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...