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This blogspot is a medium to share my thoughts and adventures apart from promoting my books. Below are the books which have been written or authored and published by myself.


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Mencari Diri dan Erti".

ISBN 983-42031-0-1, Jun 2006


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Membela Syiar yang Asal"

ISBN 983-42031-1-x, May 2007


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Sirih Pulang ke Gagang?"

ISBN 978-983-42031-2-2, November 2007


It is interesting to note that while these books were written in Malay it has gained enough attention to merit being part of the collections of the American Library of Congress and National Library of Australia. Look here and here.


While the first three books were published by my own company, the fourth titled "Rumah Azan" was published in April 2009 by a company called Karnadya with the help of the Malaysian national literary body Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. It features beautiful pictures along with stories behind selected mosques which could be related to the history of Islam and the Malays alongside the formation of the Malaysian nation. Look at the article A collaboration of old collegemates - the book "Rumah Azan".


My fifth book "Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and Malay Sultanates", an English translation and adaptation of the Malay book "Ahlul Bait (Keluarga) Rasulullah SAW dan Kesultanan Melayu" authored by Hj Muzaffar Mohamad and Tun Suzana Othman was published early 2010. Look here... My 5th book is out! Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and the Malay Sultanates... . For more information check out my Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU.



Like my fourth book "Rumah Azan", the sixth book "Kereta Api Menuju Destinasi" is also a coffee-table book which is published by the company Karnadya with the cooperation of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (the main Malay literary body in Malaysia). Coming out January 2011 it features pictures and stories on the adventure travelling by train to all of Peninsular Malaysia along with the interesting places which could be reached this way.


My seventh book "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" in turn is a coffee-table book which is written, editted, designed and has pictures taken by me. Coming out of the factory October 2011, this book which combines family history with history of places such as Singapura, Johor, Batu Pahat, Muar and in fact the history of the island of Java and England has been reviewed with me interviewed live in the program Selamat Pagi Malaysia at RTM1. Look at the article Siaran langsung ulasan buku "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" dan temu ramah di Selamat Pagi Malaysia. Some selected contents have been featured in Sneak peek "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah".


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The "Berpetualang ke Aceh" series of novels could be obtained in e-book form. Enter http://www.e-sentral.com/, click general novel and go to page 4. You can also type the word "Aceh" at the search box. Or click straight Book 1, Book 2 and Book 3.


Friday, February 06, 2009

Down from Fraser's Hill towards Raub

Continuing from More of Fraser's Hill...


Me and wife spent couldn't stay long at Fraser's Hill, not for this trip at least as we wanted to spend the night in Janda Baik. Although at first we wanted to sleep up the hill, we have to adjust our plans so that we could meet our friend Shamsul Yunos to complete a job involving taking pictures of some mosques.

Shamsul would be coming from Kuala Lumpur while the target was to be in Ulu Dong, Raub then Kuala Lipis before returning to KL. Thus it is more convenient to meet in Genting Sempah, slightly more than 10 km out of Janda Baik yet on the route from KL to Raub.

To get to Janda Baik, we got down Fraser's Hill through to Raub. Halfway or so we came across a massive clearing which looks like it was made after a recent landslide. The above picture was taken after we have cleared parts of the road strewn in mud. I felt like parking the car to have another look of the mayhem we have passed.




I'm not sure if this is an old already existing metal bridge or a new one made after the landslide.


But looking at the boulders and parts of road strewn down the hillside, I'm not surprised if these are the remains of a whole section of road including a concrete bridge later replaced by a quick-fix metal one.

Later we arrived at this section which looks like the hairpin corner at the end of the main grandstand at the Sepang F1 Circuit.

A look to the right...




Turn clockwise another 30 degrees or so and see a spread of durian trees followed by some settlements.





Here's a view facing diametrically the opposite of the 'hairpin' corner...






Another 30 degree turn clockwise and this view follows...



Just down another corner or two, there's this tall tree standing out heads and shoulders above everything else. I believe this is a giant tualang tree which can grow more than 100 metres-high and this pne seemed to fit the bill.




As it turned out, we soon reached the t-junction of the very small town of Tranum situated on parts of a hill or area called Tras. No wonder there's plenty of settlements which could be seen from the 'hairpin' corner. This picture was taken after we came out from the road on the left. Going straight is the way to Raub, another 10-15 km or so...



The road the going up to Fraser's Hill...



We wanted to take this road leading to Bentong and Kuala Lumpur.



The pre-world war II buildings here is etched in my child-hood memory. I still remember the times passing the winding roads from Kuala Lumpur up to here only to be greeted by a military checkpoint with serious personnels mounting large machineguns. Then my dad whole give a hearty smile before we continued the journey to Raub to see his parents, my grandma and grandad. That time, the 70s, this area was still infamous for its communists guerillas on hide-outs. That's all...

Thursday, February 05, 2009

More of Fraser's Hill...

Continuing from Enter Fraser's Hill . Let the rest of the pictures be presented in slide form ya. Here it is...

Enter Fraser's Hill

Continuing from At the foot of Fraser's Hill...


Soon it's time to go up. The first thing I did once up and pass the checkpoint gate there is to take this picture just after the gate...


Then I went up to one of the further points of the hill to look for this bungalow, the TM or Telekom Malaysia bungalow...

