More pictures of the Holy Land

This cold, grotesque, gray wall put up by the authorities separates and regulates the populace. The many graffiti on the walls show the people's feeling about the authority.










This is the Lion Gate to enter into Jerusalem. It is also called St Stephen's Gate. St Stephen was dragged out of this gate and stoned to death.













These are the steps leading to Caiphas' monumental mansion. These very steps were taken by Christ when he was brought to Pontius Pilate to be sentenced.













One of the alleys leading to the Lion's Gate inside Jerusalem. The shops were not yet opened when we walked the "Way of the Cross." We were there before 7 am.

It will be very crowded when the city is up and about. You will be harassed by the vendors.









This is the Damascus Gate. The most picturesque of all the gates. (Sorrry from the reflection. It is the coach's rear mirror.)














This is the Garden of Gethsemane .The twisting and twining of the olive trees give a sad, forlorn and humbling feeling. You can imagine Christ's agony.












This is another view of Jerusalem from Mt Olive. The dark dome is the Al-aksa Mosque.













This is the long walk up the Orthodox Church's monastery.














One of the caves at Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, very desolated and barren place.













Our pilgrimage group making our way on "St Peter's boat" from Tiberias to Capernaum.

Can you spot yours sincerely and wife?
















This is the Jordan Valley, green and well cultivated. A land flows with "milk and honey."

This is ruins of a synagogue at Capernaun which could have been the one where Christ stood up and taught at.

This is the well of St Mary. It used to be the village well and also a women's institution where women of the village met and caught up with the latest news and "gossips."

This is the top portion of the Church of Nativity. Built by St Helena, Emperor Constantine's mother.
This is view of the town of Bethlehem, shot from the Bethlehem Hotel, our first stop after a long flight from KLIA, transitting at Tashkent, Ubzekisthan.

It's CHRISTmas again........2008....

It's CHRISTmas again. It has been another bonus year given by the Almighty. Yours sincerely always consider every Christmas a bonus for another year which we miserable humankind have undeservingly been granted with to make amends, repair and straighten our lives and make this world a better place to live in.

Anyway, when it is Christmas, one must put up the Christmas tree. In the good old days when the children were young, the better half and I had to drive all the way to Gama Supermarket in Penang to get one. Decorating the tree was then the girls' passion. The plastic tree had to bear with so many ornaments and twisted with many more twinkling coloured bulbs. The putting up of the tree was somewhat ritual like. It was, of course, done with much happiness and joy. Colourful wrapped presents with notes for designated receivers ( I always love the ones written my elder daughter and through the years I know she meant what she wrote) were placed under the tree and the girls gleefully waited for the moment to open them. The moment was usually after our attendance at the midnight Christmas mass. Then, the "oooo" and "aaaa" and "thank you papa" and "thank you mama." CHRISTmas is family.

So, the tree proudly stood at a strategic corner of the living room, absorbing glances, observations and praises from guests. It stood there through the New Year and Chinese New Year. It somehow gathered a bit of house dust. No one remembered to switch on the lights anymore. By then Christmas was long gone. And the taking down , as you would have guessed it, had always been the father's job! Anyway, it was fun, bonding and "family." BUT NOW, THE CHILDREN HAVE GROWN UP AND WE, THE PARENTS ARE GETTING ON IN AGE,SO OUR CHRISTMAS TREE LOOKS LIKE THIS NOW ............


It is a boring, plastic, DIY, fibre opic tree that cannot be dressed, just plug into an electricity source. It is hitec but devoid of the warmth from the children's touch. Oh! How I miss the good old tree even though I had to take it down. Well, the moral of the story is that when you have the chance to be a "family", make time, take the trouble, enjoy each other's company, bond............. Things cannnot be the same forever. Children grow up and out of the home. One of the spouses might be called Home ........

