Farewell to Elene

Parting is such sweet sorrow, especially for those of us who have been working together for many, many years. And so it turns out that the next in a long line of farewells is none other that our old friend, Elene Tan.

Personally, I've known Elene for over 10 years now, way back in the days when the "pioneer group" of Vishay were all young and restless. Ahem, we're all still young today (at least I believe so) - just that we were younger way back then. Since then, many of us have already become fathers and mothers, but the Gen X spirit is still burning strongly in our hearts.

L to R : "Auntie" Chong SC, Elene (VIP Queen for the night), Sussan from Singapore, VSM-ex-VSM-VSM Chea Thin, "Pinky" Foo (if I understand correctly from Low CL)

Elene was initially in the production planning group, but somewhere in the years gone by made a successful transition to the logistics team. Always on top of the situation, managing things as they happen, and not waiting for something to happen, working with her sure dropped the difficulty level down a couple of notches.

A few of us banded together for a night together at the i-Tango family karaoke, conveniently located at the 2nd floor of the Bukit Beruang Bazaar opposite the gym. I had no idea there was a karaoke there in the first place, but we're most fortunate to have Chong Sew Chu in our group, as she is very "in" when it comes to this genre of socializing....

The VIP room was fitted with 3 screens and was large enough to accommodate our group of 20+ pax. I'm not one with "golden ears", so I can only say that the sound system was not lacking in any particular way. There was 1 wired microphone provided, along with 3~4 wireless ones. Throughout the night, there appeared to be some minor technical challenges with the microphone, mostly coming from weak batteries / dropped connections.

As for the karaoke system itself, the interface was at least orderly and user-friendly and the song list appeared to be quite extensive. Did not really look into it in detail, as my main intention that night was to see Elene off, and not to practice singing. Overall, I do rate the experience more positive relative to the one we had at Mybox karaoke last year.

Though there were many of us from the original pioneer group, like Chong SC, Tan HC, Low CL just to name a few, there were also some "new guys" like Ang CK, Lim CN and Goh YF, and even Sussan from Vishay Singapore, which just goes to show that our team spirit extends across all boundaries.

Ultimately, people come and people go, for various reasons, sometimes unique to the individual. As I understand it, Elene exits the world of semiconductor manufacturing - in fact, leaving entirely the workforce, to focus on family.

Must be the effect of haze getting in their eyes....

A hazy Sunday morning in Melaka

Penang license plate in front - poor guy, having come all the way here and get caught in bad haze....

The haze is back in this part of town. I found that the entire town was shrouded in a cloud of haze, engulfing the sun and turning what was to be a bright and sunny Sunday morning into a gloom. Like a scene out of one of those Chinese watercolor paintings, only this is actually a real-life depiction of environmental disaster.

At the traffic lights, in the distance I can just barely make out the transmission tower on top of Bukit Beruang. I hope that there are no low flying aircraft around, for visibility is really terrible today.

This isn't the first time we've had such a bad haze - occasionally in the past, this recurs practically each year, as it is believed to be caused by the clear-and-burn methods of the farmers in a close neighbouring country. Of course, we cannot deny that there are local open burnings going on in our country, as anyone driving around in the vicinity of Nilai (towards KLIA and Cyberjaya/Putrajaya can verify).

As if the sight of haze wasn't bad enough, then there's the stench in the air and stinging in the eyes. Lots of respiratory problems potentially waiting to occur - not a good time for those with hay fever or asthma. For those of you out there, who are unfortunate enough to be around here, do stay indoors and drink plenty of water. Putting on a proper face mask when going outdoors seems like a good idea - but make sure you're wearing one that's effective and not just for show.

Really puts a damper on my spirits - as a result, did not manage to bring Charmaine and Christopher for outing. Kids trapped at home really is a sad thing.

The DOE (Department Of Environment) or Jabatan Alam Sekitar Malaysia publishes the API monitoring data on a daily basis on its website : http://www.doe.gov.my

I hope that these people will be struck with realization on the consequences of their actions. Cannot claim that it is perfectly ok to continue what was done since ages ago - lack of awareness and understanding. Till then, holding on to hope and perhaps my breath as well....

Return to Gunung Datuk

Sometimes, you really get more than you're looking for when going out on an adventurous outing. Such is the case of the predicament that I found myself within when I decided to go for a hike up Gunung Datuk once again.

