What’s up doc?

I know.. I know..
I still haven’t update anything for my Europe trip.
Sorry la ye.. Busy sangat2!

So many things happened these few weeks.
I couldn’t find proper time to sort out the pics and update the blog.
I just came back from my hometown last weekend.
My parents shifted to a new house.
It’s a total mess. Really tiring..

Nak jadi cerita, my mum told me about the auntie who lives next door.
She’s actually my mum’s friend. Best friend la agaknya kot.
Ada ke patut dia cakap dia nak sangat jadi besan dgn my mum?
Aduiyai! Headache! Headache!
Bukannya aku kenal anak dia pun.. And I don’t think she knows me either.
Match making is so uncool okay!
Payah la aku nak balik kampung next time. Peh!

Just finished my PMP (My Mid Year Performance Report).
It’s really a pain in the ass, honestly.
Nak ‘goreng’ pun tak berapa pandai dah.
Hm.. I used to be really good at that. Heh.
Submitted the ‘copy and paste’ version to David just now. Hehe.

My dad got a job in Brunei.
Offshore thingy and he got a contract for 9 months I think.
Hm.. When he told me that he passed the test, I can’t help to feel amazed and worried at the same time.
The test includes jumping from a helicopter to an open sea and swim for a few miles to safety.
Yeah.. I know.. crazy right? Only 5 out of 8 persons passed that test.
My dad memang tak boleh duduk diam kat rumah.
He loves to work and that’s why my mum can’t say anything.

This Sunday I got an assessment at INTENGAH, KL.
Best part is.. I haven’t prepared anything for it.
Heck! I don’t even know what to prepare and what they have in store for me.
The assessment used to be 3 full days, but they decided to shorten it to 1 day instead.
Maybe the Government nak cut cost kot? Hehe.
Anyway, wish me luck! I really really really need it lor..
I don’t know whether I can pull this one off.
Just wait and see.

Let’s see.. What else huh?
Hm.. New Hire Training starts tomorrow. *sigh.. what’s new?
Cross Training for Singapore market starts next week. Bummer..
Oh! yeah.. I’ve watched Transformers – Thanks to Amex Sports Club.
Bumblebee is so cool! Hehe. Love it!

Next movie to watch will be Ice Age 3.
I wonder should I watch it in 3D? Hm…

Coming soon..

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Family Ties

I’m lazy to update my travelogue.
12 days of traveling across 3 countries – that’s a lot to write.
For the time being, you guys can check out Cat’s and Shanky’s blog for it.
But I’ll get it done, don’t worry. It’s just a matter of when. Hehe.

There’re a lot of deaths all of sudden in 2009.
I’m talking about those people around me.
A friend.. Someone’s dad.. Someone’s grandfather.. Husband..
They all passed away.. within these 6 months..
I suck when it comes to dealing with deaths.

Realizing this makes me cherish my family now more than ever..
I love them so very much and will continue to do so.. regardless what happen to me.
They’re all that I’ve got in this world.
Apart from my good close friends that is..

…..

Sometimes some people tend to take them for granted.. their parents and siblings.
I don’t blame them at all..
They have their own reasons and all.
It’s just… sad to see it..you know. Really sad..
I guess you don’t know who you’ll miss till they’re gone. Right?

*Sigh.. I miss my lil bro.. It’s already been 9 years now.
If he is still alive.. he would be 27 years old.
Damn! Mesti dia dah kahwin with bunch loads of kids!
Aku pun mesti dah jadi uncle Aidil. Hehe.
Well.. Things happened for a reason or reasons – Wallahualam.
Life must go on right?
Hidup mesti terus..!!

Al-fatihah buat arwah Azreen Herly bin Abu Samah.
May Allah bless his soul.
Amin.

Man.. I look really old and ugly as a stick man. Haha!

Regards:

I’m back

I survived London, Amsterdam and Paris for the whole two weeks.
Tired but worth it.. every single damn seconds of it.

