Acheh Day 2

The second day, we had breakfast in one of the Pasentren teachers' house. We ate Nasi Lemak. It's quite different because the only lauk are keropok udang, sambal and boiled egg. It's quite simple from what Nasi Lemak Malaysia would be like. But, the rice were in bigger amount than Malaysian usual one. We drank tea for breakfast. A sweet one. Hopefully I would get Diabetes once I get home.

After we had or breakfast with stomach full of rice, we gathered at the hall to get ready for our free medical check up session and sunnathon (circumcision for a big group). Voluntarism is the main juice of what my college differs from other universities. We had been volunteering in lots of medical activities since the first year. Our Prof create a group of young volunteers starting from our pioneers' batch called 'Young Mercy'. So, we are used to this kind of activities. Alhamdulillah so far, everything went great.

This programme isn't only dedicate to the school itself, but also the villagers around it. We spread the words and all they need to do is come and give their details to us.

Me and Kak Lin are the first liner from the medical check-up team. We complete all the patients' details, clerk history (ask patients about their current and past medical problems), identify which patient would be given prioritization or special attention (i.e. refer to our specialist inside the hall or send a referral letter to the nearest hospital), identify the most common disease over the area and educate patient about their problem. After patients cleared all the informations we need, they will then proceed to the next counter for weight & height, random blood sugar, blood pressure, consultation and medication.

It's not easy communicating with them. It's a challenge for me. I have communication barrier especially when it comes to elderly. Their language is different from the other side of Indonesia. I couldn't quite understand due to the strong accent and some different words they used. But, thanks to some of the school teacher, they became my translator and the clerking part were ran smoothly.

Our medications run empty so fast.

I identify the most common complaint from their area; (1) low back pain probably because most of them works at paddy field and they still use the old method of planting the paddy with their one hands, (2) numbness over both fingers and foot maybe due to their lifestyle of having sweet drinks and foods that may cause them to have diabetes, (3) rashes, (4) eye discharge.

My other medical team inside the hall.

With our anaesthetist, Prof. I (wearing scrub).

Circumcision and mobile clinic team.

Due to lack of supplies, we used tables as bed for circumcision.

Medications that we brought from Malaysia for the villagers.

After a half day activity in Pasentren, they bought us out to a beach named Pasir Putih where we had the chance to drink coconut. It was awesome! And the scenery....Subhanallah! Beautiful! The white sand..the clear water..the seashells..amazing. The beach is cleaner if compare to Malaysian beaches. This was one of the beach that are destroyed a long time ago by tsunami.

The water is chill and clear!

This beach is surrounded by naked mountains with small stonehenge. There, we met a woman (not in the picture) who lives and work at a stall there. She said that during that time, when she saw the waves, it was huge and its like the shape of kepala ular tedung yang mengembang. She then save herself by running up the hills. Alhamdullilah, she was save. However, her mother did not survive as she was at the port. She was sad in the first place. But, she accept qada' and qadar. We asked her, why don't she leave that place and stay at an even safer place. But, she said, there's nothing to be scared of death. Even now sitting in front of your laptop, with Allahs' power, He could take away your breathe in just seconds. It was nice talking to her.

On our way back, we go up and down the hills and on one spot, we saw the port. Half of it had been destroyed by tsunami waves.

We went back to Pak R house for dinner. His wife served us with ikan bakar..yummeh! After dinner, we went back to Pasentren. Sweet dreams!

Fox Rain

Going from day to night,

you're all I think about..b!

(tipu je bluwekk :P)

Before you came along, I was just one of millions of lonely people in the world..

Dubirubiruraffa..

dubirubiruraffa......

dubirubiruraffa~~~....

Acheh Day 1

My second trip was to Acheh, Indonesia. Acheh or through history, it was called as 'Serambi Makkah'. The reason we choose to fly there are (1) for free medical check up & Sunnathon (2) to learn what could be learn from the history of tsunami that had taken more than 30 thousand life.

We went there by airasia. It was booked during the promotion week.

We went there with colleagues and Prof @ my mentor during my first 2 years of life at college.

It was around 1pm when we reach there. The difference in time between Indonesia and Malaysia is around 1 hour only. So, there was no jet lag problem for us.

We had not taken our lunch yet but since its evening already when we reach there, we were brought by Pak R to Solong Coffee, a cafe where they produce the most famous coffee in Acheh called, Ulee Kareng. Once I tasted it, it was...........a headache. I'm not in love with coffee and it was not my favourite drink so it's difficult for me to describe the taste. But, I bought a packet back with the price of 30,000 rupiah. Scary is it knowing that I'm holding around 1 million ......rupiah. hehe.

After the coffee treat, we went to the mass Muslim cemetery where they buried all the bodies after tsunami. Watch how they create a beautiful gate with Surah Al-Anbiya, 35 written on it. "Tiap yang berjiwa akan merasakan mati Kami akan menguji kamu dengan keburukan dan kebaikan sebagai cobaan dan hanya kepada Kami-lah kamu dikembalikan."

26 December 2004, where it all starts..

It was a peaceful place. And my heart cried as I feel the sadness felt by their families out there. How would they live after this knowing they've loss their love ones? No one knows. It's a tragic memory to be remembered. Around 30,000-35,000 bodies where buried here.

Beside those cemetery, there was a leftover building of a hospital that was destroyed by tsunami. No one survived including the doctors, nurses and patients.

We had the chance to enter the building. Everything was badly damaged. The walls and floors creates huge holes and cracks. I wonder how the patients were at that time. Trap in a building with water flooding. It must be scary.

One of the helicopter that had been destroyed by the death wave.

Next, we stopped by at a mosque named Baiturrahim. It was one of the mosque that survived from tsunami. Even though the distance between the mosque and the ocean wasn't that far, it doesn't shows massive damage.

