Hark! The merry chimes are pealing,

Soft and glad the music swells,

Gaily in the night wind stealing,

Sweetly sound the wedding bells.

(Eliza Cook)

My wife and I attended the holy matrimony between my wife’s cousin Josephine Ngieng and Stephen Tan held at 11 a.m. this morning at the St Joseph Cathedral in Miri. How time flies! We used to carry Josephine when she was still a baby…….alamak! This means that we are really getting old, haha!

Stephen and Josephine exchanging marriage vows

Stephen kissing his bride

The holy matrimony was conducted by a personal friend Father Gabriel Chiong.� We got to know Father Gabriel about 20 years ago when he was still a music teacher. He was the piano teacher for my son Clarence for a couple of months and even gave Clarence a violin as a birthday present. My son used to call him Uncle Ding Dong, lol! Gabriel is a person whom I have a lot of respect for as he walks the talk and has such a gentle and kind temperament.

Stephen & Josephine walking down the aisle after the holy matrimony service

To the newly-weds, we extend our heartiest congratulations. And may the following quotes be an inspiration to you both as you start out on your journey as a married couple:

To keep your marriage brimming, with love in the wedding cup, whenever you’re wrong, admit it; whenever you’re right, shut up (Ogden Nash).

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person (Germaine Greer).

Two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one (Friedrich Halm).

There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage (Martin Luther).

The sum which two married people owe to one another defies calculation. It is an infinite debt, which can only be discharged through all eternity (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe).

There are three things that last: faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love ( I Corinthians 13:13).

World Vision is an international aid Christian humanitarian organization operating in nearly 100 countries around the world to combat the root causes of poverty and to provide international disaster relief. It is dedicated to working with the world’s most vulnerable people and serves all people regardless of race, religion, gender or ethnicity. It helps the poor to help themselves, working with them to build sustainable futures for their children, families and communities through emergency relief, education, health care, economic development and promotion of justice. You can visit their website at this link and the website of World Vision Malaysia at this link.

You can do your part by sponsoring a child for RM50 a month. By sponsoring a child, you are giving that child a chance in life, a chance for the child to develop his or her potential. It really makes a difference!

I am currently sponsoring 2 children through World Vision: Ha Van Minh� of Vietnam and� Mutakali Ronica Mononoga of South Africa. Being able to do something worthwhile without any expectation of personal gain really gives you a sense of inner joy…..it makes you feel you have a purpose in life.

Ha Van Minh

Mutakali Ronica Mononoga

I know of some children who are World Vision child sponsors. You too can be a child sponsor….you too can make a difference. Listen to your heart and sponsor a child today!

Another Sunday and another trip to Emart…and this is what we bought:

A kilo of langsat for RM3

This is what a wild durian look like when it is opened up:

And this is a tampoi “exposed”…..and “naked”.

Play around with some of these fruits and you can get interesting “fruity” art!

It�s so frustrating. Streamyx connection in my house has been down since about yesterday. I contacted Streamyx�s hotline today and went through a series of troubleshooting procedures with them via telephone without any luck. They promised to send a technician to my house within 2-3 business days. What the heck!

The Streamyx downtime proved costly for me. I had been planning to bid for an eBay auction closing at about 9.20 am yesterday. The auction was for a huge collection of stamps, coins and sports collectibles weighing about 30 kilos. I had intended to put in a bid of $1,000 for the item 30-40 seconds before its closing but I was unable to do so due to the Streamyx downtime. I later found out that someone won the item for less than $600. Had I been able to place my bid, I would have won that item.

Being unable to surf the Internet, my family and I spent hours shopping yesterday. We first had lunch at Cheng Kee Chicken Rice at Krokop 10. As usual, the place was packed. Try out the steamed tofu�it�s nice. It seems that a lot of chicken rice outlets in Miri are doing a roaring business.

After our lunch, we walked over to the nearby Krokop market where we bought a kilogram of the local olives. I have a soft spot for these olives since young. You just soak these olives in warm water and when they have softened, you can either add some salt or black soya sauce and sugar. If you manage to buy the good quality ones, they taste so yummy!

We then dropped by Ng Sian Hap Pottery where we bought 4 flower pots and some groceries. My wife decided to buy some orchid plants to add to her collection of flowers and plants so we drove to LG Nursery situated just before the Lutong Bridge as you drive from town to Lutong.

LG Nursery has a good variety of flowers and plants. We had a great time looking around the place and what made it even more pleasant was the friendliness of the lady towkay or �towkay neo� and her staff. We ended up buying 2 orchid plants,and 2 other plants plus 2 kilograms of mangoes. One of the plants that we bought have leaves that look like butterflies.I love mangoes!

This looks weird!

This reminds me of a certain part of the male anatomy, haha!

Another new addition to my wife's plant collection

Mangolicious!

