Thus ended our short trip to Japan.
While the rest of our tour members went on to Mount Fuji, Ginza, Shinjuku and Tokyo Disneyland, we reached the comfort of Malaysia and the comfort of our home (like my daughter said "I missed my room so much. Hospitals make me so depressed"). I also felt a great relief to come home to my beautiful apartment where birds greet me with chirping and singing in the morning and my living room looks out to a small park.
Some lessons learnt:
1. If you have fever before you travel, see the doctor and bring your medication.
2. Bring lots of cash with you so that you would not need to borrow from your tour mates. Traveling in countries like Japan where credit cards were not accepted, extra cash is always an advantage.
3. Do not be afraid to see the local doctor if need be. Always follow the advice of your tour leader as they would have had experience dealing with the sick on tour.
4. Make sure that you carry a post-paid phone with roaming. Our flight tickets back to KL were booked on-line using the mobile phone. Booking was done way past midnight while in the hotel reception area. As the tickets were paid by credit card, the TAC was needed. If my phone was on a pre-paid ticket where the TAC was not available.....(Ben said that even he could not help me then)
5. It is better to fly home immediately even it means spending money to buy two tickets back home. Life is more important than sight-seeing. Japan will always be there but we only have one life. To spend money buying tickets home could turn out cheaper than paying for hospital charges in a foreign country. In this case we were told that Japanese doctors were extremely cautious with their diagnosis and could take some time to give us the blood test result. Unlike Malaysian doctors who have experience dealing with dengue, Japanese doctors have none.
6. Don't blame anyone or anything for what happened. Do not even blame yourself. It is pointless. What has happened has happened. We should always focus on solving the problem rather than engage in a blaming and pointing the finger exercise.
7. PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Amazing race to Shin Osaka, Kansai airport and Pantai Ampang
27 August 2014
Time was of the essence.
Our flight was 11 am in the morning. There was only one flight from Kansai. The other flight as 12:45 midnight from Tokyo airport which was just too late for us. Missed this and we would have to wait till Friday for the next flight.
The challenge was this: the bullet train would only start at 6:35 am. The journey was made up of two stages. We had to take the train from one platform to Shin-Osaka. This journey will take us up to one hour 45 minutes. The arrival time was about 8:20 am.
Once we reached Shin-Osaka, we had to find the platform to board the train to Kansai airport. This journey will take us another one hour up from 8:46 to 9:46 am. The plane will leave for Malaysia at 11 am! The other difficulty was language. We did not know any Japanese. Using sign language and language cards, Ben (who came with us) managed to find out that three tickets were needed, two to Shin-Osaka and all three to Kansai. Phew!
We had to try.
Whilst waiting for the Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka, Amanda said that the virus was attacking her bones and her heart. She felt that the virus was eating her up. Joseph later told me that the dengue virus was also known as the "bone-breaking" virus i.e. this kind of virus eats up the victim alive! I was very worried. There was nothing I could do but rely on God to deliver her.
Praying and interceding we made it to Kansai airport on time. The Shinkansen was super fast. super quiet and super efficient. Though sleepy and tired, I could see several towns like Kyoto on the way. It was Japan sight-seeing super speed!
The moment we walked up to the Airasia counter, we were so relieved. The counter was still opened at 10 am!
PRAISE GOD! Surely God's angels were with us all the way.
The plane took off on time. Once on board, we ordered a small can of 100 plus. Amanda felt some relief after drinking it.
Reaching KL at about 4 pm, we took the taxi straight to Pantai Ampang. That night she was admitted.
We made it doing the amazing race with God's help and the prayers of the saints!
Pastor later told us that he knew of one case where the lady died on the 3rd day of getting dengue.
Here was my daughter still fighting for her life after the 4th day! At Pantai, the fever left her immediately after they put her on the drip.
Apparently dengue deaths have increased of late and the health authorities have become increasing concerned. Spike in dengue cases have also given rise to a number of deaths.
I received a call from the health inspector who interviewed me concerning Amanda's condition. She said that once there were more than 2 cases, they had to send people to fog the area!
Amanda spent Friday at Pantai and was discharged on Saturday. Her platelets dropped to 113 but the doctor said that she could go home as most of her vital signs had stabilized.
THANK YOU JESUS AND THANK YOU PASTOR & HGC FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!
Time was of the essence.
Our flight was 11 am in the morning. There was only one flight from Kansai. The other flight as 12:45 midnight from Tokyo airport which was just too late for us. Missed this and we would have to wait till Friday for the next flight.
