The Cousins Outing

We had a free Sunday afternoon when Julia's children had a sleep-over and we went up Genting Highlands. Not all the way up, but at Gohtong Jaya, about halfway there.

We stopped by to visit the strawberry farm.

It had been a while since I have been there, and the place had certainly changed. And were the children excited? We spent the whole afternoon there since there were now plenty to see. The lavender garden was also opened with more shops and cafe to stop at as well.

I was particularly impressed with the new flower gardens, where Anita spent time snapping away.

The place was really children friendly and the facilities were great. It was very well maintained and clean.

I will write about each of the individual parts later, and as you could see, I must have taken close to 200 snaps before we finally departed. It was only 45 minutes away, but the fresh air and the cool breeze seemed like hours away. It was a good thing that the haze lifted as well, and despite this being the first weekend of the school holidays, the place was not particularly packed!

More write-ups coming up.

The Cousins are Here

It promises to be havoc. And the fun started this afternoon when the cousins came to stay for a couple of nights. The school holidays has started for them, but for both Idlan and Irfan, they still had to go to school next week.

My Mum also came along as my sister took a break in Phuket, coming back tomorrow.

As planned, the day started with a trip to the supermarket to buy some junkfood to fuel them for the weekend. Not sure what they picked up, but it can't be good. They had been running since after dinner and now were in the room playing games I was sure. Not sure what time they would hit the bed, and I am pretty sure they would only get up by lunch.

Better plan for lunch tomorrow then ....

Today's Prayers

Normally I would finish my Friday morning clinic at around 1, and ended having to rush to the mosque. I prefer to walk since the parking was atrocious and driving in and out of the parking lot was a nightmare. Sometimes, I was lucky to get a lift from colleagues who were on the way back.

Last week, the walk was tinged with haze, and by the time I reached the hospital for lunch and afternoon rounds, my eyes were red.

Today I was lucky since my clinic finished just after noon, and I was able to get my stuff into the car, changed into a sandal and started walking. I reached the mosque - located just under a kilometer away - after about 15 minutes, and went for a quick lunch at the stalls there.

It was a Ramly burger this week, with some really nice juice. The haze was also not too bad and the weather was overcast. A nice afternoon for a walk.

The ramp going up to the ladies' section. It's opened to males today as it was Friday.The main hallBut the reason for the entry was not about the walk, but for the renovation that had been taking place at my local mosque in the last year. Before Ramadan, about half of the section was closed and most of the Jemaah had to pray under a shed in the middle of the sun. That was trying!

If I was early, I tend to get a space inside the main hall, airconditioned and sleep-inducing. Now, the renovations were almost complete, and the outer halls are now very confortable to stay at. And the ladies section had a ramp going upstairs for the disabled. Since I was early, it would be in the main hall this week .....

A Day to Chill

What better way to digest the news of the rally in town and the gossips on social media than sitting in a cafe passing time on a time off. I did just that at Bangsar Village on Malaysia Day, with Anita joining for a bit of shopping.

For the Day's festivities, Bangsar Village had a series of cultural event at the main foyer. Shame that the turn-out was not spectacular. Only a trickle of people here and there. Most people were minding their own business. I stopped by for a moment or two, but I decided to rather spend my time at the cafe.

As far as the day go, there wasn't much for me to capture though. The couple of hours sitting was therapeutic however.

Eventful Malaysia Day

The Malaysia Day in the last few years had been a non-event. The same cannot be said this time around. Two major news items took place today.

First, the much-touted "Himpunan Maruah Melayu", a pro-Government gathering of mostly UMNO members to counter the Bersih rally from a couple of weeks back. They planned to right what was wrong, and show that people power could work both ways. I think I shall leave you guys to make up your mind about the ding-dong of what happened, but at least there were not much incident despite the efforts of certain organisers trying to incite both the public and the Police. The smoke grenade and water cannon went out but it was pretty mild compared to the previous rallies.

It was supposed to end at midnight, but it was fast becoming a fiasco with the less-than-expected turnout despite Rani Kulop turning up for comedic value. He didn't get the memo however as he came in lime green complete with a keris. The haze situation also eased up, but that wasn't enough to get the city dwellers going. Even Urbanscape had bigger turn-out than this!

Second was the discovery of Kevin Morais' body. Being a legal matter, I was sure the information would be updated soon as more facts about the case were made known. There would be some repercussion in the medical freternity as one of the suspect remanded was a Pathologist. The manner in which the body was found was the shocker. In an oil drum filled with concrete buried at the bottom of a river. If the imformant did not spill the beans, I doubt if the body would ever been found.

It would be an interesting few days when more revelations surfaced ....