This is my story, places that I traveled, people that I met, things that I like most; i.e. beloved (words of wisdom) & beautiful flowers from the gardens of heaven
Date: 10th January 2019 We had an impromptu trip to Taiwan
in December 2018. It was because I came to realise at a very last minute that I had to spend
within 24 months of my RM6,000/yearly leave passage given by the company for
the year ended 2017 before its expiry. The leave passage is actually for the
top management of the company to use on yearly basis and claimable after a year
of hard work working for the company. I utilised all of that in my first year
during my last trip to Russia and claimed when I went for Umrah in 2016 of the 2nd
year of service. I thought of keeping it and combined 3 years for 2019 trip but it was
impossible as it will get burnt once it exceeded 24 months. Lucky that Ismail kept on reminding me to utilised.
Breathtaking view in Qinjing Farm
On 28th November 2018,
I get my family members to assist on the place to visit with that given budget.
Syahirah first suggested Vietnam and Taiwan but since I have been to Vietnam I
quickly agreed for Taiwan. Nasrul as usual kept mum about the trip refusing to follow using work as an excuse. Naim wanted to go to Australia or Japan and Hubby
chose New Zealand. Unfortunately the 3 countries required more budget and
longer time to enjoy the trip with the whole family. In addition my leave
balance was only 4 days and with public holiday on Tuesday, 11th
December (Sultan Selangor’s birthday), Taiwan seems to be a feasible place
to go.
Taipei 101 Tower, snapped at the Subway exit point
I had prepared an itinerary using guides from the website; https://www.tripzilla.com/taiwan-one-week-itineraries/64487
of what to do in Taiwan for 1 week. Being me, I managed to persuade hubby to
tour the whole island by car as its no point of revisiting Taiwan with many
more countries that we are yet to visit. Agreeing to my suggestion, he took
Nasrul to renew the passport on 30th November and get himself an
International driving license. Syahirah has helped me a lot with booking the
car and the accommodation with AirBNB. I just passed her my credit card and she did the rest. Naim
has utilised the family allocation under Air Asia travelling points benefit when booking for hubby and my ticket. Ticket for 2 is only at RM240. Whilst Syahirah and Nasrul's ticket cost me RM2,200. Our itinerary touring the Taiwan Island
are:
Us, 3 at Sun Moon Lake
We landed in Taiyouan International day at
almost midnight where taxis are charged at double rate. As soon as we get a
local internet connection (purchased at only Taiwenese Dollar, TWD 450 @ RM55) we went
looking for a transportation to reach Daan District, where our accommodation is situated. The travel agent asked for TWD1500
as it already passed midnight hour. We decided to look around and by Godsent a local middle man approached us asking for only TWD1000 to take us to Taipei. We were his last customer for the night. Syahirah has guided him using Waze for his conveniences.
Father and daughter at the tourist spot, Sun Moon Lake
Day 1 - We explored the Taipei city by taxis, subways and foots starting with lunch at a halal restaurant somewhere in Zhongshan district. Taiwanese are healthy conscious people and their foods contain herbs and less salts. If you are not ready then better bring your own sambal belacan what not. Zhongshan district is so near to the Camera Street of which we got to enjoy taking a stroll to reach Peace Park and National Palace Museum. Thereafter we headed to Taipei 101 spending so much time inside, shopping and attempted to reach the observatory decks. We decided to had dinner somewhere near the Grand Mosque after Jamaah Isha prayer with the Muslim who resides in Taiwan.
Toyota Vios that kept us save for 7 days 6 nights touring Taiwan Island
Day 2 - After we took a car that we booked and checked out from the apartment, we excitedly headed to Keelung Port city using Freeway. Saddened that it was raining all the way from Keelung city to the old street of Jiufen. I did not managed to get a single photo in Keelung nor Jiufen after busying looking for a halal restaurant. That resorted us to search for a halal meal in Riufeng using Google search and maps. At-Taqwa Mussolla Restaurant is happened to be run by an Indonesian community. After prayer and solat, we adjourned to Hualien city which in my opinion is a must city to visit when in Taiwan. We had a memorable time exploring Hualien at night time.
