When you are brought up in a family of a certain background, somehow your taste buds are accustomed to certain tastes by virtue of your parents were feeding you with the kinds of food they like to cook. While some other of your taste preferences are actually acquired according to your own choice as you eat along over the years. All this is a process and eventually you develop a complete preferred taste pattern of your very own. For this reason I said taste is actually cultured and not in-born
When I was a kid I did not like to eat any fruit or vegetable, I was more of a carnivorous animal than anything else. My grandma used to visit us bringing many oranges and apples which did not catch much of my attention and I hardly set my eyes on them like the other village kids. My mom tried to convince me with all her teachings on nutritious values and the benefits of eating tomatoes, watercress and other kinds of vegetables, fruits etc. The raw, slightly bitter and green smell of such vegetables just did not go well with my taste buds and my throat. Anyhow, the swallowing of such vegetables was practically half coaxing and half forcing during my childhood days. Surprisingly such taste on vegetables was actually acquired and cultured over the years and now I love to eat most of these vegetables and also all kinds of fruits!
In my early village days, the common breakfast for the village folks was actually all the fried and soap noodles as our staple dietary items. Subsequently when the breads were introduced to us, we started to eat breads with "Planta" margarine, and later part the more western style cheese and butter came along, and we acquired the taste and the liking for them as well. The "Roti Bengali" was my favorite and that my grandmother used to dip them into thick black coffee as afternoon tea time snack item. I also remember a kind of bread with its shape like a spring, and most of the time the Indian bread men on bicycles would hit on a bell "Ding, Ding, Ding" in the evening time to sell all kinds of breads. "Gardenian" bread then was never heard of and its taste is no where near to those good old breads and until now it is never my choice!
I did not like to eat spicy food and deep fried things. My mom bought me the first ever Penang "Laksa" in Kampar and it tasted horrible for me, though I had get used to and developed the liking for eating "Laksa" nowadays. The spicy food such as curries always caused me stomach upset, while the deep fried stuff such as "Goreng Pisang" would somehow cause me to develop cankers in the mouth. I remember this word "canker" instead of ulcer taught by an American Chinese lady in a pharmacist store in Boston USA. When I requested medicine for relieving the pain of my ulcers developed during the trip, she told me I scared her with such term, it was not ULCER but canker! Anyway, Malaysians choose to use ulcers and cankers are also known as aphthous ulcers!
Because of my wife special liking for spicy food and gradually I develop the same liking for curries and spicy food too at later stage. For that reason, I could eat all kinds of Malay, Indian or Thai food in Trengganu, they are not so spicy compared to those of western peninsular states! My wife enjoys eating all kinds of biscuits, but my experience with biscuits started from my grandmother of my mother side. She bought tins of round "Marie biscuits" stocked them in the house and sometimes also packets of salty little biscuits for a change. We munched at them as snacks while we were hungry in between meals. And that was the only time I ate quite a fair bit of biscuits. I simply dislike eating most of the biscuits because they give the kind of dry and sticky feeling in the mouth. I did like to chew on Jacob biscuits though, especially those presented in pretty gift boxes with nice corrugated wrapping paper, to pregnant moms who had recently given birth to babies. I believe this grade of packed gift biscuits are specially baked with extra ingredient and they must be expensive but very delicious! Another of my favorite is the Chinese New Year cookies biscuit which was made by frying rice and then ground into fine powder mixed with sugar. It was an annual family affair for my grandparents to gather all family members and make those biscuits together when I was a little kid. Now this making of new year cookies become a history and it still remains a vivid memory of the past for me to reminisce the good old childhood days spent with my grandparents in the village!
When I first came down to Kuala Lumpur from Perak as student, the food in our capital city was just totally strange and awkward to my taste buds especially when we were so budget-strapped. It took us years to eat around and find out the eateries that could suit our taste; partly because also our working income started to improve and could afford to taste around the various restaurants in town.
