Business Trip to Japan

The trip to Japan was no coincidence. Dah memang plan lamaaaa dah... tapi tak kesampaian sebab the parties masih negotiate the deal. Well, this would be my first visit jauh dari Malaysia sejak 1986 trip pi round ke Europe dulu. Bukan trip main-main sebab kena lak masa bulam puasa.... aku bantai makan sushi ajela...

The weather dah jadi tak betul sebab global warming... so masa sampai tu depa kata sepatutnya dah sejuk, tapi minah jepun yg pandai berbahasa mulayu yg dok sebelah aku dalam flight kata sepatutnya takdelah sampai panas macam ni... mula-mula ingat penat je beli jacket kulit masa trip ke Bukittingi hari tu...but it turned out that malam punyalah sejukkk...

Dari Narita airport, kami bertolak menaiki bas ke Tsukuba-Shi. Tsukuba adalah bandar R&D utama di Jepun. Dah berapa lama kerajaan Jepun wujudkan bandar ni, sangat teratur dan kemas lokasinya. Cuma yang aku tak tahan... perjalanan bas tu... takdela jauh benor Tsukuba dgn Narita - dalam 60km aje, ikut standard Malaysia setengah jam sampai la... tapi bayangkan bas tu jalan tak lebih 50km sejam... rupanya semua trafik macam tu... waima mamat jepun yang drive kereta sport pelik-pelik & Rolls Royce 6.0 cc pun laju tu gak le dia pegi...

Hotel depa... fuh punyalah kecikkkk... no wonder depa suka datang ke Malaysia. Bath tub dia aku takleh lunjur kaki pun, but toilet dia... the best in the world.

The negotiation ended on 18 September, my birthday. Jepun tu bawak kami berempat ke Restoran Goro (ketam). ketam dia besar gila... habis macam-macam jenis masakan, tapi semestinya ketam yg depa serve, dari rebus, goreng, mentahhh dll. Aku sapu semuanya... tak depa terduduk gak tengok bill, sampai beribu2.. nasib korang la...kena bayar.

From Tsukuba, my good friend Kamarul jadi guide kami berjalan ke Tokyo, bandar metropolitan. We took the Tsukuba Express (laju gila wooo) terus ke Asakusa Senzuku......a small town dalam bandar Tokyo. Ingat nak merasa dok hotel kapsul tu... tapi the other team members objected to it - sebab kalau nak mandi takde privacy.

Habih kita org jalan ke Harajuku, Shinjuku, Yamanote, Asakusa ... tah apa nama jepun lagi tah... dari kedai standard macam kat petaling street sampailah ke yg tahap 7 bintang, nak pegang barang kedai tu pun aku tak sanggup sebab mahal sangat...sempatlah beli ole-ole sikit untuk family like the fridge magnets and some kimono (yang murah punya je). Nak beli kimono ori... sama harganya macam ko beli kereta baru!

Kat Akihabara, aku tangkap satu camera/video sanyo. No regrets walaupun it cost me Rm1200 kalau convert duit Malaysia.

Menjelajah Narita menjadi agenda terakhir kami, we took the bullt train ke Narita town & took a cab to Narita Garden Hotel... Hotel ni standard 5 star macam kat Malaysia, besar, luas, tapi unlike the hotels in Tsukuba & Asakusa, tak disediakan internet like kat bilik... toilet dia pun macam kat Malaysia.

Dan kat Narita gak kita org dok borong barangan Hard Rock Cafe Narita, sampai chief bartender panggil kasi complementary drink for us.

Maybe next time, I'll bring my wife along.

Trip to Bukittinggi, Sumatera Barat 2007

It is now August 2007 - and a week before kemerdekaan Malaysia, kami sekeluarga - that means my wife, daughters and their aunty, terbang ke Padang, Sumatera Barat - Agenda - apa lagi kalau bukan balik kampung depa ni - pi vacation.

Flight ke Padang dari LCCT KLIA hanya memakan masa tak sampai sejam. Tapi nak menyampaikannya, fuh... subuh buta dah bertolak from Razif's house in Pinggiran Putrajaya. Dah plan lama dah - tiket dah book from Air Asia 6 bulan lebih awal dari tarikh bertolak. Semuanya dalam RM938 untuk perjalanan pergi dan balik.

