Greetings Earthling...

Up close this beauty looks like an alien being but for it's virginal white petals it looks more like a princess from faerie folklore.

The first time i laid eyes on it i decided i had to get it for my friend and Brother under the Sun, Matt who has just acquired his new pad and celebrating the last remaining days of being 30 something which he is, I'm sure holding on very tightly to. Anyways my thoughts were that he should have something other than himself to look at every morning before he leaves his house for work or play. It will give him an opportunity to be in "relationship" with a wild beautiful thing. I love wild beautiful things. Don't you? Besides this babe ain't gonna talk back. She may be difficult but she definately won't talk back. Perfect ain't it?

Admiring it's beauty has also allowed me to marvel at God's creation. Interestingly I happened to come to this particular chapter in Paolo Coelho's latest book...Like The Flowing River and it started with... Pablo Picasso said, " God is, above all, an artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the ant. He never followed one particular style. He simply kept on doing what he
felt like doing."

No particular significance to this blog other than this Beauty being one of God's creation but it is a sign...i know this.

Taiping 1929

Peking Hotel built in 1929 if the plaque is to be believed is a majestic looking building. It has 22 rooms for the budget traveller.

Located smack in the heart of town...where the food is. It would be an excellent place to stay for gluttons. Walk around any corner and you will find food. I love old architecture. Has character unlike the new square blocks you find nowadays. Totally cold and souless.

This time back i did more than just eat sleep, eat sleep and eat & sleep. I had a walk about this side of town and decided to take a couple of shots of the surrounding architecture. The Peace Hotel is another wonderful sight.

Of course there are other interesting erections too!

Motherlode - ah por's gold

Finally after all that frantic and andrenaline surging search the 2 brothers found the motherlode.

Their heart stopped. Pulse raced. Andrenaline rushed. Hands shaking. The room became quiet, you could hear sweat popping out of their glands as the little wooden makeshift box was opened and a cloth wrapped something was inside. Everyone stood still, eyes wide open as the cloth was unwrapped and lo and behold...ah por's gold, the motherlode was found! Mouths were wide open by now.

The famed 'gold belt' was found. It was actually a very long necklace, almost 3ft of old pure gold. Bracelets the likes of which i would not dare wear out for fear of getting my hand chopped off were found too. These were ah por's gift to her sons. Mom & her sister were given the earings, one of jade and the other of low grade diamonds. They were left to them as momento's rather than for it's value in cash.

It's value in BEing a memory of a loved one far outweights it's weight in gold besides providing a hell of an adventure to the family...ah por's gold belt.

Treasures...

Many were the treasures dug up from beneath the bed, in the cupboard, in between the post and all the nooks and crannies. Crafty old lady ah por is.

There were monies kept in mustard tins, tobacco tins and tobacco wraps and mom thought the RM300 she found was a lot. Lucky she didn't throw the cupboard out. Phew. Ah por's ingenious way of keeping them in tins safed them from the rats and roaches and of course the little teaser monies left in the easy to find places would have kept any normal thief happy and stop looking but not the family treasure hunters. They were not so much looking for monies but the much heard and phantasized about...gold belt.

The search for the gold belt became more and more exciting for the little tins of money that they found. Ah por must have had little faith in our local banks. The hunt picked up steam and no pockets of space were left unsearched. Pillows, mattresses...all were squeezed and prodded...just in case.

My treasures are the 2 tham thungs that ah por uses and the little tobacco tin...james' request.

The Hunt Begins...

23rd Oct marked the 3rd week of ah por's passing.

It was also the Deepa-Raya weekend which was a welcome break for many. I was back to hand me mom her very first mobile a motorola C139. Time has come for her to get one since she will be extremely mobile nowadays with ah por gone so it's only apt that she be reachable when she's out with her TaiChi aunties...trained by sifu Chai.

It was also a weekend where the son's of ah por were to go home and pay their respects to her. After respects were paid to the chee cheong fun, kai si meen, chow kuey tiaw, lor mai fun & curry mee and of course ah poh... the hunt began for ah por's treasure. No bed left unturned, no cupboard unopened. Cannot open also found ways to open. Lots of rubbish were found and thrown out...of course after close scrutiny. The uncle's were like cat's looking for mice.

