A Sunday Morning Stroll Through DILI, Timor Leste

I am in DILI, Timor Leste now and since it is a Sunday, I decided to take a stroll down to DILI town armed with my digital camera. Timor Leste was formerly called East Timor and they were under the Portuguese rule for many years. Later, the Indonesians governed this island nation and in the year 2002 after some violent objections from the Indons, they became independent. So, it is a "New Nation" so to speak and the UN people could be seen everywhere. I arrived here yesterday and when I did my shopping for some food and groceries I found the prices to be exorbitant. So this morning I decided to go where the locals go for their marketing and also to have a good appreciation of the city. A bicycle would be the best option but since my trusted Dahon is not with me I had to walk.The Comoro river which flows from the mountains down is dry most of the time. In fact Timor Leste is quite dry but there could be thunderstorms for a short period.This man is bringing his products to the market. Petrol here is .90 USD per lit so transportation is pretty expensive. Not many locals own cars. Motor bikes are quite normal.This 100 cc motor bike's engine must be overworked carry so much more than it is designed to do.Little vans called "MICRILETS" forms the main public bus transport system. I have seen people packed like sardine (about 15) inside one of this. The conductor is the guy who stands at the door to collect money and also to push more passengers in! In the local street market all types of food could be purchased. The moment they know you are a foreigner, the price goes sky high.I know it because I crept behind some locals bargaining for some tow foo . They got 6 tow foo cubes for 1 USD and I only got three. When I questioned the seller, he said to get six just cut the tow foo cubes into two! Three times two equals six!

I also dropped in to Landmark Plaza owned by Mr Tan from Singapore. Here one can get most of the items required but at a price! If he cannot make more money here why should he sacrifice the good life in Singapore to stay here!

A Boy Scout from Timor Leste. He was doing a public service at the local church. I spoke to him and he told me he is 15 so that puts him to be a Senior scout. I shook hands with him..using my LEFT hand to tell him that I had been a scout too.
Today is Sunday and I am surprised that a lot of Timorans are dressed in their best for the church service.
Instead of ice creams, this little kid had a local donut for coming to church. He cried after I took his picture. He must be scared of me!

If you have a tyre puncture the shop has to start a fire to heat up an old car piston. A small patch of rubber is then forcefully melted to mend the puncture. A smart idea.

Don't throw away your old shoes. There are alot of road side cobblers around here.

Sometimes when there is excess meat, they will come house to house to sell the meat.

This boy has six eggs to sell and the whole morning nobody wants to buy from him. Six eggs cost USD 1.50!

Adding a Water Feature To My House

The designer of my house Yap Hock Seong has put in an air well in between the main house and the guest room. It was my intention to plant it with carpet grass but after 3 years and three attempts the grass still refuse to grow no matter what fertilisers I feed to them. The two Alsation dogs and my wife's Tsi Tsu dog are forever playing hide and seek and burrowing in this part of the house. It is now high time to renovate this portion of the house. Initial idea was to put in a composite wood deck with pebble wash along the perimeter of the rectangle. One thing leads to another and suddenly everyone agrees that a water feature will be the best bet for the location.
We were very lucky to get hold of a "sifu" (grand master) in building water features. He is Ah Sang, a very motivated tiler and holds high self esteem in his work. Work started on 30 Dec 2009. First, the floor had to be re leveled. Then the concrete base is made. All the parts of the wall that are in contact with water had to be water proofed with water proof cement. Old paint had to be scrapped off. That is a lot of hard physical work involved.

The basic shape of the pool is constructed with bricks. Here Ah sang (in short pants) is working with his partner Ah Leong.This small "pit" is made to accommodate the wooden deck made from composite wood. The top of the deck is made level and the bottom of the floor made to allow water to flow out through an outlet.Electricians had to be called into fix the new lights for "effect". By the second week the pool was ready and the leak checks were performed to all systems. If there had been any shoody work, it will show out now.By now the beautiful composite wood that had been pre cut arrived. Installation of the deck was as per the instructions provided.It is almost ready now. just add in the feature plants and the carp.

It looks cool at night with the lights working overtime. Now I hope my dogs do not discover the joy of swimming in the pool. It is ok for them to quench their thirst but my Mata is a good fisherman a swell...esp for big gold fish!
See..both the builders looked very satisfied with their work. Of course we are happy as well and would not hesitate to recommend their services to anyone who wants to get a pool done in their house.

Growing Grapes in Kemaman

When we mention grapes we always visualise that they are grown in some Mediterranean countries. Very few people know that it is possible to grow grapes in our country. I have a friend Soffian a retiree who stays in a hobby farm near to Kemaman and he has been successfully growing grapes for the last few years. Of course growing these grapes are not commercially viable but it does add some sense of excitements when visitors see bunches of grapes hanging down. And he has never bought any grapes since growing his own.


Soffian takes great pride in explaining the cultivation of grapes in Malaysia.
He grows the grape under a plastic shelter and has a drip watering system.I think he told me that the species of grapes grown is the Isabella variety. Don't these bunches of grapes look tempting?

As for the taste you got to ask this sweet looking girl. She seems to be comparing these grapes with the Australian variety!
Besides grapes he plants a whole lot of other vegetables and fruits. His durians are also very good.

