Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin

Masjid Al-Hadhari & Kelinik Pakiam, Padang Rengas, Perak

There is this clinic back in my hometown located just next to a mosque - and probably still the only mosque and clinic around. As a place for spiritual and physical healing, both has been serving people of Padang Rengas well, all these years.

Back then our house is just few hundreds meter away - this must be the most strategic location in view of morden "House Buyer's guide". We, kids, would start our day when Zuhr prayers clears the morning air, prepares to go home for dinner when Maghrib was heard - well past Isha, if we are tussling with some Malays kids in our back yard (With Indian, that's another chapter in high school, haha).

That will be the final warning before the next voice, of my father. We could hear him inside our neighbor's washroom! Maybe he get the idea from our Muslim friend's prayer - your children will hear you, always. By all means, we all are, God's children.

Now, the mosque has been rennovated - the tallest structures in our town was never out of our sight, and still rule the almost-still air of Padang Rengas with its new loud speakers. Life is still simple. We worries what to cook, chat about the coming election in morning market. No JUSCO or TESCO, so communication and interaction took place in small grocery shops.

And you are still wondering how to promote multi-racial intergration? You are drafting "Ethnic Relation" course for local universities? Have you heard of Early Intervention Program (EIP)? I would rather looks mentally challenged that you would put the food at the right place, right time.

Anyway we now moved to somewhere deeper and higher in the village. Father is getting old and he uses handphone instead. We heard the clinic is closing soon, inevitable since young doctors hardly interested in small town like this. So who will be the next Pakiam of Padang Rengas? And who is going to take care of the soul of the 27 millions?

Jenn Yee, 13 month

As for Jenn Yee, she will be always under the watchful eyes of her guardians - uncles, aunts, and most of all her parents and grand parents. Her new discovery and our worries - the staircase. She fell and we said sorry. We just can't keep the world away from her, can we? Maybe by the time she grew up, we have different definition of, being a Malaysian.

But all will be celebrating, celebrated.

Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin*

* Can be roughly translate to "I/we extend with all our hearts for forgiveness and best wishes of warmth (on this holy Muslim Festival)"

Padang Rengas*硝山

Where you're from?

Usually i would say Ipoh, or Kuala Kangsar, depends on who's throwing me the question.

But for some, i would say Padang Rengas*硝山 - - That's the real, correct answer! :)

A small town in the state of Perak, located in between the Royal town of Kuala Kangsar and Taiping, home to famous Maxwell hill.

This mountain above, is what those old folks like to called "elephant hill", typical landmark of this small town. You will probably notice it, together with a cement factory, if you are driving up north - - some 15km after Kuala Kangsar exit.

I went back, after some 4 months of absence - - together with my camera, hoping to snap some nice photos and share it here :)

Bit by bit i will tell the story...

Or perhaps there are someone out there who can help me??? (^_^)

Voting Season aka Amazing Race Malaysia

Barely couple of months ago I read Zaid Ibrahim's "In Good Faith" - owner's of Malaysia's largest lawyer firm, have his own publishing company and most of all, one of the most outspoken BN backbencher.

Halfway through his book I am puzzled: How could this guy still fit nicely on one of our 219 parliament seat? Sure enough, Zaid Ibrahim (BN-Kota Baru) has since been, dropped* from the BN line-up for upcoming General Election.

Some people don't get to wait till the elcetion day, 8th March, to know their 'score'.

Good news is he will now focus on social and charity. Malaysian has not lost a talented and outspoken leader. But slowly and progressively extending his business (as far as I know, laywer firm) overseas, I wonder, how long our Boleh Land can keep him?

Who knows he will be another Karim Raslan, who just came back from Indonesia (just?) to write about coming election? Now I know why Marina Mahathir's (sounds familiar, huh? :p) family outing to Indonesia send shivers down my spine. Both stayed out of politics for some apparent good reason: Politivirus infections.

Some of my friends lament that having no other choice, Malaysia is still the best country to earn money and make a living, regardless our cultural background. We just have to be patience, have high tolerance and perhaps, close-many-eyes; particularly on certain government policies.

But it's sad to see after 50 years, we barely passed the social intergration test. We can and need to improve, for the sake of Malaysian's future. With prejudice, over dominance and distrust in the team, you can't move forward effectively as a unit. Others will take advantages on us. The vicious cycle continues.

