New Year Resolution 2014

New Year Resolution, the list that makes you look incredibly lousy every December.

It's time to fill myself with dreams that probably will remain as dreams.

New Year Resolution 2013

Time flies. 

And the world didn't end. By the way I didn't even bother to write "survive the 2012 apocalypse" in my last new year resolution because we all knew it's nonsense.

Christmas For The Godless Flock

I've spent 23 Christmases at church, two at home. 

I know and understand the meaning of Christmas for Christians, but back in the days I couldn't understand how atheists and godless people perceive Christmas. I thought the whole purpose of Christmas for atheists was just to buy gifts, get drunk and have sex. 

Chinese New Year 2012

Time flies. I flew back from Sibu yesterday and my CNY is officially over.

Pantun Tahun Baru 2012

Tiap-tiap hari hujan lebat
Sehingga air membanjiri muara
Pasukan Harimau Malaya semakin hebat
kembali merangkul kejuaraan Asia Tenggara

Image: bharian.com.my

Iphone baru ada aplikasi Siri
Samsung pun memperkenalkan Samsung Galaxy
Tahun 2011 ramai orang kenamaan mati
Osama, Kim Jong Il, Steve Jobs dan Gaddafi

Image: telegraph.co.uk

Menonton TV di rumah sendiri
Buletin Utama melaporkan berita terkini
Isu GSTT masih belum selesai

Kementerian Pelajaran tak boleh pakai

Musim tengkujuh melanda Terengganu
Merosakkan bot, sampan dan perahu
Ekonomi Eropah menjunam macam batu

Rakyat menderita tiada arah tuju

Image: plus.google.com

Pak Belang di negeri Kelantan
Burung Pegar di Irian Jaya

Kebangkitan rakyat Timur Tengah menjatuhkan kerajaan

Mesir, Tunisia, Yemen dan juga Libya

Image: sanfranciscosentinel.com

Rakyat Palestin hidup sengsara
Menerima bedilan senjata Yahudi
Tahun 2011 tahun bersejarah
Palestin kini anggota UNESCO PBB

Image: un.org

Masakan sendiri sedap sekali
Ikan keli masak lemak cili api
Tahun 2012 kian menghampiri
Semoga kalian bahagia dan sentiasa diberkati

New Year Resolution 2012

It's time for New Year Resolution again~~
Oh btw I hate the fact that I'm living here amidst all the construction sites, and they work even on Saturday. This is so WTF.
By the way these are what I'd wished for last year:

圣诞节 2011

今天是圣诞节。
再过五天就是鬼佬新年咯。
时间过得可真快呀。。

农历新年 2011

回到家里，每天被妈妈叫来叫去，做这做那的。。
大家农历新年快乐~~

今年团圆饭总算有节省点儿了，不然又会像往年一样，剩菜一大堆。

老妈子做的烧肉。

接下来就是放鞭炮时间。邻居大方的烧钱。

其他邻居们不甘示弱的秀出他们烧钱的能力。

这个美，像圣诞树一样。

五彩缤纷，天上布满乌云。不要误会，不是下雨，而是鞭炮所产生的烟太多了。

熊熊烈火，犹如火鸟一般。令我想学高凌峰唱：燃烧吧，火鸟！

会不会像 AVATAR 里的情节？

我本人最喜欢这一个。远了点，但是很美。有立体感。

接下来的日子就是：
每天等客人来，看爸爸，爸爸有在家，
我请客人先坐下，看看有没有带小孩。
带小孩的，就要提醒爸妈派红包。
然后冲水给客人喝，然后乖乖坐一旁听大人们讲话。

这就是我哥，我姐，还有我每年过年的生活。。。我们又少去拜年，因为爸妈人缘好，大把人要来我家拿红包。所以爸妈经常离不开家。我们做孩子的又哪里舍得让父母在家招待六十至七十个客人呢？

所以咯，千万别搞政治。过年都没得休息。



Malcolm

Going Back Home 2011

Chinese New Year falls on the 3rd of February 2011. So why am I coming back so early?
Good question.

Thaipusam 2011

Thaipusam, or sometimes known as Thaipooyam, is a Hindu festival celebrated by Hindus to commemorate the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a vel(a spear) to destroy the evil demon Soorapadman.

Batu Caves is the place where millions of Hindus in the Klang Valley converge to celebrate the event.
I woke up early in the morning, 3:15am to be exact, brushed up and went in Ivy's car. Btw I find her car extremely clean.

Thaipusam is celebrated on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai(January/February). So the moon was really pretty that night-captured using 55-200mm zoom lens.

On route to the cave, we walked pass this building and I was kinda disturbed upon seeing the number of air conditioning unit for this single building. Imagine the amount of electricity required to power up those machines and more importantly, the amount of pollutants such as CFC released into the air(though not many modern air conditioning unit still uses the CFC, but it's still disheartening.

Look at the wave of devotees flocking into the cave! Btw I guess the big statue there is the statue of Murugan, as he is holding a spear in his right hand. There are 272 stairs leading to the cave.

