Sungai Lembing Part 3

So after the breakfast - di bawa pula ke Tin Mine - it is the original tin mine which is preserved in  its original setting. It is a tunnel pastu dalam tu ada lagi lubang lubang going underground yg go deeper ke dalam bumi -- scary jugak.

Tapi working with mat saleh - they have timing rules for safety-beberapa jam  bukan work round the clock and they have uniform - like I mentioned earlier - the workers are well taken cared off.

Those miners according to Lina were paid well - to compensate the hardwork and the danger in carrying the duties. And the also have all sort of benefits-- sehinggalah Nippon datang menjelma -- hancur lebur Bandar --and they only occupied for a few month aje tak silap lah.

Ventilation is good tau inside the tunnel - I thought they installed aircond utk pengunjung - but turns out - it is natural ventilation through "lubang angin" --that lubang angin go right up to the hill jadi angin sejuk dr bukit tu masuk sini - keles ko.

Tunnel ni bukan pendek ya -- kalau nak kencing ke apa -- please do it before masuk -- nak cari jalan keluar tu sempat lah boring menapak...dah lah dari bukit tadi kan.

akhirnya jumpa jalan keluar phewwww--

My Dodib - kurus melonjong -- he's gonna be bigger than Angah definitely.



The surrounding area is just beautiful minus the heat ya.

Sedap nya dpt duduk masa tu amd under the shade sebab luar tu mega panas.

Then next Jambatan Gantung - macam macam ada kan Bandar ni. Weather is so hot - sungai pun dah kering.Nampak kan sungai bawah tu tak berair -- sodih.

Resort banyak tau in this town - they have many well maintained and interesting resorts.

I said interesting sebab ada capsule room yg macam ni - canggih kan?

kita org gi lah lalu tengok tempat ni - Nampak molek berseh je/

Lepas Jambatan Gantung -- pergi lah ke Muzium Sungai Lembing - mostly tunjuk the tin mine la of course -- Muzium ni asal nya dulu rumah tauke besar lah and it is located on a higher ground to signify the status --jgn buat main-- ada a few gambar mat saleh pompuan ala ala style Jane cartoon dalam cite Tarzan tu -- pegang payung satu kain kembang - not so kembang lah.

And the Museum was our last destination utk misi Sungai Lembing kami. Kalau kamu orang sampai museum ni jgn lupa visit the souvenir shop - cantik barang barang bukan ala ala kedai 2 hinggit.

Dh siap balik mandi and before we call off the day , we had lunch at #kayumanisbistro lah mana lagi kan.

The mission sounds like 2-3 hari punya kerja kan actually separuh hari aje but we start at 6.30am.

Best meal in Kuantan sudah tentu nya lah  :)

aku puasa hari ni - jadi lapor pulak ishhhhhhhhhh

Ok Tima Kasih - Love and Hugs: Liz Duan

Sungai Lembing Part 2

Salam sahabat -- ni sambungan kisah jelajah #SungaiLembing.
This is pic going down the hill-when we reached the ground, my leg were really shaky -- memang trembling--begitu hevat effectnya.

 We then walked to the town looking for breakfast - and we came across this old building which is a library  I found the building is really fascinating- the structure , the old and very Malaysian architecture and the color and it just looks so neat- so ajak lah dorang semua ni berdiri depan tu -- aku lebih dari American yg baru sampai Kuantan tu hehehhe

 And they also have translation for Public Library which is Khutub Khanah Awam not PErpustakaan Awam ok.My collegue yg ada tu tak tahu khutub khanah - never heard of it - punya lah--dorang ni tidur masa cikgu mengajar or  is it generation gap? I like to think it was due to the earlier reason

 Then I came acrossed this JAva Street - Lina is also JAwa and perhaps there were Jawa settlement somewhere here also and thus the street's name. Eventhough I am a Malay  and my dad is Jawa - but to make my ancestors happy, I took this picture sebagai kenangan -- jangan tidak org kata :)

 This big ancient tree is located at the center of the town. We were here the night before and the girls told me - don't look up- they scolded for making fun of it saying "misteri nusantara apa pulak korang ni". Akak kan ada lah darah darah maharaja lawak sikit -peaceeeeeeeee.
I posted this picture in FB and a friend told me that during Japanese occupancy- they actually hung people by the tree -- aduhh Nippon koh kejam bangat --cant imagine when they are so sopan santun as we see them today. Melayu pulak dulu sopan santun sekarang main pukul orang dr sekjolah menengah lagi -- makin menjadi jadi kan org dok post dlm fb --scary to observe what we have become-- we ke they??? They lah kot -- kita masih bertamadun.

