52 today .... and poems, prayers & promises

johndenver.com

This song still means a lot to me ..... especially when I am past 50!

I was just thinking and reflecting today ..... when I was 22 I was in second year uni, no time and no money. When I was 32 I was building my sales career in Singapore, still no time and no money. When I hit 42 I was hating my job, still no time and has a bit of money ..... Now I am 52, I am older, a little wiser, has a lot more time, the only good thing is I need lesser amount of money .... 

Let's hear from the late John Denver (killed in a plane crash when he was 53 years old) reflecting on his life; maybe it's my life and your life, too. See if it hits you the way it does me ......

I've been lately thinking
About my life's time
All the things I've done
And how it's been
And I can't help believing
In my own mind
I know I'm gonna hate to see it end

I've seen a lot of sunshine
Slept out in the rain
Spent a night or two all on my own
I've known my lady's pleasures
Had myself some friends
And spent a night or two in my own home

And I have to say it now
It's been a good life all in all
It's really fine
To have a chance to hang around
And lie there by the fire
And watch the evening tire
While all my friends and my old lady
Sit and pass the pipe around

And talk of poems and prayers and promises
And things that we believe in
How sweet it is to love someone
How right it is to care
How long it's been since yesterday
And what about tomorrow
And what about our dreams
And all the memories we share

The days they pass so quickly now
Nights are seldom long
And time around me whispers when it's cold
The changes somehow frighten me
Still I have to smile
It turns me on to think of growing old
For though my life's been good to me
There's still so much to do
So many things my mind has never known
I'd like to raise a family
I'd like to sail away
And dance across the mountains on the moon

I have to say it now
It's been a good life all in all
It's really fine
To have the chance to hang around
And lie there by the fire
And watch the evening tire
While all my friends and my old lady
Sit and watch the sun go down

And talk of poems and prayers and promises
And things that we believe in
How sweet it is to love someone
How right it is to care
How long it's been since yesterday
What about tomorrow
What about our dreams
And all the memories we share

Back home -

It's good to be back home .... boy it's cold! Can't wait for Spring to come sooner.

This photo was taken with Air Asia pilot Mitch and would-be-Air-Asia pilot Miraz @ Seri Petaling driving range restaurant some time back in June.

Mitch's new wheels ..... A lovely M sport BMW.

SM and her mom on the day we were leaving

back home.....

The Eiffel Tower I bought from 紙 箱王 shop at the 高雄火车站 is completed. Yeah.

 

老爸倒下来了

7月15号我老爸起床站起来后，走3步，心里边觉得不一样。心想，“糟了！”，人就往前一倒，撞到额斗，他没知觉的就趟在地下。好在我大哥在家把爸一把劲提起， 但是他自己也因为过度担心老爸的情况，血压也一下子高起来了。起身之后几秒之内爸就清醒过来，当时他人也觉得好像没什么大碍。

当我们收到消息然候到达他们家时，1个已倒下来，1个在闭眼休息 。。。 妈还好。

在 St Vincent's emergency ward 里，护士和医生都很仔细的为老爸做 tests； ECG心脏图，血，尿 lab tests，检查眼； 除了 cat scan 之外 （因为咱们觉得没这个必要），全部 tests 都办了 - all ok！？

？？？？what？？？？

这几年里斗大哥招顾两老也吃过不少苦，身体和精神也退步了不少。

爸都85岁了，这2年内也有跌倒的”纪录“；老爸你不要再顽固，是一定要用手杖的了！

希望您斗起精神来！

北京七 - LAST DAY

Today - Total steps 13523 (9.4km)

Tonight we leave Beijing for KL.

As he promised, Raymond cooks us his 怡保鸡丝沙河粉 for brekie. Not bad for having to struggle with the right kind of 河粉 and also not having enough of the 虾头，虾膏。

Delicious breakfast made by Raymond - good try, friend. If you come to Oz I will cook you curry chicken and 酸菜汤

今天咱们去景山公园遊玩

心连心合唱団 - This appears to be a private choir which happens to be having their singing session on the Sunday we visited the 公园。Lovely to see so many (I estimate the crowd to be 150-200 people) belting out on their own accord for their own enjoyment. It's heartening for me to observe as a tourist that governments cannot remove their citizens from what they genuinely wish to do.

  It is an easy climb up the stairs to the top of the hill in the 景山公园. 

Some are making their prayers inside the pagoda/temple on top of the hill. I see Buddhism  and Islam being practised quite openly and religiously by people but I don't see a lot of churches in China

The views down  below from this hill top vantage point is spectacular. The Forbidden City is in full view here on the hill top.

So is this view Ha Ha

...... and this

...... and this

...... oh our group is looking down from the temple balcony at these girls dressed up for a photo session

nice tree, the tree trunk looks like a eucalyptus but it's not

There is a bit of history here at the foothill of the hill we just came down. "This is the spot where Chongzhen 崇祯 , the last Emperor of Ming Dynasty, hanged himself" in 1644; says the signboard. In desperation he hanged himself as he was pursued by the peasant uprising army at this very hill called Coal Hill (煤山）then.

His Noble Consort was 袁貴妃

This is not the actual tree that the Emperor hanged under but it is the same type of tree (Chinese Scholar Tress 槐树）

These plants and flowers must be spectacular in the spring time

Once again we find older folks enjoying their past times in public places. This one is the tried and tested social dancing. These social dancers are not shy that by standers are watching them, they are oblivious to the stares and commentary. I envy their courage.They really do enjoy what they do.

This mom is enjoying the show, with her toddler

Some tourists are also "moved" to join in the dancing in spontaneity, and are enjoying themselves

..... so is our friend R

After the enjoyable morning walk in the park and up the hill we catch a cab and head to Paulaner Brahaus Beijing, best known for their German beer and German sausage sauerkraut; for our lunch

But I prefer the Beijing beer as they have lower alcoholic content (3%). The German lager here are stronger in taste. Lager tastes bitter to me

心连心 but not the 心连心合唱団. 哈哈哈。

SM and her friend Pei Yu who joins us for lunch

I have been to the Paulaner Brauhaus in Shanghai and Singapore but I did not pay the bills then. I was somewhat taken aback that the bill for the lunch comes to more than Yuan600. Bloody expensive you may say, by Beijing standard......

Guizhou minority tribal costumes displayed at the restaurant

We have our dinner as a group one last time this trip at the same restaurant where we had the 贵州菜 last week. Somehow SM and I do not quite enjoy the dishes as much as we did ..... I guess familiarity breeds contempt as in so many things in life.

This is a different fish dish which we did not try last week. It's called 凯里酸汤鱼. The fish is a fresh water fish and it is live fish 游水鱼. I did not enjoy it and SM didn't know it was live .....

晚上10点30分咱们乘出租车去北京第2航空站搭亚州航空班机回马。这一航班是亚航从北京出发的第一次 so it is quite special.

在这十多天里得到Raymond和小张的照应咱们万分感激， 也希望他们enjoyed their trip to Xi'an.

We also wish that one day we can repay their hospitality when they visit us in Oz.

在这3个月里边咱们去过很多地方也看过，尝过不少东西；但是最重要的还是咱们感受到親友的照顾和安怀。咱们还没离开Oz时我的父母親和大哥就塞了几千块钱给我“顺风和防身”，千叮万附路程上要小心。SM母親无条件的茶水照顾，Raymond + Xiao Zhang, Julie 和 KP 的热情和招待；都是咱们不能忘记的。