occupational hazard 2

Crash. Boom. Bang.

I fell and injured my back. Rested four days and hopefully another week. Hope would be able to walk normally after that..

a room without a view

Its 10pm and I am waiting at the KLIA departure hall typing the entry on my PDA (yea!! no wifi though). I am wearing the security wrist tag which in any circumstances should stay on my left wrist. I left my identity card with the security of the daily pass counter in exchange for the wrist tag and a visitor pass. Felt like a newborn in hospital where nurses put wrist tags on both babies and moms for identification purposes. Well maybe not exactly feeling like newborn.. just a jakun in KLIA hehehe.

I remember my first assignment at KLIA. Witnessing the first group of Banglas deported back to their country via the international airport. At that time I was only given the visitor pass to walk freely at the immigration counters and take the train to the departure hall. Of course I was not allowed to board the plane and fly to Bangladesh for free though I always carry my international passport with me hmmm...

While I was contemplating on how to get a free ride to anywhere (since I already at the departure hall), the Banglas were asked to walk and squat in a row - like when we are in assembly during school days. These Banglas, they were cool guys. It was cool in the departure hall and yet they refused to wear their slipar jepun. That cheap rubber sandals were either kept in their luggage bag or tied with a piece of string and slung on their shoulders. Yet, they are going to board the Boeing 737 direct flight to Karachi. Cool guys!

My first experience in a plane was back in 1995 when I met a couple who had to fly to Taiwan in full wedding attire. That was the first time I got security pass, got my bags scanned and entered a plane. Though a few months before I did fly from Senai Airport to Subang Airport, but that was in Fokker 50. My first solo flight unaccompanied hehehehe another Jakun. So excited but had to act cool.. That time the flight only cost me RM95.

Now it is 11.30pm and updating my entry, this time in a Air side hotel in the main terminal near all the international gates.

My assignment today was to witness the first passengers of the innaugural flight from Chennai, India. The flight 9W0342 Boeng 737 touched down at 5.25am after making a few circles to delay the time while waiting for the ministry VIPs to arrive.

So we had a few hours rest before the wake up call at 4am. We were brought to Airside Hotel and I got Room 169 all to myself. For the first time I got a room without a wardrobe. Since I did not get any chance to clean up before going to the hotel, I decided to hit the shower. Alamak! Howlah? My wrist tag will get wet. Time to get creative!

Done what I need to do, I decided to look at the view from my room. Go straight to the curtain, looking for the opening and found none. Lifted the hem of the curtain and tried to poke my head, hit a wall. Ohhh.... the curtain was only a camouflage. There was no window!

home alone

Am off again today and done all the chores I needed to do. I've done my banking last nite, dirty laundry and house chores, yesterday.

There are lots of pros and cons when your off days fall on weekdays - the pros, you can do your posting, shopping or banking (though now its not necessary because there are lots of internet banking or machines available 24hrs).

Meanwhile the cons are that you can't go out with your friends as they are all working. So yesterday, I was left with myself to entertain me.

And because everything had settled, I decided to lock myself inside the house but venture out through the multi windows on my laptop. As usual I found a lot of interesting things on the pop ups. Hmm...

A friend emailed me and vented out her frustration how she was pestered to get married, not by her parents mind you, but by her aunts, her email;

"tak taulah Ny, my auntie kept pestering me with questions like when
are you getting married and settle down. On top of that, I've been
constantly accosted by my married friends wanting to set me up with somebody.
Why can't they just leave me alone? One day, I will get married but it will not
be for anybody's sake but mine"

Duh! Heavy stuff I tell you.

In the society where she grew up or even our society now, although they claimed to be modern and broad minded, they are still very conservative when it comes to women and marriage. Women must behave in certain ways and get married at certain ages. They are unseen rules and regulations that women must follow, Break these rules and you are a "role model". Don't be like si anu and si anu, she is anak dara tua (spinster). She is too headstrong that is why nobody wants to marry her bla bla bla.

