The Birth of Malaysia?

I am currently reading Gavin Menzies's 1421: The Year China Discovered the World and found an interesting passage:

"Formerly this place [Malacca] was not designated a 'country'...There was no king of the country; it was controlled only by a chief. This territory was subordinate to the jurisdiction of Hsien Lo [Thailand];; it paid an annual tribute of forty Liang of gold; if it were not [to pay] then Hsien Lo would send men to attack it.

in the seventh year of the Yung Lo (1409) the Emperor ordered the principal envoy the grand Eunuch Cheng Ho [Zheng He] and others to assume command and to take the imperial edicts and to bestow upon the chief two strong seals, a hat, a girdle and a robe...Thereafter Hsien Lo did not dare to invade it" Ma Huan, The Overall Survey of the Ocean Shores, Beijing, 1433, translated by JVG Mills, Cambridge UP (for Hakluyt Society) 1970 page 108

Gavin Menzies went on to boldly say that "in effect, this was the birth of Malaysia"

Wow...I am surprised that this book has not been banned by the Malaysian authorities.

Cleo's New Office

With her recent promotion to Head of Internal Audit, Cleo "upgraded" to a new office.  It is even bigger than my office!!!

It even has a nicer view than my office...lucky girl...

Lookie Lookie :)

Anand's company celebrated their 25th anniversary yesterday. They had a big worldwide party and gave everyone in the company, including alumni (meaning employees who are no longer workin with the company) an iPod touch. SUPER COOL!!!

When I stumbled on to this poster on the net I was laughing really hard, but then it also got me worried. Would Fong Fong and my soon to be born son turn out like this? I am not an angel by any means, but I certainly was not that wild. I guess it all depends on what are the values that is imparted by the parents to their child. I vow to impart the values that was passed to me by my parents. I vow to bring up our children as good and responsible citizens of the world....if any of my kids turn out like the kids depicted in the poster...just shoot me.

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Frustration

What is frustration? and what causes it? For me frustration is generally caused by work. Ok, I lie...its also caused by not being able to perfect my golf swing. But generally its caused by work. Too many deliverables but not being given the right support, budget and tools to execute the work is causing me a lot of frustration and unnecessary stress.

But on the bright side, I have seen the true colors of my colleagues and I now know how to deal with them. I suppose my people management skills have also improved...how to manage a team who are under constant pressure.

There is light at the end of the tunnel...whether that tunnel is with this current organization or with another one....only time will tell.

Even the cats loves us

We even have feline fans!!
William@Mobile

Bukit Jelutong Par 3 Challenge

My colleagues and I decided to play a quick round of golf at Bukit Jelutong Pitch and Putt course. From left, Chris "Tiger" Gui, Kar "Tiger" Wai and William "Tiger" Eng. All of us would like to think we are "Tiger Woods", in actual fact we are more like "Kayu" (direct Malay translation, which also means "stupid" or "backwards".

The course is situated in a former palm oil estate. The course designer has maintained the palm oil trees which is quite "environmentally" friendly. The reason for the inverted commas, is due to the fact that it is a known fact that golf courses uses tonnes of fertilizers which may or may not harm the environment.

However, the golf course is not that well maintained as attested by the above picture. I wonder can this be processed by iGTS?

Not exactly a packed gallery tee-off, but "Tiger" Kar Wai is concentrating hard. He nearly got a hole-in-one.

"Tiger" Chris making a perfect putt for a TRIPLE BOGEY!!!

All in all we had a pretty good game. All of us played exactly like "Tiger Woods"...in our dreams.

Feeding Monkeys

We took Fong Fong on our weekly monkey feeding trip on Sunday. The Monkeys "live" at the foot of a small "mountain" (I don't know whether to classify it as a mountain or a hill). Anyway every afternoon around 5 or so, families will be at the foot of the "mountain" to feed the monkeys. Some of them even buy fruits like apples and bananas as well as biscuits.

We brought some dates that was given to me by my company to feed the monkeys. Fong Fong had an extremely good time feeding the primates.

As usual Fong Fong enjoyed himself so much that he did not want to leave. We had to practically drag him home!!!

Chinese Poem

少小離家老大回，

鄉音無改鬢毛摧。

兒童相見不相識，

笑問客從何處來？

This is one of my all time favourite Chinese poems. I honestly do not know who is the poet, anyone know please do message me. It basically encapsulates what I sometimes feel when I go back to my home town and visit my high school. No one knows me anymore haha.

For the benefit of those who do not read Chinese characters the han yi pin yin translation is:

Shao xiao li jia lao da hui,
xiang yin wu gai ping mao chui,
er tong xiang jian pu xiang shi,
xiao wen ke chong her chu lai.

