Your Opinion Does Not Matter
The moderators of the Malaysian Underwater forum had a meeting at Moderator Hollowman’s house on Friday, 15th February, 2008. I sponsored 60 sticks of satay while Hollowman’s wife prepared Spaghetti with meatballs, cheesecakes, free-flow drinks and coffee.
I attended JIMY’s wedding on Saturday, 16th February 2008, at her mother’s house in Seremban.
Congratulations, JIMY.
Here are some pics:
The theme was purple
The drinks were purple too
Even the pianist was in purple
JIMY throwing the bouquet
This has to be one of the coolest paintball game videos:
I’ve just washed the boots I wore during the last paintball session on January 10th, finally taking off all the mudcakes. This Sunday will be another paintball session that will be played in Gombak. With lunch it’s for RM75. Not bad, actually.
The above is called a Paintball Panzer. It is a custom made miniature WW2 German Panzer and costs USD14,400.
In Russia however, paintball tanks are already part of the paintball world. I wonder when is the Malaysian paintball scene ever going to have anything like it – if ever.
The one I wished in person today…Fretty Frincess.
I went to Diver’s Den this morning to go pick up my camera bag. Coincidentally, it is located next to what was my kindergarten I went to 36 years ago. Every evening I would look forward to cartoons like Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and Birdman. My favourite TV series were Giant Robot and the original Ultraman.
Back in 1972, the work to turn the Federal Highway into a proper highway as what it is now began. Prior to that, crossing from the University Hospital to the Saint Francis Xavier church and the old EPF building was done using a traffic light junction. I remember my neighbour, Fazrin Azuar (now the son-in-law of Rafidah Aziz who got famous for a while because of the pink form issue), and I, used to fight for the attention of this cute chinese girl called Sharon who lived in the Paramount Gardens area. The highlight of my time there was when we had to stand by the Federal Highway to wave the Malaysian flag, welcoming Queen Elizabeth II on her maiden visit to Malaysia.
Sad to see it being abandoned like this…
The complex
The assembly area. Of course the walls were not there then.
The classroom. Oh, well. This used to be two classes separated by a partition.
This was where we had our food during recess. They had tables and chairs out here.
Where we stood to wave the Malaysian flag at QE II
In this series, I shall write about the expedition I was a member of, week by week until the 10th anniversary of that landing done on the 21st April 1998 at the North Pole.
It all began in mid-January of 1998; it was during the month of Ramadhan, when Lt (B) A Aziz Ahmad (who was appointed the Jump Team Leader) called me up asking me to report to the Malaysian Ex-Commando Club (Kelab Bekas Komando Malaysia) for a breaking of the fast ceremony. I went, and the usual club committee members were there. That was when Datu Abdul Rahim Dahlan, the Expedition Leader (and then President of the Club) announced to the club members the intention to go to the North Pole, and my appointment as Deputy Jump Team Leader and Expedition Planner. Other members of the Support Team included Kapt (B) Sudirman and Kapt (B) Datuk Azmi Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bidin. By the end of January, just before Aidil Adha, we had sent a letter to the Ministry of Defence, and the Royal Malaysian Police, to select two of their best freefallers each. The rest of the jumpers would include civilians from the Wilayah Sports Parachuting Club, and those selected by the Malaysian Parachuting Federation.
After Aidil Fitri, the team assembled at what was SENTRA Apartments (behind Wisma MCA) for mental training conducted by the Biro Tata Negara, and our first freefall training at Tasik Titiwangsa. The 16-member team comprised of Rahim (ex-GGK), Aziz (ex-PASKAU/HANDAU) and myself (ex-PASKAU/HANDAU) as the key people of the expedition, Nordziah Mohamed Noor, then 39-year old mother of five representing the MPF, 2 members each from the Air Force (PASKAU), Navy (PASKAL), Army (GGK), Police (VAT 69), Wilayah Sports Parachuting Club, and two VIDIOTS (freefall cameramen) – Kapt (B) Noorizan (a.k.a No Reason – ex GGK), and Mejar Kamaruddin (Air Force – PASKAU, now based at TUDM Ipoh).
Our first freefall training was conducted over Tasik Titiwangsa on Sunday, 8th March 1998. Reporter Stephanie Rajendram from the NST filed this report:
Our parachutists to freefall onto North Pole
Monday, March 9, 1998
By Stephanie Rajendram
KUALA LUMPUR, Sun. – Spurred by the successful scaling of Mount Everest in May last year, Malaysia has set her sights on the North Pole.
In what appears to be no easy feat, 15 parachutistswill attempt to freefall onto a drop zone at the Pole, amidst unpredictable weather conditions and harsh terrain on April 18.
Nordziah Mohamad Noor, 39, a mother of five, will be the only woman in the team.
The “North Pole Freefall Expedition Malaysia 1998” is being organised by the Youth and Sports Ministry and the Malaysian Parachuting Federation under the patronage of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Dr Mahathir is scheduled to launch the expedition on March 30 which is being financed by various sponsors.
