Are you ready?

Don't say see how... believe & have that faith & see things to come!

Look to the 1 Source of life, for He is your provider and not what you think you can do!

Prepare yourself, put on that socks & that special shoe... to go where you have not imagine!

See You Around Aun Tun Lin

This guys has been serving us drinks for about 10 years oledi at Sea View, PJ and on Monday, he is flying back for good...

Purposely on Friday went to the coffee shop to just chat with him before he leaves. The reason he is leaving is because he has a 2 year old boy waiting for him... I ask him what he is going to do over there... he says most likely work in the paddy fields and get another job... In Myamar, he says to raise a family you need about 2 jobs...

I believe he misses his family being a long time and way in Malaysia... bought his son a water tumbler who is only 2years, he says when his son is 4years, he can use it for school! :)

Tun Lin, may God's blessing & goodness be upon you as you have served this nation in your own way! THANK YOU!!!!

Jogoya

My generous sister treated us again at Jogoya... What I can say that it's a lot of food! We ate & ate till...... just nice! :) We have learn the art of enjoying food...

over eating= suffering...

enjoying your food= ecstasy! :)

Anyway, we enjoyed the fellowship as much as the food!

Million thanks again & don't forget us, if you want to 'explore' where no man has gone! :)

Sorry guys, no pix of food... too busy eating!

Food has got into their system!

Fire happening at Pavillion as just we came out!

How do you get coordinates from Google Maps

Don't leave home without this:

javascript:void(prompt('',gApplication.getMap().getCenter()));

Paste in the URL box once found place

Susan

Yday I had a street photography with my students... wifey & jenlyn tagged along... after walking the Kota Raya & China Town area, we had our dinner at some claypot chicken rice (don't order the seafood stuff- cost a bomb!)

Then this lady came over, and asked for RM2 to take a bus home... usually i would be picky on who comes and ask for money...

So I asked her, whether she was hungry? She said yes... I asked what she wanted to eat, and she said bak-kut-teh... so I walked her across the road & paid for her meal... and dig out coins for RM2, cos the buses only except coins (if I remembered rightly)

Then chatted with her and ask her why & how she came here... she told me, at home she got nothing to do, just sit down and stare at the wall and at times, she would just cry... according to her, her son is not working and has some high blood pressure thingy.... Ask her name, and she said Susan...

There are so many ppl that bump into us that has a need, do we stop and hear their hearts or just rush through our daily chores...

What i could do at that moment is to just buy her dinner & pray that she will find Life... :)

Hope to see you again Susan...

A shot taken by Jenlyn... earning a living through picking up aluminium cans opposite Kota Raya

Honey Seller

Honey Seller
Originally uploaded by Sam's Digital Shoe Box

This guy was at a night market in Cameron Highlands selling honey... Each jar that he sells, he would cut some honey combs to put into it...

Sometimes I wonder, do we define our work or our work define us?

CNY Break

CNY this year was a little special as I travelled with my wifey 2 locations... Melaka & Sitiawan...

We were away for nearly a week, bought holiday food for the fish, passed our beloved staghorn to our neighbour to water and we were ready to go!

Though both of us agreed that CNY is getting much quieter but we enjoyed the company and lazing around although I had to 'work' a few hours a day...

This time not much photography, only snapshot as would just want to enjoy time with our beloved ones...

At Sitiawan, our adventure to explore the place continued. Food from Melaka & Sitiawan has its own unique blend which I love :)

Some snapshots:

Dolly 'stool' @ old grandma's house, now a kopitiam

old grandma's house, now a kopitiam

Mangroove Walk @ Sitiawan

Reunion Dinner @ Melaka

Peeling Pamelo for 'Yee Sang'


A pleasant surprise where my work is displayed on a billboard on the streets of Sitiawan

2009

Paddy Field
Originally uploaded by Sam's Digital Shoe Box

Entering 2009, my dream is to excel well in the things that I have with a greater depth.

Resolutions? Eat less and exercise more! :)

The photo was taken on the way back from Sitiawan, my last photo of 2008... a vast as the fields and skies, let it is be of my heart & vision. I pray that God continues to pour His grace and the strength to endure and the joy to relish life itself!

Good Time With Family

It has been a very good time with family this time round during chriatmas from my parents to my wife's relatives back in sitiawan...My brother came back from qatar, so we had some sort of family reunion... lots of food and games with the children. Seeing Raphael maturing was indeed pleasant.


Before Opening Up Their Presies

Some Withdrawal Symptoms

Some shots from my mums garden:

Baby Shield Bugs in mum's garden

Adult Shield Bug

Blogging now from sitiawan, I made 'new' friends, which are actually my relatives from wifey's side... uncle teh, ong, nik keong and aunts... a good time too of eating sitiawan food n chatting with them. Had some scotch with uncle teh n chatting from photography to travel, uncle ong digging for sea cockroaches, etc....

