2011 June short travel Day 6-10 out of 10

Tight curve, windy road, sharing it with bicyclists, sedan cars and tour buses was along this 45km, descending from 1000m above sea level down to the actual land. There wasn’t any rest station along this road except for a touristy waterfall halfway. Something was grinding in my stomach as soon as we set off from Teoh Yong Meng Nursery. I tried all ways to dissolve the pain using all methods I could think off. Looking at the narrow curves, the bushes available were along a deep gradient downhill.

The pain comes and goes. I told Sam about it and she had the same pain.

It must be last night dinner, the coconut curry at the Indian restaurant. The accusation towards the dinner would make us better, it didn’t. After turns and turns, the only hide out was behind a big rock along a flat road by chance. We did it there.

Wait, did I mark a waypoint on my GPS?

Our objective for the day was to attend the presentation from Simon and Lisa Thomas in Shah Alam. We wanted to see them as we had many friends in common inside Facebook, also, would like to hear them sharing. Why not wait for them to come to Singapore? I know that it is not an easy task for other non Asian riding their bike into Singapore. Other than the usual document the have, they will need produce the following at the customs/immigration of singapore:

1) international Circulation Permit. Can be processed at the Automobile Association of Singapore. (How are they going to produce this document where they have not entered Singapore? Most of them parked their bike in Malaysia, take public transport to the Automobile Association of Singapore to purchase that piece of ICP, then take it back to Malaysia, then they ride their bike over to Singapore with that paper. That is absolute nonsense and not travel friendly!)

2) To produce certificate of insurance. ( motorcycle insurance in Singapore is expensive. These companies does not sell 1 or 2 week’s insurance duration. They only sell a ONE YEAR insurance. Or even they sell the 1 week insurance for our foreign friends, they will charge at a ridicules price.)

3) Buy an Autopass at the custom office. Does that covers the ERP charges in Singapore?

4) If any overseas bikers stay at my house, they have to purchase the $16 season parking or $0.60 for half day parking.

The reason for international bikers to come to Singapore is to ‘mark attendance’ or to get their bike repaired or to get their bike shipped out, usually to Australia. Do you think they want to ride the famous Orchard Road, 99 turns @ south buona vista or take a picture with the Merlion and their bike?

So, knowing that high chances of them not coming to Singapore, Sam and I went to look for them and attended their 2-3 hours presentation which they were doing it for free.

One of the most rewarding part by attending their presentation was meeting up with someone that had always given us encouragement and support during our 2 and half years round the world trip. We often contacted each other via Internet because he had been following our blog.

---Amzah, it’s our real pleasure to be able to meet up with you.---

The fruitful presentation ended around 1130pm and we will try to arrange Simon and Lisa Thomas to come to Singapore for a presentation… thou up to date, those guys weren’t very keen. Will try our best mate!

Not knowing where to stay at Shah Alam, we traveled as fast as Hope Too could, to the south, about 150km. It had been a long time that I had not ridden in the night. I had little confident. Looking at the mirror, I couldn’t guage how fast the vehicle behind me was coming at the speed. If I were to over take the slow truck in front, I need to consider Hope Too’s capability, even we were at our max speed of 120km. I do not know when will the engine oil be emptied. Sam was real tired. The seat is killing us. We need a place to secure Hope Too, good shower, air conditioned, clean and affordable. After 2 hours, we reached:

Fairwell Hotel

N2 11.318 E102 15.526

RM$64 at weekends, RM$54 at off peak seasons.

The next day, June 12, we wanted to feel about staying in a ‘funky’ hostel like other back packers did.

http://www.discovery-malacca.com/?Welcome

Discovery Café and Guest House

3 Jalan Bunga Raya, Melaka, Malaysia. Tel: 06-2925606

GPS:

N 02° 11.779’

E102° 15.053’

If you gonna check in on a high season, make a reservation and ask to stay at the same building as the café is. Our room is the best: room 6 at level 3. If not, the bike will be parked securely at the café office and will be lead opposite the road to another shop house that turned into hostel. Option B will be good if you mind the daily live music at the café.

Generally, it is clean and the facilities were up to our standard of living. Hope Too was parked in the compound and in the night, dogs guarded it. We tried coming back very late in the night and no way we could get near the bike within 5 meters without the dogs barking. Then the caretaker woke up and minded the situation.

The Nepalese receptionist was friendly, helpful AND understanding. This place truly has a taste of Malacca. In the daytime, it is two streets away from the touristy area. In the night time, it is along one of the many food stall street.

We visited the Zheng He Museum. Recommanded. For RM$10 person, there was a free short guide by them and lots of things to see. Zheng He actually sailed from China 7 times out, to the furthest is Africa and Middle East. They brought back some Giraffe to China. It was a gift from the Africa king. Zheng He sailed way before Columbus did. When we saw the ship of Zheng He as compared to Columbus, we laughed our tummy out!

---A Chinese type writer. There are so many 'Alphabets'. Never seen one before in my life.---

---The night of Malacca. All these photos were taken by Samantha's Mobile phone: HTC Desire S.---
---the 'Lok Lok' stall. it is a mobile food stall. the platform on the picture is actually the back of a truck.---
---the view from our guest house.---

Whenever we visited Malacca, Crystal would always be mentioned in our story.

The first night, she wanted to bring us to a Portuguese settlement and have some Nonya-Portuguese food. It was closed on a Sunday. The second night, we went again at 6pm. It was closed but she managed to call up.

Papa Joe came a few minutes later on his scooter. It was a restaurant cum bar. Bar has only a long table and behind the long table is where the bartender, Joe, works. His wife was in charge of the delicious cooking in the restaurant but was on leave that day. So we ordered the almost similar food from his neighbor and were brought in to the bar.

