"Off duty" Dad

Makkah and its Significance

2007-12-17T21:06:00.001+08:00

Today is the day of Arafah. Millions have either arrived in the Arafah plains or still on their foot hoping to reach there before Zuhr today. In Makkah itself, the crowd of hujjaj has thinned and today is also the day for the annual Kiswah changeover. I managed to catched a glimpse on the process of changing the cloth covering Ka'abah telecast live from Saudi Channel 1. Its pleasing to the eyes to see the ka'abah bricks and mortar under the all too familiar black Kiswah. Maybe one day I hope to witness that in person. InsyaAllah.

While in Makkah last year, our group Syeikh Ustaz shared some history and significance about Makkah. Here, I recalled back my memory on the blessed city and what I gathered from the Syeikh.
Makkah is the holiest city on earth to Muslims. It is variously known as Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Umm Al-Qura (the origin of the Cities; Asyu-a-ra' QS26:7), Al Balad (the City; Al-Balad QS90:1-2) , Al Balad Al-Ameen (the Secure City ), and Al-Balad Al-Haram (the Sacred City), Al-Qaryah (The village An-Nahl QS116:112, Muammad QS47:13). It is also known as 'Bakkah' referred to in the Surah Ali-Imran which means congested with people.

Makkah is and has been the center of the earth from the beginning of time and during the period of the Prophet Muhammad it was turn into the Qiblat (direction) for mankind to worship Allah. Evidence are plenty around the city of Makkah which proven it to be the oldest city ever built on earth. People from the Arab jazeera as well as around the world ply the trade route there and made Makkah the center of trading as well as worshipers.

The peace and harmony in the city not only felt by human who live there but also by animals and trees. Hujjaj are prohibited to kill animal while they are assuming the intention to perform Hajj as prescribed in the Quran Al-Maidah QS5:95-96. Those who 'Ilhad' or assume evil intention but have not even commit the offense while in Makkah and the surrounding land of Haram will be recorded as doing a crime and punishment is severe by Allah as also evidence in Surah Hajj QS22:25. Thus is how Allah protect his house the Baitullah Al Haram.

It was said that the Ka'abah was first built by Prophet Adam and has gone through 12 times of rebuilding. The most famous of the builders were Prophet Ibrahim and his son Prophet Ismail who built and raised the Ka'abah as we have seen today. This fact was clearly marked in history as recorded by the Al-Quran in Al-Baqarah QS2:127. Prophet Ibrahim supplicated to Allah to bless Makkah as a safe haven where worshipers of Allah will come to visit and hence it was said that the Makkah land of Haram was declared by him.

Later, Makkah was hit by a major flood that destroyed the Ka'abah and hence it was rebuilt by the Quraisy and Prophet Muhammad was chosen to be the righteous one among his people to reinstall the Hajr Aswad in its rightful place. This took place at a time before he assume the prophet hood.

Now, there are 934 markers built around Makkah to signify the boundary between Land of Haram and Halal. The main entrance to Makkah are Tanaim, Adhat Libn, Asy-Syara'i, Al-Hudaibiyah and Jabal Namirah in Arafah.

Almost all of the major places in Makkah are related to a very big part of the world history. For example, the very foundation of the Ka'abah itself was said to be the first ground that Allah created when he created the earth. While Jabal Qubais where the current King's palace is located is said to be the first mountain that Allah created.
Jabal Qubais and the palace.

The hill of Safa where one begins his Sai'e ritual was the hill that Prophet Muhammad climbed to the top and begin his first sermon to the public when Allah instructed him to perform Da'awah openly. Here on the hill, the Prophet and his sahabah(companion) Abdullah Abbas met a Syaithan (devil) who has lived from the time of Habil & Qabil (Kane & Abel) which proofs that devils are granted with long life. The Safa hill is also said to be the place where a weird animal name Dabbah will rise from it which would signify the end of time.

Jabal Nur is the location where Hira' cave is located and here is the place where the first verse of the Quran was read to the prophet by the angel Jibrail (Gabriel). Maybe next time if I go to Makkah, i will make sure that i climbed this steep hill and experience myself the harship face by the prophet.
Over the time, Makkah has changed a lot and none of the historical buildings were preserved as the Saudi government hold a strict policy concerning idolization. Many buildings like the house of the Prophet was demolished to avoid from ill-intent worshipers from idolizing the place. Although buildings were destroyed or renovated, the location still remain and over the years people will still pass on the story of places where they were thought to be original location.

For example, the library on the east of the Masjidil Haram was said to be the location of the house where Prophet Muhammad was born. The significant of this building is it is directly facing the Babussalam and hence the Ka'abah door. Coincidence? Not!
The library said to be the ouse where Prophet was born.

The location of the current Hilton Hotel now was said to be the original house of Abu Bakr sahabah and father in law of the Prophet. There is a Musolla by his name inside the Hilton building.

The location of the Sofitel Hotel now was said to be the house of Uthman Ibni Affan, the wealthiest of the Prophet's sahabah.

The Souk-ul-Lail was the night market where the Prophet carried out his business during nighttime when he was boycotted by the people of Makkah for conveying Islam.

The Abi Arqam entrance to the Masjid was said to be the house of Abi Arqam where the prophet teaches the religion in private to Muslim during the first few years.

Masjid Rayyah or more fondly known as Masjid 'Kucing' (cat) to Malaysian hujjaj is associated with the history of the Fathu Makkah (the reopening of Makkah)

Masjid Jinn is the location where the Prophet made a barrier for his Sahabah, Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud for protection against the disturbing Jinn when the Prophet is visiting the Jinn's village.

So, the above are some of the stories I collected from the Syeikh during my month long stay in Makkah. It was an eye opener and made me appreciate more of Makkah as I walk in its street and visualizing how it was back than.

Actually it helps much if we understand Makkah and its history while we perform the Hajj rituals. Once we can visualize the history than it become clear the philosophy behind each rituals. In fact a lot of the manasik is actually reenactment of the past. For e.g. Sai'e relates the story of Hajar, Prophet Ibrahim A.S wife who were searching for water for her son Ismail which made her to run up and down the hill of Safa and Marwah.

It is not so hard to imagine the spirit and feeling of Hajar who was left there alone in the middle of a dessert unfamiliar to her with a new born son, with no food or water. Imagine what she feels like then, her fortitude, her resolution and at the same time exhaustion, terrified, afraid. But she did not give up but fix her faith fully in Allah. Allah will never abandon those who are righteous.

As you perform the Sai'e and watch your wife doing the same you would pray that she would have the same courage and spirit of Hajar.. Amin!

Contentious issues about the real 9 Zulhijjah

2007-12-16T20:25:00.000+08:00

First and foremost, I praise Allah over the blessing that He has given me over the past year and has extended another year of my life. InsyaAllah in 2 days we will meet yet again another 9th Zulhijjah, or the Day of Arafah. It is the single most important day for all Muslim especially the Hujjaj whom were blessed to be presence at the sacred land of Arafah.

In a meaning of a Hadith, the Prophet pbuh has said that there is no other day that Allah frees many of His servants from Hellfire but on the day of Arafah. That is why we are urge to fast on the day of Arafah and ask his forgiveness. Another meaning of Hadith on the advantages of fasting on the day of Arafah, the Prophet says that Allah will forgive all the sins of His servant for the past year and the next.

I hope I am able to do the same. And so, many has also realized the great things that is on offer by Allah on the special day. As more and more people begin to understand, than there will be more question. And, being weak human, we are predisposed to school of thoughts and hence we start to argue about the real day of the Arafah.

Especially with Satellite TV, we learned that for this year the day of Arafah is observed on the 18th December in Saudi while in other parts of the world like Malaysia, the day fall on the 19th. So some would argue that we should follow Saudi while other steadfastly maintains that we have to follow the rule of the country.

As usual, in Malaysia we are normally adopts the Rukyah system for reason lost to me. In other countries, like Saudi, they will see the hilal to determine the first day of the moon. Even country like Sudan benefit from Saudi by just adopting whatever decision their neighbor made. Maybe the sky is always clear in Saudi and the mountains are higher that they are more apt than we Malaysian in finding the moon. If this issue is further discuss, it will get more complicated with countries like India and Pakistan who are often 2 days behind than the rest of the world. Weird not?

Well, for us, the normal servants and on the street Muslim, we just follow what is being announced by the leader of our country. If Malaysia announced Arafah to fall on the 19th, so be it. InshaAllah our fasting and doa would not go unrecognized by Allah AlMighty and Most Forgiving.

Here are some articles concerning the issue. Read here and here.

Than come a question, if a hujjaj is coming from a country that declared first of Zulhijjah different from Saudi, the caretaker of Mecca and Arafah, should he observed his day of Arafah like his country or Saudi? I think even a kindergarten pupil can answer that. Long answer is, if he stick to his country date, the hujjaj simply can't be called a Hajj when he return because: Al Hajj is Arafah. And Arafah is the 9th day of Zulhijjah in Arafah lah. ;-)
Sunset on Arafah. Last minute to make Doa before the sunsets. You will find so many people there, but the air is so quiet with no voices to be heard. All of them are having private conversation with Allah. Tears melting in their eyes! What a feeling!

In a way, it is good if we have different opinion and argue over it, which goes to show that we are more matured and have more knowledge about our religion. On the other hand, it is bad especially if it divides the Ummah. We pray and hope that one day, all the Muslim Ummah will unite and observe the same day for the first of Ramadhan, Eid as well as the Zulhijjah. Afterall, there is only one moon!

Towards the Ka’abah, and the One

2007-12-11T21:01:00.000+08:00

Article about haji, a good read here.

Last night my friend and I were chit chatting about the experience congregating here in Sudan as well as Dubai. Mostly we were reminiscing the culture shock we had when we first got here where we had to control ourselves from breathing the 'aroma' of fellow 'jemaat' during prayer at mosques around here. Well, since water is scarce locals rarely take shower thus explains the sweaty whiff of smells carried by the wind to our untrained nostrils. Overtime, it simply faded as we blended in :-)

We also funnily reflect on the timorous Malaysian Muslim who normally pull their feet away in annoyance or sometime disgust when they strangely felt that the next guy is somehow fidgeting with their toes with his. His first thought would be "What is he doing?" or "Is he trying to be funny?". Actually, it is a misunderstood on our part being Jahil (unlearned) for certain about the practice here in the middle east and Sudan to close the gaps between saf(ranks) in prayer. So the joke is on us, Malaysian so call 'devoted' Muslim.

Normally, Jemaat prayer in Malaysia we would avoid touching or have any form of body contacts with the fellow jemaat next to us. Little that we know that what we are doing is contradicting to the teachings of Prophet Muhammad himself who mandate closing the ranks to avoid devils from disturbing prayer.

Another habit of we Malaysian is that we tend to fill up the ranks at the hindmost of the saf or nearest to the door. Thus explains the huge crowd we normally find at the doors and entrance if we were to arrive late say for Jumaah or Terawih prayer, then chances of praying inside the comfort of the mosque is zero. Malaysian are happy to bring their 'sajadah' and pray under the tree blindly following the faint voice of the Imam who is praying across the road from them. (you can see this at KLCC mosque each Friday).

If you are one of them, you might find yourself awkward in the land of Haram.

Thus the title towards Kaabah from the article in the Star quickly recalls the times when I felt at odd praying at the Masjidil Haram myself.
Pilgrims just crossed your head if they want to get to the front sometime shoving you aside. Even the ladies from certain countries has no mercy on you, instead they blame you for blocking the way. "Hey I arrive here first", you think aloud. Of which you receive a narrow look on the face of the Makcik or Pakcik.

In the Land of Haram, 'Malaysian style saf' is a no-no. Which is a good thing to teach a thing or two about the real way of performing prayer. However, the downside you may find there is the odd mix of man and woman in a saf. Another problem is the orientation of your Qiblat. I'll explain a little bit next.

Concerning mix in the Saf
The best way to overcome this is through knowledge. This is seldom preach by the Hajj crash course, and people tend to miss asking about making the right saf for a perfect prayer. So, since I am not an Ustaz, I suggest you put this 'cepu emas' question to your Ustaz about how to handle a situation should you find yourself praying beside or even behind a woman.

The plane of the Ka'abah, you see is for the tawaf (circumambulation) so the only time that nobody is doing the tawaf is during the 5 prayers. So, minutes before the prayer or just after the muezzin make the call for prayer, you would find hujjaj (pilgrims) praying and the situation is too crowded that the women folks sometime are sandwiched between the men. Sometime, you are the cheese in between the sandwich! So be careful, depending on your intentions you might risk invalidating your jemaat prayer thus losing the reward.

You might find that some hujjaj from certain countries are very tolerant about this. My advice: Don't copy them. Make sure you understood the requirements of your own scholars.

Concerning the orientation of the Qiblat
Although you are in the Masjidil Haram and being in such close proximity with the landmark of all Muslim, does not necessarily mean that everywhere you face there is the ka'abah. If you are praying behind a column or a wall, do double check your orientation as the next person could be as clueless as you are. Lightly taking for granted the qiblat you are facing might risk invalidating your prayer, so be careful. The best way is to plan your ibadah so that you are not caught being late and have to pray outside or on the streets as here the risk of wrong orientation is greater!

A tip
Here I would like to offer the best way to get the first saf for prayer in front of the Ka'abah. However, there is no one way to do it because basically here in Mekah, you have to believe that everything is by Allah’s will.

Getting to the first saf is a daunting task considering the crowd of hujjaj always infront of the Ka'abah. The most difficult corner, I would say is the east side of the Ka'abah where the Multazam and the Hajr Aswad (Black Stone) is. That is where the best place to supplicate so you can imagine the multitude of pilgrims who also have the same wish as you to get to that corner, thus getting a first saf here is quite a feat.

Sometime, depending on the time of day you would see a lot of shoving and shouting and people sometime loss their temper here. Please avoid getting yourself mix up with the crowd, I am sure you would regret it. If yo really want to try, the best time is late at night but maybe around 11pm-1am where the crowd of Isha’ has thinned and the crowd for the night prayer has not arrived yet. Besides it is not too hot so you can concentrate. Again, be aware that you won’t be the only one who have the same idea.

But, I am digressing here. I wanted to offer the tip to get to the first saf right? Ok, lets get to the point. The surefire way to get the first saf each prayer, at least in my book is to positioned yourself near the Hijr Ismail just before the prayer time. So, you may try to do a Tawaf sunat around the Ka'abah but make sure you end it about half hour to prayer time. Then slowly make way to the innermost circle during circumambulation by getting as close as possible to the Hijr Ismail (preferably north west corner near the entrance into the Hijr).

Note: If you are still performing tawaf, you risk invalidating your tawaf if you step to close to Kaabah by stepping on the Hatem or touching the Hijr as it is a part of the Kaabah built that one is not suppose to trespass during tawaf.

Once you are close to the Hijr, try to get to the west side of the Ka'abah and positioned yourself there like you are stopping to make supplication. Trust me, 30 minutes is not a long wait for trying to ensure yourself on the first saf. Before long, when the muezzin make call for prayer and hujjaj nearest to the ka'abah tend to sit down, also the mosque officials would normally direct them to sit down and arrange the fist saf. Should you were ushered away by the them, follow the instruction but don’t get too far to observe how to get the first saf the next time. Once you get it, trust me, it’s the most beautiful feeling you would ever feel while in prayer. All your life performing prayer to an unseen qiblat, now right in front of your eyes. Your sujud sometime would touch the hatim and.. hmm..I can’t share you my feeling.

I tried doing it around the other corners of Ka'abah but is less successful due to the fact that many hujjaj tend to stick themselves face and body to the wall of Ka'abah as well as the long queue to kiss the Hajr Aswad spoils my intentions. However, normally the west side of the ka'abah is less congested. You would experience the same when you are doing the circumambulation.

InsyaAllah, depend on your intention, Allah will grant you your wishes as long as you don't hurt others in the process. Do remember that Allah never abandon his righteous worshipers. Amin

Duyyuf-ur-Rahman

2007-12-09T17:03:00.000+08:00

This is an obligatory post on Hajj. The final and last pillar of Islam, once one completed the rituals he would surely feels that he has completed his duty as a Muslim and as a servant of Allah Al-Mighty. It is not a simple task to complete, and the journey is full of hardships that each individual will face and experience. One experience would be totally different from the other depending on the eye that views it and the soul that experiences it. One would feel humility and is humble by walking on his two legs to the mosque each time while another would feel that it’s the worst thing that he has to go through in his entire life, what with the heat and the multitude of pilgrims and beggars that he bumps into on the road. All of them however, have the same objective and target and all on the same path, the path that the Most Gracious, Most Merciful has shown.

It is a privilege for the one who is chosen to be present on the day of Arafah amidst millions of people, but in numbers the percentage is significantly small maybe 0.004%, a fraction that one can't help but feel grateful to be able to commit to the journey.

Hajj is a specific rituals perform at a specific time and place and the only way that one could ever hope to accomplished it is through knowledge and education of how and why to go about it. There is no short cut to learning the rituals as relying on chance or copying others is not the way, but would only leave you with empty hands and maybe sin. One may have all the money in the world and still cannot even make the journey simply because he or she does not understand the ‘Manasik’ of Hajj (Manasik=jurisprudence?) and its significance. Bottom line, if he is not the one on the VIP list of Ar-Rahman, he could never make it nor even think about it.

The Preparation
Before he leaves his home, he has to remove from him all his clothes and wealth and wear only 2 piece of unsewn white cloth: one covering the waist to the ankle and another piece is thrown over the shoulder. Thus, he enters the state of Ihram! He can’t help but feel that he is but a corpse and that his love one had wrapped him with 2 pieces of white cloth before sending him to his grave. Such is the emotion!

At that time, all his family has only well wishes to complement him that reinforced his spirit to leave his comfortable home and begin his long awaited journey. His children may cry and made a ruckus of a scene at the bus terminal but no tears were shed, at least not until his completely alone waiting for the bus that will take him to the plane.

All the pilgrims wear the same white cloth, the women in white veil, a symbol of unity and together they chant the Talbiyah:

"Here I am, O God, at Your service! Here I am at Your service! O Lord, no partner do You have. Here I am at Your service! Truly, all the praise and the favor is Yours, and the dominion. No partner do You have”

Hearts melts, voice hoarse, tears running each cheek, the feeling deep inside that pulls you, shredding your emotion, grips your belly, sadness, fear, longing and a 1001 emotions rush through you are the allegory of feelings you get as you repeat the Talbiyah in the state of Ihram!
Than calmness takes over and you feel peaceful once again and you give yourself up completely to The All Mighty, thus is ‘Redha’ and ‘Tawakkal’.

Allahu Akbar, how I wish I am bestow yet again with the same feeling I had then and let it remain with me through thick and thin. Human forget. I forget. Have mercy on me.

Last night, I saw the live Isha’ prayer from Masjidil Haram on Huda.TV and the imam recites the verses from Al-Hasyr (59:21) consequently inspired me to post this blog.

59:21. Had we sent down This Qur'an on a mountain, Verily, Thou wouldst have seen it humble itself and cleave asunder for fear of Allah. such are the similitudes which we propound to men, that They may reflect.

I remembered the disquieting feeling when the Imam recite the same verses when I was there, praying in the sight of Kaabah… Subhanallah… lembik lutut beb!!

