Charged up with Penang Bridge Run last month, I participated in Peace Run last sat, July-7-2007. It was only 7 Km and I decided to bring along my son, Zharrieq. After all, he had completed 10Km Fun Run 2 weeks before.

We left home at 6.15 am after light breakfast. After Bertam toll, Zharried needed to stop over for his nature call. He ate a lot of nasi ayam a day before and suffering from too much chili in his stomach.

There goes my baby...

June 25 thru 27 2007 supposed to be a “fun and easy” day for me since my company was shutting down operations for 3 days. Nothing to worry about since the shut down was meant to conduct some stock counting activities as well as wear and tear stuff.

BUT, late Monday evening the whole family, myself, called abah, my wife and 4 kids were heading towards my in laws in Perak before finally drove to Banting, S’gor. I need to sent my eldest daughter, Zulaikha or sometimes her siblings called kak Long or Lolo to
pursue her studies in what people called IB…very-very difficult to pronounce…

I slept for 4 hours and woke up at 2.00 am early Tuesday. After a lot of uh and ah from the kids, we drove all the way towards Banting. We stopped over at Sg. Buloh slightly after 6.00 am for a quick touch up and Subuh prayer. By the time we reached R&R Dengkil, it was almost 7.05 am. We need to rush up with the breakfast since my brother, called Pak Jang is waiting for us initially at Nilai Toll. I called him and knowing that I was at Dengkil, he instructed us to exit via KLIA toll and met him there.

We reached KMB around 7.55 am and by the time we entered the compound it was already crowded by cars. The registration went smoothly with only students were alllowed to do it themselves. As for parents, breakfast was provided and also ample place for us to lepak-lepak while getting to know other parents. I met and talked to few parents all over Malaysia. There was one parent all the way from Felda Kulai sending his son for BioTech under Felda scholarship. Another parent from KL sending his son for Medic. Also met ex-coleague, Bahari driving all the way from Penang sending his son for Actuarial Sciences.

We moved to dorm D219 ( I think so ) , luckily they provided a small 1 tonner lorry to transport students' belonging. Otherwise, myself will be drown in sweat carrying bags and boxes for about 600 m away. They didn't allow cars to be driven into dormitory compound which I thought a good idea. Otherwise, it will be a heck of jam... The room is very cute and obviously better than her previous SBP. I'm sure she will settle down wihout much hassle...hopefully ya LoLo..

After briefing by KMB on what is IB all about..standard la...High level la..bla bla...felt asleep few times.. we had lunch at canteen. The food were not so bad..especially ikan keli goreng sambal. Everybody belasah Ikan Keli except me..I don't eat ikan sungai...but salted ikan sungai I belasah...

Finally at 1.30 pm, we left KMB with half of our heart left behind... So long LoLo..study hard and chase your dream as high as you can...You are what you want to be..

My Oh my..My 3rd penang Bridge Run 2007

It was the 3rd time I ran the Penang Bridge under half marathon category ( approx .22 km) The 1st one was back in 2002, then last year and again this year on June 24-2007. I brought along my 14 yrs old son to participate in Joy Run which was only 10 km.

By the time I parked my car near the junction between E-park and USM and reached USM field, it was around 4.10 am. There was a huge crowd everywhere along the road from the junction towards USM. After submitting the registration slip at USM gate, we were given a wrist band ( yellow colour ). I waited for by running partner, Yeoh. and luckily spotted him within few minutes. We also met another friend, Ganeson before headed towards another gate at the end of the field and by that time, most of the runners are moving along the housing area towards the starting point in front of Sek. Keb. Gelugor. Inside the school compound, the women runners were waiting eagerly to start at 5.00 am.
I met 2 of my friends, Saw Sim and Lay See waiting for their turn at 5.30 am.

Exactly at 4.30 am, the siren was sounded and runners started moving. Since there were a lot of runners we could only start running after few minutes. The first 5 km into the middle span was quite easy follow by another 5-6 km from middle span to Perai Toll. The best part was, after about 7 or 8 km point, the 1st women runner overlooked us followed by police bike. It took us 70 minutes to complete the 1st portion ( from island to Perai ). By the time we made the big U turn ( and off course grabbed some drinks along the way) towards the island, the time was 5.45 am.

We went real slow for the next 8-9 km. I did swallowed a packet of my power gel and to ensure continuous supply of energy. We did overtook a lot of people and at the same time also as many people overtook us. By the time we came down from middle span towards the island, we met with runners from ‘Fun Run” group and had to carefully maneuvered around them. By then, I was dead tired. I could read the bridge signboard stated 2 Km to
Bayan Lepas and gelugor which means there is only 2-3 km from finishing line. At the same time both my running partners were ahead of me and slowly they disappeared among the crowd.

Suddenly I heard “abah’….I turned my back and saw my son running happily towards me. Both of us were very tired and we decided to just walked. The were some blister on his foot too. By the time I reached the finished line, the clock was 7.10 am. I completed the half marathon around 2 hrs 40 minutes which was not good. But anyhow, I managed to continue running non stop for about 18 km. before walking.

So, next year run is a must with new goal i.e RUN WITHOUT STOPPING BELOW 2 HR 30 MINUTES…HUA HUA HUA…

My SunShines

Besides lAdY fInGer, I tried planted sunflowers and it turned out to be a success. According to my supplier the seeds are from Indonesia. After planted severals, only 10 make it to the world.

The flowers lasted for several weeks and few customers had made bookings. I might turn this hobby of mine into a business venture someday.... Who knows, maybe sunflower oil and "Kuaci"thereafter will be produced from the seeds that i supplied.

This is another type of flower for me..It is not yellow in colour but indeed provides a lot of colours in my life.

Harvesting my Life with a lady Finger

I luv gardening especially vegetables and exotic plants. One of my favourite vegi ( actually cos it is soo easy to grow ) is lady finger or okra ( my 10 yrs old kid corrected my spelling, which i thought was ocra ). To really enjoy its taste, just steamed or boiled it and dipped into a delicious home made sAmBal BeLacaN. Otherwise, just throw it inside Fish Head curry or fry it with dried prawn and chillies.

Just like orchids or bourgounvilla, lady finger also comes with varieties of sizes, colour, texture and origin e.g. Taiwan, Korea...

Some are dark green while others are light . Some are small while others are really long and big. I've seen and planted an okra of about 9 inches long.

According to Wikipedia, the scientific name for Okra is Abelmoschus esculentus, commonly known as okra or lady's finger, is a flowering plant valued for its edible green fruits. The name okra is of West African origin and is cognate with "ókùrù" in Igbo, a language spoken in what is now known as Nigeria. Wow !, these lady finger of mine has actually travelled all the way from africa. Long live 'Africa", actually what i meant was a favourite song of mine from group named "ToTo".

It is called 'bendi" in Malay, "Bhindi" in Hindi, "Bamiyah" in Arabic , "Okura" in Japanese and "vendaikaai " in Tamil.

The species is an annual or perennial, growing to 2 m tall. The leaves are 10–20 cm long and broad, palmately lobed with 5–7 lobes. The flowers are 4–8 cm diameter, with five white to yellow petals, often with a red or purple spot at the base of each petal. The fruit is a capsule, 5–20 cm long, containing numerous seeds. It was introduced to the United States via the African slave trade route, and is an annual crop in the southern states.