The Beauty of Nature - Rainbow

When there is rain and there is sun, it is a sign that we should tilt our head upwards and look around for rainbows. Ever seen one? Am sure everyone has seen it at least once, a big one, a small one, a complete one, a small arc, any variety at all, we come across them every once in a while. Ping and Lin saw one just a week ago when we went to Walmart. It was a complete one but neither of us had our camera at that time so we could only enjoy the pretty view.

We were talking about that incident in the car today on our way home from Kalamazoo (yeap, went to Rasa Ria for dinner - we were so desperate for M'sian food we ordered almost all their M'sian dishes). May was telling us about her rainbow experience at Disney and then she turned out towards the window and suddenly shouted 'ahhh!'. Ping and Lin was looking for some animal that ran by when May finally found a way out of her excitement to tell us about the rainbow that was creating a lovely spectrum in the sky. Wow! This is the FIRST time Ping see such a lovely rainbow - wait, there was actually two, the larger one is lighter.
Ping was very thankful she wasn't the driver because now she can just enjoy looking at the rainbow. Tai lou was very nice to exit the highway and stopped by a roadside for us to take pictures of it. It was just lovely that we kept looking at it. The above is a panaromic stitch of photos Ping took from that first stop (not very smooth, but Ping is not sure how to rotate it to fit properly). There is actually two but the second was too light to be captured with Ping's setting at that time. Isn't it lovely?























After a bunch of photos, we got back on to the highway and we were still looking at the rainbow and realized that it was getting more apparent (gotta learn how to capture and edit panaromic shots better...the lighting is not right at all). So ngam, tai lou need to get gas so we exited the highway again into a gas station and of course, more photos!!!
That's the best rainbow Ping have seen!!! At the gas station, we were even lucky enough to see a rare supernumerary rainbow!!! Isn't nature wonderful? Something that is so amazing that can bring a smile to all our faces...it is all about Mother Nature. The more reason we should protect our environment!!!

A Journey of Life – The Sleeping Bear Dune Climb

Ｆrom the Glen Lake picnic site, we could see the Sleeping Bear Dune – the main reason for our trip out to the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore. It is so high up that all the people climbing up the dune looks like 'or hia' walking around. The dune is just basically a 'suar eh sua' but because it is so bare, it feels exciting to climb it. You have this entire hill of sand right in front of you and it is all yours to climb.

View of Glen Lake from the peak of the 1st Dune climb

Unlike hill trails, running up a dune trail is definitely harder and uses a lot of your calf and hamstring muscle. It is easier if you can find a spot where someone else had stepped on because it makes the sand firm. If it has been a while since it was stepped on and the wind had blow the sand even, then it is much harder because climbing one step is actually climbing half a step as your feet sink into the sand.

The entire trail is about 3-4 hours. It takes you to the beach of Lake Michigan and back through the same route. There are green patches of grass here and there but the trail itself is all sand. Sometimes we feel like we're lost in a desert and yet, the intensity of the wind is pretty strong that sometimes you feel cold.

While the dune may not seem super interesting, Ping actually learned a lot from the climb.

1. The excitement when one enters a new path in life.
   

   When we arrived at the Dune, we were all very excited to climb up to the first top peak. When you see little kids rolling down the hill, you want to get up there so that you can roll down too (of course we didn't do that lah, that'll be too much sand getting into weird places). But thinking back to when Ping first came to the States, when Ping first stated her graduate school, everything is exciting. Something as simple as a perfect gel electrophoresis picture makes your day. Now, it has to be more than that to feel the satisfaction.
   

2. Curiosity keeps us going.
   

   When we arrive at the peak of that first Dune, we look ahead and we see another dune. After climbing another, yet another dune appears in front of us. It was the curiosity that had us kept walking forward. Similarly in life, we see people around us and they make us think about what we could do if only we know how to do so and so. It makes us want to pursue it. Hence, it is the curiosities that initiate us take that step forward again and again.
   

3. Influence
   

   Along the hike, we met a couple whom Lin asked what is at the end of the trail. The guy told us: Hell. Don't go there. Upon hearing that, we thought we were headed the wrong way and turned towards another direction. After a while, we realized that there is no sign of footsteps along that route. So we turned back and clearly, that was the wrong direction. We were supposed to follow the wooden sticks with blue colored top. Throughout our journey of life, we meet people who can negatively influence us. Sometimes we decided to listen to the wrong people that divert us from our main goal, making our journey complicated. BUT! If we realize that we are going the wrong way, it is never too late to turn back. Eventually, we'll find our own way to achieve our goal, not getting influenced by negativity.
   

   Further along the hike, we also met a bunch of guys who told us "You only have 2 more dunes to go!". It may just be a simple sentence exchanged between strangers but sometimes, it is this small motivation that brings our spirit up again. Around us, there will always be someone or even something that encourage us to keep moving forward, heading towards our goal, it just depends on if we see it or not. Whenever Ping feels like just quitting and go back home, there is always something stronger that prevents it from happening. Even the fact that someone has reached a similar goal can be encouraging – if they have done it, why can't I? Maybe I can do even better.
   

