Life's So Beautiful

Archive for the ‘Family Life’ Category

Today is a sad day. At about 8.00am this morning, my father-in-law passed away. Last night we were all at the house of one of my sister-in-laws to celebrate the birthday of her son. My father-in-law was there though he did not eat much.  We went home at about 10.15 pm and after taking our bathe, we were thinking of calling it a day when we received news that my father-in-law had been rushed to Columbia Specialist Centre as he was feeling very unwell.

We rushed to Columbia and was told that my father-in-law would be sent to Miri General Hospital as his condition was very serious. About half an hour after our arrival, my father-in-law was rushed to Miri General Hospital in an ambulance. He was already unconscious.

We spent the whole night at the hospital and only went home at about 7.30 am this morning to take our bathe and a rest. But shortly after taking our bathe, we received news that our father-in-law had passed away. So without any chance for rest, we rushed to my father-in-law’s house.  We have been  there for the whole day and only canme back a short while ago to take our bathe. We will going to my father-in-law’s house after this so this blog post of mine seems a bit rushed.

Life is so unpredictable at times.  I hope my father-in-law will rest in peace. He is with the Lord now!

Congratulations to my niece Michelle and her hubby Hui Seng on the birth of their daughter Abigail today. Of all the blessings God sends from above, the most precious is a new baby to love. Abigail will truly be a bundle of joy for you both.

Cherish This Time (By Joanna Fuchs)

So your baby is here!
What joy and what pleasure!
Now your life is expanding,
To make room for this treasure.

A darling newcomer
To have and to hold–
Her smiles are more precious
Than silver or gold.

She’ll demolish your schedule
Though she’s helpless and small;
She’ll make her needs known,
And she’ll rule over all.

See, a new parent’s work
Is just never quite done,
But you’ll never mind,
‘Cause it’s all so much fun.

When you hear her cute giggle
You’ll start “aahing” and “oohing,”
And she’ll soon reply back
By “ga ga” and “goo gooing.”

Those big innocent eyes
See a world strange and new;
To make sense of it all
She’ll look only to you.

So cherish this time
Of miraculous things–
The excitement and wonder
That a new baby brings.

Congratulations also go to my sister and my brother-in-law……you two have a new granddaughter to brighten up your days even more! The birth of a new granddaughter is a reminder of just how wonderful life really can be.

Abigail Lau

I know Christmas is more than seven months away but I would like to dedicate the song “When A Child Is Born” to my niece and her hubby. Today marks the beginning of your journey as parents. I have no doubts that Abigail will bring lots of joy and happiness into your life.

When A Child Is Born

A ray of hope flickers in the sky

A tiny star lights up way up high
All across the land, dawns a brand new morn
This comes to pass when a child is born

A silent wish sails the seven seas
The winds of change whisper in the trees
And the walls of doubt crumble, tossed and torn
This comes to pass when a child is born

A rosy hue settles all around
You’ve got the feel you’re on solid ground
For a spell or two, no-one seems forlorn
This comes to pass when a child is born

And all of this happens because the world is waiting
Waiting for one child
Black, white, yellow, no-one knows
But a child that will grow up and turn tears to laughter
Hate to love, war to peace and everyone to everyone’s neighbour
And misery and suffering will be words to be forgotten, forever

It’s all a dream, an illusion now
It must come true, sometime soon somehow
All across the land, dawns a brand new morn
This comes to pass when a child is born

Sit back, relax and enjoy Connie Talbot’s rendition of “When A Child Is Born”.

Today is Mother’s Day 2010. Cherish your mother and shower your love upon her. No gift to your mother can ever equal her gift to you – life. To the world your mother might just be one person, but to you she should  be the world. And to all the fathers the most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. It has been said that a man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.

Happy Mother's Day

On this special day, I wish to dedicate the following quotations to all the mothers in this world:

Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother (Lin Yutang, Chinese writer).

Your arms were always open when I needed a hug. Your heart understood when I needed a friend. Your gentle eyes were stern when I needed a lesson. Your strength and love has guided me and gave me wings to fly (Sarah Malin).

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavour by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts (Washington Irving (1783-1859).

There is no velvet so soft as a mother’s lap, no rose as lovely as her smile, no path so flowery as that imprinted with her footsteps (Archibald Thompson).

Youth fades;love droops; the leaves of friendship fall. A mother’s  secret love outlives them all (Oliver Wendell Holmes,Sr).

