Got a SMS from our niece in Kuantan saying that her mother is seriously ill and in hospital, call her to find the latest situation and was told that this time it is rather serious, I discuss this with my wife and she say that we should visit her........ Well we decided to visit her the next day, that mean we have still to use the old road to Kuantan.... I had wanted to visit Kuantan, my hometown when the new Highway open to the publics come this August, but then we just could not wait for that day but instead to go early and visit here at the hospital....And then proceed with our holiday on the east coast.... So just after nine on Friday I drove to Kuantan and arrived there as usual four hours later..... All over the roadside there are sign boards showing the direction to the new Highway that could be use in just a week away...... On arrival at Kuantan we decided to visit her straight away at the Kuantan General Hospital...... It is one of those thing of old age, complication and other factors when one get old..., She is almost seventy and lost her husband when she was rather young, she did not remarried..... They had three children, two daughter and a son and now the two daughters had married and had children of their own, so she is a grandmother now, the boy has yet go get married and live all the time in London and only came back from time to time..... Well that is life and all of us are in passing on the blue planet..... We saw her at the bedside in the first class section of the hospital and talk to her.....Telling her to be strong and take it east for illness is part of life and we all had it sometime or other  our life.... After the visiting hours end we left her and head for the nearest hotel to spend the night there, before proceeding to Kuala Terengganu the next morning.......

Hi! I am back.... Have not been blogging for almost a week, went for a short holiday to the east coast.... Just back this evening and would be blogging again as usual.....

Blogging, yet another day and life continue to be wonderful.... Just an hour or so I met a friend at a coffee shop having his breakfast of tosei and teh tarik, among the usual breakfast that million of Malaysian have every morning, He ask me to join him for breakfast.... Malaysian always invite friends who happen to be around at eating time to join in and sometime it happen to friendly stranger also.... It is our way and it has been like that all the time that I know...., the Chinese Malaysian, when meeting friends or other would greet with the usual greeting of " Sudah makan" in Malay, which mean Have you eaten.... The Chinese never greet the westerner's way of saying How are you..... They always say Have you eaten..... It is their concerned for the wellbeing of their fellow being, that makes them greet others  this way.... It is indeed a beautiful way of greeting others.... Now a day one just say Hi or How are you or 'Apa khabar' which in Malay mean How are you..... The greeting may differ among Malaysian, but it meant the same.... It is a contact point to start the friendship or to make one.... I did not accept the invitation of my friend to join him for a drink  simply because I am having a takeaway of the same breakfast back to my house to enjoyed it with my wife and daughter, I do this from time to time for the love of it all.... Enjoying breakfast with my dear one..... I took the takeaway and thanks my friends for the invitation and head for home before this takeaway get cold....... That was this morning breakfast of tosei .... A favorite south Indian breakfast spread, that had been Malaysianised......... That is how my day start today..... Great......To all my friends.... Have a nice day......

The renovation work at the ceiling is progressing well.... It is getting to look like the image of the ceiling that I had imaging in my mind..... To get to this level of artistic work I had to spend many hours of supervising the workers, for they lack the imagination, just a sorts of a semi skilled foreign workers that would just do any works that you ask them to do, they would always say they could do the work but if you do not supervised them all the time, the work would turn messy and not to your liking.... It cost money to do renovation works and if the job is not well done, it would ruin rather then getting the place  better then before.... So knowing this facts I took time off to do the supervision myself...... And I am happy that they followed all my instructions..... Of course sometime they do not like being told to this or that, but it is my house and I am going to see this renovation all the days later on and to the workers they would see it for a few days only and after that they would leaves and if the job is not well done, it is the house owner that would be left miserable..... So not to be in that position, I spend times to discuss with the workers what had to be done and it look like things are going fine up till now... One thing we should know that doing renovation works of a house is easy said then done and for some works it is difficult to get good contractor to do the job well and you yourself should have some skill in interior decoration if you want to get the job done to your liking, otherwise it is worth getting the service of professional, if not your money would be gone to waste, with a poor job... Most of the immigrant workers in this country say they could do the job, but Malaysian know well that from where these workers came, they simply do not have the know how of interior decoration except for a few, that you find from time to time.., you have to look for such person if you want to get workers that could do the job for you well... I got one person for this job but then he could not do it alone, so he had to get his friends to help, that is where the problem lies.... Some want to get a quick job done and get paid and some have no interest in the artistic approach, so one had to be extra careful when getting foreign workers to do the jobs that had to do with fine arts, like interior decoration... Since I love interior decoration and have some knowledge of this aspect of home decoration.... I did the supervision myself and for this I had to spend considerable time and at time get frustrated.... But then when dealing with such workers you had to expect it..... Like do not leave anything that you love, old woods, stoned or artifact lying around, they might not understand the value of these things and would use to cut timber or to support ladder or other uses.... This just happen to a piece of hard wood that I had kept all along for interior deco and they took it for a simple piece of wood to cut other wood on it, lucky I saw it before they create more damage to it.... So tell the worker not to touch any things that are around and to asked first before using anything that is yours.... It would save a lot of inconvenience later on..... I am happy that things are getting on as planned up till now and hope that it would turn out alright and we would have a new ceiling at the front of the house......Well that was my day.....

