The latest KSWA picnic to Chek Kong, one of the most beautiful islands in Sai Kung, Hong Kong, ended successfully with all usual hypes, excitements, enjoyments & highest fervor, which include delicious foods, fun at barbecue, lots of time pass sit'n play games inside dormitory, smooth & steep hiking with breathtaking views, & ofcourse the matchless games & entertainments with great spirit!
It was a good get together for all KSWA members & their non-member friends. Everyone enjoyed to their fullest.
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Alright, before we commence to highlight the events, it should be highly commendable & appreciable to mention the background works done prior to this successful picnic. Yes, it is worth to recall such highly strenous & quite time demanding hardwork done by these efficient guys. In the last few KSWA executive meetings, the topic of picnic was discussed quite eagerly & it was decided to have such one in the month of December. Our Tourism minister Kanappa Seyed Ahamed & our coorindator Maqbool went to visit this youth hostel few months back & inspected the location, facilities & convenience etc. They decided this is the right place, bring it to the attention of KSWA executive & got approved to go ahead with the booking for 47 persons. Later, they also advance booked for the on way ferry services.
Besides, the arrangement for the food was very hectic. Kanappa, Maqbool & Shaikna used to meet quite few times one or two weeks prior to the picnic. The works included distributing the picnic notice at Jummah, confirmation from members, deciding the chef, listing out the food & sports items required. We used to meet at the Delifrance located at Hankow road. One week before, we confirmed Mr. Fakhruddeen (simply Mr. Deen) as our Chef. We thanks the support extended by Holy traders KH uncle, SA uncle, Haji Magdoom & Meera Sahib. They nodded okay to allow Mr. Deen to go ahead. In next few days, we met again with Acting Chef Koose Bistami and sorted out all the food items we need to order. At that time, we discussed the possibility of buying the lamb & chicken in China. If we do so, it will greatly reduce the cost. So, we tried all the possibilities.
On Thursday, Koose & Shaikna went to Maharaja, ordered all the required items in the name of Maqbool's account & asked them to deliver it to Holy traders. Meanwhile, Maqbool & Kanappa, went to Jordan to get foam cups & plates. They bought the coir required for tug of war game. But they couldn't other get the required stuffs there. So, Maqbool, Kanappa, Koose & Shaikna went to Wellcome & bought bread, butter, jam, eggs, barbecue items & other stuffs worth over $1000. They delivered the part of this heavy stuff at Holy and the remaining at Kanappa's house. Later that night Maqbool, Shaikna & Muhyideen contacted our guys, Fayaz & Sahib Sarjoon, who are staying at China and asked about the possibility of buying the meat there. Later, Muhyideen contacted his brother Abdul Malick & arranged the plan to buy & bring the meat to Hong Kong.
As per plan, Maqbool & Kanappa went to China on Friday evening to bring back the meats, 13 kg lamb & 26 chicken, along with Sahib Sarjoon bought by Abdul Malick. They need to travel about 1 hour from Shenzhen to his residence. They cameback around 1:00 AM in mid-night. Mr. Deen & Koose were waiting for it & they started to clean the meats, prepare to marinate barbecue chickens with curry masala, etc. They both worked until 5 AM that day to complete their works. On Saturday morning, Mr. Deen cooked the chicken curry in advance besides his day to day hectic works.
Okay, the trip started-off with a bus trip from Tsim Sha Tsui to Wong Shek Pier, all the way through Lantau highway, Lion Rock tunnel, Shatin, Ma On Shan & Sai Kung. Inside the bus, we could here many guys murmuring why the driver took this long route, as everyone is suggesting that Choi Hung, Clear Water Bay route should be a shorter one. But, in this field, the driver is more knowledgeable than all of us. When our leader Maqbool whispered it with the driver on behalf of all murmurers, he replied, though it is long, the traffic is less, and more importantly, we should get past the check-post before 4:30 pm, otherwise the forestry department won't allow us to reach Wong Shek Pier after that cut-off time. How smart he is?. In fact, the urban & natural mix sceneries on this route is more enjoyable than the otherwise would be. None (most) of us never ride on this way, it is our first time!
Before next, we should mention a litte hectic work prior to boarding. Yepp, that is to assemble all our guys to the bus spot, i.e. in between The Peninsula Hotel & YMCA, in Hankow road. We requested everyone to assemble at 2:30 PM. But, by that time, there were hardly 10 guys amongst 45 need to arrive. That is the way our people behaves... take it easy policy. Sachappa Arsenal Seyed Ahamed was assigned to act as the finance manager on the spot. Along with Shaikna, he did wonderful job to get the picnic amount from everyone before boarding bus. Otherwise, it would be difficult to get it from our guys. One could imagine how tremendous it is to collect the subscription money.
It was getting late, and the driver warned that we should take-off the bus by not later than 3:15 PM, otherwise we would be stopped at Check-post about 5 kms ahead of Wong Shek Pier. Many of our guys keeps on coming batch by batch, in groups. Around 3:05 PM, we were still waiting for the Chief & Assistant Cook. Without them, we don't mind to start the bus. Where will we go for the food then. Because, the youth hostel is the only place in that island. Atlast, after several calls made by our supportive guys, the cook n his gang arrived with smiling face within 2 or 3 minutes of deadline. Now, we all waiting for the only guy, Irshad Ali. Maqbool was calling him, but he didn't respond it by mobile. After several attempts, he got hold of him and shouted "where you are? where you are?....". We were so tensed & decided to start the bus without him. (Ofcourse, he could join us lately by a group who will be coming by their own). And in final moments, we could see the face & size of Irshad, and with him, the bus headed-off to Wong Shek Pier at 3:14 pm exactly! (1 minute ahead of deadline).
