SIPPING TEA IN A JAPANESE BATH IN SPRING

Calendar-wise, it is spring...

But the weather, frigid it remains...

Flowering, are the pink and white plums...

The shy nightingales, a-singing...

Been enjoying the Japanese bath since we moved into our place...

The body gets warmed up to the bones and it feels super good...

And what more, the cold rash that inflict me every winter...

Is magically banished...

Last night, we experimented with putting dried lemon grass into the bath...

Wooohh... the fragrance... super nice...

Had thought that lemon grass was only for fish curries and asam laksa...

Until a Japanese friend introduced us to lemon grass tea some time ago...

As with other beverages, we took it plain... without sugar...

Wooohh... nice...

Tried drinking turmeric tea once while on a trip to Okinawa...

Wooooohh... horrid...

Last summer, had a lot of bitter gourd plants...

Not much fruits but plenty of leaves...

So, harvested the leaves, sun-dried them...

And made bitter gourd tea out of them...

Wooohh... terror-bitter... but very pleasant after-taste...

NICE SHOT...

I continue to be quite hopelessly hooked...

B-Comedy...

Funny and moreover, free of charge...

Hmmm... let’s see...

PM accepts apology, no action against NST...

Heheheeeheheee...

Ok, I trust that many of you folks, like yours truly here, are jumping up and down the roof gleefully, feeling uncontrollably excited with yet another of these truly 'impressive gems' from Mr. Nice Guy...

No?

Honto?

ADDICTED TO B-COMEDY

Been very busy with hosting a group of Korean and Taiwanese students in our two-week Japanese Language and Culture Program.

Just sent off the last student today... so, can lay back and enjoy some good ole bolehland comedy... something that I am undoubtedly addicted to...

And, woaaaahh... what comedy can be more 'timely' and interesting than the one found in 'Billions wasted'... (see below)

Only that, why is our man telling the goondoo-rakyat what they have known and have been tolerating since the Malaysian clock began to tick?

And more hilarious is the 'immediate response' aka bodek-talk by our man snoring in the JKR barracks...

Says he...'the ministry was prepared to engage itself in a different format to upgrade roads and public amenities'

Hmmm... 'engage itself'??

Does he mean, 'play with himself'?

I think in some societies, they call this 'playing with Mrs. Palmer'...

Why engage itself when it should be engaging the users, the rakyat?

And another jewel to scratch our ding-dongs over...

'I request that all MPs write to me directly and their complaints will be forwarded to a separate department within JKR so that they will be attended to immediately'

Huh? All MPs?

And 'complaints forwarded to a separate department within JKR'?

Is this what they call beating around the bush?

If so, it would be really entertaining to have a really disturbed, furious snake shoot out from the bush, poisonous fangs showing, and heading for the JKR man's ding-dongs...

Heheheee...


The Star, 20 Feb 2006

Billions wasted
BY JACK WONG

KUCHING: Billions of ringgit have been wasted in repairing public buildings and amenities due to Malaysia’s poor maintenance culture, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.

The money, he said, could have been better used to provide new amenities for the people.
“Due to poor maintenance of buildings and amenities, we have to allocate big sums of money for repairs. This is a loss,” he said.

PM: Due to poor maintenance of buildings and amenities, we have to allocate big sums of money for repairs. He told MPs and assemblymen to report defects in such facilities, like suraus, schools and community halls, when they visit their constituencies.

If minor defects were spotted early and rectified, they would not develop into big problems and cost more money when the services of contractors had to be engaged, he said.

“A stitch in time saves nine,” he said at the closing ceremony of the Backbenchers Club annual retreat at SM Agama Sheikh Haji Othman Abdul Wabah in Matang near here yesterday.

He also suggested that schools assign teachers to take charge of the management and maintenance of buildings and other facilities, adding that owners of other public buildings and amenities should also do the same.

Serious attention, he said, should also be given to maintaining school computers and other equipment.

Speaking to reporters later, Abdullah said while there were weaknesses in the management and maintenance of public facilities, users should also be blamed for not taking care of them.
He cited examples like damaged public telephones, dirty and malfunctioning public toilets.

In an immediate response, Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, welcomed Abdullah’s remarks, saying that the ministry was prepared to engage itself in a different format to upgrade roads and public amenities, reports A. LETCHUMANAN.

“I request that all MPs write to me directly and their complaints will be forwarded to a separate department within JKR so that they will be attended to immediately,” he said.

LOCAL ELECTIONS IN AJI TOWN

Aji town is a teeny-weenie hamlet populated by a little over 6000 inhabitants. It used to be part of another township until 10th January this year, when it merged with Takamatsu city with six other townships.

For the last month or so, a man stood every morning by the only trunk road that connects the hamlet to the city. Which means, all residents pass through this road on the way out to work...

Rain or shine, wind or snow, he bowed and raised his hand at every passing car or bicycle that drove pass. I wondered what he was up to...

Then, I noticed a big signboard erected beside him...

He is fighting for the only local councilor slot, competing head on with five other candidates.

For the past week, two other candidates claimed their places along the road...

One, dressed like a farmer, stood poised like an ugly Statue of Liberty...

His left hand was perpetually lifted high up, and he neither moved, waived, bowed, nor smiled...

The third candidate has some sidekicks with him...

With blood-red head bands tied up around their foreheads, they were waving and bowing profusely... to every passing vehicle...

From 8 am to 8 pm daily, these six candidates have been broadcasting their speeches, plying the narrow winding roads in the hamlet...

So much so that they are almost on the verge of destroying the peace and tranquil of the hamlet...

The five other townships that merged have comparatively larger populations and yet they have at most four candidates compared to our six...

Anyway, I am glad that the elections are conducted today...

And despite the noise pollution, I would rather stick with these rather boisterous local elections rather than to have the local councilors politically appointed as we do in Bolehland...

For if the elected local councilors play hide-and-seek, the residents get to kick-ass and throw sand into their faces...

FISHING...

Received an inquiry from Applegal about the identity of a fish she photographed...

Her fishing trip reminds me of a similar one I had at Swan River, Perth...

Was with my good buddy, and his 'gang'...

There were probably about fifteen of us...

Deep in the chilly night, we were about to give up when I felt a pull...

And what a pull it turned out to be...

Strangely, I was the only person with a catch that night...

Which in turn reminds me of yet another fishing trip, this time at Tasik Kenyir...

Nice place... extremely quiet... floating but rickety accommodation... and pretty decent food...

On a hike to a waterfall, saw some elephant dung... eagles and hornbills flying... otters frolicking at the riverside...

But due to illegal net fishing and the inherent poor law enforcement (as usual), sport fishing which is promoted as an attraction, has apparently lost its 'bite'...

One family gave up midway, and checked out a few days early... clearly disappointed...

We were four... and strangely again I was the only 'sanabab' with a catch... a 4-kilo toman...

A bit shy to announce lah... ahem... as I was probably just a little luckier than my pals...

STARGAZER

Flathead is its other name...

White meat... pretty delicious...

Sometimes on sale here in Japan too...

Caught this guy at Swan River, Perth, in the deep of one windy night some time ago...

Size was about 40 to 50 centimeters...

My friend's relative immediately guillotined off its head...

Will cook curry with it... he murmured...

I was like... 'Hey braddaa, the head tastes the most delicious...'

See related story here...