Conquered Mt Taranaki

I did it. The whole 2548m of Mt Taranaki climbed in 4 hours yesterday. I couldn't believe it. Half-an-hour into the climb I was already knackered and ready to ditch the hike. Somehow I persisted. Maybe because I saw people twice my age trying to climb which spurs me on. Also I spent $55 just to get to the foot of the mountain. Regardless, it wasn't plain sailing. Only half of the trail was formed, the other consisting of gravels and rocks. (see photo below). Those gravels were pretty annoying as they are slippery. Maybe I had improper shoe (my 5 years old Nike Cortez) but for every 2 steps up, I'll slide 1 step down. Very frustrating. And the slope is roughly 45 to 60 degrees. At the crater (Mt Taranaki is a dormant volcano), the temperature dropped dramatically. There was even snow/ice at the center of the crater. The crater lie just below the summit and at the summit, wind was blowing ice so I didn't stay long. 20 minutes most. After all that work, only 20 minutes to revel. And most of it was spent eating lunch. Getting down was also a challenge. Again the gravel proves to be an obstacle since the slipperiness can cause you to slide down uncontrollably. With sharp rocks and few hundred meters of downward slope, I took my time going down. Slow, steady but surely is the way to go. After 3.5 hours, I'm at the foot again. There were roughly 15 people who climbed the mountain that day. 2 needed rescuing. Apparently both had injured their ankle on the way down but fortunately rescue helicopter was there to pick those lucky people up. My shuttle driver said people use to die on this mountain even one of his close friend was killed there 8 years ago. Fortunately, the rescue helicopters had made a difference. According to him, to avoid mishap, always watch weather forecast and be prepared for the worst - carry warm clothing, food & water. Never delve into the mountain in treacherous weather. As you can see, it was generally fine (see bottom photo, foot of Mt Taranaki) & I didn't just go hike up the mountain nilly willy. I've googled about it, made my research and made my prep. Alhamdulillah everything went well. Will I do it again? No. Too much work :D I would rather spend my money on a helicopter ride up there. But I would climb another mountain if given another chance. It wont be long until I wont have time or energy to climb mountains anymore so take the opportunity when it comes.

Whack a kitty

Monthly update

Woah, have been ages since my last post and I dont think anyone cares including me. Rubbish blog this is anyway. Just to say I'm freaking out because finals is less than 3 months away and I'm so not prepared. Fortunately Ramadhan is only a week away and I hope this month is a month where I could redeem myself.

Just Do It

Clik on the link below to enter a free draw for stuffs from Automobile Association New Zealand. If you win, I win. Answers to questions at aacarfair.co.nz

http://comp.aacarfair.co.nz/r/36465

I return

As requested by my sister, i finally updated this blog. I have been meaning to write something but i had the case of self-induced busy-ness so haven't got the time to get to it. So, whats been happening for the past few weeks? Well, I've finished my psychiatry attachment, 2 weeks of public health, 2 days of Maori Health, 2 weeks of addiction medicine, 1 week of easter holiday and now, im doing intensive care & anaesthesia. I'll talk about school later because writing about Easter holiday is a lot easier on my neurons. I joined my Dunedin mates on a trip to Milford Sound. On the way there, we stopped by a farm for a tour and sheep herding show. Second time I saw this but I was still impressed by how the dogs are so good at their work. It only takes 6 months of training for a dog to herd sheeps properly. This video isn't from the trip I went, but a more impressive herding done in Scotland:

Kuching

Awal bulan Januari lepas, aku akhirnya menjejakkan kaki aku di bumi Malaysia Timur. Sebelum cuti lagi aku dah beli tiket dan merancang untuk bercuti di sana. Tidak semua mengikut perancangan. Orang yang sepatutnya menjadi tuan rumah terpaksa balik ke tempat lain. Walaubagaimanapun, dia dah aturkan orang lain untuk ambil alih. Aku segan sebab tidak berapa kenal orang yang diganti itu. Tetapi tiket dah dibeli dan kos untuk mengubah tarikh tiket untuk pendekkan waktu pelancongan lagi mahal dari bayar sewa rumah tumpangan murah di sana jadi aku pergi juga. Bila sampai disana aku disambut dengan ramahnya oleh tuan rumah baru aku & mereka memang bersemangat nak bawa aku jalan-jalan di bandar Kuching. Layanan memang bagus.

