My Longest Eid (Hari Raya) Break

The Eid this year has been really special. I have been allowed to take quite a lengthy leave from work to celebrate the Hari Raya. Now back in Lumut after driving more than 1500km to visit family and friends, I can’t help but to feel utterly blessed for the opportunity. I met a lot of wonderful people, friends and relatives along the way, consumed great food and engaged in wonderful conversations. This is the summary of how I spent the Eid this year:

~ 2 days before Eid. We made our way to Shah Alam with the car fully loaded with all kinds of stuff including a cuckoo clock, two bedside lamps, a standing fan, two small suitcases, filtered water enough for a family of four to consume for 10 days, 3 sets of baju melayu, 7 sets of baju kurung for the wifey, and 3 sets of baju kurung for each of the twins all neatly spread inside the trunk amongst many other raya things. Honda should be proud of us and use this story as part of its next hari raya commercial:)

Making the 200km trip back for Eid - raining all the way

Many cars on the road on the way back. Should not have washed the car as it rained heavily the whole way. We witnessed a terrible accident that happened less than 200m ahead of us. A Proton Wira Aeroback driven extremely fast overtook me on the left before I could even make way for him. I thought he was crazy for going that fast in such condition, especially since the car was not equipped with ABS. True enough, he ran into trouble at the next turn as the car experienced hydroplaning, spun around, jumped the divider and ended up colliding head on with a car coming from the opposite direction. I could see clearly smoke and debris flying around as the engine compartments of both cars crumpled due to the impact. I believe they survived the crash but surely their Eid was ruined from that point onwards.

~ 1 day before Eid. I spent the entire day helping my mom cleaning her house. Abang Izam and Kak Lina could not come back so it was left to Adik and me to get the house ready for the big day. My last breaking fast was spent at my in-laws in line with their tradition of having a gala meal on the last day for the whole family to get together. For some reasons, I felt very syahdu as I remembered my late Abah who passed away more than a year ago. May he rest in peace.

Buka Puasa on the last day of fasting

~ 1st day of Eid. All decked in grey, me in baju melayu and sampin, and wife and kids in traditional baju kurung, my whole family looked very nice this year. After performing the Eid prayer, the early part of the morning was spent savouring my mother-in-law’s specialty spread on the table; lontong, kuah kacang, sambal sotong, rendang kelapa, rendang tok, ketupat, lemang, etc (too many to mention but surprisingly this year the legendary ‘dendeng’ was missing from the table).

Eid morning at my wife's parents in Shah Alam

We visited Abang Jeff and Kak Nora before the Friday prayer. We first met these lovely couple when I was in France and our last encounter was two years ago. The cuckoo clock and bedside lamps mentioned earlier were for them.  We bought the items while we were in France so it has been more than 6 years before we could finally pass them to Abang Jeff and Kak Nora.

Abang Jeff & Kak Nora.....we hope the cockoo clock and the lamps still function

We went to my grandparents’ house after the Friday prayer. They looked very frail but still in good spirit. Met my aunt Angah Rahmah, and my cousins Suria and Elie. Have not met them since the passing of Pak Lang Omar and my cousin Yusri.

We went to mom’s after that. More food to be consumed, and her out of this world rendang ayam was such a treat. We spent lots of time there just relaxing, falling asleep, eating and watching TV.

Salam Nenek....duit raya Nenek

Our evening then was spent visiting Jaja and Irwan at Jaja’s parents’. A wonderful way to end the first day of Eid talking and laughing with them until it was time to go at almost midnight.

We had fun with this beautiful family

Number of house visited = 5: My in laws, Abang Jeff, my mom, my grandparents and Jaja.

~ 2nd day of Eid. The usual routine of going to my father-in-law’s kampung in Masjid Tanah, Melaka was the first itinerary for the second day. It was only to Mak Chek’s house this time as Mak Long Lijah had passed away a few months ago. This year Mak Chek treated us with daging salai masak lemak cili api with pisang muda. Incredible!!!! Met Pak Induk and his family, Abang Ikram, Abang Din, Abang Usop and many others.

Kids always know how to have fun

Still plenty of time for raya so we made our way to Ayer Keroh to visit Lin’s friend Ida. Her father, a very experience academic was a wonderful person to talk to as he relayed his vast experience that spanned over many years.

From Ayer Keroh we went further south to Kampung Tiang Dua in Air Molek. This time it was to visit my x-boss Kdr Roslan and Kak Liza at her parents’ house there. We left Kdr Roslan & Lak Liza right before Maghrib, making a stop at the McDonald’s Ayer Keroh to buy quick dinner before making our our way back to Shah Alam, and finally arriving there at about 10.30 pm.

With Kdr Roslan & Kak Liza

Number of house visited = 3: Mak Chek, Ida and Kak Liza.

~ 3rd day of Eid. After picking up Mak, we made our way to Sungai Buloh to visit my father’s grave. The twins were looking forward to sprinkling flowers over the grave and I was more than happy to to get them involved. Semoga Allah mencucuri rahmat ke atas Abah dan mengampuni dosa-dosanya. Amin.

