Home Sweet home?? An End or a Beginning??

Dear ppl..
It has been a while since I last posted the blog.. (Thanx to the China "GFW")

Finally the project in China Hefei has completed...
Surprise, surprise... I was bit "reluctant" to leave this place... (I shall post some pix in the upcoming blogs..."to show some highlights")
Then, I realised that I had the kind of same feeling when I was a student back in Bristol, UK....

Remember ppl used to tell me, it takes a while for you to get use to a new environment, and once you are acquainted & familiarised with a place, you will felt "reluctant" to leave.... I think it is happening again!!

So, after checking in my luggages, etc... I was waiting in the departure hall.
I sent the following sms to my fellow friends who I newly met during my stay in Hefei...

"Dear Fren..:)
Leaving Hefei is not the end for me but a beginning of a* new journey for me...:)
I am very glad to have met u all and went through the ups and downs together as time passed by... At least I have known u...
Stay alive lively and keep in touch, we'll see each other again...
Thank you and Goodbye!"

Come to think about it now... I should have written...
"*a beginning of ANOTHER new journey...." which is true!!

I believe "the End is the Beginning is the End"....
Life is always an ongoing process... it doesn't stop... it just keep moving!!!
And we as human, we must be able to adapt ourselves to this process and go with the flow!!

Welcome back to BLOGSPOT in KL....

I was glad to have come back to KL to start posting blog up again...
The reason that I have stopped blogging from China Hefei is that I couldn't log into blogspot......

I was later found out that it was blocked by the so-called Great Firewall (GFW) of China... great, huh??

Oh well, I supposed this country really spent quite a huge sum of money to do this "great" job....

May 13th.....

The May 13 Incident if you see from Wikipedia is a term used for the Sino-Malay riot in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which began on May 13, 1969.......

Oh well, honestly speaking... the past is something for us to learn and not something for us to be scared of. The thing is that people who are born after 1969 are not only not aware of them, they are considered to be borned into this new & mature country - "Malaysia - Truly Asia".....

We are people of 21st century... and guess what did I see on my iGoogle home page on the Star Online Newspaper 13.5.2009 Most Viewed?
Hubby had sex using cucumbers and brinjals.... what the....

Interestingly, the most viewed issues is not something we will remember or to learn from, but something new instead...

Obviously I find such a topic interesting... but.....
I thought we are a more conservative South East Asia country and this kind of issues are considered taboo?

Perhaps we are opening up in our culture too...... haha....interesting...

Happy Wesak Days & Mother's Day.....

Over the weekend, the celebration of Wesak (a.k.a. Vesak) Day coincides with Mother's Day......

"Be part of solution", urges Najib during the Wesak Day 2009 celebration in Fo Guang Shan Dong Zen Temple in Jenjarom.

Our newly appointed PM is taking his duty to foster a better relationship with the rakyat.

It is true that if you are not part of a solution, you are part of the problem.

I agree totally with him the moment he mentioned that "For instance, when an accident happens, they should help the victims without asking whether they are Chinese, Malay or Indian because they are all Malaysians in need of help...... I wonder sometimes in filling up forms we were being asked, "are you bumiputera or non-bumiputera?"

At times before I "checked the box in the form", I hesitated for a while, as I was born in Malaysia, brought up in Malaysia, singing negaraku all this while, I kinda considered myself as bumiputera lorr....

Whatever it is, I respected & love our very own unique Malaysian rojak culture very much. This is my country, my home...

Malaysia, my motherland... Happy Mother's Day....
& of course, to my own mother too......hehe...


p.s. The "baby-hand"pix I took it from http://snapshotcap.blogspot.com/2008/05/mothers-day.html

Back home in Malaysia?? not quite.......

Oh my..... Today is so warm!!!

Stepping into my toilet for my usual "routine" this morning felt like being back home in KL.... Well, the temperature has simply rises back to our "normal" tropical climate...haha..

Ironically, I hope the temperature decreases a little...
but sorry, I can't do so, this is because according to the policy of.........

Sounds familiar, that's just exactly the world that we live in now...

