Lost My hp to a pick pocketeeer !

I was at Kuala Lumpur last Saturday sending my twin sons off to University. On Sunday afternoon we left them. Since it was still early to catch the night flight, my wife and I decided to bring our daughter to visit the new mega mall at Jalan Bukit Bintang, The pavillion. On our return, we took the Monorail from Bukit Bintang to KL Sentral to catch the bus back to KLIA. The place was so crowded and rushy. When the train arrived, we have to rush to get into the train just like the others, the KLians's way. I noticed a middle age Javanese (I think..) who was standing so close behind my wife's back. Since it was so packed, we have to stand. This same guy was still standing behind my wife so close as if something wasn't so right. At the next stop, some passengers got down. My wife moves further in. This guy followed so closed. that I suspected something must be wrong, as the spot he was standing right at that time was so perfect as he can lean against the wall, but instead he moved further in closer.
I knew he must be either a sex maniac or a possible trying to pick pocket. So, I just squeezed in between them. He looked up and stare at me for a moment. I just ignore him and we moved on. For about 1o to 15 minutes later, a guy who was at my right hand side standing closed to me as well suddenly speak to this guy in some kind of Javanese language. I know they are Indonesians. I have been ignoring this guy all the while. Then immediately I realise that this 2 guys must be friends. Immediately the first thing that came into my mind is to quickly check on my pocket.. my wallet, my digital compact camera which I hanged onto my belt, and then for my hand phone which I also hanged with a casing onto my belt. Oh, my.. I was too late. It's stolen. I have been pick pocketed ! My hp disappeared ! It's gone ! I spoke softly to my wife and immediately looked onto this second guy. He was looking at me and immediately he responded so fast to show his hand gesture to us that it wasn't him. I am surprised how could he possibly understand what I was talking in Chinese language. Then he keep pushing something deep into his pocket.
I get my wife's phone to call my hp. It rings but there is no ringing sound to be heard off. He must be quick to shift it into silent mode. Then he just pretend to look else where and ignore us.
For the last 15 minutes before we reached our finale destination was the moment I was in great anger and frustration as I can only watch him but do nothing. I wanted to check him out, but what happens if the phone already not with him. What if I just ignore and rub my hand onto his pocket to feel weather the phone is still available or not. Will he react back if the phone is still there ? Even if it's not ? I was also worry if his other friend help him up if the matters get worst. I was thinking about the consequences. I doubt other passengers will help me as every one seems to be in such a hurry. I don't see anyone who looks helpful and moreover, there are more women and young men. I wanted to tell everyone aloud that I have been pick pocketed but will they bother ? And there is no police around. At the end, all I can do is just to stand watching the criminal right at the very front of me and do thing. I knew it was him. But I can't do anything. He was a free man... !!!!!! and I hate KL !

La-Korn to S.I.C.

Today is my last visit to S.I.C., as my twin sons will be furthering their studies at Uniten. The school has left many fond memories for me, not just because of my sons studying there during the last five years, it's also my former school. I did my form four until upper sixth at this same school.
Nothing much has changed since I was last there about 28 years ago, except some additional buildings. If I can still recall...., school time was the best time of my life. No worry about monies or anything. Just study and play.
Just for the record, I am a true Ismailian as I went through SRK Sultan Ismail 1, S.M. Sultan Ismail and Finally Sultan Ismail College. I am glad that my sons get to go to the same school as I did. I am proud to be an Ismailian ! and good bye S.I.C...

My Nokia 3110

I am really amaze with what this Nokia 3110 can do. Not only it has the normal features as other hand phones, it can also play Mp3 and take good photos. On top of that it also use memory card. And the price is really reasonable. The first time I bought it was about a year ago at about RM500.00 plus, and recently about 2 months ago I bought additional two units for my kids, and the price has dropped to about RM370.00 plus.

Not A Food Review..

No, this is not a food review blog. But I have seen lots of nice photos taken on food from other blog site. So, I try taking some photos using my Nokia 3110 again. Just took this while I was having my dinner just now from a simple shop at Cabang Empat. If you are heading Pengkalan kubur from Kota Bharu, at the Cabang Empat Tok Meh Ngoh junction, the shop is about 500 metres away on the right. This shop has no name. They serve local Thai style dishes. The cook is a Siamese Muslim lady. So, I presume the food must be Halal as well. No alcohol served. Above is Belud Pakprit.
This one over here is Chicken Sweet and Sour. This one doesn't taste that good. Quite a common dish as the taste is nothing special.
This is Deep Fried Siakap Lakprit. This is our all time favourite. Slightly hot and spicy. This is the dish that makes us coming back to the same shop every time. Surprisingly, the shop is always empty.
And this one is Fried Lala. I don't really like lala, but the taste is really not bad.
Finally, fired Baby Kailan with Salted Fish. OK, does that makes your mouth watery ? The food caters for 4 persons, with a bottle of mineral water. And we add in 2 extra bowl of rice. Want to know the cost ? Total RM51.00

Air Bandung !!! Really from Bandung ???