Then we stopped by for raya at my aunt Saonah’s house. Her husband, Hj Hatim looked very fragile in his wheelchair as his diabetes has started to affect his kidneys. Hari raya in his house seemed very quiet..........

Next stop was to visit Angah Halimah, where we were treated with scrumptious lunch consisting of labu air masak lemak, sambal ikan bilis, ikan goreng and sambal belacan......I always look forward to visiting her and having lunch at her place during hari raya.

My favourite aunt...Angah Halimah

We then made our way to meet up with Sam and his heavily pregnant wife Lin (yes, the same nickname as my wife Lin.....) at their home in TTDI Jaya. This young couple are expecting their first child in about a month from now and we are so happy for them. Lin mom’s kek lapis Sarawak (Sarawak layered cakes) were the best, they looked great and pretty, and tasted like heaven. Sam, a very energetic entrepreneur was as jovial and talkative as usual relating to me his venture in property business. Great fun meeting them.

Beautiful couple....Sam & Lin

Last stop was at my wife’s eldest brother’s house in Kg Tunku Petaling Jaya for his open house. Another big family get together as all Lin’s siblings and their families were there. With her brother’s parent-in-laws there as well, the occasion was filled with chatter and laughter all the way. We went home to Shah Alam after that, calling it early as we were very tired and gave the invitation for an outing to One Utama a miss.

The twins with their cousins at Along's

Number of house visited = 4: Angah Saonah, Angah Halimah, Sam and Along.

~ 4th day of Eid. Still recuperating, we spent the whole morning at home. The early afternoon was scheduled for raya at Kak Yan’s house. Her specialty laksa johor was definitely a must try. Another gathering of Lin’s big family there, and we left at about 4.40pm to go and visit my RMC schoolmate Fauzi and his wife Aina at their lovely home nestled in KGSAAS. After a little driving around in the posh golf course neighbourhood, we finally found his house, nicely situated adjacent to a tee box. How wonderful.....This successful naval architect spent a considerable amount of time dealing with the navy, and we even had the opportunity of travelling together in Europe for a few days for vacation. We left after sunset for a quick return to home base to shower and change. We spent the evening at Sunway Pyramid with Lin’s niece Shera watching a movie Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore in 3-D. I thought the kids needed a break from our hectic Eid schedule, and they really enjoyed their first 3-D movie experience and their must-have caramel popcorn.

The movie was very timely for these tired kids

Number of house visited = 2: Kak Yan and Fauzi.

~5th day of Eid. Another day, more houses to visit and people to meet. After spending a quite morning at home, reading the news about the cosmetic queen Sosilawati murder case development and enjoying breakfast and tea, it was time to head to Kak Yah’s house for beraya cum lunch.

All set after lunch at Kak Yah's house

Lunch was nasi bukhari and before long it was time to go to Taman Alam Budiman at U10 Shah Alam to visit Juani and his wife Zarina. My Air Force schoolmate who had the pleasure to spend 4 years in Russia as part of the SU-30MK project team had much to share about his experience in dealing with the Russians. Must have been a wonderful experience. And Lin found out that Zarina makes cakes to order and has a blog for the business. Time flies when you have fun, and it was again time to move on to the next destination. It was Myra and Rashdan residence at Seksyen 3 Shah Alam, and these classmates of Lin were a joy to talk to. We were joined by Rashdan’s office mate, Ian who was also a lovely character and both he and Rashdan had many stories to tell as they are in the line of business of selling Mercedes Benz for Cycle & Carriage. Again, it was near midnight when we left their house to return to our home base.

Visiting Myra, Rashdan, their friend Ian & Elsa their daughter

Number of house visited = 3: Kak Yah, Juani and Myra.

~ 6th day of Eid. We left at about 11 am to make a rendezvous with some friends at their office in KL. I still consider this a hari raya visit because .....we were still in hari raya mood:). Meeting people in a cafe on the 22nd floor of a building was not a typical way of ‘beraya’ but it was still nice.

Next stop was in the heart of Ministry of Defence housing complex to visit Kdr Sohed and his wife Kak Jane. They have just moved to KL and it was our first visit to their new quarters at the HQ. Kdr Roslan and Kak Liza joined us shortly after we arrived. They came from Tiang Dua (see my posting for 2nd day of Eid) enroute to go back to Lumut.

Lin's best friends; Kak Liza & Kak Jane

Final Eid stop for the day was to visit Lin’s friend Lina and her husband Zafrul at their apartment in Wangsa Maju. The twins had a lovely time time playing with their daughter Jasmina, while we enjoyed their tasty fried noodles and chili hot dogs. Scrumptious!!! Zafrul whom I’ve not met since 2004 is now working in Abu Dhabi and has been there for more than a year. With Lina in KL, Skype has been this couple’s best friend and he gets to return for a few weeks break every 3-4 months to spend time with the family. It was after Maghrib when we finally departed from this lovely family’s apartment. After a quick pit stop at KLCC to buys books at Kinokuniya, we drove back to Shah Alam with the kids and wife fast asleep throughput the journey.

