Casey's Space

Penang Chinese New Year Dishes

2012-01-10T11:27:00.001+08:00

In this post I shall share some recipes about some of the Penang favourite dishes served during Chinese New Year. As my daughter will not be back for Chinese New Year, we decided to have a sort of pre-CNY celebration so that she can enjoy the CNY food before she leaves.
First, the XO fried chicken. The whole family loves this version of fried chicken. I served this dish when some friends from other states came to visit and they all loved it. I learnt this dish from my mother-in-law. The chicken is marinated overnight with sugar, salt, fivespice powder, pepper, a dash of sesame oil and some brandy. Before deep frying, the chicken is dusted with corn flour. To do this, I found it very useful to use a plastic bag to shake the chicken pieces. The oil must be very hot when the chicken is put in, but the fire is turned down low so that the chicken has sufficient time to be cooked without turning too brown.

Next, the all-time favourite among Penangnites : Joo Hoo Char! This is a dish which comprises of shredded chinese turnips, carrot, mushrooms, dried cuttlefish and some pork. This dish is usually eaten with lettuce and sambal.
The secret to making delicious Joo Hoo Char is to fry some shallots until the oil is fragrant. Set it aside and use the oil to cook the rest of the ingredients. I actually use a lot of shallots and minced garlic to get that special fragrance.Some other Joo Hoo Char which I have tasted lacks this aroma which makes the dish so delicious.
The fragrant oil is first heated. The other ingredients are added one after the other, stirring evenly, starting with the minced garlic, then the finely cut pork strips, the cuttlefish strips, the mushroom, the carrot and the turnips. When cooking these dishes, we have to be patient and fry the ingredients until the aroma comes out before adding the other stuff. If you just pour everything in and fry, your dish will have a missing oomph. You only need a little chicken stock and a bit of salt for flavouring. You can add a bit of black soy sauce for colour. The dish is not difficult to cook but the preparation can be a bit tedious.
Another CNY favourite is the Kiam Chai Ark. This is a soup dish made with duck and salted vegetables. Just by looking at the picture below, many Penangnites will find their saliva pooling in their mouth!
This soup is easy to cook, but you might have difficulty finding the ingredients, and processing the duck. Its easy to buy chicken and usually the vendor will cut it up for you. Its harder to find ducks. It is usually sold frozen, so the vendors might not cut it for you. Even if they defrost it and cut it for you, you still have a lot of work to do, removing the fat and the unwanted parts. I remove almost all the fat and skin, so I prefer to do the chopping myself. I buy the frozen duck and thaw it only when I want to cook it.
You can buy salted vegetables (kiam chai) anywhere but make sure you get the China type(round) and not the local long green ones which is not suitable for this dish. In Penang, the kiam chai seller will also sell you the sour plum (sui bui) and the nutmeg seeds (lao hao chi) which is a must to give this soup a special aroma. You might have difficulty getting the nutmeg seeds elsewhere and maybe you have to improvise instead. The ginger slices, tomato, and bombay onions will blend nicely with the duck soup. You won't need any salt or any other flavouring at all! You might have to wash the salted vegetables a couple of times so that your soup is not too salty. I usually use 500-600 g of kiam chai for one duck, 3 nutmeg seeds, four sui bui,2 tomatos and 2 bombay onions.

My children also love assam prawns. You will notice that my assam prawns look different from the usual ones. My children prefer this wet version instead of the dry and black assam prawns others usually make. In this version, the prawns are tasty and juicy and not dry and hard like the original version. The prawns are marinated with pepper, sugar, salt and thick assam paste. You have to adjust the amount of assam to your liking. As to the amount of sugar and salt, well, you have to experiment or maybe taste the seasoning before you fry the prawns. I usually know the right amount for assam prawns because I cook this more often. As for the fried chicken, I will the taste the seasoning first to make sure the marinating is correct.
And yes, I also cooked Too Khar Chor upon request by my elder daughter. I remember cooking some Too Khar Chor when some friends came over for dinner many years ago. After tasting it, they spread the word around about me being able to cook very nice Too Khar Chor. I think they were maybe fascinated that I could cook. Many people had this mind-set that only wives could cook and are overly surprised to hear thatI can cook. Or maybe they really liked the dish. Actually this is not my best dish as I seldom cook this. But I do agree that our Too Khar Chor is indeed very delicious.(yes "our", because I have to ask my wife to help to taste it while cooking in order to get the correct sweetness and sourness) I use the China sweetened black vinegar, brown sugar, pork trotters and ginger for this stew. The ginger is first fried with sesame oil and then garlic. The pork is stir fried a while and then the vinegar is added. If you prefer more sour taste, add more sour vinegar (the one we use for sharksfin soup and xiao long bao). It takes quite a while to stew the pork trotters and you have to stir periodically. As usual, the amount of salt and brown sugar depends on your taste.
For dessert, we had chocolate fondue- something different. Of course, there is no tower or fountain! But the taste was superb. How to prepare the fondue? I have no idea! Ask my wife. Where baking cakes or cookies or western is concerned,my wife is the expert, not me. I'm more into cooking oriental dishes instead. Do try these recipes yourself. Don't be afraid to experiment. Its such a joy being able to reproduce these delicious dishes yourself. We know the tradition is not lost. At least not with me. That's why I share this in this post. Hopefully more people can cook these favourite dishes and pass the skill to our younger generations.

You Are The Apple Of My Eye - a 九把刀 movie

2011-11-29T21:15:00.009+08:00

I went to watch this movie after hearing so much about it. The movie is directed by Giddens Ko (real name Ko Ching Teng, 柯景騰) a Taiwan writer. I have heard my students mention his name before but since I am not Chinese educated, I am not familiar with what he writes. The movie is based on a novel of the same name, but of course I have not heard about the book before. When a girl student of mine asked me whether I have watched the movie, another student , a boy, tried to warn me by saying the movie has some "that kind of scenes" ! I answered that whatever scenes can pass the Malaysian censor board should be fine for everyone. (Thinking back, I wonder whether he was warning me or tempting me, haha!) But come to think of it, why should he warn or tempt me? After all , even though I'm their teacher , I wouldn't be shocked by whatever they can show on the Malaysian cinema screens. They even added that this movie is for 18 and above. I was also told the movie did very well at the box office in Taiwan, Hongkong and Singapore. Not expecting anything but rather curious why this simple love story did so well and also why it deserves an 18SX rating, I went to have a look.

One good thing about my review is that I have not read the book (which is in Chinese) so my opinion is totally based on the movie and no comparison can be made with the book. My impression of the movie is that it is someone's story. It is simple and yet appealing. There are no syrupy love stories, misunderstandings, tragedies or heavy drama stuff. I suppose what the audience liked was its simplicity.It was something different from what we usually get in the Chinese movies. I guess the audience can relate to some part or another of the author's recollection. The growing up, the school life, hostel life and the goings on in the classroom and hostels.

The story is basically about a man , also named Ko Ching Teng(the author's real name) a mischevious boy who later becomes a write, recalling his school days, about how he and his friends were going after a pretty girl named Shen Jiayi. Incidently, the actor who portrayed this role got Best Newcomer Award at the 48th Golden Horse Awards this year.

The background narration throughout the movie sets the mood as though the narrator is telling you his story. The movie is very well directed as the audience is kept entertained with his interesting recollections. His description of his friends and school mates reminds each and everyone of us of our friends. His accounts of what boys talk about and what they do is entertaining to both male and female audiences. In the movie we see some scenes which we normally don't see in the movies. There are some gross things that we know people do but we seldom see this on screen. Things like sticking the pen caps in the nostrils in the classroom, girls shaving their armpits, boys urinating in bottles in hostels (and one of them continued the habit as an adult, urinating in bottles in the car).

The 18SX tag was probably necessary due to the synchronised masturbation scene in the classroom and also some scenes which suggest gay activities in the hostel bathrooms. Even though it was done in a funny and hilarious way, parents would have a hard time explaining to kids about the scenes. There was also a split second scene of a love-making act in the hostel.The original scene must have been longer, also hilarious I suppose. The scene with the little dog simulating the mating act on the Ko's foot was gross but had the audience in stitches. The scenes with Ko walking around in the nude (private parts hidden from the camera) in the house with his parents around , while studying, having dinner, is an eyebrow raiser. (haha!)

Overall, the movie is quite entertaining.

My Retirement

2011-11-11T08:53:00.002+08:00

It has been almost 3 months since my official retirement and I still haven't updated my blog. So who says retirees have too much time and don't know what to do with their free time! Actually I do have much more free time now since my retirement, even though I'm not fully retired from working life. The thing is that I have used the free time for other "likes" and have neglected the blog as usual. With the academic year ending soon, I'll move from semi-retired status to maybe three quarter retired status if you wish to make a comparison. Hopefully, I'll make it a point to find something to blog about. So first, I'll recollect the month of my retirement. The month had been so memorable, I really should organize my thoughts and photos in this post to share with others as well as to read again some time later.

The first event held to celebrate my retirement was organized by the school St John Ambulance Divisions on 6 August even though my retirement starts on the 20th. I already knew that the students, ex-students and teachers were planning something grand but when the event unfolded it still touched me so much because it was really very grand indeed. This is the group photo taken in the hall where the ceremony was held.

First they took me to the school in a Toyota Camry decorated like a bridal car.

For the first time in my life I was treated like a VIP. There was an inspection of the guard of honour and all the invited guests including the school principal, senior assistants, teachers and even our Division Surgeon Dr Wong Kar Lin were there to receive me. But the thing that delighted me most is seeing my ex-members coming specially to attend. Some of them have actually left the school quite a few years already.

The students took great pains to decorate the school. As you can see from the photos, the yellow and golden hue made the hall look like a grand ballroom.

I didn't prepare my speech, I just spoke from my heart. But it was hard to speak from the heart because you would have to fight back the tears. Anyway I only spoke briefly, remembering to thank the people I want to thank and acknowledging the ones who still kept me in their hearts.

These are my four pillars of the Division. We went through so much together, we are like family.

Here are the people who have me in their hearts, who came specially to celebrate with me. I'm still touched by their attendance.

At the end of the function, I was given a grand send-off. It caused quite a traffic jam in front of the school with people slowing down to see what was happening.

Later in the evening it was party time when members and ex-members joined me at a buffet dinner at Coffee Island, Gurney Drive. From the photos you can see how everyone enjoyed themselves. It was so nice to ex-members from as far back as 1995 who remembered me and came to attend.

Besides the 2 events held by the St John members, there were other small gatherings held to celebrate my retirement. A session at Redbox with the karaoke gang, a dinner at Hard Rock Cafe with some colleagues, a karaoke dinner at Ocean Green organised by the Principal himself (what an honour). Then came the official retirement ceremony in school.

Since I only teach the upper six classes this year I only expected gifts from them but I was taken aback when so many students brought gifts.

No matter what gifts they brought its not the value that counts but the thought and gestures that make a difference. I really appeciate all the gifts , big or small. The most meaningful gift is the photo album with personal messages from the students, not forgetting this large expression of gratitude from the Lower Six students.

I thank the Principal for heaping so many praises for me. Even though he praises every teacher who retires, his speech was very long and painted such a glorious picture of me. When it was my turn to speak, I had to cut short what I planned to say. But I managed to sing all the songs I planned to sing. Of course the students were delighted. You don't always get to hear teachers singing in public. Many teachers can sing very well but getting enough guts to sing in front of more than a thousand people is another matter. It doesn't matter if you sing well or not, they will love it anyway. But after the event, some teachers told me they were very touched by the songs and almost cried and saw some girls wiping their tears. I guess if you sing from your heart, the music will bring your feelings to those who listen. Due to popular request, (maybe some teachers thought I could only sing this song, or maybe they liked my rendition, I don't know) I sang Moon Represents My Heart but I altered the first part of the lyrics to English to make it different from the usual version and also more appropriate.

you asked how much I love you dear

I love you oh so much

Yes my love is real and my feeling's true

the Moon says it all for me

the Sun that brings the morning light

the Stars that shine on you

it's a lovely world, you and I must know

the Moon says it all to you

You caught me by surprise, when you walked in to my life

It's sad for me to leave, but my heart is filled with a bliss

You asked how much I love you all

I love you all so much

All my love is real and my feeling's, too

the Moon says it all for me............

Next I sang George Benson's Greatest Love of All. The lyrics of the song is very meaningful to teachers. The students don't seem to have heard the song but I hope they understand the lyrics.

But when I sang David Tao's Ai Hen Jian Dan,

David Tao's Live Version

it really brought the house down. I took the music from the "live" version and it helped to set the "concert" mood getting all the students and some teachers to join me in the chorus. It was really something that the school had never witnessed before. A very nice ending to my retirement ceremony.

Heng Ee St John Ambulance 40th Anniversary Celebration

2011-04-11T21:22:00.026+08:00

It's finally over. After months of preparation, the Heng Ee St John Ambulance Divisions celebrated their 40th Anniversary in a grand style. Five years ago, we did it in the school field and the large scale campfire style celebration stunned and fascinated many. This time we wanted to do something different. Formal dinner indoors. Very ambitious indeed. Target : 80 tables. The scariest part actually was that, except for the chairperson who attended the function five years ago as a form two member, none of the organising committee members actually knew about the mammoth task that lay ahead. With an inexperienced bunch of teenagers as the organising committee, I took up the insane decision to go ahead with the plans. Of course I had the confidence because of Thian Wooi. The guy in black on the left. He is our ex-member, now a professional doing decorations for large scale functions. With him helping with the main organising work, I knew I could count on him.
Meixue (centre) had seen the celebration five years ago but deep in her heart she knew this would be no easy job. Like me, she had no choice but to go along with the crazy idea. But she did her role very well as the main person running the whole show. She must have gone through very difficult times these few months. Well done, Meixue. I know how much you suffered. Looking back, don't you feel proud that you have done such a good job? And the handsome guy standing next to her? Minghan the vice-chairman, barely 17, is a fun-loving happy go lucky chap who didn't know the difficulty of the job entrusted to him because he was not around 5 years ago. But through the months of preparation you can see him and the rest of the committee members like Gheeyang, Yongming slowly growing in maturity in organisation work. There are many others which I will not name here, who really sacrificed so much of their time and effort to make this a success.
Among the other teacher advisors, only Ms Cheah and Sashi knew what an anniversary celebration was like. The rest are inexperienced and didn't really know what we were doing. I am very grateful for Ms Cheah's help. She took over a lot of supervision and made my work easier. After agreeing to my proposal of having a grand dress up dinner, the committee set up to discuss our budget. RM40K! I didn't want to say it out but for a school society to handle this large amount is a bit frightening. But with a very generous ex-member Dato Yeap supporting our efforts, Thian Wooi's ability to get me low costing, a bit of funds I accumulated in the Divisions throughout the years and most of all the experience of doing the past 3 anniversary celebrations, I knew we could do it. Of course, first I had to convince the boss to let us do it. Getting his approval was super easy. I don't know whether he knew what we were saying, he just confidently said go ahead! I thank him for the confidence he had in us. We have indeed made a name for ourselves of being able to do large scale functions. But his confidence in us made us even more pressured, to live up to his expectations. Our first task was to prepare TRACES VI our commemorative magazine and to collect funds build our base. Surprisingly our members did very well with the collection. Most of them managed to hit the target of RM50 to qualify for the dinner. To make sure that the function can achieve the target, we "encouraged" societies and clubs from the school to donate RM350 to book at least a table. At first, the response was rather slow and I had to request the school administration to allow me to get the students to use their own society fund to donate. Later when word got out that it was a dress-up function, the response was so overwhelming that we had to stop them coming because we wanted to keep more tables for RM500 donation from parents and ex-members. My prediction that students would rather pay RM35 for a dress-up, sit-down formal dinner than RM10 for a cheap meal in the school field came true. On that night they came dressed to kill!At first some of my committee members were actually sceptical that their friends would come but I had some support from some of them like Mingyie who knew and could visualize what I had in my plans. The response from ex-members were a bit slow but picked up later. A special thank you to Hangming who purposely made the trip back to help in the function. And to those who were away in other states and couldn't attend but sent donations, I can only say this. I'm really touched by your spirit and support. But I was disappointed with some ex-members who actually received monetary awards from Dato Yeap for their academic performance but refuse to donate or attend even though they are in Penang. Well, not all the members have this sense of belonging that I always instill in them. Clearly I have failed in my task.

