Visiting Tok Temong, 05/05/12

Last Saturday on 5/5/12 a friend invited me for ziyarah to maqam almarhum Raja Ashman and he said it's a good etiquette to visit maqam Tok Temong first. I don't really know the reason for it so I just go with the flow. 


But I know Shaykh Nazim visited this place before and from some other readings, I read that she (Tok Temong) played an important part in Perak history. So here are some photos of the maqam.


The video of this place is here 


So who is this Tok Temong? Well, read the following text which is taken from here http://sultan.perak.gov.my/bahasa/toktemong.htm


Tok Temong (Keramat Tok Temong)
Mengikut buku sejarah 'Hulu Perak Dalam Sejarah' dan 'Sejarah Perak', tiada beberapa lama selepas Tun Saban meninggalkan Kampar (Sumatra) untuk kembali ke Tanah Melayu, beliau telah berhijrah ke Beredong Budi di Hulu Petani, kemudian berpindah pula ke Belum di Hulu Perak di mana beliau telah membuka sebuah kampung bernama Relap Reli. Tun Saban menjadi ketua di Belum dan seterusnya mangangkat seorang daripada adik perempuan beliau yang bernama Tun Perabu menjadi Ketua di tempat bernama Temong dan beliau dikenali dengan gelaran Tok Temong.


Ketika Tun Saban sampai di Perak, negeri ini belum beraja lagi. Kebanyakan penduduk-penduduknya terdiri daripada pedagang-pedagang dari Melaka, Selangor, Siak, Kampar dan Jambi. Di antara penduduk-penduduk ini ada seorang perempuan bernama Tok Masuka yang berasal dari Daik yang memelihara seorang bangsa Temusai bernama Nakhoda Kassim. Apabila Tok Masuka kembali ke rahmatullah, beliau berwasiat dan meminta tempat beliau digantikan dengan seorang Raja yang barasal dari anak cucu Sang Sapurba supaya zuriat Raja-raja yang turun dari Bukit Si-Gantung tiada terputus di Tanah Melayu. Tun Saban dan Nakhoda Kassim pun berangkat ke Kampar mengadap Sultan Mahmud Shah memohon supaya seorang putera Baginda menjadi Sultan Perak.

Sultan Mahmud Shah telah meminta puteranya yang bernama Raja Mudzaffar menjadi Sultan Perak dan pada tahun 1528. Baginda telah ditabalkan menjadi Sultan Perak yang pertama. Semasa pertabalan, Tok Temong telah membawa persembahan sejenis tangkal azimat bernama MASTIKA EMBUN. MASTIKA EMBUN ini telah dijadikan salah satu Alat Kebesaran di-Raja Perak dan diguna dalam Istiadat Pertabalan di-Raja Perak.

Tok Temong telah datang menghadiri Istiadat Pertabalan Sultan Mudzaffar Shah dengan Tun Saban. Sebagai membalas persembahan Tok Temong, Sultan telah mengurniakan sebuah Puan bujur (bekas sireh) kepada Tok Temong, tetapi telah dikembalikan oleh Tok Temong. Tok Temong hanya berkehendakkan satu ikrar (janji) daripada Sultan, iaitu Baginda serta anak cucu Baginda hendaklah memerintah di sebelah kanan mudik Sungai Perak dan Tok Temong serta anak cucu beliau memerintah di sebelah kiri mundik Sungai Perak.

Dari itu didapati kota-kota Istana dan makam Sultan-sultan Perak di zaman dahulu terletak di sebelah kanan mudik Sungai Perak sehingga pemerintahan Almarhum Sultan Idris Murshidul 'adzam Shah yang mula-mula membuat kota Istana dan makan di sebelah kiri mudik Sungai Perak.

TOK TEMONG (KERAMAT TOK TEMONG)
Tok Temong telah meninggal dunia di Kampung Temong dan dimakamkan di Temong. Makamnya digelar Keramat Tok Temong dan diziarahi oleh tiap-tiap Sultan Perak selepas Baginda ditabalkan.


Makamnya terletak di kampung Temong Ulu, Mukim Chegar Galah di daerah Kuala Kangsar, iaitu kira-kira 11 km ke utara, di antara Jalan Kota Lama ke Kati, berhampiran Jambatan Iskandar.

----- end text ----

The maqam is next to the Perak river and the pic below show the steps to the river.

Below is a map to this place, if you come from Kuala Kangsar town, you will need to turn right into a small kampung road some 50 or 100 meters from Masjid As-Syakirin. It's a small dirt road kind of, so if you are a first timer, you may want to ask some people.

View Maqam Tok Temong in a larger map

Raja Ashman & Naqshbandi Sufi Order (2)

Here are a few more pics related to Naqshbandi Sufi Order, particularly of the Shaykh Nazim's lineage since there are many salsilah's around.

Pardon me coz I'm a bit lazy to search around. So I just post here whatever I find and they are mostly pics of Shaykh Hisham, son-in-law to Shaykh Nazim and one of his khalifah.

