Cherry Picking

Last weekend we had an outing to Cherry Heaven in Wandin. It was great. The kids enjoyed it and the misses and myself ate our bellies full. Before that day I always thought cherries tasted like cough medicine (thanks to the artificial cherries on most cakes). Thanks Hanim/Wanzaw for changing my perception. Now I know it taste better and crunchier than grapes. Tak muak lak tu. Layaaannn!!!! Recommended if you want to have a relaxing non stop cherry eating day. Lastly a little tip they shared with us... don't pull the cherry but instead twist it until it falls out so that other cherries can grow on the same stem.

warning: too many cherries may cause multiple visits to the Dunny. 

Whats up indeed!!

Just had a conversation with a very dear friend (AZ) yesterday. I have always enjoyed our conversations (dah lah I found out dia start pergi Gym - that SOB dulu ajak jalan ke canteen pun malas). It somehow rekindles what I'm missing.Trust and bonded friendship which is build by years and years of putting up with each other. So to maintain that link I reckon we should swap stories in a way to catch up. So this is my part of sharing. Hope those who read will comment with theirs.

1. My birthday celebration - very modest with just the family celebrating. I quote Bo's post on my FB wall - "selalunya kita celebrate pergi dinner ke ape but kali ni ..... " Saja je nak bagi sedih but we did have cake. In actual fact we had 4 cup cakes. My self chosen/ordered present is still in the mail - bila lah nak dapat ni (I will definately write on it when I get it - lagi excited lagi lah lambat). Later that week, Gel and Eza visited us and we found out EZA and my birthday are close so the wife baked a cake. Unfortunately we had no candle so I downloaded a candle Iphone apps. To our surprise it worked - everytime you blow on it the flame does go out. Kids were happy and we were amazed on the power of Iphone apps.

2. We had other friends coming over which is always a delight. This time its Farah and Faiz. Brilliant TNB scholars.. pun intended. They are such a nice couple not to mention helpful. They were there to help us from the airport, give tips on everything, letting us use their address etc etc and we do very much appreciate it.

3. Melbourne Zoo - We taught that without seeing any koala's, kangaroos, wombats it doesnt mean much being in Oz. The day we went was a beautiful day although considered to be winter. The zoo is just 30minutes away. North of the city so the travel wasnt taxing either. All in all everybody had a good time. Kids love to see the animals. I took some really nice pictures. The wife enjoyed the nice weather. We were just a little disappointed cause most of the animals were sleeping and not animated at all. "tidurrr jeee animals ni.. boringlah" said Zareef. Another thing to add, the zoo was really beautiful. You can see ppl bringing in food and having picnics and all. Fantastic!! Oh yeah.. we found out what a wombat and wallaby look like. We loved the wombat cause it reminded us of "Ewok". Comel giler dah lah slow jalan.

4. Doing everything ourselves can be tiring. So we started to teach the kids to help out around the house. I hope this doesnt count as child labour.

5. Started meeting new friends. Linda was nice to have us for lunch. Shes into scrap booking just like the wifey. Baguslah ada gang. She has a son too near Zareefs age. She has a beautiful family and home. Dah lah dekat gak rumah diorang.

6. Went to Philip Island down south east of Victoria. Took us about 2-3 hours drive (the car engine went colder the more we drove cause of the cold air - power giler kereter merah kitorang). Lawa and very scenic. Went to the town (laid back near the beach), the wild life park (where u can feed the animals - went there cause kecewa ngan zoo the previous week or so), the nobis centre (cantik gilerrr with the rocks and tides), the penguin parade (tapi takde penguin - diorang naik malam. heard they come in the thousands) and the GP motor circuit. All in all, it was a beautiful place and a pleasant day trip. One thing about the wildlife park... the animals are over friendly sampai this emu nearly sprayed you know what at Zara. Dah lah bontot dia higher than Zara. Scary. Oh yeahh... there were $h!t all over the place but somehow it didnt smell bad just looked disgusting.

7 Mt Hotham. A ski resort up in the Victorian Alps. I would like to write more about this cause a special entry is needed with all the experience we had. But here are a few preliminary pics.

