Hiking boots...

I am really poor at throwing away old stuff...
Especially stuff that I have grown to love... to cherish...

And this pair of hiking boots is certainly one of those 'difficult-to-throw-away' stuff, even thought it is worn out...

These boots had accompanied me to Mt. Fuji, twice...
I walked many a hill, most often than not, solo, at Nagano, Gifu, and Aichi Prefectures when I was a graduate student at Nagoya University in the 1990s...

My sweeto haato says, 'you cannot bring them to your grave when you kick the bucket... better to off-load one's belongings as we age... go light-weight...'
Good advice, no doubt... but still...
Perhaps I can try to be imaginative and convert them into 'flower pots' for my garden later on...

A solemn weekend spent...

Autumn is the season that I love best...

The air is dry and cool... and just so pleasant to be outdoors...

This is also the season when the higan-bana, a favorite flower of mine, comes to full bloom...

Known as Lycoris or Red Spider Lilies in English, this perennial plant is native to East Asia...

The higan-bana is commonly found in footpaths in the countryside and around graveyards... 

In East Asia, this flower is related to sorrowful legends...

Spent this last weekend in our potager in a solemn mood...

Two evenings ago, received news from my nieces about the demise of my eldest sister...

It is always a sad feeling to lose some one you love...

Someone so close... someone who took care of you when you were small...

The higan-bana... 

Beautiful as it is.. yet so sorrowful...

Discrimination, you say?

The habit of waking up early in Japan is thankfully not lost even while I'm vacationing in my village...

My missus wakes up before six to catch the morning news in Japan...
I crawl up at about seven, just in time to watch the day gradually brighten up...
And oh my, the singing of the birds... trhe misty morning views... this is as heavenly as I could wish for...

Normally for breakfast, we would have some hot Japanese green tea (brought from Japan) and wheat bread purchased from the minimarket the previous day...
I bought honey, 'Madu Tualang dari Cameron Highlands' for the first time...
It has a faint sourish(?) flavor and I like it...

We'd sit at the table in the back of my brother's house, cherishing the early morning calm as we watch the village folks pass by on their motorbikes and motorcars...

You know, I was really thrilled to witness the invasion of cyber space into my ancestral village...
The initial prospects and anticipation of being able to link up through the net within the comforts of my village soon turn into bewilderment...

My niece had contracted Celcom Broadband and man, talking about being frustrated waiting for the 'broadband' to link up...

Of course, I'd be foolish just to sit there, waiting for Celcom to do its work... While trying to hook up, repeatedly, that is, I listen to the radio... I enjoy the views from a distance through my binoculars... and at times, I read the papers...

Once it took me almost two hours to give up trying...
Thing is, I would have enjoyed updating my blog more often if the connection had been better...
So much for 'broadband' in Malaysia...

Anyway, my missus and I were very honored to be invited by an old classmate to his house to celebrate Christmas...
We haven't seen each other for 35 years and just some days earlier, We accidentally bumped into each other at a tosai shop...
So, there we were with his family and their friends, listening to Christmas songs and chatting about work... about family life and how one of his daughters love sushi...

Soon, another old classmate came along and it was fun to catch up...
This guy grows orchids as a hobby and has two young lovely daughters...
The conversation was pleasant and cordial...
Till that episode that almost made me, cringed...

My friend had sent his daughter to a Chinese school...
And in his daughter's own words, she 'geram' when her (Chinese) friends bullied her in school...
Apparently, her dad then transfered her to a national school when she was in Standard Four...

So, there you are... the discrimination in Chinese schools...
I don't know why, but I felt somewhat bad for the girl that such a thing happened...
But I suppose that discrimination occurs everywhere... even in schools in Japan...
Still, somehow at the back of my mind, I thought to myself...
Now, if the Chinese Malaysians are so inclined to voice out how bad racial discrimination in Malaysia is, they should first watch their own backyard...

The mother of this bright little girl is Javanese...
Her dad is of the Punjabi lineage...
Just imagine... she speaks Punjabi and probably Javanese as well...
Her English is super fluent and I suppose her Bahasa is equally good...
Put in Mandarin, and can we envisage what kind of Malaysian we will have in her when she grows up?

I say, when she asked for a transfer, that Chinese school should have conducted an investigation and should have reprimanded the culprits (if found guilty)...
Now, we can only feel sorry for yet another case of lost opportunity in cultivating inter-community goodwill, among other positives, that is...

