Balloon decoration at Jusco AU Keramat

Jusco AU Keramat opened last December and they had a FANTASTIC balloon decor for the whole place. Allan & Friends’ couldn’t have done better, I must admit. Well, at least not in the creating the design.  I guess our niche area is still pure entertainment

Looking at the kinds of balloons used and the amount of work that went in, I’m quite sure it cost them a lot.

Anyway, here are the pics….

Now do you know what I meant by “cost a lot”? And guess what? 2 weeks later, these balloons were all taken down and replaced with the Christmas themed ones!!! MORE $$$$

Oooooh, I’m just itching to know who the design creator is……..not the people who put it up, but the ORIGINAL designer. I’m dying to know if these were originals, if the balloon company thought of it all by themselves, or if they got the idea from another display somewhere in this world, or if they just took the design off a book, you know, like how we use fashion magazines to choose the designs we want tailored…….

Anyway, whatever it is,……

MY DEEPEST RESPECTS AND CONGRATULATIONS on a job VERY well done!

Just 3 more semesters to go…….

Proud of you, Anna……

Love, Mum and Dad

Students Named to 2008 Fall Semester Honor Lists

Clarksville, Ark. — The University of the Ozarks has announced its honor lists for the Fall 2008 Semester.

To be included on the President’s List, a student must complete at least 12 hours and maintain a 4.00 grade point average. To be included on the Dean’s List, a student must complete at least 12 hours and achieve between a 3.5 and 3.9 GPA.

President’s List
Claudia Aguero Ruiz, Leon, Nicaragua
Karla Dinorah, Aguilar Tejada, San Salvador, El Salvador
Seth Anderson, Sugar Land, TX
Daniela Bermudez Gardea, Chihuahua, Mexico
Joshua Booth, Clarksville, AR
Brandon Carlson, Grapevine, TX
Joel Chan, Tanjung Bungah, Malaysia
Ivan Chavez Morales, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Kimberly Corley, Booneville, AR
Yoselin Delgado Alvarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
Huy Do, Clarksville, AR
Keith Edwards, Grapevine, TX
Samuel Emerson, Mena, AR
Siew Moon Eng, Klang, Malaysia
Kathy Erickson, Waldron, AR
Cinthy Flores Cortez, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Dustin James, Wickes, AR
Matthew Johnson, Mexia, TX
Zi Jian Khor, Kedah, Malaysia
Catherine Lopez Madrid, San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Bristle McIntare, Harrison, AR
Andrea Muffuletto, Eudora, AR
Scharla Paryzek, Pea Ridge, AR
Juan Paz Lopez, San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Gildamaria Rangel Carrera Mixco, Guatemala
Samuel Rivas Morales, Mejicanos, El Salvador
Pablo Rivera Reyes San Salvador, El Salvador
Zyanya Sanchez Lozoya, Chihuahua, Mexico
Amy Smedley, Pearcy, AR
Elisabeth Snoddy, Hot Springs, AR
Natalie Suarez, San Salvador, El Salvador
Steffi Teo, Klang, Malaysia
Andrea Walker, Ozark, AR
Lay Hoong Yap, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Anna Yong, Ampang, Malaysia
April Young, Deer, AR 

Chinese New Year 2009

Its the usual tea giving ceremony for our family again, as it has been every Chinese New Year.  the children show us their respect by giving us tea and a blessing and we give them an ang pow with a blessing as well.  This year, I took the blessings from 2 portions of the Bible, one from Num 6:24-26 and the other, extracts from Deut 28.

Andrea wanted to be the first, so this year, we allowed a reversal by allowing the youngest to start

……followed by Angie…..

…….and then Andy

 

Taking a good pic with Sasha was difficult because she had a bad start to the day

Sasha finally started to enjoy herself

With mum at my granduncle’s house

Sasha and Allie joined us

My cousins’ cars

by the way, my cousins are only 20

Mum and my aunties………one of my cousins on the far right (no, she’s not the sports car owner)

With Allan’s sister, brother and their families

Jeane with XiLin

Jason with Calvin

At Allan’s maternal uncle’s home – this is a HUGE family – we gave away close to 30 ang pows here

As usual, Allan is in his element when surrounded by kids – showing some card tricks here.

 

 

 

totally random pictures….

Its one of those days when there is nothing much to blog about,….or too much to blog about – all random stuff of course, then you discover some pictures that you had taken to blog about, but never got down to doing it. so this is a miscellaneous blog – of this, that and the other

 

Want to thank JOHN KIT for the next 3 pictures which he took and gave to me – I think they are really nice

One day I told my neighbour (the bungalow up on the hill as you approach Taman Hillview from the MRRII) that I like to eat Pisang Rastali but that it is so difficult to find. He told me he has some trees and will give me a shoot from one of them – a few days later his gardener arrived with this HUGE FULLY grown banana tree and now its in my garden – just waiting for it to fruit.