Tempat dipergi: 

1. Kuching Civic Center (gambar atas sekali): Pemandangan 360º bandar Kuching. Percuma untuk masuk.

2. Taman Persahabatan (gambar atas dan bawah): Taman meraikan hubungan diantara Cina Republik dengan bandar Kuching. Cantik dan kemas. Percuma untuk masuk.

3. Pantai Damai (gambar bawah sekali): pantai biasa. Masa aku pergi, musim tengkujuh, jadi laut keruh sikit & bergelora. Aku mandi juga, nasib baik tidak kena sauk.

4. Sarawak Kampung Budaya: rm 60 kot. tak ingat dah harga dia. Dapat menyumpit. Ada macam-macam aktiviti lain tapi masa aku pergi hujan lebat, jadi ada aktiviti dibatalkan.

5. Taman Negara Kubah: gunung untuk dipanjat atau air terjun untuk dimandi. Panjat 500 kaki tetapi kena patah balik sebab hujan lebat. Yuran: rm 5 atau 10, x ingat dah.

6. Pantai Sampan: 2 jam dari kuching. Laut bergelora jadi cuma tengok sahaja.

7. Taman Negara Gunung Gading: terletak di Lundu, 2 jam dari Kuching. Ada bunga rafflesia, air terjun dan gunung. bunga rafflesia x mengembang pada bulan Januari jadi aku x nampak. Menurut pegawai yang jaga tempat itu, bunga rafflesia mengembang awal bulan Mac. Yuran masuk rm5/10, juga x ingat.

8. Semantan: Kampung nelayan. Tidak ada apa-apa menarik. Mungkin makanan laut murah disini.

9. Kampung Bau: Ada 2 gua. Tidak dapat pergi sebab jalan ke gua banjir.

10. Waterfront Kuching: Di persisiran sungai Kucing, di tengah-tengah bandar Kuching. Boleh naik bot untuk pusing-pusing di sungai. Ada orang nak "pow" aku disitu tapi disebabkan aku ditemani orang sarawak, diapun berundur. Dia tanya "ko kacau perempuan kat sini eh?". macam itu lah lebih kurang dia cakap. Aku tak paham sangat pun apa yang dia cakap dengan dialect sarawak yang pekat (dah bukan bahasa melayu -  pendapat aku semata). 

11. Golden triangle: Nama canggih tapi ini sebenarnya patung-patung kucing di tengah-tengah persimpangan jalan berbentuk segitiga berlokasi depan hotel Hilton.   

Arrrghhh susah betul menulis dalam Bahasa Melayu. Bulan Januari bukanlah waktu sesuai untuk melancong di Kuching sebab musim tengkujuh. Masa aku pergi, hujan & banjir paling teruk sejak 40 tahun lalu menimpa Kuching. Memang bukan nasib aku. Banyak perjalanan aku ada sahaja tidak kena. Masa aku pergi umrah masa kecil-kecil dulu pun, aku x dpt nampak kaabah sebab ditutup untuk membuat renovasi. 

Gold Coast

Months ago, my mate suggested we transit at Brisbane on our NZ-MYS-NZ trip. Air Asia X just started flying to Gold Coast (an hour drive away from Brisbane) so cheap flights were available. Apparently JetStar also started flying to KL from there as well, so there was plenty of options there. Having said that, if you dont need to save $$$, dont try these long-haul cheap flights. Seats are smaller than economy class (who would've thought they could make smaller seats) & I got the worst seat - the one smack in the middle where u'll be lucky not elbowing the guy sitting next to you on both sides. Luckily my flight wasn't fully booked & both passengers sandwiching me bolted (I dont think I made them tho, I think...), so I got 3 seats to myself & able to sleep lain down. Anyway, we stayed 3 nights at YHA coolangata backpacker accomodation, which was right next to the Gold Coast airport. Fortunately there is this ruling in Oz where commercial flight landing is banned between midnight & 5/6 am. In a way, the location is good since I used the sound of airplane landing/taking off as an alarm clock & its only 3 minutes walk to the beach (top photo).

What did I do there? Strolled around a bit on the 1st day looking at beaches & the city. Photo: Burleigh Head beach. Next day, we spent the whole day at Dreamworld theme park & on the 3rd day we went to Warner Brothers Movie World (photo below). There's rainforest attraction on the outskirt of the city. I didn't go becuase Oz is notorious for bush fires & just recently upto 60 people died from that in Victoria. Conclusion: Fun place to go if you have the $$$ to enjoy the theme park or is keen on learning/practising surfing. The beach is pretty rough for a swim. The city is also filled with half-naked people strolling around the city. 

As I write this entry, I had this feeling of guilt. Guilty of spending $$$ & time for frivolous enjoyment (theme park rides) & I felt at times how feeble I was in spending my life enjoying these type of things. I know that the $$$ and time should be best spent in more useful manner (dakwah, charity etc) but I also has this urge to have some fun. Finding the balance is something that I've been searching my entire life & I continue to fail. Somebody or a hadith goes by the saying "aim for the afterlife & u will have both of this life & afterlife". I should start taking this advice.   

Ninja cat

About 2 weeks ago I went to KT, not for voting but rather for visiting family. Too bad I didn't register. On my way there, the bus I was on stopped at Putra Bus Station as they usually would. There, PAS youth were waiting for us & other travelers. We received a bag filled with some reading materials, an orange & a drinking water. It was a cunning move IMO, as BN gave some of these travelers $$ for their travel. Before we reached Kemaman at the Terengganu, the bus was stopped for a check-up by the horde of police that was already converging in KT since the start of the by-election. Nothing much happened during this check-up & also for the rest of my travel. The roads leading up to the center of KT were lined by police buses & trucks. At every corner in KT there was police stationed. They were there mainly observing really as KT people were reasonable people & no messy quarrel ever erupted. Nevertheless, opinions differed on the presence of the mass number of police. Some felt safer while others felt threatened. I didn't care. I always think that being cautious is always good but also wondered why so much police + FRUs were needed (reported to be 6000). The roads were also covered with posters, where BN's poster outnumber PKR's by 10:1 as expected. These posters were even guarded day & night. On Friday, the day prior to voting, the Friday sermon was on how to choose your leader. Choose the one who is pious, god-fearing & responsible said the imam. Of course, the mosque I was in is located at an area known to be PAS stronghold. Otherwise, the sermon would be about being thankful of the continued development of country/state. I think. After all this, I didn't even went out to see the actual voting day. What I heard there was mockings for  wearing a particular colour & people queing for $$$ after declaring to have voted for a particular party. 

Click on the poster

Note: I'm only helping to promote these two activities. I'm not involved in any settings for both activities, in fact I won't even be around KL or N9 during those times as insyaAllah, i'll be in Kuching & Terengganu.

Berita

Sudah 3 hari berturutan Israel membedil Gaza strip dan meragut nyawa hampir 300 rakyat Palestin. Kenapa kita kisah? Hadith: Dari Nu'man ibn Bashir (radiALlahu anhu), Rasulullah pernah bersabda: "Umat Islam adalah ibarat anggota badan seseorang, jika matanya sakit maka seluruh badan akan rasa kesakitannya dan jika kepalanya sakit, maka seluruh badan akan merasai kesakitannya." 

Berita lanjut mengenai bedilan Israel: NZHerald, The Star.

Jika anda berada di sekitar Kuala Lumpur pada 10-11 Januari 2009 (masa: 0800 - 2300), silalah luangkan masa menghadiri program "Untukmu Palestin" berlokasi di Taman Tasik Titiwangsa anjuran UKM dan KTSN. Antara program yang diaturkan adalah paintball, futsal, forum, gerai jualan dan gerai klinikal.

Artikel ringkas mengenai Muntazer Al-Zaidi (klik pada gambar):

Carnival

If you happen to be in Shah Alam this weekend, drop by at this carnival:

On another note, if you want to rip streaming videos from embedded players (ie YouTube, Veoh) you can go here & they list all known methods available.

