Mencari Jibam

I have been looking for you high and low for the last 2 months. Where are you Jibam?! When I first saw you 10 years ago, I fell in love with you. I regret I did not hold on to you then. I would not have been in such a despair now if I hadn't let you go then. Marayau-rayau aku mencari engkau di Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, bertanya sana-sini samada mereka ada melihat engkau, tapi hampa. How long are you going to leave me like this? Months ago I told a kakak at Kota Damansara Uptown about you, left my name and contact number and pleaded with her to contact me as soon as she found you, but I did not hear anything from her. Last night I went to see that kakak and asked again, she said she spread words about you but to no avail. The kakak said she contacted your publisher but they said they will only publish you again in a month's time.

Can't wait to read stories of your life, happiness and sorrow again, Jibam by Ujang.

A New Chapter Of My LIfe?

Last Wednesday, I tendered my resignation. Just started working there two and a half weeks ago tapi I realized that the job is just too mundane and heavily administrative for me. Some of my friends said I must be crazy leaving a multinational oil & gas company such as this company but they are those who are supportive of my decision. I didn't just left like that without anywhere to go to (that would be dumb!) but I have accepted another offer from a chemical company where I'll start work next week. Thought I should broaden my experience in a different industry and a European company after working in oil & gas industry for almost seven years with an American company. Lagipun the job scope in this new company is wider and I will be doing what I truly desire.

Yesterday, pergi headhunter's office to sit for assessment test and dropped a couple of documents with my new employer. The assessment test consists of personality test, comprehension test and numerical test. The personality test ada 400 questions that has to be finished in 50 mins, comprehension test 60 questions in 40 mins and numerical test 30 questions in 30 mins. Stressful and very mental challenging betul sebab dah lama tak sit for this kind of test and selalu kira guna calculator aje but not in this case. Petang tu pulak mum called mengadu my brother blow all the fuses in the house masa tengah try buat wiring untuk lampu kat porch.

Today, decided to invite Rizal, my youngest brother for lunch. Lagipun dah lama dapur kat rumah ni tak berasap. Selongkar peti ais tengok apa barang yang masih boleh simpan and mana yang dah expired. Banyaklah yang masuk dalam tong sampah. Decided nak masak chicken curry, fry fish, kacang panjang goreng dengan telur and sambal belacan. Check expiry date on the chicken and fish, ok boleh guna lagi. Nak kata terrer masak tu taklah tapi so far nobody died or kena food poisioning as a result of my cooking. Curry ni my speciality especially fish curry. Late abah memang suka makan fish curry, so mum made me learn to make fish curry when I was seven. So, whenever abah nak makan fish curry, she just asked me to cook.

Realized that serbuk kari ayam takde. Yang tinggal cuma serbuk kari ikan aje. Pergilah turun ke grocery shop nearby. Masa tengah bayar, aci ni tanya where's my mother. Aik, aci ni pun dah kenal my mum. I yang duduk kat sini 2 tahun pun masih tak kenal all the neighbours. Bukannya kera sumbang tapi kalau dah awal-awal subuh keredek pergi kerja and malam baru balik, mana ada kesempatan nak kenal. Anyway, Mum memang kalau datang sini memang selalunya spent more time at my house. Kira her second homelah. Aku balik dari keje je, dia akan cerita background my neighbours, asal dari manalah, keje apalah, anak berapalah.....kira dah suaikenallah.

When Rizal came by, I was out paying crefit card bills for Liza. Inilah keje aku tiap-tiap bulan sebab dia nun jauh kat Dubai. Sebelum tu dah SMS Rizal telling him to help himself. Semua dishes dah hidang. Sementara dia ada kat sini suruhlah dia ajar aku download lagu dalam iPod. Masih blur lagi sebab baru beli iPod a couple of weeks ago.

Esok pagi-pagi ingat nak pergi jogging kat Taman Tun Dr Ismail. Dah two months tak pergi gym. Buta-buta aje bayar monthly fee tapi tak guna facilities. Alex pun tak call to schedule one -to-one session. Rasa-rasanya ada lagi three sessions dengan dia. Will give him a buzz tomorrow. Kalau tidak rugilah tak utilize the sessions sebab dah bayar in advance. Talking about the devil, just received an SMS from him for a 9 a.m. session with him tomorrow. Guess have to scrap jogging at Taman Tun then.

Chiangmai

Rose of the North - that's what Chiangmai is called. Went to Chiangmai last weekend dengan 4 other friends for 3 days and 2 nites. We departed at 8.50 a.m. from LCCT and arrived at Chiangmai airport 2 hrs and 50 mins later. Once arrived in Chiangmai, dah ada pick up van to take us to the hotel. Sebelum datang, Stef dah book accomodation kat Suriwongse. Part of the package was tour to handicraft centres before check in kat hotel. All these handicraft centres memang dekat antara satu sama lain. All in one street and of walking distance.