Either we are in, or we are out. The "somewhere-in-the-middle" is for us to determine and this is where our "attitude" comes into play...

It is the "Attitude" that makes our day.
Like it or not this constitutes the way we live in our everyday life.

So, instead of complaining the weather is cold or the weather is hot, be bold and face it... and turn something out of it!

Oh.... I miss Bristol now!!!

Malaysia - Selamat Hari Vaisakhi...

Having brought up in Malaysia all this while, I did not know this significant day for my fellow Malaysian Sikh community until I was back in KL last week....

Believe it or not, thanx to our "very normal" traffic jam while attending the seminar in Eastin Hotel along Jalan Dato Abu Bakar 16/1, I managed to see this Billboard displaying "Selamat Hari Vaisakhi for Kaum Sikh"....

It might sound bit too late or "surprise" feeling for me to learn about this event. It is a day that actually marks the beginning of the Sikh new year....

As it's better late than never, at least I know about it and will remember for the rest of my life as Malaysian....

This gives me a signal that it's actually my family who did not instill this sort of culture awareness in me, and I am certain that there are many other people might still be not aware of this....

Whatever it is, we must appreciate the uniqueness of our very own Rojak Culture that you simply cannot get it in other part of the world...

That's why we as Malaysian should be proud of this celebration and be glad to discover and celebrate together!!

Malaysia - Speaker...

I have not come across any English-spoken speakers in Malaysia...
I must say that there are rooms for improvement...

However, I would like to say that we have got very good Engineers back home here in Malaysia...
And, I must introduce Ir. Dr. Gue (speaker talking about the slopes stability)from our very own Malaysian based geotechnical company called G&P Professionals Sdn. Bhd. (http://www.gnpgroup.com.my/)

A very confidence, motivated speaker which re-enhance and re-boosted the interest of Geotechnical stuff which I learned during my uni time in Uni of Bristol....

A question impressed me, "Why can't?"..... interesting....

MAS motto - MH Malaysian Hospitality

Ever wonder why our ancestor left China for Malaysia and did not return after that??

This is simply because Malaysia is such a nice country......

Believe or not... The moment you stepped into MAS...

phew.. the "juz-feel-good" ambience & the warm hospitality is something you cannot be missed....

I had a good time on board to be pampered (by the good food & nice seat!!) after being in China for the past few months....

On board, there are promotional videos showcasing our very own Malaysian travel spot such as white sandy beaches, wild forests, traditional folk dances, etc....

Upon reaching KLIA, I can even see this lovely displaying some wildlife nature stuff... pretty interesting!!

Human....

See in the picture is Bjarke Ingels from Copenhagen's idea about the architecture building for Shanghai Expo 2010 with the idea taken from a simplest Chinese word - 人"REN" (Human).

So, during my lunch session today I happened to hear a colleague sharing the thought about the unfair treatment by some other higher level colleagues in the company.

Oh well, it sounded to me more like an office politics to me, and this is also sometimes known as people issues.

People issues is something must never be underestimated.....

At most of the times, problems/ issues in itself is not a big deal, people "is the one who is responsible" in making a big fuss over something (you know the reasons....) and somehow, they can successfully turn the initial minor issues can be turned into a BIG issues too.... OMG, I wonder why and for god's sake, the problem should be solved instead!!

Therefore, the fact that the simplest Chinese word REN turns out to be the most complex issue & difficult things to be understood at times.....

And I guess that's reality!

China Hefei - My Breakfast.....:)

To some of you who wonders as a "busy" yet organised people like I am, how do I "handle" my breakfast every morning..... hehe.. I am afraid I don't prepare my own breakfast....
I always eat something called 鸡蛋饼... but as for us Malaysians, this looks more like Popiah.... but a popiah which contains You Tiao & sausage.......

The following is how it looks like and how it is being made.....

Step 1:
Heat up the oil and sprinkled some chopped spring onions...

Step 2: Break the egg (sometimes I asked for size up... double!!)

