Tag: Nepal

  • Suami Isteri Berbasikal Ke Makkah Sudah Lepasi 11 Negara, Tinggal 1 Negara Untuk Sampai Destinasi

    Suami Isteri Berbasikal Ke Makkah Sudah Lepasi 11 Negara, Tinggal 1 Negara Untuk Sampai Destinasi

    Sepasang suami isteri Melayu yang sedang dalam perjalanan menunaikan ibadah umrah dengan sekadar mengayuh basikal sahaja, bakal mencapai hajat mereka tidak lama lagi setelah mengembara sembilan bulan lamanya.

    Ya, pasangan rakyat Malaysia itu – Encik Ahmad Mohd Isa, 27 tahun dan isterinya Noradilah Mohd Sapie, 28 tahun memilih untuk mengayuh kenderaan dua roda itu sahaja ke tanah suci.

    Sebelum ini, pasangan itu dilaporkan nekad mencabar keupayaan mereka melakukan ekspedisi berbasikal ‘Kembara Memburu Hikmah’ (KMH), dengan mengayuh basikal dari Malaysia ke Makkah sejauh 17,000 kilometer.

    Setelah bertolak dari Malaysia, mereka perlu melalui 13 buah negara lain dalam tempoh sembilan hingga 12 bulan – iaitu Thailand, Myanmar, India, Nepal, Pakistan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran, UAE, sebelum menjejakkan kaki ke Arab Saudi selaku negara ke-13.

    Encik Ahmad Mohd Isa dan isterinya Noradilah Mohd Sapie ketika di Khazakhstan.

    TINGGAL 1 NEGARA UNTUK SAMPAI MAKKAH

    Dalam wawancara menerusi kiriman emel dengan BERITAMediacorp, pasangan itu memberitahu bahawa mereka kini sudah berada di Afghanistan, negara ke-11 daripada 12 negara yang perlu dilalui. Ini bermakna tinggal lagi 1 negara perlu direntasi sebelum tiba di Arab Saudi.

    “Alhamdulillah, selama 27 hari kami di Uzbekistan iaitu dari 11 Disember 2016 hingga 6 Januari 2017, sekarang kami sudahpun berada di Afghanistan. Insya Allah, mengikut perancangan kami, perjalanan seterusnya (mengikut urutan) adalah Iran, Amiriah Arab Bersatu dan Arab Saudi,” kata mereka.

    Menurut Encik Ahmad dan Cik Noradilah, antara cabaran besar yang mereka lalui sepanjang pengembaraan itu adalah masalah komunikasi dengan masyarakat di sesebuah negara.

    “Bahasa yang mereka tuturkan seperti Urdu, Uighur, Parsi dan Bahasa tempatan lain tidak dapat diterjemahkan menggunakan mana-mana aplikasi di internet.

    “Mereka pula kebanyakannya tidak memahami bahasa Inggeris atau Arab. Maka ini menyulitkan komunikasi antara kami untuk saling bertukar-tukar pandangan,” pasangan itu memberitahu BERITAMediacorp.

    Encik Ahmad Mohd Isa dan isterinya Noradilah Mohd Sapie ketika di Kyrgystan.

    PERTAMA KALI BERBASIKAL PADA MUSIM SALJI

    Sungguhpun begitu, pengalaman yang diraih ada juga yang memberi kesan mendalam kepada pasangan yang memang ‘kaki basikal’ dan membesar dengan berbasikal daripada zaman sekolah hingga ke universiti.

    Di laman Facebook KMH, pasangan itu berkongsi “pengalaman hebat” ketika berbasikal pada musim salji di Kazakhstan – menerusi video yang dimuat naik – kerana itulah kali pertama mereka bergelumang dengan salji!

    Ternyata bukan mudah kerana mereka beberapa kali tergelincir. Namun menurut pasangan berkenaan ia “membuatkan hati mereka semakin kental untuk meneruskan perjalanan”.

    “MAKANAN TIDAK PUTUS-PUTUS”

    Selain itu layanan baik yang diterima cukup membuatkan mereka tersentuh.

