Thought of the week #1: love

Saw this photo at Raymond's and Ismail's FBs and decided to copy it here (thanks guys ..halalkan gambar yea!) ..the words are deep and meaningful ..just when I was thinking about things that I wish I have, things in life that I thought would make my life more complete, more peaceful ...things that I do not have, but other people seems to have (and some taken it for granted) ...time when I had loads of wishful thinking and trying to impress the authority ...impress my colleague ...impress my friends ...and I saw this photo ...

A timely reminder I say ...I was becoming competitive ..too competitive ...I want this and that and everything ..but I failed to remember that sometimes God works in mysterious way ...I am trying to "sell" myself - especially with this PhD thing ...and today I dawned on me that, it it is meant to be mine, however difficult things are, how many obstacles I had to overcome, it will be mine ...but if it is not meant to be, it is not meant to be (see, the stress the killing me in the last few weeks!) ...

whatever it is, whatever the results, I know I love my job ..however, i just realised that i had in the last few month taken it for granted ....up to the point of becoming complacent ...that, I must AVOID in the future ...in order to progress, we must not be complacent ...always find new ways to do my job ...in this case, i must find new ways to impart knowledge ..i still love my job (despite being distracted!), but at the same time i must not be thinking too much about what other people have that i don't have ...

***deep breath **** am going for a massage session today ...need to clear all the knotted tension in me!

Around Samarinda, East Kalimantan: A photo entry

A continuation my the previous posting ....just to show a couple of photos which I took during my stay in Samarinda .....wayyyyy back in 2008

the sign of globalization :-)

high density with huge population (taken from our hotel)

the crafts and culture are very similar to the Dayak culture ...after all there is a history of migration between these two places

the newer part of the town ....

the craft and design is very much similar with Dayak design ...and unlike the Dayak craft and culture, these are displayed prominently around town!

one of the buildings in Universitas Mulawarman

around campus

Samarinda trip

I am trying to save my documents into a new portable hard disk since we are not that busy with teaching this week..Got the hard disk a while back but have yet to use it ...so, me being guilty of misplacing documents after documents recently, decided to copy all my files and folders into the hard disk for safe keeping ...for precaution ...and while doing so, I came across a folder of photographs from my maiden trip to Kalimantan Timur ....Samarinda to be exact ....brings back memories of the visit!

Went there for a conference and to present a paper back in 2008 ...my first oversea conference ...and my first conference attendance since joining the uni in 2007 ....went there with a couple of colleagues ..mind you, I was the only female lecturer from my uni to go there ...went there will a bunch of guys ..but one of my colleagues brought along his wife ...so, we just sort of stick together ...the trip was long and tiring ...Imagine we had to take a plane from Kuching to Jakarta, which arrived just after midnight at Jakarta ...then waited for a few hours for our connecting flight to Balikpapan ...and another 1-2 hour taxi ride to Samarinda ....by the time we reached the hotel, i can't really function all that well ...too tired!

in the early hours of the morning @ Jakarta Airport, waiting for the counter to be opened! Too tired but no place to sleep ....

Samarinda is actually the capital of East Kalimantan ..one of the richest provinces, according to the statistics, because of its timber and petroleum resources ...the most prominent landmark is the Mahakam River ...unfortunately I did not have a single photo of the said river LOL too tired throughout my short stay there ...

while waiting for the bus to bring us to Universitas Mulawarman, Samarinda where the conference took place

The schedule was a bit packed but we also have time to wander around at our own pace...we had a welcoming dinner hosted by the University ...which was fun with dance shows and food and karaoke ...you cant beat an Indonesian when it comes to singing ...seems like they can sing really beautifully!


