Achieved!

With a sigh of relief, we left PKNS in the mid-afternoon today.

This is an annual Ramadan story, and event. We would try to get out Raya outfits as early as possible into Ramadan and always, we fail miserably. In fact, on one Ramadan, I had left it to the last weekend (24hrs before Raya!) before I got my outfit. The one last year fitted so poorly - because I had just grabbed anything that was in sight. I brought it to the tailor to alter last week and when I wore it, he laughed; this is something he has never done but he actually did, making the remark that I looked like a Waiyang (Chinese opera) performer. So this is how I have come to dread the annual trip to purchase Raya outfits.

Like many past Ramadans, I have vowed to myself I will start the journey way in advance and if anything, on the first weekend of Ramadan. Today was not the first weekend but it was early enough. The traditional place to get outfits is this place called PKNS over in Shah Alam. The first thing that hits you when you arrive at the vicinity is the amount of cars, all looking for parking and ending up parking all over the roads, blocking traffic. The weather is always unrelenting, hot, which compunds the experience. PKNS looks like Lucky Plaza and Far East Plaza all rolled into one, with hugh crowds to boot. This occassion was no different from the last, and various Ramadans past, notwithstanding it was early days in Ramadan.

Where there are crowds, hot weather, and limited parking, the only way to do things is to be "surgical". Know what you want before, make a beeline for the product, and get out! With these mission parimeters, Nisa, Farah, Mom-inlaw and Jamie went in, zero-ed in on the outfits and quickly bought them. I bought my songkohk without much ado. I was a little worried I could not find my cuff-link type buttons for my baju Melayu but a few steps away from the songkohk shop was a vendor selling them. Price negotiations are common placed in PKNS but the wares were secured after a little haggling. Both vendor, and more importantly, the customer came away pleased with the outcome.