Raya di Perantauan

After 5 years of celebrating such meriah and elaborated raya with families, we're now back to celebrating raya di perantauan again, just like during the good old student days. Never thought that this could happen, but here we are, trying to make a living in the land of superlatives - where you can find the tallest, longest, biggest, shiniest and brightest of everything chewahhh.

Aaanyway, back to the Raya story. On Raya eve, I prepared the customary raya meal - nasi impit segera, kuah lodeh (believe it or not, it was my first time making it myself. Usually back home, saye memang tidak terlibat in the preparation of raya food, saye makan sahaje =p), kuah kacang (thanks to mom's frozen kuah kacang mix - tinggal tambah air je beb hehe. Buat from scratch, gue belum sempat belajar lagi hahaha!), sambal ikan bilis, lemang segera and ready-made serunding daging.

Di pagi Aidilfitri, got a lift from SRB's Alam Shah senior to go to sembahyang raya and jamuan raya at the Malaysian Trade Centre (Matrade). SRB accidentally met with his senior, Ejam, who has been working and living here for the past 3 years and whose wife happens to be my SIL's good friend, during one of the iftars in Matrade earlier. Since then, he and his wife have been kind enough to be our unofficial tour guide, introducing us to the best eateries and driving us around the city to explore the malls as well as for some sight-seeing (saw my first camel here during one of our 'expeditions').

Banyak varieties gak the food for the jamuan raya, which was organized by the Malaysian community here called MY-UAE (most of the AJK are veterans who are working with Matrade). So merasa gaklaa all the normal food that we usually have during raya open-house back home.

After that, went to Ejam's uncle's place for another makan2 session. His uncle works for the Emirates Airlines and he & his family has been living in Dubai for about 18 years now. And after that, went to Ejam's place pulak for another makan2, with a special dish by the wife, Eti - lamb kuzi (pergghhh, masyukkk bebbb!). And perrghhh, memang banyak kali makan beb.

Around 8-ish in the evening, we went back to the hotel, happy, full and ready for some webcam sessions with family di kampung halaman. And that's how we spent our first day of Aidilfitri in Dubai. I must say that we had an awesome time, surrounded by great food, great people and interesting conversations. Of course, it's not quite the same as having your family around, but it was nice getting to know new people here, especially fellow Malaysians as well.

Second day of Aidilfitri and perhaps the rest of it - back to exploring the malls bebehhhh =p