Bermain Pasir Bersama Elisa

When Elisa smsed me, I cannot tell you how excited I was. I know she did mention about coming over sometime in December, but then I thought she just got back from Hajj, mesti letih. Plus I didn't have a computer to ask her anything.

But she CAME!!!!! Oh I hugged this mak hajjah really tight. jangan jeles ya! Ambik berkat you.

This trip with elisa is like an overdose of sand. We played sand either by bashing it or making them sing for two days in a row. It was a good trip I think.

Happen to be it was a long weekend in Qatar. And some people in Doha who have parents babysitting their kids while they go for Hajj also want to go to the dune. They want to show their parents the activities that they usually do in Doha. This is to the dismay to some of the parents though. hahahhaha! Tak boleh lupa convo ni, mak memeber I said, "Ko nak bunuh aku ke? Kalau ko nak mak mati, biar mak keluar aje dari kereta ni!" We were all laughing at my friend.

Anyway, the trip was mostly smooth. I strongly advised my friends to take an easier route. What with ramai parents in the car. Tak kuasalah nak tolak-tolak kereta. Errrr even though I tak pernah tolak pun. Hahahhahaha. I want to get there fast and stay long there. Tapi rupanya we did not stay that long. Sebelum maghrib dah keluar. Kalau dulu lepas Isyak baru sampai.

It was an easy ride so some of us before going back took a slightly harder route semata2 nak turun the steep slope. And wehei Mr. Taufik deflowered the slope too. Hoyeeeehhhhh!

I blogged a lot about my trips to the dune and just how much I love them. I hope Elisa likes it too. At least it's a different experience to be in. But before the trip I was hoping that everything goes smoothly and refrain myself from talking about certain mishaps especially when we fell off the tip of the ridge. He he


Mr. Taufik and his baby

The following day, lover took Mr Taufik and the boys to Fanar for Jumuah prayers. On that day, they were lucky to witness a man reverting to Islam and announcing the syahadah! Allahu Akbar! I hope it was an uplifting experience.

Initially later in the evening, I wanted to take them to Souq Waqif because I remember them liking the place so much. And it was Friday. There are usually extra cultural activities on Friday. But nampaknya mungkin they are bored with it. Yalah dah pergi entah berapa kali agaknya. So I excitedly said why not we go to singing dune? It's only 40 minutes from Doha and it's unique too.

The kids looovvvee the singing dune. They took something (I don't know what from Elisa's car), that can be made into a huge sled and tied the towing cable at one end and pull it to the top of the dune, and pull the girls down on it. Then with all the effort they have (and nampak macam effortless pulak tu), they climbed up the dune pulling the sled up just to repeat the same routine. You should hear the girls screaming delight as they come down. Not to mention the hum sound it produced.

The kids have too much energy lah. Baguslah discharge kat situ. It took me ages to climb up the dune. Dahlah dengan kamera bag and tripod. Macam nak mampus!

I love the singing dune. In my opinion it's the best and easiest place to take visitors to. It's a unique place too. It's a sign of Allah's power. He creates the sand in so many characteristics. Subhanallah! When you hear the sand hum or the pasir berdengung, you will be at awe.

It was a very cold day when we went there. I brought mee goreng and spaghetti and I ate it and it was so cold. I swallowed the noodles and only felt coldness going down the esophagus. Brrrrrrrr.

When I managed to get to the top of the dune, I can feel the wind so sharp on my face. It was dusk that time. I looked around the dune and felt the silence and the stillness of it. Then I looked down at my feet and saw some sand trickling downwards. There is life here. I know I am going to miss this when I do go back to Malaysia.



It gets colder as maghrib sets in. After maghrib, Mr Taufik, an ex head scout I was told, started setting up the campfire. It was hard. We had no lighter. So Mr Taufik used the car cigarette lighter. He picked wood and coal that are straying around from the past campfires. He had to fight with the wind and also the old coal yang dah serap embun and segala moist. But he finally managed to light up the fire. Bravo! Bravo! Elisa mesti bangga gila dengan kekasih dia itu. And she has all the right to be also. :D

I waited all the time in front of the fire and took pictures of the fire building up. Dari tak ada api sampai ke hidup. I was rewarded with this picture. I love the way the sparks frames the face. And the picture was all sharp except for the movement of the had fanning the fire.

And we gathered around it laughing to silly jokes given by both the kids and also adult. Listen to this

"Lucy has a big one and Mollie has two little ones."

Don't ask me why I only remember this one. Oh! I know why. Because I was the one who answered it without prior knowledge to the answer. Cubalah jawab.

We gathered until the fire subsided. The cold made me so hungry and went to eat Thai food afterward.

The next day we relaxed and went around to the mall and to a few invitations. Tak larat dah nak gi outdoor. he he

Before Elisa went back, we managed to shop for books sikit. Eh! elisa, ada book fair kat doha sekarang ni and the books are cheap. Sewel ni!

As Elisa went back, I couldn't help to wonder whether this would be her last visit. I certainly hope not. Kalau Elisa tak ada in Khobar lagi, rasa macam err tak ada sedara dah kat sini. Huhuhuhu

What are the things that you worry most if you have visitors over? As for me not rumah bersepah because biasalah ada budak-budak and having a lazy Goddess around. For me, I worry if they are not fed well. I worry kalau layanan acuh tak acuh. I hope also they felt as much at ease in my home as much I feel happy to have them as my guests.

It's so funny when people ask us how we know each other. Internet friends? Biar betul. I will be having some people coming over this Thursday as well. Transiting in Doha going home to malaysia from yemen. Mrs. Fath asked me, internet friend also? He he. Not this time.

Most of my pictures are uploaded into facebook. if you are my contact you can see them.

Back on Air

My computer died on me just when the school holiday starts. Oh man! I suddenly became anti social. I had no car (tapi kereta dah dapat balik like four days ago!). No computer! I became a hermit!

I had so much to tell. Hmm ya ka ni? Well at least so many things happen. Just before the computer died on me, I was editing some walimah pictures. Buat slide show segala. Upon detecting disaster about to happen, I managed to save all pictures in an external hard disc. Legaaaa. What I ralat most was I couldn't produce the VCD for the BBQ makan-makan at the pengantin's house last week. Will probably blog about it. Insya Allah.

Then I went jalan-jalan to Zikreet, Qatar. Interesting landscape. I want to explore this area more. Will blog more with pictures.

Then I received a surprise sms from Elisa. She asked whether we were having plans for the weekend. It was a three days weekend, and I quickly rope in people for a dune bashing trip. So her five days stay was an answer to my hermitness. Will blog about this the soonest.

But with the places that we bashed to, my camera's memory card is full up to the nose. Tolooonnnngggggg!

Then after Elisa left, we painted the majlis. I had this small project for the room. Will will will blog about it. I managed to rearranged some furniture as well. It doesn't make the room appear bigger or anything, but it gave a better sense of belonging for me.

The lack of computer has also made me more rajin around the house. I managed to iron all clothes in a short period of time.:D. I read books more. :D. But somehow I feel like spending and buying things more. Especially when I look around the house. Thank Goodness tak ada kereta. :D

So just a short one for now. Just to tell you I am still alive. And missing the internet loads. I want to mention the person who nursed my computer to life, bro silver. So many times he has help us when it comes to gadget. I owe him big time. BIG!

So what are you guys up to?

Carca Merba

Yesterday, my lover helped the Mails to move. I didn't go. But instead I invited them to break their fast at my place.

And then I thought why not make it more meriah and invited two more families and one mamat bujang (dah kahwin sebenarnya tapi bachelor status kat sini).

But then err this is an adhoc thing. And it was already 10 in the morning and maghrib is at 0440. Hmm no time to get anything from the groceries. Thank God I just went to kedai. remember my last leceh story? So I opened the freezer and decided to go carca merba. No theme this time. Whatever goes.

I had two garoupas.
So I made sweet sour garoupa, Thai style

Lover just went to the market for big prawns and calamari.
So I made prawn in buttered curry and coriander. This is Indian. Lebih kuranglah.
By the way this recipe I sort of made it up myself and is my usual choice for a real quick nak cepat masak punya food. And the taste I must say memang sedap amat. Percayalah. :D

I got 1 kilo of chicken breasts, no skin no bone. I asked lover to get me another kilo.
And I made chicken with cashew nut. Chinese style (to the delight of Mrs Fath)
Another favourite of mine. Especially on my busy days. All these small pieces of meat, (diced chicken, prawn and escalopes) are considered fast food in Lollies household.