The challenge was this: the bullet train would only start at 6:35 am. The journey was made up of two stages. We had to take the train from one platform to Shin-Osaka. This journey will take us up to one hour 45 minutes. The arrival time was about 8:20 am.
Once we reached Shin-Osaka, we had to find the platform to board the train to Kansai airport. This journey will take us another one hour up from 8:46 to 9:46 am. The plane will leave for Malaysia at 11 am! The other difficulty was language. We did not know any Japanese. Using sign language and language cards, Ben (who came with us) managed to find out that three tickets were needed, two to Shin-Osaka and all three to Kansai. Phew!
We had to try.
Whilst waiting for the Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka, Amanda said that the virus was attacking her bones and her heart. She felt that the virus was eating her up. Joseph later told me that the dengue virus was also known as the "bone-breaking" virus i.e. this kind of virus eats up the victim alive! I was very worried. There was nothing I could do but rely on God to deliver her.
Praying and interceding we made it to Kansai airport on time. The Shinkansen was super fast. super quiet and super efficient. Though sleepy and tired, I could see several towns like Kyoto on the way. It was Japan sight-seeing super speed!
The moment we walked up to the Airasia counter, we were so relieved. The counter was still opened at 10 am!
PRAISE GOD! Surely God's angels were with us all the way.
The plane took off on time. Once on board, we ordered a small can of 100 plus. Amanda felt some relief after drinking it.
Reaching KL at about 4 pm, we took the taxi straight to Pantai Ampang. That night she was admitted.
We made it doing the amazing race with God's help and the prayers of the saints!
Pastor later told us that he knew of one case where the lady died on the 3rd day of getting dengue.
Here was my daughter still fighting for her life after the 4th day! At Pantai, the fever left her immediately after they put her on the drip.
Apparently dengue deaths have increased of late and the health authorities have become increasing concerned. Spike in dengue cases have also given rise to a number of deaths.
I received a call from the health inspector who interviewed me concerning Amanda's condition. She said that once there were more than 2 cases, they had to send people to fog the area!
Amanda spent Friday at Pantai and was discharged on Saturday. Her platelets dropped to 113 but the doctor said that she could go home as most of her vital signs had stabilized.
THANK YOU JESUS AND THANK YOU PASTOR & HGC FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!
There is no dengue in Japan!
26 August 2014
Amanda called me to her room in the early morning. I was shocked to see her skin covered in rashes. Her face and body was raging hot. She kept on vomiting.
One look at her and I knew that it was the deadly dengue!
I prayed for her and asked her to shower and go down for breakfast. We had to seek the advice of the tour leader on what we should do. We were actually due to travel to Hamamatsu about 4 hours out of Osaka and to visit some other places.
Amanda could not eat or drink anything. She kept on vomiting and complained of headaches. She also started having eye pain and the eyes became light sensitive, all symptoms of dengue. I gave her my dark glasses and someone gave her a hat to wear.
Despite all these we got on the bus and traveled to Nara Park, Peace Palace. Amanda and I sat and rested in the bus while the others went out for photo taking and sightseeing. Our tour leader went around looking for 100 plus. Being the second time, she got inflicted by dengue, we had the experience to know that drinking lots of 100 plus while help in the recovery.
However we were not in Malaysia but in Japan where there was no 100 plus! The tour leader bought an isotonic drink called Aquarius which he said had the same ingredients like 100 plus.
Amanda being the pharmacy student that she was said that Aquarius did not equal 100 plus. Some important ingredient was missing. Anyway she drank one bottle and ended up vomiting everything.
The good thing was that Amanda had a good apetite and she did not vomit out her lunch!
After the traditional Japanese lunch at Nara Park where deers roam around freely, we visited a few more places before the 4-hour drive to Hamamatsu. A part of me was praying that she would recover as I did not want to miss this maiden trip to Japan. I sent a text to Pastor Khor via viber. He immediately called me and prayed for Amanda.
She slept all the way in the bus and so did I. The fever did not go off neither did the vomiting. I was getting worried.
We had a good dinner at a Sumo restaurant. This restaurant was opened by a famous Sumo wrestler in Japan. Again we sat on the floor and ate delicious vegetables, chicken and taufoo from a big pot. The soup was delicious and so was the udon that went with it.
At night, the tour leaders took us to a private hospital. The doctor on duty did not know what was dengue. We tried to tell him the symptoms yet he was not sure. Eventually his nurse told him that the disease had not been seen in Japan for the past 10 years! The doctor referred to a medical book and told us that he was unable to treat Amanda.
He wrote a referral letter for us to go the big hospital for treatment. Medication (look like the Japanese version of panadol) was given. The cost was about 5.8k yen which Allan said was reasonable.
