By Road to Malaysia: Bidding farewell to Jamalulail Ismail and family

A couple of days ago, I blogged about Jamalulail Ismail and his family who are travelling "By Road to Malaysia" on their motorhome (Read post here). They dropped by at Coventry for a few days and we were able to meet up with them and have a chat just before they left.

Jamal gave us a brief tour of their motorhome and their equipment. It was quite pleasant inside even though it was around 27 degrees outside. I was quite surprised that they did not have air conditioning and wondering how they would cope when they pass some of the warmer countries on their journey.

I asked them how they intended to keep in touch with all their friends, family and fans following their journey. They told me that they would try to update their progress via their Facebook page, Twitter and blog wherever they had internet access. They do not have a satellite phone but they have a DeLorme in Reach two-way satellite communicator with GPS which allows text messaging from anywhere in the world (according to their site) and post their location on a map. They can also send an SOS in case of an emergency though I hope it will never come into use.





They are looking for sponsors now. Please contact Jamal (advertise@byroadmalysia.com) if you want to sponsor a satellite phone, fuel or part of the cost of their journey.

We wish them all the best and pray that they have a safe journey which I am sure would be an amazing adventure.

We bid Au Revoir to them (till we meet again). Selamat Mengembara!!

From UK to Malaysia

Our friend Jamalulail Ismail, his wife Sofinee Harun and their 4 kids are embarking on a fantastic journey. They are embarking on long trip, from the UK to Malaysia by road on their 2.9 L Turbo Diesel Mercedes Benz motorhome, fulfilling a dream that Jamalulail had for a long time.



Right now they are busy preparing for the trip which will take them across more than 30 countries and some hot spots.


Their planned route.

They post regular updates on their By Road to Malaysia Facebook page and also on their blog .

Check out their website for more information about their project - it is a huge project.

Wishing them all the best on this amazing journey.

Following his Dreams - Khairzul

How many of us have dreamt of leaving our 9-5 jobs, travelling around the World and doing something we really loved.

Well, meet Khairzul my friend who did just that - an engineer by profession, he gave up his job in one of the biggest telecom companies in Malaysia, moved halfway round the World to the Netherlands and started painting.

Koi

Looking at his paintings, it is hard to believe that Khairzul has not received any formal training - he is a self - taught artist. I have watched him evolve as he tries to find his own "style". Initially I could see the influence of Van Gough - I guess it is hard not to be when you stay in the Netherlands, but over time I can honestly say that he has matured with a style which is uniquely Khairzul.

One of his earlier paintings in water colour, also of Koi and now hanging in our house.

Can you believe that this is a letter that he wrote to his two best friends - one of whom happens to be my wife.

Check out his paintings on Khairzul's art blog and his Facebook page.

At Greenwich park Christmas Eve 2012

We were at my sis-in-law's place in Greenwich this Christmas. On Christmas Eve, it was a chilly and cloudy but we were bored cooped up inside the house and decided to visit Greenwich Park.

Running after the squirrel


Leafless trees

At 0 Degrees Longitude - The Prime Meridian.

Forwards mails, friends and heaven

A friend forwarded me this nice story explaining why he forwards emails:

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.

He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.

When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.

When he was close enough, he called out, 'Excuse me, where are we?'
'This is Heaven, sir,' the man answered.

'Wow! Would you happen to have some water?' the man asked.

'Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up..' The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

'Can my friend,' gesturing toward his dog, 'come in, too?' the traveler asked..

'I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets.'

The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.

After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence. As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book....

'Excuse me!' he called to the man. 'Do you have any water?'

'Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in.'

'How about my friend here?' the traveller gestured to the dog.

'There should be a bowl by the pump.'

They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it. The traveller filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog. When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.

'What do you call this place?' the traveller asked.

'This is Heaven,' he answered.

'Well, that's confusing,' the traveller said. 'The man down the road said that was Heaven, too.'

'Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's hell.'

'Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?'

'No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind.'

So. Now you see, sometimes, when we wonder why friends keep forwarding stuff to us without writing a word. Maybe this will explain it.