I went to Taiwan for 4 years and I had a hard time to adjust to the kind of food especially in the morning where they do not serve noodles for breakfast. They only have " Youtiao" or fried fritters and soya drinks most of the time! The beef noodles are spicy and strong in smell, my wife and I did not like them very much but then upon returning to Malaysia and we started to miss this Taiwanese beef noodles. The Taiwanese sweet potatoes porridge was also a specialty which we like very much. I was in Japan for a technical training almost for a period of 3 months, it was not a pleasant experience for me to eat the iced noodles, canteen dishes and all their raw pickles in the cafeteria of Toyota Kyoho plant in Nagoya city. I remember one time I was so sick of the food that I decided to have just ice cream for my lunch! Having said that, the more expensive meals in high class Japanese restaurants were simply excellent. Over the years, my family started to acquire the taste of eating in Japanese restaurants, the raw salmon fish is our favorite. Going to a Japanese buffet just to savor on the sweet melting meat of the freshly cut raw salmon is really a meal which we always look forward to.
I suppose my taste buds are now saturated with all the previously acquired taste and no more accepting any more extra. Therefore in some other foreign cities that I lived at later part I just could not acquire the kind of taste to add into my collection!
In Mexico, they always like to put cinnamon in everything, in food, in coffee, and even the floor detergent also smells cinnamon. It was simply too much for me to bear and tolerate this cinnamon smell which surrounded me everywhere. Until now I could not develop the liking for cinnamon though I heard it has good medicinal value for health.
While I was working in China northern provinces, the food is too oily and salty and I would prefer any of the road side stores food in Trengganu than eating those northern Chinese food.
I am so glad and relieved that I am now back home so that I could choose the food that I like to eat, be it Malay, Indian or Chinese!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Little Cukai town
Cukai town is cozy and it is a mid-way station for travellers to East Coast states to take a rest, enjoy a coffee break and have their meals before moving on to their final destination. Cukai offers a variety of cuisines from Chinese, Malay, Indian, Thai to Western food and it is a popular eating place amongst those who work in the oil and Gas industry as far north as Kerteh and Paka. A lot of the local residents find their jobs and livelihood in oil and gas industry especially Petronas, and also work in those firms around KSB (Kemaman Supply Base), the Perwaja steel mill and also some other factories in the Telok Kalong industrial estate near Kijal. Cukai was a sleepy old town awakened by oil finds and its growth was further fueled by industrialization, visitors on business, projects or leisure trips passing by.
One could notice that this little town is busy and has the most traffic lights and U turns. If anyone could find a town of this size and has more number of traffic lights than Cukai, please let me know! And most of the time, the traffic lights are not well synchronized; practically you have to stop and wait for them to turn green at everyone at a time. For that reason, seasoned travelers would rather choose the route passing by the Cukai town center instead, though as busy, at least less traffic lights to wait on!
Hai Ping coffee shop is a famous landmark, it is almost a brand name associated with this Cukai town and most outside people would like to pay this place a visit though I find it a bit commercialized and the food is just normal but expensive by Cukai standard! It is situated at a very conspicuous corner near to the PAS building and also there is a lot of parking space opposite the shop and across the road! It is a convenient meeting spot, crowded, and it closes shop on Friday and everyday business hours till 6-7pm only!
Cukai is commercialized and prices are up because of outside visitors from big cities patronizing the place willing to pay higher prices. The more affluent oil and gas consumers are also pushing the prices up especially on properties. A lof of the Cukai local folks would choose to change their tires, repair and spray their vehicles in Kuantan instead. They also go Kuantan for their weekend shopping spree. What they always comment is that, everything in Cukai is expensive and no variety!
Coming to Cukai, be prepared for traffic jam before 9 am and also after 5 pm on the way towards Cukai river bridge from both directions. It is a narrow bridge that could hardly service the increased traffic flow during those peak hours. There were a lot of talks about upgrading and widening the bridge but until now there is no sign of any work in progress. All these are politically linked and they all wanted a big project, which I personally think is unnecessary and could achieve the same result by making smaller investment. First thing the government has to do is, speed up the highway completion which is supposed to link Jabor all the way to Kuala Trengganu; have that portion by-passing Cukai to be given top priority so as to divert all the outside traffic especially big lorries and trailers. Secondly, build another cheaper and simple bridge that spans across the narrow river mouth between Kuala Kemaman and the marine police base in Bukit Kuang, which allows only smaller vehicles to pass through. In that way, the traffic at peak hours would be every much eased off! Our country is on austerity drive now, only think about building a bigger and more luxurious arch shape bridge and multi-layers flyover by expanding on the existing one at a later stage when the government has more money!