Unfortunately from the way it goes now, we are far from the level that will have someone like Kevin Rudd to say, well, 'sorry'. Nor we have voter believes in their power: We can vote-out whatever (I mean whoever) we vote-in (Parliament-lar)**. This is another social cycle - as long as money tree grows, have stable lifestyle, business secured; all will do. Anything can.

Mind you: I didn't mention the what-cycle was that. People have their rights to choose so we can only respect that. It's a simple math and process of evolution. If we are not there, so be it. Malaysian defeats all odds and survived somehow. Ask any Malaysian. Malaysia sure Boleh!

So, this is how some of us know their 'result', even before 8th March get started.

Do come back in 24 hours; I shall post some nice pictures of devotees in-trance; Like what happened to most politician and their aides now.

I would rather stay away and awake like KR and MM (not that MM that YOU know in Japan, haha) - but not away from casting my vote, of course.

But eh, when's the last time I saw and talked about Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz (BN-Padang Rengas) again?

Alamak, dah lupe lar... (Alamak, I had forgotten about it...)

(Almost) 24 hours later...(picture as promised :p)


I think I don't need to explain in length about Thaipusam. Nowadays even Ponggol gets the well deserved attention in all major newspaper.

But it was a special Thaipusam this year. The picture above says it all (up to you to interpret-lar hehe...).


Then, I am with my tripod, zoom nicely into a busy swami-ji and a devotee. Silly me: I took to many photos, and at the same spot; so much so the semi-trance devotee pointing at me. Others, advise me to move away (especially with that camera). But how the hell she spots me there? Her eyes are hardly open, let alone the angle which puts me beyond her vision.

My Indian friend later explained that I was blocking the 'energy' that flows around or towards her - like someone standing infront of your fan, perhaps? How could you not chasing him away?


It's a beautiful night - returning to my apartment for a night walk, I took the picture above. The moon has come to a full.

Had I prayed, for the best of Malaysian...

Post March-8 update:
* Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim has since been elected as Law Minister in Prime Minister's Department - one of the few surprises when Pak Lah announced the new cabinet line-up.
** Thank godness I am wrong again. My prayer was answered :)

Taiping(太平), Part One – 七十二变

It has been a long, long week but most fortunately interesting one. July 2006 start with surprises, excitement, astonish …it has been brilliant, so far. Maybe because it is my birthday-month – usually a funny month because people who greets me “Happy Birthday” kinda change these couple of years, with only one exception, my insurance agent, haha!!! But amazingly, some greetings can be of far and from most unlikely person. If I could say something here, it will be Terima Kasih, Thank you, Go raibth maith agat, ありがとう, Nandri, 감사합니다, Dank u!

But honestly, it is going back to Taiping again that makes early July such a special moment. Taiping, 太平(tai4 ping2), might well be the first and only town in Malaysia named after a Chinese name – if you read kanji or Chinese, it literarily means “Eternal Peace”. I live all my life some 40 minutes bus ride away from this town. Spent much of my wonderful childhood time here – mostly with grandpa, walking into toy-department, my first KCF meal, or devoured the hot-steamed kacang kuda on our way back, totally unaffected by the uneasy ride in diesel-powered Red&Yellow Omni bus*.

Anyway, the七十二变(qi1 shi2 er3 bian4) or “72 transformations” does not refer to my childhood experience, nor the power of 孙悟空(sun1 wu3 kong1) in “Journey To The West”. I am referring to 72 hair-pin bends one will “enjoy” before reaching the summit of Maxwell Hill, or Bukit Larut, 1250m a.s.l. Believe it or not, this is only my third trip to Maxwell Hill, some 10 years apart. Just had too much of its Lake Garden, clock tower, Matang hawker center, zoo, museum? Haha!

Uphill, most visitors will hang out around 1000m level where most hill resorts are located. Founded some 100 years ago this is the first and oldest hill resort in Malaysia, once a perfect get-away for colonial high-ranked officers where they felt just like home. Home – all thanks to average of 20 degree Celsius uphill, breath-taking clouds shift through the mountains, high concentration of flora and fauna in undisturbed forest. You may not like the 200 inches of rain a year, but its tropical RAIN forest, no?

More later.

*Red &Yellow Omni bus shuffled between Kuala Kangsar and Taiping. Padang Rengas, my hometown, is somewhere in between, but closer to KK.