Step 3: Cover the fried egg with Popiah skin....(something like the crepes!)
Step 4:
Add some chilly, her very own secret recipe to taste (taste bit salty, spicy & sweet)Step 5:
Spread everything on top of the Popiah skins evenly.
Step 6:
Add in the yau char kuai, (aka You Tiao in Mandarin). Normally I will also ask for special (which is an addition of sausage)

Step7:
Having readied everything in the center, the next step is to wrap it up and readied to be packed into plastic bag for me to take away...

I like it simply because it's quick, average healthy and delicious!!

By the way, I asked this lady to give me an opportunity to wrap it myself and apparently she agreed, so probably in one of this weekends... I will post some pix showing me in action!!

The cost is RMB 2 (normal) and RMB 2.50 (special) sometimes I asked for 2 eggs instead.. so, is a total of RMB 3.. hehe..

N.B. too bad this lady is running the business without license.. always kena saman by their local Majlis Bandaraya.... claiming her food is not approved, blablabla....... (you know their reasons...)
I thank god that she is still around for helping me to start my day!!

Yes, we can!!

Firstly, is to believe
Then, is to pray hard
After that, is to embrace

Banana in pyjamas is walking down the street!!

I am afraid is Banana Man without wearing "pyjamas"... haha..

Anyway, I was forwarded an email showing the following photograph stated "18 SX Flasher"

A little obscene yet "super" funny!!

If you observe the facial expression of the Ms. Strawberry & Ms. Pear being "scared" by the Mr. Banana...

Life is too short to get worry,
Have a good laugh, people!!

China Hefei - "Smelly" Beancurd...

To those of you who does not know how "smelly" beancurd , a.k.a "Chou Tou Foo" look like, you can see them below....... They are beautiful, aren't they?

If you can remember describing the smell of ammonia -- "pungent" released from one of the Chemistry Laboratory session when we were carrying out in college, you will never miss this!!

In fact, I used to pass by quite a number of stores selling them along the street, but I was afraid to try because of the unhygenic atmosphere, hence I never get to try them....until few days ago........... the canteen workers cooked them for everybody........

Yes, everybody in the firm came to the canteen will never miss to "pick" them....

And to my surprise, most of the people loved it and gave me the "wow" reply. According to some of them, this home-made is very clean and is authentic....

They were presented in 2 "versions"- 1. appetizer - cold 2. deep fried.

I can take only 1 of the appetizer type but 4 to 5 pieces of the deep fried versions...
They taste good!!

Having tried this, I can sort of understand why most of the time people don't mind the smell in most of the toilets they visited.........haha..:) (am i starting to accept them too???)........

Everyone misses me and I miss everyone....

Missing each other is a stress, and this will eventually turn it into a problem.

And we do not want problem, because we want to solve problem.

So, how do we solve this problem?

There are many ways, one of them is by doing something valuable for each other.

When we achieve something valuable for yourself or the person who you miss, we will know it, we can even feel it for each other even though we don't see it.

So, get rid of this problem. We must stay focus with our life. We must cherish every moment, as the saying goes, Love thyself and thy shall be loved

Cherish everyday, folks!! Be thankful that we live another day......

China Hefei - Pigeons in the cage...

As I was on the way to main road side where the company bus will pick me up, I happened to see few pigeons being caged up for sales!!As I remembered seeing the chicken being caged up for sales in pasar is more of a common scene, this is really something interesting to be seen.... Have anyone of you seen this before??

Poor pigeons, I wonder were they being fed up with the same kind of food that fed chickens...

China Hefei - "New Diapers"??

As you can see, I was equally surprised to see this new feature in the diapers....
I gave a thought that this might be some new design for toddlers... give it a shot!

So, after coming back from where I was working, I happened to stop by in a grocery shop near my place, this 1 year old toddler of the owner happened to smiling, and teasing with me.....

Then, as soon as he was trying to be playful yet started to cry because of stranger (in this case, happened to be me!), he was lifted by the mother and I was seeing something that I have been seeing in the earlier day......

So, do you have any idea what's that for???

Finally I asked the owner and she gave me the answer.... which I am going to share with you. However, before that I must tell you that Chinese People nowadays are getting very environmentally friendly with their lifestyle, because they are aware of the global issues...
e.g. I am paid for the plastic carry bags in Supermarket.

