I babble, I ramble, and I rattle

Attended Adah’s wedding reception with Shila today.

Upon entering the hall, we saw Tini but since she was sitting at a table we considered too far from the stage, we went to sit at another. Mazni then called to ask if I had arrived because she was already outside the hall with Atie.

“Let’s wait for Atie and Mazni to come in first,” I said to Shila when she suggested we go get our food.

Now, let’s have a guessing game… Does anyone recognise Atie? (I’m not saying she’s famous but just wondering if she is because that was our debate for the day )

Me & Atie, high school manga buddies. (Yes, Atie. I am purposely putting up this picture because I know you read my blog )

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It didn’t take long for Mazni and Atie to appear. As soon as they took their seats, the newlyweds arrived. And they stopped right beside our neighbouring table to take pictures. Talk about luck! First and foremost, we were not at the buffet table when they made their grand entrance. Secondly, we managed to secure a good table.

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Hanie, whose fiance started a wedding photography business a while ago was busy doing her job as the official photographer for this wedding.

The URL at the back of Hanie’s T-shirt says http://flickr.com/fuzuri (just in case anyone is interested). Hey, Hanie! I’m giving you free promo here!!!

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While the happy couple went to have their lunch, we were entertained by the gamelan group from SMKS19. Told you!

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Anyway, they only played for an hour or so (or less?). We were restless. A few other friends were still on their way there. There was no chance we’d get to meet the bride… yet. What with the crowd of people wanting to take pictures with them.

Hanie sure had her hands full holding up the speedlights. (I went flashless… as usual )

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Good pic, huh? Considering I took this pic from our table (third table from the stage). Flashless and unedited. I really really like this lens.

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It was Mazni (or was it Atie?) who first suggested that we go and play the gamelan. The last time any of us had played the instruments was back in 1998.

So we did.

As we approached the group (sitting at one table), one of them recognised me. “Hei, tu kakak semalam!” he exclaimed. I grinned. And took my place at the saron pekin. Atie tried to play bonang but failed miserably and forced me to make way for her to play pekin. I shifted to bonang.

Testing out the instruments after 10 years not playing them. Mazni on gambang, Atie on pekin & me on bonang.

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We tried our best to recall the songs that we used to play. They came in fragments and were all jumbled up (e.g. intro for Togok but melody for Timang Burung). Initally, we couldn’t even match titles to songs.

While we fumbled our way through, the current SMKS19 gamelan players watched in amusement (or disgust at our obvious lack of skills? )

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Yours truly in action, attempting to entertain the crowd in the hall. Obviously they find it amusing to see us (guests) playing. One even asked if he could request a song.

I wanted to play gambang too but no one else (among us, the older generation) remembered how to play bonang so I was stuck there because it’s bonang that plays the main melody. Without bonang, gamelan just isn’t gamelan. Much to my surprise, I could still play it, though my skills have deteriorated. Wasn’t able to play one particular tune (not a traditional gamelan song) I played for SMKS19 Annual Sports Day back then. Too fast and too difficult.

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Even, Shila, who is currently 6 months pregnant couldn’t resist the temptation.

One of the (current) gamelan players recognised Shila, “You’re the one who got married last year!” Indeed, Shila too invited (ahem.. PAID) them to play at her wedding.

6-month pregnant lady playing gambang.

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We surely had a GREAT time! We even ignored the bride who greeted us as she came down the stage. Before that we were complaining that she was so busy entertaining others that she didn’t have time for us… But when she DID finally have time for us, we were busy having fun (so she went off).

All pictures of us playing gamelan was taken by one of the gamelan boys (sorry, I didn’t get your name) using my camera.

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When we returned to our table, our friends who had no idea where we were for the past half an hour couldn’t contain their surprise when we told them what we did especially when they found out that even Shila played (others were excused because we’re not yet married, hence allowed to do stupid things all we want). “Early exposure (to the baby),” I said.

We then met Eisya and her daughter who arrived when we were busy ‘jamming’. Hanie was still very occupied assisting her fiance.

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I couldn’t attend Eisya’s wedding a few years back as I was still studying in Penang. Now she already has a daughter (making a mental note to myself to visit Halina who just gave birth a few weeks ago).

Shila having a staring game with Qistina.

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It wasn’t until 3.20pm when the bride finally had time for us again.

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SMKS19 first batch of music students (3 Chimaera 1998).

