a hair raising experience at pulau ketam

soundtrack: full circle by aerosmith (1997)

if i could change the world like a fairy tale
i would drink the love from your holy grail

i would talk with love and tell ol’ beelzebub
to get outta town because you just lost your job

how did we get so affected?!
cause i think love is love reflected

time – don’t let it slip away
raise your drinking glass, here’s to yesterday!

in time, we’re all gonna trip away
don’t piss heaven off, we got hell to pay
come full circle

and if there’s a spell on you that i could take away
i would do the deed and by the way

here’s to heaven knows, as the circle goes
it ain’t right, i’m uptight and get off my toes!

i used to think that every little thing i did was crazy
but now i think the karma cops are coming after you

every time you get yourself caught up inside
of someone else’s crazy dream
own it, that’s their mistake

everybody’s gotta lotta nada killing them
instead of killing time

~ thus my completely poetic perspective on the pulau ketam trip. it was an interesting and almost definitely educational experience to meet with this most spirited group of people. i shall leave it to them to elaborate further on their side of the story.

• daniel’s hair raising experience
• endroog’s hair raising experience
• earl-ku’s hair raising experience
• yatz’s hair raising experience
• tihtahpah’s hair raising experience
• cely’s hair raising experience

 

a taste of things to come

i suppose that this would be the appropriate time to state that i have a fascination with candid photography:)

check back with me in awhile as i try to get the smell of seafood and fermented malt off my t-shirt.

 

flora fest 2007: a very subjective perspective

there was something in the air that morning. something i never thought could have hit me all of a sudden. and i am tempted to say that it was a sense of pride. it is an open secret that the event was shrouded with controversy, especially on the subject of cost. the flora fest was without a doubt, a very expensive affair. exact numbers which i will no reveal here span into the higher thousands.

and yet, something was felt here – of which i am quite sure i was not the only one experiencing it – that my country could do this.

some people compare our flora parade to far more spectacular ones done overseas.

some people say that we should not have had the parade at all – and out the money into things like toll subsidies, for example.

while i will not conclude this blog entry with something definitive (oh you’d like to take me on on that, wouldn’t you?), i feel that i need to address these two perspectives before i end.

just because our parade might not be as grand as those in the states or in oz or in thailand even, it does not mean we should not have one at all. for the little that we have – in funds and in experience – it was a feat that was attempted. while i do not address here the success of the parade (which is your own subjective perspective), one cannot convincingly claim that it was a failure either.

and before you say that we should not even have the parade, then think of all the people (the people, not the government) who have put effort into the parade. the bands that have the opportunity to show their stuff the the public – who have trained for months prior to the event on music and formations. the dancers who have practiced their choreography. the float designers who capsulated the essence of each state. the contractors who built them. the people who turned up that morning – who brought them to life.

the people who turned up that morning came because there was something beautiful to see. and yes, there was. to be absolutely honest, i highly doubt that the presence (or absence) of government officials made much difference to the event that morning. the real VIPs are the people who made their way to putrajaya or tuned in on their TV sets at the break of dawn that saturday morning to see the work of fellow malaysians – working people who created these floats.

you know, i might not always be the happiest person with some of the decisions made by the government either. and yea, oftentimes i do too wonder about the cost of things. but when my fellow malaysians put their time and effort into an artistic and cultural piece of work, i would support them. i applaud the people who came out that morning despite the rumours and gossips – to show the working malaysian that the show would not have gone on in vain.

 

oonyen, he says. oonyen for oliver. ~ “angela’s ashes” by frank mccourt

i have recently acquired a 100mm macro lens and developed a strange attraction to onions. particularly one which has sprouted two strong shoots on my kitchen counter.

i’m trying to fight off my post-kuching sore throat with dequadin in an attempt to avoid antibiotics altogether. it does not help that the photoshoots i need to do tonight and tomorrow morning are in what might as well be a giant meat freezer.

i’m always extra sarcastic after meetings with my editors.

on a lighter note, those in the know would be pleased to learn that the spirituality package has been delivered. see you lads on sunday!

 

the battle to be the freehand circle drawing champion of the world

this is one of the most hilarious things i have ever came across in youtube.

it all started with this guy – alexander overwijk – a teacher from ottawa, canada – who is can allegedly draw a perfect circle freehand. a vid demo of him was posted on youtube on january 9th this year.

yes yes, you found this vid amazing? interesting? funny?

well apparently, the string of vid responses this guy got were even more hilarious. it started with this one guy – andrew cumberland – accusing overwijk of being on steriods and HE was the true circle drawing champion. at this point, it would seem as if things were getting personal.

and then a string of other response-to-the-response vids appeared. beginning with this guy liechty who switched from the chalkboard to paper. circle dia memang tak masuk akal langsung. tapi as he puts it, “a circle is a circle!”

lepas to comes this guy Silo87 yang kononya jadi creative with his circles by drawing smilies la, pizza la, moon la – semua round bah. kira circle la.

and then comes josiahcaine who turned circles into squares and triangles. vid ni memang kelakar because the guy did the vid without any clothes on and confesses to be a dork.

JamieSwain decided to shove a pencil in his butt and draw a circle on a wall using that. he was quite polite about it tho, sampai at the end of the vid boleh ucap “thank you” lagi.

this guy benclatterbuck pulak lagi mengarut. instead of drawing circles, he rushes around his bilik finding things in the shape of a circle which includes pinggan and cawan and kerusi… you get my drift.

there is even a stickman (called ‘skinnyman‘) cartoon response to the vid. yang ni lame sikit la.

i’ll stop here. the thing is the chain is still going on youtube – all response to the first guy. to be honest, what the original guy, overwijk, did was memang impressive la. nampak pun memang circle punya circle. oh no, this is NOT one of those PPP entries la. i’d really like to think what you guys think of this thread:)

any malaysians want to take up a dare to make a response vid? do the whole thing in bahasa malaysia. be bersemangat giler, talk a lot but don’t say a single word in english. tak kisah la if what you say is relavent or not to the vid. janji orang2 putih will termenung sakan at the vid.

hahahahaha!

 

to the people of johor with most sincere regards

its a little later than what i would have liked, but i have just dropped off several bags of clothes to be sent to the flood victims. they’re not old clothes. they’re mostly the ones i get from trips and events, but never really got around to wearing them. i got plenty and decided to bag the whole stack up to be sent to the south.

i’m sorry i can’t send cash. god knows that this humble writer is scraping the bottom of the barrel as it is. writers never seem to get rich, kan? it seems that we doomed to be poor, local brew guzzling, gum chewing, deeply philosophic lunatics – with tender tear ducts and terribly delicate heartstrings.

so this is something i can do. i sent about fifty polo neck, mostly large sized, shirts. i hope it helps.

i would like to shout out to everyone to dig deep in your wallets or closets to help our brothers and sisters who lost their homes due to the floods. they are also in crucial need of food and school supplies. do drop me a comment or email if you need help as to where to send your donations.

 

leiling uyau along leiling

i wrap up this series of backdated posts by saying that this would be the week i found out that i ain’t tone deaf after all:) sape is not something that can be written. by nature, it has no notes to begin with. secondly, i learnt that you can’t create new sape songs. orang ulu folk songs are passed down from generation to generation and with them, embedded rich culture and lifestyle. the experience was throughly fascinating.

i can play two tunes:) i know, its not much, but i am so so so excited about it. i can play the datun julat and the leiling. the datun julat is a pretty common tune although according to my guru, a lot of people don’t know the proper way of playing it. i do:) it accompanies the hornbill feather dance, if i’m not mistaken.

shermaine, ambrose and mike should (vaguely) recall the leiling. remember that unforgettable evening on the ruai at ulu baram? when we were holding on the the evil rope, smoking banana leaf cigarettes, puking tuak and dancing in circles together? that night’s soundtrack was the leiling. next time if that happens, i’ll grab the sape from the old folks and they can do the conga with you people:D

i hope to learn more tunes though. first, i got to get me a sape!

