Big Boys Toys

l went to the hardware store. l love to be in the hardware store, as in general, men will forget other problem when at the hardware store. Oh, Tim Allen did the same in Home Improvement anyway...

But that is another story. l bought myself a toy for the big boy today. It is a pro series grass cutter. Grass cutter, Pro series? Yes, l bought myself a beginner series grass cutter some years ago and it went berserk after not too many use...


It was made in the land of the rising sun. At least the sticker said so...
See, it said, Pro series!

Unleaded gas only... My oh my, l owns a pro series grass cutter now....

Oren

Limau Siam, pembasuh mulut selepas makan siang di hari Jumaat....

Sea Bounty

Working for the sea bounty, it's nothing but easy. Weather among all, is the major factor. Luck is another. Sea pollution is creeping in. Over-fishing depletes the stock and creates empty net. Yet, the fishermen of the East Coast, day in and day out ventures to the South China Sea, with high hopes off course...

Ole Ole

Not on many occasion, l bought gift to myself. But this time it is extra-ordinary. l am a kinda of weak-knees over coffee. l drank it all, the free, the 50 sen a cup, the RM 10.00 per mug. At the warung, at home, in the friend's kitchen, at the posh coffee outlets, even in the coffee plantation itself. They said, Sumatra Mandailing are the famous Arabica Coffee Beans. l said, l can't proof it. The packaging is so nice, it makes me seems guilty to open it...

Qurbani

This is part of what the Eid-ul-Adha is all about, the Qurbani... It was an enlivenment of a historic origin...

Eid-ul-Adha

Wishing you friends, Selamat Hari Raya Eid-ul-Adha. Silently wishes that l am on Wukuf this time next year...

Tong Sampah

Tong sampah, not the virtual Thrash Bin on our Windows' Desktop but these are the real...

2007's 12

Below are a dozen of my 2007 favorite pics, shown in random order.

Lata Berkoh waterfall in Taman Negara.

The Boatman of Taman Negara.
Early morning in Kemasek.

A signboard for a warung in Besuki, Jawa Timur.

A blur countryside life in Jawa Timur.

A bouqet from Phnom Penh.
A young lady at Phnom Penh's Central Market, waiting for a transportation.

Clear blue sky and a dead wind day on the oil rig at South China Sea.

Jambu Air at somewhere south of Ipoh.

A worker in the confined space.

Eid ul Fitr 2007, visiting the family member...
Bright city lights in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

A pic full of "typo error".

Enjoying Tengkujuh

Went outdoor yesterday for a small action in the height of monsoon. Some strech of road in our area was damaged badly, 4 x 4 seems a good answer to that....

Tengkujuh

Strong winds, continous rain, heavy overcast sky, choppy sea and slightly cool tempature are the normal monsoon season character. It is now "in thing" in the East Coast of Malaysia and the pic captured the spirit of it!

Kecamatan

Picture was taken while touring the Kecamatan Gondosuli, hundreds of miles away from Surabaya in my recent Tour of Duty to my employer's office in Jawa Timur. The normal village life is shown here at it's best.

Warung

Patronized a warung deep in Jawa Timur recently for their superb Mie Ayam. The warung's appearance maybe not for the weak-hearted but the Mie Ayam was marvelous.

After all, the taste that was counted, the cosmetic may be just superficial....

Refleksi

Caught the reflection, (which is not, anyway), at the LCCT's cafe. Thought it was nice to capture!

Labor of Love

A ripe banana at my friend's residence. A nice result from his labor of planting trees.

Served

On the kitchen table, Kangkung Goreng Belacan was served for lunch some days ago...

Kuala Krau

Some weeks ago, l went to Kuala Krau of which l found it as a very nice little town. It was previously, mainly, served by the Keretapi Tanah Melayu as the main life line before the advancement of the road system took over her role. l was there just in time when the mail train from Gemas made it's northward journey to Wakaf Bahru. It stop in every station in between. And in every stop, the flurry of human activities spur the, otherwise, sleepy moments.
Each stop was brief. But long enough for the new passengers to hop in and for the arrival passengers to jump out...
And the train continuously chugging northward, probably forgetting the passengers that she left behind.

Maybe this journey is mirroring life....

Castaway

Walked on Kerteh Beach one late afternoon. Pleasantly found this cast-away net float as it was washed ashore by the last night's strong waves. Not exactly know where this float came from but surely someone out there is wondering where his / her float went to....

Morning Coffee

Maybe a few of us here has already taken of morning coffee. l am one of you as well. For me, a morning without coffee is like sleep.

l am helpless over coffee. Local kopi O, boutique coffee, giant global branded coffee, even coffee freshly brewed at the coffee plantation, l tasted it all.

But none beat the coffee made by my other half, always ready for me on the kitchen table, every morning. Since that's the coffee made of love....

Dedaun Kehidupan

Beberapa hari yang lepas aku menerima SMS larut malam. Namun hanya dipagi keesokannya aku baru tersedar akan kehadiran SMS itu. Ringkas sahaja pesanannya. " Mat Suli telah ke Rahmatullah jam 11 malam tadi ".

Ohh, seorang lagi kawan yang ku kenal dari zaman penuh kesulitan ku dahulu telah kembali kepada Yang Maha Mencipta...

