Instant and convenient culture

While I was driving through my housing area a week ago, I noticed an advertisement printed on an A4 paper, laminated and hung at a lamp-post which says "Work from home. Earn RM2,XXX to RM4,XXX per month, call...". Then yesterday I read in a newspaper, "Bang Wok (I have changed the name) cannot promise that you will earn RM1 Million, but you can start earning more than RM5,000 per month by ..."

All seems to be easy enough. The notion is simple and attractive, just follow what the advert suggested, and one can earn four digits income. There are also schemes that offer those who join it becoming millionaire within a short period of time by either investing in something that sounds so unbelievable or just recruiting certain number of downlines.

Most of the people whom I know well, had been in one of these schemes, in fact too many of these schemes. After one failed, they will join another, then another if that failed too. Seems that money is not everything to them, it is the dream to earn big money or becoming a millionaire that seems to be much stronger than anything else.

Is it true? Well I don't know because I have not met a Millionaire who had joined these schemes. So far I have only met people who are on a relentless pursuit to become Millionaire or earn big money instantly with a little effort.

For me, this is the product of an instant and convenient culture. Just think, most of the people of this generation had been brought up with the fastest car, the fastest broadband, the easiest remote control, the easiest internet banking, the lightest hand phone, and the list goes on and on. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper can be taken along the street or delivered to the house as well. How instant and convenient.

With this culture, working hard and long is so unattractive to us Malaysian. Everything should be instant and convenient, the money should be big as well, nothing worth it other than big, instant and convenient money. So who then will work hard and long? The foreign workers of course! Cleaners and Domestic helpers are from Indonesia or the Phillipines, Contractors and labourers are from Indonesia or Nepal.

However the reality is not quite instant and convenient. The challenge in life is to attain, maintain and sustain whatever that we do, be it in business or employment. This requires working hard and long. Likewise, I believe all those schemes are true if one is able to attain, maintain and sustain, but I believe it is not instant and convenient, as nothing is so easy.

The "Balik Kampung" myth during Hari Raya

When I started working more than twenty years ago, people know me as someone who has no kampung (hometown) as my mother and I lived in Gombak i.e. KL. So applying leave during Hari Raya (Eid) was a challenge then as I was first a bachelor and second, I have no kampung to go back to.

When I got married, I married a nice Gombak girl. Hence my kampung status then did not improve as I am married but both my wife and I have no kampung. My wife is better off as her school where she teaches normally closes during Hari Raya for a week.

As time went by, I insisted to take leave during Hari Raya. My colleagues who have kampungs teased me saying that I should sacrifice for them, so give them a chance to balik kampung as I am already a local. So one time (this was probably 15 years ago) after Hari Raya, I asked one of my colleagues who took leave to Balik Kampung, where did he go during Hari Raya.. he told me he went back to his parent's house, prayed the Eid prayer in the morning and then stayed at his parent's house until he came back to KL. Then he asked me where did I go during my Raya leave, I told him on my First day Raya, I visited 15 houses including my Mother's and Parent-in-law's house. Second day Raya, I visited 7-8 houses and I related him similarly every day of Raya until I returned to work.

This Raya is my first Raya where I update my FB hj malek with my Raya visits (prior to that I have been a long dormant FB user). I shared photos and short snippets of my 7-day Raya celebration on FB. When I came back to the office, many at the office commented that I really had my Raya as they were following my FB postings. Well I told them, that has been how I celebrated my Raya, not only visiting parents and siblings, but uncles, unties, second uncles and unties, cousins, second cousins, neighbours.

So Raya for me is not about taking the journey of Balik Kampung, which is the beginning. Once you Balik Kampung, then the next step would be to visit your relatives whom you had not had a chance to meet them because everybody are busy nowadays and stay far apart. This is the true meaning of Raya and Balik Kampung.

Eid Fitr Shopping at Sunway Pyramid, Sunway Lagoon.

Click here for more Eid Fitr Shopping at Sunway Pyramid, Sunway Lagoon.

2nd Year family outing at Kompleks PKNS, Shah Alam

This year my family and I went to Kompleks PKNS, Shah Alam once again for our Eidul Fitri shopping. Unlike last year (see my posting Family outing at Kompleks PKNS, Shah Alam Sunday, 31 August 2008) when we were there before the fasting month, this year we purposely chose a fasting day i.e. yesterday, Saturday 8th Ramadhan to do our shopping. Also unlike last year, only my daughter followed my wife and I, as my two sons had other plans. We went there very early in the morning and reached Kompleks PKNS just a few minutes after 10.00 am.

