My latest trip to Janda Baik and the number 22222!

First, let me rant a bit and let a thing off my chest...

The number above is taken from the counter at the bottom of this blogspot right after I refreshed it upon completing the article My brief take on Kajang... And some thoughts including that of my bike which suddenly came out! Although the blog's record said the article was posted on Wednesday 11.59pm, it was actually published about half an hour ago as the time 11.59pm was actually the time I started opening the window to make a new posting while the whole process of writing the story was actually completed much later. Oh... The time was almost 2am when I wrote this paragraph.

Anyway, the number 22,222 above might not come as great... Not when many blogspot have millions of hits and such. But I do believe it quite rare to refresh a page and found the number of hits to be so beautiful ordered! After all, I do have a fetish for numbers and I found this particular number rather auspicious.

Now that I have let this off my chest, I could finally say that I'm writing all this from one of my favourite places of rest which is the small village of Janda Baik. Without much further ado, let me present some pictures taken early Wednesday morning. Here it is!

The pictures itself could tell a thousand tales. Then again for those who wants to see words to describe the situation, let me just present these links below to a collection of old articles on Janda Baik for your pleasure... Now I could finally call it a day, at least with regards to writing on this particular blogspot. Tata! :]

Janda Baik revisited again... (posted October 2007)

Janda Baik my resting place (September 2007)

So refreshing Janda Baik! (June 2007)

My brief take on Kajang... And some thoughts including that of my bike which suddenly came out!

OK... The current storytelling mood on Pulau Besar which follows the continuation of the journey to Negeri Sembilan is actually a break from the storytelling on my 'A' Level college days which started with the article Remembering the "A" level college days some 20 years ago! Just to get the juices flowing... published more than a month ago. Then again I'm prone to just shift my storytelling to somewhere else without warning. So here is another break... Or an interlude if you may call it so...

This is a picture of the town of Kajang taken from on top of a bridge across the railway tracks. The skyline have changed much since the town became famous for its rather tasty satay decades ago. If then, the town consist of about 3-4 rows of shophouses, now it's almost becoming a metropolitan of it's own... Why, it sits among the less than 5 cities and towns or so in Malaysia which have it's own ring road to disperse the major traffic plaguing its boundaries!

For information, my Malaysian identity card hails me as originating from Kajang... My father who used to work in Kuala Lumpur bought a house there in 1983 and since 1987 I've used the place as my official place of residence as shown in the identity card althought I've barely stayed there, having been born in Muar and raised in the state of Johor before continuing my studies in Kuala Lumpur and then flying overseas to England.

Now, I spent most of my time staying at my auntie's place in Ampang, that is if I'm not travelling all over the Peninsular. However these days, I tend to take a few days respite to be left alone at the Kajang house...

For the record, since my dad became a pensioner having completed his term of work in Kuala Lumpur about 10 years ago, he returned to stay in Muar, where my mother's side of the family hailed from. And thus once in a while only would dad and mum drop by at Kajang. Most of the time it is empty and whenever I feel like wanting to have my own private time resting and languishing as and when I feel like it without being disturbed, I would go there and stay to my heart's content.

Last week, I was in Kajang again. Except there's a big difference this time. I came with my loved big bike which I haven't used for the last 5 years!

You see, the bike had a major break down sometime between mid 2003 till the end or so. I haven't got the money to fix it and thus had to leave it behind where it broke down... In the village of Janda Baik up in the jungle and the mountains of the main range of Banjaran Titiwangsa, the area which became my unofficial place of residence from 2002 till 2005... When I'm in the midst of some heavy soul-searching and practically lived like a bum, a madman even!

Since my bike broke down, I had to rely on public transport most of the time. As I was in the midst of heavy soul-searching which me made travel a lot all over the Peninsular including to places unaccesible by any public transport, I became used to walking for miles on end without stopping and thus had developed a stamina which could rival my youthful days in school as a serious rugby player!

