A beautiful day @ Pantai Putri...

Greeting is very important to me. "Good Morning". That is how I start the morning since school days. Starting with a Good Morning greeting to our teachers and later on in life I always say Good Morning to whomever I first met in the morning. So to all the good folks everywhere; Good Morning to all. May you all have a great day. Today it is not only a good day but a beautiful day as well. Indeed a gorgeous day.

I woke up to a beautiful Saturday morning in Malacca. We had been at our second home at the Bidara Putri Beach Resort for the weekend. It has been a hot and humid day all throughout the week and that morning it has been cool. Seeing the ray of sun creeping through the window's blind I walk and open the door toward the corridor which is on the east side of the apartment and I saw the glow of the morning sun behind the small hill at the back of the condominium complex. It was a majestic sight. I took my camera and wait for it to make its appearance. As usual when we wait it takes its time to come out, the seconds and minutes seem to be rather long. I have not taken any image of the morning sun as it rises in Malacca since it is the evening sun that we normally notice at the balcony. Every time we spend the days here we would watch the sunset and making it disappearing act at the horizon on the glittering sea off the straits of Malacca. It just glows and slowly disappears beyond the horizon, at time in the multitude of color of amber, gold and at time just yellow and silver. The scenes have always not been the same and a wonderful sight to watch and wonder as evening fell to darkness.

That morning it was different. It was the sunrise that I was watching at the back of the apartment since the front of our condo face west, thus the entrance is on the east side where there are corridor that leads to all the apartments. Our apartment is on the second floor so I have just to wait to see the sun creep through the hills and bushes to made its daily appearance. Indeed it began to show its glory when it slowly rises up. It was just 7.52AM and by 8AM it brightens up with a yellow ball of fire. Indeed such a magnificent sight to watch. I aimed my camera and took as much shots as possible before it became too hot to watch. And voila! I got some fine shots and the one above show a flock of birds flying toward the northwest direction. I did not notice the birds when I took the picture but when I saw the images on the live view of the Nikon D60 I was rather amazed to see such a wonderful picture of the morning sun with those birds. It is not always that one gets the chance to get such a great image. It is just like a perfect postcard picture. What a day!

The next morning while talking to friends at the corridor of the apartment a pair of white dove flew in and perched on the railing nearby. It was really nice to see such a pure white pair of the bird. In love perhaps! enjoying the day. It was so close nearby so I thought that I should take the opportunity to immortalize the event. I went in to take my camera and by that time it has flown just a bit further but still together. I took a few snaps and sharing it here for all to enjoy. This is the first time that I saw a pair of such white dove here. There are now many doves making it nest at the corridor of the apartment and most are of the normal color of gray and dark blue but these white dove are seldom seen. They say that doves bring good luck, love and happiness to the place of its habitat or frequent. The sign of peace is always the white dove, so it was with good feeling that we get these pair of white dove here at our condominium in Malacca. Indeed a good sign for our dwelling. Now that we have the doves perching around and the sound of the sea out front, it does made the place more enchanting then before. A great place to hang out from time to time and of course enjoying life as well. Have a nice day.

The moon...

The moon. Yes we all love the moon. I have always felt good when I see the moon. It has been like that all throughout my life. I enjoy a moonlit night especially when it is full moon. It is made more enchanting when you see it at the beach at night with its glittering reflection in the seawater below. From the time I could remember whenever we went camping at the Teluk Cempedak beach in Kuantan we would sleep on the bare beach of golden sand with the moonlight as our only light of the evening. We would enjoy singing the camping songs around a campfire while enjoying roasted fish and other seafood that we had caught during the day. And then we would just go to sleep in the open as the moon makes its disappearing act into the clouds. To me there is always that mystic about the moon. Many poetry and love story have been written about the effect of the moon on us. Personally to me happiness has always been associated with the moon. The feeling has always been that of goodness and love.

