ScribBLeS

I decided to move my blog to Wordpress.com since I’d maximized my photo storage in Friendster Blogs. I still have to improve the aesthetical part of my new site and playing around with the new features offered there.  

So if you decide to waste your precious time on reading some mundane things - sometimes interesting, sometimes lousy, sometimes lame - then visit my blog and spread the word on Scribbles.

Lastly, I leave you with a verse to ponder on…

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him." - Jeremiah 17:7

Peace out.

*clasp hands*

I’m holding a well-defined, well-featured and well-reviewed toy.

This gadget has anti-shake system, red-eye correction, a huge LCD screen, 8 MP, 3.8x zoom, pocket-sized, custom color affect, face detection and 2G memory card….in silver-black hues and bundled in a cushy Bagman.

Thanks HL.

Oh goodness.

It is past midnight yet my family and myself are very excited. Er, let me rephrase that. The whole country is excited!!

The General Election 2008 results are out, hence here are some key highlights:

1. Some prominent cabinet ministers had lost their parlimentary seats ie. the transport works minister, information minister plus the women, family and community development minister. Also in the losing list are some deputy ministers and big guns of the coalition parties.

2. Opposition could win 40% of parlimentary seats, a dent to the 2/3 majority.

3. Opposition has captured the state-seats majority in Penang, Kelantan, Kedah and possibly three more states. Now one of them is a highly-populated, enormous state where many young, urban voters reside.

4. The Chinese coalition parties are not doing well this time.

5. Former ousted politician’s wife and daughter had won big at their parlimentary seats.

I am still waiting for the outcome of my own candidates. It is a close match between the scales and rockets, so I hope the best men win.

Stay tuned.

1:50 AM

More updates:

1. My rocketing candidate succeed :p

2. The Indian coalition party also suffers some major defeats, namely from their president, deputy presidents, youth leader and woman’s leader (hmm, the freedom walk did leave an impact)

3. Terengganu was a close call but is claimed by the coalition parties.

4. Perak and Selangor are in the midst of falling into the Opposition’s hand. OMG! What an anticipation!

5. My relative’s run for parlimentary seat may not turn out great. Feeling sorry for him.

2:45 AM

1. The Chinese coalition party has lost all but one state seats in Negeri Sembilan.

2. Perak has been taken over by Opposition.

3. Unknown status in Selangor.

Some light facts:

- The lack of 2/3 majority at parlimentary/ federal level would disable the new cabinet from freely amending the constitution and require an agreement from the opposition to actually pass these amendments.

- The state governments are elected to advise their respective sultans/ governors and to hold control of the state affairs. However, international fundings and legislative (most of it) are managed by the federal government (state governments however, have their own revenues from land. forests, etc.) .

- With more opposition in the state governments, we hope to see a more proactive role in uniting and being involved in the people’s needs.

Don’t disappoint us.

It was over lunch when the issue of security was raised. In the light of General Election, this is vital for our new government to improve on, along with other matters ie. job and education opportunities, poverty eradiction, equal rights, freedom of speech and religion practices, credit systems, taxes, health benefits, cleaner judiciary and law enforcements, transparencies in the political, economical and social avenues, etc.

Among us were some expatriates and they were talking about the security breeches @burglaries that occured in our work community. It was very embarassing I must say, the amount of incidents I’d heard.

We had a case of an elderly colleague who had his house broke into and his arm slashed with a parang. All he wanted to do was to express himself but the burglar panicked and cut him.

My lunch partner also mentioned he had a similar experience where four men stormed into his house at 3am, cornered his family to a room and got them all tied up. He said he never seen that much shivers running through his wife in his entire life. Frightening right?

My friend was so worried and struck a bargain with the leader of this pack.  "You can take all my valuables and stay away from my family or I’ll jump out this window and run away for help".

Bear in mind, he was terrified because these men didn’t wear any masks nor dressed in black. They in fact, looked like regular blocks that one would not be suspicious of. Daring right?!

Fortunately the leader spoke up, "We do no harm but just give us money and valuables."

Then just last month, my other colleague went to a hospital to visit her ill child. Upon completing her visit, she came out and was attacked by a snatch-thief…right in front of a noble institution. How bad is that! A hospital, for goodness sake.

Another story was that my other colleague was ’smoked’ to sleep and had his apartment raided. Apparently there was a big stone which could emit a sleeping-smoke, inducing no consciousness to the unfortunate ones. The police was actually aware of this trick and found the item at his place, to his utter disbelief.   

The worst I ever heard: two men burglarized a home of both parents and two daughters. It was at the wake of their eldest daughter’s arranged marriage and sadly, this daughter got herself raped. The after-effect? She got pregnant and was dumped by her fiance. Such cruelty right?! Last I heard, she was mentally and emotionally disturbed.

One fact was the high flows of foreigners coming into the country which create an unsafe environment to live in. I’m trying not to stereotype that all foreign laborers are a nuisance but to hear my colleagues getting assaulted by them is already a living proof, leading to an increase of security burdens.

Who is to be blamed? We can’t simply blame the government for not establishing tighter regulations if we ourselves have created the demand, bypassing proper selection controls. We also can’t simply blame the government for corruption if we ourselves choose to fork duit kopi for a cheaper route.

Nevertheless there are many things a government could do to ease people’s burden. I agree with many that the current government isn’t producing satisfying results and there are too many unhappy citizens. I myself am one.

