Today the thirty first of October two zero three is a historical day for Malaysia, for today Datuk Sri Dr.Mahathir Mohamad, the Prime Minister of Malaysia would step down from his post and hand over the reign of the government of his deputy Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who would be the fifth Prime Minister for this country since it gain its independence on thirty first august nineteen fifty seven. Dr.Mahathir has held the post for twenty two years and during his tenure as the PM, saw this country develop at a very rapid pace and transformed this country from a rural base economy to a modern economy and today became one of the largest trading nation in the world. Thanks to the vision of Dr.Mahathir, Malaysia today has became a proud nation that can boast of being one of the most prosperous country in the would, with the standard of living almost at par with the develop world, with that came a living style comparable to those of the west but with a low living cost. It is amazing that in such a short period of time under his brilliant leadership, he has transformed this once poor and an unknown country in south east Asia into a power house of industries that produce goods ranging from house whole electrical and electronic, to cars, computers and other heavy industries together with a very productive service sector, that not only develop project that created jobs but as well involved in commerce overseas.... and today Malaysia has became one of the largest trading country in the world, thanks to his brilliant leadership, Malaysian can now wall talk among nations states and live in harmony and prosperity and enjoying life, indeed this one man in Dr.Mahathir Mohamad did makes the difference...we are indeed lucky to have such a great leader and statesmen in our midst and became our leader that in turn has brought all the changes to this beloved country of ours Malaysia...Malaysian salute you Dr. Mahathir, we a great thanks you, may you continues to have great live on your retirement, We Malaysian shall remember you as a great son of Malaysia.....Have a great day....and Terima Kasih....

Yesterday was a really great day, that afternoon I received the telephone numbers of a lost friends, a classmate from the forties. A close friend of mine that I had lost contact for some times, recently while in Kuantan I enquire about his where about from a friend, this friend say that he knew the person I am looking and that he may be able to help me to trace the where about of this lost friend of mine. So the telephone call from my friend's office was indeed makes my day, his assistant says that she had the telephone number of my lost friend, it was great indeed, so I immediately call this friend of mine and in mere seconds we made contact. This friend is a classmate of mine, he is an Indian Malaysian by the name of Anamalai.... in the class at that time he was the wizard of math, mathematic was a second nature to him... and some time I wonder how he got to be that good in Math, perhaps it is in his gene's, we all know very well that those Indian have a long history and that the present numeral, the one that we call the Arabic numeral actually was introduce in a way by the those great thinkers in the subcontinent of India.... I am not that sure, but possibly it is so... most of us in the class at that time are not good at all this subject of math, some hate it and some are just not made to understand mathematic, in fact I was really bad in math that I flung the exam at that time, any way that was in the late fifties. I later learned that to be successful in life we all have to get use to learning Math, for without understanding Math we would not be able to proceed further in our education.. As friends we cross the racial and religious barriers and because of that We were are very close friends. We all parted after we took the final year examination in nineteen fifty seven at the Abu Bakar School in Kuantan..... off we went on our way to look for jobs or to go for further studies....so as young adventurer we went into the real world to fulfilled our dreams and ambition ...some eventually became lawyers, like those two that own the well established law firm in Kuantan, another became a pilot, another became an army officer, another became a legend in the hospitality industries, some join the government services and became heads of various government department and of course some went to politic and soon became political leaders.... well the list would go on and on.... it is endless, for it was the way we all took to play our parts in those changing society, we all are old now and most have retired, but some like my lawyers friends in Kuantan are still in command of their proud law firm [HYLee & Hee], that they have build and I am sure this law institution that they pioneered, would still be there long after they retired.. As to my friend Anamalai...once the head of the Health section of the local municipality, he has since retired... well he is still active, now a consultant of a sort to a business organization and enjoying every minute of his semi retirement days....We are from the Class of fifty seven and we all are proud of it, for that was the year that our country gain independence and soon to develop into one of the most prosperous country in this part of the world....we are glad that we were there to makes this happen for we were the pioneer.... in almost every fields at that time....in a small way we did contribute to the achievement of today's Malaysia......It is great indeed to be the 'anak Kuantan' the children of Kuantan.....

Fasting or 'Puasa'. As I have mentioned, one of the activities during this month is the tarawih prayer, an optional prayer at the mosque after the Isyak prayer. Actually tarawih is a 'senang senang' prayer, in our present language it is a sort of a recreation during the fasting, where Moslem would meet each other after breaking the fast and pray together, in most mosque the prayer would be twenty rekaat or time, but it is up to the individual to do the number of rekaat, It is said that the prophet Mohammad did only eight rekaat, so in some cases people would start to leave the congregation after the eight rekaat and the rest that remain would continue to pray as long as they like or until they finished the twenty rekaat. It is supposed to be a relaxing prayer, so most of the time people would take easy in performing this prayer in the mosque, moreover it is an optional prayer. Usually during the fasting month the mosque would be crowded to capacity during the first week and eventually as the fasting week progresses, less and less people would do their tarawih at the mosque but instead would continue to pray in the privacy of one's own house. Well that is the way of Islam...no one is force to do this or that... for it is only an optional prayer...remember they is no compulsion in Islam.....Another aspect of fasting is that one have to wake up early in the morning, just before the morning prayer to eat the last meal of the night, Moslem are encourage to eat at this early morning supper so that they may fast with enough energy to take them all the way until the breaking of the fast in the evening....as can be seen those that follow this simple rules of fasting would find that fasting is not that difficult at all but as I have said earlier fasting is actually more of the states of the mind,and once you are set to fast, then it would be just easy.......

Well we have start fasting, it is the first day of fasting, at our age, we are senior, it is not that difficult, but when you are young and are working, especially that needs physical skill and working outdoor, it would be just a bit difficult, but as I have said before, fasting is the state of the mind, and once your mind accept to fast, then it would be just easy. Last night at the local mosque there were many people at the tarawih prayer and indeed it is great to see the mosque is full to capacity and because of it the parking spaces and the road side were full of cars, looking at all those cars, one would be able to see the wealth of these people that came tonight to do their prayer, it seem they all are real wealthy and are a happy lots, thanks God for all those wealth that He has bestowed upon His followers. During this month at our mosque at Taman TAR, we provide complete sets of food for the breaking of the fast every evening for the general public, so for those that want to sample those foods need not go far to break their fast, so many people of all ages came to break their fast at the mosque every evening, a free meals for all to enjoy, that is actually the way of the Moslem...to give, for giving is always the besting thing to do and at the same time makes others happy and enjoy the fasting month.....Fasting is not only abstaining from food and drink, it includes other aspect of our daily life as well, we should do all the good thing and even thinking of any things not good or against the religion's value and norms, let alone doing so,would made fasting useless, even sex is not allowed during the period of fasting. In another word one fast all the senses all throughout the days, when night come after the breaking of the fast, life come to normal again....so in a way that is fasting in Islam...In Malaysia during this month, food stalls would sprout like mushroom all over the palaces,selling varieties of foods and drink for one to 'buka puasa' breakfast, this actually has became a sort of a food festival for all Malaysian, for once a year it provides opportunity for small business people to sell their goods and services to all Malaysia and this includes those non-Moslem. Try to visit any of the food bazaar, one would be delighted to see and smell all those delicious Malaysian foods for one to buy at a very reasonable price. For those working couples, it would make it easy for them to breakfast for they have only to buy all those goodies and bring them home to eat at the time of breaking of the fast after the sound of the Azan of the Magrib prayer.....Browse along those stall and one would surely be tempted to buy some to take home for the love one or to gives it to friends to 'buka puasa'. Where else in the world people of all race and religion have this opportunity to enjoy those great Malaysian dishes in such an environment, only in this great country, Malaysia....have a great day and enjoy the fasting.......

