While we were in Macau, Sam got involved in an accident!
He was talking with his friend while driving on the highway and the car in front of him suddenly stopped. He could not brake in time or the brakes failed. To avoid hitting the car in front in the fast lane, he swerved to the right and hit a policeman on a motorbike on the left lane! The motorbike was not too badly damaged but my Honda was with the left side heavily indented and the mirror bent downwards.
Thank goodness that no car ran over the policeman otherwise this would have been very serious. My son did not run away from the scene of the accident but instead was responsible to take the policeman to the clinic and paid for his medical treatment. Cost Sam about RM138 for the medical treatment. He then lodged a report. Sam later told me that it never came to his mind to hit and run from the scene. He felt responsible for the accident.
However as the policeman did not want to put Sam in the lock-up (apparently knocking down a policeman is a serious offence) he lodged a report taking responsibility for the accident.
When I met the policeman later to sort out the amount to pay him for the repairs on the bike, he told us that he did not want to put Sam behind bars (remand) as going to the lock-up is a curse. Even the Chinese do not want to be locked up or hand-cuffed. Once you are locked up, apparently you will end up in the lock up again!
He said that his report was lodged to protect Sam as he was only a student and his driving licence would be suspended since he knocked down a policeman.
We managed to negotiate RM1,500 as settlement (which was by no means a small amount) which money would have to come out from Sam's monthly allowance of RM200 per month.
I want to give thanks for this incident as Sam was emotionally affected by it and cried while I was scolding him (quite badly) on this matter. He cried and said that he just wanted to die.
All things worked out for good to those who love the Lord and to those who are called according to His purpose:
1. Tim's good friend got a car repair job repairing our Honda. If the accident had not happened Tim's good friend would have no business and according to the car repair man, jobs have been hard to come by and business is slow. This seems to be the case as I spoke to different people over this past week or so. A lawyer told me yesterday that his work has slowed down and bills were not being paid.
2. The policeman was able to give a warning to Sam not to drive fast in future. I did asked the policeman "what do you think was the cause of the accident?" He said that he was driving too fast in the fast lane. If his speed was slower he could have slowed down in time to avoid knocking into his motorbike.
3. My son promised to drive safe and to drive slow next time.
All in the following people benefited from the accident:
1. Wah Chai who repaired the car and who was grateful for the business as his business has slowed down considerably (yes, strange as it may be there are people earning an honest living from the misfortunes of others)
2. The policeman who would have got some extra cash from me for his spending money which is something that I would never know for sure although he said that his repairs will cost about RM3k plus.
"Never mind" I told Sam "We just bless him as his pay is not very high". Apparently the policeman said his pay is about RM1k plus only! I believe this is his basic pay not his pay plus allowance.
3. Samuel - who has learnt precious lessons on driving from me especially on defensive driving.
A few days after this Karpal Singh (Tiger of Jelutong) died in a car accident. His driver who had many speeding summonses crashed into a slow moving lorry in front and caused the car to careen to the divider. Karpal and his personal assistant died in the accident. If the driver had not been driving fast he would have stopped in time to avoid hitting the lorry.
Speed does not pay. Speed kills. May all my children and all my grandchildren learn something from this entry in the family blog.
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Monday, April 21, 2014
Venice in Macau
On the last day we wanted to go to the Venetian as we heard on TV that there was a gondola ride in the Venetian.
We were delighted to learn that Hotel Royal had a bus going to Macau Tower and from Macau Tower we were informed that we could board another bus to the City of Dreams and thereafter the Venetian. God planned everything for us as we had also planned a visit to Macau Tower in our program!
After a breakfast of the famous Macau pork chop bun and curry fish bread with 2 cups of delicious lai cha (milk tea) just a few shops away from the Hotel, we hopped onto the bus to Macau Tower. Incidentally Tim had planned to go to Tai Lei Loi Kei, the famous Macau pork chop self service kiosk but it turned out that we ended up eating at the TLLK in Pandan Indah as we could not make it to the Macau outlet!
Nothing much at Macau Tower except photo taking and watching people moving down from the Tower on harness!
Another bus took us to the City of Dreams, a 5 star shopping center with a lovely mermaid backdrop. However the branded items selling at the City of Dreams were way beyond our budget.
