Gambar Raya

Lengkap semua...

macam-macam hal...

Tadi Mak Lijah nyaris kena saman. Chiss... Tak pernah-pernah Mak Lijah kena tahan polis. Tapi, nak dijadikan cerita, mujur pulak ditahan polis sebab kalau tidak, Mak Lijah tak akan sedar yang lesen memandu Mak Lijah dah mati tiga haribulan hari tu..

Macam-macam hal berlaku lately ni kat negara kita. What a state we are in, now. Tolonglah... nak Raya ni. Just stop the whole comical act, puhleeeezzz...!!!! Let's live in peace... and have a wonderful Raya this year like every other year.

And talk about Raya.. Mak Lijah dah siap dua jenis kuih. Cuma yang satu tu, macam kuih trial jer sebab RUPA TIADA, RASA ADA. He..he..he.. Cobaan yang ke entah berapa kalinya nak wat kuih semperit. Nampak gayanya jadi hidangan berbuka je lah. Mau tak nya, jenuh dok bersilat dengan Kakak dan Danisy yang tompang sama nak buat kuih. Itupun Kakak komplen sebab buat waktu siang, dia tak boleh nak rasa. Sebenarnya memang strategi Mak Lijah buat siang supaya kuih tu boleh tahan sampai ke rumah Mak Tok Raya nanti.

Been quite busy since early this month. Jumpa the Kiwis (again) at the request of a colleague who had to take over the role for a while. Masa ni lah news bertalu-talu keluar pasal ISA lah.. pasal kickdefellalah.. Aduiii... apa nak jadi ni? I happen to know this guy. Tak sangka dia active (too) in this way.

And now I am confused with this film Gubra. Dalam satu babak tu, ustad tu mengusap kepala anjing yang dok melepak tengah jalan. Will somebody please enlighten me of this thing? Kita orang Islam tak haram ke pegang anjing? Bukan ke kita kena samak? Does that mean that ustad tu akan samak tangan dia selepas itu when he could have just avoided touching the dog? Confused...confused...

Tahun ni Raya turn balik kampung Mak Lijah di Santan, Perlis... yahooo.... !!!

Diari Ramadhan

Dah masuk tujuh hari kita berpuasa. Semalam Mak Lijah berjaya buat agar-agar laici. Yummy.. Puas hati sebab sedap juga jadinya. Resepi pun mudah sangat. Dah lama nak buat tapi tak pernah ada masa. Dulu pun pernah juga try test buat, tapi tak menjadi. Kurang rasa laicinya.

Semalam juga Mak Lijah berjaya membuat ayam percik. Rancangan nak buat home made ayam percik dah ada sejak hari Selasa lagi, tapi tak dapat juga nak buatnya. Tapi jangan haraplah ayam percik tu dipercik di atas arang, yer? Ayam percik berjumpa dengan Cik Oven jer.

Pendek kata, semalam Mak Lijah dapat masak 90% hidangan berbuka. Puas hati. Tapi oleh kerana dah memang tebiat suka membeli, ada juga lauk paru dan kepak ayam bermadu yang dibeli di Pasar Ramadhan dekat dengan Stadium Selayang tu. Penuh meja dengan lauk pauk dan kuih-muih.

Hari ni? Kami berkunjung ke rumah Kak Mah, biras Mak Lijah yang tinggal di Semenyih, sempena lawatan kami ke Bangi. Kak Mah berniaga juadah berbuka manakala pada hari-hari lain bukan bulan Ramadhan, Kak Mah berniaga lauk-pauk di hadapan rumah dia. Lauk-pauk dia memang lazat-lazat belaka. Kiranya Mak Lijah "memasak" di Semenyih lah hari ni. Dapat ler ayam masak merah, gulai ayam, keli berlada, pajeri nenas, gulai nangka.. nyam..nyam...sedapnya. Masa kami baru sampai, Kak Mah sedang menggentel tepung untuk dibuat buah melaka. Budak-budak tu pun apa lagi, terus jer bersila sebelah Mak Long diorang sebab diorang memang suka sungguh melihat orang masak. Buah melaka tu pun jadi mangsa tapau juga.

