Today in Limbang (Day 4)

Got up early, cooked some minced meat porridge and then go to church at 7:30AM. I just can't get used to go to church so early. After church service, we went to town to eat noodles with my 4th brother.
I was thinking what was foochow fried noodle. So I ordered one and oh... it was the way the noodle was being fried, ie, water was added in the frying.
At the end, my cousin's son (far right) pay for all of us. Thanks to them. When I came back at 10:30AM, I noticed that my MIL didn't eat the porridge... perhaps my skill was not up to par. True, I can't cook in other people's home. Rice, water, cooking pot, etc...all different. So I couldn't estimate. Jos again pestered me to climb mountain! I gave in and off we went to Bukit Mas again. There was something going on there... Limbang RC Power Boat race! I like anything which is remote controlled.
Getting ready for the race...
Those boats were fast!
If I am not mistaken, the engine range from 15-50cc. The engines were home brewed with the main block from chainsaw or grass cutter machine. The rest were all mix and match. The enthusiast did try to explain to me but I could not catch them. In between race, we went to climb the mountain, explore the surrounding and looking around.
There were lots of butterflies there...
This was the pretties one!
The other side of the wing was even nicer.
I took lots of photo for the RC Power Boat race and will post them on my facebook later. I can only upload in Miri.

Today in Limbang (day 3)

The two boys were bored. They pestered me to bring them to Bukit Mass to "climb mountain". Actually there is a park there for people to run. So, after much pestering, I drove them there just before it started to rain.
See...they were interested in the playground. Instead of sitting on it, Tim was "pushing" it!

In the supermarket, that was what these two boys were doing! They were so restless... then Jos saw something and pestered us from one supermarket to another....

.. that's right! A water gun. Instead of buying two, we bought only one for the two to share and cost RM2! So they took turn to shoot target and of course at each other! They were quiet for the rest of the afternoon!

While mummy was busy with her "sightseeing" or window shopping, I looked at pictures or things that she was not interested in. This photo of oranges caught my attention. See where the leaves came out from! It is so fake.

Mummy was trying out this for fun and remarked that she got one of these when she was young. Nice to look at ...

... but totally of no use to us!

Then this attracted my attention. I was shocked for a second. How could anyone try to sell "fail VCD" at a price. Must be some sort of nut! Then, I realised that they are selling "VCD file" and in BM, file is called fail!

While visiting my 4th brother (he is selling telecom stuff), I noticed 2 boxes of "seed". I was flipping through the packages ... cabbages, cauliflowers, etc. Mummy was interested and bought four of these. Now I have to plant them at home. Will blog if I have any success. Otherwise, I will keep quiet.

We decided to "drive around". We passed by our ex school, Limbang Gov't School, where we studied in the early 70's.

... the abandoned Limbang airport which is just next to the school. The runway is running parallel to Bukit Mas.

We decided to drive up to Pandaruan Check Point, the crossing over point to Temburong. This was the place in the 60's, 70's where we would buy cheap Brunei petrol! The humble quite place is now replaced with an immigration checkpoint opening 6:00AM to 6:00PM daily. This is also the place you must cross for those wishing to go to Sabah by road. I didn't manage to see the river!

On the way back, we drove up Bukit Mas opposite the old airstrip. Half way up, there is this Buddhist Center. Further up the steep hill, is the telecom tower. I was disappointed that I couldn't see anything beyond due to tall trees.

This evening, I went to visit my niece who opened the Strawberry cake shop in town. She made very good cakes and baked very good bread. I can safely say that the prices are generally cheaper than Miri and tasted better. This is a family business. Shown here are two of her daughters.

Heavy snowfall in UK

Heavy snow means lots of snowmen and snowball fight. This was what my three girls were doing...
A snowman near their flat...

A snowman family built by ...

... a whole group of friends. While the locals stay indoor infront of the fireplace, this group of foreign students went to the cementary to build this humungous snow family after the Christmas eve dinner!

Steph busy making snowballs...

... and ready for a snowball fight. This was one of the way how they spend their energy.

Today in Limbang

I last came back to Limbang in September when Esther was just about to leave for UK. This time, we came back to see grandma as she complaint of backache, etc. Today is Christmas and we went to the Methodist church at 7:30AM for the Christmas celebration. I took some shots at the church....
Worship team.

Crowded church...

