Why Pineapple is named Pineapple?

How Pineapple got its name ye? (Random thought)
Apa kaitan dia dengan apple ?

While driving, I came up with a possible scenario that might have influenced the naming of the pineapple...


"This happened long long time ago, during the time when mat sallehs colonised tanah melayu. One day, two mat sallehs were walking in a village and saw this guy, Leman, collecting nenas @ pineapple. They were am...azed by the plant and the fruit. They approached Leman.

Henry: Excuse me gentleman, may I know, "Yeenie booweh aypa"? ("Ini buah apa?" Biasa la kan slang omputih)
Leman: Haaa... apa dia? Tak faham.
William: Yeeenie aypa? (pointing at the fruits)
Leman: Apa? Aypa? Apa ni.. Aypa?
Henry: Yes.. Aypa?
Leman: Haa? Aypa.. Aypa pun Aypa la..
William: U call this Aypa then? That is strange. Aypa?
Leman: Aypa ye ye aypa (dah malas nak layan)

Henry: William.... It sounds like he is saying Apple. Strange, if it's called Apple, isn't it? Ha Ha Ha...
William: Yes, this fruit looks more like a pine cone for all I know. An apple that looks like a pine? HA HA HA...
Henry: Or we can call it Pine-Apple... HaHA! Brilliant!
William: We came out with a name for this one, didn't we? HAHA
Henry: Yes Yes , We certainly did. HA HA HA HA

Leman kaget (Pasaipa depa ni sronok sangat?). Looking at his confused face, they shared their "finding".

Henry: This... Yeenie, Pineapple.
Leman: (baru perasan diorg nk tau nama buah rupanya) Eh Tak... Bukan Bukan... Ini Nenas...
Henry: Oh yes yes.... Nie Nice (nenas), Nie Nice ... very nice..
William: Nice.... Pineapple nice....
Henry&William: Ha Ha Ha (walked away happily with their so-called new discovery).
Then the rest is history. Nenas end up named as pineapple in english"

Sekian.

Disclaimer:

Cerita Ini hanyalah rekaan semata-mata mengikut fantasi dan imaginasi. Tiada fakta sejarah, geografi mahupun saintifik yang menyokong cerita ini. Penulis tidak akan bertanggungjawab jika anda mempercayai cerita ini. Pengeluaran semula karya ini adalah menyalahi hak cipta terpelihara. Aaa chewah.

*This story is fictional, based on fantasy and imagination only, No historical and geographical facts or scientific theories used to support this story. The author (cewah) won't be responsible if you choose to believe it. Unauthorized reproduction of this copyrighted work is illegal. Haha.

San-Antonio Downtown - LoneStar p.4

11/4/2011
Spend the rest of the day walking around downtown San Antonio - Visited The Alamo and La Villita

The Alamo is a historical place. It was a chapel found by the Spanish, then it was used as a fort even as a hospital, when the Mexican took over. During the Texas Revolution (revolution of Texas colonists to be independent from the Mexican), the Battle of the Alamo happened in 1836. In this battle, the Mexican won, but not long after that, the Texan won in the Battle of San Jacinto (a month after battle of alamo). The battle of Alamo still left a big impact to the Texan, as they were hit hard during the battle but it remains as a symbol to heroism and bravery.

More story of the Alamo over the years (here)

 around The Alamo

On that day, there were having U.S. Army Staff Ride at the Alamo plaza. Kept myself entertained for a while. 

La Villita is a cultural and arts village. Most of the shops / stalls were closed on that day.  First two pictures on top is from La Villita. Bottom left (Riverwalk area), Bottom right (one of the Shops along the streets).

I took this Ripley's adventure package, consisting of 3 "adventures". One is more like a small exhibition, then there's this ride inspired from Tomb Rider, which i sucked at. I didnt get to shoot the ghosts. Then the other one is a haunted house. Ouh wow...i really enjoyed the haunted house @ Rumah hantu. Menjadi sangat. Anyway, the scariest part was that I went alone into the haunted house, and yes.... it was scaryyyy.... I didnt really scream though :)) coz I like to control macho like dat maa...

Went back to hotel and check out at about 1pm+
Around 1.45pm, I was back at the SA Greyhound bus station and my bus was suppose to be at 2ish. For some unknown reasons, we were told the bus was delayed.... but being stranded at the bus station for a few hours, I kinda sense there were no buses really moving for some of the scheduled time. Ampeh punya Greyhound. Bagus lagi transnasional... buweekk!

The bus was on its way from mexico, so maybe going pass the border took longer time, thus the delay? Dont know... Informed Eli that I was going to be late. Kinda sad, as we thought we would have more time to spend together... Geeshh...



 Finally at about 6pm+, the bus finally... Gladly hop into it... only to find the bus was not in its best days. Smelt funny, and felt quite stuffy. The Tv on the bus was playing black&white mexican soap... Layan saja lah.... Took random pics along the way.

Reached Houston at 8.15pm.
Aaaah legaa....

After that long tiring wait & journey, it was heartwarming to look at a beautiful familiar face.
Waaa... so great to see Eli.

:-)

San Antonio River Cruise... LoneStar p.3

Texas continued...

Second day in San Antonio... morning.... took the first boat ride...
San Antonio River-Cruise

Here are the pics along the river.... cruising :-)

the Mall by the river

Statue of Saint Antonio- the Saint.
(San Antonio was named for Saint Anthony of Padua, whose feast day is on June 13, when a Spanish expedition stopped in the area in 1691-Wikipedia).

 

Continue Cruising....

Lone-Star -Part 2 (San Antonio)

Before going down to Texas, I did some research about San Antonio. Most importantly, I need to have a map!!! Haha... oh yah, the google map! Refering to my bus itinerary and hotel booking, I had some rough idea how I were to move around.

I got my hotel thru Hotwire.com, as this is one of the services that offer cheap but fairly good accommodation, of course depending on the criteria we choose on the website.

The trick is... in most transcations, you won't know which Hotel you will be assigned to, only the area the hotel is and type of hotel i.e. budget / 3stars / 5stars, and price. But for certain places, i think sometimes they do reveal the name of the hotel first. Since Eli gave a good recommendation for this site, I booked with that. I got a nice hotel, but a bit of a walking distance from the center of attraction (The RiverWalk area). Huhu, I had to go with that, since hotels in the hearts of SA is dem expensive.

After payment made (online), The hotel was revealed, Holiday Inn (without breakfast). Ok. Walking distance from my bus station (Greyhound Express) = 1.2 miles.
Hmmm dat sounds do-able, "walk-able"... right? Ok wait... 1.2 miles is around 2km? Opps... Erk...ok la,  DO-ABLE  lah kot :P I told myself.

A: Greyhound Station

B: Holiday Inn Express

my preJourney uncle-google-map

Haha... Looking at the map - quite a number of blocks away. Since Im not a fan of cab/taxi, I knew I would walk!

Arrived SA around 4.20pm.

Started walking.... with my big lappy bag (dat has both my lappy and dslr in it), my luggage bag (a carry-on luggage-sized trolley bag).... and this is the most bijak one --> Heels :-)) a comfy heels but Heels nonetheless.. smarta**! ahahaha

Jalan punya jalan.......

geesh.. the map mmg penipu gk aar... jauh gk! :)) Dan sampaiiii!! and Room! trus la lompat dan landing... PENAT!!

Reason to love Hotwire:

so much space... but all alone!  -_-'

Rested a while... called my friends to inform them I arrived safely.... refresh... solat.... then.. ok.. time to jalan-jalan! Packed light... and walked to Market Square.

In the map above (in between Dolorasa and W Commerce St, opposite N Santa Rosa Ave)

This place has very strong Mexican influence.Most of the things here are Mexican, even the people (mexican heritage). For a while there, I really felt like I was in Mexico.

One good thing about travelling is... culture.

And this place obviously doesnt lack that.

Observing people.... walking pass the crowded market....

But, I didnt make too much contact with people, or unnecessary conversations.

1. young lady singing a spanish song (she got great vocal)

2. around Market Square

3. market square indoor.... they were having some performances by kids

4. the bridge concert - outdoor concert, well... under a overhead bridge...

Did some Mini shopping... mostly keychains and magnets.

Then, it was getting dark, so I went back to the hotel....

After Isya', I went out.. to the Riverwalk area.

Nice Lighting around the River area... tadaaa:

There's RiverBoat Ride..... but I just missed the last boat.. and decided to do it next morning. better on daytime, more things to see maa.

So I just walked along the riverwalk....

Went in some shops... window shopping....magnet shopping :P

simply... enjoying the night breeze.

HAHAHHAHAHAHA

GANAS SAUCES!!!

It was almost 11,
Not even the time for Cinderella to go back... but it was for me!
but on my way back to my hotel.... bumped into this...



Ya Ya OK....

I got cha hint... go back early before I turn into a pumpkin or tomato rite....

Ok....

:P

So back I went... walking in lightspeed.... and as soon as I got in my room... Kebooom!

Open laptop, upload pictures, went online.. duh!

Ok... I really needed my beauty sleeeeepp badly... and need energy to go jalan-jalan next day...

sO..... 

Zzzzzzzzz 



My Lone-Star Adventure - Part 1

TEXAS... (2011)

... one of the states in USA that has its own remarkable identity (known as the Lone Star State). Is it a common touristy state? I'm not sure... maybe not so much, compared to NY,DC,CA..

Well, my visit to Texas was not really a touristy one either. I went there to visit my friends... 2 of them in 2 different cities of Texas. I brought along my laptop and work, and stayed with Elen for 3 days... and we didnt really go out. It was my 3rd month in the US, and I was quite homesick, so it was very therapeutic to see familiar "homey" faces.

From Charlotte to Dallas: Transit in Atlanta (AirTran)

then back from Houston, direct flight to Charlotte. (US Airways)

Another friend, Eli, lived in Houston (now pindah dah)... While I was speaking to Eli about the arrangement to go there, since I planned to take the bus ride, she did suggest I make a de-tour to San Antonio, maybe a few hours stop, but I was not quite confident to go sightseeing all by myself. She told me it's safe to travel... and later suggested one night stay if I want to have a better look of that place, maybe if she might be able to arrange to come over if her husband were to be on leave. After series of phone calls, I needed to confirm and buy my tickets... so assuming it's okay, and thinking of the possibility of her coming over, I bought a ticket from Dallas to San Antonio, and from San Antonio to Houston on the next day. But, later it was confirmed she can't come over... and I was like.... erk... Miscommunication 101... Ok.... "I'm going to San Antonio all by myself?" For someone who is not really a risk taker, this is even a shock to myself.

Travelled with Greyhound Bus

Bus Ride from Dallas (from Richardson)... they stopped in Waco, and Austin on the way

Bus Ride from San Antonio, straight to Houston (but the bus was delayed for 3 hours) :||  !!

I asked myself a few times.... How confident am I? How good am I in learning my ways in new places? How strong am I to face obstacles that might come along the way? I decided to go ahead... I did pray, Du'a a lot that everything will go smoothly.

One day adventure... a Lone Ranger in the Lone-star State...

So... ok... let's go break a leg.

A small town known as Richardson, next to Plano. Took the bus from here, then to Dallas city (half an hour)....

It was Sunday. Some big cities in the US.... they are kinda dead on weekends. (same goes with Charlotte downtown). So yaa... it feels like "I am Legend" movie set :P

I had 1 hour + in Dallas... so I just walked around some streets to get some shots

I am Legend movie set... Will Smith in the car (according to my fantasy) :P

"I am a stranger traveling from the East, seeking that which is lost....
                          I am a stranger traveling from the West, it is I whom you seek...." (movie dialog :P)

Ok... walking back to the Greyhound Station....

This street is near memorial JFK (didnt know it was just next to the red building). He was shot 2 blocks from here.

Ok...
Hop on the bus

real cow aar????

no laa... this one oni real maa...

Hehe... Good decision to take the bus... get to see the views...

Waco:

Continue the journey...

