Leyte is an island in the Visayas group of the Philippines, along with other major islands such as Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol and Samar. The island is further divided into two provinces, (Northern) Leyte and Southern Leyte. The major city is called Tacloban. Leyte is famous for its role of reconquest of the Philippines in World War II, which bring me to the above picture.

Let me tell you about the picture. It is of General MacArthur Shrine, located in the municipality of Palo. It was built in remembrance of Douglas MacArthur, an American general of the Philippines army, who landed in Leyte Gulf with the goal to recapture and liberate the Philippines from Japanese occupation in 1944. With his persistence and leadership, the event eventually led to Battle of Leyte– the largest naval battle of World War II. The Japanese eventually surrendered three years later.

About Santa Fe

I am currently based in Santa Fe – not exactly a town, more like a municipality. It has a population of about 20,400+ people and is located about 23 kilometres away from Tacloban City. Largely the folks in Santa Fe are rice farmers, since Leyte is the biggest rice producer in Eastern Visayas. Rice, like in Malaysia, is also considered as staple food in the Philippines.

Every year around August, Santa Fe will hold its very, very colourful town fiesta called Pamilipig festival. The whole municipality would take their whole families there where we would eat, drink and watch the competition of the traditional Pamilipig ritual dance.

The dance is to take back us to the times when there were no rice mills before, hence people would need to dance on the rice to separate them from their husks. The contestants would hold their dance on the grandstand, where each contingent would try to outdo each other through frenzied-pace dances, sychronised movements and acrobatic acts.

It was a pretty intense and exciting, and every year we look forward to it.

Language

Tagalog might be the second most used language of the country (English being the first), but here among my family we speak the native dialect called Waray-waray. It is the third most spoken language among the Visayan people. Although it is a dialect, Waray-waray is widely used in television and radio broadcasts. Print? Not so, as most regional newspapers are published in English.

If you want to learn to speak Waray-waray, here is a very useful basic tutorial!

Getting around

There are three types of public transportations to get around Leyte – buses, vans and my favourite, the jeepneys!

Colourful ride Riding the jeepney is not for the shy and timid.

A jeepney is one of the most popular means of public transport in the Philippines. It looks like one of those military jeeps the Americans used in World War II, only much livelier as they are painted with bright colours and each jeepney is personalised accordingly to suit its driver’s preferences.

In a jeepney, passengers would sit on two cushioned benches on both sides, ranging from 10 to 20 seats facing each other. You would get up on the jeepney first according to where you want to go, and a conductor will ask money from you for the fare.

Riding a jeepney, in an essence, is not for the shy and timid. This is because you always need to call out attention to yourselves amidst the roaring of the jeepney’s engine and riding in the busy street filled with cars and pedestrians. There is no designated stops for jeepneys, you have to yell out loud, “Stop!” if you want to alight somewhere. Someone shy will probably find himself being taken to the end of the journey and not knowing where he is.

The fee for a jeepney from Santa Fe to Tacloban would cost about 20 pesos, and it will take about 45 minutes.

Food

There are two staple food of the people of Leyte that I know of. The first one is called Suman Moron. It is basically a rice cake, made from glutinous rice, coconut milk, brown sugar and added with some lye solution for the flavouring. Normally it is served with ‘latik’  sauce and I love to enjoy it with coffee or hot chocolate. Some people also add grated coconut as the topping.

Suman has been my favourite since it is the food that I grew up with, and my wife and mother always make some good sumans!

Another favourite of mine is called binagol. It is made from a root crop called ‘talyan’, along with a mixture of flour, sugar and milk. They are then cooked and packed on top of a halved coconut shell and covered with banana leaves.

Remote working in Leyte

Remote working in Leyte is general is not something new, since I know a lot of school friends who have worked from home for the past few years. However, unlike me who are attached to Stampede, they are mostly freelancers who do a bit of front end development, programming and accounting for other people and companies. They usually do these jobs on top of their day jobs at the office. However, to see it more flourishing more than side jobs would probably take a while.

I felt like the reason remote working hasn’t exactly flourished in Leyte is because it is not a tech-oriented city. Leyte is an island famous for agriculture and rice farming, and the geography is mostly heavily forested and mountainous. It makes for a good view if you need a little escape from the city life.

Another reason is perhaps due to the fact that the Internet facility is just average. We get 2-3 Mbps speed for a single user, although in my part so far it hasn’t caused any major inconveniences.

This is also my first time working remotely for an agency. I used to work in an office in Cebu, commuting every day from home, braving the traffic and coming back home with less time to spend with my family. Working remotely for Stampede has taught me to be more focused and become better at time management, at the same time having more time to be with my family.

I have also been given so many challenging roles in Stampede, such as being the team lead and dealing directly with the client. Although a bit nervous, I am very delighted to be given such opportunities.

The recent earthquake

If you have not heard, Leyte was involved in a recent 6.5 magnitude earthquake last month. During the quake, I was in the midst of doing front end on a project for an Australian client. It wasn’t my first time experiencing earthquake. My first time was in Cebu many years ago, but it was still just as horrifying.

As it happened, I ran out of the house to join others in the streets, for the fear that the quake might cause some debris of the building to fall on top of us. The quake happened for only about 5 minutes. Fearing for the aftershock, I stayed with the rest of the neighbours outside until it was confirmed that everything was OK. I was so relieved that during that time, my son and my wife were at my mother-in-law’s house, and they were already safe.

Everyone in my family was safe and our belongings were intact, but the earthquake got the power got cut off in the island as the geothermal power station shut down during the quake. Because of the lack of electricity, I was unable to come to work for about a week.