On the way balik ke rumah, singgah di Hyper Bintang untuk membeli kerang dan koay teow untuk meneruskan plan nak buat char koay teow. Oleh kerana Kakak sibuk nak tolong, Mak Lijah pun suruh dia bersihkan koay teow, kupas kulit udang dll. Bila nak menumis bawang, diapun sibuk juga nak kacau. Akhirnya, dengan rasa kurang pasti, siap juga lah char koay teow ala Mak Lijah... Jangan tak tau.. Mak Lijah buat juga buah melaka walaupun dah ada. Saja suka-suka sebab Kakak nak menolong.

And again meja penuh dengan lauk-pauk...

Diari 10 Hari - Chapter 2

Burrpp... Alhamdulillahh... Sedapnya makan kat Sri Pumpong. Lauk semua habis licin di"selesai"kan oleh anak-anak Mak Lijah. Lagipun diorang memang tengah lapar. Tapi... nak dapat menikmati hidangan tu bukannya mudah.. Mula-mula tak ada meja kosong sebab ramai sangat orang, lepas tu, queuenya bukan main panjang lagi.. Tak sempat nak betol-betol tengok semua hidangan. Apa-apapun, janji dapat ikan keli dan sayur cendawan. Yummy...

Dah selesai makan dan semua bagai ular sawa tersadai, kami sambung balik perjalanan dan Danisy pun rewind balik soklan dia:

Sekarang pukul berapa?

Nak sampai pukul berapa?

Lagi berapa kilometer?


Akhirnya, selepas membeli pisang goreng RM5 (dapat satu beg plastik penuh), 2 kilo buah dokong dan 10 tongkol jagung di simpang Gunung Keriang, kami pun sampai di Kampung Santan pada kira-kira pukul 3.30 petang dalam gerimis. By then, Teh and family dah pun sampai (they flew in the day before). Danisy sangat excited tengok "rumah baru" Mak Tok sambil terlompat-lompat dan berlari-lari exploring the renovated part of the house. Mak Lijah pun excited juga sebab I got the color I wanted for our new, large bedroom (walaupun Pak Lijah kata warnanya suram. Hey, it's lilac, you know.. warna romantik!) and we had a much bigger family area. Problem is.. filling them up!

Abang Jam and Abang Adik arrived later with their family dan rumahpun jadi riuh-rendah.

And so everybody got themselves busy catching up with each other. Macam tak jumpa lima tahun. Bila dikira-kira, ada 20 manusia dalam rumah kecil itu. Yang absent hanyalah Feera, my anak sedara yang ada kelas on Monday, so tak dapat nak join us in Santan. Malam tu dinner macam kenduri, padahal bukanlah ramai sangat pun. Obviously we now need a much bigger dining table.

Yang peningnya, although we have more rooms now, budak-budak tu (all six of them) still insisted that they want to sleep depan tv kat family area tu beramai-ramai. Adoilaa.. bukannya apa, Mak Lijah juga lah yang kena angkat tilam nanti....

Finally the house was quiet at about midnite... Fuuuhh... lega...

Diari 10 Hari

Wah...wah...wah... Cuti sakan Mak Lijah kali ni. Padan muka depa. Ingat Mak Lijah ni robot ka? He..he...he... Dah balik dari cuti ni, rasa berat betol kaki ni nak menekan minyak dan brek dalam traffic jam pepagi buta tadi. Itupun mujur masih ingat lagi cara-cara nak start enjen dan memandu.

Mak Lijah applied and diapproved cuti selama lima hari minggu lepas. Pecah rekod tahun ni. Nak Raya nanti, tak taulah pulak, kan? Pagi-pagi Sabtu tu, kami started off dari Selayang pada kira-kira pukul 9.00 am to the over-excitement of the children. Dah lebih sebulan Danisy dok sebut pasal nak balik rumah Mak Tok dia sebab dia excited nak tengok "rumah baru" Mak Tok (read : renovated).

