Mbah & Atok go to… Malang, Indonesia - Malam Lebaran and The Day Before

Mbah & Atok go to… Malang, Indonesia

Tuesday 9 April 2024

This is Mbah’s and Atok’s temporary hijrah to Malang, Indonesia for one year, for Mbah to pursue her research at Universitas Brawijaya (UB). The original posting was published in Mbah’s Facebook on 9 April 2024 (with some editing and formatting modifications made to suit this blog’s style and format).


Malam Lebaran and The Day Before

The preparations for lebaran were simpler for there was no baju, kasut etc baru yg kena beli but we did buy a new table cloth for the dining table. Menyemarakkan rasa lebaran 2024 gitew.

The ingredients for our raya meal are in the kulkas. No rendang etc for we decided to have something simpler. It looks like the theme for this year is “simpler”.

To signify our raya, just like what Mak must have is lepat. Beras pulut (ketan -  1 kg soaked for half an hour), kacang tolo (1/4 kg kacang sayur - soaked for 6 hours), sebiji kelapa, garam and Pak aji - mixed. Janur (daun kelapa) and string to wrap the ingredients. Traditionally, this is cooked for 3 hours but in the more recent time, I used noxxa for 45 minutes. With this amount of ingredients, I got 13 gemoi lepat. Alhamdulillah. We had one for buka and saving the rest for after solat sunat Aidil Fitri.





AK decided to take me around town, just to experience malam raya 2024. We went to Alun Alun area, the centre of Malang town. Macet. Truly. Just like any other town, last minute shoppers. We, too became part of the scenery. Went in a few shops just for the experience of raya eve. The difference is that there is no rows of colourful baju kurung.


We have been seeing people exchanging IDR for newer notes by the side of the road. Many people are doing this. Decided to try for an exchange of bigger notes to smaller one. I was taken by surprise. For every 100 000 in exchange of 20 00, the interest is 15 000 while for 10 000, the interest is 20 000. Quite steep.

Then I saw a group of kids going around with their ustazah I think. They were walking while reciting the takbir. They were enjoying themselves. Hari Raya experience to last for life. This is rare for I have never experienced this. Decided to run after the ustazah to share a bit of duit raya for the kids. 


Before going home, we went to Kenanga coffee cafe. AK has been saying that the coffee is nice. I said bila nak bawak? He made a u turn. For a non coffee person, I enjoyed the freezy mocha latte. Not sweet with less acidic taste. More importantly is the WiFi coverage to call the kids. They are all at home (Mbah at Kg Bukit Hijau). K Long n B Long, K Ngah n B Ngah, Muhd n Leha as well as  Afiq. They were busy cooking. Usually mama is there but this raya, they are on their own. During the call, they asked “mama nangis ke?” and I said “Tak”. AK said “Wait till tomorrow.”

Will call them again tomorrow once we could find coverage.

Home. Sigura. Takbir could be heard from the surrounding masjid. Non stop since Maghrib. Alhamdulillah. The one that I like the most is the children’s takbir. They are very enthusiastic. As I am writing, takbir is still on.

Need to be early tomorrow. Aidil Fitri eve 2024.

Night2 kids.
Night2 all.

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