I was at the Hayaki Cafe yesterday evening, the one at Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra.. somewhere further up a bit from Billion Supermarket or Renaissance Hotel. No idea at all what to order. Just wondering what people does there, usually quite packed. Lots of youngsters and those people who brought along their laptop and do their things there. So, I just pick an item from the menu.. Iced Bandung. Wow, they really looks nice.. the colour and the container. And on top of that is the photo I took using my Nokia 3110. I have already posted this same picture at my photo blog at Sri Kebakat, but just because I love looking at it, I posted again over here.
p/s: It seems like it is a trend nowadays that most of the Kopitiams and Cafes are using this sort of container to serve drinks. Some even serve in larger size. I think I better start keeping all the chocolates and jam containers which we use to throw away. Just wonder what the guest will say if they come to our house and we use jam containers to serve them drinks.. ?????
Do you also notice that it is also a trend over here (Kelantan) or maybe elsewhere too that cafes, kopitiams or even food stalls are extending their sitting area to the walkway and even to the open air area which is quite dusty at times next to the road side ?? I think the one which started this in KB is the Mamat and Spicy Restaurant at along Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra. And lots and lots of people are preferring it that way too..

Risk Of $$$ Trust..

Hear anything about the share prices from the Media recently ? I don't know whether I have being ignorant or just the usual me who don't bother much about the Share Market, except being just an investor. Yes, just like any other ordinary guy, I do keep some of my hard earning money for some unexpected day if any, or emergency cases or for future use. Not much really, but it's still my hard earned money. Well, I used to think about it... where to invest or saved ? Saving account, fixed deposit, share market or Unit trust ?
Saving account gives you very low interest but risk free.
Fixed deposit provide only slightly higher interest but cannot withdraw during a certain period of time and minimum amount required. Still risk free.
Share Market requires some amount of monies, depending on number of units you buy. For the normal one which sells below par, the risk is higher. Probably you have to do the market watch every time, and do some speculation. For those counters which sell above par, such as those classify under blue chips is a no no for me. The risk is too high, moreover I am not a high risk taker. Can't stand that heart attack feeling when prices drops. But the returns CAN be very tempting. As what they say, high risk high returns.
So I opted for Unit Trust. Anyway, the bank is promoting it, the government is promoting it and the agents are promoting it. Why not ? I still need to save it somewhere anyway. Well, unit trust gives you better returns as compared to Saving Accounts and Fixed Deposit. Risk is lesser than buying Shares from the stock exchange. Anyway, I was getting good yield out of it during the past, so no complaint about it until...

Only until recently, or specifically 2 days ago...., a friend phoned me up early in the morning, Emm... around 9.15 am while I was still in the office energetically for the day's work. She told me.. "hei, you know what ? ...thee unit price of the fund you invested drops drastically !!! I wondering what she was talking about for a short while... until I realize it was all about the Unit Trust we both invested with in Public Mutual. She said.. "hei, just a few weeks ago I already checked, if I sell it off, I could easily get RM5,900.00. My investment was RM5,000.00. But now I can sell it off and only get RM5,100.00 !!! Is it still going to drop ??? ." I though for a moment, and my mind was already blurr and shocked.. as I don't really know what price is it now. Moreover Public Mutual has got about 45 different funds (under agents), not including those selling under Public Bank itself. My mind was thinking about other funds which I have invested as well. Are the prices still around there or they have dropped to the very minimum ? How down are down and still how far down?.. I was so worry and confused as well. How much I really lost ????

I went straight to Public Mutual's office at Jalan Che Su. There are a few people waiting to be attended, and out of the 3 counters, only one is open. I managed to see the score board for the latest prices available, and it was quite disappointing to see as almost all of the counters showing the prices in red, meaning the price is dropping as compared to the earlier closing. The most annoyed part is that it takes so long and slow for them to attend to each clients. The lady who came earlier than me was trying to sell off her trust I guess. She must be damm worry about the current price situation. Well, she does looks like a very worried person anyway. And my gawd !! the counter girl who has already worked there a few years now should have show some friendly face and give some smile to those in Que. Instead, she just sit there and telling people to take turns and not to overtake. I was thinking, what the hack !.. as you don't have to tell anymore because you have already provide numbering tickets. And who is jumping Que anyway ??? All you need to do is to donate some assurance smile... :) . I wasn't happy at all too. Makes me nervous.
Anyway, after an hour waiting I changed my mood. Maybe my senses came. I change my perception. Maybe the price drop indicates it is a good time for reinvestment. What goes down, will goes up, right ? For the time being, just let me relax my mind about this investment thing and to collect some saving again for reinvestment. After all, no loose no gain.. hehe..

