In Memory Of Koko-Leslie Cheung

Just to remember my beloved Leslie.

May he be happy always, in another world.

Earth Hour-Love Our Mother Earth

I apologise for not finding the time to post anything earlier on this 'Earth Hour', but anyhow, I think I should at least write a simple article about it.
I am glad to say that I did, finally participate in this, tonite (though basically, I am proud to say that I practice this almost every day, for example, I try to walk more instead of using taxi, using subway if there is such a facility nearby, and only use electricity whenever necessary. Even during very cold winter months, I did not even switch on the heater, one thing is I do not the heat, and most importantly, I think it consumes too much energy).
Anyway, back to this 1 hour went by very fast. During the whole one hour, I did some sit-ups, and some simple yoga-steps, and the final 15 minutes, I was recalling my early childhood, where life was so simple, from the time electricity was not available yet at our place, living in a big house with big family members, and we were very eco-friendly, energy saving. As technology progresses, life becomes more and more convenient, with lots of new facilities/new inventions, but at the same time, we used and also wasted a lot of energies, in the name of 'better life'. I think every body has to put in a little effort, every day to help the world, to help out mother Earth. We cannot tax her too much, let her rest a bit occasionally.
Happy Earth hour and nite from Beijing.

Choong, Beijing, 10.56pm

Sunday-22 March 2009

Today, I think I finally found the time to do a few things, not to reveal too much here, suffice to say, I feel satisfied, sort of a sense of achievement.
I cook some curry, make some red bean soup, and shortly, I will know whether the walnut bread that I bake is good enough for consumption. If it meets my expectation, then I will post an article on that, otherwise, you won't see anything with regards to this issue, until I am satisfied with it.
With many ingredients unavailable here, hence, I have to modify the recipe a bit here and there. By the way, the other day, I went to my sister, Joyce's blog site, and I found it incredible that she finally knew how to bake and it looks like her Nutella cup cakes looks so delicious, so, Joyce, make sure you don't forget to bake for me when I am at your place (I hope I can make it this year:). You can get Joyce's recipe here, http://kate-ma.blogspot.com/2009/03/we-were-having-pot-luck-at-friends-home.html.

Back to my topic, I want to share something on Pu-er (普洱茶， which is easily available in Yunnan Province). I went to one tea market in Kunming, and basically you can find all sort of Pu-er tea here, price can be as cheap as RMB 20-30/piece to a few thousands, and some tea owners do not even want to sell their old stock, to them, there is some sentimental value, hence they usually keep the older Pu-er tea (usually, as it ages or matures, its value increases. And optimal age for Pu-er tea is about 10 years from the fermentation time).

And you can also see, the picture, top most, is a tea pot (紫砂壶） that is basically suitable to make Pu-er tea, as the local tea expert here share with me. And the white porcelain tea cup and the plate itself, I bought in a shop in Shenzhen, quite a good quality type (since I came here, I think my apartment is almost full of China and porcelain ware, which of course I like a lot).

OK, that's about it for now. Will write more later.

Choong, Beijing, 3.16pm

Shenzhen Project- Many Questions

I am now still in Shenzhen, for a project my team have been following up for the last two years. And I cannot write much about this project due to its sensitivity, but I will write out more when I have a clearer and definite answers. But what makes me feels upset is that, political reason can sometimes over-rule good product, process and fully cooperative and professional business approach. And when procedures are not properly and orderly followed it makes me having a lot of question marks and I start to question myself about the professional skills that I have, do we need this or do we need other form of actions? This makes me upset, really. Do we need smart people with smart ideas, competing professionally, on the same platform or there is no fair competition at all, a matter of relationships, a matter of influence? I am trying to learn here, and find answer for myself. May be I can write a book about this Shenzhen project when I leave China. We shall see.....it is a good experience for me, really.

Choong, Shenzhen, 8.58am.

A Quote.......

This morning was not a very happy one, because of one colleagues was behaving rude and could not understand the concept of working effectively and understood what business direction is, and the more you explain, the more threatened (of this job) he felt. It boils down to be in a state of denial for some "incompetencies". If a person's mind (and heart) does not open up, it is hard for him/her to see things as what it should and can be!