Sampai aje di lapangan terbang Minagkabau, Em dah tunggu dgn van. Just for the sake of picking us up, dia tak menambang hari tu. This time kami tak ikut lagi jalan laut naik feri. So dapatlah kami menikmati perjalanan lebih kurang 1 1/2 jam ke Bukittinggi merentas banjaran gunung. Itupun dah kira laju tau sebab jalannya berliku-liku dan sempit. So kali ni semakin kami mendaki, terasa peubahan suhu, dari panas beransur-ansur sejuk, macam Cameron Highlands gitu, but extra sejuk... sampai lelah aku pun datang balik.

Antara aktiviti menarik - apa lagi kalau bukan pi shopping - habis macam-macam jenis kain, telekong sulam, baju budak for Raya Aidilfitri nanti kami borong. Yang paling penting, dgn bantuan Abg Indra, kami menjelajah toko buku - we went hunting buku-buku yang berkaitan dengan perubatan tradisional terutamanya mengenai ubat untuk menyembuhkan kanser. Selonggok jugalah buku yang kami beli - tapi takpe.. semuanya murah dan berpatutan harganya - imagine tukaran matawang masa tu RM375 = Rupiah Sejuta - Pakcik Kayo!!!!

Kepulangan kami disambut dengan mendua dan kenduri oleh nenek. Nenek amat gembira sekali sebab kali ini, little Sakinah ikut sekali. Kan saya dah kata, kami akan datang lagi...

Em bawak kami jalan-jalan ke Padang melalui the famous Kelok 44! Tempat ni namanya camtu sebab berkelok-kelok - siap ada lagu minang lagi pasal tempat ni...bagusnya kalau mat rempit kat Malaysia datang buat konvoi kat situ - mudah-mudahan, silap lap sikit terus masuk ke dalam gaung or timpa kenderaan kat kelok bawah sana.... for me, meine denke, cukuplah setakat tu je datang ke kelok 44 tu sebab horrornya menengok keadaannya - kalau jalan dia baik pun, rasanya tak ndak le datang lalu tempat tu lagi... takde maaf punya... tapi permandangannya fuh punya lah cunnn.

There was one day, me, my wife, Inda & Lily went to Pasar Aur Kuning - kalau korang nak tau - inilah tempat syurga membeli belah. Cuma, kalau yang tyak fasih berbahasa telor minang macam aku ni, toksah la nak bukak mulut nak tawar menawar - di jamin depa terus naik rega or tak leh nak ditawar langsung.

Sempena trip aku nak ke Jepun, negotiate urusan syarikat tak lama lagi, aku pun mengambil kesempatan shop around untuk JACKET KULIT - takle aku esok kesejukan kat Jepang tu nanti. Korang percaya tak kalau aku cakap I bought my leather jacket for less than RM83! Aku dah tengok kat KL - mamat Pakistan tu nak tolak kat aku @ RM450! Tapi yang slacknya, lepas beli jacket baru aku jumpa kasut - Ballly of Switzerland, ori - rasanya seludup punya from Jakarta. Depa kat sini kuasa membeli kurang, so next time round, Insya Allah kasut Bally akan menjadi target utama aku.

Family day 2007

July 2007

Family day is back and this time round the management had decided that it would be held at the office premises in Shah Alam. However, I was not able to enjoy the same to the fullest as the date falls on Wan's wedding day... anyway since the wedding solemnisation ceremony (akad nikah) would be held in the afternoon, sempatlah nak melawat & bring the kids to have some fun in the sun!

Mat Yeh's wedding Dec 2006

Trip to Kay Bee (New Castle) Kelate -

Bertolak 8.30 am 02/12/2006 from Shah Alam... terus masuk hiway NKVE to KB. Quite some time dah tak pergi ke pantai timur eversince the last trip 2 yrs ago. It was a daring move as the weather reports kata Kelantan & Terengganu will be facing the brunt of saki baki Taufan Durian that had ungulfed the whole of Taiwan & parts of the Philipines (takde nama lain ka kalu nak kasi nama taufan? Maybe esok ada lak taufan Rambutan, Ciku or Manggis kot?). Anyway the main reason for this trip was because of my good friend - Ahmad Harith's (Mat Yeh) wedding.

