Back to Alam Shah, PutraJaya

The hardworking organizing team members

The medals for the winners and some of the losers

Me and my team ..manning the registration and announcement table

Some of the participating team (i thing this one is from Royal Selangor Club)

The military boys ready to enter the field

I'm back to my former secondary school Sekolah Alam Shah to assist the alumni organizing our annual Rugby 7 a side called PutraJaya Seven 2009. Although during my time which was way back in 1986 the school was located in Cheras still the memory of a boarding school students remains.

It's not easy organizing such an event and in Malaysia this is one of the premier rugby event in the Malaysian Rugby Union calendar and to be part of it is something special. I've to admit it's tiring having to drive early in the morning from Kelang to PutraJaya 2 days in a row (Saturday and Sunday) with no allowance but the spirit of ex rugby player and ex Alam Shah keep me going and this is my 3rd year involvement organizing the tournament.

The next one which is in 2010 will be even bigger and the alumni members (the Datuks and Tan Sris) are considering to put it in the Tourism Malaysia Calendar for 2010.

Rizal.

Pantai Remis

Some of the stalls selling salted fish on the way coming to Pantai Remis

And yes not to forget the famous Raub's Durian

The access road nowadays is far more better than it used to be

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Last photo (this will be my reading spot on my next trip ..and yes tea and scones)

Pak Idrus posting on view of the beach inspired me to write this posting. It's a place called Pantai Remis which is about 30 minutes drive from Kelang. And this is the closest beach that I could have. It might not be in the same league of the beaches in Port Dickson or Langkawi but it's better than none.

Probably because of the location it's not suitable for "beach" activities but it has fantastic view and at least one could experience the sea breeze slowly breezing through. I noticed few artist capturing the "sea' moment on their canvas and they have a very good reason to have this place as their painting zone.

Probably my next trip will be on my own, spending the whole day at the best spot finishing the whole books on famous person biography while enjoying tea and scones (pak idrus thanks for the idea) ..hmmmmmm life is good.

RIZAL

BookCrossing

The crossing zone..and this one is very nice

This is the official tag ..attached to the released book

Another example of a simple book crossing zone

The official sign for BookCrossing zone

My first encounter with the wording itself was through Pak Adib’s blog and straight away love the idea of releasing and capturing books that is not in one wanted list anymore. It’s another brilliant way to get more people to love and read books.

The idea started in 2002 and the current total number of members are reaching 800,000 and in Malaysia alone nearly 2500. I’ve completed my first book released last week in a shopping complex in Klang and will follow-up the progress of the book from www.bookcrossing.com.

One Utama has been supporting this idea all this while and they even established probably the first bookcrossing zone in Malaysia (jv with MPH Bookstore) and I was told that the zone was really ideal for book crosser to release and capture books.

Anyway , to at least experienced the excitement just click to the official website and register as a member . The next thing you know will be your addiction of releasing and capturing books while making new friends …

Happy BookCrossing

RIZAL

FAMILY OUTING : MELAKA 2

Night River Cruise (it will take 45 mins ... )

One of the view from the boat and only visible at night

The latest attracrion, Taming Sari Tower and it will take you 80 meter above Melaka city

FAMILTY OUTING : MELAKA

Bus Ride all around Melaka

This is inside Taming Sari Tower and we're 80 meter above the ground

A must do list whenever you in Melaka..Beca Ride

Our friendly becaman ....

This cool fountain just infront of the Clock Tower

Kassim the owner of the famous Clock Tower Cendol

The famous Cendol stall

A sneak peak at our roo in Hotel Puri

One of the History room at the Hotel Puri lobby

The Hotel Puri main lobby

The famous Famosa chicken ball rice. You can get the

halal version at Melaka Central

Famosa chicken rice ball

My last trip to Melaka (not related to work) was ages ago, which is why I’ve decided to bring my family to Melaka. To add the trill of this trip we’ve decided to take a bus instead of driving.

The trip from Klang Central to Melaka Central took about 2.5 hours. We’ve stayed in Hotel Puri, a 3 star hotel with 4 star facilities and 5 star breakfast !!!. It’s an old peranakan building converted to a hotel and it’s just a walking distance from all the historical places including Jonker Walk.

We’ve tried almost everything …the taming sari rotating tower, rooftop bus ride, river boat cruise, beca ride and shopping at jonker street. And we manage to complete all of in the first night.

Our last day was to visit the museum and interestingly we’ve got 5 in 1 museum that is 5 museum with only 1 entry fee. This is one of the trip that I really planned carefully utilizing the internet and it really helps.

Looking forward to the next trip….Pulau Pangkor (and yes by bus ….)

RIZAL

A ROBOTIC WEEKEND ......

AUTOBOTS ....TRANSFORMED !!!!!

THE ROBOTS WORKING ON THE OBSTACLES

THE WINNING TEAM (FROM UTM, JOHOR)

A WELL DESERVED REST ....EVEN ROBOTS NEED ONE ....

Last month , me and the family manage to spend our robotic weekend at the ROBOCON festival in Stadium Melawati Shah Alam. It’s a competitions open to all Universities in Malaysia and the main objectives is to select the best team who can create a machine aka ROBOTS (well no quite like Optimus Prime and company ..) and able to complete the obstacles.

It’s good especially for my kids to get the exposure of technology and at least by now they should understand that the actual robot that we have now is still far from what they’re seeing in the TVs and yes especially Transformer.

Oh ..and we were at the movies last weekend for Transformer 2 : Revenge of the Fallen and it was spectacular ….

RIZAL

FAMILY OUTING : MUAR/BATU PAHAT

Muar famous bridge welcoming us ......

The famous mee bangdung muar (it's actually inside a kopitiam)

Muar and Batu Pahat are 2 of the famous town in Johor apart from Johor Baharu and that was our school break trip last few weeks. We're attending one of my friends wedding and I've decided to take my family for a one night stay in Batu Pahat.

Pak Abu ...the man himself and always on top of everything

MEE BANDUNG MUAR SPECIAL (RM 3.50)

The first stop is at the famous mee bandung muar hotspot Mee Pak Abu in the middle of Jalan Abdullah in the heart of Muar Town. I've been googling the info on the famous mee bandung muar and Mee Pak Abu was simply the favourite pick. I've tasted Mee Bandung before but the Muar version is totally different. It's sweet and rich in flavours especially dried shrimp....yummmmy

Some of the more famous visitors ...

We proceed our journey to Batu Pahat and I've selected Hotel Katerina ( no relations to the Hurricane!!!) and the hotel was above average....with a good discount (government rate) it was a pleasant stay. The initial plan was to try the famous Nasi Beriyani Power at Taman Soga but it was closed. So we proceed to the newly open BP Walk (an effort to emulate the famous Bintang Walk). Not bad and the food was fantastic ...I had 'Mee Bungkus' and it was sedap....

Hotel Katerina Batu Pahat

Dining at BP Walk which is next to the Old Rex Cinema

The famous MEE BUNGKUS @ GULUNG

Batu Pahat view from 15th floor

The final day was Wedding Ceremony at UTHM and since my friend is the daughter of a senior professor in UTHM the ceremony was big complete with SILAT (local martial art) and traditional dance. Not to forget the Nasi Beriyani Mat Shah (the caterer for the event). The dessert was the popular HALIM CENDOL.

The wedding event at Dataran Penyu

The famous HALIM CENDOL

The King and Queen of the Day

The dancers fully commited ...

Looking forward to the next trip.....

RIZAL