Our recent Umrah trip

It was a long weekend due to Saudi National day and we took this opportunity to perform umrah. The last time we went there was early this year together with my parents. We booked our hotel 2 weeks in advance and everybody was very excited counting days especially Lana. Daddy on the other hand has to countdown for his API exam day :P

Daddy sat for his API exam that wednesday whole day in AlKhobar. Once done, he drove back to Jubail and after maghrib we went to a friends house for raya open house invitation. Around 9 we were back at  home and daddy went for some sleep before we started off our long journey that is more than 1000 km at 12am.

Alhamdulillah, the journey was smooth and easy with all the kids sleeping peacefully until around 830 in the morning.....

This is when they woke up and have some stretching in the car 

We stopped couple of times to refuel our gas. Luckily the gas is only 45halala a liter

  R&R in Saudi

The total journey took us around 16hours including 2 hours stop at miqat for shower, lunch and perform niat. We drove straight from Jubail and only stopped for gas and toilet. I packed nasi lemak and sausages from home. We had our breakfast and change the kids diapers on the move.

We parked our car here (Masbahgin) and there were lots of car at that time. Alhamdulillah we managed to get one. And then we get a cab to the hotel.

Checking in the hotel. This time around we stayed in Al Safwah Royale Orchid that is right infront King Fahd Gate

Kids exploring the room

This is very convenient as i have a lot of baby bottles that need to be washed and drained...

Before going to the masjid

Having breakfast at the hotel the next morning

After performing our Tawaf Wida'. It was pretty hot during and less crowd that time. 

Checking-Out from the hotel.

Looking forward our next umra trip again end of this year Insya-Allah.....

Dendang Perantau

 Time flies and the past 2 months were really a long longggg time for me here at Jubail, away from my wife and kids. But sometimes, it is good for you to sort of isolate yourself to ponder  and to look at yourself in the mirror. Rasullullah SAW himself had also isolated himself from the menace of Arabic Jahilliyah to be closer to Allah.

There is also a saying that says " Absence makes heart grows fonder" . Skarang nih dah terlebih fonder pulak to my wife n kids.  :)  Can't wait to see them.

As the above picture of my boy indicates , there is just one more working day before daddy return to Malaysia...  InsyaAllah, this year we plan to go for Penang side, since the past 3 years we celebrated the 1st day of raya in Klang.

As anticipated, I am currently holding a record against myself about my weight . It's down from 101.6kg to 92.6kg in 2 months.  That 's is my 5 year all time record low ! Strict diet, no rice and combined with exercises in between. Alhamdulillah, it is actually boils down to a simple equation as follows:

Output Calories > 1/2 Daily required Input Calories


2008- Raya kat Melbourne
2009- Twins Arrived, raya kat klang
2010 - Raya kat Saudi sorang2......hahhah


Packing barang - OK
Buy Stuffs and souvenirs - OK
Clean Saudi house - OK
Keta- OK
Butang Baju Melayu -OK
Duit Raya - OK
Work- Lantak lah, sampai bila tak abih punya ...huhuhuh

GoodBye Esso Port Dickson Refinery

 Well, there is a saying that says " life is a roller coaster so just take a ride" . When I heard the official news today, I was not entralled nor surprised, since this kind of rumors had been going on since 1998 . There it is, after 43 years of operation, Esso Port Dickson Refinery,  has been sold off  by ExxonMobil to San Miguel Corporation  from the Philippines today.  The refinery has been operating with ups and downs since 1963.

http://www.sanmiguel.com.ph/2011/08/smc-buys-exxon-mobil%E2%80%99s-downstream-oil-business-in-malaysia/

I simply have to write something  to pay a tribute to Esso Port Dickson Refinery since I have had a lot of sentimental values with it.

 It all started in 2005, when I changed my career path from a mundane electronics manufacturing and RND industries to oil n gas stuff. I had never thought that I would ended up in a quiet Port Dickson town, where one can tour the town in  2 minutes and  be done.

I must say that working with Exxon was really a great pleasure during my recent 5 years stay there. That was the place that were full of opportunities and hands-on knowldege , whereby one had to do every single thing from scratch. One has to be the planner,  the presenter , the executor and  the manager  to get any job done. This has provided huge benefits and hands on experience to me, coupled with a few great ExxonMobil EMRE Materials Corrosion and Inspection specialists that served me as my great mentor. Till now, I am keeping in touch with all my EMRE gurus for all their previous advise and guidance

Being just a small refinery, compared to all other rivals in Malaysia,  I realized that one can be very close with all the staff around as you will see familiar and similar faces all around you.  Small refinery has huge advantages since you can cut out all the crooked-head bureaucracy stuffs and get straight to the issue/person in no time. I remembered those times when I just walked into the Refinery Manager's office to have discussion  with him like nobody's business. Cut the crap, straight to the point stuff.

