Trip to Raub

Hanya satu baris soalan saje yang membawa aku ke Raub kelmarin. Malam Jumaat lepas, di Jazz Festival, Abg Usop tanya sama aku "Nak gi makan buah tak kat Raub?" dan sebelum aku dapat bertanya lebih dia sound, "Jangan tanya kampung sape, esok 8.30am amik abang kat rumah kita gi sekali..."

And on that cold, rainy Saturday morning I forced myself out of bed eventhough I just had 3 1/2 hours of sleep to drive to Taman Permata before heading to Raub. I brought along my swimsuit (seluar pendek je) in case we may stop at any waterfall along the way and some fresh clothes in case we may end up staying over night somewhere.

We made our move at around 10am from Taman Permta and made our first stop at Restoran Farhan in Raub for lunch. While having nasi with masak lemak pucuk paku and ikan keli masak cili, Bro Usop received a call from the host asking what time we'll be arriving since they already prepared lunch that includes gulai tempoyak ikan patin. Menyesal berenti makan and we stopped eating our lunch right away.

Walaupun perut aku dah agak kekenyangan dan mungkin aku tak dapat nak belasah tempoyak ikan patin tu, ada hikmah berenti di Restoran Farhan tu. At least I get to know another way to express my love to someone... by treating her to this roti "I love you", which I don't think I could find anywhere else. It's just a roti telur + susu + kaya. When I asked one makcik who works there, she said it's quite sweet and liked by kids.

Then, with perut half full, we drove to Kg Jeruas, Raub to the host's house. And our welcome treat includes durian (kopek sendiri), rambutan, dokong, manggis and buah bidara <-- I just knew buah bidara is buah mata kucing yang buah2 lain, orang kopek kan. Tak sempat bukak kasut lagi, aku dah belasah 2 biji durian, tanpa segan silu macam dah lama kenal. I don't think I'd behave like yesterday even if it's my in-law's house. :-)

Many people would ask, dusun siapa or kampung siapa? Ok, get a piece of paper and draw a family tree. You know Bro Usop (from previous entry), dia pangkat abang angkat aku. Then, Bro Usop has a friend, Abg Lan but he passed away two months ago. Bro Mazlan had a girlriend, Cik Melati (nama hiasan) and Cik Melati has an office mate, Cik Wati (nama sebenar). And this is Cik Wati's mother's house and the dusun belongs to Cik Wati's mother.

Memang takde kena mengena atau talian kekeluargaan pun. But, since Cik Wati knew Bro Mazlan and since he passed away, she keeps contact with Bro Usop. So, if Bro Usop know her, I also know her lah.. and best part, Cik Wati's mother pun satu kepala whom can get into our kepala yang 1/4 from all screws dah tercabut ni (Cik Wati pun sama) and we can get into her kepala yang keep on thanking God and "berserah kepada Allah". Memang best makcik ni, she's 67.

So, after our welcome treat my perut is already 3/4 full and I could only eat nasi a little, tak dapat nak belasah tempoyak ikan patin tu. And there's another menu I just knew, this is one of Pahang delicacies, they said. Sambal terung (it's black) with ikan bilis. Ya salaaaammm sedaaappp siap aku bungkus sepaket nak makan dgn roti breakfast on Monday. Again, to remind all of you, memang takde talian persaudaraan antara aku and the host :-)

Then, we proceed to dusun somewhere in Kg Budu in Raub. Armed with parang in one hand one inside seluar and my camera in another hand, we managed to bring back 25 durians (there was another car from KL, Cik Wati's colleague - so have to share lah), no dokong or manggis because none of us want to climb up the trees. And best part, Cik Wati and her mother were in our car going to the dusun. When Bro Usop and myself ask for direction or details about the dusun, we keep on refering it as 'dusun kita'. Again, to remind all of you, memang takde talian persaudaraan antara aku and the host :-)

And on the way home, like asking his sons, Cik Wati's mother asked us to make a detour to go to pekan sehari Raub to buy some foods or veges or lauks. And like obedient sons, we just followed. Very funny. And Bro Usop and I didn't have much to see at the pekan sehari so we just lepak in one shop having teh while waiting for Cik Wati and her mother to do their shopping. Oh yeah, Bro Usop bought some petai.

Before we head back to KL, we had another round of foods and fruits and siap mandi air kolah, no water heater included!