Investing in the name of love

I was so gutted last night when I was checking the flight far to fly back home. It used to be like £512 and last night, it was £720. I don’t know whether I had made the right decision to wait, obviously not now. It looks like I will have to go for an alternative now. I tried to pay for it earlier, but it was not successful. I was not sure why, my credit card was denied a few times. I am still gutted and I don’t know what else I can do now. I am dying to go back home, although it’s for mere two weeks.

+ Cerita pasal balik kampung ni, aku teringat pulak kueh kesukaan aku. Ini lah dia - Kuih Kochi (betul ke aku spell ni). Anyway, antara yg lain aku suka - karipap, badak berendam, 'takko' and a few more. Nak balik... Cepat la masa berlalu! :)

On top of that, I have promised to go back home TWICE a year. Well, I did not promise anyone. I promised myself really – to be back home twice a year. I tried to save all my holidays into one last year and I went back for Raya. It was fantastic time that was. But I was knackered by end of Sept 07 when I worked non-stop and when I was back in Malaysia, I was even more hectic to be meeting relatives and friends. It was not a good idea after all. Now, I will try to go home twice and I hope the lady luck is on my side and I’d get the ticket that I want.

+ This was my lunch today. Shawarma, again. It has been shawarma here, almost every single day. We did try something else like Pizza, and Chicken Broast (it's actually fried chicken). Well, not much choice over here.

I am rather bored now. I am tired of Khartoum really. I spoke to a Brit, Sam (an expatriate in Khartoum) today and he said to me, a friend of his said “I am sure this is not the end of the world, but it looks like we are heading there!” With all due respect, I like all these Sudanese, they are nice and all that, but this place will break me. With the work schedule which is beyond belief (leaving at 8.00pm everyday?), I guess I need something to divert my attention. I brought my squash racket and I asked Matthias to do the same, and he has been travelling in and out of Sudan. But I managed to be connected to a tennis coach (I can’t remember his name), but he doesn’t mind playing tennis with me. I won’t mind paying for the club and all, all I need, I want to play tennis, squash whatever, I need to do something.

+Today I mooted the idea that I need to be discovering more about Sudan and I need newspapers. Lepas tu tup tup Nagi belikn Khartoum Monitor. Quality is low and the the paper still used Hotmail as emil acct. I could not believe it. Dalam suratkhabar ada poems sebesar-besar alam. Lawak le. :)

Uh by the way, my driver Nagi is really nice to me. Sam said, Sudanese are really emotive, expressive, kind people and they can get connected to you easily. And they don’t like to be refused. I was stunned, simply because I had somewhat managed to say YES to Nagi’s suggestion to go to his house for lunch and tea/coffee. Uh my, I tasted Sudanese tea/coffee; they are too strong, too sweet. As for the food, I have yet to taste other foods but Syawarma. I don’t know. I think I will just go, to respect his invite. After all, Nagi has been nice. He has taken me to the masjid (he has promised me to take me to a masjid that delivers sermon in English, albeit I prefer to be with local Sudanese and not some expatriates), and he has taken me to Souq, where I bought my first pair of Jellabiyyah (Sudanese man dress).

That reminds me I must buy 2 pairs for Luke...

OIAM - Ayu

Although I am so far away from Malaysia now, I am still following some of the TV programmes in Malaysia. One of the many programmes that I watch is One in A Million - by 8TV. BTW, thanks to YouTube for making it possible, and thanks to those who upload content continuously. So, I am not that far from Malaysia after all.



I want to talk about Ayu. A Sabahan girl who has got really powerful voice. She tried in Season I, but she could not make it. I was hoping she would make it through. She has personality I think and she is raw. She is humble, through that TV encounter that we had. I hope she'd stay that way. Above and beyond this she is simply unique.



