Cool or what?

I'm stranded at Bayan Lepas airport. Flight is delayed and it's our national carrier. This is so cool though, being able to blog using my phone! My first! Got a bit fed-up with FB and walah! access to blogspot was relatively easy. But then, it may be Penang where the network is not that congested!

I'm here just for the day - meeting and signing documents in Sungai Petani. A bit of a hiccup due to the fault of our client (not passing the buck here, but it's the truth) - thanks to superwomanwannabe who frantically scampered in KL while I was sipping tea in Sungai Petani! The wonders of cyber tech! If it happened 10 years ago, I would have had to make a return visit!

I will post about my 10-year craving totally satisfied during this trip!

I'm beginning to surprise myself for being a tad prolific. Watch out for more entries these few days.

....finally

Finally a quick update from me....Loads to write but have to rush off for a date with wifey...

A not so recent photo of Hajar; may be a month back or so. She's sooo cheeky and almost boisterous. Can't blame her - she has three older sifus who teach her play football and climb tables and chairs! She can stand now without support for some 30 secs (the longest) and walk around the house with support (mainly her clothes box or the kopitiam chair!). Climbing the staircase to the upper floor of the house is her forte..not to mention coffee tables, sofas and armchairs!

Ib's not well..he's had a bad bout of asthma attack. Slightly better..almost got himself hospitalised. Been off school for a few times already! He did well in school.

Umar is his usual self.....He's Hajar's best companion! He'd carry her everywhere and she'd smile everytime she sees him!

Yusof's off for a boy scouts camping, till Monday, somewhere in Ulu Yam. His mid-year exam showed some improvement - still have ample room for progress!

Khadijah's not well...as usual her tonsilitis. Been persuading her to sit for her DELF B1...The deal is she can go to Redang for her scouts camping if she'd sit her B1 exam this year rather than next year! BTW she passed her Delf A2! School is quite a breeze for her....and her mid year results were very satisfactory.

I turned 40, two months back, (wifey as well.....) without much fanfare...No cake...no pressie...no nothing...That's my request, anyway. Don't feel any much older though!

Two days ago, I welcomed my good friend Superwomanwannabe to my firm as my partner....It's a win-win arrangement for the both of us - flexi time for her and someone to assist me when I desperately need help! Here's to many prosperous and happy years to come!

Labour Day Blues

I stumbled upon this video clip from youtube which received like 8.5 million hits in April 2008 alone! She's also on wikipedia believe it or not! I like her earnestness.....

I had to do this posting - a special dedication to the person whom I made her work today and took her away from her family for the day....You know who you are! Thanks a million! If it's any consolation to you, I have three files to work on today......Hope this clip takes the Labour Day blues off you!

More of Velentina Hasan's video's here!

Be cool DOF!

Panic! panic!

All my clients decided to bomb me this week when we are in the midst of packing and moving:-

this is the time when they want to sign and complete the whole transcation within 12 hours after a meeting with bare information....

this is the time when documents are finalized and engrossed and needed to be sent via courier overseas to meet impossible deadlines (managed to get extension, though)

this is the time when a few transcations are completed en masse

this is the time when new urgent instructions come in

this is the time when calls are made to the office to locate old files which we have packed

YOU GET THE PICTURE.....?

But I'm not complaining.....I'm counting my blessings and Praise to God for all these...!

BTW, carpet has been laid; cabinets are coming in today; covers for network and telephone cables are being fixed today; telephone and fax lines have been commissioned. Phew....1/4 more to go!

Awkwardly robed

I had to go to the Kuala Lumpur High Court this morning for a reference proceedings held in memory for the recently departed members of the Kuala Lumpur Bar.

For today's proceedings, five members who passed on were remembered during the proceedings and one of them was the founding partner of my firm whose family came all the way from Singapore to attend this ceremony. The presiding Judge made this comment - perhaps the legal profession is the only profession which holds formal ceremonies to admit its members and sending them off upon demise. I'm in concurrence to this!

