Korea Trip - Day 2

We woke up early, partly because Seoul's 6.30 am is like Malaysia's 8.00 am; it was so bright. Nadia's parents cooked a lot of rendang and nasi impit and brought them from Malaysia so for our breakfast we heated them on the microwave.

Excited in the morning, before our feet started aching. Me and my iPod which was really useful for the subway navigation and common Korean phrases apps.

We walked to Myeongdong subway station and took the train to Anguk station for our very first destination, Changdeokgung Palace. From the subway's exit 3, it was a very short walk to the palace. There are 5 Grand Palaces in Seoul, but we chose Changdeokgung because it is home to the 'Huwon' or Secret Garden. The secret garden and the palace dated back since the Joseon Dynasty in Korea.

Inside the subway, Anis looking at the list of stations.

Walking from Anguk station to Changdeokgung.

In front of Changdeokgung's entrance with everyone's tickets.

Visitors are not allowed to tour the secret garden by our own, and the English guided tour starts only at 11.30 so we took our time touring the palace. It then started raining...

'Selca' with Korean schoolgirls. 'Selca' or 'Self Camera' is Korean term for photo of own picture taken by oneself.

In front of the gate to Huwon.

Although it was raining, can I say that their rain is different from Malaysia's? It wasn't as heavy, some of us that followed the guided tour didn't even use umbrella. I had mine brought from Malaysia because I checked the weather prediction and it was predicted to rain that day. One thing, the weather predictions were accurate too. Malaysians don't usually take notice of weather forecasts but Koreans very much do. I was told that it was going to rain that day by our airport taxi driver the previous night too, he said the radio said so.

Raining inside the Huwon.

The trip across Huwon took about one and a half hour. I must say that the Huwon is really beautiful, and our guide did a very good job explaining all the interesting parts of the garden. He pointed the places where the previous Great Kings of Korea used to sit and ponder about and just generally enjoying the nature. He pointed the different quarters for men and women, the low doors (Koreans height average were not more than 160cm back in Joseon dynasty. HOW DID THEY GET SO TALL NOW?) and also the ondol or Korean traditional heating system. Our guide informed us that winter in Korea used to be very cold, minus 20+ degrees. He said ondol ensured the survival of Korean people.

Part of ondol. This is where fire is lit. Heat and smoke will then be distributed throughout the connected floor and smoke will come out from a chimney at the end of the floor.

Like many other eastern gardens, Huwon is made up of elements of trees and water. This is a big pond inside Huwon.

Part of the same pond.

Just.. greens everywhere. The freshness of air here is really indescribable. Only slightly defeated by Nami Island.

I didn't manage to take a lot of pictures because I was holding my umbrella. Although I feel that the Huwon was already very beautiful then, the guide said that it is absolutely breathtaking during autumn. I think will go again in autumn and take more pictures then.


We waited for the Seoul City Tour Bus at its bus stop in front of the palace's entrance and took the bus to Itaewon. The price was 9500 KRW paid by T-Money for a one day pass. In the bus, every seat is provided with a headphone with multiple languages option including English and each time the bus pass through significant landmarks, we were provided with descriptions through the headphone. There were many landmarks and stops, including National Museum of Korea, War Memorial, the Blue House (official residence of the President of South Korea) but because it was past 2pm and we were starving we skipped all the other places and went straight to Itaewon.

In front of War Memorial of Korea. When I lowered my camera I saw the soldier guard was actually giving me "no picture" sign using his hands. Ooops.

Itaewon is a district in Seoul with the highest population of foreigners. The US Army base is located near here and so we saw many US Army personnel too. Itaewon is also home to Seoul Grand Mosque. The mosque is located up a hill, and the walking there was really tiring. Not only that, the women's prayer section is located on 3rd Floor. I was ready to cry.

Main prayer hall of Seoul Grand Mosque taken from women's prayer section. Two Koreans briefed (about the Mosque?) by a Muslim.

After our Jama' Zuhr + Asr prayers, it was finally time to eat! There are many halal restaurants in Itaewon and we had a hard time choosing a place to eat. We finally chose a restaurant named 'Little India Seoul'. Me, Anis and Nadia shared the 2 persons meal set but the meal was actually more than enough for 3 persons. And it was gooooooood. The tandoori chicken, the curry, the naan but especially the samosa. The samosa's pastry was really nice.

Tandoori chicken. It was served before the main dishes and Northern Indians eat it before main dishes but we wanted to wait for the rice until the server asked us if there's anything wrong with it. Sorry miss, we didn't know.

