It is the end of June two zero zero four and we are on the second half of this year.... Life have been good and many things has happen and the country development has been going well....Since I start blogging I have always try write something everyday and now, at this very moment... Trying to think of what to write for today.... If you do no start then you would never think of what to write, so like any other days I just get going and soon thoughts would just flows with ideas and I just continue writing and hope that it would turn out beautiful.... I just went out to fill the car tank with petrol and after that went to the local Mall to do window shopping and eventually I landed at the used product shop that sell almost everything that are secondhand or used.... It is an interesting place to be to look around for things that others have no use for it any more and sometime you would find things that you have been looking and could not find it a the ordinary shop or it has been out of production.... And normally the price here is cheaper then in other shop, you would then makes a good buy of things that you need that your could not get it at any other places.... When I was living in Boston, I used to frequent the Thrift shop and wonder and browse around and looking at things some of if are from bygone era and at time I would just buy, just for the fun of it all.... At one time I bought a Black and White TV for just five dollars and it works perfectly, except it is just in black and white... I love the concept of this thrift shop that are many in the cities and town of the United States...It actually fill a niche market for those that just want something for a short use or for those that could not afford to buy the new one... In a way it give the general population a way to get rids of their things that they no longer need and convert it into cash and at the same time it gives others a chance to get things for a much cheaper price... In another words it is a win win situation for both the seller and the buyer... This concept has arrived in Malaysia and one of it is call the 'Cash Converter'.... I visit this shop today and browse along...If you are looking for used vcds or cds, there are plenty in this shop and it is cheap compare to the original...I have bought a numbers of cds of my favorite singers and it is still in good condition, copies that I put in my car for use during driving and with that enjoying the song and music, that are evergreen..... Well my friends that is life....Sometime things that you no longer need would be useful to others, so instead of throwing it away or just put it in storage, why not change it for cash at these shops, you get the little cash and others would have the benefit of getting something they want... In a way it makes everyone happy.... Life is like that my friends... So do something that makes others happy and in doing so I am sure you would be happy as well.... Have a nice day.......

This morning a friend's son passed away while in training as a soldier.... On receiving the news I straight away went to his house which is not that far away.... It was another of the unexpected that happen in real live, and this a fact that we all have to reckoned with in life... A person that lost a loved one need friends and since I had gone through such a traumatic experiences some seven years ago, I know for sure how these parents felt at this moment of their lost.....It is something that we never expected to happen but deep in our heart we all knew that death can come any time and to anyone, at any moment whether one is young or old, the fact that we just do not know when it would come and in the case of my friend's son, who is just twenty five years old, just graduated from the University and with an ambition to be a soldier, he join army and just about two week ago he got married and hardly he had time to spend his honeymoon, he was call for training again and at this training session he just do not seem to be able to take the stressed that goes with this kind of army training and succumb to it and passed away this very morning....For his time is up... When I got the news my memory flash back to the day that our second daughter was call to the Lord and I just knew how my friend felt when He received the news last night of his son accident in training and the eventuality of death.... Well that is life and we all have to take it and as I had always tell my friends that the dead are gone and that we the living had a life to go on and we should a least learn and know how to treasure life and share it with others as much of it as possible for we can never know when our time is up... So as soon as I met my dear friend I hug him and console him for what else could anyone do except be his friend in this time of needs... Like in any such incident in our culture especially in a death, everyone in the neighborhood would come over to the house to convey their condolences.... It was a sad day for everyone especially for this family but then it has happened and that is life and life must goes on... To me the best we all the living could do are to give as much to the community that one could and do all the good and never ever think of evil and by doing that we could contribute to the well being of our community as well to ourselves... For that is the way community live and since we makes up of the community we should contribute toward the well being of the committee especially in time of need like today..... Well friends not many want to talk about death... But let take a Pause here and Think for a minutes or so... Do we not realized as we think thousand and thousand of human die every where on this earth and at the same time thousand and thousand of other living being like the animals,the creature, the insects and the like.. Died, with us care less about it and the same goes with the numbers of plants that died also as I said or write this words.... Actually dying like being born goes on and on and there is no stopping for that is how the whole circle of life goes on this planets... When the animals or insets dies we seldom or just do not take any notice, it just dies away and then decomposed and that is the end... So my dear friends that is life and when our species die only then did we give some notice, even that if it has to do with our community or our family, if not we would just take it as in passing... For that is the way it is with us human... Only when we lost our loved one then we realized the lost and the Lost is for real and only then we began to understand what loosing a loved one really meant... Now in the war in the Middle East everyday we hear of death, as I had said time and again the one that die is Someone Loved One, even if the person is a terrorists he or she is still someone loved one, so the next time when death occur do give some respect to the dead whether he or she is a friend or a foe, for the dead is someone love one... Say a prayer and I believe we would be rewarded with more piece of mind in the days to come... For life is a treasure and once lost could not just be replaced... But that is the life of the living.... And death is part of our culture, for whatever happen life goes on.... And on....And on... So when someone die let give forgiveness and bless their soul... For we are just human being and being human is the best things that we could do to our species..... Pray that all those parted soul are granted a place in Heaven.....

This is the fruits season in this part of the world and from the smallest fruit the Duku to the biggest, the King of the fruits Durian are aplenty all over the country... Tropical fruits thence to come in one short season, at about this time of the year but at time it staggered for a longer period, thus you might get to taste these seasonal fruit at other months in a year... Anyway there are other tropical fruits that are found all throughout the years, like the papaya, banana, pineapple and because it is always there sometime people just takes it for granted, that are there all the time... The coconut is a fruits but then Malaysian mostly use it for it milk and at time for its juice that are found in the young coconut, which taste great together with the white milky flesh... Now fresh young coconut are found all throughout the years in supermarkets and it is a delicacies by itself... As for the old coconut it is mostly use for it milk that are got from the shredded coconut flesh... But now with the advance in research and the technology, coconut milk now come is packet ready to use or it is pack in powder form ready to use by just adding water and you have an instant coconut milk... Malaysian curry use coconut milk, so are most traditional cakes... So coconut is always used in tradition cuisine of the Malays... Traditional cooking would not taste the same without the use of fresh coconut milk..... As for fruits the one that draws the most attention is the Durian and it is eaten just like that or make into cakes for later on consumption for tea time... Unlike the fruits from the temperate climate, tropical fruits do not last long, when ripe it has to be consume fast otherwise it rots and would then just go to waste... That is why eating tropical fruits is good because it is always fresh... The old one or not fresh just rots away and could not be eaten... So visitors to this country should stop at the stalls that sell these tropical fruits and eat and enjoy it on the spot... Durian especially because of its smell are not allowed into the hotels or place with air condition, so if you want to taste this great and tasty fruits do it where you buy it, get the seller to open the fruits in front of you and just eat it there and enjoy the aroma and the taste that come only from Durian...For no other tropical fruits had this kind of smell... You might be repelled by the strong smell the first time but eventually you would love the aroma and of course the taste of the King of the Fruits.. Now fruits such as the Duku, Dukong, Mangosteen, Rambutan and Pulasan are in season also, so do try it if you happen to be here at this season... And of course do not miss the Durian.... , Have a nice day......

