Pesta Sukan

What can one do if they travel to faraway land without keeping their health? Men sana in corpore sano; so it would be an initiative to do some sport activity, & the call it sukan, which mean sport!!

So there we are starting the day, it was Mr. Nanang, Kim Yong Nam, Iqbal, Hanin, Dading & me who unravel the day by getting in to the table tennis.

It was fun, the ladies also do the sports, they play badminton.

.. & so the Night Began

Heuh, sounds like a scary thing, what is wrong with the night? Indeed the night is the most joyful moment for astronomer, how so? Most astronomer SHOULD HAVE to wait for night for the observation, which is the main job of astronomer, is not it?? So if the question is: when will the astronomer have a good time? The answer is IN THE NIGHT TIME .. & the moral of the story is .. come on everyone who is attending the ISYA 07, let’s us have many many fun!!!!

I am not saying that we will having night time activity & sleep at noon, we are not watching Bram Stoker’s Dracula, no?

After we arrived at MRSM, (that is the place we should stay for the rest of the event), since we arrived around noon, so we have some freedom for adaptation during the rest of the day, since the activities (for fun) would be start on sunday.

Uhhh .. i was so sorry for Fairus, he had injuried on his head because of the bus .. (

Sunday, morning, no no, not night, it was the time for having fun & lot of it!!

We start from visiting Galeri Perdana, which is dedicated to former minister of Malaysian, Dr. Mahatir Mohammad; quiet fascinating to see his collection, which collected from around the globe. Yeah it took awhile to look around, but with limited & tight schedule? oh dear oh dear oh dear ..

After that we visit sea-cucumber’s factory!! tx for the explanation, mr. hasbullah, the tour guide, he explain that while the oil of sea-cucumber (minyak gamat) was made on the boiled in the cauldron, we can put our finger inside the boiling oil. true, i have tried it by myself … they said that minyak gamat has many good effect for our health. So far i have no healthy problem, but i guess it would be nice if i tried it once in awhile, or just share it with everyone, so i bought 14 for 10 RM .. )

Around the noon, we are finally arrived on the heart of whole activities: The Observatory!! Well , i should pass this for another post. Let me getting through.

Back from the LNO, we have plan for watching traditional dancing competition, but a pitty that we came late .. *sigh* .. well, one thing for sure … we were go to the beach!!! hip hip hurrayyyyy ..

The beach is great, clean, with not so nasty wave, since the bay was covered by a small island. In this place we were doing some small games for fun, so they separate us into four groups. So there are four groups, can you believe the name:

Group one is “Sea Cucumber”, Group two is “IRAF” (what is to say, Image Reduction & Facilities??????), Group three is “Galaxy”, & Group four is …. “DURIANNNNNNN” …. (laughing out loudly while rolling on the floor with two hands holding on the stomach) …

The first game is .. ahh what they call, we run inside the sand-bag (?) while kicking the ball, very very fun, every group separated by half of the team & every team member have to run inside the sand-bag & kicking the ball across the way & after that replaced by the next member. Guess the winner is? IRAF!!!

The second game is passing the message, from the last line of member to the front, whose message will be error?? It should be easy, since factually the message consist of only pictures, just visualize!! But then, in the case of IRAF, four ellipse & two triangles!! easy? rite?? but? how can it be, become: four eclipses & two trianglesss???????

Eventually the durian wins (am i correct?) they did draw good pictures.

The third game is tug of war!!! howaaaa … so the IRAF won easily, i guess it could be because of IRAF have Michael as the anchor? is not it? or it just because we have Siramas on the team, that would keep the boys so sugarr highhh .. or iis it either?? yeah , whatever the reason, the winner is IRAF.

Well, no cup, no medalion for the winner but , everyone happy, happy to swimming on the sea afterward, happy to playing volleyball, how i amazed to see tiendung swim, he swim like a fish .. mwaaa ..

so the sun is going down, everyone had to rest, we were going home & by monday, the class will be start & it should be rough .. true ..

Langkawi Island .. Here we Come!!

It took around .. i don’t know, while left Jalan Raja, i just fell asleep; fyi, just after left Putra Jaya, Mr. Hakim slept all the way, even he did not wake up on Jalan Raja, so i just follow his footstep, sleeping all the way. But not quiet a good sleep, sometimes i awoke & realize that Joko still hanging around, sitting & longing, & sometimes i ask him, “don’t you sleep Joko?”, he always said that he was cool, my my my, if they allowed me to smoke on the bus i should be awake also .. but then, i just passed away.

Until around dawn, we arrived in Kedah. More less i recognized the pattern, did i travel on northern java’s road? Oh, i did mistake, i was on Kedah, one state of Malaysia .. way way kilometers away from java. We have to stop for breakfast before departed using ferry; what is on the menu?? They call the food as roti canai/roti kosong/a.k.a roti caneeee!! (hmmmm) … Another resemblance with Indonesian food, but with different touch, for sure. It was around 9am as i recall, we have to wait for around 2 hours before took the ferry.

To make the story shorter, then .. let’s say the magic word – voila .. we were on the ferry. I always fond of sea-fare , across the ocean & see the distance horizon. So during the way, we hanging around the upper deck, having some sunbath & dancing inside the wind of the oceans – unless you feel sea-sick ofcourse. Let us share some pictures to describe what was happen then.

