Driving Down South

The last time mad redo1 was in Johor was back in 2009. That was when he travelled down south with the Terengganu President's Cup team for the final of that competition in Pasir Gudang against Johor FC.

On that occasion he travelled by bus.

Last weekend saw he travelled down south again. However this time he drove for the first time to the Darul Takzim land. The destination was Tanjung Leman in the Mersing District to cover the third leg of the 2012 Malaysian Match Racing Circuit (MMRC).

It was a smooth drive even though mad redo1 had to make a couple of stops before leaving the Darul Iman land due to drowsiness. He used the Route 3 that took him through Pekan, Nenasi, Rompin before arriving at Mersing, a town that looked familiar but completely differed after his last visit in 1982.

There was no time to stop thus mad redo1 drove on through the small town of Jemaluang which again was not the same place as he had in his memory. More grey cells had died it seemed.

Not far from Jemaluang mad redo1 arrived at a familiar looking place just before Maghrib. It was indeed the same place the bus that carried the Terengganu contingent had stopped for lunch on their way back from Pasir Gudang back in 2009.

However, it was still another 25km drive from there and after confirming with Rahyu of T-Best that nobody would be at the chalet at the time mad redo1 decided to have his dinner first. 

Afterward he continued his journey through the narrow road and after driving through the dark with the beam almost constantly ON, mad redo1 arrived at the chalet compound. Unfortunately the guys he was supposed to share the chalet with was not around as they were still at the media centre.

Eventually they came back. These guys were from the webnews portal: KL Pos while another one was the official photographer for the event, a company called Desiran Image.

For the next few days mad redo1 spent his time at the media centre and also on the water. The first day which he missed saw just a few action as there was no wind but with the arrival of mad redo1 it began to pick up and by the final day it was a gutsy 7 to 9 knots.

After three days of racing on the water, the Royal Malaysian Navy Match Racing Team 1 won the event. The skipper, Masyuri Rahmat denied his nemesis, Jeremy Koo from making three wins in a row to keep the answer of who is going to represent Malaysia in the Monsoon Cup hanging until the last leg in Pulau Duyong.

It was a good trip to the south and certainly the hospitality from the organizer was top-class. As always.

The drive back to kT was another smooth one with no untoward incident at all. mad redo1 did a brief drive-through the towns of Mersing and Pekan with a brief stop at Nenasi to have nasi puteh for lunch before continuing the journey back home.

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Second for Team AG:eing

After a number of postponements finally the September edition of the Heritage Bay Cup was held today. Team AG:eing was supposed to compete alongside The AG:eing Ladies but due the postponements a number of the latter's team members were unable to come.

Thus the original Team AG:eing was divided into AG:eing 1 and 2 respectively. Three other teams in the mix were Pink Piranhas, Giat Mara and Mixed Glory Sailing Team (MGST).

AG:eing 1 was drawn with Rezaki as the coach on the Ministry of Sports boat while AG:eing 2 had Nurul Ain and the Ri-Yaz Heritage boat. mad redo1 combined with Linda for the first time since 2010 with Abu, Khairi and Nazmi making up the rest of the team.

There were only three races for this and the MGST with Hazwan Hazim as the coach romped to victory in each one of them. AG:eing 1 finished in second place after coming third, second and fourth for a total of nine points.

The rest were tied on eleven points but Pink Piranhas edged AG:eing 2 and Giat Mara into joint fourth place on count-backs. However, MGST were no match for Ri-Yaz Heritage Sailing Team who convincingly beat them in the final.

For Team AG:eing, coming second in the table was a very result that they welcomed very much as it was their best finish since beginning competing in the series back in 2010.

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Of Crabs and Maggi

It was supposed to be a reunion with a member of the 1987 batch, Zulkarnain who came back for a holiday in Terengganu. Thus I made the arrangement to meet up in Dungun, at the same time meeting with the likes of Asmadi, Shauddin, Tajuri, Ezzudin and Sabri.

The chosen place was the infamous Maggi Ketam Bistro located at Teluk Lipat.

Asmadi was already waiting there and with a bowl of the maggi ketam safely down in his stomach for good measure. Of course Linda and the AKSes were excited with the prospect of having the delicious meal down their throats too.

