On The Train, Jan 16, 2008

Since I was going to Renaissance again today I got down at KL Sentral and this time I just practically went straight to McD for coffee. When I was on the platform again it was just like yesterday except for this incidence of ‘Ugly Malaysian’. We had all this nice and discipline two lines when the train comes but after that as I was already almost in front an empty train came and just like that all the lines when missing and everyone rushed in. I was aghast and remarked loudly ‘where is the line now!. A young guy next to me seemed disappointed as well said, ‘No more lines.’ And I exclaimed, ‘Oh my God’, loudly in a tone of a frustrated and disappointed person. I guess nobody cares.

The questions are;
1. Are we that forgetful?
2. Is there something wrong with the way we learn?
3. Is there a disconnect from what we know, learn, understand and the reality
4. Does this means with all the hype about social network and computing we are more individualistic? Or is it because we only care and trust our close-nit communities?

The most useful concept that I have learned at the workshop today was enterprise mashup which technically also means as composite applications. In layman’s term what it means in the web environment today it is easy to put up, mashup, together several web applications or widgets to serve certain objective. It is just like building your personalize page where you pull together several portlets like emails, calendar, rss feeds and news. Only in mashup you actually integrate these application a bit more. But it is not a complex integration. iGoogle is an example that we can using to mashup several thing for us. Other good examples of mashup are Zillow.com and Yahoo Travel. The potential for is is to explore using iGoogle to develop Knowledge and Learning Mashup on any subjects.

On The Train, Jan 15, 2008

Since I was going to Renaissance attending an IBM KM Blueprint Workshop I got down at KL Sentral this morning. It was around 0715 when I got there and way too early to go to Renaissance. So I decided to have breakfast at KL Sentral. After awhile on indecision and moving up and down I settled for Mc D simply because of the coffee and muffin. I sat the at McD reading while having breakfast and my eyes could not escape looking at long distance train travelers arriving with their bags and what not. I saw two person actually carrying two big ‘kuali’, could be ‘kawah’, going down to the Komuter platform. When I looked at these I suddenly became excited and wished I could take the next train out of KL. I knew I could not do that but there always a possibility in weeks to come.

After a while I uprooted myself out of the McD and walked to the Putra LRT entrance. I did not realize it before but this was what I witnessed. When I arrived at the platform going downtown as usual I saw two nice long lines on each sides of every entrance to the oncoming train. I continued to read while standing behind one of the lines as I knew I was about three trains away before there would be space for me to board in. Whenever the train comes I just moved along the line without taking my eyes of the book that I was reading. However when I sense that I was moving closer to the edge I looked up and I saw commuters were alighting from the train that just arrived. Nothing amazing there but what amazed me was when I looked closely there were these two lines on each sides and the commuters came out in the middle. It was exactly like a two-line VIP welcoming parties. If all, at least most, of the out boarding commuters smile it would be really neat.

My other observation of this Putra train was when I was standing reading on the moving train. Of course the train was packed and more commuters that were standing were putting one hand up to hang on to something and in front of my nose was a Chinese lady’s hand smelling onion. I did not know whether Body Shop has come up with new fragrance but it was definitely onions. The lesson learned here was if you were boarding a pack train make sure you wash your hands properly. Especially if you just came out of a restroom LOL.

David Gurteen was at the workshop and the first person that I met after registration was him. We chatted catching up on each other for a while until others arrived. As for the workshop proper in attendance were old mates Riduan and Yazid from the SC and others that I have met before. David started the workshop given the current perspective of KM. Mainly historically from Techno-centric KM, to People-centric KM and Blended as it is perceived today. Since the workshop was fully sponsored by IBM, David also embarked of the social tools of Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0 and eventually KM 2.0 that he summarized as mostly Conversation. Looking at Web 2,0 it can be loosely said that KM 2.0 tools available today comprises of;

• Social tagging
• Social networking
• Blogs & Wiki
• Instant Messaging
• RSS Feeds & Readers
• Blogs

To be exact of the tools that we took for granted today are Facebook,, MySpace, Friendsters, You Tube, Flikcr, Fotopages, Google widgets like Google Reader, Blogspots and others. The rest of the morning IBMers took us through the landscape of these specific tools.

