Sibu and Kota Bharu

In my limited traveling experience, I have come out with a small but insignificant finding which I would like to report. In a travel journalistic attempt, nothing near to the travels of ibn Battutah, here is an acount of what I have noticed in the similarity between Sibu and Kota Bharu.

Both of these cities have got many women motorcycle riders.

While stopping at red at the traffic light, women riders can be seen side by side, in a noticeable proportion amongst the men. These women, from their attire, are of the working class people. In a way of not wanting to be speculative, such observations portrays:

1. Being the breadwinner of the family is not only obsoletely confined to men.
2. Women can be independant in carrying out their duties and responsibilities.

However, in a cross examination between women and men riders, there are a few things interesting about women riders.

1. Women riders wear their helmets properly by fastening their safety buckle. The safety harness are usually not left dangling. In a limited observation which may be plaqued with elements of bias, men riders, however, are careless about their own safety.

2. Women riders, although can be slow and hog the road, they are less prone to accelerate when the traffic light is amber, or even beat the red light. In other words, women riders are more patient and careful.

3. Women are not likely to light up a cigarette when halting at red. Men, in the other end tend to be multitaskers.

Statistically, this just a plain observation, at random, cross sectional  and may not be generalized to any population.

Wslm.

East and West

Salam.

Like some people would say, A is not B although it is just next to each other in the alphabetical order.

Likewise, Kelantan is not Terengganu, Perlis is not Kedah and Kuala Lumpur is not Selangor. Same goes to Sarawak IS NOT SABAH. And SABAH IS NOT SARAWAK.


Those are 2 very different states with distinct geographical boundaries. One coming from Kuching, Sibu or Miri should not be equated to "orang Sabah", while people coming from Kota Kinabalu, Beufort, Tawau or Menggatal should not be called "orang Sarawak".

Those ignorant sweeping equations are irritating to some though it may look trivial. Are we going to call Bruneians "orang Sarawak" or "orang Sabah"?

Some folks just never learn and choose to be ignorant. Geographically pathetic.

God bless Malaysia.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Salam..

Chinese New Year has always been special to me. I am glad that I can participate too in the joyous occasion with families and friends in Kuching. And I wish I could go back to those moment. Well, I wish I was there right now.

What I enjoyed most was the ang pow collection from my own grandmother, grandaunties, uncles and aunties. Although the amount was meagre compared to what youngsters get today, it still made a young boy happy.

As with the Hari Raya Puasa celebration, the week prior to the week long holiday for the Chinese New Year would be a lighter affair. Everybody, including the teachers are really not in the mood to teach anymore. But, as always, the light and easy affair would be compensated with pages and pages of homeworks, especially the mathematics and english and bahasa Malaysia composition that needs to be handed in after the holiday. Everybody would be talking about buying new pairs of shoes, new clothings, new pants, how much the ang pow increment that one expects to receive this year, and the list goes on and on.

There are a few things that I remember in my younger days about the Chinese New Year celebration. We would go to the shops at Gambier Street, Carpenter Street and the lanes behind the Tua Pek Kong to get the goodies for new year. Quail eggs, fungus, mushrooms from China, the halal dried beef from China (yes, there is such thing as halal at that time), Pak Choy, leeks, cabbages and of course the oranges, among others. All these ingredient are needed in preparation for the auspicious round table new year eve dinner. 

Since our family are muslims, and my Grandma and uncles and aunties are of the Christian dominations, thus, the cooking were mainly left to us. Even if Grandma had to cook, she would use the cooking utensils in our house. 

I just love the mixed vege with quail eggs, in which, I would "attack" the quail eggs first. Usually, knowing that, plus sist too likes the quail eggs, mom would put more inside.

Another was the stir fried prawns with cashew nuts. I do not favour the cashew nuts, so, most of the time, it will be left for others to eat.

The fish maw with chicken soup was the best. I just love to sink my teeth into the juicy and succulent texture of the swollen fish maw. The sensation of the squirt of the tasty soup from the fish maw in my mouth was orgasmic heavenly. LOL. I would be amazed with the size that the fish maw would grow into once it is left inside the soup for quite some time. It was later that I learned that, to get such expanded fish maw, it needs to be dried thoroughly. It answers my curiosity of the "dried fish" that is left in one end of the clothing lines for most of the year, until CNY came.

The day before and on new year's eve, we would be busy too. Mom and dad would take leave to clean the house and prepare the ingredients for the round table dinner. The pineapple jam tart would feature in every CNY. Thus, the whole kitchen would smell sweetly of baked tarts. I used to remember too, the crispy fish ball grandma used to make. She would debone the ikan tenggiri in the morning. By afternoon, she would be rolling balls to be fried. Irresistable.

