.....Menggapai Keluarga Sakinah Mawaddah Warahmah.....

The 50th Golden Anniversary ~ The Day

2012-01-30T15:28:00.020+08:00

After months of preparation and sleepless nights, the day that I have been waiting for finally came. I started the day early, met Fazu at JDR at around 8.30pm. We went to Petaling Street to get some flowers and bouquets, had a quick breakfast and began the work. We prepared the centre piece for all the twenty tables and later decorated the guest book table. BJ and Nordin dropped by around 10am to say hello and was impressed with the place. That gave me a lot of comfort. They later left to get the mannequin which they borrowed from a friend’s boutique for the wedding dress.

The story of how we manage to get the wedding dress is also interesting. Shasha was task to get the dress from my Mum. I know that she still keeps the dress but I couldn’t simply take it from the house. So, one night Shasha took her Chinese friend, a lecture from Taylor’s College to the house and told them that he was doing a research on Malay culture which includes weddings. They bought their story and Daddy even told them how he met Mummy and the interview was recorded. I was at TLG when Shasha text me to say that “mission is accomplished, managed to get the wedding dress and recorded the interview on how they met”. Well, did they really buy the story? I later found out after the ceremony that they totally bought the stories. Amazing job Shasha.

When I met Bj for coffee and told her about the preparation, she came up with the idea of dressing up the mannequin with the wedding dress and some accessories to make it look real and the result was just awesome although we had difficulties trying to get the wedding dress fit into the mannequin. My Mum’s waist was smaller by 2 inches than the standard size of a mannequin! Wow…..that’s how slim she was on her wedding day 50 years ago! Truly remarkable…

Later Ida and Angah arrived to lend their expertise and assistance. They are my close relatives and are wedding planners. They helped us did the setting up of the dessert table and the main buffet tables and the décor outside. By then, I was already very exhausted.

Abah later arrived with the kids after fetching Dini from the PLKN Camp in Benum Hill Raub. I was worried that Dini might miss the ceremony and was against the idea of sending her for PLKN. We sent her off on the 3 January 2012 and I doubt they would release her just after a week she reported to the camp. But I never give up hope and I prepared a letter seeking the Commander’s consideration to allow her to come back for the occasion. So, Dini very much eager and excited to join the celebration made a brave move to see the Commander with the letter and to her surprised, he let her come back. I was jumping with joy when she called on Friday asking us to fetch her from the camp. So, Abah has no choice but left after subuh prayer on Saturday to fetch her. Alhamdulillah.

At around 7pm, the whole place was set and ready. Everyone started to freshen up themselves in the rooms that we have reserved. We booked 7 rooms for our family and TLG crew and were given one complimentary suite by JDR for the golden couple. In fact, we booked the other honeymoon suite for us (there were only two suites at JDR). When the first guests arrived, I started to get panic…I have not changed and freshen up. So, I rushed to the room before other guests arrived. Since I was doing the invites, I couldn’t rely on my brothers to accept the guests. To my surprise, my luggage was missing. I frantically searched for it in all the room but couldn’t find it. Called Abah to check if he left my bag at home and he was confident that he brought my bag when he came earlier with the kids. At that time, my parents were already in the car on the way to JDR. So we could not talk over the phone and had to rely on text messages. Gosh, what should I do, all my stuff were in there! Luckily the blouse that I am supposed to wear was there because it was hanged and Adik brought it along earlier. Later Abah called to say that he indeed left the bag at home unintentionally. Too late, the guests are all here and I have to get ready. I was lucky to be wearing a black pants and Aunty brought extra tudung that I could used! I was so relief. Well, it was not that bad after all, still managed to remain within the gold and black theme.

Intan and Liz were assigned at the Guest Book Table, welcoming the guests, making them sign the guest book and handing over the door gift. I was busy receiving the guests, most of them I did not recognize. Some of them were shocked to see me since they last saw me when I was in the primary, cute and slim little girl. I did not realize that the band has not arrived and it was almost 8pm. Abah told me that he will be arriving in 10 minutes time. Gosh, I started to get panic, called them and they said they would be arriving soon. So, I text Abah asking him to slow down a bit until I get everything organized. Aunty Mie was busy lining up their friend who would be doing the “Sword Arch” on their arrivals. The army tradition of saluting newly wed couples where they would walk under it. But this time, instead of using swords (since it is against the rule for retired army officer!!), we used the golf clubs. Six of Daddy’s golfers’ colleagues already stand by at the gate with their so called sword ready to receive them.

The 50th Golden Anniversary ~ The Preparation...

2012-01-27T09:26:00.007+08:00

Since it would be a golden anniversary, everything has to be in gold and we decided on a gold and black theme for the occasion. We were lucky since Christmas was approaching and we got all the Christmas decorations from Petaling Street. I wanted to have a nice guest book table for their guest to jot down their wishes for them to keep as remembrance. With all the golden decors, I asked my brother in Pekan to help me get some branches where I could hang the decors and some of their old photos. I search for a nice guest book in Pavillion and look for any gold decorations at home that I could use to decorate the table. I even asked Aunty Mie to help me sew a gold with black spot table cloth. All set for the Guest Book table and this is the final outcome, just as I imagined it would turn out to be.

I also wanted to make a nice dessert table with all the mouth watering desserts. Thank God for the borderless world. I ended up admiring the dessert tables that I goggled in the internet. They are just gorgeous. We don’t normally take much interest in decorating dessert tables unlike the western. They even offer services for preparing dessert tables for parties and weddings. I started listing down all the desserts and candies that would go on the table all have to fit the gold and black theme. I made food labels for all the desserts and for the food served on the buffet tables. Although it sounds easy but it takes a long time especially when you are doing it all by yourself. I know for sure that Puding Di Raja will be on top of the list plus the macaroon, apam polkodot, cheese tart, almond chocolate and the highlight of it all is the chocolate fountain dip. I even search for candy jars, food tiers and trays that I would use for the table. As for the main dish, I left that to Pak Ngah from Pesona Rasa and the Chefs from TLG to handle. They are the expert and I trust that they would deliver.Well, too bad the dessert table was not captured in full...

Other decors include banner and bunting which I have asked the girl at a printing shop in Cosway to help design for me. She has been doing all the stuff for TLG. Aunty Mie helped me search for a nice doorgift. At first I wanted to give mugs to the guests but when Aunty Mie found a nice plate at Giacomo with design similar to the Old Country Rose of Royal Albert (it's Mummy's favourite dinner set!)at a very reasonable price, I straight away changed my mind and settle for the plate.I asked Himawari, a souvenir shop in Cosway to come up with a nice art work with their picture on and the design turned out well. In fact the printing cost three times more than the cost of the plate. Then, I went to the place where I normally ordered TLG T-shirts for its crew and asked them if they could help me get a bag to put the doorgift. I was lucky that they have the black woven bag on offer and would do the printing as well for RM3. Well, who would have thought that I get all these done in Cosway.

Later when I met Fazu, a close friend of mine who is the expert in event management to seek her advise on what else that need to be done, she suggested to have specially designed place mat like in Pizza Hut and KFC as decor. I thought that was a great idea, something different and unique for the table setting. As for the centre piece, I bought a shallow bowl which cost me RM5 and a candle stand from the RM2 shop and would think of a way to decorate it on the day itself. Aunty Mie and Is helped me during weekends to prepare for the decors and the doorgifts. Thanks so much for helping me out.

Just a month before the big day, I gathered my cousins, Ira, Shasha, Yana and Lin and together with Aunty Mie, we planned the programme for the night. Who would be fetching them from home, how to surprise them, who would be the MCs, photographer, video man, speeches and doas and not forgetting some entertainment. The highlights for the night were the slideshow, pulut kuning cutting, sharing moments and some tokens for the special guests. One of their friends came all the way from Sibu and one of the couple celebrated their 48th anniversary on the same day. Not forgetting Tok Uncle, being the eldest of all and is still around to tell us how it all started. I thought their presence should be acknowledged.

The preparation did not stop here. Two weeks before the ceremony, I started ordering the desserts from Pistachio Bakery and Pulut Kuning and Red Velvet Cup Cakes from Noni, my junior in STF. Then I saw facebook photos of my junior in school celebrating her in laws golden anniversary and the hall was decorated with helium balloons. The giant golden 50 balloon really caught my attention that I immediately went to the Ballonbuzz in Pavillion to search for it. To my disappointment, the 50 jumbo balloon was out of stock. I did not give up and went to Balloonbuzz in WangsaWalk and they were very helpful. They even went to JDR and gave their proposal on the decor. Of course it’s nice but that surely come with a price. Nothing is cheap these days and I was worried that I burst the budget. Alhamdulillah, some of Daddy’s friends called me up to ease some of my commitments. I truly appreciate their kindness although what is more important for me is their presence that night.

The 50th Golden Anniversary ~ The Thoughts...

2012-01-26T12:20:00.022+08:00

Tok and Tok Wan celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on 7 January 2012. 50 years of marriage is truly a great milestone for any married couples and warrant a grand celebration. I have been thinking about it since I sent a bouquet to them last year for their 49th anniversary. The thought became a reality when I started planning for the big occasion in October 2011. I wanted to make it a surprise for them since they don't always remember their anniversary! The person that came to mind to share this great idea and help me organizing the event is non other than my dearest Aunty Mie, Tok Wan’s sister. We have been doing a lot of family gatherings together before.

We started the ball rolling by booking La Rumba, a group of four who play acoustic music at weddings and dinner show. Aunty Mie has seen them performing before and I trust her choice. I quickly paid the deposit when they told me that they were available on that day.

Next was to decide on the venue. Abah quickly suggested that we do the celebration at his friend’s place. Uncle, a close friend of Abah is the care taker of a small boutique hotel in Bangsar. Abah has been to Jeumpa D’Ramo (JDR) when he had his lepak session with Uncle. When Abah told me about the place, I was a bit skeptical. The name sounds weird but Abah convinced me that JDR is the place. So, he took me there and I immediately fell in love with the place. Jeumpa D’Ramo means “Berkumpul di Serambi” in Aceh dialect. So, it fit nicely with the ceremony that we wanted to have. It’s a small hotel with 16 rooms furnished with Aceh interior and has a small hall with a nice lawn with a little swimming pool. The place is just perfect for our occasion. There were few queries received by JDR to hold function on the same date as us and we were lucky to have reserved the place earlier.

We started planning for the big day and I started goggling for ideas. I spent a lot of time watching the videos in the youtube on how people made the slideshows for the golden anniversary. So, what I need is lots of old photos, photos that would bring back their memories 50 years ago. I went to their house when they were not around to search for their old photos and got Adik and Abang to help me scan the pictures. When Abang was at home for the year end school holidays, we started our project. Abang has this hidden talent with computer and we only discovered that when he showed us the short movie he was asked to make for his school, IQKL.

The highlights of the event would be the slideshow, reminiscing their journey of life since 1962. So, every night we would sit down in front of the computer and I would tell him what to do. Trying to squeeze 50 years of marriage life in a 10 minutes movie is not an easy task. It took us almost 2 months to get the movie done and the result was just awesome. . It was a job well done by Abang and I must say that I am very proud of his work. Too bad I could not share the video here because the file is just to big. When I showed the movie to some of my friends before the occasion, it brought tears to their eyes. Infact whenever I play it over and over again, I just could not hold my tears from falling. Suddenly I realised how much they meant to me and have I done enough to make them happy. I know for sure that I would make that night so special that they would never forget for as long as they live. I know it’s gonna be tough but I would do what it takes to make it a grand celebration for them. After all, they deserve it.

What is a celebration without the people close to their heart and have been with them the last 50 years. The ceremony is supposed to be a surprise for them! So how on earth would we know who to be on our guest list. Luckily, Aunty Mie knows some of Daddy’s friends and some of them are regulars at TLG. So, we got a few of his friends to help us compiling the names. We had quite a long list of their friends, close relatives and neighbours. So, we started calling each and everyone of them.

Calling their friends proved to be quite challenging. Most of them are in their seventies and they don’t answer their mobile when the number is unknown to them. So, what we did was to leave a voice mail asking them to return call due to some urgent matter. And true enough, they returned our calls almost instantly thinking something is wrong with my Dad. We told them that they should keep the invitation under wrap and they all have been very supportive. In fact they were very excited to join the celebration and kept asking me who else I have invited. Some of them even extended the invitation to other friends and the list kept growing. We ended having almost 150guests who have confirmed their presence when the place could accommodate around 120 pax.Here goes the self-made invitation.

A December To Remember - Part 3

2012-01-25T10:05:00.006+08:00

DAY 6 : 18 Dec 2011 Sunday – Yesterday Today

There was a kenduri in Banting yesterday, the actual reason why parents came down to KL, not knowing of the event yesterday, which we had to miss in order to attend to the funeral. But we had informed the family in Banting and promised to drop by today instead. So, we went to Banting in three cars (Pak Ngah, Pak Lang and ours) for the kenduri and we in fact were not the only one who had to come a day later. There were many people having good times by the Morib beach. We had good lunch (home cook food, not bad to come on second day!) while we chit chat with the family, the wedded couple had left for another place but we sent them a congratulatory note....Barakallah.

We attended another tahlil later that night at Surau Taman Sri Hartamas, attended by the local qariah who knew the late Dr Ismail. I was informed by the local qariah, that Dr Ismail would occasionally became imam to the qariah and he liked to recite surah ‘Ar Rahman’. That ended another hectic day of visiting and meeting relatives, a very important thing that everyone needs to do. There will be another tahlil at his house in Hartamas tomorrow night but Uncle Mokhtar would be leaving for KB tomorrow. Nevertheless, the other brothers, Danial, Abdul Rahman and Zabidi would still be around.

DAY 7 : 19 Dec 2011 Monday – Moving on

I was back to work today and there was so much to be done in the office after a few days leave, which was supposed to be a family holiday. On top of that, the permit for our taman’s security system from MPS need to be renewed and I had to follow up on the progress. It was of course slow during this time of the year.

We attended another tahlil later that night, but this time it was done at the house in Hartamas and was attended by relatives from Indonesia. That was the last tahlil held in KL and everyone would be back to his/her own business after this. Nevertheless, my dad and uncle were planning for a tahlil on the 7th day at kampung Dewan Besar, Machang (where Dr Ismail was born), for the local relatives to come. After tahlil, as usual, I had to entertain Qiin to a late supper, either at TLG or Deen the mamak shop. Since it was Monday and TLG was closed, so we had tandoori chicken instead at Deen restaurant. He was happy that we entertained his normal routine and we negotiated on how he should be prepared to leave for the airport tomorrow. We agreed that I would be back home to send him and we should leave Gombak latest by 5:30 pm to be able to catch the 7:20 pm Firefly flight from Subang to Kota Bharu.

DAY 8 : 20 Dec 2011 Tuesday – Keeping a Promise

I was again back at work with so many issues cropping up towards the end of the year with not many people in the office, many were on leave....so had to do many things in very little time. Can’t really complaint but have to juggle the tasks wisely. Tok Abah went back to Kelantan with the 10:00 am bus from Greenwood and he was accompanied by Atif (this guy likes to balik kampung and is a unique guy). Pak Ngah would be going back again to Kelantan the following week for Naif’s MTS registration at Kok Lanas and would fetch Atif as well. This will be his round exactly what we had been doing for the last 5 years.

Pak Su and Tok Mama would go back later today via Firefly and this could be challenging if not handled with care. I promised I would do that latest by 5:30 pm but then again I got stuck and sucked into meetings after meetings. It was 4:30 pm and the meeting was still on and a new urgent issue came in, so I said I would delay leaving the office at 5:00 pm. When the time came, I was still stuck in office!! I was worried and restless...Pak Lang couldn’t make it as he was sick but luckily Pak Teh was around to bring Pak Su to the airport. They wanted to leave at 5:00 pm but Pak Su insisted that he held on to my promise to leave latest by 5:30 pm. At 5:30 pm, I was still in office and I called Pak Su and told him to follow Pak Teh to the airport and he agreed. Later I was told that it was quite a challenge to make him leave. Luckily Ibu went back home early anticipating the situation and managed to coax him to follow her to the airport.

It was already 5:45 pm when I was able to get out of the office and made my way towards Subang airport and to my horror the NKVE was jam packed!!! I was thinking, there goes my promise and I hope they would not run into difficulties at the airport. True enough, Pak Su didn’t want to go into the departure hall until I arrived!!!! Tried talking to him over the phone, apologizing for not keeping to my promise...although he was unhappy, he was willing to listen. Ibu and the kids were there to help convinced Pak Su that he should be moving on or otherwise the aircraft would not wait for him. At that time it was already 7:00 pm!!

Then Pak Teh came up with some tricks that made him happy...pushing him on a baggage trolley, all the way to the departure hall passing through the security...they were understanding enough to allow us to push him in using a baggage trolley...as long as it works and did not do any harm, that’s fine. So they finally left at 7:20 pm and I reached the airport at 7:15 pm...what a mess!!! Well, sometimes we can plan but we have no absolute control of whether the plan can materialize or not...we can only try and try very hard.

DAY 9 – 11 / 21 – 23 Dec 2022 Wednesday – Friday - Networking & Renovation

Don, arwah Dr Ismail’s son went back to Kelantan today with his wife and daughter, the first trip for the new family but unfortunately it was without Dr Ismail. He was fetched and entertained by Uncle Mokhtar’s family while in Kota Bharu. He was there to renew the relationship and to attend the tahlil planned for tomorrow night at Kg Dewan Besar. Shady and Ira coudn’t be there as they were occuppied with other matters. The next day, as planned, the tahlil was done in the kampung and Don had the chance to meet many of his relatives and renewed their relationship. Don and his family slept over in Krai for the night while taking the opportunity to talk to the uncle. The wife and the daughter had good times while in Kelantan enjoying the food.

On Friday, 23 December 2011, we have been busy at work trying to complete many tasks before the end of the year while trying to complete the minor renovation of a new condominium, 3 Residen @Melawati.

DAY 12 – 14 / 24 – 26 Dec 2011 Saturday – Monday – Last week of 2011

On Saturday, 24 December 2011, I had to be in PD early Saturday morning for some official company function. It was a nice and easy drive in the morning but on the way back during noon it was really a mad-mad crawl...from Seremban to Bangi...due to two separate accidents. Later in the afternoon, I attended a neighbour’s wedding kenduri at almost 4:00 pm, after arriving at 3:30 pm, having spent two hours in the mad traffic jam.

Ibu and the kids were busy with TLG matters as well as the surprised 50th wedding anniversary for Tok Wan and Tok planned for 7 January 2012. That plan was gathering a lot of steam... Faiz had been spending a lot of hours trying to create a short movie for the event and after all the time, effort and energy...he had successfully created a 9 minute movie for the 50th wedding anniversary.. he has some really good IT skills.

On Sunday, were again occupied by the condo (will write more about this place) and shopping for school stuff in the morning before attending another wedding kenduri by the neighbour.
Tok Abah was also in town as he came over by bus to send Atif back to Bangi while taking the opportunity to attend an engagement ceremony in Kota Damansara tomorrow afternoon.

Monday, 26 December 2011 it was still a pubic holiday as Christmas fell on Sunday. We attended Aliyah’s engagement ceremony at Kota Damansara, meeting many relatives in the process. After the ceremony, we sent Faiz back to IQKl as they start school one week earlier than the normal school, which is not too bad for planning purposes. So we sent him back to school at about 5:00 pm and wished him all the best for his study for this new year. Told him that he was lucky to be able to be here as the opportunity to be part of this community gets harder every year.
So there it goes, 2 weeks of stories, 2 weeks older and 2 weeks wiser. Truly a December to remember for many memorable reasons....

A December To Remember - Part 2

2012-01-17T00:14:00.019+08:00

DAY 4 : 16 Dec 2011 Friday – Gunung Jerai

It was Friday and we knew we had to make a stop somewhere for the Friday prayer so we decided to leave the family at around 11:00 am, headed for Gunung Jerai via the old trunk roads.

I’ve heard some info of this place but not much useful relevant info on the net. But through the website, we thought that the Regency Jerai Resort looks good, reasonable but had no idea how it will be. Many people had described going to the peak but no one had been there recently. We also know that we could drive up there for about 30 minutes to reach the resort.

After stopping for solat Jumaat along the way, we stopped at Sungai Petani for lunch. Everyone wanted to try the original Pelita Nasi Kandar since everyone was already starving. We then continued our journey and finally reach at the foot of Mount Jerai at about 3:30 pm. It was a nice entrance and a small park with an office of the Regency Jerai Resort was there (gave me a confidence boost) plus some vans (a mode of transport to the Resort if you decide not to drive up)..so far first impression was good but not so sure of driving up, furthermore it started to rain heavily!!

