Perkahwinan desa permai

Selamat Pengantin Baru

A couple of weeks ago I attended a relative's wedding in Kuala Pilah deep into the interior of Negeri Sembilan where your telco signal intermittently connects you to the outside world. It was a good change to witness the slow pace of life even during a wedding reception. 

The Tok Kadhi had a field day and is in no hurry when he took his time asking the 'suami to be' many many questions like..apa dia hukum Islam...cuba baca niat Dzohor berjema'ah ... etc...never running out of 'challenging' questions. 

Tergedik-gedik juga kawan menjawab..

Jaguh karaoke village beauty

Apart from the ever popular karaoke kampong (never short of AF wannabees & occassional Raja Lawak) the most talked about item on the agenda is of course - FOOD.

 

I bet you have not heard of Umbit Sawit - masakan lomak santan and daun kunyit. pheh ! 

Buek apo ambik gambar jang ?

And the best part of it all, which is at the brink of extinction ....the spirit of gotong royong oleh jiran kampong.

On the way home managed to grab a couple of Daging Salai just outside the town.

Balik kampong wo-oh-oh-oh balik kampong...

The journey begins..

First and foremost both the old Black Beauties were given the royal treatment to ensure a safe and sound journey..

Does embarking every weekend for 24 weeks on a bike journey through the unbeaten track of the peninsula sounds like an adventure ?  It sure does if loosing your way through the hot afternoon sun and the occasional heavy thunderstorm is your idea of a good adventure.

It all began last Saturday with the meter reading of 2240 mls / 3,604 km. and the first venue Trolak Selatan was not a disappointing one either. Going through the highway and exiting Sungkai is where the journey takes you through oil palm plantation. Yes the ocassional 'babi hutan' darting across the road was as expected as ever but surprisingly this time it happened within the Felda gated residence.

Once again the food was simply as kampung as you can possibly get - sambal belacan and the works.. Not surprisingly the local folks speak loghat Kedah as any other Felda Settlements elsewhere.

On the way home it was a definate pit-stop at ye old kueh pau joint made famous by the old apek on the corner of the main trunk road.

 

It now boasts a network of other joints in the city of KL where some people say this may affect the ori taste.

 

So a couple of 'bungkus to be kukus' later made their way into the box and off we went on the journey back to KL.

 A very wet and satisfying journey that is...

Next Kota Tinggi or maybe Gua Musang..

Kampung Pengantin berpindah

During this current economic uncertainty, one thing's for sure, - if you are going to get hitched, there are no two ways about it. Cannot postpone if the 'tarikh telah ditetapkan', so the next best thing to do is to find a suitable location to hold your kenduri.

You have a few choices.

 

Do it in your Kampung, that is if you have any kampung left (and if you consider KL a kampung), - do it in a  Hotel ( if budget is not a factor than by all means) - do it in your house,  if it has big enough compound or your house is at a dead end of the road, - do it in a Balai Raya if you can find one nearby, or better still if you want a simple cheap one - across the border-Siam? (not guaranteed)

A wiser choice now would be 'Kampung Pengantin'.

Reasonable ( in times of an economic downturn) yet very presentable.

Yes this is the same one in Ampang, behind the Proton showroom. The place has shifted to its new location in Setapak. A huge 2 acre space (about 20 shop-lot) enough to accomodate more than 1000 guest.

According to my friend Syed Nahar (who happens to be the owner), almost everyday, newly weds come by to check out the place and more often than not without hesitation book their date at this newly opened Bridal Village. It seems that he has secured almost all the weekends for this year. (Amboi ramai sungguh nak kahwin, siapa kata gawat )

All the best Syed , I think you have a winner here.

To those who plan to tie the Knot... 'Selamat Pengantin Baru' dan 'Lama'.

Opening of DUKE

click for more pictures

I took a ride on my scooter today towards the newly opened DUKE express way that connects Taman Hillview, Ulu Klang to Jalan Duta Interchange. It was a strange experience especially riding through unfamiliar territory. More strangely is the sudden downpour of rain right in the middle of a sunny day as though as the heavens are welcoming me. 

It sure felt like Stevie Wonder's Sir Duke, especially when the 6 lane road is empty and no toll being charged, at least for now but obviously not for long.

Ground Zero Memorial Park Bukit Antarabangsa

This is the spot where one can engage a clearer perspective on the landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa where 5 lives were tragically lost.

Could this be a potential site for a Memorial Park ?

Almost everyday scores of visitors keep coming by at this location to have a closer look.

After all if we still fail to learn from the past, we anticipate that life will return to normalcy in a couple of months and all will be forgotten.

Our prayers goes out to the families of the victims. Amin.

smalltalk on bukit antarabangsa

Last night at 'Ole Cafe' Changkat Bukit Bintang I presented an informal kakireka smalltalk about the recent Bukit Antarabangsa landslide. What was suppose to be a personal account as a designer reserved for my blog ended up as a public presentation to my fellow comrades in the creative industry.

At first I was quite sceptical on the topic with regards to its relevance but as I dwelt deeper into it I realised that it was actually an eye opener for our well being as responsible designers.

Thanks to Gary and of course Kenneth for persuading me into presenting this talk when we had our brainstorming session in Mid valley a fortnight ago.

Thank you for those who have given their relentless support to the smalltalk.

Its one way of realising our hope that designers be 'thinking' designer rather than just a 'visualising' designer.

click here to access the link to the presentation on pdf.

