Netmoirs of A Solemn Rover

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I wasn't born then but my dad was. Bidor was nothing but a small mining and agricultural town with scattered Chinese new villages, remnants of the colonial past. Township was situated at an intersection where two rivers meet and just up north of the intersection lies the main federal trunk road of Ipoh-Kuala Lumpur that divides the township into the east side and west side. The centre of township predominantly Chinese, dwelled in the west and scattered small Chinese new villages including...

It’s My Hometown Baybeh

Google Earth updated their overlay on my hometown recently, and I was so damn thankful that my hometown was mapped in their systems at last. I have been waiting for very long to be honest even since GE was released with their version 1. The map was actually a second overlay being overlapped on the existing one. The existing one only covers the east side of Bidor, that is the Chinese cemetery, part of the highway exit and all along to Kg.Poh and Gepai Falls. Whereas to the south, the first...

Memories of Grandpa

September is one of the month of moments for me. One of them was the 16th, which was the anniversary of my late grandpa's passing. It was 14 years ago I remembered when I was 15, just few more weeks before sitting for my PMR exam, our family received a sad news from the doc saying grandpa was diagnosed with a cancer, and had no chance for a cure or to live. It was too late as the diagnosis was carried out during its very chronic stage, so the hospital can't do anything about it. We were...

Taste of Bacang

Sio Bacang Ah Sio Bacang... Can't believe it was my first taste of bacang in 2007! Eating this make me instantly home sick as this celebration, though not really significant to me, it does bring back memories of my childhood days helping mom with the preparation of bacang. Bacang day, unbeknownst to many is also known as Dragon Boat Festival in the west, or Duan Wu Jie (端午節) in China where the day was actually a commemoration of the death of famous poet called Qu Yuan (屈原) who...

Sugarcaned Closing

For the Hokkiens, yesterday was the last day of the Chinese New year celebration although the actual period was 15 days for other Chinese clans. The 9th day celebration was known to the Hokkiens as 'Bai Tian Gong' (拜天公) which literally means 'praying the Heaven God'. Growing up in a close-knit traditional Hokkien family, my childhood memories of 'Bai Tian Kong' can be regarded as one of my sweetest memories during those days. The evening before the prayers at midnight, I will help...

Hearts Old Skool R&B

Warning: This post contains some Youtube clips that might consume your bandwidth. Sigh, today I'm gonna be a bit melancholic, strolling down memory lane. Many of you surely reminisce the sweet ol' 80's where every kids were carefree even there were no broadband internet and techy gadgets and toys. I was born in the late 70's and the 80's was my prime era of growing up. Loved the cartoons, the soaps, the music, the school, the toys...damn, puppy loves too? As many of you know that...

Ode To The Moon

So it's Mid-Autumn Festival (MAF) today, or known as 中秋节 in Chinese, sometimes known as Mooncake Festival or Tanglung Festival depending on the context of use, is one of many important festivals that was still celebrated by the Chinese & diasporas all around the world. "Tanglungs & its significance in the festival". It was a chilly MAF here in the UK, & since it is not a significant occasion here, the local Chinese community managed to come up with lots of effort...

Autumn in South West

A small autumn recollection of shots taken on the 1st Oct in...

Memories of Nine-Eleven

So where were you guys on the exact date when the planes crash into the New York's WTC Twin Towers on 9/11-2001? I remembered clearly on that Tuesday morning, just a week after starting my work as a Sales Engineer in ISSI (Integrated Silicon Solutions Incorporated) based in Tamar Science Park, I was assigned to work on a database. In our office that day was Glenn Louch - my boss, Marco Carlino - our European Regional Sales Manager, Graeme Baxter - our MIS Manager & Chuck (Charles)...

Question My Patriotism, Not? (Part 2)

Muhibbah Pays II I advanced through the ranks pretty fast. The seniors who were all Malays & a Chinese treated me so well. I became a Patrol Leader a year after that, & advanced to the 3rd most powerful rank in the Troop as the Troop Secretary 2 years after joining. During that time, my senior, me, my younger brother & 4 of his friends were the only Chinese scouters in a 60+ strong scout troop which was dominated by Malays. During my form five (17 years old), I was...