I was still skeptical about driving up so I decided to talk to the van drivers to gain more information. It was still raining but I decided to drive up because it was getting dark due to the cloudy condition. With tawakkal, we drove on.... overall acceptable road condition and safe to drive but the car must be in a very good condition. There were small and winding roads, so tight that only one vehicle can pass through safely at 2 stretches, a few corners turning 320 degrees and on rainy days, you get water rushing down through the road and the rocky surfaces. It was a challenging and scary drive for a first timer to the mountain.

The distance of 12 km takes you 30 minutes to cover and it will bring you to the resort (although the peak is higher by another 200m) and we will see a Forest Department office just before the resort. We saw many people walking, jogging or cycling up and down the mountain.

When we reached the resort entrance, it was almost dark due to the rain and our first impression was....Wow! This is not a bad place at all....and it was very cooling, misty, cloudy and windy when we checked in. I was already impressed with the place, entering it 2^nd anniversary this December.

It was fully booked (there was a Group having business function) and we got an executive room facing some open space which we could not see anything except for some spots of lights way down below, although we booked for a bigger room but we had to settle for this one due to some confusion. A bit tight for 5 big people like us!!

The compund is not too big and too small, just nice, located on the north face of the mountain facing northwards, about 78 rooms all together and there is a house for the new King under construction (what a place to relax and wind down). The rooms were cosy and nicely designed with unique bathroom.

It also has a open air restaurant called the ‘Puncak Kedah Restaurant’...the only place we can get food up here. We had our excellent dinner at the restaurant, perhaps the best restaurant at 1000 m above sea level. Although Thaqif ‘tergolek’ on the way in, due to the wet condition, we had good fun enjoying a few games of pools after dinner before we called it a day.

Earlier in the evening, I called mom to check out what’s going on in Krai and she told me that my dad will be taking a bus to KL tonight to visit his brother in hospital.

Our plan tomorrow was to take a tour exploring the historic sites of Lembah Bujang, the city of Alor Star and the seafood at Tg Dawai and Pantai Merdeka. We were also thinking of extending our stay until Sunday and making this resort as our base for accomodation. Everybody agreed to the idea.

DAY 5 : 17 Dec 2011 Saturday – Beatiful but Sad

I suddenly woke up very early in the morning...took a look at the watch and it was 2:45 am. I looked outside the room into the air...it was quiet, calm, serene, misty, cooling... peaceful.

I went back to bed and suddenly 20 minutes later, Dada was looking for the watch on my wrist...I put up 3 fingers (indicating 3:00 am) to her surprised!! She asked, “How do you know?” to which I replied “I did the same thing a few minutes ago!”, and we went back to sleep....

We woke up for Subuh at about 6:00 am and saw that there were many missed calls at around 5:00 am on our mobiles....we knew something must have happened and true enough my uncle had passed away. I immediately recalled my 2:45 am incident and I thought ... was it connected somehow? We recited surah Yasin after Subuh for him.

I was feeling very sad, the family was sad, we just lost an Uncle in less than 48 hours and we have yet to recover from the shock and sadness. Now, we lost another uncle who was very dear to us to cancer. Both of them were 61 years of age, what a coincidence. We lost a family dentist, a very nice man and a very close uncle to me, who respect and trust me...of which I highly valued. He likes our choice of local Kelantanese food and enjoys eating our home cooked food. The nurse realised it when she came for a check at 4:00 am and found he was no longer alive, Ira (her daughter) was sleeping in the room but he did not bother to wake her up to tell her of his departure, he knew she needed rest, she had done all she could to look after her dad throughout his last days.

So our plan had to change drastically and while we were planning for our next move, many calls keep coming in asking about the demise of my uncle. Normally we would be the information center for anything that happen in KL but little they knew that we were the furthest among them all!! The family had to depend on the responses from they Pak Lang, Pak Ngah and Tok Jae to help manage the situation and they did really well, a great job done.

We could not still drive down as it was still dark, misty, cloudy and windy and I need to be confident enough to drive down the winding steep roads. We had to wait for the weather conditions to improve.

Those in Kelantan will be flying into KLIA later in the day and that includes Abah because he missed his bus last night! Can you believe it?? Anyway Pak Ngah would be taking care of them.

While waiting, we had our nice breakfast at the one and only restaurant and afterwards, we took a walk around the resort. Suddenly the weather improved...less mist, less clouds and less wind....and you could see what’s down below...the sprawling green paddy fields, Alor Star in a distance and the sea to the west side. The view was just simply awesome and breathtaking....this is the only mountain in Malaysia which is close to human civilization, so when you’re at the top you don’t only see jungles and hills, but a very different view.

With the improving weather and better confidence level, we drove down and sped off to KL, breaking the speed limit most of the time, stopped at Tapah for rest and arrived at 2:00 pm, at Masjid Saidina Umar in Bukit Damansara. The jenazah has already been solatkan and was about ready to be brought to tanah perkuburan Islam at Bukit Kiara.

Shahizan was holding the edge of the kain kafan and he was about to close it when we and a few others arrived...so we had the opportunity to see his face, kissed him and recited some prayers. I could not hold my tears when I saw his face for the last time. I felt very sad to lose a very dear uncle. When we were busy preparing to go to tanah perkuburan, Pak Su started to create problems, not happy because he did not get the chance to accompany the jenazah on the van until tanah perkuburan, this is another thing that he likes to do and need to be given the first right of refusal (the other one is taking photos with bride & bride groom during wedding ceremony).

So, while we delayed our departure to talk to him, the van and the others have moved on to the Tanah Perkuburan Bukit Kiara. When we arrived a bit later, the burial was almost completed. Pak Su was left behind with mom and Pak Teh to negotiate with him and he later asked to be brought to the grave to sprinkle some water....they did that and he was ok after that.

By the time the burial was completed, we got everybody to join us for a late lunch at our house in Gombak Setia, we’ve already told nenek to prepare lunch because we thought everyone has been busy and must be feeling very hungry as each one has been busy since early morning.

The night came to a close after another tahlil at Masjid Saidina Umar at Bukit Damansara. By then, everyone had accepted the fact that Dr Ismail is gone forever and we will have to move on. One thing he told me the last time I visited him was to ensure that is grandson be a learned person on Al-Quran.

What another hectic and sad day and we were back in KL a day earlier than schedule....from the beauty of a mountain top to the reminder of a 6 feet deep home, a place in between dunia and akhirat.

Al – Fatihah...

A December To Remember - Part 1

2012-01-16T21:59:00.038+08:00

December 2011 was really a month to be remembered, what we planned to do some how coincided with the significant events that is going to unfold around the family.

Dini was finishing her SPM exam, her last paper was on Tuesday, 13 December 2012...and we wanted to fetch her. She’s finally completing her 5 years study at MTS Tanah Merah. Tok Abah, Tok Mama and Pak Su diligently visited and supported her through those times, came rain or shine or flood...the food, the rations, the time, the effort, the emotional support....just endless.. and thank you is just not enough....we pray that Allah swt will grant the three of you with the best Jannah.

I’m sure she had gained so much after 5 years, learnt to live independantly, learnt the normal secondary school syllabus...although lacking in all the luxuries of normal Government school, covered the religious syllabus, completed her hafazan Al-Quran and became an Al-Hafizah, travelled frequently by plane or bus or train between KB and KL, met many new friends while bonding closer to the grandparents and the special uncle....and of course fluent with the local dialect!

Anyway, the week before we were in Bukit Mertajam for my cousin’s engagement ceremony, which I had to do some talking. We managed to cross the Penang Bridge for dinner at Padang Kota. The Pasembor, Sotong Kangkung, Laksa Penang and Char Kuey Teow were just awesome. We wanted to spend the night in Penang but after making at least twenty calls to find a room in the island, we just gave up. All the hotels are fully booked and we ended up travelling home that very night! That was after a trip round Padang Kota on "Beca" for RM10.

That is December.... year end school holidays, weddings, engagements, kenduris, annual leaves, travels, hotels, resorts...many happenings which requires time, money, energy and a lot of planning....plus having to cope with the unpredictable 21^st century weather.

For us, it has been a hectic year and we wanted just some time together with the family, since everyone is around, a simple holiday...we opted for the exploration of the state of Kedah, the mountains, rivers, cities, beaches, people and the food of Kedah, a place we have seldom been but we believe has a lot to offer to its visitors.

So our journey began...

DAY 1 : 13 Dec 2011 Tuesday – Old & New

After Maghrib, I drove Ibu, Abang and Adik to Hentian Putra, since they were taking the bus to Krai... they wanted to travel differently than most of the normal time...probably bored with my driving! Adik was actually targetting to to be on one of the new Sani Express busses, which comes with individual audio video screen.

It has been a while since I last been to Hentian Putra...it still looks like that but older, a busy terminal for east coast bound express buses, at least now with better communication systems. Looks like the bus terminal have to move to the planned Gombak Terminal as soon as possible.

Furthermore, my uncle, Pok Mae, initially wanted to follow me back to Kelantan since he came down to KL to visit Dr Ismail after he had just returned from Hajj. Dr Ismail, was still warded in SDMC for cancer, and I was worried about his condition. The last time I saw him last week, his condition was really deteriorating and I honestly felt the time was near. So, he was always on my mind and on my radar this few days....because I expect that if anything were to happen, I will have to be there to help the family.

So the bus finally came at 10:30 pm and unfortunately it was not one of the new buses....never mind, they still got on the bus and off they went.

DAY 2 : 14 Dec 2011 Wednesday – On the Road

They arrived safely at 5:00 am and Pak Ngah came to fetch them at the main road. Pak Ngah has been busy travelling up and down from KL to Kok Lanas and Besut to secure the secondary school for Naif. We were hoping for Naif to be offered a place at MTS so Tok Abah could continue with his routine of visiting MTS every other week like what he used to do for the last 5 years.

I had to settle something at the office then to a tailor to make Faiz's school uniform, before I sped off towards Krai at about 9:00 am. Pok Mae changed his plan at the last minute so I had no choice but to drive alone. I was in Raub at 10:30 am when I realised that rear right tyre was flat and had to stop. Luckily it was right in front of a tyre workshop. It costs me RM40 to get it fixed before I could continued my journey northwards.

I came across Pak Ngah and his family near Merapoh, on his way back to KL. I arrived at 3:00 pm, had lunch and did my solat before I could rest a bit.

But then the plans kept coming....Dada wanted to buy some serving plates for TLG, so had no choice but to go to Pengkalan Kubor, because I thought there will not be enough time tomorrow. Furthermore, we wanted to fetch Dini from KB after her farewell dinner tonight.

So off we went to Pengkalan Kubor, brought Pak Su along, tried very hard to arrive there on time, but there were too many machines on the road and too many slow cars! When we arrived, it was 5:30 pm and the gate was already closed....15 minutes ago. It was a good try but not good enough...probably could have been able to make it if the tyre did not give any trouble earlier in the morning.

We went into KB, looked for Restoran Syam at Berek 12, where we were supposed to pick Dini up later that night at about 10:30 pm, we found it and then we headed to Yati Ayam Percik for dinner, it was about Maghrib then. This is one of the best eating places in KB...great for dinner, great for local Kelantanese food....the ayam percik, the nasi kerabu, the pulut ikan masin....colourful and mouth watering.

It was 8:00 pm and we had more than 2 hours before meeting Dini. We headed down to the Red Warriors’ shop to get the latest Red Warriors jersey for Adik and Pak Su. We normally get the jersey from Pengkalan Kubor but since we missed that, have no choice but to get the original one for Adik. We then proceeded to Wakaf Che Yeh (something like night market, which opens until early morning)..wondered around and bought some stuff.

We fetched Dini at 10:30 pm, after saying goodbyes to her school friends for the last 5 years. A few got offers from Darul Quran and many got called for the PLKN starting in January 2012 and Dini has no choice but to report for PLKN at Benum Hills Resort, Raub.

My battery was running so low by that time and we slowly drove back to Krai and reached home almost midnight. I was tired and that was a lot of kilometres covered in a day.

DAY 3 : 15 Dec 2011 Thursday – Next Destination

It was a relaxing early morning after a tiring day yesterday. We were not sure when to make a move, either in the morning through Rantau Panjang or later after lunch? Still contemplating where’s the first/next destination, although we knew we wanted to explore Kedah....and the kids would be asking..."Kita nak pegi mana Bah?”. Had no definite answer to that yet.

I slowly drove to the bank after breakfast and on the way back got a call from Dada saying her uncle, her mum's younger brother had passed away in Parit Buntar earlier in the morning. Innalillah.... It was less than 2 weeks ago when we last met him during his daughter’s wedding kenduri, he was happy though looking weak. The news came as a shock to us and we did not think twice except to quickly pack our stuff.

So we got an answer on the first destination and the kids got their questions answered.

We jumped into the car and sped off to Parit Buntar via Tanah Merah towards Jeli and Gerik, via the East West Highway. We stopped for a break at the Titiwangsa rest area for hot tea, coffee and buns. This must be the best rest area along this route...high in the mountains, cooling and always misty and cloudy. Banding has its own uniqueness but Titiwangsa is classic.

We briefly stopped at Gerik for solat before we continued our journey towards Parit Buntar via Selama (after heading towards Lenggong). This is a lonely winding and hilly road, nice surface and offers nice views of waterfalls cascading the walls of the rocky hills...however I don’t think it’s a good idea to travel alone at night through this road.

Finally arrived at Parit Buntar at around Asar while the body/jenazah was still at the house, so we met the family, recite some verses of the Quran, before he was brought to the nearby masjid after Asar for solat jenazah then on to the ‘tanah perkuburan’ behind the masjid, just a walking distance away. He was buried next to his mum's, what a blessing. So we made it, we had the opportunity to meet him to pay our last respect, a very nice uncle to us. May Allah swt blessed his soul and grant him Jannah.

Again, it has been a tiring long drive from Krai and we needed good rest. Without second thoughts, we rented Melor Inn (the same hotel we rented the last 2 weeks! An expert on Parit Buntar hotels by now!). We had showers, went for a wonderful dinner at the Kari Corner, a very nice food joint at Nibong Tebal that serves Ikan Bakar and Nasi Campur. They are famous for their Kari Ikan Sembilang and Gulai Telur Sotong. Ibu has been craving for kari ikan sembilang when we were here two weeks back but the restaurant was closed. Those food you can not find anywhere other than in Parit Buntar. The night ended with a tahlil at the arwah’s house.

The next morning, we visited the family and waited for Wanie and Barry to arrive from Brisbane, Australia. They just left for Australia just two days back after spending more than a week in Parit Buntar celebrating their wedding. They are now back home to be with her mother in these difficult moments. It was just sad that Uncle Abang Chak, as we fondly called him left us so soon with no sign at all. You will be dearly missed and remembered. We finally said goodbye to them and before we continued our journey to Kedah, Ibu stopped by at the famous "Pasar Kemboja" in Parit Buntar. Still did not want to waste the opportunity to do some shopping...and our journey continues.

Wedding Month...Selamat Pengantin Baru

2011-12-23T07:21:00.012+08:00

The posting was written in December and since our weekends were so occupied we did not have the chance to post this article. In fact, there were so many postings written but left unpublished. Now only we could sit down and start releasing the posting one by one. So, here goes our December stories.

Year end is here and the school session for 2011 has ended. That means school holidays and school holidays means time for people to wed. This year our weekends are fully booked with wedding invitations! It started even before the school closed on 11 November 2011. Everyone wanted to get married on 11.11.11 eventhough it is on a weekday, friday.

My cousin, Irwena did not miss the chance to join the crowd and was married to Pudin on 11.11.11 and had their weddings ceremony on 26 November 2011. we did not attend the "akad nikah" ceremony since it was on friday and we both couldn't take leave. We attended the "bersanding" ceremony on 26 November 2011 which was held at Dewan Serbaguna Kompleks Pejabat Daerah/Tanah, Klang. The hall was decorated so beautifully with pink and white as the theme colour. The Parit Buntar clans were there to celebrate the joyous occassion with Pudin and Wena. To both of you, may Allah swt bless you.

That same night we attended another wedding, this time is Abah's side, his cousin's son, Gafil. This time it is more formal since it is held in the Ballroom of Hilton KL Sentral. What can I say, the "pelamin" is just awesome, all white with a touch of blue. We were entertained by a band from Tentera Darat. That reminds me of Norshila Amin from OTD famous with her famous song "Kad Ucapan" and "Rambu Ramba". The selection of songs and their voices made the whole occassion just perfect. At the end, they sang from the advert "Adabi" and we truly enjoyed that. If you don't recall the lyrics, it's "Adabi, melazatkan, Adabi menyelerakan..." The wedding went on so smoothly except that the wedding planner tried to share the limelight with the couple. Tok Abah and Tok Mama was one of the VIP couple to be given the opportunity to "Merenjis" and dined together with the Pengantin. I dare not think about the cost spent to hold a wedding ceremony in this type of place. If you can afford it why not. We are just honoured to be invited. To Gafil and Aalia, may Allah bless your marriage and guide you both in the right path.

Next is another cousin's wedding and this time it is outside KL and in Parit Buntar. The second week of the school holidays on 2 and 3 December 2011. We arrived in Parit Buntar on the 3rd and missed the akad nikah. We were told that the ceremony was filled with laughter since Barry, the groom recited his akad in malay and was practising hard since he is a Scottish. We checked in at Melor Inn to refresh and proceeded to Pak Su's house to meet with the groom's entourage. Barry's parents, brother, uncle and friends came to accompany him and we entertained them and served them with our traditional delicacies. Later, when we received the signal that the bride is ready, we left the house accompanied by more than 10 old scooters. When we reached there, a group of boys from the St John alumni were ready to play the bagpipe and ushered us to the house. The whole set up was just lovely. The "pelamin" was gorgeous and was transported all the way from KL. Barry's entourage was so impressed with the whole ceremony and enjoyed every bit from the "merenjis" ceremony, "makan beradab" and the cake cutting. They even dance the Scottish traditional song played by the bagpipe. The whole ceremony went as planned and of course Abah did not waste the opportunity to sing and entertain the guests. To both Wanie and Barry, "Selamat Pengantin Baru. Semoga kekal ke anak cucu".

The next week, on 10 December 2011, again we traveled up north. This time to Bukit Mertajam for Abah's cousin engagement. We stayed overnight at Ayah Su's house with Tok Abah, Tok Mama, Pak Su and Pak Ngah's family. The next morning, we helped Mak Su preparing for the ceremony. Ibu was asked to do the "Sireh Junjung" for both sides and was not prepared. Luckily Mak Ngah was there to help and we managed to get all the "hantaran" ready. Abah was tasked to be the mediator for the ceremony and he was well prepared for that. He goggled on how to conduct the engagement ceremony according to Islam and not so much of Adat. Engagement ceremony these days have changed so much that you won't be able to differentiate between the bride getting married and getting engaged. Anyway, congratulation to both Wani and Hafiz. InsyaAllah, we will be back to Bukit Mertajam come June next year for your wedding.

Menjelang SPM...

2011-12-02T09:46:00.020+08:00

Cerita Kelantan kami masih belum selesai, sejak balik raya puasa kami sudah empat kali balik kampung. Ini semua gara2 Kakak yang akan menduduki SPM akhir tahun ini. Trip kami yang pertama adalah untuk mengambil keputusan SPM Percubaan sambil menziarah Tok Mama yang sakit, trip kedua pula kami balik sebelum Kakak menduduki peperiksaan SPM pada 14 November 2011. Kami balik seminggu sebelum SPM untuk korban dan menyambut hari raya haji. Kami tidak dapat balik pada minggu SPM kerana Ibu ke London atas urusan kerja. Trip ketiga adalah selepas Ibu kembali dari London sebelum Kakak menduduki peperiksaan Matematik Tambahan dan Fizik pada 23 dan 24 November 2011.

Trip kami yang kedua adalah annual trip kerana kami beraya di Kelantan hampir setiap tahun kerana mengerjakan ibadah korban. Kebiasaannya kami akan bergilir2 membuat korban. Tahun ini kami memberi peluang kepada Kakak untuk membuat satu bahagian korban bersama ahli2 keluarga yang lain. Seperti biasa, kami akan menyembelih lembu di kampung di Labok kerana rumah bersebelahan dengan sungai. Jadi senanglah nak membasuh perut lembu dan perkakas2 lain.

Setelah lembu disembelih, Tok Abah, Abah, Pak Ngah, Pak Teh dan anak2 Tok Mae serta Ayah Su sibuk melapah lembu. Tak ketinggalan Abang dan Adik turut serta dan sudah agak mahir membantu bapa2 saudara melapah lembu. Pak Lang tidak turut serta kali ini kerana korban di Pasir Mas dan kami diberitahu lembu di Pasir Mas terlepas dan keadaan menjadi agak kelam kabut. Korban hanya dapat dijalankan disebelah petang setelah lembu tersebut dapat ditangkap semula dan dibawa ke Pasir Mas dengan lori. Lembu kami pula siap diproses dalam pukul 2 petang.

