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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.


Sunday, December 12, 2010

Fascination with rivers - the overall picture

OK. Time to have a closing piece before putting the relevant materials and links on to the side bar. Continued from Fascination with rivers - the other places.

Satellite pix of Muar river with terrain simulation courtesy of Google Earth. In the background could be seen the famous mystical mountain, Gunung Ledang...


There. After spending plenty of solid hours preparing maps with pointers, gathering materials including links to the relevant articles in fact making quite a number of amendments today after having posted earlier resulting stories last night till early morning only could I make this closing story on the subject of "Fascination for rivers". If yesterday I have chosen 26 rivers along the coast of Peninsular Malaysia to be listed today I've added another 4 and thus have to make the necessary changes and addition to both the maps and stories. I've also made an article gathering past stories on a river in Aceh and 2 in Brunei. This should be complete for now and God willing I will add stories on other rivers in the future before putting it directly on the sidebar. Do have a look at what is currently being featured though. Here are the links to the articles created. For the record this is the 636th article in this blogspot.


1. Fascination with rivers - Intro

2. Fascination with rivers - North East Coast

3. Fascination with rivers - Middle West Coast

4. Fascination with rivers – the South

5. Fascination with rivers - the East Coast

6. Fascination with rivers - other places


Fascination with rivers - other places


Since we are still on the subject of rivers, let us also feature those outside Malaysia. I've walked along the lengths of such reknowned rivers like the Thames in London, the Seine in Paris, the Rhine at Frankfurt and Mainz, the Danube at the outskirts of Vienna and the Elbe in Dresden, east of Germany but sadly I didn't keep pictures of those times.

I only seriously started taking pictures of my travels after the remains of my great great great grandfather of mine Laksamana (royal admiral) Muhammad Amin was brought back from exile in Singapore to be reburied at the Perak royal mausoleum in Bukit Chandan 9 September 2006. Look at the old article The return of Admiral Muhammad Amin's remains to the royal mausoleum of Perak. You see I attended the ceremony and a friend asked me to take pictures and write an article for his publication. Soon I started blogging and the rest is history.

It's just since that I've travelled not so far overseas. My forays where limited mainly to Aceh, Singapore, parts of southern Thailand and Brunei. During those visits I was mainly concerned in finding tombs of outstanding personalities of olden days such as that of kings and saints apart from old mosque and place with historical value. Thus forgive me if I lack emphasis on other things.

Still never mind... I do have some materials on rivers made into articles albeit not so extensive. These should be relevant enough to our current topic "Fascination for rivers"...






Aceh

Despite the fact that I've been to Aceh 4 times and travelled far across its landscape I have only two articles to present and even that only on one river. God willing if I have the opportunity to go there again I would make amends.


1. Aceh river

From Syiah Kuala to Kreung Aceh...

To Lamuri and the fortress of Indrapatra...





Brunei

In contrast to my take on Aceh, I've paid more attention to the freshwater network of Brunei. Perhaps the fact that they have what they claimed as the biggest water settlement in the world helps. They also have at least one beautiful location of a tomb close besides a river...


2. Brunei river

Tomb of the pious king at Luba

The beauty of Luba

Boat ride at Kampung Ayer

Boat ride at Kampung Ayer continued...

Tamu Kianggeh from the boat

The island called Pulau Chermin


3. Belait river

The river that gives name to Kuala Belait