Not too sure whether the pin yin is correct or not, but at least I tried. This is the only poem whereby I can still recite from memory as well as read the characters. Lately I have found that Chinese poems are more beautiful and meaningful if compared to English ones.

Some of you might differ, but this is my personal opinion.

What Would Jesus Drive?
One theory is that Jesus would tool around in an old Plymouth because "the Bible says God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden in a Fury." But in Psalm 83, the Almighty clearly owns a Pontiac and a Geo. The passage urges the Lord to "pursue your enemies with your Tempest and terrify them with your Storm."

Perhaps God favors Dodge pickup trucks, because Moses' followers are warned not to go up a mountain "until the Ram's horn sounds a long blast."

Some scholars insist that Jesus drove a Honda but didn't like to talk about it. As proof, they cite a verse in St. John's gospel where Christ tells the crowd, "For I did not speak of my own Accord ..." John 12:49(New International Version)

Meanwhile, Moses rode an old British motorcycle, as evidenced by a Bible passage declaring that "the roar of Moses' Triumph is heard in the hills."

Joshua drove a Triumph sports car with a hole in its muffler: "Joshua's Triumph was heard throughout the land."

And, following the Master's lead, the Apostles car pooled in a Honda ..." The Apostles were in one Accord."

Memories

Photo taken 14 years ago when I was 18. Don't ask me why we were topless and had our pants unbuckled...its just seemed like a good idea at that time.

tattoo

Hopefully my missus will approve hehehe....
William@Mobile

Top 10 Cell Phone Etiquette Rules People Still Break | Mobilecommandos.com

Top 10 Cell Phone Etiquette Rules People Still Break | Mobilecommandos.com

I totally agree with this!!!. Don't you hate it when someone in front of you, whose turn it is to place an order, is busy talking on the phone? 

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Gardening

When it comes to gardening I am by no means a "green hand". But I was pleasantly surprised this morning to find that the papaya tree that was planted a couple months back is doing good.

In Pic 1 you can see that the flower has formed into a shape of a small papaya. i am crossing my fingers that it will grow into a proper fruit, since the last few times after forming into a shape of a papaya, it turns brown and falls off. The other two pics are flowers on other parts of the tree that are just blooming, Hopefully these turn into fruits as well.

My mother-law has also planted some Kangkong (Pic 1), Curry Leave (Pic 2) and Winter Melon (Pic 3 & 4). I am not sure whether its called a winter melon but the chinese call the melon "lau huang qua". My mom is also planning to grow some long beans which will hopefully grow onto the fence ...won't it be beautiful?

My other little papaya tree is sadly not doing too good, despite the fertilizers, sunshines and water. I am going to change the fertilizer mixture and see whether it will do it any good.

BBnMama Online Store, Your Store!

BBnMama Online Store, Your Store!


For parents out there do check out http://bbnmama.com an online store that sells a variety of children's clothing. Clothing are all original factory over-runs with brands such as BabyGap, Hello Kitty, Calvin Klein.  As for Baby bottles such as Avent, it is 100% original and not factory over-runs.

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HOTEL BIRKERØD

HOTEL BIRKERØD
What can I say? I stayed at this hotel for 3 weeks last year, and now my colleagues will be visiting Copenhagen in a few weeks time.  All I can say is have "fun" and enjoy the kebab and spaghetti while you are there...I am so jealous that you all will be there....sorry type...I am so happy that you all will be there...alamak...sorry typo again...I am soooooooooooo NOT JEALOUS you all will be there...hahah...have a good meeting and fruitful trip...oh yah don't forget to eat some kebabs on my behalf.

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Ahmad: I made no mistakes

Embedded Video

Sigh. I really do not know why this idiot is still so unrepentant.  Why must he still bring up the issue that it was the British that brought the Chinese in to work the mines and the Indians to work the estates...why must he still harp that the Bumis (when he says Bumis, I am sure he means the Malays and not the other indigenous groups) were marginalized in terms of education because the British gave priority to the Chinese in terms of education opportunities.

I am sad. It is not right.  Racial politics is the thing of the past.

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SS19 Subang Jaya Ramadan Food Market

We decided to head towards the food market in SS19 on Sunday. Parking as usual was a problem. The food market was so packed with people or all races and religion buying food. This is the absolute beauty with Malaysia, multi-racial and multi-religion. Politics asides, I think people on the street get along extremely well without any prejudices at all. why can't our politicians get this right???

Food...oh...Food...For those of you based overseas...salivate on this hahahaahahahahhahaha...