Lots of Clouds But NO Rain!

There are quite a few of us registered at this blog and a lot more who has not registered yet but are reading it. So why are there so few posting? *sigh*

Lao Zha Bor!

For those of you ladies who think you are too "old" to be cool or 'happening', then please check out www.laozhabor.blogspot.com. Yes! She even has her own blog! She even has a rap song going! Enjoy and remember you are only as old or young as you think. Don't grow old before your age - so live it up! Cheers!

2 days in Brussels & Paris

With a few hours free after arrival in Brussels, I had a stroll around the hotel block. The beautiful sunny April sky urged me to take a walk & to leave my preparation for the meeting to later. As this is not the tourist area, there's not much of interest except some old unique European buildings. But I am surprised that they still have tram as public transport & very modern ones too. My French colleague told me it is wise that Brussels did not give up their tram transport & that Paris had reinstate a few lines of tram transport in outer Paris. Tram was re-introduced in Paris after the recent hike in oil prices.

The next day after the meeting, I rush to Paris so that I can at least get to see some parts of Paris by day. During my last trip to Paris in Sept last year , I had a car tour of Paris by night, courtesy of my boss!!

I reached Paris at 2.15 pm & by the time I settle at the hotel, I managed to start my Paris tour at 3pm. So what can we see within half a day. Actually I was surprised at my achievement, all by foot!! Sure a good way to get a good exercise & sightseeing. I started at Gallery Lafeyette & surprisingly ended up at the rooftop by chance. It has the most fantastic view of Paris. Oophs, my camera batteries went flat & the spares not working. I trotted down to ground floor & back up to the 6th floor. Bought some rechargeable batteries but they are of course not recharged. Well, I had to get some more batteries. Wow!! these batteries sure cost a lot more at French prices!! But its worth it.

Along the way to Champs Elysees & Arc De Triomphe, you will see lots of cafe & the typical seating arrangement facing the road.

I also saw this funny structure - guess what it is?? Certainly not a camera trick.

It's almost 7.30 pm, & still too early to go back to hotel. I'm quite surprised that it is still bright by 8pm in April. I don't remember that while in Uni days in UK. I thought that it is only in summer that you get daylight up 9 to 10pm.

So, perhaps, I should try the Eiffel tower. The huge iron structure is still a good attraction. At every hour, they will on the glittering lights & its quite a spectacular sight.

Finally, it is time to go back to the hotel & I tried the metro as my 2 feet cannot go all the way back to hotel from there. So that night I had a real good sleep from the tired legs. Nothing much can be done the following morning as I had to leave for the airport by 9.30 am for my flight back to Singapore.

So, back to Singapore & straight to work . I thought that I should not suffer from jet lag with such a short trip but I don't seem to be able to sleep. So here I am writing this.

Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary

When we in KL, one of the places that we visited was the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary. I stumbled across the sanctuary by chance when I was surfing on the net before my arrival, but when I asked around, I was surprise to find that only one friend has heard about it, but she did not know anything about it. In brief, the sactuary relocates wild elephants, and is near Temerloh in Pahang. It took us about 2 hours by car from KL (about 1 hour's drive from Gombak).

This site has details about the sanctuary and this their activities. Entry to the centre is free, but donations are very welcome. However, there isn't a donation box. Instead I was told me to go to the office next door to 'tulis', presumably to issue a cheque, but as we were in a hurry we left, but you can donate by TT or post a cheque.



This is the elephant ride. One thing I never knew was that elephants had hair, and wiry ones at that. I actually felt quite disrespectful sitting on that 70 year old elephant!








The elephants are given a shower before being fed by the visitors to the centre. There was watermelon, papaya, bananas which were chopped into baskets ready for the visitors to feed them after their wash.





