CNY celebration

I think few years ago I have stopped sending CNY cards to friends and relatives and only use eCard or SMS to greet them. It was so fast and convenient as you do not need to buy cards and stamps to do it. Just few clicks with same message content and send to many in 1 go no matter you are in toilet or in bed and the SMS can reach friends across the sea too. 

Chinese new year celebration become very commercial now and I really don’t feel the real atmosphere here except when shopping in Mall. This year I managed to visit some old friends and also doing some shopping to refill my cupboard after gave away 3 big plastic bags of old cloths to my maid and friend.

The weather during CNY is so hot in here until you do not have mood to go out under hot sun. Some of my trekking buddies remain active in trekking during CNY. I cannot follow them all the plans and only manage to do 2 short treks – 1 to Saga and 1 to Serdang hill (short trek to see sunrise). Next weekend, will be Chap Goh Mei (Yuen Xiao) celebration but I have to work and standby for system cutover, most probably will bring some mandarin oranges and throw each other in the office………………………..

Tiger Year Celebration

 No special celebration and as usual, spent my 3 days Chinese new year with my family members. Ask my maid off for 2 days and I’m becoming the temporary maid at home, taking care of house keeping and feel so tired and hot with the house work. Really appreciate my maid who has help me a lot in handling all the house work while I’m working. Okay, finally I can go for trekking on 3^rd day as my maid is resume working. Will join my normal trekking group to Ah Pak Shan and this time we will trek from Saga and reach waterfall. Ben (aka Micheal Jackson) will join us too. Invite Korean Lee too and also some new faces that we have met in our last trek to Broga and Tok Wan.

 My networks keep growing and most of the new friends are met during our trekking or outing. Recently met another group of trekking in Broga and they are all young man and glad to see them active in trekking as we notice most of the youngsters love to sit in front of computer to play computer games or facebooking. They are all very young trekkers and after discover that we have trekking activities organized weekly, so we exchange contacts and emails to stay connected.

 

Next 2 weeks I will be busy involve in system cutover, most probably need to work during weekend. Hopefully, after system stable, I can resume my trekking activities as normal and also looking forward to trek in Pine trees trail at Fraser Hill.

Bye Bye 2009

2009 is gone …. Have mix feeling with what happened for the past 1 year ….dad fell sick early of the year during CNY, mum had minor stroke recently started with no strength in her right hand. I feel under pressure each time when they are sick. Luckily, they are all recovery fast after treatment especially mum …. the acupuncture treatment work for her. Thanks God!

I have lost some friends/relatives in 2009 who suffer from cancer/heart attack and accidents. More bad news reached me closer to the end of the year my cousin’s wife and primary teacher also diagnosed with breast cancer. Cancer became so common now and it’s getting closer and closer and attack friends and family surrounding …. we are all highly exposure to pollution and live in stressful environments, lack of exercise etc.

I hope we all can live in more healthy life in 2010 and let’s practice these and look for better and healthier 2010.

• Eat a Healthy Breakfast

• Drink at Least 8 Glasses of Water

• Take a Good Quality Multiple Vitamin/Mineral

• Connect with Other People

• Express Your Emotions Appropriately

• Eat Fruits and Vegetables

• Spend at Least 30 Minutes Outdoors

• Do Something Physically Active

• Take Some Quiet Time for Yourself

• Keep Regular Sleep Hours

• Establish a Relationship with a Doctor You Can Trust

Betrothal 下娉/过大礼/纳彩

Usually Christmas I will join my friend’s Christmas party plus gathering but this year I have to skip and help out in my niece betrothal ceremony which fell on Christmas day. (Betrothal, “grand gift” is presented by the groom’s family to the bride’s family). My niece has made the history in our Chia’s family – this is the 1st marriage after 100 years we have daughter getting married.

We received the following “grand gift” from the groom’s family:-

• western and chinese wedding cakes

• two bottles of brandy

• even numbered of tangerines or oranges

• rice and sesame candies balls 油麻筒

• a pork leg and a whole roast pig

• two pairs of dragon and phoenix candles 龙凤烛

• Bride’s price 娉金 (Some people also call the bride’s price “bride’s dowry”) from the groom to the bride

After the ceremony over, that’s the busiest moment for us to help deliver and distribute out all the biscuits and cakes to friends and relatives.

Stroke

Mum seems having minor stroke 2 weeks ago when I observe she cannot talk clearly early in the morning. At first I thought she is having sore throat or flu but later we discover that her glucose level is high around 12. According doctor, stroke can happen when the patient suffer too high or too low in the glucose level. To further improve her blood circulation on top of with the medicine given by doctor, I also bring her for acupuncture and her condition is now stable and her right hand can hold chopstick.

Please see some of the info related to stroke:-

What is Stroke?

A stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is suddenly interrupted or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts, spilling blood into the spaces surrounding brain cells. In the same way that a person suffering a loss of blood flow to the heart is said to be having a heart attack, a person with a loss of blood flow to the brain or sudden bleeding in the brain can be said to be having a “brain attack.”

Brain cells die when they no longer receive oxygen and nutrients from the blood or when they are damaged by sudden bleeding into or around the brain. Ischemia is the term used to describe the loss of oxygen and nutrients for brain cells when there is inadequate blood flow. Ischemia ultimately leads to infarction, the death of brain cells which are eventually replaced by a fluid-filled cavity (or infarct) in the injured brain.

When blood flow to the brain is interrupted, some brain cells die immediately, while others remain at risk for death. These damaged cells make up the ischemic penumbra and can linger in a compromised state for several hours. With timely treatment these cells can be saved. The ischemic penumbra is discussed in more detail in the Appendix.