Here's a pic of Shaykh Hisham giving khutbah in Istiqlal, Indonesia's largest mosque on July 11, 2003.

I meant to say that, not everybody can be invited to give khutbah at such a place. Not unless you are a sound scholar.

More info can be found here.

Here's a pic of Shaykh Hisham attending a conference of Islamic scholars in February, 2004 in Jakarta.













I don't know when these two pics below were taken; my guess is mid 2000 in South Thailand where Shaykh Hisham visited a few 'pondoks' there. Look at the respect given to Shaykh Hisham, the mudir lined up his students to receive him.

In my folly and in my youth, I used to think that these 'tok guru' pondoks are a bit backwards. But time has shown me otherwise. Some of them may not be as world savvy as others due to their locality. But no one can deny their knowledge and integrity. Their impeccable character.

And these pics are proof how they treat people like Shaykh Hisham ... with respect and honor.

And this respect and honor are not given to just anybody. Not unless they are on the right path in our faith. Just look at how these pondok students line up to receive Shaykh Hisham.

Hence, despite the fatwa in previous page, I kind of like to be with these people. May the good Lord always support them :).

Raja Ashman & Naqshbandi Sufi Order (1)

It has been around 3 weeks now since Raja Ashman passed away, but tears still flow freely whenever we are reminded of him. What a man that he was ... and still is. 


It is said that 'death' is the moment of truth. And in his death, we are given glimpses of how he was. Sheikh Mehmet Adil, son of Shaykh Nazim, said in one of his talk they have known Shaykh Raja for about 25,26 years and he said that you can't find a person like him any more nowadays. He said maybe 500 or 1000 years ago we find people like him, giving example of that celebrated mystic Ibrahim ibn Adham in 8th century who as a prince, renounces his throne and walk in the path of spirituality. He also said Shaykh Raja, how in his humility, treats everybody, regardless who they are, with honour and respect. In such a way that even us, common people, is not able to follow his example.


The star broke the news here.


Anyway, I'm writing because since the news came about, some friends message me about our country's fatwa that Shaykh Nazim's sufi group is 'haram'. You could read their links here:
1. http://www.e-fatwa.gov.my/fatwa-negeri/tariqat-naqsyabandiah-al-aliyyah-syeikh-nazim-al-haqqani-0
2. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alFikrah/message/14616


I am not disputing the fatwa. I am too ignorant to talk anything regarding our faith. But I will try to give some examples; how people who knows about their faith, interacts with Shaykh Nazim or his murids.


One example I'll put here is a youtube of Habib Ali visiting Shaykh Nazim recently. In case you don't know who Habib Ali is, just view this short video here to sense the kind of person he is.

I am the kind of person who is attracted to people who gives cool advise, people who are less judgmental on others. And we can guess the kind of person Habib Ali is by his words. You want to be in his presence. The experience is indescribable and priceless.

For now, here's one video of Habib Ali visiting Shaykh Nazim (if not mistaken, during Ramadan, 2010):

See the affection they have for each other; the respect Habib Ali gave to Mawlana Shaykh Nazim. The Habib even took bai'ah, as a form of blessings, from Mawlana.


Every great men have their own detractors. In our age, where a person can hide his ignorance behind a keyboard .... well, leave them be. We are people of shahadah, we have been taught that the Creator is One, Unique. And men are not infallible like the prophet. But as far as we are concerned, these two are rare breed indeed.


I hope to show later on some more pics & videos .... until then, may we be under the shades of these beautiful people.

Adventure in Buying Auction Property - Epilogue

draft:

I wrote about my experience in buying a flat at auction at links below:

http://bucit.blogspot.com/2011/08/adventure-in-buying-auction-property.html
http://bucit.blogspot.com/2011/08/adventure-in-buying-auction-property_12.html
http://bucit.blogspot.com/2011/08/adventure-in-buying-auction-property_14.html

And since then:
1. I've paid for the maintenance fee and claimed some of it from the bank.
2. Lawyer completed the 'Deed of Assignment'.
3. Check the MPSJ Cukai Pintu on 1/02/12 and turns out to be RM1,188.00. I'm broke now so not sure when I'll go pay them.
4. Check around and most say that MPSJ won't claim the money from previous owner. I guess I will have to pay eventually since PoS already states only maintenance fee up to 10% of reserve price will paid by bank. All others are on me.
5. The expenses so far I put on Google Docs; click there to see it. I'm not doing it to brag, after all, the amount is not much anyway. But as a guide to others.

Anyway, all in all ... good experience for me and not sure if I can afford anymore property investment in future.

Allah knows and to Him we return. Sometimes Shaykh Nazim in his suhba/advise makes fun of people who loves dunya too much, always counting their zeros in bank accounts and forgets their permanent abode the akhirah. I pray we are always with the good folks and on the straight path.

Mawlana Shaykh Nazim al Haqqani

Chinese New Year in Satun, Thailand

Normally every Chinese New Year we would go for a beach holiday somewhere but maybe coz we just went for one in Ko Lanta in Nov 2011, we didn't plan for anything this time around.

