Johor state is the southern state in Malaysia
Peninsula which is also being Singapore’s “neighbour”. Most of the population of Johor is living in the
west coast region and southern region of the state. The obvious reason is
southern region is nearby Singapore custom, whereas west coast region of Johor
is more developed and being more accessible to JB town and Singapore custom.
Our first
destination in Johor was Pontian Kecil.
Pontian Kecil is the district capital of Pontian district. The name of
‘Pontian’ is derived from Perhentian which means a stop for the fishermen and
traders long long time ago. Therefore, within Pontian district, there are so
many fishing villages in the district and the most prestigious one is Kukup fishing village which is nearby
to the Tanjung Piai National Park.Tanjung Piai National Park is a mangrove
forest and also the southernmost point of Eurasian continent. Then, there is a
huge of pineapple farm in Pontian district as that district is being the
Malaysia’s largest exporter of Pineapple. The
places which I mentioned above, unfortunately, we didn’t travel to there
because of raining torrential at that time. We just eventually had fast
food lunch at KFC Pontian Kecil then departed to the next destination, Kluang.
The view of Pontian Teochew Assiociation from KFC.
Kluang
is a town in the south central of Johor region. Kluang town is more developed than
Pontian Kecil town as it is located in the middle of old trunk road between KL and
JB and it has a railway station that linked with JB Sentral to Tumpat,
Kelantan. Besides, Kluang town is lies in an undulating area of hills and there
are two famous hiking destination in Kluang which as Gunung Lambak and Gunung Belimut (we had no time to hike*). Upon we
reached there in the late evening, then we stayed there a night and the next
day we continue our trip in Kluang town. Luckily,
my elder sister’s friend is living there, so she will be our “one day tour
guide” on the next day (21/06/2018).
The view from Hotel Ailang, Kluang.
Night view of Sin Kintong Restaurant.
Kluang Railway Station
Simple life.
Kopitiam
On the next day,
we had our breakfast at Kluang Rail Kopitiam
which is in the Kluang railway station. According to my elder sister’s friend,
she said this place always jostled with people have their breakfast there (it
was indeed correct lah since we barely found a place to sit there). We ordered
the typical breakfast dishes that are available in each and every of the
kopitiam such as Roti Bakar, Half boiled
eggs, Nasi Lemak, Teh Tarik and Kopi O… After that, we went to the mural street art in town centre
to take photo. The mural street art is located nearby Jalan Merdeka and Jalan
Dato Kapitan Ahmad. You will get to see a number of pre-war shop lots in the
town centre as well… I think ah, usually, the mural arts were done to
beautify that particular small town or city in order to draw tourists to flock
into that place to travel. And they the MPK had done it.
Later, she
brought us to the Kluang’s Chinese Tao Association, Persatuan Memperbaiki Akhlak Che Luan Khor Kluang (居銮德教会紫銮阁).
Even though that place is Che Luan Khor teaching aka De (德)
teaching assiociation, but it has the Guan Yin Ma status and it is open to public to visit the interior
of the building (you can also pray there if you are Chinese Buddhist or
Taoist*). Besides, there is also willow trees surround the Chinese garden
with a few pavilions for visitors to take a rest and sightseeing. We took some
photos in the Chinese garden right before us going to the next place which was
Kluang Coffee Powder Factory.
Old Shops in the town centre...
Laman Kreatif Kluang.
Acting cool...
Mural art.
Family picture without my mother as she said she was busy with her construction tender.
*
Family picture without my mother as she said she was busy with her construction tender.*
Some people had
said that “you are not finish travelling in Kluang, if you have not drunk their
coffee yet.” So, we arrived to KluangCoffee Powder Factory (Cap Televisyen) to visit the place and drink
their coffee. Brief history here,
“Cap Televisyen” coffee business was established by Mr. Goh Tong Tor (Goh Ah
Kow) in 1966. He chose Television as his coffee’s trademark because he hoped
that his coffee can be like television where it is owned by each and every
household andat the same time, it could bring families closer
together while they enjoy a good cup of coffee. Me and my family and my sister
friend’s ordered coffee to drink and relax there before having lunch.
