Well.... It is the end of the year two zero zero four and tomorrow would be the new year two zero zero five...What can we say..It is surely not going to be a Happy New Year, for we in this part of the world and I believe also from the other parts of the world are not really happy at this juncture of our history...This part of the world has just gone through a really great disaster, the Tsunami of the twenty six of December, zero zero four, an event of such proportion, that had never happen in our living memory, the earthquake that end the year two zero zero four with a really Big Bang!, The Bang that created the Tsunami, thus the disaster that rack havoc to the coastal areas of countries in this region, where to date not less then one hundred and twenty thousand people lost their life and billion of dollars of properties were destroyed....Perhaps we could learn a thing or two from this calamity, and find ways and means of how best we can protect ourselves from future happening...In the mean time let us all work together to restore the situation and go on with our life, we all should learn from the past and use the experiences to further the human progress in the years to come...Our species has come this far and today with the advance of science and technology, surely we would be able to find the means of preventing such occurrence from destroying more lives... We all know that earthquake, whether inland or under the sea would continue to happen, for our world is in the process of it evolution from the days of its formation million of years ago...We should study and collect all the know data and with such knowledge we would be able to plan for the future, thus saving more lives when such Tsunami recur in the future...For now let us pray and hope that the year two zero zero five would bring more prosperity to all humankind all over the globe...

Malaysian would not be celebrating the coming of the New Year, the Prime Minister said that with all the suffering caused by the Tsunami, it would not be proper to celebrate and instead people should hold prayer session according to their religious belief...This would be a proper way to remember the lost soul and pray that such happen would not occur again and that the country at large would be spared once again by such tragedy... At the same time donations are pouring to the Fund that have been created by the local media for relief effort.. In a way it shows how concerned Malaysian are to their countryman and on the international front, Malaysian relief workers and aid had arrived in Bandar Acheh and the Malaysian Mercy team is also there giving aid to those in needs...Malaysia would do our little bits to help all those countries in needs of help, as for Malaysian it would be able to take care of its own for now...
Picture from the New Straits Times Malaysia shows the Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi saying prayer at the disaster sites, when he visited the sites yesterday and meet the people caught in the disaster ......

The Tsunami, we wake up to another bad news of the numbers of dead so far, the latest figure is at sixty eight thousand dead and the lost of properties are just to big to put a proper figure, probably billion of dollars lost...As reporters began to get closer to the sites, more gruesome picture of the devastation emerged, in some place in Acheh, a whole village were gone and in Sri Lanka, the worst affect areas, the number of death keep rising...It is a nightmare, Asia has never seen such a disaster before and it is going to take sometime before thing get to normal again..Tourist resort like Phuket in Thailand were devastated and it would take lot of works and time to restore it to its former glory, as the spot to spend one's holiday in the sun...As for Langkawi in northeast of Malaysia, the damage compare to Phuket is minimal, but then in the Malaysian term it is great...Penang another holiday resort that are popular to both the foreign and local tourist were also badly hit and as it is now all agency are helping to get the place in order again...A local Newspaper, The New Straits Time has launch a disaster relief fun and to date many Malaysian has start to contributes to this good cause...One thing about Malaysian is that they are very concern and donation are starting to pour in to this Fund....At the local scene in Langkawi, Penang and in Kedah coastal villages, various government agencies and NGOs are carrying out relief works to help those people that lost their love one and to start building their lives all over again... Well national disaster of this proportion never happen in this country before, for that matter it had never happen in Asia before, and leaders in this region had to get going to plan for the future, so that an early warning system could be put into action, if another Tsunami do struck again in the future.... In the meantime we all have to do our parts in trying to get thing in order again so that lives could go on, for the living had to be given help, so as to ensure that they continue to carry on with their live and our species continue to progress on this blue planet of ours....Condolence to all that lost their love one and may their soul find peace in haven... Amen....

Friends, soon we would be welcoming the new year, two zero zero five...With the recent tragedy in Asia due to the Tsunami, where thousand of life lost and property destroyed, how do we ever think of celebrating the New Year, like we did on the eve of every new years, celebrating it with the pomp and splendor as we usually did....Lets all take a pause and together pray for the lost soul and hope that whatever happen is part of the evolution of our planet earth, it happened and nothing we human could do to stop it, so let us pray that life would continue to prosper on our planet....Amen....

Just a day after Christmas, we were watching the morning news on the TV and there were report of an earthquake somewhere off the sea north of Sumatra and the after shock were felt in Kuala Lumpur...Many residents living in high rising condo and apartments felt the tremor and soon everyone rush out of the building for safety..In Hospital patients were evacuate out of those high rising hospital wards...This is not normal to this country but then for the safety of all, no one takes any chance and for their own safety left their home in high rising building and seek refuge lower ground, As I watch I was wonder what has happen and continue to watch and soon over the international TV channels more and more news came to light as to what actually happened...Apparently there were an undersea earthquake and it was eight point nine of the richer scale, that means it is a big one. And soon there were news of Phuket, a holiday resort north of Penang was hit by tidal waves and many building were destroyed and life lost...If Phuket is hit then those coastal places in the north of the country and those island resort of Langkawi, Penang and Pangkor would be hit as well, but then there was no news whatsoever, I kept thinking of Langkawi which is just south of Phuket, for We had spend our holiday in this enchanting island last August and stay at a hotel just beside the beach...I had a hunch that Langkawi would also be hit by the Tsunami and true enough as the day progress we got news that it has hit the coastal area of the state of Kedah, Perlis and of course the island of Langkawi was hit as well and then a major news of the happening at all the beaches in Penang....Well soon the TV station keep focusing on this events all day and it look like many life were lost in Penang and those coastal area of Kedah and Perlis...To Malaysian it is a shock for such disaster seldom happen in this country....From the report this tsunami is the biggest that ever happen in this part of the world...When we went to bed that night the number of life lost in Malaysia stand at twenty eight dead....At midnight our daughter call from Cape Cod, USA, She heard of the disaster and decided to call home and told us that she heard on the news that the number of life lost in Malaysia at that time has increase to forty five...Well it look like they are getting better news then us over here....Well we chat a while and told her that we, in Kuala Lumpur are all ok we are all following the events and not to worry, ..........

I sat there at the kopitian table typing this, it is just past one pm on Christmas Day, Saturday the twenty fifth of December two zero zero four..It is a bright sunny day, with patches of clouds all around the horizon, it is hot and humid as usual and there is not a sight of the rain, that had be on and off this month of December...My mind wonder carelessly to the wide world, for this morning I received a return e greeting card from a friend that live in the California desert, I have not heard from her for quite some time already and indeed was rather surprise to received this greeting card on this Christmas morning..In her short notes She say her spouse is not that well and that she would write more latter, at least the greeting card makes me happy, knowing that they are enjoying the days as usual..Especially on this Christmas day...As usual I did send e Christmas greeting cards to all my friends all over the world and this includes Mary, She added that Leo, her spouse is really not that well and need attention..... Well Mary, Life is like that and we all should be thankful that we have come this far in life and had enjoy the past and the present..., hoping that the future would be as good, if not better...Here in Malaysia, as usual Malaysian celebrate Christmas in our own way, the shopping complexes are fully decorated with those Christmas deco and this time at the KLCC, the purple Christmas tree is up again, looking more radiant then last year...Malaysian shopping Mall are always decorated for the occasions and just before this it was decorated for the Aidil Firti and then the Dewali and now it is for the Christmas, so to Malaysian walking into a mall always bring brightness all the time and actually it cheer me up...I guess it cheer up everyone and it created that happiness feeling...Malaysian love to celebrate and they would find all the excuses to celebrate, so with all the festival come and go, Malaysian of all races and religions would continue to find ways and means to celebrate, for it is our nature to enjoy the feeling good atmosphere that the country had offer..And this evening a special Christmas Open house would be held at the Petaling Jaya green where a special national Christmas celebration would be open to the public, it includes entertainment shows and food spreads to cater for all that attends this events...It would be graced by the presents of the King and Queen [the Yang dipertuan Agong and Permaisuri Agong] of Malaysia, together with others dignitaries, making its an events of pomp and splendor fits for the King.. Events like these are held on all the national religious festival of the multi religious people of Malaysia and tonight it is a special for the Christian community to celebrate in style and in the Malaysian way...A cultural event that we Malaysian call it the 'open house'...It is our way of celebrating each other religious festival and making it a Malaysian one, for all of us to enjoy and be merry...With the national harmony comes prosperity and with that came the good living of its citizen...Malaysian on this Saturday celebrate Christmas with hopes that the country would continue to proper and live would be peaceful all the time...Merry Christmas to all and do have a great time....

...Merry Christmas to all my Christian friends and a Happy New Year 2005 to all...May this year Christmas bring happiness and prosperity to all and another great year to all Malaysian...Have a nice day...

