Grand Puteri Hotel KT menawan

 Memang dah lama bebenor tak menulis di blog ini. Mungkin disebabkan kekangan bekerja ataupun semakin banyak media sosial yang lain, seperti TikTok, FB dan Instagram yang perlu diupdate dari masa ke semasa, membuatkan kita terlupa ada blog yang perlu dilawati.

Takpa, kita teruskan semangat untuk menulis. Nak bercerita pasal hotel yang kita diami ketika pulang ke Kuala Terengganu awal bulan ini. Sebenarnya, ceritanya bermula dari satu majlis perkahwinan di Kemaman, kemudiannya kita bergerak ke Setiu, bermalam satu malam di sana dan seterusnya menaiki bot ke Pulau Perhentian.

Saya tak naklah bercerita pasal yang ni dahulu, sebab nak cerita pasal pengalaman ketika di KT dan Marang selepas pulangnya dari pulau.

Nak jadi cerita, kita tak pun buat booking di mana-mana hotel, kununnya, tengah minggu takkanlah hotel penuh, mula2 kita aim untuk tinggal di Hotel Payang, tetapi bila dbuat semakan, hotel ini rupa-rupanya penuh. Payang Hotel ini sebuah hotel boutique yang terletak di Chinatown dan berdekatan Pasar Payang, ikon Terengganu.

Bila checked di booking.com, ada sebuah hotel berhampiran iaitu Hotel Grand Puteri. Harganya pun berpatutan, tak sampai RM200 semalam. Selesai buat booking sambil-sambil makan ikan celup tepung di Batu Buruk, kami terus ke sana. Sekali pandang, memang tertawan, ia adalah sebuah hotel yang terletak berhampiran Masjid putih, dekat sungguh, pagi-pagi dikejutkan dengan azan Subuh yang berkumandang, syarahan agama pun boleh dengar.

Saya turunkan luggage di depan lobi sebelum parking kereta di sebuah tempat meletak kereta di seberang jalan. Bila masuk ke dalam, wahhhh...ada gaya, di sebelah kiri sebuah coffee house dan di kanannya pula tempat reception. Staf di sana pula memang friendly. Selesai mendaftar dapatlah kunci bilik dan terus ke tingkat 4. Keluar dari lif, ternampak dua swimming pool, satu untuk lelaki dan satu lagi untuk kaum wanita. 

Peliknya, walaupun diasingkan, sesiapapun boleh melihat kedua-dua pool dari tingkat atas. Hehe!

Bilik kita dlengkapi dengan sebuah katil besar, dan ciri-ciri hotel yang bertaraf empat bintanglah, bersih, tandasnya pun terjaga rapi.

Tingkap menghadap deretan rumah kedai yang tertutup rapi, rupa-rupanya memang belum ada perniagaan lagi. Sebelum naik tadi, ternampak sebuah mesin menjual minuman bertin, memang terkejut tengok harganya. Hotel kemain nampak glamour, tetapi harga minuman tin ini tak sampai RM3 pun.

Dari dua malam, kita sambung semalam lagi, bukannya apa. Banyak tempat nak dilawati, di antaranya muzium, dan semestinya Marang, tempat kelahiran teman di sebelah.

Sarapannya pun ok, ada nasi dagang, signature dish Ganu, walaupun saya hanya attacked makanan biasa seperti mi goreng dan sebagainya.

Pada malam terakhir, kami makan malam di coffee house, isteri ambil sotong (ntah apa-apa) dan saya pula mi goreng. Sedap.

Di luar hotel, terdapat cafe ala-ala gerai, menjual nasi dagang dan makanan ringan, setiap malam. Bolehlah lepak-lepak di luar, daripada terkurung di dalam suasana hawa dingin sepanjang masa.

Ada juga terlintas kisah-kisah seram di hotel ini di Tiktok, tapi depa takut nak ganggu, kita orang baik-baik kot. Alhamdulillah, sepanjang kami tinggal selama tiga malam, tiada apa yang menyeramkan. Tempat pun berdekatan masjid, ada dia berani ke. Hehe.

Lain kali, boleh repeat di hotel ini. Rupa-rupanya, memang digalakkan membuat tempahan di kaunter pendaftaran atau di website depa. Lagi murah dari booking di tempat lain, dapatlah jimat RM7-RM8 semalam.