Jantung

Sudah genap 3 minggu sejak ku pulang ke tanah air tercinta. Aku hanya hari ini kembali menulis untuk menggerakkan otak menulisku sebelum ia berkarat. Lagipun, aku ingin berkongsi pendapatku mengenai penswastaan IJN. Penswastaan ini secara prinsipnya dipersetujui oleh kerajaan dimana Sime Darby telah menawar untuk membeli 51% share IJN dari kerajaan. Aku tidak tahu kenapa kerajaan ingin menswastakan badan tersebut. Secara umumnya, penswastaan diharapkan dapat meningkatkan mutu servis dan kecekapan badan korporat tersebut. Namun, sejarah menunjukkan penswastaan dinegara kita tidaklah berhasil begitu baik seperti yang dinyatakan pada blog Anwar Ibrahim. Tambahan pula, menurut Dr Mahathir, IJN tidaklah mengalami masalah dalam mengendalikan servisnya dengan cekap. Beliau juga menyoal apakah keuntungannya pada dua-dua pihak (kerajaan & Sime Darby) jika penswastaan ini diteruskan. Malah ada yang membuat spekulasi bahawa penswastaan ini diutarakan kerana ada yang akan mendapat $$$ daripada proses ini. Wallahua'alam. Apa yang aku risaukan, jika penswastaan ini diteruskan, dan jika Sime Darby dibenarkan, mereka tentu akan meningkatkan kos rawatan untuk menebus kembali laburan mereka. Jadi disarankan agar kepada perokok-perokok, berhentilah. Kurangkan makanan banyak lemak, gula ringkas, dan garam. Bersenam selalu. 

tired

4 days ago I touched down in Malaysia after going through Sydney, Darwin & then Singapore. It wasn't fun dragging a huge luggage on Singapore's MRT & then public bus through the causeway link to JB. Nevertheless it was cheap & feasible, albeit barely, & I managed to get to Larkin at 15 minute to 1 am, just in time for the last bus to Shah Alam. Now, after days of shopping, I'm knackered & sitting idly at home. Terengganu's recent flood has receded at the moment but Malaysian meteorologists predicted that there will be a new flood over the weekend, so if the forecast remain as it is, my plan to go there will be postponed. On another note, interestingly Selangor MB held a talk on Palestine issue as part of an opening ceremony of a local hall here not far from my home. Impressive indeed. I tried going but as I got there, the talk started late, it was outside & with my failure to adapt to Malaysia's humidity & subsequent profuse perspiration, I just went back before it started. Maybe there was a hint of laziness. Maybe...      

Perkembangan perjalanan kepulanganku

Daripada berita yang aku baca, nampak gayanya lapangan terbang Suvarnabhumi akan lama dikepong oleh penunjuk perasaan. Jadi aku telefonlah Jetstar dan alhamdulillah aku boleh tukar destinasiku tanpa bayaran tambahan. Aku pilih Singapura kerana tiada penerbangan terus ke Kuala Lumpur. Tetapi itinerari agak memenatkan. Aku bertolak 6 pagi esok dan akan transit di Sydney dan kemudian di Darwin sebelum medarat di Changi pukul 9 malam. Kemudian, aku akan bergegas ke Larkin Johor untuk ambil mana-mana bas ke Shah Alam. Tempahan penginapanku di Bangkok dan juga tiket penerbangan BKK-KL ku telah pun dibatalkan dan akan ditampung kosnya oleh pihak insuran. Tidaklah aku rugi sangat melainkan masa dan perasaan pasrah lambat balik 2 hari. Alhamdulillah. Cuma keretaku rosak, pad brek kena ganti ($230!), yang menjadikan semalam hari gembira aku malap sedikit. Walaubagaimanapun, ramai orang lain di dunia kini sedang menimpa kesusahan yang mengerdilkan kesusahanku:

1. Beribu orang terperangkap di Bangkok kerana pengepongan lapangan terbang.

2. Beratus orang mati atau cedera kerana serangan di Mumbai. 

3. Puluhan hingga ratusan orang dan kapal mereka ditangkap oleh lanun Somali.

4. Rakyat Palestin yang masih ditindas oleh rejim zionis Israel.

5. Rakyat Iraq dan Afghanistan yang masih merana akibat kesan peperangan.  

!@#$%&^*

I eagerly anticipated the day. I cleared my food stock. I packed my stuffs away in boxes. I finally vacuum my room. I read the news. I got this funny feeling that it was not meant to be. I called the airlines, twice. I was told first "no policy have been in place, everything is as is". I was later told "only outgoing flights are cancelled. inward flights remain scheduled". I stayed up. I showered. I woke my co-driver. I drove to the airport. I walked to the counter. 

"Hi, how are you?"

"which way are you heading?"

"Bangkok? hmmm. I think theres changes to that route. It might be cancelled. Go to that counter at the end there, she's the one handling this flight"

"I'm sorry, but all inward and outgoing flights, not just our airline, has been cancelled. It only escalated overnight and now the airport is closed."