A reunion with friends in Singapore on December 9, 2004...In the picture from left, Marge [Mrs.Jerry Lee], Asmah [Mrs.Idrus], Hafsah [Mrs.Ali], Ali Ismail and Idrus and Jerry Lee... We all had a gala time in Singapore, We, Ali Ismail and Me with our spouses arrived in Johor Bahru the previous day and stayed the night at a hotel in Johor Bahru... That night we were invited to dinner at a friend's [Zainal] house and end the evening late after a great dinner prepared by Zainal's spouse. Our friend Jerry Lee and Marge from Singapore were also invited to dinner that night but could not make it...Anyway the next day we all met them at Singapore and spend the whole day having fun, enjoying lunch, coffee break, shopping and dinner at a great restaurant in the heart of Singapore city...We left Singapore late in the evening after supper, well satisfied with the reunion in Singapore....What a great time we all had during that short space of time, yet another enjoyable and a memorable event indeed...Friends that's life,.. Enjoy....

In this country we are never short of festival, there would be a festival all the time, some are national type, some are religious days, some are days of significant to a particular race or religion and in this beloved country we celebrated them all, just last month we Malaysian celebrated the Moslem Aidil Fitri, then came the Hindu Dewali and now we are close to Christmas and after that would be the Chinese New Year, in between these main festival, there are the Gawai Dayak in Sarawak, whereas in the Land below the Wind..Sabah, there is the Keamatan and other festival of the Kadazan and other ethnic group of the enchanting parts of Malaysian....Where else in this colorful world of ours such things happen but in beautiful Malaysia....We are indeed happy people with so many festivals, we do not have to be sad, we are a blessed country, god given happiness.... A country aplenty and its people prosperous and living in harmony.....Nineteen zero zero four has been a good year for all malaysian and we hope that two zero zero five would be as good if not better, cheer up Malaysian....Have a nice day.

I have not being blogging regularly recently, for reason or reasons that only human makes from time to time, but that is life my friends for life is like that, it is never the same, monotonous if it remains the same all through...Well,our guests has left for the Langkawi holiday and I supposed they would have a great time there, in this paradise on earth, in where else but beautiful Malaysia... I miss blogging and am trying to get back to it after our life get to normal again after our guests leave for New Zealand....Well friends life is like that and we shall continue to enjoy life as it goes along...Have a nice day.

Well we decided to go for a short visit to Kuantan, my hometown on the east coast. With the new highway it makes the journey a pleasure compare to those days when it would take a tedious journey of five hours to get to Kuantan from Kuala Lumpur, now it just take a mere three hours, a journey that cuts through the greens of the Felda schemes where one see rows and rows of Oil Palm and Rubber trees, the primary product of the agricultural sector of Malaysia... I love to drive on this new highway and take a few stop at the R & R for refreshment or just for a short break, before continuing on my journey to Kuantan...I like to enjoy the trip so a stop here and there makes the journey enjoyable. Left Kuala Lumpur just after eight and by noon we were already in the city... Our guest two Italian foster children were with us and were eager to get to the sea, so I decided to just drop them both at the Telok Cempedak beach and then proceed on to look for hotel to spend the night, I went to my usual hotel and found that it is fully booked for the night, so I decided to drive around and look for another hotel in town and after a while found one and check in to rest for a while and then at five in the evening I went to fetch our guest at the beach and took them to the hotel to stay for the night. In the evening we decided to visit a relative and then proceed with them to have dinner...Our relative suggest that we go for a satay dinner at a restaurant nearby, since our guest would love to try something Malaysian..When we arrived at the restaurant, it was pack with people enjoying their satay. We look for a table and order the satay which consist of chicken, beef and venison, that comes with cubes rice and dipping of sauce made of coconut milk, crush peanuts and spices..Malaysian love to go for satay for supper or just to entertain friends for a not so heavy dinner..It is a delicacies that visitors to Malaysia should never missed, they should try it, especially that are served at satay stall. It is something real Malaysian and it is part of our eating culture....Well we end off the night with a good night rest at our hotel in the middle of the town....

I have been wondering what has happen to my friend in the UK, it has been quiet in his front...Well I believe no news is good news, anyway I hope he is having a great time in this winter and waiting to celebrate the white Christmas. We here are rather busy with the arrival of our foster daughter and her husband. We have been taking her around the city to get them introduce to this 'third world city'..Like any first timer to this enchanting city of ours, there are somewhat shock to see the modern city of Kuala Lumpur and just could not wait to see and set foot at the Petronas Twin Tower, the landmark of the city of Kuala Lumpur, which has since became the symbol of Malaysia..It is said that One have not complete one's visit to Malaysia without setting foot at the KLCC, the tallest building in the world..They had their chance today...We took them there and let them to wonder in this city within the city....It is indeed their first taste of this modern city in the far east and from the look of it they are real excited with what they see....Their dreams comes true, for they had always wanted to see Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur...And today that dream materialized when we drop them there for them to wonder at this modern engineering feat, one of today's wonder of the world and the pride of Modern Malaysia, our beloved country.....

It is Sunday and this morning our foster daughter and her spouse would be arriving at the KLIA on the Malaysian Airline from Vienna, Austria.... We wake up early and drove to the airport and arrived just after seven in the morning....I told her if she arrived early...Do wait for us and sure enough they arrived in time and was already at the lobby outside the arrival hall, so on looking around we met....for the first time in all the years that We had known her, through her mail and later emails....It was indeed great to meet both of them so cheerful. ... Well this is a sorts of a story of dreams comes true....

Some time during the Hari Raya I received an email from a friend who live in the UK, the United Kingdom, a friends that is also in the golden age, much older the me, a very pleasant English gentlemen who love to travel...In his youth he served the British Army and was among the warrior that the British sent to their colonies all over the world and He happen to be the fortunate or the unfortunate person to have been send to Malaya, now Malaysia...I guessed he fell in love with this eastern paradise and after he left the service, he returned to his homeland and later on for the love of the east, he start to make a regular trip to this part of the world and this includes Malaysia...I came to know him sometime in the year nineteen eighty nine and has since became close friends...When we parted in Kuantan, we promice to keep in touch and we have been doing just that ever since.... Whenever he is in Malaysia He would visit us and the same with me, when my spouse and me visit the UK some years ago, we met him and together we drove all over southern England...It was an interesting journey and indeed a memorable one....Well coming back to the subject of the email that he send recently, the content touches me and it really makes me happy, it is a sorts of a gift on this Adil Fitri evening, so I thought that with his permission I would like to share his short and rather thoughtful email with the world to read and perhaps learn something about friendship, that transcend boarder, race, creed and religion...It has makes me and my family happy and enriched our life and I am sure it has done the same to him....So my friends this is the letter that I wanted to share with all:-

It started with this greeting "Selamat Hari Raya Eid el Fitr keluarga Idrus"

Nov 15

Dear Idrus and Asmah,I share your enthusiasm for this great day,[I supposed he read my posting on the Aidil Fitri] particularly because I now have something to eat, thanks to your kindness. Your gift has brightened up this dank and chilly neighbourhood and as I listen I hear fireworks going off to the east of this city where our Asian community chooses to live.I went shopping in one of Leicesters Shopping malls - it reminded me of KL - our Muslim community was dashing around buying barang barang - the kids were all excited.I am touched by your gift - what an unusual present but also very welcome - just a taste of what I miss so much. Your gift dispelled some of the gloom I felt as a result of the US election.

Regards - and do not stuff yourself - moderation is everything. Ken

I have been rather busy since the Hari Raya [Aidil Fitri] and with the grandchildren on their school holiday, they are all here almost all days long, it were fun to have them all at the house and with the Hari Raya open house visit, I found that I had not the time to blog as usual...The Hari Raya celebration would last for one months, with visits to friend's Hari Raya open house....Once the Raya atmosphere dies down and thing back to normal again, I would start to blog as usual, so friends do visit my blog from time to time and in the mean time do have a great time and enjoy....

It is the Hari Raya [Aidil Fitri] so I took time out to enjoy the festival and did not have the time to blog...The good news is that this year the date of the Aidil Fitri was announced two days before the actual day....In the previous years they had to wait for those traditionalists to watch the sighting of the new moon, although it is a well known fact that according to the calculation of the experts that the new moon would start on such a day, but the traditionalists still insist on going to watch for the sighting of the moon. It is actually a waste of time for in the tropic where the sky is always full of clouds formation , it is rather difficult or impossible to see the crescent on the first day of the month...So this year the government under the leadership of the New Prime Minister decided to somewhat do away with the sighting of the moon and announced the date two days ahead...It is a brave move and a good decision on the part of the government, in doing so...It is an indeed a bold step and this make preparing for the Hari Raya..,is made easy, compare to before where the announcement were made late on the eves of the Hari Raya, where it makes its difficult to prepare food for the next day's consumption, and because of this at time cooked foods would go to waste because the day of the Hari Raya were postponed to another day at the last minute...Now with this new decision where the announcement is made two days before...Thing has really change for the good, so it is good bye to the traditionalists thinking....Although this is just a small aspect of the Islamic culture, it is a very important step in the reformation of the thinking of the Moslem leadership...For Islam to progress, there must be reform in the thinking, so that the religion would progress with times... So to me what happen this year is not only a bold and brave step, it is indeed a significant and a historical move in the history of Islam in Malaysia and it augur well for the new thinking of the reformist in Islam...