While having my lunch break, I just flip through a Buddhism book I bought in Penang, a quote from 'Master Cheng Yen', which reads as follows:

"If we want to lead a good life, we must vow to d0 good deeds.
Only by continually doing good deeds, can we keep ourselves from straying from the right path".

And I feel perfectly fine now. Thanks, Master Cheng Yen.

Choong, Beijing, 1.10pm

Antara Beijing Dan Kuala Lumpur

Yesterday, I met a friend/(colleague, of ex-colleague, does not matter), over dinner. She is from Sungai Petani and both of us were walking around Chaoyang Park, Beijing, before proceeding for dinner. That whole walking journey was more than one and half hour, and we walked through a big park, and then we went to a local restaurant. The whole journey could be more than 4km I think. We also passed by a section of the road which is dark without street light. And this friend was mentioning to me. She said, "Choong, one thing I am very sure and certain is that, the feeling in Beijing is safe. I said, sure, cause I have stayed here for more than a year, and when weather was fine and not too windy, I even went for my jogging alone, around 9-10pm after I came back from office. And the feeling was good, and you don't have to worry about anything at all. You just feel safe, and comfortable".
I remembered when I was here, 14 years ago, I was sort of being 'warned' by my tourist guide not to wander outside the hotel after dinner time, when I came for my vacation back then. There is a vast improvement compared to just 14 years ago. And not only this, my friend also commented that, their road system is very well built up and integrated, with proper pavement and disable-friendly. Look and compare how much they have improved. I know every body is watching how long can they sustain, especially after the Olympics, but I am sure Beijing will be even better with time.
Back in our home country, I heard situation is not very good, from news in the internet and also from this friend sharing some concern with me. She said, even when she is driving (in a car), she is also a bit worried. And during CNY, I was in Kuala Lumpur, driving from the city towards Selayang area along Jalan Kuching, the road was bumpy, and not well tarred. And a lot more issues which I do not want to highlight here. I remembered when I was back in Kuala Lumpur about one year ago, riding our ERL express, a Shanghai visitor asked me in Mandarin whether Kuala Lumpur is safe, as he read many news (articles) concerning the safety and security issue. Being a proud Malaysian, and always wanting to promote our cities visitors/tourists, I assured him that it is fine, and safe, as long as he does not wander off to some unknown places (and I also explain to him that, any city in the world would have some risk factor too, even in Shanghai itself). But deep down, I down feel good that these type of news keep on appearing in local newspaper here. And during my business calls here in Beijing, some customers did pose this question to me. It can sometime, caught me by surprise and I really do not know how to answer them. My usual answer is that, it is not as bad as what was being reported.
What I want to say here, and my friend share the same sentiment, is that, we do not wish, as Malaysian to see we are moving backward. Beijing and most cities in China are getting better and better. And even if you visit Ho Chin Minh city, and some other cities (for example, Jakarta) in SEA, it is getting better. We just hope and want to see Malaysia getting better and ahead, positively, in many aspects. And I hope we will make it happen, together.

Choong, Beijing.

Ｈａｐｐｙ Ｂｉｒｔｈｄａｙ ｔｏ Mr. Goh Hua Seng

Dear Goh-San,

Happy Birthday to you, time is running fast neh, and getting one year wiser, hopefully.

Hope you will be healthy always.

祝你生日快乐，身体健康！

Choong, Beijing 10pm

The Art Of Listening

Morning, quite sometime since my last posting. Very busy with business trips, from BJ-Shanghai-Ningbo, and now back to Beijing.

