an overseas trip

i've always joked with the family - going to s'pore is an OVERSEAS trip because you need an international passport, foreign currency & roaming service on your handphone. so far, no one can prove otherwise.

so we went overseas last weekend. it was an impromptu decision - actually the kids have been looking forward to it, except that i couldn't pre-plan a date. it was a pleasant drive without getting stopped by traffic cops & going thru customs/immigration was a breeze.

after checking in, the family had a head-start at orchard road while i met up with an ex-colleague from my training days at the Sheffield Registrars' Rotation in UK. K has since joined private practice & we met at.....

now that's a name i've not heard for ages. years ago when i was at the Holland Village outlet, they served a most sinful blueberry cheesecake & milkshake, & as these were sadly not on the menu this time, i settled for the set lunch which turned out to be quite formidable:

full-flavoured home-made mushroom soup.....


a mean honey-glazed beef rib &.......


ben & jerry's cherry garcia ice-cream...mmmm!

caught up the good old times & i'm glad he's doing well. lunch was on him but he knows when he comes a-visiting, he'll be treated to a scrumptious ikan bakar meal, the likes of which s'pore can never hope to emulate.

caught up with the family at suntec city. i think shopping's a cinch for guys. i was at the sports shop & selected a pair of trainers for just SGD39.99 within 20mins, while the girl is still searching for that elusive pair of sketchers. now she said i must take her to 1-utama to get them.

it's really easy to figure out why tourists flock here. 1st, you just can't miss the visitors' centre along orchard rd.....


then they take you on a free tour......


on an open-top bus .....



to catch the x'mas trees, lights & decorations.....






needless to say, the street was teeming with people. some were out to make a quick buck like.....

the statue man....


the gimmick man....


musicians from china.....


& latin america.

guess what else was seen on tour? the beginnings of a new mall, right smack in the middle of orchard road..

the future Ion Shopping Complex.

sometimes the heart rules over the head. that's why the next morning we started out at

instead of the Science Centre, because the girl was still looking out for that dream pair of shoes. the boy didn't mind as long as he got his ride...


it helped that Vivo City is near Sentosa Island, because an LRT operates between the two..



included in the ticket price is a tram-ride around Sentosa...


& one reason why tourists feel safe here.....

is the obvious presence of tourist police patrol. just like orchard rd, it's never enough & there's evidence a new attraction is being constructed....


for all the attractions & distractions, amidst the vibrant yuletide activities, it's reassuring that the true spirit of christmas was not lost....


for me, the only pleasure i derived at vivo city was a brief sojourn at Ben & Jerry's....

so, how would a triple-header of cherry garcia, raspberry chocholate chunk &...

new york fudge chunk grab ya??

so, what's new about s'pore??
(1) when a local bank opened a new branch, they go all out...


(2) some of the bus-stops have display screens that indicate the ETA of the next bus...


(3) at the local toy store, monopoly now comes in electronic banking version....


and (4) despite its squeaky clean image, people still flout traffic rules...


i learn new things all the time.

role reversal

when i attend meetings, as part of continuing medical education, i tend to sit near the back, either because i'm late or i need to go off early. that way, i can slip in & out & no one's the wiser.

but today's different. i was asked by a pharmaceutical company to chair the meeting, held in the evening at a local hotel. this is new to me, but it helped that the speaker, a surgeon by training, is from Sweden - a country whose exports include Volvos, Ikea, Abba & Bjorn Borg, some things i can confidently engage in conversation with, besides the topic in discussion.

so there i was, sitting nervously at the very unfamiliar front row, sporting tie (which felt like a noose), introducing the speaker, moderating the Q&A session after that & trying to entertain the gentleman (& his wife) over dinner.

it felt so surreal, yet enlightening. it helped that the speaker has visited m'sia many times before, follows the fortunes of his country's football team & is also conversant in non-medical matters. (i didn't know that sweden is in the EU & yet maintain the kroner as its currency)

in the end, the sponsor gave this for "troubling me".


i say, it's no trouble at all, if the next time, i get a trip to the carribean. heh heh!

birthday wish

the other day my mum phoned to wish me a happy birthday. like an annual ritual, she'd be the 1st to call me the nite before, a day ahead of everyone else - well, not that a lot of people remembered!

however, this time she dispensed with the usual pleasantaries & went for the jugular. she remarked : you know, son, i'll never forget you.

wow, my mind went havoc & raced on overdrive, & within milliseconds, ideas were rapidly flashing before me:

1) oh, did i say or do something wrong?
2) was it because i was your 1st born?
3) & caused you hard labour (literally) that you had me delivered by C-section?
4) was it the lie i told you when i was 9 about winning the lottery?
5) was it because i preferred playing football to studying?

before i could put a word in, she revealed this :

it's because you brought Jesus into my life.

for all the wrong i've committed in my life, i guess i did one thing right. my mum said so.

open day

dropped by the Kolej Tuanku Jaafar's open day over the weekend just to see for ourselves the hype about this reknown independent co-ed secondary boarding school.

actually, we were not disappointed. hidden in the lush countryside of mantin, negeri sembilan,

we were greeted by prefects assigned to show prospective students & their parents around.

this 1st thing that impressed me was the open spaces & greenery everywhere :





the facilities were certainly top-drawer - science labs, library, computer access & boarding houses, just to name a few.

as teaching aids, they have smart-boards which resembled blown-up interactive computer screens.

they even have an ongoing dam project.

this is the 1st college open day we've been to (actually it's only a half-day) but i have to admit that there weren't that many visitors, probably around 20 families at most. but i shouldn't be surprised - an A-level education here will set you back RM74k, although scholarships are available to deserving students. as a random non-specific measure of the standard of the students, i was told (only) 60% aced the maths paper at the last A-levels.

hmm...maybe the STPM should be given due consideration. after all, i went thru it & i didn't do too badly, either.

on the way back, we stopped by seremban & caught up with sbanboy, who took us out for dinner at jusco.

incidentally, i also bumped into an old classmate who sat at the next table & he also happened to be sbanboy's neighbour. is this a small town or what??

decision, decision.

although i wasn't looking for anything in particular, i stumbled upon this at the local bookstore this afternoon:

a hard-cover edition of the 2nd of his prison trilogy.
in north america, it retailed at...