Luckily, the Stampede team offered to get me a generator so I could share with the neighbours, and also so I could come back to work. I couldn’t be any more grateful to have a team who support me in times such like this.

If you are in Leyte…

If you can see, Leyte is not a big, modern city you see in televisions and movies. But if you want to escape the bustling life you get in cities, Leyte is one of the places you could come to. You get to see views such as this…

… and going on a kind of sensorial adventure riding on the jeepney while having as much bingol as you can  – Leyte is the place to be.

I’ll be more than happy to be your tour guide. Salamat!

Photo credits:

• Halalan 2016 (for the MacArthur Shrine photo)
• Gerryruiz (for the Pamilipig festival photo)
• Imgur (for the Jeepney photo)
• Wikipedia (for the Suman photo)
• 8magazine (for the Binagol photo)
• World Bank Photo Collections (for the Paddy Field photo)

The post A City of Our Own X: Leyte appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

However much time I spend away from Budapest, the moment I come home it always feels complete. It’s a comfortably sized city with nearly two million people. Everything that matters happens in the center, and once you’re in there, nothing is too far away.

Just walk around the century old buildings to soak in the rich history and take part in the vibrant life. Most of the historic center and its monuments were built in the late 1800’s, and the architecture is an eclectic mix of many period styles.

Some of the most run-down buildings waiting for redevelopment are taken over by temporary drinking spots known as ruin bars, and decorated with street art giving the town’s nightlife its quirky charm. And don’t forget the thermal spas, where you can soak in pools of hot, healing thermal water, and play chess with the elderly.

Working remotely from Budapest

Image from Madal Cafe

With an average broadband speed of 25Mbps, working remotely is a breeze. Cafes in the city offer fast WiFi internet and are not very crowded during the day. But when office hours finish and the evening buzz starts, it’s time to schlep somewhere quiet with the laptop. If you’re after a more focused work environment, you’re in luck because co-working spaces are popping up like mushrooms. Budapest is a popular destination for digital nomads (people who work remotely from abroad,) so you’re likely to meet quite an international crowd. The cost of a monthly membership is usually between 1-200 euros. This is about the same as what you would spend all month drinking and snacking at a cafe.

Getting around

As with any other major city, finding parking in the city can be a pain. In Budapest however, you can easily get around with public transport, and buy a monthly pass for 35 euros. If you’re not in a rush, you might as well walk because the streets are very pedestrian friendly. Your other option is to go around on a bike, and you can even pick up one from a public rental station  and drop it off at the next one. It’s no Amsterdam, but riding a bike here is not just for the daredevil.

The people of Budapest

Image courtesy of Craig Hull Photography

Hungarian people are often criticised for being rude. This is a little bit true, but on the upside, when they are nice to you, you can be sure that they genuinely like you. Budapest is home to lots of hipsters, and everything they go hand in hand with. For instance, artisan coffee, healthy street food, independent designers’ shops, and barber-shops, so this is the right place to buy that beard oil.

The dogs of Budapest

Image courtesy of Craig Hull Photography

Many Hungarians can’t imagine their lives without a dog to care for. But having a dog is not just about the relationship with the dog, but also with other people. Walking a Staffordshire terrier shows people you are a tough guy, a whippet says you are chic, and walking a Labrador retriever says you live in a detached house with a perfect lawn and two beautiful children, and just walked off of a detergent commercial. But whatever dog somebody walks, it’s always a perfect excuse to strike up a conversation with them.

Summer and festivals

Image courtesy of Craig Hull Photography

Hungary has a continental weather complete with 4 seasons, a freezing cold winter, and a hot hot hot summer. During summer city’s the streets of the city come to life, and lots of music festivals pop up around the country. The most famous one being the Sziget Festival in August. Sziget means island, because the festival takes place on  an island on the river Danube, that is huge enough to accommodate the festival’s some 200.000 visitors. The festival runs about a dozen of big stages catering for all sorts of tastes in music, from mainstream music with superstar headliners, to alternative genres. The festival attracts a very mixed international audience, camping and partying on the island for a whole week.

These are some of many things that you can experience and enjoy in my home, Budapest. If you’re flying over to Europe, why not drop by in one of the world’s most colorful cities.

The post A City of Our Own IX : Budapest appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

And I am Superman. (I’m sorry, let’s get to the point…)

Honestly, in Payangan we do not have much points of interest if compared to other towns in Bali, let’s say Ubud, which is the neighbouring city of Payangan. We don’t even have fiber optic internet yet, due to lack of demand. In 2010, our population was only estimated to be at 41, 164 people.

However, small towns like ours do have their own strong suits. I mean, with a name like ‘place for the gods’, it’s quite neat for starters.

Place for the gods

The word Payangan came from the word Parahyangan, which means ‘place for the gods’. In the history, there was this guy called Rsi Markandeya, a Hindu priest, who did his pilgrimage all the way from Jawa to Bali. In his journey, he built many holy places (parahyangan) to worship the gods. To honour his journey, the place is called Parahayangan, which soon turned into Payangan probably to make it easier for people to pronounce.

In the past, Payangan was very well known as the source of lychee. We used to have a lot of lychee trees, including those in front of my parents’ house. According to my father, lychees from Payangan were very good and sweet as the seeds were imported directly from China. They were gifts from Chinese immigrants to the King of Payangan. However, it has changed a lot these days – we have not much lychee trees anymore. Which is sad, because, who doesn’t love lychees?

However, you can’t beat the scenery in my city. Payangan has this wonderful scenery of paddy fields – large, green ones. Easy on the eyes. It has become such a big advantage to the tourism industry as some of big hotels located in Payangan are built around the paddy fields to use them as the point interest. Payangan, as you can see, is not as famous as Ubud, so the amount of tourists who flock here (I am not sure if flock is the right word) are not as much and specifically come because they already know of Payangan.

