HITTING THE ROAD

Yours truly shall be on the road again from 27th September.

Shall be shooting off to Bolehland, stopping by KLIA briefly to whacko the nasi before continuing the flight to my kampong in Kedah.

There, I shall blissfully snore through silent nights under starry skies...

And wake up to singing birds...

Will certainly make my pilgrimage to Mee Abu and Nasi Lemak Haji Ali in Alor Star...

Yeeeeiii... deeelicous!

Plus, not forgetting to attack the divine durians...

Then, it is time to skooobaaa at Pulau Tioman...

Can't wait to hit the blue ocean...

Shall be there for four nights, and planning to do at least ten dives...

Then, it is back to KayEl to catch up with my pals...

Will be back in Samurailand on 11th September...

Heheheeee...

PS: Probably no blog post from 27th August to 11th September...

JELLYFISH AT THE PERHENTIANS

Never saw so many jellyfishes in my dives before.

Some of their tentacles were amazingly and frighteningly long...

Surely not a pretty sight if they got you under their skin...

I made sure I was at a safe distance as I grabbed this shot...

SIDE DISH OR MAIN COURSE?

Spent a couple of days in Vancouver (and Victoria).

The last time I was at Vancouver, it was our honeymoon and the World Expo was in town.

So it was really nice to revisit the place... except that this time, I was traveling alone.

That place impresses me as it did almost 20 years ago.

In 1986, we home-stayed with a family who migrated from East Europe.

I sometimes still wonder if I should have listened to our hosts who suggested that we migrate to Canada immediately at that time.

I recall bursting out then, laughing heartily at their kind proposition.

Fast-forward twenty years... (Ok, ok, nineteen...)

Perhaps I am being a bit superficial here but I could sense that the folks there are enjoying living among themselves in that beautiful city.

The Asians there seem to be full members of the society, contributing and working for the nation as equal partners, quite unlike you-know-which-nation I am referring to.

I watched a parliament debate on television, where an Asian-looking Health Minister gave an immaculate speech in perfect English.

And nobody screamed out the word 'racist' while he was delivering...

And, the city folks are friendly for sure.

Once I got into a bus to Simon Fraser University without having the exact change for the fare.

The lady bus driver made an announcement for assistance from passengers who could help me.

I had a five-dollar note and this South Indian looking guy came up front and gave me three two-dollar coins and smiled.

Yeeeii... can you imagine this happening in Bolehland?

Meanwhile, I was quite surprised at the number of homeless people on the east side of the city.

They scavenged the rubbish bins looking for empty cans while dragging their possessions on (stolen?) supermarket carts.

I am now back at my office, reading about Terrence Gomez telling us that his problem in Universiti Malaya was not race-related.

He reasons that he knows 'a number of well-qualified Malay lecturers in UM, many of them among our most dedicated staff, who have not been promoted or given senior academic positions because they have been vocal critics of university management or government policies'.

Certainly can't fight with the fact that there are among our more enlightened Malay brothers and sisters who have a clear conscience so as to fight the injustice.

Let's just say that we wish there are more of these folks around...

Until that time comes, these righteous folks are just 'side-dishes'...

With regards to the 'main-course', I would like to know since when was Malaysian affairs not conducted on race-related premises.

Would be most delighted if someone can enlighten me on this...

Also, while we are at it, any chances of us seeing the top position of Malaysia Airlines go to the candidate (whether brown, black, or yellow) with the best credentials?

Heheheheheeee...

Not race-related?

Let's see...

BOATS AT BAY

Just returned from a week's trip to Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

The weather was cool and marvelous, with temperatures oscillating between the low to mid twenties, very much unlike the fiery high thirties we now have in Japan.

Spent some time touring the Oak Bay area of Victoria by bicycle...

The Oak Bay area is a 'most attractive residential community' with 'stately waterfront mansions that hug the rugged shorelines'...

The shot above was taken in the late afternoon...

The waters, so tranquil...

I sat on a bench, enjoying the moments...

..hearing only the gentle waves and the occasional seagulls calling...

NUDIBRANCH ON PINK CORALS

Another mouthful of a name... Nembrotha lineolata Bergh... duh!

Identified by its cream colored body filled with numerous, narrow brown lines and faint red and purple marking on the gills and rhinophores...

