Kunang Kunang

My maiden Firefly voyage.

I was impressed the moment I arrived at Terminal 3 after a traumatic experience passing Terminal 1 and it was there anymore. Sad to see an ugly industrious building with striking green color that looks horrible from a far.

How I hate to think about what they did to Terminal 1.

Back to Terminal 3. Yeah, it was nice, not too big (and NOT small either), pleasant décor, logical flow, variety of restaurant and the menu is NOT expensive at all.

People are warmer.

KLIA, in many ways, is rather COLD.

The Beach

Kuantan has been a weekly event lately. I guess it will be like that for a while due to work commitment.

I don’t have a social life in Kuantan. Just pure work.

Typically, after dinner (normally mixed with business discussion) I will have no mood to do anything else but to hit the sack.

There are some nights I do talk a walk along the beach to breath in fresh air and enjoy the view of the full moon.

You should hear the waves.

Its beautiful.

loVE @ 1st Sight - 40

Breakfast with Brondong

Just had breakfast with TFF who updated me about her active (as always) social life and activities, and movies and upcoming holidays.

At the corner of my eye, the brondong still captured my eye and I took my handphone and shot this.

Turkey ham at the new Decanter sucked. I complained, of course. I hope they will change the breakfast menu soon.

I even told them that their breakfast menu has been there for ages and its boring - my exact word.

Before I left i assured TFF to get my free photography services for her non profit activities she's doing with her good friend.

Happy friday!

David's Pride and Joy

BMW E21 is the body designation for the first BMW 3 Series compact executive car, produced by the German automakerBMW from 1975 to 1983. This series was the immediate successor to the BMW 2002 and was superseded by the BMW E30 platform.

What David is restoring is the BMW 323i E21 Bauer.

Always excited to show new parts he managed to get from I seriously don't know where. He goes to Penang, Ipoh, JB, even order from the UK.

He has done up the engine and is in good running condition. In fact there was nothing wrong with the engine when he acquired it. Not much to be done, really.

Everything is original. Especially important are the seat. Leather, original. I like the color too.

The Baur is actually a convertible independent rear soft top. Nice!

David has all the new sets of lights.

Original alloy sports rims. Very light, apparently.

The kidney grill is being restored and David bought brand new kidney for the grill.

Baur

Independent rear soft top

Original rims with original tool.

The car currently in Puchong for reupholstered. I can't wait to see teh finished product. Hopefully I can borrow from him for a weekend... or two.

Good luck David!

Bella Italiana - 17

David visited the workshop the other day.

He was quite happy with the progress.

He spent quite a bit of time talking to Ah Seng. At some point they have different opinions about certain issues in this restoration job.

Like in many occasions, I have to be the mediator to calm them down.

They both have their own strength and both worked well to me.

Ah Seng is good at doing up the bodywork while David is very resourceful in hunting for parts and David, being trained in Turino, Italy, knows every detail of the Fiat engines.

I just have to make sure they treat each ot

her well and get the job done. I need both of them.

Ah Seng complains all the time saying that there are too many holes and damaged parts of the car needed to be fixed.

I did bluntly say to his face:

Ini kereta sudah 42 tahun wor. Mesti banyak karat punya! Haiyya!

Kota Bharu re Visited

I was recently in Kota Bharu to attend an opening of a mosques built by a friend’s family.

It is a beautiful mosque built in Kampung Pasir Ho, not that far from Kota Bharu city center. The mother, as long as I know her, has always been passionate about building including houses and apartments. She got involved in many aspects of the construction including sourcing for materials.

It took them 18 months to complete the mosque and she supervised it almost everyday for the past 18 months, or perhaps more. She even went to Japara (Indonesia) to get all the beautiful intricate carving and knowing her, everything is detail to the smallest measurement. She knows her stuff very well.

The result is outstanding and it is so distinctly her.

I also took some time to explore Kota Bharu. I have visited Kota Bharu a few times but never had the chance to really explore the town before, not even this trip. I tried my best to squeeze some shoot within the 24-hour trip and I only managed to capture area around Pasar Khadijah and Kubang Pasu (the old original Kota Bharu).

Some people might think Pasar Khadijah has been photographed to death and a bit cliché. I agree, but I still want to capture it my way through my lens.

I always have the impression Kota Bharu is always busy with business everywhere I go. There are a lot of enterprising people all over the place. I could feel the trading and commerce energy all over the little city.

With my camera and a heavy camera bag and a tripod, I was frequently asked whether I worked for TV3 of the Press.

My answer was simple (with a smile, of course) –

Hobby je.

These are some shots I’d like to share with you and….

Enjoy!

It’s like a bar.

Almost ONE MAN SHOW.

You sit on this end facing him across the bar.

I spent almost an hour. It was interesting.

He is like a bartender with jokes that keeps everybody cheerful. He gossips and bloody hell he knows a lot of secrets.

Like a bar also, refreshments are served across the bar. Instead or beer and pretzels, he serves the tarik, telur separuh masak, nasi berlauk, roti paung and butter cake,

I think.

One morning, while having breakfast at Pasar Siti khadijah, Kota Bharu.