i can't recall when was the last time i wrote about malaysian political scene...it's just that i couldn't be bothered anymore...sooo many propagandas...living in selangor - ahh well, we have to barely cope with the mix up of state government as well as the federal government...mind you, -at my residence, we have 2 village chiefs (one PKR-appointed and another one is UMNO's)...
anyway, that's not what i want to discuss...actually, i was quite unsatisfied with the results of Altantuya's murder case trials...frankly, i think that there are just sooo many loopholes since the beginning of the trials...
forget about the trio - the 3 defendants as i do think that they couldn't possibly do it...Allah knows okay...yes, Shah Alam High Court should release them as they are not guilty...i couldn't agree more...
the question is, what will happen next?
simply close the case?!!
i really prayed hard that Altantuya will haunt her bomber...
where is justice in Malaysia? when people speculates, we should investigate...no one is entitle for any immunity...this has just prove that RM politics dictate our government...makes me really really sick...
i just don't know what to say laa...weiii...
Friday, October 31, 2008
...justice,please...
Thursday, October 30, 2008
...treasured moments...
...Radius International Angkor Star Hotel, Siem Reap...we had nearly 3000++ photos...i've filtered them out...yeay...
enjoy yaa...click here in case you've been missing on my siem reap vacation stories okay!
...me...
...Angkor National Museum...
...Madam Sachiko's famous Angkor Cookies...
...Souvenir & Handicraft small fort...
...Angkor Night Market...
...leftside structure at the central entrance wall of Angkor Wat...
...at the centre of Khneas bridge...
...Angkor Wat inner structure..
...grrghhh...
...muahahahahahahahaha...
...me and the cocoonerie wheel...
...Angkor Thom entrance...
...me at Cambodian Cultural Village...
...with Apsara dancer... (Apsara - welcoming dance performed at the palace for royal guests)
...spot me...spot me...
...XoXo -love princess-XoXo...
...me with famous Four-Side Faces Buddha tower replica...
...uuu~~~spooky...(inside the creepy Judgement Tunnel/Ghost House)
...Khmer Association in Europe model village...
...at Khmer Floating Village...
...me - inside one of the floating stilthouse...
...Kroeung Village chief...hmmphh...
...Sleeping Buddha...
...wake up, sleepyheads...
...gedik...hikhik...
...miniature Royal Angkor Palace...
...me at the Miniature Monuments Park...
...at the Millionaire House waiting for the Khmer Traditional Wedding Ceremony...
...with Yati's crush...amboii!
...cool Cambodian swinging flag at Siem Reap International Airport...
Monday, October 27, 2008
...summary of my happenings...
ohh my...too many things occupied my time nowadays...ergo, i'm kinda lazy to update and now everything that i would want to share seems to pile up...it comes to the point of having this short and sweet entry okay...
back from labuan, i was feeling very tired but still have to go to the office on Friday(17/10)...went there by bus early in the morning...and managed to reach the office nearly around 830am...alaa...boss was not around...hehehe...1st thing to do was to submit the travel claim request...yeay...not much though...might as well cover 1/3 of my total spending in labuan...okaylaa tu...
then, it was MYPR issue...got stuck since i don't even have my IPC...nobody was around to discuss with...hrmm...
i went for a long lunch date with Beebee and Syiera at the Taste of India (next to the Chakri Palace)...food was nice but service was very poor...the waiters were dumb in response to our needs...
Saturday (18/10)
went to Fuziani's house in Kg Tok Muda with mama and abah...later, we stopped by at mama's friend's house at Taman Perepat...
Sunday (19/10)
after quick breakfast with mama and abah, went back to Setapak early in the morning...i stopped by at Abema's place and was happily enjoying Kak Intan's Laksa Kelantan and Roti Jala...in the afternoon, went to Yulie's open house at Renjana Ampang Condominium...we had nice Nasi Lemak there...
Monday (20/10)
slipped out of the office to send Ryan for his 1000km service...yeay...