We are back to Sunday and life goes on as usual or is it really as usual, I doubt it... It cannot be the same, for today is another day, a different day and yesterday has gone forever, except for that whatever we have stored in our memory bank.... It is just like that and at time we may recollect what has happen and at time the recall would not give us a clear answer... Even if we write down like what I am doing in my Blog, in diary or books... It is still not the same for it would not be possible for us to remember everything of the past...That is why we have to be very careful about history... For history might not be the Truth, for History is the product of the Victor.... Only those that won write history and the looser lost everything.... Even on our days of instant communication, the same happening is not reported the same in the various media... Like a News agency say a person that has just been killed as traitor and another news agency proclaimed it as a hero and a martyr.....During the colonial era the person that killed the British Adviser in the northern state of Perak of the then Malaya, a Mr.Birch is call a traitor and was caught and hanged, but after independence this same person is call a Hero and honored... It is a fact that history do not really tell the truth but knowing the history and understand it is important if we want to proceed to the future, for History has a way of repeating itself... So if we study history may be we could learn more about the past, not necessary the truth, so that we could used it to better our future.... Like war does not solved problem but instead it created more problem... Like what is happening now in the Middle East.... Surely there are other ways of introducing democracy to the middle east other the forcing a regime changes.... Remember Asia, one of the oldest civilization on this planet was not forced toward democracy but it reformed itself and today most of the Asian nations are a democracy in one form or others and the remaining countries are at a stage of reforms and would lead to the only better system that we have now... A market economy and a democratic political system.... Remember democracy is not just having election and setting a government, it is more then that... It is a culture by itself... So for democracy to be successful and continue to progress, the people must understand that democracy would bring then a better quality life then before.... That is why when we got our independence in nineteen fifty seven, our first Prime Minister promised the people that the government would try to give the people "foods instead of rations, clothing instead of uniforms and housing instead of barrack"..... And remember too that politic is part of democracy and politic is the art of the possible.... So as we all know too well that there are good and bad in politic.... So for politic to be a viable and useful tools for democracy to thrived, it has to be handle with utmost care and wisdom.... For if not it would fail miserably as it did in some countries... In the Malaysian case, recognizing that for democracy to work well and bring benefit to its people... the reality of the Malaysian society must be take into account.... The fact that Malaysia is a multi racial, multi religion and multi language country... makes it more difficult to govern than a country with a single race, a single religion and a single language... But Malaya now Malaysia on achieving its independence, inherit a country of people of different races, culture, language and religion and it soon could became a liabilities... So that is why our founding father was smart in that they set out a course for the future of the country... That the country should be shared by all and that there should be a social contract among the races... And that should be acknowledge by all at all time... So now Malaysia is forty seven years after independence and is looking good, for the promise of the founding father to provide housing, foods and clothing, the basic needs of the people have been achieve beyond the founder's dream and today with good leadership and good governance this country of twenty five million people is a prosperous country, where the standard of living is high and the life style and the quality of life is as good as it can get, for a country that is just forty seventy years old... In certain case the quality of life and cost of living is better then some countries in the west... It is now already a first would country... Just like any country in the world.... So I think those country in the Middle east should take a look at what has happen in Malaysia, for I believe it is a good model to emulate for the future of its citizen.... For a country to accept democracy and live with it principle, its at first has to understand what democracy is all about and this cannot be done over night.... It takes time...Even Malaysia that had practice democracy from day one of it independence had to make adjustment from time to time in order to meet the values and norms of a civil society in a democratic country.... And by doing it the society has began to be more responsive to democracy, thus making it works better for the common goods...... So why not learn from the experience of Malaysia... So that democracy would develop well in Middle east.....For in Malaysia democracy has brought about a quality of life that are just a dream just half a century ago....And in the spirit of Malaysia... For Malaysian it is always Malaysia Boleh!! Malaysia can do it and succeed...... Some thoughts to ponder on this good Sunday.....

This is an orchid that we plant and care with patience and love ....It eventually bloom for us to ponder and enjoy.....

Well it is the end of the week again and I guess that you all know that we all had a wonderful weekend last week...On the Tampin Run organized by the Volvo Classic Club of Malaysia... It was the first time that I had driven this thirty eight years old classic that far and would like to share my experiences on cars for all to know the beauty and the pleasure of driving.... First remember we are going back in time to the year nineteen sixty six, that year the car was new and the technology was the best that we could ask for at that time... You take the first drive and it was smooth and everyone in it enjoy the ride, there was no air condition then and no one complain, the windows all open to let in the wind as well as to the ventilate the interior, and also at that time there was no such thing as an automatic transmission gear and power steering... It was just fine without the power steering, everything was fine and you enjoy driving your new car on... It just became second nature to you and no one would ever complain of the heat, so out you go to show off your new car, a luxury at that time... The road were normally narrow, Highway was unthinkable at that time especially in this country, so there was no complain if there are pots holes all over or that the road is just covered with laterite... You enjoy the ride as a proud owner of the Volvo of the Amazon series..The Volvo one two two, the new continental car on the road now, and most probably you are the few that own this Swede car in your town... Well that was the day.... One the first day of owning this beau....You showered and got dress, you wore a red tee shirt, put on a pant and a long stocking and a shining polished brown shoe... You filled your pipe with tobacco, light up the pipe and biting it hard,it cling to the mouth, with one arm on the window you happily drive the Volvo around... You drive slowly to show off and enjoy the envy of your friends and neighbors... It was a fascinating scene out of the old movie..... Well at that time it was for real....You are among the few that own this Volvo classic... Every trip whether near or far you would enjoy driving it for there was no other car to compare with... But now it is different... It is another world, a world of the advance of science and technology.... The Japanese borrow the idea of making cars from the west and with their ingenuity they keep improving the car and its performance and soon the country were flooded with inexpensive new cars, not only it could performs better and economical on the fuel, it look great as well.... So like any commodity on the market, people got the best one to suit their budget and their taste.... They do not care whether the car would last or not, if it run smoothly and it give good mileage then it is good enough and normally Japanese cars do not give any trouble for the first five years... And that is good enough for the consumer and at the end of the fifth years a new model is out to lure the buyer to change their cars and soon everyone are with a new cars and soon you no longer see the older model cars... Where have they gone... Sometime I wonder!!!... Well... Who care!!... For that matter the Japanese do not make cars to last forever... It would last and be useful for a short period only... People soon forget about the older cars and it soon became just like any other consumer goods.....It was different with the west when they produce cars they makes it to last a life time and this is why they lost in the war for the cars market.... The Japanese and now the Korean are smart, their strategies works and they soon capture the world markets.. And so as years goes on you no longer see old or classic Japanese cars.... Like the Volvo classic that I own now.... Now we quantum leap to this century....To the year two zero zero four and the day is today..... A new car the latest Honda Civic, with auto gear transmission, with power steering, with power window, with auto cruiser, with the CD player and the latest FM Radio, with bucket seats so comfortable that you enjoy sitting and driving and then you have the choice of color to your liking, with air condition... You just dress simple or depend on the occasion... You just turn the ignition and the engine start in silence...You move the gear to the R to reversed and the D to drive and out you cruise along the road or the highway...With very little energy use, with a finger you could turn the steering and with a powerful engine you could feel the car push forward with ease and take you along into the wonderful moment of driving in this era.....You have no clutch to push up and down and only one of your foot is being use, for the brake and acceleration... There are no gear to move all the time....So you are free to concentrate your driving and enjoy the scenery.....You listen to the radio, Eighteen selected channels and if you are still bored with the radio, then there is the CD player to play your favorite music... Well what else do you need to transport yourself for a point... In your travel or journey...You drive with pleasure and enjoy every minutes that you are in the cars, traffic jam do not bother you any more and at the toll plaza you just pay it by electronic and in Malaysia we use the Smartag auto payment system... You just drive through the toll gate and it allowed you to pass without stopping... You could chat and enjoy the company of all that are in the car....And because of the air condition and the little energy you use, you get to your destination fresh and full of energy... To do whatever you want to... That is the pleasure of driving today's car.... And I love to drive.... It has been an extension of myself since I bought my first car a Fiat Six hundred in the late fifties... I have drive many made and models all through the years and enjoy seeing the development of cars from that era to today...The era of the Lexus technology in the car world... So when I went back in time to drive the Volvo classic, I know for sure that driving cars has never remain the same.... From the day when we human had to use all our energy to get the car running, like moving the gear all the time, when slowing down and otherwise, like trying to park the car with a hard steering without the assistance of any power other then your own hand power, you have to wind and unwind the window using your own energy, well the achievement in our advance in making driving a pleasure has been tremendous and I guess beyond the wildest dream of those that live in the century gone bye....I had that experiences going through all the developments of cars and to me it is a great achievement, that gave mankind it greatest personal tool of transportation since the invention of the wheel.... Cars to me is an extension of myself that I could not live with pleasure without it... It is indeed a great achievement of mankind, thanks to those great inventors and innovators of our times, making getting to and fro places a pleasure.... How do we live without it!!... I wonder!!... Then we all know that the car is here to stay and with the advance of technology we would be driving a better car as we progress....What a world to live on.....And enjoy.....

.... These are the Durian that was served to us at Tampin.... It is the King of Fruits.... It is call Durian because the skin is thorny, thorn in Malay is 'Duri', thus it is call Durian, it is in season now....


.... This is the fleshy fruit inside the Durian....It is yellow or golden yellow in color... It smell great to us Asian and we all love it... Malaysian would never refuse an offer of this great fruit... Visitors to this country should try this King of the Fruits... Once you get use to the taste and the smell, you would surely want more of it... That is the magic of this tropical fruit Durian... Never leave Malaysia without experiencing this wonderful fruit of the tropic..... You would know when this fruits is in season, it smell!!..... Wonderful!!..... Have a try and I am sure you would enjoy it...... And would eventually love it.... The mystic of the Durian....

