"Lichun" festival at Kek Lok Si Temple

In traditional Chinese Culture, “Lichun” (立春) is a solar term marking the beginning of spring in East Asian cultures. For Year 2009, Lichun is started on 21st Jan till 25th Jan. And Chinese New Year is celebrated around this time which falls on 26th Jan and 27th Jan.

During “Lichun” many temples in Penang will have a prayer (by monks) and “lantern-lite-up” ceremony. The purpose of the ceremony is to worship and offerings to the gods and ceremonies for a blissful and prosperous new year (2009).

On 30 Dec 2008 (Monday), my wife and I, we went to Kek Lok Si Temple to make a donation for the “lantern-lite-up” ceremony on 21st Jan (which is the 1st day of Lichun). Upon making the donation, the person in charge in the temple will write down our name and our prayer or wishes in a piece of paper. My wife and I, we pray and wish for love, peace, harmony, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Right after we make the donation, the person in charge handover this red packet for us. Inside the packet is consists of items like below picture.




I would like to share a few photos of Kek Lok Si Temple that I taken during Chinese New Year 2007. The temple is so impressive with thousands of lights. All the lanterns in the temple are the donations from Chinese community from Penang especially, other states in Malaysia and even from tourist.

Marriage Life Before and After !!

My friend send me this message. Just would like to share with all my friends and for you to laugh !!! ^.^


Before marriage.
Darling here.. darling there...
After marriage.
Baling here... baling there..

Before marriage.
I die for you. . .
After marriage.
You die, up to you.
Lagi lama married.
You die I help you!

Before marriage.
You go anywhere. . I follow you.
After marriage. .
You go anywhere. . up to you .
Lagi lama married.
You go anywhere, better u got lost!!

Before wedding
you are my heart, you are my love
After wedding
you get on my nerves.

Before wedding
you are sweet and kind just like Cinderella'
After wedding
you are worse than godzila'

Before wedding
Roses are red, violets are blue. Like it or not, I'm with you
After wedding
Roses are dead, I am blue. You get on my head, I sue you!

Before wedding
Every makan he brings you to Shangri-La
After wedding
You want to go, he says you wait-la!

Before wedding
She looks like Anita Sarawak
After wedding
Don't know whether katak or pontianak

Merry X'mas 2008

Last weekend, my wife and I did our Christmas shopping. When we enter to the mall, we can feel the Christmas atmosphere as the mall is decorated with Christmas items. As foresee a lot of shop started to sell Christmas items. Every year, my wife and I will setup our x’mas tree at home but this year we are lazy to setup. Does anyone of you willing to help kah? Kakakaka

Credit Cards

In the 20 century, almost everyone of us owned a credit card. For me, credit card is a MUST item as when I have a business trip to oversea, all the expenses like payment for hotel accommodation, car rental and etc is all done by using credit card. Usually, before ones have a business trip to oversea, our company will asked that employee to apply AMEX Corporate Credit Cards. AMEX has a very good reputation as well as a very good system. Everytime when I have my shopping especially in US, I got a special discount rate.

For my personal usage credit cards, I have CITI credit cards, HSBC credit cards and Maybank credit cards. But so far I consolidate all my payment by using Maybank VISA card because it is a zero interest credit card when I did my purchase from retail stores.

A lot of people actually owe money to credit cards but I suggest what we can do is to joining up all credit card balance transfer scheme. This will help to reduce some monthly or yearly interest. But I urged to all that do not owe any credits to bank. Buy whatever we afford to buy and don’t over spend. Good luck!

Space Ranger Tumble

During my first trip to USA 4 years ago, my wife and I visited Disneyland. I was so attracted by this water tumbler and decided to purchase it from the retail store. I get many freebies upon purchase and also can have a free soft drinks fill up in the tumbler. I like the design and I think it is special and beautiful that is why I bought it. But I dare not to use this tumbler to work...ending up this tumbler is a kind of souvenir and I placed it in cabinet for displaying only...hehehe

Yoga Mat

Recently I have put on weight and that’s worrying me much. I was thinking whether or not to follow my wife to attend yoga class. Anyway, I’m still thinking as I’m not sure that I’m going to like yoga or not! What a big deal, I can always do other type of exercises instead of yoga right? But, due to I have slipped disc problem, I can’t do many types of exercises. According to doctor’s advice, yoga and swimming are suits me most.

