Alor Setar, Here We Come!

The four of us and Ant J managed a trip up north to Alor Setar (or as they say there, "Alor Setaq") over the weekend. We went to visit Tok Bah and Tok Ma and I have to say, I think both boys did marvellously during the whole trip (except Adik was a little overexcited).

The drive there was very smooth. Nothing but blue skies and clear highways, save for a few 'hotspots', and it took us only 5 hours to reach the hotel (my father-in-law's house is a little small). Along the way, Adik caught a 1.5 hour nap, Abang a 1 hour nap and both at the same time so that was nice. In between we kept them busy with various storybook readings, one episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, a variety of snacks and the usual car trip games. Abang liked to play What Does That Cloud Look Like by holding his make-believe binoculars around his eyes. Adik tried to copy that pose but he looked more like doing a double salute.

We had a pit stop at the Sg Perak rest area which was chock full of people and now has escalators going up from the car park! I guess it's been awhile since we've driven up north. Besides snapping photos, Mummy was busy trying to eat the chocolate cake without being spotted by the boys.

We arrived around 4pm and immediately checked in and dumped our bags in the room. As luck would have it, the road surrounding the hotel was used for some futsal street party type thing so we had to go another way around plus park on the road as the hotel car park was full. We then made our way to Tok Bah's house.

As soon as we arrived, Adik in his naturally friendly way waved, "Hi Tok Bah, hi Tok Ma!" even though this was his first time meeting them. Good thing we prepped him during the trip telling him we were going to visit Tok Bah and Tok Ma so he knew whom to expect. Abang had met them before but I think in this respect he takes Adik's cue and warmed up to them pretty quickly (quicker than if Adik wasn't around). Plus he's much bigger now so he's a little more sociable.

Dinner was way too stressful caused by Adik being overly tired and therefore hyperactive. Abang has been a real star the past week, minding his P's and Q's, being sociable, well-behaved ... he would even thank us for helping him take his shirt off! Before bedtime, Abang enjoyed a nice, quiet game of Uno with Daddy while Adik sat doing his colouring. Later we put the boys to bed and then Daddy transferred Abang to Ant J's room because the king bed in our room was a standard king, not an oversized king and it was a little too small for the four of us.

The three of us didn't sleep well, unfortunately. Adik was prone to 'mengigau' and kept crying/ whining, saying, "Noooo.... Number 4, Number 7!" (must be from the Uno game he observed). Our room was also right near the lift lobby so all those NOISY people waiting for the lift were, you know, NOISY. Plus our air-cond rattled.

Breakfast was very pleasant - the food was pretty good and I only had Adik to chase around because Abang was nicely having his breakfast while playing Daddy's handheld game. After checking out we headed to Tok Bah's house to hang out. The boys discovered a foot massage machine thingy and Tok Bah was only too happy to switch it on for them to have a go.

Remember, grandchildren are allowed to do anything - even destroy - their grandparents' stuff and "it's ok". (It must be in The Grandparents' Guide to Having Grandchildren.) After awhile the boys looked like they were abusing the foot massager and I asked Tok Bah about it and he said, "No no, it's ok, it's ok."

Aahhh ... I remember when we were kids and whenever we visited our grandparents at the kampung, my brother, sister and I would ride our grandfather's Raleigh bicycle all around the kampung land. It's pretty big and situated on a long slope, so there are many bumps and little hills to really give the bicycle a good thrashing and have fun at the same time. When we were much older my dad told us that after every visit, my grandfather had to take the bicycle to be repaired.

I wonder if Tok Bah's foot massager is back from the shop yet.

The drive home was absolutely horrendous. We left Tok Bah's house at 3:15pm and only dropped Ant J off at 10:45pm and we arrived home at 11:15pm. We wished the highways were like the outgoing trip:

But it was actually more like this (although not as bad as our drive to Janda Baik):

And the rest areas loooked like a scene from outside a KL nightclub:


Anyway, like I always say, it could have been a lot worse. It could have rained, making traffic a whole lot worse. The car could have given problems - there were cars littered along the shoulder of the highway with the bonnet up. The boys could have acted up but they were real champions despite being strapped in their car seats for 8 hours. Adik just got a bit cranky yet hyper (as hyper as one can get in a child's car seat) and started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star at the top of his voice. Once they were both asleep it was just the traffic to contend with.

And that one, nobody can do anything about.