Anyway, back to the diaper thingy, as far as the environmental-friendly mindset is concerned, the design of this diaper which there is an opening right in the ass is for "producing" poo & nothing else!

Simple to "process" & easy to "clean" isn't it... no Pampers, no Huggies... interesting...:)

China Hefei - Andy Lau Wonderful World Concert Tour

Guess what, today Andy Lau is in Hefei for his second stop World Concert Tour.

Oh well, as I realised this only like a week ago, so the cheap tickets were quickly sold out.

However, the venue is Olympic Stadium which is outside the residential area where I live.

So, tonight the traffic is extremely heavy..... Apparently I was told this Hefei stop is his second stop after Guangzhou.....

In fact, I can even hear his singing as well as the screaming of the fans from the ongoing concert when I leave my window open... cool isn't it? hehe..... (but I cannot leave it open for too long as it is very cold outside....)

And the greatest news is that, I was told that he is getting married to our very Malaysian girl after this "Wonderful World" concert in April..... interesting!!

$ 1 Million & € 4 Million......

I used to think about how many zeroes are there actually in a billion...
Until I recently received a newsletter saying that "rich" can be quantified, i.e. rich can be measured.
Forbes defined rich as an annual income of $1 Million.
So, $1Million = $ 1,000,000

€4 Million will be remembered and indeed a significant for me to remember for the rest of my life as I was told that during a renovation, the contractor has dirtied the production machine which costs as much as €4 Million... i.e. €4,000,000 (6 zeroes....)

Anyway, as I was looking at the UK Times rich list 2008 juz now and the person who ranked No. 1 worth 27,000 Millions i.e. 27 Billions Pounds....

Interestingly, 27 Billions = 27,000,000,000 (9 zeroes...)

In comparison to all these figures, $ 1 Million is achievable..
Yes, we can...... (Barack Obama)

China Hefei - Working Overtime.... not advisable!!

I thought about working late today as to clear up some of the paper works which have to be cleared. This is not the first time and I knew that it is sometimes quite difficult for me to get a taxi when the dark night arrives..... Previously I was quite lucky to have taxi approached but not this time.......

It's only 8:15pm after I walked out from the company's main gate entrance and the street is extremely quiet, probably this is due to the wet condition and sky is still drizzling!!

Holding umbrella, I stood by the road side.. wishing for not only taxi, but even a public bus to appear in front of me. Somehow, it's juz not there.... lol.. I learnt this lesson well and not to stay up for work later than 8pm unless got pre-arranged transport.......

In the end, after approximately 25 minutes..... a taxi finally appeared and once I got into it.. I thank him for coming!!

China Hefei - Traditional Village Cuisine土菜

Yesterday was an important day in the project that I was overseeing here in Hefei... as the whole plant's electricity was shut down, so that the new electricity cubicle can be connected to the existing system.....

As for me, electricity shut down means canteen got nobody is working and that also means that my lunch supply is "cut" and hence, I went to a local restaurant (meaning those small restaurant you see by the road side!!) to have my meal.

Putting the hygienic of the environment aside, I think their food is authentic..... As you can see, we ordered 4 dishes.

This Chicken-in-the-wok is a village style cooking in which the chicken itself is a free-range chicken, hence the meat is tender. On top of that, it was covered with bread-style pancake. Hence, besides eating the mild & spicy delicious chicken, the bread is also being eaten together with the pancake dipped in the warm gravy.......

There is a steam fish head with salted black bean paste & chilly.... Likewise, this is a village style cooking and the most important is that this fish contains not much "small bones" like any other fishes served across the mainland China.

Then, here comes the "sweet & sour chicken" which is something like the Cantonese style "sweet & sour pork". But the Chinese calling for this dish is actually "sugar vinegar chicken", and I bet they cooked with Tomato paste too. Look at those red colour........

As for vegetables, we had the lotus which is stir-fried rather than boil in soup as I always have it at home. The salty taste is being spiced up with a little bit of vinegar. Wow, trust me.. it's appetizing...

my relatives in China.....