After we had our
lunch, my sister’s friend went back home and we continued our day trip to Yong Peng. Yong Peng is a small town
that located nearby the KL-JB old trunk road and North-South Highway. It
recently has a new tourist spot for us to visit which is the Fortune Dragon (转运祥龙).
Fortune Dragon is just situated at the opposite of the Yong Peng’s Chinese Tao
Association, namely Persatuan Memperbaiki
Akhlak Che Luan Khor Yong Peng (永平德教会紫銮阁). The entrance fees are RM25.00 for adult, whereas RM10.00 for children.
There are 2
different sections in the interior of dragon body. At the beginning, it is the "Heaven" (the mural arts in
this section depict about the fillal deeds done by the human), whereas the last
part is the "Hell" (the
mural arts in this section depict about the punishment for those who commit
wrongdoings in their life). Meanwhile, outside the dragon’s body there is a few of Chinese pavilion for us to rest
and to sightseeing the surrounding of the Tao Temple. After finish visiting
this place, we finally went back home…
So, this is my family’s 2 days 1 night trip in
Johor. This trip is mostly about the coffee and the Chinese temples there to
visit. It was indeed a very short and
thigh trip and my mother didn’t join us for family trip as she was busy with preparation
of construction tender*
Last
Monday, I had just done working at Bookfest Malaysia 2018 in KLCC. The Bookfest
Malaysia 2018 event was officially ended by 17th of June (17th
of June overnight till 18th of June). This was my first time
witnessing how the Malaysia’s largest books exhibition was carried out and how
big was the crowd in the exhibition hall.
Poster of Bookfest Malaysia 2018
Bookfest Malaysia 2018 ads on youtube.
Bookfest
Malaysia event was initiated and originated by Popular Bookstore (M) Sdn. Bhd.
and collaborated with Sin Chew Daily, The Star Newspaper, 988 radio fm and
Astro to promote it in the printed media and social media. Its first exhibition
hall was at The Mines convention centre, Seri Kembangan. Since the number of
the readers in Malaysia is growing steadily from years to years, Popular
Malaysia had decided to move to a bigger exhibition hall at KLCC convention
center to accommodate bigger crowd of readers who come and buy the books they
loved. Until contemporary times, that annual Book exhibition is still holding
the largest trilingual book exposition record in Malaysia.
Frankly
saying, this part time job did give me a golden opportunity to improve my
physical strength. This is because of I and other fellas there were asked to do
the works just like a coolie. We had asked to help them, the managers and
supervisors from each and every of Popular Bookstore outlets to set up the
event. Then, we had to load and unload tons of books onto the selves during the
setting up days prior to the real date of commencement of the event on 9th
of June. Besides, I was the unfortunate one whom I was assigned to work in the
event’s logistic department. Working at the event storeroom requires you to put
in all your physical strength to do storekeeping jobs as well as transporting
few stacks of books in and out from the storeroom. Jobs in the real world
aren’t as easy as abc, I did this job until I felt a little bit of ‘pek cek’
(frustration). However, that job also gave me a place to do work out for free
(I am trying to be optimistic here!).
These are the photos of my temporary workplace...
Apart
from that, that job got its way to enhance my mental endurance indirectly. Working
in the bookfest event, you will likely to do the job of either bookkeeping,
storekeeping or dealing the customer repetitively. For instance, I was trying
my level best to done the work given (as mentioned on above paragraph) by the ‘upstairs’
there, even though I was trying and plotting to flee from the ‘upstairs’ every
time there. Besides, the male part timers there forced to work overnight to
wrap up the event on the last day. Working overnight is indeed bad for health,
but the Popular authority assigned us to work overnight, what to do leh? So, I
just overnight and worked at my level best since that after working overnight I
could enjoy myself and got an extra pay on overnight hardship for RM160 in my
exact wage. Therefore, this part time job increased my endurance when I got the
real full time job after getting my degree scroll.