Next came the important part of providing entertainment. Like the previous anniversary celebrations, we wanted items which appeal to the masses. Other than the cultural and classical performances shown during the School Concert, which not many people know how to appreciate, there are various ways our students can actually showcase their talents. We divided our entertainment into 3 parts. A Talent Search participated by St John members where the final judges are the dinner participants themselves. Shafei rendering the song "My heart will go on..."Siang Yue.......Ai Xiao De Yan Qing .......Shuen Wen and Shu Ning........with their own accompaniment........Yongming.....multi-talented....superb voice, self accompanied on the keyboard, emcee and model.....Yeat Siong ..our very own Jay Chou.... And the winners are........ Some items presented by our guests. And of course stunning performances from our very own St John members and ex-members .

Siew Hui with her professional style singing We were so lucky to have Lian Lian to lead the entertainment. She planned and choreographed the fashion show and dances and even danced so many items that night. The fashion show.... The dances.....The emcees............A St John Ambulance function would not be complete without HQ attendance. We were very honoured that the Area Commander brought along 9 SSO/ASO and MCAD also bought a table. Here is Dr Lee, HQ Area Commander giving his speech....The Reception....A lot of work needs to be put in to plan the seating arrangements and to seat 800 people is not easy.The Banquet Hall..........When the guests entered the hall, all of them just said "Wow! So grand!"The Highlight of the evening.........The Finale........The OC and the members enjoying themselves.........Photographers having a field day..........On the left is Vincent....most of these photos are taken from his album (without permission actually! But I don't think he minds. He is also from our Heng Ee St John Ambulance family)The smiles on their faces say it all.........................

Last stop Milan

2010-08-31T23:48:00.006+08:00

Milan was our last stop in Europe before we departed for home. Having read that Milan is Italy fashion capital, we thought it would be appropriate to end the trip in Milan where the girls can shop without worrying about carrying their stuff all the places we visited. But luckily they bought some in Paris, Florence and Venice. No doubt Milan is the place for fashion conscious people, but it's not really for budget conscious people! The bags and clothes are rather pricey here but we managed to find one outlet which sells designer labels at 50% discount or less, supposedly last season's fashion. We were not going for LV Gucci or Prada. I noticed that mostly Asian tourists would go for these items, especially Hongkong and Japanese people. There were many fashionable Italians especially in the shopping streets but I didn't see any of the standard evergreen LV or Gucci bags like those Singaporean and HK people like to show off. I suggest going for the value-for-money good quality leather Italian bags of other lesser known brands which cost a small faction of the so-called branded ones. But maybe other people think otherwise.
Anyway, a visit to Milan would not be complete without a visit to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, the oldest shopping mall in the world.

Right beside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele is the Duomo, the main square in Milan which houses the cathedral which is famous for the hundreds of spires and thousands of statues on the roof and exterior of the building.
Once there, don't miss the chance to climb up the stairs for 5 euros (or pay 7 euros to take the lift) to see up close the magnificent statues and also the view of Milan.

Another place is the Castello Sforzesco , a 15th century castle, which we passed but didn't go in because the girls were more keen on using the time to shop.

We wanted to see Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" at the Santa Maria delle Grazie Church but couldn't get the tickets. To protect the painting only 25 persons can view each time and only for 15 mins. We didn't mind paying 6.50 euros for the tickets but they were all sold out for the day!

We stayed 2 nights in Milan at Hotel Bernina which is just a few mins from the train station. I like this hotel location...opposite the hotel there is a self service Italian restaurant..reasonable price and tasty food. The bus to the airport is also at the railway station. We even managed to get a special offer for the bus tickets...buy 2 get one free ! Getting to the airport was quite convenient from the hotel. The airport staff was surprisingly very friendly and helpful.

Venice

2010-08-29T23:25:00.007+08:00

There's a saying "there's no place like Venice". When you set foot in Venice, you'd totally agree.

Venice is indeed unique. There are no cars or buses on the island. There is water everywhere!

To get from one place to another, you either walk, take the water bus, the water taxi or the larghetto.
We took the train from Florence and on arrival boarded the water bus from the railway station to the hotel.
Good thing I remembered to buy the return ticket as well; some jetties do not sell tickets. The buildings look old and in ruins but when you go inside, its totally different. The fare is 6.50 euro one way.
In Venice, everyone is either a tourist or involved in some kind of business earning tourist money. As we walked around we could see many people holding maps. If you just follow the natural flow of people, you would get to your destination. However, I heard some friends said they got lost. I can understand why...the buildings look the same, the lanes are narrow, its difficult to look for landmarks or road signs. There are some arrows which point to the direction of Piazza San Marco or St Marks Square, or to Rialto bridge, or to the Railway Station.

Basically you have to have a rough idea where you're heading. A compass would be very handy!
St Marks Square floods easily every time it pours, but the other lanes are quite ok.

I booked online tickets to enter the Basillica (free of charge) but due to the floods only one entrance was open so everybody had to queue the same line. What a waste, otherwise I would be able to jump queue using the pre-booked tickets. But luckily the queue wasn't long. Once in, we stayed until the flood receded..no point getting our feet wet! It didn't take very long. The rain stopped and after a while the ground was dry again.

Not taking any chances, we headed to the area near the Doge's Palace to check out the gondolas before the weather changes again.

On travel websites we are usually advised to go to the less popular spots to take the gondola rides for discounted rates but we didn't.

One operator asked for 120 euros! Its definitely a fleece because the standard rate is 80 euros without discount. We settled for someone who offered a 10 euro discount to 70 euros. As a bonus, this gondolier is quite good looking so our photos would look nicer ! It is actually a guided tour...the gondolier would introduce the place as we moved along the canals. A singing one would cost more, I think.

Besides gondolas and St Mark's Basillica, just walking and shopping in Venice would be fun. Lots of souvenir shops, like the ones selling Venetian masks. There are other shops selling other things like bags and clothing. The prices are cheaper than in Milan but I think Florence is a better place to shop. We stayed only one night. We had a lot of time to browse the night scenery. On the next day, we visited the markets and then took a train to Milan , our last stop.

Florence

2010-08-29T15:50:00.008+08:00

From Pisa we took a train to Florence. You don't have to book your tickets in advance. Just get the tickets at the counter. It's only 5.70 euros. There are trains every 30 mins and its only an hours ride.

On arrival, we checked in at Hotel Joli, which again is only 3 mins walk away. From there we walked to the Mercato Centrale, or Central Market 5 mins away. We had lunch here, trying out the local cuisine.

The famous cow's tripe dish (I forgot what they call it) was so delicious we ordered another one.

And the prices inside the market are , well, market standards compared to restaurant prices. There are lots of uncooked pasta, cheese and meats sold here, but we're not here to do our grocery shopping

Outside the market there are a lot of roadside stalls. Here you can buy scarfs, leather bags and jackets, as well as ties. If you want to get leather stuff, you should get it here. At first, we were hesitant to buy because we have 2 more destinations, Venice and Milan, to go. We bought some and later ended up regretting not buying more because the prices here are much cheaper than elsewhere. Apparently the leather factories are near Florence. Moreover, Florence is a smaller town than Milan so things ought to be cheaper here.

From the Central Market, the lanes lead to San Lorenzo area where there is a basillica. Just continue walking and you can find the famed Duomo, or Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral.

The Cathedral is very impressive. If you are fit enough, you should try climbing up the stairs to the top of the Dome. The view is breathtaking

and you can see up close the painting on the ceiling.

But a word of caution: the climb is really killing. We had to make a few stops to rest. Even able-bodied young tourists had to stop and rest.

The museums here are very popular. We queued up for an hour and paid 10 euros each, just to get in the Galleries Accademia to see Michelangelo's most famous sculpture "David".

They don't allow photography inside, but with so many people inside, you can get away with one or two shots, silently of course!

There were also many other famous works inside. It was worth the waiting. On the next day we wanted to get in the Galleria degli Uffizi but the queue was even worse and we had to give up to spend the time on other places.

If you're on a budget and also running short of time, you should settle for the many freebies. Go to the Piazza del Signoria (near the Galleria degli Uffizi), a square in front of the Palazzo Vechio, Old Palace. Here you can see many famous sculptures, like Perseus with the head of Medusaby Cellini,

Hercules and Cacus , the Lion by Donatella, and the Fountain of Neptune. There is also a copy of "David" in the square.

This is Dante's house, now a museum.

There's another copy at Piazzale Michelangelo, a square up on a small hill where you can see a bird's eye view of Florence.

You should take a bus to this square from the town centre rather than walk. After this, we took a bus back to the hotel.

Everywhere in Florence we see David! We see him on the souvenir magnets, small plaster replicas and posters. We also see his naked body on aprons and shorts.

Vandalism is very common here as well as other places we visited in Europe.

Near the Piazza Signoria and Galleria degli Uffizi is the Ponte Vecchio.

The view from the famous Ponte Vecchio is very beautiful.

Pisa

2010-08-27T22:56:00.010+08:00

The train ride from Rome to Pisa was supposed to be a relaxing journey as we had a lot of time. After taking our breakfast we did a quick shopping round but didn't buy anything. We walked over to the nearby railway station and had a lot of time to wait before the train left. We kept looking at the board but they didn't seem to show the platform to Pisa so we thought there was a delay, again. When it was around 15 or 20 mins to board the train, the info came out. We quickly made our way to the platform which was quite a distance away. When we finally reached the platform, we asked the conductor which coach to board. To our horror, she told us we were on the wrong platform. We quickly turned back and walked as fast as we could because the train was supposed to leave in 5 mins. Luckily, another conductor pointed to us that the train was just on the next platform. To make sure, I waved at the driver and showed him our ticket. He nodded his head and shouted something and pointed to the back. So we quickly boarded the nearest coach and slowly made our way to our coach. We barely sat down for a few minutes before the train moved. At first we weren't sure whether we were on the right train, despite the driver's nod, but later when the conductor came to check the ticket, we sighed a relief and sat back to have a proper rest. We learnt our lesson. Trains are not like planes! We should check the train number rather than check the destination when looking at the schedule board! Our train to Pisa was actually to a further destination. Luckily the platform was just next to it, otherwise we'll have to get a refund and then get new tickets.
Our B&B was just outside the railway station. This was the best place we stayed in on our Europe trip. The 2 connecting rooms we took only cost 130 euros with breakfast and the place was spotlessly clean and tastefully decorated. Moreover the owner Michel is such a nice guy who gave us good tips and guide to visit Pisa.
Pisa is famous for the Leaning Tower. It takes about 20 mins to walk there from the railway station. Michel told us not to take the bus as the bus will take you a big round to get to the Tower. He was right, the streets were so narrow no bus can get in. Everyone seems to be walking in the heart of the old town. By walking we get to see more of the town, and enjoy the scenic views on the bridges and River Arno.This is the Scoula Normale Superior, actually a university for post graduate studies. Many famous Italian scientists supposedly studied here.
There isn't really much to see in Pisa, but the visit was worthwhile. Actually the real beauty is the cathedral beside the Leaning Tower. It was such a pity that the Leaning Tower took away all the glamour. Anyway, we had a lot of time to take pictures, front view , side view, leaning view, upright view, day time view, night time view!

When you see it at night it is even nicer. The interior is also very nice, but after seeing so many beautiful cathedrals in Paris and Rome, we were not so fascinated anymore.

From Paris to Rome

2010-08-25T23:21:00.009+08:00

The train ride from Paris to Rome is about 15 hours. We took an overnight train with sleeping berths. The cheapest berths have 6 beds (they called it couchettes) in a cabin. We opted for the 4 in one cabin for privacy. The fare is of course a lot more. I remember paying around 500 euros for 4 tickets. The 6 bedded ones will cost 300 euros for 4 persons, but then you risk having to share the cabin with 2 strangers. Its worth paying the fare as we not only save one night's hotel rate but also save one day's travelling. We expected to reach Rome at 10 am but had to endure a 2 hour delay because of workers strike in Rome. On reaching. we walked straight to the hotel, checked in and took the metro to the main sight seeing area of Rome. Most of the places are easily accessible and with a map (provided by the hotel or you can print some from google), you can go anywhere!

Our first stop was the must see destination, the world famous Trevi Fountain, made famous by the many hollywood movies and the song, Three Coins in the Fountain.

The Spanish Steps (Piazza Spagna) , also a famous landmark, is within the same vicinity.
And when in Italy, of course we made sure we sampled the famous Italian food. We tasted so delicious pasta there that when we went back to Malaysia the Pizza Hut pasta tasted so horrid by comparison!

The Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps are very near to Piazza Navona, where you can see street performers. There are many restaurants in the square. Its here we had our delicious Italian food, not forgetting the famous ice cream gelato!

The Roman Pantheon is also within walking distance. But I think the Paris Pantheon is more impressive, even though the interior is actually quite nice, too.

On the next day, we went to another must-see...the Coliseum!

The Roman Forum and Platine Hills are all within walking distance. Also the Hero's monument, where you can see the Roman Changing of the Guards. Its actually nicer than the London one, I don't know why its not much publicised

You need to spend at least half a day for these places.

After this, we went to the Vatican city for lunch and visited St Peters Square and Basillica. St Peters Basillica is the world's largest cathedral. When you're inside, don't miss out on one of the most famous works of Michelangelo...La Pieta, a sculpture depicting the body of Jesus in the arms of his mother Mary after the cruxificion.Don't forget to join the queue of tourists who wait in line to kiss or touch the foot of the bronze statue of St Peter to ask for mercy and forgiveness. We're not Christians but nevertheless we touched the foot, too. The right foot is now so worn out after all the touching that the toes are no longer visible , only a stump remains!To those who intend to visit the Basillica, be aware that they have a strict dress code: no bare shoulders and knees. There will be officers stationed outside and also at the door to make sure this is followed. Just bring along a shawl or jacket if you insist on wearing your singlets in the hot summer days. You wouldn't want to go all the way there and have to stand outside and wait for your friends!
We had 2 nights and almost 2 days in Rome. On the third day, we took a train to Pisa..........

Second stop - Paris

2010-08-22T21:53:00.012+08:00

As this was my first visit to Europe, Paris was inevitably one of the choice locations to visit. Staring from London, we moved on to Paris via the Eurostar. The tickets are cheaper if you book in advance. If you book from the Eurostar website, you get to choose seats. If you're traveling in a group, it would be nice to select seats facing each other with tables in the middle for you to have your meals. There is a cafeteria in the train but we bought food at the St Pancras Station and ate on the train. The Eurostar arrives in Gare Du Nord, so if you are looking for a hotel you should consider one near the Gare du Nord or any one which is near the metro stations.

To move around in Paris, the metro would definitely be the best mode of transport as the metro stations are everywhere in the city. We used the Paris Visite Card which costs 20 euros for 3 days. It is definitely much cheaper than buying trip tickets because you'll be using the metro a lot. Another option would be to get the day pass. It depends on your itinerary. You can also get 20% discounts on certain entrance tickets including Arc du Triomphe and the Pantheon.We arrived in Paris in the afternoon, checked in at the hotel and still had time to go sight seeing as sunset is 9 something. Our first stop was Place de La Concorde.

Here you can see the beautiful Jardin des Tuileries
A very common sight in many parts of the park and also in other parts of Europe.

and also walk across to the Louvre.

Next, we went to Arc du Triomphe .

The climb up the stairs can be tough for some people, but the view from the top is worth the trouble. And there are many interesting exhibits inside.
From here you can stroll along Champ Elysees.

The good thing about visiting Paris on your own is that you get to see the places at different times of the day. On our first day we enjoyed the evening and night view of Eiffel Tower. The best view of the famous landmark is from Trocadero. From 9pm the twinkling lights are turned on for 5 mins at every hour.

On our second day, we visited many places. Starting from the famous Notre Dame Cathedral, we went to the Jardin Du Luxembourg and then walked to the Pantheon which is a few minutes walk away. The inside of the Notre Dame and the Pantheon is a sight to behold. The Pantheon is in the Latin Quarter where the Rue Mouffetard Food market is. You can have lunch at the many restaurants in the area or get some pastries and sandwiches from the bakeries there. After lunch we went over to Eiffel Tower. You can pre-book tickets online and skip the queues.

The entrance tickets to the Louvre are discounted on certain days. We planned our trip to visit on Wednesday at 6 where the tickets are priced at 9 euros. I think its free for those under 26 yrs. Inside the Louvre is where you see the famous Mona Lisa painting and many other famous works. While waiting for 6pm, we hopped over to the famous La Fayette shopping centre just to check out the priceWe didn't buy anything there but took our dinner at their 4th floor. There suddenly you see so many fellow tourists..from Malaysia and Singapore, because its where you can get cheap food..McDonalds!

After the Louvre, we took a sunset cruise on the River Seine. And sunset means we start at 945 pm!

On the third day, we visited Sacre Coeur, walking distance from our hotel.But to go up the hill, we took the Funicula train. The Paris Visite Card comes with the fare. Our last destination was the Les Halles shopping area. This is where you can get real bargains.

After that we headed to Gare du Bercy to take the overnight train to Rome.

Europe- First Stop London........

2010-08-15T21:54:00.018+08:00

Since it was our first trip to Europe, the first thing that came to our minds was London. Actually the idea of making a trip to Europe started because Air Asia launched the flight to London. But when we actually went on the trip, we didn't fly Air Asia. The fare advertised was quite misleading. We found out that it was actually cheaper to fly SIA or some Arab airline instead, especially when they have promotions on. Our fare was RM3400 return, all in, including the flight from Penang. And also includes meals on board, super entertainment and service not to mention the experience of flying Airbus 380!

London was our first stop partly because of an invitation from my friend for us to stay in his place in London. It was so nice of him to meet us at the airport and letting us have a room at his place for three nights. If you are making a first visit to London and Europe, I would suggest staying at a B&B at the King's Cross Station area. If you move around by train in Europe, always check out the accomodation around the train stations...it will save a lot of time and hassle. This site gives good info about accommodation in London, http://www.londontoolkit.com/ .

The St Pancras Station from which you take the Eurostar to Paris is connected to King's Cross Station. While you are there it'll be fun to take some photos at the 9 3/4 Platform which is supposed to take you to Hogwarts, according to the Harry Porter stories.

Our first impression of London was that it's quite a dirty place. Later when we visited our places in Europe we found out that the other places are not any better. So different from places like Singapore and Japan. When you are at the train stations and the train itself you'll notice the obvious difference between Singapore's cleanliness and London or Europe. And you see graffiti everywhere, especially public and tourist places.

That aside, what's nice about London? Besides visiting the famous landmarks like the River Thames, Big Ben, Tower Bridge you should visit the museums and some of the palaces and castles. I was rather disappointed about the Changing of the Guards. This "must-see" is actually very much over-rated. The mammoth crowd made viewing difficult. And even if you get to see the full view, its really nothing impressive at all. But tourists (like us) still flock to see the ceremony which is performed daily in summer.This link will give you all the info you need about the schedule. http://www.changing-the-guard.com/Maybe it would be a better idea to visit the Guards Museum and take a photo with the wax soldier instead.To make full use of your visit to London, you should do your research and planning ahead. For my first day, we visited the "free" places. A good start would be theWestminster area. Here you can see the Big Ben and the Parliament Houses, Downing Street, Buckingham Palace and St James' Park. After seeing the Changing of the Guards, walk to the nearby famous Trafalgar Square,where you can also visit the National Gallery and the Portrait Museum.

Next you can go to the Museum of Natural History. You will need to take the Tube from Leicester Square to South Kensington on the Piccadilly Line. Its useful to learn about the transport first before visiting a place. Even though Tube maps are available at every station, its better to plan well ahead. That way you save a lot of time. Check this out: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/Since you would be travelling around quite a bit, it would be much cheaper to either get an oyster card or day pass.

From the Museum you can walk to Harrods then maybe have a picnic at Hydes Park.

On our second day we used the London Pass. http://www.londonpass.com/. It costs 40 pounds for a day pass. Supposedly there is no limit to the number of places you can enter but of course you won't have the time to go to many places. We used the pass for the Shakespeare Globe Theater,(1o.50) The London Bridge Experience Exhibition,(21.95) The Tower of London,(17.00) the River Thames Cruise,(13.50) and Hampton Court Palace.(14.00) which adds up to almost 80 pounds but it was quite a bit of rush. We didn't finish the London Bridge Experience Exhibition tour partly because the second part was supposed to be quites scary but mainly because we had not enough time. We went in the Tower of London, had lunch there, but didn't go in to the individual exhibition rooms. There is a 20% discount on food for pass holders, so we saved on food also. The River Thames Cruise was worth it. But by the time we got to Hampton Court, some of the scheduled shows were over. Nevertheless, we still found the palace building and grounds awesome. We were among the last to leave the palace! After that we went souvenir shopping at London Crest where each pass is entitled to a 5 pounds discount, that means 20 pounds discount and all you need to do is buy at least 20 pounds and show your pass.

On the third day, we took the Eurostar to Paris. Make sure you allot some time at the station to look around and also buy food to eat on the coach. When we booked online, we chose 4 seats with a table in the middle. It was quite fun having lunch on the train to Paris.

The next post will be on Paris.

Europe Trip--an Overview

2010-07-03T09:53:00.013+08:00

In this post I shall share my experiences with those who intend to visit Europe. This might help you to decide whether you would prefer to join a tour group or go on your own.First, the budget.For my family of four, we spent RM32,000, all in, including shopping. Minus the shopping, which can vary, the cost per person is around RM7500. We visited 7 places across 3 countries for a 16 day trip which includes 13 nights in Europe. Most travel agents will price their tours at RM1000 per day. Don't be misled by the fare advertised. The taxes might come to more than RM1000. And if the tour is ex-KL, you need to add the fare from your place to KL. And check out the meals. You may have to spend quite a sum on food if not all meals are covered. I was told you may be asked to pay for some "optional" tours when you are there. So all in, the expenditure for traveling on your own will be about half the amount you spend on an organized tour. Before you decide to go on your own, better read on to find out more. You might change your mind after reading this.Next, the ScheduleThe best time to visit Europe is in June, early summer. Sunrise is 4 something and sunset is 9 something. 17 hours of daylight. If you are worried about the hot weather, go early summer. The hottest months are July and AugustHowever, it tends to rain quite often during summer, so be prepared. Always carry an umbrella when you go sightseeing. Use the internet to check the temperatures before you decide which month to go.
Next, the planning.You need a lot of planning.
a) Flight tickets: Go to a travel agent and ask for the cheapest fare to and from your destination. You can also do it online. The advantage of booking through an agent is that you don't have to pay the fare until about one month before departure. But you check the price online to make sure you are getting a better deal from the travel agent. Our SIA return flight was RM3400 per person. Air Asia's normal fare is slightl below but if you add food , baggage, and the flight to KL, SIA was cheaper! (and on top of that we get to travel on Airbus 380 and enjoy excellent on board service) Check also the flight itinerary, you'll need that for detail planning.b) Itinerary: We flew in to London, stayed 3 nights and took a train to Paris. Two nights in Paris then we took a night train to Rome. Two nights in Rome then off to Pisa for one night.
Next stop Florence, two nights and continue to Venice for one night. Last stop Milan for two nights then fly back.
c) Accomodation.A quad room costs about 12o euros= 30 euros per person per night. This is with bathroom attached. You have to read the reviews first before you book. The best thing is to get ones which are near the railway station so that you can check in your luggage first thing on arrival. Its also better to find a place near the Metro station so that moving around would be easy. There is usually a Metro Station near the Railway Station. For Florence and Pisa, you won't need the metro as you'll be doing a lot of walking. Its better to contact the hostel/hotel or B&B directly to book. You need to provide credit card details but they will only charge you if you cancel less than 3 days before the date of arrival or sometimes only if you don't show up. Usually you just pay them when you are there. The ones I stayed in are all very clean and safe. If you need the names, do drop a line in the message box.
d) Transport.
You have to find out about getting around, the local transport. Also getting to the hotel, tourist sites, airport etc. You can actually do an estimate on how much you will need to spend on local transport. Also find out about about getting from one town to the other. For London to Paris I booked the Eurostar. Paris to Rome I booked through Rail Europe. And for the Italian towns, check out the Trenitalia website. They have 30% discount if you book 14 days in advance.
e) Food
It is quite hard to estimate how much you will need to spend on food. It depends on how much you eat and whether you want to splurge. Sandwiches and pizzas for takeaway will be very cheap. Sit down meals will cost more. But the menu for the average european meal is way too much for us. (Look at this breakfast!)You can share when you order set meals to avoid wastage. Or order each course separately. If in doubt go eat at McDonalds. But then when you are in Europe you would want to taste their local cuisine, wouldn't you? Why go for American food?In Italy go for Tratoria signs..they serve local cuisine. But sometimes you can try Chinese food. It is cheaper than European food. I put a budget of 25 euro per person per day but ended up using half only. And we do eat sitting down! In Europe if you stand and eat you pay less! Even smartly dressed Europeans will stand and eat. Nothing embarassing about that. At first we didn't quite like the idea especially when we were tired walking. We prefer to sit down and be served.When you sit down there is a cover charge of 1 euro or more per person and there is a 10% service charge.
I hope this has got you interested. If you are, do drop a line in the message box...I'll add more details in the next post...if I can find the time to do so.............

Itinerary Europe

2010-04-19T22:19:00.012+08:00

No, these are not pictures that I took. These are Google images of the places I want to visit. Would I be able to see all these places on one trip? Rather ambitious, isn't it? Well, I'm planning a 16 day trip to Europe! And as usual, we'll do it DIY style. This would be the longest DIY trip I have planned so far, and covering so many places! Getting more adventurous! When I come back, I'll post real photos and share the actual experience and the budget spent. Right now the budget is about 8-9k per person all-in including shopping. Still much cheaper than the travel agents fare which is 1k per night coming up to 14 k considering we're spending 14 nights in Europe! But let's see whether my estimate budget works!
Here's the itinerary: Penang- Singapore -London - Paris - Rome - Pisa - Florence- Venice- Milan - Singapore- Penang.
Day 1:
We'll be flying in to London by SIA (Airbus 380 woohoo!) and staying 3 nights at a friend's place.
Day 2: Buckingham Palace, Trafalagar Square
Leicester Square
Covent Garden:
Westminster Abbey, Big Ben Day 3:
London Bridge and Tower Briidge
Hampton Court Palace:
and River Thames cruise

Day 4:
We'll take the Eurostar train from London to Paris from the St Pancras Station:

In the evening, we'll visit Arc Du Triomphe and Champ Elysees and enjoy the night view of the Eiffel Tower.Day 5: We'll go up Eiffel Tower, walk along the Rue Mouffetard food market,visit the Latin Quarter , the Pantheon, browse Galeries LAfayette Shopping Mall

the Louvre, River Seine Cruise
Day 6: PAris MArkets Sacre Coer and Les HAlles Georges Pompidou Centre
At night we'll take a night train to Rome
Day 7 : Rome
Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and Piazza Navona
Day 8:
Colloseum, Roman Forum and Vatican City
Day 9: to Pisa
Day 10: Florence: Mercato CentralePonte Vecchio

Piazzale Michelangelo with the statue of DavidDay 11: Florence ,Piazza Duomo, Uffizi GAllery
Day 12: To Venice

Day 13 Venice
Day 14 : Milan
Duomo

Vittorio Emanuele GalleriesDay 15 : Flight from Milan to Singapore
Day 16 Singapore to Penang
(Day 17 : Back to Work)

Budget Travelling in Australia

2010-04-17T22:34:00.007+08:00

In one of my much earlier posts, I posted some pictures taken during my trip to Australia. In this post I will write about DIY Travel to Gold Coast and Brisbane.
First, the sights and things to do. Gold Coast is about beach, surfing and theme parks. If you are thinking of visiting famous landmarks or natural wonders or picturesque sceneries I don't think Gold Coast should be your destination. But if you want a holiday where you can enjoy and have fun, Gold Coast is one of the easiest DIY destination.
Transport: Check out the transfer options to get to Surfers' Paradise from Coolangatta Airport, if you are flying in to Gold Coast. If you fly to Brisbane, then find out about taking a train from the Brisbane Airport to Gold Coast. If you do that, you have to get off at the Nerang Station and take a taxi to your hotel in Surfers's Paradise. Getting around in Gold Coast is easy. The buses bring you right to the doorsteps of the theme parks. Locating the bus-stops would be easy. Gold Coast is quite a new beach resort town and the roads are well planned.
Accomodation: There are many holiday resorts in Gold Coast and you can easily get a fully furnished apartment which can accomodate 4 persons for around AUD$ 100-150 per night. We stayed at Trickett Gardens on Trickett Street, very near the beach at Surfers' Paradise and conveniently located near the shopping area. The apartment has a double bed in a separate bedroom and 2 single beds at the dining area. There is also a sofa set, TV, washing machine and dryer as well. There is even a swimming pool and jacuzzi!
The theme parks close at 5pm. Some shops stay open till 8 or 9pm . However there are some indoor amusement places to go at night. One of them is INFINITY, an indoor special effects maze which opens from 10am to 10pm, tickets at AUD$23.90 There's even a Haunted House which remains open in the evenings.
Food: If you want to do an estimate on how much to spend on food, its about $5 per person per meal for a simple meal which means $20-25 per person per day. But we ended up spending less because we cooked our own dinners. We bought food from the nearby Supermarket and made use of the kitchen facilities.It costs only 20% of the price we pay for eating out. There isn't much to see at night in Australia so you might as well cook your dinner. If you are not really into cooking, you can even buy ready made pizzas or shepherd's pie to bake on your own. A large pizza costs only $5 and all you need to do is to put it in the oven to bake and maybe cook some soup from cans. Look out for special offers in the evening before they close!
Itinerary: To enjoy your DIY holiday, you have to do your reseach first. Usually I start by collecting some brochures and information from our local travel agents or through their websites. Then I'll know what places they usually go to and how long they usually spend there. Then I'll visit the Virtual Tourist website to see the recommendation given by other travellers. There are so many websites which gives advice on where to go. After that I'll plan my own itinerary to suit ourselves rather than follow the travel agents plans. For Gold Coast, its very simple. You just visit the websites of the many theme parks to find out what to see there then choose the ones that you want to go. I recommend Dreamworld and Warner Brothers'
Movie World. Dreamworld is like a all-in-one theme park where you have nice exciting rides, and also wild life where you can see kangaroos, koala bears as well as sheep shearing show. Warner Brothers' Movieworld is sort of like Disneyland except the characters are different. Like Disneyland you have the Parade where you can take photos with your favorite character like Batman or Scooby Doo. And there are lots of interesting rides including Spooky Coaster ride, my favourite. There is also a Stunt show (Police Academy) with its fair share of laughs and 4-D cinema (Shrek) All in, you can spend a whole day at each of the theme park and get your money's worth (AUD$66) of the entrance tickets. Don't buy the tickets online. You can get it discounted rates at the shopping centres at Surfers' Paradise. You can even bargain with the sales people and they may even give you further discounts especially if you buy more tickets. Besides these two theme parks, there is also Sea World (if you like fish) and the Tropical Fruit Farm or Paradise Country Farm to visit if you have the time.
Other than theme parks you might like to head on to the beach to experience the awesome hugh waves (if you dare). We had awonderful time riding the waves. Too bad we didn't have time to learn surfing.

If you are going there through Brisbane, you might want to look around Brisbane city. If you are flying directly to Gold Coast, I wouldn't recommend you take the trip to Brisbane because there isn't much to see there. For us, going to Australia was partly to send my daughter to University of Queensland for her student exchange so we flew in to Brisbane and took a train ride to Gold Coast. Here are some of the photos we took in Brisbane.

