Sunday, December 28, 2008

MOUNT MARAPI, BUKIT TINGGI, WEST SUMATERA, INDONESIA (PART 1)


The Minangkabau Restaurant










Lake Meninjau - the birth place of Pak Hamka










Lake Meninjau 2










At one of the Rumah Adat (2007 trip wth in-laws)











Front view of Rumah Adat











Salam to all


A WORTHWHILE EXPEDITION

Sometime in September this year, my other half asked me " Rosman asked us to join them for Gunung Marapi mountain climbing".." very busy, I am behind schedule for my PHD work" I answered.. "Anyway I'll think about it" I said reluctantly.

In actual fact I truly was behind the schedule, the data I gathered waited for me to be mutilated and rigorously analysed for the analysis writing up..Two weeks later the same questions was posed to me. " Zie, must give the answer now because Rosman is on the line to book the ticket on Airasia web" persistantly the persuasion from my husband. "Is it higher than Mount Kinabalu?" I asked.."No no slightly lower than Mount Kinabalu, only around 2800 plus metre.." again he tried to convince me.."K lah book for me"..thinking that I would have a female companion because this expedition is a husband and wife team...

My husband and Rosman are officemates in UMW toyota group. Both are avid mountain climbers.. the other members are normally from our housing estates' friends..around 8 people..I joined the group the first time during "Gunung Nuang climb", then "Irau, Cameron Highland" and the last time was "the Mount Kinabalu expedition". I was the only female in the group ..later I stoppped..with the reason of wanting to concentrate on my study...hah..My husband and his group had conquered many mountains in Malaysia..that's why they wanted to do inter-boundary climb. In May this year the group went to Gunung Kerinchi, the highest peak in Sumatera..

Two couples only since no response from the group's other halfs. So we decided to go to Marapai(not Merapi --in Jawa Island, erupted last year if I'm not mistaken) near Bukit Tinggi and Padang West Sumatera. It is still active and not dormant...must be beautiful, I was thinking.


The starting point

We started our journey from home at 5.30 in the morning of 19th December..My household need had been taken care of by my sons and my sister..LCCT was full with people at the early hours..I remembered when we travelled through it, the first day it opened way back in 2006..to Jakarta, was easy..Oh not now, we have to be here 3 hours before that..Actually we almost missed the flight..luckily they had a counter ..for last minute check in..I mean less that 45 minutes..but we had to carry our bags here and there for the tags, payment, etc..oh no with the children..cannot do like this..


The plane departed on time, full of Malaysians may be holidaying at Minangkabau town (Bukit Tinggi). This was my second trip to Bukit Tinggi since December last year my husband and I accompanied my in laws here. The place is known to be serene and cool with mountainous landscape and background. The indigenous Minangkabau are also skilled craftsmen and good at needlework..so lots of beautiful "telekong" and embroidered clothes...."tak lama 15 minit je" but it would take more than 1 hour at each stop we made last year. My in laws are all fond of this type of embroidery. I heard one of the Malaysian Sultanah ordered her embroideries from here..

Food and juic

When we landed at Padang International Airport at 8.40 a.m local time which 1 hour ahead of Malaysia, the driver and guide were awaiting us..purposedly I did not take my breakfast, only a cup of milo in the plane..because I wanted to reserve my tummy for the delicious Minang food..hah..I was told by the native driver not to just called Padang food because each restaurant has its own speciality..e.g ikan bakar..ikan gulai etc..So we left to the driver to choose.. We departed the airport straight to Bukit Tinggi..about 1.30hour journey..stopped for food..


We tried lots of local delicacy...you know what, it cost around Rm10 per person only, with avocado juice, jeruk juice, tomatoe juice and cucumber juice(the drink I tried the first time here)..One thing I noticed in Bukit Tinggi, the mursolla and Masjid are so distinct and beautifully crafted even at roadside restaurants..

The beginning of ascending mission

After that we continued our journey and stoppped at Kota Baru(not in Kelantan ye) to buy mineral water and rice for our stock. ..Then went through highland prime agricultural land of corns, cabbage , carrot, tomatoes, chillies etc beautiful scenery and simple life of the Minangkabauans..

Suddenly the driver mentioned"pak dan ibu..ini tempatnya...ngak boleh pergi tinggi lagi hanya fourwheel"..That was the point that we would embark the expedtion of Marapi . Quickly changed our climbing gear and put the rest in Toyota Innova at the base..so it started at 11.45 a.m local time...

PUZIAH
p/s second part will be soon InsyaAllah..Salam Maal Hijrah.. 1430H to all..
My heart bleeds when I read in yahoo"..some 280 Palestinians have been killed and 600 people wounded..." on the eve of Maal Hijrah 1430H our brothers and sisters in the Gaza have been pounded with boms and mortar from the Israeli side..one masjid is at ground zero..Ya Allah protect them from the tyranny..gives them courage and strength..I feel so defenseless..Please say your doas to the "jailed Palestinians"..Is this what the world called justice and democracy...turning the blind eye to the world aggressor.....