Thanks Cat for all the pre-bookings.
Thanks Shanky for the Starhot thingy.
And finally.. Thanks Nurul for everything Amsterdam.

And for those who prayed for my safety and all.
Thanks a million!

Love y’all.

More updates soon.
Need to clear the a few hundred emails in my Lotus Notes first. Crap!

Regards

Yogyakarta Travelogue – Part II

So this will be the final part of my Yogyakarta Trip.

After we managed to escape from the Borobudur Harrassment, we continued our trip to Kaliurang District.
What is there? Well, it’s the famous Mount Merapi.
Mount Merapi is one of the most active volcano mountain in Asia.
Last time the volcano erupted was in April 2006.
Hm.. exactly 3 years now.. Scary..

I didn’t manage to take any pictures because the mountain was heavily covered with mist and smoke.
While we’re sitting there at the foot of the mountain.. we can’t help to think, what if.. Hehe. Bengong!

Ok, next stop is Prambanan Temple.
But before that, we stopped by for lunch.
We had Nasi Padang with fried village chicken (ayam kampung goreng la tu).
Not bad, but I’ve tasted better..

We started our tour around 4.00pm.
It’s not that hot and not so many people around as well.
Again the entrance tickets were paid to Pak Man.
This time it’s slightly cheaper than Borobudur’s.

The Prambanan temple entrance tickets

The Prambanan is one of the largest Hindu’s temple in South East Asia.
The temple is also included in UNESCO World Heritage Site list.

The announcement at the entrance gate. Notice the grammar errors?

The temple was badly damaged during the earthquake in Jawa back then in 2006.
It seems that the reconstruction work are still in progress.
But, how come there’s no one working? Tak cukup budget nk bayar workers ke?
Sayangnya… Semua dah ada kat Malaysia kot? Heh.

The board - Before and after the earthquake images.

Ramayana show – at night..

Masing2 pose ntah apa-apa. Haha.

The temple entrance. Koboi mana lak inter frame aku ni?

One of the shrines..

There are 3 main shrines in Prambanan Temple.
They call it Trimurti and it was built as a dedication for the three gods:
Brahma the Creator.
Vishnu the Keeper.
Shiva the Destroyer.

Which one is which.. I’m not sure. Hehe.

One of my best shots. I think?  Sunlight on shrine.

I took this more than 10 times to get this composition and setting right. Nice!

Strange creature were found wandering around the temples. The local called it Khairulus Poyous. Hahaha.

I like this picture. I called it Prambanan Part time Royal Guards. Hehe.

After around 1 and a half hour, it’s time for us to leave.
The temple’s compound park is huge. It even have a mini zoo in it.
Overall, this tour is more relaxing . Plus there’s no Prambanan Harrassment this time. Hehehe.

Goodbye Prambanan..

On our way out.. this is the temple’s compound park.

We reached our hotel around 6pm.
Damn tired la wei today. Too much walking around..
Nak keluar makan pun malas.. So, we had our dinner in the hotel itself.

Day 3: Krebet Village, Silver Factory, Sultan Palace and Malioboro Street.

Today after breakfast, we took off to Krebet Village to see handicrafts making and the famous batik on wood.
Like Malaysian, ehem.. Indonesian also are known for their exquisite craftsmanship and creativity.
The journey took us to a place quite far from the town area.
We passed by a few interesting views such as paddy fields, villages, orchards and fish ponds.

Sorang rindu kena leter, sorang lagi kemaruk rindu awek.. Haha..

This piece (landscape deco, maybe) was handcrafted by the local - Beautiful..

Waterlily.. Love it!

An uncle who works in the silver factory. He’s cleaning the jewelry in case you don’t know.

The silver factory’s workplace. If I work here.. I’ll die out of boredom. Confirmed!

Next stop is to Sultan Palace or also known as Kraton.
This is where the Sultan stay or used to.. since it have become a tourist spot now.
Entance fee is 12,500Rp plus 1,000Rp if you’re bringing a camera.
The palace is quite huge and certain areas in the palace are restricted to visitor.