Emart was our final destination before we headed home. At the tamu there, we bought another orchid plant and two soursops (locally known as durian belanda). In Hokkien, we call the soursop �ang mo durian� meaning Caucasian durians�..I think it�s probably because of the white flesh of the fruit. By the way, sousop is now known as a fruit with amazing health benefits. Its botanical name is Annonaceae muricata or graviala.

The third orchid plant bought by my wife

Soursop (aka ang mo durian aka graviala)

I am now writing this inside Double Star Restaurant in Pelita Commercial Centre as the place has WIFI access. I really hope Streamyx will send a technician to my house soonest and restore my internet connection. It�s such a pain in the ass to have no access to the internet at home.

October 26…………………it’s my wife’s birthday! Happy birthday my dearest!

Happy Birthday My Dearest

I�d like to take a moment to wish my wife the happiest of birthdays.

She is the world to me � my best friend, my confidant, the mother of my children, my life partner.

That she has stuck it out with me for more than 27 years makes it easy for me to say that there is no man more fortunate than I to have such a wonderful woman as a traveling companion on this life�s journey.

There is so much life left to live, and there is no one else in the world I�d rather live it with.

I can hardly wait.

Happy Birthday, love.

Today is the birthday of my son Clarence. Happy birthday son! It is good to have you home on your birthday. Shoot for the stars and may all your dreams come true.� It has been such a pleasure watching you growing up.

Happy Birthday Son!

You have always been so special

in all the things you have done.

We are so proud of you simply

because you are our son.

From the moment of your birth

You’ve been the treasure of our hearts.

It is always so easy to feel nostalgic about the little boy you used to be.

And it is even easier to feel proud of what you have become.

You’re a son to be proud of.

You outgrew our laps, but never our hearts.

God bless you my dearest

On your special day.

And we give you our hearts of love on your birthday.

With lots of love,

Mum & Dad

Just got back home from Esther’s birthday. As expected, Esther was really disappointed when she saw the “Princess” DVD….she looked so glum. But when I gave her the real present, her mood immediately changed.

Birthday gal Esther

The Icecream Birthday Cake

Blowing out the candles

Esther With Some of Her Friends

Once again, happy birthday Esther!

October is the month of every year in which a lot of my family members, friends and relatives have their birthdays. Just take a look:

My son Clarence ……………….. October 22

My son Leslie ……………………. October 25

My wife Jennie ………………….. October 26

Amanda Yew …………………….. October 14

Wen Hong (Amanda’s bro)……. October 17

Esther Ngieng ……………………. October 17

Nephew Kelvin Lim …………….. October 21

Sis-in-law Ah Ming ……………… October 25

To all the birthday guys and gals & women, I wish you all a very happy birthday and many happy returns of the day (I wonder if people still convey this birthday wish nowadays).

Today is the birthday of Wen Hong and 10-year old Esther Ngieng. We have been invited to Esther’s birthday party tonight. And we will be celebrating Wen Hong’s birthday tomorrow night.

I asked Esther what she wants for her birthday present and she coyly says she wants Princess.� I know she wants a Disney Princess doll and I have bought one for her but I have also bought a DVD movie with the title “Princess”. I gonna give Esther the DVD movie first and see what is her reaction. She might freak out, haha!

The Princess

The Birthday Card With the "Princess" DVD Inside

And this is the actual Disney Princess doll set all wrapped up in present paper…..it is a Snow White doll and I know Esther gonna love it.

Snow White Princess Doll All Wrapped Up (bought at Toy "R" Us Miri)

I was taking a break from listing my stamps on eBay when I saw the breaking news on CNN� about the homecoming of Laura Ling and Euna Lee after about 5 months’ detention by the North Korean government. Lee bowed as she walked down the steps of the plane into a private hangar, and Ling raised her fists into the air.

Ling raising her fists into the air as she emerged from the plane.

Oh, it was such a touching moment watching the reunion of Laura and Euna with their families who were waiting at the bottom of the stairs.� Indeed it brought tears to my eyes especially after watching the reunion of Euna Lee with her husband and her 4-year old daughter Hannah. Hannah has not seen her mum since March and you can see how overjoyed Lee was as she tearfully held Hannah tightly to her.

Euna Lee holding tightly to Hannah as her husband held her in his embrace and Laura Ling being kissed and hugged by her husband.

Euna Lee & family in a tight embrace and Laura Ling being hugged by her mum with her husband and sister looking on.

Laura addressed the media with a speech that touched heartstrings and brought tears to many around the world.� She spoke about going to a meeting and when they were taken to the meeting, they saw before them former US President Bill Clinton. They were shocked but at the same time, they knew instantly in their hearts that their nightmare was finally coming to an end.

Laura Ling addressing the media with a tearful speech.

Laura addressing the media with Euna by her side and Al Gore and Laura's father Doug Ling behind them.

This piece of news really made my day. God is great!