Elijah, wife and me in China April 2007

Ok, my son's 7th birthday is on 30 March and I can't be with him. I MISSSSSS HIM SOOOOO MUCH! So I've been going through his pictures stored in my hard drive and I came across these pictures of us taken when we're vacationing in China in 2007. Kinda forgotten about it, might as well share it here than let them go forgotten.

L to R : Father in-law, Father in-law's paternal uncle, his Paternal Uncle's wife, Mother in-law and my wife

Things you didn't know were found in Sabah

Brian and I went to Kota Kinabalu on 10 March 2011 to visit a friend's chili farm. On the way back to Beaufort, I made sure that we stop to check some cemeteries found along Jalan Putatan. If you ever travel past Putatan towards Papar, after the traffic lights at 1Mall, Putatan, you will drive past 2 bridges, after the second bridge, slow down and keep a lookout for a place where they sell Muslim tombstones on the left side of the road, the cemeteries of interest are located nearby. According to Google map, it is 1.6 KM from the traffic lights I mentioned.


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I drove by the site many times but failed to notice anything unusual about it until one day, when I fleetingly noticed the word 'Almarhum' on a sign next to one of the cemeteries. I was driving by, so I didn't get to read the rest of what was written on the sign. Question marks popped above my heads because of the word. As far as I know, 'Almarhum' normally refers to someone of royalty. I may be wrong but 'Almarhum' is an arabic word which is used to refer to a deceased, just like how we refer to a deceased as The Late Mr John Doe in english. 

I also caught a glimpse of the grave, it was painted in yellow! Interesting!, I thought. 

So before heading out to Kota Kinabalu that day, I grabbed my Canon digital camera and made a mental note not to forget stopping at the location to check it out. 

My Chili Farm - Brian's last day

It has been 2 weeks, a busy and productive 2 weeks thanks to Brian; my HelpX volunteer from the U.S.A.

I just sent him off just now, he is on his way to Sipitang and tomorrow, he will be making his way to some secluded village in Sipitang named Ulu Bul. Seriously, I didn't even know that there was such a village. I know of Long Pasia but Ulu Bul? Clueless.

My Chili Farm - Attack of the wrinkly leaves

Did I mention in my last post that I am replanting all my chili plants to the local variety of the Cili Padi(Bird's Eye chili)? Yes I am. I would have transplanted at least 300 of them by now, if some pest did not devour all of them! Yes, all of them! The mysterious pesky pest didn't even leave a single seedling for me!

It's true about our local farming taboo, they say you shouldn't curse or scold when some pest disturb your crops because they will come back with a vengeance! So when you are at the field or your farm and you notice that one of your crops has been 'disturbed' by let's say, a monkey, you are just to shoo it away but no scolding or cursing or doing anything beyond what is necessary. Otherwise, that monkey will come back with more monkeys and do worse damage. Some Oil Palm growers swear by this taboo.

Mahathir should not undermine PM's good efforts - Datuk Mohd Fauzi Patel

by Datuk Mohd Fauzi Patel 

Veteran journalist who served the Sabah Economic Development Corporation (Sedco) in various capacities and was also Press Secretary to former Chief Minister Datuk Harris.

The Datuk's piece was published in Daily Express (printed media) 13 February 2011. As of 16 February 2011, the folks at Daily Express have yet to update their online content. Hence, I am reproducing it here with all credits to Daily Express and Datuk Patel. Good article should be shared and served while still hot.

Lots of dust has been kicked about in Peninsula Malaysia by those who are offended by the latest provocative remarks by former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who says that Malaysia belongs to the Malays and other races, therefore, are expected to respect Malay sovereignty.

Twitter from beyond..

This was told to me by a friend who swear that it is a true story because it was told to him by a friend whose friend's brother was the man who was supposedly the 'victim'. 

Anyway the story goes this way, this young man was very active in Twitter. He is from Johor, one day he attended a Tweetup in KL. He met a few of his Twitter friends from KL and some from Sabah, Sarawak and other parts of the country but are living and working in KL. In the tweetup, he chatted with a girl from Sabah whom he immediately fancied upon meeting her personally. Apparently this fellow was a player and quite a handsome devil. The girl was rather impressionable maybe, or perhaps very easy because she fell for the guy's charm and ended up having a one night stand with him. The following day, the guy went back to Johor with a promise to keep in touch with the girl. 

Garama Wetland FTW!

I became an 'accidental tourist' today and I am glad I was game enough for it because I was rewarded visually with nature's splendor!

If you are my twitter friends, you would know that I have been preoccupied with hosting my French 'helper' these past few days. She found me via www.helpx.net , it is a portal that connects farm owners who are willing to offer accommodation, meal and their hospitality, with budget travelers who are willing to work for farm owners in exchange for what the farm owners are offering.