Friends Indeed

What la to write ye? Oh ya last month my dear friend N*ra came here with her hubby F**zi. Actually F**zi was on business trip as he is a businessman and N*ra biasalah will tagged along. So they were our first guests since we landed in Tanah Jawa last January. We have been friends quite long since 1987. I befriend N*ra when we were in I*UM Matriculation Centre in Subang Jaya. My hubby and F**zi were roommates in I*UM. They were our seniors. Sometimes we can’t believe that we got married among our friends. There are also our other 2 friends i.e. R*ro and An*. R*ro marry J*ta and An* marries E*at. My hubby, J*ta, E*at (my hubby & E*at were also schoolmates and hostel mates in VI) and S*zli were in the same batch in AUSMAT and studied in I*UM. Myself, R*ro and An* were from the same school (same batch) in one of the boarding schools in JB. Don’t ask how we got to know our husbands. It was not a planned one… it was a pure coincident. Among us, An* and E*jat got married first then R*ro, followed by N*ra then myself. S*zli joined the club later when he got married to L*nda who was also our junior at I*UM. Alhamdulillah, eventhough everybody are always busy with our duties as employees, parents, children and servant of Allah we still maintain close contact with each other. We normally gather at An* & E*jat’s house as they stay in Bangi near to S*zli’s and halfway journey for R*ro & J*ta who resided in Seremban. During hari raya we will make a round to each other’s house. Sometimes we go for short excursions with our families. Tersangatlah meriah sesekali berkumpul.

Well back to N*ra & F**zi’s visit, met them for dinner on their arrival at Boplo Gado-gado. Makan-makan then drive them back to hotel in Senayan. Then hubby and F**zi had their coffee session at the Coffee house while N*ra and I lepak kat bilik as Hariz dah tidur.

The next day our family accompanied them to ‘Brother Land’ (read: Tanah Abang) as N*ra nak beli tudung and such. Kalau dah sampai Tanah Abang tu tak sahlah kalau tak rambang mata dengan telekung bermacam corak & warna, blouses, jubah, etc etc. We spent the whole day at Tanah Abang. Sent them back to hotel and we had another round of drinks and makan-makan lagi at the coffee house. We never met them since raya so banyakla yang nak diborakkan. We left the hotel when it is almost Maghrib. Ini antara investment yang menarik perhatian Puan N*ra:

I fetched N*ra at the hotel at almost 11.00 am the next day. Our destination was Kuningan Mall as Cik Kak ni nak cari DVDs. Sampai sana tak sahlah kalau tak terpesona dengan benda-benda lain kan. DVDs dah dapat…habihlah jugak beratus ribu Rupiah. Boleh la tahan till the next visit kot. Tengah jalan-jalan, I got the call from the shopowner of the jubah outlet at Tanah Abang that jubah yang N*ra nak tu is available. So apalagi we went to Tanah Abang again. Macet la pulak. Tapi still manageable. Had lunch there and terus ke kedai jubah tu. We went back to the hotel by taxi and waved goodbye to each other as tomorrow they will fly back to Malaysia.

SANA-SINI CUTI SEKOLAH

Cuti sekolah for NZIS ended yesterday. Selepas 2 minggu anak-anak dara nih dok di rumah sebab cuti sekolah dengan aktiviti yang tak lain tak bukan dari bangun lambat, makan, tengok tv, makan lagi, internet, makan lagi, tengok tv, tidur. Tu jelah majority cara yang dihabiskan selama 2 minggu. Minoriti of the time? Well, di tengah kesibukan ayah dengan kejenya, dapatlah jugak dia meluangkan masa membawa kami ber’wisata’ ke Bandung. We went there on 5th April and balik on 7th April. Perjalanan pergi lancar sebab hari Ahad dan kami bertolak pukul 8.30 pagi. Tak macet. Cuaca pun elok, tak panas sangat. Sampai di Tol Pastur, Bandung lebih kurang pukul 11.30 pagi. Pusing-pusing cari hotel dulu i.e. Aston Bandung. Rasa macam jauh sebab jalan di Bandung especially di tengah town jalan sehala. If we missed satu simpang we have to make another round unless you are familiar dengan jalan-jalan pintas. The supir is not that well versed so kena pusing-pusing a few times. Sampai di hotel around 12.30 pm.

Checked-in and terus jalan-jalan. Planned to go to Tangkuban Perahu. Before that we had lunch at Sapu Lidi Café and Gallery which is about 30 minutes from the town centre. Jalan taklah elok sangat. A nice restaurant dengan konsep ‘lesehan’ (makan di lantai). Sapu Lidi ni style dia macam dangau/pondok (orang NS sebut pundung) di tengah sawah. Kita duduk di atas pangkin and the waiter akan datang to take the order. Teringat masa kecik-kecik duduk di pundung berihat sambil makan setelah penat di sawah. Pundung di kelilingi sawah tapi padi belum masak. Mungkin dalam masa sebulan lagi padi tu semua akan kuning… Hidangan pun sedap. We chose ikan nila bakar, pencuk (macam gado-gado) and ayam goreng. By the time habis makan the weather dah start sejuk sebab dah start hujan renyai. We left Sapu Lidi di tengah gerimis and heading to Lembang via jalan yang agak berbukit and bengkang-bengkok.

