Adventure Saturday - Part 1

Sg Kanching 2, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

Some of the natveWe have got to do something this weekend. Idlan has been in the house for the first week on his holidays. Action must be taken. As I tweeted, Anita was desperate enough to buy a guide book on places to visit around KL, but it was nothing more than just a collection of small adverts. There was no editorial reviews or real suggestions. We hit over the 'net then. Idlan wanted to go for an adventure. There was Hutan Lipur Ampang, or the previously suggested Hutan Lipur Singai Kanching.

Looking down from the 5th tier toward the fourth poolLooking up!Kanching it was then. We set off just before mid-day as Idlan and Irfan overslept. Gambak to Kanching is only 15 minutes away. We drove towards Batu Caves, drive up towards Rawang, and before we know it, we were already there. It is on the right side of the road, so we had to drive on and make a U-turn. You first have to drive past the Templer Park Golf Resort, and the Taman Rimba Komanwel will be on the left. Drive on until you reach the Petronas gas station on your left. Then there will be a sign for a U-trun just about 100 meters on. The U-turn is right in front of KFC. We bought some take-outs there, and picked some drinks from a shop nearby.

After the U-turn, you will drive past the Taman Rimba Komanwel, this time on your right and you reached your destination. We paid RM5 at the entrance for car parking. After the car park, we reached an open grassy area for picnic, but it was in the middle of the day and the sun was out. It was too bright and hot. We walked on into the forest and waterfall area further down the path. The area has 7 cascading waterfalls. It gets more adventurous further up, and all can be reached with a series of concrete stairs. The best place to picnic was the second and third tier. The others were too much of a climb for us. It was getting pretty crowded by then.

Stairs to the upper tiersWe quickly settled in into an area of stream by sets of boulders. The water was cool and fresh. The tall trees provided shades and with the breeze, we hardly noticed the sun. It was lovely. We then settled for lunch and hang around for a couple of hours. I took my camera to climb up the 5th level. I noticed that there were plenty of Middle Eastern visitors here. The probably found the place out through internet, and they do come in droves. Some of them just jumped into the stream in their head-scarfs. Bizarre! These lot really like water which is understandable.

There are plenty of monkeys around. I can see some family in tents, probably stayed overnight. Unfortunately, litter was still an issue, even though there were plenty of rubbish bins around. The toilets were clean. There were one at the entrance and another one on the third tier. Both of my boys enjoyed their outing. We plan to come back again one day, preferably later in the afternoon when it is cooler. We'll let the boys run around at the grassy area at the entrance while we cchill reading a book.

Got my stickers sorted

The Tools of the Trade, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

UM was really stepping up their quest to limit traffic in campus. By tomorrow, those without car stickers will be turned away, or asked to park at the entrance and use the university bus around campus. That should ease the traffic and the parking issue somewhat I hope.

I received a rather stern email from the Chancellery the other day. Basically telling us that we will be slapped with monetary fine should our cars were found parked campus without stickies. We are talking RM100 here for first timer, and RM150 after that ....... Argh!!

My in-laws left for Kota Bharu earlier today for the weekend. Idlan is getting restless since we haven't been anywhere since his holiday started on Monday. Need to plan about something for the weekend. Anita actually bought a book about places to visit around KL!

Tale of the Garang Pak Guard

Kelby Walk 34 - Tools, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

UM has been trying to tighten up its security for the past couple of years. Back in 06, there was a security incident that put the establishment in a bit of bother. One Saturday morning, a few robbers managed to drag away a teller machine from the student union building and got away with plenty of cash. Apparently they came in posing as contractors and using some heavy equipment managed to drag the whole machine out.

Since then, many measures were taken to tighten things up, but none were really implemented. From this Friday, all cars entering the campus has to have a sticker, otherwise, the driver will part away from their RM50 notes ..... and that is steep I thought. I got another 3 days and just did not have the time to get myself the stickers. The parking office is only open from 8 to 5, and there is no way that I'm driving away to the other side of the campus, losing my parking spot along the way!

I drove in this morning and was stopped by the security guard. I didn't have my stickers. Stern words were exchanged. Apparently from now on, undergrads are not allowed cars in campus. The final years were exempted. I was given warning to get my stickers sorted out. It looked like I will have to start my morning round late. I emailed a suggestion for the parking office to close late, maybe until 6.30 for the next couple of days so that people like me are able to get the stickers sorted out. I am yet to receive a reply. They just need to work the extra hours for the next couple of days I thought .....

p/s: The pic above was taken last weekend during my photowalk, somewhere in Kampung Baru.

The Second Annual Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk

Kelby Walk 26 - Sultan Ismail, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

If any of yo are keen Photoshop user than you might come across the name Scott Kelby. He writes books. He shows tutorials. All about photoshop. If you want to learn a trick or two about photoshop, googling his name will definitely improve your kong-fu once you try his techniques.