I have a feeling mom left it for them to find so that they can help her spring clean too after all mom and i already found the motherload. Ingenious.

My New Babe.

My new babe...My very first orchid. Bought it from a pasang kia (klang boy) apek at Plaza Damas. Cost me RM20 cos no flower yet. He say if got flower it will cost me more. I have also got a bag of kambing shit to fertilize the bugger.

My fascination with orchids came about because of my attraction to it's beautiful and lasting flowers. After coming in close proximity with her sisters "the Dancing Ladies" & seeing so many of these beautiful plants i decided to get one. This will by no means distract me from my current hobby of "bird" watching but it will be the beginning of a new relationship.

Buying my first orchid was like courting a girl. Checking her out and asking this and that about her from her pasang kia "father". Had to get tips from him on how to care for her and all that, so i had to be nice to the old man too. What she likes and how wet i should get her? Rather personal stuff but just needed to be sure. Gotta get permission mate.

I guess itwould be a long term commitment for a commitmentphobic like me and YOU...you know who you are. Lots of love and nurturing would be required. Perhaps it will mirror my relationship too. Hmm..

What does she look like? I don't know. I guess that will be our mystery till she blooms.

Kasih Sayang Welfare Home

Last saturday was a different saturday for me. Not the usual breakfast with the sister, nephew and mother for me but breakfast with whirlwind wendy & nutty nat.

We had somethin up our sleeves, we decided to go make a difference to a little home in Serendah but not before having a go at Gino's Nasi Lemak & fried chicken, cham si and barley. After filling ourselves satisfactorily we started our journey to The Kasih Sayang Welfare Home in Antara Gapi, Serendah. It took us about an hour to get there packed with some clothes for the folks and books collected by whirlwind wendy from her little library project and armed with an intention to make a difference.

This little single story house is home to 6 old folk & 4 children. Not many but it is run by a couple who lives a couple of doors away. It started off from the wife's conviction to help old folks who she sees as parents to her. She herself is an orphan. Her husband a tow truck guy supports her by using part of his salary to rent and run the place. They also get supplies from nearby folks and not so nearby folks who bring rice, potatos, onions and canned foods. He is wary of canned foods tho cos some of these are sold past their expiry dates. He is careful to check them always. The household expenses is about RM5,000 per mth if i recall correctly.

This place was discovered by whirlwind wendy. Don't ask me how she does it through her hectic days and nights...but then again she is whirlwind. She brought me there and i was touched by this couples conviction that i decided to do what i can to make a difference. They ask not for money but help them with groceries and sundries.

I spoke with a 51 yr old lady who had her leg amputated because of diabetes. She has a prosthetic which she says cost RM4,000. She was sent there by her sister ( oh, this place also takes in old folks whose families have difficulty looking after. They pay for their boarding and food.). Apparently she became childlike after her amputation. Rather chatty hokkien lady. Then there is this 57 yr old lady who looks at us and calls...ah pah, ah mah. I think they like to see people and talk to people. Must be lonely without family around.

Let us make a difference, put a smile on a face and light a life. 

Apom

Apom...my favorite kueh kueh.

A must whenever i go back Taiping or when I'm in Penang. It's way cheaper up north. In KL it's 50sen a piece. In Taiping & Penang 20sen. Made of egg and flour, good only when it's hot and crispy. It has to be sufficiently egged and not too floury then it will be tasty, otherwise...crappy.

Footnote: it's one of thjose things thats gotta be eaten hot. Once it's cold it's soggy, saggy and crappy. You been warned.

Can't wait for my next trip back for my apom tens.

Garden of Eden

These are very old buildings in the heart of Taiping. The front probably fronts a shop of sorts and behind it as shown here is the living quarters.

I took this picture cos i just love old buildings...it has history. Who knows what these buildings have seen and been through. Wars, scandals, birth of a nation, who knows? Only the walls would have seen and heard much. These buildings...based on my ah por's house would have a yard on the top floor. It's kinda like a drying yard. It's open air and some people put a sort of zinc roof over it and use is as a balcony, where you can probably chill out in the evening or sip oolong or wine al fresco.