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Since we were already on the stage, Hanie took the opportunity to take a picture with her best friend since primary school, Shila.

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I was disappointed that many couldn’t make it to the wedding. Naza had to work until 6pm today and Haszariah was attending her marriage course (yes, people! She’s getting married too!!!), None of the guys turned up.

Who is Atie?

Atie was a finalist in the 3rd season of Nescafe Kickstart. She is currently a regular contributor to Gempak (she submits 36 pages monthly, hence the reason why she should buy us dinner ). Since she is paid by the page, we suggested she make her drawings bigger for two reasons: 1) get more money and (2) annoy readers like my brothers and Kona because there’ll be less content.

She said she’d probably get fired if she does that so readers out there don’t have to worry about it being put in action (because she won’t do such a thing).

For more pics, please visit my GALLERY.

I had a brief chat with one of the gamelan players that I met this morning who plans to sit for the SPM music paper next year. She told me she heard that the paper is tough and asked if it is true.

I didn’t know what to tell her. Indeed, my teachers have been telling me that after my year, no one (from my school) ever managed to score an ‘A’ for the paper.

There was a big difference between my batch of music students and the following batches. Many of us were academic top scorers. When we went our own way in form 4, most of us ended up in the top classes or boarding schools. And those who decided to continue our music education up until the SPM level were from the top 3 classes in our school.

Compare that to our juniors who took music to have fun (that’s what people thought we did all the time and many wanted to join the class because of that). For them, music was simply the better alternative compared to visual art. Not many of them were serious about music. To them, music was just about playing the instruments (needless to say, many flunked their theory tests/ exams). And unlike us, not many of them were top (academic) scorers.

My batch was the first to take up music for SPM. Less than 10 students (about 5, I think) out of the original 40 music students in my batch registered for the paper. Only those who wanted to did. I was one of them.

Being the first wasn’t fun. We had no textbooks and we had no guidelines. You do know that music is a very wide subject, don’t you?

To make things worse, our music teacher was never at school. We only saw him once a month. He was too busy with his band. If he wasn’t travelling around Malaysia, he was busy doing something at the Ministry of Education of the District Education Offices (PPD) but apart from his shows, we had no idea what else he was doing at that time.

I didn’t mind a bit if he wasn’t around… AS LONG AS he could tell us what was to be expected from us for the exams. He promised us to get the syllabus from the ministry. He also promised to update our notes on the histories of gamelan and caklempong musics in Malaysia which he bluntly told us were not accurate. The inaccurate notes were sent to us by the Ministry of Education together with the instruments. Apart from music theory (we made our own notes), that was the only proper notes we ever had in our 5 years of music education in secondary school.

He never did anything.

We had no idea at all on what might be asked. We didn’t even know if classical music was part of the curriculum but one thing for sure… We memorised our gamelan and caklempong notes (the so called inaccurate ones because he never gave us the updates) almost word by word. We did the same thing with our kompang notes (history of kompang, how to care for them, beat patterns, playing styles, etc). We made sure we knew (almost) everything about Malaysian traditional music because the lower secondary syllabus stressed on them.

All the while, we hardly saw our music teacher and we were never even briefed on the format of the paper. He was too busy for anything. We were only told that there would be essay questions.

For one of my courseworks, I did something on symphony orchestra (the history & instruments) so I was prepared for questions related to that. I also did courseworks on Bee Gees musical career, Chinese traditional instruments and Malaysian aborigines musical instruments.

Just before the big exam, I did some reading on several prominent classical music composers (namely Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky. I only chose four because I didn’t have much time).

We discovered the format of the paper on the exam day itself. There were several separate sections. I particularly remember one section where a song score was provided and we were asked to find the chords for each bar. Note that we only had papers and pens with us. We had no musical instruments to check if our chords were correct. It was a bit tricky. In two separate bars, my chord didn’t seem to fit in the melody. Turned out the song was written in a minor scale (I was thinking in major).

There was also a section for music terms and another for recorder fingering (soprano & alto).

Much to our dismay, the essay part was beyond our abilities to answer. We had to answer two out of four (or was it three out of six? I don’t remember). Granted, there was a question on the history of gamelan in Malaysia (I answered that) but the rest was on classical music. I was lucky that one of them was about Mozart. The others were… ermmm… Unheard of.

One of the questions was something like this: Comment on the music style of compositions done by J.S. Bach.