Just want to share this topic. I was conducting a whole day interview, 10 candidates for the position of sales, and I find it very odd that most candidates think sales is about how long you can talk, and well you can talk and talking non-stop. Yes, conversation is important, content of the topic you talk about is important. Sales have to know how to act, how to respond to the change of the environment you are in, the person/people you are talking to, and we need skills for that. It is not just a matter of whether you are able to talk or not. But that is not my point for now.
I think the art of listening is very important. Every body just talk and when they don't listen, then, will there be a conclusion? Will there be an opportunity to offer a solution if everybody just talk and no one listens?
In today's world, everybody seems to be rushing for everything, that is understandable, but people forget, that people would like to talk to someone who listen to me, and able to hear what they are saying, understand and act on them. It is not just one way communication.
Some people pretend to listen and they never take any action or care to understand further what is the need of the other party. This is not going to be helpful.
Say for example, if a businessman tries to sell something to the market without listening what the market wants, will he be successful? If he wants to sell something special in the market, he still need to find out what is the best way to sell them? Packaging? Price? Specs? Location? There are many things you need to consider, and this is part of listening skills, are they not? It is part of Marketing, you need to survey, and how you conduct your market survey, you ask, you talk and you LISTＥＮ　ｔｏ　ｔｈｅ　ｎｅｅｄｓ，　ａｎｄ　ｙｏｕ　ｒｅｆｌｅｃｔ　ｔｈａｔ　ｉｎ　ｙｏｕｒ　ｒｅｐｏｒｔ，　ｄｏｎ＇ｔ　ｙｏｕ？
Think about thａｔ？

Kunming-Shilin

My dear friends out there......,

Sorry, for not writing for sometime, as it is rather busy schedule for me. Just a quick note here.

Shilin is actually very beautiful place, you can see from the pictures later on, it is in the world heritage list. It is very beautiful, and weather was perfectly fine when I visited it.

It is about 1.5 hours away by taxi from Kunming city. Our tour guide was a local tribe-girl, and she wants us to call her as Ashima (for guys, she refers us as Aheige), interesting isn't it.

They eat a lot of chilli (sambal style, tanpa belacan) and with soup.

Though the local people are very nice, I find their dialect a bit odd and "noisy" (sorry, no offense intended). They love to talk a lot and tend to talk non-stop :), and enjoy life is it goes.

By the way, the entrance fee to this 'stone jungle (石林) is quite expensive at RMB 140/entry.

And they have lots of fruits and flowers which I bought some, for my apartment (now, full of flowers in the house, blooming and different fragrances around, which makes my day (nite), especially when I am tired from the office job-load.

Ok for now, and to share more late.

Choong, 10 March 2009, Beijing

Arrogrance-From Inferiority Complex????

Sorry for not writing much, as I was in Kunming for business trip and time schedule was a bit tight for me. Anyhow, I will post one or two articles soon, as my friend, Devil is waiting for some information about Shilin (石林）。That is for later.

I just read an interview article from Zorro-unmasked's blogsite, and there was an interview with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, and I like this part when he mentioned about this word "arrogance".
"Arrogance comes from an inferiority complex really. Those who have these complexes will camouflage their weaknesses by aggression. They think the only way they can put forward their ideas is by treating others as adversaries. Have you noticed how many of our leaders prefer surrounding themselves with not so credible followers?"

Recently, I do face some problems pertaining to some issues related to some Management styles that I came across off (something that I encountered later and which makes me feel unhappy about), and something that I cannot comprehend. I was trying to find the answer, and now, I do, after reading this article. Some leaders, in fact are being arrogant because they do not know what they are doing, they do not know how what to do, and YET they are trying very hard to show and make every one (employees) know that they are doing something of great importance to the company, and hence they do many things that they are not suppose to do. And this creates a lot of problems later on.

Choong, Beijing, 10.26am, 8 March 2008.