At The Movies

2010-04-16T20:29:00.005+08:00

I just got back from watching Ice Kacang Puppy Love and felt like writing something about it. So in this post, I won't blog about traveling, but talk about the movie I just watched. When I read about Ah Niu (Tan Kheng Seong) making this movie, I already told myself I'll support the movie. The guy is very talented he deserves our encouragement and support. What more, with so many of our Malaysia Boleh stars who have made it big overseas lending their support in the movie, we Malaysians must give this guys some encouragement.
My review may not be fair and to be honest I think I'm going to be biased because I'm very proud of our Malaysian artistes who have made a name for themselves. But then after watching the movie, I'm sure many would agree with me, biased or not, that Ah Niu did a good job despite this being his first attempt. It's a very simple movie, not the type which will move you to tears. If you want to see heavy stuff maybe you should watch "Echoes of the Rainbow" . To be fair we shouldn't compare. Many viewers tend to compare this with WooHoo. But this two movies are different even though there are many similarities. Like Woo Hoo, Ice Kacang has its humorous parts but basically its not a slapstick comedy. And for laughs, do you know that "Its Complicated" is such an enjoyable movie that makes you laugh throughout the show?
Some viewers were disappointed because they expected more songs and singing, with all those singers in the movie. But then this is not meant to be a musical, the actors just happened to be singers. So, without the heavy drama, without the laughs, without the songs, why do you think we would enjoy this movie?
Well, besides showing our support for these guys, the movie actually lets us see ourselves in the movie. Just like WooHoo, most of the laughs were related to our Malaysian way of life, the way we speak and the things we do. And this is a movie by Malaysians for Malaysians !
There are of course some flaws in the movie. It's odd that Fish Leong's role doesn't require her to speak despite seeing her in so many scenes except exclaiming a sound at times. She's not supposed to be dumb, So the script ought to let her speak or chit chat with her fatty friend. Gary Chaw Ke acted his role well. Pin Kuan was also ok. Lee Sinje was of course very good.The younger generation might not connect very well with the scenes in the movie but for older folks like us, the scenes are exactly like what it was when we were young. The Bakuli (marbles, as what we Penangnites called them) we played during childhood days, the Roti man, the coffee shop scenes all remind us our childhood, not forgetting the Ice Kacang! The coffee cups and saucers are exactly what all coffee shops used, those days. The way people drink their coffee (pouring it on the saucer to cool) the half boil eggs (haha) and also the number betting is exactly how people behave those days. This movie enables the older viewers to reminisce their past and allows the younger generation to see how life was during their parents or grandparents time. These days nobody plays marbles any more. No more mamasak ( play cooking). No more fighting fish. No more keeping fighting spiders as pets , too.
Besides these, the movie also tells us about the exodus from small towns to big cities, the dreams of small town folk and how the small town people lack the guts to venture out including Botak who is a classic example of someone who misses out on something (or rather someone he loves) just because he is not bold enough to speak out or express himself. The generation nowadays might not understand why he simply wouldn't just express himself to get the girl he loves. But then we older viewers can identify better because we were also like him during those days. People were not so bold those days, there were so many things we could have done or said but we didn't. There were many decisions to make, choices to make, steps to take but we tend to hesitate. Society is different now. People think differently now. But this movie does tell us that if we keep hesitating and are not bold enough to do want we want and follow our heart, opportunities won't wait for us. It'll just come and go. For those of you who haven't watched the movie, go watch it. After reading this you might view it in a different light rather than expecting songs or loads of laughter. It definitely won't be boring, there is still a fair share of laughs.

Planning Your Own Holiday

2010-04-14T21:31:00.002+08:00

I know I have not been updating my blog for a long time. And most of my friends and readers must have given up checking to see whether I updated. Sorry folks!. As I said earlier, I keep trying to find an excuse for not updating. What's the excuse this time? Some friends also thought I was pretty busy since they also seldom see any updates on Facebook. Well actually I still do spend a lot of time online, as some of you must have noticed me on MSN as usual. So what do I do when I'm online, since I'm not on facebook and not updating my blog? Ahhh... I've been busy finding information and planning for my holiday.
Some people prefer to let the tour agents do the planning...and just sit back and enjoy the tour. Others prefer to plan their own travel. In this post I'll discuss the two options. Is it cheaper to have a DIY holiday? Well it all depends. You might end up paying more than the arranged tour fare or it might come up to a few thousand ringgit less than the tour agents' price. My Hongkong/Macau/China trip was DIY and it was much cheaper than the available tour fares then. And when we compared the itinerary with some friends who also went around the same time, we actually went to more places and spent less. And we didn't really stinge on the hotels! We stayed in nice grand hotels in Macau and Shenzhen. The Hongkong hotel was clean and the location very convenient but the building facade was rather unpleasant. My Australia trip had to be DIY because it was partly to send my daughter there for student exchange as well as help her settle in. The trip wasn't cheap, because we flew SIA. But it was a lot of fun not having to follow a tour agency's itinerary. We booked an apartment in Gold Coast, cooked our own dinners and ahd a splashing time at the theme parks there.
Generally, people go on their own not because it's cheaper but because its more fun. Some people will surely disagree because they find the planning tedious and time consuming. But those who love to plan their own itinerary would agree that part of the fun is in the planning. With all the information you can get in the internet, planning is now very much easier. Almost everything can be booked online. There are hundreds of sites where you can find tips about traveling on your own.
So what do have to do when planning? There a lot of things to check out. Let me list them:
Flight tickets: check for offers, and schedules
Accomodation: check location, price, travelers' reviews
Places to Visit: list out places you want to see and visit, read reviews
Transport: it's very important to understand the transport of the place we are visiting because we're on our own
Tickets: find out about admission tickets
Food: check out where you can get cheap eats and nice food
Budget: do an estimate first for the overall trip
I've done a bit of DIY traveling and also a lot of surfing about traveling. There's so much to share...I'll use the next few posts to share my experience during previous DIY trips.

2010-03-24T19:58:00.001+08:00

8 Foods that Fight Stress

(http://health.yahoo.com/featured/87/8-foods-that-fight-stress/)

Dark Chocolate

High in flavonoids, which are lauded for their relaxing properties (chamomile tea is another great source), chocolate also contains phenethylamine, a chemical that enhances your mood. The darker the chocolate, the more healthy substances you're getting in your diet, so look for bars that are 70 percent cacao or higher.

Skim Milk

Turns out that a glass of warm milk really is calming. One study found that women who drank four or more servings of lowfat or skim milk every day were about half as likely to experience stress-related PMS symptoms than those who drank less than one serving a week.

Oatmeal

Carbs help you produce serotonin, a calming hormone that helps fight anxiety's negative effects-which is probably why many of us crave them when we're stressed. Go with the craving and choose healthy sources. Oatmeal is high in fiber, which means that your body will absorb it slowly. In one fell swoop, you'll prolong the serotonin boost, keeping yourself feeling full for longer (and on less) and making sure your blood sugar's in check.

Salmon

Research shows that omega-3 fatty acids-abundant in fish like salmon-can help reverse stress symptoms by boosting serotonin levels, and that an omega-3-rich diet can also help suppress the production of the anxiety hormones cortisol and adrenaline.

Walnuts

They've been shown to help lower blood pressure, which is critical for those whose hearts are already working overtime thanks to high adrenaline levels. In fact, research so strongly backs their health benefits that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration goes so far as to recommend 1 1/2 oz per day.

Sunflower Seeds

A good source of folate, which helps your body produce a pleasure-inducing brain chemical called dopamine.

Spinach

Studies show that magnesium, which you'll find in leafy greens like spinach, improves your body's response to stress.

Blueberries

Their antioxidants counteract the effects of stress hormones like cortisol on your body.

The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

2010-01-30T14:48:00.002+08:00

Cook Your Own Meals (3) - Curry Assam Fish

2010-01-10T17:49:00.004+08:00

This is also a popular Penang dish. Nonya restaurants will serve this dish with silver pomfret (Tau Teh) but you can get it with ikan pari or black pomfret in most "economy rice" stalls in Penang.
The curry paste consists of chilli paste, shallots, kunyit (tumeric) and serai. Sometimes we add lengkuas and garlic also. For those of you overseas, it would be a good idea to bring some curry paste in sealed packets. But you can also use dry curry powder. Just mix the powder with chopped shallots before cooking.
Assam Curry fish does best with okra or ladies fingers and tomatoes. If you prefer Indian curry then you can add terung or brinjal (also called aubergine)For this version of curry fish, we use tamarind juice. And we add chopped bunga kantan. This is the traditional Penang nonya taste. Some people prefer the Indian style when cooking curry fish. You don't have to add tamarind juice and bunga kantan for Indian curry fish, just add a little santan. But actually it all happens on your taste, just experiment and see which is to your liking. Cooking is just like chemistry, you have to experiment and come out with something you like. Practise makes perfect.
First you heat some oil and fry the paste till fragrant. Add in the tamarind juice, tomatoes, ladies fingers and some bunga kantan. Add salt and sugar to taste. Let it cook for about 8 to 10 minutes. Check the taste, add in the fish and cook for a further 8 to 10 minutes. You have to try out the cooking time to know how long to cook depending on the size of your fish and ladies fingers. The skill in cooking can only come from experience. The fish should not be overcooked. This is where your technique comes in.

Cook Your Own Meals (2)- Fried Glass Noodles

2010-01-10T17:21:00.004+08:00

When you have to cook your own meals, you'll love simple one dish meals where there is minimum preparation, not time consuming, tasty and balanced. Frying rice, instant noodles, rice vermicelli ( bihun) or spaghetti will be popular choices especially if you are eating alone or with only a few housemates. When you get bored with these, you can try this out. Fried Glass Noodles or Char Tang Hoon.
You just need some minced meat ( can be pork, chicken or beef) , some eggs, some tang hoon and some vegetables.
It's very simple. Soak some tang hoon, cut the vegetables, season the minced meat with pepper, soy sauce and corn flour. Fry some minced garlic until fragrant, add in the minced meat and stir fry till cooked. Add in the vegetables. Add some water and seasoning ( oyster sauce, soy sauce, dark soy sauce). Put in the tang hoon , mix and let it cook a short while. Add in the eggs , stir and it's ready. It only takes a short time. Remember to add in lots of pepper before serving. This dish tastes better with lots of pepper. If you have some sambal belacan, it would be even better.
For breakfast or supper, you can even try this "mee goreng" without actually frying. Just cook some instant noodles, discard the water and mix the cooked noodles with sesame oil, pepper and yeast extract Bovril or Marmite. It is very fragrant and tasty and tastes like fried noodles. You can also add some boiled vegetables and charsiew or some leftover roast chicken meat if you want to eat it for dinner.

Cook Your Own Meals (1) - my version of Chai Boey

2010-01-10T16:02:00.006+08:00

In this series of posts I shall share some tips on preparing your own meals. Knowing how to cook some simple dishes will come in handy when you leave home and stay on your own. Firstly, it's very much cheaper. For those studying away from home and on a budget, you should learn up cooking. Secondly, when you get bored with the outside food, its a welcome change. Sometimes it may be troublesome to go looking for food especially during weekends when you don't feel like going out. Besides, it's healthier and and gives you a sense of achievement, too.
The first dish I'll introduce is the Penang favourite Chai Boey. If you google this, you'll find many blogs featuring this dish. In Wikipedia there is similar version which the westerners call Chop Suey but it is totally different from our tasty Penang Chai Boey (also called Kiam Chai Boey) Every Chinese in Penang probably loves Chai Boey. Many "economy rice" stalls serve this ever popular dish. The name actually means "leftovers". Usually most homes will prepare this dish after festivals like Chinese New Year when there are a lot of leftovers. But you don't need to have leftovers to prepare this easy and tasty dish. And when you cook this, you don't have to cook other dishes , just cook some rice and you have a balanced meal. This is what you need
Some roast pork or roast duck or roast chicken (for those of you overseas, you can easily get this from chinatown)
Some salted vegetables (not too much because it will make your dish too salty. You can omit these if you can't find it)
A few slices of dried tamarind (assam keping) a stalk of serai (lemon grass) some slices of ginger, a few stalks of dried chilli ( If you can't get these overseas just add a cube of Tom Yam cube but it won't be as nice)
One large onion, one carrot , some jagung shoots, some button mushrooms, some tomatoes ( This is to add variety to your chai boey because the authentic chaiboey will have lots of different dishes thrown in. If you can get some loh bak from the market, it will be even nicer)
For the main vegetables, we use Kai Choy. If you can't find these vegetables you can improvise with other vegetables.
The first step is to add a small amount of water into a pot, turn on the heat and add the ingredients one type at a time. I usually put in the roast pork first because it doesn't need any preparation. You'll need to add a cube of ikan bilis, other wise your chai boey won't taste nice. The original chaiboey has a lot of leftover tasty dishes so if you make it from scratch, you will need some tasty stock. You can add the serai, tamarind slices and dried chillies also because you only need to wash them and add them in. As the pot gets heated up, I'll prepare the other ingredients and add them in . Remember that you only need a small amount of water. Don't be tempted to start with too much water because the whole pot will overflow by the time you add everything. And the dish is not suppose to be a soup. As a guide, about 2 to 3 cm depth of water should be enough. By the time you add the jagung shoots, mushroom, carrots, tomatoes and onions, your pot should look like this. Note that the water barely covers the bottom layer. Later when the vegetables are cooked, the amount of water will increase. While this is cooking, you can wash and clean your vegetables thoroughly. Cut the stem into medium size pieces and add them in first. Then add in the leafy part. Don't be alarmed if you see your pot filled to the brim. It will all shrink when it is cooked. You won't see any water, but don't add anymore. It should look like this.
Cover the pot and let it cook a while. The vegetables will soften and shrink and the amount of water will increase. Mix in the vegetables and let it simmer for an hour. Check the taste and add any flavouring according to your taste. Usually I don't need to add any salt or sugar. The salted vegetables, ikan bilis cube, onions, carrots and roast pork, chilli and tamarind slices would have combined to give a very nice taste. By now your chai boey should look like this. The large pot of chai boey will be enough for a few people to share. Penang people can eat this alone with white rice without any other dishes. It is tasty, appetising, and quite a balanced meal, too. If you cannot finish it, keep it in the freezer or fridge and eat it later , maybe with other dishes like simple fried egg or omelettes.

Roti Jala and Curry Chicken

2010-01-03T08:51:00.006+08:00

Anyone interested in making roti jala and curry chicken? The curry chicken is very easy to prepare. The roti jala might be a bit time consuming. First the ingredients:
Curry Chicken :
1 medium sized chicken, cut into pieces
curry paste (can be bought at the wet market, just ask for curry paste for one chicken)
100ml thick santan (I usually buy RM1.00 and use half for the chicken and half for the roti jala)
(can replace with milk)
2 or 3 potatoes cut into wedges
2 tomatoes cut into halves
2 big onions cut into quarters
some tomato sauce
salt and suger to taste
First, heat some oil and fry t he curry paste.The trick in making nice curry is to fry the curry paste well to bring out the aroma. Don't be in a hurry to add everything inside. If you want the curry to look nicer, you can also fry the chilli paste separately to bring out the red colour, remove it add add it back when the curry is almost ready. This version of curry chicken I made is slightly different from the usual one. It is a bit sweeter and a bit sourish, less milky and more suitable for roti jala.
After the curry paste is fragrant, add the chicken pieces and mix well. The potatoes, tomatoes and onions can also be added. Add water gardually while stirring. Add enough water to cover all the ingredients. Add some tomato sauce, salt and sugar.Cover the kuali and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Check the taste and add salt or suger according to your taste. The skill in cooking is not just following the recipe but knowing how much flavouring to add. This is where your taste buds come into the picture. Just before simmering for 20 minutes, add the santan or milk. This will thicken the curry and give it a creamy feel. I do not like thick creamy curry, so this version is not so creamy diiferent from the usual taste.
Roti Jala
2 cups of flour (250ml X2)
2 eggs
100ml of santan (can replace with milk)
a bit of kunyit powder
a pinch of salt
1 and a half cups of water.
Mix the eggs and flour and add 1 cup of water to form a thick batter. The batter needs to be seived so that the gluten and egg white strands won't clog up the roti jala dispenser. This will take some time so I usually do this before starting to cook the curry. Use the remaining half cup of water to pour into the seive to aid the seiving process. After the batter is seived, add a pinch of salt and some tumeric (kunyit) powder to give the roti a yellowish colour. Add the santan and mix well.
To make the roti jala, you'll need a dispenser. This can be bought in supermarkets or markets. The bronze one is quite expensive, but the plastic one is very cheap about rm1. You'll also need a flat non-stick pan.
Heat the pan and oil the surface using a piece of cloth(or a paper towel) dipped in oil.
Pour some batter in the roti jala cup and make circular motion on the pan. You can try out various patterns and ways to do this. The speed you move and the height of the cup will determine the texture of the roti jala. This is where you have to figure out the best way to make nice roti jala. The first few pieces might be disastrous but once you can the hang of it, its quite simple. I usually let the batter cook until it is stiff enough for me to lift it on to a plate using a ladle of course. Then I'll pour the batter on the pan for the next piece. While the second piece is cooking, I'll fold the first piece into quaters. This way you save time. You don't need helpers if you plan your work. I made this curry chicken and roti jala all by myself in 2 hours, including all preparation like peeling poatoes, washing the chicken, seiving the flour. It is quite a lot of work and I'm quite lazy to do this wxcept for certain occasions like when my children come back for holidays.