So thats a little bit on whats been going on in our lives. I hope this answers the calling of family/friends to update our blog. Till next time - Wasalam /Gday Mates

KNYR + Kelah Sanctuary Day 3 of 3

The final day started off a little late. Breakfast at 930am. It wasnt as bad as before with the nasi minyak. Yep in Terengganu they have nasi minyak for breakfast compared to weddings in KL. After being full we packed up and checked out. Before leaving KT we definitely had to stop in Pasar Payang to buy souvenirs and stuff.. nanti org rumah kata lupakan diorang lak.

Loved the Pasar. Food and wet market stuff downstairs while the clothes on the upper levels. It was pretty big and had dozens and dozens of shops. But what interested me the most was its liveliness and variety of colors. The wife ordered some kain batik for herself, but i just couldnt decide which on to buy (you know women.. they will always find fault in your choice, but kalau dia pilih tu lah yg tercantik dalam dunia takde kecuali). So in the end decided to buy simple stuff like baju kelawar and baju budak2. Haaa... naturally being men, all 3 of us shopped at just only one of the many many stores because the tauke (addressed herself as Mak) was really nice. Malas nak usha tempat lain gak. By the time we were nearly finished the girls barely bought anything.

After the kain2 frenzy, we headed down to the wet market. Bought the ever delicious keropok lekor Seberang Takir (terbaik gilersz.. better than loso). I personally bought RM20 of it. Tu pun rasa tak cukup giving most of it away to family and neighbors. Sweets and cheeka-dees pun beli as not to forget the kids. After sending everything into the cars, Farah was still nowhere to be found (dah janji nak tolak at 12pm). I realized women watches never work while they shop. Its like being in the bermuda triangle.

After 30 minutes of waiting we headed home. We didnt stop until we reached Kerteh. Happening gilerss. It was so happening we had to stop at Mesra Mall and to see for ourselves. To be honest, it was pretty impressive. They had nice shops ranging from starbucks to burger king even a spa at that. Bowling, futsal, soon to open TGV was at the other half of the mall. Go check it out if you pass by cause its really convenient (just like american malls) and 5 minutes from the Petronas quarters. The mall is a great idea cause i believe the ppl there have money but just dont have the place to spend it. We had lunch and headed off again not looking at kerteh the same way. *Amad told me out off all the thing his wife asked was about the Mall - so i'll try to include as many pics ok or suruh amad bawak lain kali*

Another pit stop was a small restaurant by the seaside. Farah tak lunch/minum ribena yg tertinggal @ bk so dia tapau nasi padprik. This was also a great oppurtunity to take pics of the sea but unfortunately there was a river (that couldnt be seen when we decided to stop) in the way. Dapatlah sikit2 gambar, but i took a pic of this tanah bulat2 (see pic) to ask what it really was. Mael cakap dia from the crabs korek2. We also goats running around, it might be the same ones yg Mael nearly hit a few days before.

So continuing on, we headed back. This time kinda fast. Mael knew the way so he sped off >140km/h. I tried to follow tapi defeated. Waja 7 tahun ku sudah uzur sikit compare with his 2 month old myvi sport. The road was clear all the way but once we got into KL .. seperti biasa jam tak ingat dunia. Sampai we splitted up and Mael made the wrong turn. Tapi lepas tu pandai2 lah masing. I sent Amad home not before dia belanja minum kat Secret Recipe while consulting Kira with her love life. After Amad arrived safely at his home in Bukit Damansara (very peaceful.. surprisingly cause its smack in the middle of KL), I had to send Kira home. Aduuhh the jam lagi. Rumah dia 2-3km je tu NPE but it took me 20 minutes. Nasib baik Kira bagi pinjam touch'n'go.

After making sure everybody arrived safely, I reached home to the lovely welcome party of the kids. Ayah!!! Ayahh!!! they shouted with much enthusiasm and love. Exactly what i needed from a very long and tiring drive. The wife on the other hand was "hi sayang, dah sampai.. baguslah" and doze back off again 2 seconds later.

