Cuti Cuti Malaysia : Kuala Rompin, Feb 7-9, 2008

The week approaching the CNY was a little bit frustrating for me work wise. A lot of things seemed to be going wrong and near sleepless nights were the normal occurrence for me. But I have to have brave face and smile even more as days passed by. That’s I guess the requirement of the job. I did not think of going anywhere as I just planned to slouch at home but as the CNY week inched closer I realized I needed to get out of town. I just need to get out of town. Another frantic searching for places, nothing new there, and with four-day CNY weekend getting a decent place was really a tall order. I had three options really;

1. To resurrect the abandoned trip around Johor, or
2. Go camping somewhere, or
3. Try Kuala Rompin, as it is the only place that we have not explored enough.

I went for the third option first as I have always the other two to fall back to if I failed. But after searching carefully I was lucky to get two chalets at Rompin Beach Resort. Judging from their website it looked enticing and decent enough for us. I was not sure of the size of each chalet but we invited others to join us anyway. In the end Tariq and family confirmed they were going with us and with them of course Imah.

Busy Weekend, Oct 25-27, 2008

It was a very busy three-day weekend for me. Open houses, wedding, and whatever left of our Syawal celebration. However three things that I want to write about.

After at least five months I have decided to seriously rekindle my love for cycling. I said seriously because it was like chipsmore biscuit since the last few months. This time my health was the main factor to my conviction to be consistent. Incidentally, a group of my ex-school buddies planned an outing of slow and easy ride in Putrajya on Sunday which was good start for me. So as early as 0715 I was already at the Putrajaya boulevard waiting for the group to arrive. Yeah, I was that eager. I had all my gears ready when the only lady rider in the group arrived followed by Abedib, Saifuddin, Nadim, Dr Azmi and the rest of the gang. Half of the group was Dr Azmi’s friend and they were doctors. So we joked that we had doctors at hand if anything happen to any of us. Of course I was teased for riding a dusty Trek . After the ceremonial photo taking we set off with Saifuddin as the lead. He took us along the lake and slowly we moved towards the PICC. It was a fun enjoyable ride at first but slowly I felt I need to test my fitness level and as soon as we neared the PICC Bridge I stepped up and sped off towards the PICC. The climbing was not that hard but I knew I would be panting if it was the Bukit Mahkota climb. Still it was a good workout. As I reached the top I looked behind and only Nadim, Shaifuddin and Dr Azmi in sight. I told Nadim I had to go off first as my family will be coming that night and I need to do few things. With that I screamed down with Shaifuddin in pursuit behind me. Shaifuddin stopped at the bridge to wait for others but I sped towards the Putra mosque. I was panting half way through there and not wanting to break anything I eased a bit and maintain a decent speed. When I got to the Putra mosque I straight away put my bike inside the Ranger and waited for somebody to arrive so that I could go off. I knew they would be going for our ceremonial the tarik after the ride so I thank Abedib and those arrived after him and left the place. So next week it will be the Wetland for us. I could not wait. Maybe I’ll just cycle there.

Shaifuddin and Abedib talking bicycle

Shaifuddin and his RM20K Ducati

Nadim ready to roll

The second main event for me was that night my family was coming to visit which mean a feast was on the card. Coincidentally ‘the would be’ chef in the house was planning a do for his friends so I told him to prepare a feast for 30 people. It was one of the memorable nights for me as everyone was having a good time. The family started to arrive as early as 2000. Soon our house was buzzing with all sorts of activities as people started to eat and talk to one another. The chef assistant was super busy at the grill. My only regret for the night was I bought a token of a lamb that I thought not many people would like. How wrong I was. If I’d bought a whole lamb also would not be enough that night. The second lesson learned for the night was my own realization as to the reason why it was so difficult for me to renovate the house. I knew then that the garden was perfect for night family barbecue.

The third and the last over the weekend was the PT Majlis Makan Malam Ramah Mesra. This year the event was organized by Jln 3/1, 3/2 and 3/8 and it was at the corner of Jalan 3/8. As instructed I arrived with a full suit of baju melayu. Comparatively the number of people turned up this year was less and it was understandable due to the last weekend of Syawal and Deepavali.