Drizzling in Riufeng small town.
Day 3 - We continued to the lowest/southeast point of Taiwan, i.e. Kenting National Park not knowing that the best plan would be to stay a night there. We made a mistake booking an accommodation in Taitung. Should we know that we had to use the same way twice to reach Keetung from Taitung, we could have some journey distance, i.e. about 200km. After all, there's not much attraction in Taitung City apart from seafood and beaches which Keelung also has.
Stopped for photo by the beach along the Coastal Road to Kenting
Day 4 - From Taitung we drove using the same coastal road and trunk road to reach Kaohsiung, the second biggest city in Taiwan. We firstly search the Kaohsiung Mosque for jamak prayer, Zohor and Asar and lingered longer for Maghrib prayer. We had Subway as dinner in the biggest shopping mall in Kaohsiung, EDA after finding a money exchange to get more Taiwanese dollar to spend. It was so difficult to find the apartment that we booked as we had to make a detour due to it's location seated adjacent to the night market. However, it was another pleasant stay just like when we enjoyed a stay in Taitung AirBNB. In addition, the locals are pretty amazing people, who helped and tagged along to ensure we safely arrived at our destination.
EDA Shopping Mall, glittering all over
Day 5 - The google has directed us to Tainan to meet Ali who married a local Tainan and operated a small kitchen in front of their house. Both friendly couple has a heart as pure as gold. We exchanged contacts hoping to meet again in future. We headed straight to Sun Moon Lake which is so so beautiful and in my opinion, a must visit destination when in Taiwan. There are so many beautiful places to take nice photos. The nightlife in Sun Moon Lake was quite at the time we were there, maybe because it was on weekdays.
With Ali's Wife in front of their house in Tainan
Day 6 - Guided with places recommended in "Salam Taiwan" hosted by Malaysian actress Mira Filzah, we drove to Qinjing Farm located at the highest peak of Nantou county. It is only less than an hour drive from the Sun Moon Lake. The time we spent there with the sheeps are most memorable. The views are breathtaking too. We stopped for lunch at Seven Eleven Swiss Garden, a mini-park creation that requires an entrance free. Thereafter we set the Waze to Zhongshe Flower Market, which I mistaken for the flower farms that I saw in Chen Bolin & Song Ji Hyo TV program "We got married". However I still utilising the time inside to explore the man made flower farm taking photos and argued with Nasrul who commented on my bad acting skills. He is making a video for the Taiwan trip for your info.
With the sheep at Qinjing Farm Nantou County
Day 7 - Syahirah had an accident while driving to drop off the rented vehicle in Daan district. What an experience when she did not even had an International Driving Licence. But the policemans are nice and treated us well. 2 hours later we were released and paid quite a huge sum of money to the Car Rental Company. Thereafter we stopped for lunch at Malaysian restaurant operated by a local Lady who married a Malaysian man from Kuching. After lunch we spent all our Taiwanese dollar leftover in Ximenting Youth Shopping District. By the way it was our last day in Taipei before catching a midnight flight to Kuala Lumpur.
Vending Machine that the 2 didn't get to see much in Malaysia - Hualien City
Stay in touch for the next entry of what to do when in Taipei. Thank you.
I attempted to put a yearly post on 31st December 2018, the last working day of 2018 but to no avail. When the day was long and bored waiting for a new year count down, nothing positive would come, right? Suffice to conclude that in 2018, I stayed focus with finding funds to pay off Nazhif's university fees and recollecting myself to be what I used to be. At the point of writing, there are still 2 more months of university fee installment that yet to be charged to the HSBC credit, i.e. in early February and March 2019. I will be set free from Nazhif thereafter as he himself had promised that he will stop bothering me with funds. Oh dear, how time flies where I can finally remove the heavy burden off my shoulders with Nazhif. With that, I think I can make peace with my self without worry.
