RMN KD LEDANG

(LR:Wynol, Henry, Saza, Zain, CO,Franco)

We visited KD Ledang in Labuan thanks to the courtesy of the commanding officer.We had lunch in the vessel with the officers.

KD Ledang was in Labuan for installation, testing, integration and commissioning of two units of auxilary propulsion system, mine hunting auto pilot system.KD Ledang had participated in the Naval and Air Forces Participating in Ex Starfish 16/96.

It is a Mine Countermeasures vessel and the other ships in its class are KD Mahamiru, KD Jerai & KD Kinabalu.

The Royal Malaysian Navy originated from the Straits Settlement Volunteer Reserve Force formed on 27 April 1934 in Singapore. The formation of a Penang branch in 1938 saw its expansion. When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Britain strengthened its Naval Force in Southeast Asia by forming a unit called the "Malay Section of The Royal Navy" to protect the security of Singapore and the Federation of Malaya. This unit which consisted of 400 men underwent training at a training camp called HMMS PELANDOK, a British Naval Base in Singapore. Expansion saw the unit increase to 1450 men during World War II. Due to shortage of funds, the British disbanded the force after World War II in April 1947. The Malayan Naval Forces was again created in 1948 in response to the Emergency with the loan of one landing ship and five fast surface launches from the Royal Navy. In 1953 HRH Queen Elizabeth awarded the Royal status to become The Royal Malayan Navy. The first vessel was a minesweeper called HMS 'Penyu' or Turtle. After independence, it was transferred from Singapore on 12 July 1958 as an independent sovereign navy. On 16 September 1963 it was renamed Royal Malaysian Navy in accordance to the formation of Malaysia.

Details are on the this website:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Malaysian_Navy

For My Mother, Regina Dina Simon

The late Regina Dina Simon
(08.03.1949 - 11.08.2006)

My beloved mother passed away on 11th August 2006. No words can describe the feeling I felt from then on. This poem somehow reflects my feelings for her then, now and forever. Mom, see you in the next life.

You Were My Mother and My Friend

You were my mother and my friend,
Which was unusual.
Somehow our characters still blend:
Your wisdom and my will.

I turned, and you were there for me;
I spoke, you understood.
I felt cared for, but also free;
You loved, and I was good.

I'm fortunate that I was born
To someone just like you;
I love you still. Though you are gone,
You live in what I do.

Death is nothing but a moment's rest
Until the Second Coming of the Lord
When He shall gather to Him of the best
To take them to the place of their reward.
You've felt the power of Jesus in your soul
Shining like a golden sun within,
Melting your hard heart to make you whole,
Burning out the remnants of your sin.
You've felt Him work within you, so I know
The glory that will come when you awake.
You'll sleep just like a child who'll homeward go,
And in your dreams of love great pleasure take.
So do not mourn death, and do not grieve.
The Lord will come for us: This I believe.

Recently I dreamed I talked to you.
You were in the desert, and you said
That I would never want for love, for you
Would love me now until the end of time.

I cannot think that you are wholly gone,
That one day you could simply be no more,
And it should come about that your bright soul
Would vanish like a rainbow in the darkness.

For me it is as if you were away,
Somewhere on a very long vacation.
And though I know you're dead, you do not seem
To be beyond the boundaries of my love.

Our souls do not abide in days or hours
But in a love that never, never ends.
You will be with me till life is over,
Then I with you somewhere beyond the stars.

Typhoon Saomai Whiplash Labuan

Labuan and Sabah experienced strong winds this past few days.It was reported in a local newspaper that, hundreds of rooftops were blown off and trees came crashing down when strong winds - from the tail effects of Typhoon Saomoi - wreaked havoc in Sabah's west coast.

Blowing at speeds of up to 60km/hr, the strong winds hit coastal areas between Labuan island and northern Kudat peninsula at around 7pm on Tuesday. However, no causalities were reported.

Typhoon Saomai

Three different typhoons were spinning over the western Pacific Ocean on August 7, 2006, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this image.

The strongest of the three, Typhoon Saomai, formed in the western Pacific on August 4, 2006, as a tropical depression. Within a day, it had become organized enough to be classified as a tropical storm. While Saomai was strengthening into a storm, another tropical depression formed a few hundred kilometers to the north, and by August 6, it became tropical storm Maria. Typhoon Bopha formed just as Maria reached storm status and became a storm itself on August 7.

One my colleagues car almost crushed by a tree branch that fell off a tree.He parked his car under a shaddy area.Parking under a tree is good to cool off a car on sunny days but it will be very risky when strong winds are blowing.

He was lucky that the car was alright.He vowed to park away from the spot now on.Or else, it will be an expensive cost to repair the dents and replace new front windshield.

Buffalo Tale - Wedding in Kota Kinabalu

I attended my bro-in-law's wedding in KK on 28 July 2006.Dhillon married to Nurafif in Shah Alam a month before that.The wedding in KK was held at Tun Fuad's Hall. It was held for Dhillon's family members.

Although Nurafif is a Muslim, we had to show them what a real Kadazan wedding experience. So, all the sumazau, joget, boozing & what not came out.Nurafif's family had fun and enjoyed the experience of the Kadazan wedding.For the record, non of the Muslims took alcohol for the wedding. Only experienced drinkers took it.

In case I forgot, Dhillon's new name is Danial Shah Tahing Abdullah.At least he did not have to kill a buffalo for his wedding.You see, a bridegroom needs to kill or slaughter a buffalo or more (depends on the status of the bride) to wed a Kadazan girl. Furthermore, no 'SOGIT' was imposed. 'SOGIT' is a sort of penalty in a form of a chicken or money to 'wash away' any bad omens for marrying each other. The Kadazan has the belief that we all came from one grandparent and family members can't marry each other unless a 'SOGIT' is settled. Maybe it is incestous in their culture if no 'SOGIT' is imposed. I did and I know how it feels.

We had dinner with Nurafif's family at Tanjung Aru BB Cafe a night before the wedding ceremony. The Fish head curry is great and it is highly recommended.



My mitsui was dressed up as the 'Wedding Car'.I became the designated driver and had to be sober through out the week.



My mom came too and she spend 4 days in KK.As usual she brought some pearls,gems,sarong and cheap vegetable at Wong Kok's Suppliers Market.That is s Tina with my mom, Dhilon's younger sister. Get your buffalos ready guys if you dare to think of courting her. LOL.

After the wedding, the family had a Post Mortem session. This session has nothing to do with cadavers or dead bodies. It is just pure excuse to get drunk again. We had a few bottles of MArtell cos thats the exclusive drink in KK now. No one wants Red Label, Black Label or Label 5. We had tuna fish, salmon, clams, chciken herbal soup and tenggiri fish as our side dish (locals call them 'PUSAS') So, for those who is interested to marry someone from Sabah, get yourself ready for chokeful of CnH2n+1OH (that's alcohol in English). By the way, you need to pay for the drinks too.Of course, I am the sole dealer in Labuan where you can get RM100 for a bottle of Martell.

Sayonara To Keydam

Sayonara To Keydam

I attended the farewell dinner for my fellow blogger Keydam on Thursday.He spent about 2 months in Labuan before posted back to KL.Anyway, he will be back regularly to Labuan since he operates more from KL.Keydam really misses his son and this is very obvious from the ramblings in his blog here. Well, keydam, we need to jam & hang out if you are in Labuan next time.Blog on, man.

We had Dato' Y, J & the other J humping the lamb chop.

Then we went to shout our lungs out at Tip Top Karaoke.

Keydam, you have to explain what you were doing here if wifey asks. Can't defend you if I am 0ver 2000 kms from KL. Good luck. LOL.

The San Miguel Light were my dinner cos its light. Get it? I know some of my Sarawakian friends will really love to have a swig at the beer. Come over, guys. I know you will have a good time in Labuan.