leiling ~ orang ulu kenyah folk song

leiling leiling leiling leiling
leiling uyau along leiling – nelan

pemong jae telu tuyang alam
ini alam ini edang – bulan

bio pesong telu tuyan layan
silong layan silong alai – layan

nyae ketai ekam tuyang sao
sungai sao sungai lemon – kanan

 

because what’s a travelogue without a post on food?!

ni laksa sarawak la kononnya. maybe someone from sarawak can clarify something for me. why is laksa sarawak different everywhere i go? the ones in different shops in kuching are different. the one in sibu is different. the one in miri is different. on this trip, i discover that the one in bau pun is different.

not just different from the one in semenanjung. tu aku paham lah. but they are different from each other.

some laksa sarawak are pedas. some are not. some got santan. some don’t. some are masam. some are not. some only have prawns. some pakai ayam. and then some got taugeh.

so where can i get the ORIGINAL laksa sarawak hah?

ni pulak is mee sapi. bau will be the first time i try mee sapi so i would not know if they are different anywhere else. the soup is BLACK! the stall has a pot of beef which he boils and boils all day long. but you see, this is a thin soup. i doubt that he puts anything else in the pot to boil other than beef, a tiny bit of salt and maybe a tiny bit of garlic. minyak pun, kalau ada, sikit je.

it does not taste like oxtail soup or any other kind of beef stock soup in semenanjung. its THIN. i wonder what gives it its black colour. of course, the meat is boiled with various other innards as well. but flavour dia pun macam tak keluar sangat la.

apparently though, the bunch of singai and bau folks i hung out with that evening thought that the noodle was pretty good. served with taugeh and thin yellow noodles (the closest thing back here would be wanton punya noodles), they were slurping it up. okay memang okay la, but i’d personally like something a little stronger, more flavour, more rempah… oh uh… that’s the mamak side of me talking already!

i also had mee kolok from here. but i did not take a picture for good reason. for one, it wasn’t very good mee kolok. i’ve had better mee kolok in satok than here. secondly, it was a dish i ta pau balik so by the time i decided to eat it, it had dried up because the guy who prepared the mee put the kuah and mee together. my guru’s son pun complain that there was too much kicap anyway.

aku ni, kalau masuk bab makanan memang not very adventurous. but hey, no one can say that i tak try langsung. this state got some weird… uh… stuff la wei. aku belum jumpa lagi anyone to offer me sago grubs. i am terribly curious but not too sure if if someone were to offer me the grubs, if i would actually eat it:P i’ll have to travel to mukah to find them tho. next trip la, ye!

 

to say that my sape guru rocks would be politically missing the point.

today, he decides that we should play tennis, packs me and his wife up in his 4×4 pickup and off we go to the secondary school courts at bau.

he pops in a cowboy bluegrass CD. you know in cartoons where something funny results in a car chase scene? this would be the background music to it. a new CD? – his wife asks. these are my friends! – he exclaims. my sape guru has traveled around the world with his instrument and makes musician friends everywhere he goes. now rock is not his genre. his thing is folk music or world music. he tells me how fascinated he is with a player in the bluegrass band who plays this single string bass instrument, and hums along with the lead guitarist of the band.

I have not played tennis in…let’s see… nine… just about ten years. i am completely unprepared. so much for my interest in the australian open. aku sekarang semata-mata spectator aja. but he lent me one of his hyper carbon hammers and here i am at the courts.

remember my packing dilemma? mana la tau nak main tennis pulak? i looked at my backpack and threw together the best tennis outfit i could la. while my t-shirt and shorts would blend in anywhere, the only socks i had left by that day was a candy coloured thing. and besides my sandals, all i had were my adventure shoes. jadilah.

so, this evening, i picked up a racquet again after almost a decade of retirement. aku rustyyyy…!!!111 my guru and the other players were kind enough to say that although my timing is off, my strokes are still pretty decent. if i had delivered this kind of tennis masa aku training dulu, sure aku akan kena lecture which is not just panjang and lebar on concentration and fitness, it would also be a pretty LOUD lecture. if i tak spin, the ball goes out. kalau i spin, it goes into the net. arghs!

lain kali, if anyone asks me what is my sport of choice, i dah tak nak say tennis anymore. i might say rock climbing – tu pun if the person does not look like the sort that would drive me to the nearest wall. if we are not anywhere near the beach or an island, i’ll say my sport is diving. kalau setakat nak cerita je, then okay la. ha ha ha!