5h!t

My trip home to Malaysia has just been delayed for a further 2 days. Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok International Airport was, on 26th November 2008, stormed and seized hold by anti-government protesters and disrupted all its services. Don Mueng airport was also blockaded. At the moment, the current government has declared state of emergency in these two places & will try to clear out the protesters by Saturday, the day my flight is resecheduled. More info:

NZ Herald: Bangkok explodes in violence.

Reuters: Main Bangkok airport to be shut until at least Saturday 

Rambang

Aku ingin meraikan hari kembalinya kelajuan jalur lebar Internet ku kepada kelajuan asalnya dengan berkongsi beberapa video dan gambar-gambar yang entah pape:

USB memory stick

Came across this article from NZHerald on some usage of USB pendrive. I haven't tried any but they sound pretty cool:

Stick tricks - USB memory magic: Snippets:

1. Speed up Windows Vista using ReadyBoost that lets the pendrive act as memory cache.

2. Store bootable Windows/Linux.

3. PC repair kit.

It is now only just over a week until I fly back to Malaysia for my last summer holiday & I finish this entry with: happy birthday sis.

Summer idle

On a totally different note, in overcoming my summer idleness, I tried watching/catching up on my vast collections of downloaded movies/documentaries. First 3 lined up were: BBC's Islamic history of Europe, Yvonne Project, and Fox's Conspiracy theory: Did we land on the moon? All these documentaries were old (downloaded 3 years ago) but their content, IMO, remain relevant today. Islamic history of Europe detailed the impact of Islam on Europe and how it shaped Europe today. It also showed brief history of Muslim settlement during Abbassid dynasty in Spain and Sicilly and the impact they have on Europe. Yvonne Project on the other hand is an hour-and-a-half lecture given by Yvonne Ridley, a British journalist captured by Taliban during American invasion of Afghanistan. She talked about her encounter with Taliban and how she ended up as a Muslim after the ordeal. I definitely recommend these 2 documentaries to broaden your perspective. The third documentaries is more sensationalism than exact documentary, IMO. It is Fox material anyway. It proposed that US never did made moon landings and arguements were made to prove this. They had a NASA spokeman, who did a crap job IMO, to counter these arguements. Whether he was trying to convince people of a lie or whether he was just crap at explaining, one thing for sure, he made the whole documentary more convincing of US never did land on the moon. 

Kerjaya dengan Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia

Hujung minggu lepas, aku pulang ke Dunedin untuk: (1) menghadiri ceramah "Kerjaya dengan KKM", (2) pengiklanan PPIM NZ bab pelajar, dan (3) jumpa kawan-kawan lama. Secara ringkasnya, kandungan ceramah (1) adalah seperti berikut:

1. Latihan siswazah (housemanship) adalah 2 tahun. Gred gaji adalah UD44 (sekitar RM4k selepas elaun).

2. Khidmat negara: 3 tahun wajib berkhidmat dengan negara (samada KKM, K Pertahanan Malaysia, Universiti-universiti awam) sebagai pegawai perubatan (Medical Officer) setelah tamat latihan siswazah. Rasanya naik gred gaji pada tahap ini.

3. Setelah selesai khidmat negara, pegawai perubatan boleh memilih untuk samada kekal menjadi pegawai perubatan, atau menjalani latihan kepakaran untuk menjadi pakar klinikal ataupun menjadi pegawai pentadbir.

4. Latihan kepakaran: syarat-syarat untuk memasuki latihan kepakaran: (1) telah selesai khidmat negara, (2) telah berkhidmat dalam bidang pengkhususan sekurang-kurangnya 1 tahun, (3) umur kurang dari 46 tahun ketika diterima untuk mulakan latihan. Disebabkan syarat (2), penceramah mencadangkan agar kita membuat keputusan awal-awal untuk memilih kepakaran kita dan berkhidmat di dalam bidang yang berkenaan ketika menjalani khidmat negara.

5. Nasihat kepada bakal houseman: berbaik dengan pekerja-pekerja hospital dan jururawat kerana merekalah yang akan membantu/menyusahkan anda bergantung pada sikap anda pada mereka.

Berikut adalah link untuk Yahoo Group Persatuan Perubatan Islam Malaysia Bab Pelajar New Zealand kepada mereka yang berminat untuk menyertai persatuan ini.

Click to join ppimnzsc

   

Street Hoops

Old but good. Was on the telly the other day. I'm off to Dunedin today.

Dave Chapelle