This is our tour guide – he can speak 4 different languages including Dutch and Germans.

One of the gate’s bad ass monstrous lock.

Sultan’s royal guards taking a break.

Some of the guards have been serving the Sultan for more than 30 years.
Patutlah semua pun dah tua-tua..
I like how they explained the reason why the ‘keris’ is placed at the back rather than at the side.
It’s a symbolic gestures of peace and to avoid confrontation.
Actually there’re more but I can only remember those two. Hehe.

The puppet master showing off the Hanuman shadow puppet.

The Musical show at the Sultan Palace.

The princess dance – this is not the real princess tho. She’s in the States right now, studying.

During the show – Kay tak habis2 dgn iphone dia. Cheh!

Bluekk!!

The last destination for today is to Malioboro Street.
This long stretch of street is famous for shopping.
Here you can find stuffs like batiks, handicrafts, t-shirts, souveniors etc.
You can bargain and it’s pretty cheap too.
After walk around and shop a bit, we took the Beca back to our hotel.
End of day 3. Capek banget deh..

The typical Yogyakarta food – it’s really funny when we asked the waiter to describe the food.

This drink is called Es Soda Gembira – kat Malaysia kitorang panggil Air Bandung Berkarbonat. Hehe.

Day 4: Taman Sari and Pasar Burung

Me and Afat decided not to join this tour but just hang around Prawirotaman area.
The rest continued with the tour.
Afat lepak at the hotel’s pool to get a tan. WTH?

Selling colourful drinks – including the famous teh botol.

Penarik beca.

The colourful signboard at Prawirotaman.

Self motivation

This photo was taken by Sham and it grabbed my attention in an instant.
It says on the basket ” Demi Istri Yang Manja” – (For my loving wife).
And on the tires cover, it says “Doa Ibu” – (Mother’s Prayer).
Ah.. very touching.. By the way, what’s Manja in English ar?

My last meal in Yogyakarta – Gule Ayam.

Kopi Luwak.

The most expensive and rarest coffee in the world.
I think it was shown in Oprah once and it’s being sold here in Yogyakarta as well.
A cup of this coffee will cost you around RM30.
That’s 3 cups of Starbucks. Hehe.
I searched the net and I found out the origin of the coffee..
Hmm.. Now I know why it’s rare and expensive.
But I don’t know why you would want to try a drink made from something that came out from an animal ass?

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This two are my best pictures for the whole trip.
These kids were just finished school and their dad came to pick them up.
At first their faces were a bit gloomy.. I don’t know maybe dad came late than usual? Heh.
But as soon as they looked at me with my camera.. and I was about to snap their picture..
They smiled..  Aw..  Hehehe. So Cute!!!

Priceless!!

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That’s all for the trip…
It’s a memorable trip and I learnt more about other people’s culture, traditions and history.
Eventhough it’s only for 4 days.. I am really glad that I’ve been here.
Something new and something unique..

Bapak Man – Our tour guide aka our driver. Always with a smile..

Sayonara Yogyakarta.. Till we meet again.

Stamp! Stamp!

.Till then..
Adios!

Regards:

Yogyakarta Travelogue – Part I

I’ve been caught up with deadlines and bunch loads of stuffs after the Yogyakarta trip.
Sorry la kalau lambat update. Honto Gomenasai!
I know some of you are waiting for me to upload the pictures that I took during the trip.

Ok, this post will be the part one out of two.
The part two, you guys just have to wait a bit longer la ok?
I don’t even know sempat ke tak nak update. Hehehe.

Anyway.. *drum roll*.. Here it goes.

Date: 14th – 17th April 2009
Destination: Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Depart: LCCT, Sepang
Departure Time: 3.05pm
Arrival: Adisucipto International Airport

Day1: Departure and Hotel Check In

Our flight was delayed (biasalah Air Asia) for an hour and 35 minutes.
However, we’re informed ’bout it a week or so in advance. So, not so bad la.
Bolehlah manage the time.

