What I've been up to …

If you happened to be in Kota Bharu (capital of Kelantan state, Malaysia) in the vicinity of Flora Bay Resort, Juita Inn, Kenchana Inn, Dani Hotel, or any budget accommodation in the neighbourhood, and in need of fast Internet access, please consider giving this cybercafe a visit:

It is located along Jalan Sri Cemerlang (off famous Jalan Kebun Sultan in downtown Kota Bharu – see X in map below), and in the above pic you can see part of Flora Bay Resort on the far right side of the picture.

This cafe is newly opened (hardly a week today!) and is operated by a husband and wife team, Hisham and Baiti.

Baiti is DH’s first cousin, so last Friday night we had the opportunity to visit them. Here are some pix taken then:

The friendly and chirpy Hisham:

The rate is very reasonable at RM2 per hour:

They also offer photocopying and binding services. Baiti gives hair cut, facial, manicure and pedicure services in the salon at the back of the Internet cafe. Some soft drinks are available at very reasonable charges too.

I heard that they are planning to offer some incentive to regular patrons. Contact them at Tel: +60.17.267.3764 or +60.9.747.1296, or Email hisham.a77@gmail.com

9 Comments »

We left for Kota Bharu on Friday morning, arriving at my MIL/FIL’s home at 4pm. That night we went to Kota Bharu town to visit DH’s cousin’s new Internet cafe cum hair saloon (will blog later).

Earlier I made the blunder of not taking my notebook along on our trip (despite having packed it nicely. I unintentionally left the bag near the sofa), so while I was at the Internet cafe I checked my Facebook. An old friend happened to be online, and when she found out that I was there (less than 10 mins from her home), she came to the cafe with her DH. So we chatted until almost midnight!

On Saturday, we sent no.4 back to his school, and stopped at Peringat Market to buy some food for the breaking of fast.

Early Sunday morning we found ourselves back in Kota Bharu. I had a hair cut at the newly opened saloon mentioned above, while Aina and DH happily whiled away at the Internet cafe.

When we were done, it was too early for a visit to the infamous Ayam Percik stall in Pintu Geng, so DH decided to take a drive to Kuala Besar (part of the delta at the river mouth of Kelantan River).Here’s one nice shot:

DH then drove towards Pulau Kundur. We were listening to the THR Gegar radio station when we heard that their road runners were in front of the primary school in Pulau Kundur!

I told DH that I wanted to see them, and maybe take a few pix with the crew. DH obliged (he was in one of his nice moods!) so,  here they are:

I was not so keen in the quizes, but when none of them could list the Rukunegara, I had to answer, and won myself a mug, courtesy of KIST.

One last photo:

WE then went to Pantai Cahaya Bulan, where I just stayed in the car. It was too hot, at 2pm!

We eventually went back to Kota Bharu, and got caught in a terrible jam. In the end, we gave up trying to go to Pintu Geng for the Ayam Percik, and ended up buying some dishes at the Peringat Market again!

No Comments »

Yesterday was my official birthday. Nevermind that it’s not the real one, since I was adopted. At least that’s the one I can legally use as my birthday.

Yesterday was esxtra special despite the fasting month. I got loads of wishes from my friends at the NNC e-group as well as  from those on Facebook. Some came from my former students (from my teaching years from 1980s to  late 1990s.). I am definitely touched by their wishes. Gone are the years when only birthday cards were the main form of birthday wishes. Now there are sms, e-mail and Facebook!

Birthday presents? Will blog later. Now I need to go to work!

to be continued..

5 Comments »

It’s been quite a while since I mentioned a song in my blog. This morning I got an sms from a very dear friend, Aisyah, who asked me to check her latest post. She’s just wrriten a post with a song dedicated to me. The song:

This “Senja Berulang Senja” is a very old song, sung by the late Sudirman Hj Arshad, and was popular in 1980s. To be exact it was in the top song in 1979! Both Aisyah and I share the love for this song, and we used to sing together in the car while we were in Kota Kinabalu(KK) and Kuching during our (UNISEL’s) promotion and marketing trips! I think it started with my former student (who works for Ministry of Health), Lee Bandang, who played the Sudirman cassette in the car! . Lee was  helping us during our stay in KK.