Sampai saja kat tol Rawang, Danisy pun tanya :

"Sekarang pukul berapa?"

Jawab : Sembilan setengah

"Pukul berapa nak sampai?"

(Errk...)

Dan Danisy pun akhirnya tertidur sebab bosan sangat duduk sorang-sorang kat seat belakang sekali. Tak ada siapa untuk bergaduh sebab Kakak dan Abang sat in the middle row.

Kami tak singgah mana-mana R&R (yang ternyata sesak) untuk makan but we only stopped untuk meluruskan urat sebentar dan menyahut panggilan nature.

Tol di Jelapang dah ada new structure. Dah lebih besar, tapi jalan masih lagi dua lorong while they were still working on the third and fourth lane. Hopefully by end of Ramadhan, all three or four lanes would be ready. Pray hard.

By the time we reached Bukit Merah, biola rosak pun mulalah berbunyi. Dan Pak Lijah pun buat announcement that we were going to lunch at Pumpong. Yeay....!!! My favourite eating place...! Macam tau-tau je Mak Lijah teringin nak makan kat situ.

Haa... Tau tak kat mana restoran Pumpong yang menghidangkan menu yang lazat tu?

Menu :

Kari kepala ikan
Ikan keli panggang
Ayam masak lemak
Sayur cendawan
Sambal tumis udang
Ulam dan sambal

(Kalau ikutkan hati, nak juga sup tulang, sotong, telur ikan dll)

Tu dia...

(Note : Ini baru diari hari pertama cuti)

WFV3184

To the driver of this vehicle:



YOU should die alone. Do not kill other people at the cost of your dangerous driving. YOU do not deserve to live to take other people's life.

Dia datang lagi

Dia akan datang juga, setiap tahun. Tak perlulah Mak Lijah bersusah-payah. Tak perlulah Mak Lijah berfikir panjang. Tak perlulah Mak Lijah risau. Kerana dia tetap akan datang juga.

Sorrylah.. tapi Mak Lijah memang crazy over this crazy, smelly, thorny fruit. Cuma kena berhati-hati sikit pasal intake sejak akhir-akhir ni. Maklumlah, level of tolerance dah semakin merosot.

Mak Lijah teringat suatu kisah yang berlaku kira-kira dua tahun lalu. Masa tu Malaysia menjadi tuan rumah kepada suatu mesyuarat antarabangsa. Semasa majlis perasmian, VVIP telah mempelawa para tetamu untuk menikmati the thorny fruit memandangkan ianya in season pada ketika itu. Mak Lijah mendengar saja ucapan tersebut sambil tersenyum sinis dan berkata to myself, "yeah... right.."

And so majlis perasmian pun tamat dan mesyuarat pun bermula. Sedang Mak Lijah sibuk ke hulu ke hilir mengendalikan segala bagai, tiba-tiba Mak Lijah mendapat sms ni:

Please get the best durian in town..bla...bla...bla...

WHAT...? You've got to be kidding me... !!
Oh my...oh my...

And so off I went to this Authority in Selayang with Zukri and lots of money to buy the best durian. Ha...ha...ha... Padan muka Mak Lijah. Jadi kerja pulak membeli dua bakul besar durian. Kami diberitahu, that the two "species" they are giving us are D24 and 101. We were given the privilege to taste the fruit and they were just gorgeous...!!! Superb giler.. Sayangnya 101 agak susah untuk diperolehi di sini kerana ianya untuk dieksport sahaja.

So that was one fruity story that remained fresh in my memory every time dia datang lagi.

Diari Seorang Perempuan (yang baru tukar digit pertama pada umurnya)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Friday, 25 July 2008, 2130 hrs.

