the initial original plan was to pay a surprise visit to my grand-aunt and leave for home by after zuhur. and suddenly our family car found itself making a u-turn like it was a self-controlled machine halfway to my grand-aunt's and head straight to melaka after a few seconds of a very sudden conversation among us siblings about melaka. really funny if you ask me. and whoosh, we were speeding on the highway! we had no plans, not even an idea as to where to go and what to do there. abah said, lets just get there and decide then. melaka being near to my kampung was after a few minutes then greeting us with the fresh kampung air. okay. mere exaggeration. being in an air-conditioned vehicle, the windows weren't open so of course, no air could even be filtered through the window. no smell. but the scenery and sight of the old traditional village houses and buildings. i.love.like! Melaka is my favourite state for the kampung houses. for that love, i had to forgive the scorching heat. or rather, endure it. i love the sea! (not getting in the water most certainly) *sigh*

well, we just drove around, through the small roads seselit tengah kampung tu, then we singgah-singgah the food courts by the sea. we even went to check out the Restoran Terapung tu. but the place didnt seem so welcoming or even happening. but then, i guess its alive only at nightime. you know, the usual seafood restaurant kind, with blaring bright colourful lights and tourists and breezy wind, the smell of the salty sea kacau-kacau you while you eat..yeah, all that. and we were there midday. too early of course.

ummi was specifically scouting for food court serkam. she's been wanting to go there since forever. well, since she heard about it la. but when we went to umbai, owh, we were liking it! midday, and they were already serving seafood and all! i dah pandai belek-belek tengok if the food and fish and other things yang boleh dimakan fresh or if 7up was the culprit B) oh, what wasn't cool was that you have to pay for the 'toll' even if you just want to drive through the place..oh well, rm1 only.(umi kata, tak cukup singgit, tak cukup sejuta tau!)

well, so we found a place to eat but we decided to eat later on our way back to kampung. so off we went again on the road..

the lil kids wanted to go to the zoo. ntah baper kali kot dah pergi. but honestly, i wanted to go to the zoo too. its a great pace to unwind i think. minus the smell. that's why i tend to just do the unwinding in my imaginary zoo. meaning, in my head only.deyh..takde kawan la yg minat sama mau lepak2 jalan2 kat zoo..sume berlagak dah besar takleh jejak kaki masuk zoo..hehheh..

selingan: i have just found out that there are daily shows of malay traditional dances(zapin ofkos!!) kat kl tower every evening!! goody!

well, unfortunately for us all the zoo was packed. flooded with human. tu baru kat tempat nak beli tiket! "macam ada konsert" abah said. to even just look at the crowd from far was already suffocating. and so we made a u-turn and parked outside the taman buaya. we wanted to go on the kereta lembu but we were happy enough just looking at people taking rides on it from inside the car that we decided to not go this time around. *sigh* it surely reminded me of the safari parks back in england. we used to drive all the way to safari park during the holidays..it was fun, monkeys knocking at our window, lions staring at us making faces and sticking out our tongue few steps away, giraffe licking our window, and feeding the deers from our car window..
moooving on.. so we drove off again. we decided to check out the botanical garden. we noticed a signboard with 'kampung buku' printed on it. it also had 'laluan untuk kenderaan kecil' printed on it. after a few seconds of debating as to whether our car can be categorized as a 'kenderaan kecil' or not, majority decided to just go hit the laluan. and gowd the laluan was pelik. first, we were greeted with the residence of the pekerja2 construction from nowhere and later the road was winding in deeper and deeper into the jungle. that laluan sure reminded me of endau rompin..(oh it was beautiful..)

after almost ten minutes of cautious driving and numbers of suggestions to make a u-turn (haha) we couldnt believe our eyes with what we saw at the end of the laluan..(oh why dont i have the pictures with me now!)
ada glass house okay! not house la. an adjoining 2 storey building. it was beautiful! a book cottage! its like mini library-cum-bookstore! in the middle of a hutan! nampak sangat la baru nye. air-conditioned. 3 brand new flat screen computers for free internet use, all kinds of books! its the first of its kind in malaysia. Europe has many. Canada has one and so does Japan. amazing. really. and the walls are all out of glass. almost too similar to the lake house in 'Lake House'. (seriously widaad!) minus the lake of course.

abah had a conversation with the guard there. the guard said that it's the Government's project. i thank god for creating the person who voiced out the idea and realised it too. upcoming projects are Book Village in Johor and ..urm..Selangor..kot. ke Seremban. lupa. but...the one in johor, he said that they were going to make an on-water Floating Book Village..kat tasik mane taktau la plak. (jb ada tasik ke?) ke pantai lido? cant wait!

we spent few hours there an then we went back to Umbai for late lunch and boy the food was nyummilicious. the weather was so so pleasant too. after food-time, it was home time..all in a day's work. it was a good day. we missed zahid though. kids grow up fast, and one by one, they would leave home..oh well..we're seeing him in a few weeks time. we're off to perak this holiday. family thing. probably a week there. its school holiday pun. and btw, my lap is coming to its end in a day's time! no comment.