[continuing the Tampin Run story ] Well we have at last arrived at our destination... Tampin.... And now with all the cars park in the parking space.... We were invited to lunch by the head of the local Police, here the local police chief is call the OCPD, a title introduced by the British and still in use till today... Actually this lunch is hosted by the local member of the Volvo Club, the local Police chief and a Mr.Wee are among the members.. They have decided to give us this great lunch... We all set down in the air conditioned room and were served with a sumptuous Malaysian meals which includes the fish curry that every Malaysian love to have with their rice, of course there are other dishes to company... Malaysian food spread consist of many side dishes such as soup, mix vegetables, omelet and fresh local salad.... Without much a do, we all enjoy the foods and speaking for myself, I really enjoy the food especially the fish head curry, a specialties that are only served in Mamak restaurant... But today according to our host it is specially prepared by his staff, who are known for their good cooking at the Police depot... Well done to the chef for giving us such a wonderful lunch... We all did enjoy and many thanks for all those that makes this lunch so great and enjoyable... Thanks again my friend of the Tampin group.. After a hearty lunch came the usual speech and then because it happen to be on 'Father's Day' every fathers around were given a gift to commemorate the occasion.... And to add the already happy occasion, it was also our mechanic's birthday, for him a huge birthday cake was present... It was such a wonderful event this Run have been..... And not to end just like that the host had another surprise for us, Durian for dessert... What a surprise!!... And we all really enjoy this king of the fruits, for Malaysian love to eat this fleshy fruit, that happen to be in season now.... The durian that were served were indeed good durian and everyone seem to enjoy eating despite after having a sumptuous lunch just a minute ago.... Remember Malaysia never want to miss eating durian... Even if you are full... Durian would tempt you to go for it.... Durian has a sorts of magic to it that makes you want to eat more of it every time.... No wonder it is call the King of the Fruits... We all chat and continue to enjoy the fruits, fresh from local orchard.. So like any good thing it has got to end and end it did.... We say thanks you to the host and the dispersed before proceeding on... For we did not plan to convoy back as some had other plans to do around this small town of Tampin and other nearby towns.... And as for me, we decided to head for Malacca and spend the night there....... It was indeed an enjoyable trip this Tampin Run..... Like in the movie...It is the end of the episode.... Until the next trip!!......

[continuing the Tampin Run story]....It is getting more interesting....With the local club member taking over leading the convoy toward Tampin....We were all confident that we would get there in time for lunch... We tag along and drove in convoy careless of what road we were taking, driving on just by following and enjoying the drive and the scenery...I just follow along and we drove into unfamiliar small country roads that winds it way through small housing garden and plantations and as we proceed I notice the sight to be somewhat familiar... I told my wife that we must be somewhere near the holiday resort call the Al Famosa which is not that far from the town of Tampin... We did spend a family holiday at this resort sometime ago, so we are rather familiar with the scenery.... Happy that we are near to our destination I drive on with confident.... The convoy being lead by the local Volvo member, surely the drive to our destination would be as smooth and enjoyable... So there is no way we would get lost in this part of the country side.... Suddenly we were ask to stop.. And I look back and found that except for the ten cars that are on our convoy... The rest are not to be seen.... Where have they gone missing I wonder!!... I knew that there is another local club member behind our convoy but He was not to be seen as well... May be they have taken another route... Quite possible, for the local people know their town well and there are many roads that lead to their towns... As we stop to wonder of what has happen to the other half of our convoy, the leader of our convoy was seen outside his car talking on the cell phone, thanks to this wonder tool of communication, the Cell Phone, we now could communicate any where without worry.... Perhaps He was trying to locate where the other half of the convoy have gone...In the mean time as we waited... I went out of the car to take some snap shots of the wild flowers on the roadside, this particular flowers that I had not seen for sometime, as it do not grows on the city bushes or roadsides... After taking a few shots of this pink flower that we call the Senduduk... my mind while aways, mesmerized by the many varieties of wild flowers found at this location and for a few seconds I was lost in a sorts of wilderness and then when I was about to take another snap... I was jolt by a loud sound of horn... On looking, the cars in front of me has just driven on.... I rush to my car and follow the convoy and we drove on still without the missing part of our convoy of cars..... Still not in sight the other group..... And we drove on and eventually we saw the other convoy in front of us, on the opposite direction... After a few exchange of words and laughter among the leaders... They turn around and follow our convoy... Everyone are glad indeed to be on the same convoy again heading toward the town of Tampin.... With all the twenty one Volvo classic in a single convoy, we drove happily to the town of Tampin and then all the cars were asked to stop for awhile and that to switch on the light so that it would be easy to convoy our way through the crowded town... I had not been to this town since the Highway was built, the north south highway do not pass through small towns,it just by passed all the towns... so driving on highway one do not see any towns anymore, so this is the first time in so many years that I had visit this town, once a popular place for those that take the train to get to Malacca, for this is the nearest train station to the Malacca Town... Well with all the car's light on....We drove in a convoy of colorful Volvo through the town.... With passer by curios with the numbers of these cars of another era in the middle of their little town... Some cheer and some I supposed wonder where did these many cars came from...We were glad that the towner were in a way happy to see our convoy passes by their town,Tampin... The local cars even stop to let us pass by....It was really a great feeling to be part of this Run to Tampin and now we all have arrived at this town... We continue to proceed slowly toward the destined place to park all our cars, for it is not easy to find one spot to park all the cars....We follow our guide and eventually arrived at the parking lot of the local Police Housing area... We went in to park with the help of the police and happy that we have all make the Tampin Run an adventurous run and a colorful one too...... [ to be continue ]

These are the twenty one Volvo classic that took part in the Tampin Run on Sunday, the 20th of June.... I took this picture at the a small town just before Tampin... That is the best I could do to get all the cars in a single shot......it look great, with all the color of the rainbow....  

It is Sunday and today is the Tampin Run planned by the Kelab Volvo Kelasik Malaysia The Malaysian Volvo Classic Club, a day trip to the small town of Tampin in the state of Negeri Sembilan.... It is my first trip on such a run for now I would be driving my own Volvo Classic... In the past I just follow in a friend's car, a member of the club or just follow along driving my Honda....This time with my own Volvo classic... I am on my own... We were ask to meet after the Sungei Besi Toll Plaza, at a Shell station just after this Toll Plaza.... It is a normal place to rendezvous when going on a trip to the south of the country... It is Sunday and the traffic were rather light, moreover it is early morning.... Just at eight in the morning with my wife and our daughter joining the trip I drove the Volvo to the rendezvous site, the weather was fine, with light cloud and it look like it is going to be hot and humid day and I was hopping that it would not rain today, for if it rain I would have a big problem ahead in driving... For the wiper of my old faithful Volvo sometime decided to stop working in the mid of a heavy down pour, you have to get out and push it with you hand before it start working again... I guess it is an old age problem of this wiper,remember the motor is thirty eight years old and still working...Or sometime working... I have ask my mechanic to have a look at it and he say that it is only a minor problem, if it happen then you have to check the fuse... Or just push it with your hand...Well easy said...You get soak in the rain to get it started again... You talk about it with friend , you laugh and sometime I wonder if the others had the same experience of getting it start again in the rain.. I supposed that is the fun of owing this old classic.... A manual way of starting it, to make it move again.... Well it happen before when it rain.. I had to stop the car and push the wiper to make it work again... For it is really hard to drive during the rain and it is dangerous, sometime it pours and you just could not see where your are going, and if it is just for a short distance around the neighborhood, it would just be alright... But not today.. It is going to be a long drive, not less then a hundred kilometer for the first leg of the run, if it rain then I would have a problem.... So I hope that it do not rain... It is my first trip on this run driving my old classic...I just want it to go well and enjoy the trip.... I arrived at the rendezvous site just before eight forty five.... I thought that I was early... But on looking I saw a numbers of other Volvo were already park there and as usual it was a happy meeting the other members of the club with their spouses and kids, some even brought their baby along.... A friend had his mother and the maid also following in his Volvo, so it soon turn into a great families get together.... As for our daughter, this Volvo classic that she is in is almost seven years older then her, so for her it is just like going back in time, to a period that she has yet to be born.... What a great experience for her to be able to ride in a car which is much older then her.... When everyone arrived, after a short briefing, we proceed on a convoy toward Tampin, a small town to the south..... It was a convoy of eleven cars of all the colors of the rainbow.... It makes a colorful scene on the highways.... We travel on the highway for the first part of the journey and just after the city of Seremban we took the interchange at Senawang and then convoy on the country road toward Tampin.... It is really nice to drive on the country road on a convoy... With curios people looking and waving as you passes by....I have not driven on this country road for years already since the highway was built, for there was no reason to use this old road.... Today on this run, to make it more interesting we took the country road which winds its ways through traditional village.... The scene along the road were great, with the green of orchards and plantations of rubber and palm oil, we drove slowly and enjoy the scenery of country side Kampong houses of bygone era still standing surrounded by farm and orchard....A scene that we use to see before the highway was built.... Actually I found out that driving this old classic on the country road more enjoyable then driving it on the Highway... For on the small winding country road we had to drive slowly and not fast as on the highway.... You feel really nice to be driving this classic on the country road.... I guess this cars are made to be driven on country road rather on highways of today... Eventually after about an hours of driving we arrived at another rendezvous site to meet the local club's members, we soon were greeted by the others and the number of cars swell to twenty one in numbers.... So it is going to be a long convoy of twenty one Volvo classic all the way to the town of Tampin.... After a brief stop and a chit chat, with all our cars laid for a photo session.... It was indeed a very colorful sight to see, all the twenty one cars in a rows, all well polished for the days event..... With the photo session done, we slowing drive following the local to the destination...... [ to be continue ]

This is a rather unique flower, it is a cluster of small flower that grow together in a bunch, pink in color and the stem is full of thorn. It is a very hardy plant and it flowers all throughout the year....  