Kubis goreng. Melayu style.
Ini aje sayur yang banyak dalam fridge tu. I finished up the whole labu.

Tiramisu. Italian style. mamamia! I tell you using the biscotti fingers tu memang ultimate betul. I don't think I will make tiramisu with any other cake after this. If I put kekacang on every layer memang sah jadi tiramisu Montez. I faint just thinking about it.

Pastu biasalah air oren and kopi panas Muar 434.

Oh man! Penat betul. But then again I haven't invited anyone for quite sometime. So that was quite nice. It was ages ago that people came to my place such and such everyone commented on my red wall. And you all know that it had been a year since it was painted bloodshot.

They stayed until 12 midnight. Terus sahur lah tu gamaknya.

But for raya tomorrow I am not doing anything special considering I am going to at least three houses tomorrow and possibly minimum two the next day. Kalau masak pun buat banyak waste aje.

The government announced that the prayer tomorrow would not be done in the open as it often is for Eid Prayers. Instead it will be performed in the masjids. This is in the view of the possible rain.

So friends, Eid Mubarak from me dengan ucapan masak apa tu?

Qtar Rains Today

On the 3rd December, the Emir of Qatar urged people to make the Istisqaa prayer (rain prayer). This prayer was performed in the open mussolla with the public. Among the jemaah were numerous sheikhs and ministers.

In the sermon by Sheikh Thaqeel, he urged the worshipers to repent and continuously seek for His forgiveness. Clean our money. Indeed, all of us need to be reminded always.

For the newspaper clip in the Gulf Times click this link.

Qatar is one of the countries whose rain is very scarce. Usually rain would fall in the winter season sometime in December to March.So rain in the gulf countries, unlike in Malaysia, is truly heaven sent, a blessing from the Almighty, Ar Razaq. So much so that when we were in Taman Negara last summer, the arabs were dancing in the rain when it rained.

However of late, the little rain has reduce to become only droplets.

They are relating to little rain or no rain as a sign of Allah's wrath. A disaster to befallen.
Astaghfirullah. Astaghfirullah. Astaghfirullah.

I am turning on the water tap, looking at the free flow of water. The water that they churn from the sea and have it distiledl and sent out to public. Do we all think technologies can save us from Allah's wrath?

But today, Qatar was blessed with rain nearly the whole day long. Such blessings indeed. Alhamdullilah.

Even though rain can be a bit of nuisance here in the country where flash flood is everywhere (there is no drain here), my house wall would be soaked with water (yalah gypsum aje) but the blessing overcome all these.

Alhamdullilah for the rain. We the Malaysians can learn from this I believe.
Fear Allah. Seek His forgiveness. Clean our money. Beware of Allah's wrath.

Ini Sudah Leceh

Sometimes when I go out, to the groceries especially, I notice there are man who would eye me and follow me around the aisles. This is terrifying because I usually shop in the morning. At certain grocery stores, not many people are around.

So what I do is I would walk quickly to where there are more people.

And the next thing I do now is I don't go to that store in the morning again. Now I choose bigger stores where there are more people.

Today is my grocery day again. I found those biscotti finger things. Yayy boleh buat tiramisu. And bought this supposed to be less fat cream cheese. Hmm sedapkah nanti?

Anyway, I was looking closely at these aisles for biskut marie. Where the hell did they put them? Dulu kat sini. Then I noticed a man was watching me. Haiyoo!

Then when he noticed I saw him, he circled around the aisle I was at, trying to get closer and closer to me and nearly brushed my back.

I was scared. Scared sampai rasa sangat marah! So finally when he was in front of me I said to him, "You! Stay away from me! Understand?!"

He was quite shocked actually. Thank goodness he didn't get defensive or err angry. Because we wre alone at that particular aisle. In fact he was so shocked that he said oh! ok. and left.

Tapi as for myself forget the biskut marielah. Entah mana dia kedai tu bubuh agaknya. I didn't see him after that at all.

Then I went to pick up the kids. Eh asallak jam jalan ni? So the lane I was on was crawling. But the lane on the left tu laju sikit because they would turn elsewhere. Then I noticed this car was inching next to mine. And I turned, this guy was trying to get my attention. Hah?? And waved at me. hah??!!!

Then he slowed, crawling next to my car. In the process he blocked the rest of the cars behind him. And he was waving and waving trying to get my attention. By this time I was pissing in my pants already. Shit betullah. If the guy in the store tu at least he is a non local arab (sebab dia tak pakai thawb). This guy in the car is local. So that scares the shit out of me.

But somehow, I managed to get to the lane on the right. So we were then set apart. Legaaa

If any of you think that you get attention over here because you are pretty ke apa, sorry to tell you, that is not the case. They go for anything. Such a loser if you think prettiness and looking good is a factor!

I am not the only one yang kena harass ni. Ada yang kena lagi teruk. Ada yang siap rub his private parts lagi (tapi not local guys so far). Why the lady tak marah, you might ask. Well, kadang-kadang kita jadi takut kan? Kadang-kadang kita terkejut and really tak tau nak buat apa. Kadang-kadang kita malu apa orang fikir pasal kita kalau kita kecoh. Wallahu3alam. But then again this happen in any country kan? May we be given strength to defend our honour.

My theory is, these "predators" target their victims by vulnerability.

Being alone makes you vulnerable.
Being asian also makes you vulnerable.
being alone and asian makes you double vulnerable.

why asian you may ask? Sebab being asian kat sini can mean that you are a maid, or someone in blue collar. Harassment is many times about power. Who has more than the other. (teringat cerita disclosure).

Undeniably there are my friends who are arabs (but not locals because I don't have local arab friends) who are harassed. Tapi kaw-kaw kena harass dia orang ni. Tunggu depan rumah segala. And telling them you are married and have kids will not deter them. Ni my firend ni lah. Tapi I suppose in their case because dia orang ni memang lawa sungguh. Masya Allah! Lawanya dia orang. Anyway my friend finally had to tell her husband and her husband pergi bergaduh dengan predator tu. Siap kata I love her to the husband pulak tu. Such courage. So kulang ajaq!

Unfortunately also some asians love harassment. Especially kalau yang harass tu local with big cars and big money. Dalam kes ni it is not called harass anymore, it's called win-win situation.

being female or male is not a factor though. Not here.

So I am kinda feeling uneasy about it. This is not the first time. Funnily this only happen after I don the hijab. MAsa tak pakai dulu adalah jugak, but not as much as now.

Ini memang melecehkan. If it persists I might have to do something more drastic. Niqob may be an option.

What's the Matter?

I am wondering what is happening to me?

I have been crying a lot. I cry over little things. I can cry when I listen. I can cry when I read. I cry when I think.

Sometimes I cry so much, my chest hurts and I have to rub it.

If you know me in real life before, this would be a big surprise for you. For I don't cry easily. I think it must be the old agelah. I use to see old people are the one who cry alot. Yang kalau dulunya macho gangster pun bila dah tu they cry.

It must be the old age.

I think also, the gateway to the crying was since my mum passed away. It did something to my heart.

Yesterday I was preparing a seerah content for the kids. We would be doing kisah Nabi Adam this week.

And I was reading (to prepare them a children version, I need to read adult's version so I can truly tell them with conviction. So I was reading the Quran translation Al Aaraf ayat 19-22 (7:19-22) And also Surah Taha ayat 118-121.

How many time have I read the story of Prophet Adam a.s.. Countless times! Dari kecik I tell you!

But when I read this (Al Aaraf (7:22-24)

So he (syaitan) misled them with deception. Then when they tasted of the tree, that which was hidden from them of their shame (private parts) became manifest to them and they began to cover themselves with the leaves of Paradise (in order to cover their shame). And their Lord called out to them (saying): "Did I not forbid you that tree and tell you: Verily, Shaitân (Satan) is an open enemy unto you?" (22)

They said: "Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You forgive us not, and bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall certainly be of the losers." (23)

(Allâh) said: "Get down, one of you is an enemy to the other [i.e. Adam, Hawwa (Eve), and Shaitân (Satan),]. On earth will be a dwelling-place for you and an enjoyment, - for a time." (24)

And in Taha in this particular ayat (20:121)

Then they both ate of the tree, and so their private parts became manifest to them, and they began to cover themselves with the leaves of Paradise for their covering. Thus did Adam disobey his Lord, so he went astray (121)

I was putting myself in Adam and Eve's position. And I wondered how they felt when they went in their nakedness after tasting the fruit. Kita pun bila buat salah dengan authority pun dah kecut perut. What more with our Creator which was in their vicinity of their dwelling.