I remembered a banker used to say this to me and my mother when we were in the bank rushing to meet up my relatives from China. She said, "It's so nice of you that you are keeping in touch and spending time to meet up with your relatives from China. Honestly speaking, I hardly even call my relatives here in KL. Each and everyone of us always say we are too busy, etc....."

Does that sound familiar to anyone of you out there?
Oh well, if you are in the situation then change it because we must blessed that we still have relatives around us, be it near or far.

I was glad indeed to have met up with my relatives in China and I was certainly proud of the achievement that they have done in China. Some are successful business people, some are government officers, nurse, etc.....


By the way, I had the chance also to meet up the younger generation here. At least I know that I am not only an uncle to a new born baby in Malaysia, but also an uncle to someone who is actually my age here in China!!

God Does Exist....

Why God Allows Pain

This is one of the best explanations of why God allows pain and suffering ...



A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed.
As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation.
They talked about so many things and various subjects.
When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said:
'I don't believe that God exists.'

'Why do you say that?' asked the customer. 'Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist.
Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people?
Would there be abandoned children?

If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain.
I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things.'
The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument.
The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.
!
Just after he left the barbers hop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard.
He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber:
'You know what? Barbers do not exist.'
'How can you say that?' asked the surprised barber.
'I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!'
'No!' the customer exclaimed. 'Barbers don't exist because
if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.'

'Ah, but barbers DO exist! That's what happens when people do not come to me.'
'Exactly!' affirmed the customer. 'That's the point! God, too, DOES exist!
That's what happens when people do not go to Him and don't look to Him! for help.
That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world.'

If you think God exists, send this to other people---
If you think God does not exist, delete it!

BE BLESSED & BE A BLESSING TO OTHERS !

China Hefei - Raining time...

Yesterday was raining in the morning which makes my journey to my working place less pleasant. I was where I wait for my company bus early, so I was able to see how the local people actually travels when it is raining.






I was then encountered how great the cyclist can carry an umbrella with one hand whereas the other hand is actually navigating the bicycle.

















In comparison to my friends in London who stuck in the tube during peak hours; traffic jam experienced back home in Kuala Lumpur during office hour is something simply cannot be forgotten. Hence, I realised that my current situation is just another different set of "problem" that I am going through - standing by the road side when the temperature is only 2 degrees, raining, plus breeze.....








As time was approaching 8:40am, my company bus arrived and this will be the same for me to get to work for the next 4 months......

China Hefei - Indian food....

Yesterday evening we had a leckeres indisches Essen (delicious Indian Food) in Hilton Hotel Hefei.
The Hilton Hotel of Hefei looks majestic. (Google Hilton Hefei and you will see how spectacular it is).












Anyway, the name of the restaurant is called "Happy Panda".














As you can see, Martin is having lotsa fun being a Huai Ren :)














....whereas meine huai Jeje is busy contacting another colleague to meet up for coffee.

We had a good full course Indian food. However, as mentioned earlier this is Hilton, i.e. 5 stars Hotel and our total course is approximately MYR100 per person. It was very satifying though, and of course, lotsa fun too!





Martin, ich habe viele von dir gelernt, besonderliche "von dem hinten"!! hahaha...
Und zu meine Huai Jeje, nice to see you this time and bleiben wir im Kontakt!

China Hefei - Weather.....

Spending the first so called "Spring Weather" here in Hefei is something worth notice.

As soon as I arrived Hefei on the 7th of February, the weather was comfortable. By that I mean, it's not freezing cold.

Today, the temperature dropped to 3 degrees in addition to rain. As you can notice, the next couple of days will be even negative...... brr...

Some people told me that this cold stream could be the final round, finger crossed~~ (as in during Spring, the weather changes with the period of fluctuation between the "cold stream" and "warm stream")

In comparison to the day I had in Bristol, UK this time around. The temperature is "beautiful", even though drizzling..........
This is indeed an interesting weather to be adapted to..........

China Hefei - Love is in the air.....

Love thou and thou shall be loved.....
The celebration for Valentine's Day here in Hefei is as "happening" as during the celebration for Christmas as well as New Year....

Even my German Colleague she put a remark that the people here put much more emphasis on the celebration for the day. Ranging from Shopping Centre to even KFC came out with some sort of package with Valentine's Day feature to attract couples and people.