Cowboy Hatsss.... waaa...nakk

5 hours bus ride....
I reached San Antonio around 5pm....
:-)

So basically what I did in Plano (Elen place), was.... cook, eat, chat, and do work. Haha...
Love the chat part...... It's been years since I last met her, or had time to really talk to her...
I missed her so much.... so it was so so great to see her, and her family :-)

Thank you elen... for having me :*


End of part 1... yeehaw!

Online or offline buddies?

When I was in states, I missed-out some events that happened kat tanah tumpah ayaq. Tapi dengan adanya internet, (ok, facebook ler tuhh), macam sentiasa akan dapat update di samping YahooMsg, Skype, Blogs dan email. Just 3years back, not many of my friends and I used/had Facebook. But of course those were the days when Friendster ruled, and even that, Friendster trend came only at the end of my undergraduate final year .

Before that, campus life was free from social networking sites (well... almost. The trend was beginning back then with forum sites and forum groups, but wasnt a major hype). Anyway...Those were the days. It seemed nice and simpler come to think of it now. I'm glad that I have experienced campus life without too much of this internet-based chaotic world.

But can u imagine if right now, we dont have all these social networking services? (lets not imagine time before internet, it just seemed too long ago, unlikely and prehistoric :P). Imagine we have internet but without social networking (SN).

If until now, lets say we have internet and smartphones that connects to internet, but online social networking were unheard of, how would it be? Haha... Hey, of course lah we would be just fine, we will survive just fine, ye dok :))  Btw, even at present, not everyone is connected to internet frequently, and not everyone registered to SN kan....


Speaking in general, for regular users of SN... how would it be like without SN?
On postive note,

• Don't have to think of having to update our activities (status), or not thinking of what our frens (or even anon/strangers) have to say about our life described OnLy in words n pictures.
• Not as much judgements... or get affected by judgments when dat happen
• More privacy in life, which, is very important....not having this medium, u wont be tempted to showcase every single thing you do, or some information that was supposed to be private. Temptation is evil... they seduce you :)) Haha
• Your phones wont be buzzing all the time with updates (for mobile SN users)
• Spend more time with real people in front of you rather than eyes locked to the laptop/phone screeen... (Or: keep on tweeeeting / checking phone for updates when u are suppose to spend quality time with someone who is right in front of you. This scenario can vary from a date, lepak-lepak or even family bonding time)
• We won't be so nosy or kaypoh-chi as well... of other people's life. HAHAHA.

But then...

• most likely... you wont keep in touch with your friends as much. Once you finish school/college, you will move on.... and keeping in touch would be hard n tedious.
• When u are far from home (outstation/overseas), you depend on direct communicati like phone, email, online chat/call (but with SN, i.e. I can log in to facebook and get many updates from many people at one go)
• How to share pictures taken especially with those who are in those pictures with u? email em? pheww...such a hassle.
• where to channel ur narciscism...(bila time tgh syok sendiri) and sudden excitement? Not sure if this is 'healthy' though, hahaha... but ouh well... :P
• When u have things/ events to share, whether initiating it or found one that your friends would be happy to join.... should I call them one by one? ok.. maybe I can use email... but still..

(bab-bab list nie, mesti ada byk lagi... just throwing in some)

I do miss the times when I had 'less-online' life. At the same time,being online is just as important for me.

Recently, I did try to deactivate my facebook.... and that lasted for 21days! Wow.... it was so liberating. I almost didnt want to activate back my facebook.

But, one of the strongest reason to go back was: the contacts. Some of them, I only have fb as the bridge to connect us. That shows how I rely on such services too much. What would happen if one day, Facebook (since its the most widely used SN) goes haywire, and decided to go down? Haha like wat Friendster did... tiba-tiba jadi gamesite, and all data was wiped-out, even their blogsites. 

