11th December 2008, the day I got hitched (again!)

Here is a picture of me signing a certain important document. For information, I just got hitched (as in married) again! (this is my second time)...

Eleven days ago, I wrote an article here titled What's on December 11th? . Well, that's what happened on that date... I got hitched. That aside from the fact that the movie "The day the earth stood still" was premiered at Malaysian cinemas.

By the way, I watched the movie with my dear wife last night. And for information the pictures in the article A family outing to Morib... made earlier tonight was taken just half an hour before the wedding. My family then were on the way from Kuala Lumpur to the bride's place at Tanjung Sepat some 100 km away.

We were scheduled to be at the village mosque in Tanjung Sepat for the occasion after the Zuhur prayers which should be around 1.30 pm but found ourself in front of Morib, 17 km away from the mosque with about 45 minutes to spare. Since we have the time and many of us have never been to Morib while the rest last went there decades ago, why not take a breather there.

So that should tie up the latest 3 articles here together. Good night everyone. Cheers! :]

A family outing to Morib...

Good day everyone. Today, unlike in past articles where I often show pictures of places I went to alone, I feel like sharing some pictures on an outing with my family... my extended family that is which includes some uncles, aunties and cousins . Come! :]

Seen here are a few members of my family facing the beach at Morib some 10km south of the town of Banting in Selangor...

At the same time, these other family members were frequenting a stall nearby...



They wanted to have sotong bakar or roasted squids...

So while some enjoyed the view towards the sea, others waited for the squids to be properly roasted...



Although it was low tide then, it was still a pretty sight for us...




The low tide made it walkable for more than 500 metres into the sea!





Many of my family have never been to Morib ever. The one's who have been here last made it something like more then 40 years ago! At least that's what my mum said...

She said the last time she was here was in 1963. I was not even born yet then! My dad interjected that they actually went there when both we're still studying at teacher's college. Then that must have been before 1975 or so. Either way, it's decades since they last stepped anywhere near this shore.






I'm sure this lot including my pretty cousin in front have never been to Morib before...

That's one cousin looking at the information board on the beach as my dad walks by...

Although Morib is not as famous as say Port Dickson in Negeri Sembilan and they say the beach here is not so clean for swimming, it is still an interesting place for family outings...

Ah... time to enjoy our sotong bakar with some drinks...

I must say, everyone enjoyed this brief outing...

A last look at Morib. So some of you maybe wondering why did my family came here all wearing the traditional Malay clothes? Hehe... I'll tell you in the next posting. Cheers! :]

What's on December 11th?

Peace be upon you all. Today after the Jumaat prayers I went to the Galaxy shopping centre in Ampang. I went to the cinema lobby just to have a look at the latest offerings when I saw this poster saying "11.12.08 is the day the earth stood still"! What the... ?

OK. I do know that the poster actually refers to an upcoming movie titled "The day the earth stood still" starring the actor Keanu Reeves. And the date which is December 11th actually refers to next Thursday when the movie would be released for public showing. It's just the date also have some significance to me. But I can't tell you yet what's it all about. Not now...

Whatever, it makes me want to break the silence imposed on my blogspots since I achieved a certain number of postings over the last one week or so. Strangely, on the the other side of the cinema lobby, there's a smaller poster promoting the same movie except with this difference... it says, "12.12.08 is the day the earth stood still". Again, what the... ?

Oh, by the way. To all Muslim readers, happy Aidil Adha this Monday. Cheers! :]

New trip to the East Coast - Masjid (mosque of) Kampung Laut revisited

OK. Continuing from New trip to the East Coast - Muhammadi mosque revisited and some views of Kota Bahru . Later that day, I went some 15 km south-west of Kota Bahru to visit a certain old mosque. Come! :]

Here is the mosque of Kampung Laut, an olden mosque built totally out of timber without the use of any nails and such...

This mosque to me is so splendid despite its apparent simplicity that I believe I have done a few pieces on it in my blogspots. For example, have a look at the old articles Masjid Kampung Laut, enough said! and Latest pictures of the famous Masjid (mosque) of Kampung Laut in Kelantan...


For a brief information on the mosque, read this...

A story of how the mosque was relocated from it's original location at Kampung Laut some 6 km north-east of Kota Bahru...

On the design...

The tower for calling out azan or the call to prayers...

A look at the three-tiered roofing system...

I went inside and saw this door open...

So I decided to have a look at what's inside...

For the first time ever, I climbed up the azan tower. Here is a view of the university hostel nearby...

One could get a good look of the topmost part of the mosque's main roof at this level...

The university campus in front seen from the next level...

And a look at the car I arrived in. For the record the whole carpark area seen here used to be outside the mosque compound. Now, the outer walls have been expanded to included this piece of land...

Time to get to the topmost level of the tower...

Had a nice snap of the topmost main roof...

And now, a better look at it...

Part of the mosque complex, its left side that is...

The front side and the main compound...

This latest trip also made me more particular with the architecture and interior design...

A certain wooden part potruding out of the roof inside the main praying hall. It actually extends to the topmost part as seen from the azan tower.

Some of the wood-carvings alongside...

The back left-side part...

A last look at the mosque. That's all. For the record, this is the 262nd posting in this blogspot, a mulitple of the number 131 which carries a certain meaning to me. So I would rest from making any new postings here for a while ya. That's all... cheers everyone! :]

New trip to the East Coast - Muhammadi mosque revisited and some views of Kota Bahru

Peace be upon you all. After making the piece titled New trip to the East Coast - Tomb and mosque of Tok Ku Paloh revisited last Friday, let's have another 'revisited' piece. Here it is...

This is the Muhammadi mosque in Kota Bahru, Kelantan, one of the places I would visit whenever I'm at the predominantly Malay city...

As I've made an article showing some pictures in and around the mosque at the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) (titled Masjid (mosque of) Muhammadi, Kota Bahru, Kelantan... ) half a year ago, it's good to put the pictures taken from my most recent trip to the East Coast into this blogspot.

The lates visit made two weeks ago had one extra feature compared to previous visits. For the first time, I took some aerial pictures of this mosque... at least you can call this an aerial picture as it is taken at some measure above ground level...

For the first ever, I actually climbed up one of the four towers there. Which is quite strange when I think again about it. How come all this while I never felt like going up there?



So here's a look at the city's main historical square from the mosque...

A look of the tower's top from inside. I could have climbed up these stairs but what's the point? There's not enough opening for me to take a decent look at the outside from up there...





And this is the spiral staircase leading up the tower...

I then went down and had a look around. It just occured to me that normally historical mosque like this one would have an information plaque somewhere. So I went looking for it and found it at one corner just outside the compound. Strange, all this while I never even bothered to look for it...

Time to leave the mosque...

OK. I might be more particular during this trip as this time I was not only visiting the mosque. I must have a good look at it from as many angles as this visit was made to include the Muhammadi mosque in a coffee-table book on mosques in Malaysia I'm working on.

My photographer Shamsul Yunos wanted to take an aerial picture of the mosque. So we went to a hotel nearby and asked permission to get on top. For the record, the pictures here were all taken by me using an automatic digital camera. Shamsul took his using a professional SLR camera with big lenses...

From up there, we also got a good look of the mosque and the historical surroundings in relation to the mighty Kelantan river...

A look at the main historical square in front of two palaces now turned into museums...

And a look at the skyline. Cheers! :]