Prague Film School Diploma Film

My first direction for short film...

My Final Semester Project

one year

Happy Birthday Sayang

235 Energy Surfing...

Thank you to those involved!

a helping hand

Happy Birthday Dzareif!

Lion City

The other day i went for an early weekend getaway to Singapore. I had been there once before when i was little but I could only recall accessing the border . I was desiring to go again, as my ex-house mate kept inquiring me to visit him while he is still working there. A friend of mine, had been longing to explore outside Malaysia and in need of a travel mate to go with and hence, i took the randomness to visit the Lion City. This time around I get a clear gaze of our neighbouring country which was once, part of Malaysia.



At first, I did not apprehend much because I imagined it will be like going to another state in Malaysia except it would be cleaner as Singapore have their strict rules on everything and I favor nature rather than a metropolitan area. After a while in Singapore, i cant deny it felt like i was in another country and I would say it was the greatest concrete jungle i have ever been too so far. And I love the usage of the public transport contrast to Kuala Lumpur which almost everyone have their own car. There were no stray cats or dogs, it's unusual to see rubbish laying around and the best part is there were no Rempits (indiscipline motorcyclist that we have in Malaysia).







Working in the production line and being a big fan of roller coasters, Universal Studio was a must. Singapore had launched the opening of Universal Studio about a year ago at Sentosa Island. We were grateful to get tickets at the very last minute and the people was not as much as the weekend crowd. The Studio consist seven different sections. They are the Hollywood, New York, Madagascar from the animated films, Far Far Away land led by Shrek and co, The Lost Work from Jurassic Park and Waterworld movie, Ancient Egypt from the Mummy Films and the Sci-Fi city. I met Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria and the penguins from Madagascar. Frankeistein, Cahrlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe and that villain from the Mummy movie. Singapore was near the equator and it was a very hot sunny day but the coasters made my day. It's been awhile since I had the awesome rides. The Battlestar Galactica Human (Steel Dueling Seated Roller Coaster) and the Battlestar Galactica Cyclon (Steel Dueling Inverted Roller Coaster) was the best two and i still cant determines which was better. I also went for the Steven Spielberg Movie thing which showed us how real they made it in Hollywood with the best quality of sounds and properties in front of our eyes.











Besides that, In Singapore, I explored Orchard Road (almost similar to KL town and Bukit Bintang area in Malaysia), Bugis Street where we can get souvenirs, Little India (almost similar to Masjid India but more organised) where most of the Indians are, Badok which was one of the Malay area and Marina Bay where the businesses and trade centres (the best part of the concrete jungle). It is different here for the Malays as they were the minority and you can mostly see them at a counter, as a taxi driver, a tourist guide, retailing and so on. There are even Singaporeans living in Johor Bahru, Malaysia and works in Singapore because the rate of Singaporean dollar is just a bit more than twice from Malaysian Ringgit. They would live in luxurious houses nearby the border but bare in mind that they have to go through immigration every dawn particularly for the school kids.







All in all, it was a wonderous getaway. What made it better was the travel mate that I went with and the people that guided & gave great hospitalities. Thank you Uncle Jepun, Dan Dan and Thumbelina for the lovely time. =>

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all 'Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri' and 'forgive me for what I have done wrong to you intentionally & unintentionally.

Here's a spin off Aidilfitri advert from the movie KIL! Enjoy!

Madinah & Makkah. Ramadan 1432

Alhamdulillah on the first nine days of the holy month of Ramadan, I went to the two holiest cities, Madinah & Makkah. I preferred to explore these places by myself but on research it was almost impossible to get a visa unless through travel agencies. I chose to accompany my mom and dad as they had arranged with a travel agent to spend early Ramadan there. It was never the same arriving back to Malaysia.





We were only permitted to visit the two holy places within 30 days of the Umrah Visa. There were about 30 of us in the group consisting of families and young senior citizens. We arrived in Jeddah late evening and the time difference was minus five hours from Malaysia. It took sometime at the airport as they were a bit fussy on security plus many had come for Ramadan. Even the airport that we landed on was not the international airport but the airport they used for Hajj. It took us another six hours on bus to our first city, Madinah.



