Food to eat and not to eat during CNY

I just realised that you should not eat ...

...  bitter gourd, or anything known to be bitter!

It is  believed that if you eat bitter foods (the Mandarin words for bitter has the same sound as the Mandarin word for suffering), your life in the coming year will be full of trials and tribulations.

The food you should serve on the table is  fish as the Mandarin word for fish “yu” is a homophone for the Mandarin word “abundance”. Fish is best to be served whole, with head and tail, this signifies a whole year’s worth of prosperity, from beginning to the end.

ok, so much about "sound like" Chinese words. Definitely 88 is good plus a 99 is even better. This sound like prospering forever!

Haha... crab! Don't believe the above but just work hard and be healthy to be happy and prosperous. Ask God to bless you and family and pray always.

May God bless your Chinese New Year. If you drive, be safe and arrive safely.

Shopping experiences in UK

When it comes to shopping, I think the only limiting factor is money! The more the better! Choices could be an issue. I found some shortbread on the shelf at Steph's place. I asked her why is it that such nice cookie is not eaten... "Not nice. You can help to eat!" came the answer. Ok, in Miri, this shortbread would have cost a bomb! When we went to Scotland, the girls bought some Scottish shortbread. They said, "This is good!"... yes, no doubt about it. We all love it... it melts in your mouth! So, the "issue" here is the choices they have...

... if you think the shop/supermarket is expensive, then go to the open market. They are cheap and the quality is similar to what we get in the local Miri supermarket. For foreigner, we may be used to certain food. Do not worry...

... bean sprout at GBP1.50 (RM7.50) per kg.

...Chinese Spinach at GBP5.50 (RM27.50). I paid RM1 per kg here the other day. They normally cost around RM3/kg. So, with money, no problem to buy anything if you are dying for it!

... Still feeling deprived of food at home? Just pop in to the Chinese Supermarket! They have most thing you ever need.

Pink Lady is reputed to be "the best" money can buy. They are fragrant and tasted ok. The colour is surely good. Available at Mark and Spencer at GBP3 for 8 pieces.

Feeling hungry in the early morning and the fridge is empty?... worry not! Some Tescos open 24 hours! They have ways to reduce operating cost and help you spend everyday 24 hours a day in UK...

... self checkout! This system is too clever. Just buy and go to this machine to checkout ourselves. So human can go home at 10:00 PM and machines can continue to work.

Our Wales Caravan Holiday

We arrived safely at Winllan Farm Caravans Holiday (N52deg06'41.9" W004deg11'02.2") in Lampeter, Wales. The setup is simply two caravans at GBP60 each per night. Of course we rented only one of them. Janice is the one who arranged everything. Don't be misled by the size....

It may look small outside...

... but the space is well utilised. It is well equipped, in the kitchen... microwave, fridge, oven, cooker, plates, frying pans, knives, etc. We only need to bring our own food for cooking or eating!

...in the sitting/dining room, ... a TV, 2 sofa beds. Heater is in every room.

... while Esther and Janice were busy cooking the dinner...

... I was watching Top Gear on TV who was trying to convert caravan into rail coaches pulled by a converted car to run on rail!

The advantage of having two grown up girls travelling with us is that we never need to worry about food...

... They arranged everything, breakfast, lunch and dinner... Look at how cheap is goat milk in UK and compare with those in Miri.
Although the caravan site is in the midst of farmland, the surrounding is beautiful...

... there are beautiful flowers around the site...

... birds ...

... sheeps and cattle ...

... and more flowers of all kinds!

Meet the owners... Steve and Janette.
For those who are safety conscious, I noticed that all their electrical appliances are tested...

There are also smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
I would recommend the place but you must be driving and have a SAT NAV (unless you read map). The place is clean and tidy and can easily accommodate 6 people.

Driving in UK using SAT NAV (GPS)

We are familiar with GPS, but in UK, they called it SAT NAV (Satellite Navigation) or Tom Tom (another brand name). Without SAT NAV, I was wondering how I am going to survive some 12 days of driving covering some 2300 miles. I remembered that 5 years ago, I had only a map from Google/AA to guide me. And yet I also arrived at the destination. But whatever...

... driving with SAT NAV or map could be stressful. It could bring ...

... me through busy motorway where 24/30 wheeler were so intimidating. I could feel the suction as I pass them! Also, ...

... it could successfully guide me through "A road" or smaller road. The challenge came when ...

... it guided me through tiny farm road! Is this a two way road or single way. I drove in this road for 2 miles and I was worried. However, I didn't meet any oncoming car! The beauty is that I also...

... get to see the beauty of the wild. If I had been on motorway, I couldn't stop to take photos! And, ...

... it also successfully guide me to a "two caravans" holiday site which is surrounded by beautiful farmland. I will blog about this tomorrow. This place is "quite remote" but reaching there is easy for my Garmin (SAT NAV)!
British drivers are courteous. If not, you can always ring up the company and complain if he is driving a company car! If they flash their headlight, it means "you go" or "thank you". Over here, it means "me first"! Sometime, I can see that I am causing stress to other drivers as my navigator (Janice) tried to figure out a complicated junction. I am totally dependent on my SAT NAV to guide onto the correct lane.
British are very committed to handling complain. British Gas has just been fined GBP2.5 million for not responsive to customer's complain and did poorly on customer care! Will this ever happen in Malaysia?