I wonder why nobody said that to me before?
Yes, like my friend, my aunts do pester me to get marry, but everytime I smiled at them, scooted closer to them and "senggol" (nudged) their arms and asked them to find me a good lad, they kept quite, they just gave me a smile.. it looked like a nervous smile. Why ya?

I once took up a dare from my married friend who set me up with a nice guy (dia katalah, I didn't). She kept pestering me to meet this guy. Kept telling me that he is nice and sensible. Promoting that life in marriage is a bliss. Wait until you get married, Ny, then you know how complete your life will be. Then come the children, they are joy to your heart...

So, we (the guy and I) agreed to meet at a restaurant one night. He did not know much about me except my name and I said I work in a factory (I can scare people off with just a mention of my job. It is only applicable to adults and never works with children. Children are fearless! I can yell and show my card at them but they just smiled back or giggle. Some would even laughed at my face. These children I tell you, they are brave and fearless lot!)

Okay back to the blind date. I am a factory worker meeting a senior executive working in a, suffice to say BIG company. The date went okay for the first 30 minutes I guess. Then he suddenly said to me that that I don't look like a minah karan, (well Im not sure about this. Is minah karan different from other women?). That Im too knowledgable for someone who works in factory (Aik?). I told him I do lots of office work. Ah...

Anyway, I think I've confused him enough and felt it was timely to tell him my actual occupation and as expected he became different. Defensive and aggressor(?). Out of sudden our conversation strayed into dangerous territory. Media. How damaging certain reports can do. hahaha the war has started. Assalamualaikum? Don't we all like to read about other people stories? Sansational issues? Why is it okay if it happens to other people and not to ourselves? Media just feed what the masses want to read, kalau tak takkan lah URTV tu tahan sampai sekarang? Mangga sold like juicy ripe mango and other mosquito tabloids started mushrooming here and there? Now, I attack and he defend. In the end nobody wins. Needless to say, we went our separate ways.

Well, I guess I am not as aggressive as I was before. What people think does'nt really interest me much anymore, yet it is still interesting if I can provoke a person and see him or her "latah".

By the way, my married friend who initiated the meeting is no longer married. Her husband "play three sticks" behind her back. He got a new girlfriend. She asked for divorce, he obliged. She took the kids, he never asked. She is now working to support her children. He did not even send child support.

So, marriage is not the answer to everything. It can be more than bliss yes, it can be hell. Children can be more than joy, they can be trolls! No, I am not against any marriage, children or family institution. Strong or fragile. It is not easy to find one soul-mate and doubly tough to make a relationship works. Getting married is easy but to stay married -happily, that needs a lot of work, undertanding and love.

I've read in article somewhere that career women nowadays felt that marriage is secondary after career. Modern women especially who have better pay jobs prefer to focus on their career rather than marriage. Okay, lets look at the modern woman's role despite being independent, successful, educated, professional and self sufficient if she decides to get married.

1. She has to be a wife to her husband.
2. She has to be a mother to her children.
3. She is a teacher, teaching her children between right and wrong.
4. She is a tutor, assisting with homework.
5. She is a psychologist, using her intellect in daily struggles with husband and children.
6. She is a counselor, counseling the children when a bully hits them.
7. She is a financier, budgeting the household expenses.
8. She is a chef, preparing the meals.
9. She is a baker, baking on special occasions.
10. She is a tailor, mending clothes.
11. She is a driver, ferrying the kids to and from school.
12. She is a buyer and store clerk, ensuring that all basic necessities are in the house.
13. She is a switchboard operator, answering the constantly ringing phone.
14. She is a receptionist, answering the door and receiving guests and visitors.
15. She is a waitress, feeding everyone at mealtime before she feeds herself.

hehehehe.. such a long list, isn't it?

Another friend asked why that people can be so shallow and fail to see that beautiful facade maybe the only decoration that hid a crumbling interiors, or a shabby facade maybe hiding a gem behind it?

No answer? me either.

