Sunday, December 25, 2022

Merry Christmas 2022


A year has come and gone in a blink of eye. It has been a tough year for me like a carousel as I struggled with my colorectal cancer. The journey has changed my whole life and thinking forever besides affecting my physical self. The 5 painful Chemotherapy injections, daily 8 Chemotherapy tablets and 5 weeks of daily radiotherapy was really insane. My wife and a good friend Aaron had been supportive like my 2 pillars as they seemed to have the right words to encourage me. 




Yesterday I was very thrilled and surprised to know that Santa Claus is real. He delivered a bag on the eve of Christmas.



Wow!! I saw that gift label from St. Regis Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. This 5 star place is only for orang atas to dine and stay. 



My childhood friend gifted me this Raspberry Red Velvet Cake which costs a bomb. The Christmas Tree brought me so much joy to rekindle our childhood days. This friend's family are shareholders of the MUI Group and HKG's Sun Hung Kai & Kerry Group too.

During my stay at 4 hospitals in 5 months, I reflected back my whole life when the cardiologist cautioned me that my severe blood clots could be fatal. If it does not heal, I might suffer from heart attack any minute on my hospital bed. My thoughts ran through 1001 memories where I concluded that I should have no regrets for I have lived and done my life's missions. My wife pointed out that I was being brought up with so much privileges that I should be very thankful. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2023. Remember to stay Happy & Healthy always!


****

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Happy Winter Solstice


Today marks the auspicious and shortest day of Winter in the Northern Hemisphere. I have copied and shared below, the history of this festival.

The Dongzhi Festival or Winter Solstice Festival is one of the most important Chinese festivals celebrated by the Mainland Chinese, Hong Kong Chinese, Taiwan, Japanese, Vietnamese, Koreans and other East Asian-related people during the Dongzhi solar term, some day between December 21 to December 23.



Meanwhile I had lunch at a new cafe nearby home which was set up and managed by a Swiss couple. Their unique food menu is fabulous and top notch. I am not able to disclose the location which is right opposite my home, for privacy reasons. The above photo shows the Vadai Scones! It's my first time eating this with butter and cream that goes well with a cup of Cappuccino.



This is my favourite vegetarian fried rice which is a hit with the expats. It is so fragrant with lots of tiny crispy bites and assorted nuts like cashew nuts with shredded fine strips of lemon grass.


Once again, Happy Winter Solstice to you and family. May you all be blessed with abundance of happiness and good health always! Muacks!


*****







Saturday, December 10, 2022

Good Morning Taipei


Greetings to everyone. I arrived Taipei last night. It will be just 3 nights to attend our Tibetan Buddhist Prayers. I am still recovering from surgery and treatment with much struggles to endure the fatigue, prodding pain and stiffness on all my toes & fingers. I still have follow up at hospital for the antibody infusion as my platelets are too low. 

Thank you very much for all your prayers and kind thoughts. Hopefully I will post my unfinished blog writings and visit all your blogs too.



Happy Weekend!




Thursday, July 28, 2022

Chronicles of a Clairvoyant 2

My close childhood friend Henry passed away about 2 months ago after a short illness. His death came as a huge shock for us as he was so active in the different Facebook groups that he created. Suddenly he went silent and nobody noticed it. Within few days he died of mysterious illness at the hospital in Skudai. Yesterday I had lunch with several school mates and we talked about Henry's unhealthy lifestyle while I pointed out that he wasted much time leading meaningless life. I reprimanded him many times about the porno stuffs that he shared in the chat groups which I am aware what, cause & effects would bring. I am not saying that watching it, is right or wrong but when one tries to forward all the videos aggressively to hundreds of people daily is another story. You can be the judge.




So 2 days after his funeral and cremation, Henry came into my dream. It was so clear and vivid that I spoke to him, knowing that he had passed away. He showed me many folded "gold paper" ingots that we often see at Chinese Taoist funerals. I examined the folded "ingots" and noticed that they were unusual in shades of dark gold prints with pictures of deities on them. Henry pleaded with me to burn lots of such gold paper offerings for him besides dedicating prayer merits for his soul. I nodded my head and assured him that I would help. Next morning, I woke up and could remember all the details of the dream. When you dream of your departed loved ones and could remember every single details such as the clothes they wore or the conversations engaged, it is very likely the soul had visited you for closure. 
I asked my wife to register Henry's name for the special prayer sessions held at our Tibetan Buddhist Temple in Seattle, USA. Hopefully, my friend Henry could be rescued and ascended to the Heavens of Western Paradise (Amitabha Buddha's Heavens)

When one is alive, it is important that we do a lot of charity and prayers so that we could accumulate good merits for our next life in other dimensions. 


