Assorted Blah Archives - Page 5 of 16

Chinese New Year 2011 update

February 9, 2011 By Suanie 10 Comments

Back to the grind, eh? I know you are, I can see the evidence on KL/PJ roads.
Of course I went back to my hometown for Chinese New Year as well.
We went back a few days earlier because one of my uncles passed away.
Then I returned to work yesterday because Joey Yap said it’s auspicious mah.
So I listen to him lor, ‘cos I’m very Cina one.

This time round I didn’t meet any of my friends.
Except for Richard and TiMei, when we visited Bhante Sumana.
Besides that and visiting my relatives, I stayed at home. Slept and fed and mushroomed.

On the 3rd day of Chinese New Year, we went to my Dad’s annual classmates reunion dinner.
This tradition is nearly 50 years in the making, without fail!
We all used to go with our parents as kids. Then as we get older, we stopped going.
Got other things to do mah, like hanging out with our own friends during CNY.
Now we are much older, we all go again. Cycle of life.

Dad and his friends!

Got a lot of stories to tell one…

Another group photo, yeay!

Got notice anything unusual or not?
…. .. ….. ….. …. .. .. .. . .. .. …… .. .. time’s up!
Yes, ladies and gentlemen… as you can see in all three photos above…
MY DADDY WAS SMILING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fuwahhhhhh never see before leh… so out of his seemingly stoic character.
Faster go buy 4D.

Of course the next day, he was back to his usual sunny personality.

10 Comments Filed Under: Assorted Blah

Beware of the dog because she will lick you to death

November 22, 2010 By Suanie 9 Comments

You know those ominous signs at some house gates warning you to be ‘Beware of the dog’?
Sometimes they are just words, in three languages to boot.
Sometimes they are accompanied with a drawing of a Rottweiler or Doberman.
Doesn’t sound very cheerful, does it? Lack of sunshine and warmth and all that happy stuff.
‘Cos sometimes the owners are truthful.
They have dogs that would attack you and rip you to unrecognisable pieces if allowed.
Sometimes the owners aren’t truthful.
You could bet your entire fortune that they don’t have a toy dog, let alone a real one.

Oh look, a very dangerous dog!

In my friend Gail’s case, she was being half-truthful.
Her 10-year old dog Lola will not maul us to death.
Instead, we might be killed by Lola’s saliva overload.
That’s why Gail has the sign up at her house gate 😉

Who’s a good girl?

My feelings towards dogs and children are the same: I don’t like many of them.
Mostly it’s the parents/owners’ fault, but I won’t elaborate.
In Lola’s case, I love her!
Maybe because she greets you with a soft toy in her mouth as you enter the house.
And she wags her tail so ferociously that it may fall off at any time.

Tail wagging breaking the speed limit

I <3 Lola!

9 Comments Filed Under: Assorted Blah

Ryan and his conversations with Popo

October 26, 2010 By Suanie 8 Comments

Can I get away with another post on Ryan the Nephew? Of course I can! These are stories told by my Mom, who was looking after him for a few days when his folks were away.

Ryan and his Grandmother during his mohawk days

Popo: Would you like Popo to stay in KL or go back to Batu Pahat?
Ryan: I want Popo to stay in KL.
Popo: But Popo needs to go back. No one is looking after Gong Gong.
Ryan: But I want Popo in KL.
Popo: But sometimes some days, Popo must go back for a while.
Ryan: Then I will miss Popo.
Popo: You can always call me. I call you on the telephone too when I miss you.
Ryan: But that is a lot of money…

Ryan and his Grandmother during his learning-to-eat-solids days

Before bedtime, my Mom threw him a pair of his pyjama.

Popo: Wear it yourself, you’re a big boy now.

After quite a while, she returned to the room to find that Ryan was still naked. So she helped him to get into his clothes.

Popo: Wear the pants yourself, okay??

She went to the bathroom. When she returned, Ryan was naked bottom half.

Popo: Aiyahhh why are you so lazy, why are you still not wearing your pants???
Ryan: Popo, will anything happen if I don’t wear anything?
Popo: What would happen? Nothing would happen, except you shame shame.
Ryan: Would I catch a cold?
Popo: Oh you’d probably catch a cold, so you’d better wear your pants fast!
Ryan: *beams happily* That means I don’t have to go to school, right? That means I can watch TV and play with (the boy next door), YEAYYY!!!!

Ryan the Nephew in 2006

Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that all these came out from the baby in the picture.

8 Comments Filed Under: Assorted Blah Tagged With: ryan the nephew

Original Bootcamp: The ‘Prisoner Assault’ Circuit

October 22, 2010 By Suanie 9 Comments

Or at least I think that’s what it’s called. Could have asked Sergeant Faizal again seeing how he invented the circuit, but does it really matter? Heh.

The circuit was motivation for me to re-draw my Bootcamp stick people because I want to show you how crazy tough/ tiring (but fun) it was.