It is yet another great day...Today Friday, end of the week and we are in the middle of June already...Time passes so fast these days, hardly you complete your week projects it is already Friday... Friday is special to me for today is the day in a week that we had congregation prayer at the mosque at noon...It is call the Friday Prayer, where the mosque would be throng to capacity at the noon prayer....It is also became a sorts of a get together for friends, usually after the prayer we would sit around and chat and compare notes, so to say of the events of the week, talks of politic and other subject of interest. The weeks have been great and life continue to be great and meaningful... And I am enjoying every minutes of it.... Like today, this morning... I got an email from my friend who once live in the California desert...It is just a cyberpal that I came in contact some years ago while living in Boston...And we have been in communication ever since with a few pause from time to time, like when she sold her house and move to another location... I supposed to find a new environment to live in her golden age with her spouse... And of course continue to enjoy life.. For people of our generation we have gone through many events, from the second world war..The cold war....The peace, the prosperity, the changes in the countries landscape, the growing of children, seeing your grand children grows as well....Our eldest is now in her teen already and you feel nice to seen another generation of your family from the same gene making it in this world of ours.... And with the internet, the world is getting smaller and now we have a new media, we call cyberspace to 'live' just like we live on this planet... The difference in that in cyberspace we live in bits not physically like we live on earth, the blue planet that we share.... A stranger from Texas, Austin comment that He/She enjoy my blog and it touches me as well, the writer of this blog and in this case we both are enjoying ourselves in cyberspace.... And since we are a spiritual being, we could feel the nice feeling of coming in contact with another human being and it happen in cyberspace....A media our forefathers would not even thought of or ever dreams of its possibility, perhaps only in the world of Harry Potter!! ... But then it was just a fantasy....But today cyberspace and the internet is for real, it is in fact a 'real' world in another dimension....So like I say today, this very morning I am happy to get news from my friend in the California desert and at the same time get connected through my blog from another stranger who live in Texas, Austin, both of which I had not met in person as yet...Only in cyberspace...But to me it does not makes any difference, for friendship in what ever form is important to me, for it makes my life interesting and in a way meaningful as well as useful.... Who knows....God willing that we would meet some days....We can never tell....In my life many strange events unfold sometime and things that you never thought would be a reality...Do became a reality....Like most people would say if it is going to happen it would happen...Some years ago when I was in my youth, attend a training program in Perth, Australia....At a Bar...I befriend a man of the same age....We had a few drinks and was enjoying ourselves in a very friendly atmosphere....And like any episode in real life, we had to part eventually...We say good bye and hope to meet again....Guess what.. After a lapse of a few years of lost contact, I met this same person again, in a Bar again... This time not in Perth Australia, but in Tehran, Iran...It was real great to meet again, of all the places in the world, in Tehran, Iran...This was before the Iran Revolution.... So like I always say we all can never tell what is in store for us in the future...It is still unknown to us...But then we are human full of intelligent and wisdom.... We would find a way to make contact and communicate... Now a new media the cyberspace is there and next it would be another media....Who knows we could then transmits atom instead of bits like we do now through the internet.... It is now possible to transmit anything in bits through cyberspace....Would not it be possible to transmit atom in the future.... I am an optimist and I believe in time we would get there, maybe not in my life time but we human would get there eventually for our species have that drive to conquer the unknown..... Would there be America today if those adventurers do not venture into the unknown...The church at that time condemn those adventures... But then we all know now that it is in our gene to venture.... And venture we did to the unknown......Thanks again to my friend from Texas, Austin for making my days....And hope that you may continue to enjoy life ... If my writing help to inspire you in any way...I am indeed glad for that, I am happy indeed.... Lets share our thoughts for the good of mankind... We the living on this planet is just dot on this blue planet and remember there are other small dot out there that we took for granted...The speck of dust....It may contain life and whole family of it, we might not know for it is just a speck of dust, do not our planet look like a speck of dust from far away outer space.... So when we encounter anything in space just take sometime to reflex and ponder... Is there life there...In doubt!...Why not be gentle about it.... Like the other day our little grandchild, barely two years old...Was looking at the ants and I guess was wondering about this tiny creature....He place his gentle finger on one and it was killed.... I continue to watch him trying to makes the ant move again but in vain... So I sat with him and had a talk, trying to explain to this young kid about life.... I start by tell him that this ants are alive and when it die it does not move and no matter what it would not come to live...I told him of what life and living are in a language that I hope he understood.... I start by tell him that this ant have family and it has got a home and it has to go home... And then I remember the film 'Antz', which the whole family had watch sometime ago....He had watch this film and enjoy it so I relate to him that like the story in 'Antz'... This ant have mom and papa too and grandpa too....He laugh.. The kid's laugh and I think he understood what I was tell him.... That life must be treasured... As he grows up he still watch ants but do not disturb it anymore...I believe he got the message loud and clear.... So remember there are life everyone on this planet sharing it to make this world of ours such a wonderful place to live and enjoy life..... Oh!.. What a life without those ants around... Pretty dull I supposed....

According to the medical profession as one grow old one's past memories especially during the early years became clear and clearer.. I believed it is true with me because as years goes on... I could remember clearly some events of the past as though it just happened yesterday.... There are conversations that took place many years ago and are as clear now as it was... Here is an example, this particular conversations is of significant to me because it has been in my memory all along and it has to do with religion... It goes like this.... After attend a seminar in Germany in nineteen seventy six, on the way back I stop at a few cities in Europe and during a stop over at Zurich in Switzerland to do a short tour of the city.... I decide to stay at a budget hotel in the heart of the city and then call a friend, a young Swiss lady that I know, she had promise to take me on a tour if ever I visit her city.... After checking in the hotel.. A small building of a class of its own...The room though small was well decorated inside with a single bed covered with clean beige white linen.... The room had a window with beautiful beige color curtain.. With a view of the water front... A canal of a sorts.. It was really a pleasant place to spend the nights... I immediately call her and she say that she would meet me at the hotel....... Since the hotel had strict rules that you cannot take guest especially lady to your room... I told her that I shall wait for her at the hotel lounge at the hotel lobby..... So after a shower and freshen up... I went down to the lounge and waited for her... I was rather early so I sat there and while the hours reading and as the minutes goes by....A young priest came over and set at the next seat...And as usual with me we soon got to talking... One subject leads to another and eventually we talk about religion... It soon became interesting for we seem to believe in the same things, for He is a Christian and Me a Moslem... Both the people of the Books..... Because both of us are open minded and are open to discussion we soon discuss many things of mutual interest and I really felt good in that I could communicate so easily and understood what this young priest were conveying to me.... We seem to agree with thoughts of the religion and faith... We also seem to be on the same thinking plane and approach of openness to our faith...Islam and Christian... We soon became friend and hope that we could meet again in the future... And one part of our conversation that I recall very clearly and it has been at the back of my memory bank all these years, crystal clear to this day.... And that is when this young priest ask me this question..."Do you believe that God is that cruel to put people in Hell"... Well I answer "I do not believe it is so" and He agreed with me... So it look like that both of us have the same view of religion.... With that question and answer we parted with a smile and hope to meet again some other time.... And in the next moment my lady friend arrived and out we went on a tour of this great city of Zurich in beautiful Switzerland..... Well I shall leave this episode of my life just like that for others to digest and ponder... And perhaps learn some things for the good of mankind and our belief in religion... Surely you would agree with me that God is not cruel at all... For God is Love.... Amen.....

Colorful Bougainvillaea that are found aplenty in this country, there are varieties of colors, this plants is not native to Malaysia, it was introduce to this country by the British during the colonial era. 

