Happy Chinese New Year! I’m taking this opportunity to wish to myself, my family, my relatives, my friends, my neighbours and to whoever celebrating it a wonderful and prosperous new lunar year! May this Year of Horse brings perfect health, joy, happiness, prosperity and luck to all of us! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

It’s the time of the year again to visit relatives, friends or neighbours, exchanging gifts and getting angpows (red packets), eat a lot of new year biscuits and mandarin oranges, family reunion, going back hometown, play fireworks or firecrackers, having small gambles, tossing ‘yee-sang’ (traditional CNY food serving), out for Chinese New Year movies, and wear beautiful new clothes. Just put aside school or job matters, forget about it, and have fun on this wonderful new year celebration. Enjoy the festival with all that fun CNY practices to do and happy holiday!

For me, I have been celebrating Chinese New Year (or commonly known as Spring Festival in China) in my own way, quite different from the most others. As usual on this period of time annually, I would be flying oversea for a family trip. And this year, we will be heading to Yunnan, China. But the trip this time only commenced tomorrow, and hence, it has been quite some time ago since I last spending the first day of CNY still in Malaysia. And for that reason, I will be not available to update my blog here from tomorrow onwards till 9th February as I will be away enjoying my vacation. Once I’m back, I will update my blog with a post of my trip as expected every year. Will be plenty of beautiful photos from the trip soon.

CNY mood all around! Have a blast and a joyful CNY celebration! Goodbye to Year of Snake, and see you twelve years later. Now is Year of Horse! Happy Chinese New Year once again, and Gong Xi Fa Cai!

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Couldn’t believe the first quarter of the year is gone. I was still thinking that 2014 had just started. It’s April now. Last month had been a very tough month for Malaysia. First, we had critical water issue that leads to water rationing exercise in whole state of Selangor (my home affected). Then, we had some political agendas going around (won’t describe much but this kind of things are typical in my country), and then the worst came, when Malaysia Airlines MH370 plane went disappeared on 8th March with 239 people on board. That is making headlines worldwide.

And surprisingly, till now, there is still no sign of the plane which is believed to have ended in the southern Indian Ocean despite multi-national search operations underway. I really hope that the plane (wreckage) and its blackbox to be found very soon so that investigations could wrap up and that the families and relatives of the passengers on board the ill-fated aircraft could move on. And I have to stress here again that there is no point of boycotting Malaysia and calling our country as ‘murderer’. I understand their emotions and that I have to admit on our government’s poor handling of this issue particularly on the first few days which are deemed very critical. But simply accusing is too much. Kindly be rational. No one wanted this to happen in the first place. Anyway, would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest condolences to the family and relatives of the passengers and crews on the MH370 flight.

Let’s not talk about sad matters anymore. We should stay positive in our lives. Today is 1st April. So, it’s April Fools’ Day. Planning some pranks on your friends or colleagues? Go on and have fun, but please remember, not to overdo it that may hurt someone. Also it’s time to pull off creative tricks and not some lame typical pranks, yeah. I’m not going to do anything in conjunction with this April Fools Day since I’m going to have to concentrate on plenty of works these two weeks alongside with my colleagues. I know we can do it! Hoping that no pressure will stand in between my way.

Last month’s blog header had been showing a very amazing image of iconic Shanghai skyline. Shanghai is one of the top five best skylines in the world according to most of the polls and analysis out there. The next one to appear on top of my blog for this particular month is New York City. It is a mega-city and is the birthplace of modern skyscrapers. It is unquestionable that NYC is in the top 5 ranking too. Here you go, a spectacular image of skyline of New York City, United States as the blog header for April 2014. (You can view it clearly above or click on the image below for a bigger version). Next city would be? Time for you to guess…

Ahh…there isn’t any public holiday this month. Anyway, wishing that this month will be all right and smooth for all of us.

We have now entered to the month of May! On this month back in 2012, I made my first step into my architecture career. Time flies,…and now, I have been working for two years already and I’m happy to have equip myself with some useful working experience in this highly challenging profession. There is still more to learn, but I will start re-organizing my plans ahead now as my mission to continue on my master study is still present. Will share more on my exposure from my first two years in architecture career later this month.

(Image source: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/)

Now, let us all take a break and enjoy the first day of the month in the middle of the week since it is May 1st, the Labor Day! Keep away your work and the job’s stress for a day. Relax and have fun, before getting ready for another long month. It’s been quite some time since we last observed a public holiday. Many have even decided to take tomorrow off too so that they can enjoy a four-day long weekend. I didn’t apply for that additional leave, as I love to keep them for a lengthy break in near future for my trips. Anyway, after this holiday, there would be another one coming soon too (Wesak Day). Nice month then. Haha…been pressured with the absence of holiday for the past two months.

Yes, time to switch to another city for the image of the blog’s header for the month. We have seen Shanghai on March, and then New York City on April. Now, it’s time for Hong Kong. If you didn’t know, beginning from March till July this year, my blog’s header for respective month would be displaying the five best skylines of the world. This ranking is based on accumulative analysis and polls I searched throughout the internet on this particular topic. Right now, three have been revealed. Two more to go, and you will get the full list once July arrives. You can easily guess it if you also do a bit of research. It’s interesting, especially when you first stumbled upon some fantastic photographs captured on those beautiful city skylines anywhere on the internet.

