Tata Titi Tutu......

Remember the phrase.... Tata Titi Tutu? Hahahahha, it is a very famous phrase used in one of  Allahyarham Tan Sri P.Ramlee's fabulous and much-much enjoyable films. I can assure you that people of all ages from those days and  until today loves watching his films. He is one in a zillion. None that I can think of can take his place... not even at par. I might sound bias but it is a fact! Sorry guys!

At this moment, my husband and I are at Kuala Lumpur International Airport ( KLIA ), waiting to be called to board our KLM 1620 hours flight to Jakarta..... honeymooners on the way!!!! The plan is to stay a night at Jakarta at Ibis Hotel in Mangga Dua.  Will walk around the area to enjoy the famous 'machet' or in English we call it traffic jam! hahahhahahhaha. Yes we do have jams in Kuala Lumpur but you cannot enjoy it because you are stuck in it! But when you are a tourist, it is different! hahahhahahha. Idiotic me, isn't it!

We boarded the KLM flight 0809 at 1620 ours. We were served with vegetarian food with a glass of orange juice. the flight took an hour and a half. The weather was quite bad and we experienced some turbulence but it was okay. Not too bad but ..... I was still scared. Bacalah apa ayat yang terlintas di kepala otak..... Alhamdulillah. down on t The plane touched on time and it was a great relief to touch the ground....hahahhahahaha. Takuuuuuttttt! We took the Silver Bird Taxi to the hotel. we paid Rp210 000 which is equivalent to RM60.00. The was good and so was the Muslim driver, Muhammad Zakaria but the jam was terrible! All the way from he airport towards the city but because they are so used to this condition, an everyday life, everyone seems to take it as it is. Nobody looked tense or angry when another vehicle overtooked them suddenly in between other vehicles. They just give way! Not a word uttered from the driver...not a word.

The driver told us today's jam is different because everybody was going out visiting a house in the city. The house belonged to Habib Munzir AlMusawa, who passed away at a very early age of 40. Thousands of his followers attended his funeral and it was live on television by one of the  stations! It was a promised that, if we do good throughout our life, InsyaAllah people will remember the best about us after we die. The  whole nation mourned his death. MasyaAllah.  A short journey but he fulfilled his life with the BEST...... an Ulama! Subhanallah.

Tomorrow morning, we plan to take the 10.50am Argo Pharayangan  Express Train from Gambir Train Station in Jakarta to Bandung TRain Station. It is said that the journey will take 3 hours. I even booked the tickets online  from www.Tiket.com.

Hope everything goes well.

Day 2:

The route.

Assalammualaikum! A very good morning indeed. First thing is to remember the timing. Jakarta is 0ne hour behind us. The sun is shining and I can feel it is going to be a good day! Yeah!!!! I am about to prepare breakfast... a simple one will do! Coffee and bread! hahahahahahahha. will beleaving to Gambir Train Station, in an hour time. InssyaAllah.

Gambir Train Station in Jakarta.

At 9.00 am on th dot we arrived the train station. Not many people because this is an express train station which only stop once at the destination point. so, if you imagined people climbing on the top of the train, that will not be this route.  When booking online, we cannot choose our seats. What is given is what you get. So, my husband is seated in the next coach. Mine is coach 3 and his is 2. But, as I said, they are very nice and understanding people. They allowed us to sit together for as long as the seat is empty....  lucky us. Sharp 10.50am, the train moved. we just passed he first two stations Cikini and Manggarai. Next will be Jatinegara.

Part of the facilities.

As we were passing, from what I see and from what I heard, you see more if you travel by train. it is you know! You will the real life of this country . The country side, the small roads, the people and so on. It is very interesting. I saw how the people work so hard to survive by doing what they can do best. Most of the work that they do here are no more seen in Malaysia...... not even in our kampung. I can say we are far ahead of them in terms of luxury living. Even the people who live in the 'Seting Garden' back home are far more better off.

They are very serious in doing their jobs.

On board, we were greeted  by the staffs with big smile on their faces. They are all ever willing to help. That shows how they appreciated the job given to them. They were so very thankful to earn their monthly salary where else some are not as lucky. 10 million  people in Jakarta and  to be able to get a job.... so they do odd jobs just to survive. Be thankful and be greatful with our country. Never compare with the better off countries!  Learn to appreciate. I believe our leaders has done the best for us. Stop whining and stop complaining guys.......

Taking orders for food and drink on board.

