Passing Away Of A Childhood Friend....

I was kind of expected this day to come, though not that fast... but when it happens,, I think you not only mourn, you not only lost a friend, you also lost part of your childhood somehow...it is like ur friends that you grew up, who knows your background, who went to catch fishes at the river with you, who went to pesta with you, who played badminton with you, who took the same examination as you do, and whom is of the same generation as you, you feel part of you are lost.....lost, now where.

And as I write, I feel the pain, I am not sure why....I pray that he follows the path, and he is happy and peaceful in another world.

I shall miss you and till we meet again......in another space, another universe.....


Take care my dear friend,,,,,,,,I am sorry if I didn't do enough for you.


Sincerely,
Me

A thought in the nite of Winter Solstice......

Today is suppose to be the Winter Solstice, and for people of Chinese ancestry, this is an important day, like first day of CNY, and is celebrated throughout places where Chinese culture is being practiced.

Today was quite a busy day, and in the afternoon, I got a call from my childhood friend, asking me to bring him to hospital. And I went to fetch him and we went to a hospital in Penang. The hospital was asking a lot of questions about referral letter, about specialist or emergency doctor, etc.

But that is not my key discussion point here tonite.

My main concern is seeing my childhood friend's health deteriorating, daily, starting with diabetes, then kidney problem, hemodialysis, lung infection and then Stomach ulcer problem, and his body size becoming half of what it used to be, just like human skeleton body structure. It pains me to see this, and I was informed by his younger brother that he fainted 3 times, yesterday till afternoon today.

I am not sure what I can help further, only providing emotional support and when he needs me to fetch him to hospital or take him back home, or make some simple meals for him when I have the time or back in the same hometown of ours, then I shall try to cook something for him.

Which makes me to think, health is actually number 1 importance, and health is something that we always take granted for, thinking that it belongs to us, and will always remain healthy, despite us hurting our body everyday by taking all sorts of food without letting it to rest or recover, until it becomes too late for any help to be effective anymore.

I hope I can help further....let me think about it.

Nite

J

BM

Visit To India-Mumbai, Jaipur, Agra, New Delhi, Calicut and Mumbai-Part 1, Mumbai

It has been a while and was too lazy or busy or whatever excuses I had, I need to write something, for my reference in the future. I think it is very important to have my personal notes so that I can read later or someone else can read my memo in the future. 

First about my Indian Visa, I would like to mention a bit on this part as I think the department in charge of processing Visa is very efficient and I got my Visa the following day after my application. One point to highlight though, the fees charged, in my opinion is a bit too high. Anyway, I got my E tourist Visa for double entry, and one point to share here is that, when you have e-Visa, there is a special counter at Mumbai immigration department to handle your entry into India, hence you do not need to queue at the normal counters where your visas might be applied via Indian embassies (I lost out sometime, cause I was not aware of this until it was my turn to stamp my passport at the Immigration counter). May be they should highlight this clearly to tourists upon arrival to the airport. One point to mention is that Mumbai airport is quite nice and clean (and I think relatively efficient too).

As for flight, I used my favorite, that was SIA.

Mumbai:
My first arrival, Mumbai, and first impression, a nice one, modern. Walked quite a long way before reaching immigration, and got it cleared and then, I was outside, and my friend, Mario sent his driver to pick me up and I was sent to his local club where we met up after so many years, and having lunch and so catch up before moving to the local clubhouse shop for some sundry. The club is something like Penang club, I was informed it was built during British's time.

Met Lawyer Guo at SIngapore Airport Terminal 3, after so many years.

                                         The clubhouse in Mumbai-Willingdon Sports club

Very traditional clubhouse, British style

                                          Avacado fruits, Indian, look the size is quite big

Local garlic, first time for me to see this type, smaller ones

Walking around the city in the evening

Mumbai city, old Mumbai

The famous stairway, Taj Mahal hotel

                                                    The famous hotel in Mumbai

                                         Old Mumbai, exploring the city

                                          Meeting my old friend, Mario.

Pickle shallots

                                                     Local wine

                                         Old Mumbai

Old Mumbai

Old Mumbai

                                          Old Mumbai

Old Mumbai, in a street where there is a temple and locals are offering prayers

                                          The Mumbai train station

The square near Gateway of India/Taj Mahal hotel

                                          Gateway of India

Elephant island

Dinner at one of the famous restaurant in Mumbai

Queen's necklace, a walking distance from my friend's house.

Just arrived in Mumbai, in the car with my friend's driver taking me to the club.

In front of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station

Mumbai airport-Departure halls

                                        Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya-a museum, and must                                            visit the museum shop where I bought some handicrafts

Mumbai, in short is nice and there are two parts, new and old Mumbai. New Mumbai is just like any metropolitan city, and I personally like Old Mumbai as there are more historical buildings to see. But It is quite dirty in some places as I think the local municipality did not come and clean the areas timely. Taxi drivers most of the times are not very honest, and I got "cheated" like twice, hence most would prefer to use Olacab (local version for Grabcar/Uber) which is very convenient and most drivers can speak good English.

There are a lot of homeless people, most of them, as I understood are migrant workers, and they just live on the streets, in temporary shelters.
Food are delicious, if you like Indian food, and if you go to local restaurants, the food is relatively inexpensive and if the waiter provide good service, it would be nice to provide them with a small tips.
My friend's apartment is at a hillside, know as Malabar hillside, where of course a lot of rich and famous stay and as I was informed, the property prices here are super super expensive.

One thing to mention here is that, it is relatively safe to walk around the city, as no one will come and rob you, or disturbs you. But the road is very congested especially if it is a working day or during rush hours or when it is raining. But overall, like my friend say, I can get everything in Mumbai easily, and he is happy living there and for me, is a new experience visiting the famous Mumbai.

One thing to take note, to visit all touristry attractions, you need to buy entrance tickets and for foreigners, it is usually quite expensive.

Choong
Notes written in December 2017, recalling the visits.

Visit to Hatyai, Thailand-WIth Friends- Dec 2017

Brandon, having this long break from job in HK, is back, and visited me during the weekend, and took the opportunity to have a one nite two days trip to Hatyai with another friend, Nestor, 3 of us together. Have been to Hatyai many times before, but this time around, using different mode of transportation is a first time. First, Komuter (train) to Padang besar, then taxi to the border (both immigration), then to Padang besar town, the take van for the ride to Hatyai city. Need to pay RM 10.70 per person, then RM 10 per head for the taxi and then THB 50 for the van ride to Hatyai city. Coming back, we took another way, that was with Train from Hatyai at 1.05PM, which costs THB 50 per person until padang besar, then RM 10.70 with Komuter back to Bukit Mertajam. Very convenient and easy (and cheaper).

It was a good visit with and catch up with Brandon after so many years, making jokes, taking a walk in the city and also enjoying some nice foods. Nestor wanted to learn the way to go there by train and perhaps can bring his parents there in the next trip.

At nite time, after our food, our beer and the our bedtime stories, ghost stories, told by Brandon, was fun, and exciting before we call it a nite and rest soon after that.

The next morning, went for the morning market, and that was the place we enjoy a lot, breakfast, and bought some supply home. It was a very meaningful trip, hence I put it as a record of my journey here.

Thanks.