Cuti Cuti Malaysia 5: Dec 27 2006, Fifth Day, Wednesday, Kulim, Sg Sedim

We have been there once years ago and I was very sure the place has changed. With Ain as our guide we left around 1000 and it took us about 45 minutes of driving to get there. Indeed the place had changed and I did not remember at all the place that we had been the last time. My objective of going there, apart from the cool waterfall, was to walk the tree top canopy walk that they had just installed quite recently. That exactly was the first thing we did when we got there.

The Tree Top Walk was not like the one you have in either FRIM Forest Park or Gunong Tahan Park, it was a pleasant a yard wide tree top walkway made of steel mesh. Due to the mesh you could see through to the bottom that proved to be a great challenge to my wife. She managed more or less just 50 metres of the walkway. Kak Cik also chickened out at the start. Ain, Nabila, Muiz (my nieces and nephew), Mar and Kakak, marched confidently and to enjoy the walk. The highest point of the walk was 26050 mm above the tree level. We walked slowly with Mar, as always, asking a lot of questions. The kids really enjoyed it as that was our first experience. I could at least could imagine how birds would be flying as high as that. How monkeys would be swinging across trees as you were walking. You are really walking on top of and among the trees. It was just wonderful feeling inhaling the air that is full of oxygen with the sun creeping through the leaves. Soon everyone forgot about the fact that we were a few hundreds feet above the ground. At certain part of the walk all of us were quiet either enjoying the scenery or speechless because of the height. Whatever it is we all seemed to understand the meaning of being there and no words were necessary to describe it. Well, once in a while Mar would look down pointing and ask, ‘Apa tu Abah?’ and at one instance was a big monitor lizard crawling lazily on the ground. It must be really big as it seemed already big from our position. The fall from the top of the tree was breathtaking as you seeing within the thick jungle water flowing as it creeping down engaging the nature along. Moving over multiple dimension of rock formation with ease. I understood more then why water is a powerful force. Sam missed it and could only enjoy the photos that I have taken.

Eventually we had enough of the Tree Top Walk and proceeded to the other main agenda, which was ‘berendam’ session at the Sg Sedim. Like duck to water everyone peeled off their cloth into our respective swimming attire and jump into the cold water. Whenever we were hungry we got out of the water and stuff ourselves to bring a bit of heat into our body and hence ready for the water again. In fact we repeated the process until we were really pleased. (read very cold and ‘kecut’- LOL) with our achievement.

During our ‘berendam’ session we were interrupted by a nice surprise by a group of, I presumed, college students were white water rafting down Sg Sedim.

Cuti Cuti Malaysia 5: Dec 26 2006, Fourth Day, Tuesday, Alor Setar, Kulim

We woke up with no specific plan and thus took our own sweet time having breakfast at the hotel. While having a good time with my family I opened up the road map that I had with me and started to trace the possible route that I could take going south. Of course our objective for that day was Kulim but getting there could be interesting depending on how adventurous we want to be.

I decided to go to Kuala Kedah to check put the place and then go south using the Yan Kechil and Yan route with the intention on passing Lembah Bujang to really see if there were a lot of orang bujang there :). From there I was to take the Federal Route 1 South towards Sg Petani and enter the Plus highway at Sg Petani Utara interchange. Well that was the plan.

We checked out after breakfast and loaded the Ranger that by now the back of the Ranger already assumed an impression of a baggage area for Hajj pilgrim. ‘But that’s what the Ranger for’ said my dear wife when I started to tease her. Indeed, another reason why we loved the Ranger, which my son at one time named Badang, as or main transportation. Since Along was not traveling with us the task of loading the Ranger was honorably given to Baqir. Done with the loading I started to drive around Alor Setar to visit Yayasan Al Bukhary. Along the way there my children indicated a Canggih shop, if you still do not know it Canggih is the now famous brand name for school apparels, but I drove to fast to stop. Yayasan Bukhary was actually along the same road but about two kilometers ahead.

Yayasan Al Bukhary was really news to my children as they did not have a clue as to what it is and who Al Bukhary is. After I explained to them they understood but my explanation was not about the person but the aspiration and the kind of achievements of that person. It is a symbol of success and how you can spend your money to the benefit of others. The place was also beautiful to me. We did not stay long there though and left going around the same route again as my children insisted of going to the Canggih’s shop that we had missed. So another set of school cloths for them and a few more stacks for the already packed Ranger.

