Pakpayne In Pasir Mas

It is necessary for me to delay the posting of the final part of The Trip Down Memory Lane in order to accommodate this post about the visit of this illustrious son of Kelantan who is now currently working in Jeddah but came back to Malaysia for a family business and a short holiday in Singapore. They once lived there. Pakpayne as I first knew with his blog Bakpo~? is also known as Pak Pin or just Pp.
I had enticed him to come to Pasir Mas for a home cooked lunch/dinner even before he left the shore of Saudi Arabia. I have something to pass to him and it would be most convenient should he dropped in to say hello and stay on for lunch or dinner.
A message on Facebook from him inquiring whether he could drop in on 11th July 2011 was answered in the affirmative by joyous me. This generous man deserve the best treatment from me as he had been instrumental in motivating me to be a painter after Zendra of Zendra's Fascinations spurred me on with her purchase of my first painting even before it was done. How not to be motivated when Pak Pin ordered 10 paintings in one go and paid for them in cash up front even before I have completed even half the numbers? This man really had faith in me though I only became a painter sometime in August 2009.
We had known each other in the blogosphere and we met for the first time only in August 2008 when we had a mini gathering of bloggers in Kota bharu where Puteri Campbell and Family dropped by into Kota Bharu enroute home for the US after visiting her parents in Sarawak. The late Captain Yusoff Ahmad of The Ancient Mariner with three other friends and Adawwiyah Abid, who is another blogger was in attendance too.
Painting came into my life only in August 2009 about a year after we met, so I gather he doesn't have any inkling at all on how well or how bad my work can be. Back then I thought he was just being charitable because Pak Pin was buying paintings on the net at auctions. The paintings he was buying and selling cost more than USD500 each and most of them are the works by established world class artists. Well lucky me as I have him as my patron who in a way encourages me to be a painter.
In all Pak Pin has 11 paintings of mine gracing the walls of his home in Taman Melati, Gombak.
To commemorate his visit to my home I gave him a painting of Sawah Padi with a backdrop of Bukit Panau, the famous hillock that forms the benchmark for all land survey work in Kelantan. Bukit Panau is visible from the house where Pak Pin grew up in Pangkal Kalong, Kemubu with his late single mum as a young boy during his primary school days.

Pak Pin receiving 'Sawah Padi' from me as a token of my appreciation for his visit and support.

Pak Pin and his family had lunch at our place. Since we had a small dining area with just a table for six, we let them have lunch first and we hang around to serve them. As En. Sahlan the owner and driver of the vehicle that they rented had just had his brunch, he declined to take lunch. The sixth seat at the table was taken up by our cousin Kamal who had been acquainted with Pak Pin during his days in Dubai where Kamal's company was doing some business there.
For the lunch we had a simple spread comprising mainly of 'daging singgang', my signature siakap sweet sour, fried fish, 'ikan tawar bakar' to go with the budu and ulam-ulam, young mango slices, sambal durian of the hottest kind, petai masak tumis with cockle flesh, fried 'ikan gelama sungai kering' and a watermelon fruit dish. Since the table was so small and everything was in two's, the table seemed overflowing with food and we had to take some out to accommodate the serving plate. Pak Pin's family are small eaters and they didn't consume much.
Before leaving the house, this couple gave me this perfume with the delicious scent.
Now it will be my favourite perfume as it is bereft of any alcohol.

On his previous visit to kelantan Pak Pin gave us this gold plated commemorative plate of Dubai which is proudly displayed on a cabinet in our main guestroom.

Such a precious gift.

After a short rest and after Puan Aishah and her mother had done the Zohor prayers, we moved on to Kamal's house to see Kamal's yet to be completed Bali styled house. (Please don't imagine it to be anywhere near as huge as the ex-Selangor MB's house though). Kamal had built his Bali styled home using mainly recycled building materials he collected from buildings torn down at project sites that his company was rebuilding. It is not so much on saving of costs that he uses these recycled material as transportation costs bringing them over from KL was high but he had managed to lay his hand on high quality heavy hard wood to suit his design. Kamal by training is not only an architect but also a quantity surveyor.

Pak Pin with Kamal as viewed from a wooden arch in the garden.

Pak Pin was so impressed with the style and he was broaching the idea of creating a cluster of such villas with a gated community for sale to the many Kelantanese living in Kuala Lumpur who yearns for a second home in their home state and be used when returning to visit family and friends. He has friends who are willing to buy them. This idea not only excited Kamal but yours truly as well. Just imagine a cluster of 8 Bali style villas will translate in quite a market for original paintings for the market hungry painters in Kelantan including yours truly.
I had brought over some durians which Pak Pin had earlier brought to my house but we didn't have the stomach to consume them at my house because of the lunch. They were the best of durians with a rich yellow, thick and sweet flesh. Pak Pin had bought them in Pasir Mas from an old mak cik without bothering to bargain as we normally does. With that kind of quality, it was a bargain at RM10 per kg.

It is not only the king of fruits but also the king of durians.


Enjoying durian on the wakaf.

Dreaming of our own Bali styled Villa. Pak pin will realize the dream but me?

Pak pin took this picture. Dunno which is his subject, the family members or the wakaf?

One for the album. from left, my wife Fatthiyah, Kamal's wife Safiah, Puan Aishah and her mother.

We drove on to Pasir Mas as Pak Pin has something to do with ustaz Mat Zin, the owner of one of the top Malay jeweler in town. I won't be surprised if Pak Pin is going to open a jewelery outlet somewhere one day as everything this man touches seems to turn into Gold.
Pak Pin and Puan Aishah, thank you for the visit and gifts.