Didi waiting patiently to snap the flight attendant’s picture.
Hehehe. Kantoi!!

We reached Yogyakarta around 6.45pm.
For those yang tak tau, Indonesia is an hour late from Malaysia.
Tapi bila dah sampai sana memang dah gelap la.

Happy to arrived safely. The airport doesn’t look that International to me lah.

Since we took the tour package from the hotel.. they included the airport transfer as well.
So, ada la orang pick us up from the airport
The name of the driver is Bapak Bambang Hariyadi. Very nice and friendly guy.
We all stayed at Duta Garden Guest House and it’s around 20 minutes from the airport.

We checked in to the hotel and they gave us 3 rooms instead of 2.
I’m sharing with Afat. Didi with Kay and Sham got a room for himself
One of the best thing ’bout the hotel is they’ll serve you tea and cakes once you arrived.
At first I thought it’s a one off service thing like a welcome treat. But in actually, we’re served this everytime we reached back to the hotel from the tour for all 3 days. Cool huh?

Nothing fancy, but it never failed to make me smile.

That night itself, we all went out to hunt for local food.
Indonesian food is not much different compared to Malaysian food in general.
In Yogyakarta, there’re a lot of small stalls and food stands being setup along the road.
If you are someone who are really particular with cleanliness and hygiene…
Hm.. This kinda place is not for you. Strictly for those with strong stomach.
The most common food that you’ll find here are Satay, Bakso, Bakmi and Nasi Goreng.

We decided to try out the food in one of the stall near our hotel.
The hotel’s receptionist told us to try Warung Wak Tedjo which is just a few minutes walk.
We ordered satay ayam, satay daging and also bakso.
Did you know that they also sell satay kuda? Now, THAT is something you won’t find in Malaysia.
I wonder what it taste like? Hehehe.

Satay fresh baru grill. The kuah here got kicap in it. Weird taste. I preferred our peanuts sauce tho.

The famous bakso. Oh.. macam ni rupa dia.. baru tau.

Lepas makan letak lidi dlm bakul ni. Ish.. Horror betul!

The Satay Kambing hardcore fan.

Altogether the dinner cost us around RM6 per person. 
After dinner, we all took the trishaws aka “Beca” for sightseeing around Prawirotaman.
1 Beca costs around 15,000Rp which is around RM5 for 2 hours. Not bad.
Pakcik who drove me in his Beca is called Pak Moki.
An old uncle who looks intimidating but he’s actually a nice guy.
He took us around the housing area, an art gallery and also a place where the locals create wayang kulit’s puppet.

The art gallery near Prawirotaman – all the paintings are by the local artists.

Some of the paintings.. I realized that Javanese artists are more keen on realists concept.

Sapa la yang enter-frame kat belakang tu? Potong betul la.

Wayang kulit or shadow puppet play is very popular here in Yogyakarta.
This is a raw wayang kulit of “Arjuna”.
It is crafted from buffalo’s skin and handmade to perfection.
Very fine creation and it took the creator 2 weeks to complete it.
Here, we spent around 1 hour at the creator’s place to learn more about wayang kulit.

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Day 2: Borobudur and Prambanan Temple Visit

Cosy room with a pool view. Nice! 

We started the day with buffet breakfast in the hotel itself at 6.30am. WTH?!
Throughout our stay, the menu didn’t change.. at all.
I guess that’s the only weakness of the hotel la.
Let’s see.. they have coffee, tea, orange juice, fruits, breads, eggs (I prefer scrambled), fried meehoon and the popular “nasi goreng mengantuk”.
Hahaha.. lepas makan, mesti rasa nak tido. Hampeh!

My usual breakfast menu for 3 days in a row. *sigh

Here is the hotel’s pool. On the right is our rooms. Hehe. Best!

The landscape at the pool. Tranquility..