We drove out of Alor Star as we planned speeding towards Kuala Kedah. The sun was really shinning and heating, I guess to the envy of people in the south, the surrounding by now. We were a bit disappointed when we got to Kuala Kedah as it seemed during the day it was nothing. If not for the ferry landing it would have been another nondescript coastal town. I drove the short stretch to satisfy my curiosity and stop at the ferry terminal to pee. A thought of doing crazy thing like hoping into a ferry to Langkawi there and then did cross my mind for while. Only to be dissuaded by the fact that I would not have found a place for a night. I knew my wife was glad to see me walked back to the Ranger to assume our journey instead of going to the ticket counter :)

It was our first time on the Yan route even I did not know what to expect I knew that we would be travel passing long stretch paddy fields. It was a beautiful sight for me and I really missed it when I reminisced running within the glowing paddy fields that were ready for harvesting when I was 7 or 8 years old. I asked Baqir to take as many photos of the fields but he failed me. When you were driving along a small route or small state road you most of the time will pass through several small villages and at certain interval there will be small commercial area on each side of the road that became a meeting point for the village folks. Normally this place would consist of one sundry shop and stalls selling drinks and local kueh. If in Johor, Muar and Batu Pahat, such a place could be found at every interval of each ‘parit’ intersection. It was one ‘tali air’ after another that we passed in this case. It was a beautiful experience to me and now I regretted not stopping at any of them. We got to Yan, which is a small town, eventually and I got confused when I came to a junction with no conclusive sign board. In the end I took the one that indicated the direction to the Highway. By the time I got there an overflow of acid in my stomach that culminated into a gastronomical attack consumed me. I knew I had to stop somewhere fast for lunch. Of course I thought I was on the Lembah Bujang route and would not be expecting any town when I was surprised to read that I was approaching Guar Chempedak town. I knew then I had taken a turn too soon. Nevertheless as it turned out Guar Chempedak was a good place to stop for lunch. Strategically I happened to stop near a Taman Selera where one stall was selling all kinds of ‘lauk-lauk’. So eat all we can session started immediately. Of course at the end of it there was this one bowl of unfinished laksa with no ‘kuah’.

Famished and satisfied we left Guar Chempedak around 1400 to enter route 1 South towards Sg Petani. We did not get to Sg Petani town though as I entered the plus highway at Sg Petani Utara interchange.

It was around 1515 that we entered Kulim and straight to my sis’s place. It was not long when we decided to checked out Queensway Penang. Since a lot would want to follow we went in my sis’s Avanza. Another round of shopping occurred at Queensway and this really was in a big way as we bought two pillows, a bolster, towels and few other things. For sure the Ranger would be a packed truck after that.

On the way back I announced we were going to Sg Sedim the next day and a yell of whoppi filled the air.

Cuti Cuti Malaysia 3: To The North Again, Melaka-Kulim-Alor Setar-Penang-Ipoh-Tapah Road, Dec 22 – 30, 2005

Dec 28, 2005 (Wednesday), Kulim, Ipoh, KK, Ipoh

We had breakfast first and then loaded the Ranger with our luggage and ready to go. I did not pull into the highway like usual but instead stuck to the trunk road route 2 south. We mentioned, well I think we may have been talking about it loud enough for everyone to hear about wanting to buy a comforter, toto or whatever you called it and was recommended to buy them at Bagan Serai for a better price. So, we braved and endured the slow traffic down south. My first stop at Bagan Serai was to meet My Friend (Kawan Ku) at the Maybank. Bagai Serai is one stretch town so it was not that difficult to locate the recommended shop. We found the exact shop but there wasn’t any comforter there. But it was not a total lost though as Baqir found the brand that he wanted for his school uniform. He straight away bought a pair. Figuring we had noting to lose we went to our favorite shopping complex in Bagan Serai. It uses to be a Looking good shopping complex but now known as Venetton or something. All in all I bought a pant and a shirt and at least all of us got something each including 3 year-old Mar who was on a shoe buying craze. Who ever thought that we cannot do our major shopping in a small town like Bagai Serai. Hey, you should try it sometimes and you could be in for a surprise.

