Selamat Hari Raya

I guess it's still not too late to wish everyone Selamat Hari Raya :)

Can't believe Syawal has entered its 1 week mark. How time flies. Our exhaustion of the first 3 days of raya has not ended yet, and we are already embarking on a new journey today to Bournemouth for 3 days.

Thanks to the friends here in the UK, our raya was really enjoyable. The excitement started as early as the night before raya, in which as soon as my hubby arrived home from the office on late Thursday, we packed our stuff and left for London, heading for his friend, Faizal's apartment in Elephant and Castle. To our surprise, he and his friends prepared all sorts of raya cuisine: rendang, ayam masak merah, nasi impit, you name it! And the best of all, I feel one of my goals here would soon be achieved: making new friends :)

Here are a few pics of our jalan-jalan raya :)

 The masterpiece dishes by Pecok & Co.

The ladies.. waiting for Isyak prayers and Syawal takbir

 A few of us :) credits to Syina for the pic

 

Bermaaf-maafan with hubby in front of Malaysia High Commission.. :D

After that, we made our way to Malaysia House.. for Raya Open House!

We made ourselves comfy on the grass to feast on the goooodd food :)

Hubby and I made our way back to Elephant and Castle after the open house, while the rest of the group continued their raya agenda. Commuting even around London can really take its toll on the feet.. getting on the buses and tube trains.. huh. The next day, we left London and headed for Brighton to visit our friends, Doub and Diyana, his wife.

Doub fetched us at the station, and drove us to his place at Brighton Marina. It was such a scenic place. Very different from Reading obviously. Its sandy + rocky beaches and pretty town caught us enchanted. Doub and Diyana received three other guests that weekend: Renuka with her hubby Sachin, and Sachin's French colleague, Emily. We stayed there for a night, and both of them took us around Brighton. It was really fun!

The view of private boats from the apartment balcony

Doub was really busy in the kitchen

.. and when the food was ready, Diyana was the most accommodating hostess!

Nasi lemak!! Memang sedap. Kudos the the host and hostess :)

We were brought sightseeing around Brighton, including the beach, Brighton Pier and Royal Pavilion. On that very weekend, Food and Drink Festival was held at the town center, so there were lots of stalls selling all kinds of yummy food like cupcakes, muffins, jams, cheese, you name it. 

 Brighton was jam-packed when we were here.. I guess people loved the beach and the sun

Before we called it a day, we dropped by at this interesting restaurant called Bill's (take a look at the background of the picture, those bottles are food products made by Bill's!) Well, there's Bill's in Reading too, but we prefer to have home-cooked meal everyday.. I love surprising my hubby with my cooking whenever he gets back from work :)

Three couples: myself, Diyana, Doub, Renuka, Sachin and my hubby :)

Not long after we had our lunch back at the apartment, we bid Doub and Diyana goodbye and headed home to Reading.

It was really tiring, yet it was fun! More pics will be uploaded in Facebook soon. Oh, my hubby said he will do it. 

Ahem.. a hint of us at Bournemouth :D

Well, it doesn't say much about Bournemouth.. but it's really beautiful here. Really.

Ooh, and also, happy celebrating Hari Malaysia yah.. :)