Life’s So Beautiful

Archive for the ‘Miri’ Category

The haze is back with a vengeance. I had a hard time cleaning up my garage yesterday afternoon as it was covered with ashes.

And this morning I woke up to find my housing estate enveloped in a thick haze. At first I thought it was a morning mist but when I walked out to my garage, I was hit with the pungent smell of smoke.

As I was sending my wife and my son to work, I could see the seriousness of the haze. In some places, visibility was only four to five metres. It was no wonder that cars had their headlights on.

Visibility was real bad.

As usual, the culprits for the current haze are mainly the moonlighting farmers who burn roadside land for cultivation of crops to earn some part-time income. These people have no regards for the dire consequences of their actions. They often play a game of hide-and-seek with the authorities. They start the roadside fires and then disappear. Sometimes the fires started by them rage out of control and the fire brigades have to be called in to help put out the fires. Later these farmers come back to claim their “territories” and start planting crops like corn.  This happens every year.

A few days ago, the mayor of Miri warned of stern actions against open burning. The authorities would impose fines on those caught in the act of open burning. But as these farmers always play hide-and-seek with the authorities, it is not easy for the authorities to catch them.  The mayor  thus reiterated that the authorities would no longer hesitate to destroy the crops planted by these moonlighting farmers. I hope the authorities will really carry out their threats to destroy the crops planted by these moonlighting farmers as these farmers need to be taught a lesson. Go Mayor go!

When will we see haze-free days in Miri again? Sigh………..

Today is the last day of February and it is also Chap Goh Meh, the finale to the Chinese New Year celebration. Being a Sunday, this year’s Chap Goh Meh will be celebrated on a grander scale by the Chinese.

Chap Goh Meh, meaning “fifteenth night” in Hokkien, is a day to spend with loved ones. It is like Valentine’s Day for the Chinese. On this day, single adults throw oranges into rivers in the hope of finding a life partner. The Hokkien even have a saying which goes “tim kam chua ho ang”  which literally means “throw a mandarin orange, marry a good husband.” But nowadays a lot of young people throw oranges into rivers merely for fun.

People used to write their names and telephone numbers on oranges that they threw into rivers or lakes.  Nowadays with the widespread use of the internet, I guess people will probably write their emails or their websites addresses on the oranges that they throw……some may even write the names that they use on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

To all my friends and associates, I wish you all a very happy Chap Goh Meh!  Go now to the supermarkets to buy a box of mandarin oranges and see you at the lakeside at Bulatan Park tonight! Who knows, you may find your life partner tonight! Hahaha…happy orange throwing!

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!

At the stroke of midnight about half an hour ago, the sky of Miri erupted in a glorious display of fireworks as the Chinese celebrated the arrival of the Year of the Tiger.  And this was accompanied by deafening firecrackers that turned the whole city into a war-like zone. I managed to capture some of the firework display on  my compact digital camera.

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!

We went to QQ Duck Specialist in Pelita Commercial Centre for breakfast today. This coffeeshop was doing brisk business because of its barbecue duck. As we parked our car, I noticed dozens of slaughtered ducks and chickens  hanging on some railings behind the coffeeshop.

After breakfast, we went to Bintang Megamall to do some shopping. There were huge crowds there and it took us quite a while to find a parking slot. On arrival at the main entrance of the megamall, we saw a lion dance competition in progress and I managed to snap a few photos before entering the mall.

As soon as you enter the mall, you will immediately feel the Chinese New Year mood. You can see red almost everywhere.  And Chinese New Year music fills the air…….oh ya, kong si kong si kong si ni!

Year of the Tiger

I saw a Caucasian lady browsing around the store selling Chinese New Year lanterns and decorative items. I thought she was just killing time browsing but I later saw her leaving the mall with a few big red lanterns and Chinese New Year decorative items. I guess she must have been gripped by the Chinese New Year mood too, haha!

Chinese New Year is just two weeks away. This morning we did some spring cleaning in our house before heading downtown for brunch. After brunch, we went shopping at Boulevard Hypermart at Imperial Mall.

There are large crowds at the shopping malls and Chinese New Year music fills the air. You cannot help but be gripped by the Chinese New Year mood.

As my wife was choosing some potatoes for cooking curry during the Chinese New Year, I saw this potato that looked like it had a face…..but this potato definitely wasn’t in a Chinese New Year mood……its mouth was curved downwards as if it was angry or unhappy. I could not resist taking a photo of it…..my son said it looked like a tortoise head or o-kui-tow in Hokkien, haha!

Mr Tortoisehead

Miri is aiming at becoming the first green city in Malaysia with May 20 as the deadline. On May 20 this year, Miri will be celebrating its 5th anniversary as a city.

Bird's Eye View of Miri City

Since taking office, Mayor Lawrence Lai has impressed Mirians with his leadership and initiative to transform Miri into a better municipality.  He has been busy visiting many parts of the municipality to listen to complaints from the people and trying to carry out improvements where necessary.

Mayor Lawrence Lai

One of the first step undertaken by the Mayor towards making Miri a green city is appealing to Mirians to lend their wholehearted support to make Miri the first city to say no to plastic bags everyday.