This little one, swiped a fruit from the basket as it was walking past, on it's way to be chained for it's shower. It got a tap on the trunk with a rottan for it's trouble. Obviously the fruits were too tempting, because as it was lying there (as in the photo), it swung it's trunk above it's head to see where the fruits were, but had to be contented with just smelling them as the baskets were too far away



This is bathing with the big elephant...
















... and this is bathing with the baby elephants.


The bigger of the baby elephants is very attached to it's keeper. As they were going back to their enclosure, the keeper stopped to talk to someone. When it realised that, the elephant ran back, calling all the time, to get him and was only satisfied when he came along.


Baby Elephant Walk

The female side of the story

One day, when a seamstress was sewing while sitting close to a river, her thimble fell into the river. When she cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, "My dear child, why are you crying?"
The seamstress replied that her thimble had fallen into the water and that she needed it to help her husband in making a living for their family.

The Lord dipped His hand into the water and pulled up a golden Thimble set with pearls.
"Is this your thimble?" the Lord asked
The seamstress replied, "No."
The Lord again dipped into the river. He held out a silver thimble ringed with sapphires.
"Is this your thimble?" the Lord asked.
Again, the seamstress replied, "No."
The Lord reached down again and came up with a leather thimble.
"Is This your thimble?" the Lord asked.
The seamstress replied, "Yes."

The Lord was pleased with the woman's honesty and gave her all three thimbles to keep, and the seamstress went home happy.
Some years later, the seamstress was walking with her husband along the riverbank, and her husband fell into the river and disappeared under the water.

When she cried out, the Lord again appeared and asked her, "Why are you crying?"
"Oh Lord, my husband has fallen into the river!"
The Lord went down into the water and came up with George Clooney.
"Is this your husband?" the Lord asked.
"Yes!" cried the seamstress.
The Lord was furious. "You lied! That is an untruth!"
The seamstress replied, "Oh, forgive me, my Lord It is a misunderstanding. You see, if I had said 'no' to George Clooney, you would have come up with Brad Pitt. Then if I said 'no' to him, you would have come up with my husband. Had I then said 'yes,' you would have given me all three. Lord, I'm not in the best of health and would not be able to take care of all three husbands, so THAT'S why I said 'yes' to George Clooney.

And so the Lord let her keep him.

The moral of this story is: Whenever a woman lies, it's for a good and honorable reason, and in the best interest of others.


That's our story, and we're sticking to it.


Signed,
All Us Women

Reasons not to mess with children.

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.
The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small.
The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.
Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.
The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah".
The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?"
The little girl replied, "Then you ask him ".

A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, she said, "Now, class, if I stood on my head, the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I would turn red in the face."
"Yes," the class said.
"Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position the blood doesn't run into my feet?"
A little fellow shouted, "Cause your feet ain't empty."

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray:
"Take only ONE. God is watching."
Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies.
A child had written a note,
"Take all you want. God is watching the apples.

Who's Mesa?

MESA Chen

I feel obliged to answer the enquiry regarding the mysterious Mesa. I have known Mesa for a long long time although we seldom "talk" in school, somehow. Maybe I was just the poor shy rural schoolboy in an urban school. This write-up may also give some perspective into a part of Sarawak history: I think Ling Beng Siew's family is writing a book on this aspect of Sarwak history.

Mesa is Cantonese, from Sarikei, like me. One of my cousin's also married her distant auntie. Her late father (Mr Chen Ko Ming) was not only manager of Sarikei Chartered Bank but also Secretary General of the SCA, Sarawak Chinese Association. My late uncle (father's elder brother) was a supporter of Mr Chen. That was in 1960s. Many Sarawakian Chinese were still inclined towards China and wants to bring communism to Sarawak. A large number (including natives) were against joining Malaysia. The "communists" then went "underground". Unfortunately the so-called "CTs" or communist terrorists also launched a campaign to slaughter those of a different political belief, labelling them as "running dogs". Many people in Sarikei were killed: mostly beheaded or shot. They tried to murder Mr Chen and my uncle but with no luck. My uncle then migrated to HK; hence I have 10 first cousins in HK! Their children had since migrated to Taipei (a doctor) and Chicago (Chinese restaurants). Mr Chen also helped my family business in Sarikei when we had a family associated with the slum of pepper prices in 1965.