Kami memang sudah sedia maklum akan tugas2 yang perlu dibuat kerana aktiviti korban ini adalah acara tahunan. Setelah daging lembu siap dilapah, kami mula membahagikan kepada tujuh bahagian. Ibu dan Mak Ngah bertugas memotong daging2 tersebut kepada bahagian kecil dan membahagikan daging2 untuk diagih2kan kepada penduduk kampung dan mereka yang berhak. Tok Mama dan Mak Su pula sibuk di dapur memasak. Antara menu tetap adalah daging goreng kunyit, Akok tulang rusuk, Sup Gear Box, Air Asam Perut Muda dan Limpa. Agak malang tahun ini kerana perut muda tidak dapat diselamatkan dan Air Asam kami cuma menggunakan perut biasa dan limpa tetapi masih enak dan menyelerakan. Sambil sibuk membuat kerja masing2, sempat juga kami menikmati air kelapa muda yang diambil terus dari pokok. Memang first class.

Keesokkan harinya, kami kembali ke Kuala Lumpur setelah mengucapkan selamat berjaya kepada Kakak. Kami sentiasa berdoa agar Kakak tenang menjalani peperiksaan dan dibukakan hati dan minda untuk menjawab soalan dengan sempurna. Kami yakin Kakak telah membuat segala persiapan setakat terdaya, jadi bertawakkallah padaNya. Ingat akan Firman Allah swt: "Apabila hati kamu telah berazam, maka bertawakallah kepada Allah sesungguhnya Allah menyukai orang yang bertawakal"(Ali-Imran: 159)."Jika Allah menolong kamu, tidak ada orang yang dapat mengalahkan kamu dan jika Tuhan membiarkan kamu, siapakah yang dapat menolong kamu selain Allah? Hanya kepada Allah hendaklah orang yang beriman itu bertawakal.” (Surah Ali-Imran, ayat 160). Kami berharap agar Kakak bertawakal sepenuh hati kepada Allah supaya Kakak akan merasa tenang jiwa dan tidak tertekan perasaan semasa menghadapi peperiksaan, insyaAllah.

Trip kami yang terkini adalah pada 21 November 2011 sekembalinya Ibu dari London. Pada mulanya kami berjanji untuk balik bertemu dengan Kakak pada akhir bulan November. Tetapi pada waktu itu cuma tinggal dua kertas SPM, Bahasa Arab Tinggi dan Pendidikan Sunnah dan Al Quran. Oleh kerana Abah terpaksa ke Kelantan dan Pahang untuk menghadiri mesyuarat, kami terus menukar rancangan dan Ibu terus menyambung cuti selama tiga hari. Kali ini kami tidak memaklumkan terlebih awal pada Kakak. Saja nak buat kejutan! Kami tiba di Kuala Krai hampir pukul 8pm kerana tidak mahu ketinggalan menyaksikan Harimau Muda menentang Garuda dalam perlawanan akhir Sukan Sea yang berpihak kepada Malaysia. Nyaris roboh lantai rumah Tok Abah setiap kali HM menyaringkan gol. Tahniah HM!

Pada sebelah malam, hujan mulai turun tanpa henti sehingga ke pagi hujan turun semakin lebat. Oleh kerana hujan yang lebat, Tok Abah terpaksa membawa Ibu dan Adik ke MTS kerana Abah bekerja. Sepatutnya Ibu ke MTS ditemani Adik. Kami tiba di MTS dalam pukul 9.30am. Kakak langsung tidak menyangka kedatangan kami dan amat terharu apabila melihat kelibat Ibu dan Adik. Kejutan kami berjaya membuat Kakak mengalirkan airmata. Sorry yer Kak, kami saja nak buat surprise. Tak mau ganggu konsentrasi dan fokus Kakak membuat persediaan dua kertas yang paling mencabar buat Kakak. Seperti biasa, bekalan makanan mesti dibawa bersama. sekali ni nasi kerabu.

Malang sekali hujan terus turun dengan lebat dan seperti biasa, MTS mula digenangi air dan kami terpaksa mengharung air dari satu tempat ke tempat yang lain. Kami hanya lepak di dewan makan sambil menemani Kakak membuat latihan Add Maths. Bila keaadaan menjadi semakin sejuk, kami mengharung air untuk ke bilik Kakak sambil menunggu kedatangan Abah. Abah pula masih sibuk dengan urusan kerja, jadi kami mengambil keputusan untuk balik. Setelah selesai makan tengahari dan solat, kami kembali ke MTS untuk memberi peluang Abah bertemu dengan Kakak sebelum kami meneruskan perjalan ke Kuantan. Kami harap perjumpaan yang singkat dalam memberi semangat pada Kakak untuk menghadapi cabaran bagi enam lagi peperiksaan.

Special message to you, Kakak from Ibu and Abah.

Kakak, you have done brilliantly in your trials, just amazing results. Congratulations. We know your ability and we know how far you can stretch yourself. We just hope and pray that you will be able to complete this one last hurdle in your schooling years to the best of your ability before proceeding to the next phase which will be more tough and challenging.

You have done all you can, so just take things easy. Do what you can and don’t push yourself too hard especially on those subjects that are not your strength. At the same time, pray to ALLAH swt for His Guidance and Love and to keep us in the right path. Doa that He will grant you success in this life and in the Hereafter.

Always remember that the road to success is not straight. There is a curve called "failure". A loop called "confusion", speed bumps called "bad friends", red lights called "enemies", caution lights called "family". You will have flat tyre called "lazy". But if you have a spare wheel called "determination", an engine called "perseverance", a good friend called "faith", a driver called ALLAH, you will make it to a place called "SUCCESS"!!!

Be prepared mentally, physically & spiritually
Do the best
Pray
Pray
& pray
Let ALLAH do the rest
HE knows what's best for us

All the best to you too Kakak. You are constantly in our prayers and we pray that you will pass with flying colours so you could continue to pursue your dreams in medicine. We love you so much and we are so proud of what you have achieved thusfar.
Thank you Kakak and All the Best.. ..Bittaufiq wannajah fil imtihan..

Bertani Satu Ibadah

2011-11-25T12:15:00.027+08:00

Cerita kami di KB masih belum berakhir dan sejak dari itu, kami sudah dua kali balik ke kampung! Sejak kebelakangan ini, kami agak sibuk dan tidak berkesempatan untuk menulis. Walaupun begitu, apa yang kami lalui masih segar dalam ingatan dan kami akan terus menulis sebagai catatan peribadi dan untuk dikongsi bersama.

Pada hari Tok Mama menjalani pembedahan, iaitu pada 24 September 2011 kami hanya menghabiskan masa di KB. Kebetulan pada minggu itu, Kerajaan Negeri menganjurkan Karnival BERTANI SATU IBADAH bertempat di Dataran Stadium Sultan Muhamad ke IV berhadapan dengan Perdana Specialist sempena Hari Peladang, Penternak dan Nelayan Peringkat Negeri Kelantan 2011 yang bermula 21 September hingga 2 Oktober 2011. Tema tahun ini ‘Bertani Satu Ibadah Pemangkin Kecemerlangan Pertanian Kelantan’ dan diadakan dwitahunan.

Jadi kami mengambil peluang berkunjung ke tapak karnival untuk melihat apa yang dipamerkan disitu. Kami sungguh bertuah kerana TGNA baru sahaja selesai merasmikan karnival tersebut dan dia serta VIP lain dibawa melawat kawasan pameran. Kami pun mengambil kesempatan mengikut rombongan TGNA sambil mendengar penerangan yang diberikan sambil mengambil gambar TGNA dari jarak dekat.

Kami juga mengambil peluang mengenali berbagai2 jenis buah2an kampung atau yang tumbuh liar di hutan. Karnival sebegini memberi peluang kepada generasi muda menambah ilmu dan menanam minat untuk bertani atau menternak. Ada antara buah2an yang dipamerkan yang kami langsung tidak pernah melihat, mendengar apatah lagi memakan! Berbagai pertandingan juga diadakan untuk petani bagi memperlihatkan hasil tanaman mereka. Berbagai jenis sayuran dan buah2an yang memang terlebih baja kerana saiz yang luarbiasa. Untuk pelajar2 sekolah, mereka mempertaruhkan bakat dalam seni menghias akuarium dan membuat model lanskap. Hasil yang ditunjukkan amat hebat dan ternyata mereka amat kreatif.

Setelah puas melihat pokok2 and buah2an yang sihat dan segar, kami beredar ke tapak pameran berhawa dingin sambil melihat produk2 baru yang dihasilkan oleh ushawan2 tempatan disamping belajar mengenai jenis2 kayu di terdapat di Malaysia. Sekurang2nya pengetahuan kami mengenai alam semulajadi sedikit sebanyak bertambah dengan kunjungan kami ke sini. Konsep Bersatu Satu Ibadah yang diperkenalkan TGNA pada tahun 2009 ternyata mendekatkan lagi kita kepada Islam dalam menilai ibadah dan kepentingannya dalam kehidupan. Mungkin is lebih baik dari konsep 1Malaysia, waullahu a'lam.

Kami sempat singgah di Cafe The Red Warriors yang terletak bersebelah Perdana Specialist bagi menghilangkan dahaga setelah hampir 2 jam menghabiskan masa di tapak pameran.

Bakal Tetamu Allah swt 1432H

2011-10-28T09:16:00.015+08:00

Setahun berlalu begitu pantas, begitu cepat waktu berlalu. Rasa seperti kami baru saja kembali dari tanah suci menunaikan ibadah haji. Musim haji 1432H sudah pun tiba dan sungguh bertuah mereka yang terpilih menjadi tetamu Allah swt kali ini, alhamdulillah. Setiap kali mendapat berita mengenai rakan ataupun saudara yang mendapat jemputan istimewa tahun ini, hati merasa amat teruja terkenangkan saat kami menerima tawaran yang sama tahun yang lalu. Suatu perasaan yang amat sukar digambarkan, antara gembira bercampur gentar. Gembira kerana Allah swt sudi mendengar doa dan rayuan kami untuk menunaikan ibadah haji pada musim haji yang lepas dan gentar memikirkan persiapan nurani yang masih belum mantap.

Alhamdulillah, segala urusan berjalan dengan lancar, daripada persiapan menghadiri kursus dan menimba sebanyak mungkin ilmu dan persiapan dalam menyediakan barang2 keperluan untuk berkampung di tanah suci selama lebih 40 hari. Kini, tiba masanya untuk kami berkongsi pengalaman dengan bakal2 tetamu Allah swt yang akan mengharungi rehlah haji musim ini. Ibu sempat menghantar rakan srikandi, Along Maslina di Kelana Jaya pada 5 September 2011. Walaupun pada hari yang telah ditetapkan, Along cemas semasa Ibu menelefonnya kerana penerbangan terpaksa ditunda disebabkan visa yang belum siap. Tetapi beberapa jam kemudian, Ibu menerima sms dari Along mengatakan urusan visa telah selesai dan dia akan berangkat awal pagi tersebut seperti yang dijadualkan. Ibu, Intan dan Liz sempat berjumpa Along di Tabung Haji. Ibu tidak berkesempatan menghantar rakan2 srikandi lain yang turut serta pada musim haji kali ini, Shitot dan Weeda tapi Ibu berdoa semoga segala2nya dipermudahkan untuk mereka, insyaAllah.

Seorang lagi bakal tetamu Allah swt, Kak Sha yang Ibu anggap sebagai kakak angkat juga menerimakan jemputan istimewa. Ibu sempat menghadiri kenduri doa selamat kak Sha di rumahnya dan memang berhajat menghantar Kak Sha di Kelana Jaya. Malang sekali, pada hari Jumaat yang lepas, 20 September 2011 Ibu tidak sempat tiba di Kompleks Tabung Haji kerana hujan yang amat lebat dan jalan yang sesak di LDP. Ketika Ibu tiba di Kelana Jaya lebih kurang jam 9.40pm setelah hampir 2 jam mengharungi kesesakan, Ibu menerima sms dari Kak Sha yang dia dikehendaki masuk untuk check in. Sedih dan terharu kerana hajat untuk bertemu Kak Sha sebelum dia berangkat ke tanah suci tidak kesampaian.

Kami sempat menziarah seorang lagi rakan yang dijadualkan berangkat ke tanah suci pada 22 September 2011, Anida dan Nazim. Kami kenal dengan mereka kerana Abang dan Alia sama belajar di SK Taman Setia. Walaupun anak2 tidak lagi belajar di sekolah yang sama, kami masih rapat dan selalu berhubung. Katering kenduri di rumah mereka disediakan oleh Pak Ngah dari Pesona Rasa. Sewaktu kami menghadiri kenduri doa selamat dirumah mereka pada 9 Oktober 2011, kami terkejut melihat rakan srikandi Ibu, Mimi yang turut hadir dari Melaka. Rupanya Nazmi dan Lemy adalah rakan sekolah di MRSM Kota Bharu. Sebelum Mimi dan Lemy balik ke Melaka mereka sempat singgah di rumah kami.

Pada hari Isnin yang lepas, kami sekali lagi berkunjung ke Kelana Jaya. Kali ini untuk menghantar ibu dan ayah saudara Abah, Pok Mae dan Mokcik ke tanah suci. Mereka datang terus dari Kota Bharu dan setibanya di Kelana Jaya dengan bas yang disediakan agen, kami terus membawa mereka ke SDMC untuk menziarah Pok Weil yang ketika itu dirawat kerana mengidap tyroid cancer. Setelah selesai menziarah, kami singgah di Pelita untuk makan sebelum menghantar mereka kembali ke Kelana Jaya. Bayangkan betapa jauh perjalanan mereka. dari KB seawal 11 pagi dan hanya berlepas ke Jeddah pada pukul 5 pagi keesokkan harinya dan sampai di Jeddah 9 jam kemudian. Perjalanan mereka masih jauh kerana terpaksa melalui imigresen di Terminal Haji Jeddah dan lebih sejam perjalanan dari Jeddah ke Mekah. semoga mereka tabah melalui perjalanan yang jauh dan mencabar dan selamat tiba ke tanah suci.

Kepada semua bakal tetamu2 Allah swt yang dimuliakan, selamat menjalani perjalanan rohani dan semoga diberi kekuatan rohani dan jasmani bagi mengharungi saat2 manis dan getir di tanah suci. Semoga Allah swt melindungi dan menurunkan rahmatNya yang maha luas pada semua yang terpilih. Bertawakkal lah kepada Allah swt dengan sebenar-benar tawakkal sewaktu menunaikan ibadah haji. Insyaallah perjalanan kita dan ibadah haji dipermudahkan Allah swt dari awal hingga akhir. Doakan agar kami diberi peluang untuk kembali ke bumi mulia, sekali ini bersama2 dengan Kakak, Abang dan Adik.

Hujung Minggu di KB - Bhg 1

2011-10-07T15:23:00.018+08:00

Walaupun masih sedih dengan pemergian Tok, kehidupan perlu diteruskan. Segala yang dirancang perlu dilaksanakan. Pada 23 September 2011, hari ke 25 Syawal 1532H, kami bertolak balik ke Kelantan untuk menghadiri Solat Hajat Perdana dan penyampaian keputusan peperiksaan percubaan SPM di MTS. Tok Mama juga mengambil kesempatan untuk melakukan pembedahan kecil pada hari berikutnya untuk membuang batu karang di pundi hempedu semasa kami di sana.

Abah telah balik terlebih awal kerana menghadiri mesyuarat di Ladang Mengkebang, Sungai Durian. Ladang tersebut dikendalikan oleh Sime Darby Plantation dan Abah terpaksa ke sana kerana kemalangan yang berlaku pada 12 September 2011 dimana seorang pekerja maut kerana traktor yang dipandunya dilanggar keretapi. Ibu dan Adik menumpang Pak Lang yang juga balik ke kampung untuk menjaga Pak Su. Kami tiba di Kuala Krai jam 3 pagi.

Keesokkan harinya kami ke MTS dan seperti biasa, Kakak sudah sedia menunggu kami dengan happynya. Kami sempat bertemu dengan guru yang mengajar Dini untuk membincangkan prestasinya yang kurang memuaskan kerana hampir gagal dalam matapelajaran matematik tambahan walaupun cemerlang dalam subjek yang lain. Disebabkan satu subjek, Kakak mendapat kedudukan ke 11 dari 226 pelajar dan mendapat 10A 1E. Walaupun begitu, kami bersyukur dan berdoa agar Kakak dapat melakukan yang terbaik dalam peperiksaan SPM nanti. Tahniah Kakak.

Setelah selesai urusan di MTS, kami terus ke Hospital Pakar Perdana untuk melawat Tok Mama. Tok Mama hanya akan menjalani pembedahan esok dan kami mengambil keputusan untuk menginap di Sutera Inn. Kami sempat makan tengahari di Gerai Lido yang menyajikan Nasi Sup Ayam/Daging Bakar. Gerai ni terletak bersebelahan Grand Riverview Hotel. Pada mulanya kami berhajat nak makan dekat deretan kedai di tepi sungai, tapi apabila kami ke sana, tempat tersebut berupa rupa sama sekali. Gerai2 makan diganti dengan Menara Tinjau Tambatan Di'Raja. Sekali sekala datang ke KB, banyak perubahan yang TGNA dah buat.

Malamnya pula kami ke Medan Selera Buluh Kubu. Dahulu tempat ini memang happening dengan berbagai2 makanan tradisi Kelantan. Sekarang tempay ni kurang ummphhnya dan gerai2 pun semakin kurang. Pak Lang pulak tapau makanan dari Hoover dan sebelah malamnya dinner di Restoran Yati Ayam Percik. Kami jarang2 dapat makan di KB pada sebelah malam, jadi peluang kali ini memang tidak disiakan2. Selepas menjamu selera, kami balik ke hotel kerana keletihan. Adik, Pak Lang dan Pak Su sempat menonton perlawanan bola di antara Liverpool dan Wolves dengan kemenangan berpihak kepada Liverpool 2-1. Bilik di Sutera Inn pula cukup selesa dan kami tidur dengan lena hingga ke esok paginya.

Syawal yang Pilu...Al-Fatihah

2011-10-05T15:58:00.024+08:00

Cerita Syawal kami masih belum berakhir. Setelah cuti raya berakhir, Abah kembali bekerja dan Kakak, Abang dan Adik kembali bersekolah seperti biasa. Ibu masih bercuti seminggu lagi kerana terpaksa menghabiskan 10 hari cuti tahunan secara berterusan (block leave). Ibu hanya kembali bekerja pada hari raya ke 14.

Hujung minggu sebelumnya, pada hari Sabtu, 12 Syawal, kami dikejutkan dengan berita kematian Tok Andak, biras Tok Gombak yang menghidap kanser paru2. Kami masih ingat akan ziarah kami ke rumah Tok Andak di Lembah Keramat pada raya yang lepas dan Tok Andak masih sihat dan ceria. Kami sempat menziarah aruah sebelum dia dikebumikan pada petang harinya.

Tiga hari selepas kematian Tok Andak, iaitu pada tanggal 13 September 2011 / 14 Syawal 1432H kami dikejutkan dengan berita yang amat menyayat hati, Tok Gombak akhirnya meninggalkan kami buat selama2nya diusia menjangkau 90 tahun. Kami langsung tidak menyangka Tok akan menyusul Tok Andak secepat itu. Tok langsung tidak menunjukkan tanda2 akan pergi meninggalkan kami. Dia hanya demam dari hari Sabtu dan tidak dapat menziarah Aruah Tok Andak. Hanya pada hari Isnin, demamnya semakin teruk dan kami sepakat membawa Tok ke Pusrawi. Ibu, Meer, Tok Onn dan Tok Tot menghantar Tok ke hospital dan Tok terus dibawa ke wad kecemasan untuk diberi drip dan diambil darah. Setelah beberapa jam, kami dimaklumkan mengenai hasil ujian darah dan diberitahu bahawa Tok mengidap demam denggi. Platelet count agak rendah dalam 55 dan gula dalam darah pada paras 8.5. Sambil menunggu untuk dihantar ke wad, kami berbual dengan Tok dan dia kelihatan ceria walaupun itu pertama kali Tok dimasukkan ke hospital selama hidupnya.

Tok ditempatkan di wad As'Saadah, bilik No 9, tingkat 4. Lin, Nisam, Acap, Shasha, Tok Papa, Ira, Tok dan Tok Wan sempat menziarah Tok semasa di wad. Za tinggal di hospital menemani Tok pada malamnya. Keesokkan pagi Chop, Haz dan Tok Mamie sempat melawat Tok dan berbual dengannya sebelum doktor datang membuat pemeriksaan lanjut. Pada pukul 12.26pm, Ibu mendapat panggilan dari Pusrawi memaklumkan bahawa Tok sedang nazak dan meminta Ibu datang ke hospital segera. Ibu bergegas ke hospital tetapi takdir telah menentukan yang Tok pergi hanya beberapa minit setelah Ibu sampai, tepat pada jam 12.47pm. Allah swt sahaja yang tahu betapa sedih dan kecewa Ibu kerana tidak sempat berjumpa dengan Tok buat kali terakhir. Ibu memang berhajat untuk ke hospital pada waktu makan tengahari untuk membawa bubur trigu. Hajat Tok untuk menjamah bubur kegemarannya yang dimasak Nenek tidak kesampaian.

