There a few things a parent dread to hear or do. Like when a doctor says they need to speak with you about "options". You know shit just got serious. Or your child gets a note from their teacher asking to meet you or when a child ask you about the birds and the bees. One very common area is letting go. When your child ask to go on a class trip for the first time. Sleep over, go for a movie, take public transportation and finally....driving a car.
My eldest, Mikey will be 18 this year and he is now taking driving lessons. What scares me is that the government sees no problem in allowing a raging hormonal, indecision and characteristically bad decision making teen to be behind the wheels of a 1 tonne vehicle. While my son is a sweet, quiet and funny person, we don't know what they will turn into once behind the wheels. This is the same kid who couldn't navigate his baby walker around the living room. Albeit he was 2 at the time and was interested in anything shinny while drooling all over the place. Still...
When I first got my car, I got into a lot of accidents but they were minor ones and not once did I trouble my parents. Knowing these Gen-y or Gen-z or whatever the hell you wanna call them, they will be coming back to you and expecting you to fix everything. I'm not sure how I feel about that. While I want my kids to come to me whenever they have a problem and to get me involved in their lives, I would limit that to just me giving advice and not involving my money or involving me getting out of the couch.
Anyway, I have not seen him drive yet but in his first lesson, he stalled the car...A LOT! He complained the steering wheel was too hard to turn and after turning it didn't come back to center, the manual gear stick was not easy to change and the clutch was a nightmare. Hopefully that will become smoother as he progresses.
In that time, if you see some car getting stalled all the time, not turning well or not centering after turning, please be patient and do look out for the driver. He is my son.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Globe trotting III
Today, we look at a summarized view of the US, Italy and Japan.
US - LA, San Francisco, Vegas, San Diego and Seattle
We self drove with 2 large vans and about 18 of us. We spent a lot of time on the road as we wanted to cover as much as we can in 12 days. Our family spent a week in Seattle with our oldest and dearest friends, The Fongs.
People : Very friendly and helpful. We saw random acts of kindness as someone bought a homeless couple dinner from McD. LA was a little scary but we didn't stay that long at night. Only to watch a Lakers game at the Staples Center!! Folks in general are pretty nice.
Service : Service is amazing! People are extremely courteous, helpful with us, efficient especially at the check out lines and very patience. Restaurants, fast food, shopping, airport, The Magic Kingdom, we had a great time with the service folks. If you return a purchase, not only do they not treat you like a criminal like here but they kept apologizing! They apologized that their product was not up to my liking! I was so taken over, I almost wanted to take my purchase back.
Food : Food is very western of course. Burgers, meat chops, fries, pasta. You know the usual stuff. Some are good, some not so. The McD is better simply because they include bacon! But I find our KFC better. The portions are bloody huge though. So we usually share. Mikey went to a chap-fan place called Panda Express and selected 3 dishes and rice. His serving could have served 3! Asian food is also aplenty so no problems here, if you start craving for something Asian.
POI : I need a few postings to do this. Many, many places to go. SF was our favourite. We also visited the Grand Canyon and saw the Hoover Dam. Absolutely breadth taking! Took a game at the Staples Center. Was at Hollywood Boulevard, Walk of Fame, Chinese Theatre in LA. Of course Disneyland and Universal Studios. Drove by the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, Chinatown and Ghiradelli's in SF. Vegas was just the sight and of course the amazing Grand Canyon. We took a helicopter ride to the bottom of the canyon for our river cruise. Seattle was more relaxed for us. It was a very calm and serene time of our holiday and we hung out at the local spots like Snoqualmie Falls, downtown Seattle and of course the Microsoft campus.
Shopping is amazing too. We got to shop at Gilroy during the Black Friday sale. It was crazy!! We were also at Barstow, Desert Hills, North Bend and Seattle Premium Outlet. The American brands are amazingly cheap, so we did go crazy! Best feeling ever!!!
Italy - Rome, Pisa, Florence, Venice and Milan
This was a couple's trip with my cousin and his wife. We went on a tour and spent quite a fair bit of time on the road as well.
People : The Italians are a very talkative bunch but not the most friendly towards foreigners I thought. Still they will reciprocate when you speak to them. We went towards the mid of Summer so the weather was extremely gorgeous and I guess that put people in a good mood.
Service : Not the friendliest bunch as not the most patient. They get snippy if you take too long to decide or try on too many stuff. Since we were on a tour, food was pre-arranged so we didn't get to see too much of the restaurant staff's natural habitat.
Food : As it was a tour, we didn't get to choose what we ate. We had lots of pizza and pasta. Some were good, some forgettable. Highlights were a lobster pasta in Milan, Florentine steak in Florence and a Penang restaurant in Rome.
POI : Similar to the US, this would have taken many postings. It's a country that is cultural, religiously and historically rich. It was the center of Western civilization at one time and is now the head of the Catholic Church. So we got to see many sights from Ancient Rome and churches. Every city had it's own glamour and sights. My only advice is to take it slow, spend more time there and to please buy a ticket to see the mural of The Last Supper by Leonardo DiVincci in Milan.
Shopping : This is the place to buy all the Italian brands as they were cheap! Yea we went crazy. My only problem is that they don't have shirts my size because all Italian men apparently look like models! Best place to shop was in Milan's outlet called Serravalle. But downtown Milan and Florence were good too. We didn't get to shop in Rome though but we were told it was more expensive. Leave some space and cash for Rome's airport! Good duty free stuff there as well. While it's cheaper, you may not get the style or design you want. But shopping is shopping!!!
Japan - Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagoya
We travel with the whole village this trip for a Winter experience in Japan. There were almost 25 of us and it was our largest group so far.
People : I think the Japanese people are the friendliest, most humble, helpful, courteous, etc. I can go on and on with all the expletives. They so helpful that even if they didn't know the answer, they will find someone who does. Also many Japanese folks don't speak English well, though they read and write ok. Another observation is that they are very, very clean. The streets are spotless and even their cement truck and garbage truck is in immaculate condition. We passed by a garbage truck and it didn't smell! How do you do that?? The weird part is that, it's so hard to find a garbage can!
Service : Because of the people's attitude towards others, the service industry is one of the best I have experienced. Everyone is smiling and chirpy, to a point sometimes it's creepy. I don't know if it's the anime thing or something they put in the water but restaurants, shopping, airport and immigration were all very good experiences for us.
Food : I love Japanese food so I had no complaints whatsoever. Though it's interesting to see that they eat very unlike us. The famous restaurants serve a specialty food. For example, a famous ramen restaurant will only serve ramen. Same for sushi or tempura. City folks love ramen as it's fast and quick. In the outskirts they serve in a bento. So you have a variety of dishes. Japanese food however, has very little oil and fat so great for weight watchers. However, their rice is incredible! So be careful that you save on fat but stock up on carbo!
POI : Many cultural sites to visit. We had a great time visiting temples, food streets, cultural villages and the Bullet Train and Toyota museums. My highlight was the samurai class that we took and Mt Fuji. We only managed to shop at 1 outlet, Gotemba in Kyoto and prices are pretty good. However, we bought more snacks back and many, many different flavours of Kit Kat.
So that ends my 3 part summary. I may decide to write in detail of the places that we visited. If you have any such requests, drop me a feedback. Sayonara, Ciao, Chai Chien, Good bye, Choi Kin and Au Revouir!
