Reclining Buddha Temple at Burma Lane, Pulau Tikus, Penang

This morning we went to The Reclining Buddha Temple for my mom's second death anniversary prayer. My parents were staunch Buddhist so I have to carry out the rites due to filial piety. My husband went to invite the monks for the recitation. After that I gave them an ang pow each. They walked out without knowing that I was behind one of them. To my surprised he opened it and he didn't look happy about the content of RM5. He looked at me in a very unhappy manner. Then the man mending the temple with a cap who followed them quickly told me that I was supposed to put RM20 for each monk. I 'paid' the difference of RM30. I was wondering what had happened to Buddha's teaching? Are they not supposed to demand a certain amount. From what I know was that they should not even accept the ang pow if they are true in their Dhamma. Anyway, I paid as demanded but it is kamma that will follow them. This will be the last time I will engage the greedy monks.

Bali versus Batu Ferringhi

For these few months, my family and I have been staying at my Bayu Emas Apartment which is situated at the end of Batu Ferringhi. The beach is a stone's throw away so my husband and I walked to the beach nearly every evening. We had enjoyed swimming in the sea until recently. Recently was like since January. We were disappointed as it was a sea of muddy water. None of the tourists dared to go into the water. What a big shame it was as most of the tourists, whom I happened to mingle with, swear that this will be the last time they will come here but instead they will divert to beautiful Bali. I believe they will as I myself highly recommend Bali especially Kuta, Nusa Dua and Blue Point.

The stretch of beach at Kuta is never left to rot like Bat Ferringhi. It is well kept. Early in the morning we took a walk to the beach and it was only 6.30am but I saw uniformed sweepers cleaning the beach. Mind you not one but many. They were busy sweeping and scooping up the rubbish into plastic bags.

At Batu Ferringhi, what we see now are a stretch of black rotted dead leaves, plastic bottles, plastic bags, cans....and amazingly no one scoops them up. They were left to the waves to do the job. Talking about saving the environment, I wonder what the MPPP is doing? I see them until 7pm or even until 7.30pm everyday but they are only there to monitor the beach boys. Why can't they see the filth?

Pearl of the Orient????? Mud of the Orient to be precise. Aren't we suppose to help promote tourism here? Instead the tourist, foreign and local, are driven away. One tourist lamented that he came here NOT to be coop up in the hotel but wanted to enjoyed the sea.

Thanks the Penang government for letting the contractors to dump the mud excavated at the new link at Monkey Beach. Why can't a site where no tourist goes be picked? Penang is getting sick and dying.....cough, cough, cough

Beach Cleanup Batu Ferringhi, 2010

The Star publication ,a couple of weeks back, advertised for Penangites to participate in clean ups of three of our beaches. They are Gurney Drive, Tanjung Bungah and Batu Ferringhi. Three of us decided to register for the one at Batu Ferringhi as we are residing there. Registration was a big hassle but I did not give up. Finally a Mr Tan gave us reply via his mobile phone. Today I text him as I still have not got any reply from the Batu Ferringhi side. I was told that there are too many participants. I was wondering why they can't tell us earlier that they cannot accomodate too many people so that we can plan for other activities????? We are very disappointed. How inefficient the committee for the Bt. Ferringhi clean up is. No more such participation for us in future. Instead Mr Tan texted back to apologized. Basically this Mr Tan is the only one with full responsibility. He even texted back to apologized. WHAT ARE THOSE SUPPOSED TO MEND THE BATU FERRINGHI BEACH CLEAN UP DOING???? SLEEPING?????

We were looking forward to offer our help in installing a clean beach. Once bitten twice shy....I don't think we ever want to participate in anymore such projects. I have to do so much running around just to register.

The Royal Palace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Here we are at the Royal Palace where the present king resides. Of course this is the area where we were allowed to browse. Where he stayed is off limit. It is a beautiful palace and very vast. This is only a tiny part of palace ground. This building is where the coronation takes place. In there we can see jewelleries being exhibited that were worn by earlier queens. They were authentic. Sorry photos were not allowed in the building itself.

Cambodian cuisine

This is Amok Fish. It comes in two version. The grilled or curried. This version it grilled Amok Fish. Amok Fish is one of the many delicious cuisine in Cambodia. It tasted like our Otak-otak but it has its unique ingredients added. I just can't get enough of it. YUMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Siang and me at the National Museum, Cambodia

This museum is full of statues from the ruins. Photos are not allowed and so we cannot snap any. Behind us is a statue of a Garuda. We were allowed to take this one as it was at the enterance. In the museum, I found a few ladies collecting donation to upkeep the place by handling us a stick of jasmine to be place at one of the Buddha statues. The amount donated was up to individuals. At first, I was thinking that it was rather weird for people to pray to statues placed in museums. After Rith explained to us, I felt at ease.

Cambodia

Finally 13.1.2010 arrived after waiting for months. Siang and I left for Cambodia. We were supposed to accompany our maid, Phan Yen, back to her home land but she made a big fuss in wanting to leave sooner after our parents passed away. We were well prepared for the trip after many feedbacks from friends. Siang was told to look out for beggars as we stepped out of the airport building. To our amazement, we did not see any. Our guide, Rith, told us that their government forbidded beggars greeting tourist at such points.

One of my friend said to get ready to dig my nose every night before bedtime. She said Phnom Penh is very dusty. Before seeing the city, I regreted forgetting to bring some masks. Anyway, the masks would have taken up some precious space in by luggage as I did not see that much dust in the air. I did dug my nose as instructed but it wasn't dirty. The only place that was dusty was on the way to angkor Wat. But no problem for us as we travelled in a limousine. Of course it would be adisable to wear masks if you take the tut tut which is the national taxi.

Yet another told me to be prepared to experience some skin ailments due to the yellowish water from the tap. Oh, well, no yellowish water flowing from the taps and definitely I did not have any skin ailments. My skin came back as good as I left. Ahem, I did become a little darker....Ahhhhh, any Caucasian would be jealous of what I got. Anyway, the water there is very clean.