Blissful in Malaysia

Am now resting in my village Kampong Ah Piew, and my hometown Alor Star...
It has been raining almost everyday, otherwise, it is cloudy....
The air is cool and we like it...

We had the so-called 100th day memorial for my mother the other day...
It seems that the people around Tokai (the one-street town about 2 kilometers from my village) got together to collectively secure a burial plot in Bukit Pinang...
So, it is like, 'together forever... dead or alive' for folks around Tokai area...
The highlight of the memorial was the invitation by the Taoist monk for mother to rest at the ancestral altar in my youngest brother's house...
Which means to say, my mother is now reunited with my father and all the ancestors...

We did not plan to do any scuba diving this trip...
For a change, we spend our time relaxing, and soaking in the views of the green-carpeted paddy fields, the fresh air in the village, and the songs of the little birds that congregate day and night at the fruit trees at my brother's house...

We also did something that we had not really done before...
That is, meeting up with old friends... schoolmates from secondary school...
I have not met some of them since 1975, which is like thirty five years ago...
In KL, one friend was too kind to set up a get-together at the roof-top of a condo, with sweeping views of the KL skyline and Genting Highlands...
Another was too gracious to bring my missus and I out for a night at a Lebanese restaurant...

In Alor Star, a friend met and chatted with us for hours over coffee and toast...
The same evening, yet another friend entertained us at a Thai restaurant in Jitra...
The following morning brought our friend and us together at a popular tosai joint where we met another old classmate by accident...
It was a joy catching up with him and I was too happy to accept his missus' invitation to visit them on Christmas day...
As if this is not enough for us, we are set to meet up with a bunch of old buddies and our teachers on 26th December...

We are due to fly to KL on 28th morning to connect to a late night flight to Osaka...
We are equally thrilled that a friend is organizing a lunch get-together on that day...
Wooh... how lucky can we get with these friends of ours?

My mother's not-so-fat Chinese funeral

Seen the movie 'My big fat Greek wedding?'

It's pretty hilarious, good stuff... hence the title of this post as my tribute...

My mum was an 'eater'... Yet, in her heydays, I'd say that although she was a little on the plump side, she was not exactly 'fat'...

Once, she visited Thailand with some of my siblings.

When they returned home with the goodies, my father wondered why they were such lousy shoppers.

These longans, so tiny! my father exclaimed.

The reality was, during the drive back home, mother had selectively wolloped the big ones.

I often bring mother out for a short walk in her wheelchair whenever I visited her at the nursing home.

The home was situated in a housing estate and the neighbors were always willing to exchange a word or two as we walked by.

Sayonara... dearest Mother...

Am now back at my village in the middle of nowhere in Kedah, again...

It is late now at night, and I briefly stopped writing this blog to go to the toilet at the kitchen area...

Compared to the noisy previous nights with lots of people movements, tonight is extremely quiet and peaceful...

There are just seven people tonight, compared to perhaps a hundred or so (?) the last few nights... and they are all sleeping in their rooms now...

As I walked into the inner kitchen, suddenly, 'klingg'... 'klannngg'... came the sounds of crockery and cutlery when handled...

Immediately, goose pimples sprang up all over my body...

What do you do... what can you do...

What do you do when an international student comes to you with a financial problem?
What do you do when the student had expected to obtain a scholarship, and had failed to do so?
What do you do... when during 'normal' days, the student is so radiant, so energetic, and so full of hope and smiles?
And what do you do... when the student breaks down, weeps... and cries for help...

For what can I do... to provide each and everyone of the needy international students with a scholarship...

The student leaves the room, dry-eyed by now...
and silently, in the privacy of my own company, my heart cries...
Oh god, this is just beyond my reach... for my eyes can only sob for them...

24th wedding anniversary

Boiled burdock with bean curd, potato salad, sashimi

Read that April 3rd marks the first anniversary of murder-suspect (in the eyes of the Malaysian public) Najib as prime minister.
Uh, who can forget that episode many moons ago, when Gobind rightly accused him straight in the face of being such (murderer of the Mongolian model).
He has still to respond to this very public accusation.
Besides this murder episode, this man has yet to explain to Malaysians about his seditious statement mouthed as the youth leader of that racist party, of wanting to bath Chinese blood with the kris.

Most importantly, he has to explain to me why he is tainting this beautiful April 3rd day by marking it as the starting day of  his ever corrupt and incompetent cabinet.