Sampai je kat KLSentral, Danisy dan Kakak menyambut Mak Lijah dengan senyuman sampai ke telinga while Abang maintained cool berbaju kemeja lengan panjang. Buang tebiat ke apa anak-anak Mak Lijah ni. While I can guess the two younger ones were dying to keep the secret of where my birthday dinner was going to be, I just could not guess why Abang was "over dressed". And so we cruised along Jalan Duta and got onto the highway as I was guessing really hard where we were going. The kids were just too excited of my coming home they just could not stop "reporting", not knowing that their Mama was in real great pain. Well, they don't need to know.

Alas, when Pak Lijah turned into Hartamas from the highway and drove straight ahead, I kinda got the feeling that we were heading to the "station". Kakak and Danisy, as usual would order food that is "made of chicken" while Abang tried a new menu, Pak Lijah and his fish and I asked for the lamb. After having our meal, one of the waiter came and asked Pak Lijah...

"Abang, nak letak berapa candle?"

...and my head just turned 180 degrees at a rate of 60 miles per hour to look at Pak Lijah who looked so stunned and annoyed obviously.

No..No candles, no singing...Just bring in the cake q*u*i*e*t*l*y, please..

I so do not need to have this (anymore).


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

Yep.. they just had to do it coz they were paid to sing.
Yep.. and the other table who also celebrated birthday, clapped along..
Yep.. I blew the (ONE-WHAT-IS-THAT-SUPPOSED-TO-MEAN) candle to the clappings of Danisy and Kakak..

Ah well... they enjoyed it. The cake was brilliantly super duper delicious.. What more can I ask for having to really celebrate my birthday with my family after all...

We reached home at nearly 11.00 pm and again, Kakak and Danisy were smiling sampai ke telinga because they were just so excited about the present they bought for me.. Adoi lah.. kelakar sungguh anak-anak Mak Lijah ni. They even have several cards for me. How sweet of them. Nothing could replace that special moment with them.

Aaahh...HOME SWEET HOME on my birthday, finally..

NUMB3RS

Adding one more to my age at negotiating table past midnite is way out of my idea of celebration. Having peanuts, a glass of c#ke, time-o*t, etc..? What is this man...?? I'd rather be in my bed at home with my family..

But noooooooo.........................



Demi negara
Yang tercinta
Ku curahkan bakti penuh setia
Demi Raja yang disanjung tinggi
Kesetiaan tak berbelah bahgi


OK, now on a positive note.





Pukul 8 malam, Mak Lijah berjalan balik ke hotel sebab nak mandi dan solat. Masa yang diberi hanyalah 45 minit untuk segala urusan sebelum perlu kembali ke meja rundingan.

Seperti biasa, bilik amatlah sejuk sebab pendingin hawa yang sengaja dibuka oleh chamber maid selepas mengemas bilik. Namun begitu, ada bauan yang sungguh semerbak wanginya menyambut Mak Lijah apabila pintu dibuka. Bilik masih lagi gelap. Hmmm...Sejuk...gelap...wangi... Kombinasi yang menarik..


Ohh.... Tadaaaa.... ada sejambak bunga rupanya sedang menanti di atas meja... Aduh.. pasti Pak Lijah dan anak-anak punya kerja... Terharunya.. Seberang tambakpun boleh dapat bunga.... He..he..he.. Terima kasih (daun keladi) Pak Lijah...





Pukul 4.15 pagi, berjalan balik ke hotel sambil ternguap-nguap. Adoi lah... Buka pintu, another sweet smell greeted me. Now what...

Tadaa.... A chocolate cake with candles! How nice...!!! It was from the hotel... Agaknya pukul berapalah diorang datang tadi...

Apa-apapun... Selamat Hari Jadi untuk Mak Lijah...

Hebat...hebat...

Hari ni terbaca satu artikel pasal Datuk Ahmad Nawab kat Berita Harian. There was a concert in Istana Budaya last Friday, a tribute to him.

