-----------------------

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".


-----------------------


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.


Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Stepping foot on it... Beting Beras Basah that is

Continuing from Walking to Beting Beras Basah...


The walking through the mud got so bad that at one point my wife had to take the baby away from me. You see she is much lighter than me, so she didn't sink as much. Me on the other hand kept finding myself sinking up to the hip and still going down especially with baby Al-Rasyid's weight on top of mine. To stop the sinking and continue with the journey I had to practically crawl and walk on all four limbs.


The situation got so bad that I almost gave up. My wife was also thinking the same, after finding the path ahead still leads to more sinking and no end. That's when I realised we have taken a wrong path. But luckily I regained our orientation and caught sight of the tip of the sandbank. That gave my wife who was like 50 metres ahead new strength to press on and I followed until we reached safety!


I must say if not for the wife I'm not sure if I could have made it.


Whatever thank God for giving us the strength and willpower to go on. And so there we were on Beting Beras Basah, the place where the first Sultan of Perak had his ship stucked 500 years ago before he can proceed upriver to be coronated as ruler of this state...


Just look at how far we were from where we started.


Mind you at this juncture the river bank is about 300 metres away. And to reach this point we had walked almost 1.4 km, more than 250 metres of it through mud no less deeper than my knee...


Still Beting Beras Basah stretched on still further. I think I have written or said somewhere that it is 300 metres long. Wrong... my most recent check using Google Earth shows that it is at least 860 metres from end to end!


We walked on to these parts...



We wanted to stand directly in front of the viewing gallery seen behind. At this point we should be 400 metres away from it.



OK. I wanted to bring my wife and baby further on but Al-Rasyid was starting to get cranky. I guess he needed to suckle so just let him have it.


I had to continue walking on my own...







I went so far that when I looked behind it's hard to see them.



A portion of the above picture zoomed. The yellow line should point to where my wife and baby were left behind.


No comments: