Chinese New Year

Today, we welcome the Year of the Dog, sending away the Year of the Chicken. alot of politicans (well, i saw from the news from tv) believe that this is a good year for world economics. Lets hope so, increase pay increase pay INCREASE PAY!

Here are some shots of chinatown during the festive season, i took them a few weeks ago. See how busy Chinatown is.













This is a delicacy for the Cantonese folks. its actually preserve duck and chicken(i think)
there's preserve sasuages as well.


This is my favourite flower for CYN. its called "Ying Liu", i like to call it the cotton bud plant, cos when it blooms, it looks like little cotton bud on the stem.



My mum wanted to buy fake flowers for CYN deco but i insist we must have the cotton bud plant. So here some of my house's deco.






Pinapples means "Ong Lai", which means "Wealth coming"

New Year Countdown

Went to KM's place, prepare dinner, it was a fantastic and sumptuous dinner. We had so much food and drinks. took about 2hrs to prepare dinner, started dinner around 8.30pm, Kelvin came around 9pm, which is good timing.

Ate and drink until midnight, a quiet countdown and into the Year 2006. Time flies in a flash.


Yummy chicken and susages




Crackers and cheese



Mashed potatoes



Potatoes chips( what a failure!!)


Garlic Bread


Ta ta......the fantastic dinner!!


Having a drink..........




Are we still sober???




Oh yes we are!!! Happy New YEAR!!!!

Tsunami Killer Waves 2004

The tsunami in 2004 took away more than 10 000 lives in India, Maldives, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sir Lanka, and many other smaller islands.

One year after the event, dreams are still shattered, homes are still destroyed, and hearts are still broken. Mother Nature, how cruel are you to us. We destroy Earth and you took away our human lives.

Video clips of the tsunami are shown on tv, interviews are conducted, families cried over again, 1 minute silence was observed in serveral countries, so, have we learn any lesson from this diaster?

It is disheartening to watch the after effect of the killer waves, heartbreaking to watch those tears fall down again from faces of the lost's kins, but it is more important to learn how to move on with life and make the best out of what we/they have now.

I had written a poem for the souls who left us, who was taken away by the killer waves, who reminded me how blessed i am to be sitting here, typing away.

This is for you

You may have left us, but you will be remembered

You may have been abandoned, but you will still be deeply loved.

Your soul will be prayed for, your courage will be honoured.

You cry to no one, yet your loved ones cry out to you.

You gave up your precious life, so that someone else could lived

You braved your only life, so that someone else could be saved

Your soul will be remembered, your name will be spoken of.

You bow to no one, not even the killer waves of nature

Your endurance is our admiration , Your sacrifice touches our hearts

Your bravery belittles the waves, Your strength lets the living lives.

Gone you may be, but forgotten you are not.

24th Dec Xmas eve!!! (part 2)

Last stop, KM's place.

No more dinner for me, i'm too fulled. we just had chips and beer, play xmas songs in the background and chat the entire night. Play some silly card games and guess what, i'm the winner, its called the worse case scenario game, so since i'm the winner, it means i'm caught in worse case scenario all the time.














KM's dog Bobby

24th Dec Xmas eve!!! (part 1)

What a joyful yet hectic xmas eve. running around places, feels like chinese new year.

I had made a food hamper for Johali for xmas, with biscults and chocolates, to my surprise, it was his birthday on xmas day, so i'm glad i went today and got him the hamper. He looks so much more cheerful now and he can sits up right. His right leg got amputated from knee onwards and he needs 2 more operation to go. He has a fighter spirit, i know he will overcome all these.



Next stop, Sally's place. She has done a fantastic job preparing all the food , decorating the house and tree and not to forget Philip's contribution in it. Its all very tradition English kind of setup. There's mulled wine, mince pies, chips, crackers with smoked salmon, vege sticks, nuts, Austrian schnapps (Phil's from Austria and man the schnapps taste shocking!!!)

It was great fun and nothing but fun.


A real pine tree.






Sally and the girls


Phil and the rest

Dong Zi

Today is Dong Zhi.
So what is Dong zhi? i only know i had to eat tung yuan(marble-shaped glutinous rice ball) on this day, so i did a bit of research and here it goes:

The DONG ZHI is based on the solar term of the solar calendar, which is in this case, the 22nd solar term known also as dong zhi. It coincides with December 22 of the Gregorian calendar. Dong Zhi is the thanksgiving of the Chinese calendar. "Dong Zhi" literally means "arrival of winter". Coinciding with the winter solstice, it is an occasion for the family to get together to celebrate the good year they have had. Tang Yuan is cooked and eaten to symbolise unity and harmony within the family. Dong Zhi occurs 6 weeks before Chinese New Year and would normally fall between 21st Dec and 23rd Dec.

Tung Yuan in chinese sounds like "reunion". Yuan, which means “round” or “a circle”, is also an auspicious word that suggests perfection.

There is also another saying that goes "Chi tang yuan, da yi nian (Eat tang yuan and grow older by a year).”

So here are my tung yuan that i ate today. pretty yummy.

tung yuan in peanut soup. its like a dessert.



Seseme filling

Peanut filling

christmas Deco completed!

Finally, the decoration is completed, not that best among others but definately the best on this floor (i believe)

Snowman is completed!!! with arms and scarf and a brooch!!



My cubical







My Desk deco theme is Snoopy at Christmas!! : ))


Done by gabriel, i printed the photos and he stick it on the picture. Just nice there's 8 reindeers and 8 of us.