AidilAdha 2011

Salam readers,

As promised, this is my AidilAdha story...

Since the day I was born, I could not remember a time when I had to take a bus to my father's hometown.  But due to ridiculous work time management, this time I had to. All because my father arrange a huge family reunion and followed by Qurban for our family this year.

The Journey

Must it be pink??

It was a adventurous journey, ticket bus in hand, I set off from home by cab to the LRT station at 12noon, onwards to KL Sentral by LRT, got stuck at KL Sentral close to 1 1/2 hour as train was delayed, waited at the designated ladies coach section but end up being pushed to a co-coach (luckily the Arab guy standing in front of me was the cutest person of the day), then onwards to TBS by KTM Komuter, onwards to Pontian, Johor by bus at 3.30pm with the holiday traffic madness from K.L to Ayer Keroh, had Kenny Roger's lunch on the bus then focused on work for the next three hours until my battery went dead...

Work!!!

KR Lunch!

Then onwards to Tg Piai by car.... fuh! It was really a long journey arriving the final destination close to 10.00pm.  


The Destination


Tanjung Piai is a cape in Johor which is the southernmost point of Peninsular Malaysia and thus the most southern point of mainland Asia. The skyline of Singapore is visible across Johor Strait from the point. It features seafood restaurants and a resort, perched on wooden jetties that are surrounded by a rugged and rarefied coastline of unspoilt mangrove forest.


This landmark was erected in 2001 to mark Tanjung Piai's unique geographical position as the "Southernmost Tip of Mainland Asia". The exact location of the tip is latitude 01°16 North / longitude 103°30.46 East. The landmark is made of eco-friendly reinforced concrete, measures 20 metres high and 10 metres wide. The monument's stark grey colour represents the rich mangroves and mudflats of Tanjung Piai.

It is adorned by two fronds of the Paku Piai Raya (Acrostichum aureum) - the indigenous fern from which Tanjung Piai derives its name. Tanjung means 'cape' in Malay, and Tanjung Piai is named after this Piai fern, which flourished in abundance in the mangroves here. The atlas of the world emblazoned across the top of the geographical marker enables visitors to truly understand and appreciate exactly where they are on the vast land mass that is Asia.

The Location

We stayed in a two room bungalow at Tanjung Piai Resort. Since I reached there late, I did not have the time to roam about but what I gather from my mom, it has only 1 bungalow unit (the one which we were staying), some single room units and dormitories. There is a seafood restaurant, convenience shop and a conference room. 

 Although our bungalow has only two rooms, it has an attic large enough to fit the entire family. 

At night, you can see across the Straits of Tebrau to Singapore's night light along with lights from numerous ships that are awaiting to be berthed. Some of the guests went for night fishing. Me... I had to finish my work.No fun. But I did venture out a bit to get some fresh sea air in between.

The Event

I can't really tell you much about the event as when I arrived, it was almost over. But the event was sponsored by one of my aunt, a Datin and supposed to gather families descendant from Tok Bedul, my great, great, great grandfather (Am I correct here?). It was said almost 180 people were there. There were family prayers, dinner and an orientation session. P.A system was not that good, so those at the back had difficulty in making out what was said. My dad was the MC for the night. Here are some of the pictures taken by my photographer for the night son.

See my cheese tarts in the photograph? According to my mom, it was gone in less then 10 minutes.

Aidil Adha Day











The next day, Aidiladha, the qurban took place at my aunty's house. There were 2 cows slaughtered, one of them was for my whole family.  Symbolizing the act when Ibrahim a.s was instructed to kill Ismail a.s as an act of obedience to Allah s.w.t. Ibrahim was willing to do it as prove of his obedience but Allah s.w.t then instructed him to slaughter a ram instead of his son. A bull equals to 7 parts, one part to one person. The meat is then distributed to the needy.


 And a feast at my aunty's place is not a feast without her special dish i.e BURASAK. Pure Bugis would know what this is and only a handful of people knows how to make it. It is basically cooked coconut rice wrapped in banana leaf, boiled to perfection like you would boil ketupat. But the banana leaf used here is only a certain type of  banana leaf and it is boiled longer than ketupat. Also it is eaten, not with rendang, but with  Assam Pedas Duduk Wolf Herring (Ikan Parang). "Duduk" means its void of any fancy ingredients of the usual Assam  Pedas. It was told that long time ago, this was the food carried by the buginese warriors when they went to war. Due to its long boiling process, it stays good for a long period of time

The next day, on our journey back to K.L, we stopped by at Kaya Ara Pasong, another aunt's place. They are from my mother's side of the family. I haven't seen them in years but people can easily recognize me as I am my mother's copy cat. After another lunch, went back to K.L and snooze along the way.