A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary (Dorothy Canfield Fisher)

Mother is the name for god on the lips and hearts of all children (Brandon Bruce Lee).

Every mother is like Moses. She does not enter the Promised Land. She prepares a world that she will not see (Pope Paul VI).

God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers (Jewish Proverb).

The “Mother’s Day Proclamation” by Julia Ward Howe was a powerful call for the need of official celebration of Mother’s Day. Written in 1870, Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation was a pacifist reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. The Proclamation was tied to Howe’s feminist belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level. Miss Howe was the first person in US to recognize the need for Mother’s Day holiday. She was successful in raising awareness amongst the masses and pushing her plead to the upper echelons of power.

Julia Ward Howe

Following this very potent Proclamation made in 1870, the Mothers’ Peace Day Observance was held on the second Sunday in June, 1872. Such observances began to take place each year thereafter and paved the way for Mothers’ Day Holiday in US on the second Sunday of May.

Though Ms Howe could not herself get the day recognized as the official holiday, she is revered for her significant contributions towards the celebration of the day and for bestowing honor on mothers.

Julia Ward Howe is also famous as the writer of the Civil War song, ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’.

Mothers’ Day Proclamation
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be of water or of tears! Say firmly: “We will not have questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of carnage for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy, and patience. We women of one country will be too tender to those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own. It says “Disarm! Disarm!” The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.

As men have forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after his time the sacred impress not of Caesar, but of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

Julia Ward Howe
Boston 1870

To all mothers, Happy Mother’s Day! And to my wife, my mum and my mother-in-law, I pray that you will all be blessed abundantly for fulfilling your roles as mothers so lovingly and successfully.

April 24 was the 2010 Curtin University of Technology (Miri) Graduation Ceremony Day. It was a special occasion for my family as our younger son Leslie received his Bachelor of Commerce degree (majoring in Accounting & Finance) at the convocation. Leslie completed his degree in June last year. Curtin Miri  holds graduation convocation only once a year so Leslie had to wait till this convocation to receive his degree.

My elder son Clarence flew back from Penang on April 22 to attend Leslie’s convocation.  He is having his study break to prepare for his final CPA paper exams. Upon completion of  three years’ working experience in a couple of months’ time , he will be a full-fledged CPA. Leslie will also be pursuing the CPA  qualification like his brother.

To Leslie and Clarence, mum and dad are proud of you both. It has been such a joy to see you both grow up into such fine adults.

A scene from the convocation

Graduates throwing their graduation hats in the air

Leslie receiving his degree from Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr. George Chan Hong Nam

The happy graduate

Me, Clarence, Leslie & my wife Jennie

Binatang…..that is the name of the town that I was born in.  I don’t know the ” who how why what” behind that name.  Whoever gave the town that name must have been an animal lover because Binatang is a Malay word meaning animal. The town was renamed Bintangor due to the negative connotations of the “animal” tag. What do you call the inhabitants of a town named Animal?

I have fond memories of my life in Bintangor where I lived till I was 17. I had my primary and secondary school education at St Augustine Primary School and Kai Chung Middle School ( its name at that time) respectively. In a small town, everyone seemed to know each other.  Growing up in such a small town is truly a great experience. As kids, we played hide-and-seek and cop-and-robber around the town without any fear of being knocked down by cars as there were so few cars then. We swam in the Rejang River……we dived from the wharves into the river, often trying to show off our diving skills like doing a couple of somersaults before hitting the water.  As we swam, we waved at passengers on MV Pulau Kijang and MV Rajah Mas when these ships passed through Bintangor.

During my trip back to Kuching for Ching Ming Festival early this month, I asked my brothers and my mum whether they had any photos of mine when I was a kid.  I only have a few such photos and I was hoping to add more to my collection.  What a joy it was when my eldest brother said he had a few.  Upon returning to Miri, I asked my brother to lend me the photos so that I could scan them.

These photos really sent me on a trip down memory lane…….here they are…..don’t laugh at my hair style or the way I was dressed….bear in mind, these photos were taken in the 1960s.

Sitting on my dad's one-of-its-kind tricycle

Posing near Rejang River

Playing with a honey bear

Taken in my dad's orchard....cool pose, haha!

Taken near my dad's kerosene storage depot

Taken with my mum and my third brother in front of our shop.

Taken with my parents, my third brother, my sister and my "adopted" brother just before he left for Canada

I went to Kuching on the morning of  April 2 for Ching Ming Festival and returned to Miri last night.  I had an enjoyable three days in Kuching where I stayed with my second brother. My eldest brother flew to Kuching from Miri a day earlier than me. My two brothers, my mum and I talked a lot about our younger days in Bintangor and our family history.

