Balik Kampungg

Atuk's House - He build it himself and about 40-50 years old. This where my Abah's family lived.

Family photo in front of Pak Ngahs house

Doa for Atuk and Tok Mi

Zareef fascinated with pokok semalu.

Zareef kinda dissapointed sebab ada chicken je. He wanted to see cows and goats

Zareef trying to chase the chickens

"Layan kalau dapat mandi ni" what i was thinking when i saw this.

Kuih and kerepek as gifts for people back home

Shops where we bought the kuih and kerepek. Bantal pokok kapas pun Wawa beli.

The best picture of the trip - No flush as you can see.

Just got back from my Abah's kampung in Segamat. Where once a royalty stopped by to drink its river. Amazed with the fresh water he said "Segar yang amat". Thats how I understand the name Segamat originated.

I havent been back in more than 3 years and the previous visit was too brief to call it a visit. We: Abah, Wawa, Zareef and myself went in the ageing but still breathing Kia Sportage. The best thing about the trip was how Abah was really reconnecting to his origins. It was priceless because knowing my dad, he doesnt show that much emotions apart from anger (in a view of a son).

Went to my Atuk and nenek (Tok Mi) kubur. Kinda sad cause the kubur was full of semak2 but we managed ok. The other "best" experience is Zareef wanting to Popo and Pipi just 5 minutes into reciting the Yasin with no water around. Luckily he held on and he let go when we went to visit one of the nearest house for some land business.

After that we went to Pak Ngahs house. Mak Ngah made sure we had our lunch at his house. Langkah kanan tul, when she cooked my Abah's favorite lauk. Masak lemak ikan sungai (I forgot the name actually). The ikan sungai is not the same as what we get at the pasar here cause its wild and not the breed kind. Sorry no pics cause was toooooo into the food. Somehow the kampung appetite really kicked in.

After lunch we headed back home just stopping to buy some kerepeks and kuihs along the way. Salwa was trying to get this pokok kapas bantal (not really sure whats the name of the pokok) which she said was really comfy and can get back its fluffiness just by jemur in the hot sun.

All in all, it was good trip back for all of us. Abah for reconnecting, Wawa and Me for relishing our origins and Zareef to understand where we came from.

Boo cheeka bum bum!!

I thought I'd write something about our hero boy, Zareef. He is growing really fast and is getting smarter every day. Recently, he is fond of babies & toddlers. Everytime he sees babies, he will play cak-cak with them, like with Ammar and Shania. Lately, he's been asking these kind of questions. The conversations usually go something like this...

Zareef : Mama, bila mama nak gemuk nih?
Mama : Kenapa pulak?
Zareef : Zareef nak baby baru lah...
Mama : Zara kan ada.. Zara pun Zareef tak jaga, asyik buli aje..
Zareef : Zara tak best.. Zareef dah boring ngan Zara..
Mama : Laa, nanti ada baby baru pun Zareef boring karang..
Zareef : Zareef nak baby cam Shania..
Zareef nak baby boy lah.. Nak bagi nama... hmmm.. Optimus Prime!
Mama : Kalau nak baby, tanya kat ayah.. (hehehe)

So cheeky lah that fella. Be patience Zareef.. the time for another brother or sister is not that soon.. if there is one :) But it is kind of sweet that he wants another brother or sister. Sometimes he even listened to my tummy and says that he can hear a baby inside. More incentive for us to have another one, perhaps? (*hint hint*)

Another story to tell is our conversations every time I am about to leave for office, every morning. Zareef is still very manja and sticky and mengada2. So, every morning, he wakes up crying for me and wants to hold my hand while I am preparing for work (even when applying make-up). Every morning, both Zareef and Zara will send me off to work. Yeah, usually it's 6 in the morning! I will bring them 'ikut sederhana', which is just driving them around the neighborhood for a while, then say our goodbyes.

So, every time, every day, the routine is:

1) Mama, jangan balik lambat tau.. Balik kol five ok.
2) Mama, jangan lupa beli something.
3) Mama, beli something tu love, hugs and kisses ok
4) Mama , I love you.. I miss you.. (Ni kadang2 je.. heheh)
5) Salam, hugs and kisses.. lots of it!

Now, to add to that list, he wants me to kiss him on his cheeks. Kiss lipstick, according to him, so that he can have my lipstick on his cheeks... hahaha.. It is a really a GREAT blessing to have the kids send me off every morning and greet me when I come home every day. I am really really thankful for this!

oh.. you may wonder about the title for this entry.. it's zareef's favorite word now. I dont know where he picked this up, but it literally means your **** and bum-bum. Zareef asked me this one day.. "Mama, budak kecik tak boleh tengok budak besar punyer boo cheeka bum bum kan?" Haiyo, so clever lah this boy!

Oh Zareef, my sweet boy... Can you just stay sweet like this and dont grow up? Yeah, he is still naughty and cheeky and grumpy at times, but I will always love this boy!

ZZbrainwash.blogspot.com

Apparently since I started blogging I have always been inclined to filter a little on what to say especially intending the blog to be family orientated.

