"Kiki" the Cat Woman

"Cats!! no way jose...", I remember those words coming from the tongue of my wife. Nothing much I could do, so did my sons and daughter (who obviously love cats very much). So the craving to have a cat as pet was just left a dream, then (it was just a wish that will never come true..I thot). All that we (me and the kids) could do was just to play with Abah's cats - once a week whenever we went to his house for a weekly family gathering, that was all!!

Abah paid RM300 to a pet clinic to cross-breed his cat (a kampung cat, Aci) with a pure Persian (Boboy) belongs to the clinic. As a result, on 18th May last year 4 kittens were born, named Itam, Jumbo, Poi-Poi and Kiki. All of a sudden, as if it was an answer to our prayers, my wife told Abah that she wanted to have Kiki. We looked at each other's face, of course, pleasantly surprised!!!!!

Before she changed her mind, I immediately started the engine and we went to the pet shop to buy all feline necessities - among others; cage, litter box and sand, foods, water container etc etc .... fuh !!! it was close to about RM500 spent.

And now, Kiki has became a part of the family. It is loved by the family, especially my wife (she really does, she, at 1 time..drove to "mamak" shop to buy bawang with Kiki on the passenger seat). He he he .... that shows how "people change".

Langkawi Dec 2007

Woke up as early as 6 am on Saturday the 22nd, jumped into the car ("we have no time for shower, kids..") straight away headed to Kuala Perlis to catch our ferry. Convoyed with 3 rides, of course we made pit stops for breakfast at Rawang and lunch at Gurun. We eventually stepped into our ferry at 4 pm. Checked into a luxurious bungalow with 5 bedrooms at Mutiara Burau Bay, had a quick rest before dinner.

8 am, the next day, again we hopped into our shuttle heading to Kuah for a ferry to Pulau Payar. Pulau Payar is a marine park, no body there, no electricity, no fresh water (in case you don't know....). Spent almost a whole day there - snorkelled, lunch (packed lunch, just enough to top up my energy). The water is crystal clear, you can even see from on top of the jetty a 2-metre long Barracuda (local people call him "Mustapa") and a 50-kilo Garoupa (oh god, the head is as big as our heads...even bigger!) and millions of coral fishes (Nemo's family).

Next day 9 am, we headed to Kilim Geopark. It is a beautiful mangrove - we took a 15-foot boat ride to explore this area. I enjoyed the monkeys to eagle feeding, stone hills, cave and "sangkar ikan" exploration etc..... Had seafood lunch at Restoran Mat Sabun .... umphhhhhhhh... lovely. Reminded me of my "Streamer" friends, Capt, Jag and Dee - as they are seafood lovers. They catched live fish, prawn, squid, crab from the "sangkar" and cooked for us ... imagine that !!!!!!!! My tummy nearly exploded....

2.30 pm, we proceeded to "Galleri Perdana", just to buy time for a "Mahsuri" theater at "Makam Mahsuri" at 4 pm.

At nite, after having a "kampung" gourmet, we "lepak" at the beach near to the resort - had a chat over some "kuaci" (as usual....)

Nothing much on the final day. Checked out at 9 am, spent time shopping at Kuah while waiting for the ferry to Kuala Perlis at 4 pm. Click HERE for more pics.

The Virgin Forest of Royal Belum

A peaceful place - no phone, no news, no traffic, no nothing except blissful peace...aaahhh....

Wake up early morning with a dose of fresh air, to birds singing, to breathtaking green scenery, freezing clear water with fishes swarming round your legs. Late nite chat at the campsite over some 'kuaci" and a mug of hot "tongkat ali"... crickets humming in the background - fancy that...

With hectic life in the city, traffic jam, politics, pollutions, 'rempit' and all the nonsense that really shorten our life, Royal Belum is really a way for me to flush out my stress...

That's the reason why I never miss it at least twice a year. Spend a nite or two or even more for a mind theraphy is really worth the while.

Ya Allah..., your creations are unbelievable.

Pot Luck Aidil Fitri 2007 - UK Clan

Besides yearly gathering and outing, this is also a yearly event for us. It was held towards the end of Syawal, voluntary hosted by Dr Sam at his house at TTDI.

All of us studied together in UK (of course in different courses), some of them were our seniors, some of them from the same college, some of them we knew from "some of them".

It started in 1994 - when I was first set my "used to be slim ass" in Liverpool. In 1996, most of us returned home. Since then, a lot of things have changed.... from "keding" to "buntal", from single to double, from double to triple so on and so forth....

But what still remain, and what we have in common is the value of friendship. Until now we still get around for some "serious" discussions (we do discuss problems of the world..... no shit) over "teh tarik" a least once a month.

The foods were great!!!. To Dr Sam and Suraya (as a host), Keman & Sha, Mazli & Wati, Tom & Fai, Bujal (Haris) & Mai, Zam & Kak Ros - millions of thanks.

Our friendship will last forever!! InsyaAllah.