Lawatilah grandputerihotel.com, tak perlu ke website lain. Porter di sana, housekeeper, receptionist, kakitangan coffee house... semuanya baik-baik, tersenyum memanjang.

Hotel pun penuh, dengan pelbagai aktiviti dari pejabat-pejabat kerajaan, sentiasa ada aktiviti.

Walaupun ada separate doors, semua boleh tengok di swimming pool lelaki dan perempuan dari atas

Dinner di coffee house pada malam terakhir di KT

Semua bangunan di sekitar hotel ada kubah kecil di atas. Adakah itu diwajibkan atau hanya dekorasi?

Pintu masuk ke kolam wanita sahaja

Sunset di KT, dari jendela bilik.

Tempat lepak malam-malam di luar hotel. Makanan dan minuman dari coffee house juga.

Since I Left...

There were times, when I thought of leaving. Yes, I left once, and the grass on the other side was not actually green. But I gathered lots of experience and I thought it was a good decision.
I also decided to take that bold move when I was transferred to JB, I just couldn't take it, leaving my beautiful family behind.
Then there were parties and I always drowned my sorrow at a particular hotel in JB. I would listen to a band there almost every night, dreading to go home to an empty room.
But I stayed on. But I took that bold move in 2017, a year after an incident that left a bitter taste, I knew then not to trust anyone, I have always been suspicious of strangers and outsiders but always trusted my "family members" in Balai Berita. But I know now not to put a 100 per cent trust in anyone other than your family.
I have survived the past two years, doing odd jobs, as in writing, translating and editing. I am blessed with endless offers, beginning with a stint at TNB, courtesy of Rashid Yusof. I have also been offered to do subtitling for iFlix, assisting EPF in producing their Annual Report (I was again offered for this job which I am currently doing), a transcription work (which reminds me to chase for payment), a full blown translation for a website and even a translation work of a pamphlet.
Currently, I am editing the BM version of Chinese web novels, it is an on-going project. I am paid to read.
There you are. I have been paid for an "anak pokok" of mulberry, and I am currently working hard with a group of friends to participate in a major Government project.
Most of the time, I work from a small room at home, that resembles an office, day and night. In between, I would chaffeur my youngest kid around and in the kitchen, cooking up some storm.
It is not too bad, I left without the VSS or MSS but I have survived, sometime with barely nothing in my coffer but at the end of the day, an offer (or more) would come in. I have learnt not to reject any offer, (unless I am sure I cannot do it) and even dabble in shares (which I have stopped and planning to restart soon).
I earned a respectable five-figure income the last year I was with the NST but at the end of the day, I was left with practically nothing, after various deductions. Now, I manage to "belanja" my family at fancy restaurants (once or twice a month) although I am earning less than I used to.
I plan to continue working at least for the next 10 years or so and this vigour was renewed after Tun M took over as PM post-GE14.

Near misses

Once, I almost got robbed. I was walking by a row of shophouses (all closed) in Jalan Sultan when someone who walk briskly in front of me suddenly took out a knife and asked for money.

Instead of giving in, I look pass him and said "Kau nak matikah. Ada polis kat belakang kau" (Do you want to die? There is a policeman behind you). He calmly put back his knife in his bag and walked away. It was my turn to walk away briskly as there was no one in sight.

My mother who was alone at my sister's house in Ampang opened the front door upon seeing a middle aged woman at the gate asking for a glass of water.

She innocently went in and took a glass of water for the stranger who had by then sat at the door. The woman did not drink but somehow, my mother felt sleepy and almost fell asleep.

Realising that something was not right, she recited some Quranic verses causing the other woman to be restless.

She immediately walked away.

In the 70s, a day after my grandmother passed away, we woke up to find some jewellery belonging to an aunt who slept over missing. The kitchen door was prised open. Everyone slept like a log that night.

The police came 15 hours later and dusted for fingerprints but the culprit was never identified.

A few years ago, I had to withdraw a large sum of money from a bank to be deposited into another bank located just 10 shops away.

Because of the amount, I had to be brought into a special room. That's a giveaway of the amount I had and everyone at the banking hall was looking at me.

I stuffed everything in my trousers pockets and the bank officers advised me to walk fast as an officer would be tailing me in case anything bad happened.