There are a lot of points to talk on and this could be endless. Yet it will be not fruitless. Hence I will vote according to my cause. My cause is to live in fairness and truth, using the freedom I already have - the right to vote, speak and act. I am not seeking for drastic change but improvements. Also direct forums that allow ourselves to express peacefully and see actions taken, not promised alone.

An accessible government, a happier nation - that is my goal.

I pray that our land would be a fertile ground for greatness, unity and is admirable to other nations. So vote for a better Malaysia.

Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it ~ Psalm 127:1.

Yes, we might die. We will all die sooner or later. But we will die for a cause worth dying for. So that our children and their children might live in freedom. - William Wallace

      

I was initially reluctant to watch the latest musical in KL since it would be in Mandarin and scripted on a Tibetan legend. Weird for me, right?

However I got intrigued after reading articles on the production team, an all-Malaysian team mind you - who garnered praises across the globe for their previous two works.

Then came the legend. A princess who travelled three years to marry a man that she never meet? Between China and Tibet? Hmm. Oh wait, this man was a king. Someone who had won battles and conquered lands. Not some merchant, officer or kungfu sifu. Ah…smart princess.

So I joined JK and his friends - all lawyers - to be entertained by songs and music and all that stuff.

Conclusion?

It was Brilliant.

The actors and actresses really can sing! I love the main actress’ (Princess Wen Cheng) performance- she sang beautifully and very melodically. So did all her other counterparts, of course

The dancers took forms as cityfolks, villagers, priests, royal princesses and choreographed after Chinese-Tang dynasty and Tibetan movements. Not forgetting the songs, well-written, dubbed in English too and had apparent Buddhist messages, but not that evangelistic enough to get me squirming in the seat.

The stage was excellent too, incorporating dropdown backgrounds and CGI screen for battle scenes and animals…stuff that you rather stimulate digitally than getting the real thing.

My only complaint? The storyline was pretty straightforward, slightly cheesy and leave a bit to the imagination. And the princess’ sobs - too much!

Anyway, Kudos to Musical On Stage Productions for this wonderful effort.

Read more here.

FRIENDS WHO HAVE BEEN/ SEEN/ RESIDED IN CALGARY, CANADA.

I need recommendations on where or what to visit or eat or play.

Thanks!

Uncle Ho certainly took care of his people really well.

Why so?

Because until today, young people of my age still acknowledge his legendary leadership of uniting the country and extorting other powers out of Vietnam. My friend couldn’t help repeating herself about the army tankers storming through the gates of Presidential Palace everytime we passed this area. Read about April 30 1975 on the fall of Saigon to North Vietnam.

Uncle Ho even has a statue with small children hugging him, reminding me of Jesus Christ in the bible verse Matthew 19:14.

My time in HCMC @Saigon is coming to an end (although I strongly believe I would return here for more business trips) and rounding up local friends together was enriching. For a lone Asia.Pac.region-trekker, exchanging stories over meals and coffee made time flies quickly. But then again, time also flies fast if one has too much work to finish in such short notice (like in this trip). Oh, I got to learn that Vietnamese girls are pretty with big eyes, lovely hairdos, petite forms and sweet smiles. Plus the properties in HCMC are really expensive thanks to the blooming economic and foreign investors. My room rate is ridiculously overpriced, three times more than KL rates. Gee.

I lost count of how many people mistakenly thought I was Vietnamese, yet the funniest was when I got mistaken as a HongKie by a cabbie ;p

HCMC has a landscape vastly different from Hanoi. One sees more skyscrapers, fancy restaurants, luxurious apartments and larger vehicles on the much busier roads. However there’s one common trait: the crossing-of-roads is still hazardous to pedestrians!

Between these 2 cities, I still prefer the less modern, poorer ways of Hanoi. It is more picturesque and balming to the soul plus the cool weather makes one walk pleasurable.

Oh yes, I’ll still be tucking in a tourist gig right before my morning flight. A visit to the War Remnants Museum for an eye-opening, learning tour.

Browse my sights and food digs of HCMC. Chao!

   

I got news today that I’m flying to the south of Vietnam, none other than Ho Chin Minh City…yay!

Har har….what fun. Just days after I came back from the North

Anyway, enjoy my pictures of Hanoi….I’m off packing for sunny Saigon!

For the sake of TLC, I did one of the most compromising but enjoyable job for someone without any cost.

And I do believe the recipient gained satisfying results.

Let’s do it again!

Har har har. Another trip, another holiday!

I’ve been planning this trip for sometime, told a few friends and family about it while crossing my fingers that nothing from work would interfere. It was fun that I get to plan this from the start, arranging the lodgings and flights and itinerary from our virtual domain, travel books and tips from previous visitors-of-Hanoi. There were a few bumps along the way, came to a point that I may need to cancel the trip but things did sort out nicely on their own.

Real glad that tomorrow has arrived

My flight would be at 630 AM, yes, a crazy time to depart as the time to leave home would be latest 330AM. Argh. But a small price to pay considering I get to spend more time in Hanoi, covering a wide area of places and activities.

But the most worrying news is that the temperature at Hanoi is lower than 10degC. Oh gosh, I doubt I’d ever experienced this cold weather before. Plus rainy days are predicted which I hope would not dampen the mood of both tourists and locals.

I got my things packed up, passport in hand (no visa required, thanks to the wonderful structure of ASEAN) and praying that all things will go smoothly.

All said, do wait for my pictures/ videos. I’ll be back in 5 days time to update my adventures and sightings, probably looking like a lost eskimo surrounded by a sea of motorbikes. Oh oooh, plus the beautiful Halong Bay (actual sea this time). Tạm biệt!