AN EXTREME JOURNEY

Life is so full of ironies. Just when you think that everything is fine and sunny, down comes the rain pouring with relentless vengeance. That aptly describes our most recent Sunday . The day went brilliantly, all plans executed accordingly and on our back home journey at night, just as we were reminiscing the great time we just had, "zap" came our tribulation. Our car decided to fail us at the most difficult hour and place. Initially we thought the engine ran out of water. After patienly waited for the engine to cool and several on foot trips to the nearby Geliga mosque to fetch water in a plastic bag (we had no big bottles in the car), we slowly adjourned with the journey again. This time, much slower, as we were worried of more serious engine complications (read: sudden cooling of engine causing sudden contraction). Alhamdulillah, the car went smoothly and I gave a sigh of relief.

But alas! It was a short-lived triumph, when suddenly we heard a high-pitched rotating sound and a sudden 'snap'. This time, we dare not take further risks and pulled to the side which actually was at a bridge! We called AAM for immediate assitance which in reality took an hour to reach us after what seemed to be an inifinity as the various tow-truck drivers were hesitant to help us. We also called our personal mechanic and requested that he waited for us as his work-shop. At this point I was thinking how so similar this episode was to a sick patient who badly needs medical attention from his/her doctor at an ungodly hour! Yes, we reached Beserah at 1 am! But not before enduring an hour plus journey in our on-tow car! Exhausted I kept on sleeping at intervals and too tired to even think of the bad concequences if the tow-car cable snapped! Nauzubillah! The tow-truck went at a steady speed and even managed to overtake a lorry at one point. Imagine! We were on tow and even overtook a lorry!

But all that was worth undergoing as we've had had a wonderful day filled with lots of friendship and closeness with friends of old and new! You see, my friend Lolo and hubby have been asking us to visit them at Paka since three years ago. We have been making promises but never fulfilling them that we became so embarrassed. So making this journey was tremendously meaningful. When Maklang invited us recently, I decidedly made plans to see all of them in one go i.e. Maklang in Kerteh, Lolo in Paka and KKL/OK in Dungun. Thus it was a 3 in 1 journey.

Maklang's house is heavenly! It absolutely qualifies as my dream house. Wooden flooring with a touch of country. Fabulous green landscaping with pegolas and gazebos. To top it all she's a great cook too! Apparently she had cooked for us early in the morning before going to work! She's such a gracious host! Not forgetting also, I am at awe of her fine needlework. Well, it's not at all surprising though as she's a Johorean! Indeed it was a great pleasure to have met both Maklang and Paklang. Our copious thanks to them.

Then it was off to Dungun to see KKL and OK. KKL had prepared Laksa Penang and dungun keropok lekor for us. OK made a special concoction of iced lime mint tea which went down well with the food despite it being a bit 'strong'. We had so much fun talking about any topic that comes to mind and I also had the chance to witness KKL's cute sketching of OK on her new Wacom board! Afer performing our jama' solat we excused ourselves and headed back down to Paka to meet Lolo and planning to meet them again at Kerteh for the 'much-talked-about' dinner.

Lolo is my sis OG's friend actually whom I got close to. After making so many visits to our place and asking us to drop by at theirs, they sort of almost gave up. Thus this trip was also to compensate our guilt! They brought us to their small beach house by a hill, facing the sea, right next to a river mouth. Stretched upfront is a sand-bank forming an island-like structure with trees on it, thus breaking strong winds from fully reaching them. Over here, the fishing boats would load their catch of the day and you could buy fresh sea-catch at unbelievable bargains! And fishing by the river-mouth is also another activity worth doing as the sea-fish also swims there. And there's a big gazebo perched at the front edge where you could view beautiful sunrise in the morning or perhaps enjoy barbeque at night. Lolo has furnished the cute wooden cottage-like house for her guests and we've been invited! Luqman has set his heart for it! Btw, this place makes a perfect 3h2m getaway for a someone we know, eh?

We were so carried away with the place that we were late for the dinner in Kerteh! Our greatest apologies to OK and KKL who patiently waited for us for more than an hour! Masyallah! I have never tasted a truly gastronomical feast of delicious sea-food spread before. 3 large plates of huge crabs fried with chilli. The crabs were tastefully fresh and 'sweet'. They even provided us with a claw cracker which I didn't use as I find eating the claws so cumbersome and chucked all of them into iKelah's plate. Being the crab eating expert he is, he handled the claws with ease and as always he'd say that the claw-meat tasted the finest! Oh well. There were sotong goreng tepung, grilled pari in sambal and freshly grilled oysters and they were exquisitely delicious. Needless to say that we ended up as 5 very satisfied sea-food devourers. Oh yes, there was also Jamil, OK's friend, who made our company merrier.

Alhamdulillah we truly had a fruitful trip, enhancing ties with beautiful friends and kins. Although we were tested with a small calamity in the form of a faulty car, we praise Allah swt for giving us good friends and may the tribulation serve as a reminder for us.