A solo presentation ...

Pastor Wong 王子成牧师...

A presentation by the women group ...

We met our ex classmate, Mdm Ling 林菊珠. They have 4 children and 8 grandchildren! Amazing!

There was a distribution of gift for everyone consisting of cookie and drink. In the afternoon, I tried to amuse myself with my camera. I just got my lens back after servicing! Wah, I missed my lens!

I walked around the "garden" and tried to shoot something...got this! Any idea what is this flower? The flower is about 5mm wide only!

No need to guess, this is water guava (jambu air) 水桃

This is a young pinapple. Do you know that a flower comes out of every eye? Notice the purple flower at the tip. Also, a pinapple tree can bear only one fruit.

Ok, the tiny flower above is from the star fruit. Every flower will produce one fruit.

Safety and safety

Over the last few days, many newspapers headline was about the 4 siblings who where drowned while collecting shell fish at the river bank. The news was really sad but could be avoided.
When I was small, we stayed next to a river. There was also a canal which run along our veggie garden. There were a lot of fish. The temptation to throw in a line and hook to catch fish was so great that we did tried once. I can still remember my mum reaction when she saw the fish we caught. My brother and myself got a good lecture and beating! The fish never reached the table as it flew right out of the window! The words "Don't go near the river" still ring in our ears until today.
Whatever it is, think safety first.

Carolling by Ling Kwong Methodist Church, Limbang

This evening, a contingent of church members from Ling Kwong Methodist Church, Limbang, set out to do a "mass" carolling around Limbang town. They "broadcasted" the Christmas good news to the Limbang folks. I would say that the whole thing was well prepared. The message in BM, English and Mandarin was clear and not too long.
Santa giving out sweets...
The only float... but well made.
"Joseph and Mary" on the float.
A view of the group.

Merry Christmas to you all

My family and I wish all my readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May the new year brings you joy, peace, good health and prosperity!

We celebrate Christmas because of Jesus who came into this world 2000 years ago. Christian believe that he is the son of God. His purpose of coming to this world in human form is to die on the cross for our sins as prophesied hundreds of years earlier. John 3:16 told us this: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." If you have yet to know this Jesus, would you like to know more?

Still Birth - all babies died

I blogged about the number of babies that Snowie is going to deliver. Well, she got into problem with the delivery and ended up with all the babies dead - one yellow, 1 black, one spotted yellow and white and one white.
The babies got stuck inside her for many days and we tried very hard to save Snowie whereby we could do nothing for the babies. The babies came out one a day!
So, she was given 3 days supply of steroid (anti inflammatory) and antibiotic for obvious reason. She also got a jab of antibiotic. When the first batch of drug finished, we went to get a new supply because Snowie looked very sick and continuously gave out foul discharge. She was given antibiotic, steroid and appetite enhancer. Now she has been eating quite well and very much alive. I should say that she is now out of danger. As I am going away for the next few days, Ah Jon, mummy and the two small boys had a go administering the drug to Snowie.
She was looking at me wondering why it wasn't me feeding medicine!
Ah Jon pushed his thumb and first finger into her jaw in order to open to the mouth.
Ah Jon put the medicine into her mouth. Mistake here...he must lift the mouth upward and drop the medicine to the back of her tongue!
She spitted out the medicine immediately. Ah Jon tried again... but you can see that she was very uncooperative.
After a few try, she refused to open her mouth ... as if saying...I hate the medicine!
Ok, Ah Jon didn't put the medicine deep enough...
... so he tried to open the mouth a little ...
... and fed her with some water so that she would swallow the last medicine.
Ah Jon held her mouth, she swallowed, thinking that the medicine had really gone down. He let her off but immediately she spitted the medicine out.
Ok, I took over. Within second, the medicine was swallowed.
This afternoon, mummy and the two boys struggled with her for 15 minutes, trying to get her to swallow the medicine. She ran all over the place and by the time she finally swallowed them, the pills were all "melted".

To feed medicine to dogs, push a finger from each side of the jaw. Grab hold of the lower jaw with the two fingers and lift the head upright. The mouth will automatically open. Drop the medicine to the back of the tongue and hold the mouth shut for a few seconds or until you feel the swallow. Otherwise, open the mouth a little bit and pour in some water. Hold the mouth until the dog swallows. Is there a better way than this?