I felt everyone on the road was looking at me. Everyone looked suspicious, and I heaved a heavy sigh of relief as I stepped into the banking hall of the other bank.

The second incident was an attempt to "pukau" my mother while the third was apparently a "pukau" as no one woke up. The lightest sleeper among us slept through the night but it might have been due to tiredness as it was a busy day and night for us preparing for the funeral and also hosting a kenduri the same night.

Nevertheless, everyone should be aware of the surroundings. Better be safe than sorry and I admit i was foolish for not using the electronic transfer or a cheque for that matter.

My pet tiger

It was a sad day for nature really. A pregnant tiger was killed when a car rammed into the poor animal at Lebuhraya Pantai Timur (an expressway linking Kuala Lumpur to the east coast states) recently.
An autopsy showed it was carrying two cubs. Condolences also to the person who knocked into the magnificent creature. It must have been a heart wrenching experience for him too, never mind the extensive damage the MPV suffered.
The story reminds me of a wonderful experience I had in Malacca many years ago. I was attached to the Malacca bureau and one day a friend told me a man was keeping a tiger cub and a bear at home, apparently to train them to get acquainted with human.
I approached the man and told him I wanted to write about his experience in handling the animals. Fearing for repercussions, he was naturally reluctant but I managed to convince him.
I grew attached to the animals as I waited for a photographer from KL to assist me as I visited them almost daily to play with them.
Both were playful, but the tiger cub was especially naughty, and can be quite rough as I wrestle with him on the floor.
The bear was more subdued but I love the cat.
The house was sparse, no furniture as they clawed and scratched all over. It was a bungalow with ample space outside too.
When Saleh Osman arrived, the interview was done and there were photo sessions. The article was published in the Lifestyle section of the New Straits Times.
Then I was posted to the headquarters as a reporter with The Malay Mail (a then sister publication of the NST).
Several months later, an NST news editor came over to my desk and said "Your tiger was "detained" as it has clawed a neighbour's maid".
I was stunned. Later I was told the tiger which was playing in the garden had jumped into the neighbour's compound and scared the woman by touching her shoulder. She in turn slapped the tiger's face and the tiger must have slapped her back!
She screamed for help and police and the forest rangers came to pick up the tiger and sent him to the Malacca Zoo.
A few years later, when I visited the Zoo (it was my favourite pastime visiting zoos then), I asked the keeper which one was it. I came over to the fence and there he was, in all his stride and manificence, came to rub his body against the fence.
He remembered! Too bad I was not allowed to come close as I would have hugged him tight. Don't know if he is still alive but the memories came flooding after reading about the tiger which was killed in an expressway accident.
Her partner would have longed for her and the cubs would have grown into beautiful creatures roaming the jungle which has been reduced to size due to development.

Its a hospital life

It was not a good start for Shahrul Aiman. Just before he was due to enrol at Sunway College for his ACCA, Shahrul was down with dengue fever. And a few days into attending classes, he was attacked by measles.

I am writing this posting a few hours after taking him home after being discharged from KPJ Rawang, a private hospital, about 10 to 12km from home.

But he was determined to catch up with hs studies and wants to go back to his dorm, which is actually a condominium, right smack in the middle of Sunway, a satellite city in the fringe of KL.

I am sure he is strong enough to weather the storm.

Which reminds me of an incident which happened in 2010 at about the same time now.

My appendix burst before the ops and the doctor said it was a mess. I had to stay longer at Ampang Puteri as what supposed to be a minor op, turned out to be quite a major one.

Wifey had been going in and out of hospital for several years due to asthma but last year was a hospital free year for her.

My two girls are not unfamiliar with hospital life also because of asthma.

Hoping that our luck will turn for the better from now on. Insya-Allah. God willing.

