19th Day of the Year

Today is the 19th day of the year or Week 3.
I have been busy and i presume others are in the same mode...
Hence my last postings was on Week One...
Starting the year with my driving adventure alone, to the East Coast, i had another adventure last weekend.
Took a drive with my 'big brother' who is a brother of my friend from Melor(a small village south of Kota Baru), up to Hatyai, through Bukit Kayu Hitam and took a flight to Bangkok on Sunday,14th arriving after sunset.
Came back on Tuesday evening arriving in Hatyai at 1930 hrs local time.(2030 WM Time)and decided to drive through Pattani and Narathiwat to Kota Baru and hoping to spend the night at my friend's house in Melor...
However we reached Golok way past midnight and the border was already closed. So we slept at the nearest hotel.
After breakfast on Wednesday morning, we drove across to Kota Baru, but decided to leave the car there and took the evening flight to KLIA.....
We thought that it was just a normal trip that we took that night driving through the troubled areas of Southern Thailand..there was not an iota of worries..
We were told on arrival at Hatyai that there was some bombings earlier in the day at Chanae, which was along the route...but my brother says that there is nothing to worry because we will be passing through friendly territory, populated by Thai Muslims Malay...However my friend in Melor was worried that we might not reached Kota Baru...because we were not in communication till we reached Golok. I guessed they must have blocked the communication from Pattani till Golok...there was no line..
The road was superb, double lane all the way and there was only a handfull or rather only one handfull of other vehicles that passed our way..otherwise it was a very lonely road..
There were about 6 roadblocks and there was no fuss in letting us through...
It was a risk that we took that night, so we were told...but then again we were aware of the risk when we decided to drive through that route...
So that was the second risk that i took in the first month of the year...Still another week or so to go...let's see what other risk is there...
No venture no gain...and when you gain, then it is an adventure.

Second Ride and First Night Ride

Well, i managed to do another 20 km last night..
Again with the same group that i cycled yesterday morning plus a few more of his children and the family of another doctor friend of mine from Country Height.This is their first night ride.
Well there were a dozen of us and we were the only ones on non motorised transport at the Putrajaya Boulevard and mosque.
The place was full of cars and people lepakking and enjoying the night view.
We were the only ones sweating it out. We managed to reach the PICC and what a breathtaking view it was...
Putrajaya is tailor made for night cycling...
Why not try it out..

My First Ride of The Year-Cycling

After starting the year with my driving up to the East coast , this morning i managed to cycle around Putrajaya with an old classmate of mine and his son from Melor, Kota Baru(He's here to enrol his son in an Institute in Bangi tomorrow) together with his big brother and sis in law and another cousin..
I managed about 20km plus....
No sweat really and could not cycle at a faster speed because this old classmate of mine was a bit tired from his long drive yesterday, and had to pace himself so that he does not burnt out.
Being a doctor, i guessed he knew what he was doing. Hence i was cycling at a slow pace and thus, it did not really burn out my calories as i had wanted to.

Maybe tonight i might ride again...
One of the things that i wanted to do this year is to seriously reduce my weight, and the only solution is to exercise and cycling seems to be the most appropriate means..
I embarked on this rekindled love of cycling last year....
Well, that is another long story maybe i might reproduce it again later..

Reading

Chapter 22 of my first book for the year, Mental Revolution, discusses the Reading Tradition.
All of us knows the importance of Reading.
Iqra, the first revelation to our Prophet Muhammad, pbh, says that..
He was asked to read....
What a shock it must have been, asking Him to read, whence he was an illiterate, never attended kindergarten. Unlike the Standard One pupils now, who can read and write even before they attended their compulsary formal education...
But how did the Prophet read, when he does not know how to read?
Well, i guessed that he read with his Heart, with a little help from Allah swt...
The Prophet pbh, says that the best way of teaching is by doing..
Therefore i can imagine that He has been doing the good all his life and whence He was asked to read, it was a matter of putting One's heart and the words comes out naturally...
Do i make sense here?
I know all of us read everyday...yes reading the subtitles on the Hindustani, Tagalog, Thai or South American tv movies is also reading...or rather seeing and reading...
Reading the sms is also reading...
Chatting on the net is also reading...
Reading my blog is also reading...

So why do you read?
Get the book and read that out yourself..

My First Book of The Year

Whilst i was waiting for my 2015 flight at Langkawi Airport yesterday,i got myself my first book for the year..Although it is an old book, nonetheless, i remember skimming/reading through it a very long time ago when i was still very young...i said skimming/reading through,because i did not actually read it per se..the book in it's original form is in Bahasa Melayu...
So in actual fact i did not read the old book then. The title of the book is all too familiar and the recognised author too was the father of my wife's classmate from Jitra, Kedah.
He was a famous son from Jitra,from where i grew up, beside the small path of Salleh Khan rubber trees and the padi fields behind the government office up on the hill along Jalan Changloon....
The English version is called Mental Revolution...as usual i skimmed through, the moment i got the book, managing to reach Chapter 11 by the time the plane landed...
And just before i wrote this i skimmed through the Conclusion chapter of the book and the last line is all encompassing
about what the Mental Revolution is all about...Quote" <strong>Before we can attain this progress, we must first change our attitudes to open the way to it. This is what the mental revolution ia all about."Unquote.
And that is exactly what i wanted to do this year, if i had not done so in some areas...Change my attitude to certain things that have dragged me down or impeded my advance...

Don't be shy to get the book and go through it.
It can make a world of a difference...

Week One of 2007

I have yet to get a good diary.
I have had a few free ones but they were all taken up by the children.
I am still using the monthly planner of 2006 that has Jan 2007 in it.
Today is the 4th day of the year.
I have travelled more than a thousand kilometres since then...
Well a day before New Year, after the Aidil Adha prayers, i drove alone to Kota Baru, through N-S Highway via Lenggong-Gerik-Banding-Jeli-Rantau Panjang-Pasir Mas and arriving in Peringat with the final destination at Melor..for a wedding of a friend's daughter on New Year's Day...Took me about 6 hrs plus-minus very fast driving..
Just before the first day of new year ended, at about 2315 hrs, i drove back to Putrajaya using the same route and arriving at 0500 hrs..another 6 hrs plus-minus...still driving alone..
Took a short nap and woke up at 0730 and took another nap and woken up again at 0945 hrs and got ready to board a flight to Langkawi at 1155 hrs..from Sepang LCCT..
Arrived in Langkawi on time(no usual delay from Air Asia)..
Did not move around that much in Langkawi..luckily..
And the next day, in the evening took the 2015 flight back to LCCT Sepang..
Well that was how i started my new year..
Definitely there were plenty of happenings but i am too tired to jot them down here. Suffice to say that it is quite a mouthfull to swallow...
Maybe i will pen them down as i go along in this New Year, which i hope will be full of surprises and adventures....
Happy New Beginning and may God bless everyone...