Bali Revisited....Part 2

Gunung Kawi

Tanah Lot

Ulu Danu

Pura Luhur (Uluwatu)

Taman Ayun

Jimbaran

....to be continued...final part

Bali Revisited....Part 1

I took a trip to Bali as a closing for the year 2008. I had planned it sometime back. Everytime I went to Bali, it was to visit the various dive sites and never had a 'real' opportunity to see the various land attractions. I had seen what Bali had to offer underwater and now its time to see things topside.

This time I didnt even pack my underwater housing. Instead I brought my D80...finally...had enough money to own a DSLR and what better place to test it than Bali.

Originally I had wanted to write a diary sort of writing, depicting every step that we took. Then I found out that its hard work doing that. Catz also commented that the very idea of blogging is to tell things as how it is, and not like writing a report. Hmmm...

Well, here are a few pictures of the places we visited:-

Malaysian Owned Spa

Surprisingly the owner is a Malaysian...from USJ. We liked his shop, as it was nicely decorated, clean and...with your own personal multimedia console where you can watch cable TV or your favourite DVD. For 2 hours of foot massage, facial, Balinese massage and body scrub, including refreshments, it costs Rph150,000.

Nasi Sunda

I cant remember the name of the rice package (i.e. the one in the basket). In this picture also including Gado-Gado, Pekedil and Sup Buntut.

Hard Rock Cafe

Went there to take photos and buy some souvenirs. I kind of like this place for its live music and the showmanship of the grinder girls (which simply means...girls using grinders against the armor plate they wore)

Pacung

Nice place to eat with a commanding view of the valley below. The food is served as a buffet package. Halal food as evident by the steady flow of local muslim tourists.




Kecak Dance

A famous traditional dance performed during sunset, it depicts the stories adapted from Ramayana. After the kecak dance, a man performs the Sanghyang Jaran dance. Riding a wooden horse, and under trance, he charges through a pile of burning coconuts shells.




Barong Dance

Another entertaining cultural performance. This dance is performed in the morning around 9am. The Barong dance depicts an ancient folk tale which includes a scene where a group of men, evidently under trance, try to puncture their bodies with Keris, an ancient Malay weapon.

Rice Terrace

Here there is a cafe overlooking the rice terrace. Open air concept with the splendid breeze blowing while you sip on your coffee. Priceless

....to be continued

Another new year...2009

Hmmm....at last, a new year is here...2009. Again, I have made another vow for 2009, that is to update my blog at least once a month. I hope I can stick to it after failing in 2008. Some of my friends had given up on me and my blog.

Again, let's re-cap what has happened in 2008...with regards to my life that is...

2008 was the year when I got to meet my ex-schoolmates, thanks to Facebook. One particular person was Shariman Samad, my best friend way back in 1976-1981.

2008 also saw the numerous certification of divers at different levels...open water right up to divemaster. To all of them, I would like to congratulate them again.

2008 was also the year my 4wd 'anak gajah' got stolen, right in front of my house and directly under the street light. Fortunately it was stolen for a couple of hours, having recovered it abandoned by the highway. Of course, they took everything there was to take...radio, walkie talkie, siren, strobe lights...my trauma bag, dive gear. Saddest part was, as I had lost my trauma bag, I could do little when I came across accidents. Until now, I am still replacing those things that I had lost bit by bit.

2008 was also a year where a few friends had some major changes in their life i.e. marriage and newborn. Well to all of them, I wish them success.

2008 was also a year that I was involved in the numerous rescue operations. The most 'memorable' ones were all near to the Hari Raya celebrations. The 3 boys drowning was a few days from Hari Raya Aidil Fitri and the Bukit Antarabangsa land slide was a few days from Hari Raya Korban. Coincidence or what? Believe or not....

Well...since I was not an avid blogger, what I had jotted down here is only a fraction of what has transpired in 2008. Let's hope the new year brings positive changes and good luck to everyone... and that this time around, I can actually achieve what I set out to do each year..that is to blog my life actively.

Ops Landslide - Gombak

I was at Sg Wang, window shopping, when the call came at 1745hrs. It was my Ops Officer, asking me to report to Bilik Gerakan (BG). The case...a house had partially collapsed into the swollen river, taking 1 person with it. I then proceeded straight to BG which located nearby at Jalan Semarak.

Our RIM (Rapid Intervention Motorcycle) had proceeded to the location to do the primary assessment. It was then followed by our RQ (Heavy Rescue Vehicle) and lastly by the Land Rover of which the Water Rescue & Scuba Unit was in. The roads were heavily jammed... even with the siren & flashing strobe lights...sometimes Malaysian drivers are so occupied either on their phone or chatting with their GFs that they hardly notice what's happening around them.

Arriving at the location, the water level was still high. Upon inspection, the back toilet and part of the kitchen are gone. Slabs of concrete and bricks lay in the river. The victim is a 40 yrs old male. He was in the toilet when it happened. We then decided to wait for the water level to recede a bit. After discussion with other agencies, 4 of our guys from JPAM (Jab Pertahanan Awam Malaysia) and 2 from JBPM (Jab Bomba & Penyelamat Malaysia) conducted the in-water search. The search went on until midnight. Still no body in sight. After that, its time for me to have my dinner.

Today (Friday) was the final day...Day 4. Either we find him today or we have to wait until someone finds him. We were all very tired from almost 4 continuous days of searching.

Me giving briefing to my team including RELA members joining us for the search

River search

The search party coming back after the operation was closed down.

