12.11.1946 - 18.03.2010 (Part 3)

Ma, how are you in the next life?

Ma, how does it feel over there? How are you doing?

Ma, your body is lying alone in your tomb. Are you feeling lonely as much as we do?

Ma, I'm confident that you're doing just fine.

Ma, I'm having faith & pray that

1. your good deeds when you're alive
   
2. your sacrifices giving birth to us & raised us
3. your sacrifices helping Abah feeds us
4. your generosity towards the orphans
5. your generosity towards people less fortunate than us
6. your gesture to honor all guests
   
7. your sacrifices in taking care of grandma
8. your teaching for half of your age

will be rewarded accordingly by Allah & will accompany, widen & light up your tomb.

Furthermore, we will never stop providing you with our prayers so that your tomb is one of the gardens of Eden... Ameen.

Ma, did I tell you that when we were lowering your body down to your tomb - we were blessed with beautiful sprinkle from heaven?

12.11.1946 - 18.03.2010 (Part 2)

Ma, today is the 3rd day.

Ma, the 1st night was the hardest. I could barely slept.

Ma, I knew this moment would come. I just didn't expect it was so soon.

Ma, no matter how much we love you, God loves you more. At least I'm relieved with that.

Ma, we're still grieving on your departure. Not that we can't accept it but only because we're missing you so much.

Ma, I think I understand why Abah refused my offer to accompany him sleeping - 'coz sometimes we need to cry our heart out thus need a moment alone.

Ma, Allah is truly The Greatest. Out of 63 years of your life He only took 3 months of your health. And out of the 3 months, He only took you less than 1 month from home due to hospitalization. And He only took 1 week of your strength.

And finally Ma, He took your life away in a very calm & peaceful second. Though I'm a bit regret that I wasn't there, at least I'm relieved to hear that from Abah. And everything follows run unbelievably smooth...

12.11.1946 - 18.03.2010

Siam Paragon Cineplex Experience

Exactly 3 years ago, during my semi-backpacking trip in Bangkok, I had the opportunity to visit Siam Paragon shopping mall, the biggest (I think) mall in Thailand. It's at least as big as Suria KLCC, maybe bigger. Coincidentally it housed the Siam Ocean World which is bigger than Aquaria KLCC.

It also housed the Siam Paragon Cineplex that simply can beat any cineplex in Malaysia. Why not? It has 14 screening hall with reclining seats which is cooler than Garden's (Mid Valley) Signature GSC, an IMAX theatre and the Siam Pavili, a lavish philharmonic hall.

I took the opportunity to watch the then-newly released "Mission: Impossible III". The ticket costed 160 Baht (RM16) each . The staff are much more friendlier than cinema staff in Malaysia, too friendly that they treated me as 1 of their own - greeted & spoke with me in Thai language... Dang!

However the thing that extremely surprised me was that they played their National Anthem before the movie started! And even more shocking was that everybody stood up & sang along... loudly. I had no choice but to respect that culture, after all I looked like 1 of them... Crap!!!

I remembered years ago when 1 of our Minister pitched an idea to do the same in our cinemas and it was greeted with super-ultra-megaton negative responses.

And can we claim we are more civilised than the Thais?

Maybe, just maybe...

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P/S: My first personal photo in my blog... enjoy :-)

Air Asia stinks! Kuching stinks! aka Kuching Trip January 2009

So last week i spent 2 days/1 night in Kuching for a possible business discussion with an old friend.

I also brought along a bottle of budu for him, as he missed the taste of it for years.

Upon touched down at Kuching International Airport, I couldn't resist touching the pavement of the plane's parking area with my palm (I traveled with Air Asia) as I missed The Cat City like hell...

1st activity: Presentation of our business plan. Looks promising, my retire young, retire rich plan is in my head.

Then: Check in at Empire Inn, a budget hotel near the Sarawak River - Just next to Sarawak Plaza.
2 future businessmen staying in a budget hotel? Hmmm, that will change next year. Coz I'm targeting Kuching Hilton for my next trip!

Next: Lunch @ Hartz Chicken Buffet, Sarawak Plaza (what the hell am I doing in Kuching eating foods that I can easily get in West M'sia?).

Then: Wandering around the surrounding malls: Sarawak Plaza, Tun Jugah & Parkson. For a year lots has happened in Kuching. For example: Crowne Plaza hotel is now Riverside Majestic & Holiday Inn is now Grand Margherita. More buildings are being built around the city though the serenity is not 'raped', yet. I pray that will never happen.

Feeling tired, back to hotel for a shower.

Open my bag... but something smells fishy...

OMG! THE BUDU BOTTLE BROKE!!!
Even the liquid budu has nearly dried in my bag & stained some of my clothes... Then I remember my bag strap torn & I dropped my bag when I was heading to LCCT that morning. That must when it happened.

CRAP!!! My bag & even some of my clothes smelled like SHIT.

MEGA CRAP!!! I must have left some stain/odour in the overhead compartment of the plane.

My buddy Z, also forgive me in case i left some stain in your precious car...

My beloved Kuching, pls forgive me for the odour pollution...

Dear Air Asia/Dato' Tony Fernandes: pls forgive me for the above reasons & pls don't ban me in the future for smuggling chemical weapon on board your new Airbus A320...


Moral: Ke mana tumpahnya budu kalau tak dalam kapal terbang...

note: All pics are just for illustration purposes. They are not mine. However the experiences are 100% historical facts.

Cinema Experience in Miri

I was chatting with a friend via YM last week & it reminded me of a trully extraordinary cinematic experience that I had in Miri. Miri was a cool resort city in Sarawak, after Kuching of course! And being the heart of oil & gas industry in Sarawak it's a common sight to see foreigners & night clubs but it's quite hard to catch a glimpse of luxurious or fancy sport cars compared to Kuching (again, Kuching wins!) but maybe my timing was wrong.

I was in Miri a few months ago (August) for a business trip which gave me some extra tan (thanks to my short sleeved t-shirts). Also the trip usually started early in the morning & I returned to the hotel nearing the sunset. Not much opportunity for sightseeing - pity me... One evening I decided to check out the cinema in Miri & bought a ticket for The Dark Knight (still a box office at the time) & also intrigued by one of my friend's warning about an ecounter that may wait in the cinema hall.The ticket costed RM10 & computer printed just like any cinema ticket we found in Peninsular. (But this one beat Kuching coz 1 cinema in the Cat City still uses manual ticket... Ceh!).

Scheduled to start at 10.45pm, I entered the hall at 10.35 only to found out the movie has started (WTF?!, I missed nearly half of the Joker bank robbery scene). The quality of the projector & sound will disappoint those who only familiar with TGV, GSC & Cineleisure in Midvalley, 1utama & Mutiara Damansara but of coz I didn't expect much.

However about halfway the movie, I heard 'chip-chip'chip' sound from the back of the hall followed by something running on the floor. That's it - RATS in cinema hall! Honestly it was very annoying & I advice those who have fear of rats to cross their legs on the seat (bersila) coz sometimes the rats literally run around your seat.

To make things worse, the rats sounds are clearer than the movie's itself. I guessed the rats are Dolby Digital - Surround.

Mr. Christopher Nolan will be jealous of the rats coz his TDK (partially shot with IMAX camera) was beaten by Miri rats sound.

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I paid RM10 to hear rats humping under my seat?... Hehe