******

I was head hunted by Dato Simon Lee while I was still attached to the HKG advertising agency. He was looking for the most capable person to be the P.A. to the politician who had just won the the Member of Parliament seat in the landslide win that kicked MCA's Mah out. 
I decided to accept Dato Simon's offer as he was my agency's supplier in Billboard making and he knew exactly how I worked. He was kinda impressed that I could operate all the softwares in the computer from the different Adobe designs to all the Words, Powerpoint, Excel and many others. I would say that it was the happiest and most relaxed company I had ever worked in my whole life. I got along very well with the politician YB Seah and my tasks was to handle all his business export plans to China. We both had close bonding like real brothers.

Sadly, my boss was a heavy smoker and drinker which I loathed. I got ticked off each time I tried to advise him to cut down his daily 4 packets of cigarettes to one pack. Within 3-4 years working under him, he had developed lung cancer at Stage 4 which had spread to other organs. It was the saddest day of my life when he passed away within few months. I missed him so much as I still continued working at Dato Simon's office and all the business files were still on my table. Everyday I would say short prayers for YB Seah with the hope that he would not suffer in wherever he had gone to.



One night, I had a clear and vivid dream about 2 years' after my former boss' death. I was sitting on a white sofa inside a huge transit lounge where everything was white. I could not see the walls and ceiling as they were all in a misty and cloudy ambience. There were many other beings around me and they all wore white attires. Suddenly, someone called me and tapped my back. I turned around and saw my ex boss. I was so surprised and happy to see him. In his usual hasty tone of talking, he told me that the Hell's Officer had allowed him to come up for few minutes to meet me!! Whoa! My eyes went wide and felt speechless. My ex boss quickly uttered politely and said "I need your help. Please help me". He bade me farewell and had to leave quickly. Poof!! He just vanished off. I clearly understood why and what had happened to him.

It dawned upon me that I might have some fate with the Hell's officer to get such visitors in my dreams recently. I could only guess that I probably built the fate after having printed thousands of copies of "Journey to Underworld" books which were all distributed to many temples in Malaysia to create awareness. That was over 20 years ago. I had many dreams including meeting my grandfather and both parents but I will slowly share in future. They were not in hell like others and could easily come into dreams. I guess they had the merits to fly and roam about like human beings using money to travel about. So we better be good, do good and collect enough merits for ourselves in the next life.


****

Sunday, July 24, 2022

Polo Buns & Hong Kong's TVB Studios

I am still undergoing my cancer treatment but life still goes on as usual for me. I cannot sit still as Idle Mind is Devil's Workshop. So I do meet many friends and closed sales with new far sighted customers for the bereavement packages. Yesterday I dropped my wife off at her educational centre and hopped opposite to eat my favourite Polo Bun and HKG styled coffee for my tea break.



I love to sit there alone at the same table and face the wall of framed photos showing all the famous actresses from Shaw Brothers and TVB studios. I like the feeling to be immersed to the happier memories of my younger days spent in Hong Kong when planes still flew in and out of the old busy Kai Tak Airport in Kowloon City. My sister and her ex husband used to live in a 4 storey Mediterranean styled resort homes that overlooked the ocean in Lantau Island. That was in the 1980s and it was truly the earliest eye opener for me to see so many foreign expats living there. They had not built the Tsing Ma Bridge yet that connects Hong Kong Island today with the Chek Lap Kok Airport in Lantau Islannd. Those days I had to take boats daily to commute to Hong Kong and Kowloon. My ex brother in law was holding such a high profile job that he often hired 6 door Grand Mercedes to attend functions. I had the opportunity to sit inside once to go to the airport before flying home. I felt like a movie star with my head swelled like pumpkin. Life is just an illusion.




As you might recall that I was once hired by a HKG advertising which is based in Kuala Lumpur. Let me recap that it was founded by the popular HKG Canto Pop singer/actor named Eric Kot Man-Fai who is closest buddy with actor Stephen Chow and they both teamed up well on stage and movies. I was being head hunted after weeks and months by the Hong Kong bosses for the right candidate with much TV commercial experience background. They thought I was a bonus as I appeared on RTM's TV daily for few years instead of just doing the production team work in the background. Fast forward to my over a decade working with them, I learnt so much from my immediate great boss who taught me all the ropes and tricks of smartest advertising which greatly helped me to be the salesman today. I am proud that there is nothing I could not sell from million dollar homes, factories, private antique collections until funeral packages to burial plots. I might sound like blowing my trumpet very loudly but I have come a very long way with my own sweat and tears. Phew!

