PUTRAJAYA O! PUTRAJAYA

 Take a ride to the southern tip of this city and you will discover a vista opened wide as you stand in the 'Taman Ampangan Utama'. Two magnificent buildings stand as sentinels across the lake with 'Jambatan Seri Gemilang'  and  its features near by.

 A panoramic scene for certain and you will be presented with this view as you sit for lunch/ dinner or just a glass of cool iced tea when you stop at this restaurant which has just been opened.

   The PICC ( Putrajaya International Conference Centre ) sits on a hill overlooking the city.

An intriguing  position where ever you are because you will be presented with varied angle for the shot of this scene.

Since we have been in this capital city of Malaysia , we would like to share some scenic spots and features that have surely made it a great city yet hardly known by many. Possibly there are few advertisements or documentaries regarding the city. Nevertheless it offers surprises and it will be a great adventure indeed for photographers and visitors alike.  There are treasures in terms of architectural and national identities to be discovered.

      Stones and steel steal the show when you enter this sector of the food court.

PICC through the branches

     Yet  another beautiful angle of the view from one corner of the lake. 

         Myriads of pathways at this park and a treasure house for children and their parents as they can play to their content

Besides,close by you can still see glimpses of the country- side

MENEMUI KEDAMAIAN , KEUNIKAN, KETENTERAMAN ......

pohon buluh dan batu batan (hard and soft scape)

TAK TERFIKIR pula yang bahan-bahan sekeliling boleh diusahakan hingga menjadikan unik dan bernilai tinggi. Kebetulan semasa kami singgah sebentar di tempat ini banyak yang menarik dan mendorong berfikir mengapa tidak kita sama-sama mengambil usaha yang sama. Buluh dan kayu-kayan hanyut dan terbuang, botol dan sebagainya boleh dijadikan bahan hiasan yang cukup bernilai. Mungkin kita tidak kreatif seperti orang yang menggubahnya, tetapi kita telah mendapat ganjaran dan contoh. Ilham. Renung sepuasnya dan semoga diharap saudara/i boleh melakukan sesuatu hujung minggu ini atau sekurang-kurang menjelang Aidilfitri agar rumah kita menyambut keluarga dengan sesuatu yang berlainan tanpa mengeluarkan perbelanjaan besar disamping melahirkan kreativiti. InsyaAllah.

rumpun ranting dan buluh menghiasi lampu seling (twigs, brunches, bamboo and a ceiling light)



satu sekatan semula jadi( bamboo curtain?)

sudah cukup menahan serangan (bamboo fortress?)

jangan bimbang tak ada hujan cocacola atau 7up (a corridor of tops)

terus dari hutan belantara ( jungle plants fresh from the natural nursery

anak muda ini mengingati sesuatu mungkin ada ilham tersendiri (dream on and come out with something constructive)

sebuah pemukaan meja dari sepohon pokok (solid wooden top for a dining table compliments the scenery)

Perjalanan kita antara Baling dan Jeli sepanjang Lebuhraya Timor - Barat akan berpeluang merentasi Tasik Banding. Disini sudah ada sebuah hotel semenjak beberapa tahun yang lalu. Kini pengurusan baru telah memiliki hotel ini dan wajahnya juga telah bertukar dan menjadikannya satu tempat yang patut kita berhenti sejenak atau lebih baik singgah bermalam agar merasi keindahan alam semula jadi disini. Tidak heranlah 'Royal Belum' berhampirannya akan menjadi satu tarikan pelancongan dalam masa yang akan datang.


( During a recent trip to Kota Bharu we traveled on the East-West Highway stretching from Baling in Kedah to Jeli in Kelantan. It is not a highway where you can see your speedometer moving to a century plus. Otherwise you will be courting real danger and see yourself in the precipice below as the highway cuts the great dividing range stretching north south. Still it's greenery all the way and when traveling in the evening you may be lucky to come across wild elephants crossing the highway. Half way when you feel tired from taking all the curves, you come across a man-made lake and sitting by the foothills is a hotel, now under a new establishment and thankfully has acquired new features. It is a sight for sore back and ache after a long drive. What we saw certainly shows the management skill and expertise to make use of local products abundantly available to beautify the surrounding and its establishment. Sited at the entry point to the treasures of Royal Belum Valley we are sure this will be a focal point for many.)