 

tree bark painting

i’ve been playing… well, learning to play the sape for the past two days already. the sounds from the instruments are all incredibly haunting. i love it.

i thought i’d try something a little different this afternoon. my host, who turned out to have a fresh sense of humour and a guru of all things orang ulu, taught me tree bark painting. jangan main-main beb! tree bark painting my nampak je senang, when actually even a small one is worth berpuluh-puluh ringgit!

the painting itself really does not take too long IF (my guru disclaims) the inspiration is there. it would just be a matter of hours. if his muse ain’t there then it can take days or weeks or even a month. you can’t just paint ANYTHING and call it an orang ulu tree bark painting, you know! its very cultural with symbolic motives and all.

the tree bark itself takes a week to process from the time it comes off a tree trunk, soaked, pressed, dried, beaten, pressed again and ironed. memang ma fan la. and while traditionally, coloured dyes are made from boiling leaves and roots, we used arcylic. lets not destroy the whole forest at one go la kan? lagipun leaves and roots boleh masak. boleh makan. kan?

that’s my painting:) —->

macam comot sikit kan? i know its untidy:P its two hornbills intertwined in the orang ulu creeper motive, symbolic of the tree of life. very cool la. it’s slightly shorter than the length of an A4 paper je. tak besar. painting it was easy as the paint tak kembang sangat against the bark. there was some texture la, but i painted over it.

you know, i asked te guru, who designed and sketched this painting, why did he put two hornbills on the picture. i mean, i thought there must be some story ke, legend ke, apa ke, behind it, kan? make my research a little more interesting kan?

he replied me simply je: so that the other hornbill won’t be lonely.

masa tu, memang the answer was comical. thinking again about it though, the depth of that one line answer is throughly overwhelming.

 

who met me on MSN the night before i left received a hefty lot of venting on my packing dilemma.

those i mean, dah la tak dapat an itinerary on my trip, at least la someone give me a list of places i will be going, right? so i packed generally je la. a little past midnight, someone suggested that since the area i was going got sungai that leads to some caves, and its quite a popular destination lagi, that i might be doing a little caving pulak. and then ada rapids, so maybe basah pulak. how can anyone pack under these circumstances?!

i am however, totally glad i did not just call the whole thing off. this is surprisingly one of the most memorable trips i’ve ever undertaken. not for the (mis)adventures like bario though. but the cultural immersion which was nothing short of fascinating.

i arrived in kuching and was brought to singai – a predominantly bidayuh area – and up a hill of thin forest, we came to a clearing to find – jeng jeng jeng! – an orang ulu longhouse… i mean shorthouse (ha ha!)… what i really mean is a short longhouse!:) it has two doors. built of wood and bamboo with nipah roof. this was to be my home for three nights as i soak up the beast of the orang ulu and bidayuh culture.

my primary purpose of visit is to learn to play the ‘sape’ – a traditional wooden lute. i have spent the past few months making painstaking arrangements for the visit, right from tracking down a sape guru. in my opinion (maybe because i don’t know any better), it was a VERY cool experience.

along the way adalah other activities lain jugak, some of which will be ranted about here in the next few days.

i learnt my first tune tonight. the sape is much heavier that i imagined. the sound of the instrument comes from the hollow back of the sape. here’s the killer – it has four strings. traditionally, it used to have just three strings. the melody is actually all a matter of the first string, with the other three as accompaniment. tapi susah, beb! memang tali dawai besi!!!

oh, the family kat sini has three dogs – tsunami, tuyang and paris. semua fluffy kind of dogs and can and would bark at anyone:P

 

run ~ snow patrol

Am G Am G
i’ll sing it one last time for you, then we really have to go
you’ve been the only thing that’s right in all i’ve done

and i can barely look at you but every single time i do
i know we’ll make it anywhere away from here