The composer name is changed to Bach because I can’t remember the composer in question. All I can remember is later that day (on the exam day), when Ba’ah asked me about the paper, I complained and mentioned that particular composer’s name and Ba’ah was incredulous. “You don’t know him???” he asked in disbelief. Apparently that composer was famous for his weird compositions which did not follow the usual patterns.

It wasn’t any secret that I didn’t like my third music teacher who took over our class when we were in form 4 (the first teacher went to further his studies and the second one moved to another school), Cikgu Azhar but not many knew the real reasons.

First of all, he was rarely in school for our classes. And never delivered his promises. The long rant about an absent teacher above was about him.

Secondly, when we were in form 4, he didn’t allow us to play gamelan (caklempong was totally forgotten by then) anymore because he said we had to concentrate on our SPM next year. Instead, he recruited form 3 students (they were going to sit for their PMR exams that year!!!) who were not even from the music class! I was really mad and so was Yiki but there was nothing we could do. We could only watch them gloating about their performance for the Sultan of Selangor when he became the Agong. They also performed at several other glamorous functions which we couldn’t be bothered to find out.

Thirdly, he promised to help me record the song that I wrote for a song writing competition in conjunction with Bulan Sains Selangor (Selangor Science Month). He even promised to SING the song for me. He gave some ideas on the arrangement. I told him the arrangement was up to him. He seemed happy with it.

Days passed. He wasn’t in school most of the time but I didn’t care. We already had an agreement. When the science teacher asked me if the song was ready, I assured her that Cikgu Azhar was working on it.

Two days before the deadline, I managed to see him again. He told me he had not done anything but promised to do something that night.

The following day… Nothing was done yet. He told me he forgot and was too busy to do it then so I had to do it myself. I almost cried (seriously, it was all I could do to hold back the tears). If only he told me much earlier, I would’ve been able to do it myself. I gave the song to him about 2-3 weeks earlier and he AGREED to help.

Seeing that I was close to tears, he agreed to help me with it but he wouldn’t sing for me. I had to sing it myself. Me? Sing solo? No way! In desperation, I seeked out Vincent, Amy‘s brother. He agreed to sing the song for me.

However, we only had a few hours to record the song (can you imagine me doing it all by myself at that kind of last minute? I didn’t even know how to do the arrangement). 2 hours to be exact. Before school session ended. I had to pass the tape to the science teacher before she left school that day so that she could submit it to the PPD on the following morning.

Vincent was full of energy and motivating but Cikgu Azhar was barely tolerating me. He was bored and couldn’t wait to be done with the recording. After two full attempts (the rest were more like practices because Vincent had not heard the song before), he said we were done. I was not satisfied with the finished product (Vincent was off-key at certain places) but I wasn’t in the mood to argue.

I submitted that tape. And won second place (first place went to someone from Bukit Bintang Boys School). The prize was a boring pencil sharpener that I received a few months later. That was one of the proudest moments in my life especially when I found out who the judges were. Two were well known Malaysian composers. I think one was Khairil Johari Johar. I think. After 8 years, I’m not sure anymore. Even the pencil sharpener is gone now.

That was the last song I ever wrote.

My high school teachers who know that I’m back in Shah Alam have been asking me when would I visit them in school. Not wanting to put off the visit any longer, I decided to go today. Little did I know that the school is still on (an extended) CNY holiday.

Cikgu Salehudin who was having a chat with the security guard immediately recognised me and (as expected) began to ask me questions. It’s a good thing he was there because the other security guard who knows me by name (his daughter was the school canteen operator when I attended the school) wasn’t around to give me a special security clearance (i.e. free to roam the school). I could have just sneaked in if I wanted to but I wouldn’t feel good about it.

From the guard post, I heard the faint but unmistakable sound of gamelan music.

I was about to ask for their permission when Cikgu Salehudin suddenly suggested that I go and have a look at the music room (when first opened in 1996, it was officially named Music Studio but everyone simply called it ‘music room’).

My batch was the first to use the room, at that time only equipped with a limited number of instruments (i.e. recorders & kompang). The caklempong set arrived in the end of 1997 (if I remember correctly) along with 20 units of Yamaha keyboards and in early 1998, we received the gamelan set.

It was a pilot project for music education in secondary schools. SMK Seksyen 19 was among the 20 schools chosen (one of the two in Selangor). My batch was the first intake. Our first music teacher was my music teacher in primary school, Cikgu Abdul Aziz. Even though I disappeared for a year (had to attend school in Kelantan because Mama went off to the UK to further her studies), I was immediately accepted into the music class when I returned to Shah Alam in 1997 because the teacher had known me for 4 years (in primary school where I always topped the chart for music exams).