I had to dress up fully robed i.e wing-collared shirt, bib and the barrister robe. It felt so akward this morning, donning the full atire, as the last time I got myself robed was for a Court of Appeal appearance 12 years back! Since then, I have been more at ease in just shirts, ties and pants (occasionally a jacket).

My two younger boys, who are still quarantined at home, were very excited as this was the first time that I had brought back my robe from the office as I had to go straight from home to the Court. They were really curious and asked truckload of questions! I just let them fool around with my robe for a bit and you can see their excitement and content from the pics below.

Ib in the robe....looks like he's ready for Hogwarts.

Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin? Ready to be sorted!

Our Sunday Walk

Woke up Sunday morning quite late (to my standard that is), about quarter to seven, and woke wifey up as she wanted to join me for a gym session (well at least this was what she told me the night before). But hey....wifey wanted fresh air, instead, that morning rather than being cooped up in the gym like a guinea pig trotting on the tread mill and asked me to accompany her for a morning walk up this little hill in Taman Melawati (this is the only way she gets to use her new Nike cross trainers which I bought her...LOL). I agreed with much reluctance; as to me morning walks are for wimps!

Decided to drive to Taman Melawati and left our car at the new Food Court near TM Building. Started walking towards the hill and passed the river pictured below and noticed a few flamingos looking for their catch of the day. The river was heavily polluted with soil eroded from the neraby hill cleared for development - thanks to the local council and the state authority for approving hill development for reasons best known to them!

Flamingos in the river

The entrance to the little hill

The no entry without permission notice - did we care?

A hill cleared for development viewed from the little hill

Wifey lagging behind........

A humongous bungalow under construction...it has a lift shaft!

On the way back, we took a detour to get to our car and walked pass this house at Jalan J16, phase 6 Taman Melawati. This is the house which was to be our first marital place of abode (residing completely together) after we got married (I was residing in Johor Bahru whilst wifey in Kuala Lumpur with her parents immediately after we got hitched). We stayed here for about a year before we purchased an apartment also in Taman Melawati. This is the house Khadijah called home after she was brought back from the hospital......

Hey, after that morning walk, I'm fully converted. It's not bad at all...you get nice view, fresh air and most importantly quality time with wifey. I'll definitely do it again. What's wrong with being a wimp once a week! LOL!

Can't wait for this one

Mukhsin is Yasmin Ahmad's third installation of her Orked's chronicles (the first one being Sepet and Gubra the second) and is scheduled to be screened in Malaysia in March 2007. Having been nominated for a prestigious film festival, the Berlin 57th International Film Festival in the "Generation" category (a category for films which have youth as the main theme), it definitely will rock but I seriously doubt whether it will have an impact on the local citizens across the board - especially with the statistics that local movie-goers are only interested in films made by a certain academician or an ex-actor which in my opinion is a total insult to any one's intelligence. But hey....their films are blockbusters....??? I suppose the market is not ready for films which make them think......

The one thing which I love about Yasmin's movies is that they all have souls...you are totally immersed in them.

Anyway, I love Nina Simone's "Ne me quitte pas" (you can hear it here) and Adibah Noor's (congratulations for winning Best Vocal, best ballad and best song in the 21st AJL held last evening) rendition of a keronchong song, which I don't know the title, featured in the trailer below.

Heavenly Thai

As you walk to the entrance, a huge red lantern greets you....

The path leading up to the bungalow

Friday nights have been pre-empted for mummy and daddy time out from the kiddos... We would always look forward to this so that we could catch up with each other on variety of issues OR catch up with our relatives or friends. Like last night, we went to Tamarind Hill to have dinner with L*n to catch up!