Blogging Live On The Train, Oct 24, 2008

I forgot that today is the Friday of the Deepavali three day weekend. The train as usual was late and almost solid pack when it arrived at Bank Negara station. As expected it is worse now at KL Sentral. Remember the embarking and disembarking queues I talked about recently there were barely existed just now when I looked out ha ha ha. So I guess I would be walking home from the Bangi train station today as I would be definitely late now. Well at least I would get to exercise. It is a mad house now at Mid Valley as people pushing in trying to get in. I could hear, despite my ears plugged in with music from my iPod, a lady voice yelling everyone to move in so that they can get on. Immediately the crowd inside yell back protesting as obviously there is no more room even for a child inside. With all the commotion made worse by a child crying I concentrated on the song whre Ebiet G Ade is on.

Crazy, maybe obsess, about books? Wednesday, Oct 22, 2008

I came to know about the MPH Warehouse Booksales through the advertisement in the newspaper. I knew, no I think the correct word is wanted, yes I wanted to straight away go there on the opening day. I was a bit pissed off with myself for not, after browsing four bookstores, buying any book when I was in Singapore last week. As if I had to make amend my friend was good enough to drop me at the MPH warehouse after our meeting in PJ. Without missing a beat I grabbed a basket and started to browse and pick whatever books I like. Not more than half an hour I was there it was announced that the place would be closed at 1900. I thought it was suppose to be closed at 1930. Cursing, at nothing in particular, I hurried on browsing and waited to the very last minute to pay. In the end I paid RM150 for 8 books and was sure I would be there again this weekend with my family.

On The Train (Culture Change), Oct 20, 2008

I knew even before the Eidul Fitri celebration that KTMB was finally going to manage the embarking and disembarking passengers at major stations especially KL Sentral when I saw the lines being painted on the floor just like at the LRT stations. Today I saw the first implementation of that when we approached KL Sentral. I saw commuters neatly lined up on each side to board. Or course I saw a few guards on duty to make sure that happen and I could not help but wonder how long that going to last. I hope all of us would learn and observe the new ‘rule’ even when the guards are not around. I am a bit optimistic but being a Malaysian I have my doubt. We have just to wait for few more weeks if indeed we could change the culture and mindset. If forcing the rules upon us would make it works I am all for it. But I have also seen at LRT station when the guards were not there or when the train approached suddenly the lines went missing and commuters simply rushed in. We have still along way to go. I just got back from Temasek and I did not see any guards at all on the platform. The same thing when I was in Hong Kong. So I guess as far as Malaysian is concern we have to force this rule upon us to make it a success.

On The KTM Komuter, ERL KLIA Express and Plane, Oct 15, 2008

I dragged out my luggage, kissed my wife and walked to the station as usual. This morning I bought a one way ticket to KL Sentral because I wanted to checkin straight away before going to the office. The train as usual was late and I was not bothered anymore. We arrived at KL Sentral around 0730 and straight away I went to the TAM machine to withdraw some cash and since the money changer was just next to the ATM I bought a few Sing dollars. Checking in at KL Sentral was easy I have done a couple of times before but what surprised me was that a lady working for the ERL stopped me to ask whether I have a ERL ticket already. I said why as I would not be boarding until later as my flight was as 1500. She said the KL Sentral checkin counters were meant for ERL customers. Yes! and I had to buy the ERL ticket first before I could approach the counter. Since I do not wish to argue with anybody that early in the morning I just turned back to buy the ticket.

At 1255 I boarded the ERL KLIA Express and managed to get the platform seat . In front on isle on the other side sat a lady ready a book. I did not get the title on the book she was reading but I presumed it was funny as the lady was smiling reading it. It was not about the lady or the book but it was about smiling the book that sometimes I do myself and I always wonder what other think when they see me doing that. Now at least I now how I would feel as I felt happy, a warm feeling happy, and glad looking at the situation. The train departed from KL Sentral at 1300 sharp and arrived at KLIA 28 minutes later. After buying few things that I needed I straight away went into the departure hall. Since it was my first time using Gate G I did not know where the MAS Golden Launch was. I was told it was the MAS Regional Golden Lounge and I was not disappointed when I was there. The atmosphere is good, comparatively the food was better than the other Lounges that I have used. Particularly I loved the hot Herbal noodles soup there.

40 minutes to flight time I unplugged myself form the lounge and walked down to the boarding Gate G6. Jas was already there. I can’t remember whether I have had taken a flight down to Singapore in the evening but I am very sure that I have never been on one that had taken the flight path along the coast of Strait of Melaka. The sky was decently clear half of the journey and I managed to view the coast of PD, Melaka, and Johor from another angle and perspective. Once I saw PD after take off my view was fixed downward and since I have been taking the land route so many times I could identify the building and places immediately and so well. I was hooked and had a ‘feeling good’ feeling through out the flight. I would have followed the whole land route down to JB had not for a bit of raining just after Muar. As I said, it could nothing to anyone, it was a fantastic feeling.

