Snorkeling in Perhentian

Assalamualaikum everyone!

I had a wonderful raya weekend though I didn't go back to KL to continue the celebration with my family. 

Since a really really good friend is leaving for KL for a transfer, they've decided to have a get-away trip to Perhentian. The last time I went there was in July 2011 with a Korean lady I met on the bus on my way back home from the airport. (Before Perhentian + In Perhentian post)

Paid RM250 for return transportation Kerteh-Besut with my car, boat Perhentian-Jeti Besut (around RM70), one night stay in Ombak (room of 4, or 2), breakfast at Ombak, Snorkeling trip by Ombak (RM35 like that), and underwater camera rent (RM100 per group if I'm not mistaken). All in all, it was worth it!

This time, since we're already in Terengganu, we had to drive from Kerteh the night before at around 9:30pm and stayed overnight in Kuala Terengganu at another friend's family place. While another group departs from Kerteh at 3:00am the next morning to catch the boat from Jeti Besut at 9:00am.

On Friday, we woke up at 5:00am and went to pray Subuh at the nearby Masjid on the way to Besut. I was shocked to see that the huge Masjid's parking spot was nearly full!

There were about 90 ladies there with 6 saf, what more the men?

Since we have to catch the boat, we used the highway to the Jeti Pulau Perhentian in Besut. Drove so fast, thank goodness it was really in the morning and there were no cars on the road. Just probably few along the way.

Had nasi lemak (a must!) before departing, and make sure to get a big bottle or two of mineral water at the Jeti Besut. Since we went to the small island, there's not many shops there and a bottle could cost you triple the price.

We were told that the boat should only fit 13 passengers, and their names should be listed properly and signed by the officer at the exit. 


I guess not.


The driver 'singgah' somewhere and picked another 4-5 locals, and went to the other end of the jeti to pick up 3 more of our friends who did not make it in the "13 list". 

The boat was definitely too fast as if it was about to fly off, and the non-13 list passengers did not have their life vest on. So much for HSE (Health, Safety and Environment).



Oh well, we survived the 30+ mins boat ride to the island and went to Ombak Chalet. 

Since check-in is at 3pm, we changed, and went straight for snorkeling.

It was a tremendously amazing!! Enjoyed it so much!!

It took me 2 years to go do it again, and now I just can't wait another 2 months to go to Redang in October!  

The last time I went, I can only float, and I panicked because a lot of sea water got into my googles and I couldn't see much.

This time around, thanks to that weekly swimming session in KGRP (Kelab Golf Rantau Petronas) in front of my office, I could actually swim and dive into the sea without any equipments (though I hold on to my life-vest just incase the tide gets stronger which it did and I had to hold on to my friends who was wearing them). Plus, the googles Ombak provided us was simply tip-top quality.

Went straight down to the turtle (penyu) on the sea-bed and almost die of pressure and loss of breath. Haha. 

Too bad the photographer pressed "OFF" instead of the shooting button, and I was too tired to go back into the sea-bed for another photo. (It will be my own story of failure and I will remember you Mr. Turtle. When I come back again, I promise I'd hold my breath for at least 1 minute. I'll practice okay? ;) At least I managed to get a photo when Mr. Turtle went up for air. Good enough I guess. 



Lot's of success story this time around.


I was super close to a huge leopard-skin eel, and the sharks! 

I only swam around the tower last time. Though I had a great time playing around feeding the fishes, I thought I must give it a go. A jump.

This time around. I must.

I am scared of heights, my heart was going to explode and even though they've counted until 3 and I was ready to jump, I just went back in and sat on the cliff. 


"Impossible. This is too scary"


"But wait. Going down by the stairs is much more 'memalukan', I rather jump"


I cursed. I did.


So, I finally jumped. 

"Hey, that was FUN!!"

I went back for another jump. Hahaha. Oh Nadiah... ^^"


So that was rather a short story from my snorkeling experience and I'm glad I overcome all my fears this time. 