 The town was built by the British which converted the place from a village to the main tin mining town in the world sometimes late 18s. The town was prosperous under the British colonial - they have cinema, swimming pools, recreational clubs which of course segregating the labours/commoners and the management and the tuan besar- they have access to shop branded stuff from London - Lina cakap her dad was just a labor but her mom using max factor -- kelesss--they were all well taken care of. The town was once referred as the El Dorado of this side of the world.
Sangat menarik sejarah nya --and we were lucky to have Lina as our tourist guide --she didn't miss a single details, Nampak sgt kecintaan dia pada this old small town.
Too bad many of the historical buildings were destroyed by the Nippon -- pelik jugak Nippon ni -entah apa motif nya dia abolished all the buildings

 Ni lagi satu peninggalan sejarah -- mano nak dapek tempat lain petrol pump gitu gaya - it is not anymore working - eksen aje buat utk posing.

another picture of the pokok misteri nusantara ---tepi pokok ni is the petrol station tadi , then selepas tu tterrus lagi about 20 tapak we finally reached the Malay Food court--- kan tadi cite jalan nak cari breakfast -- and we had the ever famous sedap lagi menyedapi MEE JAWA SG LEMBING. - dapat aje terus zap masuk mulut terlupa bagai ada kacang tanah berterabur -- sedapnya sedap nya -- dorang cakap Kak Liz kan ada kacang tu aduhhhh siap dah semangkuk -- and I had two mangkuks so selepas itu mee satu tak moh kacang ya cik. Aku dgn German aje makan 2 mangkuks -- kan aku cakap aku mengalah American baru sampai bandar ni hehehhhee

Ok bye bye ---Tima Kasih -- Love and Hugs---Liz Duan

Kayu Manis Bistro

Our one and only business now is Kayu Manis Bistro - to cut the long story short, we decided to quit the mall and thus closing both Slake and Bite cafés. After much considerations, analysis , this and that - we find a nice place in our own neighbourhood - change our concept , change the food type, change the target customer and come up with jeng jeng jeng--- hahahha jeng jeng jeng lah sgt kan?

Ini throwback je pun --we officially opened #kayumanisbistro last Sept 2015 and we are now in our 8 months. Alhamdulillah.

So why Kayu Manis??? We are looking for something local and relates to what we are selling - boleh tahan lah jugak penggunaan kayu manis nya ehem ehem :)

And we think #kayumanis fits that being local connection and sweet indeed :)

Jom nak tunjuk kerja kerja pembikinan - we did manage to keep the renovation cost and interior designing to the minimum  - almost everything like cabinet, kusi meja, display units and so on are recycled from the last cafe. Interior designing is from our two heads - also applying some suggestions and recommendations from some friends.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts, advices and interests in Kayu Manis Bistro

Gila serabut makbut kan?

Serba tak kena - pegang tu tak kena pegang ni tak kena and the clock was ticking fast --rental dah jalan- renovation as usual sangkut situ sangkut sini. Semua benda berterabur

This when the wall separating the sitting area and the kitchen was in the making- Buat dinding tu pun ada drama jugak - ingat ingat lupa but the first pakcik who took up the job rasa after a few days ke seminggu gitu cabut- duit dah amik -- biasa dorang ni pesen nak beli barang tak de modal la - anak nak beli susu lah --Sodeh kuat.

Bak kata P Ramlee --- DUGAAANNNN

And ini the bare separation wall sebelum di cat. Masa ni dinding tepi dah di cat -- putih je pun.

The initial intention was to have the bistro white and bright tapi I think people like dim light - not too bright - jadi the initial ideas was not fully applied dan agak rojak jugak concept nya

Then we had the logo design completed - and we applied the same color to that back wall.

Logo pun with its own story in the process to complete -- we have it designed , agreed , paid then next is the signboard-the cinnamon color is always brown but it was orange in the signboard because the Kuantan supplier did not  keep brown -ya Rabbi - so Duan googled and searched and found one supplier somewhere in negeri Sembilan tak silap --gave the contact to the printing company and after taking additional few days - we have the signboard nicely put up as we want it --phewww.

Ni masa awal awal lah - still very much naked -- kosong sodihhhh

Aariz pun tak kuase nak posing hehheheh.

We painted the floor grey -- mula tu we thought of having white floor nasib baik we scrapped  that idea - kalau tak mmg meroyan aku tengok tapak kasut .

