Mr T

We were travelling along a side road in Gong Badak, Kuala Terengganu (Dad's hometown) when we saw a tortoise trying to cross the road. Well, it wasn't actually "trying" as it was already half way across. Mama was already panicky as there were many cars on the road. Dad obligingly stopped our car so Mama could help the poor thing.

First thing she did was to stop all moving vehicles, cars and motorbikes alike. Then she took pictures of the tortoise....teeheehee...should have told the other drivers that they were dealing with a hard core pawpawrazzi there. After that, she lifted the tortoise and put him on the grassy edge of the road. We hope that he'll be safe there. (we assume Mr T is a he because only a male would attempt what he did! har har har)

Mr T paddling his way on the tarmac....

There he was in the middle of the road. How long would it take him to finish the journey?

A closer look at Mr T.

The grassy edge which we guessed was his destination.

Does he look happy or thankful?

Angelina's note: I could swear I heard him say "thank you" to Mama. Later in the car Mama and Dad were discussing whether Mr T's hard shell can protect it from injury if it was ran over by a car. What do you think kitties?  purrr....meow!

An Afternoon with Pakcik

Eat your heart out, Aunty Ninot and Cheqna....teeheehee!

OK, now that I got that out of my furry chest, let me tell a story of an unlikely friendship between a feline and "an old man by the sea" (can't help it, Pakcik, you remind me of Hemingway's classic). It started a couple of years ago when we saw Pakcik's call sign at Uncle Awang Goneng's blog. I don't remember the subject that Pakcik blogged about that first time but we left a comment and since then the friendship flourished. We also share a mutual friend - the late Hj Abdul Malek of Sydney - who was Pakcik's school mate in the 1950s but our neighbour of five years in Sydney. We've been wanting to visit for the longest time but only last weekend we made it. What was planned to be just a short visit became almost three hours of delightful laksa/black glutinous rice bubur/mango/coconut juice session.

Pakcik Hassan of Al-Manar. Check out his blog here.

I must say that we were fascinated by the design of Pakcik's house. This is the angle from the "wakaf" at the back towards the main building.

Pakcik Hassan and Makcik Salmah flanking "you know who". We just had laksa (rice noodles in fish and coconut gravy) and dessert of black glutinous rice in sweet coconut gravy at this point of time.

Then Pakcik took out this dish of mango from his garden.....yumm.....

The same mangoes....still unripe and on the tree....

Another mango tree, laden with fruits at Pakcik's garden.

This type is called mango-apple in Malaysia.

They remind me of the R2E2 type from Queensland....hey..Mama, isn't it the mango season Down Under now?

The main reason of our visit was to have a look at Pakcik's weekend tuition class.

They were no children at the time of our visit though.

The mini library at Al-Manar (= the lighthouse).

This is Pakcik's backyard. The treehouse built for his grandchildren to play in when they visit.

Just look ahead....that's the real backyard.

Pakcik's seaview...that's why he reminds me of the Hemingway novel.

Angelina's note: Pakcik (= uncle in Malay) started Al-Manar where he gave free tuition to underprivileged children since he retires about 17 years ago. Hmm....I'm considering volunteering there as drama teacher...as I am after all a Hollywood actress. If Pakcik would accept me. Fresh fish from the local fishermen's stall would do as my wages. purrr....meow!

How I Missed Halloween

Har har har!!! I know I'm late for Halloween but better late than never, I'd say.
What happened was, we were outstation over the weekend and Mama didn't bring the lappy as she didn't want to carry too many bags. "We have the Galaxy Tab," she said, "We'll still be online." Anyway, to cut the story short, the Android failed to launch and so we were offline since Sunday morning. Now that we're able to access the lappy, we'll have to catch up on the updating, commenting and blogwalking. Bear with us, OK?

There I was zombie-fied for the Halloween that didn't happen....

Angelina's note: Thanks to Uncle Amir who helped Mama zombie-fied me. Instead of terrorising the kids in the neighbourhood, I preyed on Brad and Tom and Nicole and Mike and Nikki. har har har *evil laughs*

Tocktober a la Angelina

Angelina's note: The calendar says it's still October. So, I'm still not too late for Tocktober time, right? purr...meow!

Diwali With Lulu

Angelina's note: We celebrated Deepavali on Wednesday and was invited to HRH Monyet King's open house in the evening. Check out his blog here. Anyway, as is typical of my Mama, the first thing she did was not to "attack" the food but the resident feline, HRH Princess Lulu. She has the whitest tummy and Mama just snorgled her non-stop. Does she care that there was an audience?
According to HRH Monyet King and Aunty Sathya, Princess Lulu was a rescued cat from SPCA that they adopted three years ago. She's now approximateky five years old....still single and available. Mama said she 'd make a fine wife for Brad. Hmmm.....why Brad and not Michael? I wonder if Aunty Sathya fancies an Aussie SIL. He's lazy and a brat to boot, you know.... purrr....meow!