...... Saturday the thirteen is the last day of fasting, the grandchildren were all here with their mom and dad...They are staying at our home tonight and would celebrate the Aidil Fitri together... It is always fun to have all those kids around the house....They got themselves organized and with their mom and dad start to make the 'ketupat' [container make from coconut leaves, intricately woven, to put in rice and then boiled to cook] when boiled the rice would be mash together and turn semi solid, this when ready, could be cut into rice cube, a specialty that a Hari Raya could not do without and it is eaten with the 'rendang', The 'Rendang' is Beef or chicken cooked with herb in coconut milk,a specialty of the Malay, a traditional dish that had been pass from generation to generation... A Hari Raya or the Aidil Fitri is never complete without the ' Ketupat and Rendang ' Having the grandchildren with their parent at our home is a Godsend happiness that only those with grandchildren would understand.... A sorts of a bonus to us in our golden age...It brighten the home with their presence and as they grew up, like our grandchildren...They began to help in getting things organized...Like today they together help to prepare the 'ketupat', from making the container to getting it cook...It take four hours of boiling to cook this traditional 'ketupat'...Someone had to wait and add boiling water from time to time to see that the 'ketupat' is cooked and well done. An extra hands are always helpful... And then the young one would play around careless of the world and keep wondering what is all the fuss about this things call 'Hari Raya' or the Aidil Fitri Festival.... It is real interesting to see this tiny tots trying to get the rice grains into the container, with the help of their grandmother...Making the process slow, but then it does not matter, this is part of the education and training of the young on the concept of making this traditional food, that is so special to us Malay...For the Ketupat and Rendang is synonymous with our 'Hari Raya'....It is our tradition and we are going to see that it is pass to the next generation despite the onslaught of new foods that are prepared for the 'Hari Raya'. And from the look of it our grandchildren are taken to it and soon when they grew up they would surely continue to make these 'ketupat' and 'rendang' comes the 'Hari Raya' in the years to come.... We start to boil the 'ketupat' at three in the afternoon and it would only cook well after at least four hours of boiling, that means it would only be ready at just past seven in the evening...Just before the breaking of the fast on this last day of Fasting....It look it is going to be perfect and come the time to look at it at just past seven..It is indeed well done... And thanks to the collective efforts....Our 'ketupat' is a family project well conceived and the result that some fifty or so 'ketupat' are ready to be served for tomorrow Aidil Fitri.... I am indeed happy that our grandchildren has began to learn to understand the concept of this traditional food and the process of making it like we did, our parent did it in their days and so are our ancestors in the years gone bye....That is our tradition and as the saying goes 'tradition dies hard' and in this case we are sure not going to allow it to dies but to continue to make it alive in our culture, a refine tradition of preparing food, a specialties that had been with us Malay for thousand of years......The tradition of preparing the " Ketupat and Rendang " ..Just after the breaking of Fast...The young of the grandchildren ask for their 'ketupat' and wonder what it look like when it is cooked....Grandma and Grandpa say that it takes four hours to cook....They wonder in their little mind what's so special about this 'ketupat'!! ....And soon they are going to discover the magic of turning small grain of rice into something much different, turning the rice grains into a semi solid food, that now could be cut into small cube to be eaten with the'rendang'. Grandma gave them the cube of ketupat to taste, they were rather amused to eat and then I supposed they keep wondering in their little mind...This memory would be embedded in their mind forever and they would surely remember the taste of that white rice cube of ketupat that they had contribute in the making of it, the ketupat and now they had their taste of this traditional food...This is the beginning and I am sure this tradition would continue forever in the Malay Culture....

.....To all Moslem all over the world a Happy Aidil Fitri.. May everyone enjoy peace and prosperity always...To the non Moslem, let us work together to makes this world a better place to live and enjoy life...Have a nice day.

...The legacy of a Man, a leader, a statesman of this century...The passing of Yasser Arafat,[1929 - 2004] The Palestinian leader, a truly great man of his time...A man that single handed created the Palestinian dream of having their independent country, after part of their beloved land was taken away from them and turn into what we now call as the state of Israel in the year nineteen forty eight...Had not been for Yasser Arafat the Palestine state would have lapse in time and today no one would ever heard of such a once proud country in the biblical land of the three great religions Judaism. Christian and Islam...Last week a sick Arafat was flown out of his fortress in which he was imprisoned by the Israeli for almost four years, for medical attention...Thanks to the French government he was flown to Paris for treatment...But as everyone knows...He was call to the Lord and thus would be returned to his fortress compound for burial...The French gave him a special farewell and then a military funeral in Cairo, by the Egyptian government, the land where Arafat was born and had his education. His remains was later flown to Ramallah for burial. According to the Palestine leadership he would be re buried at Jerusalem when Jerusalem became the capital of the independent Palestine state in due course......A salute to a great man who give up all his life for their noble cause...He is indeed immortal in the mind of all freedom fighters especially his own people the Palestinian.....Al Fatihah [the first verses of the Koran] to his soul.....Amen.

Happy Diwali to all my Hindu friends...May the festival of light bring prosperity to all and a great life always, Have a nice day....

It has been raining all weeks,it is a cat and dog sorts of rain, it does not seem to stop...Some areas have been flooded and a house built beside a hillside has collapse and one of the occupant killed....It is going to be a 'balik kampong' affair again come this week end, the Festival of Depavalee on the Eleven and the Hari Raya [Aidil Fitri] on the fourteen November, the highways to the north, south and east would be jammed with traffics heading on both direction and with such weather it is going to be a risking journey all the way, so I hope that all those on the roads this weekend would be extra careful driving in this weather.

Well time passes fast this Ramadan month, it is already Sunday and we are on the last week of fasting...Soon it would be the Aidil Fitri Festival comes this fourteen of November and just before that is the Hindu festival of Light called the Depavalee Festival which would be celebrated by Malaysian Hindu on the eleven of November, it look like we Malaysian are going to have two important festival in just one week...The Hindu would be celebrating their festival on the eleven while the Moslem would be celebrating their festival on the fourteen of November, where else are these two great religious festival celebrated by its citizen with joy and harmony but in the wonderful country of ours, Malaysia and then come December we all would joint in to celebrate the Christian Festival of Christmas...In fact the whole shopping complexes that are being decorated with the Depavalee Festival and the Hari Raya [Aidil Fitri] Festival.. then would be redecorated to usher in the Christmas and the New Year spirit come these December and January two zero zero five....That my friends is the Malaysia that we all love, where people of all races and religions live in harmony and enjoy together...

Well I just received an email from my old friend from the south, an old soldier,a retired one, who live in Malacca...He was a colonel in the commando unit, the unit in the army mostly consist of crazy man who love to go to war and considered dead until they returned alive...This friends of mine look tough..The soldier make him so..In his email he was asking what has happen to our friends the tongsan man from Raub, a small town in the hinterland of Pahang, a rather rural area out of the way, where there was once a gold mine...Now that the gold mine has close down, this small town continue to prosper on other economic activities....My friend Mr. Jeffry..No he is not English...He is a Chinese Malaysian with an English name and love to be call just Jeff....He love to get lost in the Malaysian jungle on his four wheel drive, a bunch of adventurer in this age and time...The are plenty of jungle area in and around Raub for such and exciting adventure....Well this Jeff reply to our friend from the south,the Chinaman Yap, with a copy to me and it real sound interesting...He is not lost after all, still alive and kicking, running all over the country doing business, trying to be another billionier, that would eventually own the Raub town, who knows... It would be a reality some day, for nothing is impossible nowadays and with that achievement I believed he would be crowned as the next Raja of Raub, like a royalty and then he would have the power to conferred Datuk [grand title]to all his friends, like our Mr.Yap..and our Mr.Chinaman Yap would be Datuk Yap....Interesting is it not...Anything could happen in this wonderful country of ours, where people of various race, religion and language live in peace and harmony..Like the advertisement say Malaysia is truly Asia....That is the truth, when you set foot on this soil, a country call Malaysia, you would sure realized that people of different culture could live in harmony together and built the country together, to become one of the prosperous country in this part of the world...Well friends life is like that, if we all understand what is life and learn to live together then anything are possible... Sure, We all have our difference, but then these difference has became our asset rather then liabilities.....That is the way to go...The world is so small now and sharing it together makes it a better place to live and enjoy life...Remember we are just in passing on this planet....Makes full use of the short time you and I have on this blue planet, a God send haven in space....Have a nice day.