By the time we reached the ground floor foyer of the complex, we could see a lot of people. There were about 100 booths selling baju kurung (a traditional female attire), jubah (robes) for males and females, tudung and selendang (female head scarves), brooches, songkok and kopiah (a traditional male head gear), capal (a traditional male sandal) and many other things related to Eidul Fitr. These exclude the permanent shops on the ground and first floor of the complex.

Our purchases were a lot less than last year as I only bought a kopiah, my wife bought two pair and my daughter a pair of baju kurung. Today the three of us accompanied by my second son went to our usual shopping place, Alpha Angle at Wangsa Maju. My wife commented that the baju kurung at Alpha Angle is much cheaper than Shah Alam. We both agreed probably this year would be the last time we will do our shopping at Kompleks PKNS, Shah Alam.

The more than 100 temporary booths set up at the foyer of the Kompleks PKNS, Shah Alam (top)
Metres of cloth hanging from high above creates the atmosphere of shopping (top).

"Gelap mata" or "pejam mata", both show how intense is the shopping (top)
The packed people on the Ground Floor forced us to go to the 1st floor where there were a lot more space for shopping in comfort. Warisan Hawa Collection (top and the following photos) is a boutique selling batik. My wife bought a pair of baju kurung here.

Farewell to Alex, all the best

When I became the HR Expatriate Services Manager in January last year, Alex was one of the Services Advisors in the team. He constantly consults me on his work and performance. Due to the manpower rationalisation of my team and the impending transitioning into an inferior terms and conditions of employment covering the team, he had decided to apply for a transfer. He recently got a job as a Marketing Executive in Johor, but still working at the same company. Farewell to Alex and all the best in his future endeavours.

-----Original Message-----
From: Mahda, Alex Pega
Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 8:22 PM
To: Mohd-Nor, Abd-Malek
Subject: Farewell & Thank you Boss

Boss

I had put the results hardcopy into a white envelope and put it under your keyboard. Your Merdeka stuff had been placed under your workstation.

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for your full support and encouragement as my team manager. You will always be among the Best Boss @ Tok Guru I ever have.

Sincere apologize if I had offend you in a way or another. Again..THANKS Boss.

p/s sama Bendera Hijau kita boss...."Hijau" FOR ALL!...sama-sama Hijau ne jgn lupa boss...1.2 ;-) TGNA suka tu..hehe

Thank you and have a nice day.
Best Regards
Alex

The most expensive shoes I have ever bought

Ever since I returned from performing my umrah, my knee pain had become unbearable. I started experiencing the pain while exercising at the office gymnasium (refer to my post Leg~sercises on Saturday, 23 May 2009). At that point, I just dismissed it as just fatigue.

The pain disrupted my normal life much to my disappointment, I could not go to the gym and walking about at home and office became so painful. My doctor then sent me for a knee x-ray and the diagnose was minor Osterioathritis (see below for the test result and click here http://www.footsolutions.com/arthritis.htm for more information on athritis).

I then had to use a walking cane to support my knee, take some pain killers and supplement, last but not least, go for weight reduction. One of my colleagues then recommended me to Foot Solution, a store specialising in customized shoe solutions to improve comfort and body alignment and help achieve better health through the feet.

At the store, Steven the Footcare Consultant interviewed me and ran some tests on two sophisticated machines and here are the results.

He then proposed a very comfortable pair of shoes suitable for my foot shape with a customised footbeds with a price of RM1,400 per pair. Wow!! I said to myself. Nonetheless I went ahead and bought the pair as I am desperate. It would be fully ready by Monday. I will share more on my experience wearing the shoe later.

For more information on Foot Solutions in Malaysia, see below.

Another email from an ex schoolmate

Well.. well.. it is a pandemic. Another email from an ex schoolmate, this time of SRJK Sultan Alam Shah PJ, my primary school in 1971 (standard 1), mind you. What a wonderful cyber space.

--------------------------

From: Mohamad Salehhuddin Othman
Subject: SRJK Sultan Alam Shah
To: amzzah_naseehah@ymail.com
Date: Monday, August 10, 2009, 10:49 PM


Hi,

Came across your blog where you mentioned that you were
in this school 37 years ago (as of 2008). So were you in Standard 6 in 1971 & were you in School 1 or School 2?

