After a gap of 13 years I am very happy to welcome a niece. My youngest sister gave birth to a handsome baby girl today. Welcome to the world. You don't have a name yet but I am sure your parent will think of something sweet to call you. congratulation to Arina and Hamdan.

Rice bag with a zipper? or I have not been to the kitchen for a while.
Well I must remember to zip up to keep those rice fresh!

Datuk Azhar sedang rancak bercerita. Azmi, Talib dan Jamil teruja nampaknya. Membelakangi kamera mrs Azmi dan mrs Shuib.

Datuk Rashid dan Mokhtar juga berada dimeja yang sama.

Giliran Mokhtar pula bercerita sesuatu kepada Teoh.

Shuib juga tidak ketinggalan bercerita.

Me and Teoh.

Dr.Hamzah Hamid wedding function at Putrajaya Sunday 21st. June 2009.

Some of us meet again at Dr.Hamzah Hamid daughter wedding at Komplek Perbadanan Putrajaya, Dewan Siantan. I was not too trigger happy that day so did not took too many photos. We had a group photo at the pelamin. The photo was taken by Hamzah's anak buah. So I hope he will share it with us in the near future. I remember we had group photo at several fivers71 wedding functions but they were a bit shy to share it with us. Any respond geng.

The caterer was none pther than our friend Ghazali Akasah of Kantan Tiga Katering. Ni nak promote sikit, the food was superb and service was excellence. So sape yang nak buat kenduri bolehlah kontek beliau.

My kids never forget come 21st.June. It is a father's day. I usually get hand made card to remind me who is the boss around here but this time round it is one of those from the shop. Either they run out of ideas or may be they are loaded. Who is loading them, I wonder if the person is not me.

The thought that is matter dear. Thank you kid.

When old friends meet - Fivers71 TT session at Kampung Baru 19th. June 2009.
We were school mate in the 60s. So what did we talk about for almost three hours. You can imagine. The same old stories that might bored people to death but the seven of us still find it amusing and even gave it new twist he he. We could have met at a coffee house in one of the KL five star hotel but we choosed this simple stall in Kampung Baru (My Sitsa Corner) simply because the owner happened to be one of us.
We wondered what happened to those who could not come, and those that we have no news at all. One name always cropped up, Wan Hussein from Kelantan, because somebody said he had three wifes. Is it true Wan? You do make us jealous.

Rashid,Shuib and Akhir.

Mokhtar, Shuib,Akhir,Hamdan,Yahya and Jamil.
Rashid, Akhir,Hamdan,Yahya,Jamil(hidden)Shah,Mokhtar.
Jamil,Shah,Mokhtar,Rashid, Akhir, Hamdan.
Akhir,Hamdan,Yahya,Jamil,Shah,Mokhtar,Rashid.

Shakespeare Country.

To day we visited Shakespeare's birth place, Stratford upon Avon. I am fascinated by the tranquility of an English country side. I found few signs were hidden by thick summer foliage.

Shopping at Clarks Village.
Holidays with out shopping is unthinkable.. to most people.. me included. Seen here at Clarks Village, Street, Somerset. The maker of Clark shoes actually started his business here. More details at www.clarksvillage.co.uk

At The Roman Baths, City of Bath.
When the Roman invaded Great Britain more than 2000 years ago they discovered hot spring in the area. They build a bath house around the hot water spring. It was used for few hundred years then abandoned. I believed the British did not know how to maintained it. It laid buried for more than a thousand years. During the Victorian time it was discovered by accident. After careful excavation the place had been restored to its former glory. To day we are able to learn how the Roman once live in Great Britain.

Beatles Mania.
Kembali menyaksikan kumpulan Beatles di Madame Tussauds Wax house Museum, London.
Walupun kumpulan penyanyi era seangkatan tiada lagi dipamirkan disitu tetapi kumpulan Beatles maseh diberi tempat, membuktikan kumpulan ini maseh mempunyai ramai peminat, termasuklah saya.

Ripe coconut wasting away on the ground.

Jambu fruits rotting away on the ground.

In the mean time money is growing on the tree.

Money growing on the tree, well not exactly. I was told that is what the green plant is called. Probably the round shaped leaves do resemble a coin from a distance. You know we used to trade with copper coin at one time and these coin do become greenish if left to the mother nature for too long.

I went back to my kampung last weekend. The two picture at the top was quite a common scene. I just wish the owner can find a better use for excess resources that they have on their ground. In fact I was offered to take home the coconut but thinking of my constraint luggage space I had to decline the offer.

