The Amsterdam Post Pt 3..

Assalamualaikum and Hye..

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I am very fond of Amsterdam right now. I just learned that, it is one of the "happiest" place to live in. Paris? nah... London? nah... When I visit these two places, I really feel unsafe, London you could find Malaysian everywhere. But each people has their own opinion. We are allowed to agree and disagree.

While listening to Scorpions and RBS Six Nation live on telly, it makes my brain to churn more ideas and write while I had the time and pleasure.

A lot of my friends actually don't know where I work, or my core of business. It does not matter to me. Its rare and only a circle of community in Malaysia knows what it is. But once in Europe, our discipline is large and more well known.

Anyway, my official work days start at Amsterdam Arena aka Ajax Amsterdam Stadium. Boon Edam installed revolving doors at the stadium and the company had special relationship as a provider.

Welcome screen

We all in green for coffee. Unfortunately the coffee is not green. Its black..

One of many revolving doors installed in Amsterdam Arena

I alone represent Boon Edam South East Asia (BESEA). I had to make a home made video representing our BESEA and Malaysia itself. It was great. Kinda proud of what i made from scratch and editing it through Sony Vegas Pro. Compared to others....

Then we are invited for a tour of the stadium, IT WAS MARVELOUS!.  Superb stadium, it could only hold around 55000 fans, half the size of Bukit Jalil, but even with out the fans, you could feel how close each fans could be and while I was there, you could here the roar of the fans for miles. It was Ajax vs PSV and the second match was Ajax vs Feyenoord.

Murals drawn by fans.. 

And.. Unexpectedly, I met with Ronald de Boer...!! The Ajax legend himself! And also an autograph from him!! YEAH!!

SMILE!!

Everyone copied what I did.. HAAHHAHA

Changing room, and interview stage post match..

The next day was more formal. We had our sales meeting and sales training.. Learn a few tips, could try it out in the local scene. Mana tahu jadi..

Smile!

After all those babbling, we are treated with the boat cruise and a GREAT dinner.

Pictures taken from the boat..

EAT!!

Our last working day was in Edam. Our headquarters. 45 minutes drive from the city center. This is where also they manufacture all the products and shipped it all around the globe.

Nice office and factory..

I think that wraps up my business trip to Holland. Its a lovely place to go, and I don't mind doing it again.

I ended it with a signage, with love " Paris Gare du Nord"

salam
hmo

The Amsterdam Post Pt 2

Assalamualaikum and Hye..

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The journey from Paris Norg (Gare du Nord) to Amsterdam Central took us 3 hours 45 minutes. The journey was great. The train was stable. The suspension was quiet, hardly any squeaks or sound from the rails and steel tires.

Gard du Nord has the better architectural features compared to Amsterdam Central

Arriving Amsterdam Central at 6pm around 4 degrees Celsius was not bad. You could still handle the weather with a jacket and glove. Its all about mobility when you want to move around with baggage. However, my wife, fare very well with her 6 month tummy and handling two cabin bags. Since we arrived Amsterdam a bit dark, tired and hungry, we skip dinner and pictures and head directly to our hotel. 

Hamptons by Hilton will be our stay for the next 6 days..

Views from the hotel room. ING building, and Ajax Arena (Ajax Amsterdam Stadium)

The next day, I had one day free before my official work day start, so we head to Amsterdam. The train station was near to our hotel, the Amsterdam Bijlmer Arena. Its a five minute walk. The we need a few minutes to understand and decode how to read the time schedule of their local public transport company of Amsterdam GVB (Gemeentelijk Vervoerbedrijf). I did not make up the words okay. It looks gibberish, but I am sure it is pronounceable. 

Nice city huh... 

We steer the streets of Damrak, shopping streets, cheese shops, flowers shop until our knees literally gave up. My shoulders are aching, the weather is getting colder heading towards the evening. But we still soldiered on until we met the infamous "IAMSTERDAM" signage..

Kalau budak dalam perut tu tanya, "bila nak gi Amsterdam??", here's is the proof baby!

Ahhhh... love the weather...

Boon Edam Revolving Door!!

The trams and ahead is Damrak Street.

HRC Amsterdam

Wide view City of Amsterdam

IAMSTERDAM!!

Walking below one meter of sea level..

Heineken Music Hall, Ajax Entrance, Ajax Museum and Vila Arena

Night walks... Feel very very safe compared to other European countries.