I was out cleaning the car.. The weather look hazy so it is a bit cool in the morning.... It is a daily ritual that I do daily in front of our house.... Like swiping the dried leaves, weed the potted plant, trim the plants and wash the cars whenever I feel like doing it.... It did not rain the last few days...So the cars are not that dirty, except for the dirt, it look alright... So I just wipe it and start the engine of the Volvo.... Yesterday I did not drive the Volvo.... And sometime if you do not take it for a ride....It just get stubborn and refuse to start....It did just that this morning....This car is a bit moody.... It like to be pampered and showered with love....So just because I did not drive it yesterday...It refused to start today.... Well I think it did not like to see me driving the new Honda, jealous I supposed.... Well actually I care for my Volvo just like I care for my Honda, I love both of it... But I just could not be driving both cars at the same time.... So I think it is alright to leave it alone sometime.... Well I thought that it also need a rest.... I know why it did not start... It is the battery, so I used a jumper to reactivate the battery in the Volvo... As a boy scout, we are taught to be prepared... For that matter the boy's scout motto is 'Be prepared'... Actually I had kept a jumper for an eventuality like this...I had this jumper in my car always for this kind of emergency or to loan it to others on the road side when I see a stalled car... It is something that I always like to do for others when others are in time of need..... So with the jumper I connected the two batters together and voila.... My Volvo engine just start working.....Great... I do not have to push this car to get the engine running..... Well it was a great feeling getting the Volvo engine running again....And while keeping the engine running.... I watch a young girl taking her dogs for a walk...Two beautiful dogs.. One big black and the other a small one the size of a big cats...It was real nice to see these animals being lovingly taken care of by its owner....This is the first time I saw this young lady a brown girl with this dog walking in front of my house....Perhaps it has being going round for sometimes already... But I did not notice it... So today seeing her I greet her saying that what a lovely dogs she had there.... And she smile and we just talk a little and she says that she live nearby... Looking at my Volvo... She say that it is such a beautiful car and well kept... Well I thanks her and say that this car is much older then her.... She smiled.... And continue to walk her dogs away..... I wonder who is this young lady is...Anyway she could not be a Malay for Malay do not keep dogs...She cannot be a Chinese or Indian but may be a Eurasian because of her brown complexion, only Malay look like here...Well it does not matter, she is a nice young lady with the dogs....A great scene of the day.... For cultural reason Malay do not keep dogs, the Malay mostly takes cats as their pets... Whereas the Chinese and the other race do keep dogs as pets, that is Malaysian and my neighbor do keep a dog and we do not mind.... It is our way of respecting our neighbors.....Talking about dogs, let me tell a story about dogs, some are nice story and some are not that nice, one thing... Although I do not keep dog, I love dog but at the same time afraid of dog as well... I guess it is because I was often chase by dogs in my childhood in the Kampong, for we life near a Chinese housing area and they all keep dogs... I am told that when the dog bark and chase you..... Do not run for dogs love to chase, it is like a game to them.... But the natural reaction for us is to run when a dog chase you.... So our parents told us that the smart thing to do when a dog come to you is to squat down and touch the sand and once you squat down the dogs are sure to stop chasing....So when you stoop up quickly... The dog would start to run away and that would be the end of it.... I do not know whether this strategies works with some fierce dogs.... Well as for those dogs in our village it always works...But up till now I am still afraid of dogs....And at the same time still love those dog... Sometime dog would come over to the house and sit at the porch....At a few time I would feed this dog.... And soon it did not want to leave and became friendly... It then turn into a problem...Every time you chase it, it would wags its tail... But then I just want to feed them and do not want to own them... In the end I had to chase it to the nearest SPCA... On another occasion I woke up one morning... It was slightly raining, I found four dogs sleeping on my patio, in front of my house.... It was raining last night I guessed the dogs need a place to shelter for a night and it choose my house.... Well I had to chase it and it went away happily after the rain stop, wagging its tails, I think it is friendly and want to thanks me for letting them spend the night at my patio....Well I told my neighbor,a Chinese family about this and they say according to the Chinese.... It is a good sign.... So as years goes by I still see some dogs wagging when I am out of the house.... I just tell them just go home and I think they understood what I was saying and off they go....It is a sort of a love and not so love story of dogs with me.....And another not so nice story is about my new neighbor who rented a house nearby and kept eighteen dogs with her,my goodness eighteen dogs... She is a single mother with a grown up daughter.... So there are more dogs in the house then human and because there are so many dogs it smell and it disturb the neighbor....It soon became nasty with this lady quarreling with the neighbor.... Lucky for me it is not very near my house... But still I could smell the odor of dogs whenever I near the house.... Well we all decided to tell this new neighbor not to keep so many dogs but she was stubborn and insist that it is alright with her... We told her that according to the local regulation neighbor could keep only one dog if the adjacent neighbor do not mind....We would not mind if she keep two but not that many.... It lasted for a few months and things soon became worse and then the dogs keep making noise all night long... So a report was made to the local authority and eventually she move out... And now the neighborhood is in peace again... With our friend Janet with her cute dog...Taking it for a walk from time to time, we do not mind it at all....And I love to see this cute dog around...Well that is the story of the dogs and us in this neighborhood....Interesting eh!!.... After all they say that dogs are man's best friend.... I believe that....

It was indeed great to get an ecard from our foster daughter that live in Italy.... It is always a happy feeling getting news from her.... Well that is the world and cyberspace.... We get connected fast nowadays, unlike before a letter would take the earliest ten day to get from Italy to Malaysia.... Now with the internet its take mere seconds.... It has been a great Sunday with those kids... Making a mess of the house, toys scattering all over... Eating ice cream and you know what would happen when kids eat ice cream.... You have to mop the floor... How neat!!...It is just like that... They would carry the ice cream around and in the tropic ice cream melt fast.... So it would drip....And the rest is the interesting part..... mess of ice cream on the floor.... And the little boy want nothing else other then coke.... They could not even pronounce it perfectly and yet they know the taste of coke.... I guessed we have to accept the liking and dislike of this generation lives of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut and McDonald Burger, coke and the like of the fast food culture.... They get to acquire the taste very fast indeed and eventually would never refuse an offer of these junk foods.... Well what can we say.... It is us that introduce this eating habit to this young and the innocent...And now they have take to liking eating the food of the west... Well not that west...Its taste has been so adjusted to suite our palate with the addition of the chilly sauce and other spices, they now have the hot and spicy chicken too..... The chicken... It is really finger licking good!! I love it too..... Actually our eating habit have somewhat progress with time.... Being influence by the foods we experiences in our travel overseas and the introduction the western fast food at home.... So the menu at home sometime change too.... Well Joan.... We have spaghetti too at time.... And everyone in the family love eating spaghetti and of course the little one take its without the sauce...To make it more interesting and palatable to our taste we add hot and spicy chilly to the original spaghetti sauce...To me it taste better then the original...Sweet and spicy...Yam mee!!.... I hope when they are here we would have the opportunity of enjoying their cooking of Italian foods... And she could learn to cook some of our Malaysian foods... A cultural exchange of a sorts.... Have a nice day....

It is Sunday, a day of rest, so they say...But do you really rest...Like today....The grandchildren came over and you know what happen when they are around.... The home environment change, they took over the TV and at time even the computer....Like this morning little Adibah, she is just five and was asking to get to the internet....She wanted to see her favorite program.. She even know the name of the site..... She keep nagging her Auntie and Me to let her use the computer.... And eventually we all gave up and her auntie decided to help her to look for her favorite site... There you are.... Gone!! The day of rest!!.... Happily she interact with the site and of course the auntie had to be by her side..... So the internet has now taken over the family.... Me the grand dad with my blog and other things, her auntie on semester leave, would be online with her University at Boston... And now this little kids, wondering in cyberspace and enjoy those electronic games... What a world we live in now....It is fun to see these young generation taking to the internet like duck taking to the water.... Well they have too for their future is with this borderless world of the internet.....That is life.... I guess I am the lucky few grandpa's that are literate with the internet... Otherwise I would be lost and could not communicate with this generation of my grand children... I am indeed glad that all my children and grandchildren have accept this new world of cyberspace... That have too, for this is a generation that are going to grow and live in and with cyberspace.... We Malaysian are lucky indeed that the present government are internet friendly and has take all the action to make the internet accessible to everyone... Now with have the broadband service that are part of the fix line telephone service.... And soon there would be wireless broadband service in our area....I am told there are already such a service in Petaling Jaya, a suburban area of Kuala Lumpur.... With this wireless service one need not have to be wired to be connected to the internet....It is like the present 'hot spot' that we have at the coffee shop where one could get connected to the internet while having coffee or lunch.... In the case of this new technology the whole community would be connected by a wireless system... It would be great when this service come over to our area...Ampang... Then we all can go wireless all the time... What a way to surf the internet.... And little Adibah would not have to worry where to get connected, she would just have to take the laptop out and get connected.... On to her favorite program and wonder her way in cyberspace.... Well it is eating time....And grandma is not cooking today....Remember it is Sunday... It is also her day of rest.... Usually grandma just take it easy on Sunday and we would just go out to have our meals.... It is fun to do that once a while..... And today everyone are here, all the three generation of them, the grand's, our daughters and the children of our eldest daughter and of course our son in law is around too.... So their mother ask them what they want to eat....The answer...We want Kentucky or KFC and someone shouted we want MacDonald... Well no one seem to ask for some local foods... It looks like this generation have been taken over by the fast food culture..... So eventually they won and to make it simple we all go for the MacDonald foods.... So what can you say.... Surfing the internet... Eating McDonald's... I guessed today's foods would be just the same whether you are in Rome, London, Boston, Nairobi,Timbatoo or for that matter any cities in the world....Someone somewhere would be doing the same things, eating the same things....Well that is our world now.... So small and it is getting smaller with cyberspace..... So remember it is Sunday.... Is it really a day of Rest!!.... I wonder!.... But then it was fun to be surrounded by those grandchildren..... A wonderful lots.... Careless of the world and enjoying themselves.... Oh! What a wonderful world......

