Sawadee Ka ...

It's good to be back and the first thing I did upon reaching KL was to satisfy my cravings for a good bowl of wantan mee. Thai food was great but after a week of spicy food, my "prospereous" tummy need light Malaysian comfort food huhuhu.

I am so happy that I decided to go on with this Bangkok trip, within months after the trip to Jakarta and of course despite the political unrest in the city centre. Of course, I didn't know that I will join MOTOUR then ... however after the Jakarta trip, my gut feelings told me that I should go to Bangkok by hook or by crook. Eventhough I had to sacrifice Gawai holidays. Chieng Mai was like the icing on the cake. An eye opener, spiritual enlightenment and educational.

I felt very much at ease and more confident in carrying out my duties in Penang now after visiting these 3 cities. A lot of questions in my head had been answered. Like why are they such great tourist attractions, and how we can compete with them. Especially our heritage buildings over Thailand ancient cities. In fact I think that my trip to Bangkok and Chiengmai was like an "umrah" in ASEAN tourism. Concidently, Jett and Aey planned the trip in line with new MOTOUR tourism products like rail tourism, educational tourism and quite recently ... Parks and Gardens.

I am so so so grateful! You don't know how miserable I was not knowing where to start and who my competitors are! Furthermore, during my first week in Penang ... I received a comment from one former industry player ... "Why do they get a non-tourism person to head the office in Penang?" ... Itu tak termasuk the stress I get from Penang NGOs on tourism development projects in Penang Botanical Gardens and Penang Hill.

It's going to be a long entry if I cramped everything in one single entry. So I will take Norzah's advice to discuss it in few entries. One thing I can assure you is that my Thailand trip is quite different and perhaps some of places you might heard of but not widely promoted. So each entry deserve special attention.

Will update you later coz I am going to Solo on the 16th. Adios.

"It's a Man's Man's Man's World"

Wednesday ... is my Glee day and today's episode is about Funk. Unfortunately after a very hype episode on GaGa last week (till now I still can't get over the Glee Cast version of Bad Romance) ... this week's is a so-so. Sigh! Anyway, I am not going to elaborate on the plot or spill some spoilers especially to Jett who hasn't watched it yet (agik Begawai).

However one particular song hit me to the core. Coincidentally, something just happened recently and that song somehow explained to me what that "lady" was going through. Before I carry on further, let me explained that this song was performed by Quinn to vent her frustration of being an unwed teenage mother.

This is a man's world, this is a man's world
But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl

You see, man made the cars to take us over the road
Man made the trains to carry heavy loads
Man made electric light to take us out of the dark
Man made the boat for the water, like Noah made the ark

This is a man's, a man's, a man's world
But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl

Man thinks about a little baby girls and a baby boys
Man makes then happy 'cause man makes them toys
And after man has made everything, everything he can
You know that man makes money to buy from other man

This is a man's world
But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl

He's lost in the wilderness
He's lost in bitterness

Tersentuh jiwa seni dan kewanitaan akak masa mendengar lagu ni. But deep down I really want to urge that lady to move on with life. Recently divorced at the age of 50++, and her ex find replacement dengan kadar yang segera, not worth hanging on to. Plus, I sensed that the marriage was already on the rocks when she kept complaining that her ex couldn't provide this, give that and don't care about her. Pendek kata takde yang sempurna lah di mata dia pasal laki dia nie. But when her ex filed for divorce, suddenly she find her world turned upside down.

I felt for her, honestly I do. But like the song said ... it's a man's world. No matter how right or how much a woman sacrifice in a relationship or how hard they work to bring bread to the table, when we start demanding our rights and did something that we think fair ... we still end up losing. Even if the man is cheating or being unfaithful ... due to so called "family" or "age" reasons, many women decided to save the marriage when we know it's like signing your death certificate.

Paling I tak puas hati lah ... this common statement ... kena "bagi" apa and bila suami nak, so jangan terkejut bila suami cari lain. Gosh!

Other than that women life or outlook in life are very much affected by age factor! Kawin lambat susah, beranak lambat susah and divorce at late age pun susah. I also found out that some wealthy Chinese patriarch in the olden days let some of their daughters remained unwed so that they can take care of them in their older days


I am not a feminist, and I do believe in second chance. However, I have to agree with an article in a magazine that said women tend to revolve their life around a man or someone that means dearly to them like children. Like ... I must look good for this man so that he is happy. I must be like this or like that for this man so that he is please. I need to work hard so that I can pay for children education. I love this idea better ... look good not to please but to make yourself feel good. When you feel good, you make people around you and in your life also feel good. Of course productivity (in financial and sexual sense) will look good. And finally ... Life's Good (LG tagline).

This entry has nothing to do with the FEEL GOOD channel hehehe!

Selamat Ngintu Ari Gawai 2010

To all my Dayak friends, family and relatives ... selamat ari gawai (Iban) and seramat andu gawai (Bidayuh). Although we import rice from Vietnam or Thailand nowadays ... I think it is still relevant to wish everyone "a bountiful harvest" that will last for many generations to come.

These past few years, I seldom celebrate Gawai. Less appealing compared to my teenage years. That time .... Gawai was "THE" festive season to look forward to. BTW, my brother, Jason, sent me these photos via MMS.

"Terkejut" I saw my little Gina has grown fatter. Last time I saw her was during CNY. Dunno what they have been feeding her with. As usual, she is a very BAD poser. I am sure she was doing her trademark "porky face" to Jason.

She is very close to my mum and love babies as shown in the picture above. "Sibuk" jak follow her Grandma visiting the latest addition to the family ... Broery's daughter. I called her just now and she complained that she didn't have new dress for Gawai, when in fact my sister Joan bought a gown for her. Only that she wore it for Jason's engagement yesterday. Hehehe

Gawai won't be meaningful and "rami" (meriah/exciting) without a catchy Gawai song. So I searched for Mike Rantai song entitle Nyaboh (La La Hey) on YouTube but found his other song Sonia instead. Frust nyer. So I remembered Jethro posted the link for Joget Gawai Dayak (Iban song) on FB.

And of course another of my favourite Iban songs for Gawai ...

As for Bidayuh songs ... I think the Serian or Bukar-Sadong dialect songs are catchy. I don't really understand the dialect (just like a Hokkien doesn't understand Cantonese or Tamil to a Telegu) but I love the diction, or pronunciation of the words while singing. Just like I love an Indonesian Malay singing to a Malay song. Last year I featured the song Kampung Love by Acid Rain. This year it's Geram Si Maih by Sniper. Also a great Gawai song.

As I was looking for more Gawai songs just to create the festive mood, I stumbled upon a video clip of an old friend in school, Brother Lembat or nama glamer Embat Lala. I knew from friends that he has became an Iban artist but dunno how "feymes". Coincidently we chatted and caught up on each other through FB yesterday. Bro Lembat ... numpang glamer nuan semadi hari Gawai tok OK hehehe

Fuhh ... I checked on YouTube and banyak peminat nampak Bro Lembat. But my personal favourite ... lagu Mali. Sesuai with your voice.