or My Bagan Datoh Vacation, Final Installment My five children weren’t the only ones sick over the vacation. The wife was busy vomiting all over the place too. The problem: Penyakit buatan orang. That literally means a man-made illness but refers to a hex or voodoo curse placed on someone. Black magic is alive and […]
Author Archives: bingregory
Union of Islamic Courts Post-Mortem
By now, you’ve probably heard plenty about the peace and stability brought by the UIC during their six months of rule. Sure enough, order always looks better than chaos at the start. But where was the UIC heading from there? Bashir Goth supplies some Somali perspective.
Halal Chicken While You Wait
Vacationing in a rural area like Bagan Datoh means you are far from the entertainment and amenities of city life. One definite advantage lies in being closer to where your food comes from: fresh, wholesome food is just outside your door. When we ran out of chicken, I had simply to ease on down the […]
Tourists Reach Bagan Datoh
I was amazed to see all the development upon my return to Bagan Datoh. Roads were being widened and resurfaced, the water infrastructure was being upgraded, civic buildings looked spiffy with fresh paint. Am I reading to much into it to see a political lesson here? Having your district go to PAS is bad for […]
Masjid Jamek Jawiyyah
In the heart of our kampung in Bagan Datoh lies the Masjid Jamek Jawiyyah, a beautiful mosque built entirely from wood over one hundred years ago. There have been a few expansions since then, but the original timbers of the structure are still intact and unchanged. Since it was built before running water, the ablution […]
More Work than Work
I’ve just returned from a three week vacation in West Malaysia, or three weeks of something anyway. Calling it a vacation is a bit of a stretch. It went from the “are we there yet?” phase to the “when can we go home?” phase in no time flat. From the relay-race style vomiting of the […]
Vacation to West Malaysia
It’s school vacation time. I’m packing up the troops for a three week road trip in West Malaysia. I’ll be back in Kuching on the 23rd. In the likely event that I don’t update before Christmas, might I suggest the full online translation of the Hikam by Ibn Ata’Allah, courtesy of Dr Aisha Bewley’s homepage, […]
Neighbor Day at the Surau
As I’m sure is universal among muslim communities, Ramadan represents the high water mark of religious devotion, the time when the greatest number of people turn up for daily prayers. That’s followed by a Eid crash, when numbers plummet back down to, or even below, average levels, as everyone becomes distracted with the holidays. In […]