I know, to some, the melody of the song is too slow to their liking. It is to me very sad and “berhantu” (“haunting”, in the sense that it really touches my heart!). Each time I listen to this song I feel like crying.

The history of this song, as far as I am concerned, goes back to 1979. We were in our Form 5 then, just weeks away from our big examination, MCE. I say big, because the results from this exam would determine our career destination, i.e. which university we will go to and what course we could apply for. Most of us were so stressed up, maybe due to the fact that we were not really prepared for the exam. At the same time the school was enforcing very tough rules to us. ALL our letters were screened. Staying in the hostel then, letters were something that everyone looked forward to each time we came home back to hostel from school. A few of us had some pen-friends from other boarding schools then, including yours truly. I had just lost my father, so, letters were my companions then. It really hurt me when MOST of my letters didn’t get to me. I have one particular pen-friend, Rubiah, who was from SMS Pulau Pinang, whom I called Ruby. Her hand writing some how looked masculine and the warden didn’t let me have her letters! She wrote a lot about her friends and the happenings in her school, with some rough words, so maybe that’s why her letters never reached me. I enjoyed her letters so much (some were several pieces of papers long), that it really p**sed me off when I could not get her letters. I also had some male pen-friends (whom I’ve forgotten their names now!) whose letters never reached me, obviously. I remember that I was called by the Head Warden (an ustaz), because he was keeping my letters, and according to him, I had just too many letters! I remember I begged him to let me just read them. I told him, he could keep all the letters, but PLEASE, PLEASE, let me read them. But Ustaz never approved it. To this day, each time friends mention Ustaz’s name, I will say I have forgiven Ustaz but I will never forget what he did to me, he still owes me those letters!  . In those days, teachers hardly use any psychology. Sometimes I wonder, if they really know what adolescents go through… And for that, I remember when I became a teacher, I vowed not to be like those teachers/ustazh whom I didn’t like.

I still remember how another friend, H, was so much affected with the “screening” of letters from outside. She used to sing this song during our PE (Physical Exercise) sessions. Yeah, in those days, even very close to our exam days, we still had our PE (PJ, as they call now), thank God for that. H sang this song, and I was told by some (H included, I think), that the radio will play this song in the wee hours. So since then, I started to stay up, until about 2 or 3am, just to listen to this song! Even when I was asleep, my friends would wake me up just to listen to this song! Eventually I memorise the lyrics . In those days radio was our only source of  entertainment (no computer, no mp3 players) and there was only ONE Malay station and ONE English station.

I used to sing this song whenever I get sad! So if DH hears me singing this song in the bathroom, he’ll get worried. The truth is, I do feel sad whenever I listen to this song – it’s been anchored to some sad (school days) and sweet (with Aisyah) memories.

Anyway, to my friends who understand Malay,  just layan (enjoy) the song!

To Aisyah, yes, I MISS you too!

8 Comments »

Last Thursday Nafis (no.4) came back for the school holidays, followed by Nukman (no.5). Nuni happened to be on leave on Saturday and Sunday, so the weekend was spent quietly with them, Aina and DH.

We kicked start the weekend with a movie outing on Friday night, with this entertaining movie, UP:

Even Rottentomatoes gave it a 98%!

Never mind about logic (since when Disney really cares about logic?), but it was really entertaining! It suits all ages too, even grannies!

After the movie, I managed to get some chicken and vegetables from the Jusco Supermarket – just enough for the sahur later that night/morning. We were lucky that the movied ended at 10.45pm and the supermarket closed at 11pm on weekend nights.

