Day 2 (16/3/2008) - Kaget

"Kaget" is an Indonesian word. In Bahasa Malaysia it is "terkejut" (loosely translates into suprised / shocked). My day started at 4.30am. Not because I was suprised / shocked. Neither were there anything wrong with the mattress nor the room. It's just that I tend to have sleeping problem every now and then. I tossed and turned, trying to get some more sleep. Everyone else were sound asleep (Mutiara's mom didn't let me sleep alone in the guest room downstair). So there I was, tossing and turning, but at the same time trying hard not to wake the rest of the family.

I finally tiptoed out of the room when I heard the call of Subuh prayer from nearby mosque. In fact from the echoes, I think there were a few mosques nearby. I went down to the guest room. I took a bath. The water was cold. I was chilled to the bones. As I lay in bed to get myself warm, I heard the sisters leaving for their Sunday mass. It was probably fifteen minutes to 6am.

I must have dozed off. The next thing I heard was Mutiara's mom sweeping the house compound. Thinking of helping her, I went out. However, by the time I saw her, she had already finished sweeping. She offered me the drinks that she had prepared earlier before continuing with her laundry. Before I could drink, I started coughing and coughing. I retreated to the guest room. Lucky for me I brought Mr Puffer along. I lay down in bed while waiting for Mr Puffer to do its magic. Before I knew it, I fell asleep.

I was awaken by the sound of Mutiara's anklet. She came into the room to check me out. I think her mom told her about my coughs. She was smartly dressed - wearing a blaus and a skirt. She enquired if everything was okay. Naturally I would say yes because by then I had stopped coughing. We would go out for breakfast after she changes her clothes. And so we did. The five of us - Mutiara, her "pacar" (who from now on will be known as MP), Kakak, her "pacar" (KP) and me. Mutiara's mom didn't come along. According to Mutiara, her mom wanted to go to the market.

We walked out to the small main road. Then we proceed to walk along it. 'Along' is not exactly the right word. It was more like we hogged one whole lane. I was sceptical. I walked at the leftmost side of the road (closest to the sidewalk). I asked Mutiara if it was okay to walk in the middle of the road and why weren't we using the sidewalk. She said it was okay because it was a weekend. On weekdays, they use the side walk. No sooner than she finished her sentences, we were honked by a MPV-kind-of-van.

Mutiara was kind of angry with the van. She gave the driver a dagger-like-stare. She was saying some thing along the line that driver was the guilty one (of course the whole time it happened, the driver had the window closed so whoever in the van couldn't hear us). At the back of my head, I couldn't stop laughing the irony of the situation. It was us who hogged the lane. The van had every right to honk us!

After a few minutes walk, we reached our destination: "Pasar Kaget". According to Mutiara, this 'instant' market place only happened on weekends. Stalls were set up along some roads. Various things were sold. Clothes, accessories, cooking utensils, and even pets. But no raw ingredient (like meat, and vegetables). I told Mutiara that in Malaysia the markets that happen on weekends are called "Pasar Minggu". Then there are markets that happen at nights ("Pasar Malam"), and markets specially for farmers to sell their produce ("Pasar Tani"). The scene in "Pasar Kaget" greatly resembled the scene of "Pasar Minggu".

While walking through the crowd, they made sure that I walked in the middle of them and not got lost or left behind. I saw some familiar "kueh" (pastry). "Kueh ketayap" as it is widely known in Malaysia, is called "dadar unti" (I think I got the name right). There were a few unfamiliar things that I saw. But I was more "kaget" when they finally picked a place to eat!