Mr Chen moved to 30 Wingli Garden (I think) in 19771. Mesa was in St Mary's School. She was my form mate in Sarikei St Anthony's School Form 1-2 and then classmate in Form 3. So when I was in St Thomas's Lower 6 in 1974, Mesa was again classmate. She went to study in Perth and then migrated to Vancover Canada, to join the rest of her family. She is a dietitian and works in a hospital, like me. So when she came back to Malaysia for a long break, I made a date to have dinner with her, her husband and her close friends on 26.8.06. I finally managed to talk to her! Mesa married Joe Leskosek in 1995 and chose to have no children.

It seems that it is common knowledge amongst the elderly Kuching folks that Mr Chen's first girlfirend in Kuching was Irene Tan. I hear Irene Tan mentioned in St Thomas's Church every Sunday as the pastor prays for "her speedy recovery in London". Then I discovered that Irene Tan is Rodney Tan's mother! Small world.
I thinkl Angelia Lin previously sent a photo with Mesa (AND Agatha). I reattach. Maybe Mesa can tell us more.

Dr Clarence Lei Chang Moh

Making Faces

Either the food is bad or they're so sad that Eva is only here for a week and Vera even less days ...

I swear that I wasn't making faces or cracking a joke when I took the photo of these two during the reunion dinner with Eva and Vera! Whoever comes up with the best caption for this photo gets a free kayak ride with me! So get cracking! Except for Joon Khoi and Siok Kim whose faces above are already cracking! hehe!

Hello Vera Lee!

Vera and friend

Vera Lee residing in the land of sarah-lee (Perth lah!) was in Kuching and brought along her friend for the dinner at "The Venue" restaurant for the reunion dinner with Eva Chin. The trouble with sit down dinner on separate tables is that you don't get a chance to speak to the other people who are on a different table! Perhaps it may be a better idea to get a private room and have a buffet style dinner to overcome this shortcoming.

The point of this post is that I didn't get to talk to Vera "properly" as a consequence and this is my small way of making up this slight "over-sight"! So here's a big warm hello welcome to Kuching from me and all the others who did not get a chance to speak with you! Here's wishing you a wonderful holiday in Kuching! Next time you come back, don't forget to bring back some Australian nacadamia nuts or nougats!

Vera taking photo of me taking her!

Reunion Dinner with Eva Chin in Kuching

Reunion Dinner in Kuching on Saturday,7th April 2007

Gemma and mum Eva

Getting down to the serious business of eating

Eva and daughter, Gemma is back in Kuching during the Easter holidays and Dr Clarence Lei was most kind to organise as well as host the reunion dinner. Thanks doc!

Must be health food as this is what the good doctor ordered!

More serious eating

Here are some of the photos I took between mouthful of food ... *burp* Recognise any of the beautiful and handsome faces?

Eva and Geok Lian Goes Kayaking

After some serious eating on saturday night at the "Venue" restaurant, some serious exercise is in order; in order to burn off the excess calories the next day. And what better way to do it than some kayaking with the "kayak king" in the beautiful Borneo Highlands area. And what a beautiful Sunday it turned out to be with glorious sunshine and beautiful deep blue skies.Accompanying Eva was her daughter who had been looking forward to the kayaking and Eva's younger brother Victor who was staying in the housing estate just across the road from mine. Geok Lian was a bit hesistant at first about joining in the kayaking but she was glad that she did. After all being in the same boat as the Captain is as safe and relaxing as it's going to get! Here are the photos and we wished you all were there too!

On Monday morning, in Kuching....

Date: Monday 2/4/07
Time: 9.40 am
Place: In front of the row of shop houses leading to OCBC bank from Hilton Hotel.


