MAS Airbus A380: a beauty in blue

I saw the MAS advertisement for its new Airbus A380 in the newspaper today, and it took my breath away.

What a beauty she is in its all-new livery with blue being the dominant new colour. Yup, blue, my favourite colour.

Malaysia Airlines will introduce the A380 onto its KL-London route thrice weekly beginning 1st July 2012. This will increase to daily flights come August. Sydney will be the second destination when the third aircraft is delivered in September.

The MAS A380 will have capacity for 494 passengers compared to 359 on the current Boeing 747-400.

By the way, MAS is the eighth carrier to receive this giant of an aircraft. I am mighty proud to say the least.

Let's go London come July!

Law Kaana Bainana (Andainya KekasihMu Masih Berada Bersama Kami)

Andainya KekasihMu masih berada bersama-sama kami

Akan terlunaslah segala hutang dan semakin hampirlah

Dengan haruman Baginda, sebelum hilangnya 

Rasa yang meronta-ronta untuk berada hampir dengan KekasihMu.

Berada berhampiran Baginda jiwa turut menjadi harum

Dan apa jua yang kalian doakan kepada Allah akan diperkenankan

Cahaya Nabi Muhammad tidak akan pernah sirna

Sempatkanlah kami bertemu dengan Baginda

Wahai Tuhan Yang Maha Memperkenankan doa.

Hidayahmu kepada alam merata meluas

Tanda hampirnya kasih sayang Tuhan pemberi hidayah

Hadith-hadithmu ibarat sungai mengalir jernih

Berada di sisimu bagaikan dahan yang tumbuh segar dan basah.

Kutebus diriku dengan dirimu wahai Kekasihku

Nabi Muhammad yang mulia yang asing

Berada berhampiranmu jiwa menjadi harum

Wahai yang diutuskan membawa RAHMAT kepada seluruh alam...

Lawn mown (at last..)

Our garden lawn has been mown, at long last.

The Mem Besar had been hinting to me, quite a few times, that our little garden is beginning to look like a little jungle. But due to, err...logistical issues and problems with scheduling, I had not been able to undertake the project.

I love mowing the lawn, actually.

Honest!

I love the smell of the freshly cut grass. And I particularly enjoy the view of our small garden once the grass are cut nice and proper. Plus, it also gives me a bit of work out.

But you will understand, of course, due to logistical problems....

"Jogging" in beautiful Putrajaya

This morning I went jogging in Putrajaya with my youngest, Nadiah. Just the two of us.

Nadiah had been nagging. You see, she had just got herself a pair of jogging shoes sometime back. But until today she had not got the opportunity to "test run" it. So, she had been nagging me and her Umi to go for a jog.

So we went jogging. But after such a long lay off from any form of exercise, I was not about to shock my body system with something stressful. So we just brisk-walked. No, in fact the walk wasn't even brisk. It was a santai walk, class 1.

We walked a little and we stopped to take in the waterfront scenery. We walked some more then we took pictures. We walked a bit more and we stopped to admire the flowers.

Ahh. This is the life.

Good morning 2012

Went to bed early last night and didn't wait to usher in the new year. I've never bothered to do so in the past. So this time, it's very much the same.

Woke up early and savoured the cool fresh morning air, and enjoyed the soothing view of our front garden from the living room. Subhanallah.

And what's more, Man United got whacked by Blackburn at Old Trafford last night. So it must be a happy new year indeed.

Good morning and welcome 2012.

Post Tsunami: Sendai on the way to revival

I received an email from an old friend, Toru Tanaka, from Sendai, Japan, recently. Sendai is the capital city for Miyagi Prefecture in Japan. It is a city of a million inhabitants. Quite recently, we also got to know Sendai (and its vicinities) as being the area worst hit by the tsunami which overwhelmed the east coast of Japan in March of this year.

One would surely recall the images of destruction played out umpteen times on the television when the earthquake hit the area, only to be swiftly followed right after that by the devastating tsunami. The physical, social and psychological damages to to this island nation have been deep and profound.

But if there is one thing I have learnt from my three year stay in the Land of the Rising Sun, it is that the Japanese are a disciplined, hardworking people with a strong sense of identity.

They will rebuild, recover and rise up again from the disaster. And I'm talking from experience. For I have seen how they've rebuilt Kobe after the Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995.

Being located 10km from the coast, the Sendai city centre itself is not much affected by the tsunami. But the outlying town and villages in the coastal areas were devastated and some have disappeared completely.

Some people are still staying in temporary housing as they still cannot afford to rebuild their homes. But the good news according to Tanaka-san is that the revival plan for Sendai City has been approved at the City Assembly last month. So, a full-scale revival of Sendai is just waiting to happen.

Incidentally, Tanaka-san just got married last September and is building a new life for himself too. He is also now in charge of managing the budget for the road planning program for Sendai.

The beautiful pictures of autumn Japan above were emailed to me by Tanaka-san. It makes me miss Japan. Very much.

Lyon Light Festival 2011

The City of Lyon by the River Rhone, all lighted up

Lyon is the second biggest city in France located 470km south-east of Paris. The Lyon Light Festival is one of the most famous lighting festivals in Europe. 

The festival has been held every year since medieval France. It has its roots in a religious-related event. But nowadays it has been re-branded into a modern, high-tech lighting festival much anticipated by many in France and near-by neighbouring countries. It attracts some of the best minds and most creative lighting experts in Europe who come to display their flair and hardware.

We were there at the festival to soak in the atmosphere and to see first-hand how a lighting festival is run.

Come 2013, we will have our very own full-fledged world-class lighting festival: The Putrajaya Light Festival.

Watch this space.