The Portuguese came to Malacca in the 1500s and were considered the very first few immigrant of Malaysia. They lived from then till now in this settlement, being part of Malaysian. The perks that the Portuguese descendant has are almost equivalent to the Bumi Putra of Malaysia. Now the state of Malacca had declared this settlement as a heritage area.

---Not sure about this Restoran De Lisbon, never visit.---

Joe is about 70 years old. He is dark looking and if he has not told us about his genes, he

looked as ordinary as any other Malaysian. Joe has his own entertainment team, which perform Portuguese culture dance and music. If there were large group of tourist coming to his restaurant, he would perform for them. It was a cozy chat with Joe. He showed us some old photos and of some special visitors that came to his restaurant. One of them was Singapore’s ex-president, late Mr Wee Kim Wee. Joe is so famous in this settlement and news about the presence of these intimate Portuguese descendants in Malacca alarmed the present day Portugal in Europe. Portugal invited Joe over to visit Portugal and got to understand more about the descendants in Malacca.

More people joined in. Andrew De Mello, a musician, would looked much like an American Red Indian if he were to be in the costume, especially with his long hair and tattoos. Papa Joe’s son came in too. He looked exactly like a Chinese man in his mid 30’s as Joe married a local Baba-Nonya lady. An Indian doctor sat at the other side of the bar talking to Crystal, a regular couple just to drop by to chill out with everyone and a fisher man that would speak his heart out to everyone in the bar. Except for the couple and the Indian doctor, all of them could speak Portuguese.

Mid of June, the settlement will have a festival similar to the Carnival of Latin America, Fiesta San Petro.

Most of them were Catholic.

After I had 8 mugs of beer and was about to order my last beer, Joe took the guitar and sang, just for the few of us. The moment he open his mouth and the first phase of Portuguese song came out, the notes did not went into my ears but it vibrated me on every hair on my body. My eyes looked at him with his passionate love for music and life while he was singing. My nose wanted to breath more of the Portuguese air created in this small litter pub. I was certainly very touched by his singing, his character and of course, the beer. There is no technology on this world that can record or express my feelings at that time to you.

I asked Joe:

So many things had happen and you are such a famous person. Do you have any dreams?

Joe paused for a while, looking at the air and he shook his head:

No, or maybe, yes, I want to live happily, like now.

After drinking the beer at Papa Joe’s, there isn’t any more place i

n Asia that we can taste a true, cold, fresh beer, not even in Singapore even Papa Joe served Tiger Beer.

Joe: there were about 400 Malay words were derived from the Portuguese, example:

Malay: Bendera , Portuguese: Bandeira

Malay: Bomba, Portuguese: Bombeiro

Malay: Sekolah, Portuguese: Escola

Malay: motosikal, Portuguese: motocileta

Malay: Almari, Portuguese: amario

Malay: Roda, Portuguese: Roda

Malay: Gratis, Portuguese: Gratis.

these are some example of Malay loanwords from Portuguese.

---From the left to Right: Joe, Joe's son, Me, The Fisherman, Samantha. They are all Malacca Portuguese. The Fisherman said: if many of us, we are Portuguese, if me alone, I am a Portugoose.---

I wonder if they do the Siesta.

N 02° 11.026’

E102° 16.022’

Our 10 days trip ended shortly after Malacca. We drop by the police station at Kluang and I visited the police inspector. As soon as I entered his room, he remembered me, which we last met 4 years ago. This young inspector is still at the same office, same desk, same position and same post but he got married, had a baby and gain much weight. The same story as any police inspector would tell me about my stolen Hope.

If we find, if we find, we call you. This number ah?

I asked in English if there is anything that we, the bikers from Singapore, to help them solve bike thief or syndicates of vehicle thief. I don’t think he understand my sentence. 4 years ago he quoted to me that everyday there are about 80 motorcycles stolen in his district, not state, not nation but just in that district! Do we see any improvement? Maybe 75 bike per day now. He told me that they suspected some syndicates stealing my bike. Oh, so that is what he has found out after 4 years, suspecting that some syndicate stole my bike. Well, that is an improvement and some results. Maybe 4 years later when I visit him, he would say that they had confirmed these syndicates were around his district.

There is still no Hope around.

New movie trailer!

Coming soon in theater or watch full screen at

http://www.youtube.com/user/slime78?feature=mhee

2011 June short travel Day 1-6 out of 10

View 2011 june travel part 1 in a larger map

Day 1.

We set off from Johor Bahru on a lazy morning where the sun is hiding behind the cloud. After a rice dumpling breakfast, loaded our luggage onto Hope Too and started the journey to the end of Malaysia. We decided to leave the digital camera at home.

It was the first time Hope Too went on a trip without his aluminium side panniers. Instead, it was replaced by 2 saddle bags which was previously tied to the front crash bar. It contained 2 sets of heavy duty rain coat, engine oil, chain lubricant, pad lock, and a spare rear tube. Hope Too finally got his front wheel bearing, steering cone bearing and front suspension oil changed from a proper mechanic at Planet Motors, Joemac’s recommendation. Thanks to Joemac who accompanied me through out the servicing. We had a tank bag and a top case with some books, lots of battery chargers, and the usual travel bag. So this time Hope Too is less bulky and I have to pay lesser attention on the side clearance.

Traveling the first 100km along the north south highway to Yong Peng was a stress for Hope Too as he was cruising at 110km/hr and at times had to reach 125km/hr to over take slow moving vehicles. We detoured out of Yong Peng and roll on for the country road up north, till Segamat. At 1130hrs, we had our rm$21 lunch at the clay pot bak kut teh restaurant. We wheel locked Hope Too, brought in our tank bag and the GPS. The fears of loosing our belongings are still around. Restaurant comments: food could have been less salty and the price…but it is a good rest station as it is situated at the North of the town and right side of the road. I am missing my Airhawk as my backside is aching much.