I agree that it is Blended today but we have to be very careful not to be too gung-ho about it as at the end of the day it has to meet business needs. This to different organizations could mean different things of which would mean different approach and strategy to achieve the bottom lines.

After lunch was David’s Knowledge Café and the topic of the discussion was stated as ‘The barriers of implementation social tools in our organisation’. However, because of the composition of the audience it became a little bit of KM implementation issues or barriers conversation. In essence a lot of the participants see KM from technology perspective and looking for the best approach to start the ball rolling. My advice was it is not necessary to push for holistic and big bang approach if they find it difficult but to concentrate on a smaller scope where at least success rate is better.

I went back to the office for a late evening meeting and eventually went home later then before. The rest of the journey home was totally me and my laptop.

Wedding, Paddy Fields, Seafood, Firefly, De Palma and Leaning Tower of TI, Bidor, Dec. 8-9, 2007

I just felt I need to get out of town very badly. However before I could do that I had a family wedding to go to at Bukit Jalil’s Fire and Rescue quarters. It was a wedding that I could not and would not miss for family sake. At the back of my mind since I woke up was dominated but the thought of going to K Selangor. Why K Selangor? Couple of reasons actually, we have not been there for quite sometimes now and my recent Treasure Hunt took me through there and the urge to come back built up inside. Furthermore I was, once and for all would like come clean with my earlier promised to go and watch the fireflies of K Selangor.

We have, or rather I have, not done this for awhile now. But I announced to everyone at home to pack their bags for a night over as I may be going somewhere after the wedding. I did not say where we were heading but all except Kak Cik heard me.

The Wedding

The Bukit Jalil’s Fire and Rescue staff quarter was not difficult to locate as it was built on the slope next to the main road. We arrived at the same time as the Pengantin Lelaki. The way the place was architected as we entered the gate was already the fire and rescue station. The quarters however were further down the slope. We did not wait for the Pengantin Lelaki and walked down straight away. The kenduri was already in full swing and after customary welcome from my wife’s cousin, the mother of the bride, we became the statistics under the beautiful canopy eating. For a long time now that I do not have high regards for wedding food. Generally they are all of the same types and taste, not like when I grew up in my kampong. The food could be very simple but since it was cooked by almost everyone in the village and through natural way they tasted heavenly. Due to that I tend to treat wedding as another invitation that I just need to attend without much feeling. In fact I was busy more as photographer, I can’t go to places like this without my Nikon, than anything else.

Kuala Selangor, Tg Karang, Sg Burung, Sekinchan and Hj Dorani’s

Ngah and family were there and since An’s place was not far away they have decided to go there after the wedding. I announced I am not going there and would be heading east towards Klang. Only when pressed I said Kuala Selangor. I decided to take the new Shah Alam- Rawang highway before I turned into the old Kuala Selangor trunk road. Since we have not said our prayers yet we stopped at the Almina R&R.

Since I wanted this trip to be an educational one for Mar, the rest as well, I took the Batang Berjuntai’s route to show her the small town and the Kg Kuantan’s firefly area. Also, to give my family a sense of place, Ijok a place made famous recently because of the by-election. If you still missed it now Batang Berjuntai is officially renamed as Bestari Jaya. Bestari Jaya or not to me it is still Batang Berjuntai the home of some of my closes friends. The bonus of taking this route was that my dear wife got the sense of where UNISEL is. However, when we were at the one street Batang Berjuntai town everyone’s brains started to recall the place that they had been before. Of course they had as I had taken them through there at least twice.

Watching A Small Fish


A Kilo Of 'Ikan Bilis', Please!

Around 1203 we were at Kuala Selangor and I turned into the old town to drive around. Nothing has changed so I continued driving and turned to the Penampang where the wet market and seafood restaurant area were. I did not stop at the wet market as I did not see it to be interesting. I eventually stopped in between two seafood restaurants purely because I wanted to take a shot of Kg Selangor muara of the Bukit Melawati from that side. There were two anglers there that made my wife. Mar, Baqir and Kak Cik alighted from the Ranger to join me. Nothing much to see really and by the looked of the place I would not want to stop at either Seafood restaurants. I decided against stopping at the wet market as well but my wife bought a couple grams of ikan bilis at the nearby sundry shop.