We found out that the restaurant actually just opened on that day and we were their second customers. We wished them the best of luck, especially when they didn't charge us the 10% Value Added Tax (VAT), and also served us free cinnamon teas.

Seoul City Tour Bus Stop at Itaewon.


Itaewon is also the subject of this homage to 80's pop songs, a song titled 'Itaewon Freedom'. If you don't find this awesome, there is something wrong with you.

From Itaewon, we boarded the Seoul City Tour Bus again to Namsan Mountain. I think everyone have to experience going up Namsan Mountain by bus. They have already restricted the vehicles allowed to be driven up the mountain to preserve the environment and personal vehicles and taxis are absolutely not allowed. Most of the other buses going up to Namsan Mountain have also been replaced to electric buses. Why I say it is a must have experience? The road up the Namsan Mountain crossing Namsan Park was really beautiful, and the way the bus driver drove the bus through all the slopes and curves was really 'beautiful' too, to the extend I wanted to shout "AHJUSSHI SLOW DOWN". It was a thrilling experience.

Bus stop for Namsan Tower. Electric buses!

From the Namsan stop, it was another journey uphill to the Namsan Tower. All things considered taking the cable car is maybe the less painful option.

Climbing up, up, up.

Because of the rain, it was foggy that day and very cold. When we wanted to buy tickets to observatory deck, we were advised not to because there was literally nothing to see.

Can't see the top!

I, however, have another mission in mind for this trip to Namsan Tower. It is a custom for couples to place a lock here (and throw the key away) as a symbol of their love. I have prepared something for my favourite cousin in the whole world!

Happy birthday Nad! SARANGHAE! ♥

We took the cable car down from Namsan Tower, and from the station we walked to Myeongdong and visited SPAO. I'm glad we visited SPAO at this time even though we already had a full day. For the other remaining days of our trip SPAO was closed.

The road from Namsan Cable Car to Myeongdong.

Shirts modeled by Super Junior.

Cardboard of Girls' Generation.

SPAO is a clothing line partly owned by SM Entertainment. It is mainly endorsed by Super Junior and Girls' Generation. I bought a cap. Hehe. Once the excitement of finally getting my cap was over, I realized that I am really exhausted. We then climbed back up to our rooms, tired but really satisfied with our day.

Korea Trip - Day 1

It took 10 months since the day I bought the ticket, but the day I went to Korea finally came and pass. I can't believe 6 days pass just like that, it feels like a dream now. Day 1 Mama sent me to the airport, and after eating a home-packed nuggets at the airport and waiting for fellow members of the trip to come we were finally ready to go to the boarding hall. Hugging Mama for the last time I had tears in my eyes. Next time it will be the two of us to Korea. Once in the boarding hall, we did our Zuhr + Asr prayers and by the time we finished it was already the last call for the flight to Incheon. Our plane departed on time, and the journey from LCCT to Incheon took around 6 hours.

Inside the plane. I had the window seat. Our lunch, which surprisingly was very good. Killing time by playing Scrabble. Leaving something of us on the plane's window. That first exciting glimpse of lights, and Korea. Train from our exit to the main arrival hall.

There is free WIFI here, so while waiting for Rahah, Kaifa and Azie to reach the train station I called Mama using my iPod informing that I've arrived safely. And though I can receive sms and calls to my phone, I am barred from sending sms/calling out. Apparently because I use prepaid. Huh.

I was assigned the strictest immigration officer in the whole Incheon Airport so I was the last one to get out. The other members were already there and excitedly telling me "Leen, look at this!" Hahaha I already knew the taxi driver will be holding a sign with my name, but the sight still filled me with so much glee.

Outside the airport building. We are finally here!

Once we exited the airport building, we were greeted by the most wonderful weather ever, pleasantly cold and comfortable and finally it sank: We are in Korea.

The taxi driver speaks passable English, but some words are still lost on him. I sat at the front and we chatted the whole journey through. He pointed some of the most significant buildings to us, chatted about Muslims, chatted about family, (he didn't believe me when I said I am 27 years old, 28 Korean age), insisted on us calling him oppa instead of ahjusshi/uncle, said that his son looks like Hyun Bin and he will give his son to me. Ahahaha.