Happy Father's Day !!

Hei, I hope it's still not to late to wish Happy father's Day to all of you out there. I am glad to be a father. How about you ? Happy Father's Day !

Who's Having The Last Laught ?

I am glad I am still having my 660cc Kancil car. Previously I was complaining about my 1800cc Totota Uncer fuel consumption which is so high. So I got myself a second car to drive around town and for my marketing work. Some friends was commenting that it doesn't suit me at all driving a kancil especially as a Manager. In fact, I wanted a scooter. Well, I am a type of person who doesn't care much about status. Just want to stay free from debts and be happy with life. With the recent fuel hikes, I am glad I can still be laughing around since my car financing is almost over.

Here is the history of Malaysian Petrol price:

before the 90's - RM 0.89

1990 - RM 1.10 (increased RM 0.21) + 23.596%
01/10/2000 - RM 1.20 (increased RM 0.10) + 9.091%
20/10/2001 - RM 1.30 (increased RM 0.10) + 8.333%
01/05/2002 - RM 1.32 (increased RM 0.02) + 1.538%
31/10/2002 - RM 1.33 (increased RM 0.01) + 0.758%
01/03/2003 - RM 1.35 (increased RM 0.02) + 1.504%
01/05/2004 - RM 1.37 (increased RM 0.02) + 1.481%
01/10/2004 - RM 1.42 (increased RM 0.05) + 3.650%
05/05/2005 - RM 1.52 (increased RM 0.10) + 7.042%
31/07/2005 - RM 1.62 (increased RM 0.10) + 6.579%
28/02/2006 - RM 1.92 (increased RM 0.30) + 18.519%
05/06/2008 - RM 2.70 (increased RM 0.78) + 40.625%

National Park / Taman Negara

I took off from work recently from 4Th to 8Th June. Just want to take some days off and to get away from work and at the same time to be with the kids, the get together outing with the family. Initially it was supposed to be to Krabi, Thailand or Pulau Perhentian. But since the weather is so unpredictable now a days over here... sometime very hot and sunny and sometime thunder storm and raining, so we decided to change plan and take a drive to the National Park at Kuala Tahan, Jerantut, Pahang. It was quite a distance.., about 8 hours drive. We started at 5.30am and arrive Kuala Tahan at around 3pm. The only stop we had was at Kuala Lipis town for lunch and taking a look around the small Lipis town. Nothing much over there, except that the town has changed quite a lot compared to my last visit there about 10 years ago ?.. I think so..
This is my first time driving to Kuala Tahan as my previous trip was by boat from Kuala Tembeling. The journey from Kuala Tembeling to Kuala Tahan itself (by road) is about 120km. The last 60km before reaching Kuala Tahan is nothing except palm oil plantation. (see above photo).

This is our chalet, Tembeling River View Guest House. The name itself already tells that the chalet is facing the Tembeling River. We rented the whole dorm which consists of 4 beds. Each bed cost us RM10.00 per night, which I consider quite cheap as compared to there chalets around.

This is how our room looks like. Blankets and mosquito net provided.

Part of the roof is "atap" and the front portion of the top wall is uncovered. Good thing is that you get to feel and breath those clean air from the jungle. Bad part is that insects can fly into the room anytime, especially mosquitoes. See above ? So it is rather cooling during the morning.... natural air.

See the above photo ? Nothing much to do, ....while watching out from the window, I decided to snap a photo of the "atap" roof. We were quite cut off from the outside world.. no tv, no news paper and no Internet except hand phone. It was raining too at that time, so I just sat by the window and watch the rain falling down. That reminds me of my late grandmother's house in Bachok, many decades ago when I used to go there while I was young.

Somewhere around 7 pm, I received a SMS informing that the price of petrol is expected to go up again from RM1.90 to RM2.70 per litre. That was really a drastic hike. We were chatting around about it, and couldn't believe what we just received, as the media already said earlier that there won't be any price hike in petrol until August. The only expectation is the government to announce the new petrol subsidy by tomorrow. Immediately, I recalled that our PM did the same thing when he announced the Parliament was dissolved on march the 13Th. He denied about it just a day before . The same trick on us Malaysian ! Anyway, I can't really do much as the nearest petrol station is about 60 km away.

To cut it short, this is how our surrounding looks like. There is a tourist information centre right in front on the right hand (above) and a canteen far left with a waiting / resting area too, right in front (below). So during the day or night, you'll see a lot of tourist (especially the back packers Mat Salleh) walking to and fro to the floating restaurants not far away.

The Tembeling river is very busy from daylight till night, with boats carrying passengers and goods. You can get across to Taman Negara by ferry (small passenger boat) just by paying RM1.00 per trip. There is only one hotel at the Taman Negara site which is Mutiara Taman Negara Resort. A very expensive hotel for a National Park.