On my first night in Kuching, my second brother treated us to a sumptuous meal at a seafood restaurant. My sister, my brother-in-law and their youngest daughter were there. And I met Pending State Assemblywoman Violet Yong in person for the first time. She was sitting in a table near us and she came over to say hi as she knows my sister well.

Photo of Violet Yong from sarawakupdate.com

We went to our father’s grave at about 7.10 am on  April 3. We did the customary chores of cleaning up the tombstone and removing the weeds. My sister even bought 2 paper shirts and a pair of paper sports shoes for my dad. My sister said she wanted to encourage my dad to exercise in the other world, haha!

Some time around noon on April 3, my friend John Wong came to pick me to meet up with another ex-schoolmate Goh Leng Yew. We had a simple nice lunch by the poolside at Sarawak Club. We shared our experiences, reminisced about my time at Kolej Tuanku Bujang in Miri, exchanged news about other schoolmates of ours. John is a mechanical engineer attached to JKR while Goh is a successful businessman who owns an engineering consultancy firm and a  mineral water factory in Kuching. Leng Yew, thanks for the treat! And John, thank you too for always finding time to meet up with me whenever I am in Kuching.

When John sent me back to my brother’s house, I met my grand nephew Derek Cheu for the first time.  Derek is the son of my niece Angel Lim (my second brother’s daughter). He is such a cute baby who is not shy of strangers. He didn’t mind at all when I carried him.

Little Derek

That night, my sister and my brother-in-law treated us to another sumptuous dinner at a Chinese restaurant.  I met my grand niece Janice again…she has grown a lot since I last saw her almost a year ago. She is such a smart little girl. Though she is not even three, she can speak and sing very well. Now that I have a grand nephew and 2 grand nieces, it is a sure sign that I am  getting old!

My sister and her granddaughter Janice

My second brother and his grandson Derek

After dinner, we went to my sister’s house to watch the Manchester United-Chelsea clash. Oh, it was so disappointing to see MU lose due to a controversial offside goal. MU’s hope of retaining the English Premier League championship has been very seriously dented now, thanks to the linesman.

My good friend Poh Ted Ang dropped by my sister’s house to pick me up for a chit-chat. He decided to go to Oriental Pearl Reflexology for a one-hour reflexology session. By the way, before you start jumping to the wrong conclusion, this reflexology outlet offers genuine reflexology and not what some of you may be thinking. We were each served by a male masseur from China. The masseur put a basin of hot water containing some herbs in front of me and asked me to immerse my legs in the water. The water was quite hot and I instinctively recoiled with shock when I put my legs into the water, haha! The masseur started by massaging my neck and shoulders. Oh gosh! There were times that I felt like screaming in pain! But I know that if I can endure the pain, I will feel so much better once it is over.  When the session was over, I really felt very relaxed. Thank you for picking up the tab, Ted Ang!

Yesterday morning, my eldest brother and I went shopping for butter cakes and “kompian”. I bought several butter cakes at the Mita Cake House at Satok. The shop was enjoying brisk business when I popped into the shop. Its butter cakes are tasty as they use a lot of butter unlike a lot of other cake shops that scrimp on butter when making cakes. After that, we went to buy the Foochow delicacy “kompian”.

Yesterday afternoon, as I had to meet someone near Sunny Hill Ice-cream, I thought of tasting the famous Sunny Hill ice-cream. But there was a queue of people waiting to be served and the queue was moving at such a slow pace. I gave up  and went back to my brother’s house after meeting the person that I had an appointment with.I guess I will try the next time I am in Kuching as my brother’s house is quite near Sunny Hill Ice Cream.

The slow-moving queue at Sunny Hill Ice Cream

I left Kuching at about 7.40pm and arrived back in Miri at about 8.35 pm. Being rather tired, I retired to bed after a quick dinner of “char kuay teow” that I had bought at Pelita Commercial Center on the way from the airport to my house. I think I was sound asleep within a few minutes after hitting the bed!

Almost a fortnight has gone by since my last blog article.  After all the Chinese New Year visiting and activities, I got bitten by the lazy bug and have just been relaxing. I guess it is time to get back into the normal day-to-day routine again.

During the first few days of the Chinese New Year, my family visited the houses of quite a lot of relatives. With my son Clarence and his girl friend back from Penang to spend the Chinese New Year with us, our house was  noisier and livelier than usual.