While the memory is still there...

Being a person who respects time all the time, Mak Lijah and Pak Lijah sengaja sampai awal di IB so that we could dinner there and not be late to enter Panggung Sari (concert was supposed to start at 8.30). But noooo.... they have to wait for the VIP and by 8.55 pm, there were still people who just came in and were looking for their seats. UNBELIEVABLE MALAYSIANS....Malaysia Boleh!

But alas...

Latiff Ibrahim (Pilihlah Aku, Nora) sigh....

Siti Fairuz (Bila Rindu..., Usah Bertanya Lagi)

JAMAL ABDILLAH (Tidurlah Permaisuri, Perpisahan Tanpa Relamu, Nasib Diriku, Sepi Seorang Perindu, Keluhan Perantau, Seniman Menangis) big sigh....

Khaty Ibrahim (Ku Sangka Siang Kiranya Malam, Ku Gembira Di Sampingmu, Potret Kasih)

and last but not least

Datuk Ahmad Nawab himself with Angin Senja, Sabar Menanti and Assalamualaikum.

To end it all, there was SEIRING DAN SEJALAN.

If not for Abang Jamal (again), I might not have taken up Dina's offer of two tickets. Latif and Khaty were just stupendous! A class of their own. HEBAT...HEBAT...!

Teringat zaman dolu-dolu when their songs were on air lots of time. Enjoyed listening.

Wish there will be more concerts of such in the future. Please...please..please....

Hari ni Kakak tambah satu lagi digit kepada umurnya, that would turn her into a 10-year-old teenager. Wow.. dah jadi anak dara dah dia..

Rasa macam baru semalam Mak Lijah masuk bilik bersalin di Kedah Medical Centre untuk melahirkan dia. She was only 2.83 kg when she made her grand entrance into the world.

Dari kecil lagi Kakak dah menonjolkan kemanjaan dia. Maklumlah, girl... And now, dia diapit oleh two boys, an abang and an adik lelaki and still thinks and acts like she's the youngest. Alahai anak daraku...

Selamat Hari Jadi Kakak

Semoga menjadi anak yang solehah, rajin, menghormati orang tua, sopan-santun, bijak dan sihat senantiasa...

Hot Hanoi

..................

Yeay... dah balik... Seronoknya dapat balik Mesia. 12 hari di Hanoi, aduss... letih sungguh... Tak healthy langsung. Sempat pergi gym sekali jer.. Swimming pool langsung tak dan. Lepas makan, duduk balik di meja rundingan and talk, and listen, and sigh, and sleep at 2 a.m.

Balik jer Malaysia, belasah nasi lemak daun pisang duluuuu......




Masa mula-mula landing kat airport Hanoi tu dah terasa gigitan suhunya yang tinggi. Selepas mengutip beg, terkejut badak sekejap dengan panggilan-panggilan untuk menaiki teksi mereka. USD16... Hmm...
Maka cepat-cepatlah Mak Lijah melompat masuk ke dalam MPV yang terpilih sebab tak tahan rasa bahang yang mengejutkan kulit Mak Lijah ni.

As usual, Mak Lijah cuba berbual dengan pemandu teksi untuk find out about the city, the people, Ha Long Bay... bla..bla..bla.. but I ended up frustrated sebab dia tak reti cakap omputih. Hampeh..

About 15 minutes in the taxi, tiba-tiba tak rasa dah dingin air-cond tu. Rasa angin panas jer.. Eh, apa dah jadi ni? Rupa-rupanya air-cond dah tak berfungsi. Kebetulan ke apa ni? So Mak Lijahpun dengan susah payahnya minta dia turunkan cermin kereta sebab dah rasa meruap yang melampau. Malangnya samada dia tak faham atau cikgu dia pesan, cermin tingkap tidak mahu dia turunkan. Lama-kelamaan Mak Lijah dah tak tahan sebab berpeluh-peluh yang amat dan kerana melihat kegelisahan Mak Lijah yang sengaja dibuat-buat, akhirnya pemandu teksi itupun menurunkan cerminnya. Which did not make much difference sebab udara di luar ibarat wap yang keluar dari cerek yang airnya sedang mendidih.

