What I Have Been Up to....

MY BLOG HAS MOVED

2008-03-07T23:49:00.005+08:00

I noticed that people still come to visit this page.

This blog has moved!!

Please visit my new blog at:
www.mama.nuraina.com

which looks like this:
(You can click on the banner to go there)

The banner is a pic of the lake formed by the Selangor Dam in Kuala Kubu Baru on the way to Fraser's Hill.

Leap Year 2008

2008-02-29T18:29:00.005+08:00

The look of my new blog site

Yes, today is a leap day, 29th February.

Anything interesting from me? I guess not.. I am spending the whole day at home.

Except that I've finally decided to move my blog to www.mama.nuraina.com.

Old postings will be left here, but new ones are there.

GE 12

2008-02-28T15:37:00.007+08:00

That's "12th General Election" for Malaysia. I am proud to say that out of the previous 11, I've voted 4 times :-)
This time round, it'll be my 5th.

But I am not proud to say that the coverage given to all parties is far from fair :-(

Try reading at www.bernama.com.my or any of the main stream newspapers or watch the tv channels, what do you get? Biased coverage, of course! And the government had the cheek to say that there is no unfair playing field? My f**t!!

It's only 9 days to the polling day, and what do I see most, along the streets? These faces (as if we don't know them!):

A close-up:

Don't we all know them? Why must their pix be put up all around the neighbourhood? I guess the pix of the candidates for the parliamentary as well as the state seats are still not out of the printing house?

Talking about the posters, I think they are unnecessary, not-environmental-friendly and really a waste of money! 30 or so years ago, I can understand the function of the posters, as many eligible voters then were illiterate. They need to know which symbol to vote for, and some of the old folks then relate the presence of the posters as the indicator of the popularity of the party, i.e. the more posters they have, the more popular they are.

But now? When most of the voters are literate, with quite a huge percentage of them are professionals (at least here in Shah Alam), why do we need all these posters? We want to hear facts and figures, and real issues too!

I suddenly am reminded of the general election in Adelaide in the 1980s when I was a student there. There were very few posters, and almost all of them are pictures of the candidates who were running for the election - at least the posters helped the locals to recognize the faces of the people they were going to vote!

Today I'm still at this old blog :-(

2008-02-28T08:49:00.004+08:00

When I was ready to move to the new "home", last night (after a couple of test posts), the site www.nuraina.com had some problem (while I was sleeping lat night), and kaboom! My new page is gone.

So, until the problem is rectified by the system_admin (that's DH), I will still be posting from here.

My New Blog Site

2008-02-27T22:35:00.004+08:00

Initial top panel of the new blog site. I hope to be able to edit it later..

Yes, friends, I've finally decided to move to a more permanent "house" at www.mama.nuraina.com

Only new posts will be put there. Old ones will remain here.
I still intend to update some of the current pages which I promised to add more stories/pix.
I hope tomorrow and Friday will see me doing just that ;-)

As for now.... Good night...

SMZ is back to Work, Though not Fulltime

2008-02-26T22:29:00.003+08:00

For those who have not been told, I have recently started work again :-)

I am now working from Monday-Wednesday as a consultant to a local IT company in Shah Alam. The view from the lift lobby (from the 8th floor):

UiTM Tower in the background.

So, to all regular-visitors to this blog, you can expect more postings between Thursday and Sunday (provided we are not traveling during the weekend).

A Wedding in Singapore - M & M

2008-02-25T23:03:00.005+08:00

M&M stands for Mariani & Mono, the bride and groom :-)

Last Friday we drove down to Singapore to attend a cousin's daughter's wedding. We've not driven there since 1998! The last time I went there was in Dec 2004, but I took the bus instead.

This cousin is not just any ordinary cousin. She's like my sister. She was staying with my parents in Geylang in the late 1960s when I was in my pre-school days until she got married. Her (late) usband was a sailor, so when he was not around, she used to take me to stay with her (I never attended kindegarten - we were too poor to have such luxury). Or, maybe I leave this part of the story for later and just focus on the wedding :-)

Anyway, the wedding was the 2nd marriage for both bride and groom, but that didn't stop us from celebrating it as merry as we could.

The "akad nikah" (solemnisation of the marriage according to the Islamic rites) was conducted at 8.30pm last Friday nigt. We only arrived at their place at 10pm. No problem, there was still food around :-)

That nigt stayed up to catch up with stories as well as (most of the time pretended to) help in te kitchen. I know I peeled so much potatoes, carrots and sengkuang. I also de-skinned several pineapples. Helped to stir the mixture in the pot while it was simmering, etc..etc...

I had a short nap at 4am and woke up at 6am. After the morning prayers (subuh) and a shower, we continued with our cooking. All was ready by 1pm.

Guests started to arrive at 2pm. I took some pix, but soon after I was too sleepy. Furthermore most of the guests are strangers to us (us being the relatives from Malaysia), we ended up taking naps whenever we could!

Updates on Cikgu Hasan Baseri Budiman

2008-02-21T18:54:00.003+08:00

2 nights ago I finally managed to get cikgu's number from another junior, Marlyna Maros.

I called him that night but couldn't get through. I then sent him an sms to introduce myself. Minumes later cikgu called back!!

It was nice to be able to talk to cikgu again. Any former teacher is still a teqacher to me, even though he didn't directly teach my class. He was part of the environment where I grew up for 5 years.

Interesting enough cikgu, like Cikgu Bahar, started teaching there in the same year as we started our schooling there i.e. 1979.

I left the school at the end of 1979, but cikgu left the year after (1980) to go back to him homestate, Kedah.

My classmate, Shukri, whom cikgu mentioned in his e-mail, called cikgu on the same night. Both teacher and student were so delighted to be able to communicate again.

Last night, Zahran, also from my batch, who was the monitor when cikgu was their class teacher called cikgu too. Another junior sms-ed me asking for cikgu's number.

Anybody else who would like to get cikgu's phone number can e-mail me directly because it's not my practise to publicise people's tel no.

Suara hati Cikgu Hasan Baseri

2008-02-18T21:54:00.012+08:00

Cikgu, in the middle. Pic courtesy of Nisah Haron's blog.