In the R&Y bus, heading towards town centre. The bus doesn't change a bit. I can even recognize some ticket operator!


Just outside of bus station. Opposite Nagoya Textile House is The Store supermarket. My toy-department :p


Inside Land Rover, looking out. Tea Garden(656m), is where sometimes driver stop over to, well, have some tea :) Experience the ride, HERE!



Speedy bunglow, the highest government-owned resort. Less crowded, closer to the summit (2 km hike)


Jisu, enjoying the view

硝山*4 : A Day for The Departed

清明 (qing1 ming2) – some say it’s All Soul’s Day, some say Tomb Sweeping (扫墓 sao3 mu4) Day. A day we honor our ancestors, paying respect and homage to those whom we missed dearly. In this case, my beloved grandparents.

For me it is more like a ceremony than festival. Festival, because thousands of people making a point attending the ceremony. Some might not meet all their extended family members during Chinese New Year, but most likely to crawl with them all here.

I mean here –-


Well it’s an uphill task, often slippery during rainy days. That white building on top is a water treatment plant cum reservoir. Water from a nearby river will be tapped and processed before being distributed to residence of Padang Rengas (硝山)town, villagers, to shops and houses. The river is probably just 500m away, with the exact tapping point some 3km upstream.

But my grandparent are nowhere near that reservoir, they are here –-


I was facing my grandparent’s tomb(stone), looking back to the reservoir. I used to wonder would our tap water taste differently if they painted that building black -- or colorful, like that green tomb neighboring my grandparent’s. Thanks to this green tomb, I can locate my grandparent’s tomb easily out of hundreds which looks almost the same, like this –-


Traditionally Chinese cemeteries are located at hilly area, most likely some distance away from housing area. Not necessary to be really far, but there’s always some sort of buffer zone to define our boundary/territory from “theirs”. To be exact from my house its 5 minutes drive to reach where I stand now. That’s about 15 minutes jogging distance, passing by a tunnel and rubber estate. Perhaps I should share my regular morning jogging trails in other post. Not evening jog - - not around here anyway!

Some of the tombs are merely a meter away, without careful surveyed location or level. At a glance they are scattered all over the hill, looks clean and tidy now as most of the shrubs and wild plants was cleared by the management weeks before our arrival.


Those ten bucks above was meant for general maintenance. We actually need to fork out some additional twenty bucks to tidy up our grandparent’s tomb. We used to do it ourselves, slashing burning and all. But now it may not worth our time and traveling cost to do that. And I would say that twenty bucks probably mean something for some retired villagers.

Even if we don’t burn the grass, we still burn something. Chinese believe this is the way to pass the earthy possessions to the departed, by burning them. Most common paraphernalia are hell currency notes, clothes, shoes, jewelry, mahjong set, TV, international passport, jeans…you name it. Bigger paper models of house, car or motorcycle are usually being burned during the funeral ceremonies.


Sounds environmental unfriendly after all? So since when we decided to ignore gas emitted by all those factories, land vehicles and most recently, cheaper and made-popular flying machines? Sometime I felt that it’s just not fair to blame some traditional celebration, traditional slash and burn farmer plus many others for contributing to environmental pollution. For instance the (almost) annual Sumatra (Indonesia) haze blown to Malaysia was mostly caused by timber industry, not some independent domestic farmers. Burning down the forest is the cheapest and fastest method for land clearing, fertilizing top soils while wiping out certain pests in the same time. It’s sad that once regard as contributor to agriculture development now named contributor to air quality depletion.

Of course, one can be certain that my grandma will actually get her mahjong set in the afterworld. But we will just let them burned. I don’t foresee any changes in my lifetime, simply because most people still think that there’s always more timber in the forest, it is impossible to fish everything out of the sea, and we’ll always have clean air, that global warming is a just big joke.


Anyway, we don’t burn the food, though. Offerings like steamed chicken, pork, fruits and rice will be served in front of the tomb, for our ancestor’s consumption. Everything will be kept for our lunch later. Funny as it seems, but the chicken taste as delicious it as should be, after the prayer.

I would say our ancestors who started all these practices are being practical in this matter. From young we are being told not to waste any food –if you notice your Chinese friend will try their very best to finish everything served on the table.