Another thing is due to obscurity of Payangan, these hotels would publish their location as Ubud, instead of Payangan. I am sad and feel this is unfair because one, it is misleading to the tourists and two, because Payangan by itself is a beautiful city with its own places of interest, so we should be able to magnify those.

The weather in Payangan used to be chilly, although not as cold as the temperature in Kintamani. However due to the climate change, after 2010 onwards, Payangan’s temperature could reach 28 C or even more. It feels quite stuffed and humid, like we are in Denpasar now.

Food I grew up with

It wouldn’t be complete to talk about one’s city without mentioning its staple food!

As for me, Balinese rice porridge is my favourite breakfast. There is this stall near my house that sells the most delicious Balinese rice porridge ever, one that I had been frequenting since childhood. What we usually have in the porridge are shredded chicken, roasted coconut, wild ginger, lime and scallions. It is the best comfort food one could have.

What’s special about Balinese rice porridge is that it is placed inside one big piece of banana leaf. There is no need to use a spoon while eating Balinese porridge, as another banana leaf is rolled to form a spoon!

My second favourite is  a snack called Laklak. They are some sort of pancakes made of sticky rice flour, mixed with coconut milk and the extract of suji leaves, smothered with brown sugar. Laklak is best eaten with hot tea during the evening.

Another one of my favourite is called Nasi Jinggo. Often sold in the night market near my place (the night market is called Pasar Senggol Payangan) Nasi Jinggo is made of fist of steamed rice coupled with slices of tempe, shredded chicken, noodles, tasty shredded coconut, and unbeatable spicy sauce (sambal) and all this is covered with banana leaves. Most Balinese waroeng (stalls) sell Nasi Jinggo, but what makes it special is the quality of sambal each stall makes.

The illustration above should be able to explain the ingredients inside every Nasi Jinggo packet.

Remote working life

Remote working in Payangan is not exactly easy if you don’t have your own Internet connection at home. There are no cafes or restaurants that offer wifi connection much, as we are a small town with modest population.

However, if you are up for co-working, the nearest town that can offer that would be Ubud. It is about 10 km, which would take about 20 minutes away from Payangan. There will be loads of cafes and restaurants offering wifi connection, as well as this nice co-working space called Hubud.

It also isn’t easy to buy computer stuff in Payangan. The nearest city that would offer loads of computer stuff with its own mall, perhaps, will be in Denpasar. Hence I prefer to shop my computer gadgets online. It does come with one disadvantage still thought – delivery services like JNE and TIKI do not deliver to my town. They only deliver all the way till Ubud. So what I do is I would let them to drop my delivery at a relatives’ place in Ubud, and I would go pick up from there.

Will you come?

Well, that’s a glimpse about my town, Payangan. Although a lot of things here make you struggle more than living in the big cities, Payangan does have a lot of its own advantages – quiet nights, beautiful scenery, happy, genuine people, so it will not matter where I go I would always take pride in this place for its beauty and calmness.

If you are ever in the area, let me know and I will show you around!

The post A City of Our Own VIII : Payangan appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

It all started when Zana signed in to work, announcing as ever shamelessly as she always is, that she had two extra tickets to go watch Sarah Kay & Phil Kaye at The Projector – and inquired if anyone else would like to go with her. Shaza volunteered right off the bat, while the rest had things to do over the weekend. I was reluctant to go along because I was never interested in literature. However, with a little bit of arms twisting by the girls (they were way stronger than I thought!), I agreed.

Besides, this would be my first international flight. Should be exciting.

Day 1: Looking for the merlion

After approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes direct flight from Langkawi Island, we found ourselves in Changi Airport, one of the largest transportation hubs in the Southeast Asia. The multiple award-winning airport serves close to 6,500 flights on a weekly basis! And I thought having to complete 5 HTML/CSS pages in a week is already such a traffic!

I got the window seat, so I had the chance to see how the view changed from when we departed from Langkawi all the way to Singapore. Before landing at Changi, I saw there were hundreds of cargo ships in the coast compared to where it was in Langkawi. Being in the plane, flying untethered, reminds me of what comedian Louis CK said, “You’re sitting in a chair in the sky. You’re like a Greek myth right now.”

I was practically Icarus right at that moment.

We made our way to our hostel, 5footway.inn Project Bugis slightly earlier than the check-in time. After leaving our bags at the hostel while waiting for the rooms to be ready, we decided to walk around the place to scout for lunch spots.

This is our first time in Singapore, so we had no idea what to expect much. We were delighted to find that our hostel is situated in the Kampung Glam neighbourhood, where the famous Haji Lane is. The streets are filled with narrow shophouses which had been given a new lease of life by local designers and young entrepreneurs who have set up their fashionable boutiques and hip restaurants here. Grub should not be a problem, so one issue solved!

A particular place caught my eye: it’s called Children Little Museum. I begged the girls so that we could visit the place right away, but Zana said, “Last day, Sani, on our last day here.”

I sulked, but not too long.

After checking in at our respective dorms, we were out again exploring. We chose to have Minang food at a quaint small restaurant called Restoran Sabar Menanti. And now we are off to look for the (mer)lion!

After walking for what seems like an eternity, we were welcomed with the statue of the merlion, standing ever so majestic overlooking the three towers of Marina Bay Sands. Of course, we decided to take some selfies and standard touristic shots to send to the team back home with the sole purpose that they’d be brewing with jealousy.

