Snakes (and civet cat) Alive!

A couple of days ago, we received a visit by yet another civet cat.

It kept the dogs up and agitated all night. Me included.

It couldn't get out from the tree it was holed up in because my dogs were circling under the tree. From 2.30am until the morning. Finally, it had enough at about 9am and tried to make a dash for it. Alas for the civet cat! Our Lab mix and our Rottweiler showed their hunting prowess.

All the dogs were knocked out for the rest of the day, deprived of sleep as they were the night before.

Then in the evening, our Rottweiler, fresh from her day's sleep, went about her usual inspection of the garden. She started barking ferociously in her trademark fashion, indicating to us that "something was there".

The "there" was among my lady's fingers plants, and the "something" turned out to be a medium-sized cobra!

Snakes alive!

My Rottie is still a young dog, goofy and loveable, and just coming into her hunting instincts. This is no match for her! The cobra was standing up (as you always see in National Geographic), hissing and lunging at our Rottie when she got too close to it. My hubs and maid were out with me by now, with bamboo sticks.

I tried to call off our Rottie with food, which usually works. But not this time. She was too into it.

Luckily hubs and maid managed to knock out the cobra. Hubs then scooped up the reptile before Rottie could snap at it and threw it over to the neighbouring empty land (which resembles more of a secondary jungle than land in an urban area).

Now, did I say there is just too much fauna around our home?   

(picture for illustration purposes only, courtesy of www.scientificamerican.com )

After GE13 - vernacular schools in Malaysia debated again

I didn't read the news on Sunday, 12 May 2013 as it was Mother's Day, and I was just too busy with this, that and the other.

Until a reader (and online friend) asked me what I thought of the Star's article entitled Single-stream schools will unify nation.

This is a difficult one. Really.

But to start off. The government, and people in general, should really, really leave education out of politics.

Why is this issue of vernacular schools being brought up again, being brought up now, so soon after GE13? Is it to find a scapegoat?

Come on. No matter who you are, you know what you've done, you know whether it's a fair win, you know why votes went the way they did. Now it's just time to move on. Isn't that what PM Najib said? The results are in. Nothing has changed. BN won. Now just go and do a good, clean job in governing the country in the 21st century.

Back to vernacular schools. Chinese vernacular.

Much has been written on it, and there are loads of research material, high level thinking stuff (which I haven't read) arguing one way or another about the value of preserving mother tongue teaching. Some quick reading can be found here:Vernacular education in Malaysia    National vs Vernacular schools  Why vernacular school issue keeps resurfacing

I send my kids to a Chinese vernacular school. So? Does that make me bad? Make me disloyal? Rubbish!

Sekolah Kebangsaan

I myself, am a product of our "good old" Sekolah Kebangsaan and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan system.

Good because I obtained a decent education; mastering both English and Bahasa Malaysia to a more than conversational rudimentary level. Religion was not forced down our throats when I was in school. My school was multi-racial.

Old because the system I was educated under is no longer what is being used today. Our education system is like some fashion show, full of catchy acronyms - KBSR, KBSM, KSSR, KSSM. (I wonder if there is a whole department dedicated to creating acronyms in the Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia)

Our government just can't seem to leave education well alone. First, we are taught to speak Bahasa Malaysia a certain way, pronouncing the "a" with a soft sound. Then, some academician recommends that we speak Bahasa with a "baku" sound, emphasizing a stronger sound "AH" with all words ending with "a". Make up your minds!

For a decade, our government perhaps advocates English while in the next, it almost completely destroys a whole generation of Malaysians' proficiency in English. And then the unemployable graduates of today ask why they can't get a job when they have a local university degree. Ask the government.

However, since I went to a national school, as a Malaysian-Chinese, I am illiterate in Chinese. Illiterate. I can only converse in Chinese but am unable to read or write Chinese, until I sent my kids to a Chinese V school. I picked up some Chinese from and with my kids.

Why do parents send their kids to a Chinese vernacular school

Not because they want to be disloyal to the country. Not because they do not want a united people. Tan Sri Dr Abdul Rahman Arshad and Datuk Mohd Noor Abdullah, please take note.

I don't say that I know why they send their kids to Chinese or Tamil V schools. Everyone has their own reason, and they have the right to choose.

Actually, have you ever asked the Chinese, Malay and Indian parents who send their kids to vernacular schools why they do so?

Rather than spew toxic advice from your ivory towers (Datuk Mohd Noor Abdullah said,"SJKs only disunite the people"), why don't you get down and dirty, and go down to the ground and ask? Do your "surveys" or your "academic research backed up by facts". Have you sat for a few days straight to observe the quality of teaching in the sekolah-sekolah kebangsaan?