Ps.. Would like to thank the KNYR people for being such great hosts, the friends that came along, the boss that let us go gladly and the Ketengah ppl for making my dreams/mission to Kenyir come through.

Pics slow lah upload.. I upload ni dulu

KNYR + Kelah Sanctuary Day 2 of 3

Day 2 started of with the buffet breakfast. Once again it was a let down. Nothing special and worst still the pastry tasted like it was baked last week. The others was just so-so. 5 out of 10 score from Amad. Later on Faidi (KNYR driver) joined us while waiting to send us to the station. It took around an hour from the hotel door to the station with the station Naza Ria. Really loved that van.

On the arrival, everyone was amazed by the beauty of the station. From the security post you can see the huge dam and spillway while enjoying the fresh jungel air. Kabus2 lagi.. tengah2 hutan lah katakan, really tengah2 hutan. I was secretly a little worried... kalau dam pecah, we are the first to go. Thats why they are one of the Sasaran Keselamat kategori 1. Faidi drove us straight to the door of the station. About 10 steps away from the meeting room where Yuzeiry (Mat Yi) was waiting and welcomed us.

Mat Yi gave us the routine visitor talk. The GM, Nasron (Wak: satu batch) and Wan joined us a little later. It was very informative. We also took this oppurtunity to clarify certain issues. Everybody has issue with us (NLDC). Later on Mat Yi took us on a station visit from underground level -5 (Draft tube level) to the top of the Dam about 145M higher. There were a lot of technical things but lets not bore everyone but here are some pics where people can appreciate better.

Ohh yaa.. one of things when we were going around, people were surprised to see Mahes to be indian. They taught his name was Mael (permanent nickname from then on) due to his flawless Bahasa... tu belum cakap utara lagi - he is from Alor Star. The shift charge even mailed this to his co-workers "Tuan2, selama ini yg kita ingatkan encik Mail sebenarynya adalah en Mahes.. sila betulkan document selepas ini - while attaching a pic of us".

After the site visit, we had lunch. They treated us with ikan baung masak tempoyak and others. Great and abundance of food. They knew 5 of us coming but naturally being TNB ordered for 10. Orang lain boleh tumpang.

After lunch we were ahead of schedule. meaning more time for going into the lake.. the main attraction - ikan kelah sanctuary. The boat was ready by 2. The most powerful/fastest boat on the lake - 2x250hp V6 engine. We were extremely lucky to visit the kelah sanctuary. Zahari a clerk in KNYR who is very well known around the lake being local and an extreme fishing man (masuk ceruk2 tasik malam2 sorang2) had contacts with Ketengah (authority of the tasik). With his cable we were able to go in. Its very well guarded. Another issue was because the Menteri Besar was coming the day after... thats why the bosses of Ketengah were there. At first one of the Ketengah ppl didnt let us in. So we waited at the guard post (about 45 minutes while enjoying their fishing farm: huge ikan toman >6kg, baung etc) for the boss Razi if he will let us in (looks like the Malaysian crocodile dundee). He looked sympathetic at us and brought us in. Mat Yi's ufti (buah and cenderamata) was also an icing.

A little on the boat ride and journey, it was really far inside the lake (more than 1 hour boat ride)but the natural landscape was breath taking. We even passed Petang Island Resort/Camp (our first choice stay - tapi bagus jugak tak dapat [need>10ppl] cause memang betul2 tengah tasik). We were wondering why the boat was going zig-zagging. Later we found out they were following the alur sungai to elak the tunggul. During low lake level boats cant go in and the trekking inside would take 1.5 hours instead of our 40 minutes. During the trekking, several incidents happen including putus selipar and insect bites. Brader guide siap ejek "macam tak pernah kena gigit je". Pacat semua cukup lah. We had to go through denai and wooden bridges which brings back memories to the good old OBS days. To keep encouraging us, they kept saying another 5 minutes. The longest 5 minutes in our trekking lives... diorang pakai jam matahari kot. Another frustrating thing, some guides took the shallow sampan so they had a shortcut while waving us as they go by.