I happened to walk pass a Florist shop showing a poster with the theme "Live to Love" for this special Valentine's Day to attract more customers.

I think we should be thankful that we are living everyday and as a token of appreciating things around us, we show our love to everything.

Alles Liebe zum Valentinstag!
(Happy Valentine's Day!)

China Hefei - Longest Holiday that I have ever seen...

Have you ever seen a construction site closed for approximately 22 days?

Personally I have not seen this before as I remembered once in Malaysia, the contractor was telling me that sometimes even on the 1st day of the Chinese New Year also need to work.

From 22nd of January onwards, the site that I was working in has been closed as the workers were gradually returning home to prepare themselves to celebrate the year of Ox. The same went for me, of course....

However, I ended my CNY holiday on 6th of February and return to Hefei the day after that. To my surprise, the workers were only starting off today. Yesterday (12nd of February), the site was still quiet...... (as shown below)

Food - Roast Goose

Yesterday I was invited for a dinner with a colleague who will be leaving China in a week time.
So, the dinner was held in a restaurant which is located not far away from where we work. (in fact, it was less than 10 minutes by car)

The menu was fabulous. It contains many nice pictures of food which is really easy for customer to choose what to eat by just pointing to the pictures. However, the roast dishes were not presented in pictures, so I went through the lists and was found out that I was craving for roast goose.

It has been while since I last tasted a nice roast goose dish. The majority of roast goose that I have come across is that the skin is roasted but the fat underneath is not roasted. So, as the biggest fan of non-fat eater myself, that sensation is really disgusting. I literally just eat the skin and "throw" the fat away.

However, this roast goose that I had is something really different. It is not only that it has been roasted to an extent that the skin is roasted but part of its fat underneath is also "crispily" roast. The most important feature was that it was served warm. On top of that, by dipping onto the lemon gravy really cut the sensation of "fat"........

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China Hefei - Malacca trip planned virtually...

Even though the Malacca trip was planned virtually, but the meeting cannot be completed without the help of a friend of mine from Malacca, I am thankful for his accompany.

Tonight is the night when a German friend of mine (who is currently working in Ipoh), together with his parents and wife spending their holiday in Malacca. It was a pity that I happened to be in Hefei, China now.......

But....with the advancement of internet, me and my Malacca friend are actually able to plan it virtually and made it a reality. One interesting fact is that dinner I asked my cousin via sms about which Nyonya Restaurant was recommended and she gave me one of the options to be Ole Sayang. Hence, I sms my friend that to make booking (I got Ole Sayang's telephone number from Internet) as to avoid the crowd as a result from today's Thaipusam holiday.

He said that I was full of info even though I am in China. My reply to him is that that's the least I can do and "thanx" for troubling him. Before I go to bed just now, I decided to call him and he happened to be in Geographer's cafe in Jonker St.

Man, I bet he is still enjoying his time with my German friend and family!!

I am glad to hear that, of course and thankful for my friend's accompany and thankful for the German friends of mine as he made this trip a reality and indeed, an interesting thingy...

China Hefei - Sick & Bought Medicine

As a person who is not fond of taking medicine (especially drug like antibiotics). I have been suffered from the attack of "sneezing" cold as well as coughing with "greenish cum yellowish" phlegm in the past 1 week while happily celebrating Chinese New Year back home in Malaysia....

I thought I was merely lack of sleep and hence, more rest will cure my sick. However, for more than 2 days now since I came to Hefei, my sick has not recovered. I have got no choice but to "surrender" myself to taking medicine.....

As a foreigner here in Hefei, I really do not know "where" and "how" to buy the correct medicine. I contacted a colleague of mine and she brought me to a local pharmacy which is located in a deparmental store.

I was recommended to buy a combination of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with the brand of Jin Mu Gan Mao Pian (which is for curing cold) as well as a drug called Cefradine Capsules (which is antibiotics).
I told my mom about it and she was so worry that I am getting medicine over here.....

Oh well, at least it's an interesting experience to get sick here and to buy their medicine.

The medicine are effective after all....