Beijing rendezvous

Was thinking on how to pen my first word on this, “Beijing here we come!” or “It was a hell of a trip!”, or so I think. Didn’t really like d first one but thought d latter wouldn’t weigh any better so I’ve come up to just make an ordinary entrance to this one. No, not gonna set off firecrackers or something, just a report on how things fared.

Pre Day 1: Mas Airline

Got up to an early plane, it was 12.30am Tuesday and didn’t manage to sleep well in there, you wouldn’t expect me to have enough sleep before d flight would you? Was dressed up in partial casual-formal, hoping to have a comfy ride and at the same time doesn’t look bad when someone pick us up. In an upbeat mood we lifted off to Nosejing. Thought you can actually get some sleep after all the boarding proedures? Wrong. Soon after taxing, the lights were up. “Would you like some late supper sir?” she said. “Yes, would you please gimme a loaf of bolster and 2 piece of pillow pls? I need some sleep and oh, you’d do me great favour if u switch off d lights and do us good.” I thought. “Yes, please.” And I replied.

After grabbing that polystyrene-packed bread w/ vegetable + fruit and placed them at the seat beside me, I shifted into sleep mode. But wait, your flight wouldn’t be complete without MAS’ signature Orange Juice. WT!@# wouldn’t you guys just leave us alone, or bring all things at one go? afterall it’s midnight, don’t you guys feel drowsy, or u’re just plain nocturnal??! Reminds me to a movie which I’m dying to see, a sequel to Twilight. Okay, back to orange juice. After d drink, I quickly settle myself for a dozing position. Mind you, the airplane engineers’ job is to care for passengers’ safety and, of course, to make things fly. These ppl don’t give a hoot about your backbone, or to the least the comfort of its poor boarding passengers. And so u’re up on a highly sophisticated man-made wonder but at the same time dealing with really shitty seats. Man I’d pay the engineers to actually seat on their own creation and fly from East to West and not hear them whine!

It was almost 2.30am when Part 1 saga ends, ensuring a relatively quiet rest time till about 5am but I reckon none of us will have d luxury of resting well under the above-mentioned circumstances. For once I even thought the turbine next to me(attached to the plane’s wing) was powered by those pasar malam generator. Had to use a headset and turn on to preset channels to ‘immunate’ myself to those horrendous pollution. Not sure about others but it works on me~

5am, early breakfast time, wasn’t allowed to incline my seat so I’ll have to seat up straight, and that didn’t help in my much needed appetite to gobble up chicken gravy rice w/ condiments w/ orange juice w/ tea/coffee. For the record I wasn’t even in the mood to open my mouth, I’M SO D@MN SLEEPY!!! Okay la, since I have to sit up right, might as well clean up the plate for them. Not too bad a meal I must comment, noting that there’s nothing much you could ask for being at 39000ft above your nearest Ramli shack.

The plane arrived on schedule and we went down only to find there’s little difference between Nosejing and Genting,

Nosejing- you pay loads of $$$ n travel 6 hours to feel the coolness of its breeze

Genting- A 1-hour drive but still costs you loads of $$$ should you really use its ‘money washing facilities’ there, but the cool weather is compliment from Genting.

Day 1 - Arrival

We managed to check-in to a hotel which is located next to China’s national stadium, aka The Nest and next to it the national water sports centre, aka The Bubble. Just a stone throw away is the 7star PunGu Hotel. From afar, it resembles the shape of a whole dragon- from head down to its tail. Really majestic I must say. And we spent the evening at a steamboat restaurant nearby with the hosts. The food has nothing to be bragged about, but we had been a little bit spoilt for white wine. -56% alcohol- it reads, n my mind reads, "Holy sh!t, you gonna be kidding me! I ain't gonna push that down my throat, i might actually catch fire!!!" Lol in the end we ended up emptying 4 bottles of it... no, i have nothing to do with that.

The Nest

Bubble - *where laundry was done*

7-star PanGu Hotel

(See its resemblance of a mystical creature?)

The Nest At Rest

PanGu in Bubble bath!

(Bubble in blue light, underneath)

Day 2 - Banquet

Early morning we were urshered to the Ballroom cum Conference Room. The scene was more like UN than meeting, with people coming from greece, US, africa, korea, pakistan, india, indo, france etc. Well, glad to make friends from around the world. And then at nite, the banquet! Again, the tiny lil' glass for white wine was sitted right next to red wine glass. Felt like there's a butterfly in my stomach, n this time a little idea pops up. "Excuse me gu niang, can i have a glass of pai kai sui ma?" (In China, it's dead-wrong to call a lady xiao jie, since xiao jie is mostly associated with an occupation rather than addressing someone). You're either asking for trouble by calling that or you're not asking for water at the first place. And so we had a great nite there...

Next post: Hotel: the insider story and Day 3...

A Night At Cloud 9

Was sleeping in a sleeping bag, lying on d balcony which has no roof on top, the sky was filled with cloud amid its sheer darkness lie a shyess moon(it wasn't thought to be there until when it finally turned up later).

It wasn't until 3am when d chill wind crops under my skin that the moon began to parade its elegance behind a curtain of cloud, joined by 3 awkward, but somewhat majesticly bright stars, guess there were more stars but i wasn't able to see them too clearly without my glasses lol.

What a night under the dark blue sky, accompanied by the melody of riverflow (that's right, there's a river just right across where we stayed) and the pleasant forest scent :D

It was the most memorable night by far, and perhaps even for years to come. Bukit Tinggi.

Glitches: Faulty Air-cond compressor contributed to sound pollution and a slight increase in overall temperature of the night

Back...

I'm back... once again... although not in full swing i reckon; guess i owe an explanation behind a sudden disappearance... It was not until last week's Pentecostal Rally that i was finally freed, not of a scale of entirety, but i felt loosening in progress... Was hogged by uncertainties that question the fundamental reason of my existence and the set of belief i so willingly die defending.

The first was our superintendant of AOG who showed me FAITH; through his early serving life; he's lost a cancer-embattled founding member of his current church right before his first Miracle Healing encounter in the Philipines and yet His power was unveiled in the presence of many through this wounded servant of His. Can see the contradiction? God has wanted us to exercise our faith before releasing His divinity...

The second was Pastor Timothy Yeung's eye opening message that strike a thunder across my dusty 'room'; we're not supposed to drag ourselves thru valley of death, but to embrace ourselves and be armed throughout the journey under the valley, as said in The Book. Don't ask, didn't bother to jot down which passage was it taken down from.

A Tribute To Late Raymond

This song was long held back in me, dated when late brother Raymond was still with us. And this song is now dedicated to Jacklyn and her beautiful children.

Dance With My Father
By the late Luther Vandross

Back when I was a child,
before life removed all the innocence
My father would lift me high
and dance with my mother and me and then
Spin me around 'til I fell asleep
Then up the stairs he would carry me
And I knew for sure I was loved
If I could get another chance,
another walk, another dance with him
I'd play a song that would never, ever end
How I'd love, love, love
To dance with my father again

When I and my mother would disagree
To get my way, I would run from her to him
He'd make me laugh just to comfort me
Then finally make me do just what my mama said
Later that night when I was asleep
He left a dollar under my sheet
Never dreamed that he would be gone from me
If I could steal one final glance,
one final step, one final dance with him
I'd play a song that would never, ever end
How I'd love, love, love
To dance with my father again

Sometimes I'd listen outside her door
I'd hear how my mother cried for him
I pray for her even more than me
I pray for her even more than me

I know I'm praying for much too much
But could you send back the only man she loved
I know you don't do it usually
But dear Lord she's dying
To dance with my father again
Every night I fall asleep
and this is all I ever dream

Preparing this year's youth Christmas was hard for me. On one hand everything seems to be working fine. Practice schedule didn't go haywire during Raymond's passing, due to his children's insistance to carry on with the skit, or otherwise presumably being persuaded into insistance, whichever applicable. But underneath i can't help but to admire their perseverance, after the loss of prolly the most important person to them, that they keep digging the wounds freshly inflicted on them. I wouldn't have allowed that to happen.