The Manager on duty today is Pak Dadan D.N. It was only 30 minutes when I first boarded and one after another the railway staffs came for so many reasons. First the checking of the tickets. His name is Pak Dede and like the others, he smiles alot. A younger officer followed him from behind  with a file in his hand and writing something when asked. Then came a young chap with a piles of booklets and handing over to all passengers for sales on the train. Then came a pair taking orders from passenger should they want to eat.  Then came another young lady, passed us some evaluation papers. We just need to answer the given questions about the service. I gave them thumbs up with full marks all along! I am so happy with their service and I would recommend to all my friends. Cheap, fast and friendly! Even, security officers walk up and down every few minutes. I feel safe.

The Security guard.

 I felt that the coach is slightly more spacious from our KTM or could it be my imagination? So I googled. Ours is running on track gauge 1,000mm (3ft. 3.4in) while theirs is 1,067mm.(3ft. 6in). Track gauge is the spacing of the rails on the the railway track. Maybe  they need the 2inces wider size for their kind of terrains going up and down hills and mountains.  The route is much more adventurers compared to ours..... suddenly you feel hanging when you looked below..... ravine with thick jungle! Scary but I like!! But, the ones used in Acheh is the widest....1,345mm (4ft 3.4ins) wide! Why? Yet to try....

The train workers in Bandung Station.

We passed acres and acres of paddy fields. Many people are working in the field. Saw small children running without anything on... so kampung. hahahahhahha.   It reminds me of my late grandmother. Life with her in Parit Yusof,  was full of fun and adventures.

What we see.

The train  passed through few tunnels and bridges.  One of the tunnels was built back in 1902 ! This shows that this nation have built their long and winding railway track much earlier. The constructions took them 6 years from 1864 and was ready to use in 1870 from Semarang to Surakarta with the length of 110km! They even built the bridges for the train to pass through crossing deep ravines. The bridges were a history by itself. The bridges and the tracks were built very long ago and it last until now. This shows that the people here are serious in managing their tracks and bridges to sustain the quality for public use. I salute them!



Some of the bridges we passed.

Alhamdulillah after 3 hours, we arrived Station Utama Bandung at 1350hours local time. The train arrived at Bandung Utama Train Station right on time. Not a minute late. It rained heavily and the cool weather in Bandung became cooler. By comparison, Gambir Station Jakarta is much more modern, clean and efficient. It is an open air complex ... meaning no airconditon. Very airy and the cleaners are always on their feet. The buttlers with green uniforms will come and approach you to help carry your luggages. Mind you, not only they are strong but some of them are old man who still have to work in the name of survival! They have escalators and even lifts. But, Bandung Utama  Station is different. I felt like I was in the yesterday . The layout, the arrangement of the trains, the tracks shows the yesterday of this place. I remember reading  Prahmoedya Ananta Toer Novels. His discriptions of the train stations is what I saw in Bandung. It looks old but functioning well. It still can accomodated thousands of passengers every day. It is very old and it is history!



 Just arrived at Bandung Station....

The ride was very relaxing and the views.....  picturesque! They truly are very hard working people because every plot of land, every nooks and corners were plantations and vegetations. Paddy, Tapioca, Coconuts, Groundnuts and so on. No land is left empty. Subhanallah.

Amazingly, the paddy they grew here not only on the lower ground but on terraces around the highlands.  What surprise me more is there are water in the paddy pods. How in the world did they manage to supply water to the upper terraces? Well they are very creative. They built aqueducts just like the ancient Romans did. The water from the river nearby were pump up through the aqueduct and supplied the water to the paddy pods in all terraces. Very clever.

  Left: The stream at the bottom and the paddy pods on top.

Right: The aqueduct for watering the paddy fileds.

We took a taxi from Bandung Utama Train Station to the hotel. It cost us Rp70,000. It was funny because we paid Rp40,000 for our train tickets , a 3 hour ride and Rp70,000 for a 15 minutes ride. Hahahhahahha. Fortunately, the taxi driver is a very nice man. He stopped us at the nearest Nasi Padang Restaurant for our lunch and even suggested us where to go around Bandung. We might be chartering his taxi one of these days to take us around to the famous Pasar Baru and maybe one meal at Kampung Daun.  At the mean time, we just want to enjoy the hotel facilities. Wonder what is in store for us.

We just checked in at Jayakarta Bandung Hotel. It was an old hotel but the condition is still good. The staff, Aris who attended us was a very nice guy. I booked online through agoda.com foe Executive room with balcony because my husband wants to smoke his cigar but all rooms of hat standard was taken. Aris upgraded us to a junior site but without a balcony. We felt honoured but we insisted for a room with balcony. Alhamdulillah, Aris found a room of our choice and with even better view of the swimming pool and with balcony. hahahhahhaa..... I am so happy. I feel blessed.

Time to rest.

That's all for today. Hope to write again tomorrow to share my experiences in the land of the Garuda!

