Parliament

Dewan Rakyat in Session...

Today wanted to see the Parliament convene and followed a friend of mine who works in Mindef. We met a few notable politicians and had lunch with their respective secretaries at the Parliament cafeteria.


Bumped into YB KJ, YB Mukhriz, YB Hisham, YB JJ and even had a short encounter to congratulate YB Nasharuddin Mat Isa for being elected as Deputy President of PAS. Last time i met him was like 6 years ago while visiting Foreign Ministry and sat next to him for lunch.


Took some shots inside of the Parliament. Only place that is restricted to take photo is of the House (Dewan Rakyat) while in session.


While there, i also bumped into an old friend Azrin who was chatting in Datuk Seri Nazri's office. He is currently the Media and PR person for Datuk Mukhriz. Cheekily asked about the AP from his boss ministry and his reply was a short "We do not take new applications"... hehehe :)... But i must say his boss's house in Kenny Hills is beautiful!!! Its a resort to me and a dream home!!!...

Old pal Azrin from Peace in Palestine... He is currently Head of Media for Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir

Day 15-17: Tg Demong-Kota Bharu-Tg Demong-Kuala Terengganu-Sekayu Waterfall-Tg Demong-Mangkuk

Day 15:

I lost my digicam while swimming yesterday and so me and my roommates left for KB to visit Ayeh and also stop at KB Mall to buy a camera. Bumped into Hanim, Ida's sister while there.


I bought myself a Olympus camera again. Almost similar but better and more modern look compared to the last one.

First shot of me from the new Olympus camera...

We stopped at Ridel's Hotel near Riverside but because it was going to rain we changed venue to Hayaki...

Ayeh wanted to bring us to a Karaoke place in a bangalow in KB. Unfortunately it was full. In KB you cant operate karaoke joint as it is against the state law.


We left home for Tanjung Demong at around 1am and arrive close to 2am.

Woke up late... thinking what to do today as it was a holiday due to the Agong's birthday...

Had breakfast first... and later told my friends to go to KT for my uncle's nasi ayam shop... they all agreed and got ourself ready for the trip...

This is my bed... No time to make it... misses wifey for this! hehehe

My Kelate rommate who is a new BN member :)

On our way to KT we stop at a house near Penarek (Mangkuk) that has the CENT system... we will be there tomorrow...

Upon arriving KT i remembered Norzu is there for her candat sotong experience...

Brought Norzu along with my roommates...

My uncle Ayah Wang Latif...

His son... served us the nasik ayam and rojak ayam... sedapppp!!!

After lunch we sent Nor to where we pick her up at Kemaman Coffee Shop... and from there we left for Sekayu Waterfall... And on our way to Sekayu via the Kuala Berang way we bumped into this funny name restaurant... which we made the them song when we pass the place... hehehe

After an hour drive we arrived at Sekayu

We made a wrong turn and so we had to do some climbing and crossing the river to go to the other side...

Me and Awe...

Up some steps...

Thru the bridge...

Took some photos of the waterfall...

Posers... We had a private natural pool all to ourselves up there :)

Me testing the new cam underwater...

The water is quite deras... pulled me down like going down a slide...

Posers part 2

Posers part 3

It looks like easy but to get my back close to the water was a challenge as the water pushes you at quite a speed

Last bath :)

It took me a while to just get up there as i am afraid of heights...

Posers after swimming..

We left Sekayu close to 7pm... it is about 2 hours drive to Besut... We arrve Tanjung Demong around 9.20pm... Had our dinner at the canteen and it was time to play some cards in the room...

Us playing cards...

Day 17:

WOke up at 9am and had to get ready for a field trip to Mangkuk. There we met with Danny Lee the owner of the CENT system there...

He has a nice Malay kampung house...

The water tank with filters...

CENT System

The house...

Nice steps

ukiran warisan Melayu...

waiting for whats next

While waiting went to the beach to soak my feet...

Did some labour work... doing the air ration piping... what an experience...

One for the album...

Amaze at the house had to retake some shots...

Jendela...

The halaman...

Manek Urai on my mind???

After the visits and work, we left for Tanjung Demong where we had some lectures and summary of the day trip...


Later in the evening, we met with Misbah a Javanese new friend from Meru... He wanted to intro us to his bro who is anEPU guy in Putrajaya...