Doktor yang memeriksa Tok juga tidak menyangka sama sekali Tok akan pergi secepat itu kerana hanya beberapa minit sebelum Tok menghembuskan nafas yang terakhir, dia nampak sihat dan bersedia untuk ke bilik x-ray untuk pemeriksaan. Hanya Za yang ada disisi Tok ketika Tok mengucapkan dua kalimah syahadah. Alhamdulillah adalah perkataan terakhir yang diucapkan oleh Tok sebelum melelapkan matanya. Innalillahi wainnailaihirojiun. Alhamdulillah, Tok pergi dengan aman dan tenteram. Wajahnya tidak ubah seperti seorang yang tidur dengan lena dan tenang sekali.

Berat rasanya melepaskan Tok pergi, hanya airmata dan doa yang tak putus2 mengiringi pemergiannya. Kami terharu dengan perkhidmatan yang diberikan oleh Pusrawi. Semasa Tok sedang nazak, hampir kesemua staff yang bertugas bergegas ke bilik Tok membacakan surah Yassin dan setelah Tok pergi, merekalah yang menenangkan kami untuk redha dan menerima ketentuan dari Allah swt. Kami mula memaklumkan semua mengenai kematian Tok dan semua bagai tidak percaya mendengar khabar tersebut. Kakak, Abang dan Adik terkejut apabila Abah menyampaikan berita mengenai Tok. Abang dan Adik sempat menatap wajah Nyang buat kali terakhir tetapi Kakak tidak berkesempatan kerana tiba dari MTS keesokkan harinya.

Setelah agak tenang, kami berbincang untuk menguruskan jenazah dan Tok Wan mengambil keputusan agar jenazah Tok dimandikan di Pusrawi dan dibawa balik ke rumah untuk disolat. Tok Wan dan Tok bergegas balik ke Gombak untuk menguruskan rumah bagi menerima tetamu yang datang menziarah. Ibu, Haz, Lin dan Tok Nana berpeluang memandikan jenazah Tok, Alhamdulillah. Setelah selesai, jenazah Tok akhirnya dibawa balik kerumahnya buat kali terakhir dan disolatkan. Tok dikebumikan di tanah perkuburan Danau Kota dimana Arwah Aunty Munah dan Uncle Ipin disemadikan. Segalanya berlaku dengan pantas, kami meninggalkan tanah perkuburan jam 6.30 petang setelah selesai pengkebumian dengan hati yang berat.

Terasa bagai mimpi, dalam sekelip mata dan tidak terduga, Tok telah pergi buat selama2nya. Pada malamnya, kami menerima kunjungan yang tak henti2 dari saudara mara dan rakan taulan, mereka yang mengenalinya selama hidupnya yang datang menghadiri tahlil. Hari2 berikutnya, kami masih terus mengadakan tahlil.

Kesedihan kami tidak berhenti di sini. Genap seminggu pemergian Tok, kami menerima berita kematian sepupu Tok, Mak Nab di Lahar Minyak, Pulau Pinang. Mak Nab cedera parah dalam kemalangan di Sg Bakap bersama anak, menantu dan cucu dalam perjalanan pulang dari Gombak setelah menziarah Tok. Mereka tiba agak lewat lebih kurang pukul 10 malam kerana perjalanan yang jauh. Walaupun kami cuba menahan mereka dari balik dan tidur saja di rumah Tok, mereka bersungguh2 ingin balik kerana cucu Mak Nab sedang menduduki peperiksaan UPSR.

Mereka akhirnya bertolak balik pada jam 1.30 pagi. Keesokkan harinya, kami dikejutkan dengan berita kemalangan yang berlaku jam 4.30 pagi di Sungai Bakap. Kemalangan berpunca dari sebuah kereta savy berwarna hitam yang terbabas ditengah2 lebuhraya akibat lari dari dikejar polis. Oleh kerana kawasan tersebut gelap dan kereta pula berwarna hitam, anak Mak Nab tidak menyedari kehadiran kereta tersebut hingga ke saat akhir. Kesemua mereka mengalami kecederaan patah dan retak tulang. Bertambah kesedihan kami mengenangkan kejadian yang menimpa mereka sekeluarga dan malang tak berbau apabila genap seminggu di hospital Seberang Jaya, Mak Nab menghembuskan nafas yang terakhir. Innalillah...hanya ucapan takziah dan doa yang dapat kami utuskan pada keluarga Arwah Mak Nab agar tabah dan redha menerima dugaan dari Allah swt.

Sesungguhnya, inilah Syawal yang Pilu buat kami. Firman Allah di dalam Surah Al-Anbiya’ ayat 35:

كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ وَنَبْلُوكُم بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ فِتْنَةً وَإِلَيْنَا تُرْجَعُونَ

Maksudnya: Tiap-tiap yang bernyawa pasti akan merasai mati. Dan Kami akan menguji kamu dengan keburukan dan kebaikan sebagai cubaan, dan kepada Kamilah kamu semua akan dikembalikan. Al-Fatihah buat Arwah Tok, Tok Andak dan Mak Nab, semoga roh2 mereka dicucuri rahmat dan ditempatkan dikalangan roh2 para solihin.

Sambutan Raya Merdeka 1432H

2011-09-22T12:59:00.036+08:00

Tidak seperti tahun2 yang lalu, sambutan raya kami pada tahun ini ala kadar sahaja. Kami sibuk membantu menguruskan restoran That Little Gerai (TLG) yang mula beroperasi 2 minggu sebelum puasa setelah tutup lebih kurang 2 bulan. Jadi persiapan raya kami hanya dibuat pada saat2 akhir. Kami hanya membeli beberapa helai pakaian untuk Abang dan Adik di Jusco, cukup sekadar ada baju baru untuk dipakai pada awal syawal. Kakak pula telah Ibu belikan semasa dia balik bercuti sebelum puasa.

Tahun ini kami tidak menempah baju raya sedondon dek kesuntukan masa. Jadi kami sepakat untuk memakai jubah putih bagi kaum adam dan abaya hitam untuk kaum hawa. Adik pula siap dengan serban ala Pak Arab! Kami juga sempat ke Ampang Park membeli beberapa jenis biskut raya, muruku dan kacang untuk diagihkan ke Gombak, Bukit Indah dan Kuala Krai. Sememangnya menjadi rutin kami untuk membeli semua makanan dalam empat paket berasingan. Ibu ada menempah kek carrot walnut dan lemon untuk dibawa pulang kerana kami beraya di Kuala Krai pada tahun ini. Dan kek lemon dijadikan kek harijadi Farisya yang kedua yang jatuh pada hari raya pertama. Pada pagi raya setelah selesai bersalaman, kami berkunjung ke rumah Dr Abdul Basit, pembimbing kami semasa mengerjakan haji. Terasa seperti berada di negara Arab kerana rumah Dr Basit dihiasi kerusi ala arab yang dibawa dari Madinah.

Sepanjang ramadhan, kami banyak berbuka di TLG. Nenak seperti biasa akan memasak juadah berbuka dan kami akan berbuka bersama2 TLG crew dan Tok dan Tok Wan setelah semua pelanggan berbuka puasa. Abah akan berterawih di surau di rumah dan Ibu pula di surau berdekatan TLG. Tahun ini kami langsung tidak berbuka di luar kerana tidak berkesempatan. Ibu sibuk menguruskan tempahan berbuka di TLG yang hampir penuh setiap hari selepas seminggu berpuasa. Alhamdulillah, walaupun baru beroperasi 2 minggu sebelum puasa, sambutan begitu memberangsangkan dan kami sangat terharu. Terimakasih kepada semua pelanggan TLG, saudara mara dan rakan2 yang memberi sokongan padu kepada kami.

Puasa dan raya tahun ini Kakak dan Abang berpeluang keluar TV. Kakak dalam Dokumentari Syahadah yang diterbitkan oleh RTM di TV1 yang tersiar pada hari Ahad, 14Ogos 2011 pada jam 6.30 petang. Penggambarannya telah dilakukan lebih awal. Kami tidak berpeluang menonton kerana tidak mengetahui tarikh yang sebenar. Abang pula terpilih untuk bertakbir dengan Yang Dipertuan Agung Tuanku Mizan di Istana Negara bersama rakan2 IQKL pada hari kedua ramadhan dan takbir tersebut tersiar pada malam raya di TV9. Adik lain pula ceritanya. Dia terpilih untuk iklan Maxis bersama Dato' Lee Chong Wei pada 18 Ogos 2011 tetapi dibatalkan pada saat akhir kerana kekalahan Chong Wei pada Kejohonan Badminton Dunia (London) 2011. Adik memang kecewa sebab dia dah pun beli kasut "Power"!

Raya tahun ini kami banyak menghabiskan masa di rumah dan menziarah saudara-mara yang sakit dan uzur. Kami juga tidak mengadakan rumah terbuka tetapi menerima tetamu yang sudi menjengah ke rumah kami. Kami terharu dengan kunjungan dari kawan lama Abah, Adam sekeluarga. Walaupun sukar bergerak kerana lumpuh, tapi masih sudi datang beraya di rumah. Kami lebih suka melayan tetamu yang datang begini, boleh berbual panjang kerana jarang2 sekali berjumpa. kami juga menerima kunjungan dari Catz, seorang blogger yang kami kenali melalui Uncle yang banyak membantu mempromosikan TLG. Catz ada menulis mengenai kunjungan raya di laman blognya dia http://catzscafe1.blogspot.com/2011/09/jamuan-rayaterima-kasih.html

Syawal kali ini walaupun disertai dengan sambutan kemerdekaan negara yang 54 tidak meriah seperti tahun2 yang lalu. Tema hari kemerdekaan yang dahulu sentiasa dalam ingatan setiap kali sambutan kemerdekaan tidak lagi kedengaran. Malah seperti sudah hilang signifikannya. Berapa ramai rakyat yang masih ingat akan tema tahun ini "1Malaysia: Transformasi Berjaya, Rakyat Sejahtera". Terimakasih pada google and internet yang membolehkan kita mendapatkan maklumat melalui carian. Mungkin juga rakyat sudah bosan dengan perkataan 1Malaysia yang ada dimana2 dan menjadi perkataan wajib masa kini.

Sambutan Raya Merdeka kami sudah selesai tetapi cerita Syawal kami masih belum berakhir....

Our London Story - Part 3

2011-08-25T15:56:00.025+08:00

After three days of exploring London and the Oxford Street, we decided to get out of London. Let Kakak experience England's beautiful countryside and smaller towns like Huddersfield where Ibu used to stay. So, on saturday morning, we took the underground to get to the Coach Station at Fountain Square at the Bukingham Palace Road to go to Bicester Village in Oxfordshire. When we got there, the tickets were sold out! Bicester Village was in our itinerary but Ibu did not buy the tickets on-line thinking that the tickets will be available at the counter, not knowing that they only provide one coach in the morning and one in the afternoon. So, the next option is to take the train.

Off we went to Paddington and took the First Great Western train to Oxford. The journey was approximately an hour and Dini got to see the breathtaking countryside along the way. When we reached Oxford, we were contemplating how we should go to Bicester Village, either by bus, train or taxi and we decided to take the cab since it was the easiest and fastest but of course the most expensive! We were lucky that the cab driver was a muslim guy and he agreed not to just send us to Bicester Village but to fetch us back and along the way, take us to the mosque so we could pray. Alhamdulillah, we were worried thinking where we could perform our prayers that day.

We were surprised to see so many cars and people at Bicester Village, people coming from all over UK to shop for the off season branded stuff. The place was considered quite isolated and quite a distance from Oxford. Ibu bought something for herself and for the family and we decided to leave the place around 3pm after having lunch at one of the Thai restaurant. We called the cab and he dropped us at the Central Oxford Mosque which was at that time under construction. It was a beautiful mosque and we were glad to be given the opportunity to perform our prayer there.

Since it was still early, we decided to go on the city tour which took about an hour. Dini wanted to see one of the best university in the world, the Oxford University. It is like the hop on hop off bus in London where you just pay the driver or sales staff and your ticket is valid all day and you can get on and off at any of the 19 stops on the tour. It was a quick way to discover Oxford if you don't have time. We managed to see the famous Magdalen College, the University Science Area, the City Walls, Sheldonian Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, Martyr's Memorial, Christ Church College, River Cherwell, Carfax Tower, Alice's Shop, Radcliffe Infirmary, Bodleian Library, The High, Broad Street and the University Parks. The tour was worth it!

On our way back to London, we were not so lucky. The train was full and we have no choice but to stand all the way. When we reached London, we straight went to Selfridges to look for Faiz's Supra Shoes but we couldn't find what he wanted, the choice was very limited and did not meet his spec! On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at St Paul's Cathedral for a brief visit. The only landmark that we have yet to explore eventhough it was just two stops away from our hotel via the underground. A place where the wedding of the century took place between Prince Charles and Lady Diana.

The next morning we started early so we don't have to que to get entry into Madame Tussauds. Eventhough we were there at least an hour before it opens, the que was already 1km long. Should have bought the tickets on-line! We spent about two hours taking pictures with the celebrity wax figures!! Ibu took a pix with MJ so she could compare with the pix she took 20 years back! MJ doesn't change a bit although he was practically transformed in real life but Ibu definitely changed a lot!!! They were just too many figures and the que to snap the pix with them was just too long. Who knows one day, somebody from Malaysia will be there...the Bollywood artists are already there, the whole collection of them!

We still have to look for Faiz's Supra and we asked him to googled and he told us of a shop around Covent Garden. So off we went to look for Slam City Skates and we were delighted to see a whole range of Supra shoes there! Faiz must be jumping with joy that we finally found what he wanted. We went around Covent Garden which is similar to our Central Market to pick up last minute souvenirs before we left to Oxford St to the Adidas store to look for Adik's LFC third kit. How unfortunate that the jersey will only be launched within the next two weeks. Pity Adik...

We then went back to the hotel, packed our stuff and while waiting for the airport transfer, walked to Ibu's office to snap some pictures. Then off to Heathrow and say goodbye to London. The whole trip was fun and at the same time tiring, we spent wonderful time together and probably understand each other better. Wish we could stay longer....so, when is our next trip Kakak???

Our London Story - Part 2

2011-08-24T14:09:00.024+08:00

For many first timers, the best to experience London would be to go on the hop on hop off bus. There are two major bus companies offering the service, the Original London Sightseeing Tour and the Big Bus Tour. It is the same as our hop on hop off here in KL. So, on friday morning, after getting clerance from Ibu's boss that she could skip the meeting that morning, we started to explore London after having our usual breakfast.

Friday morning was very wet and rainy but we went ahead with our plan. We took the underground to London Bridge station and walked towards the Tower Bridge passing by the London Dungeon. Dini wanted to go on the rides inside but it was still too early in the morning and we did not have that in our plan. Ibu prepared a comprehensive itinerary for our trip to London to make sure we can cover as much as possible. That's Ibu, she will do a thorough research on the place and plan for all the family trips! We actually bought an umbrella to keep us dry. After taking some shots at the Tower Bridge area and the Towers Castle, we took the Original London Sightseeing Tour bus and made our way to the Buckingham Palace. We were lucky that the Changing of Guards were on schedule despite the rain since we were told that it could be cancelled during heavy rain. Weather was getting better when we arrived but the area surrounding Buckingham Palace was so crowded with visitors and tourists waiting to witness the parade.

We squeezed ourselves among the crowds and managed to get a place close to the main gate where the soldiers would make their way. Ibu managed to capture wonderful photos of the whole ceremony and it was Ibu's first time watching the parade despite having been there many2 times.

Next, we took the bus and stopped at Trafalgar Square. We were there the night before and was excited to see a Malaysian restaurant, Jom Makan but was disappointed because they were about to close. So we decided that we must come back the next day to have lunch there and we did! We ordered nasi lemak, nasi goreng and daging masak merah. Kakak was happy since she has been starving for rice and spicy food for 3 days! We then went around Trafalgar Square and walked towards the Big Ben passing 10 Downing St and St James Palace just to snap some photos with the Horse Guard. We walked to the Big Ben, House of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and finally took the cruise back to Tower Bridge.

By then, we were already very tired of walking. We took the underground back to the hotel. We rest, prayed and had a quick bite before we resume our tour. Next we took the bus and went to Albert Hall passing the Kesington Garden. By then, it was almost dark and we decided to take the black taxi to the London Central Mosque at the Park Road. Abah reminded us that we should include in our itinerary visit to mosques and islamic centres just to see the Islamic Community in other part of the world. We performed our prayer there and look around the area. We then, took a bus back to the central and stopped at the Oxford Street. From there, we took this pedicab rickshaw just to experience the ride along the Oxford Street and stopped at the underground where we took the underground back to the hotel.

That was how we spent the whole day exploring London and we were quite satisfied to be able to cover so much in a day. Of course we wanted to go on the London Eye but time was not on our side. We shall save that for our next visit!

Our London Story - Part 1

2011-08-06T12:14:00.033+08:00

After the KL Marathon, Ibu and Kakak started packing for their inaugural trip together, just mum and her daughter. When Ibu got the news that she has to go to London for work, she immediately thought of Kakak. Initially, Abah was a bit sceptical about the idea, since she has to study for her SPM but later gave his greenlight since the trip coincide with her monthly school holiday. We have promised to take her for hajj with us last year if she completed her hafazan. However, the timing was not right; Kakak has to sit for her exam at that time. So, this trip is to compensate her of our promise which she delightedly accept.

On Thursday, 5 July 2011 Abah sent us off to KL Sentral and we took the ERL to KLIA. All went on smoothly and we enjoyed the 13 hour journey to Heathrow; talking, eating and sleeping!! On arrival, someone already there to take us to our hotel, the Apex London Wall which was located close to Ibu's office. The journey was about an hour since we arrived during peak time when everybody is rushing back home from work. Dini had her first taste of the weather in London, cold (15 to 17 degrees) and wet although it was summer and enjoyed the view along the way which was about 25km to the central London.

The hotel is in a financial district area with the Bank of England, Stock Exchange and many banks located nearby. The hotel was quite strategically located, just 5 minutes walk to either Moorgate of Bank tube stations. Another tube station, the Liverpool Street which was slightly further was closed for upgrading. We finally arrived around 6pm and Ibu has requested for the room to be upgraded with a balcony since Dini will be spending at least two days in the room when Ibu is at work. The room was perfect and nice. It even has an iPod docker, luckily Dini brought her iPod along!!!

After freshen up, we walked around the area to get some provisions since we will be staying there for 6 days. We walked towards Liverpool Street to look for Tesco but instead we found M&S Simply Food outlet and bought some food and drinks. On the way back, we got lost and the rain started pouring. Luckily we found our way back to the hotel and stop at an Indian Restaurant, Mehek for dinner. We did not anticipate that the weather would be so cold and wet and did not bring any thick clothings! The hot briyani kept us warm. That night Ibu could not sleep because of jet lag and had trouble staying awake the next day!!!

The next two days, Ibu spent almost the whole day in the office and Dini spent most of the time in the room. She slept, ate, study, watched tv and played with her notebook on her first day and on the second day, she was bold enough to walk on her own guided by a map in hand. She walked to the London Museum but it was opened only at 10am and she was there at 9am. She then walked towards the London Bridge and was shocked to know that it is a normal bridge. The Tower Bridge was next to the London Bridge and was quite a distance to walk. So she finally made a turn back to the hotel. Many people mistook London Bridge with Tower Bridge, probably because of the song.

Every morning we prepared our own breakfast, scramble eggs, sautee mushroom/asparagus with baked beans. Luckily we brought along travelling cooker so we could cook simple stuff just to fill up the stomach. We actually took turn to cook! For lunch, Dini would make herself mamee mee goreng and would improvise to make it more tastier with the cosway prawn shrimp, garlic, veges and bawang goreng! She texed me just to tell that she made the most delicious mee goreng!! At night, before we went out on our tour, we would eat something "alas perut", bread with serunding or sambal ikan bilis or maggi. There's a lot of halal restaurants in London. KFC and subway are also halal, so food is not really a problem.

Since the day is longer and 9pm still bright and sunny, after work we went out to the West End; Selfridges closed at 10pm and Harrods at 9pm. The first night we went shopping along the Oxford Street and grab some cardigans for us....weather was still very cold and windy. The next night we spent our time at Piccadily Circus and Knightsbridge exploring the sales in Harrods. Took the opportunity to try the famous fish and chips and Indonesian Tiger Prawn at the Sea Grill and the bill came up to 60 pounds!!

