Jogja 03 Lunch at Pesta Perak

When all the travelers are ready we boarded the air-con tour bus.
The tour guide from Borobodur Discovery Tour,
introduced himself as Pak Tri.

Of course that is his simple name. His avtual name was much longer.
I remembered something like Trisno Buwono.

Pak Tri is a cheerful young man of about 35 of age.
It was a Saturday and he said it is normal to have quite a jam
in the Jogja town centre on that day.
It was also a begining of their school holidays.

After quite a lengthy historical background of Jogja
he finally said that we were heading for lunch.

Wow !!! how the enzyme in my stomach suddenly pop out
from the it's dry wall.

Why not...I had no meal in the plane,
and in the morning at Terminal One Staff canteen,
I had not the apetite for heavy breakfast.

Our lunch was at this prestigoius Pesta Perak Restaurant.
Translated into English it's means Silver Jubilee Restaurant.
No wonder Pak Tri said that this restaurant is normally
patronize for couples who had been married for 25 years.

Of course it was not restricted for such couples only.
I would believe that the prestigious name reflect the kind of service
and the ambience it offer to the diners.

Indeed, it was prestigious and the food they served were elegant and delicious.
Among the speciality popular local dish is the young jackfruit
cooked in sweet soya sauce.

Of course an adventurous traveler like me will try it out,
and I would say that not quite to my taste as it was a little too sweet
to pair up wih rice. Anyway there sambal belachan to
compliment it.

Another diner pointed to me the bull skin curry.
I tried that too and couldn't admire it as I felt
like eating a sponge.

Of course there were many other specialities
which will take too much time to describe.

The ambience was very soothing although the weather outside
was very hot. Perfect for loving couples.

Traditional items like wayang kulit and musical instruments
bring the bamboo wall to life.

Just opposite of the restaurant was a church.
I had forgotten to identify what church it was.
Anyway Pak Tri said that the majority of the population
in Jogja are Muslims.

After lunch we headed for the next destination.
Along the way I saw the magnificent sign boards
showing road and town names and directions.


There were many grafities on building walls.
Ironically they all look very nicely done,
as though they were purposely allowed to be
grafitied by the authority.


Standing proud at the entrance of their towns and villages,
are kind of arches, which are very common also in Malaysia.

Perhaps they are remnants of the historical cultures
of the Malay Archipelago which is strongly adhered to
by the Malays in South-East Asia as "Nusantara".


Nusantara is a kind of the Malay Brotherhood.
Such that all the Malays in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore
and as far as Philipines and Thailand will also adopt
ourselves as brothers.

When we meet in the street, we will easily smile
and greet each other.

Once, during my tour of duty, I greeted a Malay man,
we shooked hands, and then we parted.

My Singaporean Chinese lady working colleague asked me,

"Was that man your friend or relative?"

"No.." I answered.

Then she asked,

"How come you all shook hands like friends?"

I had to brief her a little bit of our religious culture
that encourages us to greet each other and shake
hands whenever we meet.


Folks we stopped here for a while
and continue again in Jogja 04
with the help of God Al-Mighty.

Jogja 02 - Very Warm Welcome

As soon as we were cleared from the Immigration & Custom, the travel agent from Jogja welcome us with this specially made banner. they are from The Borobodur Discovery Tour Co.
Then I saw the public area of the Jogja airport.

When I turned around to look for the other co-travelers, I saw another friendly welcoming poster. O how they were very friendly. Much friendlier than us.

While waiting for the others to be cleared, i went to look for toilets....the loo to release my bladder.

I almost couldn't find it as it was written in a polite bahasa Indonesia as "Kamar Kecil" which means in English "Small Room". It means toilet.

In the man toilet, I had saw this label on its door "Closet Jongkok". I would say that it's more Javanese language than Bahasa Indonesia.

Anyway, it means the squatting toilet and not the sitting pan. I wonder what sitting pan would be in Javanese.

When i came out from the toilet, i saw another friendly welcome. this time from the famous Indonesian Pop Band "Ungu".


Enough for now guys.

++++Look out for Jogja 03 Insya ALLAH++++

UEFA 041 – Lost our money & passport in Amsterdam

UEFA 041 – Lost our money & passport in Amsterdam


As before, the Immigration procedure was a breeze without stamping our passports. Before we could even identify between the immigration officials from the Custom officials, we were already moving fast on the road towards North. There were not many traffic along the highway.