For, to me, April 3rd is an auspicious day in more ways than one.

Twenty eight years ago on this day, my work-superior introduced a lovely girl to me.
Twenty four years ago (or four years after that fateful day) on the same day, that girl and me became husband and wife...
Exactly a year after we got married, I arrived in Japan on 3rd April as a foreign student.

April 3rd 2010 was a warm 14 degrees, slightly windy, but very comfortable.
I spent the day digging the soil, preparing the beds to plant some gourds and cucumber.

We concluded the day with a simple meal of assorted sashimi, burdock, Japanese knot-weed which we picked from the hills, potato salad, fresh vegetables, fish curry, with a glass of red wine.

I look forward to spending more precious time with my sweetheart... and we are already contemplating on going to Vietnam to celebrate our silver anniversary next year...

Gib me piptee...

Yours truly turned fifty today...
What more can I ask for... as work is fine... and family life is, should I say, still exciting even after all these years?
Am thanking my lucky stars to be here as I am... in one piece...
In less than an hour's time, shall be congregating with my work colleagues at a beer garden by the sea...
Wooh, nice... only that I cannot drink because I am driving... dei!
Anyway, isn't it lovely to be around and still kicking up dust?

LIVING NEXT DOOR TO ALICE

Blog-reader Alice gave me a nudge on my ribs, reminding me that I had promised to write about Alice, an unfortunate target of my puppy love days...

What to do... I was about 17 or 18... and tell me, what interests boys of this age except, g.i.r.l.s.?

That goondoo of a boy would be standing in front of the mirror for like, hours... twiddling and fiddling his hair, making sure that every single strand and every other filament is in its 'proper' place... as if the girls would take notice... blah, those days...

Now, the sad thing is, nothing much really happened with this Alice girl...

Regardless, the 'height' of this non-event was the time when we climbed Kedah Peak in a group...

Was thrilled sky-high, literally... and was always trying to find excuses to walk alongside her... what a goondoo puppy-pest I must have been...

After that, visited her on several occasions in the evenings and yakked away the hours, fighting off the never-say-die mosquitoes...

She was petite, yes, and small-sized... with long flowing hair, pretty of course, and she looked terrific in jeans... as my friends like to remind me, 'my type'...

But it was not to be... those sticky-sticky mosquitoes were always in the way...

I climbed Kedah Peak a second time shortly after... and foolishly decided to pick some wild grass flowers to bring back for sweet Alice...

The streams were slippery and I could have slipped and knocked the brains off my skull... or am I exaggerating?

Thing is, was Alice happy to receive those miserable yellow grass flowers, wilted by the time I handed them to her?

Silly me...

Now, more than twenty-four years have passed us by, and all that remains is that song about living next door (actually, a few streets away) to her in Alor Star...

I have not heard much about her except that she once asked about me through a common friend...

Now Alice... if you are reading this... naw... can't be... can't be...

I close my case...

GO FOR WHAT YOU ENJOY, THE REWARDS WILL FOLLOW

Ok folks; let us take a break from whining...

Well, many of us have heard of the above phrase in one form or another...

Yeap... do what you love and the honor, reward, money, etcetera will fall into place...

I am finding out that it is true...

I love what I am doing now, but this is not to say that I have had my plans all laid out well ahead in time...

A reader, shaffiq ahmad, said, 'i must say that u're having a very interesting career'...

I responded that 'it just happened... I see myself as a coconut floating on the ocean, and wherever the waves bring me, I sail along and try to have a good time'.

So, this post is a little about rewards that follow from doing what I love to do...

Last week, the local Lions Club which I had been collaborating with regards to 'international' events, invited me for dinner at a wonderful Korean restaurant...

Hmmm, the thought of the delicious kimchi and the spicy soups is making my mouth water...

Anyway, the function was to congratulate me for my promotion...

And woaaah... they are recommending me to be an honorary member of their club...

They acknowledge that I have the expertise they need for their club...

My name will be registered in the official Lions Club registrar...

Poooh...

And two days ago, the President of my university called me up personally to request me to interpret for the Ambassador of a certain nation who shall be making a little keynote speech here in January...

Although I am not sure if I can do a good job at this, I see it as an honor...

However when I conveyed this news to my missus, she didn't seem happy...

Reason is, she says, the President does not know how lousy my Japanese is...