Cuaca baik up to Lipis.. rintik2 aje, then terang benderang. Lalu the dreaded liku2 berbahaya (boleh tahan curam & selekoh tajam) then masuk ke Merapoh & lepas aje border Gua Musang it began to rain cats and dogs! Tapi sekejap aje. Sampai aje ke Kuala Kerai, Mat Yeh dah menunggu to fetch us to his family house in Guchil 3... tak jauh pun. Tak siap lagi hantarannya... the family members tengah sibuk mengecat rumah! I met with his sister & brother in law & other family members yg memberikan layanan yg baik (although tengah sibuk). Lepas makan, we all cabut ke PCB (again... destination Kem Kijang, hostel pelancong ... yes hostel aje standard aku ni). Unfortunately tah berbas-bas gang pengakap dah book tempat tu, so we end up spending the night dalam kereta... (tak logik kan). Actually, we stayed one night at Perdana Beach Resort that cost us RM169-00 with breakfasf for two. Not bad. Malam tu dah tergolek tak larat to go for the akad nikah in Peringat. Esok ajelah kita pi konvoy, I told Mat Yeh. Malam tu, before kita org pi makan, sempat shopping kain- kain batik. I suppose that this is one trip that my wife would hate to miss...

The next day, pepagi lagi the two girls nak pi mandi swimming pool lak... berendam lah sekejap (1 jam lebih gak). Husna was having fun pi menyelam... sebab berenang tak tahu lagi.. belajar tahan nafas je dulu. Lepas makan, kita org checked out and pi shopping kat Pasar Khadijah... tak sampai 25 minit pun (as park kereta pakai meter) tah Mat Dadah mana tah try nak umpil my car. Hasilnya - terus jammed & kunci kereta sebelah driver. Nasib... despite it all, we all teruskan dgn convoy pengantin. Jumpa di Masjid Peringat... dah jam 3 pengantin lelaki tak nampak batang hidung lagi... ada masalah teknikal.... dah jam 4 ptg baru bertolak ke rumah pengantin perempuan... depa dah lama dok tunggu dah ...adalah sikit pertunjukan silat yg ada referee.. macam Smackdown, utk menghiburkan Raja Sehari kita. Got to meet teman 1 master masa chambering dulu - Sdr Zahran Abdullah who opened up a law firm in KB and Maridan, his personal assistant - depa ni baru balik opis masa tu.

Time flew so fast & it was time to say goodby & ucap selamat pengantin baru to the newly weds. I was given the opportunity to main lanyak aje tepung tawar & suap garam ke mulut pengantin... never done that before... sori mat yeh.. tak berapa banyak garam yg aku kasi... We spent another night in PCB... kali ni jadi org miskin, dok hostel for RM30 pernight (yeah it is that cheap). Ada 4 katil single, cukup utk all of us to bunk in for the night. Malam tu we had dinner kat Yati Ayam percik... (quite a famous place in KB).

The next morning sempat singgah ke Wisma Songket Che Bidah - where we all borong 2 kodi samping songket for my father in law's business. Hah... kalu nak order samping kome boleh email me. Rega boleh dirunding. Bertolak balik... tetiba ada idea nak ke Cameron through the new hiway yg kononnya selamat from Gua Musang. 2 lane konon.... sampai Gua Musang dah lewat petang... memula jalan kecik.. then we were quite impressed - hiwaynya besar TAPI tersangat CURAMMMM... & panjanggggggggggg .... tah takde le nak lalu jalan ni lagi... not that I am not confident with my car, but takut kena sondol dari belakang dek lori balak masa depa turun bukit... bila depa turun bukit, siap flash lampu tinggi, but bila time kita naik bukit... bye2 la lori tu.... sampai Cameron dah pukul 8 malam & Alhamdulillah tak hujan... else tah tahulah sampai ke tidak.