“Paradise lies at the feet of your mother.”

focus of lacked of attention

I am off today. Doing house chores and watching Oprah hehehehe

Today it is about 11 men becoming women. They have to go through the normal routine that women in US of A are mostly doing. They have to go through the painful waxing (some of us here are more content with just shaving than waxing.. well some just feel too confident and allow those legs to go hairy waduh!). Make up, selecting dresses to match with purses and shoes. Learn how to be graceful and get in touch with their feminine side. Its more like watching a drag show.

Among the challanges for the guys are to get comfortable with their getup and go out in public. Some looked pretty enough but most of them look like cross dressers crossing the street. Anyway! Salute to these guys who brave enough to take up the challenge for a quarter of million dollar! Well, as these guys came in variety shape and sizes, well they turned into variety of shape and sizes wo-men.

I may be laughing together with the studio audiences but a confession from one of the participants really jarred me back to the reality. He, the wrestler said;

Being a "plus sized woman" I feel being the focus
of lacked of attention.

Don't asked me what it means but I think I got it. You get the least of public attention and yet you are being the focus of the whole scenario. Confused? Yes. But it was so glaringly clear.

I've changed, you know.

I've decided to update my blog regularly.. despite how boring the entry would be... I promise (hic).

Last night I was watching Malay drama on TV1 and I cried. I seldom cry. Even when I fell off a bus and had nasty cuts on my knee and thigh when I was 12, noo.. I did not cry. I cringed, tears did trickled but nope, it was not crying. I only cried watching Lion's King, and Dinasour. I never cry watching Malay dramas.

Well, last night I did cry. And its all Rashid Sibir, Fauziah Nawi and Muhammad Hirzi Abdul Jalil's fault. I missed the first half of the drama, but the rest of the drama was so heart-wrenching.

It was about a boy (Muhammad Hirzi Abdul Jalil) who lost his parents and stayed with his grandmother. The grandmother (Fauziah nawi) is old, but she is determined to take care of her grandson. She always talked about death, her own, and advised him to be strong when the times come. One day she fall sick, really sick and told Epul (the grandson) to buy her some medicine, so Epul ran to the shop and bought the pills. On the way home (he had to cross a river) the medicine fell off into the river and washed by the strong current. Concerned over the grandmother sickness, Epul ran to save the pills, used stick to pull the medicine to the shore but failed. In the end he dived into the river and got washed down by the strong current. At home the grandmother was frantic. Late at night, Epul's body was found and brought home. It was too much for the grandmother, she could not accept the truth. She fainted.

Kunang-kunang cucuku sayang
Pucuk paku di kais kais
Rindu siang bawa bertandang
Rindu malam bawa menangis...

I thought my tears ends there.. noooo... they had to use my favourite song as the ending.

Pelangi Petang
Kumeniti awan yang kelabu
Kutempuhi lorong yang berliku
Mencari sinar yang menerangi
Kegelapanku
Kupercaya pasti suatu masa
Sang suria kan menyinar jua
Membawa harapan yang menggunung
Bersamanya...
Engkau tiba bagaikan pelangi
Tak bercahya namun kau berseri
Tapi cukup menghiburkan
Hati ini
Seharian waktu bersamamu
Tak terasa saat yang berlalu
Bagai pelangi petang kau kan
pasti
Pergi jua...
Sudirman

wise man said...

My father once said,

do not expect others to be able to do what you can do and never look down on people as they may be better than you.

What a wise man, my father is.

off track..
However, this saying does not applicable to my bestfriend Zurd, she is almost six footer and for a 5f5i like me, I always have to "look up" at her even when she talked rubbish. Aiyoh!

on track..
So, here I am, standing in front of him, studying his face closely, dismissing my father wise words and instead in my head, I started singing...

Kau peluk aku
Sebelum membunuhku
Tersenyum melihatmu
Merenung melihatku
Kau Menungguku
Menungguku terjatuh
Setiap langkah tertuju
Setia dalam renungku
Aku menunggumu
Menunggumu
Menunggumu
Mati didepanku
Di depanku
Di depanku
Kau peluk aku
Sebelum membunuhk
Tersenyum melihatku
Merenung melihatku
Apa ynag kau lakukan
Dibelakangku
Mengapa
Tak kau tunjukkan
Dihadapanmu
Apa yang kau lakukan
Di belakangku
Di belakangku
Di belakangku
Di belakangku
DI BELAKANGKU - Peterpan

Okay bos! Whatever you say bos!