And I am afraid she might just be right on... especially if the interpretation is from English to Japanese...

Got up at past 2 am that night to pee...

And my mind somehow wandered to what transpired a few hours ago...

I laid open-eyed for the rest of the night, thinking about what to do...

Next morning, weary eyed from lack of sleep, I found the answer...

I am going to scream for help with this interpretation thingy!!

HOMECOMING, AFTER 22 YEARS OF GOOFING OFF

Just received a note from a good pal...

Said he, 'I'm planning a trip home end of this year after 22 years....'

Wow!!

***** ***** *****

In early January 1980, yours truly set out from his kampong with a borrowed shirt on his back...

Destination: Singapore...

Reason: Was hired by Singapore Airlines to train as Cadet Pilot...

As if I was not lucky enough, Singapore Airlines decided to send me (and a bunch of goondoos) to Manila for the training...

But that's another story for another time...

Each day, we walked through the hallways at the Philippine Airline Aviator School...

An overhanging plate said something to the effect...

'Along these hallways walk the fine airmen of tomorrow'...

Anyway, we trained and managed to qualify (?) as commercial pilots with instrument rating...

However, fate was not to be...

The 1981 oil shock put a stop to the expansion plans of Singapore Airlines...

The company offered us a choice to return to our kampong to wait for the recall...

Or we could choose to work in the cabin crew department and wait for the opening in the cockpit...

All of us, over twenty guys, chose the later...

We had a ball of a time flying as flight stewards...

What more... we got to know what the heck hors d'ouvre meant...

We got to taste 'leftover' Dom Perignon before we poured them away into the sink...

Meanwhile, months passed... years passed...

The company could not go on making unfulfilled promises...

So we were offered student loans to study in the university...

We were to return to the airline after graduation...

Most of us took the study loans and headed to the US...

We graduated but only a handful chose to return to the cockpit...

Most remained in the US, with one each in Japan, UK, and Australia...

Needless to say, the colors of the passports changed as the umbilical cords with the mother country got severed one by one...

And then, this notice from my pal about returning home after an 'exile' of 22 years...

(Notice he mentioned 'home'...)

I made a trip home after a continuous absence of three years (was studying in the US)...

That was in 1986...

I could not recognized my home in Alor Star then...

Imagine the images that will run through my pal's mind when he hits 'home' (aka Kulim)...

Woaaaahh... 22 continuous donkheey years away...

OOH, MY STOOOOMACK...

Somewhat out of the blue, Lilian threw me a line…

Grinning widely, she said,

‘Lrong - Here is something frivolous for you to ponder. Childhood food.

No obligation, ok? *Lilian holding Lrong’s neck at knife point…*

The way it works - write about 5 foods from your childhood that you missed.

Pass the baton to another three person after that.’

Ok lah.. here are the last five terror hungry ghosts…

1. Masak-Masak
2. Babe in the City
3. Samm
4. JoeC
5. Malaysia best

And, haaaa… now, what did I miss during my childhood days?

Maybe, mee goreng sold by the Indian man on the roadside outside my primary school, Sultan Abdul Halim Primary School? My family was not rich; I did not have much pocket money. So, while waiting for my father to pick me up after school in his 50cc Honda motorbike, I starred at the people chomping on the mee… saliva dripping... stoomack drumming... can you imagine it was sold in portions of 5 cents and 10 cents?

And second… kon loh mee… as sold by a vendor on tricycle with the tok-tok-tok sound… usually this guy came in the afternoon at about 4:00 pm, just when my stooomack was growling… but sadly again, no money to buy…

Third, grass jelly or chin chow? Funny, the seller also came in a bicycle… he sold the grass jelly in blocks of four or five inches in breath and about three inches in width… very cheap... me and my brothers would slice them up… and put lots of sugar… and ice… and we would be slurping the concoction for the rest of the day… haaaa…

The fourth food item might be the soup made from wild birds that we caught from the rice fields… don’t know their names but they are a little bigger than pigeons and they have very little fat… we boiled them with Chinese herbs for hours, so the meat and bones were soft and sweet…their taste was out of this world… these days, no more wild birds in the rice fields because no more karibaus there…

And tada !!! durians… bought in gunny sacks… don’t know why but my dad used to buy them in mountains… and we would just eat them with coconut-milk-treated glutinous rice… woooohh... my youngest brother ate a little too much… since then, he finds durians repelling… but KMiJ is still gorging at them after all these years… heheheee… paradise...

