Circumcision by Laser – Situation Critical!

In conjunction with school holiday which started on 16 November 2013, I decided to send my 10 year old son for his ‘manhood’ transformation by performing a circumcision.

 Keep Calm

 In my early entry here which my 1^st son (Idlan) had been circumcised at Klinik Shahril in December  2010 and due to the rapid recuperating experience, it would strongly justify to repeat the same process at the same clinic. 

However, Klinik Shahril has its own popularity now despite the cost fee had been escalated to RM150-00 (RM100-00 then), it seems the booking period is taking far too long. I called the clinic on 21^st November to fix an appointment which I would prefer to do it on the following Saturday, however, the only available slot was on 12 December 2013 – 22 days later.

Unwelcomed by the long waiting day, instead of agreeing on the new available date, I had chosen another option that is finding another clinic within the vicinity (Taman Impian Ehsan, Balakong, Selangor).

The ‘newly appointed’ clinic is Klinik Famili located much more nearer to my house (less than 1km). There was no hassle for booking an appointment whereby they have ample slots. I booked on 29^th November (Friday) at 4pm.

 Tel : 0389626815

My son (Izz) had been preparing this and has his own jitters for the upcoming predicament. His brother had been telling bad stories. Me, as a parent would cajole Izz few days earlier leading to the D-day. The best advice is telling him not to cry and try to hold on to the pain as long as he can – the way to beat his own brother who took it like a girl previously.

On that Friday evening, the moment of truth, Izz lying on the clinic’s bed wearing his ‘kain pelekat’, Tshirt and a slipper. The doctor asked him to be patient as he will prick him with few anaesthetic injections.

The injections were on the outer layer of the penis’ skin to enable it to be cut without hurting the patient. The process of removing the excessive skin by laser and revealing the inner part of the penis took about 20 – 30 minutes, including the stitching process – around 5 stitches in a circle.

After all the necessary medical procedure had been completed, the doctor instructed to remain on the seat and wait for about 10 minutes. This is for the purpose in case of any bleeding from the cut. Unfortunately, Izz had suffered from this, and he was bleeding profusely and I had to bring him back on the surgery bed. 

The doctor then wrapped the newly cut skin with a bandage and apply a gentle pressure to stop the bleeding. About 10 minutes, the bleeding seems to have stopped and Izz has the permission to go home. The doctor advised to return back to the clinic 2 days later to open the bandage.

 The device - it is attached to the electrical power source

After taking the medication, Izz fell asleep. He woke up few hours later at 6.30pm, half naked and said to me that he doesn’t suffer any pain following the worn out anaesthetic. He doesn’t even cry. One tough dude!. Mc Donalds for dinner for the whole family as promised dedicated to the new ‘man’ in the house.

On the second day, when I checked the wound, the white bandage had been hardened by the dried blood while the blood flow from the wound had stopped. I noticed that some sort of puss – yellowish residue mix with blood had covered the upper bandage and attached to the skin like glue. It was a dead skin as advised by the doctor earlier. 

I decided to slowly peel the bandage on my own to assess the situation either to bring him to clinic and endure the highest level of excruciating pain by my poor child or continue with the peeling. I could not watch my son’s sad and teary face if the unmerciful doctor do it in front of my eyes. I just can’t!.

Even the slightest movement of the peeling process, Izz screamed in pain!. I decided not to bring him to the clinic.

I will de-attach the bandage all by myself with gentle care. As days passed by, I spent time daily to cut the bandage piece by piece to reduce the thickness, layer by layer. At the same time, I asked Izz to soften the bandage with water as to make it easier for the cutting process. There were times Izz screamed in a controlled manner. Izz also show some effort in cutting the certain part of the bandage during his free time.

Finally, on the 12^th day, the bandage came out by itself!! After all the hard work, wear and tear, wet and dry – Izz won! He said that it was easy to peel off the bandage during one of his shower sessions. The stitches also wear off at the same time.

My advice to all parents out there, don’t be scared if similar situation occurred to your son. The above experience is how you handle it if you don’t want your son to suffer. 

Oh yes, one more thing, a friend did asked me why I don’t perform the circumcision during the infant stage, it is hassle free as the baby skin is still soft and few other win factors. I said though I endured a slight downside experience of the circumcision, I actually wanted all my sons to experience it on their own. With these experiences, they will share with friends and even some day with kids of their own – as they said “experience is the best teacher”.

P/s : The above experience is for sharing purpose and not be used as an ultimate solution. You may seek professional assistance if necessary.

(Prawn Mee) Mee Udang Aur Gading, Sungai Dua, Butterworth, Penang

1^st time being here with few recommendations from a conventional wisdom : ‘if it tastes good, tell it to 3 – 6 people”. Here we are at Aur Gading Mee udang on one fine Monday late afternoon. The outlet consider popular as most of the GPS has this location under “Places of Interest – Food category”.

There was no patron at that time in view it was a working day.

We ordered 2 bowls of prawn mee which they served in 1 big bowl.  There were 6 big prawns on top of the serving. I was surprised with the prawn quantity. The taste? I will give 1 out of 5. The curry gravy had more water than the curry itself.

The setback of this outlet is when it comes to the bill time. To our dismay the cost of the food that we ate (2 servings of prawn mee) cost us a walloping RM36-00!! The 2 mee are RM6-00 but the prawns alone cost RM30-00!!

The cashier said that the giant prawn was based on weight meaning that 1 piece of prawn cost RM5-00!!

The dine-in concept at Mee Udang Aur Gading is wrong, they should inform the customer that the prawn will be based on weight then the customer has the option to choose either to have it or not, or determine the prawn quantity to be served. 

In fact, we don’t really know how many is the standard quantity of prawn for each bowl per serving (I assume 3 pieces). But then, the outlet can easily manipulate the system, they able to put how many prawn they feel convenient to them especially if you come in large group. That’s what I call cheating customer. I am pretty sure they make a fortune out of this one.

The normal seafood dine-in concept will let you choose your marine life, weight it, let you know the price, you still can adjust accordingly to your budget at this point, the final process is to select your serving style. It is a fair negotiation.

On the other hand, the cost for one bowl of Mee Udang Ramli located in Kuala Selangor (my entry here), also very famous only cost us RM6-00 (with 3 pieces of small but sufficient prawn on top). They have fix price on the menu and to me, it was a sincere business.

For those who wish to have Mee Udang Aur Gading should think twice. Back to the Conventional wisdom: “if you had a bad experience, tell it to 12 – 20 people”.

Roti Canai Jalan Transfer, Penang

Roti Canai Jalan Transfer located in Penang also known as Roti Canai Tepi Longkang. So much hype of this small food outlet as it become famous in google and various blog entries.

 

I wanted to experience the taste myself so I went on the journey from my hotel located 13 km away.

First when I reached here at 9.00am, the outlet was so busy with activities. It almost full house with the seats (left and right) were seems fully occupied.  If you come alone, you will have a better chance to find a vacant slot but it may be hard for those come in group.

Full House

 the opposite site

There were two separate sections – the food station and the drink station which is few metres far apart. With a chair (with no back rest) I sat down and be served by the mamak. I ordered normal roti canai with curry chicken (I mean literally with the chicken drumstick).

The taste? I give 1 out of 10. The dhal curry with a lot of spicy chilly tasted ...well...acceptable but I certainly had better taste elsewhere. 

The roti canai ? 1 out of 10. The texture is hard, I had difficult time tearing it into small pieces with the spoon and fork. They should provide a knife instead (and a hammer perhaps). I feel like I’m chewing a bubble gum but without taste.

 the 'extra brown' roti canai with curry chicken

The setback of this roti canai is the food preparation : It’s not hygiene. The mamak will just pick up the roti canai with their bare hand and put it on the plate to be served. Even worst the process of tearing the roti canai into small pieces also using both hands. We don’t really know where the hand had been into (we don’t want to know actually).

 can you see it? The hand?

They also pick up the chicken and toss it into the curry with their bare hand! And then touching other things with the same hand without cleaning it first. They are doing it openly without guilty feeling and I guess they are proud of doing it.

 Yup...bare hand was used..

I’ve been charged RM7.20 for the roti canai with chicken curry (excluding the drink), I’s expensive and I don’t have the appetite to finish the chicken. But I did finish my ‘plywood’ roti canai.

For those who had a high level of hygiene, this eating place is not for you. It also not suitable for texture freak for soft roti canai either. The patrons are oblivious of the unpleasant things going on. 