It took around one hour & a half to go from Kedah to Langkawi island, it was said that Langkawi has the myth of Mahsuri’s curse; the story revolves around about princess Mahsuri who’d had been cursed for 7 generation cannot have fortune, how unfortunate.

Langkawi itself derived from two words, Lang which rooted from Elang=eagle/hawk/falcon? & Kawi=the marble wood; that is why once we land on the island we were welcomed by giant statue of the bird. This eagle splendor as if is said .. welcome to langkawi.

To go to KL & Back

We have to stay for a week in Kuala Lumpur, inside the dorm of UKM. At first glance, oh boy, where am i, far from home, without cellular (back then), without internet connection? *sigh* .. but even if the flesh is in the cage, the spirit’s free (?) – nyeeeee ; yeah it was then, but soon after, i have cellular with malaysian number & yeah, lucky there is wireless connection on the class room … so i share my experience with ever astro-geeker in Indonesia…

Even from the first day, ‘crime’ happens (too much CSI – sorry) .. how can i tell? Since i was not involved, but i may be a good prosecutor somehow .. here is the case ..

it was the first day of the first monday in KL, there are 12 suspects escape (sight-seeing?) to KL, just to make their pictures under the petronas tower? Well .. not guilty .. since there is no law against the act, but then? Once they were go home, should they jumped off the fence?? just to get home?? they can easily past another gate or try to meet security officer?? for this part, guilty as charged .. ;p

show me don’t tell meee .. u figured out the score .. *i will bring evidence if you like* .. )

so move on, on the second day, we have Official Opening Ceremony, with Important Official Governmental Representations; let’s name it Director General of Angkasa, Y. Bhg. Prof. Datuk Dr. Mazlan Othman, Vice-Chancellor of UKM, Y. Bhg. Prof. Dato’ Dr. Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin, & of course Y. Bhg. Prof. Dr. Michele Gerbaldi as the Chairwoman of IAU. Are they all women?? Yes they are, cool is in it, they said that when woman leads, angels will come & bless us (I guess i have already heard that many many times, even before professor Shangkar mention, – now, where did i heard? from angelology?).

During the event, Profesor Gerbaldi presented her lecture on ‘Death & Birth of the Star’ .. very very inspiring, since i was also study astronomy (don’t we us all do?) , but in some particular point factually, Prof. Gerbaldi in indirect way had pointed me, the role of convection within the stars .. – ah come on, leave the materials of study behind – but again, indeed it was inspiring.

Well, as a matter of fact, UKM is on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, so i should not said that i WAS in Kuala Lumpur; but the opportunity is come on the schedule, which is we will go to Planetarium Negara Kuala Lumpur, so it would be a great experience to visit the capital of ‘negri jiran’, (‘neighbouring country’ in Malayan tongue, which describe the neighborhood of Indonesia & Malaysia)

First impression? .. rrr .. speechless, if i said too much, i should be working as a Public Relation for the planetarium .. so, i should be shut my mouth; at least, one compelling most is .. zero gravity pod!! .. kind of my kindergarten playground .. (i AM 9 years by now) .. if you are not believe me, you should see ikbal goes out from the escaping pod …

well, frankly, the dome is the usual planetarium dome, like every planetarium dome, but what is make the differences?? Prof. Udhaya Shankar made public lecture inside the planetarium .. mwahmwahmwah .. yes, that is one thing, but there is another important thing is, how advance is the system which mean reflects how serious this country on developing astronomy.

Let me tell you this, there is one tower on the planetarium (at first i thought it was a Mosque’s tower), but once i was in the tower?? oh boy, it IS an observatory!! what was amazing me more .. it consist of 14″ Celestron as the main scope, Takahashi finder (takahashi as a finder??? Should i speak up??), SBIG ST-9 (brbrbrbr) & … PARAMOUNT MOUNTING .. glurppp .. paramount mounting for a planetarium?? with remote control & robotic facility?? oh boy boy boy boy .. nafzd!

Okay, back to Prof. Udhaya Shangkar, he gave lecture on radio astronomi, the future of astronomy from radio astronomy perspectives & if only you could look how the public responded, it was an appreciative moment.

For one night, it was exhilarating; there are many things to come .. so friday is the last day we stay in KL & we have to move north to Langkawi Island. But wait wait wait, we are not on star-trek movie with transporter technology .. we have to take the bus & night-seeing of other part of KL while departing.

So there are .. Putra Jaya … ahhh … for one night, i should have give credit as the Garden of the Light, the Great Mosque, the lights, the towers, true masterpiece of architecture, aesthetic touch, well planned city & designing. Yeah, two tumbs up laahh ..

Aside from the mesmerizing of the scene, i should give more credits & admission for the planning, developing, management, how can central state government rent the land of federal government for 300 years? At least that was what i have heard.

During the travel, i also have the opportunity to stop on the Jalan Raja, wow .. it seems like the ancient palace, or something like that, since there are specific tour guide to tell us the story, but it was okay. Just okay, sorry , it is not because of i am not interest on commenting, i want to tell the story, but lack of sufficient informations.

But then, another story have to wait ..