Now, I bought the big bike, a 535cc Yamaha Virago in 1997. Since I could practically go anywhere by bike including to places unaccesible to cars or any four-wheeled transport, I have become too lazy to walk. Thus I remember being so exhausted and famished whenever I had to walk a bit to places which I couldn't get into by bike!

The good thing is, the years of having to walk for miles have toughen me up at least stamina-wise. While I'm happy that I finally got my bike working again, I'm worried that I might lose the wonderful stamina if I got too attached to my bike again! Besides the petrol is much more expensive nowadays, almost twice the price I had to pay before the bike broke down...

Oh, by the way... It should have been repaired since last year as I had the money to fix it then. The problem is a friend who promised to get it back to form, a friend whom I gave the chance as he is a part-time local mechanic in Janda Baik failed to deliver. Not only that, he used to money for his own business while the bike was left to languish at his place to rot so much so that many parts were stolen there and I almost gave up the idea of seeing it up and running again for good! That is until I got the right encouragement from some friends while this particular part-time mechanic friend finally returned my money back... So 2 months ago I rented a lorry and took the bike down to Rawang where I found a nice Malay big bike workshop to do the job.

Two weeks ago I finally got the call that it was fixed. On Tuesday I took the bike from Rawang to Ampang and the next day did whatever was needed to put it officially back on the road... That is getting the necessary check-up to get it certified fit enough to run again after 5 years out of action and 7 years without a road-tax (yes... The last road tax expired in September 2001!), having the insurance covered and finally getting a new road-tax.

Thank God, the whole process was dully completed. And on Thursday, I finally brought it back to Kajang after more than 5 years!

As I'm afraid that I might lose my current walking stamina if I relied too much on the bike, I promised to walk a lot in between rides whenever possible. So on Friday, after the congregational noon prayers at the main mosque, I parked the bike just outside the southern fringes of the town centre and decided to do some walking. And thus I got to the far western side of town and felt like taking the first 3 pictures above.

The last picture here is actually taken on the way back to where my bike was parked at. Since I have poured out so much about my bike (honest, I actually just wanted to share these pictures of Kajang when the thoughts about the bike came out just like that!), let me put a picture of it taken last week ya! Here it is...

For more pictures of it, have a look at the article Yahoo, eh... Alhamdulillah... Moto beso aku boleh jalan dah! in the Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU . There, I'm finally satisfied for the night! Oh, almost forgot... I wanted to post some pictures of Janda Baik here before I call it a day. Have a look later! :]

A whirlwind tour of Pulau Besar in 2 hours or so...

Let me continue where we left off in the article My favourite place of hang-out in Pulau Besar, Melaka. After I'm done fooling around the jungle hut, me, Zaidi @ PerpatihTulus and my cousin's friend Asri decided to take a walk. My cousin Nizam opted to stay behind at the hut as he had a bad knee following a nasty slip in front of the Keramat at Tanjung Tuan (see The Negeri Sembilan journey continued : On to the 'Keramat'... ) and all the strenous walk within the last 24 hours or so.

Our destination for the day was actually a long grave known as Makam (tomb of) Nenek Kebayan (something like the old hag from fairy-tales but a kind one that is) and a place called Gua (cave of) Yunos near a rocky shore of Pulau Besar as we felt too tired to go any further. The places were within 2km of the hut and we thought we had enough energy left for that. Instead, we found ourselves somehow immensely rejuvenated at Gua Yunos and decided to extend the walk for at least 3km, maybe 5km or more! Here is the story...

OK... This picture is actually taken after getting rejuvaned at Gua Yunos and having walked more than a kilometre further. Somehow I forgot to take still pictures at Makam Nenek Kebayan and Gua Yunos, maybe because I was too busy playing the host for the video clips taken by Zaidi. Have a look at my Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU to view the video clips.

Anyway, I still got the relevant old pictures from previous articles in this blogspot. Do have a look at these: -

Pulau Besar 2: Why so many long tombs? (posted July 2007) and

The mystery of Gua Yunus (the cave of Yunus) (posted November 2007)

Back to the current flow of storytelling. The picture above is of a stone 'bounded' by the roots from a tree growing on it!