Trivia time: while the merlion is a traditional creature in western heraldry, for example – on the coat of arms of of the city of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom, it was never featured in any local folklore or myths of Singapore, and was only used in Singapore initially as the logo for the tourism board.

After sending about 300 images through Whatsapp to the team until Shaiful replied, “We get it. You are having fun. Go away, guys.” we decided we had annoyed the team enough for the day. Feet all blistered from walking around the city, we took the taxi back to our neighbourhood (as we have already grown fond of the area) for dinner.

Dinner, as an introduction in one word, was delish in many ways.

Because Zana is Zana, she had done some extensive research before going for dinner and she recommended this hip restaurant called The Lab located in Jalan Pisang. We were their last customers of the day, of which we had to join a small queue before being escorted to our table.

The Lab, as its name suggests, adopts the theme of a laboratory for their restaurant concept. Our drinks were served in beakers, which sent us into picture-taking frenzy and Shaza’s drink particularly caught our attention – it was called Heisenberg* served with a syringe filled with blue curacao syrup.

On the walk back home to the hostel after dinner, we thought grub time was over. IT HAD NOT.

We decided to stop at a Turkish restaurant on the way back, ordered a kettle of çay (Turkish black tea), some fıstıklı sarma (pistachio rolls) and chatted away into the night – about life, relationships and how to centre float elements in HTML/CSS.

Day 2: Navigating CBD by foot

We are these typical Malaysians, as we have found out – especially when it comes to food.

While there were many restaurants around the neighbourhood – western, fusion, Turkish, Korean, etc. – we still found ourselves at Agrobazaar across where we were staying. Aside from selling fruits and fruits-based products from Malaysia, like cordial and juice, they also have a cafe. We grabbed a nasi lemak in packet each, savouring in the fragrance of pandan leaves and coconut milk and pondered over how beautiful life is.

Food is that moving for us.

Travelling with two bibliophiles, it wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the National Library of Singapore. We were lucky to find there is a cartography exhibition going on in the library, where we could learn about the history of Singapore.

Being at Stampede where we value details, perfection and good user experience in our work, we were astounded at how well-executed the exhibition is. It was told chronologically with such engaging copy, and various mediums such as videos, text, photos and sound were used to express the information better. For someone who is not big on reading, this kind of exhibitions helped me to learn and digest information a lot better.

My front-end skills are always tested wherever I go, you see. Shaza decided to use her meticulous designer eyes to pick some difficult designs on the walls of the exhibition and asked me to describe the HTML/CSS structure needed to solve them. Needless to say, there were lots of border radiuses involved.

Zana decided to laugh at my misery and documented the situation.

All the way to Orchard Road

Orchard Road is a huge tourist attraction and the most popular shopping enclave in the city street. I love how despite it being a whole stroll of shopping complexes in this green city, walking amidst the heat is still bearable. The street is clean and it is lined with trees and plants all around. This concept of green city is something many Southeast Asian countries should be able to adopt more.

Watching Sarah Kay & Phil Kaye

I had never been into poetry my whole life, let alone watched one. This is such a refreshing experience.

I have decided that:

• Poets are cool people. They write beautiful words, and not only that, they touch our hearts with those words. That was not an easy task.
• Serendipity is even cooler. Sarah and Phil are not related, not married, not dating, however they share the same last name, both of them are Japanese-Jewish and before meeting in college, their lives had actually intertwined more than they could ever imagine & they had never realised this before!

While watching Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye performing, I had no idea how many times I said to myself, “goodness, so much feels.”

During the show, Phil said, “In this room, there are at least 5 people who had no idea who we were and were dragged around by their friends to come watch us performing. Hands up to those people!” so I put up my hand while grinning sheepishly. During the meet and greet session, Zana and Shaza once again dragged me to see Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye and told them about me being one of those 5 people who were dragged along! It was so funny.

Shaza bought me one of their books, No Matter The Wreckage and the three of us read the poems together on the flight home. Thanks Shaza!

Which one of their poems is my favourite, you were asking? Well, it wasn’t from Sarah or Phil though. It was from one of the local poets opening for Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye – it was a poem called A Love Letter to the Magikarp. As you can see I am a huge fan of Pokemon!

Day 3: A room full of childhood memories!

Remember the first day when I mentioned about Children Little Museum? We were finally going to visit it today!

Upon walking into the humble museum, I was transported back to my childhood. You can see many traditional village games like congkak, marbles, the rubber bands tied together for a game called zero point and so many more. They also have toys like tin robot, some creepy-looking dolls, hand-made wood rifles and swords. It’s not limited to toys and games, they also have strollers, some makeshift barber shop, elementary school tables and chairs, drink stalls, enough for you to re-live your childhood. We were so elated.

Before leaving the museum, I bought a pack of glue balloons that I used to play during my childhood time. It is sticky and you have to blow it carefully through a small straw. Here’s how it works:

Never the last

It was time to leave Singapore, unfortunately. But I can assure you this will not be the last time I visit Singapore.

This was my first international flight and I got so excited seeing my first international stamp on my passport. Traveling allows me to open my eyes and learn more about the culture, history, walks of life and the lifestyle of other people in other countries or regions. It allows me to venture more out of my comfort zone, having to navigate a space entirely new to me and having to interact with people of whom I have never met before.

Will I travel again? Definitely!

Where to next though? Feel free to drop your suggestions in the comments!

*The first person who caught the reference shall receive something special from Stampede!

The post Singapore! appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

Simple pleasures

Whenever I mention that I am living in Arau, the common response/ question would be, “What do you actually have over there?”

