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....

China Hefei - Interesting Pedestrian Bridge System...

The place where I was working is located in industrial area where not many taxis will passed by, especially on weekends (like today - Sunday)! Likewise, I waited for 15 minutes and no taxi pass me by until...... a kind hearted colleague with a car came out from the main entrance and offered me a ride out from the construction site where I am working. He did not send me to the Lotus Supermarket cum shopping centre, where I want to go. He sent me until Sofitel Hotel which is good enough as it is just walking distance to the Lotus.

As I take this opportunity to walk along the street, I get to see many people from different walk of life, ranging from family to couple spending their lovely late afternoon strolling around this area.

I then passed by an aesthetic pedestrian bridge which is located at an intersection, as I was passed it, I saw a escalator in which I would really put the credit to the designer for making an ease for people walking up the stairs. However, to my astonishment, I saw that people coming down instead for moving them up!

(Check the video below for clearer view....)

Yes, you got me right, the escalator is coming down, not going up. So, it is not helping much in this situation....... but at least it is interesting to note!!

Chinese Astrology - Zi Wei Do Shu

The studies of Yin & Yang has been established since ancient time, and it has passed down from generation to generation.

Zi Wei Do Shu is a compilation of teaching from the essence of Yin & Yang which can be used to trace the ups and downs in our daily life, and this was started since Sung Dynasty and it was known as a teaching of Imperial. Therefore, civilians did not have any chance to learn about it.

However, as time passed by, we have a chance to get to know about this teaching and different version of Zi Wei Do Shu books have been published on the market but none of them has a step-by-step in introducing the fundamental of Zi Wei Do Shu like this one.

I was grateful for receiving a Zi Wei Do Shu book from my dear Teacher, Yong Kwee Peng yesterday as I was told that the book can only be ready by next week. As I am flying off to oversea today, she took the initiative to collect first 100 copies it from the publisher and passed 1 5 copies to me.

If any of you interested in getting this book, please do not hesitate to contact me. (RM 50 per book 335pages).

The money received will be used for covering the publishing cost as well as the preparation cost of launching the Volume 2.