Hong Kong is no doubt the ‘king’ of skylines. It is placed 1st in most rankings out there, and I couldn’t agree more. I have once been to this city for a short while and I was in awe of such great skyline the city can offers. The outcome is speechless. I would love to drop by at the city again in near future to enjoy the panoramic view both in the morning, and also at night when most buildings are illuminated brightly. Back in my place, Kuala Lumpur, the city has quite a lot of highrises too, but most are dark and appear invisible at night. It’s like our city is celebrating Earth Hour every night except the glaring Petronas Twin Towers and KL Tower. Good to save electricity, but not good if you want to present the city well at night.

By the way, Happy Labor Day once again! Enjoy the break!

Learning is inevitable in our life as we grow. It helps us to gain knowledge, experience and skills useful to improve and enhance our life or even others in days to come. But who is the one lending a hand for us to learn? They are teachers. And ‘teachers’ should not be limited to only those attending to us during our schooling years. As soon as we were born, our first teachers are none other than our parents.

When we were babies, they were the one teaching us the first few basic parts of our life; walking and talking. They continued to care and love us unconditionally till their last breath. They continued to teach us on how to become a successful and the right person that we should become without asking for anything in return. This is the purest and most noble form of teaching. When we stepped into primary and then to secondary schools for about 11 years, we have teachers, one as our class teacher while many others were responsible on a particular subject respectively every year.

Some of my unforgettable memories pertaining my schooling years particularly in my secondary school; moments when the whole class acted like we were so disciplined and quiet as soon as our Mathematics session commenced as the subject teacher was also our school’s Senior Assistant of Students’ Affairs. Also remembered well the fearsome-looking English Literature’s teacher and I will always sit far away hidden from her view during discussion time as I’m afraid my name would be called up in the session. Also didn’t forget how great and strict my Moral Study’s teacher was, whom later helped most of the students in my class to score A in SPM for the subject. Ahha…also remembered that we always hear the sound made from high-heel shoes from our Malay Language’s teacher (she loves to wear high-heel) getting closer when we awaits her arrival during BM session.

And we would all be very happy when it is a no show for any teachers. That means a free period! All the nice memories. Anyway, now I felt like wanting to go back to my secondary school and meet up with my former teachers. Some may have left or retired already. I wonder whether they could remember me since I’m away from school for almost 7 years already. Time flies. They must be very joyful recalling back their time with us when we meet back. Maybe also feeling a bit proud of what we have become now. Hmmm….Also not to forget tuition teachers, since most Malaysian kids must have went for a tuition before since parents here were always not confident of depending solely on school’s contribution to their kids.

When we further our studies on university stage, we have lecturers tutoring us. But it is a bit unfair that they were not being treated for a formal Teacher’s Day celebration like those primary or secondary school teachers. Even when we had finished our studies and went out for working, they are still teachers around us. Why? Our office colleagues (especially our seniors) are our teachers. My senior colleagues taught me a lot of stuff in these two years alone. I really appreciate that. Even employer can be our teacher too, as they usually shares a lot of useful experience and knowledge to us, besides than pushing us to get works done.

Whoever or wherever they are, their contribution on teaching and bringing us to where we are now should be appreciated. Here, I sincerely wishes all my teachers, tutors or lecturers (from all the stages in my life till now) a Happy Teacher’s Day! Thank you so much for what you have did to shape us better. Also forwarding this greeting to all the other good teachers out there!  (Yea, I mean only good teachers as we do encounter some bad ones too, right?).

(Image source: http://www.rvceupdates.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/teachers-day.jpg)

Fireworks heard everywhere in my neighbourhood from days or even weeks before the Hari Raya celebration. It may be disturbing when some fireworks were set off on the late-night hours when most have already been sleeping, but it’s okay since their major festival is approaching and that it is normal to play fireworks to build up the festive mood. But isn’t fireworks are illegal in Malaysia? People still can buy it and play. Who cares….! If no fireworks, things would be too quite, and there wouldn’t be Raya atmosphere around.

The time has come. The Ramadhan month is over and the Muslims have successfully finished their fasting over this one-month period. I do really admire their faith and wisdom on Islam for being able to not consuming any food or drink in a lengthy period of time everyday for the past month. For me, I think I couldn’t stand the hunger and the thirst, as well as the lack of energy. Fasting is a good practice, and it somehow helps Muslims to save money too (skipping lunch everyday).

Anyway, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my Muslim friends particularly in Malaysia a very wonderful and joyous Raya celebration! Selamat Menyambut Hari Raya Aidilfitri! Maaf, Zahir dan Batin. By this time, I believed many have already went back to their hometown (sudah balik kampung) safely. Time to gather, chill and celebrate together with your family, relatives, neighbours and friends on this wonderful festival! In the meantime, I’m sure KL would be quite empty except than seeing Chinese or Indians, and mostly foreigners wondering the streets nowadays. I’m currently on a short family vacation at Bali, Indonesia. Will be updating my blog with highlights from my Bali trip once I returned to Malaysia.

