It was 9 o'clock in the morning, local time, by the time Adif woke up.

He must have dreamt the part where his mom woke him in the middle of the night and made him drank some milk.

The hotel room was awesome. Adif remembered his parents saying it was a real luck to find a gem of a hotel in a town as small as Phattalung.

What Adif didn't know is that his parents' original plan was to reach Ipoh on Sunday, but their road trip aboard Philmore, their beloved Volkswagen Kombi had been derailed by a faulty filter.

So there they were, tired but happy enough to be able to usher the month of Ramadan on the roads of Southern Thailand.

It was 9.30am by the time the family left Merdelong Hotel, which is located off Route 4047.

Adif didn't get breakfast, but that did not strike him as odd till later. He was caught up by the sight of a girl, who happened to be his age, who was carrying an iPad just like his.

She showed him her games. Rows and rows of app icons. Adif showed her his set of game apps, and the duo settled on playing Kitchen Fever. She didn't tell him her name, he didn't tell her his.

He vaguely heard his mom mentioning to her mom that Thale Noi's wetlands and bird park would not take too long to reach from the hotel, as the place was only about 30km away.

"OK Adif, say good bye to your friend," said his mom.

Time to go already? Wow, his dad must have gotten the Kombi's filter cleaned up really quickly!

His dad always said that the classic, low-light, air-cooled bus was easier to maintain than the classic Mini, which had way more parts than Adif's collection of toys to worry about.

The trio said good bye to the Singaporean family at the hotel lobby and Adif said a quick, heart-breaking "Bye," to the girl.

And the Volkswagen Kombi began chugging towards Malaysia, first across the rustic streets of Phattalung then on to Route 4.

It was 11.30am, Thailand time when Adif realized that he is hungry and thirsty.

"Mom, I'm hungry. Why did we skipped breakfast?" he began.

"We didn't skip. It's the first of Ramadan. That's why we went to that old coffee shop last night to eat, remember?" his mom replied.

"Didn't the hotel come with buffet breakfast?" asked Adif.

"No, the room package we picked was only THB800, no breakfast came with that," his mom explained.

"Pass me my bottle please," Adif requested for his drinking water bottle. It has Transformers characters all over it.

"No drinking either when you fast," his dad chipped in from behind the massive steering wheel.

"What?! I thought you said no eating," said Adif almost whining.

"No food when you fast, Adif. Just think about something else," said his mom.

"But water is not food! It doesn't have any taste!" petulant Adif presented an argument.

"Sorry sir, water is not allowed either, whether you consider it food or non-food item," his mom said, quite strictly too.

"But I am hungry!" Adif wailed. His parents smiled at each other. And that was annoying the heck out of him. There's nothing more annoying than having both mom and dad ganging up against him.

"I want fooooddd!" whined Adif as he jumped up and down inside the Kombi's cabin. His voice reverberated inside the large space.

"Try fasting half a day. Just half a day," coaxed his mom.

"But I am thirsty! Hungry!" Adif said with a defying jump.

"Just till 12 noon, at least you'd be clocking 8 hours of fasting," suggested his dad, who was always more forgiving than his mom. In Phattalung dusk is about an hour earlier than in Malaysia, that amount of hours should do it, thought his dad.

Adif could feel his dad coming to his side of the fence.

"I'm dying already.." Adif dramatized.

"Don't be silly. Noon is only 20 minutes away. Take the iPad, that would take your mind off food," advised his mom.

"But I'm playing Kitchen Fever! We're talking burgers and fries and cupcakes and sausages and Coke and.." Adif felt the need to rebel further. Twenty minutes sounded long in his head.

"Play something else," said his mom.

"I can't play Fruit Ninja either!" Adif complained.

His dad began laughing. OK now that's another thing that could surely rile Adif: being laughed at.

"Hungry! Mom! I'm crying! I'll drink my tears!"

Now his mom started laughing too.

"I'm going to dieeeee..."

"Here. Drink," his mom finally relented.

"Really?!" Adif can't believe his campaign gained success.

"It's already 12!"

And the Volkswagen Kombi chugged diligently into Hatyai.