Wordless Wednesday (again)

Bottled water in a Jakarta hotel - full size bottle for whole day stay. Guess what's the shorter bottle is for? Yess....a half day stay grants you the shorter size bottle. @_@

Sent via Kay's Berry

Gajah d'Nami

I thought I was seeing things when I spotted a row Jalur Gemilang swinging proudly in Namisum. Someone's doing our country proud, that's for sure. And I was even more proud to be there to witness it.

Namisum or Nami Island (Winter Sonata...that epic Korean love soap, ring a bell? Yup the drama was filmed in Namisum) is a tiny half-moon shaped island located in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province - about 60 km east of Seoul. It was formed in 1944 with the flooding of the land cause by the construction of the Cheongpyeong Dam. The island was named after General Nami, who died at an early age the age after being falsely accused of treason during the reign of King Sejo, the seventh king of the Joseon Dynasty.

In conjunction with our Merdeka Celebration, works of a Malaysian artist Yusof Gajah was proudly displayed on the island. I googled Yusof Gajah and this was my findings.

“ I have this fantasy and imagination where I can see a lot of things. So when I get bored , I can come up with varieties. The elephant I paint is not the real elephant but is done in relation to humans. “  ~ Yusof Gajah

Yusof Gajah is know in the art circle and to friends as “Yusof Gajah” and for a good reason, too. The elephant is a constant inspiration in his artistic career. Yusof is also Malaysian’s foremost naïve artist . He was born in 1954 in Negeri Sembilan as Mohd Yusof Bin Ismail. He was educated in Singapore, and received his art training at the Sekolah Seni Rupa Indonesia and the Akademi Seni Rupa Indonesia in Yogjakarta.

Ohhhh....orang se negeri rupanya.......

Nissa's jump@Gajah d'Nami

Wordless Wednesday

Toil the Art, anyone?

Wordless Wednesday

Came across this interesting shop with "head turning" name  ;)

Rock Request

Pat Benatar, Joan Jett or Ella? Who do I go as? And how would my attire look like?

That's the big question playing on our minds now ;)

Alahhh...bukan apa nya. It's our annual dinner coming up soon. Theme this time around is R.O.C.K with STARS. Who's gonna be rockin' - we shall wait and see. The STARS?? Ohh...we all are; some 800 plus employees of the company, such bright stars shinning..he he perasan nya lah kan!

We spent our last hour at work today, joking about how we are going to dress on the dinner night. Ada yang kata nak pakai old pair of jeans - yang dah faded, with a big tear on the knee. Ada yang wanting to come with leather jackets and boots. Wah...what an effort. Tak boleh jadi ni....I got to put some thoughts on what I shall have on me too. Maybe I'll get Farah to Google something suitable for Mommy's ensemble.

Specific requirements would be "cari yang depict rock suci" boleh? Wah....ni dah boleh buat ala-ala project runway ni! We shall see what the outcome is going to look like. Tunggguuuuu.........

~Sent from my iPad~

Number Game

Nak comment tentang the recent budget ker?? No need lah, let's just leave that to the experts. But at the same time, tak larat juga looking at the obscene figures.....sigh...sigh...sigh.....

The following (selected) rundown of the 2010 budget was taken from Bernama.

It was mentioned in the budget that:

* The Government allocates RM111 million for PERMATA programme including the construction of the second phase of Sekolah PERMATA Pintar school complex, 32 PERMATA Children Centres (PAPN) and financing operations of 52 completed PAPNs.

* To provide competent and quality teachers and instructors to better guide and educate students, the Government allocates RM576 million in the form of scholarships for those wishing to further their studies.

* RM213 million is allocated to enhance proficiency in Bahasa Malaysia, strengthen the English language as well as streamline the standard curriculum for primary schools.

* The Government will recruit 375 native-speaking teachers including from the United Kingdom and Australia to further enhance teaching of English.

* Allowing flexibility to self-determine fully-paid maternity leave not exceeding 90 days from the current 60 days subject to a total of 300 days of maternity leave throughout the tenure of service.

* The toll rates in four highways owned by PLUS Expressway Berhad will not be raised for the next five years effective immediately.

* RM50 million to construct several shaded walkways in the KLCC-Bukit Bintang vicinity.

* Development of world's first integrated eco-nature resort at a cost of RM3 billion by Nexus Karambunai in Sabah to commence next year.

