It has been a reeeeaaaaally long time since I’ve updated this blog... the only reason I can think of right now is that I’ve become complacent/comfortable or couldn’t care less of my current state... whatever it is, I think I need to write something now, there will come a day when I will look back at all this and remember these days and hopefully render a smile on my old crinkly face...

Where to start? Well, I guess I’ll start with my holidays (31^st May to 2^nd June):

So, went to Penang with the family for 3 days, money well spent I think except for the tiny fact that we didn’t get a room with a balcony as advertised in the internet... stayed at the Feringghi Holiday Inn Resort, Hill View... what that meant was that we stayed in the building across the road, away from the beach and the pool... it wasn’t too bad though... the kids loved the pool and the beach, went on the jet-ski with Haziq and I tried para-sailing, that was some thrill... Haziq sibuk suruh berenti masa naik jet-ski tu, don’t think I was going too fast hahaha... and Sabrina got her pony ride, Fina cakap dia sibuk nak go for riding lessons, ingat bapak dia cap duit kot, ummm no....

Went to Bukit Bendera, enjoyed the train / tram ride and Fina got sick (as usual)... on the hill there wasn’t much to do so we decided to try the canopy walk... first we just wanted to see it, check it out I mean but somehow everyone ended up on the wobbly swaying bridge hahaha... have to say that I was scared as well tapi kena la control, bapak kan... jalan depan pulak tu... all the time I was thinking to myself “why the hell did I take all my family on this bridge?” What surprised me was Luqman, mischievous as he was, he turned out to be a good brother, consoling Sabrina all the way “don’t be afraid, don’t look down, just look at papa, look at the end, sing happy songs... etc” Yang lain tak tau la camana pasal dah jauh kat belakang... didn’t hear a peep from Ijan... took photos and expected to see Fina crying or something but another surprise; she was smiling....

Also went to the Butterfly Farm which was interesting, there weren’t just butterflies, there were other interesting tree insects and fish and birds and turtles and snakes and scorpions as well... at the end of that I had spent close to rm200 on t-shirts and stuff... Then went to the sleeping Buddha temple... nothing much to see but the Buddha lying down... pretty huge I have to say

One thing that I was disappointed with was food... being the cheap fellow that I am, didn’t want to have food in the hotel... susahnya nak cari makan! There were a few options in feringghi but they seemed a bit dodgy, in terms of halalness... ada la satu seafood place tu, riverview was the tag-line but it was actually next to a big drain... ok la if you don’t mind the smell of the toilet and the waiter that had a beanie on, Fina tutup hidung every time dia lalu... why would you have a beanie on? We’re in Malaysia for God’s sake... tak tau la berapa lama dia tak basuh benda tu... Nak cari nasi kandar, tak tau mana nak pegi and time was short also la, we spent most of the time either at the pool/beach or jalan2... by the time pikir nak makan dah menggagau nak cari... so ended up ada la satu kedai tu, actually one of what appeared to be the biggest nasi kandar chain there... cam biasa Luqman dengan roti telor dia, I had nasi kandar tapi yang frustnya takde pulak ayam madu.. so nak lepaskan geram, order la burger special... asked the guy “u tau ke nak buat?” dia angguk je... bila datang, had one bite, mentah! Hampeh betul... so had a replacement, dah le lambat so by the time yang baru tu datang dah tak selera dah... tak tau la apa rasa, tak makan pun, next day Fina pun buang dalam tong sampah kat bilik... pagi pu tak breakfast kat hotel, preferred the small stall next to the hotel, tapi selalu lambat so nasi lemak selalu dah habis, kena la roti bakar dgn telor setengah masak...

Well, that was from Sunday to Tuesday... budak2 tu merungut “kenapa kita kena balik?” kesian jugak tapi nak buat camana, Fina tak dapat cuti... after that lepak kat KL, pegi la beli benda2 yg orang ostolia kirim, tengok moyang kat keramat and mostly lepak je kat rumah sampai Friday... Pas tu, sabtu ahad hantar budak2 balik temerloh pulak pasal Fina takde cuti kan so cuti takde orang nak manage diorang, and gave me time alone with my dearest as well ehem ehem... Monday flight pagi pulak so tu je la holiday aku....

