An excursion down south

On Sunday, I went back to my mother's hometown a.k.a. my aunt's house.

My cousin and his wife gave birth to a girl on Friday,

We started our journey to Muar at around 10.50 a.m.

12.00 p.m., we stopped at Ayer Keroh R&R (southbound) for lunch.

We continued our journey at around 1 something.

However, we didn't straight away go to visit my cousin.

Instead, we go to the 'mystical' mountain of Tangkak-Gunung Ledang. And yes, I did climb but untill before the restricted area, which is just a trail to the peak instead stairs.

At the fenced point, it is 900 feet (274 m).

I didn't go for a swim in the waterfalls. Yes, it is magnificent, but I didn't expect to go for a detour to Mount Ophir.

It was somewhere 3 something when we got down. Then we head to Bandar Maharani, which is the town centre of Muar. We had tea in a shop, well actually we bought food from the stalls outside the coffee shop and just buy drinks from the shop. Some local delicacies-otak-otak and their Char Kuey Teow with "Teh Si Min Tim" as our tea. The otak-otak is nice, but the tea is unacceptable, my father complained.

Then, we head to my Aunt's house, in Bentayan. I didn't expect my cousin's wife can be released so early. So, I'm a little shocked to see they are there. We spend 2-3 hours there.

Night falls as we head to the hawker centre in the area, where we explore more local dishes. The centre of attraction came a little late as there are many customers had ordered earlier than us, and we had finished our 'main course'-yam rice, before it came. What do I mean? It is the unmistakably Fried Oyster with Egg.

It is 8 something and we head to my Grandmother's house for accommodation. On the way back, we got mesmerised with the signboard showing "1kg 50 cents". It is the season of harvest. Fruit harvest. And the signboard showing durian sold at 50 cents per kg.

A bargain, isn't it? Well, we are fooled. There is no such thing as 50 cents per kg. The cheapest is RM1 per kg. And that type of durians are poor in quality. Anyway, we bought some mangosteens and durians, eventually.

It is 9 something we arrived my grandmother's house. We ate the durians we just bought as it is opened and repacked. But there are some we put in grandmother's fridge.

Little bit later, we all went to bed. It is not so suitable to stay up so late in a village.

Next day morning, we had the breakfast that prepared by grandmother. Then, we packed up our things and leave the house at around 10. We stopped by at aunt's house to give some things that grandmother wants to give to my aunt.

Then, we went to Melaka instead going back home straight away. My mother wants to eat chicken rice balls, but my father brought us to a restaurant to eat mixed rice. Later, my mother wanted to go to Jonker Walk. But neither of us knows the directions. So I asked the owner of the restaurant about the directions. She said that Jonker Walk is within walking distance.

But, do you want to walk under the 1 p.m. sun? Eventually, my father brought us to Dataran Pahlawan's carpark to park our car. Then, we walk on foot to Jonker Walk. There are many historic sites along the way-the stadium where Tunku announce the date of Independence Day, which is now only left a part of it; A'Famosa Wall, Stadhuys and St. Paul Church.

After visiting Jonker Walk, we went back home, and of course we stopped by in Ayer Keroh R&R (northbound) for tea. We, like chariots, racing back home as it is a working day. And usually 5 pm car starting to cramp up the highways. Luckily it is a little jamed.

We reached home at 5.45 p.m.