It was a nerve wrecking moment just accessing the Madinah Munawwarah; the illuminating lights of Masjid An-Nabawi made it the most beautiful mosque I ever gazed from a far. We reached our hotel about half an hour approaching subuh shalat and due to some miscommunication we could not check in yet, so we had to wait. I could not falter; instead I head off to the mosque for the subuh shalat.



Often called the Prophet's Mosque, as it is the final resting place of the Prophet Muhammad S.A.W, it is considered the second holiest site in Islam. It is the second mosque built in history. One of the most notable features of the site is the Green Dome over the center of the mosque, where the tomb of Prophet Muhammad S.A.W is located. Subsequent Islamic rulers greatly expanded and decorated it. Early Muslim leaders Abu Bakr and Umar are buried in an adjacent area in the mosque. The site was originally Muhammad's house; he settled there after his Hijra (migration) to Medina, later building a mosque on the grounds. He himself shared in the heavy work of construction. The original mosque was an open-air building.





After shalat my dad brought me to greet salam at Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. tomb. We had only two days in Madinah including a day of fasting. Every time the azan is called out, the people would not waste their opportunity to shalat at the mosque and even daily businesses were closed for a moment. The Madinah locals would usually supply food for the people who break their fast in the mosque.



We did a trip around Madinah on the second day. First we went to Masjid Quba which was the first mosque built by the Prophet S.A.W in Madinah when he did his hijra (migration). The trip goes on to the date (kurma) farm. There were 17 types together and the best one to break your fast with is the Rutob date. Soon after we went to the foot of Mount Uhud located at the northern side of Madinah.



Battle of Uhud; the polytheist of Makkah just went through a great defeat at Badr and decided to take revenge by attacking the Muslims in Madinah. There were 700 men against 3000 men of the polytheist. The prophet S.A.W appointed 50 archers on Mount Ramah that helped their first bout of victory and the Polytheist retreated leaving behind the spoils of war. The archers left their positions to gather the spoils despite of what Prophet S.A.W had told not to leave on whatever the scenario. At seeing this, a flank of the Polytheist army came around Mount Ramah and attacked the Muslims from behind and many were martyred, even the Prophet S.A.W was injured and his incisor tooth broken. They managed to defend themselves.



Our last destination for the trip was Masjid Qiblatain. It was known for the change of Qiblah for the first time from Jerusalam to Kaabah when Prophet S.A.W was offering his Zuhr prayer and the change of Qiblah was revealed. Besides that we visited other places like the Quran factory (but it was closed), Khandaq (Trench) and the date Market.





We left for Makkah Mukarramah at 1130am the next day supposedly at 9am but the bus driver overslept. It was sad to part Madinah but I had to move on to do my Umrah (less pilgrimage) in Makkah. We had to be in Ihram - a sacred state (a person in the state of Ihram must not tie any knots or wear any stitched items) before leaving the hotel and if we were to do Umrah from Madinah we take our Miqat (being in Ihram state) at a Bir Ali mosque just a few kilometres outside Madinah. In the Prophet S.A.W days it took about eight days & eight nights to journey from Madinah to Makkah through the desert on their camels but for us, its more a less about five hours. We checked in the hotel infront of Masjidil Haram around 5pm, and there was little time to perform Umrah before the break of the fast. So, my parents determined to do after terawih, as we did not want to miss the 20-rakaat tewarih at Masjidil Haram.



For Umrah, after being in ihram state, the pilgrim performs a series of ritual acts symbolic of the lives of Ibrahim (Abraham) and his second wife Hajar, and of solidarity with Muslims worldwide. These acts of faith are: (1) perform a tawaf, which consists of circling the Kaaba seven times in an anticlockwise direction. (2) Perform a sa'i, which means rapidly walking seven times back and forth between the hills of Safa and Marwah. This is a re-enactment of Hajar's frantic search for water. The baby Ishmael cried and hit the ground with his foot (some versions of the story says that an angel scraped his foot or the tip of his wing along the ground), and water miraculously sprang forth. This source of water is today called the Well of Zamzam. (3) Perform a tahallul or taqsir, meaning a cutting of the hair. A taqsir is a partial shortening of the hair, whereas a tahallul is a complete shave of the head, except for women, as they cut a little amount of hair instead.