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Mount Angsi Expedition

Views on the top of Angsi




On the summit of Gunung Angsi We surpassed this group

Sulaim, Firdaus, Abrar and Ammar at base camp


Nurhanifan can sleep anywhere

Preparation before ascending
Tents and Waqaf

Assalamualaikum wbrt and peace to all,

The weekend of 13-14 th December was wet. It was a rainning season for Malaysia. My husband and his friend had planned to do mountain climbing at Ulu Bendul, Negeri Sembilan Malaysia. The planning was to camp at the base mountain with the children and only two of us continued the climbing the next morning..

Some deterrants
It was not a welcoming condition at the site when we arrived around 5.30 p.m on Saturday evening. The river was murky and not conducive to do any activity. The children showed their disproval kind of face.. After consulting the ranger, we finally found the spot near a 'waqaf' to put up our camping gear..Around 6.3o p.m I cooked simple dinner with eggs and sardines as main course.. added with cherry tomatoes and fried qurban beef.... After enjoying themselves in the murky river (not to the small children's eyes), Abrar, Sulaim and Ammar ate their dinner like a horse...big appetite...my simple cooking turned to scrumptious dinner..ha..ha...Amru and Nurhanifan also joined their little brothers...with even much bigger portion of food..Nuruddin (the eldest)was not with us, he was away doing community work at Yan Kedah with his schoolmates...
Later on, our friends Rosman and Nornaimah and his eldest son joined us and put his tent next to us..they also cooked simple meals but delicious..that is kangkung tauchu and dried fish called "bulu ayam"...With these added food we really enjoyed our dinner in the forest.
The next morning..the situation was much better, the river was clear and very inviting to the children to splash down..After a quick breakfast with tuna sandwiches and leftover rice..they quickly went to the river..
Ascending Mount Angsi

We prepared simple sandwiches, plain water, two cans of "hundred plus", some biscuits and two hard boiled eggs for our trip to Gunung Angsi..We left around 8.45 a.m to start our ascending climb..Amazing Firdaus 5 years old also joined his parents..A strong child.. Ahead of us a group of 59 secondary school children already startedd their journey may be 45 minutes earlier. we walked according to our phase.. as usual I liked to walk behind the group..so that I would not feel the pressure..We did stop at a few places for photo session and nature call..Finally around 12.45p.m we arrived at the summit of Angsi..nice view SubhanAllah..Actually we managed to surpassed half of the secondary group..means we arrived earlier than them...not bad hah..

Descending
After one hour of resting and lunch session, we descended back to the base camp..The journey was faster, it took 3 hours going down the mountain..As far as I can remember, Gunung Nuang is a more difficult track to go through..With less energy, we needed to be more extra careful and alert while descending the mountain.. Upon arrival I quickly settled down at a stall..guest what..I drank two glasses of "Cincau" and one glass of soya..one after the other..and ate one currypuff and one nasi lemak. Only after I felt some energy came in...well after 7 hours of walking..This trip was supposssed to be the trainning session because the next weekend we would do an expedition to Gunung Marapi, Bukit Tinggi Sumatera (19-22 December 2008).
Lessons

We need to work as a group while mountain-climbing..always be patience, self-determination..no selfishness, always helping each other..We need to have a proper and good gear ( I destroyed my shoes because it was not meant for mountain climbing) and most important enough water..you would sweat alot..only after 20 minutes of climbing..

Not to forget doas.."Bismillahillazilayadurrumaasmihisyaiunfissamawatiwalardh" We ask Allah for protection..the One who controls the earth and sky and its inhabitants...

PUZIAH AHMAD
p/s InsyAllah will write about Gunung Marapi Expedition

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Olie oh Olie

Salam semua,

Olie

"Nie Puziah ke?" terdengar suara di hujung sana .

"Ya".

" Siapa nie" lontaran suara terkejut saya.

"Nie Olielah, kawan dulu" terdengar suara jawapan yang tenang.

"Ya, Allah" kejutan dari saya.

"Cam ne dapat nombor" soal saya.

"Google..taip nama awak..banyak keluar, check tapi link yang di UiTM ada gambar, telefon number dan e-mail.. jadi boleh contactlah" luahan Olie.

Kenangan dengan Olie
Itulah perbualan awal yang ringkas saya dengan Olie atau Khalidah yang berasal dari Ipoh Perak.. Inilah panggilan telefon terkejut yang ketiga yang saya terima untuk bulan November dan Disember ini. Manakan tidak Olie ini telah terputus hubungan dengan saya semenjak tahun 1984 lagi..sebabnya masa dia balik cuti hujung tahun ke Malaysia ketika belajar di Armidale University di Armidale New South Wales dia terus tidak balik lagi... rasanya sebab dia lonely di Armidale lebih 200 km dari Sydney..ke hinterland dan budak Melayu ada 2 tiga orang. dia seorang perempuan...lepas tu Mat Salleh suka kacau dia sebab dia tinggi dan putih.. Universiti-universiti di pantai seperti Wollonggong dan Newcastle walaupun jauh dari Sydney tapi ramai sikit pelajar Malaysia dan bandarnya lebih besar..