************************************

I was walking at the parking lot when I received a call from kuehpau. I missed the late night supper and randevous with you. Collecting "boyfriends" all along the way. Oi! Its all in the name of work hehehehe. I've waited for more than six months for you and when you came, when we just about to settle down and enjoy the work at the "down under", I've transferred back to the rat's hole. Mereka mencemburui kita...

Thank you for the call, I will drop a line and link to your blog. Happy walking!

occupational hazard

After all that farting around yesterday, one can't help being out of breath.. gimme a sec! Puf! Puf!

Anyway, that outburst was not directed to anyone in particular, just letting the steam out. Since this blog is about MY mundane life, once in a while I still need to spice things up.

Lately I got tensed up easily because there are not much things to do in the office. I did not get the opportunity to go out, instead I were cooped up inside the office and had to do follow-ups, calling people here and there. It was so boring that I ended pissing off a few people on the Net and get meself pissed at. So, by end of the day, my occupational hazard had increased to 300 per cent, thank you very much.

Talking about the occupational hazard, my friend was recently diagnosed with computer related repetitive strain injury or RSI.

"We pray with our hands and often communicate with them. We use them to eat, work, and make love. We employ them as marvelously sophisticated instruments of flexibility and strength, and when they are damaged, we anguish." - Keith L. Moore, Clinically Oriented Anatomy.

Repetitive Strain Injuries occur from repeated physical movements doing damage to tendons, nerves, muscles, and other soft body tissues. Occupations ranging from meatpackers to musician have characteristic RSIs that can result from the typical tasks they perform. The rise of computer use and flat, light-touch keyboards that permit high speed typing have resulted in an epidemic of injuries of the hands, arms, and shoulders. Use of pointing devices like mice and trackballs are as much a cause, if not more so. The thousands of repeated keystrokes and long periods of clutching and dragging with mice slowly accumulates damage to the body : another name for the condition is Cumulative Trauma Disorder. This can happen even more quickly as a result of typing technique and body positions that place unnecessary stress on the tendons and nerves in the hand, wrist, arms, and even the shoulders and neck. Lack of adequate rest and breaks and using excessive force almost guarantee trouble.

Great!

Armada110 with one broken neck (yihihihi)

For a big company like my workplace, none of the office furniture are occupational friendly. In fact, these furniture seems to have mind of their own. Scary? Well, almost all of us here are scary hihihi.

Actually, I lost my favourite five-wheel drive this morning. Well, this is not the first time somebody stole my "vehicle" and it annoyed me when it was not at its "parking" place, so I had to go hunting high and low (take it in literally please ;p) for the five-wheeler and fuiyo! I found it at the other side of the office room. Lucky for me we have no cubicles, so hunting the wheeler is not a problem and does not need any binocular or yelling for that matter!

finally, at its proper place

Okay, okay it is just a normal cheap clerk's chair with no arm rests but it is comfortable than the rest of the chairs that we have here. At least it is able to support my back and made me sit up straight and the wheels are working nicely, so that I can just push the chair around to pick up phones from other desks. wheeeliee!

pissing off the strangers

Is there no more sincerity in this world that every offer to help would be misinterprete? Whats wrong in extending a helping hand? Do I need to pity somebody in order to help? Do I need to have hidden agenda to offer my help? So? Go fart yourself.

Have you ever heard of "lillahi Taala". Doing good deeds for the love of God? Im not pious far from it and because of that, I try to do everything else to save me butt from that eternal fire in the Pit. Trying my best not to be acquaintance with Malik instead looking forward to befriend Ridhuan. Is that wrong? Fart it la!