4. The goal might not be the way we imagine it to be.
   

   We have no idea what the end is like. We know it is Lake Michigan and that is where we want to go. In the end, all we get is a stony beach with 4 other people. So why isn't there anyone else? There really is not that many people travelling along with us to begin with but Ping never did expect to see so little people at the end of it. When we start on a new journey, we know what we want but really, we don't know how it will be like when we reached our destination. The traditional view is that you study hard, get a degree and then get a good job. But what is a good job? Is there really such thing as a good job? We have no idea. Do we really know how we feel once we get that job? Not really. At least not until we get there. It might be totally different from what we have in our mind.
   

   At the end of the trail, the view is pretty, but at the same time scary. The waves comes in really strong and you feel like any second any minute (haha..how to translate 每一鍾每一秒?), the waves will just swipe you away. It is not a very enjoyable beach either because it is stony instead of sandy. It hurts to walk around and again, scary because it is hard to grip on to the slippery stones. Even so, Lin and Ping went into the water and got a dip since we felt dehydrated. Oh yeah – definitely bring TONS and TONS of water when climbing the dunes.
   

5. Treasure every moment.
   

   The walk back started out harder than the walk towards the lake. That is pretty normal since going back is always tiring. But at the same time, we also couldn't wait to get back to the campsite to shower and lie down on our backs to rest our legs, away from the heat. While we are enjoying going downhill, we look forward and we see another dune that we have to climb – aiyohhhhhh. Going uphill is like the down moments in life while going downhill is the up moments in life. In life, it is not as clear because we don't see the next hurdle in front of us. In fact, we don't even really enjoy the up moments because there is always an 'if only', we'll be thinking, wah, na si wa u chi keng bungalow…or stuff like that. So Ping and Lin was telling ourselves, we should not look at the next dune and go aiyohhhhhh, instead, we should be having fun going down the dune.
   

   Lake Michigan at the end of the Dune trail.
   

   Overall, it was a fun and inspiring climb. It made Ping think about all the experience in life and reanalyze Ping's view of life in general. Would Ping recommend people to climb the Dune to enjoy what lies at the end of the trail? Nope. It is just a beach. Not the most fun beach either. But for the experience of climbing a dune, Yup, definitely! Just bring lots of water and be prepared for a 3 hours of climbing session.

Hiking the Trails

Sleeping in the tent was pretty cozy but it got super cold in the morning! As dawn approaches, it got colder and Ping was 'kiu-ing' up in the sleeping bag, trying to preserve heat from herself. Ping eventually gave up and woke up, seeing ah Pei 'pai ang kong-ing'. Fortunate for Ping, less fortunate for ah Pei (since she didn't get sleep all night), that she is awake so Ping has company. We jogged to the shower room to wash up and then walk around the campground. We were looking at the RVs in the area and thought that they are very much like a home as the owners decorate their own RV, each with a different theme.

We then wanted to make breakfast for everyone but realized that all the food is in Tai lou's car. So we snacked on fruit and nut bar made by ah Pei. That is one of the best bar Ping had (Ping probably had the most hor?), kept eating it. After a while, we started getting bored of sitting around so we decided to drive out to the nearby town. Didn't want to wake the others up, we set the car into reverse gear, push it a little distance away from the tent and set out. Went to the visitor center to get the park passes and then drove into the Empire town (by the way, they only have 378 residents as of 2000!!! That is so cute! Am sure everyone knows everyone there). At the end of the town, we came across the Empire beach and if Ping and Pei was not up and awake yet, that surely did it. We were super excited to see the lovely beach and soft sand and cool breeze, it ALMOST feels like you're at the ocean as the lake seems to run forever. The only thing about beaches around this area is that they have a lot of flies. They don't bite but they surround you. As long as you don't look at them, you're totally fine. It was a good thing we decided to drive that way because that was the best beach of the trip that we've seen. We made plans to go back there the next day but we never did because we found a nature trail to explore. We lepak there until Wei Yi called – they're awake!

Went back to the campsite and we (actually more like Jo and Wei Yi) cooked breakfast and lunch. We had tuna that was modified to taste like sardine (it's all in the mind mah..if you think you're eating sardine, then you're eating sardine lor), scrambled egg and sausages. Cleaned up the area, changed and then it is time to chu4 fa1 lor! Our first stop was the Pyramid Point Hiking Trail. The national park has 14 trails and Pyramid Point is the most Northern point of the Sleeping Bear bay. It overlooks the two Manitou Island and supposedly, we can see a ship wreck on a clear day. Nope, we didn't see any even though the weather is pretty nice out there. Along this trail, we started out hiking through a meadow, going into a maple-beech forests, heading towards the lookout point at a high bluffs area. The view from the bluff is breathtaking and yet, scary because one step too close and you'll be sliding down to the lake... it may just be a lake, but it is so huge that sometimes you can feel dark aura enveloping your soul, giving you a jolt of fear. The sky was clear enough that we can easily see the two Manitou Island and boats. The picture on the right is taken by Ming - the tree has lost so much soil to grip on and yet it is still standing strong. If Ping were to name this pic, it would be - Determination.

Using a different route, we hike back to the starting point, going through more maple-beech forests, along the way seeing the understory plants community changes. We ended our morning and early afternoon with a picnic at Glen Lake, just opposite the Sleeping Bear Dune. The view below is Little Glen Lake.

A Lovely Surprise!

Just as we were all done with dinner, girls wants to go wash up and do the stuff we do before we go to bed so we walked to the shower rooms. On the way back, Ping wanted to fill up a pail of water to 'sae kah' before we go to sleep. Tai lou helped carry it back to the campsite and set it down next to the picnic table. Ping wanted the pail to be near the tent so that after we sae kah, we don't have to walk around to get back to the tent. Just as Ping picked up the pail, Tai lou took it from Ping and says no no no, it is time to make smores (a popular BBQ and camping snack made of graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallow). So Ping hen ren zhen go find the satay sticks and marshmallow, thinking that Jo and Lin Pei went to look for the graham crackers and chocolate bar.

Not too long later, Jo and Lin Pei came from behind, singing Happy Birthday and carrying a cake with a candle that sets the Happy Birthday melody…we're not getting ready to make smores! We're celebrating Ping's birthday! This is definitely a very successful surprise because Ping was all prepared for smores AND Ping had no clue that she was driving her own b'day cake all the way to Sleeping Bear!!!!

Thanks a bunch to everyone! And especially to Lin for making it happen and TT for the great suggestion! The blackforest cake from Roma Bakery is very good! Ping and Lin had it for breakfast on Sunday too!

Camping at Sleepy Bear Campground

Ping's first camping experience in the States! Ping and the girls had wanted to go camping since last year but there are so many places to explore that we never made it last summer. So one of the first few things we planned this summer is camping!! Ming had also mentioned about Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore last year so we decided to go there for our camping trip.

Ping wanted to make reservations at the Platte River campground within the National Lakeshore border but it was fully booked. Since we had quite a bunch of people, Ping didn't want to take the risk of driving all the way there and not having a place to stay. So we ended up getting a campsite at a private campground – Sleepy Bear Campground. This campground is a pretty good location as it is not too far away from the national park but we have to drive everywhere because it is basically in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by meadows and woods.

The drive to the park is suppose to take only about 4.5 hrs through the scenic route but due to road damaged from the crazy weather Michigan is experiencing recently, we had to detour and end up taking almost 5 hours to get to the campground. The drive on US-31, once we get out of US-127 is very different. The roads are hilly and there are meadows and hills for the side view. Definitely much more fun than driving on US-69/US-96!!! Thankfully, we got there before it got really dark and had time to build our tent, which was very comfortable! All 4 of us had plenty of space to sleep, with more space to put our stuff too. Ming followed Ping's car and helped us set up the fire, which kept us warm later in the night when the temperature drop – definitely lower than Ping expected because Ping only bought a thin sweater.

Just as we finished putting up our tent (the dark blue one, at the back) and unpack our sleeping bags, the other car driven by Tai Lou, with the guys and Pei Hua, arrived. Helped them pitch their tent (which is super huge because all 9 of us had dinner in it the second day!), or more like help 'slow' them down in pitching their tent since the more people it is, the more luan chi cha we become but it is more lau juak mar! Once the tents are up, it's dinner time!

We knew that we would be arriving late and might be too hungry to be cooking so we made some stuff for the first night. Jo made char bee hoon, Ping made pasta salad (actually Ping still calls it macaroni salad since back in M'sia, irregardless of what shape they look like, we always call pasta as macaroni, unless it is spaghetti or lasagna) with Italian dressing and Pei Hua brought mashed potato. It was Ping's first time making the pasta salad and Ping likes it! It was actually Kristi's idea. Ping was asking for Kristi's (she's the best person to go to when it comes to cooking!) suggestion on a non-milk or cheese-based dressing for macaroni salad and she suggested Italian. Ping didn't want to have too much meat in it so Ping used tuna and of course, lots of vege!!

Italian Tuna Pasta

Cooked elbow pasta

Cucumbers, Carrots and Bell peppers chopped into small pieces

Corn kernels

1 can of tuna (drained the water)

Italian dressing

Mix em all up and it's tasty!

Elephant Collection

Elephants, elephants, elephants! They are the most adorable large mammals!! Ping started collecting them when Ping got her first - Elli-O.
Elli-O is the larger one, with a smile on her face. Right next to Elli-O is Hathi Junior from Jungle Book. Isn't it cute? Elli-O is still Ping's favorite (seems like 'first love sticks around forever' is certainly true in this case *grins*). Ping's second one is lazy Dumbo. It is super hard to get this lazy bum to sit by its own. But it has been Ping's ngek ngek here because in US, they don't sell ngek ngek at all...or at least Ping haven't seen it. Actually, when you ask some American about 'bolster', they wouldn't know what you are talking about. Ping also has an elephant bookmark, a birthday gift from Nokkie.
The porcelain elephant is a souvenir that Ping got from Holland. Ping's latest addition is baby Emmy and Elbion. Baby Emmy caught Ping's eye the moment the guy at the yard sale brought it out. Ping just had to get it. Elbion gave Ping a little weird feeling. It's a white elephant. With blue feet. Hmmm...kinda weird looking too. But it is one of those Disney collection that is no longer in production and it is unique. So Ping got her along with baby Emmy from a yard sale when Ping was down at K'zoo not too long ago.

Chocolate Coconut Macaroon

Yummy! Ping went to Roma Bakery early last week just after turning in ahdik's application. Got
some of their chocolate macaroon and it was great stuff!!! So hunt around online for the recipe and found one that is very easy, requires simple ingredients that is readily available in Ping's pantry and fast too. We were also going to celebrate May Chia's '二X' birthday so got more motivation to make the macaroons.

Coconut Macaroons

4 egg whites

2 cups shredded coconut

1¼ cups white sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp almond extract

¼ cup flour

¼ tsp salt

⅜ tsp apple vinegar

Melted chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 300^oC and grease and flour cookie sheet.

2. In a bowl, beat egg whites, vanilla extract, almond extract and vinegar until soft peaks form. [ This is the longest and tiring step because we did it by hand, starting with Ping then Jo took over]

3. Gradually beat in sugar and whip until stiff.

4. In another bowl, toss flour, salt and coconut.

5. Fold dry ingredients (4) into the egg white mix (2-3). [Once mixed, must not dilly-dally in making the spoonful and putting it into the over because the mixture will lessen over time as the ‘soft peaks’ become less foamy.]

6. Drop spoonful on cookie sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes.

7. Allow cookie to cool and dip into chocolate. [We started out using melted chocolate chips but decided that we don’t have enough and should make more. So we made chocolate from cocoa and soy milk. It turned out okay but the process got us nervous for a while as we were not sure if we are getting a dipping chocolate that will solidify.]

The best part is the last part when we get to dip the macaroons in chocolate and make all kinds of decorations. The one on the left is one that has only part of the macaroons covered with chocolate - kinda like Pepperidge Farm style cookies while the one on the right is decorated with chocolates, dried strawberries, coconut, cereals and almond.

Making this reminds Ping of the almond macaroon Ping once learned from Tua Ee. That was the best macaroons ever!! Ping can finish the entire cookie container Ee usually use in like a day! Have to ask Ee for the recipe again. Ping only remember that it requires lots and lots of egg white. This time when make the almond macaroon, must get egg beater edi because too many egg yolks will need to be used later (although Ping can still make milo pudding after that). Will wait till after the committee meeting to work on that....now must study first.

Paintball

Paintball - a very expensive and painful sport but we did have fun. Brian organized a trip to Chaos Paintball at Charlotte last Saturday. It is only about 25 minutes away from Lansing, near a housing area, with 6 fields.
When we first got there, we each get a paintball gun filled with compressed air, carried in a gas tank. This makes the gun very heavy and as time goes by, it becomes quite a challenge to carry the gun and aim. We were also provided with a bag of 500 'bullets'. The paintball is made of vegetable oil and food coloring, protected within a gelatin coating. While the impact of being hit from a distance that hurts the most, when the gelatin coating burst upon contact with skin surface, it can also cause scratches. The 'bullets goes into the white bottle attached to the top of the gun as in the photo above. In addition to that, we were also given 2 containers for more bullets to be refilled when in the field. The containers are attached to a waist belt, which is another challenge if you have to crawl on the ground when avoiding the opponent.

The first field we played at is the 'Hyperball Field'. It is basically a flat greenland, with plastic materials set up as places to hide. Each team starts from one end of the field and we have to try to eliminate everyone in the opponent team. In the first two game, Ping was the last survivor in Ping's team and had to surrender both times because Ping have no idea where the remaining opponents are and Ping was ambushed!!! When Ping first entered the 'battle-field', it wasn't that scary because it was more exciting. It was almost the end of the first game when someone kept shooting towards Ping and the sound of the 'bullets' coming at you is 恐怖 (terrorizing?...scary).
The second field we played at is much harder - an open field. There is barely any place to hide unless you are in the ditch, which can be pretty dangerous because when the opponent come running from the top, you have no where to hide. Another way is to stay flat on the ground but that also reduces your own visibility of who is going where and the big picture is lost.

This is definitely a 'gia lui lai ho lang sae' (use money to be shot). But it was lots of fun! Fortunately, Ping did not get any direct shot. Got a few scratches and 'or chae' from crawling on the ground and running from one hiding place to another. For those who got hit, it does look scary because it is a huge 'or chae' and looks like the Lyme disease Bull's eye rash symptom.

It's mom!!

Vintage craft

Guess what!!! Ping's mummy is in the paper - The Star! One of M'sia's most read national newspaper!!! Hehe...

It is about all the lovely 'kasut manik' she makes!!! Below is the 'newer' one that mum made for Ping.

Sunny day and Happy Ping

Yippeee!!! The sun is out!! Not just visually but you can feel it!! When Ping gets to wear skirt to lab, no bulky winter jacket and no freezing fingers, Ping's mood is up and jumping!! Spring is finally here!! Look, even the grass are coming back to life!!! Sometimes Ping tell herself that she won't let the weather affect her mood but it is usually a lie. When the Sun comes up earlier and sets later (it is now 8.30pm and it is still bright out!!!), Ping will realize that the weather does affect her mood. Waking up early gets so much easier because you know that when you step outside, the Sun will greet you good morning. Staying late at work gets easier too because you know that when you leave late, it will still be nice outside. That's the not so nice thing about living in a place where winter can get pretty drastic. Ping's next destination has to be somewhere that does not have such crazy winter....like...hmmm....where to go leh?

One thing amazing about this extreme cold weather - the plants survive through them just fine. Just looking at them, you would think that they are dead. Super dry and brittle (hmm...Ping tries to think of the Hokkien saying 'san xiang ka tek koh' and 'tah xiang ka ???'....can't think of the dry one...anyone remember?). But you know what? If you keep water them and keep them indoors, they could actually grow back! Here's Jen's basil. Isn't it amazing?

Chicken Lettuce Wrap

Been to P.F. Chang's China Bistro? There's one here at East Lansing, just north west of campus at Lake Lansing. It has a classy environment with Chinese decors and unique dishes. Ping been there once and loved the one dish that Ping ordered - Chicken Lettuce Wrap. It is a pretty easy dish but costs a bomb at P.F. Chang's.

Was thinking of what to cook this morning and thought of that dish. It idea of it is so simple that you can basically use anything in your fridge to make the dish. So what's in Ping's dish? Errr...besides carrot, lettuce and chicken, there really is nothing else. But if those few stuff are your favorite, the dish can still be tasty. So who needs P. F. Chang's? Definitely not Ping tonight! *blek*
Ping marinated the chicken with tau eu (soy sauce) and oh eu (oyster sauce) for a few hours, sliced some orange rind (this is the best thing that Ping found out from Rachel Ray's blog...never thought we could make use of the orange skin!...well, besides when we have to drink the nasty eok bi when we had a bad cough as a kid. Until today, Ping can still remember how much Ping dislike drinking that chinese medicine recommended by some sin seh), and then we just char (stir-fry) them all together!
Ping had it with Boston head lettuce. That's Ping's favorite lettuce although a little more pricey than the regular lettuce. But it has much more nutrient mer. And crunchier too! Mom likes the Boston lettuce too. Actually it was mom who first bought them when they started selling the hydroponic grown vegetables at Yaohon (who used to be the anchor tenant for Sunway Pyramid).

Yummy! Had a very satisfying meal while Ping realized that all microbes with rrn operons that have interoperon heterogeneity more than 3% are thermophiles! Hmm...does that mean horizontal gene transfer can occur for rrn operons at higher temperature? Possible, but the sequence of the divergent copy has no high similarity with other closely related relatives. BUT! Presence of a divergent copy of rrn operon does allow them to have a broader range of growth temperature. Isn't that cool!

Lok Hor Sia (落雨聲)

Was browsing through Fang Wen Shan's blog today and came by this song - Lok Hor Sia (the sound of rain). It is a classical Chinese song that is definitely not Jay's style but by working with the Queen of Hokkien song, Jiang Hui (江蕙), he did a pretty decent job. The lyrics was penned by Wen Shan, based on his thoughts about his parents back in their village (故鄉).

This is an excerpt of his description on the song form his blog.

這首《落雨聲》的詞意主要是在述說為人子女無法克盡孝道的遺憾與感慨。真的不要想等賺大錢時才來照顧與奉養父母，或者給自 己一個藉口，一切等自己有經濟能力時再說，屆時再來盡孝道，但其實可能永遠不會有這麼一天，因為等你存夠了一百萬、三百萬，你就會想再存五百萬、一千萬， 等到手頭上真有一千萬時，你同時也會花費很大，然後馬上你又會覺得一千萬太少。人的欲望是永不可能滿足的，因為錢永遠都賺不完，但父母親卻會一天一天的衰 老…切莫等到「樹欲靜而風不止，子欲養而親不待」時才開始後悔莫及…

Basically, it explains about the regrets of a child who did not have the opportunity to take care and spend time with its mother.

[In the Asian culture, being a filial child is one who takes over the financial burden of his/her parents as soon as they have a stable career. Parents often talk about how proud they are when a certain amount of their child's paycheck goes to them. It used to be more important a generation ago when the society is less materialistic. Nowadays, most kids move out as soon as they start earning their first paycheck and most of the money goes to entertainment if there is leftover from paying off bills. In some families like Ping's, the kid never stops supporting their parents, unlike in America where most grandparents are capable of living an independent life, never having to ask for a single cent from their kids. There are both good and bad in both cases. While it seems like a burden to some people to be taking care of the elder, it makes some feels good. It would make Ping very proud when one day Ping can be the financial source for Ping's mom and dad.]

But it is not all about money either. Fang Wen Shan says 'don't use the reason that I want to earn big money first before taking care and 'fen yang' my parents'. That is very true. While materials, house, car, vacations are always there to be bought, our parents and grandparents will not freeze in time. If you think of something you want to do for them or to bring them somewhere, why not now? Why wait until you earn 10k, 30k, you will think of earning 50k, 100k, which by then, your spendings will be even more and 100k is no longer enough. So you'll keep thinking, wait, wait, but really, when will it be enough? Nothing is permanent. So why don't we treasure our loved ones before we spend on materials that will not bring eternal happiness? The memories that we create with them will be the ones that can last for a very very long time.
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A Hokkien song that brings a tear to the eye...composed by Jay, penned by Vincent for Jiang Hui.

落雨聲 哪親像一條歌
Lok hor sia na qin qiu jit tiau kua

誰知影 阮越頭嘸敢聽
Siang zai ya bun wa tao em ka tia

異鄉的我 一個人起畏寒
Yi hiong e gua ji ge lang khi ui kua

寂寞的雨聲 捶阮心肝
Sio bo e ho xia chui bun sim gua

人孤單 像斷翅的鳥只
Lang ko dua ciu tui sit e jiao jia

飛袂行 咁講是阮的命
Pue bue gia kam gong si bun e mia

故鄉的山 永遠攏站置遐
Ko hiong e sua Yeng wan long gia li hia

阮的心晟只有講乎山來聽
Bun e xim jia ji u gong ho sua lai tia

來到故鄉的海岸
Lai kao ko hiong e hai hua

景色猶原攏總無變化
Keng se you guan long jiong bo pian hua

當初離開是為啥
Dong cho li kui si wei sia

你若問阮阮心肝來疼
Ni na meng bun bun xim gua lai tia

你若欲友孝世大嘸免等好額
Ni na be eo hao sit tio em ben tan ho giak

世間有阿母惜的囝仔尚好命
Si kan u a bu siong e gi na siong ho mia

嘸通等成功欲來接阿母住
Em tang tan seng gong be lai jiap a bu dua

阿母啊 已經無置遐
A bu a yi ging bo di hia

你若欲友孝世大嘸免等好額
Ni na be eo hao sit tio em ben tan ho giak

世間有阿母惜的囝仔尚好命
Si kan u a bu siong e gi na siong ho mia

出社會走闖塊甲人拼輸贏
Chu xia wei zhao jong de ka lang pia su yia

為著啥 家己嘸知影
Wei dio sia ga gi em zai yia

你若欲友孝世大嘸免等好額
Ni na e eo hao sit tio em ben tan ho gia

世間有阿母惜的囝仔尚好命
Si kan u a bu siong e gi na siong ho mia

嘸通等成功欲來接阿母住
Em tang tan seng gong be lai jiap a bu dua

阿母啊 已經無置遐
A bu a yi ging bo di hia

哭出聲 無人惜命命
Kao chu xia bo lang xio mia mia
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The songs is sending out the message 'ni na e eo hao sit, tio em ben tan ho giak' - if you wanna be filial, then you should not wait till you're rich. As LP always say, 你開心, 我開心, 就好了. As long as we are all happy, that's good. Why wait?

Just out of the topic, Ping just realized that in their Hokkien, 'lu ah si boey' is 'ni na be'....errr..sounds a bit like 'chau ua'..hehe.

The Earth Hour

It is time we do something! Most of us are aware that our environment is no longer 'sustainable'. Waste products are being generated at a faster rate than its degradation. It sure is not an easy thing to be aware of the consequences of our daily actions but like all habits, it takes time to get use to it. We can start with as simple as turning off the lights before we leave the room or keep all plastic bottles to be recycled. Sure, not everyone is doing it but hei, if there is someone doing it, that is one less individual's waste to be dealt with.

Since WWF is aware that a lot of actions needs to be motivated, they had came up with Earth Hour 2007 in Sydney, Australia, where everyone is asked to turn off their lights for an hour. It was as easy as that. It was a very successful outcome, as they had reduced 10.2% of their energy usage for that day. Can you imagine if just for one hour a day, we observed just that - we will be saving a lot of energy, coal supplies can last longer and excessive CO2 emission will not be such a scary phenomenon.

SO, this year, WWF has made the Earth Hour a global movement. Ladies and gentlemen, that means we, who are not in Sydney, WILL play our part in the Earth Hour. All we have to do is not consume any electricity for an hour, 8-9pm, on Saturday, March 29th. It is as easy as that. Maybe some of us will think - aiyoh, no electricity for an hour beh tong lah - but hei, there are so many things we can do without electricity. Call some friends and go out for mamak - they can make teh tarik without electricity. Or light some candles and hang out at home with family and friends. Or just go sleep early. *bleh*

While major cities like Chicago, New York, Bangkok, Toronto, and Sydney are the ones who are directly involved, that does not mean those of us not living in the city should not participate. In fact, MSU has taken a step further. There will be an MSU Dim Down hour from 12pm to 1pm on Friday, where everyone are encouraged to turn of their lights. That is definitely not a problem in BPS since we have huge windows that allow sunlight to come through.

As for those back in Malaysia, don't be 'whatever-lah' because none of our cities is officially affiliated with the movement. There are supporters all over so let us all play our role!

Happy Easter!

Nope, Ping don't officially celebrate Easter but being brought up in a multiracial country, we tend to participate in any celebration, curious to know the significance of a certain celebration, and of course, we enjoy the holiday along with it. Easter always falls on the first Sunday after full moon after March 21st - the Lunar calendar is not only a guide to the Chinese occasions - which is March 23rd this year since full moon is on March 22nd.

Ping's Easter weekend started out to be a pretty white weekend. Just as Lin Pei and Ping were already enjoying the Spring weather walking along Grand River Avenue drinking bubble tea on Wednesday evening, the weather decides that it is not done snowing yet. We got 3 inches of snow on Friday!! Yup!! It certainly is pretty but it did not last through the entire Saturday as most of it were gone by the time we went out for lunch. Went to Fazoli's for lunch - Italian fast food. That is one of Ping's favorite place too. Reasonable and portions are big enough that you can bring it home for another meal. Ping got the Chicken Parmesan oven-baked pasta this trip but another one of Ping's favorite is their Alfredo Fettucini..yummy!!