A little history on the ikan kelah sanctuary. Ikan kelah as told by local ppl are the most expensive fresh water fish. RM100 per kg and RM300 for a live one. So due to this, fisherman used to go fish bombing at the area we went to. This had a negetive effect. So the people of Ketengah, Crocodile Dundee included sanctuared the place and tried to rejuvenate the fishes. They feed the fish biji sawit once in 2 days. After a while the ikan kelah came back and became very jinak but now they feed it pallets or locally known as 'meh'. I doubt theres a lot of other places like this around the world. Wak said ikan kelah if deep fried you can eat even the bones - ranggup.

So once we got there, most of the guys were already in. We were a little held behind because of the girls (lawak sexist sikit). Wak was already in his corner. He didnt move anywhere else - tak pandai berenang. Mat Yi, Zahari and kaki Mael (takde baju konon- takut kot) dah basah dah and fish all over. They kept calling for us to dive in. I took pics and amad took videos while holding on to our excitement. Everybody wanted their picture/video taken and what wonderful pics. Took nearly 200 of them - thanks Kira for being our part time cameraman. Thanks also Amad for the videos.

But suddenly I hear people shouting "Pegang Tali!!! Pegang TAllii!!!". I turned around and see Farah trying to catch air in the water - unsuccessful at that and drowning. A second later, just like in the movies ABANG HERO came running from the back jumped into the water and pushed her up. A real life hero in action. Mael was there to pull her up and console her. Surprising apart from choking on the water, Farah seemed undisturbed by the incident and resumed her cheerful self. One thing good is that she didnt panic and maintained composure.. siap senyum lebar lagi. She just lost it a little when she realized her iphone and money fell in as well. Amad knew she couldnt swim and asked " Asal kau lompat tak pakai life jacket??!!". She replied "MANNNAAa ada I lompat, i jatuh sebab terkejut ikan gigit kaki i" looking very slack at amad. ooohh that explains it, i thought she jumped too. Crocodile Dundee said "sepanjang masa saya jaga tempat ni, dia lah orang pertama tenggelam"

Yup the fishes were really biting. Mula2 manja2 cause plenty of meh but later on they got really violent biting hard (going up your pants and trying to swallow your whole finger) cause no more food. Kirah can attest to it cause she screamed the loudest and came in later than everybody. Realizing the meh was finished, we threw banana skins... tu pun diorang telan terus.

So after a very eventful evening. We trekked back (well the girls took the sampan) to the boat which seemed a lot closer without the girls. We took the boat ride back to the Sanctury entrance and took pictures with the guides especially with Abang Hero and Crocodile Dundee. One for the facebook bak kata Abang Hero. So afterwards we headed back to the Station Jetty. Tukar baju and Faidi drove us back to the hotel.

Tired and all, we took our shower while i bought some mee goreng as pre meal for us to eat while waiting for Wak to take us out for dinner. We went to First Station near the hotel joined by Shamil and Azizul (kawan Mael). The food was great especially my french toast ice cream but its like the normal Kopitiam you get here in KL. I was looking forward to a more local taste. Being deprived of culture, we decided to continue our yam-cha at a restaurant near the masjid terapung. Gives a chance for me to take pics of the masjid.

The funny thing about the restaurant was that the names of the stalls. See the pics. Another embarrassing moment for me was when i wanted to order some drinks. I got to tell you, this terrengganu accent is so foreign to me - they might as well be talking swazili.

Me: Abg.. air ape sedap?!

Brader kerja air: somo dap blako (semua sedap belaka)

Me: Haaa.. yg tu satu! (confident order power)

*everybody laughed while looking at me

Wak: Tu lagi kelakar dari Farah tenggelam.

So after catching up with wak and changing notes especially kutuk2 boss and tnb, we went back to the hotel. After another round or two of monopoly card we hit the sack. And the opera started once again. This time according to Amad, was rather out of tune compared to yesterday.

ps.. I'm posting this first cause tunggu pics upload takes too long. Will update with more pics.