Now, just back to hearing their voices on the phone again.......

cold winter day

It's been more than a month since I last updated this blog... just been lazy I guess, nothing much to tell really

Balik KL lagi 24th April hari tu, ANZAC Day on the 25th kat sini so dapat la cuti lama skit, ada la 2 full days kat KL... Remember one thing tho, kat airport tu ada la bertembung orang kita tapi semua buat dek je... Was thinking to myself, diorang sombong ke aku? Banyak kali dah cam tu, bila jumpa I always try to at least nod and smile tapi semua buat donno je... Jumpa kat town/Freo pun cam tu jugak... hmmm tak tau la, maybe diorang dah Austrialinised kot, lama2 tu nyampah pulak tengok... baik Aussies kat sini, at least diorang nak gak tegur/sembang...

It's Sunday today, still rasa terkilan tak dapat join budak2 main futsal hari tu, menang pulak tu, tapi tak tau gak, maybe kalau aku join jadi kalah hehehe bola tu bulat... Tadi routine cam biasa, gi pekena roti canai instant kat Freo, semalam kena nasi goreng dengan sate, it's about the closest thing I can get to home....

Mangkuk Fat King tu ada ajak aku gi mana2 ntah dengan Sultan of Oz, tapi maleh la aku... tak paham2 bahasa diorang ni, sibuuuuk ajak aku... Bukan aku taknak pegi, tapi aku taknak pegi dengan diorang, tak reti2 lagi... And it's only because there has not been a day where he has not picked on either my country, my religion, my family, my physical attributes, everything about me... so takkan weekend pun aku nak layan gak benda2 tu?? cukup la hari kerja aku tak dapat nak ngelak, weekend aku nak la spend time by myself.... tak sabar nak habis project ni, memang aku tak nak balik dah sini kalau diorang ada sini... and ada possibility aku balik cepat (end of May) fuh, ya Allah, selamatkanlah aku... bagilah aku pekerjaan yang lebih baik supaya aku dapat hidup bersama keluarga ku... Amin

It's about 13 degrees today, pagi2 around 2 or 3, nak bangun semayang Subuh tu memang liat, bukan nak bangun actually, nak amik air semayang dengan air sejuk tu yang pikir banyak kali tu... teringat pulak; anak bini aku bangun tak semayang Subuh? Haziq... Luqman... bangun....

3rd tour...

got back from kl monday 24th, drove tuesday to kooly and then down to esperance, dekat 1000km tu, berapa ramai anak melayu yang dah buat? tak pernah ada kot...

more interestingly was the trip back home, melepas rindu dengan my queen and my angels, plan nak gi genting burn coz luq dok hospital, sabtu baru keluar... well, dapat jumpa diorang for a few days pun jadi la... luq dah ok sikit tapi still not out of the woods yet, we'll see...

what else did i do? hmmm managed to go to low yatt, belikan my buddy matt 8Gb micro sd, beli thumbdrive lagi (setan gemok tu rosakkan aku nye yang lama), beli headphones baru nak skype, put spiderman skin on my ipod lalala, so it wasn't a total disaster... have a new friend now:boleh la layan diri sorang2 dalam bilik ni, bau2an from the previous tenant pun dah hilang, aku dah terbalikkan tilam, sembur kasi wangi, tukar cadar, beli bantal baru... thank God semua dah clear... tapi ntah la, lately ni asyik nak membeli je, impulsive shopping, tadi petang bought an ipod bluetooth adapter from ebay.au, ada lagi ni nak beli ni, dah ada bluetooth kena la beli bluetooth headphone pulak dak? tak tau la credit card nanti camana rupa...

nothing like being 'alone' in a foreign country...

My Son My Angel

Semalam anak aku masuk hospital, doktor pun tak berapa sure apa exactly punca sakitnya so nak buat test lagi... sedihnya tak tau nak cakap macamana, i've always been there bila any of my children were ill but not this time...

I don't normally get shaken up but this did... staring at the moon and thinking "kesiannya anak aku..." Thank God aku balik m'sia esok, but just think, apa jadi kalau it happened some other week? Boleh ke aku balik? Sempat ke aku nak balik? Tak berapa serious according to the doctor tapi the fact he has to stay in hospital dekat seminggu is serious enough for me...

"Ya Allah, peliharakanlah anakku, sembuhkanlah penyakitnya..."

My son... I am void of words to express this helplessnes that has shrouded this person that is your father...

