ISOL 2020 title card

With Students in Songkhla

For the first time since joining the Centre, the International Soft-skills and Leadership (ISoL) camp programme committee invited me to chaperone students for two nights in Songkhla, Thailand. The camp was a joint programme between UniMAP and Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya. I thought we would go as a family (along with Syamril, the other language teacher on duty) not just to escort these young minds for their event, but also to learn from the trip. Not only did we learn quite a bit and gain new experiences, we also made new friends there. Add this event to things I never thought 5 years ago that I would be doing. We stayed at the Lake Inn Hotel with the students. Some day we would like to visit here again. Here is a short video on our trip there. However, there were more activities that were not captured on video. There […]

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TIme to head home

Year’s End Vacation 6: Heading Home

The next morning after breakfast, we packed up and said goodbye to the hotel apartment. The strawberries needed to be finished off as it was getting mushy. I can still remember the smell and the taste of the berries. We headed off with both vehicles in a convoy, but we stopped at the Kea Valley Farm complex where fresh produce was sold. Because of the traffic, I had to drop them off while pointing out an empty parking spot for Atok. Then, I spent nearly 30 minutes driving in a traffic jame down the mountain back towards Brinchang and forced a u-turn to head back to Kea Valley. I met up with Irfan who was waiting for me up front at the complex. Because we had no idea where the others were, we waited for them at the junction where we would be able to spot them emerging from the […]

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We turned towards a side road

Year’s End Vacation 5: Evening Exploration

After Atok and Opah rested for the evening, we set off to look for a place that Ain once visited 30 years before: The Boh Tea Plantation. We followed the map up a hill to the north of Brinchang. It was a hillside path which allowed for only one car to pass. Unfortunately, more cars were driving in the opposite direction. We had to part in small alcoves by the hillside to allow them to pass. We also had to jump from alcove to alcove when we could. Soon, the flow of oncoming cars had dwindled. The reason for the outflow of cars, we soon discovered, is that the plantation had closed for the day. I was also looking for the Mossy Forest, which the map indicated was on this particular route. I took a side road and found the way up to the Mossy Forest. We did not advance […]

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They tasted sweet

Year’s End Vacation 4: Strawberry Picking

Immediately after the tea plantation foray, we headed out towards another type of farm. There were many strawberry farms here. We selected one on the phone map but the horrible traffic jam pushed us towards another direction. The farm we stumbled across while navigating the twisting roads on the hillside was quite an impressive one. More than a strawberry farm, it was a full on orchard that sold everything from roses to herbs to unidentifiable (to me) local wild flowers. To pick the berries, we had to pay for plastic containers. Only with the containers were we allowed to pass through the inner gate, and climb up the stairs to a higher level where the strawberry greenhouses were. Check out the pictures below. Photo Gallery The fragrance of the greenhouses was unforgettable. We left with two containers of strawberries and three jars of strawberry jams. I never thought I would […]

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It's us

Year’s End Vacation 3: Tea Farm

The next day after breakfast at the hotel, we set out for one of the nearby tea plantations. Following the phone map, we headed south. Ain wanted to see the Boh plantation, but we shall see. Atok and Opah holed up at the visitors’ building of the plantation where there was a cafe while Irfan, Ain and I headed down to the plantation after purchasing tickets. One thing was certain: the view was spectacular. Here are some of the photos of our time there. Most of them can be clicked on for a larger view.

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Looking for a late lunch in front of our apartment

Year’s End Vacation 2: Arrival

It was two days after we arrived at my hometown… The next day Atok lead the way towards Simpang Pulai with his car. After that, I took the lead en route to Cameron Highlands. Our handheld maps informed us that although it was only about 75 klicks from there to Brinchang, it would take us over three hours to get there. Surely the devices calculated wrongly. Perhaps, the data it had access to was in error. Unfortunately, the map was correct. When we turned into the junction towards Brinchang, a jam had begun. We also caught sight of the structure that Irfan photographed with my phone. I was at awe at the climate-controlled farm on the hillside. I thought it was the only one of its kind. Little did I know dozens and dozens of such farms pepper the landscape on either side of the jammed up road en route […]

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Lunch panhandler

Year’s End Vacation 1: Sitiawan

After a couple of weeks planning for it and applying for leave, it was time to execute the end-of-year vacation plans. We exited the highway near Selama and proceeded towards Taiping using the Federal roads. There was a convenient new road from Taiping to Changkat Jering. We stopped for lunch at the food court at that town. There was a cat who asked for food at the restaurant. Later, we headed for Beruas. It was quite a long winding road to reach Beruas from Changkat Jering, but soon we found the turnpike into the new West Coast Expressway which would theoretically be a faster route to Sitiawan. The WCE Sitiawan exit was near the original (and once upon a time, the only) road to Ayer Tawar. We had dinner with Atok and Opah that evening. The next day we went to the Aeon Manjung mall. I could not locate a […]

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Farewell to Sitiawan team

To Sitiawan and then Home

And so it came to pass that our vacation came to an end. But before that, we had to depart from Nia’s house. There was a flurry of furtive but sad goodbyes. We headed north towards Sitiawan using the old road we used to travel from KL. I thought I would try using the back roads via Kampung Kuantan. Ultimately we stopped at Sabak Bernam for lunch. Ain drove the rest of the way to Sitiawan. That night Atok and Opah treated us to dinner. The next day we went to Lumut. There might have been a fatal accident at the Lumut junction near the local Shell station. The next morning, we had breakfast at the Padang Astaka of Sitiawan before we geared up and headed home. We bade Atok and Opah farewell and hoped they would come visit us soon. We arrived in Beseri just in time for the […]

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Everyone poses!