Hyun Bin. :D

The journey from Incheon Airport to downtown Seoul where we stayed was 70km, around one and a half hours. There was a bit of confusion because the GPS pointed our taxi driver to a location that was below the correct location (our guesthouse was on a bit of a high terrain), but we arrived safely. The owner of the guesthouse Mr Ko speaks simple English and showed us our room. We fell in love with the room and how clean it is. We had to pay the accommodation fee for the whole six days we book upfront (30,000 KRW /day = 180,000 KRW) and then Mr Ko said we can use everything in the room without additional charge except for the phone. I shared the room with Rahah, Anis and Nadia. We each got our own bed, and the room is equipped with heater, washing machine, kitchen, TV, WIFI, etc.

The living room. Unfortunately this is the only picture I took of our room. Rahah is already testing the internet connection.

Once everything was settled, we went down to the nearest GS25 which is a chain of 24hours convenience stores and bought T-Money for everyone in the group, and load the card with 40,000 KRW. T-Money is similiar to our Touch N' Go and it costs 2,500 KRW without any value stored inside. We also had our first taste of the famous 'Banana Uyu' and I would grow to LOVE this milk.

Girls' Generation's Seohyun endorsing the Banana Milk.

Back from the stores (we also took a sneak peek of Myeongdong at 1 AM), we were faced with the excruciating task of climbing up the upward path, and the steep stairs back to our guesthouse. I will really recommend Seoul Tower Ville for everyone because of its reasonable price, room's condition and equipments but the high stairs are really difficult to climb and not suitable for legs not suited to it. We then took a shower in deliciously hot water, and winded down, preparing to sleep for our day tomorrow.

Printing Memories

My old PC crashed, and taking with it most of my memories in the form of never processed digital pictures. What I mourn the most is the lost of the pictures of my trip to Singapore back in 2009, and Raya pictures dating back to 2005.

Yesterday while I was browsing through the Photography thread in LYN forum, I saw someone mentioned EOE online as a cheap printing site. Always wanting to try new things that can be done online, (I even 'cook' online. Order Pizza Hut through its site -> Pay -> Wait 20 minutes -> Pizza arrives!) I took a look.

The site is having an extended promotion where the price to print 4R pictures is only 30 cents per piece, and provides free delivery for orders worth more than 35 ringgit. I thought this is a very reasonable price and it wouldn't hurt to try with last Raya pictures. So I downloaded the software "EOE Photo Express" from the site. Registration and all can be done through the software once installed so I proceeded with registration and it brought me to this screen:


I clicked on 'Prints' and because I've already put the photos to be printed on Desktop, the folder is immediately listed on the left. I highlighted the folder and the software loaded all the pictures inside the folder on the right.

I clicked 'Select All', pressed 'Next', and it brought me to this page where I have to choose the size and quantity for each print. I put '1' in 4R selection for whole set and clicked 'Apply' and 'Next'.

It automatically calculated how much you have to pay, and displayed the shipping and billing address that you specified when registering.

And then come the boring part, the uploading. But I just left the process on the background and went to do other stuffs. The site assures me that even if my internet is suddenly disconnected (with the lousy router provided by TM it always does), the uploading process can be resumed.


Once the uploading is done, it brought us to the payment options page. There are three options, paying by card, Maybank2U and bank transfer. I think through card and Maybank2U the order would be immediately processed while using bank transfer you would have to email them the payment details manually. I paid by card, and the payment went through successfully without any hiccup.

I submitted the photos for printing on Monday evening which was definitely after office hours, and this morning (Wednesday) I received them! It certainly is fast, photos are printed on glossy paper similar to other photo studios and definitely with comparable quality. I am a happy customer! Will definitely use this service again later.


Ugly camera is ugly. This picture doesn't do justice to the real things. Also when I looked at the pictures, I saw that there are more pictures of Sofiya than our family. Haha..

Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter

Dan beginilah
Seperti yang kau katakan akan berlaku
Hidup adalah mudah bagiku
Lebih selalu dari tidak

Dan beginilah
Cerita lebih pendek
Tiada cinta, tiada kemegahan
Tiada wira di langit

Mataku tak henti melihatmu
Mataku tak henti melihatmu
Mataku tak henti melihatmu
Mataku tak henti melihatmu
Mataku tak henti...

Dan beginilah
Seperti yang kau katakan akan berlaku
Kita berdua akan lupakan hembusan itu
Lebih selalu dari tidak

Dan beginilah
Air lebih sejuk
Anak gadis peniup
Murid yang menafikan

Mataku tak henti melihatmu
Mataku tak henti melihatmu
Mataku tak henti melihatmu
Mataku tak henti melihatmu
Mataku tak henti...

Benarkah ku kata aku bencikan kau?
Benarkah ku kata aku mahu
Meninggalkan ini semua dibelakang?

