PERAK YOUTH FRIENDSHIP TOUR - KUNMING, YUNNAN

Day 1 (17 Aug. 2009)

Today is the first day the Perak youth delegation in Kunming. With the assistance from the Malaysia Consulate General in Kunming, 3 official meetings were arranged.

Meeting with CPC Kunming

The first meeting was at 9.30 a.m. with Ms Zhang HongPing, Member of the Communist Party of China Standing Committee, Yunnan Province and Director-General of Department of Publicity, CPC Kunming Committee. The Perak youth was represented by Hang Tuah Din, Ng Kah Choong, Ahmad Ansor, Pervaiz Akhtar, Mohd. Abdul Aziz, Ahmad Taufik, Halim, Tan Wee Tion, Hajjah Faridah and A. Sabramani. Tuan Ruseli Abdul, the Consulate General accompany the delegation. The Secretary General of the Yunnan Youth Federation, Ms Cai JiaYu and the Secretary General of the Kunming Youth Union, Ms Meng Jie were with the Chinese party. Ms Rose Li from Malaysia Consulate office acted as the translator for Perak youth. The meeting lasted about 30 minutes.

The Kunming Youth and Children Activities Centre

Showing the centre

The swimming pool in the centre

The Perak youth delegates later tour the Kunming Youth and Children Activities Centre. Ms Gloria was the translator for the centre. The centre consist of 2 auditoriums, an Olympic size swimming pool, an art gallery and a few training centres. There is a folk dance centre where children were trained. They performed for the delegates; later the delegates joined the children to dance. The delegates also been given a chance to do arts i.e. drawing on a "hu lu". It is a nice experience although it is simple. I have drawn one for my lovely wife! We spent about 2 hours touring the centres.

The children dancers

The tae kwan do class

Our art work

After lunch, the delegates left to New Asia Sports City. It is a new township developed by the Shinning Star [Xingyao] Group. The Group Chairman is Mr Yan Yu who is the Kunming Youth Union Vice Chairman. The Group use 4 years to complete 4 phases of residential and commercial areas. The Group also built a sports complex which consist of a 20,000 capacity football stadium and indoor games i.e. squash, badminton, ping-pong, futsal, basketball etc. There is a 5,000 capacity multi-purpose hall too. The delegates was told that there was a concert by the latest Chinese idol last Saturday. The delegates tour the sports town by buggy.

Visit New Asia Sports City Complex

Prior to that, there is an introduction of Xingyao Group by Mr Yan Yu and a meeting with the Yunnan Youth Federation Chairman, Mr Lu Ping. We spent the whole evening in this impressive township. Xingyao Group currently in progress of developing the "Little World" project in Tianjin. It is a futuristic project!

Before the delegation left for New Asia Sports City, the Consulate General brought the delegation to Lake Dian. It is the largest lake in Yunnan Province and the water source for Kunming. It is believe that Cheng Ho learned sailing in this lake.

En. Azmi, the Immigration Attache in Consulate General office shown us verbally to a Muslim restaurant nearby Sakura Hotel. Everybody were in the lobby by 7 p.m. We intended to walk to the restaurant as I was told that the restaurant is very near. Frankly, I remembered En. Azmi said that just walk straight turn cross the road, the third lane.

However, Taufik told me that walk straight and turn right. I taught he knows the place as he is confident. We walked about 20 minutes, I felt amused as the route we took was the way Ansor and I walked last night! Rashid told me to keep quite and lets walk. He said he know the way. We walked about an hour, can't find the restaurant. A. Subramani started to crumbled and the rest of the delegates already tired sitting by the roadside.

I asked a few people, they shown me directions. Just followed as they told. Later on we reached the Tuadong Sports Complex which is visible from the hotel. A couple said just walked straight, the restaurant is just across the road. We walked. Later I asked another couple and they leads us to the restaurant as they are going to the same direction. We reached the restaurant at about 9 p.m. Almost 2 hours walk. The restaurant is just across the hotel!

Well, it is a good experience .... walk to see Kunming at night! Deep in my heart, I guessed all the delegates were cursing me!

PERAK YOUTH FRIENDSHIP TOUR - KUNMING, YUNNAN

The Perak Youth Friendship Tour to Kunming, Yunnan was on 16 - 19 August, 2009. These are the dates available as my Muslim friends will be fasting from 22 August onwards. All done! Ticket booked! Lodging done! Visa applied! 25 youth leaders from varies races participated.

The delegation departed from Kompleks Belia dan Sukan Negeri Perak at 1 a.m. on 16 August heading towards KLIA. Our group arrived in KLIA at about 5 a.m. The check in time was 6 a.m. Some delegates took the opportunity to change the local currency to RMB. This will be a shopping trip!

The flight schedule to depart from KLIA at 7.50 a.m. to Bangkok. There are many groups flying with Thai Airways on that day. We have to wait for more than 1 hour to check in although 3 group check-in counters were open.

Flight TG420 left KLIA for Bangkok in Boeing 777 sharp on time. Arrival in Swarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok was at 9.00 a.m. The connecting flight to Kunming was at 10.50 a.m (local time). Since it was about 2 hour transit, the delegation took the opportunity to walk around Swarnabhumi Airport. Goooshhhhh! This is the first time the delegation arrived in this airport. It is a huge airport. We shall check in at about 10.20 a.m. without knowing that the departure gate is far away from our arrival gate. I guess about 3 km!

Ansor and I arrived at the departure gate at about 10 a.m. Upon reaching the departure gate, Hajjah Faridah and her husband, Mejar (R) Amiruddin were checking in. About 30 minutes later, Hang Tuah Din and a few of the delegates arrived. We waited for the others till the last call time. The group arrived earlier had already check into the plane. A few minutes later a few turns up. The flight time was due, 3 passengers were not check in yet. These are from our group. 10 minutes after due time, the 3 musketeers turns up! The flight was delayed by about 20 minutes.

What ashamed to the delegation! However, the captain apologise to all the passengers on the delay which was caused by us.

Flight TG 612 landed in Kunming via Airbus A300 at about 2.40 p.m. The passengers have to filled up a health declaration form issued by the Chinese authority. Passengers are allowed to leave the flight 15 minutes later. There is a huge crowd in the immigration and quarantine counters.

The Consulate General officers already there to welcome us i.e. En. Shamrizal, Vice Consul and En. Zaman.

The delegation arrived to Sakura Hotel at about 4.00 p.m. All delegates agreed to check into the hotel and rest. Dinner will be at 6 p.m. hosted by the Consulate General in Little Duck, a Muslim restaurant. The delegation shall leave to the restaurant by 5.45 p.m.

Dinner in Littel Duck Restaurant

Local cuisine

The delegation went for the famous Dynamic Yunnan show after dinner. The entrance fee is RMB90. The Dynamic Yunnan is a project of the China National Classic Stage Arts. It is a grand primitive song and dance medley. The dancers, choreographer, music and stage are excellence! The show revealed the ethnic songs and dances collide with exquisiteness and novelty of modern art concepts.

Me with a performer complete with local custom

Every delegate enjoy the show although most of us are very tired.

SUNGAI SIPUT COMMUNITY SPORTS CARNIVAL

The VIPs'

Kelab Sukan Komuniti Jalong [Jalong Community Sports Club] - KSK Jalong and Kelab Rekreasi Melayu Sungai Siput [Sungai Siput Malays Recreation Club] - KRM have jointly organised the 2009 Sungai Siput Community Sports Carnival on 1 -2 August, 2009. 4 sports were played i.e. football, net ball, sepak takraw and volley ball.

Volley ball

KSK Jalong take charged of net ball, volleyball and sepak takraw while KRM on football. Footbal was played in Padang MPKK, Sungai Buloh on 1 - 2 August. Volley ball was played in Sungai Siput Community Sports Complex on 1 August. Netball and sepak takraw on 2 Aug in Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Siput and Sungai Siput Community Sports Complex respectively.

Netball

The "orang asli" netball team

700 sportsmen and women from varies race age 15 above took part. This carnival only open for those who stay and work in Sungai Siput. Participating teams divided into 2 groups i.e. Jalong and Lintang. The prize money is RM1,000, RM700, RM500 and RM300 for football, netball and volley ball while sepak takraw is RM500, RM300, RM200 and RM100. No entrance fees.

This year a few "orang asli" teams took part in the carnival. Their participating is beyond expectation. This is a truly Malaysian community sports carnival with multi racial participation!

Fitness test

As part of KSK Jalong plan to promote fitness and healthly lifestyle to the community, a fitness test was held with the cooperation from Persatuan Kecergasan Daerah Kuala Kangsar. This is to test an individual fitness comparable with their age. The respond is good. Sportsmen and women and public took the test tough the results were not encouraging.

Sepak takraw

As the chairman of KSK Jalong and coordinator for this Carnival, I am proud with the commitment shown by the committee members and volunteers. They did an excellent job to made this Carnival a success. The participation from varies races is the prove of the success!

HORNBILL

I have been to Pangkor Island many many times since schooling days. I have camped there numerous times. My familiar places are Pasir Bogak, Teluk Nipah and Teluk Ketapang. These are beautiful sandy beaches. The other beaches are Emerald Bay in Pangkor Laut and Golden Sand Beach (now Pansea).

I notice that there are many HORN BILL in the island during my recent stay in Teluk Nipah. There are also many types of colourful birds too!

An old man in Teluk Nipah says that he started feeding the horn bill 6 years ago. At that time, there are not many horn bill. He feed the bird with local fruits. He himself notice that the number of horn bill has been growing day by day. His feeding time is around 6:30 pm daily. There are around 80 birds waiting to be feed at this time. The bird hang on electric cable and trees.

Although the horn bill in Pangkor is not as beautiful as the Sarawak horn bill but at least there are horn bill in Perak. The other place where horn bill can be seen in Perak is Belum.

My curious 9 years old daughter took a few pictures of it.

The sunset from Teluk Nipah is beautiful too. I have a few pictures of it 20 years back while I was camping here. My camping site has become a seaside store now!