On the other hand, for other Malaysians who are not celebrating this festival, a big Happy Holiday greeting to you too! This week offers perfect opportunity for trip (like me), outings or simply rest at home after spending over half of the year working, working and working! Enjoy la….Many must be taking additional leaves up till the end of this week too. So, you would have over a week of break! Awesome!

Last but not least, I would like to sincerely wish every Malays once again ‘Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri!’.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

It first started out as a confusion to everyone as to when does Deepavali this year actually falls on. According to all our printed calendars, the festival should be on 23rd October 2014. That is Thursday. But then, the official date has been announced that Deepavali actually falls on a day earlier, on 22nd October (Wednesday). It is very seldom that the printed calendars would get this wrong. But anyway, Happy Deepavali to all my Indian friends!

(Image source: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/)

In the meantime, I would like to share a clip from Petronas in conjunction with Deepavali 2014 celebration, one of the major festivals in Malaysia. It’s a very moving and meaningful clip. Petronas always did it right when it comes to delivering important, harmonious and memorable messages throughout their clips created specially for particular major celebrations in Malaysia. Enjoy the clip (it’s just a short clip):

From #The Light Within; Reflect on yesterday. Live for today. Hope for tomorrow. Nice quote.

To all Indians, may you enjoy this Festival of Light joyously with your family, relatives, friends, neighbours and all Malaysians! I missed the time when I was still in my primary or secondary school years, when I got to be invited to a Deepavali open house by one of my best friends every year. I have to admit that we don’t really like the food served(not used to the strong Indian flavours), but I really enjoyed the festive atmosphere and the strong ‘open house’ concept regardless of background, race or religion.

As for the others who are not celebrating this, we will just have to sit back, relax and enjoy the public holiday. It’s a much better Wednesday (in the middle of the week) when you can put aside your job for a day. This week would tend to be a bit ‘quicker’ or ‘shorter’, since this week would only have 4 (or for some, 5) working days.

Last but not least, I would like to extend my wonderful greeting again to all my Indian friends particularly in Malaysia, a Happy Deepavali!

Merry Christmas, girls and boys!

Today is already the Christmas Eve!!! It’s feeling great just by listening to some very popular classical Christmas songs these few nights. I’m not a Christian but I would still loved to be soaked into X’mas atmosphere, thanks to those lovely songs and amazing X’mas decorations in major shopping malls in my country to lift up the X’mas mood. Christmas is not very much celebrated traditionally here but we all would certainly enjoy the public holiday from this lovely festival. And with a day of leave applied on this Friday, that actually makes my Christmas holiday much better as the break continues till end of this weekend.

If you are unsure of what to plan with your family or friends on this Christmas break, then you may simply spend these awesome days like me; sitting comfortably at home and enjoying the ‘Home Alone’ film franchise. Remember the movie that tells about a kid being mistakenly left at home alone after his whole family went out for vacation. And the boy has to set up various booby traps at home against house intruders. It was very fun watching it when I was still a small kid. Now, despite I’m already 23, I still enjoyed the movie very much. A classic Christmas movie, of which its success led to multiple sequels, expanding the film franchise into 5 movies.

Christmas isn’t only about partying all night long with your friends or colleagues. Sometimes, it is also great just to spend the time warmly with your friends and foremost, family. Nevertheless, I do hope you have a great Christmas! For kids out there, I hope you do get lovely presents. If you unfortunately didn’t get any, don’t be sad. Take my sincere blessing and X’mas greeting as a special gift to you eventhough we may be thousand miles apart and that you don’t know me.

Last but not least, I would like to wish everyone a joyous Christmas! Merry X’mas and Happy Holiday! One last week to go before we say goodbye to year 2014 too!

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

We have now came to year 2015 finally! Happy New Year to all!

Let us take this time to say goodbye to year 2014 and leave all the sadness from the previous year behind. We should start the year with bright smile and anticipation for positive things to come. As we entered another new year, let us for a while look back on what we have gone through from the past years, then learn and improve from the those experiences so that we will be more prepared for our future ahead.

Let us all also hope that year 2015 would be bringing to us more joy and happiness, and would not turn out to be like 2014 when there were too many saddening events or tragedies across the world. My country, Malaysia have had already a very rough and troubled year in 2014. MH370, then MH17 and now QZ8501. 2014 tells us something; flying isn’t that safe after all.

Okay…let’s not ruin everybody’s mood now. It’s a joyous new year, man! 2015, let’s be great to all of us! I believed 2015 would be quite a crucial year for me too, as it will be the year when I have to make some impacting decisions and I may finally stay out of my comfort zone from this year onward and tries to achieve for the better. 2015 is also the ‘Year of Goat’ according to Chinese lunar calendar (that will only officially starts after Chinese New Year this coming February). I’m going to be 24 years old this year. Really getting old already huh….that’s why I mentioned earlier that it’s time for me to ‘wake up’ and start thinking to improve myself further.