As we walked further ahead, we could see this part of Pulau Besar behind. Near the rocky shores, I think just behind the ones seen at the right tip here lies Gua Yunos somewhere up the slopes...

We went to reach a certain place we have walked through the night before... In pitch darkness except for the little torchlights we carried around.

This is it, the entry to the certain area with a prohibition of entry sign in front...

For here lies an abandoned multimillion five-star apartment project, the only one of its kind in Pulau Besar, in fact the only one of this stature within a 200km radius outside of Kuala Lumpur I think! To know why it became this way, please read the article Sedikit citarasa Itali di Pulau Besar? (A bit of Italian taste in Pulau Besar?) published in the bi-lingual blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) November 2007.

From the abandoned apartment buildings, we went up this path to get to another certain place on top of the second highest peak in Pulau Besar. Hmm... Now I remember why I didn't bother to take much still pictures. Busy making video clips aside, I already have a stash of pictures taken from previous trips - I think I have been to Pulau Besar more than 10 times and most of the time, I would make it a point to walk around the island covering at least half of it!

Anyway, for the pictures from the other certain place, have a look at the article Pemandangan sekitar kelab golf tinggal di Pulau Besar (views around the abandoned golf club at Pulau Besar) ... Also posted in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) November 2007.

Then we walked down and up a ridge to reach another certain place. Hmm... I seem to be pretty fond of using the words "certain place" tonight. Wonder why...

Anyway, along the way is this huge tree which could be seen halfway up the highest peak of Pulau Besar even from afar... I guess that gave a clue that we want to get the highest peak right?

So in time, we arrived on top. Here a lies a certain split stone (ooppsss... I used the word 'certain' again!). And here's Zaidi posing on top of it! For the story, let me continue another time when I feel like it ya! Meanwhile have a look at the video clips to be posted in the blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU afterwards. Cheers! :]

My favourite place of hang-out in Pulau Besar, Melaka.

Greetings all. This is the 222nd posting in this blogspot. At first I was thinking of starting a new series of postings based on my latest trip to Pulau Besar, Melaka made immediately after the continuation trip to Negeri Sembilan was completed almost a month ago. Then I realise I took only 27 pictures in Pulau Besar, perhaps because I've taken so many pictures in my previous trips and have posted some in my blogspots including here. So let me just concentrate on a few areas starting with this ya... My favourite place of hang-out...

This is the hut we I spent the night with my friend Zaidi @ PerpatihTulus, my cousin Nizam and his friend Asri. It is situated at my favourite place of hang-out. In fact it is part of the 'complex' that is a certain private jungle hang-out!

From the hut, you can step down the slopes to reach the main place...

Here it is... My favourite place of hang-out! I've been to Pulau Besar more than 10 times and everytime I would at least stop here if not spend the nights! It belongs to a friend who have stayed here for 15 years. Call it what you like, a survival hut, "High Chapparal", whatever... For me, here is peaceful unhurried jungle living at its best!

The area in front of the main hut. Behind the bushes is a well and the place where we take showers and wash ourselves. That's all... Good night! :]

The full moon and the end of a chapter

Greetings. This picture was taken midnight a few hours ago while stopping at the Kuala Lumpur city centre, in the midst of enjoying a ride on my big bike which I only got to start to ride again after 5 years of inaction due to some problems... After some time only did I have the money and initiative to sent it for repair and yesterday the repair was finally completed after 2 months the bike languish at a workshop. And today I've done the road-tax after the last one expired 13 September 2001!

By the way, the picture looks so nice that I feel I must turn it into a posting, so here it is... Might as well use it to set some record straight...

OK... The previous article The Negeri Sembilan journey continued : Out of Tanjung Tuan and beyond! is actually the last to be posted here under the "The Negeri Sembilan journey continued". Although the actual journey went beyond Tanjung Tuan with a stop at Pengkalan Kempas almost at dusk and a visit to the tomb of the Negeri Sembilan king of olden days, Raja Melewar, the story had to be continued in my other blogspots...