The outlet may need a lot of improvement to stay competitive as there are too many roti canai outlets along the way. However, due to its popularity with an additional of long establishment, the business is thriving. They may have their regular customer based on demographic and culture especially among the locals, however, for customer from out of penang, they are not impressing us much.

NETTING THE RIVER PRAWN EXPERIENCE - SUNGAI BESAR, SELANGOR

Our objective is to make the River prawn harvesting a memorable experience.
We are city dwellers who cringe for a little excitement.
And this is our story.....

The government had increased the Petrol price per liter from RM1.95 to RM2.10 (RM0.20).

Really? Switch on to NGV my friend. Petrol consumption is your worst enemy, your NGV is an investment.

Headed to Sungai Besar, Selangor on Saturday, 7^th September 2013, 145km from Kuala Lumpur.

We need to be at the location around 3.00 pm. Picked up my old childhood pal, Mr Naza at Gombak around 1.00pm then straight to Latar Highway.

There is only one NGV station in Ijok if you intend to travel to Kuala Selangor

We dropped by at Petronas NGV Ijok town for refuelling, my old car had travelled around 45km at this point. Then, headed towards Sungai Besar where Mr  Afandy who was supposed to meet and bring us to the exact location (near Sungai Haji Dorani).

The Shacks 

We reached the location around 3.30pm (2 hours journey from Kuala Lumpur), to this old shack which is situated in the middle of palm oil plantation few kilometres from the main road via Jalan 9. About 100 metres of gravel road leading to here. At this river bank, there are 2 shacks which were built few metres higher from the ground. This is to avoid the flood water during a heavy downpour or rainy season. The electricity here powered by a small fuel-operated generator with a loud buzzing sound throughout the night.

 

Mr Jamil is the proud owner of one of this rickety shacks said that this is his getaway place-to-be to accommodate his hobby an interest, that is, catching marine life and most popular, river prawn.

There are two black, big, square containers of clean water placed a metre above the ground for washing and cleaning up here. The clean water was scarce here, so, better bring your own extra litres. 

 Down below at the river, there are two small man made jetty, with a series of wooden planks that neatly joined together and using a lot of air tight containers beneath to keep it afloat. A small, thin woods were used as a bridge to connect the land and the jetty. Few bunches of sticks made from bamboo were grounded from the river floor protruding few metres from the surface, the boat is used to park in between the bunch of these stilts to minimise the ‘shaky’ movement during in and out the boat. We also can grab hold of these sturdy bamboos for proper balance.

Keeping your balance is important at this level as the jetty will move up and down inconsistently whenever we step on it or due to the small waves cause by passers -by boat.

The ‘curved’ river is similar to 8 lanes of tarmac road surrounded by thick foliage at both banks. The mangroves are the dominant occupant in this area.

The Netting Process

We’re supposed to get down to the river at 5.00pm, we have 2 more hours to get ready. It was recommended to start setting up the fishing net during the lowest tide. It will work like this :

·         - Find a potential spot

·         - Lowest tide i.e 5.00pm

·        -   Set up the net

·        The net will be set up on the ground in a U-shape format like a fence from one end to another

·        With the rising tide, the marine lives, fishes and river prawns will normally moving towards the river banks (in search for food and get socialized..I think)

·      During high tide, the net which had been set up earlier will be raised few inches from the water level manually at 9.00pm

·       As the fish normally parallel with the water level, and while the tide is getting lower, the fishes in the river banks earlier will get caught

·         Harvesting time – at 5.00am

Get Down to Business

I packed my handphone and dslr camera wrapped with plastic, put it in my backpack. Everything shall be captured in photos, I claimed.

After changing to our outfit (shorts) and barefooted, 2 boatmen requested us to get into the boat. The show has begun. It was me and Mr Naza with our boatmen respectively. The super lightweight fibre-glass boat propelled by small but powerful RM3K engine, speeding fast through the murky water. Expected this was not Venice type of leisure ride,  the boat was administering sharp corners perfectly and about 5 to 10 minutes, we reached to what was seems to be a promising spot for river prawn.

Smoking on the boat sitting on the fishing net - heaven!

It was an open area, undisturbed and mud-filled, what used to be a river floor few hours earlier. The boatmen, Mr Jamil and Mr Ikhsan setting up the net, fencing the area. The net stretched like 50 metres long. The bottom part of the net need to be buried sufficiently in the ground with your fingers in order for it to hold firmly during high tide and provide no escape plan for the fish to runaway. Then, a scoop of mud will be put on the net – to temporarily assigned the net in that position waiting for the tide to come.