When Allah said,"Did I not forbid you of the tree?" Adusss. Imagine the feeling.

And when both of them were sent down to earth. Of course humans will be made vicegerent on earth, but to be sent down because of doing the forbidden thing must be hard.

And Adam and Hawwa seek forgiveness. Allah is merciful and He forgave them.

And I cried myself to sleep. May Allah keep all of us in the straight path and not be astray by the devil. Curse of Allah be upon the devil!

And I also find it hard to blog nowadays. I think too much when I want to write.

So we'll see lah.

Waaahh More Chance for Us

Did you miss Ramadhan? Especially the intimate last ten days of the holy month? And waiting for the next Ramdhan is too long? (Not to mention we might not be alive). And our ibadah is rollercoasting down?

Do not fret. Allah is Most Merciful. He is giving us another chance to pick up. More chances to build up on rewards.

Here comes the THE FIRST TEN DAYS of DZULHIJJAH!!

It is reported by Abdullah Ibne Abbaas radhiyallahu anhuma that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, "No good deeds done on other days are superior to those done on these (first ten days of Zul Hijjah)." Thereupon, some companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, "Not even Jihadd ? " He replied, "Not even jihaad, except that of a man who does it by putting himself and his property in danger (for Allah's sake) and does not return with any of these things."
Sahih Bukhaari.

What can we do? What can we do?

You can fast from the 1st of Dzulhijjah all the way to the day of Arafah which is the 9th of Dzulhijjah. Sembilan hari je uols.

Tapi kalau tak mampu jugak boleh puasa on the 9th Dzulhijjah, that is the day of Arafah

The Prophet (PBUH) used to fast on the ninth day of Dhul-Hijjah and he said: “Fasting the Day of Arafah (ninth Dhul-hijjah) is an expiation for (all the sins of) the previous year and an expiation for (all the sins of) the coming year.” (Muslim)

Complete the Quran reading. Or at least do more than what you normally do.

You can try and do more nawafil prayers. 12 rakkahs a day.

You can do Qiyam.

You can do many good deeds as simple as smiling.

Wet your tongue with Dzikir.

Make good relationship with family and friends.

Sadaqah.

Sembahyang raya.

And Qurban on the Eid Adha.

Just chose one of the above or better still all of them or even more more more ibadah!

Rewardnya? The hadith explains it all.

By the way, each of the prescribed ibadah pun dah banyak reward on normal days, what more if its on virtuous days like the first ten days of Dzul Hijah.

Maka mari mari kita rebut rebut! peluang baik! Peluang baik!

p/s : I attended a talk on this topic yesterday and one thing she said in the talk that strike me most was. You said you want Jannah? You really do? But you don't even want to sacrifice your sleeping time for Qiyam?

Alamak!

Welcome to the Internet World

Some of the ladies here have discovered the wonderful world of web and are very excited about what the e-mail (for instance) has to offer and also the delicious recipes they can find on the net. Good for them!

So they are forwarding a lot of emails to everyone, a group of ladies here. By the way I am talking about Malaysian ok. So I am getting emails which I have read before, I am receiving gory emails (by the younger ones), email Norman Hakim and Memey doing monkey acts, email gambar tudung Siti Nurhaliza, and also email on a lot of food product yang haram, yang tak boleh makan, yang ada babi, yang tak sembelih betul.

Most of the emails I ignore, sometimes I read sometimes I leave. Some also I would reply especially to rebut some of articles. Usually I do this if I have evidence of some sort that the article is outdated or incorrect. Some forward hoax email that I have recieved ages ago like the picture of a lady's' breast infected by some larvae, or the supposedly kaum Ad who is found in somewhere somewhere.

Not forgetting there are also email berunsurkan agama with wonderful power points and so on (beware many contain hadith dhaif!). Yesterday I received a chain mail which are agama related. Herewith I paste it

IVE FIVE MINUTES OF TIME TO ATLEST READ IT TO THE END INSHAALLAH

Subject: DONT DELETE! IF YOUR A MUSLIM! PLEASE READ THIS!

This is true.From Madina Sheikh Ahmed has sent this news.On a Friday Sheikh Ahmed fell asleep reading the Quraan. Then he dreamt the Prophet Muhammed (saw) standing in front of him and saying that in one week seven thousand people died but not even one was a true Muslim. None did what ALLAH wanted. He also said now is a bad time. These days Wives dont look after their Husbands,Girls go round without being covered they do not respect parents or others,Rich do not look after the poor,they do not give gifts or money or do not give fulfil zakaat.he also said to Sheikh Ahmed make people understand to give zakaat,To do prayer and to keep fast. The day of judgement is near. When There is a single star in the sky,straight away the path of forgiveness will close. The writing in The Quraan will disappear (vanish). The Sun will lower itself with Earth.

The Prophet said whoever reads this news to someone else,

'I WILL ON THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT MAKE HIM A PLACE IN PARADISE, AND IF SOMEONE DOES NOT BELIEVE THIS NEWS TO BE TRUE THEY WILL BE BANISHED FROM PARADISE '

If a poor person gives out this news to other people his/her good wish will come true. Sheikh Ahmed said if this is not true then my death will be off a Non-Muslim. The Prophet said

'KEEP FAST, DO PRAYERS, GIVE ZAKAAT AND GIVE KINDNESS TO THE POOR'

Whoever Forwards this will get his/her reward in three days. One Person forward it to 40 people he had 8,000 thousand, take prophet in his business. One Person did not believe this news and his son died. One kept saying he will forward it today, tomorrow but never forward this news he died as well.

PLEASE DO NOT THINK THIS IS NOT TRUE.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE!

How many chain mails we get spamming our inbox? Too many right? Usually I would ignore it sebab tak kuasalah. But somehow this time I felt like I need to say something. This is mainly because the one who emailed this is a person of piety. Dalam lingo kita kiranya makcik alim lah. Which she is! She is highly respected among the malays here and I love her. I do. She is a very kind lady.

I don't like this email because I think there is a form of syirik in it! Who is this author of the email who has much time in his hand to author this and threaten us with death when death is only in the hands of Allah?

So I thought this could cause fitna (trial bukan slander) on her. How fitna?

1. Since she is a respected person and her piety, people could construe that what she does is correct and would believe the content and forward it.
2. And also many people would just forward it without believing the content but still forward it because it is from this lady and the mail has the warning of qiamah stories and it should be a good thing to berpesan-pesan di anatra kawan-kawan kan?
3. Or people would melekeh-lekehkan this lady knowing the content is not right. What? She doesn't know better? Wallahu3alam.

So lollies have been morphed into lollyitchy and decided to reply

Salam,

Alhamdullilah kita semuanya mempunyai semangat berpesan-pesan sesama saudara Islam. Indeed Hari Kiamat itu adalah haq.

maka dengan itu saya setuju dengan isi utama email ini (iatu tanda hari kiamat). Walaubagaimana pun saya tidak dapat menerima 'ugutan" yang seolah olah jika saya tidak memforwardkan email ini maka sesuatu musibah akan terjadi. Saya cuma akan forward dengan niat untuk menyampaikan pesanan dan bukan kerana takutkan kematian ahli keluarga saya. Ajal di tangan Allah Subhana Wataala yang menentukan dan bukan di tangan email ini.

Salam Sayang
Lollitchy

After sending the email out, I felt worried. Alamak! What if orang kata aku macam bagus. Belahlah Lollies tu. Nak buat baklah kononnya. Macamlah orang tak tau. In a way I felt that I was at risk of getting into the infamous territory among the ladies here.

But I still felt strongly about saying something.

Alhamdullilah that very evening, this good lady replied the email apologising for her ignorance of not reading the mail properly and asked everyone to forget the email and stay away from syirik and to remember Allah all the time and know that only He has power over us.

I met her later (last night) and I also apologised for causing her unease. She thanked me so hard. She said her husband was really angry at her for forwarding such mails. Kena marah tak kasi can punya. *I am truly sorry to hear that*. But she said she did not read it properly pun. nampak macam kiamat-kiamat terus tekan forward. Understandable. She was shivering the whole evening (which I am not surprise with her. I told you she is a very nice person. Naive sikit but very nice).

In a way, this has become a good lesson for her to be aware of the responsibilities in the internet world. He he he. Not all that look good and virtuous are good in cyber space.

So I said to her, "Welcome to the Internet world".