About 1700 we were already walking inside the Changi terminal towards the immigration counters and subsequently checkin into our hotel 45 minutes after that.

Another Family Wedding

Over the weekend was the wedding of my cousin Niza. While going the normal motion of a wedding it was not the wedding that got me into thinking mood but the whole clan of my aki Mohamad Nasib and moyang Abdul Jabbar. The strong realization was during the grand reception at the Felda Perdana Hall yesterday. The trigger was during my uncle’s thank you speech and something he said brought down a hard reality unto me. Fact one is that my uncle is the only surviving man in the family and fact two is that after him would be my generation to keep the flag flying for the family and we are in need of a leader to keep going. Symptoms of strain family relations and culturally not suitable behaviour are the order of the day. When I looked around me in the hall I realized if I do not do something the family chain will be broken for good. Whether I like it or not, whether I am ready or not or whether I am the best person to do it or not I have to do it.

First Day at Sekolah Kebangsaan Galing

In 1969 the standard two classes were in the evening session. This means I could sleep a bit late and take a bit of time to prepare for school. Soon it became a familiar routine for me that year. I played out in the backyard with my mum cooking the day’s lunch for us to eat before school. I can tell you the smell of my mum frying the fish was heaven from there. It was just smell nice and enticing for me. Having hot lunch before school was something I looked for. That first day of school my Abah (dad) was to send me as we were not sure of the school bus service yet. Off we went on his Vespa at around 12pm.

I did not expect anything on my first day at Sekolah Kebangsaan Galing but as a shy kid I was ready to be just on my own. But my shyness was compounded by my attire that day. You see I had sore throat for a few days already and my dad decided to put a scarf (US), muffler as they say in UK, covering my neck. It was put on like winter scarf inside my school uniform looking like I am wearing a big tie inside. Of course the entire school did not know what it was. I can’t remember the color but it was a dark color with small dots. Not only I was totally a new kid on the block, I was totally different as well in terms of appearance. I became an instance freak show. Everyone that I came across that day would be eying me in either disbelief or strange. They kept on looking, pointing or laughing at me. They could not make out whether I was a rich kid who had just joined or one fashion crazy dude trying to show off. But I just stood there in one corner quietly looking very embarrassed with the whole thing.

The bell rang eventually signaling for everyone to gather for our first assembly. I was directed by a teacher, I think it was a teacher as it could not be the gardener, to join a row of a rowdy bunch of standard two students, my new classmates or course. I could not remember much about my first assembly but to be honest I did not care as I was anxious to be with my new classmates. The assembly ended and in single file we marched into our classroom.

Ok let me share with you about the layout of the school first before I explain about my classroom. Because of the size of the school the students to be taught and divided into two sessions. The morning session would comprise of standard 4, 5 and 6 and the evening session standard 1, 2 and 3. There were only 6 classrooms in the whole school so naturally there were two classes for each standard. The two classes were named as Puteh (White) and Merah (Red). You do not have to be a brain surgeon to decipher which one is Class A and which one is B. Apart from the canteen, store room and out house (toilet, I’ll share a bit more of this toilet later) there were two block of classrooms. The main block was actually an old kampong style wooden colonial building that was built on stilts housed the school office and three classrooms. If you have been to any old school building you know how high the classroom was of the ground. The second block was a grounded long block on the side that housed the other three classrooms. Because of the flexible partition separating the three classrooms this block was used as well for any events, ceremonies or shows. Of course we loved it when it happened. Can you guess now who got the higher prominent classrooms and who were being honored with the other? Let me just continue from where I left off.

Because of my size I walked in the middle of the row and slowly moved following the leader in front. Knowingly the bunch led us to classroom in the middle of the second block. On nearing the door only I could read Darjah 2 Merah and Darjah 4 Merah. There and then I knew my caste in the school. As a new boy with no academic record the school administration decided to put me there as tryout. I did not complain, in fact, I did not mind at all and after my first week I loved it. I was immediately seated somewhere at the back and being a shy kid I just observed what the others were doing. They were a lot of pranksters in my class and they were very loud as well. I just smiled most of the time and once in a while one or two of them would approach me to get to know me better. The girls we totally among themselves and in terms of ratio there were more boys in our class. From the way they handled themselves they seemed to be coming from different mindset that I used to. One main thing that I immediately realized was that they are a group of them that had this kind of behaviour. Their attires were almost similar with certain obvious identity as well. Later I found out that there were students from the orphanage that happened to be situated across the road of Alor Akar camp, our new home. Knowing that my perception of them totally changed immediately as I understood then why they behaved the way they behaved. In fact from my limited understanding of being an orphan I pity them and wanted to be their friend immediately. One of them, Adnan, became quite close for the rest of my schooling years at SK Galing even after I moved to another class. Adnan was a bit of sportsman and we played in the school football and takraw teams.