At the end of last month there was the solar eclipse and just a few days ago was the eclipse of the moon. On that particular day it was full moon and reminded by my spouse I decided to have a look. I climb to the flat room of my house and stare at the sky. Sure enough there was a bright moon, a full moon. I then took some snaps as the moon appear and disappear as the cloud move. It was just after 9PM in the evening and according to the news the eclipse would happen sometime between now and mid night. So I just wait but as the night goes the cloud became thicker making the sighting of the moon almost impossible. I thought that it would not be possible to take any snap of that eclipse. With that thought I end that evening with more shots of the moon. Above are some snaps of the moon on that beautiful evening in Ampang Jaya. Have a nice day.[mc]

The Gift of Rain - the book...

I have just finished reading this book 'The Gift of Rain' by Tan Twan Eng. Once a while a great book about Malaya came along and this one is superb in that it relived my memories of that dark period of the country history, the Japanese Occupation of Malaya from 1941 to 1945. The story revolved around a family in Penang at that period of time. Reading through this novel brings back memories of my past during that period. Although I was just a child at that time I seem to remember many events that happen during that period of my life. As I read the story unfolded by the creative writing of the author I began to remember of the similarity of the incidents that I saw around me or hears from the elders at that time. 1941 to 1945 was considered as the darkest period of our history when atrocities of war was at its worst. This book although set in Penang depict the same happening in the other parts of the country. In Kuantan, my hometown the happening was just like as described by the author. I believe the author has done a thorough research before embarking of this novel of historical importance to the country. While the novel is a works of fiction, the episodes depict in the novel to me are facts and remain to be a true happening all over the country during the occupation.

I was then just five years old and yet I could remember the war crystal clear. It must be the trauma that made me to remember, the dog fight between the Japanese and the British planes, the charred remain of the of tanks scattered on the plain near Jalan Gambut, the rack of a Japanese plane with a skeleton of the pilot still in the cockpit near the present Kuantan Airport, the many Japanese flags, the White with the Red circle in the middle flattering all over the town, the many arches of Japanese architecture stand everywhere. And of course the phrase 'potong kepala' decapitated, is a part that no one who live during the period could ever forget.

This book not only tell about the horror of war but more importantly it tell about the humanity of us all, our values, our traditions, our love for one another, our responsibility and duty to our country, the true meaning of patriotism, the need to understand ourselves and of how to deal with the time of crisis and of our belief and the spirituality of us all.

In a way this book not only relived history but taught us many important aspects of living and humanity.

To me this is a good book and should be read by all Malaysian especially so the present generation who now live in a peaceful and prosperous country; of how difficult the country was, when there was suffering and the many lost of lives during that dark period of our history.

I laud the author for a job well done. Indeed such a fine work of literature. Thank you.

Have a nice day.

New kid on the blog...

Well folks to me blogging has open a new dimension to friendship. It has in a way made living more colorful. It is a new tool that we never had before, thus it gave us the mean to do creative writing and in doing so share our thoughts with the world. In the process we learn from each other. As I had often said strangers are friends that we have yet to meet, thank to blogging so many strangers have now became my friends not only in cybersphere but in the real world as well. The new media of which blogging is one of the mean of getting message to the world has indeed change the way we disseminate information and ideas. Before blogging there was no way we could easily share our thoughts except perhaps writing a book or writing to the Newspaper.

In blogging we became the producer, the editor and the writer of the thoughts that we want to disseminate and it could be done in a very easy fashion. Just think and write, post it onto your blog and it is done. To me the mere posting of an article already give me great satisfaction. When someone post a comment or when one take a step further by sending an email, it takes us to a new dimension in communication. It became personal and eventually we became friend; first in cybersphere and then when we meet in the physical world it just complete that bond in friendship. As a species to enjoy living we need friends and blogging is one way of making more friends. Blogger is in fact a new species that live in both world, cybersphere and the physical world. Indeed a new evolving species on planet earth.