US - LA, San Francisco, Vegas, San Diego and Seattle
We self drove with 2 large vans and about 18 of us. We spent a lot of time on the road as we wanted to cover as much as we can in 12 days. Our family spent a week in Seattle with our oldest and dearest friends, The Fongs.
People : Very friendly and helpful. We saw random acts of kindness as someone bought a homeless couple dinner from McD. LA was a little scary but we didn't stay that long at night. Only to watch a Lakers game at the Staples Center!! Folks in general are pretty nice.
Service : Service is amazing! People are extremely courteous, helpful with us, efficient especially at the check out lines and very patience. Restaurants, fast food, shopping, airport, The Magic Kingdom, we had a great time with the service folks. If you return a purchase, not only do they not treat you like a criminal like here but they kept apologizing! They apologized that their product was not up to my liking! I was so taken over, I almost wanted to take my purchase back.
Food : Food is very western of course. Burgers, meat chops, fries, pasta. You know the usual stuff. Some are good, some not so. The McD is better simply because they include bacon! But I find our KFC better. The portions are bloody huge though. So we usually share. Mikey went to a chap-fan place called Panda Express and selected 3 dishes and rice. His serving could have served 3! Asian food is also aplenty so no problems here, if you start craving for something Asian.
POI : I need a few postings to do this. Many, many places to go. SF was our favourite. We also visited the Grand Canyon and saw the Hoover Dam. Absolutely breadth taking! Took a game at the Staples Center. Was at Hollywood Boulevard, Walk of Fame, Chinese Theatre in LA. Of course Disneyland and Universal Studios. Drove by the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, Chinatown and Ghiradelli's in SF. Vegas was just the sight and of course the amazing Grand Canyon. We took a helicopter ride to the bottom of the canyon for our river cruise. Seattle was more relaxed for us. It was a very calm and serene time of our holiday and we hung out at the local spots like Snoqualmie Falls, downtown Seattle and of course the Microsoft campus.
Shopping is amazing too. We got to shop at Gilroy during the Black Friday sale. It was crazy!! We were also at Barstow, Desert Hills, North Bend and Seattle Premium Outlet. The American brands are amazingly cheap, so we did go crazy! Best feeling ever!!!
Italy - Rome, Pisa, Florence, Venice and Milan
This was a couple's trip with my cousin and his wife. We went on a tour and spent quite a fair bit of time on the road as well.
People : The Italians are a very talkative bunch but not the most friendly towards foreigners I thought. Still they will reciprocate when you speak to them. We went towards the mid of Summer so the weather was extremely gorgeous and I guess that put people in a good mood.
Service : Not the friendliest bunch as not the most patient. They get snippy if you take too long to decide or try on too many stuff. Since we were on a tour, food was pre-arranged so we didn't get to see too much of the restaurant staff's natural habitat.
Food : As it was a tour, we didn't get to choose what we ate. We had lots of pizza and pasta. Some were good, some forgettable. Highlights were a lobster pasta in Milan, Florentine steak in Florence and a Penang restaurant in Rome.
POI : Similar to the US, this would have taken many postings. It's a country that is cultural, religiously and historically rich. It was the center of Western civilization at one time and is now the head of the Catholic Church. So we got to see many sights from Ancient Rome and churches. Every city had it's own glamour and sights. My only advice is to take it slow, spend more time there and to please buy a ticket to see the mural of The Last Supper by Leonardo DiVincci in Milan.
Shopping : This is the place to buy all the Italian brands as they were cheap! Yea we went crazy. My only problem is that they don't have shirts my size because all Italian men apparently look like models! Best place to shop was in Milan's outlet called Serravalle. But downtown Milan and Florence were good too. We didn't get to shop in Rome though but we were told it was more expensive. Leave some space and cash for Rome's airport! Good duty free stuff there as well. While it's cheaper, you may not get the style or design you want. But shopping is shopping!!!
Japan - Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagoya
We travel with the whole village this trip for a Winter experience in Japan. There were almost 25 of us and it was our largest group so far.
People : I think the Japanese people are the friendliest, most humble, helpful, courteous, etc. I can go on and on with all the expletives. They so helpful that even if they didn't know the answer, they will find someone who does. Also many Japanese folks don't speak English well, though they read and write ok. Another observation is that they are very, very clean. The streets are spotless and even their cement truck and garbage truck is in immaculate condition. We passed by a garbage truck and it didn't smell! How do you do that?? The weird part is that, it's so hard to find a garbage can!
Service : Because of the people's attitude towards others, the service industry is one of the best I have experienced. Everyone is smiling and chirpy, to a point sometimes it's creepy. I don't know if it's the anime thing or something they put in the water but restaurants, shopping, airport and immigration were all very good experiences for us.
Food : I love Japanese food so I had no complaints whatsoever. Though it's interesting to see that they eat very unlike us. The famous restaurants serve a specialty food. For example, a famous ramen restaurant will only serve ramen. Same for sushi or tempura. City folks love ramen as it's fast and quick. In the outskirts they serve in a bento. So you have a variety of dishes. Japanese food however, has very little oil and fat so great for weight watchers. However, their rice is incredible! So be careful that you save on fat but stock up on carbo!
POI : Many cultural sites to visit. We had a great time visiting temples, food streets, cultural villages and the Bullet Train and Toyota museums. My highlight was the samurai class that we took and Mt Fuji. We only managed to shop at 1 outlet, Gotemba in Kyoto and prices are pretty good. However, we bought more snacks back and many, many different flavours of Kit Kat.
So that ends my 3 part summary. I may decide to write in detail of the places that we visited. If you have any such requests, drop me a feedback. Sayonara, Ciao, Chai Chien, Good bye, Choi Kin and Au Revouir!
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Globe Trotting Part II
Continuing my holiday destination reviews:-
Hong Kong & Macau
People : Everyone is rushing in HK. To work, to play, to eat, etc. They walk everywhere and walk really quickly. People are generally friendly but they are also very direct and they will tell you off if they see the need. But it's a very structured and disciplined society and after the SARS outbreak, very clean as well.
Service : Up and mid class places have very good service especially retail outlets. Restaurant, not so much. They may not be rude but they are not particularly friendly either. Other places are very efficient though no one really talks to you.
Food : OMG! This is my fav place for food. Absolutely amazing. Everything is good but not cheap. You can eat street food or restaurant and it taste great. Fav food are Typhoon Noodle under the bridge, seafood at Sai Kung and dim sum anywhere. Macau has some Portuguese food and was better than China but HK is still my fav.
POI : SHOPPING!!! Great places to shop as fashion is trendy though may not always be cheap. Can check out Stanley Market, Ladies Street, Electronic Street and Tsim Tsa Tsui. Victoria Peak is also my fav place to hang out. I also love Repulse Bay, Ngong Ping 360 and of course Disneyland, where you will experience a Cantonese speaking Mickey. Symphony of Lights show at the Avenue of Stars is also amazing. In Macau, people are only interested in the casinos. If gambling is not your fancy, there are many shows you can go to. There is a particular good 3D show called The Bubble Show that you can check out.