You see, an article on Pengkalan Kempas have been written here 5 months ago under the name The megalithic stones of Pengkalan Kempas . So the I've decided to post the latest pictures I got in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) . On the other hand, I arrived at the tomb of Raja Melewar at night in total darkness and thus can't take pictures, at least properly to my satisfaction and yours too... Nevertheless a few video clips made there using the car spotlight and some torchlights to lighten things up have been posted in the Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU . Do have a look and enjoy it. With that I would like to say good night (or rather good morning!)... Tata!

The Negeri Sembilan journey continued : Out of Tanjung Tuan and beyond!

OK... So we were at the 'Keramat'. But soon it's time to go...

Somehow I felt like taking this particular picture from this angle and accidently stumbled upon a 'gem'! Just look at this... My friend Zaidi is shown snapping some pictures but somehow, he looks like a midget in this picture! Nice unintended effect isn't it?

Oh.... From the 'Keramat' we could see this island called Pulau Masjid or the "mosque island"... Why is it called that? Try to study what it looks like...

Time then was almost 6pm or so... Caught this rock partly exposed to sunlight creating a rather profound effect!

We followed this path to leave the 'Keramat'...

At some parts the path looked rather unkempt...

Just look at this. Plastic bottles strewn all over the place...

Then we came across a hut... Not pizza hut ya! :]

Another view of Pulau Masjid with a home-made swing in frame...

A look back shows a rather nice beach with part of the hill where we come down in the background...

Ahead of us were lots of jagged rocks...

That, interspersed with sand, mangrove swamp and such...

More jagged rocks lining part of some steep slopes. Luckily it was low tide. Otherwise there's no way we go could go pass these rocks. The regular jungle path demanded us to climb back towards the lighthouse before we could get out of Tanjung Tuan!

Thank God, we managed to pass that one and enter a mangrove jungle...

Parts like this do test my confidence as the guide... Have I taken a wrong turning or somewhere?

Ah... At last, a clear path. Now I'm sure we could get out this way...

Sure, we are still within the mangrove jungle but the path to salvation is clear!

And so we arrived at the compound of a resort. With that, we could get out of Tanjung Tuan... That's all ya! :]

The Negeri Sembilan journey continued : On to the 'Keramat'...

Having seen Pulau Intan, the furthermost tip of Tanjung Tuan, we decided to see another part of the peninsular...

But we were told it was not accesible via the coastal line. So we had to climb back up, a rather daunting task as admittedly we were all not so fit. Besides we have done much walking for day especially me and Zaidi because we went to to Lukut while Nizam and his friend Asri joined us later for the day!

Luckily we survived the ordeal and reached the junction to the other jungle path...

From there, it's another downhill trip...

On and on...

Until we arrived at this rather confusing sign-post... Should we go right or left? That's when Nizam felt like going straight onwards...

And so after a bit of walking we got to see open water... But how to get down there?

This is not the proper path but we decided to try to get down from here...

So far so good until we realised further ahead the way is rather steep...

So we had to retrace our steps and took the proper jungle path...

Soon enough after breaking rather plenty of sweat, we arrived at the 'Keramat'. What is the 'Keramat'. For the answer, let me continue at the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) . Have a look later! :]

The Negeri Sembilan journey continued : Pulau Intan, the "diamond island"!

And this one continues from the posting The Negeri Sembilan journey continued : Going down the slopes from the Tanjung Tuan lighthouse...

And so we arrived at the coastline...

A few yards to the right and there's this hut with some people resting around. Apparently they've camping there for the last 3 days or so. That's where we learnt, we have arrived at the parts of Tanjung Tuan known as Pulau Intan!

An interesting looking tree...

Now, Pulau Intan could be literally translated as "diamond island". If this is Pulau Intan, then where's the island? All we saw was an extension of land from Tanjung Tuan. Or perhaps this area is an island during high tide? Hmm...

