Hunt for Sunglasses...

...and a Few Other Things.

If you had followed 'pekebende' over the last few years, perhaps you will be familiar with this friend of mine who currently earning his 'rezeki' in the middle east. Well, he is back in town for a few weeks together with his family. Last year he came back to look for a reliable pair of sunglasses.

Would you believe it that the first agenda after coming back to town is embarking on another hunt for another pair of sunglasses after losing the one bought last year at a mosque while doing the 'Umrah'.

That was what we did and again we went to Penney Pang located at Jalan Air Jernih. His experience in using Ray-Ban propelled him to the brand's showcase but after trying a number of models none managed to really tug his heart.

Then mad redo1 who was browsing through at another showcase suggested that he should give the 'Rudy's Project' collection a go, Hilmi did just that. Wallah! He found the sunglasses that fulfil his requirements. The price was nearly RM700 but a 30% discount brought it down to just under RM500.

During his browsing too mad redo1 found the one that really tugged his heart but with a price tag of well above RM700, despite the pretty persuasion by the girls at the counter mad redo1 decided to let the head ruled his heart this time around, though he made a silent pledge to have it one day... better yet, if anybody out there is generous enough to buy one for him, eh? (Dream on, mad redo1...)

However, after concluding the business at the optometrist, our sight was caught by the newly opened al-Ikhsan store, the second one in kT. Initially there was no intention to purchase anything but merely to feel the environment of a new store.

Unfortunately, mad redo1's attention was caught on the price tag of the Arsenal away jersey for 2008-09 season which had been marked down to just RM129. This was the result of The Gunners having released a new away jersey for the upcoming season. This time the heart ruled mad redo1's head.

Now, there will be a few photos in the future with mad redo1 wearing the above attire.

Then in the afternoon, mad redo1 together with Linda and the AKSes brought the youngest AKS to the clinic for another scheduled shot. She tipped the scale to a 6.4kg mark, which was still alright for mad redo1 to carry her around.

Then when it came to the shot, just a short cry and after a few moment of rubbing her tender and soft butts everything was okay again.

That was quite a day for mad redo1.

...

Kuala Abang...

...Waving!

On Friday mad redo1 had an assignment in Kemaman. Together with the AKSes and Linda we departed from kT around noon and after an hour on the road our stomachs began sounding their hunger bells. Of course mad redo1 already had a place to stop for a quick picnic on his mind.

It was a place in Kuala Abang, Dungun. For those who do not have the slightest idea of this place, it is just three km away from the famed Rantau Abang and around the same distance to Tanjung Jara. On a warm afternoon the place is just perfect to catch a nap or two (though there is the inherent danger of the nap becoming a long, long sleep).

Luckily the place was quite deserted when we arrived, perhaps due to the fact everybody was at home having meals or at the mosque performing the Friday Prayer (mad redo1 took the musafir option).

The planta rice with tandoori chicken prepared by Linda was heaven. Berg helped herself to at least three servings. It more or less confirmed both of us share that common strand of DNA. Even though he would like to have a bit more but a full stomach could be a hazard for drivers and mad redo1 was not willing to risk that.

So, if you are ever in that area, look out for the place and who knows, it might be the first of many visits there.

...

Hello...

...Everybody!

It seems just like yesterday that she joined us in this world, and right before our eyes she has grown quite substantially. Today she is 5 months old.

We pray for your health and happiness, and we will try our best to be there for you all the time.

...

The Year's...

...Lowest Posting!

The month of June saw the lowest number of posting this year. It was ironic since there were quite a few activities worth posting on these pages. Unfortunately, mad redo1 could not balance his life in order to write a few lines over here.

But, rejoice people!

mad redo1 is back, though not with a vengeance his spirit certainly in the up. Thus, it is my wish to see at least ten posts for this month on 'pekebende' and of course the more the better.

Where do I begin...

Why not with one of my pet peeves; inconsiderate road-users.

I was sitting in my parked Cik Mat along the Jalan Tok Lam Road waiting for my mother who went to a clinic there to get her medications. Suddenly a white four wheel drive came from the opposite direction, came into this side of the road and the driver parked his vehicle in the lane, making a double lane road a single lane.