Tamarind Hill situates on a small hill at Jalan Kerja Raya Air Lama, Ampang housed in a 1920's colonial planter's bungalow. I have been patronizing this place for a number of years now. Most of my friends whom I have brought here would be surprised to find an oasis in the middle of Klang Valley! You don't feel that you are actually next to a busy road....I love the ambience and the food served here (Modern Siamese cuisine) is excellent.

For dinner we ordered seafood fried rice for L*n, pineapple fried rice for wifey and yours truly had Black Olive fried rice. We ordered two dishes to share - Seafood Tom Kah (it's basically tom yam but has light coconut milk in it; very nice) and Shitake Mushroom fried with basil.

Weekend work e-mails

WHAT'S YOUR TAKE ON THIS? Don't you just hate 'em?

Check this out!

Ain't this pretty? It certainly made me want to go on Eye on Malaysia.

For more pictures click here.

NB:Photo by LensaMalaysia member, Leonard Lee

Tanjung Rhu Beach

Umar on the beach

Yusof posing on the beach

The beach - you can actually go on a boat ride to get to Gua Cherita

Having fun with sand

Umar & me - Pulau Cabang in the middle!

We really came unprepared for a picnic nor for a swim except for two towels which we brought along. We reached Tg Rhu Beach which lies on the north eastern tip of Langkawi at about 2 pm after spending about an hour an a half at Durian Perangin Waterfall. This was our second day in Langkawi.

The beach and the sea really looked inviting despite the hot sun! As you can guess, the only picnickers that time were sunbathers from beyond the shores of Malaysia. Well my brood were pestering me to go for a dip in the water! As we came unprepared, I had to do a whirlwind shopping for some bermuda pants for the kids and yours truly! Luckily there were shops lined before the beach!Quite ok, the prices - RM6.00 each for kids' bermudas/shorts and RM25 for my knee-length shorts.

The water was quite cooling surprisingly! The main attraction of this beach, apparently, is that you can actually walk through the water to a small island called Pulau Cabang which is about 1 km from the beach. Well I attempted to go with my boys but Umar and Ib asked me to turn back halfway as they were scared!

Wifey was complaining like mad that it was hot coz I made her lay down the towels for her to lie down in the hot sun! LOL! It was good fun though!

The water was not that clear when we were there as the wind was a bit strongish. The movement of sand made the water slightly blurry! BTW, two luxurious properties situate here - the Four Seasons and Tanjung Rhu Resort!

Hmm....London for RM9.99?

Friday January 5, 2007
AirAsia X London flights from RM9.99
KUALA LUMPUR:
Fly Asian Express (FAX) will fly its long-haul operations using the brand Air Asia X, under franchise from AirAsia, starting July. The flights will have two classes - super economy and economy. In-flight entertainment and food will be available for purchase onboard.
Fares to London will start as low as RM9.99, excluding tax and surcharges. FAX has been given rights to operate long-haul flights to destinations in Asia, Australia and Europe.
AirAsia CEO Datuk Tony Fernandes has a 50% stake in FAX. The
other two FAX shareholders are AirAsia deputy chief executive Kamarudin Meranum (30%) and former AirAsia chief financial officer Raja Azmi Raja Razali (20%), who is also FAX CEO.

The above report is from today's Star and the pic is taken from Singapore Straits Times. Hmm....the caption which I saw on tv3 today (the programme "the Exchange") for the loang haul flight was " Now everyone can fly.....X-tra long".

I really admire Tony Fernandez for his vision to make Malaysia as the global hub for international long haul flights. He is really in to the second phase of expansion of Air Asia. The first phase being establishing the brand Air Asia!

Well the day has come, according to my partner, Ping, that we can shop every month in London! Well, I must add this...flying there is no problem now but spending in pound sterling....?????

Langkawi in a nutshell

Day 1- Not quite a good start. Our flight was delayed for almost an hour.

Day 1 - Happy on arrival albeit an hour of delay!

Day 1 - Mixed feelings in our rented car as you can tell from the faces!