Students could only apply to join the music class at the beginning of form 1 and they had to go through some sort of audition (or so I heard because I had none). Unless you were from a music class from another school, you won’t be allowed to join the class when you’re already in form 2 or 3. Mine was definitely a special case.

Actually I’ve told the teacher I wanted to join the class when I was still in standard 6. He was telling me and a few friends that he’d be following us to secondary school to teach music there. We were informed well in advance. And I booked my place.

Anyway, there were only three students in the music room when I arrived.

(translated)

Me : So… What function are you playing for?

Boy : Not sure. But we’re gonna perform tomorrow.

Me : Oh…

Boy : At the MBSA Banquet Hall.

Me : Hey! My friend’s wedding reception is tomorrow at the same hall!!! You’re playing for a wedding?

Girl : Not sure.

Fine. Maybe they’re not sure. But I’m sure I’ll meet them again tomorrow at Saadah’s wedding reception. Saadah was my classmate. She too was a music student.

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So much has changed in the room. Gone were the school desks that we used to put the keyboards on and to write our notes. More instruments were on the shelves. They even have TWO gamelan sets now. Oh, and TWO caklempong sets too.

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However, just like before, the caklempong sets have long been neglected as evidenced by the dust and the dull appearance of the unpolished bonang. I have some sentimental tie to this set because I was the first caklempong leader and our group was the first to perform caklempong music in the school.

Not long after the gamelan set arrived, everyone seemed to forget about our caklempong group. Gamelan music (a non-exclusive palace music in Malaysia) is, after all, much grander than caklempong.

I don’t remember how but I then changed to gamelan and became their lead musician as well. Yiki, who played gendang anak for the old caklempong group also followed me and managed to secure the gambang (the wooden xylophone) as her instrument. Sometimes (when we got bored with our instruments), we swapped.

By that time, no one cared about caklempong anymore. Then disaster struck. The dikir barat group (generally NOT music class students but the leaders were my classmates) borrowed a few bonang (the individual mini gongs) for their national level competition (I think they won gold). They broke one and damaged another.

No one cared. Why? Because no one played the caklempong anymore. I was able to retune the damaged bonang but the broken one had to be replaced. After a big fight between me (I was one of the very few who were concerned about the broken bonang) and the dikir barat group, they finally promised to replace it… But never did. No one ever did.

Without one note (the broken bonang), the caklempong set was rendered unplayable and remained untouched at one corner of the room. It was a sad sight. Even the sticks (used to play them) were neglected. Two or three disappeared while the rest were in disrepair.

Since then, caklempong music completely disappeared from our school but the sentimental attachment that I had towards the set remains until today.

Sad to think that these instruments are as shiny as you can imagine upon arrival (at the school). I think this is a new set because the notes were labelled on them. I don’t think anyone had ever played the old incomplete set again. Even the new set is probably not played by anyone because when asked about caklempong, the students were totally clueless. They don’t know how to play it.

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The shelves were still the original one given to us back in the 1990s.

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Looking around the room, the memories of my classmates came flooding.

Anba used to play this bongo drums between classes. He was really really good at it. None of us could play like he did.

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And this is the gendang anak that Yiki used to play for the caklempong ensemble. Gendang ibu (played by Huda) was nowhere to be seen.

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No one seems to be using the recorders anymore. Back then, we used to have a recorder ensemble too. I played alto. Actually wanted to play tenor or bass but they were all taken (because I wasn’t there in 1996). The rest played soprano or alto (it was compulsory for each of us to have BOTH soprano and alto recorders).

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From left: soprano, alto, tenor. There wasn’t any bass recorder lying outside their bags and I couldn’t find the sopranino which we only had one. It’s probably gone now.

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One of the 20 keyboards we received in 1997.

The school logo sticker on the right (of the keyboard) was made by us in 1998. We sold the stickers to raise our fund.

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Now replaced by a later model by Yamaha and Roland. Only a few of the first batch of keyboards are still playable.

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Not long after that, the rest of the gamelan players arrived. They confirmed that they are going to play for a wedding at the MBSA Banquet Hall tomorrow.

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Not wanting to disturb their practice, I left.

Back row, from left: Saron demung, saron baron, gong, gendang ibu.

