The Day That Never Comes

Born to push you around
better just stay down
you pull away
he hits the flesh
you hit the ground

mouth so full of lies
tend to black your eyes
just keep them closed
keep praying
just keep waiting

waiting for the one
the day that never comes
when you stand up and feel the warmth
but the sunshine never comes,
no, the sunshine never comes

push you cross that line
just stay down this time
hide in yourself
crawl in yourself
you'll have your time

God I'll make them pay
take it back one day
I'll end this day
I'll splatter color on this grey

waiting for the one
the day that never comes
when you stand up and feel the warmth
but the sunshine never comes

love is a four letter word
and never spoken in here
love is a four letter word
here in this prison

I suffer this no longer
I put it into
this I swear
this I swear
the sun will shine
this I swear
this I swear
this I swear

Ikan Bakar

My best ever "ikan bakar" experience was at Jimbaran Bay in Indonesia. A great variety of delicious live or fresh fish, squid, crabs, king prawns and lobsters prepared on the open grill of burning coconut husks. Dining on the sandy beachfront a few feet from the water with romantic candlelight and live music. The damage for us was close to Rp1.5 million though.

Back home in Malaysia, my favourite "ikan bakar" spot always be the Restoran Sri Tanjung at Tanjung Lumpur, Kuantan (103° 20' 28.2"E, 3° 48' 22.2"N). Since my buddy Zahurin, a local Kuantan guy introduced this place to me back in 1998, I never missed to patronise them whenever I stay overnight there (Mind you they only open after Isya' till midnight).

Yesterday, I was there and here are our menu...
















Grilled Giant Crabs (Ketam Bakar)
















Grilled Cockles (Kerang Bakar)
















Grilled Garoupa (Kerapu Bakar)

Chili King Prawns (Udang Besar Bercili)

Chili Giant Crabs (Ketam Bercili)
















Chili Lala Clams (Lala Bercili)
















Chili Mussels (Kepah Bercili)

Quest for A Pillar

What Pillar? It is the Pillar of Malay States located somewhere near the Buckingham Palace in London. Been there 4 or 5 times but never known the existence of this pillar until one day I bumped into this website.

May be I've passed by the pillar in the previous visits but never notice it. Of course this pillar is significant to me because I am a Malay, hehehe. (and also it was the name of Malaysia before the independence).

On Saturday morning, June 13th, I've set on a mini quest to look for the Pillar. I took the Circle Line to St. James's Park station. Once arrived at the station, I saw so many people walking fast towards the park. The roads around the park were all closed. Policemen were everywhere. Oh man, what's going on?

Then I heard thumping marching beat in a distant. So I walked towards the sound like everybody else. When I arrived at The Mall, there were more people but nothing was happening.

All access were barricaded, either by fences or by the crowd . "There goes my mini quest", I thought.

I sat back and waited a while to see what was going on. Then came a group of German-speaking teenagers around me. I asked the girl who sat next to me about the event. Ahah! It was the official celebration of Queen's birthday. What a lucky day for me. May be can see the Queen in person!
















The Queen's Guard
















And here come the Queen...
















Close-up
















After the progression ended, the police started to open up some of the barricades. Yeah, I can proceed my mission. But where to start. It was still difficult to move around, people are everywhere.

I have to search strategically. Using my 370mm zoom lenses, I figured out there were 3 main pillars; Canadian Gate, South & West African Gate and Australian Gate. So I decided to check out around the Australian Gate first.
















Bingo!! My first guess was correct. It is located next to the Australian Gate, the main left entrance to the Palace. And yes, I have passed by this pillar every times I went there...
















Mission accomplish!!