Just received an email from our foster child in Italy, as usual it makes interesting reading, and it lighten my day or is it night, it is now past eleven pm in Kuala Lumpur, I was just surfing the net when this mail arrived...It is indeed a great feeling knowing that these two young couple would be coming over to Kuala Lumpur soon, like them we are as excited to meet them in person, after all the years of virtual contact via the net....Interesting that though we have not as yet met, personally I felt that I had known them all along...Like I always say....We are a spiritual being and somehow our spirit met and we communicate in a way non of us could ever understand but that it is for real...Well friends that is life, On this night of the fasting month, just after breaking fast and the tarawih prayer, I sat down to watch the TV and at the same time write this thoughts as it flows.. Fascinating that with today's technology we could watch, read and write at the same time and enjoy all those things that you like to do, which just a few years ago was not that possible. The internet makes its possible to communicate just with the touch of a button, satellite TV makes its just as easy to see what's happening in the other parts of the world...Music just cross the political boarder of countries just like that.. Without censorship like before...It makes life so very wonderful and colorful as well...With the rate of breakthrough in science and technology what else would come... We all have just to wonder...The three G cell phones system is on the way in this country and soon it would be just as easy to communicate, via video phone, SMS and at the same time would be able to watch your favorite TV programs as well...It is already there and I believe soon every other person in Malaysia would be using this new cell phones. What a way to live and communicate...Nowadays when you leave home to travel overseas you just bring along your cell phones and with international roaming, it would be just easy to communicate with each other, just like you are next door...The other day I call a friend on his cell phone, wanting to invite him for tea and when we get connected, I ask him where he is and his reply was that he is in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia...Well since we are in communication, we just laughed and talk...That is what cell phone did to you...Nowadays with the cell phones, when we get connected we ask the other person "where are you", not like when using a fixed line phone, where we knew where the phone is, in a home somewhere..., but for the cell phone you can never tell where the other person is at a given time, if he/she is driving, then we would continue to talk if he/she has a hand free set, if not we would just to call later....It is real fascinating this cell phone revolution, new models are out almost every months and it is getting smarter and look great as well....So what about changing your cell phone for a new model...

We have been fasting for more two week already and it has just became normal not to eat and drink during the days...We might loose some weight and it is good for the whole body system and on the economic front it is also a saving on the budget, for during this month we have only one full meal, that is at the time of the breaking of the fast...Other then that we continue to eat some light food and refreshment all night until bedtime and wake up at just before the morning prayer to eat and drink before the sunrise, the beginning of our fasting...So life change a bit during this whole month and as the fasting days progress, we would be preparing for the end of Ramadan, where a festival awaits the Moslem,, that is the Idil Fitri festival.....

It rain almost everyday now, so the days look a bit gloomy but in a way it drive the haze away and when the sun shine, the sky look clear blue with patches of white cotton like clouds...It really make a picturesque sight and it is great for photography...It is now almost in the middle of the fasting month and during this month food bazaar sprout everywhere, organized by the local council for traders to sell varieties of foods for the breaking of the fast...It is a sight only found during this month, so for those that do not have the time to cook their dinner, this food bazaar is a place to buy foods for the breaking of the fast...It makes things easy especially for those working couple... I just went to one such bazaar this evening, it is located at the parking lots in front of a shopping area nearby..The whole area has turn into a fair of a sorts, food vendors selling varieties of food. For us who fast all day long, looking at all those foods, makes you want to buy all and take home, but then it is like that, the temptation is great and one had to be careful not to get carried away and buy more then they could consumed..It would eventually go to waste and be thrown into the trash bin. Remember fasting during this months means that you had to avoid temptations in all aspect and this includes greed, which sometime comes with hungry people, how you wished you could eats and drinks all those foods and drinks on sale...Hunger makes your minds runs wild and sometime if you are not careful you would end buying so much foods and it would sure go to waste comes the time for the breaking of the fast ...You could only eat so much and in my experiences if you buy too much it would always go to waste and that is against the very principal of Fasting during the month of Ramadan...A good Moslem should always takes the middle course and makes smart decision, especially during this month and not makes decision base on one's emotional needs, use your head rather then you heart...Fasting among other thing teaches us to be humble, tolerance and understanding toward others, appreciation of all the goodness that had been provided, for a great living all through the years and thanks God for the Love that had been bestowed all throughout the years and hope that the year to come it would be as good, if not better....

White bougainvillaea that bloom all throughout the year, a versatile plants indeed with all the color of the rainbow... We have a number of such plants, it is very easy to manage, just feed it with fertilizer and water daily..It grow well in pots...Except for the beauty of the color of this flowers, it has no smell at all..It just add color to the normal green surrounding....

I was at the washroom just now and an idea just pop up and then when I came out of the washroom, I forgot all about it...I wanted to write about it, for somewhat, its has in a way improve of how we organized our home...So I set down to write and trying to remember what was the idea that I just thought to write just now..According to those medical professionals, as we grew old, we people at this golden age, forget fast of the present happening, like you placed a bunch of keys after taking it to open the door but before doing just that you were interrupt and detour to do something else and without realizing it you left the bunch of keys somewhere and instantly you forgot about it...You continue to do whatever you are doing and only after finishing it did you realized that the door had not been open and then you look for those keys at the usual place and it is not there... In our house all keys are place in a basket on a table next to the telephone.... And to avoid misplaced, all keys after taken out had to be put back in this basket....So this is the rule and the ritual that comes with it and it works perfect for us...Until...Something happen or someone who takes it did not put it back after using it or just like what happen this morning...I was interrupt and without realizing it left the keys at some place.. And then when I realized it...I had to trace it and it would sometime take times to find it... Now I no longer ask my spouse about it, because she would start telling me the same old stories all over again, that is not to put the keys wherever I like and chatter along, which I just do not like...So I just kept quiet and look it for myself, it is indeed frustating not to find it sometime, only after tracing it that I would eventually find it....And felt real happy with my little adventure...Those young would laugh at this, Go on and laugh but then remember you would one day be at the same place as Me...Loosing my recent memories for a while....Well that is what old age is all about and there is a good side about the memories of Us now is that we could remember crystal clear of those happening of our childhood and the great time of our youth, those colorful years of our life...It is still crystal clear to this day and it is getting clearer...True what the medical profession have been telling us, in that when we grew old, our memories of the past would be clearer and the present is the opposite.....Ok, Now that I have remember what I had wanted to write and before I forget, let me just put the idea down now...It is about the Sink that we use to wash our hand from time to time, there are at least one in the Bathroom and one is normally setup near the dining table in most of Malaysian home...We find the sink in most washroom for the public at shopping complexes and we would just use it without realizing the important of this facilities....When we get to one, especially in public places we expect it to be spot clean and we do not want to see it wet, it look unclean if it is wet, but then there is a tap there and surely when one use it, it get wet, that is why they have sink in the first place so that when on wash their hand, the water is not spilled all over....In public places there are workers that keep this sinks clean from time to time but what about all those sinks at your home, surely you would like it to be spot clean all the time as well...Of course you do...This is what I want to talk about, keeping the sink or sinks spot clean all the time...I found a solution to do just that and I would like to share this fantastic mean of keeping it clean with all....So how do I get this idea...Well it all started when we were on a holiday in North America some years ago...We were on a tour of the Niagara Fall on the Canadian side...While there we stay at a B & B [Bed and Breakfast hotel]and as usual at a place like this we all had to use common facilities such as the bathroom and the toilets...This charming B & B is run by a man name David, a real colorful person indeed, with a personality of his own,unique and very pleasant...The B & B is well run and the interior decoration, the work of David, were just beautiful and indeed well done. We all love the way he run this place....On entering the washroom the first thing I saw just below the mirror above the sink, a small note that read 'leave the sick clean as you had just seen it, towels are under the sink'..Yes the sink is clean.. Spot clean, without a drop of water on it... I smiled after reading those small and yet effective message....So after using this sink I just did as advise by those note, I took a small towel in a cabinet below the sink and wiped the sink clean and then left and I found that every time I enter this common washroom, I always notice the sink spot clean, so it means that David's simple message works and everyone seem to be happy just doing those simple task of wiping the sink after use....On returning home to Malaysia, I took David's idea and place a small towel on a hook just beside the sinks in our home and gave instruction to all that the small towel hang on a hook beside the sink is for wiping the sink and it works perfectly till this day...Now all the sinks in our house are never seen wet again, it is always spot clean, thanks to the idea of Mr.David of the Niagara Fall, Canada...I am indeed happy that such a small thought could improve the quality of our lives, so my friends if you have this problem, do try this idea and I am sure you would be happy with the outcome of it...Remember to upkeep a home is not that easy, any simple idea that would lighten the workload of the up keeping of a home is always welcome....Have a nice day...