    “Pelbagai bentuk layanan dan bantuan yang di luar jangkaan kami terima daripada insan-insan berhati mulia sepanjang perjalanan ini dan semuanya membuat kami tersentuh.

    “Sejak memasuki negara-negara ‘STAN’ (Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Kazahstan), rezeki dalam bentuk makanan tidak putus-putus. Kami tidak sempat untuk berasa lapar.

    “Setiap kali dijemput makan, makanan penuh terhidang atas meja, kata mereka, ini adalah adat budaya mereka untuk memanjakan tetamu dengan pelbagai jenis hidangan.

    “Semoga Allah merahmati hidup mereka yang memberikan bantuan, sokongan dan mendoakan kami sama ada kami tahu atau tidak. Setiap kebaikan itu ada balasan dan rahmat di sisiNya.”

    MAHU “SUJUD SYUKUR DEPAN KAABAH”

    Setelah sekitar sembilan bulan perjalanan mereka, iaitu sejak April 2016, kini Cik Noradilah dan suaminya semakin hampir ke destinasi utama, yang diidam-idamkan setelah sekian lama.

    Ketibaan mereka di Makkah nanti pasti menjadi satu detik bersejarah dalam kehidupan mereka dan tiada tolok bandingnya.

    BERITAMediacorp diberitahu sebaik sahaja menjejakkan kaki di Makkah, perkara pertama yang ingin dilakukan adalah “bersujud syukur di hadapan Kaabah”.

    RINDU DAKAP IBU BAPA

    Encik Ahmad dan Cik Noradilah dijangka berada di Makkah menunaikan umrah selama dua minggu sebelum pulang ke pangkuan keluarga tercinta di Malaysia.

    “Kami rindu sekali menjejakkan kaki ke tanah air sendiri selepas ke tanah suci Makkah dan Madinah. Selain itu kami juga rindu ingin mendakap kedua-dua ibu bapa kami yang tidak putus-putus mendoakan perjalanan kami agar sentiasa lancar dan selamat,” luah pasangan kembara ini.

    Encik Ahmad Mohd Isa dan isterinya Noradilah Mohd Sapie ketika di Nepal.

    Selain melakukan misi kemanusiaan di setiap negara yang dijelajah, pasangan suami isteri itu turut membawa cabaran merekod data berkaitan sejarah, budaya dan kehidupan masyarakat Islam.

    Turut mengiringi misi KMH itu ialah Mohd Nur Aiman Mohd Zaid, 27 tahun, dan Amirul Ariff Abd Wahab, 28, yang bertindak sebagai kru penggambaran video.

    Perkembangan semasa ekspedisi itu boleh diikuti melalui facebook Kembara Memburu Hikmah.

    Encik Ahmad dan Cik Noradilah yang berasal dari Selangor, dijangka menamatkan misi itu dan tiba di Masjidil Haram pada April 2017.

     

     

    Source: BeritaMediacorp

  • Nepali Teenage Girl Selling Vegetables Is New Online Darling

    Nepali Teenage Girl Selling Vegetables Is New Online Darling

    You might have heard about how a handsome blue-eyed Pakistani tea-seller, Mr Arshad Khan, became an overnight star on social media after his photo was posted on Instagram.

    Now, a vegetable seller from Nepal, Ms Kusum Shrestha, is the latest hawker to make waves online with her good looks, BBC reported.

    The 18-year-old was photographed carrying vegetables at a local market and the photos drew attention online when they were uploaded.

    The hashtags #Tarkariwali and #Sabjiwali – which both mean “vegetable seller” – quickly started trending on social media as users praised her looks.

    In one picture, the teenager is seen smiling as she carries crates of tomatoes across a bridge. In another one, she is captured talking on a mobile phone while selling vegetables at a market.

    Ms Shrestha is from a farming family based in Bagling, Gorkha, which is about 90km west of capital Kathmandu.

    She told BBC Nepali she is a student in the nearby district of Chitwan, and was helping her parents during the college holidays when the shots were taken.

    One of the photos which catapulted Ms Shrestha to fame. PHOTO: FACEBOOK

    Photographer RupChandra Maharjan told Nepalese blog Gundruk Post that he photographed Ms Shrestha at the Fishling suspension bridge between Gorkha and Chitwan. He reportedly works for a rafting company on the local Trishuli River.