I have always tried to encourage folks to blog. When I am invited to speak on TV or interviewed by the Main Stream Newspaper I often advice folks to blog, for in blogging you get to activate your thinking cap and then share your thoughts with others. In a way it add value to our life, thus improved our quality of life. I often say that let make it contagious and spread it like wild fire, for information and ideas would always help others to improve their quality of life as well.

In blogging I often suggest that we made love as our philosophy. The world needs love so in blogging we are in a way contributing in making this world of ours a better place to live and enjoy life. Many took to my advice and start blogging and from time to time we get new blogger in blogsphere. And today we have yet another new blogger. This time from a Malaysia-born Singaporean who now live on the other side of the globe, California, the Sunshine State. Building Bridges is her blog. Have a nice day.

Of Tea and Scone, Seattle and Kuala Lumpur...

Yes folk yesterday on a beautiful Sunday afternoon three of us golden age blogger met at my home in Ampang Jaya for tea. I had organized a tea to meet a fellow blogger from the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia who is in town for a visit. I had only known Zaharan in cybersphere and is still a stranger in real life. So today's meet is to get to know him in the real world. When I contact him he suggested that I invite a few other blogger that he had only known in cybersphere and has yet to meet in the real world. So for that I invited a few which include Pokku. When we met just after four on that lovely Sunday afternoon only Zaharan and Pokku arrived for that tea. So as usual with blogger three of us do made a crowd indeed and soon the chat start to generate energy that only blogger like us could.

Over scone and tea we sat to chat like old friends. And then I decide to get my friend Louis from Seattle to join in the tea through a virtual visit. Using Skype we got hooked on a live chat. His presence on the laptop was so real for I had already met Louis in real person when I visited him in July last year in Seattle. So there he is on my laptop live from Seattle at 1.30AM, the beginning of his day in the early hours of February 8, 2008 while we in Kuala lumpur was at past 5.30PM. It was good of him to wait so late after midnight for our meet in the virtual world. While we were enjoying our tea with the goodies that my spouse had prepared, we could only talk with Louis and see him in action in his Seattle home at the wee hour of the night but could not offer him those goodies that we was enjoying in my home in Ampang Jaya. Maybe in the future when we could transmit atom like we do with bits now, perhaps he too could enjoy that scone and the other goodies as well. For now it has to be just a chat and seeing him in virtual reality and us here enjoying those delicious goodies on the table.



Each of us took turn to talk with Louis and it was really nice to be able to talk so cordial on various subjects that come to our minds. At that moment in time we cross the time and space barriers to just chat over tea in Kuala Lumpur. Seattle and Kuala Lumpur soon converged into one time zone of the Internet time. At that moment in time distance ceased to exist. Folks it was the wonder of the Internet and Blogging that made it possible to realized that meeting in cyberspace. Indeed it was the technology that made our day.

Have a nice day.

Busking @ Bintang Walk...

The Bintang Walk in Kuala Lumpur is a great place to be and one would be fascinated with the happening there all day long. It is a great place to be not only to the first timer but the frequent visitors as well. A place where the happening is multicultural and the activities are so wide in range that it create sort of a cultural fussion. It is a place for all, the young and the old. A place where the old buildings and the new one blended well, giving one a glimpse of the history of the city and its progress over times. In a way it is a place that changes all the time. It is a place where you could get accommodations from the cheapest Budget hotel to the Five star hotel of international standard. Indeed it is a place that accommodates everyone especially so to tourists who want to have a taste of what the Malaysian culture is all about. A truly Asian culture as the tourist advertisement says. It is not only a place to shops till you drop but also a place where you could get foods all the time, twenty four hours a day without difficulty and relatively at a fair price too. You may sit at the side cafe or hawkers stall to have coffee or beer or whatever and enjoy the day passes by or you just walk to the posh modern shopping complex there and pampered yourselves with the foods at the food courts or shop on luxury items of international brands that are reasonablely priced. There are also great cafes that you could indulge yourselves with western food and snack over coffee with friends. In a way it is a place for everyone to have a joyous time.