Next stop - the Venetian. One of the loveliest shopping complex in Macau must be the Venetian. Walking into the complex, you could check in your luggage at one entrance and check them out at the other entrance. I understood why...right smack in the center of the complex is a huge casino...one cannot avoid walking right into the casino as it was designed in this manner! Perhaps people spend night and day gambling in the casino without sleep.
Indeed in every shopping complex in Macau there is a casino. Not only casinos, there are horse racing and dog racing centers as well!
However the second floor of the Venetian is the most beautiful part of the shopping complex (in my view). It was amazing to step into a different world, a different city! One could see a beautiful artificial sky painted on the ceiling with artificial lights as though we were in an open city. The lights could dim to reflect different times of the day. There was a lady dressed like a 15th century Venetian court singer singing a lovely soprano song. There were musicians playing the harp and other instruments. Facades of buildings looking like houses in Venice and Florence surrounded us. I felt transported to Venice - one of the most beautiful cities in the world!
Right in the center of the Venetian (it is very long and very big) runs a canal with many gondolas. Gondoliers dressed their part call out to visitors to take a ride in their gondolas. It was amazing!
We walked and walked and took photos of bridges over the canals. We stopped at the famous Lord Stow bakery and had egg tarts, carrot drink and ginger juice to accompany our meals.
From the Venetian we boarded a bus to the airport.
Farewell Macau!
We were delighted to learn that Hotel Royal had a bus going to Macau Tower and from Macau Tower we were informed that we could board another bus to the City of Dreams and thereafter the Venetian. God planned everything for us as we had also planned a visit to Macau Tower in our program!
After a breakfast of the famous Macau pork chop bun and curry fish bread with 2 cups of delicious lai cha (milk tea) just a few shops away from the Hotel, we hopped onto the bus to Macau Tower. Incidentally Tim had planned to go to Tai Lei Loi Kei, the famous Macau pork chop self service kiosk but it turned out that we ended up eating at the TLLK in Pandan Indah as we could not make it to the Macau outlet!
Nothing much at Macau Tower except photo taking and watching people moving down from the Tower on harness!
Another bus took us to the City of Dreams, a 5 star shopping center with a lovely mermaid backdrop. However the branded items selling at the City of Dreams were way beyond our budget.
Next stop - the Venetian. One of the loveliest shopping complex in Macau must be the Venetian. Walking into the complex, you could check in your luggage at one entrance and check them out at the other entrance. I understood why...right smack in the center of the complex is a huge casino...one cannot avoid walking right into the casino as it was designed in this manner! Perhaps people spend night and day gambling in the casino without sleep.
Indeed in every shopping complex in Macau there is a casino. Not only casinos, there are horse racing and dog racing centers as well!
However the second floor of the Venetian is the most beautiful part of the shopping complex (in my view). It was amazing to step into a different world, a different city! One could see a beautiful artificial sky painted on the ceiling with artificial lights as though we were in an open city. The lights could dim to reflect different times of the day. There was a lady dressed like a 15th century Venetian court singer singing a lovely soprano song. There were musicians playing the harp and other instruments. Facades of buildings looking like houses in Venice and Florence surrounded us. I felt transported to Venice - one of the most beautiful cities in the world!
Right in the center of the Venetian (it is very long and very big) runs a canal with many gondolas. Gondoliers dressed their part call out to visitors to take a ride in their gondolas. It was amazing!
We walked and walked and took photos of bridges over the canals. We stopped at the famous Lord Stow bakery and had egg tarts, carrot drink and ginger juice to accompany our meals.
From the Venetian we boarded a bus to the airport.
Farewell Macau!
Sunday, April 20, 2014
58th birthday
Today is Tim's 58th birthday. It is also Easter Sunday.
For the first time he did something meaningful for his birthday....he blessed one of the church pastors with a hotel stay for the whole family!
It was a blessing to be able to bless God's servants with a comfortable 3 day 2 night stay in a 5-star hotel and an ang pow for their spending money...
I asked Tim how he felt, he said he felt good!
It was a joy to see the Pastor's children enjoying themselves in the hotel, taking pictures!
What a different kind of birthday.....
Samuel also bought his daddy an oreo cheese cake and our whole family went for a simple steamboat meal.....