Whatever, we decided to press on...

Climbed this small hill...

Hmm... It's pretty high actually...

My buddy cum cameraman Zaidi @ PerpatihTulus found something interesting on top of the small hill...

Oh my God! It is a lonely grave out on no man's land!

The inscription says here lies a certain woman who died in 1960... Hmm... Why buried here? That is the mystery...

My cousin Nizam wanted to explore the area further...

Ah. The end of the land...

And down there lies the furthermost tip of Tanjung Tuan!

Of course we had to go down there. Here is a view from there... Of the main hill of Tanjung Tuan with the historical lighthouse on top. Cheers! :]

The Negeri Sembilan journey continued : Going down the slopes from the Tanjung Tuan lighthouse...

Continuing from The Negeri Sembilan journey continued : On to Tanjung Tuan... Simply put, what goes next is going down the slopes from the lighthouse as per the title above...

So this is the path we took...

Plenty of bushes... Then again what do you expect? We were in the jungle after all!

Soon enough we arrived at a check point cum viewing point. Tanjung Tuan is noted as a forest reserve often frequented by migratory birds and this is one of the point good for bird-watching...

It was a few yards after this point that we found the path splitting. We decided to take the one that leads the way to a certain place called Pulau Intan...

And so on we go...

Suddenly this tree came into view. Immediately I'm reminded of Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur!

Another check point cum viewing point. We're not sure where the signboards were pointing to...

Thank God, the staircase and the steel railings are enough to show the way...

Oh my God! We bumped into 'bigfoot'! As if to mimick us, me in particular, the 'bigfoot' even had a 'rucksack' behind in brown camouflage! :]

Luckily it was a friendly 'bigfoot'. We managed to get away with our lives and continue the journey...

Soon enough we arrived at the coast. The story continues in the next posting. Cheers! :]

The Negeri Sembilan journey continued : On to Tanjung Tuan...

Continuing from the story in The Negeri Sembilan journey continued : A look at the fort of Lukut...

From Lukut, me and my buddy @ cameraman Zaidi (on-line nickname PerpatihTulus) went to the beach resort town of Port Dickson. However we were there not to swim or anything. We were there just to stop by at the mosque to refresh a bit, do our compulsory prayers and then wait for my cousin Nizam and his friend Asri to join us from Kuala Lumpur...

Our real next destination was actually Tanjung Tuan, also known as Cape Rachado some 15km south of Port Dickson. Here is the main junction to get there...

Along the way were a few resorts. It was at one of the resorts here that I first got to know Tanjung Tuan some 20 years ago. I was accompanying dad who came for a seminar and stayed there for about 3 days or so. And so while dad went to work, I went on exploring the area especially the hill, the jungles and the coastline...

Tanjung Tuan is also gazetted as a wildlife reserve, home to a wide variety of migratory birds. I've been here at least 5 times. And everytime I would take some time to climb the hill which sits at the end of a peninsular and then walked down the jungle path to get to the coastlines.

The last time I was here was sometime in 2003 I think, while I still got my big bike functioning for travelling. Guess how I felt then upon arriving here again about 5 years later! This time with a cousin and two friends in tow...

Time to start the climb...

Some 870 metres up this winding path up through a virgin jungle, to climb up a hill at least 100 metres high...

Along were some interesting sights like this huge tree...

A look at the canopy and another tree growing through it...

There, we're almost on top. To the left is a jungle path going down to some interesting places at and near the coastline... We vouch to continue the walk another 100 metres or so to the top...

For on top lies this historical lighthouse overlooking the Straits of Melaka with the waters in front having its own interesting tale. Have a look at the article Rumah api (the lighthouse of) Tanjung Tuan... in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) .

Now, after having a look around the lighthouse, we could have retracted our steps to get back to the jungle path seen earlier. But we saw another one just beside the lighthouse...