Revampment

I consider myself not a shopping kind of person. I don't usually go out hunting for sale and I rarely window shop. Meaning also I don't buy too many things. However, it doesn't mean I do not like owning nice things tau. It's just that well, since dari malaysia lagi money has always been tight. Even here with the skyrocket inflation rate, we are feeling a big pinch, but that is another story altogether.

Anywaaayyy, so I am wondering about those good friends of mine who shop like there is no tomorrow, where do they put all their stuff?? I don't shop that much and I am already running out of space! They shop like nearly all the time, and they still continue to shop whenever there is sale or not.

Like when we go through our second winter here, I ran out of space to put all our thick jackets and mufflers, and trench coat yang sangat hensem (ehem ehem). In the end I had to buy those railing to hang them. Which I don't like because the jackets are all exposed and kena gantung elok-elok all the time. benci.

But that is way cheaper than buying a new cupboard. At least we have deferred one capital expenditure.

Then somehow we have accumulated more bajus. And the kids also. Jack use to share cupboard with mine. Now I put his with Haziq's and it is currently very cramped.

After finally coming to terms that I am not working, I unload all baju kerja, blazers and coats pelbagai. They are now neatly folded in the suitcase. Hah! Lega sikit gerobokku.

Somehow after sometime jadi sempit balik.

Then I came to term that there are some kebayas that I won't be wearing anymore because errr err tak yah citalah because why. So I unload that one. Adalah lega sikit aje. I took out really old baju kurungs as well.

After sometime sempitlah jugak balik.

Then after happily putting on the hijab, I took out all those not suitable skirts off and decided to fold them instead. But then another problem arise. I don't have space to put them. I still want to use them. Lawa lagi tau. So I rearranged all the clothes properly and somehow managed to divide them into sections. Baju siang, baju tidur and jeans.

I am not entirely happy because I do want to divide the baju siang into baju siang glamer sesuai untuk menyambut laki pulang dan baju siang potong bawang. And the baju tidur should be divided into baju tidur waktu tak period atau gatal dan baju tidur waktu period atau juga baju padan muka kau tak dapat.

But gerobok kecik. So oklah tu.

I have also changed most of the hangers to the thinner ones. Still sturdy, not flimsy like hangers from laundry shop, though.

I have rearranged the kids cupboard too. All the too small baju jalan has been folded nicely. Sya and Jack have quite good clothes which I have no one to hand down to. I am thinking of doing a garage salelah kat malaysia nanti. Just a thought.

All the bajus yang kecik dan tak cun, have been taken out.

Haziq's shirt and jeans which are too small have been folded nicely awaiting for Jack's turn.

The other thing which I cannot stand is the comforter, sarung duvet, spare duvet, pillows and bed sheets. Alaaa tak ada tempatlah nak simpan. I have finally gave up and agreed to wrap it up in layers of plastic and shove it under the bed. I hate stuff under the bed tau. Huhuhu. So far only Haziq's bed is spared.

All these efforts have deferred our investment in getting a new cupboard, which is a real yayyy. So I am monitoring more things to revamp just so that I do not need to buy ourselves anymore cupboard, selagi boleh. He he.

Hmm come to think of it, I haven't been playing goddess for quite sometime kan?

Out with the Gold Tooth

I had the gold tooth extracted today.

BIG OUCH!

Sakit gila!

Serious sakit gila!

Bleeding painful!

The during sakit.

The cleaning up sakit.

The stitching sakit. Hmm yes I needed stitches.

SAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!

I felt like crying.

The after pun sakit.

I really hate that lopsided no feeling on one side of the face caused by the anesthetic.

And the feeling as the anesthetic runs out.

Rasa macam nak demam.

So just to let you know I am in a bad mood.

But be rest assured that if anyone makes me angry, i won't bite. And that is because I can't hardly open my mouth (but I have a very strong will to eat though. Burp. Alhamdullilah)

I am really thinking hard whether I should go ahed with the wisdom tooth.

Kenangan Memakai Braces

Miss KL Sentral's real name is Linda.

I remembered one day walking with her to attend the company's AGM. In the hall we saw our friends and immediately walk over to them. At least if the AGM gets boring, we have each other to entertain ourselves with.

Those were the days I was still working. Those were also the days I was still wearing braces.

As we approached our friends, they exclaimed, Hah! here comes Rosalinda and Ugly Betty.



In case you don't know, both Rosalinda and Ugly betty are famous characters from must watch (?) telenovela on TV.

So we were Rosalinda and Ugly Betty. HAHAHHAHAHAHHAH! Memang kena betul!

As for Miss Kl Sentral, rest assured that she is way prettier than Rosalinda.

As for me...well err nevermind.

Hopelessly Romantic

I really should stop thinking that everyone shares my idea of romanticism.

Some of the good Malaysian ladies here in D0ha are planning to conduct religious classes for the children. I volunteered to do as much as I can. Nak mengajar tak pandai, jadi buat-buat sebok je lah.

So as part of my job, I asked a a few people whether they would like to enroll their children. I mean this is great news is it not? Finally we would have a religious classes conducted by the Malaysians themselves, most likely in a very conducive class setup, ada buku teks, ada blackboard or whiteboard to be exact, ADa permanent marker, apstu ada eraser sekali, ada kerusi meja, ada proper syllabus. Do you not share the worry that I told all of you numerous times here just how much I am worried coming to this Muslim country with no Muslim teachings? I took granted of these things in malaysia sebab kita kan ada sekolah ugama segala. I monitor their learnings, yes. But I do not have to create a syllabus to know what to teach and when. When everything befallen on you and you watch your kids grow not knowing how to recite Fatihah, not knowing what to say during sujud, and you look left and right and you only realise that no one there except you, then shiver. Pee in your pants if you like. The responsibility is totally yours!

So this is BIG. This is wonderful. This is helping the Malaysian Muslim children.

So I approached this lady. I see her quite often. She goes to the same centre that I go. I shared with her the great news expecting her to jump of joy with me.

So if you would like to join, just give me their names. We accept from age 6 and above.

She replied, hmmmm, I don't know. bebudak ni banyak homeworklah Lollies.

Hah? Alaa weekend aje. itupun mungkin 2 minggu sekali aje.

Tak taulah Lollies. Kena tanya bebudak ni minat ke tak.

Tapi mintak cepatlah sebab tempat terhad ya. We can't accept anymore kalau full.

Yalah tengoklah macamana

What?? She is not jumping? This is not exciting? She doesn't find this romantic? She doesn't find thiss oooohhhh ahhhhhh like I do?

And because I was shocked about the homework part, I blurted,

Homework tu reward untuk sekarang. Yang ni untuk akan datang.

Which I regretted saying because who am I to say that? How would I know whether she has done something with her children. Who do I think I am? What right do I have to think that everyone is willing to share my idea of romanticism.

Oh well.





She gave her children's name three days after.

---

Since coming back after the summer break, I have a feeling that this coming year will be a good year, Insya Allah. I foresee this year will be a romantic year for me. I want to try my best to make sure I akan mabuk cinta tahun ni. So whenever I smell politics are coming in and spoil the love in the air, I will try to sprinkle lollies and sweet flowers as much as I can. Hari tu ada sprinkle bunga sikit. Nampaknya dah berbau wangi masa angin bertiup. Cuma kekadang tersprinkle bunga tahi ayam jugak. tee hee he

Looking Back to look forward

Like I said a year ago, September feels like new year when it comes to the children as they start their new term in September. I put some resolutions concerning them HERE.

So now is the marking time.

Sleeping time :

I made a resolution that the kids would sleep earlier and it works! Last year they slept the latest at 9:30. But this year I made the time earlier which is 8:30 because now that all of them are in the same school, everyones needs to get up earlier to rebut the toilet. And all of them go out earlier to school. It is quite a distance. Now they slept the latest at 9:00. Yayyy. KPI over exceed expectation.


Haziq's listening skills :


First of all I must say thank you to all of you who gave some tips last year. I remembered Jo's tip the most. I MUST LISTEN TO HAZIQ! Oh! Dusyum. This boy I tell you he talks too much. Gua tak larat. I try the best I could tapi kekadang tu gua hmm hmm hmm aje.

Anyway, earlier this year, my lover started going to Fanar for Jumuah prayers. He takes Haziq along. Fanar offers khutbah in english. Finally Haziq get to understand what khutbah jumaat is for and is alert all the time. Each time he comes home, we would discuss about the khutbah topics. And if we miss Fanar (sebab effort gak nak pergi ni), he would be quite disappointed.

Furthermore ever since I have Imam Anwar Al Awlaki CDs on nearly all the time, he is more alert and has sharpen up his listening skills. We would sometimes discuss the contents and it is amazing how kids see things in a different perspective.