The first place Noi, our guide took us was to Saa Paper and Umbrella Handicraft Centre. Chiangmai memang famous for handmade paper umbrella. They still use the traditional way including the equipment and it was a very tedious process. Just like its name, the paper is made from the balk of a tree called Saa which is soaked in the water for a period of time with some checmicals sampai lembut. Bila tengok cara diorang buat paper tu, I teringat the traditional way Chinese made paper yang I pernah watched on Discovery Channel. They used a frame with a net cloth yang diregangkan and masukkan dalam kolah filled with water mixed with Saa tree yang dah hancur dan lembut tadi. Then, a thin layer will appear on the net. Nak buat ni nampak aje senang but requires skill. Kalau tidak, you won't get a smooth thin layer. This piece akan dijemur bawah matahari for at least 3 hours sampai kering. Kaki payung pulak is also handmade from bamboo. Once the put the umbrella together, they will paint and decorate the umbrella. Paint used memang water resistant and takkan luntur. In spite of the complexity of the process, the price of these umbrella is between RM4 - 10 depending on saiz. Selain daripada tu, you can get the artist there to handpaint your pants, bags, or wherever you like for a small fee.

The next place we went to was the Siam Celadon where ceramic things are made and sold mostly pinggan mangkuklah. Mula-mula bila tengok quality and how exquisite the workmanship was, ingatkan mesti mahal gila-gila. Tapi bila tengok harga, rasa macam tak percaya. Memang very very very cheap. Apalagi, shopping sakanlah. I bought a tea set, plates, mugs for myself and a few other stuff as souveniers for loved ones. For all these the damage was just a little over RM100 (about BHT 1,000). Our next stop after lunch was the silver factory called Louis Silverware. Sebelum masuk the showroom, there was a briefing and demo on how they mix the silver and macamana carvings were done. When we saw some of the finished pieces displayed some as as big as more than 5' x 3' not mentioning the detailed craftsmanship, we were so amazed and impressed by how creative and skillful the locals are. One of the pieces took 3 years and 8 months. Kat sana, biasalah we all women sibuk bargain and bought silver jewelleries. Finally, our last stop was at ShinawatraThai Silk. This place actually belongs to Thailand PM. Noi told us that the famous Jim Thompson Silk tu pun ambil supply kat sini sebab they do not have a factory. Kat entrance they was a display of the process on how caterpillars dibela and dibiak sampai jadi kepompong. About 70% of the caterpillars digunakan untuk sutera and the rest dibela untuk pembiakan. One of the staff showed us how to identify a genuine Thai silk from the fake one. Kalau a genuine Thai Silk dibakar, ada bau macam rambut terbakar tapi kalau yang fake, bau macam plastic terbakar. Harga kat situ memang mahal. The cheapest I saw pun BHT2750 (RM275) for a silk blouse. Ended up buying T-shirts aje kat situ.

When Noi dropped us at the hotel, she gave some tips when shopping at Night Bazaar. Kalau nak bargain, go as low as 50%. T-Shirts should cost not more than BHT150 and if you do not agree with the price, just walk away. Night Bazaar ni betul-betul depan our hotel. It starts at 4 p.m. and closes at 12 p.m. Malam tu, lepas dinner kat Royal India Restaurant, Zura and I went to check out the bazaar. Things sold there among others, T-Shirts, clothes, wood carvings, silverware, cotton, silk and other types of handicrafts. There are also artists kat situ painting potraits. The potraits nampak betul-betul real macam photographs in black and white. Really mind blowing. Lama jugak dudukl kat situ admiring the potraits and watched the artists at work.

The following day was free and easy. In the morning, after breakfast, we explored the city. Actually, Chiangmai is the second largest metropolitan city in Thailand. Although dah modern tapi masih ada traditional charm. We walked through the streets, stopped at a couple of shops and lepak at a bar while main snooker. Bar ni special sikit sebab there were a lot of graffities with messages written on the wall by tourists. One interesting one saw by Anita kat dalam toilet, "If you are not leaving on the edge, you are taking too much space". Whilst the rest checked out a tattoo shop opposite the bar, Zura and me decided to visit the Three Kings Monument in the new city and 2 ancient temples located in the old city, Wat Phra Sing and Wat Chedi Luang on foot.