This is the first time ever in my life traveling the country road after North of Segamat. We went pass Gemas and reached the state of Negeri Sembilan (the 9^th state). It clearly feels that this state is being administrated differently by looking at the environment. The next off our butt stop is the only Chinese shop along the road. I saw it on the right side of the road, applied the brakes, made a U turn and parked at the slope in front of the shop.

It was a hut made of wood with zinc roof. The door opening was facing a slit road and only 4 meters wide. The floor of the shop was built one foot lower than the road. We knew that if it rains, this shop would be a good water collection center. Inside the shop, there was a tall counter on the right with a young Chinese man sitting, looking at his computer screen. There were only 5 tables. We sat at the table nearest to the door and with my hand reach distance, I could knock at Hope Too to wake him up from his afternoon nap. Next to us was an elderly with a rugged looking face and untidy hair. He seems to be drinking his Chinese tea from the pot after lunch.

When I asked for the toilet, I was led to a storeroom. They were very certain that I had entered the toilet. They kept their agriculture equipment in the toilet. It was about the same size as my room in Singapore. There was a basin to wash hand and a portable showerhead. I was asking myself that where am I going to aim my pee at. Where will the pee goes? Shall I do it in the sink or the small broken opening between the floor and the bottom of the wall? I guess this is how the locals did it… and I did it. Hmm, what if I need to do the squatting, release solid waste?

I went back to Sam and had our cold fizzy drinks, at the same time managed to glance everyone in the shop. I passed by the mother washing vegetables. I passed by the sister and brother looking at the lap top screen. I passed by 2 topless elderly man, each sitting at their own table with reading glasses and 2 girls of aged 5-7 years old trying to read a cook book that is about 100 pages thick. All of them had something in common: they were all concentrating in what they are doing and all we hear was the motion of the desk fan circulating the air in the shop.

There wasn’t much traffic along this road. We left the tank bag and the GPS with Hope Too. It was so peaceful and simple being here. No phone ringing, no music, no roaring traffic but just birds chipping and conversation of the elderly with the little girls.

I imagined just by cutting these people by pressing ct-X, and then paste them in Singapore by pressing ct-V, they just looked exactly the same as any ordinary people around us.

I really wanted to start a conversation but I was a little shy as they were concentrating in what they were doing. They don’t even looked at us where we dressed like alien and rode a spaceship. After the sore on our butts had cooled down, we dressed up and get ready to move on. I took this opportunity to break the ice by asking them about the direction to the next town. All of them started chatting as in an online forum. Telling us how far is the next town, in miles. They became very friendly and asked where we came from and where we will be going. I guess they have been waiting for us to start the conversation.

This is the place where Samantha and I met real people with sincerity and welcoming heart. We would not be surprise if they would let us pitch a tent by their back yard. They do not serve first class beverages but the feel is there.

Want to get the feel?

N3 07.125 E102 13.446

The road got winding through the oil palm plantation. Traffic condition was light. It ended at Karak junction and we wanted to de-sore our butt terribly. If we carry on for 2 and half hour from Bentung to Gua Musang, we may not ride in peace but to rush for the last light. So we checked into an rm$55 hotel by chance and requested to park the bike into the lobby at night. The owner was looking at me with big curiosity and I explained to him that our bike had been stolen before in Malaysia. He was very kind to let Hope Too sleep in his hotel lobby without extra charges. Hope Too drank 350ml of engine oil that night.

It was a tiring day. We set off at 0930hrs, ended at 1600hrs and only did 400km. we need a butt massager badly. After dinner, Sam and I took out our books to read and gave up after half an hour of struggle because words that seems to be flying around the pages.

N3 30.739 E101 54.767

Day 2

Clouds overtaking nearby mountains seen from our window greeted us. I smelled durian in the breakfast dim sum and assuming that it is not very fresh. But the day was made good when we wanted to start the journey, chatting with the elderly sitting at the next table. They started using Cantonese with me and I replied with Mandarin because I had D8 for Cantonese.

The morning ride was welcomed by the perfect morning weather. This road to the north had turnoffs to the few important famous hills in Malaysia: Genting Highland, Bukit Tinggi, Bukit Fraser and Cameron Highland. Our objective was to ride this route to Gua Musang. Indeed, Gua Musang was surrounded by random rocks, as big as a shopping center building. These mountainous rocks seemed to be placed in position artificially or being thrown down to earth from the other planets.

Gua Musang is an important center for transportation from East to West coast. Many traders would come here also because of the railway station. If you intend to stay in Gua Musang with a proper parking space, Hotel Usaha would be the choice.

N4 52.869 E101 57.847

We reached here at noon, took a chicken rice lunch and continue the highway 8 to Kota Barhu, Kelantan.

At 1600hrs, we reached Ideal Backpackers Inn.

N6 07.866 E102 14.545

It used to be crowded here. Chang, the owner told me. Business had been declining. I see that backpackers now stayed in air-conditioned hotels. Being cheap will not be the most important factor now. The air in this guesthouse was heavy because Chang and his family were mourning over his mother’s death, 2 weeks ago.

Leukemia.

I shared my story about my mum fighting with Leukemia with him and we had a deep hearted conversation. I understand.

The street outside the hostel is an eating paradise for us! We didn’t go much walking the tourist sites but to eat and drink. At the food center, we made new friends with a Swiss couple traveling in Asia, Sascha and Eveline.

Day 3

Sleep, eat, slack, rest our butt, eat, read and do some writing. Our day was made wonderful when we spoke with Chang’s father. He had political sense of humor and good social perception. Kelantan state had always had negative impressions from people outside this state or those had not been here before. Also it is a ‘dangerous’ state because they hear stories of Kelantan from those that had not been here before. Kelantan state is under the opposition party rule for 20 years by an Islamic party. Chang’s father, a local Chinese, praised the party for the good that they had done. He also compared the previous ruling party that tried to rule this state for a season and commoners were suffering and the state had been messed up. We walked on the street, we went to Muslim stall to eat, chatted with local non Muslim citizen and everyone was happy, polite, easy going and their conversation was not about complaining the government but of other daily bread and butter topics.

