Perjalanan Balik Kampung.

Memang seronok bila dapat balik kampung tetapi kalau jarak perjalanannya jauh, memanglah meletihkan. Especially kalau cuti hujung minggu bersambung dengan cuti kelepasan am.

Baru-baru ini, cuti hujung minggu panjang sikit sebab bersambung dengan cuti Wesak. Punyalah excited tetapi sedihnya, nak ambil 3 hours off pada hari Khamis tidak diluluskan. Sebabnya my manager ada meeting, so kena standbylah if anything. Redhalah, bukannya saja-saja tak dapat but coz of schedule. Jadi, trip kami bermula lambat sikit around 11pm, baru berlepas dari KL menuju ke Kuala Terengganu.

Aku pula sibuk membuat 1/2 kilo pau tetapi bila kelam-kabut, I messed up. I wonder masa steam tu, kenapalah pau aku ni berwarna perang. Rupa-rupanya, aku lupa untuk dissolvedkan gula dengan air panas, instead aku terus campurkan gula dengan gandum. Anyway, kata anak saudara aku, rasa macam sejenis kuih traditional Terengganu iaitu Kayu Keramat. So, bolehlah aku mencuba resepi ini hingga berjayakan.

Sampai di Hentian Lanchang, aku bertukar dengan anak saudara, told her I will take over in Temerloh. Sampai aja Temerloh, kami tidur dulu. Aku rasa aku berdengkur sakan, anak saudara aku ni pula membuka tingkap sedikit. Aku rasa mesti mamat yang rancak bersembang geli hati mendengar dengkuran aku. Serius, berdengkur memang kuat, adatlah badan besar, mesti susah sikit nak bernafaskan.

Then aku drove semula tetapi my eyesight very poor. And tiredness added to it, this time, decided to change with my nephew. Tetapi sempat lagi kami makan di Hentian Gambang. So, he drove all the way to kampung. But since we are taking our sweet time, sampaipun almost 6 am. Aku rasa letih sangat, this trip took me 2 days to rejuvenate.

Ahadlah, baru nak shopping, nak buat itu, ini. Nearly 4 pm, baru nak bertolak. Kami bajet pukul 9 malam sampai. My niece nak singgah makan lagi. Trip kali ni ada 2 buah kereta. My sister, Princess, Bibik dan her eldest son menaiki keretanya. So, hilanglah my capable pemandu ganti. My niece pula demam, tinggal Azim. But dia hanya drive di LPT sahaja. Anyway, selepas berhenti di Stesyen Petronas di Gambang, lupa nak switched tempat dengan dia. So, aku continue driving. But it was a blessing in disguise as it rained heavily. Mssa tu dalam 7.30 pm. I don't think Azim pernah drive long distance dalam weather macam ni.

But old lady like me (hehehe, masa macam ni, I realised I am old), having problem with my vision. Dahlah kurang berapa sikit penglihatan pada waktu malam, bila hujan, it is getting worse. Reduce my speed to 50 km plus. At same time, kept telling my niece, "I could not see the way, dont know whether I went unto other's lane. Really went so slow, I feel like my leg nak patah. It is tiring to travel at that slow speed. Thinking of taking shelter at Hentian Maran but was told, we have passed it. So have to travel another 44 km to Hentian Temerloh. Alhamdulillah by the time we reached that place, it has stopped raining. Tak jadi stop. Continued the journey.

But it was our fate, right after Tol Karak, the traffic started crawling again. This time, the speed like 10km. Upper thigh felt so painful. I teringat to take off my high heel. Ah...it feel so much better. But the slow moving traffic continue until passed Hentian Lentang. And the jerks who like to cut queue from left (bahu jalan) made it worse. My friends tanya, "you tak tunjuk the sign language ke?" Oops, not the vulgar one but more like signal asking them to stop, stay in line or taking turn to enter next lane...Akhirnya, aku pulled over kat Genting Sempah untuk isi minyak. Who knows, it get jammed againkan, so kena spare minyaklah. And for me, kena buang air pula.

Ada one lady yang beratur jauh dari aku dengan muka kesian asyik memberitahu, "tak tahannya nak ek bilik air." But sorriler, I didn't mean to be a sadist but I hold on for quite a long time since from Kuantan. No way, I will let her mencelah coz myself also tak tahan and really tired from driving. Finally 11.30 pm, we reached my cousin's stall for dinner. It was such a long, long journey for me. Oh, guess it was the second time I faced this for balik kampung trip. Indisciplined drivers compounded the issue.

So, I still feel lethargic, semalam nak recovered by going to bed early. Tapi lama pula di rumah my uncle listening to his talk on meritocracy, NEP or dasar ekonomi baru, Proton, handicapped etc. It is a nice topic, maybe I will cover in next post. That one will ahve to wait till free time coz heavy issue.