An abode I used to frequent

across the causeway...

Masjid Sultan Abdullah - Pekan, Pahang

The Sultan Abdullah Mosque (Masjid Sultan Abdullah) was constructed in impressive Moorish style and was the principal mosque in Pekan for performing Friday prayers from 1932 until 1976, when a bigger mosque, Masjid Sultan Ahmad Syah, was built.




Other activities such as ceramahs or lecture and Koranic studies were also conducted at he mosque, which was completed in 1930 after a year of construction. Tengku Abu Bakar Ibni Sultan Abdullah officially opened the mosque on behalf of his father, the sultan, in a historic ceremony in January 1932.


I decided to swing by the royal town of Pekan on the way back from Rompin to Kuantan. I like this little town by the bank of the majestic Sungai Pahang and shot these.

Why Not?

Sharing is caring.

Besides, we pay for the food!

Happily Retired

I still keep in touch with my ex bosses, people who help me a lot in career and the development of my professional life. My mentors in many aspects.

I do make a point from time to time to meet up to have dinner, to catch up on various issue and of course pick their brains on things that I am working on.

I normally have a couple of solid hours to absorb tips and tricks, based on their priceless experience.

DS is happily retired, and it shows.



I recently took him our for a simple nasi daun pisang dinner in Kuantan at one of his favorite restaurants and of course we talked about politics.

Now I know, and very certain that Karpal Singh has his point in his controversial statement against the Royal House - carefully interpreted based on the constitutions. However - based solely from the reports in the main stream media - I am still not happy with Karpal intonation when he addressed the issue with the Royal House. But, that not what I want to talk about here.



He invited me for dinner, to reciprocate my treat by inviting me to his beach house. When I arrived at his house the next evening I was pleasantly surprised to notice two set of my photography works nicely framed and proudly displayed in the living room.

As I entered the house occupied by a musically inclined gentleman, I notice there was an electric guitar on the sofa, and an aqustic guitar on the other end of the sofa. Next to the sofa, there is a keyboard. I asked him where was the cello that he recently acquired.

His answer:

Oh, it's upstairs next to the drum set.

He is in his mid 60s and still cycle about 20km per day.

The dinner was excellent! He actually cooked for us - Spaghetti carbonara with squids, scallops and crayfish.

He has always been my inspiration.

TOP XXXX

DZ recent post in her Facebook:

“i know this may sound odd, but i can't wait to be 40. i enjoyed my 20s - i travelled, worked, danced, even tried acting, wrote - but my 30s have been, whoo. quite a ride. MA, marriage, divorce, a book, illness; there have been good times of course but the ride has been too dramatic.

i'm ready to be in my 40s. mum said her second beginning of her life began in her 40s.

10 more months. “

Afriend - hit the nail on the head! with his comment:

Great topic! I was bloody cocky in my 20's and thought I knew everything then when i hit my 30's, I ate humble pie and conceded that I knew nothing. Yes, I'm looking forward to turning 40, with all my accumulated knowledge and wisdom, perhaps 40 onwards, my life would not be so tumultuous and if it is, I would know how to handle it.

D

Among others:

As with M and many others ;-) 40 is the new 20. ;-) 30 was traumatic. But 40 was FUN! Was in the water in Sipadan on my 40th. What more could a guy ask for. ;-)

Heart
N

hey what is 40? i am now but no one, I mean NO ONE ever blief me when i said i am. yes, classy at 40 and FAB too he he he. Org kita kata bergetah....

NM

I felt great turning 40. I felt I had achieved all that I'd wanted - a great job, a kid, a house, financial comfort, had proven myself to everyone else and being comfortable in my own skin. All the angst in getting those things transpired in my 30s.

Turning 40 meant, I could lie back and enjoy life as it came.

I celebrated by buying myself the Canon SLR you see me lugging everywhere.

AK

Aaaannnd:

I am 24 going on 25, and was worried about "moving on" with age especially when I graduated college (I know, I know, drama queen...). Don't need to worry lah, as the postings here can bear testament to :)

My response was:

Been there, done that and LOVE it!

As Red Planet reminded me yesterday:

“You should count your blessing!”

Yup, and I have never forgotten what God has given me.

I thank YOU, GOD!

Amin.

Numerology: The Significance of 786

Have you noticed, if you look at the signboard of an Indian Muslim restaurant (mamak), you would find the number 786 subtly included somewhere, normally incorporated in the logo.

A friend of mine who is married to an Indian Muslim has 786 as their car registration numbers.I just found out the significance.

Interesting!