Bonus for year ending 2017 was too good, more than 3 months with good increment. But after the change in Government recently, our group of companies has been hit by cutting expenses, ending of the staffs contract employments and offering Employer's Separation Scheme (ESS). So many people from many industries losing their job and salary cutting but I wasn't affected that badly. Allah has been looking after me so well. I received the most highest bonus of one and a quarter month in December pay whilst other people ranging from 0.5 to 1 month. I also received a good salary increment due to grade upgrading though not as good as before the economy was impacted. A lot of our mega project being put held as KIV. Nevertheless I truly indebted and grateful with Allah's blessing. He heard my prayer and He knew that I am nothing without His blessing.
Not many people knew this. I was so confused since young age about celebrating my birthday. My birth certificate as being registered by my late father was on 2nd January 1967. By right, that should be the date that I would be celebrating my birthday. However my mother was telling me that father was away in Terengganu for works and she got her birth and maternity spent in our hometown. He only registered my birth at the Registry office when he took us back to Terengganu with him few months later. I was actually born a year after my brother was born. His birthday is on 16th August 1966. I do not like January as I wanted to be treated of my older age, so, I adopted my brother's birthday as my birthday. People closer to me knew that I only celebrated birthday in August month. It was too late to ratify. Few years ago, I decided to remove my birthday from the Facebook and no longer celebrating except with my very own family. Birthday supposed to be quite as you aged.
Nobody from the office knew this fact. They are sending me lots of message and wishes few days before my birthday. Though I keep on reminding them not to give me surprises, they still do. I was speechless and over the moon when at lunch break they called me to the meeting room with my favourite pizza, Domino and Secrete Recipe cake. I was feeling overjoy and appreciated with their kind thoughts. Since the pizza box was written "It's all about you", hence I wish to take that as my resolution. From now on, it's all about myself. I want to move from being despair and with doing that I will disregarded my past. I wish to be happy and content with my remaining years on this world. Most importantly I would be smiling widely when Allah has sent Angel Azrael, the angel of death to take me to reunite with Him.
I went out for lunch the next day with Ismail and Fadilah. Fadilah treated an apple pie (the last photo of this entry) as birthday treat. Though I put a distance from my former acquaintance and colleagues I still have a lot of them around me and I'm going to cherish them dearly. In 2019 I want to focus on being happy with my travel plans. But my future travel plan would only be with my dearest family. I will not be going for any oversea trip with friends anymore as family is where you should be at all times. Please get ready as in 2019 I will continue writing on my travelogue yet again. Please continue to support me by reading them ...
First
and foremost the KL Forest Eco Park opening hours is from 07:00 – 18:00 daily. This place is located at Bukit Nanas, Jalan Puncak, Off Jalan P. Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur
with a KL Tower as its landmark. There are various ways to
enter the Park, either from the KL Tower or the entrance gates at Jalan Raja
Chulan or Jalan Ampang. The Raja Chulan entrance is the main entrance which also
houses a Forest Information Centre with a small gallery inside. As we couldn’t find a parking at either Jalan Raja Chulan or
Jalan Ampang entrance gate, we drove and park at KL Tower compound parking
area. Lucky there was 1 spot left for our car. Please take note that there's a prayer hall, toilet facilities and eating places within KL Tower, ground floor that the public may get to use.
We
came to know about the KL Forest Eco-Park when Nastja came to visit us in 2016.
It was saddened that she couldn’t visit the park due to her short schedule but we did
bring her up to have a closer look at the KL Tower for some night view on her
last night in the city. It is rather a small compact park, which is useful for
tourists who wish to get a taste of what a rainforest looks like, without
having to go out of Kuala Lumpur. But being in the heart of the city centre,
you will hear traffic noise and sky scrapper buildings all around, which may
take away a bit of the experience, but it make an enjoyable visit in that
combination with the KL Tower. Climbing up entails going up a spiral staircase
to the wood and steel aerial bridge that is quite a pleasant experiences.
Please note that there is no disabled access as it involves a lot of walk across
the steep hills. At the top, you will get a view of the forest canopy as well
as the towering buildings of Kuala Lumpur in the background.
