27th Day.

This is the 27th day of the fasting month. It is said that the last 10 days Ramadan brings out a lot of good for Muslims. It rains since early morning, that's good for it cools the air around and makes this fasting exercise bearable. Time really flies now that we are coming to almost the end of the fasting month. People are not keen on doing serious work (at least some of them). They have shopping in their minds. Tomorrow will be Deepavali and that will be the start of a week-long break for me. A normally quiet Hindu neighbour had a lot of visitors last night, they must be in joyous mood with family get-togethers and building up the atmosphere for the festivities.
Already quite a few things lined up for me to work on after my return on the 8th and if I keep thinking about them I won't enjoy this break. What is certain is that after today school is off too until the new year. That means less traffic on the road when I travel to and from work.That's a most welcome break.

Kay El

What is memorable about this city everytime I go there is the people that I met, the shoppping and the traffic jam, not necessarily in that order. On Friday last the journey from Mid Valley to Ulu Klang was the longest that I ever had to go through - slightly more than 2 hours. Too long by my standard. Not sure about the distance though, but can't be more than 50 km. At Mid Valley, the 1st level car park was already full and it was only 10.30am. Nice display they put up at the Centre Court - a large bird cage with a swing in it. The stage was prepared for a traditional musical group playing Hari Raya songs. Lots of shops having sales this festive season, the crowd was ok, not too many that you can't move comfortably but I think this place would be jam-packed on weekends.Met an old school friend, I tend to bump into someone familiar almost everytime I go to places like this in KL.

Shopping in Ipoh

Friday 21stOctober 2005.

Travelling to Ipoh today and to return to Alor Star tomorrow (Saturday). It takes about 3 hours to get to Ipoh from Alor Star. Surprisingly the journey is not tiring this fasting month though I keep well within the speed limit. Went to our usual shopping haunt that is Kinta City, and parking space is full! This is Friday and why is this place so full? Only much later when I bumped into an old friend that I know today is a public holiday in Perak because of Nuzul Quran. Managed to squeeze my car in a corner, not a designated parking bay, but looks big enough to park safely. Jusco is having a sale, lots of things cheaper than usual or seemed cheaper than usual, so bought a few things, clothes mostly. They are closing the store at 11pm tonight, normally they closed at 10pm. Two other shopping complexes have opened in recent years - Tesco, which is just next door and Giant, about 8 km away in Tambun. I wonder if the those places are equally crowded. After shopping went for teh tarik at the Silveritage complex in Gunung Rapat. There's a big projector TV screen in this particular stall to keep you occupied in case you're alone or not wanting to look at each other too long. Lots of people here - groups of males, groups of females, families, couples, all sorts of people - some having heavy late night meals, but most people are just having teh tarik, smoking and chat with friends. Many people came in straight from their Tarawikh, that's too bad for me, this travelling means I'm missing tarawikh.

22nd October 2005 (Saturday)

One of the houses near us was rented to a group of students from the polytechnic nearby. Don't know how many students lived there but I counted at least 4 motorcycles park at the front of the house. What attracted my attention was the state of cleanliness of the front of the house - totally unkempt and dirty. It's not wet, oily or slimy or anything like that, just rubbish strewn all over, used motorcycle tyres hung on the fence and other things haphazardly kept in the porch; totally untidy. That reflects the nature and the minds of the people living in the house. Those are not quality students.

Decided to go to Ipoh Parade at 1.00pm just to see if there are bargains here. Large crowds here too but not congested. One thing common with the other shopping complex we went to yesterday was the absence of festival decorations. Deepavali and Hari Raya are just around the corner and around this place there isn't much thing that welcomes you and reminds you of the festivals. We were not in the mood to buy anything either and so we left after about one and a half hours browsing around. Oh, we did buy a car-charger for my phone at RM13.20. Parking here costs RM1 so that's all the money we parted with in this place.

Went to see my parents in the kampung and it's good to see them ok, healthy and strong for their age - 80 yrs both of them. Father is going to haj next season, mother already went to Mecca 2 years ago.

