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....