Little Terrorist in Dubai

Here're more pictures of the little terrorizer...


Rare post-pregnancy, post-shingles family picture - Justin at 2 months old, China State Construction (Middle East) Annual Dinner, Grand Hyatt Dubai


Justin 3 months old - In front of Ski Dubai, Mall of the Emirates










4.5 months old - Starbucks at Debenhams, Mall of the Emirates


Justin 5 months old - Mirdif City Centre

Justin's Indian Adventure

Our house in Silchar, Assam

Looks like everything’s revolving around the little monster now. So, here’re photos of Justin’s adventure in India. This was an unplanned trip. We went home to see my Grandma in Malaysia because she was gravely ill. Not long after we got back, Grandma became somewhat better and was allowed to go home from the hospital. Since my Company’s asked me to take more leave as there’s little work to do in Dubai, we decided to skip over to India on our way back to Dubai. All in, that journey took 6 flights, on 5 different airlines, through 6 different airports (9 if you count the different terminals). Fun, but extremely tiring.


Justin with his grandmother, Anu's mom, in Fulertal, Assam


Indian baby with aunt Amrita in Fulertal


With his cousin, Sweety, in front of our house in Silchar, Assam


In our front yard, Silchar house


Justin on our bed


Living room, Silchar house


Salt Lake City Centre, Kolkata

When in China, do as the Chinese do

Double-headed lobster, China Sea Restaurant, Deira, Dubai

Yes, that’s what it feels like if you work for China State Construction. Although, strictly speaking, this is Dubai, we’ve not felt as much Arabian culture as we have felt Chinese culture. It’s like going back to my roots. I speak Mandarin (forced to) as a significant number of the staff in the Company speak ONLY Mandarin, OK, I admit it’s broken Mandarin, but as long as I can be understood… it serves the purpose right? I can type in Chinese (with a lot of guidance), I can read in Chinese more than what I used to be able to, my Indian wife can use the chopsticks very comfortably now, even for eating rice from a PLATE, all thanks to China State. So naturally when it comes to a celebration for our son, we chose to celebrate his 100-day old birthday (like what the mainland Chinese do) rather than his one-month old birthday (like how Malaysian Chinese do). It actually makes sense, as baby then would be calmer than when he was 1-month old, his mommy would be slimmer than right after birth, and his daddy would have recovered, slightly, from his acute sleep-deprived state right after birth.


Double-headed crab (actually everything is doubled because we reduced the number of tables from 2 to 1, but can't reduce the seafood already ordered, hehehe)


Some of the guests, from left - Kok Wah, Lynn, Ngo, James, Foo and Andrew


Justin slept through most of his birthday do.


A selection of the food ordered

The Butterworth Side of the Family

With Dad, Mom, Granddad, Grandmom and Auntie Doreen


Mom's eldest brother and wife, with Granddad, Grandmom and our little monster


The other brothers and their wives


Hazel and her cousins


More cousins


This is a family of connoisseurs - see! salmon & squid sashimi (OK Dad, I've corrected it like you pointed out - it's not tuna of course!)


Fud-thiu-cheong (Buddha jumps wall) - an exotic (and expensive) soup made with all seafood imaginable - allegedly so good that the Buddha jumped over the wall to have it - and I thought the Buddha was vegetarian (blasphemy's the last thing on a Chinese's mind by the way)


A roasted suckling pig - poor piggy


Abalone, mushrooms, foo-phey (I think) and broccoli


Having a feast of a time

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!)