Unfortunately his bro left for Kota Bharu... But we went to see a local penternak near Tanjung Demong who has a CENT system which he wants to run soon.


The penternak's name is Joe... he showed us a track of Turtle that came over to the beach to lay eggs...

The big hole is where the turtle lay its egg 2 nights ago...

Me in the Turtle nest.... hehehe

My Olympus Camera gone in the sea... :(

After writing my blog and took a photo of me with my underwater digicamera, went out for a swim at the sea with Amir and throw some balls... snapped some photos and pass to Amir to take a photo of me and it fell into the sea...


We did a rescue to search for the camera but to no avail. Now i am without a camera... :(


Looks like i have to go and look for one soon.

Day 14: Tg Demong... another 6 days...

In my bilik 3... Kebetulan ka baju 3? This is me on my bed keying away all my work and blogging...

After 2 weeks of being in a research facility, eventhough i have made it thus far, but it has been challenging emotionally and physically. God only knows how much i am missing my family. My Mama and Papa and my beloved wife and 2 beautiful children. I know at times the kids can be really annoying but at this moment how i wish they are here being them!!!

When Soffy and Areef is big enough to read this, Daddy just want you guys to know Daddy loves you guys so much! You are the love of my life, of course Mommy too. Daddy cant say how much it hurts to be away this long. Before when you guys werent born yet, Daddy used to feel the loneliness when away from Mommy. And now i have the three of you to miss.

Daddy cant wait to drive home next Thursday to meet you guys. And Daddy heard that you made a special card for Daddy? Alright. The wait is killing me.

All of a sudden sentimental feeling... Anyway, today my group had to do Rotifer for the fish and clean a CENT tank. Did some testing and checking via the microscope to count the amount of Rotifers in the tank. And from there we will know the amount of Selco needed to feed the Rotifers. At 10am we were done blending the Selco with water and pour half of it in the tank. after around 6 hours we had to come back and pour the other half into the Rotifer (At 16.00pm).

Tomorrow will be a long day. Will be going to Kota Bharu at night to visit a friend from Kerteh and possibly going to KT for a cousin's wedding.

Today, well later in the evening i am planning to mandi laut and main bola with me roomy Amir.

Day 8 - 13: Tanjung Demong & Kota Bharu visits

After a nice daily trip to Perhentian it was back to business as usual... The pictures below show how to check the grouper (Induk Kerapu) whether it is ready to lay eggs... we used the tube to check whether there is any eggs in the lady fish...

Me seeing Azry whether it is safe to hold the fish... Azry seemed to be a bit takut-takut at first but he braved the slimy feeling...

Of course i had to follow suit :)

Me carrying the grouper to the scale to weigh the lady fish...


Vaccination time... to force it to lay eggs...

Me and ma roomy... Amir... after the catch :)

The following day, the class wasnt as interesting as doing a site visits to 2 fish CENT ponds in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. It was more of a rescue trip for Amir as he had a fight with his girl friend! hehehe... So off we go to Abe Aziz Tegoh...

Murnirah and Mazni's father, Uncle "Abe" Aziz of Tegoh (he insisted on me calling him Abe even when he is 50 years old!) with his newly setup CENT ponds... I was very amazed at the price he managed to get... dont blame him as he is a hardware shop owner...

Look at Uncle Abe Aziz's house... its a mansion - 13 bedrooms!!!



Abe Aziz's kereks

After visiting Uncle Abe Aziz's kereks, we left for PCB (Pantai Cahaya Bulan or formerly known as Pantai Cinta Berahi) to visit Awe (my other roomy's kereks)...

Awe's kereks...

Next to Awe's kerek is his fish cage in the river. Amir wanted to go to the cage and so we opted to go there via sampans....

Awe getting the sampan ready while Amir watched...

Amir, Awe and Me...

The fish cage by the river mouth...

With Murnirahs brother Fairus...

Mek Ning's first sampan experience with Awe...


Had the honour to feed Awe's fish in the cage (sangkar)

The following day it was back to the CENT... this time it was a duty of how to clean the biofilters... it was a dirty job... someone gotta do it!!

How i wish i have my hands on the water jet... it will make my life much easier washing the biofilters...

Roy flexing his muscle while Mek Ning washes down the bioballs filters...