The four of us need to braved the knee-deep mud (waist deep in certain area) setting up the net. Few long poles were also mounted on the ground few metres apart in line with the net. The poles will be used as an anchor to fasten the net during high tide.

The process took us about 45 minutes to one hour and we have one more set of net to go. 

The tide is coming!

The water had slowly increased a few notch within minutes by the time we reached the second spot (few hundred metres from the first one), Mr Jamil and Mr Ikhsan had difficult time setting up the net while in the waist deep water. The process was a daunting experienced but considered normal by the locals. We completed fencing the areas in 1 hour 30 minutes or so, we returned back to the shack by almost 7.00pm. I realized that we haven’t had our proper meal since breakfast. We headed down to the nearest food outlet, some 10km away. It’s kind of far (too far) just to eat. I had my ‘soto ayam’. I normally had Soto ayam which is soup and square-ish pressed-rice but this soto ayam was different and kind of special in this area. The soup had been replaced by ‘kuah kacang’ (bean gravy). Yummy!

 The chicken chunks was at the bottom

The Net Repositioning

At 9.30pm, there we were again clad in our shorts and tshirt that we used earlier. We put on our headlamp. In a flash, we’re in the boat already. The tide was at the maximum level at this hour, the jetty seems at the same level from the land. In total darkness, our headlamp was our primary gadget to brighten the elusive path ahead. The boatmen, both using high powered headlamp, with the powerful lumens, navigating from a distance.

My headlamp only able to brighten area of few feet away, seems hopeless. I have to salute Mr Jamil and Mr Ikhsan to be able to locate back the correct location, it’s a skills that had developed through years of experience. Upon reaching the area that had been fenced earlier, Mr Ikhsan then tied the net to the pole few inches above the water surface. Then, moved to adjacent pole, repeated the process until the net at all poles point had been fastened. The whole process took about 1 hour or so, then back to our shelter. It was dark, quiet and cold. There was nothing to see in front of me but when I looked up, I’ve been mesmerized by hundreds of shining stars. 

The time was 10.30pm, washed our bodies and went inside the shack. It was mostly carpeted flooring, high ceiling. Few essential items were placed neatly on the shelves. I saw few car batteries to operate the electrical appliances, fan and radio. Mr Naza and Mr Jamil continued to chat all night, for me, it was time for my bed. Nite-nite. We need to get up at 5.00am. The radio turned on the whole night, nobody seems to bother except my friend, Mr Naza who could not sleep, disturbed by the pounding sound.

The Harvesting Time

Awakened at 4.30am, it’s Sunday, 8^th September 2013, we prepared our gear, well, not much, just shorts, tshirt, sweater and headlamp. I brought my camera with me. We rolled out at 5.00am. As we reached our spot, no time to lose, 4 of us jumped into the cold water and deep mud inspecting the net. Me and Mr Ikhsan at one end and  Mr Naza and Mr Jamil at the other. Eventually we will meet in the middle. The tide had subsided. With the help of my soft-light headlamp, I saw the net some sort of hanging few metres above.

The trapped fishes and our targeted river prawn were squeaking uncontrollably when we scoured the net. We collected the poor fishes and put it in a container. Now off to second spot, repeat all the steps again. The fish harvesting moment lasted about an hour.

Back At the Shack

At the shack, they divided the fish and the prawn for us (yay!). They separated the bigger fish as they intended to sell it off to fish-merchant who will be coming a little later, about 8.00am. The catch of the day is about few kilo of ‘Tapah’ and ‘Baung’ which could fetch high market price per kilogram.

The fish-merchant came shortly after, in the middle of our effort to get my stuck car from a pool of deep mud. Mr ‘Apek’ (what the locals call him) offered us his service to tow the car. Succeeded!!  Thanks Apek!

Tug-of-war

The reward for us? The excitement, the priceless experience and most importantly, the river prawn!! We got few kilos of that big-headed prawns. The cost of the whole experienced was at RM70-00 per person seems a trivial matter to us compared to the new friendship, what have we learned and living in a secluded location with lack of basic needs.

Will we repeat? You betcha! See you in December. Interested? give me a buzz...