Taiwan - Taipei only
People : Generally friendly folks but English literacy is kinda low. Every signboard is in Chinese. So felt pretty useless. We got separated from our families and needed to call them and my batt was flat. Someone in the streets heard us and just loaned us their phone. I thought that was pretty amazing. Prob didn't know it was an international call. Haha!
Service : Everyone's busy so they are not particularly friendly Only at the Taipei 101 Tower did we see some smiles. Food, hotel, bus and subway stations, smiles are pretty rare there.
Food : There are so many night market and so many varieties of food. Just amazing. However, you need to know where to go because not everything is good. We tried their minced beef rice, beef noodle and a place called Ah Choong mee suah. These left a good impression on us. Fishball and oyster omelettes were horrible!!! Pls avoid if you are traveling alone.
POI : Good places to find bargain stuff and fashionable as well. There is a Yeh Liu Geopark and a village called Jiufen. Must visit. The Chiang Kai Sek memorial was enjoyable for me and you gotta see Taipei 101 Tower.
London & Paris
People : People on the street were a lot friendlier in London than Parisians. Everyone is saying "sorry", "excuse me" and "good morning, afternoon, etc". Getting around was easy and folks were very helpful.
Service : Funnily, restaurant people in London were not as friendly as those in Paris. They were more surly and more curt. Those in Paris were chatty, smiling always and patience since we needed help with the French menu. Those in retail outlets were also pretty friendly and helpful, both places.
Food : What can I say? London bad, Paris gorgeous!!! We only had one good meal in London, on board a ferry opposite the Eye of London. Almost every food we had in Paris was amazing. From the Nutella Crepe to our Foir Gras. There was a fish place that didn't really get me going but everything else was absolutely gorgeous!
POI : Too many to mention! The favs for me, British Museum, Tower Bridge, Greenwich Meridian Line, Stonehenge, Big Ben, Bath, Eifel Tower, Notre Dame, Seine Cruise, St Michael's Fountain and Louvre.
Continuing to Part III........
Hong Kong & Macau
People : Everyone is rushing in HK. To work, to play, to eat, etc. They walk everywhere and walk really quickly. People are generally friendly but they are also very direct and they will tell you off if they see the need. But it's a very structured and disciplined society and after the SARS outbreak, very clean as well.
Service : Up and mid class places have very good service especially retail outlets. Restaurant, not so much. They may not be rude but they are not particularly friendly either. Other places are very efficient though no one really talks to you.
Food : OMG! This is my fav place for food. Absolutely amazing. Everything is good but not cheap. You can eat street food or restaurant and it taste great. Fav food are Typhoon Noodle under the bridge, seafood at Sai Kung and dim sum anywhere. Macau has some Portuguese food and was better than China but HK is still my fav.
POI : SHOPPING!!! Great places to shop as fashion is trendy though may not always be cheap. Can check out Stanley Market, Ladies Street, Electronic Street and Tsim Tsa Tsui. Victoria Peak is also my fav place to hang out. I also love Repulse Bay, Ngong Ping 360 and of course Disneyland, where you will experience a Cantonese speaking Mickey. Symphony of Lights show at the Avenue of Stars is also amazing. In Macau, people are only interested in the casinos. If gambling is not your fancy, there are many shows you can go to. There is a particular good 3D show called The Bubble Show that you can check out.
Taiwan - Taipei only
People : Generally friendly folks but English literacy is kinda low. Every signboard is in Chinese. So felt pretty useless. We got separated from our families and needed to call them and my batt was flat. Someone in the streets heard us and just loaned us their phone. I thought that was pretty amazing. Prob didn't know it was an international call. Haha!
Service : Everyone's busy so they are not particularly friendly Only at the Taipei 101 Tower did we see some smiles. Food, hotel, bus and subway stations, smiles are pretty rare there.
Food : There are so many night market and so many varieties of food. Just amazing. However, you need to know where to go because not everything is good. We tried their minced beef rice, beef noodle and a place called Ah Choong mee suah. These left a good impression on us. Fishball and oyster omelettes were horrible!!! Pls avoid if you are traveling alone.
POI : Good places to find bargain stuff and fashionable as well. There is a Yeh Liu Geopark and a village called Jiufen. Must visit. The Chiang Kai Sek memorial was enjoyable for me and you gotta see Taipei 101 Tower.
London & Paris
People : People on the street were a lot friendlier in London than Parisians. Everyone is saying "sorry", "excuse me" and "good morning, afternoon, etc". Getting around was easy and folks were very helpful.
Service : Funnily, restaurant people in London were not as friendly as those in Paris. They were more surly and more curt. Those in Paris were chatty, smiling always and patience since we needed help with the French menu. Those in retail outlets were also pretty friendly and helpful, both places.
Food : What can I say? London bad, Paris gorgeous!!! We only had one good meal in London, on board a ferry opposite the Eye of London. Almost every food we had in Paris was amazing. From the Nutella Crepe to our Foir Gras. There was a fish place that didn't really get me going but everything else was absolutely gorgeous!
POI : Too many to mention! The favs for me, British Museum, Tower Bridge, Greenwich Meridian Line, Stonehenge, Big Ben, Bath, Eifel Tower, Notre Dame, Seine Cruise, St Michael's Fountain and Louvre.
Continuing to Part III........
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Globe trotting
I am blessed to have had the ability to globe trot a little. Every year end, I plan a holiday with immediate and extended family members. They will include my cousins and my in-laws. So since my posting about our trip to Australia, I have had the pleasure of visiting Greater China, Korea, London & Paris, Italy, US West Coast and Japan. So how does a Chindian take all these different cultures? As someone that comes from 2 cultures, we are typically very interested and sensitive to the cultures of others. There are many difference as to the folks in these different countries. So I have compiled and summarized based on the criteria of friendliness of people on the street and service folks, food, shopping and places of interest. Let's start with:-
Australia
People : Folks are typically friendly but I think they don't like Chinese folks that much, especially in Melbourne. Brisbane and the Gold Coast seems more ok. They don't voluntarily help you but they will if you approach them. Some reluctantly, some more helpful. The Asian community are very helpful towards other Asians though.
Service : Retail folks are very particular about the time they close. Most close at 5pm (What's up with that!!) so when you walk in at 4.45, they give you that exasperated sigh and stare and are typically unhelpful. Then again only us Asians will enter a shop just before it closes. I have not seen an Aussie do that. As for food, it will depend where you go to. Some up places are more tolerant, mid class not so.
Food : There is a lot of Malaysian, Chinese and Indian food in Melbourne. So if you get tired of all the ham, bread, cheese, pasta, burgers, you have a lot of Chindian comfort food. One of their burgers made my list of comfort food and that's something they call The LOT. It has...the LOT. Meat, bacon, ham, fried egg, more bacon, etc.
Shopping : I think most folkd don't come here to shop. I've not seen any good shopping places. Maybe it's just me.
POI : Gold Coast's theme parks are for those who haven't been. Surfers' Paradise is nice and decadent, though full of Chinese retailers now. If you are into animals, take a 2 hours drive north to Sunshine Coast to visit Australia Zoo or Steve Irwin's Zoo. In Melbourne drive along the Great Ocean Road to Grampiens National Park and stop at small towns along the way. Philip Island is a good visit, stop by a Chocolate Factory and also the Twelve Apostles. City wise, is like any other city though the Yarra River is quite picturesque.
