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

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.


Friday, April 13, 2012

A cousin's wedding at old town Bangi

Just something from the April file of pictures...


Last Saturday I attended a cousin's wedding at his father's house in old town Bangi. Looking at the tents at first I thought there was a political rally or something...


Whatever it was quite a grand affair.



Then again the cousin's father is a top gun of one of the biggest bank in Malaysia. Apart from the position and hefty salary there's other benefits like getting the bank's own pool of best talents to perform...


Somehow I didn't take much pictures except these ones.



Congratulations to Yusra (the cousin) and newly-wedded wife Fiza. Congrats to Uncle Razak and Auntie Mas for getting your first daugher-in-law. Really, I have passed this part of Bangi quite a number times but never realised his father, my mum's first cousin has his house right smack in front of a junction I normally take to get to a friend's house! Why, I almost didn't attend this wedding as me and family were just too tired after completing a 10 day 9 nights journey visiting places in Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan, Perak and Selangor 3 days before.

If not for my parents insistence for us to make time for this event we might even be still travelling somewhere. For the record I've driven a total of 2374.9 km for the recent journey (of which the stories would be shared in this blogspot in time) and we had our around 40-day old baby in tow. The wedding's venue was more than 70 km away from our place and it did took some effort for us to get going. Never mind that, we met a lot of relatives and that did sort of took the tiredness away... :]



Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The "Berpetualang ke Aceh" travel collection


This in turn is the collection of links of articles under the "Jejak 'Berpetualang ke Aceh'", a series in my main blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU with some supporting articles here. The series which took more than 4 months to present (15 Nov 2011- 25 Mac 2012) was based on a trip me and the family made 2-13 November 2011 to trace back the places I have visited alone in my first journey to Aceh January 2004. For the record the old travel has been made the background for my trilogy of novels "Berpetualang ke Aceh" (literarily the travel to Aceh) published 2006-2007. Then Aceh was still under emergency military rule and I had to go through plenty of trials and tribulations just to get through.

The trip end of 2011 actually covered more places as from Medan we went to Berastagi, then the island of Pulau Samosir at Lake Toba before returning to Medan. For information, these were never part of the places covered in the travel of 2004. It was after that the tracing process was conducted as places told/mentioned in the books were visited. Apart from that we also stopped at places which I didn't have the time of opportunity to visit in the old trip. Note that we also visited new places which were not covered in my later trips to Aceh, that was in the middle of 2009 followed by one in January then another in February 2010.



1. Akan datang - Jejak "Berpetualang ke Aceh"

2. Jejak "Berpetualang ke Aceh" : Dari Medan ke Berastagi
























Monday, April 09, 2012

The Johor-Riau travel collection

On 14 March 2012 a series titled "Kembara Johor-Riau" (the Johor-Riau travel) was completed after running for almost 3 months in my main blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU. As usual supporting stories were made in this blogspot. The series is on a trip to the south, that is to Johor and Singapura which also brought me, the wife and kid to the island of Bentan in Indonesia. The journey which was made 10-18 November 2011 also brought us to Pahang via the east coast of Johor. This is the collection of articles...



1. Diperkenalkan : Kembara Johor-Riau

2. Kembara Johor-Riau : Muar, Singapura, Parit Betak

3. Boat trip to Riau from Johor


5. The Pompong ride from Tanjung Pinang to Pulau Penyengat

6. Kembara Johor-Riau - Dari Tanjung Pinang ke Pulau Penyengat

7. The scenic rivers at Hulu Riau

8. Kembara Johor-Riau - Makam-makam di Hulu Riau dan alamat salasilah ibu

9. Kembara Johor-Riau - 333 tahun Hulu Riau menjadi pusat empayar

10. Johor river from Kota Tinggi jetty

11. Kembara Johor-Riau - Mencari kesinambungan pemerintahan di Kota Tinggi, Johor

12. Johor river from Kota Tinggi town bridge

13. Sedili river just before Tanjung Sedili

14. Sedili river at Tanjung Sedili