Meat-eater... feeds on tunicates and other microscopic, fleshy stuff...

Size was about three centimeters.

THE BRIDE DOES NOT WANT TO MEET YOU

This morning, as I climbed the stairs after my daily cuddling of the plants...

Ooooooh...

My right knee hurt...

It first happened during the descent on my second trip to Mt. Fuji.

Reason?

Silly me... I ran down the slopes trying to catch the bus.

It felt so good zooming down the sandy slopes...

It was almost like skiing without skis...

And at one point, a kid in the descending crowd shouted,

Kakko ii!!!... (Cool!!!)

My head swelled to no end...

But all I succeeded was to hurt my knee, forever.

Meanwhile that feisty bride of the hour...

Chubby-faced, densely made-up, and regally dressed in a red floral baju kurung...

Yes, that heavy-duty, plump, fleshy, plucky and gutsy bride stunned all by marching up a flight of stairs before disappearing into the bedroom... ignoring everyone...

The poor guests' jaws dropped... eyes popped... dumbfounded...

Silence...

Then, a little boy in the crowd meekly quivered... softly...

Hey MakCik! We thought you had an injured knee???

The Round Object peeked out the door slit... sneering...

Brrruuuuaaaat!!!

LRONG LIM PHOTOS TO CRUISE ON

Had toyed with the idea of dropping Lrong Lim Photos...

But... why?

High maintenance cost, time-wise...

Then, was interviewed by Matakecil...

So, Lrong Lim Photos is set to cruise on...

HELMUT SHELLS GNAW ON EGGS

I adore staying motionless

Observing, and observing...

I once peeped low into a small cave...

And, weeeeeiii!

Was so surprised to find six Helmut shellfish... (one not in the picture)

Gnawing at a large nest of whitish eggs hanging from the cave ceiling...

The Helmut shellfish is really just that...

Helmet-shaped almost the size of real helmets...

I am still wondering about the eggs...

They are like, three to four centimeters long...

And, they look somewhat like the thin, flat 'chempedak' strips (as opposed to the fleshy meat) that we usually throw away...

I don't think the eggs belong to the squid or octopus...

Hmmm... hints, anyone?

GIANT CLAM

As in above water, it is a war down there...

Here, a giant clam fights for its space in a crack amongst the corals...

We can see the whole outer shell of these clams, if they are found in sandy bottoms where they are not restrained by corals.

But this guy is not even able to fully open its mouth for feeding.

I have seen giant clams in shades of light brown or pale green.

But they seem to be most radiant in blue...

They are usually found in shallow waters and are sensitive to light and water movement.

Swim near and over it on a sunny day and they will most often retract inside...

Some divers have their octopuses (spare oxygen unit) freely dangling down while diving, and if they are careless and/or unlucky, their octopuses may be inadvertently trapped in the mouth of the clam...

Then, it is ooh ooh oooh...

I have also observed clams that stretch about a meter and half long...

This guy was about 40 centimeters...

BE PATRIOTIC

Thanks to Mark for alerting me on that fine BBC article on how lost our Muslim brethrens are back home.

They are apparently quite torn between the present, the past, and the future...

The present being, how to be a ‘good’ Muslim...

The past being, the courage to confront and accept their historical Hindu roots...

And the future being, how to keep abreast with ‘modernity’...

I truly hope that they can strike a good balance between those three elements.

My take is...

I wish our Muslim brothers and sisters remained 'Malay' rather than turning 'Arabic'.

On a related front, I know of an Egyptian guy who sneered at a Bangladesh female student.

She wears the Bangladeshi sari often, revealing her mid-rift.

He says...

I don't like the way she dresses: it is not Islamic...

She says she is Muslim, but I don't believe she is Muslim...

Sounds familiar?

On another front, I was reading the comments on Screenshots while cleaning my teeth after lunch...

I grinned widely; observing Jeff's blood pressure shooting up again when he lamented that his blogging is getting futile...

Futile, because commentators once again hijacked his topic, turning it into the usual arguments on race...

Says Observer, a regular Screenshots undercover commentator...

Only when I am abroad am I a Malaysian!

Earlier, albeit on a different yet related subject, Paul Warren, a regular contributor to Malaysiakini's letter column, declares...