Only today I found out that cikgu is a writer.
Click here for a recent news and also a pic of him.
Books by him:
Antologi Cerpen: Tekal
Hadiah Untuk Amirah

I am not sure if I should put it here, or on my other blog page, but I like it so much that I've decided to put it here.

What? you may ask. It's the posting of of a former teacher in an e-group where I am registered but I hardly visit. It (the e-group) actually belongs to my juniors, but they were nice enough to accept me in their e-group. As a show of respect, I set my membership to "no mail" and seldom visit their page. I only use my membership there to post announcements on our alumni activities, or whatever message that I'd like to share with them.

Little did I know that a former teacher by the name of Hasan Baseri Budiman is also a member. Touched by my postings in my othe blog, he posted the following (extracted from the e-group):

SUARA HATI SEORANG GURU

Terima kasih SABARIAh mohd Zain kerana mengizinkan
saya membuka blog SMSkel As I Remember. Semalaman
saya tidak dapat tidur kerana terlampau banyak
kenangan lama yang datang menusuk ke sanubari saya.
Saya tidak pasti apakah Sabariah masih mengingati
saya? (saya memang tidak pernah mengajar kelas Alfa)
Saya masih boleh membayangkan wajah sabariah dulu
serta murid-murid lain yang Sabariah paparkan dalam
gambar yang ditunjukkan. Dan rasa Cikgu Bahar lebih
bertuah daripada saya kerana dapat juga dia bertemu
dengan anak-anak murid yang masih mengenalinya. Saya
pun sebenarnya selalu memasang harapan untuk bertemu
dengan semua bekas pelajar SMSkel yang saya pernah
ajar. Tetapi sampai saat ini saya masih belum
berpeluang melakukannya (Saya sudah menemui Halim
Harun di Kuantan Oktober lalu). Insya-Allah moga
cita-saya akan termakhbul jua. Apapun Saya cukup
terharu kerana dapat melihat kembali wajah-wah Pak
Widodo, Cikgu Sharif, Cikgu Bakar, Cikgu Anuar dan
wajah Cikgu Bahar sendiri yang satu bertemu kali
terakhir dengan di USM pada tahun 2001 melalui
gambar-gambar yang dipaparkan oleh Sabariah dalam
blognya itu.
Saya melihat gambar di koop sekolah, Sabariah dan
Shukri (saya pasti pemain back tengah pasukan bola
sepak sekolah yang latih dahulu) serta gambar Zul
(mungkin Zulkifli Mohd Noor) yang saya sudah dua kali
bercakap dengannya di telefon tetapi tidak pernah
sekali pun bertemu dengannya selepas 30 tahu saya
meninggalkan SMSkel dahulu.
Saya tidak tahu apakah saya akan terus berpeluang
untuk melihat gambar-gambar lama (kenangan di
SMSkel)yang hampir semuanya sudah hilang daripada
simpanan saya. Saya pasti ada di antara anda yang
mungkin memilikinya. Kalau tidak keberatan paparkanlah
di e-mail ini. setidak-tidaknya kalau tidak dapat
melihat wajah-wajah terkini anda (sebahagian besar
gambar yang Sabariah paparkan dalam Then and Now
memang tidak mampu saya mengcamnya kalau saja berjumpa
mereka)dapat juga saya mengimbau kenangan lalu. gambar
Shah Reza memang selalu saya tengok dalam surat
khabar.
Semoga anda semua gembira bersama keluarga dan
berbahagia selamanya- Salam sayang daripada
saya:(cikgu Hasan Baseri Budiman)

I immediately responded back to his posting, and I hope I'll get a reply from him ASAP.
I don't mind arranging for a meeting of some of my friends with him, because I know quite a handful who were once taught by him.

I also hope by putting the above message on this page, some "silent" friends who would like to join in the meet-up will sms me.

Our Web-cam Caught Aina's Friends

2008-02-15T13:53:00.007+08:00

Today I came back later than aina, whose school dismisses at 12 noon.

When I arrived home, the house was noisier than normal - even worse than when all family members were present.

I tried to calculate the number of friends Aina took home, but failed. Several were in our little and miserable lounge, a couple in the room upstairs, and a couple more in the back room, or maybe the bathroom.

What's the occasion, you might ask. Her school finishes at 12 noon every Friday, but at 2.30pm there are extra classes for the kids to attend (parents pay for these). Aina has never joined such classes before, but since she's in Primary 5 this year, I thought, why not.. And we only registered her for the religious subjects (i.e. Fri afternoons only. The other subjects have their sessions on Saturday morning).

Anyway, back to my story for today, I came up to my room, check our webcam, and managed to see some of them as there were arriving:

Not all her friends who came were getting prepared for their extra cllasses. Some waited for their parents to fetch them, instead of at the school which is only 200m away, they come to our house to fetch their daughters :-)
Here's one caught by our webcam:

Now all of them have gone back to school, and the house is quiet again :-(

Personally, I think Aina is lucky to have the school so near to home!

I am Going to Vote Again!

2008-02-14T12:42:00.004+08:00

The parliament was dissolved yesterday, and today the Election Commission (EC) has announced that the election day will be on the 8th March 2008.

I first voted in the late 1980s (in Ipoh, Perak), and I've lost count on how many times I have voted (in other words I don't know how many elections there are so far!). But one thing for sure I have not missed any single opportunity :-)

This year I will be voting in Shah Alam again.

I know some friends who are of my generation and have yet to register, let alone to vote :-(
And some of these people are among those wo complaint a lot about the way the country is, about the government, etc..etc... Some of them are actually public figures (i.e. holding senior posts in their careers). If they are reading this blog, I would like to urge them to register with the EC so that next time they don't miss the chance to vote.

My vote? That's a secret :-)

Let's Support Earth Hour 2008!

2008-02-13T22:11:00.003+08:00

Today, Karen, a fren from my SAHP e-group sent an e-mail about her joining the Earth Hour 2008 campaign, and encouraged us to do the same.

Well... I thought it's for a good course, so why not.

So, now I am inviting my fellow friends who are reading this to show their support too.
Just click on the Earth Hour 2008 and register!

Meeting an old Fren at JPA

2008-02-12T18:22:00.001+08:00

I was at the JPA office in Putrajaya for a meeting, and met Shukri (picture), who's my senior during my school days.

We'll be seeing a lot of each other in the future, now that I am doing some consulting work for a local company that deals a lot with JPA.

