In Bintulu with the Grandchildren

Son Shaffik had to be away from Bintulu for about a week on work assignment. At the same time Air Asia had a promotion and we managed to get cheap tickets to Bintulu. Hence we ended up traveling to Bintulu while Shaffik went away for his work assignment. It was a trip we gladly took up as it has been quite a while since we spent time with the grandchildren.

Babang and Dedek were very excited when meeting us at the airport on our arrival. Babang even tried to help us with the luggage……. And we know his motive… ah hem…. I think the anticipation got the better of him and finally asked, when almost reaching the house, what it was we had in the big bag. I just nonchalantly replied that there are only clothing in the bag. Is that all? He asked and I replied yes, that’s all. He did not show any sign of disappointment though. I guess he has learnt not to take my answers seriously now!! Again he was very helpful when we reached the house. Not to prolong their agony of waiting, we opened the bags and let them have the toys and chocolates we brought for them. Even baby Haadieya Hasya was excited. So start the din in the house with the kids playing with their new toys…… baby Haadieya is now able to stand up by holding on to available supports. She will lift her hands up every time we pass by expecting to be picked up and carried. She is rather quiet though and not boisterous like the elder brothers. She smiles a lot and opened her mouth wide often almost every time when she smiles.

I spend the days sending Babang to his playschool in the mornings and fetching him back at just after noon. Dedek will follow most of the time. After sending Babang in the mornings, we will go for our morning exercise in the park by the seaside and again later in the evenings. The two boys would follow us and will usually end up playing with sand at the beach. One day, we sent Babang to his playschool without Dedek as he wanted to see his favourite cartoon programme. After our exercise we decided to have breakfast at one of the local cafes. On reaching home, Dedek as usual rushed to the car, opened Ram’s door and hugged her. He does this on our return whenever he does not follow us. But this time, he hugged Ram, then wiggled his nose and said:

Dedek: Dedek can smell something……
Tok Mi: What smell?
Dedek: Tok Mi got smell of something……
Tok Mi: Tok Mi smell of what?
Dedek: Haaa …. (With forefinger pointing upwards)….Smell of roti canai shop!!! (that’s the café we went to which was selling amongst the foodstuff, roti canai, a local delicacy, made of bread dough that is flattened thin and pan fried. It is usually taken with dhall curry. Dedek happens to like roti canai very much and can eat three pieces at one sitting!!)

We were indeed surprised. He must have a very strong sense of smell. We did not even have roti canai there!! Perhaps the smell of roti canai being fried stuck to our clothings…
So we think that is perhaps the reason why he kept hugging us whenever we return from an outing, to guess where we have been to….. heh heh…. difficult to keep secrets from this little guy……

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya