Remnant of an Empire

Hey, isn’t that the Colosseum? But why are there camels??

The news of the Russia-Ukraine war is highly disturbing. To me, nothing justifies war. Is it really necessary to bomb and kill countless innocent people to teach another nation a lesson? To deter them from going against your wishes? Are you their overlord? Toe the line or die? Any person who does that (i.e. invade, kill) to a non-cooperative neighbour would be guilty of manslaughter, murder, etc, etc, etc. But when governments fight, all gloves are off, I guess.

Despite the clear circumstances of Russia being the aggressor here, unfortunately, there’re still scores of people (especially from the east, the China-Islamic sphere of influence I call) who’re blaming the west. I don’t completely blame them. Some of the west’s actions are clearly self-centred and aimed at undermining their opponents, like this time where the USA can easily declare that Ukraine isn’t gonna be admitted into the NATO. Simple, right? Nah, not apparently for the US. Maybe they want the war to happen. There’s nothing to lose for the US, and everything to lose for the Russians and the Ukrainians. But still, it is the Russians who blatantly invaded an independent country whose people had chosen to go their own way. Is that acceptable? Did Ukraine attack Russia or carry out any acts of aggression against Russia? I dunno what Putin actually wants. To recreate the USSR’s sphere of influence before the collapse of communism? He should understand that it’s not gonna be so easy if the people decide to resist. Just look at Yemen and see how long the Saudi-led coalition is stuck battling a ragtag group of tribal clans.

Borders are manmade and they change throughout history, especially when empires break apart, and new nations are born. We’ve seen that in the Mongol Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the British Empire, among others. The USSR being a successor of the Russian Empire is no different. Isn’t it better to win a nation by an act of benevolence, than by the use of force and fear? Especially in this age of information? I don’t see any nation that’ll stay content if their nation is forced to accept the lordship of another foreign nation, whether they’re related or not. Anyway, I hope Russia stops the war soon, and some settlement is reached. Pray that no more civilians die or lose their homes. Pray that normalcy and sanity returns. Pray that Ukrainians and Russians can live together again. Choose peace, not war. There’re a lot of reasons for peace, if both sides can just forget about bloody defence and weapons. I’d love to visit Russia and Ukraine. In fact, in Dec 2019, we were choosing between Ukraine and Tunisia to visit and finally settled on Tunisia, due to the blizzard in Ukraine. And we had planned to visit Russia in the summer of 2020 if friggin COVID hadn’t hit. I’ve aborted visiting Russia numerous times since 1995, when I was a student in the UK and nearly booked an Aeroflot flight transiting Moscow en route from Manchester back to KL. Looks like it’ll take some time for it to materialize, sigh…

Talking about empires and holidays, here’s a picture post about an empire long gone – when the Romans ruled North Africa.


This is the El Jem Amphitheatre in El Jem, Tunisia


It is nearly 1800 years old and was the amphitheatre of the town of Thysdrus during Roman times

We stayed a night in an El Jem hotel in between our journey from Kairouan to Gabes, and visited the amphitheatre in the morning. This is the best ‘reasonably priced’ hotel we’ve stayed in so far as a family! Just look at the bathroom!!


Bathroom of the Hotel Julius, complete with a smackin Jacuzzi!


The boys loved it! Till now, they talk about going back to Hotel Julius!


The hotel upgraded us for free. It was some sort of a suite I think, separate bedroom and living room, with generous amounts of bath soaps, shampoos, toiletries, towels, coffee, tea sachets, etc. And there’s even a large balcony with a nice view of the city and the amphitheatre. What more can we ask for? – View from Hotel Julius, El Jem, Tunisia

The only problem with the hotel, was that it seems to be the favourite meeting place for the locals and their cigarettes, effectively converting the entire lobby into a huge smoking room. And because the hotel rooms are on the upper floors of the hotel surrounding the large central open lobby, the smell of smoke seeps into the rooms. We resorted to stuffing towels below the room door to keep the cigarette smoke out, and luckily our bedroom had a separate door from the living room…


The smoking lobby…


View of El Jem city from the amphitheatre. The yellow building in the middle left, below the communication tower, is Hotel Julius, and the 2 upper windows just left of the dome, was our room


Justin, dwarfed by the immense ruins…




Ruins of the Thysdrus Amphitheatre, El Jem, Tunisia


This is the underground part where the gladiators and lions are kept I suppose


Bye! Family pic, El Jem Amphitheatre, Tunisia, Dec 2019

A Day for Flowers

A farm of flowers, Asimah Village, Fujairah Emirate


Happy Valentine’s Day! Now, if only I know what to get the missus… Of course, there’ll be flowers, that’s friggin MANDATORY (even if it costs a bomb on Valentine’s), that and a card. That’s a really small price, compared to the things she’s done for me. I’m talking about the other gift… ummm… gimme some inspiration, God.

Anyway, here’s a quick picture post of a flower farm we visited last year just for the occasion. It’s in Asimah village in the Emirate of Fujairah.














Flower Farm, Asimah, Fujairah, UAE


Flowers & hills, a view from the Al Taiba Heritage Museum, Fujairah Emirate, UAE


And I’m chucking in photos of the nearby Al Taiba ‘Haritage’ Museum also. This is a ‘museum’ set up by some locals for the benefit of all. Entrance is free!




Al Taiba Heritage Museum


And here’s another free place, next to the Heritage Museum, the Flag Fort, with views of the oasis nearby.

Have a lovely Valentine’s all of you! Now, gotta go gift hunting…

Justin’s Last Year of Childhood

Justin, at Oli-Oli, Dubai, half a month after his 11th birthday, Dec 2020

Justin’s finally becoming an adolescent. He turned 12, two months back. To all of us, he’s a kid, but try booking an air ticket or a hotel stay for him, and you’d find him grouped with the adults! COVID has just made us lose out 2 years of all the fun we could have travelling when he’s just a kid. Here’s a look back at his 12th year’s adventures (it’s only 2 months late, OK?). Like his 11th year, this was a complete year of being stuck in the UAE. UAE’s not bad actually (but just imagine the money we would’ve saved while travelling when Justin’s just a ‘kid’.)


A day at the zoo. Justin’s not really a fan of animals (unlike Jayden), but any outing’s better than none, Dubai Safari Park, Jan 2021


I can flyyyyyy! One of his favourite activities at home, especially when he’s thinking, or in between doing something, like practicing his guitar, or piano… He’s a restless boy, …when he’s not on his computer or tablet that is


At Wadi Shawka, Ras Al Khaimah (the southern part), Feb 2021 – The emirate of Ras Al Khaimah (or RAK for short) is divided into 2 parts which are not joined together. The capital (which is also named Ras Al Khaimah), international airport, ports, etc, are all in the north part of RAK. Southern RAK is an inland exclave consisting of hills, wadis and rural villages near the town of Hatta which belongs to Dubai. (Yup, it’s complicated. Just Google it, willya?)


An outing to a flower farm in the hill village of Asimah, Fujairah, Mar 2021


Another adventure, Wadi Ghub, Fujairah, Mar 2021 – This was our last hiking trip / picnic for the winter season of 2020-2021. From April onwards, the heat goes up and we’d have to wait for the end of the year to get out again!


Oh, stuck in the house again. Playing with his new instrument now, the piano! No, couldn’t find a teacher, so he just used YouTube tutorials, you know the ones where coloured bars fall onto the piano keys where you were supposed to play. He’s getting quite good at it actually. Who says it couldn’t work? – May 2021


The end of Year 6, yippee! Here’s an end-of-the-year outing with his Year 6 classmates at Bounce, Dubai, a trampoline park – June 2021. Some of his best friends are here: from the left, Matei (from Romania), Anton (from Vietnam) and Shaun Linz (from India)


Their first ice skating! At the Galleria Ice Rink, Hyatt Regency Dubai, Jul 2021. Not that difficult, said Justin. Actually, April, May, June and July were the ‘skating months’, where the kids spent almost every other weekend in the Skate Park at Nshama Town Square, with Justin skateboarding and Jayden on roller skates, but somehow, I failed to save many of the photos of those few months into my hard disk. Many of them are gone now from Anu’s phone unfortunately…


After watching La Perle by Dragone, at Al Habtoor City, Dubai – Aug 2021. La Perle is a water-themed theatrical acrobatic show created by the renowned Belgian theatre director, Franco Dragone who was one of the key architects of the famed theatrical circus, the Cirque du Soleil. The La Perle show is staged in a custom made aquatic theatre with pools that can overflow and waterfalls and rain that suddenly appear… Nice!


A trip to Abu Dhabi! At Al Wathba Long Salt Lake – Sep 2021. Finally, a relaxation of the Abu Dhabi border pandemic controls, after more than a year. This is the family’s first trip into Abu Dhabi after ummm… 3 years maybe…


Dubai Expo 2020 opens! …In 2021. Ahhh, what the heck, at least it opened. And it’s fabulous, so many things to see, so many concerts and performances. Here’s Justin trying to 'lift' the Mobility Pavilion, Alif – Oct 2021


At the Kyrgyzstan Pavilion, Dubai Expo2020, Oct 2021


Happy Diwali! Nov 2021


‘A Diwali gift for me?!! Thanks Mommy!’


Justin’s 12th Birthday at home, with a few friends! Jamal (sitting, in red) is a classmate from Kyrgyzstan. The brothers Malik (left), Musab (centre) and Moaz (right) from Egypt stay in the same apartment block as us and go to the same school as Justin and Jayden (the school is just next door to our apartment and can be seen from our house). Moaz and Malik are in the same grade as Justin (although Moaz is a year older than Malik) and Moaz is Justin’s classmate. Musab is in the same grade as Jayden but in different classes

That’s it. And here’s wishing all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous Chinese New Year to those who’re still celebrating!! !! !!

The City of Boiled Eggs

Rotorua Museum, Rotorua, New Zealand

Gong Xi Gong Xi. Gong Xi Fa Cai! Chinese New Year is knocking on the door, and it looks like it’s gonna be another fabulous Chinese New Year, …in lockdown!

Ah well, at least we can save some angpow money (gotta look at things on the bright side, don’t we?) …Until someone decides to create an e-Angpow app that is!

Oh God, continue to give us hope. Keep us all safe and healthy. Help those who are in trouble to overcome their problems. Mend broken relationships. Help people forgive each other and make this world a better place. Make the economy thrive again. Give my company big, grand projects so that all of us can keep our jobs, and get an increment, and a promotion. Make things go back to “normal” (but what is normal nowadays)??..

Well, since we got no place to go, and I don’t have any Chinese-y photos to post, here’re some pictures of a time we spent together with family, some time ago (in 2018 to be exact) in New Zealand. Here we go!


Anu and the kids, at the Government Gardens, Rotorua, New Zealand, Dec 2018

This is Rotorua, New Zealand, which my nephew Jared says smells like boiled eggs. And he’s right, it does smell like eggs! Actually, ummm… to me, it smells more like the gas you pass out after eating eggs. And that’s thanks to the natural gases (hydrogen sulphide) that comes out from the ground in the form of hot springs, bubbling mud pools and geysers! Heck, there’re even places called Sulphur Point and Sulphur Flats! That’s because Rotorua happens to sit inside a friggin VOLCANO! Yup, you read correct. Lake Rotorua is actually the caldera of a volcano that erupted 240,000 years ago, and judging from all the geothermal activity that’s still active, I’d guess that the volcano isn’t exactly extinct. Well, guess I wouldn’t be moving to Rotorua (unless there’s a job offer of course, hehe).


Sulphur Flats, beside the hotel that we stayed in, the Sudima Lake Hotel, Rotorua




More photos of Government Gardens, Rotorua


With the boys and some scary looking tiki statuettes, at Prince’s Arch & Gateway, Government Gardens, Rotorua


Lake Rotorua, Rotorua, NZ – What’s the Indian and South Korean flags doing here?


Yours truly at Lake Rotorua – Hey, can we get on those sea planes in the lake?


Lake Rorotua is formed from a caldera of a volcano which erupted ummm 240,000 years ago, before modern humans even existed. In the background is the lone island inside the lake, Mokoia Island




More views of Lake Rotorua, it was a really windy day when we visited, brrrr… (although this was the peak of summer in NZ)


Mommy with the boys and Jared in Rotorua. Jared’s mom had to tend to Jared’s baby sister, Skye, and Dad and Hazel decided to accompany her and catch up on some rest in the hotel (this was not their first time in Rotorua, ...unlike us)




Kuirau Park, with geothermal hot springs and bubbling mud pools


Tired? You can dip your feet in the free hot water springs in Kuirau Park, Rotorua, NZ

Before I go, here’s to wishing all a happy, vibrant and happening new year, filled with opportunities, success and hope. Here’s to wishing the world a recovery from the effects of the pandemic. Let us step out and make this world a better place again.

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On a more solemn note, 2 days ago, Anu’s younger sister, Amrita gave birth prematurely to a baby boy only after 6+ months of pregnancy because of fibroids in her womb. The baby was on life support but unfortunately, weakened and passed away later in the day. Mother is still in pain from the fibroids, birth and is greatly distraught over the loss of her child. Oh God, take care of the little baby who’s gone back to you, heal Amrita of her pain and condition, give Amrita and Rahul the strength to overcome this loss and to strengthen their relationship to create an ever happier and closer family going forward. Thank you Lord. Amen.