Termenung aku dan teringatkan yang daun daun akan berterusan berguguran. Hanya dedaun milik siapakah yang akan gugur seterusnya masih belum diketahui. Terserah kepada kita untuk memikirkanya...

Cool and Calm

The calming effect of any waterfall will never be disputed. That was what we recently found when we went to Taman Negara Tahan for a short RnR. Simply said, we went, we enjoyed, we left.

And when we are back into our daily regime, we dreams for more of Taman Negara...

In Display

The brand is so powerful. Mere mortals like me, at the best, can only afford to walk in into that specially choosen retailer, take look under the watchful eyes of the salespersons, make excuse and move away.

But l choose not to do that as l have not in good need to be in the "who's who" list of people nor do l have piles of cash to buy it anyway.

The brand is so powerful. It will and as always be out of my reach. It can only best seen through the glass display...

Big City Many Neons

Kuala Lumpur always is a bright night city. Bright night city as always, hallucinates me. As is hallucinates me, l always try not to be in the city for a long strech of time. Maybe there is a fear inside me that the big city hallucination will lead me to forget things. Maybe my roots, for instance....

Sweet Homecoming

l arrived a tad too early for my flight home the other day at Juanda Surabaya, which provides me a chance to glimpse into some drama of life played in front of me.

International Arrival at Juanda is never without any crowd. It was strange to see family gathers, some on the mats completes with food and drinks like having a good time on the beach. Some sleeps wherever they can, some loitering but mostly smoking, making the air feel thick with cengkeh aroma.

One flight arrived from Kuala Lumpur and the excitement abuzzed. Everybody keeps shoving each other wanting the first glimpse of the just arrived passengers. Then l heard shrill of excitement, tears of happiness and smile of accomplishment abounds. Quickly l realised that most are waiting for their relatives who ventured overseas for work. In Indonesia, they call this unsung heroes as TKI or Tenaga Kerja Indonesia. In economic sense, l named this group as the Forex supplier.

With valuable Forex at hand, most ambition can be fullfilled, lot of dream can be realised and some wish may come true.

The Boatman

Just came back from an outing to Taman Negara, our Malaysia's Rainforest National Park. Shoot hundreds of photos but only really satisfied with this pic.
l was aiming to shoot the convoy of 3 boats following close to mine. While bending myself to compose and to wait till the 3rd boat appear in my viewfinder, l saw the boatman lean leftward as to get the better view of the river bend ahead. l shifted the focus point and locked it on him. Still, my camera bag was wrongly captured at the lower left corner of the pic...

Forgiving myself over the hiccup, l really feel great over this pic.

Creative But Alas...

Aku sejak sekian lama tertarik dengan "branding" diwarong akok yang terletak di Laluan Dungun - Kuala Terengganu ini. Baru hari ini aku berpeluang singgah. Secara peribadi, selain dari "billboard" ini, tiada yang dapat menambat hatiku disini.

Feeling Romantic

Somehow, l have a little bit of romantic feelings these few days. Maybe the raining season change my physocological structure or something else did it, l have no idea. Or maybe the Anuar Zain's ngetop song, Lelaki Ini, influences me. Hmm, maybe.

Goat Farm

Dihujung minggu yang baru berlalu, aku beriadah bersama bersama keluarga. Apa yang menarik, aku terjumpa satu kawasan penternakan kambing, yang bagi aku, "the most picturesque" kandang kambing yang aku pernah jumpa. Terletak dikawasan pantai, didalam kebun nyior dan bersebelahan rumah tuannya. Berbual-bual dengan tuannya dan mendapati beliau mempunyai perniagaan perternakan dan "trading" lembu. Kambing ini hanya sebahagian dari cabang perniagaannya...

Ini rumah beliau dan kawasan rumahnya dipenuh dengan pokok pokok nyior.


Kambing-kambing bebas merayau dikawasan berpagar dilamannya.


Manakala kandang kambing terletak disatu sudut. Rumput ragut ada ditanam dibelakang kandang. Orang kampung aku panggil rumput ni sebagai "Rumput Gajah" manakala nama komersialnya adalah Taiwan Napier.


Inilah sebahagian dari kambing kambing beliau...


Lama juga aku kat sini, menonton akan gelagat kambing kambing ini...

Hujan Malam

It was rained last night, giving me a refreshing morning...

Raya Is Over

During the Raya celebration, we managed to collect some extra kilojoules of calories, well, from that ketupat, rendang, nasi minyak, nasi kapit and all those fancy names Raya cookies. Decided to burn some of it, so to the Kebun Durian we headed during last weekend.


Some of the trees are now carries heavy flowers. We are hoping and waiting for a considerable durian crop.


Since last two seasons, the trees seems like they are taking rest from producing any fruit but it is quite different this time. Maybe the hopes and the wishes are finally granted.


Our dusun is unreachable with the normal sedan. We need 4x4 vehicle or the more versatile Honda C70. The view along the track to the dusun is very nice and sometimes we just stop there and absorb the scenery.


Normally, not only the calories that we burned there, sometimes we also "provides" some "charity meal" to our beloved friends there, the leeches...