The Malay Chronicles : Bloodlines

Assalamualaikum,

It is just around 3 days before i go back to TBP (Taman Bukit Pelangi) until i've the opportunity to watch this film. Sejak penghujung tahun 2009 aku telah mengetahui ttg cite ni, read from "Satu buku mampu menggegar dunia".

So, malam jumaat, 24 Mac 2011, kami 1 family pergi ke Jusco Tebrau City hanya dengan 1 tujuan : menonton film terbitan KRU studio ni.

Filem ni sebenarnya simple aje. Kisah Merong Mahawangsa yang hampir dihukum bunuh di Goa, diselamatkan oleh Putera Roman sebab putera ni perlukan pengiring selaku nakhoda dan kapal sekali untuk bawa baginda ke sebuah tempat tak bernama di hujung perairan Selat Melaka (Langkasuka) untuk berkahwin dengan Puteri China daripada Dinasti Han. Kapal Roman masa tu sedang dibaikpulih di Goa. Perkahwinan itu merupakan percantuman dua tamadun besar dalam sejarah.

Merong Mahawangsa yang ditugaskan mengiringi dan melindungi Putera Roman, berjaya ke tempat tersebut namun diserang orang2 Geruda di mana Geruda telah menculik Puteri China yang dijadikan tebusan sebagai pertukaran dengan dengan emas.

Kemuncak filem ni ialah babak pertempuran di tanah Geruda dalam menyelamatkan Puteri China, di mana Merong Mahawangsa (yang telah ditabal sebagai Raja Langkasuka) bersama2 Laksamana China bersama tentera China yang tak seberapa dan Putera Roman yang akhirnya dapat bantuan ketenteraan daripada China dan Roman dan di situ jugaklah Merong Mahawangsa menemui ajalnya dan sekaligus terjawab persoalan terhadap pantun 4 kerat yang selalu meniti di bibir Merong iaitu..

Sampai Masa Tibanya Waktu

Redup Hati Kaum Berdua

Bila Dua Jasad Menjadi Satu

Hidup Mati Jadi Bersama.

Akhirnya Merong Mahawangsa mati tertusuk pedang yang sama, bersama2 Taji si Geruda. Agaknya itulah maksud mak Merong melalui pantun tu.... yg sebenarnya banyak jugak maksud lain...

Sincerely from my heart, ni mmg antara cite melayu yg layak dipertontonkn kt wayang. X rugi RM12 tiket sekepala....utk menyaksikan cerita lagenda melayu ni. Mengaitkn empayar Rom & China dan kerajaan kecil Geruda yang bercita2 utk menakluk dunia dengan rancangan jahat mereka. The best part is, when both of the great empires combine/cooperate to attack Geruda. Mmg blh bygkn kekuasaan empayar Rom dan Cina pada waktu tu. Really have a great time.

Gd job KRU.....congrats for being the 1st Malaysian that mesmerized me with such movie.

A glimpse of Vietnam (Part 2)

Assalamualaikum,

"Harimau mati meninggalkan belang, manusia mati meninggalkan nama..."

As I promised, here goes the 2nd part my tour in Vietnam. In the 1st part, i've told mainly about shopping experience there. So, in this part, i want to focus on the tourist sightseeing place that i visited. Unfortunately, we didn't have the opportunity to visit many places, so we just visited 1 place which is Cu Chi Tunnel.

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A glimpse of Vietnam- Cu Chi Tunnel Experience...

A brief introduction : (took from Wikipedia)

The tunnels of Củ Chi are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Củ Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam, and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country. The Củ Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War, and were the Viet Cong's base of operations for the Tết Offensive in 1968.

The tunnels were used by Viet Cong guerrillas as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. The role of the tunnel systems should not be underestimated in its importance to the Viet Cong in resisting American operations and protracting the war, eventually culminating in an American withdrawal.

We went there on Thursday, 17th of March 2011. There's a pickup van that took us from hotel and to their headquarters. From there, we travelled by bus straight to Cu Chi Tunnel which took us about 1 and a half hours from Ho Chi Minh City to Cu Chi Tunnel.

Once there, we gathered around to buy tickets and that was the time i realized that we are the only Muslim Malaysian in the group. There's other who's from Japan, Belgium, Dubai, Australia and so on.

We toured around the area while listening to our tour guide explained about the place. Bla...bla....bla.....

The entrance to the tunnel that was used by the Vietnamese during the Vietcong War

I've entered it....with a smile

My mum's standing beside another entrance

Standing beside half-destroyed tank by the American soldiers

Took a picture with a wax Vietnamese soldier

Our group, exactly like 'tawanan perang'

While inside the tunnel, there're some light at the beginning, but the lights became dimmer and dimmer until all went black. It's damn dark and i can't see a thing. I can't even see my hands while i'm crawling....seriously, it's tooooo dark. So, whoever afraid of dark, or maybe have some kind of disease such as heart attack, or high blood are advisable not to enter the tunnel!!!

Unfortunately, i didn't snap any picture while inside the tunnel because it's too dark and my camera flash isn't working (kamera lama la katakan)....so, here's just a few picture that i've snap right after we got out.

Safely got out from the tunnel....

I don't know what's the name of this weird swirling tree....

We're being treated an ubi kayu and tea after the tunnel exploration finished

After we've finally got out of the tunnel safely, we were served an ubi kayu but they call it 'tapioca' and a tea. After all, we are SEA (South East Asian) country, we had a same type of meal during the war period.

Our adventures for that day had come to an end....we gathered again to ride the bus back to Ho Chi Minh City. Our journey for that days last around 6 hours. At 2.30 in the evening, we finally arrived back to our precious hotel.