I can't remember if I've I've ever taken this one. So we decided to try that it. To be continued... Down the path to the furthest end of the peninsular that is Tanjung Tuan. Cheers! :]

The Negeri Sembilan journey continued : A look at the fort of Lukut...

Breaking from the current session of remembering the college A Level days... Almost 2 months ago I made a trip round Negeri Sembilan visiting some historical sites along the way . There were many more sites I intended to visit around the state but time does not permit it then.

I finally managed to complete the round with a fresh foray into Negeri Sembilan 2 weeks ago. So let's start telling the story... You could say this continues from where the last trip was cut-off as potrayed in the article Journey to Negeri Sembilan... A night visit to the tomb of Raja Melewar before the journey is closed made June 7th. Here goes! :]

The previous Negeri Sembilan trip was started from Ampang, Selangor through Hulu Langat then entering Negeri Sembilan through the district of Jelebu on to the town of Kuala Klawang then to Seremban followed by Astana or Kampung Penajis in Rembau. On the other hand, this trip was started from Kajang, Selangor before we enter Negeri Sembilan through south of Sepang to get to Lukut our first destination for the day!

For here lies a royal mausoleum containing the tomb of a certain personality by the name Raja Jumaat. Have a look at the article Makam (tomb of) Raja Jumaat, Lukut, Negeri Sembilan in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) ...

Then we head some 3km out of the town of Lukut to get to this juncture...
On the left lies the entry to the Lukut museum...
Inside it's compound then only we realise that our next main destination, the remains of the historical fort of Lukut lies on top this hill while the museum is on the slopes, to the right of this picture... Have a look at the posting Melihat sejarah di Muzium Lukut (Looking at history at the Lukut museum)! in SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART)

Then we climbed up the hill...

This monument says the fort of Lukut was built by Raja Jumaat, a Bugis Riau royalty in 1847. Then Lukut was known for its abundant tin ore and the fort was built as the command centre to control the on-goings around especialy tin mining and the bustling trade...

The view for on top of the hill just outside the remains of the fort...

Upon entering its perimeters, the first thing I noticed was this old rubber tree!

Here are some views of the remains of the fort of Lukut. I'm sorry I'm running out of time... I have to be home by 11 and it's already 10.40 when I wrote this sentence at an Interent Cafe. Cheers! :]

Remembering the "A" Level college days. Damansara Utama where the cool days started!

A picture of the shoplots near Uptown Damansara nabbed from the Internet. We used to study and stay in a few blocks of the same shoplots...

Greetings earthlings... Time to start reminiscing again. Continued from the posting Remembering the "A" Level college days. How I got the nickname Fly! made from a week ago... Before that, just take note... A friend commented that we did our college orientation week at Section 6 in Shah Alam, not Section 2 as mentioned in the posting. This friend also noted some happenings involving other friends which I have totally forgotten... And it's when I looked back at the article did I remember, we shared the same orientation and temporary rooms with the TESL (those slated to take up university level couse for Teaching of English as a Second Language) guys and girls... So that amounts to around 600 of us having to suffer the week there as the TESL people numbered about twice the A Level folks!

Anyway, soon enough the orientation was done and it's time for some serious fun. While the TESL guys had to stay behind in Shah Alam, I think at Section 18 or something, in some PKNS flats (behind fences to boot!), we the A Level people got to move to Damansara Utama where the regular shoplots there became our classrooms and dorms... Not only there's no fences around, there's plenty of entertainment and night-life to boot including pubs and snooker parlours!

This was where our college life got a real fine kickstart and the whole popularity game (chasing girls and getting to enjoy the skirts, know what I mean and such) got off to a whole new level. But first, let's get down to earth... Let's get to the soonest arrangement upon reaching there, of settling down in a room and becoming room-mates for at least the next one year or so...

I think's there's a total of nearly 30 rooms for the guys and slightly less for the girls. Hmm... Perhaps that included the rooms for the seniors, the guys and girls of Batch 6 while me and my mates, the class of 1988 is of Batch 7.

