A Treatment System.

These 2 pretty ladies,


were at an exhibition, which I happened to walk into yesterday, they exhibiting a traditional treatment system. Maybe that is not the correct name, but for the purpose of this blog is good enough. But if anyone is interested then the interested party can always e-mail: Aniza

What caught my eyes were these two products, namely virgin coconut oil,


and honey, from wild tropical jungle tree top bees.


I thought they were special, and reasonably priced. And now I know where to get them when I or anyone else want them.

Thai but outside Thailand.

I have been told that it was there, but I have very little idea on how to find it. They say that the place serves very good Thai dishes, its outside Kuala Lumpur, in a village somewhere, Sungei Buluh the name is. They say that the place is called De’ Chiang Mai. Sounds exotic. They tried to give directions but I have by then found it difficult even to understand the direction they gave.

And today, I was quite near the place they mentioned and I asked somebody I know nearby to give me a more specific direction. It was still sketchy but as it was only late morning, so I drove around to find it. The challenge being that to get to the place there are crossings of highways nearby and if I miss one turn I might hit one of the highways and may end up at a far distant place. I was lucky, and I found it in a little village full of other ‘copied’ Thai food restaurants, nurseries and cheap cement tiles workshops worked by probably Indonesian immigrants.

A very impressive, place,


Impressive internal decorations,



Impressive dining tables,





Impressive food,





And impressive owner.



Nearby within the same facilities they have their own vegetable plots where they plant ’pandan’ and all other plant ingredients for good Thai tasting food.

The price is quite reasonable for the facilities that one gets, but the distance from town is not conducive for quick lunch. And they open from 12 noon to 10.30 at night only. And no hard liquor is served, the owner being a Muslim.

They prayed.

They prayed last night.

Some Chinese do that. Its the part of the year and part of the month in the Chinese Calendar when they pray for (or is it to) their ancestors.

Can we trust them?

We live in housing estates, alarms (some), gated (all) and with security (few). We have all sorts of people, unknown to us, visiting our estates. Salesman, beggars, cleaners, grass cutter, charity organisation people, rubbish collectors people, neighbours visitors etc etc. In addition we have (some of us) servants/helpers (Indonesians or Phillipinos). Can we really trust these people? Are we very sure that any one of them not trying to break in into your house? Or they have friends who are burglars waiting for information from them to asses the situation on how to break into your house? And the house helpers, don’t they have people who are staying outside who are ever so willing to befriend them to gain information on how to gain access into your house. Or for that matter the grass cutter who always seemed to wear ski mask when they cut grass in the vicinity of your house. And the rubbish collectors who are always seemed to be a foreigner. And what about the odd job man doing jobs in your neighbour’s house, or those workers re-building/renovating some houses in your estates? All are possible. And can any one of them be a Government Agent looking for anti-Government behaviour in you?
Or am I being paranoid?

Internet Business.

In this blog I have a long list of possible internet business, in the right hand column. I have subscribed to some of them, one or two with payments though all others for free. When thinking it over, when I pay, then others pay, and others again pay and so on, there will be a big collection and the originator can make a lot of money. Not that I envy them, they must have brains to start the business, and they must know all the loop holes in the Laws.

However I have certain reservations for those ‘free’ from subscription. The bottom line, when you scroll to the bottom of the page you will find that you will still have to pay. In the end you pay if you want to get involved in the business. Just like the small prints in an Insurance Policy, you hardly read them but these are the important clauses which may make or invalidate the Insurance. And you are not really sure of the return though, bearing in mind that the originator has already made his/her return.

My thinking aloud really, but I am just wondering whether my thinking has any logic in them.

take a break

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4aQUxRP-MY

Remembering of 30 years (from 60 years) ago.

Holy Cock!

Looking at the photoes of these two owners of cocks for cock fighting, one can see that its the pride of their cocks in the owners eyes that is important. The cock fighting is only a by product of that pride.

I do not understanding about cock fighting but to those involved it must be very exciting and interesting, a hobby perhaps with the cocks as the sacrifice.

History

Our history, pimples and all.

ExitExplosion

horror!

http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=18950

When I looked at the newspapers this morning, I was in a state of horror. This was the mother of horror. I was speechless. How could this had happened, 20 people killed (out 0f 29) when a bus plunged into a ravine early in the morning............ how could it had happened? many questions came into my mind.......... How? How? How? and many of them are our youths. I have no answer .......... and I think many who read the news also have no answer. And looking at the story further, I felt pity ........... now not at those who died but at our Malaysian society in general. We talk about 50th Years of Merdeka (Independence) and yet this has to happen ......... bus drivers not suspended with so many traffic offences, unsure of the status of the condition (of maintenance) of the coach (bus).............. careless! unsure! .......... what else? And now they will start talking about going into the bus Company finding out what was wrong .......... talk talk talk ..... just plain talk ............ and soon everything will be forgotten and those with such 'criminal' record will still move around in our society untill another accident happens .......... then another uproar. When will we ever learn?