I was in School 2, Standard 6 in 1972.

Salehhuddin.

Expatriates HR Transaction Teambuilding session

In view of the impending Declustered Expatriates HR Transaction team, my Team Leads and I had agreed to organise a Teambuilding for Expatriates HR Transaction team on 3rd Aug, a half day event. (For more information on the department I am managing, please click Forthnightly Shared Learning Session)

The objectives of the teambuilding were as follows

1. Synergising ES Transaction team across clusters
2. Sharing of the new Org Struture and Performance Criteria
3. Sharing of What coming next

This will be regarded as part of the Expatriates HR Transaction Declustered project and to be facilitated by representatives from the project team.

We went through the following agenda .

Agenda:
11.30am - Team Lunch
1.30pm - Welcome
1.35pm - Ice Breaker Game
2.00pm - Understanding Ourselves - Personality Test (Myers Briggs)
2.30pm - Game to break into groups
2.45pm - Understanding ourselves - Discussion in group
3.00pm - Team Building Game (Softkill - Listening/working together)
3.50pm - Tea Break
4.00pm - In groups - discuss concerns and any solutions/ideas
4.30pm - What coming our way (schedules of lunch and learn) & what going to happen next.
5.00pm - Closing

Farewell lunch for Roha

One of my subordinates, Roha got a transfer cum promotion to Labuan, Sabah starting 1st August. Her team organised a farewell lunch at Tenji Japanese Buffet Restaurant, SohoKL, Sri Hartamas. The restaurant's ambience was beautiful and they have a big spread buffet. The price is okay but the food there was so~so.

Good luck and all the best to Roha.

Farewell to a friend

Nordin Ayob was a colleague once upon a time. Then he was a subordinate before he moved to another department. All the while we were friends, and indeed we are still friends up till now as we share the same interest, i.e. Hajj, Umrah, Mecca and Madinah. Both of us had gone to Mecca and Madinah thrice, two for Umrah and one for Hajj. We went for Umrah together in June this year, something we had planned righ after I came back from Hajj in 2005.

Two weeks after we came back from Umrah, his employment contract came to an end without an extension. I did not know about it as he had kept it to himself. He then told me that he was really looking forward to it.

A few days before his last date in office, we (accompanied by my former Admin Assistant) went out for lunch at the best Nasi Padang restaurant in Gombak. Both Nordin and I had been at this restaurant for lunch a couple of times previously. Then I brought both of them to the best cendol in Gombak.

Good luck Din and all the best.

Eric Fan:Setapak High School - 1980 - SRP and 1982 SPM

What beauty we can savour from cyber space. I had not updated my blog since May due to business commitment and travelling, then came this email during my inactive period. Beautiful indeed. Thanks Eric.

---------

From: Eric Fan
Subject: Setapak High School - 1980 - SRP and 1982 SPM
To: amzzah_naseehah@ymail.com
Date: Tuesday, July 21, 2009, 3:10 PM

Dear Mr. Naseehah,

I saw your blog and brought back many years of memories. My name is Tuck Seng, Fan and I attended Setapak High School until 1982 SPM. Mr Chakravarthy - Principal at that time, and Mr. Rudolph was my soccer coach during 1980 and 1982 Soccer High School team.

In fact, I had two cane strokes on my buttocks from Mr. Chakravarthy for riding motorcycle without a license caught by the local police officer back then. It was the game before playing St Johns Institute 1982.

Anyhow I attended Setapak High School and Form 5 Arts 2. Since then I attended TAR College for my STPM 1984, went overseas in 1986 and migrated to USA since then. I graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1989 (Undergraduate School), and National University in San Jose, California for my graduate school in 1999. My parents are still in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur in the area of Taman Air Panas (Hot Spring Garden) now flats area.

I visited home every two years and I am planning a trip end of this year with my son. During my visit to Kuala Lumpur, I drove by Setapak High School and cannot recognized the school sometimes. The soccer field we trained our P.E. is now a building on top of it.

One year I went home for a visit 1997, I met Mr. Tan our PE teacher and we drank teh tarik at the school canteen.

Speaking about badminton, I watched your video clips and brought a tear in my eye. I used to play badminton there and the gym looks the same except it has aged since then. Currently I still play badminton in Northern California competitively at my age level against teenage players. I am hoping to make it at the Setapak High School reunion one day since my travel will be 24 hours flight and a few days of jet lag. Perhaps when I schedule my visit with my parents we can meet and have a few "Teh Tarik" and talk about the good old days or Badminton at the gym will be fun.