Tuesday (21/10)
went to KLSSPE Lucheon Talk at Impiana KLCC...arrived late and we (the latecomers) were addressed to have buffet lunch at the Tonka Bean Cafe downstairs instead of being served at the function room...yeay...i didn't pay much attention to the talk (the topic was not much of my interest or maybe i'm just too sleepy at that time)...anyway, was quite happy in meeting friends - Limau, Lee Jean and Saradha...
Wednesday (22/10)
Suzie came back from the offshore...went back early today and straight-away headed to Abema's house to make jellies for tomorrow's occasion...
Thursday (23/10)
our department had a raya gathering...i brought two kinds of jellies - Pandan Coconut Milk Jelly & Rose Milk Jelly...the food was okay - we had Soto, Lontong, Chicken Rendang, and Satay...i didn't stay long since i've planned to accompany Pipah to buy her new sandals...after surveying for half an hour, we settled on Crocs sandals...
Friday (24/10)
today, my boss came to the office and we had conversations on my development program a.k.a. MYPR...later, i went for usual long Friday lunch date with my girlfriends...Beebee came to fetch us to Jalan Yap Kwan Seng's Oldtown Kopitiam...had so much fun gossiping, sharing and caring...
went back early and pack my things before went to Abema's place...i took my nephews to Alpha Angle after Maghrib prayers to buy wedding gift for Kadak...
Saturday (25/10)
a very tiring day indeed...after having breakfast with Abema's family, i took off with Iman heading to Mimi's house in Seremban...quite lucky to overcame the jam...arrived at Mimi's nearly around 11am and were served with Spaghetti Bolognese and Chocolate Indulgence Cake...uuu...very nice...
we waited for the others before going to Kadak's reception in Jasin...Mimi had a ride in Ryan together with me and Iman...
arrived at Kadak's at around 2pm and were very pleased to see soooo many familiar faces...it was like a hugh reunion...really...wishing mine would be like this - where everyone makes the effort to turn up despite the long journey...
after about an hour, we had our leave and went to Iza's open house at Bemban...Iza's mum made Pengat Keledek, currypuffs (my favourite) and Mamak-Style Fried Mee...
our last stop was Etai's open house at Taman Merdeka, Ayer Keroh...since Etai's mum haven't finish with the cooking yet and we were already full actually, all of us had plenty of time to rest and ease down our stomachs..we took our turn to pray and eventually have a look at Etai's photo albums on her recent trip to Ireland (to send off her sister at RCSI)...we then had our Chicken Rice dinner at Etai's...
by the time i reached home at around 930pm, Iman was already sleeping exhaustily...poor boy...
Sunday (26/10)
Abema's family came today...so does several family members from Kelantan...i dutifully help my mama in preparing our signature Family Chicken Rice and Char Kuey Teow...
Monday (27/10)
today, i was supposed to study as i will be sitting for 3 Heriot Watt exam papers...no mood laa...
please do pray for my success, okay...
the schedule:
29/10 - production technology II
03/11 - petroleum economics
04/11 - reservoir simulation
i'm going to UTP tomorrow...waargghhhh...
to my miserable friends out there, try to force ourself to be happy...miracles do happen...these are all HIS works...
all of us have issues...need to live through them...day in day out...i try to remain positive all the time...
got this very inspiring encouragement advice from Mimi the last time: "alaa Aliza, kalu ko bawak kancil (or any other kereta kecil), kalu takde BF tu, tadelaa jugak...tapi, kalu ko bawak Ryan, tade BF pun puas hati..."
yess..i agree...the 'kolot' men's mentality are up to their 'kolot'ness laa...
meanwhile, Kak Linda has also gave me some good advice: "kalau kite kawen just bcoz nak tutup mulut orang buat ape...nnt kalu kite susah lps kawen pun org bcakap juge...kite x bole nk puaskan hati sume orang, baik laa puaskan hati sendiri..."
liza - syukur with what i have...insyaAllah, everything will turn out just right...