The side effects of having the highway ready and by-passing Cukai town would most likely be:
1. All properties in Cukai town whether commerical or residential will drop in value.
2. The economic activities of Cukai town would be reduced by the portion of outside visitors choose to by-pass the town
The good things are, we could expect a smoother ride during those peak hours and perhaps cheaper cost of living for those who choose to live here.
Anyway, I still enjoy living in this small little Cukai town!
One could notice that this little town is busy and has the most traffic lights and U turns. If anyone could find a town of this size and has more number of traffic lights than Cukai, please let me know! And most of the time, the traffic lights are not well synchronized; practically you have to stop and wait for them to turn green at everyone at a time. For that reason, seasoned travelers would rather choose the route passing by the Cukai town center instead, though as busy, at least less traffic lights to wait on!
Hai Ping coffee shop is a famous landmark, it is almost a brand name associated with this Cukai town and most outside people would like to pay this place a visit though I find it a bit commercialized and the food is just normal but expensive by Cukai standard! It is situated at a very conspicuous corner near to the PAS building and also there is a lot of parking space opposite the shop and across the road! It is a convenient meeting spot, crowded, and it closes shop on Friday and everyday business hours till 6-7pm only!
Cukai is commercialized and prices are up because of outside visitors from big cities patronizing the place willing to pay higher prices. The more affluent oil and gas consumers are also pushing the prices up especially on properties. A lof of the Cukai local folks would choose to change their tires, repair and spray their vehicles in Kuantan instead. They also go Kuantan for their weekend shopping spree. What they always comment is that, everything in Cukai is expensive and no variety!
Coming to Cukai, be prepared for traffic jam before 9 am and also after 5 pm on the way towards Cukai river bridge from both directions. It is a narrow bridge that could hardly service the increased traffic flow during those peak hours. There were a lot of talks about upgrading and widening the bridge but until now there is no sign of any work in progress. All these are politically linked and they all wanted a big project, which I personally think is unnecessary and could achieve the same result by making smaller investment. First thing the government has to do is, speed up the highway completion which is supposed to link Jabor all the way to Kuala Trengganu; have that portion by-passing Cukai to be given top priority so as to divert all the outside traffic especially big lorries and trailers. Secondly, build another cheaper and simple bridge that spans across the narrow river mouth between Kuala Kemaman and the marine police base in Bukit Kuang, which allows only smaller vehicles to pass through. In that way, the traffic at peak hours would be every much eased off! Our country is on austerity drive now, only think about building a bigger and more luxurious arch shape bridge and multi-layers flyover by expanding on the existing one at a later stage when the government has more money!
The side effects of having the highway ready and by-passing Cukai town would most likely be:
1. All properties in Cukai town whether commerical or residential will drop in value.
2. The economic activities of Cukai town would be reduced by the portion of outside visitors choose to by-pass the town
The good things are, we could expect a smoother ride during those peak hours and perhaps cheaper cost of living for those who choose to live here.
Anyway, I still enjoy living in this small little Cukai town!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Jumping the queue
Cutting into someone else's lane while driving is not of any pleasant experience. Having said that, I did cut into someone else and jumped the queue, not because I wanted to but because I am running out of time while rushing to work. Of course it is not a good excuse because I could have waken up a bit early to beat the traffic jam! Well, sometimes when you wake up early but yet you see a massive jam right in front of you, you could imagine the frustration and at the spur of the moment, you decide just to do the unpleasant thing!
To do a jumping the qeueu, you must have certain technique and strategies. First rule is, do not be the first one to jump the qeueu. If you see at least two vehicles had taken the lead, you must mark down the vehicles before you join them. Rule number two is, if possible, cut in right in front of those vehicles which they themselves had done the queue jumping. In that way, they are most likely to give way to your vehicle because they feel guilty if they do not allow you to cut in! Why I said two vehicles at least, because some vehicles just cut in within a short distance and that does not take you very far to relieve you from the long jam. So hoping that at least one of the two cars would cut in as far ahead as possible, though this is just a bet. Another thing is, the two vehicles ahead of you are to test the presence of any traffic police at the further end down the road!
Whatever I mentioned here, it is not the right thing to cut in into somebody else's lane. Do not do that too often, either you will get into trouble or get a ticket from the traffic police. The lite FM radio this morning was discussing on the topic about raising a hand while you had cut in to somebody else's lane and symbolically saying sorry to the other driver. I personally think that it is a good practice because most drivers will feel better and pardon your annoying act, and that is the basic courtesy to calm down someone you had offended.