I try not to judge people despite my work requirement to constantly become the Judge. I craved for sincerity because Im used to be stabbed at the back and back stabbing. I look for friendship because I lost a friend and gain an enemy every day. Even my ex-classmate became suspicious when out of the blue she received a call from me. Me who called her just to say hello. Me who just want to chat with her and asked her how do you do, its been a long time. Do you know how much did it hurt me? No. Because for you it was just a joke. So instead of saying all the good things, I said to her, fart you la! And never call her again. So, I lost another friend.

Do I need to advertise it? Do I need to pay a column in papers to tell the world? Im just being me. Helping strangers is better than helping friends.Ok, I helped a stranger last Friday, a car owner with flat battery. It was raining heavily. His wife and maid was pushing the car, he tried the engine. The wife is still on confinement, just delivered their third baby boy. I asked whether they need any help, they were so relieved. I helped jumped start the car, it worked. I was late to the office, but I don't care. Work is just work. I dirtied all my fingers, so what? There was smudges on my blouse, it would wash away. Who cares, Im not a model or a celebrity for that matter. I don't need to be constantly pretty because fart it, Im not.

That is why I have limited friends. I can count my friends with my fingers. I have less than five friends aside from my family. Is it a crime to care? If yes, shoot me la, and fart you too! So everybody, you can release all your au-naturel methane gasses because now, I don't farting care about your environment!!

I love you mak

Mak,
I never say these words to you before, you either for that matter,
But I know in your heart we share the same feeling,
You show your love through your constant nagging and lecturing
I showed mine by doing all the things that made you angry
We never hug or kissed or share love stories
But I know you love me deeply and I you
I know that I made you mad I refused to talk to you
And you retaliate by waking up very early and made my favourite meal
You secured me when you kick me out of the house (hic!)
And I secured you when I keep coming back
You told me its time for me to support you (financially)
But I came each month and took a loan from you
Mak,
Yes, our relationship is complicated
But this in my heart and soul is very clear
Whatever said and done and this comes easily
I love you deeply, I trully do
I walk on fire, I die for you
Because mak, I don't know what I'll do without you.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MAK.

lepak day

I am supposed to call Forestry Department and arranged for an interview with the director to get map on forest in Selangor. Unfortunately the director was not available and I spent my day continue reading Joe's blog. So, for the whole day today, I am glued on my five-wheel drive. Office phone on my left, handphone on my right. Elbows on the table and nose about 30cm from my laptop's monitor. Soon, I would need another glasses aside from my sunglasses. Time to check on my lucky bamboo pot.

I love forest. Make me choose between seaside and forest, I would easily choose forest. I like the green, the white water river, the humidity and the colours. Oh my the colours! Multi shade of greens. Beautiful! But no insects please!!! No cockroaches!

Last week, I had to cover the launching of Forest Day at Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve. It was about 30km away from my office. I never knew that there is a forest reserve in Ayer Hitam. All I know about Ayer Hitam is that it is a landfill area, thanks to Karam Singh Walia. Actually it is the oldest forest to be reserved in Selangor. laaa... rupanya!

A friend who offered to show the way to the forest reserve also lost her way. Apala lu Ta! (She hates people call her Ta like alif ba ta!hehehe). Finally after lot of wrong turns, we finally found the place.

Anyway, who would have thought that next to a monsoon drain, near a housing estate, is one of the few educational forest reserve in Selangor. From the outside it may not be impressive but inside aduh aduh duh! So beautiful. I received booklet like info on the forest reserve, jointly written by Paiman Bawon and Amat Ramsa Yaman.

Browsing the book, I learnt that there are plenty of unspoiled rivers deep inside the forest. There are Sungai Rasau. Rasau means dead trees in Temuan language. The name derived from many dead trees found near the river. Then there is Sungai Biring derived from Muring trees that were found abundance there. Sungai Nasih got its name from Selasih treee which are used by the indegenous people as part of their staple food. Unfortunately Sungai Biring and Sungai Nasih are badly polluted because of uncontrolled developments near the area.

