Ekspedisi Utara (Warning: Long Post!)

I just came back from a weekend roadtrip to the northern states of the Peninsular with my classmates. What a nice trip! I had to use my phone to record my train of thoughts along the journey as I did not bring any pen and paper to jot down anything. I wish I did, because all these hidden thoughts in my head poured out at the sight of highways, paddy fields against the azure sky, raindrops, presence of people and all the lovely connections we feel.

Read on for the log of events and thoughts in the course of the 72 hours. Might be a little funny. Just for the sake of keeping the memories.

Friday, 4/06/10

1600 Set off in PFM. Ermmm...

1630 Awkward conversations and silence fill the car as we sped through the highway. 30 minutes is not enough for topics to come up. Ermmm..

1700 ~on the roads~ The sun was shining, the weather looks good!

1800 Reached Penang. All 3 of the people in DBE -- eating! melahap junk food mungkin. (esp DBE driver yang kelaparan.)

1830 Reached Pauh Jaya. ~I smell the familiar home-y feeling~

Layan Ahmad.

2030 Frreee food! Thanks to MKA's family for the treat. We finished everything.. ANP & Miya berebut sisa-sisa ikan 3 rasa. Wondered why 3 guys left the table -- oh, now we know why.

2130 We were at Sungai Dua visiting Asm's relative. Ate pulut manis. I've never eaten that before but perhaps have came across a different version at my hometown. Sweet, but I didn't like it because it's too sticky for my aging teeth.
2200 Took a picture at a kampung's stairs. I've always thought that taking pictures at stairs is an 80's thing. And also, I never really expected rumah kampung to have no living room furniture. Seriously. Rumah nenek aku ada.

2300 Rains crazily. Still in PFM riding through to go back to ~Pauh Jaya~

2330 Back safely. Played poker and ~I won~. I've played before but pretended I'm a noob because I forgot everything. Heheh sorry

0140 Vocab & Grammar help for Asm as she worked on her proposal for an event.

0200 Slept comfortably while listening to Asm hitting on her lappy's keyboard. ZzzZ

Saturday, 5/06/10

0900 Breakfast style Italiano

0930 Chilled and looked for maps of Kedah. Planned to go all the way to Alor Setar.

1000 The convoy begins!

1030 Stopped by at cXL3's grannies home. 

#1 MKA : "Haaa.. cuba baca signboard tu. Teka macam mana nak pronounce." The signboard says 'Bagan Lebai Tahir'
AMN : "Bagan Lebai Tahir."
MKA : "Aaa.. bukan, bukan."
nadiology : "Bagan Lebai Tah-yaqqq la~"
MKA : "Haa.. pandaiiii!!"

Buat macam rumah sendiri. Kuih lompang kaler hijau.

#2 When cXL3 was introducing us and when it came to my turn, the granny asked again, "Yang mana satu orang Sarawak?". I raised my hand like a teacher has just checked my class attendance. At that time I wondered why she asked that..~

 #3 I've never eaten kuih lompang before. ~Sedap!~ And we had lots of karipap.. and we bungkus some. As we were leaving and salam cXL3's granny, she said "Orang Sarawak makan karipap ka?". At this point aku gelak terbahak di dalam hati. I answered "Ehh makan, makan." Then she replied "Oh mana la tau tak makan, itu saja yang boleh nenek hidang." Hahahaha! It's ok, I get a lot of comments like these. 

1200 By the roadside of the toll gate ~eating karipap we bungkus prior~
1300 We are at Alor Setar.. ermmmm
1430 Couldn't find HS on the roads, so we detoured to Masjid Zahir. Architecture so pretty!
1500 Menara Alor Setar.

MKA : "Wehh wehh.. tengok menara tu bergerak!". Sebenarnya, awan bergerak laju so it looked like the tower was swaying. Of course, semua orang gelak to the MKA's attempt to buat lawak.

Hehehe..

1530 Karnival Sua Rasa TV9 at the stadium. It took about 30 minutes because we were lost. Heard an ad on the radio.. "Mana nak pegi, mana nak pegi, mana nak pegiiiiii~". Since then it is trademarked when we are lost on the roads.
1600 Basah kuyup!!! We went through the pouring rain to our car. When we got in the car the rain stopped. Ermmmm...
1700 Set off to go back to Penang. ~Merajuk~ dengan alor setar because she rained on us.
1800 ~on the Penang Bridge~ "Penang sky". WZ cakap langit Penang punya awan well-distributed.
1900 Georgetown. Penang Island is just like my hometown.. it felt so familiar. and I thought to myself, "this is my place."
2000 At Batu Feringghi depan Kelab Renang. "oh, so dekat kelab renang ni ada kolam la ek?"
2100 Dinner char kuey tow~ "sinki besar"
2200 Rushed at Feringghi Walk. ~House MD wuu~
2300 Jammed on the roads. DBE stressed.
0000 Fort Cornwalis, Padang Kota Lama. ~BHT belanja  McD fries~ Miya sangat gembira dengan fries itu. I don't eat french fries.. but thanks anyway~