It's just so fast, as i still remembered one fine morning when i gathered a few people to visit brother Raymond, that afternoon the devastating news of his passing. Have you ever been 30seconds late for your schoolbus and watch helplessly as it passes by? I have. Only this time a thousand times the heart break. My rest of the day went like the weather of that day; gloomy.

Perfect picture that paints my heart out.
And it's raining now, again.

How ironic.

Playing with fire...

Today seems to be the most free for me, simply because it's selangor's public holiday. This leads me to believe a saying, "never place all eggs in 1 basket". I soon realize that without selangor's powerhouse, i have practically nothing left to do! And so there i was, thronging around KL...

And so i had a sppoky lunch with an old friend, and no, she doesn't smoke(u'll definitely know why i said so once you know her name, possible turn up in our A4J Christmas), thruout the conversation, i learnt that i once had a very good shot at becoming her bf... well in a way at least i'm glad it didn't work out, coz now she's already berpunya, and she's now working at Nirvana, yeah right, read that again. Imagine the 'product' they're handling... altho it's nothing like in a slaughter house la (it's not even fair to compare her with pork-selling ahsam. in the first place). Did i mention we had a spooky lunch? we~ had~ it~ at~ the~ cafe~~~~~~ wuu~~~~~

All was perfectly preserved even after a long time, the frankness, the closeness, the openess... Well embalmed with numerous calls and carings, coupled with special ingredients; raw jokes and info exchange(man i really dont like to use the word gossips). 1 hour was too short, to say the least, with each feeling much left to be desired. Time flies.

The Outing That Was Pre-planned

Right after morning service quickly i rushed to my car, trying to dash off asap. Shoot, car kena block by others. What to do, so i went back inside lepak abit. 5minutes later i came out only to be confronted by a church friend. Common la, why is it so hard to be punctual??! After some few minutes chat he noticed the urgency on my face and so he 'released' me... lol... free at last...

After fetching, i've to call off the planned brunch, after knowing the other party had had something beforehand. Then straight we head to Pavillion as i've already booked 12.10pm show. E11 & 12, hmm... perfect seats to start with. Earlier took a small walk around the mall as we arrived early. Eagle Eye.... the show was quite ok, provided you're an actionpack maniac! My only complaint is the logic behind casting a heroin obviously far older than the hero, summore wanna tell us she's in her 20s in the movie. C'mon la, wrinkles can't lie to us wan la... lame... Luckily those combo set prevented my stomach from growling throughout the movie...

The hand looked like mine eh?

After the movie, we went for a walk before headed for lunch @ Roadhouse Grill. Should have ordered 1 set of fish & chips instead; for we've got lots of leftovers. Poor those fish for dying an unworthy death.

Overall this is prolly one of the most enjoyable day in my life, except for some hiccups; that i did create a scene when i lost my parking ticket (but found back in gsc, many thanks to them!). Well, guessed this might even be a blessing in disguise as we'll at least remember today, the day where gsc (n roadhouse grill) made my day~!

Country backbone...

Fictional, but very worth laughing off:-

PLUS : Pay Lebih Untuk Sami

KTM : Keretapi Taktau Masa

JKR : Jangan Kerja Rajin

PLKN : Perempuan Letup Kerana Najib

DBKL : Datuk Badawi Kahwin Lagi

RTM : Rehat Tunggu Mati

BN : Barang Naik

TNB : Tunggu, Nanti Buat

Dedicated to my Beloved,

To my dear Lord that I pray;

make me an instrument of Your peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to

Eternal Life.

Amen.

A Pre-planned Outing

After Sunday service i'll take brunch but still havent figure out the venue, most likely around Kuchai Lama or just next to GT Gasing. Will then head for a movie at either MV or Pavillion. I've never been to The Garden's Premiere.

If the choice is Pavillion, after movie will drive to Jln Ampang's Roadhouse Grill where peanuts sit in barrels and shells fly freely in the house, nevermind the cracking sound u make when u walk on those shells. I wonder if they are still keeping it that way. I certainly hope so. Surely it'll be a pleasant surprise for those who haven't been there before.

After the rather late lunch, will do some drop-offs if necessary and head back home. It'll not be a late outing i reckon, as by the time i reach home it should be around 6 something.