CNY Jam on the PLUS highway

2008-02-11T07:47:00.001+08:00

Yesterday, there were jams everywhere!!
We thought since we were going south (away from Kuala Lumpur), the flow was better. We were wrong!! We were crawling between Nilai and Seremban. The above bus that went into the ditch was the culprit!

As we moved on, we saw the opposite traffic (i.e. going towards KL) getting worse and worse:

On our way back, we decided to use the non-highway road instead, passing through Rantau, going towards Seremban but took the old road towards Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi, then to Cyberjaya (to send Bok) and back to S Alam. We came across a village that is already in the election mood:

CNY Weekend 2008

2008-02-11T07:42:00.000+08:00

We spent 2 nights a Fraser's Hill. MIL, PIL and 2 BILs with their families followed us. It was really great to have them!

It was crowded there, and I was most of the time indoor, except for an outing to a nearby trail in search for Balanophora.

No time to blog but you can see the pix at
Hubby's album
Nuni's album

Along the way we saw some queue-jumpers who were nabbed by the traffic police :-)
Well done to the traffic police!

xIL = x-in-law

Barbecue chicken

2008-02-07T23:45:00.001+08:00

That's tonigh's dinner at Fraser's Hill. Yummy!

Early Lunch at McD

2008-02-07T12:52:00.001+08:00

We're in section 9 Shah Alam and it's relatively quiet. Most people must have gone back to their hometown.

Happy Chinese New Year

2008-02-06T08:18:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow is the first day of the new lunar year. I wish all my Chinese friends a very happy new year.

As for us, we are going to spend part of this long weekend break at Fraser's Hill. We are going up the hill tomorrow. I just hope the traffic will be better than last year (all of us were caught in the PLUS highway congestion between Rawang & Bukit Beruntung.

Almost like last year, this year we will have all the family members (except for Ayi who's in Canada), Nitzus aka Cu's family (they were with us too last year), Diman & gang, MIL, PIL and Yon (the bachelor BIL). With so many people, I look forward to the havoc! Bok can put up the tent on the balcony for some of the tougher kids to sleep :-)

But, first, DH and I need to fetch Nukman from school later today. We'll head for FH tomorow morning and will only come back to S Alam on SAturday.

As for me, I think tonight I need to edit some of the blogs that I promised to update :-(
And my other blog too!

A Quick Balik Kampung (1-3 February)

2008-02-05T20:34:00.000+08:00

Last Thursday(31st January), DH, Aina and I made a quick balik kampung (going back to our hometown). There were a few things to settle and also it was a good chance to visit some relatives. We decided to go back last weekend instead of tomorrow to avoid the heavy traffic. Oops, I forgot to mention that starting tomorrow, Malaysia will have a long weekend, with Thursday and Friday being the public holidays for the Chinese New Year.

We left Klang valley soon after 4pm (we waited for Aina to come back from school at 4pm). We stopped at the huge Petronas petrol station on Karak Highway for meal and prayers. With DH and I taking turns in driving, we managed to reach my in-laws' place just after midnight.

On Friday afternoon, we (DH, Aina, pa-in-law, ma-in-law and I) managed to visit our son in Pengkalan Chepa. We also took the opportunity to visit DH's nephew, Dini, who had just joined a nursing course in a nursing colege in Pengkalan Chepa too. Being one of the few males there, e was quick popular among his collegues :-)
The college was having a "Bubur Asyura" (Ashura Porridge) event.

I was lucky to be introduced to the deputy principal of the college, Kak Bee or better known among the students as "Bonda" (meaning: Mum). We had a great chat while waiting for the asyra to be ready.

After getting some bubur asyura, we left for our next destination - Bachok, to visit Che Nah's house. Che Nah is ma-in-law's sis-in-law. Her hubby was MIL's only brother but he passed away a few years ago. Che Nah had just had a new grand-son (born to Epa and hubby) :

Muizz Irfan, is Epa's second child. Pic "pinched" from Epa's album.

We went to Bachok via Kota Jembal (formerly known as Kedai Lalat). Along the too familiar way, we have on previous trips noticed a very nice "house" on the left of the road, near the river. We decided to stop by and found out that it is actually a nice restaurant, as blogged on that day. I tried to send other "photo blog" from my HP, but the connection was not good enough :-(

We only got back to Ketereh (that's DH's hometown) that night.

The following day (Saturday), despite the persistent drizzles and occasional downpours, we managed to visit a sick relative, an uncle whose son wedding on 8th February we could not attend and an auntie who recently came back from Haj. All done by 1pm.

Aina couldn't resist "sailing" her boat

At 2.45pm, I was heading towards Rantau Panjang with MIL, Aina and Cik (MIL's sister). We had our late lunch there :-)

A pretty nasty accident on the bridge, just before Pasir Mas.

Even though we didn't have much time to really shop, I managed to get some slacks and t-shirts for Aina as well as a kg each of cashew nuts (roasted) and pistachios. I can't remember when was the last time we were here.. maybe 3 or 4 years ago!

On our way back, I also managed to buy some keropok (fish crackers).

By the time we reached home, I was quite knackered!

And the next day (Sunday) we started our journey back to Shah Alam at 6.50am, soon after the morning prayers. We stopped over at Su's place in Paloh, just 30 minutes before reaching Gua Musang. Su (MIL's youngest sister) cooked nasi dagang for us (breakfast). Yummy...

We reached Segambut (at BIL's place) to drop MIL and PIL, and had lunch there :-)
The three of us finally reached home at 4pm, just about 72 hours after we started the "Balik Kampung" journey.

terms I adopted from the SAHP e-group:
Dh = dearest hubby
MIL = ma-in-law
PIL = pa-in-law
BIL = brother-in-law
etc..

Restoren Ukir Sri Anjung

2008-02-01T18:11:00.001+08:00

We've just stopped for refreshment and light snacks. Too early for dinner :(

Addition on 6th February:

As we entered the premise:

we saw a display of some antics:

too early for dinner, we ordered some snacks and drinks:
The restaurant has it's natural air freshener in the form of the sweat-smelling flower locally known as "Bunga tikam seladang", or also known as "bunga kerak nasi" or "bunga kesidang".

Closeup of the shrub:

And the flower:

another view of the flowers:

Friday afternoon in Ketereh

2008-02-01T12:35:00.001+08:00

Why not have a short nap while waiting for the time for Friday prayer.

