23-271009 D'jakarta Bandung

Sunda Kelapa (397–1527) or formerly known as Jayakarta (1527–1619), Batavia (1619–1942), and Djakarta (1942–1972). Also DKI Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. It also has a greater population than any other city in Southeast Asia. Sunda Kelapa is the old port of Jakarta located on the estuarine of Ciliwung River. "Sunda Kalapa" (Sundanese: "Coconut of Sunda") is the original name, and it was the main port of Sunda Kingdom of Pajajaran. The port is situated in Penjaringan sub-district, of North Jakarta, Indonesia. Today the old port only accommodate "Pinisi", a traditional two masted wooden sailing ship serving inter-island freight service in the archipelago. Although it is now only a minor port, Jakarta had its origins in Sunda Kelapa and it played a significant role in the city's development.

I never did like flying in the first place. Not becoz I'm afraid of heights or claustrophobic but the feeling of being tied down by the safety belt puts me off. A Sagittarius trots along all day, never shackled no matter what. A Half Human Half Horse can never be cooped up in a corral. One hour flight is all I can take. I'm one restless stud. Can't expect much from a cheapo flight. Delay, delay & further delay lah...

"As long as I get from point A to point B, is good enough for me.

5:30pm it's already dark & so gloomy.

Concrete jungle excreting homo sapient heading for their pods.

Made worse by the bumper to bumper crawl of mods,
The out of sync blinding-blinking almost like a red raya light spots".

Rice fried by loonies.

After the horrendous maze, we dumped our gear & headed to the nearest glutton hole. We were starving as if we haven't eaten for days. Lunacy was the order of the nite & the minute we came across a stall full of hungry souls, like madmen we are we took in the weirdest fried rice ever - Nasi Goreng Gila!...topped with the exclusive "Live" entertainment courtesy of Batavia. Where else in the world would you have buskers at your side serenading "Dangdut" tunes with "Artificial Girls" gyrating their hips to the disco beat??!!! Lucky we were still sane after all the sudden rush of mind boggling load of information.

Jakarta is the twelfth-largest city in the world; One of the most populous cities in the world, Motorised bajaj - Auto rickshaws, called bajaj (pronounced badge-eye) run by smoke belching Vespa engines, provide local transportation in the back streets of some parts of the city. They added spice to the already delicious dancers.

I wouldn't want this thing appearing at nite.

Unregistered traffic police.

I was munching away my sandwich & all of the sudden my sharp bionic 2020 vision noticed a group of riders 100 meters beyond me. Raced towards them & one rider said "Bapak pasti sering bersepeda ya?" Stripped & flaunted my tanned hips...Whoa!!! Agus, family & friends then obliged with a group shot. 1300 cyclists took over the streets, the municipal blocked some main roads for the roadies. Jakarta’s first Car Free Day started way back in 2002.

Along Jalan General Sudirman Jakarta, community play soccer, cycling and other activities in the road. At that time, local, national and international NGO’s joined forces to call attention to more environmental modes of transport and to create awareness about the advantages of a car-free environment. Air quality was so poor that emissions regularly exceeded the international Ambient Air Quality Standard. The event’s organizers aimed to link improving air quality with reducing motorized traffic.

I dunno when this gonna happen in KL...dream on. At least we have PCM.

Car Free Day & "Dangdut" Bikes were the King of the Road!




Or not we can ride up the sky.

Another thing about this place, every time you'd cross a road you gotta extend IDR500 or any small change not exceeding IDR1000 (35 sen) to the unofficial traffic attendant. Be thankful, without these guys you'll be stuck in a maze of "Macet" (Traffic Jam). You could also be mobbed by the ever increasing swarm of metropolitan beggars you had ever seen. They come in all spectrum, shapes & colours of the rainbow. The poor from every corner of the island of Java gravitate here to the capital to beg. They wander in between cars stuck at traffic corners, in the shadows of the city’s skyscrapers and gigantic shopping malls. I feel sad but that's life.

Everybody wants the piece of pie but not anyone can have it. You might end up with crumbs...if you're lucky enough. Most of the time you are not even allowed to touch, let alone smell it. Life sucks...