Saturday, October 18, 2008
...labuan escapade...
i went for a 3.5 days well test & production logging tools (plt) course organized by my department in labuan...it was my 1st time to labuan...yeay...i was sooo excited...
labuan got its name derived from "labuhan" - as in port or harbour...the above photo depicting labuan port was taken from my room's balcony...
the course participants and me took the 9am morning flight on sunday (12/10)...once arrived, we straightaway headed to our designated hotel - the Grand Dorsett Labuan...very nice and strategically located just opposite the Financial Park a.k.a. UK (Ujana Kewangan)...
we were free from any activities on the day of arrival...as it was still early and most of our rooms were still not ready for check-in, some of us went for lunch at UK...i went to the food court together with Etty and Indra...i had Sarawak Laksa and Cendol Cinta...
after lunch,we went surveying the prices of chocolates at two of the duty free shops available within UK - Monegain and Sky Park...
later that evening, i called Wong (my induction friend who works with PETRONAS Methanol Labuan) informing about my whereabout and we set to have a three-some dinner date together with Yati...Wong promised to pick us up at 8pm and Yati was to treat us...yeay...
i just relax the entire evening watching SMV channel...
that night, Wong brought Yati and me to the Island Tomyam Restaurant...we had a great dinner of white rice served with Spicy Fried Fresh Prawns, Ginger Fried Chicken and Sambal Grilled Fish...we had watermelon juices for our drinks...during dinner, we exchanged life stories...
the next day, our class started at 8am...the instructor was excellent...he just knew how to draw the attention...we had quizzes at every opportunity...ohh my...
when the class was over, my girlfriends and me went out to UK to shop for chocolates (1st shopping trip)...we had KFC for dinner...
second day of the course was a tiring half-day visit to Asean Supply Base...the first stop was to see the surface equipments at the Expro Warehouse...then, our group proceed to the Schlumberger's Warehouse to see the PLT as well as the interpretation software...we had a Pizza Hut lunch provided by them...after that, our final stop was the Halliburton's Warehouse to see the DST toolstrings, sampling and also perforating equipments...
back from the ASB visit, my girlfriends and me went out for our 2nd shopping trip...this time around, we went to the Tamu...there, we went textile hunting - bought Ratna Dewi's batik sarongs and Pua Kumbu's motives palaykat sarongs...we even bought the latest kurung cloth...we had our dinner at one of the mamak restaurant in town...
on the third day of class, we resume on the applications of PLT and well test where we did some exercises...the class ended quite late...however, my girlfriends and me still had the urge to go for our 3rd shopping trip...again we went to the Tamu...this time around, we shopped for pearls, crystal jewelleries, shells danglings, souvenirs for friends (keychains, fridge magnets) and Labuan T shirts...i even had my customized set of bracelet and ring where i personally chose the colour of the crystals...
that night, we had our seafood dinner at Anjung Ketam...the cooking was nice...we had two kinds of crab dishes - Black Pepper Crab and Chilli Crab...i like the former one better...and we also had 3 Taste Fish, Butter Prawns, Flour-Coated Fried Squids and Fried Vegetables...all served with white rice...we had lemon with plum juice called 'Kichai Peng' for drinks...simply marvellous...the full moon photo below was taken at Anjung Ketam...
finally, it was the last day of the course whereby each group presented a topic...i was a Group 1 member...other members include En Nadzir, Indra, Keith and Syida...my group presented about the surface equipments...
our class ended at around 12pm and we were supposed to check out at 1230pm respectively...after checking out, my girlfriends and me had our buffet lunch and later we decided to leave our belongings at the hotel while we were having our last shopping trip...for the last trip, we went to the wet market to hunt for the fresh seafood...i bought the largest possible prawns available...1kg only gave me 5 pieces...we also stopped at the dry market to shop for local produce...i bought 500gm of dried red shrimps, rm1 small kampong chillies, several packets of kuih cincin and amplang crackers...
we went to the airport at around 4pm and were pissed off to know the fact that our flight was delayed due to bad weather condition at Kota Kinabalu...my girlfriends and me went to have some sandwiches at Jesselton Cafe...while waiting, we watch a movie with Yulie's laptop...
our flight took off 1.2 hours later than the scheduled time and we arrived at KLIA nearly around 10pm...Jemi and Abah came to pick me up...
all in all, it was an enjoyable learning trip...the next time i happen to be in labuan, i'll definitely bought a lot more chocolates and fresh seafood to be brought home...
