SUNGAI LEMBING

Sungai Lembing mining town 42 km northwest of Kuantan.



(extracts from wikipedia)

Why it was named Sungai Lembing? Lembing is Malay for spear, and "sungai" means river. Based on local legend, the local ruler then saw a vision of a spear in the nearby river and thus named his town after this vision.



Until the 1970s, Sungai Lembing was a major producer of underground tin. Sungai Lembing town developed in the 1880's when the British set up the tin mining industry, although the history of mining in this area extends much further back. A British company PCCL (Pahang Consolidated Company Limited) managed the mine from 1906 until its liquidation in 1986 when world tin prices collapsed.



The pit mines were closed in 1986 due to high operational costs and low yields, but during their heyday they were among the largest and deepest in the world. The total tunnel length is 322 km, with a depth of between 610 m and 700 m.


Today the town of Sg Lembing is in decline although it was once the richest town in Pahang, known as El Dorado of the East. In the 1940's about 1400 people worked in the mine. Today many of the wooden shoplots are closed and people are moving away.



The town straddles the river, and the main street on the right bank is split by an avenue of majestic trees. At the end, an old wooden building overlooks the padang where games of cricket and other social activities were held.




I have always wanted to go to Sungai Lembing by bicycle. DS and I have been talking about it many times but we never got to ride the 40km stretch – gentle undulating and very do-able – on our overprized bikes.



Recently, dring one of my frequent trips to Kuantan, I couldn’t resist it any more. My curiosity drove me all the way to Sungai Lembig before checking on my regular hotel in Kuantan for weekly Tuesday meeting in Kuantan office.



I brought the whole camera gear but what I did’t found is Sungai Lembing interesting enough for my to set up the tripod and wait for the sun and start shooting. Nope.



I felt quite sad because it seemed like the population have left, log before I came. So I just took my camera phone and recorded these images.

LOVE @ 1st Sight - 30

David called me the other day and told me that the original rims have been fully restored. He took the rims and snet them to a tyre shop in Jalan Sungei Besi near the old airport and fixed a set of new tyres.



Even to jack up the car, they were very careful to find the right spot so that the chasis doesn't get damaged.



I was advised by the towkey at the tire shop that it okay to use the power tool to unscrew the nuts of the rims. However, to screw it back, power tools are not to be used as it's too powerful, which could damage the tread of the old car.

This guy knows his stuff.






I insisted tehm to apply some grease on the bolts and nuts because they appeared to be very dry.

Of course he knew that already. Duhhh!


The current "sport rims" made in Japan that ame with the car. They look good actually, but they are not original. I am too anal. I want everything to be original Italian made.



The newly restored rims, without the hub cap. The hub caps are at Torino Auto. The are brand new, spotless, shining stainless steel. It's gonna look really good!






They also insisted me to watch the water test to ensure there no bubles come out from the new wheels. Passed with flying colors....

I was reminded that the pressure is 30psi I think.

The ride back to Bangsar from Jalan Subgei Besi was relatively smooth, not only because of new tire but also the bigger rims gave quite a bit of comfort on the road.

Great!

I can't believe this is the 30th post.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JD

Sorry, you might not understand this post unless you are part of the SUPER SEX... eerrr SIX and its surroundings.

JD,

YOU ARE:

apa paidah!

mana kau?

mattai ini kalik

one cigarette for the road perhaps?

tiaddda ba!

appa tu Mars????

dragon dance at Dragon Fly

ting tong

ALWAYS late

up and downs!

a linguist in Jakarta

fish? yuck!

the loudest handphone user

hantak!

berantam!

gillaa ehhhh!

brondong lover

lilac

ubud terrace

bonjour! are you going to wear pretty dress?????

BUT

most of all

you are one of the most kind hearted person I have ever met!

pix: Seminyak, Bali

Selamat pagi Manado

Selamat pagi Kuala Lumpur

Selamat pagi Bunaken

pix: bukit bandaraya, bangsar

kadang kala yang di tunggu tak tiba

yang dicari tidak jumpa

yang diburu hilang entah ke mana

akan tetapi yang indah itu ada

tanpa pencarian atau kehilangan

tiba tiba menjelma dalam hidup kita

apakah ia cinta pandang pertama?

yang tak ada dua nya?

pasti kekosongan tetap ada

di hati

di jiwa

namun kerinduan bisa mengisi

di mana jua

hanya masa yang akan menentukannya....

(did i write that.....?)

@QUOTE UNQUOTE@

aku merasa ada yg hilang tanpa tau apa yg telah aku temukan,

tanpa tau apa yg aku cr,

dan aku seperti tetap mencari,

tanpa tau apa yg sdh hilang...

seseorg yg kita fikir adalah milik kita,

ternyata bkn benar2 milik kita,

kita memiliki hatinya,tubuhnya,dan cintanya,

tp kita ngga akn pernah memiliki jalan hidupnya..

setiap manusia memiliki ruang kosong dlm hatinya,

ketika seseorg dtg dan kita fikir bahwa dia mengisi ruang itu,

ternyata ruang kosong di hati kita tetap ada,dan tdk akan pernah benar2 terisi...

xoxo

pix: the back of a tee shirt. taman negara

UNCERTAINTIES

1. At a Hari Raya open house - A senior partner from an established legal firm confirming things are getting very bad. The number of personal / credit card / car / housing loans have increased sharply for the past 6 months.
2. Over dinner in an organic restaurant - A designer to one of the finest Italian brands forecast a bleak '09 due to sharp reduction in spending in the US and Europe which is affecting his business and the manufacturers in Indochina and their export.
3. Over lunch - A corporate figure is relinquishing ALL his investment and decided to do more charity work in is home state. To him (who is sitting on a huge pile of cash), it is not worthwhile to get into new ventures.
4. Over breakfast - A senior executive from a Japanese MNC highlighted that China has stop importing iron ore.
5. Over lunch - A senior executive from an Australian listed company complained the share price has gone back to the price as it was 5 years ago.
6. Over teh tarik - A designer / contractor complained that his client (quite an established corporation) still owe him RM500,000 and he has more than RM30K per month of overhead (and several girl friends to maintain)
7. Over a phone call - A senior executive from a prominent government agency that has billions of investments smsed me - 2009 is going to be BAD!
   

The Glove Story

I was looking for this pair of gloves before going to the gym, hi and lo. At the verge of calling Yolly, I figured I must have left them at the gym a couple of days ago.

I have been very forgetful lately. I wonder why.

As soon as I arrived at the gym, by bicycle, I asked the counter whether they recently found any gloves left in the locker room. After she checked the list of registered lost and found items she asked me to describe my gloves.

Orange, almost red, NIKE

What else did you leave behind?

Oh ya.. and the program card.

What else?

That's it!


Then she handed me gym plastic bag and asked me to check the content, with some kind of a smile with a grin.

I was wondering.. she fancied me or something.

I opened the plastic bag and found the gloves (yeay!)

and

my gray underwear (ooops!)

pix: port dickson 2002

After Jakarta, I really wanted to just chill for a while.

Chilling didn't last that long. Only up to Saturday evening when RZ gave me a ticket for Petronas Philharmonic which was quite fun except for the second session sounded like a sound track from Joe and the Volcano!

After a cup of chocolat chaud at Chinoz, I had to attend stag night ala Russian Roulette. That was quite fun, reall - especially watching the groom and his antics. Fun for me, but more fun for the groom to be!

The route back (fortunately / unfortunately) pass by a regular hangout. It felt like a magnet pulling my ride.

There you go.

I thougt I was going to have a quiet weekend.....