Goodbye 2014, and hello to 2015! We welcome you, 2015! By the way, how do you spend the night of the new year’s eve? Eventhough many new year’s countdown celebrations in Malaysia has been cancelled as a mark of respect to the current on-going flood crisis, but the fireworks display at KLCC proceeded as usual and people may still take the time off to enjoy to usher for the new year in many other ways!

My blog’s header for this first month of the year also resembles fireworks, a must for a celebration. (A copy of the header shown below)

Same with what the blog’s header says, let’s start the year with a bang! Last but not least, before I’m ending this first blog post of the year, I would like to wish everyone again a wonderful Happy New Year 2015!

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

There’s nothing more important right now than to wish all Chinese a wonderful Happy Lunar New Year! This greeting is particularly extended to my family, relatives, friends and neighbours eventhough it is very unlikely for them to see this. Gong Xi Fa Cai! May all be blessed with great joy, health, wealth, luck and prosperity in this new year of ‘goat’! Yes, this marked the end of the year of horse and the arrival for year of goat! And that’s my Chinese zodiac sign.

Today is already the Chinese New Year’s Eve! This day will be incomplete without a fulfilling reunion dinner this evening where all family members gather for the last dinner before the beginning of a lunar new year. If you haven’t return to your parents or to your hometown, better get it going now! Priority is on family reunion and celebrating the festival in harmonious and joyous mood together with your close ones. On those returning to hometown, I wish you a safe and relaxing ride home in the middle of inevitable traffic congestion in major highways now.

Yesterday on my last day of work before my lengthy CNY break, I told my colleague that my happiest CNY memory is during the time when I was still a small kid, particularly excited on the second day of CNY when we spent almost the whole day at my eldest aunt’s home with all my aunties, uncles and cousins. It’s a very happening scene with everyone gathered in a huge home chatting, enjoying all CNY snacks, watching TV, playing video games, gambling, playing fireworks and dinner together. I am very fond of those times in the past, which will never be observed again now as people gets older and went on their own way away.

Nevertheless, I’m now filled with very positive CNY mood, and I’m ready to collect angpow, ready to visit my relatives, ready to enjoy all the CNY snacks, and ready for my upcoming oversea trip to Jogjakarta, Indonesia with my family beginning this Friday till next week. Hoping for a very great and happy Lunar New Year time ahead, and hope that you will enjoy your CNY too! For others who are not celebrating, Happy Holiday too!

Last but not least, I would like to wish again to all Chinese across the world who are reading this, a Happy Chinese New Year! Happy Spring Festival and Gong Xi Fa Cai! Let’s have a very ‘goat’ (sounds similar to ‘good’) year!!!

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

First of all, Happy Labour Day! Time to give yourself a much deserved break as the year is almost half way over. What’s better than enjoying four days of break continuously here in Malaysia. We have Labor Day today (Friday), then typical weekend on this Saturday and Sunday, and replacement holiday for Wesak Day on Monday since it falls on Sunday. A long break, and a perfect opportunity for you to maybe take a short vacation, go out for movies and relaxation, or simply just stay at home comfortably for a good rest.

It looks like it’s going to be quite a short month. About less than 4 weeks of work this month compared to April when there is not a single holiday and there was like about 5 weeks of work. This is the month I’m not going to be stressed by work anymore as I think it should be the time for me to make the next step; take Master study abroad by middle of this year after three years of working in KL. Many of my friends have even graduated in Master already, and I should not be left behind.

On the other hand, today marks the start of the Expo Milano 2015. It is a universal exposition, held once in every five years in various developed cities across the world. The last edition of the expo is the highly publicized Shanghai 2010 World Expo. Remember that? So fast, that’s already half a decade ago. Now, world’s attention is on Milan, the host city of 2015 Expo from May 1st to October 31st (typical duration of 6 months). The central theme of the expo is ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life’.

Expo Milano 2015 will talk about the problems of nutrition and the resources of our planet. The idea is to open up a dialogue between international players, and to exchange views on these major challenges which impact everyone. Milan will become a global showcase where more than 140 participating countries will show the best of their technology that offers a concrete answer to a vital need: being able to guarantee healthy, safe and sufficient food for everyone, while respecting the Planet and its equilibrium. In addition to the exhibitor nations, the Expo also involves international organizations, and expects to welcome over 20 million visitors to its 1.1 million square meters of exhibition area.

A platform for the exchange of ideas and shared solutions on the theme of food, stimulating each country’s creativity and promoting innovation for a sustainable future, Expo 2015 will give everyone the opportunity to find out about, and taste, the world’s best dishes, while discovering the best of the agri-food and gastronomic traditions of each of the exhibitor countries. One of the highlights of the expo is also the many interesting exhibition pavilions constructed temporarily for the expo. My country, Malaysia’s pavilion looks good (designed based on seed form) and much better this time compared to the traditional-looking structure back in Shanghai 2010 Expo.

In conjunction with the opening of this global event, Expo Milano 2015, my blog’s header of the month will be dedicated to introduce and promote this wonderful expo to the world, especially to those who have not even heard of it yet. It’s important to broaden and expand our knowledge and exposure to all parts of the world. If you are the lucky ones who will be visiting the expo, you can share your thoughts here.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely wish to all my Malay friends, Selamat Hari Raya Aidifitri!