The
KL Forest Eco Park, formerly known as the Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve, is one of
the oldest permanent forest reserves in Malaysia, located beside the Menara KL
Tower. The forest reserve covers an area of approximately 11,000 square metres
and was founded in 1906, making it the only remaining tropical rainforest in
the middle of Kuala Lumpur city centre. Visitors can find a variety of trees,
herbs, bamboo, and creepers, as well as well-maintained walking trails ranging
between 300 and 500 metres in length. All trails in KL Forest Eco Park are
fairly suitable for beginners and children, plus there are also several
facilities within the area, including a playground, campsite and a wooden
gazebo overlooking the Menara KL Tower. A must-visit here is the Canopy Walk,
which is a wood-and-steel aerial bridge that’s about 200 metres in height. The
bridge towers above the forest reserve, offering sweeping views of Menara KL
Tower, and the KL city skyline. The KL Forest Eco Park is open daily and free
to enter. It's popular to visit the park in combination with a trip up the
Menara KL Tower. A free guided walk is included if you have bought tickets to the
tower’s observation deck. You may click the KL Tower Website for the ticket reservation and other choices that you may like it.
History
wise, Bukit Nanas, which means "Pineapple Hill", is the last
remaining virgin tropical jungle located in the centre of Kuala Lumpur city. Originally
known as Bukit Gombak, its story is very much tied to the history of Kuala
Lumpur itself. Kuala Lumpur began when Raja Abdullah, a member of the Selangor
Royal Family and Chieftain of Klang, hired a Chinese prospectors to venture
upstream from Klang to open new tin mines in the Ampang area. Eventually mining
were successfully set up in Ampang but the tin ore had to be transported
downstream where supplies and provisions brought upstream by the boat.
In
1857, a settlement was founded at the confluence where the Gombak and Klang
rivers met. It was chosen at the nearest convenient point where boats could
disembark to service the upstream tin mines of Ampang area. This muddy
confluence of course became the settlement of Kuala Lumpur, which is now the
capital city of Malaysia. To strengthen his control over Kuala Lumpur, Raja
Abdullah sent his lieutenant Syahbandar Yaseh to establish a garrison in the
area. Syahbandar Yaseh selected Bukit Gombak as a base to build his enclosure.
Sometime
later, an incident occurred whereby a villager of the Sumatran Batu Bara ethnic
community was killed by someone in Yaseh's Bukit Gombak's garrison. Raja
Abdullah refused to punish his ethnic Bugis men of the garrison for the crime,
which angered the Batu Bara community.Enraged by the incident, the Batu Bara
headman Mohamad Akib gave his backing to Raja Mahadi, a rival of Raja Abdullah,
to support Raja Mahadi should he wished to attack Raja Abdullah. There, the
seeds of the Selangor Civil War, were sowed at Bukit Gombak. Raja Mahadi
attacked Raja Abdullah in his stronghold in Klang. Mohamad Akib was killed in
the battle, and Raja Abdullah evacuated and retreated to Melaka, where he later
died. In 1867, Raja Mahadi took control of Klang. Raja Abdullah's son Raja
Ismail attempted to take back Klang but was unsuccessful.
In
1868, the Sultan appointed his son-in-law, the Kedahan Prince Tunku Kudin to
attempt to mediate between the Raja Ismail and Raja Mahadi factions. However,
Raja Mahadi flatly refused Tunku Kudin's mediation attempts. Offended by Raja
Mahadi's rebuff, Tunku Kudin chose to side with Raja Ismail. In 1870, Raja
Ismail with the help of Tunku Kudin, attacked and besieged Klang and this time he
was successful. Raja Mahadi then fled to the stronghold in Kuala Selangor. This
lasted only until 1871, whereby the British used the excuse of pirate attacks
in the Straits of Melaka by Raja Mahadi to attack and capture Kuala Selangor
from Raja Mahadi who then fled. The British handed over control of Kuala
Selangor to Tunku Kudin.