Had a really good time with both families.... sign of old age? ;)

Sitiawan Tai Kah Che

'Sea Cockroach' that some of them caught

Fried 'Sea Cockroach' Very delicious... a fusion of soft shell crab and prawns

Using MoBlog

trying out a new application as for myself so that i cab jot down more frequent snippets of my journey... a couple of times, i remind myself y i blog... actually i'm a private person... i blog becos i would want to share my journey with my kids or close ones that would know my ups n downs through this journey... well, 2009, more of blogging? hope i will not be lazy! :)

Years of Support & Investment

Well, from the photo we can see that there is some kind of investment into photography... to some, it is.... nah... it's a little... to some, wow... that a number... Well, these are some of the obvious equipment... there are many others like reflectors, light modifiers, tripods, stands & other accessories.... besides these are also investment in time...

As for me, these equipments have been an extension of my eye to perspective of the world... every one of them has a story to tell and lots of sweat and money has been invested...

I won't say that I'm 'there' but at least on my personal front, i know that I'm advancing with different styles and approach... it has not been a dead end yet but much to explore...

Someone just ask me today, to teach him a few tricks... I told him there is only 1 trick... be inspired! :)

The fundamental of my photography is to see for a different perspective of life and to share that captured moment...

Leader's Retreat- Bukit Tinggi

The leader's retreat was one of the better ones that I have gone... not to say that there we 5 star facilities or good amenities but it's just about the people on how we shared our lifes...

One of the areas were that the old commended on the the young and the young commended of the old... nothing coughed up, but all true incidences as we journeyed 2008. For many of us 2008, was a journey of eating 'humble pie' :) were at the end it is seeing His goodness & faithfulness despite our foolishes or bluntly our stupidity!

I was encouraging to hear lifes of ppl and also the ministries that they are at... there is so much of heart in what they do and I can say it is the grace of God in our lifes that His grace is sufficient for us and in our weakness His glory is shown...

The shot is taken at the balcony where we met... zillions of birds but did not bring my lens 'panjang' (long lens).

It rained the whole day and the scenery was awesome with the misty jungle...

This was taken to exemplify ahem... (a few girls) that we need to clear up after we eat... so xxx decorated their slippers with their junk and put it in front of their doors... Hope that they got xxx little message and remember it for a long time :)

PS: Identities are withheld to protect the innocent party... I'm just the photographer! :) The girls, (actually only 2 of them, woke up at 3am & discovered this and dump the rubbish in front of the guys dorm. Anyway, we hope that they understood the message... not to be a 'kutu sampah' (litter bug) :)

RIP

Kevin & myself have been the 'snippers' of the company... hunting down baby rats...

How they came in or where they are from... nobody knows...

The only thing we know that they are sneaky and stealthy...

Hopefully this is the last one... May you RIP with your 2 other brothers!

while waiting for my beloved to fry the geragau... shot this garden
caterpillar with my new touch pro... given by some people... am so
blessed...

Phuket

Had a good time in Phuket with my wife...it's our delayed anniversary holiday...

Stayed in Patong and travelled by scooter round the town of Patong and also Karon & Kalim... a beautiful sight to behold...

The ppl were generally nice and the stay was pleasant... watched Fantasea & also Simon's Cabaret... would say enjoyable and entertaining....

Well... when is our next break... don't really mind going back there.... especially the juicy tender beef noodles are calling us back!

I Could Only Say This....

After the uneventful event, that I was con my pda phone... the next day, my car broke down at nite... near bukit Jalil... was passing some stuff to someone...

Thank God my wifey is with me... such a comfort... we called AAM and while waiting we went to the fun fair, did not go in as did not have much attractions but we bought corn in a cup...

Sitting by the roadside with our car was very romantic... :)

Cutting the story short, the car was towed to my usual workshop for the next day to be repaired and went we got back, our nice neighbour had porridge for us!

I could only say this... Blessed is the name of the Lord, even when the world is not what it seems to be...

The Best Con Job in Malaysia

Heat
Originally uploaded by hvhe1

I had a phone call to the office in the morning about 1030am asking for the sales person. This guy called Liew, introduced himself as a CFO of SJ resources. He says that his Director, Patricia is looking for purchasing some equipments as their company is going listed and has new product research & development... I did a google search, and this company did many things from food stuff, manufacturing, some biotech stuff (don't know whether related but it had that SJ xxx Resources name)

I tried to ask more but he says he is not so technical and have to ask Patricia... he chatted that like information is very confidential as they are going to be listed and how another media company cheated them where they sold some information to another competitor, etc...

In short, these stories are so real and I myself have heard of these...

So he asked me whether I'm free to meet up with them today... He said he would bring more info about the company and products that they are interested. I asked him how he knows us, he said last year, our customer gave him our contact but at that time did not call us...

So believing as I had a number of calls within this 2 weeks that new prospects and customers call up... and we also had referrals like this before...

So the appointment was set at 2.30pm...

I called up my boss and told him about this appointment and told him I got a very funny feeling and they are too friendly and something was not right... I told him, that if I got kidnap or suddenly missing, at least he knows where I am... At that point, I was joking...