Nurul Sakinah's arrival

It has been quite a long time since I last updated this blog. Work commitments kept me away for quite some time. Just to announce that we now have an additional family member - Nurul Sakinah. She was borned on the 24th July 2007 although she was only expected to arrive few days before Ramadan. Neny had preeclapsia (not sure whether the spelling is correct) i.e. high blood at the later stage of the pregnancy and in order to save the mother and the child, a c-section operation would need to be carried out and Alhamdulillah, the doctors and nurses at Putrajaya Hospital were very well trained and had adequate facilities to handle such problems. Sakinah had to be immediately warded at the Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for about 4 weeks as the the baby's weight just about 1.4kg. We were told that we had to wait until the baby weight had increased to at least 1.8kg. For all those times, I had to travel to and fro every day from Shah Alam to the Hospital, sometimes twice daily to allow Neny to breast feed the baby.

The investment in NGV had proved to be helpful. After all, the Petronas CNG station is less than 1Km away from the hospital and not many taxis queing. After taking into consideration of the medical bills, toll, CNG... the whole affair cost me less than RM400-00.

Thanks to all friends and well wishers.

Disclaimer : Statements herein made are of my own. Any reliance to any statements, opinions or comments are at the sole risk of the readers which the readers hereby acknowledge.

Me and my NGV

Just got my car installed with a sequential NGV kit as my car uses injection. Cost about 4K. my comments are as follows:1. I guess that I am lucky that the SI engine has ample amount of torque. No much difference or loss of power is felt UNLESS the gradient of the hill is steep - say 35 degrees (estimate - then I need to drop a gear - note : my car is automatic).2. the savings - wow! this is the best part. It is roughly 6sen per km. The installer had asked me to replace the old airfilter and invest in a good spark plug if further improvement is required.3. On stations - I noted that milage per tank is dependant on the pressure of the NGV pump. I was made to understand that it is the high cost of installing these pumps that is killing the station operators. Note : there are off peak time where only 1 or 2 vehicles queing to quench their thirst for CNG. Better if refil at night when the weather is cooler & less queing. 4. I have been to these NGV pumps 1. Shah Alam near Carlsberg - the best pressure, 2. Glenmarie - OK. 3. Subang Jaya section 17 - lesser than Glenmarie. Subang Airport - OK & LESS queing. 4. Sri Hartamas - lousy - only managed to pump in RM3 worh of gas in an empty gas tank!For No. 1 - i managed to pump in RM7.80 worth of gas = about 11 litres. I was told by a cab driver that In JB (not sure where) that the pressure is much greater that one can put in RM12 worth of gas. Abg Wafi, can you please confirm this?It has been an eye opening experience for me. One guy from Mesiniaga uses NGV for his Peugeot and for the first time in my life, last night, I saw a bus filling up CNG. I think that the bus ply the Kelang - Shah Alam route. Note: the above came from my own posting at Motortrader website. More information pls go to the following link.

http://www.motortrader.com.my/asp/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6667&whichpage=2

Sesiapa ingat lagi kat senior kita Ahmad Wafi Abdullah? Pls visit that link - Zaws

Mother's Day Maahad Reunion

Hehehe... gotta upload now as tomorrow aku sibuk gile...Alkisah, aku sampai ke tempat yang dijanjikan - Lotus Restaurant, PJ State at 11.50am. Not a single person yg aku kenal ada dilokasi. What a good location... it is just a stone thrown away from the Sunday Motor Sales in PJ State. After a brisk walk (habih aku round tengok kereta yg depa nak jual) barulah aku balik ke lokasi and there, dah sedia mustaid menunggu Si Jakpo & Radzi. I arrived about at the same time Fatakh sampai.