Almost everyone who knows Allan also knows that he is the durian king – loves durian and chooses great durian – well, a durian king is not much of a king without his own trees, right, these are our trees planted at the office

Some of our neighbours are pretty rich (them, not us). We saw this car passing by one evening, so we took a shot of it – nearest thing to owning it

We had 2 walks on the DUKE highway before it was opened to the public – its pretty breezy walking up there – quiet and peaceful. Took our dogs there too – they got a bit stressed after a while, cos there was no familiar scent. They could hear cars, but not see any – so they kept jumping up to look over the barriers

Was driving on the Elevated Highway one day and caught sight of this amazing skyline

Someone asked me why I allow Andy to keep on playing the Rubik’s cube -in this case, its the V Cube. Well, I think its better for him to play the Cube than to spend his entire time in front of the PS or the PC – at least he has to think when he plays the cubes……

Christmas at our office – thanks to Ah Hui for decorating the place.  Ah Hui leaves today for Miri, his home town permanently.  We’ll definitely miss him but its good for him to go back home.  Besides, he can always visit whenever Air Asia has a sale.

Luz, our househelp, has “green fingers”.  since she arrived, my plants have been looking good and we even have our own vegetables – like these here.

 

 

 

 

 

Hanoi – Conclusion

In my first post on Hanoi, I talked about how big groups of Vietnamese workers returning home jostled and push their way through, cutting queue and ignoring dagger stares from others at the airport….and I wondered if that was due to the “survival of the fittest” instinct, making them so aggressive.

This is a picture of them upon arriving, no, make that touch down. YES, literally upon landing, most of them got out of their seats and pushed their way to get their bags, ignoring the cries of the poor airline crew, telling them to remain seated until the seatbelt sign was off.

Yet, when we left, the scene at the Hanoi airport was completely different – groups of Vietnamese workers about to depart for KL to work were all obediently and patiently lining up. I was told that the authorities in Vietnam are very strict and powerful and the people are really afraid to be caught doing something wrong. There certainly were some police at the airport and I saw them doing their job.

So, why did we see such a different group at KL?

Is is a matter of needing to be aggressive to survive when you are out of your own country?

or

Do they, as like all of us, only behave when we are forced to, like when in the presence of the authorities?

or

Did they learn their bad manners from those of us who are bad Malaysians? I really don’t know

 

So its “Good-bye Hanoi” – thanks for the lessons I’ve gained from you…..

I respect the differences in our culture, even when it comes to food…..

I admire the people’s determination, hardworking attitudes and enterprising nature….

….their ingenuity (this lunch table is just a piece of cardboard laid over a stool) and the pretty girls (some of them)…..

And am grateful for what I have, the easy life we have in Malaysia.

Going around Hanoi on a motorbike

Before I begin this blog I have to make this clear…….

We DID NOT know this earlier, BUT 

“drivers in charge of motor vehicles and riders in charge of motor cycles of more than 50cc engine capacity are required to hold the appropriate Vietnamese motor vehicle driver’s licence or motor cycle rider’s licence. It is compulsory to wear a helmet when riding on a motor cycle.”                    

 …..from the Australian embassy website

GREAT……

so we broke the law without knowing it, we thought that its ok to drive or ride in any foreign country for the first 2 weeks, 30 days, etc, etc, if you have a licence from your own country, without needing to convert that to an international one…….

……….OK, I know……. assuming too much, careless and silly downright stupid and ignorant!

Anyway, we didn’t know, so, blissfully unaware, we rented a motorcycle for 100,000 dong(about RM20) for a day from the hotel (and they didn’t think to let us know too! aish….) and had a gala time going round the city.

You know, this blog entry is really like a cigarette advertisement where there is a warning label placed by the Ministry of Health, but they still sell you the stuff in the end…….

Ermm….so how to see everything other than by motorbike? Can always take a cab (and get slaughtered by the unscrupulous cab drivers), rent a bicycle (its below 50cc), get a motor bike tour (you must make sure the tour operators are legitimately licensed by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism 0 the VNAT), or go by trishaw. Forget about taking a public bus – its hard enough to find the toilet without knowing the language…….

 

Right, 

so after all that confession, what did we do?

We just rode on out of the old quarter and found some lake of some sort, then realised that we were at the back of the West Lake – beautiful spot, with many luxurious gated apartments (did I mention that there are VERY RICH Vietnamese around?) and this soulful looking school……

This is apparently a very good fishing spot – guess what the guy used for bait?

NOTHING!

Just a 3 pronged hook – and you should have seen the size of the fish he caught, no kidding – but I didn’t manage to get a pic of it……

We DID wear helmets ALL THE TIME we were riding, so we broke ONE part of the law only….

SEE? wearing helmet….. oh, back to the story – this is the West Lake

 

A must see place, according to the tourist books – the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. We made it there BUT didn’t get to go inside cos they close at 11am and we arrived at 11am……

Some interesting facts about this place – you aren’t allowed in if you’re in shorts, or tank tops. No placing of hands in the pockets when walking past Mr Ho, no photography, no bags ……. and to top it all, you have to pay……. but they make sure you’re getting a good deal….. the body is sent to Russia for “maintenance” once a year for 3 months. And all this against Mr Ho’s personal wishes – he wanted to be cremated!

In another area of the West Lake, we found some quiet restaurants.

See the guy in the pic below?

His job? To stop ANYONE going past, whether on foot or on wheels, to get them to eat here.  In fact, every restaurant on this road has the same idea……

The price is reasonable here

After lunch we crossed over the railway bridge to the village beyond the city

Like I said in an earlier post – there are hawkers EVERYWHERE!!!

Its a pity that Hanoi is so polluted.  For a farming community, you should be able to enjoy fresh air, clear skies and great scenery out of the city – but it ain’t so

We probably have clearer skies in KL – except for the months when the haze sets in

So we went to this village beyond the river and found some really interesting food

We went in for noodles but found out that this shop only sells pork and its parts. So we walked in and lifted one finger to indicate we wanted one plate – the lady raised 4 fingers and we thought she meant the cost was 400,000 for one plate. So I told Allan to leave, then she pointed to the food and then we understood she was telling us she was selling 4 kinds of pork parts!

We also didn’t realise the food included this rice wine – very strong one too!

Allan had 4 small cups of it and look at him!

Did I mention that there are some very rich Vietnamese around?

But there are also some very poor Vietnamese. These boat houses may look good for a picture – romantic and all that, but the people living in them will not agree with us.

I find the locals very hardworking and that they make do with whatever they have – like this man here carrying as much as he could on his motorbike

Here’s a closer look.

Erm… did I mention that there are some very rich Vietnamese around?

Ok, as I was saying, they make do with what they have. This man here is transporting a signboard that is at least 25 feet long, through the horrendous traffic

using a bicycle – with a side cart attached to it!!!

as I was saying, they make do, again……

…..and again……

……and again……

…..and again…….

….and again……

back at our hotel after a long day out……and having gained so much more…..

We just thank God that despite our ignorance, He protected us and kept us safe

We ended the evening by taking our kind new friend to dinner at the Hanoi Garden, Hang Manh Street, just across the street from our hotel.  Is this place expensive? Well, we had chopped meat fried with egg, lotus stems and shrimp salad (a bit like the Thai mango kerabu), sautéed mixed vegetables, egg plants with pork in an earthern pot, steamed rice and tea and the cost was 308,000 dong – RM63.40 (US18+) inclusive of 10% tax.

Hanoi in the night plus the water puppet show

We went back to the hotel for a rest and went out again at about 3.30pm  (actually, for those who have never been to Hanoi, these “Hotels” are actually called boutique hotels, they are really small and are actually in shop houses)

This building below faces the Hoan Kiem Lake and is probably fabulous for enjoying a cup of coffee or tea and enjoying the view of the lake, but we didn’t go over.  Allan and I went to another place next to the lake for our drinks.

Some of the buildings here are interesting, like this one here.

Although the traffic is really chaotic, the city’s business layout is wonderfully structured – they have a all the businesses dealing with the same stuff localised on one street – like this one here where all the shoe shops are – this is near the Water Puppet Theatre.

Don’t you love those bright red and bright yellow shoes? I know of a girl who will be so stressed here cos she won’t know what shoe to buy with the many choices available

Dinner time, like lunch time, means you see the locals sitting in every nook and corner eating…..

We tried this side stall food – made on the spot.  Its quite like Hong Kong Chee Cheong Fun. One tip : We noticed they always charged us more than they do the locals. The girl next to Allan looked surprised when the vendor told us how much we needed to pay – they obviously pay less

We had the same experience with the mobile hawkers. They would show us a dong note to indicate how much the item was, but then after we took the food, they would ask for more – if you are not terribly in need of the item, I suggest you just give it back and walk off!

This is the Chee Cheong Fun we were talking about

An exception are shops like this where the prices are displayed and the menu has english on it.  Is it more expensive? Well, we paid less for a bowl of noodles in this shop than for a plate of noodles at the five foot way stall just behind the shop!

Food stalls are all over the place – they just set up tables and stools on the five foot way.

I don’t have any pics of the water puppet show, but its worth going for the experience.  One tip : if you are not getting the first row of seats, then its not worth getting the first class ticket (60,000 dong).  Just go for a middle section seat in the second class area (40,000 dong) – both first and second classes are in one hall – the first class nearer the stage. If you have long legs, go for the side seats even though the view is better in the centre because its pretty cramped, even for me with my short legs!