Middle row, from left: Saron baron (played by the girl wearing a peach coloured headscarf), saron pekin a.k.a saron penerus (played by the boy using a hammer-like device).

Front row, from left: Gambang (the wooded xylophone), bonang.

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Outside, I noticed these murals on the wall. They are quite new because I don’t remember seeing them the last time I went to visit about 2 years ago.

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Even though I didn’t get to meet the teachers I wanted to meet, it was an interesting visit. After almost 10 years, I finally get to play gamelan again (doesn’t matter if I only played it for a few minutes )

There’s a lot more I want to write but I’ll do it in another post. This one is already getting too long.

On our way home from Kelanang Beach, we dropped by at my aunt’s house in Sri Muda, Shah Alam for dinner.

Their cats were so adorable. The siblings were huddling together on the sofa when their mother called.

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It was time for supper.

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Soon the kittens fell asleep.

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So their mother left them.

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Aren’t they adorable?

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As soon as we returned home from Segambut on Tuesday, my parents asked me if I’d like to follow them to Banting to visit Mama’s brother. I’ll leave it to Mama to tell the reason of the visit in her blog.

Mama purposely mentioned sunset at Morib Beach to lure me into agreeing to follow them. Obviously I did.

However, instead of going to Morib Beach, we took a one-way coastal road (from Morib) to Kelanang Beach (it’s just a few minutes from Morib).

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The view was breathtaking.

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Unfortunately, we didn’t stop for pictures. I have to make do with whatever pictures I snapped from the car.

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With the ongoing erosion, I wonder how much longer this road can last.

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A few minutes later, we reached Kelanang Beach where families and friends were enjoying their time together against the backdrop of ships entering and leaving Port Klang.

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Just like many other nice hang out places, the place was littered with food packagings. How embrassing and disappointing to know that fellow Malaysians are not yet smart enough to keep the place (and many others) clean.

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I couldn’t help but wonder why Ba’ah couldn’t use his hands to hold the lens cap like I do.

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It was getting dark and the mosquitoes were out for dinner so it was time for us to leave.

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Oh, there’s no sunset picture because the sun was hidden behind the clouds when it was about to set.

With all the excess uncooked food (there was A LOT!!! Imagine prawns, chicken and beef for 3 meals for 4 families) in the car, we decided to drop by Nitzus’ place in Segambut for a steamboat late lunch/ early dinner.

Since we went to Fraser’s Hill in two cars, Mama & Ba’ah suggested that we (the kids) spend the night at Nitzus’ place. They themselves went home right after the meal.

We were more than happy with that arrangement. Nitzus even so. We hadn’t had the chance to play Elfenland and my brothers were disappointed that Nitzus didn’t bring Arkham Horror to Fraser’s Hill. They’ve played Arkham Horror before and failed to defeat the monster. Not to mention they were falling asleep while playing the game (it was 4am when they started playing – the reason why I didn’t join them – and being in Fraser’s Hill didn’t help).

Nitzus’ collection of games. Some of the plastic folders contain more than one game.

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We first played Coloretto.

Only after Alifus was safely tucked in bed did we start our session. Setting up the table took Nitzus almost half an hour. Even a dining table wasn’t big enough to accommodate all the cards and tokens being used for the game.

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While we finalised our character choices and prepared our items, Boka went through the rules book again to refresh his memory on the rules (he had been the ‘legal advisor’ for the game since the first time they played it).

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I chose to play Mandy Thompson, the researcher. My special ability was to give another chance to any player (including myself) when he/she failed a skill test (e.g. in attempting to defeat monsters).

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Nitzus suggested that we play against Azathoth (there were many monsters to choose from, each with different abilities). Our mission was to close all portals before Azathoth awakens; otherwise the entire world would be destroyed. We didn’t have to fight Azathoth himself, unlike other monsters.

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We finally began the game proper at 12 midnight.

My character in R’lyeh, an Other World. I was on a mission to close and seal the portal to R’lyeh.

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At 2.30am, Boka announced, “I forfeit this game.”

Indeed, it was a wise decision. there was no way we could have won that game. There were monsters all around Arkham City and we were not strong enough to defeat them all. Whenever we tried to, we would end up in the asylum (we lost our sanity because the monsters were too scary for us to fight ) or the hospital. In addition to that, Azathoth was about to wake up and there were so many open portals on the board. It was an impossible mission.