But since we were in Penang, we thought of a day trip to Satun. After all, we always go thru the town on our way to Pak Bara. And it will be a good opportunity to check out Tammalang pier, which I heard has boats to Ko Lipe & Langkawi.

We already know how to cross the Wang Kelian border via these posts:

http://bucit.blogspot.com/2010/12/exploring-satun-140910.html
http://bucit.blogspot.com/2011/03/crossing-wang-kelian-border-2nd.html

Our plan was to go to Tesco with another travel buddy Che Rose & Family but that didn't turn out as planned. Oh well, it would have been more fun with Che Rose around.

I had wanted to have lunch from reading a post here http://dahasry.blogspot.com/2011/10/lunch-and-shopping-in-satun-thailand.html but we were a bit early so continued to pier.

Cikli at Tammalang Pier, Satun

Sorry we didn't take the front of pier pic. Building & facilities wise, this place is much better than Pak Bara. There's a food court, clean toilets & surau here with the usual travel agents. But I think there's more tourists at Pak Bara compare to here; don't know why.

I was quoted RM65 for one way trip to Ko Lipe, which I think roughly the same price at Pak Bara. And to Langkawi was RM30. I think.

On our way back, we stop at Satun market at these co-ordinates http://maps.google.com/maps?q=6.613131,100.060772 . Lucky I asked around at the border crossing for this place. We kind of like going to markets whenever we travel. It sort of gives you the feeling of being local and show you their actual culture or characters. As opposed to the polished shopping mall (or Tesco .. hehehe) which is almost the same everywhere.

Since it was a day trip and border closes at 7 pm Malaysia time, we didn't explore much but here are some pics.

Buying fruits at the market. Cheaper than at border naturally.

Happy campers :)

The market is by the river

Being a Muslim

Shaykh Hisham & Shaykh Nazim

I haven’t written much nowadays. Perhaps with Facebook, I waste quite a time there compare to blogging. But recently I was watching this interview of Shaykh Nazim by a Greek journalist. And I was fascinated by his answer to the question, What happens to good people of Christians or other religions after death?

The link is here http://www.saltanat.org/Blog/tabid/271/PostID/264/It-Was-a-Dream-I-Was-Waiting-For-en.aspx

Shaykh Nazim, may the good Lord prolong his life, replied that on judgment day, the ultimate Judge is Him. He is the Creator and we are all creations. Not even prophets can judge other people.

At the end of the interview, the journalist kissed Mawlana’s hand and Mawlana said O my grandson and kissed his head. I almost cried watching that scene. Shaykh Nazim may not be much to some people, even to me, I have never met him. 

But I’ve been to some majlis of Shaykh Nazim’s murids, namely Shaykh Hisham & Shaykh Adnan when they came to Malaysia. I didn’t join them 100% but some functions I was lucky to attend.

Looking at their faces, they have certain attraction to them. Watching their kindness and humility up close makes you feel proud to be a Muslim. Their perseverance in spreading advise and love for our prophet is to me, legendary.

Back to Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, such kindness and moderation when dealing with people amazes me. Even when the journalist asked about Ben Laden, he did not speak directly about Ben Laden but said he was against killing of innocent human beings.

This kind of gentleness, reminded of another story told by Shaykh Hamza Hanson of the US. I can’t remember which youtube file it was but he was telling a story how a convert asked Shaykh Yaqoubi how to deal with a gay relative. And Shaykh Yaqoubi replied being a kuffar is worse. To my understading, a kuffar here means somebody who not only opposes truth when it comes to them, but also against it and covers it with falsehood.

Hopefully we can follow their footsteps eh J.

Adventure in Buying Auction Property - Part 3/3 (The Financing)

After getting the stamped Proclamation of Sale (not sure if this is the right term), I have 3 months to get the loan and pay the bank. I thought it will be easy enough to get financing and so I started work on the flat first.

The 3 days Haris said will finish the work turn into a few more and wiring also took a while coz Raja was doing it part time. But it's alright since it also took me a while to settle Syabas & TNB. Went to Syabas early but they said there's no meter available to install. TNB was easy. All in all, took me a month to settle the renovation and now it's time to look into financing.

Halim the auction guy gave me his contact for law firm and they quoted around RM1,800 for the whole thing. I asked a guy at the bank's law firm if they can take my case but he said it's not possible to represent the bank and me at the same time. So I asked him to suggest his friend which he did and the guy quoted me RM1,500; which is cheaper so I go with this firm.

Next will be to look for financing.

Silly me. I thought it was easy to get one. After all, I cleared up my credit card debts long time ago and don't owe anybody anything anymore. I used to have a bad debt with Celcom way back from 1998 (remember Motorola 8870? hehehe) but I settled that when I moved to Kulim in 2006 coz Digi didn't have good reception there.

Since the auction was by Maybank, it was my first choice and walk in there confidently. But lo and behold, was told that they don't give housing loan for under RM50k. My heart stopped for a minute there and after a hard front for nice composure, my smile muscles must have ached a lot then, I walked off heavy.