For the first time he did something meaningful for his birthday....he blessed one of the church pastors with a hotel stay for the whole family!
It was a blessing to be able to bless God's servants with a comfortable 3 day 2 night stay in a 5-star hotel and an ang pow for their spending money...
I asked Tim how he felt, he said he felt good!
It was a joy to see the Pastor's children enjoying themselves in the hotel, taking pictures!
What a different kind of birthday.....
Samuel also bought his daddy an oreo cheese cake and our whole family went for a simple steamboat meal.....
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Crab porridge, Macoa famous egg tart and duck rice
What else to do but eat, eat, eat...
Macao is a gastronomical paradise of food, food, food. However food is pricey and more of a standard genre. I mean you talk about pork chop bun and you find it everywhere. You talk about egg tart and you also find it everywhere.
We began our morning by walking slowly to the ruins of St Paul's Cathedral. I stopped at a pharmacy to buy a cream for my knees.
We then passed a small eatery where the owner invited us to sample her crab porridge. I was intrigued. There was a Michelin star on the windows of the eatery. This would mean that this place has been rated and graded. So why not...
The friendly owners recommended the crab porridge and noodles with prawn powder/crab roe powder (not very sure). When the food came the porridge tasted so much better than the noodles. All over the tiled walls, we see pictures of actors and actresses who had sampled their food and given them a thumbs up. The noodles were kind of springy but rather plain.
After a good meal we made our way to the ruins of St Paul. The cathedral is only a facade. The interior has all broken down. In fact only a scaffold held it up.
All the way to the cathedral were many shops selling the same thing - flat barbeque meat, sesame biscuits, almond biscuits, egg rolls, walnut biscuits and whatever sweet stuff that Macao was famous for. The good thing was they shops were generous with their samples. You could literally eat your lunch while walking through the busy shopping area. At every shop you are offered samples!
I could not climb up the staircase to the cathedral due to the pain in my knees so I stayed down and bought bottles of mineral water for RM4!
Later we made our way to the Macao Museum which was located on a hill. I like the Macao Museum cos the grounds were a picture of tranquility. Up in the Museum grounds we got a very good view of the city of Macao.
Coming down from the hill, we walked slowly to Senado Square. Lots and lots of people mingled in the Square. We went searching for the famous Margaret egg tarts. There were many selling egg tarts but our target was only this shop...
We had many wrong instructions and made some wrong turning but a kind Macao lady showed us where the shop was. Lo and behold the queue was so long. Tim lined up to buy the tarts while I sat down on the stools in the open air cafe.
The egg tarts were lovely. Slightly burnt on the surface with very flaky pastry, the filling was the piece de resistance. It was simply delicious. I think I know the ingredient - fresh cream, milk and egg yolk. Lovely....
While walking back to Senado Square, we found another shop packed with people. They were selling the famous double steamed milk. Don't ask me how milk is double steamed but it looks like pudding with the texture and taste of milk. Milk is not my favorite drink so I could not finish my mango double steamed milk...
Finally for dinner we packed the famous duck rice and took a cab back to Hotel Royal.
Macao is a gastronomical paradise of food, food, food. However food is pricey and more of a standard genre. I mean you talk about pork chop bun and you find it everywhere. You talk about egg tart and you also find it everywhere.
We began our morning by walking slowly to the ruins of St Paul's Cathedral. I stopped at a pharmacy to buy a cream for my knees.
We then passed a small eatery where the owner invited us to sample her crab porridge. I was intrigued. There was a Michelin star on the windows of the eatery. This would mean that this place has been rated and graded. So why not...
The friendly owners recommended the crab porridge and noodles with prawn powder/crab roe powder (not very sure). When the food came the porridge tasted so much better than the noodles. All over the tiled walls, we see pictures of actors and actresses who had sampled their food and given them a thumbs up. The noodles were kind of springy but rather plain.
After a good meal we made our way to the ruins of St Paul. The cathedral is only a facade. The interior has all broken down. In fact only a scaffold held it up.
All the way to the cathedral were many shops selling the same thing - flat barbeque meat, sesame biscuits, almond biscuits, egg rolls, walnut biscuits and whatever sweet stuff that Macao was famous for. The good thing was they shops were generous with their samples. You could literally eat your lunch while walking through the busy shopping area. At every shop you are offered samples!
I could not climb up the staircase to the cathedral due to the pain in my knees so I stayed down and bought bottles of mineral water for RM4!
Later we made our way to the Macao Museum which was located on a hill. I like the Macao Museum cos the grounds were a picture of tranquility. Up in the Museum grounds we got a very good view of the city of Macao.
Coming down from the hill, we walked slowly to Senado Square. Lots and lots of people mingled in the Square. We went searching for the famous Margaret egg tarts. There were many selling egg tarts but our target was only this shop...
We had many wrong instructions and made some wrong turning but a kind Macao lady showed us where the shop was. Lo and behold the queue was so long. Tim lined up to buy the tarts while I sat down on the stools in the open air cafe.
The egg tarts were lovely. Slightly burnt on the surface with very flaky pastry, the filling was the piece de resistance. It was simply delicious. I think I know the ingredient - fresh cream, milk and egg yolk. Lovely....
While walking back to Senado Square, we found another shop packed with people. They were selling the famous double steamed milk. Don't ask me how milk is double steamed but it looks like pudding with the texture and taste of milk. Milk is not my favorite drink so I could not finish my mango double steamed milk...
Finally for dinner we packed the famous duck rice and took a cab back to Hotel Royal.
Friday, April 18, 2014
RAK
I will just take a break to share about an RAK (random act of kindness) which I did this morning.
After prayer in church, I decided to go to my usual place for teh si. An elderly lady came and sat with me. She said that she was staying in the Old Folks Home nearby (near the Ampang temple). She had cycled from the Home to the restaurant for her morning coffee.
I did something I had never done before. I paid for her coffee, a random act of kindness - RAK! We chatted and I found out that she was about 75 years and unmarried. Her mother died when she was 3. She said that she had to take care of her sister's family and she did not think much about her future. She was not down or sad, she looked normal. She had been staying at the Home for 7 months and enjoyed it there. She said that she ate 4 meals a day. If she does not like the meals then she will go out to eat her breakfast. I shared with her about my children. I said that they are good children because of their Christian background.
We talked and I invited her to church for Easter with my broken Cantonese....
How do I feel? I feel good that I can do a random act of kindness this Easter weekend. May God have mercy on her soul.
After prayer in church, I decided to go to my usual place for teh si. An elderly lady came and sat with me. She said that she was staying in the Old Folks Home nearby (near the Ampang temple). She had cycled from the Home to the restaurant for her morning coffee.
I did something I had never done before. I paid for her coffee, a random act of kindness - RAK! We chatted and I found out that she was about 75 years and unmarried. Her mother died when she was 3. She said that she had to take care of her sister's family and she did not think much about her future. She was not down or sad, she looked normal. She had been staying at the Home for 7 months and enjoyed it there. She said that she ate 4 meals a day. If she does not like the meals then she will go out to eat her breakfast. I shared with her about my children. I said that they are good children because of their Christian background.
We talked and I invited her to church for Easter with my broken Cantonese....
How do I feel? I feel good that I can do a random act of kindness this Easter weekend. May God have mercy on her soul.
A blessing in disguise
I guess God took pity on me as my right knee was in great pain. I had a little spur in the bone that need cutting off but I had put off the operation for some reason or other...
Due to the 5 hour walking around in Ocean Park, the right knee was also in great pain. I could not walk much and had to hold on to my husband. Climbing stairs and walking on uneven ground was particularly painful.
Well, God is very kind to me (Ps 145:9 "The Lord is good to all, His tender mercies are over all His works")....I called the person in charge of Lohas in the morning of 12th April and she managed to arrange an upgrade for us to Hotel Royal. She also undertook to pay for our taxi charges to the new hotel.
Now this new hotel is a 5 star hotel and right in the center of the town. This would mean that I need not walk 3 km to go to St Paul's ruins! This was what my hubby had planned! When I saw his plans, I was shocked! Walking to various tourist spots about 5 km away from the original hotel and more walking. As per his original plan, we would probably have to walk up to 10 km per day!
Thank God for His kindness and mercy! Sitting down was ok, getting up was a torture, walking had to be with straightened right knee otherwise I will hear a click, click sound and experience pain in the knee! I knew that if we had stayed at Hotel Golden Dragon, I would be having a most miserable holiday in Macao.