China
People : I say this with all objectivity. Most folks are loud, boisterous, dirty and rude. They knock into you, spit everywhere and children will pee anywhere. If you want the toilet, just follow the smell. Hygiene level seems to have been set to medieval times. Not every toilet outside of Beijing has modern plumbing. In the 21st century!!! We found a toilet with feces on the wall!! Like this person was during a mural or his a$$ exploded or something!!!
Service : They are more friendly and very attentive as most city restaurants and up market shopping places goes by a rating system. Airport service is also very efficient.
Food : For me, this really sucked!! The food we had was not as good as back home. Really bad. If you followed the tour food, God help you. We had some good food like Peking Duck and a meat BBQ buffet place. But mainly was not too my liking.
Shopping : It's shopping haven. Knock offs and non-branded stuff are cheap if you don't mind the quality. We bought some non-
branded stuff and some of them were quite good in quality.
POI : This is the place to be. You history coming out of your ears! We went to the usual palaces and temples and of course the Great Wall. My highlight was the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an. Absolutely amazing!!! China has also many beautiful sceneries.
Korea
People : Pretty ok. Friendly folks and they speak English. Didn't have any incident in memory.
Service : Very friendly folks. Even those who sold hot choco and churros in a cart, were chatty and friendly. Since most meals come with side dishes, most folks are patience with our constant refilling of it.
Shopping : There are some duty free outlets in the city and the airport for tourist. Snacks are worth buying and so are cosmetics. Everywhere else is more pricey.
Food : I love Korean food. They BBQ, Kimchi soup, grill stuff, the rice and the ox tail soup. Every meal was good for the Chindian palate.
POI : There are some history but not much and nothing beats China anyway. So they turned their attention to their dramas and K-Pop. Touristy places are sets for movies like Winter Sonata at Nami Island and Mount Sorak and something called All In. Pretty creative.
To be continued...........
Australia
People : Folks are typically friendly but I think they don't like Chinese folks that much, especially in Melbourne. Brisbane and the Gold Coast seems more ok. They don't voluntarily help you but they will if you approach them. Some reluctantly, some more helpful. The Asian community are very helpful towards other Asians though.
Service : Retail folks are very particular about the time they close. Most close at 5pm (What's up with that!!) so when you walk in at 4.45, they give you that exasperated sigh and stare and are typically unhelpful. Then again only us Asians will enter a shop just before it closes. I have not seen an Aussie do that. As for food, it will depend where you go to. Some up places are more tolerant, mid class not so.
Food : There is a lot of Malaysian, Chinese and Indian food in Melbourne. So if you get tired of all the ham, bread, cheese, pasta, burgers, you have a lot of Chindian comfort food. One of their burgers made my list of comfort food and that's something they call The LOT. It has...the LOT. Meat, bacon, ham, fried egg, more bacon, etc.
Shopping : I think most folkd don't come here to shop. I've not seen any good shopping places. Maybe it's just me.
POI : Gold Coast's theme parks are for those who haven't been. Surfers' Paradise is nice and decadent, though full of Chinese retailers now. If you are into animals, take a 2 hours drive north to Sunshine Coast to visit Australia Zoo or Steve Irwin's Zoo. In Melbourne drive along the Great Ocean Road to Grampiens National Park and stop at small towns along the way. Philip Island is a good visit, stop by a Chocolate Factory and also the Twelve Apostles. City wise, is like any other city though the Yarra River is quite picturesque.
China
People : I say this with all objectivity. Most folks are loud, boisterous, dirty and rude. They knock into you, spit everywhere and children will pee anywhere. If you want the toilet, just follow the smell. Hygiene level seems to have been set to medieval times. Not every toilet outside of Beijing has modern plumbing. In the 21st century!!! We found a toilet with feces on the wall!! Like this person was during a mural or his a$$ exploded or something!!!
Service : They are more friendly and very attentive as most city restaurants and up market shopping places goes by a rating system. Airport service is also very efficient.
Food : For me, this really sucked!! The food we had was not as good as back home. Really bad. If you followed the tour food, God help you. We had some good food like Peking Duck and a meat BBQ buffet place. But mainly was not too my liking.
Shopping : It's shopping haven. Knock offs and non-branded stuff are cheap if you don't mind the quality. We bought some non-
branded stuff and some of them were quite good in quality.
POI : This is the place to be. You history coming out of your ears! We went to the usual palaces and temples and of course the Great Wall. My highlight was the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an. Absolutely amazing!!! China has also many beautiful sceneries.
Korea
People : Pretty ok. Friendly folks and they speak English. Didn't have any incident in memory.
Service : Very friendly folks. Even those who sold hot choco and churros in a cart, were chatty and friendly. Since most meals come with side dishes, most folks are patience with our constant refilling of it.
Shopping : There are some duty free outlets in the city and the airport for tourist. Snacks are worth buying and so are cosmetics. Everywhere else is more pricey.
Food : I love Korean food. They BBQ, Kimchi soup, grill stuff, the rice and the ox tail soup. Every meal was good for the Chindian palate.
POI : There are some history but not much and nothing beats China anyway. So they turned their attention to their dramas and K-Pop. Touristy places are sets for movies like Winter Sonata at Nami Island and Mount Sorak and something called All In. Pretty creative.
To be continued...........
CSI for the young
Some of you may think that CSI began around the year 2000 with CSI Vegas. I am a big fan of the show and it's spinoffs. I still follow it today and have downloaded the series. However, as I was watching the show and the antics of my kids and nephews and nieces, I realized that CSI started at a VERY early stage for us Gen-X kids. As a Chindian, it would also mean that I have the universe's most disciplined parents. This does not mean that they are very disciplined in what they do. It means, they will discipline your a$$ for every wrong thing you do. Sometimes even when you haven't done it.....yet!! That's how strong these genes are.
So we had to be very creative in how we hide the evidence of our wrong doings. I feel that we would have made excellent CSI officers as we would know where to look for said evidence and what to make of it. The Gen-Y and Z? Forget it! When my son and nephew was 7 years old, they were very into Pokemon. One time while they were watching Pokemon, we gave them their milk for the night. They set it down next to them and as all accidents are attracted to toddlers, one of them spilt his cup. They looked at the spilt milk, said "Oh-oh", got up, moved to another location and continued watching.
If it was us and we did that, they would need forensic experts to separate our mangled corpses! How time has changed. During our time, we would become CSI to hide said evidence of the spill. I would have sat on it to absorb the milk while my cousin will distract anyone nearby. We will then proceed to get new pants for me while he walks behind me to hide the milk stain. I will change while he's the lookout. It's important to change into something of similar colour so as not to invite questions. After that, we have 2 options with the stained pants. We could hide it and throw it and feign ignorance when asked about the pants. OR we could frame my brother. Either way, it would have been done meticulously so that nothing points back to us.
Now of course, our kids volunteer information to us. Like when they dropped their phone or knocked something over. I know what you are thinking. Why in the world would I give my kids a handphone?? The answer, so that they won't bug us! That in itself is a new social world to us. We can't punish them for coming to us and admitting their wrongs. So you smile, tell them they did the right thing and to be careful in the future. Anti-climax right??