Two groups: Circuit (Sergeant Faizal and Sergeant Dharmen in charge) and Grinder (Corporal Hafiz in charge). The team doing the grinder had to continue doing the workout according to Corporal Hafiz’s pace (OUCH!) until the team doing the circuit completes it. Then switch.

The Grinder station was led by Corporal Hafiz, who was absolutely ruthless 🙁 Sure, he did the exercises with us most of the way, but who the heck can go up and down according to his pace?? *grumble grumble* 😛 We did lots of butt and thigh exercises, it was painful. Oh, the Delta and Seal had to do it with a sandbag in hand, more ouch!

As for The Circuit…

Everyone gets a rifle. FYI, a Bootcamp rifle is a PVC pipe filled with sand. I swear they get heavier every time they refill the darn things.
At the store, there are tyres, jerry-cans filled with water, logs (as in wood) and metal chests, not sure what they’re really called.
The team must carry all these items with them throughout the circuit, along with their individual rifles each. E.g., one person can take one small tyre. But a metal chest requires 2 hands to carry it. That means it takes up 2 people (because of the individual rifles, remember?)

It’s all very human resource in a way.

Click here for a larger version

1st station: Starjumps with rifles at every line of cone. 12x for Rangers, 16x for Seals, 20x for Deltas.

2nd station: Run and Drop. This just means run to every line of cone and drop the ground, get up and run to the next line of cone and drop to the ground etc.

3rd station: Gorilla crawl. Imagine a gorilla crawling, then imagine people imitating the gorilla crawling. Yeap, that was us.

4th station: Starjumps with rifles, same as 1st station.

5th station: Slinky, sexy leopard crawl. Basically drop to the ground and shift your body (and rifle) towards the end of the station, using your arse and thighs to push you forward. This sucks major balls as I can’t do it very well. Also got attacked by lots of bugs in the grass and now I look as if I had the measles. But that’s secondary. My main gripe is that LEOPARD DON’T CRAWL LIKE THAT!!!

“In the circuit they do!” Sergeant Faizal responded to my outburst on Facebook.

Both teams had this circuit twice because there weren’t enough people to remove all the equipment from the store.

Good training for Genting Trailblazer though, seeing as how I’ve not done much myself. Much later when I was done with all the suffering, I thought that it was a rather good circuit and I enjoyed it very much. See, you never feel like this DURING workout. Appreciation as they say, is always belated.

I asked Sergeant Faizal how he cooked up something like this. He replied, “My inspiration was from Trailblazer, combat fitness tests and the prison rescue scene of any good war movie.” Wicked!

Sometimes it’s almost crazy to believe that these are the things that I enjoy doing.

9 Comments Filed Under: Assorted Blah Tagged With: bootcamp, obc, Original BootCamp Malaysia, original bootcamp pj, padang astaka

A rare moment of brilliance: emergency contact lens storage and solution

October 18, 2010 By Suanie 14 Comments

If you wear contact lens, your ‘oh fuck’ moment would be when:

1) you realise that you’d forgotten to pack your contact lens case and solution;
2) you did not bring along a spare pair of contact lens; and
3) you’re at a rather remote area and it was too late to go purchase anything in town.

I went ‘oh fuck’ last weekend when I was at the Tanjung Jara Resort for the Volkswagen media drive. Tian Chad told me that Kenny Sia was in a similar situation, put on his thinking cap and used 2 water bottle caps as his contact lens storage for the night.

So that was what I did.

Two water bottle caps, solution from my Renu contact lens eye drops and covered by a (clean) drinking glass. Don’t want weird stuff to fly in + solution to dry up from the air-condition.

I felt so brilliant and accomplished, like I’d discovered something new. Well, it is true that the older you get, the more you appreciate the simpler things in life.

14 Comments Filed Under: Assorted Blah

Xi Gua Shuang – compound watermelon frost to treat mouth ulcers (yikes!), yeay!

October 15, 2010 By Suanie 32 Comments

Years ago when I had a terrible case of mouth ulcers, my mother got me a traditional Chinese medicine called Xi Gua Shuang (direct translation: watermelon frost). It comes in a powdery form, smells like any powdery traditional Chinese medicine and most importantly, made my mouth ulcers better. Since then I’d always thought of the watermelon frost as a miracle cure for those annoying mouth ulcers.

I got a massive one yesterday so I went to the nearest Chinese medicine shop and got me a couple of…

Almost miraculous, I tell you. At the very least, it stopped the pain that comes with the sores then accelerate the healing process. As I applied more of the wonder powder to my ulcer, I suddenly thought of the following questions:

1. What the heck is watermelon frost??
2. What is this medicine exactly, and how does the science of the remedy work?

The information at the back of the package says, “Traditionally used for relief of sore throat, toothaches, minor burns and cuts”. Of the 7 listed ingredients, the only ones I understood were ‘watermelon frost’ and ‘menthol’.