Well I had not been bloging for a few days already....I was somewhat rather busy, doing this and that and somehow had not being able to blog as usual...Personally I felt bad for not writing for I always felt at as lost when I do not blog..I guess the writer in me that want me to continue writing....So here am I trying to write my thoughts as I go along....I went to see my friend at the hospital again and he seem to be recovering well, I am indeed glad for that...I would love to see him writing his blog again...Well friends life is like that and sometime we had to go through an unexpected event, just like my friend...He had to go for a major heart operation, the bypass operation....Lucky now Malaysian MD's could do just that and at our own hospital...In the past one had to go overseas to do that sorts of operation and that means it cost, but with such operation being done in this country, it certainly cost less....And now it is the weekends and we had been fasting for a week already..And last evening our daughter and her children, our grandchildren were at our home to break their fast together...And of course their dad is there as well..Moslem parents try to train the young of the way to fast and some start to practise fasting at a very early age...They could start to fast for half a day and then graduate to a full day...Well it look like one of our young grandson, just eight years old did fast and He is doing well and began to understand what fasting is all about...It is not compulsory for the young to fast, but then they would be encourage to do so and with that they would learn to fast as they grow up...So this year there out of five grandchildren, three had start to do fasting and I am glad that they are beginning to get into the culture of fasting during the month of Ramadan...So today we all break fast together and it is indeed an interesting event, to see those young kids breaking their fast, first with their choice of drinks and then eating the other food, to satisfied their hunger after fasting for a day..We grand's are indeed happy to seen these children enjoying the breaking of fast...It is a passing of knowledge from one generation to another as Moslem....Glad that they are beginning to understand the way of the Ramadan....Friends...Happy Fasting....

I went to see my friend at the private hospital again today, it is one of those hospital that look like a four star hotel, It is the specialist hospital, just off the Jalan Ampang...On entering the lobby one would not realized that it is a hospital, it look like a posh hotel. At the lobby are rows of elegant shops that cater to the visitors as well as to the patients, there is even a high end coffee house....On entering the private room of my sick friend, I met the other visitors that had comes to see him recover, most of the visitors are old friends from his former employment organization and most that came are all retiree.. To me it was nice to me another one of my kind, those in the golden age... I got introduce to all of them and as usual got into conversation and we talk on subjects that just came to our minds..All look real healthy and I am indeed glad that they are all doing find and enjoying their golden age...One person, a former senior management personal at the Petronas Plants in Malacca, on hearing that We had just visited the National Park, talks of their memorable visit the park and that they had only able to makes it after retirement...Like us, they really enjoy their holiday in the National Park and hope to visit it again some other time...It is real nice to exchanges view and experiences of such visit, talking about some events that they took part and the excitement that they encounter,like going up river through the rapids, exciting to some but scary to others...makes us all at time laughed, when we thinks of what's in the mind of those in the boats at that point in times, Like us before..I was enjoying the long ride through the rapids and hope that it would continues for hours, but our spouses,the ladies on the other hand were hoping it is just a short trip and that we would reach our destination fast and then get home...But then after returning safe, we all laughed at the tension and the scary time we all have had during the trip up river... Well one thing we all agree that we all did enjoy the trip to Taman Negara, the Malaysian National Park.. Another person that I met that day is a former Air Force personal and from his business card is doing some business on his own and now live in Bangi, a town where there are many institutes of higher learning, one of which is the National University.. It look like that my friend the patient is on his way to a complete recovery, the MD's that did the operation, did it well and in just a week the patient is almost recover....I hope that after leaving the hospital, he would take time to rest and not to get into things that would create all those stress..The bypass heart operation is like being given a second chance to continue living...Well that is what science and technology and competent doctors could do to help us continue living and enjoy life....My friends..That is what life is all about...Living and enjoying it all the way...

It has been a wet day, it rain last night so it is a bit cool this morning. It is the end of the year weather in the tropic...A bit gloomy sorts of weather, it rain, it stop and then it rain again..stop again and all of a sudden you have that glorious sun shining till evening...In a way it is great weather for a change on this fasting month..It keep the days cool....With the sun moving to southern hemisphere, the sun rise early and set early as well. In Kuala Lumpur the sun set at just past three minutes after seven in the evening, so breaking fast comes early...We break our fast at just after seven in the evening, enjoying our first meal after the fasting...It is a welcome meals and I had always enjoy breaking fast....I do it in a sorts of ritual...On hearing the Azan, that sound of the time of the Magrib prayer, as well as the sunset...I would break my fast by just having a glass of sweet cold drink,sometime it is orange juice and sometime just sweet ice tea with some sweet dates, now nowadays dates comes in various varieties, from the fresh to the dried one, imported during this month from the middle eastern countries and north Africa i.e.. from Iran to Saudi to Tunisia and Morocco and the Mediterranean countries ....I love those dates, it is one of those fruits I like best during the breaking of the fast...After this short entries of the breaking of the fast...I do the Magrib prayer and after that would sit to have the real meals of Rice and some other dishes....I tried not to eat too much but just right so that I would be able to do the Tarawih Prayer later on at the local Mosque... Usually at this meal my wife would accompany enjoying the breaking of the fast....We ate slowing and enjoy the meals...And then with a cup of hot coffee, another of my favorite drink...I sat to watch the TV while enjoying my coffee with some sweet cakes or nuts to company....I tried to relax after the meals and just watch the News or other entertaining program, to while the time away before going to the mosque to do the congregation tarawih Prayer... The mosque is just about five minute drives away and usually during the first week of Ramadan the mosque would be full of people attending the tarawih Prayer, which started just after the Isyak Prayer.. It is a sorts of a recreation activities during the evening during the month of Ramadan, it is a collective of short congregation prayer done in a group of eight prayer a session. Tarawih prayer is only performed during the fasting month,,Ramadan.... At just after eight in the evening, I would leave for the mosque, sometime my wife and two of our teenager granddaughter would follow.. Otherwise I would go alone, with my wife doing the tarawih at home... Tarawih is an optional prayer..So it is a choice to every Moslem... The Tarawih prayer would last till ten thirty if one follow through all the prayers sessions ...But one could do a short session and leave just after nine thirty...I normally do just the short eight prayer session [rakaa] one and be back home by nine thirty....To relax further, to blog or to read the newspaper or of religious books or whatever that had to be done.. Or just do nothing...Relax and watch the TV or listen to some good music. The fasting month in a way changes our living culture, we do not go out shopping or go on a holiday during this whole month, instead most of the time we would just stay at home and indulge more in social and religious activities...The changes that happen for a period once in a year is really good for the human in us, making us more aware of the spiritual aspect of us as human being, for we human are a spiritual being and spirit need be nurture as well, so that it progress in harmony with the other human development....We are going through life now facing many challenges, so to progress we all had to acquire new knowledge both for the consumption of the spirit as well as the other faculties of our good self... During the Fasting month every Moslem have to bring themselves to on an equal equilibrium on all aspect, he had not only to fast from eating during the day, he had to be fasting from all other aspect of his senses, like not seeing things evil or could contribute to evil doing. He/She should behave themselves at all time and be good to all the living and non living on this earth... In a words a Moslem should be a total good person all the time especially during this month of Ramadan... Fasting teaches us to be a well discipline person, in a way the month of Ramadan remind the human in us, if ever we make mistake, to correct ourselves and come back to our senses and back to the teaching of the Koran, that is to be a good person on this good earth....My friends it is indeed a simple reminder, a period in a year, for us to reflect and thinks hard of our past doing and achievements and with that improve our life and the lives of our fellow being as we proceed on in life......

Last Evening...the third day of Fasting...The Azan sound for the Magrib Prayer and it is time to break fast...Just as I was about to break my fast, I received an SMS on my cell phone, from my dear friend that had a bypass heart operation last Wednesday, the SMS say that He is out of the ICU unit and move to an ordinary room to recover...Well thanks God he has progress one step more toward total recovery from this major operation...I pray and hope that he continue to get well and back to normal again...It is interesting that he had started using his cell phone again and send this SMS [short Message Service] the wonder of communication via the cell phone, when you just could not talk, just send an SMS and the world is at your finger tip....Well friend, Get Well and continue to enjoy life, for life is as precious and you surely know that, for you just went through a major operation of the heart...Modern science and technology and competent Medical Specialists contributes in making improvement in the quality of our life..One thing that we should not forget that all these are made possible because we had a great country and good leadership together with good governance....Prosperity brought many great hospitals for us Malaysian to be taken care of when we are sick, so be happy that we all are blessed with such wonderful country...Malaysia....