Do you have a backup contact of your friends that you interact with, through FB? I do have some friends who I interact with frequently in facebook, but I dont have their handphone numbers, or email address... especially those who are not geographically near. (so, ok I have to make effort to have some other options). I dont really have online friends who I don't know in real life... so somehow I can find them eventually... as long as I know at least one or few of the mutual friends' contacts. But I did have a few online friends back then... from early blogging years and then added to friendster. So when friendster decided to "evolve", some friendships end up dead... (just like how dinosaurs died with evolution :P)

Kesimpulannya... no matter how fun and trendy SN is.... its so unpredictable, who knows if this december 2012, facebook decides to commit suicide? jeng jeng

Kesimpulannya lagi... dont rely on it too much. Make sure we have backup or other ways to contact a friend, if that friend matters to you :-) If u have time and opportunities, make time to meet friends offline too :D and most importantly dont get stuck with being more online while doing so :P

sekian :D

Sawadee Ka

Recently, I joined a working trip to Surat Thani, Thailand.

This is my first time in Thailand. Thailand is just few hours (approx 3hrs) from my hometown, but the closest I ever been to Thailand was the border town, Msia side - PadangBesar, Perlis.

So I was very thrilled :D

We went by a mini bus, I think in Msia we call it Van besaq lah. It was comfy and spacious... as there were 8 of us (the delegates) while the Van can fit up to 11 people (excluding driver).

far left, the mini bus @ van - near Changlun border

We went into Thai through Changlun (another border town). Changlun is in Kedah, and the name of this Town is in Thai language which means the 'fallen elephant'. I was sleepy all the way, as I took motion sickness pill before the journey. Instead of enjoying the view, I was sleeping every now and then. But manage to peep through the window once a while. My impression.... "La, sama macam Kedah ja, mcm tak kuar Msia pun" Hahaha... yeah, felt like we are still in Msia, environment same with Kedah and Perlis :D but of course that make sense since they share same heritage back in those days.

There were few slightly flooded villages and that gave us chills... praying that the rain would stop and it would not reach hazardous level especially in surat thani, or on our way back.

We stopped in Hatyai for breakfast.. 10am thai time. It's a muslim restaurant, deco looks flashy... but with moderate price range... food not bad ;-)

Continue.....
Stopped in Nakkon Si Thammarat for lunch. A small restaurant by the road, that has one of the best Tomyam I ever tasted :P Kawwww

Ok... Go on....
Reached Surat Thani around 5pm Thai time = 6pm MY time. We left Penang around 8am... we travelled 10hours on road. We treated ourselves with seafood dinner blast! haha... the Udang sangat mengujakan :P

The next day, after the meeting was over, we took Seatran Ferry to Ko Samui.

Another good thing was.... it didnt rain. It did rain for a while while we were having meeting... then it stopped :D Alhamdulillah, our journey made easy.

The journey took about 1hour30mins... I think... I was not wearing a watch, my phone was switched off and I was not really aware of the time LOL... what a way to travel huh :P But then, since there were quite a number of us, and the trip was planned by the project manager, it felt relaxing n quite liberating to just follow along and forget about everything else. (One of my buddy was using temporary Thai number during the trip, which we shared.... so I just passed the number to my family if they were to contact me) What ever plans they had, we just followed along. But hehe.. i did have a request on one thing "I want to ride an elephant" and was keen and determined to do that during the trip :P The journey was smooth despite high tides and windy day. We almost went all wet when the ferry hit the high tide, splashing on us. For the record, we were standing on the 3rd floor of the ferry okayy... wow. haha

Ko Samui (ko means island / pulau), once we stepped foot on the island... i felt at peace. Maybe the atmosphere. It was clean, and fresh air. The environment, in my opinion, is kinda similar to Pulau Pangkor. But of course, in KoSamui you'll have a lil bit more entertainment to look out for. However, the types of entertainment doesnt really coincide with my preferences... so, ok... let's just do some sightseeing and relaxing only kay ;-) Full moon party? No, thank you lah, heheh... oh ya btw, this famous party takes place in another island next to Samui known as Ko Pangan.

The resort's room was mabeles. Each block (ours: 2 floors, with 5 rooms in each floor) has its own swimming pool. We got the room at ground floor, and our door opened out to the pool. So.... first agenda! a dip in the pool lah! haha...

Check out the resort: http://www.floristresort.com/

Night came, we walked around the street in Chaweng. Lots of gift shops, sorvenir stuff, tatoo shops, fast food chains, pubs, and Spas... yeahh Spa :) But we kept that for next day... walking along the street... and knowing me, looking for Fridge Magnets lor!