Then there are the white water (jeram). Jeram Belanga because it shaped like belanga or periuk (paneh in Tamil and pot in English .. see the P words hehehe). By the way the orang asli respected the place and said that it is still used by the spirit of the jungle. Then there is Jeram Perigi or well in English. It was said that the area is too clean. There is not even moat on the rocks and stones so again the org asli believe that spirit and creatures frequent the place (alamak takutnya!)

These beautiful and serene rivers situated far inside the forest, so I asked one of the Perhilitan (rangers) whether it is possible to hike to these places, he said it would take at least a day to go to the white water and another day to hike back. ayayayaya! Can we take a ride in the heli then?

life...

I was browsing the Net, looking for any webpages on Melayu in Glasgow when I stumbled upon Joe's blog. And I can't stop reading until today. To Joe, kudos for your blog!

Plus - thanks for leaving a smiley at the comment link - Never expect that actually. Thought that I would always ramble alone hahaha

I would never have the courage doing what he has done and still doing. It is not easy to be a Bangla in US, or Indon or Viatnamese, Nepalese or even Nigerian for that matter. There were times (many in fact) I feel like I want to dump everything else and go. Just go. But, I don't have the guts to do so. My heart would say go packing but when my conscience kicked in - terbatal niat. I started thinking about who is going to look after mom n dad, send them to clinic/hospital when any of them fall sick, bail out my sister, my nephews and nieces. Ahhh.. responsibilities!

Abah used to tell us how hard his life had been. He was born during Japanese Occupancy so life was never easy. His dad (my grandfather) died when he was still in his mom's tummy, and when he was toddler, my grandma remarried, when he was 10 or so, my grandma died, leaving him with his stepfather who later remarried.. pening? me too.

Well, abah wanted to study, but no one was willing to finance his studies. Everyday he would cycle 18 miles from the village ( a small Javanese kampung in Panchor, Muar Johor) to bandar Maharani. So after finishing his Darjah Khas (Darjah 6 Sekolah Agama) he started looking for jobs.

Abah dream was to get out from his kampung, for him tapping rubber trees is not a living. Every week, he would receive RM4 from Apek who collecting the getah keping. Minus RM2 advance took, he would be left with only RM2. It was just not enough. So the cycle continues. Then one day he decided enough is enough so he left the kampung with only RM10.

From there the journey began, from one plantation to another, he became a rubber tapper. But he never stayed at one plantation for more than a month. From Muar to Kluang then to Segamat and later he was "thrown" to Bukit Ibam steel mine. All he did because he nekad (bukan naked ye :p) to find work that pays well although he was only working in the rail department as controller.

From there he started building his life, mingle with people from different background, learned about different food (he said from where he came from he only knew ikan kering). There he learnt using Brute after shave, Levi's jeans and eat laksa utara. Kesian my dad, he was really like frog under coconut shell before.

Abah is a sentimental person yet a cool guy. Remember Kembang se Taman column in URTV magazine in the old days? Well, it was not in URTV but he sent his pic in one of the pen pal column in megazine (I don't know what was the name) and befriended a guy from Pontian (also in Johor). They became good friends and wrote to each other a lot. One day, his pen pal told him that he is getting married and invited Dad to be his best man. Being a gentleman he is, Abah (sekejap Dad sekejap Abah hehehe) accepted his invitation as the best man he must be at the groom's house to help prepare for the wedding.

The first day Abah arrived at the house, he was surprised to see that the house was well decorated. The old rumah limas was nicely decorated. Bright colour curtains adorned the windows and beautiful flower arrangements are almost at every corner of the house. You see Abah's pen pal said that he stayed at the house with his mother and his dad had passed away when he was little, but Abah was sceptical because the decoration in the house seems like it was not done by an old lady as the taste was more modern (during that time in the 60s). But, Abah never said a word to his friend and just opted to wait and see.

Then the sound of bicycle confirmed Abah's suspicion. There is somebody else living in the house besides the friend and his mother. It is the friend's younger sister who is working as a teacher. It was love at first sight for Dad. He was 29 and she was 28. Quite unusual during that time. They were already anak dara tua and bujang terlajak in that society's standard.

