Approaching Hari Raya Aidil Fitri 2013

For many, this day of Eid would be a very happy celebration. For me, well, not to very happy one.

Just missing my mother very much still.

For the long weekend, I just feel lost of what to do. Thinking of going back to Taiping for a short visit would sure cure this blues.

Perhaps, I would be able to meet up with some old school buddies.

What I missed about Taiping?

Even though I have been living in the city of Kuala Lumpur since 1983, my old hometown of Taiping is still in my heart. I used to go back home at least once every month for several years. Since my mother had passed away in 2009, I seldom go back now and I missed Taiping very much.

 

What is that about the town that I miss very much? Plenty! Let’s see if I can list them all down.

1.       The walks at the beautiful lake gardens.

2.       The serene Bukit Larut (Maxwell Hills).

3.       The easy-going life of the town.

4.       A dip in the cool waters of Burmese Pool.

5.       Ansari’s cendol and rojak.

6.       Food at the Casual Market – satay, popiah, murtabak, nasi campur, pasembor and the nyonya kuih.

7.       Eat roti canai at the Bismillah Restaurant.

8.       The Matang bakau forest.

9.       Seafood at Port Weld.

10.   The ais batu campur and bobo caca at the Bangunan Larut-Matang.

 

Well, that’s my list of 10 things that I miss about Taiping.

KEVII School Old Boys Reunion Dinner 22June2013

That hazy Saturday morning, I drove to my hometown, Taiping, to attend the King Edward VII School Old Boys reunion dinner. I was glad that the hazy condition was cleared after I passed Ipoh. I arrived at the hotel by about 3.30 PM. After a short rest, I went to the school field to watch the Annual Sports Day.

As a I walked to the school padang, I heard someone called my name. I turned to look and realized it was my old classmate, Karunamurthy. I thought we could hang around the padang together but Murthy said he was about to leave. He also apologized that he would not be at the reunion dinner that night.

After Murthy left, I went to the school hall to have some refreshment that would be served to guests and visitors as usual. While picking the Roti Jala and Mee Rebus, I looked around for any familiar faces. I saw one old guy that looked very familiar but I could not recall who was he. As I went over to get a seat, then, I recalled that he was my former English teacher, Mr Foo Eng Guan. He was with another former teacher, Mr Maniam (who taught in the school in the 1980’s). We were joined by a few other former students and chatted for a while. It was good to have met Mr Foo again after all this years.

After we parted ways, I went to the stall that was selling school t-shirts which I bought one. I watched the sports events for a while and left the school field by 5.00 PM.

The reunion dinner was held at the same hotel where I was staying. This year, many of the regular blokes from KL did not come to attend, except for Ramli. In fact, only very few of us from the 1978 Fifth Formers attended the dinner. Other than myself and Ramli, the others were Ban Heng and Illengoven. I noticed that the largest age group was from the boys from the 1990’s batch.  Of course, the remaining major group was those above age 65. The entertainment for the evening was by a “one man keyboard band” who strummed up many good oldy tunes of the 1970’s and 1980’s. Those old songs brought back many fond memories of our old school days like – Santana’s Black Magic Woman and Broery Marantika’s Widuri.

I was glad to be able to attend the reunion dinner despite meeting just a few of my old friends. I just hope more could attend this function in the next years to come.

Perhaps, people are just being too busy to realize that old friendships are hard to find. We should cherish old friendships whenever such an opportunity comes rather than have much regrets later when we reach our deathbeds.

My Europe Holiday - London 26-29 April 2013

Paris To London -

After breakfast, we checked out from the hotel in Paris and Martin drove us to Paris North Station for our train trip to London. We bade our farewells to Martin and checked into the train station. The process of boarding the Eurostar to London was similar to boarding a flight. After having our baggage and passports checked, we waited at the lounge until boarding time. The trip by Eurostar train from Paris to London took 2 hours.