And this was also the place where my wife works, in the same Reliability Engineering Department, reporting to the same boss with our office separated by  solely 10ft. A lot of  people out there think that having your spouse working  together in the same company is really a bad idea. However, I found it the otherwise.  I was really grateful to Allah for this blessings since there were so much pros over the cons. All the sentimental memories are still remained intact in my head. Too bad it was just for 5 years there for us.  I wish it could have been much longer.

This was the place where I had my first five digit salary, this was the place where I had my sky-rocketed salary increment and this was the place where I had so much fun with friends and colleagues. Of course, sometimes shit really happens with all new initiatives and fire fighting issues that never ends there.

What I really like about this company?  Well... It was about its solid business systems and principles (until you just don't know how the heck to implement it sometimes while scratching your head).... its strong controls until you are rest assured that you are doing the right thing , the right time..... its  great networking with other affiliates where you exchange knowledge......its nice business trips and travels/training  where I can eat what I want in expensive manner.....its 5 star hotels stays during  business trip........its people.....and of course, its never ending initiatives that make you grow !

Well, like I said in the beginning, life goes on and I had decided to move on abroad in Saudi Arabia  as  expats in June 2010. Once all my goals are achieved here , we will definitely move on to another place InsyaAllah. Life is too short for us so maximize and balance it.

 Hope that this new management will offer huge opportunities to all my colleagues and friends that are still working  there.

All the best from the Ex-Chief Inspector    :)

Saya geram bila.....

Last night i was trying to persuade lana to take her dinner. Initially i asked her to take dinner own her own, she refused. Then i tried to suap her as i need to feed her before getting her to take her coughing medication. I persuaded her again, she refused and continue playing with her toys. Then, my temper started to grow i know, i told her that i will count to 10 and if she continue not eating i will have her stand in a corner until she take her dinner.

The counting continues until 10 and she still refused to eat. As promised i get her to thr corner. To my surprised she suddenly screamed and cried out of her lung. What a drama. I tried to be firm saying to her if she continue that she will be there more than 5 minutes. And yes she continue.

What made me angrier was that her bibik went to pujuk her when i was trying to put her in the corner. Lagi la naik lemak. I asked bibik to let her alone and dont try to pujuk her. But this bibik is somehow tak paham bahasa la plak. Dipujuknya lagi. Geramnye la.....

Yes i know she loves lana so much. But i really cannot stand it when outsider masuk campur when this thing happen. Sort of giving lana lesson that takpe, kalo mama marah, bibik ada... Geram geram... ada hikmah jugak kot saya bermaidless sekarang. Tak sabar plak nak balik jubail balik where i have more freedom and control to look after my own kids.

I am surprised!

Yesterday as usual, Lana and I went to her Flykidz class in Kota Damansara. During the class, i would prefer to stay through out just to watch her. I Love watching her trying to listen to the instruction, watching her trying her new routine, watching her smile whenever she manages to complete new routine. I am so grateful to Allah for giving me the opportunity to watch my kids grow, Alhamdulillah.

Lana normally is quite shy and quite whenever she is around crowd or outsiders. She rarely said "Hi" or "Hello" to friends or teachers. I have been always reminding her to greet people politely, but she will usually refuse to do so :(

However, yesterday was a bit different. I mean totally different. First, she went into the class and said "Hi" to the teachers and even said "Thank You teacher" after her class completed. I was more than happy to see this.

What more surprised me is that I saw she raised her hand eagerly quite a number of times during the class. And she's the only one raising her hands all the time. Initially I was a bit confused why she was doing that as i never saw her that way all this while. After the class ended, i asked her what happened during the class and why she raised her hand a number of times. Then she told me, "Teacher asked who want to start first...." oh ok.... :)

I am more than happy to see this changes. I was a bit worry with her shy and reserved attitude initially. I have been telling her that being shy is not good for her. Well i guess, kids will grow their self-confidence through time. Just a matter of early or a bit later. What more important that to give them the RIGHT opportunity and confidence to themselves. They will surely will impress you :)

Marhaba Dubai!

Happy 6th Anniversary in Dubai !

Finally, I have some free time to write and document one really amazing episode of our life here in the middle east. In May 2011, we have decided to give our 6th anniversary a bit more spice and have something different.

Being a such a wonderful Wifey and a mother to my kids, I just felt that she really deserves something special this time. This is not like a really husband n wife getaway for another honeymoon. Infact, we brought the kids along to also have a vacation. It was actually anniversary + family vacation in one nice package.