Once we had satisfied ourselves we drove down route 2 again and decided to take the highway. So at the Gunong Semanggol junction I turned right and sped towards Bukit Merah. In about 15 minutes we were on the PLUS highway going south and I floored the pedal as usual. I stopped at the Sg Perak rest area to pray and while wondering in a shop selling a pottery and only then I realized I made a mistake not stopping at Kuala Kangsar. I took to liking one particular pot and took sometimes deciding whether I should buy or not. In the end I did not but it was a birth of my craving to buy one. I told my wife so. As intended I exited to Ipoh but instead of turning right I took a wrong turn and realized that we were heading back north towards Kuala Kangsar. It was around 4 pm and I decided it was still early and continued to drive up north. It was my mistake but my family, when they saw the road sign, decided that was what I intended to do and they knew instantly what I had in mind. No complaint from them and I knew they were enjoying the consequence. Of course they also thought I was crazy. As we were passing Sg Siput I saw the Pusat Kraftangan sign on my left and immediately made a stop to check out the place. The display looked promising and we walked around admiring the handicrafts. I saw something that I like but unfortunately there wasn’t a pair. I complaint to the sales girl and she insisted that I would not find anything that is identical as they were made to be unique. I asked her can I get the pot cheaper and better in KK. She doubted it as she claimed all the potteries came from a place like hers. She was nice we thanked her and continued our journey to KK. I purposely took the old route to the new bridge as I intended to locate and stop at various pot making ventures along the way. Unfortunately we only came across one on the way to the bridge. We stopped and we were not disappointed. We looked around and managed to find something that we like. Also my kids managed to learn a thing or two on pottery as we can observe them making it there. We lingered on for a bit there chit chatting with workers. As we sat there waiting for our pot getting wrap a bus stop near the curb. On the side of the bus proudly says Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia and came out smiling a group of madams and mak ciks. My take was that they were on a critical study mission to ensure the pottery industry in KK successful by contributing their precious time and money buying a bus load of handicrafts. Am I being sarcastic? Yes, I think I am and I am stating the fact of life. Actually there is nothing to be a shame about as almost everyone is doing it. We left the place and headed for KK town where as usual our firt stop was the laksa place. After that as usual as well we went around window shopping for handicraft and I was disappointed on not finding something that I want. We got into the Ranger and headed towards my favorite shopping mall, FAJAR, but could not find any parking spot. I backtracked and found one further down the road. As we started to walk the ‘kaki lima’ unexpected ly we came across a shop that was selling the one thing that we could not get at Bagan Serai – Comforter, TOTO or whatever you called it. It was cheaper than we expected as well so we bought four, yes 4, of them. At least we had accomplished something unexpectedly and we were satisfied. Wrong! I thought I was but I had not been able to find the kind of pottery that I wanted and I decided to drive through Sayong to explore. My hunch was right as there a few cottage industries at Sayong and began to visit one of them. The first one was just ok and nothing that really interest me. I drove further and came to a small kampong’s junction and saw about three signs indicating there were three pottery making place inside. I turned and enter the small kampong road and stop at the first one I saw. It was a choice that had a surprise beyond our expectation. As I was looking around a lady owner came to assist me and from a far my wife looked on. She suddenly came closer and after a while braved herself by asking the lady whether her was so and so. To my surprise she was my wife’s cousin from Tg Tualang who has been residing and making pot there in Sayong for quite sometimes now. Small world and by the grace of Allah my persistence of wanting to satisfy myself had actually been the blessing of my wife meeting her cousin. So, instead of a buyer and seller dialogue and atmosphere it became a family reunion. Unfortunately it was getting dark and we could not stay long. We departed for Ipoh after saying goodbye and was gifted with a big tembikar of our choice.

We arrived in front of Ipoh Seri Malaysia just after maghrib. Actually I was not sure of my direction I just followed my instinct and my instinct took us around Ipoh twice. LOL. We checked in and everyone seemed to be tired and ready to retire. Fortunately or unfortunately somebody still had got to eat. I went out with that somebody, Baqir, to eat and ‘tapau’ few things.