Sherlock Holmes - a film worth watching

2009-12-30T20:08:00.003+08:00

When you hear the name Sherlock Holmes, you would probably want to see the movie. Most of us would have probably read some Sherlock Holmes detective books. And we probably would have in our mind what Sherlock Holmes would be like. So Sherlock Holmes fans would not want to give this movies a miss. Although the Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson characters we see in this movie, directed by Guy Ritchie and produced by Lionel Wigram, are not like what we imagined them to be, we are not complaining. This version gives an interesting adaptation of the characters fromthe famous detective series by renowned author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The team of director and producers manages to satisfy the readers by keeping the basic background of the character, as well as the expected timeline, but giving it a new twist which would appeal to cinema goers these days. Holmes is portrayed as not only only a super-sleuth but also a super-brawler. He is not only an analytical and detail-oriented character but also a detective who uses his fists and fighting skills as effectively as he uses his analytical skills. He seems more at home in a boxing ring than in a drawing room amongst the upper-crust of society.
What is more interesting is instead of seeing Dr Watson as a side-kick, he is now not only a buddy or advisor, but sometimes also a protector. Both Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law contribute to make the movie worth watching.The movie has a busy plot, vivid locations, thorny relationships, fights, chases and explosions. There is also plenty of action, twist and turns with a few unexpected surprises along the way. Besides that, there is lierally plenty of olden day chemistry, which the director uses to provide the solutions to the mystery.
As expected of Sherlock Holmes stories, the pieces will fall together at the end but in the movie the explanations get revved up in fast-cut flashbacks cleverly done by director Guy Ritchie.
At the end of the movie, viewers walk out of the cinema satisfied looking forward to more future Sherlock Holmes movie as they realized that the villain in this movie, Dr. Moriarty, is revealed as a player in the mystery, and is not apprehended as the rest of the villains are.

活到老学到老- Life Long Learning

2009-12-27T09:53:00.008+08:00

The direct translation for 活到老学到老 is "one is never too old to learn", but the term life-long learning is commonly used to mean this also. Learning is a life-long process, provided we open our minds to learn. As I said earlier in one of my earlier posts, if our mind is up to it there are a lot of things we can do and learn. Take for instance, computer knowledge and skills. Some older people are very much computer savvy (even more advanced than the younger people) but there are also people who just let the knowledge and technology pass them by and refuse to even bother to pick up some basic skills. Even though there are lots of opportunities for us to learn, these opportunities might not be forever with us waiting for us to take it up.
There are certain things best learned when we are young. Dr Mahathir once said in an interview that one of his greatest regrets is not having learned how to swim. The great man who can do so many mammoth tasks including running a country laments about not having learned a simple skill like swimming. At his age, it would be a bit inconvenient although not impossible to learn up swimming. It wouldn't be embarassing since he could probably engage a private instructor in a private pool all for his own use. Maybe at 84, and being a heart patient, it might not be advisable even though swimming can be a mild form of exercise. For people who are younger, they should pluck up their courage and learn while they can. The best time would be when you are still a child. But its never too late. The older you get the worse it gets. Swimming is skill which will definitely come handy. Even if you think you will never be in a situation which needs you to be able to swim, it is still a good form of exercise especially as you get older. And it is a sport you can do solo, not having to find company or partners. And when you go for beach holidays, it is a lot more fun if you know how to swim. When I was at Pulau Payar, I had a good time enjoying the underwater sights not having to restrict myself to just snorkelling. Those days, when Batu Ferringhi was still a nice beach we used to swim in the open sea from Rasa Sayang to Casuarina and further. Of course we can't do that anymore.
For me, skating, whether ice or roller, is one thing I regret not having learned. At my age it would be both ridiculous and dangerous to attempt it. I did have a chance to try out ski-ing during a trip to Korea, of course on a gentle and mild slope. It was quite fun actually once you get the hang of it. Moving, slowing down stopping or accelerating. But since it is something I would probably not do again, I just glided around the gentle slope just for the experience.
Besides swimming and working out at the gym, I don't engage in other forms of sports. During my school days, I was never a sportsman, but I did play some football with neighbourhood friends during younger days. I did try my hand at various games in college, like hockey, basketball, volleyball but was never good at it. When I started teaching Form 6, I played badminton, squash and tennis with the students but it doesn't last long because I keep getting new students every 2 years. So I stick to swimming and gym
I have always loved music since young. Coming from a poor family, I didn't have the opportunity to learn music when I was young. So when started working I bought an electronic organ and took up music lessons. I stopped learning when I was too busy studying for my degree. I used to be able to write the notes for a song I heard before and then play it on the organ. But my knowledge of music is quite elementary even though I did take some music courses as an option in the University. Music is something best learned when you are young. That is why we made sure our children had the opportunity to learn music when they were young. Both my children learned the piano and violin until Grade 8. So the saying "life-long learning" doesn't mean you can still learn when you are old. It means you don't stop learning even when you are old. But certain things should be learned while we are young. Don't let opportunities pass you by. Grab the chance to learn whether you are young or old.When people hear me sing in public, their first reaction is " wah so daring, dare to sing in front of people" Their next is " Eh how come you can sing Chinese songs?" Some people think I sing from romanised pinyin karaoke. But actually I don't look at the pinyin. I read the Mandarin characters. There are only limited very old songs in pinyin and some are not written correctly. I was totally educated in English, then how come I can speak and read Chinese. I can't write in Chinese but I can type in Chinese using the computer. With the internet, translating, writing, checking the pronunciation is not a problem. All you need is a willingness to learn. And also thick skin. If we are worried about people laughing at us we cannot learn anything. In other words we mustn't be inhibited if we want to learn. If you believe in 活到老学到老- Life Long Learning and have a mind set for learning, there are endless things to learn. Sometimes I also learn from my students. It doesn't have to be a one way direction.

刺陵 The Treasure Hunter - starring Jay Chou and Lin Chiling

2009-12-25T11:24:00.006+08:00

After watching The Treasure Hunter on the first day, I can only give a 3 star review. Not because I didn't enjoy the show. The show does have some entertainment value but the story makes you leave the cinema wondering why the earlier scenes were included. Besides that, we also couldn't figure out many things about the story. Somehow the parts do not seem to blend together at the end.The story is about a young chivalrous man named Ciao Fei (Jay Chou) who, to save the life of his mentor's daughter Lan Ting (Lin Chiling) is forced to give up a map which is supposed to lead to a buried treasure of unbelievable riches. They embark on a dangerous journey to recover the map and fight to protect the ancient treasure. Along the way they meet other people, archaeologist Hua Ding Bang(Chen Daoming) and Pork Chop (Eric Tsang) who were also finding their way there for their own reasons.However,the overall cinematography and scenes were quite well done. It does satisfy my appetite for kung fu ballet (Matrix style and all) and special effects. We have some Indiana Jones stuff but very much less exciting and doesn't keep the audience thrilled at all. We have some Harry Porter magic but it doesn't fit in the story line, like they were just placed there for the special effects making the scenes rather out of place. There was a knight which appeared out of the sand when Ciao Fei hit a bell. After a short fight, the knight just crumbles into sand and thats the end of it. There was also a Bandage Guy (or Ribbon Guy, whatever you want to call him) who was quite bergaya when he appeared, shooting his bandages (or ribbons) form underneath his cloak. I thought he would be some tough rogue or something but somehow he just fizzles out.
There is some humour thrown in, but even Eric Tsang, who despite doing a good job providing some laughs with his natural way, cannot save the movie. I wouldn't complain about Jay Chou's acting this time, I have to admit he is improving. He is quite natural in this movie, portraying a cool image. And we get to see more of his face with this tie-back hairstyle, instead of usually seeing his face half hidden by the fringe or the baseball cap. His fight scenes were quite well done, ada gaya. That is if we don't compare him with real action stars. There wasn't much for Lin Chiling to show in this role. Most of the time she is just there as the damsel the hero wants to save. Except for the one part where she had to act like a monster for a few minutes when she was possessed. Her role in Red Cliff did her more justice.On the whole, I would say the movie doesn't live up to our expectations. It does have some entertaining value, good for an evening out just to pass the time. If you're looking for a good plot or story or a touching movie, then don't go. If you just want some entertainment, go ahead. After all it is a light comedy action movie, not the real action movies or epic movies or slapstick kung fu movie. Anyway Jay Chou fans will still watch the movie, whatever the review.

Now Everyone Can Sing

2009-12-20T07:52:00.010+08:00

With Air Asia, now everyone can fly. With karaoke, now everyone can sing. Well in fact without karaoke everyone who can talk can sing also, right? The thing is that some people sing better than others. But karaoke does make a difference. It makes learning to sing so easy and makes amateurs sound like professionals. I have always loved music. I loved to listen to songs. In the good old days, we used to keep song books with lyrics of songs. Before karaoke, many of us would know how to strum some basic chords and sing along. We would figure out the chords and just strum the rhythm by just following our ear and feel. Now with karaoke, we have the background music, the lyrics appearing at the right time to prompt you and you can even adjust the key to suit your voice. Those days we have to arrange the chords to a different key. With this technology, singing is much easier now. But it is not as easy as it appears to be. Some people sound better than others and it still needs some effort to sound good. In this post I will share my tips on karaoke singing.
First, the voice. Some people have a nicer voice than others. But this actually a relative thing. We sometimes hear singers who sing as though they have a sore throat and yet they can be popular. The overall presentation can make a difference. But anyway, remember, I'm talking about karaoke singing so it doesn't really matter. Many people who have heard me sing have told me i have a nice voice (maybe out of politeness?) but I think its my choice of songs. We have to know our own voice and the type of songs which suit our voice. Basically I have a low voice and the crooner rather than the rocker or rapper type. But then if the song is written at a too low range, my voice would sound too monotonous. So the way is to try out various songs and find your songs to add to your repertoire. For me, my voice is more for the romantic love songs but sometimes I do sing lively and fast numbers too. My vocal range is quite limited and if I sing certain songs originally sung by male singers sometimes I need to bring down the key. There are some singers whose songs are in the mid-range and fits the tag..everyone can sing. For example Teresa Teng （邓丽君) songs are easy to sing so it explains her popularity..of course she had a very melodious voice which so far no one can equal. I can't sing 庄学忠 songs even though many men like to sing his songs. I 'll need to adjust the key for these songs. My CD collection has many golden classics which are at the key that everyone can sing. Besides the golden evergreens, I can also sing 張惠妹 Amei, 鄭秀文 Sammi Cheng, 許茹芸 Valen Hsu, 林憶蓮 Sandy Lam, Stephanie Sun 孫燕姿 numbers. On the contrary some ladies might find these songs difficult. For male singers, there are certain songs by 張信哲 (Jeff Chang), 任贤齐 (Richie Ren) ,林志炫 (Terry Lin)and 周華健 (Emil Chow) that are suitable for me to sing. The trick is, as I said, knowing your voice. And we need to try out before we know it. I know my limitations and I'll sound awful for certain songs. Some people have wider range of songs they can sing, some people have limited...nobody can sing all songs. Again, I'm not talking about professional singers but ordinary karaoke buffs like us.
Second is the pitching. What people usually describe as singing off-key or 走音, means to sing at the wrong pitch. It's not as easy as it looks. Some people can identify the pitch in their head (not necessarily knowing the actual pitch) some people cannot. Some people know the pitch but cannot sing the correct pitch. That's why some people don't even know they've gone off pitch. But this thing can be cultivated. Those who listen to a lot of music or play musical instruments can pitch better. But there are people who can play and identify pitch but find it hard to sing it correctly. Some people pick up better than others, it's an inborn thing. but I believe practise does make a difference. When I sing some songs that I haven't been singing a long time, I know I've gone off pitch. Some people won't notice but when I look at the people who might know, our smiles confirmed that the mistake has not gone unnoticed.
Third is the self-confidence, or guts. Some people have quite "thick skins" and are very bold to sing, croak or shout in front of others. Some people won't make a sound even if you put a gun on their head for fear of embarassing themselves (just joking). To sing well is one thing, but singing in public is another. Some people will sing along when a song is sung but when the mike is put near their lips they will stop immediately. Some people can sing very well but just refuse to sing in the presence of others fearing embarassment. Not many are bold enough for their voice to be heard through the sound system. But after they overcome the initial fear it comes easier. However there are some people who cannot sing well but yet love to belt out the numbers at every opportunity. . Actually it doesn't really matter whether you sing well or not. Its all for fun. As long as you have the confidence to come out of the shell and sing it out, its an achievement. We are not competing or trying to be professional singers. Singing is good therapy to relieve stress and boost your self esteem. You should try it. Karaoke can help build up our stage confidence. I've been up on the stage to sing in groups during college days. I also did a duet before more than twenty years ago in my former school. Later, with karaoke, I tried out many songs but it was all in the privacy of home. About 6 years ago, during a course I attended, we had karaoke sessions with some teachers. I got a lot of positive feedback which boosted my confidence. Then during the closing ceremony, when the VIP was late, some people called my name and requested that I sing and entertain them while waiting for the VIP to arrive. Stage fright or not, I delivered some easy songs without music and lyrics to prompt me. And I can tell you its not easy. We are so used to karaoke ...we will be lost without the help.
I usually kept a low profile and would not volunteer or walk up to sing during dinners despite being able to do so. But one dinner started it all. Somebody leaked to my boss that I sang during a course so he made me sing during the staff dinner. The next year the organisers asked me to prepare karaoke with a few other teachers to entertain. The following year we tried something more difficult. singing on stage with background music but no screen to peek at the lyrics. This was something else. We had to memorise the lyrics and know exactly when to come in. This wasn't the difficult part. Without the screen to look at, you had to look at the audience and also know how to stand or where to put our hands. But we just held the mike and the wire and just walk around the stage! And it can be quite an experience, enough to make you shiver with stage fright.
Then during a Form 6 dinner 2 years ago, the students started calling teachers to sing. None of the other teachers would be willing to do such a thing , so I had to go up so as not to disappoint the students. So I took the cordless mike, sang an easy 月亮代表我的心, walk round among the audience just like a superstar(haha) But that way I didn't have to stand hundreds of eyes staring at me singing without music, that way they all sang , waved and laughed with me when I teased the other teachers with the mike.
This year they asked me whether I want to perform or not. My answer was quick "No!" Perform? I was attending a thanksgiving dinner. perform? Not me! But when somebody suggested doing a duet with me, I thought , why not? I have sung duets before with other students so it would be nice, just to show the closeness between the teachers and students.
And that's when the news went out on facebook about this crazy teacher who sings with the students. Many are curious to hear me sing. So far they've said nice things about my singing (thank you) But remember that I'm their teacher ,so they wouldn't dare to say negative remarks, out of respect. That's also one of the good part of being a teacher...you only get to hear the nice parts...

Bodyguards and Assassins (十月圍城) - very good movie

2009-12-18T22:16:00.010+08:00

I expected a lot from this movie and came out of the cinema feeling satisfied. This is one of those movies where the director has succeeded in creating the mood and momentum of the story and getting the audience to feel with it. The fictional story about civilians and ordinary people sacrificing themselves to protect Sun Yat-sen from assassins has many touching moments and makes the audience sympathize with the patriots.
Even though much of the action scenes are towards the last one third of the movie, the build-up towards the final clashes between the bodyguards and the assassins was very well done. The good acting by the cast makes the movie worthwhile watching. Nicholas Tse portrays a role not like his usual type. Instead of seeing him as arrogant or spoilt, this time he plays a simple minded Rickshaw Puller with a heart of gold. He brings out the character very well and this is the first time I see him putting his acting skills to good use. Veteran actor Wang Xueqi also provides a sterling performance as the Tycoon. Hu Jun as the assassin performance is also goodLeon Lai's role as the Beggar didn't give him much room to show his acting skills but I have no complains about his portrayal. Tony Leung as usual lives up to our expectation. He is one of those, besides Wang Xueqi, who makes the audience feel with him. Donnie Yen's portrayal was ok but what I like best is his fighting scenes.