Since I was told that is the general thing among banks, my next choice was personal loan. So off to Bank Rakyat I went. Again, no luck. My current employer is not in the panel list :). Final choice is the normal banks personal financing which has around 8% interest rate.

Suddenly buying this flat is not attractive anymore. Called around and the lowest I think was Bank Islam at 6%.

So went home, talked to the wife, look at our savings. Called my mom. Rejected. Plus, they don't have that much anyway. Check our savings again.

Turn out we need only RM10k from outsider. Obvious choice was my sister in law. She's a nice person but strict. Lucky she has some savings then.

So we settled the bank financing at the expense of our own savings.

With a total cost around RM40k (I forgot the lawyer fee in previous post), I think it will take us around 9 years to get that money back (simple math, no inflation and stuff). By that time I will be around 50 years old and not knowing how my income will be after 55, at least the rental will be some cushion.

Retirement planning. The reason I'm doing this and knowing my own character that, liquid cash is not that safe with me. Though I hope that, whatever we do, we don't forget the King of Kings, Sustainer of the worlds, whatever He wills will come .... and for us, for His mercy to be greater than His judgement. Forgive me and Bless them O Lord.

Pic from Google

Adventure in Buying Auction Property - Part 2 (The Reno)

And so, on Monday 30th of May, 2011, I met Halim, paid his dues (total RM1,850 including RM50 for stamping fee), and got the stamped Proclamation of Sale. Quite excited actually. Can't wait to go see the apartment. And anxious too. Since I only paid RM2,900 for the 10% deposit, I still have balance of RM25,600 to pay the bank. But I put the anxiety aside and wanted to work on the place soonest possible.

And one good thing about being a resident in a small taman and lived there from the earlier phase, I got to know some people who do small renovation works. So the next day, I brought this Indonesian fella to the place. Before he came, there's a iron welding shop underneath and I talk to the guy about door grilles. I forgot how much he quoted but he said about RM12k to do up the whole house. Asked him how he knows and he said, he has seen many abandoned units and that's how much it costs to fix them up.

So brought this Haris guy to see the place, talk to him about things need to be done:
  1. Paint the whole apartment.
  2. New doors for entrance & toilet.
  3. Windows for living room and main bedroom.
  4. Table top for the kitchen (I know I don't have budget for the cabinet proper).
  5. And cleaned up the house.

After nego and stuff, I got RM2,500 for the above jobs. He wanted to do wiring too but then, I thought he probably is not an expert in such thing. Plus, I know this guy from surau that work for a living in wiring stuff and since I talked to him a few times before buying the unit, asking advice about the place etc, I thought it's just good ethics to talk to him.

Brought Raja (raja of the Malay heritage, not Rajagopal or such) to the house and he said he's doing the same thing at another block and he charged that guy RM1,600.00. Told him I honestly don't know how much is the fair price but since I already know him, asked him to take a look, do the wiring, and tell me the price later.

He showed me around the apartment and it turns out that almost 100% of the wires already been taken out. Some people eh. And since it's like that, it just makes better since to re-wire 100% again.

The kind of person that I am, is that sometimes I just go with the flow and don't look into much details. Like with Raja, I took that he's an honest person and just go with him on the wiring cost. Of course, I'm not like a sufi shaykh who can look into a person's soul and knows what's going on inside. If you find a real sufi gem, there's a vast difference between them and normal ulamaks. I think the arabic word for them is murshid, and a murshid is who guides people. In the arabic sense, you can't guide people if you don't know what is wrong with their ego/nafs and how to subdue those egos.

When he was here in June 2011, Shaykh Hisham said there are 800 bad characters in a person. But if we diagonose ourselves, we think that we may have only a handful :). So a real gem doesn't only tell us how to be good but also guide us and plod us to the right path. They are as a craftmen who twist and turn the clay to make good vase :).

Shaykh Hisham in Jogja, 2010

So in the end, I spent RM2,200 for wiring the whole apartment, lights in all rooms, fan in living room and wall fans in the bedrooms.

Renovation didn't include piping works since we weren't sure how healthy the piping system was. In the end, some connections to the water tank were loose and we re-routed the shower pipe so that it's more location friendly. The sink outlet was also clogged so we re-piped that too. And I asked the fella to drill the concrete wall and add a faucet for washing machine outside the kitchen area. This all came to RM660.

Once everything fine and dandy, I look at the place and thought, might be nice to paint the floor. At least anybody who lives there doesn't feel the cold blooded cement. So called an architect friend and he suggested epoxy paint. Those kind that you will find on factory floor or Ikea parking lot. So bought a 5 liter can for RM140 and paid RM200 to Haris to paint it.

Now for the utilities, apprently you have to pay any arrears to Syabas and since the water account was cut off for more than 6 months, you have to engage their contractor to put the meter there. I didn't think then about asking discount for the arrears so I just paid them RM162.20 and another RM350 for the contractor.