My Baby

2007-12-08T21:56:00.000+08:00

Yesterday my baby Amirah Aiesyah turn 2 month old. She visit her Doc yesterday for her shots and recorded yet another above average growth. In fact all my baby did that. I felt happy learning the news that she's doing fine, but at the same time I cant help feeling slightly depressed for missing entirely her growing up. By the time I get back end of this month, she's probably all grown up and ready to take on the world .. well maybe not quite yet lah.

Come to think of it, I am seldom around for all my children at some critical point of their life. I left home the day I learned that my wife having a Baby Bintulu (Nuaim) in her belly. Again, I left Baby Acheh (Nu'man) behind to go to Sudan when his barely 2 months old. And now, Baby Mekah (Aiesyah) my beautiful daughter barely knew her bapak when I left home.. she was only 2 weeks old. Poor kids for getting a bad bapak.
Oh well, I hope I can make it up to them soon. If only they forget...and wife forgive..

Today, I got a nephew. My Sis gave birth at around 5 pm today.. Congratulation, and welcome to the world baby boy! Quick give him a name so I can include him in my prayers...InsyaAllah

Roti Canai ..Again

2007-12-06T19:57:00.000+08:00

I promised this will be the last post on roti canai. Obsessed lah I ni! Hah. Well, my motto is practice makes perfect. But no matter how many time i practice, (3 times jer baru..) I'm never able to quite make a decent roti canai. This time my mistake is in making the dough balls to big!. Yes, too big! Thats a complaint or polite critic depend on how you would take the feedback from others.
Well, honestly I found Mizang's critics were valid since he was the "Master Menebar" and I could see that my dough just doesn't smoothly expands during the tossing motion like it should. Furthermore, a big ball of dough makes a thick roti canai and its not as nice lah. So I accept that I still have room for improvements but don't count me out yet from serving morning roti canai... for now..

Here's how the pro do it..tossing or menebar.. If u fail here, don't expect a good roti canai lah..

Another aspect of making roti canai I learned yesterday is u could do without margarine or oil in the ingredient of making the dough like I did previously here. At least, I think it would make a healthier roti canai. Unless u can do without the ghee to coat the balls overnight and oil to fry the it, roti canai wont be such a healthy dish after all as u would expect. Infact, it may not be roti canai at all.
Still, there is no harm to try substitute cow's ghee with vegetable ghee or cooking oil with olive oil and try bring down the 'fatty' level attributed to roti canai. But then, if u wish to sell his roti canai, don't take my word lah. This recipe is strictly for love ones only. But if your loved ones are sweat junkies or jog 5km everyday, why bother.
Anyway, the ingredient for the dough i tried yesterday with guidance from Mad Bee is as follows:

1kg multipurpose flour
1 tblspn of sugar
2 eggs
1 cup of milk
1 level tblspn of salt, dissolved in one cup of water
1/2 cup of water

Mixed 'em all up. Add water (the 1/2 cup) sparingly while kneading. Knead until clean. Leave it to rest for an hour. Make into balls 20-24. Coat in ghee, leave it over night. Start tossing the next day and fry with oil on pan.

I made 14-1/2 balls yesterday..so u can imagine the size of my balls... err roti canai I mean.

Roti Canai and Nasi Lemak

2007-12-02T19:59:00.000+08:00

My friend forwarded an email concerning Roti Canai and Nasil Lemak here.

The article mention that eating a single piece of roti canai is equivalent to jogging 5 km. Thats like 35minutes of runnings, pheww! I am a fan of roti canai and that means I never take one piece in a sitting, normally two. 3 pun selalu jugak. No wonder I never lost that spare tire I have around my waste although I was bleeding 'teh cap orang kampung' and did jungle trekking every single day at Tanjung Kidurong, Bintulu last time. Not to mention the man 'tits' i have, euw ugly!

The article further mention that Prof. Ungku Aziz don't eat nasi lemak like Malaysian do, thats why he is so clever. Patut lah I never aced my maths. I always take at least 2 packs of 20 cents nasi lemak eversince I am a kid. ( You cant find them nowadays...). And till now, the habit continue. Today, most restaurant is self service and I tend to overdo the rice and the spicy anchovies for RM3 so one can imagine how sleepy I would be at my workstation.

Having read the article, I suddenly find myself in a fix considering the current situation of playing cook and enjoying my own cooking. Guess, I have to find healthier alternative as ingredient. I did tried to make 'mad bee' style roti canai the other day by not using any oil in the dough preparation and on top of that I went jogging 4.5km before I start menebar (chewahh! healthy lifestyle konon). But alas, the %$*#@ rats also thought that my dough was healthier food source and got to it first. In the end, I had to throw them all away and until now i haven't fully recovered from feeling disappointed about it. Penat oo jogging. hehehe!

If only I can eat as much as i like with my sneakers on and can be considered as exercise.

Rats!!

2007-11-30T15:17:00.000+08:00

Pagi ni tak dak rezeki la nak makan roti canai dengan gulai dalca Mad Bee. Naya ja penat aku menguli roti canai semalam sampai berpeluh satu badan hahaha. Lepaih uli semalam, aku pon simpan la doh tu siap tutup lagi tapi cilakui punya SiTi pandai juga kerabat meja menusuk masuk bawah tudung. Habis dia guling2 dalam tu 'bekwoh' sakan ngan kawan-kawan dia.
Pagi tadi, aku dan la tangkap sekoq tak puas makan lagi... punya la bengang. Nak tutup mata macam kedai mamak tak la aku sanggup pasai dah nampak bekaih gerit SiTi ngan taik kawan-kawan dia yang bertaburan. Terpaksa la buang!
Mujuq la Cik Mad tak putuih idea, dan jugak dia buat nasi tomato back-up plan habuan makan dengan dalca. Aku pon tambah la buat ayam goreng berempah buat lauk. Kira Ok la.. habuan nasi tomato pagi-pagi.
Besok-besok aku tulih la pasai resepi ayam goreng berempah ngan nasi Tomato Cik Mad. Hari ni dok geli lagi teringat kat cik SiTi.

karipap

2007-11-27T20:28:00.001+08:00

I have defaulted on my promise to post the recipe for karipap. Thank you to Sifu Z and Azhar for the crash course. Well here goes:

Curry Puff, make >50pcs (Karipap)

Ingredient for dough
2 kilo flour
2 tea spoon salt
2 table spoon sugar
1-1/2 cups ghee
6 cups water

Ingredient for fillings
½ kilo Meat –minced or diced
4 sweet potato (Keledek) - diced
Curry powder
Cinnamon
Anise seed (Bunga Lawang)
Clove
Cardamom
Garlic
Onion, diced

Method to prepare dough

1) Heat up the 1-1/2 cup ghee till it melts
2) Mix the flour+sugar+salt
3) Pour the melted ghee into the flour and wait till it cools down
4) Mix water a little bit at a time
5) Knead until dough does not stick (clean)
6) Leave it to rest for an hour or so

In the mean time we can start preparing the fillings – Beef curry

Method preparing filling
1) Stir fry onion and garlic
2) Add cinnamon, anise seed, cloves and cardamom, fry till fragrant
3) Add Curry powder,
4) Add meat
5) Add Sweet potato
6) Cook till gravy dries up
7) Once cooked, Leave it to cool down

'klim' process..Lan tunjuk skill...!

Filling method
1) Roll dough into palm size
2) Arrange the filling in the middle of the dough, preferably half side of the dough (easier to fold
3) Fold the dough to cover the filling. Arrange it into half moon shape
4) Flatten the corner with finger and ‘klim’ the edges (English for klim?)
Once ready, fry the karipap. If 50 is too many, start with smaller batches by halving the quantity proportionately.

Lesson learnt
1) Prepare filling earlier so that at least you can rest after tired from preparing the dough, hahaha
2) Use less clove, cardamom that stings your tongue. Easier to remove during filling process. You don’t want to eat karipap and bite on the nasty stuff right?
3) Same goes for cinnamon, shorter sticks might get lost in the fillings and end up in your bite.. destroy your appetite hahaha
4) Avoid too much water when cooking the filling. Takes longer time to dry
5) When peeling the sweet potato, don’t leave it exposed to air. Soak it in water to avoid oxidation.
6) Need to prepare two type of dough to get the twirling effect u get in ‘karipap pusing’
7) Make sure oil is very hot before start frying.

Arous

2007-11-24T21:57:00.001+08:00

e, originally uploaded by kopi_kocok.

Yesterday we went to Arous again, this time we have a guest with us who is a professional scuba diver. He also brought along his underwater camera and got this pic.

and this

beautiful ain't it?

If you wish to come here and go snorkeling or scuba dive, check out this site for info.

Manjaria lagi

2007-11-22T17:32:00.000+08:00

Manjaria=makan=eat
Probably Sudanese slang for eat. In Arabic actual word for eat is 'ukul' أكل
Tak sama langsung!
Well those are few arabic I learned so far I am here. What a waste kan? Believe me, I am also disappointed with myself at the rate I am learning. Anyhow, at least if i get lost here I think I could at least beg for some food.
Well thats enough word for the day.

Anyway, what so big deal about eating here? The short answer is thats all I look forward to here. The work here are just bonus haha.

Malaysians in general ( I believe I am right and not being stereotyping) are particular about what they eat. Hey, even the Prime Minister asked question relating to makan while the angkasawan was up there some where.

Being away from family and homeland, myself and the rest of Malaysian expats here would tend to find our own routine that could take away the forlorn feeling during this 60 days isolation. We do bog ourselves with work, but thats only between 8 to 5 so what do we do in between? Eat and sleep. Consider fishing and swimming bonus lah. The life basics left are eat and sleep. Well, question is how long can one sleep? Answer varies but result are same, sheer boredom!

So, eating is one way that we keep ourselves sane. It goes from just enjoying the food prepared by others or take charge in the kitchen preparing some special food to share with others. One can rest assure that all food made sedap or not will never go to waste.

I think learning how to cook is one way of not wasting my time here while enjoying the company of friends. At least, If I dont get a better job after this with an 'international experience' on my resume, I would be able to cook for my family when I'm back home. Kan? Maybe kot.

Anyhow, I remember my teacher said if you dont take notes of what you learn you probably forget about it the minute you stepped out the class room. Taking her advise, I am writing down here Pau Resepi I learned.

The Pau that we made can be rated OK lah. There are a few critics from the usual suspect but hey, u cant satisfy everyone. Most important is I learned to make them. Kudos to sifu pau, u know who you are.

Well here goes

PAU

Ingredients :
2 cups of flour (use high protein flour)
3 tblspn sugar
3 tblspn milk powder
1 tblspn Planta
1 tblspn oil
1 egg
1 teaspn salt
1 teaspn dry yeast
¾ cup of water

Filling: Meat curry and sweet potato
Sweet potato diced
Meat small cut
Curry powder
Cinnamon
Clove
Onion
Garlic
Salt

Filling: Cook like curry until gravy dries. Like pic below
Method :

1. Sift flour
2. Add in yeast, sugar, milk powder, salt, egg, planta and mix well.
3. While kneading pour in water, a little at a time till well incorporated then add in the oil
4. Continue kneading till smooth and soft dough is formed. Make sure dough is clean i.e. not sticking to the mixing bowl Add more water or oil if needed.
5. Leave dough over night
Dont be alarm if it look like this. Its the effect from the yeast. So punch down and release all air till it look like this.
5. Make into small balls
6. Flatten and put the filling in the middle. Cover the filling with the dough and place the ball on a piece of small paper
Make sure the filling are not wet or too much making it hard to cover with dough
If tak jadi, maka jadi lah macam pizza di bawah... hehehe my first try7. Leave the dough to rest and rise for short while (10 minutes or so)
8. Get the steamer ready and steam the pau until cook.
Dah siap!!
That morning, we had pau daging and nasi goreng kampung...bliss!

Malaisi kullu manjaria tawwali

2007-11-21T20:33:00.000+08:00

It means, Malaysian eat all non stop. (I am not sure the correctness of the grammar but it certainly sounds like that to my deaf ear)

I am not sure when the local kitchen helper says it, do they mean to chide us Malaysians or encouraging us to cook some more. I am quite sure that them kitchen helper would appreciate if we wrapped up and hand over the dirty kitchen for their nightly tidying up duty and not continue to make more mess like we normally do.

To recap of what happen over the last 2 weeks, our eating binge was probably at its peak then when 3 of our colleague from Khartoum, Z, Jaha and Lebah Jantan were here for site work. They were not only good chefs but also quite eager to show off their skills to our advantage. Since Pak yah is not around, a few of us (including yours truly) start warming up to recipe websites and simply roll up our sleeves to try out. Not to mention the existing loyal cook like Zul and Cik Mad who between them has feed us their spaghetti and asam pedas. Z and Jaha probably did not start a revolution but their company could be seen as a catalyst by sharing their knowledge and experience with us.

From them, we have learned how to make donut, roti canai, pau and karipap. Wow! The night before they went back, Z managed to trained our Sudanese chef, Ahmed how to cook tom yam, mee goreng and sweet and sour all in one night. Can u imagine the feast we had? Not to mention la the fresh ikan jenahak goreng bertepung special treat by our 'fishermen' when they return from the sea. (Talk about our fishermen; they not only bring back fresh catch but they can also read the moon and tide to tell when they can catch certain type of fish... i'm probably exaggerating but those guys are amazing with their 4m pole)

So, treating this post as a record for recipe I learned over the time, I will post here some ingredients and method learned by 'curi-curi' belajar during chef Ahmed one on one crash course.
Caveat: All the following recipe are not exact like the book due to insufficient ingredient available here in Sudan. Suffice to say that the outcome are simply marvelous thanks to the imagination and innovation by the chef. Kalau tak jadi, pandai la add chicken stock or what ever .

Tom yam
Ingredients:
Fresh prawn
Fresh chicken, cut small
lemon grass
tom yam paste
red onion
garlic
ginger
lemon
tomato

The qty not exact

Method:
1) A pot of water cook till boil
2) Throw in the onion+garlic+lemon grass+ginger
3) Add Chicken and Prawn
4) Add Tom yam paste
5) Add tomato
6) Add Lemon juice and salt for taste

Siap!

Mee Goreng Mamak Sentul

Ingredient
Spaghetti
Chicken
Dried prawn pounce till become dust (tumbuk sampai halus)
Tokyu (Soy Sauce)
Onion and garlic
Chili powder add water to become paste
Cabbage
turmeric
Salt
Sugar
Cooking oil

Method:
A
1) Boil spaghetti
2) Add turmeric for coloring
2) Stir fry onion and garlic till
3) once cook, dry spaghetti and mix a bit of cooking oil so that spaghetti do not stick together

B
1) Heat oil in pan
2) stir fry onion and garlic till brown
3) Add Chili paste fry till cook
4) Add chicken and dried prawn powder
5) Add cabbage, stir fry till 3/4 cook
6) Add cooked spaghetti and stir fry
7) Add soy sauce, sugar and salt for taste

Siap!

Sweet Sour Fish
Ingredient:
Fish
Tomato
Chili Sauce
Ginger
Tomato Sauce
Onion and garlic
lemon
Cabbage
Sugar and salt

Method:
1) fry fish till cook, leave it aside
2) For Sauce, Heat oil again and stir fry onion and garlic till brown, add ginger
3) Add chili sauce and tomato sauce
4) Add cabbage and Tomato
5) Lemon juice, Sugar and Salt for taste

I think optional can also add chili paste for spicy taste or add flour to make the sauce thicker.

Siap!

Still I need practice to work out and get the taste right and not be too shy to add other ingredient deem suitable. In other word: belasah je!

More Clams!!

2007-11-20T21:01:00.000+08:00

The other day we had clam some more. Delicious. Kena pulak member bawa 'wasabe'. Perghh! Bliss! Its like going to Sushi King but dont have to pay. Yeah right.. I paid with blood. I got bruised all over my body not to mention cuts all over my palm and each finger. Thats what u get for prying innocent clam from their beautiful coral hidings. Still, clam are marvelous.
P/s: Yesterday buat karipap, but pic not yet downloaded, will brag later..

Random thoughts of my boy

2007-11-18T20:17:00.000+08:00

Every time I saw a particular type of vehicles like lorry or van or bus, my thoughts would flash with images and excited voices of my eldest son Muhammad Nuaim. Well not all the time, but most of it. If u meet my son, and ask him about car models, I am sure you would be surprise that he can differentiate models like mercedes, vios, waja or many more. Than he was only 2. Hmm, I miss him.

Today as I was lazing about the site, I was surprised to find that there was a massive traffic jams of bus convoy in the mostly laid back marine terminal. There were almost 20 numbers of buses of different color packed with students from the Red Sea University on their site visit. Lucky, my colleague did not waste his time by start taking pictures of the convoy. So I leached from him and dedicated the picture to Nuaim.
What so big deal about bus pictures? Nothing, its my blog so its my choice what junk I can post in my blog right? Anyway, this bus model is consider a common here in Sudan. There are also some weird looking bus, I haven't had a chance to snap a good one each time its pass by..may be next time.
The unusual parade of buses today

Here are also some pictures of vehicles taken during my pilgrimage trip 1427H, always with Nuaim in my mind.
A road sweeper taken in Mina. Its working 24-7 keeping Mina clean for the 3 million odd pilgrims the year of Haji Akbar 1427.
The garbage truck to collect tons of refuse.
I've been in one of this during my university days. But thats another story to tell...

My son also have this infatuation with cranes tower type or the mobile type. The following pictures are also collecting dust in my hard disk.
Tower crane building the new Jamrat bridge in Mina. InsyaAllah in the near future, pilgrims would find it more comfortable performing the stoning rituals. As of January 2007, only one level was completed. I am not sure the current status now...
View at night..

Every time i see food I would think of Nu'man. Miss him too. Well tonight, project Pizza. Someday dad would cook 'em for you, OK

Kuah Dalca

2007-11-16T16:13:00.000+08:00

Today I made another attempt to perfect my kuah dalca (dal gravy) I learned from Sifu Zul. Twice I would say it didn't quite meet my own expectation. I would give 40% mark for the first try and maybe today 47-1/2% for my second attempt today. Teruk! Although my friends are polite enough to either give a thumbs up of approval or going for second round 'roti canai banjir'.
The recipe I followed were quite easy, but inexperience and lack of creativity probably results in 'kira ok lah' kuah dalca.