We had the best "gardener" to do the honour and repotting some plant. My mom chose from the pots at my house. I think she left for KL right after - she supposed to leave from my house after breakfast but she insisted to do this before leaving - punya lah kan --hehehhe sepsis sama macam geram aje tengok benda tak siap. There you go my mom and Aunty Anom bertungkus lumus.

Then siap kan the counter - tempat buat air.

Lampu turun naik tu suggestion Uncle Liew from Eng Lai Lighting - dari tahun 1999 mmg guna kan khidmat dia utk lighting rumah - kedai lama and terus ke Kayu Manis Bistro. Mula tu tak berapa nak paham dia punya suggestions ni -- otak accountant kan macam straight aje , tak de seni seni nya --kita orang selalu piker mesti sama rata mesti straight -- garisan lurus - pancaran cahaya ke kiri dan kanan mesti selari hehhehhe.

Benggong.

Pening uncle ni nak cite siap lukis bagai -- suggest lagi awak orang pregi tengok kedai xoxox ni kat area ni -- and we did and then we told the electrician buat cam ni. Bila Uncle Liew datang tengok -- still tak berapa betul patut lagi casually susun ala ular kena patuk hahhahha--- ok lah ni untuk mata kami.

That is the signboard we talked about.

Abang Ngah Fendi paid a visit - terima kasih banyak banyak -

when we do something and

we have people asking on the progress -- requesting daily updates - especially from adik beradik  this blog and our ownsiblings - and took all the trouble towitness the work in progress , we feel appreciated and not alone in the journey.

I pray to Allah semoga I am given strength and rezeki untuk membalas segala kebaikan and pertolongan yang telah diberikan

Last but not least - the wall decoration was up and we say ALHAMDULILLAH.

Agak cosy lah jugak kan????

This is the front façade - I wanted the Bismillah to be handpainted tapi because of the height and people we met was not confident enough with jawi - we have it printed and fixed to the wall.

Our aim is good food at affordable price with cleanliness as our priority. If our blended drink range is considered on a high side at RM5.00 , we have many cheaper alternatives.

I think many of us will agree  that it feels good to treat someone with good food in a nice surrounding especially parents to their kids - anak to parents --we love to do that.

So there was this one day , Duan and I were talking  about the rising cost of living , the gst  - and how we are also feeling the heat - and we were thinking, how about others who earn less but they would want to bring their kids their families to some decent dinner away from the household like us also. At  that instance , we agreed that we should  help others to solve that problem and be able to experience that great feeling of seeing the kids and the spouse smiling away with full tummy ~~ parents feeling all appreciated and loved.

And that is the story behind Kayu Manis Bistro -- nothing poyo with this story but just sharing the truth.

At the end of the day semoga Allah mempremudahkan urusan kita semua.

Tima kasih - Love and Hugs : Liz Duan



Sungai Lembing - Bukit Panorama-Kuantan

My second time to this historical town SUNGAI LEMBING after 17 years  in Kuantan- yes this year is our 17 years bermaustautin di sini . Both time, I was being forced by my dearest friend Lina and for both occasion we actually played tourist guides to some colleague from abroad and this round he is our Regional Controller , German. He is an American /Mexican based in Manila.

Another quick introduction - Lina is local to Sg Lembing -her playground - she knows inside out about the town --dari sekecil kecil kuman sehingga lah sebesar besar bukit and of course she treasures many many fond memories about the town.

We went with a few other friends and stayed overnight at this homestay owned by Lina's aunty Tiara Homestay. Cantik rumah nya dan sangat berpatutan harganya and the aunty is so funny baik sgt org nya.

My dearest Dodib was there also-- anak mak lah kata kan

Malam tu we had BBQ - it was fun - sambil cerita ceriti kisah kisah semasa- betapa indah nya kampong halaman bumi Malaysia ini kreng kreng kreng..

Ok why we stayed overnight ? sebab nya esok sesudah subuh sebelum matahari terbit besar kita nak naik Bukit Panorama -- hoorrrahhh this is my first time --before we decided for this adventure --kira adventure lah untuk saya ---I was like sungguh ke ni?? sesungguhnya betul ke nak panjat ni..the last time I did hiking was during secondary school -- ancient lah sgt..But Lina talked to me into it...memberi kan harapan and kata kata semangat yg sgt hevat nya and I just cant say no.

Maka seawall 6.30am - kami memulakan expedisi ini

I cant recall how long it took us to go up and down - dalam 2 jam kot.

Activity macam ni mmg you have to really pushed yourself kalau korang pun sama berat macam kawan lah.

After a few steps tu baru sekerat rot dah rasa nak turun actually...mula naik tu dgn jacket bagai ingat sejuk lah sgt kan sebab subuh hening -di kaki bukit- menuju puncak --I forgot about global warming and all that stuff kaedah nya panas dr minit pertama -- potong betul.