We travel either by bus or the underground. It was easy with the oyster card and Ibu bought the card with 7 days validity although we only used it for 6 days. Many people used the underground to get from one place to another but changing the tube from one line to another can be tiring especially during peak hours. We normally opted to take the bus back to hotel at night so we could experience London by night. You can seat comfortably on the top deck of the double decker bus and breath fresh air compared with taking the tube whish can be crowded and stuffy.

That covers the accomodation, food, transportation and what we did for the first two days. Dini was not feeling well the first few days in London, probably due to the cold weather. Nevertheless, her spirit remains high and the thought of being in London and enjoying every single moment keeps her going.

2011 KL Marathon

2011-08-06T11:27:00.015+08:00

We have not been writing for quite a while now. July has been a real busy month for us. Everyone is busy with their own stuff! Abah moved to a new job within SD on the 1st day of july. Ibu on the other hand, was busy with the Bank's events starting with the 2011 KL Marathon towards end June then the Liverpool 2011 Asia Tour from 14th to 16th July 2011 and in between spent the time in London with Kakak. Right after we returned from London, we went straight to That Little Gerai for its opening ceremony and thereafter busy with the activities linger around TLG. Then the arrival of the holy month, Ramadhan and things begin to settle down. So, first thing first, will start writing on all these stories which thusfar remain untold.

The 2011 KL Marathon normally held around Abah's birthday. This year it was held one day before on 26 June 2011. This time, Ibu has been tasked to look after the VIPs at the VIP tent. Unlike the previous two years where Ibu arrived at the scene around 7am via Putra LRT, this year because of the task given, Abah has to sent Ibu and her two colleagues to Dataran Merdeka at 3am. VIPs were expected to arrive around 4.30am. Just imagine, having to wake up at 2.30am and was there at 3am! We spent the first hour or so at the staff tent trying to stay awake. This year, the staff tent was handled by Ibu's best buddy and it was so beautifully decorated with green and blue theme.

After the briefing and very early breakfast, we started our duties at the designated areas. By then, Dataran Merdeka started to fill up with runners for the full and half marathon which start at 5am and 6am respectively. This year the number of runners increased by about 20% to 22,000 with close to 70 nationalities participated in the marathon. Men outnumbered women by almost 2:1 ratio. There were approximately 2,500 staff runners and 450 staff volunteered to help the Bank which include distributing the race packs, manning the staff tent, water station and sponge station.

It was a great experience to see thousands of runner at the starting point to start their respective categories especially the 10km run where 10,000 runners took part and it took quite some time for all the runners to be able to start running. The whole event went on smoothly and we just did not realise how fast time flies and by the time it was over, we started feeling sleepy and exhausted. Abah came to fetch us around 11am.

The Reds and The Red Warriors

2011-07-01T10:39:00.023+08:00

As you can see on our blog, we are fans of the Red Warriors (Kelantan FA) and the Reds (Liverpool FC)…the main similarities I guess are the color (Red) and the fans (Red Warriors Fan & the Kops)…both are great fans, who expects the best and support their team in droves, both home and away.

We are fans to the Red Warriors simply because Kelantan is my home state (and my family share that spirit) and fortunately, the team has been doing very well in the last few years…probably due to a proper football team management by the Kelantan FA (Tan Sri Annuar Musa – probably he’s best outside politics) and of course support from the state government, the Sultan and the people. The Red Warriors fan has been a kind of revelation to Malaysian football in the last few years, setting new standard in ‘fan support’. You could see that Sultan Muhammad IV stadium is always full when the game is played at home (as a result the state government has pledged to build a new stadium in Selising, doubling the size to 40,000 capacity) and the national or Shah Alam stadium are both normally swamped with the Red Warriors fan whenever the team plays on those pitches…you could see the Kelantan flags all over the streets (in fans’ cars) in Kuala Lumpur when the game is in the Klang valley.

Whereas for Liverpool, we have been their fan for a long time, since Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush were playing and that has continued until now. We had problems when Carlsberg was sponsoring Liverpool….we dare not wear the jersey, promoting Carlsberg! Of late, Standard Chartered Bank, where Ibu works, is the main sponsor of Liverpool so that made the support even bigger… which turn Ibu from a person who knows nothing about football into a Liverpool and Red Warriors fan. Of course, the team didn’t do well in the recently concluded season but that is already a bitter history and is looking forward to the new season.

Adik, Pak Su, Naif & Atif are real hardcore supporters of the Red Warriors and Liverpool…they keep up to date information about the teams, followed their progress, watched their current and past games, monitored the tables and read about new signings or transfers.

They also asked their parents to buy the team jerseys especially Kelantan jersey (both white and red), Malaysian jersey (both blue and yellow) and of course the Liverpool jersey (Adik always has up-to-date Liverpool jersey – normally opened for purchase by Standard Chartered staff before official release). And once in a while, we get together for a round of futsal or field soccer to entertain ourselves.

They went to watch Malaysia Cup Final 2009 (where Kelantan lost to Negeri Sembilan), again in 2010 (where Kelantan won the Malaysia Cup for the first time – we were having kenduri dos selamat for Haji that time) and recently the FA Cup final (where Kelantan lost to Terengganu and attended by the Sultan Muhammad V and the Menteri Besar, Dato Paduka Nik Abdul Aziz b Nik Mat @ Tok Guru). Normally, one of their uncles (Pak Lang) would accompany all of them.

I did bring Adik and Pak Su to watch Kelantan vs Kuala Lumpur game in Kota Bharu in February this year, during our balik kampung trip. Sometimes, my cousins would bring my DS brother to watch the game in KB. A week after we got back to KL, my DS brother wanted to watch another home game but no one was available to bring him there, so he decided to ride his bicycle to Kota Bharu!!!! My dad caught up with him at Masjid Keroh (12 km away from my parents house in Kuala Krai), after he was tired of cycling. If dad had not caught up with him, I’m pretty sure he would have made it into the stands of Stadium Sultan Muhammad IV…. that is the spirit of a Red Warrior diehard fan!!!!
So next, we are looking forward to the final game of the Malaysian Super League, where we hope Kelantan will emerge Champion for the first time ever and hopefully the team will also do well in the Malaysia Cup to be played later this year.

As for Liverpool, we have never watched a Liverpool game live (only on TV) and I hope we could do that sometime in the future at Anfield. However, we are looking forward to their visit in July this year (again, the first ever trip to Malaysian soil) and Ibu has got all the discounted tickets she could get from the Bank. We hope that the new season will bring success and joy with the new manager and the ongoing transfer talks. Liverpool could only look into possibly winning the Premier League (or at least in position to qualify for Champions League), the FA and the Carling Cup…no European action but good for building up a relatively new team.

We are proud of our football teams, including the Malaysian team of course. We wish good luck to the Red Warriors for the rest of the season and good luck to the Reds for the new season. We will continue to support good clean football and good fan support….

Gomo Klate Gomo and You’ll Never Walk Alone.

Our CSR with Sime Darby Rhizo Project

2011-06-24T14:50:00.022+08:00

Recently we join the Sime Darby Rhizo Project at PDP on Sunday, 12 June 2011 at Pantai Cahaya Negeri, Port Dickson. We love to do this kind of activities and we must support these noble initiatives for the sake of our environment.

This is a mangrove replanting project at Pulau Burung organized by the Energy & Utilities Division in conjunction with World Environment Day 2011 (on 5th June every year) together with MPPD and Jabatan Hutan Negeri Sembilan. This is also a part of Sime Darby Employee Volunteerism Program (EVP). The purpose and benefits of replanting the mangrove include erosion control, habitat for fish breeding and nurturing, off-setting carbon emissions as well as shelter and stopover for local and migrating birds.

John and Shu were the key organizers for Sime Darby and they had done a wonderful and excellent job. The discussion and planning only started when we attended the Sg Tua Waterfall clean-up project in Hulu Yam in April 2011 (during World Earth Day – 22nd April every year).

Sime Darby chose PD because it has an operation i.e PD Power (a 440 MW peaking plant) at Tanjung Gemok, just north of PD town. We were supposed to pick up the umrah group on Sunday at 11am but we couldn’t miss this program either. So we decided to do both and we put up a night at Glory Beach Resort on Saturday, 11 June.

Before we went to PD, we had to send Pak Su, Adik, Naif, Atif & Pak Lang to Bukit Jalil stadium at 3pm for the FA Cup final between Kelantan & Terengganu (although the game only starts at 8:30pm). So only me, Ibu and kakak went to PD. Instead of following the normal highway route, we took a detour towards Sepang and Sungai Pelek since Ibu wanted to see the Golden Palm Resort. So we did go round the Bagan lalang beach and visited the resort (look and see only). We reached PD around Maghrib and had an excellent dinner at the newly opened MPPD Medan Ikan Bakar…should try them especially stall no.2. That night we watched the FA Cup Final live telecast on TV and of course we were very disappointed with the results, and it was worse for the diehard fans who flooded the national stadium….that is football, there is always a winner and a loser…this time Red Warriors was on the wrong end!

Early the next morning (12 June 2011), we had early breakfast and then we proceeded to PDP for a gathering and another round of breakfast. Ibu and kakak were introduced to the function and operation of a gas fired power plant. Nasrul also brought along his wife and sons. It was a nice set up of tents by the lakes within the power plant site and we could enjoy the sight of the birds feeling safe within their natural environment. PDP maintains a lake which protects the biodiversity of the birds and the fishes. While we had breakfast, Dato’ Bakke Salleh, SD Group CEO, arrived in his chauffer driven BMW…a simple man who doesn’t really like VIP treatment, he prefers to be with the people…something that I really admire.

We were expecting to have around 300 people attending this program with their families from USJ office, GHQ and SDE Pasir Gudang, a total of 7 buses….not a bad number of participation from the employees, well done! It was already 9:30am and we had to make a move if we wanted to be on time at the KLIA. So, although the Group has not made the move (since the buses haven’t arrived), we decided to proceed to Pantai Cahaya Negeri for the mangrove replanting.

We met John and Shu at the beach waiting for the entourage to arrive and we told them that we had to plant first as we had to go to KLIA. While we were walking across the bridge to Pulau Burung, we saw Dato’ Bakke has also arrived and was walking towards us….. but John came to stop him, as he needed to address the Group first…probably he saw us walking and he wanted to be early too.

So we planted 10 rhizophora mucronata saplings on Pulau Burung, earlier than the Group and we had to do it at covered areas so that people don’t really see us…..otherwise spoilt the function la ! It was a beautiful sunny and hot day and once we were done with the planting of 12 trees, we walked back to our car and drove off to KLIA, after a short stop for teh O ais. We arrived KLIA at about 11.30am, right on time as the flight touched down at 10:55am and the Group only came out from the arrival hall at 12 noon.

We were happy to have participated and have done our part and I hope Sime Darby will do more of this kind of activities shared and empowered by the employees and their families.

Journey to the Land's End, Tanjung Pengelih - Part 6

2011-06-22T16:08:00.013+08:00

Initially we were having doubts whether we wanted to check out today or stay on for another day because I was afraid that we might get caught in a jam on the way back since this is school holidays…but everyone else wanted to stay on….so we did stay on but had to think of what else can we do. We though of travelling to JB for dinner but it was too far away…about 85km so I thought that was a bit too far and furthermore we were unlucky that the new Kongkong bridge only opened a few days after we have returned to KL…otherwise travelling to JB through the Senai Desaru highway should be much faster and more convenient….and dinner in JB could have been possible.

Instead we decided to explore further south until the end of the road on Peninsula Malaysia East Coast ie Tanjung Pengelih, about 50 km away from Desaru, with Sg Rengit, a small town located in between. After Asar, we started our exploration southwards following the beach road… again we came across nice beautiful beaches but there are more people here that it was in the north.

Pantai Tanjung Balau is unique and has colorful waters….light blue, green, dark blue etc….due to the formation of rocks and corals along the beach.The beach is clean and not so deep and it offers great opportunity to swim, but some people say that this place has lots of obor-obor!! The beach is a very popular spot among locals and the beach also has a Fisherman’s Museum built nearby.

We came up to Teluk Ramunia, where SDE fabrication yard is located and a few really nice beaches and small resorts including Pantai Tanjung Balau (probably the best beach throughout our journey) and beaches along Teluk Ramunia. These areas offer nice sceneries with blue sky, blue water, fisherman managing their boats and huge containers/oil tankers dotted the horizon, approaching and leaving the Singapore port.

We continued further until we really came to the end of the road which is the Jeti Tanjung Pengelih and we couldn’t go any further. Before that, we did stop at an ostrich farm in Teluk Ramunia and it was indeed and interesting learning experience for the kids. The admission fee is only RM12 and they do sell "kaya" and "bahulu" made from Ostrich Eggs!!! Do you know that an ostrich egg will only break with a load of 130kg or more? Interesting...

It was almost sun set when we thought of having dinner and we’ve read about this famous seafood shop in Sungai Rengit and we decided to check out. We found the shop at Sungai Rengit and it was full with patrons. It’s a Chinese shop but doesn’t sell pork and doesn’t allow any other food to be brought in. We saw photos of many people had come to the shop before including the Johor MB etc…so it gave us confidence that the food is halal and can be consumed (after all it only sells seafood). The shop is famous for selling lobster!!! It has tanks full of lobsters (local lobsters) sourced and supplied by the local people. The shop and the food were rated highly on Singapore Food Channel and that’s why you can see many Singaporeans go there for good lobster meal. We ourselves ordered some lobsters and crabs and we really enjoyed the food, they were tasty and good…..the price was not bad and affordable. Pak Su and Adik took the opportunity to hold live lobsters for a photo.

After dinner, we slowly drove back to Desaru, 25km away and reaches the hotel at around Isya’ so we did our solat before everyone started to show effects of another hectic day. However, Pak Su wanted to go and play the ‘bebaling berlampu’ at the café’s lawn but no one was willing to entertain him because of tiredness but he insisted that he wanted to go and play…and was prepared to go alone if no one could follow. So I had no choice but reluctantly followed him to the lawn… I was a bit mad because he didn’t want to listen to me.

The lawn is a walking distance of about 200m from the room. Initially, I just followed him from behind without him knowing and I could see that he knew his way and he could find his own way….after a while I approached and scolded him and he was not happy but that did not change his intention… he continued walking and I let him walked alone and I would walk through a different direction.

When we reached the lawn, as usual there were many people having fun and enjoying the ‘flying lights’ and he immediately took out his gadget and started playing….you could see that he liked to do that. Again, I sat in a distance watching him….as in the day, there were people who are scared of him and there are people who were kind to him….one of them was the lady, the Managing Director of the resort, truly professional. After a while I asked Adik to help him as his gadget was having problem.

As I continued sitting and watching him, I felt guilty and unfair for scolding him and for not agreeing to his idea of wanting to do this earlier….seeing him enjoying himself with a simple play made my heart sunk and my eyes went teary again…. I was thinking that he never asked for anything that is impossible and he never retaliates whenever we scolded him or got angry with him. So why do we get easily angered by this people or their simple request? The answer is that the anger is actually by yourself on yourself and for yourself…..he didn’t do anything wrong at all. So next time you come across this situation, do think about this….treat DS people as you treat any other normal people, scold them if required only in private and not in public and entertain them as much as you can as it is not likely that they will ask for something that is really impossible to give or entertain.

Once satisfied, he signaled that we could back to hotel…so we walked but he stopped again at the video arcade for a few rounds of games. Adik also joint in, I just waited and didn’t complaint. At 11pm, we finally got into our room and into our beds.

As I lay my head on the pillow, I thought today has been a wonderful learning experience for me about my DS brother…special people from Allah for us to care for, look at, deal with and learn from. Look at them, listen to them and treat them well....they could be your saviors on Judgement Day, that is my hope....insyaAllah.

Lotus Desaru, The Resort for All Reason - Part 5

2011-06-21T09:36:00.024+08:00

Saturday 4th June was another beautiful day in Desaru. As usual, we woke up early for solat and then for breakfast at Teratai Coffee house….the food was quite good, so much better than Bukit Gambang Resort City there were many people. They probably arrived for the weekend stay. By the way, Lotus Desaru does not serve beef or pork, they must have Indian food in their spread. After breakfast, we spent time walking by the beach, playing by the lawn and enjoying the sunrise while waiting for the water park to open at 9am. We were surprised to see so many people dressed in red and white and later found out that a political party was having its meeting at the club house and a few VIPs attended the function....it made the whole place even more crowded!!!

At 9am, everyone adjourned to the water park for fun time sliding and swimming. So we could see young and old people, father, mother, children…everyone enjoying themselves. Pak Su, Adik, Ibu and I joint in the fun. The water park is very safe for child and they have lifeguards stationed at many places…so safety wise, the risks of injuries or accident is relatively low.

After a while, I had enough of the water and decided to sit back and do some reading while again keeping an eye on Pak Su and Adik. From far, I could see that some people are scared of my DS brother and prefer to stay away but there are also very nice people who try to engage and help the DS guy… those gestures really touched my heart and made my eyes filled with tears. Furthermore these were honest gestures as they did not know that someone was watching. I pray that these kind hearted people will come across people who are kind to them too…every time and anywhere.

They both enjoyed the water park until it closed at 12 noon, and I was able to cover many pages of the book I was reading. On the way out, I did thank those who were nice to my DS brother…although initially they were confused, they knew what I meant when they saw him….they smiled and their faces glowed with unexpected joy. After freshening up, we then headed for lunch of local food….nasi with delicious ikan merah asam pedas at a food court near Bandar Penawar. The lunch was even better after you had a long day in the water…normally you go really - really hungry!!! We then headed back to hotel for to rest and solat.

Our day has not ended and our journey to explore this part of the world continues....

Discover Mersing and Desaru - Part 4

2011-06-20T10:12:00.016+08:00

Today is Friday, 3rd June 2011 and we woke up not so early for Subuh….almost at the end!!! It was cool and bright with mild sea breezes. Except for Pak Su (who was still enjoying his sleep), we took a walk by the beach, Pantai Air Papan…..a very nice bay, flat long beach, golden sands and islands dotted the horizon …. Pulau Rawa, Pulau Besar, Pulau Sibu, Pulau Tioman, Pulau Aur and many more. No wonder Mersing is known as the gateway to some of the most beautiful islands in the East Coast of Peninsular.

So, we took the opportunity to watch the sunrise. Just awesome...and later walked and walked, chased the sand crab, collected sea shells, took photos until we reached the end of the beach, blocked by a hill and rocks. That is the beauty of Mersing beaches, tucked between hills, isolated beautiful bays and beaches....quite different from the many beaches we normally see around the country.

We then had simple breakfast at a gerai by the beach and we chit chat with the shop owner and learned a few interesting facts about Mersing. He also sold ‘telur penyu’ (turtle’s eggs – Hawksbill turtle?) at RM10 per for three which the local people searched on the isolated beaches or the islands around Mersing. I didn’t fancy ‘telur penyu’ and I strongly support turtle conservation, but Ibu couldn’t resist her temptation (reminded her of her childhood days), so I guess it was a good enough reason for her to buy a few for herself, her mom and her grandmother.

After breakfast, Ibu and kakak decided they needed more rest so they went back to the room and onto their beds, whereas Pak Su was still sleeping. So Adik and I decided to explore the Mersing beaches further. So we took on the road (newly opened) along the beaches heading north from Pantai Air Papan, cutting through the hills and the pristine jungle…that’s when we came face to face with all these nice beautiful unspoilt beaches of Mersing…one after another, all of them tucked in bays, in between the hills…and the beaches were empty and you could basically do what you want!!

When we went back to the room, Pak Su was not there!!! Alamak!!! But we suspected that he must have gone to the pool…..true enough, he was enjoying himself in the pool, under a bright sunny day. So Adik joint in with his uncle and I did my reading while waiting and keeping an eye on them. Once done with the pool, Ibu and kakak have also taken their shower, we decided it was time to check out and move on. So, we said goodbye to Sri Mersing Resort and headed towards Mersing town following ‘jalan dalam’ or beach road. Half way, we remembered that we forgot to collect the ‘telur penyu’!!!! So we changed our plan a little bit, where we went for a round tour of pekan Mersing after which we went back to Pantai Air Papan for solat Jumaat and of course the ‘telur penyu’.

While we had our solat Jumaat, ibu enjoyed herself with kakak at the gerai eating ‘telur penyu’…so much so that we had to wait for almost one hour before they came to fetch us after solat Jumaat!! While waiting, we enjoyed ourselves by the beach. We were planning to travel further south to Desaru following the beach road. But before we finally said goodbye to Mersing, we had lunch at kedai mamak and entertained ourselves to a round of cendol (must be the famous cendol in town!)…. marvelous.

Everyone was full and happy; we drove on towards Desaru, another 150 km south of Mersing. The road was different from the past, there were more cars and trucks (road was busier), winding roads passing through palm oil plantations…it was a bit boring and then it rained. Along the way, we also discovered the latest edition of FELDA Residence ie in Tanjung Leman (we like to stay at FELDA Residences as they are real value for money). We shall include a stay there in our next trip down south.