Just in time for family dinner together... and to catch the bus. Will update u guys should this outing materialize.

Melamine in ammonium bicarbonate

Let's say you are a rice trader. I suppose what you concern is the quality of your rice and you'd do many things to make it more marketable. But would you 'increase' its protein content? Would anyone ever be bothered about the protein content in their rice? Certainly you wouldn't add-in melamine to 'modify' its protein content unless there is a real demand for some high-protein rice product right? Besides, melamine doesn't come in cheap.

I was shocked to know that the government, without concrete proof, pointed that the melamine contained in biscuit products belongs to this ammonium bicarbonate. If you didn't already know, ammo bicarb is a raising agent, which means you use it to make your dough 'fluffy', and not as main ingredient. From what i know, ammo bicarb is like a commodity, the price is dirt cheap. Who would anyone add-in high-priced melamine into dirt-cheap ammo bicarb to purportedly 'enhance' it? Simple maths eh?

Besides, who in the world would ever demand protein-rich raising agent (or even biscuits)??! Honestly, would you even look at its protein content before you decide which biscuit to buy? I wouldn't. It simply didn't make sense to enhance something that ppl won't appreciate! You wouldn't care less as long as it does its job, which is to 'raise', let the main product(flour and others in biscuit making) concern about protein level! Even as one'd desperately crave for its biscuit product to be protein rich, one wouldn't even need to look at its raising agent. You can simply add-in some milk from china given some suspected biscuits are milk based. BIn contrast, milk products need melamine because ppl really look into its protein content as they buy.

On the other hand, i'm thinking this as a political puppet show. MCA's election is around the corner. Someone hold some important post and needed something to beautify his "report card" and hence, scapegoat(s)...

24th Sept 2008

Okay, time for some mushy talk. No wait, don't think i'm prepared for it.

Anyway, at first it didn't mean to happen that way. Gosh my plan keeps changing on that particular day. Got a whole set of traveling from work, till 5.30 afternoon. Then thought of this,"Y not make it a Whole-Traveling-Day instead? That would mark my birthday memorable!" So home i head, just to change up and get "permit" for an adventurous conquest to The South...

As i walk into my room to quickly charge my phone, suddenly it turned to life and attacked me!!! The phone rang unstoppably and demanded me answer that call! Gosh! And so i obliged. And it all ended up me not alone in this trip.

First stop



First meal, Salty Roast Leg

Second stop...

Ahh~~~ The morning street of Malacca~~~

How i felt from this trip?

TT
I I
I I
VVV VVV
VV VV
V V
V

Visited a friend or two, had some fun, drank some giant fruit drink and seen malacca morning street cool way to shed my 23rd year birthday :)

My mum's beloved elder brother came for a visit~

A couple of weeks ago my bro's godfather came to visit us. Along with his wife and his son, there were also his daughter-in-law and his latest family member, Bou Kuan. I wont be surprised if one day he wants his English name to be Tyrant. Well, he's an extremely smart kid for starter, given his age of 4?(don't ask me, i forgot), he managed to speak with me in complete english, more well versed than some of my uni mates. He also speaks malay, hua yue and hokkien(he hails from Penang just so u know) too. We took them to the Hakka Village Rest. located in Sri Kembangan. They serve quite unique dish such as claypot crab rice, pot dish, etc...

Aunt, Tyrant, me showing some finger trick n Tyrant's onlooking mum

Kame~Hame~Ha!!!<---> Cheazzzzeeee~

After the meal we decided to head home, they weren't much of a shopper cause they just toured Singapore before stopping by. Guess they had enough walking already. As an after meal activity, Tyrant decided to massacre some of my grass....

For your info, there's already a thing that he surpassed me. He's got a girlfriend!!!! Lol, i mean it's not that he knows what it means but, his family are somehow thrilled to find that. Hahahaha.... man i bless this kid...

