Nasi Kandar Fareed @ Sg. Buloh

This is not a sponsored post.  I am just sharing a bit about a humble hawker who became my friend and he is now a big boss today! The moral of the story is that "Hard Work Pays Off"...

Once upon a time, there was this food hawker selling Nasi Kandar under the hot blazing sun by the dusty road side daily in the industrial hub of Sungai Buloh in Selangor. It is very close to the Hong Leong Yamaha's factory plant where hundreds of giant trailers and lorries would ply.

My colleague first brought me there to eat in the mid year 2010 and I became instant friends with the owner Mr. Fareed. I liked his curries as they tasted much like the Line Clear's Nasi Kandar of the Northern Malaysian style. We chatted a lot and I shared much marketing and advertising knowledge with him. I often encouraged him to be brave in life and trust his own judgement by observing all his daily customers! I told him that he would someday expand and become famous!!

By January 2011, the TV crew from "Jalan Jalan Cari Makan" came to film his road side stall. He was so happy beyond words and I was very proud of him too! I was there to snap his photos and made this banner for him to show off!! (Above)

His business grew faster than anticipated and Mr. Fareed moved to a brand new restaurant a few months later! He does not like to show off but I am proud to show him off instead. Yesterday I dragged him out to pose outside with his hand doing the signature gesture!

He is humble, hardworking and humorous to his customers and workers! Everyone likes him! The food may look like other common shops but the taste is much different. I am his worst critic who would always hurl comments on the food, drinks and service in order to maintain his highest quality standard. He would smile and humbly listens to my big CB mouth. All the dishes are good and cheap, hence the crowds are regular.

Look at me!!! We are always clowning around like "Anay & Thambee" story! He would love to give me free meals but I should pay my own for that is his rice bowl too. There is no free lunch in this world.

 

I was surprised that he has brought his business to greater heights by doing catering now! 

Good luck Mr Fareed!

NASI KANDAR FAREED

No 1, Jalan BRP 8/10,

Bukit Rahman Putra,

47100 Sungai Buloh, Selangor.

Tel: 019 363 5211

Breakfast for My Wife

The only person that I love the most is my wife. I am grateful to her eternally for all she had done for me including saving me from the wrath of a spirit who possessed me! In other words, she helped me get back on my feet again.

Knowing that she grew up under the wings of abusive parents who deprived her of nutrition and happiness, my heart would go all out to make sure she is being fed with the best food and happiness that life could offer.

All the male Chef de Cuisine bloggers like STP and Huai Bin have been posting their culinary skills in their blogs, making my eyes green with envy. I wished I had the talent and passion to cook so well too. Never mind, let me brag about the simple breakfast I make every night before going to sleep.

 

 These are the basic ingredients I use nightly to mix the salad ingredients with my LOVE inside. Sometimes I would add strawberries, grapes, cashew nuts and other leafy vegetables that caught my fancy.

 

  It is just some simple healthy green salad for my wife to eat when she reaches the university before she starts her day. I hope that she will be strong, healthy and happy till eternity.

I Love Japan

I received this write-up in my email and thought we could share about the cleanliness & culture of Japan! We love their food, beautiful country and polite culture so much.

1 - Did you know that Japanese children clean their schools every day for a quarter of an hour with teachers, which

... led to the emergence of a Japanese generation who is modest and keen on cleanliness.

 

 

2 - Did you know that any Japanese citizen who has a dog must carry a bag and special bags to pick up dog droppings.  Hygiene and their eagerness to address cleanliness is part of Japanese ethics.

3 - Did you know that hygiene worker in Japan is called "health engineer" and can command salary of USD 5000 to 8000 per month, and a cleaner is subjected to written and oral tests!!

4 - Did you know that Japan does not have any natural resources, and they are exposed to hundreds of earthquakes a year, but do not prevent her from becoming the second largest economy in the world? -

5 - Did you know that Hiroshima returned to what it was economically vibrant before the fall of the atomic bomb in just ten years?

6 - Did you know that Japan prevents the use of mobile in trains, restaurants and indoor

7 - Did you know that in Japan students from the first to sixth primary year must learn ethics in dealing with people -

8 - Did you know that the Japanese even though one of the richest people in the world but they do not have servants.

The parents are responsible for the house and children -

9 - Did you know that there is no examination from the first to the third primary level; because the goal of education is to instill concepts and character building, not just examination and indoctrination. -

10 - Did you know that if you go to a buffet restaurant in Japan you will notice people only eat as much as they need without any waste.  No wasteful food.

11 - Did you know that the rate of delayed trains in Japan is about 7 seconds per year!!

They appreciate the value of time, very punctual to minutes and seconds

 12 -. Did you know that children in schools brush their teeth (sterile) and clean their teeth after a meal at school;

They maintain their health from an early age -

13 - Did you know that students take half an hour to finish their meals to ensure right digestion When asked about this concern, they said: These students are the future of Japan

 

 

Hyde Park - London in 90s Winter

 I still have one more boring post of my recent China's trip and decided to dig up some antique 

photos for some good laughs. I looked like a skinny nerd when I was younger. 

The photos below were taken over 20 years ago when I flew to London from United States 

for my Christmas and New Year countdowns with my cousin and best friends by the Thames River.

Does it look like me? This was taken in the beautiful Hyde Park, in Central London 

during the Christmas Winter. The whole park was very cold and deserted! 

My photos were so dull and greyish as usual during cold seasons.

 

I went to a Christmas party and boozed until I collapsed drunken & high 

inside the toilet of a gay couple's posh apartment near Chelsea Harbour. Months earlier, 

that cousin had visited me in US and we both had the greatest holidays to visit California, Arizona and New York City. 

Let me go dig those photos if you wanna see them.

 

This is my cousin and we were like dogs & cats when growing up in Penang. 

We often fought using neck breaking punches and flying kicks almost killing each other. 

He has married & migrated to Melbourne after a working stint for Robert Kuok's Group.

 

London and Hyde Park is truly a lovely & very happening place to visit. 

I shall take my honey there next Spring to see the beautiful flowers and singing birds on trees.

Happy Birthday Blogger Sherman!!

It is 12.00 midnight right now!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SK THAMBEE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SK THAMBEE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SK THAMBEE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SK THAMBEE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SK THAMBEE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SK THAMBEE!!!

Vanakam! It is my SK Thambee's birthday today. It should be a public holiday for all his relatives in Chennai, India. All the Kamalas and Muthus will be doing street dancings along railway tracks and coconut plantations from sunrise to sunset. Free flow of toddy and chapatis would be served all day long!

Please join me to wish this world's famous Blogger SK a very Happy Birthday! May God bless him to be eternally happy and healthy to blog till a 100 years old. He is such a very innovative and hardworking blogger on this planet who never fails to amaze me.

 

  

I humbly stole all his photos from his Facebook without permission of course! Please don't sue me lah!

I love these photos showing how my sweet Thambee has grown from a cute innocent boy holding 

his crotch to a horny teen and now a fertile grown man with the Beckham look!

 

It must have been good fate that brought us bloggers to meet up through SK's blogs! 

See how happy we always are! I love that Small Kucing's big smiles. Damn cute lah!

 We are always grateful to meet nice people from far and near! A big thanks to the birthday boy for connecting us together in his blog. Through blogging, we learn a lot from each other and look forward to a new everyday to read new blog posts! It is so fun and time flies fast.

 

 I did not buy SK any present but I baked this Doraemon cake for him. If you would like to eat them, you can download from this page as many times as you wish.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SK THAMBEE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SK THAMBEE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SK THAMBEE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SK THAMBEE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SK THAMBEE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SK THAMBEE!!!

Dizang Wang Temple @ Mount Jiuhua

I am posting the final part of our recent climb around the 99 Peaks of Mount Jiuhua which has over 90 temples. We barely covered half the journey and the total number of temples. Both our legs were very sore and ached to the spine & bones! We hope to have the fate to return some day to cover all.

Photo 1: Mount Jiuhua is one of the four sacred mountains of Chinese Buddhism. It is located in Qingyang County in Anhui Province and is famous for its rich Landscapes, old Pine Trees and ancient Temples

Photo 2: Many of the mountain's shrines and temples are dedicated to Ksitigarbha (known in Chinese as Dìzàng, Chinese:  地藏, in Japanese as Jizo ), who is a Bodhisattva and protector of beings in Hell Realms according to Mahayana Buddhist tradition. Pious Buddhists often visit Anhui to climb to Greater Tiantai peak, which is regarded as Jiuhuashan's most important peak, although it is not the tallest.

 

Photo 3: When we were up in the mountains, we discovered many surprises of this Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha. 

He was born a Royal Prince from Korea and traveled all the way to China long before the first Qin Dynasty. 

Photo 4: He lived in the mountains of Mount Jiuhua and led the life of a monk doing cultivations daily throughout all his lifetime.

Photo 5: His 2 large foot prints were etched on the granite rock's surface after doing cultivation on the same spot for over 70 years. We were even more surprised to know that the body and relics of this famous monk was being kept inside a Pagoda of another temple elsewhere.

Photo 6: We quickly went around in circles to find our way to that sacred temple and found it being atop another small hill. This is the entrance.

Photo 7: Many followers knelt at every step they made, all the way up to the temple where the relics and body of Dizang Wang is being kept.

Photo 8: The temple was not the biggest on the mountains but it was definitely the most popular with the worshipers from all over the world.

Photo 9: This is the door to the entrance of the temple which had limited space inside. It houses all the hell realm's deities flanking both sides of the pagoda in the middle. Inside the pagoda is where the body of Dizang Wang lies.

Photo 10: Deity officers of the Hell's Realms flanked on the left side.

Photo 11: Deity officers of the Hell's Realms flanked on the right side.

Photo 12: This is the sacred Pagoda in the centre. The space is extremely very limited for the entire photography shots. We clasped our hands and walked around the pagoda chanting his name hundreds of times.

Photo 13: We felt very good after paying our homage there before walking many jolly hours down the mountains without taking the cable car at all. We wanted to enjoy the sights and smell of the cool Spring weather.