Also the new hotel had a king-size bed with a nice TV, plush sofas and pillows. More to come.....
THANK YOU JESUS!
Due to the 5 hour walking around in Ocean Park, the right knee was also in great pain. I could not walk much and had to hold on to my husband. Climbing stairs and walking on uneven ground was particularly painful.
Well, God is very kind to me (Ps 145:9 "The Lord is good to all, His tender mercies are over all His works")....I called the person in charge of Lohas in the morning of 12th April and she managed to arrange an upgrade for us to Hotel Royal. She also undertook to pay for our taxi charges to the new hotel.
Now this new hotel is a 5 star hotel and right in the center of the town. This would mean that I need not walk 3 km to go to St Paul's ruins! This was what my hubby had planned! When I saw his plans, I was shocked! Walking to various tourist spots about 5 km away from the original hotel and more walking. As per his original plan, we would probably have to walk up to 10 km per day!
Thank God for His kindness and mercy! Sitting down was ok, getting up was a torture, walking had to be with straightened right knee otherwise I will hear a click, click sound and experience pain in the knee! I knew that if we had stayed at Hotel Golden Dragon, I would be having a most miserable holiday in Macao.
Also the new hotel had a king-size bed with a nice TV, plush sofas and pillows. More to come.....
THANK YOU JESUS!
The utterly disappointing Hotel Golden Dragon
Tired but happy and with legs aching (especially my right knee was acting up again) we walked from the ferry terminal to Hotel Golden Dragon to check in for the night.
All we had was 2 backpacks with us as we did not pay for baggage this trip.
We had the shock of our lives when we were told by the manager of the Hotel that our booking had been cancelled.
How was this possible? We paid to Groupon, who paid to Lohas Premium. We also checked the dates with Lohas and informed the Hotel that we will be checking in late on 11th April!
The manager showed us an email from Booking.com that our booking had been cancelled due to non payment.
I was so angry that I called up the person in charge of Lohas at 11 pm at night. I didn't know whether I should scold her or what....!!
Thank goodness I calmed down and she answered all my calls. She could not explain why our booking was cancelled. She also could not make an alternative booking for us as it was too late at night. Finally she asked us to stay one night at our own expense in Hotel Golden Dragon and promised to reimburse us the cost.
Being tired, we did not argue. The cost of the one night stay MOP1580 = RM655 per night!!
The bed was hard (very hard), the pillow was too soft and the lights too dim but being too tired we rested till morning.
At 7 in the morning, I just prayed and asked the Lord to intervene....
All we had was 2 backpacks with us as we did not pay for baggage this trip.
We had the shock of our lives when we were told by the manager of the Hotel that our booking had been cancelled.
How was this possible? We paid to Groupon, who paid to Lohas Premium. We also checked the dates with Lohas and informed the Hotel that we will be checking in late on 11th April!
The manager showed us an email from Booking.com that our booking had been cancelled due to non payment.
I was so angry that I called up the person in charge of Lohas at 11 pm at night. I didn't know whether I should scold her or what....!!
Thank goodness I calmed down and she answered all my calls. She could not explain why our booking was cancelled. She also could not make an alternative booking for us as it was too late at night. Finally she asked us to stay one night at our own expense in Hotel Golden Dragon and promised to reimburse us the cost.
Being tired, we did not argue. The cost of the one night stay MOP1580 = RM655 per night!!
The bed was hard (very hard), the pillow was too soft and the lights too dim but being too tired we rested till morning.
At 7 in the morning, I just prayed and asked the Lord to intervene....
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Ocean Park, Hong Kong
Well...the last time I visited HK I only managed to visit:
1. Madam Tussauds
2. Victoria's Peak
3. Hong Kong Disneyland
4. Boat houses
I missed Ocean Park which I knew was very nice as they had pandas and a huge Aquarium. I made the decision that the next time if there is a chance we will visit Ocean Park at Aberdeen.
Well as it turned out Groupon had the offer of RM398 for a 3 day 2 night stay at Macao and since Macao was just an hour ferry ride away from HK we decided to make a day trip to HK the moment we landed at Macao International Airport at Taipa Island.
