Obeiliao life

Two days in Bangkok City

2012-01-28T01:15:00.001+08:00

In most of my Bangkok trips, I would be searching for my computers, iPad 2 and IPhone accessories. Even going around on the sky train looking at construction for new technical construction knowledge but this trip was totally different for I have to accompany my wife window shopping..... As usual , going to all the stalls in Pratunam !!! and also the Platinum on the opposite site of the road. Other than that we also went over to MBK and returning in night where both of us were too tired to walk and finally calling it a day at 9.00 pm.

The following day, we woke up very early and started window shopping again. Our main destination was to pay respect to the Four Face Buddha at Amarin .After that we took the sky train down to visit Terminal 21 beside Asoke Station and finally to Platinum where my wife will have her final shopping. "Nothing suit my taste for most the clothings are for younger generation" , was her comments . Getting old ..........,,,,,!!,,!,, we acknowledged ..

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We have a very irregular meal for we kept on eating the food along the Thanon ( Road) and Soi ( lane) . Finally, we bought a waterproof bag for our neighbor, Mr. Soo who will be cycling from Penang to UK with his closed friend , Tim from France... and other cyclists. They aim to be in UK before the start of the Olympic.
Before the end of the day, like my son, we bought many varieties of food from the Soi and ate them in our rooms .
Time for bed .... 12.15 am to post this blog .

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Our trip back to Bangkok

2012-01-28T00:22:00.001+08:00

Today, 26/1/2012 , we checked out from this hotel,Kok Mak resort and were on our way to Bangkok. The speed boat left the Koh Mak's pier sharp at 9.00 am but on the way we have to stop on other island Kok Wai to pick additional passengers. All the transfer were done super fast and we were on our way.

The Kok Mak's pier

Just completed uploading my new blog during our breakfast

Last breakfast with this hotel.

Some of the people we met on this trip .

A Denmark couple with their Mij

Playful Mij posting for my camera shot

Ma poew, french bull dog standing beside
my wife to send her off

Are you going too? Where are your luggages?
Bye ,bye .

On our trip out to Laem Ngob , we met the owner off Koh Mak Resort ,an old gracefully lady of 61 years with her only daughter . She told us that there are almost 300 people residing on this island and she was born here...

There are no bank ,ATM on this island . Surprising they have Internet services.

The speed boat that took us to and fro from Koh Mak and Laem Ngob

Transportation Cost
1. Penang to Hatyai. Rm 35/ way/ person
2. Hatyai to airport : Baht 300 / taxi ( could be cheaper if you know where the taxi stand is
3. Flight, Air Asia , Rm 450 / pax plus tax & flight insurance .
4. Flight , Bangkok Air, Rm 280/ person / trip
5. Taxi from Trat airport to Trat town Baht 500/ per pax/ trip
6. Pickup from Trat town to Laem Ngob pier Rm 100/ pax
7. Speed boat to Koh Mak: Baht 450/pax/ per trip
8. Mini van to Bangkok : Baht 300/ pax / trip
9. Spare some money for rental of motorcycle: Baht 80/ hours or
Baht 350 / day
10. 4 islands snorkeling: Baht 750/ pax including lunch and gear.
( not include diving )
11. Our room: Baht 1750/ room ( air con including breakfast .
Booking through Internet

Speed for traveling
Flight Bkk to Trat : 45 minutes in the air .
Speed boat : approx. 50 minutes .Laem Ngob's pier ( mainland to Koh Mak's pier( Koh Mak island
Minivan to Bangkok : 4 and a half hours
Overall, saving on air tickets could be achieve if booking was done very early .
Comments
Very beautiful island and transfer in the island could be a problem ,so rental of motorcycle is compulsory.
Traveling to reach here is takes many hours.
Water clarity. Very good and less sea bug
As compare to other islands that we have visited, every islands
have their unique beauty

The mini van arrived in Bangkok at 3.30 pm. During the way, we passed Chantaburi , kleang etc and upon arrival at Victory monument , I showed my wife on how to take a sky train to our hotel due to the traffic jam, Total Baht 6/ trip for both .
Traveling time traveled from Koh Mak island to Pratunam hotel in BKK was 7 hours .

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Koh Mak and her surrounding islands

2012-01-27T22:45:00.000+08:00

Sorry, I have to rewrite this blog for I have accidentally remove the whole blog.

Well, If I could remember what I have written. ..it goes like this...
And additional words that I miss

On 25/1/2012 , we decided to go island hoping. In most of our trip to marine island, we would visit the surrounding marine parks which consists of many smaller islands. In this trip ,we have booked a full day visit to the surrounding park one day earlier.
After taking our breakfast which was included in our hotel stay ,we went over to the reception and waited for the diving company to pick us up. The diving company was very punctual and at 9.00 pm sharp, we were on our way to the diving shop. On arrival , a diver from this company, Koh Mak Divers ,
was immediately sorting out the snorkeling gear that we will be using. My wife was immediately given one to try on and the instructor explained how to choose the right one. I did not need one for I have brought one along from Penang. This mask has been kept hanging in my house for nearly 2 years. The diving instructor has a thorough check of my mask and finally gave me green light. He reminded me to rinse it with fresh water after each use.

Mum in front of the diver shop

Global position of this shop, Koh Mak Divers.

Location of the marine park in relation to Koh Mak

Close view of the islands that we will be snorkeling/ diving.

Divers equipment being sorted out and placed in bag.

When all things were sorted out, new learners have to fill a form
and to certify they were physically fit for the lesson they have requested, we were on our way to another pier.
The instructor asked me why I did not sign up for diving lesson since I love swimming and visiting marine parks. I told him , I have a hole in my ear drum and have recovered since at my younger age and on the preventive side, I have avoided diving. I recalled having to dive down 3m deep to pick up a cooking pot when on one of the company trip to Pulau Perhentian.

A male welder with his friend,a teacher on the transit to Australia .

Our time together on this trip.

One of the boat carrying the divers

Here we met many nationalities .

Below are 3 charts indicating the type of fishes and coral that
we might encounter on this trip

Type of coral.

On one of the island that we snorkeled

Me, in action . . ..old man .

Mum after 2 hours of swimming , looked very tired

Finally, we were on our back .

By 4.00 pm , we were back to our resort. Strange, my wife decided to continue swimming in front of our chalet .Well, looking at her, I think she will miss this island for tomorrow we will be leaving at 9.00am sharp .
In my mind, I knew that she would not return here again for the journey is very tiring. From my home in Penang to here,Koh Mak , nearly 15 hours of travel ( excluding staying a night ( 12 hours) in Trat) .

A trip to an Island on our 31st wedding anniversary

2012-01-24T20:28:00.001+08:00

As always, her off day will come in a short notice. Well , basically you could not plan for any trip in advance. No choice for she might has agreed to this condition . Well at time, she could get a green light earlier! Regardless, we sat down to decide where to go subject to the availability of air ticket and hotels and pricing too.
The final 2 choices : Both destinations were in Thailand. Koh Surin north of Phuket or Koh Chang and Koh Mak in Trat. Burning a few night lamp, we decided to take the second option. An island in Trat province and quite near the Cambodia border. I have been to Koh Chang before but not Koh Mak which is south of Koh Chang while working in Thailand in 1998 . To take this trip was due to encouragement of my Thai friend ,Sukkit, who has been there after my retreat from Bangkok. Secondly during last trip to Bangkok ,2011, I was advice not to go for the monsoon was on but regardless l have collected many information from the airport but then it was not an updated version. Searching through my bookshelf, I found the map of Trat which I bought in 1998 . Well, the best information collected was from the Net .

Finally, on 23/1/2012, we were on our way to this island.
From Penang ,we booked a mini van ,normally a very good coach but surprisingly we were surprised that it was a big cruise bus and real reason for this changed was due to many travellers. Woke up at 4.00 am,and lucky to have a sound mind , for we slept very late ,1.00am, our fateful alarm ,clock and IPhone woke us up exactly 5 minutes apart. My wife make a final check while I was at the computer reading the mails and including downloading the last 2 movies ,into my IPad 2 . Books and magazines were downloaded as early as 2 weeks ago.
Shutting off my computer ,we left at 4.30 pm sharp and arrived at my office. I left my company car in the car park and went out to wait for the van but was surprised that it was tour bus which turned up .
The bus left Penang after picking all her passenger and we Were cruising across The famous Penang Bridge at around 6.00am. Finally reached Hatyai at around 9.30 (local time).we checked in with a local tour agent for the time required to reach the airport and immediately went for our lunch cum breakfast . At 11.30am we were at Hatyai airport checking in. The local flight took off exactly as per shedule and arrived Bangkok around 3.35 pm. While waiting to claim our luggages in the main terminal, my wife sounded that our journey could be very tiring. I told her that it would take us another 6 hours by bus coach to reach Laem Ngob's pier and estimate time of arrival around 12.00 midnight. Observing her being quite tired , I started to get a bit worry and while waiting to claim our baggage, I started to check a local Bangkok air counter . The last flight out to Trat was at 5.00pm. Looking at my watch , we have exactly 50 minutes before the flight took off. I told my wife that it would worth to give a try to check with the Bangkok air counter at Level 4 ,note that we were at level 1. Snatching out luggages , we apologized to certain travellers who have to give way to us in the airport and we managed to reached the island counter within 5 minutes .
Checking with the airline,the plane would wait for us and it was not a problem. My wife sounded that the air ticket could be expensive. I told her I have allocated this cost in case of emergency, that either one of us could not make the long journey ,but to take a flight to shorten this journey. Well idea the prediction was right.