I now had two choices: checked her into the local hospital to be put on the drip or take the next flight home.
The first option was going to inconvenience the whole tour as it was going to disrupt the others. Further none of us could speak Japanese save for Allan. Tim and I also brought only 70k yen between us which would be insufficient for the hospital fees. The tour leader told us that he had a case where relatives had to fly in from Malaysia to bring money to pay for the hospital fees! Japanese hospital do not accept credit cards!
The second option seemed to be the best alternative. Rather than spend time and money in the local hospital, it would be better for us to use the money to buy two tickets home.
That night when I saw blood spots on her hand (internal bleeding) I knew that I had to act. Ben helped me to book two tickets home. The only challenge was the timing. The flight home on Thursday was from Kansai, Osaka at 11 am. The first bullet train (Shinkansen) out of Hamamatsu was 6:35 am. Can we make it in time?
What I did not know was that the church was praying for us. It was Wednesday and there was corporate prayer. I would be there at 7:30 pm to prepare the place for the corporate prayer meeting. Pastor later told me that members joined hands together to pray for Amanda.
It was that night that I thought I was going to lose her. I led her to pray a prayer of re-dedication. I also prayed to release her to the Lord. She could not sleep due to the raging fever. I kept on sponging her.
Amanda called me to her room in the early morning. I was shocked to see her skin covered in rashes. Her face and body was raging hot. She kept on vomiting.
One look at her and I knew that it was the deadly dengue!
I prayed for her and asked her to shower and go down for breakfast. We had to seek the advice of the tour leader on what we should do. We were actually due to travel to Hamamatsu about 4 hours out of Osaka and to visit some other places.
Amanda could not eat or drink anything. She kept on vomiting and complained of headaches. She also started having eye pain and the eyes became light sensitive, all symptoms of dengue. I gave her my dark glasses and someone gave her a hat to wear.
Despite all these we got on the bus and traveled to Nara Park, Peace Palace. Amanda and I sat and rested in the bus while the others went out for photo taking and sightseeing. Our tour leader went around looking for 100 plus. Being the second time, she got inflicted by dengue, we had the experience to know that drinking lots of 100 plus while help in the recovery.
However we were not in Malaysia but in Japan where there was no 100 plus! The tour leader bought an isotonic drink called Aquarius which he said had the same ingredients like 100 plus.
Amanda being the pharmacy student that she was said that Aquarius did not equal 100 plus. Some important ingredient was missing. Anyway she drank one bottle and ended up vomiting everything.
The good thing was that Amanda had a good apetite and she did not vomit out her lunch!
After the traditional Japanese lunch at Nara Park where deers roam around freely, we visited a few more places before the 4-hour drive to Hamamatsu. A part of me was praying that she would recover as I did not want to miss this maiden trip to Japan. I sent a text to Pastor Khor via viber. He immediately called me and prayed for Amanda.
She slept all the way in the bus and so did I. The fever did not go off neither did the vomiting. I was getting worried.
We had a good dinner at a Sumo restaurant. This restaurant was opened by a famous Sumo wrestler in Japan. Again we sat on the floor and ate delicious vegetables, chicken and taufoo from a big pot. The soup was delicious and so was the udon that went with it.
At night, the tour leaders took us to a private hospital. The doctor on duty did not know what was dengue. We tried to tell him the symptoms yet he was not sure. Eventually his nurse told him that the disease had not been seen in Japan for the past 10 years! The doctor referred to a medical book and told us that he was unable to treat Amanda.
He wrote a referral letter for us to go the big hospital for treatment. Medication (look like the Japanese version of panadol) was given. The cost was about 5.8k yen which Allan said was reasonable.
I now had two choices: checked her into the local hospital to be put on the drip or take the next flight home.
The first option was going to inconvenience the whole tour as it was going to disrupt the others. Further none of us could speak Japanese save for Allan. Tim and I also brought only 70k yen between us which would be insufficient for the hospital fees. The tour leader told us that he had a case where relatives had to fly in from Malaysia to bring money to pay for the hospital fees! Japanese hospital do not accept credit cards!
The second option seemed to be the best alternative. Rather than spend time and money in the local hospital, it would be better for us to use the money to buy two tickets home.
That night when I saw blood spots on her hand (internal bleeding) I knew that I had to act. Ben helped me to book two tickets home. The only challenge was the timing. The flight home on Thursday was from Kansai, Osaka at 11 am. The first bullet train (Shinkansen) out of Hamamatsu was 6:35 am. Can we make it in time?