Across our guest house is Taman Negara. So, we have no problem looking for food or to visit the park anytime as they are right just in front of our place.

Above photo is the scenery of how the floating restaurants looks like on the Tembeling River.

The next morning right after breakfast, we took a boat across to Taman Negara. All tourist have to register themselves to the Wild Life Department with a minimal fee of Rm1.00 per head.

These are the Mutiara Taman Negara Resort chalets. They have various types of rooms, dormitory, terrace and individual units at different prices. They even have a camp site.

The one and only restaurant at the park. An adult buffet lunch cost RM40.00++ per pax and children at RM22.00++ per pax.

Today, we are visiting the Canopy Walkway and Bukit Teresek. The walk to the Canopy is about 2.5km and from there, we'll climb up the nearest hill, Bukit Terisek for about 1.6 km.

My photography session begins over here. But in actual fact I didn't take much photos as the walking and climbing is too tiring.

One group photo for the album, just Me and Us. Halfway to the Canopy Walkway.

Each person is charged RM5.00 for the Canopy Walk.

After the Canopy Walkway, we climb up to Bukit Teresek to view Gunung Tahan. The climb is very exhausting and tiring. We completed the day's exploration by around 2.30 pm., just the right time for lunch at the Family Floating Restaurant, and called it a day after that.

The next day, right after breakfast at about 11.30 am, we crossed the river again to the Park, This time we decided to visit the Tahan Hide to look out for some wild animals.
Didn't get to see much as it was already late at noon time. Only managed to see a wild boar, a snake and some birds.
After 2.30 pm, we booked 2 boats for 5 of us for some adventure. It coast us RM120.00 per boat. I think this is the most interesting part of our National Park holiday. Anyone who goes there shouldn't miss the boat ride. Its just like going to one of our "Pulau" without going snorkeling. So, boating is a must when visiting Taman Negara. This time, we are visiting Lata Berkoh and the "Kelah" Sanctuary.

Well. we went through the rapids and there seems to be quite a lot of boats going the same direction as we are going.
Our boat ride takes about 30 minutes to our destination.

At the Lata Berkoh, you'll be surprised to see a group of "Mat Salleh" only swimming at the deeper part of the water. We dare not join in as the water looks dark and deep. The moment I see the water, it reminds me of the movie "Anaconda" . We went to the shallow part instead.
We have to get out of the restricted area before sunset. By 4.30 pm we proceed to the "Kelah Sanctuary" for play and feed the tame fishes. I had no idea at all what fish they were but they do look big at around a kilo each swimming around us looking for breads and pallets food. At about 5.30 pm we proceed back to our base.
We drove home on the next morning. We had fun !

For more information about where to stay at Taman Negara, you may click here.

For Places of Interest and Activities, you may click here.
Well, lets wish this Taman Negara mother's nature could be preserved and protected forever for the benefit of our children's future. We took nothing but memories and leave nothing but footprints...

For a great selection of places to stay with discount prices in Kelantan, visit Kelantan Hotels for more information.

Just Wondering..

It's already 1st of June 2008. Time really flies. Times fly so fast when you unnoticed. I am just wondering..... am I entering the next era ? An era of feeling loneliness... or is it an aging symptom. Just a few months earlier we were busy travelling around scouting for universities for my two sons. We drove to Ipoh, Perak to visit University Petronas and we flew to KL taking a peep at Sunway College, Segi College and visiting Universiti Tenaga National. And soon by the end of this month the boys will be living 500km away from us for Uniten. By then, it will be a new beginning for them staying away from home for 5 years only to come back during the semester break. Even after their course completion, I won't be expecting them to come back to KB for work as there is not much work opportunities over here if they want to succeed.

It was during March that we were all so happy about the announcement of their results. Then they were busy applying for colleges, scholarships and attending interviews. Then came May, the time for checking results. The results were unfavour to them, but that does not matter anymore. Now that they have decided to go to a Private University.... my wife have been busy buying all the necessities that they might need to bring along., a bag case, an electric kettle, an electric iron and etc..

At the same time, I just celebrated my 47Th birthday last week. My wife bought me a gift of Adidas 2008 limited edition toiletry set. I know that she knew I expect nothing, but just for the sake of a present she bought me a gift. We had a birthday cake with some bought home "satay".

At this age, I can't really think of what I want that comes in a present as well. All I only wish is good health for the whole family, sufficient income and good education for the kids. My 14 year old daughter was asking.... the next birthday falls on the semester break ?

I am still wondering.. how are things going to be with the 2 boys staying away from home. Is dinner going to be the same with just my wife, daughter and myself at home ? Weekend breakfast at the stalls outside definitely won't be the same anymore. Home will be very quiet with less two helpers... Well, I am still just wondering..