True, we might not have big and airy shopping malls like most city folks do – the only shopping mall we have is C-Mart, which might be close to a bigger version of a convenience store rather than a mall. As unassuming as C-Mart is, and although it is not as popular as Jusco or Tesco, I get my weekly supply of Subway sandwiches here as well as getting my favourite corn in a cup. The groceries are not as pricey as they are in the city. There’s also my favourite shop in front of C-Mart called “Borong Dinh”  where I can get cheap household things. You can get 6 pieces cloth hangers for only MYR2 here.

Simple pleasures like these delight me. The most important thing is, the cost of living here is low hence a lot more affordable than living in the city.

Eating out

There are days when I don’t feel like cooking, but it is good to know that even in Arau I would have never run out of choices to dine outside, which includes both local and fusion restaurants.

For lunch, there is a small restaurant near the Chinese school where you can get a huge variety of local dishes. My favourite dish is called crispy fried mushrooms. It’s something  I would never fail to order every time I go there.

As for dinner, there is a small food court beside the Shell petrol station. There you can get “moi sup”  (rice porridge with soup) and chicken chop. And whenever I feel like I want to have proper western food, I’d go to Blackwood Cafe located inside C-Mart.

 Location, location

According to history, while Perlis was still under Kedah colony, Arau was administered by a dignitary who was known as Dato’ Tok Arau which had a royal lineage. Therefore Arau was named after his esteemed services in building the town. There is not much sources about him online, therefore most of the stories were pretty much derived from the residents of the town as well as historians who are interested in the town.

The royal town of Arau is located 14 kilometers southeast of the official state capital of Kangar. In Malaysia, royal cities are the second most important city after the capital cities and are often referred to as the residence of the Sultan and King states in Malaysia. King of Perlis, who is Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin, lives here. He was the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia from 2001 to 2006. Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra was the Regent of Perlis during the five-year period when Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin was Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Arau, like the other states of Malaysia, is full of nation’s history and heritage that is always open to be explored by the younger generation. There are Royal Palace, Royal Tombs, Royal Gallery and Royal Mosque. The Royal Mosque or also known as the State Mosque can easily accommodate roughly 7,000 people in one prayer session.

Arau is also known as the education city of the northern region because of several universities here. Amongst the universities we have in Arau at the moment are Universiti Teknologi Mara (UITM), Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Kolej Komuniti Arau, Politeknik Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin and Kolej Matrikulasi Perlis.

Pasar Nat

There is also a famous morning market endearingly dubbed as “Nat Pokok Getah”. “Nat” means market for Northern people, and “pokok getah” stands for the rubber trees. The existence of this market in rubber plantation area of about two hectares in Pauh here is absolutely unique and sometimes could attract thousands of people to shop there, despite the scorching weather. The market is roofed naturally with the rubber trees, providing a natural and cosy shopping experience.

Every Friday and Sunday, the market, comfortable under the shades of rubber plantation will be filled with people shopping various kitchen essentials, clothing, food, fruits, and agriculture products. This market had been operating since 1998 between the hours of 7 am and 12 noon involving 300 dealers.

This market, definitely, is one of my favourite things here in Arau.

The glorious paddy fields

One of the nicest things here in Arau is that we often have a stretch of paddy fields, offering such a nice view and interesting rural scenery. Sometimes I would go around to explore the shortcuts through the paddy fields. It is also quite adventurous if you are driving. The roads around the paddy fields are narrow and unstable (due to its swampy nature) and sometimes would just enough to fit one car.

Paddy planting and harvesting are amongst the main sources of income for the locals here. It’s a nice view when the paddy is ripe – all yellow and bright.

Getting around

The traffic here is perpetually clear. Everybody was probably Italians in their earlier life, taking delight in dolce far nientes – the pleasure of doing nothing. Everyone takes it slow and easy, not much rush. The mood is different here from the city.

There is no airport in this tiny state, so there is no direct flight here let alone Perlis. The closest airport is Sultan Abdul Halim Airport in Alor Star, Kedah. Arau is the stop point for visitors travelling by train from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi. From Arau, taxis are available to Kuala Perlis, where the ferry terminal to Langkawi is located.

People

I love the fact that people here are really friendly and still embody the “kampung spirit” – where the community bonding is really close and everyone knows and takes care of each other. Me and my neighbours often organise a lot of gatherings and among the best things is when we do communal cooking. They might be just simple dishes, but they taste just amazing as we eat them together over kopi O (hot black coffee) and chat over things.

These are things you simply cannot experience it in the hustle bustle of the city.

Would you like to pay a visit to my town one day?

(Image Credits: Train station, C-Mart, paddy fields, nat market)

The post A City of Our Own VII: Arau appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

… when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

Surely London does not need another city guide, so I am going to call this “List of Things I Have Learned After Living in London”.

My first photo ever taken in London.

Go out

A friend once told me before I left for the city that, “you will be cold, but you will never run out of things to do in London”. Despite living in Uxbridge in Zone 6 (refer to the zones here) and it takes about an hour to get to the Central London by tube, I always try to find the time to go out. There are always museums to go, cute cafes for me to sit down with a cup of coffee and a book to unwind after long hours of walking.

Rain Room exhibition at The Barbican Centre

Look for the opportunity

London taught me about strategising and to be alert. Being a (somehow) petite Asian helps as well to navigate through the rush hour in the tube station – or if you have to play a tourist guide for a friend in the ever bustling Piccadilly Circus area. There is always that little breathing space over in the corner of your eyes where you could strategise to get there by jostling and zigzagging your way through the crowd to get there safely in one piece. That being said, being a leading global city, London is a great place for you to form a network especially for your career. I have met and been inspired by so many interesting and ambitious people over 7 months I have lived here.