Sorry lah, Lilian… no fotos to show…

And the next three hungry ghosts are… tada !!!

1. keatix… a high-flying architect of a man… let’s see what his taste buds were like…
2. mmulibra… super researcher in search of an advance degree in Japan… can he recall the ‘lost’ foods?
3. dracolshian…artist extraordinaire in pursuit of a fine arts degree… now, what ‘tongue’ did she have?

A MATTER OF THE HEART

While a kampong boy, I used to ronda around Alok Setak town with my buddies.

Several of our schoolmates were Christians and of course, the non-Christians in us were targeted by them to come to church.

Occasionally, we did.

The hymns were a joy to listen to although I catch no ball on what they meant...

And what more; the girls were irresistibly cute...

See, I was but a green seventeen then...

The one time that I truly enjoyed going to church was when there were parties...

Makan parties, I mean, usually held at year-end...

Lots of good food and charming company...

These days, whenever I return to Malaysia, some old pals of mine would give me bibles with extremely minute fonts, plus CDs and DVDs on Christianity...

I am almost always lost as to how to respond to their noble offers...

Most of the time, I 'accepted' their offer politely but left them at another good friend's house for his perusal...

* If you are reading this, my sincerest apologies, guys... *

But come Christmas time, I take delight in listening to Christmas songs...

And my favorites are Kenny G's and Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas albums...

I don't seem to get tired of them, no matter how many repetitions I hear...

As for my dear friends' efforts, I once mustered up my courage to make a stand...

But like a wimp, no doubt, I beat around the bush...

Whispering... almost to myself...

'I think religion is very much a matter of the individual heart...'

Duh! So much making my stand...

Meanwhile, yours truly is heading to Tokyo tomorrow to attend a symposium at Waseda University...

The main aim is to listen to the presentations on cross-border higher education policies...

Incidentally, Waseda University is conferring an Honorary Doctorate on Dr. Mahathir for all he did or did not do for Malaysia...

Your man here shall probably be sitting incognito in the auditorium to witness the ceremony...

THE NOODLES WILL BECOME FAT

In my personal and professional capacities, I have the privilege to do some air travel.

As a poor student, I flew Malaysia Airlines often (on student discount, that is).

Switched to All Nippon Airways in the early part of my professional career.

And then, to Singapore Airlines before reverting to Malaysia Airlines...

The other day, I got a big shock upon discovering that a major chunk of our frequent miles with Singapore Airlines had expired.

Kaput, as in 'evaporated'...

Could have traveled for free to as far as Africa...

Dei !!!
Have a 'corporate-man' buddy who has accumulated gazillions of miles from frequent business trips.

For him, expiring miles are nothing because he does not have the time to use them...

But for a small-time kuchiku player like yours truly...

Adoooi... rugi maximum...
Another life-lesson that, there is a time for everything...

And that, nothing lasts forever...

So, better eat those noodles before they get too soaked up...

Adoooi... it hurts... *slaps forehead repeatedly*

PS: This post could have been titled, 'IT'S THE TIMING, STUPID!'

No?

GUYS, LISTEN TO YOUR WIVES!

I have a close buddy who had known my missus for a long time.

His favorite advice each time he sees me is 'Listen to your wife!' because he knows that I blurt out silly comments often, only to regret it later.

This morning, wifey commented that the Balled and Chained post was a bit too 'hamsab', just as Norzu noted in Nihongo, 'sukebe'.

Wifey said I should tone down and not write for my 'silent' buddies who enjoy 'shimo neta' (jokes based on the lower portion of the anatomy).

The conversation swiftly moved to the worsening Japan-China relationship and Koizumi's persistence in worshipping the Yasukuni Shrine.

Before I realized it, I was about to go against Rule number seven in marriage ala thquah... the person who is in the wrong is the one who talks the most...

Well you see, when I want to win an argument, I deliver rapidly in English...

Wifey dashed towards me from the kitchen sink area, stapled my upper and lower lips tightly with all ten fingers, preventing me from further yakking.

I quickly recalled rule number four... if there is someone who has to win an argument, let it be your mate...

Immediately, peace prevailed and I proceeded with my cheese toast and banana cake with hot chocolate... and plain yogurt with dry fruit toppings...

Ok guys, can't do much about that Japan-China fling, but probably no more shimo neta from now on... and Listen to your wives!