I am a Malaysian and I know that only too well when I go abroad and to make sure that I am not put together in the same basket as the Indians from India or Fiji or where ever.

My wife does the same to make sure she is not regarded as a Chinese from Mainland China, Hong Kong or Taiwan or anywhere else.

Hey brother, same-same here...

When I first came to Japan, I used my Chinese characters for my name.

The Mainland Chinese students came in hordes to celebrate their newfound comradeship with me in Mandarin, and I went belly up...

Thanks, but no, no, no...

As I mentioned somewhere before, I may not be the 'King of Cannot Speak Chinese' but I am pretty close...

So, since then, I dropped the use of the Chinese characters like that proverbial hot ubi kentang...

And then, keatix, a regular (?) commentator to my humble blog (thank you, thank you) had this to say...

Lrong, U can help out with the controlled unpegging of the RM.... be patriotic a bit mah... hee hee...

Be patriotic???

Ok, ok...

Must admit that I can't help much with the unpegging, but perhaps there is one small thing I can do...

See here for hint...

Patriotic enough or not?

Heehee heeeeh heeeheeheee...

Also, I am looking forward to sinking my teeth into that delicious kari ayam dengan ubi kentang my missus concocted for me tonight...

* Actually, it is last night's leftover lah... *

Patriotic, even to the extent of my taste buds...

Ok?

EMCEE FOR A KARAOKE CONTEST

Had a fun time playing Emcee the other weekend for a local Karaoke contest...

The costume... Malaysian enough?

See here for full story...

PS: The lovely ladies are from Argentina and China...

RAINBOW WRASSE A-FLICKERING

Wrasses are one of the most common types of fishes we can observe in the ocean.

I caught this school of hungry rainbow wrasse on a feeding frenzy.

The target of their appetite was the eggs of the Lemon Damselfish.

Where I live in Japan, we sometimes manage to fish the rainbow wrasse.

They taste really good, especially when steamed with preserved plums, ginger, garlic, and some rice wine.

This shot was taken overhead the place of action.

I was almost in a vertical pose, with fins above...

Luckily, not much current to deter me...

Size of these guys was about 30 centimeters...

SEA CUCUMBER

Heard on the radio this morning that the demand for sea cucumbers in China is skyrocketing.

The sea cucumber is considered one of the most sought after delicacies in Chinese cuisine besides the abalone.

And as usual, it is believed that the sea cucumber has medicinal properties that can even cure the avian disease...

But probably not this specie with a mouthful of a name...

Try pronouncing 'Bohadschia graeffei' and see if it makes sense to anyone...

Keeeeh!

According to my sources, this species radically changes it appearance from juvenile to adult, mimicking the looks of the nudibranch at the juvenile stage.

This is probably a survival strategy, as nudibranches are known to be distasteful or even poisonous to predators...

Adults are characterized by their beige color with black spots, warty skin, and short white tipped tubercles for movement...

This guy was about 50 centimeters long...

Picture taken in early evening while the guy was out feeding...

The 'model' in the background is my better half...

A LASTING LITTLE SMILE

Was walking down the staircase from my apartment this morning.

A familiar cute little girl of about four was playing by herself.

She is the daughter of our immediate next-door neighbor.

In a sweetest little voice, she greeted... 'Ohayo!'

Ohayo! (Good morning!)

She: 'O shigoto?' (Going to work?)

Hai, mai nichi desu yo... (Yes, every day lah...)

'Aruite?' (By foot?)

Iie, jitensha de da yo (No, by bicycle loh...)

Bye bye!

Bye bye!!

Hours later, I am still smiling...

A four year old, using the honorific ‘O’ as in O-shigoto...

Impressed, I am...

Will certainly be missing her and the folks at our pigeonhole apartment...

Last week, paid up the remaining fees for the house, and am now waiting to collect the title.

Then, spent a busy weekend planning and discussing about the kitchen and bathroom renovations.

Found out that there is a mature persimmon tree with fruits in the garden...

Hope to move there by the end of September after we return from our visit to Malaysia.

Woaaaahhh... will ripe persimmons be waiting for me?

Yes or yes?

DROP OFF CAFÉ AT SIPADAN

The one and only café at the drop off point in Sipadan.

Service was very slow...

But the view and atmosphere was superb...

Probably no longer in existence because of the government decree to evacuate all business premises from Sipadan.