With another beautiful family; Zafrul, Lina & Jasmina

Number of house visited = 2: Kak Jane and Lina.

~ 7th day of Eid. The early morning was spent tracking and documenting information to mark the route to the wedding hall so that my sister could include it in her invitation card. After the driving around Seksyen 7 area, breakfast consisting of roti telur, kari kambing and teh halia at Khalifah Restaurant were just what I needed. The family of my sister’s future husband was scheduled to be at my mom’s at around noon. Apart from beraya, their intention was also to discuss about some of the arrangements for the wedding scheduled at the end of November. When I arrived in Puchong at my mom’s 20 minutes before 12pm, Ayoi and his parents, and their small entourage were already there. Talking to Ayoi’s dad Pak Cik Hassan was very comforting and our discussion went very well. It was the first time I got to talk at length with Pak Cik Hassan and this 82 year old Imam and head of village (Ketua Kampung) was a wonderful person to talk to. The lunch menu specially prepared by my mom included masak lemak labu, sambal tumis sotong and asam pedas, and they were perfect!!!

Rombongan bakal mertua my sister

Pushing for time, our next stop was to visit Lin’s friend Shahida and her husband Wan, again at Taman Alam Budiman at U10 Shah Alam (see 5th day posting). We only spent about 1 hour there as we had two other houses to go to in Puchong before Maghrib.

Visiting Shahida & visibly exhausted kids taking a nap in the car

Rushing back to Shah Alam to shower and solat, we then rushed to meet my primary school friend at Taman Bukit Puchong. I last met Hafilzuddin Zaini in 1997 or 1998 I could not quite remember exactly when. He is a Hafiz, currently working as a teacher at a school in Seksyen 27 Shah Alam and an imam of his community mosque. It was such a wonderful moment meeting him as we shared a lot of histories growing up, being neighbours and classmates throughout our early years as kids. I had to cut short the stay at his house although there was so much more to talk about. Next time for sure!!!! Next stop was a short trip to Taman Tenaga a few kilometres away to visit my RMC schoolmate Khairul Anuar (Roeby). Arriving shortly after Maghrib, I found our schoolmates Nabil, Juani and Suhairi were already there. I felt guilty for not being able to stay longer, and the conversation was just getting more and more interesting but I had to excuse myself to make my way to the next destination across to Kota Damansara. I had informed my next guest about my being late, and after dashing through traffic we finally arrived at his house in Seksyen 5 Kota Damansara at almost 9.30pm. Azhar (Aca) and Afzan have been living there for a few years but it was our first visit to their home. However, being naval officers, both Aca & I meet fairly regularly in our daily routines in the navy organisation. Talking to this couple has always been fun and I especially adored his 2 year old daughter who had the most charming smile. We left his house at about 11pm, felling utterly spent physically but more than happy for the visits we made throughout the day.

With Aca's kids

Number of house visited = 4: Shahida, Hafilzuddin, Roeby and Aca.

~ 8th day of Eid. Finally we had come to the last day of our long Eid break. Our Eid celebration in Lembah Klang was coming to an end. After packing up all our stuff into the loyal and dependable Honda City, we made our 200km return trip to Lumut, with Lin’s niece Shera in tow. Still some room for celebration upon arrival in Lumut, we made a stop at my best friend Rahim’s house for his open house. He and Nani were the usual friendly lot, serving ketupat palas, roti jala, mee goreng and laksa to their guests. I tried everything, fully stuffed and had no intention of having dinner that night. But there was more in store....just as I drove into my porch, I noticed my neighbour Azhan was having an open house complete with a tent and tables spread across his driveway. Upon seeing me, he quickly invited my over. After quickly offloading everything out of the car, we went to his house and tried the nasi biryani being served there. Some of the other neighbours were there as well, I quickly got acquainted with some whom I had not met before like Suhaimi & Halim as well as catching up with Saiful, Cikgu Jawari and x-Kdr Salim.

All set to go back after 8 days of hectic Eid activities

Number of house visited = 2: Rahim and Azhan.

I visited a total of 25 houses on the first 8 days of Eid. I travelled a distance of more than 1500km while doing so. I also met hundreds of people young and old in the course of my celebrating hari raya. I met many wonderful people, some of whom I had not met for many years. I had many hours of wonderful conversation, I admired some people even more than before as a result of these conversations. The element of silaturrahim was clearly visible and emphasised throughout my encounter with the people I met.......and I truly thanks God Almighty, Alhamdulillah for allowing me to experience such wonderful Eid this year.

Eid is a month long celebration, and this weekend alone I already have 5 houses scheduled to be visited. I don’t intend to hold ‘Open House’ this year, my house is always open for visit this Eid and I thank Tuan Syed for opening my eyes to this side of Eid celebration; the contemplation whether to have Open House or not.

Eid is a moth of joy, a month to celebrate victory of our battle against Hawa Nafsu and a month of silaturrahim amongst Muslims. My experience in celebrating Eid this year has been very rewarding so far and I pray for His continuous blessing as I continue to visit the house of my Muslim brothers throughout the month.