HAPPY MERDEKA DAY

To help "celebrate" Merdeka Day (kind of makes you wonder what is there to celebrate?) we prepared nasi lemak and had the family over for dinner. It was a cold and rainy night but the spirit was high and gay.

We served nasi lemak, with true blue "nasi that is lemak", get it? Of course we had the obligatory curry chicken with spuds and chicken feet, telur, cucumber, ikan bilis (fried and sambal), kacang (we used beer nuts as a replacement), acar salad, and dessert was mixed fruit salad and sponge cakes.

A friend of mine once commented: " 喂, why you always write about family gatherings and show pictures of dishes?".

I replied: " I like it, none of your business!". Ha ha ha.

The truth of the matter is my family is central to our circle of social activities. We would not want to live in Melbourne had it not been our desire to want to spend time with them.

In any case it was just a family gathering. Simple and unpretentious. Tonight I have heard laughter ringing in my ears so loud I wish I had my pilot headset on.

Anyway, Happy Merdeka. Be safe on the road. Drink and don't drive.

My wish for Malaysia is that we see a more matured, more equitable, more democratic Malaysia in coming years.

Fly Away

'When will you be home?' she asks
as we watch the planes take off
We both know we have no clear answer to where my dreams may lead
She's watched me as i crawled and stumbled
As a child, she was my world
And now to let me go, I know she bleeds
and yet she says to me

You can fly so high
Keep your gaze upon the sky
I'll be prayin every step along the way
Even though it breaks my heart to know we'll be so far apart
I love you too much to make you stay
Baby fly away

Autumn leaves fell into spring time and
SIlver-painted hair
Daddy called one evening saying
'We need you. Please come back'
When I saw her laying in her bed
Fragile as a child
Pale just like an angel taking flight
I held her as I cried

You can fly so high
Keep your gaze upon the sky
I'll be prayin every step along the way
Even though it breaks my heart to know we'll be so far apart
I love you too much to make you stay
Baby fly away
ohh...
I love you too much to make you stay
Baby fly away

Original music written, composed and performed by LA based artist Corrinne May

The ladies said their good byes

After congee at Supper Inn, Little Bourke St tonight.

SM, Lily and Linda

Farewell dinner for Darren and Linda

Dinner at Forefront Restaurant on Franklin St on 14 August.

Final before the real one

TODAY I DID MY FINAL FLIGHT on an Arrow before the flight test. I took Sam along so he could judge how I went.

I took off at 10am from Moorabbin and tracked visual to Williamstown (WMS) and overhead the disused Laverton airfield, avoiding the Restricted area R321.

Today we had strong and gusty Northerlies. YMMB was reporting 360 deg M 18 Knots gusting 28 Knots. The take off was all right but before I reached 2500 ft to track the VFR route to stay below the Class C airspace step, it was bumpy and I experienced medium turbulence.

Overhead Laverton airfield I tracked for Bacchus Marsh (YBSS) aerodrome which was an easy way point. I asked Sam to give me a diversion overhead YBSS and he gave me Rockwood aerodrome some 35 NM away to the south west. I had a Ground Speed of about 130 Kts due to the northerly. I held the heading, timed the ETI and triangulated the Rockwood airfield with the Yarrowee VOR and found the approximate airfield position in relation to Rockwood and Corindhap towns. This was because the airfield is probably just a grass strip and I actually could not make out its runway.

Overhead Rockwood I tracked to Colac (YOLA) aerodrome which was easy enough to find because of its proximity to the north east of Lake Colac and Colac township.

I then tracked east and 10 NM out I called Avalon (YMAV) Tower for airways to go through its airspace to Point Cook (YMPC) aerodrome. I thought I had to be at Barwon Prisons which is a VFR approach point before calling the tower but Sam had experienced no such requirement and so I tried and got the airways clearance just anywhere 10 NM west of the YMAV runway.

I tracked to overhead the Avalon Airport runway using VOR then outbound to YMPC. By this stage we were already flying on visual because we were familiar with the area. Soon I was tracking for Moorabbin via Brighton and landed 35 Left after 1.9 hours. We were the only aircraft in the whole airport I guess because others did not want to be flying on such a strong and gusty wind day! We were number 1 all the way from after I reported inbound at Brighton and this was on a Saturday late morning. Unbelievable but true!

I flared VH-HAB and used full left rudder and applied more power and speed than normal to cater to the strong cross wind and gusty condition. The plane landed positively, not pretty, but positive landing and there was no danger to pilots and aircraft......

樱花，樱花 Cheery Blossom

VERMONT SOUTH IS KNOWN in the community to have many cherry trees planted by the Council.

The cherry trees started blossoming in the last one week or so. Everywhere on the streets they are blossoming now. It's a pretty sight to behold and quite heart warming to me. We are now nearing the end of official winter (end of August) and it's the cheery blossom time in Melbourne. I remember seeing them blossoming in Tokyo around April time. It's a big festival in Japan to see and appreciate the cheery blossom.

I got the following info from Wikipedia.

A cherry blossom is the name for the flower of cherry trees known as Sakura (Japanese kanji : 桜 or 櫻; hiragana: さくら) in Japanese. In English, the word "sakura" is equivalent to the Japanese flowering cherry.^[1][2] Cherry fruit (known in Japanese as sakuranbo) comes from another species of tree.

In Washington DC they also have a National Cherry Blossom Festival. Here's what they say on their website.

The Peak Bloom Date is defined as the day in which 70 percent of the blossoms of the Yoshino Cherry (Prunus x yedoensis) trees that surround the Tidal Basin are open. The date when the Yoshino cherry blossoms reach peak bloom varies from year to year, depending on weather conditions. Cherry Blossom Festival dates are set based on the average date of blooming (April 4), but nature is not always cooperative. Unseasonably warm and/or cool temperatures have resulted in the Yoshino cherries reaching peak bloom as early as March 15 (1990) and as late as April 18 (1958).

The Blooming Period is defined as a period that starts when 20 percent of the blossoms are open and ends when the petals fall and the leaves appear. * The blooming period starts several days before the peak bloom date and can last as long as 14 days; however, frost or high temperatures combined with wind and/or rain can shorten this period.

Last cooking duties

SM IS FINISHING OFF HER COOKING DUTIES at work today and tomorrow. She will be going for a new job on Monday week.

She took some pictures at work. She was happy after all that she has had great cooking experience working at Highvale. Well done.

She cooked this roast pork

She cooked the cream rice

More cream rice

She cooked all these commercial looking dishes and ingredients in the ban marie

New Airline Pilots

TWO OF MY FRIENDS FROM MY OLD FLYING CLUB DAYS have become airline pilots. Mitch has just received his letter of appointment a few days ago. He will soon start training for his A320 rating. Jonathan has gone through his rating and will probably be on line soon. These 2 guys worked really hard to put themselves through flying training. One used money he shored up as a contractor to pay for his training. Later on he sold his business and concentrated on his flight instructor and corporate pilot career until he has the hours and also passed all the ATPL exams.

Another one was heavily in debt to the bank for the study loan, applied himself, then started paying back the loan as a flight instructor.

Mitch Wong

Jonathan Khoo (Mr Cool)

Slow Down Culture

An interesting reflection: Slow Down Culture

NOWADAYS, THERE'S A MOVEMENT IN EUROPE named Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.

Basically, the movement questions the sense of "hurry" and "craziness" generated by globalization, fueled by the desire of "having in quantity" (life status) versus "having with quality" or the "quality of being". The French, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than the Americans or British. The Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen productivity driven up by 20%. This slow attitude has brought forth the US 's attention, pupils of the fast and the "do it now!".

This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It means reestablishing family values, friends and leisure time. Taking the "now", present and concrete, versus the "global", undefined and anonymous. It means taking essential human values, the simplicity of living.

It stands for a less coercive work environment, happier, lighter and more productive where people enjoy doing what they know best how to do. It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence of spirit.

In the movie Scent of a Woman, there's a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl to dance and she replies, "I can't, my boyfriend will be here any minute now". To which Al responds, "A life is lived in an instant". Then they dance to a tango.

Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in what each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".


Congratulations for getting to the end of this message. There are many who would've stopped in the middle so as not to waste time in this "globalized" world.

Fllying into an island paradise

A FRIEND TOOK THESE PICTURES FOR ME because I asked her for a picture of the landing approach, and because she knows I am an airplane nut. The Dash 7 was landing into a tropical island resort in the South China Sea.

I also downloaded a landing approach photo from a contributor to the Wings Over Asia.com site who flew into the island on a Piper aircraft. Read the article published by Meng Ng.

Runway in the foreground. Looks like a Pangkor approach with hills on both sides of the runway and terrain at the end of the runway

Runway chart

Lunch at V.S.

WE HAD PAT AND DAVID OVER FOR LUNCH today as they were free and there was only the two of us at home.

Lunch was sambal ikan bilis, stir fried silver beet, steamed barramundi, and oven baked mushrooms. SM had baked the fish with plenty of ginger and fried bacon ( a first) and it was very tasty. Dessert was sweet potato "soup" with ginger and 豆沙饼。

The weather was nice today. It felt like 15 C and blue sky. Pat wanted to buy us yum cha lunch on Wednesday unfortunately I will be flying and SM is also unavailable so we teed up for next Wednesday instead. Oh well.

Talked to Kee Mun on skype today and he gave me Margaret's contact in China. Think I will email her sometime.

Thinking what are the ways to get our lemon tree to bear more fruits

Someone's philosophies worth emulating

A MAN WITH ONE WATCH KNOWS WHAT TIME IT IS;

A MAN WITH TWO WATCHES IS NEVER QUITE SURE.

DON'T LOOK WHERE YOU FALL

BUT WHERE YOU SLIPPED.