 

We arrived at St Pancras Station, London and were greeted by our coach drivers Michael and George. We boarded the coach for our ride to our hotel which was near Bayswater Road. Along the way to the hotel, we passed by Bakers Street, which brought to mind of two things. One, the song titled “Bakers Street” by Gerry Rafferty and two, Sherlock Holmes. We also passed by Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. In about forty minutes, we arrived at our hotel at Leinster Gardens by 1.45 PM. Since our rooms were not yet ready, we waited for a while at the lounge until we got our room keys.

 

After we had checked into our room, we had lunch of “nasi himpit”, bread with rendang (sister Eliza seemed to have loads of “nasi himpit”). After lunch, Emil and I decided to explore London, mainly the main shopping street, the Oxford Street. We walked passed Malaysia Hall along the way to Queens Way Underground Station. Emil greeted some Malaysian students there to enquire about the way to Liverpool which he planned to go on Saturday afternoon. At Queens Way station, there was already a crowd of people being Friday evening after work.

We exited Marble Station to make our way to Oxford Street. The afternoon sun was shining bright but the air temperature was around 10C tops. I did not have any gloves, so, I tucked my hands in my jacket pockets. Emil and I walked almost the whole length of Oxford Street. We stepped into several shops that have sports attires or souvenirs. My son, Zharif, had asked for a Chelsea FC jersey, I had to get one for him. While we were walking towards Marble Arch station, we passed by several kiosk that sells T-shirts and souvenirs. One vendor seemed to recognize the two of us as Malaysians and greeted “Mari beli. Murah. Murah”. We just smiled and continued to walk until the next kiosk, a girl hailed “Mari beli. Murah. Satu Malaysia”. Really, are we that obvious as Malaysians? She showed us a RM10 note with a “One Malaysia” pin displayed prominently. A man (her brother, I assumed), came over and greeted “Welcome, brother. Choose which one you like, I give you good price”, gesturing at the collection of t-shirts and souvenirs. Then, I noticed my sister Eliza and her friend were also at this kiosk.

 

I was short of English currency (I had only GBP100 with me earlier. GBP50 already paid for Stonehenge/Bath tour, GBP20 already spent on Zharif’s jersey). I noticed an HSBC Visa ATM nearby. I tried to make a withdrawal but was denied due to “link not available”. I made a call to Maybank Helpline and was informed that it was 12.15 AM Malaysia time. Due to batch processing, the link will be available in another one and half hour time. I decided to return to the hotel and would check for again tomorrow.

 

London Day 2(Saturday 27 April 2013)

We had our breakfast at 8.00 AM to get ready for our city tour of London. Since I was unable to access an ATM that morning, my sister loaned my GBP50. We boarded the coach for our half-day tour. Our female guide, an elderly woman named Kate, reminded me of Miss Courtney of the old “Mind Your Language” TV series. The tour covered the famous landmarks of the city – London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, the Tower of London and Saint Paul’s Cathedral. The highlight of the tour was the Changing of Guards at Buckingham Palace. There was a very big crowd of people (with reminder from the guide “Beware of pick-pockets”). I managed to get pictures of the marching troops, by holding the camera with my hands out-stretched high above my head.

 

After the Changing of Guards, we re-boarded the coach to be taken to the Parliament Square, where we could take pictures near Westminster Abbey and the Big Ben in the background. I could not remember at which point but I did took a picture of a place called The Sherlock Holmes Restaurant. Kate mentioned the author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, usually had his meals there. She also remarked that, there is a room upstairs of the restaurant that exhibits some of Sherlock Holmes memorabilia. There was a loose crowd at the front of Westminster Abbey, all busy posing and taking pictures, especially with the Big Ben in the background. Thus ended our half-day tour of London and we bade farewell to Kate.