Very unique

Sambutan Aidil Fitr 2013

"I have been moving around looking for a good place to stay. I was offered bungalow lot in few places but I ended up here in Section 7 , Shah Alam...... and I am so glad I chose this place. I will not move anymore. Alhamdulillah."

"This is the seventh time I moved into a new place. All this while I never thought that I would end up here, this wonderful place with a beautiful neighbourhood. I am so glad, Allah showed me the way. Alhamdulillah."

Those were the statements that I heard from two of my neighbours when we went outing together at Nilai, Negeri Sembilan. We were talking about the uniqueness of our neighbourhood. I, myself have been here and there, from the South in Johor Bahru to the North in Pulau Pinang and ended in this blessed community last 10 years!  We started with an intermediate link house with 3 bedroooms and upgraded to a semi-detached house with 6 bedrooms. Alhamdulillah. I am so happy with what I have and even happier to be living here in RSSB neighbourhood.

The fact is that, whatever house you are living in, no matter if it is a  small little house, or a big house or an apartment with lavish services or just a low cost flats..... what makes the difference is your neighbourhood. What kind of neighbours do you have?  What kind of a neighbour are you?

Once, a friend told me how sad she was to have very unfriendly neighbours. They shared the same wall but they never speak to one another. Just imagine if one of them got sick or needed help? Another friend of my told me of her neighbour who is always bossy around, lots of complaining and carry tales! This made my friend become so depressed and she cried all the time. Some neighbours are very self centered ! I have never came across such neighbours...... well at least not as bad as those.

At a wedding.

Speaking about  neighbourhood, mine is very unique  indeed! Neighbours in Islam are those staying 40 houses in front of yours house, 40 house behind your house and 40 houses on the right and left of your house! There is more than 100 families in my neighbourhood with all races and ages. Most of the houses here are bungalows and a row of two storeys and three storeys semi-detatched houses. Majority are pensioners of different decipline and backgrounds. We have an ex-minister, state secretaries, policemen, army officers, MAS pilots, judges, lawyers, economists, politicins, educators, doctors, news editors, television producers, businessmen, engineers and all the professions under the sun that you can think of! Just like the Backstreet Boys Song says...I don't care who you are, where you're from, what you did, as long as you love me..... come to think of it, we, the RSSB neighbourhood is a country by ourselves.

Lawatan ke Floria 2013

The best part is we think and work together. Togetherness is what makes us so unique. No doubt we have our own says in any issues but we laid them in a meeting and everybody will support the decision! We contacted one another as frequent as we can through visiting, phone calls and recently through Whatsapp! So we can always keep up with the latest happenings in our neighbourhood. Not only news but we play games together! hahhahahahhah. Funny but it is true.....hahahhahhahha.

Sekitar lawatan ke Putrajaya.

On a boat ride in Putrajaya.

Neighbours who moved to other places are never forgotten. Whenever we have functions, they will also be invited and vice versa. That is how close we are!  Recently we were all invited to a wedding held by an ex-neighbour. It was fun to see many familiar faces in the same function!

Bertalaki di bawah bimbingan Ustaz Farhan.

Last two days was a girls' day out! 5 ladies including me, went outing to Nilai for lunch. This is nothing unusual but to go outing every now and then with your neighbours is something not done by many. But for us it is normal. When Putrajaya held the Flower Fest, we booked a 40 seater bus and visited the place . We made plans and programmes in such a way that everybody will be happy, satisfied  and will be looking forward for the next outing.

Melancong bersama.

In 2009, we isted Kuala Selangor and did a lot of activities for all ages. It was a weekend full of fun and adventure. Not only in Malaysia, we flew and sail together throughout the world. Last June, six of our neighbours and families took the Grand Mediterranean Cruise with the Norwegien Liners. They covered Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Turkey. Next will be to the Baltics or Crossing the Panama Canal! And we are planning to make more and more trips together. Well, the nearest is to take our families to a beautiful resort in Lembah Temir in  Raub, Pahang. Should everything goes right, we will do it soon!

Sambutan hari ulangtahun kelahiran dwi bulanan.

That is how close my neighbours are. We plan, we implement and we work as one. To me that is very unique.... truly it is amazing. Thank you Allah for this beautiful gift. Alhamdulillah Allah bless us with all the best here in this neighbourhood!

ke Pulau Perhentian.

Just a call away.........

I dialled. The phone rang. Nobody answered. I tried again. Still no answer......what is wrong? I was wondering if I dialled a wrong number but those were the numbers given to me by them..... I wonder why..... 

But I did not stop there. I tried other numbers and then a familiar voice answered. It was Akhtar Zaiti. She has just been blessed with a grand-daughter. I am so happy for her. Her son is getting married soon to a girl from Tronoh, Perak on the 9th of November 2013. SHould any of you staying nearby, please come and join the crowd! 

