Brickwork in progress

My workers have started laying bricks on the 1st Floor starting with the side external wall. I also ordered another lorry load of cement bricks (4000 pieces) which was delivered this afternoon. The price of cement bricks (including transport to site) is 24 sen compared to clay bricks which is 38 sen. At the moment there are 4 workers doing the brickwork. Work to the floor joists had temporarily stopped allowing the brickwork to proceed first.

Brickwork about to commence

My workers have started to transport the cement bricks to the 1st. Floor and they will start laying the bricks tomorrow. I am using only cement bricks and it will be only half brick. The external wall will not be plastered to keep the cosntruction cost to the minimum. Some of the readers will be wondering whether by using cement bricks and only half bricks will be able to keep the heat in the BH within the acceptable limit but I am confident I came overcome the heat and humidity problem as I have a few innovations under my sleeve which I will reveal later, that is, as the construction progresses. I will not have ventiltaion holes on the walls unlike most BHs. . I had just read an article in Pak Hen's blog and this BH in Bonerate, Makassar, Southern Sulawesi also did not use ventilations holes and had been very successful producing 5kg every 2 weeks. My BH I believe could be similar in concept to this BH.


"The “selfish man” is he who would do the thing, even if it harmed others, so long as it gave him pleasure: the “unselfish man” is he who would still do the thing, even if it gave him no pleasure, so long as it pleased others." - Lewis Carroll (1832-1898)

Chinese New Year 2009

Chinese new year 2009 falls on 26th of January, 2009. The Chinese New Year is celebrated as the symbol of spring's celebration. In fact in China the Chinese New Year is still called the Spring festival. It is celebrated after the fall harvest and before the spring planting season. The date of the Chinese New Year is always changing and is dependant on the Chinese calendar. Emperor Huangdi in the year 2637 B.C.E invented the Chinese calendar.

The Chinese calendar is a combined solar/lunar calendar and is somewhat similar to the Chinese calendar. For the purpose of determining the dates of the Chinese New Year some astronomical calculations need to be taken care of. Firstly, we need to determine the dates for the new moon. The new moon is the black moon that is when the moon is in conjunction with the sun.
The date of the new moon is taken as the first day of the new month. Secondly those dates are determined when the sun's longitude is the multiple of 30 degrees. These dates are termed as Principal terms and are used for determining the number of each month.

The Principle term 1 takes place when the sun's longitude is 330 degrees, the 2nd Principle term occurs when the sun's longitude is about 0 degrees. The principle term 3 takes place when the sun's longitude is 30 degrees, the principle term 11 occurs when the sun's longitude is 270 degrees and the principle term 12 occurs when the sun's longitude is 300 degrees.

Timber floor joists in progress

My workers have been installing the timber floor joists for the last few days. It is almost 60% completed. One of my readers asked me why I am using kelat for the 1st. Floor. The reason is the the Ground Floor is not a nesting area and thus it is not necessary to use red meranti. Besides kelat is slightly cheaper and harder than red meranti.

RC Structure completed

It has been a week since I last reported on the progress on site. The RC structure has been completed and my workers have started to install the floor joist. The 1st. Floor joist are of 2' x 4"kelat timber fixed in 2'0" x 2' 0" grid while the 2nd Floor up to the roof will be 2" x 4" red meranti with grooves fixed in 2' 0" x 2' 0" grid.



The by-election fever is over. At last PAS won the by-election. The new MP for Kuala Terengganu is my former classmate in Sultan Sulaiman Secondary School, Kuala Terengganu. Though he may be from the opposing camp, we are still friends. Congratulations to YB Hj. Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut for being elected as a MP and hope you do your job well. BN lost because the political tsunami has still not lost its momentum.

I don't think its the wrong choice of candidate as claimed by Tun Mahathir that cause the defeat. The well-oiled machinery of PR lead by Tian Chua and company in campaigning for the PAS candiadate contributes to BN's defeat. Lack of commitment on the part of UMNO campaigners is also one of the reasons for the defeat. To quote Zubaidah Abu Baker of the NST, "Tens of thousands of UMNO members were in the Terengganu state capital but many, including party leaders were mere political tourists. There were campaigners who toiled and sweated but they were outnumbered two to one by those who went binge shopping on Terengganu songket and batik and spent hours at hotel cofee houses discussing the impending UMNO election. Large groups also spent their time trailing Abdullah, Najib and other party leaders when their opponents were out in the field bringing in votes".

One thing that surprises me is how PR got so much money for the campaign. Some of the campaign materials outdo the BN while others are at par but never less. If this is BN I can believe that they have money because as claimed by PR they are corrupt. But this is not BN, it is PR. Where does their campaign money come from?. I hope readers can guess the answer.

Roof beam ready for concreting

The roof beams are ready for concreting today but unfortunately the mobile cranes were fully booked for today and I had to postpone the concreting to tomorrow.

Last night, I attended a 'ceramah' given by Ezam Mohd. Nor, ex-AMK leader and he told the crowd that before 1701, the by-election day, he will reveal a letter sent by Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim to Tun Mahathir after he was sacked by the later which contradict what he has been saying about Tun Mahathir Mohamed in public. This letter is to show that Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim is a hypocrite and cannot be trusted as a leader and should he be elected to be a PM one day he will do more harm than good to the country. Ezam said Anwar is "Siang Lain dan Malam Lain". So all voters, be careful and make sure you make the right choice for the betterment of this country. Let us not destroy this country after 51 years of independence. This country my not be perfect for all but it is still a wonderful place to live in. If we have to fight for the betterment of Malaysia, lets fight from within. Join the BN parties and contribute your whatever god-given talent that you have. The doors are always open. Don't just be a fence seater dan don't be swayed by the sweet-talking oppositions with their oratory skills.


'Let me say this as clearly as I can: No matter how sharp a grievance or how deep a hurt, there is no justification for killing innocents.' - Bill Clinton

Construction Works has reached roof beam

My workers have started erecting the side formwork for the roof beams and once finished will begin putting in the steel reinforcement into the roof beams. The latest they will finish is tomorrow and I target concreting the day after, that is, on 13th January 2009.


Yesterday was a busy day helping out in the by-election. My operation center organised a get-together for the residents of Cerong Lanjut and the function was attended by YB Toh Chin Yaw, the Adun for Bandar. Dato' Wan Ahmad Farid, the BN candidate, at the least minute informed that he could not attend as he has another improtant function on. Anyhow, I will get him to meet the residents some other time before the by-election day.

3rd. Floor Column formwork completed

Yesterday, I was too busy to write. My workers have completed erecting the formwork for the 3rd Floor columns. At the same time, all the timbers for the floor joists and struts have been delivered to site.






Yesterday, I followed the BN leaders to one of the functions orgnised by one of the Chinese NGOs, that is giving hampers to the senior citizens for the coming Chinese New Year. They emphasized to those present that voting in the candidate from ruling party should be a better choice since they have been serving them all the thing and whatever grievances and request have been entertained all this while. The opposition may promise a thousand wonderful things, but they come and go once the election is over and leave them as it is. Even if they are elected, they have not helped the Chinese. For the readers information, all the 3 PAS Adun in the Kuala Terengganu Parliamentary area have yet to show their faces to the Chinese community in their constituency and neither have they help the Chinese to solve their problems since being elected on 0308. One of this PAS Adun is now the candidate for the Kuala Terengganu Parliamentary seat. Why should we elect such leaders?. They are just full of rhetorics.


"When one takes a broad survey of the country, he will find that the most useful and influential people in it are those who take the deepest interest in institutions that exist for the purpose of making the world better." - Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

3rd Floor column in progress

My workers have finished stripping both the side formworks for the 3rd Foor beams and the formworks for the 2nd. Floor columns. They have also strated fixing the steel reinforcements for the 3rd. Floor. With the return of one of the skilled workers, the work pace has increased and probably the Roof beams can be concreted within a week.


Today is nomination day for the Kuala Terengganu Parliamentary seat (P036). Supporters from BN and PKR converge at Stadium Negeri to give support to their candidate News report have the crowd at 30,000 for BN and 15,ooo for PR. Almost all the top leaders from both BN and PR were present except for the Prime Minister and Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim. This event goes on smoothly and peacefully except for a liitle provocation by PAS supporters which was quickly quashed by the FRU. 3 candidates qualified to contest this parliamentry seat, BN, PAS and an Independant. The Independant candidate is an unknown in the town and state. The real battle is between Dato' Wan Ahmad Farid from BN and Y.B. Mohd Abdul Wahid from PAS.

3rd. Floor beam completed

My workers finished concreting the 3rd Floor beams today. What is left of the RC structure is the Roof beams. As the building gets higher, the progress per floor gets slower. This is because the workers have to be more cautious in moving around and take a longer time to transport the materials upwards. I targeted 8 days to complete the roof beams which means that concreting will be on 13th January 2009. Tomorrow the workers will begin to strip the side formworks followed by the column formworks.

Today, I had a hectic day helping up in the bye-election. The Chinese in Kuala Terengganu received their 'ang pows' from the State Government ranging RM200 to RM400. Single mothers, the handicaps and senior citizens got their share of the 'ang pows'. School-going childeren whose parents earn less than RM1,200 also get money to buy their uniforms. Each family got RM100. The Chinese though a minority is a priveilege lot. They are getting what the Malays got, nothing less.

Tomorrow is nomination day for the Kuala Terengganu Parliamentary seats (P036) and all the big guns, both from the Barisan (UMNO, MCA, MIC and Gerakan) and PR, are in town. The town is already packed with outsiders and a majority of them are the police personnels deployed to take charge of the security. There are 3 big temporary camps built in various part of town to accomodate these police personnels. It will be an interesting week ahead and be on the lookout for more exciting news on the bye-election.

3rd Floor beam ready for concreting.

My workers have finished putting in the steel reinforcements into the beam formwork and the beam is now ready for concreting. I have ordered sand and aggregate today. I have also booked the mobile crane. As for cement I have stock of about 70 bags. However , as a precaution, I am ordering another 50 bags to avoid shortage while concreting.

I have been very busy with the coming bye-election for the Kuala Terengganu Parliament seat. I was too busy yesterday that I did not report on the progress on site. I also didn't go to site to take photographs of the progress. Well, this bye-election will be an interesting one to watch. Both the BN and PAS candidates are my friends. The PAS candidate was my former classmate. However, this electon is not about voting for friends but for the party that can bring progress and prosperity to the state. Guess who I shall vote for?.

No work today. Its a weekend in KT

My workers chose not to work today since it is a weekend. They sometimes work for half a day during weekends

3rd. Floor beam side formwork in progress

Today is New year Day and in Kuala Terengganu it is a working day. My workers had taken levels and finished fixing the soffit formworks for the 3rd. Floor beams. They have started to erect the side formworks. After completion of the side formworks, the steel reinforcements will be put into the formworks. As the the construction goes higher, the time taken to complete the works also took a longer time to complete. The workers have to be more cautious moving around as safety is one of their concern. The 2nd Floor beams took 6 days to complete and I expect the 3rd Floor beams to take the most 9 days. This is because one of the skilled workers is still on leave.

Happy New Year 2009

TO ALL MY READERS