...sohabat9600's syawal potluck gathering...
me and Bearbear arrived at around 3pm...Bearbear brought spicy drummets while i brought my signature 'Stuffed Tofu'...to friends, click here for the special sauce recipe okay...
i had my first round of tasting the host's wantan, Ecah's herbs fried chicken and Thiong's custard pudding...not so long after that, Siti arrived with her Penang laksa...yeay...my favourite...
along came my best buddy, Ili with her moist chocolate mousse cake and healthy Vietnamese spring rolls...really amazed with the sauce made from peanut butter...
then, Cipah and Lizasue came with fried beehoon...
next on the list were Anem and hubby bringing in spirals pasta...
and lastly, Shera with her baked macaroni...
ermmm...yummy...marvellous...thank you darlings...had a great fun savouring all your air tangan...
...all of us except Shera(cameralady) at the potluck table...
...at Mizah's reception hall...(poor lighting - Mizah's sidewall's lamp's lightbulb has blowed up due to heavy rain that same evening)
...anggun pose in front of Mizah's crib...
thanks to Mizah and husband for making this happens...
sohabat9600, i truly cherished our moments together gossiping, teasing, poking, joking, laughing, eating, posing etc...and guess what...some things just don't change...our bond is still strong...i love and thank all of you for that...
more pictures and stories available at Mizah's entry and also at Bearbear's blog ...
Thursday, October 9, 2008
...som savakom siem reap...
warning: this entry will be quite lengthy...bear with me, ok!
Day 1early monday morning (6th Syawal), 4 of us (me, Beebee, Harni & Yati) departs from LCCT via AK846 (Airbus A320) - Air Asia at around 7.30am (Malaysian time)...our flight was estimated to reach the destination in about 2 hours time...
we arrived at Siem Reap International Airport at around 8.30am (Cambodian time)...there, we were greeted by Hae (representative from the hotel entrusted to pick us up)...
the journey from the airport to our hotel - Radius International Angkor Star Hotel took about 30 minutes...as the rooms will only be ready at 1pm, we decided to left our belongings at the reception counter and started our Siem Reap tour right there and then...yeay...
our 1st adventure - we headed off to the Tonle Sap Lake...Hae drove us to the brim of the lake and we agreed to purchase the US$10 package boat tour...it was more like a 'sampan' ride though...our 'sampan' captain introduced himself as 'Tiger'...
Tiger took us to see the life of the floating village folks...
we also dropped by the fish farm and crocodile farm located at the floating village...
right after the visit, we went for a drink at the local restaurant...me, Beebee and Harni were having young coconuts while Yati had orange juice...then, Hae brought us to a gemstone shop...at first, we decided to look around and just surveyed the price...hahaha...i ended up buying a flower-patterned rubies ring for mama and Beebee bought herself an emerald bracelet...on the way to our hotel, we dropped by at the famous Madam Sachiko Angkor Cookies factory outlet store...there, we've got the chance to taste the Angkor Cookies - flavoured butter cookies in the shape of Angkor Wat...there were about 6 different flavours...i like the Green Tea and Black Pepper flavoured cookies...however, we didn't buy any to be brought home considering the expensive price...
at nearly 1pm, we checked in our rooms...me and Beebee in 216 while Harni and Yati were placed in 314...me and Beebee performed our prayers and joined Harni and Yati at 314 to have room service for our lunch that day...i had Beef Loklak - local Cambodian style stir fried black pepper beef served with steamed white rice...it was simply marvellous...Beebee and Harni ordered the Cambodian Fried Rice...i found the taste was quite bland - not that spicy nor salty...and our dear Yati had the Tom Yam Kung with white rice...the taste of the soup was moderately fair - a little bit sweet, not too soury nor spicy...it didn't have the 'Thai kick' aura...after lunch, we settled to have our rest...