Last night in London

My trip to UK started on 9th July 2011 and completed on 31st July 2011. In the short span of three weeks, I took 4000+ photos and drove 2300 miles. Petrol along costed more than RM1000 (GBP254) as each litre of petrol cost an average of GBP1.35, ie, RM6.50! Fortunately, the car we hired are economical (mostly motorway driving). My calculation shows that each litre of fuel can cover 12.2 miles, ie, 20 KM to a litre! Anyway, I am suppose to talk about my last day in London here!
We set off from Leeds at 4:30PM, Friday, 29 July 2011, on time by Megabus and arrived at Victoria Station in London just after 9:00PM. We missed the 9:00PM National Express bus to Heathrow Central Bus station and the next one will depart at 10:30PM. After boarding, they found that a few people had no seat!! They had oversold the ticket! The bus company offered an alternative which will depart at 11:00PM arriving at 11:35PM.
I checked the connecting free bus (service 555) and the last one was at 10:00PM! However, a policeman told us that if we were "fast enough", we may catch the underground to Terminal 4 (T4). Not knowing the schedule is tough! We ran as fast as we could and arrived at the gate ....

... just to be told that we missed the last train by 5 minutes! By the way, the underground pathway is so long that it never seems to finish! What we didn't know is that the Central bus/coach station is actually at T3! An attendant told us that we could go to T3....

.... and so we did! To our surprises, there were a lot of travellers actually sleeping there and we were not alone! I slept on these chairs for three hours....

... and went back to the underground around 4:45AM. There were a few people waiting for the gate to be opened.

The train arrived spot on time at 5:05AM. We were off to T4 to catch Royal Brunei Airline which will depart at 8:35AM.

Internet at T4 is expensive! GBP1 for every 10 minutes!

When we arrived at T4, there were not many people. By 7:00AM, there were lots of people!

Drink is definitely expensive at GBP2 or 1.60 for a small bottle of Vitamin Water or coke.
I always thought that Heathrow operates non-stop. They actually shut down at midnight and reopen at 6:00AM. During the shut down period, there are a lot of activities going on.... cleaning, moving of things, etc. And the place is quite noisy!
By the way, the underground and bus transfer between terminals is free. Underground is a lot faster.
Ok, so much for this entry. I will post backward from now. Excess photos will be on my facebook.

Expert Thief in Action

Ah Jon related this story to me as he just returned from his Europe tour. One of his group members were "robbed" in a train station.
As his group of four people just disembarked from a train in Paris, they noticed two men also hurriedly  disembarked. Soon, one of the men knocked into one of the girls in the group who was carrying a bag like this on her back...

Later she discovered that her bag was opened and she lost a camera and some cash.
My analysis is that thieves always create distraction like knocking or stepping on your feet. When this happen, the companion will action at lightning speed. We habitually closes zip at the top and the thieves only need to pull the zip outward and the bag is wide opened. Closing the zip at the top is ideal to the thieves because the victim will not feel anything as the zip is being pulled open. Try it yourself.
So, when you go travelling, make sure that you either lock your back bag all the time, or carry it at the front or don't close the zip ending at the top.
What is your best suggestion?

Jaya One, PJ

We visited Jaya One in PJ section 14 last week. This place is quite new and is famous for food.
We dined at Duck King. I was told that this place serves some of the best duck dishes in town!
Jaya One is rather nicely decorated.
It has an artificial water fall.
... and the men toilet is innovative! It gave us the feeling that we urinate in the bush! Above this, is an open space!
I was told that Jaya One is the idea of a young man, about 30 years old. He is definitely very rich now.

Pudu Jail from a different angle

While in KL last week, we stayed in Times Square Hotel. Looking out of the hotel room, I was surprised to see the view below...
It is the old infamous Pudu Jail. This jail is no longer in use and I am not sure whether it is opened to the public. I know that it has an execution chamber where death roll prisoners were hung!
I am also surprised with the shape of the jail.

My Trip to Cambodia - Transport

Cambodian transport system is most amazing! It looks like there is very little law to regulate the motor vehicle. I saw motor bike being modified and used in the most amazing way.

... like this one... ingenious modification to carry banana.

... engine overheating? No problem ... home made water cooled system!

.... no bus? No need one! As long as you can find a place to put your feet on, you can travel!

... truck & lorry are unnecessary. This is cheap, home made and practical...

... I was told that license plate is not needed for certain people. But just don't knock them!
p/s: These photos were taken in Nov 2007 on a Nikon D200.

My Hometown #2 Limbang ... Continue

This blog is a continuation from my previous entry.
There is not much change to this market.

This one is adjacent to the pork market.

This man is cutting up a trunk of a type of wild palm tree. The core is bitter sweet and make very nice soup. The native open market (tamu) is now moved across the road. I am just wondering... there are traders everywhere and yet Limbang is so small. I think our visitors from across the border really help with the businesses in Limbang.

I know this is wild produce but have never eaten before.

Wild durian on the floor, amongst other fruits.

This is huge fresh water clam. This reminded me instantly about my childhood days when this thing was in abundant. I used to "harvest" by the bucket from the riverbank. They were hiding just below the mud and we use a parang (long knife) to "scratch" the mud and if we hear sound, we just stop and used our hand to "catch" them.

On Sunday, we visited Limbang Methodist Church and the choir presented.

We took a photo with the new Pastor Wong.

One thing unique about this church is that they have a canteen below and they sell cooked food to the congregation. This is a way to raise fund as well. By the way, the cook is the daughter of my cousin.

Another thing very unique about this church is that it has a small pond where they rear fish. The pond has a continuous flowing water and therefore the quality of the fish is very good.

Limbang Ling Kwang Methodist Church.

The "new" part of Limbang town and the indoor Tamu opposite.

This is the new Tedungan (going into Brunei) immigration check point. I hope it will open soon. It should help with the traffic on Limbang side. But on the Brunei side, there is no change.