Fikiranku tak henti memikirkanmu
Fikiranku tak henti memikirkanmu
Fikiranku tak henti memikirkanmu
Fikiranku tak henti memikirkanmu
Fikiranku tak henti...
Fikiran ku.. fikiran ku...
Hingga ku jumpa seorang yang baru

A Tale of Two Eras (of being a fan)

Having a ... more than normal interest in the Korean boy band Super Junior makes me feel like I have regressed a little bit. But there is more than a little feeling of nostalgia that comes with it.

The last time I was this involved over boy bands it was more than 10 years ago, when I was in high school in Melaka. I remember the peak moments of my obsession was during the pre-PMR years of 1997-1999. Like any other teenage girls, I was into the usual pop groups; Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, Spice Girls and other random one-hit-wonders gracing the current MTV scenes back then. You could say I was a committed fan. I would save my school allowance so I could buy their cassettes (cassettes!) and numerous imported magazines like Smash Hits and Top of the Pops (which didn't come cheap). Together with my close friend, Rahah, we would make frequent visits to Mahkota Parade or Jaya Jusco to buy these goodies and then pore over every pages together and shrieked in delight if the issue came with the poster of our favourite groups.


I remember always having to buy batteries for my Walkman because I listen to my cassettes almost every day. With time I learned a few tricks, some are practical ones, like using Atuk's radio to rewind the cassettes so I can re-listen to the Side A all over again because rewinding drains the battery too much (one time Atuk saw me doing it and said I have to pay the electricity bill for this frequent activity of mine), others are not really grounded scientifically like placing my batteries under the sun in the hope that it'll last a little longer. I can't say the method really worked. When I put the batteries back into my Walkman and pressed 'Play', the previously melodious voice of my idol is now turning ... slow... and... sounding... like... an... old... man... singing.......

I bet the current generation have never heard that kind of sound out of their songs. If it wasn't for my frustration that I need to buy another set of batteries soon, I would find it almost funny.

When I went to a boarding school, the previous fangirling activities stopped. I still listened to music, but I wasn't really invested in the groups and singers anymore. I may know who sings which song but I wasn't interested in knowing more about them. My music taste had also evolves, with me graduating from mainly listening to pop songs to other genre of musics, liking indie songs and rock bands; being blown away by live performances of MUSE.



Fast forward to 2010. My friend, who I have always share everything with get caught in the K-Pop phenomenon that is Super Junior. She was roped into chaperoning her cousins to their first concert in Malaysia and since then has fallen to their charms. She kept giving me links to songs and music videos and I thought their songs are nice, but can't seem to understand the hype surrounding these boys. Until she gave me a link to one of the numerous variety shows that they were featured in. (Korean Variety Shows deserve an entry of its own, it is remarkably different from the format of reality shows of our local TV or from the Hollywood. Suffice to say it is not variety show if you don't end up holding your stomach out of laughter)

Intimate Note - the show that clinched it for me.

After I watched that show, the rest were history. I was caught, hook, line and sinker to their hilarious personalities, their mission to always try to destroy each others' image on television, and I grew to love their music too. They have three genuinely talented vocalists who sang haunting songs like this:

OST for Cinderella's Sister - It Has to be You. The song is one of the reason the drama was a top hit.

I tentatively forayed into the Super Junior fandom and my mind was blown with the amount of dedication and hard work the fans put through. The group, being based in South Korea but amassing a large amount of support outside of it must be credited to the non-exhaustive work of their fans. They translated lyrics, interviews, articles and even provide subtitles to the shows that the group were in. When they are performing in music shows there will always be kind souls that stream these shows LIVE from Korea. Three of the group members are also Radio DJs and almost every day there would be streaming of their radio shows, complete with the video of them in the radio studio. Last year, when they started their third concert series and was having their first performance in Seoul, a group of fans from China did a live streaming of the concert... by calling the cellphone of their friend who is attending that concert. Of course mostly we can only hear the screaming of fans, but I was really impressed nevertheless.

Super Junior's Sorry Sorry, the song that has taken Kesang Tua by storm. This was during their 'come back', the first time the song was shown on the music show. They then clinched number 1 spot three times in a row, received the Mutizen Award and couldn't compete anymore.

Internet has really changed how fans relate to their favourite musicians. The experience is much more richer, and there are so many things to immerse oneself in. Back in 1997, there were barriers, I never really feel close to any of the personalities I admired. This time around these idols feel like only an internet server away. There was this one time I was watching Heechul, one of the Super Junior members DJ-ing his radio show. During the playing of songs I saw him typing something with his phone and then suddenly my Tweetdeck popped up a notification of a tweet from him. I literally saw him doing that posting. And a few minutes later a translation of his tweet was posted. It all feel really surreal to me, being new in this kind of things.


