Quiet Riot and Raya

Me cousins and me self

Back from my hometown this morning. Gone for 5 days. Had 2 hectic days of Raya celebration. And 1 Good break.

This year's Raya, few things I missed. Like, the traffic jam at the PLUS highway, which was a good thing. Opted to travel via air, this time. A friend told me, he was driving 20kph at the highway for 2 and a half hours! Yikes! Also, the sky was clear, no haze! Really missed the haze when I was away....NOT!
My late dad. Missed him so much!(since 2003, actually) I did visit his grave. I'm blessed coz my mom is still around. The absence of my sister and her family, who now resides in London. Lastly, I missed my 2 beautiful angels since, this year, it's their mom's turn to celebrate their Raya with.

Sigh.

Me mom, Chak and Chu Sengkuang, kuah rojak & peanuts!

On the contrary, a few things were pleasant and new. After travelling for about 50 minutes, at the speed of 422.31kph, my 'Now, Everyone Can Fly' plane, finally touched down at the Alor Setar airport. Upon disembarking from the plane, I had a pleasant surprise! A brand new airport all together! Quite nice. 2 storey building some more you know! Very impressive, indeed. I just hope they know how to maintain it. Malaysians have the habit of building stuff and let it die after a few years. Less than 10 hours later, I celebrated Deepavali with some family friends. Had a good time and, not forgetting, the delicious food. Yummy! Auntie Patma's chicken curry is da best! Also, my favorite auntie's chocolate cake! Apart from it's weird shape and all, Aunt Che Pah's choc cake is one of the best ever!

And, during raya eve, got to main mercun with my family. Firecrackers rock! Heheheee... really enjoyed blewing up stuff! Funny thing was, it was an all-adult affair...nobody was below 12 years of age! Took my thoughts back when I was a kid. Aah! the good old days.

Normally, when I go back to Alor Setar, me and my buddies would go to Yasmeen Restaurant to meet up. Over the years, it became our favourite meeting place. Apart from its strategic location, its superb food made it a hit for everyone. How it grew from just another restaurant to 'A Must Go And Eat If You're Back In Alor Setar' eating place was phenomenal! It was a shock for me at first as the restaurant was packed to the brim, from 7pm - 3am, NON-STOP! Quite chaotic and almost looked like a riot at times. From the first day till the second day of Raya, I lepak there with my buddies from 12 midnight till 3am. And I noticed, 15-20 people would line-up to order the food. Shockingly, this queue would remain the same length for as long as I was there! To be in a pack restaurant, in Alor Setar, at 3am, is revolutionary! And the best part was, on normal days, Alor Setar would be dead by 9.30pm.

Buka puasa at Yasmeen Restaurant

Oh well... other than that, it was quite a quiet Raya.