Makkah was so developed, as there were many buildings and skyscrapers just outside the Masjidil Haram. I could feel the heat as it reached up to 43C and the thousands of people mounted up the temperature. The crowd in Masjidil Haram can be out of control at times compare to Masjidil Nabawi because Masjidil Nabawi have a front and a back but Masjidil Haram, the Kaaba is the centre of Qiblah, so everyone comes from every direction of the mosque. My dad guided me on my first Tawaf followed by Sa’ii. Getting lost with your group was considered normal. I had never felt so many people at one place with one intention, to submit to God. Alhamdulillah my mom and me managed to perform an Umrah each day within our week stay. We tried different timing each day, just to avoid the crowd. Performing an Umrah during the day were less people compare during the night but during the day we were fasting. We even tried after Zuhr when the sun was directly glaring above us but still there were so many. The duration of Umrah could be done less than two hours but sometimes it took up to four hours. There were three major test that we faced performing an Umrah during the Ramadan 1> dehydration (fasting) 2> the summer weather (can be up to 50 C) 3> the crowd (can reach more than one million people). Patient was the cure and only God knows.



Our daily routine were mostly Shalat at the mosque, sleep between two Shalat prayers or performing an Umrah, break fast (iftar), terawih and sahur. We took our Miqat by bus or minivan at At-Taneem mosque (this is for people who lives or stays in Makkah wanting to do Umrah) because we had to go outside the haram area before reentering and At-Taneem was the closest which was located just outside the border of Haram. We went for a trip around Makkah on one of the days. To my disappointment, the trip was mostly just viewing from the inside of a bus because of the Ramadan and the heat. First we went to Mount of Thowr, located 4km south of Masjidil Haram. The cave of Thowr was on the top of the mountain that was known of the spiders, which helped the Prophet S.A.W from being found from the people who wanted to kill him on his spreading of Islam just before his hijrah (migration) to Madinah. On our way to Padang Arafah, we stopped by at a little famous mountain called Jabalur Ramah. It was said that Adam and Eve met here after being sent down on earth. We went through the places that in need to complete a Hajj, from Arafaat, Mudzalifah and Mina. There were hundreds of shelters that can accommodate for about 3million Hajj Pilgrims and were sectioned on continents, regions and countries. We took our Miqat at Jaraanah this time (another alternative).





A monorail train station in Makkah was built to ease the travels of Hajj in 2009. There was a controversy when constructing the monorail station. The Chinese Railway Company had won the multi billion contract for implementing the 450km rail road linking the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah via Jeddah and Rabigh. The conflict was that the company wanted non muslim Chinese workers but non-Muslims were not allowed inside Makkah (Haram area). So, they discussed among the educated class of muslim legal scholars and authorities on this matter. One Ulama' did not allow it to happen. After much debating, they decided it was to consider an emergency case (darurat) - meaning it was allowed because they needed the train for the better good and there were no other options. So they went on with the construction and Alhamdulillah, God had other plans. Over 600 Chinese nationals working on the Haramain Rail project have embraced Islam. Their conversion took place 24 hours after getting books introducing Islam in Chinese language at their work site at Arafat, which is outside the Haram area. The workers that converted were invited to do the Hajj by Saudi Arabia last year. They also did a trial with the monorail and will be properly operated this year.



I wanted to socialize more but it seemed like everyone here, had only one motive. Every time I did my prayers in the mosque, it was always a different person from another country. Sometimes we chat or getting to know one another but only for there and then. There were so many Muslims from all around the world and different mazhabs (teachings) with only one thing in their heart, to have a place in heaven. I will go there again one day! InsyaAllah!

Bali Again!