What I did not know was that the church was praying for us. It was Wednesday and there was corporate prayer. I would be there at 7:30 pm to prepare the place for the corporate prayer meeting. Pastor later told me that members joined hands together to pray for Amanda.
It was that night that I thought I was going to lose her. I led her to pray a prayer of re-dedication. I also prayed to release her to the Lord. She could not sleep due to the raging fever. I kept on sponging her.
Universal Studios, Osaka, Japan
25 Aug and we woke up at 6 am.
At 7 am we trouped down for our buffet breakfast.
The selection was like a diet buffet! Seaweed, Japanese silky taufoo, miso soup, onion soup, tokoyaki, croissants, bread cakes, bonito flakes, small crispy sausages, eggs, beans, juices, salads, odon, green tea noodles - no wonder the average Japanese look like they were on a perpetual diet. No nasi lemak, no mee goreng, no rich cakes, no fried rice, no goreng stuff.....!
We were taken to Universal Studios. Due to the crowd, Tim and I only managed to watch Sesame Street 4-D!
We did manage to take pictures with Shrek and Snoopy though but the crowd was really amazing!
Thanked God we received special treatment due to my wheel-chair. We then made our way to Harry Potter village, the latest attraction in US. I am not a fan of this genre so I just sat around in the wheel-chair with Tim and took pictures with the steam engine.
We skipped lunch. We were then taken to Shin Sai Bai Shi, a shopping area like Bukit Bintang. We took our tea break at Mcdonalds. Surprise! Surprise! No fillet-o-fish but they serve fillet-o-prawn. We had potato chips and fried chicken without tomato or chilli sauce simply because Mcdonalds do not have such sauces! Really healthy. I think in Malaysia we slather our chips with too much sauces!
As I could not walk for too long, I took refuge in a Japanese fast-food restaurant and had my favorite Japanese taufoo for 150 yen (about RM4).
Dinner was Japanese steamboat with deliciously thin beef, slices of pork, chicken and crispy small sausages. The broth was just water with bits of seaweed but the strength of its flavoring was in the sesame sauce that we poured lavishly into individual bowls. Japanese rice was simply delicious to eat. Soft, slightly sticky and fragrant, it tasted sweet.
My only complaint - we sat on the floor with our legs dangling in the space below the floor! Very bad for my knees!
The food made up for it though.
I broke my vegetarian fast and had beef at the urging of my family members.
Delicious. As Allan said, you can go to eat anywhere in Japan (especially in the small eateries and the food was simply delicious). Lots of vegetables like needle mushrooms, cabbages filled up the steamboat-pot. No spoons were given as the Japanese drink the soup direct from their bowls.
We spent our second night at the Dai-ichi Hotel.
At 7 am we trouped down for our buffet breakfast.
The selection was like a diet buffet! Seaweed, Japanese silky taufoo, miso soup, onion soup, tokoyaki, croissants, bread cakes, bonito flakes, small crispy sausages, eggs, beans, juices, salads, odon, green tea noodles - no wonder the average Japanese look like they were on a perpetual diet. No nasi lemak, no mee goreng, no rich cakes, no fried rice, no goreng stuff.....!
We were taken to Universal Studios. Due to the crowd, Tim and I only managed to watch Sesame Street 4-D!
We did manage to take pictures with Shrek and Snoopy though but the crowd was really amazing!
Thanked God we received special treatment due to my wheel-chair. We then made our way to Harry Potter village, the latest attraction in US. I am not a fan of this genre so I just sat around in the wheel-chair with Tim and took pictures with the steam engine.
We skipped lunch. We were then taken to Shin Sai Bai Shi, a shopping area like Bukit Bintang. We took our tea break at Mcdonalds. Surprise! Surprise! No fillet-o-fish but they serve fillet-o-prawn. We had potato chips and fried chicken without tomato or chilli sauce simply because Mcdonalds do not have such sauces! Really healthy. I think in Malaysia we slather our chips with too much sauces!
As I could not walk for too long, I took refuge in a Japanese fast-food restaurant and had my favorite Japanese taufoo for 150 yen (about RM4).
Dinner was Japanese steamboat with deliciously thin beef, slices of pork, chicken and crispy small sausages. The broth was just water with bits of seaweed but the strength of its flavoring was in the sesame sauce that we poured lavishly into individual bowls. Japanese rice was simply delicious to eat. Soft, slightly sticky and fragrant, it tasted sweet.
My only complaint - we sat on the floor with our legs dangling in the space below the floor! Very bad for my knees!
The food made up for it though.
I broke my vegetarian fast and had beef at the urging of my family members.
