Jane Lee's Wedding.

Told her that I was happy that she 'finally got married' to her amusement. Here is the wedding cake, homemade by one of the aunties. As the emcee stressed, this is a 'very unusual special cake'. I think it described Jane very well. :) .

So, anything unusual in Port Dickson?

Basically, nothing happens here... most of the time. Here are some interesting happenings from the last 2 weeks.

Mr Snail has perfected the art of eating fish food using vacuum technique. Yes, even this is exciting by PD standard. ;)

Choppy waters here. We have bigger waves and winds and some locals say that this year has been 'thunderfull'.

Captured this species of dragon fly near the lift on my 13th floor. It should be able to fly this high but this is the first time i have seen such markings.

Some cheapskate singaporeans prefer to stay at my RM39 per night apartment. No wonder it rained.

Welcome Shen Jay

A grobag : this bag will make your child grow faster . :) From Kelly, Jules , Shi and me.

Turn the crab style when i put him down. So cute.

A good friends have a boy lately. Fei Yin ( Fei ) and Tze Chin ( Tang, Tze or Tze Chin ) have become proud parents, the second among the ex WD team. So, here is little Shen Jay. I manage to carry him for about 1 hour without any long term injury. :) Maklumlah, am already an expert since i helped mom babysitting last time.

Jay and Grobag becoming friends. Noted that all is needed is for a one eye cover on Jay to resemble the pirates theme.

My money and pride going to Space

Read yesterday that they have published a book and have a national fatwa on whether the Malaysian Money-nuts need to pray 5 times a day or 200 times a day. For the Malaysian government to spend RM100 million on this project and more RM millions on the PR promotions supposedly to increase the interest of science. Of course, the minister claimed that 'we did not actually spend the money' cause it is a gift for buying Russian weapons. Why then we spend more time on religious matters of the nuts than what they supposed to do. Have we lined out our science projects for this would be Money-nouts to perform ? So far , no news. Anyway, lets see how our friendly southen government is taking this challenge up. Space Adventures, of Virginia, together with the government of Singapore, is planning to spend at least $115 million to build a similar facility there, along with a second $265 million spaceport in the United Arab Emirates. That is almost 1/3 of what Malaysia has spend so far to bring out nuts to space. And the article states that one day, one can visit the space for less that USD 40K, which is about RM100,000. That is many times cheaper than RM100 million that this government has spent..

Of bomb threat and real threat

Today, apparently Shell House in Damansara was evacuated due to threats of bomb. They resume work after the place has been cleared & certified safe. Apparently the caller sounded like a chinese man. I guess after Petronas and Exxon, this company is the next target. Catch him.

But the bigger , real threat is this ... an exceprt from the budget speech by our beloved Prime Minister.

105. The Government had announced in the 2007 Budget that all PLCs are required to disclose CSR activities in their annual financial reports. Beginning financial year 2008, PLCs will be required to disclose their employment composition by race and gender, as well as programmes undertaken to develop domestic and Bumiputera vendors. The private sector should leverage upon the strength of Malaysia’s diversity by employing Malaysians from all ethnic groups.

I wonder why the U-turn from government from forcing Maybank to abandon its ruling to deal only with Bumiputra lawyers. Perhaps this was the direction in the first place.

So, in the midst of rejoicing over the big election budget ... remember to read the fine print. It is going to cost us more as a nation to have this kind of ruling impose on us. No more on performance but preferencial treatment .. and it is going to kill our nation's competitiveness.

I do wonder why Yasmin Ahmad made the National day commercial for the national oil corporation? It that slot, 2 child were asked about race and they do not understand what it means. No segregation by race.

Of Boredom and food.

Ah .... u again.

What to do during a 4 hour journet at the back of a van, rumbering thru traffic and uneven roads? Ok, I gave a decent photo in the end. Sue me. hehe

Yam Seng!! Mr Lim, Alvin and myself gorging it down since it is free. IN fact, they pretended to drink it and so I was the first one to had it.

Mystery food challenge in Laos - drink 2 cups of alcohol brew consisting of King Cobra & Pagolin with herbs. Tasted almost the same ... really.

For Monita birthday, our surprise for her is tasty Thai dessert of poppia roll and cocunut sugar. .. with 1 worm and extra juicy grasshopper. Alvin and I packed it and went over to the girls room and gave a smoke screen by eating it first. Trustingly, Monita took one. Only grossed up when Sam showed her this visual and she went to the toilet to almost threw up.. This is a birthday that you will not forget. :)

Place to go. Thai food in a clean, comfy environment. Not too expensive. Called Kad Luang Airport. Then take a free taxi ride back to hotel.