It is said that honesty if the best policy, is it so?... I believe it is so and felt bad when someone whom you think are your friends, lied or tried very hard to lied, well some human being are like that, they always want to show their good side only and always want to cover up their other side, when this happen, friendships once bloomed will eventually fades, Some how my senses would some how tell me that a person is lying or not and in the end I would get to the truth of the matter....Thanks God that my guidance angles are always there in the time of need..... I pray and hope that all my friends who have not being truthful for some reasons or other before would not continue to do so ...lie....For lying would not pay. In the end they are the one that would be to loose more and as for me I do not loose anything but more to gain, for I always believe in honesty. Recently a person whom we thinks of being evading giving the really answer, from time to time, in order to cover their frustration of life, continue to hide the truth and eventually by the act of God, we some how got the wind of it and got the truth... of course we felt bad, but since there are human and they think they have a good reason for not telling the truth or it is their way of their life, I could not know.... I just could not blame them for not telling...... it is their life and I think that they believe that keeping it to themselves would save them with all the embarrassment, I do not believe it is so.....for it would eventually makes matter worse......Remember not telling the truth to others is actually lying to oneself and refused to accept the reality...In the end it the person that would suffer and not us who believe that friends should never lie to a friend, for what are friendships for if not for real friendship...For honesty is the core of true friendship..... Today is the first day of the fasting month and we all start fasting, fasting is not eating and drinking during the day time, but one could just lie and pretends to fast in front of the public but in private actually do not fast, well who is actually cheating in this case, I believe the person himself is cheating on himself, for among the five pillars of Islam, Fasting is the only one that only God is the witness for actually no one but yourself and God know that you are fasting or not, unlike prayer, zakat, going to do the Haj, pronouncing that you believe in One God and His prophets....all can be seen or heard by other human...but Fasting is not seen except by the person and God only.....so in Islam Fasting is really special, you just cannot cheat or lie about fasting, for you, yourself know that and you cannot lie to yourself and of course God....so if you decide not to fast, do not lie, for lying is bad, not only to oneself but also to others especially one's friends.......well I still believe that "Honesty is still the best Policy"so let be honest about it, bear the pain of telling the truth for eventually it is the truth that would makes us more human......for life is like that......Have a nice day......and always tell the truth....." Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit." Aristotle.

Tomorrow would be the first day of Ramadan in the Islamic calendar and Moslem all over the world would start fasting. Fasting is one of the five Pillars of Islam. Since in Islam the day start not from morning but in the evening after the magrib prayer, tonight all Moslem would congregate at their respective mosque to do the tarawih prayer, which start after the Isyak prayer, the second prayer for a Moslem everyday. Most people misunderstood the prayer time and think that the morning prayer [suboh] prayer is the first prayer of the day, it is not for the Moslem day start just after the evening prayer [magrib]. So tonight thousand and thousand of Moslem would get to the mosque to pray together and this prayer session would continue till the evening of the a day before the last day of the fasting month, which end with the festival of Aidil Fitri. Once a westerner friend ask me, can you really abstained from eating and drinking all days and would not felt hungry. My answer to this good friend of mine is that Fasting in Islam is actually a state of the mind, one eat like any other people except that during this month, Moslem only eat and drink between sunset and sunrise, so in actual fact there is no such thing as not eating at all, the only difference is that the time is changed, instead of eating during the days, Moslem now eat at night and this actually give the stomach and its organs to rest during the days once a year, and scientifically this have been proven to be good and healthy, in a way it is like changing the work schedules and break the monotony, as we all know breaking the monotony is good for our whole system, it makes us more alert and really look for the changes. As I have stated that fasting is actually the states of the mind, once your mind is set to accept that fasting is spiritual and good for you, then fasting for the whole month of Ramadan would just be second nature to you, it is just easy and in a way it is exciting and one would really begins to appreciate what eating is all about and eager to wait for the time of the breaking of fast everyday after the evening prayer. My advise to all those great people of what ever race or religion, try fasting and once your mind is set to accept the goodness of fasting, then it would be just easy to fast, try it, first for half a day may be and then graduated to a full day, and I am sure you would appreciate fasting from time to time and in the process makes your body more healthy....surely you would come out better after the fasting month...loose a little weight perhaps which is in a way is good for our health....so happy fasting my friends and have a great day.

It is Saturday and since it is a nice day and the rain has just stop, I decided to do some gardening, a small patch in front of my house, where I plant varieties of flowers, ferns and shrubs, Though it is only a small patch, it need constant attending for it to flowers all the time. Tending, weeding and watering it from time to time have been a sort of ritual for my wife and me, we had to do to keep this small patch of our garden blooming all the time, it look simple, but it is not so for in the tropic, it rain on and off, so if the flowers blooms and it rain, then the beautiful flower that's start to bloom would just fall off, it is different in the temperate climate, where in summer when most of the flowers are grown and flowers, it does not really rain as in the tropic, here the down pour would be at time very heavy and this is not really healthy for the plants that are planted in pots, for the flow of water would drained those plants foods that are in the pots, it is different if the plants are planted on the ground, it get more nutrition when it rain, so in order to keep my potted plants healthy and bloom well, we had to constantly tend to it and nurtured it well all the time. To me I love gardening, so is my wife, so it is indeed a pleasure to do a bit of gardening and get to sampled the smell of fresh flowers and see the colorful plants in the sun. It is indeed soothing to the eye and at the same time it also enhance the appearance of our home. Nature is such that if one take great care of it, those shrubs, flowers and ferns would in return provide mankind with picturesque site to look at, hence improve the quality of our life, what a day would it be if we are left barren without flowers to give color to our environment. Some one once said that "Flowers are the keeper of our Joy", I believe it is so, for what is life without all those vibrant life color of flowers and the greens of those ferns and shrubs, trees and Palms,add to this great environment that not only provide us with all oxygen that we need to go on living, it is actually a part of us and we should never take it for granted, for this living plants are a very important part of our eco system. In my small garden when the flowers blooms, small insets and colorful butterflies would roam around and it is indeed great to see the eco system at works and to me it is a Joy that I would not want to miss.

Today is Deepavali, the festival of light, celebrated by the Hindus all over the world and in Malaysia it is one of the many festival that are celebrated not only by the Malaysian Indian community but the whole Malaysian society as well. And the celebration of this great day in Malaysia is unique in that it has been Malaysianised with the local having open houses, so that friends and relatives could come and visit and l wish each other Happy Deepavali and they would have a great time together in a Malaysian way. To all my friends in Malaysia and in the whole wide world Happy Deepavali and Have a great day:..........

This morning I received an email from faraway place in the USA and in reply I wrote, hi! Ms, thanks, well she is like me in a way, she would buy all those things that we do not really need but it is so nice to have it, so other then all the 'junks' that I had collected all those years, now her's collections have added to the already many beautiful things. I have now turn part of my hut into a sort of a museum, with this and that and I do still collect them, like on my recent visit to Bali, well if I could, I would have bought all of those art and craft, it was not possible, so I bought a little and the story goes on and on. A friend of mine did the smart thing, he has started a private museum at the twin tower shopping mall, where he display his collection for the public free and some he would sell especially the new craft and he is enjoying it, well I hope I could do it in the future and it would be fun to share with others all those junks that we love. I have always love arts and crafts; it is a fascination that I had since I was first exposed to the fine arts of the Malays in the forties. At that time most of the Malay's houses on the east coast on the Peninsular Malaysia are made of woods… hard tropical woods, these Malay craftsman have found a way to carved these hard woods into intricate design, mostly depicting nature such as flowers, shrub, plants such as bamboo, palms and the like. Their works are very fine indeed, all are done from memories pass down from generation to generation, they even carved on steel blade, i.e. the Kris, a sort of knife that were use by warriors in the by gone era, as a weapon used in a fight that killed. It is now used only as a symbol of power by the King. Is is also sometime worn by man when they put on a traditional dress at special ceremony. The Kris is also use as one of the instrument of power at the coronation of the King or Sultan. The word "criss cross" actually derive from the way two Kris are placed together when put on display. Every piece of the kris is a works of arts by itself and indeed a very unique piece of works on steel. This makes the Kris one of the great contribution of the Malay's society to the world.........