"The total value of the letters of "Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim" according to one Arabic system of numerology is 786. There are two methods of arranging the letters of the Arabic alphabet. One method is the most common alphabetical order (used for most ordinary purposes), beginning with the letters Alif ا, ba ب, ta ت, tha ث etc. The other method is known as the Abjad numerals' method or ordinal method. In this method the letters are arranged in the following order: Abjad, Hawwaz, Hutti, Kalaman, Sa'fas, Qarshat, Sakhaz, Zazagh; and each letter has an arithmetic value assigned to it from one to one thousand. (This arrangement was done, most probably in the 3rd century of Hijrah during the 'Abbasid period, following the practices of speakers of other Semitic languages such as Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldean etc.)

If you take the numeric values of all the letters of the Basmala, according to the Abjad order, the total will be 786. In the Indian subcontinent the Abjad numerals have become quite popular. Some people, mostly in India and Pakistan, use 786 as a substitute for Bismillah ("In the name of Allah" or "In the name of God"). They write this number to avoid writing the name of God, or Qur'anic verses on ordinary papers, which can be subject to dirt or come in contact with 'unclean' materials. This practice does not date from the time of Muhammad and is not universally accepted by Muslims." -wikipedia

Indiana Jones

Spoken to JJ - no, not the one in the Le Meridien....

Since the new Indiana Jones is coming to town soon, he suggested Indiana Jones movie marathon of:

before we watch this:

Blog Note - XXX

Suddenly – out of the blue – I remember these tips in porn movie, as mentioned to a bunch of us by the pool in a villa in Seminyak.

Given by a porn star – though I have never seen hi in action:

Girls:
1. Don’t take off their shoes

Both :
2. Pubic hair has got to be trimmed and neat
3. Don’t look at the camera

Don’t know how useful these tips are to you and me,

but come to think of it –

He is soooo right!

SPOTTED

TIESTO@PORTDICKSON

pix:www.sebastienremes.info


Well, actually I do not know much about raves and the progressive music spinning -business? - culture? - cult?

That was my first rave party and I enjoyed it tremendously.



I know some people who are not only connoisseurs of raves and progressives, one of them have even literally pinched Mr. Tiesto’s butt! And most of them, if not all, are the citizens of Jakarta Stadium-land who has collected very significant frequent flyer mileage points.

We were repeatedly informed they normally arrive in fast Italian sports cars, in different colors (all of those in the spectrum of the rainbow) – they have their very own private cabins and the balconies too – out with the commoners are a lot of fun too I supposed!




The connoisseurs gave their immediate remarks right after the show (to their disappointment – it ended at 3am though – in some places in Jakarta, parties start at 3am and I am not sure what time they actually end – or do they ever??). Most of them, and by the way, I am implying authorities here, said: THE BEST! VERY WELL ORGANIZED. At that time, my spirit was high and I felt like I was in some kind of progressively patriotic mood…. If you know what I mean ;-)



Contrary to reports in the national dailies – 2 days in a row mind you - I did not see any brawls – u know like those in Bangsar or along Asian Heritage Row. I mean, can’t hey write about something else? I guess they have nothing else to write about now since some political parties are almost irrelevant in our country political landscape.

The crowd was very discipline – and it was a big crowd – I didn’t see anybody passed out. Oh well, there were quite a few begging for mineral water despite being warned to be prepared to constantly re-hydrate due to high humidity or perhaps high in slightly dissimilar context.



I like watching IN enjoying the music. I like watching him getting other people to enjoy the music and the whole progressive party ambience. He is very composed throughout the party, while making sure the supply of mineral water and fruit juices and other things are secured at all time.

Momo - was another distinct character. I am a newbie who is still trying to grasp the idea of enjoying a rave. I guess he sensed my frequent dissolutions in the crowd where everybody was jumping, more than you can see in an NBA match. He came to me and said - with stern authority, while tapping on my abs (well, stomach actually):

M, feel the music, feeeeeel the music!



I refuse to elaborate or comment whatever the press or the politicians said about the rave party because it’s not worth it. My blog space is too precious to talk about narrow-minded individuals from irrelevant camp. Perhaps they should look at other issues like those brothels in their own backyards which are conveniently called Pusat Istirehat or Karaoke. They have been permanently there for years. Institutions! And I can bet my ass they will be there for years to come.

I had a fantastic time, one of the best parties (ever!) with my friends and our friends who were here for our Malindo Ujung Minggu. As much as I love the party I don’t think I would be a frequent flying raver - simply because I cherish my eardrums and of course not to forget my precious brain cells – what ever left of it.




It was too hot. IN and a big and mean-looking raver ripped my sleeves off my favorite tee.