My plan was to try the Hj Dorani’s seafood but I was not sure where the place was. During the last treasure hunt I saw the place along the route and my guess was somewhere around Tg Karang so I drove on. As we approached Tg Karang we saw a Ford dealership on our right and everyone agreed that we should stop to have a look. Since we were making good time I stopped and we eye-balled the new Ranger and Everest. At the same time making a nuisance for the salesman there. Had they known that we were from Bangi they would have not bothered with us. In the end everyone agreed the new Ranger was more enticing compared to the Everest.

We pressed on and passed Tg Karang, Sekinchan, Sg Besar and when we were
Passing Sg Burong I saw the ‘padi’ field on my right and got excited to explore it a bit more for;

1. My family to witness another life that they were not used to, and
2. Nice photography

I swung the Ranger around, stopped at one of the fruit roadside stall to buy mangoes and steam corn, and turned inward towards the ‘padi’ field. I drove in far enough for all of us to enjoy the area and for me to take some photos. I purposely stopped at a junction of four big field separated by an irrigation canal on one side as I saw several kids were playing there. My intention was to take their photograph as well. They were enjoying it and came to me to ask questions like where did I buy my camera and how much. When I told them the price they exclaimed as though they know the standard price for DSLR. I just smiled to them and I told them if they wanted their photos they had to give me their emails. None of them had one :). Actually the reason I asked that question was to gauge the level of their access to such facilities as well as the level of IT awareness of the kampong. It is a pity to me for such a beautiful place their world could be more opened with the access to the whole world available to them.

Yellow Golden Field


Even Better Scene


A House in the Field

I took some more pictures to satisfy my artistic needs while none of my family members interested to come out of the truck to explore a bit more. They were just contented enjoying the environment from inside the truck. Well, at least Baqir was very busy eating the corns.

Before We Eat Them

The Kids


The Road Out

I drove out of the field to the main road and turned right north towards our original destination. By thentit was almost 1800 already. We eventually got to the Hj Dorani’s D Muara Marine Park around 1830 and indeed the place was brand new and beautifully done. The tourist park was not really a park but the place consisted of what I would term as poor men’s yatch club mariner, one storey family apartments, several water chalets and seafood restaurant all built at a cove surrounded by small wetland. It was so obvious the place was actually part of a watergate that used to be where all the small fishing boat ported. The whole place is owned or at least operated by Dorani Bayu Resort and Services. I enquired whether they had rooms for the night and was told the place was fully booked by the Kementerian Kesihatan people from Wilayah Persekutuan. Although I was expecting it I was still disappointed with the answer. We decided to enjoy the place and try the seafood there. We ordered what we normally ordered when we were at such places and was hoping to be served the best. While waiting for the food to be cooked and delivered I decided to explore around and take some photographs. This time Mar was my model and we walked towards the chalet and the management office. My assessment was if you do not have anything else to do there one night stay would be enough for you to experience the place.

D'Marine Resorts


Poor Man's Marina




When I came back to our table the food were already on the table but I noticed my family was not eating like they normally did. I thought they must have been still not hungry or the food was bad, really bad. I thought they were pulling my leg when they said the later but when I tasted everyone of them they were really awful. I just could not believe it with all the hypes they could at least be on par with what we get in BSP but it was really pathetic. Honestly, anyone of us could cook better that that. The tom yam, sweet sour and vege were tasteless. I was robbed, really was robbed by them. But being my nature not wanting to waste I slowly and bravely consumed most of them.

With the day getting dark we decided to say our maghrib there and quickly left the place. I hit the gas hard towards Kuala Selangor and still would want to take Mar to see the firefly. It was make or break for us at that time as I saw dark clouds were forming. The wind was also blowing hard at certain places and I drove on with my head thinking hard on our options that night. I saw the Bukit Belimbing Firefly Park sign on the right on the way up to Hj Dorani that evening. So when I saw the sign again when we were approaching Kuala Selangor town I turned the Ranger to the left. Bukit Belimbing was about 7 – 10 kilometers away connected by a district road. The road was a bit dark due to the unpredictable weather. We were really trying our luck then as I knew the sky could open up any minutes and we had to turn back for sure. I pressed on and got to the place eventually. When I saw two tour buses and at the parking lot almost at capacity my spirit was up a bit. I parked the Ranger and told the rest that I’ll go and check-out the place first. It was all good news for us and I duly asked the rest to come down and we proceeded to the ticket counter and eventually to the river to board the small boat to be taken along the river to watch the firefly.

