Happy 50th Birthday MALAYSIA

It was 50 years ago when history was made. The late Tunku Abdul Rahman shouted "MERDEKA, MERDEKA, MERDEKA" (Indepandence!) as the Union Jack was lowered and the Malaysian flag hoisted. With that declaration, Malaya became independent on 31 August 1957.

Back then life was different. The economy was pretty much dependent on rubber and tin mining.

Now 50 years later, WE are a proud nation which has accomplised so much. A lot has changed. e now have sky scrapers, modern buildings, highways and airports, to name a few. We as a nation have excelled in many aspects and have managed to put ourselves in the eyes of the world.

This verse from a famous patriotic song sums it all in a very apt way.

KERANAMU MALAYSIA

Keranamu kami bebas merdeka

Keranamu nyawa dipertaruhkan

Keranamu rela kami berjuang

Demi bangsa kedaulatan negara

Keranamu Negara Malaysia

Malaysia...Terima kasih Malaysia !

So HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY MALAYSIA!!!

Bandung Revisited 10 - 12 August 2007

Eagerly waiting to board our flight at LCCT

In the midst of my hectic schedule, I managed to sneak out of the country and flew to one of my favourite cities for retail therapy....BANDUNG. One tip about retail therapies...go with companions who love to shop. Companions who instantly get the adrenalin rush when they hear the word SHOPPING. And they are also the ones who can't close their eyes at nite when they missed out a bag or a blouse which they saw earlier and didn't manage to grab. It is more FUN if you are with this kind of group.

My "gang" for this Bandung retail therapy trip were of course Muni and Jupe. Two of our UW Madison seniors Kak Ariza & Kak Aiza came along with us this time.

Arrival at Bandung airport

We stayed at the same hotel where we stayed last time. Hotel Sukajadi, located at Jln Sukajadi, right smack in the city of Bandung. Compared to the last time we were here, the hotel has more guests from Malaysia. And they all have this look on their faces...I AM GOING TO SHOP TILL I DROP...(for the ladies..especially)

We were met at the airport by our driver Pak Termizi....a pious looking guy..somewhere in his mid 30s. He took us to the hotel to check in.

Since it was a Friday and he was to go for Friday prayers, we asked him to drop us at Restaurant Ayam Goreng SUHARTI for lunch. It was tough to place our orders as the menu was written in Bahasa Indonesia. My sis who has been at this restaurant before told me to go for the ayam goreng.

So..1 ayam goreng or fried chicken was one of our orders. The food was yummy..very tasty rice accompanied with vege and fish. I took one portion of the ayam goreng...it was kinda funny looking....I tried to figure out what it was anyway. And when I finally did...it was the head and its beak still attached to it!!! I almost flung it out of my plate...Thanks to Jupe...she took the "thing" from my plate and put it back into the plate where it was served in. That was some encounter.

Outlets around Jalan Riau

They sell those yummy Amanda Brownie Kukus from the boots of the cars

We hit the usual shopping places. Pasar Baru was the first stop. We got so, so many pieces of telekungs. Halfway through our shopping, we had to call our driver to carry our bags of telekung into the car and then we continued shopping.

Our 1st day damage...some guests of the hotel "tegur" us on our shopping.

Other shopping stops were Rumah Mode, Summit, Herritage (for clothes) and DIAZ (for handbags). Surprisingly this time I didn't go gu-gu-ga-ga in DIAZ as compared to the last time I was there. I only got a small FENDI toiletry bag. Jupe & Kak Ariza got a few pieces for themselves.

The bags in DIAZ...but I didn't get any...

What was interesting with our visit this time was our lunch trip in Kampung Daun. It's a beautiful place where locals & tourists frequent for good local food. The concept was small open "pondoks" in the well kept green area complete with river & waterfall running across the place. It was so peaceful and relaxing. We had to climb all the way up to our designated eating "pondok". It was worth the climb...coz the food was really, really good.

The eating huts in Kampung Daun

Our food for the day....

After two solid days of shopping and eating it was time to leave Bandung. Our flight was in the morning. It is always the challenge to keep our luggage at its minimum weight. Air Asia only allows 15kgs of free luggage. After weighing our bags (yang dah beranak tu...) we exceeded about 8kgs in total. We had to pay about RM120 for the extra. Well...getting better this time compared to the RM300 we paid the last time.

At the end of the trip, everyone was happy. All the stress went out the door...at least for a little while. On board the flight home...a similar thought was on everyone's mind....WHERE IS THE DESTINATION OF THE NEXT TRIP :-))

Camp Came to a Close...Finally

The Camp is finally OVER.

Last Saturday saw the closing of our ICT camp. It was attended by parents and main sponsors of the camp.

Children passed with flying colours with their project presentation. Parents were overwhelmed with joy. We could see parents' proud feeling for the accomplishments of their children.

As for me and my team...fuhhhh..we are GLAD that everything went well. All the hard work has paid off.

Sunset on the last day in PD...what a beautiful sight

And would we do it again???? For the right PRICE...why not :-))

Still at Camp - Day 6

Fuhh...the days fly by like a zip. It's my day 6 at camp today. For the children it's the final day of preparations. Closing of the camp will be tomorrow...and they have to present their project work.

We took lots of pictures of the kids and emailed the link to their parents. Some moms melted when they saw pictures of their young heroes....I know how it feels...I was like them too when Faris first went to his police cadet camp.

Picture taken at after midnite..on our 1st day of camp program...Me & Lartz...so poyo looking already.

As for me and my team...we are DEAD exhausted. Just another day to go...We really have to give it a FULL GO!!!

There's no looking back now....

Final Preparations

It's almost midnite and we are still going on strong. It's just hours away to the camp and my girls are busy sorting out t-shirts and goody bags for the campers.

This is what it says at the back of the t-shirt
Our Children, Our Future.

Lartz & Bad trying out the t-shirts.

And finally all t-shirts go into the goody bags....

I am at Camp

This week will be a long week for me. Will be conducting an ICT camp in PD. Getting really excited about the whole thing. After all the preparations and hard work...I really hope things will work out fine.

Setting up the notebooks for the camp

It's difficult to resist the temptation of the sea but we have to get everything ready before the campers arrive tomorrow.