BERPETUALANG KE ACEH: Remembering Pangkor...

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This blogspot is a medium to share my thoughts and adventures apart from promoting my books. Below are the books which have been written or authored and published by myself.

"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Mencari Diri dan Erti".

ISBN 983-42031-0-1, Jun 2006

"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Membela Syiar yang Asal"

ISBN 983-42031-1-x, May 2007

"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Sirih Pulang ke Gagang?"

ISBN 978-983-42031-2-2, November 2007

It is interesting to note that while these books were written in Malay it has gained enough attention to merit being part of the collections of the American Library of Congress and National Library of Australia. Look here and here.

While the first three books were published by my own company, the fourth titled "Rumah Azan" was published in April 2009 by a company called Karnadya with the help of the Malaysian national literary body Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. It features beautiful pictures along with stories behind selected mosques which could be related to the history of Islam and the Malays alongside the formation of the Malaysian nation. Look at the article A collaboration of old collegemates - the book "Rumah Azan".

My fifth book "Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and Malay Sultanates", an English translation and adaptation of the Malay book "Ahlul Bait (Keluarga) Rasulullah SAW dan Kesultanan Melayu" authored by Hj Muzaffar Mohamad and Tun Suzana Othman was published early 2010. Look here... My 5th book is out! Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and the Malay Sultanates... . For more information check out my Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU.

Like my fourth book "Rumah Azan", the sixth book "Kereta Api Menuju Destinasi" is also a coffee-table book which is published by the company Karnadya with the cooperation of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (the main Malay literary body in Malaysia). Coming out January 2011 it features pictures and stories on the adventure travelling by train to all of Peninsular Malaysia along with the interesting places which could be reached this way.

My seventh book "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" in turn is a coffee-table book which is written, editted, designed and has pictures taken by me. Coming out of the factory October 2011, this book which combines family history with history of places such as Singapura, Johor, Batu Pahat, Muar and in fact the history of the island of Java and England has been reviewed with me interviewed live in the program Selamat Pagi Malaysia at RTM1. Look at the article Siaran langsung ulasan buku "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" dan temu ramah di Selamat Pagi Malaysia. Some selected contents have been featured in Sneak peek "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah".

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The "Berpetualang ke Aceh" series of novels could be obtained in e-book form. Enter http://www.e-sentral.com/, click general novel and go to page 4. You can also type the word "Aceh" at the search box. Or click straight Book 1, Book 2 and Book 3.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Remembering Pangkor...

Time to break the ice after making my last posting here about a week ago. Continuing straight from where we left off in On to the summit of Gunung Jerai to close a chapter...

What happened was, after I went down the mountain, I hitchiked (or did I stopped a taxi? I forgot) to the nearest town of Gurun. What I do remember is I was in a rush as the time was almost 4pm while I have to be in Manjung, Perak some 300 km away as early as possible the next day.

From Gurun, I got the bus to Sungai Petani then to Butterworth. From Butterworth I wasted no time by taking the express bus to Ipoh where I planned to spend the night before taking the morning bus to Manjung. As it turned out, I was not allowed to sleep at the surau (small praying hall) at the bus station and there's actually one early morning bus at 2am to get to Manjung.

The bus is actually the express bus from Kuala Lumpur to Manjung which must go through Ipoh. Suffice to say, I took it and arrived in Manjung for the Subuh early morning prayers.

Now why the rush to Manjung? Well, actually there's a gathering of more than 20 people who got to know each other including me at a forum in the Internet. It was fun and informative for everyone - most of those who attended knows (and practice!) a measure of silat, the Malay art of self-defence and some Malay magic. Strangely, I don't feel like taking pictures... Maybe because there were many others snapping pictures for the record?

As I was already in Manjung, the next stop on my list is the island of Pangkor just a few kilometres off the next town Lumut. A few forumers decided to follow me. So here are the pictures for posterity (at least I feel like taking pictures, that is when there's not so many of us around). Here it is...

Posing at the jetty in Lumut... In the picture (just mention the nicknames used on the Internet ya) from left are Pendita Gila, Diamond Archer, Abnormal Suam and Master C-Fu...

It is Pendita Gila's turn to snap a picture especially since he's not going to Pangkor. That's me, the third from left...

We got a nice chalet at the west side of Pulau (island of) Pangkor, can't remember the name of the place off-hand... Master C-Fu (left) having a romantic moment with Abnormal Suam... Haha! :]

The guys playing cavemen at one part of the beach...