Olie yang lurus itulah kenangan dengannya... kami sebilik masa English course di PJ pioneer UiTM/JPA ala ala PPP UiTM..Kelas lain..tapi di hantar buat matrik di Sydney..sekolah lain-lain. Saya di Dover Heights High School, Sydney.. Olie rasanya di Hillsdale, Southern Sydney. Tapi saling berhubungan..sampailah ke first year..Universiti pun lain-lain saya di New South Wales. Tapi kursus adalah sama iaitu Town planning...Tup-tup Olie terus balik Malaysia..kahwin di umur 23 tahun..sunyi sepi aleh-aleh hubungi saya setelah 24 tahun menghilang..terkenang-kenang agaknya..masa anak dara dulu di Sydney...

Olie kalau sabar sikit..tentunya cerita lain..apa-apapun qada' dan qadar Allah..Tahun berikutnya dan seterusnya JPA hantar berkali ganda pelajar lepasan SPM ke Australia..Tahun kami pergi hanya 100 orang pelajar ke Australia daripada 1000 orang rasanya..700-800 ke U.S. sedikit sahaja yang ke UK dan NZ. Bagus ke US sebenarnya tak perlulah buat A level atau macam kami kena buat Higher School Certificate di New South Wales.. Mereka terus masuk kolej dan universiti. Lepas Olie balik ramai juga pelajar Malaysia yang sambung di Armidale termasuk pelajar perempuan Melayu.. Masa tahun kami juga tahun pelajar "cream" yang pergi sebelum keputusan SPM keluar, selalunya daripada pelajar-pelajar berasrama penuh adalah kumpulan yang terakhir dihantar lepas tu semua kena masuk PPP dulu...Bagus juga rasa macam ada dua darjat dan jurang..kami terkial-kial buat HSC dia orang dah masuk universiti..


Pengorbanan Olie

Kini dia memilih untuk menjadi surirumah sepenuh masa.Tabik untuk Olie..Berjaya mendidik anak-anak yang sulung sudah 20 tahun di UPM, rasanya yg keduapun diIPT dan dua orang lagi di sekolah rendah dan menengah....Saya masih terkejar-kejar dengan Ammar 4 tahun dan Abrar 5 tahun..Anak bongsu Olie sudah 10 tahun...sebab tu dia ada masa nak jumpa saya di cafe di Shah Alam. Suaminya juga usahawan yang berjaya .

InsyaAllah muga Allah kekalkan persahabatan ini..

PUZIAH AHMAD

Yang masih 'toilet-trained" anak ke 6..

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Long Lost Friend

The whole group photo session(taken from Adib'sblog; the main organiser) at his parents' house , Bkt Kangkar Muar Johor
The session of cutting 'pulut kuning' by our primary school teachers (Cikgu Ramlah, Ms Chai, Cikgu Abdullah dan Cikgu Md Noor)- their dedications are always remembered by us..

Some of my long lost friends - many have left after the 'pulut kuning session'(from left Adib, Norlinda, Amik, Zalina, Alifah, Huzahim, Mohammed, Azman, Shafie, Ramin,Ronizain, Adnan, Norazman)


Ladies' corner- chit chatting session(The group that stayed untill 5.00p.m)..actually more than 100 people turned up..
Salam everyone,
The month of November I received surprised calls, one from a friend since standard one till form 1, and secondly my former housemate while doing my undergaduate in 1980s in Sydney Australia. Both traced me through UiTM web and UiTM telephone receptionist. However, each one tracked me for a different reason.

Reunion

Wow, the first one, the last time we met when we just finished our SPM. There were news and second hand stories but all in more than 27 years we do not see eye to eye. I just could not believe it when I heard the voice. The reason he called because he is organizing a reunion during Eiduladha, MasyaAllah what a noble job..hubungan silatulrahim..The job is just a tremendous hard work..to trace almost forty people. He would also extend his invitation to our primary school teachers..so nostalgic..so touching seeing our pictures in primary school days.

Pilgrimage

The second friend, was trying to contact me almost a month, Alhamdullillah she managed to talk to me. She asked for forgiveness and wanted to pay back 'something' she borrowed years ago which I could not remember at all. The reason she will perform her haj.. so touching I just said " dah..dah halal". No matter what amount ..I pray for her safe journey to perform haj and may get hajj mabrur ..Norhaneyma Md Said....Ameen.
Friendship
I like the quote written by Adib on the first page of reunion message..something like this "persahabatan yang jujur (ikhlas), tiada hasad dengki, iri hati, .. tiada istilah pandai atau tidak pandai" purely on friendship. Untill now we still cherish the moments when we were still children...like fighting, punishment, liking and disliking.. Growing up in small towns or rather a "pekan" gave advantages to us. We know each other quite well including family lineage and relatives. The reunion on the 8th December 2008 provides space for catching up news of others e.g who has B1, B2 or S1, or S2..da ..da.. guess what it means.
Something to remember for this Eidul Adha - 1429H
Puziah Ahmad
Someone who has been called as "Kecut" during the reunion...
10 December 2008/12 Zulhijjah 1429H