For a start the Macao Airport is kind of scary...this is because the landing strip is very near the sea! Anyway it was a beautiful day when we landed on Macao island on Friday 11 April 2014. We were there to celebrate Tim's 58th birthday!
From the airport we took a cab to the ferry terminal costing us about MOP 100. Now Macao currency is called Palatas or something like that. In Macao the currency is almost MOP 1 to HK 1 but most businesses appear to prefer HKD as the value is slightly higher. The taxi driver was very friendly as he started showing us photos of his family holiday to Penang!
From the ferry we took the ferry known as the Turbojet. Why is it called a Turbojet? I guess it is because it is quiet and extremely comfortable like a jet. By no means cheap (about RM170 per person) we made our trip to HK island. On the turbojet I had my first cup of lai cha or milk tea...delicious but it cost RM10 per cup! No wonder Malaysians who visited Macao and HK told me that things are very expensive!
From the ferry terminal at Shun Tak Centre, we took the Island line to Admiralty station. From Admiralty station, we had a tough time looking for the bus to Aberdeen where Ocean Park is situated. Thank God that Tim could speak Cantonese and there were many Filipino ladies who could give us directions in English!
Ocean Park is very big. There is a huge aquarium, a Panda center, a North Pole express, a polar bear center (although I never saw any polar bears), slides, rides, cable car ride.
I could not help comparing Ocean Park with Sea World, Brisbane. Somehow Ocean Park paled in comparison with Sea World. In Sea World, we had performing dolphins that were really skilled and fun to watch. We had seals who could act! In Sea World, we could touch sting rays and feel their big wings....in Ocean Park, we were scolded for touching one miserable star fish without washing our hands!
The only thing I like about Ocean Park is old Hong Kong. Old HK is a part of HK which replicates buildings, houses and markets of old pre-war HK. We could take pictures with realistic looking buildings and also in front vegetable and fruit stalls!
1. Madam Tussauds
2. Victoria's Peak
3. Hong Kong Disneyland
4. Boat houses
I missed Ocean Park which I knew was very nice as they had pandas and a huge Aquarium. I made the decision that the next time if there is a chance we will visit Ocean Park at Aberdeen.
Well as it turned out Groupon had the offer of RM398 for a 3 day 2 night stay at Macao and since Macao was just an hour ferry ride away from HK we decided to make a day trip to HK the moment we landed at Macao International Airport at Taipa Island.
For a start the Macao Airport is kind of scary...this is because the landing strip is very near the sea! Anyway it was a beautiful day when we landed on Macao island on Friday 11 April 2014. We were there to celebrate Tim's 58th birthday!
From the airport we took a cab to the ferry terminal costing us about MOP 100. Now Macao currency is called Palatas or something like that. In Macao the currency is almost MOP 1 to HK 1 but most businesses appear to prefer HKD as the value is slightly higher. The taxi driver was very friendly as he started showing us photos of his family holiday to Penang!
From the ferry we took the ferry known as the Turbojet. Why is it called a Turbojet? I guess it is because it is quiet and extremely comfortable like a jet. By no means cheap (about RM170 per person) we made our trip to HK island. On the turbojet I had my first cup of lai cha or milk tea...delicious but it cost RM10 per cup! No wonder Malaysians who visited Macao and HK told me that things are very expensive!
From the ferry terminal at Shun Tak Centre, we took the Island line to Admiralty station. From Admiralty station, we had a tough time looking for the bus to Aberdeen where Ocean Park is situated. Thank God that Tim could speak Cantonese and there were many Filipino ladies who could give us directions in English!
Ocean Park is very big. There is a huge aquarium, a Panda center, a North Pole express, a polar bear center (although I never saw any polar bears), slides, rides, cable car ride.
I could not help comparing Ocean Park with Sea World, Brisbane. Somehow Ocean Park paled in comparison with Sea World. In Sea World, we had performing dolphins that were really skilled and fun to watch. We had seals who could act! In Sea World, we could touch sting rays and feel their big wings....in Ocean Park, we were scolded for touching one miserable star fish without washing our hands!
The only thing I like about Ocean Park is old Hong Kong. Old HK is a part of HK which replicates buildings, houses and markets of old pre-war HK. We could take pictures with realistic looking buildings and also in front vegetable and fruit stalls!
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