KASUAL 'SHOTS' KINI ' VINTAGE' SATU MASA NANTI

Protokol diutamakan. Tiga bendera dikibarkan. Sebelah kanan bendera 'Malaysia' dan sebelah kiri bendera 'Kedah Darulaman' Ditengah bendera peribadi Sultan Kedah. Nyata KBDYMM Sultan Kedah berangkat ke majlis yang sedang diadakan.

Gambar-gambar berikut ini diambil pada bulan Julai 2009, merakamkan sausana dan peristiwa sempena kehadiran KBDYMM Sultan Kedah , Sultanah Kedah, Perdana Menteri Malaysia dan Menteri Besar Kedah pada satu majlis perasmian. Apapun jurugambar memberi focus kepada situasi yang menarik kepadanya dengan harapan menjadi kenangan dan ingatan masa depan. Jenis kamera dan lensa yang digunanya membuatkan gambarnya menarik. Lebih daripada itu peluang merakam datang hanya sekali. Tidak heran gambar-gambar yang dimiliki itu menjadi 'vintage' satu masa nanti. Ia tidak dimiliki oleh orang lain, tidak ada gambar yang serupa.Masing-masing jurugambar mempunyai focus atau tumpuannya tersendiri. Menggeledah album lama saya percaya saudara akan berhadapan dengan gambar-gambar dan wajah yang ketinggalan tahun atau abad. Tentunya amat manfaat. Gambar itu sudah diklasifikasikan sebagai 'vintage'.

Pasukan Pencaragam Polis DiRaja (Kedah) masih utuh dan bermain di majlis-majlis rasmi. Orang lama masih mengingati pasukan pencaragam ini pernah bermain di Perbarisan semasa Aidilfitri di perkarangan Masjid Zahir atau di Padang Court Ia merupakan satu-satunya pencaragam polis selain Pencaragam Polis DiRaja Persekutuan.


Satu barisan wanita utama duduk untuk bergambar rasmi bersama KBDYMM Sultan Kedah dan YAB Perdana Menteri Malaysia.



Ini barisan lelaki utama , dua dari kiri YAB Menteri Besar Kedah dan disebelah kirinya YAB Perdana Menteri Malaysia dan KDYMM Sultan Kedah. KDYMM Sultanah Kedah bersebelahan Tuanku Sultan Kedah.


Puteri Sultan Kedah ( baju kuning) memberi tumpuan penuh kepada ayahandanya yang melakukan acara perasmian.




KBDYMM Sultan Kedah bertitah merasmikan Kompleks Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan di Bandar Muadzam Shah Alor Star






Barisan Tetamu VVIP. Lelaki bersongkok . Warna kuning diutamakan

Turut hadir Brig Gen (Rtd) Datuk Jamil Khir Baharum Menteri Hal Ehwal Ugama Islam'. Pada majlis seperti ini kita berkesempatan mengfocuskan lensa kepada perseorangan atau situasi yang menarik. Lensa zoom jika ada membantu menghasilkan 'candid' shot.

WHEN TIMBER WAS KING AND THE NAIL A SORE LOSER

SERI MENANTI beckons us. She awaits our visit. Like a lady she is cool and unnerved if no visitor calls upon her. I must admit I have known her for many years but trifling put me off and she remained a perfect stranger all these while. Today we had the honor to call upon her.

I am thankful that she has remained as beautiful as ever, quiet, seductive, carefree and mesmerizing.

Sited far away from the madding crowd, accessible only through the winding pathways off Seremban, it is no wonder that the lady remained as she is, less too many visitors, too much encroachments and urge to beautify or upgrade knocks her off the high pedestal.

When I first toured Britain and Europe in my teenage years, the tourist brochures and postcards recognized the magnificent castles in the country sides and we were hapless at not following the guidelines. So we troad away into dales and hillocks less we became shortchanged in our tour of the country climbing staircases and crossed moats to see buildings much glamoured by King Arthur or William Shakespeare.