Hanoi-the morning after

Remember I said there are some rooms without windows and some hotels in narrow alleys off the main road? Well, we found out why this morning – city traffic starts as early as 7am – and it comes complete with hons blaring. 

Even so, I think no hotel will be able to miss the early morning (7.30am) “message” by the authorities which ends with some music – at first I thought the shops were advertising their goods, then Allan told me it wasn’t.  He noticed the loud hailers everywhere on the streets – so no matter where you are, you’ll get a dose of it!

Well, if you take it as an early morning call, then I guess its fine …….. BUT I WANTED TO SLEEP IN!!!!

 

One of the loud hailers

Anyway, we ventured out and walked towards the market.  The alleys here are really, really narrow!

We saw this interesting stuff which the locals said was GOOD….

Here’s what it looks like close up…. ewwww

They don’t waste space on a proper reception/cashier’s table here – the guy at the far right is the cashier/boss with his cash register on a small table outside the shop. 

We didn’t see any big breeds of dogs, mainly toy dogs………but toy though they may be, they still function as normally as normal sized dogs

The place stated as Dong Xuan market is actually a wholesale market and FULL of people – its not an exaggeration to say that almost every nook and corner had a vendor trying to sell something!

Buying our nuts and stuff

Lunch is where you can find a space – literally anywhere – ppl just grab some stools, place some cardboard over another stool and voila…..its a lunch table

Like I said, people sell stuff EVERYWHERE

That’s croissant in the boxes being sold at the roadside

Vases too ….. on a motor bike

Hanoi – arrival

Our trip coincided with the return of many Vietnamese workers to their home country to celebrate Tet, the Chinese New Year, which they also celebrate.  

It was chaotic at the LCCT, Sepang because the place was not big enough and there were huge crowds of tourists and migrant workers trying to check in at 2 counters.  The workers did not pay for their luggage in advance and almost all of them had overweight bags which didn’t help the situation.  They were also really eager to go back and a lot of queue cutting was going on……Is it because they are not used to queueing, or because they have been “trained” to be aggressive to survive because of their economic circumstances? Anyway, we saw the same “I-will-not-give-way” on the streets of Hanoi with the motorcyclists forcing their way through.

Back to the airport at Hanoi…..

You would think a celebrity was arriving with the crowd waiting outside the arrival hall armed with bouquets of flowers…….. actually there were celebrities arriving – they were either somebody’s wive, or daughter, or son, or sister or brother ……… coming back home after being away as a migrant worker in another land and not only that, they were coming back a richer person, well, financially, that is……

 

We thank God for a friend of a friend, who works here in Hanoi.  Although he didn’t know us, he took the trouble to look at the hotel we wanted to book, then advise us against it as it was too far from the centre of the Old Quarters – he then looked around for a hotel that suited our needs and budget and paid a deposit to book the room for us. Upon our arrival, he took us (ahem, in his chauffeur driven Mercedes Benz) for dinner – we had a wonderful meal mainly because we managed to try many different varieties of Vietnamese food. We told him the dinner was on us and tried to pay, but …. we lost. Ah, well, we’ll have to think of another way to thank him.

So, we are staying at the Duc Huy Hotel near to the Hoan Kiem Lake.  Not too bad, I’d say a 2 star hotel – cost is about USD28-USD30.  Don’t take the back rooms though – no windows. And I think older people may not like this place as there is no lift.  Its right in the heart of the Old Quarter, a “happening” place where food, shopping and sight seeing is easily obtainable.  And since I’m blogging, you know there is wifi.  They don’t have a PC for you though. I heard the Elegance 3 hotel has a PC in each room, but that one is at the edge of the Old Quarter and at the end of a small alley where cars can’t enter. 

Will blog more tomorrow….or perhaps later

Can’t post more pics cos I didn’t bring the card reader for my camera SD card – these pics are from my handphone.

Oh, and the weather now is great for walking around – 15 C

An email received today………….

Got an email from The Princeton Review today:

Hi Andy Weng Zhin,

Have you considered attending a women’s college? Chatham University is home to almost 2,300 undergraduate and graduate students. Founded in 1869, it is one of the nation’s oldest colleges for women. Chatham’s 39-acre arboretum campus is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Eden Hall Farm Campus is located on 388-acres in Richland Township and will include programs focusing on women and environmental sustainability. The University is a private, selective, fully accredited, nonsectarian institution.

Andy’s response?

“Wellllll……… I’ve never considered it, BUT ……. if I have the chance, I’ll surely go……..”  LOL

 

Goodness, doesn’t Princeton Review actually review who they are sending mail out to?????