So driving to Ampang Park, I receive a call for Liew, he says his hp is out of battery... and he has to call from a public phone.... he told me to meet him at Guardian at the main entrance...

So I waited at there but not really exactly at that spot, then i received another call asking where was I and ask me to go up the escalator and meet him at the open food court area...

So I went up and waited for a little while... I believe he was checking me out...

Then he came and shook his filthy hands... and he brought me to Pizza hut... as we sat down a few seconds later... my phone rang and it was lo and behold Patricia... asking me whether her partner belanja me makan and whether I have eaten and had a small talk with her...

Then she asked whether she could speak to Liew... so they had they small chat, saying that waiting for her, my name is Sam for this company and that, etc... Then the waiter came and ask us for drinks and ask me to order a small pan pizza as he was on the phone... He even mentioned my boss name, with Patricia and whether I can pass some items for him.

Then suddenly he said "you don't know the way ah" in their conversation. "There at ampang park, pizza hut" it was so natural and the story line was so clean, as he introduce themselves from Singapore... so he was directing her and suddenly he stood up as if she was near and showing her where we are...

So he went downstairs to lead her... As he left the table, there was this CD with "Company Profile" and also 2 envelopes attention to Patricia, sealed and stapled...

See the whole modus operandi? So planned out... the food ordering to hold me back, the items on the table... the date on the CD also so believable... dated in like end of 2007... so detailed....

I waited like 10min and was anxious, where are these ppl... so i when downstairs to call my mobile on the public phone... He picked up and said he is nearby at OSK, as Patricia is familiar with the place... so i went up again and sat down. I took his CD and saw it was empty, nothing burned, inserted into my notebook, nothing... The first thought is maybe he brought the wrong CD, it happens right?

I went online to check with our admin in Melaka and check whether my boss knows any Patricia, she checked and she said none that he can remember... I told Jo, if I get conned, this is one of the best in my history...

Then another 15min, I called again... He said they are on the way to Malaysian Tobacco and ask me whether can go there and meet them... I told him I want my phone back and I am waiting for him at Pizza Hut before my coins ran out...

At the point, this is really something wrong, I open up the envelopes that are sealed slowly, so that if I'm wrong, I still can put it back, I even ask the staff for a stapler to stapled it back if mistaken... !@$#!!! empty paper!!! The next envelope, I just ripp it apart! Newspaper! !@#!@#!!!!

start calling my number but goes into message... I called our KL admin up and ask her to cancel my handphone....

I'm done... I just gave my precious pda phone to this old forty plus chinese man! Which looks so polite and mannered with a neck tie!

Called my beloved and told her that I got conned... suppose to bring her out at night for 'jalan jalan' but plans all gone...

Wanted to go home already... but thought for a little while, maybe can see this guy on CCTV... I asked for the manager to see whether can catch the video, she says need police report and necessary authorization from HQ.

So I went to the Police station across the road and made a report... it seems that some of the police know this modus operandi... and told me exactly... even the manager of Pizza Hut told me this happened also last month...

Finished my report, dashed through the rain to Pizza Hut again... and pass the letter... now waiting for Pizza Hut to release at least a photo or video footage of the incident...

I'm safe and sound only internally jumbled up with anger and rage and yet another part grace & mercy, not to the 2 ppl that conned me but as in my life... God grace & mercy to me... (that's another story) By this incident, i saw God's 'tough love' towards me...

Coming back, those reading this, just be aware... you are allow to take snippets of this event but don't add your own tomato sauce ok... just take it as it is...

What I lost or spend:
My PDA... RM3200
PDA Cover RM40
My Parking... RM8.80
Pizza... RM17.70
Petrol... RM20
Thumbdrive... RM60
Micro SDs... RM450
My missed plan time with my beloved... Priceless

Trottle Away

Trottle Away
Originally uploaded by Sam's Digital Shoe Box

We left on the 10th June early morning at 6am... Peng Siah & Tammy, a very punctual guest, unlike yours truly.... came over and parked his Ford Escape at my lot and removed the battery cables & did the locks religiously...

Then we are on our way to the Islands.... it was a very pleasant and nice journey to the East Coast of Malaysia... there is so much to look and how i wish I could just keep on stopping and snap photos before this type of 'kampung' (country) life dwindles away....

Anyway, we stayed over nite at Kuala Besut, raining and was chilly... in the morning, meeting at Mr Ong's favourite place, Lucky where we ate something and hopped on our ride... twin engines running at 35mph, with dark cloud hovering us...

Love every bit of the scenery and life...

After The Rain

After The Rain
Originally uploaded by Sam's Digital Shoe Box

Usually after the rain there is always new life and freshness that comes... something very interesting and wonderful...

In times of season of drought and dryness a heavy downpour would bring forth life again and that is what I need...

New Look

New Look
Originally uploaded by Sam's Digital Shoe Box

This is another time I took another photo of my beloved with her new hair style. Wanting to shoot more of her and fill this pages with colour! :)

This new look is interesting... kinda chinese/japanese... what would we say about this in 10 years down the road?