Borneo time

Recently, I went to east of my country which consists of two states, Sabah and Sarawak. Sometimes we call it as Borneo. Whatever it is, it still in Malaysia. Down under the both states, lies Kalimantan. I spent about 2 weeks over there to see and observe the culture and uniqueness of their people. In term of culture and people, they have various races which are different with the peninsular Malaysia. For example, peninsular is famous with 3 major races, Chinese, Indians and Malays though there is presence of java linkage however it does not show much difference on these races. On the other hand, in Sarawak itself, they have like Melanau, Iban and Orang Ulu while in Sabah, there are Kadazan, Dusun and several others which I forget their names.

The journey from KLIA 2 to Kuching took almost 2 hours by Air Asia flight. Why Air Asia? Because it was the cheapest compared to the other flight fares. But in my view, if you are able to fly with Malindo, please do that. It is more comfort and worth. We spent only 3 days in Kuching due to nothing-ness in Kuching. Well, that was my friend’s. For me, it is a good place to stay for those loves peaceful place. No traffic jam and Kuching folks still have good manners on the roadway. Kind of like in oversea. We did nothing much in Kuching, just wondering and browsing around. First advice, don’t go to Damai beach, it is overrated place. Culture village is a must-go-place (don’t forget to bring local university student ID to get concession ticket for MYR15, while oversea student ID for MYR30). The village is just opposite the Damai Beach. To get there, renting a car is a must because it is situated about 50 km from the Kuching city. Then, there are several other interesting activities such as caving, trekking, hiking and bowling. During the night, I would like to suggest Topspot food court. It is on the UTC building. It was pretty hard to find for the first timer, so it is suggested to search UTC building in google map instead of Topspot food court. They served seafood in which there are a lot. After choosing the seafood, then we can choose whatever type of cook that we want. Mine was Thai style and oyster style.  They were superb and very fast. On the bad side, Kuching was never meant for a city boy. They still have mall but a small one. Don’t expect to see second Mid Valley Mall in Kuching. All in all, it was still a nice place to go.

Before I forgot, make sure go to any cake house to buy ‘Kek Lapis’.

After 3 days in Kuching city, we packed our bags and made our steps to airport. Due to big size of Sarawak state, the journey from Kuching to Kota Kinabalu took one and a half hour. It was quite long for me because I had flight from Brisbane to Sydney and it only took 1 hour.

Here comes the real journey…

1^st day in Sabah wasn’t a big deal. We had the chance to tour the city and had dinner in one of the seafood stalls. We spent several days later in house watching movies and dramas. The real Sabah visit came when we made our way to Kundasang. It wasn’t so far from Kota Kinabalu. I could say 2-3 hours journey from Kota Kinabalu without any traffic difficulties. Unfortunately, due to expanding technology and city, traffic jam could not be avoided and it was like one in federal highway to Kuala Lumpur. In Kundasang, we went straight away went to Kinabalu park. The fee for the trekking till Layang – layang hut was MYR5 for Malaysians and might be more for foreigners. It was 4km trekking with about 1000m ascending. We took 4 hours to finish the trekking. We didn’t plan to go up to the mountain because it had to be booked early and the fee itself is about MYR500. Thus it needs a well-prepared planning. The other place that we did go was Poring Hot Water. Actually it did only have hot water, but a swimming pool, 2 waterfall track, canopy walk (MYR3 fee and MYR5 for a camera) and Ladang kupu – kupu. Next on the list, Ladang New Zealand (New Zealand Park). It was like a farm in New Zealand with polka dots (white black) cows. The best thing was that my friends were studying in New Zealand, thus nothing to be impressed of because they could see the original scenery in their places and I bet it is much more beautiful compared the one in Malaysia. Bhahaha.  One more thing, just my personal advice, please careful when driving because sometimes the fog can be very thick and limit the driver’s sight distance.