In
1872, the exiled Raja Mahadi gained support from Mandailing chieftains Raja
Asal and Sutan Puasa, and launched a new attack on Bukit Nanas, now under the
control of Tunku Kudin. Bukit Gombak had been renamed Bukit Nanas as apparently
pineapples had been planted around the stockade as a form of deterrence to
potential attack. Raja Asal attacked the garrison and Tunku Kudin's forces at
Bukit Nanas were decimated and Kuala Lumpur razed to the ground, and its
Kapitan Cina Yap Ah Loy fled to Klang. The
Selangor Civil War would continue on until 1874, with Tunku Kudin eventually
becoming victorious with the help of Yap Ah Loy's men and an army from Pahang
as well as the backing of the British. Raja Mahadi was defeated and fled to
Johore, where he died in Singapore in 1882. The Selangor Civil War and other
conflicts like in Larut, were the catalyst for the British to interfere and
engage in local affairs; and set into motion the beginning of British
Administration in the Malay states. In 1875, the Selangor Sultan accepted James
Guthrie Davidson as the first British Resident of Selangor.
As for Bukit Nanas, in 1909 the
British administration gazetted 17.5 hectares of land as a forest reserve and
named it after Sir Frederick Weld, who had been the Governor of the Straits
Settlements. Known then as the Bukit Weld Forest Reserve, it is the oldest
forest reserve in the country. After Malaya's independence from the British and
the formation of the Federation of Malaysia, the name of Bukit Weld reverted to
its previous name of Bukit Nanas. Development has chipped at the edges of the
Forest Reserve and today only 9.3 hectares remain. Should you wishes to know more about the history of Kuala Lumpur, please feel free to read of what Wikipedia Website has written about it.
In 1996, the Kuala Lumpur Tower was built on top
of the hill to serve the telecommunication needs of the city, as well as a
tourist attraction. At 421 metres in height, it is one of the tallest
freestanding telecommunications tower in the world. The Bukit Nanas Forest
Reserve has since been renovated and renamed as the KL Forest Eco Park. One of
its new attractions when it was re-opened in November 2015 was the Canopy
Walkway and trails through the forest which was made conveniently for the
visitors to walk through the forest.
It is only meaningful to end the entry by sharing the purpose of our visit that day. Nasrul had a new ambition now. He is so determine to become a Film Director and had focus deep into the field of what need to be done in becoming one. So he made a short story clip of that visit with a title "A Day With Nature". Please do enjoy his movie in above link.
I was supposed to share photos of my new group of friends at this neighbourhood on 5th November 2018, Monday morning. As usual first day at work after a weekend was a really busy day, hence only today, 20th November I remember to write about it. It was 2 weeks ago that my neighbour Husni held a wedding reception for her only son in Putrajaya Convention Centre. Mostly all of our neighbours were gathered for the reception. She had arranged for our group to sit in the same tables of 4. The 11 ladies in below photos were all close to me now. Though we seldom meet but once we did, we were inseparable.
I can now name them one by one. Kak Asmah standing on the left side, becoming a dearest person to my heart as she was dragged by Kak Kamariah (in pink dress on 2nd from right) to hang out with me often over tea, talking about plants and her grandchildren. Nonie, second on the left is younger than me, a pioneer in the neighbourhood. I've been to her house only once for a community meeting before we shifted. Yan, stand next to her is Rashid Sidek's wife who operate a special child school in Kajang and Ayu, next to her claimed that I look a lot like her best friend. Therefore, I told her that I am. Standing next to Ayu is Hana who is a close friend of Mas, stand in the centre with her daughter Keisha. Jue Salam is most friendlier among all. She was supposedly to be my left side neighbour but she sold her unit and built 2 storey bungalow next to Yan's house. She has 3 daughters and I have 3 sons of whom we taught can match. Next is Liza who used to live in Islamabad when her husband was working with Petronas way back in 2008. Standing next to me is Aidea, who is my friend since Karachi time. Aidea and Amran bought the house in front of ours when I told her that the plot is up on sale when she came for our house warming party. It's fated that we became neighbour. I love her, pull stop. Kak Datin Kamariah and Kak Zai's house is separated by the small hill and the water tank on top. I have not been to Kak Zai's house as yet. Kak Zai and husband bought 2 plot of land and built a Balinese concept houses inside and I wanted so much to be invited. 1 day perhaps. Kak Kamariah is my right side neighbour, the closest family of ours of whom my unconditional love is set upon.
