MONSOONS are HERE

  as opposed to "Winter is coming."

  Friends helping Fariz Izuan Ibrahim to move horses from his stable in Kelantan.

The East coast monsoon is  upon us and umbrellas are USELESS. Why? With continuous rain for 48 hours

 or more and daily thunderstorms, nothing keeps us dry except staying indoors. 

Malaysia sees 2 monsoon seasons annually. The north-east monsoon blows in during November to  March onto the east coast of Malaysia.

  13,264 victims evacuated in Chukai Terengganu, 8th January. Flooding is NOT a new Norm during this period, flooding has ALWAYS been the Norm during these months of ruthless rains in the eastern states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang.

Chilling in front of his flooded house, Kampung Mencupu Pekan, Pahang. 

Soil movement caused by continuous rain in Taman Gambang Damai resulted in the complete collapse of 2 houses. 

House owner Encik Yunus, 51 was a lucky man as he had moved with his family after noticing cracks in the walls. He only had a few hours to take a refrigerator, washing machine, desk and TV before the collapse. Twenty-six houses were identified to be at risk.

Another landslide in Bentong, Pahang. Schools were not spared with Lan Boey's alma mater, Methodist Girls School 

and SK Jaya Gading in Kuantan in deep waters. 

Evacuation came in different forms

 as people were taken

 to temporary shelters.

A dumper truck used in mines dubbed "King Kong"  was "recruited" to save stranded victims. But "King Kong" conceded defeat after three rescue missions, flood waters damaged its internal "organs."

23-year old Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka student, Rano Razali studies for his online semester 1 exams to be held at the end of January. Indeed, there is no rest for the wicked.

Food is prepared onsite in the evacuation centres. Pix shows our King, Sultan Abdullah and Queen, Tunku Azizah  and their son, Tengku Panglima Muda Tengku Ahmad Ismail (2nd, 3rd and 4th from left) preparing food. Tunku Azizah used her own recipes and together with assistance from the final year students in Diploma in Culinary Arts programme, University College of Yayasan Pahang, prepared food for the 178 evacuees from 43 families.  

Malaysia's PM at one of the many evacuation centres housed in schools.

This 2021, Johor on the West coast 

took a big hit.

Kota Tinggi, Johor

Our second monsoon season, the south-west monsoon blows in around May to October, but onto the west coast instead. During this season, we do not have continuous rains, but the violent thunderstorms arrive punctually around 1600 hours, just when offices are wrapping up for the day. I kid you not, Mother Nature keeps to her time and is seldom late with the rains. During this period, I always begin work early at 6.30am, forfeit my tea breaks and take very quick lunches. It is a mad dash out from the lab when the first peal of thunder rumbles at 4pm. I have to get home safely before the roads turned into molten lava of muddy waters and traffic just stands still. Those caught in these swirling waters reach home at the earliest, past 9pm. The unlucky ones are caught together with flood waters INSIDE their cars. Flash floods 

Cameron Highlands

have become more frequent and severe with… of course, rapid development without efficient drainage systems to handle the torrid downpours. Gentle stream just becomes a violent river.

This is a heavy price we pay for over and uncontrolled development.  

Shoes sold at between RM3 (0.744 USD)and RM5 in Kota Tinggi. Continuous rain for 2 days  caused much damage to goods.

FISHING in the monsoon drain in Taman Kota Jaya, Kota Tinggi, Johor when the Johor River overflowed.

Acknowledgements to The Star newspaper for the pictures, to Boey for the photos of her alma mater and to CW Kee for the cartoon.

SKIPPY'S HOME BUT ALONE IN QUARANTINE.

  My friend Skippy has been an Australian PR for over 30 years. I think he will NOT become a citizen until his parents who are 90+ years and living on their own in Malaysia, have moved on. He was here in November 2019 to settle care giver issues for them. 

The coronavirus emerged and Skippy stuck it out here to ensure his parents were safe. Last Friday Dec 11, he touched down in Tullamarine airport, Melbourne, after being away for 13 months.