After the round table dinner, my sist and me would be unpacking and separating the firecrackers and place it in a basin. When all are done, we would join the other neighbourhod children playing firecrackers, firing rockets, fireworks till smokes filled up our lungs. There was once, a rocket went astray and it went to the backyard of the neighbours opposite ours. Like cowards, we would rush back into our house before returning again to burn more fireworks, acting like nothing has happened. We would normally get our "ammunition" from Kenyalang Park.

The main event was to wait for the midnight when the air will be saturated with smokes from the burning of the firecrackers and airbombs.  The sky would be colourful and the surrounding deafening. The floor would be littered with red, remnants from the firecrackers burnt the night before.

In the morning, we would all gather. With other cousins, we would get the much sought after ang pows first. Luckily there is no traditional kneeling and bowing before the elders as what dad and his siblings had to endure in the olden days, before receiving their ang pows. Although being the fourth generation, the respect or the elders should not diminish, albeit doing it in different styles and faiths.

The trips to the houses of family members would commence on the second or third day. The angpow  collection activity is thus extended to fatten our piggy banks. More importantly, such moments were used to get to now the other members of the family, of whom we seldom meet. As one family member pointed out at a funeral of one of the grandaunties, we would only gather around during new year and during funerals and then, would only notice how aged and fatter we have grown over the years. A soft reminder on how little time we have in this world.

There is a house along Green Road, opposite Poh Kong Park, where every year, the owner never fails to change the animal statue according to the animal year of the new year. I am sure, he would be putting out the tiger this year.

That's for the sudden flooding of memories, after seeing the advertisement by Petronas.

Study

.

Yes, some of us do study in coffee houses. Probably, the coffee aroma does have some caffeine effect on our senses to make us feel awake and able to focus better on our reads. Could the delectable cheese cake be the fuel to satiate the constant hunger pangs that frequently accompany our glucose burning study works?  Or may be, the library is too full and there are not any seats left for studying.

This was taken in Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Marina Bay, Singapore.

Crippled

Salam.

Google to trial ultra high-speed broadband networks

2010/02/11

NEW YORK: Google announced plans Wednesday to build experimental ultra high-speed broadband networks that would deliver Internet speeds 100 times faster than those of today to up to half a million Americans.

 The Web search and advertising giant said the envisioned one gigabit per second speeds would allow to stream 3-D medical imaging over the Web or download a high-definition, full-length movie in less than five minutes.

“We in the US are still lagging behind the rest of the world,” he added, noting that some countries have 100 megabit per second home connections.

Median US broadband speeds are less than 5.0 megabits per second (Mbps) — capable of moving five million bits of data per second — according to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, far slower than those of Japan (63 Mbps) and South Korea (49 Mbps).

And here in Malaysia, we are still, patient, or may be thankful to what the 384kbps broadband has done for us. WiMax is still gaining its foot hole. There is none yet, at this time of posting, Wimax service in Sabah and Sarawak. There are plans though, and it should be in this year.

Whilst most of us are thankful for the wonders (or frustrations) broadband has brought to us, to add salt to the the wound, pockets of thievery still occurs once in a while, enough to disrupt the broadband service. This week, it was said that the cable line was stolen at the park in Machang. This crippled most of the phone service, let alone the online service. Everyone had to revert back to the manual mode again. Returns were hand delivered to the health office all the way from Temangan (30 min drive 70km/hr) and Labok ( 15 min drive 80km/hr). How much carbon foot print were left behind?

Wonder what satisfaction that the thief got from taking away the lines. Monetory gain? That is despicable. Not to mention the difficulties his/her act brought to the people here. That is sinful. However, it is easy to criticise, but it is interesting if we could just ask him why did he chose to steal for that meagre sum of money.

Sad that this kind of social ills still occurs here. Could it be that the abundance that we have here did not reach all? Enough is seen on "bersamamu TV3". Would the good samaritans be there to help if such sorrowful depiction did not go on air?

Could there be an underlying underreported number of kleptomania or impulsive need to steal objects occuring here? Or, could there be a proportion of thiefs in the Police's record who are kleptomaniacs, but are not at all diagnosed?

Certainly, the burning of places of worships are not due to pyromaniacs.

God bless Malaysia.

Sarawak scalp heavyweights

NST Online Felda and Sarawak scalp heavyweights

The last decade has seen turbulence for the state team. Hopefully this is the beginning of things to come, especially in making the comeback into the super league, and bringing the glory days back.

Encang Sarawak Encang!

