Life is short and uncertain,

Break the rules,

Forgive quickly,

Kiss slowly,

Love truly,

Laugh uncontrollably,

And never regret anything that made you smile.

Don't miss the 9 requisites for contented living by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe :-

Health enough to make work a pleasure.

Wealth enough to support your needs.

Strength enough to battle with difficulties and overcome them.

Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them

Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished.

Charity enough to see some some good in your neighbour.

Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others,

Faith enough to make real the things of God.

Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) gets solemn, melancholic and philosophical as the year grinds to an end. So many thoughts and memories mull in his soul and spirit. What will the new year, 2011, brings ?

Let's rest our uncertainties in the Good Lord, Our God. And take the bull by its horns. Come what may. !

The 2010 Glorious Christmas

“ Life is for the living. There is plenty of time to be dead.. Let’s seize the day , celebrate life and get busy living and building the Kingdom for Our Lord, Jesus Christ ! Salute ! . Cheers ! ”

~ Christmas 2010 ~

“Thanks be to God for

His unspeakable gift – indescribable, inestimable, incomparable, inexpressible – precious beyond words. “

Lois Lebar

You are always fondly remembered and are counted twice when we count our blessings. May the Good Lord’s rain His choicest blessings and favors on you and your loved ones constantly each and every day of your life.

From

Thomas & Marie Chua

..... of doing a small bit of charity

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) moved a motion in the Parish Pastoral Council of the Church of St Michael, Alor Setar, to form an Ad Hoc Post Flood Relief Committee to deal with the current post flood situation with the hope that it will birth a permanent committee for emergency relief and also to set up an evacuee centre at the imposing three-storeyed parish house ( which currently house only two priest !!! ) . It was unanimously agreed since there was fund from the POHD, SVP and some well wishers which the priest had no way of using.

We were (Y S used the past tense with the prayerful hope that things will change after this) unequipped and ill organised for emergencies. As a big organisation, The Roman Catholic Church, with super and minor hierarchies, upper and lower echelons, we simply could not move fast enough in emergencies. Have you ever seen elephants and buffaloes in flight ? They are hopelessly clumsy and sluggish compared to smaller and sleeker creatures. The same applies to churches. The smaller one are closer knit, more agile and swift. But the older ones are not without advantages. They have years of cultures and traditions and a very rich heritage. However, these advantages could fossilize the ways things are run.

Anyway, the Ad Hoc Committee sprung into action and in three weeks we managed to collate data of the victims, apportion and distributed the amount of relief, and also visited the affected homes in Alor Setar, Jitra and Kangar. The Parish Priest consented to come along to bless the victims and their homes, and give them new courage and hope to start again.

It is when Y S visited such victims and their homes, that he came homes with bended knees gratefully thanking the Good Lord for all the blessings that He has bestowed on him. " The service we render to others is really the rent we pay for our room on this earth. It is obvious that man is himself a traveller; that the purpose of this world is not " to have and to hold" but " to give and serve". There can be no other meaning." Wilfred T. Grenfell.

The following is a report Y S wrote to Herald :

Better late than never

The Church of St Michael, Alor Setar , has formed an ad hoc Post Flood Relief Committee to investigate, document and provide relief for the parishioners , their

families, friends and neighbours who were victims of the recent flood. The relief also covered other affected areas in Jitra and Kangar. In the inaugural ad hoc committee meeting, Rev Fr Vincent Paul, the new Parish Priest stressed, “ We were ill organized to help the flood victims during the flood. Let’s no fail again to help them after the flood. It’s better late than never. “

The committee is chaired by Henry Goh and assisted by Vincent Victor, Maria Arokiam, Thomas Chua, Gabriel Tan, Susan Saw, Nathan and Joseph Arokeim, and collaborates closely with the POHD and SVP. It has stretched the fund provided by POHD, SVP and other well wishers very thin and far.

Inquiry forms had been distributed to the flood victims and the data was finally collated

to facilitate the committee to distribute cash relief of between RM 100 to RM 250. Rev Fr Vincent Paul and his assistant, Rev Fr Marshall accompanied by the committee members, had kindly consented to visit and bless the victims and their homes. Affected parishioners were touched not so much by the cash relief brought by the committee but by their parish priests’ visit. Paul, a retiree, from Taman Aman said with teary eyes, “ I have been living here for years. This is the first time my Parish Priest visits me .” Dave Cameroon, a student, from Taman Lumba Kuda, exclaimed, “ The cash will be very helpful. We’re down with only RM9 left ! “

The committee hoped to birth a Relief Committee, not only for floods but other emergencies. It also hoped to set up a relief centre for evacuees. Thomas Chua, the Chairman of the Parish Animating team, in his hind sight, commented ,” The flood has taught us an invaluable lesson in building BECs. We need to keep an up-to-date parish census to reach out during emergencies. “

By Thomas Chua

"He that bestows his goods upon the poor, shall have as much again, and ten times more. " - John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress.

........ peculiar sign boards in China

The Chinese have a peculiar way of writing their sign boards in English. They literally translate them from their language. So, these sign boards not only sound funny but convey hilarious meaning in atrocious grammar .

So, "Travel makes people merry civilization."

..... of Thai creativity and innovation

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) stumbled upon this by the side of a petrol filling station near Patalong, Thailand. It is a disused double decker coach converted into a cafe, serving full menu food and drinks. The bar is in the coach while the wet kitchen is outside. So much for Thai's creativity and innovation. Such structures would be rusting and rotting away in our junk yards.

Cool place to hang out, eh!

Travels open the mind to new things.

.... of three things in life

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) received these meaning thoughts and upon reflecting on them, how true they are .

Three things in life that, once gone, never come back
1. Time
2. Words
3. Opportunity

Three things in life that can destroy a person
1. Anger
2. Pride
3. Unforgiving

Three things in life that you should never lose
1. Hope
2. Peace
3 Honesty

Three things in life that are most valuable
1. Love
2. Family & Friends
3. Health

Three things in life that are never certain
1. Fortune
2. Success
3. Dreams

Three things that make a person
1. Commitment
2. Sincerity
3. Hard work

Think about them ................................

.... of lying and telling lies

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) once drove a student home to fetch her homework. She claimed to have completed her homework but forgot to pack the book into her school bag and that was not the first time. Y S, through years of experience, could even smell out students who lied. Her brazen
face, wide eyes and assuring voice would have easily taken inexperienced teachers for a ride.

When Y S insisted on fetching her home to get her homework, she confidently agreed but claimed that nobody was at her home in the morning. Y S suggested going to her mother's working place and to fetch the mother home as well. She boldly agreed. So, Y S had to request the escort of a female teacher to officially pursue the matter.

The student's face and voice did not change at all on the journey to her mother's office. But when Y S started to park the car, she suddenly burst out crying and confessed to her lies. Of course, she was forgiven after a long sessions of counseling.

Surprisingly such negative habit is also predominant among seemingly normal adults. Y S ' better half came across a case where someone claimed to have gone visiting some place with a mutual friend and his family. In actual fact the trip was not made at all. Somehow the lie was not water tight, it seeped out when the person involved himself denied making the trip with the said individual and her family.

This is just one example. There are countless examples of adults lying. People lie for numerous reasons : -

To get away with their wrong doings.

To be free from their duties and obligations.

To blame others for some mishaps.

To get what they want.

To cheat others.

But, there is one serious type of adult lying - lying to artificially put oneself in good stead, to boost one's pathetic self esteem or to astonish the unsuspecting or to put it simply to show off.

May the Good Lord grant us the sanity to discern lies from truths.

... of dinosaur entertainments

In the sixties, Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) and his siblings' only home entertainment was the radio. We had a German Grundic which operated on a huge 12 v dry cell battery. Those days there were very few bands, and the family's favourite was a "Hokkien, Cantonese and Hakka" comedy, popularly known as " Four Friends" Of course, the volume was set to high since it was for the whole family to enjoy. In the outback of kelantann, there was no "Rediffussion" (Pay radio channel) to enjoy like in bigger towns of Penang or Ipoh. Very few people could afford a portable transistor set and to have one was a luxury like today's kids having an ipod or stuffs like that.

When Y S was in Form Five, he longed for a record player. A low range portable National record player cost about RM 50.00 those days and that was a lot of money. It took Y S all his years of accumulation of "anypows" money to get a record player (Red packet money gifts which you got once a year during the new Chinese lunar year. The biggest amount Y S used to get was miserable RM4.00 . So, you can imagine how many years of hard saving .)

With the record player, you had to buy gramophone records. The LP or Long Play cost about RM5.00 ( a pirated, of course) and contained about 10 songs while a SP (Short Play) cost RM2.00 and contain one miserable song on each side. Of course, they came with lots of statics and other noises. If they were roughly handled, they developed scratches which produced more noises.

In later years the tape recorder became popular. You could tape up songs and it was cheaper than buying gramophone records. Y S' brother bought one second-hand tape recorder and that was the attraction of the family. Of course, there was no CDs those days, not even the obsolete cassette but big rolls of plastic tape wound round a spool, and if you were not careful, or when it was a bit old and over stretched, the tape over mounted the spool and got entangled. Moreover when the tape was overused the sound quality deteriorated and you might hear " Oooo Carooool I aaam buut a foooooooool ......ooool.......... " To forward or backward the tape called for great patience and long suffering unlike the present CD or DVD. Technology has come a long, long way.

Those were the days .........

....driving in a convoy

The convoy assembled at the town square apposite the state mosque. 25 vehicles of assorted makes and model and 10 big bikes. All waited for the arrival of the royal patron. Then the flag down and Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) was escorted by police outriders on the right lane and through all the traffic lights to the border town of Black Wood Hill ( Bukit Kayu Hitam).

Through the green lane at the border check point of Danok, Y S and convoy were escorted by the Thai police car all the way through the towns of Sadao, Phatalon and Trang to Aonang Krabi.

It was a drive of a life time, doing between 100 to 140 Kpm, with head and tail lights on and hazard lights flashing all the way . Y S was vehicle # 5, one vehicle after the Tuanku's Land Rover.


This is a land bridge between two islands and accessible at low tide.

This is called " The Chicken Island" by the locals. Anyway, it does look like an ostrich to Y S .

On Y S' motorcycle roam at Aonang, Better Half and Y S stumbled across a Catholic Church hidden among the lush surrounding. We were in time for their Sunday mass. It has 30 parishioners and they usually have tourists worshiping with them. The music for the mass is from CD, no choir. And who says a church should look like a cathedral in Rome ?!

This is a Presbyterian Church we found while checking out Trang where we were marooned for two days while waiting for the flood water to recede to cross over to Phatalon.


Krabi-Aonang is the White Man's / "Orang Putih" playground. Scores of White Men and Women sun bathe all over the beach. You might step on them if you don't look out. LOL Some are reading while others hide their eyes behind thick, dark glasses in the blazing, blasting, grilling hot sun !
They seem to throw caution to the wind, adopt a comfortable position and spread out like the drying of salt fish, with only minimal shading of certain body parts, not from the sun but from prying eyes ! ( Not Y S' !!! Better Half always warns " Look away !! Look away !!! Y S always argues with her, what are eyes for? To appreciate beauty mah ! ) LOL

One unique cave to share with you. This cave has become a shrine for hopeless men and also women, Y S means, in a manner of speaking, men whose flag post cannot hoist their flags properly - maybe half-mast, or three quarter mast or "no mast" at all, would come here to pray for their flag post. Each would bring an offering in the shape of a well carved wooden flag post which is to be placed around the shrine. "Sonless" mothers also pray here to get male babies. By the look of the numbers of offerings, it is quite a popular shrine !

This is the RM 650 room at Aonang Beach Resort that went for a special rate for the Kedah Motor Sports Club - clean, spacious and plush. A hotel room which makes you want to return to.

Sharing a speed boat with 30 other holiday makers to the picturesque islands around.

A dip into the Andaman sea. The corals are a disappointment. They are dark and dead. The water isn't crystal clear as expected. Perhaps the area isn't sustainable anymore with so many tourists dipping in.

This is God's endowment to the Thais , picturesque islands. Together with their gentleness and hospitality, they are magnets to the tourists.
This is the tourist town of Aonang Krabi. It is hard to find Thai food but the whole place is full of restaurants cooking German, Italian, Irish, French etc etc etc food. These are managed by the Thai wives of foreign expatriates who start business after falling in love with the local women and place ! Y S and better Half had a German meal at one joint, and entertained by the German proprietor.


This is the first time Y S drove long distance in a foreign country. The club is planning one more convoy to Chiangmai, North Thailand. Y S hopes it comes soon before his SUV grows older.

A big one out of Y S' Bucket List.

..... of floods

Coming home from Krabi Convoy is not holiday this time. IT IS WORK, real HARD WORK. The house was under water a few hours after Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) drove into the porch. Y S and his Better Half only had the time and most of all ENERGY to salvage a few costly and important things. By then, age showed up. You see, we are not young anymore. Many hours of walking in the muddy water disrupts circulation and you get that tinkering sensation like being pricked
with a thousand needles all over your feet. So, Y S told the better Half that "enough is enough."

However, poor Better Half got her ring finger caught under the mammoth fridge ( Don't you people ever buy big, big appliances anymore !!!) when we tried to rest it above some bricks. When adrenaline is rushing in your system, you can do almost everything. You can bet that the fridge could never come down after the flood without help.

By the time water and electricity had been disconnected and the water rising, there was no point staying on. YS secured the house and escaped to Sungai Petani Inn. While resting on a dry and comfortable bed, it dawned on Y S that life is "TOUCH N GO." Anything can come in between. Anything can happen. Anything can rob you of whatever you have, even your life. At least Y S fled in a car, with dry clothes and Credit Cards ! Think of Gunung Merapi victims fleeing with almost nothing, not even knowing whether their children, siblings, relatives, friends and neighbours could make it or not. Y S did not enjoy the hotel buffet breakfast the following day !

Let's count our blessings TWICE !

....... on a convoy to Aonang-Krabi

This blog is taking a break. Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) and his Better Half are on a convoy of 25 cars and 15 big bikes to Aonang-Krabi, Thailand. This is one out of my bucket list. Y S will share his experience in the next blog.

So, work starts again and until Y S' next holiday when he is back.

Adious ! Chai Cheang !

" Have 4 X 4 SUV must travel. "

.... of people and entertaiments along The Silk Road

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) likes to snap photos of people in places he has visited. In the faces of the people is the soul of the place. Here is a shrewd Kazakh trader selling camel souvenirs.

A stage show at urumuqi.

A stage show at Dun Huan.

Another stage show a Dun Huan.


This, as you can guess, is belly dancing.






A Kazakh trying to start his motorcycle cart.

A very shy Kazakh woman at her home.

The Kazakh have many children.'

Modern Kazakh at a bazaar.

Children play everywhere.

This cute one posed for Y S.

These two cuties posed with Better Half and left their addresses with her.
They want letters in English.

The keeper of the mosque at Urumuqi.

A vendor enticing tourists outside a restaurant.

People are exercising everywhere in China.

More people are exercising.

A vendor at Xi An.

National Service in china.

This is another sales personnel trying his skills.

My China (my right) and Malaysia ( my left) guides. The lady was my ex-student in Form!

The inhabitants of the world are awesome !!!