...but here it was being sold for....

...with another 10% off with the discount card. it's a "steal" by any standard, & as a sworn Archer die-hard, i should grab it before someone else does.

but (sigh) i didn't. i don't think entries like :

"6.03am : woke up & wrote for 2 hours...
8.34am : had corn-flakes with UHT milk for breakfast..."

are going to fire the imagination & keep me at the edge of my seat.

it was a difficult decision to make but i'll pass this one.
maybe i'm not a die-hard after all.

x'mas has come early

got a package from UK today. guess what?


Lord Archer found time, in between correcting proofs for his latest novel & shuttling from conducting fund-raising auctions to attending theatrical plays (read here), to autograph for me a copy of the revised version of Shall We Tell The President?


you've made my day, your Lordship!

i'd also like to extend sincere appreciation to his PA, Ms Alison Prince, for sending the paperback across 8 time zones, & a special mention of Iml for 1st directing me to Jeffrey's blog.

blessed christmas, one & all!

the cosmonaut

Juliet said this at the balcony :

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet".

seriously, i've never read any of shakespeare's plays, not even the abridged versions, but i am suitably impressed with some of his more famous quotes. this particular excerpt is self-explanatory. the converse would mean that, if it were not a rose, calling it one would be meaningless as the sweet fragrance is decidedly absent.

the americans call them astronauts. the russians called theirs cosmonauts. if this report is true (read here) , then our erstwhile angkasawan Dr Sheikh is now a full-fledged trained cosmonaut.

sure, as a malaysian, i should be proud that one of ours has finally achieved this sought-after qualification awarded by the Russian National Space Agency, no less! (in chess parlance, the russians would called him Grandmaster).

sure, we as a nation have arrived in the guise of a space-exploring power & are pushing into the frontiers of the galaxies beyond.

i'm really not into the intricate financial & technology-transfer aspects of our space programme but.....err... before the red carpet is rolled out & ticker-tape parade starts, can i just ask one question?

if you were going to space, would you want cosmonaut Dr Sheikh to pilot your shuttle?

graduation day 2007

yeah, it's that time of the year again when the kindergartens have their graduation ceremonies, showcasing the achievements of the students to the parents in particular, & to the public at large. of course, this is also a neat piece of PR work to attract prospective parents to enrol their pre-schoolers.

my son's school is no different. next year, they will take up the Fungate franchise, which (supposedly) means superior teaching methods, more science & computer facilities & better trained teachers, therefore effectively preparing the 4-to-6-yr-olds for formal education. naturally, all these advantages come at a (steep) price - about 3 times the current fees.

well, let's not get too academic about the issue. kids should enjoy their childhood & here's the boy's few minutes claim to fame at center-stage :

biblical inpiration ?

it all started with the made-for-tv serial. starring sam neill & peter strauss - at that time both actors were largely unknown - how could one miss with a title like Kane & Abel, playing on the name of Adam & Eve's first-born?

what caught my fascination about this saga set in America during the great depression, was the bitter-sweet climax, as only Jeffrey Archer could conjure up. in this instance, it was Kane who anonymously provided financial backing for Abel's doomed hotel chain. a gracious act - uncommonly outstanding in a backdrop of national collapse & hostile manipulation of 1920s, & conspicuously rare these days. a total contrast from the tragic Cain & Abel story as recorded in the book of Genesis.

i've been hooked on the ex-MP's books since. sometimes i wonder if he occasionally derives inspiration from the bible. how else can he explain The Prodigal Daughter & The 11th Commandment? dare i imagine that Mark of The Beast & The Burning Bush be amongst his future titles?

in the meantime, his latest collection of short stories came in useful while waiting between patients.

jonah

it's probably terminal.

my GP friend was recently diagnosed to have inoperable cancer of the liver. the doctors managed to reduce its size by embolization & then proceeded to chemotherapy. (read here)

short of surgery, that's probably his best shot.

it was really ironic because we were having dinner with a few other medics earlier last month & he was asked whether he believed in God. he replied that there was no need to as he doesn't have a problem, conflict or crisis. he was being candid because life has been rosy for him - happily married with a young family, runs a successful clinic & financially independent.

and now, this.

but he is still outwardly jovial about his future. talking to him, i can sense that he has more or less prepared for the battle with big C. but more importantly he is also receptive to having God in his life. for that, i am happy for him.

is this God's timely test for him? does he have to go through the same desparate sinking experience as Jonah before he retraces his path back to The Way, The Truth & The Life?

it's probably terminal & chemo-embolization probably his best option. probably. in times of fear & doubt, isn't it reassuring that there are still promises we can hold on to :

Let everyone call urgently on God. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish." Jonah 3:8,9

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