Sampai saja di Sofitel Plaza Hotel dan apabila pintu dibuka oleh pekerja hotel, Mak Lijah melompat keluar sebab nak bergegas masuk dalam hotel dengan harapan dapat menikmati kedinginan hotel. Dalam masa menanti beg itu pun, sempat lagi suhu menggigit-gigit kulit ini.

Tak sangka Hanoi sepanas ini...

Dek kerana suhu yang panas ni, Mak Lijah decided to only go out to survey Hanoi after 6 pm, hoping that it would have cooled down by then. Tapi hampa sebab suhu tak turun-turun dan berjalanlah Mak Lijah di Hang Gai dalam kepanasan 37 darjah celcius.

Dinner di sebuah restoran Melayu tak jauh dari situ.

Baru first day dan Mak Lijah tak akan sambung cerita Hanoi sebab tiada yang terlampau menarik untuk dinotakan. Pun begitu, Mak Lijah kagumi jugalah creativity orang-orang Viet Nam meng'interesting'kan the look of helmetnya...

Selain daripada itu, keindahan landscape Hanoi hanya dapat Mak Lijah nikmati sejam setengah yang terakhir di kota Hanoi apabila sempat melihat bangunan-bangunan lamanya hasil peninggalan penjajah yang hanya mengaut keuntungan tanpa meninggalkan kesan-kesan kemajuan dan kemodenan di negara itu.



Hai..hai.. Bye..bye.. Hanoi...

Pics in Hanoi

Creative, aren't they?





Got to try it on...

En route to Hanoi

Yes, I am flying (again) and this time is to complete my odyssey of ASEAN 10. Going to Hanoi means I would finally complete my visit to all ten of them.

Tapi sebelum fly tu, makan nasi kerabu puas-puas dulu kat Golden Lounge ni. Sampai sana takut susah nak cari makanan halal pula walaupun masa surf kat ZABIHAH tadi, dah jumpa dua Malaysian halal restaurant, Nisa and Warung Sri Belango.

Tadi naik satu train dengan angkasawan kita from KL Sentral. Hensem lah. Tapi Mak Lijah control macho... maintain cool... Buat-buat malu konon...

OK lah. Got to go. Lagi setengah jam nak berlepas, nak jalan slow-slow to Gate 02.

See u in Hanoi...

Sophie

Molly

Kat rumah Cathie with her adorable girls.

This is my super-extended Australian family. Photo taken after dinner at a lovely seafood restaurant.

Hello, Sydney...

Visiting Sydney again after two decades was yet the best thing for me this year. Not only did I get to meet my foster-exchange-student-sister, Cathie, and her family, I also got to honeymoon with Pak Lijah (wish it would be an annual event ;) ).

And so I booked my Qantas ticket from Sydney to Brisbane online in order for me to arrive at about the same time as Pak Lijah would arrive from KL on that Sunday morning. I was impressed with Qantas's online services (bagi Mak Lijah yang perak ni, lah). Booking online was normal, but what surprises me was the fact that you can request your meal preference, choose or change your seat as you wish depending on the availability, and the best part... produce the boarding pass well in advance, ALL ONLINE. Senang, kan? So why didn't we think of that back here? Oh.. terlupa, nanti orang tak ada kerja pulak.

.
.

Mak Lijah landed in Sydney and met Pak Lijah kat international terminal. Tunggu punya tunggu, telefon punya telefon, akhirnya kamipun naiklah kereta menuju ke hotel di The Rocks tu. Nak dijadikan cerita, drebar kereta tu was an Indonesian who migrated some 20 years ago.