Chang’s brother mentioned that once a foreign biker came to Kota Bahru, he locked his expensive helmet fitted with an intercom microphone on the bike along the street and went off to buy something. When he came back, someone cut the intercom microphone and had stolen it. This foreign biker went to report to the police and guess what….

If he was in some other XYZ state, it would be the same old story. To our very surprise, Chang’s brother said that the police took short time to arrest the culprit and got back the stolen intercom microphone.

So, don’t listen to what other comment about Kelantan State where THEY HAVE NOT BEEN HERE BEFORE. They only hear from the blind and read the sarcastic newspaper.

Day 4

Chang’s brother drew us a map on getting to a nice and easy route towards south.

The first 120km from Kota Barhu along highway 3 to the South was a road to ride. Somehow I think that this road is designed for bike travel and traffic was lesser. There were many chalets, beach bungalows and small eatery along this stretch. Recommanded!

Our objective was to ride to the touristy beach resort of Cherating and stay for a night. Many Singaporeans came here for holidays due to the nice beach and resort type of lodging. It was our first time coming to Cherating and it was built like the beach town of Phuket/Koh Samui of Thailand. There were various lodging for us to stay and we were so ‘lucky’ to stay in this resort by the name of Riverside Holiday Resort.

The ground was nice, sandy pit and Hope Too was able to park 5 meters away from our room door. There wasn’t much vehicle here and it seemed that only 4 rooms were occupied out of 30.

We had a RM$40 room with: fan, attached toilet with natural shower system, retro but moldy sofa that grew million of micro mushrooms, sleeping pillows used since world war 2, mosquito that couldn’t be seen when lights were on, free music till 4am, , free security watch by group of unknown people around the car park until 5am, free natural wake up call by real rooster at 430am and carpark was fully occupied by non guest coming here to look for paid adult entertainment. It was so different as in the daytime and now Hope Too was situated as closed as 0.3 meters away from the vehicle next to him.

There was a nice ‘little Bali’ pub in this resort by the river and live band every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It is a very good place to stay for those that want to look for night entertainment in Cherating, get drunk and numb then talk a 20 steps walk back to the room to sleep. Maybe the next time we will stay again in this place only if we have different intension.

N4 07.640 E103 23.536

Day 5

We woke up only at 10am and want to leave this place as soon as possible as there wasn’t a proper place to have breakfast.

We took a new toll way to the west, exited Temerluh, traveled about 50km to the north on a trunk road towards Jerantut where we had our Chinese chicken rice breakfast at 1300hrs.

N3 56.398 E102 21.904

Recommanded.

The next 60km road north of Jerantut to Kuala Lipis was wonderful, like a roller coaster ride! It was built parallel to the historical river and along the valley. Situated at the south of Taman Negara, the world oldest rainforest, that is about 130 million years old, the surrounding is the closest road navigable near to Taman Negara. Else, one has to walk and trek into Taman Negara.

Recommanded!

Our initial plan was to ride the same highway 8 to Gua Musang again and turn west towards Cameron Highland till we saw a signboard near Kuala Lipis, it has a turn off towards Cameron Highland. I checked my map and GPS. No road linking to Cameron Highland. Anyway, it’s an adventure. We follow the signboard and the ‘Cameron Highland’ direction disappeared after the next junction. We rode on aimlessly hoping for miracle until we reached a critical junction at Sungai Koyan. Sam seeked direction from a local pump attendance and we looked at the map, there wasn’t any thro road.

Ok, just try, maybe, perhaps, we should trust the local sense rather than technology.

The gas station is at:

N4 13.805 E101 47.895

The turn off is at:

N4 13.266 E101 47.849

This 80km of new road was well built but unofficially announced to the public. We were the very first few to travel! It does not have much traffic and we managed to passed through some of the aborigine communities. What’s more, this new road led us straight to our friend’s (Teoh Yong Meng Nursery) office in Bertam Valley. There wasn’t any prior arrangement to meet Joyce and Joe but their father hosted us for a meal and good chat.

We carried on to our best lodging in this trip at Cameronian Inn, settled down, and walked towards our dinner location. It had been years that I had not been a tourist in Cameron Highland. It had been much developed and even Starbucks had set up a branch here. We sat by the Indian Shop and had our first and last try of the food here. What made our dinner special was a couple sitting beside us. They looked like Indian, but fairer in color. Both of them looked like bollywood actor. They did not speak English, Malay, Tamil, Hindi, Punjabi or any language that is used in Malaysia but we always hear the ‘Z’ sound in their conversation. I winked at Samantha if they were from Iran.

Bingo! They were working professionals in Capital of Malaysia for some years and going to migrate New Zealand soon. They shared with us about the situation in Iran and were surprised that we had traveled in Iran so well and also to their ‘no go region’: Zehedan. I was so ashamed when they shared their experience with the Custom officers of Singapore when they visited Singapore.

Ok, not to mention what happened, someone is watching over what I am posting.

Day 6

Wonderful cool morning in Cameron Highland and we had breakfast with English Tea and Scone in a peaceful English garden! When we were about to leave, we had an unusual request for the owner of this inn: to provide us ‘red packets’ as we were on our way to visit Joyce and Joe’s new baby. He patiently went back to his room and dug out all the packets he had. We took two of them and found out that there was actually real money in it! Of course, politely, we returned the money to him and took the packets.

We had a nice chat with each other just by standing beside our bike and he share with us why he wanted to stay in Cameron Highland in this small Inn, instead of managing his another business in Australia.