So we started fresh with new characters. Kona changed from a student to a psychologist. Boka changed his gangster character into a useless lady who gets money at the start of every round. Pih changed from the magician into someone else. Mae changed from being a professor into… errmmm… I don’t remember. I think Nitzus changed his character too but I stuck to Mandy which proved to be VERY useful (because of her special ability).

Kona was very unfortunate that her character went mad (despite being a psychologist! ) and was cursed (her chances of winning battles were greatly reduced). No one bothered to lift her curse (by blessing her). When Pih did a blessing, we thought he was going to bless Kona… but he blessed himself instead.

Pih became the most powerful researcher with his collection of spells but when the environment changed such that no spells were allowed to be cast, I became quite powerful with my physical weapons and people started passing me their useful items so that I could close and seal another portal.

I met Boka’s character on my way to other world and since he had spells that would make sealing the portal much easier, I passed the items (passed to me by others) to him. That was when Boka defeated his first monster (after hours of gameplay and others already had at least 2 each) and closed his first portal.

We were confident of winning but some strong monsters suddenly appeared on the board. That was when we intensified our discussions at the beginning of each round to make sure we had the right strategy.

Pih and Mae were in the Other Worlds but were only able to close the portals but not seal them. It was almost the time for Azathoth to wake up. We could either close ALL open portals (there were three and apart from Pih & Mae, others were not fit enough to fight) or seal only ONE to finish the game. Unfortunately neither Pih or Mae were able to seal their portals. They ran out of clue tokens needed during their battles with the  monsters.

Therefore, we went on a mission to send whatever clue tokens we had to either one of them. Since Pih was closer to us (who were huddled at the hospital ), we chose Pih.

At 5.50am, the game was over. We WON!!!

Everyone was so excited because we finally won the game for the first time. Nitzus announced, “Next time, let’s fight Ctulhu.”

Just set the time and place, Nitzus. We’ll be there (if we can).

Water flow had been extremely slow since 10pm on Sunday and by the time we were done playing games that night, water had stopped flowing in all the taps in the apartment except the one in the toilet.

Me and Boka went to the Reception (a.k.a The Clubhouse) to see if there was anyone we could report our problem to. There was none. We returned home.

Boka then told me he really needed to go to the toilet and luckily I happened to know there’s one at the guard post. Initially we planned to walk there but we didn’t get further than the Clubhouse before scrambling back home in fright… No thanks to the howling wind and minimal visibility.

Really… It was VERY scary. Especially if you know how many haunted houses there are in Fraser’s Hill and one happens to be very near to Silverpark… And that particular house is very well known because it’s one of the most haunted house in Fraser’s Hill. No one has ever lived there. Everytime the house changed hands and the new owner sent workers to renovate the place, they ran away soon after they got in.

Fine… I admit. We’re cowards.

The walk to the guard post would only take a few minutes (less than 5 minutes) but returning home would have taken a longer time because we would have to go up the hill. We figured we wouldn’t be able to survive the walk so I offered to drive him there. Eizza, my cousin from Melaka wanted to come with us.

At the guard post, I had to leave the car to guard the toilet door which could not be closed without being held from outside. While Boka took his time, me and Eizza (thank god she wanted to come along!!!) had to endure the cold temperature (even without the wind, it was already 15°C and with our thin jackets, we were prepared only to wait in the car) as well as all the weird and scary sounds that could be heard around us.

Many times I thought I saw movements near the car which were actually just flapping leaves. The garbage collection building door was not properly latched and therefore repeatedly creaked open and close. Not just that, the wind itself was producing strange wailing sounds.

Fortunately by the time we couldn’t stand the goosebumps anymore, Boka was finally done.

Anyway, on Monday morning, Mama went to the Reception to see if anyone knew of anything about the water shortage. Apparently there was a broken pipe somewhere, disrupting water supply to the entire Fraser’s Hill.

We had to use the toilet in the Clubhouse (they have a bigger water tank) to do our businesses that morning. A few other guests did the same. Some even brought towels with them.

The lady at the reception counter informed me that maybe… Just maybe… The pipe would be fixed before 2pm. MAYBE. “It’s not a promise,” she stressed and added that she had no idea when it would be fixed if it’s not done by 2pm.

Water problems aside, we were still having a good time.

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Nothing beats using the vacuum cleaner pipe when playing bubbles. That’s our all time favourite.

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Alifus was definitely having a blast with the bubbles.