I am Now a Dale Carnegie Graduate!

2008-01-30T20:54:00.000+08:00

Sitting from left: Agus, Hani, Izayu, Rosli (Trainer), Julia, Karen, Wei Ping
Back from left: Am, Lazman, me, Ayu, Salehan, Shah, Julian, Taqi, Edmond, Ms Tan, Saras

Yes, last night I ended my 12-lesson training on "Effective Communication and Human Relations" at Dale Carnegie, Kuala Lumpur.

It was a great program, and I am glad I took the course up, because this bunch of people is really a wonderful group!

Updates on my MARA Saga

2008-01-28T14:59:00.000+08:00

It seems that quite a number of friends read my blog about my MARA problem.

So, I thought it's only fair for me to put down in writing some of the updates:

1. A senior MARA officer who read my blog was very nice to me - he followed up with the case personally. He called me last Friday to inform m that the loan money (for January and February) has been sent to my son. It's so happened that just a few minutes earlier I received and e-mail from my son saying that he and his friend (also a MARA scholar) had received the bank-drafts.

2. AS for the computer loan, they are in the process of preparing the loan offer letter before they can issue any payment. ( I just wonder what the form that my son sent in September was doing at MARA? I hope they haven't lost it!)

3. A for the results, I was given an e-mail address for my son to e-mail his recent semester results.

And today I had Thai Lunch with Mek Ta ;-)
Thnks Ta for the treat!

Thaipusam Holiday

2008-01-23T16:56:00.001+08:00

Today is a public holiday for at least Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and the state of Selangor. We took this opportunity to visit our son in Seremban.

MARA Oh Mara!

2008-01-22T08:52:00.000+08:00

This morning at 8.40am, I tried my luck again at calling MARA.
I was lucky at the 3rd ringing the operator answered me, and when I asked for the extension that Iwanted , a guy promptly answered my call. Wow, I was lucky, I thought!

I asked for the lady whom I've been trying to contactfor the past 2 weeks (not counting the several times I called in Nov just to find out from her that "they haven't opened/created a file for my son). I was told she's engaged. Humbly and sounding disappointing, I told him that I've been trying to call her for the past 2 weeks without any luck.. Then he re-directed me to another line.

True anough the lady answered my call. I introduced myself, and ask him about my son's monthly allowance. Same answer - they've processed it and now it's at the Finance Dept (now, we are talking about JANUARY allowance, which was supposed to be paid at the beginning of the month!). Am I supposed to call the Finance Dept to ask?? I don't think so - that's their internal matter. I only want to know when my son will get the money :-(

Ok, I changed the subject, and asked about the computer loan - my son submitted the application form with all other details soon after he had settled down in his university (that was in early September 2007). Then she said something about her having to prepare the offer letter (??). I was thinking of other students who bought the computers (notebooks) in malaysia, and have gotten the loan long long ago. Why must my son's application be so much longer to process? We wanted our son to buy in Canada so that if there is anything wrong with it, the warranty is valid there. If he bought it here, there's the risk of him losing it in the journey to Canada, and also we have to buy the international warranty.

OK, never mind, 2 down, i asked her how should my son send his recent semester results. Her answer was "Hantar kepada penaja lah" (Send to the sponsor). Then I ask her for the specific mailing address, because I know MARA is huge!! the mai lcould get lost :-(

She then said to me "Puan, kami sedang baca doa sekarang ni" (Maam, we are now in the midst of prayers". I said to her "Last week pun masa saya call, tengah baca doa..." i was really disappointed. Then she said "Oh, kami baca doa hari-hari". What the F***? I was thinking to myself. I said "OK", and put down the phone!

Baca doa hari2? Why? Don't they have enough doa at home? during prayers? in the car while they are caught in the jam also they can baca doa, man! Why must it be during office hour? Why EVERYDAY? Banyak doasa ke?

I thought I called early in the morning so that I can catch her - because soon after, she'll be away on meetings etc... Furthermore, if late in the day, I might be engrossed with my work too, that I may not remember to call her.

Well.... I got to go back to my work. MARA...MARA... Why not rename it to UNDUR?

A Day Trip to Fraser's Hill

2008-01-20T22:52:00.000+08:00

Yesterday dearest hubby (DH) and I made a last minute-planned day-trip to Fraser's Hill (FH). Honestly, this was the first time we made a day trip to that place, ever since our first trip there in in 1996. Before this we would always spend 1 or 2 nights there.

Why the day trip? Because late Friday night I found out that Prof Pakdin and gang were going to FH to look for some rare flora. It sounded too good for us to miss. On the other hand, Aina had some projects to do with her friends at the State Library, so she couldn't follow us. Luckily Bok (our no.2) is still on his semester break, so we got Bok to take care of her while we were away.

We left home at 7.15am, and arrived at Gap at 9.15am. By 10am, we were at the clock tower to meet up with Pakdin and gang for the trail.

I couldn't find my walking shoes so I decided not to join them in the trekking. Instead I joined 4 other guys (Dashuki, NFahmi, Seme and WHusmi) on their phtographic shoots around FH.

These guys really took their time. But it was worth it, because they produced very nice pix, and I am waiting for them to put on their flickr pages which I have linked to their names above.

I was too lazy to take out my digital camera, instead I just snapped a few pix using my sony-ericsson phone:

Now, this is very serious photography!

On the top left is part of KTM's Glen Bungalow, which was used in a Petronas commercial - for a scene in winter, with snow (tonnes of salt) outside the house.

Photographic discussion??

Later when these guys were done with their shoots, I joined Pakdin, Dato Noramly and DH for lunch at a cafe behind the mosque.

After lunch, they wanted to see another rare tree on the ridge nearby, so since I was not properly dressed (I was only wearing sandals), I decided to stay back at the roadside while they trekked uphill.

It was a shot stint, because soon after I heard their voices again.

Shots at that place:

Here among the thick bushes, they climbed up.

Not long after I was left by the roadside, Pakdin reappeared..

followed by DH

and finally Dato.

After that, we went to Jeriau waterfall. I didn't take any pic but you can click on the links to DH's gallery or Pakdin's for some of the pix.

Pakdin and Dato left soon after 6pm, and we managed to reach the gate for the down flow trip to Gap at 4.37pm (they close it at 4.40pm).