Somewhere in highway to Amsterdam in Belgium the Euroline bus stopped for midnight supper. There were McDonalds, Burger King, a mini market, cafes and pubs.

As the dawn was breaking, we arrived at Rotterdam. I saw once again the familiar buildings as I had seen in 1994. This time I saw more unique buildings as the Euroline bus took us right into the heart of the Rotterdam city centre for some passengers to alight.

After a short wait, some new passengers boarded the bus and off it went towards Amsterdam.

We reached Amstel Bus Terminal in Amsterdam at about 8 am.

We made some enquiries and were shown to a nearby family hotel which I didn’t even got to know the name. It was a short entertaining walk, although, we had to pull quite heavy luggage.

Although the family hotel had only shared common toilets but it was a good bargain, as we were only on transit to other destinations.

After negotiating the price and other arrangements, a tragedy happened.

When we were asked to pay a deposit, my wife turned pale, as she found that she did not have her handbag with her. She realized traumatically that she had left it in the Euroline bus. All our money and travelers cheques were in her handbag.

We were blank with silent for a while, before, we could think of what to do next.

The land lady was kind. She offered some advice. She suggested that we pay the deposit with whatever cash we had in hand and she willingly served us breakfast.

In the meantime, she helped us to call the Traveller Cheque’s office to cancel our traveler cheques, so that, whoever found them cannot turn them for cash.

Then she suggested also that we go back to the Euroline Bus Terminal and asked for access to the bus to find the lost handbag.

We were assured by the officer in the Traveler cheques office that we will get back our money, the next day. My wife was slightly relieved and can smile a little bit.

With that we enjoyed our continental breakfast. The landlady had a young daughter named Megan. She was cute and was about 7 years old. We talked to her and she could understand and speak English. She and her dog, named Shadow was looking at us from far while we dig into the bread and jam.

Megan always smile while Shadow was looking at us with sharp eyes, like a guard. I think Shadow was an Alsatian, or perhaps a Shepherd dog. Although, he looked fierce in the beginning with his growl, but after some pat from Megan, he looked a bit friendly.

018-1 The Cave 18:51 -

Translation, Commentary & Explanation of Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi


The meaning of Verse 51

I did not bring them to witness the creation of Heaven and Earth and not even their own creation. I would not take those who are astray as assistants.



Commentary by Imam Jalalain:-

God did not appoint the Iblis and his offsprings to witness the creation of Heaven, Earth and themselves.


God did not bring anyone to witness the creation of anyone else, and HE did not take the satans as assistants in performing HIS creation, then why are you obeying them?



Commentary by Harun Yahya:-

Believers should only befriend the believers, the obedient and those who have good character.

Being with such people will protect us from going astray, and encourage us to do the good.


Satan appears to people as friends. Quran always commands believers to choose other believers as friends and helpers.


My Observations & Opinions :-

It is not that Muslims should not befriends Non-Muslims. This verse meant to say that Muslims must have at least one close Muslim friend to become some sort of a guide to him. When we are alone we are prone to do sinful things, but, if you have a Muslim friend with us, then that sinful thought comes under control.

===== will be continued with the help of GOD ====

Jogja 01 - Welcome to Jogja

Hi
Here we are again. You guys must be familiar with this scenery. It is one of the unique scenery of Singapore Changi International Airport. Unique, because there are shops even near the boarding gates at the aero bridge. That means you can shop until you drop and finish off all your Singapore Dollars before you leave the island.

We were gathered here at 9:15 am for a departure flight at 11:10am.

My wife and I left our Toyota Altis at home and took the Singapore Bus Service No 858, from Woodlands Regional Centre to Changi Airport via Yishun Housing Estate. It was a smooth ride.

We were on a 5-day Majestic Jogjakarta + Solo Tour
Prescribed by Qodariyah Travel & Tours Pte Ltd, 5A Jalan Pinang, Singapore.
Tel : +65-62941562
Email : qodariyahtravel@yahoo.com

Another familiar unique scene is the aero bridge which is clearly visible from the pier of the Changi Airport boarding gates.

Our flight was Air Asia QZ 7139. There were long queue at the check-in counter. Perhaps because it was school holiday season. Also there were 3 destination on that morning. One to Jogja, another to Kuala Lumpur and I have forgotten the third one.

