Thursday, December 31, 2009

Beijing Family Vacation.

Alhamdulillah, I managed to fulfill my promise to my children, to take them holiday to Beijing. It was an event they have been looking forward to. So, on the 14th December, we departed KUL to BJS via SIN on SQ119/800.
(The happiness I would trade my life for)

We arrive in BJS early morning, our guide, Mr. Liu was already there waiting for us. It was winter with temperature at -5C, we already prepared for it. With some borrowed jacket from Pak Da and Mak Da, some we bought anew, it was a totally new experience for us, especially to Anek since she was the only one who never experience winter before. On arrival, we were taken to our hotel to refresh ourself. I designed this holiday myself, my own choice of hotel. I made quiet an extensive research before deciding on Crowne Plaza Hotel at Wangfujing and it turn out to be the perfect choice for my family. They love every inch of the hotel.
(Unique Omni Door at Crowne Plaza)

It was a leisure holiday, we do not plan to hurry. We want to enjoy the Beijing's offerings. The fact that the children are now grown ups and understand the meaning of a vacation makes the trip more enjoyable and fun.
(Frozen lake at The Summer Palace)

(From outside The Forbidden City)

(The Great Wall of China)

(One whole day skiing at Nanshan Ski Village)

(Ladies of my life)


(The happiest father on earth!)

The vacation was a very memorable one. New experience, new exposure. Beijing, a very clean city, friendly people, exotic places to visit and relatively affordable for a very nice vacation. As for us, I can see the satisfaction in my children faces - Bang Long, Bang Ngah, Bang Teh, Kakak, Kak Uda and Anek. And especially to my other half, she deserves this holiday. Mission accomplished - Skiing experience is awesome and The Great Wall of China is now already in my collection of 100 Places To Visit Before I Die.

Rome is next!

More pic in my FB, here.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Coretan Hari Natal

Merry Christmas to all, especially to Benny, Daniel, Michael, Arthur, Dr. David, Alex, Andrew, Geoff, Mark and especially to my dearest friend, Richard. In Bahasa Malaysia, Christmas disebut sebagai Hari Natal. Tak tahu dari mana asalnya.

It is already the end of the year. Many things happened since the last time I updated this journal, mostly happened to challenge my sincerity and thankfulness to the life I am leading. I realized something was not right on 21 September, that was on the first Hari Raya. However, I just chided them away as ‘it’ never happened to me before. Mak kata, penyakit kalau nak datang, kejap aja. Kalau nak pergi bukan main susah. Memang betul. I was ‘disabled’ for 10 days starting from 5 November, a day before Maxis IPO closing date. On that day, memang dah maximum. Balik aja terus rebah tak boleh bangun. But I couldn’t sleep for the next 3 days. I cannot switch off my mind, it kept spinning and rolling. Sepanjang 10 hari terlantar atas katil, sokongan keluarga sangat mengharukan. Mak datang dari kampong. Adik beradik sentiasa datang menziarahi. Anak-anak sangat memahami. Paling mengharukan is that, Bang Long will start his SPM on the 8th. I tried to calm myself, not to show the pain in front of him. Tak nak bagi dia risau sangat. I know he is very worried and sedikit sebanyak mengganggu ketenangan yang dia perlukan untuk menghadapi SPM. Dalam waktu demikian, bukan setakat keluarga yang memberi sokongan, kawan-kawan juga turut bimbang. Bob dan Jaidi sering menghubungi, bertanya khabar. Warga kerja Amir-Husin turut sama bimbang. Berkat doa semua, ubat yang diberi oleh Abang Shaik dan Mat Tarzan, penyakit beransur sembuh. Eventhough I still feel the pain until now but it is not as painful as before. Kena jaga makan.

So, Bang Long menghadapi SPM nya dengan tabah. Papa harap Long boleh jawab peperiksaan dengan baik dan berharap Long akan mendapat kejayaan yang cemerlang.

I came back for work on 17 November. Biasalah, after 10 days being grounded, kerja bertimbun-timbun. Tambahan pulak my Head of Support Service, Sarimah, pergi perform the Haj. Dan paling mengerikan, I came to know that no payment is anticipated until the end of the year! This is disaster! How to fund our projects? How about those commitments that I have already made earlier? What about our overhead? What if new project coming in? Jawapannya – terpaksa korek from here and there. All the savings is now back into the business. We are back at square-one. Aduuuuhhhh… Ingat nak enjoy sikit bila hujung tahun. Dah janji pulak dengan anak-anak, nak bawak pergi holiday masa year end nanti.

Gitu gini gitu gini, we managed! Dalam keadaan yang sangat daif, all projects was well-funded. New jobs was also undertaken well. Cuma projek holiday to Beijing aja yang semput-semput sikit. Cuma until the last minute, baru confirm to Beijing. I will blog separately about our holiday to Beijing.

(Skiing at Beijing)

Result PMR Bang Ngah was announced on 24 December, 2 days after we came back from Beijing. Alhamdulillah, Bang Ngah berjaya dengan cemerlang. Thank you Bang Ngah for giving me this hadiah yang sangat bermakna. Memang Papa dah agak Ngah akan dapat 7A, that is your standard. Tapi I thought the B will come from Sejarah. Rupa-rupanya, BM. Anyway, syukur pada Allah. Kita hanya boleh merancang, perancangan Allah yang akan prevailed. You have done your very best. Cuma ingatlah, kejayaan dunia hanyalah untuk sementara. Boleh dirai tapi jangan diriakkan. Sehebat-hebat kita, masih ada ramai lagi orang yang lebih hebat dari kita. Selemah-lemah kita, masih banyak lagi peluang untuk kita perbaiki diri. Move forward!

(Extract from Papa's Diary)