The ingredients are as follows:
Prepare for 14 hungry stomachs

Main ingredient
2 cups kacang dal (dal?)
1/2 kilo meat

spices
3 bijik (bijik omputih kata apa?) cardamom (buah pelaga)
5 kuntum (buds) bunga lawang (??)
5 kuntum (buds) bunga cengkih (cloves)
10 cm kulit kayu manis (cinnamon)
3 big onions (bawang besar hehe)
2 garlic
1 tblspoon tumeric
3 tblspoon curry spice for meat
1 tblspoon chili powder

extras
3 Green paper diced
5 chilis, sliced
2 tomatoes diced
1/4 keledek diced (sweet potato)
2 sticks of carrot diced

Salt
oil

Method:
1) First and fore most wash the kacang dal and soak in water for whole night.
2) Prepare the ingredients above
3) When starting to cook, boil the kacang dal until it become soft.
4) Add meat or chicken to the boiling kacang dal
5a) On the side, heat up a pan of oil. Tumis (english?) the spices until fragrant.
5b) Add Onion and garlic into pan and continue until brownish and fragrant
5c) Add curry spice, chili powder and tumeric and a little bit of water and continue to heat (tumis) until oil appear (pecah minyak?)
6) Add Item 5 into the boiling dal and meat
7) Add the rest of the extra ingredients and vegetables. Make sure carrot and potato goes in first.
8) Cook until meat, dal and potato are soft and cooked
9) Add salt for taste

Easy right? Yes and no. If I strictly follow the ingredients from Myresipi or Mesra.net the method are slightly different, plus I am short on items like ginger or Air Asam (english??). Anyway for today, I did not use the sliced meat as suggested but instead I used minced meat the only thing available in the fridge at that time. So that probably result in not so fine taste. The following are some lesson learnt:-
1) Use sliced meat. Boiled the meat and used the water from the boiled to add to the gravy for the meaty sweetness taste
2) The dal have to be soak in water for longer duration, presumably up to 24 hours in advance. So my friends who 'gian nak menguli' (feel an urge to knead soft dough while thinking of certain something...) have to plan in advance so as to get softer dal in gravy. In fact I boiled almost 2 hours today but still not cooked enough (crunchy dal). Happened on both occasion!
3) Remove the first boil water for dal to reduce the effect of uric acid inherent in the bean species.
4) Don't be too shy on the curry powder. I was saving it for future cooking.. Baba's are impossible to find in Sudan..
5) Use chicken stock to mask tasteless gravy result from ones unskilled hands.

Anyway, I will try to continue refinishing the recipe i followed above until I get the perfect dal gravy to go with roti canai. Thank you for all the supporting hands and patient stomach awaiting for the late dal as usual. (takes too long too cook..must be my fault). Thank you also to the critics, appreciate that for my 'continuous improvement effort' .

Picture below of my dal.. tak lawa la tak pandai hias...
Next time I'll post some more stories about my Pau making course (Steam buns) and Donut. In fact today while cooking dal I was also busy making donuts. Lesson learnt: concentrate one task at a time... tamak!

My english also very bad shape to write a decent recipe worth for a cook book. I remembered I got 4/10 for the same english grammar exercise in school years ago. The topic: write a recipe to make your favorite dish, i.e making curry being my choice of writing.

Crescent moon

2007-11-15T17:05:00.000+08:00

I love em moon..
Waxing crescent moon 25%full 4th Zulkaedah 1428 or 14/11/08. Location Bashayer, Port Sudan.
Crescent moon 2nd Muharram 1428 or 21/1/07. The clock is off by one month. Al-Basha Mosque, Jeddah. Overlooking the Red Sea.

Seashells 101

2007-11-14T16:21:00.000+08:00

My earlier post was about our picnic trip to the Arous beach where we 'lonely' man managed to get our rough hands on 'oysters'. All those 30 odd seashells creature eventually ended up in our stomach. Amidst the oyster we also managed to grab 2 'snails' which was delicious.

When we returned to our camp, the Sudanese cooks and cleaners who missed us their 'saiyidi' for a whole day greeted us with a disgusted look for bringing home such weird smelly shell thingy and start cleaning it in their 'tidy' kitchen. One guy got interested but cringed when we tried to hand it to him to help us clean it. Another nicked name 'prawn' in his language almost scream when i scared him with one.

Last night, my friends and i were discussing about it and one of us suggested that what we have eaten was abalone and that made me feel like a loser for not catching some more. Even my wife thought it could be a clam, and when I suggested to the group, none could agree that its either oyster or clam or abalone. Last night I was already imagining the fortune I could make by harvesting some more of those abalone.

This morning as usual with no useful thing to do and a fine internet connection Sudan style, I started to search for the keywords and hey! Look what i found.. so this post today is just an introduction to myself and the rest who are interested about sea shells or those yummy aphrodisiac thing you would lose an inch on your right ass after leaving the fancy restaurant serving it.

First, the abalone. Abalone if u might find one only has one shell.. err ye ke? Well, thats what it says on this internet page here about abalone.
Certainly the picture above did not fit the description of what we brought home the other day here.
Next I lookup for oyster and again the picture above turned out on the internet here disappointed me as well as it does not look so much of what we got. Then I learned that there must be a slimy texture one sip with the oyster body which is part of the oyster profile. Our catch certainly did not have those slimy thing going on. So Oyster officially strike off out.

While I was browsing thru, I found a neat website here showing all the different seashells familiar on the beaches back home in Malaysia. I went thru the archive and still none match the creature that we caught but for education purpose I am posting some pictures here courtesy of the website for the different seashells likened to the one that I have brought home to the amusement of Nuaim my beloved eldest son(previous post).
The above is call tiger cowrie. One can spot a few of this along the coral where I normally go stingray spear fishing.
I have a few of this in my collection too.
These are angle wings. I remembered I found a lot of these during my honeymoon in Pulau Rebak Langkawi. I think I picked up a couple of those but I forgot where I throw them away.
The above is a Ramosus shells. I picked this up during my escapades to Tokar. They say its tasty but I never tried one yet.
This one is a spider conch. I had one of this or 'snail' mentioned earlier. It taste like squid and very the yummy one lah.
This volutano balls also taste like squid. the one i got the other day do not have those fancy patterns, but i guess they are the same family.
The above is a mussel shell. Very common. The smaller version would be called etok. Read it here to.
Makcik jual etok.
I found this quite a few in the waters also near where i go stingray hunting
Do u know what is this? Shell! Yes, but not the household name for fuel supply but its actually is a sunset scallop. Scallops are nice..Ive eaten 'em.

Finally back to the question that still linger in our brain what in gods name have we eaten? I finally found this perfect description. Its actually a clam, but from the giant clam species. Because, clam kecik looks like below..
Notice, how come the shell not same? My untrained eye also can tell that its not what we eaten. Giant clams actually can grow up to 1.2m.
The profile by NatGeo fits the description of the ones i find i.e. its stuck to the coral bed and its very the colorful that I notice that each one has different color. The one i found are either red, green, blue and orange. What a bliss to my goggly eyes that day. One fact not so music to my ears is that, it's even on the endangered list in some places. Hmmm now I have second thought of going hunting for it again. But, if we leave the baby one is not so bad kot? Hey wait a minute, the one we got are the baby one kan? Please do not report this post to the greenpeace ok.

Luk-luk wal marjan

2007-11-12T16:29:00.001+08:00

The much hyped Arous coined the jewel of the red sea 50km north of Port Sudan did not disappoint 14 odd Malaysian last Friday. Some of us woke up early to organise for the day including preparation of food. I volunteered to menebar roti canai. The dalca gravy was prepared earlier and our Macha prepared mihun mamak to have for picnic. Kendi kerajaan Langit Ayah Pin found here in Port Sudan. No wonder the police are baffled by his "disappearance". Or are the police too busy catching innocence civilian campaigning for free and fair election?

The road
The journey took almost 2 hours thru back alleys and winding roads as our guide only remembered the route he took several months ago. Since the rest of the groups never set foot there, we have to oblige with the guide’s antics. Few fuss and complaints were heard but our irritation simply vanishes once we reach our blue coral sea destination. I forgot if I did ever thank my guide for bringing me to the place. Thanks Mad B!

Blue wonder scenary An eagle disturbed by our presence

The beach
The sight of the white sandy beach and azure blue sea was just remarkable. The guys who brought their camera were already snapping away and few were seen picking up seashells strewn about the sea side. Unfortunately, the first spot we arrived did not have a suitable shelter for a comfortable picnic. After a few inquiries with the locals, we decided to drive a little further to the private beach dotted with colorful painted chalet. However, to access the place, we had to pay 20 Sudanese Guinea (USD10) as entrance fee. Rather exorbitant for a small hut and toilet services minus the water. But we all happily paid.

The Arous Resort. White sandy beaches

The sea
Once we reach the hut, while some were busy unpacking the food stuff, I already hit the water and went for snorkeling. I hated myself for not having an underwater camera with me as the corals and the “Toshiba” fishes that greeted me were simply beautiful.

After a short break and grabbing a bite, I joined some of my friend exploring the sea. We found a spot that had a wonderful coral at the edge of the reef that bordered into an abyss of dark blue water where fishes were big and colorful. The underwater scenery was so beautiful, words fail me.

God is great! From the sea he brought forth Luk-Luk wal Marjan. Which word can we deny? (Ar-Rahman)

Above, the rolling waves were quite strong trashing the unskilled swimmer me about causing panic that I had to abandon my adventure when I found myself left alone. Hehehe… penakut! Anyway, I think I saw almost all the fishes featured in Nemo including a few stingrays.

The oyster
Our fisherman club were already waist deep in the water trying their luck by the time I returned to the beach for some more munchies. Not satisfied snorkeling, myself and a the other few who didn’t bring their fishing rods along decided to look for oysters spotted on the coral reefs. The colors and sizes of the oysters caught our fancy that between us we harvested almost 30 of them big ones . That night after diner we had oyster and so was the next day maggi oyster and again more oysters for supper the following night. Too bad none of the Bapaks could put to any good use the extravagant treat of aphrodisiac! Hehehe..

The catchs Some more catchs Harvested from the sea. I felt bad for removing such colorful creature from their coral home, but still, Oysters are yummy!Aphrodisiac anyone?

All in all it was the most exciting day for me. The coral and sea off the beaches near the place I stayed could not rival Arous and nowhere even near it. Although for the next 40 days or so I had to settle for it but that’s just fine with me. InsyaAllah, maybe next time we would plan again for another trip there, but that time I hope I am prepared with snorkeling gears and most importantly a waterproof camera!

Roti canai

2007-11-04T16:59:00.000+08:00

Alhamdulillah, first time lucky. My roti canai turn out Ok. It didn't tear up so much as anticipated. Our master penebar also approved that its easier to menebar. And the final product was a soft texture roti canai just like the mamak stall. Hehehe.. phew legaa!

The actual menebar was not so hard although i struggled to get the right swinging motion. Thanks to the many teacher eager to show their own skill. In the end, my first roti canai was simply delicious! (my standard la..angkat bakul sikit..hehehe). So now I am all set to learn to make "kuah dalca" next to couple with the roti canai.

The recipe from mamafami are as follows:
Ingredient
1 cup of flour
1 cup of warm water
2 tblspn of sweetened condensed milk
1 tblspn of Planta
1 egg
1 level teaspn of salt
2 tblsspn of ghee
Lots of cooking oil

Method:
First stage: making the Dough
1) Mixed the salt+condensed milk+warm water and stir well
2) Pour flour in a container suitable for kneading and mixed the egg and planta
3) Mixed the water mixture (1) bit by bit while kneading
4) Knead for 10 minutes and break for 10 minutes, repeat for 3 sets.
5) Cover the dough with damp cloth in between break
6) Prepare a plate glazed with ghee
7) Make 10-12 perfectly round balls from the dough and glazed it with ghee
8) Cover the dough balls and keep it for 8 hours. Keep in fridge also can.

Second stage: Menebar
1) Prepare a flat clean surface for menebar and oiled it up
2) Flatten the dough to palm size
3) Menebar i.e. : Pizza swinging action style. Optional: Pull each corner until it is flat on the table
4) Fold into square, serving size.
Option add egg before folding to make Roti Telur5) Placed on hot plate. Sprinkle with oil and fry!

Caveat (from lesson learn by others):
1) Mixture of ingredient during first stage should be exact
2) Don't over knead.
3) Don't leave dough expose to air..dry dough make poor texture
4) When preparing the ball (item7) make sure its perfectly round and smooth, so it wont tear during menebar.
5) There are a few method on how to fold so that it become soft and not too crispy during frying. Best is to check out how mamak do it.. It could look like the below picture. Left one being failed experiment.

Jadilah, my project roti canai although i need a couple more practice run to get the right feel and taste. Next: Learn to make kuah dalca to go with roti canai. Ultimate goal is to quit 8-5 work and start a stall..hahaha..

My leisure pursuit

2007-11-03T20:26:00.000+08:00

To kill the time for remaining 50days of isolation, I figured I had to acquire some new skills or hobby. The fad here now is either Fishing or Cooking. After some consideration of my own self and weighing my own self expectation of what I really want to do, I figure cooking is the most reasonable activity I could partake and really enjoy the outcome.

So, inspired by an entrepreneur friend Nizam who owned a bakery, Z who cooks really well in the absence of ingredients, Zul my mentor and Lan who just caught the masak-masak fever, I figure I wouldn't mind playing masak-masak myself.

So after my daily dose of Malaysian newspaper and all its crap monkey stories of stupid minister and their cronies, I am now oggling at websites for recipe and cooking. Links to good sites are added on the side of this page.

I remembered during my student days, I was subjected to draconian rules of cooking roster. Then I had to cook for three people living in our apartment and being a poor cook with no imagination whatsoever, I normally cook either lamb kurma or lamb halia or chicken curry. Sometime when there were guest expected, I would cook nasi Ayam. The oil from frying the ayam (residual of kicap and secret marinate ingredient) would be kept for month on end at times till the next unsuspecting guest comes around..hehehe. Alhamdulillah nobody suffered or was killed by it.. myself included.

Today, after seeing Lan tried Mamafami recipe for roti canai for 3 times with improving results, I decided to give it a shot. The dough after 30 minutes of kneading doesn't look quite right just yet but hopefully after the "menebar" tutorial tonight, it would jadi something like roti canai la. If it doesn't work, I would try it again for I am dedicating this to Nuaim whos one of his favorite food is roti canai.
13 balls of dough coated in ghee ready for the "menebar" stage scheduled in 8 hours...

Maiden Flight

2007-10-25T22:21:00.000+08:00

Today in history, tercatitlah dalam lipatan sejarah the first commercial flight for the long awaited A380, the biggest jumbo jet in the sky. In the yahoo news it was reported that passengers eager to be part of the first flight paid between $500 to $100k for tickets. With that much money, the mood aboard the plane was a hell of a PARTY with free flow of champagne and beers all the way to Sydney.

On the contrary, I was aboard the Emirates on the 25th arriving to 40 degrees sun baked Khartoum after a whirlwind of RnR break. The arrival was as usual greeted by the sullen looking immigration who made you wait like an hour in line just to get your passport stamped! The flight was not so bad given that Emirates had just rolled out their new in-flight menu. I had lobster while catching up a few movies.

Than the following day, I had to take the "Budget" airline Nova Air from Khartoum to Port Sudan. The schedule as usual is 1 hour or more late than prescribed. But Alhamdulillah I manged to arrived at my destination in one piece.

Aboard the 1 hour flight as usual it is customary that they feed you with tonnes of breads and a choice of Mirinda or Pepsi and after which would be concluded with either coffee or "chai" whichever tickles your taste buds. As you can see in the picture, the remaining plastic containers of proof i had stuffed myself with. The breads and cakes i mean..
Of course, local flights here are driven by different values and standards. But for one thing I would appreciate given the standards and condition of the refurbished plane, the pilot or the steward/ess would recite the Doa Musaffir before taking off. It always help to calm my nerves, although the cramp seats, smell and noise inside the cabin would somehow unnerve any foreign travelers aboard. Mind you, Ive seen an old lady who was sitting across the aisle from me spitting inside the plane.

I wonder if anyone on board the A380 while enjoying their luxury flight, gave an ounce of thought about the sufferings of fellow traveler in other parts of the world at that time?

I recalled during the Hajj flight, the Ustaz would remind the pilgrims aboard the etiquette of flying. It was a timely advise, as I am sure that there are plenty of other pilgrims who have never set foot on a plane before, they would be at lost on how to behave themselves. The Ustaz mention that he once experience aboard a Hajj flight that some people managed to wet the cabin toilet until the whole plane was flooding. Let alone the smell! Maybe they thought that they can take shower in the plane or worst, wash like we normally do after berak. Hehehe. Alhamdulillah, so far here in Sudan, no one behave like that yet, although I wouldn't place my bet. Hehehe.

Here, i wish to also record Nu'man's maiden flight with dad and bro in tow. I would say it was one of my memorable journey with my 2 sons aboard the MAS flight KUL-AOR. They made an enjoyable and entertaining fellow passenger. In fact, the 2 yo lass sitting across the aisle from us was screaming for attention from both my sons. Whenever, Nu'man or Nuaim look at her she would smile in glee and waving and urging them to come closer. But dad, concern and a wee bit shy of the Mother in Purdah, would not really let them cross to the other side. hehehe.

Anyway, I would look forward to be traveling with my sons and daughter again in the near future, InsyaAllah.
Nuaim & Nu'man enjoying the scene from inside the ERL.Restless travelers at the Boarding Hall. Another minute, they were seen running up and down the hall. Nu'man even tries to escape from the hall twice as he was tempted by the walkalator just outside .
Nu'man playing with the table.
Nuaim enjoying his dose of complimentary kacang. Being a seasoned "flight participant", this was his second solo with ol' dad.

Sending Off a Good Friend

2007-10-22T21:30:00.000+08:00

Today i sent off my good friend to meet his Creator. He was Shahrol Nizam Yusoff. A father of 3 and a 1/2. A family man. A son. Many would remember him as a good friend. A sportsman. And an inspiring colleague.

He was 31. I am 32.

Death certainly dont wait for one to grow old. True is His Words.

I am short of words to scribe about my good friend. But for one good thing I would remember him is as a person who maintains Silaturrahim with others around him.

Pray that his soul would rest among the Anbiya, Syuhada and the Illiyin. Pray that god would receive his soul with Blessings and Rahmah. Pray that his orphans that he left behind would be anak-anak soleh and solehah who would continue his good deeds and pray for him. Amin.

Al-Fatihah. RIP bro..

Today is "Last Business Day"

2007-10-04T15:57:00.000+08:00

I woke up with a start this morning that I bang my head against the bed frame. How? Well.. since the first week of Ramadhan, I've been sleeping on the floor so that I would wake up earlier to avoid the cosy comfort of my bed from lulling me into deeper sleep after the first 15minute alarm bell rings. Actually, the mattress isn't that comfortable anymore 'coz after 2-1/2 years of serving a couple of previous residence to the cabin, the spring simply give way. Sometime I have back ache due to the lumps and unevenness of the mattress.

I remembered I positioned myself well away from the bed, but somehow I managed to crawl under the bed after restless night thinking about my VISA.

Yes! Up to now at 11.06am, my Visa for visit extension has not been approved yet by the so many officials involve in giving away Visa. There is the Immigration Dept, the Labor Office, the Alien dept and so many other God knows "authority" that a Visa and my crispy new red passport book has to pass through during its stay in this country.

I handed my passport over to my colleagues to get the approval on the day I arrived, but after 40 days here and still no "chop", I put down my flag and raised my hand as it is beyond my control. Thus I surrender myself to God's will. By any luck or if its already been written in The Book, InsyaAllah I would be able to fly home tomorrow. Else, I have to be prepared to play the waiting game and hope that the remaining flight before Eid is not fully booked.

In this time of nail biting suspense of missing that flight home, I recalled the time I was performing my Hajj. Every time we were "tested" on the roads or getting around the mosque or during performing the rituals, I would remind myself to be patience and not lose my temper to the expense of acquiring Hajj Mabrur. Honestly, I did lost it twice, shamefully I have to admit in front of the spiritual landmark of a Muslim itself the Kaabah..

