Chinese New Year in Penang (Part 1)

I celebrated my Chinese Lunar New Year after a 3 years hiatus to mourn both my parents who passed away back to back in year 2015 & 2016. I decided to celebrate in Penang as most of my old friends and ageing relatives still live in my hometown. 

 It was the best one week CNY vacation I ever had and my big thanks to my wife who so kindly booked a week's stay at Northam All Suites again which commands the best ocean view with all the fabulous mansions dotting below.

The beautiful and majestic mansion of Tycoon Lim Lean Teng

as seen from my hotel's windows.

 I love their swimming pool that overlooks the streets below!

We had our CNY Reunion Dinner inside the the hotel's room. We carried along our small electric steamboat and had a marvelous time eating together. I rekindled our love and many years together. I promised my wife that the next year's 2019 reunion dinner would be in London's Park Lane together with the former Miss Malaysia and her Colombian husband. Remember the nightmarish merry-go-round that I went through to get their marriage papers done! 

That night we joined a friend's family to visit the famous

Kek Lok Si Temple which had thousands of worshipers and visitors.

Every year the whole monastery would be beautifully lighted up

into haven of lights.

It was lively and awesome to be bathed under millions of lights.

The sea of red lanterns hanging in mid air.

Many statues of the Bodhisattva Guan Yin lining in rows.

 Another spectacular view of the different lanterns.

The highlight of the monastery is the giant statue of Bodhisattva Guan Yin

which stands majestically to oversee the vicinity of Ayer Itam.

The weather was very cool as we all had to take a short tram ride up

the slope of the hills to reach the statue.

Beneath the statue, they have placed 108 bowls where devotees

could walk in a big circle to drop donation coins and chant the mantra

for auspicious blessings! Here my wife led the big kids to

donate and chant for merit-making.

Yours truly prayed very hard for a better year 2018 to have

good career and robust health. I also wish all my readers

abundance of happiness and good health!

Huaat Arrrrr!

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Pets Are Man's Best Friends Forever

2 weeks ago, I went to meet Blogger Wenn at NU Sentral to collect some donations from her again. She always donated lots of biscuits for my weekly homeless feeding program which my wife & I work closely with the church team. It was always a "Hi & Bye" sessions with Wenn as she barely had time to chat much as the ETS train was coming. I would always encourage this very good mummy Wenn to spend more precious time in KL with her beautiful grown up children. I miss my mother very much and seeing Wenn's love & attention towards her kids really warms my heart very much. She is truly a very caring lady to her whole family and everyone who knows her including all the homeless people!!

It was a rainy day and I had missed the correct turning to find Wenn, so I simply parked my car illegally behind some lanes in Brickfields. I quickly ran towards the NU Sentral and passed something that captured my attention. It was a cat! The unusual thing was the cat was sleeping and nudging in between a drunkard man's legs on the corridor. The sight ran so much thoughts in my head as I walked on towards Nu Sentral. The cat must be familiar with this man to sleep bravely in between his legs. The man was probably the cat's Master and this kitty probably knew this Master was always stoned drunk until had to camp on the five foot ways. 30 minutes had passed and I bade farewell to Wenn before taking the same route back to collect my car with a heavy bag full of biscuits and coffee beverages from the generous Wenn. She must be a Bodhisattva's reincarnation to touch everyone's hearts this life with her charitable hands & thoughts. I am very sure after knowing her for so many years now.

The faithful cat was still purring and resting in between its Master's legs. I stopped and admired the cat's loyalty for kneading both paws to massage his smelly feet. Love is really unconditional and his stinky feet probably smelled like Sweet Roses to the cat. What a darling!

I always admired my friends who kept faithful dogs and beautiful cats at home as pets. They adored and pampered them all with so much attention and love. Pets are really good friends and could bring so much joy to keep loneliness away. As for me, I dare not keep any pets again because when they died, I cried buckets of tears and mourned for so long! Haiks!

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