All said and done, the chances of us getting away with it was really low. Our parents still found out and half murdered us. So why still do it? Survival man! It kept us on our toes. But looking at the situation now, we could learn a thing or two from our kids and they could a learn a thing some of our CSI skills to survive.......as long it's not to con us!
So we had to be very creative in how we hide the evidence of our wrong doings. I feel that we would have made excellent CSI officers as we would know where to look for said evidence and what to make of it. The Gen-Y and Z? Forget it! When my son and nephew was 7 years old, they were very into Pokemon. One time while they were watching Pokemon, we gave them their milk for the night. They set it down next to them and as all accidents are attracted to toddlers, one of them spilt his cup. They looked at the spilt milk, said "Oh-oh", got up, moved to another location and continued watching.
If it was us and we did that, they would need forensic experts to separate our mangled corpses! How time has changed. During our time, we would become CSI to hide said evidence of the spill. I would have sat on it to absorb the milk while my cousin will distract anyone nearby. We will then proceed to get new pants for me while he walks behind me to hide the milk stain. I will change while he's the lookout. It's important to change into something of similar colour so as not to invite questions. After that, we have 2 options with the stained pants. We could hide it and throw it and feign ignorance when asked about the pants. OR we could frame my brother. Either way, it would have been done meticulously so that nothing points back to us.
Now of course, our kids volunteer information to us. Like when they dropped their phone or knocked something over. I know what you are thinking. Why in the world would I give my kids a handphone?? The answer, so that they won't bug us! That in itself is a new social world to us. We can't punish them for coming to us and admitting their wrongs. So you smile, tell them they did the right thing and to be careful in the future. Anti-climax right??
All said and done, the chances of us getting away with it was really low. Our parents still found out and half murdered us. So why still do it? Survival man! It kept us on our toes. But looking at the situation now, we could learn a thing or two from our kids and they could a learn a thing some of our CSI skills to survive.......as long it's not to con us!
A lot of catching up
It's been a while since I last posted. I just wanted to give you a quick summary of what has happened. Our children has grown up and they are now entering 18 and 14 respectively. Which gives us a whole new world to work with. This is new territory for my wife and I. How to deal with 18-year old teen who has that irritatingly know-it-all mentality but you know he is just as dumb as a door nail. How do you know when to let go, when to slowly reel it in and when to yank it like there is a Florida Marlin on the other end fighting for dear life.
Then there is female puberty kicking in with my daughter. Coming in from all sides that you feel like a lone space fighter being attacked by tiny hormonal Cylon space fighters coming from everywhere! Not a pretty picture. My son just completed his O-levels which is similar to high school finals and he now stands at a crossroad of what to do with his life. As a Chindian parent, which means we have the strongest education genes in the universe, college is a must. However, I am open enough to accept Chindian gut wrenching fact that he won't be a doctor, lawyer or engineer or accountant. I mean it took tons of morphine and valium to stop me from ripping his spleen out so that he will have to take up medicine to cure himself and law to sue me.
So as he sleeps until 2pm everyday and wakes up watching Anime (let's come back to that, what the hell is up with this Anime crap??), I am left wondering if he has any blinking idea of the path he wants to take. Scarily it seems there isn't any sense of urgency from his exterior. That would mean there is a plan right? WRONG!! His mind is a blank. IF I had to sell his mind right now, it will fetch a very high price as it's hardly used!! So I will have to figure this out for him but I am trying to figure it out WITH him and not FOR. Wish us luck!!
There is my princess. I took a sabbatical from work to spend some time with her. She is having problems with her school work. She's not doing well (or as well as we expect) and she seems to be exposed to some crazies in school who think that faking suicide is cool and a great way to get attention. Don't get me wrong, I am very sensitive to teens who are genuine depressed or deprived. I'm talking about attention whores who fake it.
Anyway, I got to spend time with her and to understand her more. Hopefully I was able to help and she now understand us a little bit more. She is very bright and has a fantastic sense of humour. She is also musically inclined (oh she took up drums! How cool is that!). She, however, is painfully shy and has the attention span of a gnat when it comes to books. It's like "Ok, this math problem needs you to look at the diameter of the circle and HEY I remember One Direction having a song about that! Let me turn on YouTube."
Yeah she's really into One Direction, Taylor Swift and some other teeny boppers. She just started her Anime phase though. I am hoping to curb it before it becomes terminal.
So that's us these past few years. WE have taken trips to China, Korea, Europe (Paris, London, Italy) and Japan. I will share some insights to all about that. So until next round.....Have a great 2015, God Bless and take care.
Then there is female puberty kicking in with my daughter. Coming in from all sides that you feel like a lone space fighter being attacked by tiny hormonal Cylon space fighters coming from everywhere! Not a pretty picture. My son just completed his O-levels which is similar to high school finals and he now stands at a crossroad of what to do with his life. As a Chindian parent, which means we have the strongest education genes in the universe, college is a must. However, I am open enough to accept Chindian gut wrenching fact that he won't be a doctor, lawyer or engineer or accountant. I mean it took tons of morphine and valium to stop me from ripping his spleen out so that he will have to take up medicine to cure himself and law to sue me.
So as he sleeps until 2pm everyday and wakes up watching Anime (let's come back to that, what the hell is up with this Anime crap??), I am left wondering if he has any blinking idea of the path he wants to take. Scarily it seems there isn't any sense of urgency from his exterior. That would mean there is a plan right? WRONG!! His mind is a blank. IF I had to sell his mind right now, it will fetch a very high price as it's hardly used!! So I will have to figure this out for him but I am trying to figure it out WITH him and not FOR. Wish us luck!!
There is my princess. I took a sabbatical from work to spend some time with her. She is having problems with her school work. She's not doing well (or as well as we expect) and she seems to be exposed to some crazies in school who think that faking suicide is cool and a great way to get attention. Don't get me wrong, I am very sensitive to teens who are genuine depressed or deprived. I'm talking about attention whores who fake it.
Anyway, I got to spend time with her and to understand her more. Hopefully I was able to help and she now understand us a little bit more. She is very bright and has a fantastic sense of humour. She is also musically inclined (oh she took up drums! How cool is that!). She, however, is painfully shy and has the attention span of a gnat when it comes to books. It's like "Ok, this math problem needs you to look at the diameter of the circle and HEY I remember One Direction having a song about that! Let me turn on YouTube."
Yeah she's really into One Direction, Taylor Swift and some other teeny boppers. She just started her Anime phase though. I am hoping to curb it before it becomes terminal.
So that's us these past few years. WE have taken trips to China, Korea, Europe (Paris, London, Italy) and Japan. I will share some insights to all about that. So until next round.....Have a great 2015, God Bless and take care.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
The Global Chindian
Since becoming a Chindian, I had many very serious thoughts about it. Most of it from the deep recesses of my mind (about a quarter inch deep). One of the many thoughts was how would we fare globally? Will we do well? What could be contribute? How will we adapt? Will we open up a roti canai with sweet sour pork store in a convenience store that also does laundry?
I've had the blessing of being able to travel to some countries but in the different regions of the world. I've come to realize that our Chindian look is very global. Unfortunately our global look means 3rd world country look! Whenever I travel around SEA, I ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS look local. Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and even Indo-China.