In the plane you would have a little cultural shock, because, The Malay Language that we have learnt so far is now tested. It is now in Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian Language) and not Malay Language. Any Singaporean or Malaysian malay may find some difficulties to understand Bahasa Indonesia.

As we were reaching Jogja, we could see the mountains and the rivers from the air. I think this one must have been the volcanic Mount Merapi which exploded in 2006, and next to it must have been Solo River, very famous for its floods in the 1950s, so much so that there was a very famous Indonesian song written about this river. The song is entitled "Bengawan Solo".

Everyone knows how to sing it in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. There is even a huge chain of bakery & confectionery outlets here in Singapore shopping sentres by the name of "Bengawan Solo".

As we were landing I managed to capture this pictures of Jogja main road, but, I was shocked even further when we landed on the airport, because the name of the airport is a;lmost similar to mine. It is called Adisutjipto Airport. Isn't it almost the same as adiekosongtiga...??? Perhaps it is the name of my undiscovered twin...???

I was told that this airport was only recently open for international flight. Hence, there is no aerobridge yet.

I like this kind of airport, because, there is a lot of things to see, while there is nothing to see via the aero bridge. Nows a days, you hardly have the chance to walk on the airport ground. You would propbably go from one aero bridge to another, and then direct to the hotels.

Therefore, this airport looks very friendly especially with this huge sign board to welcome you.

Guys......look out for Jogja 02....in the next posting.....soon....Insya ALLAH.

UEFA 040 - Dover to Carlisle

UEFA 040 - Dover to Carlisle
Sorry guys still no photo yet until we reached Amsterdam.

In Victoria, we went straight to the Euroline counter and booked 4 tickets to Amsterdam. We had a long wait. So we went wandering from one end of Victoria to another, taking pictures and buying souvenirs and tit bits for the long journey ahead. We also had lunch before departure.


In this trip I managed to borrow a video camera from my Manager. I took quite many shots. In fact, there were very few photographs, as most events were recorded in the video.


The Euroline bus took us through the London city before it reached Dover. The bus had to wait for a while, before, it made it onto the deck of the ferry that will take us to Amsterdam. The bus was full. About 40 people were on board and we were of different races and nationalities. We did not know each other, as Euroline, was not a travel coach, but more like any express bus service from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia.


We realized the advantage of taking Euroline bus than the train, is that, we did not have to carry our luggage up the ferry. The luggage remained in the luggage compartment of the bus, while it drove up the ramp to the deck of the ferry with all the passengers on board.


From the car park of the ferry we walked up to the lounge and finally to the passenger seating bay on the upper decks.


Once again, it was a very huge ferry like the Superstar Virgo that used to take Singaporeans from the Cruise Centre at Harbour Front to Penang or Phuket via the Malacca Straits.


My 2 daughters went by themselves exploring the facilities of the luxury cruise, while my wife and I was fast asleep from tiredness of the previous long journey, via plane, train and bus.


So you see the astounding experiences our daughters had for the first time in their life.


We started off from home with a taxi from Tampines to Changi Airport.


Then, we flew in a jumbo jet from Changi Airport in Singapore to Heathrow Airport in London.


Immediately, after landing we took the tube or MRT from Heathrow down to Victoria. After that, we took a comfortable coach from Victoria to Dover. Then now, on a luxury cruise from Dover in England to Carlisle in France, across the English Channel.


All these happened in quick sequence, one after another with only short wait in between.


We arrived at Carlisle at about 8pm. Before the ferry docked at the bay, we followed the crowd down to the lower deck to board the Euroline bus once again.


The ferry crossing of the English Channel from Dover to Carlisle was about 4 hours. We were expected to have our dinner on the ferry at our own cost, but we had it earlier in Victoria Bus Terminal.


It was quite a long wait, before the bus finally made it to the road level in Carlisle. All these while, our heavy luggage were safely in the luggage compartments of the Euroline bus.




Drafted on 18-04-2007 at 2200pm
Edited on 12-07-2008 at 0956 hrs

Who is Izutsu ?

Wat is this book all about?
Who is this Japanese guy? Is he a Muslim or wat...?

I have just embark reading Chapter one after the Introduction and Preface. The start is quite boring with further introduction on language, grammer and reasons for writing the book.