I've been up this famous mountain once before, way back in early 2011. Not really that high, being just 870m/2900ft above sea level. Of course, that's the vertical distance, that you'd have to traverse if Gunung Datuk resembled a wall. The hike from the base to summit was roughly 2 to 3 kilometers (for lack of accurate measuring equipment that could trace my ascent in 3D). The journey starts at the office at the foot of the mountain trail, located at N2 32.598 E102 10.148.

Since my last visit, the climbing fee had increased by RM2 to RM5. Still a fair fare, in my humble opinion. It was a public holiday, on the occasion of the birthday of the Agong. There were many fellow hikers that day, thus forcing me to park my car somewhere along the road that led to the parking area. Which was where, unfortunately, that I found myself stuck in the mud.

Trapped in mud - can't go back, can't go forward....

Using wood didn't help

The other side of the car was looking pretty bad

Turns out that it had rained the night before, which turned the grassy earth by the side of the asphalt road into a tractionless dirt surface. Which I found out after some 2 seconds, while trying to correct my parking position. My car was on a slight incline, so with practically no traction, trying to go forward only resulted in wheels spinning in the mud. Going backwards was possible, but there was a car behind me so there was no space to back out. After some attempts at extraction (all ending in failure), final strategy was to wait for the mud to dry and the car behind me to get out of the way. Incidentally, disabling VSA (vehicle stability assist) at least enabled my wheels to move, but did not get me free. As spinning the wheels appeared to be getting me no where but deeper into the mud, decided to stop before sinking until my car bottom touched the ground. First time bring trapped this way - Honda Civic being a FWD, was most unsuitable for this kind of terrain. Wonder if I had been driving a 4x4, probably would have been laughing. Should leave it to Jackson and the guys at the Puma 4x4 Club.

Anyway, since I was "trapped", decided to make a quick climb up the mountain and come back down. I'm not sure how long I took when I was here two years ago, but it seems to take a longer time that I remembered. Got up to the top in roughly 3 hours. Not right to the top - just to where the big rock and steel ladders are. Getting there was the plan, as beyond that required some climbing up ladders. After all, my main aim was to get some exercise and to gauge if I can still make it up to this point.

As far as I planned to go - target met!

Coming back down was faster, around 1 to 2 hours. Yes, I'm sure there are many of you out there who can do this in half the time. Well, for me, personal goal has been achieved, and I don't have to climb up like Gollum (from Lord of the Rings) to be happy with myself.

Once back down, after recovery and re-hydration, and waiting for mud to dry, I went to check on my car. I found the front of my car covered in mud - apparently the car in front of me had also gotten stuck, and had covered my car in mud in the process of breaking free. Looks like I have some car-washing to do when I get home....

Mud bath by the car in front - fortunately, no dents or collisions

Unfortunately, that was not all - the mud was still, um, muddy. But, at least the car behind me was gone. So, taking a risk of getting stuck deeper off the asphalt road, I turned my tires away from the road and reversed until one of my front tires was on the road. Once that was done, I shifted to "D" and gently stepped on the accelerator. The tires were still slippery with mud and slipped a lot, but as I persisted it somehow managed to grip the road and started to inch forward. I pulsed the throttle to get the tire spinning fast briefly to throw off some mud to get better grip. Finally, when the other tire reached the road, with both tires, I finally managed to pull free of the muddy trap!

There was no place to wash my car, so I just used the wipers to clear the windscreen. Looking like I just came out of a dirt rally, I drove back slowly (as my tires were still muddy, didn't want to risk loosing traction) and eventually arrived home safe and sound - albeit much later than expected. On this adventure, my car was for once more involved than myself....

On terra firma - free at last!

Not so bad, just have to drive home like this and spend some time washing car

Overall, I'm happy with myself, still being able to make it up and down without collapsing halfway from sheer exhaustion. I had originally planned to try climbing Gunung Kinabalu (again) this year. Something that I've never succeeded in doing before, in spite of numerous attempts - one of which resulted in me fracturing my left ankle. Unfortunately, cannot find any of my friends to join yet, so as of today, this plan remains just a dream. Hope that one day I will get another shot at it, and for once, succeed. Until then....