in the evening, since we were still quite unsure on kosher food available around the town, again we were having room service for dinner that day...this time, Yati had Spaghetti Bolognese...the taste was okay...Beebee ordered Fish and Chips...the fillets were fried until too crispy and the tartar sauce was just okay...me and Harni had white rice and we shared our dishes...i asked for Stir Fried Chicken with Ginger while Harni took on Spicy Sweet Sauce Chicken...the former dish was nice while the latter was not that good...the sauce was thick and heavy laden with tomato sauce making the taste a tad too sweet for my liking...
at night, we took the local trishaw - the 'Tuktuk' to the Night Market as well as the Noon-Night Market...this was our 1st shopping trip...i bought some fridge magnets and i also bought the local elephant designed cotton shirts for my niece and nephews...
we stopped at a local convenience store on our way back to the hotel and bought several snacks and mineral water...Day 2
our day started off at 8.30am where we had our buffet breakfast at the hotel restaurant - Star Cafe...then, we rode on the free shuttle bus pre-arranged for a guided tour of a funded Cambodian silk farm - Artisans d'Angkor...the silk farm was located at the Puok district - about 16km from the town...
at the silk farm, we were guided to the process of making fine Cambodian silk right from the start...we were shown the mulberry plants field where they planted many different breeds of mulberry plants coming from Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Korea and Japan...then, there was the nursery where the workers took care of the silk worms...
there was a section for baby worms breeding, a section for feeding the silk worms (stages by stages), a section for building silk cocoons and a moth mating section...the complete silk worms cycle is approximately 47 days... 
the silk cocoons were dried and then transferred to the workshops where they were sorted, boiled, wheeled into silk reels and dyed...dyes were created using mixtures of natural ingredients such as tree barks, colourful flowers and even nails (to produce shiny colours)...
when the fine silk reels were ready, the designer will transfer the chosen pattern on sticks which will be used by the artisans during the silk cloth weaving...
an expert artisan will took about 2 days to produce 1m of silk cloth...having known the hard facts, we are now aware on the subjectivity of the high price of silk cloth...huh...
the tour ended with a visit to the souvenir shop where i bought some cotton kramas - local Cambodian scarfs/shawls...we had asked the shuttle bus driver to drop us at the Cambodian Cultural Village instead of sending us back to the hotel...we took the brochure from the ticket counter and planned to come and visit on the day after...then, we called for a 'Tuktuk' and went to the Central Market...there i bought wooden tissue box for mama, T-shirts and souvenirs for friends and found the only shop selling Cambodia shot glasses...
after quite some time, we took a 'Tuktuk' and headed for Sour Khoun Villa Restaurant...the restaurant owner - Encik Razak Salim is a local Cambodian Muslim whom i met at our hotel lobby while waiting for my friends for breakfast...for lunch that day, we were having Fish Amok - river fish cooked in thick local spices gravy (like rendang), Chicken Tom Yam and Beef Stew with Kangkong...i found that the Amok was quite sweet - not to my liking...Tom Yam was bland and thin...and the stew was heavily oily...
Encik Razak later introduced us to his 'Tuktuk' driver friend - Yousuf Ahmad...Yousuf has been studied in Malacca and also had experienced working in Pattani...so, he can converse quite well in the Malay language...from that moment, Yousuf had unofficially became our tour guide...
Yousuf sent us back to the hotel and we had made arrangement with him to go to the Angkor Wat at 4.30pm...at around 4pm, we went window shopping at the nearby Duty Free Shop located to the left of our hotel and we also pay a visit to the Lucky Mall - new shopping complex next to our hotel (the right side)...