Cameronian Inn is clean and quiet place with an English garden. Sam and I could easily spend another day here to chat with the owner and read a book but we have to set off, meeting Joyce and Joe for a quickie and to meet 2 riders from UK that had been traveling around for 8 years.

http://www.thecameronianinn.com/index.html

Tanah Rata

N4 28.103 E101 22.444

above, taken on 2011, June. below, taken on 2008 January.

exciting riding plans

Hi!

It has been an exciting year. What are we going to do next? I believe many are still looking at us on our next move.

Today, Sam and I were riding our bike and a driver took his passenger's attention to us. I saw them, made eye contact and they waved at me. Of course i did waved back.

I think if I were to beat the traffic light by covering the registration plate is useless.

Anyway, Sam and I have a plan. A change for the next 1 year.

Let you guys know more about it when it is confirmed!

For those that just knew us, if you want to look at our trips posting, scroll down on the right side of this page there are dates that you can click on.

Our round the world trip is from January 2008 to August 2010.

For those that googled: free sex in Singapore, Nicole Seah boyfriend, or Nicole Seah Nude Pictures, I am very sorry about it. I can't provide more information.

Have fun!

General Election 2011 Winner Conspiracy.

60% voted for the ruling party and they got 93% parliamentary seats.

Friends from other countries, can you help to give us some comments?

here's a short story to share:

I didn't write this, it was sent to me via email with no author's credit, but it is a good read that even a child would understand:

A man has a happy family with 2 kids and a wife. The family is not rich but they are happy. They stay in a modest but comfortable HDB 4-room flat.

One day, the man decided to rent a room to a colleague because his colleague was a trust-worthy high quality foreigner, also known as Foreign Talent. His colleague pays him $500/mth. Suddenly he is richer by $500 every mth. He was so happy. Of the extra $500/mth, he decides to treat his children and wife to a trip to the zoo at the end of the year. The rest of the $$ he keeps for himself.

Now, as his greed grows, he decides to rent the 2nd room to another foreigner, this time the foreigner is just a cleaner but he does not mind as long as he can have more rental!.

His children start to suffer becos now they have to squeeze into their parent's bedroom. They have to wait to use the bathroom in the morning and the whole flat is crowded with 2 extra persons living inside.

Their father gets an extra $1000 / mth while they have to suffer and get only the trip to the zoo, poor kids.

Their mother tries to engage in a debate with the father but eventually had to agree with the father, fearing that her spouse would boot her out. The father would not tolerate different views and told his wife that if she did not agree with him, she could leave. He could do it himself, he said one party is better, so that he could continue earning more $$$.

The father starts to get even greedier. He starts to rent the flat out to even more foreigners, of unknown and poor background, but his Gross Domestic Profit grows. His children voice their grievances, pointing out that the whole house was very crowded and the situation was affecting their lives. They say "father, so many strangers, we don't feel that this is our home anymore." But the father turns a blind eye and deaf ear to their misery.

As the rental balloons, he declares himself a huge bonus and goes to celebrate with his group of like-minded friends. All are now loaded with the extra $$ gained, all neglecting their poor children, and all asking their wives to shut up.

In the end...?

Singapore Election 2011 last day.

True politician do not retire.

The true politician served the people even they got stroke, even they are bankrupt, till the last day of their life, like Mr JBJ, Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam.

Fighting for the rights of freedom and democracy in Singapore.

please, let us unite.

Your vote will make a total change to Singapore and together, we will create history for Singapore!

7th May 2011,

One vote, one voice and one united Singapore!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9TxiEYo7ww

Freedom of speech in Singapore

This is what we meant by freedom in Singapore:

extract from
http://www.straitstimes.com/GeneralElection/News/Story/STIStory_661416.html

A 32-YEAR-OLD man has been arrested for repeatedly saying on the Internet that he intends to burn his voting slip and ballot box on Polling Day.

Police said in a statement on Tuesday that on Monday, officers from Ang Mo Kio Police Division arrested the Singaporean Chinese in his Ang Mo Kio home, acting on information they had received.

Investigations showed that he was also believed to have posted a comment which the police said 'was suggestive of causing hurt to Members of Parliament'. He is believed to have posted at least three such messages.

The man was arrested for Communicating an Electronic Record Containing Incitements to Violence, under Section 267C of the Penal Code, Chapter 224. Anyone convicted can be jailed up to five years or fined, or both.

Police said they took threats of violence to the conduct of the electoral process and threats of violence against people seriously.

How's my sexy maid?

I need your urgent advice about employing a maid. As a busy mother, I need someone reliable to help out at home.



My maid is from Profits Agency Pte (PAP) and she has worked for me for a long time. Her mother worked for my parents and did an excellent job, so I had faith in her. For several years her performance has been very good, but recently she has become arrogant and insensitive, and is making lots of mistakes.



For example:


1) She flooded my kitchen – she told me that the drain pipe has blocked (she was supposed to clear it once a month but didn’t). Then she assured me that it is very rare and won’t happen again in the near future. Guess what? It flooded again within a year!


2) She didn’t close a window and my terrier dog escaped. I was so worried cos he is dangerous and could bite lots of people. After the incident, she didn’t apologise and just shrugged her shoulders saying “What to do, it has happened.” Fortunately my neighbor found the dog and we locked it up again.


3) Without consulting me, she has been bringing in strangers for my house's maintenance work. She says they charge low wages and keep costs down, but they eat my food, make a lot of noise and rest on my bed. I think they even tried to seduce my husband. It stopped feeling like my home, more like a cheap hotel, and I don’t always want to come back at the end of the day.


4) When she first came to work for me, I instructed her to clean the different parts of the house at least once a week. But for some time she has stopped taking care of the bedrooms of PP and H; they are now dirty and messy. I asked why and she told me that the kids had been disobedient, so she was neglecting their bedrooms as a punishment (she has forgotten that she is paid to clean all the rooms).