I’m actually quite jealous of this festival because it gets early every year. The reason is that the Islamic calendar is shorter than the Gregorian calendar, the normal calendar we used which has 365 days a year (366 for leap year). Based on Islamic calendar, there is only 355 days a year (10 days lesser). That’s why Muslim’s festivals are arriving quicker every time, including this Hari Raya, the most festive celebration for them.

It’s really worth celebrating for them since they have to go through one month of fasting in the Ramadhan month. I really admire the effort of not eating or drinking for a whole day before evening. And that has to go on for a month long. If I have to practice it, I think I’m going to be very exhausted and have no mood to do anything for the whole month. I’m going to faint easily too as I always have to eat and drink a lot to keep myself energized for daily tasks. Bravo to all fasting Muslims. You are great. Actually it’s nice to do fasting as it helps to save money from skipping the lunch.

But hey…a week ago, I saw few Malay kids eating at a stair near a lobby in a shopping mall during the fasting period. Isn’t that wrong? I guess they are literally too hungry and decided to eat, hoping not to get caught by anyone since they are doing so in a corner like hiding. But I saw them. Oppss…a bit awkward as I looked at them for about 10 seconds and they knew it. Fortunately, I’m not Malay, if not, they would be scolded for being against the religious practice.

Anyway, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri once again! Wishing you to have a safe journey for ‘balik kampung’ (returning to hometown) for the celebration. As for the others whom are not celebrating, have a happy holiday! Enjoy the longer weekend break!

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival (or Mooncake Festival or Lantern Festival or whatever you called it) to all my Chinese families, relatives, friends, neighbours, colleagues, or whoever out there reading this and do celebrate it! The festival which falls on the 15th day of the 8th month on Chinese lunar calendar is one of the most important festivals in Chinese tradition. It is even made a public holiday in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. But why not in Malaysia too? Hmmm….we felt sad of not getting a holiday for this major festival.

Anyway, forget about holiday and let’s put our focus on the positive meaning behind this celebration. This Mid-Autumn Festival is meant for whole family to gather together under the bright full moon, and is emphasizing on three fundamental concepts; gathering (family and friends), thanksgiving (give thanks for the harvest or for harmonious unions), and praying (moon worshipping in hope for conceptual or material satisfaction). Let’s make it simple; it’s all about family harmony. So, please do stay with the family today (it’s convenient since it’s Sunday and everybody is not going to work or school) and enjoy dinner and chats with mooncakes tonight. Kids can have fun and play lanterns and candles tonight.

Leave your tablets or smartphones away and indulge in the true meaning behind this wonderful festival. Have a try on delicious mooncakes, a bakery product which is specially made for this celebration. Now, there is a lot of variety to the flavours of mooncakes available for sale from many different brands here in Malaysia (Kam Lun Tai, Tai Thong, Overseas, Baker’s Cottage, etc). I love mooncakes, and since I can only eat them for only a short period of time in a year, I would be willing to buy many of them. Recently, not only I do bought two boxes of mooncakes from Tai Thong that cost me over RM100 (even after discounts) and additional two boxes of jelly mooncakes (another RM64 spent), but I also sometimes bought some mooncakes from a hawker stall that I frequently visited to buy my breakfasts in weekdays.

Mooncakes taste good and I especially like the original ones (lotus paste with yolk). I also enjoyed the snow-skin and the durian-flavoured ones. But buying many of them is very costly now. My wallet hurts. If I’m not buying them, my home would be empty without any mooncakes to taste (all my other family members didn’t really quite like mooncakes), and that would make the festival ’empty’ and ‘meaningless’ to my family. Anyway, I really ate quite a lot of mooncakes this year, since my generous colleagues were offering mooncakes in the office many times recently. I’m not tired of it (just like how I’m not tired of eating my favourite durian…haha).

Anyway, Happy Mid-Autumn Festival once again!

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Arrgghh…it’s Monday back! Monday blues…But wait, I shouldn’t be moody on this day that is supposed to be very special to me as the person behind this blog. Why? As the title of this post is very obvious already, my blog is marking its 7th anniversary on this day, 28th September 2015. My blog here was first created on the same date exactly seven years ago back in 2008. Time flies…and yet, I’m still here frequently updating my blog with strong passion after all these years.

On this day seven years ago, I made an important decision that added a new chapter in my life. Creating this blog is like giving birth to a vital piece of mine online that exists non-physically but stay strong in my mind, and hopefully unforgettable to my blog readers out there. Visiting and updating my blog has been part and parcel of my life in the past seven years and will continue to be like this for many years to come. Running a blog is easy, but keeping it frequently updated is a great deal.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my blog readers especially the ones that come back to visit more than once, my admired blog followers (over 200 as of current), those who left comments to my posts, and also those who just pass by my site for less than a few seconds since they also aided to generate higher number of views to my blog. A very big ‘Thank You’ to you all from the bottom of my heart.

7 years may not be very long, but I do realize by now how many hours and how much effort I have spent on producing over thousand of blog posts here so far. As of now, I have written a total of over 1650 posts, and I plan to end the year with at least 1700 posts. That’s quite an easy goal to achieve since there are still three more months left before end of 2015. I spent in average 40 minutes for a single post. Hence, we have 40 x 1650 = 66000 minutes. Divide that by 60 and I get 1100 hours. That’s how much I have spent on my site, not even yet adding in the time I put to clear up spams, approve comments, reply to feedbacks, check blog’s statistics, updating my blog’s header, check notifications, etc.

Truly dedicated on this blog. And for that reason, I think it’s necessary for me to feel proud and happy of what I have done on getting my blog to this far. It’s worth celebrating, but I’m not going to hold any banquet or party yet (since it’s still a small and a humble blog). A GIF image of fireworks display here will do. And by the way, do you realize that my blog’s header for this particular month (can be seen at the top most part of my site) shows a number ‘7’ which indicates the 7th anniversary my blog is celebrating today. Haha…Anyway, let’s share an amazing trivia here; Google is celebrating its 17th anniversary yesterday, Facebook had its 11th anniversary early this year, Youtube is founded 10 years ago, Apple’s iPhone first introduced 8 years ago, and my blog isn’t bad for being around for 7 years already too (eventhough it is much lesser known…haha).

It’s certainly a meaningful anniversary on this day for me! Love it. You too…enjoy your day! And thanks again for your continuous support to my blog…

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Happy New Year! Goodbye 2015 and welcome 2016! It’s a wonderful new year!

There is nothing more important on this first blog post of the year than to wish everyone a wonderful new year from the bottom of my heart! It’s the first day of the year, and so it’s holiday for everyone no matter where you are. Happy Holiday to everyone too, and enjoy this coming weekend break too. Nice…it’s a 3 days of continuous break again! First thing first, have you changed your calendar yet? Your 2015 calendar should be in dustbin already, and your 2016 calendar should be placed nicely in front of you now.

One of the best thing for me to do for new year’s celebration is to watch new year fireworks display in major cities across the world. I love fireworks! Eventhough it’s polluting the air but it is a must-thing for a countdown event like this very happening new year celebration. If there is no fireworks (no loud noise, no beautiful colourful display on the sky), then there is no feel or excitement to mark a new year. Thanks to some people from around the world who were very quick on uploading clips of them recording fireworks display from their respective places for the new year celebration last night that enabled me to watch them this morning already. And here are some of the clips:

London, United Kingdom – from London Eye ferris wheel with shots of iconic Big Ben tower.

Sydney, Australia – from Harbour Bridge with shots of iconic Sydney Opera House.

Hong Kong, China – from the water body as well as from several buildings out of the picturesque city skyline.

Taipei, Taiwan – from Taipei 101, former world’s tallest building.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – from Burj Khalifa, current world’s tallest building.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – from KLCC Park, in front of the Petronas Twin Towers, current world’s tallest twin buildings.

Beautiful fireworks, aren’t they? If you find the clips are too long (since the shows are that long), you can skip to the ending part where the climax would be when massive fireworks were put on to end it with loudest bang! These fireworks displays are so much better than the one from my own city, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We have beautiful landmarks like Petronas Twin Towers and KL Tower, but our pyrotechnics are very poor in style and scale. I recommend for example, for the fireworks at KLCC, they should not only be released out from the park at the ground level but also from the twin towers itself. Then, it would be so much more nicer just like how Taipei 101 or Burj Khalifa did it in all these years. It’s much more beautiful if fireworks came out from tall buildings and I’m sure Petronas Twin Towers can certainly do that too. I also suggest to have a synchronized fireworks display from several buildings in the city region just like Hong Kong or even we can be better than that too. Right now, we have one spot over here shooting out fireworks in a few minutes and then another spot few kilometres away doing the same. Why not combine them and put that into one mega-scale fireworks show of the city to celebrate the new year? Look at how the other cities did that and I’m certain that KL can do that too. On the other hand, my blog’s header of the month would be also none other than a spectacular image of fireworks display too.

Anyway, let’s forget about that. All the fireworks had already been released last night and it’s now a bright sunny morning on the first day of the year. We have for a moment thought of some major things that have happened to the world and to us personally in the past year, and now we shall look ahead and start setting goals for 2016 instead since this new year had already arrived. My goals would be to stay healthy and fit for the year, study hard and smart for my Master beginning this February at Australia, and also something else that I have not thought of right now just yet.

Happy New Year once again! Let’s wish for a great and a wonderful year ahead for everyone!

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web while the videos are from Youtube)

It’s the most festive time of the year again; the Chinese New Year celebration! I would like to wish to all my family, relatives, friends, colleagues, neighbours and my fellow blog visitors (yes, you!) a Happy Chinese New Year! I wish that we all will be blessed with great health and fortune in this lunar new year! I also wish that all of us would be having a prosperous and a very smooth year ahead! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Goodbye to the Year of the Goat! It has been a year of quite a number of ups and downs (mostly downs) especially for me who is also born in the year of goat, and hence expected to be not having a good year in 2015. That is over and now we welcome the Year of the Monkey in 2016! For this year, after being a little superstitious especially at this time of the year getting to listen and read to all the Chinese horoscope forecast, I discovered that those born in the year of goat (myself included) would be very good this year! Wow…the first thing on my mind is; Sure or not? Let’s hope so in the end.

