The adventurous route I took to Utah

The interactive video on a personal screen with 60 movie channels to choose from made the long journey to America entertaining!



Touch Down!
After crossing miles and miles of ocean, the plane finally touched down in San Francisco. However, the mountains far away in the background was where I still had to make my way to as the final destination.


I said goodbye to my fellow Malaysian travellers Saiful and Chia Li at the airport who were headed to Portland and made my way to the Car Rentals


A brand new Nissan Mini Van was waiting for me at the parking lot


So I drove off into the sunset


..with the moon to give light and direction in the night


..as I drove till the early morning sunrise


With a pit stop for gasoline.


I continued the journey through the desert terrain


Going up the mountain trail


At last, I reached my destination. The 'Top of the Mountains' in the Salt Lake Valley of the Rockies. I brought the rain clouds with me too from Malaysia as the desert sky is usually clear!


Imagine what I saw, a gigantic double rainbow right across the horizon which I have never ever seen before in my life. What an auspicious sign, I thought to myself


It was a full double rainbow right over the Provo valley with it's left side falling near where the Mormon Temple is located.


Let's take a closer look to the left side of the rainbow.


Could the pot of gold be right there in the rocks?

Father's Day thoughts in America

As I returned to America again and having just had Father's Day with 4 sons at home recently, I'm reminded of the prayer of General MacArthur, the famous World War II general, for his son :

Build me a son, O God, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory. Build me a son whose wishes will not take the place of deeds; a son who will know thee-and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge.

Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail. Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goal will be high, a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men. One who will reach into the future, yet, never forgets the past.

And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never takes himself to seriously. Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, and the meekness of true strength.

Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, “I have not lived in vain!”

Happy Father's Day!

My Father's Day M&M bow tie

Celebrating Fatherhood and children's birthdays

The past week was preoccupied with celebrating birthdays, the first was Fei's big 21st birthday away from home in Hawaii. That was followed by Ernie's 10th birthday which was celebrated at home with a party to invite his school friends. More of Ernie's birthday pics are found at his blog.

Ernie celebrated his 10th birthday with a party to invite his school friends


There were many fun games at the party


They seem to enjoy playing games more than eating the food prepared for the party



How appropriate that the week ended with Father's day. I am the happy recipient of two M&M bow ties presented by the 2 primary boys at church, Ern and Ray. Pictured below is me wearing one of them!

Happy Father's Day!

My Father's Day M&M bow tie

Happy 21st Birthday message to Daughter No 1

This song is a Chinese folk song entitled,"Love from Home" and it is dedicated to you Fei Min on this auspicious day.

We are glad you received the birthday package we sent you which contains several items in your wish list. The VCD family greeting was from our heart which is full of love for you. It's only a beta version as it was done in a hurry so you can expect a more complete version later with more pics and movies from your baby years to adulthood. Yes.....there is more to come! he he he

As it is your 21st Birthday, we think it fitting that more of your wish list should be fulfilled. Tell me what you think of the webhosting facility offered by this provider?

You'll find some Chinese "Ang Pow" also coming your way so look out for that.

You will also receive an email with details of a 52-week program that will help anyone live an OPTIMAL LIFE!

Ohh yeahh, last but not least, this will be found in the second package.

So you'd better go update your birthday wish list soon!


Greetings & Well Wishes from Family & Friends

If you like to watch and listen to the recorded video, make sure that any music playing has stopped or stop it with the music control panel available. Click here and enjoy!

Visitors can also click the comments link below to leave your greetings!


How did you grow up so quickly?


Your birthdays come around too soon!


You have a way with music


You never really liked the cold too much


Always loving the beach and the water


You will always be our cute little baby girl!

Two trips to remember

The boys had two weeks of holidays from school recently. Typical of the Chinese School system, they had to go back to school even on school holidays for a few days. That made planning a trip out of town for an extended period a little difficult. Furthermore, the Singapore girl had to arrange for leave from work. So we finalized a window of time only in the second week of their holidays to plan a nice short vacation for them. They have worked hard during the school term, doing tonnes of homework which again is typical of the Chinese Schooling system. They, therefore, deserve an enjoyable vacation. The older 2 boys have even longer days at school, 6 days a week actually starting at 7.30am and finishing on the average about 4pm. I guess that is where the Chinese strong work ethics come from!

Planning for holidays in detail has never been my habit for one who prefers to be adventurous. That is why I've never been on a group tour in all my adult life and my first trip to Europe when I was seventeen was on a backpack alone. I just caught an Aeroflot flight via Moscow to London and from there I toured over 10 countries in Europe by rail all by myself!

For family holidays, I've learned to be more prepared as we are in a bigger group. The way I've found most ideal is that I first venture out solo like a scout to familiarize myself with the 'territory' so to speak and thereafter, the family trip that follows becomes much smoother without wasting precious time. This works most times though occasionally, like the time in New York city, I dragged my wife walking for miles looking for my favorite Greek restaurant serving Gyros!

So just prior to the school holidays, I decided to take my Kawasaki bike on a solo journey to Singapore and then make my way to Kuantan on the east coast from there using the Segamat road through oil palm plantations. I finally made it back to KL from Kuantan through the new east-west highway that has reduced traveling time from the previous 4 hours by half! This was the First Trip to remember!

The Second trip was with the family and the decision was just to make it to Kuantan alone to spend quality time there. Did we have a great time there? Let's look at the pics that paint a thousand words!

The pics below are primarily of my solo bike journey to Singapore and Kuantan, with a few pics taken in Kuantan from the first and second trip. The Singapore girl, however, has a much better coverage of the second trip, our family trip, at her blog. After scrolling down for the pics below, do view the pics she posted by clicking here and read her additional text by clicking here.

You can also view Han's pics and read his version here.


The First trip, a solo journey begins late at night southward from KL to Singapore with a pit stop to fuel up!


Made it to Singapore from KL and its time to top up the cash card!


Just out of Singapore and on the way to Kuantan,I had to stop by in front of the hospital in Johore Bahru where I was hospitalized in 1985 after a head on collision with a truck...in a car, not a motorcycle!


Riding into the sunset on the way to Kuantan from Singapore


Breakfast with my brother in Kuantan with his wife Mimi waving and joining us is my oldest brother and his wife Cynthia, also visiting Kuantan.


My oldest brother visiting also in Kuantan seen on the wooden walkway at Teluk Cempedak beach


My brother's mother-in-law in blue taking a stroll, now in her eighties, with my oldest sister-in-la

From here downwards are some pics of our second trip with the family. 


It was truly a trip that we just had to bring only our suitcase of clothes as everything else was provided, even another German Shepherd to play with named Rex, a cousin brother of Grace at home maybe?


Don't know why but dogs just love to jump on me on land or in the sea!


This is a pic of our seafood dinner treat from my brother who has delivered 20,000 babies in Kuantan to date! We are invited to visit again in July to feast on the ripened 'Durians', the King of our Malaysian fruits, from his fruit farm. Yipee!!