I endure.........I endure.......I endure.........

Didn't people say that " no pain no gain ".

UEFA 39b - Free n Easy

For my new relatives, friends and visitors, UEFA means Unexpected European Far-Flung Adventure. This one was in March 1996. At this moment still no photos. Perhaps next posting, when we enter Amsterdam.


I wanted to put some photos related to this travelog, but, kwank, kwank, kwang...they were not scanned yet.


In the last travelog, in UEFA 39a, I was writing that from the Heathrow Airport we took the tube to Gloucester to meet my niece, Rin, who was studying there is London. She stayed in Gloucester. It was a very short meeting, as we were in a hurry to catch the Euroline bus to Amsterdam.


Although it was a short meeting but I was happy that we could made contact although, she was from Malaysia, and we were from Singapore, but we met in Gloucester, England. Ain’t that some kind of an achievement.


Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps my daughters who followed us in that trip were a little upset, as we had to made so much trouble, just to meet their cousin whom they were not close with.


Unexpectedly, I am the type who is willing to endure the impossibilities and the undesirables, just for the sake of traveling and meeting family. It has been my personality, to visit families’ members, even if they be as far and difficult a place as Timbuktu. As you have seen in my previous trips, I always had someone to visit.


I had been visiting my first sister, Kak Ani, as far back as since 1967, when she was married and moved out to her own house. I would stay a night with her, doing nothing more important and without any other intentions than just a casual visit. When I was about 18, I took her first child, Eddy, out for a short trip from her house in KD Malaya, which was along Admiralty Road West to Johor Bahru. Rin is her fourth child.


When Kak Ani moved to Kuala Lumpur in 1971, My brother and I visited her family at Jalan Pahang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and stayed there for 2 nights.


In 1984 when I had a work assignment in KL, I dropped by at her house in Damansara and stayed with her for 2 nights, instead of staying in the hotel. My Malaysian colleague would come to pick me up in the morning from her house, to our Diethelm Instrumentation’s office, in Ampang, which was far from Damansara.


Whenever, I drove up for holiday tours in Malaysia, I would drop for a night at her house. Next day we proceed again to Penang, Terengganu, Kelantan and other destinations within Malaysia.


During her son’s engagement, sometime in 1996, we took that opportunity to travel up with her family to the bride’s house in Penang. After the engagement’s ceremony we proceeded to Perlis, up to the border of Thailand at Padang Besar. Then we went into Gua Kelam, Perlis’s famous luminous cave. We also went to the Kuala Perlis, where there were ferry services to Langkawi.


As for this Gloucester detour, it was just one of my passion to travel free-n-easy, on my own without travel guide. I like to stop anywhere I like, then proceed again to next destinations like a wanderer. Well that’s me.


Gloucester was a busy town. The wind was cold, as it was only about 9 am. After handing her some homemade delicacies from Singapore, we bid farewell to my niece, Rin and her room mate, and proceeded with the tube to Victoria.

A day with Mom

Two families gathered at Block 5 Toa Payoh


One is carried by Toyota Altis


The other one was carried by Hyundai Avante


First stop was Steven Drive formerly knowned as Steven Road

No no no they were not from drainage Dept inspecting the drain.

The lady in red was not their Inspectors. She is Syifaa' my grand daughter. The smiley is a prince. No no no not Prince of Egypt...not that TV one.

Rather they gathered there to rewind their memory of their nostalgic kampong house.

My wife and her sister were born there. So they bring their mother back to the place wehere they were born and where their mother brought them up. They had many memories to tell us. Although, we were kind of blurr like sotong, we somehow still manage to swallow as we do know of that place at Steven Drive. Its in Singapore by the way.

After a long chit chat at Steven drive we moved on to Ba' Alwi Mosque for the midday prayer, Solat Zuhor. It is one of the old mosque that had been around perhaps for hundreds of years.

Again this lady in red is not the official of the mosque.

Mom looked happy to have the oppurtunity to re-visit the past. This mosque is one of the most popular mosque in Singapore and it is near their kampong house.

After prayer we drove off on a leisure car tour for Mom. I bring them along the old roads via Sixth Avenue, Jalan Haji Alias, Coronation Road, Bin Tong Road, Holland Road and North Buona Vista Road.