It wasnt a male affair... Kak Lina got her hands dirty as well to brush off the kotoran yang more than degil... i called it the Kurang Ajar!! hehehe


Roy looking cool as ever... Kak Lina having the aerial view of the kolam and Redzuan the PSP fella is piping down the water... me just some ordinary Joe with a peyapu!!!

Whatever you do, when i have my CENT system, make sure noone tries to do what i did in the picture... it is a no no... hehehe... but the time that i took this picture it was ok as the CENT kerek is dirty and it needs the scent of a man to neutralise the bacteria... hehehe

ANd the following day, we learn how to do test tubes babies for fish!!! heheehe... it was cool... See the photos...

Firstly, get the female fish to sleep and we rub and squeeze the females ehem and out comes the ovary... Squeezed it in 38ppl of water...


On En Suffian's hand is a test tube full of sperm which he mixed it with female's ovary...


Test tube (or balang) future baby fish



The good eggs will float... we keep the floating ones and discard the sinking ones...

And the following day it was the Makmal day... we got ourselves aware of the equipments to test the quality of water in the pond etc... This is to prevent from any virus/bacteria infested in your tank...

The pictures of the testing equipments for water quality...

Yat and one of the RA testing the quality of water while me and Amir posing for a picture :)

This tool is used to see the visibility of the depth of the water... If you cant see the black and white colour that is when you know how visible the water is...


Picture of one of the parasites in fish... we have to really take care of the fish so that this parasite does not attack our fish tanks...

Once we have done learning the quality of water... we went to do our real chores... making Rotifer and Algae...

l-r... Suhaila, Murnirah, Rozanna, Awe, Amir and me... our team for Rotifer...


The fish tank that we have been put in charge of to feed the fish with our homemade Rotifer...

I have another week left... the course gets a bit boring at times. Thinking about my wife and kids can really make me wanna go bonkers... thank god i have new friends here to keep me all cheery... We are planning a site visits of Awe's kerek again this Saturday. I will be catching up with Ayeh in KB...

Kuala Terengganu Stadium Runtuh

Crashed!

Like Colloseum but in KT? :)

The Stad in front... looks ok...

Day 7: Left for Perhentian Island

Arrival at Paradise, Big Island

After a week in a remote facility, i had to take Lan's offer to take a day off for a break... never been to Perhentian i guess since i am so close to the jetty it is best for me to go... and go i did :)

It is a RM35 one way so a RM70 return trip to Perhentian. The boat took 35 minutes to arrive at the island. Had to stop at small island first to drop off some school students who are on their school camping trip... Lucky them! Had a chat with some of them who asked me where i am from and why am i alone on the trip... i smiled and said i am visiting a friend who is on a solo diving trip there...

Upon arrival at the Watercolour Paradise chalet, Lan was there waiting at the entrance...

Had tea and planned for snorkling later after the rain has stopped. We went to the Sipadan Resort next to Coral View for our snorkling. I must admit, the corals in Perhentian are more beautiful than Redang... To be fair to Redang, i havent really explore the whole place... and i am thinking of taking a dive class after listening to Lan's solo divies... Its really interesting...

Azlan Ariffin

1000 league under the sea

Meet my fish friend... she happens to follow me around especially while i was taking photos... at one time i was viewing the photos under the sea, the fish was next to me viewing it as well...



As you can see... i call this fish Alice... hehehe ... my buddy in sea... :)



And Nemo... met a lot of them there...

Taking a tea break after 2 hours of snorkling

We had tea after a long 2 hours of snorkling. It was fun... i never really seen corals like that :)

My future plans to diving sites in Perhentian...

That evening we chill out at Coral View for dinner. Lan had King Burger while i had chicken chop. It was a bit pricey but tasted ok. Nothing to really shout about. The place had Astro and i managed to watch the Chelsea and Everton FA Cup final... but due to a long day i only managed to watch until half time...


Had a good shut eyes, i took Sofi's warning to watch out for Lan's sleeping behaviour of taking pillows from others... lucky for me, he behaved :)

We woke up island time 8am. Had breakfast of scrambled egg and toast. At 9am, we rented the snorkles at Mama's for our morning snorkles...

This time we were more daring and went towards the shark infested area... but not a man eater... Lan assured me... but i am not taking any risk... i had my moments where i was bitten by the fish... i guess they thought i was fish food!! hahahaa...

Corals...