So he approached his friend's mother and told her that he wanted to ask her hand in marriage and will send his family for the proper tradition. The mother accept the proposal as she felt that Abah is a decent man. All the preparation begins. During that time Abah would travel to and fro Bukit Ibam and Pontian. A month before the wedding, Abah's fiance fall sick. She was admitted to hospital and quarentined for almost a month. Abah's future-mother-in-law decided that it's best to cancel the wedding and offered Abah to find other decent woman in the village to be his bride but Abah declined. He said he would wait and rather postpone the wedding until his fiance is well. During that time Abah got an offer of a job in Australia, but thinking that he is going to start a family, he had to let go the offer.

Needless to say, the wedding continued as planned and he brought his new bride to Bukit Ibam. When the mine was closed, Abah started his own sundry shop. Two years later my elder sister was born and three years after, I was born. We are both Pahangites. In 1974, a few days after I was born, we all relocate to Ampang. A gamble that Abah took to raise his family far away from his and her families. He bought a small plot on Government's land for RM2,000 and set a sundry shop underneath a big tree.

I still remember that wooden shop, flanked by two workshops one motorcyle and the other cars on the left and right. I remembered playing around the shop, sitting in the boxes and pretending it was a car or plane, going to places in my imaginary lands. Business was good for my family and by the time I was in Standard 3, I can carry a sack of 5kg rice for customer, I can use the mesin kelapa, I learned a bit of Mandarin the profanities of course (because Abah's friends are mostly Chinese) and I learned the Abacus (although I still failed my Add Math in Form 5).

I also remember sitting on Abah's motorcycle and accidently made the bike's fall down on the side and burned my knee on the hot exhaust. Crying when my foot accidently trapped between the "lidi tayar" (god! my English teruk today!). Then one day I remembered my dad told me that we have to move out from the place. The Government wants to develop the place, said Dad. So, we were given three weeks to move out. It was sad to see the back hoe used to demolished the wooden shop where I spent my life (at that time I felt my life collapsed along with the piles of wood), playing with my friends and my imaginary friends.

If any of you (just if anybody reading me blog, thought this was xclusive for me before hahaha) remember the old big tree along at Jalan Ampang near the old bungalows. There was where our shop was. Now, the place, the exact place stood Ampang Point shopping complex. (the entrance was where our shop was)

nite crawlies

We had a long dinner last night that made me missed my date with CSY New York.

Kas, Zura and Sue decided to have dinner in Shah Alam and they included me in the outing (humble ;]p *wink wink*). They selected a restaurant in Section 9 as it was supposed to have the best bubur nasi (porridge) and "keropok lekor" so far. Well Im game though I've decided not to eat any porridge but to try out the "keropok lekor". Since it was almost maghrib, we decided to eat after the prayer.

The restaurant situated at the corner has a few tenants selling porridge, sotong goreng kangkung and keropok lekor. Lile most Malaysian, sitting outside was not an option, it is a must because many restaurants in commercial lots did not have good ventilation. Sitting inside a restaurant would be either stuffy or smelly. Kas picked the last table under a tree and we settled ourselves comfortably and chit chat while waiting for our food to arrive.

Indeed the food were savoury and you can choose your own dishes to complement the porridge. The keropok lekor was notbad either. Its not hard or liat but just nice although a bit oily. However, it was well into the night when I noticed we had another company - a pair of cockroaches "bergurau senda" near my chair. They ran out from the drain nearby and kept chasing each other "happily".

I was never into insects, roaches especially. I felt goose bumps already. I just hope that these two insects won't start flying everywhere, then I would surely freak out and would start looking for papers or any hard object to flatten them and flush them down the drain. From two those two "lover roaches" called out their friends and under the wood and the drain holes they came - in hordes. That's it! Im out of here!

While the food maybe good, the lacked of cleanliness is really a boo boo. I don't think that I would come here again in a long long time. What I really don't understand is how people can still eat with an army of cockroaches running here and there.