The main road leading to the school.

This was my standard one class room.

A peek inside the class room. This was my classroom in standard four.

The school main Entrance, the admin office was on the first floor.
SEKOLAH KEBANGSAAN SULTAN IDRIS II, KUALA KANGSAR.

This was my first school. I was enrolled in standard one in 1960. In those days the double storey concrete building looked so grand. It was known as Central Malay School. In Malay it was also called 'Sekolah Pusat'. I was wondering at that time the connection between navel (pusat) and school. Nobody could satisfied my curiosity then. The school was renamed as SKSI kedua after the late Sultan Idris ascended the throne. The headmaster Che Gu Shaziman proudly explained to us, " Your school is the first Malay primary school in Perak with concrete building"

I started standard one with out going to Tadika. In fact I hardly recognised the alphabet. The form teacher was a beautiful lady, Che Gu Marhamah. She was married to Che Gu Hamid who later thought me in standard six. I did badly during first term exam by securing 14th place. I catch up very fast with the rest of the class. By the third term exam I managed to secure the first place. The school has many new structures over the years but the original building remained unique being one of its kind in Perak.

My teacher were mostly graduates of Maktab Perguruan Sultan Idris, Tanjung Malim. Among them Chegu Abu Bakar, Chegu Md Zain, Chegu Jalal. I had a DTC teacher by the name Chegu Raba Aishah while I was in Standard two who came from Sayung.

Policeman's son posing for for me. Just like me during primary school days. The arrow indicating where barrack 'E' used to be. Barrack 'E' was built during colonial time. It was a one bedroom apartment with commom toilet facilities.

Next to the police quater is the 'Padang Majlis Perbandaran Kuala Kangsar'. The first merdeka celebration was conducted here. It is gone now being replaced by MPKK complex.

The back of the unit where my family used to live in the 60s.

I used to live in the top right hand unit. It is a one room apartment but with kitchen and toilet. It was called 'barrack baru' then. Total floor area probably smaller than the current single storey terrace house.
REVISITING KUALA KANGSAR POLICE QUARTER.

There is a plan to relocate the police quater somewhere else in Kuala Kangsar. So last week I took the oppurtunity to pay a visit to the place I used to stay in the 60s. Well some of the building had already been demolished. Barrack 'E' which was built during colonial time was no more there. It was a concrete building facing the Town padang. The original unit had 'dapur kayu' with chimney. It was no longer used even in the 60s as we had evolved to kerosene stove era. There was a common bathroom and toilet at the end of the building. Quite a common sight those days to see mothers 'berkemban' going to the bath room with their washings and afterward drying them on cloth line located at the back of the barrack. 'Tudung' was never heard off in those days and 'selendang' was only used during formal function.

Barrack 'E' had common electric meter and water meter. Electricity was supplied by 'Kinta Electricity Board'. The tenant paid fixed rate for all the utilities. Those who owned electric iron had to pay surcharge of 1 ringgit per month. Some tenant had the only other electrical appliance which is a radio.

Later my family moved to 'barrack baru' which is a self contained unit. A real luxury in those days. Another colonial history being erased from our soil and it reflect how far we have progressed since then.

Deserted Shopping Complex
Is recession really here.
I went for dinner with my family at one of the shopping complex last Tuesday. I could not believe my eye. It was almost empty. Despite many discounted items as high as 70% in most of the outlets I hardly see any shoppers. Is the worst yet to come?
On the brighter side since there was not many customer you get personal attention from the sale personnel and parking was not a problem. I wonder what will happened to staff if the shop owner decide to close shop when the worst time come.

A lone figure doing morning exercise
Padang Asam, Subang Jaya, section 14.

It is a park near my house. It has no particular name but the kid around the area call it Padang Asam since the park has so many matured tamarind trees.
This is where I do my exercise whenever time or weather permit. Recently the local mnucipal had upgraded the park with many facilities which include jogging track. The park is even lighted at night. In the morning you can find many groups doing aerobic exercises or people doing their morning stroll.