Just came back from Bali last week! Wanted to write about it but turned out that theres nothing much to write about because it wasnt as great as the first time! Went with Khalid and Abbas but this time we hungout with people that lives there! Budi from Jawa Timur and Asran from Kalimantan. They showed us the short cuts and cheap prices for food and stuff. All in all i find Bali not as fun as I first went. Maybe because I was stuck in the same place most of the time. Went for about three weeks and my only regret was that i didnt explore more places! $$$ problem! cant wait for my next trip soon! anyway i have a new board retro fishtail 5' 11 specially for Cherating!

KiL - Official Trailer 1

Our first independent movie trailer is out!!! it will be done soon... hope u guys like it.!!

'Riding the Waves' coming soon!

I submitted a proposal on october 2010. They responded in January 2011 saying they were interested and asked us to pitch it! In February we were selected amongst the about 500 that had submitted. We were one of the 20's chosen. Im glad. but since then we had to work out the treatment to satisfy the supervisor in order to sign the contract. and finally this day today we signed the contract. SO it's gonna happen this coming monsoon, a documentary on surfing scene in Malaysia. Sadly they rejected the malay title 'Main Ombok'. So we have to come out with something new later on. Im nervous yet excited. Alhamdulillah n InsyaAllah everything will go fine. Thank you Nik Amir, Rewan & Jeremy of Flux Visual Lab for helping me out on this but it is still a long way to go.
This is a teaser that boosted our project;



=>

It's a wrap!!

5 days to go... KIL the movie

My first involvement in making an independent film. 5 days to go before the shooting...
Pressure mounts up....

introducing Main Actor; Redza Minhat as Akil



Main Actress; Cristina Suzanne Stockstill as Zara



and myself as the Production Manager... =>

check out the website... http://www.kilmovie.com/

Route Explorers: KL - Bangkok, Sep 2009

my attempt to do a travel-log. didnt work up. now on plan B...
thanks to Lish & Khalid

A raw attempt on short Film 'Masak'

this was a raw attempt that me and my friends Nik, Lish and Yasmin did with the equipments we have... enjoy....

A Malay Warrior who fought for Indonesian Independence

This blog is dedicated to my late Grand fathers and Grand uncles who had the reality life show of experiencing the hardship as youngsters during the Japanese occupation of Malaya and South East Asia as a tribute by the younger generation of family to them.



This question always intrigues me - How did my late great grand Uncle Pak Salleh (my late great grandfather’s youngest sibling) come to and settled in Bandung? My father told me that it was a long story. He came to Indonesia in 1945 when there was then no AirAsia, no Straits Shipping Company and no Malacca Dumai ferry. It is not Ripley’s Believe it or Not BUT he actually came to the shores of Bali by riding on a piece of plank (a prototype surf board). Now I know why I like to surf in the sea at Cherating, yearn to go surfing in Bali and to travel throughout the Java Island. He related his experience to my father and my father told it to me, and I am repeating here for our generation to remember by especially my Muar family origins.



It all began in Muar town when the Japanese occupied Malaya. As a common practice then, the Japanese always rounded up and kidnapped village youngsters and forced them to serve in the Japanese army. They took those youngsters who liked to hang around (Lepak) who were curious watching the Japanese soldiers in Muar town. My late great grand father , Haji Ahmad Idris and his brother Pak Salleh, somehow managed to run away first but one of their brother’s, Mahfis were unfortunate to get caught by the Japanese soldiers and loaded into the waiting lorries and was sent to the Thailand to serve as forced labour on the infamous death railways. Pak Salleh, my father call him Kakek in Indonesian (equivalent to Atuk in Malay) on the other hand became a soldier for the allied and was sent to Indonesia. He was transported to Singapore and then was put on a boat outbound to Indonesia. However, half way through the journey, the Japanese gunboats torpedoed the boat. When the boat was beginning to sink, Pak Salleh and his friend kept each other floating by holding on to a plank that was blown off from the boat. His friend became weaker and finally sank to the bottom of the Java Sea. He held tight to the plank and thinking he will be next to die. He kept afloat for days thank the Almighty Allah that his life is still long (“Alhamdullilah, umur Kakek masih panjang lagi”) he was rescued by some fisherman. What an irony for “a piece of plank that floats in the sea”. He used his piece of the plank for survival and I am using a piece of plank (surf board) for sport. And it is just a piece of plank. His journey to survive from Bali Island to Surabaya and in Jogjakarta he met Muhammad Suhar Sukarya who was an Indonesian freedom fighter at that time. Pak Salleh joined M.S Sukarya to fight the Dutch for the Indonesia Independence. After World War II was over he followed M.S Sukarya back to Bandung where he met a beautiful girl and married her to settle down and started his family. When he died, he was given the honour to be buried at the Warriors Graveyard (Pusara Pahlawan) in Bandung. My parents and grandfather visited him 25 years ago.