Papa's Day Out

It's Sunday, 4 more days til I go back woohoo!! Yesterday was told that we can vouch for a helmet so got one yesterday... Now that I can ride the scooter, where oh where shall I go hehe..

Pagi ni kol 11 aku dah siap, pegi Fremantle Market. Niat utama: nak makan sate and beli something untuk family

Semalam dah check internet, mana malaysian food kat situ, so jumpa la, it's called Freo Curry Hut, boleh baca sendiri kot and it says Authentic Malaysian Cuisine... Well, tak disangkal memang masakan M'sia, ada bihun, karipap, popia, nasi goreng, kari ayam, kambing, daging etc and best of all; sate! Aku pun order secukupnya, AUD 20 aku hentam (bayangkan dekat RM60 tu), minah yang jaga tu pun cakap "banyaknya makan..." hehe Aku cakap "dah lama tak jumpa..." Tapi yg lagi best; diorang orang Indonesia.. Hmm funny, minah tu cakap they bought over the shop but still maintains the style of food... Apa2 la, janji aku dapat lepas gian aku, this can be a weekly ritual now...

So, perut dah kenyang, mula la ronda2 cari barang... Sambil tu tengok street shows, cool jugak... There was a lady jester handing out balloons to kids




Ada 'Ginja Ninja' kalau tak salah nama dia, sorry dude if i got it wrong, who juggled with fire sticks and walked on his hands over "volunteers" he was funny

Ada 'Bad Piper' and his lovely or ehem should i say quite fetching assistant, who played bagpipes obviously, to rock tunes... Best jugak, his album has been out for 2 weeks he said so check it out.. Do i get commission for this Mr Piper?

So yeah, it was a fun day... At least hilang la bosan and missing the family... Ada la beli souvenirs like boomerang and stuff tapi bila pikir balik hey, bukan balik terus, nanti datang balik, so takde la beli banyak sangat... D**n, have to come back, that immediately got me on the scooter and balik rumah...

Takpe la, dapat jugak jumpa family sekejap, 4 hari lagi, macam2 plan nak fit in the weekend nanti, nak beli gitar lagi, got it off 'Lelong', and a few other things lagi... Really looking forward to the trip home ni, but then dreading the thought that I have to come back here, so tak tau nak cakap camana, just take it one day at a time i guess...

Definitely will be visiting Low Yat...

Hujan emas di negeri orang...

It's been a while since I've updated this blog, just been lazy I guess, plus Sire just piles on the work and just drives me up the wall sometimes... but yeah forget him, I'm here, I'll do the time, and go back home a better man...

What have I been up to? Took the train to the city last Sunday, interesting, not a lot of people on the train even tho it was free for the day, tis pretty much the same as our LRTs back in KL except on these trains people can actually bring their bikes along... imagine that in KL, we'd probably get a lot of "oi"s and "gila"s...

Ada gak bahasa melayu kat signboard kat sini rupanya...


Finally bought an iPod, I think I got it cheaper but only because the Ringgit was performing better against the greenback, so yeah, had fun with that for a bit, uploading songs, making playlists etc. My real intention of going to town was to find fellow Malaysians, somebody to talk to really but no such luck for me... Of all the places, I got to meet a few guys at the airport when I was waiting to go to Esperance. One was a PR and the 2 other guys were like me, working here for a few months. Cool guys, really enjoyed their company for a bit, dapat la cakap melayu sekejap... Alo Munir, Bahar and Din (sorry tak berapa ingat yang last one tu)

So yeah, in Esperance now, working my ass off, preparing for meetings as usual, only tomorrow to go and probably the only day to get anything else done, hopefully... Nice place but you really only wanna be here a few days really, there's the beach and then there's the beach, nothing much to do....
Counting the days to the 20th...

Numb Still

Been a hectic few days, though I've been here for a good 3 weeks, this week really is the start of my work life here... Had lots to do and still have lots of catching up still so I know what I'll be doing this weekend; work...

Life in general's not too bad, people are nice and friendly, still acclimatising to the long days tho (pukul 8 malam terang lagi, Maghrib masuk kol 8.10). I do still feel numb I guess, didn't want to come here in the first place but now that I am here, I don't feel anything. Happy? Depressed? Not really sure... I guess it's the work and a few mates that's taken my mind of things. There are days that I feel less than an inmate but there have been good days, nope, not full days, more like good times really.