Its not easy being me. Before the hajj i.e. all my entire life I have been known to many people of being a hot headed with violent reaction (except poor wifey who never witness one of my raging bouts that duped her to marrying me..hehehe...poor soul). During the Hajj, I have trouble controlling them and did lost them as previous mention. After the Hajj, as I begin the "new phase" of my life (Yeah right, who am i kidding?) I hope my thin Patience would prevail while enduring life trials.

In this month of miracle, I pray to grant me patience and I pray for guidance and I pray that this time my Prayers will be answered. Amin..

Last Kopek

2007-10-02T16:33:00.000+08:00

Last Kopek: Sesuatu perkara atau perbuatan yang tinggal sikit lagi, nak habih dah tapi perlu memberikan seratus peratus tumpuan. (Petikan Kamus Pasir Berdengung)

Setiap kali guna perkataan last kopek ni aku sentiasa terbayang orang kopek nyiok, dah penat mengopek seharian sampai badan bermandi peluh. Kira "last kopek" tu hat nyiok yang tinggal last ulas atas besi pengopek yang tajam macam lembing tu (nama dia aku dah lupa)

Subuh: 5.10am
Maghrib (Berbuka): 6.19pm
Waktu: Port Sudan
Hari ke 20

Malam ni dah malam ke 21. Tinggal lagi 10 malam berbaki Malam Ramadhan yang mulia. Pastinya aku tak bersedia melepaskan ia pergi, tapi apakan daya iman lemah. Bangkit pagi teringat "cornflakes dan madu" ja untuk buat sahur. Ish..

Tak salah aku ada hadis tak pasti sanad nya mengatakan kalau sesuatu perbuatan tu di buat selama 21 hari berturut InsyaAllah jadi disiplin lepas tu. Nyatanya dah 20 hari aku posa, yang disiplin ialah bab tidoq lepas sembahyang subuh dan tidoq time lunch sampai kat 2 jam everyday memang jadi rutin harian. Hari ni, kalau aku tak "break the cycle", memang aku akan jadi penagih tidoq lunch time, tidoq yang melebih2 bukan seperti dianjurkan oleh Rasulullah iaitu tidur "sebentar".

Alangkah baiknya kalao aku dapat jadikan bangun malam sebagai rutin, tapi apakan daya banyak yang tergagal. ish..

Semoga kita diberi kekuatan untuk berjuang dimalam2 terakhir ni. Semoga kita dipanjangkan umur juga untuk bertemu lagi dengan Ramadhan tahun-tahun akan datang. Amin..

Look at the moon!!

2007-09-29T17:04:00.000+08:00

Back then when there were still freedom of speech culture at the mosque, there was this guy of uncertain origin who would stand up after Jumaah prayer to deliver his own version of radical sermon.
He dresses in an arabic style jalabiya with turban and carried with him a small back pack and a cane. So, in his unique attire he not mistakenly often look out of place amidst the blue jeans and sweater the normal wear for university student, me included.
His speech will include going out on jihad and halal haram stuff much to the annoyance of the "normal" mosque patronage. I certainly don't blame him for standing up for his belief, albeit on the extreme but somebody has to keep reminding the public that its not just enough performing prayers but lacking da'wah.
Among my friends, he was fondly known as the "Look at the moon!" brother. The story of my first encounter with him was during the first Ramadhan in UK when he stood up after Jumaah and suddenly proclaiming that we have not fasted according to the sunnah. He claims that the "hilal" or "son" of the moon (sic) was already visible but we did not started fasting immediately. And so a debate ensued afterward, but i don't care anymore. Just follow the majority lah..
Anyway, as for myself, every time he stood up, I would just slip quietly the back door because I wouldn't want to miss out buying the 3.5 pound Nasi Ayam on sale at the pantry.

The picture of the moon above was taken two nights ago on the 16th night in all its splendor a 97% waning gibbous. The night was a little bit colder as there was no cloud above us to held up the day's heat.

So my friends and I grabbed our spears and decided to go on a night hunt for stingrays. We managed to turn up with a medium size catch not bad on such a beautiful night.

Notes from Land of Dusty Hollow

2007-09-15T19:40:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, despite the fasting month, I tag along with a couple of my friends to search for dunes worthy of photo shots. It was an unpopular decision against every sleepy bones in my body. Oddly I did not sleep throughout the 135km or so round journey south like I expected. The road was straight as an arrow which could lull any unwary drivers into micro sleeps that have proven to be fatal.
The 360 degrees scenery is mostly flat dotted with bushes like these pictures. Cik Mad recalls it looks like the scene from High Chaparral a late 60s tv show. That will hint u his age. The one and only sign post you could find around here. If u happen to be driving around here, don't count on finding such sign post to aid if ur lost. There probably wont be any. Ur best bet is to drive straight and watch out for any Bedouins tent around to help u track back.
The sign post is fixed on hinges should strong wind blows, the whole thing wont just collapse as is common after a bad sand storm. The bush that dotted the barren land. The roots must be very deep into the ground where the water is. The soils here is very fine dust that rain water or flood takes a long time to dry and when it finally seeps into the ground, farmers or Bedouins can still retrieve it by a digging a bit. Our journey finally ends near this once fisherman village by the red sea. If we drive further south we could end up in Eritrea.

Last year when we came here, there were a few boats and fisherman selling their harvest under a tent. Now, we can only find these empty seashells left behind. Mabye its the Ramadhan, and they are on holiday or something.

Thats Ipin the Stingray Slayer. His the one who suggested we go on this trip for some photo shots. He thought this would be his last trip but I think he might have to come back and stay like the rest of us till March.. who knows if he finally got the lucky one way ticket trip. We wait and see..

We managed to find an isolated dune worthy of photo for Ipin to take home. U could see the wind blowing softly against the sand creating a hazy shade of color.Some small tree that could survive this desert condition. It sure adds color to this bleak sandy desert scene.
Heres more or less the geography of this Red Sea District. It is a contrast to the dark red soil, deep blue sky and green trees and bushes that one normally find in southern Sudan.

Me and Cik Mad who also has his own blog.

A building which purposes is lost to me. It lies by the roadside with nothing inside it. Too small for a medium size Sudanese to live in it. Probably its one of those temporary permanent building solutions by the passing Bedouins around this area.On our way back, we took a detour into the town called Suakin. Heres some pictures of the kind of houses common in the villages around the town. The houses are simply built out of dead branches sufficient to keep out the heat during the day and cold breeze during the night. It almost never rain here, so there probably no need of fancy house like we have.
Although more and more people with stronger economics capacity are opting for brick layered build up.
Yet there are the poor who live next door to a well to do neighborhood.
A small shop displaying its good out in the open.

Some build their houses out of wood rather than the traditional branches.
The main transport of choice is still the donkey. This one here is use to carry drinking water for houses.

Suakin is a town famous for its Fort City build entirely out of coral reefs. Some say it dated back to the period of King Solomon. Although another story recounted that the Turkish was the first people to build the fort here many hundred years ago. Will soon find out the truth next week, InsyaAllah when we return here for a visit inside the city. This time we were not prepared with the entrance fees. The picture above is just a sample of the crumbling ruin of an old house outside the gated fort city. This house here is also build out of coral reefs.

At the bottom here is some seashells i managed to scavenged from the trip. Its not that pretty yet, but wait till I clean them and drown it at the bottom of my in-laws pond.
Actually we tried to take more close up pictures with the local but unfortunately, they are somewhat hostile to a bunch of photo itchy tourist and refuse taking photos of them. I had a bad experience of being shouted at near Khartoum once. Cik Mad also had a harrowing experience with a local bully who threaten to report Cik Mad to the police for taking innocent pictures of the scenery.

My guess is as good as yours on to what kind of stigma attached to these local people on photography. In East Malaysia there are some tribe that belief their soul would freeze forever in time within the photo if other took pictures of them. Maybe they are just not well inform..

Semalam Puasa hari yang ke 30

2007-09-14T16:08:00.000+08:00

Technically, semalam puasa Ramadhan ana yang ke 30 harinya disini. Yealah, tahun lepas kan dah puasa 29 hari dah di Negara Pasir Berdengung Darul Permai ni. So dah rasa macam seasoned pulak puasa negeri panaih berdebu ni. Dalam sejarah hidup kira dah kali ke-4 lah posa luaq negeri ni.

Beza banyak dulu, sempat 2 kali puasa kat Glasgow. Puasa masa zaman muda remaja di negeri orang seksi meksi dan sejuk gigil ada cabaran tersendiri kalau di bandingkan dengan puasa kat negeri panaih badan dan panaih hati sebab layan orang sentul. Apapun, kena lah bawak banyak bersabaq.

Dulu puasa kat Glasgow, time bukak slalu pi Masjid makan Briyani Pakistani "More Curry Brother". Memang sedap sebab free. Kalau bayaq pon tetap sedap sehingga menjilat jari. Kadang kadang dapat la makan Sweet Rice dengan gulai, pergh..sedap! Walhal pertama kali kena rasa kembang gak tengkok sebab tak penah rasa, dan tersilap kerana tamak haloba isi banyak pulak atas pinggan. Tapi dah 2-3 kali kena memang cari lagi, sesenduk dua.

Sekarang di negara Sudan ni, lagi sedap kalau makan lauk rendang semalam sebab Orang Malaisi sendiri yang masak. Kalau ikutkan menu orang sini, tak sanggup kot berbukak. Memang tabik "Spring" kemampuan orang sini makan kacang kuda, kurma keraih dan aiyiaq jus kurma masam sambil berdiri. Dah adat mereka hanya berjamah sedikit mengikut sunnah sebelum bergegas ke surau menunaikan Maghrib. Bila selesai sembahyang baru depa pulun makan makanan tradisi mereka. Orang Malaisi, macam biasa la, melantak sampai 3 kali tambah baru bisa beransur balik solat.

Apa-apa pun, harap dapat terus berpuasa di sini sebaik mungkin dan di beri kesabaran dari mencacatkan ibadah sebab kutuk masakan sentul tak sedap. Tinggal 21 hari saja lagi sebelum dapat pulang berpuasa bersama keluarga, InsyaAllah..

Ini la Rotob yang dimaksudkan. Mungkin diimpot dari Jordan atau Lubnan. Takdak rasa kelat sikit pon. Manih melecaih macam Nancy Ajram. Haihh..puasa puasa!

Setengah hari di Bort Sudan

2007-09-13T16:35:00.000+08:00

Semalam escape jap dari bosan tahap maksima dengan makan angin di Bort Sudan. Sebab, keesokan harinya nak puasa, pekan sentul ni pon sibuk la penuh dengan bermacam aktiviti perniagaan, melepak dan bermacam ragam manusia. Pencemaran bunyi dari "hon" kenderaan dan sekali-dua kala "hon" asli dari kenderaan rasmi 4 kaki negeri pasir berdengung ni, yaitu keladai menambahkan hiruk pikuk suasana petang itu.

Tujuan ke pekan pon bukannya apa, kengkawan nak beli senaskah dua Al-Quran dan buah rotob. Harga senaskah Al-Quran disini memang kompetitif seingat aku la berbanding harga di kaki lima Kotaraya suci Mekah Al-Mukarrammah.
Sebuah kedai yang kami singgah di kaki lima mempamerkan bermacam2 buku dan dan alatan ibadah bergantungan atau diletakkan atas kaki lima begitu saja.

Orang ramai yang berteleku dan duduk2 tu sedang bersembang dan bertukar gosip sambil minum kopi cangkung yang turut di jual berhampiran.
Peniaga2 boleh kata bersepah2 lah menjual barangan mereka, yang pakcik kat bawah teduh tu jual tali pinggang dan aksesori pakaian lelaki. Yang kat depan sekali tu pulak jual kayu sugi dan bermacam2 artifak yang tidak dikenali.

Gambar ni ambil jauh2 sebab orang sini tak gemar gambar mereka diambil. Sementara aku sendiri tak gemar dengan barang yang dijualnya maka tak adalah consensus untuk berjual beli sambil ambil gambar.
Pakcik ni pulak jual tikar gulung sambil berdiri. Terpikir jugak, kenapa hanya tinggal dua? Laku ker? Mungkin stok nya masih ada di belakang kedai kot.Rotob tak ada, yang ada Tamar. Tamar Sudan ni tak best sangat pasai dia kering. Kena rendam aiyiaq hangat gitu sampai dia lembut sikit baru leh makan. Silap haribulan leh patah gigi makan yang kering begitu saja.
Jalan "raya" penuh sesak dengan kenderaan termasuklah keladai ni yang menunggu giliranya di simpang. Traffic light takder, asal siapa berani jalan dulu. Agaknya, kalau budaya merempit singgah ke sini dibawa oleh expat2 Malaisi macam mana la pulak keadaan jalan raya kat sini nanti? Kita tunggu..!
Pakcik ni bawak berguni2 gula untuk dijual diatas kenderaan "eco-friendly" nya. Kesimpulan dari gambar ini:-
1) Orang Sudan kuat makan Gula, pakcik tu pon sihat jer
2) Perniagaan disini dijalankan tanpa mencemarkan alam sekitar
3) Kenderaan ni front leg center drive.

Chewahh! Siap "double park" lagi. Kalau kat Keyhell dah tentu kena saman berguni.Lagi suasana kalut malut yang dapat disaksikan dari dalam keselesaan Totota Land Cruiser GXR.
Ni bank Sumber Binatang. Agaknya apa jenis produk yang ditawarkan oleh bank ni? Bank Riba ker Bank Islam?
Lori Mercedes warna warni yang turut menyusuri jalan raya ini. Jam sebentar.
Sibukkan? Yea lah, ramai orang yang buat "last minute shopping" ala-ala orang Malaisi jugak.

Ni salah sebuah kedai tujuh sebelaih yang boleh ditemui sebijik dua sepanjang lebuhraya dari pekan balik ke Bashayer, tempat aku merempat.
Senario yang biasa di lihat atas lebuhraya di negara ini. Laju bukan main tu.. "Safety" jangan ditanya la.

Dalam perjalanan balik sempat la kami singgah di sebuah masjid yang ringkas rekabentuk nya. Bilal melaungkan azan dari luar masjid memanggil umat Islam menunaikan solat Asar berjemaah.Sempoi jer. Orang sini ambil wudhu pakai bejana kecil tu ja. Sumber aiyiaq yang terhad mungkin membentuk cara hidup yang sesuai dengan keperluan setempat. Bukan macam orang kita, habis basah baju.
Budak ni main aiyiaq sambil kerenyih, membuatkan aku teringat anak aku Muhammad Nuaim. Ada la sekali tu bawak dia pi sembahyang masjid. Tengah dok sembahyang dia hilang takdak dekat2 tu. Mula la tak kusyuk sembahyang. Bila dah habis bagi salam, cepat2 la pi cari anak sulung sorang tu kat mana. Rupa-rupanya jumpak dia dok syiok main aiyiaq pancuq kat belakang sampai habih basah baju.

Marhaban Ya Ramadhan

2007-09-10T20:11:00.000+08:00

Time sure flies and in a few days time, the most awaited month will soon dawn upon us again with abundance of gifts and bonuses from His Most Compassionate and The Bestower . But remember, we have only one short month to seize all the great offerings within it.

Ramadhan is here again. Alhamdulillah, I have add another year to my age. Along the additional year I enjoyed, I have stumbled upon many sins and sometime willingly embroiled myself in transgression act that surely earned wrath from my All Mighty thus distance myself from Him.

Surely, I would not be able to right all the wrong thing I have done, but I pray and hope that I would be given the courage and strength to steadfastly perform the fast without any deficiency, the way that has been thought to us by His messenger, Muhammad S.A.W.

Hopefully, this holy month would prepare my faith for the future years and efface all the bad deeds I have committed.

Thank You, O Allah for blessing me, my family and my friends with yet another Ramadhan.

Ilmu Kesihatan Darjah Satu

2007-09-09T21:32:00.000+08:00

When I was going thru my hard drive I found some scan copies of a very ancient book title: "Ilmu Kesihatan Darjah Satu" (Health for Standard 1). I probably got these pictures from emails or something.
Anyways, this text book was among the many that were issued to primary school starters like me. Many had to carry them on their small backs but for me, my dad bought me one of those briefcase that has fancy plaid design. If I remembered correctly, the briefcase only lasted till mid term when I finally got a backpack i insisted, which was considered niche trend those years.
Anyway, I'm not blogging about the bags but whats inside it, namely this text book. I only had to carry it once a week when the class is normally slotted towards the end of school day.
The teacher, would normally make us take turn to stand in front and read out each chapter. If I'm not mistaken, and I've been wrong before due to my weak memories, there was normally no homework for this class.
One of the lessons is , we were thought on how to properly take a shower. I found it quite odd that the boy depicted in this page is wearing "kain basah". Normally boys my age (that time) will just shower naked. Yeah, I still used a towel afterwards although, I sometime skipped that part especially if the weather was hot. That way i keep the moisture on my skin longer to cool it down a bit, hehehe.
Being in an all boys school, this caring act is often mistaken for sissy.
Haha. "Skema budak ni!". During my early years, if we see a teacher, we ran away as fast as we could. Even if we were not up to something and the teacher were not out to scold us or anything, its only just plain fun that way. The motto was "Stay out of trouble, stay away from teacher during recess time". Perhaps, I was very shy to talk to my teachers, thats why I peed in my pants once.
I remembered my friends and I accidentally started a big bush fire near my neighbor's house during one school holiday. It was an honest mistake, as I only tried to add fireworks to my volcano experiment, when it blew up and started a big fire.
I ran home and tried to call the fireman but I was more afraid to speak on the line for fear of being arrested by making prank calls.
Those days, my father locked the phone (those oldies with dials) to avoid the maid making long distance calls. I had to trash about to find the keys, and when I finally found it I was too nervous to speak and passed the phone to my accomplice who handed it right back to me. Anyway, when we finally made our report, the fire truck had already arrived at the scene to rescue my neighbor house from being touch by the fire.
I never knew that neighbor of mine until I met him 15 years later when he became my project manager in one of my project.
This lesson I still remember till today. If not, probably I'm dead or maimed or something.
Those days, kids were mostly shy from talking to strangers that probably made this tactics of kidnapping kids my age difficult.
Oh well, I probably could not find this books anywhere in my house now, possibly given away or burned after spring cleaning.

Budget 08

2007-09-08T20:45:00.000+08:00

So what good came out of Pak Lah yesterday during the eagerly awaited budget speech? One thing for sure he didn't fell asleep while standing up during his speech. Although I did not watch the telecast, but some bloggers mention that it was not an exciting one.

As I read through the budget, I was hoping for more tax relief for individuals to be given out, alas, it was not to be this year. Except for RM300 exception for individuals who buy sports stuff in bid to promote healthier living. I hope they count bicycle as part of tax relief bracket 'coz i've been dreaming to buy one since last year.

All in all, this years budget would only be beneficial directly to me in say about 4 years from now when Muhammad Nuaim is ripe for his first school year. Than, I wouldn't have to bother paying the school fees nor get involved in a parents brawl at the bookshop to get the last copy of the text book.