TNB was easier since the meter was already there, I just showed them the Proclamation of Sale and they just changed the name. And paid RM220 for the deposit.

And I forgot about the grille. By now I just don't want to shop around so I went to one place I know just before Petronas on LDP and after some discussion, he quoted me RM1,450. Not for the whole house but for the essentials.

I also bought some curtain railings from hardware store and an aluminium ladder, just in case anything happens and I would have one handy to put at the place. These amount to RM206.

I'm not gonna do the math here but all in all, I spent RM9,980.20 to make the place liveable. Plus the auction price of RM28,500, total amount spent was RM38,480.20.

I think the original price was around RM42k. So the money we spent was quite worth it since it not only cover the whole house but also some fittings also. My apology to the original owner. I hope he's doing alright.

Adventure in Buying Auction Property - Part 1 (The Buy)

It all started in early May, 2011.

After a few years without bonuses, I finally got a little bit since moving to this new co in Nov, 2010. The money is not that much, about 5k, but I knew that if I didn't do something solid with it, it will go down the Samsung Galaxy Tab pretty quickly :).

And I also knew ASB wouldn't be that save with the kind of man that I am. I will come up with far too many creative excuses to withdraw it later. And I had been thinking of buying property at an auction for some time now. That little financial push gave me more courage to search the web for options.

And I knew being the lazy guy that I am, the property has to be in my own taman. I knew if it's outside, I wouldn't be able to give the tender loving care that it needs. So I search a few websites:
http://www.auctionproperty.com.my/
http://auctions.com.my/
http://www.ehsanauctioneers.com/home/index.asp

and found some options near my house. The first one was a RM45k fourth storey flat. Took me lots of huffing and puffing to get there. And I thought I'll get lazy to walk up that far and won't visit it often if there are any issues with it.

Second option actually were two shop lot apartments at commercial area in my Saujana Puchong taman. I went to check out both places. One was occupied by what it seems like an Indian family and the other one never been occupied. Both were around RM28k.

After narrowing it down to the above two units, I contacted an agent from auctionproperty.com and also one guy who left his phone numbers by leaving all these small fliers at mailboxes. Since both only charge RM1k for their service and since the guy came to my taman to collect the bank draft, so I went with guy Halim. I didn't go to the auction myself since it was on a working day and to be honest, never been to one and I thought RM1k is alright of a fee for such thing.

The Indian unit was auctioned first and I didn't win according to Halim. He asked me before if there are other bidders, how much I want to up the price; told him to go up by a few thousands only. And since the unit was already occupied, and I don't want the hassle of chasing them away, I thought it's alright to loose.

For the 2nd unit, about an hour before the auction, Halim called and asked if there are other bidder, do I want to pay them? I was like, shit man, there's no way I could verify that and since I'm also at work doing other things, he caught me in a good situation. Not wanting to loose this unit, I told him I'm willing to pay only RM800.

And so, I lost another RM800 and got a 2nd floor 692 square feet apartment for RM28,500.00. These are some pics of the apt.

Main Hall. Main door needs changing, so is the toilet door.

Main bedroom. Only the window frame left, the window itself gone.

Main hall. And the window panes are missing.

ah lucky the meter is here

From outside

Ko Bulon, CNY Holidays 2011 (3~5/02/11)

Food:
To continue from last post, one thing I realized about Ko Bulon is the price of food. Though we stay only for a few days and didn't have chance to explore all places, I realized that food here is a bit more expensive for our standard.

But then, this is an island without electricity (only generators) and a bit far from mainland. Plus, the clientèle is mostly Europeans so by their standard, it's probably cheap :).

No worries though, the price lowers considerably once you moved away from the beach. I mean it's understandable that you can't pay the same price sipping that tea at Bulone Resort right on the beach compare to say in a wood at Bulon Hill; though by distance they are probably not more than 250 meters apart.

For comparison, if I remember correctly, I had a pot of tea and sandwich at Bulone for 160Baht on the first day and breakfast at Bulon Hill the next day for maybe less than 100Baht.

Right after Viewpoint, there's a stall that sells Thai pancake (macam roti canai ler :) ) and I think the price was good.

Sandwich at Marina; nice ambiance

Waiting for dinner at Chao Le

Don't forget to bring mosquito repellents; lots of it. We were their dinner while waiting for ours. 

Breakfast at Bulon Hill

This book, Veneration of Prophet in Islamic Piety by Annemarie Schimmel was a good read. It's nice to read he is loved by different Islamic cultures. Some modern people discouraged showing affection to him lest we treat him a god like status. While on the other hand, the classical Muslims showed their love for Muhammad pbuh in so many ways and embrace people of all faith. This popular words from Master Rumi comes to mind now:

 Come, come, whoever you are,
  Wanderer, idolater, worshipper of fire
  Come, even though you have broken your vows a thousand times,
  Come, and come yet again,
  Ours is not a caravan of despair


Muslims & Halal food:
Oh forgot to mention, while generally Thais from Satun area do not know how to speak Malay, those that are natives (Chao Ley or orang laut) to Ko Bulon could speak a dialect of Bahasa and we could understand each other alright. It is said that the original settlers were from Acheh and that's how they can speak Malay.