Snoring

Snoring is something we cannot help, it is more like a medical problem I suppose. But when this come from people other then your partner (partner, may be you have to accept it, forcibly) and a person not in the same room as you do, it is even worse. I was in this hotel, Hubin hotel, next to Taihu (太湖) in Wuxi, and I thought in this nice location, good scenery, serene environment, and nice hotel room, I will have a very good, uninterrupted sleep. But how wrong was I. In the middle of the nite, may be because I was thirsty, I am not sure, I woke up and heard some noise coming out, some where near my bath room. At first I thought it was a problem with the toilet bowl, may be the flusher itself, and then, in my subconscious state of mind, I was thinking could it be a 'another kind of--- the 3rd kind' which usually I don't really care to think about in most of my trips. But after a while, I start to realise that it came from next room, just the next door, yes, the room-guest in the next room. And he was snoring like 'hell', so loud, it is like the whole building will collapse, and mind you, that was at 2am, I r.e.p.e.a.t, it was 2am. And until I woke up this morning at 5.54am, he was still snoring.
And the funny thing was, when I was about to leave my room (after my shower) to check-out of the hotel, the snoring stopped, totally......Yes, indeed. Imagine this.....
OK, got to go, I am leaving for Kunming. I am hoping to see something nicer (which everybody says so) and expereince something beautiful in Kunming. Will write something on this trip later when I can find the time. Boarding now. Tcuss.

Choong, Wuxi Airport 6 March 2009

Tea-茶-Teh

昨天,在一本杂志上, 看到一偏文章, 写的是关于茶.

我是被文章里面一个标语吸引到, 我觉得是挺有意识的.

在这里, 想与大家分享:)

如果你太热,茶能使你凉爽,

如果你太冷,茶能给你温暧,
如果你兴奋,茶能令你平静,
如果你低落, 茶能让你快活!

In English,

If you feel hot, tea will cool you down

If you feel cold, tea will give you the warmth

If you feel excited, tea will calm you down

If you feel down, tea will cheer you up!

Dalam Bahasa Malaysia,

Kalau anda terasa panas, teh dapat menyejukkan kamu

Kalau anda terasa sejuk, teh dapat memberikan kamu kehangatan
Kalau anda terasa gelisah, teh dapat menenangkan kamu
Kalau anda terasa murung, teh dapat menceriakan kamu

And my favourite tea, will always be Malaysian Boh Tea, Cameronian.

Choong, Wuxi, 5 March 2009, 7.48pm

Leader, Leading A Team

Having been here, in Beijing, leading a team of 36 members is not easy. Being physically tired is one thing, for sure, but mentally, sometimes, it can be tiring. Leading a big team is not easy, and challenging. It is like having a big family with many children. But to lead a team, and making sure all team members having equal attention and having the care and to nurture each of them in terms of guiding each to the right career path and also having the right mindset, proper career growth is not an easy thing. For children, you can at least scold them directly, because you are one of their parents. But with your staff, it is not as simple as that. Those who understood you well, will understand and will accept it fully, and those who are not, will make it more difficult for you. It takes a lot of stamina and courage to face all these, alone.
But at a stage of time, where a number of your team members start to appreciate your efforts and understand you better, and they come back and say thank you to you, in one way or another, or they begin to show improvement and their confidence level increase, their performance improved, you will feel so glad, happy with this sense of achievement for yourself, happy for your colleagues/staff that they they have grown up. This is similar to a teacher, a real committed teacher who constantly wants to impart his/her knowledge to the students, and end of the day, when the students are successful (not only in terms of results, but in other aspects too in general), then the teacher will feel/have a sense of satisfaction and that is the time happiness will come to him/her.

I think I am getting older too, in saying all these:) It is not an easy thing, but I take it in my stride to become a good leader, and to make all my team members achieve what they are capable to, and I trust this take place, if all of them participate whole-heartedly.
May be I am too tired, may be I am too exhausted and I need to express this out here. One of these days, they could have read this, and they will know how much and how high my expectation is, on each of them. And that is also the expectation I have for myself.
Life is after all, a short journey, and I am trying to make full use of it, and I hope all of them realise this.

Choong, Wuxi, 4 March 2009, 11.40PM

As I Recall-One of the Photos I like

Another Photo that I like, recently taken, during Chinese New year holidays. My secondary school friends, Cheesoon, PohJen, Ailing and myself. We have been friends for more than 26 years I think, and still we are keeping in touch. And even if we do not meet for years, whenever we meet up, there are always some topics to talk about. That are real friends, I suppose.