After Watching the Firefly

Except for the young couple sitting at the back the boat was ours. It was around 2035 when we were in the boat. Mar and Baqir were eager, Kakak and Kak Cik a bit worried, Nurul did not effect any feeling but Ibu was shaking inside. Lucky for us the boat did not shake :). The boatman was a friendly local and we chatted as he slowly maneuvered the boat slowly towards the river bank on the other side. At first it was not that obvious to us and then as our eyesight adjusted to the blackness we could see a beautiful constellation of tiny flickering dots all over a silhouette of trees. The sky was a bit dark indicating the potential rain coming down. But we were lucky. According to the boatman it was torrential the night before and he had actually the unluckiest tourist all the way from Japan. He took us upstream first and then slowly turned the boat to let it drift down river inching closer to the edge so that we could touch the firefly. Despite the dark sky it was a very still night. During one stretch everybody was so quite I did not know what to think of what the others think. But I was thinking of how nice it was if we were to be camping somewhere. We could really enjoy the night away with the nature. I tried my earnest to get a shot of the beautiful gift from Allah but I knew I was working against all the elements of good photography without my proper gear. It was futile effort that I just decided to enjoy it. After one pass I thought the boatman would take us back to the jetty instead he remarked since it was a slow night he would take us back upstream for a little while. It was a good 45 minutes firefly viewing for us when we were taken back to the jetty. Everyone was happy and we drove out towards Kuala Selangor town.

As I was driving I knew I wanted to stay the night in Kuala Selangor and our only logical option was De Palma Hotel. I was ready for the unfavourable answer when I approached the counter but I was greeted by a nice surprise. A group canceled at the last minute and presented us with another gift for the night. I guess after the setback at Hj Dorani D’ Marine Park we were compensated. I took up two joining rooms, make sure we had ESPN on (Baqir didn’t get to see MU play though) and settled for the night. Before I entered De Palma I was expecting the old De Palma but I had a nice surprise and credit to the management. Not only they are building a new wings all the room were refurbished and renovated. They were excellent and value for money. Unfortunately we had to leave early the next day.

Tg Karang, Sabak Bernam, Teluk Intan, Bidor – Dec 9, 2007

The initial plan was to check out very early, visit the wet market of Kuala Selangor, Sunday market in Tg Karang and maybe proceed to Sg Besar and go home. I woke up early as usual but in the end we did not check out early as the others were still sleeping. The four of us, Baqir and Mar were awake already, went for breakfast at the hotel café. Being a three star resort hotel we did not expect that much for breakfast and we made do. Mar had been pestering to go for a swim at the pool so after breakfast Sam took her there while I took a nap. When Mar’s back from her swim we got ready and check-out. It was around 1130 when we drove out of De Palma and it was already late to stop at the wet market. However, I still wanted to go to Tg Karang and see what’s available there. In 15 minutes we were in Tg Karang already and there wasn’t any Pasar Minggu or whatever. But there were a row of warongs that looked enticing and we stopped at one of them to eat. If not anything else we would be able to sample their kind of food like laksa, satay, mee sop and soto. Of course there was one came with less ingredient but full of kuah :). Since our plan had gone haywired we took our time eating. After eating we decided to check-out the row of shops in front of the warong. It always an exciting event going into one of such shops in any small town because we would not know what to expect. I love that kind of surprises. We wondered into bigger ones and Mar and Kak Cik’s got their underpants and jeans from one of them.

We decided, actually I decided; to continue north and my intention was Sg Besar to see if there were any interesting places that we had missed. When we got there I found out nothing of interest and since we were already there I thought we might as well continue to Sabak Bernam. We arrived at the junction to Sabak Bernam town around 1303 and since we had never really visited the town I turned left and headed for the town. As expected it was a small town but I did not expect it to be next to the river. I went one round the town and parked the Ranger at what it seems as the main tourist attraction the waterfront pavilion. It was nothing and since it was low tide the riverbank really looked messy. I took two shots of the place and moved on.