Going back to the grave, I particularly like this picture -- colored paper (or often known as rainbow-paper) arranged on top of the grave together with plenty of joysticks. Those colored paper represent “new cloth” to the grave, also brings annotation of “we’ve been here” as it tells everyone that this grave is taken care by their families. And all those joss sticks – to hold the papers in place, plus we don’t bring back any extra joss sticks back home. Joss stick for god’s prayer must be separated with those being use here.


The last picture was taken inside the only building at the cemetery. Usually people will have simple prayer here before they proceed to the tomb. Nobody bordered to have fluorescent light here. No one will be here after dark anyway. “They will have party here after 2400 hours,” a former park committee used to joke with us after his regular night out catching frog. For him, the night belongs to the deceased. Former committee -- because he join the same party few years back.

Are there any party at all? Well, it really depends on your mental state when you were there after dark…

Taiping*太平 Peace Initiative

Alright, actually before we finally ended up in Penang for an annual gathering, all the SCI Malaysia members (from KL, at least!) suppose to meet up Dr. Anwar Fazal et. al. in the "peace town", Taiping*太平 in Perak, my hometown state. In fact, this peaceful town is just half hour away from my little hometown, Padang Rengas*硝山.

This is a beginning of many meetings and visits to come, as we are looking into possibilities to have an international workcamps here, part of the Taiping Peace Initiative programme, started off by Dr. Anwar Fazal himself.


Meet Addision!
After a simple tea break with Dr. Anwar near the Cangkat Jering toll exits, we first take a short tour around Warisan Resort. Some 10 minutes drive away from Cangkat Jering, Warisan Resort was build literally in an orchard, owns by a local Malay in Kampung Cheh. I am pretty surprise myself to find out about this new starting point to Gunung Bubu, a 1,568m mountain well known to diehard hiker worldwide.


And how close you house can be, to river? This close! Imagine having the sound of water running down the stream accompany you as you sleep, instead of traffic building up outside of the apartment. Not to mention that green atmosphere that makes you feel like going back in time, in another world...

Even back in my hometown, i still have to cycle for 15 minutes to take a cool dip into the river. Here, it's just few steps away. So now you know that when i talk about river, this is what i have in my mind, for as far as i can remember. You can take whatever sample or pH test on it, but we only need to swim in it, to be sure!


This is, erm, where i pee!
Also, we met Fletcher and Donna, a lovely couples from Canada who now settle in Ipoh, Perak. As they are talking about Gunung Bubu hiking experience, i felt rather embarrassing, so-called local boy don't even heard about it before! I guess this is where the impact of workcamps lies, as everyone gathers at the peaceful town of Taiping.


We never really stop by the wonderful town of Taiping. Instead we drove past the town area and went straight to the Lake Garden. Here Dr. Anwar gave us a brief history of his works and thougths, including the creation of Peace Park, miniature of Peace Pole, working with local residence and universities to spread the seeds of peace.

All this, including a lecture on TOILET, in conjunction with World Toilet Day!


On the other hand, Taiping means more than just peace for Jon - - it means ferns! Varies fern species are spotted all over the Lake Garden, espcially crawling all over some big old rain trees. As usual, given to opportunity and permisson (guess who?:P), Jon would loved to "adopt" a fern or two.

Tree ferns must be the real ultimate "adoption" for Jon. But hey, you might need to ask your missus to walk home afterwards, haha! Anyway i found it hardly amused as i sat back into the car: Jon, Ros, Kim and me on board. Now, who will be walking afterwards? :)


One last shot before we finally on our way to Penang (for real!).

I like this greenery view, certainly look peaceful enough for me. And if you think green is just ONE colour, look carefully again. Likewise, peace may come in many forms. There is much for us to do to promote peace among human, mother nature and universe as a whole.

But for now, i wish to have a peace journey!

My All

Year 2006

JANUARY

My 7 Series
Kerling Day Out
Ponggalo oh ponggal
Home Coming

FEBRUARY

Home Three for CNY
CNY: Five Incidents
FRIM Revisited

MARCH

Connections

APRIL

硝山*4 : A Day for The Departed

MAY

Once in the life time
Weekend Blast

JUNE

Blessing in Disguise
Proost!!!