We stopped at the Sg Buluh R&R for dinner at Kaya Kopitiam and headed home feeling tired (especially DH).

What a brief but enjoyable trip!

You may want to click on one of the following:
Pakdin's Collection of the day's shoot
DH's collection

A Misty Morning

2008-01-19T09:50:00.001+08:00

We've just arrived in Fraser's Hill for a day trip,

Calling Somebody in MARA - A Real Test of Patience

2008-01-18T08:54:00.000+08:00

MARA yang tidak MARA (pic from MARA's website)

I am sure many will agree with me on this!

My son went to Canada on 1 Sept 2007 on MARA convertible loan. Since then he has not received any omnthly allowance or what so ever directly from MARA. If we calculate it right, Sept, Oct, Nov & Dec are 4 months already. And we are pretty sure that the allowance paid before he left was only meant for last year. So where's the allowance for Jan 2008 onwards??

My son also bought a notebook (computer of course!) whe he first arrived there, so he has actually used up quite a lot of his money there. He's lucky that i gave him a supplementary credit card, and also that the "wang pendahuluan" that MARA gave for other things were not used when he was still here.

I called MARA after Raya Puasa (when was that?? Early Nov) to enquire on his behalf (obviously u don't expect him to call MARA directly from Canada do you?). trying to get hold of the person was really tough - either she's on leave, she's in a mtg, she's in a discussion, "dia keluar sekejap", "she's not at her desk", etc..etc... and when i finally managed to get hold of her, her answer was "oh, kami BELUM BUKA FILE lagi untuk pelajar-pelajar yang baru pergi" :-(

Now, 2 months on, i've been trying to call her again since last week. same reasons, same situation as above. this morning, i was told that she's on leave, the person wjo answered the call "redirected" me to another perosn, but there was no answer.

luckily i got a nice operator who noticed my voice (after calling the general line several times) who tried to get hold of someone who could probably help me, only to find out that today is JUMAAT, they are now having baca yasin and doa selamat. DURING OFFICE HOUR???? AND AT THE COST OF CUSTOMER'S DISCOMFORT?? Am i supposed to be "on call" just to catch them? I just don't understand and believe me, i am furious!! just imagine if i am in Kuching or KK and i have to
make long distance calls just to try to get hold of this officer.

What am i thinking now?? even if i finally manage to get hold of one of them, would you think the response is favourable? Only time will tell...

Just earlier today i called the HSBC call centre regarding my son's supp credit card, to enquire if i
need to alert them if my son is going to make a significant transaction, and the treatment and prompt response I got was totally opposite of what I got when I called MARA...

Tak MARA (as moving forward) langsung MARA!

Addition on Sunday 20th Jan:
Last Friday, after writing this blog, I made a call again to MARA (I was sure the doa selamat should be over by then), and was finally passed to a nice gentleman by the name of Mokhtar. En Mokhtar accessed the system and confirmed that my son's data IS in it, though he could not confirm if any payment had been made to him (since the payment is being processed by a different department, i.e. the finance). At least I found out from him that the money should be banked-in monthly starting January 2008.

Nanggroe Atjeh Darussalam (Negara Aceh Darussalam)

2008-01-14T00:38:00.000+08:00

OK, I didn't visit the whole country. I only went to the capital, Banda Aceh.

We took last Friday's flight, and came back on Sunday (yesterday).
Highlight of the trip? What else, the Tsunami area (25 Dec 2004), of course.
And I have to admit that I was 3 year's late :-(

More stories to come later (after I finished my Chiangmai's?)..

But, here are some pix to share:

This fishing boat landed on a house, but at least the people in the house were saved by this boat!

1st part of the ship that supplied the power to the land. Before the tsunami, it was offshore, of course - some 4km away from this spot.

2nd part of the ship. It landed on at least 3 homes, and the occupants weren't lucky at all. We were told that the bodies crushed under it were never recovered- too dangerous!

We ended our short stay there with a dinner outing in the open space with Mr Howard Yamaguchi, DH's Internet friend from the Malsingmaps group. This pic was taken outside Hotel Sulthan, where we stayed.

Me, Howard and Bok

May be you can visit our photo gallery for more pix of the trip.

Howard Yamaguchi in Banda Aceh

2008-01-13T16:39:00.001+08:00

Last night we met up with this Internet friend of ours. We found out last night that in the 70s he worked in our hometown, Kota Bharu. And we have some common acquaintances!

Selamat Tinggal Nangroe Atjeh DarusSalam

2008-01-13T16:19:00.001+08:00

We've safely arrived back in LCCT at 3.20pm from our 3D2N trip to Banda Aceh. This is the departure lounge at the airport in Aceh.

Busy filling the immigration form

2008-01-11T11:16:00.001+08:00

Apart from DH, Aina and i, Bok is the other person with us today. He's on semester holiday.

Our first trip for the year

2008-01-11T11:13:00.001+08:00

Yes, today we're at LCCT again for 2 night trip to Banda aceh. Our first for both the new Gregorian and Hijrah years.

KLCC AT Dusk

2008-01-08T19:14:00.001+08:00

Quite nice but i'm late for my appointment!

Kopi Tiam Pak Long

2008-01-07T21:35:00.001+08:00

We are here again for dinner tonight.

Awan Besar RnR

2008-01-05T13:45:00.001+08:00

After fetching Bok, we tried the new Putrajaya-KL Highway, and took the KESAS exit. We are stopping here for lunch. Aina's outfit matches the RnR's paint!

Aina wrapping her school books

2008-01-04T22:29:00.001+08:00

First time she's doing it herself with min aid from big sister, Nuni.

Back to Normal Routine - at least for now..

2008-01-03T20:06:00.000+08:00

Yesterday we sent Nukman to his school in Seremban (just the day before we sent Nafis to his school in Pengkalan Chepa).
I tried to "mobile-blog" yesterday but the Internet connection from my handphone was so slow and intermittent.

Some of the pix from yesterday's "outing":

Nukman's Dormitory

Ok, Man, see you during the CNY break?

This morning Aina started her Year 5.

Tonight I want to write more for this blog, but I feel sooo tired and exhausted. I feel like I need a looooong nap.

