A MAGICAL DISCOVERYMy final exam ended on the 4th of January but unlike the majority of my perfectly

A MAGICAL DISCOVERY

My final exam ended on the 4th of January but unlike the majority of my perfectly normal friends,  I was reluctant to return to my hometown, Kedah right away. As much as I love Kedah and despite only going home during long breaks, I don’t quite miss it. I feel as if I have set foot to every single corner already & there’s nothing left to explore. Also, what does Kedah have that Kuala Lumpur can’t offer? KL is speckled with offbeat skyscrapers and avant-garde shopping malls. There are also a plethora exciting events & activities to attend everyday. Opportunities are everywhere and everything I need is just an Uber call away. (Uber/Grabcar hasn’t even reached Kedah yet). I find myself more productive there. Nonetheless, I refuse to regard myself as ‘kacang lupakan kulit’ because I still have that unfaltering love for the place I was born. It’s not as noisy as Bangsar and I’ve almost never encountered a traffic jam there. My introverted side also love how it has lesser people.

Since my brother Ammar wedding reception was on the 29th and my parents really needed help with wedding preps, I eventually left the gamma world city a week later to give a hand at home. Ammar’s the first child and it’s only natural that he’s the first to get hitched. Thus this was our first experience organizing our own family wedding. As first-timers, it was certainly very new to us. I barely slept at all during the nights for one week straight. I had to sew my dress, make the wedding videos, clean the entire house, make 3000 door gifts, meticulously dissect everything to rule out defects, send out invitation cards, write the emcee script, search & download wedding songs to be played at the wedding, connect with the caterer, set up the wedding hall and so much more. It doesn’t help that the only ones at home were my parents, 83 year old grandmother and my youngest 12 year old brother. Phheeewwwh, hectic indeed.

But with Allah’s help, we pushed through and got everything done within that stipulated time. The wedding yesterday went so well alhamudilliah, although I barely got to eat or take pictures of myself at the wedding. After it ended, my sisters and the newly weds went to Kepala Batas, Kedah for an outdoor shoot. We were navigated by our photographer, Shah to this very remote place. It was so secluded and we had to drive through sets of dense forests it almost felt like we were headed to Maccu Picchu. Except this wasn’t Peru, its freaking Kedah lol. I had no idea where the la la was Shah taking us. Next thing I know was we were at a quarry. But unlike any other quarries I’ve seen, this one was majestic. My eyes were glued to the white rocky mini mountains. Me and my sisters were completely in awe with the place especially as we approached a spellbinding small lake at the feet of the hills. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve seen this year MashaAllah. Yes, I was exhausted from the wedding but a place like this calls for a photoshoot. You know us, millennials. But subhanallah, now this is something I’ve never seen in KL yet.

While taking pictures there was a man who took a dip, or more like a dive. I wanted to tell him that the water, despite looking spectacularly clear and blue, it is incredibly toxic. The pH value of quarry lakes are very high and jumping into one is just like swimming in bleach or ammonia. So unless you want to be blind, have cancer or die, think twice before canon balling into these lakes. Quarry lakes or ponds are the definition of “look, don’t touch”. However the guy seemed to be having the time of his life in there and I can bet he didn’t notice me at all. So oh well, whatever floats your boat.

Long story short, the discovery of this place humbles me. Just as I thought Kedah had nothing to offer, I was corrected by Allah’s fascinating creation. Again. I was basically like Mary Lennox’s being unhappily sent to Yorkshire but taken aback the moment she entered The Secret Garden at the Misselthwaite Manor. It baffles me that in the gazillion times I’ve traveled in and out of Kedah, this was the first time I’ve set foot at such divine place. This just gives me more reason to come back to Kedah more often so I could discover more of these places.

Posted the picture onto my twitter and to my surprise, not many people know about this place. Some were also bitter and said it was heavily edited but all I did was increase the brightness a bit and reduce shadows to define the picture. Doesn’t really matter, I know what I experienced. For some reason, it got over 3k retweets. Netizens started bombarded me with inquiries, which made me guilty because all I know was it’s at Kepala Batas, Kedah. I don’t know the specifics, but iPhone’s geotagging suggests that it’s at Kampung Telaga Mas? Wallahualam.

Anyway my short trip there was epic! Guess Kuala Lumpur doesn’t really have it all, huh? Ok guys, you win.

(Hijab & dress designed by yours truly, shoes from Christy Ng, Bag from Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club)