I can't be bothered to talk about other reality shows. There are tonnes. I have one idea - reality show Who's Next Angkasawan - in search for the next astronaut of Malaysia who's aspiring to do the real job in the space, rather than becoming a space tourist at the expense of tax payers' money. The 'pengetua': Dr Sheikh Muzaffar no less; the concept; the candidates would come from background of having medical degree (dentistry is also accepted, 'doktor haiwan' can be considered), models, chefs, forgotten reality show individuals, make-up artists etc. Some of the rituals/format; they need to do modelling in front of Yasmin Yusof, karaoke, baking cakes, hair styling and be able to utter these words "My heart stopped beating and my eyes stopped blinking the moment I saw earth being that small. And, I can't wait to be back in Malaysia to share the experience with the young generations and I do encourage Malaysians to take science subjects!"

What the... ?

Berblogging Semula (!). Azam tahun baru ke?

Adakah ini detik permulaan aku nak berblogging semula? Tak tau lah. Aku punya blog ni dah lama dah. Tapi kerana sebab-sebab tertentu aku tak boleh teruskan. Banyak lah sebab yang tak mungkin aku boleh cerita di sini. So mungkin aku buat azam baru (aku tak pernah ada azam thn baru), mungkin aku nak cuba berblogging, nak cerita what I am up to, where I am, the new friends I make along the way and the new experience, etc.


# This is one of the photos that I captured in Khartoum, from inside of the car - to give you a 'flavour' of what Khartoum has to offer.

Blog ini dah bertukar nama beberapa kali. Simply because, it used to be my own private sanctuary, lepas tu kena 'cerobohi', dan aku harap tempat ni akan jadi avenue aku untuk isi ruang. Coretan aku ni untuk kawan-kawan terdekat, aku tak punya followers, aku tak mintak ada followers... Mungkin ini adalah wadah untuk aku berbicara dengan kawan. Nak berbicara hati ke hati, aku tak punya TV programme (talk show lagi), so ini la cara dia. Akhirnya aku pilih Kampong Talang sebagai address blog ni. Jadi http://kampongtalang.blogspot.com - ini lah rumah baru untuk isi hati aku. Bukan lah rumah baru mana, kerana Kg Talang adalah kampung tempat aku membesar - punyai 'bonda'(atau parit tempat aku mandi sebelom ke sekolah, masa sekolah rendah), dan punya jiran tetangga yang begitu unforgiving (nanti lah kita cerita). So, selamat datang ke Kampung Talang.


# When I feel for something adventurous, I tend to take Tuk Tuk to go from one point to another in Khartoum. The haggling (in Arabic) after each trip can be tiring, but it's worth it. The experience is one of a kind.

OK, aku bawa korang semua ke detik ini... Sekarang ni aku di Sudan (Khartoum). Macam-macam aku perhatikan. Biasalah, another project to do and with its own set of challenges. I do not really mind when the challenges are all around work, tapi bila melibatkan manusia, aku memang tak larat. Tapi tak apa lah, aku pikir, lama kelamaan projek ni akan habis gak. So buat apa pening kepala. Diturunkan di sini gambar-gambar aku kat Sudan ni OK. Nanti aku cuba update lagi blog ni.


# I have been wanting to go to a masjid, esp for Solat Jumaat in Khartoum. Yesterday, 18 Jan, Nagi (the very nice driver of ours), took me to one (pic above). It was an experience.

Uh ye tentang bahasa di dalam blog ni, aku tak kesah. Aku akan tulis dengan bahasa yang aku selesa. Kekadang Bahasa Melayu, kekadang Bahasa Inggeris. Yang mana satu aku selesa. Lagipun aku punya kekurangan di dalam dua-dua bahasa. There was someone who religiously followed the development of my blog and commented that my previous writings in English were rather OK, but the writings were not good enough to be close to audience. Well, I have news for you - this is my own private place to share and not to be judged. If you are damn good, good for you but a simple soft reminder as not to project your insecurity towards others. Meh kita buat azam baru OK. :) Jangan ada hasad dengki!