My uncle Rafid once worked at Subang, East Java, Indonesia in 1994, and often visited them during his stay at Indonesia. In fact, the family in Muar sponsored him to come back to Malaysia (Muar & Kuala Lumpur) to meet the family here. He came to our house in KL but we were with my mother in Leicester, UK. My father went for meetings in Indonesia and visited him several times. The last time my dad met him was in 2002 when his health was failing due to the old age.
We knew of his death from the son in law in 2003 but after that somehow we lost contact. When I went to go to Bandung, I tried to get his address. My father had misplaced it and he remembered only the name road (Jalan Rajawali Timur) but not the numbers. Luckily, my uncle Rafid still kept the address of the son in law, Pak Sukandar.



The other brother, Mahfis survived the force labour of the death railways. When the Japanese surrendered after the American dropped of the two atomic bombs, Fat Man and Little Boy in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Khad and I were in Nagasaki in 2001), the force labour were abandoned. He made his way to the south hoping to come back home to Malaya. He traveled and lived from village to village in Thailand. He did not reach home though but settled half way in Bangkok. His mother waited for him for years since her maternal instinct knew that he was still alive some where. Every evening she waited at the main door of her house looking to the road hoping that one day his son will emerges in front of her. He tried to contact his mother in Muar but his letters did not have correct address. Finally, he wrote one addressed to the mosque. The mail carrier send to the Kampong mosque and it was read to the villages. But by then, his mother had passed away.

My grandfather in Kuantan (my dad’s father) was also being forcefully recruited to become Japanese soldiers. He had to learned Japanese language and can sing Japanese songs. He managed to run away from the Japanese army one month before the Japanese surrendered and went into hiding. The younger generation heard that Malayan then was having hard time during the Japanese occupation from the history books. . But the youngsters then had really experienced very hard time then were forced to serve the Japanese in Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaya.

Bandung and the rest of the journey...

Dearest…
We felt like accessing a mind field for our 2nd part of our travel as the alert from the Bendera group in Jakarta stated of getting rid of Malaysians from their country. The Malaysia – Indonesia conflict was at climax as Malaysians were not advised to enter Jakarta but on the bright side the price ticket went as low as RM179 one way. That was a rare as usually bargain AirAsia tickets would only apply if you booked it for some of months before but not five days before. It turned out that Bandung was one best adventure I had.