In my person view, what makes Sabah differs with Sarawak is the nature. Sabah has a lot of things to see like the beautiful reef in Manukan Island, Semporna, Mount Kinabalu and several others. They also have more advanced malls. But in term of manner, Sarawakians win. In overall, it is subjective thing and it depends on the environment and culture itself. 

*akhirnya, habis jugak checklist pergi melawat semua negeri di Malaysia.

**kalau nak pegi lagi sabah sarawak, pastikan ada tour guide dr negeri tu sendiri untuk elak daripada ditipu oleh orang tempatan. orang tempatan selalu akan dapat barang murah lagi daripada orang semenanjung dengan oranng oversea

***will update for pics

New year celebration

Road trip never be disappointing. I went to Sydney last several days to celebrate New Year in Australia. People said that New Year eve in Sydney was the best among the other major cities.

Frankly speaking, I never celebrated New Year celebration in Malaysia. Watching those fireworks and concerts are not my thingy, but because of the camera that I am holding right now kicked me out on the road to see how people shot the 10-15 minutes firework. Annual firework. Some might say it was easy thing to do and so on. For me, it was not easy as said, annually only several events used big firework and the event will only take place in 15 minutes maximum. Several things need to consider especially shooting location. Strategic location will determine the uniqueness of the pictures.

However, I’m not interested to share about these things right now as I did not have the chance to shoot fireworks in proper manner. The pictures were bad. Sigh

During the journey from Brisbane to Sydney, my thought was like people will only go to the firework place on the night of firework. Unfortunately I was wrong. People started to gather and camp at strategic location one night before the firework. I was like, what! That was crazy.

On night of 31 dec, we decided to go to The Rock which is near to opera house 3 hours before 12 am. It was a bit late as place had been filled by sea of people from the morning. We only had the chance to watch the firework through a gate. Not a best spot I guess.

Alright, done with the firework.

Deer watching firework, 2014

What was amazed me during that night actually not the firework but the crowd of people. The Sydney council had started to close the city and put barricades along the road. Only several roads can be used but mostly had been closed to ease the people to walk. There was a sea of people, literally. People are everywhere. That was my first time seeing a huge crowd like that.

Sea of people, 2015

Then, something struck my head. If and only if Islam took place and lead the world, what will be offered by the Islamic government to celebrate New Year? Is the firework will be demolished entirely? Or it will be replaced by something better?

Still seeking for the answer… 

Give, step and never stop

Travelling is one of my passions in my life.

Several weeks ago I went to the main city in South Australia, Adelaide. It is one of the major cities in Australia. I’m not sure about the population but what I believe is that the place one of the best cities for study if you consider about the calmness and cost living.

Victor Harbour, 2014

Victor harbour. Goolwa. Mangkuk Hayun. George Wildlife Park. Toy factory. Strawberry picking. Glenelg

These are among place that I did visit during my journey and I really suggest you to go there if you have ample time. Victor Harbour and Granite Island is connected. My friends and I spent almost 2 hours there enjoying the scenery. The island is almost like Philip Island in Melbourne but it is smaller and nearer to the city. There was also a so-called train being pulled a beautiful horse.

Goolwa is a beach where we collected cockles by bare hands. I wasn’t difficult at all. You just have to bring friends and find the right place to spot a bunch of them. I could consider the beach wasn’t the best but still we pretty enjoyed wetting ourselves.

One word that almost my friends told me in Adelaide once I met them was; did you eat? Yeah I realized that majority people studying in UQ are getting slimmer. I wasn’t shocked seriously, because it was so difficult to find the halal restaurant around Brisbane. There are several but the number is not much in other major cities. One of the halal restaurant is Swinging Bowl aka Mangkuk Hayun in Bahasa. Hahaha. In Malaysia, Mangkuk Hayun is the title for the good-for-nothing people. It is so funny. Alright, done with the name, let’s talk about the food. First thing first, never compare the currency when you are living overseas. It is not good idea to compare everything or you will be die starving. The restaurant served rice with other protein food like meat, fish and cuttlefish that have been cook in different recipes. I did eat rice with ‘gulai kari kambing’. It was so delicious. it is non-regrettable offer.