Learning how to wrap up a pallet of books.
I captured this after I done working overnight.
Lastly,
I had made some friends when I was working there. There was almost everyone I
met were in the range of 17-25 year-old, which had made me easier to
communicate with them as we had few common topics to talk with. For an
instance, I had recognized a friend (he is 19 year-old this year, one year old
smaller than me) who was also assigned to work in the same department as mine
there as well. Besides, I had also recognized a few of the other part timers when
I was loading and unloading stacks of books to the display booth. Apparently,
making friends with them will reduce boredom at work as well as broadening my
social network indirectly. Hence, I’m glad that this part time job did provide
me a chance to meet new friends.
Taking a photo on the last day of working and right before wrapping up the bookfest event.
Taking
this part time job has made my life to be enriched with experience and fun.
Albeit of this job is seemingly tiring, at least my drained energy will be paid
off by the money which I will be received in July. I am also salute to the
supervisors and managers from each and every of the Popular Bookstore outlet
who were also work like hell with us, the part timers. Next year, I will be one
of their customers.
I love my
hometown, Kelantan state. Last week I just travelled my hometown, Kota Bharu,
Kelantan. So, I make use this chance to write this blog post…
Kelantan is a
state in north-eastern of Peninsula Malaysia which is also enriched with its
Malay culture compared to the other states. This is because of Kelantan state
is one of the states along with Terengganu have homogenous population, which
predominately made up by the Malays (about 95%) then followed by Chinese (about
3.5%) as well as Indians, Siamese and Orang Asli (each less than 1 %). Thus,
Kelantan is also deemed as the traditional “Malay Cradle” of the Peninsula
Malaysia.
Kelantan State's flag
The way of
living in Kelantan is differing than in other states of Malaysia (especially
bustling west coast of Peninsula Malaysia where that side has a few
metropolitans such as KL, Penang and Johor Bahru.). The life here is quite laid
back and chill and most of the places in Kelantan are still retaining
traditional “kampung” style of housing. All over Kelantan, only Kota Bharu has
a city status, whereas the rest of the capital districts (Jajahan or Daerah in
Malay) are still remaining the status of small town. So, only Kota Bharu, the
capital city of Kelantan state is more prosperous and bustling compared to the
other towns and districts in Kelantan.
The non-malays
there are being more assimilated to the malay culture compared to the other
states in Peninsula Malaysia. This is in light of fact that most of the
non-malays here are at least being able to understand and converse in
Kelantanese Malay dialect. Most of them have got used to speak and listen in
Kelantanese Malay dialect since they are young. Besides, that dialect is also used
in the business field since the business persons are mostly dealing with the
Malay customers there. For your information, Kelantanese Malay dialect is being
prevalent in Kelantan state compared to the standard version of Malay language.
Therefore, you will be blur and left out when you don’t understand Kelantanese
Malay dialect in Kelantan state, if you are outsider lah…
In fact, Kelantan
has a few places to travel. Many people from other states of Malaysia may think
that Kelantan is so ‘ulu’ (outdated) and reluctant to visit there… However,
actually there are a few places for us to travel in Kelantan. For example,
there are a few Siamese Buddhist temples in the district of Tumpat such as Wat
Pothivihan and Wat Machimaram for us to travel (visited during this year’s
Chinese New Year). After travelling finish the temples, you can even Pantai
Seri Tujoh in the district of Tumpat (this year I not yet visited). There is
also a beach in the district of Kota Bharu, which is Pantai Cahaya Bulan. It is
roughly 10 km away from town centre. That beach used to be a sandy beach.
However, due to erosion of the wave, the beach shoreline is shortening.
Therefore, the beach now has many of the stones to form a barrier to deter from
wave erosion. Besides, there are also a few tourist destinations to travel in
the capital city of Kota Bharu as well (look at the photos…)
Wat Photivihan
Wat Machimaram
Arch of Kota Sultan Ismail Petra
Pantai Cahaya Bulan...