There was once when I was in Thailand with my Aussie colleagues for our company meeting. After work, they decided they wanted to "check-out" Patpong. To the uninformed and liars who've never been to Patpong, it's Bangkok's red light district. When we got there, the "guest relations officers" jumped out and pulled my Aussies friends into their outlets. I was left standing alone in the street. After my friends decided on the "outlet", the GRO came out and got me in for a free drink but they led me to a corner and ignored me. I was totally confused as to what was happening. It took me a while for me to realize that they thought I was the local tour guide and the free drink and meal (if I wanted it) was my commission for bringing the "farang" or foreigner. WTF!!
The same in the Philippines. Every restaurant I was in with my colleagues, the servers will speak to me as they expected me to know what to order. And they speak to me in Tagalog. I don't feel so weirded out in Indonesia since I speak Malay and I can play the part. So we Chindians are definitely very at home in SEA. I've had recent trips to the US and the situation is just as amusing though one was quite terrifying.
Due to my work, I got the pleasure of traveling the US quite often and we typically land in LA or San Francisco. SF is one of my favourite places to visit due to the weather and it's generally nice. I remember the first time I visited SF in 1995, I went to Chinatown for Chinese food because we Chindians can only take so much of cold cuts, pasta, bread and salads. When I looked at the menu in this small Hong Kong-run Chinese restaurant, I realized that everything was called dumpling. Fish ball was called dumpling, so was wantan, sui kow and anything that looked roundish! Unable to differentiate, I spoke to the lady in Cantonese to order. While she looked shocked, she kept her composure and took our order.
I began to realize that something weird was going on and started to feel like a zoo exhibit. That's when I realized that there were LOTS of people outside the shop looking in but not coming in and the kitchen staff started to come out to look at me. It was a 5 table restaurant so it wasn't hard to know they were looking at me. After lunch, I was very curious and when I asked for the bill, I asked the owner what was going on. This was the conversation we had in Cantonese.
Me : What's going on? Why so many people outside?
Owner : Oh, those are my neighbours. They run the shops beside mine. They are here because I told them about you.
Me : What??? Why? What about me?
Owner : We have never met a Mexican that can speak Cantonese and speak it so well!!!!
Me : WHAT??????
To mess with her further....
Me : But I'm not Mexican. I'm Malaysian.
Owner : Ohh!! So you are Malay.
Me : No. I'm Indian.
Owner : What?????? Then how come you speak Cantonese.
Me : My mom's Chinese.
Owner : You just said you were Indian and Malay!!!
That went on for a while but it was nice messing with her.
In another trip, I was lost in San Pedro with another Chindian friend Patrick and 2 Malaysian Chinese friends. San Pedro is the harbour for LA and as the name suggests, there are A LOT of Hispanics who are blue collar workers there. When we were walking about, they were starting to get edgy about my Chinese friends and we "Hispanics" had to stay close to "protect" them. For a while it got a little tense especially when we sat for lunch. The Hispanic owner thought we were having a table talk over gang territory. Then when we ordered ice-cream, that kinda gave away we were more pansies than gang members!!
Patrick and I, at one time, traveled with 4 Malaysian Chinese girl colleagues (I had to add Malaysian Chinese else you think we were hanging out with Mainland Chinese girls!) and we were driving the mini van around SF Chinatown. The drivers' side windows were not tinted but the passengers and back were. We were "randomly" stopped by the police and when they saw all of us, it confirmed their suspicions that we Hispanics were smuggling female Chinese immigrant into Chinatown!!! There were A LOT of explaining and IDs flying out to San Francisco's finest.
There are many more global stories that I will share with you but the next time you see in the US news an hispanic arrested for allegedly trying to kidnap a Chinese girl, call the Malaysian embassy. It's just me taking my wife for a holiday in the US!!!!
I've had the blessing of being able to travel to some countries but in the different regions of the world. I've come to realize that our Chindian look is very global. Unfortunately our global look means 3rd world country look! Whenever I travel around SEA, I ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS look local. Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and even Indo-China.
There was once when I was in Thailand with my Aussie colleagues for our company meeting. After work, they decided they wanted to "check-out" Patpong. To the uninformed and liars who've never been to Patpong, it's Bangkok's red light district. When we got there, the "guest relations officers" jumped out and pulled my Aussies friends into their outlets. I was left standing alone in the street. After my friends decided on the "outlet", the GRO came out and got me in for a free drink but they led me to a corner and ignored me. I was totally confused as to what was happening. It took me a while for me to realize that they thought I was the local tour guide and the free drink and meal (if I wanted it) was my commission for bringing the "farang" or foreigner. WTF!!
The same in the Philippines. Every restaurant I was in with my colleagues, the servers will speak to me as they expected me to know what to order. And they speak to me in Tagalog. I don't feel so weirded out in Indonesia since I speak Malay and I can play the part. So we Chindians are definitely very at home in SEA. I've had recent trips to the US and the situation is just as amusing though one was quite terrifying.
Due to my work, I got the pleasure of traveling the US quite often and we typically land in LA or San Francisco. SF is one of my favourite places to visit due to the weather and it's generally nice. I remember the first time I visited SF in 1995, I went to Chinatown for Chinese food because we Chindians can only take so much of cold cuts, pasta, bread and salads. When I looked at the menu in this small Hong Kong-run Chinese restaurant, I realized that everything was called dumpling. Fish ball was called dumpling, so was wantan, sui kow and anything that looked roundish! Unable to differentiate, I spoke to the lady in Cantonese to order. While she looked shocked, she kept her composure and took our order.
I began to realize that something weird was going on and started to feel like a zoo exhibit. That's when I realized that there were LOTS of people outside the shop looking in but not coming in and the kitchen staff started to come out to look at me. It was a 5 table restaurant so it wasn't hard to know they were looking at me. After lunch, I was very curious and when I asked for the bill, I asked the owner what was going on. This was the conversation we had in Cantonese.
Me : What's going on? Why so many people outside?
Owner : Oh, those are my neighbours. They run the shops beside mine. They are here because I told them about you.
Me : What??? Why? What about me?
Owner : We have never met a Mexican that can speak Cantonese and speak it so well!!!!
Me : WHAT??????
To mess with her further....
Me : But I'm not Mexican. I'm Malaysian.
Owner : Ohh!! So you are Malay.
Me : No. I'm Indian.
Owner : What?????? Then how come you speak Cantonese.
Me : My mom's Chinese.
Owner : You just said you were Indian and Malay!!!
That went on for a while but it was nice messing with her.
In another trip, I was lost in San Pedro with another Chindian friend Patrick and 2 Malaysian Chinese friends. San Pedro is the harbour for LA and as the name suggests, there are A LOT of Hispanics who are blue collar workers there. When we were walking about, they were starting to get edgy about my Chinese friends and we "Hispanics" had to stay close to "protect" them. For a while it got a little tense especially when we sat for lunch. The Hispanic owner thought we were having a table talk over gang territory. Then when we ordered ice-cream, that kinda gave away we were more pansies than gang members!!
Patrick and I, at one time, traveled with 4 Malaysian Chinese girl colleagues (I had to add Malaysian Chinese else you think we were hanging out with Mainland Chinese girls!) and we were driving the mini van around SF Chinatown. The drivers' side windows were not tinted but the passengers and back were. We were "randomly" stopped by the police and when they saw all of us, it confirmed their suspicions that we Hispanics were smuggling female Chinese immigrant into Chinatown!!! There were A LOT of explaining and IDs flying out to San Francisco's finest.