However he still couldn't hear well when I told him to kemas barang.

But still KPI overexceedlah. Wow!

Sya's development :

She is doing well. Very good in fact. ALhamdullilah. Her reading and writing skills have soared tremendously. I found her either drawing or writing minibooks. She has memorised quite a handful of Surahs. Read it HERE. So I am satisfied.

New resolutions :

I need Haziq to be more organised in his train of thoughts. He has many ideas, Masya Allah. It is like an explosive of ideas. So what he need to do is calm down. I can't train him much here for I am a gelabah person myself. Perhaps I will make him explain things S L O W L Y. But seriously you should see our schedule. It is so hectic. Qucik! Quick! Quick! You know time is not on your side. Why waste?!! How on earth can I teach him to be calm like that? Huhuhu. Any tips?

Haziq, I noticed has quite good memory retention. Alhamdullilah. I want to utilise this to his benefits as much as I can. I am thinking of getting him memorise the Juz Amma as much as he can. So we talked about it and I thought perhaps I can promise some reward. I offered either a camera or an ipod. And he said I want none of those. I actually thought he will say something romantic like I will do it for Allah's sake. But instead he asked for a desktop. Laaaa. But then he also said, but its' too expensive. So tak apalah. The discussion stop sampai situ. So we'll see..But now I am rechecking all the tajweed for the soorahs he has memorised. We have casually mentioned this to his Ustadz.

And Sya..tsk tsk tsk. My only girl. Don't let her demure and calm face fool you for this makcik when she passes her room, she is like a hurricane. Semua benda bersepah-sepah. And she finds it so hard to keep things in place. Even after repeated instruction. Hmm maybe I need to be less berleter. GRRRRRRRRRRRR

But otherwise she really loves helping me in the kitchen. But the kemas part...malas lah nak cerita.

Jack is so happy to go to school now. Yayyy! He feels like a real big boy. No more the cute Pinocchio. He is picking up word really quick.

Now that they are all in the same school, I had to spend a long time on the road. You see, Jack finishes school at 12:30 while Haziq and Sya at 2:00. So I had to wait with Jack in the car for one hour (I only pick him up at 12:50. Malas nak ambik awal. :P)

So we spent the time doing ngaji a bit, reading his school reading books, brushing up on his letters, singing, doing dot to dot, reading story books, sleeping (sometimes aku tertidur dalam kereta). In other words I get to spend a solid one hour quality time with him. No distraction. I think he is very satisfied with that since he doesn't pull me that much after. So itulah blessingnya.



So the resolution for him is to do Iqra' with him. He he.

Also in preparation for future long walking, we are visiting Aspire for brisk walk over the weekend. Dahlah cuaca tengah best. Pagi-pagi dalam 21C. Angin sedap-sedap aje. Bliss betul.

I don't know about you but I feel like time is running too quickly. So much I want to do but so little time. I am starting putting in daily schedule and weekly plan on paper. Serabut!

QR4500 + QR4500

I went to the dentist today after slightly above two years of not visiting any dentist at all. I felt that I needed some scaling.

So they did the first-visit-to-the-dentist routine . I had Xrays and sort.

By the way the clinic was very impressive. Canggih manggih betul.

So the doctor displayed the results of my teeth Xray on the computer display above me as I lie down on the reclined dentist's chair. He asked so what do you need with your teeth, in a very difficult to understand accent. I said I need scaling. The plaques are crowding in.

Is that all? he asked.

Hmm probably one molar chipped a bit.

That's all?

Err I suppose so.

Then he started pointing on to the many many problematic areas on the black and white screen.

I tell you the computer display and system is dasat betul. he can zoom it the problematic area and change colours and add contrast and brightness. All in digital. I feel like my teeth are in good hands.

I had root canal like 15 years ago. And apparently within the gums under the molar roots some problem and he said may spread across other molars. He strongly suggested me to pull that out. That particular molar is also filled with gold. So he is going to pull my gold tooth out. Gulp!

He also said my wisdom tooth is coming out horizontally and is causing decay at the molar nearby and is also pushing other teeth to go forward. Alamak! I had braces to pull them before. Surely I do not want it to move forward pulak. He suggested extracting the wisdom tooth.

He also wanted to make new fillings for some molars.

I am using my lover's company insurance card. The problem is, now that I have realised it, it is expiring on the 30th November. And I have not used the card yet. I have in total QR4500 to spend on dentist for a year.

So he said we should spend the QR4500 in this very month. Come December you will get another card and you will get another QR4500 to spend for a year.

Err ok. Which means we need to do the extractionS and the refilling in this very month. We have 24 days to spend QR4500 on my teeth.

And I actually went there to do scaling and ended up not doing scaling at all.

Next appointment is on Tuesday though. And that one is for scaling.

Ralat

I would like to make a correction on one of my previous posts. The post can be found HERE : Making the shaytan go away.

It is about Jack who was worried that he didn't have any ammunition to get rid of shaytan. Afraid that he would be outran by his ollder siblings who by then have already memorised Al Falaq, Annas and Ayatul Kursi, he immediately claimed that if you say the Basmallah, the shaytan will go away.

At the point of me making that entry, I thought that this is funny but was somewhat wrong. I immediately taught him the Alistiadzah.

Apparently he is not entirely wrong. Referring to the hadith below

Jabir bin Abdullah reported Allah’s Messenger s.a.w. as saying :

When a person enters his house and mentions the name of Allah at the time of entering it and while eating the food, Satan says (addressing himself : You have no place to spend the night and no evening meal; but when he enters without mentioning the name of Allah, the Satan says: You have found a place to spend the night, and when he does not mention the name of Allah while eating food, he (the Satan) says : You have found a place to spend the night and evening meal.

(Muslim 5006)

So there you go, if you say the Basmallah before you enter your house, Shaytan won't have a place to stay that night. And if you say the Basmallah before you eat, shaytan won't be able to share your meal.

Jack was correct alright.

---

This week we discussed the manners of eating. I tried to put in as much Sunnah as I can. Those that can be easily practiced for their age. I put some of the notes in my other blog. If you have the time, do read FOR THE LOLLIPOPS.

Hadith

Hadith (حادث) means accident in arabic. I know it looks so much like Alhadith - the sunnah and the saying of Rasullulah (s.a.w.). I really cant explain it to you for I myself was told that the word for accident in arabic is hadith. ALiya can explain better perhaps.

Anyway, that was what I had last Thursday. Someone hit my car from the back.

I can still remember the moments of the accident based on what I saw and what I heard and what I felt at that time. I remembered that the traffic was really bad that day. I was nearing home and reached a major crossjunction. There was this huge concrete pump truck leading the lines of car stopping. The cars were also stopping for the red lights. Somehow the truck was trying to change lane to an empty lane on the left.

I remembered also, as I stopped, I thought to myself that this is a bad. Someone is bound to be hit. Because my lane was terribly long and the left lane was empty, but most were giving way for the truck to go to the left and no one wanted to go to the left for possibly you would be stuck behind a slow truck (my assumption). While myself took the right lane because that's the way I need to go later.

Like i sad, the traffic had been bad, but at this particular stretch, the traffic was moving and was a bit loose. I felt that those who had been trapped with the nearly deadlock traffic earlier would press the accelerator to release the stress they had earlier. It was a straight road and the chance to drive faster was quite nice.

I stopped behind a saloon car looking at the concrete pump truck. then I heard a loud screech, and I looked at my rear mirror and felt that I was going to be hit. It's almost like a slow motion show. I remembered looking at my right side mirror seeing if there was any cars so I can quickly swerve to the right. But cars were streaming fast. So all I had to do now is just to minimise the impact of collission. I turned the steering to the right a bit and that was when I was hit. BOOM!

And the impact caused me to jerk forward missing by mm to the car in front.

I remembered also after that seeing the cars in front of me dispersed as the red lights turned green.

I quickly went out of the car but not to check the damage but to check out the kids. Haziq was at the back seat. My car is quite long and it was hard for me to check him just sitting in the driver seat.

As I climbed the car, I turned to the man who hit me. My face should tell all I felt. The children were my most worry.

Haziq was OK and calm but noisy, which was a good sign. (he also has a very minor whiplash). Sya woke up because of the hit. Jack the sleepy head was still sleeping soundly in his seat. ALHAMDULLILAH! But I was also worried that Jack was not sleeping but err fainted or something. Upon checking he was truly sleeping.

