Continuation...

Continuation:

After 20 years, my interests in Tupperware business has deteriorated , in the sense that i did not want to work so hard to stay competitively on top but that does not mean i am out of love with the products. Until today, 60% of my kitchen aids, storage containers both pantry & refrigerators & even serving bowls & platters are from Tupperware, the safest non toxic containers for food storage. I had other priorities in life. I wanted to go to religious classes more often and i just wanted to do something that helps me to supplement the family's income and at the  sometime engaging in something  that is less stressful. 

Omar got a job in Concorde Hotel , Shah Alam, and after 1 year commuting between Sungai Long , we decided to move permanently. We heard a lot of negative remarks about Shah Alam but we were positive it would be a better place for us.

 It turned out Shah Alam is just the contrary of what we heard before we moved. I made many friends within a short time, went to class on a daily basis , then it went on to 2x a week, then 3x a week and then 4x a week and currently going to 2 classes a day 5 x a week besides the Qoran reading & Tajwid classes. Off course i am not turning myself from a tupperware manager into an Uztazah, but i am just enjoying the classes.The subjects, the presentations from the Uztaz and the amount of friends i have and  after all it only takes 4 hours of my time per day. I became more involved as a committee that was set up.Our attendance grew from 50 in a class to 300-350 which we had to move to an auditorium .Shah Alam is such a nice place to live, less congested, less stressful, though prices in the market is a little on the high side but off course we can escape to the Klang Wholesale market nearby and the Sunday Pasar Tani.

Then i got started with importing religious book from Indonesia under Almas Kitab and started selling to friends, book shops and later some of my titles were used by the uztaz for the weekly classes. Business was good for the first  2 years Alhamdulillah, and we also took part in Kuala Lumpur Book Fair & Selangor Book Fair for 2 years consecutively.We receive orders from the Selangor State Library too

 In one of my exhibition at the Kuala Lumpur Islamic Tourism Fair , Almas Kitab was the only participant selling books. We managed to cover our stall rental ,made some valuable contacts , met some old friends as it was held at the PWTC and the Tourism Malaysia Department at that time was at PWTC. 

At the Tourism fair we had many participants from hotels, airlines, travel agents and also Tourism Representative from Yemen & Uzbekistan. I saw the stand which Yemen had and i was attracted to their fig trees and everything was in Arabic so can't understand much. There was no one attending to it most of the time. I was so impressed with the stand organized by the Uzbekistan Tourism Board. Beautifully set up, well manned, beautiful girls in traditional costumes and they had people from the airlines & agents there all the time to answer questions and they had their lovely sweets, nuts & dry apricots to let us try. In between going for my prayers during my 3 days at the stand i remembered i visited the stand more than 15 times to ask questions. I was so embarrassed as i did not want them to think that i am for their nuts & sweets but i was falling in love with their country, the history, the architecture, the ceramics etc.

After i slowed down in Tupperware i had no chance of traveling anymore and  my last destination with them was to New Zealand and that was like 5 years break and looking at Uzbekistan in pictures & video , wooh! it was like , oh my god, i must go , i must go. That was December 2010. Within 3 months i manage to organize a trip to Uzbekistan for the first time with a group of 32 people in March 2011. That's my story in short how it all started in the travel arena. After 5 trips to Uzbekistan in 3 different seasons, i am still struggling to finish a book . There is so much to share and Insyaallah will complete it one day. I have a title though, its going to be called " Uzbekistan in 4 seasons" . Why that title? I just want to share with the travelers the various scenery, the weather condition, the color of the country, the types of fruits, what food they eat in winter, that Sumalak is only available in Spring etc etc.I have experience 3 seasons and left with winter. You just have to wait. I will not complete the book till i really experience my self, i was told the buildings in Bukhara & Samarqand look so beautiful in winter, imagine white snow on the turquoise domes? Awesome! So, you can make comparisons and choose the time to travel. Do you want to eat  persimmons and their famous lady's finger grapes in autumn or apricots , cherries & strawberries in Spring. Where to go for best kebabs & shashliks !
There will be facts & figures on accommodations, travel documents requirements , restaurants etc. Well, just hope the book will become a reality. I have just written only 100 pages. Keep me motivated will you!

Wassallam,


Mana-Mana ASk Pipah!