Travel Bug

I was in Kedah last week with the in-laws for a jalan-jalan session. There were 9 adults and 2 children and a 3-car convoy. Our itinerary was going to Pekan Rabu and Padang Besar. My! How Padang Besar shopping area have grown, from 1 complex to 3 complexes. I haven't been to Padang Besar since 2002, so wasn't expecting much and thought that the trip would be a dud. Was pleasently surprised with all the shops around, so we had a fun time exploring. What you can find there? Ala...your basic barangan Siam like periuk, kuali, bantal kekabu Siam, baju, some imitation products to keep the boys happy i.e. football jersey and hiking bags.

We stayed in budget hotel called Hotel Seri Gemilang in Alor Setar which cost only RM60 per night (no breakfast!) and was within walking distance of Pekan Rabu...also had fun in Pekan Rabu buying kuah rojak Mak Bee, kuih loyang madu (serious sedap!) and dodol.

I'm bitten by the travel bug again! Have whipped open 2009 calendar with a few destination ideas to go, courtesy of Kam and Jam. So, if you wanna be inspired on where to go for your next trip, can have a look at my list:

Prospective Destinations:
1. Padang Besar

– can go by bus, train or drive, overnight in Bukit Kayu Hitam (my aunty’s house), on way to include a trip to Zoo Taiping's nite safari.
2. Taman Negara

– Xscape package by Tourism Malaysia ranging from RM100++ (free n easy) or RM400++ with guided tour
3. Singapore

– for clearance sale in Jan 2009, just take a bus to Causeway, or, you can drive into Singapore, which is FOC

- good bargains for perfumes in Mustafa, which is like Mydin here, but they open 24 hours

- another is Lucky mall for other stuff - fashion, perfume, etc.
4. Hatyai / Koh Sa Mui

– can take train to Hatyai and take a packaged tour or just free and easy.
5. Pulau Sibu, Johor

– take a bus to Johor then follow packeged tour about RM250++, 1 snorkeling and meals (2 days 1 nite). More info visist: http://www.malaysiaresorts.com.my/
6. Paka/Cherating

- slow drive about 3 hours from KL to Kuantan, bypassing Cherating and end up in Paka, staying in Rumbia Resort - banglo styled resort less than RM200 per night. BBQ by the pool.....nice! Also, they have the new KLCC mall in Paka, which was styled like Suria KLCC but scaled down to one storyed building.

RALAT: The mall is actually called Mesra Mall (by Petronas) situated in Kertih which is about 15 km away from Rumbia Resort in Paka.

Prospective Dates:
Januari 1-4 (New Year – have to take leave on 2 Jan)
Jan 24- 27 (Chinese New Year!!) – not advisable to go round…expect heavy traffic.
Jan 31 – 2 Feb (Federal terrritory day for KLians only)
Feb 7 – 9 (Thaipusam)
March 7 – 9 (Maulidur Rasul)
May 1 – 3 (Labor Day)
August 29 – 31 (Merdeka)
Dec 18 – 20 (Maal Hijrah)
Dec 25 – 27 (Xmas)

P/s: Going to Singapore on this Xmas day to fetch my bro-in-law landing in Changi. Then we go jalan2 around Singapore and shop in Mustafa. Hope to find good bargains there.

Incidents with the Korean

Mid of last week I had to attend a final draft presentation of a nearly completed study focusing on the Korean and Japanese tourist and their spending pattern whilst in Malaysia. It says that the Koreans in terms of demographic are mainly the young ones and they are highly educated i.e. degree and masters level. Of course this study have not been completed, therefore some of the findings disclosed here must not be taken as conclusive. Koreans are also considered late bloomers in the travel industry as they have just begun to travel abroad due to their "hermit" nature and their obvious intention not to mingle with other non-Koreans.

The study reminded me of an incident which happened not too long age with a bunch of Korean kids. Me and Kolat was in Suria KLCC after a lovely lunch with my parents in the KL Convention Centre's cafe. We wanted to watch Eagle Eye, starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan. So we bought the tickets and went in the cinema. Our seats was the first and second from the aisle and besides us were a bunch of Korean kids, about 6-7 pax. They were in their late teens, I guess. I was coughing quite badly and frequently at the time. So as soon as we settled in the seats, I began to cough. The Korean girl next to me immediately turned her head to the other side and started rambling something in Korean, and quite suddenly she stood up and get this: knocked her knees to mine and started to wave her palms to me in a shooing motion, as if she was shooing a fly or some other animal. I felt so insulted but I didn't say anything. All the while she was rambling and obviously complaining to her friends in the loud and rude-sounding Korean language. I let her pass, and she was sitting on a seat just in front of me. I was complaining to Kolat about the rude Korean girl and was saying things that I'd like to say to her and cursing her at the same time.