JULY

Taiping(太平), Part One – 七十二变
Home Bound

AUGUST

49th from 79

SEPTEMBER

Walking after you

OCTOBER

My Politikus View

NOVEMBER

OUR Postcrossing Project – Nagarkot, Nepal
For Our Brothers

Year 2005

FEBRUARY

Day 1 : Kaoru*郁さん
Otosan*おとおさん
Japanese History
Shower? Bath? Ofuro*お風呂!
Ban-gohan*晩ご飯 ~~ Dinner!!!
Day 2 : Farewell to 千葉
Welcome to Tokyo*東京
Tokyo Tower
Shibuya*渋谷 Workcamps
Day 4 : Happy Valentine!
NICE Office
Day 5 : Asakusa*浅草
Ameyoko*アメ横
Kabukiza*歌舞伎座
Day 6 : Kyoto*京都
Nijo-jo*二条城
立命館大学+お好み焼き+Curry Chicken
Day 7 : Bye-bye Shoko-san!

MARCH

1979

APRIL

Thodi-man, not spider-man!!!
New恋人?!?!(Lover)
Scary~~scary!!
Tropic Garden @-}------
Spinning world~~
Life is...Sleep n Walk ";;"
Favourite girl in Japan (><)
Mr. Looooong !!!

MAY

Sea~Island~See (><)
050505
3rd Platform, on your left...
''' ' / /' '' 雨 ""//'''Rain"' ' / /'' ' /
Thank You Shern Yau!!!
# Singapore Re-visited #
From Mumbai a.k.a. Bombay
Special Hindu Temple ???
KL - Raub
Raub Town
Good Morning!
House of Flowers
Fraser's Hill
Day of Fruits
My MG Experience
^^^ ^^ Gunung ^^ ^ Nuang ^ ^^^
Nuang's Summit "Crawl"
Bye - Bye Nuang ^ >< ^
Temerloh, Pahang
Temerloh's Do's

JUNE

Temerloh's Momento
Can i play this???
My Garden :)
Bye~Bye Rajan!
R u "Broadband" ?
Puchong Big Time

JULY

All Apologies
Mata ne, Minami-chan!
Padang Rengas*硝山
~~ Gua Tempurung ~~
硝山*2 : Tunnel Of Joy
硝山*3 : Rubber Estate
An hour 4095.2 m a.s.l.
Kinabalu Summit Push and Back
Yoke Meng's Eye
Shern Yau's Eye
Perfect Day At FRIM
Birder See, Birder Be
Life in Prison
Along came Jochen

AUGUST

Peace March For All Peaceful Small Town
Actions Always Speak Louder
Blaze & Haze
Heyday Hazeday
Happy Left-Handers Day
Run With Us!
Mata ne, Makiko-san!
King and Queen For The Day
Agricultural Park@Shah Alam
My Game
TFM + MNS + Fantastic Four
Merdeka Night Outing

SEPTEMBER

Hi, I am Katrina!
Temuan
Temuan : Fake It!
Temuan : Mass Cooking, Mass Makan
Temuan : Kiddoes!
Temuan : The Village
Gunung Senyum : Journey Begins
Gunung Senyum : Hiking+ Caving
Gunung Senyum : Campsite Area
新婚快乐@Happy Wedding
Parakalo!
How to travel to KL and back from my house with RM3.70
Paper Woes
Photos, or Words?
Dengue, Tolong Pergi?
With Love, from Nepal

OCTOBER

Pre - KIOKU
KIOKU - The Location, Lake Garden
KIOKU - One TO Ten
KIOKU - The Who
ありがとう!!! Arigatou!!!
Dragonball
Perumal Temple
Learning To Fly
Mike Fay For Peace
London 2012
香港@Hong Kong Night View
7.0 My Seventh
Alternative Post of Malaysia
Ouch ~~~ Couch!

NOVEMBER

Maaf Zahir Batin
Come As You Are
Pulau Pangkor : "Fishman" Begins
Pulau Pangkor : Pulau Pangkor : Routine, Fishermen & Fishman
Pulau Pangkor : Pulau Pangkor : Bicycle Trip
Kajang, Jon & Ros
Taiping*太平 Peace Initiative
Pulau Pinang
Amit, FRIM & Batu Cave

DECEMBER

Maria’s Delight
Chiling Waterfalls
Peace Dividends, War Profits
You Know You’re Malaysian When…
Flot!

硝山*2 : Tunnel Of Joy

Now i shall start talking about my "back yard". But my family didn't own this particular back yard, but the whole of "Padang Rengas-Lang"!