Observe

London is popular for its quirkiness. There is always the first time to every thing, like being greeted As-salam alaykum by a guy in full body tattoo and highly adorned body piercings in Camden Market (and you reply with Wa ‘alaykum al-salaam with no partiality at all, of course) or singing along to On My Own with complete strangers after watching Les Miserables in Queen’s Theatre. There are colourful balloons stuck in one of the trees in Hyde Park. There is a busker playing violin along the subway of South Kensington tube station to Yuna’s Terukir Di Bintang. Things like these make London unique in my eyes.

Be well-prepared

London is an easy city to navigate despite the fact that Greater London itself covers an area of 1,583 square kilometres. My rule is easy: if you get lost, find the nearest tube station and you can always find your way home from there. London’s public transportations, although can be a bit costly, are highly reliable. There is always a journey planner and disruption schedule to check before you go out of the house. My friend jokingly said that you can never be a Malaysian in London because public transportations always arrive on time, so if you are late, that’s on you!

To the underground!

Be patient

A British friend once showed me a painting in one of the churches where the sinners queued up to go to Hell and jokingly said, “See? I can definitely tell those sinners are British. No other people would queue that diligently for anything.” There is a system to queueing in London in general. If there are two counters, you form only one line and whichever counter is open first, you go to that counter instead of forming two separate lines for the two counters. And then he added, “if someone cuts a queue at Nando’s, there is a high chance they are tourists. So be empathetic. Please retract your claws.”

Be courteous

We say ‘please’ to everything. We call everyone ‘love’ or ‘darling’. Some people may find it awkward or offensive at first, but really, who would be offended when a stranger addresses you so fondly and without being creepy?

Take your time

Despite London is always buzzing with life and people are always walking at a pace you swear if you trip them down they would land 4 metres ahead of you (no do not do this), there is always time to slow down. Listen to the underground jazz, feed the pigeons and squirrels. In autumn, spring or summer (basically the days when the weather is great) there are benches lying around the parks where you can sit down, sunbathe and people-watch.

The pigeons at Hyde Park

In the course of 7 months, I have been to approximately 10 cities. London stays at the top of my most favourite cities for the reasons it has been kind and accepting to me, someone who had never been too well-traveled. Even when the time comes that I have to leave this city, I will find a way to be back. Do you have a favourite city that you have lived in? Which one is it, please?

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The town was well known in Tanah Melayu (Malaysia) for the precious source of metal in late 1800 – this is for tin ore. The establishment of British tin mining companies at the turn of the 20th century created a golden economic age as large financial institutions such as The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China Ltd set up shops in the town. The tin ore mining is the main reason for the arrival of vast number of Chinese people.

Ipoh obtained the status as Perak capital ever since the World War II had been taking place. During that time, the Japanese people had established Ipoh as Administrative center of Perak with their Grand Colonial Building named as St. Michael’s which now had become St Michael’s Institution secondary school.

As for now, Ipoh is the 4th main city in Malaysia along with Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru at the top. Ipoh is famous for its numerous tourist attractions and not to forget, various local delicacies. Ipoh itself as a city is worthwhile to visit as the Old town of Ipoh is filled with various shop houses and buildings which date back to more than one hundred years ago. Isn’t that amazing?

Ipoh Field

Locally known as Padang Ipoh, the field is located on Jalan S.P. Seenivasagam. The field is very well kept and surrounded by many historic buildings which feature classic colonial architecture, including the mock-tudor style Ipoh Club, FMS Bar, HSBC Building and the magnificent St Michael’s Institution secondary school.

Ipoh Railway Station

Located near the Ipoh field, it is not only a railway station – it also have its first class hotel accommodation on the upper floor, which gives the stranger a hint as to the wealth and importance of the town of Ipoh. An automobile guide of 1925 stated that “The railway hotel at Ipoh supplies the best accommodation to be found in Perak – nice airy rooms, up-to-date sanitary arrangements, the best of food”. Today the Ipoh Railway Station houses the Majestic Hotel – previously known as the Station Hotel Ipoh. To the locals, the neo-classical/Edwardian Baroque structure is the “Taj Mahal of Ipoh”. The landscaped garden in front of the Railway Station accentuates its sense of grandeur.

Darul Ridzuan Museum

Constructed 80 years ago by a tin miner. It has the most interesting collection of artifacts on tin mining in Malaysia. Visitors also can explore an underground shelter within its premises which was built by the owner as a hideout from air raids during World War II. The museum is open daily except for Hari Raya Puasa and Hari Raya Haji at 9.30 a.m. – 5.00 p.m with free admission fee.

MBI City Square

Known for its clock tower, the city square is the focal point of the Ipoh New Town. It usually used for the festival such as TV3’s Jom Heboh and anniversary gathering (Independence Day, New Year etc.). When not in festival mode, you can see a lot of stall at one of the streets here selling various local delicacies such as Char Kuey Teow, Mee Udang and Mee Kicap.

Kek Lok Tong Temple

In English it is dubbed as the “Cavern of Ultimate Bliss”. The temples was first opened to the public in late 70s. Just like other temples which placed various statue of Buddha and the impressive rocky formations, it also have what local people called as “a portal of a different world”. This is because the stunning panoramic park behind the cave which is completely separated from the outside world and only surrounded by numerous tall mountains. The only way to reach the park is through cave itself.

The Lost World of Tambun

The water theme park is the latest attraction of Ipoh located at Tambun. It is fully managed by The Sunway Group. There’s a lot of activities you can do here – among others are Adventure River, Jungle Wave Bay, Tube Raiders, Cliff Racer, Tambun Hot Springs and Explorebay. For animal lovers, you would not want to miss an opportunity to go to Tiger Valley, home of Siberian and Bengal Tigers. If you’re lucky, you can watch their staffs feeding the tigers. Don’t forget to drop by their petting zoo which is a home to a 4000 animals from 55 species.