After lunch, Ping went home to bake chocolate cupcakes for the early dinner potluck at Jim and Karen's place (they are Gylin and Boon Keat's mentor from church). A bunch of us M'sians met up at their place and spent some time there 'socializing' before heading to Trinity church. That was where Ping learned about the significance of Easter day - to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his death on Good Friday. Right after the Easter service, we 'joined' the kids in egg hunting! Okay, so the egg is to symbolize rebirth but Easter bunnies - those are just Hallmark's attempt at making money. *bleh* At Jim and Karen's place, they gave out little ziplock bags of different colored Jelly Bellies and a little note that says:

The Jelly Bean Prayer
Red for the blood He gave,
Green for the grass He made,
Yellow is for the sun so bright,
Orange for the edge of night.

Black for the sins we made
White for the grace He gave,
Purple for the hour of sorrow,
Pink is for the new tomorrow.

Give a bag full of jelly beans,
Colorful and sweet,
Tell them it's a Prayer...
It's a promise...an Easter Treat!!

Isn't it sweet?

As 9pm approaches, we were all geared up to start cheering for Spartans in the NCAA games! Wait, Ping have to go start some cultures first. So Ping went back to lab but made it to Lin Pei's place for the 2nd half, which was the better part of the game and guess what! We're going for Sweet Sixteen!!!! Yippeeee!!! Go Neitzel!! He was totally high and confident in the last 10 minutes or so!!! Awesome game!!

Ping's day ended with a movie with TT, Jo, Fred and Tim at NCG watching The Shutter.
It is a ghost movie based on a Thai movie also with the name Shutter, with just a little different story-line. It was an okay movie, Ping was expecting it to be a little more 'geli' or 'mo kui chang' but there was only 2 main scene that got Ping almost jumping out the chair. Surprisingly, the main actor is Joshua Jackson from Dawson's Creek...just couldn't picture him in such movie. Haha...

Leo the Lizard

It was a warm and quiet Sunday afternoon. Ping was watching 微笑Pasta with mum and ahdik in the living room when we heard daddy said, "nah, nah, nah, lu eh peng you lai liow" (You friend is here). Staying at Sungai Emas, where our house is facing the hills and it is less than a mile away from the deep forest, it is no surprise that we get 4-legged visitors once in a while so they have become our 'friends'. Wanting to see who it is this time, we paused the show and went to the glass door. The moment Ping saw how big it is, Ping grabbed her camera and shot a video of it! It is a huge monitor lizard (巨蜥) Definitely the biggest one Ping have ever seen! A very brave one too...hence, Ping named it Leo! Just the day before we saw Leo, a smaller one had come by but the moment we opened the glass door, it ran away. Leo on the other hand, wasn't going to have his afternoon walk be bothered by some human who has nothing better to do other than to look at him (actually, how do we tell their gender? or do they have one?). The poor thing must have had its tail bitten by dogs or some other animals. It came knocking on the glass door and pose for ahdik to take its photo too! It finally did ran away when we went out and dad shooed it away.

Biovalley or Bo-Valley?

A long long time ago (7 years ago), just as Ping was leaving her home country - Malaysia - to pursue her tertiary education in the United States, there was a buzz that Malaysia will develop its own 'Biotechnology Center'. Have you heard about that? Ping still hears about it every now and then. Every time Ping steer the conversation to 'but M'sia got no job for scientists leh', there will be someone who says, 'Aiyah, the biotechnology center coming up mah!'.

When Ping goes home for summer breaks, and some relatives asks the regular ke-poh (busy body) questions, one of them including, 'What are you studying?". When told that it has something to do with science, the response will be - Wah, gau lo. Lang M'sia eh biotechnology center beh khi lai liow, chin chia eng chui kang (wow, so smart. Our M'sian biotechnology center is coming up so it will be pretty easy to find a job). Hmmm...

But you know what? Ping has not seen of any evidence on the development of the biotechnology center except that it will be located near Putrajaya. Ping got the same comment just less than a month ago when having dinner with a friend back in Penang - What about the biotechnology center?. Errr....if there really is one, why don't you see job listings? Why don't you see the ads for the companies in the nation's newspaper? The Star usually does a pretty good job at publishing new companies. If the biotechnology center is something that is so huge and to be proud of, where exactly is it? True, Ping have not been following the Star everyday but it never felt like the place existed. If this research center exists, why are science graduates working in sales departments?