Delicious. As Allan said, you can go to eat anywhere in Japan (especially in the small eateries and the food was simply delicious). Lots of vegetables like needle mushrooms, cabbages filled up the steamboat-pot. No spoons were given as the Japanese drink the soup direct from their bowls.
We spent our second night at the Dai-ichi Hotel.
Osaka, Japan - 24 Aug to 27 Aug
Aug 25 2014 - Monday
Japan here we come!
It was a dream come true. I was going to Japan with my family! We were so excited - Amanda, Samuel, Tim and me. Amanda's friend came along too. The other friend pulled out the last minute and her mother (Jo) took her place.
Our flight was 3 pm in the afternoon. The tour agency assigned Ben Lum to accompany us.
At that time Amanda was having fever at about 38%. We thought it was only viral fever. The doctor just gave her some medication. Dengue was definitely not in our minds at that time!
Anyway Amanda passed the strict temperature test at Kansai airport in Osaka.
As for me, I had a bad left knee. I felt that my knee bones literally moving while walking. It felt that I had a locked left knee! Every time I sat down and got up, the pain was excruciating. Seeing me with crutches, the super friendly, super efficient ground staff at Kansai airport assigned Kumiko Marukami to me. Kumiko pushed me in a wheel-chair past the long queues and took me through special check-out lanes!
I realized that the knee got worse after my two trips to Penang and JB. Both flights were from Subang. The walk to the tarmac was long and the climb up the steep steel staircase was simply excruciating!
The awful thing was that when Jo collected her luggage, she found the locks missing and the luggage bag open! We realized that someone had attempted to open the bag. Thank goodness nothing was taken from her suitcase.
I tried to take a photo of Kansai airport. Suddenly the ground staff rushed to me and said to me "No photo. Delete. Delete!" Goodness me! I did not know they were so strict. Anyway Kansai was nothing to shout about as compared to our beautiful KLIA 2. Our tour guide Allan from Macau came to study in Japan and ended up getting married. He could speak fluent Cantonese and Japanese!
We were taken to Kansai Washington Hotel to spend the night. Our hotel room was pretty big and comfortable with pink bed-spreads and really soft beds! Water could be drunk straight from the taps.
No dustbins were found anywhere except in the toilets. We were told that the Japanese carried their rubbish home to be put into 4 recycled bins. We were also told that for cooking oil recycling, they would have to buy a certain powder to be put into the cooking oil before they dispose of the oil in the recycle bins! Everything in Japan is recyclable.
Japan is like a sanitized country. Simply squeaky clean! Rivers are greenish-clean. Roads were devoid of rubbish. Hotel rooms smell fresh. REFRESHING!
Japan here we come!
It was a dream come true. I was going to Japan with my family! We were so excited - Amanda, Samuel, Tim and me. Amanda's friend came along too. The other friend pulled out the last minute and her mother (Jo) took her place.
Our flight was 3 pm in the afternoon. The tour agency assigned Ben Lum to accompany us.
At that time Amanda was having fever at about 38%. We thought it was only viral fever. The doctor just gave her some medication. Dengue was definitely not in our minds at that time!
Anyway Amanda passed the strict temperature test at Kansai airport in Osaka.
As for me, I had a bad left knee. I felt that my knee bones literally moving while walking. It felt that I had a locked left knee! Every time I sat down and got up, the pain was excruciating. Seeing me with crutches, the super friendly, super efficient ground staff at Kansai airport assigned Kumiko Marukami to me. Kumiko pushed me in a wheel-chair past the long queues and took me through special check-out lanes!
I realized that the knee got worse after my two trips to Penang and JB. Both flights were from Subang. The walk to the tarmac was long and the climb up the steep steel staircase was simply excruciating!
The awful thing was that when Jo collected her luggage, she found the locks missing and the luggage bag open! We realized that someone had attempted to open the bag. Thank goodness nothing was taken from her suitcase.
I tried to take a photo of Kansai airport. Suddenly the ground staff rushed to me and said to me "No photo. Delete. Delete!" Goodness me! I did not know they were so strict. Anyway Kansai was nothing to shout about as compared to our beautiful KLIA 2. Our tour guide Allan from Macau came to study in Japan and ended up getting married. He could speak fluent Cantonese and Japanese!
We were taken to Kansai Washington Hotel to spend the night. Our hotel room was pretty big and comfortable with pink bed-spreads and really soft beds! Water could be drunk straight from the taps.
No dustbins were found anywhere except in the toilets. We were told that the Japanese carried their rubbish home to be put into 4 recycled bins. We were also told that for cooking oil recycling, they would have to buy a certain powder to be put into the cooking oil before they dispose of the oil in the recycle bins! Everything in Japan is recyclable.