Group photo courtesy of RIPI - http://www.flickr.com/photos/ripiHe understands that the majority of the photographers are a quiet lot. Well, for those who knows me might not agree, but I can understand why he paint that with a broad brush. He decided last year to put out a campaign to get those lot out from their rooms and take to the street with their cameras on tow and socialise. It proved to be so popular that it is now becoming an event. More than 950 cities throughout the world are participating in it. It is estimated around 120000 people worlwide will be doing it on the 18th of July (yesterday), and that was just a conservative figure. A group of 80 of us turned up yesterday for the Kuala Lumpur chapter of the event.

Pic courtesy of Rames - click on the pic for linkI initially planned to park my car at HKL, visit my sister who had her operation yesterday, then walk the half-mile or so to the meeting point, Restoran Sri Shalimar in Chow Kit. Unfortunately I left home rather late, and had to run to the meeting point. Had a quick today, then off with the group.

Ala Sudirman - Chow Kit Road! Chow Kit Road!I can medically certify that there is no chance for this lot joining our photowalk!As I said, around 80 of us was there, and as we were all likeminded, we got along very well. I settled in with a director from ASTRO (no, he was not filming there or anything), Rames, an engineer from Chennai, currently working for MIMOS, Karthik, and ARUP, an engineer from Bangladesh now also working in Malaysia. After a quick photocall at the meeting point, we hit for the Chow Kit wet market.

The sellers there were used to people coming in to take their pictures and has no problem posing for us. However, Karthik made the mistake of trying to take picture of some counterfeit watch seller. He was not best pleased, and we made a quick exit. After half an hour or so, we met up at Plaza Safuan, on the other end of the wet market. More photocalls, more chit chat, more exchanging of kong-fus. We then loosely headed into Kampung Baru, where among other things I had a quick lunch.

Regina, our model at the traditional house in Kampung Baru with the Twin Towers on the backgroundAn empty lot in Kampung Baru. Filled with lalang. But I am sure it is worth millions.Nice pieces of clothing on display at a shop near the Kampung Baru MosqueThere is a particular traditional house take took out fancy and we politely asked the owner for permission to shoot there. One of the photographer actually brought a young lady with him as his model, and we managed to snap a few nice moody pics while there. We also witnessed a incident for good measure. A driver, driving particularly fast honked at some locals who were crossing the road. He then took exception wo what being said, and foolishly left his car. He got a couple of smack and his car kicked at! Stupid man I thought! Not on that he started it, he tried to pick a fight on other people's turf! I had to convince Karthik that this is not the normal goings-on here in Kampung Baru ..... or is it?

Happy faces in Kampung Baru - Terima kasih adikOur next stop, Asian Heritage Row. To get there, we crossed Jalan Sultan Ismail right after the UniKL building. Walk pass SME Bank Headquarters, then the Sheraton and turn left. I never knew that it even existed. I think calling it heritage row is somewhat a misnomer as it is essentially a row of restaurant and bars, and they don't even serve Asian food. I saw a Mediterranean bar and a Mexican restaurant! A few more quick snaps, then we need to head indoors. It was getting rather warm by then.

Karthik paying for my meal at the Tapper's Cafe .... I should've ordered a bigger onePic courtesy of Rames - click on pic for linkThe finishing point was already in sight. Again at a venue that was alien to me, much to my embarrassment, as even Karthik, who has only been to Malaysia for a month knew the place. It was the Caps Square. A nice mall, but still being developed. It was not very full even for a Saturday afternoon. We had some 'teh tarik' at Tapper's Cafe there. It was getting past 2pm and I have to leave as I have yet to visit my sister. Idlan's friend from music school also invited us for a party later in the afternoon. The group was also thinning out since some of them were heading for Bukit Kalil to watch the ManYoo vs Malaysia game there.

I took the monorail back to Chow Kit. Julia (my sister) was doing OK post-op. Her tummy was still tender. Her gallbladder was laden with stones and was close to being infected big time. It was a good call to operate.

Moodle ..... Schnoodle!

_MG_8086, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

I have always been interested in integrating teaching and multimedia. I saw an email about e-learning module and decided to see what it has on offer. Managed to get the hang of it pretty fast, even though the facilitator thought that being a Medic, things can get too complicated for me .....

The interesting part was about converting the slides into pdf and uploading those as lecture slides online. I have plenty of lectures in my laptop, and the main worry is, should I lose it I will to build new ones from scratch. Integrating it into my teaching will be a challenge though as I often times do not have control on the syllabus. However, since I have been running the revision course for the Masters Students for the last 5 years, I night start there. I might actually collect and collate the lectures and tutorials from my colleague and then publish them online as a reference for the participating students.

Another avenues that might have some prospect is publishing our weekly CME at department into the department website. At least in the future, should we need to refer concerning a particular subject, we have somewhere to go to

p/s: The picture above was taken on our last trip to Cherating. We stayed at a place called Eastern Pavillion. This is just outside our chalet there.