Jakarta officials want images like this to become a thing of the past. The Indonesian authorities have approved a new law banning people from giving money to buskers, beggars and hawkers in Jakarta. Offenders could face up to six months in jail and IDR39,379,451 = Thirty Nine Million (RM14,000) fines! Allowing beggars to operate freely would lead to increased criminality and, eventually, political instability. A city official said “If we allow them here,” he said, “Jakarta will become the center for Indonesia’s poor”. “We don’t want to be mean to these people, but national security and safety are at stake.”

Tangkuban Parahu (Perahu Tertangkup). The name translates roughly to "upturning of (a) boat" or "upturned boat" or "Terlangkup/Terbalik" in Sundanese, referring to the local legend of its creation. The story tells of "Dayang Sumbi", a beauty who lived in West Java. She cast away her son "Sangkuriang" for disobedience, and in her sadness was granted the power of eternal youth by the gods. After many years in exile, Sangkuriang decided to return to his home, long after the two had forgotten and failed to recognize each other. Sangkuriang fell in love with Dayang Sumbi and planned to marry her, only for Dayang Sumbi to recognize his birthmark just as he was about to go hunting. In order to prevent the marriage from taking place, Dayang Sumbi asked Sangkuriang to (1) build a dam on the river Citarum and (2) build a large boat to cross the river, both before the sunrise. Sangkuriang meditated and summoned mythical ogre-like creatures -Buta Hejo or green giant(s)- to do his bidding. Dayang Sumbi saw that the tasks were almost completed and called on her workers to spread red silk cloths east of the city, to give the impression of impending sunrise. Sangkuriang was fooled, and upon believing that he had failed, kicked the dam and the unfinished boat, resulting in severe flooding and the creation of Tangkuban Parahu from the hull of the boat.

T-shirts are cheap IDR20,000 = RM7. Fridge magnet IDR50,000 for 3 pcs but u better haggle or it'll cost you a bomb.There's this one lonely rider who rode up this 2km sandy tarred road. One slip you'll tumble into the molten lava. I dunno why they don't sweep this road properly. They charge IDR50,000 per head for those who want to view & smell rotten sulfuric odor. Other than that it's rather well kept & clean as a whistle.

3 Hantu Raya bodyguards tagged along too.

If you're in Bandung & you don't go shopping, that's unusual = go see a psychiatrist! Bandung is a shoppers paradise...don't bring your wife, girlfriend, lover or concubines here. And the bike shops in Jalan Veteran, Bandung is like a museum!

MOSSO 7005 Alloy RB, 48cm - IDR1.5 Million=RM540

Millionaire I am, in Rupiah la...Agus was again shocked to see me in one of the bike shops yet again.

]

"Land of the Mystique & Traditionalist"

111009 Cyc Unikeb - Salak Town

Wak Jali brought his baby,

Smirking like a vampire with a glee,

Of couse a father would be,

He was asked to lead the pack,

Oh boy what the bloody heck,

I'll give your pretty cheeks a peck,

Don't mean to be so crude,

He's so shy he's kinda mute,

Just a baby boy & aint no brute,

Then came along Rahman's son Izat,

Whoa the boy rode like a blizzard,

Spellbinding everyone young wizard,

Where as Hulk turned green,

Not that this bugger is really mean,

His belly got stuffed of "Dhall" beans,

Zano definately had to intervene,

Cikgi Hisyam was quirky up to his spleen,

Zul snorted till the bones gone clean.

I'm in my usual drone,

No point for me to moan,

I've done enuff since havin a clone.


me, Rahman, Syarul Hulk, Zano, Wak Jali & Baby Faizol, Izat, cikgu Hisyam, Zul, me twin

011009 Tragedy in Putrajaya & Texas

Tom Reed - Express News

That's a photograph of seven year old Kylie Bruehler, left without a mother and father. She is at a funeral service to bury her parents, Gregory and Alexandra Bruehler who were run down and killed while riding their tandem on the shoulder of the road in Bexar County, Texas, US. A driver veered onto the shoulder and mowed his pickup truck into them & dragged them for almost 200 feet.

The local news reports that “The driver looked off, he was looking at something else and realized the curve in the road came a lot faster than what he anticipated”. He got away scot-free...investigators say there are no charges on the driver. They believe this was an accident and that somehow the driver lost control of his truck.