Arakian, they trickle in... one by one... Mail, Sapek, Zamri and Apak. The latter came with his son (mother's day la katakan - kena tolong jaga anak sekali). Apa yg dibincangkan... takleh nak cerita kat sini as terlalu banyak sangat topic yg diutarakan - the main topic was NETWORKING among friends. Condolences to Ariff, Nik Fazri, Fadil & Azri Banat yang macam real bebenor nak datang but due to a reason or another, they were not able to make it. The discussion was later adjourned to the Crown Princess Hotel, where we had a long Hi-Tea session - all fully sponsored by a good old friend. Tima Kacih banyak2...... In any event, kudos to Jakpo & Mail J (those that read law, would appreciate the letter "J" at the end means "Justice" - tapi ini "J" lain ye) and the particular sponsor yg belanja kami makan (semoga panjang umur, murah rezeki), for making this gathering a reality. Gambo2 lain nanti bila aku free (tah bila tu), I'll post it dalam Maahad's mailing list.

Majlis Aqiqah & Takhnik for Aishah Humairah

Sunday 16 April 2006, we held a majlis kesyukuran, Aqiqah & Takhnik at my parents house in Taman Tun Dr Ismail for for petite Aishah Humairah, a newly borned baby girl and first child for my brother, Azrul Hafizi. Kepada yang datang dan menghadiri majsli tersebut, terima kasih diatas kedatangan dan doa anda kalian. More photos will be uploaded to photopages soon. I am now the Pak Long for 4 nephews and the addition of a niece would be great!

Quick explanation

Ok somebody asked me. Superstage ni apa ke bendanya?

Okay, here it is, it is actually the name of a honda accord model variant for CA1 Superstage, an imported JDM (that is Japan Domestic Market) which replaced the Merc 190 that I had been driving earlier. The previous owner of this car was a performance enthusiast. He had actually replaced the original 1.8 engine with another JDM type engine, B20A which churned up 160hp. The engine is more commonly referred to in this part of this world as the SI engine. More information on SI engine (together with its scanned original manual) could be found at:

http://www.pauldesign.ru/honda/about.html

Now due to its inherent and amazing power characteristics, I am planning to install a NGV kit on that car. (sacrifice some power though).

And for those from Maahad, to see the other part of me when I was in MRSM, you can visit
http://mrsmj8788.tripod.com

Till then, take care.
Zaws

A small reunion me and banat

It was like a miniature reunion on a miniscule level (dahla miniature...miniscule lak lagi!). A few weeks earlier, I met Halim Yankee & Radzi Manap kat Masjid Shah Alam. Just a few hours ago, me and Azri (aka Banat) had dinner together. We talked about old times and of mutual friends and of former teachers. The bond of friendship and sort of kinship is still present. I explained to Banat that of course I could still remember all the details. The explanation was easy - in all the years that I spent in MRSM, the system was totally different. Maahad really pale in comparison to MRSM as different from night and day in terms of facilities - for instance the teaching syllabus. When you guys in Maahad were enjoying your cuti penggal, I was really stuck with the MRSM's semester system! While you guys start to study the first chapter of a particular book, we started from chapter 11 instead. Even our holidays were different! So macam mana la nak datang tengok or melawat korang semua. If there was news from friends, it would either be from the trusted Amyr AlFatakh, Fahrul Zaman (suka hantar poskad from London) and lastly, a sweet girl that I know (name witheld), (alah ... kami bertukar soalan exams Maahad & MRSM je...since her mother was quite garang). Dora Ahmad, years later when we were studying in UIA's law school would be having a field day teasing me that the girl referred to above as my school sweetheart.

Anyway, of the many friends that I had, the 6 of us (me included) were exceptionally close i.e Ariff, Shahazwan, Ainal, Wan Hilal and Fadhil. It was firstly all because of the common interest that we share i.e computers and a lousy computer game by today's standard, by the name of Phantasie 1, Gemstone Warrior & Aztec . Other than that, we used to study, eat & had congegational prayers together. I guess that that was just a part of the usual boarding school bonding process, especially if one were to study in a religious institution such as Maahad Hamidiah. (mana boleh lupa.. belajar bahasa arab yg mengajornya memang org arab/iraq... sepatah haram pun aku tak tahu... pakat angguk "fahimna" aje yg lebih!) Anyway, aku masih ingat lagi tasrif feel madhi, mudariq & amr tu... and apa Ustazah Kalthom tu ajar camamana nak bezakan isim muzakkar & muannas tau and all those nonsense on alamatul i'rab (whatever that means)! korang yg stay on sampai habis tu macam mana?