Even as a local who have live in the city for almost forty years I am awe as to the rapid development of that part of the city. It is a place that changes day by day and as vibrant as any other cities in the world. It is a walking distance to the famous Petronas Twin Towers and most tourists would just take a slow walk to and fro, with a stop for drink or food along the way. Like any other cities it is transformed into a glittering nightspot when night comes where one could parties the night away and enjoy the hospitality of the local. Indeed it is a place that one should not miss when on a visit to KL.

In it vicinity you would be mingling with thousand of tourists and the local. People of all nationalities are there mingling with one another. At a glance you could notice Arab, Japanese, Chinese, the European and American and Asian of many nationalities as well as folks from the African continent enjoying themselves in having a fun holiday in this part of the city. It is indeed a place like no other where you see smiling faces enjoying themselves care less of the happening on the other part of the world. They are having a great time and Bintang Walk and its vicinity is the place they have chosen to be and as a local I too felt as a tourist when I am there. It is well connected to the other part of the city by the monorail, a wonderful experience to be on where you could see the whole of the city from above as the elevated monorail move on to its destination.

From time to time I would play tourist and walk the length of the Bintang Walk just to watch the happening and on one such day I got the opportunity to watch a great show by a Street Performer. It was indeed great to get to watch this man in action dressed in silver, performing for the public at one of the square. While he was resting I took the opportunity to take a picture with him and above are some of the exciting moments of his solo performance to the delight of the folks passing by. I donated some buck and thank him for been such a sport. It does made my day.

Have a nice day.

The Perak crisis...

Yes I am rather sad about the happening in the state of Perak. I hope those folks with wisdom think hard, for the future of the state is in the hand of the Rakyaat and not the politician. Many have done analysis on this issue and for their takes please visit these sites.Tengku Razaleigh , The Dandelions , Din Merican and Disquiet. And the latest is here Screenshots and here .

Have a nice day.

Another colorful day...

It has been a hot and humid day. The sky has turned blue with thick clouds, white as snow all over. A picturesque sight indeed. In a way I am always fascinated with clouds. During my scouting days I learn to watch clouds and know the name of each one and now as I watch its formation I know what type of clouds it is. Today it is the Cumulonimbus. Actually on that sunny day I wanted to watch the eclipse of the sun but could not get a glimpse of it because of the clouds. Traditionally to see the eclipse of the sun we often placed a basin of water and see its reflection in the clear water. It is not advisable to watch the solar eclipse direct, for it could damaged the eyes. At that time the sun was covered by thick clouds and it was not possible to see the eclipse. Not been able to see that solar eclipse instead I went out to take a snap of the clouds. In my childhood while lying on the grass lawn looking up to heaven I would sometime wonder and my imagination would run wild turning the shapes of the clouds into imaginary figures, whistling the time away. Above is the image of the cloud on that day.

Not been able to do much outdoor I took the time to do some touch up/varnishing of old wooden furniture which I had planned to do but been procrastinating all the while. So today I did just that; plus upgrading my patio to a new look for the year 2009. Actually I am always into something and never a day that I would not be into touching and rearranging these or that item, so that it continue to be 'alive' and pleasing to the eyes. Image on the left is my new look of the patio where my Kopitiam table is. A place to sit and enjoy coffee with friends or family members or just to blog my day as I am doing now.

Monotony is not in my culture, and to get out of it I am always into something like what I am doing today, or writing, gardening, driving, photographing or whatever that would make living so wonderfully colorful, my ways. In a word it is my culture of living in the golden age, a traveler on a journey of sort. Folks, meeting strangers is one interesting aspect of my life that always bring new ideas and understanding of the true meaning of living on this beautiful world of ours. And blogging in some ways do just that. Through blogging many strangers near and afar soon became friends. This weekend I would be meeting a stranger for tea at my home. Indeed friendship do enriched my life and the lives of my loved one. With that life continue to be beautiful. Colorful all the ways. Have a nice day.