There are many more global stories that I will share with you but the next time you see in the US news an hispanic arrested for allegedly trying to kidnap a Chinese girl, call the Malaysian embassy. It's just me taking my wife for a holiday in the US!!!!
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Dad, Jude and Tagore - The hopeless case and the genius
I have a younger brother called Jude Tagore David. He was named after St Jude and Rabindranath Tagore. St Jude was the patron Saint of Hopeless Cases and Tagore was a well renowned Indian poet and writer from the early 1900s. He was given a knighthood by the British but renounced due to a massacre incident by the British and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. I used to tease my brother that he was an enigma because he was a hopeless case but strongly principled and cultured! Yeah, he didn't enjoy that! One wonders why.
My dad loved to read and he used to read Tagore's works at one time. I think we got our love for reading from him and we loved general knowledge, history and foreign culture in particular. My dad was an amazingly generous person and he would bring poor people he met on the streets home for meals. It will infuriate my mom and worry us because I would come home and find strangers in my house. Thank God they weren't psychos or serial killers. They can't be robbers because we were so poor, we would have robbed the thief!!
He was very logical and his reasonings were more often than not, fair. Importantly also that he was not very traditional. Indian fathers tend to take the dictatorial approach. You-follow-whatever-I-say-no-questions-or-I-will-kick-your-ass style. He was very democratic and very fair. I realize now how much I look to him in life and try to follow him. He truly was a real beacon for me. He absolutely adored his grandchildren and would spoil them silly by giving them Coke, sweets and whatever that drives my kids on a sugar high. There were many people we have never met at his funeral and they would we weeping and crying! My family would be wondering who the heck are these people??? That is the kind of blessings he had. I miss him so.
My brother Jude is an amazing character. He is one of the laziest crazies I have met but also a freaking genius!! He is one of those people you want to kill in school. He will goof off, sleep a lot and still do well in exams. He has an amazing talent for languages as he picked up Tamil in school and now he speaks Thai because of his wife. He taught himself to play the drums and not only to play but to play WELL!! He is in a band that plays at night spots around KL. That's SOOOO cool! If he learned notes, he would be playing professionally now.
He was always kind of huge, now and as a kid. You could always pick him out in any school photo as he will be twice the size of everyone. I remember when he was 9, he ate 8 char siew pau in one sitting! I can't even eat 2. Once also around 8 or 9 years of age, he tried a can of Guinness, without us knowing of course, and fell asleep for 9 hours on the bedroom floor. Typical drunkard!!! He is like a Sequoia tree trunk now and could make me into a cheap tosai. So every beginning of the school year, I will ask him to accompany my kids to school. My kids never gets bullied!!!
We didn't always get along when we were kids. He irritated me to no end and could always get away with murder with my parents. We did have our moments though. Once when bathing (as kids not now!!!!), we got into the bath tub and turned the water grey. We were in there for 30mins and when we opened the bathroom door, there was our mom with the cane. She whacked the daylights, night time and our puberty out of us...and we were wet and naked!!!! Despite our fightings, he never left me alone when it came to punishment by our mom.
He is my best friend, I love him dearly and wouldn't have it any other way.
MY PARENTS, GRANDMOTHER & JACKIE CHAN
My paternal Indian grandparents, Vincent Robert Joseph and Rita Joseph were born in Chennai and migrated to Malaysia during the 1930's. Working as an estate manager, my grandfather moved around a lot for work.
My maternal Chinese grandparents, Chan Chi Long and Lay Foon's heritage were from Dongguang, Southern China. My grandfather was killed during the Japanese occupation and this forced my grandmother to take on odd jobs to make ends meet for the family.
My father, David Joseph, is first generation Indian-Malaysian. My mother, Stella Chan, is second generation Chinese-Malaysian.
Born in Port Dickson in 1939, my dad is the 4th in a family of 10 siblings while my mom was the eldest in her family and born in KL. They both had little education due to the harsh war and poverty. They had to leave school to find work to support the family and siblings and eventually ended up in Kuala Lumpur to work.
Dad worked as a foreman with UMW and a volunteer police corp for a number of years. After retrenchment, Dad took up jobs as a factory manager and managing video arcades. Despite our situation, he always ensured the family was cared for especially educational needs. Mum, on the other hand, helped out by babysitting and helping to pay for our education. We were a poor family, and Dad struggled to make ends meet by taking on 2 jobs. My mom stopped working when I was born to take care of the family so because of that, I naturally gravitated to the Chinese culture.
Mum and Dad met when they worked together at a retail store called Kishu's in Batu Road. They began dating and after 7 years, tied the knot in 1970.
Initially, my paternal grandparents were against the marriage, as they were wanted Dad to marry within the race. They couldn't comprehend having a daughter in law who spoke a different language. There were many unhappy quarrels but over time, they warmed up to Mum, and gave their blessing.
On my mother's side, my grandparents were already open to it, as my aunt (Mum's sister), Violet Chan, had married an Indian man. Luckily for Mum, Aunt Violet had already educated her parents that not all Indian men were violent, wife beaters and drunkards, as the stereotype goes back in teh 60s. So when it came to Mum's turn, my grandmother had already been through the cultural shock.
From my own observations, both cultures can be quite different in some areas. For instance, Chinese parents are not used to praising their own children, even when they do well in school. The Indian parents, on the other hand, are more direct, and will praise or criticise when needed.
Until I was 7, I stayed with paternal Indian grandparents in Air Panas and Setapak. There, I was exposed to the Indian culture, language and food. When I turned 7, our family moved out to be on our own since we were stayng with my Dad's siblings and parents. From then till I left home,my maternal Chinese grandmother or Poh-Poh as I called her, stayed with us in Sungei Way.
Her influence on me was stronger as I developed into my own person. She was a big influence in my life and an inspiration, as she had been though hard times without the support of my grandfather. Without attending school, she taught herself to read and write and even took up sewing to help support the family. Hard work, independence and table manners were a few things my brother, Jude and I learnt from her.
When i was 8 years old, she began to teach me how to use the chopstick. At meal times, she would insist on making me pick a button mushroom or peas with my chopstick before I could eat. If you are able to pick one up, you could take a bite! While it may seem dictatorial, it was actually very funny to see us struggle with it.
The one actor she loved was Jackie Chan. She would always take me to the movies and in time, I was introduced to all his movies by my Poh Poh. I remember clearly the first movie we went to see together. It was in 1979 and the movie was called Drunken Master at Odean in Jln Tungku Abdul Rahman. What a swell time we had - grandmother and grandson in a movie! Ever since then, I've become a movie junkie!
She was very impartial when it came to movies, as she would take me to see movies I wanted to see, even English movies and Poh Poh didn't speak English! She would accompany me to watch movies like Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and even Jesus of Nazareth!!
Poh Poh also bought the Matchbox toy cars for my brother and I, as we both loved model cars. I think we have more than 80 cars still in mint condition, collected from the 70s and 80s. During the 1982 World Cup, my grandmother and I would discuss the games, the players and the countries. From her, I learnt the Chinese names of the footballing countries. Every football tournament after that, isn't complete without a daily discussion of the matches with Poh Poh.
