The Emperor

I had the honour of meeting Emperor Zu Di at the Zheng He Cultural museum. His majesty was responsible for saving Malacca from being conquered by the Siamese. Zheng he was responsible for bringing Sultan Mudzaffar for an audience with the emperor who promised protection in exchange for trading and berthing rights to Zheng He's fleet.

Jars from Zheng He's fleet and more jars. Apparently the museum used to be Zheng He's chilling out spot whenever he stopped over.

A bell and Zheng He's magnificent fleet. A must for historical buffs.

Satay Celup

What better to do than to have a demo in Melaka on a Saturday morning so one can wake up at 0600hrs handle the call of nature and shoot down south. Demo was at 1100hrs. Location: Mahkota Medical.

Now the exciting part...after the demo we, Adrian and I, were brought to Medan Pahlawan which is the latest shopping centre located underground beneath the padang. It has 480 shoplots. Amazing by our standards. After some window shopping we were hungry and thirsty. It was a hot sunny afternoon.

We first had to have the Chicken Rice Ball which is a must have whenever in Melaka. It's not the best chicken rice...my late ah poh can cook better. In fact i was first introduced to chichken rice balls by her. It's a hainanese way of preparing rice for long trips. Easier to eat a ball of rice than to fiddle with forks and spoons or chopsticks while travelling in a carriage, bus or car.

Later about 5ish we had Satay Celup and coconut water which was something different. It's luk luk without the water and in place of water is satay sauce. It was...quite interesting but best of all was the coconut water. People actually line up for this stuff and they are willing to stand on the street while waiting for a place.

Was it that good? Boleh tahan la...

Celebrating Me!

Today I celebrate the Gift I am. I started celebrating ME since i was 32.

Celebrate the Gift you are and light the lives of others before you depart this ethereal plane. What happens after death is another journey which we know nothing off. Handle that when we stand at the gates of Heaven or Hell. As we yet live and breathe, make a stand and BE the difference you want to see in this world.

Give, Live and Make a Difference!

Celebrating Mom & Dad

Friday June 15th, I celebrated my birthday with 56 people looking at relationships with mom & dad.

41 years ago this man and woman brought me into this world. It was a perfect world where i was brought into. Being the first born and also the first of my generation i was privy to a lot of loving. I experienced lotsa love so much so that when mom & dad went different ways i was not too disturbed or maybe i was just too young to know. They may not have had the perfect relationship but they never stopped loving me. I felt love in abundance as my uncles and aunties doted on me. My ah poh & ah kung became "mom & dad" to me and loved me lots too and ah kung became the man in my life as that time mom & dad were teaching in Taiping and they came up Maxwell Hills when they were on holidays.

I grew up in a loving & caring environment right on top one of Malaysia's hill stations. It took someone making a stand for me 9 years ago on a Wednesday telling me, "If I don't see you by 8, you are no longer my brother!" and hung up on me! This stand showed me the immense love that was abound in my life and that mom & dad did the best they knew how.

Today i make a stand for others in discovering what's possible for them and today i celebrate mom & dad for bringing me into this beautiful life!

Bananaz

Bananas laced with wasabi, push ups, wearing underwear Superman style and drinking a concoction of wasabi, bananas & Guiness Stout is just some of the things we heng tai's did for Ah Gan (whom i have known and worked with for 10 years) when he went to get the bride.

Cocky before getting into the elevator & suffering from drinking wasabi laced orh kau.

Two heng tai's doing push ups...supposedly to get them to hurl up the orh kau i guess before eating ang mo tan. Once in the groom sweats big time...phew.

Finally the poor bugger gets to slip the ring on the bride and vice versa.

Wishing you both eternal love and great sex!

Celebrating Geminis

Braving Friday after-office traffic to Mid Valley may be somewhat of a crazy thing to do but we Hailam's and our other halves are prone to craziness. We brothers and sisters have it in our blood...our halves have no choice. Follow or go crazy!

We were celebrating Sue and Moi...who happens to be getting a year older soon. We all have busy schedules so we brought it forward. Pops was not there cos he was throwing a tantrum... just cos Jo did not mention in her sms that we will be celebrating his birthday too. Anyway traffic to the Valley was frickin' freaky this particular day with rain and all. Took me an hour and an almost bursting bladder to get into the parking lot. Sis in law Mae overshot and headed towards Seremban, U-ey and ended up in Bangsar before finding her way to Ninja Jones by 9pm where we were celebrating. I'm glad she persisted and made her way there. She saved the day with the cake she bought and mother and Jesse was with her too.

So my wish to celebrate my birthday with both my moms came through. Would have been great if pops was there but he was too focused on himself.

Josh, Jesse & Danielle doing the choo choo round the table. Mother & Mom must be pondering the fate of the remaining unmarried & unattached kids in the family...namely Steve & Jo. Ha ha

The Blog Brothers, The Grissly Sisters & The In-Laws all celebrating...till the bill came. The food at Ninja Jones was wonderful but the company was even better.

Thank you guys for the wonderful & pricey dinner. I thank God for Blessing me with such a wonderful, loving, crazy family and this includes the In-Laws too. I love you all! Yeeha!

A New Journey

Today i embark on a new journey. This is not another trek in the jungle but a journey of life which i started 9 years ago and i have been avoiding this part of my pilgrimage. This is the Advanced trail that has been the chip on my shoulder. I am yet to experience what it will be but today i commit to the cause.

Like this tree I too will Make a Stand for the flora and fauna seeking to reach the highest that they can BE!

Mother

Friday night at Fridays was special for me. June 1st many a year ago we were blessed with our mother. A mother whose love knows no bounds. Unconditional was all she knew how. Her love has grown through us and made us special as we are today. We are her gift to mother earth. With the help of my cuz Jeanie & Jason and their spouse, my grousome sisters Jo & Sue and family, mom and the Blog Brothers and my sister in law Mae, we gave mother a surprise birthday party at Fridays' @ The Curve.

Mother...all smiles and standing on the chair while the crew of Fridays' sang her their special birthday repertoire. I could experience her happiness as i took these shots of her. The smile on her face is priceless. The smile on her face puts smiles in my heart. Happy Birthday with lotsa Love from all of US!

Merry Month of May

Flowers bloom, bees a buzzing, birds a chirping...that's just a few of my favorite things. May seems to be a very productive month i notice. My aquarium if swimming with young 'uns and after last sunday's trek i found these two buggers making use of my antenna...they could have gotten a room but no....