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As much as I would love to recommend Koh Lipe as a “heavenly hideaway” to everyone, I have to give a word of caution to mindful Muslims about the innumerable dogs there. As a matter of fact, at one point, I was made to believe that they outnumbered the human population! I know this would be an issue to Muslims going there to have a nice holiday because dogs are at every nook and corner in this small island and other islands nearby.
Fret not, these dogs are generally harmless. …

What do you have in Orlando?

Walt Disney World.
Universal Studios.
SeaWorld & Busch Gardens.
Action Attractions: Buena Vista Watersports; Orlando Balloon Rides; Richard Petty Driving Experience; Sky Ventures; Warbird Adventures.
Distraction Attractions: Daytona USA; Fantasy of Flight; Fun Spot; Gatorland; Holy Land Experience; Ripley’s Believe It Or Not; Titanic Orlando Science Center; WonderWorks.
Eco-tours: Boggy Creek Airboats; Florida Adventure Tour; Swim with the Dolphins.
Theme Parks: Cypress Gardens; Discovery Cove; Kennedy Space Center; Silver Springs.
… and many more, seriously!

As if we need more reasons to come to this major city of Florida, here’s the latest addition …

They say, Greek is the most difficult language in the world. The easiest, to some, is Malay. Whichever language one chooses to learn, discovering other people’s verbal communication is inherently not a simple task. It’s a very long and winding journey, and along the way we can’t resist the urge to give up, regardless of our initial strong willpower.
One thing one can’t deny is this process of learning foreign languages can be so rewarding to a great length. As Ustaz Fairuz (former Arabic teacher) often stressed about, apart from gaining …

Victoria Jennifer Rozario was my former co-worker at Asia-Pacific Videolab. Two years younger than me, but her maturity goes way beyond her years. On her first day of working, she was asked to introduce herself before everybody else in our monthly meeting. One of the questions that was thrown to her was: “Are you related to Nadia?”

The rest of the colleagues started to roar with laughter. From that instant, we have been known as “sisters”. As many clients of ours were gradually beginning to know Jennifer, the all-too-familiar question was: “Are you guys twins?” …

Emma had kept her promise to make cornrows on my head, although I said she needed not to, as she had been staying up all night to work. Before she called it a day (at 8 o’clock in the morning!), her hands worked on the front part of my hair.
More or less 30 minutes later, and… walla!

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Some of us were watching the telly. The others were watching The Biggest Loser Asia footages, listening to the interviews with the contestants, and typing the transcripts. I didn’t find Emma with us, and a couple of hours went by, I decided to check whether she was okay.
Our bedroom door was ajar. She was on the bed; hands swiftly making braids on her hair, one strand after the other. At that instant, I was caught captivated.
“You do your own hair?” I asked, sitting at the edge of my bed.
“Yup!” …

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Everytime I look at the pictures above, I can’t help laughing! Those were taken by Dad on Hari Raya’s eve when my parents and Nadhirah were hunting for the best bargains they could get on the last-minute shopping. Except this year, I would usually tag along, roaming along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman for one more pair of baju kurung or other personal items. This is where you can get two containers of kuih raya for only RM15, when the normal price is almost double the price for one! This is …