26 Mar 2016 – Teluk Chempedak, Kuantan

Mon: met Pat at T2 and had some time to show her the Butterfly Gardens at T3 which she was unaware of and I was happy to share.

Been awhile since the last on a turboprop engine aircraft on this Firefly flight. A moist piece of banana-bread with a soy-bean drink hit the spot on this pleasant on-time 1hr flight from SIN-KUA.

Met at the airport by Catherine&Lee who are locals there and appreciations to them for taking their time to be our guide.

Lunched on this organic crossed between 2 local veg was delicious and crunchy and is planted in their organic farm. Local red fish was so fresh that I was practically sucking from the bones and fins. To be updated with names!

Local coffee-joint Hei Peng with charming personality and stories made a hot delightful afternoon flew by quickly before we got to the condo.

Amazing sunsets and moonlights from the condo’s balcony and bedroom.

Delicious dinner with C&L’s family was a privilege (clockwise: me, Pat, Catherine, Lee, Derek, Jonathan, Ching, Jing, Thomas, Gordon). Such a nice way to spend the first day of visit with more exciting stories about the people who were cooking for us.

Tue: ladies finger or okra with lovely flowers, mulberries, miracle fruit (see site below), grapes, papayas, belimbing,  moringa and grown in C&L garden.

https://healdiseases.wordpress.com/2012/08/08/synsepalum-dulcificum-also-known-as-the-miracle-fruit/

Refreshing veggie lunch at Vege Hut Cafe***where the coconut water is definitely more than ‘good for your daughter’ 🙂 and the flesh is sooo tender that it nearly melts in your mouth.

Grocery shopping was an experience and the first time I see this sign Tidak Halal=non hala at the local pork butcher where good Chinese sausages are made.

Drove to check out the shops near the Hyatt Hotel which is closed for renovations at present. The monkey by KFC were more than I could handle!

Watching the waves hitting the rocks and the clouds is indeed a serene and relaxing way to pass time. The water is as clear as crystal and if you let your imagination run, these rock formations can create different pix in the mind. Life is good!

Wed: app 25km NW from KUA along the Sungei Lembing Rd is Gua Charah, hidden in the hills. Side-tracked into some palm plantation to take pix of this rock in the middle of nowhere on the way to…

the village of Sungai Lembing (app 42km from KUA) but not knowing that Wed is their day of rest most shops were closed. When I am be among these magnificent trees, shops are of no importance!

Best YongTauFoo meal at the market made and served by what looks to be like 3 good-looking brothers 🙂 Baby squids were tender and the stock was out of this world. Yummy local-made noodles. Will just have to use the public toilets!

The second richest tin deposit and the biggest underground tin mine in the world are recorded here.

Nice and cool to walk into these tunnels away from the hot scorching sun at mid-day.

http://sungailembingmines.com.my/

The museum brought back childhood memories –

located on a hill and the porcelain water-filter which was long forgotten!

caught in a slight traffic-jam on the way to the Crystal House. A local Malay movie ‘Borrowed Heart’ was being filmed and was holding up traffic.

The Crystal House has a collection of about 3,000 pieces of beautiful crystalline stones collected over a period of 19 years by an ex-miner Mr Lee from the quarry. The quarry had since also closed because the whole limestone hill have already been flatten but thanks to him we can still see the beautiful stones which ones filled the caves of the hill.

The art of Sungai Lembing noodles making.

Time to head back and did a detour to Gua Charah. Crowded and shoes had to take off to get up the caves. Opted to just head back to KUA. Preferred the earlier view from the palm plantation side!

What a wonderful afternoon and a luxury to be able to soak in the sea-water on this quiet cove. The water felt out of this world and the sand-scrub was good for the skin.

A dip in the pool felt like being in a bath-tub, not refreshing at all. Was told the stuffed-tiger was place there to scared away the monkeys.

Good satay dinner at SatayZul****

Thu: KUA is famous for its Salted Fish (关丹梅香咸鱼) and Chen Hing with the 3rd generation running it is the most reputable store it. A must buy for gifts to family and friends in SIN

Walked around East Coast Mall (owned by SIN CDL). Delighted to stumble into a food-fare with tasting – my favourite kind of shopping.

Thank you for yummy home-cooked lunch at C&L with this lizard feasting on a beautiful butterfly. Interesting Chinese tea tasting but could not drink more than a tiny cup otherwise, forget a goodnight sleep!

Fri: TGIF and a Good Friday to my Christian family & friends. Tasty curry noodles for breakfast at HoiYin***Time to thank my host and guides for their most gracious and kind hospitality and will look very much forward to our next meeting when C&L will be in SIN next month to meet up with Christine&KV who will be visiting from UK.

So long KUA – hello SIN.

Thank you to Catherine for sharing this most beautiful sign for the Chinese character LOVE with such lovely different combinations of delicate strokes to cultures and religions.

28 May 2015 – Tiger or Tiger-Lil

Got this play parachute at the World Market sale for US$13. First experience with it was on James H2O day and thought it looked fun.

Mon: Jeff on call and Linn took the kids to the lake. Nice day with the kids in the backyard. Made a fire for them to roast marshmallows and kept a vigilant eye on it!

Thus ending this wonderful Memorial Day Weekend with the Fabulous 5, their parents and dog. Towels and swimsuits ready for another week of blessings. Thank you.

Tue: baking morning with Anna and decided to make kransekaker which is made with almonds, sugar and egg-whites forms a series of concentric rings of cake, layered on top of each other in order to form a steep-sloped cone shape, 18 or more layers. Usually for very special occasions!

Here is a cat who thinks it is human and tries to read the messages on the fridge and understands Norwegian; also tires to drink water from the fridge’s tap 🙂

Wed: we are all safe and sound. The accident happened before 0600hrs this morning and Linn was on this exact stretch of road an hour before the accident. Jeff drove on other roads to work, took him 1.5hrs with all the back-ups. Pix credits – wltx19
http://www.wltx.com/story/homepage/2015/05/27/trailer-tractor-accident/27999791/

To my fellow AT hikers and other AT hikers. ‘Bismarck’ might have been on the trail when we were there – ‘Miss Wiggy, T2, Gadget, MoFo, HiHills, Pokey, Loon, SkyWalker, SawBuck, Lizard’. Pix credits – BBC

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32856626

‘Lizard’Lori Marsh: ‘He was! He attended our Mother’s Day feed at Craig Creek Valley. He seemed nice and just like any other hiker’.

I go by ‘Tiger or Tiger-Lil’ for the 2005 thru-hikers group. Given to me by my fellow hikers with great humour when they decided that I needed one as we were chatting and resting by a patch of Tiger Lily flowers.

When ‘Magic’ told me that when he was in the navy and has been to BKK, I then asked him if he has been to a Tiger Lily Show? He replied no and asked what it was. Had to then explain what it is…

Behind her smile, behind her laugh, behind her happy face…is everything you don’t understand  –

14 Apr 2015 – And A Grandmother!

Sat: emptying garbage at the dumpster and saw this man taking pix near by. Decided to ask what he was taking pix of was blessed to meet an ex-teacher who showed me where these amazing wild pitcher plants are growing. The one by the flower is Gracilis. The others from left: Rafflesiana, Nepenthes gracilis, Nepenthes rafflesiana and Nepenthes hookeriana. Tkx to YZ Siaw for the names.

Grocery shopping in Tutong. There is this fantastic market/function center before you get into Tutong when we were and only a few stalls were open. Justin had a bowl of mee soto – nothing to really write home about! We were hoping for some kind of farmers’ market so that we do not have to go into Tutong – but no such luck. Was later told by the locals that this is a Thu market!!!

Still had to go into the grocery stalls for our produce passing by the bus which was making a toilet-stop from Brunei’s capital Bandar Seri Begawan heading to Miri. Took a pix of this guy trying out some exercise chair store, and no, the general population do not usually dress like him 🙂

Delightful alfresco dinning to welcome the principal of the school Zai who sent the 2 attachments and to NurAnne who is involved in the agricultural and fishery department in Brunei. Appreciations to Leonard for the yummy sea-bass and to NurAnne and Zai&family for prawns, fish balls, cheese cake and satay. A great time was had by all.

Sun: on the road bright and early back to Miri for Justin to catch his flight in time. Justin’s mom has a green fingers. Custard apples, passion fruits, buah dongdong, chillies and longans. Tkx to TingTing for some of the names to these.

An early breakfast of Kolo mee at Merryland cafe again. The Sunday market was quite something where one could almost find all kind of wild produce and meat! Being me, I could not resist the hand-made basket.

The ginger were attractively presented that I had to take a pix, even when it is common to most of us! My favourite fern, midin and bought some rosette to make tea. The red colour is bright and beautiful and I like the refreshing sour and tart taste. Made 1litre and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Drank the whole bottle and had to make toilet-calls twice, but thank goodness I fall back to sleep easily. The locals use rosette to make jelly and jam but add tons of sugar!

Amazing bougainvillea up the tree at the Vistors’ Information Centre. First sighting with such an elaborate round-about! Miri Handicraft Centre with horn bill wall mural.

Situated on top of Canada Hill, the Grand Old Lady is the first oil well in Malaysia with a good view of Miri

http://www.miriresortcity.com/grandoldlady

The Petroleum Museum with no AC and it was way too stuffy to be inside, especially when there was such a lovely breeze outside on Canada Hill.

Miri City Fan, a unique fan-shaped (when viewed from the air) 10.4-hectare (26-acre) park in the heart of the city.

