Last weekend I was in Kelantan checking out the progress of a Standalone. The contractor had completed the structural and concrete works and now the bricks work had proceeded to the 1st floor.
Mr.W the owner of this Bh had called me a week before and wanted me to pay a visit. It is time for inspection and making sure the works is accordance to our standard.
Prior to my flight booking I was in a joyous mood and looking forward to this trip. Unfortunately 3 days before I fly a was down with flu..a very bad flu. I was not feeling comfortable my whole body was aching and I have a very bad running nose. If I could I would have wanted to cancel this trip on the day I fly. But I couldn’t it is very much of responsibility and obligation. Secondly Mr.W is waiting to meet up with me and I couldn’t let him down.
That is not all I was early at the Subang Airport. I wouldn’t want to miss my flight. Embarrassingly I admit I had missed my flight before.
I prefer Firefly as it much more convenience and I don’t have to drive all the way to KLIA which takes an hour or more to reach by car.
I am not well and have to wait for an hour before they allowed us to board. While inside the plane I felt something unusual. I guess this is my 6 sense. My friends used to tell me that I have psychic ability but I told them No, it is just my normal human instinct. They used to say I seemed to know and understand birds better than them. Nevermind…
While taking my sit which is in the middle (as usual) I felt very hot and uneasy. How could it be I am having a flu I should be feeling cold. As I look around I saw many people wearing jackets because that morning it rained and later the whole day was cloudy.
There must be something not right somewhere…I was mumbling to myself and my imagination starts to set in and the first thing that came into my mind was “ what if this plane have problem”….would it crash….and so on…
Before I could imagine the worse, the plane starts to move from the bay and heading for the runway for takeoff.
As the plane moved further it seemed that it had used all its thrust and yet one of its propellers is not running as fast as it should be. Since I am sitting in the middle which is next to the wing I could see it clearly. I told myself this plane shouldn’t have headed for the runway.
Within minute the announcement came from the pilot, he explained the difficulties the plane was facing and requested us to get down from the plane and shall notify us once the problems are solved.
That wasn’t good news to me neither, because I have to walk all the way back to the boarding lounge and sit there and wait on transit. As you know local flight makes you walk and I am having a bad flu. I am not complaining but I am having a bad flu.
Secondly my schedule was to fly back on the same day, what if the flight delayed till late afternoon and how could I catch my return fly. I was wondering should I cancel my flight or wait. Not long after that they announced the flight to K.B will be in an hour time. Well I have mix feeling of the announcement. Good or bad I still have to fly it is destined.
It was cloudy in K.Bharu. I’ve been here many times, one of the best places for swiftlet farming, reason being? Plenty of vegetation, low pollution, many plantation and greens.
The location of the Bh is in T.Merah which is an hour drive from K.B. While in K.B I noticed there were not many birds roaming the sky as before or compared to many of my previous visits.
Many people claimed that the birds are getting less especially in K.B town and birds were migrating to inland or further in to plantations. Well that is still too premature to tell. Sometimes it is due to the season and changes of weather.
Due to my flight delay the contractor had been waiting for us since noon. He wants me to have a look at his works before he would ask his workers to proceed further. He is from Setiawan the pioneer place of Swiftlet farming. He had lived in Kelatan for many years. I had asked him many times, why he moves to Kelantan. Isn’t Setiawan a good place for him to expend his Swiftlet construction business… that makes me wonder.
This contract tor was engaged by Mr. W to undertake the construction of the Bh and I come in as a Design & Equipment set up consultant.
When I reach the Bh, I went to the ground floor as usual inspecting the bricks works and the insulating material( Styrofoam). I noticed the workers didn’t place them close enough and there were gaps between the Styrofoam foams. The heat could go thru the gaps and penetrates the second layer of bricks. If this occurred it defeats the purposes of putting up the Styrofoam.
I ask the contractor didn’t you know about this? You have been building Bh for many years….
Hi reply was ….“No I don’t know”. “Never, all the Bh I’ve built don’t use insulation material just plain bricks wall”.
“James you do Bh differently from us said the contractor”. …..
Then this hits my mind “no wonder so many failed Bhs in Malaysia included those in Prime area”.
I wasn’t satisfied with his works. I sincerely told him this is not the way to build Bh. He was a nice guy but his works don’t impress me. He apologized and promised that he would ask his worker to rectify them. He keeps saying the way I do Bh is different from them.
To him as long the walls are sealed and plastered, as long there is an entrance hole, as long there are sounds, as long there are tweeters, and so on then the rest is all faith and luck. That is why many people still buy 4 digits number because they believe in luck. That is 1 to 9999 ratios. Do you want your Bh to base of that ratio? I bet you don’t.
To be continued…..
Good Swiftlet farming All!