'I kick u' .... spoiling the shot for Sam ( haha.. learning from me ) and sharing secrets like " Brother, why your stomach looked so slim in this photo?"

Family photo pulak...

Yang with a Maggi sticker in the plane. Made such a ruckus that the ah pek in front have to go to the seat behind me. Then the big kids began to talk loudly like in Pak Cik stall.. and Ah pek went back to the front seat. He went back and forth. It was quite a ride.

"I-know-it-is-hard-to-get-a-decent-photo-of-me" segment

Curi ambil gambar!! Take my shaolin feet!! Worst after rain.

And my Thai shaolin palm to balance the cookie on the coffee. "The Best Coffee in Asia" is nowhere near the best in Chiang Mai and some say even Chiang Rai.

I can't stand it anymore of pretending to climb up this staircase when I actually used the train up for 50 Bht daylight robbery. Seriously wonder who will go for a holiday with me next time?

I believe I can fly .. and land exactly when the camera clicked. Inspired by the 8 fellow dragons sitting there.

"Kawaii" ( cute ) with Ms Japanese girl. She also got into the act.

"Kawaii" And the long neck girl did the same back to me with her "Peace" sign. And I tot they are ulu..

Ah, Thai fair gentle lady and a ruffian with a vege stick as cigar.

Mon can't help herself... bring joy to the world..

I give u big big eyes ala Japanese cartoon girl. Hah, look at Alvin .. getting infected with the disease..

Came out with this "Golden Triangle". They can use this if coming up with a Thai - Ultraman series.

We think that this is the Laos sign of .. ehmm... dunno...

The elephants will be amused naturally.

Lanxi face.

By this time, Samantha gave up of trying to get a decent photo of me.

Chiang Mai / Rai thru Len-see

So, I like to think that i can take some decent shots .. sometimes. Here are some takes in Chiang Mai. No fake posing, just on the spot. Some turn out good, some bleachhh...

No bad. Alvin was posing like a model. hahah

Best shot according to Sam. Good proportion

Trying to capture too many things at one go. In the end, Mon got a lebai.

Ha. Ms Model posing. Nice capture, but the focus more on flower that her. Dang SLR ( not my skill .. ahem)

Like this. One macro view of all the juices with alcohol.

Different lanscape. Love the roof , adding texture to the photo.

"I pray "...

Alamak, did not work out. Disaster...

My favourite expressionless expression. It is not easy living as a specimen. The Longnecks in the village where i felt that they were taken for a ride.

Sam and the Yunnan girls. She look Cina a bit also.

I think i capture the 3 perspectives that are prominent in this space . The temple behind, the pagoda of gold and some kind of umbrella. I hope those are not real gold....

Ok, so I ask them to act...

So Natural. Look at that guy who faces us with his buttocks. Another fav.

Symmetrical with 3 elephants. Hard to get this. Check out the elephant guy in the middle that sticks out his tongue. haha

And this guy on the left who shows his middle finger. Sam feeding the Chang.

Malaysia is 50 years old.

Technically, we are only a nation in 1963 , but lets not think about such things as we are to be followers. Apers... not apes. Definately not human who thinks.

Am in Port Dickson this year to celebrate our national day celebration alone. For a man who thinks himself as a patriot ( not Chinese Chinese but Malaysian Chinese ) and a determined fool of fairness and peace, these last 5 years have been tough. I resovled to work for Malaysian companies after my graduation to contribute to my nations' development. In reality, the glass ceiling seemed a bit lower than I think. :)

I was working late because I do not feel that there is a cause celebre. Especially when we are told that the current administration define itself as Era Kecemerlangan ( Excellence Era), the pinnacle of Malaysian civilisation where other countries go about centuries before even thinking about greatness. What happen after cemerlang ah?

Still have to take one day of annual leave if want to deal with these 'Cemerlang' government agencies. "Niamah"

Anyway, my comfort at almost 1200 a.m. is to be comforted by my hot nasi lemak and egg. Then come the face of Khairy Jamaludin ( Son in Law of Abdullah ) who gets the pleasure of raising the Malaysia flag causes me to loose apetite. Why him?

Soon, boys on kapcais ( small motorbikes) with loud exhaust pipes goes wild in the streets of Port Dickson making a nuisance to the already crawling traffic. Other days they will be called Mat Rempits, the 'eyes and ears' of Khairy J. No police to be seen as i guess they are in Putrajaya manning the fireworks display.

Third observation is that I am the only Chinese around the stall. The sense of loneliness is factuated by the reality of increasing pluralism in our society that my presense is so obvious vs oblivious. How I wish race and religion differences can be accepted and celebrated.

All in all, I will still pray for my country. Thank God that in all hopelessness, there is hope in Him. For our hope is not in the things that can be seen, but unseen.