Here's a mosque near Chao Le guesthouse and since it was near, I went to pray Maghrib there. And being Thursday night, joined them in reading Ya Sin. I made up the fifth member :). The imam is from somewhere in Satun and hence, can't speak Malay. But two older gentlemen were natives and could speak to them.

As in normal in our villages of old, there's food after the Quranic recitation and I was invited too. It is one of the teaching of our Master that I religiously follow. Eh maybe the only teaching of Shaykh Nazim that I follow. That is, when people invite you to eat, you don't say no :). So, balun lah 2 pinggan ... hehehe.

But you know, here's a story. It is said that in our life, there will be a few times that our soul is touched by heavenly callings. I've felt that a few times, despite my egoistic weakness, the yearn for heavenly goodness. And also, I've felt a few times in life the solace & peace of the heart. That sweetness inside. Despite their small means, I did feel that solace among those people in that mosque. I could go to Ko Bulon again just to be inside that mosque.

Regarding food, Chao Le is muslim owned so no problems there. And get this, Viewpoint is managed by a Alor Star chap named Shukri so he was helpful too. We were told that Bulone Resort is also muslim owned; perhaps that's why we didn't see any pork in the menu. We didn't eat at Pansand but were told it's not owned by Muslim while we saw pork is served on the menu at Marina.

Hope this have helped those planning a trip there. 

Ko Bulon, CNY Holidays 2011 (3~5/02/11)

We got to Pak Bara around 10 am local time and had about an hour to spend. There were quite a few Muslim restaurants nearby so we chose one and had simple lunch. I hope the following would help if you are going there:

Googling for info:
We explained why we chose Ko Bulon for this trip here http://bucit.blogspot.com/2010/12/to-satun-la-ngu-15910.html. And we used a few websites to search for info but the main site that makes us want to go there is this blog by Tezza http://tezzasthaiinfo.blogspot.com/2007/07/ko-bulon-lae.html. Please read there if you want detailed info.

I also read up a bit on tripadvisor and lonelyplanet but not much. While not an expert, I guess once we have been to a few places, we sort of know that the info we get is only for guidelines. No amount of reading would tell you that the roads in southern Thailand, though look small on Google Map, is actually better than some main roads in KL with its potholes etc.

It seems that the info provided by Thai websites could be more up to date so you may also want to read these sites:
http://www.bulone-resort.net/en/koh-bulon
http://www.pansand-resort.com/index.php
http://www.andaman-island-hopping.com/islands/bulon.htm

Briefly, Ko Bulon is about 23km from mainland and the main pier is at Pak Bara in Satun. Pak Bara itself is about 70 km from Wang Kelian border and it's a nice drive up there. Right after border, you won't find villages for the first few kilometres but after that it's alright. There's even a Tesco mid way which we sometimes stop for a break. As we know, KFC there is halal :).

The ferry is about 400 Baht one way ; takes about 45 minutes. The island is perhaps 1 km by 2 km. The net says there are about 100 Chao Ley families there. There's paved path that connects the main area. There's a mosque in the northern area near Chao Le Guesthouse.

Accomodations:

As Tezza list in his blog, there are about  11 places for accomodations here. The best location would be Bulone & Pansand or Pansand & Bulone depending on your preference J.

Pansand, School, Bulone, Bulone Hill, Marina are relatively close to each other near the beach area while the rest are considered on the other side (north) of the island. There a paved walkway from Marina to Viewpoint and others but it goes uphill for about 500m and it was a good exercise for us. Too good may be J, to be honest it is a little steep for unhealthy Malaysians like us but hey, it's good to have a little adventure in your travel eh.

Our first night was in a tent at Chao Le and I forgot to ask their normal rate. On 2^nd night we paid 1,000 Baht for a chalet/bungalow at Bulone Resort.

As I mentioned before, this place is fully booked when we got there. We also overheard another traveller saying, in all his 6 months travelling, he has not seen a place fully booked like Ko Bulon. Perhaps its reputation for a small nice beach is getting around.

As a small island, you won't find rows of shops selling the same souvenirs or all night bars (except at Viewpoint I think) but I think this suits me well. The crowd also was a good mix of young travellers and families. A sort of place you want to hang out on the beach with a good book.

some photos:

Beach area near Bulone Resort from Panoramio's aymanee

Bulone's Bungalow 20; we stayed the 2nd night

Entrance to Bulone Resort; Bulon Hill on left

Viewpoint Guesthouse

Chao Le

Mosque near Chao Le

Crossing Wang Kelian Border - 2nd Experience, 03/02/11

I guess one of the good things about Malaysia's multi-culture is that all of us got to enjoy the Chinese New Year holidays. Malaysia being what it is, some companies would take the opportunity to close for about a week.