SDARs Registration Day 2008

2008-01-02T16:55:00.001+08:00

Traffic jam near the hostel block. :)

Excellent PMR Results

2008-01-01T14:17:00.001+08:00

One of the best results in Malaysia. This belongs to SMSTMFP.

Happy New Year 2008

2008-01-01T07:40:00.001+08:00

This time the new year is greeted with heavy rain. Yes, the water in front of the house has subsided but it's still raining this new year's morning.

The Creators of the Paper Boats

2007-12-31T23:58:00.001+08:00

Admiring their boats?

Paper Boats

2007-12-31T23:51:00.001+08:00

Whose are those?

Rain Rain Go Away..

2007-12-31T23:40:00.001+08:00

It's been raining continuously from dusk today. Could it be the 2nd wave of the monsoon rain? We hope the road to Gua Musang and hence Kuala Lumpur will remain open until tomorrow afternoon, at least.

Bubbles Time

2007-12-31T18:42:00.001+08:00

Aina enjoying the bubble blow.

Grandpa Noh

2007-12-31T18:39:00.001+08:00

He took the last round.

Pulut Kuning

2007-12-31T18:29:00.001+08:00

The grandma feeding her granddaughter her favourite glutinous rice, at the door? Nice picnic feeling.

Indoor Games Only

2007-12-31T18:12:00.001+08:00

It's raining outside, so the kids keep themselves inside only. We are now at their grandparents' home in Kota Bharu.

Car Wash on a Rainy Day

2007-12-31T17:59:00.001+08:00

After a few months, the poor is finally having a good wash. On a rainy day, but under the shade?

Ku Mikhail

2007-12-30T09:22:00.001+08:00

Miki at Fraser's Hill.

A Shopping Outing

2007-12-28T22:20:00.001+08:00

Next week the new school year will start. The kids need to get a few new personal effects, last night so we headed to Jaya Jusco, Bukit Raja, Klang.

The boys got themselves new watches - hmm.... how many watches have they (well, Nafis in particular) lost? Really, we lost count!

Nuni and I took the opportunity to get ourselves a pair of sandals each :-)

I only remember to snap a couple of pix. This one of Nuni trying the sandal:

Kids waiting and looking bored:
But later they got their shoes from the nearby Bata outlet.

Caught DH paying at the cashier:

Later we had dinner at my favourite Nando's. I tried to snap a panoramic pic (i.e. stitched up pictures), but it didn't turn out well :

3 pix stitched together.

This one is from DH:

Aina & Nafis

Today more trips were made to other outlets to get them other stuff.
Also finally, Aina's school fees were paid today too.

I still have a lot more to do, but I am just not in the mood :-(

Tomorrow we will start our journey back to our hometown Kota Bharu, only to come back next year (well.... I mean 1st January 2008)

Congratulations Nafis!!

2007-12-27T12:18:00.000+08:00

from left: Nukman, Nafis, Aina

My 4th child, Nafis, today received his PMR results. He scored 8As, together with other 118 candidates from his school. The school did very well this year with 119 candidates out of 145 who sat for the exam scored all As. I was also informed that for Mathematics, History and Living Skills, ALL students actually scored As!

Next year will be Nukman's turn to sit for his PMR :-)

Cold and damp

2007-12-23T17:38:00.001+08:00

There's condensation on the fridge door!

Disclaimer

2007-12-23T14:08:00.001+08:00

Bok said he didn't do this one!

Bok's Creation

2007-12-23T14:06:00.001+08:00

Bok couldn't resist unstacking the fries boxes which i had stacked.

Almost Full House

2007-12-23T13:52:00.001+08:00

Only Ayi who's in Canada is not here. Another Burger King lunch on our way to Fraser's Hill.

Eventful Weekends for 2 Months!

2007-12-23T10:11:00.000+08:00

Well... to be exact, even since the school holidays started on 17th Nov, there has been no weekends that was spend totally at home!! No wonder the house is in a mess :-(

Let me re-cap (togethe with the planned future trips):

8 Nov-11Nov (the weekend before he school holidays) - I was in Port Dickson for a training.
17th Nov - Attended hubby's friend's wedding in Taiping
22 Nov - 25 Nov - Chiangmai trip
1 Dec - 2Dec - Went to Fraser's Hill
8 Dec - 9 Dec - Visited Nuni in Penang
15 Dec - A Wedding in Kuak
20 Dec - Raya in Muar
22 Dec - Visited my cousins in Segamat
23-25 Dec - To Fraser's Hill again
29Dec - 1 Dec - Back to Kelantan

2008
11Jan - 13 Jan - Trip to Acheh

Time really flies!

A Day Trip To Batu Anam, Segamat

2007-12-23T10:05:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I made a day-trip to Batu Anam, Segamat, with my daughter Nuni and son Bok.

I went to a cousin's house, to meet her as well as her sister ( Kak Timah) who came back for the weekend from Singapore.

I have to say that hese two are my favourite cousins, especially K Timah, who used to take care of me when I was a small kid way back in the late 1960s in Singapore. Even when i was much bigger (in the 1970s) I enjoyed going to Singapore to visit her - she really took good care of me.

K Timah is ow 68 years old, but she is still as cheerful and chirpy as ever. Even Bok and Nuni are comfortable with her and found her charming. Her husband passed away some years ago, and she now spends her time between her daughters' houses - both living in Singapore.

I try to put up some pix later, when Nuni e-mail them to me.
I know... I know... 've yet to finish uploading the Chiangmai pix :-(

Aisyah's New Blog

2007-12-21T08:49:00.001+08:00

On the eve of Eidil Adha, I visited Aisyah (who lives only 4 min-drive away from me). The last time I went there was before Eidil Fitr! She's a very busy lady.

That night, I sat down with her to create another blog for her (we created one for her some time ago, but she has forgotten the password!).

This morning I am glad to see that she has started her postings :-)

Aisyah is one of my "new" friends - new is defined as somebody I've known for less than 5 years, Nik Elin whom I met during my haj is another one, as well as those from SAHP group.

I met aisyah when I was in UNISEL. She was (and still is) in charged of the marketing, and I used to help her out with her marketing trips. We had some memorable outings (and they are very exhausting too - sometimes we started as early as 8 am to get the booth ready and stayed all the way until 9 or 10 pm!).