Not in my life I've jump from that height, swim that deep below, and kept my breath that long.


I guess every trip will change you somehow. 


To be honest, I was not close with this group of people that I went with. Some I never talked to, never knew their names, and those that I was really scared of because they had a creepy look in their eyes like they're going to eat me alive. (The girl that were supposed to go for us to celebrate had to cancel last minute). I thought that I'd be going for my worst get-away ever.

Now I see them in the office, I'd be like, "Hey dude!! Hey womaaaannn!!" making daily-life at the office means so much more knowing how crazy we've become with each other.

Ah.. I'm blessed.

*Oh, the last time I said that aboutmy new founded awesome-office-mate-friend, we had a 3rd World War for nearly 4 months. har-har. 

More photos of the trip can be seen here (Facebook Album).

Signing out with love for everyone. 

Selamat Hari Raya. 

Assalamualaikum. <3 font="">

*Oh hey. I haven't told you how my Raya went. XD 

We'll see la when I'm rajin kayh. We literally had a *blast*.

PIPE #101 [Part 1/2]

Bismillah,

Assalamualaikum guys,

While I'm writing this, I'm already at PLC, attending my second session of PIPE #102. ^^"

So earlier this year, my parents went to Kerteh after sending my little brother to Pasir Mas, Kelatan to continue his second year in Ma'had Al Manar. On their way back to KL, they came by to car pool together and bring my little car back to KL.

As the school starts, on the 2nd of January (which was the same day that I had to attend my PIPE), I had to do the things that my mom once did for me when I was in primary school. This.

Suka hati 

Penat sangat dah ni.. 

Two of my little sisters are attending SK Bukit Damansara for year 3 and 6 and Nafeesa will be going to SK Hartamas for kindergarten. I didn't sleep that night because I was busy writing names (almost wrote Nadiah Azli instead), and packing for 2-weeks class-and outdoor activities and I was freaking out not knowing whats "appropriate".

Ayah sent me to PLC (Petronas Leadership Centre) in Bangi, and I insisted that we have breakfast together. The last time we did that when I worked with him after I finished SPM in 2005. It has been THAT long! I was 'a bit' late, but I already checked in before leaving for breakfast. So, okay kot. ^^

Pandai jugak buah tak potong. Boleh tapau!

My beloved Loyalty family. President la kunun.. 

(Omar had to take over soon after that though..)

Loyalty. 

Turbo Tan is not in the picture because. you know why. ^^

Grooming class during the first night session. 

She actually asked us to guess who does that pair of eyes belongs to. We can't help but to laugh immediately after she showed us the full picture. *I really didn't mean to* We didn't expect it to be hers sebab serious lawa je. 

Boys to check their attire, and of course, table manners. 

 The night grooming session was interesting indeed. When you learn it formally, you'll realized that you were not that wrong after all. hoho...

During the first 5 days of PIPE, it was extremely exciting for me because I went there on my own, and yet EVERYONE was super nice and friendly (no time to be all alone pun), and I actually worked out and play sports. They have a variety of facilities, including a mini gym, ping-ping, FOUR squash court, badminton, volleyball, football, snooker, pool.. and the infamous, karaoke room. Yes, I went to all. Made bunch of friends, definitely an exciting experience.  

Mini Gymnasium

 Squasy. 

Karaoke Room, conquered by the boys! lol

Snooker Session!

As you can see, macam-macam bangsa ada kat PIPE ni. They're pretty much welcoming though I'm just stopping by.

How about the lessons?

I fail really bad at this. YES, this is one skill you need to acquire when you enter Petronas! haha.

Petronas products for sale. Eh, minyak atar? 

We had En. Megat and Encik Mat for our facilitators. I'm blessed to have other participants taking the classes full-heartedly and went all out for the presentations and sketches (for TV commercial purpose). They were absolutely memorable!

"Ramesh Is Here!!" LIVE TV SHOW!

