kia ora from Auckland
Kia Ora - maori word for hello . How time flies ... to think that I have been residing in Auckland for the last 30 years ! It is unbelieveable that I have been living here longer than Kuching . Still miss Kuching sometimes especially the old friends/fun we had , the good old days.
Came to Auckland with a big batch of Thomians via Singapore, except all of them went to Australia. Graduated with M.sc from Auckland and now working in IT in Uni. of Auckland .
Quite settled now in Auckland. Children(2) very kiwi-nise ... tried teaching them chinese , no luck . It's hard as my wife(from Ipoh) does not speak Hokkien, so we only converse in English . Haven't given up our Malaysian citizenship yet , have been tossing the idea around a bit lately ... It is quite a hazzle renewing our Malaysian passport and IC card. Anyone given up your Malaysian Citizenship ?
Auckland is quite a nice place to live in, very hilly though with quite a few hills/mountain (extinct volcanoes) . I think it is the 2nd largest city (area wise) in the Southern Hemisphere ? It is also known as "City of Sails" and with quite a few beaches within 1/2 hour drive . Traffic is quite bad here ... though not as bad as KL. Being quite far away from the rest of the world, life here is reasonable easy pace , good place to bring up kids but not a place to get rich! Have a few friends who retur
n home to make money ... find it too tough here !
Education is not free anymore , students (uni) borrow money from the goverment to pay for their fees and pay it back when they start working . During our time our fees was only $100 a year , now it is about $5K depending on the course . Interesting, the Western style of teaching here , the students get a lot of praises/encouragements hence they get very confident whereas back home you are told not to showoff . Another interesting observation is the friendliness between teachers and students here whereas there is a layer of "respect?" between student/teacher at home. Just recently I saw my 10 year old daughter talking to her teacher (ok she is a nice teacher) on the net!
16 comments:
Tiong Kiat, that is a beautiful photo of Auckland skyline. Thank you for your posting and sharing. Our Blog is alive because of us! I can still remember vividly visiting you in the mid 80s when you and Lai Har had not had any children yet. I remember that we went to Barbara Streisand's "Yentl" and you treated me to a lovely lobster dinner. In 1999 I brought my family over to NZ and visited all my friends in both North and South Islands. That was when we met again, by that time we both had our own kids! Hey, your two lovely kids speak with strong kiwi accent! We have fond memory of them. Are you still living at Epsom? Like you and Lai Har, Elaine and I have not given up our Malaysian citizenship either.
I do have a soft spot for NZ having studied there for 8 years. But I was down in the cold Dunedin and then in the windy chilly Wellington. In comparison Auckland is warm with a Mediterranean climate.
Edward,
My eldest is doing his B.com/B.sc in Otago. Probably cheaper to study in Auckland (free board etc) but being a Kiwi kid .... wants to be independent plus a few of his friends are down there. He does come home during the holidays which is good.
Nice, nice! Thanks for the post and looking forward to more posts from Auckland!
Now can you please also post some photos of yourself so that we all know how this "Tiong Kiat Ali" looks like? heehee ;o)
What is the drink 'tongkat ali'? Still trying to catch up with local terms! Is it the herbal cure all?
Thought 'Kia Ora' was a drink - remember the advert with the catchy jingle years ago.
Do not give up your Malaysian citizenship if you have dreams of retiring there! It's very difficult to reinstate! However, for those who have, all is not lost. There is the 'Malaysia, my second home'or 'Silver Hair' program.
Hi Ting Kiat,
Thought we 'lost' you. I'm Edmund Song. Sorry I had to abort my plan to Auckland with you.
You must be doing well there. After 30 years....I'm still up in Brunei (for last 22 years).... 3 boys... one in Melbourne, one in KL and one in Kuching (lost my wife 8 years back to cancer)
Otherwise doing great.... get in touch if you're back in Kuching..ok?
Don't know about any drink by those name s ... but i know it is a walking stick!
Edmund ... good to hear from you, sorry to hear about your wife . I can still remember we used to do wrist wresting during the free period in Lower six ...
ai yo, TK, you've been away from KCH for too long also! My son wanted to order tongkat ali from a cafe on the Waterfront and I told him I didn't know what it was. Better stick to something safe and he had Milo instead. So I looked up tongkat ali on the web since fh2o is too busy to explain and here it is - http:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongkat_Ali. Ask Dr. Bong or Lei about the medicinal claims. I'm still wondering if it tastes like root beer.
So who on average won the wrist wrestling matches? Place your bets! em?
Tongkat Ali is a Malay medicinal stuff that is claimed by many to be an aphrodisiac. Yes, no joke. The west has yet to distill its active ingredients to make into a pill! Nope I have not seen how it looks like. I think, guessing from Apa Itu's posting, they must have made it into a soft drink (like Bird nest's drink etc) which is to make a man of one who drinks it regularly..ha ha.
Ai yo yo! You folks have really been away from home for too long!
You can read/find out more about Malaysia's famous "Tongkat Ali" here.
You can even order so-called 'Tongkat Ali drinks' from the coffee shops! But these are really watered down though!
*sigh*
Know that tongkat is walking stick but never heard of tongkat ali until now.
OMG! Apa itu, after a quick peek on fh2o link, it's just as well your son did not have the tongkat ali drink.
Sounds as if the men had better not consume too much, otherwise they'll need to get those very fashionable saggy bum loose trousers that hang off your hips, where the crotch is about 12" off the floor.
Oops there's a typo in the link in my earlier comment. This is the correct TONGKAT ALI LINK. Happy now? ;o)
em obviously does not require any help at all in this area ... *ahem*
.... no extremities that need help from tongkat ali! ...
Tiong Kiat, that is a lovely pic of you! You still look quite the same as when we last met. It means that you have arrested the aging process somewhat! You ageless fellow. What are your secrets?? Come share with us ok? :-)
thedtan - i suspect that the secret is in his name which he has in guile tried to profess ignorance about ... ;o)
Not to worry TK. Stay out of the Tiong Kiat Ali issue. As semi-centenarian, we must uphold our "goh chap ko eh eong" lah! No need for TKA or AliCafe, or the likes.
Cheers.
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