I heard over the TV this evening that the new Highway from Kuala Lumpur to Kuantan would not be open until August.... Disappointing indeed, but I hope it is open in August as stated, for I have been getting news before that part of the road would be open in June and the rest would be open at the end of July....Now it is a different story altogether...It would now be open in August.... Anyway after waiting for almost forty seven years... To me it is ok that I had to wait another few months to be able to drive on this new Highway to my hometown of Kuantan.... I had use this road that connect Kuantan on the east coast to Kuala Lumpur since my childhood.... I have travel on the old road by bus and car.... to Kuala Lumpur before the Maran Road was built... And after that I even have cycle to Kuala Lumpur with a group of scout friends, an adventure that I shall not forget..... You know that in the early days of our independence to get to Kuala Lumpur the capital of the then Malaya, one had to drive all the way up to Jerantut, then to Benta, then to Raub and from Raub you have a choice, either to take the Gap Road or the Bentong Road to get to Kuala Lumpur, both ways the road wind it ways on hills side and through dense jungle and at place control by the terrorists we call at that time as the communists...And if you are unlucky get shot at, like one of the British High Commissioner then, was ambush at the Gap and killed... It became an international headline.... A top British Official in colonial Malaya was shot dead by the communist.....Well...Let me describe first the road to KL from Raub to Bentong....One thing for sure that all roads built by the British engineers are not straight, it is always winding...I just could not understand why all the roads built by the British during the colonial era were never straight... May be they want to make it difficult for people to communicate from one place to another.... Perhaps so...I just do not know.... On the road side there are sign board showing caution and a drawing of a winding roads.... It was a joke then when we saw this sign.... Everyone say that the road is for the 'drunk' only....For that matter the only road built straight by the British were in the towns..... Other then in the towns,there was never a straight road built by the British... Some even say that it was construct on purpose so that it would take longer to get from point A to B... It is a sort of a strategies of the divide and rule policy normally used by the colonialist...The roads passes through area where there are virgin jungle and hills and deep gorges... The road winds its ways like snake through the jungle, along side the hills, down hill and up again and some times it would take hours to get from Bentong to Kuala Lumpur on this road... If one take the Gap road it is much longer and very steep and at that time it is infested by the communist guerilla and it is dangerous.... So getting to Kuala Lumpur in those days especially during the colonial era is no joke and it is real strenuous as well as dangerous.... the traveling time including the ferry time at Kuantan, Jerantut and Temerloh rivers would take almost twelve hours or sometime during the raining season it would take fifteen hours to get from Kuantan to Kuala Lumpur... And only bus carry passengers at that time and the buses are not like the one we use today, there were no air condition and it rattled all the time... And your body would ache all over on arrival at your destination.... It is not an enjoyable journey,in fact it is rather torturing in the heat and humidity of the tropic.... People travel just because of business and not for pleasure.... And later on after independence a new road linking Maran to Temerloh was built shorting the distance a bit and for a few years it was just a laterite road, red earth in color.... And using this road to KL would reduce the traveling distance about three hours... Still there are ferry to cross one at the Kuantan River and the other at the Pahang river near Temerloh..... And because the road is of laterite, traveling in bus with the window open, the fine red earth would get to your hair and clothing and when you arrived at the destination your hair would be stiff and red or pink in color and your white shirt would be colored.... That was the way to travel then from Kuantan to Kuala Lumpur .... As we progress the Maran Temerloh part of the road was paved with tar and eventually bridges were built over the rivers and the traveling time was shorten... But then it was still a winding narrow road all the way making overtaking difficult and dangerous, anyway it was easier to travel and this same road have been upgraded from time to time but it is still the same old road....The same old road that was built by the British long ago...So traveling to and fro Kuantan Kuala Lumpur was never a good journey...You would never enjoy traveling on this road.... Until today the road is the same except that it is now safe to travel to and fro, there are no more communist guerilla lurking on the fringe of the road....They are gone after been defeated by the elected government and their causes rejected by the people after indenpendence....And it has been forty seven years since independence and still the new highway that they start to built some four years ago has not been completed and as yet to open.... As I had said before... I have waited all my life to drive on this new Highway and hope that come August this year this new road would be open to the public..... And I pray and hope that I would be there to drive in comfort for the first time on a Highway to my hometown of Kuantan..... And it would take just about two and half hours to get to Kuantan.... What a way to travel on this Highway... Hope they do not postponed the opening again.....

Well it is another day, hot and humid as usual....With our daughter back for a semester break... Now the mother has a company of another lady.... As usual mother love their daughter to be around them but then when they get married they would have to live on their own.... The bond between mother and daughter have been always special, it is different with the father.... We Dad use to say that we always get second hand news.... After it has been filtered through, then it reached the dad in a well refined order,that is news to the dad.... I know that very well for I am a father but I do not mind it at all, for I know that children whether they are boys or girls are biologically close to their mother then the father...That is the nature of things and I guess we father had to accept the facts that relation between the children with both parents are a bit different...for love between children and their parents is always there, no matter what..... I have always said to friends that having children and raising them is an adventure that are as exiting as any adventure you have ever gone through or seen....This adventure take you to unknown and uncharted territory.... And on the journey parents would find themselves going through many challenges and somehow managed to solved it, so that their off spring continue to grow up and became a great and responsible human being.... Growing up, schooling, getting married, having children and on and on we go for the continuances of the species..... That is the nature's way and as the most intelligent species on this planet, we would surely find ways and means to nurture our off spring and protect them in every ways we could, for they are our beloved child.... As everyone know well that your children are always your children, no matter how old are you child...It is still your children..... That is the way it is and parent knows that and when the children became parent themselves, the would also know that.... Well that is the way it is for us human on this planet as we pass through in life.....

The cell phone things.... It look like that we all are hook up to this new gadget.... I am beginning to feel that I am not complete without the cell phone especially when I went out of the house... So it has became a ritual that when I leave the house, I make sure that the cell phone is in my pocket... The same goes with my spouse, she would carry one when she goes out and even if we went shopping together, she would have her cell phone with her all the time and the same with me.... It has became a tool the solved many problems... Like we could be connected anywhere on this globe... The other day I call a friend to dinner and when I got him on his phone....The first thing I ask him is, where he is now and his reply that he is in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia now.... And on the same day I call my niece and she say that she is now in Jakarta Indonesia..... It is normal to ask where you are when making phone call using cell phone.... If the person you call is driving and he or she do not have a hand free phone, then you would just say that you would call later or He or She would stop the car on the road side and we communicate....In Malaysia it is illegal to drive and talk on the cell phone..... To me the cell phone is here to stay and it is becoming smaller and smaller and I believe in not too distance future, we can have one small piece embed in a part of our body, making it part of the way we would communicate to distance places in the future...Sound like too futuristic out of the star track episode.... I do not believe so...It is already a reality and it is a matter of time that we see the development toward this end.... As it is we keep changing to newer model which have color screen and also the model that have camera to take picture and transmit over to the other end for them to see you or the images that you want others to see... And another interesting development is the SMS service.. This services is became more popular if you do not want to speak but would rather send note to someone.... And a new culture is slowly being introduce.... With its own spelling and words that only SMS nerd could understand... And it is happening and people are happily sending SMS and there is no stopping on the way the new language of the SMS is developing.... Linguists are complaining that SMS has corrupted the language but who is complaining if one could communicate effectively.... For what is language if you find it difficult to use and communicate....To me in this ever fast changing world... With the knowledge and technology we have I believe we are making this world a better place to live and share.... Today with the cell phone people of all walk of live could communicate with ease irrespective of where there are.... And in doing so distance ceased to exist, thus making this world of ours smaller and smaller.... In those day, just fifty years ago... The telephone was an item of luxury and only certain people are allowed to use it and as we progress more and more people got telephones.... But then it was limited to places where they could laid line or strung copper lines on millions of poles all over the country... But now thanks to the wireless technology.... there are no need now for line connecting the phones but are done by transmitting towers that are set up here and there to provide access to the user of cell phone.... So as we all know now the cell phone has change our way of communicating and it is for the better... Making our life more interesting and communicating with friends and love one just so easy ... The love of cell phone continues..... So do not leave home without your cell phone... Have a nice day.