 What happened on the 5th day of PIPE?

It was dramatic. I had to leave PIPE for 4 days... 

- to be continued..

Next Stage ; Kerteh

Bismillah,

As of 16th December 2012, I'm a permanent employer of Petronas's SMSO (Shared Materials and Services Organisation) in Kerteh, Terengganu. 

(If you're going to read this post because you google-ed "SMSO / Petronas / Kerteh" you'd be disapointed because I didn't blog about what on earth is this SMSO company all about. I will soon insyaAllah, and you can click here. You can find me via @nadiah at twitter if you have any questions on moving here, or to know more about the office. No, I didn't post a photo of my calculator for godsake!). 

 

It has been nearly 2 weeks since then, but I've been wanting to share this new phrase of life with everyone ever since the first day I got my feet in this part of the country. I might have to be here for at least 3 years, and at the speed of things now, they're looking pretty okay. 

It was HARD for me to get proper internet connection here. It's either the house that you rent already has Streamyx, or go somewhere with free internet. Believe me, I tried. For 2 weeks, looking around for internet, I finally succumbed to the oh-we-have-to-boycott-this-fast-food-chain-they're-killing-our-brothers-and-sisters's you know where.

Tell me not to live without internet, and yes, it might be my greatest jihad of the year. 

I'm a 'foreign land' which I have no idea where I'm at most of the time, nor what's going on inside the office, and yes, I need my GOOGLE.

Anyways, being on my first job experience, no I have not received any tasks yet since I haven't gone for my PIPE induction course. So, I was really excited to get PETRONAS's 2013's leather organizer, and calendar, my own staff card, my own car sticker, my own email and phone number. Yes, I just HAD TO post them on instagram. (You can follow me 'NADIAHAZLI')

How's Terengganu so far?

During my first weekend here, we had to go for a team building session in Bukit Gambang Resort. Alhamdulillah, we got to bond with other SMSO's staff from Kerteh and Melaka. They were really lovely. I am truly blessed with their love and kind treatment.

We went through numbers of challenges, and winning was not our first priority. Just get everyone through.

Yet, CAP AYAM won first place.

What makes it bearable though I didn't know anyone here (unlike UTPians where everyone knows someone and pretty much everyone)?

My new friends.

Alhamdulillah. I met people who can accept me, regardless of my history, and how annoying I can be.

ありがとう。
I will miss you guys so much ; leaving for PIPE for 2 weeks. =,( and you guys leaving for another 2 weeks after that. A TOTAL OF 4 WEEKS!

I've found a great teacher too. I treasure your work experience. Your life experience, and all the advices that I know I will remember for the rest of my life. I will keep on nagging you, and you know that. xD

I thank Allah, for you. 

I might not be good at it, I'm learning for perfection, and I see the positive fun in it. Work life balance. ;)


Where do I stay?


You can say that I'm lucky. I've been wanting to stay in a RI for the past years since I joined the tarbiyyah force.  During lunch in Mesra Mall, I bumped into someone I used to know back in INTEC (she was preparing for Korean), and she told me that there's one more spot at the nearest RI in that area. It was less than 10 minutes from ECRO (East Coast Regional Office).

As expected, I met lovely sisters that works at the Al-Amin School nearby and one of them works at the nearby IKRAM's kindergarten.

We had a simple road trip to Kuala Terengganu last weekend, and yay! we found super duper awesome keropok lekor rebus. It was REALLY REALLY good. REALLY. The orange colored stall was near Pantai Kelulut, and people basically stop there for their keropok lekor. I don't remember how many batang they had in it, but it was quite a lot for RM5. A good bargain indeed. Gave some to the neighbors as well. =)

 

The trip was to visit these two lovebirds! Farah & Farid! They've been together for as long as I know, and they went through years of wanting to get married! Bless u guys! Barakallahumfik!

There you go. The first 2 weeks of my life in Kerteh.