OK... I got into room 51 C... The inmates were (let me just mention the nicknames unless there's none ya) Nash, Fique, Atoque, Adik, Amirul, Apeq, Jim, John, King, Mangor, Salleh, Tonga, Rashes, Zain, Mutt and... Hmm... I think Paqua was also in the same room. OK, that makes 17 of us right? Unless I've forgotten someone, please tell... Anyway, on the whole every room in the A Level PPP/ITM college at Damansara Utama housed about 15 to 20 inmates. So there...

That by the way is the division by rooms. The next was division by classrooms...

Overall, the A Level people could be divided into the arts stream and science stream students following the system from school followed by the choices made for our intended degree program and how we fare for the SPM examinations in Form Five. Except for those chosen to go straight to the United Kingdom under the BTU (British Top University programmes), we were practically the cream of the crop of the whole Malaysian educations system and that's no exaggeration! Among us where the best from the top residential schools like Malay College in Kuala Kangsar, Perak and Kolej Tunku Kursiah in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan or the top regular schools like Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur and Sri Aman in Petaling Jaya.

I myself was among those called for the BTU interviews. Not that my SPM results were great... I got a total aggregate of 14 while most of those who got called made aggregates of 6, notwithstanding the fact that I hardly studied for the exams. In fact after fighting with dad, I ran away from home during the SPM itself but managed to attend the exams while bunking at a friend's place in Muar for several days!

Perhaps it was my good results in Mathematics that qualified me to be called for the BTU interviews. Nevertheless I didn't make the final cut but getting called for the interview means you would at least qualify for the A Level PPP/ITM program without any further processing, that is having to do the A Levels locally before flying overseas.

You see, the standard of those who made the cut for the BTU interview was so high that anyone regardless of how well they did in the interview would qualify to go straight for studies in Canada if they chose to do so! Remember, this was in 1988 and they were just starting the programme. So anyone who volunteered for Canada would make it immediately... Still, as far as I remember none of us, about 50 plus or so who were called for the interview (or was it closer to 100 people?) wanted to go there... All of us wanted to go the UK.

Oh... Now I remember. After getting my SPM results, I actually applied to go to the United States to do either Mathematics or Engineering but got called up to the BTU interview instead. So having failed in making the cut, I got into the A Level programme soon...

Now, as I said before, except for the BTU guys, we were all the cream of the crop... We were considered a step above the rest that should any of us fail in our exams at any stage during the A Levels programmes, we would automatically qualify to study at ITM (now known As UiTM)!

Oh, what about those who studied under the American degree programme (preparing to go to US) or the Australian programme? Well, it's not too much too say that in the popularity and intelligent stakes among those preparing to go overseas, we were considered the best! Then there's the TESL guys who were preparing to study locally under lecturers from overseas but that is another story...

Back to the division by classrooms. So we have the major division of arts stream versus science stream. The arts stream people were basically divided into those who studied for accountancy and those for law. The science stream into civil, eletrical engineering and such. In between were those who opted for the odd subjects such as acturial science and I am among the odd ones... I think apart from me, there's probably only 2 or 3 who intended to take degrees in Mathematics!

The choice of subjects divided my roommates into a few classrooms. If I remember correctly, the ones in the same class with me, class J were Mangor, Tonga and Jim. Anyway, the college population immediately gells into groups... Some were people who have known each other since early school days, some clicked with each other during the orientation days and after...

I noticed among the best well-known guy groups were the ones with Auk (ex- Alam Shah boarding school boy) with his roomates and surrounding groups of ex-MCKK guys (known also as Koleg boys) and ex- SDAR (Sekolah Datuk Abdul Razak Seremban if I remember correctly!) guys. Then there's us the 51C guys... Yes, we were quite popular especially among the girls...

With that I end this second installment of "Remembering the 'A' Level college days". For the next one, I think we will talk about the out-of-college exploits including those at the discos and what happened with the girls... As and whenever I feel like it ya, cheers! :]