Recently I had encountered someone who blocked a narrow path of a side lane. The most annoying thing was that the driver and the worker were treating us as though we were transparent, did not even have the courtesy to raise their hands or signal us to wait while they were doing their unloading at their own sweet time! Such arrogance at the expense of other people's convenience had crossed the limit of my temper and tolerance zone that day, and I got down and shouted at them! I am sorry for such unpleasant words spoken but that worked perfectly well though! They moved their vehicle immediately!
For all the nonsensical behavior that I had displayed while on the road, I am seeing it as a failure on my part to set a good example for my son who is now driving his own car. I promise that I have to learn to become more patient and better disciplined driver from now onwards so that he could emulate me to be a better and more responsible driver!
To do a jumping the qeueu, you must have certain technique and strategies. First rule is, do not be the first one to jump the qeueu. If you see at least two vehicles had taken the lead, you must mark down the vehicles before you join them. Rule number two is, if possible, cut in right in front of those vehicles which they themselves had done the queue jumping. In that way, they are most likely to give way to your vehicle because they feel guilty if they do not allow you to cut in! Why I said two vehicles at least, because some vehicles just cut in within a short distance and that does not take you very far to relieve you from the long jam. So hoping that at least one of the two cars would cut in as far ahead as possible, though this is just a bet. Another thing is, the two vehicles ahead of you are to test the presence of any traffic police at the further end down the road!
Whatever I mentioned here, it is not the right thing to cut in into somebody else's lane. Do not do that too often, either you will get into trouble or get a ticket from the traffic police. The lite FM radio this morning was discussing on the topic about raising a hand while you had cut in to somebody else's lane and symbolically saying sorry to the other driver. I personally think that it is a good practice because most drivers will feel better and pardon your annoying act, and that is the basic courtesy to calm down someone you had offended.
Recently I had encountered someone who blocked a narrow path of a side lane. The most annoying thing was that the driver and the worker were treating us as though we were transparent, did not even have the courtesy to raise their hands or signal us to wait while they were doing their unloading at their own sweet time! Such arrogance at the expense of other people's convenience had crossed the limit of my temper and tolerance zone that day, and I got down and shouted at them! I am sorry for such unpleasant words spoken but that worked perfectly well though! They moved their vehicle immediately!
For all the nonsensical behavior that I had displayed while on the road, I am seeing it as a failure on my part to set a good example for my son who is now driving his own car. I promise that I have to learn to become more patient and better disciplined driver from now onwards so that he could emulate me to be a better and more responsible driver!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Metamorphosis
Mosquitoes will attack you like a battalion of soldiers in my home in Geliga area if you ever get out of the house. Most of them are the striped body Aedes type and they are the main carrier for the Dengue fever virus. Cannot understand where do they come from and the area is relatively clean and not near to any swampy land. They probably find the shady mango tree in my house too cozy to gather there as their home. So I told Azman to help in chopping down some of the branches with dense leaves so as to allow more sunlight to penetrate and hopefully they will dislike the place which might have become too bright for them now.
These mosquitoes remind me of the ugly larvae that wriggle in the water containers which I used to rear my fighting fishes. Eating rotten leaves as their food and subsequently growing in stages and emerging as flying creatures which are phyiscally different in appearance and even have a total different kind of diet, the blood of the humans or animals!
The caterpillars are equally ugly creatures in the eyes of the humans but when it is time for them to grow themselves inside a cocoon, another stage of their life in which the metamorphosis process begins to take place, they stay motionless for a long time and appear almost as good as dead! When the process is completed, they successfully change themselves and stretch their wings into beautiful butterflies that fly around flowers and feed on honey! Wow, what a change and what a creation!
Humans too go through certain degree of metamorphosis, you see how little ugly ducklings turn into attractive young ladies when they reach the age of 17-18? And how they get married, grow old after having children and eventually buried to the ground? But we do not know in details how that metamorphosis will continue to take place after the burial ceremony is over and the maggots feed on the remains. God has the power to turn larvae into mosquitoes and caterpillars into butterflies, and I am sure He has the power to transform the ugly us into a different beautiful beings too!