It look like my friend Mr.My is running around the country like a big time contractor.... I read in his blog that he decided to stay for a while in Kuala Lumpur until the new highway to Kuantan is open and that it would be easy for him to travel up and down all the time..... And all of a sudden I got news that he is already in Kuantan and is back to Kuala Lumpur by air....Oh!! What a way to travel... There must be something exiting happening in the air.... I wonder... He seem to be a real busy man... Running around like a busy business or a politician... He was working for an oil company until they retired him and he is an engineer by profession... In his business card that he give me the other day.... He is shown as a consultant of a sorts.... So I thing he has many thing to be consult at... Perhaps there is a breakdown of a huge generator plant in Kuantan and he had to rush to get the job done... Who knows he might be making tons of money by now going up and do as consultant....Good for him.... That is why I always tell friends that they should be profession... For professional are really sought out people nowadays....He must be the lucky one getting job here and there after his retirement... As for me I have decided long ago that after I retired I am not going to seek employment anymore and if people need my professional service.... I would just give them free, 'percuma' in Malay or just gratis that everyone understood.... Since I do not work any more I am not committed to anyone and I am free.... Freedom that I choose... If you work you are not free and I just do not want it for I have work very hard for almost thirty two years and all those time not only that I work hard and smart but I enjoy every minutes of it all.... For I believed that you must enjoy whatever you do especially in the work or job you do....By doing that you would not be wasting you precious time and came of doing every job well satisfied that you have done a good job.... satisfication do not come easy... And you just could not buy satisfication.... You earned it and then you have all the right the world to enjoy..... Well coming back to my dear friend Mr.My...I hope he had a great time doing what he is doing running up and do and all over.... And remember that age is catching up for there are reasons why they retired you in the first place... But some people just do not want to retire...That I know very well... I have friend that work until the last day of his retirement age, in Malaysia in the government service and some sector of the private sector, people are retired at the age of fifty five or fifty six..... Well what can I say...We human are all different, we are all individual with our own liking and disliking.... So my dear friend if you enjoy doing whatever you are doing.... Do it and enjoy.....And please do not fret about it... Doing that would be just wasting your time and energy..... Do a good job and be satisfied about it and enjoy.........

It has been a hot day...Tuesday the eight of June.... And today we all could see the planet Venus over the sun.... Fascinating.. Just a dot on the giant of our Sun... With the achievement of science and technology we are able to accurately gauged the position of all those planets in our solar system... In the period of superstitious belief, this would be a different story, clouded with myth and mystery... Just like the old story of the eclipse of the moon, where people were made to believed that the dragon had swallowed the moon and then the had to make as much noise as possible to chase the dragon away.... It was just a raw belief for not understanding the real science and now we knew that all those tales of the dragon and other stories were purely the imagination of man for lack of knowledge... We are now lucky that we live in a period of great scientific break through and the technology that came along have given us more knowledge of our world and the space where other planets move in well coordinated way... Making it one of the wonder of nature.... We hope that in not too distance future we human would be able to travel to these faraway planets and perhaps create a new civilization much better then the one we have on this planet we call earth.... I hope that when man move to colonized the other planets they would leave behind all the myth and belief that are mere imagination of man than facts and create a new society of human more intelligent, free of raw belief of superstitious and myth.... Only then we would be able to live in peace and harmony..... And venture on into space... To places where no man have gone before.... The adventure of star track became a reality.... I was thinking of writing his while driving to the airport to fetch our daughter who is returning home for a semester break....She left Boston on the evening of the six and in mere twenty four hours she is back home in Kuala Lumpur... What a marvel to live and study... To the present generation like our children, traveling long distance has became second nature to them and because their mind have been so conditioned, traveling became just easy.... Jump into a plane at point A and off you go to point B.... Just like that..... All these achievement of making traveling better,faster and safer came about because we have taken the trouble to accumulate knowledge over time and with the ingenuity of the human mind we have manage to create machine that could fly, that was unthinkable just a few century ago.... Who would believe that such a huge aircraft like the Seven Four Seven or the jumbo could ever took off the ground.... And it did and today with other achievement in aviation we could travel with ease from one point to another point on this planet is mere hours.. Thanks to the great man and women of science that had made all these possible... And as for me during my lifetime.... Where in our childhood a single seated airplane was a rare sight and traveling on it was just for a privilege few.... So we had just to dream and dreamed we did... And as time goes by, with education and the country prosperity came the opportunity to fly in one.... I am happy that I had flown in many such aircrafts so far and because of this it has taken me to places that I once dream of it only....And it became a reality..... That is life my friends... And the future awaits us with more interesting and challenging time... In traveling..... Making distance so short, just like being in cyberspace......

This is the front of Kuala Lipis Rest House.... During the colonial era the British built rest houses at major towns as a place for visiting official to spend the night out station and also to socialized... Most to these rest houses were beautiful building and some of it still remain till this day.... During the colonial period and for a few years after independence, the rest houses were the only good accomodation available in major town, it is just like a today's five star hotel, it has well furnished room, hot and cold water bath, telephone service and restaurant that served western food... It use to be a place where we would go for a good western meals, like steak, chicken chop and the like.... There is also a bar where people would go for a drink with friends....There are no more there now and over time the management has not been that same like before... But then some of this magnifient build still stand till today, a reminder of the good old days........ 

Let me thanks Muhammad for visiting my site .... Not many people use the comment column, more write direct to me....Well anyway thanks you very much for your comment....It is indeed great to get feedback, for how do we progress without listening to others... Remember we are not alone in this wide world....And I respect whatever view others have, irrespective of my liking, for I believe in the freedom to express.....Human... We are individual are we not.... Alone we could not do much but collectively we could makes much difference......Muhammad is a stranger that walk in..... Like I had said before, it start as a stranger...for stranger is the friend you have yet to meet and I hope in due time we could meet in person.....Sir.. Like any other country in the world, Malaysia is not perfect but then it is just forty seven years old.... I think it is not fair to compare to the development of the small neighbor....They have a small population and live on an island they could easily managed .. And they do not inherit the racial population of Malaysia.... Anyway remember their prosperity depend also on the prosperity of Malaysia..... Anyway personally I do not want to live in such a society where the cost of living is so high and one had to live in a confined space all the time... Lucky for them Malaysia welcome them with open arms and their cars could ply up and down our highways without paying a daily toll, whereas Malaysian car crossing the causeway had to pay S$30.00 a day..... Anyway lets not fret about that... Life is like that.... After all we are good neighbor.... As for my beloved country Malaysia... How do one define patriotism... I just do not know.... This is the only country that I could call home and I love my home..... I have been around since the days of the British and know very well the phase of developments of the country. Thanks to farsighted leadership and good governance.... The country have progress from a mere peasant economy to become a great trading country is just a short space of time.... Remember when we had just the clothing on our back and foods was limited to the basic and housing was just in huts or dilapidated long houses....But now almost everyone own houses or live in good housing and had a good income...Foods a plenty....The infrastructures are superb, so what is there to complain....In fact for a person of my generation I just could not dream of such a life style in my life time...Then it did happen and I am extremely happy about it..... Of course there are problems like corruption....Tell me which country in the world have got rid of this evil... We are not perfect, that I agreed but then which country are perfect.... Action is being taken to take care of the problem and I believe in the year to come this evil would be reduce.... I do not believe it could be eradicated totally in the market economy system which is here to stay... But remember we are just forty seven years old and some countries in the west that have been around for thousand of years, still this evil continue to exist.....Look what happen in Iraq now, the United Nations oil for food and medicine programs there... The mismanagement and corruption there and there are others in the so called developed countries... So is this not any form of the evil that we call corruption... In the early part of my career in the government we work for the country and got paid for doing just that and nothing else but now it is different, in those days people give hamper and it was considered just gift...But now it is term as being corrupt.... Value change my friends and I believe with time the country values would change as well for good and forge forward to a greater height.... We are learning all the time and I am sure we would find our own solution to this ever presence evil... I have travel the world and have live in the west.... Living in Kuala Lumpur and living in Boston is no difference except for the weather, the standard of living is the same, everything that you need to live a life style like the American we have here but in Malaysia it is cheaper... But friends remember we are just forty seven years old and the USA is already three hundred years....I believe if we are not disturb by the big power we would achieve a great height in not too distance future.....Malaysia is not an easy country to govern....To managed it the government must be smart in it social engineering programs...The race factor, the single most important factor for a stable country had to be handle with care, so as to turn it into national assets rather then liabilities...This is one reason why we just could not go any faster...And then we have the Malay factor, which the government had to give special help all the time and had to stop sometime in the future....... Had it not been for these factors....Malaysia today could out beat Australia in national economic development but then what are achievement if we have more poor then the middle class and the rich and the country is racially polarized and the social life in turbulent.....There would never be peace..... At the present with the success of the development programs and the economic cake are being fairly distributed..everyone are happy and enjoying life....Of course there are those that always not happy....That is the real world.... Malaysia today could boast of having full employment, the people living in peace and harmony and prosperity could be seen everywhere you go.....And because we quantum leap to this situation we now had to relied on two million of immigrants workers to sustained our economy... So my dear friend as a social engineer that was involved in the social engineering of the society in the early part of our independence and then up to the eighties...I believe that I know what is going on and have confident in the way our country is govern.... Of course there are black sheep but who say that this world is perfect....You are right in being concerned my friend...We all should be concern and not be contented....That is because we love this country more then anything else.....To me it is the only country that I got and I am enjoying living in it everyday of my life...... Merdeka! [the shout of Independence]