Are these babes amongst the 300 which import duty is to be abolished?? Aisyeh...why didn't abolish masa zaman-zaman I pakai size 2 dulu??

* Abolishing of import duty on 300 goods preferred by tourists and locals, at 5 to 30 percent, to promote Malaysia as a shopping heaven in Asia.

* Another landmark project "Warisan Merdeka" which includes a 100-storey tower, the tallest in Malaysia, at a cost of RM5 billion to be completed by 2015.

* Exemption of sales tax on all types of mobile phone

And the list goes on and on and on.....

My response?? Nadaaa....but I just want to quote Jerry Maguire - "Show me daaaa MONEYYYYYY"

Survey Says...

This piece of report appeared in the Star a few weeks ago. My reactions when reading it - perplexed, bothered and teed off. Eeeeewwwweeeeee........

I'd like to believe that there were some mistakes with the findings from the survey. However, if facts presented were true, gosh....... I feel totally grossed out!!

Girls, how often do you wash your bra?

A SURVEY has found that a number of Sing*por*an girls wash their bras only once a week, Sin Chew Daily reported.

Some never washed them at all, the daily said, quoting a survey carried out by a news portal. More than 200 women took part in the survey.

It said that as of Feb 9, 108 respondents said they washed and changed their bras everyday but 42 others said they only changed them once a week. Another six said they washed their bras once a year while six others said they never washed their bras.

The daily quoted the online news writer as saying he was surprised with the level of cleanliness among Sing*por*an girls.

“Although some women work in an air-conditioned environment and may not sweat so often, the skin will still turn oily after some time and this will result in body odour. It is thus more appropriate to change the bra every day,” he said.

However, a gynecologist said it is not necessary for women to change their bras every day especially if they work at the office.

“Bras are not like panties which have to be changed daily. But for those who sweat easily, it is advisable to change the bras frequently."

Compiled by ANN TAN, ZANI SALLEH AND A.RAMAN The Star (February 13, 2010)

Fresh Catch

Not only they are fresh, they are cheap too!! I would say that Tawau is a seafood heaven. We went to the market place this morning and came out feeling so "fishy".

Big prawns....so big and succulent looking

Ketam nipah..that was what the boy told me. Have never found these crabs in Shah Alam market.

Haaa.....check out this tiger prawns!! RM50/kg and you'll get like 5 pieces of these stripes

RM2.00/kg....never have I seen fish so cheap and fresh too

Here's where you can find them...so don't go complaining "who borong my fish after this yah...coz I did!!"

Fly Robin Fly

We could have just continued sleeping this morning. After all it's a Saturday and my back still ached from yesterday's back and forth drive to Port Dickson. There was a slight change of plan in Bagan Pinang. The event was postponed to next Tuesday. Some technical glitches, I was told. In a way, I was glad as that would give me sometime to catch up with the girls during the weekend. Although both Farah and Nissa have gotten pretty used to my no show on weekends, that heart sick feeling of mine is very difficult to ease. So when I got news about the postponement, I jumped with joy and in less than 2 hours, I was already back in Shah Alam.

Earlier in the week I had promised Nissa that I'd take her to the upcoming airshow in Subang. I also made her promise that she'd be up early, have breakfast with no fuss if she wanted to go see the show, and she agreed.

We left the house at 7.00am. The drive to Subang was good. The centre of action was at the RMAF base in Subang. Going to the base would be interesting but it was the jam that I dddn't quite fancy. So instead, we settled for a good spot somewhere at the end of the Subang Airport runway. We were the first few ones to arrive. Abe parked the car betol-betol menghadap the runway, giving us a good view of the upcoming actions.

As we waited, the crowd grew, but the sky somehow didn't look too promising. I got news that the show was to start at 10.30am, however nothing was in sight yet. My fear was the weather. Ohh..please don't cancel, not when I had dragged these poor souls out of bed earlier that the birds outside.