The first few hours were totally chaotic where only one or two teachers dropped in to begin our lessons. Of course the teachers familiar with the rest introduced me first and they got to know me a bit more. But I could tell few of them still thought I was a lord’s son, he he he. During our first few lessons I also was aware of their academic limitation. Again I pitied them and wanted to offer my help the best I can.

My first recess came and I followed the rest of my new classmates to the school canteen. It was just a small canteen and the serving counter was packed with students. I joined them. I was given RM0.20 for school and back then it was big value. With RM0.20 I could have a full meal. I am not sure what I had that first day but judging from my old favorite it highly likely a good plate of mee goreng. I was not aware of it first but while eating I realized the boys were actually trying to beat each other in eating their food. Sort of speed eating competition going on. Once they finished throwing their food down their throats they sped out. I just could not keep up with them so much so I was left eating with the girls. Of course at that point the girls were anxious to know more about me. No, not because I was handsome but because I was weird. When I was out of the canteen I could not find the boys any near the school building but I heard a great commotion on the field and I knew instantly the reason for the speed eating contest. In full swing there was a football game in progress. So, what I had in the classroom around me later was a bunch of sweaty, smelly and dirty kids. They were very happy and couldn’t careless how they look like. Soon I was one of them. The other thing that I noticed during recess was that the other students from the other standard two class were a bit detached from us and my first impression on them that they were snobs.

I remember the rest of my first day was more noises and few classes. The end of the school day was an amazing event as most of the boys in my class actually flew out not fast enough for the school bell to end. I just tailed behind them walking anxiously towards the gate for my first ride home on the school bus.

My Bukit Galing Camp

Ever since I got back from the East Coast trip Bukit Galing Camp lingers in my mind. There always something to trigger my thought to go back down the memory lane. While I was reading, on the train – especially while on the train, working and online. I visited my old friend Zaha while in Kuantan and we talked about old times and trying hard to remember and trace everyone. All this while we just rely on other people’s tales about our friends but never really serious in trying to locate everyone and do sort of reunion among us. .I know with this kind of thing I could not wait for somebody to start or do it I know I have to make the first move. Maybe I’ll start a Bukit Galing Camp alumni group in Facebook and announce to the whole world. I had already subscribed to a search on Bukit Galing Camp in the blogsphere and managed to be alerted on two bloggers who used to stay there. I am in communication with one currently who actually had the experience living in the old wooden barracks. You cannot believe how nostalgic I was in my communication with the person.

On The Train, Oct. 10, 2008

Two things close to my heart were reported in the Malay Mail today. One is, yet again, on KTMB and second on the match fixing international football. Both really were not news to me or most of us but extend and severity of them that made me sad.

Since I am on the train almost everyday the first news was something that I am living with everyday. The service was really a disservice most of the time. I thought after the nice experience during the first few weeks of Ramadan things were improving but I was brought back to the ground by the incidences since then. I honestly believe now KTMB do not have the capacity to improve at all. They could put the blame on anybody or everybody but the fact is their service is stink. I deduce that there are only two types of commuters on the train with me everyday. The first are those who do not have any choice and second those who really love the train no matter what. Probably now I am in between.

On The Train, Oct. 9, 2008

I felt I was back home in Raub when I stepped out into a cold foggy morning this morning. I thought it was just foggy within our housing area but it was the same all the way and at the Bangi station. Suddenly I was nostalgic as well as feeling creepy looking at the surrounding. I took a few shots of the place with my handphone. As if the atmosphere is accompanying the last few pages of The Bourne Sanction’s dark ending that I was finishing.

I finished the book at Bandar Tasek Selatan and debated whether I should boot up my laptop or just stared outside. I tried to close my eyes but I was awake.

It is already 9^th Syawal today but I am still have not started on my round.

During Ramadhan the Komuter service had improved a little and I was glad. In fact I praised them but now I realize it was just an illusion. An illusion to the level of David Copperfield. Since I boarded to work after my Eid holiday the services had been horrendous. Today I had to wait until almost 2000 to get a ride home. I am pretty sure by now KTMB if fully equip to go on the road and possibly could make more money doing magic shows.