Several years ago, we drove in to check out Timah Tasoh Resort, right by the Timah Tasoh Lake not too far from the Timah Tasoh dam. I remember it that it was a weekend and although the gates were open, there was hardly anyone there. We did not even take photos as we drove through the resort. Fast forward to this weekend, and we now have dinosaurs. The dinosaurs are quite well-sculpted. They possess no feathers and I suppose featherless Jurassic Park-style dinos would be more popular with the visitors. They seem to be made from foam, so I hope the public does not damage them. Check out the video and photos above. Both contain a guest starring cat. Besides the dinosaurs, there were a whole load of other things you could do such as renting a bicycle, an electric motorbike and a children’s train ride. Check out the video […]
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Nice green pool
We have been living in the northern state of Perlis since the end of 2014. Here are some entries featuring the state.
A Walk at Gua Cenderawasih
There was on Star Trek Adventures session on Discord this fine Sunday morning. Earlier today, Ain and I drove to Gua Cenderawasih to burn some calories there. It was a pleasant, cloudy day. Everything was green. Various flowers were blooming, and pictures do not them any justice. There were fishies in the lake and stream, monkeys in the playground and monitor lizards basking on boulders. See for yourself: Long story short, we would like to return here to burn some more calories in the future.
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View from the Top of Wang Kelian
Earlier today, we thought we would travel to Wang Kelian to take a look at the Perlis countryside from the observation plateau there. It was a Sunday and I had just finished running a Star Trek Adventures game over Discord. We were not disappointed. I made a video of our trip there, which is viewable below.
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20th Wedding Anniversary
The story so far… 20 years ago, Ain and I took each other as husband and wife on a sunny afternoon in Pasir Mas. As it was a chaotic day, I had to spend a lot of energy to ignore what things might go wrong, what might come tomorrow and other conjectures. Instead I focused on the moment. One thing at a time, I traversed the day. 20 years later, Ain is a warrior at my side, the same as I try to be one by hers. As I approach middle age and gain a modicum of hindsight, it becomes clear that I would not have any other person by my side, undergoing all the trials and tribulations that were thrown our way a we made our way along two decades. Much more than just a partner… Much of the tribulations have not been recorded on this weblog, but I […]
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Dinner by the Bendang
A bendang is a rice field. Ain and I thought we would try out a new restaurant we saw earlier. Its speciality was char kuey tiau. Irfan decided to sit this one out as he wanted to study. Besides the char kuey tiau, we also had the restaurant cat to keep us company. He just sat at our table without asking for anything from us.
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Three Cloudscapes in One Day
Although it was Wednesday, I was at home as I took the day off from work. The reason? To work on semester’s grading and keying in of marks. In short, I took the day off work to work. That did not stop us from heading out to enjoy the scenery in the morning and at sunset. There were quite a number of nice cloudscapes we saw that day. Click on the pictures below to view larger images.
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The Outbreak Aidilfitri
And so it came to pass that Hari Raya Aidilfitri was held during the Covid-19 pandemic. We were forbidden to cross state lines, nor be in a gathering of souls that numbered more than a prescribed number. Thus we stayed at home during the first day of Eid. Ain made nasi dagang which was delicious. We packed some in takeaway packs and sent them to a number of neighbours later. But before that we held our first home bound Eid prayers. Shortly after, we had a Google Meet call with Atok and Opah and Sila’s family. Even Anya showed up for a while. During the day, I played Star Wars: A New Hope on TV, though I did not really pay attention to it. Later than night, as a family movie we watched Alien. That’s two Charles Lippincott movies in a day! As the sun dipped lower on the second […]
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Outdoors After Two Weeks
I have been cooped up at home for more than two weeks. The last time I left the driveway was to fill up the water bottles with the potable water vending machines. Since then I have been spending most of my time planning for lessons, running lessons, uploading online learning material and monitoring the students’ output. This takes up a great deal of my time. I am used to working from home for fives years before I came to work here. I do not mind working from home at all and could happily spend the rest of my life teaching from home. However, the virtual paperwork and other class management duties has worn me down. I have never felt so emotionally and physically exhausted before in my life, without being clinically depressed. Yesterday, the government has allowed two persons from a single household to travel by car. So Ain and […]
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Easterly Wind Festival 2020
This weekend was the Pesta Angin Timur Perlis (Perlis Easterly Winds Festival) and they have been advertising it everywhere from meatspace to cyberspace. This year, they held it at Kampung Oran which is not too far from home. Although word on the street (and digital streets as well) say that it would be more spectacular at night, we went in the afternoon under the scorching sun to avoid the crowd. We could see the kites in the skies as we approached the site. Thankfully, parking was easy and as we presumed the crowd was light. We already had lunch so we did not purchase any food offered there, except for the… Well, watch the video below.
