My trip to Kedah...

Yep, I was in Kedah yesterday. Merbok, to be exact. My school alumni had been invited by Tuan Hj Romli Bakar, better known as Paksu, the orang kuat behind the setting up of Kelab Pendidikan, Sukan dan Kebajikan, Kg Bujang; to join a camp they were organising at tebing Sg Merbok, Kg Batu Besi; called Perkhemahan Perpaduan Kanak-kanak Antara Kaum.

As mentioned in one of my earlier posting, I was going to bring along Saiful and Ika with me for the trip.

After a few exchanges of emails amongst a few of my alumni members, I agreed to meet up with Kak Shahid, a senior of mine, at MRSM Merbok, before going to the camp site together.

I left home as early as 6.35 am, equipped with my new toy, a GPS, heading north using the state road to fetch Sofie's kids. Oh they were ready when I got there, not 2 of them, but 3 of them. Sofie's second son, Azman (who was earlier at his school hostel when I asked the children if they wanted to follow me) wanted to join me for the trip too. Sofie felt better that way too, as she didn't want me to be burdened with the task of having to look after the kids. Azman can look after his younger siblings.

Of course we still had our concerns. Ika, the youngest, is known to have "car-sick" problems. Sofie made sure she took her ubat muntah before the trip, and told me the girl would need to take another of the pills before I started my trip home.

We got in the PLUS expressway via Kuala Kangsar, and yep, as expected, before long Ika was already dizzy. We told her to sleep. Good thing Azman joined the trip. He's quite a chatty boy, telling me about all his "adventures", so at least I had someone in the car to keep me awake.

Confident of the route with the assistance of my GPS (I had earlier set the speed warning to shut up after continuously irritating me during my earlier "test run" in town - telling me "you're over the speed limit, please drive carefully" when I was going 60 kmh at a 70 kmh road!), we reached MRSM Merbok at about 9.20 am. Earlier, on the way to MRSM, I did notice a small junction, with the sign "Kg Sg Batu Besi", the kampong where the activities were supposed to be held. But since I had promised Kak Shahid to meet up in front of MRSM, I drove straight to MRSM, which was just nearby anyway.

But when I called up Kak Shahid, she was still in Alor Star (baru nak tutup gate!) and would need another 40 minutes or so to get to Merbok. Since Bee, another friend cum second cousin from KL had just called to inform me she was almost there, I told Kak Shahid I might as well go straight to the camp site. After all, I saw the signboard earlier, so I didn't have to worry about Kg Batu Besi not listed in my GPS map.

So yep, pusing balik to the road where I saw the junction heading to the camp site, and on the way, Bee called again, saying she was in front of MRSM. Duh, I thought she was heading straight to the camp site. So, I waited for her by the roadside, and we went into the junction heading to Kg Sg Batu Besi together. Waaah... I was glad I didn't wash my car earlier.... it was jalan tanah merah...

Anyway, the moment we saw tents, banners, stalls etc, we knew we had reached the camp site.

Met up with Paksu, and he introduced us to Hafiz, his ex-student who benefited from his tuition programme, who is now heading another similar run outfit in Kg Belau nearby. We were also introduced to a group of Canadians, who joined the camp.

The morning games for the camp participants (the children had been camping there since Friday) were about to start, so I handed "my kids" over to Hafiz so they could join the activity as well. The morning activity was held at a nearby mangrove swamp (complete with pelantar and all).

After a while, Kak Shahid called to inform me she had arrived at the camp site. Bee and I decided to walk back to the camp to meet up with her.

We were then brought by Paksu to a cool and shady area as he wanted to explain to us in details about his activities, his plans, etc. Quite a number of my alumni members had been giving cash donations for the running of his place, and so Paksu wanted to make sure he gave us in detail what he had done with the money and what else he intended to do.

It was during the discussions that another call came in on my hand phone. It was Lyana (yep, bini Pak Usop) asking me where I was. She had just arrived at the camp site and was trying to look out for me. I went to look for her, and although I was tercangak-bangak at first, I finally saw the easily recognizable Pak Usop, and so had no second thoughts about which one was Lyana...

So yeah, I finally met up with Lyana and the gang (of course, Emil & Odin were there too!).

I took them to join us listening to Paksu's "briefing".

The man wearing the white kopiah is Paksu.

Apparently while I got up to look for Lyana, my friends were telling Paksu about my involvement with HIV families. Coincidentally, Paksu is planning for some sort of HIV awareness programme some time next year, and upon hearing about my involvement in HIV cases, was hoping I'd be able to help him out. I left him my name card (my NGO name card, not my business card).

Paksu then told us to follow Hafiz who would be showing us their 2 centers, one in Kg Bujang and the other in Kg Belau, both located not too far from the place (but not within walking distance lah, we'd still have to take the cars). Lyana and gang followed us too. My kids followed in my friend's car, while I joined Lyana.