Anyway, CHRISTmas is giving. The gift part is still maintained. It is still after the midnight mass. So, we exchanged gifts and opened them but without the elder daughter and her spouse this year. It is not the same as yesteryears.This is what Esther, the younger daughter gets.(See pic) She is loveable and appreciates any thing you get for her. She has even "prebought" a Nokia and debited her mum's account for another of her very early Christmas present. "I have to keep in touch with you fellas in A Star." Her reason.

The climax of the Christmas gift opening ritual and to put some life and fun into our 30 over years of this partnership of living together which civilization calls "marriage" , mind you, many such partnerships have gone desert dry and the partners are living cactus prickling existence. Still many partners are eyeing and peering at greener lawns. Well, yours sincerely always thinks that if you start to see greener lawns elsewhere, it was time you start watering and fertilizing yours. Put some life and fun in your partnership. So, the better half's Christmas present is a sexy lingerie (Hope she can still get into it.) with a red, you can see what..... She was gleefully giggling away like when we were on our first date, years ago! "PAPA, wha- lah you like ths one?" was the younger daughter's comment with a blushed face. It was fun to watch their reaction.

You can imagine how the salesgirls and the cashiers at the checkout counter of the women's section stared at me and what they would have thought of me ($%^&*) when I was paying for the purchase, not to mention the other ladies in the queue.

CHRISTmas is for everyone. So, have a blessed and glorious CHRISTmas and all the days that follow. Keep your hope high. Get angry less. Smile more. Forgive the most.

The world is meant to be shared. It has enough for all our needs and NOT greed. Carpe diem.

Our Pilgrimage

Yours sincerely and the better half had been favoured with a pilgrimage to the Holy Lands - Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Caesarea, Tiberias, Cana, Nazareth, Capernaum, Mt of Beautides, Tabgha, Mt Tabor, Jordan valley, Jericho, The Dead Sea, Bethany, Gethsemane, Kidron Valley, Mt Zion, Ein Karim and Emmaus. It was a pilgrimage in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, from his birth to crucifixion and resurrection. It was a spiritual journey with lots of prayers and masses. Did I grow wings and halo on the return journey? No. But I was imbued with a deep realisation of God's love for me and my inadequacies . My life wish of viewing the ancient, biblical and walled city of Jerusalem from Mt Olives was granted. It is messily awesome and precariously peaceful. A city that has seen many, many wars. A city destroyed and rebuilt many, many times. A city which so many religions are laying claims on. A city that now belongs to so many religions. May the peace of the Almighty God reign over it.

This is the Sea of Galilee which is teeming with St Peter's fish. We went in a fishing boat very much alike those used by St Peter and Christ Himself when he preached from the boat along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The weather was fine and the sea was kind, no waves that upset your stomach. Sea gulls swooped down to be fed from your hands. It is awesome to think that the disciples saw Christ walking on it!

Later in the evening we had fried St Peter's fish
for dinner. It turned out to be "Tilapia" fish and very much alike the ones I used to rear in my aquarium. I could not finish my dinner.

The Catholic Church at Cana is also called the Wedding Church. It is here Christ performed His first miracle of turning water into wine. Here pilgrim couples usually exchange their marriage vow again. Yours sincerely felt very uncomfortable exchanging his wedding vow again, afterall the one he exchanged 32 over years ago is still valid and not yet expired. Anyway, so as not to incur the wrath of the better half as "Hell knows no fury like a woman's scorn", yours sincerely thought well what damage could it probably do. But, for failing to do it, I may not get my laundry done. I may not get my 3 hot square meals. Not to mention having to sleep on the couch in the hall ! Anyway, I have to admit that it was very romantic. A Franciscan nun played the wedding march as we walked down the isle and Rev Jude Miranda made us look into the eyes of the beholder when we uttered our vows. "Geli" lor !

There are many churches of 50 or 70 years old built over biblical sites all over the Holy land. They did not struck me as hard as the Church of Nativity and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for their age.

The Church of the nativity was built in 326 AD by the emperor Constantine and his mother, Helena, enclosing the Navity Grotto.

You can witness the age of the sites from the bricks, cobble stone pavement and the frescos inside the church.

I was also awed by the Nativity Grotto. This is the very spot where Christ was born.











We had a dip in the Dead sea which is the lowest point in the world. It sits at 400 metres below sea level. Mind, it is really salty. No living organisms can survive here. Don't ever get the sea water into your eyes. You will be temporarily sorely blinded. The ladies were busy digging into the mud at the sea bed to religiously rub on their freckles, ageing spots, pimples , wrinkles and God knows what with the hope of rejuvenating their looks! So, itwas also a physical pilgrimage. From what I observed, many were rejuvenated with sun burnt.

I enjoyed floating on the sea.



This the Quarum Valley where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. A barren place as you can see. Excavation is still continuing.

( These are the few shots I can put on this blog.
Do visit me to talk about the place and view
more pictures.)

Shaggy found a home

Remember the adoption yours sincerely put up at "Petfinders," it is an excellent site for what its name claims. Serene from KL answered to the advert. Over the phone she sounded cheery, kind, caring and loveable. So, we made arrangement to meet. She came with her father (about my age and from the same university at about the same time. Humble and Friendly fella) and boyfriend.

If people are willing to drive 4 or 5 hours and pay tolls to pick up a pet in their brand new white leather seat Mercedes, I do not have to question their love for animals anymore. I am very sure Shaggy is in a loving family. They are Christians. My conscience rests peacefully. Live your new life Shaggy. Case closed.

Parish Assemblies and playing "KBC"

This is the Parish Assembly season in the Diocese of Penang where various parishes evaluate their events and activities for the year and see their Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, and then plan ahead for the following year. As a member of the DPT or rather Diocesan Pastoral Team or the Bishop's Think Tank, to impress you a bit, we are to drop in at various churches as observers to their assembly and to report to the DPT.

Well, it was an arduous but rewarding and enriching experience. I, not only observed a lot but also learnt from them, both negative and positive things. Of course, you cannot fall asleep during the long sessions which were normally held at ungodly hours and some in oven-like single storeyed classrooms like the one in St Louis in Taiping, for the simple reason that you will be called upon to round up the session. Those at the Risen Christ Sg Petani and Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Ipoh were blessed. Their halls are air-conditioned.

For those of you who are Catholics in the Penang Diocese and you care about your church, I can assure you that our churches are toeing the line and moving in the same direction guided by the Diocesan Pastoral Thrust, although at different speeds and with differrent gaits.

One glaring observation is the ageing element in most churches. Where are the young people? They are in the bigger towns and cities like the Klang Valley. So, for churches in the Klang valley to say that they have grown and bursting at the seams and with worshippers following the masses on the LCDs, a simple question begs asking : " Is your growth mainly through conversion or migration???"

Some pictures of the various assemblies for you to see.

Your heart is where your children are

It was KL again from 16 to 20 November to "Look Look and See See" on Esther at Bukit Jalil. Well, the apartment still stood there as usual. The floor was meticulously mopped and our bedroom spruced up. All done the nite before. So, thanks Esther. It was a good bonding trip. We got to meet up with Bert for lunch at a Nyonya outlet at Sri Petaling. As usual, he was busy. The wife and I managed to get around a bit this time with a modern invention - the GPS. So, for the first time we managed to get to Sg Long to visit Seng Kiat and managed to come back to Bukit Jalil without any u-turns or detours. Fantastic equipment..... 30 metres turn left, turn left...... infra red camera.... 80 KPH speed limit.............

For those who live away from your parents. One small secret to get your fridge loaded is to leave it empty when your parents visit you. They will be overwhelmingly sympathetic to you and will stock it up for you in no time. See, so easy one.

Adoption for "Shaggy"

Today is a decisive day. Yours sincerely is finally giving "Shaggy" up for adoption. It is a difficult, heart wrenching and aching decision made. "Shaggy" has to go or I have to live with Allergy Asthma for the rest of my life. His dander has been activating my asthmatic allergy. The other two dogs, Pinchy and Elfie, both are miniature pinchers, have very much shorter and manageable furs.

It is like giving up a member of the family for adoption. I wonder how people did it in the past, especially when they had girls.

I know how my children feel about this issue but I have to make the decision and be responsible for it. The wife has also been on this issue for a long time but she dares not act, perhaps giving some respect to me, or rather putting the whole issue on my shoulder.

So I regretfully went into http://www.petfinder.my website and posted an advertisement. You can read about him. The only sensible thing I can do now is to ensure that "Shaggy" gets a good home - animal loving family. An animal-loving Christian family diagonally opposite our house has expressed interest in the adoption but it is too hear our home. The sight of him and his barks will be very painful to bear.

Do pray for "Shaggy."

This is happiness to me.

Yours sincerely , wife and Esther caught up with his extended family in KL over dinner: Peter Lim, Albertus, Budiman and Angela, and Jenny and her family. Not forgetting my nephew Seng Kiat and his lovely wife Yoke Kin at Oversea Union Restaurant, Sri Petaling.

Being able to meet at the dinning table is one of the greatest pleasure of my life. Food is the greatest denominator in whatever situation. Don't worry about the cholesterol etc. Whether you eat or not, the difference, according to my friend who worked in the hospital before, is two hours!!! Anyway, no one can get out of life alive.

Dinners bind and strengthen relationship, of course at the expense of the fish, chickens, ducks and pigs losing their lives, and perhaps, a shark or two losing their fins to grace your soup. Talking about "fins" I always guiltily remember "when the buying stops, the killing stops." I will think of a substitute next time. Maybe "Bak Kut Teh" or "Si Chuan Soup." Cheaper, anyway.

Oversea Union is a restaurant chain which is fine for ambiance and service. The air conditioning is soothing. The table cloth is crisply ironed without the tiny holes made by cigarettes neither is it sauce stained. The chairs are soft and comfortable. The waitresses are tighly " cheongsamed" Of course, the plates are changed as if they are disposables and the Chinese tea keeps flowing. However, the taste of the food can never beat one of those at Ah Chong's or Ah Seng's who cook at the five foot way, beside the drain or in a coffee chop cum restaurant at Sri Kembangan or Puchong. Not to mention the 5% and 10% "Si Kut Thaw" (Hokkien) charged on the already lengthy bill. Well, this is KL.

Hari Raya "Balik" Bandaraya

Yours sincerely made a trip to KL on the eve of Hari Raya. Wa...lau... travelling on the opposite side of the "Balik Kampong" traffic was brisk. There were very few vehicles and they were evenly spaced and well mannered. No monsters tail gated you with high beams flashing you out of your lane.

However, your eyes would always be on these two things rather than the road. The thought of the RM300 summon is painful to the pocket.

Visited by Asthma

It is absurd for a 5 ft 10 in and 85 kg "Rambo" man like yours sincerely to struggle for breath at 4 or 5 am in the morning. But that is my condition now. When your life hangs on a breath which you have to inhale, then the rest of the world is deemed unimportant. I refused to believe that I have Asthma. I visited several GPs for a quick fix and hoping against hope that the condition would somehow disappear. But looks like it is stubbornly staying on.

No choice. I visited the Government General Hospital for the first time in my 32 years of working life and with only 8 days of leave on MCs. There was no award or citation for such efficiency in the government education service. So, you out there who are teachers in government schools, do take your sick leave and gracefully rest at home. Don't try to be a super teacher. If you struggle to go to work like what yours sincerely stupidly did in the name of being an honourable teacher, for all you know, you will be given relief classes of your colleagues who so conveniently fake sickness and take leave.

See my inhalers in the picture. They contain my life! . And my life hangs on these medical equipment. Thank God, my former employer is supplying me with them foc.

Six months down the road

Six months down the road, yours sincerely is still bombarded with shocking statements : What! You have retired?" "Are you doing anything?" "What are you doing to pass time?" "To pass time" I have to say that time is never enough from the day I called it quit. Never a second, a minute or a day passed when I could be accused of wasting time. And time is getting more and more precious by the day.

Never spend half your life trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save. One thing I discovered truthfully, when you retire, you switch boss, from the one who hired you to the one who married you. Some say that a retired husband is the wife's full-time job. Others say that when a man retires, his wife gets twice the husband but only half the income. There is another guy who says that being retired is twice tired. First tired not working, then tired of not working. There is another chap who says that retirement kills more people than hard work ever did.

Six months down the road, yours sincerely has to say that there is no turning back for me. I enjoy every minute of my retired life. The trouble of retirement is that you never get a day off!!!
I would say that retirement in itself is the best gift. No gold watch could ever top it. I enjoy waking up in the morning not having to go to work! You enjoy not doing anything and not getting caught at it. Ha! Ha! ha!

Anyway, I do think that retiring at 56 is ridiculous, when at 56 I still have pimples. But then I do not want to give all my youth and also all my not so youthful years to work, and finally retire with grey hairs, old teeth, stones in the kidney, extra glucose and pressure in the blood, gas in the stomach and knee pains. Retire when you are still tip top or a little bit tipped from the top but not fully toppled over. Good retirement is when you quit working before your heart does and begin working on your living.

Allow me to end with Alexander Pope's golden verses :-

Learn to live well, or
fairly make your will
You've played, and loved, and
ate, and drunk your fill;
walk sober off; before a sprightier age
comes tittering on, and
shores you from the stage.

I like my son Albertus' quote ; "This is the business we choose"
" Life is the sum of your choices" - Albert Camus

Bangkok, here we come!

Sawad-dee kha. (Hello) Sabaai dee mai? (How are you?)

At my 56 plus years of life on this beloved planet Earth, yours sincerely made his maiden trip to Bangkok (BKK) . The wife had been there a few times and never failed to sing praises of the city, especially the food! This is my first impression of BKK. Messy, haphazard, dirty but interesting. I just wonder how BKK technicians manage those wires you see overhead, but they function properly; very much like the clogged pavements, roads, " sois" (lanes) , touristy spots, public transportation etc etc. And amazingly, " Bangkokians " keep clean toilets ( unlike ours back home, including the ones at Penang INTERNATIONAL Airport's Departure lounge.)

This trip, the wife and I, agreed on eating "Anthony Bourdain's style." We ventured in the "sois" or small lanes and patronised the best and cheapest food stalls, especially at night. Btw, in my next life, if I get one, I choose to be "Anthony Bourdain" of the "Travel & Living Channel" - travelling, eating, talking and writing! What a life!

This seems to be the Thais' national dish. Once you see your grandmother's mortar and pounder, you know that this dish " Som Tam" is available. It is a pounded mixture of pickled papayas, cucumber, tomatoes, salad leaves etc mixed with peanuts, chillies, anchovies, and a host of other vegetables and finally lavishly wetted with a type of chilly sauce. It goes down well with some barbequed chicken, pork or beef, and, of course, lots of cold coconut juice.















So, like "Anthony Bourdain" we ventured through the nooks and corners of BKK, looking for food. They are found at a 'soi" and it is "o..la..la....." We went "bananas" and "durians" and "mangoes" over them. Mango with glutinous rice and coconut milk. Young bananas cooked in coconut milk. Glutinous rice cooked with coconut milk and eaten with creamy durian. I know they are high in cholestrol. But who cares? My friend who works in a hospital says that between eating and not eating, the difference is only two hours!!!

My newly cultivated taste for bugs. They are
deliciously fried. What is a visit to BKK, without
trying out the bugs.











This is my first attempt at swallowing a fried
grasshopper. Yummy ! De..li..cious. Wonder where
I can get them back home? I might have to catch
them at the football field near my house.








This is another delicacy. Fried glutinous rice pancake
coated with egg. This vendor also sells hard boiled
eggs with bamboo skewers attached for easy handling. Few
Thais have the time to stop and eat. They will grab
a stick, unshell and eat it while walking.







Food galore at almost every "sois" and street.
It is like a "Food fair." The colour, texture and smell
are so inviting. You just want to try every thing.

Don't worry about getting chocked with the food.

Many varieties of drinks are available in mugs,
glasses, bottles, plastic bags and even in coconut shells.
My other half is evidently enjoying her chilled coconut!
Price : 200 bths, i.e RM 2.00 only.








More bugs for snacking!












This is another delicious item. The mouth of the
fish is stuff with lemon grass to add to the aroma.
It is to be eaten with a special chilly sauce.











More stalls for you to ogle hungrily at the food.















Some of the best food we had was at the Damnoensaduak
Floating Market on one of our day tours.
How these food vendors balance their wares, cooking
utensils and cook the food in the tiny space on
their boats is a puzzle. The food comes in small helping
but exceedingly delicious. I wonder whether they use
the water from the canal!


This is another delicacy, noodles with "wantan.'














Our first day trip to"Bang Pa-In Palace" was
accompanied by several bus loads of pupils
from a Thai girls' school. Yours sincerely was
impressed by their discipline. See for yourself.









The Thais are said to be farmers and gardeners.
This grass elephant stands proudly in
Bang Pa-in Palace huge compound.










The Bang Pa-in Palace consists of many palaces of
different architecture. This one looks like a wedding
cake to me.











This elaborate and intricately Thai sculptured pavilion
was built by King Chulalongkorn and used to be his
resting place.









The king's main palace is a Chinese-styled two-storey
mansion built by the Chinese in BKK and presented to
King Chulalongkorn in 1889. It is surrounded by the king's
concubine mansions. These concubine mansions are visible
from all the windows of the palace. His Royal Highness simply
had to wave his hand to anyone he so desired. (No hand phones
those days.)



Have you ever wondered how to stop prowlers
from coming into your compound through the
"klongs" or canals? This is the gate of a canal.
It can be raised or lowered according to the tide of
the river.








Yours sincerely did a bit of archeology at Ayutthaya,
the ancient capital of Thailand for 417 years. Now you can
only see ruins of wats/temples and palaces. It was
destroyed by the Burmese.
This is the most photographed site at Ayutthaya where you can
see three different architectures: the Sukothai, the
Cambodians and the Burmese.














A photograph with the better half in front of
Wat Chaiwattanaram.

The pointed structure is supposed to be of
Burmese influence.














This Buddha's head is found naturally entwined in the
roots of a tree at Wat Mahathat.









Wat Lokayasutharam holds one of the largest outdoor
Reclining Buddha Images.
It is draped with a massive saffron robe.











The highlight of the trip was to see this structure.
Being an ardent reader on the Second WW, I have
always wanted to see the "Bridge Over River Kwai."

This is the infamous bridge.






This is the type of bomb that destroyed a good part of the
bridge and only its middle span survived the bombing.











This is the original middle span that survived
the Allied bombardment.














After the enthusiastic crowd had made their
crossing, yours sincerely took a stroll across this
notorious bridge, imagining the whistles of the
bombs on my right, on my left.... wheeee...
whee..... bom.....bom......bom......



We took a train ride on the Death Railway.
We had made history.















It always costs more for tourists, everywhere.











The trains balances precariously on the original
wooden bridge.












The train is inches away from brushing against
the cliff.











The museum at Thailand-Burma Railway Centre in
Kanchanaburi is worth a visit. The green and well
manicured war memorial by its side is for only Allied soldiers.
I just wonder where are the Asians buried.






Never, never believe your wife if she says she
has no intention of shopping in BKK.

On the other hand, you cannot blame her for the
temptation. Platunam, where we stayed, is BKK's
fashion hub. You can get a blouse for 19.90 bths
and reduceable to 16.00 if you know the game.








Another export of Thailand is...... massages.
The Thais massage everything. Yours sincerely
and the wife tried foot reflexology, very ticklish and
soothing after a long day of walking.

We bade farewell to BKK on the fifth day. The Suvarnabhumi
Airport is the pride of the Thais. I like its environment
friendly concept. The departure section uses solar power- sun light.
Canvas are used to filter the light, very ingenious.

It was a care free, exploratory and interesting trip.