The driver alighted from the vehicle and non-chalantly walked into the 7-11 store forcing other road-users to maneuver their vehicles around his. He came out nearly five minutes later having purchased the thing that he wanted at the 24 hours convenient store.

Once again, I was wishing to be driving a tank that I could just run over the vehicle while the driver was inside the store. When he came out only to find his vehicle was crushed flat .

Now, that would certainly made up my day!

...

D-Day...

...in Kuala Terengganu.

Following the collapse of the roof structure at the RM300 million Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium in Gong Badak, Terengganu football teams have no choice but to go back playing at the old Sultan Ismail Nasirudin Shah.

The stadium which has seen so many memories in the past, went into a small re-construction when the steel structure supporting part of the stands were removed for safety reasons. This reduced the capacity of the stadium from 20,000 to around 15,000.

The Football Association of Malaysia have provisionally approved the usage of Sultan Ismail Nasirudin Shah Stadium as the home ground for both Terengganu and T-Team during their Malaysian League campaign for this season and most probably next season too.

However, there have been a number of complaints in regards of the state of the pitch and also the flood-lights which according to certain quarters do not meet the required standards. In addition to that, the stadium pitch also has seen a number of non-football activities being held there.

There was the Search 'Di Awan Biru' concert and recently an equine event, The Sultan's Cup pre-launching ceremony was held there. The latter especially would take a heavy toll on the already bad pitch.

This has prompted the Kuala Terengganu City Council to carry out improvement works on the stadium by replacing the bulbs of the floodlights, patching up certain areas of the pitch and re-installing the security fences around the ground.

Whether these actions would satisfy FAM technical delegates will be known after their visit to the stadium on Sunday.

For the sake of football in Terengganu, mad redo1 hopes they will.

...

Bekang...

...anybody?

It is another Terengganu delicacy which I remember having for the first time when I was eight years old in Pasir Panjang. It was during a school holiday and I was staying at a relative's house to prepare for a function. It was quite vague but I remember lining up before this old lady who had a reputation as the best bekang maker in town. If not, why the line was so long with people waiting patiently to get their hands on the bekang.

The bekang comes with two sauces, the sweet sauce and cream sauce. My preference is the former. The sweet sauce (above) is brown in colour, most probably due to the use of brown sugar while the cream sauce is white.

The bekang basically is made from rice flour and eggs. According to my mother, the bekang will taste perfect if the right mix of the two ingredients is achieved. However I found the current makers of bekang tend to hold back on the eggs which makes the bekang a bit less tasty.

Nowadays, the place is no longer there. The old lady most probably has long gone to meet the Maker. We can always look for the current version but it is not what it used to taste like. Then again, we always think that foods from yester-years taste better than their counterparts today.

...

Surprised...

...I Was Not.

I was on my way to the office when calls and text messages started to come in on my handphone conveying the same message: SULTAN MIZAN STADIUM COLLAPSE!

When the first call came in I thought it was referring to current work being carried out at the Sultan Ismail Nasirudin Shah Stadium. However when more and more messages coming in then I decided it was best to check it out myself.

On the Sulltan Mahmud Bridge the wailing of the siren a police car more or less confirmed something bad had taken place. Perhaps it was still quite early as the traffic was smooth all the way to the Gong Badak Sports Complex.

As I approached the area I could see from a far the extent of the damage. The whole structure was still intact except for the roof which now has been reduced to an unrecognizable heap of steel and concrete. The crowd was getting bigger as news began the get around about the unfortunate event.

At the time the police line was still quite near to the stadium and the crowd was able to get quite close to the stadium. As I began to walk away after taking a few shots of the place, the Civil Defence Team personnel began to set up a new line to ensure the public would not be exposed to any danger.

The funny thing about the whole event was that it WAS NOT UNEXPECTED.

A year ago during the construction of the stadium the roof had collapsed once but it was not widely reported since there was no life lost and it would be a very bad publicity to the state which was about to host the SUKMA Games.

One interesting thing was an engineer who was involved in the construction of the Indoor Stadium advised me that if I have the choice, do not sit at the grandstand. It was something that immediately came to my mind upon seeing the extent of the damage.

This event certainly triggered a number events. As for mad redo1 it means a number of things that has to be done pronto in order to find a new home for the Turtles before the Super League resume on 16 June with a match against kL PLUS.

The best of luck to me then.

...