Saturday morning – I went to the Pasar Tani. I got some beef and bones too. I cooked for berbuka (the breaking of fast) for Saturday, sahur (early meal)  for Sunday, berbuka for Sunday and sahur for today. I’ve been cooking for FIVE meals consecutively! Now, that’s a record! It only happens during fasting months. I had not been cooking for weeks – with only Aina, DH and me at home, it’s more practical to just buy than cook.

The weekend also saw me doing the laundry, cleaning the house and also a lot of Farm Ville farming!

I also managed to crochet and finish a couple of doilies (from the pattern books that I bought in Gui Lin).

No Comments »

Today I had the privilage to have lunch with 3 of my former (A-Level) students at Nando’s, SACC Mall.

Amigo is now on summer vacation. He works in Riyadh. Awie works in TTDI Jaya (only found out today. All these while I thought he was on the other/eastern side  of KL). Wak (in Blue T-shirt) is an IT entrepreneur who owns and operates http://fonfren.com.

It was to be able to catch up with them. How we wish we had more time to spare. Amigo is going back to Saudi on the 28th.

Thank you, Wak for the lunch .

I’ll put up more close up pix of them later.

3 Comments »

I’ve decided not to edit (add text) to my posts on Guilin recently. Why? Because this time DH has finished his pictorials on the trip.

Please feel free to read them at his travel blog (Never mind that he has not done the one on Al-Hambra, Granada not the Oxbridge outing before we came back to Malaysia from Stansted Airport!):

Or you can just click on one of the following, to read his posts:

Genial Guilin

Lovely Li River

Joyous Yangshuo (joyous?)

Ah, but then I need to blog about the “stashing” that I did in Guilin – I bought some cross-stitch kits, and loads of books on crochet and beading! Later, later…

No Comments »

Just before I left for Guilin recently, I promised to join in with the above. I made that promised at Peggy’s blog.

So, here is the deal:

The first three people who comment on this post will receive something handmade from me….within’ the next 365 days.  In turn, you promise to pay it forward and make something for three people who comment on your blog.  So comment! I would love to make you something!

I’ll try not to wait until 365 days are over. Most probably I’ll get the stuff done before the end of the year .

By the way, I’ve added pix to my previous post.

5 Comments »

Before writing about today, let me sum up the week that has just passed.

On Wednesday I went to work to find out that we’ve been entrusted to conduct a team building program for our client. When? It was for the next day! Yes, the team building sessions were on Thursday and Friday (yesterday). Can you imagine how busy we were? Cracking our heads trying to get the best/most suitable activities for each session? That Wednesday I arrived home after 8pm .

Anyway, despite the short notice, I think the team building (done indoor, in their office) was quite a success.

Oh, last week I arranged for an afternoon tea session with our former teacher, Cikgu Baha. It was scheduled for 3pm, on Thursday (yes, LAST Thursday!). I sms-ed to as many friends as I could. Since it was a working day, not many managed to give positive feedback. To make it worse, I myself could not make it (yes, no thanks to the team building sessions!).  Bad, Sabariah, bad! Cikgu who teaches at University Berunei Darussalam, received his doctorate from Universiti Sains Malaysia during the graduation ceremony last Wednesday. Congratulations, cikgu. And thank you to the few friends who made the effort to come to the tea session and meet up with cikgu.

So, that was how the week was.

Today, I started the weekend with my monthly breakfast meet with S, A, R, A and Y. The funny thing is that I’ve known Y ever since my secondary school days, and only recently I found out (by chance) that Y knows S from their student days in US in the 1980s and they had not met for quite a while, until today!

Here’s the pic taken with my handphone:

We left the place at almost 11am.

Instead of going home, I headed straight to Bangsar Shopping Village II for another meet! This time it’s for the NeedlesnCrafts gang!

I didn’t bring my Aina’s camera, so we have to wait for some pix from the others, especially from MW who brought a photographer .