Even though my maid has worked for me for many years and I value what she has done in the past, I think she is now getting complacent. Her attitude is imperious and dismissive. She ignores my comments and basically treats my feedback as "noise". I wrote to the agency about her behavior; they assured me that they are the best agency around and all their maids are “Commited to Serve” – but I think it is just rhetoric and I don’t see that in her actions. Her salary is much higher than maids in other countries, but the agency say this is to keep her honest and stop her moving to another employer. They say there is a limited supply of maids, and Singapore isn’t big enough for more than one good maid agency, so I should not trust their competitors.



I have to decide whether to renew my maid’s 5-year employment contract. When we discussed this she said that she is now part of a team, and if I want her I must also accept her friends doing part-time work for me. One friend is very inexperienced, can't do basic tasks or explain what she intends to do. I suspect that she is actually underage. When interviewed, she only seemed interested in her days-off and visiting Universal Studios. When she couldn't answer my questions she stomped her foot and exclaimed, "I don't know what to say!" But I am still expected to pay her a high salary.



Now there happen to be a few other maid agencies - Workhard Pte (WP), New Solutions Pte (NSP), Super Personnel Pte (SPP) and Star Domestica Pte (SDP) - that offered me some helpers who seem sincere, genuine and intelligent. They are keen to work, willing to assist me and have a good attitude. I know that they may take a bit of time to learn how everything works, but frankly I am inclined to give them a chance.



People say that the devil you know is better than one you don’t. But I feel that I can’t tahan my current maid anymore. Do you think I should sack my current maid and try out a new one? Appreciate your advice.






by Lim Ming Lee.

Nicole Seah (佘雪玲) enlighten me. boyfriend? No nude photos.

No many people have awakened from life until one sees and experience.

I had been a gladful person. Thanking everything that I had. After traveling 2 and half years with my wife on a motorcycle around the world, we had seen many of injustice and conspiracy. What is the root of the problem?

Every citizen is only a chess on the board. When the player needs to win the game, they do not mind sacrificing the soldier, even a queen on the chessboard. Look at September 11. It woke me up by looking into my own country’s political landscape.

With Internet, we made the world smaller. Somehow, I got to know many member of parliament were involved in public projects for their own business. How did they get the business with the government? Many were appointed as board of directors in listing company.

In ancient China, politicians were chosen because they want to serve people and they are filial. Now, are we living in the capitalism era? Every concern is about GDP, wealth of a nation, making sure revenue is on the up side, ships coming to our port will have benefit to us, casino is not creating social issue, creating jobs for xxx country because we want to do business with them and $,$,$. All about $.

Who is looking after our health care?

Who is looking after our retirement?

Why has our education system has become ‘like that’, that had created the strawberry generation.

When did Singaporean have a share in profit of the nation’s natural resources: PSA.

Does freedom has a price to pay? Is everyone happy?

Where is transparency of decision makers?

Why is the media controlled?

How do we treat our Muslim community in Singapore?

Do we have a thinking space by living in a 3 roomed flat?

How has public housing made affordable?

Does the government/policy maker accept critics?

Does citizen has a voice in policymaking or do we have to go under our ‘boss’ to speak during the parliament?

We are not racist. Why do we need to fill in the ‘race’ column when we go for interview?

Ain’t we wanted to be the Switzerland of Asia?

The list goes on…

1) The opposition party must not be named as opposition party. The media must give them a new name like: Supporting party or something. Opposition is a negative word. Why would want to be voting for the negative side?

2) The media must do a show about reality and myth. Some people believe that one that has not voted for the main party, their name will be blacklisted. It is a myth. Some believes that once the zone/GRC is not under the main party, renovation works or transportation upgrading to the property will be last on the list. This is a myth.

3) Media media media. It’s always hard to tackle them but they are the best weapons if we know how to use them. How are they going to report to their boss about their coverage? (BTW, if you know, we had rejected a few media interview because they are not going to report the positive side of what we did).

What agenda does the nominee and the party has. Even that the nominee has a strong point to fix the policy, the party may but the agenda by the side.

So, every nominee has a convincing message to convey.

When we were in Brasil, Sao Paulo, there were having elections. The nominees spend so much money making balloons, giving pamphlets and doing up events. Knowing that in big cities there were many young voters, one nominee told everyone if he is being voted, he will implement the free WIFI in every corner of the city. Many young adults were inspired by this proposal and were ready to vote for him.

At then, we were staying with Simone and her kind mum. We witness her mum, now 76 years old, counseling a young relative on why he should not vote on the ‘WIFI’ nominee.

More about Simone’s mum at

http://singaporedream-rtw.blogspot.com/2008/10/sao-joao-da-boa-vista.html

Please choose your vote wisely. Think of the big picture and the long road ahead, not for the next 5 years or the $800 that had solved your recent mobile phone bills. I am not here for any party. I really hope these nominees put ethic into first bef

ore oneself.

Good luck Singapore.

Thanks mum.

Today is Chua Siang Keng's 8 year anniversary for gaining freedom from this earth.

We managed to find her diary below her bed during her funeral.

It became my bible and motto, on how i should lead my life.

The original copy has been destroyed by my dad.

Luckily i managed to photocopy many of it and gave it to my uncle and auntie. Also, now i had scanned a copy.

I decided to publish i my book that i am going to work on.

Last Sunday, sis and dad insisted me to go to my mum's cemetery for prayers due to the chinese 'qing ming' festival, which the descendants has to go to the graveyard to 'remember' the dead relatives. it was a sunday. I went just to go, just to satisfy others. there was a huge congestion. i decided to make a U-turn. there is no meaning to do such visit.

Respect the dead? Not really. Some culture burn paper made product like shoes, clothing, cars to the dead relatives, thinking that they lived in another world now and would need such things to survive. In fact, it is just for the living family to have a chance to gather and remember the dead.