Japan is like a sanitized country. Simply squeaky clean! Rivers are greenish-clean. Roads were devoid of rubbish. Hotel rooms smell fresh. REFRESHING!
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Investing wisely in property
My eldest daughter was asking me some advice about investing in property. She was looking at some property out of KL and wanted my views on it.
I told her that I expect the property market to go on a downward slide when GST kicks in next year. At 6% there will be be another round of rise in GST to 10% in 2016.
At a recent talk in GST, this accountant who claimed to have connections with some top people told us that Japan's economy went on a downward slide after GST came into force. His prediction was that our country would also experience a recession when the GST is imposed next year just like what happened to the economy of Japan.
Now I wish to put in a proviso here i.e. I am no property expert as I do not have in my stable any property other than the one I am staying in.
Even this property was bought with God's blessing. We did not have money for a down payment back in the 1980s. God just brought to us a seller who desperately wanted to migrate. It ended up that we got the property for RM20k less than the market value as the money was given to us (on paper) by the seller.
However I do have a piece of agri land in Bentong which I bought with my friend but that purchase was a failure from day one. I prefer to put this land far at the back of my mind and can only pray for a compulsory acquisition to take me out of this bad investment.
I gave my daughter a caution - I am no property expert as I have no experience whatsoever in property investment save for the Bentong land which I consider a flop.
My daughter says she intends to buy property for rental income and capital appreciation. She says she will read and research the property market before making any decision.
Well, I told her that it is good if she has excess money. As for me even if I wanted to buy property, I could not possibly afford to do so as I have no excess funds due to my heavy financial commitments. Even if I have, I think I would prefer to spend it on holidays and missions and other church-related activities.
Life is short. My desire is to live it glorifying God and bringing others closer to Him!
Anyway I remember a property investment which my father made years ago when he was alive.
His bungalow in Tanjung Bungah, Penang was sold for a very small sum of RM120k during the 1980s economic recession when Anwar was the Finance Minister and Soros was meddling in currencies. At that time, I had just started work but could not afford to give him more than RM500 a month as my pay was RM1,600 gross and I had just got married.
My father had to sell the house as he wanted the funds to support my younger siblings to pay for their tertiary education. At that time the property market was on a downward slide and foreclosures were the norm. The price he sold the house for was considered a good price as house prices were depressed during the economic crisis.
My late father decided to sell the house as he needed the money. I wonder....if he had not sold it, the value of the house would have been RM1 million now (30 years later)!
I have come to realize this that a property should only be bought when we have the power to hold it long term.
If we need to sell it to help others then we should like what my father did.
Property, assets and other possessions should be held lightly. When our loved ones need us to sell the property to help them out for a noble and essential cause like funding their higher education then we should do so.....
Never regret the decision to sell.
Would I still invest in property during slow times? I don't know and will have to wait and see whether the economic experts will be proven right or wrong.
I told her that I expect the property market to go on a downward slide when GST kicks in next year. At 6% there will be be another round of rise in GST to 10% in 2016.
At a recent talk in GST, this accountant who claimed to have connections with some top people told us that Japan's economy went on a downward slide after GST came into force. His prediction was that our country would also experience a recession when the GST is imposed next year just like what happened to the economy of Japan.
Now I wish to put in a proviso here i.e. I am no property expert as I do not have in my stable any property other than the one I am staying in.
Even this property was bought with God's blessing. We did not have money for a down payment back in the 1980s. God just brought to us a seller who desperately wanted to migrate. It ended up that we got the property for RM20k less than the market value as the money was given to us (on paper) by the seller.
However I do have a piece of agri land in Bentong which I bought with my friend but that purchase was a failure from day one. I prefer to put this land far at the back of my mind and can only pray for a compulsory acquisition to take me out of this bad investment.
I gave my daughter a caution - I am no property expert as I have no experience whatsoever in property investment save for the Bentong land which I consider a flop.
My daughter says she intends to buy property for rental income and capital appreciation. She says she will read and research the property market before making any decision.
Well, I told her that it is good if she has excess money. As for me even if I wanted to buy property, I could not possibly afford to do so as I have no excess funds due to my heavy financial commitments. Even if I have, I think I would prefer to spend it on holidays and missions and other church-related activities.
Life is short. My desire is to live it glorifying God and bringing others closer to Him!
Anyway I remember a property investment which my father made years ago when he was alive.
His bungalow in Tanjung Bungah, Penang was sold for a very small sum of RM120k during the 1980s economic recession when Anwar was the Finance Minister and Soros was meddling in currencies. At that time, I had just started work but could not afford to give him more than RM500 a month as my pay was RM1,600 gross and I had just got married.