Yousuf came on time and brought us to the entrance of Angkor Wat...we stopped by at the Sokha Hotel Hot Air Balloon field before proceed to the temple...we managed to snap a few shots at the entrance...however, by the time we reach the fort, it was already quite dark and we couldn't have nice views on the carvings of the walls...Yousuf later promised to bring us back to selected sites of Angkor Wat areas (Ta Prohm, Angkor Thom, Bayon) early tomorrow morning...
we then planned to watch a charitable free concert at the Cambodian Children's Hospital Hall...since we reached the town quite early, Yousuf dropped us at Angkor Community Tourist Market - a shop selling souvenirs made by Cambodian disabled people...we went to the hall at 7.15pm but later was told that the show was re-programmed for a free movie...we declined the invitation and we asked Yousuf to bring us to any club featuring Apsara Dancing performance...Yousuf drove us to the Jasmine Angkor Restaurant...alas, there was major lighting problem - power failure...
for dinner that day, we then went to the only Malaysian restaurant in Cambodia - d'Wau Restaurant...the owner is a Malaysian with Cambodian parents...at d'Wau, we treated ourselves with local cuisines...we chose to have the Beef Lab (a kerabu style minced beef), the Prawn Tempura platter and Shnau Creuk (clear lemon chicken soup)...the best thing was having Sambal Belacan served with our rice...yeay...we also had watermelon juices for drinks...
after dinner, we went to experience the Khmer traditional foot and body massage at one of the many parlour...my masseuse's very young and her name was Jhaipad...i enjoyed most of it but when it came to the back massage, i had to refrain Jhaipad in doing so as my sternum was still not fully recovered yet...the massage lasted for about 1 hour...
we went back to the Night Market area for the second time...i didn't buy anything that night...woaaa...
before heading back to our hotel, Yousuf brought us to the local Cambodian fruit juice stall...Yousuf ordered a special blend of local fruit mixtures with milk...only Beebee and Yati managed to drink the cocktail...me allergic to the milk while Harni can't tolerate with durian...
Day 3
we had our buffet breakfast quite late as our arrangement with Yousuf was at 9.30am...we went to the selected sites of Angkor Wat and happily taking panoramic pictures...
we had our break at the local stall and we tasted the roasted maize served with coconut milk and also the Som Tam - a Thai young papaya delicacy...on the way back to the town, Yousuf had stopped to buy the local Cambodian lemang and each of us had a bite...we went inside the Cambodian Cultural Village...and we had our rounds on the Wax Museum, the Judgement Tunnel/Ghost House, Cham Village, Kroeung Village, Phnorng Village, Floating Village and Miniature Monument Park within 2 hours time before the scheduled shows...we watched 4 shows accordingly...
no 1 - charming scarf show at the Mini Theatre...no 2 - we witnessed the Khmer traditional wedding ceremony at the Millionaire House...no 3 - traditional Chinese dancing show at the Chinese Village and lastly no 4 - peacock dancing at the Kola Village...we went back to the hotel where we had our 'Maggi' lunch...hehehe...in the evening, Yousuf came to bring us for dinner again at Sour Khoun Villa Restaurant...this time, we were having the Cambodian speciality dishes - Snakehead Fish and Daging Lembu Naik Bukit (Cambodian steamboat-style dinner)...the best meal we had in Cambodia...
right after dinner, we went back again to the Night Market (for the last shopping trip)...i bought several silk scarfs for me and i also bought the Kampot Black Pepper for Abema...we went back to the hotel earlier tonight as we need to pack our things...we bade our farewell to Yousuf and wished him luck...
Day 4
today, we had our breakfast really early in the morning since we need to be at the airport by 7.30am...Hae came to sent us off to the airport...
we went back via AK847 (Airbus A320) - Air Asia at around 8.30am (Cambodian time) and reached LCCT at about 11.15am (Malaysian time)...abah and mama came to fetch me, Harni and Yati while Beebee decided to take the Skybus to KL Sentral station...
all in all, i can say that this was a memorable event for me...i love my friends...Siem Reap was interesting and unique in its own way...pictures can tell...yaa...
next stop: Bandung, Ho Chi Minh, Phnom Penh, Melbourne, Singapore, Hong Kong...huhuhu...Q3 2009 okay...lalalalala~~~
more siem reap pictures at Beebee's weblog and do have a go at Harni's Part I ,Harni's Part II ,Harni's Part III and Harni's Part IV stories...