I remembered those years when my dad was earning more than the limit for low income parents which means his lazy son was not entitled to get the loan text book scheme. Than, he had to drive me to several book stores just to get the text book for the year. Somehow, all the parents thought that last minute shopping was a fine annual parents gathering event which crowded most book stores than. Ended up, my dad not only had to pay for text books, but also some expensive comic books like Tin Tin or Asterix. Well, next year, no more bookstores rush.. pity them bookstore.

Another good thing out of this RM30Billion allocated for education, is the increment of special allowances for the teachers from RM100 to RM250 looks good to me. Hopefully with this increase, more and more teachers would stop competing giving tuition and concentrate on school hours. Probably could save some bucks there from sending my sons to tuition. But hang on, thats like 8 years from now, and maybe than RM250 won't buy u a pack of cigarette. Well, leave the future for another day.

On the student COLA that has been increased, too bad that OZ is not included. My brother is planning to further his studies there this November, and looks like he has to work at the laundry to support his extra meals..huhu.

On the much talk about housing incentives, I didn't see that coming. Too bad I just completed the documentation to sell off my house in Bangi last month. If not I probably would save some RM there by holding the sales out till next year.

Anyways, it is still good news that it is now allowed to withdraw the Account 2 KWSP to reduce housing loans. But, I am not sure if they would still allow to withdraw for houses that are currently under sales transaction. Technically, I am still paying my loan till the title transfer documentation is completed, which would take like a year from now... Must find out about that..

Hooray! 28 days til RnR

2007-09-07T16:26:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I managed to convinced the Boss to sign my RnR on 5 Oct. Wife expected to give birth maaa. Even if they don't sign, I would still go back 'coz I already bought a one way ticket from my own pocket. The only stumbling block is I need an exit Visa, which probably I have to belanja my friend a Shawarma for that.

Well, hopefully everything went well and pray that the baby come out just in time not a day earlier, InsyaAllah ;-)

28 days and counting...

Mobile Library

2007-09-06T17:17:00.000+08:00

The other day I had an exciting opportunity to witness a ceremony for the Launching of the Petronas Mobile Library at Al-Shargiyah Basic Level School for Boys, Port Sudan. The event was officiated by the Petronas VP of Education Datuk Dr Rosti Saruwono and was a colorful one with school girl performance as well as war dance performed by young boys from a local tribe. One thing I have to remark is that the food was great too as this was the first time that I attended a local Sudanese ceremony that did not serve food in plastic packings :-)
The library is the third of its kind from Petronas to the Sudanese people as part of its commitment to develop local community, particularly in the field of education. The library is targeted for Basic Level Schools where it is equipped with English and Arabic books to encourage reading habits among children. A variety of books were neatly kept on the rack including religion, story books, references and dictionaries.
A worthy note to mention is that Petronas service to the local community also includes setting up 2 Vocational Training Centers in Khartoum, organizing annual English Language Debate Championship as well as sending top grade students to study in Malaysia on full scholarships.

"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, but if you teach a man how to fish and he could feed for a lifetime". What a beautiful proverb that I think in Petronas case, such commitment is a win-win solution in this investor and host nation relationship. However, there is always a two side of the coins and so is the proverb. "Teach a man to fish and soon you will have competitors in the fishing industry, but if you give him a fish, you would create a demand for your fish product".

I guess any way you look at it there is always new critical views challenging your status quo. But it is not anyone faults. As long as the giver is sincere in his/her deeds, and the receiver is thankful and does not bite the hands of the giver, the world would be a very happy place to live in.
The dessert table at the ceremony. Sudanese has such sweet tooth, just look at their colorful desserts. Or is it the table cloth that is blinding me.

Adoiii!!

2007-09-04T20:18:00.000+08:00

I had a painful encounter with the red sea creatures this morning at sunrise. I was stung by the jelly fish. Lucky I was not so far ashore and the water was a bit "tohor" by Mizang standard, so even though I panic I still could touch the sea bed and gasp for precious air.

This is the first sighting of them pink jellyfish close to shore and unfortunately I was in their way. I was stung twice, being the first on the neck that I panic and swam away calling for Denis the Menace who was also in the water nearby. With his jellyfish scanner goggle, he scan the water around but did not find any nearby so I grab on to him to swim back to shore, alas, again I went the wrong way and got entangled in another groupies of them jellyfish that lacerated my torso.

The first sting on the neck

The second sting all over the torso and my right arms.

When it stung first I felt very itchy and scratch them a bit that worsen the effect. After 5 minutes out of the water, the whole skin felt very hot. Many advise was given by my concern friend on how to make the pain go away including peeing on it (not an option), take pain killer or rub it with a mixture of asam keping, water and salt. Of all the advise, I heeded Ripin the sting ray slayer to rub it with asam keping and salt.

Lucky, I manage to get some asam keping from Pak Ya (god bless him for the thought of bringing some all the way from Malaysia) to mixed it with the stale salt on the dining table and rub feverishly on the affected area. After 2 hours, the pain and scar went away. Thanks to Ripin, now his title have to be change to Tok Bomoh Jawa for handing me down the old remedy that he probably inherited from many generations.

Walla..like magic. Who would have thought an ancient concoction could do such wonder..In the morning I thought that will be my last swim, but now at 4 pm, I think I probably will go back and swim some more. hahaha

Merdeka?

2007-09-01T20:18:00.000+08:00

There's a refreshing and noteworthy article about Merdeka on Zaharuddin.net. It offers a new perspective on how we could move forward within the spirits of Independence, physically and mentally. Not the usual tone from your local politician on the same topic.

How did i isi my kemerdekaan yesterday? Well, i was busy chatting away after some bowls of mihun sup when the clock +3 GMT ticked pass midnight. In fact when it was 7PM local time or 12am some 8000km away where over 24Millions were busy chanting the top of their lungs "Merdeka! 3x" , I was busy stuffing my face with some rice for diner. Yes thats right. Even though we proudly equate ourselves as prisoner of Port Sudan Guantanamo Bay we still enjoy the luxury of 6 meals a day. Hahaha. So that was Merdeka night for me.

In the morning I woke up earlier than usual, prayed Subuh and afterward armed myself with "tombak" to catch some pari with Ripin the Sting-ray slayer. But, alas, the spirit of Merdeka has infected our prey that they were ready for us. They showed themselves in number that morning but we have nothing to proof. After 2-1/2 hours walking in the shallow water on the beach, we return empty handed and empty stomach.

I remembered, when I was a teenage, I used to spent the Merdeka night out with my friends. Somehow I managed to get my dad's approval to go out till late and cycle all the way to the Dataran in front of Masjid Zahir, the usual location for Merdeka celebration. After the count down me and my friends all when to lepak at the Abang Nasi Tomato stall or Nasi Lemak Royale stall for some late supper, exchanging jokes and spending our abnormal "Independence" i.e. outside of the house at 2 am. Those late night escapades are very rare those days even for teenage boys like me. Jahat la tu konon..although usually I would be the first to excuse myself after being more than 2 hours too late from my promised deadline "be home by 1 am".

Those days, that freedom mean much to my Independence. Who would have though that 15 years later, I would be locked up in Guantanamo Bay, Sudan. Well fed and well paid..hehehe.

Bosan!!!

2007-08-26T00:38:00.000+08:00

If u happen to be at the EK lounge at KLIA & have a laptop or fancy pda with u, u can log in using the paskey: abcde12345. Heck, u can always ask the smiling lady at the counter. Probably makes ur life better.

I'm bored. Here it goes again..another 60 days of boredom.

The only thing that cheers me up is the thought of Nu'man's grunge voice calling me "Bapak" and yes, the sight of fresh cute teenage faces so eager to board their first long haul plane to Egypt for further studies.. hmmm... brings back sweet memories..

Dag..dig..dug

2007-08-09T20:10:00.000+08:00

Hmm, hari ni hari Khamis. Hari ini mungkin tidak ber-erti untuk tuan-tuan atau puan-puan, adik, abang dan kakak sekelian. Tetpi hari ini, hari yang amat bermakna bagi diri hina empunya laman blog (blog melayunya aper ya?).

Hari ni hari 'lima' tanggal 9 hari bulan, bersamaan 25 Rejab 1428. Hari yang cukup bermakna bagi diriku. Hari yang amat dinanti-nantikan. Hari yang penuh debaran. Apa yang menyebabkan aku amat merasa berdebar-debar untuk melalui hari ini. Oh yea, aku masih berdalih dan belum menceritakan keutamaan hari ini bagi diriku. Hari ini banyak keutamaan nya. Hari ini, bermakna tinggalah kurang lebih 5 hari lagi dalam bulan Rejab yang mulia. Kalau masih belum berusaha tu, teruskan lah. Jangan jadi macam aku, kantoi lagi makan maggi asam pedas.

Yang sebenarnya, hari ini bukan itu sahaja keutamaanya, tetapi keutamaan yang lebih utama dan amat bermakna bagi diriku ialah jatuh pada hari inilah, kawanku Ripin the Stingray Slayer dapat tangkap sotong. Kena lah tukar namanya ke Ripin the Sotong Slayer. Tapi, apa kena mengena hari ini dengan sotong tangkapan kawanku itu? Emm..sememangnya tidak ada apa-apa hubung kaitnya. Kerana sotong itu bukanlah dirancang untuk menjadi mangsa kawanku pada dhuha hari tadi. Bukanlah jugak kerana sebab tertangkapnya sotong tadi, maka kawanku Bro Z akan memasak nasik lemak sambal sotong "kereta". Tidak..sekali-kali tidak. Aku mungkin terkilan tak dapat merasai lagi nasik lemak yang sedap itu buat kali ini. Pun begitu, tak putih mata pun.

Sebab yang sebenar-benarnya adalah, pada hari ini aku akan memulakan langkahku dengan menaiki kapal terbang ke Ibu Kota negara Pasir Berdengung. Horeyy!!! Alhamdulillah, mahunya aku sujud syukur, tetapi aku malas. InsyaAllah aku akan sujud bila aku kembali ker tanah air kelak. Destinasi terakhir ku.

Pada hari ini langkah ku akan bermula. Dengan satu langkah, maka dengannya mendekat kan lagi aku ke teratak tercintaku. Lapan ribu batu amat lah jauh. Lapan ribu batu yang bermula dengan satu langkah. Lapan ribu batu yang akan mengambil masa hampir 2 hari untuk mengakhirinya.

Semalam aku hanya mampu berenang sejauh 750m berhenti-henti. Penat! Tapi lapan ribu batu ini tak mungkin menyebabkan aku lelah dek kerana keseronokkan dihati ku yang kusam selama lapan puluh hari bermandi pasir dan debu. Perjalanan aku mungkin tidak diakhiri dengan berkibarnya bendera Malaysia seperti usaha berani seorang mamat yang bernama Qobin. Tetapi berkibarlah bendera Istana bahagia ku tetap lebih bermakna.

Kalau dah dapat balik tu tentu la seronok, suke-suke aje? Yea! Tidak dinafikan. Tetapi dadaku tetap berdebar-debar. Takut-takut ada yang tertinggal. Takut-takut tertinggal kapal terbang. Dan macam-macamlah kerunsingan yang bermain di benak aku.

Setelah semua baju di lipat. Hutang dilangsaikan. Kerje diselesaikan. Kerje? Kerje ape? Kerje tetap berjalan walaupun tanpa kelibat sang Muhandis di bumi gersang ini. Kerje tetap kerje. Kerje tetap berjalan. Jalanlah..aku tak peduli lagi..

Yang penting barang semua tersimpan kemas didalam bagasi. Hutan ditebas. Tiket di simpan di tempat yang mudah. Wang di simpan di kocek. Pasport disimpan salinannya baik-baik.. Maka bermulalah perjalanan aku pulang.

Seperti yang Soleh merindui Tuhannya. Aku pun merindui Tuhanku. Tetapi aku masih takut kerana tak cukup. Begitulah hakikatnya perjalanan hidup insan yang lemah..

Aku merindui dia. Harap-harap dia juga merinduiku. Aku juga merindui yang dua lagi. Tapi apakah mereka akan mengingatiku? Itu lah hakikat nya. Kalau dua kekasih yang belum rasi mesranya saling berjauhan. Mungkin kasih akan berganti. Apakah begitu juga Kasih yang berdua kepada ku? Itulah debaranya. Debaran sang Muhandis yang mengejar nama dan duniawi, sehingga keciciran yang penting dan ikhlas darinya. Kasih yang ikhlas itu aku buang begitu saja? Atau aku simpan..tetapi di mana? Dapatkah ku buktikan sesuatu? Dapatkah ku lakukan sebaiknya? Dapatkah ku bertakhta dihati-hati mereka kembali? Itu lah debaranya.

Dag..dig..dug..

Animal Farm

2007-08-07T22:01:00.000+08:00

No, I am not posting about the book by George Orwell nor trying to bring up a topic about Malaysian political situation now. In fact my posting today is dedicated to Muhammad Nuaim and his love for the furry kinds. Actually he fancies the whale so much he can tell the different between humback or right back whale, ker? Even I'm at lost over whale species.. Unfortunately, no whale have been sighted near here so far..
Anyway, since I managed to 'leach' from my friend some animal pics from down south I guess its worth to post it on my copy&paste blog, with his due consent of course.
So Muhammad Nuaim, here's some pics for your viewing pleasure..

Ni gambar burung ereng..
Burung ereng tu tengah makan binatang apa tu?
Ni sejenis bangau, dekat tempat bapak duduk pun ada jugak bangau ni. Bangau ni suka makan ikan.. Cuba tanya ummi, why did the bangau cross the road?
Bangau ni keletihan kot
Ini kura-kura yg pemalu..cuba teka, mana kepala mana ekornya?
Ini nama dia ketam bunga, kalau makan sedap..orang Sudan panggil Abu Bagas..
Kat Sudan ni, pompuan jer jaga kibas dengan unta, orang lelaki buat kerja lain yang berfaedah, macam tulis blog.. atau melayari internet.. haha
Tu dia, banyak nye..ni kira orang kaya la, byk ternakanya.. Kat selatan, kambing makan rumput, tapi kat tempat bapak, kambing makan batu..kesiaann..
Unta ni nampak sihat sikit dari unta-unta yg kat tempat bapak duduk
Tengok le budak ni, posing 'maut'..
Ish, panjangnye tanduk dia.. lembu jenis ape ni?

Aaa, ni pun sejenis lembu ker? Tapi baunye mamang ada sedikit macam lembu hehehe..Sapa kata anjing tak kawan dengan kucing?
Ni nama dia sumpah-sumpah. Seab dia suka bersumpah. "Sumpah, abang tak carik lain"..

Ok lah setakat tu, lain kali bapak cari gambar whale pulak yea.. bye..

MMMmmm donut!

2007-08-05T04:08:00.001+08:00

Today brother Z arrived from Khartoum whose hobby is fishing and cooking. One of his specialty is donut. So after some persuasion and threats we manage to get him to agree to lead the 'projek donut'.

When I arrived in the galley the first batch of donut were ready to be glazed with sugar, so I didn't manage to see how the dough was prepared. Although when I asked him, he just said "Senang jer, tepung, telur, baking powder, susu..dah". I noted it down and quickly volunteered to fashion the donut shapes (or blobs) which explains the odd sizes in the following batches, hahaha.
But Z managed to QC the dough which turn out to be just the nice texture fit for selling at 'pasar malam'.
As usual the other side activities were karaoke and ping pong. The turn out today was almost a full house save for one brave soul who chose Ahsley Judd on MBC2 over donut and a rowdy karaoke. His wrong about the donut though...
Donut to the tune of XPDC by Ripin the Stingray slayer... selling fast like hot donuts...

Don’t take citizens’ loyalty for granted, Raja Nazrin to leaders

2007-08-04T20:19:00.000+08:00

Today I feel like copy & paste. This speech by Raja Nazrin simply moves me.. Daulat Tuanku!!

Nation’s successes and achievements inherited cannot be sustained forever if ...

The Sun

The following is the full text of Raja Muda Perak Darul Ridzuan Raja Nazrin Shah’s speech at the launch of a book on former Deputy Prime Minister Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman titled "Not because of position: Tun Dr Ismail and his time" in Universiti Malaya today (Aug 3, 2007):
note: The text is mixed in Bahasa Malaysia and English

TITAH
DULI YANG TERAMAT MULIA RAJA MUDA PERAK DARUL RIDZUAN
RAJA NAZRIN SHAH
Di MAJLIS PELANCARAN BUKU 'BUKAN KERANA PANGKAT: TUN
DR. ISMAIL DAN MASANYA'
TARIKH: 3 OGOS 2007 (JUMAAT); JAM: 10.05 PAGI,
TEMPAT: DEWAN KULIAH UTAMA, AKADEMI PENGAJIAN ISLAM
UNIVERSITI MALAYA, KUALA LUMPUR.

Assalamualaikum Warahmatuilahi Wabarakatuh
Salam Sejahtera

Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim

Alhamdulillah, dengan penentuan dari ALLAH Subhanahu Wataala, Majlis Pelancaran Buku, 'Bukan Kerana Pangkat Tun Dr Ismail dan Masanya, dapat dilangsungkan pada pagi Jumaat penuh berkat ini. Beta bersyukur ke hadrat ILAHI kerana dengan izin dari Nya juga, Beta bersama Raja Puan Besar Perak Darul Ridzuan dapat berangkat ke Majlis ini.

2. Tun Dr. Ismail bin Abdul Rahman telah kembali ke rahmatullah pada 2 Ogos 1973, ketika baru mencecah usia 57 tahun, satu jangka hayat yang pendek, namun telah cukup untuk membolehkan namanya terpahat dalam sejarah negara. Dr. Ismail tidak memerlukan tempoh yang lama untuk memahat sejarah; Dr. Ismail - tidak memerlukan hikayat yang panjang untuk dikenali. Begitu berharga jasa - begitu bernilai khidmat Dr. Ismail kepada negara bangsanya. Karakter Dr. Ismail tepat di luar tepat di dalam, mudah dibaca - senang difahami. Lidahnya bertutur dalam bahasa yang sama meski berhadapan kumpulan yang berbeza. Apa yang dikata, tetap dikota.

3. Dr. Ismail dihormati, disegani, malah digeruni. Namanya, arahannya baik secara lisan mahupun tulisan, garau suaranya diganggang telefon, apatah lagi kehadirannya, memberikan satu gegaran. Kalimah-kalimah yang diungkapkan, baik dalam perbincangan tertutup mahupun dalam forum terbuka memperlihatkan prinsip yang tegas, minda terbuka, berhati cekal memancarkan keikhlasan dari roh yang tulus. Dr. Ismail lebih dari sekadar seorang pemimpin individu, malah merupakan satu institusi yang memperlihatkan teladan kepimpinan yang amat dihormati, disegani dan digeruni, walaupun frasa 'kepimpinan melalui teladan'masih belum dicipta; Dr. Ismail mengamalkan sifat-sifat bersih, cekap dan amanah mendahului era slogan tersebut diperkenalkan; Dr. Ismail memperlihatkan integriti tinggi meskipun negara belum memiliki Institut Integriti Nasional.