We left for Jakarta on 2nd September (Thursday) after a week rest in Malaysia due to extension of our Visa stay for another 30 days. It was creepy all right wondering what might occur if we end in the middle of the conflict. Even Man was stuck at the immigration for some time, as they took advantages of the circumstance. As soon as we got out the airport, my concentrate on only wanted to get out of Jakarta, so we took the bus straight to Bandung for 75k Rp. Bandung was said to be a great place from most people we met along the way. It is located among the hills, so it rains usually but this time of the year the rain was more frequent due to global warming. The people here has fairer skin contrast to other Indonesians as their weather are always cool and so less sunlight. My eyes were wide open to see the beauties of Bandung. Bandung is the 4th largest city and is known as a posh district in Indonesia. We have a school friend Harizah, who is studying Medicine in Padjajaran University for six years and is on her final month to graduation. She was not around as she had to do her practical out of town, so she electronically introduced her course mate Amira. She gave us a stay at her boyfriend’s room (who was also out of town) at the hostel rented for mostly Malaysian students. We met Har the next day after she came back for the weekends. Earlier that day there was a demonstration in Dago about 10minutes drive from where we settled in Sukajadi. The demonstration was done at a Petronas Fuel station where they burned the Malaysian flag and pictures of our current prime minister. It gave us a rattle as phone messages amongst Malaysians were spread to stay in their homes and not to go out but still we went for a night hangout at the nearest shopping complex, Paris Van Java and oh my more beautiful girls all dressed up elegantly. We met Har’s close mates during her study in Bandung. Also met Rizal (the room that we stayed in) later that night and had numerous conversations. My questions toward him were my curiosity on medic students as my exposure was from TV sitcoms. Rizal told us that the dilemma here was always about money. Most of them do not have the funds to even pay the medical bills. It differs to Malaysia as usually our hospitals would do the surgery or medication first and worry about the bills later but it was vice versa here, if you do not have the money, you will ask to leave and bare with the problem you have. Insurances are mostly done by the rich but it was still not to be trusted because of scammers. The Indonesian government does help the poor citizens but the process itself is said too tedious and someone may presumably die before the right document & affirmation is done.



Dago & Riau in Bandung is the known places where factories outlet for cheap imitation clothing. We took a risk on going to Dago even though there was an Anti-Malaysia demonstration the day before. We even stopped at the Petronas station where it all happened to snap a few photos. The shopping complexes in Bandung reminded me of the ones we have in Malaysia particularly the night life along the Dago area. They have cafes and restaurants where mostly students and people from Jakarta hang outs. Jakarta citizens love to come down to Bandung during the weekends as it is only more a less 2-3 hours away. We met more of Har’s course mates for our break fasting as they had a gathering for a seafood dinner and therefore we get to know them a little better of their bizarre and tragic experiences throughout their internship in different locations. That Sunday I woke up really late (the long sleep that I needed) and hung out at Har’s place as we waited for break fast at nearby Nasi padang restaurant. Har left that evening to a new hospital location. It is requisite for the medic students to do their housemanship for six months before graduation. Every month they have various destinations. That night Khad brought me to Chiampelas road which was known as the jeans street. I realize that you can be posh at every level. Either you can buy the imitations which were very good on quality or if you have too much money, you just can spend it on the originals.







I had a mission in Bandung which turned out to be one highlight of my Indonesia trip. I was in search of a lost family which was related to my maternal Muar origins. My great uncle was involved in the World War II and somehow ended in Indonesia and met his other half in Bandung. Unfortunately he died in 2003 and since that our communication deteriorated. I only had an address gave from my uncle as he visited them in 1994. My dad lasts came about a few months before Arwah Pak Salleh died. It took me a while to look for it as the number of the house was 120 but I could only find 118 and next to it was an office block that put me in blunt situation. I was not about to give up as I know that I needed to look for them one way or another. As I wander around the office, I spotted there was a road behind it and to my relief I found it but there was no one around. I asked the neighbour and they told me to come at night. I went again and rang the bell of the house. They answered it but it was not them. I stated what my expectation was and gladly so the couple living there was the brother-in-law to arwah Pak Sallehs eldest daughter. He said that the family relocated out because the land was sold to a businessperson in Jakarta for four billion rp. His family also were about to move out in a few days and I guess it was meant to be that we met. He called up Pak Sukandar and told him about my arrival and later his eldest, Hendra picked me up to their new home in Chiangjuang which they moved in about five months ago. Pak Sukandar was married to Ibu Tuti (arwah Pak Salleh’s eldest daughter) and had a son Hendra. Pak Salleh was close to my grandpa Atok Ahmad because they were about the same age. Both parties did some visiting to one another countries during the 80’s and 90’s. Also that night, arwah Pak Salleh’s wife came to the house to greet me and she was blooming happily as she said that she prayed for this to happen because since the passing of her husband there was no news or much contact among the two families. Id never met any one of them before and my family went for a trip to Bandung a year before I was born. Hendra himself went to Malaysia with arwah Pak Salleh in 1995 and during that time my family was in England. I decided to stay at their house until Raya Aidilfitri where I can meet up the whole generation at arwah Pak Salleh’s house. Hendra showed me more of Bandung. He brought us to the notable Administrative Gedung Sate, shopping factories and had the two attempts going up the hill area to see the view but out of despair it rained whenever we were up there. He also took me to arwah Pak Salleh’s house in Rajawali timur where pictures were seen of the past of us Malaysian family visiting in Indonesia and the other way round. There was even an album of pictures sent from Malaysia. It seemed that my arwah grand uncle Hassan, Uncle Malik, Pak Pid, Pak Kob and my family was the ones in touch before my arrival in Bandung.