Then suddenly "something" came towards our way. Slowly it approached the end of the runway. Wallah......when I looked using the binoculars, yesssss...it was our newly acquired Sukhoi SU-30 jet-fighter. Wooo...what an awesome beauty!! The three of us were excited beyond words. And at take off, fuhhhhh........what a sensation!!! No one minded the ear splitting sound it left us upon seeing its sleek take off. Rasa bangga sangat that we have such a powerful machine (err...putting aside all the sensational Sukhoi purchase stories lah kan)

It rained for a short while but that didn't dampen everyone's spirits. Next came the Thunderbirds F16, reverberating the sky with sounds of its fast jet engines. Teruja yang sangat-sangatlah teruja till tak tau how to react; sekejap making FB postings via BB and sekejap lepas tu trying to catch the acts on camera.

And when it ended, for the lack of better descriptive, we had these to say, "Fly robin fly.....awesome, simply awesome!!"

Official government aircraft...kira macam Airforce 1 lah ni kot. It went up and down a couple of times. Not quite sure if it was part of the show or merely showing off tax payers' money put to good (?) use

The crowd began building as we waited anxiously for the show to start

Nissa trying to catch a glimpse of........

The country's newly acquired Sukhoi SU 30. At take off.....bunyi dia could make your heart stop beating.

The Sukhoi gaining speed

Up, up and away.....

After the half hour show, down was the Sukhoi and up went the ........

Thunderbirds F16

The handsome 4 all in line, ready to take off. Check out the white smoke as they gained force

Look Mom..they are flying!!!

Up they go....
Will post more pics tomorrow.....eyes almost closing. Nite, nite folks.....

A Confused Jumble

Try make out which is which of these mass of confusedly interlaced cables. I got somewhat carried away at snapping utility poles in HCMC. Looking at these pictures now, I gasp in a state of ultimate bewilderment. Thank God we don't find such mess back home.

A common sighting...dangling cables.

All mixed together, bet the maintenance guy has fun doing his job.

Standing under these cable gives you the creeps

But none of the rest can beat this one.......definitely one of its kind

A closer look....that's some tangled mess they've got up there!!!

Day 3 - Seniors, Tots and Keeping Clean

Such facilities are made available for the senior and young visitors to the Zoo.

Motorized tricycle to move around the Zoo area

For the little ones, who may not want to walk all the way

Know what to throw where...

Day 3 - They Just Wanna Have Fun!!

Before we left the zoo, caught these two in action!!! Errr...didn't mean to spoil their fun, but it was so hillarious....

I gotta move it...move it

Ehem...ehem.... (there was also sound accompanying the act :0)

Makcik Bloggers We ARE!!

I just had to get the message across to ABE. My eye signals to him for the last 5 minutes had not been able to catch his attention. Poor Nissa had to be the messenger. She was to deliver this one important message to her Daddy, “MAMA AJAK BALIK NOW!!!”

We were at ABE’s cousin’s wedding yesterday noon and my mental calculations had it that we should be heading back to Shah Alam latest by 1pm. I’ve gone to jengok the bride and did what was necessary at mingling with the in-laws. From a distance, I could see MIL looking at me from the corner of her eyes, giving that funny look and wondering how come I was making my rounds at greeting and saying good bye to folks at one go.

Thank God ABE read Nissa’s cue. The kids salam-salam with the cousins and finally when they salam with the Grandmother she popped THE question, “Kenapa nak balik cepat sangat?” I’d normally leave Farah to answer these type of questions in her subtle yet sharp words, worst still when said with her usual “berlagak” tone. The rest was history and we were well on our way back to Shah Alam. Fuuhhhh…lega!!

I wouldn’t want to miss today for anything, it’s the Makcik Blogger meet day!!! It didn’t matter much if we were a makcik ker, kak cik ker, dik cik ker, we all had this one thing in common, we have been blogmates – sharing our life stories, ups and downs, food for thoughts as well as food for the taste buds etc, etc (too long of a list to put up, if you know what I mean). It would be the day when we were to meet face to face with the so many familiar online names like MrsNordin (who was kind enough to organize the event), Madam Tai Tai, Ms Hart, Kak Ezza, Ummi365 and the other blogs which I’ve been stalking off and on like SuperWomanWannbe, Wanshanna, Ibu, Zaitgha and also the regular commenters like Bella and Busybody. Of course, there was also TirelessMom – whom I am ever so familiar with.