Feeling very much connected makes it all much more difficult to disconnect. Fans get really emotionally invested, 'wars' between fans of different groups are commons. It is important to know their latest doings and activities, look at all their latest pictures, and stalk for every bit of news and information about them on the internet.

I could easily see my 13 years old self drowning in all this. It is a blessing then I only had cassettes, magazines, and Hitz's Rick Dees in the Weekly Top 40.

Selamat Hari Lahir Mak Chah!

Semalam, ada kenduri doa selamat di rumah Pak Long. Ketika doa baru saja mahu dimulakan kami semua digembirakan dengan kedatangan Mak Chah sekeluarga dari Melaka. Kebetulan keesokan hari (hari ini) ialah hari lahir Mak Chah yang ke-48, Mak Ina dan Lina telah diam-diam keluar membeli kek untuk kami sekeluarga menyambutnya.



Semoga dipanjangkan umur, dan dimurahkan rezeki.

Mengaji

Saya mula-mula belajar mengaji ketika tinggal di Kampung Pinang, Sungai Besi. Sewaktu itu saya mengikut kawan yang sudah dahulu belajar mengaji di Surau Kampung Pinang. Setiap pagi, berbekalkan Muqaddam dan rehal serta tudung yang diikat belakang saya akan berjalan ke surau bersama-sama rakan karib saya ketika itu, Faishah.

Pengajian mengaji di surau setiap pagi dipimpin seorang ustazah. Sudah tidak ingat pula saya apakah nama ustazah itu. Atau mungkin saya tidak pernah mengetahuipun namanya apa. Kami semua anak murid hanya memanggil beliau 'ustazah'.

Mula-mula saya belajar 'Alif, Ba, Ta' yang memang saya sudah hafal. Kemudian belajar mengeja sedikit-sedikit berpandukan Muqaddam. Tetapi pelajaran mengeja saya baru sahaja beberapa kali sudah ustazah hentikan untuk memandu saya menghafal ayat-ayat lazim. Saya sangat cemerlang dalam menghafal ayat-ayat lazim. Malah dapat 'memotong' rakan-rakan yang sudah dahulu mula menghafal dari saya. Untuk menggalakkan kami menghafal surah-surah ini, ustazah sering kali mengadakan pertandingan, dan menyediakan hadiah bagi para pemenang. Saya beberapa kali memenangi pertandingan, dan ustazah juga memuji prestasi saya. Saya berasa bangga.

Mama dan Pakcik Yahaya ketika itu berasa ianya sangat kelakar yang saya banyak menghafal surah-surah lazim tetapi tidak pandai mengeja.

Sebagai seorang kanak-kanak, ada surah yang saya 'tidak suka' kerana sukar dihafal. Surah yang saya rasakan sukar ialah Surah Al-Falaq. Ada pula surah yang saya sangat suka, yang saya rasakan senang dihafal dan membawa perasaan istimewa kepada saya ketika itu. Saya masih sangat menyukai surah ini, Surah An-Nas.

Dengan nama Allah, Yang Maha Pemurah, lagi Maha Mengasihani.

1. Katakanlah (wahai Muhammad): Aku berlindung kepada (Allah) Pemelihara sekalian manusia.
2. Yang Menguasai sekalian manusia.
3. Tuhan yang berhak disembah oleh sekalian manusia.
4. Dari kejahatan pembisik penghasut yang timbul tenggelam.
5. Yang melemparkan bisikan dan hasutannya ke dalam hati manusia.
6. (Iaitu pembisik dan penghasut) dari kalangan jin dan manusia.

Rahah

Semalam, 1 Ogos 2010 adalah ulangtahun kelahiran sahabat karib saya Rahah Mokhtar yang ke 26. Happy Birthday, Rahah mok mok.