Alice my snorkle buddy next to me :)



Not sure what fish but it looked nice...

Not sure what fish but its nice and pretty

SOme of the other kind of fish...

Its time to say babai to Perhentian...

Two thumbs up...

Overall its a good trip! Thanks Lan for the ajakan... hehehe :)

Day 6: In Tanjung Demong - BBQ and Beach time!

Me starting off with a corn...

After a long first week, we decided to do a BBQ to commemorate our week! And we did it with the help of our two ladies Wan Suhaila and Rozzana from UPSI future teachers who handled the marination and buying the foodies i.e. chicken, squid, prawn, sausages, and nasi goreng tom yam with some veges and drinks. They did a cake batik (using Merry Biscuits as main ingredients with chocolate sauce.

Wan Suhaila left and Rozzana right...

The two roys!!! hahaha Me and Azry aka Azroy! Background on right is Perhentian...

While waiting for our food BBQ-ued, me and the boys went out for a swim in the sea overlooking Perhentian Island. We went our few rounds of swim before enlighting ourself to some BBQ food...

Background is Bukit Keluang...

The Apa Yang Penting: Kerjasama! Group!!! Me, Moon, Mazni and Amir setting up some more BBQ pit for more BBQ stuff!!!

The BBQ Fish

BBQ Chicken

BBQ Prawn

Azry not our roommate and The roommates...Me, Awe and Amir

Bersantai di tepi pantai...

After a long day from lecture and BBQ, we left home just after maghrib.


After eating the Batik Cake at the canteen, we went for a round of table tennis... the usual nightly rituals...

Tomorrow, i will be going to Perhentian for just a night to lepak with Azlan who is there for his solo dive... need the break... :)

Pusat Penyedilikan Ikan Laut, Tanjung Demong, Kuala Besut, Terengganu

Day 1-5 (22-28 May 2009)


I applied for a course to do aquaculture of marine fish from the Malaysian Fisheries Department via the district office in Pekan Pahang in early February 2009. I had to forgo the earlier course in March due to work commitment. But this time around my dad told me it is an opportunity not to be missed. I took the 3 weeks course as per what my parents told me.


After working for almost 11 years, and married for more than 5 years, this will be my first time away for more than 2 weeks from my beloved family. It was hard as you are so used to the kids sleeping with you, making so much noises and the kicking to my face while asleep and their other antics. I had to go through this as it has a potential in the industry. But before going into it i have to learn and do some research on the fish.


Left KL for Tanjung Demong on Friday, 22 May 2009 at 3pm. I wanted to sleep over either in Cherating or Paka before heading to Kuala Besut as i am not familiar with the area. I arrived Paka at around 6.30pm and i called a friend Ayeh for a cuppa of Starbucks at Mesra Mall in Kertih. Met his two other friends Yuni and Izuan. For some particular reason Ayeh had to leave early and left me with his two other friends. After talking to them close to an hour, i left Kertih for Kuala Terengganu. Arrived at KT around 10pm and check-in to the Felda Residence. Wanted to feel the Plantation Resort... For UMNO, there is a special rate... lucky for me brought my card to qualify for a discounted rate.


Fiqar saw my FB status and called me telling me that he is here in KT. We had a late night supper as i havent had my dinner yet.


Had to go to bed early for my trip to KB or Kuala Besut. Woke up at 8am and got myself ready for breakfast. Breakfast was the usual buffet. Sausages, eggs, toast... and mango juice etc.


I left KT at around 11am. Took the coastal road to Kuala Besut and drove past Aryani. I didnt know that the road i used to go to Aryani early this year will lead me direct to KB!!!


I arrived at Tanjung Demong at 1.30pm. Half and hour early. At 2.15pm the officer in charge for registration arrived and got us signed in. I picked room 3 and my room mates are Wan Uzman from PCB (Pantai Cahaya Bulan, Kelantan) and Amir Azfar (Teluk Anson aka Intan).


From 16 candidates to 9 candidates for the 3 weeks course. It is good for learning as lesser people means more attention from the officers.


After registration, Wan Uzman or Awe as we would call him in Kelate and I drove to the Jetty of Kuala Besut to see where the tourists go to take their ferry/boat to Perhentian Island. We took a tea break there before adjourning back to the research center.


Day 1: Mostly classrooms stuff. Taught mostly on theories etc.