My father had to sell the house as he wanted the funds to support my younger siblings to pay for their tertiary education. At that time the property market was on a downward slide and foreclosures were the norm. The price he sold the house for was considered a good price as house prices were depressed during the economic crisis.
My late father decided to sell the house as he needed the money. I wonder....if he had not sold it, the value of the house would have been RM1 million now (30 years later)!
I have come to realize this that a property should only be bought when we have the power to hold it long term.
If we need to sell it to help others then we should like what my father did.
Property, assets and other possessions should be held lightly. When our loved ones need us to sell the property to help them out for a noble and essential cause like funding their higher education then we should do so.....
Never regret the decision to sell.
Would I still invest in property during slow times? I don't know and will have to wait and see whether the economic experts will be proven right or wrong.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Tim's seafood porridge & others.....
Tim is really good in making fah sang, pumpkin, sweet potato and seafood porridge. We can eat it for days and not grow tired of it...
This blog entry is Tim's story....
The other day he mentioned to me that perhaps he gained his love and skill for making porridge from his mother. His late mother was one of the most famous porridge maker in Penang. She first sold her yee sang kai chok in Chowrasta market. Then she later moved to the Island kopitiam (now re-named).
Everyday she would wake up early at about 4 am in the morning to boil the chicken. The white meat succulent chicken would be plunged into the boiling water to boil and simmer for an hour or so. The chicken essence left behind in the soup would then be used to boil the rice thus giving rise to a delicious nutritious rice with a golden yellowish hue. The rest of the chicken essence will be boiled with a little less rice to make smooth chicken porridge that was simply fragrant.
Fluffy and tasty chicken rice boiled and cooked in the chicken essence tasted simply scrumptious. Smooth and silky chicken porridge tasted simply exquisite when made with love and sacrifice!
To be sure, we were never short of food whenever we were back in Penang. We had the best yee sang kai chok porridge for free! Sadly the trade was only carried on for a while by Tim's second brother, Kin which he later abandoned for something more lucrative which he called "turning rubbish into gold" (more about that next time)......
The chicken still in its skin would then be prepared for sale to be eaten together with the porridge and chicken rice. The chicken entrails will also be prepared to be sold together with the porridge (though I don't really eat the innards and stuff like that!)
As an option for those not keen on chicken, his mother would also prepare the fish (sek pan) to make fish porridge for sale in her little stall.
I still remember the small kitchen in their rent control house where cauldrons of chicken soup and porridge were prepared in the wee hours of the morning.
She was the sole breadwinner as Tim's father was very miserly, like scrooge. He liked to hoard money. In fact when he died, the legend was that his mother found a stash of money under his bed which was used to finance his funeral. His habit was to take out the money, count and re-count it before putting it back into the hiding place. He later suffered a stroke and left his printing job to push trishaws. Being miserly, he left the financial support of the family totally on the shoulders of Tim's mother. I used to give him tracts to read when he was alive. We were later told by Tim's grandma that before he died, he was calling on Jesus which, according to the grandma, was something good.
The grandma herself was brought to Church by Marcus, the Pastor of the Penang First Assembly of God, a growing and thriving church in Penang. Marcus was a close friend of the family who stayed with the grandma before he became a pastor. He was actually taken care of by Tim's grandma. To this day whenever we visit the Penang First Assembly of God, Ps Marcus would always extend us the warmest welcome. Although she was never baptized or made a clear commitment for Christ, she was a kindly lady who had only good words to say about people. She died at 90 years old of old age with no major sickness.
In view of the eccentricity of his father, Tim's mother had no alternative but to do a business in order to support the family.
The sales must have been reasonably good in her younger days if not she would not have used the proceeds to support her family. Although Tim received a bank scholarship to study business administration in UM with a 7 year bond to his scholarship-giver, his mother was still instrumental in meeting his daily needs and supporting the other 2 sons - Danny and Kin.
In addition she was also supporting the adopted sister and her 90-year-old mother in law.
His mother was a friendly and humble lady who insisted that I call her lai lai (Cantonese word for mother in law) although I gave up soon after that as I found the language too formal...which was something she did not mind. I called her mama (mother in Cantonese).
Being a smoker and later a gambler-host i.e. one who host gambling sessions and earn a commission from the winnings, she died of lung cancer as she was a chain smoker (like her late husband).
However before she died she prayed the sinner's prayer and accepted Jesus into her life.