Sampai di pintu masuk ke Tangkuban Perahu around 2.30 pm. Jalan naik masyaallah teruk betul…berlubang-lubang. It took us lebih kurang 45 minutes to reach the top. Turun je dari kereta ramai pulak orang-orang yang jual souvenirs mengelilingi kami promoting their jualan. Rimas betul. They followed us wherever we go. Naik ke anjung tinjau dah hujan. Sejuk giler sebab berangin. Ronda-ronda, ambik gambar, layan Hariz and Adlina naik kuda we all pun cepat-cepat naik kereta sebab rimas orang-orang tu asyik ikut. We did not go down to the kawah sebab hari dah hujan agak lebat. When we went down to the transit point for those who came by bus, we found out that there’s another jalan naik and turun. So masa turun we took that road. A better road but a bit bengkang-bengkok but kurang lubang. Lagi dekat. 20 minit dah sampai ke bawah. No wonder tak banyak kereta yang we all jumpa masa naik, rupanya ada jalan lain. Since dah hujan, plan nak ke ladang strawberry and Maribaya tak jadi. Terus balik ke hotel. Malam dinner kat Braga Walk Food Court je. Malas nak ke tempat lain sebab hujan lebat.

The next day we went shopping to factory outlets. Went to Cihampelas Walk, Rumah Mode at Jalan Setiabudi, Secret and Terminal Tas at Jalan Riau and Pasar Baru. Habis jugaklah a few millions Rp. But worth it. After checked-out on Tuesday, singgah di Kartika Sari brownies. Saja beli nak rasa whether it is as tasty at it is said to be. Taste is a subjective matter. To me, my sister’s (Adik) brownies tastes better than Kartika Sari’s (Adik, Kartika Sari’s is bit bantat to me). Dunno why ramai orang sini kata tak sah kalau ke Bandung tak beli brownies Kartika Sari. Reached home at 4.00 pm.

PEMILU 2009 (9 APRIL)

Indonesia had their Election Day (PEMILU – Pemilihan Umum) on 9 April 2009. There is about 38 parties (PARPOL – Parti Politik) contested in this year’s PEMILU. Just imagine berapa orang CALEG (Calon Administrasi Legislatif) yang bertanding. Those are the Wakil Rakyat/Ahli Parlimen. Kekecohan ada di mana-mana (as reported in the news). It was declared as public holiday. Since it was a holiday and the day after was Good Friday which is also a public holiday which meant 4 days straight inclusive of Saturday and Sunday, a lot of people went ‘balik kampung’ or out of town. I saw in the news that train tickets were sold out and highways were jammed with people going out of Jakarta whether to their hometown for the Election or for holidays.

Hubby had to work in the afternoon as one of the M*SC’s vessels docked at Tanjung Priok in the morning. As one of the M*SC’s representatives here he needs to ensure that everything went smoothly including welcoming the captain. So off he went with the local M*SC’s appointed agent.

GOOD FRIDAY

Atikah together with her Malaysian friend Nabila has made plan to watch movie since before the school holidays. We were worried to let her go only with Nabila. So last Friday we asked her to go with Arfah and Adlina. Nabila also brought along her sister Najiha who is also Adlina’s classmate and her maid. So kira group outinglah. Hubby drove them up to Pondok Indah Mall (PIM) for the movie. That was their first movie trip since we came here.

So, hari ni dok lepak ngan Hariz di rumah…back to the old routine…masak…layan Hariz sambil tunggu anak-anak balik….still searching for something interesting to do apart from the normal routine…tapi apa ye?

JALAN-JALAN CUTI SEKOLAH - MANGGA DUA

Since it is school holidays, we went to Mangga Dua on Tuesday…It was so unfortunate that day ada kempen pilihanraya..Trafic jammed everywhere. So I asked Donny the supir to take the highway konon-konon nak mengelakkan from jam…From Cipete to Kg Rambutan still smooth. As we were approaching the Semanggi interchange dah start merangkak-rangkak…Tension, tension. We reached Mangga Dua after 1 ½ hours in the car. Had our lunch at A&W, solat, off we tour the complex. Bought kasut & sweater for Atikah, small handbag & baju princess (as Adlina called it) for Adlina, Ben10 bagpack for Hariz and a handbag & blouse for yours truly. Too bad Arfah tak ikut. Malas katanya...Nak mengadap TV. Memang rambang mata sebab banyak sangat choices…Itu pun tak sempat ronda all the floors. Maybe next time boleh pergi lagi…Itulah pompuan kalau gi shopping tak sah kalau tak pergi semua kedai. We are being cost effective actually…dah datang jauh-jauh sure we want to get the best thing and the 'murahest' price kan? That’s why we have to compare and bargain baru beli….Barulah value for money kan? So here are some of the photos: