I GOT YOU EXACTLY WHERE I WANTED YOU TO BE - Quick Note about Get Rich Quick Scheme - by Nik Zafri

I GOT YOU EXACTLY WHERE I WANTED YOU TO BE!

(PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF GET RICH QUICK SCHEMES - HOW THEY BRAINWASH VICTIMS ESPECIALLY WHEN A BIG CELEBRATION IS AROUND THE CORNER)

Everytime a big celebration is around the corner - Hari Raya (Eidulfitr especially), Deepavali, CNY and Christmas, suddenly the Get Rich Quick (GRQ) /Ponzi schemes (PS) will also make their appearances 'big time'. 

Those days - GRQ disguised as MLM, nowadays it's common to see the big words such as "FOREX", "Stock Market" etc. being used to entice potential victims.

The targets are the medium and low income groups who almost have similar thinking patterns.

"I've not enough money or I don't have much money or I don't have any money"

"I prayed or wish to become rich so that I can help others in need, buy new clothes for my family, return to my hometown in nice cars, have so much cash in my pocket, settle all outstanding debts (overheads, bills etc)"

These kind of thinking patterns are exactly what the GRQ/PS is looking for and many of these poor victims started thinking :

a) Wow, I think "my prayers have been answered"

b) Now I am going to be rich

c) Thank you so much Mr. GRQ/PS for helping me, bless you

d) Mr. GRQ/PS, you've made my life happy

Then, the poor victims started to invest money/savings into the GRQ/PS accounts. They get their 'minimal return' after a week or so (which is actually taken from their own money), and they start to invest more.

What surprises me most is that, people can be blinded easily - many purposely ignore to check the validity of such schemes even if they feel "something is not right", they purposely do not want to read other people's experience being swindled. (positive thinking in the wrong way)

All they say is "I want to be rich....I don't care how...I'm desperate...who are you to tell me?"

While you still have time....Sementara masa masih ada...

BINTANG DAN KUMAN

Dari cermin kapalterbang,
aku menjengah ke bawah dan
tidak seorang pun kelihatan
tiada orang besar, tiada orang hebat,
tiada ego, tiada diskriminasi, 
tiada orang marah...
LANGSUNG TAK NAMPAK!

Di angkasalepas,
apabila aku lihat dari bumi
jelas ribuan bintang berkilauan,
dapat dilihat walau jutaan batu jauhnya

Manusia sekarang memilih
untuk menjadi KUMAN 
yang tak dapat dilihat pun
dari cermin kapalterbang
walau banyak sekalipun  
tetap tidak nampak

Jadilah BINTANG, 
bertebaran di angkasa,
berkilauan indah
semakin banyak, semakin cantik.

Sombong, besar diri,
Rasa diri sudah cukup hebat
Sifat membeza sesama insan
semuanya itu hanyalah KUMAN semata-mata
malah MENYAKITKAN ORANG LAIN PULA
yang mendekatinya

Jaga Maruah, Merendah diri,
terus belajar,
tiada beza antara kita
semuanya itu sifat BINTANG
yang bersinar
yang boleh dilihat dari bumi
malah BOLEH MEMBERIKAN PANDUAN 
PADA ORANG LAIN PULA 
untuk mencari jalan pulang...

(Nik Zafri)

Enormous Tubes Of Plasma Floating Above The Earth

Source : http://www.iflscience.com

Student Confirms That There Are Enormous Tubes Of Plasma Floating Above The Earth
June 3, 2015 | by Stephen Luntz

This is an artist's impression of tubular plasma structures in the Earth's magnetosphere, 600 kilometres above the ground. Credit: CAASTRO/Mats Bjorkland

(photo credit source : http://www.sciencedaily.com/

A 60-year-old theory about the structure of the magnetic fields that surround Earth has been confirmed directly for the first time. The lead author of the paper is an undergraduate student who invented a way to view the Earth's magnetosphere in three dimensions.

The sun emits a constant stream of charged particles that's supplemented by cosmic rays from sources such as supernovae. As these particles approach Earth, their path is altered by the Earth's magnetic field, which deflects some and funnels others towards the poles, leading to displays such as aurora.

This region, known as the magnetosphere, includes the ionosphere and plasmasphere as its inner layers. These distinctions aside, we don't know all that much about the structure of these regions.

A better understanding would be useful because the ionosphere interferes with satellite navigation systems and the images received by radio telescopes. During her honors project at the University of Sydney, Cleo Loi realized she could use the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) radio telescope to probe these regions in a way that had never been done before, leading to a paper in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. 

The MWA is a forerunner of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), soon to transform radio astronomy. It consists of 128 antennae spread over three kilometers (almost two miles). Loi suggested that by splitting the observations between those from the eastern and western ends of the array, she would achieve something equivalent to binocular vision, allowing us to see in three dimensions.

For the MWA's usual astronomical work, a three-kilometer baseline does not give the parallax required to see in-depth, but the situation is very different when we are looking close to the Earth.

Loi detected a series of high and low density plasma tubes connecting the ionosphere and plasmasphere running in parallel to the magnetic field. "We measured their position to be about 600 kilometres [373 miles] above the ground, in the upper ionosphere, and they appear to be continuing upwards into the plasmasphere. This is around where the neutral atmosphere ends, and we are transitioning to the plasma of outer space," Loi said. The tubes move slowly with time, so telescopes experience changing interference effects.

Loi told IFLScience that while some limited probing has been done on the ionosphere with other radio telescopes such as the Very Large Array, no one to her knowledge has applied parallax to the problem previously.

“People theorized something like this from observations of a type of very low frequency electromagnetic wave. We can detect lightning from another hemisphere and people concluded there must be plasma tubes guiding the signal,” says Loi. “It's a very indirect conclusion, and no one had much idea what these tubes were like.”

Loi says she was amazed at how many tubes the MWA's enormous 30° field revealed. “There are no plans to use the SKA for studying the ionosphere, but I am hoping with publicity about this work to change that,” she says.

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Source : http://www.sciencedaily.com/

Seeing tubular plasma structures in inner layers of magnetosphere surrounding Earth
Date: June 1, 2015    Source:   University of Sydney

Summary:

Astronomers have creatively used a radio telescope to see in 3-D, allowing them to detect the existence of tubular plasma structures in the inner layers of the magnetosphere surrounding the Earth. By creatively using a radio telescope to see in 3D, astronomers have detected the existence of tubular plasma structures in the inner layers of the magnetosphere surrounding Earth.

"For over 60 years, scientists believed these structures existed but by imaging them for the first time, we've provided visual evidence that they are really there," said Cleo Loi of the ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO) and School of Physics at the University of Sydney in Australia.

Ms Loi is the lead author on this research, undertaken as part of her award-winning undergraduate thesis and recently published in Geophysical Research Letters. In collaboration with international colleagues, she identified the structures.

"The discovery of the structures is important because they cause unwanted signal distortions that could, as one example, affect our civilian and military satellite-based navigation systems. So we need to understand them," Ms Loi said.

The region of space around Earth occupied by its magnetic field, called the magnetosphere, is filled with plasma that is created by the atmosphere being ionised by sunlight.

The innermost layer of the magnetosphere is the ionosphere, and above that is the plasmasphere. They are embedded with a variety of strangely shaped plasma structures including, as has now been revealed, the tubes.

"We measured their position to be about 600 kilometres above the ground, in the upper ionosphere, and they appear to be continuing upwards into the plasmasphere. This is around where the neutral atmosphere ends, and we are transitioning to the plasma of outer space," explained Ms Loi.

Using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), a radio telescope located in the Western Australian desert, Ms Loi found that she could map large patches of the sky and even exploit the MWA's rapid snapshot capabilities to create a movie -- effectively capturing the real-time motions of the plasma.

"We saw a striking pattern in the sky where stripes of high-density plasma neatly alternated with stripes of low-density plasma. This pattern drifted slowly and aligned beautifully with the Earth's magnetic field lines, like aurorae," Ms Loi said.

"We realised we may be onto something big and things got even better when we invented a new way of using the MWA."

The MWA consists of 128 antenna 'tiles' spread over an area roughly three by three kilometres that work together as one instrument -- but by separating the signals from tiles in the east from the ones in the west, the astronomers gave the MWA the power to see in 3D.

"This is like turning the telescope into a pair of eyes, and by that we were able to probe the 3D nature of these structures and watch them move around," said Ms Loi.

"We were able to measure the spacing between them, their height above the ground and their steep inclination. This has never been possible before and is a very exciting new technique."

This ability adds yet another accolade to the MWA's name after it had already proven its worth as a powerful precursor instrument to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), and now the MWA's 3D vision has the potential to provide many more in-depth analyses of the formation of plasma structures.

"It is to Cleo's great credit that she not only discovered this but also convinced the rest of the scientific community. As an undergraduate student with no prior background in this, that is an impressive achievement," said Ms Loi's supervisor Dr Tara Murphy, also of CAASTRO and School of Physics at the University of Sydney.

"When they first saw the data, many of her senior collaborators thought the results were literally 'too good to be true' and that the observation process had somehow corrupted the findings, but over the next few months, Cleo managed to convince them that they were both real and scientifically interesting."

VENDOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY) - BY NIK ZAFRI

RM9bn Light Rail Transit Line 3 (LRT3) - All eyes for the next PDP

Excerpt from the Star

Group managing director Azmi Abdul Aziz said they had identified the corridors for land acquisition.

“We have allocated a certain amount for the acquisition but it is not part of the RM9bil project cost.

“The allocation will come from Prasarana,” he added.

LRT 3 will span 36km with 2km running underground across 25 stations from Bandar Utama to Johan Setia, Klang.

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2016 and will be completed by 2020.

The line is expected to connect the Western Corridor of the Klang Valley to Kuala Lumpur city centre – a route that is currently only being serviced by KTM Komuter.

Azmi also said they were planning to turn the station at Stadium Shah Alam into a main station and a major shopping hub.

“We are also looking at bringing the Klang KTM station closer to the LRT 3 line so transfers will be easier,” he added.

LRT 3 will be integrated with existing and future public transport networks at four stations including One Utama with MRT Sungai Buloh–Kajang Line, Station 3 with the Kelana Jaya Line, SIRIM with BRT Kuala Lumpur–Klang and Klang Town with KTM Komuter.

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THE INTRIGUING CONCEPT OF THE PROJECT DELIVERY PARTNER IN RAIL TRANSIT PROJECTS – A QUICK ANALYSIS BY NIK ZAFRI

Project Delivery Partner (PDP) is now becoming a trendy concept in United Kingdom, Malaysia and some other countries especially in the management and construction of Rail Transit Projects. (Project Owners - Crossrail Ltd UK (Bechtel, Halcrow & Systra) MRT Corp Malaysia(MMC-Gamuda KVMRT)

Under the PDP model, the Project Owner passes the delivery risks (specifications, cost/project budget (all borned by PDP), time and quality) of the project to the appointed PDP.

This way, the Project Owner could reduce the risks of late completion and cost overrun. It is to ensure maximum spread via competitive bidding, equal and fair distribution of construction work packages. The Project Owner; however; will still maintain a certain degree of control on delivery,  supervising project progress, acquisitions of lands and award of tenders.

In the organizational relationship chart, the Project Owner will be on the top (advised by an Independent Consulting Engineers (ICE), followed by PDP,  the 3^rd Layer is the Supervising Consultants (SC) and finally Work Package Contractors (WPC)

At one glance, it looks fine – as if the PDP is handling similar roles as 'Project Managers' or 'Project Management Consultant (PMC)' with Supervising Consultants to help them out especially on the Design. 

The Work Package Contractors are the 'Constructors' based on the ‘Conventional’ mode rather than the traditional ‘Design and Build’

What intrigues me; in practice; is that the PDP can also function as the lead contractor – in some cases; as if; they can hold two positions simultaneously – “the project managers” and “the contractor”. It crosses my mind of the possibility of ‘conflict of interest’ here – e.g. like in the case of "a certification body and an accreditation body ‘working under the same roof’.

Another issue is - as if there appear to be a ‘shared responsibility’ between the Project Owner, PDP and Supervising Consultants (SC) on issues of alignment options and review, preparations and submissions for the railway scheme, public display, land acquisition, engineering design, tender, construction and supervision, as well as testing and commissioning for safe railway operations.

In some way, there is also the potential of "overlapping duties and responsibilities" in the ‘Trilogy’ (Who to do ‘what’ actually). 

If I am right as a ‘civilian’, then some complications may arise:

a)      If the Project Owners passing all the ‘risks’ to PDP, would that include the ‘responsibility of owners’ spelled out in the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994/Construction Guidelines on Safety and Health?

b)      Should a PDP have the ‘mindset of Contractors’ in managing projects? Or should they should act as the 'Client’s (Project Owner’s) representatives' and be firm and stick to ‘managing/overseeing projects’ while the WPC will do the rest? (construction) Just for ‘impartiality’ sake…

c)       If a ‘Contractor’ is to be appointed to become the PDP – do they have enough experience and skills in Project Management in the past or they can be 'upgraded' there and then?

d)      Assuming PDP being a contractor in another capacity, would the PDP be allowed to construct a segment of the same project whilst managing the overall project in another capacity? If they do, then who will become the PDP and SC to them? Will that do justice for the WPC? 

e)      The SC is another group of professional engineers assuming the role to assist and advise the PDP mostly on technical matters such as Civil and Structure, Building and Mechanical/Electrical (etc) – e.g. related to design (and approval?), construction related drawings, load and integrity, WPC’s Inspection and Test,  Method Statement etc. (not to be mistaken with Independent Consulting Engineers who are with the Project Owners)

f)       The WPC; (a.k.a. Main Contractor) - in Malaysia – mostly are ‘G7’ and a ‘must-be’ ISO 9000 certificated contractor. The construction principles are usually based on their respective ‘Corporate HQ QMS’.  

    Would the PDP request the WPC to have another set of ‘customized site-based (project-specific)’ procedures and project quality plan (is it spelled out in the Contract?) or whatever that the WPC is using is sufficient? or PDP/SC will provide them with the right formats?

Another issue is the submission of Method Statement/Job Safety Analysis by the WPC – must the WPC hire a professional engineer just to do the Construction/Trade Method Statement to be submitted, reviewed by another Professional Engineer in SC and finally approved by PDP? Will that be at the cost of the WPC?

g)      If the PDP is a JV, why not the JV itself work towards the certification of ISO 9000 (and OHSAS 18000 + EMS ISO 14000) just for the duration of the mega project they are managing/overseeing. Or perhaps adopting a certified Integrated Management System (IMS) – rather than one JV partner is already certified separately as one entity and the other JV partner is also certified as another entity (definitely two different systems). Sometimes, this also potentially create some ‘confusion’ as well. If the JV itself is certified, it must be a QMS that is 'tailor-made' to the project itself.

Whatever the answers would be, the PDP is likely to be penalized in the end and potentially end up bearing a hefty cost should the project fails or late delivery (which I think the LAD will be imposed by the Project Owner and probably the PDP will probably imposes another LAD to WPC)

I would also like to suggest ‘some 2 sens’ worth of improvement - in order to avoid overlapping of duties (unless there is NO overlapping - then I'm really sorry), besides assuming the prevailing functions as the Project Owners, PDP, SC and WPC.

Why not counter-refer to the ‘good ol’ PWD 203A (Standard Form of Contract) where in this case – the Project Owners appoints PDP as the SO (Superintending Officers) and PDP appoints the SC to become SORs (Superintending Officers Representatives).

After all, PWD203A is ‘very clear’ on this issue – roles of SO, SORs and even the Contractor’s (WPC) obligations on the matter.

I am unsure if this suggestion can assist the PDP to have a clearer guidelines but I do know PWD203A are widely used by most construction consortiums in Malaysia and the guide has been proven in terms of its effectiveness. Or perhaps PDP should have their very own “PWD203A”.

Yes, my humble (non-professional) suggestions should be seen as opportunities for future continual improvement and not to be taken as 'criticisms'.

IMAGES

TEKANAN JIWA BOLEH MELANDA SESIAPA SAHAJA - Nik Zafri berkongsi pengalaman

Tekanan jiwa boleh melanda sesiapa sahaja tidak kira usia, bangsa dan keturunan.

Seseorang yang mengalami tekanan jiwa kadangkala perawakan luarannya seperti orang yang normal tetapi pandai menyembunyikan masalah jiwa yang sangat berat dalam hatinya.

Ada yang sampai menyangka masalah seperti ini akan ‘pergi begitu sahaja’.

Mengikut pengalaman saya, antara tanda-tanda tekanan jiwa ialah :

1) Terlalu kerap berbicara mengenai sesuatu kejayaan sendiri yang telah lama berlalu. Biasanya 'kisah kejayaan sendiri' ini terbit semasa seseorang itu mengalami kesempitan hidup.

Orang seperti ini akan ‘beralih’ dari satu kawan ke satu kawan yang lain – akhirnya kitaran cerita yang sama akan didengari berulang-kali oleh kawan-kawan yang pernah mendengar kisah berkenaan.

Seorang kawan yang baik biasanya akan berdiam diri kerana tidak mahu memalukan rakannya itu.

Bagi saya, ianya satu sikap yang kurang tepat. Wajarnya seorang rakan yang baik itulah yang perlu menegur secara ‘perlahan-lahan’ dan berperingkat-peringkat supaya rakannya yang terkena 'tekanan jiwa' itu sedar akan REALITI di sekelilingnya dan meneruskan kehidupan.

2) Telah berusaha keras tetapi gagal mencapai kejayaan yang diidam-idamkan – yang mungkin mampu mengubah kehidupannya.

Maka orang ini ada yang gagal keluar dari dunia kegagalannya atau tidak akan mengaku bahawa dia sudah gagal kerana masih menyangka dia akan berjaya.

Berlakulah ‘waiting’ game’ (penantian) dalam tempoh yang sangat panjang. Akhirnya orang ini akan memberitahu kawan-kawannya yang lain bahawa ‘dia telah berjaya’.

Sindrom yang mirip kepada kisah di atas ialah - manusia yang kecewa kerana gagal dalam mencapai cita-citanya kerana kesilapannya sendiri.

Manusia seperti ini tiada pendirian tetap – semuanya nampak  ‘tidak betul’ bagi mereka - tetapi hakikatnya mereka sendiri tidak ada matlamat hidup.

Apabila ada rakan mereka yang mula menunjukkan tanda kejayaan, mereka memberikan sejuta alasan yang menakutkan supaya rakan ini jauhkan diri dari kemenangan.

Manusia kecewa ini mempunyai sifat dengki (walaupun tidak diakuinya) dengan kejayaan mereka dan mahu rakan mereka 'jadi seperti mereka' - kecewa dan pemalas.

(Jika anda melihat ketam di dalam lubang pasir di tepi pantai, anda akan terlihat jika ada rakan ketamnya ingin keluar dari lubang pasir berkenaan, ketam di bawahnya akan menarik rakannya supaya tertimbus ke dalam lubang pasir berkenaan. Inilah analogi kepada manusia yang kecewa ini - tidak mahu rakan lain 'naik ke atas' dan menariknya kembali supaya tertimbus bersamanya) 

3) Kenangan lalu seperti dipukul, didera, dibuli atau lain-lain trauma yang menyakitkan. Tubuh badan yang dipukul, didera dan dibuli mungkin dapat dipulihkan dengan cepat tetapi apa yang lebih menyakitkan adalah perasaan dan hati mangsa berkenaan yang tidak dikendalikan dengan cara yang betul.

Tanda penyakit jiwa pada dirinya ialah antara lain : untuk 'menghilangkan trauma' berkenaan, dia akan ‘mencipta’ kisah lalu secara kontra bagi ‘menyedapkan’ hatinya – contohnya dialah yang sebenarnya memukul, membuli, mendera dll. (hakikatnya dia tidak mahu mengaku bahawa dialah sebenarnya yang dipukul, didera dan dibuli)

4) Terdapat unsur ‘rejection’ (penolakan, penafian) dalam sesuatu harapan atau permohonan. Ini biasanya berlaku bagi seseorang yang terlalu fanatik/taksub terhadap seseorang idolanya.

Dia akan ‘mencipta ilusi’ seolah-olah dia ada ‘hubungan yang akrab’ dengan idolanya itu. Lalu dia akan meyakinkan dirinya sendiri bahawa ‘idolanya itu adalah ‘perfect’ (sempurna) mengikut imaginasinya sendiri. Dia juga akan 'gembira' dapat ‘hidup dalam alam khayalan’ bersama idolanya.

Hinggalah pada suatu ketika, dia mendapati idolanya tidak seperti dia sangkakan atau idolanya tidak melayaninya (seperti dalam alam khayalannya), maka dia akan memberontak, memfitnah dan mengganggu idolanya itu.

Kes-kes seperti ini berlaku dalam salah faham mengenai sesuatu hubungan baik yang disangka suatu percintaan, minat terhadap seseorang artis yang berlebih-lebihan, terlalu taksub kepada seseorang pemimpin agama atau sesuatu ajaran atau taksub terhadap bomoh/dukun dll.

ROHINGYAS JUST NEED PROPER SETTLEMENT - NIK ZAFRI

HALYCON DAYS - STORIES BY LEONG SIOK HUI (The Star)

A stone’s throw away from Kota Baru in Kelantan is Pasir Belanda Resort — a charming place that allows a glimpse into kampung living.

Someone once said: “Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.”

Well, we certainly saw loads of “sunshine” during our two-day stay in Pasir Belanda Resort, Kelantan.

Pasir Belanda Resort, comprising a cluster of traditional wooden houses, sits on the banks of Sungai Pengkalan Chepa in Kg Banggol, a 15-minute drive from Kota Baru.

But Pasir isn’t your typical resort where you laze by the pool and sink into a comatose state under the glaring sun.

As the Dutch owners Harry and Annemeike Mulder envisaged it, guests come to Pasir to savour an idyllic kampung stay, soak up Kelantan’s rich cultural heritage and mingle with the amicable villagers.

A whirlwind visit

The Star photographer Azman Ghani and I got our first dose of “sunshine” on the morning of our arrival.

As we sauntered around Kg Banggol looking for a warung to get a bite, locals on motorbikes flashed their smiles, kids waved and yelled hellos and a pakcik even stopped to offer us a ride in his van.

It helps that the resort opens its doors to the villagers. Local kids drop by to play on the swing and seesaw. The compound faces the main road that cuts through the village.

At Pasir, scarlet heliconias bloom on the grassy lawn while leafy palms, frangipani and coconut trees lend a tranquil ambience.

An idyllic scene as seen from Sungai Pengkalan Chepa.

A wakaf (rest pavilion) sits in the garden where guests can loll about.

The Mulders and their two kids, Jesse, 9 and Abel, 4, live in a 40-year-old, three-bedroom kampung house on the resort grounds.

Like the main house, the guest chalets sport distinctive Malay architecture with singhorra(terracotta) tiles, steep-tiered roofs with curved gable ends and sunbeam motifs on the roof. The sunbeam symbolises the beginning and the end of a day.

Harry was lucky to find a talented local carpenter, Pak Suji, to build the chalets from meranti wood.

Each chalet comes with a veranda where you can plonk yourself on a deck chair, get lost in a good book or just watch the world go by.

The rooms come equipped with twin or double beds, hot shower, air-conditioning, TV and tea and coffee-making facilities. The resort can accommodate up to 20 guests.

One of the best spots in Pasir is its jetty hut perched on the river bank. Guests can tuck into a breakfast of homemade bread served with jam and butter and fried eggs there, while indulging in bird-watching or gazing at a perahu gliding by.

Pak Soh showing the colourful wayang puppets he fashioned out of cowhide.

The Mulders’ good friend, Penang-based David Bakewell, finds the jetty an ideal spot to observe kingfishers, bitterns hunting for fish and the munias feeding on seedheads.

“I’ve also watched woodpeckers, orioles and malkohas feeding in the trees next to the jetty,” says David, an avid birdwatcher and photographer. Across the river, pond heron and mynas feed in the marshy areas, and the occasional rainbow-coloured bee-eater whizzes past.

But on our visit, the jetty was being rebuilt since it had collapsed during a monsoon in December.

Kak Yah, the neighbour

Other than breakfast, the resort doesn’t serve any other meal but Harry encourages his guests to dine at his neighbour’s.

Robayah Hassan, or better known as Kak Yah, whips up scrumptious lunches or dinners upon request. Guests who want to learn to cook Kelantan delicacies can also sign up for her cooking class.

Kak Yah’s husband used to trade textiles in Sarawak. Homemaker and mother of seven, Kak Yah, 51, cooks for wedding kenduri in the village to earn extra income. Nowadays, the regular stream of Pasir guests hankering for her cooking keep her busy.

Azman and I found out why when we requested for the “Special” package, the RM25 per person dinner. The sumptuous spread of Kelantan specialties was mind-boggling.

We had solok (fish blended with onions, shallots, ginger and grated young coconut stuffed into oversized green chillies and steamed), ikan percik, homemade acar, chicken curry with spices, pucuk ubi with sambal belacan and budu (fermented anchovy sauce) and stir-fried pucuk paku (ferns) with omelette.

batik-painting workshop for Pasir Belanda guests.

A local dessert called butih nangka, was a first for us. Little balls of glutinous rice flour are served with coconut milk, spiced with fenugreek, ginger and fragrant pandan leaves.

“Old folks believe that butih nangka helps release the wind in your body,” explains Kak Yah.

As we savoured dessert, she showed us a bunch of postcards and letters from the US, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe, raving about her cooking and congeniality.

Kelantan’s rich heritage

The next day, armed with Harry’s detailed map, we hopped onto the resort’s bicycles to explore the nearby villages. Our first stop was a kite-maker’s place on Pantai Cahaya Bulan (PCB) road.

His shop — which is more a wooden shack — was so unassuming that we almost flew past. But inside, a dazzling array of wau (kites) in different shapes, colours and sizes hung from the ceiling.

In one corner, a small and wiry man was bent over his kite, busy putting on the finishing touches.

Sapie Yusof, 61, has been fashioning kites from buluh duri (bamboo) frames and paper for 36 years. His kites cost between RM30 and RM11,000. Sapie actively takes part in various kite competitions around Malaysia.

Though Sapie was finishing up his kites for the Pasir Gudang International Kite Festival which was in a few weeks’ time, he obliged us with a chat.

Sapie’s wau shop is a modest shack filled with colourful and impressive kites.

A short five-minute ride from Sapie’s shop is a keropok (fish cracker) factory in Kg Kedai Buloh.

Engku Noraini Yaacob, 49, and her husband run a small cottage industry churning out keropok lekor and dry fish crackers for the local market. When we dropped by, the factory was idle due to the shortage of fish supply because of the rainy season.

Engku Noraini dished out some tips on how to choose tasty crackers. Tamban fish (Sardinella albella) is the best and a good keropok lekor (chockful of fish and not flour) shouldn’t be oily when fried.

The usual self-guided bicycle tour includes hopping on a ferry to Kg Laut and dropping by a well-known Tok Dalang’s (master puppeteer) panggung (theatre) cum workshop.

Yusoff Mamat or Pak Soh has been playing wayang kulit (shadow puppets) since he was nine.

At the workshop, visitors learn how the puppets are created from cowhide and how the Tok Dalang brings the puppets to life via characters from the Ramayana epic.

Aside from performing nationwide, Pak Soh, 59, has also travelled to Tokyo, South Africa and Indonesia to showcase his traditional art.

Engku Noraini Yaacob runs a keropok factory near Pantai Cahaya Bulan. — AZMAN GHANI/The Star

Our final stopover was at a batik “factory” run by Zahari Haji Daud.

A 10-minute stroll from Pasir Belanda, the shop — housed in a wooden shed — produces good quality hand-drawn batik priced from RM100 and above. 

At Zahari’s, visitors can also sign up for a batik-drawing workshop.

Dutch tourists Hendrik Jan de Ru, 60, and his wife, Anke Noorts, 53, took the same bicycle tour as us the day before.

“Staying at Pasir and in the village really stimulates your senses — different smells, sounds and sights and easy contact with friendly people,” says Hendrik.

“Places like Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur are beautiful but they’re too touristy. What we like is the feeling of authenticity, a real village with real people.”

Yes, for urban Malaysians like us, we too relish the down-to-earth village folks with their copious amounts of “sunshine” living in the heart of Kelantan.

Making a home in Kelantan

Pasir Belanda opened its doors to its first guests at the end of 2005.

Owners Harry and Annemeike Mulder from the Netherlands wanted to live outside Holland for a while and decided on Malaysia.

“I first came to Malaysia in 1989 for a six-month internship. During my travels around the country, I found that I liked Kelantan best. I told myself I would bring my future wife to see this beautiful place,” says Harry, 40, a former mechanical engineer.

The couple settled in Penang in 2003 because they had friends there and started a travel agency to bring Dutch tourists over. It took two exhaustive years before they found their dream house in Kelantan.

The house was built in 1969 by an Englishman, Datuk Howard Foster Biles (1916-2003). Biles came to then Malaya as a marine officer in World War II and was later appointed the Protector for the Orang Asli in Kelantan and Pahang.

After he retired in ’69, he became the supervisor of the Kelantan Royal Household. Today, the Mulders lease the house and land from the home’s Malay owner.

“There’s something special about it,” gushes Annemeike, 40. “It’s a wooden kampung house on stilts. It has a great view, breeze and nice neighbours. 

Since we liked it, we thought others might like it too.”

The couple’s son, Abel, 4, was born in Kelantan and today, the family has blended in comfortably with kampung life. The children attend international school in Kota Baru. Harry and Annemeike speak Malay with a Kelantanese dialect and share a great camaraderie with their neighbours. A primary schoolteacher in Holland, Annemieke now teaches English to the local kids whenever they request a class.

What are the Mulders’ long-term plan?

“We just live day by day, year by year,” Annemeike chuckles.

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(Nik Zafri's comments "Sometimes I wonder, is it a coincidence that they name this place "Pasir Belanda" (Dutch Sand) and the Mulders are from Netherlands?")