Having TirelessMom with me definitely eased the butterflies in my stomach. But then as we approached the long table where a group of ladies was already seated, the whole quirky feeling just flew out the window. There was so much warmth, easiness and bonding amongst us already. Everyone was going like “ooo…”, “ahhhh…”, “wahhhh…” followed by loud cracks of laughter from various corners of the table. Tak sangka everyone could just "click", feeling so at ease talking to each other, recollecting some of the entries we had posted in our blogs. I could have sworn I saw the envious look on the waiters and waitresses faces when they saw us having fun all afternoon long. Like one of us said to them, “Hey, we ni semua makcik bloggers tau!!!” and may I add to that yang we are so proud and happy to be one. Personally, rasa tak puas nak bersembang with everyone, so I’m putting some of the words I wasn’t able to express to all here.

Here goes…

MrsNordin – Thank you so much for making it happen, what’s with initiating the meet, and taking you from your time with Nizzar to make the other necessary arrangements. And thank you for the gift too. It was beautiful, sayang nak pakai and dah letak dalam showcase!!! Love your bubbly self, and love that smile of yours (yang now boleh dilihat on Nizzar too!!)

Madam Tai Tai – Ahh,..you are off on your hols already. Thank you so much for the gift and yes salam perkenalan, though I don’t think we are strangers of any kind here. Demure, pretty and so, so proper you are and the title Tai Tai is one very suitable one for you. Happy Belated Birthday too dear!!

Ms Hart – I knew it was you when I saw you!!! Tak lain tak bukan itu lah Ms Hart, girl you are so YOU and that’s what I like best about you. Never mind the “baju ayam”, love your outfit..lip lap gitu kan!!! InshaAllah we’ll meet at tanah tumpah darah Hang Tuah when I go send Faris back in a few weeks time.

Ummi356 – Next time I see a Laura Ashley, I’ll be thinking of you!!! It was a lovely tote, brought it to work this morning and have paraded to my girls at the office. Then my girl came up with this brilliant idea. She said, “Puan next time we have training boleh kita bagi bag like this eh!!” Wallah girl, there you have it, the tote is an eye catcher, for sure.

Kak Ezza – Akakkkk…..you are so cool lah!!! I salute you akak, so full of confidence and there’s just so much compassion in your words. Both baju and orangnya manis. Padan lah Abang terpikat and Abang was so nice to have sent you to the meet. No wonder lah eight children!!! Muakkksss…..!!!

Ibu – It was so nice meeting you. Like the part when you said, “Dapur berasap tiap-tiap hari even during the absence of Bibik…berasap Maggie!!” Bila baca blog, rasa macam tak berani nak mess around with someone as confident as you are. But bila dah kenal, heh..heh…lebih kurang satu kepala je kita and respect the “peaces” during the photo sessions.

The Principal – Lovely top you had yesterday, so well coordinated. Even though we didn’t get to chat longer yesterday but I know just like with everyone else, we could click kan. I like the things you are doing with the children at your centre. And because of that we have a couple of things in common. Thanks for the muffins. Had that for breakfast this morning :)

Wanshanna – Wished I had managed to chat longer with you too. Tak pe lah the next time around we catch up ok. Must also thank your girl for helping to snap pics of us before we left yesterday. I’ll be frequenting your blog from now on :)

SuperWomanWannabe – Memang will be frequenting your blog after this, who knows I could get a tip or two about becoming a superwoman as well. So much in common kan we are, the “wannabes”. Well at least we try kan…and is the maid back already? :)

Zaitgha – Thanks for the tarts. It was sinfully delicious. Rest assured, you’ll be hearing from me very, very soon!!! Ni tengah clicking on your blog to see which is the most sinful to order. Watch out for my email yah :)

Busybody – Wished I had more time to chat with you too. Do come and busybody at Sembang at Kay’s yah!! That way we can both be busybodies :)

Bella – Hurry girl, get that blog going, pour all your heart out in it. We all have lots to say about “that” department. So no worries yah dear.

And last but not least, TirelessMom – glad you made it to the meet, fresh in the Phuket tomyam scent..heh..heh. The privy in the car helped a lot. Thank god yah, I didn’t mix up the names for that would have made it in to my cringe list then.

Yess…as collectively “yeah-ed” yesterday, we’ll have another meet. I am extending the invitation to everyone to my humble home, as the venue to our next “happening plus gempaq” session.

Thank you all, thanks for making me smile even till this very moment!!