Well, only Samantha, my dad and I went. Anyway, in the end, all 3 of us went to a special place to have lunch and have a nice time together. I treasure that.

Thanks mum: Mdm Chua Siang Keng, that had brought us up.

23 Aug 1950 - 19 Apr 2003.

General Election 2011 Winner

HOW NOT TO WIN AN ELECTION:

Hi. My name is Goh Mia Chun.

I am from the Very Happening Party.

I am born in Singapore. I lived here, study and worked here.

I would like to change Singapore:

1) Integrated Resort:

I do agree that we have gain high income with these 2 integrated resorts. The law makers had put in effort to impose a levy of SGD$100 entry fee or an annual fee of 2-3k to filter out certain people. They also imposed a 'ban' scheme from family member.

We still have to carry on this casino business but how it affect Singaporeans?

I had my lunch in local coffee shop where high society people will not be there to listen to gossips. There were elderly that complaint about losing amount of 5 digit in cash in the casino. There are people that do not want to work but wants to go into the casino to spend their time on the rolling machines.

S$100 levy is nothing to them!

I WILL BAN ALL SINGAPOREANS FROM GOING TO THE CASINOS IN SINGAPORE. CASINOS ARE ONLY OPEN TO TOURIST, VISITORS AND NON SINGAPOREAN TO GENERATE INCOME, TO BRING IN FOREIGN CURRENCY TO SINGAPORE.

2) I had noticed an increase of traffic congestion. The COE scheme is supposed to control the amount of vehicle on the road.

This matter has to be solved. What happened if your grandmother calls an ambulance and need to be sent to the nearest hospital within 10 minutes? You may need to anticipate the urgency at non-peak hours.

Where the COE $ goes?

Some how some rules did not control the number of vehicle on the road.

I will impose a: 1 car per 4 person in a family scheme.

For those that falls into this 1 car per 4 person scheme do not own a car, all 4 of them will get a annual cash incentive for greening the earth by not having a car.

3) Overloading of migrants:

We have 5 passengers sitting in a taxi that caters for 4 passengers.

We have 5 million people living in a structural built for 4 million people.

Why do we need coffee servers in coffeeshop?

Why do we need cleaners to clean and remove our dishes in the hawker center?

Why do we need domestic helper to carry the bag for our soldier?

Why does some family has 3 domestic helpers where there are only 4 members in the family?

Why are the upper level pressure so high that the employer has no choice but to find ways to engage cheap labour?

Why do we need people from other country that grew up in a different environment, that has injected a different set of moral value to be in our environment?

Example: for a person that grew up in XYX country, driving a lorry at 100km/hr is normal in his country.

when he comes to Singapore, although he is being train/educated to drive within speed limit, sometimes he will try to push his limit.... by speeding .when driving a lorry with 13 other workers at the back. when we, Singapore sees this, we ask:

Hey, why u speed?

he replied: no problem! my country, same same!

We will say: but it is dangerous. there are 13 man behind. it's better to be late than never!

he replied: no problem! my country same same!

he continued to speed....

upon reaching the destination, he tell us:

you see? nothing happened! so it's no problem driving at 100km/hr with 13 man behind my lorry! my country, same same! no problem!

We must raise the standards of our work force. increase the levy rate. It will only be fair to us that hiring a Singaporean is cheaper than hiring a foreign talent.

The policy maker also must change some concept of manpower usage.

i will talk about this on the next parliament meeting.

My name is Goh Mia Chun

please, vote for me.

i am from the:

VERY HAPPENING PARTY

Bandits, thieves and conman in Singapore?

Are there bandits, thieves and conman in Singapore?

I wanted to register a domain name for a new website for my company with singnet. the name was avalible when i register. some days later, they tell me it's not avalible anymore. i checked that someone has registered it some time after i register. that someone is a web hosting company, then this web host company wants offer to sell or rent me the name.

I felt unjustified and wanted to file a compliant to the authority. call the police? i bet not. there is an agency appointed by the singapore government that does domain name dispute.

http://www.nic.net.sg/

http://www.disputemanager.com/SDRP/faq.htm

guess what? i have to pay a S$2750 to file a complaint against these bad user.

It's feels like reporting a case to the police station and we have to pay a fee first. In the end, nobody will go and report case to the police and the national statistic shows that crime rate is ZERO!

What the world is this?!

I prepared an email to The Secretariat of Singapore Domain Name Dispute Resolution Service but i gave up after knowing about the charges involved!

Singapore Domain Name Dispute Resolution Service
c/o The Singapore Mediation Centre
1 Supreme Court Lane
Level 4
Singapore 178879
(65) 6332 4366 (office)
(65) 6333 5085 (fax)

Or email us at:
sgdisputes@disputemanager.com.sg

Dear Sir / Madam,

Conflict of registration of domain name.

I am the owner of a landscaping company based in Singapore, ABC Landscape Services and has been in the landscaping business since 2006.

When I decided to register a domain name for my company’s website, status of the domain name was being searched being available thus I proceed with the registration. Later, I got a reply from Singnet that it became unavalible and it was being registered by another NON-Landscaping company (Orange xxx Pte Ltd) at the instant of my registration. Then, I was offered by Orange xxx Pte Ltd to buy over the domain name $3000-$5000, or I can rent from them. The offer was again pursued to me today and hereby I seek a dispute resolution from you.

Thank you.

The details of the process and correspondences as follows:

27 March 2011, I log in to Singnet to register a domain name: landscaping.com.sg and at the search of the time, Singnet prompted me that the domain name is avalible, thus I proceed with the online registration and I was required to fax a copy of organization's documentation, such as Certificate from Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) or International Enterprise (IE) Singapore to Singnet, and I have to quote the reference on the fax: landscaping.com.sg-363419.

I did not get any email from singnet after I applied on line.