So, what's so special with that HKG advertising agency I worked for? They were the first in HKG to only handle property advertisements where they often hired movie stars from TVB to endorse the high end projects in Hong Kong, Macau and China. With my founder boss Eric Kot's position, all the stars were his buddies. That's where I heard lots of gossips and jokes. In the above photo, the actress Carol Cheng Yu Ling was the most respected by the film crews as the best professional and thoughtful actress who was always punctual and made things very easy for everyone! They loved her because "Time is Money" in Hong Kong's culture where they count our working time by the minutes and seconds. That's how the work stress contributed to my cancer today. I am not kidding on this stress facts.




I never planned to share the above photos as I had to be discreet and treat them with some confidentiality. However, I have changed now after staying in the hospital so many times recently on the brink of deaths while battling my complicated colorectal cancer. If I die tomorrow, all my photos and memories would be perished forever. I think I should share some stories for knowledge and entertainment after all Laughter Is The Best Medicine.

Photo (Top Left) My boss, colleagues and I posed outside the TVB studios at Clearwater Bay where we were given very special permit to tour every production room & watch all the private filming in real life actions. 
(Top Right) I was posing alone at their TVB studios where all the props of China old scenes were cleverly repeated and recycled for every shoot!! Unlike the Universal Studios, they would make new props for every movies. Who is smarter?
(Bottom Left) The fleet of luxury cars belonged to Eric Kot who loaned them all to fetch us around like VVIPs!! We all posed outside the luxury homes at the peak of Hong Kong's Mid Levels (Bun Saan Keui åŠå±±å€)
(Bottom Right) My colleagues and I posed with the HKG bosses. The guy behind me in white cap was a handsome TVB actor and brother of Eric Kot.


Hope you enjoyed reading my Polo Buns gossip.


****



Thursday, June 30, 2022

My Battle With Colorectal Cancer


I have just started the 4th cycle of chemotherapy treatment. Last Tuesday I had to sit at the Oncology Suite for 4 long hours to receive the very painful injection. The strong radiation penetrated my veins until hard like steel wires, just like thousands of needles and pins poking my left hand until my chest. My tears just flowed out as it was the one and only most painful chemotherapy injection for my condition. All other chemo jabs are painless. I had done 4 cycles of this painful injections and need to complete 6 cycles!



This is how it looks like when I got the 4 hours long painful injection that numbed my left hand for almost a week. I do not wish for anyone to go through this.



The hospital gave me so many tablets to bring home. Look at that 98 tablets of oral chemotherapy tablets that I need to eat daily. The side effects are plenty which the constipation is worst of all. 




The reasons my cancer almost shocked everyone to death was due to my friends looked at me as a very healthy freak who frequented the gym and boxing rings. I explained that life is uncertain but death is certain for all. So cancer or whatever sickness may happen to anyone without prejudice. Well, look at my BP reading at the hospital. My heart is still happy!



My battle is ongoing but I need to share my good news too. The tumour markers have gone down so much and I pray that it will continue to drop next 2 week's blood tests.



This photo is borrowed to show you exactly how the radiotherapy was conducted daily for 5 long weeks besides the daily stomach injections to heal the blood clots. The room reminded me of the cockpit in Captain Spock's Star Trek spaceship!

This borrowed photo shows where exactly the radiotherapy's laser was aimed at my colon areas daily for 5 weeks. The hospital was racing to save me with all available and strongest treatments. Everyone asked why my head's hair did not fall off?? My hair still look bushy but its texture had changed actually if you touch them. The daily Chemotherapy tablets reach all corners of my body and blood stream. I replied my friends that all my pubic hairs have fallen off instead like Autumn leaves! 

I have been away from the blogsphere for over 2 months now. I was not resting much but running around the city to meet everyone after posting several heart wrenching stories in my Facebook about my treatment at the hospital. I am not a drama queen but rather, shared all my journey with transparency on the 5 weeks daily radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment to create awareness. I didn't expect my sharing to cause so much sensation amongst friends & relatives from Penang right up to Australia, USA, Canada, Japan, Thailand, South Korea and the United Kingdom. My closest friends & cousins really cried so much with great sadness and had sleepless nights after hearing that I was diagnosed with Stage 3 & 4 colorectal cancer. I always advocate on cancer awareness and share with everyone of them over the years, not knowing that I would become a patient myself today. I must admit that my case was one of the most complicated and serious one due to the blood clot that swelled my left leg, which I posted the photo earlier. Both the cardiologist and oncologist were alarmed & extremely worried for me as I was running out of time when the cancer relapsed in March. They were worried that blood clot would affect my heart which could be fatal within minutes as my leg kept swelling while lying on the hospital bed. The blood was not flowing properly in my whole body. The scans discovered that many cancerous lymph nodes across my whole colons had swelled until they pressed my artery. Usually, cancer could sometimes be treated within many weeks or months but serious blood clots are not. I am sure you have heard news of some victims who died due to blood clots, during their sleep or while playing sports or watching television. The cardiologist was baffled to see my condition which was his first case of a patient with an elephant leg caused by blood clot which was triggered by cancerous lymph nodes pressing the artery! I felt like a Gila Babi and still smiled to the nurses who all panicked when I was missing from my hospital bed. I had often limped my way to the hospital's ground floor with my Malay room mate who wanted to have his 2 hourly cigarettes! The cardiologist had earlier given stern warnings that I should not walk except to toilets. Haha!

I am grateful to receive so much attention, concern and prayers from everyone I know across the world. My frankness caught the attention of one friend who is a Malaysian architect working for a famous Italian architectural design firm in Central London. This Saturday he wants to interview me via Zoom and upload the podcast into the internet of my whole life's colourful story. He had probably read my blog postings and Facebook news which must have convinced him that I am a bit weird and very funny for my transparency. He wants me to share my experience seeing the most prominent buildings during my lifetime and eventually create awareness about my ongoing battle with cancer. I believe all the renowned architects and architectural students across the United Kingdom and Italy would soon be looking at this Twilight Man speaking like a China man. Wah! I am so stressed and sweating now. So far, everyone had complimented me for waking them up to be really realistic about their health check ups as usually cancer victims would be very depressed and withdrawn from public view or friends but NOT ME! I still came out to sell my Nirvana's bereavement products and cracked jokes with everyone over many lunches and dinners. I even followed my wife to Singapore because she had to check the auspicious Feng Shui for 2 friends who wanted to buy a new condo and a big factory building. If you ask me about her Feng Shui's accuracy, I would rate it as 10/10! Best of all, she does not even charge any fees because all her long list of customers are our closest friends.

I have so much to share with you guys about this cancer topic and what I discovered after telling the world about my sickness. I was tickled and very amused to see so many friends turning into 'Quack Doctors' overnight! I received hundreds of text messages on exercises, supplements, fruits and TCM to treat & beat my cancer. The most bewildered texts came from friends of different churches to encourage me to join their healing miracles for cure. Honestly, I did click and watch their YouTubes out of curiosity since everyone meant well. No matter how irritated or annoyed I encountered with some tactless morons, I still responded very politely with sincerest thanks. I was showered with so much expensive get well gifts and even cash monies that could all total to over thousand ringgits. I felt so warm and loved by all their true colours. Several friends came all the way to KL to visit me too, with their whole families in tow. I was really touched as they thought I was dying on bed but I still drove my car out to entertain them at restaurants. They were speechless! I may be weaker as time goes but my spirits are still high. 

I am confident that with my positive mind and willpower, I would be able to recover from this deadly cancer. The damage caused by the harsh chemotherapy is inevitable and would last for many years or permanently, subject to individual patients. These could include damage to my respiratory, circulatory, sensory, excretory and others. When my sensory nerves are damaged, I would always have the feeling of 'pins and needles' or 'electric shocks' with coldness, prickling or burning in my hands and feet for a long time. I have met my cousin's Japanese wife who lives in Singapore. She had colon cancer 7 years ago and fully recovered but the side effects live on as the damages caused by chemotherapy was too strong on her body. Now I am getting ready for all this as my treatment is far stronger than hers! 

Thank you for reading my long story. More to come.


Sunday, April 10, 2022

Weekend Workation @ Kuantan

This is the backdated post which took place before my unforeseen hospital stay. My left leg swelled like an elephant's after returning from Kuantan. The emergency doctor blamed that I sat too long hours and triggered the blood clot at my leg which my wife fully agreed. However, the later blood tests found that the tumour markers were exceptionally high and I was sent to get CT scan done. I will save this news in another post when I have found the courage to write as I am still undergoing the 5 weeks of radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment.



On a happier note, let me share our happy trip before the hell broke loose. Here I was posing outside this Hyatt Regency Kuantan Resort which has been around for over 2 decades. They still rank 5 stars today. 



This is my lovely bride who actually came for her work trip to attend an important function of the MOE. She paid for this hotel stay herself and I was enjoying myself like in honeymoon bliss. Our luxurious room overlooked the whole ocean and that costs close to one thousand ringgit a night. Oops!



She was busy like a bee as always. This year she has to submit all the thesis and project papers for the 2 different Master Degrees she is pursuing. I cannot study like her as it might give me extra brain cancer if I have to do 2 Master Degrees at the same time!! I always suspected that my wife came from another planet.



I was lazing on the deckchair watching people and the birds. I drifted into dreamland and reflected the journey of my whole life. Have I done enough meaningful deeds? Have I seen enough of this world? The rolling waves in the ocean reminded me again that "Time and Tide Waits For No Man"..........


I went to swim alone and laughed like a small boy again. I spent most of my childhood days swimming like this at the beach in Songkhla at the South of Thailand. My late grandpa's retirement bungalow house was along the coastal Laemsai Road which connected to the famous Mermaid Statue by Samila Beach. I guess many of you had seen that bronze Mermaid Statue. Both Songkhla and Kuantan faces the same stretch of South China Sea where the waves are always choppy with monsoon seasons. Sweet memories!



This is my darling! What was she thinking?




We had buffet dinner by the beachfront of Hyatt Regency. The food was top notch and the chefs came out to greet all the diners to hear their food reviews.



The fish was so huge and superbly tasty with all the stuffing.



That was my first plate of dinner. 




I was damn greedy and had 3-4 helpings after that. I went to bed with tummy upset as my colons were all clogged up and the digested food couldn't move. My hospital doctors and surgeon had warned me to strictly observe low fiber food yet I went on a binge eating. Padan muka! I was tossing on the bed whole night, rubbing almost a bottle of Young Living's Peppermint Oil to no avail. I finally managed to sleep  near sunrise! I have to avoid most vegetables and fruits until today.




All the guests sat at the open air to enjoy their dinner under the moonlight and cool breeze. It was like heavens on earth setting. 


*****

Friday, March 25, 2022

My Journey To Recovery


Hola! I have been discharged today from the 6 nights at the private hospital near my home. I was given 4 painful injections on my stomach everyday and now my tummy looks like a mess with 24 big polka dots plus the earlier 6 surgery cuts done 4 months ago. I wish nobody will have to go through my experience where you could see how karma plays hide and seek with my health. 
I will rest at home for 2 days before coming back to hospital next week for daily treatment which would stretch over 5 weeks. 

In my last post you heard about the Malay patient who could be a stand up comedian. Next, one Chinese young man checked in and slept on his bed. He is only 21 years old and suffers from acute headache where the killing pain hits the whole crown. The doctor could not see the problem after doing the MRI scan.




I really got along very well with this young man because he used to see most horrible ghosts when he was very young. His parents had to bring him to temple to cover up his 3rd eye. However he could still vaguely see sometimes like me! Whoa! We both talked whole night till wee hours exchanging many gory stories. He was astonished to hear all my logical reasoning and theory about the spiritual dimension which he had no idea. He is extremely pleased to learn so much and I even showed him his palm lines that could see evidence of his past life's spiritual achievement. I encouraged him to continue with his good cultivation this life in order to be successful and probably gain enlightenment. The most interesting part of his stories was how the "Na Cha Deity" often came to see him and played together when he was around 3-4 years old!!



Monday, March 21, 2022

Back To Hospital Again

I was admitted to a private hospital on Saturday. I had a swollen left leg that was huge like an elephant's leg. So you could imagine the acute pain I went through. 




The doctor conducted an ultra scan and detected a blood clot on my left calf area. He was precise to accurately say that it was caused by extremely long hours of sitting down on the chair without moving. It is actually a DVT issues and self inflicted by myself unknowingly.

It is really a good lesson for me not to sit idle like a couch potato for so many days. The bad posture was the direct cause because my earlier colon's rectal surgery made me uncomfortable and shifted my buttock's weight to the left side. The prolonged weight pressed my left side and caused the blood to clot. My leg started to swell up until the size of Dumbo Jumbo. 



The above photo was taken at my first night PCR isolation in a single room.

Today is my 3rd day at the private hospital nearby my home. I must confess that I have stayed in 5 different hospitals in KL. This feat is nothing to shout but scares me a lot. I just got discharged 4 months ago from the major surgery and here I am in another hospital. I am happy that this ward has 4 beds and 2 bathrooms unlike the government's hospital which was 24 bedded with one huge filthy bathroom located like many miles away from my bed. Here, I am sleeping directly opposite a Malay gentleman who is talkative and friendly. He should be a stand up comedian on TV with his funny humours. This hospital forbids any visitors but this guy's "members" come to visit him at the carpark 2-3 times daily where they chatted and smoked for hours each time. Sometimes his member drove him out to makan minum at nearby cafes!

Next to the Malay guy is another new Chinese man from Seremban. He speaks simple BM and Hokkien which the slang is different from Penang. He told us that he would undergo rectal surgery today. That got me curious to find out more since mine was also similar but his twisted explanation got me confused. Hours later, both the Malay and Chinese guys came back to the room from surgery. The Malay guy was whining a bit due to the urine bag with inserted tube that is uncomfortable. He was stunned to see the Chinese guy walking about making coffee for himself. He asked "Eh mana lu punya beg kencing??"... "Tak payah beg la",he replied. Apparently he clarified that his anus had a tear and puss which required stitches only. The Malay guy added "Lain kali jangan jatuh sabun yeah". I burst out laughing behind the curtain partition. The Seremban guy just smiled shyly. 
 
The cardiologist had done 2 ultra scans for me at my leg and whole abdomen area. Sometimes cancer issues could be related to blood clots that formed later. The nurses have been giving 2 painful injections on my stomach twice a day as treatment. Today my leg's swelling had subsided a bit but the great pain is almost gone. I am thankful that I would not need to have any surgery on my leg anymore.

That's life. 


Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Chronicles of a Clairvoyant 1

Recently I followed my wife and her friend to her hometown in Kampar, Perak. It was a whole daytrip and I just sat behind her new car macam big boss. The 2 ladies sat in front and talked non stop like school girls giggling and gossiping like market aunties. We went to various places to eat and explore some new areas too. 

We made the first stop to pray and pay our respect to the old temple. It is the famous Gu Miao Temple which is located along the main road in Kampar town. It looks prominent, sitting on the small hill. It was not my first visit but I confess that it was the first time I really paid attention inside the temple to all the details and different deity statues. I saw something that struck my attention with surprise and later had a vivid dream. I knew it was not a mere dream but spiritual communication during my sleep. I woke up and remembered everything, so it was a form of clairvoyance which I had been encountering since small. Till today, I remember every single dreams of the departed souls who spoke to me to bring closure to their families or myself. I know I often wrote bizarre and far fetched stories which you might not believe but just read them as entertainment if you prefer.




This is the Gu Miao Temple which has very impressive architecture, as seen from the main road. My wife took this shot with the sunlight shining through like heavenly blessings.



Yours truly was still half awake with this pose as we left KL at 5.30am for this trip.



The wooden carving embedded with gold leaves hung above me. It looks very magnificent and beautiful like a floating heavenly palace. I really love antique art pieces like that. My head was often asking about its antique value in the market.



The Goddess Guan Yin's statue is on the main altar. It is a powerful temple. When we have prayed for a wish, we must remember to offer our sincere thanks when we have our wishes blessed and fulfilled. I know many friends who overlooked this part unintentionally.



My darling is an expert in spiritual and prayers. So I just follow and feel safe! I placed the many joss sticks from altar to altar until I saw one with 3 Deity Statues. I was very surprised and stared at the statues which are similar to the 3 Deity Statues which I placed in the wealth's corner of our living room at home. I am sure many of you have seen these 3 Deity Statues in some Chinese homes. Earlier on, I did not know that people do pray to these 3 Deity Statues as I thought they were popular for Feng Shui enhancement. That night at home, I slept and dreamt of one of the 3 Deity Statues in my living room. He suddenly emerged out as a young man with a kind smiling face. I was startled and asked him why he didn't bless me with lots of wealth? He replied me that I never prayed to him and make any wish. I woke up and remembered the whole vivid dream in fullest details and would pray to him everyday. Whenever we dream of some heavenly deities or departed ones and could remember the lengthy vivid dreams, it is likely to be a real message or communications. Most of the time, we have distorted dreams that we could only remember bits and pieces, then just forget it. I will slowly share all my clairvoyance that took place since I was very young from time to time. The title of the post would be similar, so stay tuned.



The front view of the main altar.




You might be wondering the reasons some Taoist temples displayed various weapons and spears. As written in many different religious books, there are big heavens in the universe and there exists millions of devils and asuras that still fight all over the other dimensions. That's why we have those famous Heavenly Kings that guard the 4 directions of the Heavens all the time. These protector deities have infinite numbers which could be trillions or more. So, it is better that we ascend to heavens when we die as it is safer there instead of becoming wandering spirits.



Look! I met the God of Wealth outside after finished praying! Money flew down in abundance into my wallet! Huaat aaaarrr!




I posted this from Hyatt Regency Kuantan. I followed my wife there over the weekend as it was her working trip. I went swimming instead.


****

Saturday, March 5, 2022

My Comfort Food

I am still recuperating. My restricted food intake has relaxed at my own discretion. I tried to eat my favourite claypot Fish Curry with roti chanai at the famous Ratha's Raub restaurant was a mistake. I suffered from severe diarrhea for 4 days until my backache hurt my spine during sleep. I had no idea how that diarrhea was related to curry and backache?? I blame it on my own colons which are not fully healed yet. Now I dare not eat spicy food or curries for a long time until my connected colons are friends again. By the way, Ratha's Raub is one of the best curry restaurant which is spotlessly clean with many prominent photos adorning their walls. You could see the framed photos of some familiar ministers including the Sultan of Brunei being their customers. Yes, their curries are fragrant and super nice until they manufacture their own brand of curry pastes which are always a sell out at their Uptown's premise. This is something suitable to buy as gifts for friends and relatives outside Kuala Lumpur.

Not long ago, the popular Polo Bun's restaurant in SS2 opened their branch in Taman Danau Desa. It was like seeing Unicorn in my own eyes. Yay!! I have always loved to eat Polo Buns since I was very young. I could only eat the authentic ones in Hong Kong and Macau during my visits. I browsed my old passports and counted that Hong Kong is probably the most visited or airport-transited place in my life besides Thailand. I don't count Thailand as overseas as I started going there since I was barely a year old baby to visit my grandparents until they both left this world. It was like balik kampung to me.




This new outlet is just right across my wife's centre.So it is very convenient for me to eat there at least once or twice a week for a quickie breakfast or tea time. The buns are very soft, fresh, fragrant and nice with ample choices of fillings. Lots of customers tapao via delivery guys but I must eat them at the restaurant to enjoy its freshness.



Their interior is very chic and simple with bright coloured mosaic tiles. This is how the typical charms of old Hong Kong's colonial days being re-enacted. This is the only place where I could sit alone and enjoy dreaming back my old days wandering around Hong Kong and Kowloon since the days when I landed at the Kai Tak Airport. It was probably the most exciting and dangerous airport for pilots to fly their planes down in between high rise buildings in Kowloon Tong district and touch their aircraft wheels on dot at the tip of Kai Tak's shortest runway on the sea. I always enjoyed those hair raising moments looking out of the plane's windows to see the hundreds of flats along the runway where you could see hanging clothes, plants, caged birds and even people playing mahjong inside their crammed apartments. No kidding.




There are over a hundred faces on their walls of the famous female singers and movie actresses. I wonder why there is no place for male stars?




I truly enjoy those moments eating my comfort food with their famous Hong Kong style Yin-Yong milk tea. So therapeutic and relaxing to eat slowly while gazing at the stars one by one on the wall. Thoughts of them helped to discard away my stress and worries. Their peak and glory days are over. Nothing is permanent in life and news just reported that thousands have fled Hong Kong before the latest lockdown. They headed to Singapore. I am thankful for being here, right now, when I used to admire the lifestyle in Hong Kong. I was young and silly those days. I always dreamed of owning those ocean front luxury apartments that line along Repulse Bay, Clearwater Bay and Aberdeen. Wow! They really looked like heavens, once upon a time.



Many people are not aware that the famous comedian was a big time gangster that controlled huge areas of Tsimshatsui in Kowloon. It was their local known fact that went unreported in news. Social medias are often biased and distorted, so better not read too much but trusts ourselves.

Another unbelievable fact is, the other singer was a tyrant who had made headlines with the ashtray incident that occurred in a famous nightclub. That dispute was hot news for a long time as it could not be settled at all. Rest in peace the 2 icons.