LOOK AT LIFE THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD,

NOT THE REAR VIEW MIRROR.

PEOPLE MAY DOUBT WHAT YOU SAY

BUT THEY WILL BELIEVE WHAT YOU DO.

BE NICE TO PEOPLE ON YOUR WAY UP

BECAUSE YOU WILL NEED THEM ON YOUR WAY DOWN.

NEVER EXPLAIN.

YOUR FRIENDS WILL NOT NEED IT AND YOUR ENEMIES WILL NOT BELIEVE IT

WHILE SEEKING REVENGE, DIG 2 GRAVES.

- ONE FOR YOURSELF

TIME YOU ENJOYED WASTING

WAS NOT TIME WASTED

COURAGE IS NOT A LACK OF FEAR

BUT THE ABILITY TO ACT WHILE FACING FEAR

YOU'VE GOT TO DO YOUR OWN GROWING,

NO MATTER HOW TALL YOUR FATHER WAS.

THE BEST WAY TO PREDICT THE FUTURE

IS TO CREATE IT .....

On the spot

Aus Pilot is an ex-corporate ladder climber who decided to carve out a different career path before hitting 48, when the roulette landed on a different number for him. Huh!

Where did you grow up?

Ipoh, of course! Those who know me would know. 5 Jalan Brockman Camay Park, New Pasir Putih; to be exact. As far as I can remember it was the only house I grew up in till I was 19. I have fond memories of the house.

Strongest childhood memory?

I remember wondering in the "bush" with some older friends, playing guitar, singing songs, and having sardine out of a can; pretending to be on a picnic. The "bush" was just a reserve near my house with tress and overgrown lallang infested with leaches and God knows there might have been snakes there as well! There was a stream there and we used to catch little fish out of it and keep them in jars .....

What would you accept for payment apart from money?

I am willing to barter for goods I need or want! Maybe a 40" Full HD LCD TV? Or a flight simulator experience? Or an all inclusive trip to Oskosh or Uluru?

What does love feel like?

There are no words that can adequately describe love except the words in the Bible .... "love is not selfish, it is not harsh ....." etc. Love feels like the comfortable sofa in my living room where I nap, it feels like my writing when I put my thoughts down, it feels like memory that takes me back a long time ago, and it provides me a shadow when I am alone. Still I find it hard to describe .....

What would be your last meal?

A meal of KFC, deep fried prawns, beef rendang and rice with my family and friends.

Do you need much sleep?

Yes! If I don't have 8 hours of sleep I feel terrible in the morning. But a hot shower and a cup of coffee will usually cure it. Nothing refreshes me more than a long nap of at least one hour or a cat nap of 10-15 minutes if I can't afford one hour. I often doze off watching telly at in the evening and then I will be wide awake for the rest of the time till bed time.

When was the last time you danced?

Ooh! Too long ago! It feels like 1985?

What is your most treasured possession?

I like to say it's my Piper Meridian with G1000 avionics but I don't have it yet! I would say my family ..... but they are not a possession.

What is your unappealing habit?
Procrastination, of course!

What is the most important lesson life had taught you?

Work hard and be smart. Luck comes to the people who work hard. And life is short so live every day as if it is your last, as you are the solo pilot in this journey (no one there sitting next to you helping you fly your airplane)!

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

The earthly possessions I have are the result of working hard and investing smart. I like to believe I can shore up heavenly possessions as well. Then I am satisfied.

When were you happiest?

Having my family and friends around me, and knowing that I have done a great job flying my plane.

How would you like to be remembered?
A nice guy, a caring and helpful person, a good brother and son, a loving and responsible partner, a real friend in need.
If I was given $50,000 I would buy ....

A share in a 4 place airplane. Single engine, 200 HP, retractable plane. That will be awesome.

If I was given $50,000 I would invest in .....

Art. I think art is soothing and inspiring as an object. And I think a good art piece is a good investment.

Afternoon Tea

TODAY WAS YET ANOTHER OCCASION WHEN THE FAMILY MET for some food and cups of coffee and tea. We met at Pat's on this Sunday at 2pm and plenty of food was brought by various people to share.

(This family sure meets very often and love to eat!!!???)

There were muffin and swiss roll made by SM where the muffins were "disguised" as birthday cakes for Mom. She used splenda fructose in replacement of sugar to bake them for Mom.

There were other foods: glutinous rice 糥米饭, tapioca rice cakes, curry mutton cooked by Jack, a Cambodian salad contributed by Mai, curry puff, curried fish balls, 糥米.

It turned out some of us did not have lunch so we dug in as we were hungry. Later on we were on skype chatting with my nephew Victor and his family who now lives in Kuching. We also managed to call my brother Nick who happened to be on holiday in Chiang Mai. It would appear we were satisfied with the food and the hot drinks. I was watching movie on telly and fell asleep ..... and I was awaken by my own snoring!

SM was pretty happy with the outcome