Sembang: June 2010

I finished my Friday prayer, and sat down for a while. I saw the TNB's cafe opened after the prayer. So I had my lunch there. The food was nice and really really cheap. I enjoyed it. While I was eating, i noticed there's an old man sitting down at the mosque's pillar. I noticed a bag and a white walking stick with him. He's blind.

I finished my lunch, washed my hand and went off to put on my shoes, and it was near where the old blind man was sitting. As I put on my shoes, I just had to talk to him.

"Pakcik dah makan?"

He didn't answer me. I asked the same question again.

Same response.

I put my hand on his hand and asked him the question again. Only then he noticed me. He didn't answer. I asked him again and he turn his right ear towards me. Oh, I guess he wasn't able to hear well with his left ear.

"Belum makan lagi. Pakcik bawak bekal ni. Kejap lagi Pakcik makan la..", he answered.

"Pakcik, kalau pakcik nak makan, jom la, kat belakang ni kantin.."

"Tak apa..pakcik bawak bekal ni, tak nak membazir..", he refused of my offer.

So, I chat a bit with him while I was putting on my shoes. And as I was going, I held his hand and put some money in it. He turned his face towards me and thanked me for it.

I guess I am lucky. I'm glad I can help.

I was away on company trip to Bali. I had a blast. Love the beach, love the people, love everything about that trip. Love it very much. In the end of the trip, before we part off from the tour guide, he asked, as for feedbacks, which part of the trip that we didn't like.

Sadly, few of my colleagues had to complain. Petty complains; bad food, don't like the time spent travelling from each place to another, not enough information about the trip and places we went to, no help with the luggages.

Wow, seriously people??

Got a chance to go on holidays on company expenses, 5-stars hotel, a great place; Bali it is. Still, y'all got something to complain about??

Impressive.

I've had friends, came to me and bitch about work, people, life etc. Yeap, I don't mind listening, and if there's something I could do to help you out, I would do it. But please, if it's too small of a problem, a petty complain, I might be thinking of smacking you. You might not see me do it, but probably inside my head, I'm smacking you.

What do I mean by petty complains? If you bitched about your boyfriend, girlfriend, friends, work, no money, you don't know how to cook scramble egg, you're fat, she's fat, he's fat, you're ugly, you're adopted, your boss is gay, bla-bla-blah. Hey, instead of focusing so much energy in bitching about your life, you could have done something about it? Don't you realize it?

When you complains, it will get worse.

When you complains, it will keep on happening to you.

When you complains, it won't settle a thing.

Solution; don't complain. Easy.

Yeah, shit happens. But hey, take your time and look at the big picture. You still have something that others don't have right? The thing is, if we really have something to complain about, please take a look around.

If you are able to read this, you are very very lucky. So please, be grateful. Quit being a little bitch.

Be thankful.

ENJOY YOUR LIFE.

I've been busy with life and kinda cut myself of the net for quite sometime(work,business and lotsa catching up with my sleep. Did you know that adults too need sufficient sleeps of 8 hours so we can be fully energized? YES, that was what I was doing. SLEEPING.)

I've traveled to few places recently, been having fun and I wanna blog about it.

I went to Perak recently. My house mate's brother was getting married and he invited all of us to be there. Plus it'll be a traditional 'kampung' ceremony whereas all of the villagers got together and help out with the wedding. Oh, I know one thing for sure, FUN!

The wedding was going to be on weekends and we planned to spend 4 days there. Thoroughly packed our bags and headed for Kampung Senin in Perak. Kampung Senin is a village in Parit, a nearly 5 hours drive by the old road and through the highway, 4 hours( which i don't get it. One hour difference by highway?? Sheit, what's the point??).

We left our house at 10 p.m.

After one quick stop at the petrol station that have McDonald's, we kinda spent our time 'wisely' to eat up and more eating. Plus, it's good to travel with a full tummy! :D If something happened, we would die happy.

Ok, Brada used the old road to Parit and damn it was dark. No street lights. There were street light, but no street lights(notice the different?). Only one street light at one sharp turn (in case you don't see the big ass sign that showed an arrow to turn left or right, they put one street light so you can see the sign and run over it, it's true). Brada was driving really slow just in case there were buffaloes or cows on the road. And the skies were unbelievably clear and millions of stars were visible. Sheit, I know in K.L i could count the visible stars.

We got to his house at 4 a.m, it was freaking dark and how the heck he managed to find his house??Dang. We greeted her mother and went to sleep in the living room.

DAY 1

I woke up finding Brada's nieces playing around and watching TV. Azree and Ejan too, opened their eyes to the kids', I would say, loudness. And had great laughs at their answers to their grandma, sarcastic and it was great.

Woke up at 10 in the morning and heck we got nothing to do after we showered. I wore a sarong because I wear it everyday and they wore it because they felt like it suits the 'kampung' environment. It was Friday and the only thing to do was Friday prayer at noon. We waited(after we had a big breakfast of course).

After the prayer, we try to find something to do, but only lunch was there to be settled. Yes, we really settled it. Nice lunch. A kick-ass tasty 'kampung' lunch. Oh yeah. Then, we waited for any instruction on what-supposed-to-be-done for the wedding, but sadly, nothing. We just sat around the places. For hours(damn,kampung life is so freaking slow).

And this is Ayunie. She's adorable and she's a bully. She bullied Azree and Ejan but not me.

Brada told us that the preparation for the wedding reception will only start on Saturday evening. So the next question we asked him was,'What to do till then?'.

The answer,'Let go buy some groceries and jalan-jalan'. Okay, good enough.

We had a tour around Parit. And this was the Parit Clock Tower that was built back in 1957, as a monument for Malaysia's Independent Day.