Three Kings Monument ni was built to commemorate the 3 13th century kings who chose the site of the new city, King Kue Na, King Saen Muang Ka and King Mengrai. Unlike the common temple architecture you normally see in Thailand, Wat Chedi Luang architecture has Myanmar influence. The legend says that it's old name was 'Chotikaram' or 'Blazing Temple'. A large earthquake in B.C 2088 caused the summit of the chedi to collapse. It was reconstructed several times after the earthquake but the structure continued to collapse and no further restoration or construction was made. Wat Phra Sing, formerly called Wat Lee Chiang was constructed 700 years ago by King Pirayos of Mengrai Dynasty. The most renown Buddha image, Pra Buddhasihing was installed here after the chariot carrying it broke at this spot. Because of this incident, Wat Lee Chiang became known as Wat Lee Chiang Pra and consequently got its present name, Wat Phra Sing.

Balik ke hotel we took Tuk-Tuk, dah tak larat nak jalan. Mula-mula tu ada satu driver tu nak charge BHT100 , we all rasa mahal and walked away. Then another driver approached us and offered us BHT50, we immediately said YES! Our itinerary at night pulak was watching Simon Chiangmai Cabaret Show. The performers were transverstite yang dah memang fully 'transformed' which means those yang dah went through series of surgeries of you-know-what lah. Bila tengok memang lawa-lawa lah, kalah perempuan. The performance was decent, taklah raunchy although the performers wore sexy and revealing constumes. In between the performances, adalah 2 'minah' yang buat comedy sketch. Memang kelakar sampai went to the audience and teased some of them to touch his errr 'her' boobs. In general, the whole show was quite entertaining.

We did not do some other major highlights in Chiangmai like visit the hilltribes villages, the Elephant Camp, Doi Inthanon - the highest peak in Thailand among a few. Masa pun tak cukup. Nak buat benda-benda tu kena stay longer. But at least have an idea to go again the next time to do all these things pulak. Nak cari halal food pun senang, kat Anusarn Food Market, just a walking distance from Suriwongse. Chiangmai definitely a must place to visit.

Cambodia - Part 2

Awal-awal pagi bangun bertolak ke the temple area. Dekat main entrance, we all bought tickets for one day tour at USD20. If you want to hire a guide or transport to go around the temple area, ramai yang dah standy kat main entrance for a fee. We decided not too sebab we got a couple of Angkor Visitor Guide Book which you can get at any hotel or guesthouse and I also bought a book called Angkor Wat Forever by Thierry Diwo with photographs and information about the temples and the wall carvings. We spent a lot of time kat the most popular temple, Angkor Wat believed to bebuilt by Suryavarman II. It a huge complex and took between 25 - 30 yaers to complete. Ada banyak wall carvings depicting kisah-kisah their kings and gods. It was like a treasure hunt for us sebab we were referring to the book looking for prominent wall carvings and bas-reliefs highlighted in the book. Kat Angkor Wat ada 12 sancuatry towers. Tangga nak panjat towers tu memang very steep, I think about 80 degrees. Memang gayatlah rasanya nak panjat, we were contemplating about it tapi kalau tak naik, rugi. Masa naik tu tak berani nak tengok bawah.

Sebelum proceed to other temples, we had lunch at a French cafe right kat depan Angkor Wat. I bukalah bekalan serunding and asked for plain rice. We covered most of the 'must see' temples like Phnom Bakeng, Angkor Thom, Bayon, The Rolous Group, Terrace of the Elephants, Terrace of the Leper King among a few. On our way back, stopped kat Phnom Bakeng to watch the sunset. Nak ke Phnom Bakeng pun challenging jugak sebab kena panjat a steep hill dulu lepas tu kena panjat stairs kat Phnom Bakeng to get to the top of the temple. Menggigil jugak kepala lutut. Sampai kat atas, you can see the whole temple area. Memang cantik sebab nampak temples di celah-celah hutan. Actually, kat Angkor Wat pun boleh tengok sunset from one of the towers.

After 2 nites kat Siem Reap and jenuh dah shopping kat Old Market, we returned to Phnom Penh on the morning flight. Sebelum tu, breakfast kat bar di Red Piano, hired a motordups to go to the airport. On the way to the airport realized camcorder tertinggal kat hotel. Nak patah balik tak sempat. Nasib baik Stef ada business card Red Piano. Terus call owner Red Piano, a French guy and he got his staff to get the camcorder and sent it to the airport. I was worried that the staff might not be able to make it to the airport on time but when we arrived at the airport, we actually missed our flight to Siem Reap. We may have got the time mixed up and took our own sweet time to get to the airport. Masing-masing panik tapi nasib baik boleh take the next flight without any extra cost. What a blessing in disguise. Sempat jugak staff Red Piano tu reached the airport to pass me the camcorder.