I am doing some renovation to the front part of our house, the ceiling need some improving.... so I got a freelance sorts of workers.... and get him to put a touch up for my ceiling.....And because this workers do not have the knowledge of renovation works that need artistic approach.... I had to be there to supervised the works, so that it would turn out to my liking.....So I hardly had any time to blogged today.....

Oh! What a great time we had last evening.... It was yet another wedding reception.... This time it was held at the grand ballroom of the Mutiara Hotel in the golden triangle of Kuala Lumpur.. This hotel use to be the Kuala Lumpur Hilton, the place to be in the seventies and the eighties... It was closed for some time and renovated and back as a new five star hotel of a class of its own, now it is know as Mutiara.... Mutiara is pearl in Malay..... It is indeed a jewel in this part of the city.... The hotel, then Kuala Lumpur Hilton was our play ground in those days, being back to this hotel after a lapse of  sometimes... Seem like going back in time to the great time we have had in the days of our youth.... Now entering the grand ballroom which still use the name Nirwana, it remind me of the many days and night that I organized official function at this great hall, it was then the only ballroom that could accommodate two thousand guest at a go.... The new renovation have been given a  face lift and a new life of it own, though the hall is still known as the Nirwana.... To me personally it bring pleasant memories of our days together attending dinner and dance at this great hall....  Now in our golden age, my wife and me are happy that this venue once where we had enjoyed the party and the dinner in another period of our life.... is still there in its glory.... For this wedding reception this hall were decorated with the pomp and splendor that befitting the King for the day.... We call the new wed couple the King and Queen for the Day.... It is one of those day of a Malay wedding where tradition and contemporary blended together into a glamorous fusion of today's culture... in the making..... As we arrived we were greeted by the host, a closed friend and his charming wife... with all the cheerfulness in their greeting and the happiness that come to parents at such an occasion, a wedding of their daughter.... We makes our way into the great hall and met the others that had arrived earlier and saw the arrival of others in their best dress, some like us came in our tradition dress and the young would come in their fashioned contemporary dress.... in all the color of the rainbows, so vibrant and blended well with the event of the day..... The wedding reception of  a young couple...... After all the guests had arrived, the guest were treated with serenade of great music and song of bygone era... era of the Ma and Pa that host this wedding reception.... They were of our age and soon the music and songs  transported us back in times to those days of the seventies and early eighty... I guessed all the music and songs were specially selected by the host.... It bring me back memories of the great time we have had in this same hall years ago......  We makes ourselves comfortable at one of the table where a couple, a friend of ours were already sited, we greet each other and talk about this new renovated hall, soon more guests arrived and three more couple join us at our table..... The table were beautifully laid, with a bouquet of flowers placed on the centre together with the menu, it shows a mixture of Chinese food and traditional Malaysian cooking, we enjoy the chat as the musician play on entertain us with the oldies.... Beautiful songs accompany by a combo of three professional musician...... It was really well presented and personally I really enjoy listen to those old melodies and songs..... Soon the bride and the groom parade in leads by little children, proudly dressed for the occasion... It was like in those Cinderella scene, with music to company, making it a colorful scene to watch, the bride and the groom follows behind dress smart in contemporary clothing, specially made for this occasion, a gorgeous couple indeed..... They parade on to the main dais where they present themselves to the public for the first time as husband and wife..... Then they seated at the main table for the dinner to start..... First as a starter, the famous Chinese dish 'shark fin soup' were served, it was well done and refreshing to enjoy such a wonderful cooking, I enjoy shark fin soup and it is only at the Chinese restaurant that such dish are served.... It has a flavor of its own and only the Chinese know how to create the greatness of the taste of the wonder this starter dish.... We enjoy the dish while the waiter brought more foods to the tables,.... And soon another waiter served rice, for those dishes that were placed on the table were best eaten with white rice, as it is usually done in this country.... Rice being our staple food, no dinner is complete without rice..... It has been our tradition and we love it, for rice is the miracle food that have been with us all along our civilization..... The spread of foods laid on the table in varieties... ranging from grilled prawns, roasted chicken, beef in Soya sauce with spring anions, soft taufoo in mix vegetables, fried fish, and many more.... It all goes very well with white rice..... We sat to enjoy the meals while listening to the music and the song that were serenaded by three youth, who themselves played string instruments, it was indeed a great performance a la the Spanish quintet, once make popular by young Filipinos....... As usual there were speeches, but it was done well, short and sweet..... And the Host were seen going from table to table to meet the guests, and at our table, being a close friend that live in the same neighborhood, I took some pictures with my digital camera.... Just to immortalize some of the scene of this great traditional event...... We chat and continue eating and then watch the couple taking picture with a change of dress, first in their western dress, than a sorts of a traditional Asian dress.... It was indeed a beautiful sight to watch.... These young couple enjoying the moment of their life.... Like we say here ' King and Queen' for a day.... They then dance to the tune of a slow waltz...... Enjoying themselves and at the same time provide the quest a scene of the loving couple at their best......What a day..... The music continue to play some oldies and to me it was real entertaining...... At the break outside.... I then met the young musician and congratulate them for the great performance........ Like all good thing, wedding events like this brings back old memories and it was real nice to recall some of the same event of our wedding that took place some forty years ago........ Now in our golden age..... We sit to enjoy another events in the ever going tradition that are pass from generation to generation, the pomp and the splendor of Malay wedding still the same, well preserved and adapting to the time, the time of our grandchildren....... One of the most important aspect of Malay wedding reception is that guests would arrived in their best clothes, whether traditional or contemporary..... Which in a way add color to the already colorful events...... Soon the event draws to an end with the serving of dessert and coffee or tea...... I love coffee..... And enjoy the great coffee that were served at the table.... With that, the event ended at just after eleven in the evening...... We then congratulate the couple who had waited at the entrance and thanks the hosts for a great evening that we all enjoyed...... What an Evening..... A night to remember and talk about.., a receptions well done...... Great thanks to those proud parents that hosted this glorious event.....

