The Magnificent Great Wall

Built some 2500 years ago during the reign of Emperor Shih Huang Ti of the Ming Dynasty, the wall is over 5000 km long (or is it miles). One of the seven wonders of the world, it has to be seen to believe.

Its snowing at the Great Wall

Its a cold cold day

Its slippery when it snows

The highlight today was the visit to the Great Wall. As soon as we got there however, the snow starts coming down. In the end, don't know which one we were excited most, the Great Wall or the snow.

Greetings from China

At the Summer Palace

From our hotel room, fire crackers could be heard non stop. Apparently tonight is the last day of Chap Goh Meh. In China, that means the last night where fire crackers are allowed. After that the ban starts. That's why they are firing away.

Going on a holiday

After experiencing Korea, the travel bug keeps bugging me. As a result, I will be on leave for a week and plan to spend a few days of that in Beijing China. After my ordeal at the ICU, Beijing I hope will be a much better experience.

Maulid

I have read more than a hundred books on Islam ranging from hadith, fiqh, tafsir and so on. I have also read the Quran together with its meaning, many times over. I have read many books on the life of the prophet SAW. Today is Maulidur Rasul. May I be faithful to God and his prophet, forever, Insha Allah.

A valuable lesson

The overnight stay in the ICU again reminded me of one thing. Be grateful to God always for the life that He has given us for God can take it all away in just an instance. Although I was not really sick or unwell but being wired all over the body for tests is really not a nice experienced. It made me realised how lucky I have been all this while for God has been kind to me. Leave aside all your complains and petty issues. Being alive and healthy is blessing enough.

An overnight stay at the ICU

Four months ago I did the Executive Health Check and was given a clean bill of health except for the cholesterol which was bordering on the high side. Yesterday I visited the doctor again to check on the cholesterol and see if I needed to take medicine. I was a bit late and was rushing, almost running up the hill to the hospital. On meeting the doctor, as a routine, he checked my heartbeat and found it was beating so, so fast and also irregular. It worried him enough that he held me overnight in the ICU for a series of tests and observation. Thank God, the test showed nothing.
Must be because of the rush.

The things people do!

Funny the kind of things mankind subject themselves to. There was this guy who was obsessed with exercise for fear of sickness and death. He workout an average of fifty times a week. Then there's another who cannot stop washing herself. The time she spent in the bathroom for that purpose can take hours. Some others hoard things such that their houses are flooded with all kind of things, most of them not needed. There's another lady who keep pulling her hair. Her head is almost bald but she just cannot stop! The list goes on .......

The Year of the Tiger

In conjunction with the 'Year of the Tiger' there have been many 'Tiger' related documentaries on Animal Planet, Discovery and National Geographic channels lately. Slowly but surely, they are losing their habitat, killed for their skin and can soon become extinct. In Malaysia, they are only in the hundreds now from a few thousand years ago. Very sad. More need to be done in order to save them. I just hope there won't be a day when Tigers finally disappear from the earth.

Fire

Front View

Side View

While we were performing the Friday prayers inside the mosque, there was drama outside. A car caught fire. Lucky thing it didn't spread to others. Otherwise, it would have been catastrophic.

Toyota in the news again!

What is happening at Toyota? Faulty parts seem to be the order of the day! I always thought when it comes to quality the Japanese are second to none! I even went to Japan to learn about Total Quality Management (TQM) and came away, impressed. The fact that Toyota is struggling with faulty parts now is just unbelievable.

You can't beat the rain

I was just getting into my stride when the sky opened up and it rained. Before that it was drizzling and I was hoping it would continue that way, at least until I finished my run. Anyway, it was not to be. Lucky thing the rain stopped as quickly as it came cause when I reached the place where I had parked my car, I saw that it was flooded but not high enough to cause damage. What a lucky break!

Bits and pieces around the house!

So soon the holiday is over. Anyway, over the period, I managed to change a leaking pipe in the kitchen, fixed a new hose to another in the lawn, changed the lock to the side gate (the old one was getting rusty) and cleaned the garden in front of the house. However, a ripe yellow papaya disappeared right under my nose. Thought I'd leave it to the afternoon before picking it but noon came and it was gone! What a letdown.

Nothing beats Monday when its a holiday

Its Monday but I don't have to go to work. What a feeling! Even after almost thirty years of working, I still cannot get over the Monday blues but today, what a nice changed. Its Monday morning and here I am at home, catching up on the sports news from the internet. The race in Spain is opening up after Barcelona got beaten last night. Over in Italy, Inter only managed a draw. As for me, I will surely enjoy the rare Mondays that I get to be at home.

Night

A Night Out for Dinner

Restaurant was full so had to wait outside

Still patiently waiting ....

Getting hungry already ....

With all members of the family home for the holidays, we decided to have dinner outside. The place was nice, food was good but we had to queue outside the restaurant for quite a while as it was full. Anyway orders could be done while queuing hence the food was almost ready the moment we walked in.

Its a Saturday morning....

The Perak story is finally coming to an end after a long saga. The court has decided and it was as expected or were we expecting otherwise? Meanwhile in Trengganu, the roofs keep falling. Perhaps they have forgotten to take into account the monsoon winds when making it. In Melaka, the Eye of Malaysia is in danger of becoming history. That would be a pity if that happens.

Enjoying a peaceful evening

Arsenal is back or are they?

In a sudden turn of events, Arsenal found themselves back in the title race. Unexpected defeat for Chelsea and a draw for Man U let Arsenal, who beat Liverpool, close the gap to just six points. With just twelve matches left, it looks like anybody's title at the moment. I believe this season, the race will go down to the wire. It's going to be exciting!

Its a long weekend

The long weekend will certainly see the streets of KL empty of cars for once. Thousands have already left the city, to wherever they are going. Meanwhile, in China, the world's biggest human exodus is in full swing. More than 200 million people will travel during this period. Trains, buses, taxis, aeroplanes etc., they all will be packed to the brim.

Only time will tell

Its full speed down the spiral staircase. Down and down and down....... surely there must be a bottom somewhere! Or are we going to see another crash?

What now, Wenger?

Arsenal is learning the hard way that playing beautiful football gets you nowhere. Five long years without a trophy. That's five years too long! This season, what was supposed to be the defining moments for Arsenal was just that, except that it went the wrong way. Draw with Villa and defeats to Man U and Chelsea means Arsenal is now nine points behind Chelsea, the league leaders. So, what now Wenger?

Life is ........

There are times in life when everything seems right
The world is beautiful and the sun shining ever so bright
But I learned that in life, it is never as easy as black or white
It can take a lot from me that all I want to do is sleep like its night

As I live on with my life, I discover that it never is what it seems
Happy, sad, despair, anger etc. I went through it all like a has been
But do I really know what they all mean
Because it may be red or blue or orange when actually it is green
And it can even be yellow if you know what I mean

Life, I learn as I get older, is a never ending story of feelings
It comes and it goes, for the young and the old, as long as you are living
For what is life without the laughing and the crying
Because God made it such that life is unpredictable and never boring

Anyway, at the end of the day, I know one thing is clear
Complete submission to God and that is all that matters

Building castle in the hereafter

Whenever I go to the mosque for prayers, it always amaze me how easy it is to get to pray in the front row, just behind the Imam. Nobody seems to want it. I gladly take it, off course, thank you very much but it shouldn't be like that. I'm sure we all know the difference between praying in the front row, second row, third row and so on and yet, we don't seem interested! I wonder what it will be like if we say, those in the front row will get RM 1000 each, the second row RM 500 each, the third row RM 250 each and so on. Then, we will immediately see the difference.

Remembering PD town

When I was working in PD more than twenty years ago, I always drive through this part of the town. This isn't saying much actually because if you go to PD town, you will definitely drive through this road simply because this was and still is the main part of the town.

Some photographs

At the edge of town near the jetty

Different place, different angle, slightly different scenery

Was in P. Dickson recently. Took the photographs above just for the fun of it. Can't say much about the creative skill I suppose. I wanted a different angle but the sun was not in my favour. Had to work around what nature provided.

Another drop

Another big drop for Dow. More than 250 points! Not seen such figures for quite sometime already. Whatever happened to the recovery? Will KL follow suit?

Shah Alam Lake - 6.30 pm

Went for my jog today. Completing one big round around the lakes, non stop for about 25 minutes is the target now. Though sometimes I feel like giving up half way through, determination pushes me through most of the time. The feeling of satisfaction of having make it beats all the pain in completing it, anytime.

Time waits for nobody

I woke up this morning and suddenly it dawned on me. What! February already! What ever happened to January? All along, I had the impression that January was just beginning. Suddenly, its gone. Just like that! And now we are in February. Wow! Its scary... very soon it will be March, then April, then May then........