The nature has revealed a lot of clues about God's creation. We have to be observant in order to see the fine part and the implication of it. We always take those little things for granted or just ignore them totally because we are busy all the time and more obsessed with all the materialistic things on this world. We pray that God always give us the wisdom for us to discern and to read His messages conveyed to us even though they are just simple clues and hints that exist in the nature around us.
These mosquitoes remind me of the ugly larvae that wriggle in the water containers which I used to rear my fighting fishes. Eating rotten leaves as their food and subsequently growing in stages and emerging as flying creatures which are phyiscally different in appearance and even have a total different kind of diet, the blood of the humans or animals!
The caterpillars are equally ugly creatures in the eyes of the humans but when it is time for them to grow themselves inside a cocoon, another stage of their life in which the metamorphosis process begins to take place, they stay motionless for a long time and appear almost as good as dead! When the process is completed, they successfully change themselves and stretch their wings into beautiful butterflies that fly around flowers and feed on honey! Wow, what a change and what a creation!
Humans too go through certain degree of metamorphosis, you see how little ugly ducklings turn into attractive young ladies when they reach the age of 17-18? And how they get married, grow old after having children and eventually buried to the ground? But we do not know in details how that metamorphosis will continue to take place after the burial ceremony is over and the maggots feed on the remains. God has the power to turn larvae into mosquitoes and caterpillars into butterflies, and I am sure He has the power to transform the ugly us into a different beautiful beings too!
The nature has revealed a lot of clues about God's creation. We have to be observant in order to see the fine part and the implication of it. We always take those little things for granted or just ignore them totally because we are busy all the time and more obsessed with all the materialistic things on this world. We pray that God always give us the wisdom for us to discern and to read His messages conveyed to us even though they are just simple clues and hints that exist in the nature around us.
Pulau Redang
We were planning for a last minute school holidays trip. Kota Kinabalu, Bali, Chiang Mai, Cambodia and Vietnam were some of the destinations under our consideration. We narrowed down to Bali and Chiang Mai as the prices seem to be reasonable when compared with the other packages from the same travel agency. When my wife and children checked their international passports, they expired about a year ago. So we had to forego the overseas trip and plan for a local destination instead, and Pulau Redang was already on my mind. My son did not want to follow us so long as the holiday package chosen was not for abroad. Anyway, his semester just started for about a week, he thought it was not worth to take leaves and be away from his college just for a local tour. He could opt to go anytime he feels like it in the future. That seemed to be a good excuse but he missed out the fun of being in one family going places!
The booking of hotel rooms at last minute was always a problem during holiday peak season until I called a travel agency advertisement that hang on the wall of a coffee shop in Cukai. After a few rounds of communication and rooms were finally available on Monday night onwards and we took on the package for RM380 per head ex-Merang jetty inclusive of lodging and food but exclusive of RM25 snorkeling gear rental and ocean park fees. That was really cheap! The excursion arrangement required us to travel all the way to Kuala Trengganu and then to Merang jetty early in the morning at 5:30 am from Cukai.
I enjoyed the early morning drive on the east coast trunk road passing by Dungun, junction to Jerangau, Rantau Abang etc. and eventually reached the jetty with someone from the travel agency leading us half way through the journey and giving us the direction. Parked my car under shed and paid RM30 for 3 days and waited for 2 hours before boarded a speed boat. The ride took about 35-40 minutes with about 10-15 persons inside. There we were finally arrived at the Redang Reef Resort. My wife was in good spirit after taking her sea sick pills and the rough ride did not affect her at all compared to her previous trip from Penang to Langkawi, which was relatively a bigger boat and smoother ride but yet she vomitted!
Redang Reef Resort is at the far end of the beach but with access road and bridge linking to Redang Laguna and other resorts. The resort program was simple and straight forward, 9:30 am to 11:30 am snorkeling and 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm another snorkeling session! The rest of the time was eat, sleep and free and relax time. Redang island is famous for its beautiful beach line and crystal clear water and I am attaching some photos here which speak a thousand words.
