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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, May 21, 2010

The unique station at Bahau

From Labis we went pass Segamat on to Gemas. We could have travelled on to Tampin as that was the route we took went heading for Johor Bahru. But since Bahau is not so far away from Gemas, why not go there?


From Bahau we can head back towards the trunk road to Kuala Lumpur via Kuala Pilah. Besides there's a place near Bahau I wanted to show to photographer Faiz. Now, the Bahau train station lies on the eastern route towards Kelantan while our mission was to visit those on the southern part. The next main station on the eastern route lies at Mentakab, Pahang which is easy to reach from KL. On the other hand Bahau practically lies off the usual path...


God knows when next we will have the time to go to Bahau, so might as well kill two birds with one stone. There's the place to visit, there's also this station to photograph for our collection. As it turned out the visit to Bahau station is quite pleasant looking at its rather unique features. Just look at its length and colour which makes it look rather cute. Then there's the low ceiling, a feature I haven't seen anywhere else...

Note, this is the 494th article in this blogspot.

Labis from on top the pedestrian bridge


From the pedestrian bridge at Labis train station I looked to the west where lies the junction we took to get from the main road into the station...


Towards the south-east you could see part of town and tracks...


A look towards east proper shows Labis to be a quite lively town.


This is the junction to the main road as we went out. We came from the left, that is to the south where Bekok lies. Go straight and you can get to Muar via Bukit Kepong. We wanted to turn right though to head towards Segamat...


Labis train station


From Bekok we headed north for Labis to have a look at its train station



The station here is twice as big as the one in Bekok but frankly I prefer this one less..



It's not that this station lacks character...




It's just I like Bekok better, that's all.

Something about Bekok...

From the pedestrian bridge at the train station you could get a good view of the town of Bekok.


I don't know what is it. There's something about this town, or rather this place that endears to me.

Is it the rustic old shophouses?


One thing's for sure, Bekok has a certain special geographical position...



For it is the door to one of the world's best forest reserve...




It lies near the south-west entrance of the famous Endau-Rompin national park...



Bekok's train station

A few kilometres away from the Bekok dam lies its train station.


While it is only one among many small stations in Malaysia there's a certain rustic charm that made us wanted to stay much longer...

The train schedule. Nope, we're not waiting for any trip...


The small town of Bekok across. All these and mountains in the background made this place very pleasant indeed...




Ah. This pedestrian bridge should provide a vantage view-point...









A look to the south...





A look to the north.



The Bekok dam

After we're done in JB we headed straight to the north using the main trunk road up to Air Hitam before taking the middle route towards Segamat where we found a junction leading to the Bekok dam.


Now, I've noticed the dam and its catchment area in maps since as far back as 25 years ago. But this is the first time I ever came near!



However the way inside is blocked by fences. After all it is a restricted area. Take note the previous picture was taken through a hole. Next we decide to walk along the fences heading for the reservoir...


As it turned out it is possible to get into the restricted area after the fences.





Well, the fences were actually built long enough to keep outsiders from coming into the restricted parts. It's just it was dry season then... the water was so low that it recedes no less than 30 metres from the end of the fence.

JB railway station old and new

So it's time to check out the railway station of Johor Bahru...


Like most railway stations in Malaysia, it is a remnant of the British colonial era.

But unlike most, it is among the few built with substantial size.


Well, what do you expect? Johor Bahru being the modern capital of the state of Johor was an important town and now a bustling huge city. Apart from serving locals heading to the east and north, the station is also a main gateway to the to the island city-state of Singapura.


Hmm... what do you call this? A poster, a mural or something else? Anyway it contains some history of the Malaysian railway. Remind me next time to take a better and sharper picture with higher megapixels. For the record, my new camera can shot 12 MP, my old one 8 MP. But yet I prefer to set the shots to 3 MP to conserve space... :]





Here you can see part of the new train station.





Actually it is new building which would integrate train and bus services with the customs and immigration checkpoint for leaving and entering Singapura.






When I was here in February, it was only partially opened...




So people still use the old railway station while I understand new rails have been installed a level higher to the left.




JB skyline from inside the new building.






Like KL Sentral which have replaced the classic British-built Kuala Lumpur railway as the main centre in town, this building would soon rise up to prominence.


The blooming skyline of Johor Bahru

Peace be upon you dear readers. As you all might have noticed I'm currently doing articles on train stations. Yet in between I might touch on other subjects. Still it should be quite relevant such as this...


These pictures, in fact all the pictures featured in recent articles were taken in a trip down south early February. Like elsewhere, we were in Johor Bahru to take pictures of its train station...


First have a look at the skyline...

For the skyline of JB has bloomed very much compared to the years gone by.


Once upon a time you can't see any building higher than 10 stories towards this direction... at least that's how I remember it 10 years ago or so and before...



By the way the pictures above were taken from my hotel room.




I was with Faiz Al-Shahab who plays the official photographer for a certain job and down we came to check the going arounds...





Oh, it was Sunday morning... so the atmosphere was very easy, relaxed...




Towards the east, within the frames of the entrance to this street could be seen the Sultan Ibrahim building, the original 'skyscraper' of JB built more than 80 years ago...




Compare it to modern skyscrapers like these. Counting the Sultan Ibrahim building out as it used to stand just outside the boundaries (JB now is a city and its boundaries have extended far beyond) the Merlin Tower to the right was the second or so skyscraper to be built here.





Whatever, the skyscraper to this left, the Tun Abdul Razak tower was the first in JB and the only one for some time. If I remember correctly it has been around since I was 10, (that was 30 years ago)! Now time to check out the train station...