It has been a hot and humid day.... It is normally like this in June....We do not really see rain during this month but then like every other days in the tropic... It might just rain.... All of a sudden it would shower and then it is gone.... Some time we have lighting and thunderstorm..... I am real careful when using the internet when there is a thunder and lighting....It might struck the telephone line... On one occasion, just because I did not unplugged the electric cable from the socket and just switched it off, the motherboard of my desktop computer was destroyed and on another occasion my modem was also knock out after a strong lighting.... In the case of the modem, it was replaced by the Telecoms people quickly.... Well now when the weather show some lightning or thunder is on its way, I would shut off my computer, unplugged the power connection and hope for the best..... Well we can never tell the telephone line is still connected to the modem.... But if I am leaving the house for a few days then I would disconnect everything to be on the safe side..... Recently a friend of my got his modem struck by lightning... And he had to forgo his broadband connection for a while.... had to go back to the dial up connection.... Now he tells me that... What a difference broadband and dial up connection are..... With the dial up connection its look like it takes years just to open a blog page.... Well once you are used to broadband or ADSL, you would take things for granted and that the website just opened up fast and without much fuss.... But before the broadband when I was using the dial up service I was just contented with the speed then... Thinking that it is already fast enough, but once you start using broadband or ADSL, then you would realized that the dial up connection was just like snail compare to broadband, it is fast and you can leave your computer on and connected to the internet all the time.... In Malaysia it just cheap to get connected to broadband... It just cost RM66.00 or US$18,00 per month with unlimited use.... The reason it is that cheap because the Malaysian government wants as many Malaysia as possible to use the internet, as well as to encourage Malaysian to get involved into the ICT [Internet and Communication Technology] revolution... And for this purpose the government has set up an ICT city call Cyberjaya on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur and in the vicinity of Putrajaya, the new capital of Malaysia.... The reasons being that the government do not want the country to miss this ICT revolution, like it missed the industrial revolution before.... When in Malaysian especially in the big cities like Kuala Lumpur, Penang ...., getting connected to broadband is just simple, the are 'hot spot' at most coffee houses, so just pop in at one of these trendy coffee shop and get hook to the internet... Of course you have to buy coffee first.... Remember nothing is free in this world of ours... Well that is progress for us Malaysian.... A result of hard work combine with political stability and national harmony, the country has became one of the most prosperous in this part of the world....Drop in.. in Kuala Lumpur and you would understand what I meant as prosperity for this great country of ours Malaysia... My country and the country that I love..... Have a nice day.....

This morning I received an email from a friend that contain this joke....Since this is a common happening among couple, perhaps this would help to brighten up the day.... Read on.....

A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word.
An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position.
As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically, "Relatives of yours?"
"Yep," the wife replied, "in-laws."

A man said to his wife one day, "I don't know how you can be so stupid and so beautiful all at the same time."
The wife responded, "Allow me to explain. God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me;
God made me stupid so I would be attracted to you!

Well.. I hope you enjoy it as well as I did... It remind us of us is it not!...... Have a nice day.....

I was watching the Baghdad happening on TV regarding the formation of the new government in Iraq....Back of my mind I was saying 'What new government!!' they all are the same people that were in the Iraq Governing Council appointed by the US..... All the weeks the world waited for the announcement by the United nation's representative, Lakhdar Brahimi....But then when the announcement came....It just look like there were nothing new in the line up of the 'new' government..... Most of those people that are in the government now were living in foreign countries when Saddam rule, so I do not believe that they have the knowledge of local politic and skill to guide Iraq to a new democracy in the year to come......So actually we are back to square one.....So where do we go from here.... I still believe that the best for Iraq is for the United Nations to take full responsibility in the formation of a new government..... First there should be a new resolution to give the United Nations the mandate to take charge.... The first task is to conduct an election as soon as possible and at the same time the present troops lead by the US should leave Iraq and replaced by troops from countries selected by the United Nations....These UN troops should not includes the present troops from countries that join the occupier in Iraq now..... Without the American and the British troops and it advisers around,would bring some trust from the Iraqi populations, thus making its easy for the United Nation to work in Iraq ..... The Iraqi people are from a great civilization and have many learned and people of wisdom.... The population are largely literate and an intelligent lots, so I believe, just like us they all want to live in peace and harmony..... Let be sincere about this and lets give the people of Iraq a chance. As for the present government which was formed, I am not that optimistic about it.... We all have to wait and see what happen...Hope it do not just turn out like another Afghanistan now......

In the summer of nineteen seventy six I attended a training seminar in the then Federal Republic of Germany.... The training seminar: Internationales Studienzentrum Fur Landjugendarbeit - Centre International D'etudes Pour L'activite De La Jeunesse Rurale - International Study Center For Rural Youth Work was held at the Landvolkshochschule in Feuerstein starting Sunday June thirteen. Participants to this training seminar came from all over the world, we were then in our youth and we all live together at the hostel provided at the seminar site... And during the duration of the seminar which is almost a month, we all live like a big family, having our meals together and of course attending the training together.... For the benefit of all, the seminar was conducted in three languages group, German, French and English.... And I was in the English language group.... Although we were separated into these language group, because we had our meals together, play and socialized together, we soon became a big family and as days goes by we soon became close friends... Since the seminar centre is far away from the nearest town, the evening was spend together at the 'club' at the basement, where we would sit to enjoy the drinks and eating bar b q foods,till late at night.... This evenings session soon became our ritual and it was really great fun to be together..... At the seminar I learn many new things and acquire new knowledge for the promotion of rural youth programs..... To me the knowledge that I got were very useful in my career as a Youth Officer.... When I came back to Malaysia after the training, I introduce the knowledge and idea that I got in this training seminar, to train more youth leaders in the leadership training program.... The method that I learn was really good and effective in the training of the future leaders of this country... Today some of these youth leaders that I have trained, have graduated and became political leaders in their own right and are now serving the people as community and political leaders in various aspect in the country..... As for us who participate in this seminar we all went back to our respective countries hoping to keep in touch... But then as time passes we lost contact.... As for me since the introduction of the internet I had managed to makes contact again with one of the participants, a young lady from Australia.... Now she is a PhD and live in Perth... She now taught at one of the University in Perth.... We keep in touch and recently she came over to attend a seminar in Kuala Lumpur .... My wife and Me met her and we took her for lunch, as well as taking her around to see the city.... It was indeed a great reunion.... One reason I am writing this in my Blog is that I hope to makes contact again with those participants, who are now, like me in their golden age... Hoping that someone who visit my site, perhaps their children or whoever, would pass the news of my being in cyberspace all the time and that I could be easily be contacted by email at my site..... I do hope that we all could meet again..... At least in cyberspace.... Or in person,like my meeting with the lady from Australia last year in Kuala Lumpur.... Since I travel from time to time overseas... May be we could meet in the country that I may visit from time to time... So to those of you who read this, do pass the word around....Who knows something would materialized..... And we all could meet again after all those years..... And enjoy our golden age together.., nostalgic of our youth in Germany in the years gone by.....

It was indeed a great day... The first of June....Early this morning on looking at the email... I got a surprise....There glaring at me is an email from my 'lost' friend who live in the California desert....The last time I heard from her was some months ago when she said that she has sold her home and would move to Tucson, Arizona..... I was wondering where have she gone.... Without a word for so long....So some weeks ago I send her an email and was thinking of writing a note on my blog.... If she did not get my email, perhaps she would see the blog and would resume communication with me..... Well like all good things, my Guardian Angels was all the time watching over and got the message to her.... It has been like that with me, whenever I think of someone.... Then in a space of time.... I would somehow got connected... Either through an ecard or something else.... And in the case of this friend of mine that live in the California desert... She decided to sent me an email....Thanks the Great Angels of mine, that is always there to give me a helping hand...In times of needs...Its wonderful to have such a wonderful and caring Angels looking at you all the time.... Well it was indeed great to know that my dear friend is still kicking and having a great time in her golden age and would soon move to a new home to settled once again in her journey of life.... As I have said before.... We are always on a journey somewhere... And in the process we enjoy life to fullest....If You ever had the time.... Do sit down and relax and think, then you would find that everyday in your life, from the time you were born....You keep moving and moving...To a new phase of your life and never in a movement you are at one given point in space,in a given time....That means that we human or for that matter any life forms on this planet move along all the time and keep growing as well....On a journey of life.... In the process we grew up, accumulate knowledge.... have families....proceed on and on and there never ceased to be a stop on this journey... until your time is up....But then as we all know life goes on in another forms....For life is energy and energy just do not disappeared into thin air... It goes somewhere..... Where to... In Heaven I supposed.... To continue enjoying life in another form...For God is Great and Love and surely He would give us Love all the time..... Do take some time to ponder at the 'Interview with God'..Click the link on my site and learn and enjoy.......