The best part of Redang holiday was not the sun shine and sandy beaches but the snorkeling. I discovered snorkeling in Redang was such an incredible experience though this was not my first trying (My first was probably Pulau Kapas many years ago). The corals under the sea are so beautiful and the fishes swim around you as though you are part of them. Yes, it is true that the sea fishes of all species are not afraid of the intrusion of humans. When you feed them with breads and they just zig zag across your fingers. The sea fishes are very colorful and I used to keep some of them in my salt water aquarium long time ago. For the first 2 snorkeling sessions, I wore my spectacles inside the goggle but the light refraction after the sea water seeped in did not give me a good and clear look at the under water. I finally decided to take off my glasses and just putting on the goggle for the last snorkeling session, and the view under the sea became so wonderful and you could see every details of it. Fishes are so friendly and attractive, it is a temptation to touch them but they are so skillful in their swimming that you could hardly get hold any one of them even though they were just an inch away from your finger tips. You will be amazed at how our Creator had created this underwater world, it was simply a splendid view beyond the description of words. All creatures big and small reminded me the wonderful hands of Al-mighty God and how great thou art!
Riding a smaller speed boat back to the mainland with a 250 hp Yamaha outboard engine behind was rather rough. The powerful engine would tend to lift up the front portion of the boat. Every time when the lifted portion on its way down again and met the crest of an oncoming wave, the fibre glass body just hit hard on the sea water and the impact could be felt most if you were seated in front. The more comfortable seating positions would be at the end of the boat near to where the engine was situated. We had our lunch at Madam Bee, a "peranakan" cuisine restaurant in China Town Kuala Trengganu before heading home to Cukai.
It was indeed a great trip and my wife said she wanted another snorkeling trip of the same nature probably to Perhentian island, Tioman or even Sipadan! My daughter missed her brother as she did not have the companion to share and play with during the trip!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Kuala Trengganu trips
It was many years ago I last visited Kuala Trengganu or KT and I have no impression at all to recognize any place or landmark of KT. I only remember Rantau Abang where my wife and I waited in vain for the sea turtles to lay eggs. I think we stayed nearby Rantau Abang for the night but could not remember exactly which hotel or chalet, coud it be Tanjong Jara resort? Geographically speaking Rantau Abang is in Dungun just before reaching Marang district. My family and I were on the way to Merang jetty to catch a boat to Redang island. The resort organizer had told us to go all the way to Kampong Cina or China Town of KT and wait in her office so that they could lead us to Merang. We started the journey at 5.30 am from Cukai Kemaman and reached there about 8.15 am, no time for breakfast but yet missed the van who was supposed to lead us there. The map given was confusing and asking us to look out for the Central Market but we did manage to pass by, missed the junction, and stopped at the Balai Bomba or fire fighting department nearby a mosque. Took another round because it was a one way street and went into Jalan Bonggol, and again went the wrong direction. The organizer boss had finally agreed to send someone to look for us and lead us out of KT to the Merang jetty. Wan Sharif mentioned to me once in my blog about Pulau Duyong and I passed by that place and noticed a big mosque there almost like floating on the river, and there was sign written as "Kota Lama Pulau Duyong". I was told by Azman that one of our shift-in-charge executives, Suffian bin Man is also originated from Pulau Duyong! Another executive Wan Long's village is also nearby the same area!
It was a long winding road to Merang jetty on the way to Permaisuri passing by the airport. It took us about 40 minutes to reach there and we waited at the coffee shop of the jetty for almost 2 hours before the boat arrived to pick us to Redang Reef Resort. Cannot understand why we have to wake up so early and rush to the jetty, the organizer just want to have her own convenience I suppose!
At the jetty
At the resort
We spent 3 days 2 nights in Redang island and returned to Cukai. The next day we drove up to KT again and attended wedding lunch of CK Aziz in Kampung Gelugor on the other side of KT. It was not an easy find if not for Azman who had asked around for the direction. Going through winding and narrow canal roads which only allow the passing of one vehicle at a time before reaching our final destination.
So within 1 week I had visited KT twice! I told Azman that I would stop at any of the aquarium shops there to see if there is any chance for to find a KT bred wild fighting fish to bring home. Just no luck and we had headed straight home for the day!
Canal and narrow road
Aziz's house
Young guests
The feast and the young guests
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Knowing the season is an instinct!
Knowing the season seems to be a natural instinct. It is a mystery as to how the sea turtles and the migrating birds would know the exact season and the direction before they embark on the long journey. It is almost like a biological chip or a compass embedded inside their mind or body, that reminds and steers them towards their yearly pre-destined path. Perhaps it is their resonating and cyclical physical response to the specific magnetic field patterns which had been stored permanently inside them while they were first born. All creatures created big and small by God are so wonderful and marvellous!