The beautiful lady above is Kak Sharifah who has a heart of precious gold. I love everything about her. Hana made the above photo as WhatsApp sticker photo later on. Kak Sharifah house is seated behind Aidea's house and 1 of the pioneer in this neighbourhood too.
Please take notice of Jee wearing green baju kurung in above photo as she wasn't inside the first group photo. Her family stays on the second house after the entrance gate next to Nonie's house. His son is Nazhif's school friend and Nasrul was attending a tuition at her house way before we move into the neighbourhood. Her husband is the imam at the nearest Surau where most of us gathered for Terawih during fasting month. I'm indeed being very bless with the new surrounding.
One last photo with Husni, the host of the wedding reception. She had been working hard for the party of the only children they had. She look so very pretty and radiant that clearly reflected her happiness that night. I hope I will look the same when Syahirah is getting married. We all know the date already, I mean the date for Syahirah to get married. It will be on 2nd February 2020 @ 02022020. I'm so looking forward as it will be another 14 months to go. Alhamdulillah as the date has now been set.
Remarks: I'm the eldest out of 4 ladies in above photos, putting some weight as it is. That's the price of being overly happy and content. Till next time.
How time flies. Nasrul has moving from another comfort zone, a big boy or rather an adult now I would claim. He agreed to a lot of thing after I shared about Volkswagen's promotion on 21st June 2018 in the family whats App group. It was on Tuesday that the red Polo car appeared in the group. No response from him on my question whether or not he likes to have that Polo as his first car till Friday night. He said okay to visit the Volkswagen sales gallery somewhere near our area the next day, i.e. on Saturday, 23rd June. Everyone except Nazhif who is in UK tag along. Four of us were more excited than the "Apple Boy" turned "Polo Boy".
The whole family accompanied him for the test drive within the Volkswagen compound even though it was Naim who drove. To everyone's surprised, I paid a booking fee of RM500 immediately after everyone convinced that the car is suitable for him and after he, while kissing my face whispered YES, he likes it. The loan was arranged immediately after by a beautiful petite sales girl, Sam Moo. My family never expected that I was serious nor did I expected Nasrul to agree. But I announced publicly that I want him to get his driving licence firstly and secondly he must continue his degree in University Tun Abdul Rahman (UTAR) by October. But none of that important to him anyway. He wouldn't be bothered to entertain to my 2 conditions. He took his own sweet time to take a driving class. When the car is ready to be collected on 13th July, Nasrul did not even sit for the driving test yet.
Naim was the one who drove the car for more than 2 months since his own car was at the workshop due to the accident. Those days when Naim was a teenager, he always hinted that he either want Polo or Golf as his first car. But when the time came for me to buy for him, I wasn't ready to take a loan, hence I bought cash a second-hand car, Peugeot 206 for him to go to college. Indirectly, by letting him drive the Polo while his car is out from the workshop is like fulfilling his old dream. Nasrul doesnt make noises too as he knew he has no bargaining power without a driving licence in his plate (p/s: until to the day I'm writing this, that boy hasn't had his licence yet).
As for me and hubby, we felt so much content to see Syahirah's and Nasrul's car parked side by side at above photo. All we want is the two of them to have such a harmony living together as we wish them to share the blue house when we are no longer in this world. At present we no longer have any issue of not having transportation of disturbing anyone to drive for as everyone has their own vehicle.
On separate note, Syahirah's first car for her to attend college was Hyundai I10 way back in year 2011, of which she sold off as downpayment early this year as to get herself a new white Axia. That girl made her own living, capable of getting a loan under her own name without a need for guarantor. That girl has her own pride. I wasn't able to shape her life as I wanted. I rest my case whenever it came to her matter.