SERI MENANTI in all its magnificence has a palace to offer the visitors. I must admit I am awed at what I saw. The skills, craftsmanship, labor of love, joy at building such a structure as a home must certainly brought fulfillment to all. It is no wonder the lady has been cared for in complete luxury and solitude. She is exceptional. One in a million. No! perhaps the sole survivor if any.

May I urge friends, who have remained shy and distance from the lady to call upon her. Please take a day off and guide yourself along the North South Highway till you enter Seremban and then follow the direction to Kuala Pilah till you come to a junction indicating her home. From Subang Jaya it took us no more than two hours. If you have longer duration you will find an extension nearby which can take you to the east coast and perhaps call upon another lady friend invariably left alone because she is off the beaten track too. I meant here the capital of Pahang i.e Pekan.

You may also be surprised to see how Seremban has expanded. My visit almost four decades ago to the town looks like being a prehistoric calling. Much has happened.

For all its splendors, there are yet simplicity and good natured characteristics in between. Our visit to the 'Nine States' brought us to a restaurant offering dishes peculiar to the people of Minangkabau origin for lunch and at the end of the day to cool ourselves with 'cendul' at a stall made famous by a television program recently. The distinction here was the mode and the colorful seller himself.

This is Istana Seri Menanti, once the home of Yang Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan built in 1908 exceptional and unique four storey wooden structure without the use of metal nails by two Malay craftsmen Kahar and Taib. It was used as a royal palace till 1930's' centre of royal functions, ceremonies imaginable during the early 20Th century.

This is the open ground floor of the building. Four pillars known as 'tiang seri' stands in the middle part. One is in the foreground of the picture. Each was once a solid tree trunk and measured 65 feet upwards reaching to the high roof. Solid and hard, each is no less 15" each side. Throughout there are ninety-nine pillars supporting the building.

This is the panoramic view from one of the windows of the 'Istana'. The verdant landscape still remained intact and the quiet solitude of the town gives an awe not easily discovered anywhere presently. Designated as a royal museum, it allows visitors to come home to a cultural splendor.

The palace as seen from another angle, showing the extension to the kitchen and the servant quarters at the back.

As seen from the left section and at the back of the palace

Relics of the past on the palace ground. They are supposed to be mean of testing the true identity of the princes or persons before they were declared rightfully suitable for the positions held.Methodology? Need to research on it



Variety of hot sauce to choose from and the other dishes include meat ( rusa, kijang, burung puyuh, burung ayam-ayam), duck's egg plus greens or ulam of all kind. All found at a restaurant somewhere near the Negeri Sembilan Football Association building.One advice come early.



Pak Leman sells 'cendul'. He offers a deal not to be found anywhere. You choose a bowl of 'candul' ( pulut, kacang, jagung). Any extra bowls are free/ gratis. Even warm, barley water is served free of charge. Pak Laman declares that once he was refused a second helping because he had no extra coin . He vowed he would not allow anyone to face the same predicament again. You won't at his stall. Besides he is a character himself, meeting his guests with candid charm and is a walking encyclopedia churning off information , statistics and history at lightening speed.



Come torrent rain, his guests will not be caught wet. I was on the point of rushing for the car in the background when Pak Leman shouted if my umbrella is as good as his. Do I want to use his umbrella? Sure since I won't be wet rushing to get one from the car. Then he came out with his, even on wheels and it certainly put you right into the car without a drop of rain touching you. Call that supreme service at Pak Leman



Less we forget, since not many of us climb stairs to get into our home; you may know that in Malay homes all the 'anak tangga' (steps) are designed in even numbers. Here as at the other section of the palace home you can go up after stepping on fourteen 'anak tangga' quite high for any Malay building.

We are not beating the retreat by sounding this drum. Here a hollow tree trunk remained a symbol of calling the Muslim to prayer or indicating warnings and messages when electricity and loud speaker system was unheard of. You will discover this as one of the properties of the lady that awaits your visit.