Away with the Evil Spirits

Opening ceremony of a shop in Taman Desa, Kuala Lumpur

What's Chinese New Year without a lil bit of Lion Dance and fire crackers to scare away the evil spirits huh?


No idea who this is. Chinese Lions love green bananas I guess.


Lions going after their prize money (that bit of lettuce hanging on the porch) - lettuce, bananas and money, plus lots of noise, that's about all you need for the lions I guess.


Fire crackers as a finishing touch to make sure no evil spirits remain

CNY 2010 Ipoh

At the Mun Choong Restaurant in Pasir Puteh

Grandma’s condition has stabilized and we’re back in Dubai again, after 6 flights on 5 different airlines through 6 different airports in 3 different countries.

And that’s just for visiting our homes in Malaysia and India.

Anyway, I’ve finally downloaded the photos taken during Chinese New Year, so here’re some of them. Many of you would have seen some of these pictures on Facebook before, thanks to my suddenly Facebook-enthusiastic dad. Must be the joys of grandfather-hood, if there’s such a word.

Grandmother, be strong

My 93-year old grandma has just come out of the Intensive Care Unit. She had a bout of life-threatening pneumonia and other complications due to her advanced age. She’s not completely well yet, but her condition’s stabilized. Grandma, hold on OK? I am coming home.

It’s nice to hear that in these times of difficulty, so many family members visited her and chipped in to help with the medical bills. So many well-wishers prayed and donated blood which she needed. We don’t know how aware she is now of her surroundings. She’s been asleep most of the time for the past month, waking up dazed, not being able to speak coherently, not wanting to eat… She’s lost most of her strength, not being able to even lift a teaspoon or to hold a cup, let alone eat by herself. She’s wheel-chair bound when not asleep. Her biggest fear I know when we can still communicate was that she’d end up not being able to walk or to do things. She’s told me a few times that she wants to go back to be with God before this happens. This however is not the case. God has His own designs. Grandma is still here for a reason.

Last year, on her birthday, Granny told us to bring back a great-grandchild for her. We brought back Justin. This year during Chinese New Year, the most certain thing that’ll wake Grandma up from her deep almost day-long slumber was Justin’s crying. We feel blessed to be able to let Grandma hold Justin in her arms. Grandma, be strong OK? We’re coming home.


Grandma with Justin, Chinese New Year 2010

Helen in Dubai

With the Burj Al-Arab at the Souq Madinat Jumeirah

I have loads of pictures that I want to post in the blog, but the trouble is… I’m a classic procrastinator (and therefore things which happened in February and March, …and to a certain extend, January, are still in the memory card, in the camera). And so here comes pictures of our aunt in Dubai! At least these are quite recent, not like some of the pictures I’ve gathered and saved in the computer which I will post, eventually, before 2020 hopefully. See, Vision 2020 is not an exclusive term of Malaysia (Mahathir didn’t copyright it), India has it, heck, even Rwanda’s put 2020 as the year to achieve developed status (I heard it on Radio BBC yesterday). And at the rate we’re going, we might as well change ours to Vision 3030.


Souq Madinat Jumeirah


One of the shops in the Mall of the Emirates


In front of the big aquarium at Dubai Mall


The 828m high Burj Khalifa at night


In front of Al-Wasl Hospital where Justin was born


Atlantis, Palm Jumeirah

Sleepy after New Year

The Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur

Hello! Wishing anyone who reads this a Happy & Prosperous Year of the Tiger! I’ve just returned from a short 2-week break back home, the first Chinese New Year I’ve spent in Malaysia since 2005. This is a Chinese New Year of firsts for me, the first one with my wife and child, and the first time we gave angpows (and collected angpows at the same time, thanks to baby, we love you baby, for giving us spending money, hehehe).

For those I didn’t manage to meet, or to contact, please forgive me. We have 101 errands to do in 3 different cities, due to our long time away from home.

And that’s all I can think of writing for the time being. You know, it takes time to recover from a holiday break. Shit, am I sleepy… Here’re some random photos of Malaysia for the time being. Nope, there’re not recent photos, it takes time to download the photos from the camera to the computer ok?


Putra Mosque, Putrajaya


The foodcourt beside Putra Mosque




Scenes from the foodcourt beside Putra Mosque - like it or not, we somehow end up in Putrajaya on every trip back home. This time round it was for the kid's passport.


Anu, Jiko and the gods of good fortune, prosperity and longevity


From a shop in Sungai Wang (I think!)

One Month Old & Growing Fast

Here're more pictures of the little monster.




Justin, 1.5 months old, enjoying himself on his tasty little hand during a shopping trip at Souq Madinat Jumeirah.


Justin, enjoying his daily bath, 29 days' old


Naked baby, on the verge of being subjected to water torture by known assailant


Justin, 1-month old, with his typical owl impression


Justin, with his typical tomato impression, he'll turn as red as a tomato in time


2010 New Year's Day at the Mall of the Emirates, Justin's 1-month old birthday

New Year in the Desert

The road to Moreeb Dune, Liwa, UAE some 400km away from Dubai

These are pictures of what we did on New Year’s Day last year. Last year’s theme was, I felt, better. This year’s theme would have been ‘New Year with Shingles’ as I was down with the sickness from 29th December onwards. I’m just about recovered now. Shingles is the common term for herpes zoster or ‘snake’ in Chinese.




Anu's pre-mummy days

Tell somebody you have herpes whatever and the first thing you’ll notice will be a curious look (like a look wondering what you did to get yourself a herpes infection), or an embarrassed look, as if herpes is the scourge of the earth. Herpes zoster as I found out, is not the sexually transmitted disease that people commonly relate to as herpes. Shingles is caused by the chicken pox virus and resides in your nerve cells. When your immune system is weak, the virus comes up to the skin and creates a rash with blisters much like the chicken pox blisters. That’s my doctor’s story anyway. The best thing to get the body back into good shape is a good rest, and that’s why I was on sick leave for about a week. Anyway, the shingles have left a string of pock marks on my forehead so that I’ll look more rugged and manly the next time you see me.




Gary's pre-shingles days

Shingles or not, we celebrated our little baby’s one month old birthday by distributing red eggs and Fried Chicken (no, not KFC, some other local fried chicken) to my Malaysian colleagues and had a nice Chinese dinner on New Year’s Day with a friend here.


Our trusty old company pickup that brought us to the Moreeb Dune (Tal Mireb) and back, in one day, about 800km all in


Camels amidst the sand

Christmas Excursion 2009

Christmas Lunch at the Hatta Fort Hotel, UAE

I’m back with pictures. Our mission on Christmas Day last year was to get Auntie Helen’s visa extended. Malaysians are typically given a 30-day stay in the UAE upon arrival. As she had to stay more than 30 days, we had to literally skip to another country and back to get an extra 30 days on her visa. Either that or pay an exorbitant amount to have it extended in the immigration office here.

So off we went to Hatta, the town bordering the Omani border. Anu and baby hung around in the Fort Hotel there while we made a u-turn across Oman. So, for all you guys out there, Auntie Helen has officially been to Oman, even if it’s just going into the Omani Immigration Complex at the border to get her passport stamped.


Swimming Pool, Hatta Fort Hotel


Jiko, having a go at riding a camel


Jiko, somewhere at the UAE-Oman Border near Hatta


Desert scene at Madam, halfway between Dubai and Hatta


Madam, where the Dubai people go for desert safaris (i.e. driving their 4WDs and buggies into the dune sand)

Dubai Update: Goodbye 2009

2009 is fast coming to an end, and there are so many things that I did not do, especially when it comes to family and friends.

I did not manage to spend enough time with Grandma. Grandma is old, and is starting to lose some of her physical and mental capabilities. I want to be able to see her happy and spend some intimate times with her before she loses recognition of her surroundings. It’s been only less than a year since I last saw her and took pictures of her (see previous blog, Grandma's Birthday), but she’s aged considerably since according to my dad. She used to nag me …to take my bath, to eat, to talk nicer and be closer to my dad and mom, to not smoke, to not party so hard. I’ve stopped so many of my bad habits now, but will she know now?

She used to wait up at night for me to get home after a hard night’s drinking. She used to make soup and cook some dishes for me when she knows I’m coming home. Sometimes she botches up, like mistaking the day I’m coming or going, or mistaking which food I like. Thinking back, it doesn’t matter, it’s the thought and act that count and I really appreciate all that she’s done, but how can I show my appreciation?

I want to spend a little more time in Malaysia, to catch up with family and friends whom I’ve sort of lost contact with. All in, I’ve spent only one measly week in Malaysia this year, only enough time to celebrate Grandma’s 92nd birthday and to have some short bonding time with the family who’re around at that time. But that doesn’t mean that friends don’t mean anything to me. They’ve been there when times are bad, and of course when times are good. They’ve made me sane when I feel the world is all bleak and colourless. Some have helped a lot, even going out of their ways to do it. To these I should feel indebted, but how do I repay their kindness when sometimes I don’t remember. I am not the most sensitive of kinds, I am sometimes full of myself, thinking that all, should be done for my sake. I don’t want that to be true. And so, for the friends who happen to read this entry, I want them to know, that whatever is done, is appreciated, and I hope I can repay whatever kindness is shown to me and my loved ones.

To those I or my loved ones have caused hurt, or have ignored, whether intentionally or unintentionally, I ask for forgiveness. And I hope there will be a chance for me to make it up to you.

On a brighter note, 2009 is also an accomplishment of sorts for me. As some would have been aware, I became a father to a baby boy recently. I survived the recession intact (and I hope I continue to survive). And we’ve bought our own little house in India. It’s not much to go by, by modern standards, it’s a slightly weathered village-type house (timber columns, bamboo & mud partitions, zinc sheet roof) with a neat little compound in front, but still it’s our own home, and Anu and her sister’s family have made it quite nice and cosy.

Before I end, I wish all a Happy New Year! May 2010 be a wonderful and successful year for you and your family. May your careers be blessed with spurts of growth! May your families be ever more harmonious! May love, peace and hope pervade your every doing! May you and your loved ones be protected from harm and be in good health!

With love, Gary, Anu and our beloved little terrorist, Justin.

Our little bundle of joy

This is Justin, Day 1, born right after midnight on the 1st of December.

He was expected originally on 10th December. But he started giving us warning signs as early as Nov 22, that’s when Anu started leaking amniotic fluid. Early morning Nov 29, Anu had blood in her urine. We went to the hospital but they told us to wait, until the water breaks or when there was more pain ...like when Anu starts to cry and when the cramp comes every 3 minutes! That night, after picking Auntie Helen up from the airport, we went straight to the hospital. Anu was finally deemed to be in enough distress to be checked into the hospital at 3am on Nov 30. She was moved to the delivery room at 9.30am. The pushing stage started that night, at 10.30pm, after more than 12 hours, but it wasn’t until Dec 1 before the little fellow came out into the world.


Day 3 – Justin Nikhil Ong


Justin (Day 18) having a sunbath (to get rid of the jaundice) and doing what he does best – cry.


Justin, with Ravini, our colleague’s daughter, doing another thing he does best – sleep, we prefer this activity.


Day 11 – Baby with eyes wide open, for a change. He usually likes to wake up only in the wee hours of the morning, when everyone else is sleeping.


Baby with Jiko in front of the Malaysian Consulate General in Dubai