Well, the children are busy with their own dreams. Syahirah is preparing for her wedding, Nazhif with working part time, studying and living his own life afar, Naim struggling to have his own business while being an Air Steward, figuring out to change to an International Airline after finishing contract with Air Asia in March next year and Nasrul is busy creating his name as YouTuber and video making. Hubby on the other hand, living peacefully enjoying a heavenly place of our blue house. Suffice to him being surrounded with nature and simple life in this home of ours.
I, in the period of having menopausal state kind of thing, still figuring out of what will I want to do apart from having a secured career life in Gamuda's group of company. Sometimes, I miss those dreams that I created. Despite a busy schedule, I have started writing a book, this blog has been abandoned at one point, cooking is still to be out of context, travelling, chasing trains etc etc.... Gosh, there is so much that I wanted to do but my heart is so at peace as what is important to me is to have only Allah in my heart. The great attainment that I'm chasing now is that Allah is pleased with me. It's the meaning of Surah Al-Maidah verse 119 "Allah will say, "This is the Day when the truthful will benefit from their truthfulness." For them are gardens (in Paradise) beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever., Allah being pleased with them, and they with Him. That is the great attainment."
This post is recalling to the time when I was a student again, back to school on 24th October 2013. For the record, I didn't completed my 2nd degree in Jurisprudence in 3 years time as originally intended. It was due to many reasons. The first reason was because I, a General Manager in Contracts & Commercial has failed her Contract Law on the first year. Do not worry should you want to laugh at me for failing the paper that I supposedly majoring at as I too laughed a lot for being over confident in the Contract Law. By not passing all 5 papers in the 1st year, a student can either obtain the degree in 4 or 5 years. Unfortunately, I failed 3 papers in the second year, that was for Equity and Trust, Criminal and Company Law. Luckily I passed all 5 papers in the 3rd year that concluded all 11 papers, left with 6.
My close colleagues in UM. We have been together for 5 years, all 4 of us.
I could have taken all 6 papers last year and graduated within 4 years but the Hajj took priority over everything else. So, I was so determine to still do it this year and started early in preparing for the exam, as early as January 2018. But reading law is unlike studying for any other subject. It requires dedication, memorizing cases and attempting the past year question as if you are a lawyer debating the case in front of the judges in the real court room. The more I studied the freakier I became. It was tough and I do not think to continue studying anymore after this. I should focus on spending the remaining of my time doing something else that could be more meaningful.
Living area situation, a month prior to the exam
There is no better word that could rightly expressed how I was feeling 2 weeks before the exam. I couldn't go to the library worried of seeing other people study therefore, I chose to study at the house living area and sometimes in my bed during exam weeks. Once in a while I did joined Zaharah at the UM's library for discussion on subject that I thought I was weaker and she is better. But later I discovered that the best place for me to study and had concentration at, was in my office, alone in my room after an office hour has ended.
The bed situation, a night before the last exam day
The last year in UM was quite an emotional journey for Maryam, Zaharah and myself after spending the last 5 years of our quality time together. The 3 of us became inseparable. Two photos below were snapped when we were having our last class this year. It was taken at 15 minutes break while having an International Law class on 3rd June 2018 with Puan Nur Halida, that was the last subject that I sat on 13th August 2018. This 2 ladies are my true best friend that I wish to stay truthful as I found a real friendship meaning with them. Yes, we had too much of good memories together. We are so free to speak up our mind without worrying of getting hurt or be hurt with the spoken words. For example, Zaharah though reluctantly gave away her Telekong when I said I wanted it as it's so unique and seems comfy. Days later I reminded her that she is indeed very lucky because I asked her Telekong for me to use and be reminded of her whenever we are apart. She said I was being funny but hey, "true friend is a person who made you feel so comfortable being yourself without the need to change yourself to be their friend". We are a friend in good and bad time. Hehehe, you better agree to disagree with what I wrote here. Very domineering person right?
Next on the plate I guessed, since I've been reading and watching too many good stories, it is now my turn to start writing a good story too. That's the challenge I must focus from now on . Life is indeed so good! To the rest, I wish you all could take this opportunity to spend the remaining days of your life to achieve things that has not been achieved yet. Therefore, when you are finally rested in the permanent life, cold in the coffin, you knew that you have done it all.