The fighting scenes were also very well done. The tempo provided by the background drums throughout the action scenes add to the whole excitement. It reminds me of the fighting scenes in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. There was around 45 minutes of fighting at the end of the show. Instead of making me bored like in the Storm Warriors, the fighting left me wanting more of it. There wasn't enough of Donnie Yen's fighting to whet my appetite but then this plot doesn't allow for him to show off his martial arts prowess like in Ip Man. There was some blood letting but it was done in a more subtle yet necessary way unlike Ninja Assassins where you get the idea that blood is being splashed all over the screen.
the Cast
Photos from http://entertainment.sg.msn.com/photos/photos.aspx?cp-documentid=3742519&page=1

十月圍城- Bodyguards and Assassins

2009-12-15T20:28:00.005+08:00

This film tells the story of a group of bodyguards protecting Dr Sun Yat Sen from assassins in Hong Kong during the early 1900's.The US$23 million (€16 million) production is the first to come under the umbrella of Cinema Popular (http://www.cinemapopular.com), a collaboration between Hong Kong producer-director Peter Chan, mainland Chinese producer Huang Jin-xin's We Pictures and China's Polybona International production house.
This is a much awaited movie, considering the star studded cast which includes Donnie Yen (recently seen in Ip Man) Leon Lai, Nicholas Tse, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Hu Jun, Fan Bingbing, ,Simon Yam and Eric Tsang .
Sun Yat-sen is popularly referred to as the Father of Modern China who played a critical role in the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the subsequent establishment of a short-lived republic. He is one of few political figures in 20th-century China who is admired by otherwise opposed politicians on the mainland and in Taiwan.
The story starts with "October 1905 Legends were born on that day............
Looking forward to watching the movie which opens this Friday. And I hope I can write a review after that.

Storm Warriors....what a letdown....

2009-12-12T08:00:00.015+08:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Storm_Warriors

When the movie was about to be released, I told myself I must go and watch. But then the Star review was bad. It got 2 stars only. I wasn't about to let a review from stopping me watch this wuxia movie. I grew up watching a lot of cantonese wuxia stories, most of which were based on the books and comics which were also popular those days, like 六指琴魔 by 倪匡 and also 金庸 books. Those days the fantasy shown on the screen were very ridiculous even during those days, but we loved them anyhow. Flying swords and gushing winds from the palms were also shown but the technology wasn't that advance. They also had the characters sending their swords up in the sky to fight (remote controlled battle) and when their sword loses the battle, the owner will cough blood.
I have always loved fantasy movies, swordplay movies and also very impressed with the modern day computer graphics which fuel the fantasy movies. So when they said the movie is all CGI, I said never mind..it is CGI plus sword play stuff..should be nice. I loved Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon 卧虎藏龙 Hero 英雄, and House of Flying Daggers Ang Lee and Zhang Yimou did a fantastic job. The balancing on the bamboo trees, the roof jumping, water skimming ...I just loved them.

So, bad review or not, I went for the show. I told myself I shouldn't compare this with the earlier epics, this is suppose to be acomic turned CGImovie, ok. But still its a disappointment. You suffer from an overdose of computer graphics. I'm not against these special effects, in fact I love to see special effects. The kungfu ballet in the Matrix wowed me. The way Keanu Reeves dodged the bullet in the "bullet time scene" was really cool. I also love Harry Porter movies, Patronus, death eaters and stuff. Lord of the Rings was also fantastic. But here you actually get sick of it. There is 90% special effects and 10% acting , story and fighting action. I know we shouldn't compare Aaron Kwok with Donnie Yen

http://www.newsgd.com/pictures/ent_pic/200608040001_64578.jpg

in Ip Man

http://www.hongkonghustle.com/wp-content/photos/Donnie_Yen_Ip_Man_movie.jpg

or Tony Jaa, www.siamfoundation.org/wellworthwatching/?p=190

but Rain the pop star could also do a good job in Ninja Assasin.Photos from http://screenrant.com and http://www.crunchyroll.com
When you watch Red Cliff, adapted from a Chinese classic, it makes your heart go boom boom with the movies music and tempo. The actors made the show so engrossing. You walk out of the cinema thinking, wow!
The story line in the Storm Warriors is so shallow. The battle between Wind and Cloud was so long I kept looking at the watch. When the battle ended and you see the GSC attendant opening the back-door, you wonder "Eh? What happened to Heart and the dragon bone? Cloud died ar?" And when the credits come up, you walk out thinking "Ha? finished d ar?"

What does it take to be a teacher?

2009-12-10T16:58:00.003+08:00

This year I celebrated my birthday in the Upper 6 classroom. Their warm thoughts melted not only my heart but also the Haagen Daz cake they ordered! Melted cake or not, I was deeply touched by their intentions. They took the trouble to arrange for someone to bring the cake just after my lesson which was their recess. It is during moments like this that you are reminded that the students can feel your love for them.
Just after their graduation ceremony this year, a Form 5 student brought a bouquet of flowers for me. I totally didn't expect it, so I asked him whether it was one of the bouquets used in the competition the previous day and used for decorating the hall. But he told me it was specially ordered from a florist. Silly me. The tag on the bouquet clearly shows its from a florist. I was really touched as I noticed his form teacher and other subject teachers sitting near me didn't receive any flowers from him.
Last year I celebrated my birthday with more than a hundred of students. On the birthday cake, they wrote" Happy Birthday Daddy". These are my St John Ambulance members. Another St John teacher adviser, Madam SK like to comment that I am like their father. Another teacher Madam BWW also commented that she can sense my relationship with the students is closer than teacher and students..its like father and children. Maybe its my grey hair! But more likely is that they can sense that I mean well. What does it take to be a loved teacher? Well, first you have to love children..especially the students. Sometimes they disappoint you, sometimes they make you angry. Sometimes you have to scold them, sometimes you have to punish them. But we always remember they are our "children". Some teachers bond very well with the students but some do not. But it doesn't mean they don't care. Each and every teacher is different in his own way.
Just before the holidays started, one of the temporary teachers came over to say goodbye. She is a biotech graduate. I asked her what were her plans and she told me she will try to apply to train as a permanent teacher. Out of curiosity, I asked her the reason for doing so. She told me she didn't like the working atmosphere in the private sector..too competitive and too demanding. So I said the work of a teacher can also be demanding..it depends on how you take it. Here the HM's two eyes are not the only ones watching you. Hundreds of eyes are watching you. You can avoid the HM's scrutiny but ultimately the students are the best judges. They can sense the teachers' heart.
So, again, what does it take to be a teacher? Basically you have to be academically qualified but on top of that you must have the passion for it. Just like other professions like doctors and nurses..you cannot just learn up to be a good teacher. If your mind is not into it, you can never be a good teacher. Besides these, do you know a teacher also needs to be multi-skilled (sports, co-curiculum, computer....) multi-talented ( a teacher is actually an actor in class sometimes) compassionate and disciplined. Once we take up the profession, there are certain things we cannot do in public anymore. And yes, one more thing...whether you are married or not...you have to take on a fatherly or motherly role because your anak murid sometimes look on you as their "parents".

My Life As A Teacher- Part 8- the past 18 years

2009-12-08T22:24:00.008+08:00

Out of my 33 years as a trained teacher, 18 years have been spent in my present school. Looking back at the photos, I can see I've aged a lot through these 18 years. I came as a 38 year old, now I'm 56. The hair is a lot more grey now and the hairline receded. I've changed a lot..the school has also changed a lot. 1993
2009

When I first came the school had a very bad reputation. I was told some teachers even cried when they are sent to the school. I was offered a place here and I eagerly accepted because that meant I would not have to drive to Balik Pulau everyday. At first I was always given the last classes to teach. The Form 5 boys were quite ok. It was the Form 3 last class which was really terrible. Sometimes you get so angry you just feel like slapping them. Those days the school adminstration asked you to handle the discipline yourself, otherwise you just ask for a transfer. I didn't even think about that but some teachers did leave for other schools.
In some classes, the boys would just get up and leave in the midst of your teaching. There was a certain class which I had to bolt one of the doors from the outside so that they won't sneak off from the back door! You wouldn't believe how I manage to maintain discipline in class. If I say I used to slap them, nobody can imagine Casey the gentle well-mannered, patient teacher can do such a thing. The students usually try to test you. And they were shocked at my reaction. When one of the senior teachers saw me catching hold of a student by the collar and pushing him against the wall, she was shocked..so were the other students. Once I went inside a lab to go to the prep room to do something and a student jeered at me in Hokkien. I went over, looked at him and before he knew what happened gave him a tight slap and walked away. The teacher teaching was shocked and the whole class fell silent. Of course that was 18 years ago. Teachers don't do this sort of things nowadays. If you touch them now, you'll be in trouble. But the best thing is the students who were slapped do not grudge you. Once I met a couple at Macdonald's and the boy called me "Sir! Do you remember me?" I said" Of course I remember you" And he told his girl friend I remember him because I slapped him. And we both laughed. Actually they may be naughty but can be fun to be with, too. Whatever type of students, they can still be Casey's friends.
I remember Mr G mentioned to me when he first came to the school. "You are not fierce what, how come the students run into the class when they see you coming". So I said maybe they respect me. Actually its true, I don't always raise my hand....in fact I only did that a few times. But they sort of respect me and know I mean business and I can also get very angry sometimes.
Anyway after Mr G came, the school underwent changes slowly but surely. As the academic performance improved, Mr G pulled me up to front classes. I was asked to teach both Chemistry and Add Maths. This is the group which I taught Chemistry from form 4 to Upper 6. 4 of them are now doctors.And when Form 6 started, I moved up to teach Form 6 Chemistry only. The boy (4th from right) in the picture above will graduate as doctor this year. This batch is the 2006 batch. Two of them are doing education degrees.some of them are my facebook friends also. The 2007 batch, one of the largest group...dragon babies all of them These photos are taken at the 2008 form 6 dinner..And these are the 2009 batch of students...facebook family photo!

My Life As A Teacher- Part 7- social life

2009-12-08T15:59:00.004+08:00

I once posted a remark on Facebook that one of the best things about being a teacher is that you get to enjoy the holidays. Some students responded by saying that they also intended to take up teaching. One of them asked whether it would be odd when you have a long holiday and your friends are all working. Jokingly I answered, "No, my friends are also having holidays because my friends are my students"
Reading between the lines, the answer indicated that either I am very friendly with the students or I have very few friends. Actually both are also correct. If I were to list my so-called friends, besides the students, it would be just the school colleagues which we meet everyday and seldom would meet outside the school except when there is a function. So actually if you take me as an example there is not much of a social life as a teacher. But I don't think I'm the only one in this situation. I've spoken to other teachers as well and they share the same opinion. Except for people who have a circle of church friends, or fellow Buddhist group members or Yoga class maybe Taichi or line-dancing friends, we do not hang out with our so-called gang anymore. Actually this pattern is not only for teachers. The boy who asked this question (he reads my blog, too) doesn't need to worry. He would welcome each holiday with glee. As he grows older he would realise that you do not always hang out with friends.
During school days your friends are your school mates or tuition friends. Next year when he enters university slowly the ties will weaken as he makes new friends in the university. Of course some of them would continue to be good friends for many years. When he graduates from the university his friends will be mostly colleagues as his university mates might be working in other towns. After a few years of working life he would probably get married. After that his life would evolve around his wife and children. He would love the holidays to be with his loved ones. He would not be hanging out with his friends anymore. Even if he remains single, most of his friends would get married one after the other. The pattern of social life of each and every person changes from the school life as we grow older. This is true for everyone. You might have some friends for life but things will never be the same. Nothing stays the same forever. Later he will realise that. Personally I don't think being a teacher stifles your social life. Maybe its because I am not a very sociable person in the first place. I don't really need to go out with friends all the time. I'm happy to have the time to spend with my family.
If I observe the change in my own social pattern, I notice changes in my circle of friends due to changing of the place we root. (Our orbital..if you understand chemistry) From Penang I went to JB for training...had lots of friends but we were sent all over the country, me to Perak. In USM, the same thing happened..I was sent to Johor again. ( I have a certain yuan with Johor) From the 1990's to 2000's I wasn't very close with students because I didn't teach form 6. And also my children were growing up and I was kept busy bringing them up, chauffering them around and establishing the family. Now that both my children are studying elsewhere, I have time again. That's why I'm closer with the 2008 and 2009 groups. Another reason is of course MSN and Facebook. Especially Facebook..its really a wonderful social networking facility. In my next post I will post some photos of my early years in my present school and also describe some changes in my workplace during these 18 years.

My Life As A Teacher- Part 6- the middle years

2009-12-07T22:46:00.004+08:00

The time (8 years) I spent in Johor was quite memorable, I made many new friends. And I had a wonderful time with the students. During my first 6 years in Perak, I only taught Malay students between 13 to 15. Here in Johor, I taught Form 6. I was already 29 then.ven though I was about 12 years older than the students, we got along very well. That was the time I started bonding with the students. We would swim, play tennis, badminton and squash together. I would even go out for shows with them. Sometimes they would even book the tickets then inform me. I was like a part of them. We would get together and have singing sessions. Those days, there wasn't karaoke yet. We would figure out the chords and strum the guitar our own way. It was still a lot of fun.
I also made a lot of new friends through the Buddhist Society there. In my school, we also have frequent get-togethers among the staff. Maybe small town people are more warm and friendly. Here in Penang, we only meet in school during work only. Back then in Johor, we had pot-luck, more trips and social gatherings. Maybe nowadays people are too busy for that anymore, even in small towns. In my next post I will talk about the social life of a teacher.

My Life As A Teacher- Part 5- the Secret

2009-12-07T08:05:00.004+08:00

No, there is no secret. I have no secrets to tell here. This post is named this way as a comparison to the widely publicized book. The Secret is a book that presents what is claimed to be a centuries-old idea, the pseudo-scientific Law of Attraction, which in essence is the power of an individual's positive thinking to change and influence outcomes in their lives. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_(book) . I never read the book, and I only about it from some of my students a couple of years.
I will write more on this subject in another post. For now, the quest for first class honours was essentially a case of mind over matter. If your mind is up to it, there is a lot you can achieve. Back then, I didn't know about any "secrets" but by Buddhist training thought me the power of the mind. At times, the going could be tough. To do well, we need a lot of discipline and proper time management. That's why I still remind the students to focus on their goals, have self discipline and manage their time well. Sadly, the message doesn't seem to get to them. Later maybe they'll know what I mean.
At times, it was not only the mental effort we need for the study. Sometimes we are physically drained too rushing to work and rushing to attend tutorials. Nowadays the students complain a lot when they have to study for the STPM in the comfort of their homes. I remember I had to brave the rain on a motorcycle so that I won't miss classes. These were the times I told myself, one day I'll be able to afford my own car. Even now, when I drive in the rain, my heart goes out to those on motorcycles...and I feel so thankful I am in a car.
During my final year, my routine would be to arrive at the campus by 8am whether I had lectures or not. Usually I'll stay until night. Between classes I would be in the library. To take my shower I would head to the swimming pool every evening, for exercise as well as to freshen up. That's when I picked up the finer points of swimming, a skill I made good use of as a teacher. For most of the courses I would make my own notes and make compilations of answers to past year questions. I was told some of the notes were still in circulation a few years after I graduated. To make sure my average grade did not drop below par, I also put in extra effort in the non-core subjects we had to take. I even got A's for the music and sociology papers I took. The effort was rewarding..not only did I secure my first clss honours, I even manage to win the Best BSc student that year. And later I was even awarded the Chemistry Graduate Medal 1983 by the Malaysian Institute of Chemistry IKM. But luck was not always on our side. After I graduated, instead of getting a school near home, I was sent further away.to Johor. This is one of the things you have to bear with as a teacher...they can send you anywhere they like. But it wasn't all that bad. In my next post I will recall the 8 years in Johor where I taught after graduating from USM

My Life As A Teacher- Part 4- the pursuit

2009-12-06T09:18:00.002+08:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, initially it was just a matter of getting that degree. More important is the pay rise that will come with it, the boosted income that will continue many years after. With that in mind, I set off to balance work and study, to move forward towards a better future. The minimum time frame for finishing the degree is 5 years...4 part-time and 1 full-time final year. The maximum is 9 years! I told myself I'll finish in 5 years because each extra year actually worked out to quite a substantial difference in terms of $$$$ eventually.
At that time I was staying in Penang but working in Perak. It took about an hour's drive from Butterworth. Each day I needed to leave home by 11am to catch the ferry and then meet the car-poolers on the mainland. (No Penang Bridge, no highways yet) By the time I reached home after work it would be 8pm. After dinner and a bath, by 9pm I'll bury myself in the lecture notes. That would probably be for 2 hours at most because I was not a late night person. The next day I would wake up for a light breakfast and continue studying till about 10am. Then I had to have early lunch and get ready to leave for work. All in it is 4 hours a day on weekdays except on certain days when we had to leave the house at 5 am to be in time for co-curricula activities in the morning and stay until evening. On certain nights I'd have a quick dinner in school and go straight to USM for tutorials from 8pm to 10pm. On Saturdays we would attend practicals at the USM labs. In November each year we would attend 3 weeks of intensive lectures. So if you guys think your university life is tough, think again. If you think preparing for STPM is hell, think again. I always tell my students, nothing is easy, everything is tough. However I also remind them nothing is too difficult if you set your mind for it. After one year of part-time studies, the results were released. As I said earlier, I desperately wanted to finish in 5 years. And to do that we had to take slightly more than the usual recommended units. I couldn't afford to fail any paper. If I had to repeat any paper gone will be my hopes of finishing in 5 years. I opened my results envelope telling myself, no F's no F's! What shocked me was a string of almost all A's. My colleague in school, a Malay lady, shared my joy because she admired the way I struggled between work and study. After I finish my school chores, I would bring out my notes to study during free periods. She gave me a lot of encouragement.....go for first class! It seemed like an impossible task. I didn't do that well in HSC, and having to work and study...passing would already be an achievement. But deep in my heart I know it is possible. From the second year onwards it was not only about finishing in 5 years. It was about finishing in 5 years with a first class honours. It was not about $$$$$ anymore (you get the same pay whatever class degree) but it was about pushing yourself to the limit. In the next post I will talk a bit about the strive for excellence.