Here, I spend a day wondering round the town with Neilson and his wife...they advised me not to venture out on my own after finding out that I went out to a nearby mall all by myself on the first night we were there ...it was a bit scary, especially walking back to the hotel - all alone on the sidewalk! I never did that again after that first day ...always went out with either Neilson & wife, or with my friend Naz ...went to a big market known as Citra Niaga selling clothing, telekung, batik and what nots ...very similar to Pasar Baru in Bandung ...not really my cup of tea ...but I got a few batiks for my mom and aunties here, plus some tees for my neice and nephews ....

Pasar Citra Niaga

and went to a few malls around town ...the most memorable is the Lembuswana mall ...one of the newer malls in the town ...with a huge water sculpture welcoming you at the entrance ...went here with Naz after my paper presentation. We took an angkutan kota here (a type of paratransit) which cost very little and pick us up in front of the uni ....the mall was ok ...lots of shops inside with familiar brand name ...and suffice to say, I did a little bit more shopping that i intended here ...as a result, it was very dark outside by the time we emerged from the mall ...and took a taxi back to the hotel ...

angkutan kota - a paratransit that is very much visible in Samarinda ...cheap and frequent, but the condition inside the angkutan is a bit off-putting to me ....and the driver looked fierce!!! If it weren't for Naz, I would not have gone inside one of these! But, an experience nonetheless ...

To me, Samarinda is a place that I would not have picked as a holiday destination ...i have not realised it existed before till it was announced in the conference booklet ...but I was glad that I went ...it was an adventure ...being a minority in a group dominated by men ...presenting in an environment which is familiar and yet different (the way the participants asked questions and the way it was organised is different from what I am used to!) ...and a long, tiring journey to a place which is on the same island as me ....definitely a great experience ...but going there again for holiday? perhaps not ...

Visiting Mama's New Office

These photos have been kept in the draft for a while now ...and I kept forgetting to do a posting on them! Been busy and lazy .....a bad combination :-)

Anyway, a while back I took Al to my office. He always visited me at my old office but that afternoon was he first time he set foot at the new office ...this was in Nov 2011 (i think!) ...his first impression was "mama, this is not your office" ....i had to tell him that this is now my new office...that I am no longer at the other building ...he was still not satisfied and started asking to see Aunty Has, Aunty Elena and Aunty Wong (my neighbours at the old block) ....but they were not around that day (cannot remembered why) ...

While waiting for me to finish some work, I told him to do some writing ...he was ok with that as he wanted to try my pencil, my desk etc etc ...so he took over the desk and I had to use the smaller desk ...just to indulge him! By the way, my book shelves looked empty huh? well, I have yet to unpack my things at the time ...even now, 6 months after moving in, my stuffs are still scattered round the office, and I still have one unopened box underneath my desk!

he even took his smelly, stinky red pillow with him that day LOL

and when he was tired of writing, and or running round the room, he went to a corner and refuelled ...his comment was "there is no bed or mattress in mama's office ....no best" ...emmmmm, he did not know that I actually stow my sleeping bag and light blanket in one of the drawers in my room .....

Every now and then, he would ask whether he can visit my office again - and I have yet to take him ....perhaps will bring him again when I have to come in during weekends :-) Pity there is no such thing a "bring your kid to work Day' here ...

Weekend at the village

time to go back to work after a long weekend ...rather than feeling upset and lazy about going to work (which is normal), I'll just focus on what we did over the weekend instead ...it was a bit of a mix - work and pleasure ...work, coz my dad decided to buy bricks, as he wants to do some renovation to our longhouse ..so, work in terms of supervising the delivery of bricks and also to check whether the bricks are placed in the stated place, and not obstructing the roads, pathway etc ... The rest was ok as it involves baking, fishing, gardening, fruit picking and visiting relatives ...this is on top of chilling at the cottage with the kids ...


