from west to east ... KK

on the 2nd week in Sabah, i had the opportunity to fly to Kota Kinabalu to attend a meeting. i was kind of excited to go to another new place even though it's just for a short time. as recommended by a friend, i stayed at Cititel Express Hotel, which i think is conveniently located near to the meeting place and right at the city center of KK. i chose perhaps the smallest room they have, a standard single room with single bed, which is probably the cutest room i've stayed in so far in Malaysia (coz i've experienced staying in small-sized cute rooms in several hotels in Japan before). it doesn't have a mini fridge and coffee/tea making facilities, however there's the hairdryer, shower stuff, nice tv...and what i like is the layout of the room, just fit for one person. Breakfast there is simply marvelous but if you don't want to spend RM12 (the room rate is not including breakfast) for breakfast, you have quite a plenty of choice outside of the hotel for cheap and also nice food.

Since I still have a few hours of daylight after checking in, I decided to stroll around the city.

Yep, as you can see, I walked around where my feet (...or as a friend said..bus no.11.. ;) ) would carry me, first to look for the place where the meeting would be held, then found a few city landmarks as I went along such as Padang Merdeka, the Istana Negeri (just the entrance hehe), Atkinson Clock Tower, Gaya Street (too bad I arrived on Sunday afternoon, just after the morning market closed) and the KK Esplanade. 

Atkinson Clock Tower, Signal Hill Road

Why is Atkinson Clock Tower significant? By reading a little, I found out that this tower was built in memory of the first District Officer of Jesselton (former name of Kota Kinabalu) in 1903 named Francis George Atkinson who died because of malaria at the age of 28. Perhaps the late Mr. Atkinson was quite popular back then? (I couldn't find any information about him.) Structure-wise, the clock tower is constructed using only wood and without nails. Formerly, it served as a lighthouse to aid the ships and it is also one of the few surviving pre-WWII structures that had survived the air raids during the the war. The clock is still working until today.

near the KK Esplanade

Upon arriving at KK Esplanade, I was greeted by the fresh cool evening breeze. It was so nice, there were lots of people hanging out but it wasn't crowded. At that moment, it seemed so nice to chill out there, at the wooden platform, overlooking the waters and small islands beyond. 

Walking down a bit south, from KK Esplanade I crossed through what seemed to be an array of markets. Later on I found out that area was of Central Market, the Sinsuran night market (is it the same to what they call Filipino market? i'm not so sure..) and handicraft market. Tempted, I "tapau"ed some roasted seafood and local kueh before walking back to the hotel. 

yumm..yumm..imagine me finishing off 10 squids in one seating

on the next night, my colleagues and i had dinner somewhere in an area called Austral Park, still in KK. a colleague took us to Pak Man Resipi restaurant where they claimed to have menus from all states in Malaysia. after spending quite some time choosing what to eat, we finally settled on two tom yum gongs, sweet and sour tenggiri and sinigang na isda. I didn't know what the hell is sinigang na isda other than that it is a kind of fish dish in some kind of broth, but when i tasted it, i thought macam singgang (nama pun lebih kurang). there's sour and tangy like taste, in short, like singgang lah. quite nice actually, all of the dishes.

so, that's all in my short visit to KK. i surely want to come here again and go to other places there in other times. till then...touch down again in Tawau to continue life...

lapar...

8.32 malam

tepu. kuyu. laporr...

lokasi: opis

dem !

dah nasib menumpang kete orang...kot tak dah lama balik rumah. jumaat ni kena jadi speaker. dah lama tak speaking-speaking. speaking malay je yob...dah nasib kena menunggu ni sempat la mendraf powerpoint. campak-campak bahan je dulu...masaknya susun aturnya kemudian. nak praktis lagi.. hadoih, sempat ke ni..macamana aku nak bercakap ni..tapi audien tak le sampai seratus pasang mata..silap-silap limaploh pun tak sampai..dan semuanya keje gomen...ok lah..citer pasal benda yg aku tau, bukannya pasal menatang SBPA tu...

SBPA..apa cerita ah..minggu depan meeting mesti boss akan explain la tu...

adoyai..sabar menunggu..kalau dah makan dan mandi, selesa nak buat keje balik, tapi kalo dah kena menunggu macam ni...terbuang masa xleh concentrate..

hujan pun dah berenti..

Budak Kelantan

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My brother lent me this dvd a long time ago but I only watched it just about 3 weeks ago. I haven't heard of this movie until then. Probably because I was not in the country at that time (the movie was produced in 2008). Anyway, I will write a little bit of the story in here.

From the title, it is unmistakable that the whole story revolves around Kelantanese people, with full Kelantanese dialect spoken by an all-Kelantanese cast. Perhaps I can only recognize Danny (X-Factor) and Bienda from the casts list, the rest I haven't heard before, and one of them might probably be an ex-primary schoolmate of mine. However, acting-wise, I'd say good and natural. 