4. Ratusan amanat telah diucapkan sepanjang hayatnya. Di Majlis ini, Beta memilih untuk memetik ungkapan-ungkapan yang terkandung dalam dua dari ratusan ucapan yang pernah dilafazkan semasa hayatnya. Semasa menerima anugerah ljazah Kehormat Doktor Undang-Undang oleh Universiti Sains Malaysia pada 9 Jun 1973, Dr. Ismail dalam ucapannya memperlihatkan sifat kemanusiaan yang tinggi, sifat rendah diri, sifat keinsafan dan sifat kesyukuran seorang hamba yang lemah lagi daif di sisi Tuhannya, melalui kata-kata berikut:

Quote,

'Sebagai seorang manusia biasa dan dengan perasaan terharu kerana kedaifan, tetapi penuh syukur, saya berdiri di hadapan saudara-saudara, pendeta-pendeta dan sarjana-sarjana dalam gedung ilmu pengetahuan yang bemama Universiti Sains Malaysia ini'

'...Saya berdiri di hadapan saudara-saudara bukan sebagai seorang pemimpin negara, bukan sebagai seorang politik, bukan sebagai seorang tokoh dalam masyarakat, tetapi hanya sebagai seorang hamba Allah di tengah-tengah orang yang berilmu, sebagai manusia yang telah lewat umur, tetapi telah banyak menjalani hidup yang penuh dengan kisah-kisah suka dan dukanya' Unquote

5. Ucapan di majlis Konvokesyen itu, dilafazkan 55 hari sebelum Dr. Ismail menghembuskan nafas terakhirnya, bagaikan satu peringatan diwasiatkan, dalam Majlis ilmu, di sebuah universiti, di hadapan hadirin yang majoritinya para mahasiswa, representasi generasi muda terpelajar. Dr. Ismail menekankan bahawa 'kepercayaan, keyakinan dan belief seseorang adalah penting dalam menentukan perkembangan politik, ekonomi dan sosial di negara ini. Ucapan tersebut memperlihatkan sikap Dr. Ismail sebagai seorang optimis, seorang yang memiliki keyakinan dan seorang yang mempamerkan sikap hidup positif. Bahawa kunci kejayaan seseorang bergantung pada sikap dan pada pandangan hidupnya; bahawa masa hadapan negara dan bangsa penuh dengan kegemilangan - penuh dengan harapan.

6. Dr. Ismail mengingatkan bahawa empayar dan dinasti yang besar dan gagah, timbul dan tenggelam, tetapi kemajuan manusia terus meningkat; bahawa dunia menghadapi peperangan dan dilanda malapetaka, namun peradaban manusia kesefuruhannya mencapai peringkat kemajuan yang semakin tinggi. Manusia diiktiraf sebagai 'innovator' yang bijak, cekap memberi tindak balas menghadapi sesuatu situasi, berasaskan kekuatan fikiran - bersandarkan naluri, yang diwarisi zaman berzaman.

7. Kata-kata negarawannya terungkap dalam pengakuan bahawa pemimpin dan rakyat sama-sama belajar dari masalah, sama-sama belajar da@ pengalaman. Bahawa tidak ada buku teks yang lengkap untuk mengajar manusia memimpin. Buku teks hanyalah satu panduan yang perfu diuji di peringkat pelaksanaan, ketika berhadapan situasi sebenar. Bahawa tidak terdapat jawapan standard kepada semua masalah, malah tidak juga ada masalah yang standard dalam hidup.

8. Dr. Ismail dikenali dengan semangat kebangsaan Melayu yang tuien, namun beliau tidak mengamalkan sifat rasis. Beliau tidak merestui amalan diskriminasi berasaskan kaum dan senantiasa mengingatkan bahawa masyarakat di negara ini bukanlah masyarakat yang regimented. Masyarakat Malaysia berulang kali ditegaskan sebagai masyarakat berbilang kaum dengan budaya dan resam masing-masing, dan pentingnya bagi negara mempunyai pemimpin yang menuju ke arah mencipta sebuah negara Malaysia yang bersatu padu dalam kepelbagaian tersebut.

9. Ucapan di Universiti Sains Malaysia itu diakhiri dengan ungkapan berikut:

Quote:

'I believe that Malaysians should exploit to the utmost the inherent qualities of her various racial components which enrinch the Malaysian society'

Unquote.

10. As I read about Tun Dr. Ismail, I realise more and more what an extraordinary person he was; a statesman, an inspirational leader and a visionary. Tun Dr. Ismail envisaged a Malaysia for all without color lines, without ethnic borders and without any one group feeling a sense of inferiority. He recognised the importance of open mindedness in addressing day to day issues and problems; the importance of listening and learning from others particularly from those who are more advanced.

11. He strongly believed in the principle of life-long learning, visiting other lands and adopting best practices without losing our core values and our identity as a nation. He was a great man with the interest of the nation at heart. He did more than what was required of him. He went beyond the call of duty - for his nation - for his people. He put his country above himself and served till the very last day of his life.

12.Tugas terakhir Dr. Ismail kepada negara bangsanya, disempurnakan lima jam sebelum menghembus nafas terakhir. Atas nama Pemangku Perdana Menteri, pada jam 5.00 petang, 2 Ogos 1973, di tapak bersejarah Kelab Sultan Sulaiman Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur, Tun Dr. Ismail melancarkan Perayaan Jubli Perak, Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung (GPMS).

13. Dalam ucapan di Majlis tersebut, Tun Dr. Ismail menegaskan pentingnya disedarkan ibu bapa dan pelajar-pelajar Melayu untuk memperlengkapkan diri dengan ilmu pengetahuan setanding dengan pencapaian kaum-kaum lain serta selaras dengan kemodenan dan pembangunan yang sedang berlaku. Dalam amanat terakhir itu, Tun Dr. Ismail menzahirkan prinsip pegangan beliau yang mengiktiraf bahawa belia adalah satu 'force', satu tenaga yang kuat untuk membina negara ataupun sebaliknya untuk meruntuhkan negara. Amanat terakhir itu turut memperingatkan golongan belia untuk mendasarkan kegiatan mereka kepada program berorientasikan tindakan dan bukan sekadar pergerakan yang semata-mata beriandaskan isu dan retorik.

14. smail bin Abdul Rahman telah 34 tahun meninggalkan kita. Namun prinsip perjuangannya tidak harus dikebumikan bersama di makam pahlawan. Prinsip perjuangannya perlu terus dihidupkan, seruannya perfu terus digemakan, integritinya perlu terus disuntikkan kepada warga di negara ini terutama di kalangan generasi muda. Tuhan telah menetapkan bahawa amanat terakhir Dr. Ismail disampaikan bukan dalam majlis politik, tidak juga di majlis Kerajaan, tidak pula digedung perniagaan, tetapi dalam majlis anjuran sebuah persatuan pelajar bernama GPMS; amanat terakhir Dr. Ismail memperingatkan golongan muda dan golongan pelajar. Penghormatan terakhir kepada beliau adalah anugerah akademik, ijazah kehormat doktor falsafah, pengiktirafan yang diterimanya dari sebuah gedung ilmu dan amanatnya juga adalah kepada kumpulan ilmuwan dan kalangan pelajar.

15. Untuk itu, universiti dan para pelajar perlu mengambil iktibar bahawa Dr. Ismail disuratkan oleh ILAHI untuk menyampaikan amanat - meninggalkan wasiat melalui institusi ilmu dan kepada kalangan mahasiswa. Bahawa institusi ilmu, para sarjana dan para mahasiswa wajib terus menyalakan obor perjuangan suci negara bangsa; membangunkan angkatan warga berilmu, angkatan warga yang bersifat rasional lagi terbuka, angkatan warga yang berusaha membina perpaduan dalam kepelbagaian, angkatan warga yang memiliki prinsip yang teguh, angkatan warga yang memiliki integriti yang tinggi. Semangat dan prinsip perjuangan Dr. Ismail dari segi pengorbanan, komitmen, keberanian dan integriti harus disuntik di kalangan pelajar - harus dipelopori oleh para sarjana.

16. Negara kini di ambang menyambut ulang tahun kemerdekaan kali kelima puluh. Ulang tahun kemerdekaan ini disambut dalam suasana pemimpin dan warga dapat berbangga, berada dalam sebuah negara merdeka yang aman, makmur dan berjaya. Kejayaan yang telah dicapai perlu dipertahankan malah lebih perlu ditingkatkan. Kejayaan yang diwarisi tidak mungkin kekal selamanya jika urus tadbir negara gagal dilaksanakan secara cekap - secara berkesan; secara arif - secara bijak, secara cermat - secara berhemah, secara adil - secara saksama. Sedarilah! Generasi hari ini sebenarnya menuai hasil dari ladang kejayaan yang telah diusahakan oleh pemimpin terdahulu.

17. Dr. Ismail dan mereka yang seangkatan dengannya adalah barisan pemimpin gelombang pertama bagi sebuah negara bangsa yang baru merdeka. Ketika itu, masih belum terdapat walaupun sebuah universiti di negara ini. Cerdik pandai dan intelek bangsa amatiah terbatas - begitu kecil jumlahnya. Namun dalam menghadapi sumber terbatas tersebut, negara berjaya mendapat barisan pemimpin dari kalangan insan yang terbaik; dalam ketandusan sumber intelek itu, terkandung di setiap jiwa mereka kekayaan integriti dan kekuatan sumpah kesetiaan.

18. Barisan pemimpin gelombang pertama memperlihatkan tingkat integriti yang tinggi yang sukar dipertikaikan. Mereka memperlihatkan kesetiaan kepada perjuangan, kesetiaan kepada prinsip, kesetiaan kepada bangsanya dan kesetiaan kepada negaranya. Pemimpin gelombang pertama ini, merupakan kumpulan elit bangsanya ketika itu, kebanyakannya dari keturunan aristocrat atau menengah atas, namun hati dan jiwa mereka senantiasa berada dengan rakyat biasa, menghayati penderitaan dan erti kemiskinan, yang dialami oleh para petani dan buruh biasa. Mereka mengambil sebagai tanggung jawab untuk menyuarakan dan membela nasib kumpulan bawahan dan rakyat jelata. Semangat tersebutiah yang merupakan komponen utama membolehkan negara ini menjadi sebuah negara yang stabil dari segi politik dan makmur dari segi ekonomi.

19. Setelah lima puluh tahun mencapai kemerdekaan, janganlah hendaknya semangat membela rakyat majoriti ini menjadi begitu jauh dihati mereka yang memegang jawatan dan memiliki kuasa. Kumpulan miskin dan rakyat bawahan masih memerlukan pembelaan dan wajib terus dibela. Kesetiaan warga kepada pemimpin - tidak harus dinodai dengan salah laku pemimpin melakukan perkara-perkara yang menyimpang dari kebenaran kerana didorong haloba membina kekayaan diri dan kekayaan famili. Pemimpin itu laksana pohon dan rakyat itu laksana akar yang akan menentukan kesuburan dan kerendangan pohon. Ambillah iktibar dan jadikanlah teladan corak kepimpinan, keikhlasan, pengorbanan dan integriti yang telah dipamerkan oleh Tun Dr. Ismail berserta barisan pemimpin gelombang pertama pasca merdeka itu. Semoga negara Malaysia akan diamanahkan oleh ALLAH Subhanahu Wataala ditadbir urus oleh barisan pemimpin yang memiliki sifat integriti tinggi selaras dengan hadis, yang diriwayatkan oleh Abu Daud bermaksud, "Jikalau Allah inginkan supaya sesuatu bangsa itu sejahtera, maka Tuhan memberikan bangsa itu pemimpin yang baik ...

20. Semoga penerbitan yang telah dirintis ini akan membuka laluan kepada penerbitan-penerbitan susulan. Koleksi kertas peribadi, koleksi ucapan dan koleksi amanat Tun Dr. Ismail, adalah khazanah negara. Betapa manfaatnya kepada bangsa di hari ini dan di hari muka, jika koleksi ucapan dan amanat Tun Dr. Ismail dapat dihimpun atau dibukukan. Semoga langkah yang telah dirintis oleh Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapura ini memberi inspirasi, memberi ilham dan memberi keberanian kepada institusi-institusi ilmu di negara ini untuk menggerakkan sesuatu usaha mendalami khazanah intelek peninggalan negarawan yang bernama Ismail bin Abdul Rahman.

21. Semoga Allah Subhanahu Wataala mencucuri rahmat dan memberi ihsan kepada roh Tun Dr. Ismail sehingga ke hari kebangkitan. Semoga segala jasa baktinya diberikan ganjaran setimpal di hari kebangkitan. Kepada keluarga Tun Dr. Ismail, sebenarnya negara dan bangsa amat terhutang budi.

22. Dengan lafaz Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim, Beta dengan sukacitanya melafazkan pengisytiharan pelancaran 'Bukan Kerana Pangkat.- Tun Dr. Ismail dan Masanya'.

Wabillahi taufik, walhidayah.

Wassalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

Baluq liat

2007-08-02T19:57:00.000+08:00

Hmm, hari ni kami bangkit bukan pukui 7 atau pukui 8 tapi pukui 9. Mujuq dah semayang subuh, tu pun kat ujung waktu, sipi-sipi matahari nak timbui. Lepaih semayang balun tiduq balik, pasai pa tak tau tapi rasa macam baluq liat sikit hari ni.
Pasai hari ni kebetulan hari khamih, sebelem tarik selimut tu, kami pon niat la kat hati konon nak puasa sunat, set jam pukui 7. Sedaq-sedaq balik, nak-aih..dah pukui 9!!
Gerek pulak pancit, tak sanggup kami nak naik baih no 11 pi opis kat 1-1/2 kilo tengah panaih lit-lit. So dengan dak mandi, taik mata dak basuh, kami pon, ON la lap top. Semenjak ada intenet kat bilik ni, uuiih bukan main seronok. Tak payah pi opis pon tak pa, bukan ada keja pon. Lagi pon pukui 10, kengkawan mesti balik galley punya pekena kopi. Kalah gomen la ni... flexi hours buat sendiri hahaha.
Bila jam dah pukui 1030, kami pun mengorak langkah pi kat galley ingat nak tumpang member naik kereta la balik ofis. Ingat ka 1030 tu dah siap la minum kopi, tapi bila bukak pintu...tu dia, aroma punya best menusuk hidung. Ghopa-ghopanya depa semua tengah hadap maggiii..!!
Hmmpp, aku pon dengan otomatik angkat mangkuk kaut habih hat maggi saki baki tu. Sambil makan tu sambil dok mengutuk mat sentui la, macam biasa topik harian, walaupun dalam hati dok rasa bersalah kantoi puasa yang yuk.. ish iman iman..
So tgh hari macam biasa la tak lunch tapi dalam dok tak lunch tu pon, dan la buat kopi sambil makan buah oren ngan biskut "baraka". Takpa, petang ni pulun swimming la balik buang lemak..hehehe

Bias for action

2007-08-01T03:47:00.000+08:00

The coming RnR will be another short and hectic one for me from 11th-26th August. Actually my approved RnR is only 13 days i.e. 11th-23rd but it’s so annoying to describe to you about it that I decide to add a pinch of salt and tell u my own version of RnR, which would make me happy and so hopefully everyone in my family happy too.

In the short “13 or so approved” RnR days, I will have to be in KK for 2 and ¾ days attending a Forum which would end on the 14th. (The stupid project policy is that one only allowed to go on training during his/her RnR. Bullshit isn’t it? )

After the forum, I will have to squeeze some time to meet up with some lawyers to draft up an SnP to sell off my Bangi house. That would take a day or possibly two, if everything goes well.

An then, in between, I must pay a visit to my own Bapak family or more known to my kids as “Tok Kajang”, who unmistakably the name reveals where they live. I am sure my kids missed goofing around the house full of fragile crystals as well as meeting their aunties and funny uncles so it is a must visit for me.

By the 20th I would have to help get all the preparation ready for the trip to Kelantan, for my brother’s wedding. He’s Akad Nikah will be on the 22nd, and as my wife reminded me, there will be plenty of last minute run up work to be done before the event. So we would have to turn up in Kelantan at least a day earlier.

After the wedding, we will have to travel right across the peninsular to my hometown Aloq Setaq for our side of the reception planned on the 25th. The preparation here would also be a big issue as many distinguished VVIPs will be attending the wedding on my Bapak’s invitation. I am sure, all the works are pretty much sussed out but, hey, even though I am away, for most of the time, I would still like to “sinting lengan baju gotong-royong” like any good son of the family.

Amongst all the flurries of activities anticipated for the holidays, how does I fit in and become a good father and a husband? Well, the answer is I have to "kurangkan" ZZzz which I usually indulged myself on RnR. Hopefully I got over the jet lag while I am in KK.

Why should I bring up the issue of being a good father or a husband? Well, my son Nuaim has been refusing to talk to me on the phone every time I called home. It’s kind of depressing that my son is more interested in animal planet shows rather than talk to his Bapak. For that, I wonder to myself, what does he think of me or rather, how am I remembered by this 3yo person? Leave out the other 1 yo 6 tooth boy who barely know me. I would imagine, Nuaim’s own poll ratings of me would probably suggest that I be kicked out of “fatherhood office”, just like what Calvin told his Dad.

So, in hope of reviving my Bapakhood standings, I would have to volunteer bathing them everyday, probably try to feed them and take them to the park more often. Basically I need an action packed plan to maximally ensure they spend most of their waking hours by my side.

Not forgetting, I also need to spend more time with my wife, considering her condition now almost towards the end of her second trimester and into the third trimester, and where is the husband? The baby is into her (InsyaAllah..!) advance growth stage, and had never hears the Bapak’s voice. What a pity!

"Oh Purnama yang mengambang sugul di sebalik kepulan ribut pasir", wish me luck!! I will evaluate my own self if I were successful implementing my plan or just a doomed to fail “on-duty” dad.

Kids reciting the Quran

2007-07-29T18:19:00.000+08:00

Anyone who have been to the 2 holy mosque would remember seeing hundreds of kids forming a few circle around their respective Syeikh who either teaches them to read or hafaz the glorious Quran. Its a peaceful sight to witness and myself, I still felt its moving experience every time I recall the memories. I dare not take any pictures of them at the risk of offending them.

So, every time I walk pass them, I would always think of my two sons Muhammad Nuaim and Muhammad Nu'man. I would pray that god willing one day they would have the opportunity to congregate with their brothers in a similar atmosphere reciting Al Quran near the Kaabah or under the shades of the green dome. Amin.

I am proud that my son shows some interest to read the Quran. Unfortunately I am not able to witness it nor able to groom them into little Khalifahs. In fact, I do not have an excuse if I fail to develop them into little Khalifahs, since I chose to leave them behind in pursuit of extra fulus. Its easy for me to have dreams and visions of how I would like the kids to grow up, when at the same time I am not able to bear witness on the monumental task my wife is facing on brining them up by herself. I only have two words to offer her. Thanks Sayang.

Anyway, in a hope to offer some help, remotely, I have gathered a few videos from youtube, which she could show Nuaim and Nu'man. Since kids like to watch what other kids do, I sincerely hope they would follow, even if they only able to humm along or rock their small bodies to the tune.

This kid is cute. At that age, I don't recall knowing how to say Bismillah.

This kid is reciting the Surah Al-Qalam. I cant even go pass the second word by Hafaz. Interesting to note that, the Ayat 68:16 contain the word "Khurtum" for "snout". Khartoum is also the capital of Sudan which also means the same. hehe.

This boy hafaz the Yaasin and he recites beautifully. Remind me of Nuaim in his Tok Sheh gear.

A Tahfiz ceremony held in Masjid An-Nabawwi. Masha Allah. Seronoknyaaa..