Random old shop lots in Kota Bharu town centre
Padang Merdeka...
Sungai Kelantan riverfront
Kampung Kraftangan right behind Kota Sultan Ismail Petra.
This video is about Kelantan food...
Apart from that,
Kelantan has a few prestigious local delicacies that you barely can find in
other part of Malaysia (except its neighboring state of Terengganu). Firstly,
Kelantan has also its own type of Laksa, Laksa is not only got in Penang but
also in Kelantan. The main differences of Laksa in Penang and in Kelantan are
their soup and ingredients. Asam Laksa Penang soup is made up of tamarind,
while Laksa Kelantan is made up of coconut milk. The ingredient of Asam Laksa are fishes (and prawns), cucumber and lime, while Laksa Kelantan is onions, sliced dried tamarind and lemon grass. Futhermore,
nasi kerabu and khao jam are also the main local delicacies of Kelantan. Both
are actually they same in method of processing and using same ingredients. The
only difference is Nasi Kerabu is more of Kelantan Malay style, while Khao Jam
is more of Thai style…
Laksa Kelantan
Khao Jam
Thus, Kelantan
state is one of the laid back and tranquil states in Malaysia but has a few of
destinations to travel and local delicacies to eat.
I love to eat chicken rendang... But wait... when do we have a crispy chicken rendang menu? I never heard it before...
The judges from Master Chef UK said the Malaysian contestant's chicken rendang is the biggest mistake because it didn't appear to be crispy.
Last few days, I have read some articles regarding the Master Chef Crispy Rendang issue... So, I make use this time to share this "news".
It was also my first time of hearing people said chicken rendang should be crispy... Seriously lah macha (bro in Tamil language), if you want to eat crispy rendang, why not go to KFC to buy their chicken and dip it into the rendang kuah (sauce in Malay language)??? It will end up to be not delicious one (look at the last video below). BTW, it is making no sense too, you mat salleh didn't understand the asian (especially South East Asia and East Asian one) but you criticize the food like you are an expert of the asian food cuisine...
Here are a few of parodies of the CRISPY chicken rendang made by Malaysian Youtubers...
Dennis Lim Ming youtuber - Master Chef 2018 Chicken Rendang...
Campur ayam KFC ngan kuah Rendang...
However, I believe this "news" has made our Malaysian tradition cuisine to become viral in the most part of the world... Malaysia boleh! Chicken rendang is should not be crispy...
Ok, that's all
I want to talk about. I hope you enjoy this article and please follow me
on my Google + account, twitter (@JiaZhe1) and facebook
(username: Jia Zhe Wong)... If you have any comments or suggestions about this blogger, please comment below this blog post. Thank you, bye! Have a nice day!
In this millennial era, there are so many platforms for us to further our study. After going through the nationwide examination of SPM (A must examination for students from public secondary school in Malaysia and O-level equivalent), the Form 5 graduates will be struggling to look for which 'road' is suitable for them to pursue their studies. Indeed, there are a few of examples you can opt to go to University. For instances, Form 6 (STPM, Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia), A-Level, Matriculation (Public U or Private U), University's foundation programme or even straight to Diploma.
(Video of "The positive and negative impression of form 6" in Mandarin Chinese)
However, today I am going to share my life experience when I was a Form 6 student.
I recalled when I just finished my SPM exam in 2015, my relatives started to ask me which 'road' I will going to choose later... I've told them I want to study for accountancy. Then, most of them kept suggesting me to go for Private University's foundation as that's the fastest platform to get into University. Nonetheless, I just throwing these suggestions into 'tong sampah' (dustbin) and tell them I want to go for Form 6. Most of them even my father and my mother were discouraging me to go for Form 6 as they said there are so many opportunities for me to further my study and why form 6 leh? I replied them like this, I like Form 6 very much ah! Cui ah! (I stubbornly wanted to choose this hellish pathway)...