Was that a long one? I haven't been posting since October! I miss you too...!! xD
I will be in KL for 2 weeks, so I just want to savor this feeling of excitement that I've been keeping since I got here.

I miss home.

Ofcourse I do.

[tech] Mobile Blogging

Bismillah,

 

   Only recently that I've discovered this app by BLOGGER. There was a limited number of blog application for iPhone back then, and most are 有料(not free).

    I was using the free version of BlogWriter and umph, it was really disappointing. I couldn't upload pictures and I can't write drafts when there's no Internet connection. Even so, the drafts are being saved in the apps, not online. So, when you switch blog accounts, all the posts that you've made before hand goes... sayonara with all the memories.

   I didn't have that much internet connection when I was traveling in The States. I think I had tones of good posts made around last year but, I even lost my notes that I saved in iPhone; I really had no idea what happened.← GREAT FRUSTRATION II after I lost 2000 photos of my Mediterranean trip.  .  .  .because my Malaysian iPhone is a jailbreak ver. unlike my Japan iPhone which I can just upgrade like no ones business. -__-"

   What's easy about mobile blogging is that, we often take memorable/candid pictures using our phones since it's most probably the only item we have (most of the time) in our hand, instead of a camera. What's even more amazing is that, there's such applications like "instagram" where you can edit those photos, and upload them there and then, OR even better, the one I'm using, "LINE CAMERA" where you can do so many amazing stuff to your boring picture. Like this↓

(it was my little sister who made this)


 (BEFORE)

 

(AFTER)

 

 (I made the fly look pretty ;)
   What's so different about this app is that it doesn't only edit the photo with amazing effects, and frames, you can also put super-cute-and-awesome stamps or just put your own words to it!

 

   Talking about words on your photo, if you want to have watermark on your photo, you can use "A+ Signature" for that, or just short wordings by using "Labelbox"; like the above photo (where you can choose from different types of ribbons, and paid version has more ribbons!).

  Almost all the photos I take nowadays came from my phone. So, I'd love to edit them photos before I post them in my blog (which I can start doing from now on).

    I made this post just by using the BLOGGER application and woallah! I can upload 5 pictures at once (for this post; I'm not sure about the limit). I don't have to transfer them into my Mac (which is one of the main reasons of my blogging procrastination since I really hate using the MacBook. it's slow+complicated. It's really not Nadiah-friendly)

   Even though you have 10 million blogs that you have to handle, you can still use the 'switch blog' option without your draft being deleted since they're being sent to your own account, online!

   If you're blogging on tumblr, it's even better because all you do is to click 'REBLOG' or 'LIKE' isn't it? ^^; If you do not plan to post anything of your own, you can just use "Tumblr Gear" app. (because I rarely post things of my own. TUMBLR simply have mind-blowing awesome posts, quotes, photos... everything! It's like a TUMBLR family on it's own inside there) I wish I can just drag them amazing posts from tumblr to my blog here so I can share them with you. (but they're really strict with copyrights)

   I'd love to share the apps that I'm using on my phone. Especially when all of my apps are FREE! haha. My iTunes account is the Japan ver. and I only have ¥1000 left, so I rather not spend them unwisely (like, not even a yen. Haha)


    Since we're in the discussion of easy-to-use blogging applications, why don't you share some of the apps that you're using on your phone? (MAJALAH JOM had a section of suitable apps, but they're for Androids..) I think it should be fine nowadays since apps ike LINE (including LINE Brush/Camera), whatsapp, instagram.. are available for both isn't it?

Android, is pretty much tempting (itching hands must not spend money on android ;_; ) and I really want to explore their oh-so-cool apps and amaaaazing new stuff they can do like the Samsung SIII, and NOTE 10.1... but I rather not take that risk. (Just because my father is never a fan of Samsung, or isit just Android because he's not a fan of Motorola nor Norkiah) LOL. I'm sorry if most of you uses Android ^^"

♥to hear from you

Nadiah