First Commentator
Laymen's Views

Rewarding the 1st commentator

Following in the footsteps of the extremely talented Emila, I have decided to add a link to the blog/ website of the first commentator on every post at the bottom of the post.

This will help increase traffic to their own sites as well. My way of saying a big Thank You to supporters of my blog.

1st Commentator
Metallman

A chance to win 6 Ryanair gift vouchers

My friend Amrul in The University of Nottingham is doing a study on the online travel experience of UK customers.

If you are a UK resident and have used travel websites such as Ryanair, Easyjet, Lastminute, Ebookers, Travelocity, Expedia etc. for your travel needs during the past 12 months, please go over to http://www.surveymonkey.com/Online_Travel_Experience.

He's giving out 6 Ryanair gift vouchers to 6 lucky winners and he has also promised to make 50p donation for every completed survey to Cancer Research UK. So even if you don't win, you still get to do some good.

Visit to Warwick Castle 2

Last Saturday we visited Warwick Castle along with some friends. We got in free thanks to Saiful who gave us free entry vouchers. This was my second visit and it was definitely more crowded this time, probably due to the fact that it was a weekend. Unlike the last time we visited Warwick Castle, we didn't go inside the buildings. There were just too many people.

However, this time I got to see the "Flight of the Eagles", the Jousting tournament and the firing of the Trebuchet - which I had failed to see last time.

Here are the pictures.




The "Flight of the Eagle" show


Imaan enjoying himself


Watching the Jousting tournament from across the stream


Mozard, Nana, yana and Saiful's daughter


My son with mother feeding the ducks




the Trebuchet


Duck's butt


Castle walls


With the lady of the castle

Do check out Nana's post as well.

When PhDs party

Just got back from a party at a friends house near the University. It was nice, quiet party. Was thinking how different it was during our undergraduate university days, when parties meant smoky rooms (sometimes with a hint of cannabis), lot of booze, loud music, etc.

Here someone actually turned the music volume down and nobody complained. Ended up talking about intellectual and philosophical stuff - what do you expect when you have too many PhD students in a room.

Some might say, "that's not a bloody party!"

The odd part is that, it was still fun.

I am getting old.

Birthday Dinner

Had a dinner party at our house last Saturday evening. The occasion was to celebrate the birthdays of my daughter, my wife and her friend - Roby.




Roby had already made an extremely delicious Tiramisu cake on Friday night. Really sorry, forgot to take pictures :-(

My wife made Lamb rogan, Sayur Lodeh (lontong), Pulut kuning (yellow sticky rice) and Nasi Impit and Roby made a special vegetarian Italian dish something like Lasagna (I forgot the name).





Had a nice time. We must do this more often. Thank you so much for all the wonderful gifts guys.

PhD Dinner Pics

Here are some pics of our PhD dinner at Kenilworth last Thursday:

Dinner with Friends

Drove to Kenilworth town yesterday with a few friends for the PhD dinner. The venue was Sunam Balti House, an Indian restaurant at 57 Abbey End. My wife stayed back to look after the kids. Thanks Darling.

They had booked for 20 guys but only ten of us turned up, which was good in one way and bad on the other hand. Good because it gave us a chance to interact more but bad because we had to pay more in the end. I thought it was a a little bit on the pricey side but the food was quite good and we had a nice time.

Was about 12:30am when I finally reached home.

Hari Raya open house pics

We had an 'open house' - a Malaysian tradition, on the 13th Saturday. We planned to have it from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm but somehow it got extended by a around 2 hours as some of our friends were only able to visit later.

Here are some pics:


Our second Raya in the UK

FOOD



Serunding (squarish plate), Chicken Rendang (yellow bowl), Lamb Rogan, Dhal Curry, Saffron Rice, Pulut Kuning & Nasi Impit (on the silver oval plate), and some different varieties of raya cookies.

Most of the dishes were prepared by my wife. The cookies and serunding were gifts from my in-laws in Malaysia (came by Fedex). The nasi impit was prepared by Nana's family. I only made the Dhal.


Cadbury Cocoa pudding


GUESTS


Rahil and friend











Thanks to everyone who visited our house. Special mention to Nana, Mozard and Family and Min who helped out.