27th MAY 2013 - Mersing

I did not actually plan this seriously. The idea was just hovering at the back of my mind to visit Hafizah this holidays. The night before we left for Kluang, I was just surfing the internet for available rooms in Mersing. As it was meant to be, although most of the standard hotels were fully booked as it was the holidays, I managed to get a budget room through booking.com. It was always this way. If Allah wills it, everything will go as you wish, want, hope and more. You ask for so little yet He graces you with so much more. All I wanted was to see Pitt (her nickname in college) before anything should happen. I had the opportunity, the financial resources (thanks to Income Tax for refunding my overpaid taxes) and the boys.

Thus, we started for Mersing at about 9:00am from Kak Leha's house instead of Kluang as planned. It was a three and a half hour journey with winding and hilly roads all the 91 km (from Kluang) to Mersing. After some time, I began to get dizzy and Syafiq took the wheels. There was nothing much to see except oil palm estate.....

The clearing of the land and replanting

The lush, green palm trees...

The long road ahead ... winding and hilly ...and the palm oil estate as far as the eyes can see....

Finally, the junction to Mersing ... one long hour of winding road is enough to trigger off my motion sickness ...;-( 

With the smart phone and GPS from Syafiq's mobile phone, we managed to find the hotel after going round the roundabout a few times. By this time, Pitt was worried if we had lost our way. We checked in the budget hotel and performed our prayers first before proceeding to Pitt's house for lunch.

A budget hotel with 20 rooms - right in the town of Mersing

The entrance ...

I had no expectations and were ready to accept whatever came my way. Alhamdulillah. I had booked a family room for 3 adults. The room was small with a double bed and a single bed. It had basic amenities like air-conditioner and TV with Astro. It did not matter as the boys had their laptops. Wifi service was available. No frills like coffee/tea making facilities or even a cupboard. What was important was the toilet was clean and the room was reasonable. So, we settled for the night in Mersing. :-D)