Soon after I was a form 6 student, my life is totally different... I can't be slacking anymore after school since there are many homework (more than in "Arus Perdana" (Secondary School). Although students only require to take for minimum 4 subjects in STPM (included Pengajian Am subject as a compulsory subject of STPM), that doesn't mean you can slack for the whole time. That one year and the half was the hellish part in my life. Once you delayed to do your homework, tomorrow will be more homework for you until you couldn't handle them later. Therefore, you should get rid of laziness when you get into Form 6 life.
Expectation vs Reality of STPM
Secondly, the form 6's curriculum is so compact and tough. In your form 6 life, you have to face 3 semester based final exams, 4 subjects' courseworks, MUET (Malaysian University English Test)and Retake paper in ONE AND THE HALF YEAR.Besides, you will be learning different topics in a single subject (some of the topics aren't related to each other) in each semesters.
Pengajian Am sem 1 textbook
For example, Pengajian Am subject's sem 1 will be emphasizing in domestic affairs (social economics related issues) as well as good governance in Malaysia and federal constitution of Malaysia. Then, sem 2 will be more on plotting a graph based on an article, Malaysia's government policies, racial harmony and the COURSEWORK. Meanwhile, sem 3 will be emphasizing on transferring information from a graph to an essay and international affairs (bilateral and multilateral relations). Don't forget to you need to cope with MUET too as most of the school will opt to let their student to enroll MUET exam on July or November. Thus, this is why many people resist to go for Form 6 tough pre-u platform.
Apart from that, through form 6, you can hone your communication and leadership skills as these skills will likely to help you ace in your life later. Similar as in secondary school, form 6 students do also need to take part in co-curricular activites. There are a few of clubs and activities which are offered by each of the form 6 school for the students to take part. For me, I took part in the Kelab Usahawan Muda (Young Entrepreneur Club) as the club's ajk (working commitee) and in football (soccer) and PBSM (Red cross society). When you are holding and possessing a position in a club or a Badan Beruniform (Uniform Body), obviously your responsibility will be higher compared to the normal member. For example, last time, I was a working commitee in the Kelab Usahawan Muda forced to spend some precious study time to think of what kind of activities to carry out next and the feasibility of the ideas in each respective activities. Besides, I as a mini-leader, I had to also make sure my club members were in the same wavelength with me when carrying out the club's activities. This is because form 6 students were deemed as mature young adult compared to the teenagers in the form 1-form 5, which means the form 6 students have to think and discuss the activities of co-curriculum by their own lah...
Next one is you can master your communication skill through co-cocurriculum activities too. Here's the photo of the Kelab Budaya's ajk (working committee) was presenting the chinese yee sang tradition to the students (including me there) as well as teachers.
As you can see, he braved himself to present a slideshow of the chinese yee sang tradition to the audience there. This indirectly will hone our communication skill that is deemed as useful for our future working life. Therefore, it can be said that form 6 provides us a good training ground in order to suit in this competitive world which.
Before I end this blog post, I would like to briefly talk about the retake papers. Yes, STPM (Form 6 exam) has retake papers for those who want to improve their grades in the overall result. We are being lucky compared to those senior who finished their STPM exam before 2013. Since 2013, the examination system of STPM had changed from terminal based to modular based (3 semester). You can retake sem 1 and sem 2 papers except sem 3 ones. Each subject's retake paper costs RM50.00 (not yet included with GST). Retake papers are held after the examination of sem 3 (Upper 6) exam and sem 1 (Lower 6) exam.
Final advise to the form 6 students, try not to retake papers as retake papers will make you more burdened as you have to cope with the semester's studies and your retake papers in one time. Later you will be gg.com. In fact, anyone can go for form 6 in order to further their studies later in Public University in Malaysia or the private ones, all you need to do are just don't be lazy and study hard for it in order to score flying colour CGPA in STPM. Good Luck.