As I got to the main road I realized that Teluk Intan was actually not far and as we always say ‘sekali henjut dah sampai’. We continued our journey there and since we were going there I already knew where we were going next. It was raining when we were in Teluk Intan. Somehow Teluk Intan is a town like Melaka to us. Not much to see or explore anymore but we just love to stop there and our favourite place was Fajar but now taken over by The Store. First I drove around the leaning tower of Teluk Intan to take some pictures. As it was raining we did not get down to climb the tower. We went straight to The Store and spent about an hour window shopping there. It was almost 1530 when we were out and the next agenda was to find a good place to have a late lunch. The restaurant across the road that we wanted to go was already closed for business. The food must be good for them to close that early and we had no other choice there. We drove around and in the end ended at Pizza Hut. Probably Pizza Hut would be the last on my list during any travel but in this case nothing much I could do as it was raining and there seemed to be no decent place to eat that came across.

We came out of the Pizza Hut at 1622 and drove straight to Bidor and we reached there with enough daylights and after Maghrib we took the highway home.

So out of nothing we ended up in two States that weekend. Despite these places not new to us we have learned new things

On The Train, Jan 9, 2008

I was walking on the platform when someone called out my name, my nickname to be exact, and it was Zamri Selamat. He backtracked to Bank Negara from KL Sentral so that he could get a seat. I told him I normally just backtrack as far as KL Station. Since he was going back to Seremban he wanted to get a seat for sure. When we boarded the train was almost full but both of us managed to get a seat at KL Sentral. By then the train was a sardine can already and because we were separated by bodies we did not get to continue our chatting. The train was like that because of ‘technical problem’ at the Seputeh Station. Well, only KTMB would know what that ‘technical problem’ was. I was lucky as I did not have to wait long for the train as I was told most had to wait ages. Well, what can I say that’s how KTMB wishes their customers Happy New Year. :(((

On The Train, Jan 4, 2008

When I got into my office in the morning I remembered that today is Kak Cik’s birthday and I somewhat contemplating of going out for dinner tonight. But I forgot about it at the end of the day until my wife reminded me of it. Although it was raining heavily outside I dashed out to the station and managed to catch the 1830 train home. Of course the train is full as it is Friday today. Cramp or not I just started with my writing and forgot about everything else around me.

Family Camping Trip, Sg Congkak. Dec 1-2, 2007

Dec. 1, 2007 (Saturday)

It didn’t take long for me to plan this and it was executed immediately as I was very anxious for it to be a reality. I just made the announcement one day and it became our official target. I somehow intuitively chose Sg Congkak because it was near and something that we are a bit familiar with. But that didn’t mean that we set for no issue for making it a reality.

The first order of the day was to announce it to the boys how many would want to go. My early calculation was between 8-9 boys and that would make it, including us, around 14 people. I announced it in our community mailing list hoping that more people would participate. Luck has it that Acong was also organizing the same thing within our neighborhood for the boys age 15 and below. Too late for me to cancel already. As it turned out nobody replied and the final count was 12 of us all together. Initially I left it to the boys to organize the whole things and I gave them few obvious instructions hoping that they will pick the rest up. However at the very last minute I took over and confirmed the booking of the campsites together with the tents. It was a cheap deal as the campsite cost RM10 for each and the tents RM15 each. I booked four of them to the total of RM100.

The week before Sam told me that Zul had just purchased a new van and he is putting it up for rental. As always if you are sincere help will come in a mysterious way. Immediately we had our transport problem solved as Zul agreed to ferry us there and pick us up on Sunday. I told Zul to pick us up at 0900 but as usual the boys were late.

Packed and Ready to Roll

By 0855 we had the Ranger loaded and good to go and Zul arrived soon after. The boys still did not show any sign of showing up thus I gave instruction to Along and Baqir to chase and gather them around. Once everybody was accounted for, the Ranger filled up and I withdrew some extra cash at The Petronas station we drove towards Sg Congkak via Semenyih Dam, Sg Lui and Batu 18. It was a good choice as I found out the route was the easiest, shortest and the most pleasant route for us from Bandar Seri Putra. A few necessities that I forgot to buy the night before warranted me to stop at every hardware stores along the route. Still I could not find any and I am very sure I can get it at Batu 18 town, if I can call it a town. Because of Zul following behind and the condition of the Ranger I drove moderately. Furthermore I wanted my family to enjoy the greens, water and the rich man’s weekend retreats at Sg Lui.