A view from the hospital room and below is a selfie in the room as the patient refuses to have his picture taken

A night out at Johnny Rocket

We seldom eat out. I love my wife's cooking and our home is far away from civilisation.
But when we do we do it big.
A few weeks ago we had dinner at Johnny Rocket in IOI Mall in Puchong. A nice place and a nicer gathering.
My eldest came home on Friday and we went there on a Sunday. With the help of Google Map, we reached there at 7pm. Therd is a symphony fountain next to it.
Wd did a little window shopping at the mall before sending my daughter home.
Should do this more often

Liang Batu: Memories flood in

The clinic is still standing but it has electricity and water supply

A villager I met during the visit. He remembered my mother very well

My late mother was a certified government midwife. Hajah Mahmor Ahmad was posted to a village not many knew back then called Kampung Liang Batu, with the villagers speaking with a melody that I mastered a long time ago.
It was in the early 60s and I was maybe 3 or maybe 4 back then. We were given a small sized one-bedroom government quarters, with a clinic attached to it where my mother would attend to pregnant women during daytime.
There was no piped water supply and electricity was unheard of then in the village.
Water was drawn from a well behind the clinic while at night, we used a gasoline lamp to light up the house.
No tv, just a small transistor radio for company. Life was simple then. Maybe too simple but we huddled together in the living room or the verandah.
I remember during the day,  I would be by her side predicting that this villager would get a boy or the other would get a girl and most of the my predictions came true much to the delight of the whole village.
My mother was given a transport in a form of a bicycle and she would cycle to houses of pregnant women for house calls.
Garbed in a white overall and a white cap to go with, my mother quickly made friends with the colourful characters in the village.
Among them was Pak Itam Daud, a man who owned a shotgun who threatened his enemies with "Aku tembok kau" (I will shoot you) but I don't remember anyone getting shot at.
Two of his sons were Talib and Shaari who would frequent our house to be with my eldest brother Zakaria while another was delivered by my mother.
Apparently, he owed my mother his life. The boy was breathless when he was delivered. There was a complication and the Muar hospital staff who were rushed to the village had told my mother to concentrate on his mother and left the lifeless baby alone.
But she was adamant that she could save the boy and told Pak Itam Daud to get a bottle of whiskey from a sundry shop nearby.
She then soaked the baby in the whiskey and he started to cry. The boy, Ahmad Jusoh, grew up and is now selling apam balik in Muar.
Then there was this village midwife we called Mak Ngah Gembin who also lived nearby.
I remember she had two daughters and they would frequent our house. And our next door neighbour was a rubber tapper. If I remember corectly, one of his sons married Mak Ngah Gembin's daughter.
The sundry shop beside the river was owned by a Chinese family. We would frequent the shop for groceries and one day the owner and my mother decided to play a prank on me.
He threatened to push my mother into the river and I was crying hysterically. Both of them then laughed but I was still sobbing.
The river flowed behind our house but luckily there was an undergrowth back then.
My mother would always tell us not to go to the river as it was crocodile infested anyway.
I remember then my three other siblings were sent to my uncles' houses to attend English schools in Muar town.
The other, Mariam, was taken care of by another uncle as the  couple had lost several due to illnesses.
My eldest brother who quit school at an early age stayed with us and so did my grandmother as my mother was already a single mother then.
During one of the fasting months in Liang Batu, I had a nasty cut on my forehead due to a fall. I was soaked in blood when my brother Zakaria picked me up and the scar stayed with me until now.
Once, I almost burned the whole house when I lit a whole box of matches. Luckily, a village girl who stayed with us as a nanny saw the incident and managed to put out the fire.
But I was without eyelashes and eyebrows for a long time!
And since my grandmother was staying with us, we had a steady flow of visitors from Muar.
One couple who frequented our house was my mother's cousin. the late Tan Sri Kadir Yusof, the country's first Law minister and his wife Tan Sri Fatimah Hashim, the country's first woman minister.
He would bring copies of the Straits Times and showed us pictures of him in the newspaper.
My first love with the newspaper.
I remember looking forward to school holidays when my three siblings would come home.
My brother Dolah used to bring me small figurines of the popular TV show Combat and we would play together.
At night, under the dim light from gasoline lamp, we would sit by the verandah listening music from a small transistor radio. Around us was total darkness but we were not afraid.
It was also in Liang Batu that my mother found her second love. Haji Musip Md Adin was a cabbie from Bukit Kepong, a village which was made popular by an incident where a band of communist had attacked the police station in the 50s.
She became his second wife and bore a child, my youngest sister Shidah.
The timeline in this article may not be accurate but the incidents and memories etched in me for the longest time.
I went back to the village several years ago and found nothing much has changed. Except maybe bigger houses with big cars lined up in the compound. Technology as caught up with them.
They are now connected via Whatsapp and Facebook. But the village remain laid back. The clinic is still there and a mansion was built next to it. Life certainly has changed.