And now, we reached the check-post around 4:15 PM and get past through it after showing the permit. We arrived Wong Shek Pier at aboud 4:30 PM, in fact we booked the Ferry at 4:50 PM. All our guys are supportive & kind enough to carry the stuffs required for food n other entertainments, along with their own baggages. As we were waiting for the ferry, our pious guys completed their Asr prayer on time at the rusted-iron base of ferry pier.
The ferry arrived on time. We shifted all our stuffs with ourselves inside the ferry, and headed
for the youth hostel. We reached it at by 5:15 PM. Some guys completed their Asar prayer immediately. As soon as we reached there, hungryness 
filled up our stomach and started to cry & everyone was asking for something to eat. Some guys went up to the kitchen to eat whatever stuffs they could get. It was a bit tedious for Kanappa to safeguard the eatery items from them. In the mean time, Maghrib prayer was conducted in Jamaaths. By 6:30 pm, the evening Tea was ready, and all our hungryness spread away with few sips of tea.
Later on, the Chef started to work on Parotta stuffs. Irshad, Shaikna & Bakkar helped to
prepare rounding of parotta. The Chef was in full swing in spreading & elongating the parotta. By 7:30 pm the Isha jamaaths were conducted followed by entertainment games. Our senior advisor Mr. Lebbai gave lots of ideas on how to conduct the game & make everyone committed etc. We went to the open area which was surrounded by tents were many chinese guys went early to bed as they prepared for the hiking early morning. So, all the guys were asked their best to be silent!?!#$.The first game we played was "Isolation" game. It was conducted fantastically by Mr. Faizal &
Mr. Lebbai. They stated to segregate the guys by few key external identifications, like Shirt or T-shirt, belt or without belt, etc. At the end Shameem & Yasir were finalists. Shameem won that isloation. Later, we played "Go-Go" game, it was a very interesting physical game. Then we played "guess" game. At the end, we played "Tug-of-war" game. By 
this time, the delicious Parotta with Chicken curry was ready. Kanappa & SA Noohu helped the Chefs & provided a very delicious dinner to all the guys.Later in night, the guys went on their groups to play games indoor. Few
guys were playing friend card games, UNO, skip seven, sing songs, english wording games, etc. The plain tea was cancelled as there was lots of evening milk tea left over. So, guys finished that first. It is worth to mention the Arabic translation service provided by "Kayal Arabi", helped by Imran & Muhyideen. It went until 3:30 PM.Early next morning, we started off the day with Subh prayer in Jamaaths. After that some of
the guys went to the bed. Few others went out for hiking. It was very breathtaking view from mountains up there. The "braveman" Ibrahim tried a bit of swimming at the sea. Since, the area was not suitable for swimming, he returned unsuccessfully. Due to unknown reasons, Buhary was surrounded by stray dogs & he started off by running fastly to escape from them & injured his leg fingers.The morning breakfast was ready. Suppose to be bread, butter & jam along with omelet. But, as
lots of Parotta & Chicken curry were left, the guys started to finish them. Then, our mess secretary prepared the barbecue pits by intelligently placing the charcoal. Maqbool was helping to distribute the barbecue chicken. The guys enjoyed at it as the weather at that moment was bit cold with breezy winds. Soon later, the entertainment started with playing "kuchi kampu". Then, the most exciting "balloon fight" game was played. Shamsudeen was the winner.
By this time, the Zuhr prayer time approached. We prayed Zuhr in jamaaths. Everyone was asked to assemble at kitchen, as we prepared to deliver the "KSWA yearly reports" to everyone. It was followed by delicious lunch, "Kalari kari", kathrika & ghee rice (nei choru) with egg. It was very delicious & everyone was served to eat to their fullest.
Later, the evening tea was ready and we started to depart by 4:00 pm after completing the
Asar prayer. Some of our elder guys returned earlier by speed boat. Everyone was posed for the group foto, as you can see up above there. Mean while, there was a bit confusion with the pickup bus service. The bus driver called up & asked for the permit slip as the bus was stopped at check-post. Our tourism minister Kanappa handled it efficiently. He notified that the slip should be with the driver or atleast they could get the copy handed over a day before at the check post office. At last, they somehow found the slip and the bus was cleared to cross the check post. By this time, the return ferry arrived. We boarded the ferry around 4:20 PM to Wong Shek Pier.From there we boarded the bus to Tsim Sha Tsui. Inside the bus, the group farewell song, "Surangani Surangani.. Suranganiku maalu kondava... Maalu maalu maalu... Suranganiku maalu... Suranganiku maalu kondava! Arsi irkku paruppu irukku aakke mudiyele...". The song was initiated by Maqbool & sung by the whole group. As usual, everyones mobile phone became the cd player & we were entertained by mixture of english, tamil & hindi songs. Nearing the end of bus trip, Hafiza Muhyideen thanked everyone for participating this wonderful picnic. We reached Tsim Sha Tsui safely arond 6:00 PM. The trip completed successfully with that. Insha Allah, we shall how more such successfull get togethers in coming years. Alhamdulillah!
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