What's the point in having laws if there's no accountability?

3 years ago my friend, Dee - got killed & she juz bought the bike a few days before. On the fateful day, CIOCC's Clan rendezvoused with Admiral Alauddin & his gang near the Masjid Putrajaya & went for a loop.

An hour earlier riding together, an hour later she's dead.

Hajjah Alia rang a ding me & we went over to the morgue in Putrajaya Hospital. I was in denial, disbelief, shell shocked, dumbfounded, amazed, astonished, flabbergasted, stupefied, thunderstruck, perplexed & damn angry. She got hit near Putrajaya, on a humongous six lane highway... by a young lad. Al Fatihah for Dee.

I don’t know how many times I’ve almost been killed while riding my bike.

I don’t know how many times drivers have intentionally tried to run me off the road.
I don’t know how many times I’ve been honked at yelled at and blamed for dumb crap just because I’m on a bike or waiting at a red light or trying to make a left turn on a multi-lane street. People are more kind to the cycling grass cutters than they are to full attired cyclists. Can’t go for a nice bike ride without fearing for my life. It almost makes me want to give up riding sometimes.

The incident sent shivers down my spine. People who drive OVER other people don’t belong on the road. Cyclists on the road are treated no better than a chicken.

I thought they are a lot of learned folks around here since UKM, UPM & Uniten is just a stone throw away. I'm wrong. You'll come across a lot of dumb asses with skulls full of mud in Bandar Baru Bangi too. Syarul Hulk turned green & nearly bashed one idiotic moron a couple of months back.

“Bicycling is the future. It has to be, coz there’s something wrong with a society that drives a guzzler to workout in the gym.”

"May God Bless His & Her Soul, MAY THEY ALL REST IN PEACE"

011009 A Time to Rejoice but...Are You Prepared for the Hour?

Time to Remember
As many Muslims rush toward amusement on the first day of the Eid, others are more keen to keep the memory of their beloved ones. Malaysian Muslims usually visit the graves of their dead in the wee hours of the first `Eid day.

"I must come here every year to remember my forefathers and recite some verses from the Qur'aan," Arief Zain, a teenage boy, said as he laid some flowers on the grave of his great grandmother in the Sg. Pinang cemetery. Goodbye Opah.

They prepare scented water (from "Kayu Cendana" / sandalwood) and flowers, or buy from people who open small stalls or put their items on wooden tables by the graveyards especially for visiting relatives of the dead to lay them on the graves. Aieda Adrieana, the woman visiting her family's plot, believes that visiting the graves is as important as seeing her relatives and friends during the `Eid. "As the alive visit each other, they shouldn't forget the dead as well."

Perhaps this should lead us to ask another question: What is it that we can prepare for that Hour? In fact, the only thing that we can prepare for that Hour is true faith (iman) and good deeds. The Prophet (S.A.W.) has advised us and taught us that we must take advantage of our life before death comes. That is, we must use this life to prepare for the Hereafter before death comes to us and this life will no longer be of any avail to us. If we do not use this life to prepare for the Hereafter, then, in fact, we have simply wasted this life - no matter how much it seems that we have achieved in this worldly life.

Even if we have thirteen degrees, three mansions, thirty cars, three italiano rides, it has all been a waste if we did not stop, think and prepare for the Hour.

At the time of that Hour, three things will follow us to the grave. However, two of those three will leave us at the grave. Our wealth, family and deeds will accompany us to the grave. However, our wealth and family will return - they won't stay us with in the grave, we can't take them with us into our graves to use them in the Hereafter. We will be left with only one thing, as the Prophet (S.A.W.) told us. We will be left in our graves with our deeds only. Our deeds and nothing else will remain with us.

Dear brothers and sisters, we must think about our Hour and prepare for it before it comes. We must prepare for it before the "Grim Reaper" comes to us to take our souls. We should realise that if we prepare for that Hour, the angels will then come to us in a pleasing form, our souls will flow easily out of our bodies and the angels will be calling us to Allah's pleasure and forgiveness.