I think this groups are siblings. Their parent must be so proud of them.

This boy has the same name as Nu'man.

Finally, Qhatam juga..

2007-07-29T01:05:00.000+08:00

Alhamdulillah, last Friday I managed to Qhatam reading Al-Quran, the first since my return from Hajj. Honestly, I think it’s kind of pathetic that I only manage to Qhatam once since. I think I have to read more. Finally it dawn on me that maintaining "Hajj Mabrur" is extremely difficult than performing the Hajj itself.

Reading the Quran, to me, is central to being a Muslim, other than performing the prayer. A hadits (not in exact word) from the messenger Muhammad s.a.w. is that he leave behind two treasures for us Muslim i.e. The Quran and his Sunnah, for whomever who follow them would never be lost forever.

Understandably to make a habit of reading the Quran is extremely challenging especially when we have difficulties to pronounce some verses, let alone understand what it means? Other than the promise of reward in the hereafter for reciting even a single alphabet the motivation to persevere through I would agree is very weak. Until I found one beautiful Story within a forwarded e-mail from a friend.

Why Do We Read Al-Quran Even Though We Don’t Understand A Single Arabic Word?

An old American Muslim lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading his Quran. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way he could. One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa! I try to read the Quran just like you but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Quran do?”

The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, “Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water.” The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, “You’ll have to move a little faster next time,” and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again. This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead.

The old man said, “I don’t want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You’re just not trying hard enough,” and he went out the door to watch the boy try again. At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got back to the house. The boy again dipped the basket into river and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, “See Grandpa, it’s useless!”

“So you think it is useless?” The old man said, “Look at the basket.” The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that the basket was different. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean, inside and out. “Son, that’s what happens when you read the Quran. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be changed, inside and out. That is the work of Allah in our lives.”

Note: I agree with my friend's 2 cents thought who forwarded me this story. He said that if we understand the meaning, the changes in us will be more out standing and far-reaching. He's absolutely right.

If we read the Quran's translation, we will find some verses that point exactly to the important of reading the Quran. Just to quote a few: -

Ar-R'ad 13:28. "Those who believe, and whose hearts find satisfaction in the remembrance of Allah. For without doubt in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find satisfaction."

Al-Ankabut 29:45. "Recite what is sent of the Book by inspiration to thee, and establish regular Prayer: for Prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds; and remembrance of Allah is the greatest (thing in life) without doubt. And Allah knows the (deeds) that ye do."

Faatir 35:29. "Those who rehearse the Book of Allah, establish regular Prayer, and spend (in Charity) out of what We have provided for them, secretly and openly, hope for a commerce that will never fail"

So true are His words.

Cat Steven embraced Islam after he read the Quran Translation word for word. Now, he is Yusuf Islam. And what profound changes has he brought to Islam, particularly to the west, where he has most influenced on. May Allah bless him.

From my own experience, it is more interesting when I could read the Quran and at the same time understood the words. Although I never learn Arabic, but by reading it more frequently and occasionally reading the translation, I could pick up most common words especially those that Malay language has borrowed from Arabic.

To illustrate my example, try reading the whole translation of Surah Yusuf. We have heard Yusuf a.s. story at some point of our life before, we know the plot, the intrigue and the love affair Zulaikha has for him and how his brothers treated him. Now, try to read the Quran, and try to picture the story in your heart while you are reading it, InsyaAllah you would find that its like reading a story book which you could immerse in the details and understand it literally. Thus is my experience.

Probably, one could start with easy surah like Al-Asr or Al-Ikhlas and maybe upgrade oneself to some longer surah like Ar-Rahman. Ar-Rahman, I found it unique as it’s words are repetitive and one could easily pick up the language slowly but surely. I am no master nor have successfully applied it, but it does enhance my skill of Arab language (by a few words… for now). I could not speak or find a choice of word when trying to have a conversation, but at least, I could understand a little bit if an Arab speaks to me. I could at least understand the topic of the Khutbah during Jumaat Prayer and not just drift away to sleep through the whole session.

To conclude my post today, as a humble reminder to myself as well as my family and friends, read the Quran, the more the better, and make an effort to understand it as much as possible.
Since Ramadhan is around the corner, I hope I could read more and try to Qhatam the Quran again at least once during the Ramadhan. To achieve the stretch target, I would have to read at least 4 pages after each prayer. (Thanks Lina who forwarded me the email on simple calculation to finish the Quran in a month) InsyaAllah, if I miss the target, I still have at least 2 weeks to catch up before the arrival of Ramadhan...

The bounty of the Red Sea

2007-07-27T22:00:00.001+08:00

Today the red sea reveals all its glory. The 630am morning sun was cool with very light breeze blowing in my face. The sea was dead calm and the water was so clear a sight I rarely see.
We were there early with one purpose. To catch some "pari". And it was an excellent mission, for we managed to spear 3 "pari". Two of them I caught myself. The sea was so calm and clear that we can easily spot the "pari" relaxing at their spot unsuspecting that their hunter was close by. I could easily sneak up on them and manage to get as close as 2m away before throwing the spear. It was an easy target.
While we were busy looking for the "pari" we manage to spot 2 turtles crawling on the coral at the shallow end of the water.
There were also a shoal of flying fish busy trying to out-jump each other, probably excited about the calm sea as we are. We spot a few octopus about, which leads us to more "pari" who were also interested in the mollusk.
Since I could not get some nice pictures of the coral, maybe you can follow this link to my colleague's blog Mr Max for a few picture of them.
Around the beautiful coral, there were inhabited of course by the rest of the coral fishes which some of them was as big as my tigh. I really wanted to take a dip myself, but the sea was so eariely calm, that made me lost my confidence to even float in it. Besides, I have an excuse as I did not bring my goggle.
So after spending two hours we return to our camp satisfied with our catch although we were so tired. The reward was "pari masak Asam Pedas" for lunch which was so delicious that I had to have a second round. A round of applause to our friend Cik Mad the chef all the way from Melaka, the home of masakan asam pedas.

Animalz

2007-07-25T01:40:00.000+08:00

When I thought of wildlife of Africa I always thought of Elephant, Lion, Cheetah and Hyena. Well I'm in Africa and sadly to say I've never came across any of those after more than a year here. Geographically I am in the wrong place. Port Sudan lies by the Red Sea and is bordered to the west by the arid Red Sea mountain, therefore, chances of any of those animals crossing a 1500km of swamp, desert and mountains just to post themselves for my camera is zero.
So, my best collection of animal photos so far are those of urban type animals like camels and donkeys. Mind you, these are only taken by my Dopod and my old E-ten M500, which means, I'm handicapped to capture the real McCoy of the Red Sea, i.e. the coral wild life.
Since my son Nuaim is always demanding his mom to search for animals pics on the internet every time she came home from office, I hope these few pictures will serve as a one stop center for her search.
This is an old picture i took of a donkey wandering away from it's herd..There use to be plenty of them but ever since they gated the plant area, they are never to be seen again..
Same goes to this flock of camel..hmm I think I badly need help with my English..I suck at animal groupies.. how and when to use flock, brood, family, etc etc. I'm just confused..
This is a picture of a sick camel. It died a few days later.. Maybe it ate a lot of garbage..or maybe its overdosed by X-ray radiation when they were filming the piping works.
Nyumm.. cholestrol kills!!
Since I don't have a waterproof camera, I got this kid to catch a fish and took photograph of him holding this Ikan Bayan? I have to admit, he got it from his dad ice box jer..
Needless to say, so is this big fish..hehe
Lobsters!! hehe. Never caught any of them yet, but they're sure good especially if you wash them down with Karkadeh
They're not albatross but they sure shit a lot. The offshore operators needed to regularly clean the SPM deck especially the solar panel. They were caught in the act by the CCTV installed on board the SPM.
Close up view..the leader of the "shit" gang.. nasty 'lil guy
This is another species of them birds that made the SPM their home.. but this one kind of camera friendly..
A skull belonging to a very dead animal.. your guess is as good as mine.. maybe I'll ask Dr. Temperance Brennan of Bones on MBC4 tonight..A dead snake..maybe a viper or some sort.. but this one only a baby.. Tips: wear shoes, especially summer nights like this time around..

More pari

2007-07-24T14:41:00.000+08:00

Today ain't my lucky day. It's Ripin the Stingray Slayer day. He caught one biger than mine. Oh well, maybe next time. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a good pari Bakar for supper.. This one looks like the one u can get at BSN or Belakang Istana Negara..

Tough job menyiang this fish..
The last of the gravy.. tomorrow if we catch more, we have to find other recipe..
Hmm...food for thought or more like fruits for thought

17 days to R&R and I am seeing things..

;-)

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

2007-07-23T01:25:00.000+08:00

Proudly to declare, my latest first timer was yesterday. It was a first all the way. I speared my first "pari" with the first throw. It was the first time I ever went to the sea with a clear intention to catch a "pari". I've never even gone fishing before. Not even with a fishing rod nor ever casted a net before. Its a first timer luck.
Actually it was not the poor pari's day. Probably it was curious at the pair of hairy leg clumsily trashing about in the knee deep water which was probably its playground.
I throw a long shot and it actually misses the "pari" but instead the stainless steel rod ricochet against the dead coral sea floor and speared right through the "pari". I stabbed it again with another spear (I was carrying two..tamak!) but the "pari" was determined to fight back. Its strong tail was lashing about which made me scared as I thought of Steve Irwin being stabbed to death by its tail. I had to call my hunting buddy "Ripin the Stingray Slayer" to finally finish the job..
Nevertheless, I was so proud I was giggling to myself a wee bit. It was a primitive sensation like a true hunter gatherer who kill with his bare hand..with a little help. I was feeling on top of the world.. despite the fishy smell.
Here's some pictures of the pari..I don't know from what species..but it taste so good..yumm!

It ain't smiling anymore..
The spear that did the job..after the first throw the pointy end was bend and it badly needed a repair job..

The proud "hunter".. I need to censor a bit..too many lovely tits pics on the internet thus no need to add another ugly pair..The task of "menyiang" fell on our package leader shoulder..
Ready to cook"Pari bakar" recipe ala Ikan Bakar Istana Negara.. the gravy was specially imported from Terrangganu.

We are thinking of going spearing again..next time maybe at night.. the place is infested with Pari big and small. Hopefully next time I would be as lucky.

Kaputt

2007-07-20T01:24:00.000+08:00

My Acer Travelmate 3200 "buat prangai" again. This time the USB port refused to run the mouse and sync my Dopod D810. I think the culprit is the USB Hub I am using short circuit or something causing both my USB port to go boink. Further to add insult I cannot run Activesync using my notebook Bluetooth connection. At least I know my PDA bluetooth is working because I can transfer files to other devices, but it can't quite work out a partnership with my notebook, for some reason beyond me. I can do Activesync via IR but it take like ages just to copy the files over. I've done it last time, but it seems like its not working anymore.
This is one of the embarrassing moment to call myself an Engineer when I can't even fiddle with my notebook. Its like having a Scientific calculator but don't have a clue on how to do square root functions. Engineers like me are curse for reading Manuals. Always, I can't find the solutions to my problem in any manuals. It's either I screwed up pretty bad or I just don't understand what I am reading. I suck at IT.

Dekat Sudan Afrika ada apa?

2007-07-18T22:24:00.000+08:00

Last night I had one of the most quality phone conversations with my 3yo Son Nuaim. No doubt with some encouragement from my wife who told him to ask me about me going swimming, his curiosity got the better of him and finally wanted to speak to me.

“Bapak pi swimming ada ikan whale ye?” he asked. “Ye”, I replied. “Bapak dekat Sudan mandi laut merah ada banyak ikan”, I added.
“Dekat Sudan Afrika ada apa?” he asked me
Dekat Sudan ada laut merah, ada ikan ada ketam macam-macam”, I replied feeling so excited that he is able to string a full sentence for a question.
“Ada whale ada fish ada shark ada ..haa nunti dia gigit” he added gingerly.
“Taklah. ikan Shark kecil je. Dia tak gigit”, I reasoned. The mention of Shark makes the hair stand on the back of my neck. I quickly recalled that giant shark printed on the cover of Tin Tin and the Red Sea Sharks. Plus, some of my colleagues and the divers also spotted a few black tipped swimming around the coral reefs.
“Nanti dia gigit sakit”, Nuaim persisted with his story.

That was it. A short conversation with my eldest, his a charming little boy. His first words is “fish” and his been fond of aquatic animal ever since. I don’t like to keep fishes, but luckily his Grandma managed a small pond full of them. I brought him twice to Aquaria KLCC just to keep his interest alive.

Since I am away, every time I saw the red sea, I always thought of him. So yesterday I managed a few pictures of some wildlife around the beach. Next time if I have to come to this dismal place again, I’ll make sure I have a good camera worthy for some memorable pictures. Not like these ones.

Video hermit crab malu-malu hermit

video ketam garang masuk rumah dia

sebelum tu..video terjunan budding star for olympic 2012

I am grateful to be me

2007-07-17T03:52:00.000+08:00

This inspiring video found on youtube is very refreshing to me. I think I have to read the "Alchemist" again and refresh my memories about the "Laws of Attraction"..

My affair with Maths

2007-07-15T20:47:00.000+08:00

Gotcha..I dont have an affair with maths, neither the maths teacher nor that pretty chic at Farmfoods who does her maths with my purchases using the teller machine.

As far as I remember, my history with maths was always the color red, the color that arts use to describe heart shapes or love. Mine on the contrary is always red crosses and losing hair. The number always involve somewhere in between 0 to 4 and the 2 digits combination thereof.

I have always flunked my maths test since the dawn of time until I graduated an miraculously became an Engineer. However, there are only 5 events worth to talk about in my passages of math history. 2 of them would raised eyebrows on how I did it without use of "toyol".

Penilaian Darjah 5 I got a B for maths. The result surprised my tuition teacher who was also my neighbor. Honestly I only know how to do"bahagi panjang" (long divisions) just 2 months before the exam.

SRP I got a credit 3 for my maths. I certainly don't remember any "blue" marks on my mid or year end exam record.

SPM I got a credit 3 for my Modern Maths paper which was rather surprising but got a 9 for my additional maths instead. Yeah..a 9 and am proud of it. You know when u r sure that u get an A for that favorite exam paper u sit for, I was sure as hell I got a 9 even before I even begin to write my name on the sheets.
My maths teacher who happens to be the same teacher for both papers and most outrageously for both form 4 and form 5 could not be blame coz I was asking for it all along. He was tired of trying to teach me and twice he chased me out of his class for not paying attention. The only victim to my stupidness was my dad coz I think he spend RM 50 each month on my tuition but I only had a 9 to bring home.

My 2nd year Diploma in ITM earned me 2 respectable marks for Maths. Once a B+ during my third semester and A- during my fourth semester. I would like to give the credit to both my lecturers who finally made maths interesting for me but most importantly I would pat myself on the back for slogging the extra hours just to proof to myself that I can do it. After 13 years of education I finally realize maths ain't that hard.

So thats that, my history of maths. I don't think I would like to go thru it again. If my kids would ever asked me to help with their homeworks in the future, I would quietly slipped thru the back door and leave it to my lovely wife. Haha.

The following pictures are forwarded by my friend and no its not one of my paper coz I dont think I was that stupid and funny at the same time. Enjoy.."Answers by desperate students in exams"

Response to Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz's remark on smokers

2007-07-15T17:48:00.000+08:00

To: news@nstp.com.my

I read the article "Nazri hits out at Pas over smoking
remark" with disgust but also with a little bit of
humor. His remark on smokers is an injustice to non-
smokers in general as smokers are selfish and their
act are affecting others directly in terms of health
and indirectly in terms of their tax money are being
spent for anti-smoking campaign that failed.

As a respected person and a member of the parliament,
he should do justice above all to his constituencies
and also support the anti-smoking campaign championed
by his own "Boss" the Prime Minister.

Perhaps that is why the "Tak-nak" campaign ran into a
wall due to being unpopular among the majority of die
hard smokers and also lackadaisical support from the
government agents themselves, namely the member of
parliament.

YB Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz is known for his ever popular
foolish remarks in the parliament and lambasting the
Opposition for their critical statements. It is funny
that, just because the good idea to not vote in
smokers as leaders came from the Opposition, he is
quick to criticize the idea. It is time that Datuk
Seri come up with original ideas that is worth to be
considered by the public instead of coming up with
more rude insult.

I am sure many members of the public would not want a
selfish nicotine addict who disregards their own
health as well as others around them being voted to
represent them in the parliament.

Unhappy non smoking Malaysian
Damansara Utama

Tuah angka 5

2007-07-14T21:00:00.000+08:00

Mana nak letak muka oiii..where can I hide my face..
Terima Kasih diucapkan kepada Uzbekistan. Kami Rakyat Malaysia amat menghargai hadiah ambang kemerdekaan 5-0!!

We can expect another figure five from Iran.. lets wait and see.

Kemarin Hari Jumaat

2007-07-14T20:09:00.000+08:00

Kemarin kejadian pelik pasai malam sebelum tu tak hujan pun tapi ta ta pagi bah, petang ribut pasiaq lepaih tu baru hujan.
Rupanya aiyiaq tu mai dari Red Sea Mountain, bila hujan lebat kat ataih gunung aiyiaq teruih lalu ja tak dan meresap pasai gunung dia mana ada pokok.
Gambaq aiyiaq bah kat luaq kabin..mujuq la tak terapung kabin..tidak naya..

Kat Sudan ni biasa la semua jenih weather experience All in one day

Pasai kemarin pun hari jumaat, boleh la pi mandi laut aktiviti menghilangkan kebosanan. Tengah belajaq mengapung. Actually laut merah ni masin lebih sikit so senang terapung.
Lagi pun tempat mandi tu jetty tempat kapai belaboh so aiyiaq laut tak la, begelora macam swimming pool ja.
Sebelum mandi, amik gambaq ketam dulu..nampak ka?

President Visit

2007-07-13T16:56:00.000+08:00

So Omer el-Bashir finally made it to Port Sudan for the celebration. The rakyat also arrived in drove as early as 8am.

The weather was fine and by fine I mean the temp was at its best where even the most heat resistant Sudani was chanting for moya at about 10 am under the microwave hot tent. I felt cuak a wee bit when my friend suggested things could escalate into violence like the red mosque. The tent’s cloth was also red so hope u sees the connection.
The wording on the back of that guy perfectly described the occasion.
crowd control

Unfortunately I cannot wait till the event finish so I left just as Omer Bashir took his seat.
Well even half the rakyat marhaen also decided that the shows over and speeches wont quench their thirst. And that was it. The most hype about event this year in Port Sudan.

The rakyat chasing after lori roti..kalau BN buat cam ni kan senang PAS takeover our country..

Oh, I forgot to mention the warm up event that took place the night before. The organizer threw a concert Sudani style. The dancer was of course men from the adandawa tribe who showed off their move involving a long stick and lots of pointing to the sky. Too bad I m not equipped with camera suitable for night. Some of these pics also taken from my friend’s camera.