One famous place in Adelaide is Glenelg. If you have friends studying in University of South Australia, University of Adelaide or Flinder University, you might be boring with sunset pictures once they have been there. That sunset is in Glenelg. I was unfortunate because when I was there it was a bit cloudy and we did not have the opportunity to see the full sunset. Anyway, that was beautiful enough for me.

Shedy's Market, 2014

All in all, the best thing that I will remember and tell other people about Adelaide was the people. All of things I told you above won’t be there without help from people. They rented cars for the guests, invited for eating ceremony, prepared the food along the road and did not ask for a cent for it. That was so adorable. I will remember that.

From that day, I learned that people who will make a place beautiful and interesting. People won’t remember your know for sure, but people will remember what you have done for them. They will remember and spread the news as it is not the place what motivates people, it is the people.

Besides that, actually travelling teaches me that I’m nothing without others. What we expect when we are not in our comfort zone? Everything is uncertain and we never know what will happen tomorrow, but we know it won’t be comfort.

Give, step and never stop.

One in a decade

Bismillah..

*vacuuming sound

*mopping sound (is there sound for mopping?)

*sweeping sound

Fuh…

It seems better right now without any dust in my blog. Hahaha

I know it has been a while I do not post in this blog because of several unavoidable reasons and business that not to be done as soon as possible.

I just finished my second year chemical engineering in university of queensland and actually I’m quite happy with my result. It is better than the previous but not what I wanted it to be. 

Alhamdulillah.

So in this post, I want to share one thing that rarely happens but it happened last week. It did happen when I was on my way to Brisbane from Adelaide. On the morning, I received a message from the flight service saying that my flight might be delayed because of bad weather. Generally, the bad weather term is defined as normal rain or the worst, lightning storm. Me and all the others never really knew what might happen on that day until when I arrived at the Adelaide airport.

Beep beep beep

“Your flight have been delayed for 1 hour because of hailstorm in Brisbane”

My first impression was like, what is hailstorm? Because I never had faced hailstorm before.

It added with my friend’s whatsapp message saying that he could be able to fetch me from airport because of the hailstorm.

Then one thought came into my mind. I need really to know what is happening in Brisbane causing the flight delay and obstacle for my friend.

Briskly, I opened up the news in the hand phone and I found that there was a severe hailstorm in Brisbane. The ice was like a golf ball. It was really hard and big. It dented car and broke windows. It wasn’t only the hail, but the storm with had destroyed many things. Trees on the road, collapsed garage, upside down aeroplane and etc. I just, WOW. What just happened!

The situation was followed with black out for almost two days. Therefore, people living near to university will camp at the university playing game together.

On the next day, my first feeling was like I want to go university charging my hand phone (because of no electricity in the house) and getting around with friends in university. When I went out from house, I realized the bad condition of my garden area. Yeah, who cares, I can settle it down in the evening. On my way to university, I spotted my neighbours who really try to clean up all the leaves on the floor, gather all the falling tree branches and chatting with each other like a community. This condition made me feel ashamed of myself. I turned around immediately and went back to my house to clean the leaves and branches.

First thing comes into my mind is how can possibly ice is formed during summer. Its okay if it is during winter because of the cold weather, but for summer, it almost impossible.

Lesson learned,

Impossible is nothing

Maturing up

Assalamualaikum wbt,

I heard and listened that sharing something with humans will never relieve something. Therefore, I never writing for sharing, I write because I want people to know and ponder what I see and what I think.

There are several things that I  have seen in my life and I feel unpleasant with it.