When we first married innnn ... 1997 I think ... no lah, it was on 17/05/1997, we normally travel domestic. But before then I was always yearning to go to Ko Samui due to that Peter Stuyvesant's commercial on tv. But being  new in the working world and not having much cash, that thought was always in the back burner. That is until my first trip to Krabi in 2006. With information being much easier to find on the internet now, preparing for a budget trip seems much easier.

So it has been like tradition since 2006 that we would normally drive up to Southern Thailand for CNY holidays.

For this Wang Kelian crossing, we knew that we gonna take the Changlun-Kuala Perlis Highway and from our previous outings to Hatyai, we knew that there's this one Chinese coffee shop that we could get good rate for Baht. Our Olympus camera didn't work just before this trip so I don't have a photo for it. But from google map, I think the co-ordinates are here 6.42531,100.428557. I had a quick video shot here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhtnjs2f_x0 taken in 2009 but wasn't thoughtful enough then to take a wide shot.

The place also have Thai insurance but I didn't buy coz I thought I wanted to buy at Wang Kelian. Which was big mistake coz we got there before 9 a.m. and the place isn't open yet. So now you have two tips - where to change for Baht and get Thai insurance :)

MRSM Beseri on our way to Wang Kelian. Great time here in 1987/88 :)





And here's another tip when travelling ... don't be too cocky and assuming.

Since we went to Thai a few times before, I thought this trip we would just go there without prior room reservation whatsoever.

We got to Pak Bara, and the place being a focal point to the popular Ko Lipe, travel agents are aplenty and they spotted our Malaysian registered car pretty quick. Malay-speaking agent approached us and we negotiated with him for ferry to Ko Bulon. I read that the fare is 400B one way and we got it for 350B. And they only have two trips per day (I think) so you want to read up a bit.

We didn't reserve a room with that agent coz we thought better go there and try to find the best spot. He he he.

We got to Ko Bulon and for the 200 plus rooms on that 3,4 km island ... it's ALL fully booked. So these were our first night accommodation:

But we had great view at night and even better breakfast. Truly unforgettable.

Overview of Pak Bara Pier

Here's a short video clip of Pak Bara area, but in google  map they call it Pak Nam now .. used to be Pak Bara, I don't know :) but enjoy the video anyway.

I do think majority of people here are Muslims but not many really speak Malay. Plus we stay there only a few days, so wasn't much chance to talk to them.

But the two restaurants where we had breakfast had at least one person who speak Bahasa. And in one of the bigger grocery store there, the owner's son, a teenager about 15 or 16 years old, could speak Bahasa. And he once studied at a Madrasah near Bukit Mertajam, Penang.

Probably we will be back here someday.

To Satun & La-Ngu, 15/9/10

We left Penang in the afternoon and got to Kangar around 3 pm. In hindsight, we should have left earlier coz after border crossing and all, we got to Pak Bara pier in La-Ngu around 7 pm and that's a bit late for a first timer to an unknown town to drive around and looking for a good value guest house. But we thrive in such conditions :) Aided to much extent by the generally friendly & helpful Thais.

I think only one travel agent was still open when we got there and she can't speak much English. Though she was really helpful and at least we got to know that the guest house rate is around RM100 for a/c room. You have to note that Pak Bara, though a jump off to Ko Lipe, is not as touristy as Phuket or Ko Samui. So there aren't that many people who can speak English. So we drove around again and went to this place called Best Guesthouse. We got a room for RM80 but that's the last room they got. So we had to part ways with our travel geng Che Rose & family; whom went to get a better room at Bara Resort for RM120.

Our room at Best Guesthouse

Cikli in front of Bara Resort

The town is by the sea and the main road is about 1 km long and you would see shops & restaurants lining the main road.

We were tired and only thought of dinner and found one with that famous Islamic crescent & star symbol.








So for breakfast the next day, we drove around once again (now like experts) though we were the only two cars with Malaysian registration plate there. By chance we stop at this restaurant. Lucky for us, the owner can speak Bahasa; so we had good breakfast here.

Good roti canai, Thai style

After breakfast ... what now? We knew there aren't many things to do here and our initial target was Ko Lipe. So we ask around and got to know that the ferry ticket to Ko Lipe is around RM120 (return) per person and knowing that we won't spend so many days there, it seems like an overkill on our budget. So cross Ko Lipe for now.

Lucky that we are not tight lipped travelers. Before leaving for breakfast, I chatted with the reception at Best guesthouse and she gave us a map of Satun province and its attractions. From that map, we saw two attractions considered close to Pak Bara and may not be our usual stuff found in Malaysia. One was a kayaking place that goes under a cave where you supposedly see a big jade ... I think. Heck, what do I know. Cubic zirconia or diamond look the same to me. This place is called Jed Kod Cave. Another attaraction is called Phu Pha Pet Cave. I'll let the photos tell this story.

You can't see the entrance :) but I actually got in

Here's the entrance

Inside

Inside

They say the cave is 335 steps up

at the base

It probably took us around an hour to get up there to the cave. I think they had 3 stops along the way which helped me a lot :).