 

We were taken to a Malaysian owned restaurant called “Melor Restaurant” for lunch. After lunch, we had to decide where to go for the rest of the afternoon. The options were either to Madame Tussaud’s or Harrod’s. I actually wanted to go to Oxford Street again but decided to go to Madame Tussaud’s first. So, the ten of us were dropped off at Madame Tussaud’s while the remaining eight proceeded to Harrod’s. There was a very long queue at the front of the museum but fortunately for us, we could register as group. For the group tickets, the row was shorter but the ticket price was still GBP30. Our time in Madame Tussaud’s was 1.5 hours. There were many people and the popular exhibits would have a big crowd around them. I was able to get a pose by three exhibits. A fee of GBP10 would enable you to get a picture with the Royal Family exhibits, taken by a staff photographer. The picture would be handed to you in a calendar package format. There was a long queue for this, so, I passed.

 

As I reached at the level of the 4D exhibit, I felt difficult to breath because of the crowd. I asked the staff there for the way out. I walked quickly to get out of there. As I exited the museum, I really felt a great relief to breathe fresh air. Our time of 1.5 hours was almost up anyway and slowly, the rest of the group came out to join me. We waited for our coach which arrived 15 minutes later.  We were all to be taken to Harrod’s but I asked Michael (the coach driver), to let me off near Oxford Street. When I got there, I went to the Visa ATM to make a cash withdrawal. Again, it was declined due to something like “contact your bank”. So, I called Maybank Helpline and was informed that I need to activate the option for overseas withdrawal first. Fortunately, this could be done immediately upon verification of my personal details.

 

After successfully withdrawing some cash, I was able to make my intended purchase of some t-shirts and souvenirs. Then, I walked to the Marble Arch station for the trip to Queens Way station, the nearest stop to my hotel. When I reached the hotel room, my nephew was preparing his bag for his trip to Liverpool that evening. Sis Eliza passed to me more “nasi impit” for my dinner. After shower, I went to bed early since we need to rise early the next day for our optional tours.

 

London Day 3 – Optional tours. Most of our group had opted for Bicester Village while my sister and I chose to go to Stonehenge and Bath. After early breakfast, we were picked up by a shuttle to be taken to Victoria Bus Terminal. There, we boarded the tour coach designated for our optional tour for the day.

 

Our tour guide was a funny, elderly gentleman named Paul. He began his introduction by asking us to forgive his accent because he was Irish. The journey of two hours to Stonehenge was made lively with Paul’s funny stories or remarks about a certain building or location. As we arrived at Stonehenge, the air was breezy and cold. Since it was a popular tourist site, there were many people. Our time there was an hour and we were limited to the designated path for visitors, which went around the perimeter of the site.

 

We re-boarded the coach for our next destination, the city of Bath. The journey to Bath passed through the Salisbury Plains. Paul narrated that the plains was a regular training ground for the British Army and pointed out to us the signs of tanks crossing. As we approached Bath, he narrated the Roman history of Bath and it’s later Georgian history. Our time allotted for the tour of city was three hours. From the bus stop, we were guided to the Roman Bath museum. The visit of the old Roman Bath gave visitors the insights of how the Romans lived there many centuries ago.

 

After exiting from the museum, sis Eliza and I walked to Parade Gardens by the river Avon for a picnic lunch. After lunch, we walked around the garden to take some pictures with the famed Pulteney Bridge in the background. We were joined by young woman who asked me to help to take some pictures of her. After some introductions, I found out that she was from Malaysia and works near where I am at Bukit Jalil. Ah! What a small world. Since we had about 40 minutes to our departure time, we bade farewell and walked back to the bus pick-up point. We had a cup of coffee in one of the shops near there while waiting for our coach to arrive. 

 

 

The return journey to London took about three hours. Along the way, Paul introduced to us the history of the origin of the name of “Pennsylvania” state in the USA. The name had originated from a very small town of the same name in that area, about 20 minutes drive from Bath. As we entered the expressway, Paul excused himself to be quiet to allow us to nap during the journey to London. As we arrived near London, Paul woke us up to inform us of the various Underground station stops that he would make to allow some of the passengers to find our own way back to our hotels. Sis Eliza and I were let off at Queensway Station which was walking distance to our hotel.  We stopped by at an Arab restaurant to purchase our dinner.

 

After dinner and shower, I packed my bags to prepare for the journey home to KL. My nephew Emil, arrived at our room from Liverpool by 10.30 PM.