Thank you for reading my e-mail.

Regards,


Eric (Tuck) S. Fan
San Francisco, CA

Leg~sercises

Hmmm.... you must be saying "Leg~sercises?", what is that? Well I'm not claiming I'm a body builder nor am I a gym instructor. I just coined the word to share with you one of my routines at the office gym where I got to exercise my leg's front and back muscles. With age catching up on me, I'm experiencing mid-life challenges such as knee and back pains, so the routines are some sort of a physiotherapy for me. As I'm also planning to perform my umrah in two weeks time, these are also my preparation to perform the physical activities at two of the three holy sites of Islam i.e. Madinah and Makkah. However, none of my preparation will be complete without full dependence to Allah swt.



I hope and pray to receive an opportunity to experience His empowerment and absolute strength with abundance of mercy to his creation at the holy sites. Ever since I return from Hajj in 2006, I have gone through several tribulations on my faith and my daily ritual. I hope Allah swt will once again provide me, my family, relatives and friends the opportunity to perform the umrah with ease and calmness. Grace upon us His mercy and grant all of us the return of the forgiven and steadfast servants. Amin.

Listening, expectation and decision

This week I had three feedback sessions with my subordinates. One was a planned monthly session but the other two were impromptu (refer to my earlier posting on types of feedback dated 24 August 2008 Self awareness a key to self improvement and success and 27 October 2008 Resignation and Attrition.)

In the sessions, the common theme we discussed was about listening. The expectation from my subordinates is for me to listen to them and to accept their ideas. However the focus that I brought to the discussion on the real issue was communication, a lot wider than just listening. Communication is a two way process. Signals from the communicator to the listener may mean differently depending on the clarity, intonation and precision of the communication. For example "We lost" is different in interpretation than "We did not win". The former is a general statement on defeat that may mean an acceptance of the outcome. The latter with some intonation may mean that there were a lot more passion in the effort and struggle, but the eventual outcome result in victory that did not materialise. Hence, it is important to choose for the right precision and intonation in carrying out communication process to derive to a clear understanding and desired outcome.

Accepting ideas is a decision process. Decision may be made due to several reasons. Ideally, decision should be made so that the decision is not only popular, but it is the right decision, the latter a lot more important than the former. However decision maybe confined due to sphere of control especially when authorities at higher levels make decision. Accepting a decision in this case shows respect to the level of authority. The ability to adjust a decision is not the most important achievement in most of the situation; instead the ability to arrive together to a successful outcome is one of the elements in a successful teamwork, regardless on who made the decision.

Indoor Games Committee

When I first started working about twenty years ago, I used to spend eight hours working at my desk and the rest of the day at the office sports club. It then took me only a couple of months to know almost everyone at the office regardless of whether they are from my department or not. Nowadays, I notice that people spend less time socialising with their office mates after work. Everybody seems to be rushing to go back. Even if ever they socialise, they will stick to their own cliques.

Realising this, I now lead a small team of 8 committee members that we aptly called "Work Hard Play Hard" team to organise indoor games as part of teambuilding across the different units of the department I work with. We will organise four different indoor games i.e. pool, carom, darts and ping pong to cater to over two hundred employees.

We had our first meeting at Nasi Lemak Tanglin where we strategised our plan and activities (see photo). I shall share more later.

Forthnightly Shared Learning Session

I have a big team of 37 staff in my unit. 6 of them report directly to me. I have 3 Team Leads, 2 Subject Matter Experts and a Relief Service Advisor. The 3 Team Leads supervises an average of 10 staff each.

I manage my team partly via a weekly meeting with my 3 Team Leads and 2 Subject Matter Experts. I have a separate weekly meeting with my Relief Service Advisor. During these meetings, we discuss on 3 P's: Portfolio, Performance and People. Portfolio is about the current status of activities or projects handled by the team, Performance is about the team's operational dashboard and KPI while People is about welfare and discipline. The 3 Team Leads in turn have a weekly team meeting of their own. I also organise forthnightly shared learning session where the whole team will get together to learn about operational news or about activities to enhance their performance.

Recently, during the Forthnightly Shared Learning session, I organised a small party at the end of the session. This is my way of expressing my appreciation to the team for the support they had rendered to me as their Team Manager. We had a big chocolate cake, satey, noodles and kuehs.
Me and two of my three Team Leads.
The team enjoying their meals.