Choong, Beijing, 2 March 2009

Harvey Milk, The Reader

Dear All,

Irrespective whether you are or not, a fan of Sean Penn, please watch this movie. His acting is superb, especially on the second last scene, where he was talking to Scott, his ex-lover. His was crying with tears flowing, slowly from his eyes. We might have the same experience, but when you watch him acting in that manner, you will be very touched. Sean did it so well, and I really salute him for giving such a superb performance. I am not really a fan of his, until this movie.

Other movie to watch outThe reader (Kate Winslet did a good job as an illiterate, German lady). I like the scenes where she looked lost and did not know what to say, when she was asked to read or write. It is like the mind went totally blank. Just like when there is a quiz in school, and if you were not prepared well enough, and you suddenly cannot answer the question being asked by your teacher.
You can see, feel and emphatised with her, on how it is like to be illiterate.......!
Count your blessings..........................


Choong, Beijing, 2 March 2009

As I Recall-One Of My Favourite Photos

One of my all time favorites, and photo taken on a pavement (river bank) next to Sarawak river. KokFong, Angie, Myself, Ginny and Soon Tat. We were all coming out for a walk, and after walking for some time, felt tired and had a rest. Luckily we manage to get nice benches around and just "laze' around there. I like this photo, because everyone just look so relaxed, so natural and so simple, and yet the friendship and special bonds were shown in this picture. A nice one, and I will share more when I have the time.
Ginny should circulate this blog to friends, to remind them of the trips we have together, before.
Ha-ha, a nice memory indeed.

Choong, 1 March 7.30pm

Congratulations, EL

I would like to congratulate my friend, EL, for taking another approach to his career path and having his own private business, "EL Training Enterprise". I am sure this is the thing you want and the right thing to do, and all of us, the team, will support you.
Have faith, for faith in strong enough to move a 'mountain'. Have confidence, for it is needed when situation gets tough. Having both faith and confidence in you, and with luck and blessing, we are sure you will be doing well.

With sincere thoughts and warm regards,
Choong, Beijing, 9.08am

Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Inggeris

Saya rasa terlalu banyak artikle yang telah pun ditulis berkaitan dengan tahap penguasaan Bahasa Inggerris di kalangan rakyat Malaysia, khususnya, di kalangan remaja sekarang mahupun yang telah berkerja, golongan yang berumur 20an.
Ini saya boleh beri komen and pendapat saya dari pengalaman saya sendiri semasa membuat temuduga dengan mereka. Ada yang hanya boleh bercakap beberapa patah perkataan, ada yang ayatnya tersalah susun and penggunaan 'grammar' yang tidak betul. Ada yang bertanya sama ada mereka boleh jawap menggunakan Bahasa Malaysia atau dialek (untuk bukan Melayu). Bukan setakat itu sahaj, baru-baru ini, semasa cuti Tahun Baru Cina, saya telah berpeluang pergi ke Kuala Lumpur untuk membeli-belah, dan kali ini, saya telah pergi ke butik-butik berjenama, dan apa yang saya risaukan ialah, pekerja-pekerja butik yang biasanya berpakaian cantik and selalu bersedia untuk melanggan pelanggan mempunyai masalah bertutur dalam Bahasa Inggeris. Hal yang sama berlaku di lapangan terbang antarabangsa Pulau Pinang. Semasa membeli sedikit biskut untuk dibawa bersama sebagai buah tangan, saya juga terdengar perbualan antara pelancong luar dengan pembantu butik, bagaikan percakapan antara 'ayam dengan itik', dan bahasa isyarat (body language) telah digunakan. Dan bila tiba masa saya untuk membayar, mereka terasa begitu selesa/lega bila saya bertutur meggunakan bahasa kebangsaan kita.
Ini bermaksud tahap penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris kita telah turun, ke tahap yang kritikal dan sekiranya tiada langkah-langkah serius diambil oleh pihak-pihak yang berkaitan, maka ada satu hari nanti, kebanyakan rakyat Malaysia tidak lagi boleh menggunakan Bahasa Inggeris dengan betul (tidak perlu saya gunakan perkataan 'fasih). Dan ini akan menjejaskan peluang-peluang kita, khasnya dari sudut ekonomi.