At The Front Gate


This is What You Get As You Walk In

About ten minutes to 1100 we arrived at the front gate of the Hutan Lipur Sg Congkak. I went to the reception hut manned by a lady and registered ourselves in. She told me that we could drive to the other parking area on the other side that was nearer to our camping site. I paid the lady RM112 for the 4 site and tents, and entrance fees to the 12 of us. At 1100 we arrived safely at the second parking lot of and waited there for the park workers to bring our tents and show us the place. After waiting for a while and with no sign of anybody to usher us I started to explore the area and I found out more or less the direction to our campsite. I instructed everyone to unload everything and walked down. As we were walking along the path the park worker that supposed to meet us approached us and we walked together to our site, Zone 2T, T for Tambahan.


Arrived

Zone 2T by the name was of course an extension to Zone 2 but having smaller tent buildup area. What I like about it was that the camp base was mostly built to a foot height. This would protect us from over flowing water and crawlies at night. I chose the four slightly in the middle next to the step going down the river, easy for bathing and cooking. Immediately the first order of the day was to erect our tent and it was already 1138. Everyone did it in no time as the tents were simple enough to manage. The second order of our camping day was to start the fire to cook our food as it was already 1209, that by no means the issue, our noisy stomachs were. The fire making was a challenging one for the boys as the rain, I guess the night before, soaked most of the ‘kayu api’ around us. I just managed to gather few dry twigs to coax the fire out of the big ones. The fire cube and the fire starter helped a bit. Still it took us a while.


Setting Camp

Our Wash and Bathroom


Preparing The Cooking Pit

My Lunch

While making fire and preparing the fish I knew we eventually would need a drying place for our plates and the things we used to cook. So I surveyed around for anything I could use to build it. There was bamboo at the back of our campsite but not wanting to cut down any I just looked around for any that already been cut on the ground. I found enough to built one but I purposely instructed the two ex-scouts to build it. Initially they thought they knew what to do but after struggling for a while I just had to show them what I meant. In the end seeing them struggling with it I finished it myself.


Nice and Cool

The Platform I Was Talking About

A Very Clear Water

Having Lunch

We actually were successful to have a decent fire to put out pot on around 1215. We cooked the rice first and I continued preparing the fish to grill. Once the fire was ready for the fish I just threw every one of them on top of the mesh wire to grill. I knew the fish would be perfectly cook effortlessly and left them to do something else. My dear wife on the other hand decided we needed gravy and started on the sardine. Some of us could not wait for the food to get cooked and started to scrounge for bread and peanut butter and as quick as the water flowing next to us a loaf of bread disappeared. We eventually started on real food at 1431.


Mar Having Fun

Long before we started on our food we received a call from Intan that they were coming. We asked them to buy us few things that we need for the night. They arrived at1509. Sam and I walked out to the front gate to get them. By that time the boys were already upstream exploring for a good place to swim. When I was back at the campsite I decided to follow suit. With my Nikon at hand I shoot at will as I walked. The path was properly tarmac and fairly clean. Along the way I discovered a row of chalet on the other of the tarmac by the stream. Most of them were built without taking more unnecessary jungle. Which means if we were to sleep there Sam would not like it? In fact the other camping zones were further upstream. I could not imagine had I booked one of these zones. Thus, zone 2T, even Zone 2, was perfect for us. I did not get to go all the way as I met the boys on their way down just after the mid point. On the way down I asked the boys to collect enough dry woods to cook our dinner. But the boys decided they need a campfire that night so we dragged a load down to the astonishment of the other picnickers there.
We started on our barbeque dinner at 1610. It might be still early but I decided we need some light to do it properly. Also since we do not have a proper light for the night I drove out to pekan batu 18 to look for hurricane lamps. My instinct was right as I knew places like that would have some on sale. I found them at one of the apek’s sundry shop and I bought two of them.

