WELCOMING TWO UPM TESL FRIENDS TO JOHOR BAHRU

Two UPM TESL Class of 1993 friends were in town. They came all the way from Kuala Lumpur on ETS Train for a short one-night staycation trip with other female friends. Someone else was taking the role as the main host so I happily followed with her plans.

Puan Fazilah Abdullah fetched them at the train station in Kempas Baru and took them to Kacang Pool Haji Restaurant where I met them. This was like the warm up session where we had Kacang Pool, Mee Rebus and Lontong Kering for tea.

All the food should suffice before meeting again later for dinner [READ HERE]. And there would be another participant joining.

ATTENDING THE WEDDING OF AN ACQUAINTANCE'S DAUGTHER

I was invited to a wedding reception of an acquaintance's daughter. Even though we seldom meet, the fact that I was still invited and he took the effort to send me a wedding invitation card by hand to me at home, I had no reason not to attend the event.

The venue was at the Community Hall of Kampung Dato' Suleiman Menteri which is just a stone's throw away from my house.

I marched straight to the main buffet table, which was serving Briyani Rice, not realizing there were other stations too which offered Chicken Rice, Mee Rebus (a type of noodles) and boiled tapioca to be eaten with sambal and salted fish.But it was too late as my plate was already full.

Chicken Rice

Mee Rebus

boiled tapioca

Briyani Rice

Mr. Rashid, the bride's father

The only person I knew in the hall was the father of the bride, so it was only a short dine in session. I still felt happy to be there even though there was no conversation with anyone at all while eating.

ATTENDING A WEDDING RECEPTION IN SUNGAI PETANI, KEDAH

   17th MAY 2025    ¬ The wedding reception today took place in Institut Kemahiran Mara [IKM} in Sungai Petani, Kedah. It was the reception of the son of Puan Suhana Abdul Jamal, a friend of UPM TESL Class of 1993. I happily flew all the way from Johor Bahru to be there.

the groom's aunties

the early birds

before more guests arrived,
with the parents of the groom

Mee Rebus

Roti Canai

Apam Lenggang

the TESL ladies' husbands

A few of our friends had actually attended the reception done for the bride's side in Kuala Lumpur the month before. Hence, only the northern people were there [except me].

with the bride and groom

with the proud parents

the very last one outstide the
hall before leaving

Congratulations to Puan Suhana and Mr. Fakhrul on the addition of the new member into the family. May we be invited again for other receptions in the future.

It was another fun time getting reunited with old friends who are residing in Kedah and Penang. Hoping we could see each other again in similar event soon.

THE BREAKFAST SESSION WITH AN EX-COLLEAGUE AND HER FAMILY AT SELERA JOHOR

Puan Nor 'Aini Mohd. Nor and her husband was in town. They were attending the Alumni Hi-Tea event at SMK Taman Universiti on Saturday. They came all the way from Nilai, Negeri Sembilan and was staying here for a few days.

A breakfast date was set with them this morning at Selera Johor.This time they were accompanied by their daughter who is currently teaching in SMK Mutiara Rini. We now had more time to chat over breakfast.

Thanks Puan Nor 'Aini and Mr. Abdul Rahman for coming from faraway to attend the gathering. It is always my pleasure to see old friends and meet them for meals, especially now I have a lot of time. Hope to see them again some other time.

THE BREAKFAST SESSION BEFORE GOING BACK TO SEREMBAN

Mee Rebus Johor

The original plan was to go back to Pondok Santapan [READ HERE], the place we went to get breakfast the day before. However, when I arrived there, the place was not opened on Friday. I called Puan Sakinah Ismail and a spontaneous decision was made to go to Selera Johor which was nearby.

Kacang Pool

We were there at 8:00 a.m. Surprisingly, a few stalls were not operating and a few others were just about to be opened. Before this, the stalls were ready for business quite early.

Fried Banana

We still enjoyed the breakfast which comprised of authentic Johor food such as Kacang Pool, Mee Rebus and Fried Banana dipped spicy soy sauce. Puan Sakinah and her husband drove back straight to Seremban right after. This should conclude our introductory gastronomic adventure for 2025. Hopefully we could do this again some other time soon.