I really like this picture. Too bad it’s blurry.

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Then Nitzus (Alifus’ dad) came up with the idea of blowing cigarette smoke into the bubble.

The only shot I was able to take because Cu only did it thrice. I was inside when he did it for the first time. The bubble burst in his second attempt and I didn’t have time to find a better angle when he did it for the third time.

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When everyone stopped blowing bubbles, Alifus went to play the drums (Boka brought Wii and the Guitar Hero set as well as other games to Fraser’s Hill).

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By 2pm, water supply to Fraser’s Hill had not been restored. I went to see the lady at reception again. Four or five people were queueing to check in. I silently laughed at them. The lady quietly informed me that they’re hoping that the pipe would be fixed by 5pm.

We briefly discussed our options and promptly decided to leave the place. We managed to pack everything in 20minutes. That was quite a record.

At the Gap, lots of cars were queueing to wait for their turn to go up at 3pm. Even though it was still 20 minutes to 3pm, the queue was already so long, stretching way beyond the Gap Resthouse. If you’re familiar with that place, you’d have some idea on how long the queue was looking at this picture. And that was at 2.40pm. By 3pm, the queue would have been much longer (we did come across many cars from the opposite direction on our way down from the Gap).

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A while later, we encountered another group of cyclists. We couldn’t help but wonder what were they doing there because it’s not a very common sight in that area.

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Further down the road, Chilling River was full of visitors.

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And the Selangor Dam lake was as peaceful as ever (funny there weren’t as many anglers as usual).

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Things I planned to do in Fraser’s Hill but did not get the chance to:

Sleep in the tent – there was a leak and it rained most of the time.

See how cozy it was inside when I had my duvet with me? (Picture taken in February 2008)
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Search for Balanophora (a root parasite) in the forest; I haven’t seen the flowers in full bloom – we left Fraser’s Hill a day earlier than originally planned.

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A budding balanophora. (pictures taken during CNY break in 2008)

More pictures of Balanophora at Prof KMS’s Flickr (many taken in Cameron Highlands) and Ba’ah’s Gallery (Fraser’s Hill). Prof KMS, a botanist, was the person who first introduced us to Balanophora. He even took my parents and Kona in his expeditions looking for Rafflesia.

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Take pictures around Fraser’s Hill – It was too cloudy (could hardly see anything!) and we didn’t have the time.

Birdwatching.

Oh, well… Maybe next time.

My aunt’s family arrived at 1.30pm.

My cousins from Melaka.

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My uncle’s family arrived not long after.

Alifus, the spiderman wannabe.

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We’ve even met a hungry local resident.

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But my family (Ba’ah, Boka, Pih, Mae & Kona) had not arrived so we gave them a call. They were going to leave home at 3pm (to come up the hill at 5pm)!

As soon as they arrived, Boka wasted no time in setting up the tent on the balcony. We need the extra sleeping place for the duration of our stay this time.

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That night, we had a BBQ dinner.

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We cheated. We used the electric grill I bought in Dublin.

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Apart from the chicken and sausages, we had prawns too.

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As soon as the babies/ toddlers were put to sleep, Nitzus as our gamesmaster (he collects games and would ALWAYS bring a few to Fraser’s Hill to play with us) officiated our compulsory boardgames and cardgames session.

Boka was assigned to read the rules for Saboteur while I read about Elfenland. At the same time, Nitzus briefed us on the bidding game based on Star Wars theme.

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After a few rounds of the bidding game (I can’t remember the name), it was time for Saboteur. Having no one to play with at home, Nitzus’ Saboteur was still unopened.

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With Boka as his assistant, Nitzus explained to us the rules of the game.

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It was a very simple game yet extremely entertaining… What with us trying to bluff each other on who was a good dwarf looking for gold or who was actually a Saboteur (our roles were only revealed at the end of each round).

We fell for Nitzus’ trick in the first round. He managed to convince us that he’s a Saboteur so that Kona (also a Saboteur)  would help him repair his tools. Turned out he’s a digger and with Kona’s help, managed to win the round.

Towards the end of the final round, a few of us were so desperate to win some golds that we actually revealed our roles (for that particular round) and formed the ‘Diggers United’. The Saboteurs almost won the round but in the end WE DID!!!

The gamers. There were 8 of us.

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For more pics, please visit my GALLERY.