My uncle, Pak Cik HCM (Ho Chi Minh)

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Selingan, Others non-related stuff, その他 ：

Since i'm a car enthusiasm, let me being sincere.....during my 5 days in Vietnam, eventhough the amount of motorcycle is far greater than car, but cars in Vietnam mostly are high-end cars. From what i have saw, BMW 5 & 7 series and Mercedes Benze S350, S600 are just like proton in Malaysia. They're everywhere. This shows that eventhough Vietnam is 'negara dunia ke-3' but the lifestyle of the Vietnamese is high-end. Maybe this can only be applied to the 'rich' there.

Plus, for my luck, i've got a chance to see world most & 2nd most expensive cars in the world. Right in front of my eyes.....right here, in Vietnam!!!

Rolls Royce Phantom : Most expensive car

Hummer Limousine : 2nd most expensive car

*p/s : The rank of expensiveness of the car is categorize by the brand of cars.
*p/s : The picture above was not taken in Vietnam as i didn't have time to snap it. I just took ot from the web....but it's true that i saw both of it in Vietnam

These are the others two car that i should show to all of you. Porsche Panamera: 1st 4-doors sports car and an antique car (don't know the name of it).

THE END (My travel diary)

A glimpse of Vietnam (Part 1)

Assalamualaikum,

As i promised, i'm gonna update this blog by telling my new vacation experience during my long holiday (about 1 month +-). This time, our (my family, of course) destination is Vietnam.

Our journey began on 15th March 2011, by boarding an Air Asia flight, departed at 9.30 in the morning. As i'm living in Johor Bahru, we (i'll be using this to express our family) had to travel from JB to KL or more accurately, LCCT. So, we travel there by car. Our journey began at 9 pm on the 14th March 2011 but we stopped by Batu Pahat to visit my grand ma there. We had our dinner and a little rest there, for just a few hours....then at 1 am on the next day, we continued our journey to LCCT.

*p/s : Since we are going on international flight, we have to be there 2 hours before departure. To make things worse, since we didn't done the web check-in, we have to do it by the Kiosk in LCCT at least 4 hours before departure time. Let's do the math.......so, we must arrive in LCCT at 5.30 in the morning, at least!!!

There's a technical problem occured...

I drove and drove, i couldn't stop driving....finally, we arrived in LCCT at 5.00 in the morning. Alhamdulillah. To make the story short, here we are...inside the plane, soaring to the sky of Vietnam!

For sure this isn't my flight....
i can't capture this picture while i'm on board

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Since our main purpose went to Vietnam is to shop....so, we didn't go to tourist attraction site except for 1 which was "Cu Chi Tunnel". So, i've decided to seclude this story into 2 parts.

This is it : A glimpse of Vietnam, Part 1 (mostly about our shopping trip)

We arrived in Vietnam International Airport which is Sân bay Quốc tế Tân Sơn Nhất (i googled it) at 10.10 in the morning by local time; Vietnam time. (which means 11.10 by Malaysian time)

*p/s : Vietnam time is late 1 hour than Malaysian time

Arrived at the airport

View of the immigration counter

Once we set our foot out of the airport, we were surprised by the number of local people there raising their banner/flags that says a person's name on it. They were searching for relatives or some kind of tourist agent. We hired a taxi, straight to our hotel....

Vinasun taxi....1 of the taxi company in Vietnam

During our journey to the hotel, we're surprised once again by the traffic there. 1stly because the number of motorcycle there. If i want to express it in term of ratio, it could be 100:1 , ratio of motor to car. Which means after 100 motorcycle, then u'll see a single car.

At least u can have a view of what i explained

2nd reasons that surprised us, because of the traffic itself. Eventhough the traffic light shows red sindicate stop, they still continue their driving. I even thought that maybe they don't have a police traffic there....haha

After a few minutes; maybe around 40 mint, we arrived at out hotel. After the check-in process, we have a little bit rest, and we began our exploration at the foreign country. Our hotel's location is quite strategic, we just have a walking distance to many places (or more precise, shopping places).

There.....our journey of exploration began. Let the picture do the talking.
Do have fun viewing. =)

Ben Thanh Market....
where i accidentally bumped Hazarul

Xin chào thân yêu của tôi, tôi nhớ anh (Vietnamese language)

My lifetime dream....set my footstep inside these boutique.
Yet, isn't fulfill until now


Food court in Parkson, they serve Halal food,
which is hard to find there. 1 of our favourite spot to eat


This is our favourite spot, VN HALA....
but we used to call it 'Ven Halal'
(the man beside me is the worker there, local Muslim Vietnamese)

VN HALA entrance door.
Beyond this door, is like "Kg Malaysia".
We met a lot of others Malaysian tourists in here...

Local food in Vietnam....called Pho Bo.
And a special beverage in VN HALA, saoda caffe (don't know how to spell)

Later at that time, we spotted something......quite terrible :

Their electric cable system......just let it like that.
God damn dangerous!!!

If our TNB got a project to make their electric cable neater.....for sure TNB gonna be HUGE!!!!

Night market around Benh Thanh....
equivalent to uptown/downtown in Malaysia

With my umi tersayang...

Time flew fast....finally, it's time for us to go back home, Malaysia.

My lil sister....kuat melaram

Well...like malay idioms say; "setiap pertemuan pasti ada perpisahan."
It's time for us to leave Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.....

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Hope u guys enjoyed reading and viewing my blog. Do wait till next time, i'll update
'A glimpse of Vietnam (Part 2)'

There, i'll story about my experience at the Cu Chi Tunnel, which were used by Vietnamese to face American soldiers during Vietcong (Vietnam-America War). Until next post....thanks for reading. =)