I managed to find some of the pix while we were in Kota Kinabalu and Kuching:

In KK - Lim Bandang(the talles guy in the pic) who's an alumnus of UNISEL helped us a lot while we were there. Aisyah is the one in "tiger-striped" baju kurung

So did another alumnus, Jalil (the guys who's wearing the blue UNISEL jacket).

At the Sabah Faoundation Building

In Kuching (aisyah in orange)

What a Raya that was!

2007-12-21T01:13:00.001+08:00

With 4 of my kids and their little cousins in Alor Gajah. Sorry Nuni, your face couldn't fit into the pic!

We got home over an hour ago, i.e. just before midnight. Left nafis with Bok at Bok's place in Cyberjaya. We had a great day. Good night everyone!

Hubby with his Nephew

2007-12-20T19:46:00.001+08:00

Hubby is looking at his sister's family's latest travel pix.

Tangkak

2007-12-20T18:30:00.001+08:00

The town's mainroad with Mount Ledang in the background.

Downtown Sungai Mati

2007-12-20T17:49:00.001+08:00

Next destination is Malacca. We are passing this town on our way there.

Somebody Gave me in 1978 or 1979

2007-12-20T16:47:00.001+08:00

Found this on the wall. This was given to me by a friend, I think it was Rosilah.

Taking a Breather

2007-12-20T16:39:00.001+08:00

At my cousin's house in Serom, Muar. I used to spend my school holidays here in the 70r?

Nukman

2007-12-20T13:02:00.001+08:00

Another sleeping beauty.

Nafis with his favourite Sister

2007-12-20T12:33:00.001+08:00

Still in the journey..

Aidil Adha Morning

2007-12-20T10:11:00.001+08:00

People are getting ready for the qurban while we are going to visit some relatives down south in Muar and Malacca.

At Optimum Power

2007-12-19T14:08:00.001+08:00

The nice guy of the place.

Added on Thurs at 9.43pm:
The above blog was done at the Tupperware Shop in Section 24, Shah Alam. I was demonstrating to Herman (the guy in the pic) how I could take a pic from my Sony Ericsson phone and publish/blog directly :-)

Cattles for Qurban

2007-12-19T08:53:00.001+08:00

On my way out i saw this cattle among Several others at the playing field near our mosque.

Rush Hour at KL Sentral

2007-12-18T18:11:00.001+08:00

Am queueing for LRT. Really reminds me of the rush hour in Tokyo that i experienced for 7 weeks in 2004.

Waiting For The Train

2007-12-18T17:22:00.001+08:00

View of the Shah Alam station from the overhead bridge. I hope the train is not late again!

My temporary work station

2007-12-18T13:14:00.001+08:00

But now i'm going for lunch.

Dr Faridah's Office

2007-12-18T12:09:00.001+08:00

I'm enjoying my morning here in UM.

added on 26 Dec:
Many people thought that I was on an official visit here. Actually, Dr Faridah is an old friend (a very close one too) from our PPP, UITM days. That day we planned to have lunch together at the University House's Cafe, but because it was also her last day at work for the year, there were so many other people who wanted to see/talk to her.

So, I ended up surfing the Internet using one of her PCs.

View from the check-in hall

2007-12-16T11:47:00.001+08:00

The check-in hall used to be one of the departure lounges, Gate 30 to be exact.

The new tenant of Terminal 3

2007-12-16T11:44:00.001+08:00

I think this airport will strive again. Hubby is flying to Penang today, to drive his 2 girls home later today - see previous posts.

Terminal 3

2007-12-16T11:41:00.001+08:00

Wow, what a feeling! It's been some time since we were last here. It's been having low-traffic (mainly from Berjaya Air and the chopper services) since air Asia moved to LCCT.

Here they come!

2007-12-15T13:43:00.001+08:00

The grooms are brothers and their mum is hubby's first cousin.

Arrival of the bride and groom

2007-12-15T13:05:00.001+08:00

We stationed ourselves under a tree, near the ice cream man, and saw the convoy that belongs to the first couple arriving, all the way from Penang.

Wedding at Kg Kelantan

2007-12-15T12:56:00.001+08:00

Early this morning we headed north to attend a wedding of a cousin's 2 son's. The place is near Lenggong, Perak.

I am too lazy to rewrite about Kampung(Kg) Kelantan (Kelantan Village), so here's the edited version of what I wrote in SEMESTA's forum:

To be exact, DH's great-grand-uncle, by the name of Lebai Saat(who was educated in Patanni, Southern Thai) went to the state of Perak (via southern Thai and back into Malaysia) to look for his uncle, Tok Kik. He didn't meet him, but instead met a local lass and settled down there and opened Kg Kelantan. He then took in DH's uncle, Kawi, as his son-in-law. The grooms today are Kawi's grandsons. The people there speak a mixture of Kelantan and Perak dialect - can you imagine that??

This house is over 140 years old - build by Kawi:

Behind the house is part of the Lake Chenderoh - formed by the dam of the same name. Now Abang Bakar, Kawi's son, rear various fishes in it.

Choc Snowdrops Again...

2007-12-14T14:13:00.000+08:00

Eid Adha is only 6 days away, Nuni is still not home, so, I've decided to start making the ugly looking cookies myself (for better or worse).

And yes, I beat the mixture manually!! No electric mixer... I've yet to replace the old hand-held Philip mixer that I bought when I was a student in early 1980s that went kaput a few years ago...

Here's the mixture after adding in the flour, cocoa powder and chopped almond.

Will put up the pic of the finished product later... Now I have to refrigerate it, before I can continue.. See here for the recipe.

An Eventless Public Holiday

2007-12-11T10:11:00.000+08:00

Yes, today is a public holiday for the state of Selangor (where I reside). But DH works in the Federal Teritory, so, he's working as usual.

Initially I wanted to have an outing with a friend at Ikea, but since she's not free, I've opted to stay home and catch up with so many house works that are overdue :-(

Talking about Ikea, it's not so much about shopping there, but the Ikano shopping mall adjacent to it is so nice to spend some time unwinding... And across the street (they even have underground crossing), is another huge shopping mall, The Curve. The bookshop (Borders) can easily kill a couple of my precious hours :-)
Eating places are in abundance. Great variety too. But then again, a simple meal at the Ikea cafe is good enough for me :-)

But then, today I won't be going there, so I'll just keep it in mind, the next time I am free, I'll go there. Furthermore, Aina loves to go there too, so what fun do I have if I go without Aina (who's in Penang with her sister now.