Well, yesterday I went to the Mall near by, the Ampang Point Mall, it is just a short distance away from my home, since it began operation some few years ago, it has develop into a major shopping area for the people in Ampang Jaya, where there are approximately five hundred thousand people live. There are many housing estates here ranging to the elite category with club house, such as Kelab Darul Ehsan to the low cost housing estate, surrounding by lush forest or the Bajiran Titiwangsa, a golf course of international standard, a mosque and a recreational jogging track. In the evening and on week days many peoples of all walks of life took to these track to do their exercises. It is indeed a great place to live, close to nature and yet with all the modern amenities as well. There is an international school near by and as such many foreigner live in this vicinity. One of the oldest Ngo establishment that settled here is the SPCA, it has it's base and an operation centre here, when it start operation years ago, this place was really an out of town place, so far from the urban centre of Kuala Lumpur, but as Kuala Lumpur and the adjacent area became develop, the centre is no longer an isolated institution, it is now within reach of city dweller, so it is easy for city dweller to sent their pets to be taken care of from time to time. As this suburban area continue to develop, a private specialist hospital was build near by, with such facilities the people of Ampang Jaya today had it all and this augur well for the healthy living style of this suburban of Kuala Lumpur. At the shopping Mall, there are many new exhibition of goods and services for sale, and a sale man ask me to sit down to explain his sale of Holiday Packages, well since I had all the time in the world, I took seat offered and listen to him offering various tour packages to local holiday sport and some international destinations, but there is a catch here, one had to be a member first before one could book any of the packages on offer, and only after paying a certain sum that one would be registered as a member and then, only then that one can buy any of the holiday packages on offer, since I travel from time to time, locally and internationally, I go on enquiring about other facilities that this travel agent provide and in the process as the sale person about the cost of ticket to a destination and here when I found that this particular sale person, was lack of knowledge of this hospitality industries, he was totally lost as to the type of ticket available to the traveling public, such as ticket for return flight for a period of three months or less and ticket for more the three months. As frequent travels we all knew too well that air ticket now a days are sold at different prices to a person or a group depend when one book a tickets or what discount are given, this sale person does not have a clue as to the type of ticket available and he was also lost when as to quote ticket to a particular destination on such and such airline, so as can be seen, this sale person is rather naive and was lack of knowledge as to his profession and as such unable to satisfied a customer, what a waste to the company he represent or the customer, as for me since I had all the time in the world, I did not loose anything, but amused that such person are employed in this live, when he is so lack of knowledge or exposure in this line of business. I am really sorry for this sale man, I do not know why he was doing the job that he is not knowledgeable with... I do not know, for sure I know that to succeed in this type of business, he had to study the market and know everything about the Travel and Tours business, as it is from my point of view this guy is trying to sell a product which he himself does not know about and have no experience at all, probably he has never fly ......well this is the situation today... well I went home after doing some shopping at the supermarket and was thinking all the way about this guy.....he has to learn, I hope he sell something today, he is suppose to sell, is he not.....good luck.

The way we view things. We all can be seeing the same images and reading the same thoughts, but the way our mind interpreted these images and these thoughts can be very different indeed, some might like it or some might just brush it a side as pure boring, or an image is ugly or just nice, these are the differences of how we human perceive things, some of us have preconceive ideas and prejudices toward something or some thoughts of others, and some are being programmed with a set of value from the time of their birth to accept or just to reject outright certain aspects of belief.... and they are dogmatic about it, so much so that other's belief are just rejected out right, with their mind set, set in stone.....and in the end, the same images and the same messages are received differently by different person, this is natural for we all are different. A work of arts would be considered a masterpiece to some and just ugly to others, but that's is arts, the way we interpreted images and thoughts depend very much on our intellectual level of thinking and the wisdom that comes with it, so as we develop to think and process information that we obtain, either by seeing an image or just by reading, we would eventually graduate to a better perspective of things, where once we just take an image or a thoughts as boring, we later changes our view and accept it as something that is thoughts provoking and in the process enriched our life, this is what evolution teaches us... we all evolve, we continue to change, hopefully for the better..and the process goes on and on......let me quote a simple incident which happen some time ago in our country Malaysia, it was during a major disaster, in the rumble of a collapse building, some one found a card and told another person that he has found an ATM card, well the second person in all the excitement, told the crowd around that they have found a card of a soldier, and that one of the person trap in the rumble is a soldier. The second man's naivety was that he assume ATM means Angkatan Tentera Malaysia [Malaysian Arm Forces] and as everyone who have a bank account know very well that ATM means Automatic Teller Machine, a card one use to drawn money from an ATM machine, so with all the embarrassment, the person in charge of the rescue operation had to put it right... as can be seen, a simple general knowledge, which we assume that everyone know, to someone that is not exposed to such knowledge, can make a grave mistake.......Well this is what the human mind are capable of doing if one is rather naive......In today's world we have to improve our knowledge if we are to get anywhere in this ever changing world, so that we get the right message all the time and be able to use these message to our advantages.......and in the process makes this world of ours a better place to live........

It is Monday again, it was drizzling and the ground was wet, soon it would dry away when the sun shine again, well in the tropic, it is never the same, but for sure we have the summer all through, the temperature are kept constant, the lowest being 26 degree Celsius, which normally at early morning before the sun rises and the temperature would rises as the days goes on and some time the temperature would rises as high as 35 degrees Celsius, well that is the tropic with rain and sunshine would come and go as it like. and it is humid, I guess this humidity that's what makes the skin look young much longer then their counterparts in the temperate climates in the west. Humidity has it up and down for the population, for it drains one energy quickly and making a short walk more difficult then in a temperate climate, one perspire more often in the tropic then in the temperate and as such one would sweat a lots and clothing would have to be change often in order to keep on fresh and healthy. Being born and bred up in this country, we all took for granted the weather and are use to the humidity. In fact we are fortunate, in that we do not have to use special clothing to keep living throughout the years, the weather are almost constant all throughout days and years, so one could wear the same types of clothing, mostly of cotton and light material all the time, no such thing as winter or spring clothing, it is just the same all through...That's makes it easy to live and much more economical then living in the temperate countries. With the sun always there and the rain off and on, it makes life as exciting as any where on the blue planet's of ours...Malaysia is a paradise by itself, with abundant natural resources and hard working populations, it has became a happy and prosperous country in this part of the world...with full employment and a life style comparable with that in the west, one could not ask for more, life is great and food is a plenty....so Malaysian is indeed a fortunate lots...

Dream, we all dream and we sometime expect our dream to materialized. I had some beautiful dreams the last few night, it was really clear and on waking up I could still remember those beautiful scene and it actually makes my day. They say if one dream that mean one really had a dead sleep and only with a really good sleep that one would be able to dream, well I must be really tired after those week end trip to Kuantan and it was good to sleep back on one's own bed. As for the dreams that I have had, it was very pleasant, meeting some people that I know in high places today and another being with my pass and special acquaintance. It was really a great dream and till today part of it is still fresh in my memory, it makes me really feel good....Thanks God for those great dream....

It is Saturday, over a late breakfast we had we a friend at a Kuantan restaurant, we talk about old time and the development that are take place in this town and the effect the new highway would be once people could easy drive to and from Kuala Lumpur and Kuantan in mere two hours. I guess more and more people would be able to spend the weekend on those golden beaches especially at Telok Cempedak or just drive to Kuantan to have a swim and back again to Kuala Lumpur....with the traveling time shorten considerately and with traveling on a highway, it would make traveling all the way a pleasure. As for me after the late breakfast we drove back to Kuala Lumpur, enjoying the drive all the way, with a lunch break at the roadside stall at Temerloh and then proceed to Kl, and home just after four,..... what a great weekend visit, meeting old friends and seeing all the changes in my home town....

just to break the monotony, while in Kuantan I attend the meeting in the morning and then in the afternoon we went to visit some of our relatives that live in and around the vicinity of Kuantan town. Kuantan has change since I visit it last year, well that what we call development and I believe it is for the best of those people that makes this town on the east cost their home town, we did not have the time to visit the beach this time, but did drive along the coastal road toward Kemaman, the roads is still the same old road but there are development on both sides of the roads, with hotel, condo and food stalls sprung up here and there, so the scene had some what changes, Like any other town in the country, it keep changing and to me who once hike along those beaches the scene of the golden beaches bring back nostalgic past, that was beautiful and memorable, what a life, my home town, coming back once a while have it reward, am still a Kampong Boy... and love this town of mine......

On Thursday we decided to go to Kuantan, well I had to attend to a meeting with my lawyer the next day, so as to be at the meeting fresh, I decided to do the driving a day earlier. We left KL at just after ten in the morning, the whether was fine with clear blue sky, so the ride to Kuantan was smooth. The road to Kuantan has improve considerably, in those days the sector from Kuala Lumpur to Bentong was a winding single lane road all the way and it wind it way along side the hills with lush green forest, actually all the way to Bentong one passed through a virgin jungles and mountains that's make the main ranges of Peninsular Malaysia. This range is called the Banjiran Titiwangsa, that stretch from the north at the Thai boarder in the state of Kelantan and in the south right to the state of Johor. These stretch of jungle contain fauna and foliages that had been there for millions of years, the tropical trees are of hard woods, peculiar to this part of the region, we Malaysian are indeed lucky to still have this national heritage, where we can wonder and enjoy the tranquility of the tropical jungle. In those day the ride from Kuala Lumpur to Bentong was a quite difficult and tiresome journey for with only one lane going and one lane coming, driver had to be extremely careful to avoid an accident, since the road goes up and do all the way to Bentong, it is also take some strain to the driver, the narrow road makes over taking one of the most difficult part of driving, but one had no choice, for this is the only road that lead to Kuantan at that time. Today it is still the same road, but the stretch from Kuala Lumpur to Karak have improved with drivers had the pleasure of driving on well build highway, thanks to the authority for providing such a good road and soon one would be able to travel with greater comfort when the new highway from Kuala Lumpur to Kuantan is completed, then it would just take two and a half hours to get to Kuantan from Kuala Lumpur which is now four hours. Still with the road being build through forest areas, one would still be able to enjoy scenic jungle scene all the way to Kuantan, with a patch of kampong landscape from time to time. It would indeed make traveling a pleasure.....what a way to travel, an enjoyable trip and getting to the destination fresh........, the cloud was dark as we approach Kuantan and it looks like it was going to rain, but it did not...Well we arrived in Kuantan just before four in the evening...Since I love to drive, the drive from Kuala Lumpur to Kuantan today was indeed enjoyable....well it makes my day...

Reading is one of my favorite hobby, well I started to read book actually after I left school, in those days there were not many book shops, but in Kuantan at that time there is one, a sort of a book shop, with other things sold as well. Public Library is non existence at that time, so to get to read books, one had either buy or borrow. In those day it is not the latest book, but whatever book available at the shop, since most of us could not buy book regularly, most of the time I would borrow from friends who could afford to by and as for me when I do have the money, I would spend it on books. The first book that I read is a borrowed book. I could still remember the title, it is a book written by Earl Stanley Gardner, those that start with the title, The case of.... and the hero is Perry Mason, I got hook to this type of books and yearned to read more of such book, so I kept saving money and from that time onward I would grab any new Perry Mason's books. I guessed that I have read all those books written by the author and eventually I graduated to other authors. Since I love books, I kept all those books that I have bought and read and it is still there in my own private library. I would never part with any of my books, I would lent it to friends, but always want it back on my shelf. So to me book is a treasure that I want to keep and when our children were growing up, they also took to reading and start reading those books that I have in my library. From the first book and I am never without books, always reading and I have graduated from reading novels to more serious books, like philosophy, sociology, political sciences, sufism, religions. Since I was a trainer while working for the government, I also read books on motivation, leadership, program's planning and those related with youth training program. On religions I have read about all the great religions of the world. In between reading serious books, I still keep reading the latest novels that came on the market at the local book shops. Books are getting expensive now, but because it me pleasure as well as knowledge, I continue to frequent book shops to look for new titles. From time to time my children also give me book since they knew pretty well their dad love to read and some time we exchanges books. Now our grandchildren has start to read as well, I guess it run in the family and I felt great that the new generations in our family are following my foot step and has make reading their hobby as well. Every time I visit book shops at the shopping Mall, I notice that more and more people frequent the store and buy books, .... I felt that this is good for the society, for a society that is well informed and knowledgeable is a great society, and it look like Malaysian is on the way to be like those western countries where reading has became a culture of the people. Since most of the good books are in the English language, I hope Malaysian should continue to master this language so that they are able to read all those books that are available in our book store.....the future of Malaysia depend very much on a 'smart' populations of the country, there are no other better way of creating a smart Malaysian society, other than reading more and more books of substance.....Other then that reading would also help to alert our mental faculty, thus would help us to stay healthy.

On surfing the net I found that many Malaysian have resort to Blog to write their thoughts, this is indeed a great way to put one thoughts into writing. At last Malaysian have found a new way of communicating their ideas and views of themselves, of the society, of this beloved country and the world and share these with others that visit their blog from time to time. To me the blog is a God send tools for us to released ourselves of the thoughts that was once trapped in our mind, it makes one feel real good once these thoughts are written and posted and exposed for everyone to read and respond. I notice that Malaysian from all ages and races have started writing Blog with great creativity. And with helps from people like aizuddin's vio link and striz's bolehblogs, the exposure have became wider and makes searching for other Malaysian Blog much easier, many thanks to those great people at VIO and Bolehblogs. From reading other's Blog one get to enjoy reading all kind of thoughts and at the same time get introduced to other Blogging tools, as well as other links in other countries. These other links have made Malaysian Blogs available to others in other parts of the world. It is great indeed to see more and more Malaysian especially of the present young generation getting into creative writing, it is only through creative writing that one could develop one's capacity to think and eventually be more innovative, which would eventually lead to a more open thinking and a changing mind set for the better. In a changing society like Malaysia, it is important that Malaysian open their minds wide open to new ideas and values so that they could integrated easily, not only among Malaysian but among the world communities as well, for we are now in a new millennium and live in a global communities, where boarder no longer exist and communication being that easy. For we are one of the global village in cyberspace and a part and parcel of the whole cyberspace communities or cybernation in the making. With the internet we can no longer live in isolation or we should, for today the opportunity are wide open for all of us where ever we live. Since the present generation are all exposed to this new technology at the same time, that means that we are for the first time, especially for Malaysian of all races could play on the same level playing fields, Malaysian can no longer blames each other that the opportunity to do commerce are not equal or that there are no opportunity at all, for today with good governance and great projects by the Government such as Cyberjaya , the sky is the only limit for all Malaysian to venture in this new arena call cyberspace or the Information and Computer Technology. As can be seen almost all the Blogs are hosted on an international Host company, mostly from the USA, and to those people that have take upon themselves to provides excellent service for us Bloggers, I say thanks you and hope that your noble endeavor would help to make this world of ours a better place to live. At the same time I hope that local Malaysian companies especially the Telekom Malaysia, Jaring, Maxis and the others could come out with a Blog hosting facilities within their ISP, so that Malaysian as well as international Blogger could host their site locally as well.....With that thanks to all that has help me to improved my blog and makes my life more interesting days after days.....ceria selalu.....

It is Sunday again and we decided to go out for lunch. It is a normal thing now for families to go our for lunch on Sunday, the kitchen are closed for a day and the maid are given a free day out, as we all know Malaysian families cannot do without a maid, so almost every Malaysian families now employed maids to help in the daily chore, taking care of the kids left at home for working spouses and as well to help to up keep the homes. There are now about a million maids working in Malaysian homes, they mostly came from neighboring countries like Indonesia and the Philippine. Well that is Malaysian today, during the period of my parent, the was no such thing as maid working in the house, but as we progress and both the husband and wife began to work, then the question of maid arise, so now we have maid and it look like Malaysian families cannot do without them, it has became a part of the Malaysian culture......well that is Malaysia, an ever changing society, with a standard of live at par to those in the west......so now eating out especially on weekends have became a way of life for all Malaysian ...... I drove to the new Mall at Jalan ampang, this new Mall is called the Great Eastern Mall, an imposing building along the famous jalan ampang. It is now a landmark along jalan ampang and just not far away from the LRT station [the jelatik station], so it is an easy access for those that frequent the LRT. Actually since the operation of the LRT [Light Rail Transit] and the monorail, traveling to and around the city of Kuala Lumpur have never been that easy. it is a fast ride and one need not have to look for parking spaces, which we city dwellers had to do all the time when we get into the city, so with LRT, it is in a way solved some of the traffic problems of the city. Well today we decided not to get into the city but instead to have lunch at a new restaurant located in the Great Eastern Mall, we wanted to try the new dishes at the new Chicken Rice restaurant, so after parking the car at the basement, where there are ample parking spaces and the parking is free for the first two hours, we proceed to the new restaurant and had a sumptuous lunch of Chicken Rice......talking about chicken rice, it was once just a Malaysian Chinese food, prepared and consume only by the Chinese, but now it has became a sort of a Malaysian dish, love by all the Malaysian, the Malay, the Indian and the other ethnic communities that makes up Malaysian. In fact now the Malay have learn to cook this great chicken meals which was once an exclusive of the Malaysian Chinese. It is interesting to note that in this country, where eating out have become a culture, the Malaysian food menu have increased with all sort of food which at one time in our history was only eaten by one particular race, but now it has evolved and it taste has been so adjust to the meet the Malaysian palate. It is amazing that in such a short period of time, foods from various culture that makes the Malaysian national have become a national foods, loved by all Malaysian and the Chicken Rice is among the dishes that are love by all Malaysian. Where else in the world can one find varieties of foods that had evolved and became dishes that are love by all, local as well as those that visit this great country. Malaysia is now a country where one could find varieties of dishes that was once only found in other countries. Malaysian are fortunate in that now they could sample all the great food menu of the world, without ever venturing out side the country. It is indeed great.... and that is why eating have became a Malaysian past time now....so let go Makan....

Well, yesterday we went to Malacca, it was a clear blue sky's day and the drive was pleasant, I drove strait to our condominium at Pantai Kundur, It is the MMBR [Malacca Mutiara Beach resort], a four star condo Hotel, the first of it kind in Malacca, It started operation in the ninety eighty five with a bang, it boast a great resort, true to it name, it is actually a great holiday resort with all the amenities that tourist crave for, the beaches within a walking distance, two swimming pools, one for the adult and the other for the kids, It landscaping was lavishly done and it is indeed a pleasing site to see, with lush greens and colorful flowers, together with the dwarf coconut palms, it makes great landscape, the landscape did won a contest as the best in Malacca at that time. It was a resort that we would spend our weekend with pleasure, enjoying the swimming pool and great dining at the coffee house. at the beach one even could do some fishing. In the evening it was a sight to see, the setting sun,glowing red and amber as it slowly disappeared in the distance horizon. I love to watch it from my apartment that face the sea. Near by we could see huge ship delivering petroleum to the near by Petronas plants and it was never a day that you did not see any ships, it is indeed a busy strip of water way, at this section of the Straits of Malacca. The Hotel then was package with holiday maker and in some evening, there would be bar-b-que organized by the pool side and at the car park in front of the hotel, with loud music and merry making, it was a great way for holiday makers to spend their day enjoying after a hard day works. The kids was especially happy having their own swimming pool and as for the parents it is a place for a family to get lost for the week ends. Well all those good thing came to an end when the management quit after some disagreement with a few owners and for almost four years, the whole condominium complex was left without a proper management and as owners of the apartment we were in a lurch as to what is going to happen to our once beautiful holiday resort, but all is not lost and the resort is making a come back with a new management under the able leadership in the person of Mr.Sani. We check in our apartment and four for the first time after some four years, we now have water supply and electricity.... well what a relief, thanks to the new management, our MMBR would be back to it former glorious days soon, we drove back to kl satisfied that at last we are getting our resort back.... with a big thanks to the new management especially Mr.Sani and his gang....Terima Kasih sir...the mmbr in malacca

Like I have said before, I treasured my friendships, no way I would part with them, it is one of the greatest assets that we Human had been bestowed with, for what a life without friends and remember real friend are hard to come by, so if ever you have them, do keep them, for they are the one that are going to be there when the time comes, there is a Malay saying...ramai kawan semasa ketawa, tetapi teman bersedih amat berkurangan.[ one have many friends during happy time, they laugh together with you, but one would find that there would be only a few around,when one's cry ] These are facts of life, there are nothing much we could do, but hopes that everyone of our friends are really true friends. Talking about friendship, some how I makes friends real fast, some time total stranger, that I met while traveling and in cyberspace became close friends, strange it may be but it happen to me many, many times and these friends are as close as ever. I guess it the chemistry in us that make us click...Let me relate an incident, Some time ago I met this guy on board the Ferry Malaysia, traveling from Sarawak, Sabah and the east coast of peninsular Malaysia, He was alone drinking out near the swimming pool aboard the ship, and as usual with me, I soon get to talking with him and on arrival at Kuantan's port, my brother gave him a lift to Kuantan town. and then we parted...after exchanges of info... this all happen before the era of the internet, so we keep in touch by letters and post cards and now with the internet we keep in touch regularly, He would come over to Malaysia almost every winter and often visit our humble Hut in Ampang Jaya, He is now a close friend of my wife and me and this winter he would be here again, for he love this country... this is the story of one of the many of my friends that once was a total stranger. I believe that we all want to make contact, that is the human nature but at time we find it difficult and at time afraid, for one is going into an uncharted territories, full of the unknown and I believe the contact would happen if the chemistry of the two strangers click, and if it did not click, then friendship would not bloom. Some time one is introduced to a person and how great you try to makes friends to this stranger, some how the stranger or yourself just repel it, this may be your karma conflict and you do not click. It happen to me a few time, I met a guy and I shake his hand and tried vary hard to be as friendly but up to this day, he just avoid me, but there are many instances where, I met a person while traveling in the LRT and we be became good friend... I guessed that I am lucky and many strangers have became close friends, even in cyberspace, while living in the USA I have met friends and we keep in touch till this day and we have not met as yet. One sometime wonder why some times we makes friend easily and some time not. As we all know too well as human, our physical body contain energy, I believe this energy like any energy could travel in space, so my theory is that this energy of ours some how travel with our info to the other person and if they click, then a communication is established, thus we would communicate with what ever means we have, the internet, cel phone etc.. In today's world of course one had to be caution, like.. can we trust someone or the question like.. would the person like me or not? and on and on and among the many 'trust' is the core of the issue in making friendship, but like I said before, it is the body chemistry that would finally make the ultimate decision....after all we are human and trying to be human is the only common factor that we human have....Another one of my belief is that we all have a guardian angles taking care of us, watch upon us all the time and in time of need, help us. I firmly believe in this, because many, many time, Help came all of a sudden when I need most, it is not easy to explain but I am sure that some One Up there is watching and helping me. Of course your thoughts must be sincere all the time and with a positive attitude, for attitude is one of the factor that contributes to the end result. All of what I say would come to nothing if we are naive or pure stupid, so here come knowledge again, we can only make good decision only if we have accumulated enough knowledge, so for one to succeed in whatever action one must be smart, I believe only people with knowledge and wisdom would be able to make the right decision at the right time, this my friends includes making friends as well.....You have the right to be caution for the real world is full of challenges, it would not be fun if there are no challenges at all, it would be a really dull place to live....so as the saying goes " nothing venture nothing gain ".... go on into the real world, which now includes cyberspace and venture, for the world is the stage and we are the actors....and my greeting is as always.. 'take care'...