Not so long after, a few boys came in the cinema at the place where the Korean girl was sitting. Obviously it was their seats. The Korean girl got annoyed, again, because she didn't want any Malay to sit next to her. Then the girl got up and started doing the shooing motion and move to a seat which was to the very front row which was so close to the screen that she'd practically had tilt her head back to watch the movie. I had hoped that she'd had a terrible neckache by the end of the movie. I said to Kolat: "Padan muka dia, crazy girl, so rude. Ntah dia paham atau tidak tengok English movie". She was really rude and loud in the cinema. In my prejudiced state of mind at that time, I think she didn't really understand the movie. She just wanted to be there to look cool and just see Shia LaBeouf. Now I have the impression that Koreans are really rude people, that their sweet facade is just that, a facade that hides their true personality. If you've ever seen some Korean movies or drama, they'd always have an arch-typical character of macho ma or some gangster-girl or some damsel in distress. Phooey...all fake Koreans...I couldn't watch another Korean movie or drama, still haven't. I will keep it that way, as long as I'm able to.

By the way, Eagle Eye was a good movie and the two of us really enjoyed it. On our way out, we saw the girl again, smiling sweetly to her friends as if nothing happned. And all I could think about was that "This crazy girl is so fake...". I know I'm so passive-aggressive. I'd only have bad thoughts about other people and their actions, but I don't actually do anything about it. The hell with it...as long as the Koreans are in Malaysia, and they spend their money here, at least our country can benefit from that. Right? Spoken like a true tourism person...

Selamat Hari Raya AidilAdha

Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha to all my friends out there....especially to La Signora and Hynhar who are not in Malaysia. Jangan jealous, we are having nasi himpit with rendang ayam, opor ayam, satay Kajang Haji Samuri and ketupat nyum nyum.......

Trivia from Hynhar

Second time receiving trivia from Hynhar, but couldn't do the first one coz need to post a picture which I don't have at the moment. So I will do this trivia first...here goes:

What were you doing 5 years ago?
Struggling with my job, feeling I was underpaid as a government officer, sometimes feeling I was doing some menial job which were not important....

What were the 5 things on your list to do today?
* Masak nasi impit Nona for tomorrow's Aidil Adha

* Clean house

* Watch DVD - today's pick: Stardust and Baby Mama

* Masak custard jagung untuk esok...tp macam malas pulak huhu

* Update my blog hehe

What are the snacks that you enjoy?
Kerepek, nuggets, chocs...basically anything fatty and yummy keh keh
La Signora: I remembered Zaihan and Oreo for her thighs!!

What are 5 things that you do if you were bilionaire?
^ Travel the world with my whole family - termasuk la pi Haji/Umrah

^ Give to charity, orphanage, welfare, or sthg for a good cause
^ Buy land in a prime area and build a conceptual home with top security

^ Buy a damn nice sports car hehe

^ Savings in stocks and bonds

What 5 jobs you've had?
- Clerk at Cosway dealer
- Clerk at Berita Book Centre

- English tutor (about 2 months only)

- Part time Taekwondo trainer

- Working with government

Who are 5 person you want to tag?

1. Noreez Azlan

2. La Signora

3. Silent Scribbler

4. Ziahlicious

5. Tinie
Sorry people, you've been tagged!!

Landslide tragedy in Bukit Antarabangsa

Let us pray for the victims of the landslide that occurred yesterday morning (6th December) in Bukit Antarabangsa, claiming the lives of 4 people, wrecking 14 bungalows and forcing thousands of people from nearby condo to abandon their homes as they were ordered to evacuate the area for fear of safety.

So sad that this tragedy happened just days before the Hari Raya Qurban, and also eerie that it happened near the collapsed condo of Highland Tower which occurred on 11th December 1993 due to landslide and poor construction pilings.