Good night Amsterdam.. End of Part 2.

salam

hmo

The Amsterdam Post.. Pt 1

 Assalamualaikum and hye.

Few weeks back I got the chance to visit Holland under the code name "WORK". Most of the days consist of International Sales Meeting (ISM), Sales Training, Company Re-branding and "socializing". Total of four days, but i took the advantage to stretch it to seven days excluding travelling.

Amsterdam is a nice county, gloomy weather, nice people, terrific public transportation, and a constant smell of weed everywhere you go. But before I start babbling about Amsterdam, lets start from the beginning of the journey.

Before the flight we pose. A friend of Sarah's mentioned, "once in a plane, you are considered dead." kahakhakkah!

Sometimes I don't understand why people in Facebook keeps on taking their flight tickets and post it at the internet (facebook). Yes, its true that is your page and its your right to post what you wanna post. But what is the big deal? Just wanna mention that you are going overseas? and setakat "economy class", or "economy upper deck(A380)", or even "business class"?  whats the deal people?? Ada lagi best, setakat domestic flight pun nak ambik gambar flight ticket?? Kenapa takde yang first class or suites yang ambil gambar flight ticket and post it at facebook? Lagi gampang hebat kalau bayar ticket dengan duit pocket sendiri. Baru tak segan. At least I know the ticket is worth RM35000++ return! Kalau setakat company bayar, tak yah laa nak show off. Simpan dalam wallet sudah..

MAS A380

My business trip is in Amsterdam. To make life easier, I could just landed at Schiphol "number one Europe airport". But sebab teringin maw naik A380 kan, I struck a deal with my boss and let me land at Charlles de Gaulle. Saje menyusahkan diri. MAS does not have any A380 to Schiphol, just the crappy B777.

MAS A380 welcome video

Took some selfies of US..

The journey took us approximately 13 hours. The trip was nice. The turbulence was bad. 40% of the ride was nasty. Even the gigantic A380 got a beating. Sarah have a bit bad experience (throwing up), the steward was great and the entertainment was fairly nice. Most of the latest movies is on board, but the most thing I did was sleeping and having bad dreams as usual.

The dinner was okay, but I could eat anything..

The flight to CDG was half full..

LOOOOOONGGGGG way to go..

We landed at CDG around 7 in the morning. CDG as usual, sucks big time. Sometimes i regret landed here. Even my boss called me a traitor because not choosing Heathrow. Me at traitor?? I'm not even a Brit! Heheh. Anyway, its nice of him to let me choose which airport to land. A trip from Paris Nord to Amsterdam Central will only took us 3 hours by Thalys (train), compared to London around 6 hours.

Selfieeee

The lousy travellator..

CDG has been the same since my last visit 7 years ago.. No changes at all!

Had some coffee and croissants, a few pictures before we head to Amsterdam!!

 

From Paris to Amsterdam, we took the train. It was a 3 hours 45 minute journey whereas a few stops along the way such as Antwerp, Brussels, Rotterdam and few more stops. It was a long walk to our cabin, I could estimate it around 600-700 meter. The train WAS thatttt long..

At certain point the train was speeding....

End of part 1.

salam
hmo

memoriesss..

Assalamualaikum and hye.

Happy Deepavali to my dear Indian friends.

Since its Deepavali, I remember one Indian friend whom I met at UM. Basically we do not know each other. It was my depressing year. My extended 5th year at UM. I was studying PDE (partial differential equation) and I was taking it for the third time.

I had different tutors for each subject. Example, for 80% of my studies was tutored by alinur ayuni. But for PDE I got Jamal as my tutor. Who was in his final year and his second time retaking PDE.

Anyway, when we were studying for the finals, I had around 2 more weeks before I face PDE at bangunan peperiksaan. Jamal was there, and suddenly came this Indian guy which I never met. He said that he were in the same Abu Omar class for PDE. He asked, if he could study together for the next few weeks. We said okay!

Days passed, week passed. I surrender. I just could not take it anymore. I could see failure in front of my eyes. But this Indian guy, I could say he is very smart. He learns fast. Everything that Jamal tutored us, he could adsorbed it. Unlike me, I'm more like a plastic sheet, "un-asorbable" (is there such word?? Sometimes  I wonder how I could end up in UM... hmm.

But, something did change. On our last day of studies, whereas tomorrow is the exam, I threw my pen and I said something very frustrating (I could not remember). I was frustrated because I could only see failure, and another lonely year of extension.

But this friend, my Indian friend came to me and said, whats wrong? Come on lets study together. I still vividly remember he sat beside me, open an equation, and solve the problem line by line until I finally solved it.

Well, please remember, this is PDE. Not some 10 lines of equation and you got your answer (maybe for the smart ones) but sometimes it took one full page of scribbling of nonsense and the next page might score you some points.

In the end, we all passed. I passed with a C. Not proud of it, but what I can tell you is that, when my project need a strength calculation for a railing post (super large and heavy ones), I do have the confidence to calculate it and until now the post and glass are still standing.

So Happy Deepavali to my dear Indian friends.

Since moving in to Nilai Impian, we got ourselves into activities done by Sime Darby. Few months ago we participate their "Program Penanaman Pokok". We got T-Shirts, goody bags filled with food, small spade, gloves, caps, and also a tree "Agatgus Borneensis". The day was great, filled with activities and sunshine.

Sunshine sunshine and more sunshine.

Dah tanam pokok, kita ambil gambar pulaaaa..

 

 Few weeks ago, we came back to our favorite holiday spot at Frangipani, Langkawi. Its our second visit there. We like the place a lot. This time we decide to enjoy the stay and have fun at the beach. 

 

I had a fever there, so most of the time I was on bed. Plus project site does not understand what is the meaning of "I am on holiday" stand for. Maybe they need to go to school. 

 

Mata kuyu sebab sesemaa!!

Wonderful breeze and view..

Sarah pose with a flag??

The room and Mentari Cafe.

Looking forward to another holiday. I need rest, rest, and rest.. 

salam. 

hmo

 

Selamat Hari Raya 2013, the Train journey..

Assalamualaikum and hye..

Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir dan Batin.

Tahun ni, aku dan sarah beraya di Kota Bahru. Last year we were at Johor. Since both of our kampungs are at each end of Malaysia, so we decided to rotate.

There is only one differences this year compared to other previous years including before i got married. We decided to depend on KTM and took the train for Raya.

This is my first time travelling for Raya on a train. I never took the bus for Raya. We usually drove for a few hours since Johor is just 4-5 hours of journey during the Raya season.

We got a second class ticket back to Kota Bahru and for our journey home, my father manage to snatch the last first class ticket to KL.

Is quite a journey on the train for Sarah, since its her first time. While for me, I have been looking forward for it since I had my first ride a year ago.

The second class is more "rakyat" where you mix with other people. They bring families and kids, bags full of milks and flask of hot water, radios and handheld games. Children run along the pathway, while the parents tried to control their behavior.

The second class coach has more vibration compared to first class. It felt more when your berth is at the end of the coach since it is situated on top of the wheel (we have that berth). As for Sahur, the train stopped for half an hour to accommodate if not, I will have my sandwich on my head and ayam goreng McD on the other side. hehe.

2nd Class Coach. 

Sarah is playing with her phone while I'm like a kid who has his own bed. 

Interior of the berth. Its more like a coffin but comfy. 

The journey was almost 14 hours. We departed from KL Sentral at 830 and reach Gemas around midnight. Sapa yang masih ingat Geography dan Sejarah Form 3 mesti tahu apa kepentingan Gemas in our railroad history. 

Sarah took some pix at Gemas Station.

The kid who was under my berth I think he is a experience train traveler, because he kept on saying "ayah Gemas dah sampai ke belum??", and when we finally reach Gemas, he said to his father, "ayah, awal kita sampai Gemas ni!!". In the end we reach Wakaf Bahru on the dot at 1000hrs. Magnificent!

We stayed at Kota Bahru for almost a week (perhaps in another post). We depart from Wakaf Bahru at 1830hrs and we hop to the first class coach. Compared to second class, we got the privacy and better interior. 

Sarah being the model again. hahahah

Anyway, the ride from Wakaf Bahru to KL Sentral was a bliss excepted that Sarah got "railsick" because of the heavy swaying in the toilet. Apart of that, we both have some scary dreams while sleeping inside the coach. It is not expected but we do went through heavy jungle throughout the journey thus the route had its own nickname "Jungle Railway".

Overall, I might do it again as long as it is cheaper compared to flight tickets. Compared to driving in holiday seasons where you could be stuck for 12-15 hours on the road. Here, all we can do is sleep, sleep, eat, and sleep until we reach the designate destination. 

Anyway, the trip was not like Trans-Siberia nor other exotic railway travels, but it packs a lot of experience and human touch along the journey. 

I would miss the vibration of steel and heavy swaying for a while until I had the chance to travel on the train again. 

Salam 

hmo

SpongeBob Square Pants and Mr Patrick..

Assalamualaikum and hye.

Congrats to my fellow frens who got married, yg dapat baby baru, and also to them who succeed in their own way.

Its been a while  I had not update on monthly basis. Even my lil sis got married I did not put anything on this blog!

Anyway, she did got married a few months back, few of my closest fren as well, namely Mus, Peroz, Ena&Haris, Jemme, and Abbad T.

I have a new sweetheart, Odena we call her. Not mine, but my sister in law little girl.

Little Odena

Few weeks ago, met siddik, alino, nik and jas. Its a good feeling to meet your frens sometimes. When I met up with them, it reminisce the good old UM days. I think those days are one of the best memories for me. Good old fashion lecturers who still uses OHP for their lectures, crazy exams, lepakking at BT (bilik tutorial), and have crazy food at Sec 14 with roti mayo banjir and potong kaki air bandung. 

Now, when prepping for your potential interviews, you would need to run through all your cert. And when it came to your "keputusan peperiksaan", and when you open it up, it is like, demmm "dosa dosa silam aku". With all the EFF`s (F), Deees (D), plenty of Seees (C) and a rarely seen Bees (B) and As makes you smile. Somehow, somewhere, we ended up being human and sometime cursing your stupid colleagues at work. Macam laa pandai sangat kita ni kan.. But still, somehow having all those F`s and D`s makes you smarter than other people. 

To alino, good luck on ur mba. your new hash tag should be "#HR39". And eisha woii, cepat laa habis phd tuuu. Balik KL, lama tak lepak dah niiii, and to jas congrats on ur advance diving license from padi. 

General Election just ended, and for me, its still just an election. Even though I had my own opinion, but I think it is wise for me to get my ballot paper in the ballot box, and who ever wins is already been decided by God before the Earth is being created. Betulkaa? But still I had this colleague who cannot stop blabbering about the unfairness of the GE. I wish I just could say shut up, and move on, and go support Liverpool. hahaha. Eh liverpool pulak? blasah laaa...

Well, happy holidays.. Paling best duk msia adalah cuti yg banyak. So selamat maju jaya. 

salam 

hmo

 

Happy New Year!

Assalamualikum and Hye,

Happy New Year humans.

 End of the world on 21 December 2012 is not real after all. While others celebrate new year with their love ones, myself celebrate at the office with spanners and screwdrivers on my hand.

Well my journey to Johor Bahru is also disturb with frequent calls from client regarding their project. Pity Sarah because she had to cut short her holiday at JB because i had to return to KL.

So apa yang menarik tentang kerja selain mendapat gaji di hujung bulan? Its not that I have an extra 10K every month so i could pamper myself with a Golf GTi or fully furnish a house until there is nothing else to improve, but I knew there is something missing. Adakah aku tidak bersyukur? atau aku kena dengar lagu "asalkan aku OK" banyak-banyak?

 Anyway, I dont know what my future held. No one knows actually. But some people could see the light at the end of a tunnel, but for me, currently I am facing waves of tsunami going against me.

The new work place is something that I dont look forward to go everyday because of some individuals which I think is a total moron. Perhaps they live in their own world to long and might cause them brain damage. A few of them, I just felt like drilling their ears with a cordless drill while the rest I can live with. Imagine, there is only 10 worker in this company but their attitude are something that you feel like working with Banglas and Indons. However, I do feel Banglas and Indons are much more better. 

A few of my friends are already making a decision of their lives. Decision that I might not able to make in an 100 years. However, they manage to do it. Why? I do have total respect to these kind of people and I hope that they would succeed.

I dont have any new resolution for 2013. I heard that they expert miscount the end of the world to another 1000 years. So Armageddon will be around 3012. I just hope that I would be a better person, husband and son. Throw away all the hate inside me and start anew.

I dont think I will throw the hate inside me. It kept me alive.

salam
hmo