My Life As A Teacher- Part 3- the training

2009-12-04T07:59:00.003+08:00

When I compare the teachers who are college-trained and those who graduate from universities, I think college-trained teachers are more all-rounded. The university undergraduates learn a lot of theory and their training is less practical. When I was in the college, I learned up a lot skills. After my stint as a temporary teacher I knew that teachers had to be multi-skilled. I was never good at sports in school but when I had to be assistant teacher in charge of the athletic team, I tried to learn up so that I won't be a teacher in charge who is incompetent. So during my college days we tried to learn everything, just in case. I tried playing hockey (had my own hockey stick) but was never good at it. But I did learn up how to teach basic hockey during PJ lessons. I involved myself in the organisation of many sports events usually as offical, even outside college sports.
I was also a committee member of St John Ambulance. Even though I passed the First Aid exam and did some marching, my speciality was organising events...trips to Singapore, welcoming party, farewell party, CNY and Raya functions..singing, dancing and having fun rather than bandaging! Talking about dancing, I must remember to look for an old photo of me performing a Xinjiang Chinese Cultural Dance during colleges.
Besides these, I also took up Tae Kwon Do. My instructor was actually quite impressed with my ability to learn. I got double promotion for a few times and he tried to teach me higher grades hoping I'll take up black belt before I leave college. But in the end even though I learnt up all the pattern for black belt, I couldn't train in time for the exam and stopped one grade below black belt when my college term ended.
After 2 years in Johor Bahru college, I was posted to Perak in 1977 as a non graduate teacher. I found out that those teachers my age who went to the university directly from form 6 also came out the same year, of course with higher pay. In the years to come, the pay difference will become more and more. So I told myself, one dayI will catch up with them. So I set my mind to give myself a second chance. I will apply for part-time study to take up a degree. In 1978, I was accepted as a part-time student at USM and eventually I succeeded in getting my degree. In my next post, I will write about my struggles balancing between work and study.

My Life As A Teacher- Part 2- the beginning

2009-12-03T19:48:00.004+08:00

During my school days my academic results can be considered good even though they were nothing to shout about. In my Form Six class I even managed to get 4th in class. However I didn't do very well in the HSC. The results were far from perfect and definitely not good enough for the top courses in the university. But the problem was that I wasn't even aware of that. Unlike these days when you can search online to find the courses which match your results, we were actually quite ignorant. In modern language we were quite blurrr... In short, I didn't get any place. There were only 3 universities those days and enrolment was low. To make it worse, the quota system made it extremely difficult for us to get in. Maybe I could have got some other less popular course but the naive me had to do the stupid thing of aiming a high target with a short range gun! Maybe it was destined that I end up being a teacher.
My first job was as a lab assistant in an oil refinery. Within 2 weeks I learnt up all the things I needed to do and sometimes I had to be in charge of the night shift. The pay was low. It was only during this time that I realised the harsh realities of life. Looking into the future with no light in sight was scary. I didn't want to end up as a lowly paid lab assistant all my life. Sometimes I cried silently at night worrying about my future. This is why I keep reminding my students to think about their future and their future. Sadly, some of them think I'm too materialistic. But actually I'm just being realistic.
Anyway, I had to act fast. The most logical thing to do was to get into the teacher training colleges. That way, you would be assured of a stable job and the best thing is everything is paid for. You even get an allowance as a trainee. But the tough part was getting in.
So I quit my job and took up temporary teaching. The reason? First the pay was double the lab assistant's. Second, to see whether I can teach. Third, the experience will help to convince the interviewer to accept me for teacher training college. After spending almost 2 years as a temporary teacher, I finally made it to the teacher training college. Looking back, I'm glad I made the bold and right choice of quitting a permanent job for a temporary job. After 2 years I saved some money to help me survive the 2 years in college..the allowance was miserably low but the transport, food and lodging were all taken of. Besides, the 2 years made me realise I can teach. I was asked to teach Science in the last Arts class. It was a battle half lost before it started. Most of the Arts students are weak and cannot get in the Science class and they are not interested in Science. Despite the odds, I managed to win them over. And I was really overwhelmed when one boy(Kiru, I still remember his name) told me before he left school, "Sir, You are the best teacher I have ever had". I remember telling him he said that just to please me but he convinced me he really meant it. So, does it mean I'm a born teacher? No, but I have what it takes to be a teacher....I had the genuine intention to make them learn, make them pass exam, and guide them to be better individuals. I think it was my sincerity and my undying efforts to teach them even though they were not interested that won over them. In my next post I'll recall the days in my teacher training college.

My Life As A Teacher- Part 1 -before

2009-12-03T17:08:00.004+08:00

To motivate and inspire my students to focus their efforts towards their education and career, I told them about my own experience and my career. Some of them were quite touched (so they said) and inspired. This is the first time I talked about it with the students. I don't know why. Maybe its because I feel closer with this batch of students or maybe its because this year we managed to finish the syllabus with a lot of time for revision. Using the practical periods for teaching was a bit more tiring as I had to teach 6 periods a day on Tuesdays. But the effort was worth it as we covered a lot of ground since we had 9 periods a week for theory. I hope they do well this year.its all up to them now.
When some ex-students heard about what I told the class, they were also curious and suggested I write in the blog. Actually its no big success story , neither is it an inspiring or touching story. What makes it meaningful is because its a person's true account.
When I was studying, I was not planning to be a teacher. In fact I wasn't even planning at all. Like most students, I didn't know what I wanted to be. I had no direction. That's why I keep telling them to have a direction..because I know most of them have none..just like me at their age. At that age our sight is only the immediate...we don't see far ahead. When I go for relief classes and try to talk to students about further education and career, most of them are not interested. The form 4 students are only concerned about the form 4 exam, they are not even interested in the SPM what more about what lies ahead after SPM! I don't blame them. At their age , I remember we were also like that. We didn't know it was important to get good grades. We didn't know and didn't bother to know what lies ahead when we finish school.
It is only after we finish school life that we find ourselves facing the harsh reality of the real world. In the next post I'll talk about how I ventured into the teaching career.......

Retirement Age

2009-11-25T23:02:00.003+08:00

Somebody suggested in a recent article in the Star that the retirement age in Malaysia be raised from the current 58 to 60. I was asked by a couple of people whether I would extend my services if the government were to raise the retirement age to 60. Each time without hesitation my answer would be the same. Yes. Usually the response to my answer is not what I was thinking. Many people think that we should continue working after 58..otherwise we wouldn't know what to do with our free time. There are many reasons why I want to continue working but not knowing what to do with the free time is definitely not a main reason. The main reason is of course the income. I suppose it is attractive enough for me to stay on. The second is because I feel I have still a lot to offer. Although no one is indispensable, I still feel that I'm still an asset to the school. After all, there are not many of us who can teach Pre-U science courses fluently in English. The younger teachers would probably take quite a few years to reach our level of experience. Speaking of experience, our opinions and suggestions are still needed in the school management.
However, I think the Malaysian government will not propose an extension to the current retirement age. By comparison, our retirement age is among the lowest. It is 62 in Singapore and Thailand, 65 in Japan and 67 in Australia. With the average lifespan increasing most countries are extending the retirement age. In Malaysia, however, the government has also got to consider the unemployment rate. With so many public and private universities, more and more graduates join the work force each year. If the retirement age is extended, the unemployment rate may rise further unless the economy expands. At present there are no indications of a possible extension, so I guess I should start my countdown again and plan what to do when August 2011 comes.
The most obvious thing to do is to do what we do best...teach. I'll continue my tuition classes and maybe start a few more classes. At least until I'm 60, if health permits. After that, my wife would have also retired and I may just wrap up my classes and do what most retirees do. Travelling, visiting the children, TV and of course internet. I hope I won't get bored with facebook by then. maybe I'll blog more. And who knows, maybe I'll write some short stories!

Facebook or Blog?

2009-11-25T21:59:00.004+08:00

Four months....I didn't realise that it was that long ago since my last post. Whoever reads this blog would have given up checking for updates. Since getting hooked on facebook, I have neglected my blog. But actually I cannot blame facebook. Before facebook, the updates were also not regular. Excuses, excuses. Maybe facebook does play a part for my absence. When we feel like writing something, we just write a short post on facebook. When we have photos to share, we put it up on facebook. In a way, facebook does replace our blog activities. What more with its addictive games, we spend more and more time on facebook..where to find time to blog? The guys who created and maintained facebook have really got us all hooked.
After seeing some of the photos I put up on facebook, someone suggested I write my story on my blog. The difference between a blog post and status updates in facebook is that we can write more details in the blog post. In facebook, all your friends read your status updates almost immediately, whereas the blogs may never get read. So the best way is to update then post the link on facebook. In the next few posts I shall write about my views on the teaching profession.

Male Teachers.....a rare species

2009-08-20T15:46:00.003+08:00

It is reported that out of 100 teachers in Malaysia, only 28 are males. In my school, I think the ratio is even less. Look at the photos I took during a trip to an organic farm with my colleagues. You can hardly find a male teacher in the photos! Why do men shun this profession?
I was quite amused at one TV commentaryon Astro AEC. While discussing the issue of declining ratio of male to female teachers, the newscaster mentioned that nowadays parents warn their children to study hard , otherwise they will end up being teachers! They used to say the children will end up being garbage truck workers! If that is the public's view of the teaching profession, no wonder the young men are frightened away!
After spending 32 years in the profession, I am puzzled as to why people make such a comparison. Looking back, I have no regrets joining this profession. Our pay may not be as high as those in the private sector, but in recent years much have being done to improve the promotional prospects of teachers. Teachers do not complain about their low pay anymore. We do not spend lavishly but our income does make our living comfortable.
How about the job? Other than the documents, reports and files we have to keep, I still find it a joy to teach. Especially when I have carried out a good lesson and I know the students have understood. Seeing them do well in the exam is a joy we can't compare with money. And when they get good places in the university and end up with good jobs, we are so happy for them. That's the joy of teaching. Garbage collectors? Maybe they were referring to the discipline problems and the workload of the teachers. And males? why do they keep away? I wonder.

Visit to Pinang Peranakan Museum and Kek Lok Si

2009-08-13T23:28:00.005+08:00

Penang is a popular tourist destination. But when someone comes to visit, you might not know where to bring them to. I guess the best thing is to bring them to the hawker centres. After all , the best thing about Penang is the hawker food. It has a been a long time since I last went to Kek Lok Si so we thought it would be nice to visit again. We were disappointed with what we saw. Other than the ongoing construction of the Pavillion of the Goddess of Mercy, many of the other places were in a deplorable state. The tortoise pool is a disgrace.

On an earlier trip we went to Khoo Kongsi and some heritage sites. But this time we tried the Pinang Peranakan Museum. We were pleasantly surprised with the place. Maybe it's because of the TV series Little Nonya and Iron Lady, it made the visit interesting. I don't mind paying the rm10 entrance because the owners did spend a lot to collect all those exhibits and maintained the place.
The place is also popular among bridal couples for thier photo shoots. I managed to catch a few shots. I don't think they know their lovely shots are in this blog. Anyway my congratulations and best wishes to them. May they have a wonderful life together.

Photo Fun

2009-08-02T20:37:00.004+08:00

Go to http://www.photofunia.com/ to try out these fun pics.

Awards and Recognition..the story continues

2009-06-19T23:17:00.005+08:00

Maybe it runs in the family...my daughter continues the tradition by receiving the Canada Governor-General Medal for achieving the highest academic standing in the Ontario Secondary School Diploma at Taylors University College. She also received the Chairman's Award, and the prizes for Computer Studies and for Mathematics.

Awards and Recognition

2009-06-18T09:05:00.005+08:00

Everyone loves to receive awards. No award is a small award. Each carries a special meaning...the recognition of effort put in. In this post I shall blow my own trumpet and boast about some of the awards I have received.

Excellence service awards:

This year I received the Excellence Service Award for the year 2008. The award comes with a certificate and cash award of RM1000. These awards were introduced in 1993. This is my third award, the last two in 2003 and 1998. The earlier awards came with a bonus of one month's salary. Nevertheless, the awards still carry a significant meaning even though the cash received is less.

St John Ambulance Service Award:

I received this Medal from the National Commander of St John Ambulance Malaysia a few years ago for my voluntary services for St John Ambulance.

Abdul Rahman Talib Award for Best BSc Graduate 1983

This award is named after a well known educationist is awarded to the best BSc graduate from USM each year. I received this award in 1983 from Sultan Azlan Shah. During that year I also received a Graduate Chemistry Medal from the Institut Kimia Malaysia for best performance in Chemistry 1983

Japan 1986

2009-06-18T08:50:00.005+08:00

In one of my earlier posts, I put in some old photos of mine. Some of my friends were quite amused when they saw how I looked like back then. Everyone ages, don't we? In this post, I'll put in some old photos which we took way backin 1986, during our holiday in Japan.

Eat your way to a healthier life

2009-05-10T17:53:00.004+08:00

I received the following article through email from a friend of mine. I would like to share it with others on my blog..

Dr David Servan-Schreiber: 'It is up to us to use our body's natural defences'

When Dr David Servan-Schreiber was just 31 a routine MRI scan revealed he had a brain tumour. Following successful treatment, Dr Servan-Schreiber, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, set about learning everything he could to prevent a relapse, scouring medical databases and scientific publications for research on how the body could best protect itself from cancer. The result is Anticancer, a definitive diet and lifestyle book. In our exclusive extract, he explains how you can boost your body’s natural defences against this disease.
Cancer lies dormant in all of us. Like all living organisms, our bodies are making defective cells all the time. That’s how tumours are born. But our bodies are also equipped with a number of mechanisms which detect and keep such cells in check. In the West, one person in four will die of cancer – but three in four will not: their defence mechanisms will hold out.
I had cancer. I was diagnosed for the first time 15 years ago. I received conventional treatment and the cancer went into remission, but I relapsed. After surgery and chemotherapy, I asked my oncologist what I should do to lead a healthy life and avoid another relapse. ‘Lead your life normally. We’ll do Cat scans at regular intervals and if your tumour comes back, we’ll detect it early,’ replied this leading light of modern medicine.
We had used all the drugs and recognised medical practices relevant to my case. As for more theoretical mind-body or nutritional approaches, he clearly lacked the time or interest to explore these avenues.

Beets can help inhibit aggressive forms of cancer

It took me nine months of research to begin to understand how I could help my body protect itself against cancer. This is what I learned: if we all have potential cancer lying dormant in us, each of us also has a body designed to fight the process of tumour development. It is up to us to use our body’s natural defences.
It must be stated at the outset that there is no alternative approach to cancer that can cure the illness. It would be madness not to use the best of conventional Western medicine such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy and soon molecular genetics. But at the same time it is also unreasonable to rely only on these more technical approaches and to neglect the natural capacity of our bodies to protect against tumours, when so much research now points to ways in which we can reduce the risk of developing or dying from the disease. It’s a myth that cancer is transmitted primarily through genes. Genetic factors contribute at most to 15 per cent of cancer mortalities.
Cancer cells do not behave like normal cells. They refuse to die after a certain number of divisions, and they poison the tissues around them with chemical substances, creating inflammation, which they need to sustain their growth. Recent research reviewed in the journal Science confirms that the more successful cancers are in provoking inflammation, the more aggressive the tumour and the better it is at spreading over long distances, ultimately reaching lymph nodes and spreading to other organs. Links have been found between several types of cancer and chronic inflammation caused by either a virus such as papillomavirus in the cervix or environmental factors such as asbestos or smoking. Oncologists at the University of Glasgow have been measuring inflammation levels in the blood of patients with various cancers since the 1990s and have found that patients with the lowest levels of inflammation were twice as likely as the others to live for several years.
The pharmaceutical industry is looking for drugs that will inhibit the chemical secreted by cancer cells which causes inflammation. But there are already a number of natural ways
we can boost our immunity and reduce inflammation to help keep those cancer cells
in check. It’s simply a matter of eliminating certain toxins from our environment, adopting an anti-cancer diet, seeking emotional balance and taking enough exercise.