We initially drove from town base on the given map and later on Nokia Maps in my wife's E71. After about half an hour or so, the road was not on Nokia Maps anymore and we had to rely on Thai road sign. And the road was like this:

It was like really deep inside south Thailand and to first timer and no local guide with us then, I felt even the Japanese during WW2 would not have gone here.

Once we felt lost and had to stop and ask the locals ... I only showed my hands and said 'Phu Pha Pet Cave' to the best of Thai tongue that I could. By now you would have realized that no matter how much Tom Yam you had in life ... it's not gonna help your Thai phonetics at all. But the place must be famous coz they all gave us correct directions.

I had to google for the entrance photo with a monk earlier and I got it from here http://blog.malaysia-asia.my/2010/08/phu-pha-phet-cave-in-satun-thailand.html. There's also a nice write up about this place. Apparently it's the third largest in the world; so says the link.

Wow ... what a nice find from an unplanned trip eh :)

Crossing Wang Kelian Border, 14/09/10

Seems I'm having a writer's block and not knowing where to start this one. I guess I'll have multiple introductions then :)

Christopher Nolan's Inception

It was in 2008 that while having breakfast in Hatyai (en route to KL from Krabi), we met a nice couple returning from Bangkok on their BMW super bike.

There are a few groups of people that even if you don't know them, they are guaranteed to be nice folks and could start a conversation any time. In my book, they are bikers and fishing maniacs.

So we told them about Krabi and they about Bangkok. And the guy suggested that next time, we should cross the border from Wang Kelian. So that was my inception moment :)

Ko Lipe

We always spend the first few days of Eid alternately between Kelantan & Penang. And this year it was Kelantan's turn first. We would always have things to do in Kelantan but in Penang, it was less people to visit and less things. So few months before, I fancied about another beach holiday and narrowed it down to Ko Lipe. It was for no particular reason other than that we have done Krabi, Phi Phi, & Lanta so that we might as well going southward.

So we read that to go there, you need to take a ferry at Pak Bara pier; which seems closest if we go from Wang Kelian instead of Hat Yai.

Border Crossing

We never went to Wang Kelian before and it seems that not much info is available on the internet. Unlike Bukit Kayu Hitam where you would have Sadao town right across the border and Hat Yai about an hour drive away, there's not much after the crossing here except for some makeshift stalls like these. These kind of economic activities would not warrant so much info on the net eh :) ... unlike those say ... anyway I digress :)

My concerns were two things: where to change for Thai currency and where to buy the insurance to drive into Thailand.

I asked around my MRSM Beseri yahoo group and some people say you could buy Thai Bahts in Kaki Bukit town. That alleviate some concerns but on google map, Kaki Bukit doesn't look so much like a town; it's more like a deserted housing area!

But thanks to GPS, we are not afraid to drive around this area and by luck stop at a shop lots that we think could give us some directions. So I went into this grocery shop and pretending to buy some soft drinks and asked the owner where to change for Thai Bahts. Lo and behold, she does that and she even said she gives better rate than in Wang Klian. I was skeptical but know that poor traveler like us would not change much and the difference in rate would not make us an overnight George Soros!

I could not remember the exact location of this shop but it's right in front of Klinik Kesihatan Kaki Bukit. And oh, she did give better rate than those traders in Wang Kelian.

So with one problem solved we merrily drove to Wang Kelian. Boy, the road was really up hill and the curves were really sharp. But road surface was nice and so was the view. Coz of the view, I would rather have this drive compare to the old Tapah to Cameron road. And this Wang Kelian road is just a few kilometers; so it was alright.

After a while, we got to the Malaysian side of the border crossing and received my second adrenalin shot that I invariably got during my travels. My best rush was during my first ever trip to Krabi here.

Wang Kelian is famous for its Sunday market where Thais & Malaysians could travel freely without passports to the make shift stalls on both side of the border. So we stop at the Malaysian side and asked a few people where to buy insurance. None of them knew and some don't even understand Bahasa ... or English. This is where I got my rush. We were close the the check point and I don't have insurance yet. So we slowly drove to the Malaysian Immigration above and as a last resort, asked the last shop there where to buy insurance. And she said you can get it at a restaurant after Malaysian immigration ... it was like Mozart to my ears even though she spoke in broken Malay dialect!

There's a block of commercial area right after Malaysian Immigration and you could buy Thai insurance at the last shop there.

After getting the insurance and filling up the entry card (embarkation card?), we drove to the next step which was Thai Immigration (for passport) & Customs for importing the car into Thailand (that's what they call it).

Some photos click here.

p/s

I just remember one of my other concern was what is the best way to get to Kangar from Penang. And after having gone there via the old Alor Star-Kangar route and return back via the Changlun-Kuala Perlis Highway (see google maps), I must say that I would have preferred the Changlun highway coz it will be less traffic that way I think. There are so many towns/villages in the old road and hence so many local traffic ... you don't want to be stuck there I think. So that's my two cents on getting to Kangar.