However, if we do not prepare for that Hour - if we are heedless and we are like those who are about to go on a long trip and don't prepare anything in advance for that trip - our situation will be completely different. The angels will come to the disbeliever or the evildoer in a completely different fashion. They will come in a form that is very displeasing to the person. They will call the soul to Allah's anger and His Punishment.
The soul will not want to leave the body and it will have to be dragged out of the body. The angels will have to tear the soul out of the body. Is this what we want to face? This is the result of not thinking about and preparing for our Hour.

This is the hour that each and every one of us will experience and must be aware of. This is the hour that is approaching us at every second of our lives. This will be the deciding time for us as our actions will come to an end. This is, in fact, OUR HOUR! It is the inevitable that every soul must taste. Allah says in the Qur'aan:

"Everyone shall taste death. And only on the Day of Resurrection shall you be paid your wages in full. And whoever is removed away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, he indeed is successful. The life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception." (al-'Imraan, 185). This is when our deeds will come to an end. After that, we can just look towards our reckoning. Therefore, the question that we must ask ourselves and act upon before it is too late is: What have we prepared for our hour?

What have we prepared for that moment when this life comes to an end for us?

29-300906 Braving the Putrajaya Rain

We rode to around Putrajaya, the usual route & sped pass Alamanda to PICC. The gust was so strong that she nearly blew me off my donkey / CIOCC. For a frail guy like me, the gale could have flown me like a kite without much might. Flags fluttered to tatters. Oh so what a windy nite.

Adik Kamarul & Adik Amin was kind enuff to tag along this ol' man for a spin. It drizzled quite a bit but brushed off any thoughts of returnin. We spun around aimlessly till about 2am till without any warnin, big drops of heavenly water nearly flushed us off the tarmac with such din.

Stopped by a Tommy Yam restaurant & begged for some plastic bags. Yeah, we forgot the water-proof zipper pouch you fag. Don't wanna ruin my cheapo digicam. Raced home to BB Bangi totally drenched ma'am. Wait! Kamarul gotta ride home alone to Sg. Jeluk. "Gimme 5 minutes" me said. I was gonna drive him back but being young, crazy & not afraid, he decided to brave the rain with Amin, go go loony boy ahead.

So me drove me car from behind watching their helmets bobbing up & down, not bothered with pack of dogs nor cats. Not even a flock of bats. Dontcha frown, they aint gonna drown.

Oh it really poured that nite, coz it rained like a dog fight,
the wind was showing her might, blowing us away like a cordless kite,
Kamarul got home safely all right, & now alone at 4 am Amin gotta ride,
coz some cyclist aint so bright, ridin in the middle of the mornin light,
& got some fellas a fright.

270909 Putrajaya & Lakeside

"I'm too tired"
"I just got back from kampong"
"I went rowing 3 rounds last nite"

Excuses, excuses, excuses.

Can't do this & can't do that
Givin lies like the road is wet
Eyes wide shut hangin like a stuffed bat
Ravaging the trash you bloody rat
Oh coz my belly's gettin fat
What's so difficult? & you say not yet
All I ask ask to do is to work out a sweat
Since you gave me tits, I'll reply with a tat
You aint nobody but just a pet
All of the time since the nite we met
Shaggin by the sea till late sunset
No gigolo or gigolorette
As you aint deserve no pat
I'll smack ya ass fetishly with a bat
Jiggling uncontrollably since it's full of fat
Not fit for a doctor but more of a vet
& lick your wound like a darn cat
Only thing you need that's what you get
I proves nothing I bet
For those who resisted the devil, I take off my hat.

Cikgu said,
Must ride, it's been a month & a week of gluttony, whacking all those fattening food. The belly seems to be bloating forward. Veins twirled like a chameleon, blood jumping up sky high. Sugar has turned to almost as sweet as honey. As I rode around Melawati Hill, a ghost friend greeted... "Hoooooo Rayaaaalaaaaa Day, javanese tamarind member..." Today's ride was cancelled prematurely as Queen Hang Li Po invited us for raya. Whatever, next week we must ride more.......

*Warning:- Direct translation, read at your own risk.
If you don't know what the heck it's all about, don't bother.

210909 Parallel Universe

In a parallel universe, That's happening right now, Things between us must be worse, But it's hard to see just how...