Timung Cine - Crusshio's Theory

about the tembikai thingy, tembikai is fondly known as 'timung cine' in trengganu and kelantan, its just that ppl are more inclined to call 'timung cine' as just 'timung'.. cucumber is still called 'timung' though..

i have my own theory as to why tembikai is known as 'timung cine' among the trengganu and kelantanese ppl... the theory goes like this..

in the halcyon days of our forefather who settled down in the coastal area as fishermen or farmers in the countryside, cucumber or 'timung' are grown in their yards to vary their meals servings..

the chinese traders later came to their village, traded stuffs that never have been grown in their yards, among others were water melons or tembikai ..

the villagers later found out that watermelon's skin has striking resemblance to cucumber's skin, some smart aleck later exclaimed the fruit that the chinese traders were selling were also some kind of 'timung'..

but to differentiate this special 'timung' with the common 'timung' in their yards, they later named the newly discovered 'timung', 'timung cine' as the fruits were sold and traded by chinese traders..

*Crusshio is a good (articulate and workaholic) friend from Terengganu-land.

I wonder what is his theory on UBAT LAMPU ........

XOXO

Medicine for the Torchlight

I visited Pura Tanjung Sabtu again, on the way to Perhentian. As usual, at night Pura can be quite dark and it’s rather hard to move around without a torchlight.



TITS is a Terengganu boy to the core. Born and raised in the palace of Terengganu - apart from years gallivanting in Europe during his “student” days (he couldn’t really remember he actually studied or passed his exams…)

The Terengganuspeak terminologies he uses are very pure or old and I get very excited to relearn all these terms.

The torchlight he had was out of battery.

M, could you please stop by seven eleven

Why?

I want to buy obak lapu

*IN and TITS are exchanging notes on kraton and istana.


Then I remember in Terengganuspeak, we call battery OBAK LAPU – UBAT LAMPU

I can’t really figure out why do we Terengganu people call the battery UBAT LAMPU.

Why would a torchlight need medicine?

Enroute the Coastal East - Pulau Perhentian

Since my guest, IN is also a diver, I took him to Pulau Perhentian to enjoy the island and the dive sites.

We only had a bit less than 3 days and 2 nights hence, we only have room for 2 dives. Oh well, the visibility was not that great either as it rained the night before.

The highlights were an encounter with a shark,  and also cleaning shrimps. The black tip reef shark was not that big and it is a resident shark. Quite tame, so far. The cleaning shrimps were really interesting. Put your hand as close as possible to their little but very colorful habitat, then an army of little shrimps came out to clean your finger - free of charge.

In Pulau Perhentian we ordered water melon juice during dinner. IN needed refill and confidently ordered jus semangka. The islanders were puzzled like

HUH???

What’s that?




It’s watermelon juice. In Malaysia, mainly it’s called tembikai. In Terenganu, exclusively I think, it’s called timun cina, literally translated: Chinese cucumber.

Please don't ask me why it is called timung cina…


Oh by the way, this is the view that I have while having breakfast on the beach. I can certainly get used to this...

Captain, can I have the sauce on the side?

CAPTAIN: NO!

BS asked the captain whether he could customized his order according to his not so unique preference. He got a straight NO as an answer from the captain.


Welcome to Coliseum, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Kuala Lumpur. It's not just dining. It was, as usual, the whole dining experience. Even the waiters look as old as the restaurant!


A bunch of friends and I took IN, a friend from Jakarta to Coliseum. I just want IN to experience the other sides of KL, besides KLCC, clubs and shopping malls.


It is like, according to older people, walking down the memory lane of Malaysia in the 1920s . The era during which according to my father there were not uncommon to see convertible cars on the road - way before global warming took place.


Established in 1921, Coliseum Cafe is one of the oldest cafe in the country. Some of the old furniture and decorative memorabilia, preserved from when it was first opened, creates a nostalgic feeling.



Typically, we had the sizzling stake. It sizzled big time! The restaurant is very smoky because of this we were wondering why they bother to separate the smoking and non smoking section.


I asked one of the waiters:

What dessert would you recommend

Oh.. you can look at the menu

It was a nice dinner with Red Planet, BB, BS, KL. To top it up, we had banana fritters ala mode. Sinful but extremely yummy!



For those who have not been there, please try to make a point to dine in this yesteryear environment. You can't expect a five-star treatment - because it's not a five star restaurant.

You might find the old waiters are quite rude. They are NOT! It's just the way they are. It's Coliseum thing!


If you are a softhearted kinda person, please be strong and go with an open mind and big appetite. The steaks are worth it!