Done with Strawberries

Just arrived from the downhill drive from Gohtong. Had a nice time over there, and managed to get the stock of fireworks as well - they stock plenty of them high quality hand thrown 'pop-pop' poppers that were my boys favorite, and my maids' scourge since they were the ones needing to do the sweeping after! We virtually cleared the stock from the stall!

All together, we managed to collect something like 400 grams of strawberries. Mainly it was Irfan's effort as Idlan was too picky - pun intended. After stopping for lunch - the boys had some nice hot spicy fries and unfortunately I couldn't join them being Ramadhan - we headed to buy some fresh vegetables and flowers within the compound of the farm. They were certainly fresh and since we arrived in the morning, the produce had only just arrived. The corn cobs certainly looked great.

Irfan also picked up photography with my LX-3 and was happy snapping away. At least from now on, I would get my photos taken. Not just me taking photos of others. On the way down, Anita stopped to buy some fish-head curry for iftar. Sadly, I was never into fish-head, unless it was prepared in a broth, Japanese style!

Now that I was home, it was time to get the photos sorted. I took something like 200 snaps. I could have taken more, but the place was getting too crowded by the time we were about to leave. More details of the farm can be read on my previous visits here and here. The farm website can be surfed here. More photo of the trip can be seen here as well at my photoblog.

Charity Shield!

I thought that we were going to lose the plot in the second half, but to the players' credit, they dug in, and was rewarded with the win. Scoring in injury time was just rubbing it in, but as the penalty shoot-out neared, that seemed almost inevitable. United was just relentless.

I knew, it was only the Charity Shield, but the match was played at high tempo, and it was the most competitive Charity Shield match I have seen in years. Galvanised by the fact that it was essentially a derby - between a true champion and an upstart!

We were down by a couple of goals. Our new young keeper should have done better on those goals. So, what did Alex do during the break? Replace the first-choice centerback partnership with a new young combination. I thought Claverley and Jones impressed in the game. We already knew what Ashley Young can do, and he did not disappoint.

On the whole, I thought that it was a good results, especially judging from the level of fitness of the players. They were clearly fitter than the Citeh player by the end, and the mistake that Kompany made I was sure was down to fatigue and loss of concentration. He was otherwise a consistently sound defender. All of this clearly bode well for the new season.

At the Hairdresser's

Upon arriving back home front Gohtong Jaya, Anita reminded me of another thing I missed before the school open for the boys cone Tuesday. They needed some serious haircut. The last time they had theirs, it was at Saw's in KLCC. They had since grew fond of the stylist they had there last. A very nice young man called Truno.

We were lucky that he was available when we turned up. He started working on Irfan first. That would take him at least half an hour. Idlan's hair was not as long. But by the time they had finished, I better start thinking of iftar. I would fancy a bit of Tandoori as there would be a football match tonight. United playing Citeh for the Charity Shield. I can assure you that come the kick-off whistle, there wouldn't be much charity on display!

On the way up to the salon, I bumped into an old friend from Shuffled Sheffield, Darman. It has been a decade since I met him. He has not changed much. He has now married his girlfriend and they had a couple of girls.

This entry was prepared and uploaded using the SquareSpace Android app I was beta testing.

Off to Gohtong

We were off to Gohtong Jaya this morning. Half way up Genting Highlands. The boys and their Grandmother fancied a touch of strawberry picking up there. A nice day out I thought, in nice cool weather. The boys were due to return to school in a couple of days anyhow.

The journey up were smooth. Nobody puked, although we got both maids in the back. With the two of them around, the boys would be occupied, and I would be able to concentrate on a spot of photography. I brought my macro lens along. It had been in the cupboard for far too long!

I would blog about the strawberry farm, as well as upload the photos later. Next door to the farm would be the mushroom garden and chocolate factory. So, we would be here for at least another couple of hours.

Paper Origami Birds

I have been puzzled by this sudden invasion of birds in Bangsar Village II. I was assured that it had nothing to do with Ramadhan. They were everywhere, mainly by the staircases, hanging down from the ceiling. It blended well with their signature boxy lanterns that they had over there for many years.

They hang down from the topThey were not live birds though - I didn't think they would be able to cope with the droppings! They were paper origami birds. All appeared to be hand-made. A nice touch I thought!

Update on Sunday, August 7, 2011 at 10:13AM by Haris Abdul Rahman

This true story is of a girl, Sadako Sasaki, who lived in Hiroshima at the time of the atomic bombing by the United States. She developed leukemia from the radiation and spent her time in a nursing home creating origami (folded paper) cranes in hope of making a thousand of them. She was inspired to do so by the Japanese saying that one who created a thousand origami cranes would then be granted a wish. Her wish was simply to live. However, she managed to fold only 644 cranes before she became too weak to fold any more, and died shortly after. Her friends and family helped finish her dream by folding the rest of the cranes, which were buried with Sadako. They also built a statue of Sadako holding a giant golden origami crane in Hiroshima Peace Park.

The bomb was dropped over Hiroshima on 6th August 1945. She was 12 when she died, 10 years after the bomb was dropped.