And by the way, Tan Sri Dr Abdul Rahman Arshad, I was told that this sentence is correct - Lauk ini sungguh amat sedap. Your comments on the quality of Bahasa Malaysia being taught in schools today?

Prioritise education, not politicise it. 

Three Legs Cooling Water

Cooling and heaty.

These are Asian concepts which the West is still skeptical about, but to us here in Malaysia, it is part of daily life as we hear, "don't eat too much watermelon. It's cooling" or "don't eat too much durian, it's heaty."

But, I have never heard about "cooling water" before until my maid told me about it. She said they drink "Air Badak" all the time in Indonesia, when they feel heaty or have a sore throat.

This is the Three Legs Cooling Water , which features the picture of a rhino on its lable, while its logo is that of, yep, three legs!

Out of curiosity, I bought this cooling water from the  Guardian pharmacy. It is not cheap - about RM3.80 for a 500 ml bottle.

It tastes just like water. After all, it is purified water. The label states that its main added ingredient is gypsum fibrosum.

Gypsum fibrosum is a mineral, and used in TCM  (traditional Chinese medicine) to, among others, clear excess heat in the lungs and to treat inflammation of the gums, diabetes, high fevers, excessive thirst, headaches, toothaches, nose bleeds, coughing, and wheezing. Apart from its medicinal uses, it is also a substance found in plaster, plaster of Paris, blackboard chalk, and historically as a wood substitute in the ancient world.

Is it effective?

It did help alleviate my husband's sore throat. My maid said she was feeling heaty, with this hot wet and wild weather we are having, and drank a bottle. She felt fine after that. The kids tried it for fun.

I have a couple of bottles handy at the moment. It's faster than having to boil my own barley drink or pak chee cho.

Life after GE 13

To the polls!

It was an exciting day, last Sunday, 5th May 2013. It was the day Malaysians who care about the country's future went to the polls.

It was our first time voting in Ipoh.

We arrived at our centre just before 8am and there was a queue of about 20 people ahead of us. At 8am sharp, the guard opened the school gate and people then proceeded to have their ICs checked. This was a slow process. And an unnecessary one, we found out later.

The queue was moving so slowly. I remarked to my husband that I remembered during GE 12 back in PJ in 2008, I went straight to my polling stream as I had already checked it online. Why should we queue here since we knew our polling streams too?

But...due to the supposed changes our (not-so) trustworthy Election Commission had implemented for GE 13, thanks to the efforts of BERSIH, we thought we would just follow (like cows to the slaughter). As we got nearer to the tent, I craned my neck so see ahead and it became clear that this process was just for the officers to check your IC details and tell you which polling stream to go to!

Wasted time......sheeeesh!

Anyway, at our polling centre, all was calm and orderly. We were done by 9am. Given the location of our polling centre, it would have been too obvious to bus in "spooks" to vote. At my daughter's ballet class later that day, the moms who voted didn't go too easy on the lone mom who did not vote. Guess that's at least one good thing about the indelible ink - we get to put those who didn't vote on a guilt trip!

The night was spent waiting for election results: my husband on his PC; me on my I-pad.

The morning after.

The much-touted UBAH did not arrive.

BN remains in power as the ruling government, but without its 2/3 majority. It failed to wrest back Selangor and Penang, the much coveted precious gems that BN had gone to great lengths for.

It did regain Kedah, and Mahathir must now be a happy papa as he can finally see his offspring become MB of Kedah, a stepping stone no doubt towards greater political aspirations. And so we have the dynasties of former prime minister Tun Abdul Razak via Najib, and Tun Mahathir via Mukhriz. So...nobody has anything bad to say about dynasties, right?

I have exercised my right as a Malaysian to vote. This was one hair-raising election. People got emotional and heated. But I guess it was in this emotional state that the stuff people wrote on social media truly showed what was in their hearts. And a lot of it wasn't pretty. Nope, not at all.

Racism is well and truly alive here in Malaysia.

Despite 55 years of independence obtained through the cooperation of the different races in Malaysia, it is extremely sad to know that many people have forgotten history; some have chosen to distort history; or to disregard history in their supremist attitude that they and only they own the earth Malaysia lies upon. And the politicians have seized upon this very attitude, increased their insecurities, and fanned it with racial politics to divide Malaysians, for their personal selfish gains.