Cuti Cuti Malaysia 3: To The North Again, Melaka-Kulim-Alor Setar-Penang-Ipoh-Tapah Road, Dec 22 – 30, 2005

Dec 27, 2005 (Tuesday, Penang, Penanti, Kulim, Penang, Kulim

I was awakened by the timer and straight away took my bath and said my Suboh prayer. I yelled everyone up and made plan for the day. The plan was to go for breakfast first, entertain ourselves a bit and check out at noon. The night before my niece called and said to us that they were going to Penang and would want us to join them. Since I have an appointment to go to Tok Wan’s place at Penanti we could not just wait for them in Penang. So we took the ferry across and headed for Kulim. Just before the tol on the Kulim Grik highway I stopped to call Tok Wan to confirm that we were coming to his place. He guided us after the Penanti exit and he was there at the entrance to what we jokingly called Ladang Sukun Sri Bainun. Tok Wan was a good host and his wife was caught by surprise by us. It didn’t matter to us as the goal is to visit Tok Wan and his family. As long as I knew Tok Wan was staying there since my sis living in Kulim that was the first time we visited him. On numerous occasions he jokingly complaint that I should report my present before going to my sis’s. We did not stay long there but long enough for me to check my emails using his laptop and wireless network.

After just long enough for us to have a glass of water we left my sis’s place for Penang again. The objective was to take my mum and cousin for a short tour of Penang. I took the cue and followed my brother in law to where ever he went and only took the initiative when we stopped at Padang Kota. Instead of staying at the Padang playing tourist, together with my niece, we went to have a ‘snack’. Snack was actually a big plate of pasembor and few other major dishes. We stayed there enjoying our ‘snack’ until we received a call from my sis to join them. The plan was to find a masjid to pray, go for dinner (a dinner? After that ‘snack?’) and lastly the Pesta Penang. I was not sure where my brother-in-law was taking us for Maghrib we went around and suddenly ended up at one masjid in the town area. When we were there then I realized it was actually a masjid in the middle of ‘woman’s favourite friend’ shopping area. The masjid was surrounded by shops, could be bazaar, selling jewelry – gold and all. Just like the gold souqs in Dubai, well sort of. No wonder the masjid is well taken care off and quite beautiful. After maghrib we took the route to the airport and stop for dinner along the way near the waterfront. The food was just so so to me in fact I did not order anything just a bite or two from the others. W just had a big snack remember? While having dinner we debated whether we should go to the Pesta. My sis and her family was arguing not to and I was not that keen either. Even I have not been there I more or less knew what to expect. But my 17 year old cousin from kampong pleaded to go and for her sake we went. It was at the tail end of the Pesta but there still a big crowd and we instantly made a contribution to make it even worse. We just walked around trying to enjoy the place and most of the time I was a naysayer to Mar’s every requests. At least it was good exercise for me after that heavy meal and I could really felt that I was tired. In the end we depart for Kulim close to midnight. I that was it for the day but as we entered Kulim I felt I need a drink and stopped at the big nasi kandar outlet to have a late supper. Actually I enjoyed teasing and treating my favorite niece, Ain, more than anything else. We came home late and immediately went to sleep.

Cuti Cuti Malaysia 3: To The North Again, Melaka-Kulim-Alor Setar-Penang-Ipoh-Tapah Road, Dec 22 – 30, 2005

Dec 26, 2005 (Monday), Alor Setar, Bukit Kayu Hitam, Penang

We had breakfast at the hotel and really took our time at it. The food were not too bad and my only complaint, I really do not understand this, why on earth did they serve the ‘ hangit’ kacang goring? In plain English hangit kancang goring means an over dry fried, blackened, peanuts. I mean the taste of carbon was so obvious. The only consolation I guess the Mat Sallehs having breakfast there might have thought that it was a local delicacy.

We checked out at 11am and headed for the new Alor Star Mall. You should know by now visiting malls is one of the most important items in our holiday itenery. The Mall was a disappointment but since we have few hours to kill we just walked around. At least my son nailed one t-shirt there. Our plan was to have lunch at the restaurant on top of Alor Star Tower. So at around half past noon we left for the tower and when we got there all we got was a bad news. The restaurant was booked for a birthday party and no place for us. Honestly deep down I was cursing, cursing for not being able to take my family up there for lunch and cursing the management of the place for allowing somebody to book the whole place. Luckily for us there was a quite decent place to eat nearby.