I told the gang I was going to be a bit late (their meet was to start to at 10.30am). To make it worse, there was a minor accident on the Federal Highway . The accident happened on the other side of the highway but my side was crawling nevertheless – Malaysian culture I think – to slow down and look on the other side…

I arrived just after 11.30am. I am sorry to the others that I was so late. Diane from South Carolina (US) sent some threads to MW to be distributed to us during our meet. Thank you, Diane for the threads (I got 5 skeins, with 1 of them linen and another one metallic). They are lovely!  Will put up a pic here if I remember to snap one tomorrow.

My birthday came early today when Rose gave me a hand-knitted purse!   Here’s the (cropped) pic that I took from her blog.Rose is fast to blog our meet here.

It was supposed to be a stitching bee where everyone was supposed to do some needlecraft while chatting. However, to our pleasure, it was more of show and tell session, hahaha!!

I brought the cross-stitch kits that I bought and started in Guilin (but have yet to blog) with the intention to continue with the work there, but ended up showing them to the others.

I also enjoyed browsing through the books that MW and Mel brought. Alynn brought the cross-stitch stuff that she has made too. Now, I  had some glimpse of a few other cross-stitch items, but am not sure whose they are. On a slightly different note, Alynn’s DD, Afiqah was so well-behaved.

Alynn brought 2 boxes of cute cupcakes. Later I found out that Anna had earlier gave out  her own carrot cake! Oh, I love carrot cake!

We definitely missed a few regular members who could not make it this time, notably Nik who had to sit for some exams, Usha, Paul and Tini.

Added on Sunday:

Here are some pix from MW (a moderator of the NeedlesnCrafts e-group):

Me showing off the cross-stitch that I started and almost finished in Guilin:

Me showing off my entangled tatted lace (which I eventually managed to untangle):

Some of the other ladies (Michelle, Lillie, Mel, Veronica and Anna):

That’s  (a bit of Alynn and Rose) Janet in red, Michelle with the notebook, MW standing, Lillie, Mel and Anna:

Anna, me and Alynn:

Rose, June and MW:

Here are the cute pin-cushion jars for an exchange that  I did not participate in:

Thank you Margaret for the pix!

8 Comments »

I hate it when I have to leave home between 7am to 7.45am in the morning. Why? Because the traffic is so bad at that time. There are 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school in my area. The Shah Alam commuter station is also nearby. You can imagine the traffic that goes through the streets in my area. On top of that, just less than 200 meters from my home is an integrated Islamic school belonging to JAIS (Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor).

Unfortunately this morning I had to leave at 7.15am. I know the amount of vehicles on the streets was huge, but actually if all drivers are civic-minded and considerate, the congestion can be reduced significantly.

For example, this morning, while I was at the t-junction (facing the Islamic Integrated school known as SRAI – Sekolah Rendah Agama Integrasi), the traffic was slow because many vehicles wanted to turn right, and the traffic to the right was crawling. I thought to myself, I’d be better of because I wanted to make a left turn, and there was much much less traffic going that way.

Unfortunately, suddenly 2 cars in front of me just stopped right at the t-junction. The car at the front was driven by a man and the one behind it (i.e. in front of me) was driven by a lady. They came out of their cars unhurriedly, obviously oblivion to the congestion that they’ve made worse,  followed by their children. They crossed the street at the junction which was at almost a stand still. The man’s daughter even managed to give him a hug before they departed! I know you love your kids, but can’t you hurriedly get the kids to the other side of the street ASAP because there are others who got stuck here due to your inconsiderate parking!

I honked both of them, and the lady when she came back to her car (car reg: WGP 6660, see the above pic), decided to walk further (I think to buy food at a nearby stall? I am not sure), and not get into her car. I think she purposely wanted to spite me .

I too send Aina to that school. It’s practical for us because it’s walking distance from home. Other parents come from so many places. Some come from as far as Section 9 which is on the other side of the Federal Highway (Shah Alam people will be able to imagine the distance) and also from Taman Alam Megah (which during peek hours can be 30 minutes away, or more!).

These selfish people, who send their kids to this religious school, I think they are better off not to do so! What’s the point of sending your kids to a school that supposedly emphasizes on good behaviour when you as parents can’t do so?

7 Comments »