Day 2: Beginning of the practical. We got our hands dirty so to speak :)

Some photos as below...

Cut the fish to put in vitamins and fish oil to feed the giant grouper...

Fish oil in tablet form

Fish oil in liquid form...

After stuffing the vitamins and fish oil, feeding time...

The overview of the giant grouper fish tank

Day 3: CENT System (Cheap Efficient Nursey Tank System)

The CENT System

The benih... separated for its length... in here its 2 inches length...

One of the Bigger system used...

CENT - RAS System using the cement culvert (Kerek in Kelate) ... me and my roommate, Amir Azfar

Seeing the other CENT system using Fiber tanks...

Later in the eve we went out to the nearby Pantai for our tea... here me and Wan Uzman or Awe my other roommate.

Lab producing Algae...

Day 4: Algae making... Rotifer, Artemia etc... Fish food...

Look at the show off... hehehee

Mixing some chemicals to make the lagae faster... secret recipe with me... :)

See the various Algae...

Here, seeing Rotifer...

With one of the CENT fiber tank with En Nik Daud from Pasir Tumboh and the 3 ladies... Wan Suhaila, Rozanna and Mek Mazni...

Serinity testing... using the serinometer

Day 5: Finding out Male or Female... making eggs or force the fish to lay eggs... etc...

Sucking out to see whether the female has any eggs... if Male we just rub its stomach and a white sperm will splurt out... :)

After the testing, i put the fish into another tank for rehabilitation...

After a long week, i had to find a barber shop to cut my hair. Took the morning tea break to find a barber shop. I am quite happy to see that there are 100% Malays doing businesses here in Besut. Went to a Malay barber called Farris...


He went to a barber course for a year to get the hair cutting knowledge and now this man from Kota Bharu has his own barber shop for the last 6 years. I tell you his business is brisk... People queue like the shop is closing for the week... Lucky me i got there when he was opening his shop at 11am.

And you should see him in his outfit... really cool with his white glasses and mask...

Farris with his outfit... ask him is it because of the swine flu (H1N1)? he said no, its because of the hairs!!!

After i had my hair cut, its back to work! And i got into the Pua Chu Kang yellow boots and start washing the fish tank... me and Amir...

Second tank done with Murnirah and Awe...

During lunch break, had to send my dirty clothes for laundry... and we bumped into a signage saying Desa Ukiran Kayu... me being the kaki jalan... had to take a peek... It was just me and Amir...

Front Entrance

On Rumah Limas Bungkus the old Istana in the background...

Seat fits for the King!!! :)

After our short visit, we left for our half day modules... putting up the lines in the tank and also its oxigen... Once done, we had to make Rotifer in 2 of the tanks and setting the fish eggs in the other 2 tanks... Its 3am on the 29th May and i am still not sleeping... I am really missing my darling wife... and the 2 kids... today will be a week i am away...


Love you guys! Here is Daddy in a fish tank (10 tonnes) with Uncle Amir...


The course is a 3 week course with no breaks... After a week i cant tell which day i am... :)... but i am just looking forward to the final day... doing a countdown in my FB... hehehe...


Sad i will be missing L4Ts Leadership Lecture with Tun Daim... Was so looking forward... Well i have to sacrifice time for our future... Will try not to miss Raja Muda Perak's Lecture next month!

A long Hiatus

Sorry my fellow friends and readers. I was busy the early half of the year due to so many datelines. Been to some good vacation along the months from Kuala Terengganu, Cameron Highlands and Pulau Redang. And not to mention the so many by elections and UMNO assembly...


It has been a good first half of the year and i shall be away for 3 weeks to Tanjung Demong in Terengganu for a Course by the Fisheries Department from this weekend. I am one of the 16 participants that will go for an intense 19 days research at their facilities off Kuala Besut. I havent been to Besut honestly and it looks like this time around i will be without my beloved family driving up there all alone... After 5 years of marriage and so many vacation spots we have been through together, now a 19 long days will be different with that 8 long hours of driving. Will be missing the pairs their little antics and shouting from the little man and the princess says the darnest thing... Hope wifey will go through well without me, but i know she will... Of course, my PS3... man... somehow or rather kalau orang bandar sah orang bandar... hehehe... i cant imagine me in ladang outfit... but i really cant wait coz it will be lots of fun while learning. :)