Fansipan Roof of indochina - Part 1

I managed to coax Azad to join this trip. He had not follow any climbing trip for the last 5 years. I though why not rekindle the spirit of geng kain pelikat in Vietnam? Haha Of course, the organizers were Puncak ventures & Kelab Jelajah Alpine. The only club i truly trust to bring for trips around the world. :)

There were the 10 of us, Abang Lan and Susi from Keluang joined this trip as well - We had our fair share of fun in Pulag last year. Haziq was the expedition leader and we had bee and Cikapu as the puncak venture's team. to my surprise, TS Nordin Kardi and wife was in the group as well. Of course he introduced himself as Pak Din but im not too sure if other team members know that he was the one behind the Anak Kecil main api song :0)

nicknames

Me and Azad took an earlier flight to Hanoi via Malindo airlines. It was the cheaper alternative when compared to Airasia. Not many people realize his as when budget travelling comes into mind, Airasia becomes the default choice:)  Little that i know what was in store for us despite being early.

Upon our arrival in Hui Noi airport, Azad accidentally took another person's bag at the airport. I took for granted that it was my bag as well because we were in the midst of a very interesting conversation. That afternoon just after our prayers, a message came in from an unknown number.

Apparently i took her bag and mine was left in the airport. I quickly checked the bag and ooohh.. jatuh jantung wooo... Quickly i went to the lost and found department. I thought it was possible to exchange the bag but they insisted on the owner to come back and reconfirm. Damn. Luckily Flore (french backpacker) agreed to return to the airport as she was already in her hostel in Hanoi.

                                                                 Quecha confusion

Flore the french backpacker

 Alhamdulillah, it could have been worse i must say! Flore was nice as well and we were both very lucky. Honestly I would not have realized it say that we boarded straight on our van to Sapa. Allah's plan is the best and somehow as how this was meant to happen, it ended in a nice way.

All this was sorted upon the other team member's arrival. Alhamdulillah! I felt blessed and thankful as it could have been a catastrophic start.

The van then took us about 5hrs to Sapa. Elevation 1400m and when we arrived oohh sejuknya :) 

Tomorrow, the expedition starts :)

As much as i want to

As much as you want to ramble on the internet, you know you can't do it freely. For many reasons. A thin line between exploring your thoughts and revealing things which should be private in nature. Its easy to say that one should reach out, let out, let go.. but the reality is sometimes you just have to savour it all.

Its not something new but i guess it had rammed to the maximum tolerance of how one can cope. Its not easy to not being able to share freely as how one wishes. But yeah, no wonder orang jadi gila Hahaha

I've never felt sad as I am at the moment. I have my moments of being down in several occasions but this time around it really hits me hard. I am in fact amazed how much it can affect one. I've read about it, i've seen people talking how it can be and now when it happens to me I do really understand why and how bad it is to have such feeling.

As you can see this is being half here half there. Howlah to solve this issue? 

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Watched a Singaporean 2008 movie called Leap Years last night. Thought it was sweet but what i like most were the quotes within the movie. 

In three words i can sum up everything I've learnt: life goes on  - Robert Frost

And it made me wonder. True enough Mr Frost. Life goes on regardless thinking otherwise. The world do not revolve around us but just continue without our presence. 

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes - Oscar Wilde

Qatar November 2018 trip

I was in Doha in late November for a short course in ECMO. It was nice to spend holiday with the family in a place where not everybody would view it as a holiday destination.
The best time to go to the middle east would definitely be during Winter. I did enjoy my time there :)
 

Malaysia Delegation for ECMO Course

ECMO transport course


Two old acquantainces entertained us there. It was a good catch up to both Alhady, Nurrun and Wan Edrin and Wid with their lives as expats. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Kiev Champions League Finals 2018

One of those crazy moment of Carpe Diem!
Baru 2-3 hari Ramadhan and i decided to go to Kiev for the finals! A split decision of no previous planning.Ni baru la hardcore supporter!
Though Liverpool lost, the trip was worthwhile and once in a lifetime of a kind.




You,ll never walk alone!

Awan itu

Awan yang berarak,
Dari kejauhan,
membawa seribu satu harapan,
Pewarna ceria cerita suka,
Nun saujana memandang,
 Namun jangan terleka,
Apabila gumpalan bertukar rupa,
Tampakan jauh tiba-tiba hilang,
Gelap membawa taufan,
Hilang pandangan jiwa kelana,
Tinggallah iman menjadi nakhoda,
Mencari pedoman dalam kelam. 

A weekend of family gatherings in Johor

It was the CNY weekend. Papa & mama came over to Iskandar Puteri because they were attending family weddings. I thought of following them as I wanted to get to know who is in JB. There are a number of mama's cousins here and it was an opportunity to meet up again. I'm sure I've seen them before during raya during my childhood days.

 First was the wedding of Aunty Halimah aka Kak Siah. Initially I was confused then the names were interchanged. I thought there were two persons! haha Then after mama explained, Asiah was the family calling name and Halimah was the official name. It is just like my dad, known as Nasir but his real name is Mamat. I did get to see a number of familiar uncles and aunties. It brings such nice memories of my childhood. I do remember going to their houses then for raya, of course it was not me talknig to them to catch up then. 