With globalization, the internet, the world has become smaller, we are actually a true global community, whether we like it or not we are becoming so, the boarders of countries are beginning to diminished. In the internet world, what we now call cyberspace, there are no longer any boarders at all, we could communicate with ease with anyone, in any part of the world at the speed of light. We can be employed by remote from another part of the world and do our work anywhere also. It does not matter where one live now, the internet has made it possible for us to work in cyberspace with ease, in our own environment and in the comfort of own home and in a society with our own culture. We no longer had to physically move ourselves to distance land in order to do a particular work, our physical present would soon be unnecessary, the only think that is important is our thoughts, which could be transmitted at the speed of light to our boss, anywhere and at any time of the day, time difference has now became an asset's rather then a liabilities. For any one to survived in this new working environment one need good education, for knowledge is the key to success in the new millennium. So to those children of today and the present youth, if you want to succeed in these millennium, you have to acquire knowledge and today it is not that difficult, institution of higher learning are everywhere, it even exist in cyberspace, for without knowledge one would be lost in this competitive world. A first degree is not enough, one have to pursue knowledge to a PhD level, then only one can be knowledgeable enough to participate effectively in the world commerce, trade, or what ever in order to makes a good income and in that get a really good living condition and a great quality of life. In today's world with a PhD and a laptop, one would find it easier to seek employment in any countries of the world. Most countries would be ever willing to employ trained people, it is an assets, they just have to pay the salaries and nothing else and they get people with knowledge and expertise. Malaysia must learn from the other countries, i.e.the USA, where they are ever willing to employ anyone as long they have the required qualification, so Malaysian go on and acquire knowledge and you would be, not only great to the Mother Land but to the world as well.....A PhD and a Laptop and out you go in search of a better life, here, there or everywhere. So to those young Malaysian do not stop, just at the first degree level, go on and eventually get a PhD, it is the only way to succeed in this millennium.

Well my Blog have a sort of face lift and all the new additions look great. Well I had to figured out how to get the Link done and the right way to post Images, so far after hours and hours of really hard work I managed to get it done and began to understand how the computer code works, at this age I am still learning, for those present generation it would be just peanut for them to understand how thing works in the computer, the coding and so on, as advise by those good people from Blogger and after reading all those instructions, slowly and surely I manage to understand the concept, and with the understanding, I began to be more daring in my venture to makes changes to my Blog pages, so far so good. One must understand that my generation are not that literate with the computer world, when I grew up the telephone was a luxury, electricity was for a few that could afford, indoor plumbing was non existence and even the small house behind the big house is still not been thought of as yet. That.. Bad as one would put it... well that is the real world then, so as can be seen we have progressed remarkably fast. We have fast forward in just less then fifty years. As one can see I am a sort of from bronze age of the computer and I have quantum leaped to this present world and for that I had to learn fast and learned I really did. An old man still learning and hope that he would not do more damage but instead would continue to integrated with eased into the computer literate society...so here I come to face the challenges of today's world and enjoying every minute of it......

Let me begin this day with a quote:" A candle is never dimmed by lighting another candle". Well as usual I went out to pay the bills again, so what else do we do now, paying bills, shopping and shopping, now with the new Mall in Kuala Lumpur, we just can't resist of making a visit, for curiosity sake, remember curiosity kills the cat, and me and my wife love to shop, it is a great past time of ours, you do not need plenty of money to window shop, well when you have to spare, then what else spend it, I believe that as the saying goes ' what is money is you do not spend it' and if you do not have it, just keep quiet and wonder somewhere else like cyberspace, it is relatively free, this would keep us folks happy, as long as you have no hutang [debt] you should be happy, that what's makes life tick... and on returning home, I received a surprise email from a lost friend, I am not sure as to who he is, anyway it does not matter, surely he is one of my good friend from great old days in Kuantan, I have replied to his mail and hope that we will continue in contact, well as I have said before, cyberspace is a great place to be and I supposed this friend of mine visit my Blog site and realized that it is me, remember the boy scouts day and it click, thanks again friends, you make me happy and I hope that it is the same with you.

It is another great day, a bright and sunny day. I start the day by doing a little work with my small patch of garden, where I have being toying around and getting dirty with dirt and trying to plant tomato, it has not been successful, I just do not know why, well I ask my friend in the UK and he say it probably because of the weather and the humidity, and if it grow,do take great care and do not allow it to grow above the cloud and trim it before it do, so that it may flowers and bear fruits, well as for my tomato plants, I have not been successful so far, it grew some less the a foot and stop growing and well, may be I am not that green with this plants, anyway my other plants like the lady finger, the yam are all growing very well. I have to try harder and smarter in order to get my tomato growing just for the fun of it, it is a just past time hobby, it is good to get one's hand dirty some time, like kids do.

Yesterday I visited Striz's page and she was talking about the new Mall in town and the IMAX theatre, well I am indeed glad it is coming our way, it is a great advancement of technology in the field of cinematography. I saw a movie at the IMAX theatre at Washington DC, sometime ago and it was really amazing, it is out of this world, the screen so huge, curved and the images, it is indeed very real, as though you are there in the movie, and it is also in three D. well at least I had that opportunity, thanks to our daughter, who was the one that encouraged me to see the IMAX. Before that I have no clue whatsoever of this IMAX movie technology, well Malaysian, you are indeed fortunate, for soon you all would be able to enjoy seeing movie in the IMAX theatre, the nearest such theatre in Asia now is in Bangkok...Malaysia is really going places, so let us be thankful to those that make all these changes happen, the good governance and the vision of both our political and business leaders, for without that kind of vision, we would not be where we are today, almost at par to the already developed countries of the west, With the kind of development coupled with peace and security in the country, it would not be a surprise that Malaysia would be a developed country before the year twenty twenty as being projected by the authority. So Malaysian, let us enjoy and at the same time contribute to the society in whatever way you can, so as to make this great country of ours, greater.... Have a nice day

This morning I received an email from a friend from the south, at last she say that she have managed to visit my blog and read it, well she say it is good, and continue to say that when she first receive my blog, she thought that the word blog means another virus protections program's, well that what happen quite so often to us in cyberspace, a new cyberlanguage just pop up and we are expected to understand it, we I also got stuck sometime ago when I came across this word 'blog', well, I keep asking some of my friends and they too seem to be ignorant of such work and eventually I read it in the local media explaining what a blog is all about and as I began to use this new cyberlanguage word, it soon became a common word to me and I just took it for granted, so I guessed it was my mistake when I send the link of my block to this friend in the south, I should have explain to her what this blog is all about, so M... sorry for that, well I guessed that's what makes this blog interesting, and because of her email this morning that I am touching on the story of the blog, and putting this in my blog this morning, I am indeed glad that more and more of my friends all over the world are getting to understand the new media of communication in cyberspace, the blog. People of my generation have lot to learn from the present generation and I am glad that the new generation is in an indirect way are actually teaching us, old folks about this phenomena in the cyberworld...we live in ever changing would, if fact I just came back from the computer bazaar, here in Kuala Lumpur, it is in a building along the famous Bintang Walk, entering this Low yatt Plaza, one would be amazed to find all the tools and what not, that relate us to the computer world, one could get any kind of computer, desktop, laptop and the like at a very competitive price. And the are thousand and thousand of peripheral for the computer wizard to brows and pick parts to build their own computer, it is indeed a fascinating site to see, young and old doing their shopping for everything that makes a computer, I guess one would easily spend hours under this shopping mall roof, without realizing time passed by... it is just like being in cyberspace itself, and when one realized one would find that time passed at an amazing pace, so fast that hours seem like seconds. As for me, it is one of the shopping mall that I live to brows along, not just for buying anything but just for the fund of it, this morning we spend almost half a day in there and end with a great lunch at the food courts, that served various type of foods, we had a harthy meals and sped home....happy.....

Over teh tarik with a friend at a mamak's cafe at Ampang Point this morning, no I did not have teh tarik, though it is one of my favourite drink, my friend had teh tarik and me just a black coffee, the reason being that before I left home this morning to do some shopping at Ampang Point, is that I smell something great being cook by my wife for lunch, it is kari kepala ikan [fish head curry]. Had I took teh tarik, it would surely spoiled my lunch, so I told my dear friend that no teh tarik for me this morning, and told him why, he just laugh. Well this morning this friend of mine was indeed in a cheerful mood, so as usual we chat and this morning he told me among other things, the problem of his new maid, well this maid which he got from Tanjung Pinang in Indonesia, has gone back and not returning back, so he is left without a maid to take care of his home. It is a major problem for this friend of my, for he is now living alone, his loving wife was called to the lord some twelve years ago and he has since not remarried as yet, occasionally his children, all grown up and with kids would drop by but most of the time he would be left alone with the maid to help him in the upkeep of the house, now that the maid has gone, he felt helpless and this time he was a sort of angry, this new maid that he just got from Tanjung Pinang, left just like that and without notice, so he is now in a lurch. Well all is not lost for him, this weekend his children and grandchildren came and in a way it cheer him up and he goes on tell me that this time his son told him that he should not get a new maid but get married instead so that there would be someone to take care of him and be his wife, as well as a friend all the time at his home, this request from his son and daughter, came as a surprise to him,who never expect that his grown up children would dare to bring up this subject to him, but his son said that whether dad is angry or not we want to tell you, that it is high time that you get married again. I told him that this is good, now that the children are not a barrier anymore, he should think of getting married again. As I had being telling him before, he should get married for he is not getting any younger and old man need to have someone to be a company in order to get through live. Like most man, despite our ego, we all agree that we actually depend on our spouse more and more as we grew older, for we are actually not the 'superior sex' as most man think of themselves, the women are actually more superior biologically that man, well I told him that he had to take thing more serious, now that the children has come in support of him getting married again....One of the problem to get married at this age is that one had to get the right partner, one that can live with an old man and be a friend's as well, it look easy, just go and marry another women, a little bit younger then you, but in today's world it is not that easy to get one that would be a perfect spouse, moreover life in this golden age is not like living as newly married young couple. Old folks have a different culture of living, they are fussy, sensitive and might be a bit grumpy, so getting someone with the right attitude is very, very important indeed in order to for the new marriage to work as perfectly as possible. It is not going to be easy and I told my friend that he should take a serious look at all the pro and con, but I told him that I would prefer him to get married again rather remain single as it is now. I reminded him that he has to find someone that would be an equal partner rather like the saying we hear often ' the husband is a sergeant, but the wife acted like she is a sergeant major', that would makes thing difficult for him and the relationship with the local society. It look like my friend is in a great dilemma, well that is life, one is always faced with challenges even at this golden age, I guessed that's what make life interesting and colorful.... to my friend I told him, go a head and get married again and if he needed help, I would be there to give a helping hand, with that we parted with him saying...Thanks for listening to me and we laugh and went on our way... Oh what a day, missed the teh tarik, but there is a great lunch waiting for me at my home, I would not have that great lunch at home had I not have a great wife at home...I guessed that is what my friend is missing... well that is life.....Interesting eh!!!!

Blog, I am not sure where this word came from, I have look in the dictionary and it is not there, or perhaps those people at Blogger.com could throw some light as to how this new word came into being, any way it is a new word in the cyberlanguage vocabulary that cyberpeople like us create for us to use in cyberspace, we ought to know it very well, for we are the blogger, a citizen of cyberworld. Blog to me is a fascinating media where one are able to put one's thought on print for all to see and as for the writer, it is indeed a God send tool that give him or her a new way to express their freedom of expression, which would not be possible in the old way, except for those that had the opportunity to write to the local or international printed media and not everyone had that opportunity and even if one's we had, it would not be the same, the articles would be edited and at time censored before it get printed, but in the Blog, there are no limitation of what one could or would do, as long as one stick to the guided rules of a civil society. These rules which are often unwritten or legislated are made by the writer themselves and therefore are for the good of everyone that one keep to the limit of self expression as to not to offend others, for doing so I felt that would not serve anyone any good. I believe that what ever I wrote would in as small way help to enlighten up or enriched those that visit my blog, for me it is the satisfaction of seeing my thoughts in print and if it ever help to achieved it other objective, in that it give those that read it an enjoyment, then that would really makes me happy and satisfied that another person have in a small way get some benefit from my writing. As the title of my Blog - in passing - Malaysian -means, we are all passing through and while doing so, it would be great that we passed on our wisdom that we gathered all throughout those years to the new generation so that they may benefit from our past experiences and with that, to contribute to make this planet of ours a better place to live and enjoy life. have a nice day from Me.....on holiday in Bali

It has been another great day, it is the weekend again but to me as a retiree, it does not mean anything any more for days and times belong to me now, when one is working one would look forward for the weekend, a day of rest and to be with one loved one or plan a trip on the weekend, but those days are gone me, now that all my days are my own, to do what I like, weekend just became just another day, only on occasion that I would look at the weekend especially when there are invitation to parties or the like, other then that the whole weeks day are the same, me with my daily ritual, one of it is the hours I spend in cyberspace, meeting friends and writing my blog. When in cyberspace, time flies just like that and hardly you knew it, you have been wondering in cyberspace for hours already. As I had said before, the internet is indeed a wonderful invention and with it, I have spend wonderful time interacting with friends and relative far and near. Funny thing about cyberspace, distance seem no longer there, just a minute ago I was just chatting with my daughter in Boston, it was an instant thing and we communicate with east and fast, it would not be possible before the era of the internet, what a period in the history of man, instant communication....well I believe we all are indeed lucky to be at this period of our history, so many things happening at one time in our mist and because of all the changes, our life style have improve for the better and hence the living standard. I guess this is the benefit we get from science and technology.....a new way of living and it is a great technology and the changes.....let me tell a story that a friend related to me recently, it is about this writing tool that we, of my generation are familiar with, at that time it is a very important tool, for without it, an office would not be able to function effectively. The story goes, one day this lady friend of mine was browsing through her storage area and she found an old typewriter, she took it and placed it on the kitchen table and then went to continue wondering somewhere else as usual and forgot about this thing that she left on the kitchen table. Soon her grandchild came running to her and told her that they found some machine of a sort on the kitchen table and was wonder what it is, it has keys just like a computer but it look weird and they had never seen it before, well grandma was amused with all the excitement that this old typewriter has generated, little she know that this thing or tools that we call the typewriter is no more a familiar thing in today's office or for that matter one do not see it any more display or used. The younger of these day especially the generation of the nineties are not exposed to this tools of yesterday years, they might see it on the movies but I doubt that any of these generation have every use it to write or print writing on paper. In those days without the typewriter it would be difficult to makes copies and the word 'carbon copy' actually come from the copy that one make when typing letters and need a copy, so a carbon paper is placed in between the numbers of paper where copies area generated, today with the computer we just print as many copies as we like. The advance of the computer have made the typewriter, it's distance relative almost redundant and now have it's place on antique shops and the museum. Well I am sure some of my friends still have their old typewriter or had it been disregard and vanished totally with the coming of the computer's world. For the typewriter at least it main feature, the key board is still used today and I am sure that this key board would be there in some distance future, until another new way is found to key in words to the computer and until then at least we would still have part of the old typewriter, the key board. All the excitement in my friend's house show that the really young of today's generation have the right to wonder what this machine on the kitchen table is all about and so my friend had to do some explanation to her grandchildren on this once wonderful machine that enable man to print letter on paper and make copies instead of writing on paper using pencil of pen.....so I guessed that is why God make grandma, since He cannot be everywhere to explain to the new generation of the past happening. So grandma your are really someone special to have around.....it sure make the kids happy and of course it also makes the grandma happy as well. To all grandma....have a great day, you are indeed great..roses are for ever