Lepak sebelah laut

0100 ~Lepak sambil ditiup angin laut~ This is when I thought "Too much of those playful flirty attempts. Fun, but wears out in time~ let's just chill.. C0000L~"
0200 Back to shelter.
0300 Passed out to the sound of MF mandi in the shower. So damn tired. MF only slept at 5am and that's when Asm's alarm blasted off my ears and AYO's detective conan comics fell on my face.

Sunday, 6/06/10
0600 Woke up dazed.. semua orang penat. Boys slept at BHT's house.
0830 Lepak sebelum breakfast. Played some background guitar music against MF & WZ's Sunday morning talk.. about marriage & guys etc. Heh heh.

#1 MKA's bro : "Mama.. ini nasi goreng nama apa?"
MKA's mama : "Entah ler.. mama pun tak tahu nama apa aih." (kalau aku, aku pun tak tahu.)
MKA's bro : "Abis tu macam mana mama masak?" TETTTT!
Emhhh budak 8 tahun memang otak geligaqqq. ~Macam mana lah anak aku nanti.~

0850 Ate breakfast.

#1 I thought to myself, "Apa pasal MKA selalu tak makan/tak habis makan?". Tak tahu jawapannya. Let it be lah. 

#2 Asm talked about 'Punctual' vs 'On time'. Punctual is ready 5 mins before time. On time is.. well, on time. "Ohh.. so kita dah terlebih punctual nih. Baru 0850." The plan was to set off at 9am.

0930 Tailgated cXL3. End up in a pasar somewhere and went to see his brother la pulak. Haha!
1000 BHT's house. ~sawah padi gorgeous sight~ Lahar Minyak.

Hang jangan main-main. Haha..

1030 Makan roti bom & roti canai.

#1 AMN buat lawak. "Eh rajin nya MF pegi dapur. Aku rasa.. kalau kita bawak dia pegi mamak pun mungkin dia pegi tolong kat dapur tolong tibai roti canai." Heh heh heh.. 

1100 MKA called AWN for directions to her kenduri.

#1 MKA's phone call to AWN.
MKA : "Hang ni bersolek lawa dah ni? ..Tak lawa na.. Ni tema kaler apa?"
MKA : "Oren? Ok takpa aku tak pakai oren. Nanti depa ingat aku pengantin plak~"
Everyone : HAhaHahahahAHahhaa.
Someone : "ni macam tak sabar nak pakai baju pengantin.."
MKA : "aku saja nak melawak nak buat hangpa gelak.."
Everyone : "Ehhh~"

1200 at Giant Sg. Petani looking for present for newlyweds. Beli coffeemaker!
1300 at Giant Sg. Petani MAKAN ICE-CREAM vanilla
1430 makan kenduri

After the kenduri. Yang depan sekali ada gaya project manager.

1530 makan rambutan at rmh nk renovate (rumah ADL)
1700 at Baling Kedah drinking kopi kampung (kaw2!) and... rambutan lagi.

#1 MKA : "Buah apa yang kita makan and boleh ludah kat mana-mana?"

2000 mkn DURIAN & bihun sedap Tok Teh MF.

Opening the durian...! I only ate one.

2200 berteka-teki & berperibahasa dlm DBE. battery still ok
0100 at Pauh Jaya ditimbun comforter and sleepy.
0230 ~low batt~ dlm DBE 120km/h. yes laju & tak selamat.. but quite a thrill. macam suka pun ada. heh heh..
0330 ~recharged~ tepi toll. DBE perlu rehat kejap.
0400 "goodbye". sedih... 1) vacation abis, 2) fyp
0415 terkejut baca email SV
0430 otak cergas edit slides for SV
0930 at SV's office pura2 otak cergas. Gave him a bunga telur pack I got from the kenduri. He said "Oh, good tradition.." (that's all?)
1100 acara berjalan kaki ke bilik sambil menguap gaya Garfield
1200 "goodnight".

It is really true that to know a person, you have to live with them side by side for at least 24 hours. Within that time being with each other, you start to know a person better by understanding their thought pattern through their responses and gestures. 

Ahh.. super panjang.