Saya mula-mula kenal dengan Rahah ketika bertukar ke Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Datok Bendahara Jasin di Tingkatan 1. Waktu itu saya ditempatkan di kelas 1B, dan Rahah pula di kelas 1A. Kami sekelas apabila tiba subjek Ekonomi Rumah Tangga dan Pendidikan Agama Islam. Sewaktu kelas pertama ERT, guru subjek ERT pada waktu itu iaitu Puan Muawanah menasihatkan saya untuk membuat salinan fotostat nota-nota minggu sebelumnya daripada kawan sekelas. Dia mencadangkan nota Rahah kerana menurutnya, tulisan Rahah kemas, dan dia rajin menyalin nota. Saya memandang Rahah, dan sudah tentunya ketika saya memandang dia tengah tekun menyalin nota kelas hari itu. Pandangan saya sewaktu itu, tentunya budak ini pendiam, budak rajin yang baik. Saya juga mendengar dari rakan-rakan yang Rahah ini sangat pandai, antara pelajar terbaik kelas 1A. Saya fikirkan ketika itu mungkin saya akan kekok dengannya.

Ketika mula-mula berkenalan, kami menggelarkan masing-masing "saya" dan "awak". Kami agak kekok, tetapi saya sangat senang berkawan dengan dia kerana dia senang menerima saya. Kawan-kawan saya di kelas 1B ketika itu seperti tidak sukakan saya, mereka tidak suka dengan "budak KL" (saya dengar sendiri dari Zaleha, rakan sekelas 1B) dan tidak sukakan saya berbaik dengan guru-guru yang mengajar. Walaupun saya seharusnya lebih bersedih dengan perkara ini, saya ketika itu sangat tidak kisah, kerana saya semakin rapat dengan Rahah. Kami mendapati kami mempunyai banyak persamaan, dan perkara yang meyakinkan saya bahawa dia ini memang 'satu kepala' adalah ketika saya bertanya kepada dia : "Awak baca komik tak?" dan dia menjawab... "Baca! Dragon Ball, Yuyu Hakusho, SlamDunk, Dragon Quest..."

"Saya/awak" bertukar kepada "aku/kau" dengan cepat. Kami kemudiannya seperti tidak dapat dipisahkan. Setiap kali rehat, siapa yang dilepaskan guru terlebih dahulu akan tunggu di luar kelas untuk ke kantin bersama-sama. Tiap kali kelas ERT dan PAI kami akan duduk bersebelahan dan apabila naik ke Tingkatan 2, kami sekelas, duduk bersebelahan, bergayut di telefon, keluar ke Melaka dan bersama-sama sehinggalah ke Tingkatan 4 apabila saya bertukar sekolah. Selepas itu saya sudah jarang bertemu dengannya, tetapi disebabkan ikatan persahabatan yang amat erat, setiap kali kami berjumpa/berbual di telefon ianya seolah-olah kami baru dipisahkan loceng akhir sekolah sebentar tadi.

Tingkatan 2 di SMDB. Kereta merah Mak Chah ada di dalam gambar ini.

Saya rasa sepanjang hayat saya ini, tidak akan ada lagi sahabat yang lebih rapat dengan saya selain Rahah. Kami sangat rapat, sehinggakan ketika di sekolah beberapa kali orang memanggil Rahah sebagai "anak saudara Cikgu Hafsah", terkelirukan Rahah dengan saya. Kami sangat rapat dan seluruh keluarga kami mengetahuinya. Nenek Rahah memanggil saya 'Pablin' dan Atuk saya memberitahu Rahah kalau saya mengusik apa-apa barang dirumahnya: "report terus dekat Polis". Kami kemudiannya mendapati 'betapa kecilnya dunia' apabila mengetahui Busu Zai dan Nek Busu Rahah adalah kawan baik kerana berjiran di Johor Bharu, dan Uncle Roji dan Auntie Shila Rahah adalah pensyarah yang rapat dengan Pak Busu di UTM Skudai. Perkara yang masing-masing merapatkan lagi hubungan saya dan keluarga dengan Rahah dan keluarganya.

Kaifa dan Rahah di Melbourne. Berjalan tak ajak!

Terlalu banyak yang telah saya lalui bersama Rahah. Saya sudah mengenalinya separuh dari hayat saya. Rahah, atas persahabatan yang kau hulurkan aku ucapkan terima kasih. Lets be best friends forever.

Campeones Del Mundo!

Back to back winnings : Euro 2008 and now World Cup 2010. These boys are legends. World Cup 2010 will always be remembered as the one with noisy vuvuzelas, psychic octopus and Spain as the champion.

I love him.

Lawak Minggu Ini

Discovered totally by accident. I was telling my friend in Dubai that our internet is more a 'berukband' than broadband. So I googled 'beruk', and I discovered.. jeng jeng jeng.

Try it yourself. Search for beruk in Google and look at the first result that it returns. Typing in beruk and clicking the 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button would make the experience even better.

How is this possible? Because of Google Bombing. I wonder who diligently did this.