The day they gave us Seattle in color...

Of Louis and Elena...

Many things happen in our life when we less expected it. It is the same with our friendship with Louis. It all started when he posted comment in my blog and eventually I suggest to him why not we communicate more via the email. And with that the friendship develops with both of us exchanging personal information that soon brought us closer together. I told my spouse about this person that at the beginning was not a blogger as yet. I always refer to him as just a cyberpal, like in pen pal that we all use to have in the pre Internet era. And then he began to blog. With that it takes him into a new dimension, a citizen of Blogsphere.

So thing just develop from one phase to another and I felt that we are no longer stranger although we have yet to meet. Cybersphere actually bring people together and we often felt very close to each other. And when we met in his home city last week, it was sort of just putting the final touch. Instead of just seeing each other in cyberspace we got to meet the man himself in person and shake his hand as well as Elena's, his charming other half. What a way to go from cyberspace to the real world. That day we sat for dinner at that cozy waterfront restaurant enjoying that fresh fish, we felt just like some old friends that got the opportunity to meet again after a lapse of some times. No, it was our first meeting and the aura of friendships just burst with love all over. It is that human in us that brought us together in an atmosphere of friendship. For us as tourist it was indeed great to have friends in a foreign land. His Mrs. and he took their precious time off to take us out on a sightseeing tour of the city and with running commentary all along. With that we got to enjoy the trip that no normal tourist would get. It is this wonderful friendship that made our trip so wonderfully colorful.

Sitting for dinner and talk about things of interest, it was just like been in a dream story but this one is for real. And when we were in their beautiful home of which I am familiar from the images that he had send me, we sat and chats and yarn on things of interest especially of their many trips to Malaysia. And as grandparents we do exchanges the many wonderful episode that folks like us encounter with our grandchildren, of which I consider as the new species in our midst. Every stories told about the grand’s became a joke of sort and we all do enjoy telling it. That my friends are the beauty of grand parenting. They have made many visits to Malaysia since the eighties and from their many stories, they did enjoy their trips. I am indeed happy that they enjoyed their many trips in Malaysia for we do have many in common, which I believe help them to enjoy the hospitality of beautiful Malaysia, my home. We really enjoy that wonderful day with this couple.

Of Rita and David...

As for Rita Ho, it is the same thing. It is also a story from cybersphere to the real world but the difference is that Rita Ho and her other half David already got blogs when we start to get to know each other. I made a few comments from time to time and she did the same. And on certain subject we just communicate by email. As we go along we seem to have the same like and dislike. The chemistry just works perfect. She is in a way the generation of our children although she was born a little bit earlier then our eldest daughter who is now forty five. From reading her blog I found that she is more Malaysian in her heart then some Malaysian that I know. She is so concern of the plight of ordinary folks and that what's made her so different from the rest. David blog is a narrative of what happen in real life as he sees it, especially so of his wonderful journey into the unknown territories which includes his Malaysian adventures. Somehow in my heart I know that that this wonderful young loving couple do made great friends. Their images in cybersphere show that aura of friendship and when you do meet the real person, that love for life shows, thus the friendship just bloomed.

The first time we met was when they invited us for dinner on the third day of our visit. In person she is simply gorgeous, a person full of love and enjoy fine living. I tried to photograph her the best I could and I believe I got her true self as seen in the image above. We just sat and enjoyed that sumptuous dinner and chat all along as thought we are old friends, perhaps true in cybersphere but that evening is the first time we ever met. With that it just cemented that friendship between our families. It was indeed great meeting them. Asmah, Lin and me did enjoy every minutes of that dinning.

Blogger families brunch...

Just before we depart for Boston, we invite both couple for a sort of a brunch of Indonesian food at Julia's. Our daughter had got the restaurant in the Internet. We ordered food like Malaysian do with the exception of Louis who ordered Nasi Goreng which he had felt in love with during his many visits to Malaysia. For a starter we had that wonderful Indonesian drink of Avocado and hot tea. The Avocado with chocolate was simply delicious and out of this world. It is the Indonesian way of turning fruits into drinks that you would want to come back for more. This is the first meeting of this Seattle Blogger and with that the blogger in us took over and the chat seems to find no end in sight. Well, it was indeed a wonderful get together of blogger and their friends. My spouse Asmah did really enjoy the company and as for our daughter Lin, it is I believe her first encounter with this new species call Blogger.

At this period of our journey of life, episodes like this continue to make our lives so colorful. It is folks like these that give so much in friendship that made living so wonderful. Travels open up our mind and I believe that is why we all seem to enjoy each other company. It is I believe friendship at its best. The appreciation of each other culture and accepting that after all we are of the same species that enjoy living on this blue planet of ours.

Folks many thanks for making our lives so colorful and interesting. Have a nice day.

Note: Rita's latest posting is here