Next I called Norainie Hamzah. She is teaching in Cheras, Sekolah Menengah Sains. She was the one who informed me of the late Norlila A.Samad.  She got the news form our Ghazali's wife. That was very nice of her. I asked her  how her students did in their SPM trial exam recently. Of cause there should not be any problem with her students...... just concern. Once when her students took part in a competition in Shah Alam, we managed to meet and it was one of the best moments and promised to meet again whenever we can. 

Then I called Zin in Mentakab but that was his old number. So the person who answered said I got the wrong number. As I was scrolling through the contacts in my phone, I managed to get Zin's present number. Called and unfortunately he did not answer. he is a busy bee...... I promise myself to try again later.

So I let it be. I dialled another number and this time it was Azmi Mahabob. He just bought a bungalow in Desaru. Alhamdulillah. Nice to hear his voice...full of life and laughter.  Last month on the 31st August, he had a car accident but he is okay.... but not his car. Because of that, he had to ride a motorcycle to school which is 30km away from his house! My dear friend please jangan merempit pulak and please remember that we are not young anymore.Hope you can get your car back soonest possible.

Speaking about Tronoh, Perak reminded me of our friends in the north... Zaid and Azlan Ong. Called Zaid a few times but no answer. Then I tried my luck with Azlan's. Two rings and his voice came through with a loud Salam.... hahahhaha.  We talked about ourselves, teasing and laughed. I told him to read my blog at www.freeleedotcom.blogspot.com and look up for stories about all of us!  I wrote quite a number of stories about our Turtles. Recently was about the things we did those days, the songs we sang and the games we played!  I even told him of our Turtles, Abang Long Zainal Abidin is performing his Haj this season but he already knew it from my facebook. Long and wife  will be leaving on the 22/09/2013 from Kelana Jaya. I hope to be on duty that day as a volunteer to Tabung Haji. I did helped them when they organised the Kursus Perdana Haji for Selangor state at Masjid Negeri Selangor in Shah Alam. It was fun but at the same time it made me miss Mekah and Madinah. It is always the case when someone is leaving for Umrah or Haj, you will be in tears thinking of the two places..... in tears! Last season Kasmawati and husband performed their Haj. We were together in Madinah and Mekah. I am so proud of us... I really do.  So, we wish the best for Abang Long and wife Rosmah. May everythings goes well as planned....InsyaAllah! 

Then Zin called me. It was very nice of him. Zin is as he always is.... funny! He made me laugh, like he always did. There is a quality in him that made you like to hear his voice....honesty! He told me how Ali Manaf came to visit his school as a representative from Jabatan Pendidikan. Actually Ali wanted to see him as a friend ... an old friend!  We promised to meet up someday. InsyaAllah. Maybe all Turtles from the Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan  can attend Akhtar's son's wedding on the 16/11/2013 in Kelantan!

My connections with the Turtles is an on going process. I need to stay connected because all of you are my friends. We shared a lot of experiences together may it be good or bad but that made us  who we are now. Now we are so much older and living in a borrowed time. So do stay connected and continue to do so until we are unable to do it anymore..... for so many reasons of cause! Just remember that we are  just a call away. Let your fingers do the walking....... Do find time to stay connected with your friends......

Recently, I visited a friend who performed Haj with me last season. When I uploaded some photographs, Manja, Fazidah Jaafar called me. She knew the couple when they were in UK. What a small world! Sabri just celebrated his birthday. Manja uploaded the family photographs. Both their girls looked like her....exactly her! Their son looked like Sabri.  Cute family they are!

The most active Turtles of all is Kak Teh, Rahimah Murad. Se will always have something to say may it be in my blogs or facebook. Today she told  a story of how she was forced to take medicine which was wrapped in banana by Cik Saadiah. We were travelling to Penang to attend our Pestarama.  That was a very long and tiring journey but as youngsters, we enjoyed every second of it. We took part in dancing and my partner was Abang Long.....hahahhahahhhaa.

When Norlila A.Samad passed away, Norainie Hamzah, Taksiah Mohamed wanted to attend the funeral together.  I managed to call Zulhisham Zakaria who's wife is our junior Jamilah and we planned to visit until we were told that she was buried after Asar. So we cancelled. I visited the family in Batu Pahat the next morning. I represented  all Turtles. Narehan is very active on facebook recently. Keep it up my friend. Our college lovers Nik Nor and Azman are always online. Just look up for them in their facebook. Please don't miss Ali Mohamad, Amin, KK Yan , Chanchel Singh, Hussin, BC Khoo, MY Mok, Ruzaidy , YC Boong, Titina, Mazlan, Roslan and many more whenever you are online. Do stay connected........

Lastly....Long Live Turtles!