Petrosains family tour @ KLCC

I have completed my materials for the talk

I am all set. Insyaallah on 25 April I am conducting a talk to the school prefects of a school near my home on Creative Thinking, refer to my post I now have a company 15 April 2009. Alhamdulillah.

THANK YOU NOTE FROM ME...

I was browsing my old emails and found this thank you note in my inbox, buried among other old emails.

From: Mohd Yusoff, Siti Khadijah
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 6:29 PM
To: Mohd-Nor, Abd-Malek
Subject: THANK YOU NOTE FROM ME...

Dear En Malek,

As today is my last day working under your supervision, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all the guidance and knowledge that you have provided to me during my past 5 months working with you. I enjoyed very much working with this team although in a very short period.

Not forgotten, thank you for renewing my contract and I believe this is all because of the good recommendation that given by you. I will give my full cooperation in the new jobs that offered to me and please pray for my successfull with this new job.

Thank you very much....

I had interviewed Siti which was featured in my posting on 11 August 2008 entitled, Interview for Quality Assurance Analyst. Due to a change in my department's Quality Assurance structure earlier this year, I had to demobilise the Quality Assurance unit under me, there were two Analysts reporting to me then. I broke the news to them more than a month before the dateline during which I informed them to be prepared and plan within the following two scenarios

1. They explore job opportunities outside of the company we work with
2. They are willing to be transferred out of my department into another department

I brought both of them out for lunch when I broke the news and they obviously did not enjoy the food. Seing this I told them, work comes and go, the most important think in live is to have a career because a career is made up of various work and jobs, some may be via employment and some may even be via self-employment. Instead of employment, employees need to think of employability and loyalty to their knowledge, skills and attitude. So, employees need to harness the following qualities:

1. knowledge - learn as much as possible in the shortest period of time at any opportunity
2. skills - utilise the knowledge to build abundance of skills as skills come with practicality of knowledge
3. attitude - always have positive attitude that everything can be done and completed via smart planning, organising and planning

Indeed I have helped both of them to get other jobs, Siti in another department and her colleague who is now working in one of the three units under me as I can see in them semblance of the three qualities I mentioned above. Certainly, good luck to both of them.

I now have a company

I have been planning for a long time for this. Now I have a company AMZZAH NASEEHAH RESOURCES, Human Capital Management and Consulting Services, alhamdulillah. I am excited, really excited.

Though I have conducted a few trainings and consultancy services previously, this time around I feel different as I had been doing those on free lance basis. Insyaallah on 25 April I am conducting a talk to the school prefects of a school near my home on Creative Thinking. This will be my first work out of the new company. I have just received the invitation letter today.

I have my business card as well. I am really excited. Pray for my success.

email from my ex Setapak High School mate

hmmm... it has been a while since my last posting. Sorry, as my schedule was packed, I did not even have time to check my emails. Interestingly when I check my emails this morning, I saw an email from my ex Setapak High School mate.

From: Ganesan Streamyx xxx???@streamyx.com
Subject: Setapak High School
To: amzzah_naseehah@ymail.com
Date: Thursday, 2 April, 2009, 1:01 PM

Hi ,
I was checking out a key word search on Setapak High School....just felt a bit nostalgic and guess what I found your blogspot....Great huh,
The class picture takes me back...I can vaguly remember some of our friends ....Anyway this is Ganesan Krishnan
Do not know wether you recognise me but I sure the hell can't.
Anyway get in touch.....I still keep in touch with Zaid Kuda Shah .
Thanks for the memories
Ganesan (Gani)

this was the posting that Gani pointed to Badminton game at Setapak High School 20 Dec 2008 (26 years after I had left it). I am going to meet him later tonight, insyaallah.

Chinese New Year 'Lou Sang' Lunch Feb 6 2009

On Friday 6 February, my team and I went for a Chinese New Year 'Lou Sang' Lunch at Yu Shan Chinese Restaurant, KL Golf & Country Club, Off Jalan Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur. We had a sumptuous Chinese cuisine 7-dishes set lunch, started off with Lou Sang or Yee Sang, a Malaysian Chinese traditional dish usually taken between the first to the fifteen days of Chinese New Year.

I had my Team Leads and one of my Service Advisors to organise this event as my way to foster teamwork and camaraderie within my team of forty-two people. We enjoyed the lunch with the attendance of two Senior Managers of the company I work with.

