It's All Over =(

All together now... "Chak Pong!"

That's it then. 2 weeks has gone, and now so have my cousins from Brunei.

Rushdah, Faiq, 'Ilmah and Zharif have certainly been livin' it up in the 2 weeks they've been here. Practically everyday they've been asked out by eager families of Nek Pon. Places of interest include the Zoo, Night Safari, Jurong Birdpark, VivoCity, Downtown East...and I'm sure many other places I've not mentioned. So the day before they left Singapore for good, Beg Fan decided to bring along the 2nd-generation cousins along on a trip to the Singapore Science Centre. Besides the 4 siblings, these included my siblings, me, Shahmi, Nabilah, Raihan, Kamilah, Aqilah, Haziq and my nephew, Zulfikri.

The trip went swell, the little kids especially, enjoying the spectacular magic of lightworks and sounds, along with mathematical and optical illusions on display. It brings a warm feeling to my heart seeing my extended family enjoy such great cohesion between us, when other families don't even know each of their own cousins. After about 4 hours there, our convoy of 2 cars headed for West Coast to have lunch, where we stuffed ourselves crazy. I had planned to bring Ilmah and Rushdah along with me to Peninsula, because Ilmah wanted to get MY guitar picks while Rushdah wanted to get a a pair of matching man-woman necklaces (ahem!), but in the end, they watched a movie with Ibu Jawahir and Kak Muni who had asked them along.

When the day came for them to finally leave, I had to beg my CSM to let me go on a night's off just so I could send them off at the airport. And so I came, complete with my army uniform and beret. It was a tearful moment especially for the ladies, as they hugged and cried. For us guys, it was a time for macho abang-abangness as we coolly salam-ed each other and let wished them well. God knows when they shall return to Singapore...