Gerbang Malam

Gerbang Malam is a local flea market located at the middle of Ipoh. The market operates at 7PM until 3AM with the peak hour at 11PM – 1 AM daily. The streets along Gerbang Malam will be filled up with temporary night hawkers that sells food and general item in the cheapest prices possible. This is the main attraction for nightlife at Ipoh. Whenever there are big festivals,Gerbang Malam is the busiest place in Ipoh.

As for travelers visiting Ipoh, there are quite a few reputable accommodations such as the Syuen Hotel, the Heritage Hotel and the Casuarina Parkroyal Hotel. Do drop by, and I will show you around!

(P/s: A little trivia on Ipoh – did you know that actress Michelle Yeoh, the butt-kicking Bond girl also hails from Ipoh? Well, now you do.)

Photo credit: Zuhri Kamarzaman

The post A City of Our Own Part V: Ipoh appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

The name Batu Pahat can be translated as “chiselled rock” in English. Popular belief among the town people regarding the origin of the name is that it was taken from a chiselled rock well located at the mouth of Batu Pahat River, believed to be dug by Siamese troops after a failed attack on Malacca. Another name of the town, which is Bandar Penggaram, literally means the town of salt-makers. The name is less often used by the locals, except when differentiating the Batu Pahat town and the Batu Pahat district in a context.

The most significant and symbolic landmark of this small town is the fountain with a sculpture depicting a pair of floating hands chiselling a rock in the town square, Dataran Penggaram. Families come to the town square to have picnics and other family activities during evenings and weekend nights.

Batu Pahat contributes the most to textile production of Malaysia, with more than 300 textile and garment factories established here. Other than that, food processing, electronics, and furniture industries have also established prominent existence in the city.

Some of the refurbished pre-WWII shophouses in Batu Pahat.

Some of the refurbished pre-WWII shophouses in Batu Pahat. The wall sculpture are unique for each shophouse.
I was born in Batu Pahat town, was brought up and educated here during my childhood and adolescence. Then I left for Perak, a northern state in Peninsular Malaysia for university for about five years. After that, I went straight to Kuala Lumpur to work for about two years. During these seven years that I am not really living in Batu Pahat, the little town has grown a lot. Several shopping malls and hypermarkets have flourished within a few years with the third town centre established.

Having travelled and lived in different places in Malaysia all these years, there are no other places that I love as much as my beloved hometown Batu Pahat – the perfect ratio of blend between serenity and modernisation that I cannot find in another place.

Images courtesy of Achmal.

I enjoy the air and the climate in Batu Pahat. Whenever I step down from the long-distance coach, I feel relived again breathing the air with the scent of my hometown. I enjoy driving in the town centre of Batu Pahat. Everyone drives at a decent speed but not overly fast. The pace of life is just nice for me.

Although Batu Pahat is not a big city like Kuala Lumpur or Johor Bahru, I never have trouble getting something I need in Batu Pahat. Food and household supplies are definitely cheaper than those in big cities due to the standard of living. Electronics and IT products are more or less at the same price as those in the cities as well. Although we do not get big-scale concerts or exhibitions here, the other things are pretty much comparable to those in Kuala Lumpur or Johor Bahru. If there is a thing that I would complain about Batu Pahat is that whenever there is new high speed broadband and cellular network or technology, Batu Pahat usually only gets them after they have been rolled out for a few years in the big cities.

Nevertheless, Batu Pahat is still a great place to settle down to me. Urban development has destroyed much of the tranquillity in big cities. Even so, I can’t live without a good amount of urbanisation. My beloved hometown Batu Pahat has the ‘just nice’ amount of both to me, and I selfishly hope it stays at the size it is now so that the serenity can be retained.

The post A City of Our Own Part IV: Batu Pahat appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

My friends and I arrived at Phnom Penh Airport around 9am and immediately got a taste of “Cambodian taxi” when a tuk-tuk driver named Mon, offered us a ride to the hotel. The 30 minute journey gave me a chance to look at some of the interesting things about the Cambodian traffic. I guess the most prominent feature was the horn-happy drivers. Since the roads were mainly populated with slow-moving tuk-tuks and motodops, they tend to get in the way of other road users. Overtaking happened all the time, usually preceded by a quick beep of the horn. Then, there’s the traffic system that has very little stop lights or roundabouts and pretty much free-style. 3, 4 or 5-way intersections? No biggie, keep on surging forward until you get the right of way. Another notable feature was the range of vehicles on the road from tuk-tuk, Camry, Lexus to Hummer, Winged-B and even Bond’s DBS (no kidding!).

Streets of Phnom Penh

It’s still early when we reached the hotel. Naturally, Mon talked us into hiring him for a full-day tour, which we did. Later I found out that it’s actually a norm there. Even if it’s late evening, tuk-tuk drivers would still offer themselves to take you around for the next day. My recommendation, if you managed to find a trustworthy driver who allows some room for price negotiation and can speak understandable English, stick with him.

Mon asked us what we wanted to see. Too embarrassed to say we were mainly interested in the genocide memorials, we waited for him to reel off the sites. We then agreed to start off with a visit to the Killing Field at Choeung Ek followed by the S-21 prison at Tuol Sleng, and later in the day to the Silver Pagoda and finally Central Market for a little shopping. I’m not going to go into detail describing these places, read up TripAdvisor or Travelfish 🙂

S-21 Prison at Tuol Sleng

Most of the places of attraction charge a nominal fee between 1 to 3USD except Angkor Wat (20USD/adult). The unofficial main currency in the city is USD without the coins, which is complemented by the Cambodian Riel. Therefore, it is common when purchasing using USD you will be given the change in a combination of USD and Riel. It’s a good thing to have a few thousand Riel at your disposal but once you left Cambodia they will be useless because the currency is non-convertible. The standard exchange rate for Riel is 1USD = 4000 Riel. On rare occasion, some merchants will accept the Thai Baht as well.