Sampai kat Phnom Penh, we stayed at rumah Stef's friend, Hui Ling a Malaysian who is married to a Cambodian. Dia bawaklah we all pergi Russian Market and tolong we all tawar menawar barang-barang kat sana. I bought silk cloth, wood carvings including a lazy chair. We all also pekena coffee kat one of the stalls. Memang kao! Malam tu, dia bawak round kat bandar Phnom Penh and had dinner kat a French restaurant belonging to their friend. Hui Ling and her husband gave her insights on Cambodia. Kesian jugak dengar sebab actually susah jugak kehidupan orang-orang kat Cambodia. The basic things like electric and water memang expensive sampai USD200 per month. Yang lain-lain tu tak eloklah I nak cerita tapi bila dengar cerita-cerita macam ni rasa bertuahnya jadi penduduk Malaysia.

Cambodia - Part 1

I went to Cambodia in May 2004 together with my 2 female travelling buddies, Stef & Zura for 4 days & 3 nites. We did a lot of surfing on the net, reading Lonelyplanet and asking around from those yang pernah ke sana when planning our trip. Masa tu, MAS had no direct flight to Siem Reap, so we had to fly to Phnom Penh and take a domestic flight to Siem Reap. We all book the tickets pun masa kat MATTA Fair. Stef's friend, a Malaysia married to a Cambodian yang tolong book kan domestic flight tickets. Domestic airlines available were President Airline, Siem Reap Airways & Royal Phnom Penh. Tapi kena check from time to time sebab the domestic airline company ni kadang-kadang boleh tiba-tiba bungkus (bankrupt). Once we reached Phnom Penh airport, we briefly met her, collected the tickets and flew straight to Siem Reap. Kalau tak silap the ticket fare dalam USD50 - USD60. The adventurous alternative to air travel to Siem Reap is by river ferry. The journey will take about 4 - 6 hours (251 km) depending on the season. The best is during wet season (June - November). Dry season low water can mean smaller, less comfortable boats and occasional groundings. The advantages of taking river ferry are you will see all these photogenic sceneries, villages and look at how the locals live. Ticket masa tu costs between USD21 - USD25 and have to be purchased a day in advance. Anyway, when we arrived in Siem Reap, dah ada pick up from the hotel. Tak ingat hotel mana we all duduk tapi we decided to check out after one nite and stayed at The Red Piano. We found out about The Red Piano from a friend after we have made our booking at the former hotel before we left Malaysia. The distance from the airport to Siem Reap town is only 7 km. Kalau takde pick up van pun, you can just take the motordups. The room at the first hotel tu memang comfortable and clean. Then, we asked the van driver about taking us to the Old Market to check out guesthouse, Red Piano. We all beria-ria negotiate price. Mula-mula tu dia nak charge us USD20 to take us there including to a restaurant to watch the traditional dance. Bargain punya bargain we decided on USD10. So, we all happily got into the van. But buntut pun tak warm up lagi, we all saw this place terpampang The Red Piano. We were very pleased thinking that we got a good deal. Rupa-rupanya Red Piano and the Old Market were just a walking distance from the hotel. We all looked at each other dengan muka blur. Mula-mula tu, with each other we all sumpah seranahlah van driver tu tapi bila ingatkan face expression masing-masing, tergelak pulak thinking how stupid we were. Sampai kat The Red Piano, we all asked to check out the room. Bila tengok bilik dia, teringat children's story The 3 Bears. Alah, cerita pasal Father Bear, Mother Bear ngan Baby Bear yang ada satu girl masuk rumah the bears and makan sup diorang tu. Warna bedsheet dia oren terang with white, one cupboard. Kebetulan pulak ada 3 katil, itu yang teringat cerita The 3 Bears tu. Anyway, after seeing the room we decided to make reservation to stay there the following nite. Actually the Red Piano ni was where crews movie Tomb Raider stayed while they were filming the movie in Cambodia. Adalah photo Angelina Jolie kat wall di bar kat situ. After that we decided to check out The Old Market. This Old Market is the most tourist-oriented because it has a lot of souvenir stalls offering a wide range of souvenirs from wood carvings, semi-precious stones, silk, silverware, paintings & macam-macam lagi. Apa lagi, we all put our bargaining skills into action. The tip is that kalau penjual tu tak nak lower the price, just walk away. Nanti dia akan panggil you balik and agree to the price you initally asked. But if you go to several stores pun harga yang diorang offer sama, that is the bottomlinelah. Of course the locals will pay much much lower but you are a tourist, so kenalah bayar tourist price. You will also need to consider that the locals ni hidup susah, basic things like electric, water yang most of us Malaysians take for granted memang ridiciliously expensive. Ramai yang could not afford. So, janganlah sampai bargain terlampau rendah sangat.