You see, in the first place I went up Fraser's Hill to bring my wife who have never been there. As she is a TM staff, we thought why not check the bungalow which offers superb view and atmosphere...


Then we went around checking other areas...



Too bad, the fog (or cloud?) was rather thick then. So let me just leave you readers with these pictures at different areas...



























At the foot of Fraser's Hill...

The title might sound peculiar but bear with me a while...



This road-sign stands at a rather important junction somewhere in the middle of the main mountain range Banjaran Titiwangsa.
Here is the junction and the black one is my car...

A number of cars were parked on the roadside.


That while a few other set of wheels including this purple van on the right was seen going out of the junction. What is going on?



On the roadside also was a map of Fraser's Hill.




What happened was the cars which wanted to go up the hill have to wait at this junction.





This is because the road used to get on top is pretty narrow, only safe enough for one car to pass at a time. So we have to abide by the time-table to get on top or to get down and I happened to reach this place when it was time to go down.

This set-up has been in operation for decades. It's only about a year or two ago another road was built up to the summit to allow traffic coming up and down at all times. But I learned the other road is now closed because of landslides and such. So it's back to the drawing board and the old set-up...






With another half an hour to go before 4 pm, the next shift going up, I went walking around...




With a number of people waiting, there's a slight carnival atmosphere in the air...








Oh by the way, the signboard here shows that you are in the districtof Raub once pass this point. This means this area is the state border between Selangor and Pahang...










A look at the Sungai Selangor dam and catchment

And now, time to share some pictures from last weekend's trip... God, I just can't stop travelling around even when I'm married again. Just not yet...


I was going to Fraser's Hill from Kuala Kubu and passed the Sungai (river of) Selangor dam...


At first I taught I just want to go on but after a while passing through the road which follows the man-made lake or catchment area, I just have to take pictures...

So there I was snapping these lot...

If I remember correctly, the last time I went pass this area was some 2 years ago. I think it was on the way down Fraser's Hill via a small bus which is actually a remnant of Kuala Lumpur's minibuses, famous for 'terrorising' the city roads in the 80s. Back then (I mean not the 80s ya...), I used a cheap digital camera which tends to get blurry pictures if snapped while moving. And there's no way I could ask the driver to stop just for me to snap pictures.
Last weekend was probably the first time I ever passed this area on private wheels. So might as well take some pictures at least to share with you, dear readers!



And here's the part of the road where I stopped at. Next... at the foot of Fraser's Hill...




View from/of the jetty at Tanjung Sepat

Hmm... I'm getting pretty fond of making slideshows. After Pulau Besar, me and wife went to her father's place at Tanjung Sepat, Selangor. One evening we decided to drive around and found and interesting jetty.

Funny, she's born here and except for her days in boarding school and later years being married, grew up in Tanjung Sepat. Yet she's never been to this jetty. Never mind, here are some pictures of it in slide form. Have a look... :]



Three nights in Pulau Besar

Greeting everyone. Two weeks ago, taking advantage of the Chinese New Year holiday I went to Pulau Besar, Melaka again and spend 3 nights there. Although I've been there several times with the previous visit made just less than a month earlier (see My latest trip to Pulau Besar... with the wife... ), it's probably the first where I've spent 3 nights there in years. Plus this time, it's 3 nights with the wife too. So it was practically a honeymoon trip! As there's quite a number of postings in my blogspots showing pictures, in fact videos of Pulau Besar, here just let me share a few pictures for posterity ya. Here goes...


This is a picture from a boulder high on top the seaside cave known as Gua Yunus.To know more about the place have a look at the old article The mystery of Gua Yunus (the cave of Yunus) ...


This is the latest view of a tree which practically grows off a boulder. The three was first shown in my blogspots through the article A whirlwind tour of Pulau Besar in 2 hours or so...

I'm always amused upon seeing this signage when walking to this part of the island. What the heck... "Dilarang masuk tanpa urusan" (literally translated as "Not allowed to come in without business"). I can understand that but just look at the figures, hehe!


On this part of the island lies a big abandoned project. Have a look at 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.



Then I went up the tower at the abandoned golf club next to it.




Funny. It's only in this visit that I had a good look at the roof and realised it was all made in Italy. No wonder the whole project looks like something from there...





This the surau or small praying hall in Pulau Besar, next to the tomb of Sheikh Ismail, the main attraction of the island. I've been here many many times but it's only in the latest visit that I had good look at the building and noticed it's rather unique dome.

Oh, before that me and wife climbed the highest hill of the island to get to big split boulder known as Batu Belah. I didn't take pictures as I've already taken many before. You can have a look at the article Continuing the whirlwind tour of Pulau Besar in 2 hours or so...






Then we had a look at the beach in front.





The low tide made in possible for people to take a dip far out into the waters...





As I walked towards where those people were taking a dip, I looked to the left towards the east and had a good view of the mountain Gunung Ledang in Muar, Johor.





A look back. That's the beach from where I was standing...





A look to the west.




This is a picture of part of the golf course covering half the island taken the next day. Or was it the following day? I forgot. But from here onwards, I'd like to share the pictures in a slideshow. If you have any enquiry about the places shown here, try using the search facility at the top left-hand. I think there's enough articles of Pulau Besar to satisfy any curiosity, God willing. Enjoy! :]