That's about it. Hehe.

Then, we wanna go to Sungai Perak. Mandi sungaiiiiiiii!!!!

But first, according to Brada, we have to look for a suitable place to 'mandi sungai', if not we die. Only Ejan and him can swim, Azree and I cannot swim. We are natural sinkers(no arguments,we can't swim).

Armed with no swimming capabilities, we searched for the perfect spot to swim. We have our own guide which is 12 years old Brada's nephew. Nice.

We found the first spot and it was a new port built there for those who wanna fish. We look around and obviously I'm not jumping in. I don't wanna dai drowning, so not cool. So staying out of the water was the best option.

Then we look for the second spot. Found it, a lil' bit further, but still, for a non-swimmer, NO.

So we hang a bit and left.

With the depth measured and everything. Not a good place to dai. But we had fun that.

When we got back, oh, pelamin dah siap.

And late that evening, futsal against the next village, Kampung Layang-layang. No one took pictures and as usual, the last goal win. We, Kampung Senin lost because of that stupid rule.

After Maghrib, we got nothing to do. Ejan was sleeping. And made fun of a sleeping person was the only fun we could do.

Playing with kids was also the fun things to do.

We boiled the egg for the wedding receptions.

And we waited for the eggs to be done. Yes, we have lotsa spare time.

Oh, the karaoke is ready. So we made noise.

And night time felt longer. We were sleepy at 11p.m so we decided to lepak at the bus-stop. Hey, in kampung, loitering is the funnest thing to do. And we walk around with sarong and sarong was hip! It was so damn dark. Spooky. We couldn't see the road or the walkway, just pure guessing and walk.

We did nothing. Just hang out, listen to songs and the sounds of crickets. We burnt the mosquito repellent just to keep thousands of 'em away. It was dark, really dark. Wahlawei. Easy life here.

DAY 2

We try to wake up late, but it wasn't an option.

"WOI! BANGUN LA!!! SEMUA DAH DATANG DAH NIII!!"

Like a bunch of soldier, we heard the order loud and clear, and wow, we woke up real fast and folded the mattress real quick and went straight to the bathroom. Sheit.

Brada's mom woke us up with lots of nagging and it was refreshing. Had a quick breakfast and had to follow the rombongan to the next village. Noon already? Oh, it's the bride's wedding reception, the groom's reception will be on Sunday.

Ayunie with Azree as her 'toy'. Not me.

And she's adorable.

Oh yeah, we're ready to escort the groom. Brada is the best man.

Oh, it was a double wedding!! Haha!! Ejan had to hold the umbrella back there. We had a blast eating and taking care of the little kids. Fun!!!(though it was hot as hell.)

Azree tought Ayu on how to use the camera(so she would stop bullying him) and now, she can't stop taking pictures.

I was tired, and we all do. Ayu snapped our picture.

And, Ayu snapped Ejan inside. Told 'cha it was a tiring day.

It was a hot hot day. So we decided to go swimming. Brada's nephew, Alop, said there's a place that's perfect for non-swimmer. Yeayy!!!(shut up, I can't swim.)

Found a cool spot. Yeah, now time to swim in Sg. Perak!!

Woo! It was a great place to be. See, very nostalgic. I don't know why.

Awesome.

I had to take care of the little girls 'cause I don't swim. Ejan was all the way in the middle. He was not in the picture. Somewhere in the river. Dang, what a way to cool off the heat. The river's current was strong. One more reason to not swim. But luckily I'm a heavy dude, it helped. Time was well spent. Love it!

DAY 3

Woke up with a loud yell form Brada's mother once again. All of his relatives arrived already. So the house was full! And of course we didn't know what to do. Plus, we haven't shower yet. Have to wait for our turn. Dang. Malu oh.

All the tables and chair were already set last night. The canopy too(we did it ourselves).

And the cooking started early in the morning(we were sleeping). So I was the last one to shower and when I was ready and out, there were two task I could do. Go out, under the heat and help out with serving the food and drink, clearing the table and usher the guest. Or I could do what I do best, cook. So, I offer all the makcik-makcik to cook for the bride and groom. They were surprise, and I ended up being the only male in the kitchen and working under the roof with fans swerving on your face is better than out there, under the sun. Plus, it's a good way to impress all the makcik's(boleh terus jadi menantu, dahsyat).

Azree and Ejan have to help out, in the heat. Padan muka.

Not a masterpiece, but heck, in 2 hours time, this is what I was able to do.

It was a simple reception.

But, it was perfect.

Since the bride and groom didn't eat much(they have to look beautiful anyway), we came to the rescue.

Yes, very true. Who wrote this is a genius!

Later on in the evening, we went to cool off once again. Gotta love the Sg.Perak.

For dinner, we have to buy satay. And the only satay place they have was in Bota. We have to cross the Sg.Perak and go the other side to buy the satay. Yes, exaggeration. It's quite far if you're walking.

Wow, 5 p.m to 9 p.m only? Queue up some more? Seriously?

And yes, very serious.

A lot of people, and a lot of satay. We had a great meal that night.

And yes, we definitely enjoyed our days here. Thanks to Brada's mum for the hot milo every night.

Day 4

Time to leave.

Had a great time in Kampung Layang-Layang. Really want to come here again. Ayunie cried when we left. Poor girl. Alop and Nabila, Brada's nephew and niece were great. Gonna miss our time here.

Brada's mum made us great breakfast, lunch and dinner. Love the late supper and love the way she yelled at us. Cool. Very niggaish. Totally appreciate everything.

Sg.Perak was awesome. Satay Bota tasted great.

Gotta say, kampung life is not bad at all.

Here's a series of photos Ayunie took before we went home.

We just woke up and Ayunie was bored.