This dude has got pots of milk hooking on his body. This form of self-sacrifice requires the devotee to undergo a 48-days fasting as well as performing elaborate ceremonies before the Thaipusam. Staggering stamina. We could hear people calling out velvel! velvel! along the way. It's a form of encouragement for the devotees, and it literally means "spear", which was given by Parvati to Murugan.

Upon reaching the cave, there is a priest waiting to take off the hooks from their body. They would then pray and do some ceremony. Oh btw the guy just fainted.

There are various forms of Kavadi, the easiest being carrying a pot of milk. Heavier or larger kavadis involve hooks stuck into the back and either pulled by another walking behind or being hung from a decorated bullock, with the point of incisions of the hooks varying the level of pain. The greater the pain, the more god-earned merit.

Alright I didn't know that Theirry Henry is a Hindu, and that Batu Caves has got his attention.

The people are burning plastic bags. Sorry to say but it's really sickening to see the bags going up in flame and no one seems to be bothered at all, except perhaps Ivy and myself.

There is no stick. Don't worry, I understand what you're trying to convey dude XD

Stalactite hanging above us. I could sense droplets of water in the cave. Imagine if one actually falls...

Night view of KL city from the entrance to the cave. Panoramic view-thanks to the photographer.

This explains why cows are exalted by Hindus. But I couldn't find the name of the goddess.

This is funny. I saw something rising upward in the sky, and I thought it was a lantern or something, so I took out my zoom lens and snapped a shot, and zoomed in... EPIC FAIL TWEETY.

Outside the cave there is temple dedicated to the Monkey King Hanuman. He appeared in the Rayamana, helping Rama to defeat the demon king Ravana. Awesome statue.

The girls went to had their hands tatoo-ed. RM 5 per hand.

Ahhh... so this is the right way of using a tripod huh? How do you know it's snapping the right target?

This is another sickening view besides the plastic-burning incident. A stall was giving away free roti canai and the people discarded the polystyrene everywhere. It shows that we haven't really evolve.

This river I think acts like the Ganges River. Devotees go in the river and clean themselves. Just like her Indian counterpart, this river isn't really clean though..

 This man of god has a spear through his mouth. He is deciphering the man's fate for the coming year.

 I had my arm tattoo-ed as well. Great muscle, I know =P... oh and fair skin XD

 They had their tattoos modified cuz they weren't happy with the first tatoo.

 Saman is the way of Malaysian. Love it. RM 300 gone on the day of Thaipusam.

Nikon D7000. If only I have sufficient cash to convert my D60 to a D5000...cheaper than D90 but it has video recording ability.

All in all, it was a great experience really. I saw for the first time people actually puncture their mouth and tongue with a spear, and according to them it boasts no scar. o.O unbelievable? I know.

Experiencing a new form of culture is really cool. I don't mind coming back for another Thaipusam next year because in every kavadi I sensed the spirit and dedication of Hindu devotees to their gods, and that is worth a thousand rounds of applause.



Malcolm.
info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaipusam

Pantun Tahun Baru 2011

Ah Meng bangun pagi pagi
Rupanya sudah tahun baru
Selamat datang saudara-saudari
mari-mari ke blog aku

Ah Meng pergi berus gigi
berus gigi jatuh dalam jamban
berita lama berita terkini
semua pasal korupsi kerajaan

Ada udang di sebalik batu
ada jerung di tengah laut
ekonomi Malaysia teguh macam batu
tapi kerajaan janganlah kedekut

Image: ohbest.blogspot.com

Harga petrol naik turun
hati pengguna melonjak-lonjak
bangunan parlimen alami kebocoran bila hujan turun
hati Sami Vellu pulak menlonjak-lonjak

 Ada bajet untuk bangunan 100-tingkat tapi takde bajet nak pasang paip di bangunan Parlimen? Kah kah kah.. Image: agendadaily.com

Ada lembu di tengah jalan
sana sini ia berkeliaran
pilihanraya umum masa hadapan
janganlah ada MP yang kesesatan

The most controversial political defection in Malaysian history happened in Perak when 3 Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen, with the help of MACC and money politic defected to BN in February 2009.  Image and info: bukittunggal.com

Ada pondan pula di tepi jalan
menjual jambu dan juga ubi kentang
Ada toyol dalam barisan kerajaan
membuat segala macam perkara sumbang

Image: sukns.blogspot.com

Orang ramai saling memijak
mengapalah nak mencari gaduh tak tentu pasal?
Ahli politik yang kurang bijak
jangan lagi menyuruh orang cina dan india balik negara asal

ni surat bukti sume kedai toto gua yang punya! Image and info: tukartiub.blogspot.com

Apa-apa perkara buruk yang telah lalu
janganlah kita simpan dalam hati
Rakyat Malaysia semuanya bersatu padu
bersama menjadikan tahun 2011 tahun bestari.



Malcolm