We stopped for lunch at Chicken Rice Shop in Vivo City. It was crowded 'giler'. Giler is a punk word for mad. Meaning crowded like mad. Difficult to get empty parking lot. It was Saturday, and its a Family Day every Saturday, it seems, at Vivo City.

From Vivo City we drove up to the Mount Faber, AYE, ECP, KPE and out at Sengkang.

In Sengkang we stopped for afternoon prayer, Solat Asar, at Al-Mawaddah Mosque. This new mosque was opened in May 2009. It has a reputation of a Evironmentally Friendly Mosque, for water and energy savings.

From the mosque we drop in at a brother's house in Sengkang.

In Sengkang Mom get to visit one of her younger grand daughter.

From there we drove to Woodlands.

We prayed the evening prayer, Solat Maghrib , in Woodlands and then call it a day.

O Mama

When I remember you my tears well in my eyes.
When I remember you I will remember Terpedo, KD Malaya, Naval Base, Khalsa Crescent, RNTD.

When I look at my children I will remember you when I was your child.

How precious were those moments. You have made me what I am now, a happy grandfather.

O GOD Al-Mighty The Most Kind. Please forgive me and both my parents. Please be kind to them the way they had been kind to me. Shower upon them YOUR blessings. Make their graves like the gardens of Paradise. Let their graves shine and be as wide till the eyes cannot see.

O ALLAH, I realize that one day I will die and I will also be placed into the grave. Hence,please forgive all my sins big and small, and make my graves like the garden of Paradise too.

The Old Admiral

Remember the young man who dreamt to be an Admiral in The Navy.


Well.........now is a wise old man.

No no no he did not join the Zen in Japan.......but he is wise because as he aged to pick up reading seriously.....so that after his retirement he can start to write.

You are invited to view his private library........at least thru this translucent page of the blog...

Of all books he likes Religion and Philosophy.

You know.....he is close to become a philosopher if not for advice from his family...who persuaded him to stand on reality and contribute to save humanity from the wall of his 5-room flat in Woodlands.

Now is embarking into reading religion from the eyes of a Japanese co-philosopher.

What is this book all about......welll.....got to flip the pages some other time....as it is now time to perform the midday prayer the Solat Zuhr...see you again guys....

017-3 The Cave 18 : 50 - The Satanic Inclination

Translation, Commentary & Explanation of Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi.

The meaning of Verse 50

Remember when WE commanded to the Angels,

"Prostrate before Adam!".

All of them prostrated except Iblis. He belongs to the species of the genie.
He disobeyed the Commandments of his Lord.

"Is it appropiate that you take him and his ancestors and descendants as a leader other than ME. While he is your enemy?"

Iblis is the worst subsitute for GOD takenby the wrongdoers.

====================================================

Imam Jalalain commented that :-

The prostration is a bow in respect to Adam, not by putting the eyebrow.

[I do not understand what Imam Jalalaian meant by "not by putting the eyebrow"]

There are some opinions that Iblis is also an angel.

Others opinion said that he is the chief of the genie. He has got ancestors while the angels has no ancestors.

By refusing to bow to Adam, Iblis had ptotested and do not want to obey GOD.

The theme in this verse was for Prophet Adam and his descendants. At two instances the pronoun refers to Iblis, whom you follow.

It is wrong to follow the Iblis and his decendants as an alternative to ALLAH

[my understanding]

This verse shows man's inclinations to follows our desires, whims and fancies, instead of following the way of life as spelt out by GOD through the teachings of the prophets.

This verse is also meant for all human as we are all the descendants of Prophet Adam, because he was the first man created by GOD]

*************

Commentary by Harun Yahya :-

This verse points out the importance of obedience.

Iblis did not prostrate before Adam and disobeyed ALLAH.

In any society, law and order are established by the obedience, respect and trust that the people give to the state.

Religious morality prevents people from acts of violence and terror, because ALLAH forbids people to cause corruption. Those who live by this morality, will naturally do their best to refrain from evil.

They will follow the teaching of moral in the Quran and acquire contentment and inner peace, tolerance and a measured and non-provocative attitude and seek to create harmony.

If the Quran's morals and social modelsare accepted in society, peace and harmony will rule.

Those who live according to Quran's morality, as introduced by Islam, are helpful and tolerant.

There will be no arguments, disputes, terrorism and hostilities between the people and the police and governments.


==will be continued by the will of GOD==