C G
light up, light up – as if you have a choice
Am F
even if you cannot hear my voice i’ll be right beside you, dear

louder, louder – and we’ll run for our lives
i can hardly speak i understand why you can’t raise your voice to say

to think i might not see those eyes makes it so hard not to cry
and as we say our long goodbye, i nearly do

slower, slower – we don’t have time for that
all i want is to find an easier way to get out of our little heads

have heart, my dear – we’re bound to be afraid
even if it’s just for a few days making up for all this mess

note: i actually found two version of the chords. the other version in in an F key. this one is not only easier (its Am… duh!), but the tabs in this key sounds better too.

i’m off to be an apprentice for a traditional string instrument for the rest of the week. incredibly excited. i hope the strings won’t be one of those dawai besi ones!

 

a juxtaposition is an act or instance of placing close together or side by side particularly for deliberate comparative purposes

oh come on, yesterday’s post wasn’t THAT much of a shocker. i did get an A for BM in SPM, you know. its more of a practice thing actually – just to see if i could do it. i have to admit that i did get stumped a number of times. and since i do not have a bilingual dictionary at hand, it did leave me staring blankly at my bookshelf a number of times. but all in all, i think that it was a commendable, if not remarkable first trial, no?

i will be going out of town soon. on a short gig to east malaysia. hopefully, it will be a sign for better things to come. frankly, i am getting a little ticked off all this ding donging. its not that i’m not enjoying the better part of it. it is just those mornings gazing at my ceiling fan wondering about the more intricate movement of the universe that is starting to get on my nerves.

for one thing, it makes me too bloody creative for my own good. in the past few weeks, i have recompiled my old arts and crafts boxes and started making things. you could just imaging all the quirky christmas gifts that came out of it. imran caught a glimpse of this compulsive side of me. and i’m still trying to figure out how jac would shelf the gift i gave her.

and you can see for yourself all the activist buttons appearing all over this blog. the amnesty international make some noise campaign (check our afroraggae! – i am a total sucker for john lennon remakes) and the wwf greater mekong project are particularly interesting to me.

and of course, that is the good part of things. no indulging here on the darker side. lets just say that i am just one foot away from letting the rocker chick persona completely take over. it ain’t pretty. hopefully, robyn would be able to shake some sense back into me. but then again, knowing him, he’ll probably cheer me on an welcome me to the path of the dark side with a shower of rose petals.

i would like to write more stories and more articles. i would like to take more photographs. but for now, i have a 120-page thesis to repair. i should be able to post again before my flight. if i don’t, be nice to animals alright!:D

 

keluhan seorang siswazah universiti tempatan

walaupun pada dasarnya, taraf pendidikan yang dikecapi oleh masyarakat sedunia sepatutnya semakin meningkat, kematangan ini tidak dicerminkan oleh univesiti-universiti awam malaysia yang kononnya telah mencapai peringkat antarabangsa. saya menyatakan ini berdasarkan pengalaman saya sebagai seorang penuntut siswazah di salah satu universiti tempatan awam.

namun tersebar luas pendirian universiti-universiti awam untuk meningkatkan mutu perkidmatan pegawai-pegawai pengurusan mereka, namun, ramai di antara mereka tidak memahami batas bagaimana untuk berunding dengan pelajar. mungkin bukan salah mereka. mungkin mereka muak dengan berbagai-bagai alasan dan perangai yang diterima oleh mereka daripada pelajar-pelajar mahasiswa yakni yang menuntut sijil diploma atau bachelor. walaubagaimanapun, mereka harus faham yang pelajar master dan phD tidak sama pemikiran berbanding dengan pelajar mahasiswa.

rungutan ini bukanya datang dari saya seorang sahaja, malah mencerminkan kegelisahan ramai lagi penuntut siswazah bukan saja dari universiti saya, tetapi juga dari beberapa universiti tempatan awam lain. sudah banyak kali kami menerima keluhan mereka seolah-olah kami pelajar yang baru lepasan spm.