What can we learn from her life - no matter how tough our financial situation is, do not give up. Do not look down on hawkers or poor people who open humble food stalls to make a living.
Treasure our parents for their sacrifice. Support them financially when they are alive because when they die there will be no more opportunity for us to make them happy with our giving. Nothing makes our parents more happy than to receive money from us every month. In doing so they can be assured that we will not abandon them to the streets or the old folks home.
In fact Tim bought a house in Ayer Itam at her request. However it was later sold at a loss at the height of the financial crisis as his younger brother needed the funds to start his hair styling business - however this will be fodder for another story of Tim's family.....
This blog entry is Tim's story....
The other day he mentioned to me that perhaps he gained his love and skill for making porridge from his mother. His late mother was one of the most famous porridge maker in Penang. She first sold her yee sang kai chok in Chowrasta market. Then she later moved to the Island kopitiam (now re-named).
Everyday she would wake up early at about 4 am in the morning to boil the chicken. The white meat succulent chicken would be plunged into the boiling water to boil and simmer for an hour or so. The chicken essence left behind in the soup would then be used to boil the rice thus giving rise to a delicious nutritious rice with a golden yellowish hue. The rest of the chicken essence will be boiled with a little less rice to make smooth chicken porridge that was simply fragrant.
Fluffy and tasty chicken rice boiled and cooked in the chicken essence tasted simply scrumptious. Smooth and silky chicken porridge tasted simply exquisite when made with love and sacrifice!
To be sure, we were never short of food whenever we were back in Penang. We had the best yee sang kai chok porridge for free! Sadly the trade was only carried on for a while by Tim's second brother, Kin which he later abandoned for something more lucrative which he called "turning rubbish into gold" (more about that next time)......
The chicken still in its skin would then be prepared for sale to be eaten together with the porridge and chicken rice. The chicken entrails will also be prepared to be sold together with the porridge (though I don't really eat the innards and stuff like that!)
As an option for those not keen on chicken, his mother would also prepare the fish (sek pan) to make fish porridge for sale in her little stall.
I still remember the small kitchen in their rent control house where cauldrons of chicken soup and porridge were prepared in the wee hours of the morning.
She was the sole breadwinner as Tim's father was very miserly, like scrooge. He liked to hoard money. In fact when he died, the legend was that his mother found a stash of money under his bed which was used to finance his funeral. His habit was to take out the money, count and re-count it before putting it back into the hiding place. He later suffered a stroke and left his printing job to push trishaws. Being miserly, he left the financial support of the family totally on the shoulders of Tim's mother. I used to give him tracts to read when he was alive. We were later told by Tim's grandma that before he died, he was calling on Jesus which, according to the grandma, was something good.
The grandma herself was brought to Church by Marcus, the Pastor of the Penang First Assembly of God, a growing and thriving church in Penang. Marcus was a close friend of the family who stayed with the grandma before he became a pastor. He was actually taken care of by Tim's grandma. To this day whenever we visit the Penang First Assembly of God, Ps Marcus would always extend us the warmest welcome. Although she was never baptized or made a clear commitment for Christ, she was a kindly lady who had only good words to say about people. She died at 90 years old of old age with no major sickness.
In view of the eccentricity of his father, Tim's mother had no alternative but to do a business in order to support the family.
The sales must have been reasonably good in her younger days if not she would not have used the proceeds to support her family. Although Tim received a bank scholarship to study business administration in UM with a 7 year bond to his scholarship-giver, his mother was still instrumental in meeting his daily needs and supporting the other 2 sons - Danny and Kin.
In addition she was also supporting the adopted sister and her 90-year-old mother in law.
His mother was a friendly and humble lady who insisted that I call her lai lai (Cantonese word for mother in law) although I gave up soon after that as I found the language too formal...which was something she did not mind. I called her mama (mother in Cantonese).
Being a smoker and later a gambler-host i.e. one who host gambling sessions and earn a commission from the winnings, she died of lung cancer as she was a chain smoker (like her late husband).
However before she died she prayed the sinner's prayer and accepted Jesus into her life.
What can we learn from her life - no matter how tough our financial situation is, do not give up. Do not look down on hawkers or poor people who open humble food stalls to make a living.
Treasure our parents for their sacrifice. Support them financially when they are alive because when they die there will be no more opportunity for us to make them happy with our giving. Nothing makes our parents more happy than to receive money from us every month. In doing so they can be assured that we will not abandon them to the streets or the old folks home.
In fact Tim bought a house in Ayer Itam at her request. However it was later sold at a loss at the height of the financial crisis as his younger brother needed the funds to start his hair styling business - however this will be fodder for another story of Tim's family.....
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