Many such coach accidents had happened before, and these have all been erased from our memory .................. forgotten ............. maybe such incidents are still fresh in the mind of those who lost their loved one. To others those were just statistics .............. "It will not happen to me".

oh my!

I have been watching this, this morning. Interesting I thought then, but on thinking about it now .......... oh my ......... dangerous!. I am sure they knew what they were doing.

Actually these people were medicine peddlers, but this was just a side show to get the audience .............. and some to buy whatever medicines they were selling.

It happened in my town. And I stayed there over an hour watching them doing tricks with other snakes and listening to them peddling their medicines.

too far, too high

Had a chance to visit a beach hotel in Trengganu, an East Coast State of West Malaysia. I was not in my own backyard, I was in a foreign land, at least the hotel guests were foreign but the hotel staff were my own people (did I say my own people?). No, not really all my own people, I saw a Japanese at the front desk and a white on a bicycle. Well at least I know that the hotel is of a high standard and of international class.

The location is beyond description, the sandy beach is beyond poetry and the ambient ........ yes ambient ........... quiet. And the price ........ well too far too high.

Blankest

Football

Footballers come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Better still, those interested in football also come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. But when people trying their luck in football also come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. This definitely shows that the country must is really scraping the bottom of the barrel in search for football talents. But why not, if the country now never wins in any tournament, (even in their own backyard), desperate measures must be taken.

Good for a laugh. See videos below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGuT5PEizKU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbMwCpRgiOw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JliTjpBNjw8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mQatlAkmHQ

It was a hassle.

The other day, on the way to the East Coast, I stopped over at a big petrol station which has a small convenience shop, a so called restaurant at the back and a small coffee corner by the convenience shop. It was a convenient place to stop for lunch I thought. The petrol station is almost in the middle of nowhere, by the side of the highway, and dozens of cars stop there. A place for a small leg stretch I would say.

It was already lunch time but I was in no mood for curried food, which were served in the restaurant at the back, a variety of such food, say about 2 dozen dishes of them. Instead I went over to the soup corner where they serve hot souped food like concoctions of noodles and also hot and cold drinks. Looking at a picture,


I was attracted by the picture of a souped dish with a couple of pieces of cut up chicken pieces on top. I thought I would enjoy that.

But when I got what I ordered, I was most disappointed. The chicken pieces were not there. I complaint to the cashier (who looked and spoke like an Indonesian, in fact the whole restaurant seemed to be minded by Indonesians, and even some of the customers looked like Indonesian workers) but she sort of shrugged it off. She tried meekly to comfort me by asking the person who made the souped food why there was no cut up chicken as shown in the photo. And the response was very negative. I felt that I was short changed. I tried to eat what I bought but the taste was not to my expectations so I left it unfinished.

I knew that at the front, near the convenience shop, there was a coffee corner where they serve good sandwiches. So I went over to the front into the coffee corner. I was served by a very pleasant young lady, and I asked for tea and a pre-packed cooked food which looked good.

The trouble started when I tried to take a photograph of the coffee corner.


I was told that I should not take a photograph, a private area of some sort I was told. I could not understand such rules so I asked to see the Manager. The Manager was away but a Supervisor came. 2 in fact. I asked them why I was not allowed to take photograph, and I asked them to show me a document stating such rules. They could not produce that document I asked for. So I sat for my meal and took a photo.

I was awaiting for someone to arrest me but no body did.

It was really a hassle. First I was short changed on the food I ordered. And then I was not allowed to take a photo of a public place like the coffee corner. I think someone should have their brain examined for making such ridiculous regulations. And I felt that I have not committed any crime, even a light crime.

Loyalty, ethics and self interest.

Just to relate an experience which I went through early this week.

My house needs a termite exterminator. So I called a nearby exterminator company and their representative came over. In fact that company has a e-mail address, and I wrote an e-mail to them the previous night. When I checked with them before noon on that day, the person answering the phone said that they have not received my e-mail. Well, fine I thought, maybe the e-mail really arrived late.

When the company representative came over, we related to him our concern of termites in the house. A nice young men he was, in the company’s uniform and he explained to us quite in detail what his company could do to exterminate termites. I was bored so I let my wife do the negotiation. When my wife explained to me later, I was surprised that he quoted a price for doing the extermination if his company does it and he quoted another price if the job was given to him privately. I was shocked. Where was his loyalty to the company? Where is the ethic of a person being entrusted by the company to negotiate a deal? Was he just being selfish? Or was he a young man who did not understand the concept of ethic and loyalty? Or was he just being selfish? Or is our society accepting such behaviour? A sad sad situation indeed! No wonder in some places corruption is rife.

After that I was quite reluctant to deal with him. I believe strongly in loyalty, and ethics in doing my job. Maybe the society accept such behaviour, so let it be. At 65, probably I am out of touch with reality.

Visit to Petrosains, PETRONAS, Kuala Lumpur

http://www.petrosains.com.my/

I visited the PETRONAS Petrosains exhibition on Sunday. In KLCC Kuala Lumpur. I was impressed. Never have been there before. I thought I was just showing my nephew, but in the end I got the better of things.