Hi! I confessed I was in Kuching from 31 March to 2 April 07. As I was there so briefly, I did not have the time to meet up with old pals. The purpose of the trip was to do 'Chen Meng' (Chinese equivalent to "All Souls' Day").

On the above morn, I left Hilton Hotel, where I was staying, for OCBC bank to do some transactions. As I walked down the hill, along the carpark outside the shop houses (round the corner the bank is located), a Malay guy waved and smiled in my direction. After looking around and behind me for the pal he was greeting, I realised that I was the subject. As I approached, he said "Hi! You remember me? I know you. I also saw you in the airport immigration area. Which hotel are you staying?"
Searching my memory, I tried to remember if I had met him or ever talked to an immigration officer when I was coming in at Kuching airport. Nope, no recall.
Bit baffled, I looked for some clues from him.
"Oh! I cannot remember seeing you before. Sure I was the right person?"
"Yes, I am Awang and I worked at the airport immigration. I saw you at the airport. I am off work now but will be there this afternoon."
"Really? I will be leaving Kuching this afternoon and so will be at the airport by 1 pm".
"Oh! Look for me there! I will be in the second last counter."
Wondering why I should, and still wondering who he was, I tried again: "Were you studying in St. Thomas's Secondary School before? Are you a Thomian? (I wondered if perhaps he knew me in school days..)"
"Yes, I was borned in 1960."
Mmm, few years my junior. That explained it! Of-course juniors remember some of the seniors (Music club? Thomian Magazine? The Square tabloid??? Ballroom Dancing society? The Debating Society?? I was involved with all of these then..).
"Glad to meet you a fellow Thomian. I am going to OCBC. Not much time left before I have to leave for the airport.."
"I do not know how to tell you. You will find it quite a funny situation I am in! You see, my car broke down and I have to go to collect it. Can you lend me RM$50? When you look for me this afternoon at the immigration counter, I will pay back. So embarrassed to ask you."
So, this was it! A day-light con man! I wondered how often he had tried this trick.
"Sorry, I really am not sure if I have met you before and besides, I am in a hurry. I cannot give you any money".
Seeing that I had seen through him, he grinned and said,"Never mind lah. Still look for me at the immigration counter this afternoon ok? I will be there."

At 2 pm on Monday 2/4/07, when I was going through the immigration check, I looked surreptitiously for Awang. No Awang at any of the counters. No Awang approached me to pat me on my back, claiming me as a long lost old Thomian, and perhaps to wish me a good journey.

Hello! Happy Easter Holiday!

Today is Good Friday and is a public holiday in Singapore. Below is a link for you all...



http://d21c.com/scratch/holidays/egg.swf


Check it out folks!!


Cheers!

Edward

The Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes Of All Time

Today being April Fool's Day; here's the Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time. Actually I'm posting only 10 here but you can read all the rest here!

#1: The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest

In 1957 the respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in, and many called up wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti trees. To this question, the BBC diplomatically replied that they should "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best." Check out the actual broadcast archived on the BBC's website (You need the RealVideo player installed to see it, and it usually loads very slowly). -More-

#2: Sidd Finch

In its April 1985 edition, Sports Illustrated published a story about a new rookie pitcher who planned to play for the Mets. His name was Sidd Finch and he could reportedly throw a baseball with startling, pinpoint accuracy at 168 mph (65 mph faster than anyone else has ever been able to throw a ball). Surprisingly, Sidd Finch had never even played the game before. Instead, he had mastered the "art of the pitch" in a Tibetan monastery under the guidance of the "great poet-saint Lama Milaraspa." Mets fans everywhere celebrated at their teams's amazing luck at having found such a gifted player, and Sports Illustrated was flooded with requests for more information. But in reality this legendary player only existed in the imagination of the writer of the article, George Plimpton. -More-

#3: Instant Color TV

In 1962 there was only one tv channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white. The station's technical expert, Kjell Stensson, appeared on the news to announce that thanks to a newly developed technology, all viewers could now quickly and easily convert their existing sets to display color reception. All they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their tv screen, and they would begin to see their favorite shows in color. Stensson then proceeded to demonstrate the process. Reportedly, hundreds of thousands of people, out of the population of seven million, were taken in. Actual color tv transmission only commenced in Sweden on April 1, 1970.