 

Day 4 London. After breakfast, it was Free and Easy for the morning until our departure from the hotel at 1.00 PM. I did not have any idea where to go, so I stayed at the hotel. At the designated time, our coach arrived to take us to Heathrow Airport.

 

Of the four cities covered in this tour, London was my favorite. Furthermore, there was the beautiful English country side and the short time was not enough to cover all the splendours of Britain. I will definitely visit Britain again.

 

 

Europe Holiday - Brussels and Paris

 

Day 3 – After breakfast, we boarded the coach for our trip to Brussels and Paris. The whole journey by road would take 5 to 6 hours (2 hours to Brussels,  then, 3-4 hours to Paris) depending on traffic condition. Along the drive from Amsterdam, Martin made some commentary regarding the history of Belgium in general. Martin also commented that since the formation of Eurozone, travelling between the countries that are members of Eurozone do not require the checking of passports. Our route to Brussels via expressway would pass near Antwerp.  I remember this city in the story titled “The Dog of Flanders”. 

As we entered Brussels, we stopped briefly at the landmark of the city called The Atomium, just enough time to take some pictures. Then, we were taken into the heart of the city, The Grand Place. Our tour leader informed us that we were allowed 2.5 hours to visit the area and have lunch there. Since it was the lunch hour, the many eateries and the parks were filled with the local workforce having their lunch. Since this was early spring, The Grand Place was quite bare except for two or three local artist promoting their work and one or two selling the flowers. In the peak of spring, The Grand Place would be a huge flower market. We took some pictures here and as I walked around, I spotted a Godiva Chocolate outlet housed in one of the many old but sturdy shop buildings. We then walked to an open park and picked a spot at the fountain there to have lunch. Similar to many of the locals, our lunch  was sandwiches made of bread with canned tuna. When the time was up, we boarded our coach for the almost 4 hours ride to Paris.

 

 

Just as we were leaving Brussels I dozed off(which I regretted) and missed the Belgium countryside. When I woke up, we were already on the expressway in France. After over two hours of driving, Martin announced that he would stop for a 45 minutes break at the next R&R area, Aire d’Assevillers-Quest. All of us got off for much needed toilet break. We spent the time browsing the shops here or for tea at the food outlet. As I was walking to the coach, my nephew and I noticed a large poster depicting a World War One Museum located near that area called Peronne. It was another two hours drive until we arrived at Paris. We had to go through a very busy traffic upon entering the city. By the time we reached our hotel (Holiday Villa Paris), it was already 6.30 PM. We checked into our rooms and I took a warm shower. After a dinner of “nasi impit” with beef rendang, I fell asleep.

 Paris Day 2. After breakfast, we had our city-tour of Paris. Our French guide, Catherine, introduced and narrated to us the history of various landmarks and buildings as we passed by them. Most of the pictures that I took were from the moving bus. We were allowed to stop for 30 minutes to get down from the coach to takes pictures near Le Invalides and the Arc de Triomphe. Our ultimate tour of the day was going up the Eiffel Tower (level two). By this time, the temperature was quite warm and I could remove my jacket. The view from Level 2 was spectacular.

 

 

 

The day tour of Paris was completed by 2.30 PM. The afternoon was free and easy. My nephew and I decided to walk to Gallery Lafayette. We arrived at a building that have the sign but we noticed it was quiet. A kind security personnel asked us what were we looking for and we informed that we were looking for the shopping gallery. He replied that this was the business office and the shopping gallery is another 20 minutes-walk from there. We thanked him and continued to walk until we finally located the real Gallery Lafayette. That shopping mall was crowded with tourists. I was only interested to buy some souvenirs and I found them of the 5^th floor. After my purchase, I walked back to the hotel which took me 20 minutes. I decided to have my dinner at the hotel restaurant since the menu was “Halal”. I ordered “Malaysian Fried Rice” and it was good. Later, I found out that the chef is a Malaysian.

After dinner, I spent the evening packing up because we will be leaving Paris for London early after breakfast. Time to bade farewell to Paris.
 

