arteo goes to kuantan........

Woo hoo... My first time going to a place in Pahang other than Genting!!

The day started slow and normal, as I got up and dressed to attend a course on ePerolehan at INTAN Sabah (dreading the amount of sleep I'll get during lecture) suddenly I got a call from DrC, my boss from JKNS asking me if I'd attend an Epidemiology Techinal meeting in Kuantan on her behalf... did not take half my brain cell to think about it, of course I would!

So the flight took off at about noon, and after a couple of hours transit in KLIA, I am in Kuantan for the first time...

The session started tonight with a briefing on Outbreak Management, and I walked to Parkson just to get my 5L of drinking water. Forgot to bring my camera along...

Maybe tomorrow I'll have time to do some jalan jalan cari makan...

pom pom pom pom pom... pom pom... pom pom...

Remember this song during kindergarten?

Bapak ku pulang dari Kota
Bapak ku belikan kereta
Kereta kecil warna merah
Boleh ku bawa ke sekolah
Pom pom pom pom pom.... pom pom... pom pom...
Kereta kecil ku berbunyi
Marilah adik mari naik
Boleh ku bawa jumpa nenek...

In a midst of getting a ride, but not kecil, warna merah definitely...

And maybe when it grows up, it can become something like this...

And maybe it will transform into something like this... hahaha..

Nice.....

tiny.........

you came
uninvited
you left
without a goodbye

yet your brief stay made so much
gave reason to life
and what it means to have it
or not
to think that it is in my hands
rather should it at all
showed what fear feels like
in desolation
suffocation
with desperation
for grace

you left
so I can know that grace
when pressed
when persecuted
when struct down
crushed, abandoned, destroyed
yet not

life
may be the least i could offer
yet you surrendered
so that I may live instead

7 years memorial

Alex, June 26, 2002

a tribute to the king of pop......

Yes it is still very surreal... almost like hearing news about planes crashing into WTC buildings in USA, the news about the death of Michael Jackson is just as unbelievable.

arteo in bali: day 7 - ubud part 2

PICS TAKEN WITH HTC TYTNii

Ah, after installing CS3 to my office computer, life gets a little more fun, so I can edit my pics here and blog from office... but I can only do it after I finish all my other work, which is usually around 10pm... like now.

Anyway, to continue with my trip in Ubud, after the SONY T77 died on me (after the pictures at the Luwak coffee farm) so I had to make do with the HTC, but surprisingly, the picture quality shows better contrasting in black and white compared to Sony pictures. I guess not all together bad la...

Made took me around the village where we see much more of authentic Balinese lifestyle, than of those at the tourist highway... these pretty ladies here are wearing kebaya, but theirs is made of more translucent material than that we find at home. They are gathering at a wedding kenduri.

I don't mind joining them at the back of the truck!

This was where we had lunch that afternoon, nasi ayam campur. Some sort of babi guling like, but made with chicken and its innards.

Nice landscaping.

Mixture of roasted chicken parts...

Sewn straw roof.

Ladies chatting.

See the bunny in the basket?

The dog from the hotel I was staying in.

That evening after Made sent me back, I took a short nap and went on again on foot around Ubud town, this time journeying southward, looking for another famous Balinese cuisine that one has to try when in Ubud - Bebek Bengil.

Street folks playing cards.

Monkey Forest.

Monkeys here are not as nasty as the ones in Uluwatu. They asked for food nicely.

A monkey enjoying its BLT.

Now, this is what I am talking about, woo hoo...

Gigantic monkey statue at the entrance of Monkey Forest.

Paddy fields behind some residential.

I saw some stickers in Kuta saying "I love Bali Dogs" and I thought it was some slang for something vulgar (well, most of the stickers were vulgar anyway) then I saw this and went, Oh.

Finally found my Bebek Bengil restaurant - at this place called the Dirty Duck.

Nice interior design.

This statue to remind us the importance of Family Planning, heh.

Can you believe this is part of the restaurant's interior landscape?

Oily dip, sambal, acar and roasted duck.

View inside one of the Pura for night performance.

Street of Ubud, I think this is Hanuman Street.

More paddy fields.

Elvis wind chime.

Balinese masks...

Taking out the Barong.

Kids playing football in the field.

That night, I went to see Ramayana show, at Istana Ubud.

And the HTC died here too... after the show I went over to another Club called Ubud Silver and Coffee for a live jazz gig there... superb. Got their album, authographed. Too bad the gig ended early, at about 1130pm. The owner said that some residents nearby used to complain to the police about the noise.

I have to ask, What noise? Who would complain having nice jazz playing even if its midnight?