One thing that never went away or will never go away is the thought of my family. I do miss them terribly. 3 weeks to go til I get to see them, my queen, my babies and me mum. And nasi lemak and roti canai and rojak and super supreme pizza and maggi goreng and saturday night soccer and my guitar and my premacy and hd tv and low yat and i can go on all day...
I miss home.

a new day will begin

Sadly today had to say farewell to a good friend, one of them boys in the picture... Some ways i'm cheesed off at him coz due to his "issues" if you like, i have to come to oz, be away from my wife and children for long periods of time, nak makan susah, nak semayang susah etc. but then i thot hey i'm still better off than a lot of people, it's not the end of the world, maybe God is testing me... aku redha...

Speaking of God, hari ni aku dapat semayang Jumaat, finally found a mosque (dekat je sebenarnya) a Turkish one tapi sama je i mean in terms of rukun. Ada nampak a few malaysian/indonesian tapi tak sempat nak tegur pasal diorang hilang tengah aku tunggu nak beli kebab (yum yum), lapar masa tu, dah la dah banyak hari tak jumpa daging. Nak balik pulak, a Somalian taxi driver gave me a free ride back to the office, Allahuakbar God is Great, takyah aku pening kepala nak panggil bos aku datang ambik...

So, eve of a new day, member dah blah, am in a foreign country, no real friends to talk to, trying to make new friends, family bzillion miles away (thank God there's skype), nothing here in my name other than this laptop and my suitcase, hmm sounds daunting now... Allah grant me strength Amin

Went on a trip to the mines today, actually drove west from perth to kalgoorlie yesterday and drove to koolyanobbing this morning from kalgoorlie (cool names kan?). Had a meeting bla bla bla but the interesting bit was the conversations in the car. I mean one way to kalgoorlie was close to 600km yeah so loads of time...

Apa lagi, banyak la soalan2 pasal ugama ni keluar... Macam biasa, it's not questions 'nak tau sebab nak tau' but rather 'nak tau tapi taknak terima'... Example: kenapa kena semayang 5 waktu? kenapa antara maghrib dengan isya' waktu pendek, yang lain panjang? siapa yang tulis Al-Quran? ada tulis dalam Quran tak boleh bunuh orang? ada tulis dalam Quran boleh bunuh non-muslims? so all non-muslims are damned to hell, even though they did good things? ish we were at it for a few hours la pokoknya....

Tried my hardest to answer the 'inquiries' with what I know but that's the point that I realised, I don't know a whole lot! So... the positive take-out from that experience was: I need to read Al-Quran...

"Tiada Tuhan melainkan Allah, Nabi Muhammad pesuruh Allah", I'll start from there...

apology day?

Its called Swan Bells, probably because it's a bell tower and its close to swan river i guess, dunno never bothered to ask... it's on the way to work so thought i'd take a snap of it

Today is the day Australia apologises to a generation of indigenous people for taking them away from their families and placing them in say foster families. Don't have an opinion on it since i don't really understand what happened but i guess now is the healing process

Gajah dengan gajah apa cite? Macam biasa tapi hari ni sparring lain sikit, openly declaring dia tak suka dia tapi buat2 macam kelakar so declaring without declaring anything...

Eenntah la, yang aku tau, lagi 24 minggu lagi aku nak netap kat sini... so stay strong man, i can either winge about it or make the most of my time here, semalam dah start jogging (and a lot of walking) wuhuuu good on ya mate!

petang di cottesloe

great view ey? taken from the apartment of my colleague... am temporarily staying about 0.5km from his place but the view is not as good la... nanti donno when, i'll move there, tapi tak tau la for the better or boleh jadi bak kata orang keluar mulut rimau masuk mulut buaya...

speaking of pepatah, another one that's been going around in my head is gajah dengan gajah bergaduh, kancil mati kat tengah tengah... exactly apa yang jadi kat aku sekarang, can't publish names for fear of reprisals but lets just say that i didn't wanna be here in the first place and what i thought might happen has happened, and i'm caught between a rock and a hard place... whoa! another cliche... on a roll tonight

janji ada kerja sudah kata bini aku

on the couch in oz

'Serendipity' on tv, washing machine running and the odd sound of vehicles passing by the house, it's sunday afternoon and i'm on the couch...

Just finished setting up the page, really struggling what to write, what would be appropriate or whether it should be

Oh well, maybe not today, can't concentrate now, they're about to meet each other again.... takdir ke apa?