Actually, yesterday (Day 3), a body was recovered somewhere in Puchong/PJ area along the same river. The family said that it was not him. Even though deep down inside our hearts, we knew that there is a very high possibility that it was him, we had to continue our operations. I could not write that here yesterday, as the family had not verified that it was him.

Even though we have been conducting our search localize near to the red zone, there are people looking along the river from Gombak right up to Kelang, esp the rubbish collection areas. JPAM, JBPM, Skuad Penyelamat DBKL, JPS...almost everyone.

Finally today, at 1130hrs, as the search team was in the river, the brother of the deceased came to inform me that the family had verified that the body found yesterday was actually him. Alhamdullillah. Now the family can prepare to give the deceased a proper burial. Al-fatihah.

A sad drowning case

Rescuers searching for the bodies. Divers underwater.

I was on the way to pasar ramadhan when the call came. "Lapor diri di bilik gerakan (BG). kes lemas. 3 mangsa kanak2. pandan". So I immediately made a U turn and headed home to change and pick up my diving gear.

Upon arriving at BG, the boys were waiting. The first team was already on site and delivering more info through the radio."Mandi tasik"...hmmm, that makes the task easier, I thought to myself. With strobe lights flashing and sirens blaring, we made our way through the traffic jam.

When we arrived, we met up with the first team and teamed up with members of Fire Services & Rescue. All of us were determined to retrieve the bodies before dark. There was a huge crowd of onlookers. Amidst all these, a group of women sat huddled together, crying in silence. "Itu emak2 mangsa dan keluarga, staf" I was informed.

At around 6.35pm, the first victim was found. At 7pm, the second followed by the last one 5 minutes later. Upon seeing the bodies of their sons, the mothers wept uncontrollably. This is the point where everyone, including the rescuers, shed a tear. Of course being in uniform and all, we had to swallow our sadness. After a short while, the call of azan could be heard, adding to the already emotionally draining scene.

After packing up our equipments, we headed back to BG. One 'makcik' was kind enough to give us dates to break fast with. By the time we completed cleaning and storing back the equipments, it was already 9.15pm. At 9.30pm, we finally had our 'buka puasa' meal.

Coming home, after taking shower and saying my prayers, visions of those boys were stuck in my mind. I had come across much, much worst scenes, even mutilated bodies, but somehow, when it comes to kids, esp 3 young kids, laid in a row, side by side, friends till the end (2 of them drowned while trying to save the other), was harder to forget. I had broken the golden rule of a rescuer...no emotional attachment to the victims.

Al-Fatihah.

More news at http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/18/nation/2059461&sec=nation

Across the causeway

I just came back from Singapore, to get some BBT (big boy's toys). Why am I writing a trip to Singapore in my blog? What's the big deal right? Well, I just want to tell you of an alternative way to go there...by bus. Now hold on, before you get turned off, here me out. I used to think that way too. But then...this trip changed my mind.

The bus that I took was aeroline, a 2 storey VIP coach. The lounge is at the bottom and also the toilet. The seating area is upstairs. Comfortable reclining leather seats...it even has a power point. There's a stewardess on board, who gladly did all the serving and pampering. On my way to Singapore (morning), they serve us Subway sandwich and on the way back (night), they served us meals from The Chicken Rice Shop. Hot beverages were free flow. One way trip takes only 5 hours.

I didn't do much sight seeing at all. It was purely business (yeah right) looking for useful equipments (again...yeah right). On the last night, my friend Amin took me to eat the famous Murtabak. We even managed to perform our prayers at Masjid Sultan, one of the oldest mosque in Singapore.

One thing for sure, the cost for accommodation is very expensive over there. For the amount I paid for the budget hotel, which is SGD145 (roughly about RM340), I would be very comfortable in a 4/5 star hotel here in Malaysia. Believe me folks, that was the cheapest hotel around (the Hotel 81 chain).

In the end, what did I get?

• Yaesu VX-6R


• Icom V8000


• Garmin 60CSX GPS

I learned quite a bit about Singapore this time...about its people, its culture...most importantly, its public transport. Yes, there are things that we can learn from our neighbour...especially in town planning and civic. I was surprised how easy it is to cross the street there as compared to here. No motorcyclist try to squeeze thru the red light and no cars tries to beat the red light. Maybe Singaporeans will outlive us Malaysians on the road. But then again, have you seen Singaporean drivers once they cross the causeway into Malaysia? Hooligans. Didn't mean to generalize, but I had a few close brushes with some of them. Yes they do have nice big cars. Guess they use Malaysia as their vehicle testing area. Goes to show our level of enforcement here.

My best friend's wedding

My best friend...or buddy...Dr Lynn Azura...got married today. The nikah ceremony was at 10am followed by the wedding reception at 12noon. The decorations were nice, the food was great and everyone whom attended had a good time. There were a mixture of scuba divers and basketballers too.

Where was I amidst all these? I had to 'cover' the event as a wedding photographer..officially. Our friend who was the 'real' photographer, had to leave after the nikah ceremony. So I took over. I was nervous as I didn't want to let my buddy down. After all its not everyday that one gets married. So I was behind the lens until later that evening.

The groom, Ardi, was also a good friend. We became friends when he took up his open water (scuba) certification with me. In fact my buddy was also my student. So two of my students getting married...there's no way I am gonna miss that. Being true scuba fanatics, they are going for their honeymoon scuba diving in Boracay, Phillipines.

Just want to wish them "Selamat Pengantin Baru. Semoga bahagia ke anak cucu"