Today is already the Chinese New Year’s Eve! It’s the day for all family members to gather together and above all, having the very important reunion dinner this evening. I have had reunion dinner with my family early this week already since I would be flying to Australia tonight with my parents for a vacation, hence no time for the dinner tonight. We had our reunion dinner outside in a nice restaurant and we tossed yee-sang too (typical tradition). There is nothing special about it but for me, it is always feeling great to see all of our family members seated together for a nice meal and chats along. It is harmonious. You will feel it later too. It is just so good.

This is also the time of the year again for me to post up some clips related to this wonderful Chinese New Year celebration which is also popularly known as Spring Festival in China. The first two clips are two wonderful advertisements for this year’s CNY by BSN and Petronas, and one more is from CCTV in conjunction with CNY last year about the essence of chopsticks, the traditional eating utensils by Chinese. I’m moved by these three clips:

Happy Chinese New Year once again! And for my other Malaysian friends who are not celebrating it, Happy Holiday to you too!

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Happy New Year everyone! Goodbye 2016…you have been a great year for me. Now, I’m wishing for a GREATER year in 2017 for me and you, everyone out there!

Time flies. We now step into another brand new year, getting prepared to welcome more exciting things in our life ahead. 2017 may not be perfectly good for everyone, but stay positive and you will get another wonderful year. I take this opportunity to wish everyone a great success and health in 2017. Hopefully everything will be smooth and well for me this year too, especially in my study as this is my crucial final year of my postgraduate study.

In conjunction with this new year celebration, my blog header for this first month of the year will be about fireworks! I love to watch fireworks display! Fireworks is always the best choice to celebrate some happy events or festivals eventhough it contributes to air pollution. Well, it’s not that we shoot fireworks to the sky every night. Fireworks explode above major cities across the world for countdown events to usher in this new year 2017 as usual. The visual (original source from NewsWorks) for my blog header which depicts view of the fireworks display from human eye-level perspective is cool and looks great at the top of my blog page here.

Happy New Year once again!

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

I’m wishing everyone a Happy Chinese New Year! This wish is particularly for my family, relatives, friends, neighbours, and to all Malaysian Chinese! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

The lunar new year comes early this year. This Chinese largest festival (known as Spring Festival in China) always falls on February every year. But for this time, it’s on end of January. We have just finished celebrating the new year 2017 and now we get to celebrate another one. Next year, this festival will be pushed back to February due to additional days in our lunar calendar once every four years.

We now say goodbye to the year of monkey and welcomes the year of rooster. Rooster is the main character this year and unfortunately, it’s also usually the main character in our Chinese dishes. Chicken dishes everywhere and my two nephews love to eat them the most.

This is also the time for us, the superstitious Chinese to check on our zodiac forecast of the year. I was born in the year of sheep and so my Chinese zodiac sign is sheep. I found out that this is going to be an average year for me, with nothing really bad or good happening. It’s a fairly flat year for me. I will take that. Well, I’m not superstitious but getting a knowledge of it is something not harmful either, so why not…

I had a fairly plain reunion dinner just now in a simple and affordable restaurant nearby. The important thing is not the cost of the food, but everyone being together on the table for this significant meal. It’s alright. We will be having a ‘grander’ dinner soon for the next weekend when my eldest sister and her family will join in too. I will be spending the first day of the Chinese New Year visiting some relatives and also watching a Chinese New Year movie in cinema hopefully. Then, from second day to sixth day of the celebration, I will be having a vacation in Hanoi, Vietnam with my parents. After coming back, I will be spending that coming weekend (next Saturday and Sunday) on Genting Highlands. That’s it. After that, it’s the end of my Chinese New Year celebration this year before I fly back to Perth, Australia near the end of February to resume the final year of my postgraduate study.

Let’s not talk that far yet. Now, is the time to get prepared to welcome this lunar new year with joyful mood, get dressed in new clothes, get angpows, meet relatives (and hopefully successfully dealt with all those questions from aunties and uncles asking about whether you have boyfriend or girlfriend already or not), gamble (who doesn’t like to play and hopefully win), attend friends’ gatherings, eat all those delicious new year biscuits and cookies, watch all the released CNY movies this year, light up firecrackers or fireworks, etc.

Once again, Happy Chinese New Year! May you have a blessed year ahead with good health and wealth! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri / Happy Eid to all Muslims across the world especially to my Malay friends in Malaysia! Have fun and enjoy in this festival after a month of dedicated fasting in the holy month of Ramadhan. Have a safe journey back home (balik kampung) and cherish the happy and festive moment with your family, relatives, friends, and neighbours. For the other Malaysians (me included) who are not celebrating, Happy Holiday!