Angkor Wat main complex

One of the impulsive things we did during our stay was abandoning Phnom Penh on the second day and taking a 6-hour bus ride to Siem Reap with the sole purpose to visit the national treasure, the one and only, Angkor Wat. We also stayed a night at Siem Reap to have a taste of the night life. Maybe it’s just us, but my friends and I think this little city is much more systematic and has been made touristier than Phnom Penh. The capital city, with its stunning colonial heritage, royal palace and remnants of war kinda gave the “historical” feeling to travellers.

The next day we headed back to Phnom Penh on a different bus company than the previous one. The previous bus was pretty much a tourist bus with a hostess and only stopped once at a large town. The second bus however, had cheaper fare and was boarded primarily by locals. It still uses the same route but had different pit-stops. Unlike the first bus, this one stopped twice at small village towns. These were the only places where I saw merchants quoting prices in Riel only and accepting Thai Baht. Not to mention seeing some bizarre things too. Very fascinating.

Royal Palace – Chan Chhaya Pavilion

Back in Phnom Penh, we spent the remaining of the day visiting the Royal Palace and the Russian Market for a final round of shopping. A note on shopping, price haggling is a must. Items such as woodcrafts can have opening price two or three times its original value. A vendor made me an initial offer of 50USD for a Cambodian Tro and eventually let go for 20USD. Don’t go overboard though, it’s impossible to haggle for a 3USD t-shirt if you’re just planning to buy a piece. Buy in bulk by combining the purchase with your friends and the price might go down a bit.

On the final day, back to the airport, we took the same tuk-tuk with Mon (already prearranged since the first day) and bid farewell to this enchanting and humble Indochina country. Honestly, I don’t mind a second visit.

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What I‘m going to share with everyone is not about the present days of my hometown but more interestingly, about the old days of Kajang based on the first-hand account of my father. That‘s right, he was also born in Kajang in the late 60‘s. During his childhood, he was raised by his mother and late grandmother together with his brother, uncle and aunt in a house located in a village named Sungai Kantan.

Kajang town circa 60's

According to my father, during his childhood, Kajang was a quiet town where not many things happened during the day other than people doing routines to support their families. Then, there was a “roundabout” road in the middle of the town, where Metro Kajang is now. My father told me that his late uncle, not wearing any helmet, would ride his vintage Ducati bike very fast around the “roundabout” to impress his friends with his bike skills. Nearby, was the famous “satay” seller in Kajang called Tasmin and the price for a stick of satay during that time was only 15 cents. The meat was skewed with veins of coconut palm frond instead of bamboo.

There were two big cinemas in Kajang town. One was built by the British before the Second World War, which was then turned into a school by the Japanese during their occupation of Malaya and made everyone sing the Japanese national anthem every morning. Thus it got named the National Cinema. Back then when movie tickets were really cheap, it was one of my father‘s favorite places to visit with his mates on Saturdays.

The other cinema was the Sun Cinema which was also located nearby the National Cinema. It was built after the independence of Malaya most probably in the mid 60‘s. Today both cinemas were no longer around. The National cinema was demolished to make way for Metro shopping complex while the Sun cinema has been converted to a Buddhist temple.

Despite the rapid development in Kajang, we can still see buildings that were built in the 1920‘s. It is because the Kajang Municipal council has decided not to demolish the old buildings to conserve the rich heritage of the town. Over time, this introduced congestions. Well you can imagine the combinations of old and modern buildings being “patched” up together in a small town, where the roads are mostly not systematic, the populations grow in rapid figures, causing massive traffic jams most of the time. Fortunately, now since they have built the Silk highway, the traffic jam has been reduced quite significantly.

In the outskirt of Kajang town back in those days, lays a few villages where the Malays, Chinese and Indians dwells. The Sungai Chua village was mostly populated by Chinese, Sungai Kantan and Sungai Ramal villages by the Malays and Kajang estate, Brummah estate by the Indians. They were all separated by the British according to their races. Now, most of the villages have been replaced by new housing estates and shopping complex. During my father‘s teenage years, he used to go fishing at old mining pools near Sungai Kantan. He said, you can choose any pools you like, and fish whatever fresh water fish that you like. Further up from the old mining pools there was a stream which the locals called “jeram” that my father and his friends used to swim together and enjoyed the tranquility of the surroundings.

That was yester years, a long time ago. Now they were gone forever. The hills and greeneries have been replaced by highways. The old mining pools have been filled with land and housing estates were built on top of it. Last time, during the day, you can feel the freshness of air around you. You can drink the fresh water from the “jeram” without even boiling it. You can easily catch all sort of fresh water fishes like the Tilapia and Lampam. Now no more. “Oh! How I missed that time so much” said my father.

As I said earlier, I was born in 1990, and there isn‘t much I can tell about modern-day Kajang than the information that is in the Internet. The Kajang which I am living now is no longer green or tranquil.  All that is left are the old buildings which are the main cause of the jams. Besides that everything has changed.

Well that‘s a bit about Kajang, now and before.  I do hope we cherish our green earth that we lived in for a better living tomorrow.

(gorgeous photography by Yummy Corner and Kajang Town, Selangor, Malaysia)

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