A KLUANG WEDDING

Last weekend a delegation of 10 from KL went down to Kluang to attend cousin Max’s (Ah Mah’s Eldest Brother’s 2nd wife adopted son) Wedding Lunch. Besides attending the function, it was also an opportunity to be introduced and meet up with some relatives that we are hardly acquainted with. Some photographs are produced below for posterity.

People generally go to the big city to shop but to us Kluang has become an attractive shopping haven. 24 hours in Kluang wasn’t quite sufficient to shop, eat and do other things, so we had to extend our stay by another night. The prices of things there seem so cheap compared to KL. A pair of prescription glasses goes for RM95. We ended up buying a total of 7 pairs of glasses, 8 pairs of shoes, 3 dozen rolls of toilet papers, pails, plates, cups, sweet potatoes, T-shirts, nail polish and a few hundred other items. Looks like we might have to make another trip there soon.
simon

晚餐聚会

九月十一日晚上七时半在团圆


月圆人圆事事团圆

Baby Jie Ying

Congratulations to Leong Seng and Shin Yi for their little bundle of Joy – Quay Jie Ying.

SMK SEAFIELD'S NEW TOILET

Did a pro bono design for the new toilet block in ML's school. Toilet was officially opened last Sunday during the School's Carnival Day. Was invited and given a letter of appreciation by the Parents & Teachers Association.

Mulu Caves Trip - Update 4

The Mulu Caves 3D2N tour package has been confirmed by the tour operator and will be posted at a later date. Enclosed below is the proposed Miri City tour offered by the same operator. We have requested that the tour starts at the airport at 10:45AM upon arrival and are awaiting his reply. At the meantime please confirm if you interested so that we can inform the operator as to how many are going for the Miri City tour.


Miri City Tour ( RM 38 nett per person )
Duration : 3 hours
Depart Time : 9:00 am & 2:00 pm
Meet at hotel lobby and depart for Miri City Tours.
Tour features Malaysia 1 st
Oil Well or The grand Old Lady located at Canada Hill. The well has an important
place in Miri’s history, as it was here that oil was first struck by Sarawak Shell in 1910. The largest Taoist
Temple in South East Asia, Miri City Fan, Miri Heritage Centre (handicraft & souvenir) & visit Tamun
Muhibbah ~ the local farmers market-you can find various tropical fruits & vegetable. finally enjoy yours
shopping in Modern and Trendy Shopping Malls.
Transfer back to hotel.

Mulu Caves Trip - Update 3

After a lot of telephone calls and frantic internet checking and booking over the past 3 days, all the air tickets were finally purchased. The trouble with the much advertised low air fares was the very limited quotas available. Fares kept going up as more booking were made. Booking for 3 person is easy but with 17 it gets very tricky esp. when we try to secure the best price. In the end some ticket bought were comparatively quite expensive but averaging them out the fares are still quite reasonable. Anyway the confirmed (MAS) flight schedule is as follows:-

Thu 20/10 KL-Miri 8:30AM
Fri 21/10 Miri-Mulu 9:30AM
Sun 23/10 Mulu-Miri 12:20PM
Miri-KL 4:10PM (13 passengers)
Mon 24/10 Miri-KL 4:10PM (Sam & family)

We were informed that the Niah Cave day trip will take 7-8 hours. So that side trip is out. We are now looking at other possibility like a city tour, etc.

Shui Hu Zhuan - the tragic ending

The series finally ended after 86 episodes. Although the book is 100 chapters long, the final 20 agonizing chapters had been mercifully condensed into 6 episodes by the producer. There had been debates regarding the 2 authors associated with the book. However, it is now believed by some scholars of the classic that Shi Nai’an was actually the pseudonym for Luo Guanzhong (according to Wikipedia), so it one and the same person.

What is the moral of the story? From a historical context, it is all about filial piety, brotherhood, loyalty, righteousness and patriotism.

My take, the sworn brotherhood thing is 10 times more fanatic than what present day underground triads do (as shown in Hong Kong movies). The blind and irrevocable patriotism to the Emperor and Country is simply incomprehensible and stupidity to the nth degree. A present day equivalent will be like pledging sole allegiance to the BN government and king.

Song Jiang ruled like an autocrat with a misguided sense of self-righteousness. There was no democracy or consultation. The opinions of the rank and file were ignored. Even the simple peasants could see that capitulation to the Emperor would be the beginning of an end, but the Chinese Don Quixote was unrepentant and led his men like sacrificial lambs to a tragic and fatal end.

The series actually evoke in me a sense of disbelief and annoyance. So why bother to waste all those hours and watch it in the first place. A combination of indirect and unqualified recommendations from friends and curiosity I suppose. Well, rather than letting it simmers inside me, I decided to blog about it.

simon