So i decided to start my own personal blog zzbrainwash.blogspot.com of my views without limiting my own creative writing. So called lah. I will try to keep the content a little diversified than in here with a more outspoken and provocative angle.

So heres to my new blog. Hope it lives to an old and prosperous age. Do visit. Once again the site is :

zzbrainwash.blogspot.com

Treasure hunt

Yet again went to another Treasure Hunt by EM. This time its only in KL. In Great Eastern Mall and The Weld to be exact. It was kinda easy by their normal standard but I was a little disappointed we didnt get a good placing. We made careless mistakes and everything was so close. We figured and timed everything quite well but it was just too close. There weren't enough tough questions to differentiate the good decoding strategic team with the others.

I believed we got only a couple unfigured answers which were:

1. Q: 50 in 43? - A: Blush : L =50 and 43 is Bush (43rd president). Geram cause the Q should put 43rd instead of 43
2. Q: Speilbergs list - A: Schindlers : we were looking all over (walls, signs, etc) for the answer but it was the logo on the floor of an escalator.

A few others we didnt get was due to spelling error and me putting in 2 sachets of sweetener instead of the instructed 1 for the treasure (biggest flop - i feel bad letting my team down).

For the error our excuse was that while hunting in the mall, everybody was so closed and tried to copy or figure out by watching each other. So we were sooo worried that we didnt really copy properly. As for the sachets of sweetener, we had to get the treasure from the organizer and they tricked us into giving 2 while we had to hand in only 1. They also keep pressuring not the see other teams see cause there were like 3 other teams lining up behind me. So I just hurried and stashed it away without looking back.. my bad guys.

But apart from that, I believe we did tremendously well but it was just too close. The only 2 teams that got the really hard questions and so forth. The food on the other hand was superb. Didnt take pics cause was too hungry after the hunt. A special thanks to Shahir and Sakeenah for being great team mates. We sure did have fun!!!!!

Peeewwwwittt!!! Janda tu Baikknyaaa!!!

You expect a middle aged man saying this with his saliva coming out. Unfortunately, I mean it in a total different way: Janda Baik, Pahang. Love the name for its impact and authenticity. Maybe theres a history behind it. Share with us if you know.

This morning the standard geng went for a half-day breakaway to Camp ABC, Janda Baik. As usual attendees were - Self Pointing Queen Maz, Birdy Zul, Snipper Zareef, Anti-cold Zara, Fisherwomen Bibik, Coolio Shahrul, Stylo Su, Luscious Shania, Soft spoken Adik Ya, Grinning Bo, Inseparable Amru and Siti, General Agus and his Army - Prime Minister Anidz and theeir mermaids: Yaya, Chacha, Chichi, Spotted turtle back Fariz Hilmi, Flapping hands Liza, Fast disappearing Faizal and Mas, Wafi (enuff said) and our official photographers Azfar and Rina.

It was only an hours drive not at all the bad especially with the new Duke. It was even pleasant going uphill realizing there is an unknown treasure of tranquility to us so near to KL. Lots of greenary, resorts, camps and nice houses. The camp was simply elegant and laid back. Imagine a serene landscape with hills and a beautiful clean river flowing through the valley with a nice looking cottage at the edge. Lots of space to chill and play, a nice open air eatery with bbq, lots of shade making it cool the whole stay.

We really let off steam when we got there. It was the natural thing to do with the really cold water. Although the cold limited certain individuals water exposure, most of us built immunity. We would like to think ourselves as salmons (statement Bo) but we were more like badak airs/hippos looking back at Wafi and Shahruls pictures. Lost Shah Alam city-bred Hippos to be more elaborate.

Apart from berendam, we had a small suka-neka. We played kids games just for the sake of it. Seems to make the kids excited. Yesss.. I admit I was excited too but just to hypen things up. They particularly like the sweets in the flour. Carry-the-spouse was also a hit with Shahrul and Bo. They enjoyed too much that they forgot to move and was just relishing the excitement of being on top of each other.

After hours of soaking in cold water and games, our appetite were really like hippos. The bbq was fantasticcc!! Lots of food just for the 20 or so of us. There were even enough left overs for us to bring back for dinner. It was so great even the sambal belacan was out of this world. You might think i'm exaggerating but the belacan smell still melekat as I am writting.

After lunch, the sun was out but not so hot due to the shades. So we started playing card and board games. We tried the monopoly card game. A really brilliant game, I really liked it because ada unsur2 ranjau and cause I won just now as usual. Some of us played taboo but the pinnacle was gestures. We played it charade style. hahahaha.. lol just thinking of how so of our actings turned out. The most memorable was Bo's grinnig. Looked really sleazy more than his usual self. Wish I had a picture.

After a couple of hours playing as the kids were dozing off, we decided to pack up and headed home. A really longgg journey home when everybody else in the car is asleep. To top it off, once I got home trying to sleep the kids were all fresh and sugar high with the candy theystored away.

Below are some pics from our cam. For more pro pics we have to wait for Azfar and Rina.