#4: The Taco Liberty Bell

In 1996 the Taco Bell Corporation announced that it had bought the Liberty Bell from the federal government and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called up the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell is housed to express their anger. Their nerves were only calmed when Taco Bell revealed that it was all a practical joke a few hours later. The best line inspired by the affair came when White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale, and he responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold, though to a different corporation, and would now be known as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial. -More-

#5: San Serriffe

In 1977 the British newspaper The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement in honor of the tenth anniversary of San Serriffe, a small republic located in the Indian Ocean consisting of several semi-colon-shaped islands. A series of articles affectionately described the geography and culture of this obscure nation. Its two main islands were named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. Its capital was Bodoni, and its leader was General Pica. The Guardian's phones rang all day as readers sought more information about the idyllic holiday spot. Few noticed that everything about the island was named after printer's terminology. The success of this hoax is widely credited with launching the enthusiasm for April Foolery that then gripped the British tabloids in the following decades.

#6: Nixon for President

In 1992 National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation program announced that Richard Nixon, in a surprise move, was running for President again. His new campaign slogan was, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again." Accompanying this announcement were audio clips of Nixon delivering his candidacy speech. Listeners responded viscerally to the announcement, flooding the show with calls expressing shock and outrage. Only during the second half of the show did the host John Hockenberry reveal that the announcement was a practical joke. Nixon's voice was impersonated by comedian Rich Little.

#7: Alabama Changes the Value of Pi

The April 1998 issue of the New Mexicans for Science and Reason newsletter contained an article claiming that the Alabama state legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi from 3.14159 to the 'Biblical value' of 3.0. Before long the article had made its way onto the internet, and then it rapidly made its way around the world, forwarded by people in their email. It only became apparent how far the article had spread when the Alabama legislature began receiving hundreds of calls from people protesting the legislation. The original article, which was intended as a parody of legislative attempts to circumscribe the teaching of evolution, was written by a physicist named Mark Boslough.

#8: The Left-Handed Whopper

In 1998 Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a "Left-Handed Whopper" specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty, etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, "many others requested their own 'right handed' version."

#9: Hotheaded Naked Ice Borers

In its April 1995 issue Discover Magazine announced that the highly respected wildlife biologist Dr. Aprile Pazzo had discovered a new species in Antarctica: the hotheaded naked ice borer. These fascinating creatures had bony plates on their heads that, fed by numerous blood vessels, could become burning hot, allowing the animals to bore through ice at high speeds. They used this ability to hunt penguins, melting the ice beneath the penguins and causing them to sink downwards into the resulting slush where the hotheads consumed them. After much research, Dr. Pazzo theorized that the hotheads might have been responsible for the mysterious disappearance of noted Antarctic explorer Philippe Poisson in 1837. "To the ice borers, he would have looked like a penguin," the article quoted her as saying. Discover received more mail in response to this article than they had received for any other article in their history. -More-

#10: Planetary Alignment Decreases Gravity

In 1976 the British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on BBC Radio 2 that at 9:47 AM a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event was going to occur that listeners could experience in their very own homes. The planet Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, temporarily causing a gravitational alignment that would counteract and lessen the Earth's own gravity. Moore told his listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment that this planetary alignment occurred, they would experience a strange floating sensation. When 9:47 AM arrived, BBC2 began to receive hundreds of phone calls from listeners claiming to have felt the sensation. One woman even reported that she and her eleven friends had risen from their chairs and floated around the room.