The modern day pirates.
During my early history lesson the name Francis Drake (Sir) appeared many times in the history of British Empire. He was a pirate and then knighted by the Queen for helping the British Empire to contain the influence of the Spanish. He did that by just plundering and pirating Spanish ships that sail back and forth between Spain and South America. So in those days if you fight the enemies of your country, you can be considered a hero. Francis was remembered as the first British to circumnavigate the globe.
To day in Somalia same kind of pirates still exist. Recently two Malaysian tankers were hijacked by them and just few days ago an American ship too was hijacked. The whole world is watching on the American next move. The Captain of the hijacked ship attempted to escape today by jumping overboard but unfortunately he was recaptured. He must be very brave to do that. Meanwhile another American warship was dispatched to the area to shadow the hijacker. Since the American have not invaded Somalia yet to free the hostages I presume they classify these hijackers less dangerous than terrorist.
(13.4.09) The Captain was rescued by American Navy after a shoot out. While Malaysian government hired foreigner to negotiate and pay ransom in millions of Ringgit, the American used force to free the hostage.

Politik dimesjid.

Mesjid adalah tempat untuk beribadat bukannya tempat berkempen untuk meraih undi sama ada bagi pehak kerajaan atau pembangkang. Institusi mesjid mestilah dihormati kalau tidak mahu kehilanagan keperchayaan para jemaah. Apa yang disampaikan oleh khatib mestilah tidak berat sebelah kerana para jemaah terdiri dari pelbagai pehak. Jika ada jemaah yang meluat mendengar apa yang dilaongkan oleh khatib tentulah dia tidak akan dapat menghayati bila sampai tentang bab ugama pula. Baru baru ini pilihan raya kecil telah diadakan di dua bukit dan satu batang. Walau pun tempat itu jauh tetapi khatib maseh mahu berkempen mengingatkan para jemaah siapa yang patut dipilih seolaholah semua orang dimesjid itu akan pergi mengundi. Macamlah tiada modal nak berkhutbah. Saya tidak bermaksud memperkecilkan pehak khatib mahu pun pehak mesjid, cuma kurang senang dengan topik yang disampaikan.

Fathering a child.
Anything is possible these days. What I really mean is man giving birth to a baby. Read in STAR yesterday, Ruben from Spain expecting a twin. In the same article it mentioned another man from US , Thomas had given birth to a baby girl named Susan last June and he is expecting another baby this coming summer. Just imagine all eye will be staring at his ballooning belly when the couple tell friend that they are expecting another baby.
So man if you think your partner is infertile, that is no excuse really to set up a second branch. Why not get a D.I.Y kit and have that baby. Once you can feel the baby inside you can tell your partner that " Yang, I mengidam buah kedongdong la. Tolong carikan."

Rafique and Puteri (1st and 2nd from left) relating their experiences at RYLA 2009.
RYLA 2009. (Rotary Youth Leadership Award)
Early this month Rotary Club of Kampong Baharu sponsored two candidates to attend a RYLA at Out Bound Malaysia Lumut. RYLA is a workshop/seminar organised for youth development. It has similar objectives like Kursus Khidmat Negara but carried out with shorter time frame. As usual the sponsored candidates make a visit to the club to share their experience with Rotarian of Kampong Baharu. In 2007 Rotary Club of Kampong Baharu was the hosting club for the event which took place at the same venue.

Rotarians from Rotary Club of Kampong Baharu, from left the author, PE Dr.Feardaus, CP Hj.Razali and Rtn Helmy.

District Governor Dr.Rajindar Singh and Rotary International President Dong-Kurn Lee and their spouses.

DISTRICT 3300 INTERCITY MEETING WITH RI PRESIDENT D.K. LEE.
The meeting was organised on the 10th March 2009 at Sunway Convention Centre in conjunction with RI President D.K. Lee visit to Malaysia. RI President is the highest office in the Rotary Organisation. RI President D.K. Lee hailed from South Korea and happened to be the first RI President appointed from this part of the world. The RI President this year carry a special message to reduce child mortality. Many of this year programs go toward providing foods, medical care, clean water and creating jobs for parents which in the long run help young children. According to him the current recession gave greater challenge to Rotarians to provide services to the community. The function also provide opportunity to recognise contribution by Rotarians over the past one year.

Destination, Kampung Sungai Karang, Beserah.

R & R Temerloh.

Oh one can park anywhere.

OFF PEAK TRAVEL.

Recently I had to travel to Kuantan to fetch my mother in law who wanted to come to Kuala Lumpur. Since I had to leave for Kuantan very early in the morning I was spared the normal traffic jam. The journey took about two hours. Not only the road was deserted, I also did not see a single traffic police during the journey. Most of the rest area was also empty. Sometimes I wonder why we do not take the advantage of travelling during off peak period, instead we tend to join the mad rush during festive season to balek kampong.