Good Luck to Both Nuni and Aina :-)

2007-12-09T23:20:00.000+08:00

Today we left Penang and headed home, but without Aina!!

She has decided to stay back with her big sis, until next Sunday, when hubby will fly to Penang, to take both of them home in Nuni's wira (well, hubby's wira, that he had loaned to Nuni).

The last time Aina was away from us was when she agreed to stay back with her cousins in Melaka, but that was soem years ago...

I personally think it was a brave move of Aina to be with Kak Nuni.

And before I forget, Good Luck to K Nuni, who'll have exams until at least Friday!!

At Kak Nuni's Place

2007-12-08T22:36:00.001+08:00

Watching soccer.

Happy Birthday K Nuni

2007-12-08T22:17:00.000+08:00

Last Thursday was my eldest child, Nuni's birthday. She is now in the midst of her semester exam which will only end next Friday.

We decided to give her a visit today, to give her some moral support. She didn't know we were coming, so when I called her at 12.30pm and told her we were on the Penang bridge, she was speechless :-)
By 1pm today, we arrived at her appartment. Soon after that I was back at my notebook, trying to finish some of my overdue work :-(

Tonight we went out to Padang Kota (Fort Cornwallis) for dinner. We had pasembur (the Penang's speciality), laksa, ais-kacang, and also steamed cockles.

Tummies full, we were quite ready to go home :-)

Finally, I've Finished Reading the Book

2007-12-07T17:11:00.000+08:00

Which book? It's the "The Girl in the Picture" which I bought cheap in Chiangmai.

I'll scan the cover of the book later, if i can remember.

A Must Have Book

2007-12-07T11:01:00.001+08:00

Panduan Keselamatan Menghadapi Bencana dan Krisis

Yesterday afternoon i met Aman, an old friend, for a drink. While we were there, another friend of his came. Aman introduced me to En Kamaruddin. His company produced this good book. He gave me a complimentary copy of the book. That's very nice of him. Thank you, En Kamaruddin!

I strongly recommend the book, the illustrations are both informative and attractive. For more information on how to get a copy of the book, please contact En Kamaruddin at 012-6381010

Prof Jafri without Mask

2007-12-03T19:59:00.001+08:00

He's going for haj this year, and I wish him a safe and meaningful journey.

Added on 4th Dec:
Jafri is now a professor of neurology at Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Jafri was our schoolmate in Sek Men Sains Kelantan (Now known as Sek Men Sains Tengku Muhd Faris Petra). We went to Australia together for our matriculation/pre-U. Jafri was in Perth. The places for medicine was very limited (for example, in Adelaide, only the TOP 2 ASIAN students would be offered to take up medic at Adelaide University then), and even though Jafri more than qualified to takeup engineering then, he was very sure he wanted to take up medicine, and didn't mind coming back to Malaysia to pursue his medical degree (very determined and aware of what he really wanted to do then!). The rest was history.

Our Own Prof Jafri on TV3

2007-12-03T19:50:00.000+08:00

I was in the kitchen when i got an sms from a friend about Jafri being featured on TV 3. We are proud of his achievement.

View from the Balcony

2007-12-02T08:53:00.001+08:00

Nice eh? And by the way, one slice of toast was not enough. Hehe..

A Simple Breakfast

2007-12-02T08:46:00.001+08:00

My breakfast in the morning sun at the balcony, facing the mountain range. I never get bored of this.

Last night was cold!

2007-12-02T08:15:00.001+08:00

We are now in Fraser's Hill. The thermometer reading is less than 15C, even though it's past 8am.

Loy Krathong - More on The Parade

2007-12-01T11:47:00.001+08:00

Loy Loy Krathong Part II

2007-12-01T10:55:00.000+08:00

More pix to capture the mood that night :-)

Loy, Loy Krathong.... Loy, Loy Krathong....

2007-11-27T00:13:00.000+08:00

coming soon..... ;-)

Day Trip To Chiang Rai (or rather, The Golden Triangle)

2007-11-26T23:36:00.000+08:00

On Friday we paid 1000Baht each for a 1-day trip to Chiang Rai and a few other destinations nearby.

Our tour van came to pick us first, then picked a couple of Dutch from Orchid Thai Hotel,

Orchid Thai Hotel

and another couple (American+Canadian) from Novotel Hotel (forgot to snap a pic of the hotel).

The itinerary is something like this: Hot Springs -> Temple -> Chiang Rai/Golden Triangle -> Mae Sai (Northern-most tip of Thailand, bordering with Myanmar) -> Hill Tribe -> Chiang Mai.

First stop, at the hotspring, where a lady there managed to get me to agree to buy the quail's eggs to be cooked in the hotspring.

Looking at our eggs in the hotspring! Sulphur-flavored?!

To be continued..
or... see more pix here.

Charming Chiang Mai

2007-11-26T22:59:00.000+08:00

Last Thursday we took the Air Asia flight to Chiang Mai
yes, we got the (old) Red Devil. This is the 3rd time we got this particular plane.

We arrived in Chiang Mai 10.30am local time.

After checking in at Lanna House, Tha Pae Road (near Tha Pae Gate), we decided to go for a walk eastwards. We were happy to find a couple of halal restaurants, and decided to have a quick lunch:

and my tom yam kung, with ginger beef...

Later, after reading the maps that we took from the hotel, we found out that these restaurants are in the vicinity of At-Takwa Mosque:

We walked around the Night Bazaar area, but alas... it was only 4pm, and business hadn't started yet :-(
But we found a 99Baht bookshop where we purchased an interesting book, at, of course, 99Baht!

Well.... Nukman (no.5), Aina (no.6) and I are left-handers :-)

Tired Travellers

2007-11-25T14:56:00.001+08:00

After being offline since last thurs am, we are now back in LCCT waiting for our luggage. Not that we couldn't find any cybercafe, we just couldn't be bothered. Will blog more later when we get home.

Another Outing

2007-11-22T08:01:00.001+08:00

Today we are going to Chiangmai. Now waiting for our flight. At LCCT.

Old Friends...

2007-11-21T14:31:00.001+08:00

Hey, aren't you supposed to be somewhere else?