The story is said to be based from a true story. It tells about 2 Kelantanese young man, Buchek and Jaha, best friends in their childhood reuniting in Kuala Lumpur (KL) after so many years separated. Buchek is a good, pious young man, just graduated from university and selling burgers in KL while looking for a better job. Jaha, on the other hand, is a 'graduate' from Henry Gurney School (a school for juvenile delinquents), living in KL selling drugs and pimping. The story starts with introductions of the two main characters in their own life, until they two meet by chance at Central Market, both unaware of each other activities. For old times sake, Jaha invited Buchek to hang out with him and stay the night at his house. From there, Buchek finally got the gist of Jaha's activities. As he tag along, Buchek experienced being beaten by some rival thugs, tasted cough syrup mixed with drug and saw Jaha picking on women. However, with all that, Jaha still respects Buchek and let him perform his daily prayers.

The climax of a-day-with-Jaha-experience for Buchek is when Jaha and his friend tries to kidnap a Chinese woman who's jogging alone. During the getaway, they have to stop the car as the petrol is running low. While both Jaha and his friend are out of the car, Buchek, who they entrusted to take care of the woman, let  the woman free. Friendship turned cold. At other time, Jaha tries sweet-talking a girl, not knowing that the girl is actually Che Nor, Buchek's girlfriend. Jaha, feeling guilty towards Che Nor and Buchek, wishes to apologize. Buchek, who values his friendship so much and wants to help Jaha to return to the right way, senses that Jaha has a heart with Che Nor. Supressing his own feelings, he tries to coax Che Nor to meet Jaha and to give a chance to Jaha to mend his mistakes but Che Nor (being a sensible woman, to me) adamantly refuse.

After an unfortunate event that leads Jaha into killing a man one night, Jaha is being tracked by the police. While riding away from the police, Jaha met with an accident and died. With Jaha's death, the story ends, (and so is Buchek and Che Nor's relationship, I guess). From the start until finish, the story goes along with Buchek's narration about life and relationships between people and people with its Creator.

In short, the story revolves around the good friendship between two people, who although each lives a different life, they still respect each other and value each other for old time sake. Jaha, who probably never finds true love or meet a woman with high principle such as Che Nor, is perturbed, intrigued or even touched by her, so much so, that it leads Buchek went as far as asking his own girlfriend to accept Jaha (kinda outrageous to me). Buchek, although witnessing his old friend's dark life, instead of shunning away from Jaha, he still tries to save him. From the story too, I think people like Jaha and his friends are a confused lot. As depicted in some scenes, they have no qualms ruining other people's life but they are like vigilantes when a sister of one of their own is disturbed by some thugs.

This story is a real life drama. A reality that is not supposedly related to Kelantanese people only. It's a global reality. Life is all about choosing....of which way to take, or to stay...or to get out of a wrong choice.

Ladies, I am more cautious of my surroundings after watching this movie.

Misteri Jalan Lama

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Sometimes I make a decision to watch a movie based on my 'trust'. It may be the trust on the director, the actors or the producer. Based on my trust to Afdlin Shauki's working mind, I went to watch Misteri Jalan Lama. Afdlin may have said that his latest movie has a sombre tone, different from his other movies, but it didn't make me leave the cinema feeling sombre. Instead, I left feeling entertained.

Two brothers of different personalities undertake a journey back to their hometown for their father's burial. However, in the middle of their journey, they meet with an unexpected accident (not a car accident, ya). Lost, or so they seem, they try to resume their journey despite encountering mysterious people and creatures beyond their (and our) understanding. But finally, we will come to understand the story. It's quite a straight-forward one, actually. Indra and Ilya are the brothers grimm. However, Indra has been estranged from his family for a long time. When their father passed away because of a car accident which happened mysteriously, Indra received a letter previously written by his father to drive Ilya back to their village. Prior to the accident, his father left Ilya a birthday present (which is supposedly to be on the next day, he will be 25), and the present being a strange looking locket. When Ilya hold the locket, it shines and made Ilya sees some kind of vision that he cannot understand. And so, the journey. Indra is portrayed as an ex-car racer turned loser who's always in trouble due to his gambling habits. Ilya is the hope of the family and he helps his father's company to grow and succeed. However, Ilya has several health problems and he also cannot drive. That's why they have to go back together. An unfortunate event caused them to lost their car and they have to continue on foot. In the middle of the forest, scary things happen as well as encounters with two different kinds of ghostly creatures. They seem to be waiting for them, but each with different intentions. What are those creatures? How are they related to the brothers? What is the secret behind the locket...and their father's instruction? We would know it at the end of the movie. But we would have guessed it as the story goes on. We would wonder, does this person actually knows more than what he seems to show?

The story? Quite straight-forward as I have said before and understandable. The actors? Great, the two male leads are not disappointing. The dialogues? Nice and at some point, can make you laugh. Yup, some scenes that are meant to be scary, they do scare me. There are elements of surprise. And some dialogues that are meant to be funny, they do made me laugh. However, I'm kinda intrigued by the scenes at the climax of the story. There is a war. There is suspense. However, I couldn't stand the costume. It made me laugh. Oh, Afdlin...are the costumes meant to make us laugh? Because I did. Personally, I think he could make the costume better and nicer, I think the scenes there deserve more serious tone and perhaps induce some jaw-dropping moments from the audience.

But anyway, a good and entertaining movie. An mystery-fantasy tale of two brothers.