More on the landslide tragedy:
The Star
Berita Harian

Global Brand Forum Malaysia 2008

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the Global Brand Forum in the Palace of the Golden Horses which was held from 4-5 December 2008. The turnout for the Forum was about 800++pax and POGH was overrun with the who's who in the industry, be it the local celebrity such as Afdlin Shauki, Hans Isaac, Kavita Kaur, or entreprenuers such as Dato' Farah Khan and Datuk K (BTW,where's Siti?), various universiti lecturers, PR & advertising people and even some royalties. The registration for the forum was RM4,800 per pax but of course our organization was "charitable" enough to sponsor, hence the free passes for me and other colleagues.

The Forum was about branding, and my colleague told me that the first day speakers were very good turnout with Jim Stengel (formerly from Procter & Gamble), Datuk Tony Fernandes (Air Asia) and Stewart Butterfield (man who invented Flickr). However, the second day session proved to be quite dissappointing as everbody was expecting Ivanka Trump to show up to give some perspective on branding from Trump POV, but she did not turn up physically, but rather thru hologram projection and video recording. But the host extraordinaire, Riz Khan from Al-Jazeera managed the session quite well, despite some hiccups on the video part. Ivanka's presentation lasted only about 15 minutes, and there were some Q&A from Riz Khan, obviously planned qs which Ivanka obediently answered. The audience did not have the opportunity to ask Ivanka questions. To make up for Ivanka's absence, the organizers invited Malika Sherawat who was in town for the Kuala Lumpur International Film Festival to fill in the gap.

Sadly, she was not in the audience at that time and Riz Khan decided to open the floor for qs on the GBF itself. BIG mistake.....audiences "tembak" the organizer with questions why Ivanka was not present and why they were not notified beforehand. Obviously, Ivanka was a crowd puller for the Forum and those who have paid almost RM5,000 for the registration felt that they were cheated. If the organizers have notified early, they could've avoided the outcry. because organizer did mentioned that they'd known about it quite at the last minute , only about 3 days before. Another attendee also commented that the audience who attended thie forum was from high ranking and please do not insult their intelligence by hiding Ivanka's absence till the last minute and Malika not being there on time. Again, Riz Khan managed to smooth things out by saying that organizers took note of the comments and be sure that they will inform Ivanka as well. To be fair, the organizers did quite well with the other speakers who were present, including Oliver Stone, that famous film director who directed films such as JFK, Any Given Sunday and latest "W", based on George W. Bush.

A good thing that Oliver Stone did came, if not, it would've been another outcry from the audience. Oliver Stone did mentioned some things on branding, in which he remarked that Branding is comfort, people would go for brands that they recognize and bring them comfort. But that was all about branding that he spoke about. He did say in his opening line that he didn't know why he was being invited as he didn't know about brands,, his films are not brands like Lucaas Film, or Spielberg or even HBO, but not him, he is the anti-brand. He was suppose to talk about Hollywood: Branding thru films but mostly, he rambled about the Vietnam war - which he received a purple heart for and which he made 3 movies about it - Platoon, Born on the 4th of July and Heaven & Earth. He was labeled as a political provocateur, and he mainly talked about American politics during the session. I think he would be more suitable if someone invited him to talk about American politics, rather than branding. However, he did striked to me as a humble person, highly intelligent and very cynical, and somewhat funny. It was kind of awesome to see the famous director himself and I think this is the point why people were willing to pay high money or travelled overseas to attend a conference, where they can hear first hand info from the experts. Hologram projection and video doesn't do justice as opposed to physical appearance on stage.

Malika Sherawat is a Bollywood actress, for those of you who are not familiar with her. IMO, she is not as famous as Aishwarya Rai and to me, her only memorable role was that of a peasant girl dancing with Shah Rukh Khan on top of the train to the tune of "Chaiyya Chaiyya" in the movie Dil Se. However, she is known for being rebellious and outspoken and unconventional in her choice of role i.e kissing scene in films which defy the Indian society morality. She also starred alongside Jackie Chan in a Hong Kong movie and now some other projects in Hollywood. under director Jennifer Lynch. She is well known as a sex symbol and some say that she is a bimbo, but she did spoke quite well and her English was not tainted so much with Indian accent. There was an attendee who commented that Malika was not in the same league with Oliver Stone (sitting together in a panel discussion with Farah Khan and Samar Khan - an Indian film maker) and there were some words uttered to insult her. But Riz Khan was firm and said that it was not polite to insult the guests onstage and Malika retorted back and said of course she is not in the same league with Oliver Stone, she's only 4 years in the film industry and still new and learning, whereas Stone is a prolific director and have won awards for his films.