    Ms Shrestha told the BBC she found out about her viral pictures from a friend.

    “First my friend asked me if I am the same girl whose photos became viral on Facebook. But I didn’t know,” Ms Shrestha said.

    “Then she sent me the pictures and when I saw them, I found it was me. On that day, I came to sell the vegetables to help my parents. When I was on my way to sell the vegetables, RupChandra (the photographer) took my picture – but at that point of time, I didn’t know that I was being photographed.”

    Many users on Twitter and Facebook admired the teenager’s work ethic. One of them, @SabyasachiPuhan, said she combined “cuteness and hard work”.

    One fan even suggested that Mr Khan, the Pakistani tea-seller and Ms Shrestha would make an ideal couple.

    Ms Shrestha told the BBC she was thrilled with her newfound fame. When asked if she would like to take up modelling like Mr Khan if an opportunity arises, she beamed and said: “Yes, I will go.”

    Her father Narayan Shrestha, 43, told Nepalese news website myrepublica.com: “I hear that her photos have become popular on the Internet. Who had imagined that she would get such publicity? My daughter has always been a shy girl; she is a girl of very few words.”

    Mr Shrestha said his daughter is studying management. However, her dream is to be a nurse.

    “She is my only child. I should educate her to the extent possible (sic),” he said. “But I also have to consider my financial situation. I could not admit her into a nursing college though she wanted to study nursing.”

    He said the interest in his daughter showed that the public respects farmers and their hard work.

    “This is what I feel. There is nothing else that I expect,” he added.

     

    Source: The Straits Times

  • 3 Maut, 3 Lagi Termasuk Mantan Menteri Hilang Dalam Satu Nahas Jalan Raya

    3 Maut, 3 Lagi Termasuk Mantan Menteri Hilang Dalam Satu Nahas Jalan Raya

    Tiga maut dan tiga lagi termasuk mantan menteri dalam negeri dan menteri luar Nepal Madhav Ghimire dilaporkan hilang apabila kenderaan SUV yang mereka naiki terjunam 200 meter ke bawah dan tenggelam dalam sungai yang melimpah di Chitwan, pada malam semalam (25 September).

    Insiden itu berlaku kira-kira 100 meter ke barat Kathmandu, kata para pegawai.

    Ketua pentadbir Chitwan Binod Prakash Singh berkata mereka dalam perjalanan ke Kathmandu apabila kenderaan Scorpio SUV terjunam ke dalam Sungai Trisuli menyebabkan tiga orang maut.

    Beliau berkata tiga orang lagi termasuk Ghimire hilang sementara pemandu kenderaan SUV itu berjaya diselamatkan.

    Tujuh orang menaiki kenderaan tersebut, kata superintenden polis Basant Kuwar.

    Kenderaan itu tenggelam dalam sungai dan harapan untuk menemui mangsa yang terselamat adalah tipis, kata Singh.

    “Bagaimanapun, usaha mencari sedang dijalankan dengan harapan ketiga-tiga mangsa mungkin terselamat”, kata beliau.

    Menurut Singh, Ghimire memandu kenderaan tersebut dan meminta pemandunya duduk di sebelahnya ketika insiden itu berlaku.

    Ghimire pernah berkhidmat sebagai menteri dalam negeri dan menteri luar pada 2013.

    Source: Berita MediaCorp

  • Nepals Asks Foreign Countries To Wrap Up Search And Rescue Missions

    Nepals Asks Foreign Countries To Wrap Up Search And Rescue Missions

    KATHMANDU – Nepal has asked foreign countries to wrap up search and rescue operations nine days after a devastating earthquake killed more than 7,200 people, now there is no hope of finding people alive in the rubble.

    Dozens of countries sent teams to look for survivors after the Himalayan nation was hit by a 7.8-magnitude quake on April 25, its worst since 1934, but the Nepal government now believes the search and rescue work has been nearly completed.

    “They can leave. If they are also specialists in clearing the rubble, they can stay,” Rameshwor Dangal, an official at Nepal’s home ministry, told Reuters on Monday.

