Balik Kampung

No, my family and I are not going back today. The title above is referring to my brother, Adib who is studying in UniMas, Sarawak. I called him just now and he was at the airport. I pray he will have a safe journey. With AirAsia. =P

Balik kampung to my family has always been a long, energy-draining yet exciting journey. You see, both my parents are not from the same kampung, not even from the same states. My mom hails from Penang, while my dad was a kampung boy in Johol, Negeri Sembilan. Last time when I was a kid, my friends thought it was Johor, not Johol. Now a little bit of Sejarah lesson LOL, you guys know how Negeri Sembilan was formed by 9 other states? Johol was one of the states. hehehe. That's all. =P

Anyway, back to my story. Yeah, so people often ask me,

Doh waner ade kat Ganu nie?
How come your address is in Terengganu ah?
Pelik dowh, camne ko sesat kat sana, hahaha.

Some of the typical questions I got, depending on who's asking. A local, someone I just met in college last time, or fellow Malaysians I met in uni. At first, it was kinda annoying to be answering the same questions all over again, but fair enough, those people wouldn't have thought that I've been asked the same questions so many times.

I usually just give them a short answer, again depending on who's asking.

Boh dapak kije kat sini, nok wak ganer.
My dad got a job here.
Ayah aku kerja kat Kerteh. hehehe..

Sometimes, the answers will lead to the next question.

Boh mu kije mende?
What job ah?
Keje ape dowh?

But most of the time, when people heard the word 'Kerteh', they assumed my dad works for Petronas. Which, is true to some extent. Since my dad's employer works for them. Heh.

Dang, out of topic. I wanna talk about balik kampung! Back to the topic~

Last time we always took turn, Penang this year, Johol the next year, and so. But the past few years, my family have been celebrating raya in Penang. My dad's kampung house in Johol is kinda..abandoned..which is a sad thing. I really want to celebrate raya in Penang after three years in Melbourne, but I do yearn to have my first raya in Johol after so many years. But yeah, probably I'm the only one who thinks about celebrating raya there.

The journey to Penang, unlike others who live in upper part of Terengganu and in Kelantan where they take the Gerik highway up there, my family always take the Kuantan road, sometimes we go up halfway of Genting Highlands before heading down to Tanjung Malim. But most of the time, we go by KL, and stay on the North-South Highway.

This is one of the things I love about having parents from different place. Some might say troublesome, but I say it rocks! Because at such a young age you get to travel a lot! Wahahahah! XP

(But quite sad because everyone is in different part of Malaysia that it is hard to get one whole family on the first day of Raya. Families that live close to each other and in Singapore don't really have this kind of problem I reckon)

I am looking forward to balik kampung~