The last session was with Martin Lindstrom, a well known branding expert. However, I did saw his presentation when I attended ICCA Congress in Pattaya in 2007, so I skip it to go back earlier about 4.30pm before the weekend jam starts:) Based on the sessions that I attended, it did not feel like a branding forum, more like Oprah's interview session. I'd understand if some people felt that it was not worth their money, but maybe others see it as a good opportunity to gain info and network with the high profile attendees. Either way, Media Prima has done a good job, and I think it was apt for Datuk Farid to take up the challenge to host the GBF as TV3 has quite a good branding.

Jalan oh Jalan

Memang lumrah pemandu Malaysia ni,
Kalau jalan dah jem, mesti dia nak menyempit jugak,
Seboleh-boleh tidak dia nak menyelit, asalkan bolos beb!
Tapi bila jalan tu dah lega, pemandu yang sama bawak slow pulak,
Macam jalan ni aku yang punya lagaknya,
Come on lah!!
Ini peak hours, kalau saudara atau saudari nak cruising,
Sila tunggu non-peak hours atau gunakan slowlane,
Tapi rasanya definisi fastlane atau slowlane pun dah tiada makna,
Sama saja bagi pemandu yang tak tahu undang-undang jalanraya,
Mana tidaknya jalan-jalan di Kuala Lumpur senantiasa jem,
Penggunanya bodoh-bodoh belaka,
Maaf, ini bukan serangan peribadi terhadap sesiapa,
Lebih kepada luahan perasaan empunya blog,
Kalau boleh dijadikan iktibar, lebih baik...
Nanti jalan-jalan di Kuala Lumpur tak jem lagi..
In my dreams lah kan.....

Sajak tak berima ni diilhamkan masa saya tengah memandu pagi tadi....lebih berfaedah daripada saya sumpah seranah pemandu-pemandu yang tak senonoh....tapi menyumpah jugak sebenarnya hahaha

Di tag oleh Cik Ash

Dah lama tak update blog.....tetiba kena tag pulak....tapi kali ni dalam Bahasa Melayu, first time kena tag gini. Jadi....terimalah!!

Bekas kekasih saya...ada ker...? huargh huargh huargh
Saya sedang mendengar... "Take a Bow" by Madonna
Mungkin saya patut...dinaikkan pangkat secepat mungkin supaya saya boleh sambung belajar Masters dan beli rumah.....
Saya suka belajar... memasak makanan yang menarik dan ringkas.....
Sahabat baik saya...ialah Ms Fantaghiro yang selalu menemanii saya di kala sedih mahupun gumbira.
Saya tak faham......bahasa Nepal yang dituturkan oleh pekerja Stesen Kopitiam masa saya tengah tunggu order laksa kari tadi....
Saya kehilangan...tenaga dan semangat, tak sama seperti masa muda remaja saya....
Ramai yang berkata...aku busy, tapi sebenarnya tidak...sama lah dengan saya hehe
Makna nama saya....complicated, saya pun dah lupa...
Cinta itu....satu misteri dan ...hanya diri anda sahaja yang mengetahuinya dan boleh mendefinisikannya
Disuatu tempat bernama...Istanbul, yang saya harapkan untuk percutian saya seterusnya....kalau mampu!!
Saya akan cuba...untuk memasak lauk pauk Melayu dengan jayanya...setakat ni lauk yg boleh dibanggakan adalah paprik ayam...tu pun masakan Siam hehehe
Makna "selamanya".... secara lisannya: sehingga ke ahir hayat atau hari kiamat, yang mana terdahulu!
Handphone saya...baterinya selalu kong, menyebabkan ramai orang tak dapat kontek saya. Ramai yang nak tolong buangkan ke laut hehehe
Saya paling meluat....driver di jalanraya yang bodoh & lembap!
Bila saya bangun dari tidur....saya tutup alarm dan tidur balik!
Party adalah...aktiviti yang memenatkan...saya lebih suka private gathering dengan kawan2 rapat dan keluarga.
Haiwan yang paling cute adalah...semua jenis kucing, tak kira di mana saya berada...
Peringkat umur yang paling menyeronokkan adalah...semasa awal 20an dimana dalam minda hanya nak berseronok sahaja....rasanya sampai sekarang lagi kot? yang penting mesti happy.....
Hari ini saya rasa sangat tension...sebab pagi tadi pulun buat report kajian tapi pening tengok spss...
Malam ini saya akan cuba...untuk tengok DVD yang ada....
Saya betul2 inginkan...badan yang kurus dan sihat!
Bila tengok muka kat cermin pagi tadi...belek jerawat yang dah jadi ketuat tepi bibir.....tp Klinik Salma hanya bagi krim vitamin E, kedekut betul!
Shopping kompleks...hanya untuk membeli barangan yang perlu dan bukan untuk berpeleseran dengan pasangan anda...
Makanan segera biasanya...bubur segera Maggi, sup sayur kering, nugget...apa-apa yang ada dalam peti ais lah....
Ayat2 terakhir pada orang... kepada Ghalib: "Only you know how to do it!" sbb dia dah terbalikkan skrin PC Aza De Kaza....mengamuk sakan minah tu...
Nak panjangkan tag ini? Noreez Azlan, Salfaryna, Tinie, LuvSal, Farah Hasliana (kalau tak mabuk baby), Hazriq (kalau rajin, aku tau hang malas buat trivia hehe) dan sesiapa yang suka buat trivia....anda dipersilakan.....