Youtube

2007-07-08T21:56:00.000+08:00

Some people appear bright until you hear them speak. I am sure you have heard the phrase before, and maybe u have met the kind of person in life.
Well, you can find them aplenty in the realms of youtube.
I have to give credit to those people who posted funny and sometime heart-touching video for the public to see. I am not a fan of youtube but, I could not resist to browse the site to find what it could offer.
Youtube is leading the way in the era of v-log or video blogging and I simply could not imagine the phenomenal change it would contribute to this world. Only 12 years or so ago, my first human to human interaction on the Internet was only via chat rooms on IRC, although it has not change much, the web as i remembered has not maintain a status quo but evolved into a communication medium central to the needs of people today.
On youtube you will primarily find so many self proclaim new age artistes who uses their camera and internet to assert their views upon others. Actually I am blogging today just to share with u my encounter with an atheist who poke fun at others religion and insulting their beliefs. I do not mind if one is an atheist or of other religion but if you stepped out of line and making fun of others whom you dont begin to understand, than I am irritated.
Yes I have said demeaning word at others who dont share my same belief, but not in Public. The problem with internet is, if a guy posted a blog or a video, thousands or even millions of people would joined in and it would manifest into a big circus. I dont care who became the clown, but if they are making fun of me or my belief, I get upset and would revert to keyboard bashing of annoying abuse. Normally, I do not publish them.
Yesterday was different. I posted a comment and suddenly some bloody f*^@$ng atheist started to pick a fight with me. The only frustrating thing is that, I know I am right, but I just simply dont have the knowledge to carry on replying to his undignified comments about Muslims which bothers me.
It bothers me that I do not have the capacity to argue with strangers. It bothers me that all the knowledge and faith I have about my religion is not being able to be stretch to drive home a point that I am right and will always be right about my belief.
"Demi Masa, Sesungguhnya manusia itu sentiasa dalam kerugian. Kecuali orang-orang yg beriman dan mengerjakan amal soleh, dan nasihat menasihati supaya mentaati kebenaran dan nasihat menasihati supaya bersabar"
The above Quran verse from Al-Asr, simply makes me thinks that I am indeed at lost. I think it is time that I live up to my faith and not just leave it behind as I wipe my face after the Salaam. O God, forgive me for my weakness.

Lullaby

2007-07-07T17:44:00.000+08:00

My eldest son enjoys this song when my Sayang sing it to him. One of the effective way to put him to sleep.. peacefully without a ruckus.

My second son is easier to put to sleep. Just turn off the lights.. zzzz

070707

2007-07-07T13:24:00.000+08:00

I was watching a movie on MBC when the clock tick 07:07:07. I didn't notice the time and the significant of it. Until I found out the date on my PC.

Oh well, its passed. Can't turn back the time. If anybody on planet earth found this date or time noteworthy is probably they're getting married today or birth of their baby today or u probably can find 1000 reason for it. Suit yourself.

To me, it's just another day at the ol' dusty office of mine. Another 34 days to go..

Places I'd like to see before I die 2

2007-07-03T17:00:00.001+08:00

Continue on my journey to the places I'd like to visit to the Middle East, Europe, Africa and finally the Pacific..

Middle-East
Hadaramaut, Yemen – my real dad said that his ancestors come from Hadramaut, Yemen. I wish I could find my roots someday. Nuaim and Nu’man lets look for your great great great grandfather grave..somewhere..

Cairo, Egypt – pay a visit to the pharaoh (Fir’aun) “resting” place or is it his torturous chamber. Hopefully I just see him on earth but not in the afterlife.. Na’uzubillah.

Palestine – My wish is to pray a 2 ruqaat prayer in the Aqsa mosque. Afterward, I would stones some Jews just to feel the plight & struggle of my Muslim brothers

Damascus, Syria – Nabi Muhammad probably travels here for business during his youth.. Just have to see and experience the markets in Damascus

Aleppo, Syria – flourished during the Umayyad and the Abbasid era.. Best Arabian architecture.. Probably stop at Palmyra on the way and visit the famous ruins

Rome, Italy – There is a Surah called Ar-Rum in the Quran. I believe, I have to visit this place mention in the Quran. There’s Coliseum and the villa lante garden..bringing the kids too

Prague, Czech – they say it’s the most beautiful part of Europe. I’d like to check that out. I’ve been to st Petersburg, I thought it was pretty impressive. I could be wrong

Kamchatka, Russia – Russia is considered Europe, but Kamchatka is pretty much Asia to me. It’s the isolation of the place. Far from any thing and anywhere. Its simply must go for a lil quiet time to ourselves.. Probably try dog sledding for a change

Greece – my wife did mention that this is one place she would like to visit. I am simply trying to please my own Cleopatra

Grenada, Andalucía, Spain – the Muslim history in Europe. Must visit one.. And appreciate al-Hambra palace in person. Kids coming along on history lesson

Laapland, Finland - the northernmost part of Finland..Laapland..Damn the discovery channel. I got hooked simply because of the view.. Beside..Hopefully I could catch the aurora borealis in this artic circle.. The timing should be right. The best time of the magnetic particle to put on the best display. The season should be right. And of course, I must make sure that my wife is not pregnant for at least 2 years.. The Japanese say making love under the aurora could give u twins..Hmm.. Nothing to lose to give it a try what.. Leave the kids behind on this tour..

Greenland – let’s meet the Eskimo. If u look at the pic u wouldn’t believe that Eskimos have evolved from the igloo to such a colorful flats. Haha..! I bet Kerajaan Barisan Nasional would have some fancy idea about a similar projek for the Orang Asli

Iceland – actually I'm torn between Greenland and Iceland. What I really want is to experience the hot spring in the middle of winter in cool Iceland. Wow..! It’s called the blue lagoon. Not the movie la..

Africa
Botswana – go to the national park and meet some lion and cheetah in person. err in animal.. I’d bring my kids most definitely

Ethiopia – I just want to get my hands on em fresh coffee beans and go home..im not a coffee lover. it would be probably d most expensive cuppa..but what the hell.. they say the Ethiopian ladies are beautiful. I don’t know if I can call Iman the model beautiful. but she’s quite a looky anyhow..

Pacific & Oceania
Tahiti and Bora-Bora- translucent, shimmering aqua lagoons... of sun-drenched, sandy beaches, and psychedelic coral. I think the Is and the Ts that got to me. a place must visit just me n my wife.. South Island, New Zealand – let the kids catch some kiwi, probably try to read that LOTR novel again.. get the feel.. fist fight with the Maoris, do the hongi with the local native girls..

Thats all the places I have in mind. How I wish..

Glasgow Airport Attacked

2007-07-02T20:55:00.000+08:00

Glasgow was attacked by "Terrorist" last Saturday. I didn't know until today when I accidentally switched on the BBC. The news came as a shock to me. My memories of Glasgow was a fond one, during my 2 years of lepak there with the privellage status of being a student.
One of the photos I got from the BBC website was the picture of the M8 intersection towards the Airport that flashed back memories of the last trip I had inside the mercedes car driven by my friend to the airport on my last day in Glasgow. There was no road blocked during my last trip back in 98.

Its kinda sad that Glasgow, was infected by this "terror campaign" plaguing the world over. It angers me that everytime there was a bombing, Muslim always become the target for suspected terrorist cell or sympathizer as they put it.

One of the comment by the so called expert on TV, this could not be the IRA as the MO as he put it was slightly different because IRA normally make a call to the "authority" as a threat before they bombed target area. What ridiculous comment I think. Maybe that IRA guy finished his phone credit and simply could not make the call. As a result, he probably screwed up his plan that result in a sloppy or "failed" attacked as stated by the metropolitan police.

I remembered there are many terrorist on the street of Glasgow themseles who racially attacked other people on the streets. Aren't they the equivalent of terrorist? How do you differentiate between IRA, Al-qaeda and a racist who brutally attacked passerby just because their skin is of different color? You tell me.

Anyway, I also recalled, when the idiot George Bush first came to power in USA that was when 911 happen. My thought is that the Terror Attack that happen in Uk the past couple of days is simply to keep the newly installed Mr Brown at war in Iraq.

Another conspiracy theory brought to you by yours truly.

Places I'd like to visit before I die

2007-07-02T02:47:00.000+08:00

Since I started this blog a while ago I have problem of maintaining it and preserving my interest to continuously update em. Today I could not sleep and keep thinking to myself about that promise to my Sayang to take her on vacation she deserves. Then I thot of places I saw on TV that I would spend my Ringgit to go to. After daydreaming (or night-dreaming) and all I finally decided on a few places I would like to visit b4 I die.

The problem was to start writing it down .Ideas keep coming but my fingers simply wouldn't write. Finally I decided to recall my memories about this special interest of mine in geography.

My first introduction to geography was from my dad's giant Britannica map. I use to leaf through it every day and making pencil marks of places I have been to. I also make sketches of the places I wish I would visit someday. I also imagine that if I ever grow up to be a millionaire I would buy up pieces of land and turn them into forest reserve or Safaris. Lucky my dad never minded me writing and doodling on his map. I was probably 10 then.

Realizing my interest in geography he bought me some books from the national geographic publications so that I could harness my interest into something useful. When I grown up a bit he subscribed to the National Geographic magazine which I still keep em. Though the subscription stopped when I further my studies. I continued my subscription with my own salary many years later, but discontinued it again ever since the 911 when I felt l that Nat Geo beginning to sound like George Bush and his anti terror campaign.

Anyway that was the history of my passion with geography. Oh btw my favorite teacher was Mrs. Lim who teaches geography and was also kinda cute. My puberty years probably intensify the chemistry I had with Geography. Hehe.

Back to the main topic: Places I would love to visit before I die are the following: drum rolls please

South America

Patagonia, Argentina - some mountain in Patagonia caught my eyes. I simply have to go there and take my pictures standing there and besides I need to check out if the toilet really flushed anti-clockwise down there..

North America

Rockies, Canada- simply breathtaking and picturesque view.. When should I go? Summer? Autumn? Winter? Or spring? Kids, pack up your bags, we’re going camping!

Yellowstone, USA..Of course I must not miss the old faithful..

Asia

Osaka, Japan – the picture explains everything

Xinjiang, China – I am fascinated with the Kashgar and Urumqi Silk road and the heavenly lake.. and desert sand of the Taklimakan – haven’t I had enuf of desert in Sudan? Not..! I heard they test nuclear here near Lok Nor..

Truth is I use to had a thing about Chinese Muslim ladies.. I just want to go to their village and find out. Actually my Sayang never know about this ancient infatuation of mine..

Tibet, China – maybe will tour around Xinjiang from Urumqi to Kashgar to Tibet. Have to take a look at the map to decide the route.. it’s the roof of the world. The Shang-ri La..must go for me. Should I bring the kids on this trip? What age is suitable for kid to appreciate mountains, lake, and just the opposite kind of culture from us..

Everest, Nepal – I just want to have a good stare at it. and go home satisfied. I wouldn’t dare to scale the heights coz am afraid of heights… well ok i'll like to try hit first base and probably go back to Kathmandu and hit third base with my madam .. yesss..

Sri Lanka – I don’t know, they say Sri Lanka is the first place Prophet Adam set his foot on earth.. I’ll like to verify that myself.

Most of the pictures I leached from the Lonely Planet. Thanks!

Twister!

2007-07-01T19:50:00.001+08:00

Twisters! Nothing compared to US Tornado Corridor. But this one quite big, Normally you could spot 2-3 of smaller whirlwind about, but by my standard this one a monster..
Its only kicking up dust..I think I'll downgrade it to baby monster twister..

Its not so hot today..

Al Fatihah

2007-07-01T16:01:00.000+08:00

I found out that one of my colleague passed away during a team building session in Karambunai, Sabah. He left behind a wife and 5 kids. My heartfelt condolence to his family for their lost.

Article from Berita Harian: Staff Carigali Meninggal

Life is too short. What is my preparation..?

Social Distancing

2007-06-30T01:17:00.000+08:00

The other day I learned a new word. "Social Distancing" are 2 words put together but means one thing to me i.e. "left alone"
If you put up a search on this word you will find a number of meanings to it. Its actually used as a defense mechanism to avoid the spread of pandemic, like in the case of Avian Influenza.

Actually I learned the word during a health and safety briefing from our company HSE on his short visit 2 days ago. The main topic was Avian Influenza and its a common practice recognized by WHO to socially distanced oneself from being in group or close proximity with masses of people where the disease could be easily propagate.

Sudan as far as I remember has not suffered any cases yet, however a while ago there was a scare about the ayam in the market where shipments of them ayam was stopped across the country. Its immediate effect was the price escalated to as an equivalent of RM80/ kilo. Being malay, same goes to the rest of my expatriate colleagues we felt the impact coz surely we could not palette "Kharuff" everyday.

Anyway, back to the main topic, putting to practice social distancing if ever a pandemic occurring here, would be unthinkable. Can u imagine only being a small malayian society avoiding each other would be tantamount to suicide. Its the teh tarik lepak session, shisha puffing, mandi laut, bbq, ping-pong game, karaoke and masak2 for supper that kept us sane while we suffered our 60 days of torture. Although the frequency of these session is becoming less frequent due to the dwindling numbers of clown or organizer, but it sure beats locking myself in my 6x4m cabin with stupid arabian TV.
then was the day when the work was in full swing, the teams halve by now..9 months on
Shisha session.. I quit smoking, but a lil bit of shisha once in a while wont kill right?

bbq session.. yes we caught those fish but..pakai umpan SD ;-)

pic taken june 10th.. u can count out the yellow jackets now..those are whose left behind now..

worst yet to come.. I hope wont be the last man standing here..

106 days to the birth of my third baby, InsyaAllah
42 days left till my R&R (..or demob)

Deluge in Bashayer, Port Sudan

2007-06-29T05:14:00.000+08:00

Did I mention a splash of rain this afternoon? I wish to retract. Tonight between 9-10pm was a deluge.

It was the heaviest rain ever in the history of Bashayer. Probably, just now was the worst 100 year rain in this area. OK I am exaggerating. But both the office's and the camp's wireless antenna was blown out of its position by the howling wind that accompanied the rain, and the lightning and the thunder!

I'm sure KL folks would not give a flying donut about the rain here in Bashayer. They had too much of that recently..probably washed away their 50" plasma TV too.

Actually this post is just an escapism from my actual work. I've been lying to myself that I could finished a presentation I volunteered to give in KK next august. Up until now, I have not even manage to put together more than a couple of pages. I still have all my presentation material locked away as some electrons in my hard disk somewhere..

Oh well, thanks to our brave administrator who didn't mind to get himself wet to fix the antenna. Now we got back our internet. It would be a waste if i didn't appreciate his effort by posting a useless blog, right?

The best of Sudani weather

2007-06-29T01:08:00.000+08:00

Today's seen the end of the 4 day sand storm. I thought Today's perhaps the best weather I ever experienced here. Yep, It was only 42 max and there was a splash of rain..although it didn't even wash away the inch thick sand.

Pale 8am sun yesterday. At least I saw the sun in the morning today.. and there were whirlwinds spotted about the vicinity to dust up the scene. Oven hot winds that is.

pasiaq..pasiaq..pasiaq..ataih noteboook aku pon penuh..arrgghh..

on my table too
the glorious sand storm

A pale 5 pm sun above the office cabin.. thats quite an office going on there..

dust collectibles in my car

Up a head towards the left, u r suppose to see four 500k bbls tanks.. can u make out anything out of that shadow?

It was 45 the other day, and my colleague recorded a 50 by the sea yesterday. All in all, the weather mange to held up the celebration planned for yesterday. The president of Sudani himself was to be among the distinguished guess, but the weather and a sudden demised of a VIP put off everything.

It was a bit disappointing coz I was expecting Kharuff BBQ for diner.. oh well, just another day.

Sudani

2007-03-30T01:53:00.000+08:00

so many promises..yet none were kept
7 words describe me..

anyway..again I am digressing

I want to yap about my work. Its kinda boring..the way its going. Yet everyday, something funny or very sad tend to happen makes me laugh or appreciate my being here.

Sudanese, I must say, I do not understand them at all. They are a very happy lot and can make do with just about anything. Its something you have to experience for yourself to be able to share what I am talking about. Its something u would laugh or shake your head in disbelief at sit downs with your fellow colleagues who served in this peculiar country.

Ok. I think Ill have to explain to you anyway. I might not explain it very well but I'll have to start somewhere. After some practice via this blog I hope Ill be remembered as a good story teller one day.

WARNING: I might not finish what I might not started off well.

!) I saw people drinking out of condensed water from Air Conditioning drains. Yes. They do it here. And they dont get sick.
@) They took their bath out of corroded iron tank from waist up. Yes. Waist up! They are being modest not to remove their trousers while taking a bath in front of the Control Room. But yet they do it without wetting any part waist down..including their feet. I cannot explain to you in writing how they do it. I wish I had a camera with me that day.
#) They always work in a minimum group of 3 people at a time. 2 sitting down resting, the other one work his ass off. Then he will take his turn to rest. One of the rested one will start working now, while the other one continue on another stretch of rest time.
$) Productivity? What productivity?
%) Safety? What safety?
^) "Lets drink some coffee". "Come, I will make a cup of coffee for you". Those are familia invitations for coffee you would likely get from these hospitable people. But If you are looking for job.. You might only find coffee drinkers and baristas around the plant most of the time.

I'll put up pictures of what I am talking about. I promise..

on being called a hajj

2007-03-11T00:49:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was my birthday. A significant one for me coz i have completed my fifth rukun Islam..i.e. "memuniakan haji di Mekah"
Wow!
But please dont call me hajj.. here in Sudan, the title "hajj" are reserved for old people. I dont need to be reminded that I am old. Here's some pictures of my escapades in Mekah and Madinah with my lovely wife the "hajjah"..
A few days before the Wukuf.. The cloak of Kaabah has not been change yet.. The white strip is because it was folded up outwards..

The mosque entrance as seen from my hotel door

We are here Allah! There is no god but You alone..

The Rukun Yamani.. I believe geographically this side is the qiblat for the Sudani
The Kaabah, towards the end of my stay.. pilgrims start to dwindling in numbers
Assalatu wassalam ala Rasulullah saw
"Door to heaven".. a burial pit at the Baqi'

Scene from inside the Raudhah.. the Gardens of Heaven..

do u?

2006-09-07T02:38:00.000+08:00

lets talk about what i remembered most..

Acheh.. so far of my 30 odd years of my life, i remembered my 3 weeks experience in acheh the most. i think, by far i have the most fond of memories although the turn of event that got me there in the first place was a sad one.
almost all living being that have feelings and brain will feel for the many thousands of life loss in the Indian Ocean Tsunami of Dec 26, 2004.
I certainly felt it. It moved me. It took 6 full months before i am able to do anything about it.
It was an oppurtunity i certainly most not want to miss. Trying to give back to those in dire needs.
I have pictures of it, i would like to share.. and attribute them to this foreign land and strangers that have an effect on my life.

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

2006-09-06T03:17:00.000+08:00

ok lets start this simple..
actually i don't know where to start..
simple as i thought is not so simple to put in words..
ok..
can i post this first and look how it looks like..or sound like..
i am dumb..dumbstruck..
but my fingers are still typing..
they have a mind of their own..
oh wow.. i don't know i am such a slow typer..
add that to the missing "Shift" key..the left one.. a little present from my son..
and now i lost the "Enter" button..
oh my gosh..
this is not so good..
oh well..
thats not too bad..
given i cant even see my screen through the dust coating..
hmmm... i think ill stop rambling..for now..