Just like last year (pics HERE), we spent our Chinese new year break at Fraser’s hill. We always spend our long weekends there and would have some sort of family gathering with anyone (uncles & aunts) who could join us.

We went in FOUR cars. Two were supposed to aim for the 11.00am turn to go up the hill from the Gap and the other two at 1.00pm because someone had to arrive earlier (than the rest) to clean up the place. Fraser’s Hill is very humid damp so things get mouldy easily and the apartment hasn’t been visited for 3 months.

Me, Mama, Ma (grandma) & Ayah (grandpa) left in one car at 9.15am while my aunt’s family (who came over to our place the night before) left a while later. The rest of my family was supposed to leave at 11am together with my uncle’s family.

The highway was empty and our journey very smooth.

Somewhere on the Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE).

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Near Bukit Subang exit.

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Still on GCE.

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After the toll at Bukit Beruntung exit, this familiar junction cluttered with signboards greeted us.

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I’ve always liked this stretch of road before reaching Kuala Kubu Baru.

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And as usual, we made a stop at the Selangor Dam. Before this dam began construction, we used to frequent this place for the cool and clear Pertak River. Now that delightful river is somewhere underneath the huge dam. Seeing the structure always make me feel sentimental. When the dam had just finished construction, I observed the gradually rising water level (we went to Fraser’s Hill almost every weekend back then) with heavy heart.

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And now, our trip to Fraser’s Hill wouldn’t be complete without a stop at the SPLASH Info Centre where history of the place and construction of the dam are in display. Whenever we had guests coming with us, we would tell them with pride that we used to go for picnics at the river and had a few encounters with the loin-clothed aborigines.

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I’ve taken so many pictures of them dams (probably hundreds of them) in different weather conditions and some were much better than this one but I’m too lazy to look for them.

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As we passed the dam, the road became more winding with sharper bends. However, in several stretches, the works on improving the road condition have been completed.

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10 minutes before the gate is closed for traffics going up, we arrived at the Gap. Unfortunately my aunt couldn’t make it in time. To kill time (for the next turn to go up at 1pm), they went to Kuala Kubu Baru town.

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Along the way (from the dam), we encountered several cyclists. When we saw this one halfway from the Gap to Fraser’s Hill, we thought he must be the one leading.

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A few minutes later, we arrived at Fraser’s Hill… And spotted another cyclist.

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Fraser’s Hill clock tower. Note that it was 11.50am when this picture was taken (from inside the car).

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Renovation works are still in progress around the clock tower.

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Slightly ahead, more cyclists!!! Obviously the one we saw on the way up wasn’t the one leading.

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From the town of Fraser’s Hill, we headed to our apartment at Fraser’s Silverpark Resort.

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Our apartment was hidden in the clouds.

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Compare this view of another block of apartments from our balcony…

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With this one taken when it wasn’t cloudy.

These big trees have been chopped down for some reason. It was a good place for bird watching.

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The temperature… A cold 15°C at 12noon. It was indeed still winter on Fraser’s Hill (it doesn’t get this cold, especially at noon during other months).

Thermometer reading on our balcony.

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For more pics, please visit my GALLERY.

Ok. I’m finally done for today (i.e Saturday, 24/01/09).

Had an early start. Went to the market to get beef and vegetables followed by a trip to Tesco for the prawns as well as a few other things (finally managed to use the ‘save RM20 with purchase of over RM200 in one receipt’ coupon! Yay! ) and a few hours in the kitchen preparing the things that we’re going to bring tomorrow.

Managed to get a 2-hour nap in the evening before continuing to slave myself in the kitchen.

Cooked our beef dish for tomorrow’s lunch (that is, for 3 families) and for some reason I made some more cinnamon rolls. Even mum couldn’t believe that I was actually making more cinnamon rolls… TONIGHT.

By the way, my parents got back from Krabi at 5pm (if I remember correctly) today.

Tempted as I am to sleep late tomorrow morning, I know I can’t. From the beginning, I’ve been put in charge of the logistics for the meals for the next few days and therefore only I know what to bring, how many containers of each item (e.g. 4 bags + 1 container of chicken, 4 containers of prawns, 3 packets of mushroom etc) and where they are because they’re practically all over the place (some in the freezer, some in the fridge, some in the kitchen, etc).

My family has been warned. I might spend the next few days hibernating under my beloved (and terribly missed) duvet. Can’t wait.

Updated at 1.30am, 25/01/09: I just remembered I haven’t packed my bag!!!