At 4.20pm off we go towards the highway on the way home to Alor Star. Wanted to break fast in Butterworth and managed to find the Dataran Ikan Bakar (we saw the sign board beside the highway yesterday) and ordered our food, its already 6.35 pm. Asked for siakap bakar, sotong, sup tulang, kangkong and drinks. At 7.00pm, except for the kangkong, everything were delivered to our table. People who came later not so lucky because a few families turned up at the same time after us and the food couldn't be ready for them in time. Nevertheless, everyone seemed to be eating or drinking something at breaking time. The kangkong never came till the end & we cancelled it as we were finishing. This is our first time in this place and the large group of people here means this place in popular with locals. Most people have pre-ordered their food and quickly settled down with food already on the table. Food here tastes good, much better than the one we went to yesterday in Ipoh, we'll definitely come again.

Raya Shopping

As Raya approaches (and Deepavali too this time around) the traffic around Alor Star town centre becomes more congested than usual. No hope finding parking space during shopping times here now. Lots of temporary stalls along the pedestrian pavements and it creates an atmosphere of festivities around the town centre. Good for shoppers - bargains and choices; good for sellers - bountiful harvests; not good for normal pavement users - walkers and the handicapped alike - lose their right of way in some places. Win some, lose some. That's the way it has always been every year on these occassions, that's the way it is so I'll make the most of it and buy whatever and do my bit to contribute to the local economy, anyway all of these will be gone in a little more than 2 weeks.

Try Harder

Most great cities have a river running through it. Alor Star have the smallish monsoon drain look-alike Sg.Raja running through the city and two larger rivers running beside it, the Sg.Anak Bukit and Sg.Kedah. So far the city have not capitalise on the existence of these rivers in making the city a more desirable place to live, but some effort to beautify the river banks can be seen in several places which is commendable. Near the new museum beside the Sg.Anak Bukit, the river bank have been rebuilt and looks better. About 500m stretch of the river bank has been built up with pavement, handrail and a small jetty where one can get on and off boats, and booths for traders to sell whatever. But it looks like the citizens of this city have largely ignored this development. The booths are not taken up. The only public phone available is not functioning. No joggers, walkers use the pavement, perhaps this is too early in the morning (it's deserted at 7.45am Saturday) or more likely the built-up part of the river bank is too short. The place is unkempt with leaves and polystyrene food packaging on the pavement, it's the old story of building but not able to maintain. There are no rubbish floating on the water though, which is good considering it is the rainy season and it has been raining almost everyday, but the water itself is turbid dark yellowish-brownish. This place is about 10km from the sea so here all the debris and run-off from many kilometers upstream would be visible. It does not look like the water is going to be pristine clear anytime soon, or even in the next few years considering the development that are going on in the river catchments. I would give it maybe 20 years before water around here is clear. I hope it won't get worse before it gets better. Try harder Alor Star.

Kueh Ketayap

Looking at the variety of kueh available this Ramadan month reminds me of the kueh that I used to eat when I was young and living with my parents. In those days we never (none that I can recall) buy any kueh at all. All the kueh that we had were made by my mother. Even "chendol" she made her own, everything from scratch; the green thing, coconut milk, brown sugar syrup. I remember on many occasions helping scrape the coconut flesh with the "kukor". Now they do it with the electric machine. My favourite kueh made by mum was "kueh ketayap" (it still is my favourite kueh now). When mum is not around the house I sometimes make my own kueh. The usual kueh that I made was the "tepong talam" because it was the easiest to make and always cooks well. It is cooked by steam, you can never go wrong with a steamer. Mind you we don't have gas or electric cooker at the time, we used firewood. At that time I was maybe 9,10 years old and no stranger to the kitchen. Once I fried a bird that I shot down myself with a catapult. I always carry along a catapult (made myself) and a razor blade every time friends and I went into the bush. On that particular day I shot a nice little bird and so used the blade to slaughter it. After pulling out all the feathers and the insides, what remains is a bird the size of a small thumb. At home I then add some salt then deep-fried it for a few minutes and eat it all in one go - wow crunchy, sedap! Much later when I was older I mentioned this story to a British friend and he said I was a cannibal!

