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

I have been reading the book “The 8-Day Internet Wonder” by Edwin John published by True Wealth Sdn Bhd.  This book is quite easy to read and it lays out a step-by-step guide to making money online.

One of the ways to draw traffic to your blog according to the book is add your blog to Technorati by a process called “claiming your blog”.  Technorati is a blog search engine that has plenty of information on all kinds of blogs.

As part of the procedure to “claim my blog”, I have been asked by Technorati to insert this code VTC9Y78ASW7K within a new blog post so that is what I am doing now.

A couple of days ago, I received my first Clickbank affiliate commission cheque. Though this is a small $90.33 ( USD) cheque, I am happy as this shows that affiliate marketing does work. I have not put any effort into my affiliate marketing so this cheque may be the catalyst for me to take affiliate marketing a little more seriously.

About half a year ago, I received my first ever affiliate commission payment from a program that I wrote about in one of my blog post. That was a bigger cheque amounting to over $300.

Affiliate marketing looks easy but it isn’t that easy in practice. There are so many things to learn that one often becomes overwhelmed by the avalanche of information. We get bombarded by offers from all sorts of so-called internet marketing gurus that it is often difficult to distinguish the fake gurus from the real gurus.� All these gurus are trying to pitch their programs to you as the “must have” program to succeed in internet marketing. So you end up buying one program after another and in the process get yourself totally confused by what you should do next. I know because I have been through that.

I think the better way is to seek out a guru who is really successful and then stick to his program with laser-like focus. For me, one of the first guru that immediately pops into my mind is Ewen Chia of Singapore. He is regarded as one of the top affiliate marketer in the world…..indeed he is considered a super affiliate marketer! For the record, he makes a seven-figure income (and in US dollars) annually from internet marketing.

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.

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.

Today is Dongzhi or Winter Solstice Festival. This is a festival celebrated by the Chinese on or around December 22 every year. For countries in the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice has the shortest day and the longest night of the year. This phenomenon is more obvious further north. After the winter solstice, the northern hemisphere enters its coldest period. From that day onwards, people in China divides the next 81 days into nine periods. The coldest days begin with the third period. After the nine periods, spring begins and farming begins again.

The festival is a time for families to get together. The most important activity is the making and eating of tangyuan which are balls of glutinous rice symbolizing family unity and prosperity. The balls, which may be plain or stuffed with condiments, are cooked in a sweet soup. A lot of Chinese in Malaysia also prepare and eat the tangyuan coated with peanut and sugar.

Tangyuan in sweet soup

Tangyuan coated with crushed peanut and sugar

Many Chinese, especially the elderly, insist that one is “a year older” right after the Dongzhi. Oh dear, that means I will be one year older tomorrow.� No wonder more and more white hair are appearing on my head….at this rate, I will look� like “pehmo” (white hair) in a couple more years!

This is big news today. Friendster has accepted a buyout from Malaysia-based MOL Global controlled by Tan Sri Vincent Tan.

The operations of MOL and Friendster will be combined to create Asia’s largest end-to-end content, distribution and commerce network, pairing MOL’s offline retail channel partners and payment platform with Friendster’s large online footprint, social network and user community in Asia.

MOL was recognised as one of Asia Pacific’s fastest growing technology companies in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Awards in 2005 and 2006 and has won a Merit Award for the Best of E-Commerce Applications in the MSC Asia Pacific ICT Award.

Let us wait and see how things work out.

An ingenious example of speech and politics occurred recently at the UN, and made the world community smile. A representative from Israel began:

“Before beginning my talk I want to tell you something about Moses. When he struck the rock and it brought forth water, he thought, ‘What a good opportunity to have a bath!’ He removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and � entered the water. When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished. A Palestinian had stolen them.”

The Palestinian representative jumped up furiously and shouted, “What are you talking about? The Palestinians weren’t there then.”

The Israeli representative smiled and said “And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech.”

Moses striking rock

June 2 1953� marked the official coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.� She has reigned for over 56 years and during this same period, the United States has seen a total of 11 presidents. Quite an interesting piece of information!

Queen Elizabeth II at her coronation on June 2 1953

Queen Elizabeth II With Harry S. Truman

Queen Elizabeth II With Dwight D. Eisenhower

Queen Elizabeth II With John F. Kennedy

Queen Elizabeth II With Richard Nixon

Queen Elizabeth II With Gerald Ford

Queen Elizabeth II With Jimmy Carter

Queen Elizabeth II With Ronald Reagan

Queen Elizabeth II With George Bush Sr

Queen Elizabeth II With Bill Clinton

Queen Elizabeth II With George W. Bush

Queen Elizabeth II With Barack Obama

Did you read the following news article about some leakage a few days ago? What a joke…..hahaha…..rofl!� No, it is not about oil leakage…..it is not about house leakage…..it is about ringgit leakage….leakage amounting to BILLIONS of dollars! All Malaysians particularly those from Sarawak are eagerly awaiting to find out where the other 60% “leaked” to……if only a very tiny portion of this leakage flows to my bank account, I would be an orang kaya di Miri…..hahaha!

Sunday November 29, 2009

Billions siphoned – Sarawak govt steps in

By STEPHEN THEN

MIRI: The Sarawak Cabinet has ordered an internal investigation into claims made by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) that up to 60% of government allocations � running into billions of ringgit � meant for vital infrastructure projects between 2002 and 2008 have been misappropriated.

MACC investigations showed that only 40% of the money set aside by the Government were spent on the projects. The remaining 60% were said to have been �leaked elsewhere.�

Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam said yesterday the state government�s internal audit department would carry out a detailed probe into the allegations.

�The state government is investigating. We also want the MACC to give us a full and detailed briefing on these claims. We (state government) view these claims very seriously and if such abuse of government funds had taken place, we must find out who was responsible and take appropriate action against them.

�This is government money that comes from taxpayers. If indeed funds from the Government meant for projects for the rakyat and the poor had been misappropriated, the state government wants action taken,� he said yesterday.

He was commenting on a statement by MACC deputy commissioner Datuk Zakaria Jaffar that the MACC had uncovered cases in Sarawak where up to 60% of government allocations had been �diverted�� away from the projects.

Zakaria had said this in Kuching during an anti-corruption seminar a few days ago. He claimed that the misappropriation of funds took place between 2002 and last year, adding that MACC investigations showed that only 40% of the money allocated by the Government were spent on the projects.

He, however, did not disclose what the projects were or which part of Sarawak the projects were being carried out.

He noted that the projects involved infrastructure constructions for roads, housing schemes and mosques, among other things.

Zakaria said MACC investigations found that many of these projects were poorly-implemented while some had not even begun despite the fact that the Government had already channelled the money for them.

�The MACC found that there were fake claims made by officials and contractors involved in these projects,�� Zakaria said.

Dr Chan, who is State Industrial Development Minister and State Minister for Agriculture Modernisation, said yesterday that the state government had always been very strict with how allocations from the Federal Government are used.

He said the Sarawak Cabinet had always been transparent with taxpayers� money.

�I am happy that the MACC had exposed the issue. If they are doing their job properly, we are thankful because this is for the good of the rakyat,�� he said.

State Housing Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Openg wants the MACC to give him more details about the housing projects said to be affected by the misappropriation of government funds.