Culture brands a country

What would i invest in the event of a market collapse? For one, i wouldn't. But i reckon there'll surely be a recovery period after that, where everyone starts rebuilding. The question is, to whom should i place my bet at that time? Well, going from the history, Japanese are famous for their unbeatable pace for recovering judging from their performance at post-WWII era. I believe this is where culture value plays an upmost important role. That is why people trust Japanese car more than even their own national car. Japs are famous for their determination in everything they do. Looking abck to our own backyard, we pride ourselves with rich culture, great food and beautiful beaches. Attribute to our culture. We loved to eat, our insatiable appetite for food has driven us ahead of other nations. We have too many reasons to call it a holiday. As a result, we experience more leisure at beaches than many other nations and hence we excel in terms of makaning and makan-angining.

Give u a clearer picture of what i'm tryng to tell:

Scene 1:

Japanese bloke: Sumimasen, u see this Toyota ar, very the powerful ar, proton no match ar!

Local bloke: Ahyayya, couldn't agree more!!!(paiseh) Ours ah, we call kereta 'potong', aiyor... very susah wan...
(this applies regardless to where this event took place)

Scene 2:

Japanese bloke: Sumimasen, this sushi ar, very tasty ar, malaysian food no match ar!

Local bloke(with cynical smile): Ei brother lobak, you've only tried our nasi lemang, so fast u judge, wait till u tried our klang BKT, Penang A.Laksa, Jamban Nasi lemak, Putu mayam, papadam nasi daun pisang,.............. i'm sure ur mother won't recognise ur fat @$$ when u return home ar!(proudly walked off...)
(this only applies to non-malaysian soil, should it happen in our motherland, he'd have been brutally assaulted by mat rempits, another malaysian brand, courtesy of too much messing around and not enough thinking culture from the MPs in the parliament)

I love this country. Honestly. If not for these morons we wouldn't have prevailed. Also, we wouldn't be able to hold so many festivals with so many reasons not to go to work/ school/ see someone u hate/ pay the bill/ eat at lousy coffeeshop below office(pick one u like).

I see an opportunity

I believe in balance. Once you've gone overboard surely things will happen in a way for u to repay. As much as u've taken in the past you have to repay in future. I'm talking about the economy if u guys are wondering. The world has its way to check and balance everything, including the economy. Let's take environment for instance; u dig fossil fuel from the world, u'll have to repay the world with heat and waste. The amount will be exactly the same if u calculate on its entirety. For every 1kg fuel used, the released heat + waste from the fuel + the live it supported(eg: we are considered matter, and so do our possessions) will also be around 1kg. The other trace weigh are spent on other unseen things such as the matter in the air which the fuel burnt, don't worry, it'll come to the exact amount. So much for Newton's Third Law Of Motion. Apply it to the economy, reccession is the answer to prolonged windfall gains by certain quarters, to which i call it check n balance.

In the current economy slump i have told myself to watch very clearly. Now i have to see very clearly how do people reap harvest in this trying times. Undoubtly some will become a multi-millionaire thru this unfortunate event. An this 'check and balance' event has a periodic trait of about a decade. My guess is that by the next economy tsunami i should be ready to surf on it, provided i start preparing from now on. Also, i will have to save up while waiting for an opportunity as i reckon i'll have another 10 years grace period before the game starts.

I better put on a swimming trunk now.

Much has happened recently, more to come in awhile...

Much has happened recently. Over the last weekend, the global market has shirk off some trillions of dollars. The big boys of Wall Street have overturned their respective ships, rendering many, if not most, of the Americans jobless. Now the 'ships' across the globe are infested with bugs of 'distrust' and are leaking everywhere. One wouldn't argue if i were to say this is the best time to test a company's muscle. Pray for the world, please.

Now looking back to the East, as you might already know a tsunami triggered in Indonesia sends its effect across the other side of the world. Japan already has its first casualty in 7 years. 7 years period is based on the last fallout of an insurance company which happened in 2001. Pray for Japan, please.

Many will say this will drive us back into The Great Depression. Many sees this as a tsunami taller than our notorious jambans built by our beloved hair-rich politician, and stronger than mike tyson and masked rider(baja hitam) being put together. God heal this land, please.

On a much smaller scale, I will be anticipating much changes to take place in me. Well, looking at the sorry sight of our local market I might even have to put it on-hold, although it all comes back to the response of the other party. Will work things out eventually, prolly in 2-3 months time and hopefully it'll be of both party's satisfaction. Pray for me, please.