It makes me smile to think that my grandmother even knew about football back then. My inspiration, my teacher and my friend.
My maternal Chinese grandparents, Chan Chi Long and Lay Foon's heritage were from Dongguang, Southern China. My grandfather was killed during the Japanese occupation and this forced my grandmother to take on odd jobs to make ends meet for the family.
My father, David Joseph, is first generation Indian-Malaysian. My mother, Stella Chan, is second generation Chinese-Malaysian.
Born in Port Dickson in 1939, my dad is the 4th in a family of 10 siblings while my mom was the eldest in her family and born in KL. They both had little education due to the harsh war and poverty. They had to leave school to find work to support the family and siblings and eventually ended up in Kuala Lumpur to work.
Dad worked as a foreman with UMW and a volunteer police corp for a number of years. After retrenchment, Dad took up jobs as a factory manager and managing video arcades. Despite our situation, he always ensured the family was cared for especially educational needs. Mum, on the other hand, helped out by babysitting and helping to pay for our education. We were a poor family, and Dad struggled to make ends meet by taking on 2 jobs. My mom stopped working when I was born to take care of the family so because of that, I naturally gravitated to the Chinese culture.
Mum and Dad met when they worked together at a retail store called Kishu's in Batu Road. They began dating and after 7 years, tied the knot in 1970.
Initially, my paternal grandparents were against the marriage, as they were wanted Dad to marry within the race. They couldn't comprehend having a daughter in law who spoke a different language. There were many unhappy quarrels but over time, they warmed up to Mum, and gave their blessing.
On my mother's side, my grandparents were already open to it, as my aunt (Mum's sister), Violet Chan, had married an Indian man. Luckily for Mum, Aunt Violet had already educated her parents that not all Indian men were violent, wife beaters and drunkards, as the stereotype goes back in teh 60s. So when it came to Mum's turn, my grandmother had already been through the cultural shock.
From my own observations, both cultures can be quite different in some areas. For instance, Chinese parents are not used to praising their own children, even when they do well in school. The Indian parents, on the other hand, are more direct, and will praise or criticise when needed.
Until I was 7, I stayed with paternal Indian grandparents in Air Panas and Setapak. There, I was exposed to the Indian culture, language and food. When I turned 7, our family moved out to be on our own since we were stayng with my Dad's siblings and parents. From then till I left home,my maternal Chinese grandmother or Poh-Poh as I called her, stayed with us in Sungei Way.
Her influence on me was stronger as I developed into my own person. She was a big influence in my life and an inspiration, as she had been though hard times without the support of my grandfather. Without attending school, she taught herself to read and write and even took up sewing to help support the family. Hard work, independence and table manners were a few things my brother, Jude and I learnt from her.
When i was 8 years old, she began to teach me how to use the chopstick. At meal times, she would insist on making me pick a button mushroom or peas with my chopstick before I could eat. If you are able to pick one up, you could take a bite! While it may seem dictatorial, it was actually very funny to see us struggle with it.
The one actor she loved was Jackie Chan. She would always take me to the movies and in time, I was introduced to all his movies by my Poh Poh. I remember clearly the first movie we went to see together. It was in 1979 and the movie was called Drunken Master at Odean in Jln Tungku Abdul Rahman. What a swell time we had - grandmother and grandson in a movie! Ever since then, I've become a movie junkie!
She was very impartial when it came to movies, as she would take me to see movies I wanted to see, even English movies and Poh Poh didn't speak English! She would accompany me to watch movies like Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and even Jesus of Nazareth!!
Poh Poh also bought the Matchbox toy cars for my brother and I, as we both loved model cars. I think we have more than 80 cars still in mint condition, collected from the 70s and 80s. During the 1982 World Cup, my grandmother and I would discuss the games, the players and the countries. From her, I learnt the Chinese names of the footballing countries. Every football tournament after that, isn't complete without a daily discussion of the matches with Poh Poh.
It makes me smile to think that my grandmother even knew about football back then. My inspiration, my teacher and my friend.
Monday, October 28, 2013
My new PC!
Hi everyone! It's been a long while since my last posting. I was too tired and just too hickety boo lazy! For that I apologize. So since my last posting, our country has gone through a lot. We had our elections and the controversy continues. UMNO elections are over as well and we had our first budget. Hopefully we can go back to bringing up our country quickly. In the sporting front, our top sportspersons continue to march on. There were talks of Datuk Lee Chong Wei and Dato Nicol David slowing down at the "ripe old age" of 30+. Chong Wei seems to be struggling a bit with 2 losses and so did Nicol for a while. But my Chindian sister has hit back. After losing 3 finals to an up and coming player as well as her arch rival, she beat them and won the last 3 tournaments. Not bad for a has been....
Liverpool seems to be doing slightly better. The question is how long can they keep it up. Some summer signings have been showing promise but there are some who are still lacking. My other fav teams in Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus continue to flourish! However the LA Lakers struggled badly last season and looking at the off season, I don't think they will be doing well this year. Miami is still the team to beat.
As for my family, things are just as normal. We had some holidays that I have not been able to update you. Give me time and I will do so. We went to Beijing and Xian where we visited 2 of the world's most important historical monuments, the Great Wall of China and the Terracotta Warriors. Then last year we were in Korea. KLY and I took our wives to London and Paris...LOT of brownie points this. In April Melissa and I took a trip to Dubai courtesy of my new company, EMC. Oh yeah, I joined a new company.
So all is good, some lows but many highs. I also got a new PC...after 10 years and I'm posting this from my spanking new PC. Just got in today and it was an very exciting feeling after 10 years. I mean I have the iPad, iPhones, Samsung gadgets but this is my family PC where we share. I asked FB friends since I don't know these young whippersnappers anymore, where is a good place to assemble my own config at an affordable budget. I got what I wanted and I'm tickled pink. I'm gonna sign off for now since it's past 1 am and I need my beauty sleep. Stay healthy and look after each other.
Liverpool seems to be doing slightly better. The question is how long can they keep it up. Some summer signings have been showing promise but there are some who are still lacking. My other fav teams in Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus continue to flourish! However the LA Lakers struggled badly last season and looking at the off season, I don't think they will be doing well this year. Miami is still the team to beat.
As for my family, things are just as normal. We had some holidays that I have not been able to update you. Give me time and I will do so. We went to Beijing and Xian where we visited 2 of the world's most important historical monuments, the Great Wall of China and the Terracotta Warriors. Then last year we were in Korea. KLY and I took our wives to London and Paris...LOT of brownie points this. In April Melissa and I took a trip to Dubai courtesy of my new company, EMC. Oh yeah, I joined a new company.
So all is good, some lows but many highs. I also got a new PC...after 10 years and I'm posting this from my spanking new PC. Just got in today and it was an very exciting feeling after 10 years. I mean I have the iPad, iPhones, Samsung gadgets but this is my family PC where we share. I asked FB friends since I don't know these young whippersnappers anymore, where is a good place to assemble my own config at an affordable budget. I got what I wanted and I'm tickled pink. I'm gonna sign off for now since it's past 1 am and I need my beauty sleep. Stay healthy and look after each other.
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