In the 17th century during the Qing Dynasty, a famous doctor named Gu Shicheng recorded ‘Sanjin Watermelon Extract’ in his “Complete Works for Treatment of Sores”. Apparently here’s how you obtain watermelon frost: remove a watermelon of its content then pack it with salt. Put it in a bowl, seal well and after a few days, a ‘frost’ appears on the skin. That’s the active ingredient in the compound medicine.

Sounds like a lot of hard work so I’m glad that it’s easily obtainable at most traditional Chinese medicine stores. Inexpensive too; I bought the above for RM1.40 (USD 0.50). There is a spray version which I didn’t get, for reasons I don’t know why. Duh.

According to this website, compound watermelon frost is listed as ‘Medicine for the Diseases of Five Sense Organs’. Hmmm…

Anyway it’s recommended as traditional herbal remedy for mouth ulcers (sores), open wounds, sore throats, gum infections, toothaches… you get the idea.

I just thought I’d share ‘cos you wouldn’t know this if you didn’t grow up in a Chinese family/environment. Well, now you do! Go stock up now! 😀

32 Comments Filed Under: Assorted Blah Tagged With: heal mouth ulcer, how to cure ulcer, traditional chinese medicine for mouth ulcer, watermelon frost

Excuse me, but do you need the number for a piles specialist?

October 1, 2010 By Suanie 16 Comments

Kidding. You probably don’t and in any case, I don’t have one.

While walking along the pre-war shophouses to Yut Kee, a signboard caught my eye. Hello Tong Nam Piles Specialist!

How fascinating was that?? The aged window displays beckoned me closer for a look. Some were faded black and white photos of… uhm, the affliction of piles. You can view it here on my Flickr. At this point, you’re going to thank me for not putting up photos of hemorrhoids on my blog.

Turns out, the guy who owned this shop was a traditional healer for piles! Apparently he could do it without surgery nor pain! Sounds unbelievable? Well let’s see what some of his grateful patients had to say!

Mr. O.L. Borneman of Macgregors Ltd, a company incorporated under the Companies Ordinances of Hong Kong with its address in Kuala Lumpur at 12, Batu Road wrote this on the 12th June 1940:

Dear Mr Lau Ping Hsiang,

I should like to take this opportunity to thank you for the very great care and attention which you have given me during the three weeks I was undergoing your treatment for severe bleeding piles. The fact you have effected a complete cure without any dangerous operation and with no pain other than that occasioned by the disease itself speaks very highly indeed for your skill and the medicines you used. I am very grateful to you.

Yours very truly,
Signed, O.L. Borneman

It must have had been a really good cure! To have someone in a high position (think 1940) admit that he had piles, write a thank-you letter/testimonial and allow it to be seen by all.

Seriously if I had piles, I don’t know if I’d like the whole world to know…

A couple more letters, which I’m going to transcribe because they were gold.

Saya dengan sesunggohnya memperakui bahawa En. Allan Chung Ah Chye ialah seorang doktor pakar buasir yang pandai. Pada masa ini beliau bertugas di Tong Nam Piles Specialist No. 47, Jalan Campbell, Kuala Lumpur bolih mengubatkan penyakit buasir tuan-tuan/puan-puan dalam masa tiga (3) ataur empat (4) minggu dengan tidak payah dibedah atau dipotong dengan bayaran yang berpatutan.

Saya dengan benar,
Abdul Ghani B. Dain
Ketua Kerani
Yunit Penyelidikan Sosio-Ekonomi dan Perancang Am,
Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Kuala Lumpur

Stamp of approval from someone in the Prime Minister’s Department, not bad huh? But wait, check out this next one!

Kuala Lumpur, 08 July 1971

To Whom It May Concern

This is to state that it gives me great pleasure to state that bearer, Mr. Allan Chung Ah Chye; Piles Specialist with the Tong Nam Piles Clinic, 47 Jalan Dang Wangi, Kuala Lumpur is what he claims to be that he could cure piles without resorting to operation. To my knowledge his claim to be able to cure piles within three to four weeks, without resorting to operation is correct.

Signed, Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Khan

… A TAN SRI?!? Impressive! How many Tan Sris these days would write such a glowing testimonial for you?

I found that there was a “Tan Sri Haji Abdul Hamid Khan bin Haji Sakhawat Ali Khan” who served as President of the Senate from February 1971 till February 1973. Which means that the letter was written when he held the position!

This little shop is beyond great, it’s amazing! So much history! I wish I could learn more about them. Stuff like who they learned their healing skills from, who were the main healers, how many piles specialists were there in the city back then (i.e. competition), what happened to them, who owns the shop, how come the exterior of the shop and the signboard are still in good condition, etc.

So many questions! Doesn’t it make you curious too?

For more photos and larger resolutions, check out the Flickr set here.

Update April 2015: Since this post, I’ve been back to the area a few times and have seen this shop in operation. I do not know if the piles healers are from the same people who first started this shop. A new sign is up, with their e-mail address on display. Use at your own risk: pilesfistula@gmail.com.

16 Comments Filed Under: Assorted Blah Tagged With: piles doctor kuala lumpur