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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.
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.
So here we are ready for a boat ride...
Inside with part of yatch club complex in the background.
A view of the shipyard along with the actual yatch club as we went on...
A view south and parts of the city of Kuala Terengganu...
As we cleared Pulau Duyong from sight, we could see Seberang Takir in the north...
And here is where we would be landing, at the jetty near Kuala Terengganu's market area of Pasar Payang.
Almost there. Let's continue in another article... cheers! :]
After Kuala Berang, I went to Pulau Manis before calling it a day in Kuala Terengganu. The next day a whole new round of travel/sightseeing starts. After making a few stops near town, I brought the wife and kids across the Terengganu river on to the island of Duyong, or Pulau Duyong (pulau is island in Malay)...
The island used to be a centre for traditional boat-building. In fact I understand they still make such woodens boats good enough for deep-sea fishing. However since recent years, this has largely given way to modern ships. Now they are making big modern fishing ships made from steel which should be proud enough to berth at any respectable harbour...
A major catalyst to the modern ship-building industry is the existence of a world-class yatch club...
The club was made to host the annual international Monsoon Cup yatch race which features top sailors (is this word applicable for yatch racers? Never mind...) from all over the world!
As for me, I came to the yatch club to have a good view of the surroundings. Seen here is the estuary of river Terengganu along with parts of the Kuala Terengganu city...
A look towards the north would show another part of the estuary, and the small tapering part of mainland called Seberang Takir...
We next head for this small jetty...
The views from the nearby jetty makes us wish we could take a boat ride next... which was what we actually did. Anyway this is the 400th posting in this blogspot.
After Tasik Kenyir, I decided to head to Kuala Berang... to visit a number of places especially old tombs there...
However for this blogspot and at this particular time, let me just feature this particular tomb on top a small hill just outside Kuala Berang.
It is known as the tomb of Tok Raja Ri...
I don't know who is this Tok Raja Ri. The tombstone which is of Aceh type signifies him as a person of significance, normally either a royalty, a nobleman or a religious master...
There. A view of my car from the tomb to show its location in relation to the roadside. Have a look also at the article Makam (tomb of) Tok Raja Ri made in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) April last year. Just note that this is the 399th article here...
This is part of a dam which makes up Tasik Kenyir.
If I'm not mistaken, 9 dams were built over 9 rivers to create this lake. The related catchment area off upland Terengganu was soon fully inundated with water and this became Tasik Kenyir...
While the lake was made primarily for generating hydro-electric power, it soon became a big tourist attraction. Luckily we came on Friday morning, hardly a time for tourists to flock in...
Soon it's time to go to the jetty...
Ah. Our boat has arrived...
As we left the jetty, my wife and kids can't help posing...
The waters look very calming...
For Haziq it was a chance to show he has become a grown-up boy (almost) by sitting without fear in front...
Erin also likes to pose...
The vast body of waters beckon for more exploration...
Too bad due to time constraint apart from the cost, our foray was limited to certain parts of the lake only...
Nevertheless it was comprehensive enough to show the origins of the lake - once a vast tract of virgin forest now submerged under water with most of the trees already harvested for timber...
I remember my first trip to this lake in 1997. Then, you could still see many timber trees (or whatever's left of it) rising up above the water surface...
Now the surface of the lake is mostly clear while resort buildings have sprouted at many parts of the coastline @ hillsides...
Time to return to the jetty...
Here's one for the road... with a shaggy-looking me in the picture...
OK. So you now have some idea of how Tasik Kenyir looks like. Some might say the waters do look vast, others might question is that it? Is that really the largest man-made lake in Malaysia? Is that the lake which is bigger that the island state of Singapura? Well let me add. I've just learned that Tasik Kenyir is also the biggest man-made lake in South-East Asia. To get some idea of its actual size look at this satellite picture made in a 40 km x 40 km box or so. And the area we covered on the boat trip could be fitted into the small red circle seen in the picture! In fact after a closer check the trip didn't even cover half the circle... get the idea?
And so the journey to the East Coast was continued. Me and wife arrived at Kota Bahru, Kelantan around midnight. Later we rest at the old mosque of Kampung Laut which has been relocated to Nilam Puri some 15 km south-west of Kota Bahru. When morning arrived we went to the house of a relative to take our kids who have been staying in Kelantan the last one year or so. Details are told in the article Perjalanan ke Pantai Timur bulan Ramadhan - Sungai Jelai di Kuala Medang dan Masjid Kampung Laut di Kelantan... at the Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU .
For the record the school holidays have just started. We wanted to take the kids for a trip in Terengganu. On the way to Kuala Terengganu through the inland route we saw the junction to a certain place called Tasik Kenyir. Immediately I felt like taking them there...
Neither the wife nor kids have been to Tasik Kenyir. If fact the kids have never been to Terengganu ever while the wife has only been to the state once her whole life, during our previous trip to the East Coast earlier this year. As for me, I have been to Terengganu many many times but vaguely remember going to Tasik Kenyir at night sometime in 2004. Whatever the first time I got to this particular place was during a solo riding trip all over Peninsular Malaysia in 1997. That was when I had a good look at it and found out what the hoo-haa was all about...
The road to Tasik Kenyir passes through a number of kampungs, Malay traditional villages...
So what is so great about Tasuk Kenyir? We'll get to that later...
Another 30 km to go...
Far along the way only that I realised that the petrol on our car was running low... it was already in reserve and there was no petrol station to be seen along this rural route...
Luckily after a few kilometres or so fearing if we could make the distance with what little was still available, we came across a small kampung shop selling petrol in bottles...
Otherwise we have to take the road to the left heading to Kuala Terengganu for some 15 km before we could find a proper petrol station. This would be a complete waste of time as Tasik Kenyir is on the opposite direction at about the same distance. Besides at this point there is no guarantee we could even go that far on what was left...
So the journey to Tasik Kenyir was continued...
Ah... we are appoaching the last junction to Tasik Kenyir...
Here it is... just another 3 km to go...
The area is located within a mountainous part of Terengganu...
Here we are Tasik Kenyir. Beginning to get the picture? You'll get a better one with the next article. For the record Tasik Kenyir is the biggest man-made lake in Malaysia! Covering an area bigger than the island state of Singapura (I prefer the Malay-term than the Anglicised Singapore), what you see here is barely one per cent of the body of water available. To be continued...