Trauma of booking a flight HOME

     On 3.12 when flights were still limited, Skippy booked the first available SIA flight to Perth via Singapore (leaving on 15.12), and a connecting flight with Virgin Australia to Melbourne (A$408) after a mandatory quarantine in Perth. The SIA ticket alone cost A$3,500 since only business class was offered and he was desperate. Like many thousands of Aussies stranded overseas, Skippy was concerned the borders would close again, so he continued scanning for earlier direct flights to Melbourne. Thankfully, he received an email from DFAT informing him that Malaysia Airlines had a direct flight on 11.12. Skippy patiently spent days checking the MH website but nothing was listed until 9.12. Without hesitation, he filled in the necessary forms only to be told the seat was already taken. Not prepared to give up, he called Customer Helpline and managed to get his name on the waiting list. On 10.12, he noticed there was availability so he tried again. Lady Luck smiled on him and he got his ticket to Melbourne for A$2,300. Skippy had just 24 hours to pack and say goodbye. With so much uncertainty, he did not dare cancel his original ticket to Perth until he was waiting to board on 11.12. Will he get a refund? Who knows 🤷‍♂️? The cancellation fee alone for SIA was $800+ with no refund for airport charges. Going home has never been so expensive!

Surprisingly, according to the MH steward, his flight was only allocated 25 passengers. This may be due to a cap placed by respective state governments in Australia based on quarantine capacity where each airline is allocated only a number of seats. In addition, most airlines have also grounded their flights except for few flights to keep their cargo division afloat, so adding on passengers aboard is a bonus. 

With 5 passengers in Business class, the 20 economy class passengers were squashed in the front 5 rows. 

It didn’t make sense as the entire back seats were empty.

The airline should have distributed passengers into alternate rows for social distancing. He received a packet of masks and lunch. 

Seriously, for A$2,300 the airline should have given designer face masks!

MANDATORY QUARANTINE

     Skippy arrived at his hotel via the back entrance. Sorry, with the pandemic, there was no grand front entrance with beaming door man and welcome drink. Instead, he was greeted by a team of Health Dept. staff, doctors, nurses, police and army personnel all in PPE. Scary like out of the movies. 

Mandatory quarantine meant no visitors in the room. Guests were allowed outside 3 times daily only to collect meals. No wandering around the corridor and fraternising. Guests have to wait 15-20 seconds after hotel staff knocks, open door, pick up food and shut door. Something akin to solitary confinement in prison! Ahh, no room service available! So each room was provided with cleaning products, rubbish bags, towels, tissues and toilet paper. 

Wahh, wail, sob, this NEW NORM is so sorrowful -  Skippy has to pay so much (A$3,000 for the 14 days) and have to clean his own room.

Lucky Skippy got a corner room with a view. 

Managed to crank open a window by 4 inches for fresh air, keep-fit Skippy 

got his resistance bands, skipping rope and yoga mat unloaded. 

Online orders for healthy food 

were on his priority to do list. Quarantine meals 

arrived in takeaway boxes 

with a different daily cuisine - 

tortellini and cake,

brown rice with coconut, almonds, chia, capsicum and falafel meal and other surprises.

By day 6, Skippy had settled into a routine of hopping, oops I mean jogging in his room.

    He 🤦‍♂️ actually made the effort to create a decent indoor jogging track by rearranging the bed and tables 🤦‍♀️. 

Come back Skippy, where you running off to? Remember, fraternising is NOT allowed.

He also discovered better spots to use his resistance bands. Skipping was a disaster as he churned up too much dust from the carpet! In Skippy's own words, “Wonder what some do in quarantine? Well, I have rearranged the furniture in the room to get my sanity back, jogging to increase immunity from the lurking virus.” Know what I WILL do during quarantine? HELLO, Coach Potato!  

QUARANTINE SOPs

Australia has mandatory SOPs - hotels hosting overseas returnees must have a medical team and an enforcement personnel station to check daily on guests’ welfare. Skippy informed them that he had hay fever and meds were delivered to his room free of charge. 

He asked for a nail clipper and it was delivered in 30mins 

Asked for body lotion, and 4 tubes magically arrived. My my, Skippy you are gonna be as smooth as a baby after 14 days.

At 6,364 km away from his parents, Skippy continued to monitor their care and well-being through a chat group with the care givers and CCTV via phone.

Returning home has never been more difficult. Skippy is concerned about the thousands of stranded Australians that will NOT be HOME this Christmas 

either due to Australia’s International arrival caps or simply because they cannot afford the exorbitant air fares and quarantine costs. 

But for those of you who have secured tickets home, Skippy suggests that you:

😍 check with the airline you are travelling with for any declaration that needs to be completed online to expedite your check-in procedure.

🤩 complete the online Federation and State declarations.

TRAVEL SAFELY EVERY ONE.

Grateful acknowledgement to Skippy, the ghost writer for this post, for his invaluable contribution and pictures.