Ramadan

Up and down the country now hordes of people throng Ramadan food stalls buying food for breaking fast later at sun down. In Alor Star the most popular Ramadan food market is near the stadium. All kinds of food available here and with an empty stomach, you tend to buy more than you need. I have no particular food to look for, just browsing around first then buy whatever; when you are hungry anything would be good. I'm more thirsty than hungry, usually I'll settle for young coconut at RM2.00 each. There was talk of price increase of foods sold this year. Not sure I've seen anything like it. Kueh still sold at 20-30 sen each. Simple meals such as nasi ayam or nasi tomato still sells for between RM2.50 - RM3.00. Not 5-star quality, but adequate and will get you going and on any other times one cannot get so much choice in one place. At the other end, there probably are a lot of choices at any 5-star hotel's buffet spread for breaking fast. Up to RM99.00 per head I heard in a popular 5-star establishment in KL, why not, if you can afford it and would like to enjoy the fruits of your labour and not feeling guilty afterwards.

Earthquake magnitude 7.4 struck South Asia affecting Pakistan, India and Kashmir. People died, buildings collapsed, devastation really. Just previously we have hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and flooding affecting Central America and China. One after another disaster struck as the earth moves and groans as it naturally would and the consequences are there to see on TV in almost real time. Scary enough to see and the people affected who lost everything surely are suffering physically devastated mentally too and I'm not sure how those people are coping and to try to continue with their lives. Millions of people affected in South Asia I don't think the rescue effort, and aid that they're going to deliver are going to be enough to make most people comfortable. Time is a major factor - they have to endure many days without food, clean water and the cold.

Blogger featured on Al-Jazeera yesterday and quite lengthy discussion was on air regarding its use and impact on the news scene. Blogspace have mushroomed on the Internet and on political front especially, the opposition have taken advantage of this channel to criticise the government where the mainstream media refuse to do. People love to criticise don't they especially when it comes to their governments and services that they feel their entitled to get. Just don't get carried away and go overboard people, the law can get you even if you are anonymous in cyberspace.

Rain wash this city

It's been raining almost everyday now for the past 2 weeks. Here in Alor Star, whenever it rains the drains are filled very quickly, but thanks to improved drainage system installed now, there's hardly any flood. Part of the road in front of our office used to be under a foot of water whenever it rains heavily, now it never happens. From the bridge near the police station one can see water being pumped out to the river. This city is indeed very low lying that it need pumps to drain out rain water. Drains here in many places are filthy for they are being used as a sewer by these hawkers, food stalls and eating shops - untreated water from the kitchen goes directly to the drains. In the dry season, the drains gets really smelly and unsightly, so the rains that came down really cleans the city of its filth. This city is said to be 250 years old and where is the sewerage system one might ask. Well there is none, houses and buildings uses the septic tank to treat their wastes, and then the water is discharged into drains and ends up eventually in the river. Sg.Raja runs right through the heart of this city, poor this river is now suffering from all the dirt it is being asked to carry.

Singapore Visit

Went to Singapore on last September 28th and return on the 30th for official business mostly. The flight from KLIA was on time and uneventful on a Malaysian Airlines Airbus 330. A lot of space in the Terminal 2 of Changi airport. We stayed at Asia Hotel on Scotts Road, about 15 minutes from the shopping area of Orchard Road. Singapore is pleasing to the eyes I thought and not only because the girls here wear trendy clothes. The street infrastructure is really good, neat and tidy. The roads are wide, both vehicle lanes and pedestrian footpaths. Big shadowy trees are everywhere and small short bushes and flower trees decorate the ground. Looks like every corner is well looked after.

Newton Hawker Centre is just 5 minutes walk away from Asia Hotel, that's where we had our dinner and not worry too much about how much it's going to cost us. Same numbers shown on the menu for the normal hawker food as at home, just don't bother with the exchange rates. A lot of variety of food here and the sup tulang is excellent.

Orchard Road is world-famous shopping district, all the prestigious brands are available here. That's what you come here for, prestige and fashion, if you're bargain hunting then you might not find what you're looking for, or perhaps should come during the sale season.

The MRT is excellent and convenient but packed with people but not as packed as the one I experienced in Hong Kong. There is a $1 deposit on every ticket which is returned when the used ticket is put back into the ticketing machine at the end of a journey. The escalators at the stations move much faster than the ones they have at the shopping complexes.