This was supposed to be 'mata air' before 26 Dec 04, where it provides the villagers around with the most important thing to survive, water. But after tsunami, it can't be used anymore due to the sands. Pity them.

When you enter the mosque, just beside the doorway, there's a small exhibition of photos during and after the tsunami. There, we met an uncle named Pak X. He told us that he was one of the tsunami victim that had been saved and is still alive. He told us that he was in the street on that day, walking, when he saw water as fast as 80km/hr sweeping off the street full of citizens. He was shock and try to save himself. He ran and ran until he was caught in the waves, a dark one. He was then stab by a long steel over his abdomen. Lord knows how painful it is. He couldn't remember what happened in the waves but he was landed somewhere 500-600 meters from shore. Passed out. On the second day after tsunami, everyone gathered the dead bodies into the mass grave. Neither anyone knows that he's still alive. He was half covered by plastics they used to cover dead bodies. He was about to be thrown into the massive grave when suddenly one of the medical staff from Bulan Sabit Merah felt his pulse. Present! A weak one though. "Hidup lagi! I need help here!", shout the medical staff. All he could remembered was that. That moment. That moment when was able to said, "Thank you Allah.." It was a terrifying moments of his live. He thought that he would be buried alive. Not anymore. Guess Allah did gave him a second chance. Below are some of the pictures shown in the mosque.

After the short visit, we went to the beach nearby the mosque. There, the speciality would be 'jagung bakar' and there's also 'pulut panggang'. This is one of the beach that is damage by the tsunami waves in 2004.

After we enjoyed eating corn, we stop by at the nearest shop on our way back to buy something really important. As you know, this place is called Serambi Makkah, so we actually need to stay in a religious school named owh-its-a-long-winded-one that I couldn't remember. In malay we called that place 'sekolah pondok' or they called it, 'Pasentren'. There's a rule in Acheh that woman are not encourage to wear pants and no one can free hair. And so, we have to find long skirt or they called it, "Rok" or a long shirt down till knee level if you still want to wear pants.

After we bought 2 pairs of Rok for the whole 4 days in Pasentren, we headed to another mosque that survived after tsunami. It's the Baitulrahman. We reach there at dawn when it's time for our Maghrib prayers. It was so beautiful. Subhanallah. The mosque is surrounded by a small mosaic human-made river-like drain with clean water where we could sit and enjoy the water flowing over our foot. It was nice. Kids would play around with the water.

It is not allowed to wear pants in the mosque as some of our friends were caught and got scolded by one of the man inside. Still, no one inform us before about the do's and dont's in Acheh. That's whats' lacking during the trip.

After our prayers, we stopped by at restorant to have our dinner. It is called Ayam Penyet Pak Ulis. We enjoy the foods and the sambal was....very spicy! Yummeh..

We had drinks such as Alpuket. It's a must if you have a vacation in Indonesia. Alpuket is a drink which consist of Avocado + sweeten condensed milk + chocolate syrup. The picture above was another dessert called im-not-sure-of-the-name. It's consist of coconut syrup + jackfruit + jelly + peanuts. It was nice of course. Well, for me who enjoyed eating, I would say every foods and drinks are nice! huhu..

Sarawak Day 4

It's the fourth day in Kuching and it's the day that we left..but, before that we went to see Orang Utan in the wilds.

Bersiap-siap untuk balik..

Kami yang sangat excited nak berjumpa dengan Orang Utan. The oldest one was 40 years old grandma of all tapi dia dah dikeluarkan dari tempat ni. Yang menjadi ketua di sini diberi nama Richie. Richie sangat2 besa! serious cuak tengok dia.. tapi tak sempat tangkap gambar, dia dah masuk utan..tapi kami dinasihatkan, give way if kami terserempk dengan Richie dalam perjalanan and ada juga insiden2 yang melibatkan Richie atau ahli2 keluarga nya yang lain hurt the tourist. Dalam tempat ni jugak, dipamerkan gambar2 family tree Richie dan gambar2 incident2 pelancong yang di-attack oleh Orang Utan di sini especially Richie coz dia sedikit moody. hehe..

Bila tiba masanya, kami pun ke airport..and sambil menunggu flight yang tertunda, kami ke McD.

I want to thanked Ama for being with us throughout our adventure journey there. And to all my colleagues, we had so much fun together..hopefully, we could keep those memories alive.. :)

Sarawak Day 3 (P2)

Pada sebelah petang hari ke-3 di Kuching, kami ke Wind Cave and Fairy Cave..which are nearby the Cultural Village. There's a lot of bats in Wind Cave..it's not as hard to get in as it looks like.

In front view of Fairy Cave..

But to enter Fairy Cave, we have to climb up 98 stairs to reach the cave entrance. Wahh, hard work ait? Sesampai je kat entry point, we were all exhausted! haha..but, it's a challenge we all have to face with victory! yeahh.. (smangatnye)

Fairy Cave is usually used by Chinese for meditation and mintak menang nombor ekor.. Inside it is like AVATAR yall~ Beautiful Subhanallah~!

Dalam Cave pun ada tangga2 jadinya kalau dicampur-campurkan semuanya macam seakan-akan beratus juga kami jajahi kan?

Dalam Fairy Cave ni, banyak sangat batu2 berukiran seakan2 manusia and haiwan..Kalau masuk tak kuat semangat, anda akan perasan ada satu batu yang seakan-akan bentuk hantu pocong yang dikatakan sebenarnya penunggu atau penjaga cave ini..od course la kami tak brani nak tangkap gambar dengan batu tersebut kan? hehe

We love Fairy Cave a lot..!! Macam kat Avatar~~!