The city council’s “Say No To Plastic” campaign launched on August 30 last year has garnered the support of local hypermarkets and supermarkets that give no free plastic bags on Sunday. With effect from this month, the no-plastic days were increased to 3 days every week from Friday to Sunday.

Say No To Plastic Bag

The city council has always been active in planting trees and plants in the city and the mayor has pledged to plant a minimum of 1000 trees per year. I can see nice landscaping in many areas of the city which makes the city look much more beautiful….kudos to the city council!

The city council is planning to hold landscaping competitions among schools to inculcate the “go green” culture among students. It is also encouraging all government departments and agencies to carry out landscaping too.

A major green project that the city council will implement is the bicycle track from Taman Selera to Lutong in two phases. Under the first phase, the bicycle track will link Taman Selera to Miri City Fan while the second phase will link Miri City Fan to Lutong. The aim of the project is to encourage more people to use bicycles thereby reducing the number of motor vehicles on the road.

Beach at Taman Selera

A View of Miri City Fan

The city council is studying the feasibility of installing solar or LED lightings for the whole city. With about 17,000 street lights in the city, the council is paying over RM7 million in electricity bills annually. It is estimated that the council can save between 60 to 70 percent in the electrical bills. And Miri will also become the first city in Malaysia to have such lightings if the project is implemented.

I wasn’t born in Miri but I have lived in Miri for almost 30 years and have come to love the city dearly. It is in my opinion the best place to live in Sarawak.

Last week my wife, my mother-in-law, two of my sister-in-laws and I dropped by Imperial Hotel to try out their Snack+Coffee Super Hot Deal which is available between 2.00 pm to 6.00 pm everyday at the Imperial Restaurant . A couple of my friends have told me that it is a good offer.

For RM4.99, you get a cup of hot tea or coffee plus a piece of snack of your choice.  And if you are a Boulevard Family Card holder, you will get a 10% discount. They have 4 snacks for you to choose from: chocolate moist cake with cheese, Mediterranean croissant, tiramisu cheese cake and grilled chicken sandwich with corn pepper bread.

We ordered 2 slices of chocolate moist cake with cheese, 1 slice of tiramisu cheese cake and 2 pieces of Mediterranean croissants. I only tasted the cakes but not the Mediterranean croissant. The cakes were nice though the chocolate moist cake was a bit too sweet.

Chocolate moist cake with cheese

Tiramisu cheese cake

Mediterranean croissant

The bill came to only RM22.45 ( USD 6.60) after the 10% discount. It was really a fantastic deal. If you are meeting someone for a discussion in the afternoon, you might want to consider meeting at the Imperial Restaurant. The cool and quiet ambience is way better than say Secret Recipe or Starbucks. And the cost is just a fraction of what it would cost at Secret Recipe or Starbucks.

On April 1 1961 (yes, April Fool Day), a Scottish girl was born to a couple who already had nine children. At her birth, her mother was 47 and during the difficult childbirth, the girl was briefly deprived of oxygen and was later diagnosed as having learning difficulties. She was often bullied as a child and was nicknamed “Susie Simple” at school.

After leaving school with few qualifications, she took singing and acting lessons. In 1995 her audition for Michael Barrymore’s “My Kind of People” was filmed. The amateur video shows Barrymore was apparently more interested in mocking her than in her singing ability.

After winning several local singing competitions, she was urged by her mother to enter Britain’s Got Talent. She almost abandoned her plan to enter the show as she believed she was too old and that it was a young person’s game. Her mother’s death motivated her to go on Britain’s Got Talent as a tribute to her mother.

In August 2008 she applied for an audition for the third series of Britain’s Got Talent and was accepted after a preliminary audition in Glasgow. She sang “I Dreamed A Dream” from Les Miserables in the first round. When she first took to the stage, the initially cynical attitude of the audience and the judges was obvious….she was “prejudged”  because of her appearance. This cynicism was transformed into a standing ovation when she finished her rendition of “I Dreamed A Dream”. Her initial demeanour and homely appearance caused the judges and the audience to be “waiting for her to squawk like a duck”.

A new superstar was born and the world came to know about this Scottish lady Susan Boyle. Boyle’s first album “I Dreamed A Dream” was released on November 23 2009 and has enjoyed phenomenal success worldwide, racking up sales of a few million copies so far! Her album raced to the top of the charts in US, UK and many countries worldwide.

Boyle’s story is a like a fairy tale about overcoming adversity and prejudice and a rebuke to people’s tendency to judge others based on their physical appearance. Her performance is a victory for talent and artistry in a culture obsessed with physical attractiveness and presentation.

I bought Susan Boyle’s “I Dreamed A Dream” last week and have been enjoying her renditions of  “I Dreamed A Dream”, “Wild Horses”, “Cry Me A River”, “How Great Thou Art”, “You’ll See”, “Daydream Believer”, “Up To The Mountain”, “Amazing Grace”, “Who I Was Born To Be”, “Proud”, “The End Of The World” and “Silent Night”. You can find the album at Speedy Video in Miri……go buy it and enjoy the music!

I Dreamed A Dream by Susan Boyle