This is the starting point of the trail to Puteri Mandi waterfall. It became increasingly difficult as we ascend to the location

Lots of flowers and herbs are available at Gunung Jerai Forest Reserve

Beautiful rock formation at the bottom of the Puteri Mandi waterfall

One of the many small waterfalls that we found along the trail

Look at the size of the rocks. The waterfall's pond is behind me. I didn't dare to swim...takut ada Sawa Berendam dalam tu!

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Image Copyrights: Nasruddin Hj. Ismail

View of the base camp - Laban Rata

The South Peak (as seen on Malaysian RM1 note)

Another view of the South Peak.

Inside the base camp's restaurant - the one and only restaurant in Malaysia at 11,000 feet (3272.7 meters above sea level)

At the front gate of Summit Trail (before the group started to climb Mt. Kinabalu). Notice a porter with Petronas' LPG gas container. The porter sent the gas container to a restaurant at Laban Rata. It was reported that he was paid RM75 per unit for the trip. Imagine the price of foods and drinks at the restaurant - extremely expensive!

These are the images from KUIS’  XPDC Kinabalu, organized from 22 to 26 December 2008.

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1. I received interesting images through e-mail from one of my friends. I don’t know whether the images are the most current, but it definitely grabbed my attention.
2. The images indicate the latest architecture and engineering knowledge achieved by mankind in construction industry. With technology, you could create your own private beach right in your front door!
3. Palm Jumeirah is an elite residential area at Dubai. It has attracted hundreds of real property investors around the world.
4. Look at the details of the houses being build in the area by construction workers (mostly from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh). Every house is built on a reclaimed land, or in this case, reclaimed beach, and has unique design.
5. Images of Burj Dubai were included in the e-mail as well. It is the tallest building in the world standing at 2,620 feet or 801 meters.
6. Now, this is what we called superb architecture and engineering!
7. Click here or on the megapixels sidebar on the right to view more images. To get further information on Palm Jumeirah, read here.

1. This was a sad ending of A4-PTM Skyhawk in Malaysia.
2. Next to the beautiful white Skyhawk, another aircraft’s fuselage, engine, drop tanks, and delta wing were scattered on the tarmac.
3. The aircraft’s registration number is still visible: TUDM M32-11. I keep searching the Internet to get pictures of the same aircraft during its heyday, but to no avail.
4. Compare the cannibalized Skyhawk with the following image taken during its operational days in Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF). Wasn’t it magnificent?
5. Notice that the fuselage of the operational Skyhawk was slighly elevated due to its heavy payloads in term of engine, 2 drop-tanks, plus weapons. The white Skyhawk at UPM is only a cocoon, without engine and electronic devices. That is the reason why its fuselage is horizontal.
6. To view more images, click here or the MegaPixels sidebar on the right.

The good old bridge to my parent's house

1. Kampung Titi Serong is located in Yan Kechil, Kedah Darul Aman. It is sandwiched by Gunung Jerai – the highest mountain in Kedah, and Malacca Straits.
2. It is connected to major towns such as Guar Chempedak, Sungai Limau, and Yan via good paved roads.
3. The village is surrounded by vast areas of picturesque paddy fields. Most of the villagers are Malays (98%) and work as a farmer.
4. One of the most important landmarks in this village is Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Yan (SMKAY). The best student of STPM class 2007, Azali Azalan, studied in this school.
5. Please click here or the megapixels sidebar on the right to view the rest of the images.

Hangus!

1. Location: Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
2. Please click here or the megapixels sidebar on the right to view more images.

Skyhawk vs. Mousedeer

1. While I was driving my Kancil along the KL-Seremban highway, I noticed a white tall familiar figure basking under the sun in the UPM’s Faculty of Engineering compound. Immediately, my mind recalled its name. Skyhawk!
2. The fighter/ bomber aircraft had served in the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) quite some time ago (in the 1980s). Its track record in RMAF was literally not so impressive due to chronic maintenance problems and accidents that had claimed the life of several RMAF pilots.
3. For the record, the decision to buy the aircraft was made by Malaysian government after thorough evaluation on the need of dedicated ground attack aircraft. During that time, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was the Minister of Defense. It was the first time ever RMAF received huge number of aircrafts (total 80 units, 40 for operational purposes and 40 for spare-parts).
4. Previously, Skyhawk was used extensively by US Marines and US Navy in the final phase of Vietnam War. It was a carrier-based aircraft and served well in the war.
5. Rumours claimed thad the aircrafts were kept in vertical order at Arizona’s Tucson Airplane Junkyard in the US prior to the purchase. They were refurbished and sold to Malaysia as A4-PTM (Peculiar to Malaysia) Skyhawk.
6. Rumours, once again, claimed that during a handover ceremony between the US and Malaysian governments, a US representative had sarcastically said: “You must be very brave to fly this aircraft!“.
7. It seemed that he was true. RMAF pilots were very brave indeed to face many surprising and dangerous occasion while flying the aircraft.
8. On one account, the canopy of a Skyhawk fell off during flight! The pilot, however, calmly control the aircraft, dumped gallons of fuels to reduce its weight to minimize its landing impact, and safely landed at Kuantan’s air force base (AFB).
9. Please click here or the megapixels sidebar on the right to view more images.

MAF's 10th Brigade (Parachute). Copyright: HangPC2 @ cari.com.my (MPSA)

1. I was at Dataran Merdeka on the early morning (6.45am) of Aug 31, 2008.
2. I deliberately woke up early, prayed at the earliest minutes of Fajr, and immediately drove to Kuala Lumpur. Reaching Masjid Negara, I saw groups of military personnels as well as high school students preparing for the big event. Policemen were buzy regulating the traffics as some roads were off-limits to motorist.
3. I intended to park my car at Wisma Ekran. To my surprise, lots of people had already been there. There were no parking spaces availabled. I decided to park my car at an empty space near the building. The space was not a proper place to park a car, but it was the nearest spot to Dataran Merdeka that I could locate. I was worried about getting a ticket from dedicated policeman. But the thought was ignored later – who could possibly spoil the lovely Independent day with parking summons? Besides, others were doing it too….hehehe.
4. The event started at 8.00 am with the arrival of His Majesty Yang Dipertuan Agong and Raja Permaisuri Agong. According to Malaysian protocol, His Majesty is the last person to arrive in any national function or event. It was so funny to look at some VIP who arrived late. Their car was stopped by a policemen and was asked to walk to the main stage. The distance to the main stage could be roughly 500 to 600 meters. One of them was Datuk Azalina Othman Said – Malaysia’s Tourism Minister, the host of today’s Merdeka celebration event.
5. I was at Dataran Merdeka with one objective – to capture as many pictures as possible with a borrowed digital camera, especially the Malaysian Armed Forces segment of the procession. Unfortunately, the camera consumed lots of energy and I had no spare batteries with me. I managed to shoot several pictures (but, the quality was so bad).
6. Looking at other people’s camera made me feel extremely “inferior”. Segan btoi! They were armed with digital single lense reflex (DSLR) camera which cost thousands of RM. The DSLR’s lense itself cost more than RM2,000 or equivalent to 4 units of “my” digital camera! (don’t even mention about the pros’ DSLR camera).
7. Please click here or the megapixels sidebar on the right to view more images of the event. I also included images from other professional photographers here. Enjoy the pics.

I had uploaded two videos in this blog. Both were from my previous blog. Some of you had seen them. Click the following links or the sidebar on the right to view them.

1. Paddy Harvesting Season
2. Nature’s Song (My Village)