Family Karaoke at Red Box, Mid Valley 1 February 2009

Sunday 1st February, my sister-in-law's family and my family attended a wedding reception at Subang, Selangor. Thereafter, my family and one of my wife's nieces stopped at the Gardens, Mid Valley. At first we wanted to watch the movie "Sifu dan Tongga", however we changed our mind as we passed through Red Box Karaoke. All of us then spent our afternoon karaoke-ing over there.

Actually karaoke can also be a recreational event for families and friends. Apart from the normal pop songs, the Red Box Karaoke centre also offer Nasyid songs. Nonetheless, there are also Godliness, righteousness and neutral pop songs that can be chosen from the list. Among a few are "Kekasih Awal dan Akhir" by Jamal Abdillah, "Mentera Semerah Padi" by M Nasir and many others.

Please click here Nasyid "Ummi" (posted in my spiritual blog e-hasanat) for one of the songs that my family and I sang that day. We were off key, off pitch and off melody, but I still hope you will enjoy it. The song is about mother and I dedicate the song to my late mother, my late grandmothers and all mothers in the whole world. May Allah blesses them.

Islamic Economic Development Festival, Mid Valley Exhibition Centre, 22-26 Jan 2009

My family and I visited the festival yesterday. There were numerous stalls at the festival providing information from government agencies such as JAKIM, YAPIEM and YADIM. There were also stalls by several local public and private universities. Exhibition on products produced and marketed by small and medium Muslim industries were also available. These include food, electronic gadgets, household goods, garments and health supplements.

The organiser also organised games at the main area of the festival. Some of the stalls such as IKIM and Berita Harian also have their own scheduled events at their stalls. There were a lot of people there yesterday. I bought several books covering Islamic management from several stalls that offered great discounts, some up to 40%. My family bought food and health supplement products.

Tomorrow is its last day. I recommend those who are interested in locally produced products to visit the festival, definitely worth your time.

Resignation and Attrition part 2

One of my Team Leads had tendered her resignation and left last Friday. She was my second Team Lead who resigned (see my blog post dated Resignation and Attrition Monday, 27 October 2008). The situation is not favourable to my organisation and I at the moment. This is due to the impending shift to inferior terms and conditions for Team Leads and below positions at my organisation to be implemented in quarter two of this year. This strategic decision was made in the middle of last year and since then had become a torn in the flesh for most of my team members.

The strategic decision is contentious and had created tension within the organisation. Team members are waiting for a turn around decision. My concern would be if there were no changes to the plan, I would potentially be experiencing en masse resignation some time in the middle of this year.

Prior to her leaving, we had an exit interview and she informed me that her decision to leave was due to the shift to an inferior terms and conditions that I mentioned earlier. She felt that she would not be able to move to other positions in my organisation to avoid it and rather than wait, she thought that it would be better for her to make a career move. She had been a great support to my leadership initiatives in the team and I wish her all the best.

Non-work related activities at the office

1. Strenuous work outs at the office
Starting this year, I have resumed going to the office's gymnasium after a short rest (a short 0.8 years... he he). This is part of my resolution for 2009 to be healthier and continue with the good live. My plan is to spend three days a week at the gym doing strenuous work outs. I hope I will sustain this. This would complement my weekly badminton game with my kids and nephews at Setapak High School.

2. Christmas and New Year party

On Wednesday 15 January, I attended a Christmas and New Year party at my office. Each management team was requested to put on a Santa cap. I just put mine on top of my kopiah (a traditional head gear, refer to the photograph below).

Family Trip to Penang 10-11 January

My family and I were in Penang Saturday and Sunday 10-11 January to attend a wedding reception one of my staff. Along the way we stopped by at Teluk Intan, Perak and met my ex-room mate during Hajj season 2005 (see photo below taken at the hotel lobby in Makkah then). We also stopped by at UiTM, Bandar Seri Iskandar in Perak to meet my wife's nephew who had just registered into UiTM about two weeks ago. I also took the opportunity to take a photograph in front of Golden Sands Resort, Batu Feringhi, the hotel where my wife and I spent our honeymoon in November1991, more than seventeen years ago.



We could not visit the other parts of Penang but the opportunity to spend quality time with the family during the journey was refreshing. The experience of travelling on the Penang Bridge to Penang and taking the Penang Ferry on our journey back were valuable experiences for my three children. The slideshow below shows our photograps during the trip.