We finally reached Lotus Resort in Desaru around 4pm and it was not bad of a place, perhaps the best resort in Desaru and the most popular among Malaysians and Singaporeans. We checked in, got into our rooms (facing the in house waterpark) and relax, before we had shower and did our solat. At around dusk, we went round the resort just to familiarize ourselves with the facilities and after that we took a drive exploring the beaches of Desaru….many unoccupied hotels / resorts along the way. We then proceeded to Bandar Penawar to look for nice dinner but we were disappointed as there was not much choice at all….the whole town was quiet and dark. So we decided to go back to the resort and have dinner at the Teratai Coffeehouse instead.

There were many people having buffet dinner (of course as this is school holidays) and the coffee house is located at a very nice location, with nice green lawn separating the café from the beach and there were many people entertaining themselves and their families to all kinds of activities from playing football, ‘flying lights’ or even just running around or sitting and doing nothing. Adik and Pak Su also joint in the fun after the dinner and we entertained them as much as they wanted. Before going back to the room, both of them got stuck to playing video games at the in house arcade….got to wait some more, but it was fine as long as they are happy.

It closed at 11pm, so we walked back to the room and had our sleep, ready for another water park day tomorrow.

Coastal Road Exploration - Part 3

2011-06-17T10:51:00.019+08:00

Pak Long took us to one of the famous Thai Restaurant in Kuantan, Sara Thai Kitchen @ Wan Seafood & Tomyan located at Jalan Gambut, Kuantan. The food was good and the price was reasonable. The food is different than what you can find in the ordinary tomyam stalls and they don't serve anything beef which I find a bit weird....Thanks to Pak Long for taking up the bill.

After we had a nice, hot and spicy lunch in Kuantan, we continued our journey east towards Pekan, 50 km away, the royal town of Pahang and of course our PM's homewtown. We drove through Tg Lumpur and that route would get you reconnected to the main Kuantan - Pekan road (or shall I call it highway now?). Again, it was a hot day and we took a nice slow drive enjoying the view of the nice beaches after Tg Lumpur. Once we got onto the main highway, we were amazed by the development that has taken place on the road itself. Dual carriageway all the way to Pekan, nice tarmac and the best part is that the whole road is lighted with fancy street light pole built every 100m (or less)!!! I was personally amazed on how the government could spend so much of the people's money to do this kind of development. Is it because the PM's kampong is in Pekan? Whatever the reason may be, it was hard for me to comprehend and understand the facts and reasons behind it.

We arrived Pekan at around 3:30pm at stopped at Pak Long's house at Kg Mengkasar. We freshened up, shower and toilet, had nice tea with Puding Di Raja ("PDR") while Pak Su enjoyed a few rounds of bicycle ride (probably he missed that when he was in KL, always ride bicycle at home). Pak Long had also done some improvements to his house due to his booming PDR business. At about 5pm, we left Pekan and said goodbye to Pak Long's family and continued our journey south of Pekan towards Mersing, 145 km away. Passing through Pekan town, we could also see the town was vibrant with new developments. Some places are lucky to get huge development allocation from the government!

We left Pekan and sped off southwards. The late evening travel (almost dusk), brought us through beautiful and peaceful beaches and kampongs, and the road from Pekan to Mersing is simply superb - flat, straight, good surface and not many cars. We came across different ecosystems (mangrove and swamp) and different cultures and lifestyles. At one place between Pekan and Nenasi, we were surprised to see rows and rows of jeruk buah being sold by the road side. Of course Ibu would not miss the chance to grab some.

We later reached and passed by Nenasi dan Kuala Rompin which are nice, beautiful and peaceful small towns by the sea on the east coast. We didn't stop as it was getting dark and we didn't want to travel at night at unfamiliar places. The passengers were all relaxing after a tiring day and nobody complaint and everyone was still n good health and spirit.

Approaching Mersing, we came across different land formation with more hills and winding roads but still good quality tracks. At about Maghrib, we were 10km away from Mersing and the GPS said we got to turn left into a small road towards our next destination, Sri Mersing Resort at Pantai Air Papan. Luckily Ibu bought her new Samsung Tab along and it helps us with the directions. We were a bit skeptical about this area and was not 100% sure of wanting to stay there, but we continued to drive on since we needed to stop and rest for the night.

We drove into the small road into kampong and it was dark (no street lights) looking for the resort. We got lost somewhat before we came to Fishing Bay Resort (famous with Singaporeans). Although the review was good in the Tripadvisor, the place was too quiet and eerie and we were a bit scared that we decided not to ask further. We continued our search and finally arrived at the Sri Mersing Resort, just a basic resort but it was good enough, right by the beach and has a swimming pool.

We checked in at one of the chalet with two rooms, rest and took shower before we decided to explore Mersing town for dinner. We had nasi lemak for the night after which we drove back to the resort and went to bed. Pak Su was a bit scared to sleep alone in his bed so he ended up sleeping on the floor beside my bed. As long as hes happy, I'm happy and so is everyone else.
I did some reading (will write postings on these books later) before bed just to cool down and relax.

It was a very long day and we badly needed the rest as our journey will continue tomorrow.

Fun at Bukit Gambang Resort City - Part 2

2011-06-15T20:43:00.015+08:00

The next day, early in the morning, we had simple breakfast at the hotel`s coffee house.The breakfast spread was limited and because of mass production, the food was not that great. We have no choice but to fill up the empty stomach. As planned, we wanted to bring Pak Su and Adik to Bukit Gambang Water Park. Out of the blue, Pak Long (Ibu`s eldest brother) called and said that he might join us since he has to deliver Puding di Raja to his customers in Kuantan. The cashless water park starts operating at 10am daily. So, while waiting for Pak Long to arrive, we (me and my brother) decided to have a quick deep at the hotel`s swimming pool. At about 10am, Pak Long arrived with his family and we drove instead of taking the tramp to the water park which is located just a stone`s throw away from our hotel.

Bukit Gambang Water Park offers a non-stop fun and excitement to everyone, both the kids as well as adults. Every adult ride in the park comes with its own kid-sized replica. So, not only can children enjoy getting wet in the rides even adults would be tempted to get themselves wet like the kids and wish they were young again! Other attractions such as the Children Fantasy Island (“Penguin Island”), Special Kidz Zone, the Adventure Typhoon River as well as a 1 kilometre long man-made sandy beach offers a never-ending fun to its visitors. The park is opened from 11am to 6pm from Monday to Friday and 10am during public and school holidays and closed on Tuesday except during public and school holidays. The rates for the adults are RM21.90 and kids below twelve are RM14.90 with kids below 90cm in height can go in FOC.

Abah rented few tubes and a cabana for everybody. Since it is a cashless park, you have to pay up front for the stuff and food you want to rent or purchase inside the park. They recommend either you purchase RM50 or RM100 and later top up as and when you like when you are inside the park. If you don't utilise all the money, you can always refund when you exit the park. We rented the cabana for RM50 for the day and four tubes and all these stuff rented comes with deposit!!!

Among the attractions are the Coco Beach, Penguin Island and Tree Top Hill Slides. Obviously, the Coco Beach and Penguin Island are situated just around the cabana but for the Tree Top Hill Slides, we had to walk almost few metres away inside to enjoy it. For the first few minutes, my two cousins and I were quite disappointed to see slides only for the kids and none for adults like us. Luckily, we found similar slides for the grown ups like us which were located in a different area! I did not want to join them at first but I was tempted to see people having fun with all the rides. Luckily, my chicken pox has subsided otherwise I would have to stay at the cabana with Ibu looking after our stuff!!!

One of the attractions includes the Wave Pool, the biggest in the country right in the middle of a jungle. It is just like a real beach, only better. The whole family can also enjoy the Penguin Island, a mini theme park and Aqua Play that is filled with water amusement that’s bound to excite the kids. The best would be the giant water tub fills up with water and dumps hundreds of litters of water on unsuspecting visitors below. The best way to recharge before heading back to the more adventurous rides is by grabbing a tube and let the slow flowing waters of the Glacier River take you on a relaxing ride that circles the entire park along The Journey of Ice. Pak Su was overjoyed as he rode on this ride almost four times. Amazing!

Save the best for last. That was what me and my cousins did. After playing with almost all the attractions, we made our way to Tree Top Hill Slides together with Pak Long and Mak Long. The rest came a bit later. To get on the ride was very tiring as we need to climb up the high tall stairs before going down the slides. The water park offers five types of slides like Canopy Slide, Crystal Slide, Galaxy Slide, 6 lane racer (longest in Malaysia) and also Family Raft Ride(also the longest in Malaysia). We were able to ride the slide almost five to seven times but excluded the 6 lane racer because it was almost the check out time.

Finally, when hunger started overwhelming us, we bought some pizzas and drinks before we went back to the hotel for check out. We were lucky to get late check out time at 2pm and later left Bukit Gambang Resort City with a heavy heart. If only we could stay on longer and enjoy the rides. Nevertheless, it was such a wonderful moment for me and my family members to get together and having fun. I would like to thank both Ibu and Abah for every single effort that they have put in to entertain their children (Thaqif and I) and also Pak Su during our holiday trip. We really appreciate those so much.

P/s : This post is written by the blogger`s daughter for the first time. Some informations are taken from http://www.bgrc.com.my/home.php. Hope you guys enjoy!

Holiday with Pak Su to the East Coast and Down South - Part 1

2011-06-14T16:46:00.031+08:00

This two weeks school holidays in June 2011, we have promised Pak Su (my Down syndrome brother) to bring him for a tour with the family since he did not follow the umrah trip together with Tok Abah and Tok Mama. He succumbed to the idea and didn’t give much problem when we sent off the entourage at the KLIA.

Faiz joined the umrah group while Kakak and Adik enjoyed their holidays at home. So the car would be nice to fit everyone comfortably. Although Kakak suffered from chicken pox, it was not so severe and the doctor has given her medication to stop it from spreading. Of course the doctor advised her not to travel but the decision was ours.

Pak Su has never gone on a holiday with us and this opportunity should be a very interesting chapter for us in getting to know him better. All these while, we spent only a few days with him whenever we ‘balik kampung’ or when he came over to our place in the presence of Tok Mama and Tok Abah. We didn’t know what to expect but we tried our best to make sure that everything went on smoothly and everyone could enjoy the trip. We arranged it in such a way that Pak Su gets to do what he likes and he gets to see unfamiliar beautiful places.

The plan was to travel from KL to Kuantan to Pekan to Mersing and to Desaru from Wednesday 1st June and return to KL on Sunday 5th June, which is the World Environment Day. A total of 5 days and 4 nights, covering about 1,000 km from west to east to south and back north of Peninsular Malaysia….sweeping through unfamiliar places, small towns, nice unspoilt beaches and water parks.

Our preparations include research on the best routes, destinations, the costs, the accommodations, good food, and the activities including the condition of the car. These are necessary things we normally do before we take on a very long journey like this. Ibu will normally prepare detail itinerary and make on-line reservations and come up with the estimated budget for the whole trip. When Dini showed her holiday itinerary to her friends, they had a shocked because their parents have never done such a thing when they go on holidays!

On Monday 30th May, we sent the umrah entourage at the airport and later that day we just rest at home after going through a very hectic weekend. We brought Pak Su for naan and tandoori dinner that night (his favourite) before we ended the day. The next day, we entertained him for a 1.5 hours badminton game at Ampang Sports Planet(he can play basic badminton) and later went to watch ‘Kungfu Panda 2’ (very nice movie) at Wangsawalk, although Pak Su prefers to watch movies like‘Karak’!! Ibu had to work that day and could not join us.

Pak Su was already excited about the trip and was ready to take on the tour with us. The kids have also cooperated well and were prepared to entertain their ‘special uncle’. I did not expect anything silly to happen when he is with us and I’m counting on everyone to give their full cooperation. We prayed that Allah will protect and help us all the way and grant us patience of the highest order.

We started our journey early morning Wednesday 1st June 2011, travelling from KL to Gambang via the old road. It was a nice and lazy drive before we stopped at Bukit Angin rest area for lunch. We always eat at Gerai No. 9 although all the stalls there serve almost the same thing. It was a superb lunch with ikan patin masak tempoyak (everyone's favourite except for me!)…Temerloh is famous for that and it is known as Bandar Ikan Patin.

After lunch, we continued our journey on the old road to Gambang, heading towards Gambang Water Park (if we used ECE, we will have to drive back towards KL to reach the place). We arrived at the hotel and it looks good although it is located far from anything else except the jungle and the water park. We checked in at about 4pm and the facilities at the resort and the room are very basic. Our view from the balcony are construction of more apartments…but it was enough for us for just one night.

After settling down, we toured the resort, took the tram to the water park (just getting info as the park closes at 6pm) and then off we went to Kuantan for dinner. Traffic was bad as we approached the new flyover at Pekan junction before we reached Tanjung Lumpur for seafood dinner at the seaside. This time we were lucky since there were empty tables at Ana Ikan Bakar Petai, the biggest and the famous restaurant there. We had Siakap Goreng Tiga Rasa, Sotong and Pari Bakar and Lala Masak Pedas. The food was nice and enough to give us the needed energy. Everybody was already tired and I was the only one awake while we drove back to Gambang.

Upon arriving, Pak Su and Adik wanted to play video games at the in house arcade so I had to entertain them for a further one hour. When it was time to go back to the room, they stopped again to watch movie until the end. When we finally lay our heads on the pillow, it was well after midnight and it didn’t take long before everybody snoozed off….resting and recharging for another hectic day.

Umrah Trip of Haji Ma'arof Family

2011-06-08T17:22:00.021+08:00

As a Muslim, we have to visit Makkah and Madinah, if we have the capabilities (time, financial, health, safety), in order to learn, see and appreciate more of the Islamic history and practices in these holy lands. These are the places where Prophet Muhammad saw was born, lived and died. Furthermore, during Haji or Umrah, we could meet thousands of other Muslims and we can learn different styles and cultures of Muslim coming from all over the globe….Muslim is more than just Malay or Arab.

It has been a while since Ma'arof s family members’ visit Tanah Haram except for our recent Hajj and Umrah and Ayah Su’s umrah performed last 2 years (with arwah Asri Rabbani), other than that, the Hajj or umrah have been hard to come by. Anyway, Haji Ma'aroff died in Makkah in the late 1940s and was buried at Perkuburan Maa’la in Makkah.

Tok Abah had been contemplating to go on umrah after being there the last time in a few years back. He also plans to bring Pak Teh, who has never been to Makkah, although he has travelled near and far. Tok Mama wanted to follow as she last went to Tanah Haram some 10 years back, and many things have changed since then. But she was worried of Pak Su, so we offered to look after him while they are gone so then she decided to follow the Group. We have planned for a holiday trip with Pak Su and that could be an interesting training session for us brothers.

Initially, we wanted to join the umrah trip too but since we had just returned from Hajj end of last year, we decided to send Faiz as this will provide him with the exposure and experience of doing umrah with the grandparents and uncles and more importantly in the absence of his parents. He was happy to have had the opportunity.

The Group just got larger when Mak Ngah decided to join in. She has never been on a long haul flight or travelled out of the country….so this is her break and this could be her new experience and exposure. Later Isnariah (Ibu’s office mate) decided to join too as she had initially planned to performed Umrah on her own. Futher on, Kak Long, Tok Abah’s cousin and neighbour) and her husband decided to join in, similar stories to above but at least she had experienced flying when she was a teacher in Sabah, but never had a long haul flight. A few weeks later, Tok Jae (Kak Long’s younger brother) also decided to join the Group. They were driven by the fact that their mother had gone for Haji last year and their late father never had the opportunity to visit the Holy Lands during his lifetime.

So in total there were 9 people in the Group and many of them were first timers to the Holy Lands, some first timers on long haul flight, some first timers on flying and some first timers for visiting other countries.

We were tasked to coordinate the trip in KL and after reviewing the umrah packages of several travel agencies, we decided that the Group will visit the Holy Lands from 30 Mei 2011 until 12 Jun 2011 / 26 Jamadil Akhir – 10 Rejab 1432H, with YHA Travels & Tours (based in Ampang Point). The selection was based on suitable travel dates, overall costs, track records, hotels in Makkah and Madinah, air carrier (Malaysia Airlines) and direct flights to either Makkah / Madinah (MAS only to Jeddah).

So when the actual day came, Tok Abah, Tok Mama and Pak Su flew into Subang via Fireflyz from KB on Saturday 28 May 2011. Hibatullah sent them to KB airport while Pak Teh fetched them from Subang airport. The same morning, we had to attend IQKL’s Hari Ihtifal at UIA, where Faiz took part in the drama. We organized a small majlis solat hajat and dinner that night at our house in Gombak, attended by all the 8 "bakal tetamu Allah swt" (except Isnariah who had her own doa selamat at her kampung in Kuala Lipis).

On Monday 30th May 2011, we gathered at KLIA to send them off. Dini had flown into KLIA that morning via MAS since she had just completed her school program earlier that morning. Pak Su didn’t create any problem and we finally said goodbyes to the Group when they checked into the departure hall at about 1 PM.

Alhamdulillah, all went well and they arrived safely in Jeddah on time, didn’t have to wait long for immigration clearance and then on to Madinah. We hope everyone will benefit from the trip and we also hope that more trips to the Holy Lands will be made by Hj Ma'aroff's family members. Semoga perjalanan mereka dipermudahkan dan amal ibadah mereka diterima dan dikurniakan umrah yang mabrur.

Majlis Ihtifal IQKL 2010

2011-06-06T17:11:00.027+08:00

On 28 May 2011/24 Jamadil Akhir 1432H we attended the IQKL "Majlis Ihtifal". Last year we missed the opportunity to attend this event due to our trip to the Universal Studio. So, we did not want to miss the chance again this year. This time it was held at the Main Auditorium, IIUM. We were told that this year the event was more grand than last year since it was held at Masjid Negara.

Alhamdulilah, the auditorium was packed with parents and families of the students. It was officiated by Dato' Wan Mohamad bin Dato' Sheikh Abdul Aziz, ex head of JAKIM. Both Dato' Dr Hassan Ali and Dato' Hj Mohamad Hassan Muktar, the Founder and the Chairman of IQKL respectively attended the event and gave us a very enlightening speeches. Of course the event started with recitation of doa by Syeikh Said Abdel Latif Karawia from Al-Azhar and Quran recitation by a form 1 student. Syeikh Said was invited by IQKL to teach all the students talaqi and sanad for selected students and teachers in a 5 year programme. It's a great opportunity for the students to have Syeikh at the school for 5 years, they surely will make the most of his experience, knowledge and skill in teaching Al-Quran.

We were informed by the Chairman in his speech that IQKL has put in a system whereby each parent will be given a user ID and a password to access their children progress in academic, hafazan and other activities through their website. We thought that this is a great effort by Mudir and the IQKL teachers to ensure that parents can monitor the progress and development of their children constantly. As parents, we truly appreciate everything that the team at IQKL has done for our children. We know that it is not an easy task and we are grateful. May Allah swt blessed them.

After all the formalities, speeches and launching of website (http://www.iqkl.com.my/), the performance by the students started. A group of about 30 banat performed choral speaking about great muslim women while banin performed nasyid/qasidah. Faiz participated in the drama taken from a novel "Nyawa di Hujung Pedang". In between the performance, there were prize giving ceremony for students who excel in their exams, sports and hafazan. But the touching moments were the recognition given to those who have completed their hafazan of 30 juzuk Al-Quran. There were 10 of them and their parents were invited to present the token to their children. Congratulations to them and their parents.

We are quite impressed with the way IQKL has organised the event. They managed to get the alumnis to help them on the corporate videos, the website and the slides show during the event. It was great to see the children showed their hidden talents since we always see them wondering about in the school compound or playing futsal. Some of them are really talented in acting, singing or playing musical instruments. All in all, we enjoyed their performance and were glad to be part of the IQKL's family. Well done to the students and the teachers of IQKL.

Speech given by Dato' Wan Mohamad

Recitation of Doa by Sheikh Said

Majlis Khatam 30 Juzuk Hafazan

Quran Recitation with Qiraat Nafi' by IQKL student

Choral Speaking by Banat

Faiz as "orang kampung"

Drama "Nyawa di Hujung Pedang"

Nasyid/Qasidah by Banin

That Little Gerai @ Gerai Kecil Itu

2011-05-23T11:57:00.021+08:00

That Little Gerai (TLG) is the latest and hottest Western food joint in Klang valley....it is actually a little gerai in Taman Permata, Ulu Klang where New York dining experience (the food) is brought to the streets of Kuala Lumpur...and made available by US trained Malaysian chef , sold in Ringgit rather than US Dollar.