Saya banyak juga melawat negara-negara lain, dan saya rasa, boleh saya beri beberapa contoh, dari pengalaman saya semasa berada di negara-negara yang saya akan sebutkan nanti, tahap penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris mereka, dan betapa seriusnya mereka memberi perhatian terhadap bahasa ini.
Di Jepun, walaupun, secara umumnya, ramai masih tidak fasih, tetapi di hotel-hotel, di tempat-tempat perlancongan, pusat membeli-belah, mereka boleh bertutur dengan baiknya, khasnya golongan muda di sana. Di Korea, hal yang sama boleh diperkatakan. Di Thailand and Vietnam, boleh dikatakan, walaupun Bahasa Thai dan Vietnam digunakan setiap hari, tetapi, mereka rajin belajar bahasa lain, dan kalau kita ada peluang pergi Negara Thai, khasnya di Bangkok, kita dapat lihat, kebanyakan golongan muda tidak mempunyai masalah bertutur dalam Bahasa Inggeris. Di Vietnam, selepas mereka habis kerja, kebanyakan pemuda-pemudi akan bergegas pergi ke institut-institut pengajian bahasa (khasnya Bahasa Inggeris) untuk meningkatkan tahap penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris mereka. Semangat yang berkobar-kobar untuk menambahkan ilmu pengetahuan Bahasa Inggeris harus kita contohi.
Di negara Cina, kualiti bahasa ibunda mereka tidak perlu diragui. Dan tahap penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris mereka, saya perlu kata disini, sangat 'memeranjatkan'. 14 tahun yang lepas, saya pernah datang ke Beijing untuk lawatan, dan selepas itu, saya ada juga melawat negara Cina banyak kali, ke Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou dan beberapa bandaraya yang lain, dan setiap kali, saya rasa, tahap penguasaan terhadap bahasa ini bertambah, dan kualiti bahasa Inggeris mereka, jauh lebih baik dari kebanyakan golongan muda di Malaysia.
Sekarang saya sedang bekerja di sini (Beijing), dan semasa temuduga, sedikit sebanyak, saya juga tahu cara-cara mereka belajar bahasa Inggeris. Di sekolah mereka, di pusat penggajian tinggi, institut-institut bahasa di mana yuran perbelanjaan yang amat tinggi, CNN, radio, CCTV9, dan ada pula yang cuba berkawan dengan pelawat-pelawat atau warga asing yang boleh bertutur bahasa ini supaya mereka dapat peluang berlatih. Semangat ini perlu kita contohi dan banyak lagi yang boleh saya tulis di sini, tapi saya rasa sudah mencukupi setakat ini.

Sebagai seorang rakyat Malaysia, saya rasa bangga dengan Bahasa Kebangsaan kita, itu kita tidak boleh nafikan dan tidak perlu diragui. Saya berasa bangga dapat dan boleh tulis dalam Bahasa Malaysia (atau Bahasa Melayu, tiada perbezaannya). Saya rasa setiap rakyat Malaysia perlu menguasai Bahasa Kebangsaan kita. Tapi apakah ini mencukupi? Jawapannya sudah tentu tidak.
Kita perlu Bahasa kedua, iaitu Bahasa Inggeris, khasnya dari sudut ekonomi (kommersial) dan dari segi pengetahuan ilmu, kerana kita perlu berkomunikasi dan berhubung dengan negara-negara luar. Kita perlu faham artikel-artikel dan recana-recana yang ditulis dan buku-buku pengetahuan umum yang diterbitkan di peringkat antarabangsa. Kita perlu banyak baca dan faham isi kandungan, dan ini hanya boleh berlaku dengan penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris yang baik.
Pengguasaan bahasa ketiga, seperti Bahasa Cina, India, Perancis, Sepanyol, Jepun, adalah seperti bonus tambahan kepada kita.
Saya berharap kawan-kawan kita di Malaysia faham akan kepentingan Bahasa Inggeris dan tidak harus ragui kedudukan Bahasa Malaysia sebagai Bahasa Kebangsaan Kita.

Choong, Beijing 8.42am