I always envy this Hari Raya festival. It comes earlier every year because the Islamic calendar is shorter than the Gregorian calendar the whole world is using now. For our Chinese New Year festival, we are fixed to the time from January to February annually because our Chinese calendar has the similar number of days with the Gregorian calendar. Soon after, Hari Raya will get past us one round and clash with the Chinese New Year.

So for this Hari Raya holiday, I will be joining my parents for a short trip at Bangkok and Hua Hin, Thailand. We took on a 5 days 4 nights group tour which will begin tomorrow and ends on next Wednesday. I have been to Thailand twice in the past but this will be only my first time visiting its capital city, Bangkok. I’m looking forward to it. I’m hoping that I can see some great architecture over there like the traditional ones such as from its palaces and temples and the contemporary ones such as from its latest tallest building, Mahanakhon (designed by Ole Scheeren). You see, that’s the difference between a normal tourist and a people with an architecture background. You tend to search or look for different thing even when you are on a trip. I call it ‘architectural virus’ that has infected me for over a decade.

Besides than the bustling Bangkok, I am also anticipating for the visit to Hua Hin, a small beachside holiday town which is a few hours drive south from Bangkok. I think I need a time to get near to the nature and so this beachside attraction will be an ideal location. I have just returned from the airport few days ago, and tomorrow, I will be heading there again to catch the flight to Thailand. KLIA is now my frequent destination annually. If you want a tour in the airport, I think I can help on that without any problem. Haha…I have just unpacked my luggage few days ago, and now I have to pack it again for this trip. Will be back writing about this trip as soon as I’m back on next Wednesday!

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

The 29th SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia had just ended yesterday and now, we came to a big day in Malaysia! It’s our country’s 60th anniversary of independence!

Happy Independence Day to all Malaysians! Although I’m not in Malaysia now, but my heart stays in Malaysia! As I always said, I love my country (but not its government). Today is 31st August 2017, and on this day exactly 60 years ago, our nation proudly gained independence from the British. Without the effort by our first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman and his aids, our country would not be able to achieve what it is today.

This is the day when I was reminded how I love to decorate my class every year in this one month of national celebration with many Malaysian flags. They were hanged everywhere in the class and in the whole school compound. Our class would sometime even win the prize for best National Day decoration. On the other hand, I also love the competition whereby each classes will have all of their students performing chosen Merdeka (independence) theme song. What I love about it is not the singing but the practice and rehearsal sessions for this competition that will took away some of the normal class sessions. Haha…Time to sneak away from boring classes.

I have to admit that our country is not as united or harmonious as it seems to be. The past history and mentality of some citizens of the nation are still hindering the national effort to bring all people close together despite the differences in races, religions, cultures and backgrounds. Anyway, the country is still considered peaceful and great to live in. The Malaysian food is the best! The Petronas Twin Towers are our glory!

Last but not least, I would like to wish to all Malaysians a Happy Independence Day! 60th birthday, man! Enjoy the long holiday too! What’s my wish for the future Malaysia? Grow much faster, have the government changed for the good of everyone, have the currency value (Malaysian ringgit) increases as much as it can since the currency is so low now, limit number of immigrants in the country (obviously too many of them now) and more united with no more racism. We should not call ourselves Malay, Chinese or Indian but as a Malaysian!

“Selamat Menyambut Hari Kemerdekaan ke 60!”

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

This year’s Christmas falls on Monday. That’s great as it has turned our weekend a day longer, giving us more opportunities to go for a longer continuous break or a quick vacation. Same goes to the New Year’s Day next week that is also going to be observed on Monday.

Christmas in Malaysia is nothing besides than seeing the extravagant Christmas decorations in major shopping malls in the country. Visiting these malls is the only way to bring Christmas feel to the table too as they are air-conditioned (hence feeling like being in winter and away from the outside heat). There are also various spots to take lovely pictures with the decorations, Christmas music filling the air, and End Year Sale (shopping time!).

(Christmas decorations in Pavilion KL mall’s main atrium this year. This is one of the malls in KL that is spending a lot on decorations annually)

Christmas in Malaysia is more commercialized rather than religiously celebrated as Malaysia is a country with Muslim-majority, I’m not being racist here but I’m trying to send out a message on this festive season that peace and unity should come above all. That is integral to maintain the harmonious state of the nation that comprises of people of various races and religions. There is no place for extremist views. I felt angered and disappointed over incidents such as the ‘Muslim-only launderette’, ‘protest over just a cross sign in Muslim neighbourhood’, and ‘protest over Christian sculptures in a public park’ that happened in Malaysia in recent years. Where is the respect? I believe all religions promote peace and respect. There should never be a thinking that one religion is above another.

Alright. Let’s not destroy the festive mood. How will you be celebrating the day? For Malaysians, we would just be visiting the malls. But for my family, we didn’t even plan to do so as those places are going to be very crowded and traffic congestion is also imminent. We will try to avoid that by staying indoor for most of the day but that’s going to be boring. Hmm…we still don’t have plan for the day. I think we will sort it out and we are still going to enjoy the day!

For all Christians who are celebrating, have a wonderful Christmas! May your wishes come true and may you receive the Christmas presents that you long desire! Have an awesome day with your family and friends! Merry Christmas!

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)