Generally we did not have anything really concrete to do after lunch so we began to check the tourist brochures. There several things and the closest that attracted us was just the Handicraft Centre at Kepala Batas. Two days ago that place was still at least 1 foot deep in water but on that day I was not sure but looking at the nice sunny weather that we had so far I was optimistic so we drove there. The Pusat Karaftangan was a great disappointment to us we left just after less than five minutes there. On the way out I enquired from the pak guard whether the road was clear through Jitra and he gave a good news that it was. There and then I decided to go to Bukit Air Hitam and hit the rubber hard. On the way to the highway I received a a bad news SMS from Buyong, Mede Ribut’s wife just passed away in the morning. I asked him for Mede’s HP and SMSed to him our condolences. Without missing a bit we crossed the checkpoint at approximately 3pm. We were there for about 2 hours shopping and we bought the usual stuff like jeans for Baqir and Kakak, shirts for Kak Cik, office shirts for me and chocolates. We went to the bazaar at the back of the Duty Free Shopping Complex and Baqir got his Billabong. Shopping wise it was a bit disappointment. We were back on the highway soon enough speeding south with no real intention of going anywhere. So at top speed I planned the rest of the holidays. My options were to head back to Kulim or detour to Penang for further R&R. At the very last minutes I turned towards Penang and I was greeted by a long traffic jam at the Penang bridge tol plaza and we were stuck there for about 4 minutes before we managed to squeeze through. It was an accident and the clean up had just finished. After that the traffic was normal all the way into Penang. When we were in Penang I had a decision to make about lodging and followed my instinct. We knew most hotel would be full and we would like to stay within downtown area. So we drove to Gurney Drive first and of course the places there were fully booked. We wanted to try Shangri La but there was no place for me to stop to enquire. After a couple of times driving around I decided to try Northam Towers and they had plenty of rooms and instead of tking two rooms as usual we took the junior suites as it would fit all of us. As soon as we had freshened up we went out for dinner. Dinner meant fulfilling my craving for a good nasi kandar and the only place that could do justice to that was Line Clear Nasi Kandar. I already mastered the route from my previous trip so within few minutes we were already seated. To make my day there was only one big fish head curry left for us. We shamelessly devoured, at least I was, the nasi kandar as if I have not eaten for days. After that I thought if I did not do anything interesting for the rest of the holidays I was satisfied. Everyone was tired and we decided not to do anything else but to head back to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel my wife straight away went to sleep and so did most of my children. I stayed awake for a while to watch the EPL and dozed off in the middle of the game. So the TV was the one watching me in the end until morning.

Cuti Cuti Malaysia 3: To The North Again, Melaka-Kulim-Alor Setar-Penang-Ipoh-Tapah Road, Dec 22 – 30, 2005

Dec 25, 2005 (Sunday), Kulim - Alor Star

It was Christmas but as expected we were oblivious of the day due to the mess that we had to clean up. Well, we with me not really involved accept when my service was needed to send certain cooking utensils back to their owners. The errand brought me to the same place where I had sent several things last night. It was another wedding preparation. On the way home I thought I wanted to have breakfast first so I stop at the same place I stopped the night before and when I was about to cross the road I saw there was a Pasar Minggu just further on at Penanti and decided to checked it out as I love to do visit this kind of happening in small towns or localities. I love it because I could expect different things that we used to in normal big towns. I started from one end and toured the whole bits. Not much of interesting things but the normal stuff nevertheless I like the environment. I grabbed few murtabak as quick breakfast and headed for Kulim.

I decided after breakfast to move on to the next destination but did not leave until after lunch as I hate to leave while they were still busy sorting the mess. I thought of keeping our next destination to myself but my mum asked so I announced that we were going to Alor Setar. Well generally that was the plan but if you know me by know you know what I meant. Mentioning Alor Setar didn’t mean that we were going to end up there. So we drove up the highway and found that it was a decent ride with less traffic and no rain. Trying to test the engine after recent major ‘cleaning’ I floored the pedal hard and reached Alor Setar around 1630. We cruised towards downtown and stopped at in front of the Holiday Villa to enquire and found out it was not worth spending that much for a night at a place that we have stayed before. So we drove around to look for a better deal as I remembered about Crystal Lodge or something. After a few turns we decided to stay very close to the Pasar Rabu area and the most logical place would be Grand Continental. I negotiated a good rate and checked in straight away. Once we have all our luggage we walked out towards Pasar Rabu to do our shopping. Apart from buying the souvenirs and stuff like that as usual this end of the year holiday was also the time for my children to buy their school items and they ended up picking what they need along the journey. That evening at Alor Setar they picked up their shoes and school bags. We finished our tour of that area around dusk and walked back towards the hotel. We stop at one of the stalls to have an early ‘dinner’ and while eating decided to drive around and go to another Mall. We definitely were significant contributors to the crowd in Alor Setar that night. Pacific Mall was full of people shopping for school, work or just shopping for no reason.