Me, Myself and I

Yesterday, my editor/friend/colleague, Fezin said he has almost reach the target of 200 pages of the travelogue that will contain various writings of people who have the privilege to travel with their work, including yours truly who have written on her experience in Venice. He also forwarded my article to other prospect writers as an example. I was elated that my article was good enough to be made an example to others and the sweetest thing is, it may be published! Still over the moon today on the news......the travelogue would be a unique Malaysian experience overseas, with unique point of views and perception......

When I was in Bandung early this month, I had the chance to go to a bookstore there and found two excellent travelogue books in Bahasa Indonesia titled: The Naked Traveler: Catatan seorang Backpacker Wanita Indonesia Keliling Dunia and Traveler's Tale: Belok Kanan: Barcelona! It could be an excellent reference for us to publish the Malaysian version of the travelogue. I'm not sure if there exists other travelogue in the market but Fezin says that the market for Bahasa Melayu travelogue is wider than English travelogue published in Malaysia. Maybe because the readers would prefer more sophisticated publications by world renowned travel writers. Maybe it's true, I don't know.....if I have the time, will check out for existing Malaysian travelogue in bookstores....

While I've Been Away......

Again, I was lagging behind in my posting. But more;

1. Forecast
The Outgoing Boss (which is going to be posted in Bangkok) asked me to do a forecast on tourist arrivals for year 2009. Eventhough I'm not handling statistics now but I was tasked to do it with the help of another assistant officer. We had to do linear regression in order to achive the projection. Kinda like your basic "upwards" chart but have to do some calculation to get the value of y=a+bx. In my desperation, I asked La Signora to forward me Ash's mobile number to help me check on the calculation. She checked it and basically said I'm on the right track. Anyway, we referred to another colleague who had done this years ago and he gave us a shortcut way to do it in Excel, and soon both of us were doing all kinds of regression which included Polynominal, Exponential and Linear. That was basically what I was busy with last week. Today, I found out from my colleague that the Big Boss won't use it as they have come up with another forecast. Sheesh! Time wasted...but at least I can say that I've learned something new, and I know that it's going to be a valuable tool in the future.

2. Meeting in Kuching
Barely two weeks after attending the workshop in Bandung, my Immediate Boss (IB) asked me to attend a meeting on Cruise in Kuching to replace her as I am a senior officer. I told her that I know nothing about cruise, being in Research only for two days and what if they ask me all kinds of questions about policy. Our organisation only focuses on promotion and marketing, policies are under the Ministry. So I pleaded with my IB to bring the project officer of cruise study along to be my understudy, as he has more technical expertise on this. So the two of us went to Kuching on Thursday, 20 Nov and returned on Saturday, 22 Nov. More stories on my adventures/misadventures in Kuching on my next blog posting.