Friday - went to the cottage with my parents and the kids. Dom and SIL stayed behind as they had to work. i took the afternoon off so that we can leave after Al finished school ...arrived at the cottage by 5pm ...had to clean the place first, moping and cleaning and unacking ..and after that it was just dvd after dvd ....cartoon dvds I mean coz the person in-charge of choosing the dvds is adik ...his favourites are Bolt, Thomas & Friends - Creaky Cranky series, Thomas and Friends - steady Eddy series, Bee Movie, Finding Nemo ...and kept on repeating those selected dvds ....we just go with his choice as he would threw a tantrum if we decided to change it without his approval ....am thinking he is beginning to sound like my dad! Lol

Saturday - went fishing with Al at the river behind the cottage, got a few fish and that got Al all excited ...so he was with me for about 15 mins before i seen him back to the cottage to play with his catch ....i continued for another hour and got some beluh, bangah and engkarik, all tiny river fish that my parents love ...so, i actually catch their lunch that day! Dom and Jane arrived at the cottage after lunch ...the afternoon was spent visiting my aunty - dad's paternal cousin, his only living cousin from his dad's side of the family...took some groceries for her and i also brought her favourite fruit ..grapes ..she loves them so much ..she doesn't go out of the house at all nowadays coz she is not well, and we suspected she has dementia ...she has her good days and her bad days ..when we were there, it was her good days, she remembered us, talked to us and what not ...but the were times when she couldn't remember us at all ...It is just sad to see her like this ...anyway, decided to do some baking that night ...making lepat ubi kayu, which is a type of sweet tapioca dessert, wrapped in banana leaves and steamed to perfection ....

Sunday - a relaxing day at the cottage, did some gardening, decided to turn some of the flower beds into vegetable patch ...planting aubergine, long beans and water spinach (kangkung)...and some more fishing ...Dom, Jane and Al went to the fish pond and caught a few tilapia merah for my mum ..the funny thing was that she told Dom to buy some tilapia merah in Kuching for her to take to the cottage ...Dom purposely did not buy any coz he plan to catch it for her ...lol his reasoning was, what is the point of having a fish pond with a variety of fish (tilapia included) if you have to buy fish from the market lol ...So, it was tilapia for dinner hehehehe ....and some cempedak fritters (cempedak goreng) and the steamed tapioca for coffee ...plus a whole lot of freshly picked fruits ...so it is all eating eating and more eating

Monday - Dom suggested that we go for a quick visit to Sri Aman ...our "old playground" ...we have not been there in a while, so everybody said yes ...had breakfast there, sent dad to a clinic to top up his gout medication, and just walking around ...the town was buzzing with the preparation of Chap Goh Meh festival and there was a huge volume of traffic ..that curtailed out trip as we do not want to get stuck in all those preparations ...but before we left, we had time to explore the esplande and the Benak Panoramic Observation Platform ....Al and dad went out and took some photos ...but it was not in my camera, will try to get it from my brother's ....the it was a brief stopover at the cottage to pack and clean up before we leave for Kuching ...

And now we are back in Kuching ....time to get some sleep as i am going to work tomorrow, so nite nite people ...

Wordless posting: Holiday snap @Loch Ness - a decade ago!

Wordless posting: river transportation @Pantu

Long weekend ahead

I am so jealous coz people like Fendi is having a day off today ...it is FT day ...but all of us at the other state in Malaysia still have to work ...but, there is a light at the end of the tunnel ...coz next Monday is a public holiday ...yippppee that means a 3-day weekend ...

as always, we planned to go back to the cottage ...my mom and dad are so looking forward to a couple of day at the cottage ...it is a break away from their routine babysitting tasks ...i don't blame them for thinking about breaking away from the routines ...for yearning to go away from this environment ...and the cottage is just 2-hour drive away ....

So people may wonder, why the cottage? Why not go to other places? Well, the cottage is dad's pride and joy ...he and my mom left the cottage unattended for a long time coz they were busy playing grandparents ..especially when they had to stay in KL for over 6 months way back in 2007, when Al was born ...and then in the early years of adik's staying in Kuching ....as a result, the cottage was in a neglect state ....till very recently ...