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Lower Control Arm Goes Even Lower
Today Ain needed to go to for her scheduled medical check-up. She was along the kampung road out of our housing area when something when BOINK under the car. Immediately she felt the tyres pulling her steering wheel towards where she did not want to go. So she turned around and headed back to our taman perumahan and just as she turned into a main road in our area – 50 metres or so from our home – the car stopped and refused to move any further. She walked home, distressed by the occurrence, and I went to have a look. The closer I got to the car the more dire the damage seemed to be. Also, there was a large puddle of fluid forming under the car and gravity was pressing down the wheel well onto the tyre. We called our regular mechanic and he came an hour or […]
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Ain’s Birthday By The Sea
It was time for Ain’s birthday once more, and this time I suggested we go to Kuala Perlis after I got off work. It was nothing special as we had regular masakan panas for dinner, although Ain did get the epic ABC as seen below. Also below are photos of the occasion that night. It was small and low-key, but I enjoyed the company tonight. Happy birthday, my love.
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Dinner by the River
It was near lunch time when I received a message from my schoolmate Sam. He was in town on assignment and he brought his family with him. It had been a while since we saw each other, so we made dinner plans. Well, actually, he made dinner plans as I had been busy with work until about 6 p.m. A rendezvous was set at the Api-Api seafood restaurant by the river in Kuala Perlis. We talked of many things throughout dinner. We reminded our children that it had been 11 years since they last visited our house, a time Irfan could not at all recall. This restaurant was built at a mangrove swamp. It had been a while too since I smelled the smells of a swamp. My friends at school and I used to camp overnight in such a place. Thanks for coming, Sam. Hope you come for a […]
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Meals for a Party Divided
And so it came to pass when Ain had to travel to KL to tend to Cikma’s surgery and recovery. (Spoilers: The surgery went well and she is recovering nicely.) Irfan and I were unable to come with her as we had work to do that we were unable to put off. Irfan had tuition classes to attend while he underwent the SPM trial examinations. I tried taking photos of Irfan and I having our meals and sent them to Ain while she was away. Ain began her journey at the train station. It would take her about five hours for her to reach KL Sentral. On to the first meal that evening: We ordered chicken chop and burger that first evening. Next day, we had breakfast at Cik Nah’s. I picked Irfan up for a late lunch in Jejawi. The next day we had breakfast further down the road […]
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Photos from Irfan’s MFLS Week
Irfan was chosen to go to Malaysian Future Leaders School, a 10-day programme that was not unlike my own Outward Bound School programme back when I was his age. There were team-building events, kayaking (at Timah Tasoh), hillwalking (which is basically hiking through the jungle for a day up a hill), abseiling at the Kangar fire and rescue station (no pictures of that here), morning drills and a whole lot of other events. Here is a selection of photos that we received from his organisers after the MFLS programme on their Facebook page.
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Irfan Camps Out at Timah Tasoh
From last Friday to last Sunday, Irfan attended a uniformed bodies co-curricular camp at the Timah Tasoh camp. Each uniformed body from his school sent 10 personnel to take part in the programme. He was one of ten Scouts from his troop to attend. After the camp, Irfan told me there were physical and mental activities that he enjoyed participating in. Furthermore, he got to sleep in a tent with his buddies. Here are pictures of us sending him to the camp, and then picking him up after. However there was no photos of his activities as phones were not allowed during camp.
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Weekend Food at March’s End
It all began on Saturday evening when we headed to Kuala Perlis very close to the first place where we stayed overnight upon travelling to Perlis as a family. Before, the premises only sold fresh belacan. Since then, the owners have opened a restaurant proper where we discovered kerabu maggi that was perfect to our taste; and cheap too. Also, we ordered some deserts as can be seen below. Sunday evening, we headed for Arau where we discovered a restaurant that sold chicken chop for less than RM 4! Irfan ordered the cheese wedges. Needless to say we would be returning here next month.
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