World Cancer Day

Salam..

We have heard lives of many who are ravaged by the onslaught of cancer. Suddenly, everything comes to a halt when one is diagnosed with the big C. The world come crashing down, you are left in despair, life, it seems is attached to a fine string of hope. It was always sad to hear stories of cancer patients, what more to see them in life in every visit for their chemo cycle. Mixed reactions have always been observed in such situations. Some, very courageous, still maintain their positive outlook in life. God must have greater plans in this. There is a blessing in disguise. In each life, we shall end, and if this was the chosen way, then I accept, ridho.

Some families bond well. Children being as close to their parents as they have never been before. Shedding tears of forgiveness and remorseful for all the sin that have been done. Today may be the last day to kiss the hands of the elders. The hands that have brought us up, that have given the chance to explore the world. Thank you.

Some families are in the opposite end. When forgiveness should be sought after, some were too worried over who shall inherit the land, the cows, the house, the money in the bank! Yes, I have seen it happened.

Cancer can be prevented. At least 40% of cancers are potentially preventable. Simple practices that we can undertake and use as our good will advise to others are

• Stop tobacco use nnd avoid second hand smoke
• Limit alcohol consumption
• Avoid excessive sun exposure
• Maintain a healthy weight, through eating healthily and exercising regularly
• Protect against cancer causing infection 

So, support this move by simply extending these message to others. You don't have to go very far, immediate family members will do to start of with. Yes, in line with this year's theme for World Cancer day that falls on the 4th of February, headed by the UICC, Cancer Can Be Prevented Too!

Arabian Night

Salam...

One thing about Malaysia is the abundance and the variety of food. KL, to me would seem to be a melting pot of foods from around the world. There are also cross breeding of  cuisine from different continents , that it creates new fusion food. One would need to be open minded when tasting a new kind of food here .Unless, of course, you are looking for the food that you expect to eat and are used to everyday.

I had the chance, recently, to taste food originated form the middle east. It was Syrian. The restaurant is called Tidjane, and it is situated near by Tarbush, another Arab outlet. Both are situated in Bukit Bintang. Must I say that Tarbush in KL and Penang is different from the "AM Tarbush" in Kota Bharu. The name almost sounded similar. Some middle eastern colleagues here, menttioned that the AM Tarbush is basically serving Malaysianised Arab food. It didn't fully taste like the one found in their own country. Probably because of the differences in its spice, ingredient and cooking style. Of course, we have to respect their opinion. It is like a betrayal in the real and authentic taste of food that they are used to since young, when suddenly they have to stop as they need to come over here to further their studies. And since, they are forced to get adjusted to the Nasi Dagang, nasi kerabu, singge, murtabak, nasi ulam and all. I love them all!

The five foot way was littered with peddlers selling imitations, from Rolex watches to iPhone. There were a few foreign peddlers too. I was just wondering if they were students in local private universities. They looked pretty young.

An usher is stationed in front of the eatery, answering any queries that one may have on the foreigned name food, which was quite a tongue twister. I can remember bakalava at the moment, as a friend who graduated from Turkey introduced me the sweet confection before.

The ambience was nice, so to say. It was dimmed, warmth, and relaxing. A soft arabic tune played in the background, adding to the middle eastern atmosphere.

There was a special calling gadget on each table. Press a button, either "water", 'bill" or "call" and it would summon the in-charge to come over to attend to you. Pretty convenient for us, the customers as we do not have to be on the look out to catch a glimpse of the waiter to call out to him. 

Food choices were varied. We were spoiled for choices and in the end settled for spiced roasted chicken with shoe string, mutton with couscous (sorry, can't remember the name) and some sour salad as the appetizer. The latter was very sour to taste, that we added sugar to neutralise the sourness, to make it edible. Probably, the middle easterners were used to eating sour appetizers. That was the first time I tasted olive, which, in the medical literature often describe its cardiovascular protective goodness.

The choice of beverages here would be more than enough to cure those with sweet tooth. As sweetness has always been featured in Malaysian drinks, that it has been blamed to the uprising number of obesed adults recently, we decided for arabic tea. This I like, and it was different from the usual tea that I am used to everyday. It has a subtle taste of cinnamon and some spice added in it, without loosing the main tannin taste of tea itself. I have added cinnamon grains into my cup of nescafe, but the tea tasted lighter. It was like having After Eight after dinner, minus the mint.

Overall, the experience was great. These quiet moments are cherished very much. I would like to end by posting a song "Pizza in his pocket" by Zain Bikha with the lyrics displayed on the video. I am grateful for the abundance of nutritious food choices here. Alhamdullillah.