pengurusan universiti perlu faham, yang sebilangan besar penuntut siswazah adalah warga kerja negara yang memilih untuk belajar master atau phD untuk memperbaiki diri. perangai dan alasan-alasan kami tidak sama seperti pelajar mahasiswa yang kebanyakannya hanya menumpukan perhatian kepada pembelajaran. kami mempunyai tanggungjawab yang lebih berat untuk dipikul di pejabat, di rumah dan di dalam masyarakat. oleh itu, karenah pengurusan universiti yang memandang rendah kepada penuntut siswazah amat menyedihkan. sudah ramai pelajar siswazah menganggur dari program masing-masing, bukan kerana tidak dapat mengikuti kelas, tetapi sikap pengurusan universiti yang angkuh dan tidak membantu.

saya pernah dimarahi seorang pegawai universiti yang tidak puas hati kerana saya hanya penuntut separuh masa dan mempunyai perkerjaan sepenuh masa. pada hari itu, borang pendaftaran saya tidak dapat diproses kerana sistem komputer universiti telah rosak seketika. pegawai tersebut menyuruh saya datang lagi keesokan harinya. saya memberi alasan yang saya akan berada di luar negeri dan tidak dapat datang. adakah ini alasan yang tidak bernas? saya memang mempunyai mesyuarat dan tiket penerangan saya sudah ditempah dua minggu sebelum ini. akhirnya, setelah pegawai itu puas memarahi saya kerana kononya tidak komited kepada pendidikan saya, saya tidak diberi apa-apa nasihat langsung. memang saya telah hadir pada minggu pendaftaran. memang bukan salah saya yang sistem komputer pada hari itu rosak. namun, pihak universiti lebih mangambil berat keselesaan mereka dari pelajar.

ramai lagi kisah pelajar siswazah yang dipandang rendah oleh pihak pengurusan universiti. guru-guru sekolah yang mengajar sesi petang yang tidak dapat menghadiri kelas tengahari. pelajar-pelajar siswazah yang berkerja di kilang. pelajar-pelajar siswazah yang muda. yang berkerja jauh dari kampus. yang mempunyai ramai anak. yang berkerja sehingga lewat malam. dan yang berkerja di serata negara. walaupun pegawai akademik universiti pada umumnya memahami tanggungjawab kami di luar universiti, kami merasakan seolah-olah dipandang rendah oleh pengurusan universiti, lebih-lebih lagi dari sekolah pengajian siswazah masing-masing.

pihak pengurusan universiti perlu lebih memahami keadaan kami. sebagai penuntut siswazah, kami juga memehami yang pegawai-pegawai universiti juga hanya menjalankan tugas mereka. kami tidak meminta kelonggaran dari peraturan universiti. yang kami mahu cuma sikap yang lebih berbudi bahasa, profesional dan membantu.

 

Leaders endorse Heart of Borneo declaration

’tis is a great day in environmentalism, my friends:)

12 Jan 2007
Cebu, Philippines – A historic agreement to conserve the “Heart of Borneo” was officially endorsed today by the heads of the three Bornean governments — Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia.

A statement by leaders attending the Summit of the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines – East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) outlined the importance of one of the most important centres of biological diversity in the world, covering approximately 220,000km2 of equatorial rainforests and numerous wildlife species.

…

The agreement, endorsed at the 3rd BIMP-EAGA Summit being hosted by the Philippines, is a lifeline for the people and wildlife of Borneo that are threatened by increasing deforestation on the island. The Heart of Borneo is one of only two places on the planet where rhinos, elephants and orang-utans coexist. Since 1996, deforestation due to logging, forest fires and forest conversion for plantations across Indonesia has increased to an average of 2 million hectares per year, and today, only half of Borneo’s original forest cover remains.

…

Borneo is home to 13 primate species, more than 350 bird species, 150 reptiles and amphibians and around 15,000 species of plants, and continues to be the source of many new discoveries — three species have been found every month over the past ten years alone.

read more of the news from wwf.

hopefully, due action is followed through with the declaration. there is certainly a treasure load to conserve in the heart of borneo.

take this from one traveler who has been to places (including part of the heart of borneo) and has seen for herself the environmental as well as social poverty caused by deforestation. now you can call me a tree hugger if you want to (oh please darlings, been there, done that!) but in all honesty, the amount of weird and wonderful discoveries made in this part of the world is pretty amazing.