Some people you meet in your life….

I at the only Auto Spa in Kuala Terengganu. I had to wash my brother’s car and fill up the tank before I left for KL. He was so kind to give me a car during Hari Raya to move about.

I heard someone calling an unfamiliar name pointing to me. I decided to be polite and extended my salam.

Sure salah orang punya kes ni.

True enough. He thought I was someone else. But we shared the same table and have a puff while waiting for our respective cars.

The usual.. you know being friendly and all, we got into a small talk. Kerja kat mana, tinggal kat mana sort of things.

In less than 30 minutes, this guy already bragged about himself claiming tha he has 2 BMW X6 (for what?), a Ferrari, among others and the jewel of the crown is an apartment in Fifth Avenue, New York.

Boleh!!!

It’s OK, I know he has the money an all, but less than 30 minutes he told me about all these?

I wonder what is he trying to tell,

or to hide….?

Songket hok Mok saya Tenung!

At the lobby of Primula Hotel, I was sitting down, busy sms-ing raya greetings.

The conciege or perhaps the door man clad in Baju Melayu and sampin (songket) approached me. Friendly.

His name, from the name tag, is Husain.

I can’t resist but to notice the beautiful songket he was wearing.

Being straight forward I actually commented:

Nice songket (chomey songket awok))

And then he told me in detail about the songket he was wearing.

He went:

This is actually a piece of songket weaved / woven by my own mother.

(songket ning hok Mok saya tenung sdiri)

Wow! That’s the first.

I have never met anybody wearing a piece of songket weaved by their mothers.. and it’s beautiful.

I can tell from the design. It’s classic and the workmanship was very refined.

There was no trace of modern songket at all – which I prefer.

Timeless

didn't manage to snap a pic of him *sigh*

Pasar Kedai Payang

Paso Keda Payang

Not customary, almost compulsory I have to go to Pasar Kedai Payang a few days before raya. This time visited Kedai Payang on havi raya eve. With puasa and all, I was ready to take the challenge to browse aimlessly in a crowded pre-raya last minute shopping.

To my surprise, Keda Payang was a breeze compared to previous years. I can just take my own sweet time to look through magnificent collections of songket and talk to the shop owners.

Even the shop owner complained to me that this year sales have been very slow. Far cry from last year and the year before.

I think, in reality the economy has not recovered yet. People are still quite reluctant to spend even for Hari Raya.

The news paper projects different impression though….

Oh by the way,

The new wing (brainchild of a previous MB) of Pasar Kedai Payang is not that popular among traders. I went there myself. The building looks nice but not attractive enough for shopping.

The traders compained.

The new "market" or bazaar, rental is RM2,000.00 per month

Doh Pok Cik bayo berapa di Keda Payang ni?

(How much do you pay for rental per month here)

Dua ratuh *riya **awang!

(RM2oo per month my son!)

*riya is derived from the currency Riyal - Middle eastern influence.

** awang - a common name used by older people to address younger men / boys.

I haven't a clue how many millions of duit rakyat spent on the project, how many visits abroad under the pretext to learn form other countries (read: holidays paid n=by tax payers).

Aper citer?

Selamat Hari Raya

Had a wonderful raya with my family, especially my anak buah (niece and nephews).

I envy my brothers and sister who are blessed with beautiful children.

I have never spent more than 3 days previously to celebrate raya kat kampung. This time around, I spent almost a week and it was really fun – mercun and bunga api included.

3 of my suster couldn’t make it this year, but the 5 Husin brothers had a good time bonding, talking about our family, relatives and of course Terengganu politics (tak habis habis!)

Of course I stuffed my face with loads of food. I am not really the kueh raya sort of guy. I enjoy food home-cooked by my sister in law especially – the traditional kampung dishes of Terengganu. Give me Ikang Singgang (it has got to be Ikang Aye – Ikan Tongkol) with sambal belacan or Ikang Kembung goreng with steaming hot white rice – I will be the happiest man on earth.

Feels like a cliché to talk about this but the COW issue in Shah Alam.

Shah Alam, politically is the heart of PKR (in my humble opinion).

During Ramadhan, also Merdeka month what ever happened in Shah Alam recently was rather distasteful. In fact to me it’s just disgusting.

While you are parading like the uncivilized tribes, what would you do if other people stomp our Holy Quran?

Excuses like “noise” is just plain insensitive.

The Hindus also to hear our 5 times a day azan.

We have a fundamental flaw here with magnitude more than what most of us think.

I am very disappointed.

Apparently the Hindu community (my fellow Malaysians) want to build their own temple with their own money.

At the same time, the new (big) mosque of Putrajaya was officially opened by the King.

If I am not mistaken, located not that far from the famous Putrajaya mosque floating at the foot hill of PMs office.

Ini satu lagi. How come Pejabat Perdana Menteri lagi tinggi dari smejid.

A N Y W A Y

I seriously think the new mosque is not only expensive but also REDUNDANT.

How much does it cost again? More than RM200 juta.

Something is seriously, fundamentally WRONG here.

I feel so sorry for the country to have that happened

You think lah!

Bukan Semua Polis Jahat, OK!

I went to Mont Kiara to check my (snail) mails.

On the way back, the customary speed trap on Jalan Kiara in front on Intan to capture the traffic from the affluent area with pool of luxury cars.

I got flagged down, driving at 90 in 80kmh zone.

Oh shit!

I went

Encik, saya ada masalah besar

He looked puzzled

Apa masalah awak?

I went

Saya, wallet pun tak bawak!

The officer took a deep breath, frowned, shook his head a bit and smiled.

Ok lah. Jalan! Jalan!

Woo! Hoo!

No no! I wasn’t driving Brondong!

Just the Way You are.

thanks Yani (the dive master)

for posting it on your FB.

The first time I heard this song

was when I was in form 3

Dins Dins @ la Luciola

La Luciola was, again, excelent. Except for this old (bule – orang putih fart) who told us to behave when we sang, “We Are the World” at our dinner table.

Hey, it’s a holiday and we were having fun!

“This is not a karaoke bar,” he said sarcastically.

We didn’t protest (surprisingly) – I guess because our Asian culture and values automatically kicked in – one should respect the elders.

The whole thing upset me, and my friends. What’s up with this old fart spoiling our good times! No wonder he’s eating alone. One of us would have said: Dude! This is not an old folks’ home!

But we got back at him when we sang happy birthday from the top of our lungs to a patron who celebrated birthday during the dinner. It was louder than the karaoke bars!

Served him right.

We haven’t got a clue who the birthday boy / girl was… I bet the old bule was really pissed off. He left shortly after that.

Do we care?

NOPE! What an idiot!

We had so much fun nevertheless.

La Luciola never failed to impress me. The architecture is Balinese in a bigger scale. Soft pipe-in Balinese music with gentle breeze from the ocean. We could even smell the sea!

If you ever go to Bali, do try the place. If you have someone special with you, even better. It’s is quite a romantic venue. You can even walk by the beach while waiting for your delicious meals to be served by Balinese boys with their complete headgears and frangipani flowers tucked to their ears.

Can’t get more Balinese than that, I thought.