Joliday to the North

Sekolah dah start semula, baru terhegeh2 nak cerita bab pegi holiday hari tu. Alkisahnya two weeks into the holiday, Hubs kena pegi meeting dkt UUM. Mendengarkan berita itu, aku pun berusaha memujuk rayu beliau supaya menukarkan dari job kepada joliday (job + holiday), yakni instead of naik flight gi sana sorg, bawaklah kitaorg satu family pegi dalam kereta cabuk kitaorg tuh. Mula2 Hubs malas, almaklumlah, cuti sekolah, sure PLUS jem punya, and also kitaorg x brp sure la Zayd ni bole terima ke x long road trip especially yg mmg akan konfem jem, but seperti biasa, aku dah racun pemikiran beliau dan in the end, berangkatlah kita semua bercuti ke utagha hehe...

Aku mmg happy sbb satunya, dah lama x holiday (last holiday January kot? Yg gi Melaka tu). Secondly, last aku jejak Kedah was masa umur aku 12 tahun. Tu pun sbb pegi Langkawi so terpaksa la singgah jeti Kuah. UUM x pernah jejak lg. So konon2 bole la usha tempat keja org kan pastu rasa shitty psl tempat kerja sendiri.

Kitaorg turun right after Subuh pagi tu. Ni gambar dua beradik dah siap2 nak bertolak. Saja pakaikan diorg tema yg sama.

Kira tunggu Hubs settingkan lokasi je (dasarrr x pernah drive jauh kami ni. Paling jauh Muar. Paling jauh Muar. Ye trip balik kg sebulan sekali tu. We are a sad case :P ).

Tgk kereta klasik ni berserta suitcase retro yang menggoda di atas kereta tersebut telah menambahkan aura2 'Summer Holiday' kami. Chewahh... summer holiday la sgt. Perasan x ingat.

Dah lama x lalu PLUS yg Northbound. Pemandangan dia mmg cantik, Subhanallah!

Alhamdulillah Zayd mmg deserve 5 stars!!! Boleh duduk dalam carseat, as long as there was food. Mmg giler bersepah la kereta, biskut, pretzel, roti, potato crisps, and kat sini dia tgh makan tembikai beli dkt R&R Sg. Besar(?). Occasionally ada jg dia keluar daripada seat tu sbb nak menyusu. Then tertido aku cuba letak balik dlm seat.

Kitaorg sampai dalam pkl 7.20 mlm dkt Darul Aman Golf & Country Resort. Keluar rumah mmg awal, tp lepas tu gi mkn breakfast, then kereta cabuk tu ada wat hal sket, so masuk bengkel dulu, lepas2 tu baru lah bole bergerak around 12 lebih. So overall 7 jam jgk kot perjalanan, termasuk jem dan berhenti2. Agak serik nak gi utara lg, to be honest!

Agenda pertama lps dah checked in dan membersihkan diri adalah pegi reunion dgn kawan2 Hubs. FYI, Hubs ni alumni UUM, so seronot lah member tu dpt pulang ke alma mater dia. Sireh pulang ke ganggang gitu. Mcm2 la diborakkan. Kawan Hubs dan isterinya mmg grad sama2 course dulu, now working at UUM. Very good people , I've met them on previous occasions before, so was equally happy to see them again. Last time jumpa masa tahun 2012 kot, kat London (they did their PhDs in the UK too).

Now, satu yg aku suka psl utagha ni ialah, their food. Omaiiii... sodap gilos okeh. mende2 yg x de kat Klang Valley yum yum...

Borak punya borak, sedor2 dah pkl 11 pm lebih. Patut la mengamuk satu mcm dah si Zayd ni. Member Hubs ni bwk kitaorg pusing2 town Changlun. Kalo ikut kata Hubs, fuhhh maju sakan dah. Ikut kata aku, macam Gua Musang tak leh komen lah sbb ni first time sampai kan. But seronot dgr Hubs cerita dgn segala excited nya, 'haaa... kat sini la tempat tggu bas dari pekan nak balik kolej', 'dulu sini hutan gelap ni, sapa je yg berani naik motor sorg2 malam2...', 'sini dia punya sup mmg best gile', 'dulu kalo beli nasi kat sini RM1.50 je', dan mcm2 lg... story mory psl perihal dia muda2 dulu, zaman aku belum lg enter diari hidupnya, ewah... nak wat camne, masa dia masuk UUM dah aku baru anak dara sunti 15 tahun you... underage gitewww...

By the time masuk balik bilik, budak2 dah flat. Dalam kekalutan nak kuar dating dgn member Hubs sekeluarga tadi, terlupa plak aku nak snap gmbr balik. Redho je lah ye tgk gmbr bilik yg dah sepah2... kot2 la korg nak tau interior dia kot esok2 nak stay kat sini (komen aku: typical resort la, non-carpeted room, ada separate hall, ada mini kitchen, toilet Malay-style, aircond bukan centralised, tp 1.5 horse power per room, interior agak dated but clean, very basic ASTRO channels yang takde cartoon. Govt rate RM180 a night, so you get what you paid lah, not bad. Extra bed RM40).

Ni view from the room keesokan paginya. Kitaorg duk 4th floor. Sekeliling taman perumahan dan golf course belah blkg.

Memandangkan Hubs punya meeting pada pagi ini (Ahad, rasa pelik plak), maka kitaorg pun turut sama bersiap pagi2 nak ikut gi UUM. Sbb UUM kan skema, siap Kakak disuruh ayahnya suh pakai blouse yang proper instead of t-shirt and jeans, and Ahmad Zayd, well, anything yg selesa. Masa fasa ni dia obsess dgn bedak, now dah kurg.

First stop kat UUM, Deer Park. Oh, sukanya budak2 ni tgk rusa. First time tgk kot masing2. Zayd la paling excited, duk tunjuk2. Bising mulut dia masa ni, nnt kalo rajin leh upload video (dia mmg very the peramah dan ringan mulut, si adik. Masa ni dia duk sebut, 'Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu!'). Kakak mcm a bit cautious, suh posing dgn rusa kat blkg pun x nak, takut kena sondol agaknya.

Ni plak dkt bekas Sekolah Hubs dulu. Baru je kawan tu nak bergaya solo (aku fokus tang motto dia, 'Educating tomorrow;s business leaders today'), dah slack sbb Ahmad Zayd yg dah pandai berjalan itu tergolek jatuh sorg2 takde sapa buat. Maka terhasil snapshot di bawah.

Before lunch, Hubs bwk ronda2 kenai kolej dia, library, kafe tempat dia hangout dolu2, tempat dia eksiden, semua in campus. Then kitaorg pi makan lunch tghari tu dgn kawan2 Hubs yg skang keja kat UUM. Makan kat mana ntah, kedai best tp panas berdenting2. Dan si Zayd plak dah meragam masa nak makan tu, dah aku and Hubs mkn x brp nak feeling.

Around 2.15 pm Hubs nak bergerak gi meeting dia. Kawan Hubs offered kitaorg bilik dia (sbb dia dah ada opis lain, he holds a managerial position kat institut lain di UUM tu), maka kitaorg pun lepak la situ. Kakak very the happy one, dpt layan YouTube tgk Dora, aku je basah ketiak melayan Zayd. By this time Zayd dah berlengging, nak cool him off dlm aircond. Rupanya dia mengamuk td sbb dia panas (mmg Kedah panas, awat tadak org habaq awai2???)). Masa dah cool down kat dlm bilik ni, kemain lg dia. Totally in his element, main debu sampah, haishhh!

Jeles sat dgn view from my Hubs' friend's office. Nampak hijauuuuu je bukit bukau. Woh!

After a while, aku dah x tahan tgk Zayd berlengas pulak main debu dah melekat habis debu comot satu badan, maka aku hangkut dia gi mandi kat toilet. Pastu aku solat terus dan melepak kat surau ni. Dah la surau ni surau laki, relax je aku bersadai kat sini anak beranak. Yakin je takde org masuk (time tu mmg dah exam week pun, student tadak dah, and cuti sekolah, so lecturers pun tadak, yehaaa). Sakan depa dua bergomoi...

Dalam sejam lebih, Hubs punya meeting pun habis. Guess who's so happy to see Ayah?

Aku paksa Aisyah posing. Class of 2027? Insya Allah...

Adik kepenatan... Tertido sblm sampai carpark lg.

Before we left UUM for good, Hubs' friend offered to take us for an evening drink at Mayang Sari Bistro, a posh cafe in UUM. Loved the place, loved the food. Definitely will come back if we ever visited UUM again.

Hubs' friend insisted we have dinner at his place (eh mee goreng tadi tu bkn dinner ke?), and memandangkan we've never been to his place before, off we went. The trip was about 25 mins from UUM to his house and along the way lalu sawah2 padi camni di kira kanan jalan raya. Oh nak nanges aku kalo compare dgn jalan balik kerja kami yg totally ada traffic all the way (total 1 hour jgk la drive utk less than 20 km trip sbb brek2 berenjut), dan jg pemandangan menyakitkan mata pembangunan yg x pernah sudah2 di kiri dan kanan jalan. Oh Tuhan, mcm langit dgn bumi beza dia.

Sbb menjaga adab di rumah org, idaklah aku snap lauk pauk nya. Cukuplah aku katakan, Alhamdulillah syukur nikmat, sedap, kenyang dan lazat hehe.. Terima kasih daun keladi. Panjang umur jumpa lagi. Several photos together before we called it a night...

Zayd slept like a Ninja mid-kick in this shot. He really was spent. No, I take that back. He didn't want to go to bed that night, but once he had, he didn't wake up until morning. Penat punya psl...

So that's Saturday and Sunday covered. More to come on this short, four-day joliday trip in my next entry.