People queuing, waiting to get in, via the railed bubble car.



On the way out, also whilst inside the railed bubble car, they show you these.



I would rate the visit as good. It was an experience for me.

The downside was that there were too many uncontrolled children from families who just come to the exhibition out of curiosity. Most of these children are below 10 years old, and they keep running about from one exhibit to another without real objective of knowing what exhibits were all about. They were not really learning anything objectively, but I suppose subjectively they have a very superficial views of what to expect in a petroleum industries. I would say that if the tour of the exhibits were planned properly, by a group of children lead by a Teacher, the visit would be very beneficial to those children. But I must commend the staff in the exhibition hall; they were knowledgeable and were very patients with those children who were running about in the exhibition halls from one exhibit to another, touching, trying their hands on and sometime even knocking some of the exhibits down.

Lunch time

Lunch time at Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur, last Sunday.

Wall Painting 2

Last week when I visited the site I missed some of the better wall paintings. And on passing that way today I saw them.









These are some of the elarged versions of the same wall paintings.



I wonder what these people were doing there. Local or foreigners?

Wall paintings

I have seen glimpse of some wall paintings in Kuala Lumpur, and these are a few which I have managed to record. Not bad I thought.











Who made them, I haven't the slightest idea. The locations themselves tell us that these are ideas crated from the dark nights.

But there are other paintings, not of very good standard on various locations that I have come across.







I don't consider these as vandalism; there are people who want to express themselves, and these are the only locations where they find themselves ably to do so.

Demise of a father.

Announced this evening that one of my Ustaz's (Muslim Religion's teacher) father passed away yesterday. May Allah bless and be with his soul. Al-Faatihah.

The Ustaz is still actively giving us religious teachings, and intepretation of some verses of the Koraan despite he living in Indonesia. He come to us periodically.

Watch Him

Watch Her

That old building

Ever since I saw this old picture of the old building some months back, I have been following its progress. I have blogged some of what I saw, my impressions and what I thought about that building.



Refer to my blogs http://why360.blogspot.com/2007/04/old-building.html

And more recently I took a closer look at the building. It became more interesting.

In my last blog on that building I was not able to see what the upstairs looked like. This time I was able to go upstairs (by the staircase, photo looking down)and to take some photographs.


The old windows fascinated me. They were old and they were most likely the original and they were made of wood and with real iron bolts.


Unlike some of the newer windows with glass panellings, either fully or semi.







And the old ceiling, I did not take a very close look at it. Most of the ceiling area is now covered with soft board (maybe asbestos board) with flourescent fittings installed. But some part of the ceiling are still not replaced and seemed dirty.


And one can see how the beams of the heavy ceilings were supported.


One can compare the older part of the building with the newer parts.

I was also interested in the old (probably original) tiles they have on the floor, as was photographed in my previous blog. This time I saw the most probably parts where they did the cooking, i.e right under where the chimney is. (Note that the chimney is not connected anymore to this part of the building).



The tiles seemed dirty. It is where the Manager of the existing establishment has his office now. One can see clearly that the tiles had been trampled on, seeing how dirty the tiles had become.

But the tiles at the main entrance seemed well kept, but used. Probably with the goings in and out then and now.


And the roof eves, probably they are original.




At the side of the building one can see where the small gate leading to the side garden was. One can still imagine those small iron cast side gate, swinging and opening into the garden (this can be seen clearly in the very old photo).


Just inside the entrance is where the present occupier has put his prayer house now, for good luck I suppose. And going inside the side garden, one can see the small house, probably servant’s quarters, if not the bathroom. Not sure really.



Most like servants quarters, but that building is too close to the bucket type toilet, in those days collected by the night soil collector, and the trap doors of the toilets opening into the back drain.








And one can still imagine the ventilation that they had for the basement area. Probably these have been modified since then, but there must have been ventilation holes or even windows.




Walking further back one can see an old house, not sure what that house was for, cannot guess really, maybe a horses stable or may even be a guest house where they had guests sleeping over or may be where they rested in the hot afternoons to catch the fresh air from the nearby Kuantan River.

And one can detect that they probably had a beautifully manicured lawn, wide and opening on to the river’s edge. Its not maintained anymore now.



There is a very tall and large (old) casuarina tree at the back of the house, close to the gazebo and about at the edge of the lawn. That tree must be nearly a hundred years old, now, all covered up by climbers. One can hardly see the tree trunk and its leaves, unless one looks up.


And by the front garden gate one can see a tree that must have been planted quite recently, probably in the last 30-40 years, with climbers climbing it. Some call that tree ‘pancut pacut’, (some time probably wrongly called ‘dedap hutan’), the technical name being "Bignoniaceae". It seems to be a part of the house scenery.


Now that the building is being usefully used, lets pray that it will not be demolished for a long time. It’s a pity that the present society do not make that building a heritage building.