 

(Next – London).

Europe Holiday-Amsterdam 22-23 Apr 2013

I had dreamed and planned to have a holiday in Europe for a very, very long time. It became a reality this year. In January 2013, my elder sister, Eliza, was looking for people to join her tour group and she asked me whether I was interested. I made a quick decision and said “yes”. I paid her the deposit and the tour agency would advise when to pay the rest of the full payment and the itinerary.

 

The trip would be a 10 days, 7 nights trip to cover Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and London. I discussed with my boss of my intended holiday and informed him that I planned to take two weeks leave. He agreed but advised me to remind him again two weeks before my planned leave and to also ensure that I briefed and handover my duties to my deputy.

The day of departure came and I was really excited. I followed the weather reports and noted the temperatures would be quite cold this early spring.

The tour group assembled at KLIA by 8.30PM at the International Check-in floor. However, a few of the members arrived a little late but still in time for the group check-in. The group consisted of 19 people(18 participants and the tour leader). Our flight to Amsterdam was 23.55 (11.55PM) and scheduled to arrive at Schiphol Airport 5.15AM (Amsterdam time). I could not sleep very well during the 12 hours flight because of the stiff back rest and was not very comfortable. However, as we exited Schiphol Airport to board the coach, the blast of cold air really awakened me. We were greeted by our guide for the day, Adi and the coach driver, Martin. Martin is from Amsterdam while Adi is from Jakarta but has worked in Amsterdam for 8 years.

First stop of the day was to Zaanse Schans. It is a Show Village where the old Dutch traditional houses and windmills are relocated from various parts of Netherlands and restored. Other attractions at Zaanse Schans for visitors to see were the demonstrations on how cheese and the traditional clogs are made. There are two or three shops selling souvenirs and two or three cafes. After the allotted two and half  hours, we boarded the coach and headed to Volendam, a traditional fishing village.

 

When we arrived at Volendam, it does not resemble like a fishing village at all. The houses there were neat and the view was beautiful. Along the narrow street, many eateries and souvenir shops aligned on the both sides. There were also shops that takes pictures of customers who would dressed-up in traditional Dutch clothes for a fee. We had lunch of fish and potatoes in Volendam at one of the restaurants picked by Adi, our guide. After lunch, we re-boarded the coach and was taken around Amsterdam for a city-tour. As part of the city-tour, we stopped at a diamond polishing factory and also a canal cruise. I enjoyed the canal cruise because it allowed me to view Amsterdam from a different perspective.

 

As the city-tour ended, Adi bade farewell and Martin(the coach driver) drove us to our hotel which was located not far from Schiphol Airport. We finally checked-in to our rooms by 6.30PM. After that long day, I welcomed a shower. My roommate was my nephew, Emil (sister Eliza’s youngest son). We had dinner in our room with some packed foodstuff that we had brought with us from KL.

 

 

Amsterdam Day 2 – after breakfast, we were taken to visit the Flower Market where tourists could see the flowers were traded by the thousands, similar to share market. In the large warehouse, hundreds of large trolleys filled with all kind of flowers could be seen. This visit took us an hour to complete.

 

 

 

Our next visit for the day was the famous Keukenhof Tulip Gardens. The time allotted for us was 4 hours. This tulip garden is so large that even in that allotted time, we could only cover about 70 percent of the whole place. Visitors are only allowed to walk (wheel-chair for the handicapped) and I needed to rest several times to complete the visit within 4 hours. Lunch was the packed food we brought along with us but we purchased hot coffee and mini-pancakes from one of the food outlets there.

When the time was up, we boarded the coach and off into Amsterdam for our own free and easy walk-about around the city. Most would shop for souvenirs, to take pictures and also to look for food to take-away for dinner later. My sister and I bought some food from an Arab snack shop located at a side-street.

 

 

 

 (Next - Day 3- by coach to Brussels and Paris).

Missing Taiping Very Much

Taiping, oh, Taiping.

Missing my old hometown very much.

Just hoping for when I can go back home again.