3. Status
On my placement in the office. Again, when I was away from the office, important letters regarding the future of yours truly arrived. This kinda pisses me off as it had been the third time it happened. The first time was when I was in Kuching in August 2008, I received letter informing that I was to transfer to Research Division effective that September. Second time it occured, I was in Bandung and the letter infomed that I was being transferred to Domestic Division effective 10 November 2008, barely two months in Research. I vehemently refused to go to Domestic as 1) feels that I've more to learn about Research and wanna be good at it; 2) Domestic is hot seat division, why trouble myself after what I've been thru for the past 6 years. In this regard, the division had decided to retain me. This is when the third important letter for me arrived, dated 20 November 2008 while I was in Kuching from 20-22 November. It stated that I would be retained for the period of one year starting from the letter's date. What does the events are trying to tell me, whether it is pure coincidence or God's will? Who knows.....at least now I know where I stand and can be firm about it.

4. Connection
Hubby recently bought a black casing yet transparent desktop with BenQ's 19-inch flatscreen monitor, instead of fixing his busted laptop. It cost him a cool RM1750.00, the monitor being RM450.00 only! Now he's in front of it every night playing cyber soccer. Well, at least we won't be fighting for the TV, plus I urged him to subscribe to Astro's movie channels by next month.....I'm in my heaven....lalalalala

Will update more on my trip to Kuching....

Ms Fantaghiro's outing

View of Chiang Mai taken from Wikipedia

Missing the company of my best friend...Ms Fantaghiro's out on company outing to Chiang Mai since Thursday (13 Nov) till Sunday (16 Nov). She was supposed to go to Bali for the company trip, but what with the recent bomb threat for Bali, the boss decided to cancel the Bali trip barely 24 hours before departure. Ms Fantaghiro was devastated coz she was looking forward for this trip for months. Then the boss decided on Chiang Mai. She wasn't keen to go and had a long face on when she came to my house on Wednesday nite to borrow my suitcase and camera. I told her to cheer up, any trip would surely be a relief from office, just keep an open mind and enjoy it.....

Texted her yesterday but there was no reply...maybe sms didn't get thru international roaming like my time in Bandung recently. Anyway, am waiting for her to get back to get details on her trip and pics too....

Meanwhile, Air Asia's been having promotion on the no fuel surcharge....my usual travel mate's been pondering on the destination of our next trip.......still pondering....

Happy Birthday Mum!

14 November 2008 was my mum's 51st birthday. I called her yesterday to tell her that I'm going to Sarawak on 21 November and inviting her to come along with me on the trip. Then she casually said " Today's my 51st birthday!"....then I said "no wonder the date today seemed so familiar!"....I am so bad with birthdays!!! Anyway, a Happy Birthday to the special lady we call all sorts of name....starting from:

Mak, mum, meemok (kolat's specialty), the General (my dad's specialty) and of course her pseudonym: Kerabu Jantung.

Many happy returns of the day and May Allah bless you always!

Bandung: Site Visits in Botanical Garden & Tea Plantation

I was in Bandung from 3-9 November for an agrotourism workshop, which had about 20 participants from various countries such as Lao, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Philippines, India, Taiwan and of course the host, Indonesia. After a gruelling 3 days workshop filled with presentations, we were ready to say goodbye to Bandung and go to agrotourism site visit namely to the Archipelago Botanical Garden in Cipanas and the Gunung Mas tea plantation in Bogor. It took about two hours from Bandung to reach Cipanas using the hilly road, and witness one motorcycle accident on the way, which thank God was not a fatal one. We arrived first at the botanical garden and had about two hours to walk around. There were different types of garden such as the French garden and American garden that was cultivated as part of the landscape.

Gunung Mas Tea Plantation

Tea plantation in Gunung Mas in Bogor

Tea pickers

The participants in factory garb - minah kilang huahua

Watching the workers airing the tea leaves

The group in front of the tea factory

The Archipelago Botanical Garden in Cipanas

a peacock with seasonal flowers in bloom for its tail

French garden

View from top of entrance

Agnes from Philippines and Hong from Vietnam with me in front of the garden's entrance

Mediterranean Garden: Love the cactus!

"Clown" flower from Vietnam

Didn't have time to go thru the maze, so just took a picture of it from the observation deck

Hydrangea in bloom

My mum loves this flower, she said it's called bunga Siti Zubaidah

The participants on our last nite out in Bandung, only managed to go to one factory outlet.
But we did went to the Bandung Electronic Mall (BEM), which is just like Low Yat plaza, really. We came back by angkutan kota or van sapu which cost about Rp5000 or RM1.75 per pax. By taxi, it could've easily cost about Rp50,000 for night fare (without meter).