You know why? Because it was never really 'brought up'. In fact, just this morning, Ping found out that it is called 'Biovalley'. And nope, it wasn't in The Star. It was from an article in Nature!! So Ping was right that it was located near Putrajaya - Dengkil and that there never really was a 'Biovalley'. One of the reasons mentioned by the author is the 'Malay comes first' issue that never cease to get our blood pressure up. It was also mentioned that 'Good people go overseas'. Hmm...if they know that, why aren't they doing anything about it? Ping would have jumped with joy to be working back home. But no, opportunities doesn't seem to direct Ping towards home. There are so many research area one can hunt on in Malaysia - a tropical country with a high diversity flora and fauna. Most of the questions asked here could be so much more interesting back in Malaysia. We have acres and acres of rubber trees, paddy fields, palm oil plantation, it is not only applied science but there can be so many fundamental science questions. Anyone ever look at the microbial community that thrives in the tropical forests? How does the community change with draught? Flood? Does agricultural practice like rubber tree plantation reduce microbial diversity? What about waste water treatment? How many anaerobic digestor are there in Malaysia? Have they tried biochar application in small scale commercial agricultural plots? There are sooooooooo many things that can be done back in Malaysia and they can be unique to our tropical environment...and yet, they had failed to attract such interests. Hence, the name sounds more like 'Bo-Valley'. The article was from 2005. So what is going on now? Ping Googled and all you get is news up to 2006, wondering what had happened to the 'Valley'.

Now that the DAP has taken over Penang AND SELANGOR (whoooohooooo!!! Ping and Jo was still excited to hear the pleasant surprise this morning!), maybe they will do something about the white elephant. Ping has got a few more years to go and hopefully that will be enough time for them to do something. For right now, better keep hopes low first. But wouldn't it be great if Ping could go back to Malaysia after graduation? *grins*

還在想家

我會來已經一個星期了. 這裡的生活是自私的生活, 只要為自己想. 但是, 比較喜歡跟家庭熱鬧的生活. 其實, 要開心是很簡單的.像今天, 早上calibrate O2 sensor 的時候,完的滿開心的因為學到了新的東西, 又進步了一點. 下午, 完成了一些figures也值得開心的.不只是自己做的是, 作bus回家的時候,看到路人的表情也滿有趣的.

但, 到了晚上, 那有睡覺的時刻, 感覺又不一樣了. 大白天的時候, 自己很容易滿足. 晚上的時, 決的房間好安靜, 氣氛很冷漠, 心情很寂寞, 感覺到孤單, 腦海裡想者那有的沒的...


好想念爸爸, 媽媽, ahmah, 還有家庭的熱鬧哦. 很想找我的溫柔感...

Errr....

Ooppsss...there wasn't a do not disturb sign.

Taman Negara Pulau Pinang

In the mood for hiking and ahdik is home. So went for an early breakfast at the fishing village at Teluk Bahang. There weren’t many stalls open but we did find a stall selling nasi lemak. After breakfast, we walked over to Taman Negara Pulau Pinang (Penang’s National Park), registered to walk to Pantai Kerachut (Kerachut Beach, which is situated at the top left tip of the Penang Island) and apply citronella oil to gear ourselves for the mosquitos that we’ll be bumping into.

The hike to Pantai Kerachut was lots of fun! We came across all kinds of funny looking root arrangement, black ants hive, and a large diversity of flora. It took us about 2 hours to get to Pantai Kerachut, stopping every now and then to catch a breath.

The best was when we arrived at Pantai Kerachut. It was definitely worth the 2 hour hike. It feels good to see that we still have pristine beaches in Penang. Ping had lots of fun climbing up the rocks by the beach!!! The one thing that ahdik and Ping missed from Bali is the huge waves. There are barely any exciting waves at Pantai Kerachut but the beach at Pantai Kerachut might be a little dangerous for those who can’t swim because the sediment does not gradually deepens but it deepens in step-wise. If you go too far, you’ll realize that you can no longer reach the bottom.

After spending sometime soaking in the seawater and drying on the rock, we took the boat back to Teluk Bahang. We got a really nice boatman who told us about the Batu Penyu (Turtle Rock) and Batu Buaya (Crocodile Rock) along the way back. It was definitely a fun Sunday morning! We are planning to make another trip there when Mei Ling gets back, this time with maybe with some homemade char bee hoon by gee kim!! *grins*

Around KL

As Ping haven't been back to Kuala Lumpur (that's the capitol city of Malaysia), we stayed in KL for a few days. It also so happened that mum and dad's birthday was on the Saturday that Ping was back. So we also had ahboy came in from Penang to celebrate their birthday with a surprise birthday cake for them...a birthday cake with an incorrect greetings - Ma, ma, macadamia cake.
The next day, we went to Brickfields temple for Puja and then later to meet up with Li Foong and Sze Huey to catch up with all the latest stuff, talked bout the old times and all the good stuff. After temple, we head over to Titiwangsa Lake to see The Eye on Malaysia - huge, tall, but nothing special lah. It is just a ferris-wheel. We didn't even walk near it. Just took photo from a far.
After walking around, we went to the Pavilion for more window shopping and lunch. That's the new shopping center near Bukit Bintang area. Definitely a place for window shopping only as everything is super expensive - a place where credit card is totally acceptable.
For lunch, there is a large food court area that has all kinds of food, from Asian to Western. We had Korean, yup, even after Ping just had Korean in the plane.
Done with KL, we drove to PJ - to makan again!! There is this indian uncle who sells indian rojak at the corner of a playground at SS4. We used to go there on mornings of weekend when we were still staying at SS4, and once in a while when we moved to Sunway. He used to sell it on a motorbike but sometime ago, he started using a lorry. When we got there, it was raining and yet, we still wanted to eat it. So we ta pau and had it inside the car. It is still one of the best indian rojak Ping ever had!
At night was junk food from pasar malam. Ping's favorite - keropok lekur!!!