This Friday the fifteen, we Moslem start to fast during this Moslem month of Ramadan, as usual we start the month with the Tarawih prayer at the mosque on the evening of the fourteen after the Isyak prayer...Moslem's day start not from the morning but after the sunset, so in this case the first of Ramadan started after the Magrib prayer on the fourteen of October two zero, zero four....To us Moslem fasting from dawn till evening is already second nature to us, for we have been doing this ritual all the time, some from the time of their childhood....In fact fasting during the month of Ramadan is actually, only changing the habit of eating, from eating all day long to abstaining eating during the day and instead eat and drink only at night from the time of the sunset to the time of sunrise.....In a way the changing of eating habits is good for your health, for once in a year you rest the organs that deal with nourishing food, during the day and use it at night only. Other then not eating during the day, all Moslem must follow the strict rules of fasting, other then not eating and drinking during the day, be well behave, be good to all, never ever thinking of getting into evil doing...In a way Moslem are supposed to live like what the Koran preaches, be a good person all the time....Abstaining from eating is not that difficult if you set your mind to doing that...It is actually the setting of the mind and once it is set, the rest of fasting is easy...Some would loose weight during this month and some would be cured of sickness, whereas others would just enjoy the atmosphere of fasting and the change in the ritual of daily living...Friends If you who had not fast before, why not try it for a day or even half a day for a start and I am sure you would get the feeling of fasting and the benefit that comes with it....The changing eating habit get rid of the monotony of eating, in that the breaking of the fast at sunset, became such a welcome and wonderful meal of the day...With that came the appreciation of what having food is all about, you would soon understood of how the poor and the hungry felt for the wanting of food and water...Only with such understanding that we would appreciate more what food and drink means to all humankind...Thus bringing that humanity back to some of us, who at time thence to loose such noble value of being human...That is life my friends...Fasting in a way makes life more meaningful....Happy fasting...

This is an old Chinese saying, Words of wisdom " When you drink from a cup, do not forget that the water came from a stream somewhere" ...... I remember this saying since it was told to me by a very close Chinese friend..... It has ever since being a philosophy to me and I believe that there are great wisdom in this old saying...... To prosper and enjoy a beautiful life we should try to understand this deep meaning and with that understanding make it our own philosophy of life..... In life we cannot achieve anything alone, surely there are others that in a way help us along to achieve our aims..... We were successful in our job and rewarded for a job well done..... Think hard... Could we do the job alone..... It is not at all possible..... Maybe you think that it is possible..... But I believe that it is not possible...... Others, either directly or indirectly along the way help us...... Say you are given a job of a CEO of a large institution or organizations or industries... Your job is to give a great service to your organization...So how do you do to get your job done and successful and your clients satisfied..... You surely need the help of other people.... But normally you get the credit for the job well done.... And as CEO you are paid well.... Non of your staff could get paid like you.... You are the boss, so you get paid well... And they just got paid less then you and some even got a pay package just to survived a daily living... My friend that is the real world....So as you can see you can never achieve anything alone, we need other's help or appropriate tools to succeed....So do keep this wisdom of the old in mind when doing anything....Do take care of your staff well....The are part of your success.....Have a nice day.

You had been retired, so in another word you are no longer required to work, you must have work for a company or an organization for not less then twenty five years and at the age of fifty six in Malaysia you are retired and new young with additional qualification are recruited to take you place....You have to ask yourself why you had been retired at that age and my answer is that it is the policy of the country at this time in our history, before if was fifty five years and now it is fifty six years....Well eventually with life expectancy improving, who knows, retiring age would be extended further.....To me it does not matter when you are retired.....You must plan for your retirement and should not wait at the last minutes to safe for the rainy day....If you are a government officers, you are given a lump sum gratuity and then a monthly pension, just so that you could enjoy living and if you work for non government organization, in Malaysia you have your Employee Providence Fund, normally matured when your are fifty or fifty five and you are allowed to withdraw all this money you had saved.., If you are on this category you should not spend all your money in one go but instead should plan a monthly withdrawal of a sum you want and the rest you should invest in some fund, so that you would continue to have a monthly income as you retire on...... I am telling all this is because I found that some of my friends who once had good monthly pay working in the non government sector, spend all their EPF money when they retired and then find themselves without enough fund to continue living a modest life and because their income has reduced they try to make more money by going into business and this is not the right thing to do at that age, you are no longer productive like before and because business is not that easy, you soon find yourself in a situation where you get frustrated and depressed because the business is not doing well, your creditor chasing you and those that owe you for your service did not make payment in time...It all add to more depression....And remember at this age depression would led to stress and stress would lead to sickness and soon you had to visit the doctor often and this time if you are not a government pensioner you had to pay your own medical bill, which could be substantial if you want to be treated as the King or Queen like you used to get when you work for some big Business company that pay you big salary....Now that you had retired all those service are gone forever....And some of you who do not have a health insurance would have to pay all those hospital bill on you own, and this would drain of whatever saving you have had, thus add to more and more depression and frustration..... Other then paying hospital bill, your spouse still want to live the old life style of the "officer's spouse" or the "business executive spouse" and this would also add to the monthly bills that you had to pay....My advice to friends, remember that the moment you retired you cannot look forward to that monthly pay anymore,....Say you had been getting Ringgit Ten thousand a month and suddenly you are not getting it anymore....You would felt helpless and if you had not plan your retirement well...This is the first shock you would face, 'no monthly income' so do be careful of whatever lump sum payment you get, save it by investing in a mutual fund and create a monthly sorts of withdrawal of a appropriate amount and then forget living like before or going into business but instead live a modest life...By doing so you would be able to live well and enjoy life to the fullest.....For my friends we can never tell how long after retirement we are going to live and live a healthy life...So take heed and believe me you would not regret it and it is best for all of us in our golden age....

My friend went through the heart bypass operation yesterday, the operation was successful and when I went to see him at the ICU unit, He look alright and the two nurses who were at his bedside say that he is doing well and recuperating well...Great and we all hope that he would get well soon after this major operation of the heart...It look like heart bypass operation has became just one of those operation to improve on the quality of life....In the past Malaysian had to go overseas to get this sort of operation done and it cost dearly...But now after the National Heart Institute was established and more and more Private Hospitals were set up, such operation now could be done in this country by Malaysian specialists...In fact now Malaysian private hospital also cater for foreign patients as well, who specially come over here for special treatment at our private hospital....These private hospital building is just like those five or four star hotel, with all the facilities to makes one comfortable while being treated for their sickness.. Compare to the Government hospitals like the IJN [Institut Jantung Negara] or the National Heart Institute, the cost for treatment at private Hospital are high but then if you are covered by Insurance, it would just be alright, all expenses would thus be paid by the Insurance Company.... But if one do not have health insurance it would be better to get treatment at the government hospital, which provide services as good as that in private hospital...In fact Malaysian government hospitals are house in modern building and managed professional and staff by competence Medical professions, so it is just a matter of choice for Malaysian....Those that do not want to wait for treatment at the government hospital and could afford to pay at private hospital, could make the choice they like and get treated.... With prosperity, more and more people goes for treatment at private hospital..In a way its lessen the burden at the government hospital and health clinic all over the country....Coming back to the subject of my friend who has just gone through a major heart operation....I hope that he would take thing easy after this and would really adjust his retirement activities and enjoy life after retirement....For in retirement the greatest hopes of us in this golden age is good health and with that we all could continue living without worry and enjoy life.....

Visiting my friend at his hospital bed today...I met a man who is still working [remember we folks have retired] and we seem to be able to communicate on the same wave length...So in between the small talk we have had with our friend the patient, we talk about things that comes to our mind at that point in time....He say he came from a fishing village in Sarawak...A place called Mukah, a small fishing village on the coast of the long coastal line of the state of Sarawak....I have been to this picturesque town and felt for it on my first visit, when I was serving the state in the year ninety eighty six till the middle of ninety eighty nine....Three and a half years of great time of my career, where I had the opportunity to served this state of Malaysia in the Borneo Island...A state that is separated by the China sea, and only connected by air and sea to the mainland Malaysia. Sarawak was once ruled by a white Raja and today is part of the Federation of Malaysia...It is a exotic state, with all the wonder of nature that are in it original state, the flora and fauna are in its best and the forestation is still preserved in it natural form, thousand of rivers crisscross the length of the country....It has the largest natural gas and coal reserved in this part of the world and the MNLG Plant at Bintulu is among the first of its kind.....Sarawak itself is a paradise, for you would find forest in all the shade of green and of course the wild life is abundant and protected in the forest reserved all over the states.... The Rejang River is the largest and the longest in this part of the world and traveling on this mighty river on those power boats, look like being in an open sea....For the first timer it is indeed a sight that bewilder the imaginations and a wonder to watch....The people that live all over the interior are friendly and always welcome visitors with an open arms.....Sarawak is something call the land of the Hornbill, for in the Sarawak forest are this beautiful and exotic bird found flying from tree to tree, a sight that not to be found in other parts of the country.... The Hornbill a bird, a symbol of the freedom of the people of this fascinating state, Sarawak. The next time you visit Malaysia do makes a point to visit this enchanting states of Malaysia, Sarawak and then proceed on to visit the land below the wind, the State of Sabah..Nearby is Labuan, the offshore financial centre in this part of the world....... Coming back to the subject of my new found friend that hailed from Mukah, since we know Sarawak well, we talk about the Sarawak that we love...One thing about this state is that there are many ethnic groups of people live in this part of the Borneo Island, In Sarawak alone there are the Iban, Bidayuh, the Orang Ulu, the Melanau and about thirty two other smaller ethnic group that live all over the vast country, mostly in the interior, the Orang Ulu are mostly fair, whereas the others that live nearer the coastal are a bit fair brown like the Malay, there are also a small percentage of Malay beside the large Chinese population, the Chinese as a group form thirty percent of the population and mostly live in the town and cities and dealt in commerce......One interesting factor of the Malanau that live along the Sarikie river is that they consist of Moslem, Christian and Animist Malanau and they live in harmony all throughout their history.....It is an interesting group of people the Sarawakian, despite the diversity in religion, ethnicity and language, the had live in harmony all throughout their history..., In nineteen sixty three, together with Sabah, Singapore and the Malay states in the then Malaya, form the Federation of Malaysia....So today Malaysia is home to a multiple of race ad ethnic group that are proud to call themselves Malaysian.....

