me?? I had to politely excuse myself, saying that I don’t eat durians. With that declaration, I received weird stares from everyone else.


Zapin pembuka acara


YB giving a speech


At tea, kueh abok (if I heard the name well) and Kopi-O...fuhh terangkat

My team and I were busy the following day preparing for the closing event. Come what may, the show had to go on. I was happy that everything went well that day. There were dark clouds indicating that it was going to pour. Fortunately, those clouds moved away and it remained dry till the event ended.


The loving couple..Mak Sam & Pak Mail... (she calls him "yang" adussss.....)

I must pen down my appreciation for the southern hospitality we received from folks in Felda Air Tawar 5 during our stay there. The food was great and so was everything else. Mak Sam and Pak Mail the ever so loving couple now becomes such great inspiration to us all.

Thank you…thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

16 comments:

Ummi365 said...

aduhhh kalau i jadi u tergolek dok dah.. cant take too much of stress hehehe. mengada2kan. come to my blog and grab your award.. senang je, no paksaan up to u..

tireless mom said...

Macam kek kampong Joseh yo, minus the laut and the Tanjung. Wei, orang kampong makan durian lah. The matsalleh can, why can't we?

zaitgha said...

Kay,

I want the cup la yg picture kuih Abok2 tuh he he...

Bole kasi how to contact the loving couple? teringin gak homestay nih

kay_leeda said...

TM,

Yes like Joseh, but cleaner. That's why it was no big deal for me wheater it was AKOK or no AKOK. But client so gung ho...so have to layan lah.

Wooo...dolian, me hv a long history of no-no with the fruit. Dah terfikir nak put up a posting titled "10 dalil kenapa Kay TAK makan dolian" :D

kay_leeda said...

Ummi,

Menang tergolek pun yesterday!! But depan client, akak maintain je :D

Yesss..memang nak cuba get your up for grabs tuh. Tunggu yah...akan ku mampir :)

kay_leeda said...

Dear Zai,

Cantik kan the cup!! I pun macam nak ask mana lah dapat cup yg so cantik, but tak terbuka mulut nak ask :)

Of course you cn hv the contact number of the couple who runs the homestay. Mak Sam is a tukang urut. On the second nite, she urut my tired body. Ahhhh.....best nyer :D

I'll email you her contact number and how to get there.

ummisara said...

Dear...

baguih jugak trip u nih...dapat jugak mengganggu sleeping pattern u yang tak suka tido umah org...hahahha kan dah merasa dah...not too bad eh? Romantik yer Mak Sam & Pak mail tuh....harap-2 kita semua bila dah tau pun mcm tuh kan...

gambor u kat jesson bay tuh cun :)

eh u tak makan durian jugak ker? i ingatkan i soranglah alien di malaysia nih sbb tak makan durian hehehehe.

kay_leeda said...

Dear Edelweiss,

Nasib baik I tak mengigau ke hapa that nite, if not so haru jadik nyer.

Tu lah so ketara ke-romantik-kan Mak Sam & Pak Mail tu. Bila dia dok panggil Pak Mail "yang..yang"..we all ni siap cubit each other to check if we were actually listening to the right word!!!

Yahhh...mari lepas ni kita buat posting "10 Dalil kenapa kita TAK makan durian!!"

Naz in Norway said...

Kay,
I pun tak suka tidur kat rumah orang. Kalau terpaksa juga, sampai ke pagi lah i duk terkebil kebil tak boleh tidur. Have always been like that.

haha...my word veri: heran

Laracroft74 said...

sis,
you satu speciesla dgn my hubby..specise orang RUGI tak makan durian... good for me...boleh hentam makan sorang ..PUAS HATI!!

busymum100 said...

Kuih abok? Best nya.. lama tk makan.

Mak Sam & hubby tu mmg good example - kita mesti maintain the heat of love, heheheh.

kay_leeda said...

Dear Naz,

Actually bukan sebab apa tak mau stay kat rumah orang. More like I don't want to inconvenient them. If there's a hotel, walaupun jauh sikit, I'd opt to saty at the hotel.

kay_leeda said...

Dear Laracroft74,

Species RUGI?? Ha..ha...that makes you all yang makan ni species UNTUNG lah :)

Errr...you can have all the dolians you want. Me kena bau dah surrender :) In my house only ABE yang makan. Itu pun segan-segan coz the rest of us dont eat. Poor guy....

kay_leeda said...

Dear Busymom101,

Are you from Johor? Best kueh abok tu. That's was my first time eating it actually.

Yar lorr...we should all follow that "lurvin feeling" in both Mak Sam & Pak Mail. Ni lagi lama kawin...macam dah lupa lak nama partners masing-masing dah...haiyaaaa... :D

jabishah said...

Foohh... mmg terangkat lah tgk kopi dgn kuih tu.

My plan is to expose the girls to such getaway. Since you've been places, rasanye where shall I start? Dekat2 dulu lah....

kay_leeda said...

Dear Ja,

This was my first experience at a homestay. Heard that this "stay in a kampung" concept was very popular when Azalina was the tourism minister. Now, apa jadi tak tau lah. The homestay that I saw in Felda Air Tawar & Felda Semenchu in Kota Tinggi were pretty ok. Clean and comfortable.

Heard that there are also homestays in Kuala Selangor too. Not too sure where are they located. Guess you can try googling them. I will be in Kuala Telemong, Terengganu next week. Will be putting up at a homestay there too. Am keeping my fingers crossed. It's more of ME than the place, if you know what I mean.