First we went to Kg Bujang, Paksu's house, also used as club center...

Hey, scare-crows now wear helmets, do they?

Then off we went to Kg Belau, where we dropped off a boot full of books, contributed by my alumni members.

At Kg Belau...

There was no tuition on yesterday, but these 2 ayam kampong probably were not informed about it...

And there was even a mini-museum at the Kg Belau center.

Notice the batu giling? Well, Saiful started handling the batu giling, and the way he was holding it, I somehow sensed he knew how to use it properly.

"Tau guna ke?" I asked.

"Tau! Pernah guna kat rumah Mak Yang," he replied.

Ahh... if there was a pertandingan giling rempah between me and the boy, he'd win hands down! My rempah giling would probably end up falling off the sides of the batu giling...

After Kg Belau, we headed back to the camp site. There were supposed to be other activities in the afternoon.

After saying goodbye to Lyana who had to attend a neighbour's kenduri, we had our lunch, prepared by the kampong folks. Then off for prayers at the surau.

Some games were supposed to start at 2 pm, but for one reason or another, it didn't start until about 3.30 pm. My kids were getting restless, they were just so eager to jump into the river. Ika dah tukar baju, asking me to hold her towel for her. So I sangkut the towel on my left shoulder. Saiful took off his jeans (he was already wearing his trackbottom underneath) and asked me to hold his jeans for him. So I sangkut the jeans on my right shoulder.

While waiting for the games to start, saw this guy selambaly walking by...

See the arrow? That's a snake he's holding. Bet if he had found it on Friday, the girls would have had second thoughts about sleeping in the tents!

The games finally started off with the giant terompah game for the children...

Then the pertandingan mendayung perahu for the adults. The YB was there to flag off the race, and he was supposed to be brought to the starting point in a boat. My alumni members, by virtue of being the organisers guests, were also invited for the short boat ride. And Pi being Pi, suka adventure, naturally accepted the offer - got onto the boat, without life jackets whatsoever despite not knowing how to swim! So yep, there was this makcik, with a camera bergantung kat tengkuk, towel sangkut kat bahu kiri and jeans sangkut kat bahu kanan, joining the YB on the boat. And my kids, upon seeing their makcik getting in the boat, quickly jumped in too! I wasn't too worried about the boys, as they were good swimmers. But I was quite concerned about Ika, who claims she can swim if the water is up to her knees... :-)

Participants of the mendayung perahu race getting ready...

The YB starting the race...

Scene of the race from inside our boat...

After the mendayung perahu race was the much awaited pertandingan menangkap itik. At first the race was meant only for the adults as the organisers were concerned about the safety of the children in the waters, but finally they gave in to the requests of the children. Of course, they put nettings around a certain area that's not too deep, and to prevent the ducks from escaping to the deeper side of the river.

Both Azman and Saiful went to register for this, but they only allowed Azman to take part as Saiful was rather small and they were concerned about his safety.

The ducks in the water, still oblivious to whatever was going to happen next...

Then came big splashes of water when the adults started jumping in the water to catch them...

Then came the children's turn... with even more participants!

Saiful, although not a participant, but tempted by the waters, jumped right in to join the other boys. I saw the satisfaction on their faces upon getting all wet in the water! But they were both later complaining, "Masin betul air dia!!" They probably thought it would be air tawar since it was SUNGAI Merbok; not knowing that the river was at a kuala, directly meeting the sea.

Ika was the only one still to fulfill her intention of jumping in the river. She would have probably jumped in too if there were any girls amongst the participants, but nope they were all boys!

After that there was a pertandingan memukul bantal for the adults...

While Azman and Saiful were able to take care of themselves, I took the opportunity to bring Ika to another end of the place where the waters were not too muddy (due to too many people splashing around at the area) and not too deep as well so she could at least berendam for a while in the river.

By 5.15 pm, although the games were not over yet, I rounded up my kids, telling them to change as we needed to head home. I didn't want to go home too late. Their mother may get worried. Heck, my mother would get worried too if I got home so late!

The kids were so tired, they all slept within minutes of getting into the car. We reached the Gunung Semanggol R&R at about 6.40 pm, so I decided to stop for makan-makan and wait for Maghrib.

We made a move from Gunung Semanggol at 7.30 pm, by then the kids were wide awake and were chatting away. Amazingly, even Ika, the one who usually gets car-sick, was also so chirpy. I guess she only gets car-sick if she travels during day-time.

Taking the Kuala Kangsar exit, I finally managed to deliver the kids to their doorstep at 8.30pm. They did invite me to come in but it was getting too late. I promised I'd visit them later after I get their photos printed.

And I myself finally reached home a few minutes after 9 pm...

Oh btw, can anyone guess what "kabat" means?