Arissa is 10 today!!!!

Arissa, our beautiful sweetheart, turns 10 today.
Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!!
Arissa with Asma and Alia
The night before we went out to Shakey's to celebrate because the birthday girl simply loves pizza
Tapi malam ni the birthday girl makan makaroni goreng yang Mak buat. Another favourite. Eh! Macam orang Itali ler pulak anak aku ni....

When a Fat Man Goes To Taman Negara

If you are fat and extremely unfit, stay away from Taman Negara Pahang!! I've learnt my lesson and will never subject myself to such torture and humiliation ever again. Yes, I went to Taman Negara last weekend and regreted doing so, big time. I was there for the Asia Pacific Eco Tourism Conference and had a miserable time through and through. I didn't realise that I've turned into a huge kampung boy turned lupa daratan punya city slicker until I stepped into the jetty at Kuala Tahan, the most popular entry point of the National Park.
Getting down to the jetty was a huge effort for me, climbing up from the jetty was a torture, walking along the river bank was ridiculously hard and everything were simply no fun. And to make matter worst, there's a girl in my group who thought she was being funny and kept on laughing and said out loud to everybody " itu orang gemuk kan? itu gemuk kan, oooi orang gemuk pegi belakang."? She's lucky I was forever busy catching my breath as otherwise she'll be dead by now.

While in Kuala Tahan, we stayed at this Rainforest Resort(resort kepala hotak), mandi jer habih air melimpah masuk bilik. Very the basic punyer resort. Yelar orang yang datang sini pun bukannya nak duduk dalam bilik lelama ye tak. Orang datang sini nak go for adventure segala unlike me. The conference was held at the Mutiara Resort, which is located across the river. Punyeler bercinta kalau nak pergi sebab nak kena cross the river pakai boat. Nak gi ke boat jer dah memang siksa sebab riverbank dia penuh dengan batu batuan yang sebesar2 bola ragbi -, macam tunggu time jer nak terpeliuk kaki and jatuh terguling-guling. Malam bila kami sampai tuh we were invited to go for a night walk kat belakang resort ni. Nyesal sampai sekarang sebab masa duduk kat kampung dulu pun tak pernah buat kerja bodoh jalan-jalan di malam buta. Tapi kat sini ikut ler pulak, memang mangkuk sangat sebab at the end of the walk, yang nampak sesangat ialah a total darkness dimerata-rata. Balik bilik jer terus tidur, penat ya amat-amat. Zul kata bilik bergegar gila malam tu... (nasib dia tak nak tidur sebab nak melayan telepon)
The only highlight for me _the only one okay - is the river cruise. (but turun naik boat is different story altogether sebab bukan macam naik kereta yang diam tetap atas tanah) Memang impressive lar the view kat sini. On the last day pun kami balik ikut Kuala Tembeling iaitu naik boat. Nice jugak walaupun the journey took us about 2 hours. On the way back, we singgah kat canopy walk yang famous kat sini. I tried to pergi but sampai separuh jalan jer sebab nak gi ke canopy to jer macam kena panjat bukit securam2nya. Dah ler licin amat2. Kang tak pasal2 tak balik ler pulak orang gemuk ni. Itu pun dah ingatkan nak mati dah.

These Ladies are My Cousins

Due to age differences, these ladies were never particularly close to me. We seldom, very seldom, meet. Most of the time, I meet them during kenduris or majlis hari raya. Once in a while they'll come over to my place that is only when Mak is around. Other than that we pretty much go our own way. But jikalau bertemu, seperti biasa riuh rendah ler jugak. Adat ler kan.
And today, these ladies came over to berhari raya. To make it more special all eight came. A feat really sebab jarang sangat dapat jumpa dia orang ni serentak walaupun semuanya ada di KL.
These are my dear cousins Chor Teh, Nyah Intan, Kak Embun, Kak Timah, Kak Bor, Kak Ella, Kak Ana and Kak Odi. Anak-anak arwah Ayah Lang and Wan Biah.
Nama panggilan tak le berapa commercial but trust me these are glamour people. Siap ada dua orang Datin lagi. Real ones and most unassuming, okay!!

Kasut-kasut yang datang beraya hari ni.
Mak melayan anak-anak saudara menjamu selera
Nombor dua - Nyah Intan, Nombor enam -Kak Ella dan Nombor tiga- Kak Embun
Nombor lapan- Kak Odi, Nombor tujuh- Kak Ana dan Nombor empat - Kak Timah
Yang Sulong- Chor Teh dan Nombor lima - Kak Bor

Black&White or Colour

Black-and-white images are often imbued with an elegance and timelessness that colour photography often can't match. Like these....

Classic and elegant ker?
Tapi rasanya, colour pix nih pun cantik apa. Fresh and full of colour. And puas hati tengok.

Jalan-jalan di Kota Raya

Went back to work last Thursday. Yes. On the third day of Raya, I was back at the office. Never before in my professional life have I done so. Only a handful of staff were at the office on that day - macam siot jer kena kerja. Rasa macam polis ler pulak tak leh cuti lama-lama. Kalau ada kerja tak pe jugak, ni....entahlah.
Anyway, today Saturday, cuti weekend. Those yang ambik cuti on Thursday kena kerja on Saturday. Apa raa.. Kami di rumah ni mulanya berkira-kira nak pergi beraya tetapi masih ramai yang belum balik dari kampung atau holiday. So we decided to pergi jalan-jalan di kota raya....



First stop is The Mall. Yes, The Mall. Why? Don't know. But we ate lunch at The Chicken Rice Shop. Arissa siap patah gigi lagi masa ni. Tak yah tunjuk ler gambar ya, not nice one.
Lepas makan, kami pergi berlegar-legar di sekitar The Mall. Bukan ada apa2 pun. Orang pun tak ramai. Turun naik escalator macam orang tak de haluan. Singgah kat bookshop and as usual Asma beli buku cerita. Lepas tu complain duit raya dia dah berkurang. Lepas tu, on the way out terjumpa doll shop. Arissa masa ni dah teruja dan tak nak balik. Bila mak dia tanya ada duit raya ker nak beli? Dia jawab:"Tak ada, tapi sesapa ada RM50 tak." Bila dah tengok anak dia muka sedih, Mak buat deal ngan Arissa that she can get the doll as a birthday gift jadi bila birthday dia November nanti tak yah bagi hadiah lagi ler. So everybody, meet Laura Jane Whitney.
Lepas The Mall, we drove merewang-rewang sehingga lah sampai ke Lake Garden. Yes, Lake Garden. Why? Don't know. Asma ingat ada lake boleh ler dia mandi manda macam tepi laut. Sampai kat sana, Yan decided to stay put in the car sebab tak sanggup menapak jauh-jauh. Gambar di atas menunjukkan betapa gumbiranya anak-anak ku dapat lepas bebas di padang yang luas di Lake Garden. Praq Senandung betul..
Ini Arissa sedang menunjukkan rasa tidak puas hati terhadap undang-undang yang terlampau banyak di Lake Garden. Sumer tak boleh. Sumer tak boleh.
Ini Asma sedang bergambar menjadi gadis ayu yang di hari raya pergi taman bunga dan tidak ke rumah sanak saudara sebagaimana sepatutnya.
Ini Alia sedang menunjukkan fountain yang ada di situ. Dia ingat orang tak pernah tengok fountain ker apa?
Pose untuk cover memana majalah. Kalau nak engage these gorgeous talents, do contact the manager. Masa ni Asma baru lepas terjatuh dan sedang menahan sakit. Tak nampak pun macam lutut dia cedera kan? Very the professional.