TLG is located in Taman Permata, Ulu Klang. If you're from Ampang on the MRR II, turn left to Taman Permata at the Melawati junction or turn right if you're from Gombak / Batu Caves. Once you're in Taman Permata (you can see Giant on your right), drive straight ahead (say 150m) until you see a junction to the right...take that route and you'll see Syed Bistro 50 m down the road on the right hand side and TLG is just a few meters away....tucked nicely at the corner of Thira Tomyam. Yes.....the place used to sell tomyam food but of late, the whole place is taken over by TLG operations....TLG is slowly becoming TNSLG (That Not So Little Gerai) and probably then on to TBLG (That Big Little Gerai)!!! Anyway, if you couldn't find it ......use the GPS or just ask!!

TLG serves excellent tasting, affordable and halal western food and the best part is that you can ask the chef to cook anything you fancy, but you'll have to bring the ingredient or you negotiate with him in advance....where to find like this!!! The chefs also love to interact with the customers....so you can talk to him or discuss about food....people kind of like that. Offers on the menu include rib eye or sirloin steak, lamb chops, grilled chicken or chic chop, burgers, pasta, lasagna, salmon, dory, salad....or even nasi goreng is available. The mashed potato is probably the best in town and the sauces are thick and tasty...yummy!! So its perfect for everyone, young or old, big or small, loaded or pokai....plus the very relaxing ambience (no particular dress code required...but don't come naked!).

TLG is opened every night except Monday night, normally after Maghrib and it goes on until everything is finished (can be as early as 10 PM) or as late as 2 AM. To maintain the quality of food, the chefs would normally do their own shopping after the gerai is closed for the night. Sometimes there is low turnout but most of the time the place is full of patrons...so it it best that we come early or do a booking by calling the chef. Its a bit of a squeeze if it rains but we're sure the chef will think of something to make the customers happy. In addition, the place has a flat screen TV with Astro....so the joint is normally full when there is LIVE football. The chefs are both inclined to Liverpool FC....but they welcome all LFC supporters and non supporters...even if you're MU's fan or Chelsea's fan or Arsenal's fan.....the chefs will still serve good quality food!!

TLG is run by 2 very experienced chefs.....Chef Aidy and Chef Ray....both of them learnt to become chef the hard way. Chef Aidy started the whole thing about a year ago after coming back from the US (he was there for 20 over years...surviving the New York city by being a chef and have served challenging & demanding customers).

The Chef had applied his trade in Malaysian context and was well accepted, evident by his involvement as chef at Starhill and even serving western dinner for the PM and the King!!! But he got fed up working with people and decided to open up his own brand and style of good western food for local Malaysians. Chef Aidy firts started as One Step KL in Setapak but it did not do well due to management issues and poor location...but the whole picture changed when he moved to Tmn Permata...support and response from the local Malaysian were simply amazing....local Malaysians love good western food....and they seem to have found it here at TLG. Similar story on Chef Ray, he had experienced being chef in many parts of Asia and Europe serving demanding customers in hotels and cruise ships, and he is also good with local food. He crossed path with Chef Aidy sometime ago and they decided to team up and slog it out...they seem to have evolved into a very formidable team.

TLG now has many new and repeat customers and we ourselves normally have dinner once a week at TLG....and we know of a few people who makes TLG as their second kitchen!! Many new customers got to know of the place through the internet...many people have come here and wrote their comments and views about the food and the gerai...most of them were very good comments and that inspired the chefs to do better...of the course the 80:20 rule always applies.

Click on TLG's reviews by their customers @ bloggers:-http://nooraishahzaharin.blogspot.com/2011/05/finally-got-to-taste-it-yeah.html; http://catzscafe1.blogspot.com/2011/03/that-little-gerai-au5.html; http://catzscafe1.blogspot.com/2011/05/hey-that-little-gerai-is-going-local.html;http://myinahar67.blogspot.com/2011/03/that-little-gerai-au5.html http://myinahar67.blogspot.com/2011/03/that-little-gerai-au5.html; http://uncle815.blogspot.com/2011/03/that-little-gerai.html; http://weekendiminlove.blogspot.com/2011/03/that-lil-gerai.html; http://the-fef.blogspot.com/2011/04/dinner-that-little-gerai.html

So, if you're nearby Tmn Permata or if you're dying for good western food, That Little Gerai (TLG) is the place to be...good food guaranteed, insyaAllah. Like TLG on facebook @ That Little Gerai in AU5 and Twitter @ThatLittleGerai. Chef Aidy can be contacted at 012-3320416.

Chef Ray in action!

TLG on full house!!!

Laila, the Sous Chef :-)

TLG @ Jalan Au5D

Chef Aidy @ his open kitchen

The charbroiling beef patty

Seafood Aglio Olio

Special Salmon Olio

The famous Chix Chop

Khan Baba Restaurant...Our New Discovery!

2011-05-19T11:42:00.016+08:00

We have been quite adventurous lately, eating out of the box and no longer at the same old place. We decided to explore new eating places around our area and this time it is located behind Ong Tai Kim (OTK) at Medan Idaman. Adik told us that his friend has experienced the food there and recommended him to try. Kids nowadays, they talked about all kinda stuff including where to eat good food.

Khan Baba serves a combination of Arabic, Pakistani, Western and BBQ cuisine. The menu offers a huge spread of dishes you can choose from. You just need to consult the waiter/waitress before you make your selection because some of the items listed in the menu can be tough to comprehend such as Mutton Yakhni Pulou, Zeera Pulou, Alu Muttur, Soluna, White Lobia or Alu Anda!!!

Their signature dish and recommended by the chef include briyani and mandy rice with either lamb, chicken or beef. We ordered Mandy Rice with Lamb, Garlic Nan Bread and the mix BBQ. The food was excellent and it was a good choice. The price is reasonable since they are quite generous with the portion that they serve.

The restaurant itself is nice and cozy and it is a good place for family gathering and events. If the place is full, they have a sitting area for you to wait. You can also relax outside the restaurant after the heavy meal for tea or smoking. However, it is always recommended to pre-order your food since preparation can take a bit of time. Good food takes time...If you wish to try, they are located at No. 16-18, Jalan Jernai, Medan Idaman, Gombak, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

A visit to Bakun Dam

2011-05-17T17:20:00.017+08:00

I recently went to visit the Bakun dam due to work assignments, after having not been there for quite sometime. The last time was about 3 years ago, when the construction activities were at its heights.

To go to Bakun, we have to fly from KL to Bintulu, then on we’ll have to travel by land using 4WD from Bintulu towards Miri. At Semilajau, 50 km north of Bintulu, we’ll have to turn right towards Belaga and Bakun, which is another 180 km away, through partly surfaced road. After Tubau, the road got worst, damaged due to rain and the heavy weights of the logging trucks. It took between 2.5 to 3 hours to reach the Bakun dam site from Bintulu.

Fast facts about Bakun Dam:
• The Bakun Hydroelectric Dam is the second highest concrete faced rockfill dam (CFRFD) in the world
• Bakun dam is located on Balui River in the upper Rejang River basin, 37km upstream from Belaga.
• Bakun dam is 207 metres high with a reservoir surface area of nearly 70,000 hectares, about the size of Singapore.
• The main civil works began in 2002 by Malaysia-China Hydro Joint Venture.
• A workforce of just over 3000 are on site at the peak of construction activity.
• Experts, engineers, specialists and consultants worldwide are involved in this mega-project.
• Upon completion, the Bakun Dam will generate 2400MW of clean electricity (300 MW x 8 turbines)
• Bakun is now owned and developed by Sarawak Hidro, a fully-owned unit of the Minister of Finance Inc (MOF Inc). It will continue to develop it until full commissioning of the generating units.
• The dam is expected to be completed by December 2011. The overall cost of Bakun has been put at RM7.3 billion, but due to cost overruns, compensation for delays and interests, the final cost is said to have escalated.
• Bakun Dam is emission-free and has a 0% impact on global warming.

Simple history of Bakun Dam
The Bakun Dam was originally proposed in the early 1960s and its long history includes:

Early 1960s Initial physical survey of the hydroelectric potential of Sarawak.
1970s to 80s Detailed examination of the Bakun site, and preparation of development proposals.
1986 Decision by the Malaysian government to build the project.
1990 Postponement of the project.
1993 Revival of the project.
1994 Awarding of project to Ekran Berhad.
1996 Construction begins.
1997 Asian Economic crisis and second postponement of project.
2002 Awarding of project to Malaysia-China Hydro Joint Venture.
2011 Project completion and delivery.

Impoundment of the Bakun Dam
The impoundment of Bakun dam started on Wednesday morning, October 13, 2011 after closure of the diversion tunnel gates and the flooding would take about seven months to reach the minimum operation elevation of 195 meters (above sea level) to run the wet-test of the turbine.

During the impoundment, the flow downstream of the dam would be maintained through a mechanism to release between 150 and 260 cu-m per second of water depending on the reservoir level from the water release outlet to maintain the minimum base flow in the river downstream, including Sungai Rajang which meets the sea at Sibu.

Information on Bakun Dam
The story of Bakun Dam is filled with controversies and I don’t intend to go into all those issues but rather more on my personal experience in dealing with the project and visiting the magnificient dam site. To those interested to find out more, you can visit www.bakundam.com (although as of today, it has not been uploaded with latest information).

The latest news was puiblished by the Borneo Post dated 5th May 2011 (copied below):

Commercial power by July by Peter Sibon. Posted on May 5, 2011, Thursday

KUCHING: Trial run of Bakun Dam turbines likely to start next month as water level more than enough. The water level at Bakun hydro-electric dam reached the required 195-metre level on April 28. This means that trial run of the first of eight turbines can start as early as next month.

Sarawak Hidro chief executive officer/managing director Zulkifle Osman said as of yesterday the water level had risen to 198.25 metres. He explained that his team had to monitor the situation carefully before deciding on the date for the trial run to prevent any misjudgment which could adversely affect the RM7.2 billion project. “We have to look at all aspects of the safety of the dam before we can start trial run of the first turbine, probably by next month,” Zulkifle told The Borneo Post here yesterday. He added that Sesco was assisting Sarawak Hidro to monitor the situation in terms of safety. Zulkifle added that if the trial run proceeded smoothly, it would mean that the first turbine could produce commercial power by July, with an initial capacity of 300 megawatts.

Bakun dam has a total of eight turbines which could produce a total of 2,400 megawatt of electricity once it is fully operational next year. Zulkifle said among the major aspects of the trial runs is the ‘wet test’ of the turbine. On another matter, he said the water level in Batang Rajang had almost returned to its original state. The water level had nosedived when impoundment of the dam began on Oct 13 last year. He said he believed that once the impoundment exercise was over, the water level would be back to normal.

Batang Rajang, the main mode of transportation for some 30,000 residents living above Kapit town, has been badly affected by the impoundment exercise. Asked about the strength of the dam, Zilkifle stressed that it was “built to last”. “The dam has been approved by qualified consultants appointed by the state government. The dam is built to last. What matter most is the depth of the dam that can withstand the pressure for long term.”

The power intake

Near spillway

The public jetty

Upstream

View from power intake

The lake

The spillway

Will soon dissapear

IQKL - Perasmian Perpustakaan Bustanul Ariffin

2011-05-16T15:43:00.021+08:00

Kami meluangkan masa pada hujung minggu yang lalu untuk menghadiri Mesyuarat PIBG IQKL yang ke-4 pada tanggal 14 Mei 2011. Kehadiran ibubapa pada mesyuarat kali ini amat memberangsangkan mungkin kerana kesedaran dan prihatin terhadap pembelajaran dan kehidupan anak2 di IQKL. Mesyuarat kali ini dirasmikan oleh YB Dato' Dr Hassan Ali, EXCO Kerajaan Negeri Selangor dan pengasas IQKL.

Sebelum mesyuarat dirasmikan, pihak sekolah menjemput YDP PIBG, Pengetua, Pengerusi IQKL Sdn Bhd dan YB Dato' Dr Hassan Ali bagi memberi sepatah dua kata. Dato' Dr Hassan Ali sempat bercerita mengenai niatnya menubuhkan sekolah tahfiz 15 tahun yang lalu dan segala impian beliau telah menjadi kenyataan dan IQKL bukan sahaja sebuah sekolah tahfiz, tetapi sekolah yang menjalankan sistem integrasi tahfiz dan akedemik. Bermula dengan beberapa orang pelajar, sekarang jumlah pelajar mencapai 200 orang sehingga banyak permohonan terpaksa ditolak kerana kekurangan tempat. Kami diberitahu mengenai rancangan membesarkan lagi IQKL di kawasan sekitar dan sudah ada yang sudi menyumbang bagi pembinaan bangunan sekolah tersebut yang meliputi kawasan seluas 2 ekar. Semoga Allah swt sahajalah yang dapat membalas mereka2 yang menginfakkan harta mereka ke jalan Allah swt.

Kami juga berpuas hati dengan komitmen dan dedikasi pihak sekolah dan PIBG yang bertungkus lumus melakukan segala yang terdaya demi anak2 kami yang belajar di sini. Maklum sahajalah, IQKL adalah sebuah sekolah swasta yang bergantung sepenuhnya kepada yuran sekolah dan sumbangan dari mereka yang sudi membantu. Banyak kemudahan yang disediakan dan diperbaiki supaya anak2 kami dapat belajar di dalam situasi pembelajaran yang kondusif. Terimakasih kami ucapkan kepada mereka. InsyaAllah, kami akan sentiasa menyokong dan membantu usaha mereka memartabatkan IQKL sebagai sebuah institusi tahfiz integrasi yang unggul di Malaysia.

Setelah selesai perasmian, YB Dato' Dr Hassan Ali dibawa melawat perpustakaan yang baru siap melalui sumbangan berbagai pihak seperti Perbadanan Perpustakaan Negeri Selangor dan ibubapa pelajar. IQKL masih memerlukan buku2 bacaan ilmiah untuk perpustakaan Bustanul Ariffin. Bagi sesiapa yang ingin mendermakan bahan2 bacaan yang sesuai untuk pelajar tingkatan satu hingga lima, sumbangan anda sangat2 dialukan. Semoga perpustakaan ini akan menjadi lubuk ilmu pelajar2 IQKL.

The Long Weekend Break!

2011-05-03T11:09:00.015+08:00

Since we love long distance driving regardless the destination, we always eye on the long weekends in the calendar. Last weekend, we took leave on Friday and plus the Labour Day on Tuesday, we had a super long weekend to go back home to Kuala Krai. We started our journey around 8.30pm on Thursday after work. Abah was already on medical leave since he was not feeling well that week so he had enough rest before we start our night journey.

The whole journey was smooth since there were not many cars travelling at night except for lorries and buses. We stopped at Bayu Lenang, an R&R before reaching Gua Musang for solat and finally reached Kuala Krai almost 2pm. Dini was already there waiting for us.

The next day, after having breakfast we sent Dini for her Chemistry tuition at SMK Sultan Yahya Petra 2 (SYP2). This year she utilises her monthly break to have extra tuitions on her "weak" subjects such as Add Maths, Physics and Chemistry. She was lucky to have this young lady teacher to teach her. She taught her for 3 hours for 2 days and refuse to accept any payment. Although she suffered from cervical cancer, she was in high spirit and was so enthusiatic. We were so touched with her determination to fight her illness and to continue living normally. May Allah swt reward her for all her good deeds and grant her long life and prosperity.

While she was having her tuition, Ibu, Abah and Adik made a brief trip to Pengkalan Kubor. It was quite a journey from Kuala Krai which took almost 2 hours. We went there to look for some culinary stuff for That Little Gerai. The duty free area offers a lot of stuff from clothes to kitchen wares. Adik took the chance to visit his favourite store to buy the new Kelantan Happy Jersey. We rushed home and arrived just in time for the Royal Wedding ceremony and stuck in front of the tv until maghrib. That night, everyone had dinner outside except for Ibu who was stuck at home for her regular massage.

The next day, saturday morning we had our routine visit to Pasar Pagi to buy our stocks and rations after we sent Dini for her tuition class. We have been visiting the market everytime we were in Kuala Krai for the last 17 years! The dried stuff are different from KL and the prices are cheaper. The fresh veges are in abundance and came all the way from Thailand. A huge cabbage is only RM3 and the cauliflower is around RM4. The siamese ladies selling the veges are so generous and will always give you extras. After we had our lunch and solat jama', we were off to KB.

Our first stop was at Kg Dewan Besar, Labok to visit a new member to the family, Mohamad Irfan Haziq. We wrote a posting before on his parents wedding. The next stop was to visit another cute baby, Mohamed Shaamel Adha in KB. The family was expecting us since they knew are coming back. So, we were lucky to be served with Meehoon Sup and Nasi Dagang. Alhamdulillah. Then, we were off to town to Stadium Sultan Muhammad ke IV for the match between Kelantan Vs Kuala Lumpur. This is Adik's first experience to watch the match with the rest of the Red Warriors including Abah and Pak Su. As for us, we just wondering around KB town shopping and eating while waiting for the match to end. It was such a long day for us and all of us doze off on the way back to Kuala Krai.

The next day, we just relax at home and after sending Dini back to MTS after lunch, we started our journey back to KL. The traffic was clear and smooth alhamdulillah.

Suka Makan Ikan Sungai?

2011-04-25T12:08:00.024+08:00

Sudah lama kami perasan kewujudan Restoran Ikan Sungai. Ia terletak di Desa Melawati bersebelahan MRR2, jalan yang kami tempoh hampir setiap hari untuk ke pejabat atau menghala ke Ampang. Walaupun sudah agak lama restoran ini dibuka iaitu pada akhir tahun 2008, kami tidak berkesempatan untuk mencuba. Kami ada cuba terbaca mengenai restoran ini di dalam majalah Saji keluaran Febuari 2010.

Akhirnya, pada 24 April 2011 setelah Adik selesai Hari Ihtifal, kami ke sana untuk makan tengahari. Kami disambut oleh Chef Hishammudin, mungkin kerana kami pengunjung pertama untuk hari tersebut. Menu restoran ini memang di luar jangkaan. Bermacam spesis ikan sungai terdapat disini termasuklah ikan kegemaran kami sekeluarga iaitu ikan kelah. Biasanya kami akan ke Kuala Berang untuk menikmati masakan ikan kelah, sekarang kami boleh menikmatinya pada bila2 masa. Restoran ini diusahakan oleh tiga beradik chef yang pakar mengenai ikan sungai hasil dari ilmu yang diturunkan oleh ayah mereka yang mengusahakan kedai makan ikan patin di temerloh semenjak 1976.

Kita boleh memilih mana2 ikan yang kita suka seperti kelah, patin, jelawat, baung, sebarau, lampam, kerai, tengalan, temoleh, toman, lais, tapah atau belida, untuk dimasak samada gulai masak asam, gulai lemak cili api, gulai masak tempoyak, goreng panas atau bakar kunyit. Oleh kerana ikan sungai ini liar dan bukan yang dibela di dalam sangkar, permintaan bergantung kepada bekalan yang diperolehi dari peraih dari Perak dan Pahang. Setelah membuat pilihan, chef akan menunjukkan dulu pada pelanggan ikan yang ditimbang beserta harga kerana harga ikan2 ini dikira mengikuti berat, dari RM10.00 hingga ke RM95.00 untuk setiap 100gm. Setelah mencapai kata sepakat, barulah ikan tersebut dimasak mengikut citarasa pelanggan. Restoran ini menghidangkan makanan secara a la carte dan mengambil masa untuk disediakan bergantung kepada ramainya pelanggan pada satu2 masa.

Restoran ini juga menghidangkan lain2 masakan kampung seperti masak asam batang keladi, pucuk ubi masak tempoyak, gulai lemak rebung/kulat sisir/nangka, sambal janda kaya, sambal tumis petai, ikan pekasam dan sepat goreng. Pilihan sayur pula terdapat kangkung goreng, sayur campur dan ulam2 serta sambal. Tak pastilah pulak sambal janda kaya ini macamana rasanya :-) Restoran ini ada menyediakan pencuci mulut seperti tapai, ais krim dan buahan2an. Ada kalanya, mereka membuat promosi hidangan lain2 seperti sup tulang, ayam goreng kampung dan lain2 masakan kampung.

Kami sempat berbual dengan Chef Hishammudin mengenai ikan2 sungai yang dijual kerana Abah memang pakar ikan sungai walaupun hanya makan ikan kelah, kerai dan gurami. Kami pula peminat ikan kelah, keli dan patin. Tiap2 kali kakak balik bercuti, nenek pasti memasak makanan kegemarannya ikan patin masak tempoyak dan ikan keli goreng cili. Kali ini kami mencuba ikan kelah masak tempoyak, kangkung goreng serta sambal dan ulam. Memang sedap dan menyelerakan walaupun pedasnya sampai ke telinga. Sekiranya berminat untuk mencuba, Restoran Ikan Sungai terletak di No. 9, Jalan 2.4C, Desa Melawati, 53100 dan untuk tempahan boleh menghubungi 03-41053192.