Friends, sometime it is hard, sometime it is frustrating and sometime it is depressing to come to term with oneself...But then if we want to live in peace and have a good life, that we all have some day to come to our senses and wake up to the real world and come to term with ourselves, if not we would forever have that guilt and with that we would go on living in a limbo, without any closure. You just could not go on living without facing the truth and I believe this is one reason a close friend of mine has been in and out of hospital in the last months or so... And the latest news I got from him in his SMS today is that He had to go for a bypass operation this Wednesday.....It is a major operation of the heart and I pray and hope that he would get through this episode of his life... I hope after he has recovered, he should heed my advice to get all those lump out of his chest and come to term with himself.....Like me he is in his golden age but a bit younger then me....From reading his blog, I think he is not at peace with himself, so if he want to continue to enjoy life after retirement, he has to stop all those business that create the stress and free his mind of whatever matter that he still have....For the past has gone forever and the future is more important... We all should learn from the past and come to term with it and come to a closure.....And with the closure, move forward into the remaining years of your life.....Enjoy every minutes of the days and think not of anything that are negative... Be positive and I am sure like me would continue to enjoy life to the fullest.....

This is part of my patio, in my small house, not far from center of the city...In this image is what we call here the 'kopitiam' table, that was once found in the coffee shops all over the country in the fifties till the seventies, it is a wooden round table with marble top...In those day if one frequent a coffee shop one surely be seated at this coffee table to have their morning coffee, to do lunch or dinner, it is a sight seen.... So at that time it was just one of the furniture of the day...It was imported from the Czech republic and China, probably the marble came from Italy....I grew up in a coffee shop, where there are plenty of such furniture around...We would do our homework at one of this....After we all had grown up and went on our own way in adulthood....I kept thinking of what has happen to those tables, on enquiring found that it is no longer in the shop and that it is out of fashion and soon these elegant tables were replaced with a more modern one....I kept searching and eventually found the top of one at my brother's house, left to rot in his storage area....I ask him to just let me have it, and he gladly give it to me, part of our dad's belonging when he operate the coffee shop....It is indeed nostalgic to me...It bring back memories of my childhood, where I use to help serving customers in the shop....With the Marble top, I then got a friendly carpenter to do the table, thus the table that is seen in this image is created....With four chairs that I bought recently [makes just like the old imported one] it were just a perfect match and there set elegantly my 'kopitiam' table, where at time we sat to have our coffee or tea with friends of just us.....This furniture is making a come back now, this time in rubber wood and the Langkawi Marble, another Malaysian export to the world... But mine is different in that the top marble is special for it is from my great dad's collection of fine furniture....It is mine now and hope that it would stay in the family forever...A piece of history of our family....The 'kopitiam' table with its marble top....Elegant and somewhat a great piece of the works of arts, I love my 'kopitiam' table [kopi in Malay mean Coffee]...It is a piece of history to have and it touches everyone who see it and enjoy their cup of coffee/tea at this table...My friends that is life.... Enjoy....

The colorful orchids, a new look of our small garden in front of our house....Enjoy....

Orchid, I guess everyone love these beautiful tropical plants and it radiant flowers, once grow wild in the tropical jungle, it has since been commercialized and today it is one of Malaysia export to the world market....To cater for the world demand for this flowers, large farms are open all over the country and in cities there are many nursery selling orchid plants for the domestic market....Most Malaysian prefer to plant the orchid rather then buy only the flowers....So large sale centre are has sprung up just on the outskirts of the city selling orchid....To day we decided to go to the outskirts of the city where they sell orchid plant which had just flowered, for a reasonable price....We had not been to this place before, so we decided to follow a couple that we know, who love orchid, to make our first visit to this nursery that sell orchid.....It is situated just after the old airport at Subang.....Before going there we decided to rendezvous at a Roti canai and Teh Tarik spot at PJ, a favorite place to have a great traditional breakfast...We left the house just after nine and met our friend and his spouse at the eating site....Together we sat down and enjoy the breakfast, we were later join by our friend's brother and his wife.....Finished our breakfast we all convoy toward the Orchid sale area....There in thousand all laid in rows and rows are orchids in all the color of the rainbow....It was really and great sight to see all those beautiful orchid, presenting it best....We went to look and makes our pick and after a while we had enough and after paying for the orchid we all head for our homes, our friend decided to head for his Malacca's home straight away, while we proceed to Ampang Jaya, happy that we had made a great buy of those lovely orchids, half price sold at our nearby nursery....We had decided to rearrange our small garden in front of our house and these orchids are just for that new look that we are planning, it would surely enhance our patio this time, giving it a more radiant and warm setting, changing the landscape from the normal green to a more colorful one, the multi color of orchids that we just bought....Sometime these orchids would continue to bloom for a while and then it stop, but at time it would continue to bloom all throughout the year....Orchid plants are very hardy and if tend to properly with love, it would continue to bear flowers without fail....It had to be nurture with care and showered with water regularly and of course it had to be fed with its kind of foods [fertilizer] from time so that it would give out a colorful bloom always.....Orchids always help to cheer up people who look at it and to my spouse and me it had always create a cheerful atmosphere, that enhance our quality of life....Well friends, with a little care, orchid could add color to our life, why not go for orchid the next time you re landscape you garden...It is worth a try...I am sure you would enjoy the outcome of such changes....Have a nice day.

There are so many things in life that we really do not know....Sometime things just happen and it changes our life....Another time, someone you had not met physically who live in distance land seem to be close to you, it is as though you had met before, it is like that, I believe that since we human are a spiritual being, our spirit would travel and communicate at close range, thus it created the way we felt about each other...In the days of our forefather, where science and technology was non existence, human use to communicate in so many different ways, by using tools such as drums, horns or other musical instrument to sent messages to distance places, we also know some of the wise people of those days could project their mind to distance land to send message or to heal a patience....It is indeed strange that people get cured after been heal by the traditional healer...When I was growing up on the east coast, there were not many doctors around and when the village folks get sick, the always get treatment from the local healer we call dukuk, pawang, bomoh and in most cases people are cured from their sickness....How it is done is something that I just could not understand at that time and now at this age I am beginning to understand a little bid and believe that what our wise forefather did was that they had a way to communicate with the spirit and found means to cure that they knew at that time and they did it because it was necessary then and they never did it as a business, rather it is done as a social services to their community....When I was just a growing up as a child, whenever someone in the home get sick, I would be ask to call the local dukun to cure the sick...I would run to the healer's house and ask him to come over to the house....His answer would always be 'Yes He would come' and that I should just go home and wait for him to arrive....In the meantime, while waiting, the house prepared his usual needs, a bowl of cold water, a few limes, some pop rice and some bitter nut leaves, so that when He arrived He would just start doing his things to treat the patience...Incant is burned and He would cut the lime into two and then look at it, and then he would throw some pop rice into the bowl of water and gazed at it while chanting some verses and then he would chant some verses into some plain water and at the same time say prayer to the sick and later on ask the patients to drink the cold water that he had prayed....And then he would say good bye and left for his home....The house owner thanks him and as usual the sick get cured from whatever sickness.....I believe that these wise old healer use a sort of a communication tool, they had found a way to communicate with the spirit world....Like what science did now in radio communication.....How they did it I just could not find an answer as yet.....With the help of the spirit, the process of healing worked....This sorts of ritual goes on and on in our village until the coming of modern medicine and doctors.....Well life soon changes and as years goes by there were less and less of the dukun and as we progress more and more people go to the western trained doctor for treatment when they get sick.....Well life goes on......Since the old way work well during its times, I think that the modern science should studies this traditional healers and find out the way or the method these wise old man did it and together with today medical science we could achieve more to improve our quality of health service, thus improving the quality of life as well.....