The Lian Hua San Temple is one of the more worthwhile places to visit which is reputedly the largest Taoist temple in SE Asia. The newly-not quite completed Buddhist temple has 2 giant dragons at the entrance – 海龙寺 literally means ‘Sea Dragon Temple’ costing RM1.6 million in the making; with the pair of majestic dragons (108 ft long x 30 ft in height) costing RM500K. Upon completion in July 2015, they will be the most expensive and biggest ‘dragons’ in Malaysia!! Tkx to LuLu for the info.

The Miri laksa is good but my favourite is still the KCH laksa. Tkx to Lulu for being such an excellent tourist guide. Would not have seen much of Miri if not for her.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/food/article/best-sarawak-laksa-in-kuching

Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends – Maya Angelou

8 Dec 2014 – Snail-Mail Has To Go Today!

Thu: Dankon/Esperanto thank you. Opening of the 25th SGIFF at Lido by Minister of Communications and Information – Minister Yaacob Ibrahim with Ken Kwek’s debut feature Unlucky Plaza***is a black comedy that touches upon crimes and misdemeanours. Father. Restaurateur. Hostage taker. How did one man’s financial woes spiral into a harrowing crisis that captivated the world?

Fri: Sağ ol/Turkish for thank you to Evelyn who has managed to convince joining her Chinese class to see if I would learn anything! Appreciations to Yang & Yindi for a free trial Chinese class, have not been to a Chinese class since 1962! They make it interesting enough for me to want to return for more classes at the Poet’s Society after the Dec holidays!

SIN Panorama Shorts 1/Wedding Portrait, 3 Seconds, Three Little Pigs and The Longest Distance Relationship. These short clips shown at Gallery Theatre Basement of the Nation Museum/NMS are not my cup of tea but just wanted to check it out. Thus it would not be quite fair to rate them.

Sat: Cảm ơn bạn/Vietnamese thank you. Catching the bus this morning in the pouring rains (a motorcyclist had to take shelter at the bus-stop) and returning in dry weathers in the late afternoon! Crossing the overhead bridge in warm sunshine. No wonder these flowers boom so beautifully with plenty of sun & rain.

The OBS: A Singapore Story: following a local band, The Observatory (never heard of them) and observations about being creative in SIN. Not my kind of music (apologies to the band, but to my ears it was noise, not music!) but interesting to hear their views about trying to be creative in SIN.

Again not fair to rate this.

Dropped by at Marmot/Novena to say hi to Chris and was considering to check out Orchard Rd later. So glad that I decided against it – Pedestrian Night started tonight and the crowds would have crushed and killed me!

Sun: Thank you/thank you for today’s 2nd Sunday of Advent and 7th day on the Advent Calendar. Snail-mail has to go by tomorrow. The pile of greetings on the right are now more or less done. Online greetings will be the norm, but there are some who still prefer the hard copies. Gift wrapping (for gifts not needing to be mailed) will be on-going until 23!

Expo MRT station is fascinating. Had been a while since the last visit in this area and have not really had a proper look until today! Opened in 2001,and is part of the Changi Airport Branch Line to the existing East-West-Line. It sports a space age architecture designed by world-renowned architect Sir Norman Foster.

Met with Clem for the last day of the MPH Book Fair. Got a decent deal for 10 children’s book at S$40 and Clem got 10 travel books. Now I know where I can borrow travel books 🙂

Lunched and shopped at ChangiCityPoint, first time in this location and also the first time to Wish Upon A Sphere – PEACE on EARTH and Good Health to All. More shopping@ IKEA/Tampines and again first time here. Discovered that there is a free shuttle from Bedok-Bus-Interchange which will be nearer for me and there is a huge Giant across the road from IKEA. Tkx Clem for an afternoon of new experiences.

This is the first convention of the space age – where a candidate can promise the moon and mean it –

14 Feb 2012 – Happy ♥ Day

Mon: had to be at the Norwegian Embassy to get some papers signed and stamped. It is still located on the 44 floor, Hong Leong Building, Robinson Rd/Shenton Way. The camera saw a chance for a shot on the way out of the building! First thought, was he really peeing but then did not think he was so daring or rude. On closer look, was glad to discover otherwise 🙂

Tkx to Geno for doing some translation for the family records from China. Very interesting to know about the ancestors!

Tue: had Lydia, Penny & Rebecca (classmates from CHIJ 1962) over for dinner. Tkx ladies for the company and the extra food. Was shopping@NTUC/Parkway early morning. The young Malay cashier lady made my day. Had forgotten that Tue is a discount day for seniors. She inquired if I was a senior and after answering, asked if she needed my card. She replied diplomatically that she will need to look at the card. Told her that I took that as a compliment 🙂 🙂

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around – Leo Buscaglia

Now to focus on the logistics for the MacLehose Trail in HKG that will take 5-6 days to do a thru-hike. Will be flying for to HKG 28 Feb and hope to start on this 100km trail on 2 Mar. Anyone having info regarding accommodations at or near the 10 different stages of this trail, would really appreciate to hear from you.