And this is what you got - The view was beyond words - a friend of mine cakap permandangan yg indah indah ini lukisan Allah.

"(Tuhan) Yang Maha Pemurah, Yang telah mengajarkan Al Qur'an. Dia menciptakan manusia, Mengajarnya pandai berbicara. Matahari dan bulan (beredar) menurut perhitungan. Dan tumbuh-tumbuhan dan pohon-pohonan kedua-duanya tunduk kepada-Nya. Dan Allah telah meninggikan langit dan Dia meletakkan neraca (keadilan). Supaya kamu jangan melampaui batas tentang neraca itu. Dan tegakkanlah timbangan itu dengan adil dan janganlah kamu mengurangi neraca itu.

Dan Allah telah meratakan bumi untuk makhluk (Nya). di bumi itu ada buah-buahan dan pohon kurma yang mempunyai kelopak mayang. Dan biji-bijian yang berkulit dan bunga-bunga yang harum baunya. Maka nikmat Tuhan kamu yang manakah yang kamu dustakan?" (Q.S. Ar-Rahman 55:1-13)

A Walk above the Cloud.
Nampak kan cloud tu below us

Peluh memang berjurai. And there you go -- matahari bersinar di pagi hari.
Kami sampai atas~~ berduyun org dah nak turun ke bawah - means dorang naik lagi awal sebelum subuh mahu..most are Chinese and elderly lagi -- curlassss ko.

Semua gambar ni captured by Adib -- bagus ya mata dia-- ada lah jugak kesenian dia - nak lawan aunty Ejin :)

Dia happy snap sana sini sini

I never thought that I would do this - and this is like a higher one compared to another bukit nearby.
When I told the boys about this plan initially - Aimran Tanya "mummy betul ke -  Angah rasa mummy should try Bukit Pelindung first then only Bukit Panorama"
gitu kan .
Frankly memang terasa satisfaction nya - and terasa kerdilnya diri melihat segala keindahan ciptaan Allah dari puncak itu. Now I understand why people go through all the trouble to reach Everest.
Definitely I will do again tapi hill yg rendah sikit lah --  sakan jugak kaki ku cram beberapa hari .






Liz Breaking the Ice

Sesungguh nya baru lah ku sedari bahawasanya my last posting was in Dec 2014. Teruk nya lah - dok  kutuk Ita sangat dah kena sumpahan normadiah si Ita huuuu...ampun.
Now I thought I want to start again tapi honestly I have forgotten how to-- tak ingat dah key tu utk apa ini utk apa-- parak lah. So pasti nya entah boleh siap within 2 hours atau 14 hari posting ni??? Tawakal aje lah...


For the one year that I was away from this blog - I am now going to be 43-- tapi very much looks like 34 aje hehhehe with 360 camera -Iphone BXXx entah apa aku pun tak paham -- dgn filter and edit--sesungguh nya gambar gambar dlm FB sekarang semua ala ala putteri bunian . The boys hate it when I use 360 camera , they don't understand the feeling of being as young as we are kan-- biar aje lah dorang nak bebel asal mummy bahagia.

I am living in a fast lane definitely - tup tap tup tap ok next then tup tap tup tap next --tup tap tup tap entah kemana mana aku.The boys -- they are all big boys-- young adult, teenager, Afi will be 19 - besar gajoh - I think I always know him but in a few instances I lost it --Aimran 16-- kecik kering tapi jiwa dia sgt besar- masih dramatic :) and that makes him so special--Adib 12 years old UPSR tahun ini--soalan dia " mummy kalau Adib tak dapat 6As, mummy macam mana ek?"he dare to ask me kan??? he is not concern about him but my feeling -- sgt lah concern soalan itu hahahhaha geram aje aku.
Our baby boy  Ahmad Aariz- 6 this year - next year sekolah -- Bacalah Anakku baru book2 , tulisan ke laut-- aduhhh tak tahu nak pikir next year macam mana-- kalau the normal primary school entah kelas corot ni -- huhuhu-- kena ada Plan B- apa ?? tak tahu lagi.
Abah kepada the boys - he is moving to another level dari segi kerohanian- when you try to be nearer to Allah - insyaAllah it is all good.