Day 1 - Dined at Restoran Hj Jelani, Pantai Cenang on the beach for Thai seafood. The service was really slow as most of his staff were already on leave for Hari Raya Haji. Food was good, though. A lot of gwai-loh surprisingly!

Day 1 (late night) - Mom and daughter's reading materials

Day 2 - First day breakfast; beef rendang brought from KL; had rendang sandwich!

Day 2 (morning) - Mum and Dad at Dataran Lang

Day 2 (morning) - The first thing the kids wanted to see was this giant eagle at Dataran Lang, Kuah. Visited the jetty's duty free shopping complex. Eyewear, perfumery and cosmetics are a lot cheaper than KL

Day 2 (late morning) - Duty Free shopping at Idaman Suri just outside Kuah town; cheap chocs; had to come here coz m-i-l asked us to buy cutlery for her

Day 2 (late morning) - Early lunch at Zainas (next to Idaman Suri) in Kuah; fantastic asam pedas Kedah and kerabu taugeh; bubur pulut hitam was excellent too!

Day 2 (noon) - Durian Perangin waterfall; worth the climbing up to this 2nd tier waterfall.....

Day 2 (noon) - Yusof having a go jumping into the natural pool of Durian Perangin waterfall

Day 2 (afternoon) - Had fun at Tg Rhu beach; me and the kids attempting to wade the sea to Pulau Cabang which we did halfway....... Beautiful white sandy beach.

Day 2 (evening) - Dropped by at Mc Phee's Australian Deli, Padang Matsirat (quite near airport) to get butter and french onion dip for snacks.

Day 2 - Tapau dinner from TJay's Pizza and Pasta, Pantai Cenang; recipe from Harry's Bar. The best pizza on Langkawi Island in one of a food review!

Day 3 (morning) - Before Hari Raya Haji prayers; prayed at Kg Temoyong mosque; we had bread with rendang (brought from KL) for Hari Raya Haji

Day 3 (morning) - Posing in front of Tun Mahathir's business venture at Telaga Harbour - The Loaf

Day 3 (morning) - Our picnic yummies from the Loaf, Bakery and Bistro, Telaga Harbour

Day 3 (late morning) - The clear water of Pantai Pasir Tengkorak near Datai Bay; we saw two dolphins frolicking in the water 100m from the beach ......

Day 3- Mum and dad relaxing on Pantai Pasir Tengkorak

Day 3 - Late lunch at Dolce Vita Arts Cafe, Oriental Village Pantai Kok

Day 3 (afternoon) - Mount Mat Cincang cable car ride

Day 3 - Tapau dinner from Tomato Nasi Kandar, Pantai Cenang

Day 4- Nasi lemak RM1 at the corner of Jalan Pantai Tengah/Jalan Pantai Cenang for breakfast.

Day 4 - Getting ready for island hopping (Pulau Dayang Bunting, Pulau Singa Besar and Pulau Beras Basah)

Day 4 - Lunch at Breakfast Station, Pantai Cenang

Day 4 (evening) - Dr Ghani's (aka Pak Din) herb garden near Padang Lalang with his almost finished hut in preparation for his herb walk (Garden & Rainforest) to be launched on 15th January 2007.

Day 4 (evening) - Learning to secure kecam leaves to make roofing sheets at Durian Perangin foothill with Pak Long and Dr Ghani for Dr Ghani's hut.

Day 4 - Late dinner and dessert @ Rasa, Pantai Cenang

Day 5 - Breakfast @ Breakfast Bar, Pantai Cenang

Day 5 - Beras Terbakar site at Padang Matsirat

Day 5 (late morning) - Post breakfast, pre-lunch (Malay food from Sempoyy B&Z, Padang Matsirat

Day 5 - Packed lunch from Red Tomato, Pantai Cenang (Freshly baked bread with Crispy Chicken and Cheddar Cheese)

Day 5 - Au revoir Langkawi