Firstly, I feel so sad when the tools that should help people connect with other is used to be the other way. For example, hand phone. Deep in my heart says that hand phone can connect your friends and family with you where ever you are. In addition, we are added with several other social medias that should help connecting people. Unfortunately, I feel terrible when people seek for likes and followers in these mediums. These people terrorize the function of the medium. I don't say you can't, but when you too obsessed with those things, you will forget the basis of relationship. The face to face interaction. I feel sorry to the new photographers especially the intagrammers. The basis of photography is not for seeking likes from the followers, it is to make people happy, to capture the important moments that maybe can't be found again, It is about the heart, but if you can't see with your heart, then let's forget about it.

Secondly, I feel so confused when people aren't closed as they are kids. Too many secrets. Or it is the norm of the world? I imagine the situation like a couple sitting wall to wall although in reality they are sitting next each other. Can't we share story? Can't we share our advantages with our friends? Or do we want to success individually and hoping our friend has to extend another semester? Why it is so cruel? Why do we have to lie? Is it because we assume the definition for foreigners and friends is same? If so, go and make your own planet and live there. I don't feel that you are needed on the earth.

Friends and family; they need you, they need your support, they need to talk to you because they are humans. Human just like you.

The Happy Ramadhan

Ramadhan is just around the corner so why don’t we just invite him in and treat him as best as we can.

Ramadhan

Rahmah.  Maghfirah. Hell freedom

I don’t want to write down things that you might meet up on the other blogs and websites. If you want to know Ramadhan guides, Fiqh of Ramadhan or DIY for Ramadhan planner, I’m pretty sure that you are on the wrong blog. Eheh. However, I will still provide useful website links at the bottom of this post for you.

What I mean different with the rest of people is my experience during the last Ramadhan. I could say that it was the best Ramadhan in term of ibadah, but on the other hand, I could say it was a Ramadhan that had the most lessons.

Health

I could not remember every minute detail on the last Ramadhan except a moment that I had an illness that I never had before. I only could tell that the illness was a fever, a complete different type of fever. The fever prevented me from going to lectures and even attending taraweeh prayer during the night. So, I just laid up on the bed or sit on the chair playing with my laptop. The fever weakened me so much and sometime I felt I just don’t have enough energy to elevate my head from pillow.

Friends

What do want to expect when you can do but nothing on the bed? Hoping helps from roommates. Sometimes, there is time when you have to depend almost of the time on your friends’ kindness. Yeah, that was what I felt during that time. I almost had to fully depend on them.  They took care of me, brought me to the hospital and even ordered and bought me food for me. I still remembered when I fainted on the mid of the road during I had a severe headache. There were several people seeing me fainted and they brought me to my room.

“There are two blessings in which most people are in great loss:

1) Good health

2) Free time.”

In the mid of the hardship, I knew that my plan for the special month had crumbled down and it was far behind from the planning.

However, when I got back home and gained strength bit a bit, I believed that the calamity happened not for none but there must something that He wanted to tell me, something that will make me closer to Him and distinguish from the rest.

He wanted me to look on myself and surrounding me, my physical body and my friends.

He wants me to appreciate what I have in my hand and never look inside others’ hand.

Today, it is my first Ramadhan experience in oversea and it will never be like in my origin country. It is harder and everything depends on me; food, sahur, no bazaar, no near mosque, far musolla.

I believe that those hardships are not to prevent me from
making better Ramadhan, but to make the Ramadhan is going to be an unforgettable Ramadhan in the future.

Whatever is it, please make doa for me and wish me the best for this Ramadhan.

3^rd Ramadhan 1435. Not-my country 

Gate, 2014

link for a better Ramadhan:
productive muslim
nasyid

Coming here buddy

There is something that I felt useless and nonsense before but now I realize that it is one of the most important thing in my life.

I believe in our very own life, there is something that is very small till we feel it affects but none to us. We just it small and not important in our life.

Yeah......we could say that because we are wearing our shoes and we never felt others shoes, if you know what I mean. 

What I mean is, in every good deeds that we do, though there are just minute tiny things, there is someone affected and influenced by the things we did. The only thing is just never stop do good deeds.

p/s: don't stop do good mates