Wow!.... Thanks Blogger for the new look to the formatting, those new buttons are really great, it would make blogging much fun... You people  at Blogger are really great, a really creative bunch of people...Thanks again for a job well done... I am indeed glad that I blog using Blogger... Have a nice day to all...

I just do not know why some people do not want to use their own name when sending email.., It is alright to use your registered user name but your real name should appear when sending mail.. They would use all sort of other names but their own.... I thinks there is something wrong with these people.. He or she probably have some sorts of a psychological problems and I think to some degree it shows the profile of such a person, like afraid of something or others.... I simply do not like to get email message from such address especially those that do not reveal their own name.... Just the other day I received an email from someone who works in one of the states in the Malaysian Borneo, who just refer himself as just siapa aku which translated into English means 'Who's Me or Who am I'... And to makes matter worse he use the Malay word aku instead of saya.... Using the Malay word aku to mean yourself to the general public is rather rude, the word saya would be a better word when making contact with the publics at large, especially to any new acquaintances or someone you have yet to meet... aku meaning Me is used among close friends only.... Why are these people hiding behind such name in their email address, I just do not really understand.... Perhaps they are worried to exposed themselves for the fear of the unknown.... To all such people out there I would like to advise them that they should not be afraid or shy to use their own name in an email address.... Instead they should be proud of their own name and used it as often as possible... Writing behind such a name shows that they are hiding something or are just afraid of exposing themselves.... So please be human about it and get out of that cocoon and be yourself....For being your true self is more important and precious than anything else... Hiding something!!...Is not a good sign, so be sincere about yourself and with that you would be able to handle the world better.... Have a nice day.....