 Next was visiting Auntie Yam who resides in Larkin. She used to stay in Singapore and i can recollect glimpse of her face during our visit there when i was very young. Her late husband worked in Singapore but they decided to move back about 5 years back. The cool thing about her residence was it was behind Larkin stadium! haha I will be visiting her more in the coming days during match days.

 The last gasthering was to hantar pengantin - Alif son of Uncle nal - my cousin. He is younger by ten years and it was his wedding there being held in Citra Sri Pinang, Benut Pontian. It was a nice venue made especially for occasions. The homestay was also nice and i would recommend it to those who wanna spend time in kampung surroundings. It was nicely built and designed.
I was not able to attend the nikah procession because being oncall but was ok to attend the majlis. It was nice to see my family members to catch up.

Congratulations to all. As for me, I am happy to meet up with my family members near and a far. 

Oh Cikgu My Cikgu

OH CIKGU MY CIKGU

Kami Semua
Budak Taman Tun
Siapa Tak Kenal
Cikgu Azhar
Cikgu Mendidik
Garang Auw manja
Kami Berjaya
Kami Hasilnya

OH CIKGU MY CIKGU

Cikgu kusayang
Cikgu kukenang
Jasamu Cikgu
Kami tak lupa
Kami Berdoa
Cikgu Bahagia

TEPUK PENGAKAP!!

*picure credit: Gjan Ishak

Au revoir to Cikgu Azhar Salleh

The one day i know Cikgu Azhar dreaded has arrived. Being in this school for 37 years, I wonder will he be ok later of not being able to contribute on how he had done all this years. Most of his life was spent here in SM Taman Tun Dr Ismail. He had become a symbol of the school - Everybody knows Cikgu Azhar : the broad foreheaded man with moustache. Iconic to a lot of us - the products of SMTTDI in his 37 years. 

I had pledged to come for this special day long time ago. It is his special day and perhaps the only day he will be escorted like in a wedding. Sad to say that until now, he hasn't found any life partner. But i suspect even if he did, he was off happier with his first love- the school and his students. 

I nearly could not make it because of a cardiac case I did the day before. If she was not stable, i could not leave Johor. Fortunately it was ok so i left for KL the night before on the last flight. 

It was obvious how all of us love him - the 37 years generation of scouts and students came for the day. It was very touching to see all taking either the day off in some way or another just to be present on this day. 

We managed to garner almost 100 of us on that day. We planned a surprise for cikgu in our crowdfunding which the initial aim is to buy a car for him. Unfortunately, we did not meet the target but the amount was equally large. Alhamdulillah , it worked out fine and I am sure Cikgu will be happy to receive all kind from his students.

we had our own surprise too; performing for him. There was no rehearsal, just a rehearsed idea in the whatsapp group. Fathullah started with his rendition of poetry. Then came my turn to lead a cheer. A cheer that i was inspired by the movie Dead Poet Society. Oh Captain My Captain. I blew my lungs out hahaha memang psycho betul 40 year old doing this routine in front of students who are of my son and daughter's age :) 

We ended the presentation with asking him to join us of MY WAY. Haha lawak la juga that we managed to do all this! Semangat scout tu :) 

What did we get him?

1. Iconic cake with his legendary car and figure :)

2. Cash Rm 10K

3. Trip to Japan ( He had always dreamt of this)

I guess we could see it in his eyes and expression how grateful he felt. I am sure he knew what was coming but the emotions that came in as a package is just one cannot describe.

And finally, in true fashion of sending off, the boys booked a horse carriage for him. 

Oh Cikgu my Cikgu, no matter how much we try to do, we will never match your dedication and sacrifice. You've given yourself to the school so much that i dont know, how SMTTDI would cope without you in the picture anymore.

*picture credit to GJan Ishak

The last supper

This week was a crazy one for me. I travelled to KL twice; because i had pledge to do it long time ago. To honour the best of men, my former teacher in SMTTDI Cikgu Azhar Salleh. He has been in SMTTDI since 1982 and never left the school till his retirement day. SO this week, we had two functions. One was dinner and the other his formal farewell in school.

We proceeded to book dinner in TTDI as it was convenient for most of us. Of course except me lah since im in Johor but i took the evening flight and made a point to be there for him. It was a good catch up. he has always been the way he is. Witty and very thoughtful. he can be silly at times but that is just him and most of us who grew with him would appreciate that fact.

We did not have all who pledged to come being there, but the number was just enough to recall the sweet memories of yesterday. Azad, Mafiz, Fiqar, Lan, Ezuan and Nurul Hamdi. It was fun catching up and seeing Cikgu Happy was a delight. One can tell when another is elated :)

Indeed a special teacher ; and i will tell more in the part 2 of Cikgu Azhar's retirement day :)

And after dinner, i boarded bus in One Utama for a four hour ride to JB! Memang gile, the next day: ONCALL...

HSA Acute pain workshop 2019

 I've always enjoyed being in the teaching role. Hence when there is any invitation to teach i will try my best to come for it. I must say i do miss having students and trainees to share my knowledge with. In the private practice its just you and your peers ; maybe opportunities to co manage certain complex cases but its different to teaching somebody younger and raw.

 I was invited to give a short talk with regards to acute pain with the HSA pain department. Initially the arrangement was i was to speak for industry but the arrangement collapsed due to recent government strict restrictions. However it was not an issue for me to sepnd an hour or two to talk to the current backbones of Johor main hospital. 

Thank you Dr Nita for the opportunity.