Pelegong Village Homestay

I visited Pelegong Village Homestay in Negeri Sembilan in Malaysia. I attached some photos and hopefully can attached some videos too.

I went there with some 80 primary school students. They surely had good experiences during the visit conducted by Qodariyah Travel & Tours.

They had hands on experience on hooking earthworm as bait for fishing. Many of the children went shrieking when confronted by the worm. The shriek subside after some time.

My niece Nabilah caught a fish ans she was very excited.

During the mock wedding ceremony the children had experience the tradisional Malay musical instruments called 'Caklempong' and songs with Minangkabau slang.

2 cute little girls can perform tradisional Malay dance.

Last Sunday we went for a seafood dinner at Kampong Senibong. It was a nice place. It is just opposite of Senoko and across the Straits of Johore.

To go there, you can take the Pasir Gudang Highway. At the junction of Giant Hypermart turn left and then right and right again to Permas Jaya and Kampong Plentong. Then go straight you will see the sign post Kampong Senibong.

Go striaght to the end of the road and turn left. Go along that winding road until you see the sign board Selera Senibong Seafood (SSS).

The food was delicious. But beware they can be expensive. Suggest you start a small order first.

My Garden Office

My garden office is blossom with greeneries. It is such a nice working environment.

Even the toilets is appealing and has plenty of fresh air.

UEFA 020 - Versailles

UEFA 020 - Versailles

Next day, George drove us along the highway with Sedrika and Adrian. Along the way we passed by the Orly Airport. The highway was empty except with some shrubs and flowers in the centre median. There were no huge trees by the road shoulders as compared to the roads in the heart of Paris.

Soon I realized that we were visiting the Castle of Versailles. George told us that it used to be the residence of Napoleon Bonaparte the Great. I must say it was majestically beautiful. The doors and ceilings were very high and there were chandeliers lamps all over. There were, I think, hundreds of rooms. The castle tours only took us to some of the rooms opened to public.

Photography was not allowed.

Outside the castle was even more majestic. The garden was very vast and was decorated with elaborated species of flowers. Tiny fir trees accompanied the flowers at a sparse interval.

I think the castle was on a hill. Down at one side of the garden were palm trees and pond. Beyond the palm trees was a huge pond, which looked more like a lake. Beyond the lake were tall bushy trees faintly visible through the mist. On the other side was grass verge. Beyond the grass were some tall and bushy trees. Perhaps oak or elm trees.

On both sides, it was like an endless infinity beyond the mist. We could not see the fences or boundary walls. The Castle of Versailles is really very huge and the garden is blissfully vast.

Next day, George and Bettina went with us to tour Paris before sending us off at Gare de Lyon, for our return train trip to Geneva.

My wife and I had a little rift, when we arrived at Geneva. She was silent to my many suggestions. I became easily hurt by her silence, as though, she was ignoring me, or not happy with my plans or perhaps she was homesick, thinking of our young children back home. Though, I tried to tolerate, but, her complete silence just got me to my nerve.

Due to that incident, I cancelled my Jordan tour plan. At the ticket confirmation counter, I made a request for an immediate connecting flight to Singapore, without checking out in Amman.

Everything was arranged, and we were safely in the Royal Jordanian plane going back to Singapore via Kuala Lumpur.

440 words

~drafted on 10.12.2006

~edited on 19.03.2007

~at Woodlands avenue 5

~21:30 hrs

The End

005-5e The Cave 18 : 19 - How long did they sleep in the cave

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

Literal Translation of verse 16.
And that was how We woke them up so that they asked one another. One of them asked,

"How long have you stayed here?"

Some of them answered,

"Perhaps a day or half-a-day."

The others answered,

"Your Lord knows best how long you have stayed here. So let one of you go to the town with some silver money, and buy some good food. He must be gentle and should not tell anyone of your affair"

Commentary by Imam Jalalain.
That was what We had done to the People of the Cave. We woke them up so that they asked among themselves of their condition and the period of their stay in the cave. They had entered the cave during sunrise, and they woke up during sunset, so some of them thought that they had been in the cave only for a day.

The Arabic word "wariqikum" means "your silver money". According to an opinion, the town was Tharasus. Good food signify lawful for eating.

+++++++++++to be continued+++++++++++++++++++++++

Sukiyaki

My Syifaa' & My Sukiyaki

Its my Syifaa' again in the lime light. This time, my adorable grand-daughter was at the Hei Sushi at Downtown East. Downtown East is somewhere in Pasir Ris, in eastern end of Singapore.

Look at her video attached for the way she get things organized for our best sushi outing, as far as her grand-father is concerned.

This sushi outlet has authentic HALAL certificate. It was my chnace to try the SUKIYAKI. Always heard about it in a song. Now is the chance to get to know 'her' better.

The Malays would say it is 'ayam masak kichap' which is Chicken cooked with black saltish soya bean sauce. Unfortunately I dont have a picture of Sukiyaki. Perhaps next trip.

005-4e The Cave - Chapter 18 : Verse 18

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

Literal Translation of verse 18.
And you would have thought that they were awake, but they were asleep. We tossed them around to the right and to the left, while their dog stretched it's legs in front of the cave. And if you would have seen them, surely, you would have turn around and ran away with fear.

Imam Jalalain wrote that, if you would have seen them, you would think they were not asleep because their eyes were opened. God tossed them around so that their flesh was not worn out by the earth, while their dog strecthed it's front legs forward outside the mouth of the cave. When the youth tossed around, their dog also did the same. The dog was also sleeping although it's eyes were opened. Allah protected them by instilling fear to anyone who wanted to enter their cave, such that they were in a peacefully seclusion.

Dr Taqiuddin Al-Hilali & Dr Muhammad Muhsin Khan commented similar as the literal meaning above but added that the dog stretched its 2 forelegs at the entrance of the cave as a guard of the gate. Had you looked at them you would turn back and would have been filled with awe.

Muhammad Asad wrote that God turned them over repeatedly to the right and left and their dog lay on the threshold with its paws outstretched. An accidental onlooker would felt the mystic, awe-inspiring aura that surrounded the Men of the Cave, and would become concious that he stood before God's elect. This was the opinion of Iman Tabari, Razi, Ibnu Katsir and Baydawi.

+++++++++++++++++++++to be continued++++++++++++++++++++