In contrast, when I was in MRSM, I could not get rid of the label being put on me as "budak maahad". I was shoved around to lead congretional prayers, asked to give usrah & tazkirah, kalau bab doa-doa ni tolak kat kita (thank God, ada a few friends that can do it). Kalau kat Maahad dulu, setakat jadi imam or baca doa, hanya teman rapat sahaja yg akan ikut. Else, ikut org lain je. But here, they gave me the task of Unit Penerangan Biro Agama for Badan Wakil Pelajar (bukan pengawas or "Onchong" kat Maahad tau, supposed to be some sort of body representing kepentinghan students)... and to learn new things, be a leader that leads people, expect the unexpected etc. And this was the time I really learned to be independant. And kalau ada pun sumber inspirasi from Maahad yg luar biasa, I would gradly attribute it to none other than our beloved Ustaz Ghazali Hamzah.

So to friends from Maahad yg membaca blog saya ini, tak kira lelaki or perempuan, I would really like to hear from you guys. I may not remember all, but kawan tetap kawan. So I would leave it to Banat or others to set up a date. And yes I know, I missed the recent reunion. Takpe. There will be next time. Ilal li-qak fi istrerihah (sounds really funny kalau tulis arab in rumi). Auf weidersehen.

-zaws-

Pasar Tani Mega & Car Boot Sale Shah Alam

Inilah dia gambaran Pasar Tani Mega & Car Boot Sale yg diadakan setiap hujung minggu di Shah Alam. Berbagai barangan yang diniagakan oleh majoriti usahawan Melayu yang dijual dengan harga yang berpatutan. Jika anda berhajat untuk membeli pakaian, songkok, tudung dan sebagainya, sudi-sudikanlah untuk singgah ke gerai Pakcik Abd. Aziz bin Anuar ynag terletak di corner lot bahagian tengah. Pakcik Aziz dan isterinya, Kak Ratna, telah lama menjalankan perniagaan pakaian dan boleh memberikan anda harga yang berpatutan.

Quotation for NGV conversion kit

Somebody sent me a quotation for the cost of vehicle conversion to NGV. Anybody care to comment on the pricing?

NGV Conversion Quotation (Carburetor , Fuel Injection 4 or 6 Cylinders and extra Cylinder)
No Items Description Price (RM)
1 NGV Conversion Kit (For Carburetor) 2700
- Consist of NGV Conversion Kit for Carburetor
- Consist of NGV Cylinder
- Installation fees included
2 NGV Conversion Kit (For Fuel Injection) - 4 Cylinders 3500
- Consist of NGV Conversion for Fuel Injection (4 Cylinders)
- Consist of NGV Cylinder
- Installation fees included
- Gas Mixer charges on item 4
3 NGV Conversion Kit (For Fuel Injection) - 6 Cylinders 4000
- Consist of NGV Conversion Kit for Fuel Injection (6 Cylinders)
- Consist of NGV Cylinder
- Installation fees included
- Gas Mixer charges on item 4
4 Gas Mixer charges that vary from car to car RM85 to RM150
5 Extra Cylinder (For extended range) 1300

Notes:
a All price are fixed and in Ringgit Malaysia
b Kit: Our kits are made by GN Group of Argentina and it normally consists of reducers,high pressure steel pipe, fuel switch, indicator, solenoid and other accessories. For more info on this product pls visit www.gngroup.com.ar
c Cylinder: made from high quality steel material and are manufactured only by a limited few world over.They need to withstand pressures upto 200bar or 3000 psi. Our cylinders are from Cilbras, Brasil,one of the world leader in the cylinder business. For more info on this product pls visit www.cilbras.com.br
d 1 day Installation (Early morning sent to workshop, complete in the evening)
e Prices are subject to change without notice

Project TERKAM Photos

For those who are keen to know more on the progress of the TERKAM project, you are invited to the following link here for a closer look. Remember to click "see more photos" and to click on the displayed photos for a closer look. Kindly leave your comments thereto. Thank you.

http://-zaws-.fotopages.com/