What I've been up to …

Azwa is one of the programmers in our company. He’s been with us for slightly over 1 year, as part of his practical training. You see, Azwa is pursuing his degree (in Engineering, I think) at Loughborough University. Last Friday was his last day with us because he’s going back to his university to finish up his studies.

Some of us at the office wanted to give him a farewell lunch before he left. Initially it was planned by a handful of us, and the number just grew

Since many of us would be away for a workshop on Friday, we had the lunch a day earlier. The venue? Pizza Hut SACC.

Here are some of the pix taken (again using my humble HP):

The guys:

More guys:

Trying the panoramic view, still couldn’t get all in . Azwa in the foreground:

Another attempt:

Azwa had to give a speech:

I’ll miss this lad!

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Sometimes friends can be closer to us than our own flesh and blood!

I have several friends who would do almost anything for me, so it’s only natural that I reciprocate

Nury has been my friend since 1979, together with many others of the same batch. My InTEC friends are still close to me. In fact tomorrow morning I’m going to have our monthly breakfast session with a few of them. My UNISEL friends are still in touch with me (some regularly read my blog ), that lately they’ve complained that I’ve not visited them for quite a while now! Ladies, unfortunately I’m just too busy Will catch up with you after Raya ya?

Today’s story is about 2 great friends:

Today, I had a full day workshop at Carlton Holiday Hotel. During the 2 hr 15 mins break, S had to go to  Kuala Selangor to fetch her daughter form her hostel. I felt for her, and decided to accompany her. We got back to the hotel just in time for the 2.45pm session. I only got to know S for about 1 month now, since she joined our company. S is such a great lady that within such a short time, we already feel like we’ve known each other for years.

The workshop only finished at 6.50pm. On my way home, I stopped over at A’s house. Her son, A***n is flying to Canada tonight. I just wanted to send him off from his home even though A**** keep on asking me to send him to KLIA. I had to decline because the headache that started at 3pm today had not subsided A, is a special friend. I only came to know her when I was in UNISEL but now we are like sisters. when I was at her home earlier tonight, I unashamely told her that I didn’t have lunch, and got some rice from her kitchen LOL! Both A and I would do almost anything for each other. Last raya, A came to our house daily to feed the cats and clear the litter for 5 days when we went back to our hometown!

I’m too tired and the headache is still very strong, so, I’d liek to sign off and put on record here for A****, Good luck in your studies!

Friends and friendship are like antiques. They just got more and more precious as time goes by!

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Last week, I forgot DH’s birthday!

Actually I remembered it on the day before, but for some reason (old age, maybe?), I totally forgot it on THE DAY! Not that I wanted to give him anything. I gave up giving birthday presents to him ages (over 20 yrs) ago! It was always the wrong thing that I bought . Sometimes when I was in the mood to do so, I would just buy him a shirt/t-shirt or two.

And guess what? Yesterday was MY birthday! That’s right, yesterday – the day Permatang Pauh voters cast their votes (historical results – DSAI won!).

Back to my birthday, I tried my best not to make anyone in the family remember it. Tic for tac? Yeah.. maybe.. LOL!

The day started as normal as anyday could be. However, my best friend (from secondary school days) was the first to wish me Happy Birthday. You see, lately I always forget her birthday but a couple of years ago I managed to surprise her when I sent the Birthday Wishes through the Light FM breakfast segment .This year was so bad that on her birthday WE ACTUALLY went out for lunch with a bunch of other friends and totally forgot that it was her birthday! Read here for the blog.

As for yesterday, the second person to wish me was H, my officemate, followed by an sms form a junior, D. Prof Pakdin also called to wish me too, and we talked about Balanophora for quite a while

A few other office mates who realised it came to give me wishes later.

Well… Yesterday was a nice, harmless day… and another birthday gone

NO BIG DEAL

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On the third day, we left the lodge at 6.30am to wait for the Naked Bus 1-day trip to Milford Sound.

There we met a fellow Malaysian, Wee Yan, who was also waiting for the same bus.

The bus arrived soon after 7am (it was scheduled to arrive at 6.50am) and Vale, our driver, and tourist guide was a chirpy fella. He started the journey with a naration of a legend related to Lake Wakatipu.

We stopped briefly for breakfast at Te Anau. It was freezing!

Posing with the flightless takahe:

We actually stopped at Te Anau for breakfast. After that we continued with the journey. We passed by rain forests as well as snowy capped mountain. We stopped a couple of times. At Mirror Lake:

Some notes on NZ’s World Heritage sites:

The bus stopped briefly just before entering Homer Tunnel:

where I saw my first REAL kea bird :

It was surely a rush hour there:

The view on the other side of the tunnel was great too. Wee Yan and me:

Soon, we reached the Milford Sound Pier. Waiting for the cruise:

The cruise in Milford Sound, towards its mouth where it meets the Tasman sea was blogged here.

BTW, I’ve finished my blog for NZ Day 2 .

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Yesterday morning, I followed DH to KL Sentral for a Malsingmaps MGT (mini get together). I know, I know.. I am not into GPS, even though I love reading maps

I can’t lie that I was there to meet up Howard again. This American with75%  Japanese origin is a real special guy. We were once in Kota Bharu but our paths never met then

Howard was a Peace Corps member, working for the Kemubu irrigation project way back in 1970s, while I was  still a student! Howard, however, knows the Peace Corps teachers posted to my school then.