Now if you look carefully to the top left corner of the picture you will see an uncle tending to his garden...which is another use for the place. I think that's pretty cool. I think everyone should have a garden to tend to. It helps one relief stress, gives one something to do, a form of exercise, beautifies the home and allows one to get connected to mother earth. Get our hands dirty with the soil that brought us up. Gives one a bit of greens in our concrete jungle, not to mention creating a little green lung in one's home.

Close your eyes and listen then to the rustling of the leaves when the wind blows and smell the sweet smell of earth amongst the greens...in your own little piece of Eden.

Ah Por's stash

Junior is holding one of ah por's thang thiu. He of course does not know the pain and discipline one of those things inflict. Daddy knows best and so does his brothers and cousins not to mention their uncles too.

We use to throw them canes away but somehow or other they kept cropping up. Ah por seems to pull them out of thin air. We were not amused i tell you. If you had watched John Woo's A Better Tomorrow, take a look at the scene where Mark kor had his stash of guns along the corridor, in the flower pots leading to the private room where he was to kill his enemy and imagine ah por walking down the long corridors of our Taiping house pulling them thang thiu's out from nowhere.





Here's a pix of my brother finding some of ah por's stash. A whole frickin roll of it too. No wonder the stock was endless. Grandson & great grandson, a generation apart linked by her thang thiu.


And yes...there are rumours of hidden stash too. A stash of a different kind. Treasures a century old perhaps...

Grandma's Gone

She was the first Cantonese woman i knew.

I always thought that the world was filled with Hainanese, Indian ladies that spat blood on the ground and Englishman that flew in on helicopters. Those were the only people i ever saw when i lived up in Maxwell Hills with my grandparents. We never had TV then. Only a radio playing what we now call oldies. It was only when i started schooling that i came down to Taiping town to live with my mom & dad. It was then that i met my other grandparents. Ah por was cantonese and Ah Koong was hokkien.

Ah Por was a cigarette rolling, thang thiu (cane, rotan) wielding cantonese woman. She seemed to be the One in control of the household. Her word was law. She didn't have to tell you that, you could feel it. It was foolish for anyone to even dispute it, only fools dare dispute that fact. All of us grandchildren have her to thank for how we turned out by virtue of her disciplining. She ruled the corridors with her ciggie and her thang thiu. She must have got tips on the art of thang thiu munn chee yuk from the then Wong Fei Hung actor Kwan Tuck Hing who she claims to have met.

On Oct 3rd, ah por left us to join ah koong at the ripe old age of 91 leaving me with her question..."ah por kei si cheng yau tak yum lei pooi chou?" which will forever haunt me.

Sunshine...

Oct 1st, in a year i care not to remember nor do care when, was borne a lass of Sunshine i have come to name.

A fair friend and buddy who have spent many a special moment with me ever since i met her one fine wednesday evening in 1998. We have gone through ups and downs in our lives and have had the blessed companionship of one another to tide through our dark moments. The moment we met we connected in a way that only old friends could. The moment our souls touched we knew we were continuing a friendship from a time long long ago.

The items shown above are mementoes that she has brought back for me from faraway lands. The pebble with "Carpe Diem" carved upon it to remind me that Life is Now..."gather ye rosebuds while ye may...seize the day". Excalibur...my obsession. The triangular pendant is a Southern Tuchone tribal art depicting a Hummingbird representing "agility" and the other with the cross in the centre is another tribal art pendant depicting the four directions of earth and it's elements if i remember correctly.

Today is the day we were blessed with a special person that is Love, Passion & Compassion. Today i celebrate YOU! Sunshine, if you happen by this blog...

Happy Birthday with love,
excalibur.

Balance?

Is this a show of balance?

On the left of the horizon the weather looks perfect but on the right side it looks like a thunderstorm. Nature's way of showing the Balancing act?

Yin Yang in all it's splendour?

Dancing Lady

This is one pretty lady. All fully dressed and ready to tango complete with headgear and all that. Elegant isn't she?