June 2009 - the landscape was already in the state of neglect

Late last year, we decided to be more involved in dad's "management" of his cottage and the land surrounding it ...partly because dad was not well, and he is always worrying about the running of the land etc etc ...so, to take his mind off things, we said we would be more hands-on with the "management" ...my brother said he will look after the fish ponds and the orchards, while I told them that i'll look after the provision in the cottage and also its landscape ...my sister helped out as and when needed ...that makes dad and mom happier ...since then, we started to go back more frequently ...my brother, Dom, has been actively expanding the pond and the fish "collection" ..and as for myself, am busy with redesigning and replanting the gardens at the cottage ...which was left at an awful state ...dad was the boss, he make decisions on where to do the planting, and the design of the landscape - both soft and hard landscape ...all i have to do is hire my cousins to help out with reshaping the gardens, choose the plants, replanting and repotting and to ensure that there is a continuous supply of seedlings, top soil, fertilizers and so on ....

mom releasing some catfish into the pond ...ala2 menteri masuk kampung LOL

So this weekend, we are heading for the cottage en mass ...the kids are coming as well ...but we are not planning to do extensive work (coz we did an extensive planting and gardening work the last two visit) ...the plan is to chill out at the cottage ....fir dad to identify things that need to be done ...to do a bit of fishing with Al ....and, of course, to enjoy the rambutans, cempedaks, langsat, manggis and so on which are still plentiful there ...

rambutan aplenty ..

So, here's to a long, relaxing weekend ......

raiding the fridge at 2am!

I just raided our fridge at 2 am! My ohhh my, i am so going to pay for this ...i was hungry since 11pm but manage to refrain myself from going downstairs to the kitchen ...i did a few scheduled posting for the blog, read two articles for my journal paper, update my notes ..and still feeling hungry ...I even distracted myself by watching this weepy, hindustani love story on the telly ...all the dramas, the singing, the weeping, the sobbing parts did not work. Instead I cried and holding my tissue box ..and the hunger amplifies ...no sign of diminishing ....so, I went down ....and raid the fridge huhuhuhu ...

now that I have eaten something fatty and full of cholestrol, my stomach is happy ..and my eyes are sleepy...i am trying not to sleep just yet ...by doing this posting ...now that i am thinking this through, i think the hunger and this unhealthy raiding the fridge after midnights must be caused by my last visit to the doctor last Thursday ...everytime i visitvthe doctor, the nurse will weigh me!!! which i hate but what choice do i have ...and it was then that the doctor mentioned that i actually lost 2kg in a month ...since my last trip was december ...so, i was feeling elated hehehe having to loose some weight in January is an achievement coz december- january is a period when people eat a lot and be merry ...*got my drift?

And what did i do instead??? Raiding the fridge and eat again at 2am ..... NOT A GOOD MOVE! how do I control my impulses?how do i refrain from eating after midnight? Itu baru kat rumah, belum lagi temptation to eat out, having late night supper macam kat KL ... I am sure I am not the one having this problem ....that is why a lot of people are getting obese ...and, sadly, I am one of them .....

Assistant Chef - start them young!

We have a budding chef at home! As evident by the photos below, Alistair is very handy in the kitchen ..we ban the knives and all sharp objects (of course!) but he always pleaded with us to allow him to help ...sometimes he just sat there accompanying aki or nenek or mama ....he entertained us by singing!

showing his skill pounding fresh ginger for kacang-ma dish that me dad planned to cook that day ..he just took the pestle and started pounding away ..and dad just let him!

aki's little helper ...while doing all these pounding, they chattered non-stop ..about school, about tv programmes, about cooking hehehehe ...and then singing ...I think it is healthy coz Al got the time to bond with with his aki and nenek ..and at the same time knows the way around the kitchen ..hehehehe 

the joy of being a kid ...no responsibility, no worries ..and no expectation about life, about the future ...they are innocent ...and, I hope they (both Al and adik) remain this way as long as they can ...

dear boys, mama loves you both very very much :-)