Home Grown

His first attempt at growing the banana plant in our backyard failed miserably. The baby plant dried up and died in a matter of days. Why that happened got ABE wondering to himself. He had planted the same baby plants at both my mom's and his mother's houses and they grew unperturbed.

ABE's home grown pisang tanduk

I guess patience and perseverance paid off and last week both Bibik and ABE harvested the fruits from this maiden pisang tanduk tree. Check out the fruit....

We've been having goreng pisang for the past two days. Infact, Bibik had even made kerepek pisang from the fruit. She said one big fruit was enough to make a container full of kerepek. I've asked Bibik to give away some of the fruits to our neighbours.

Ahhh...during these rainy afternoons, nothing would be more mouth watering than goreng pisang panas and coffee.

Tonight's Moon

Snapped this view of the moon on my way out of the prayer hall at the Shah Alam mosque just a while ago. I was dazzled....

Safe Cabbie and Gallery Hotel

Flight AK 952 to Jakarta departed on time that morning, very much to our delight. Meaning in two hours time, we’d be in Jakarta and with some luck we’d be on our way shopping sometime before noon. Fuhhh….dalam kepala tak de benda lain ingat, shopping, shopping, shopping!!

Every time we take an Air Asia flight we have never failed to be amused by our fellow traveling mates “styles” rushing to secure the front row seats. The moment the gates were opened, it was like “on your mark get set, GO”. Run Forrest Run….go get ‘em seats. As for the three of us, front or back row seats don’t make much difference as the plane would still land at the same time, regardless of where one is seated. So no need to be kiasu lah kan!!

I managed to close my eyes for a short while once the plane was airborne. Next thing I knew was the crew pushing the food cart. The crew had started to sell breakfast. Not bad of a selection they have actually. The cart was laden with nasi lemak, sandwiches, roti canai and some 3 in 1 drinks. I believe the other passengers on board woke up as early as we did too and would have gotten hungry by then. As a result of this, the nasi lemak was gone in just minutes.

Our luggage which took its own sweet time to emerge

We landed safely at Soekarno Hatta International Airport, Jakarta about 8.10am local time. Pretty early I must say but we didn’t mind it at all. Mental calculations had it that by the time we got to our hotel most of the shops would be opened dah. Tengok la tu…pemikiran ke mana? Ke mana lagi if not ke kedai ;-)

Muni & I at the hotel lobby

We cleared customs and immigrations in no time and we then headed out of the airport to get ourselves a cab to go to our hotel. I had made reservation at the Paragon Hotel, somewhere in downtown Jakarta. Tak pernah pun cuba hotel ni. But it looked OK from its website. Our criteria for hotel selection was that it has got to be close to shopping outlets. Paragon Hotel seemed to have fitted in very well with our requirements. It was just minutes to Tanah Abang Mall, the 1st place where we had intended to do “damage”.

Also at the lobby area

Our cabbie was a rather quiet person. He didn’t speak much. He just concentrated on the road until we finally reached our destination. When I asked him about why the road tidak "machet" (jammed). He replied that it was hari libur that day. Libur means holiday in Bahasa Indonesia. Hari libur apa eh??? Oooo laaa.....Israk Mikraj rupanya. Punyer la tak ingat!!!

The cabbie ride was a good half hour and when we arrived at our hotel, wallah…we were impressed by its deco. Its online description boasted about it being a gallery hotel and we found that to be precisely true. All three of us were thrilled by now. Smooth flight, safe cabbie and now a nice and cozy hotel. Alhamdullillah. Well, what more could we ask for.

Word carving at one of the gallery corners

The check in process took a while as the room was still being prepared. We had requested a triple sharing room, macam biasa lah. Mana-mana pergi pun we’d ask for a room that could accommodate the three of us. The hotel was nice enough to allow us to check in early. It was only 9.45 am when we got our room key. Next thing to do was to go up to the room, put our bags, touch up skit and go makan. Have to refuel before we can jalan-jalan.

Jupe ala-ala Vanna White in Wheel of Fortune...

The cute looking guy on duty at the reservation counter told us about the Nasi Padang restaurant which is a few doors away from the hotel. According to him, there is also an Ikan Bakar stall just across the road. Woooo……that made us ravenously hungry!! Let’s go makan and let’s go NOW!!

Next, makan Nasi Padang lerrrrrr….ya ampun sodap eh!!!