Our Family Day 2014 in Pulau Pinang

Over the weekend we went on a road trip back to the kampung. It was for the occasion of our end of year Family Day. With B in the driver's seat, we started off from Shah Alam in the afternoon and it was good weather along the North-South Highway until we reached the vicinity of Taiping. As if on cue... black clouds engulfed us and the rain fell. But then there was light ahead. Though we moved towards the light... the black clouds followed us for quite sometime... This wettest place in the country certainly never fails to shower on us every time we pass by.

When we got on to the Second Penang Bridge it was quite lengang (quiet, traffic-free) so it was a fast and smooth ride across the 24 kilometres of it. But then we run right smack into the Island traffic jam as soon as we got off. Such is life!

We reached our family home after stopping by the Queensbay Mall for dinner at the Seoul Garden, B's choice of course (after discovering yet again that Tasha Dhal Kandar in Sungai Ara was closed! Note to ourselves: this TDK eatery is closed on Fridays).

The Family Day activities started early the next morning with a big breakfast of roti canai, serabai (my favourite), and other kueh-mueh. For lunch it was a catered kenduri menu of nasi hujan panas, kambing (aqiqah) masamah, kerabu timun nanas, dalca daging, ayam ros. All very delicious. Later in the evening, we all got together (some forty of us) for lucky draws where every single one was a winner. Your luck is really what you get to take home - there were hampers, vouchers, kitchen appliances, and other goodies including some coveted handphones. The day ended with a 'serious' meeting of the 'elders' of the family, including moi.

The very next day at noon we had to drive back to Kuala Lumpur. This time we used the (first) Penang Bridge to cross over to the mainland. (Certainly much busier than the rather traffic-free Second Penang Bridge. Which begs the question - do we really need an undersea tunnel to connect the island and mainland? I say definitely not!).

The sky was downcast when we were in the vicinity of Taiping and there was some drizzle, also in the area of Ipoh and the verdant blue hills there. But soon enough we reached KL and home long before dusk.

5-7 December 2014