Sejenak bersama mereka @ Baitul Ehsan

2011-04-19T09:01:00.069+08:00

Kami sekali lagi mengunjungi Rumah Baitul Ehsan pada tanggal 26 Mac 2011. Kali ini kami ke sana membantu sambil memeriahkan program motivasi dan ceramah penjagaan diri yang diatur terlebih awal oleh SK85 Rynne. Kami sangat bertuah kerana berpeluang menjemput Dr Sharifah Mazlina Syed Abd Kadir, muslimah Malaysia pertama yang berjaya menakluk Kutub Utara pada Julai 2007 dan Kutub Selatan pada November 2004 . Beliau hadir diiringi oleh SK72 Kak Mek, Bekas Presiden Srikandi Tun Fatimah yang juga membantu Dr Sharifah dalam merealisasikan Ekspedisi Permata Greenland 2012.

Kami tiba pada jam 10 pagi dan Dr Sharifah Mazlina sudah pun mula memberi penerangan kepada anak2 mengenai pengalaman beliau menerokai kutub. Beliau masih sudi meluangkan masa bersama anak2 di Baitul Ehsan walaupun terpaksa berkejar untuk bersiaran secara langsung di Al-Hijrah pada pukul 12 tengahari. Pencapaian beliau sememangnya hebat dan bukan suatu perkara yang mudah kerana banyak rintangan dan halangan dan memerlukan "survival skills" yang sangat tinggi. Walau apa pun yang dikaitkan dengan pengembaraan solo Dr Sharifah Mazlina ke kutub utara dan selantan, apa yang telah beliau lakukan adalah sesuatu yang sukar dicapai dan kita perlu berbangga dengan kejayaan beliau. Anak2 Baitul Ehsan begitu teruja mendengar cerita Dr Sharifah Mazlina dan semoga pengalaman dan kejayaan beliau memberi motivasi and inspirasi kepada anak2 Baitul Ehsan untuk melakukan sesuatu yang hebat untuk diri mereka, agama dan bangsa.

Dr Sharifah Mazlina berkongsi pengalaman

Anak2 perempuan khusyuk mendengar

Anak2 lelaki dan Ustaz mendengar cerita

Bergambar beramai2

Umi, anak2 dan Dr Sharifah Mazlina

Setelah selesai bergambar dan mengambil tandatangan Dr Sharifah Mazlina sebagai kenang-kenangan, anak2 Baitul Ehsan menjamu selera dengan masakan Aunty Rynne, iaitu nasi minyak, ayam masak merah, daging kurma dan acar. Setelah selesai menjamu selera dan sementara menunggu kedatangan seorang lagi srikandi, SK86 Dr Siti Aishah, Aunty Along dan Aunty Bj melayan anak2 Baitul Ehsan dengan berbagai "ad-hoc" aktiviti. Memang seronok melayan kerenah anak2 di sini dan mereka pun sporting2 belaka. Sambil itu, kami mengambil peluang berbincang dengan Umi dan Ustaz program2 yang boleh kami, SK85 anjurkan di masa akan datang. InsyaAllah, kami akan cuba meluangkan masa bersama anak2 ini dengan perbagai aktiviti2 yang boleh merangsangkan minda mereka dan menceriakan hari2 mereka.

Sesi mencungkil bakat

Aunty Along dan Aunty BJ melayan kerenah anak2

Anak2 perempuan makan di khemah yang disediakan

Makan tengahari yang enak, nasi minyak

Aktiviti seterusnya adalah ceramah kesihatan dan pentingnya menjaga kebersihan diri sendiri. Maklumlah, mereka tinggal beramai2 dan jika tidak menjaga kebersihan, macam2 penyakit boleh hinggap dan berjankit. Kami bertuah kerana "junior" kami di STF, SK86 Dr Siti Aishah sudi meluangkan masa untuk memberi ceramah mengenai penjagaan diri. Setelah selesai, kami menghadiahkan anak2 ini dengan barang2 penjagaan diri seperti tuala, syampu, deodorant, bedak, lotion, minyak rambut dan sebagainya. Setelah selesai majlis, kami mengambil peluang berbual bersama2 anak2 Baitul Ehsan dan melawat tempat tinggal mereka sebelum mengucapkan selamat tinggal. Alhamdulillah, semua yang dirancang berjalan lancar. Terimakasih kepada semua yang sudi meluangkan masa, tenaga dan sumbangan untuk anak2 di Baitul Ehsan.

Ceramah kesihatan oleh Dr Siti Aishah

Dr Siti Aishah, Srikandi Tun Fatimah

Sesi khas untuk anak2 perempuan

Barang2 penjagaan diri untuk anak2

Berbincang bersama Umi dan Ustaz

Rumah Baitul Ehsan, No. 45

Rumah Baitul Ehsan, No. 49

Berakhirnya Rehlah Haji 1431H

2011-04-05T09:41:00.038+08:00

Rehlah Haji kami berakhir dengan lengkapnya ziarah kami di Kota Madinah selama 9 hari. Setelah lebih 43 hari bermukim di kedua-dua tanah haram, waktu untuk kami berangkat pulang ke tanah air akhirnya tiba juga. Walaupun berat rasanya untuk meninggalkan bumi barakah ini, tapi kami akur dek tanggungjawab yang menanti dan kerinduan pada anak2 dan keluarga.

Setelah selesai solat isya' dan ziarah wada' di Masjid Nabawi, kami bersiap untuk ke airport Madinah. Kami dijadualkan pulang pada pukul 7 pagi dan seawal 10 malam, kami sudah menurunkan bagasi ke lobi. Ibu sempat berjumpa dengan Haji Hiruddin, kawan lama Ibu di KUB. Abah sempat terlena sementara menunggu waktu berangkat dan Ibu pula terus berjaga takut2 kami terlanjak! Lebih kurang pukul 2 pagi, kami sudah pun menaiki bas. Proses clearance mengambil masa lebih kurang 2 jam dan kami akhirnya bertolak ke airport jam 4 pagi. Kami tidak mempunyai masalah lebihan muatan kerana semua jemaah telah bersetuju untuk membayar SDR50 untuk bagasi yang melebihi 30kg. Semua proses berjalan lancar dan kami akhirnya berlepas jam 7 pagi, alhamdulillah dengan pesawat Saudi Air SV5124.

Di dalam penerbangan, walaupun kami diminta untuk solat menghormati waktu dan bukan solat jama’ qasar zohor dan asar, kami masih menunaikan solat secara sempurna atas nasihat Abu Anas. Jadi kami bergilir2 menunaikan solat di mana2 bahagian pesawat yang sesuai termasuk di antara tempat duduk. Kami akhirnya tiba pada pukul 10 malam di KLIA. Seperti biasa, Tok, Tok Wan, Tok Abah, Tok Mama, Pak Su serta Abang dan Adik sedia menanti kepulangan kami beserta keluarga Pak Ngah dan Pak Lang. Kami hanya dapat bertemu dengan Kakak lewat beberapa hari setelah dia kembali dari MTS. Terubat akhirnya rindu pada anak2.

Kami tiba di rumah lebih kurang pukul 11 malam dan makan malam kami sudah siap terhidang, berbagai jenis lauk pauk kegemaran kami yang dimasak khas oleh Nenek. Hari2 yang mendatang, kami sibuk melayan tetamu yang sudi datang menziarah kami di rumah. Ambil berkat orang balik haji kata mereka. Kami pula mengambil cuti sakit kerana masih belum sembuh dari batuk, selsema dan demam dan mengambil kesempatan untuk berehat di rumah bersama anak2.

Terimakasih yang tak terhingga kami ucapkan kepada Tok, Tok Wan, Tok Abah, Tok Mama, Pak Ngah, Pak Lang, Pak Teh sekeluarga, Ustaz Fatihi yang bersusah payah menengokkan dan melayan kerenah anak2 kami semasa kami di tanah suci. Jutaan terimakasih pada Nenek, pembantu rumah kami yang setia menjaga anak2 kami dengan baik dan juga memastikan rumah kami selamat. Tak terbalas segala pengorbanan yang telah mereka lakukan demi memastikan anak2 dan harta benda kami selamat.

Kami juga amat terharu dengan segala tunjuk ajar dan bimbingan dari Abu Anas Madani dan Abu Fatih Al Mubaraki yang sentiasa memastikan kami melakukan haji serta ibadah lain dengan sempurna dan tak jemu2 melayan kerenah kami. Kami amat berterimakasih kepada pihak pengurusan Ash-Har Travels & Tours, Ustaz Hj Shukri Abdul Rahman, Ustaz Fakhrulrazi Abdul Rahman, petugas2 Ash-Har terutama Hj Wardani, yang banyak membantu kami semasa di tanah suci dalam memberikan perkhidmatan yang cemerlang. Kami sangat terhutang budi, hanya Allah swt sajalah yang dapat membalasnya. Jazakumullahu Khairan.

Kami juga ingin memohon ampun dan maaf sekiranya ada khilaf di antara kami dan jemaah Ash-Har yang turut bersama-sama kami dari KT 81 dan KT 26. Maklum sajalah, kami seperti sebuah keluarga besar dan bersama-sama selama lebih 40 hari melalui rehlah yang penuh dengan cabaran dan dugaan. Dewan makan di Darum Hane di tingkat R1 menjadi tempat kami berkumpul untuk menjamu selera dan menimba ilmu. Semoga kami semua dikurniakan haji yang mabrur, insyaAllah dan moga silatulrahim yang terjalin antara kami akan berterusan setelah kami kembali ke tanah air.

Alhamdulillah perjalanan kami yang bermula dari 1 November 2010 hingga 14 Disember 2011 berjalan lancar. Kami bermohon supaya Allah swt menerima and meredhai segala amalan kami dan mengampunkan dosa serta kesalahan kami samada sedar ataupun tidak dan mengurniakan kepada kami haji yang mabrur. Kami juga berharap agar sentiasa dilimpahi rahmat dan diberi taufik dan hidayah untuk untuk terus bermujahadah mencari redha Allah swt dan beristiqamah dalam amalan menuju taqwa.

Firman Allah swt QS. 5 - Al Maaidah : 35 : يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللهَ وَابْتَغُوْآ إِلَيْهِ الْوَسِيلَةَ وَجَاهِدُوا فِي سَبِيلِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ (5- المائدة-35) “Wahai orang-orang yang beriman, bertaqwalah kepada Allah dan carilah jalan yang mendekatkan diri kepada-Nya dan berjihadlah pada jalan-NYA agar kamu beruntung.

Semoga rehlah ini bukan yang terakhir buat kami ke Kota Makkah dan Kota Madinah dan kami berdoa agar Allah swt memberi kami peluang untuk kembali lagi ke sini, insyaAllah. Kami berharap agar coretan perjalanan haji bukan hanya sebagai kenangan tetapi panduan kepada bakal-bakal jemaah haji yang akan menunaikan haji pada tahun 1432H dan seterusnya. Segala yang baik adalah dari Allah swt dan segala kekurangan adalah dari diri kami sendiri, wallahualam.

Taman Negara - Day 3 - Lata Berkoh & Rainforest Resort

2011-03-31T09:59:00.032+08:00

Day 3 promised of more adventures and is our final day in TNP for this time round, the kids were asking for a 4D3N package but there is no time luxury and we had to contend with this 3D2N arrangement.

Same routine woke up early morning for solat before we sat outside sipping hot tea while enjoying the morning air….many of us continued their sleep after solat since we were only supposed to meet Pak Lah again at 9 AM for an excursion to Lata Berkoh. Lata Berkoh is on Sg Tahan, 8 km away into the TNP.

[Info from www.tamannegara.org/] - The Taman Negara park basin is drained by the Sungai Tahan, which originates at the foot of Gunung Tahan massif, and by the Sungai Keniam and Sungai Sepia. The pristine rivers in Taman Negara boasting waterscapes from mirror-still reflections to wild rapids and scenic waterfalls. With exotic names such as Tembeling, Tahan, Trenggan and Relau, these sungai or rivers including the tributaries and streams together number in the hundreds. Their waters range from crystal clear to coffee brown from the natural soil sediments. Rainforest rivers like these, which flow from peat soil virgin mountain forest catchments with no major human settlement or cultivation alongside, are now rare in the world.

On this trip, we had to take smaller boats (4 seater) so we ended up in 3 different boats. Ibu, Abah, Adik and Pak Lah were on one boat while Faiz, Dini and Uncle Ap shared another and Pak Long’s family on the other. Each boat has a pilot and a co-pilot who sits right in front of the boat tip…I thought this is even more challenging and the degree of difficulties kept increasing from one activity to another!!

The boats sped across Sg Tembeling into Sg Tahan….we could see the water level is high….initially the river was calm and the flow was slow, but it kept building up as you move further upstream. The river got winding with more rapids and faster water gushing through tight openings…again the boatmen was simply superb and skillful in their boat handling. After about 45 minutes, the boat couldn’t go any further and they would be parked at a very nice river bank (normally a feature photo of TNP). You could tell, feel and smell that this is virgin jungle inside TNP…it is as it was since its creation. The weather was a little overcast but it did not rain.

We disembarked and continued trekking for the next 1.2 km to Lata Berkoh. The path is not so difficult and mostly flat, mainly on the river bank. After a few minutes through nice jungle and debris from recent flood, we reached Lata Berkoh….beautiful place but the water is just too high. Lata Berkoh is a tight opening where Sg Tahan had to flow through creating the rapids…with brownish water gushing through heavily, evident of heavy rain upstream last night. The rapid gave out a roaring sound and downstream is a very deep pool (claimed to be more than 9 m deep and death had occurred in the past here)…so this place can be dangerous if you are not good at swimming.

So we relaxed, enjoyed the surrounding while some of us played at the edges of the rapid…it would have been safer during dry season. After a while, the kids wanted to swim in the river so we had to move back downstream to a safer place for swimming…..impossible to tell without the knowledge of an experienced guide like Pak Lah (of course there is a warning sign saying that river activity is at your own risk). So the kids enjoyed their safe swim while Pak Lah showed some swimming and swinging skills. Pak Lah also shared some 100% washable tattoo drawing skills using small coloured stones from the river bank….yellow, red, grey, bluish…so colourful and nice when you paint it on dry skin.

Satisfied with the swim, feeling cold, tired and hungry as always…we slowly trekked back to the boat….again learning one or two new things about the surrounding flora and fauna from Pak Lah. One of it is a plant with fruit like chilly, which is claimed to be able to give a relief from asthma. When we arrived at the river bank where the boats were parked, we saw the boatmen were entertaining themselves with a game of chess…and I saw that a few times at Kuala Tahan too. Chess is a favorite game for the boatman and perhaps that’s how they maintain their high level of confidence in handling their boats in tricky waters.

The sun has now emerged from the clouds and the air got warmer. So we continued our boat journey downstream towards Kuala Tahan. Although we planned to stop at the Kelah Sanctuary along the way, we cancelled the plan due to the high water, low chances of seeing the fish….so the boat just zoomed past the sanctuary, perhaps next time during the dry season. We reached Kuala Tahan at 1 PM, already late for check out from the resort. So we quickly went back, pack our bags and refresh ourselves before we checked out and said goodbye to the Rainforest Resort…have no complaint of the place.

We were back at the jetty at 1:30 PM for lunch and some souvenirs. At 2 PM, we finally board our boat and bid farewell to Pak Lah…of course normally you’ll give some additional tip for all that he has done, a wonderful guide, teacher and host indeed.

It was hot and sunny during the boat ride downstream….meeting more boats heading upstream with more foreigners. The boat suddenly stopped in the middle of the Tembeling river at one point after the engine ran out of fuel….that woke up everyone from sleep. But the boatman filled it up with the fuel brought in a separate container…while the boat slowly moves following the water flow. After a 2 hour journey we reached Kuala Tembeling jetty….crossing the Sg Jelai again before docking at the jetty….Sg Jelai was also still high with ‘teh tarik’ color. We quickly disembarked from the boat and ran upstairs to the toilet….although you could ask the boatman to stop for toilet break!

Our cars were there safe and sound….so we said goodbye to Pak Long and we went separate ways. We headed to Jerantut town then on to Temerloh and on to the East Coast Expressway….stopping by at Lanchang rest area for solat and break. We then drove straight home, reaching at about 6:30 PM. Alhamdulillah and we had dinner at home and sent Uncle Ap back home later that night….everyone was happy and everyone was tired…but everyone is safe and everyone had learned something.

We would like to thank Firdaus and Pak Lah for all the services rendered and we were very satisfied with the whole arrangements. It was a worthwhile trip for the family and we’d like to encourage many other families to do the same….go out there and see the country, to know Malaysia is to love Malaysia.

Taman Negara - Day 2 - Rapid Shooting & Visit to Kg Orang Asal

2011-03-30T11:23:00.031+08:00

We were supposed to meet Pak Lah again for the next activity at 4 PM. Firdaus had to leave due to some other matters but he assured that all have been taken care of. We bid farewell to Firdaus.It was a bit cloudy but the rain cloud seemed to have moved to a different direction, towards Mount Tahan which means the upstream of Lata Berkoh! There goes our hope…. At 4 PM, we again gathered at the lobby (although some were finding it very hard to wake up), for a lift down to the river jetty. When we arrived, as usual, Pak Lah is already waiting (he always bring a red Ocean Pack bag with him). We are going for a rapid shooting activity. We hopped on the 12 seater boat and headed upstream Sg Tembeling….a different gentleman by the name of Jamal was piloting the boat with Pak Lah sitting in front of the boat. In a way it gives more confidence to people like us having 2 experienced people on board...and not knowing how bad is the rapid shooting going to be. Sg Tembeling forms the eastern border of TNP.

Boat Ride at Sg Tembeling

Ready for the rapids

The strong rapids

As the boat sped upstream, you can’t help but keep admiring the skills of the boatman in negotiating the rapids…some rapids have very strong current with this water level, some rapids are long and some rapids are short, some rapids are in the form of a bend …..but whatever rapids, the boat moved through them without much problem…smooth and safe, better with a 12 seater boat but of course our adrenalin was pumping hard when we see new rapid approaching in front of us…..you’ll get wet in this activity. 30 minutes later and after shooting 7 rapids, we came to the last rapid known as Jeram Dedari, after which the boat will make a turn and stop a very nice beach for a visit to the orang Asli/orang Asal village on its banks. Further upstream, the boat could not negotiate the rapid further…you could see from afar that the rapid is on a climbing trend.

We disembarked the boat and walked up the river bank to the orang Asli/Asal settlement. These are from the Batek tribe, one of the tribes in Peninsula Malaysia but the main and only tribe in TNP. We met a few of the family members headed by a leader called Bemban (his name came from river Bemban, a place where he was born), a nice gentleman, probably in his 50s and able to talk and understand Bahasa Malaysia. Bemban knows Pak Lah very well and he has high respect for Pak Lah too….they were friends since younger days!!

Kg Dedari, orang asal batik

House built by foreign film producer when they were filming the place

During our stay there, we learnt how to make fire from rotan and wood plus dried palm leaves and bamboo skin….less than 2 minutes, you’ll get a fire! We also learnt how they make their blowpipe….looks simple but it comes with lots of technicalities & knowledge such as the use and selection of a suitable type of bamboo (buluh semeliang which has ‘ruas’ of more than 1 meter), use of bamboo silencers on the blowpipe, use of tree as natural glue, use of animal skin to make its dart, use of poison (getah Ipoh), use of Pulai tree’s root (strong light weight material) and many more….Bemban would have been a PhD doctor with his survival skill, his knowledge of the jungle and maintaining the sustainability of the jungle ecosystem. But his life is here in the jungle where PhD doesn’t really matter. We also learnt about their belief system and according to Pak Lah, they believe in God, Heaven and Hell, but their God can appear in the form of trees or stones or anything in the jungle….and that is why they treat the jungle very well…taking only what they need and not what they want. If a child dies, they will bury the body in the ground but if an adult dies, they will normally place the corpse on a tree and let the animals consume the dead…I didn’t know that earlier.

Bemban showing off his skill

Process of making fire

Demonstration by Bemban

Pak Lah explaining about the Batik Tribe

New and interesting knowledge acquired

Damak

Adik the sharp blower!

Bemban's hut

[Info from www.tamannegara.org/] - Bronze aged artefacts have been recovered from Tembeling valley, between the Sungai Yong and Sungai Sepia. Archaeologist consider this to be one of the richest prehistoric sites in the country. The latest findings is at Gua Bewah and Gua Taat which is believed dating back to the Neolithic Age (400 BC).

After spending 1 hour at the site and trying our blow piping skills and dropping some food for the orang Asli kids, we headed downstream back to Kuala Tahan through the rapids again….but going downstream is not as bad as heading upstream. We reached Kuala Tahan jetty at about 6:30 PM and had our dinner (nasi goreng and mee goreng basah) at one of the floating restaurants there. Once back at the resort, everyone wasted no time to refresh and relax. Some went straight to bed after solat and some went to have more dinner at the café (nasi goreng ayam or roti canai or hokkien mee with nicely fried delicious spring rolls). At 10.30 PM, everyone was deep in sleep. What a hectic day it was!

Back to Kuala Tahan

Tea at the floating restaurant