Then the man came to me and asked whether the kids were ok. I then tried to start the car but couldn't which was perplexing because I was hit from the back. Why can't I start. I called the police. Over here you can dial 999 from your handphone (and not 112(?) or 122(?) like in malaysia) and their response was really quick. The policeman on the line asked me to calm down by telling me to be quiet, I think for the lack of better words in english. :D

So I still could not start the car. I was blocking two lanes and was causing traffic. People were honking and driving fast by me. I was afraid that another major accident would happen. I quickly took the children out. Imagine this, I was in the middle of the road where all the cars were driving really fast. I had to stop cars to allow me and my children to cross. I carried sleepy head Jack and he did not even stir for the next good 15 minutes on my shoulder. Bless my child O' Allah.

The children were all in good spirit. I think it is important that you stay calm and say positive things at this time as not to hamper their spirit. I kept telling them, Allah has actually saved us. Allah saves us. Allah was protecting us. Say syukur. Say syukur.

The man who hit me looked pale and shocked. I actually drew strength from him. Alhamdullilah, knowing that everyone is save and err I was also not at fault. Legaaaa.

Then his friends started streaming in. There were a lot of cheek rubbing and nose rubbing scenes. One of them asked me whether the kids were ok. Alhamdullilah, thank you for asking, I said.

Going back to my stranded car. It was already causing a major traffic at the back. Then a police car came by. Parking behind my car with his red and blue stroboscope lights on, honking at my car wildly. I stood by the road watching him. Since no one responded to him from the car (because no one was there kan?), he came out angrily. Then I waved at him. I said mafi start (what is start in arabic huh? mafi means no or cannot). he didn't believe me and took the keys to try it himself. I actually hoped that it won't start so that I won't humiliate myself. Aparaa.

The car still could not start. Then he called the sheikh who hit me to help him push my car to the roadside. heh heh. rasalah tolak kereta besar bagak camtu. But because the steering was already turned to the right, it was easier for them to push.

(Anyway just for your info, the car could start later on. One of my neighbors went to see the stranded car. he said this is one of Ford's safety feature that upon impact, it will immediately cut off fuel supply. But just press a secret button and the car can start. Taraaaa.)

Then the police belah.

Finally like four police came. The Qat@ris (the guy who hit me and his friends) all surrounded the police and told their story, whatever it was. I stood by the side not knowing how to interject.

Then when they asked who the owner of my car was, the all eyes were on me. Arabia au Inglizia the police asked. Arabiah shuay shuay, I said.

Then I told what happen in my very broken arabic. I still can't string a sentence properly mind you.
Murur Isyarah Akhmar (traffic light red)
Sayarah qif qif and I used hand signals to show that cars are lining up stopping or was it I said wuquf wuquf
Ana qif (I stopped)
thuma (then)
I made screeching sound and BOOM hadith! and I pointed to the sheikh.

That should be quite clear I believe. They took my details. And the man asked me where my lover was?

Aina zaujuki?

My lover was outstationed for a week in Abu Dhabi (ALiya, he also sempat jumpa your uncle there :)).

I said zauji fi abu Dhabi.

I called Mr. Adub who picked me up and sent me and my kids home. And the next day everyone asked why I didn't call them also. Semuanya nak berebut buat pahala dengan menolong aku kan? Alhamdullilah for I have friends like them. Actually I wanted to, tapi eeeii macam overlah pulak. If possible semua I want to call just to make things more meriah. he he

My lover sent the car to the service centre and the mechanic said the damage is quite bad. Oh dear. I am not worried that it would cost a lot for they will be claiming from the guy's insurance, but I know this will take a loooooongggg time. Because kat sini tak ada ketuk-ketuk. Accident kalu they'll change the whole part. And all these are imported and will be slow. And when he said the damage is bad...hmm faham-faham jelah.

You know since my lover was not here this week, I have been sending the kids to school every morning. Usually I would send them if lover has things to do elsewhere or when we sent every other car for service. This week, since I am sending the kids, i get to observe Zachary firsthand playing with his friends. And he was less clingy. On that Thursday, I watched him play and smiled looking at him. He was forgetting that I was there. Then he caught my eyes and smiled and came to me, it's ok you can go now Ibu. He was nervous knowing that I was watching him.

Then, I thought to myself, this is quite nice, sending the kids to school. I know staying at home gives me lot more extra time. And by sending the kids to school i would often be late to my school. But I still love sending the kids to school. And for a moment I wondered to myself, what other excuses will I have to send them to school everyday?

And that evening I got my answer. A hadith saghir. (a small accident).





It doesn't look too bad kan? The other car (Toyota Landcruiser) was worse. Bengkok depan dia segala. But bawah kereta looks quite bad.

Alamak!

My house is very very near to my school (but very very very far from the kids' school). I always have the luxury of going out of the house 5 minutes from class and got there just in time. But then people would ask me why am I late? Traffic huh? Err yes.

Anyway, today a friend of mine said can I go to your house after class, for solat? Despite my house is very near, no one has ever come to my house after class. It is probably because no one ever dare to ask and also because I never invite anyone anyway. Not that I don't like inviting, but because I am always in the fast mode, it would be inappropriate to invite anyone. I only have time to get home, solat, prepare some juice for the kids in the car, grab some food on the road and go out again.

So a friend wanted to tumpang solat hari ni, which I welcomed very much.

But then my house was like tongkang pecah! Errkkss! The books that I read yesterday was strewn on the sofa. dengan notebooks. the kids book were on the floor. My camera siap dengan speedlite lagi on the dining table. Jack is in the mood of cutting using scissors, so imagine the little little rubbish. The small computer table was stacked with books, it was almost as tall as the monitor. And it was not stacked according to width lak tu.

The left over coco pops that the kids ate during breakfast were still on the kitchen table. And so were the funnily chewed toasts (not rotidua). Thankfully I still had some pancakes. I made extra so I can eat after class. I served that to my friend who ate heartily. (That I am very happy! :D) And a small bowl of leftover spaghetti was also on the kitchen table. And oh my telekung sedang di sidai di pintu. Adoi malunya!

Now I remembered the real reason for not inviting anyone.

Hmm..this call for a reschedule of vacuuming day, mopping day, lipat baju day, gosok baju day, lap habuk day. Those should be done a day before my class day. he he

I know I know. I am such a failed goddess.

Rotidua

It's nice that the kids are grown up. We suddenly find ourselves with tiny helping hands. We can device things that they can do according to their age. All in the pretext of character building.

For example the other day, my lover who is sitting the closest to the toaster, wanted some toasts. Rather than getting up and doing it himself, or asking me his faithful wife to do it, he called haziq.

"Haziq. Toast roti dua."

Haziq, being the dutiful son immediately got up and said, "Then I must go back to Malaysia and toast ROTIDUA."

I think that boy is mixing with too many of my friends.

O2 Overdosed : Lata Berkoh

This was our last trip on the whole O2 overdosed series. We didn't initially plan to go to Lata Berkoh but decided to go anyway looking at the photos. And also the kids were pestering to have a swim in the river again. The rapid shooting dip was not enough. Which I agreed.

Plus Lata Berkoh is also a chance for us to go slightly deeper into Taman Negara. What we went earlier was just the outskirts of Taman negra.

So we made an impromptu decision and decided to go to Lata Berkoh. We checked out of the hotel. Stuff our bags in the car and get only essential gears.

Lata Berkoh is about 8 km from the "port" of Taman Negara.

I say port I don't really mean port like what port really mean. But the activities of taking travellers from the jetty which borders the mainland and Taman negara were so lively with people and boats taking people away, sending people in, crossing the river to and fro made me call it a port.

It took us about an hour of boat ride to get there. We went through quieter waters. We were shaded almost all the way by the canopies of big trees. It was a really nice boat ride. It was fresh and it felt like clean air filled my lungs. 20 minutes more I think Zachary would have fallen asleep. :p

You know going back to Malaysia is a hell ride for my respiratory system. I had continuous selsema and cough. But a few days in Taman Negara cleared it.

The river got shallower and sometimes I could feel the boat hitting some rocks underneath. The water was so clear. It was beautiful.




When we reached the place that we were going, we had to walk about 700m to Lata Berkoh. It was an easy walk. But I perspired all the way. Man it was humid. I just couldn't wait to get myself in the cool clear water. Inviting betul.

But when we finally got there, it doesn't look suitable for the kids. It was deep and the possibility of rushing water is there. Thus the possibility the water hitting us is there. But the mat salleh dengan anak kecik pun dive aje. It was so deep the water was almost black. Takutlah aku. Bukan kata budak kecik, aku pun takut nak terjun. It is more that 8 feet deep.