Indonesia: Culture, Signboards and Sights,

In Indonesia, the time difference with Peninsular Malaysia was about one hour. However, their sunrise is very early, which is at 5am and sunset is at 6pm. Therefore, 8am here feels like 10am already. It rained almost every afternoon when we were in Bandung. Couldn't do much shopping at the factory outlets.

Some of the things which really left an impression on me was how similar but yet different the culture and language of both countries. Its funny that Malaysia and Indonesia have the same language, but have different meanings, for example: bed in Indonesia is called ranjang but in Malaysia it's called katil. Katil in Indonesia means the bed in which you carry the dead (spooky!).

Also, some words which have the exact meaning in three different countries: goat is called "kambing" in Malaysia, Indonesia and also the Phillipines. "Ulam" means dish that accompanies rice in Tagalog. "Bahsa" means language to Sri Lankans and Malaysia, but it means "read" in Tagalog. Filipinos calls chicken "manug", whereas Sarawakian calls chicken "manuk". So many Tagalog words that have the same meaning in Malay: kanan, putih, lelaki. This trip has been a wonderful experience of language and culture with all the different countries, which I've never really experienced in previous job assignments. To experience it to such an extent that I feel we are bonding beautifully as a group of participants to the workshop.

Some of the pics i took on sights around Bandung and some signboards which amuses me.

Roadstall was up and running by 7.30am in Bandung

Bandung road in the morning

Traffic in the morning in Bandung

Cigarette ad

Road stall in Bogor selling avocados, sweet yams and the white things hanging are called singkong or cassava - tastes like tapioca. Reminds me of that song really..."aku suka keju, kau suka singkong..."

Bogor area

School kids by the roadside - view from bus

A lot of roadstalls like this selling food like baso, satay padang.

I've tried mie ayam pedas and mie baso...but haven't tried mie babat - or perut

Very catchy advertisement

and tada! My favourite advertisement - because of the bold colours and bold words :)

Words are everything in Indonesia. Next time you're there, open your eyes to the advertisements. It can be hillarious but at the same time very catchy and truthful. No beating round the bush that you won't get the meaning. Nothing lost in translation.

Updates for November

Hi cyber friends...I'm back!!! Some updates on what happened to me during the hiatus:

1. Attending a course in Indonesia
Was attending an agrotourism course in Bandung and Jakarta from 3 - 9 November 2008. I have been to both Jakarta and Bandung, but it's nice to revisit the places again. One important thing is that, I need to go SHOPPING! but couldn't do it in Bandung coz the workshop ended at 5.30pm and it rained in the evening, so what a bummer...but managed to do some shopping in Tanah Abang complex in Jakarta. Besides that, Ministry of Agriculture Indonesia was kind enough to bring us for a field trip to the Archipelago Botanical Garden in Cipanas and also Gunung Mas tea plantation in Bogor. More updates on the trip on my next blog posting.

2. Job movement, again!!!
While I was in Bandung, received a phone call from my colleague informing that I'd received a letter dated 5 November to move to yet another division. This time around to Domestic Promotion Division. I was stunned to hear the news because I was just transferred to Research Division only two months ago. Have not reported duty to the new division, which was suppose to be on 10 November coz I was on leave. But my current Division is going to appeal to not move me to that Division, because I'd just started to adapt to the work. Anyway, see how it goes on the decision from the top management. For now I was told that senior officers (like myself) are needed to be on the operation side to do marketing and promotion. My personal opinion: It's a hassle to move again, but I think it's better to stay than move to Domestic. That is a hot seat division as Minister is now focusing on domestic promotion.

3. Laptop still busted
It's been that way for the past two weeks and I hadn't the liberty to update as often as I would like it to be. Note to self: Will continue to nag on hubby to fix it hehe

4. My kitties
I had given away all my kitties. Have some pictures on their last day with me and drop off but couldnt upload yet. I've given two kitties to Gojie, my office mate and another one, Kemek, to my sis in law. Kemek is now known as Meme, and she actually responds to that name. I was informed that all three kitties are behaving well and still go to their litter box. What a relief! Seems that I'd train them well. I had to get rid of the kitties as my house is too small and for health reasons. My mum is convinced that it's the cats' furs that are making me cough.

So that's it for now...will update again soon.