So, we set off to Dubai for 4 days 3 nights, although I know it will be not enough to cover the whole Dubai places of interest. We initially thought to also cover Abu Dhabi, but later on decided to just enjoy and focus our attention to Dubai solely. Approximately 2 weeks before the trip, we were so anxious and super excited, especially Wifey and my princess Elana.

The time finally came and off we go from Jubail, Saudi Arabia with our 3.5L Honda Odyssey, loaded with stuffs at 4am !!

I can sense that these camels were also heading towards Dubai Mall :)

Alhamdulillah, all went well and we crossed the border to UAE after about 5 hours from Jubail. Immediately after crossing the border, my wife got behind the wheels and test drive this car for the first time since November last year. Heheheheh.... She looked cool even though this is a left hand drive system. Bravo !

Now we have somebody to drive us around! Pasnih buleh aaa drive kat US eh?

Erfan singing and cheering up our journey with his endless talkative voice :)

This is Syeikh Zayed Road...love this road , 7 lanes on each side with fantastic view left and right

Sophie yang excited, waiting for daddy to check in Number One Suites Hotel, which was very close to Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. Luckily we got the end lot room with magnificent view.

Some of the buildings along Syeikh Zayed Road

Dah puas berendam dalam bathtub, now it's show time !

There it is... Burj Khalifa is sooo tall to the extent that I could not fit it in my camera vertically. This reminds us about akhirul zaman... Dunia mmg dah nak kiamat dah, seperti pesan Rasulullah SAW.

Charge balik energy with fresh juice after round2 Dubai with MRT . Lana and the twins really enjoyed the MRT ride!

Too bad we were very tired and went on to the Dubai Mall , which is the largest mall on planet earth, comprising Aquarium, External Dubai Fountain with the tallest vertical dancing jet spray with music, thousands of shops and eateries, and many many more. It was really an impressive one to me. No wonder people call Dubai the shopping heaven. If you have 50000 to spend, I am sure that would still not be enough and can easily be finished sucessfully here. Mommy finally found her main interest, Louis Vuitton, Channel and belambak2 lagih gallery . We just tour the mall just for a while because everybody were exhausted due to the long journey. We decided to come back later on for the Dubai Fountain the next day.

Checked in Atlantis Palm Dubai, an integrated resort with aquarium and amazing water parks and really nice beaches. Too bad we only stayed here for a night ! This resort is located at Palm Jumeirah man made island with the shape of palm tree. 

Lana yang dah tak sabar nak main air... Mula mula macam takut , but later on she was excited. Bear in mind that the temperature was 44C at that time. :)

The kids amazed with the Altantis Aquarium fisheries. Erfan was initially scared with the giant fishes and sting rays . Finally he managed to cope with it.. Good boy !

Pancittttttt ...... after a really good splashing time at the water park. Too bad daddy had only figured out the real Ziggurat, the Fountain of Leap Faith thrill rides on the next day... Nih yang kena pergi sana balik one more time nih... :)

The Red Jelly Fish... The twins were really amazed looking at how these creatures move around in the water.

Happy Family checking out from Atlantis Palm , heading to Media Rotana Hotel in Dubai next

Daddy and the kids were waiting for the queue to climb up the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa. Sophie and Lana were very excited. It has been Lana's favourite to talk about high towers like KLCC, KL tower and other tall structure since she was a little one... That's the reason behind the excitement, I guess.

Wifey and the twins at the top of the world

We then spent the next day touring Dubai Outlet Mall, which is located slightly outside the town. Nevertheless, the deal was soooo great. Wifey grabbed so many things for her new warddrobe and we all got a pair of shoes each.

Well, the time has come for us to go back to Saudi.....Well, I must say that our heart are still there in Dubai, eventhough we had to continue our day to day life in Jubail. I even thought of living in Dubai or Abu Dhabi next, but that would be extremely expensive and too much inclined towards Duniawi :)

In summary, Alhamdulillah this trip was a really wonderful anniversary + vacation for us and before we even reach Saudi, we already had some plan for our next visit later this year , InsyaAllah :) Of course, this time I am sure Wifey will grab that Loius Vuitton that she had been aiming for ! 

Playground Equation

Observation & Derivation

Kids - Playground = Cranky

Playground- Kids = Empty

Kids + Playground = Happy

Integrate (Happy Kids)  = Parents Happy

Parents Happy = Tummy Happy

Tummy Happy = Sleeping  Comfy !

Sophie's  joyous facial expression while  enjoying the helix slide at Fanateer Park with Erfan