In conclusion, the talk ended with a question thrown at the audience on the willingness of us designers going down to 'ground zero' and contribute like the good people from the SPCA.

Ole ole bandung

A short trip to Bandung helps rejuvenate the soul. This time there was no shopping nor excessive spending. Its fundamentally a 'get away' trip for the mind.



Resided at Dago Pakar Resort, excellent view from a higher altitude. No air-cond but cooling mountain air. About rp 1.5 million ( about rm 500) for a five bedroom bungalow.




Lunch at Kampung Daun and dinner at the Rock, both outdoor dining with the cool mountain air. Gives another meaning to 'makan angin'.




And of course, for those shopaholic especially among Malaysians is the unavoidable Rumah Mode.

Just when the mind was about to achieve a state of Alpha Beta, my peaceful state of nirwana was short lived when calls kept coming in from friends and relatives enquiring about the safety of my house in Bukit Antarabangsa.

We were in Bandung when the tragic landslide occured.

I will cover that topic in my next posting as I am busy preparing a talk related to the landslide.

Felda Palong 5.

..is venue number 6 for the Gempak Desa Astro roadshow. It is also the venue that I did not attend. However courtesy of our dedicated photographers Hazwan and Apai the following images were captured.

There were familiar faces among the crowd, which totaled close to around 4500 people. There were those who were from the last venue in Keratong who travelled all the way to Palong to attend the concert for the second time.

6 venues done, 6 more to go.

mee kaki ayam

They say it tastes good and out of curiosity thats what I ordered from a new food joint called Noodle Station in Platinum Walk Setapak (near Uptown). 

I had a tough time trying to stay focused wondering as to where or what has these tiny feet been up to before ending up in the cooking pot. 

Apparently this is the 8th outlet (being the 1st in KL) to open outside Kota Bharu Kelantan, where it originated producing home made noodles with quite a variety of dishes to choose from.  For those kaki noodles this is the right place to be. 

 

Felda Kahang Timur, Kluang

... about 535 km to and fro Kuala Lumpur, again on a solo ride through the occasional rain pouring southern national highway. A small rural plantation settlement totaling about 400 homes with Kahang Barat as neighbouring kampung. 20 km away is the Gunung Berlumut, locally famous for its waterfall.

There are two famous landmarks found here in Kluang

1. the Kluang prison and

2. the original Kluang Station Kopitiam.

This is also the 5th venue for Gempak Desa Astro held last Saturday the 29th Nov. 2008

As usual majority of the artistes are from the Akademi Fantasia fame, among them are Syawal, Akma, Noni, Edlin, Hazama, and non AF stars like Farish, Tam and Alam. Performing to a crowd of about 2000 locals, the weather was very kind indeed.

To preserve the working relationship with various parties I have been 'instructed' to remove an article I wrote in this blog which is deemed unsuitable for public consumption.

Well its the risks of doing 'live' shows.

Its the same risk of riding solo at high speed on Malaysian roads with darting monkeys, iguanas and even wild boars. - Ride Safe !

Heritage of George Town

Now that George Town has been inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage List, (an effort made by Malaysia since 2004), it now runs the risk of loosing it.  

The heritage guidelines states that there is a five-storey limit on new buildings within the core and buffer zones of the heritage zone. However four high-rise buildings were approved within strict MPPP guidelines where the tallest, a 23-storey property got the nod 10 days before the Unesco listing.

The Golden Twilight Question : - 

Freeze the approval and run the risk of being sued for hundreds of millions or allow George Town be struck off  the World Heritage list.

It now seems obvious that we need to use more than just a polish to bring back the luster of the 'Pearl of the Orient'. What a shame, hopefully there will be an amicable solution in sight.

Felda Keratong 2

The nasi lemak was awesome. One of the most simplest, delicious and 'lemakest' nasi lemak I have ever tasted. (the artistes can vouch for that too)

Its 5 pod beras to 1.5 nyiok kelapa revealed the Makchik who insisted that we call her 'Mak'. She also invited us all to stay at her house to save our money on hotels which we had to politely turn down. Talk about rural hospitality to total strangers.

This is Felda Keratong 2 the 4th venue for Gempak Desa Astro with a turn out of over 7000 people which so far happens to be the biggest, involving over 60 polis personnel and 50 rela volunteers.

the artiste line-up with the locals posing for a photo shoot.

3 live wire of the group from Akademi Fantasia fame. Ustaz Dini uniquely using cartoons to preach while Ustaz Akhil sang to preach. Very appealing sermons.

It was again another exhilarating solo ride from KL to Keratong, Rompin Pahang totalling 212 km return.

Overall at this venue, the crowd was good, the food excellent, the hospitality very accommodating and the weather was well, made for riding.

Felda Chini 3

is the third venue for Gempak Desa Astro and its location is about 30 mins away from the mythical and legendary home of the Naga Seri Gumum (Malaysia's very own Loch Ness Monster).
Tasik Chini offers tranquil and peaceful surroundings and is believed to contain an ancient sunken Khmer city at the bottom of it as vouched by the local Orang Asli.

Black & white bodied squirrels, monkeys, wild cats can be seen running wild with the occasional horn-bills hovering across the tree tops.

As usual the locals came out in full force to enjoy the weekend with their favourite artistes.

Major mode of transport in the Felda Settlement is of course the motorcycle and it was a pleasant surprise to find that it comes in various forms and sizes.

The journey this time was made up of three bikers and a pocketful of tranquilled memories.