Wonderland

Blue Christmas Trees

I love watching real trees decorated in blue lights.

It is a culmination of imagination and fantasy.

Sometimes it is good to revisit lovely things and memories.

These trees are in USJ5 and they never fail to create good feelings.

Thank you good neighbour for lighting up the place.

Christmas 2009

A Quiet Christmas Eve

This year is different from previous ones. The extended family kept to themselves in single family units to remember the birth of Christ. Somehow things were happening too fast a pace and the extended family did not seem to get together. Even Kong Kong and Por Por celebrated on their own with local church friends.

So we celebrated the eve on a quiet note with no prom.

Dad woke up this morning inspired by Astro's Travel Channel ; thanks to chef Jamie and so he stayed home to see to the evening meal. He's a great cook and can emulate Jamie's way of cooking very efficiently.

He marinated the turkey in Jamie's manner ( spreading butter under the skin ) and baked for about 3 hours.

The turkey turned out to be brown and crispy and yummy too and this year he stuffed it.

He wasted not the gravy from baking the turkey and added flour and ingredients to turn it into the perfect sauce for dipping.

Next after boiling the carrots and potatoes, he seasoned it with herbs and vegetable fat and baked them in the oven.

The baked vegetables turned out well and consuming them with the gravy was delicious.

To everyone's delight, Sara chipped in with an apple pie which everyone enjoyed.

Grace prepared some greens as salad and onion soup to accompany the meal. Esther escaped from every task because it was a working day ; plain fortunate.

So, with everyone in the kitchen , ahem... my only task was to lay the table. It's good to have the grown up girls together with the creative daddy taking care of the evening's meal.
But it was a lovely meal as we partook of it after dad's prayer...that we are to have Christmas in our hearts throughout the year and a grateful thanks to the Lord for His provision.

With great excitement, Kong Kong informed that about 30 carollers called at their unit in Muar and sang them the season's greetings. He was pleased to be visted by them. They seemed to have more guests and merriment than us. Was glad they knew how to fill the celebration with meaning and joy.

Good Job

The Results Are Here Again !

Yes, it's Christmas Eve and the good news.

PMR 2009 saw an increase in straight As and an improvement in the average grade of the school.

A special thanks to teachers, parents and students for achieving the grade and doing your school proud.

The anxious wait before the release.

The results have brought joy to many anxious students and parents and teachers too. A special mention for 3 Ilmu for having done a great job in English. Jian Wah ran to me with a great smile - an A for the subject. Amr ; you were great because you kept your promise and scored best in English. Nursyahira ; I am relieved that you did well and for the rest - thank you for the 39As and 4Bs.

Job well done.

It has been a privilege teaching you.

For Natanial Soon , you must be adding great joy to mama and papa over there in the states...Blessed Christmas to you and family.

Persistence Pays

Creativity and Craft

I love school holidays. You feel less guilty as you browse along the streets especially Petaling Street which is a treasure cove. You can get almost anything there and the best part is you can haggle till the cows come home. I am skilful at that.

So I was caught by the persistence of the youngest at home. "Ma, can you please bring me somewhere where I can get stuff to make book marks?" Book marks ? So she gave me a brief description of what she wanted...beads, pearls, chains...no problem. I know the place - our very own Petaling Street.

My crave for this place - to eat and be busy body - has taught me to get to the place without a hitch ; though there were plenty in the beginning. Now, I can drive there with my eyes closed ...haha. Dad I am not joking.



Sara wanted the items seen above. It was not an easy task. We were a little foolish when we tried to draw pictures of it and it got us no where. We found the beads, chains and the other stuff but that shown above was not an easy find. We walked under the hot sun for a couple of hours inquiring about them but to no avail. She was so persistent. I looked at her and knew somehow , somewhere we were gonna find it. But alas, at the end of the day, we gave up unwillingly. But as the saying goes, when there is a will, there is a way. By a stroke of luck, someone texted her about the place to get the item.

So on the very next day, she made a trip there again...and she found it ! Eureka !

She sorted and arranged her hew found love neatly, ready for the bash.

She even with permission took some of my items which I use no more.

Then she began her work. Like baking, she took a serious effort to create book marks worth giving away as gifts. They were to be her expressions of art and craft.

A real transformation. Now I understand what she meant by book marks.

See how versatile the book mark is. For beauty and function. A real book mark in its sense.

A further confirmation of the use of the book marks.

Pretty things, aren't they? Someone has made an order of 12. She is afraid they are not up to mark and not good enough as gifts. I told her they are the perfect thing for gifts especially for Christmas. Wouldn't you purchase for the price of RM10.00 each? You can make an order too. You would not be disappointed.

Creative book marks.

The Quake

No Smoke Without Fire

Tell -tale signs are warnings and symptoms of underlying factors. The sulphur springs in Yangmingshan are not there for mere existence. Taiwan being located in the Pacific Ring of Fire is not spared of this natural happening. I heard and read about the quake that stirred the island of Taiwan at a scale of 6.4 last evening and the epicentre being 25km away from Hualien ; the town we visited. To think that I was there just last week and I would have loved to imagine my feelings then.
Malaysia as I have often shared with my students is a blessed land. We have oil - both from the seas and the trees. Incidentally while in Hualien we saw a container load of well-packed boxes containing red palm oil for deep frying purposes outside a MCDonald outlet - and a good guess; it was Malaysian red palm oil. We have ore, rubber, the King of fruits and many many other natural resources. Except for occasional down pours and floods here and there we are spared of many natural catastrophes...outside the earthquake zone ; only sometimes to feel the aftermaths of tremors from surrounding countries. A land favoured by God.

So, the trip to Taipei and Yangmingshan again brought to memory how real impending earthquakes are on the island.

The constant smoke is not to contend with ; it being there for a reason.

Ha, what would have happened and how would we feel if the quake had erupted just beside us? Would my smile still stay?

Back at the scene , it was like a make-believe world. I was privileged to see at such close proximity the natural features related to quakes and they are real ; really ?

Again, the hot springs are concrete evidence of earth movements.

I have just texted my sister a couple of minutes ago to find out about the situation. Like the locals, she is used to the movement and even jokingly said that while sitting beside a 8 m high Christmas tree, the star on top looked like it was going to topple but it did not.

Well, of earthquakes and getting used to them. But honestly, thank God we have left the island and we were blessed with perfect weather with only a drizzle on the last day on the way to the airport for the whole visit.

Sulphur springs and smoke.

Local Practices

Practical Living

Ayi Mee is practical and wise and considered many aspects before choosing a place to reside for the family's stint in Taipei. The practical considerations included distance to the MRT, marketing and convenience stores. It is good to be assisted by convenience in everyday living and bearing in mind that this was just a temporary posting, there was no need to go for aesthetic living ; maybe leaving it for old age in Switzerland? Hahaha...you are not gonna like it in very cold places after the colours in Asia and...Malaysia is truly Asia !

This semi prestigious condominium right in the heart of Kang Qia0 street inthe district of Neihu is home to many expatriates and depending on unit size the rental could be in the region of NT120000.00 per month... a whopping figure; much higher than in Kuala Lumpur.

The security is tight here. The security officers have these in their lips as they see you ' "Ni hao and sieh sieh" . As a matter of fact, the common greeting among the locals is just that...now in Malaysia we say " Selamat Sejatera and Salam 1 Malaysia".

Like Singapore, space is a scarce commodity ; what more in the heart of the city. So parking for each tenant (entitled to 2 each) in the condominium comes in this form - a double decker. I thought it was unique and as the saying goes, if there is a will, there is a way. Neat and smart.




Less than 5 minutes walk away from the condominium is the MRT station which is super efficient same like the one in Singapore. It takes you to anywhere you want in the city at very affordable rates. Mee Sing kept ranting should my girls visit her, they will have a convenient time around the city with this mode of transport. Grace will definitely be at home here after Singapore. This led me to ponder again about the Malaysian Government's latest thrust on development with the NKRA (New Key Result Areas) of which one of it is on transportation transformation. We long for this efficient MRT mode of movement. Malaysia produces some of the best brains in this whole wide universe...I am sure we can make it...it will come to pass ; soon I hope. Also, in the NKRA we were told that greater concerted effort will be put on reducing crime rates. In Taipei, Mee Sing told me they hardly hear of snatch theft. But in Malaysia , some innocent people die as a result of it. In Taipei too, the locals are involved in construction and menial tasks from restaurants to the farms and the service sector. In Malaysia we are dependent on the immigrant force...is is because we are too arrogant ? Or are we the brainy ones...too high and mighty for menial tasks? I am not excluded from it.


A couple of minutes walk away from her unit is the morning market like the one in Pulau Tikus, Penang where one can get almost any supply of grains, vegetables, meat and household products and not excluding clothes. It was quite chilly and many shopped in warmer attire.

Taiwan boasts of some of the best agricultural practices in Asia and her products are fresh, huge and green.

The seas around her allows her to harvest large supplies of fish and Mee Sing is not want of ready supply each morning. There is no need to use the car...just a pair of legs.

The shell fish family comes in fresh and edible ... no complaint of stale stock.

We bought some deep-fried tiny soft shell crabs and anchovies for taste. Good.

A commendable supply of all forms of noodles and toufu products in all shapes and sizes.

Yummy...if you are lazy to cook for dinner ; just buy off the peg. Living in Taipei is so very convenient for the Chinese people from Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, America, Australia. Everything made to fit wear and taste. After Germany, Mee Sing savours in the conveniences of living here in Taipei. She simply loves the easier way.

This did not escape my eyes and it marked the coming of the "tung chieh" ; the winter solstice festival celebrated by the Chinese community to indicate the end of the old year and the coming of the "Spring Season" - the new year of the Chinese calendar where new hopes and dreams are aspired for. Here they pack it neatly for sale.

Ginger is an old herb loved for its herbal and medicinal remedies and the local people drink them like you would drink soya bean drinks. Oh, the heat from it...how they can bear them.

Taipei is home to all sorts of markets , wet, dry, morning and night and we were brought to Shi Li Night Market where we saw loads of tourist buses lined up for the 'cruising'.

At a particular stall, we saw a local vendor completing the cooking process with a hair dryer. Have you ever seen this form of cooking?

This is how they prepared oysters cooked in eggs. It reminded us of the ones we have in Malaysia in particular the one from Muar. It looked so palatable that we could not resist getting it but to our disappointment, it did not turn out the way we wanted because they added tomato and thousand island sauce in generous amount; not our cup of tea ! So food may look yummy but sometimes it takes a lot to get used to local mix ups.




Sweet potatoes baked over charcoal is out of the world. A primitive way of preparation but the aroma of the sweet vegetable is memorable. They are charged by the weight and I bought one which cost NT450.00.

This lady vendor is most enterprising. She is model cum sales person. The best practice in the streets of the market.

This dodo club offers all products in the shop at NT95 equivalent to RM9.50. Guess what? We saw a Malaysian made shirt at that price. Dad could not stop himself from buying ... so very patriotic...all the way to Taipei to purchase a Malaysian production.

Sweetcorn immersed in salt water and the species is very palatable.

Cherries coated with sugar...for the sweet tooth.

Have you seen the white version of the bitter gourd? When squeezed and prepared as juice, it is meant for veterans ... acquired taste. Definitely not for ordinary taste buds.

I witness them consuming curry-flavoured toufu together with deep-fried crabs ... did not attract me.

This is Celine's favourite...the milky pearl drink. She kept on asking for it but the next time in town, I will bring her to Low Yat where a 'Hong Kong' labelled outlet sells all sorts of sweet drinks like the one served above.

Besides side stalls, Mee brought us to a Hakka outlet to taste the various forms of dumplings. We had to queue for a table outside Din Tai Fung and later to climb some flights of steps to savour their servings.

Simple but a little pricey. The dumplings are finely prepared and tasted good.

Another outlet just along the street of Kang Qiao is Don Don. They are famous for their beef noodles and local preservatives.

Beef noodles

Doesn't that look like roti canai? Vegetable - filled roti canai - different from our mamak stalls but nevertheless worth eating.

In food courts of the malls, they serve food in this form... huge portions for one but meant for 2.

My sister collect all bills and keeps them safely in her drawer for a final draw at the end of each season. The whole nation is involved in this exercise. As consumers of local products they are entitled to winnings in cash. How interesting.

People in Taipei loves pets - in particular, dogs. At the night market, we saw dwarf dogs for sale.

This is how a dog owner and lover takes care of his love. Winter clothes for the season and spaghetti straps for Summer?

Another dog lover treating her dog as a well-loved child and a well-equipped pram for her too.

They pushed their love around in prams...a luxury that some third world countries don't enjoy. If you are a dog, it is good to be born in Taipei.

Along one of the streeets near Taipei's tallest 101 building, bicycles are for rent. The locals love to cycle around.

The Statue of Liberty at New York , New York.

Of course in Taipei as tourists, we found our way to the tallest builidng. The architecture is so different from out Twin Towers. Is it supposed to denote the bamboo shoot with nodes?... a portrait of strength and unity?

The lift that brought us up went at a speed of 101km per min? So fast and soon we were up there and we had a bird's eye view of the capital city. Awesome.

Last evening on the way to Low Yat to get Esther her camera lenses, dad and I gazed at our very own Twin Towers and could not but allow pride to overwhelm us. They are so beautiful. Not the tallest anymore, but definitely a story of aesthetics and engineering feats...and it belongs to our homeland , Malaysia.

Taipei has dad's name etched in one of her local banks... "Yung Fung" in Mandarin and "Eng Hong" in hokkien. A good name as I have always commented. So, a shot for keeps.

So that ends my mini tour of Taipei that I can part with you.

At the end of our stay on the last evening, the insistent Por Por managed to contact her neighbour's daughter studying in Taipei's University of Education in Art and graphics. Ah Fong's parents are Por's neighbours in Muar and Por related that she has seen her grow from a mere few months old to her present age, 22. Ah Fong has a special place in her heart as she reminded Por of her own grand girls whom she did not really have a chance to see them grow into their teens ; they being apart from her. Ah Fong sends her Christmas greetings every year. Grace, Esther and Sara ...please do your part too ; a reminder from Ayi Mee.

At the instant of meeting her, I enquired why she had to travel so far for a course of this nature and she said that another neighbour friend had introduced her to the course here in Taipei. She had a preparatory course in Tao Yuan for 6 months before qualifying herself. She related that the standard of English here is quite deplorable because everyone speaks in Mandarin and Hokkien. So she is queen of the language in her class ; all thanks to the Malaysian SPM system. Fees are affordable ; a mere RM3 k for the whole year and a place in the student's hostel meant large savings. She is a good girl and able to stand hardship. Before Air Asia extended her wings to Taiwan, she would take Jet Star to Singapore to come home. From Changi Airport, she would take a cab to the bus terminal at Bukit Timah. At Bukit Timah she would board a bus to Larkin Bus Terminal in JB and from there she would take a bus to Muar and to home. How many are able to take that challenge? I knew immediately this is one trustworthy child and a parent's dream child. So sensible and able to understand financial standings in the home. How we pamper our own children. And oh yes, they do not like to be compared. Forgot.

Ah Fong shared that after graduation next year, she would probably stay put in Taipei because they are well-paid. Another brain drain but she must get her parents' approval first. Ah Fong fits into the society perfectly because the culture and language are so similar to those back home and needed very little adjustment.

So, ends my last episode about Taipei ; a most enjoyable trip and one for keeps.

Thank you Lou, Mee and Celine for great hospitality.