"Lou Hei" with family and friends!

This dish consists of raw fish slices, crushed peanuts, shredded pomelo, carrots, radish, lettuces, and many varieties of colorful raw vegetables and fruits placed together on a large dish. When it is served, everyone will stand up with their chopsticks and toss up all the shredded ingredients as high as possible into the air with the chopsticks, while saying auspices wishes (吉祥话) out loud at the same time. Everyone who participate in the "lou hei" will have better business opportunities and success for the coming New Year and the higher one tosses, the greater will be his fortunes for the year.

CNY with the family

The very crowded SS2 market on the morning of Chinese New Year Eve.


At my Father's house on the first day of CNY. CNY is the time when family members all try to come home.

Dinner at the Curve where we enjoyed my daughter Deedee's generosity...a record of sorts because it was the first time she played host!

The joy of living

The south wind is driving
His splendid cloud-horses
Through vast fields of blue.
The bare woods are singing,
The brooks in their courses
Are bubbling and springing
And dancing and leaping,
The violets peeping.
I'm glad to be living:
Aren't you?

The Joy of Living
by Gamaliel Bradford(1768 - 1824)


Little miss gorgeous, Iffah, just turned one!


The Lion was mingling with the crowd at the Curve

When at this restaurant, the way to go is to eat one whole fish EACH! My mouth still watering...

Some years ago (16)

Date of entry: 14 June 1948

The 10th of June was a public holiday, being the King's birthday. I went to Ipoh on the 9th at 6 pm and brought 3 chickens, one for cousin and 2 for sister.

At 9 pm I took a walk in the Jubilee Park. Suddenly, Chew Jong Kiew met me and called me before I could see him. Thoo Yam and Low Sow Yee were also there, the former came to Ipoh on transfer 6 months ago and the latter had been in the Security Department for the past 9 years. Jong Kiew, the Station Hotel Clerk and I went to Celestial Cabaret and sat down for about 15 minutes. I took beer while they took light refreshements. This is the first time I met Jong Kiew since the Japanese Surrender, while we were in Kuala Lumpur we did not care to meet.

by Joon/Woon SC

(In the picutre, Joon/Woon SC is seated, 4th from the left)

Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger!

Image from photobucket.com

Image from http://www.newsbbc.org.uk/
Image from http://www.flatrock.org.nz/

• Every year 15 million children die of hunger



• For the price of one missile, a school full of hungry children could eat lunch every day for 5 years



• The World Health Organization estimates that one-third of the world is well-fed, one-third is under-fed one-third is starving



• One in twelve people worldwide is malnourished, including 160 million children under the age of 5.



• Nearly one in four people, 1.3 billion (a majority of humanity) live on less than $1 per day, while the world's 358 billionaires have assets exceeding the combined annual incomes of countries with 45% of the world's people.



• Half of all children under five years of age in South Asia and one third of those in sub-Saharan Africa are malnourished.



• To satisfy the world's sanitation and food requirements would cost only
  US$13 billion- what the people of the United States and the European Union spend
  on perfume each year.



• The assets of the world's three richest men are more than the combined GNP of all the least developed countries on the planet.



• Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger

Extract from http://library.thinkquest.org/C002291/high/present/stats.htm

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HAPPY NEW YEAR !

来自世界任何一个角落的朋友, 祝大家新年快乐 !

To all of you from every part of the world, HAPPY NEW YEAR !

How do I love thee?

How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

- Extract of a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806 –1861, one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era.

My nephew Fadrul's wedding several days ago to his sweetheart, Imane Saphiia Imhof from Switzerland.

New Year Resolutions

It's that time of year again when most of us find ourselves making "resolutions" for the New Year. Some may be very straight forward, such as, to lose 10 kilos, to stop smoking, to drink less coffee, to take a vacation to a place you have never been before, etc. Most, I might hope, should focus on self improvement and the betterment of ourselves as a person. I hope we all would want to be a better person whatever our religious inclination and we would want to make a resolution to pursue ways to achieve the desire to become a better person.

Flowers in bloom

If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom. ~Audra Foveo


My White Lady Anthuriums flowered again after 3 years. The last blooms were in September 2008.

PERHAPS you’d like to buy a flower?
But I could never sell. If you would like to borrow
Until the daffodil
Unties her yellow bonnet
Beneath the village door,
Until the bees, from clover rows
Their hock and sherry draw,
Why, I will lend until just then,
But not an hour more!

- Emily Dickinson (1830–86),a poet particularly taken with nature

Those in power should not take the people for granted

There is an on-going debate about "fairness". Let me quote Confucius.

According to Confucius, in order to lead, it is important for a leader to be fair so that all are given equal treatment and no one is considered inferior relative to the others. Confucius cautioned that those in power should not oppress or take for granted even the humblest of their people. "You may rob the Three Armies of their commander," said Confucius, "but you cannot deprive the humblest peasant of his opinion." If this does not happen, a leader will no longer be given the mandate to lead.

Image from http://photobucket.com

Chid abuse in Malaysia

Child abuse is an offence in Malaysia, punishable under the Child Act (2001) and the Penal Code (revised 1997). Offenders may be liable to a maximum fine of RM 50,000 or up to 20 years imprisonment, or both depending on the offence. Offenders may also be punished with whipping in addition to the fine and/or imprisonment.

Despite significant strides made by the Government in improving child protection measures in recent years, statistics from the Department of Social Welfare show a rise in reported child abuse cases in Malaysia:

 2008: 2,780 child abuse reports
 2007: 2,279 child abuse reports
 2006: 1,999 child abuse reports.

The national reported figures in Malaysia represent ONLY reported cases to the Department of Social Welfare, police or hospitals/clinics when children are treated. Global experience shows that only a small proportion of child abuse of children is reported and investigated, and few perpetrators are held to account.

Source: http://www.unicef.org/malaysia/GetonBoard-Factsheet-Child-Abuse-in-Malaysia.pdf

Some years ago (15)

Date of entry: 4/6/1948

(The entry was made in Chinese. This is a translation)

Last night I dreamt of my Aunty sitting on a bench. Sitting together with her was a man about middle-aged, wearing traditional Chinese costume. The man was neither fat nor thin, his face was full and square and he was hearty looking. I also saw wife and Hou. The man said "Do you know who I am? I am the god's angel who have come to protect Hou". Then I woke up from from my dream.

Grilled fish anyone?

Found these mackerels grilling on charcoal fire at the backlane of a popular eatery in KD, while waiting for my car to be washed! Give me the creeps to think that I have eaten there several times! Yaks!!

Two sisters

Two sisters through the years.

One used to be an introvert, the other nearly left home for Bollywood