Why?

Firstly, it's huge. Secondly, you can't really "block" the entrance, which is the tunnel itself! Finally the tunnel is about 500 meters away from my house, so, i can't really say it's mine, haha!

For us, it's the gateway to some of the most memorable, enjoyable places: the river, mountain, orchard, Murai, Biawak, rubber estate...and cemetery, hehe!

Above the tunnel were full 4 lanes North-South Highway - - So you can actually see my housing area if you keep your speed below 200km/hr :) You can either exit from Kuala Kangsar Exit, drive some 10 minutes to my house, or, leave your car on the highway, take a 10 minutes walk!

Just don't blame me if someone tow your car! Hehe!

Home Bound

As much as I wanted to make every single weekend a blast, certain weekend meant to be, well, being at home. Time to write letter, words by words, on reading table. Time to clean ceiling fan, sweep and mop the tiles watching it dried slowly. Time to put the recipe book I bought some time ago into good use. Time to change the bed sheets, rearrange wardrobe. Time to do nothing and everything.

Nowadays being out of town (home) for most weekends usually ends up with thousand of pictures (combination of others, of course) left to be processed, ‘folderize’ while wondering the sequence of each event. It’s truly joyful to recapitulate all occurrences through the eyes of each individual people, of different country, different camera, different time and thought. It’s like looking out of your same-old balcony through some other’s eyes. There’s always a twin tower, JUSCO hypermarket, half-cut mountain with exposed soils surface, low-laying old single storey house next to new medium-rise apartment and cars driving against the direction of road marking arrows. Now, look again.

I always thought that camera which limits the angles, shutter, aperture will eventually has great influence on the outcome result. Most guide book would say camera do not have subjective lenses like we do, that it’s best try to think how, camera thinks! True enough, certain object or landscape shot looks better if, say, correctly proportionate. Vanishing points and viewpoint affect the sense of distance, emphasizing the dimensional quality. How about texture, colour contrast, pattern, line and shape…? Hell with it, it’s just a picture. Snap a stray cat if you like, moments that you cherish, peoples you met, durian (smell) that you hate, worse and best place on earth. Like a proverb in Chinese, ‘尽信书不如无书’ (jin4 xin1 shu1 bu3 ru2 wu2 shu1) – you will suffer trying to follow everything in books.

It’s good to hear someone said “hey, good pictures!” but at the end it’s best to satisfied yourself first, not like we are on assignment. That’s probably the greatest initial obstacle photographer will face, if they are going to make a living out of it. You thought you’ve found the best picture essay but too aggressive for the editor. You couldn’t perform in front of assertive newly-wed couple, when they interrupted as they like. It’s not like I know so much of being a professional photographer, just trying to understand I would say. In many ways we are learning when we try to understand -- "学无止境" (xue2 wu2 zhi3 jing4), lifelong learning, indeed!

Alright then, enough of my rants and nonsense. Let’s see some photos for a change.


We just can’t have enough of river, waterfalls, swim and picnic. If can’t get your feet out of the cold running stream, then don’t. It’s amazing that these places are just 15 minutes away from where we stay, but that’s the privilege of most Perakian (people of Silver State, Perak). I spent countless trips to similar water, this photo summarize it well. I suppose everyone knew which is Inge’s (IngE the sinGER, this is how we remember her Dutch name, haha) feet. Clue? Diagonally opposite Jisu’s feet. He wears his anti-slip shoes everywhere, even into the water!


We were playing Mastermind, Belgium’s national game? Of course, it’s a portable piece from Inge and she is good at it. At a glance it seems unfair to have Maria, Helen, Jyuri, and Mary against Jisu, Kyungsam and me, epic battle of opposite sex? No gender issue here, though. We manage to finish the game but not ahead of the girls. Most of us played the game while we are still a kid, while Kyungsam totally hates it. You need only one Mastermind, huh?

