i, k, aaaahhhh

There's just something about IKE@ that makes me feel at home.
It's not that I am crazy about the furniture.. it's just that the moment I stepped into the store, I forgot I was in S@udi.
It looked the same, it smelled the same.. even the workers are Banglas, just like the store in Mal@ysia.
For the entire moment I was there, I could've been magically transported to Damansara for all I know. The only indication that I was in an ar@b country was that instead of hotdogs and currypuffs, the snack bar sold shawarmas for one riyal, and the meatballs had a hint of cumin.
Perhaps the company I was with also helped in making me less like I was in a foreign country. After Zura was done looking at the furniture she intended to buy, we walked together browsing the downstairs marketplace, chit-chatting about this and that, in Malay. Our shrieks and giggles as we reminisced our schooldays among hung rag carpets and rattan baskets must have echoed throughout the store.

I went to IKE@ with only two things on my shopping list: a wooden dish rack to put my pot lids on, and a cork notice board for the kids' bedroom.
I came out with: 2 boxes of 6sets of 4 piece cutlery, the holey metal thingy that holds the cutleries, 2 decorative bowls, 3 cardboard boxes to put the kids' schoolwork in, a 25riyal non-stick wok, and Taufik couldnt resist getting 2 IVAR shelf units for our store room (I think he's addicted to the chemicals they spray on the pine .. coz I could see how the trolley that previously looked like it wasnt rolling fast enough through the 'other stuff', started to slow down and veer towards those metal shelves holding the stacked up pine).

Anyways.. so we had a good time. Thanx to Sunflora who showed us the way.
Traffic was a killer though. That was the other thing that made me feel like I was back in KL.

p/s Happy fasting everyone!!
p/p/s Happy Belated Birthday Tengku Aliya Tengku Saiffuddin!!!