THE TEA PARTY WITH THE KING IN PONTIAN

I went to Pontian this afternoon, representing my Principal, to attend a Tea Party with the King. However, it was not really a tea party as we had heavy food i.e. Briyani Rice. We also did not meet the King, or perhaps we did not wait right until the end of the programme.

I arrived much earlier at about 12:30 p.m. and went to the mosque for the afternoon prayer. Lucky enough, I met a friend, Mr. Mohd. Khir, and I now had at least someone to talk to.

From the mosque, we took the shuttle bus provided to the venue, Dataran Pontian to be specific.

Playing tourist was mandatory and Mr. Mohd. Khir happily obliged.

There were a few huge tents that could accommodate thousand of people at one time. We were seated not in the main/royal tent so we could not really see what was happening.

There were a few familiar faces that I saw, as well as three ex-colleagues of SMK Taman Universiti and SMK Dato' Jaafar.

One of the MPs/Ministers was making his round in the tent and we managed to take a photo with him.

We left right after we had had our late lunch (which should be tea). However before that, I got to see an ex-student of SMK Taman Universiti. He was suggesting we stopped for coffee somewhere but I was too full and it was already late. I also had to drive home 50++ kilometres.

The Tea Party could be my very last official event attended as a civil servant.