So we retracted back to a spot we saw earlier. The water was shallow and there were no drops with big rocks. A spot just nice for all of us to dip in.



Setelah tangan mulai kecut, we moved out and took a boat ride back. Halfway we stopped at the Kelah sanctuary.

If you like fishing, you'd want to go here. I am clueless about fishing but I saw a video on how they fished for Kelah, apparently the King of the River. Man they are hard to catch and even when you manage to catch them, they will fight. It can take hours to get them out of the river after being hooked. And sometimes, you'd lose too for they are quite strong to snap away.

At the river bank they allow you to throw fish food into the river to feed some fish that I don't know the name. I got myself in the water to get better picture. The kids after seeing me got in too. But I think it is quite gross to be swarmed by the big fish. Macam gelilah. And after that I smelt of fish the whole day long.



I would recommend this trip to anyone. It was nice to be in the tranquil of the rainforest.

Of course there are harder and tougher trips. There was even one called hardcore trip which consists lots of climbing I suppose. At my rate? Hmm takpalah. But I would go again for slightly harder trips when the kids are older. But that would mean I am older too eh? Uhuk uhuk

It was also a challenge taking photographs here. In the forest where little sunlight comes in, i had to control the aperture and speed. Ahh susahnya. Pakai flash glaring pulak. Slow sangat blur pulak. And sometimes due to the reflection of the water, the pictures are slightly overexposed and when I change the setting we got under the shades gambar jadi gelap.Penat betul. And taking the SLR memanglah memenatkan.

Anyway, after the trip we went straight back to KL. Stuff our smelly baju in the washing machine and later we had dinner with Elisa's clan at muhibbah and further lepak at her house until 12.

So amacam? Ada rasa mau pergi Taman Negara? Bessttt tau!

You want to see more photos. Click HERE.

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Surah Ah Nahl : 15-18
And He has set up on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you; and rivers and roads; that ye may guide yourselves; (15)

And marks and sign-posts; and by the stars (men) guide themselves. (16)

Is then He Who creates like one that creates not? Will ye not receive admonition?(17)

If ye would count up the favours of Allah, never would ye be able to number them: for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (18)

O2 Overdosed : Perkampungan orang Asli and Gua Telinga

Still aching the day after.

We went to kampung orang asli next. It's like a place that is a must to visit when you go to taman Negara. I went there before and I went there again.

The aborigines are the only people allowed to live and exhaust the produce from the forest of the Taman negara. Usually the one that allows you to visit them are the one most open to the "outside world". their main economic activity is from tourist industry and small crafts. They go to school and many can speak malay. Our tour guide who is an orang asli himself can speak english you. he is also the most highly sought after by tourist agents and any government functions concerning orang asli. There are other tribes who are not interested with this kind of life but prefer to live close to nature.



They live in small huts with no room partition. They usually cook outside in the open. The kids wear normal kid clothes. I suspect it should be the best gown they have. And the activity for tourists like me they typically showed they light fire (since they don't have a stove and those tik tok thing to light fire) and how they use their blowpipe.

Haziq had a tremendous time on the blowpipe. We all took turns to blow. Just as I begin to wonder how do they live without the basic amenity of electricity like water from pipe and electricity and grocery stores, I bumped into an unused VCD player on the ground. Hmmm..









And at the end of the day, some malay ladies come with bags of goodies of lauk pauk and stuff. And the orang asli bought food from them! Hmm so much of nyalakan api and sumpit binatang! He he he

But still go and visitlah. It's good to know.

Pictures of our visit to the perkampungan orang asli can be found HERE.

Then we went to Gua telinga not knowing what to expect. I know it is a very small cave which has bats. But like they say, you will only believe it when you see it.

The cave is really narrow. My camera lens kept bumping on to the walls. Nasib baik gua letak bag camera tu kat luar cave. Kalau tak tak cukup tanganlah nak pegang semua.

The slightly leceh part when we were in the cave is the cave is slippery and there are quite a lot of climbing both up and down. The gap is narrow and very little space to maneuver. Because Jack and perhaps the other two kids also are still not very agile in their movement, lover had to assist them many times. We also had to assist another family (japanese) who has three kids younger than mine. And they are wearing crocs pulak tu. Asiklah kerja tercabut.

Pity the guide, he was trying to assist Sya by directing her where to put her footing, he himself fell into the water. He he.

Man it was a clumsy trip for me. Nak balance camera, pegang torchlight, pegang batu and dinding walls to balance myself, help jack. Tak cukup tangan!

But the kids were again very well behaved and cooperate in whichever way possible. they are the main reasons we never tire to go places. they are always eager to learn and not too afraid of unfamiliar territory and getting themselves dirty. Made just the way I like it. Alhamdullilah.





Anyway, there were bats in the cave. They are the blood sucker one. Eeeewww, actually I felt goosebump looking at them black squishy beings.

bats are another great sign from Allah. the way they navigate themselves without sight to use except by the sound wave they produce. Subhanallah! But they look so squishy. Squishy things with red eyes.



If you are claustrophobic, this cave is not for you. If you are on a large side this cave is also not for you. If your child needs to be carried most of the time, the cave is not for you. If you don't see why caves can be interesting, then any cave is not for you.

But this Gua telinga is something else lah because it is underground. They actually go much deeper into the ground, but for safety reason, those do not become tourist area to go.

We came out safe and sound. My hands covered in moss or bats dung for all you know and sweat. It was another good day.

Pictures of our visit to Gua Telinga can be found HERE.

O2 overdosed : Rapid shooting and Night Safari

I went to rapid shooting that very afternoon. The name rapid shooting, especially when you are surrounded with river water, should suggests you that you will get wet. And I got wet indeed.

It is suppose to be like the white water rafting except there is no raft. and also the fast water taklah fast enough. Most of the time it is the boatman yg shake the boat about at the slightly rapid water.

But the kids LOVE it! I like it too. We threw water at each other including other people in the boat. And we threw water at other boats too.

So knowing that you will get wet, prepare yourself with the right baju. If pakai hijab, pakailah labuh sikit. Pakailah swimming suit kat dalam jadi tak melekat kat badan. Pakai sports bra supaya shape hilang. tee he he.

Then we had a dip. The kids lagilah suka.

One tip if you are taking kids for traveling adult style make sure a few of the activities include something fun FOR them.

I would recommend you to go here especially if you have kids. They will love it. err kalau dia tak takut airlah.



The very same night we went for NIGHT SAFARI trip. Pergh adventure gila bunyinya. Siaplah tok rimau, tenuk, gajah dapatlah ku tengok. Naik 4WD lak tu. Adventure adventure.

Time came, it was a 4WD pick up and all of us sat at the back of the open pick up. The kids were excited. Adventure in the jungle in the darkness of the night. We had torch in our hands so we can catch the animals and surprise them.

Then the car drove initially on the normal kampung road. he had a big spot light with him and was pointing to the trees at the road side, kat tepi rumah orang kat, kebun.

hah that is a little fox! he said. err where? where? I can only see the reflection of the eyes.

Hah! there can you see up on the tree? That is the Slow lorry!
Slow lorry?
Kongkang!

I only saw the eye's reflection.

After sometime he was still on the kampung road. And I said to lover, is this all the night safari? On this road ke?

Then the car finally made a turn! What a relief!

But into palm oil plantation. Hah! Ladang kelapa sawit aje? Hmm perhaps into the jungle after this.

hah! Owl!
Hmm ok

Suddenly the cold night turned wet. It rained! Quite heavily! The kids were put in the car to their protest. We were given rain coats, which smell and has no hood.

So there I was sitting with mat sallehs and with lover side by side at the back of the 4WD huddling with him.

Very soon, I can feel the water trickling on my back and into my jeans. My socks and shoes were all wet. Cis macamana nak trekking esok ni?

And we didn't see any animals!

I looked at lover and he looked at me. then he said, "What the hell are we doing?."
I laughed really hard.
He said" Macam ayam hutan kena hujan aje kita ni!"
I laughed even harder.
"Macam pelarian pun ada!"
HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

You should look at us. Merengkok kesejukan dan kebasahan at the back of the pick up. the kids are already asleep in the car. And we were going into the palm oil plantation seeing what we always see bila balik kampung.

The Mat Salleh probably enjoyed it. They asked us what is that sound? They were frogs croaking, which were quite loud but normal when it rains here. They thought they were cows. But you can excuse them of course.

from then on, each time we drive along some kebuns or kampung road we would go nght safari night safari. slow lorry slow lorry. hahahhaha

I wouldn't recommend this activity if you are malaysian. Unless you really really really have never seen palm oil plantation.

O2 Overdosed : Canopy Walk and Bukit Terisek

This is a cerita basi but I feel like writing it. Otherwise it will go unrecorded. :D

We had an overdose on oxygen the last summer we went home to Malaysia (i told you memang cerita basi). We went to Taman Negara!

Prior to going, I receive lots of tips from the Elisa Clan. So I took most of the tips. I stayed at the hotel they suggested. Which is W00dland Resort. Look out for special promotion. We didn't take their package instead we took the one outside. We sort of saved here and there. Hotel is reasonable but food a bit on the bleargh side. No let me correct that, a lot on the bleargh side. But then if you are on an adventure get going vacation, food should not be the biggest issue (to me lah).

But tell you what, we found this warung for lunch, slightly further from the resort, like kena patah balik, which sold some fish tak tau apa nama, masak tempoyak yang rasanya beyond this world. Seriously, I am not a fan of masak tempoyak, tapi mak oi sedapnya lauk makcik ni. lauk kicap pun sedap. It is at the tapak pasar malam (which is on Wednesday night). Sigh teringat-ingat ni.....sedapnyaaaaaa.

Anyway the night we arrived, we went to NIGHT WALK activity. We were supposed to stumble upon exotic animals and insect of the rainforest. But what do you expect when about 10 people stomped the noisy trek? All animals would have scrambled away. We found some insects though..giant millipede, a pair of mating praying mantis (their love making lasts about three weeks and will end with a tragic death of the male, killed by the bitch mantis), big timber ants, big spiders and ular daun. Basically we found only insects that can scramble a mere few mm away. We also smelt sandalwood (kayu gaharu).

But at the watchtower we saw some deers. My lover suspect those are herded deers. We also saw an owl drinking from the salt lake. The salt lake is good for the animals antibody (so they say).

Zachary knowing that we are looking for animals in the dark with the help of the torchlight was excited as well. Suddenly he shouted, "I found something!". And we all huddle (the mat salleh and all) against his small being, only to found small black ants trailing its path. Hahahhahahaha! Everyone loves him immediately.

I would recommend you to take this activity especially if you have kids my age. Bila lagi nak jalan malam-malam and drench yourself in sweat. Even though you'd say to yourself (if you are Malaysian, especially if you have stayed in kampung), apa bendalah ni, but your urban kids will love it.

The next day we went to the canopy walk.

You see, I have been camping at Taman Negara like 19 years ago when I was very active and very fit. If you are in mukabuku, you can see my tagged photo of the trips I went. You're also allowed to laugh your head off looking at my supposed to be cool look back then.

Anyway the canopy walk was not of existence then. So I was more than jakun to go. Not bad! I enjoyed it. But I was pespiring like crazy. It was really humid.

Here are some photos. Hmm but it is actually difficult to show the depth in photos tau. I hope these photos do justice to the height of the canopies of Taman negara.




I would recommend everyone to go here. Appreciate the canopies of rainforest.

The canopy walk package also includes trekking up the Bukit Terisek. I remembered 19 years ago, trip to Taman Negara was a laughable trip. kacang gila! Apa ni? Tak mencabar langsung. makan angin aje. Assuming the same, I went up trekking. After all bukit je kan?

But adoi, it was trekking almost all the way up. Sakit peha! sakit betis! Adoidoidoi!

But the kids were practically running up. Worse when we trekked down. they took the route with stairs, which was terrible in my opinion. My thigh muscle, which was near non-existence, were screaming. And Zachary ran all the way down!

But overall it was a good experience indeed! Balik terus terlepek.

Oh they showed us some stones that can be rubbed with bit of water and produce some colours. We coloured our faces and we all look macho going down the hill. Walaupun kaki sakit. Surely most of us dah tengok ni masa kecik-kecik kan?




I would recommend this trip if you are generally fit. Kalau orang pernah masuk wataniah, this is like berjalan-jalan kat belakang rumah aje. I wouldn't recommend if you small children which is clingy or if you have a baby. Kalau sanggup nak dukung all the way up and down, teruskanlah.

I read in one of their notice boards, if you manage to climb Bukit Terisek, you are well on your way to trek up Gunung Tahan. err I don't think so! Gunung Tahan has about seven hills to climb. The hills are tough with steep ridges. Tak apalah...

Man this is such a long post. I have a few more days of the trip to tell. Sambung next postlah.

Here are some photos of the Canopy Walk and Bukit Terisek Activity.

Our Ramadhan Activities

Do you remember my post about the books that I bought for the kids some time ago? You can read it again HERE. Anyway, two of the book collections as the following came in very handy during Ramadhan.



After discussing with them about Ramadhan and Laylatul Qadr, I was thinking how best should I conclude our lessons. How best to ensure that they understand. In fact I have been thinking for quite some time, how best to wrap our lessons up.

And Allah answered my questions, Subhanallah. I was directed from one link to another and stumbled upon LAPBOOK.

Apparently, lapbook is the hip thing among the homeschoolers.

Lapbook is a like a portfolio of work that can contain anything from worksheets, paper flaps, pockets to mini books. It is one tool that best summarises your work. nearly all thinkable topics can be made into a lapbook. It can be used from the little 4 year olds up to adults even. You can design it scrapbook like with lots of design and paper pasting. You can make drawings, graphs, stories, diagrams and whatever you want. I guess your only limit is your creativity.

Why is it call a lapbook? because it's in a form of a cardboard holder that is made into a book that fits on your lap. :D

If you want to read a better explanation on lapbook do read it here.

Soooooooooooooooooo, guess what we made?
Our very first LAPBOOOK. Yayyyy
And the title was OUR RAMADHAN BOOK.




The top picture is the cover page coloured by Sya and Jack. The bottom picture is what you see in the book. We pasted flaps containing information on Ramadhan, question and list of answers, time for saum, the Suratul Qadr, Quran verses and hadiths. basically everything about Ramadhan.

The kids tremendously enjoyed doing the pasting and the cutting. We used whatever we have in the house. Master Potty left us a lot of white carboards. I also cut up some paper bags, wrapping papers. I even pasted Jack's school artwork. I truly enjoyed making them getting a grasp of what they have learnt throughout Ramadhan. I hope it has been beneficial to them as it was for me.

There were a lot of planning involved before doing the lapbook, obviously. I certainly appreciate teachers who do activities with their students, for to create even one page requires a whole lot of research and planning. But of course I should not take the credit all for myself. I took most of the ideas from this site, RAISING MUSLIMS. May Allah bless the author for such wonderful work. Do click at the site, and explore other sites that she linked even further. I learned tremendous!

What I love most when the kids had to answer in their own words. One of the questions was

Good deeds that I can do

* prepare for iftar
* help ibu clean
* be helpful to people
* sweep the floor for ibu
* derma
* tolong ibu basuh pinggan
* be nice to people
* baca quran
* tarawikh prayers

See..a lot of things for me. Cikgulah katakan. tee he he

This lapbook shall be used again and again each Ramadhan time comes and I hope to add in stuff and make it even better. It is also an easy tool to make revision because nearly all information are there. When Jack can appreciate Ramadhan better, he would be using the book too. ALhamdullilah.

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Anyway, I typed out a more detail contents of the Ramadhan lapbook in another site. If you want you can read it there.

Ramadhan lapbook : This is the first page of the book. It opens up a question to the readers on "Why do we fast?"

Ramadhan Lapbbok 2 : This is the middle page of the book. Look at our laylatul Qadr activities

Ramadhan lapbook 3 : This is the wrap ups. It contains questions the kids need to answer in their own words like "The good deeds you can do during fasting" and "what do we learn from fasting?"

Ramadhan Lapbook- Post review : This entry is about my plans for the next Ramadhan lapbook (which will be done come next Ramadhan). It will include on how to improve the current lapbook and also planned activities.

I am planning to use this new site to write up the syllabus of the lessons that I do with the kids. I have been making syllabus for the kids for nearly a year now. What I need to do now is to share it with a bigger audience. This is in the hope to receive better suggestions and constructive criticisms to improve myself.

My syllabus, however, was a collection of syllabus that I found from either textbooks or the net. With my very limited knowledge on the subject I am teaching, I certainly need help from all of you.

I hope also by sharing, we all can gain more towards the betterment of everybody. Do visit my new site now and again at

Lolliesplace.wordpress.com

At the moment though, it only has topics on our current work : lapbook. tee he he. semangat je lebih.