Myself??? emmm entah lah -- korang agak agak aje lah from my posting - insyaAllah there are more to come. Akak celaru sgt  that I cant even explain myself hahhahha
Anyway Nampak tak semangat tu nak terus blogging hehehhe biasa lah aku pun drama macam Aimran jugak hahhahha. I was walking from office to the parking with a friend today and this friend of mine , he told me at this age we got to find a hobby- something to our interest to keep us going - Jangan kerja aje - don't exhaust yourself-- sesungguh nya ada kebenaran nya di situ and di kala berkata kata tu terus teringat blog ni. It is a sign kan? I think so kweng kweng kweng.


My plan is to start with 2016 activities then I go sikit sikit lama lama jadi bukit utk 2015.
Siap ada plan- begitu lah sesungguhnya-- lebih kurang sama dgn konsep Fendi -- angan angan mengapai impian--

Setelah sepi sekian lama

WOW!!

Time has really flies. It has been many months since the last entry posted by Ejin. Banyak yang kita dah lalui sepanjang tahun lepas dan tahun ni. Banyak nak share kat sini tapi kekangan masa. Semua orang busy yang amat. Takpe lah...ada Whatsapp untuk bertukar cerita.

Sebelum terlupa. Happy Anniversary to LizDuan. Semoga bahagia selalu hingga ke Jannah. Anak anak pun semakin besar, semoga semua berjaya dalam bidang masing masing.

Untuk Ejin pulak...semakin menuju ke destinasi. Kami happy sangat sebab kerja keras 3 tahun lebih bakal berhasil tak lama lagi. Yeahhhh.

Ita pulak macam biasa la kan. Orang paling busy kat Shah Alam tu. LOL. Yang penting senyum sokmo.

Rasa macam nak tulis panjang panjang...tapi idea tak mari la. Nanti nanti la...godek gambar lama lama..boleh tepek kat sini cerita apa berlaku sepanjang tahun lepas kan kan kan. Harapnya selepas ni...kita dapat curi masa untuk update kat blog ni. Kalau nak seribu daya katanya. Ok chow.

seminggu di Melbourne - jumpa family and best friend!

alooooo semua ...hahaha akak baru balik ke rumah sendiri setelah seminggu menghilangkan diri ke Melbourne...bukan apa, memang impromptu plan masa beli ticket - was stress out regarding my work and it (non) progress that I decided to take a week break ..sv pun kata ok as he was also away overseas at the same time ...gi Melbourne coz nak jumpa familiar faces - haslina and family as well as my cousin who recently moved there ...

but punya lah kalut masa nak pergi tu as I have to complete some tasks ..even packcing was done a few hours before the airport shuttle ambik aku! Shuttle picked me up at 3.30am hahaha itu penangan ambik flight kol 6 pagi ok ..selalu nya aku avoid those extremely early or extremely late flights but nak murah punya pasal ...akak ambik jugak le ..pastu tido dlm flight all the way to Melbourne ..3 hours 50 mins jer pon! sesampai nya kat sana, Haslina picked me up from the airport ...and my first port of call after dropping my bags at her house is pergi assembly and open day kat sekolah Iris...

her classroom

Dia dah primary 1 sekarang ..and OMG sangat petah becakap ...with an Aussie accents! Kebetulan open day plak so hedmaster memang encouraged the parents (inc aku lol) to participate in her classes that day - to see how their kids study ...sempat le aku join a few activities ...coz pas tu bergegas ke city - sebab dah janji to meet up with my cousin.

took the train to the city and catch up with my cousin pulak. I decided to stay overnight at her place dulu coz after this I will be staying with Haslina's. Cousin nie aku tak jumpa dah over 3 years gitu hehehe ...she and her hubby took me for lunch before we head out to her home - hubby kena balik opis!

It was great catching up with them - biasala kan, kat Welly aku sebatang kara - takde sedara mara, but when I reached here terasa le ada orang yang kiter kenal ...she and her family pon baru 5 months living in Melbourne and I was actually their first visitor ...glad I managed to spend time with them ...

sangat suka bila jumpa mangga muda kat Vietnamese market di Springvale hahahaha malam tu jugak mangga tu abis! hehehe kat Welly aku tak penah jumpa mangga muda - yang ada is ripe mangoes yang imported from India or Thailand tu!

the following day tu aku balik rumah Haslina - and stayed with her till I balik Melboune. Aku malas nak kacau dorang ni lagi as they are all busy - with antar ambik anak anak dorang sekolah kan ...most of the time aku jalan sendiri and OMG Melbourne has so much to see, to do ...and to visit ... 

gambar gambar nie as teasers dulu ..nanti akak sambung buat posting ok ..sebab now kena buat kerja dulu! kang sv marah le pulak ....

 the iconic Flinders Street Station

 The Shrine of Rememberance

Strawberries at Queen Victoria Market

Federation Square