The entrance of Duta Garden Guesthouse.

The first destination for today’s tour is the Borobudur Temple.
The journey from our hotel took around an hour. Agak jauh jugak la..
Our driver for the tour is Pak Man. He’s a nice local guy and also quite chatty. Heh!

Borobudur – Entrance tickets.

We reached Borobudur at 9am.
The entrance fee is quite expensive I would say. Lebih kurang RM40 la per person.
However, since we took the tour package our price is slightly cheaper. Kira okay la tu.

International visitor will need to enter via visitor centre and in it, they have free hot beverages.
Also here, they give us options whether we want to include a private tour guide.
The guide will cost 50,000Rp. Since we’ll split it among 5 of us, why not right?
Our guide’s name is Dariyat and he took us to the temple from the East Gate, all the way to the top.

First we went to the Borobudur museum to learn more about the temple’s history and all.
I’m not gonna tell you the history of this magnificent Buddha’s temple here.
If you guys want to know more about it, just click on the Wiki link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borobudur

During the early days, when they first discovered the temple.

Before the gate – We can see the temple from far..

I used 2 different focus setting for both pictures above. The result: Not bad. Hehe.

This main stupa picture from far – zoomed in.

This is one of the 2 guardians located at the foot of the temple. Cute kan?
Macam dia panggil – come, come. Er.. is it a tiger, lion or dog?

Borobudur – side view.

Group photo – tapi Sham takde.. sbb dia tukang ambik gambar. Hehe.

From the top of  Borobudur view – it’s surrounded by montains and trees.

One of the Buddha statue.

Every Buddha’s position actually have a meaning to it.
In the picture above, the Buddha is in meditation position.
Both the Buddha’s hands are resting together on the lap.
This gesture represents the perfect balance of thought and tranquility.

I’ve made a few photo collages. Hehehe. It’s really funny.
Didi, Kay.. jangan marah ar.. Hehehe.

Bapak-bapak semua, selepas ini aktiviti bebas ya?

Didi dgn Kay – Macam pro siot! Hahaha! Kay, apa lagi angkat satu DSLR la.

Don’t ask  me why.. sometimes things like this happened during a trip.

The weather during our trip here is blistering hot. It was 39 Celcius hot.
Anyway, the main attractions of the temple for me are the carvings and the stupas.
The arrangement and to think how they manage to built it with precise accuracy.. I’m amazed.
Back then, they don’t have sophisticated tools like we have today.
Semua pakai natives tools and angkat pakai barehands jer kot? Respect!

Some of the carving and reliefs on the wall of the temple. That’s art! 

The main stupas surrounded by the lil stupas.

The circle platfoms on top of the square platforms.

The stupas arrangement surrounding the main stupa is flawless.

In each of the stupas – there’s actually a buddha statue in it. Amazing!

The Buddha statue with the hand position of dharmachakra mudra.

View from the top - Luasnya mata memandang..

After approximately 2 hours plus, it’s time for us to leave.
We actually learn something new and this was an experience we’ll definitely not forget.
Tak cukup masa sebenarnya.. 2 jam macam sekejap sangat.
But, no choice lah.. Have to go on with our next tour itinerary.

Tak boleh duduk sebenarnya atas tu.. tapi.. hehehe.

This is me saying goodbye. Hehe.

Such a lovely place.. if only I have the opportunity to snap pictures during sunrise or sunset.

This was taken from Didi’s camera. Nak tunggu sampai takde orang mcm ni? Berjanggut!

After we went down from the temple.. Hahaha..
We called it Borobudur Harrassment!
I know they’re trying to make a living and all.. but.. phew!
They are very very persistant!
They’ll follow you all the way till you reached the exit gate.
Ada la a few of us yang “tertewas”. Hahahaha.
I bought a few postcards here.. kira mcm charity la.
I know it’s way much more cheaper outside.

 

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Alright! That’s all for now.
Stay tuned for Part 2…

Regards: