On my trip to Europe, I had booked my flight back from London Heathrow airport after the training in Mercedes Benz city of Unterturkheim Stuttgart. I had to make a choice whether to go through Italy or Paris, and my friend who owned a restaurant in Cologne advised me to choose the route to Paris instead. Crossing from Germany to Paris by train and there was no visa checking at all even at that time. Bumped into two Israelis first time in my life and we went around Paris with the Metro underground train. I was surprised that I could read the Metro map so well, much better than the two Israelis that they kept following me because they were a bit confused with the directions. We visited the Eiffel tower together and eventually splitted our own ways because I had to cross the English Channel to Dover port in order to reach London. Dover port immigration crossing was embarrasing for me as at that time Malaysians were notorious for drug trafficking. The custom officer questioned me and even requested me to show a letter from friend to prove my link for the visit. The content of the letter included a nasty comment about English men, I hesitated but the letter was shown to him eventually; and it said something like this " The English men are all gentlemen from their external look and behavior, but many of them are just hyprocrites!...". I was deeply sorry for this comment written by my nurse friend cum former tuition teacher Yee Lai Ching! Anyway he asked for it! You know the reason why I was the last person to clear the port immigration and then the gate was closed for the day!
I was supposed to stay 1-2 days in London before to visit my classmate Kong Kam Sang who studied in Sunderland and they waited for me there preparing for a Europe tour. I did not make it on the advice from my friend that Sunderland was far and I was running short of time. Ended up staying one whole week in London to do all the eating and sight-seeing.
There was a little side story while I boarded the plane in Subang airport, my cousin brother-in-law from Rawang was sending me off. My luggage was slightly over-weight and coincidently one of his neigbors was sending her daughter off to London. And she helped me to carry part of the excess luggage to avoid the extra payment. And we set a date to meet in London for getting back those stuff and somehow at later part we managed to choose a place called "Marble Arch" near the tube station. She probably happened to know one of my classmates Oh Tet Min who studied in England at that time and he commented on what a romantic place we had chosen to meet at Marble Arch! We went on the same flight sitting next to each other, had transit in the same Karachi airport and we parted thereafter.
After my graduation, somehow she remained single upon return from England, and her parents were casually asking about me, the guy who accompanied her to London! You know what, when I did my binding for my thesis paper in one of the shops through the help of one of my classmates, she was working in that particular shop and she was asking about me! Did not know exactly the reason why, somehow I did not make an effort to meet her, most probably I think it had something to do with the Marble Arch meeting that she did not even bother to show me around or invite me for a drink as a friend!
There was nothing more excited than going home after my 2 months stay in Europe. Heathrow was a busy airport and I met a girl who was returning home on the same flight and she proudly showed me her playboy membership card to me. And until now I am still not sure what a playboy club membership in England is for! Someone could tell me what it is?
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Religious truth?
In religion, a lot of things are beyond our human comprehension let alone arguing on facts, the right or wrong choice of words used, correct interpretation or translation of the Books, the degree of depth and complexity in their teachings etc in an effort trying to rationalize a believer's faith. Having said that, the process however does serve as a foundation in due course for one to dig further and move on to explore more about a particular religious belief. Winning an argument or finding and pointing out errors in the secret books of other religions do not make your religion more superior or having more truth than them. Many times we have to observe how the believers' life is being changed, transformed, walking the talk and subsequently you must personally experience God yourself in order for you to affirm the faith you want to be in.
When I was in Taiwan in year 1990, it was Christmas day that I was baptized as a Christian formally in spite of after my almost 20 years of exposure in Chrisitanity, be it while I was studying in missionary schools or having many of my classmates who are pastors and Phd holders in theology studies. I remember very well how I argued with Pastor Peter Wen on the definition of " Son of God!". I told him that I was willing to be baptized as a Christian based on the condition that Jesus Christ was not the biological son of God; instead He was so close and intimate to God that there is no other more appropriate word to describe the relationship therefore "Son of God" is thus chosen for the purpose.What I mean here is that God never had sex with any woman on earth that a son, by human definition was born. At later part, the simple truth that there is no human that is good enough to redeem our sin is a totally different perspective to reflect the most Godly and perfect nature of Jesus Christ. The very new and almost next to impossible-to-understand concept of Trinity that explains in a overly simplified manner God exists in different forms analogous to ice, water and steam under different temperature condition is just mind boggling!
In two separate incidents under different denominations of the churches I was told almost point blank that my cold winter baptizm by sprinkling of water instead of a full immersion was invalid. I was fairly upset if not angry of such trivial details over just a past ritual; and I questioned the rationale of carrying out a full immersion water baptizm in a freezing cold winter. The Holy spirit worked on me and I submitted in a few years later and that was a long process that I learned on how to obey God. I was baptized again the 2nd time by immersion in the sea of Langkawi island by Pastor Philip of FGA Kulim. In our walk with God, learning to become humble and to obey God whole heartedly is not easy. Our attitude should be, if God said to us do not eat pork, then stop eating pork and not to question the reasons why! That is called obedience!
If you ever experience the Holy Spirit then you would be able to get a glimpse of what the spiritual realm is about. The Pentecost incident is real and the Holy Spirit that dwells within us shall serve as a counsellor that takes us to an entirely different level of our daily walk with God!
I pray that Almighty God to open our eyes, enlighten us with all the knowledge for us to know you more. May Thy spirit come to guide us in our everyday life for every decision we make. Amen!
When I was in Taiwan in year 1990, it was Christmas day that I was baptized as a Christian formally in spite of after my almost 20 years of exposure in Chrisitanity, be it while I was studying in missionary schools or having many of my classmates who are pastors and Phd holders in theology studies. I remember very well how I argued with Pastor Peter Wen on the definition of " Son of God!". I told him that I was willing to be baptized as a Christian based on the condition that Jesus Christ was not the biological son of God; instead He was so close and intimate to God that there is no other more appropriate word to describe the relationship therefore "Son of God" is thus chosen for the purpose.What I mean here is that God never had sex with any woman on earth that a son, by human definition was born. At later part, the simple truth that there is no human that is good enough to redeem our sin is a totally different perspective to reflect the most Godly and perfect nature of Jesus Christ. The very new and almost next to impossible-to-understand concept of Trinity that explains in a overly simplified manner God exists in different forms analogous to ice, water and steam under different temperature condition is just mind boggling!
In two separate incidents under different denominations of the churches I was told almost point blank that my cold winter baptizm by sprinkling of water instead of a full immersion was invalid. I was fairly upset if not angry of such trivial details over just a past ritual; and I questioned the rationale of carrying out a full immersion water baptizm in a freezing cold winter. The Holy spirit worked on me and I submitted in a few years later and that was a long process that I learned on how to obey God. I was baptized again the 2nd time by immersion in the sea of Langkawi island by Pastor Philip of FGA Kulim. In our walk with God, learning to become humble and to obey God whole heartedly is not easy. Our attitude should be, if God said to us do not eat pork, then stop eating pork and not to question the reasons why! That is called obedience!
If you ever experience the Holy Spirit then you would be able to get a glimpse of what the spiritual realm is about. The Pentecost incident is real and the Holy Spirit that dwells within us shall serve as a counsellor that takes us to an entirely different level of our daily walk with God!
I pray that Almighty God to open our eyes, enlighten us with all the knowledge for us to know you more. May Thy spirit come to guide us in our everyday life for every decision we make. Amen!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Malaysia will need nuclear plants!
If there is no discovery of new oil fields, Malaysia will run out of oil and gas in year 2017! Does it sound alarning to all of us? We Malaysians very soon will become a net importer of petroleum and natural gas. The implication of this is significant, both from the economic and also the long term survival of a nation standpoints.There are also other environmental and ecological aspects associated with this depletion of natural resources! It is something we would not want it to happen but is going to happen!
Cutting down more of our forest and planting oil palm to produce bio-fuel might be one of the solution. There are also talks about the use of nuclear energy. The ecological impact of building dams to generate hydro-electric power is just causing too much damage to the nature and our environment.
We therefore need nuclear scientists to build safe and clean nuclear plants for our energy hungry industries and also our ever rising consumption of electric power. We will have to import nuclear fuels or uranium from countries such as US, Russia etc. Talking anything about going nuclear is a taboo and sensitive issue because of too many past incidents of nuclear accidents, radiation leakage and also will draw international attention even though it is built for peaceful purposes. The process of building nuclear plants will face an uphill task of protests and resistance from the public when come to the selection of the sites, disposal of wastes and also the transportation of radioactive raw material etc.
Like it or not, we will have to build our nuclear plants for Malaysia. Send your sons and daughters to study nuclear science and one day this is a field which is going to be in great demand! This reminded me of my final year thesis supervisor Professor Tso Chih Ping, he was a PHD holder in nuclear safety from USA and he is currently lecturing in MMU Malacca. His link is as follows:
http://fetnotes.mmu.edu.my/v4/staff/cptso.html
Cutting down more of our forest and planting oil palm to produce bio-fuel might be one of the solution. There are also talks about the use of nuclear energy. The ecological impact of building dams to generate hydro-electric power is just causing too much damage to the nature and our environment.
We therefore need nuclear scientists to build safe and clean nuclear plants for our energy hungry industries and also our ever rising consumption of electric power. We will have to import nuclear fuels or uranium from countries such as US, Russia etc. Talking anything about going nuclear is a taboo and sensitive issue because of too many past incidents of nuclear accidents, radiation leakage and also will draw international attention even though it is built for peaceful purposes. The process of building nuclear plants will face an uphill task of protests and resistance from the public when come to the selection of the sites, disposal of wastes and also the transportation of radioactive raw material etc.
Like it or not, we will have to build our nuclear plants for Malaysia. Send your sons and daughters to study nuclear science and one day this is a field which is going to be in great demand! This reminded me of my final year thesis supervisor Professor Tso Chih Ping, he was a PHD holder in nuclear safety from USA and he is currently lecturing in MMU Malacca. His link is as follows:
http://fetnotes.mmu.edu.my/v4/staff/cptso.html
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Malaysian fighting fish - Betta Imbellis
I bought 2 pairs of the above wild fighting fishes in Kampong Gajah, Perak just to satisfy my quest for keeping these fishes after leaving Malaysia for so many years. It is a kind of fish hard to be domesticated because they will find every opportunity to jump out of the containers. On my way to Kemaman, one male fish jumped out of a very small hole of a plastic container and died in the car, while another female jumped out again in my Cukai home. I bought a very nice small tank, decorated with stone, sand and plants, even put in some Indian almond leaves so as to simulate the condition of its natural habitat of a peat swamp, thinking that the fishes would like the place and stay there comfortably. I placed a male fish of about an inch there and subsequently introduced another female fish to become its partner. On top of the tank, a transparent glass lid that covered up almost 80% of the surface area was placed there. With the leaves and plant spreaded out, that would leave a very narrow space and thus also little chance for the fishes to jump out of the tank.
The fishes stayed in there for a couple of days and the male blew and formed its bubbles on the edge of the leaves and subsequently I believe they mated while I was back home to Kuala Lumpur. Upon my return I did not see any of the fishes and I thought they were just hiding somewhere inside one of the leaves. Today I suddenly discovered very small tiny fishes numbering in the region of 40 swimming in the tank. I was excited and I thought to myself the eggs must have been hatched and what came to my mind next was to remove the adult fishes so as keep the small fishes from being eaten by them. I flipped all the leaves and searched the tank but could not locate the adult fishes. And I suppose those fishes must have jumped out of the tank again.
I hope those small fishes could grow up fast enough to make up for the loss of my 2 pairs of adult fishes
The fishes stayed in there for a couple of days and the male blew and formed its bubbles on the edge of the leaves and subsequently I believe they mated while I was back home to Kuala Lumpur. Upon my return I did not see any of the fishes and I thought they were just hiding somewhere inside one of the leaves. Today I suddenly discovered very small tiny fishes numbering in the region of 40 swimming in the tank. I was excited and I thought to myself the eggs must have been hatched and what came to my mind next was to remove the adult fishes so as keep the small fishes from being eaten by them. I flipped all the leaves and searched the tank but could not locate the adult fishes. And I suppose those fishes must have jumped out of the tank again.
I hope those small fishes could grow up fast enough to make up for the loss of my 2 pairs of adult fishes
To learn from car accident
My wife phoned me on the car accident involving my son's car with a motorbike. I remained cool and calm after learning that all of them were safe except some damage to the vehicle that needs to claim insurance for the repair. To me, car accident is a learning process for every new or young drivers. Driving skill is not about how good you avoid to hit other people's vehicles but rather how to anticipate and avoid being hit by other reckless drivers. Since it is called an accident, no matter how careful you are, it is hard to avoid, perhaps the extent of the damage or the seriousness could be reduced if we had exercised a little bit extra care when we drive our cars around! It is better to be safe than late, and the famous Malay saying: "Biarkan lambat, asalkan selamat!" brings home the point. Therefore the driving of a car to avoid accidents is testing your patience, training you to remain cool and calm, not letting emotion to overwhelm you to become overly aggressive in your driving under all circumstances!
If we have owned enough number of cars before over the years, most likely that you would be almost insensitive to minor scratches here and there, which I deem is unavoidable especially in today traffic condition. Of course it is human nature to wish that your vehicles could remain blemish free, but it is just a question of getting used to an imperfect world of driving and owning cars in big cities! For new and young drivers, I always prefer them to drive 2nd hand vehicles before switching to brand new ones! In this way, they could lessen the pain of seeing their beloved brand new cars being knocked out of shape!
If young drivers have never gone through the process of an accident, requiring him or her to report to the traffic police, settling summons for being at fault, learning the process of insurance claims and sending the vehicles to workshop for week long repair, they would never realize the trouble and hassle of involving in any car accident. In doing so, they could become mature and more careful drivers next time! They pay a price now of going through all these troublesome bureaucracy for being involved in a minor accident, perhaps this would serve to remind and help them to avoid fatal accidents that could even save their lives in the future!
Last but not least, pray to God everyday so that He would always watch over our safety wherever we go and whatever we do. Do not stop your tithe offerings, what you owe God would eventually have to pay back in very different and unpleasant ways!
If we have owned enough number of cars before over the years, most likely that you would be almost insensitive to minor scratches here and there, which I deem is unavoidable especially in today traffic condition. Of course it is human nature to wish that your vehicles could remain blemish free, but it is just a question of getting used to an imperfect world of driving and owning cars in big cities! For new and young drivers, I always prefer them to drive 2nd hand vehicles before switching to brand new ones! In this way, they could lessen the pain of seeing their beloved brand new cars being knocked out of shape!
If young drivers have never gone through the process of an accident, requiring him or her to report to the traffic police, settling summons for being at fault, learning the process of insurance claims and sending the vehicles to workshop for week long repair, they would never realize the trouble and hassle of involving in any car accident. In doing so, they could become mature and more careful drivers next time! They pay a price now of going through all these troublesome bureaucracy for being involved in a minor accident, perhaps this would serve to remind and help them to avoid fatal accidents that could even save their lives in the future!
Last but not least, pray to God everyday so that He would always watch over our safety wherever we go and whatever we do. Do not stop your tithe offerings, what you owe God would eventually have to pay back in very different and unpleasant ways!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
My first trip overseas to Europe
Went to West Germany during my 2nd year while doing my Mechanical Engineering course in University Malaya and that was the 1st time I ever boarded an aeroplane. Mum bought me the air ticket and with just a few hundred bucks of bank draft in my pocket plus anticipating what Daimler Benz was going to pay me an allowance of 800 Deutsch Mark per month, there I went overseas all the way to Europe. The destination was Frankfurt airport and as the plane circled down the Frankfurt city, the landscape and terrain from above the plane as I looked through the side window was still a deep impression I remember till these days. Lost one of the small luggage while transiting and staying one night in Karachi boarding the PIA (Pakistan International Airway). With a big heavy bag dragging along, somehow I managed to ask with my simple German and purchased a ticket to board a train to Stuttgart. One of the young guy who spoke good English, helped me with my luggage for a fees, he was probably a student earning extra income from tourists. Upon arrival to Stuttgart, having a heavy bag had tempted me to cross the railway track as a short-cut. And one of the guards stopped me from doing that and it was simply dangerous. Everything in Germany was so advance that I felt like I had gone through a time machine that put me 50 years ahead of time. That was the first time I experienced money machines for tickets and soft drink, first time seeing a Mc Donald and first time boarding a tram, first time seeing blondie girls too!
I took a cab to the hostel and paid a fare of DM50. That careless taxi driver left me without my luggage and subsequently the person in charge of hostel helped me to call that taxi back to claim my luggage again and that costed me an extra DM10. The chief of the hostel was a very nice guy, he remarked and commented in German to the driver " Such a greedy driver!"
I put up a night there and was told I should go to another hostel. If I did not remember wrongly, an Indonesian young guy, stayed many years in Germany and spoke good German, drove me there with his Volkswagon Beetle. I still remember his Volkswagon with a transparent cover that could see through the air-cooled engine at the back of the vehicle. He told me he played drum!
Reaching the other hostel was quite an experience for me. This fat and fierce German hostel chief was almost shouting to me, I gathered what he was trying to say in German was, he had been waiting for me the whole previous night through for me to check in and I did not turn up. I could only reply "Ja , Ja...." for the mistake of going to the wrong hostel which was non of my fault. I showed my letter to the driver and expected him to take me to the right one and the first hostel chief not expecting me to be his guest, was so kind to allow me to stay one night there! What a strong contrast in character and loving kindness between two men of the same nationality!