Monday Hash Runs.....Every Mondays

Monday evenings are my sacred days. yes.. for whether it rains or shine, a group of like minded people will meet up at a pre arranged place for our "hash run" at 1800 hrs. We are members of the Kerteh Hash House Harriers, a group of wild men and ladies who are in this running club with a drinking problem. The run sites are normally in the jungles and plantations within half an hour's drive from Chukai. Hashing origionally started in Kuala Lumpur many years ago and has spread to all corners of the world. Each week a different "hare" sets the run. When I began hashing in the late 1970s while I was based in Kuching we had a "Life hare" system where the hare sets a paper trail only 2 hours before the run. If the other hashers catch up with him the dinners will be on him. So we have devised a system of false trails, checks (where the trail ends and hashers will have to search for the trail continuation) and back trails to "slow" down the fast runners and allow the rest to catch up. Nowadays, it is much easier..the trail is normally set two days before hand.
Normally by 1730 hrs the crowd starts to build up. An average of 60 members turn up for the run. The "On sec" normally calls the chatting crowd to order for announcements 5 min before the run. The next week's runsite is also announced.

Sometimes I bring guest to the run ..like in this week's run I brought my daughter Alicia and nephew Jian Siang along



The trail is normally laid with square or shredded white paper. Sometimes, flour could be used. Normally the first km starts on good grounds to facilate the runners to warm up. Then it is uphills, down hills, through jungles and estates. Sometimes if the hare is a bad guy the trail could be set on a wild boar route and that includes crawling through a wild boar tunnel!

If it is the rainy season always be prepared to get wet. There was once in Kuching many years ago when the run site was in a flood prone estate and there was a heavy down pour. I remembered swimming out as it was too far to turn around.

Downhills can be tricky. We have had many humty dumpties.....

Hill climbs are always on the run menu.

To keep the runners know where you are you are expected to shout "ON ON" as you run.

Normally the the first runner comes in by 1900 hrs and the last runner 20 mins later. The hare is responsible for helping the strayed runners back.

We have a system of signing OUT before the run and SIGNING IN when we return so we know who is missing.

After the run it is going to the ON DOWN where a good dinner and beers are organised. Sinners who had taken short cuts, stolens fruits along the way are punished here. The punishment is drinking beer while standing on a chair!

So you see, this is good life again and it only cost us RM4.00 per run. We get pewters for completing 50 runs. I had done about 350 runs with this group. It is always an enjoyable event even though I do not drink nor do I attend the ON DOWNS ( ai yah will get fat lah).

My perfect host in Melbourne (Nov 2009)

About 2 weeks before our departure to Melbourne, Cheong told us that one of his long lost classmate from Malacca by the name of Max Tan would like to host us while we are in Melbourne. I was a bit skeptical at first because we are strangers but Cheong asssured us that it is ok. Max Tan like myself had been a scout in his school days and had done a lot of back packing in Europe in his younger days. So I started to correspond with Max Tan by emails to get to know him better. I used google earth to locate his house which is located in Bundoora and is on the Bundoora Park itself. Perfect location! After several emails we were talking like old friends and we seem to be on the same wavelength.

Armed with my Garmin Nuvi GPS we managed to locate his house at 16 Prospect Hill, Bundoora. Max and his wife Jeannie had even prepared some good food for us. It was really wonderful.

Max and Jeannie has a son Jonalton. He is 13 years old (the kid under the bed) and he seems to get along with all our kids.

Max managed to locate a few of Cheong's school and class mates residing in Melbourne to his house and we had a pot luck BBQ. Most of them have not met each other since they left school 30 odd years ago. They are all very successful and some of them have became Australian citizens

Max, the host was also the chief cook for the occasion. I believe he enjoys cooking for a crowd! But of course there are the ladies helping out too .

The kids too had a gala time with all the good food.

This is the crowd that was hosted by Max. We are very thankful to him and his wife for hosting us during our stay in Melbourne. Max, you have been a perfect host. More on our trips around Melbourne in my later blogs.

Flying to Melbourne, Australia by Air Asia (Nov 2009)

"Hey Wong, Would you like to go down to Melbourne for a holiday at the end of the year. Air Asia is having some fantastic offers".....Sunny Cheong my brother in law called me one fine day somewhere in June. Yes please but first I will have to get my leave approved. By the time my leave had been approved a few days later, the fare was not so cheap anymore. I had to pay RM 7900.00 for a family of 4 for all inclusive return fares. So, on 22 Nov 2009 three families (all our wives are sisters) flew to Melbourne for a vacation.
This is the first time I travel by Air Asia and of course the first trip to the Low Cost carrier terminal in KLIA. I would say I am quite impressed with the LCCT. The food here is much cheaper as compared to the main terminal. There seem to be a lot of bargain hunters around this "low cost" terminal. I tried to ask the taximan who brought us to the air port for a "low cost" taxifare but I was unsuccessful!

I was rather suprised that there was no delay for this flight as I have heard about their frequent delays. To be on the safe side I had actually purchased a travel insurance so that I can get some money back if there are delays. but of course when you have bought insurance everything will run smoothly so that no claims can be made!

The flight from KLIA to Tullamarine airport took about 7 hrs 30 mins on the Airbus 330. One thing for sure is that the seats on the Airbus 330 is most uncomfortable. It cannot be reclined and for the flight outbound I was "trapped" in the middle. However Air Asia has made plans to improve the seating on the 330s by next year.