In a practice jump carried out at Lake Titiwangsa today, expedition leader Abdul Rahim Dahalan said they only had till the end of the month to practise on home ground before leaving for Moscow on April 1 where more gruelling practice sessions await them.
“We will be training at a special landing zone area for free-fallers 80km north-west of Moscow. We will be training for seven days in a row, sometimes performing as many as three jumps a day,” he said.
The reason for picking Moscow, according to Abdul Rahim, was because the Russians were providing the team with logistical support in addition to assisting in rescue and emergency strategies.
“The other reason is the almost similar weather conditions to the Arctic,” he said, adding that their last practice session would be at Kathanga, Siberia, where it is -35 degrees Celsius.
Abdul Rahim said all the parachutists except Nordziah were experienced jumpers from the Armed Forces, police, the Federal Territory Parachute Club and the MPF as well.
Meanwhile, team doctor Dr M. Kamaruddin Isa, said all safety precautions were being taken, from using boots that can withstand up to -73 degrees Celsius and insulated suits to protect against the cold.
“They will be jumping from a height of about 3,500 metres where it is as cold as -70 degrees Celsius,” said Dr Kamaruddin who will be part of the support ground crew.
The jumpers have been advised to jump during “a window period” when the weather is expected to be less hazardous and the recommended dates have been been April 18, 19 and 20.
The freefallers are expected to pull their cord to release “ramair parachutes” (rectangle in shape), at about 750m and land on four-metre thick ice, coating waters as deep as 4,200m.
Besides the danger of them landing in a crevice or ice cold water, winds lashing at 175km per hour could also jeopardise the jumpers.
Spunky Nordziah, an officer with a local training company, who has also hiked up Mount Sibayak (a live volcanic mountain in North Sumatra), said she was excited about taking part in the expedition.
I’m sorry I had to write this into a JPEG file because my blog does not allow strange scripts. So here goes:
“…khong mai mii khrai love you the way that I do…”
Another one of my old favourites from Jay Chou’s album Fantasy.
I love the chorus…
kuai shi yong shuang jie gun, heng heng ha xi
kuai shi yong shuang jie gun, heng heng ha xi
xue wu zhi ren qie ji, ren zhe wu di
shi shui zai lian tai ji, feng sheng shui qikuai shi yong shuang jie gun, heng heng ha xi
kuai shi yong shuang jie gun, heng heng ha xi
ru guo wo you qing gong, fei yan zou bi
wei ren geng zhi bu qu, yi shen zheng qi
A friend and I had this conversation about the Orang Asli earlier on, and I related to him several experiences of mine with the Orang Aslis. For those who have been following this blog would know that my ties with the Orang Asli go back to around 27 years ago. However, this one story he found truly funny.
If you look at the above, this is the typical Orang Asli home. It is usually of the studio concept where parents and their 4 to 6 children would co-exist in a tiny space that would make the population density of Bangladesh (2,200 people per square mile) look spacious. That would be where they sleep and eat.
One day, as I visited several families of Orang Asli from the Temuan tribe in south Pahang, I noticed how the men and women were missing; not the older ones, but those young parents. The teenagers were at the horrendously uneven football field playing football barefooted, and the kids were wallowing in dust together with their dogs, playing games. I went up to one of them and asked, “Ayah mak ada?”
“Niak,” the reply would come from each of the children.
“Ayah mak pergi mana? I asked again.
“Pegik tanam ubi.”
That’s about 20 missing couples in the jungle planting tapioca. It must be a cooperative thing that the government has been encouraging the Orang Aslis to do, and this community has chosen tapioca as its source of income. I thought I should go see this tapioca farm.
“Jom ikut akuk caik kek mana mak ayah tanam ubi, nak?” I asked one of the kids.
“Ngan, mak ayah marah,” came the reply from the oldest of the lot. “Pukul tujuh malen baru balik.”
That night as I sat with the Tok Batin and the village elders, I told him how proud I was to know that the community is active in planting tapioca. The Tok Batin and the rest laughed, looked at each other and said, “Owang hempam tu.”
I couldn’t understand what was said, so I just drank my coffee and dunked some Jacob’s Cream Crackers into the cup.
The next evening I decided to go visit this tapioca farm of theirs without asking for an escort. After ten minutes of walking into the jungle it became evident that there was no clearing for them to plant tapioca in. Then I heard voices. I went into the direction of the voices and soon, about 50 meters away, were a couple planting tapioca. I could only observe from far for a moment and then walked back towards the village.
That night, more laughters came from the Tok Batin and his merry men.
Then I knew what kind of tapioca they were planting every evening; then I knew the meaning of the word Hempam; then I knew how they were able to make babies with their children sleeping around them at night.
It was all done during the “tapioca” planting time.
No, not a single tapioca tree was to be found inside that jungle.
SeaDemon Says 
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