Celebrating Eid al-Adha at Workplace

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Eid al-Adha was celebrated on Friday, 27 November 2009 in Malaysia. Eid al-Adha celebration may not be as huge as those held in the Middle East but still significant in many ways. Many of us including me 'balik kampung' (return to hometown) for celebration.

At my workplace, an activity has been organized by Kelab AMREC for commemorating that important event in Muslim Calender. It was held on Monday November 30th, when most of us returned back to work.

Meat cutting was done in the morning, followed by cooking and finally big meal at lunch time. I enjoyed the food, it was delicious. This time I maybe a photographer, next year I may hold the cutter, inshaAllah...

Sudirman, Bakri, Nizam (Tomok) and Yazid are busy cleaning the internal organs

The ladies cut meat into smaller pieces

My friend Nik and others

Ridhuan: Last day in AMREC SIRIM

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I don't remember when Ridhuan joined AMREC SIRIM, perhaps early this year. Regardless of the date and time he joined, he is now leaving.

People come and go, but the legacy remains, that's what most people say. More popular as Weng, I regard him as a talkative, happy-go-lucky, funny and friendly kind of guy.

Ridhuan will be joining National Space Agency (ANGKASA) this December. I don't have much to say in here, the best words could probably 'Good luck' and do keep in touch.

Here are some pictures taken at the last hour of the day:

The 3rd floor

Smile under the blue sky

Conversation between two good friends
Weng, "Matanya membuatku terpesona..."
Firdaus, "Ha.. kantoi! Patutla projek tak siap"
(Sorry no English translation)

Model of the year, eh?
(I think they can be the cover of People Magazine, December issue. What say you?)

Chester short night visit

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Chester was founded by the Romans in the 70s AD as a fortress during Roman expansion northward European region. I was so fortunate to be here since Chester is a very famous ancient city in UK. It has ancient defensive walls, not just famous but also the most complete city walls in Great Britain. Thanks to Mr Paul Micro Materials for taking Mr Amin and me here.

Although it was a short night visit, it was worth it. I managed to take many good pictures. My old Nikon Coolpix L12 really did a good job.

The famous Chester canal

View of canal from the city wall

Sometimes in Wrexham

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No story, perhaps let the pictures speak. Here, some pictures in Wrexham:

Entering England: Just above the English sky

Peace and quiet Wrexham at night

Walking in Wrexham town during the day

Prof Ben Beake and I near Wrexham hospital

Belmont Hotel - The hotel where I stay

Found Proton Satria Neo near Wrexham Industrial Park

With Denise and Micro Materials engineers

My first day in UK

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After a long 12 hours flight from Kuala Lumpur to Amsterdam, 3 hours in transit, Mr Amin and I finally arrived in Manchester at around 8.30 am.

Soon after we're done with the immigration, I saw Wayne, the taxi driver, was waiting for us at WH Smiths shop. Everything seemed to be going exactly to plan, alhamdulillah. He immediately took us to Belmont Hotel in Wrexham, Wales, almost 60 km away from Manchester. I like the country side, the view was just fantastic.

In front Belmont Hotel

Cool weather and windy, love it! Temperature ranges between 8 and 13 degrees Celsius, but can fall below 8 degrees at night. To be continued...

Metal spoon degrades honey's nutrients: Just another pseudoscience

"Son, don't use use metal spoon with honey", that's what my mom told me. Some of my colleges tell me the same thing. They say metal spoon will leach out honey's nutrients. But how? To me this kind of ruling is interesting but without scientific evidence, one like me will definitely have a hard time to believe.

When I browsed the internet (I googled in English and Malay), this kind of belief is more prominent in Malay internet discussions rather than English. Having read those, I could not find any scientific evidence mentioned.


To me some of the 'pesanan orang tua-tua' (old wives' tales) are highly arguable. But it doesn't mean that I disregard them totally. I still have faith on some particularly those proven by science. Unfortunately this honey-metal spoon thing is far from fact. A trusted website considers this a myth. Test your knowledge about honey in this website:

[BENEFITS OF HONEY.com]

If you feel the above website doesn't favour you, no need to argue. Believe what you believe. For me, until I observe scientific evidence, I may consider this honey-metal spoon thing as another pseudoscience, nothing more...

Bachelor Iftar at Taman Mutiara

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Yesterday was a great day for me and my housemates, Khairuldin and Shams, when eight of our colleges came and broke their fast at our rental house. We prepared fried noodle (courtesy of Shams al-Thani), water melon, cold drinks (courtesy of Tengku Kudin), wet and fried popia, satey and karipap (curry-puffs). This was the second after the first closed iftar we did last year.

The spirit of iftar was further realized when my colleges brought plenty of food with them, even though we expect them to bring only their mind and body.

Enjoying our meal before prayer congregation

The weather was so hot that evening but no one was complaining, alhamdulellah. Really, this was the spirit of iftar.

Among all the food I ate, I enjoyed fried noodle the most. Cooked by the creative hands of Shams, I think he cooks far better than the girl next door. By the way, I can cook too, but of course not more than the famous instant noodles, hehe...

Guys, thanks for coming. May Allah bless you people. Barakallahu feekum.

From left to right: Asri, Azmir, Firdaus, Ridhuan, Muzaffar and Jaber
(Married - 2, Bachelor - 4, Still available - 2)