Anyway Kyungsam can’t wait for his turn to play Halli Galli, a classic party game for a, hmm, party boy? Kyungsam truly bring joy and laughter to the camp, feeding us with his endless ideas of dance, song and cracking joke. He can be even better, if we can understand some Korean language! And the Halli Galli box will never be too far away from Kyungsam. In this case, right underneath the table and his wary eyes. We’re going to rupture something, later. Ironically, Inge would run away from this game, hehe…


Almost overwhelm by the dominating green but how could one ignore the beetle? It’s not always bad to have two extreme objects together as there’s always a balance, a win-win situation. The most striking shot from Inge, to perfection – just like her confident self, with beautiful eyes (I mean eyes), elegant nose and strong character. Oh, and freedom! This is something she will not trade anything, for. I know who to look for in Antwerp. But now, I almost finish my melkchocolade, help!


Picture essay, this one – Maxwell hill close to the sea, rainy town beneath, dreadful road leading uphill, calm and serenity. Good blend of everything, like Jisu, fellow Korean majoring Chinese language and business, having spent half his life (childhood) in South East Asia. Recently finished serving the army for two tough years, he is ready to fly again, I guess. Next, good luck, Kyungsam (and Jyuri)!


My best guess is this is somewhere around Taiping Lake Garden. It’s normal to see a 土地公 (tu3 di4 gong1) altar by the road side, or beside whole bunch of fig trees, but never with monkeys savaging offering served by worshipper! Most people think of Buddism when they think of Chinese, but the chinese folk religion has a fair share of our culture and believe. Recently our Prime Minister is furious about some NGOs openly talk and discuss about religions, one could not help but wondering why. Maybe we are not ready, just yet.


Marco had a good workcamp, made it memorable for everyone, too. There are so much we can do for a person with disabilities, making them felt accepted as one of normal us being the most diffucult. Stubborn sometimes, but generally Marco is an easy going person, even for newly met friend. He is not as self-protective or over-sensitive like I first thought, but I try to be careful with my words or when offering help anyway.

He smile but never laugh like this. Jisu, do you start a joke, like “Neal’s van left open but no one’s going to steal it anyway?” Marco can’t get this picture with his own old-fashioned camera so I’m going to send him this!


Stephen is a man of patience, warm open heart and has great virtue. If he meditate right next to a chinese temple under the moonlight I will think I saw Buddha. It’s amazing how he manage to balance everything in life, almost perfectly. Nothing more, nothing less. He showed me that in life, you can actually make your own choices, like taking picture of banana-leaf dish sitting or standing up, hehe…

I guess Bindira will feel just like home here, a treat we would want to give to her or any young courageous Nepali girl. They are probably in some old pre-war shop-housese, almost a typical landmark in all small town, throughout Malaysia. The giant fridge behind is definitely older than me, and turst me, solid and heavy as it seems to be. Empty glasses arranged next to tea, coffee and milo powder, ready for next cup of teh-tarik. The stairway leading up to upper floor has higher inclination than mordern structure -- I could only think of cost saving, maximize usable space while sacrificing the safety and comfortability factor. We are not as tough as our ancestors, are we?


I was relaxing on the birdge with Swami-ji (right) and, as Inge put it, “forest man”. Those cold water piping are covered with shrubs and crawlers before the MAN slash it clean. It is weird to work right next to a Tamil temple, where Swami-ji sometimes plays Tamil song/chanting in the middle of the forest but all good. Weird, to have a priest showing us the way to nearby waterfalls, calling me “hey Padang Rengas!” instead of my name! You see, Swami-ji used to serve in a small temple opposite my primary school, helped some of my Tamil friend before and now, helping us in the workcamp!

I don’t remember throwing stones at the temple (how many 10 years old kid can throw a stone across 30 feet road?) so it must a good Karma, haha! I will see you around, Swami-ji!


Picture from John, whos love for horticulture is no secret for everyone, espcially what most poeple regards as ordinary, fern. I don’t remember seeing anyone taking this angle – John probably wanted to have those fern tree in the back depicting a perfect working environment for him? Unfortunately he can’t “adopt” one of these! But if you insist, John, Rosalind will have to take a bus home! Hehe!


Maxwell hill is just a perfect place for John to “adopt” few more fern, like this one on the table, all ready to be wheeled downhill and head straight to Kajang, Kuala Lumpur.

I hope eveyone get something as the workcamp comes to an end. I hope everyone found new motivation to continue their journey, live life to the fullest. I hope this is just a beginning of good friendship, understanding and co-operation.

天下无不散之筵席 (tian1 xia3 wu2 bu2 shan4 zhi1 ting2 xi2) -- we shall meet again, somehow, sometime, somewhere!