Life, Travel, GRACE

[UPDATED] This book is indeed interesting and an eye-opener for me. The author presented us an alternative view why some people succeeded and some did not. Generally, a successful person is perceived to have achieved such status based on his down-to-earth attitude and relentlessly hard work. Hard work is, of course, part of the ingredient of success. The real reasons for success are opportunity and legacy - as presented in this book. The first part of the book deals with opportunities in successful people’s life. The author argued that those elite sport teams are selected based on unfair cut-off birth date. For example, Canadian junior hockey team selection is confined to children aged between 9-10 years old. Usually the cut-off date is on 1 Jan. Other countries may have different cut-off date, 1 Aug in US. So for the same batch of children who were born in the same year but in different months, that matters. The author has observed some interesting statistic of the players whi

We had a family trip last two weeks. This time we went to Bali. We chose Bali because we like Ubud so much. This time we went with SY's parents and her brother's family. So it was kinda bigger family trip. We took Airasia flight. The flight from KL to Bali was served by Airasia Indonesia. My only complain was the crew did not distribute the disembarkation form to the passengers. So we ended up had to queue and fill up the form before the immigration clearance (at the arrival hall). The immigration clearance could have been a smooth process should we have the formed filled beforehand. Overall, there was no extraordinary experience during the trip since we've been there few years ago, except for some high priced meals. Will share the trip in the next few posts.

Well, this and last year Christmas were not much different. With two kids in the house, it couldn't be more merrier than to see them play and have fun. We had not been to the church for quite some time. Partly because the no. 1 son did not focus in his Sunday school. Another reason was no. 2 son was getting "noisier". Anyway, we shall try to attend church in the near future. We usually end our year by giving to the needy. Last year, we gave to a church in rural Sabah. We learnt about their development. It was so much encouraging. This year we give to the same church again. Hopefully the little gift will bring more development and betterment to the church members.

Have not been to Cherating for ages. Last July, we went there with the kids and their grandparents. The kids enjoyed the kite-flying session very much. Unfortunately, they didn't have the time for a dip. It was a short trip. Next time should spend more days. After all, the journey to the east coast was long. By the way, the famous stuffed crab in Kemaman was no longer special. Not many people at the restaurant though. The taste was not as good as ten years ago. Soon it will be forgotten. Fortunately, the "kopi Hailam" delivered to my expectation.  

Not that we were fancy of fruits plucking activity. But that was one of the activities which the kids could enjoy. We arrived in Taipei around 6 am on 28 July, the day after the typhoon. Our plan was to visit peach farm and grape farm in Hsinchu county (if I remembered the place correctly). Unfortunately, the aftermath of the typhoon had left many roads to the mountainous area unaccessible due to uprooted trees or in some areas, landslide. As such, we had wasted the morning session by just driving around only to be disappointed. We made a stop at the strawberry house/shops, I think it was in Dahu. It was not a strawberry season. So no strawberry plucking. We had our lunch there and then proceeded to tomato farm instead. Couldn't recall the name of the place but it was an eco-tourism kind of place on a hill (maybe it was in Miaoli county). Apparently, the kids loved the tomato plucking. Maybe next time we can try tomato plucking in Cameron Highlands too.

Basically the city was very easy to navigate. I strolled around the city on the following day. Firstly, I had my breakfast in a nearby café at around 7.30 am. I was still with the Malaysian’s breakfast time while the locals were no where to be seen, except some early risers. The city has three main attractions: the Chapel and Cathedral, Albayzin area and Alhambra. The Cathedral is situated right in the middle of the town. Chapel is next to it. So getting there was easy. Nothing spectacular to be seen here though. The main façade was nice, but not too impressive. Around the town, in some hiddened corner, graffiti was aplenty. I think this is universal in every corner of the city around the world.

Firstly, I am very grateful that I was allowed to board the flight to Granada from Barcelona even though  the gate was closed when I reached the boarding gate. I was praying though. Prayer answered. As the planed flew above the southern part of Spain, the view was amazing with stunning hills, olive orchards, wind turbines and solar power plant. I must say that Spain has one of the better implementation of renewable energy technologies. In one area, it has wind turbines at the hill and the solar power plant on the other side. Can't find such view in South East Asia. Reached Granada airport passed 6pm and the sky was still bright. The airport was small. I guess it only cater for domestic flights. Perhaps it had the same size with my hometown's airport. Getting to the town was easy. With every flight arrival, there's a bus waiting outside the airport. Just pay 3 euros and you can get to the town. The journey from the airport was about 30 minutes. I got off near Plaza del T

At first, I did not plan of going to Spain even though my supervisor recommended a conference event in early January 2014. However, as time flew, I realized that I could actually attend the said conference. After much consideration and budgeting, the trip could be done within RM7000. That's including the conference fees, lodging during conference days and air flight fares. That's when I started to seriously planned for the trip in April/May. Application and approval from the university were pretty smooth. But the most headache thing was purchasing the flight tickets as I needed to make sure the total cost would not exceed the budget allocated. So, what I need was a flight flying out from KL to Spain, ideally. But at the time, there was no airline serving such route. I need to make a transit either in London, Paris, Amsterdam or any of the Middle East countries. To make life easier, I chose KL-Paris (CDG)-KL route served by MAS. Paris is the nearest to Spain, compared to Amste

This book has less than 100 pages. So you can finish it within 2 hours. I've read twice - first reading was last year and reread this week just to refresh the idea. It's about some advices and guidelines given by the author (Jim Rogers) to his daughters. Among the "tips" for life and investing are: - You decide what you want to do and to be. Don't let others do the thinking for you. - Focus on what you like. The rest will come as you work. - Be a self-starter, pay attention to the details and live your life with a dream. - Think and analyze, as common sense is not so common. - Learn others' culture and history to get a better and unbiased perspective. - Learn languages (and make sure that Mandarin is one of them). - This is the century of China. Invest in China. - Know yourself by understanding your weakness and acknowledging any mistakes. - Recognize change and embrace it. Look to the future.

I don't usually write review on food or restaurant. But because of the greatness and awesomeness of the food I had, I have to write to share it. Most people think of McD when they want to have burger. But lately, there are quite a number of outlets have started their own burger recipe. And they sell it at premium. My Burger Lab is one such outlet that employs teenagers (or more likely college students) to run the operation (from kitchen to customer relationship). I guess the patty is freshly made (they only sell beef or chicken, plus vegetarian burger). My first purchase was the cheapest of the list - RM11 beef cheddar burger. The patty was juicy and tender. Not forgetting the soft bun (wonder why they have it in black. Charcoal bun?). I must say this is the best ever burger I have lately. Ramli's burger has to step aside please. Definitely will try the other premium list in the menu in the near future. By the way, the outlet is always packed. At some points, it does look like

We reached Taipei on 14 July morning. The parents didn't have a good sleep in the flight. No. 2 son was not behaving well at the end of the flight. So the parents took turn to comfort him. The 4 and half days trip in Taiwan was ok albeit tiring. Maybe we shouldn't go to the fruits orchards on day 1 as most roads leading to the orchards were blocked by fallen trees (the aftermath of the typhoon). The rest of the days were good. More write-ups to come.

Time flies. Feel like only back from Spain yesterday and will have another trip to Taiwan next week. Unfortunately, there's a typhoon developing in that region now. Typhoon Soulik is advancing in full force toward the island now. Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau forecast the typhoon will reach mainland China on 14 July, that's the date we will be in Taipei. Hopefully there will be better weather from Sunday onward. By the way, the weather forecast on CBW's website is superb and up-to-date. So much better than our local meteorology.

After a week in Spain with transit in Paris, I'm back to Malaysia. The conference which I've attended was very fruitful. Also no regret visited Barcelona. I do think Barcelona offers more things than Madrid. The highlight of the visit was, of course Gaudi's grand work - Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. That's the reason for visiting Barcelona. Meanwhile, I'm preparing for my report and papers write up before going to Taiwan next month.

This round of general election, SY and I decided to fly back to our hometown to vote. I went back to Sandakan. This was my first time of casting my vote. Previous election I didn't go back to vote. Instead I volunteered as counting agent in Petaling Jaya area. That was a very good experience. While in Sandakan, I managed to attend one ceramah organized by the opposition pact. The turnout was ok as it was a small scale event. I must say that the chinese candidates need to brush up their local Malay language. Issues talked mainly on corruption and bread and butter. For the parliamentary seat, the opposition won while the three state seats under the same parliament constituency fell under the pro-government. I guess Sabahans still opt for the "opposition for the nation, pro-government for the state" voting strategy. See if you can spot me in below photo. The portrait photo was snapped by me.

Haven't been travelling oversea lately since last year short trip to Sri Lanka. Well, I'm preparing my next trip to Spain this coming June with a stopover in Paris. Will be in Granada to attend a scholarly conference and then proceed to Barcelona. I've chosen Barcelona as my main itinerary simply because of Antoni Gaudi and Sagrada Familia (see the attached photo from the internet). Hopefully will have a smooth and safe trip. Shall write more after back from the trip.

Last Christmas, we went to Taiping for a short trip. Stayed in Flemington Hotel which is beside the lake. Visited the famous night safari in Taiping Zoo. The kids enjoyed it though most of the animals couldn't be seen as it was too dark. During the day time, we went to Kuala Sepetang. There's a charcoal factory and mangrove reserve. Charcoal factory is where most photographers had their shooting there. The town itself is very laid-back. Come to Taiping town, it's a bustling place full with traders and shoppers.

Not far from Kandy town, there's another town called Peradeniya. Didn't explore much in that place. Only went to its famous Botanical Garden. To my surprise, the entrance fees for foreigner was steep. I felt like being slaughtered after paid the fees. Nevertheless, the garden offers a great sight for photographer; also a great place for lovers hideout :). The garden also serves as a educational venue for school children. There were a few groups of school children and teenager visiting the garden when I was there. Some of the plant species were specially brought in last century. So the tree could aged at least 100 years old (if I'm not wrong). I had to leave early as the closing day was near. My visit was short coupled with exorbitant fees. Next time should check out the operational time and fees. The giant fig tree

The town of Kandy is seated right next to a lake. There are hills surrounding the town as well, making it a pleasant view within the town. One can have a good view of the town in any of the hill top. At one of the hill, there's a Buddha statute (see the last photo). Didn't go to that place though. So I hope I didn't miss out any interesting view there. The town itself is quite pleasant - traffic is moderate. But walking under a hot sun was a challenge for me. So I didn't go further. Apparently, government officials leave the office around 4.30pm. I would think the life there is somehow more relax than our government officials here. And they also have the usual tea break morning and afternoon - inherited from the British practice I guess. You will get to see more similarities between the Sri Lankans and Malaysians' life if you stay longer there.

Have not been writing for awhile. I even blogged less last year. Partly because couldn't find a quality time to write. That's the price for looking after 2 kids. A year has passed. A new year has come. And it's not too late to wish a happy new year. While God has been faithful and providing, I couldn't ask for more this year. Just wish for providence, completion of study, teachable sons and health for the families. Hopefully will have more time to blog too.