After the order was made we sat down and wait, both for the food and friends to arrive. Shauddin arrived a short while later while Tajuri and Ezzudin could not make it.

Sabri dropped by for just a while as he had to go to work. There was enough time though for a photo of us together.

The food duly arrived and we consumed it wholeheartedly. The maggi ketam certainly lived up to its reputation. I would certainly recommend it to others to try.

In the end, Zulkarnain did not show up but the maggi ketam made the trip to Dungun really worthwhile.

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AG:eing in The Storm

Team AG:eing once again competed in the May edition of the Heritage Bay Cup. The team mix changed once again due to a number of reasons but the core were there.

This time around mad redo1 was joined by the original members; Enal Judin and Eskay while Khairi together with his wife competed for the first time. Missing from the line up were Hilmi and Abu Hasmadi while Nizam Kulat opted to compete with a new team: KBK. The trade saw two KBK members coming in board in Fuad and Pozi.

As usual, mad redo1 took his role as the 'bowman' though with David Mills as our coach, our chance of winning looked slim from start as he was known to be a safety first coach and would push the boat too far in order to avoid any collisions.

Then again, that was his main duty; to ensure the boats under his responsibility would not suffer any damage during competitions or demonstrations.

This edition however, saw us sailing under an extreme condition when all of the sudden the sky opened up with all the dogs and cats coming out from its belly and then throwing a few thunder and lightning every now and then for good measure.

David called it off for the sake of everyone's safety after Race 1 but when the weather improved after a while, we went out onto the water again. This time cladded in the rainjacket which really made us warm and comfortable.

Perhaps the team was too comfortable in the jackets that we forgot that there was a race to win. But once again we did not do too well but the standard objective of Team AG:eing when competing of not to finish last was achieved at the expense of KBK.

It was another fun experience on the water, something that make it worthwhile and making us yearning to return in the future editions of the competition.

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Welcome The Heritagio

mad redo1 has to say good-bye to the Nike Tiempo that had served him well for the last two years. A birthday gift from the roomey, the pair now are beyond repair and will take their place on the shelves for the retired footwear.

Step in the adidas Heritagio.

Another pair of white futsal shoes with the traditional three stripes in blue and red. It did not cost me much, just over a hundred at the Al-Ikhsan store on Jalan Isaac.

Looking forward to more sessions with The Heritagio!


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15 Years...

...of Living Together

Last night mad redo1 and his roomey celebrated their 15 years together.

The usual cliche "How time flies" is applicable here, considering it seems just like yesterday (another cliche) that he just said his aqad to end his single roving days.


As everything in life, the fifteen years are not without ups and downs. For that mad redo1 is very thankful to have found someone that complement his life while he tries his best to ensure the favour is returned.

There are quite a number of things we share our passion and one of them is cooking. Thus we decided the best way to celebrate the 15 years is to cook our own dinner instead of having someone else do it for us.


Furthermore, it is much better to have food prepared in the name of love and for someone you loved, while feeling the love in the food prepared by the love of your life.


Thus for our 15 years celebration dinner, mad redo1 cooked the fish and chicken: pan-frying the salmon to (his term of) perfection while the marinated chicken breasts were grilled (though in reality they were pan-fried too).


The roomey meanwhile prepared the pasta and the #2 AKS lent a hand by preparing the salad in thousand islands dressing.


It was a simple dinner, shared in joy and happiness marking a very important landmark in our life as a family.


To the next fifteen years... and beyond!


Note: mad redo1 apologizes for the quality of the photos, he left the big guns at his office thus used the phone camera and the deploy the AKS to snap these moments.


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Shredded to Sleep

It is always a favourite past-time of mad redo1 watching his off-springs while they are sleeping. Each with their own way of inducing themselves to sleep.

However with the third AKS, she differed from her older sisters. The latter would have their own 'bantal busuk' or 'blankie' to accompany them. With the second AKS it was the edge of the 'bantal busuk' that became her favourite spot, twisting and kneading and before you know it, she was fast asleep.


Lisa on the other hand prefers the soft tissues which she would shred apart to small pieces before finally settling for one which she would knead and twist until she too enter the land of dreams.

Life is so fascinating, if you bother to look at these little things.


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