Sayonara KL, Hello Kerteh!

Hari ini genap seminggu saya menjadi warga Kerteh. Rumah baru selesai dikemas dan barulah dalam keadaan yang terhormat sedikit untuk menerima tetamu. Mulanya, saya bercadang untuk meletakkan post “Sayonara KL” di Facebook dengan gambar terakhir saya di KL dan diikuti dengan post “Hello Kerteh” dengan gambar pertama saya di Kerteh, tetapi saya membatalkan niat tersebut. Too much drama. 🙂

I like it a lot here.

Tapi sebelum kita “Hello Kerteh”, let me “Sayonara KL” dulu.

KL has been nice to me. I learned a lot and to put it in a 7 years perspective, I did live my life to the fullest-all 7 years combined, especially the early years. It is just that towards the end of my stay, particularly after completing my MBA, I can sense that there is not much that I can do anymore there without further investing more time in it, and speaking of time it is the one thing that I don’t have much. The work life balance has gone completely.

The positive side is the food. Particularly in the Wangsa Maju/Sri Rampai area where I stayed, it’s food heaven. If local niche food is your thing, KL has Gobang Maju Ikan Patin, nostalgic food, Nasi Vanggey Ipoh, Middle Eastern food, Hadramawt, Zam-Zam and the best is Al Rawsha that rules them all. Not to mention tasty snacks like Wahab Cendol and my favourite mamak, Ali Maju.

Anyway KL, we had a good run. Thank you.

Now for Kerteh, I like this town a lot.

The food choice are not that abundant, but for a simple man if you can be satisfied enough with pisang goreng and keropok lekor, you are in for a treat. And what Kerteh can’t match for lunch and dinner, it made it up with breakfast.

Here, the breakfast choice is overwhelming. For an outsiders, it might sound intimidating and downright unhealthy, alternating between nasi minyak, nasi lemak, nasi dagang and nasi berlauk for breakfast, but being an East Coast guy myself, I was raised having those foods for breakfast, I am in dejavu. 🙂

Di Kerteh, option untuk shopping tak banyak. Yang ada cuma Mesra Mall. For “official” center like TMPoint, TNB, Hospital and other similar services, the nearest town is in Kemaman. Semalam, saya mencari barang-barang rumah (di kedai hardware, kedai perabot dan kedai dua ringgit). Bertolak pukul 10 lebih pagi. Selepas habis pusing dan shopping sakan (kedai RM2 je pun), baru pukul 12.30PM. Unheard of!

Di KL, satu shopping trip macam tu easily akan jadi pukul 3 at least sebab ada kedai-kedainya banyak dan luas. Pusing dalam satu kedai pun dah berjam-jam. Life dekat sini lebih laid back.

Stay tune for more. 🙂

Sabri