In nineteen ninety eight we live in Boston, USA, The whole family was there and because of that it was just like home. It is a great city and we love it, the scenery in the fall was really beyond our imagination, the foliage were so colorful with various shades of colour, it was vibrant and indeed a sight to see, someone say that the new England's states are just like a part of haven during the fall. I believe it is so. It is really beautiful and pleasing to eyes. It is indeed a God's blessing to all that had the opportunity to be there during the fall. When winter come, it is another story, the first day of winter is the best sight, it is so white and so clean that one thence to forget of the dirt and the misery of everyday life, it is as though God cleansed everything at this time of the year, so that we could start a fresh, come spring. I am indeed glad that I had this opportunity to live there and feel at home in a foreign land. Although we live in America, we continue to live as Malaysian, like cooking our own food and do the daily ritual just like home. One day our rice cooker, one of the most important utensil that we regularlly use was out of order, and it is not easy to find a replacement in Boston, the only place we could find one is at China Town or at the Chinese Supermarket and it was not easy. So what do we do, and my wife say that we have to cook rice manually, what.. everyone asked, cooking rice manually?, it is a thing that we never thought would reappear, we have taken for granted that cooking rice now is an automatic process by using the rice cooker and now that the rice cooker is not working, what to do. Well before the coming of the rice cooker we all cook rice the traditional way and it was easy for our parents, for that is what they did all their lives and they never heard of the rice cooker but the present generation have lost touch of how to cook rice without a rice cooker, it look like to be a simple problem, but it is actually not that simple, for cooking rice the old way is not that easy, the rice after being washed and then put in a pot with a lid, water had to be added and this is the difficult part [in the rice cooker there is a marking of the much of water one had to add to a ratio of rice to be cooked] but in an ordinary pot one had to find a formula of the ratio of water to the amount of rice using the traditional way, luckily my wife and me still know the old way and using our way to determine the amount of water we manage to get the rice cooked manually. It look to be a simple thing, cooking rice but when your rice cooker do not work, that what make thing suddenly became a problem, so my friend do not take for granted in the old way,now that we have every gadgets to do the work for us. Remember when there are no electricity or the gadgets do not work, we had to resort to the old way of our ancestor do.....cook manually....ever think of cooking rice manually, if you have not then it is time that you take some time or once a while to do it the old way..... and perhaps this old way could save the day....

This morning I receive an email from a friend from the south, and he talk about snake, well personally I do not click well, when the subject of snake is brought up, anyway since my friend brought this subject and he quite often refer to some one he dislike or does not click well as snake, I thought that I should write about this subject, snake, well some people like snake and some people don't, and snake, all form and sizes are going to continue to live on this blue planet and share it with us, the human, we all have to learn to live with it some how, so I think the snake also think the same way, they have every right to live on this planet just like the human do, and to survived they have found their own way of life, away from us human and live in peace and harmony among itself, but as usual some time us human came in contact with it and this is where the problem lies, we human got excited and react at time wildly. An example the other day near my house, the kids playing football at a field nearby saw a snake and they call the fire brigade to come to take care of this small creature, well as usual the fire brigade came and too care of the snake, perhaps sent it to the zoo or released it somewhere else, I guess it is the same everywhere but we have not seen the snake call the fire brigade to take away the human at the play ground, after all the snake also have the same right to be there as well as the human, but it look like the human have more right and the story goes on and on with the snake been the victim and got taken away and not the human. Well that is life in this blue planet of ours. Coming back to the story of my friend from the south, he would say that at time, between the snake and human, if he had to kill, he would have to kill the human first, but killing human is murder and he would surely get into trouble with the law of the land, but then human nature is such that at time they lost their sense of direction and broke the law, so that is why we have the law and the police to see that human do not break the law, but no one talk about the right of the snake, don't it have right also, just like us human, may be the United Nation should take time to study and take some sort of stand regard other species that live in this planet, may be introduce a sort of special right for the other species that share this planet, I do not know, it worth a try, may be a new institution be set up by the UN, like the World Animals organisation or something, and once set up who are we going to nominated to head this organsation, an Elephant, Lion or the Snake or another human, since we are supposed to be more intelligent them the other species...Well what say you, my friend from the south, may be you can come out with a formula and in the mean time do not kill the snake or the particular human, stay cool ..........

It is another great day, here in Ampang, Malaysia. My blog has been upgraded by those good people at Blogger. I have being try to upgrade it for some time already, but due to technical reasons it was not possible, so I wrote to Blogger and the respond was fast and eventually they upgrade my blog as a courtesy. Many thanks to all those great people at Blogger, In my national language it is Terima Kasih [thank you], so Terima Kasih my friend. You all have made my day. As usual it has been a ritual writing this blog and I am enjoying it. At this golden age, with plenty of time to myself, writing blog have been a pleasure and an enjoyable way of putting my thoughts on the net and share it with those that stop by at my site. Much as I enjoyed writing, I hope those that read enjoy as well and here again my thanks to those people at Blogger that make this possible. I am from a age group that had seen it all, from the days where there was no electricity and running water, progressing to this day of the internet, where every things are there for the good of mankind, what an achievement to mankind. I hope with the achievement we all can share this globe with joy and laughter. From the feedbacks I have had from friends who have visited my blog, all says that they enjoyed reading and as for me it is indeed a satisfaction, that in a small way I have contribute to enriching the life of others that I came in contact through this blog. And all these was made possible by Blogger, thanks again my friends and have a nice day, may God bless you.

Malaysian flag I still have the national flag flying in front of my house, which I did put up just before the thirty first of August this year [2003]. I did this every year to honor our flag and to give colour to the national day celebration, as can be seen in my area, not many people put up the national flag for national day celebration. I do not understand why people just do not bother to do just this simple act of patriotism, I believe we all owe it to our country [kerana mu Malaysia] [because of you Malaysia] for all the good life we have had in this country. We live in a very prosperous country,in peace a harmony, with great living standard comparable to any of those countries in the west. We have everything here that the western countries have. In fact we have more, and it is relatively cheaper to live here with the same live standard and life style then in any countries in the west, the developed countries. Well as the saying goes the grass is always greener on the other pasture but some time it is not always true once we get to the other pasture, it might be greener but if we are not lucky it would be not so green after all. The Malay have a saying ' hujan mas di negeri orang, hujan batu di negeri sendiri, lebeh baik di negeri sendiri' [it may rain gold in other country and it rain rock in our country, but it is still better in one's own country] Coming back to the subject of the national flag, I sometime wonder why not many people put up flag of those special occasion, they might have their reasons, just like me, I felt proud to hang one and enjoy seeing it waving majestically in front of my house. Some time it is just difficult to understand the why, perhaps we are a young country, just forty six years old, may be it would take much longer period before people began to appreciate their own country flag. I guessed it the psyche of the people, it has to change and with time I believe it would change and we would see more and more flag flown on those special day. Especially on Merdeka [Independent} day.