Photo 14: I really had a marvelous and happy time there walking across many little temples, farms, water streams and small villages.

Thank You Bloggers

Last September 2012, Their Royal Highness - The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Malaysia. H.R.H. Duchess Catherine had expressed her ultimate wish to visit the Hospice in KL as this global charitable organization has been close in her hearts since its formation in United Kingdom many decades ago. She has the natural interests and concern for the needy just like her mom-in-law Diana, The Princess of Wales. I take pride to share that H.R.H. The Duchess made her maiden speech abroad at Hospice Malaysia. Clap! Clap! Clap!

This blog post is my appreciation to Yannie & Yvonne of Taiping who along with other bloggers who had contributed their thoughts and kind donations to Hospice Malaysia's coming charitable marathon which is organized by Standard Chartered Bank. My participating wife of this marathon is extremely  pleased and encouraged by the tremendous support of donations from the blogger friends and Facebook friends. As we are not being told who the donors are, but you & God knows who you are. Thank you very much from the bottom of our hearts.

I was being invited by Hospice as my wife's guest for their afternoon tea party for the runners of this coming charitable marathon. I sat down in the same lounge and sofas where His Royal Highness Prince William had sat on. May I be bestowed with some good blessings soon from his DNA on the sofa! Muahahaha

This is my Thank You note together with The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge beside me.

 

The kind hearted runners were taken on a tour to see the facilities inside the Hospice's building in Cheras, KL.

I remember this room vividly where many patients who attended the weekly daycare visits. Sometimes they were taken ill and needed to rest in that room.

I was just a volunteer there but I gained tremendous valuable training to handle the terminally ill patients during my rounds ferrying them to hospitals for chemotherapy, blood transfusions and radiotherapy. I spent some time looking at their photos on the walls and in my recollected memories. They may have passed on but I still keep their shared memories and kind words of appreciations & advice given to me. Their words were indeed priceless! Sobs! Sobs!

Many patients were very young beautiful people who still had very bright and promising future ahead. I felt very sorry for their heartbroken parents who had never expected fate to take their children away earlier than them.

 

When I was a kid, my grandfather often told me that coffins are for the dead and not old people. Many patients were very lonely couples, singles and children. The volunteers and professional team at Hospice had always made them comfortable to their best ability. Their palliative care is most important for the terminally ill patients during their final journey of lives.

I hope that all of you will always be happy and contented with your life. Be kind & helpful to all your family members and friends, for you may someday need their help and care in return too. Life is just a journey for all of us and happiness is all around us! Can you see it?

If you have missed my earlier post Cancer &The Final Journey Of Life you can read them & make your
donation if you wish to contribute any amount.

Once again, thank you very much for your contributions and reading my sob stories.

Yu Yuan Gardens - Shanghai

We actually visited Yu Gardens on the first day we arrived in Shanghai. It was a public holiday and the crowds were crazy like ants everywhere! All the folks from other towns flooded the touristy spots!

 (Photo 1) Remember this photo and its mammoth crowds on the bridges connecting the Old Shanghai Town
to Yu Gardens? It was so crammed that any pregnant woman would have
delivered easily on the bridge!

(Photo 2) This is the small entrance into the most famous private Yu Gardens in Shanghai.
There seems to be many private gardens of the wealthy and famous since
ancient days in China. Now they are opened to public viewing for a small fee.

(Photo 3) The Yu Gardens is very impressive and fully landscaped with so many lakes, bridges, halls, chambers, pavilions and inner gardens within this site of 5 acres! It was first built by Pan Yuduan in the year 1559 for his father. That was during the Ming Dynasty.

 (Photo 4) All my photos looked like greyish tones as it was just end of late Winter and still cold.

(Photo 5) This is one of the bigger main halls but I don't even remember its names as I never recorded
them like some efficient bloggers.

 

(Photo 6)  Everywhere I walked and turned, it looked almost the same in this huge private gardens! 

I decided to look up to see dragons flying in the skies!

 

 (Photo 7) Pan Yunduan's father was very fortunate to be able to enjoy the beauty of the landscapes 

in his own privacy of the walled perimeter. 

  

(Photo 8)  It was heavenly if I could just relax and sip warm tea while playing candy crush or surfing 

Chinese porn sites by the lake. Wakakakaka

(Photo 9)  My wife leaned on the rails and gazed at me lovingly like the happy fishes below.

 (Photo 10) The exterior outside the walls of Yu Gardens taken from the upstairs of a tea house pavilion.

(Photo 11)  This guy posed under the beautiful tree and he shook the tree like a mad monkey!!!
All the flowers dropped down until tree habis BOTAK!!!!
OMG!!! Damn Sohai!!!!

(Photo 12) Everywhere it was crowded and made my head giddy & cold as it was like 8 degrees.

 

(Photo 13) Aha! I caught my wife squatting and hiding behind the rocks. 

We still play hide & seek like kids!

 

(Photo 14) I noticed that the Chinese folks do not plant so much beautiful flowers everywhere like in Japan.

  

(Photo 15) This carved granite Dragon was very impressive with nice long tail running along the high walls!