It broke my heart to read a particular friend's post on FB. It wasn't what she wrote, but rather what her friends wrote. That the elections were about one race fighting against another. How could their thoughts be so distorted?

Malaysians are voting to choose a responsible, honest and capable leadership to steer the country towards greater and continued success. Not a government that doesn't do an honest day's work. Not a government that grows fat and lazy and arrogant.

Malaysians don't want corruption, cronyism and crime.

At least, I thought that's what most Malaysians want and don't want. I may be wrong.

And yes, life goes on.

Is this our nocturnal visitor - Asian palm (masked) civet cat

Late in the night, on more than one night, our dogs have been set off into a barking and search-and-hunt frenzy. In the mix of canine din, there was feline-like spitting and hissing.

I saw nothing out of the ordinary in the garden when I switched on our flood lights.

Except maybe some swift movement among the fruit trees, and a pair of glowing eyes with a long tail.

It happened again last night. Some months back, our dogs caught and mauled something that later died. I could not recognize what animal it was.

Now, I think the nocturnal visitors are "musang" or the Asian palm civet cat.

It is a fruit-eating mammal, not related to the cat at all. Perhaps you are a fan of the famous Vietnamese  fox-dung coffee?

When I tell (rather, complain to) my husband of all the flora and fauna (domesticated and wild) that surround us, he says, "Aren't we lucky?"

(images from mohanpaisarticles.blogspot.com, www.the-most-expensive.info)

Plumbers, other helpful (hopefully) contacts in Ipoh

Getting into a new town also means we have to source for help to fix leaky pipes, broken washing machines, etc. I scrolled thru some of my contacts in my mobile and list them here to get you started.

Oh, and I can't vouch for their quality of work, so I hope you won't be disappointed (or mad) after having used their services.

Plumber
A Keong: 012 5185299


Washing machine
A Seng: 019 5704474

Lorry (we used to move our stuff from KL)
Nathan: 019 4364315

Lights (the shop can also change light bulbs etc for you if you don't fancy climbing up a ladder yourself, for a fee)
Hoover: 05 2548768

(image from mauiplumber.blogspot.com)

Argh! Fish bone stuck in my throat

We've heard and probably seen on some TV show how someone suddenly chokes on a fish bone.

It happened to me just last night, while having dinner with my son at home.

We had home-cooked bak kut teh, and ikan assam pedas with ladies fingers and roselle leaves from my garden.

I felt the discomfort of something lodged in my throat after I had finished my sour and spicy ikan kembung (mackerel). I thought nothing of it and continued eating. But something was certainly stuck in my throat.

So, going by conventional wisdom, I swallowed large mouthfuls of rice, hoping to push the piece of fish bone down together with the rice and water. It didn't work.

My maid then asked me to eat banana. I tried that and it didn't work either.

I was starting to get visions of me at the doctor's clinic with the doctor extracting the fish bone with forceps! Nope, I didn't want that scenario. So I tried to induce some vomiting. Eeeww! I really hate to vomit but I had to try. I coughed violently and stuck my finger down the back of my tongue.

Vomit I did, but the fish bone remained stubbornly stuck. I was sweating by now and my son looked extremely worried. He then dashed upstairs, remembering something.

When he came downstairs again, he said," Mommy, drink vinegar!" while waving a book in my face.

Huh? My maid and I looked at each other, amused and cynical at the same time. But I went along with my son's suggestion.

First, my maid brought out a bottle of Vinigen honey vinegar. I said that's not strong enough. I asked her to get the bottle of apple cider vinegar. I mixed 2 tablespoons of the apple cider vinegar with a touch of water, and drank several mouthfuls slowly. Then I ate a bit more rice. The fish bone moved! Then I drank the remainder of the vinegar and I could not feel it anymore!

So drinking some vinegar actually worked! This morning I did a search for other fish bone advice. There was one by a a doctor (who advised NOT to cough and gag - oops!) and another really brave soul who used scissors to get the fish bone out.

I thanked my son and asked what book it was that he fetched. It was something I had bought him sometime back - Top Survival Tips by Asiapac Books, Singapore.

So the next time you encounter a fish bone stuck in your throat, try drinking some vinegar (I would dilute with a little water) to soften the fish bone. Good luck!  
(image from ehow.com)

General Elections 13 - UNDILAH!

One thing is for sure............there is so much more political awareness among rakyat Malaysia now.

The EC stated that up to 2.3 million new voters were registered as voters, making the GE13 a genuine battlefield with untested first-time voters, fierce cyber campaigning and instant sharing of thoughts as well as political antics available online 24 by 7.

And awareness that YOUR VOTE COUNTS.

The  political tsunami in Malaysian politics in 2008 shocked the ruling elite as well as highlighted to the rakyat that their voice can and will be heard if only they exercise their constitutional right to vote.

 In Perak, I believe its unique experience of the people voting in a new Perak state government in 2008, only to have representatives from the new state government leap-frogging over to BN (for personal gain) thereby handing the state back to BN was an eye opening and illuminating lesson for all.

But when I first came to Ipoh, I was rather shocked and taken aback by the fact that the new lady friends I made here have never registered to vote! In their entire lives, they have never voted. In casual conversations with ladies in shops, restaurants, music centres, dance centres, kindergartens...there were still many who have never voted.

I am not a politician. Can't ever imagine being one!

But I am upset by people constantly complaining "the government is terrible", "that Minister is useless", "the country is being run into the ground", "that's my tax money being used for another white elephant project", and when I ask them if they vote, they sheepishly say "no". Well, they get a little education from me there and then!

"If you don't vote, you have no right to complain!"

I drove several of my new friends to get themselves registered as voters. I hassled a long time friend working in KL to get registered - she finally did.


You have the right to vote. You have the right to vote for whichever party you believe will form a government that will lead Malaysia for the betterment of all Malaysians. Just like Michelle Yeoh our Ipoh Bond girl, has the right to publicly support the party of her choice.

And for Malaysia to be a true democracy, our political leaders must learn to accept that there must be CHANGE in the country's leadership! Otherwise, what is the point of elections if the same party wins again and again? It's just a sham then.

I have read many comments on the net which roughly go like this,"Kenapa mau ubah? Selalu mau ubah saja!" Such thoughts demonstrate complacency, political immaturity and a fear of trying something new (and perhaps better).

When the party and PM in power can never be sure whether they will still be in power for the next term, that's when they do their job properly, think long term and deliver fair, sustainable policies to the rakyat.

Exercise your vote. UNDILAH!

(image from allposters.com)

Oh no! Where's Burger King?

Burger King has folded, closed up and shut down. In Ipoh, that is.

When we first moved to Ipoh in 2009, Burger King set up shop with 2 outlets, shortly after. We were thrilled.

But last year, the Burger King outlet in De Gardens (opposite Kinta City) closed down. We were left with the remaining Burger King in Gunung Rapat, opposite its arch nemesis, Mc Donald's.

While Mc Donald's was always bustling with customers, its drive-thru lane packed with cars, Burger King would be serene and tranquil with just 2 or 3 tables of diners.

Things did not look good.

And so it was that we discovered a couple of nights ago when the kids and dad wanted a burger supper, that the last Burger King outlet in Ipoh had also folded. The building next to McDonald's in Gunung Rapat was dark and deserted when we got there.

Hubby was not pleased, as he much prefers Burger King's burgers to Mc Donald's commercial-tasting non-fragrant but kid-pleasing burgers.

Good bye Burger King, we'll have to see you when we go to PJ.

Edible Flowers - Telosma Cordata

One of my readers shared about her recent purchase of a creeper plant that bears pale yellow fragrant flowers  - the telosma cordata. 

This plant goes by many names such as Chinese Violet, tonkin jasmine, bunga tongkeng, cowslip creeper, and is native to China.

What attracted me to read up on this flower is that my reader told me that not only are the flowers extremely fragrant, emitting a rich heavy fragrance day and night when in bloom, but that they are also edible! Lending itself to soups or fried in an omelet, the flowers are reputed to be healthful for the eyes.

One blog I read, shared a legend about the flowers, which I reproduce from Garden Lab:
"A troop of fearless warriors had seized an enemy’s castle.  At dusk, a hypnotic fragrance came wafting through the air, dissipating the aggressive feelings of the warriors as they inhaled the aroma. By the next morning, the warriors were so subdued that they were forced to abandon the castle and retreat. This fragrance came from none other than the Telosma Cordata!"

On another blog called Tanam Sendiri , the blogger wrote:
"Auntie yang jual (bunga ini) kata kaum Cina suka buat sup, kaum India pula suka letak dalam kari, kaum Melayu pula letak dalam gulai. Kira bunga muhibbah ni."

I thought that was such a marvellous description of this flower for our Malaysia:
"The lady at the market who sells this flower said that the Chinese like to use it in soups, the Indians like to use it in curries and the Malays like to use it in gulai. This is a unity flower - muhibbah!."

A flower for all Malaysians! 

Nature is endless in providing humankind with beauty and nutrition.