Since today is Saturday and I’m dillydallying at home doing nothing, so I log on to the shopping site Shop Wiki to look for yoga mat. I prefer to shop online via Shop Wiki as it has 30,000 stores compared to other shopping sites that usually have about 1,000 stores only. So I can find almost anything I need via Shop Wiki.

Wow! There are many types of yoga mat I found through Shop Wiki. Some with double sided mat; non-slip mat; some included with the shoulder carry strap and even they have yoga mat for kids. I showed the site to my wife and she is very fascinated by the Fitness and Yoga Mat. As this mat is suitable for her when she is calling the message lady came to do body message for her at our house.

Hong Kong Airport

During last business trip to United States, I need to transit at Hong Kong. And the duration for the transit is 6 hours. It is a long hour to go! Luckily I have the privilege to enter the business lounges at the airport. In there, I can surf net and watching movies to pass my time. And the lunch provided is not bad too!

About Technology

Nowadays, everyone is talking about technology. Technology has its pro and con. With technology, it can improve our life and make our life easier but in the other hand, it might worsen our health. Why I say so? It’s because of “lazy” man only can think of shortcut way to improve their life or simplify the process to so-called “technology”. Let’s take staircase and escalator or lift as an example. If you need to use the 2 mentioned option to reach your destination, do you think you will choose to climb up with staircase or lift? Hahaha...Of course I will choose using lift or escalator to reach my destination.

Another technology that conquers in our life is Electronic Mail box , so-called Email. In the pass, we need to have pen or pencil, paper (some even with fragrant) and stamp to write a mail and then only post it by dropping it in Mail Boxes and wait for few days or months only our mail will be received. But today, with email, what we need to do is just type any words and with few clicks, our email has been sent and in a few seconds it will be received. Thumbs up! But in some occasion, I still prefer the “traditional method” of writing a mail whereby the “hard copy” kind of way as it shows we value the friendship, love and time by preparing the letter.

Do you ever think that you need a safer mail boxes to keep your mail that delivered via post? Well, I have attached a few beautiful mail boxes for your reference. Just take a look!

Japanese beer

Not sure any one of you likes to drink beer? For myself, I seldom drink beer but sometimes I did drink at home. When I attend wedding party or any function, I will definitely not drink any type of beer because it is not safe with “drink and drive”. I stumbled on this picture in Hotel EQ few weeks ago. It is the Japanese beer. Frankly, I never try it before and I know that their traditional beers are made from rice and they called it as “rice beer”.

Private Sauna At Home

I have put on weight lately and was thinking of purchasing a small saunas system to install at our house. I have talking to my wife Amy for some time and we are still thinking about it. I was trying to get infrared sauna information from website. The major benefits of infrared sauna are detoxification of the body, weight loss, pain relief, sore throat, stress relief, joint stiffness, increases blood circulation and many mores advantages to our body.

Far Infrared heat source are safer than Sun UV lights. It actually direct penetrates through our body’s tissues over 1½ inches right into the muscle. Its energy output is tuned to correspond so closely to the body's own radiant energy that our bodies absorb close to 93% of the infrared waves that reach our skin. If you want to choose sauna system, do make sure you select sauna system comes with infrared because steam sauna rely on heat and nothing much help on your body healing. If you have already purchased one, don’t forget to call me to try your system! ^^

Playground

In the United States, all the shopping mall is ready with a “children indoor playground” corner like the above pix shown. All the items (including the tree, the trunk, the floor etc) in the playground are made by one kind of “soft” material that can avoid children from getting hurts while they are happily playing around.

Although it is just a playground, but it is built with a “concept” and also the “material used” is what we have no chance to explore it in Malaysia.

Ceiling Fans

I’m not sure did any one of you notice that our current ceiling fans are old model and looks a bit outdated? Right now in the market there are many types of new design fans to purchase such as
Casablanca ceiling fans.

I found this website through search engine and found that this Farreys Company actually has selling a lot of popular ceiling fan brands such as: Casablanca, Craftmade, Ellington, Fanimation, Hunter Fan Company, Luceplan, Matthews Fans, Minka Aire, Modern Fan Company, Monte Carlo, NuTone, Quorum and Westinghouse. They are not only selling fans but also selling a lot of house-appliance products. But I like the fan most because they are so special and stylish in design.

After discovered their website, I gain the knowledge that fan also have sizes range from 42” to 52”. I like most the Natural Palm Leaf Blades because it is beautiful and perfect. If I’ve a new house in future, I will sure to purchase from this website. What do you think?

"Soft-shell" Crap

Last Saturday, Amy and I went to have our dinner at one of the restaurant where located near Penang Jetty. We ordered 3 dishes for ourselves and one of the dishes is “soft-shell craps”. Above are the photo and it is delicious. This restaurant is quite famous and I suggest the time to dine there is about 6pm – 6:30pm otherwise it will be full.

Benefits Of Blogging

In fact I started to blog since November 2007 but all the while I just blog for fun. Until recently, I was motivated by my wife that blogging makes a consistent and steady extra income for her in the past few months and I started to get paid to blog from month of September 2008. And it’s no jokes; I get some extra income on the following month which is October 2008!

Well, blogging advertisement is an easy way for me to earn money. Just write an article or review and post it up to my blog, consequently I will get paid. How wonderful! All the money is pay through Paypal.

There are many companies that willing to pay us to blog and today I get to know one more company which is payingpost.com from my wife. I get myself registered with them and after a few hours my blog get the approval and the most fun is that, I manage to grab a job opportunity right away and it is with a good offer price!

I highly recommended to those stay-home-moms, students and retire-personals to take part in get paid to blog. And to all bloggers that happen to read my article, let’s started to blog today and now!

Dot Magnet

Last month when I was on business trip to Oregon, USA, my colleague in Penang is asking me buy something for her. I really don’t know what to buy and during my shopping I stumbled on this nice “Portland Dot Magnet”. It comes with 4 beautiful views of Portland town, Mt. Hood, Coat and City of Rose. So, I decided to buy this magnet for her as it is so meaningful as well as resemble the States that I purchase this item for her.

Gardening

My wife likes to do gardening but too bad we have no land for her to own her garden due to we stay in an apartment. So, she can only plant potted flowers and some potted vegetables like chili, tomatoes and edamame at our balcony.

I still remembered, in year 2005 my wife and I, we have a business trip to United States, we visited Goldsmith Seeds. At there, the flowers are blossom beautifully turns the whole atmosphere so colourful. There are so many types of flowers that we never seen before like the plant species that growing in low temperatures and we both were so attracted by those flowers. We are resides in tropical country – Malaysia, so tropical flowers are not really attracts us anymore...hah!

My wife wanted so much to buy back some of the flower’s seed but advice from my friend, it is better not to buy because we might get stuck in airport custom check point. Not to worry because now we can purchase the seeds online.


My wife potted flower blossom recently.


This is the flower at Goldsmith Seeds (US) - Year 2005.


This is the flower at Goldsmith Seeds (US) - Year 2005.

Wallpaper

I’d like to share with all my friends about “Island-view” wallpaper. These are my dream – the places that I wanted so much to visit to! Hopefully, my dream will come true one day. I still remembered, few years back Lor Mee and I went to Redang Island, East Malaysia. It was a wonderful trip. We were snorkeling on the crystal clear sea water with 15m depth. We can see all those beautiful and colourful fishes, turtle and corals.

Candles with scent

Do you encounter before that your house will have a smelly smell especially in store room? I think this is a common problem that we faced. I like to light up the candles with scent power to get rid of the bad odour. These types of candles actually come with large array of styles and scents. The candles are not only smell incredible while burning but they also "burn clean" so that there is virtually no waste! I have accidently found this website and they have a very active message board where customers can interact with each other and talk about their favorite scents. You may share your experience as well in the message board. Hope you enjoy it!

Keeping Cut Flowers Fresh

How to keep cut flowers fresh? Here are the dos and don'ts on how to keep cut flowers fresh.

1) Do use coloured-glass vases, not clear ones. The darker the container, the harder it is for that unsightly, smelly slime (actually algae) to grow. Be sure containers are scrupulously clean.
2) Do cut dried stem bottoms immediately before putting them in water.
3) Do use a commercial floral preservative. Homemade concoctions don't work as well.
4) Do clean the vase, completely replace the water and add new floral preservative every three days.

5) Don't shock flowers with cold water. Cut stems respond best to warm water (about 43 degrees).
6) Don't put flowers near a bowl of fruit, especially apples, pears and plums, which emit ethylene gas that causes wilting.

Flight Rules

For safety's sake and to ease your way through the airport, remember the following:

1) Check your flight status before you go to the airport - schedules change more these days.

2) Allow at least two hours for check-in on domestic flights, three for international trips.

3) Fly mornings - takeoffs are less likely to be slowed by earlier delays.

4) Bring a photo ID - a driver's license or passport is a must.

5) Paper tickets are preferable to e-tickets if you nee to rebook your flight - especially o another airline.

6) Check heavy stuff. Assume carry-ons will be scrutinized. The less you carry, the faster you'll get through.

7) Don't wrap gifts. You may have to unwrap and show them to security.

8) Leave knives, scissors, nail clippers, tweezers, screwdrivers, knitting needles and toy guns at home or pack them in checked luggage.

Family

Researchers at Australia’s University of Newcastle found these 8 habits are the secrets of strong families, there are:

1) Communication.
The best type of communication in families is positive, open, honest, and in some cases, laced with humour.

2) Togetherness.
Strong families shares an "invisible glue", giving them a firm sense of belonging.

3) Sharing activities.
Strong families choose to play together.

4) Affection.
Members regularly show each other they care.

5) Support.
They are comfortable offering or seeking support.

6) Acceptance.
Members value, acknowledge and tolerate each other.

7) Commitment.
The wellbeing of the family is a high priority.

8) Resilience.
Reacting to challenges in a positive way is essential.

Putting The Home In Homework

Parents shouldn’t just tell our kids to do homework but we have to help them but how?
Here I’d like to share some ways to help our kids get their homework done.

1) Set up a quiet, comfortable study area away from the television, loud music and telephones.
2) Pay attention to what your children are doing. Even if they don’t need help with homework, they will appreciate knowing that you are interested. Praise them for a job well done.
3) Never use homework as punishment, or refer to it in negative terms. Make it one of the most interesting parts of the day.
4) If your child has a heavy workload, break it up into smaller tasks, giving praise and rest time between each assignment.
5) Keep in contact with teachers to make sure that all homework is being brought home and done properly.

Hope these few steps will help you up anyway.

Do Your Children Need To Lighten Up?

To all parents, do you agree, nowadays our kids need to carry a very heavy school bag to school? Do you think your children need to lighten up?

Children carrying more than 10 to 20 per cent of their weight risk neck and back problems, doctors say. Here, I’d to share some tips for young backpackers:

1) Use both shoulder straps to avoid muscle strain and curvature of the spine.
2) Get backpacks with abdominal belt, which distribute weight evenly.
3) Keep heaviest books closer to the body and arm straps comfortably snug, so the pack sits five centimeters above the waist.
4) Bend using both knees – not at the waist – when wearing or lifting a pack.

How To Talk To Anyone

This article is from Reader Digest too. Please take a few minutes to read on. Be a social success at every party - try these tips from Leil Lowndes, relationship expert and author of Always in the Kitchen at Parties.

Never give one-word answers.
If you're asked what you do, expand on your response so it can start a conversation, for example "I'm a social worker and I work with adopted children."

Leave out "uh-huh."
Encourage people to keep on speaking by asking questions about what they're saying.

Choose the right questions.
Try to avoid "where?" or "when?"– These words tend to promote one-line answers. Use "why?", "how?" or "tell me more."

Sound "dazzled" even if the conversation is dull.
A great conversationalist makes everyone feel appreciated.

Body Language

I read through Reader Digest and found this article is quite interesting and I'd like to share out here.

They say the eyes are the window to the soul. What secrets do other body parts reveal about you? A University of Alberta study found the shorter a man's index finger is compared to his ring finger, the more likely he'll be physically aggressive. There's a correlation between finger length and the amount of testosterone you are exposed to in the womb; more testosterone may mean a shorter index finger.

Studies show, for men, a long ring finger and symmetrical hands indicate fertility. Women are more likely to be fertile if their ring finger is shorter than their index finger.

From the time of Confucius, Chinese doctors have used face reading as a diagnostic aid. Their findings include deductions that people whose eyebrows are thick are more driven and may be more aggressive, while people with thin lips tend to be workaholics.

So, what's yours?

Delicious foods

Most of the weekend, my wife and I will have our lunch and dinner outside. I’d like to show you another restaurant that selling quite delicious foods. This restaurant is located nearby Queensbay Mall. We went to dine in here for twice already, and we will never missed the "bun with curry"...it is fantastic, yummy, delicious and tasty!

1) Shrimp Dumpling

2) Bun and curry (for dipping)

3) Small bun (小笼饱)

4) Chee Cheong Fun

5) Sorry I forget what this dish call...

6) Egg tats (sorry no photo).

Weekend Dinner

These are our last weekend dinner. My wife and I dine at one of the seafood restaurant with the nickname as “Under the Tree” near Penang Jetty. Well, foods that we ordered are soft-shell crabs, Fried broccoli and Fried Spicy Clam. Yummy! It is delicious.

Beware of Hair Band

Be cautious of hair bands at markets around the city. This has been made by recycle condom. Used condoms are being recycled into hair bands in southern China threatening to spread sexually-transmittable diseases they were originally meant to prevent, state media reported Last Tuesday.

Computer Screen Cleaning Foam

I bought this cleaning foam last year during PC Fair at PISA, Penang. This is really a good one compared to previous I bought the liquid spray type. Too bad is that I couldn’t find this anymore in market. If anyone know where can get this, please do inform me. Thanks in advance.

Fried Banana or "Goreng Pisang"

Fried banana or Pisang Goreng (in Malay words) is a snack food mostly consumed especially in morning and afternoon. My wife and I are the big fans of "goreng pisang". We bought these at roadside Malay stall. Yummy! Oh yah, would you like to have some? Here you go...

Ingredients:

100 g rice flour; 30 g plain flour; 1 level tbsp sugar; ¼ level tsp salt; 150 ml water; 1 bunch cooking bananas and oil for deep frying.

Method:

In a small mixing bowl, combine the rice and plain flours, sugar and salt. Stir in the water to make smooth batter. Peel bananas and cut into halves lengthwise. Heat the cooking oil in a wok or saucepan over medium heat. (Oil should be about 4 cm deep.) When hot, dip the bananas into the batter and slip them into the hot oil. Fry a few pieces at a time until golden brown on one side and then turn over to brown the other. Serve warm.

The Hippopotamus

The hippopotamus has the biggest yawn in the animal kingdom. It is one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. Females are especially aggressive when they have young. As well as seeing off predators, females have to protect their young from being bullied by grumpy males. Mothers teach their young to stay close, giving them a head butt or a nip if they wander off track, and if a mother needs to leave the creche for any reason she places her calf with a female baby sitter.

Hippopotamus live in groups of 15 or more females and subordinate males, governed by a dominant male. He will scare off any challengers by opening his mouth very wide and showing his enormous 50cm long canine teeth. It is an awesome sight, since the hippopotamus has by far the largest mouth of any animal outside the oceans.

Giraffe Calf The Tallest Baby

Mother giraffes stand 4.6m (15ft) high, and give birth by standing up so that they can keep a close watch for lions, hyenas and wild dogs which could easily snatch a vulnerable youngster. Within an hour, when the 1.8m (6ft) tall calf has mastered its long legs and is able to run, its mother can lead it away from danger, the pair fleeing across the plains of East Africa at speeds up to 52km/h (32mph).

Seal Pups' Snowy Den

The ringed seal of the Arctic Ocean is the only seal that builds a den. At the onset of winter, a mother seal excavates a lair under the snow. Snug inside during the worst of the weather, she gives birth. She suckles her pup with fat-rich milk for one to two months until it has put on enough blubber to keep it warm in the icy water. A female ringed seal might make several snow caves, and should a hunting polar bear intrude, mother and pup can dive through an escape hole and flee to a safer den.

Cold Hands and foot

Hands and feet feel cold when they don't receive an ample supply of warm blood containing oxygen and nutrients. The most common reason for this problem is exposure to cold air, especially from a draught or the wind. An underlying health problem may be responsible, but whatever the cause of the condition, there is much you can do to relieve the symptoms.

Avoid heavy, fatty meals, which divert blood from the extremities to the stomach and intestines for several hours afterwards. Eat three servings of oily fish each week to encourage the production of prostaglandins (hormone-like substances that help keep the blood flowing smoothly through the veins and arteries).