We got to the beautiful hotel about half an hour later just to find out that we could not check-in yet walaupun nama kat reservation dah ada and that we didnt get the room we asked for. That's a bit weird sebab masa buat booking dulu, diorang responded that as member of the group of hotels, we got the priveleges of early check-in, late check-out, free internet access, breakfast at the club, bla..bla...bla... Dipendekkan cerita, we were referred to at another floor. Di situ, tengah dok sibuk-sibuk explain sana-sini and Mak Lijah already had this in mind that it was not a good start for me at that moment, the Manager on Duty, Baron, asked if we were from Singapore [WHY MUST IT BE SINGAPORE?]. Half disappointed, I guess, he responded that he's from Singapore.

"Ayah saya Chinese Singaporean, mak saya orang putih."
(Erkk... Yikes...! Nasib baik tak ngutuk lebih-lebih. Patutlah rambut dia hitam tapi still look like mat salleh)

"Laa... Ye ke? Lama dah kerja sini?
(Kononnya nak cover kutuk tadi)

"Lama dah. Dah migrate pun"

"So Baron, I tell you what, we let you settle this confusion about our room first, while we go and kill the time at Darling Harbour. OK tak?"

...dan dipendekkan cerita juga... we just walked down to the quay to look for the ferry to Darling Harbour. It was a warm, sunny day and we were happy to make that decision. The ferry ride cost only about AUS$5 each and worth every single moment of the time. We managed to capture a photo (pictured here) of our hotel while on the ferry. Sampai jer kat Darling Habour, Mak Lijah pun called rumah Cathie and spoke to Andrew, Cathie's husband, to confirm our dinner that night.

We strolled along the harbour taking our own sweet time, took lots of pictures, had Indian lunch, took a ride on the 'train' to go around Darling Harbour and ended the tour at Paddy's Market at nearly 3 pm.

Bila sampai hotel, Baron told us that the room for us was not booked as what we had requested for but he was kind enough to give us free internet access. Now.. is not that nice? Brotherly ASEAN...(walaupun half mat sal, kan?).

That night we met Cathie and the extended family at a lovely seafood restaurant. We had a great time going down memory lane. And that moment was one 'accomplishment' that I have always wanted to do for the past two decades.

Yes, it was 4 degrees celcius as we were driving up Blue Mountain on a Cherokee, Monday, 28 April 2008.

Bye bye Brisbane

And so my days in Brisbane were over. Tak dapat nak snap banyak foto while we were here sebab masa sangatlah mampat. Letih betul this time around, melebihi keletihan di Jakarta dulu.

At one of the sessions, we finished at 0015. Yes, it was past midnite. Kalau Mak Lijah ni Cinderella, harus kasut kaca tu dari Nine West. Tapi it's not just about past midnite..it's about Mak Lijah being LOCKED-OUT OF THE HOTEL (de-ja-vu pulak). It was all because the meeting habis after 12 lah..and one of the hotel's rule is that the side entrance will be locked at midnite.

Habislah... And so Mak Lijah yang jahil ni terpaksalah mencari jalan lain untuk masuk ke hotel sampai terpaksa pergi dekat train station. By then it was nearly 0030 and I still could not get into the hotel. Pintu kaca banyak, but they were all locked.

Berjalanlah lagi Mak Lijah di kedinginan seawal pagi dan kesunyian tu.. Rasa suspens tak payah nak ceritalah. Manalah kita nak tahu apa nak jadi kat kita di negeri orang... Akhirnya Mak Lijah sampai jugalah ke pintu utama hotel pada pukul 0100 dan terus ke bilik dengan fikiran yang kosong.

Kalau dah macam tu punya meeting, bila masa nak amik gambar? Anyway, gambar kiri tu, was taken at the pancake restaurant which was actually a church dulu. Interesting, eh? Gambar kanan, obviously was where we had the meeting. It was a very big place, rasanya macam kena jalan dua batu baru sampai hujung... Dan pengalaman Mak Lijah di Brisbane pun dah sampai ke penghujungnya....