Odysseys of George

I have been restless,
I was in foul mood,
I was temperamental,
Because I was anticipating this day.

But as the day approach,
I was dawned with sadness,
I was filled with tears,
Because I could not see you.

The day has come,
I feel like embracing you,
I want to kiss you,
I am sombre,
Because I am without you.

I called but to no avail,
But you would not know,
I wanted to let you know,
Nothing more but to how much I miss you,
And that I love you,
And ………,

In all that I wished,
I could have you in my arms,
Kiss you and look into those eyes of my own,
Smile from the depths within,
To see my mirror image, you, smiling back at me,
My very own,
My love, my life,

But the day passes,
My wishes vanishes in thin air,
I sit still wondering the future,
If I could still have my wish come true,
To embrace you my dearest child.

Happy Birthday Ruban.

The main Christmas celebrations were actually done on the eve of Christmas. Christmas celebrations were at a small scale only among family with a homemade delicious fruit cake toast with wine! Then this followed by the exchange of gifts! The kids were excited.

If my eldest sister, Susan was around it would have been more cheerful and there would definitely be some singing session going on! We miss her greatly and her family too! I am sure her kids would have enjoyed the outings with me! She made cakes too but since we could not taste it, I will put it up for all my blog readers to share and salivate looking at it for New Year!

Mua doing the honours with seriousness! Gosh!

Dad doing the toast for a great year ahead

Tristan resembling the dinosaur

The kids toys – actually all that belongs to one of them! Ok not the magazine!

Mua cracking my head on how to convert the Transformer robot into a car!

So much for Christmas! A small simple Christmas!

Well, the next day saw excited faces waiting for their uncle to get up from bed. The moment I got myself ready for breakfast, the kids were salivating for an action day ahead! So this is what we did!

The main town – still looks the same.

Balai Nobat
This 18 metre-tall and 5 metre-wide three-tiered octagonal tower sole purpose is to keep all the royal musical instruments including the serunai (wooden flute), nafiri, gendang (drum) and gong, which is known as nobat. This nine-piece musical set is comprised of three drums, a gong, two flutes, two instruments called the cheng-cheng, and a trumpet-like instrument called the Nafiri, which produces the haunting strains of nobat music. The skills to play nobat music and these instruments are passed down from father to son, and the person who is incharged to play these instruments called Orang Nobat. Nobat are played for specific ceremonies such as royal installations, deaths and other official ceremonies.

Masjid Zahir
Officially opened in 1912, this state Mosque is an architectural landmark as it is one of the largest and grandest mosques in Malaysia, built in the tradition of the Moorish architecture.

Balai Rong Seri or Balai Besar (Grand Audience Hall)
Built in 1735 by the 19th Sultan of Kedah, Sultan Muhammad Jiwa Zainal Adilin Muazzam Shah, this was a lovely building with wood pillars, roofs and flooring. This is truly a beautiful building. I managed to get inside once when our first PM, Tunku Abdul Rahman died and his funeral service was conducted here.

The Silver Jubilee Fountain – built when our beloved King, HRH Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah,celebrated the Silver Jubilee of his reign.

National Art Gallery

The State Museum – I must say I was impressed with this museum.

The Rice Museum – recently built

To complete this trip, we decided to go to Gunung Keriang. Gunung Keriang is a distinct outcrop in the middle of flat padi land.

It is here that they sell crystals from Gunung Keriang.

The cave opening/entrance at Gunung Keriang

The hike up Gunung Keriang to reach a platform almost atop the mountain, as shown below.

The view from the the top of Gunung Keriang

And the walk down ( My sister, Saji, her husband carrying Keisha, while she assist Pattrena down)

At the end of this day, I realized I was getting too old too fast! Was I tired! But that did not stop me from taking them to the playground with a dilapidated lake near the stadium.

Then it started to rain! Yahoo! Time to go home!

Thank God the next day was Christmas!

Wow, it has been years since I wondered around my hometown like this. This time, I was taking my niece and nephews to show them around the place I call home, the place that made me who I am, my beloved birthplace, Alor Setar.

They, were happy to see me arrive but angry that I arrived late. There were four of them, Ethan and Tristan, my second sister, Saji’s kids were in Alor Setar a week earlier. Now, they had Pattrena and Sherman,my third sister, Sherly’s kids to join them. ( Saji and Sherly are twins!)
The house suddenly became noisy and loud. My mom so used to peace and quiet was getting a little irritated. Solution to the matter – take the kids out of the house! It was great! I manage to savour my fond memories.

We did many things in two days. It started at our Menara Alor Setar, a mimic to the KL Towers.

Going up the lift and giving them a preview of what to expect from Alor Setar.

Tristan(Spidy T-shirt), Pattrena, Ethan and Sherman(standing in front)

Boys will be boys!

Then, I took them to a playground just before the Royal Golf Club, in the vicinity of Taman Lumba Kuda.

They played their hearts out and got thirsty, so we stopped at a nearby stall to have some drinks.

Before we head back home for a late lunch, (made sure they were extremely hungry), it was time to show of my Alma Mater, Sultan Abdul Hamid College , the college that breeds scholars, sportsman and gentleman, since 1908.

One of the many reasons why I love my College is for the many beautiful old large trees growing alongside the road as if cozily welcoming you in.

Our canteen area

Our Library named after one of our ex-headmasters which is also the name of my school sports team. There were other sports team but Stuart wore the red tee!

That afternoon, I took them for a swim at the public swimming pool beside the stadium.

That is Keisha standing at edge of the pool. The youngest in Ethans family.

I was beat by the end of that day! It is not easy entertaining a group of kids! I slept soundly and happy with those memories. Little did I realize that my special friend, was also going down memory lane as she journeyed her way back to her parents village in the depths of Sarawak!

It has been a while. My schedule was packed. After the dive, I was spending my time solving my personal issue – rather trying to solve. I manage to see my son, Ruban. He recognized me and we got along instantaneously despite not having seen him for so long. He reminds me of myself when I was his age maybe, I was a little smaller but I was definitely timid. He took his mom’s characteristics in his talk. He was talking so much and so well. I miss him so much but I have somehow found a way to mask it well, I suppose.

Well, I was happy to see him. However, the issues to settle could never be settled over a 3 day period but it cooled down many other issues too. Maybe one day, when I am ready I shall blog about that.

Perth, is a quiet town. The main city is bustling with activities but remains a city as usual.

Fremantle is even more quiet but I like it better than Perth. I managed to visit the Fremantle Prison and I personally recommend it for any visitors to Perth. The guide is good and clear and is able to make it very interesting and informative at the same time.

The guide with a child carrying her waste potty in the juvenile section of the prison.

This was done by one of the inmates and he had the 6th commandment modified.

There were a few notable inmates who were excellent artist as of this where he painted his cell wall.

The solitary confinement cell and its door!

The hanging room and the famous noose

The roll of honour.

With this, I end my Perth trip. I had three aims before coming and I must say that I manage to do them all almost all. I am satisfied.

Will I go there – for a visit – yes!
– for a dive at Rottnest island – nope!
– to settle down – not now and only if I am forced too. It is a nice place to retire.

Thanks for reading!

“Happy Mother’s Day” means more
Than have a happy day.
Within those words lie lots of things
We never get to say.

It means I love you first of all,
Then thanks for all you do.
It means you mean a lot to me,
And that I honor you.

But most of all, I guess it means
That I am thinking of
Your happiness on this, your day,
With pleasure and with love.

As I was blog-surfing I came across a blog post by WJ of an email he received from his mom. It was lovely – so much I thought I would share it with my readers of my blog.