Video - The Hajj - National Geographic

Explore the history and meaning behind the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
Join the Hajj, the five-day pilgrimage to the high plains of Arafat …

Eid mubarak to all muslims celebrating Eid ul Adha.
 
 

Drive Safely

During this festive season, I would like to wish everybody a safe journey home especially to those who are travelling long distance. As seen in the picture above, I don't really know what happen to the motorcycle rider whether he is safe or not. By looking at the condition of the motorbike, hope that the rider is ok. The picture is taken somewhere in the 7th Mile town area in Kuching.

Eid Ul Adha Mubarak

Eid mubarak to all muslims celebrating Eid ul Adha tomorrow, 17 Nov 2010 in Malaysia. It commences on the 10th day of Zul Hijjah and usually is celebrated in a similar manner to Eid Ul Fitr.

Eid mubarak is celebrated at the end of Hajj, which is an annual pilgrimage to Mecca. The ‘Festival of Sacrifice’ is followed by a ‘Feast of Sacrifice’, which pays homage to the Prophet Ibrahim's (Peace Be Upon Him) unselfish act of sacrificing his son, Ismail, to Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala). In turn, Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala) spared the boy’s life and instead substituted a sheep. Now in remembrance, people sacrifice a lamb, goat, or other animal, and give the meat to family, friends, relatives, and most importantly, the poor.

It starts with a special holiday prayer, performed in congregation in the Masjid (Mosque) or other suitable place. It is a time of celebration, of visiting family and friends and of thanking ALLAH (Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala), for all the blessings bestowed upon us. Fasting is prohibited during these days.

Video of Shanghai Skyscraper Inferno

A huge fire has broken out in a 30-storey Shanghai building at about 2pm local time (06000GMT), killing at least 12 people.


It was reported that more than 80 fire engines were at the scene trying to control the fire. The cause of the blaze is unclear, but construction scaffolding around the building caught fire first, and flames then spread to the main building, which has about 500 apartments.

Wheel's Clamping

The management of the Sarawak Government Hospital or Hospital Umum Sarawak had acted accordingly to overcome the problem of vehicles parked illegally at the hospital's parking lots. It is a well known fact that there are severe shortages of parking spaces at the Sarawak Government Hospital. Most of the parking spaces had to give way for new hospital building to provide more facilities for users. In order to prevent vehicles from blocking other vehicles due to the shortages of parking spaces, the Hospital management had resorted to giving fines for those who parked illegally.

The best ever method to enforce the parking regulation is by using wheel's clamping where users has to pay RM50 ringgit each time they wanted their vehicle to be unclamped. The measure is very effective where there is no more vehicles illegally parked everywhere as before.

Instead of a welcoming message provided at the entrance of the Hospital, those who are in need of medical attentions are forewarned that parking is the utmost important thing to be observed whenever anybody wanted to visit the hospital. Whatever happens after that is secondary, i.e. whether you are being treated on time or not. The first thing that you need to do is to circle several time looking for empty parking spaces around the facility before you headed outside of the hospital to avoid your vehicle from being clamped. However, in case you are dealing with an emergency situation, I don't think Rm50 is really matter to you. In that case please park your vehicle at the nearest location possible and make sure that your vehicle will not block other vehicles because for sure your vehicle will be surely parked there with an additional security measure i.e. wheel clamped.

Due to the wheel clamping measure being enforced at the hospital, a lot of business opportunities available to those land owners near the hospital vicinity. Before the wheel clamping exercise, don't ever think of parking your vehicle on the roadside on other people properties because you will be charged for trespassing. However, nowadays, everybody is welcome to park their vehicles on the specially prepared parking spaces for visitors near the hospital. For the unwary visitors, they will never know the amount of fees that they have to pay for the parking facilities because there is no information available anywhere near the parking facilities. Upon entering the parking lot, you will be stop by parking attendance requesting you to pay RM5. I don't think that you will tell the parking attendance, after spending several hours searching for empty parking spot, that you will not pay the amount because you wanted to find other parking places that is much cheaper. Thus, most likely you will just pay the RM5 and get yourself a decent parking space. With the RM5 charge also, not many vehicles are parked at the facility making it very easy for you to find an empty parking spaces.

Personally, I think the availability of the off street parking spaces really provide relieve to those who wanted find parking space to park their vehicles. The only concern is that the operators of the parking lot must provide enough information regarding the fees of using their facilities. Furthermore, I am not sure whether the operators have been given any approval for carrying out such business on their vicinity.

Read HERE for new offstreet parking.

Read HERE for parking woes.

Read HERE for solving parking problems.