We took our flight down to Trat by Bangkok aIr and landed at Trat airport at 6.15 pm. First impression of the airport, same condition like the TV show,Gilligan island , a very casual airport and the bus that took along the runway to the airport terminal was like those in the Julassic park. ......wow....wow..... By the way, many passengers have a shock realizing that flight PG.307 is a Fokker plane.

The next costly encounter was the taxi fare to Trat, 500 baht per person ( total 1000 baht for both of us). We did not check whether there were any transport around but looking at the whole terminal, only 3 counters were available and none public transport counter was around .

Hotel in Trat was cheap . We stayed in SA Hotel and cost us only 500 baht . Trat is a very small town and within 10 minutes, we have seen what was in the main street. Not much choice of food over here but still we were quite happy for we have always love Thai food. The next morning I was up early to check on the type of transport which could bring us over to Laem Ngop pier and finally settled for a chartered pickup costing us 200 Baht .

Upon reaching the main pier, we checked the time and fare of returning from Koh Mak and also the schedule of the minivan to Bangkok . Booked for departing Koh Mak at 9.00am .arriving mainland pier at 10.00am to continue our journey to Bangkok at 10.30am , estimating time of arrival at 3.00 pm .

Koh Mak Island
The speed boat cost us 450 Baht per person and took off 10 minutes late . Regarding the inspection of the no of passenger were allowed in this boat , none of the authority was around to flag and authorized the trip. In one of our journey to an island ,Koh Tao from Koh Samui, a marine officer was there to counter and ensure the speed boat complied to the ruling and signed on a form before allowing the boat to speed off.

Cont .......later ...is it really a beautiful island as compare to many islands, Koh Tao,Koh Lipe ,Koh Kai and many more we have visited? Before the journey, my sons were informed of the trip and also my Thai adopted sister, Buay Trisanawai who keep updated our health and where about. ......and why this trip.....

Cont ......with a lot pictures and also receiving an international call from Xing Yi about an hour ago to check how is the island as compare to those that we have taken them . So excited indeed he is ..... Ha ha ....
I am posting this blog in the restaurant of Koh Mak Hotel, free Wifi and beautiful music play in the stage.
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Dinner in Ayer Tawar, Perak

2011-12-27T23:24:00.001+08:00

At ING HWA Restaurant

Another trip to my family favorite food outlet but unfortunately my two sons were not around. Well, without fail, I will take them back for a visit since this is their grandfather home town. For this trip, I took Miss Fong along. Meeting us there was my brother in law with his family and also my wife whom we will fetch back to Penang.

Hock Chew's Dishes

Both of us

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How to celebrate Christmas 2012

2011-12-25T20:03:00.001+08:00

Spring Cleaning.

I do not have any peculiar planning but definitely spring cleaner my house today will be great. I might be tired after the work but still have an off day tomorrow. With this planning in mind , my part time maid arrived and we started cleaning area by area of my house. She started at the kitchen area and I, at my study area .Well, she has to finish the wet and later the dry kitchen which she completed by noon .As for me ,my study and than to the my sons' study room and by 3.00 pm, I have completed the living room with her together. The main rubbish is the our dog hair and all my office notes .

My Dinner
After the maid has left, I was back to my station checking my mail and hoping to find both my son online from Facebook and Skype but unfortunately none. Still have thing to do for I have to start learning how to handle my new IMac. At around, 6.00pm.my mind reminded me of my dinner for tonight. Since it is Christmas, a good dinner should be preferred. First choice was Subway due to the less oil policy and looking at my dinner table, I saw the bread and decided to drop by my neighborhood store, KK store, to pick up some dinner supply . Tuna and coffee will be fine. Arriving at the store , I realized that I should be celebrating and decided to buy a can of Tiger beer. First time, I bought one with intention of celebrating an occasion . After paying an extra ,RM 5.40 for that can of beer, I started to head back home .Another thought came into mind. I have bought a packet of " Prawn mee" from my favorite store in the market . I have totally forget about it. On arriving home , I stared into the packet of my noodle and hope that It did not spoilt . Pouring the soup out, I heated it up and than made my first taste from the pan. Wow, it was still so delicious and not spoilt at all .

Flicking though my mind, I was thinking of how to enjoy this bowl of noodle. Quickly transferring a movie into a pen drive, I went out to my living room and play the movie over my new LED TV . Perfectly seated down, and with the movie on, I finally have my perfect dinner for this Christmas. The prawn noodle, Hock Kien Mee, was still very warm, I love to eat hot .

The sound of my kettle reminded me of the coffee that I have bought from the store.
Great Dinner with a cup of hot coffee. to go along with ...
The final planning for tonight , a can of beer to celebrate with a second Blue-ray movie.

A few days back , I was really down ,sad, for the new LED Sony TV broke down and I was really scare that they could take weeks to repair it. This was not so for they immediately change the main mother board after verify and finding the main fault. Overall , 3 working days and it was back in my hall. Sad to said , my eldest son was not around to turn on my Wifi for me . I will try it to configure it tonight again . Wish me luck .!!!!!!!

Well, I would like to wish all my readers out there, " Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year " . Cheers! !
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One of the main reason of getting an Ipad 2

2011-12-08T23:37:00.001+08:00

" Continuous blogging when on the move". I have stopped for so many months and recently started back due to one simple comment from a colleague " I have observed that you have not being writing something in your blog" . Very true indeed. Since purchasing this IPad, I have been searching for an app that is compatible with Blogspot. Here I am , tonight ,trying to use this new app and hoping whatever I will posting will turn up ok.

My recent photo inside the new restaurant, " yea " in Penang Times Square.

The food is very delicious and you could not completely taste all of them for you would be very full due to many varieties. Will take my children to here again when they return for their R & R.

Continue tomorrow .

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Trying to be a speaker .

2011-08-06T20:46:00.003+08:00

Obeiliao, the speaker.
The topic " Why Career in Construction"

I have given several speeches to student before but during last Friday , it was a real challenge. In fact , nothing great or frightening at all except that I was giving that speech in front of other company speakers. It was in this auditorium that many companies set up their individual booths too.

Every speakers were given a short duration to present their topica but I was in fact very daring to request a duration of 2 hours......... and also specifying that mine should be after lunch break. It was possible due to their department head and lecturers support.

At 12.45pm , my mind told me that I should start attracting the students attention and whoever were in the hall so I started of using pictures of how Safety were taken for granted in our daily life and also in our construction industry. By 1.05 pm. all the building science students were already seated and most of them were laughing on the pictures that I have projected from my Ipad 2.....the very first time presenting without the laptop..... Very happy for me because those additional gadgets that I have purchased for making presentation really work well. Hmm... could be better if using HDMI cord..... Always thinking that I should try my best and speak like """Steve Job"" haa... haaa....This Ipad was given to me by my wife after watching Steve Job presentation >>>>!!!!!! True....

The pictures project on the screen could have been better if I was using power point or keynote. I was so busy with the site work that I could only present it by "pdf" Well, lucky for me, it ended up well. By the way , I did not stand on stage but with the same level as the student who were seated. The main reason was I could not point with the pointer if I was on stage. Well, nevertheless I noticed that some started to doze but I did received some respond of questions from the floor when going through the slides.

After completed that speech, I received the following feed back from the audiences..
1. Mr. Kang, "I finally understand what my younger brother was doing in the construction industries"
2. Another , "Well, I finally understand what is hill slope development."
3. " You are telling the students to be humble etc and the final slide was utmost important
to them ....Quote by a Senior Vice President of Citibank: "I am still fresh on the road, no different from any of you all and I need to be very hardworking to be successful in my life."
4. Another Quote from Mother Theresa: "The miracle is not that we do this work, but we are happy to do it"
5. last was from the lecturer, "Be Humble"
By the end of the speech, the students were informed that two of their senior made this presentation possible when they were undergoing their training with us. They were present during the Career Talk held in USM (Universiti Sains Malaysia ) Penang on March 5, 2011.
My final thanks to my boss and department head for allowing me to present that speech .

What have I learned from Public Speaking???

1. Enhanced Personal and Social Abilities
2.Improved Academic and Career Skills
3.Improved Public Speaking Abilities

Preparing a Public Speech>

1. Select your topic and purpose
2.Analyze your audience
3. Research your topic
4. Develop your write up
5. Support your main points
6. Organise your speech materials.
7. Simple terms in the speech
8. Have Introduction, Conclusion and Transitions.
9. Rehearse your speech
10. Deliver your Speech.

The most important of all is to brain storm the overall write up ......opinion from different angles are of utmost important.

What else???? Getting to know more my IPAD 2.......

I hope that I have given enough advice through the presentation to all the students...
on the Life in the Construction Industries

Forget to take some pictures ...maybe could get them from the lecturers,

Being a "Daddy"

2011-05-17T20:46:00.005+08:00

Daddy, Daddy.....

The thought of getting married came with a proposal through an International call to my wife as I was preparing to travel back to Penang for R & R from Iran. During that short conversation, my wife agreed and we decided to meet in Bangkok and have our short honeymoon in Pattaya. 3 years later, returning to work in Penang, we decided to have our own children.

The arrival of my two children

On that fine morning, I went to work as usual to Hotel Equatorial. Before leaving,my wife told me to be prepared for there was some slight discharge and I asked her whether I should send her to the hospital and she calmly answered, no. Bring a clean T shirt with you, in case I am giving birth today. When I was at site,I was went to work as usual and did not get excited until my colleague told me that my wife called and informed me that she was on the way to the hospital. Well, when reaching the hospital car park, I change into a neat T shirt and rush to the delivery ward. I asked for my wife and a nurse came through the delivery room and just look at me. She told me that my wife gave birth to a baby boy. I asked her how she knew that I was the father. She smiled and said, "Your baby has your nose" . Is that so I asked and she smiled and said wait till you see him. She helped me put on the hospital robe and took me in. True enough, the baby boy has that typical feature.
My second son too has a typical resemblance, a mole in the ear like mine.

Being a father..my memory.

I have to sleep in a separate room for the nanny will sleep with my wife and take care of my child so that my wife could have a good rest. She even cooked for all of us. Oh, how excited I would be to reach home early each day to look at my son and not to miss the delicious food that my wife left for me to eat. During confinement, all wife will have special meal cooked by the nanny. Very delicious especially the fried chicken with Sesame oil and the most important, the Red wine "Mee Suai" Hock Chew noodle. My first lesson as a father was to learn to fold the napkin, "Lampin". Each night , I would carry out this chorus for the nanny would be very busy preparing for my wife to bed also bring the hot water and milk, etc . I was given a chance to change the napkin for my son 2 weeks later. Oop, the smell of urine and sometime shit on it. Being a father, this work came in automatically.. After the nanny has left us, my wife and me has to start to adjust to my son crying each night when he was hungry. From many friends advice, we started to adjust the last feed before we went to bed ( normally 11.00 pm and the next at 6.00 am. Well, we gave him water to drink in between and slowly he got use to it and only woke up to have his full milk meal at 6.00pm. My wife and I started to adjust our working hours and normally, I would pick up my son from our neighbor and let him sleep as early as 9.00pm. How to make a child go to sleep?. I have always heard that some children would not sleep and create so much hustle . Very fortunately, my first son was so easy. I would laid him on the bed beside me and just patted him . Automatically, he would go to bed.
The next thing was clearing of all breakable items in the house and also building a small gate at the bottom of the staircase to prevent him from crawling up the stair.Even then, he managed to break some of my favorite wood carving from Bali, Indonesia accidentally. He was very active. For the milk, if the instruction stated on the milk container was 4 ounce of water to 4 scoop of milk, we would reduce the milk to 3 ounce instead. Why this, well, we are leaving in the tropic so the weather might increase increase the warmest in the baby. It worked well .

With the arrival of my second son, I started to sleep with my eldest son for the nanny has to take care of my wife again. During this period , I created a closeness with my eldest son. Again, I was given the delicious confinement food that the nanny would cook for my wife....miss them so much....

to continue.................how to make both my sons sleep?????until my wife return from work...

Food Gallery in Penang Times Square

2011-05-11T19:47:00.008+08:00

Delicious Food

So many stores of International choice and but could only purchase a meal from one particular store tonight. Even within one store has so many varieties . Well , my wife ordered her favorite "Fish noodle" wherelse I ordered and tried the noodle with mushroom and pork . Saw my colleague , Mr Beh ordering this meal last week and now is my turn . Well, very delicious and even more with the "sambal belacan".
As usual ,I started my bad habit of tasting other people food and this time was my wife meal, so delicious too.
After finishing out dinner we quickly went over to the outlets below . My wife said that she would return to go through shopping at the new outlets since we were in a rush to go home.

Picture of the store that we have order our meals tonight.

Project Management

2011-05-02T22:52:00.004+08:00

Recently after being encouraged by my Boss and HR Manager to give a career talk to the students of one of the local University, USM ( University Sains Malaysia), I started to think of myself of whether I should be going back for further studies.. As one of my ex staff, Ir Heng, mentioned to me over the phone, " You have been practicing it practically and why not give it a try to study the academically way and finally weighting the two. You might be worry of the examination but take it as challenge. Fail or pass will not be important but you will gain the knowledge of management and be able to teach to future students".

So sitting down , I started to ask myself, What are the Good Habit of a good Project Manager.?
1. Can be counted on to follow through.
2. Take care of the teams
3. Always mentoring and teaching them
4. Being sociable
5. Are respectful and polite.
6. Remain even tempered , understanding and sympathetic
7. Can follow instructions and processes
8. Stay positive
9. Understand and manage costs
10. Are willing to speak the truth
11. Dress and act appropriately too.
12. Honest in all dealings
13. Accept Change..
14. Sharing of past experiences.

Looking at the above points, where do I stand ??

........................to continue .............

At 55

2011-03-15T22:01:00.008+08:00

Being a blogger, 4 years later

Today, I am 55 years old. Young at heart but various illness system seems to set in.
Going back to my younger days, these few incidents left marks on me:.
1. A deep cut on my left leg. My dad took me to the Penang's General Hospital and got it stitched up
2. Bitten by a snake while playing in the river inside our fruit plantation.
3. Fell down from a tree due to my carelessness. I was trying to do a fireman rope that could pull myself up a tree but half way up I forgot to hold tightly onto the main rope and eventually I dropped to the ground. Suffered internal injury but was saved by a very sincere staff of my dad.
4. Walking through a glass panel while staying in Hotel Equatorial, KL. Ending up 9 stitches.

The worse of the 4 was falling down from the tree. Until today, I still have some regular muscle ache and to over come this issue, I am learning to walk on a piece of bamboo as recommended by an old operator from Low Theons & Sons. He was working with us in one of our project, University Place. I would said that it was some kind of reflexology and made me sweat after stepping on it for 10 minutes
Thinking of what my staff have done on this great day, I decided to treat the staffs from Moonlight Bay and Island Resort to a simple lunch. At the meantime thanking them on the effort that they have given to me and my company in accomplishing the Moonlight Bay's project and also the on going Island Resort.

Mr Beh and I sharing our birthday together , I, 55 and him 65. so coincidentally both of us March 15

Moonlight Bay's Staffs

Well, a cake presented by the staff. I thanked the staff and a simple speech for them.
" I would like to thank everyone of you who are presented here today and also the rest who are not presented here but directly or indirectly helping to finish all the projects for the last 40 years. Apart from this, we have to work hard together to finish this present project. Keep up with the good work and always work as a team."

As quoted by one of their wishes to me , "A better increment for the following year".
I told them that I would forward their wishes to my Senior Head and also our Boss.

War zone Countries

2011-03-01T23:51:00.006+08:00

My entry

Flipping over my expired passport, I found the date the I entered Iran after the revolution:...........
I recalled how I became a hero when leaving the plane, Air France ,just wearing a thin shirt and have a few pure wool blankets which was wrapped around at certain parts of my body by the air stewardess to keep me warm till I received my luggage in the airport. Well, the administrative staff did not informed me that it was winter in Iran.

Other than that I was the only foreigner leaving the plane ! quoted by an American lady who was beside me on the journey from Bangkok to Tehran. The Iranian who were queuing up for their turn to enter the airport proper were so kind to let me in first after explaining to the Airport security. Even before entering , I took a few moment to catch the snow with my hands. Very interesting to feel the coldness in my palm.Upon receiving my luggage, I quickly took out the winter jacket which was given by my brother who have returned from the States
All these stories were repeated many times whenever I were having meals gathering with my friends.Some would feel bored with the stories but nevertheless they could have missed a few on how I retreated from Iran during outbreak of Iran & Iraq war.

Looking at the recent news on Egypt and Libya, I recalled my friend, an electrician who told me how they left Iran during the revolution. Pan Am, an American airline took them out to the nearest city ,Rome, and after converting their air tickets they took the earliest flight back to Singapore. Pan Am was flying none stop to evacuate all foreigners.

.........................to continue on the my retreat to Istanbul, Turkey and the option our Malaysian Embassy gave us.......Pakistan route, Moscow by train and finally the decision by my company to take the Turkey journey..................Hope I still the pictures .....from my album........... I manage to take a small souvenir Persian carpet .out...........???...

another story on how being greed saved my life. .....Op...I have never told this story to my Dad and Mum for sure they will stop me returning to Iran to work.>>!!!!

My Father, The Chinaman

2011-02-10T21:26:00.018+08:00

He has passed away many years ago but his name still lingers within the local Tanjong Bungah's community

1st recall.

On one fine day , I was wondering how the sea shore at the back of our old house where I was born would look like after so many years. While walking along the small path , I saw three elderly Malay men sitting beneath an old tree. As usual I bowed my head slightly and wished them, "Selamat Pagi", ( Good morning) and immediately walked past them. They too returned my wish with a low tone, "Pagi", (Morning). Upon reaching the seaside, I was very surprised at the changes . Nevertheless, I was very happy for the beach was quite clean like it was before. I recalled how I would play with the Freebie when the wind was very strong. This freebie was given to me by my eldest brother from the US. It took me many hours of practice and finally I mastered it. I would throw it into the air, against the wind ,and eventually it would return back to my hand . This beach brought back many good and bad memories.

I recalled another dangerous accident that happened to me. On that day while walking along the shore I was washed and dragged into the sea by a very strong wave in front of many people, all sunbathing on higher ground. I was trying to cross to the other side but accidentally slipped and fell into the rough sea . Luckily for me, I was able to relax and allow the wave to pull me back into the sea. I closed my eyes and was worried that I would hit some rocks beneath the wave. I immediately swam out into the sea in accordance with the wave. When I returned back to the shore, my swimming truck was so full of the sand that I could feel that it would slip off my body. Standing up I immediately, pulled open the trunk and let all the sand out. Looking around, I was very scared and happy that I was not too far from the sea shore. Still panicky, I waited for the next wave that would push me back to the sea shore. Eventually, I landed on the shore and all the RAAF's ( Royal Australian Air Force) personnel who saw the whole incident came over to me and asked me whether I was ok. I thanked them. Shaken and tired, I started to jog back .

Well,there were many good and bad incidents. Looking again at the sea, I decided to go home. Again I hadto pass the three wise Malay men. I was very surprised when they called me this time, "Anak Say Eng ,mari sini" ( Say Eng's son come here). I immediately went over to them and they introduced themselves as retired policemen who were formerly stationed at the Tanjong Bungah police station. They asked me where I was staying and how my Dad ( Say Eng) was.I told them that he had passed away and they were quite sad upon hearing the news.
All of a sudden, they told me that during the olden days when they were working in the police station, my father was trusted by all of them and whenever my dad came and bailed somebody out, they would allow it without further inquiries. Even the Penghulu ( local headman) trusted my Dad a lot. Wow, I thanked them for the information and walked back to my car that was parked along the main road. In the car, I started to think about the issue and asked myself how a Chinaman could gain so much trust with the local people.

2nd recall

On a Sunday afternoon, I heard somebody calling my dad . At the gate was a Malay man calling my dad and upon further questioning, he told my dad that his mum would like to meet him. I asked my dad whether that was a problem. My dad just smiled and said it had to do with money , probably a debt. I asked my dad whether he wanted to collect the debt back and he said a firm 'No".Then, I told him that we had to take along a red packet envelope in case she still insisted on paying the debt.
Upon arrival at her home, she took out a small little booklet, (555) and told my Dad that she wished to pay the amount in it. (Oops, I have forgotten to tell you all that my dad owned a grocery shop and some of the locals would purchase goods or foodstuff from us and the amount owed would be recorded and paid at the end of each month) As predicted she still insisted to pay even when my dad said there was no need.
Hence, my dad collected the cash from her and immediately told her that she had no more debt with us. Turning around he asked me to put the money into the red packet and returned the red packet to her. At the beginning she did not want to accept it but my dad told her he was giving her as a "Ang Pow" for her journey and wished her,Bon voyage.
I asked my dad why he decided not to take the amount and he mentioned to me that ALL of us have grown up and have got good careers. We no longer needed this money. Hence the decision.

In Education

A few days back, my eldest brother forward a photograph to me which I would like to attach in this blog. Well, the printed words were self explanatory . It was to giving back to the society.My eldest brother and his wife contributed to an educational institution by setting up a conference room.If my father was around he would be very happy that his eldest son and daughter -in- law completed part of his wish and mission. Well, if only I could do too.......!

The Chung Ling story.

My sister and brother in law taught in Chung High School, Penang. One day, my sister told us of a story when a student in her school approached her to ask her about my eldest brother who was also from Chung Ling. My sister said that the student went to KL for a scholarship interview and after the interview , the interviewer told him the scholarship was offered by an ex student of his school by the surname, Mr. Kang. The student asked my sister whether it could be her younger brother and my sister replied likely not but then the real truth is that it was.

The Golden Drawer.
............record of debt owed to my father still kept here till today.

Have fun with Bill

2011-01-10T14:15:00.012+08:00

Bill with his auntie, Janet
Iphone in our genes???
Recently, my brother and his family came back to Penang for a short holiday. During dinner time, we shared an in depth usage of the Iphone 4. His son, Bill explained to us about the fantastic apps of Google map and also a bit on the robotic car that is on trial in the US by Google. Cool.
Extra usage of this map was shown to us and we also found out that my niece, Nina, was also involved in the production of Google maps in Google. Now, I understand the reason why Nina was able to inform me through email on the availability of Penang Island in the Google Map. That was very great.
Surprisingly, all of us have upgraded our Iphone 3G to 4. While having dinner, I explained to Bill as to why I decided to buy an Iphone. Well, other than the push mail, I have surfed many types of phones and found that none of them have the engineering apps that I needed.
Another main reason was their explanation to me during their earlier trip back to Penang . During that journey from the airport to hotel, the 3 Harvard and 1 MIT scholars gave me their personal opnions. Once that they left Penang , I went straight to the local telecom provider and bought one. Bill send me a note, "It runs in the family".

Have fun with Bill.
Never have I been together with my nephew but during this trip,his extra day in Penang made us very excited. We were delighted to have meals with him. "Have fun with Bill" as yelled his mum to me before flying out Penang a day earlier.

No doubt the lunch time I had with him was quite short, I found out out that he would try any food except the sourish ones. He ordered the Penang, "Char Koay Teow" and loved it. He took a photo snap of the fried noodles. He immediately twittered it and even linked it to an apps , Foodspotting". the website address is http://bit.ly/fjhYPw. Cool, when you know how to use the type of apps from an Iphone. Before dropping back to his hotel, we went over to a stall and bought a local Malay "kueh". I only knew that he loved it when he informed us during dinner time.
A short review of his trip. After arriving in KL, he took a trip down to Singapore to meet up with his friend and then took a trip to explore Malacca, Ipoh and finally met his parents in Penang.

Bill and food
A day earlier, I asked Bill what type of food he would like to eat and he mentioned a type of shell fish. On that night, we drove to a few stalls and finally found it in town. In this coffee shop, "Kopitiam" ( in hokkien dialect) there were many varieties of local Penang food. He ordered prawn mee ; my wife ordered big meehoon and me , meesuai noodle soup . Apart from this we ordered fried oyster with egg and 2 additional dishes : stingray and the shell fish. Bill's mum reminded me that Billy's food could not be too spicy for Bill had to travel a long way.

Shell fish that Bill loved to eat

Fried Oyster with eggs

Pan fried Stingray

Bill posting the food pic to his twitter and Foodspotting.

Moonlight Bay ,Penang, Malaysia

2010-11-28T11:52:00.100+08:00

One of the landmarks of Penang, Malaysia

Extract from paper for International Conference on Slope ,2010, held in Chiangmai, Thailand.

"Introduction:

Moonlight Bay is a luxury end, gated property development on Penang Island in Malaysia. The development consists of condominiums and exclusive villas blended into the hill slope with breathtaking sea views of the renowned Batu Ferringhi beaches and the Andaman Sea."

The toughest project.

I remember my father's words looking at the hill in Batu Ferringhi, "It is very difficult to build houses on this piece of land for the terrain is quite steep. " Why is there such a conversation? Well, my friends from a very established company came over to Penang and asked me to help them to survey this land for they were studying whether it was feasible to build houses on it.

They too found that it was very hard to build buildings on it. If my father was around today he would be surprised to learn that Mediterranean- designed bungalows stand beautifully on it.

A Short History

Seeing my grey hair , many people have asked me how many years I have been in the construction industry?

Counting back the years, I would say around 34 years. I was lucky to have taken many projects
which helped me to understand the technicalities by experience rather by theory. the following is a summary of the various projects that I have gone through: Highway (Malaysia), Chemical Plant ( Singapore), Electrical Substation (Iran), Oil refineries ( Indonesia),Asia Bintulu Fertilser Plant (Malaysia), Hotel Equatorial , Gurney, Northern Suites (Penang, Malaysia), Telecom Tower (Thailand) etc. So What? Well, if you have not done any projects on a hill slope then it will definitely be very tough

The model

The Side elevation

The front elevation

Photo taken on 31st December 2010

Completed Moonlight Bay

Construction.

The Preparation work

KAA's Consultant giving us advice

Staff gathering. Need all the ideas to start this job on site

This Mediterranean Project would inevitably crop up in any presentation of Ivory annual dinner or meeting. This shows its utmost importance to the company. At the start, it was very difficult to determine the starting point of this job or in other words, the proposed entrance. Field works or site visits had to be carried out and consultations had to be made with the town planner. My first glimpse of this project was in our main office in Fettes Park. There was a model of the hill and a young architect, Jarvin was repeatedly proposing the idea of building bungalows and then selling them at a later stage with our former GM. Certainly there could be a lot more discussions regarding this project that I did not know.

Not too long after joining the company, my boss took us on a study trip to Hong Kong. During the trip , he intentionally asked the tour bus to take the small hilly road up to the top of the hill. Upon reaching there, he told us that if Hong Kong could have houses built on a slope , why couldn't we.? During that trip , he took part of the team comprising of architects and engineers to the renowned Geotechnical Department of Hong Kong. Once we returned to Malaysia, I was informed by my GM that he had brought back many books and articles from Hong Kong's Geotechnical Department for me to read. Other than this , he also recommended many websites. I started to research on hillslope development in the USM ( Universiti Sains Malaysia) library. Assistance also came from my brother -in -law, Ir. Choo who lent me a book from one of the IEM seminar he had attended and Ir.Chow , Mr. Phoon who constantly giving additional advice during our weekly consultant meetings.

Together with Mr. Ng ,formerly from LTS, who was also very good in earthwork (highly recommended by my boss)and our Senior Head, Mr. Tan, we made our first attempt in determining the entrance and set up our site office there. Later on staff like Robinson, Yeoh, Jasper, Chow, Junior Ng and many more also chipped in and contributed to the success of this project.

Before we started our project, my boss gave us very solid advice-make sure that public safety is your top priority when you start this project. In my head, till today, these words still echoed in my brain. Ah ya!, more white hair.....!!!!! I will try ...

I will need all types of religions to help me complete this job,starting with prayers to Datuk Kong, Jesus, Buddha and finally the most important of all ,God of the Underworld during the 7 lunar month prayer.

Other than that, all the respective consultants who constantly gave me advice were equally important in minimizing errors.

The site office and the temporary access road

As required by the Engineer, we had to proceed our earthwork by cutting first from the top of the hill and then down to its bottom. Initially, we still had to cut an access route and put a guard post beside the entrance. The urgency of the guard post was due to the arrival of the excavators at site . It was the same with hoarding and the gate which we eventually installed .

The Guard post

The drainage system and the site requirement.
The erection of a shrine for " Datuk Kong"

Finally, the completed site gate with the guard post shifted into the site.

The determination of the permanent access

Blasting of boulders

Authorities checking before the blasting

Construction of a temporary sedimentation dam.

The construction of the show unit

Initial construction of the show unit

The show unit in progress

Bricking up

Plastering

A short length of counterfort wall being constructed

The Final show unit

The completed show unit

The foundation work: Caissons
A system from Hong Kong, world renowned in hill slope development.

"One type of deep foundations that extend down through unsuitable soil to transfer building loads to a more appropriate bearing stratum and socket into the rock."

Part of an technical paper by Y W Mark (CEng, MIStructE,MICE House Department, Hongkong
Because of the scarcity of land and abundance of hilly terrain in the territory, it is often inevitable that high rise building have to encroach or found in hill slopes. As the foundations have to be on hill slopes, it is difficult, if not impossible, to provide access to piling rigs, Consequently, footing foundations and driven piles are not suitable ,the best foundation option is
hand dug caissons.

Methodology (a brief)
The excavation proceeds vertically downward in lifts of 750mm to form a circular shaft. A concrete lining is then cast in situ to support the soil pressure before going down the next lift. After the excavated shaft has reached the founding rock stratum, it will be back filled with reinforced concrete.
Before concreting the dug shaft, a proof rock drill to a depth of 5m (depending on the Eng'r design) to determine the rate of penetration will be carried out to testify the rock quality. With proper calibration , the integrity of the rock stratum can be revealed.

Hand dug caisson.

Cast caissons

The base of the caisson were blast until integrity of the rock stratum were achieved.

Hand dug caisson in progress

Ventilating system to provide fresh air when necessary

Typical Caisson construction

The Permanent road

Allan Block System
Reinforced soil segmental retaining wall system

Extract from International Conference on Slope 2010 held in Chiangmai , Thailand.

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A 12M HIGH REINFORCED SOIL SEGMENTAL RETAINING WALL FOR HILLSIDE DEVELOPMENT: A MALAYSIAN PERSPECTIVE by

K.T.Khoo
Perunding KAA Sdn Bhd
kaa@perundingkaa.com

K.H.Lee
Landscape Retaining Wall Sdn Bhd
lrwallblock@gmail.com

B.H.Ng & L.K.Lim
TenCate Geosynthetics Asia Sdn Bhd
bh.ng@tencate.com & lk.lim@tencate.com

Important factors to consider using this system
1. Speed in construction of the segmented wall
2. Important advantage of the reinforced soil segmental wall system is that the temporary steep cuts exposure can be kept to a minimum as components like concrete fascia units and soil reinforcements are manufactured offsite and backfilling as the wall is built.

3.2 Segmental blocks facing unit
The facing system is a mortarless, stackable, concrete block retaining wall system. The dimensions of the segmental blocks unit are approximately 203mm height, 457mm length and 304mm width with a unit weight of 34kg/block. The compressive strength required
for the segmental blocks unit at 28 days is 20MPa. The hollow cores in the block are infilled
with 20mm single size aggregate for free draining properties and higher interlocking properties between the block and reinforcing composite geotextile.
The patented interlocking lip automatically locks each row of blocks in place as they are
stacked. With mortarless construction technique, the segmental block requires no grouting, no mortar and no concrete footing. The inherent benefits include site adaptability, easy installation and lower cost.

The hollow core design combines with mortatless construction to allow water to drain freely from behind the wall. A vertical “drained field” is formed by layer of crusher rock placed behind the rock and in the blocks cores. Water moves easily down through the drained field. The dry-stacked construction technique allows the water to escape by flowing around the blocks and out of the wall surface. This built-in drainage system prevents any major build-up of hydrostatic pressure.

The hollow cores in the block are infilled
with 20mm single size aggregate for free draining

The composite reinforcing geotextile was installed at
the required elevation as per in the construction
drawing

Regular checking by Senior and respective department heads regularly

Accurate alignment of the wall forming up the road. This could not have been achieved without Allan Block.

Finally, the walls are up

Earth reinforcement system
The insertion of various tensile -resisting materials into the soil to improve stability.

Completed soil nailing at the hill top

Soil nailing.
It is a reinforcement technique in which closely -spaced parallel steel bars are installed into the face of a slope or vertical cut surface to improve stability. Normally spaced at 6 foot centers vertically and 5 to 8 foot centers horizontally subject to the Geotechnical designer. Soil nail installed for permanent slopes require corrosion-resistant treatment similar to soil anchors.
The most common installation method is to insert the galvanised steel bars into a drill hole and grout from the bottom up by gravity or low pressure. The reinforcing elements pass through unstable (or potentially unstable) soils and provide a tensile pullout resistance.

Soil nailing in progress

The Proof test
This is a simple post tensioning test recommended and used to determine that each soil nailing will carry the designed load,

Set up of a pullout test

Followed by closed turfing and setting out of drainage system

The construction of drains at each cut berm

Authority Requirements

Regular covering up of slope

Workers covering back the cut slope at the end of each day

a
The whole slope being covered up with temporary plastic sheet

Full construction of Units

Half way through the Project

Roofing being installed

The permanent access road with Allan Block system

The Team behind this project

The surveyor teams

We finally finished the project

to cont later.........................with topic

Yet to come

There were slight incidents along the way with slope stabilizing. The public service, police, road works sand , and fire department asked for our assistance during a very heavy down -pour. A SMS from a neighboring church thanked me and my team for help rendered to the public. However,there were rude remarks from drivers who blamed us for the slow-down in traffic. It was the cooperation of our team of staff and workers who helped to get things done not forgetting the policeman and other authorities on duty that night.

It was indeed the TOUGHEST PROJECT!!!

The Humble, "Tun" of Penang,Malaysia

2010-11-25T23:13:00.023+08:00

A short article to remember this great man in my blog.

Sitting down tonight in a local kopitiam ( coffee shop in Hokkien dialect), and celebrating my wife's birthday today, I took out the local newspaper, Star and was sad to read the headline, "Chong Eu dies" on 24/11/2010. My wife told me of a few encounters with him and those moments brought back good memories. I told my wife that I too had encountered the Tun on at least two occasions.

My First Encounter.
While doing my first job in Penang constructing Hotel Equatorial , I met Tun when he paid us a surprise visit to check on the progress of the hotel . On one instance, he walked all the way to the edge of a wing and looking down at the Bayan Baru Township, he told us his vision about how he would develop the town. Standing behind him, I was awed by his talk and kept silent until he ended it. Well, now I know why he is so well respected by so many people in Penang. Maybe his foresight, eloquence, drive and dynamism are the main reasons why he has inspired many.

IEM 's dinner.
One good memory of him was during The IEM( Institute of Engineers, Malaysia) dinner held in Penang at Hotel Rasa Sayang . Sorry that I cannot remember the date. That night I recall that when everybody heard that he was about to give his speech, the entire audience kept a silence which was pregnant with meaning-they totally respected him. The audience listened attentively to him until he finished his speech. He is indeed well regarded even until today. I can still remember that day vividly.Such a scenario is observed in most local gatherings. Wow, such is the respect that most people give him.

My wife's encounter.
After his retirement from politics, he would patronize a restaurant in Batu Ferringhi and during his many visits he would be addressed by staff and my wife (temporarily helping out) there as "Tun". Many times when he arrived and saw many guests he would walk straight in and tell my wife and her friend not to worry about him for he would find a comfortable place to sit by himself to have his dinner.
Such was a humble retired man of great distinction. Many great people would not have done that.

Star Publication's Quote:

On 25/11/2010.
Chong Eu dies.
Father of modern Penang passes away peacefully at home. (Headlines)
A truly towering leader. (N4: Nation)
Ambulance ride his last trip. Final journey through the streets of his beloved Penang (N12: Nation)
Born in Penang, Dr Lim attended Penang Free School. In 1937,he was a King Scholar at Edinburgh University in Scotland and graduated in 1944 with a medical degree. (N4: nation

On 26/11/2010.
"State honour",
Former CM's (Chief Minister) state funeral to be held in accordance with federal protocol. (Headlines)
"Dynamic and Enigmatic": All who grew up in Penang felt Chong Eu's unique touch. (N8: Nation)

On 27/11/2010.
Express 'gift'
State govt renames 18km highway route after Chong Eu. (Headlines)

On 28/11/2010
Avoid cortege route,public advised (N3: Nation)
'The funeral route covers Lebuh Light, Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, Jalan Kampung Kolam,Lebuh Carnavon, Jalan Magazine, Jalan Datuk Keramat, Jan Air Itam, Jalan Scotland and Jalan Batu Gantung'.

On our way back after our dinner, my wife started counting the day when Tun's funeral procession would be held and was elated to confirm with me that it would be the coming Sunday. Why??? Well, we could visualise this grand state funeral with lots of Penang people giving their last respect along the cortege route.
To me, the most important stop of the cortege route would be the 65 storey Komtar :Penang's landmark.It is sad indeed that the cortege could not pass " The Silicon Valley of the East "and many other significant places he is credited with.

Strangely enough, he did not sit down to write a memoir of himself or have I missed it? Anyway, his legacy will not be forgotten by the Penangites. (name given to Penang people ). He is a true Penangnite leader.

My beloved Chihuahua

2010-11-19T22:01:00.017+08:00

Our Beloved Dog, ICE.
This picture was taken before Xing Yi went to UK for his final year studies in Manchester.

Animal lover

Many times people will ask me why there are so many dogs in my house. Since young I have always been an animal lover. It started by my being a farm boy rearing pigs in my father 's orchard.This is the main reason why I love all these animals. Once there was a bitch in our house that was sent to the farm due to various reasons . One fine day , my dad told me that she had given birth to many puppies. I followed my dad to the orchard and immediately went to see her brood of puppies ;they were below a tree trunk. Upon arrival, I took one of her puppies in my hand and started to stroke it. My dad shouted to me to let go of it as he was very worried that the bitch would bite me .However,he was very surprised that she did not and instead started to wag her tail and even licked the puppy that was in my hand. I started to have confidence that she would not bite me . This is the reason why I love puppies.

Let's get back to the reason why there are so many dogs in my compound. Well, most of the dogs that were given by my friends and relatives were those searching for a new home for them. One of the main reasons was that they could not bring them to their new apartments as no animals were allowed. The second reason was that they could not take care of them due to one reason or other. At one stage we have as much as 5 dogs.
To date, I still have 2 dogs in my house. First ,is an Alsatian and Labrador breed dog given to us by a couple breaking up ; second is a Dachshund that was given by my relative from Petaling Jaya and finally the last dog was a Chihuahua.

ICE ,our beloved Chihuahua

This dog was given to me by a friend. One fine day , I received a call from a friend. He told me that he was given a puppy and it looked like ET and wanted to give it away. Well, he could not describe it that well so I immediately went over his house and upon arrival he showed it to me. The puppy started to wag its tail once in my hand. He asked me to take him home. Everybody in my house was very happy for they had not seen such a small puppy for we have been rearing bigger sized dogs and not one that was so small.

The next day while in my office , I received a call from my son telling me that there was something wrong with the puppy. Curious about it, I left my office straight at 5.30pm sharp and upon arrival , my youngest son asked me to observe it. The puppy kept loosing his sense of direction and banked into the wall. My son told me that the puppy could be blind!. After our dinner, I took him to see the animal vet. Upon examination, she confirmed that the puppy was blind. She asked me whether I would like to put the animal to sleep which I did not agree. I was shocked and immediately asked the vet for instructions of how to handle a blind dog. She told me that nature had its way and the puppy could move around in my house once it got used to the surrounding. Her last words to me were ,"do not worry for my puppy would be okay.'"

Everybody fell in love with ICE, a name given by my son, Xing Yi. As the vet had confirmed ,he started moving around the house at ease with its surroundings.. I started to train him by sound and eventually managed to guide him to his food by tapping his bowl on the floor every time when we wanted to feed him outside in the compound. Most importantly the main door must be opened before we tapped his dog bowl. Once he heard the tapping sound, he would dash out from the kitchen to where the sound was coming from. With slight errors and some fumbling about, he made it.
His smartness does not stop there. One fine day, we left him outside for we wanted him to ease himself after his lunch as we had to go to the supermarket for our weekly shopping. Upon returning, we could not find him in the car porch and started to search everywhere for him. Finally, we found him at the back of the house. We were all very curious as to how he managed to find his way there so we took him outside and was very surprised that he could travell along the side and upon reaching the back ,tunneled himself through the drain until he reached the kitchen which was at the back. It was clever of him but he started to get soiled and smelly for going through the drain.
A few weeks later he started to go through the grill as the gap was just nice for him to squeeze through. Time went by very fast and he was already going up the stairs to the 1st floor where we were all sleeping.There was only one thing that he could not do and that was going down the staircase. We had to take him down every morning. Once, he rolled down the steps and was very frightened when we picked him up. But that never stopped him and he was back again sleeping upstairs most of the nights.

Many times ,we could not find him for his meal and had to search for him upstairs for he did not bark at all except run around in circles acknowledging his name. We could not know whether he was around for he did not bark. Time passed by so fast and at times he could even sleep in my wife's arm in the living room. There was only a sound that could make him bark, the sound of spraying a mosquito which my eldest son, Pei Yi, found out on one of the nights. My eldest son would play with him most of the nights and even let him sleep on his bed sometimes scaring my youngest son by letting him into his room .Such were the fun and love that we all shared having this blind dog in our house.

The final day came as a surprise for us when he started to get sick and on that day I had left for the airport for a Shanghai , company trip ( 18/10/2010).My son called me when I was at the airport informing me that ICE had passed away in the garden. So sad was my youngest son that I had to explain to him that all living things would leave this earth sooner or later. We just needed to pray that ICE would rest in peace.

These few nights, I still miss him for he would normally move around my legs when I was at my computer work station posting a blog or watching a movie.
This article was posted to remind us of our beloved blind dog, ICE .

Balik Pulau, a small town in Penang.

2010-11-17T08:40:00.004+08:00

XY discussing with his mum on the neat, well organized bus terminal and not to forget the new bus system.

Balik Pulau

I could only recall visiting this small town when I followed my dad on one of his trips here to buy some piglets for our farm .There used to be many pig farms over here. Recently, my son requested me to take him over there for he had not been there since young. Furthermore he would be leaving for his first new job in Middle East, Abu Dhabi in 3 days' time.
As usual , our main motive was to eat some tasty food that was considered "Ho Chiak" ( tasty in Hokkien Dialect).
Along the journey, I found that certain stretches of the roads have been broadened and some had not for the state Government had yet to acquire the land to do so. Well, our ride was very smooth on that Sunday morning.

The power transmission line that supplies electricity to this exclusive town

The broad winding road along the way

One of the oldest schools in Penang,S.K. Chong Teik found in this town

The new bus terminal

Inside the bus terminal

The new wet market

The well organized food stalls

A lot of green enhances this market

Children's playground too...one of the best markets

As usual, I was reading my newspaper while having my breakfast.

Magic competition in KL

2010-11-06T21:35:00.009+08:00

What is Magic?

Many years ago ,I let my son play this game and on and off ,I would drop by the shopping complex to witness for myself what this game was about . I cannot comment so much but eventually my colleague told me not to worry for her husband also plays this game. One day, I decided to follow my son down to Kl and watch him participate inthe competition. ( worried father) .Any other father ?

PY In the hall

Meeting his friends

with close friend Alex from Penang

Let the competition begin

All the cards were drawn and printed under licence to sell.
In the hall, I met one guest artist who flew in from America.
While waiting, I went over to look at an artist drawing for his client. Well, I will have to ask PY who he is and what he is doing later when he comes out.

Hand on drawing whoever wants to buy.

I took a picture of the completed card with permission from the purchaser

The winner of the competition is only a very young boy. Fantastic Eh!!

Humble too

Red Cross: First Aid Course

2010-11-02T22:40:00.007+08:00

This is the first time that I have attended this course. Initiated by my former Safety and Health Officer,Jimmy, all Moonlight Bay's contractors and our Ivory staff from various job sites finally attended this course in Ivory Lecture hall on 1 & 2 Oct 2010.

This is the way to do CPR., arms must be parallel to the body

Demonstrating in front of the trainer

CPR carried out by the various contractors

Ivory staff learning how to do a CPR

Mock up of an accident

The tester showing a few extra tips as to what has been taught.

The 8 immortals of China

2010-11-01T21:30:00.005+08:00

Inside the museum, I saw this beautiful vase.

To recall Shanghai Thang

2010-11-01T20:24:00.010+08:00

Dennis, I managed to stitch them up and hope it is ok

Last night in Shanghai.

Never have I been a film director but tonight I definitely must try to shoot the last episode of this historical Shanghai in China.........

Act 6: our pretty girl calls to her boyfriend to follow her after arriving in a rickshaw.

Act 7: The handsome boy turns away after telling his girlfriend who is in the other rickshaw that he has another girl in his heart. Well, the girl starts to cry using her hand to wipe the tears. She must have forgotten to bring her silk handkerchief .

Cut, Cut , every act is perfect. Turning to my Assistant Director, I ask him why the girl did NOT remove her watch and wear her Levis jean..!!!!!..........

React again.....Tough to be a director.
I better go back to my construction work..

More pictures of me in Shanghai

2010-10-31T20:41:00.008+08:00

Miss Soon and me . Behind is the Telecom Tower of Shanghai

Miss Loo, Annie and me

Behind me is the China Pavilion

My friend's daughter with me

Inside the Museum

Farah and me before entering the museum

Model of previous Expo pavilion

More pictures on the Expo

2010-10-31T19:55:00.011+08:00

Kang b

Eastern Smelting Company in Penang, Malaysia

2010-10-31T11:26:00.012+08:00

A brief story of this Smelting company in pictures
As a young boy, I was always wondering what was really behind this high hoarding. Our family passed this road when we were on our way to Federal Cinema which was further down the road to watch a movie, entitled, " The one armed swordman" acted by Wang Yu,
Since then the site has been taken over by Ivory Properties Group,
The story of this place in pictures was posted on the fence for the public to view.

The high hoarding surrounding this plant

Very big indeed was the plant

The last of the CEO

Delivery of tin ore from port to this plant

Tin Ingots

Tough work indeed

The British managers and the Workers' Union

The British managers and their family

If you have the chance to visit The Birch House, you can see this historical plate on top of the main door.

Lee Chin Ho : the original owner of the tin smelter

Visiting the Pavilion in the Expo

2010-10-27T07:59:00.013+08:00

How many have you visited??? Well only a few
..

In front of each Pavilion , everyone has to line up and you could check with the Expo team how fast you can reach the gate of that particular one you want to enter. Well, we asked and were informed that it would be approximately 3 to 4 hours. Fantastic Eh!!!!
(to see an enlarged picture, just click on the picture)

The Expo team in front of each Pavilion. Very cheerful and friendly too when asked to take a picture.

The rest of the visitors

2010-10-25T21:15:00.007+08:00

From Baby to.............................. attended this Expo.
On our way to the airport on 23Oct , we heard over the radio that there were approximately 1.3 million people inside the Expo. The announcer even recommended that old people should avoid visiting it.

Just behind me, a mum and child

Not scared of anybody, this boy just stared at all of us

At the other line, this curious little girl kept looking at all of us in dark blue T - shirts.

Thank dad for the portable chair. some of us bought it too

Expo Mascot

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At the Expo Entrance No 7 and 8

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At the entrance , strict security checking

Steven

Kok Hwa

Chuan

Teong

Ngoh Hin

Chung

HOng Chee

Woei Ping

Goh

Richard

Anne

Bok and Chuan

Sin Lam

Datuk Ooi

Saw

Saw

Final Check point

Approaching the security check

Seriously checking

The Clickers in our team

2010-10-24T18:03:00.015+08:00

Action and Click

Chee Weng shooting with style

Eng Keng , our photographer in action. The cameraman of the day!!!!

Pictures that speak a million words

Justin thinking which scene needs to be taken>>>

Yam and Angeline have a good laugh after their shot

Yeong and Chin Chin: Let us shoot ourselves.

Miss Loh , this angle is good

Kok Hwa taking a shot of the Pavilion

Ah Too adjusting his angle of shot

Obeiliao following his son's method of photographing himself .

Boon Seng , okay to click

Murly : Hold it there. That is good. Advantage of being tall

Teong resting after a heavy shooting session

Chuan checking his shot

Jayson sharing his pictures with buddies Lim and Steven

Teong explaining his fantastic shot to Lim

The shadow clicker: An accidental shot of himself

Shanghai World Expo 2010.(18 - 23 Oct )

2010-10-24T16:42:00.007+08:00

Wah ! wah! all the match boxes!!!

In Expo? No, our expression of all the buses in the parking bays , well allocated parking lots and many traffic controllers with security carrying out their duty.

Me at the bus parking lot

Transportation

The bus that took us there

The green van that took visitors from one end of the expo to the other

The blue van, very silent and smooth . could be electrical type???

Even for the old, have brought along their own transport

The most common, bus no 11.....Walk

In Tehran , Iran

2010-10-04T22:46:00.009+08:00

I made a business trip to Iran.We managed to walk to Vanak Square from our hotel. It was near several streets.Since I was sickand felt giddy, we have to walk down to the Vanak roundabout to look for a pharmacy to buy my medication in the early morning.
We were trying to look for the sign ,"pharmacy" in English but could not find one around. Well, I turned to the people around and started asking. Initially , no one help ed but then a boy who was passing by turned around and asked me if I needed any help. He was very fluent in English.He turned towards the roundabout and showed me where the Pharmacy was. I thanked him and he left for the bus terminal that was beside us .
Iran is very different now and has improved a lot. I was informed that about 10 to 15% people in Tehran speak good English.

Inside the restaurant

2010-10-03T18:15:00.007+08:00

Other than the delicious food served. .........
.inside the restaurant we can see>>>>>

Painting

Traditional classic songs will be played in the night. Look at the Iranian musical instruments

Ceramic on the walls and glass work

Food served in this restaurant

2010-10-03T17:43:00.012+08:00

A Lamb Soup called Dizi ( in Farsi)
(Farsi is an Iranian word )

1st, take the lamb fat from the hot ceramic bowl which was served to us individually

Put the lamb fat and grind it till it is small and soft.
Note: The soup is inside the Green ceramic jar

Pour all the hot soup from the ceramic bowl into the steel bowl.
Watch out, the soup is really hot

Tear the bread into small pieces into the steel bowl

Ready to be eaten

Start eating together with the remaining lamb and its ingredient in the ceramic bowl

Add some pepper if you wish to have it spicy

Mr. Kang starts eating like this

You could also eat the lamb with the bread too

Mohammed showing us how the bread is eaten. Yum, Yum.....

Mr. Tan showing the extra dish of Lamb Shank with rice that we ordered .

On our flight from Dubai to Tehran, he was so full and tired that he did not eat the supper that was served on the flight. We told him that it was the best lamb dish for the whole journey.
Unfortunately, we were not served that same dish on our flight out from Tehran.
Well. I presumed that he was very happy to eat this lamb dish in this restaurant before our departure.!!!!

A good memorial picture for all of us.

A memorable lunch in a restaurant along Shadi Azodi

2010-10-03T09:02:00.011+08:00

This restaurant is beside the Street Iranshahr

In front of the restaurant with Mr Lee and Agar Amir

So beautiful once inside, look at all the items hanging on the wall

Inside we sat on carpet and waited for our lunch

to be cont................................... delicious food........

Ice cream in Iran

2010-10-03T08:48:00.006+08:00

This is the first time I have taken an ice cream in Iran

The ice shop

Lime juice to go with ice cream

Along the street in Tehran

2010-10-02T20:21:00.004+08:00

The car that I could remember it name: PAYKAN. This car was very common 30 years ago and I heard that the factory was closed down recently. Well, took a shot and post it my blog for sweet memory.

Paykan

Part of Tehran

2010-10-02T19:47:00.005+08:00

Tehran, Sept 2010
How does Tehran look like? Well, judge by yourself.
Scene taken from the 7th floor of the apartment that we stayed for 2 nights
If not mistaken, this is northern part of Tehran.

Zoom12X from Mr. Lee's room

View from our kitchen

View from Mr. Lee's room

Portrait of myself

2010-09-28T23:19:00.002+08:00

Trip to Iran 30 years (2010) later

The first day in Iran 1980

Other pictures at Hasankif and Neka site

Look at the amount of clothes I wore during winter

In Neka substation

In Hasankif, Mazandaran. You can find many local handmade carpets knitted by the local people.

Many types of Iranian foods

2010-09-28T20:45:00.010+08:00

All these were normally served during a meal
( In Persian language,Farsi, is given by my friend :Maral Mayeh.
All types of Salad

All types of Pickles

Mixed Vegetables

Olive ( In Farsi : Zeytun)

Salted cucumber (In Farsi:Khuyar Shur)

The Olive is mixed with Nuts and Pomegranate Sauce,
Garlic and herbs..........Yummyy

Butter is compulsory

Butter to stir into the rice
Alcarte Dish

Rice with lamb shank

Yogurt Drink

Yogurt

Yoghurt (in Farsi: Maast)
All types of Bread

In Farsi: Lavaash Naan

In Farsi : Sangak Naan

Types of rice

Plain rice

Rice with vegetables

Types of Kebab

Lamb

Fish

Chicken

The Arabian Night Dinner

2010-09-27T22:47:00.007+08:00

In the wood and outskirt of Tehran

I love this place.

Our Iranian Breakfast

2010-09-27T22:04:00.006+08:00

Breakfast in the Hotel

Hot Water Pot (In Farsi: Samavar)

Bread (In Farsi: Barbari Naan) and Yogurt (In Farsi :Maast)

Olive Prickle (In Farsi: Zeytun)

Fruits (In Farsi:Sib (apple), Holu (Peach), Limu Shirin (sweet Lemon)
Angur (Grape), Golabi (pear),Shalil (Nectarine)

Salted Cucumber (In Farsi: Khiyar Shur)

Boiled mushroom and cheese

Boiled Bean with Tomato sauce and Ratatouille

The Iranian Bread

2010-09-27T19:06:00.011+08:00

The making of Lavaash Naan,

The road that lead to the pastry bread house

The bread house

2 different type of breads

The typical bread ( Lavaash Naan)

The Iranian restaurant

2010-09-27T00:42:00.007+08:00

Iranian Food
The Kebab

Jet lag again. for I could not sleep so here I am continuing my blog on Iran after taking my farsi audio course which i have bought from there.
Many times I would talk about the delicious foods that I have eaten in Iran but sometime my friends might not believe what I have spoken. Well, on this trip I have taken many photos and with my friends as witnesses. They loved it too. If you have not been here, you could not believe what I have said before , Hoh Liao!! ( in Hokkien dialect: delicious)

The first restaurant we took our lunch

Me with the bread on the table................. the Cheese and Salad

Bread with Olive and salted cucumber pickles

Rice and yoghurt

Chicken , Rib and Lamb Kebab

Look at the delicious foods

Chicken kebab and Olive pickle

For one of my colleague who has gone to Middle East to work, I have forgotten to remind him that when one takes a Middle East meal, one must eat whatever was served on the table. Well, this helps to neutralize the meat meal. Yogurt, yogurt drinks and some pickles and salad are compulsory.

Cont ......................... tomorrow

Returning to country 30 year later.

2010-09-21T22:59:00.006+08:00

Visiting back the country I ever worked in Middle East, Iran

So much development and the highways are superb

The journey took us almost 12 hours , leaving Penang approximately 15.20 pm and arriving the final destination around 3.30am in the early morning. Food served in the Boeing 777-300 was fantastic but the best was during the final journey where I have the best lamb in the aircraft before my arrival in that country.

Emirate landed Dubai on time and before this trip , my son Xing Yi asked me to check and compared any different between Etihad and Emirate airline. Well, since my seat has been reserved during booking time, I was quite lucky to sit along the aisle but unfortunately there was no power point for me to charge my computer. Hence, I did not use my laptop. There was also a USB outlet that my Iphone could use but I did not try it. Maybe on the way back, I would like to try it. Good new on this trip was that I could sleep most of the time and sharing with the rest of my friend who were quite worry of the long journey. Well, I told them not to worry at all for this journey was 7 hours shorter compare to my trip to UK for my son graduation on 13 july 2010

On arrival, I could see that it was really different as compare to the period I left. Landed at the New airport, IKA, I do not need to fill in any arrival form and the new computerised system made us checked through the immigration without loosing any precious time for all of us were tired during this long journey. as normal, all our bags were scan through as any other countries.

Cruising through the new highway was very fast during the early morning and finally we were sleeping in our hotel bed from 5.00am onward. Could not sleep much but woke up around 10.00am.

At 1.00pm we were heading for our lunch and also attending a meeting ..The following night I went to bed early. The night was superb.
Wake up early and went over to the bread bakery and purchased the local bread for our breakfast in the hotel room................

cont....................................................

William Li: Can we eat to starve cancer? | Video on TED.com

2010-09-10T07:18:00.000+08:00

William Li: Can we eat to starve cancer? | Video on TED.com

Last few days in Manchester

2010-09-05T22:05:00.003+08:00

On the way to MMU to return his books .

Xing Yi with Eli and Maxim

Yoon's family

2010-09-05T08:18:00.012+08:00

Our few days with Yoon's family in Manchester.

A few days before leaving for Manchester, my son called me urgently informing me that the date of checking out from his dorm is not 30 July but on the 24/7/2010.
I recalled that he asked whether I have asked Auntie Yoon for permission to stay in her house on our last 5 days before our flight in 28 July. Well, I told my son not to worry for Yoon's father has informed me that she has called from UK and has personally invited us to stay in her house when over there.
Anyway, I asked XY whether Yoon's house is far from his dorm and he asked me for her address. When I was in UK , XY informed me that Yoon's house is situated at the other side of town. You can find it easily in Google map. Oh, so convenient.
I will stay with you in your dorm until the 23rd July or earlier..

Life is very tough for us but we managed to be successful.

Xing Yi told me that their children are very lucky to have such good parent while we were waiting for the bus to take us to the city.

Both treating us in a Chinese restaurant on the last night in Manchester

With both of her sons in their IT room

The Youngest son . The Cutie and very smart kid. Xing Yi beaten by her son at the airport

Yoon with XY during our trip in Chester

Yoon and husband checking the layout of Chester wall and Xing Yi

In Manchester
On the 23rd July, Yoon 's brother came over and took XY and me over to her house including the bags which we have vacuumed and packed a night earlier. After leaving the bags over there, we took a bus back to the city to meet Eli and family for Dinner. After dinner, XY and Eli has to return to their dorm and stay there for their final night with Janet for they have to handover the key to the caretaker on the morning of 24th July . XY commented that Yoon's house is nearer to the city as compare to his dorm.

Yoon's house

Yoon and husband in Penang

I could not recall where and what she was doing for I was travelling away from Penang for my career. But the image of her is always in my mind for she and family was our direct neighbor. As what Yoon's has told me in her house in Manchester, when I was small, I would drop by your father grocery shop and talk to your mum and also to sit on the rice bags .Very sad to say, I met Yoon with her husband only during her mother wake in Penang.

In Penang with her humble husband

Violinist in Chester Town

2010-09-04T14:11:00.002+08:00

Violinist on Train to Disneyland Paris

2010-09-04T06:54:00.004+08:00

Blackpool Zoo

2010-09-02T06:21:00.004+08:00

Blackpool ( North West England)

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About 65 Km from Manchester
Greenwich Mean Time (UTC +0)

Approaching Blackpool town

Surprise!!! The Football Club of Blackpool and Blackpool Tower

The town

B

Along the road

Left and right beach of Blackpool

In the funfair

Xing Yi and I along the shore of Irish sea in Blackpool and the famous Steel Tower

On the way out of Blackpools

The Journey back to Malaysia

2010-09-01T00:15:00.010+08:00

Inside the aircraft,Boeing 777

The control panel behind the seat. Xing Yi with his 13 " Macbook

The power point outlet

Transit in Abu Dhabi

Our hand carry bags.
What should we do when in transit? Well, Xing Yi and I did this,
"Internet surfing "

Inside Abu Dhabi Airport. Our connecting flight was 5 hours later and with an extra of 2 hours delay again ending up 7 hours. Well, even my continuing flight from KL to Pg was affected.

You have to find a spot where there are power points to charge your computer or gadgets. Xing Yi has surveyed this airport terminal thoroughly during his last trip back to Malaysia and recommended this spot where the Wifi signal are strong.

How to transit in comfort. ...........ensure that you have stored a lot of ...... in your computer, in this case 25 hours (Total journey)
Normally ,Xing Yi would buy some books to read but since having his portable laptop, he has adopted a different approach to spend his time.

Morning sun for we were heading towards East.

Chester City (part 3)

2010-08-31T19:35:00.004+08:00

On our way out of Chester City

At certain area, along the wall, you could find paintings

Cathedral

Look at the timber structure

Ah ha!!. here come my favorite store

Musician with beautiful music

The street in chester

In the Chester city street . look at the Hop On Hop Off tour bus!!!

Another view of the Roman Amphitheater

St John church

Chester City (part 2)

2010-08-31T18:55:00.008+08:00

Chester City (part 1)

2010-08-29T02:54:00.004+08:00

Chester City wall The most complete circuit of Roman and Medieval defensive town wall in Britain

Eastgate Clock. The most photograph taken after the Big Ben in London

The route to the Cathedral.

Our train journey back to Manchester

2010-08-28T21:37:00.007+08:00

Teoh 's house in Oxford

2010-08-28T21:18:00.005+08:00

We are very lucky to have met her in Oxford. Never have I realized that I was so very tired since traveling from 15 July to 22 July
A very nice house.
3 bedrooms, 1 living , 1 toilet and a kitchen and not to forget the big garden behind the house.

Teoh 's house

Entrance of the house

Our bed for tonight. I slept like a log.

COTSwolds (Part 3)

2010-08-28T20:40:00.008+08:00

On the way back. We rush back worry that the clothing could get wet due to the approaching rain

Note the stone wall

Grapes

A house built in different years

2010-08-27T00:48:00.007+08:00

House built in 2 century (1712 and 1938)

COTSwolds (Part 2)

2010-08-26T06:36:00.005+08:00