Eid ul-Adha, 冬至, Christmas

In a well diversed multi-racial, multi-religion country like Malaysia, there's always a chance that a few different festival and special occasion falls within a same period of time.



December 2007, most notably the week starting from 20 December 2007 to 25 December 2007 marks three very important day for three different group of people.



To a lot of the modern day Malaysians, festive seasons = public holidays = more time to sleep at home = time to do shopping.




Ask your indian friend what is Eid ul-Adha (Hari Raya Haji) and they will reply you :"some Malay festival lah!" ( Not exactly, its Muslim, not Malay!)




Ask your malay friend why is Christmas celebrated and they will say :" Kerana Santa Claus akan memberi hadiah?" (Because Santa Claus will give away gifts?)




However, the most embarassing thing to happen is, when you ask your Chinese friend what is 冬至 (Dong Zhi), their reply will be :" Time to eat Tang Yuan !" (which is true, but WHY?)



Maybe its time we ask ourselves these questions:



1.) What is Hari Raya Haji (Eid-ul-Adha) and why do Muslims celebrate it?

2.) What does Christmas mean ? Why is it also known as Xmas? Who is Santa Claus?

3.) Why celebrate 冬至 (Dong Zhi) and why eat Tang Yuan?



With the power of the internet, its never too difficult to find answers to these questions. (I recommend using Wikipedia as a one stop solution!)


Celebrate with purpose, share the joy!

Merry Christmas!

Not that I celebrate christmas but it's always nice to see the major shopping malls coming out with innovative christmas decorations every year. This toy soldier is definately something special , which you can see in One Utama Shopping Mall (New Wing) !

Cool eh?

Have you got what it takes(to get into self employment)?

Came across this while surfing around http://www.prospects.ac.uk/
I guess these are a few important questions that one should answer before deciding to venture into self-employment.



Could you be a risk taker? No business is risk free, so you need to judge the level of danger correctly and then be sufficiently well prepared to live with the consequences.

What is your response to uncertainty ? Do you find this exciting rather than worrying? Are you prepared for changing markets, competition, economic fluctuations?

Do you see change as a challenge? Can you minimize its downsides by careful thought and planning?

Are you opportunity aware?Given even half a chance do you take it? Better still, can you see it coming before anyone else does? Or are you too cautious or over-analytical?

How hard can you work?Being self-employed is not an easy option especially if you are working on your own. Results are often only produced by working long hours, doing routine tasks rather than high powered business deals.

Are you a realist? Can you gauge in practical terms what it’s possible to achieve or produce within a certain period? In business terms this translates into: being aware of limitations; striving for speed, efficiency and quality; pricing your output so that it appeals to clients but at the same time pays you a realistic wage. Are you able to visualise the product or service you are offering through your customers’ eyes?

How well organised are you? You’ll need to be an excellent time manager. If you don’t already possess this skill, it can be learned! How else will you juggle tasks, meet multiple deadlines, prioritise conflicting demands and cope with basic administration such as sending out invoices? No one is going to pay you unless you remind them.

Do you plan ahead? You need to do this to minimise uncertainties and maximise your chances of success. You may have enough work now but unless you inform more people about what you do, it may soon dry up.

Will you be able to network? It is essential to be able to market yourself and your business, often in social situations. Constantly putting yourself in a position to meet potential customers or contacts is a prerequisite.

Are you literate and numerate? What’s your relationship with computers? If you are not totally familiar with any of these functions you may have to pay other people to help with bidding for funds, doing the accounts and dealing with IT.

Do you possess commercial awareness? Do you know how to attract and retain customers, make a profit and corner a share of the market?

What’s your level of commitment? Do you believe in yourself and in your own business idea? Self-employment is not always a comfortable option or an easy alternative to finding regular work. Doubts or a half-hearted approach can be disastrous.

Are you self motivated? Running a business can sometimes be a lonely occupation. No one is going to motivate you other than yourself.

What does professionalism mean to you? Will you turn up to meetings on time, present a businesslike image, and do the necessary homework?

What do you think?

A) Better stay put and working in my lovely cubicle 9 to 5 !

B) I'm all geared up to get rich (or get very poor) and achieve a lot more!

Thoughts on Jakarta

Jakarta, a place where people literally lived in traffic jams

A place where people drinks coke with condensed milk

It's a place where people will sing your favourite songs when you eat in a food court

It's a place where businesses could be done anywhere, anytime

A place so crazy they built antenna towers all over the city

There's so much culture differences where their pharmacy is called Apotik

A place so hungry it has so many varieties of food available:

Rujak

Satey Padang

Sate Kambing

Don't know what is this, but its a delightful street snack

Cendol with avocado+ nangka

Nasi Ayam Bakar

I've seen,tasted and tried so much in Jakarta.

But most of all,

I've seen life.

Life of others which amazes me.

To be drunk or not to be?

It's our best friends's wedding dinner.

You just get happy on these occasions and tend to say "Yummmmmmm Senggggggggggg" alot
And the end results, as expected.....the bridesgroom father sitting in weird postures
Drunken sailor moon look a like in PK................
Drunken master in action demonstrated by JC ......
Pushing and jostling to reject help from others on one moment,

and on the floor the other moment !

Really unpredictable!