Human beings might still need a compass or GPS coupled with a calender to guide them through certain tasks that they have to accomplish or undertake during certain seasons of the year. Sometimes I do wonder whether we human beings also have certain instincts, which you might not have noticed. Come to think of this, when I was a kid, there was no one reminded us that it was the time to fly the kites! It was almost an instinct when the wind started to blow hard and the crowd just gathered itself at different parts of the village. They would have their strings or threads plastered with fine broken glass dust, with this on its surface, the threads are simply cutting sharp and that was how kites were crossing the path of each other in the sky and started a game of dog fight until the loser kite was cut-off. It was a lot of fun by manoeuvring the kites criss crossing the sky and then chasing after those kites once the strings holding those kites in the sky were cut-off by the razor sharp pre-treated threads of their opponents. Kites from far away parts of the village always got cut-off and blown all the way to land in the barbed wire fenced off school compound near to our house. I was always the champion in picking up the most of those cut away kites because I was adept at climbing those barbed wire fence and my running speed was simply stunning though I was of small build and stature compared to the other boys.
I was told that in Trengganu now it is the time for flying kites and the season will end soon and then comes the season of fighting fish. The season of playing time is not pre-arranged or scheduled prior hand but rather an instinct based decision. The crowd would start to gather gradually, reaches its peak and then all dispersed finally; the cycle will start all over again to make way for the new hobby to come into season. Could you call that an instinct too? It is a good instinct though, otherwise if the fighting fishes are not given sufficient time to grow in size, there would not be so much fun to catch them sparkling on the net and displaying their splendid colors when kept in bottles.
Human beings might still need a compass or GPS coupled with a calender to guide them through certain tasks that they have to accomplish or undertake during certain seasons of the year. Sometimes I do wonder whether we human beings also have certain instincts, which you might not have noticed. Come to think of this, when I was a kid, there was no one reminded us that it was the time to fly the kites! It was almost an instinct when the wind started to blow hard and the crowd just gathered itself at different parts of the village. They would have their strings or threads plastered with fine broken glass dust, with this on its surface, the threads are simply cutting sharp and that was how kites were crossing the path of each other in the sky and started a game of dog fight until the loser kite was cut-off. It was a lot of fun by manoeuvring the kites criss crossing the sky and then chasing after those kites once the strings holding those kites in the sky were cut-off by the razor sharp pre-treated threads of their opponents. Kites from far away parts of the village always got cut-off and blown all the way to land in the barbed wire fenced off school compound near to our house. I was always the champion in picking up the most of those cut away kites because I was adept at climbing those barbed wire fence and my running speed was simply stunning though I was of small build and stature compared to the other boys.
I was told that in Trengganu now it is the time for flying kites and the season will end soon and then comes the season of fighting fish. The season of playing time is not pre-arranged or scheduled prior hand but rather an instinct based decision. The crowd would start to gather gradually, reaches its peak and then all dispersed finally; the cycle will start all over again to make way for the new hobby to come into season. Could you call that an instinct too? It is a good instinct though, otherwise if the fighting fishes are not given sufficient time to grow in size, there would not be so much fun to catch them sparkling on the net and displaying their splendid colors when kept in bottles.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Big companies with humble background
Foxconn or Hong Hai is one of the biggest manufacturing company in the world. It was a small tiny company about 20 years ago in Tu Cheng of Taipei province Taiwan. I used to work for Acer Inc in its Taiwan headquarter and Foxconn then was one of the part vendors who sold connectors to us for the 80286 personal computers. One of the keyboard engineer left Acer and joined them and I wondered then why he had to leave a big reputable company like Acer and joined such a relatively small company. I happened to passby Tu Cheng one day many years ago and was right in front of the door steps of Foxconn shop and it was such a shabby shack that it did not even attract me to explore and step in further for a visit. Just barely within 20 years, Foxconn now has grown so big and employed more than 400,000 workers just in its Shenzhen China plant alone. They build iPod, iPhone or probably even iPad for Apples and other multinational brands ODM products. With its worldwide operation, I suppose they are at least the same if not bigger than Acer Inc in terms of size and revenue turnover. This company came into news recently because of many suicidal incidents of workers in its multi-storeys hostels. It was reported in newspapers that Foxconn is a sweat shop or a "pressure cooker" factory. Foxconn employees are always under tremendous stress that somehow coupled with some of their personal unresolved problems that drive them to the extreme act of taking their own lives. Statistically speaking, with such a humongous organization, suicides or all kinds of other unfortunate incidents bound to happen to its large pool of human resources. The high profile boss Mr. Kuo had made a public apology and also promised a 20% increase in salary just to pacify his Chinese employees.
