my first encounter with ICT - ikan celup tepung (tempura mackerel) - the best i have ever tasted.

GMie a lecturer friend who travelled with me on this assignment: pre-retirement workshop in kuala terengganu, took our chauffeur and I to a very special place for ICT called Pok Nong, upon arrival. the small stall is not too far from the airport.

the stall is actually at the edge of the airport facing the south china sea. it was about 4 in the afternoon when we arrived and already there were hardly any empty seats left. 

i saw 5 big containers of mackerel, squid, prawns, fish sausage and mushroom all dipped into tempura flour and deep fried. the delicacies are taken with sweet sauce.

people were crowding the counter and almost fighting their way to the front to pick the best items/dishes.

the fish were fried crispy that you could eat all the side bones. the 8-inch squid was very juicy,  and the prawns were sweet and succulent. the fish sausages were crispy on the outside and tender in the inside. the mushrooms were crispy as well.

i had the time of my life, gorging those glorious food down my throat! feeling a little guilty because usually fish and sea foods were cook individually as main dishes and to be taken with plain white rice.

all it takes was few minutes! few minutes and our plates were already empty. the coconut water tasted heavenly especially in the hot and breezy weather. and suddenly i remembered what my late mum said, species that eat fish, squid and prawns without rice are  "cats".

i could not help it but felt as if we were a bunch of black-head cats that were glutton, walloping profusely the glorious ICTs'. meowwwww!

 

it could only happen to excited people like me

finally, i mean finally, after much effort of tracing my mak cik, the only surviving member of my mum's sibling, finally! i nailed her where about. she stays with her only child, in Terengganu. occasionally she returns to her home in the felda Lubok Merbau in kedah after becoming a widow two years ago, but mostly she stays in terengganu.

i got to her by a phone number of mak cik's daughter, Ana, given to me by a distance cousin of mine whom i met during a funeral of his sister in bukit mertajam.

i have not seen my mak cik for over 23 years!

last week i had an assignment to lecture in a Pre-Retirement Course in Kuala Terengganu and i thought it was a good chance of meeting with my long lost mak cik. my class was on Tuesday morning and the participants had to do a presentation on Wednesday's night.

excited as i was, the very morning of that Wednesday i took a taxi to Kerteh's Police Station and from there, Ana's husband, Hassan was to pick me up to their house as promised and the trip took two hours with a fare of rm 140. i did not imagine it was vary far.

as i was waiting at the t-junction of the police station i called Hassan who was there earlier waiting for me. he was actually parked on the same spot as i was standing! the only thing was i was in Kerteh's Police Station and he was waiting for me in Jerteh's Police Station. oh no!

looking at the sms in my phone, it was true, the address showed it was in jerteh but all the time i registered Kerteh for it's oil field. i was furious with myself for being so careless and look what it has cost me. but the worst is not over yet.

i was determine to see my mak cik no matter what! now i have to go back to Kuala Terengganu and take a taxi up north to jertih which will take 4 hours journey all together! i was stranded at the bus station out of no where along the main road in kerteh and for almost 3 hours, there was no vacant taxi, and the express buses refuse to stop until finally when all hope is gone of ever seeing my mak cik, one stoped. it only cost rm 14 with almost same journey time.

i called my cousin and told her that i was never going to make it to Jerteh and back to Kuala Terengganu for my class @ 8.30 pm on time. she said that they will take a trip down with a car.

my mak cik, ana and hassan was in stitches recalling what had just happened to me that day! we were having ict and fried ice cream (aiskrim goreng) in Batu Buruk that evening.

omg! what an ordeal but finally it was a pleasent surprise of meeting my one and only mak cik.