Even though a stroke occurs in the unseen reaches of the brain, the symptoms of a stroke are easy to spot. They include sudden numbness or weakness, especially on one side of the body; sudden confusion or trouble speaking or understanding speech; sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes; sudden trouble walking, dizziness, or loss of balance or coordination; or sudden severe headache with no known cause. All of the symptoms of stroke appear suddenly, and often there is more than one symptom at the same time. Therefore stroke can usually be distinguished from other causes of dizziness or headache. These symptoms may indicate that a stroke has occurred and that medical attention is needed immediately.

How Do You Recognize Stroke?

Symptoms of stroke appear suddenly. Watch for these symptoms and be prepared to act quickly for yourself or on behalf of someone you are with:

• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body.
• Sudden confusion, trouble talking, or understanding speech.
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, or loss of balance or coordination.
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause.

 

Law of the Garbage Truck

One day, I hopped into the taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, ‘Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!’ This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call,

‘The Law of the Garbage Truck.’

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dump it on you. Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so… Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don’t. Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Have a blessed, garbage-free day!

我们“需要“的不多，但是”要“的很多！

年初与友人谈话间说起我们现在的人，真正“需要“的不多, 但是”要“的很多。看看近期闹得沸沸扬扬的龚如心以及王永庆的遗产案，就是很好的例子！假如他们知道会有现在的对簿公堂的局面，想必都不会为后代及亲人遗留任何的钱财吧！ 在忙碌的生活里，我们应该找到一个平衡点，会赚钱之余更需懂得享受和娱乐消遣以及回馈社会。要是只会拼命赚钱，不运动不会娱乐花钱，那做人又有何意思呢？要不然最后落得健康没了，身躺病床，用所赚的钱医病买回失去的健康。一旦失败换回健康，落得人在天堂，钱在银行，分得不公，更是要对簿公堂。生前不快乐，死后不得安灵啊！

Summer Holiday

I’m survived from the hot summer holidays from Tianjin/Beijing/Chengde. This trip was plan a bit out of my earlier plan and it’s fall on summer in China. Me & Adeline touch down at Tianjin Haibin Airport around 7.30am but we are not allow to go down until the health officers have finished checking all our health info form. This is also additional procedure in view the increment of AH1N1 cases happened around the world recently. 

The weather there is like hot oven and to escape from the heat, I slightly change the plan to spend more days in Chengde (Mountain Resort of Qing Emperors) and Bashang (boarder between Hebei and Inner Mongolia). Anyway, we still manage to visit Olympic bird nest and watch ballet show in water cube stadium in Beijing with our colleague from Beijing. The show was performed by famous ballet group from Russia, with combination of ballet on stage and synchronise swimming in the pool.

 Next day we took bus to Chengde from Shanliqiao bus station and the journey suppose only took about 4 hours but we ended up reach Chengde in 6 hours. Chengde, lying in the northeast of Hebei Province, is close to Beijing, about 230 kilometers away. The bus left the station around 7.30am but along the way, the bus conductor keep stopping to get more passengers. The bus journey passed the Gubeikou where the famous Shimatai great wall was nearby. We only able to cover mountain resort in the afternoon and spend about 3 hours listen to the stories related to each of the special buildings in the summer resort. 

On the subsequent day, we have joined 1 package tour to Bashang which commonly joined by the locals. This is the most popular trip for the local to spend their summer holiday. But this type of tour are very commercialise, the tour guide will spend more time at those places that can bring them more commission like horse riding and tube rafting. The horse man will hold the rope and pulling you around with you riding on the horse back. It’s charged RMB50 per hour and the tour guide will convince you to take longer ride so that they can earned more commission. Compared to 18 years ago when I first traveled in China, we don’t see any locals traveled around China and most of the time just foreign tourists or oversea Chinese. But now China improved so much with economic getting better and better and now you can see 90% of the tourists are from China itself. They seem more afford to spent compare foreigners, every where are crowded with the locals especially during this long summer holiday. 

Compared to Chengde and Bashang, Beijing & Tianjin really too hot for us to enjoy. Anyway we still covered all the places that we have planned in this trip. Beer becomes our best drinks daily to cold down our body after travel under hot weather. It’s a total different experience compare my past trip that we used to cover spring, autumn and winter. I will explore more to inner Mongolia if we have chance to do so next time.

RECIPE FOR REDUCING CHOLESTEROL

Better than taking medicine. Attached is a recipe someone shared with me on reducing cholesterol. I heard from a friend that someone managed to avoid a bypass surgery after he drank this soup every morning for 25 days! For the normal person, just drink it once in a while.

Ingredients : 
1) black fungus (80g)
2) old ginger (80g) 
3) red dates (10)

Method : 

1) Soak the black fungus in water until it is soft and then wash it clean.
2) Cut the ginger (without removing the skin) into roughly 8 slices.
3) Remove the seeds from the red dates.
4) Put all the ingredients into a slow cooker.
5) Add in 8 cups of water into the cooker.
6) Cook the mixture for 6 hours using low heat. 

Note :
It is best to prepare this in the evening and start cooking before you go to bed. If you start cooking at say 9 pm, the soup should be ready for drinking by 6 am.

Dumpling Festival

This year I received 100 pcs dumpling order from my colleagues. The problem is this year my aunt is not productive as compare last year and end up I have to help to help her a lot in the wrapping part. Luckily, my skill is getting good and can do it fast w/o problem. Aunt is getting weak each year, her hands seems not that active any more. In view of this, I inform my colleague that I will stop taking any more order next year. They all protest and encourage me to take up the role to learn the secret recipe from my aunt. Next year, may be I need to allocate 2 of my annual leaves to handle this dumpling production at home. Who knows 1 day I can become “Dumpling Queen” in Malaysia, ha ha!