During the course of our Chinese New Year visiting, we came across this house with its water meter secured with barbed wire to prevent theft of the meter. It is truly surprising that there are people who would resort to stealing water meters but I have read newspaper reports about such thefts.

In another relative’s house, we came across quite a number of unwelcomed visitors. These visitors were crawling on the floor and the walls….upon closer examination, these visitors turned out to be dog lice! A relative of mine tried to kill the lice that he saw.

The lion dance troupe from Democratic Action Party (DAP) passed through our housing estate and performed a short dance in the garage of my house.  Here in Miri, it is a very common practice for lion dance troupes from Chinese schools, associations and political parties to perform from house to house to raise funds. It adds to the Chinese New Year mood.

An unfortunate event happened on the third day of the Chinese New Year . One of my relatives hosted an open house on that day and we dropped by his house. My relative had ordered several dishes from a Malay so we savored the food. That night, both of my sons and I came down with bad diarhoea. My son Clarence was the most seriously affected as he had fever in addition to a severe case of diarhoea. I immediately suspected that the cause must be the curry that we had taken at the open house. My wife was not affected as she did not take the curry. The next day we found out that a lot of our other relatives who had been to the open house had diarhoea. And my relative who hosted the open house later told us he only found out that there was something wrong with the curry later that night. The curry had turned frothy!

My son Clarence and Amanda left Miri for Penang on the fourth day of the Chinese New Year. I felt so sad to see them go. And I felt so sorry for Clarence as he was still unwell from the food poisoning with bouts of fever as well as sore throat. On arrival in Penang, he had to see a doctor immediately and had to take the following day off as a medical leave.

Today is the twelfth day of the Chinese New Year. And in three more days, it is Chap Go Meh ….another round of big makan (eating) again!

Today is the eve of the Chinese New Year. It had been a tiring day doing last minute cleaning to make our house look spick and span.

We went to the airport at about 5.10 pm. to pick up my son Clarence and his girl friend Amanda who flew back from Penang to Miri by Air Asia. We then had our reunion dinner at the Han Palace Restaurant in Grand Palace Hotel. It was a seven-course dinner: Fatt Choy Yee Sang, Five Hot & Cold Varieties, Shark’s Fin Soup with Crabmeat, Crispy Fried Chicken, Steamed Cod Fish in Light Soy Sauce,  Stir Fried Lamb Chop with Black Pepper Sauce and  Stir Fried Prawns with Mushroom.

Fatt Choy Yee Sang

Five Hot & Cold Varieties

Steamed Cod Fish in Light Soy Sauce

Crispy Fried Chicken

Stir Fried Lamb Chop with Black Pepper Sauce

Stir Fried Prawns with Mushroom

The food was good but not outstanding. For desserts, we were served fresh fruits and peanuts dumplings or tang yuan.  And we were given a few mandarin oranges nicely wrapped in a small hamper.

It is 10 pm now. In two hours’ time, it will be Chinese New Year. And the whole Miri will be like a war-torn zone with firecrackers erupting everywhere and fireworks lighting up the dark sky.  It will truly be a sight to behold!

On this day fifty two years ago,  a baby boy was born in a tiny town called Binatang in the state of Sarawak.  Binatang is a Malay word meaning animal. Whoever named that town must have been a animal lover. The town was later renamed Bintangor as the name Binatang has a negative connotation.

Ya, that baby boy is me lah!  I’m really getting old.

I wish to say thanks to my wife and my sons Clarence and Leslie as well as Amanda for their birthday cards and wishes.

Birthday card from my wife

Birthday card from my son Clarence and Amanda

Birthday card from my son Leslie

This morning my wife and I dropped by Jenny Hiu’s house in Taman Tunku to pick up a kilo of “limpeh bahkua” (barbecue dried pork) made in Singapore. Jenny is an ex-colleague of mine in Teck Guan Group in Brunei. She left for greener pasture in Singapore a few years ago and is now attached to an American oil & gas company there. I had asked her to help me buy a kilo of the famous Singapore bahkua (Lim Chee Guan bahkua) a few days before she came back to Miri on Christmas Day for her holidays. Jenny not only bought a kilo of the bahkua that I wanted but she also bought another packet of the “three-storey meat bahkua” ( something like bacon bahkua) for me. And she refused to accept my payment…..okay, Jenny, I owe you a favour.  By the way, your house in Taman Tunku fits the “title” that I have bestowed on you since our days in Teck Guan….I’m sure you know what I mean, hahaha!