More of Melaka

After the zoo exploration, we left our fate in the hands of Ayah Cik Farid and family as we journeyed to further nooks and crannies of the state of Melaka. We had lunch and stopped for zohor prayers. Then, our next stop was the Submarine Museum at Klebang Beach where the Ouessant, formerly of the French navy, resided. It was our first experience in a submarine even if it was a decommissioned one. Ain tried to shower in the sub’s head. Meanwhile, there were also a pair of old military fighters parked as exhibits at the museum, an A-4 Skyhawk and an F-5E Tiger II. Irfan and Nia inspected the fighter’s undercarriage closely. Later, we headed to the tourist district of Melaka town. By this time, our cash and phone batteries were running low. I hope we are able to visit the Flora de la Mar Maritime Museum next time […]

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The team plus one hornbill

Zoological Exploration of Melaka

Today is not only my birthday, but it is also Federal Territory day. Kuala Lumpur day. Ayah Cik Farid and Cik Ma both work in Cyberjaya, so they both got the day off. They invited us for a drive to Melaka. Since they live in the south of the Klang Valley, Melaka is just a hop skip away via the highway. First, we went to the Melaka Zoo. The zoo impressed me because at some points it seems like we were really in an equatorial jungle surrounded by real foliage. There were areas that were landscaped, but a lot of the exhibits were designed around what seemed to be old jungle terrain. Although it was our first time there, Nia’s family had been there before, so they took us around the zoo on foot. We opted not to take the motorised tour because we would not have the opportunity to […]

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Where Irfan and I had lunch sometimes after school

Where We Used To Eat

Ain did not venture into Pandan Indah the last time we were here. So, this time, we thought we would take a look. Specifically, we drove by the restaurants we used to frequent when we lived here. The entire suburb was busier than ever. But as you can see some of old regular restaurants are still there. Except for Restoran Lima Bintang. RIP Lima Bintang.

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Before departing Pandan Jaya

A Two-Day KL Reconnoitre

After the visit to the Translation Institute, Bazli and I split up. He would return north later that evening after the benchmarking, while I had more than a week left to my vacation. First thing the next day, we headed back to Nia’s place from Aiman’s place. Since we were early, we explored the area near their house and chanced upon something called MesaMall. However, it was not built upon a mesa. When Nia returned from daycare, Irfan and I introduced her to the Lion King. She was saying Simba’s name in no time. The next day, we had breakfast and then later headed to a newly-opened 99 Speedmart along the Salak Tinggi highway. Nia tried driving but she gave up as could not reach weapon and shield consoles. One thing I noticed about Nia was that she liked to perform acrobatics on my back like Irfan once liked to […]

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Lunchtime

Chicken Stalking During Lunch

Upon our arrival in the Klang Valley for vacation, we headed for Nia’s house. We thought we would spend the night there as my work appointment in KL would not be until Monday. The night we arrived, a belated birthday party was held for the three sisters whose birthdays were close to each other’s. Meanwhile, the cousins quickly started playing together again. The next day, we went exploring at the nearby new mall that was opened a couple of weeks earlier. The Chinese New Year music were piped and decorations had been raised. I was sad that there were no good bookstores there. For some reason, my lower back also began to hurt. It was moderately painful when I shifted balance from one foot to the other. After the mall-walking, we went to the café along the country road towards Nia’s house, which had excellent nasi ayam. “Nasi ayam kukus […]

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Ilham Bestari

The Place Where He Grew Up

The day after Aidiladha we thought we would head into the city to check out the borough of Pandan Indah where Irfan grew up. It would literally be a balik kampung for him even though the kampung was Kuala Lumpur. Born less than 10 klicks away as the crow flies in Kuala Lumpur Hospital, he knew no other home other than Pandan Indah before we moved to Perlis nearly four years ago. From Nia’s house all the way south, we travelled up north via the MEX and inserted ourselves into the MRR2. We thought we would visit Wan Cik who took care of Irfan from when he was 1 year old until he enrolled in pre-school. It was Nia’s first time at Wan Cik’s house too. Wan Cik had expanded her house since the last time we were there. Irfan caught up with Afzan who is actually his uncle. Soon […]

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Some Salam Lebaran From Sitiawan

For Eid, we were at Sitiawan taking photos with Atok and Opah. We also visited Marina Island near Lumut to see what the artificial island was like these days. Sometimes friends visited us. Sometimes we visited friends. We also took a trip to Ipoh to visit Wan Cu’s family.

Check out the photos in the following gallery:

Before long it was time to head home.