I enjoyed my bun with generous cheese gooey spilling out of the tender pork chop. Yums! Do you wish to hear more gossips? I will visit again soon and dig.


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Thursday, February 24, 2022

Importance of Merit Making

Most of us are living in this materialistic world, doing the same mundane routine and lifestyle patterns daily. We wake up, eat, work, eat and sleep, then repeat again. Yes, we all need to work to find money to put food and bacons on the table. In other words, everyone needs money to survive. Most of us are aware that we need to plan and put money aside for old age and rainy days. Many are far sighted and think this way. How many of us are thinking even farther ahead?? How are we going to survive in the after life?? In that dimensions, our departed loved ones are there and are either enjoying the eternal peace or suffering like helpless wandering ghosts.

It has been written in most religious books that encourage every follower to do charitable deeds. When we help and think of others, we would gain immeasurable merits for ourselves. What are these merits for? It may not be easy to explain how merits work but it would definitely bring goodness to ourselves. It is believed that our lives would be blessed for the better with good merits accumulated. If this life, someone becomes wealthy and famous, it is probably due to the accumulated merits he had from the past that blessed him with smooth and wealthy life. If we have done lots of charity this life, our merits would bring us better well being and also merits are important in the after-life. In the other dimensions, the souls need own merits to survive and enjoy in the better realms. I have encountered dreams and real moments when departed souls came back to seek help. Sometimes they wished to be able to communicate with their family members that they needed more merits for their survival in that dimension. Unfortunately, many are not able to connect with the living family members in this world. So, on our own, we must always offer prayers constantly and dedicate merits to our departed ones. When one dies, he will not bring along any money or possessions but just the good merits with him. If he has little or no merits, I shudder to think what would happen to his soul.



My wife has been sharing with her close friends about the importance of doing charity which could be in various forms. The best charity is without using money. There is one taukeh friend who was truly awakened by this calling and has been organizing the charitable deeds. Together with his wife, they have been coming over to our place every month at sunrise to prepare food in boxes for various orphanages and old folks homes around Selangor. My wife would be the sole chef to cook different dishes to feed over 100 mouths. I would do the small part of peeling potatoes, onions or chop garlic only.




I would follow her to the markets to buy all the meat and vegetables a day before our scheduled Sundays.



This round, there were several bags of potatoes and carrots for me to peel and chop. It is fun and I felt good that nutritious hot meals would be delivered to the homes.





The Chef and her good friend who is a Parang Queen as she could actually chop soft tofu without squishing them at all. I was dumbfounded and asked where she learnt her Shaolin skills with parangs. This friend is not the Taukeh's wife.




This is the Taukeh friend who was awakened by this charity calling. Previously, I would say that he led a very meaningless life of earning lots of money and ended up drinking tons of beer and alcohol with his kaki-botol gang. Of all places, their gang who drink cheapo style outside the mini market at Taman Megah by the big longkang next to La Manila. I think Phong Hong must have bumped into this group of drunkard uncles when she was there to shop for oink-oink. That's how happy he was and we never bothered about his choice. Somehow, he was drawn to all the Facebook photo postings by us about giving back to the society, for the good life we have enjoyed. Social media works as it woke him up!!




We have been doing this monthly activity for sometime now. I have not been sharing much in my blog as you guys might be bored. The timing for food delivery is always perfect after well-calculated planning on the distance from my home. Most of the homes are very faraway like Semenyih or Hulu Langat, all within the state of Selangor Darul Ehsan.



This young boy insisted on helping me to carry as he could see that I was struggling after my surgery. I could not even lift a small box like this as the 6 stitches on my abdomen might rip & tear apart. Oh dear, this boy is a strong man and happily unloaded all the boxes from my car.




One for the album. Once upon a time, I was very young like him. Look how old and skinny I have grown today. Hahaha




The other boys helped to carry the canned drinks, donated by Mr Sebastian Lee. Sebastian is a kind  hearted and generous boss who operates a factory in Puchong. Bless him!





Yengga Poreng Ngeh? Unkal penya Enna?? I asked the small girl for her name. She replied me Nah! Dug her nose and showed me the mucous which was wet like long slime. Eeeeew!! Kids are just playful. How I miss my carefree days as a kid.




In other homes, the young boys were happily eating the dinner cooked by our gang. Many things run in my thoughts when I observed them. What is karma all about? Hope you enjoyed looking at the photos and ramblings. Please remember to keep making merits for yourself. You will need these merits in other dimensions where they don't use USD$ or MY Ringgits.


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