Bomoh?

This is a story about two stall operators in Fraser's Hill, Raub, Pahang.

After all that walking, talking and the whirlwind drive up to Fraser's Hill, of course like any kanak-kanak riang (happy children) we got hungry easily (despite one pack of fried noodles and a container of mango and apple slices). So, we decided to have a late lunch at one of the restaurants/ foodstall near the mosque at Fraser's Hill.

There were two restaurants sharing one building. Since the one on the right got many empty seats, we decided to select a place there. After placing our drinks order, Nit want to order a plate of satay. The lady who took our order told to go directly at the stall next door and place the order there.

Dutifully, Nit followed the instruction and went to see the pakcik who was fanning the satay on the charcoal burner. At first the pakcik was cordial to her but when she asked the man to send the satay to the table at the next stall, he got upset. He rudely told Nit that she should just order food from that stall and not come to his place to buy satay. To add salt to the wound, he accused that his neighbour stall operator is using black magic to lure customers to his eatery.

Both I and Zurd had our mouth hanging open when Nit told us what the man had said to her. All of us were speechless and we can only shake our heads thinking that this all were so childish. However, we respect the stall operator who took our order. They did not say one bad thing about their cranky neighbour but just quietly took order of customers coming to their stalls.

There was a group of Indian guys came after us and took up the big table at the same restaurant that we ordered food from. We heard one of them wanted satay and a guy went to the same man to ask for satay. Like us, the man refused to entertain the Indian guy.

Again, we just smiled at each other and quietly eating our plate of mee hailam, kueteow goreng and nasi goreng...

water 2

Ahh.. actually I was supposed to write about Pertak, one of popular picnic spots near the border between Selangor and Pahang.. hence the title water.

It was finally our outing destination. Zurd, Nit and me. I have been planning to go to Pertak for quite some time but the timing was always wrong. So, yesterday, we decided to just drive up to Ulu Yam and go to Pertak for a picnic. We picked up Nit in Ampang and from there took the highway to Kuala Kubu Baru and then to Pertak. It was a long drive, but an enjoyable one as we talked about the good old days. All the mischief that we got ourselves into, miserable love stories and the up and downs of being adults. Fuh! Purely heavy stuff!

Kampung Pertak is a nice area far away from the hustle and bustle of the city. But, it was not the same since the Sungai Selangor dam in Kuala Kubu Baru was built. Where used to be the spot where people stopped their cars and had a splash in the water was now gone and replaced with dual carriageway highway overlooking the area where it was submerged for the dam.

Although the area retained its serenity, it was not the same anymore. We made a wrong turn at first but finally decided to gamble our way and if we could not find the white water, we may just go up to the Frasers Hill. With this in mind, we plunged ourselves and had a whirlwind driving around the winding road to Fraser's Hill.

Then at one of the most sharpest bend I had ever experience, we saw cars parked on the roadside. This maybe it, we thought and true enough, this was one of the picnic spots along the river. There were steps leading to the river but the picnic area was limited. Since most space were taken by families and also people who camped there, we decided to find our own spot and off we go into the river to a secluded spot under the tree downstream.

tranquil

Zurd did not waste any time and started "berendam" like the water buffalo hehehe, while Nit and I just contented ourselves in dipping our feet into the cool and refreshing water. What a place to spend the day! We spent the time eating food that we bought earlier and talked and talked.

By 2pm, we decided to leave the place and try our luck to go to Fraser's Hill. More winding uphill drive but once we reached the Fraser's Hill gate, the was already a long queue. Another eight km climbing the hill may not sounds that bad, but it took half-and-hour to reach there.


my two bestfriends

It was just a teeny weeny bit cooler at Fraser's Hill so we just walked around and admire the greenery at the hillside. We saw many Singaporeans coming here. Maybe because of the long holiday or the golf range available there. I don't know. But the place seems to be popular among the people across the Causeway.

It was one relaxing holiday for me.. but it was a different story when I woke up today. All my body aches... adoi!