It is the first of October and we are getting to the last quarter of the year two zero zero four, see how time passes, Hardly you know it, it is already October and life goes on....I have been blogging for more then a year already and happy to do just that....With blogging I get thing our of my mind and it free me of thoughts that would otherwise would go to waste...By writing my thoughts I hope to share it with anyone that visit my blog, hoping that my thoughts would in some way bring knowledge and perhaps happiness to those that read it.... Much as I love to write, it is my hope that those who read it enjoy it as well...Or at least get some information about the life of a person in his golden age... Friends....We all are just passing through this life and all along our journey of life, we would accumulated information that in some way enrich our life...In my case I had a great journey so far and throughout the journey, which had been an adventure of a sorts, I had gain more knowledge and with the knowledge it has enrich my life, the life of my love one and those of my friends, here in Malaysia and those that live in other countries around the globe....Thanks to the internet and blogger...The sharing had been made possible through this blog... Once a friend say that we all should have a colorful life...I agreed.. For what is life if it is just in black and white... So as I proceed along I had enjoyed living by trying to color the episode of my life... First it was those days what you are just a child... Careless of the world around you and enjoy doing things that you would remember the rest of you life, then came the period of schooling.... You wish you do not have to go to school but then had it not been for your parents....You would not be what you are today.....Schooling give you valuable knowledge and there your makes many friends and when you end your schooling, you leave with a pack of knowledge, that became the basic for the future accumulation of further knowledge, which are very important indeed for us to continue on with life....When we are young we seldom get the message that our parents try to give...Like any child....We thence to take it easy but then parents are parents...They always want the best for their child, but at that time children would never understand that, only later on in life would they realized and thanks their parents for pushing them into the beginning of their journey in life.....And then came Youth, to me it is the most challenging and interesting time in my journey, an adventure that I wish that I would do it all over again if given the chance....It is the real life challenge among your peers and thing that you do together in search of adventure...What a life youth is and mine had been real colorful.... To the young, my advise is not to waste this period of your life, you go through it once and if makes a mess of it, then your future would be not that good, but if you use it wisely then your future would be as productive as ever......It is a period where we are full of energy and not afraid to do anything or face challenges, it is a period that you will to take the risk and venture on, for noting venture nothing gain, you might not be successful in some of you venture but then life if not all success,it includes failure as well...Look at all those failure as a hiccup in life, like falling down, if you do not fall, how do you know how to get up... I use to tell the young in leadership training programs, that falling is so that you know how to get up....So learn from the experiences and take is as an asset rather then liabilities..... To me when I was in my youth, I had this sorts of a motto ' nothing if impossible to a willing mind ' and with that I have lead a very adventurous life and enjoy every minute of it.... I am not saying that all the time I had been successful, I had my share of disappointment and failure but it has never been my nature to fret or lament over those failure.....Frustrated yes.....But then we are human right!!....We have emotion and we have the right to be emotional at some hiccup in your journey of life....Life is like that...It could not be smooth all the way, it is the small detour and setback and the up and down that makes one life colorful....As you progress along you learn and with additional knowledge you proceed on and get to your goal, with satisfaction..... It is during the period of youth that you get to know someone, that eventually be your life partner, a person that would share the up and down of your life as you proceed.... In a way you get married and have children and that my friend is another interesting part of life.....I shall talk about this later on as we go on......In the meantime if you happen to be in your youth....Makes hay while the sun shine and believe me you would never regret if you use your time in productive venture......Have a nice day...

A colorful scene at the Kuala Lumpur Lake garden....

Garden in the city...We live in a sort of a link house in a housing garden call Ampang Jaya...Not that far away from the city centre...Actually it is just a three minute drive from the KLCC by the elevated highway..Before this new road was built, it would take sometime up to forty five minutes to get from our house to the center of the city...We had to take the Jalan[road]Ampang and if you use the road in the morning or after office hours, then it would takes hours to get from the city center to Ampang Jaya...Now with the new elevated highway it is just simple, you pay a toll of about fifty cents[US] one way...And you could drive straight to parking lot under the KLCC [The Patronas Twin Tower]... Since the elevated highway was open a few years ago, getting to an fro the city has never been that easy...It has been smooth all the way...Well that is progress, with proper planning and enough fun anything is possible in this country...This morning I start to redo our small garden, a sorts of re landscaping the small area in front of our house....I had the plan in my mind, so this morning it was just easy...Start with what I had planned...Clean all the small pots that I had water plant in it, rearranged the whole area and after about three hours of sweating... Voila I had a new look of my small garden...Living in the city one had to be smart in using whatever space we have, so as to get the maximum benefit from it, thus improving the quality of our living space... I tried to do this from time to time, so that the scene of my small garden is not that monotonous...Well life is like that...things had to be change from to time to time, so as to give us a better view of things....That is the way to live and enjoy life...Things should never remain the same...A little changes here and there makes lots of difference, with ingenuity and some sweating the outcome could be wonderful....Have a nice day...

Well we are at the end of September and the weather is getting a bit cooler, with rain from time to time...But then in the tropic it is always like that...It cool for a time but it is humid as usual...Humidity is good to a certain extend, it keep your skin moist, that is why Asian skin do not wrinkle fast...People look younger then their age if one compare to those of the same age that live in the temperate. Being in the tropic one do not have to bother to have heavy clothing to keep them warm, for the temperature is all the time constant ranging from twenty six Celsius in the early morning to thirty five degree Celsius in the mid day....It is hot and humid but then if you had live all your life in this condition, it is just second nature to live and enjoy the atmosphere...The vegetation are always green, in all the shade of green, and flowers blooms all the year around, so the tropics in a word is all the time colorful and have that gay atmosphere....Soon the northeast monsoon rain and wind would start to blow from the northeast and some places on the east coast would be flooded, an end of the year affair with the rain and wind, it has been like this all the time and where I grew up in the coastal area of the east coast, when it rain and flood...It became a sort of a festival for us kid...We would play in the rain and enjoy the rain like there are no tomorrow..It is always fun to bath in the rain and at time play in the poodle of water makes my the monsoon rain...For at that time there are no such thing as a swimming pool, our pool are the river and the pond that came about by the heavy rain during the monsoon....Life is like that in those day and since there was no pollution, the rain water is always fresh....But now it is not the same anymore, because of development, rain would bring flood and would disturb the life of the local population, unlike before where the rain bring a festive mood to the population... While writing this I am thinking of my friend that live in the California desert, what has happen to her, has she got a new home that she was looking in Arizona and had start to settle down or what...Anyway no news is good news...I wish her well and hope that she found a new home and continue to enjoy life in her golden age... Have a nice day....

Last Friday I went to the Great Eastern Mall to get some fruits for our dinner and while there I visit an exhibition by our local artist...'Arts Fest 2004' "Melting Pot of Cultures" that started on September twenty forth and would end on October the tenth... There were many paintings on display at the exhibition.. A good collection in various categories, all for sale, from the very expensive to the price that are affordable by ordinary Malaysian...I love works of arts and with an opportunity like this,I usually would linger on to look at all the paintings on exhibit...I had always wanted to meet the painter in person, but it seldom happen but on this occasion after enquiring, I met one of the painter, a charming young Malay lady, whose works are on display.. She introduce herself as Zila and soon we got into talking about the arts....A fascinating lady indeed, very bright and broad minded... She had travel and had taken her paintings for exhibition to a number of European countries and in the process had learn much to improve her world of the arts....According to her, the traveling had expose her to many new ideas, thus making her world of culture more interesting and educational...In that her painting of the typical Malaysian scene of her parent's days are much appreciated by those in the countries she visited...I saw a few of her painting on display and it is indeed unique...It is one of a kind and I believe if she continue with her kind of painting and stick to the uniqueness of her present painting, she would eventually be one of a kind...A special in her own right...In a category of her own... With the Malaysian life style progressing toward a more affluence society, good paintings of the local scene would eventually be in demand....Malaysian now has started to make their house into a home with a special touch, where more and more Malaysian get to do interior decorations, which at one time was only found in the home of the rich....With the Malaysian middle class growing and the per capital income increasing, Malaysian now could afford to upgrade their dwelling into a beautiful home to their liking...A good painting hung on a wall would surely enhance the home atmosphere, thus making it a very exclusive place to be in a home...I told Zila of my travel and the love for fine things including my appreciation of good painting and hope that she would continue to paint, because a good painting, like any other works of arts in a home always brighten up the home, thus bring happiness and joy to the family, as well as to the guests that visit such home... Her exhibit in the images below:[Some paintings by Zuzila Zain]