Up (left&right) : Chaweng streets at night
Below (left): Banana Pancake @ Roti canai pisang, prepared in many interesting ways
below (right): chaweng, daytime

Morning... the tide was still high. Breakfast by the beach.... nice!

We went on Island-road tour and stopped by some temples to learn about the people and the island and get some nice pix shots.

We also stopped by some of the beaches. One of the place is famous for the "grandfather and grandmother rock". It's in the shape of somthing that will be rated 18sx if blogs have movie-rating system... huhu. Google if u want, coz im not posting the pixxies here, haha! Another famous thing in Ko-Samui is the coconut... the dodol... and this... Coconut Ice-cream. It's delicious... but I got tummy ache after eating it.. must be my bad diet management, dont blame the coconut :D

Ok.... the most exciting part - the elephant Farm :-)
It costed 700 baht (+- RM70) per person.

At first, after sitting on the elephanto.. I felt kinda guilty. I asked the guide whether he/she (the elephant) was okay with our weight combination and all that. The guide assured us it's ok for her.... ouh it's a female... and her name is Tetya. She would stop and raise her trunk... it means she's happy and wanted to say thank you (as was told by the guide)... and she did that quite a number of times, she must be happy that we kept on complimenting her :P Ouh, I really hope she was, as I enjoyed the ride so much. We went on jungle trek, and in middle of the trek, the guide went down and snapped pictures of us, with Tetya giving out so many different poses...haha, cute. Then the guide asked if we want to 'drive' the elephant, to which I quickly agreed and moved to the front... Kinda scary when the track went a lil bit downhill, scared I might just fall off like dat.. ayyaa... But whoa, it was great experience. Thanx Tetya :*

Left: at the back of the elephant. Right:Tetya carrying other tourists

After elephant farm, we stopped by a waterfall area... then proceeded to Chaweng area again. Its SPA time! I took the body massage for 1 hour package. Ouh wow..... interesting :)) Btw, the prices:

Then later, we just hang around the beach... and walked on the streets again. This part of the streets was further up than the area we were at last night.


I found a celebrity there! can u guess.... who .?
Found him lying on the Chewang beach.....wow... awak sunbathing ker???



Then went back to the resort.... rested for a while, had a dip again... (tried to swim... still not able to swim correctly :P)

Night.. walked around Chaweng again :-) last minute shopping and coffee... and back to the resort.
Next morning, the sea was calmer, no high tides... kinda miss the windy weather :P

We rushed to the jetty and got our ferry.... Hmm, it was a hot, humid day...yeahhh... the previous days' windy weather was better :P On the ferry,  Felt like I was in a vacuum, like the air barely moved (ok, exaggerating a lil here ..) Hehe... I slept for half'n hour before going back to the railings, enjoying the view....

HOkayy.... back in SuratThani..... and back we go!
Journey back. Tried to read some papers.. before feeling dizzy and Zzzzzz... hahhahaha. But hey, no more motion sickness pill ok....

Stopped in Hatyai again. for lunch. Hmmm... nyamnesss lunchhhhh... me loikeee...

Stopped in Danok (Thai border), got some Longan and Mampalam :D
Back in Malaysia... Weee

Reached Penang at 9pm.... so tired :P

Phew..ouh wait..
I almost forgot....

the celebrity I found in Ko Samui....in Chaweng beach...

found him lying on the sand... but from my observation, he looked kinda... dead....

Why spongie? nickelodeon not paying u enuff aar?? :(
RIP Spongie.... sob sob sob

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary of Ko-Samui. Interesting , beautiful, clean place. But I prefer Langkawi ;-) But jetty langkawi  and Jetty kuala kedah need to improve a bit la, in terms of cleanliness aar  :D tanggungjawab bersama kan yg ini :P

Would love to see Krabi and Phuket. There's another trip to these 2 places next year January, the student society is organising it... but haih... due to time and budget constraint, I can't follow that one. maybe some other time in future la kan.


Kapun Ka .