Limpeh bahkua from Singapore

Simply delicious...

I have been planning to make  a trip to Brunei for quite a while now but last minute circumstances forced me to postpone my trip on two previous occasions. This morning I decided to just make the trip so my wife, my younger son Les and I left Miri for Brunei at about 8.45 am this morning.

It has been quite a few months since my last visit to Brunei. Arriving at the Malaysian side of the Sg Tujoh border, I was surprised to see the many new shophouses under construction. A lot of the existing shophouses there seem to be “white elephants”. Maybe the new shops will boost the economic activity at the border once completed. I would not be surprised to see restaurants, pubs and so-called “foot reflexology and spas” commencing operations there. These “foot reflexology and spas” are all over the places in Miri and have given rise to a lot of complaints especially from housewives whose husbands seem to be coming home late nowadays. The population of “dragon ladies” or ladies from China have shot up quite a lot in tandem with the mushrooming “foot reflexology and spas”.

We went through the Malaysian immigration and custom checkpoints without much delay but it was a different story on the Brunei side of the border. We got through the Brunei immigration checkpoint quite promptly but getting through the Brunei custom checkpoint was a test of your driving guts. They had three immigration checkpoints open but only one custom checkpoint was open. So cars from the three immigration checkpoints all converged on one custom checkpoint. You need a bit of driving guts to manoeuvre your way into the  queue. From my past experience, I was able to get my car to the checkpoint quite quickly. I was asked to fill a vehicle registration form so I had to park my car and fill the form. I guess that slowed down our journey a bit.

Cars from three immigration checkpoints converging on a single custom checkpoint

We arrived in Bandar Seri Begawan at about 10.30 am. We went to Hua Ho Supermarket in Yayasan Complex where I bought some chocolates for my ex-colleagues in Teck Guan Plaza. I went alone to the fifth floor of Teck Guan Plaza intending to give my ex-colleagues there a surprise. But instead I was in for a surprise! The boss had given them the day off today. Luckily my previous assistant Marissa was doing overtime and we had a good chat for over half an hour.

Teck Guan Plaza where I worked for 10 years in one of the offices on the top floor

After leaving Teck Guan Plaza, I went to the waterfront to take some photos of Kampong Ayer (Water Village) where people live in houses built on stilts above the river. This is one of the major tourist attractions of Brunei.

Kampong Ayer

Water taxis with the awter village and a royal palace in the distant background

A woman boarding a water taxi to go to Kampong Ayer

Proceeding on to Yayasan Complex to meet up with my family, I took some photos of Yayasan Complex and the famous Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque. The Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque is one of the most spectacular mosques in Asia Pacific and is one of the major tourist attraction. The mosque is constructed on an artificial lagoon near the banks of the Brunei River. There is a marble bridge connecting the mosque to a ceremonial ship-shaped structure. The main dome of the mosque is covered in pure gold! The weather was very hot and I was sweating profusely on my forehead when I finally met up with my family.

Yayasan Complex with the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque in the background

Another view of Yayasan Complex and the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque

The famous Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque

Another view of the mosque

The Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque and the ceremonial ship

We went to Teo Poi Hoon Restaurant in Kiulap for lunch. We opted for the set lunch for three consisting of sweet corn soup, fried broccoli, salad prawn and butter chicken plus  iced “cincau” (grass jelly) for dessert. This set lunch was very reasonably priced at B$38……we enjoyed the food.

Sweet corn soup...nice!

Brocolli fried with carrots and mushrooms

Salad prawn with papaya and winter melon.....yummy!

Butter chicken.....a bit too sweet but still not bad.

We popped in to the nearby Hua Ho Supermarket to continue shopping……ended up buying quite a bit of foodstuff and tidbits including a cheese cake and a kahlua cake.

On our way to the Gadong SupaSave, we stopped at NBT to take photos of their impressive Christmas decor. NBT Brunei has always put up very creative Christmas decor every year. And I must add that I have not seen such nice Christmas decor in Sarawak.

At Gadong SupaSave, we bought some foodstuffs and tidbits again before popping in to the Sin You Me  Restaurant to have a drink and to wait for my friend Ken. After chatting with Ken for half an hour or so, we began our journey back to Miri. We left Bandar Seri Begawan at about 4.30pm and arrived home in Miri at about 6.00pm. Because it was  a day trip and partly due to the hot weather, we were real tired on reaching home.