When I got back to the camp I thought almost everyone were ready for the night. How wrong I was as the boys including Mar were still in the water. Even Intan and Tariq that I expected to be going home already were still happy in there. I knew given a choice they would want to join us for the night but with baby Khatijah there I also would advise them to go home LOL. Lucky I did not have to do that. There always next time guys.


BBQ

Ready for Bedtime

Campfire

Having Dinner

Of course the night came and dinner was actually ready but I opted to say my Maghrib and Isya’ first before I eat. At 1918 the boys started their camp fire, a small one. Nevertheless a campfire for us to enjoy and sit around. After dinner we just sat to talk, play guitar and do our things. To my surprise Mar was lively and enjoying herself which was very good. Sam and the girls were occupaying one of the tent and I was to sleep with Baqir and Jemer in another but somehow Jemer opted to share another tent. Before we retired to sleep we tried to explore the area at night by walking towards the gate to see if there were any warong opened there. But we only went halfway as I could not see any from a far. In the end Sam retired early as I guess she was tired and I followed suit not long after that as I need the sleep. The boys were still talking and doing their things then and I found out in the morning really late into the night.

Dec 2, 2007

Good Morning!!!!

Cooking Breakfast

Having Breakfast

Morning came as usual for me with the help of my handphone alarm. I woke Sam and the girls up as I wanted to go to the restroom across the river. After that to Sam’s surprise I went down to take my bath in the cold morning stream. I loved it just like when I was small bathing either in the river or well very early in the morning. They should have tried it to find out. Surprisingly Baqir also woke up early and with Kak Cik and Yeye started on our breakfast that morning. Of course they almost cooked everything that they could find. After I had my breakfast I decided to walk down to the entrance with my camera to find interesting things to photograph. It was around 0830 when I walked down and to my surprised there were streams of Sunday picnickers already coming through. In fact a lot of them were already in the water. I snapped whatever objects that interest me with my Nikon and went as far as the warong. At one of them I bought several packs or nasi lemak and a plastic bag of karipap. Walking back to camp was really a pleasure a I could witness families enjoying their picnic. Kids jumping in and out of the water, fathers trying to coax their young children to swim, mothers testing whether the water was warm enough to go in, and in fact grandpa and grandma were enjoying their moment with their grand children there. They were lovely sights. As I approach the camp I saw big kids with one fat boy already playing in the water LOL. I just continued with my photography until I myself could not resist the temptation. In fact that was what we did the whole day LOL. We only stop for awhile when we were hungry.

Morning Light

Sunlight

Good times flew passed us as we enjoyed ourselves and we discovered too soon enough we had to go home. We were home safely around 1745.

In conclusion all of us enjoyed the camping and agreed that we should do it again soon. What I like about this camping was to let my family experience the real outdoor. We have been traveling and staying at hotels and chalets all this while and the camping was our first as family. Everything was new to them from getting their tent ready to cooking their own food using limited resources. I sincerely hope they learned more than the obvious as there were a lot to learn from this trip.

On The Train, Jan 3, 2008

I do not know whether someone is waiting for me to write something about the New Year but I know someone is waiting for me to post something. The truth is I do no celebrate the New Year as to me it is just another day and another 12 months for another year to end. I always have my target, not resolution, for the New Year and more or less the same. Did I achieve my target for 2007? Yes, I did. I would not elaborate more on this.

A week past since we came back from our vacation and getting back to the working tempo is quite challenging for me. At least this year I did not forget my password :). Probably that is an indication that I have not enjoyed my holiday that much :). I hope my family enjoyed it.

I have not been posting for quite awhile now but that does not mean I have not been writing. I have and the only problem is I writing about a couple of things at one time.

1. Treasure Hunt 2007,
2. Our Camping trip to Sg Congkak,
3. Weekend trip to Kuala Selangor,
4. Weekend trip to Singapore (We took the train), and
5. Cuti Cuti Malaysia – Sarawak.

So when I am done be prepared for the onslaught. LOL.

Third day into the New Year I am already working late. The 2030 train ride home was pleasant. I was sitting typing this when three Sabahan joined me sitting around me. Listening to them talking in their lingo brought back the memory of Kuching and a pleasant music to my ears while I am concentrating on my piece, maybe pieces.