Cancer feeds on sugar

Environmental links

Cancer has been increasing in the West since 1940. Three major factors have drastically disrupted our environment over the same period — the addition of large quantities of highly refined sugar to our diet, changes in farming methods and exposure to a large number of chemical products that didn’t exist before the Second World War. There is every reason to believe that these three phenomena play a major role in the spread of cancer.
The dangers of sugar
Cancer feeds on sugar. The German biologist Otto Heinrich Warburg won a Nobel Prize for his discovery that the metabolism of malignant tumours is largely dependent on glucose consumption. Insulin production triggers inflammation. Those who eat low-sugar Asian diets tend to have five to ten times fewer hormonally driven cancers than those with diets high in sugar and refined foods. People who want to protect themselves from cancer should reduce their consumption of processed sugar and bleached flour. That means getting used to drinking coffee without sugar, avoiding sugary snacks between meals and cutting down on puddings.
Intensive farming
When cows eat grass, their meat and dairy products are perfectly balanced in omega-3 fatty acids (which help to reduce inflammation and cancer cell growth) and omega-6s. But since the 1950s, pastures have been replaced by battery farming; corn, soy and wheat have become the animals’ principal diet. These food sources are rich in omega-6s and contain practically no omega-3s. Omega-6 fats and hormones given to stimulate milk production can trigger the growth of fatty cells and inflammation. The switch from grass to corn-soy combinations has also eliminated another anti-cancer benefit from dairy foods. Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) helps fight the growth of cancer cells, according to research conducted by the National Institute of Agronomy Research in Tours, France. CLA is found primarily in cheese, but only if the cheese comes from grass-fed animals.
Toxins in the environment
There has been an unprecedented rise in the number of toxic substances in our environment and in our bodies since the Second World War. In the US, researchers at the Center for Disease Control have found the presence of 148 toxic chemicals in the blood and urine of Americans of all ages. In the past 30 years the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer has tested 900 chemicals in the environment and found only one to be categorically non-carcinogenic; 95 have been identified as ‘known carcinogens’, 307 are ‘possible’ and 497 remain ‘unclassified’. Many of these substances continue to be widely used, such as benzene, which is found in petrol, certain plastics, glues, lubricants, dyes and detergents.

Citrus fruits contain anti-inflammatory flavonoids

A significant number of brain tumours such as mine are sensitive to xenoestrogens, such as the pesticide atrazine, which is so powerful that it is capable of changing the sex of fish in the rivers it ends up contaminating. Between 1963 and 1970 from the age of two to nine, I played in cornfields sprayed with atrazine surrounding our country house in Normandy. All my life, until the day I was diagnosed with cancer, I drank milk, ate eggs, yoghurts and meat from animals fed with corn sprayed by pesticides. I ate unpeeled apples that had been sprayed 15 times with pesticides before reaching the grocers’ shelves. I drank tap water drawn from contaminated streams and water tables (atrazine isn’t eliminated by most water purification systems). My two cousins who have had breast cancer played in the same fields, drank the same water and ate the same food. We’ll never know the role atrazine or other agricultural chemicals may have played in our respective cancers.
The organic advantage
At the University of Washington a young researcher, Cynthia Curl, questioned whether the organic food her friends gave their children was really healthier. She organised a study of 42 children aged two to five in which the parents had to write down exactly what the children ate for three days before she measured the traces of organochlorine pesticides in their urine. She found those whose diet was approximately 75 per cent labelled organic was distinctly below the minimum fixed by the Environmental Protection Agency. Levels found in children on conventional diets were four times higher than the official safety limit. A subsequent study conducted at the same university of 23 children, who were first fed a conventional diet and then ate nothing but organic foods, found that all traces of pesticides vanished from their urine after a few days and then returned once they resumed a conventional diet.

Inflammation aggravators (which can lead to cancer)

Traditional Western diet
White bread and pasta
Red meat, raised industrially
Oils rich in omega-6 fatty acids (corn, sunflower, safflower, soy)
Dairy products from industrially raised livestock (especially full fat)
Eggs from industrial farming hens fed corn and soy beans)
Unmanaged stress, anger and depression
Less than 20 minutes of physical activity a day
Cigarette smoke, atmospheric pollution, domestic pollutants
Inflammation reducers
Mediterranean, Indian and Asian cuisine
Wholewheat bread and pasta
Organic meat from animals fed on grass or with flaxmeal, eaten at most three times a week
Olive oil
Dairy products mainly from animals fed on grass
Eggs of hens raised in a natural environment or fed flaxmeal
Laughter, lightheartedness, serenity
A 50-minute walk three times a week or 30 minutes six times a week
Clean environment Cancer-fighting superfoods
Some foods contain precious anti-cancer molecules. These include:

Green tea is a top antioxidant.GREEN TEA
Rich in polyphenols that reduce the growth of the new blood vessels needed for tumour growth, green tea is also a powerful antioxidant and activates mechanisms in the liver which help to eliminate cancerous toxins from the body more rapidly. In mice it has been shown to block the effects of chemical carcinogens responsible for breast, lung, oesophageal, stomach and colon cancer.
TURMERIC
The most powerful natural anti-inflammatory identified today. In the laboratory it enhances the effectiveness of chemotherapy and reduces tumour growth. To be assimilated by the body tumeric needs to be mixed with black pepper and, ideally, it should be dissolved in oil.
GARLIC, ONIONS, LEEKS, SHALLOTS and CHIVES
These all help to regulate blood sugar levels, which in turn reduces insulin secretion and thus the growth of cancer cells. They promote the death of cancer cells in colon, breast, lung and prostate cancer.

Mushrooms stimulate the reproduction of immune cellsMUSHROOMS
Shiitake, crimini, portabello and oyster mushrooms stimulate the reproduction and activity of immune cells. They are often used in Japan as a complement to chemotherapy to support the immune system.
CRUCIFEROUS VEGETABLES
Cabbages, sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower contain powerful anti-cancer molecules. But boiling will destroy them — steam briefly or stir-fry rapidly in a little olive oil.

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES RICH IN CAROTENOIDS
Carrots, yams, sweet potatoes, squash, tomatoes, apricots, beets and all the brightly coloured fruits and vegetables contain vitamin A and lycopene, which have the proven capacity to inhibit the growth of particularly aggressive cancers.

Herbs can help reduce the spread of cancer cellsHERBS AND SPICES
Rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil and mint are rich in essential oils of the tarpene family which reduce the spread of cancer cells by blocking the enzymes they need to invade neighbouring tissues.

CITRUS FRUIT
Oranges, tangerines, lemons and grapefruit contain anti-infammatory flavonoids which are also present in the skin. So buy organic, unwaxed citrus fruit and add the zest to salad dressing or steep the skins in hot water or tea.

The mind-body connection
It usually takes anywhere from ten to 40 years for the ‘seed’ of cancer in the form of a cellular anomaly to become a detectable cancerous tumour. No psychological factor has been identified as being capable of creating that cancer seed. However, stress profoundly influences the soil in which that seed develops. Most patients I’ve known remember a period of particular stress in the months or years preceding the diagnosis of their cancer. These situations don’t spark off cancer, but, as an article published in Nature in 2006 observes, they can give it an opportunity to grow faster. Stress causes the release of hormones which trigger inflammation and slows down digestion, tissue repair and the immune system. A study of more than 10,000 women at the University of Helsinki in Finland has shown that the loss of an important emotional relationship doubles the risk of breast cancer.
The factors contributing to cancer are so varied that no one should blame themselves for developing the disease. But anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer can learn to live differently. After my relapse and a year of chemotherapy, I had to stop working. My wife Anna and I couldn’t agree on our son’s upbringing and we were having problems in our marriage. I was losing my wife, my family, my work and my health. I could feel my life slipping through my hands. Then I met Michael Lerner, a sociologist and psychotherapist. He helped me to focus on what gave me the most satisfaction rather than what was going wrong.
Health does not depend on any one organ or function but on relations between them. Everyone can learn how to foster that balance. All of the great medical and spiritual traditions in the East – yoga, meditation, t’ai chi, qigong – teach people how to take over the reins of their inner being, concentrating the mind and focusing on the breath. This mastery is one of the best ways to reduce the impact of stress and helps re-establish harmony in a person’s physiology and stimulate the body’s natural defences.
The body is a huge system in equilibrium. Alter just one thing – diet, exercise, stress – and the whole is affected. Each small step we take makes the next one seem easier – we can lose the taste for an unbalanced diet or smoking or alcohol because we are more able to detect its impact on our wellbeing.
‘I have more energy than before I had cancer’
‘The idea of natural healing just wasn’t part of my world as a doctor before I had cancer,’ says Dr David Servan-Schreiber. ‘I remember discouraging patients, telling them it could harm them, and being irritated by the ones who refused conventional treatment.’ But when David himself became a cancer patient with limited life expectancy and began researching lifestyle factors which help the body to resist cancer, his attitude changed: ‘There is an enormous amount of scientific data which shows that natural healing mechanisms can be more effective than any drug when it comes to controlling cancer.’
He doesn’t deny the importance of Western medicine when it comes to treating cancer, ‘but there is no magical recipe. Even chemotherapy isn’t foolproof. It’s not a question of fighting the illness, more about nourishing life by choosing to eat and live in healthier ways, and you don’t need to have cancer to do that.’
David still lectures in psychiatry in America and in France, where he now lives with his wife and son, and has set up a centre for integrated medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. But perhaps most importantly he lives by the practices he preaches. By coming close to death he has understood that the point of life is to live it to the full. ‘I live with cancer cells and who knows how long I have, but I have more energy, better concentration and I enjoy myself more than before I had cancer'.

Winter in Korea

2009-05-03T21:52:00.005+08:00

These photos were taken during a winter holiday in Korea in 2005. They were taken by the Korean tourist guide and we bought the printed copies from him. We couldn't use our own cameras because we kept all our belongings in our bags and put them in the lockers after we changed into the rented ski suits. I had a lot of fun even though we were just trying it out at the beginners' slope...quite gentle and very safe. Getting back to the top of the slope wasn't fun at all because it's not easy to walk in those equipment.

These photos were taken during a visit to a Korean cultural centre where we experienced making kimchi. Having "mastered' the skill, I didn't even bother to remember how to make it because we didn't quite like to eat it.

24 th Wedding Anniversary

2009-04-30T10:57:00.006+08:00

This post is specially dedicated to my wife, on occasion of our 24th Wedding Anniversary.
To my dearest wife....I love you .....my world is brighter because I share it with you....

2009

2008

2005

2008

1986

1985

Laksa, Laksa, Ho Chiak, Ho Chiak!

2009-04-26T17:12:00.005+08:00

Just a day after the school sports day, the school alumni had the food fair. Our members set up a stall selling laksa and popia. I could see that they were enjoying themselves despite putting in a lot of hard work. They learned a lot things too. I'm happy to see them being so independent, planning their work, sharing their responsibilties and happily slogging to raise funds for the school. With a modest capital of rm500 from the alumni we managed to sell more than rm3000 worth of food. Too bad the TV people didn't send the Ho Chiak team to see us selling! Our ticket sales were also very good-almost rm4000. I took up rm100 worth of tickets but sold off most of it and had to go to the secretary stall to get more for myself.

Sports Day 2009

2009-04-25T11:19:00.007+08:00

Our school had the Annual Sports in the City Stadium on the 24th of April. Even though I had been helping to oversee the march past for the past few years, it was a bit different this year as I was asked to be in charge. You see, it's really different when you are named the person in charge. Somehow or other you are pushed to the front and the others who used to be involved, sort of backed off and disappeared! All the years I stepped in to help out not because I wanted to be in charge but it was because I noticed a lot of shortcomings and I just wanted to rectify it. Never mind if people think I'm a busybody. Never mind if people think I want to bodek. I myself know I don't need to bodek anybody here.

I am quite satisfied with the march past and closing ceremony although there are certain aspeks that I really think need a lot of improvement. Despite a genuine attempt by the athletes to march (this is the first time they try to march instead of strolling lifelessly) they couldn't do it properly because many of them haven't marched before in their lifes! I cannot blame the house captains; they did try to call for practice sessions and they did genuinely try to put up a good show. With proper planning next year and a bit more enthusiasm from the various teachers-in charge, I believe they can put up a good show. What we need is a change of mindset. The house athletes should have a positive attitude and fighting spirit as shown by the uniform bodies. Even though I'm the person in charge, I didn't want to involve myself in the panel of assessors to decide the winners. The simple reason is that I don't want to be accused of being biased to the St John Ambulance contingent. Anyway the St John Ambulance contingent were the clear cut winners. I was truly pleased with their performance. The band teacher advisors told me the St John's were a class above. Judging from the roar the spectators gave when they were in front of the grand stand, the students were also very impressed. The Girl Guides also did well. They were in time but their salutating was not uniform. They had some problems with their tempo too. Overall the uniformed bodies did very well.

The rain was a letdown. Thank goodness it didn't rain during the marchpast and closing ceremony. The timing was so nice. The sky was overcast during the march past and it only started to pour much later. I was worried we wouldn't be able to do the closing due to the rain. As we were discussing what to do when it was still pouring, we noticed the rain beginning to stop!

Besides the usual minor casualties, this year we had to call an ambulance for a casualty with a suspected dislocation at the pelvis area. The emergency operator responded very quickly and passed me to the Penang GH. The ambulance came very promptly. The doctor concurred with us that there might be a dislocation and sent the casualty for X ray. I was very pleased with my members who knew exactly what to do. Making the correct assessment of the injury, taking quick action to inform me to call ambulance, getting particulars from casualty, informing parents and teacher, accompanying the casualty to the hospital to register him. The Sports ended early despite interruptions due to the rain. The St John Ambulance members were overjoyed with their win, even though the prize was a trophy which we were allowed to keep for only a few minutes. The teacher in charge kept her eyes focussed on us to remind us to quickly return the trophy. But she did put on a smile which told us she didn't mind us taking photos with various poses with the coveted trophy!

Casey's Space

Penang Chinese New Year Dishes

You Are The Apple Of My Eye - a 九把刀 movie

My Retirement

Heng Ee St John Ambulance 40th Anniversary Celebration

Last stop Milan

Venice

Florence

Pisa

From Paris to Rome

Second stop - Paris

Europe- First Stop London........

Europe Trip--an Overview

Itinerary Europe

Budget Travelling in Australia

At The Movies

Planning Your Own Holiday

8 Foods that Fight Stress

The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

Cook Your Own Meals (3) - Curry Assam Fish

Cook Your Own Meals (2)- Fried Glass Noodles

Cook Your Own Meals (1) - my version of Chai Boey

Roti Jala and Curry Chicken

Sherlock Holmes - a film worth watching

活到老学到老- Life Long Learning

刺陵 The Treasure Hunter - starring Jay Chou and Lin Chiling

Now Everyone Can Sing

Bodyguards and Assassins (十月圍城) - very good movie

十月圍城- Bodyguards and Assassins

Storm Warriors....what a letdown....

What does it take to be a teacher?

My Life As A Teacher- Part 8- the past 18 years

My Life As A Teacher- Part 7- social life

My Life As A Teacher- Part 6- the middle years

My Life As A Teacher- Part 5- the Secret

My Life As A Teacher- Part 4- the pursuit

My Life As A Teacher- Part 3- the training

My Life As A Teacher- Part 2- the beginning

My Life As A Teacher- Part 1 -before

Retirement Age

Facebook or Blog?

Male Teachers.....a rare species

Visit to Pinang Peranakan Museum and Kek Lok Si

Photo Fun

Awards and Recognition..the story continues

Awards and Recognition

Japan 1986

Eat your way to a healthier life

‘I have more energy than before I had cancer’

Winter in Korea

24 th Wedding Anniversary

Laksa, Laksa, Ho Chiak, Ho Chiak!

Sports Day 2009