In the hostel, there was a Pakistani and he wanted to go to the church with me but we somehow did not managed to find one. There were two Thais and they spoke little German. But surprisingly there were quite a number of Indonesians who studied in Germany coming for the training here. One of the guys rode a mini size Suzuki scrambler and there was another who was trying to learn the song by Billy Joel and asked me for a translation in Malay language on the lyrics. Another older guy however spoke Mandarin and we could communicate better. Met a Spanish trainee who drove a big Mercedes 280SE and asked me to write "I Love You" in Chinese to send to his girl friend. There were some Iranians there too. One fine day when I was cooking my packet of American rice, and this Iranian somehow ran out of supply and I volunteered to offer him a portion of my share, but he insisted to put in salt inside the cooking pot as the only right way of cooking rice. I regretted for being generous to an ungladful person who only wanted his own way without paying heed to the taste and feeling of others, even to someone who had offered him help! What kind of person we have in this world?
Supermarket in Germany closed at about 7pm and every time we reached the hostel, those Indonesians and I would rush to the supermarket to purchase our food such as chocolate, milk and pig knuckles or legs etc. for cooking. Chocolate and milk in Malaysia were still expensive then, I remember one of the days I ate one big chocolate bar for my dinner. The Germans usually purchased those parts of the pigs for their dogs but we bought them for our delicacies! Germans smiled a very sarcastic way as they watched how our Indonesian friends bought those parts in big quantities!
I had lost contact with all those friends I met in the Mercedes Benz Sindelfingen hostel in Stuttgart Germany.
I took a cab to the hostel and paid a fare of DM50. That careless taxi driver left me without my luggage and subsequently the person in charge of hostel helped me to call that taxi back to claim my luggage again and that costed me an extra DM10. The chief of the hostel was a very nice guy, he remarked and commented in German to the driver " Such a greedy driver!"
I put up a night there and was told I should go to another hostel. If I did not remember wrongly, an Indonesian young guy, stayed many years in Germany and spoke good German, drove me there with his Volkswagon Beetle. I still remember his Volkswagon with a transparent cover that could see through the air-cooled engine at the back of the vehicle. He told me he played drum!
Reaching the other hostel was quite an experience for me. This fat and fierce German hostel chief was almost shouting to me, I gathered what he was trying to say in German was, he had been waiting for me the whole previous night through for me to check in and I did not turn up. I could only reply "Ja , Ja...." for the mistake of going to the wrong hostel which was non of my fault. I showed my letter to the driver and expected him to take me to the right one and the first hostel chief not expecting me to be his guest, was so kind to allow me to stay one night there! What a strong contrast in character and loving kindness between two men of the same nationality!
In the hostel, there was a Pakistani and he wanted to go to the church with me but we somehow did not managed to find one. There were two Thais and they spoke little German. But surprisingly there were quite a number of Indonesians who studied in Germany coming for the training here. One of the guys rode a mini size Suzuki scrambler and there was another who was trying to learn the song by Billy Joel and asked me for a translation in Malay language on the lyrics. Another older guy however spoke Mandarin and we could communicate better. Met a Spanish trainee who drove a big Mercedes 280SE and asked me to write "I Love You" in Chinese to send to his girl friend. There were some Iranians there too. One fine day when I was cooking my packet of American rice, and this Iranian somehow ran out of supply and I volunteered to offer him a portion of my share, but he insisted to put in salt inside the cooking pot as the only right way of cooking rice. I regretted for being generous to an ungladful person who only wanted his own way without paying heed to the taste and feeling of others, even to someone who had offered him help! What kind of person we have in this world?
Supermarket in Germany closed at about 7pm and every time we reached the hostel, those Indonesians and I would rush to the supermarket to purchase our food such as chocolate, milk and pig knuckles or legs etc. for cooking. Chocolate and milk in Malaysia were still expensive then, I remember one of the days I ate one big chocolate bar for my dinner. The Germans usually purchased those parts of the pigs for their dogs but we bought them for our delicacies! Germans smiled a very sarcastic way as they watched how our Indonesian friends bought those parts in big quantities!
I had lost contact with all those friends I met in the Mercedes Benz Sindelfingen hostel in Stuttgart Germany.
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