Drunken master seeing no new challenge after a while....starts to sleep like a kitten

KC, although not drunk, took over the role of a loving wife.

And isn't a miracle that the drunk uncle can still shoot such nice photos in the end?

p/s: PK and JC don't kill me for this

Wedding pictures !

Yee Chung's Wedding Photos could be found here

Pre-wedding-- http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahkumm/

Wedding -- http://picasaweb.google.com/wongjiaching4/

Congratulations mate!

Falling, anyone?

Have you ever asked yourself:

How well do you know how to fall? (yes, into that hole)

How well do you absorb the impact of your fall? (breakfalling, therefore no broken limbs, only scratches)

How well do you rebound after your fall? (get back on ur legs?)

Do you realise that because of your fall, you will actually affect someone else? (poor guy who lost his bedroom roof)

How do you make sure the impact on others are minimum? (pay him RM50 to kau dim)

Instead of asking yourself, can I suceed , maybe, you should ask yourself:

Do you dare to fall? ( I don't, I accidentally fell)

If your answer is yes, then congratulations, you are one step closer to suceed in life!
(I'm feeling successful now! Do you?)

Die for your country!

"Smoking is unhealthy,but I smoked because I love my country."


That's a very patriotic statement made, but maybe not a healthy one.


But how does it make sense ?


"Hey, you know, I pay RM8.00 everyday for a pack of cigarette, and the country is getting extra income (through tax) from my consumption!"


Oh.....how come I didn't think bout it in the first place?


"I sacrifice my own health for the country, I love Malaysia!"


That put me into shame, what have I done to show that I love my country?


Maybe I should start drinking,smoking,and buying new imported cars, don't you agreed?

He's just serious bout it isn't he?

The Toad in Jakarta!

3 Days.

That's all it takes for me to feel guilty.

Guilty for not expecting anything in Jakarta.

And I am so wrong that I felt like a toad under the well.

I did not expect to find some of the most tastiest, dynamic, exciting and surprising food in Jakarta!

First up, there's this Nasi Goreng Komplit.

Its complete with all sorts, shrimps, beef, mutton, chicken, eggs,crackers, sausages, and vege.

Ok, it's not fantastic, but the name is funky enough to worth a mention.

Great drink, never expected this combination!

Es Kelapa Jeruk ! Coconut meat with orange juice?

Why didn't anyone back in Malaysia do this?

One of the king of Indonesian food -- Soto Betawi.

Coconut soup with beef. But that is just too short a description for it.

Too delicious.

My personal favourite and I just can't find words to describe it!

Buy a plane ticket to Jakarta to try it, and you'll know what I mean. It's worth it!

Just when I thought I've seen enough, I stumbled upon this!
What the.....Kopi Krim Soda?

Am I still in planet earth?

Ok, maybe I think so since I'm a toad.

What do normal human beings like u think?

The Waiting Game

I don't know what is the main cause for this overcrowded hospital pharmacy.

But isn't it a bit too much to ask someone to wait for 94 numbers (!!!) before getting his turn?

If each number takes 2 minutes to process, it'll take 3 hours !!
If each number takes 1 minute to process, I'll still have to wait for 1 and a half hours.
Call me impatient, but I do believe no one deserve the long wait!

There are things that the authorities could surely do to improve this, not only on the current situation, but maybe on a national level as well?

One tip: Try referring to how the NHS of the UK deal with the situation!

Views of Kuala Lumpur

I always think Kuala Lumpur is an unique city.

I never know there's such a view for this amazing city.

There's KL tower and Petronas Twin Towers

Breathtaking, especially at night

That's why I love my country more everyday, wouldn't you?

Sg.Gabai @ Hulu Langat

If you think this is just another banana tree in Malaysia, then you might want to rethink.

Because, besides the tree, there's this amazing natural waterfall !
With these kind of veiws ! Waterfalls!
It's not a hidden treasure, it's just need some effort and directions to be there!
People can't resist being amazed by the waterfall, the sound of water flowing and the dynamic power of nature !
Some preferred to meditate and relax in the running water .
Some just tranformed into little kids once touching water!
Some are just crazy about jumping into the water!
No matter who you are, you'll definately like the scenes here
If you're just not that adventerous, having nasi lemak while listening to the music of waterfall might be a good choice?
Now don't tell me :

there's nothing interesting,

nowhere to go,

nothing exciting in Kuala Lumpur.

You just have yet to find it!

Run for Charity, Run for Bread ?

Shame on me, never knew where exactly the Lake Gardens is although I've been in KL for 1 and a half years.

And shame on me again, for not knowing that Lake Gardens is indeed a very interesting place for relaxation, and leisure and also dating (maybe).

Worse still, never know bout Terry Fox Run until 2 weeks ago when Jaynce bugged me over and over again to participate.

I participated, and invited Vincent along and he took beautiful photos as shown. (Thanks Vincent for the lovely pictures)

Getting the crowd warmed up!

Participants getting really excited bout the event

Not exciting for you, young lad?

He ran for his life since 1995!

Great event, lovely t-shirts, lots of healthy looking girls in gorgeous sports gear (and guys, as well).

And of course, some sponsored Hi-5 breads and drinking water after the race.

Some ran for charity,and some for cancer patients; I ran for the bread and the babes.

Shame on me.