28 March 2011, 1500hrs, I emailed to Singnet:

Hi, i have registered to get the domain: landscaping.com.sg-363419.

In order for you to process the domain application, we are required to fax us a copy of your organization's documentation, such as Certificate from Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) or International Enterprise (IE) Singapore.

at this moment, can we email you the soft copy as we do not have a fax?

thank you

I did not get any reply after that.

30 March 2011, 1304hrs, I faxed over the required documents to Singnet: 68732537.

On 30 March 2011, 1747hrs, I recived an email from singnet:

Dear Sir/Mdm,

We regret to inform you that while processing your application, your domain name is no longer available. From Sgnic website http://www.nic.net.sg/whois/node/?u=landscaping.com.sg&r=1623095779,

Registrar: WEBVISIONS PTE LTD

Registrant: ORANGE RND PTE LTD

Domain Name: LANDSCAPING.COM.SG

Creation Date: 28-Mar-2011 11:38:31

Expiration Date: 28-Mar-2012 11:38:31

Domain Status: OK

Thank you.

Regards,

SingNet Registrar

SingNet Hostmaster(covering)

(Shafiah)

30 March 2011, 2019 hrs, I managed to call up +65.93435388 from Orange xxx PTE LTD and a guy named Vincent offered to sell me the domain name landscaping.com.sg

2 April 2011 1640, Vincent called up again that he wants to rent me the domain name.

So, shall i call 999?

Tunku Johor Motorcycle ride.

Late again! we are at Yong Peng!

After Crystal's birthday, we travel south towards yong peng, about 100km away from Malacca.

Believe it or not, this is Leo's house. we stayed with him again!
it has been a long time that Sam has not met up with her school mates, having 4 children now!

Mike, always on a look out on our blog, finally we got the chance to meet him!

catching up with the familiar faces again.

My mother in law, brother/sister in law, nieces and nephews.

We stayed in JB for a week. just to test trail on the feeling of getting used back to home. at the same time, we need to organize a little 'welcome' of our return to Singapore's birthday.

At last, i get to meet up with my buddies. though they made Sam and i waited for 1 hour by the highway but it's worth the wait. we are still on our trip and they came to meet us.

Delighted! thanks for the great dinner!

left to right:

Kelvin Tong, Panther Poh, Rebekah Chua, Katherine Koh, Patrick Ho, Sam Leong, Uncle Lim and Xiong.

I managed to have a coffee with the Johor biker's group. Then, they invited Sam and I to a Gala dinner in JB. the plan is:

meet at Danga bay with our Honorable Y.M. Tunku Hassan bin Muhammad Archibald, got to share our story with him. It was our very first approach with the royal family of Johor. Honorable Y.M. Tunku Hassan is a humble person. We shared over many things about countries to countries.

It is very unusual of Honorable Y.M. Tunku Hassan to go out without much escort. This time, it seems to be like a secret and private ride. Usually he will have uniformed police escort.

Six of us rode to the event hall. We could feel that the cars on the road are moving to the side as Honorable Y.M. Tunku Hassan rode near to them with the roaring Harley.

When we started to zoomed off from a red-turned-green- light, ride on and a car came out of a slit road from the left, looking from behind, i can only tell myself: oh SHTI, at that speed that they were riding, i don't think the Harley will have an ABS to stop in time. At that critical moment, Honorable Y.M. Tunku Hassan chose to bang into the big plastic barrier instead of braking (which i do not think it is the best solution). The impact caused his crashbar to dent but he still rode on. Honorable Y.M. Tunku Hassan kept his cool and continue riding slowly to get back the momentum. If this would happened to any Singaporean, we will get out of our bike and 'F' that reckless driver or to make a fuss over it.

1 of his bodyguard went to give verbal warning to the reckless driver that failed to gave way.

It was a grand entrance for us. there were about 100 big bikes lined up along the building and everyone was waiting for us for the event and dinner to start. They reserved a center among the row of bikers for Honorable Y.M. Tunku Hassan's Harley. I was looking around for a place to park. Then, Mr Din, our friend from Johor Bikers club that co-ordinated this outing, said he would park for us. Sam and I came down and he rode our bike, Hope Too, onto a special platform. Oh no, Hope Too is the star of tonight's show. I told Hope Too:

hey, stop shining around. put some mud on your face. Honorable Y.M. Tunku Hassan is here. He should be the brightest star tonight.

It was a biker's Gala dinner and the organization invited Honorable Y.M. Tunku Hassan. At the same time, I gave a little presentation to the bikers around, spreading the news of hope.

Sam and I were also invited to have dinner with Honorable Y.M. Tunku Hassan at a special table. I was scared as my table manners were very bad. I'm very hungry but i ate very minimal to avoid embarrassment with Honorable Y.M. Tunku Hassan sitting on my right, trying to refill my dish every time when it is empty.

The charity organization that was involved were also intrested in our trip. We spent the rest of the night chatting to them.

Honorable Y.M. Tunku Hassan and Che' Puan went back earlier with their escort. We still stay around to catch a breath with the close encounter with the royal family.

Thank you Din for organizing this outing. Din is also riding a cool Africa Twin in Johor.

this is Din's bike. We don't see any singaporean putting on the big singapore flag on our bike. why? we served national service and when we come out of the society, we ask back: what have 'they' given us? shame shame.

We forgot to take pictures with Honorable Y.M. Tunku Hassan and Che' Puan until when they are about to leave.

Honorable Y.M. Tunku Hassan on my right and Sam on my left.

Article from the government website call overseas singaporean.

look at this!

we are in.

http://www.overseassingaporean.sg/cms/index.php/portal/sgfeatures/sgfeatures_features/sgfeatures_features_feats_deeds/riding_on_a_dream/

http://www.overseassingaporean.sg/cms/index.php/portal/sgfeatures/sgfeatures_features/sgfeatures_features_feats_deeds/riding_on_a_dream