    The quake killed 7,276 people and wounded over 14,300. Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala earlier estimated the death toll could reach 10,000.

    On Monday, police and local volunteers found the bodies of about 100 trekkers and villagers buried in an avalanche set off by the earthquake in a remote district and were digging through snow and ice for scores more missing.

    Many countries have pledged money that will be necessary to rebuild homes, hospitals and historic buildings. Others such as neighboring India have sent trucks to deliver aid and deployed helicopters to rescue thousands of people from remote towns and villages.

    The chief of India’s National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), which was among the first foreign organizations to arrive after the quake, said it had been asked by the Nepalese government to conclude its search and rescue operation.

    “All the search and rescue teams, not the relief (teams) … have been asked to return,” NDRF Director General O.P. Singh told Indian television. “We will see how best it can be done.”

    The United Nations has said 8 million of Nepal’s 28 million people were affected by the quake, with at least 2 million needing tents, water, food and medicines over the next three months.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Singapore Team Abandoned Plan To Scale Mount Everest, Returns Home

    Singapore Team Abandoned Plan To Scale Mount Everest, Returns Home

    Aluminaid Team Singapore, which gave up its mission to scale Mount Everest following the Nepal earthquake, landed safely at Changi Airport on Monday night (May 4).

    The climbers, Ismail Latiff, Zulkifli Latiff, and Nur Yusrina Yaakob, came back to Singapore after spending two months at Mount Everest. They were evacuated from Everest base camp (EBC) on Friday to Kathmandu Airport, after they abandoned their climb on Apr 29.

    The trio’s return was met with applause and tearful embraces.

    Ms Yusrina, 28, recounted the moment when she witnessed the first earthquake in her life.

    “When the earthquake happened, we definitely felt it – the shaking and everything – but thankfully we were in one of the safest spots of the base camp, we were spared. We just tried to react to the situation, and we got into our tents.”


    Her 50-year-old mother, Ms Rosnani Ismail said tearfully: “I was so worried when I heard of the news. I didn’t know what to think. I just talked to my husband. He didn’t say a word, he was just so quiet. We were thinking about our daughter’s safety.”

    The team had embarked on the mission to mark Singapore’s Golden Jubilee, and had been planning the feat since 2010.

    Aluminaid’s team captain Muhammad Hilwan Mohamed Idrus, who was unable to join them on the trip, told reporters: “The team left Singapore on Mar 25, and their expedition began in rotation – one team would climb and come back to rest for a few days while another team goes up. The teams finished their first rotation and was supposed to go for the second one on Apr 25. But the guide just decided shift it back by one day – a lucky thing to do. If not, they would have met the avalanche.”

    That was not the only close shave for the team. “The earthquake hit the front part of EBC. The EBC is pretty huge, and the team’s base camp site is located at the back of the EBC. Their camp site was unscathed – they were not injured in any way. Just about 100m from the camp site, other tents were flattened. You can imagine how close we are,” Mr Hilwan said.

    As they were unable to proceed up Everest, the team members looked to contributing to the search and rescue efforts.

    “After the avalanche, they were doing a lot of monitoring. They also wanted to help with the search and rescue, but the Nepali operators there did not allow them due to safety issues,” the captain added. “The team was quite shaken and even one of their mountain guide’s uncle was caught in the avalanche and passed away. Their guides were very worried about their families back in Kamanthu, and thank goodness we had out satellite phones, which were passed around to the guides to contact their families.”

    Another team member, Seumas Yeo, returned to Singapore last Wednesday as he suffered from an abscess a week before the earthquake. He was recovering in the hotel post-operation when the quake struck Nepal.

    Describing the experience as “scary”, Mr Yeo said: “The whole building shook and I felt like the roof was going to fall on me. I walked down the street and it was chaotic, people were closing and running out of shops. I saw a collapsed building and people were pulling out bodies from it.”

    He added that many people were huddling under trees for cover, shouting: “Shiva, Shiva!” or chanting Buddhist prayers.

    Mr Hilwan said that the team will be holding a press conference next Monday (May 11).

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com