There is another very famous motherboard company by the name of Asus. Asus chairman Mr. Johnny Shih used to be the Senior VP of R&D in Acer Inc. I went with him once in year 1991, my first trip to America to visit computer companies such as Wang, Data General and Dell etc. We visited Boston and also together we went to take a look at MIT from the outside just to satisfy our curiosity on this top-class world renowned institution. Johnny speaks very good English and was always referred as the "Father of Acer 80386 machine" at that time. Being a very technical person, it was not to his favor whenever the top management wanted to pick a candidate to helm the Acer Inc organization. It was Acer tradition that always the Sales and Marketing guy would get the job as the CEO. He had probably realized this, therefore he started Asus company behind the scene with one of his section manager Mr. Tong as one of his first GM employee or partner. And now Asus reputation is almost in par with Acer in the worldwide computer market and they built a strong name in motherboard, EE netbook, laptops etc.
I had always told my son that do not ever under-estimate any person he meets in life. I told him that one of his classmates Tan Kok Hou might not be the most popular guy amongst the girls in class but his willingness to work hard and persevere, one day he might just become rich. Similarly, those people I met in the university days such as ex-CEO of IBM Woon Seng Chuan, Bumi-highway chairman Mohamed Zaini Amran, ex-MCA president Ong Tee Keat and Top Glove chairman Dr. Lim Wee Chye, they were not the brightest academic guys in town, but they are now amongst the list of most successful Malaysians. One of my old friends James Tan who was the QC supervisor in EAC while I got to know him during the time I did my 3rd year industrial training and now he is the proud owner of the Joven water heater brand company. Another of my friend and ex-colleague Ramlan, the foreman in UMW Toyota Assembly plant in year 1987 became a very successful businessman when he quited the job and took on many lucrative projects given to him by Majlis Perbandaran Shah Alam.
Always treat your friends nice and do not look down on humble set-up, one day they will just surprise you for what they could become!
There is another very famous motherboard company by the name of Asus. Asus chairman Mr. Johnny Shih used to be the Senior VP of R&D in Acer Inc. I went with him once in year 1991, my first trip to America to visit computer companies such as Wang, Data General and Dell etc. We visited Boston and also together we went to take a look at MIT from the outside just to satisfy our curiosity on this top-class world renowned institution. Johnny speaks very good English and was always referred as the "Father of Acer 80386 machine" at that time. Being a very technical person, it was not to his favor whenever the top management wanted to pick a candidate to helm the Acer Inc organization. It was Acer tradition that always the Sales and Marketing guy would get the job as the CEO. He had probably realized this, therefore he started Asus company behind the scene with one of his section manager Mr. Tong as one of his first GM employee or partner. And now Asus reputation is almost in par with Acer in the worldwide computer market and they built a strong name in motherboard, EE netbook, laptops etc.
I had always told my son that do not ever under-estimate any person he meets in life. I told him that one of his classmates Tan Kok Hou might not be the most popular guy amongst the girls in class but his willingness to work hard and persevere, one day he might just become rich. Similarly, those people I met in the university days such as ex-CEO of IBM Woon Seng Chuan, Bumi-highway chairman Mohamed Zaini Amran, ex-MCA president Ong Tee Keat and Top Glove chairman Dr. Lim Wee Chye, they were not the brightest academic guys in town, but they are now amongst the list of most successful Malaysians. One of my old friends James Tan who was the QC supervisor in EAC while I got to know him during the time I did my 3rd year industrial training and now he is the proud owner of the Joven water heater brand company. Another of my friend and ex-colleague Ramlan, the foreman in UMW Toyota Assembly plant in year 1987 became a very successful businessman when he quited the job and took on many lucrative projects given to him by Majlis Perbandaran Shah Alam.
Always treat your friends nice and do not look down on humble set-up, one day they will just surprise you for what they could become!
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