I first met Howard in person last January when we visited Banda Acheh, and he happened to be posted there

Here’s a pic from yesterday, courtesy of Howard (it was taken using his camera) “pinched” from the Malsingmaps forum :

Yesterday Howard related a story (that I’ve forgotten), on a time when he took the Budaya express bus from KL to Kota Bharu. Whe the bus arrived at the KB terminal, many trishaw peddlers surrounded him to offer their service, and most probably to charge him exhorbitantly, when suddenly one of the shouted “Dio oghe ssini!” (translate: He’s a local!) . Howard said he really felt honoured then

(this story is related to how “closed” the Kelantanese were, and I hope still are. We were talking about how the Kelantanese refer to non-Kelantanese as “Oghe luar”, literally translated as “outsiders”.

Howard has taken up the MM2H offer, I hope to be able to see more of him in the future

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Of course that friend will have a wedding reception for his/her child

For us who got and accepted the invitation, it’s a nice “all-expenses paid for” “mini-get-together”

Earlier tonight we attended Sabre’s daughter, Fadteen’s wedding reception at The Grand Blue Wave Hotel, Shah Alam.

There were 2 tables of Sabre’s ex-schoolmates (that includes DH) and spouses.

The reception was really nice. But what made it nicer was the “gang” managed to sit at 2 nearby tables and us the wives, being great ladies, we blended and adjusted well. (Come to think of it, we should start the “Wives’ Club”

This pic was taken quite early:

Later, when the event was over and all guests had gone home, leaving only the close family members, we were still loitering outside the hall:

Eventually, they decided to have a group pic (and we ladies were polite enough not to be in it ):

Sabre couldn’t be in it because he was still busy taking family pix inside

To Sabre and Norzila, thank you for the invitation, and to Fadteen and Shahrul, best wedding wishes from us! We hope they (the bride & groom) like the little gift from us

Note:

1. I just noticed that someone is missing from the pic above (no, not Sabre), who is that guy?
2. This is my first wedding blog with no pic of the bride or the hosts!
   

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Well, that’s according to Bok. As for me, I had some reservation. With “Cars”, I actually fell asleep during the movie (the first and only time ever of me dozing off in the cinema!). So last night, just before we entered the cinema, I told Bok if I fall asleep ( I would want my money back!

Some shots from the handphone:

Another earlier shot:

And this one, from DH’s HP (and this will be my last photo with ALL 6 kids for now):

Soon, it’s time to go in:

Oops, not before we got some popcorns and drinks:

For a movie with hardly any dialogue, Wall-e was really good. My verdict would be 8 out of 10. And, no, I didn’t fall asleep

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Tonight, ALL EIGHT of fus are going to Bukit Raja to watch Wall-e

We booked the ticket online last night, and today after office hours, Nuni and I went to collect the tickets (under 2 bookings since you cannot book more than 6 tickets in one go).

Tomorrow Fis is going back to KB, Sunday Mae will go back to Seremban, Monday Ayi will go back to Canada and Nuni to Penang. Bok will go back to his rented abode on Sunday too, so by Tues it’ll be back to only DH, me and Aina

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LOTR’s Mount Doom, by my faithful Lumix:

I got “scenery-overloaded” while I was there, so I am going to be nasty enough to put many of them up to get you “scenery-overloaded”, hehehe…

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We started our journey at 8am, amazed at the frosted grass! pic of our hostel and car:

DH gave me some of his great shots, but on 2nd thoughts, I’m going to use mine

which were taken with the old Lumix:

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SMZ in “Middle Earth”:

We stopped at this place for a late breakfast:

White coffee (the Kiwis call it “Flat white”) cost us NZ$4:

The coffee tasted great, or was it because I was freezing?

DH opted for cappucino and egg sandwich:

The sceneries that we came across were really fantastic.

We imagined ourselves to be in “Middle Earth”

We checkedinto Hippo Lodge Backpackers, this time (after 2 nights of 2pax/room hostel room) we chose the ensuite:

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Soon after checking in, we walked to downtown Queenstown. View from near our lodge towards the town:

Once downtown, I found a shop that sells knitting wools:

I bought 2 skeins (of 100g each) of “Touch” merino mohair and plus a few others.  I initially thought that i’d come across more of such shops but to find later that I didn’t

Queenstown is definitely a tourist destination:

The view of The Remarkables (the background mountains where there’s a ski resort) from the lake is really remarkable:

We also found a shop that sells halal kebabs where DH bought our dinner:

It was still quite early, so on the way back to the lodge, we detoured to the Gondola station, and ended up taking a ride

But on the way, we saw a mini-bungy jumping corner (very well-designed to train kids?):

View from above was spectacular:

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I saw a few bungy-jumping sessions:

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For each session, as I watched the jump, I could feel my own feet feeling lighter!

I have a lot more pix taken from the tower, but this post is long enough, so I’d better stop now

last updated on 250808

This page is still in progress so there are (pix) more to come!

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