After six months of marriage, we finally found some time to visit Mak’s relatives in Johor. Right after our wedding, I took a week off for bertandang – visiting relatives and close family friends around Negeri Sembilan, Klang Valley, Kedah and Penang. We planned on visiting relatives in Johor a few months after the wedding, but a month after our wedding, hubby had to go to Terengganu for his one-year course and could only return during school breaks. Yes, he came back during school break in March, but at that time I had not recovered well from my hyperemesis gravidarum yet. So – this school holiday, we made it a point to reserve a few days out for the Johor trip.
So, last Friday, after finished praying Isyak, I called Mak Ram’s house (Mak’s elder sister) in Pontian, to remind her of our arrival. To my surprise, the call was answered by Abang Azmin, a cousin who now resides in Labuan and was unable to attend my kenduri. When I told him that hubby & I were going over to Pontian, it was his turn to be taken by surprise. He didn’t quite believed me at first, but I told him, now that he’s around, I must visit Pontian to save me a trip to Labuan to introduce hubby to him & his family.
Turned out that all four of Mak Ram’s sons returned to Pontian that day, it was almost like Hari Raya. I guess, once the five-days week for government servants are implemented, there’ll be more family reunions held over the weekend rather than waiting for Hari Raya to gather everybody together. Still, despite having all her sons and family under one roof, Mak Ram still insisted on hubby and I having the privilege of resting in the guestroom-connected-to-a-bathroom. Her grandchildren mostly occupied the family hall for the night.
Among Mak’s many sisters, I feel closest to Mak Ram and Mak Su. I feel most accepted by them, like I am truly their niece, rather than their sister’s stepdaughter. Mak Ram and Mak Su helped out a lot during the wedding – Mak Su sponsored lots of goodies as part of the ‘berkat bag’ while Mak Ram loaned some of the stuff used for the pelamin since the theme colour for my cousin Azman’s wedding in 2003 was similar to mine. Mak Su even took the initiative to decorate the baskets used for distributing bunga telur long before I started any decorating on my part.
Even when I was still a child, Mak Su and Mak Ram pampered my brothers and I more than Mak’s other siblings. Maybe partly because it is in their nature as teachers to be more gentle and understanding towards kids from broken house. Maybe because we were just at the right age when we were first introduced – Adik was a toddler who could have been Mak Su’s student while Abang and I were still in primary school and could have been Mak Ram’s students. Maybe because Mak has always been closer to them and that closeness was extended to us as well.
So, it’s small wonder that I chose to visit Mak Ram’s house first in my series of relatives-visiting around Johor. Besides, Mak Ram still lives at the same lane where my late Mak Tua used to live and where Mak was raised up.
Day 1 – Saturday
Woke up to a wonderful breakfast. Everybody was too tired to cook, so Abang Azrain, the eldest cousin decided on getting instant breakfast – bought them. Fortunately, the district hospital in Pontian offers one of the best traditional Malay breakfast delicacies. There were nasi lemak, fried beehoon, assorted kuih as well as lontong kering. Hubby tried out lontong kering for the first time ever, and was treated to lontong everyday for the next two days.
With exception of Abang Azmin, the son from Labuan who had to go and visit his in-laws in Batu Pahat- Mak Ram and the rest of the gang had been invited to a wedding in Kulai. So as they left home, hubby and I made our way to Mak Su’s house, which is less than five minutes away from Mak Ram’s place – on foot.
Coincidentally Mak Su just returned from a tour around Egypt. So hubby and her had a lot to talk about – mostly swapping stories and views on tourist havens in Egypt. Since I’ve never set my foot in Egypt before, I was pretty content to just listen to them chatting. Good to know that Mak Su enjoyed her trip very much. If you ask me, I think my retired aunt has gone to more places that I’ve ever been to, and she even plans to visit Japan since I am going to stay there for a while beginning end of this year, insya Allah. By the way, together with my cousin Azman, we acted as tourist guides when Mak Ram, Mak Su and Abang Azmin went to UK while Azman and I were still studying there. I guess it’ll be fun to host and act as a tourist guide for my inquisitive aunties in Japan.
After a while, hubby and I took our leave and moved on to JB. At first I was thinking of visiting Kota Tinggi first, since two of my aunts reside there. Turned out that one aunt had gone to Melaka to send her eldest granddaughter for registration at Multimedia University. So, had a quick change of plan and went to JB first instead.
Visited a cousin’s place in Kampung Melayu Majidee. Hubby had his first taste of the famous Murtabak Singapore. We were told that people from all over JB don’t mind queuing up for this delicious murtabak during Ramadhan. My cousins in Shah Alam also always pack some murtabak to-go everytime they finished visiting their siblings in JB. There are actually three cousins living in JB , but a couple is away to perform umrah in Makkah while another cousin and her family went visiting her sisters in Shah Alam.
Next destination – Kota Tinggi. We decided to crash at my sister-in-law’s place first and to visit Mak Long, Mak’s eldest sister in Ayer Tawar a little later. But by then, both hubby and I were so tired that we finally made up our mind to postpone the trip to Ayer Tawar to the next day. My sister-in-law, Kak Telaah was not around since she had to attend a nine-day course in Kota Bharu, Kelantan.
Abang Nazri, her husband took their two kids and us out to a nice Chinese Muslim restaurant, Restoran Hassan Ong, for dinner. As we enjoyed the siakap tiga rasa and some Japanese tofu, Abang Nazri told us how once Kak Telaah suddenly craved for siakap tiga rasa while she was pregnant with their eldest daughter. So, Abang Nazri had to go to the nearest sea food restaurant which was about a half hour away by motorbike, bought two pieces of siakap and returned home. By then, it was already past midnight and just like her sudden craving, my sister-in-law suddenly lost her appetite for the siakap. Which really frustrated her husband then – but he understands now that one can’t blame the wife when that happened. Some things are just beyond pregnant women’s control…
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