We ended having a late supper at the stall around the Alor Star Telecommunication Tower and made plan to come back again the next day to have lunch at the top.

Cuti Cuti Malaysia 3: To The North Again, Melaka-Kulim-Alor Setar-Penang-Ipoh-Tapah Road, Dec 22 – 30, 2005

Dec 24, 2005 (Saturday), Kulim

We were awakened by my sis’s neighbor returning home just after azan Suboh. Immediately I felt uncomfortable and could not go back to sleep. Thus, I took my bath, say my prayer and left the house soon after.

The wedding was a wedding of, what they joked, of Pak Da and Mak Da, that’s duda and janda for you, but the ceremony and the crowd that turned out were just like any other weddings. I was truly amazed and glad for the couple. The bride, my sis’s sister in law, was widowed by death and her new husband was a divorcee with three grown up kids. So, the rest of the day we were busy either helping out or eating. The well wishers kept on coming in even as late in the evening. It is a new experience for me and the reason I was told later that most them, rightly so, consider fulfilling the invitation as ‘wajib’ – religious obligation. I fully agree with his unless we have some other pressing mater and even that should not stop us from coming. The only issue with most weddings is that we fixed the time for the invitation. In big cities people would not even think to come when they were already late. Here in the north they still practice the right way of being a guest and a host respectively. Being a host to wedding here you are expected to receive guest even at odd hours and guests are expected to come even if it meant to just come to pay a courtesy visits without expecting to eat.

In the end there were two extreme of behaviors for the people in the house. Those that were so tired would just create themselves a space and went to sleep and the other extreme are those who stayed awake to chit chat until late hours. Me, I just dozed off early as usual

Cuti Cuti Malaysia 3: To The North Again, Melaka-Kulim-Alor Setar-Penang-Ipoh-Tapah Road, Dec 22 – 30, 2005

Dec 23, 2005 (Friday). Melaka – BSP - Kulim

I went down for breakfast alone at 0630 as my wife decided to have a late breakfast somewhere later. Immediately after that we checked out and on our way to Air Keroh in no time. The representative from MARDI kept calling afraid that I won’t make it. Even going to MITC was a first for me and the place was not that difficult to locate and in no time we were there. Since we were a bit early I took my wife and Mar for breakfast near the complex. As I was drinking my coffee I received another call and I decided to just walk across to the conference hall at the MITC main building. As usual I delivered my talk had refreshment and around 1130 pushed hard for home. We arrived home at about 1230 did our last minute packing, loaded the truck and off we went on the Elite Highway. The destination Kulim and the objective to get there as soon as possible. I calculated, without stopping, we could be at the Tapah R&R area around 1500 and I sped carefully. We arrived at Tapah R&R as predicted and stop for a late lunch and prayer. As we were a bit early we took our time enjoying our lunch. The rest area was swarmed with holiday makers either on the way home or, like us, just on their way for their holidays. Around 4 pm we hit the road again and we targeted to arrive at Kulim before 1800 hrs.

Anticipating that my sis place would be crowded with her relatives I had booked via the Net two rooms at Seri Malaysia Kulim for us to stay. However, along the way my niece SMSed me to persuade us to stay at her house as she predicted that there would be ‘rooms’ for us. Not trying to disappoint her I quietly agreed but I decided not to cancel the booking for buffer. We arrived at my sis amidst the chaos of people arriving, putting up the tents and cooking. We just blended immediately with the crowd and find our way through a comfort area to rest the tired body, mine at least. My sis informed us that the house next door was available for us to crash as the owner has gone somewhere and would not be coming back anytime soon. So just before maghrib we unloaded our things and made a base camp in my sis neighbor’s home. That night there weren’t many activities except for the kenduri selamat. Immediately after that I felt really tired and decided to call the day. I wondered for a while as to why I was tired and realized that I had been driving that day since morning from Melaka.