The day that I have awaited most finally attained. Spending the Raya Aidilfitri with my family that I had never met in Bandung was a blessing. I woke up late that day but in time for Aidilfitri prayers. I put on my baju raya melayu but when I was at the mosque it felt like I was overdressed as people would stare and wonder who this guy is? So I kept close to Hendra and Pak Sukandar, so I do not feel out of place. Relatives of Pak Sukandar came to the house after Aidilfitri prayers and later before noon we went to nenek's (opah for me) house at Rajawali timur and met my unknown family. Nenek had the seven children, more than a bunch of grandchildren and some great grandchildren. I felt like a celebrity for a while with my raya dress up and relatives wanting to know of my Malaysian routes. Stories were exchange, old pictures were shown & new ones were taken and the foods were delicious as rendang and ketupat was the basic but there were plenty of others that I never had before which bloated my stomach. There were about 30 of us cramping inside the little house but it was joyful of course, the only problem that I encountered is the Sunda language that they communicate amongst one another. Besides that it felt like Muar in the 90’s. Also did my Friday prayers nearby the house. I met so many people till I forgot to ask their names. Later we went at Pak Sukandar’s family house. Their house was slightly wealthier and he too had a big family. Pak Sukandar’s father, Sukarya (deceased) was best friends with arwah Pak Salleh as they were soldiers during the World War II and they both fought for Indonesian independence. Both eldest children were married to each other (regarding to Pak Sukandar and wife). It was an emotional end leaving and saying my goodbye’s to the family. I surely hope they visit Malaysia someday as we were connected again.



















As promised, Khad, Man & I had to carry on with our journey. Khad was craving for the waves and we intended we would head there once the Ramadhan was over. We took an economy train that night which cost us only 24k Rp. but the predicament was when the arrival of the train. It was so full that we cannot even enter the train, as people block the doors only for the police to be aggressive with them. It was Raya Aidilfitri and everyone wanted to go home. The economy train just kept on selling their tickets without limitation. To our desperation, we saw some Indonesians climbing outside in between two trailers, so we took a chance on that and it was one of my craziest train ride for the next nine hours outside the train. Lucky it was night time and our vision was limited, so it was not that scary but to snooze off was a bad idea as we had to look out for one another so we would not fall off. We stayed at Jogjakarta for two nights to catch our rest and took off again to Bayuwangi in an economy train for 35k Rp. but this was worst. The train departed from Jogja so we managed to get seats but everyone kept on coming in and not coming out at each train stop. Witnessing all this from my seat where I was stuck on to for 16 hours as we could not move elsewhere or it will be taken. We reached Bayuwangi late midnight and stayed in the mosque till the next morning as we took our surfboards and left for Bali again.



We had about 12days left before our flight back, so we decided to spend it with the waves in Bali. We wanted to go to Lombok but by that time we ran out of money. We went to four different destinations in search for good waves and Kuta was our base. I surfed at Uluwatu, Canggu and Berambangan where the waves went up to eight foot only for me to get wipe out but it was a great experience. All in all I find my Bandung was the best place because of the location among the hills, the beauties, cheap clothes etc and most of all getting in touch with my Bandung family.