A Sustainable Future

 

National Geographic Magazine is one of my must read reading material of all time. Not only I improved my use of vocabulary and diversify my writing techniques when I indulge myself in the articles, I get myself abreast of all the latest news and updates, especially on environmental discussions.

Recently, I found myself watching the National Geographic Live! Explorers Symposium featured in the Apple iTunes Podcasts. I couldn’t help but agree more with one of the discussions in the episodes – Seafood and Survival by Barton Seaver. He is not a scientist, but merely an observer. As a chef, he realized the importance of a meal to humans – it is where humans get together as a family. As he got older, he came to realize that the seafood he used for cooking has become exorbitantly expensive, and some of his favourite catches were no longer there for harvesting. It was then he said this, “As chefs, we are responsible for creating a demand of exotic food. We are the one who popularized shark fin soup and we are now in control of the natural selection of seafood species.” He believed that it is our duty as the harvester of our natural resources should use our natural resources wisely.

“Sustainability is not about the environment, it’s about sustaining people. We may have used an eco-friendly method to cultivate shrimps in farms, but having a shrimp buffet as a business is not a sustainable method. Sustainability failed on the human part.” He’s right! At the end of the day, we’ll be affected when the ecosystem collapsed. I can firmly say that ecosystem is there to support our living!

In short, we should really take a step forward and look at our dinner plates. You are indeed what you eat, but at the same time, the Earth’s wellbeing is what you eat too! So be responsible for what you consume.

Getting old…

For the past few months, my dad has been complaining to me that his mobile phone screen is so small.

Then last week, he got himself a new 3.2” touchscreen phone with the font size set to ‘large’.

Yet, he complained to me that the screen is still small.

It made me realize one thing:

My parents are both getting older as the day passes.

The day would come where my dad would ask me to read out his messages, and I would have to send E-mails with large fonts to my mom.

If only Apple could release an iPhone with a screen size as big as the iPad, I would not even hesitate to get one for them.

In short, love your parents dearly before you’re left with memories of them.

A millionaire in Jakarta

Simple. Go to the money exchange, hand over RM 350, and be a millionaire in Jakarta.

Jakarta is one of the busiest cities (I’ve been so far), and the traffic jam is horrible.

You see motor and mobil (motorcycles and cars) going around, with the motorcycles weaving through the traffic. If you’re not competent riding a bike in Indonesia, don’t ride one. Nonetheless, travelling by motorcycle is the best way to go around town.

Instead of wearing a helmet, some others wear a cap or hoodie instead.

To be hemat (safe) when you cross the road, you can literally blindfold yourself when you cross. If you observe the traffic before you cross, it’s either you’ll never cross the road, or you’ll get knocked down by a vehicle. The drivers on the street evades pedestrians, not the other way round.

Less traffic lights on the streets means less traffic jam even though the place has high vehicle density. Giving an opportunity for the local people to earn some living.

You pay for parkir (parking) and you pay again for the person who lead you out from your parking slot. They even provided parking spots for ladies.

Lots of gratis (free) stuffs around to lure more people to purchase, and the advertisements on cigarettes filled the TV screen and the billboards along the road.

Shopping malls are grander than ours, with brands not even found in Malaysia and Singapore, and things may be dirt cheap as well. You can get a pirated DVDs as low as RM 1.80 each.

As usual, food here is good, and one of the most popular – masakan padang.

On the other side of the Jakarta Town, you’ll see a different group of people trying to survive on the streets. People who make a living by pushing carts around, selling all sorts of stuffs. Plus, because they can’t afford to buy a car, the carry all sorts of things on their motorbikes and push carts.

And again, because there are more motorcycles on the street, they have motorcycle wash all over the place.

They can’t use money to buy fancy stuffs, so they built them.

Some scenes you don’t see much in the big city of Jakarta…

Family coming together to enjoy.

People repairing motorcycles by the roadside.

Selling of colourful motorcycle seats.

Jaw dropping graffiti art…

And lastly, some other photos to share with everyone:

People here are survivors. They grow up working hard, learning all the street skills we didn’t learn in school. So you think that they’re weak? Think again.

The Spear River – Sungai Lembing

The most interesting fact about this small little town - it floods every December, every single year. And the worst floor ever recorded was in the year 2001.

This small little town also contains other wonders. You will need at least 3 days to complete the tour around. By the time you're done, you'll want to come back here again.

This town, which has never failed to mesmerise everyone, is better known as Sungai Lembing, just a few kilometres away from Kuantan, Pahang.

The growth of this town some one century ago was due to the mining of our rich minerals, especially the tin ore. A visit through the local museum will reveal much of the history of this town.

Some of the remains can still be found located around town and most of them are preserved in the museum. A few sites to visit include the place where the refinery of the mineral ore took place and the underground cave entrance.

So why 3 days to complete a visit? Because on the first morning, you'd most likely be interested to see the beautiful Mount Panorama, and on the second morning, an early trip to the Rainbow Waterfalls is worth every second spent. Sadly, I did not take the latter trip.

When you're done with all these activities, you can enjoy some famous Sungai Lembing noodles, especially the tomato sauce noodles. Their local biscuits tastes great as well. I find their sesame biscuits tastier than the coconut biscuits though.

This local bakery also sold some very nice Kaya puff.

Other attractions include crossing one of the many hanging bridges, visiting the crystal house, buying your freshly made noodles from the local factory, and if you're bored at night, talking a stroll around town at night.

Road signs in English are certainly new in Malaysia.

About 10 kilometres away from this peaceful town, there is a cave – Charas Cave (Gua Charas).

My dad told me that he came some 20 years ago, he had to pay RM 2 for the Indian guy down the cave to start up a electric generator for the lights. So much has improved, and people can be seen coming here to pray.

A grand Taoist temple located not far away from the Kuantan Toll exit is the Temple of the Golden Dragon (太子金龙). It is a grand temple with the dragon as the main theme. I find the place is a bit lavish though, somehow felt that the money should go somewhere else better use.

This short journey to Sungai Lembing certainly brought much joy and peacefulness. See the kampung people around, old shop lots, and people riding bikes without helmets.

In short, I would come back to Sungai Lembing again. And if you love nature, you'd definitely love to explore this place.

A week full of travelling

The past week has been travel crazy.

Travel back to hometown, then to Singapore, and ended my weekend with a night’s stay at Sungai Lembing, Pahang.

Tiring indeed.

Update on the on the Sungai Lembing trip to come.

 

** I’ve gone crazy over panorama. Took over 20 sets of panorama to be stitched. Anyways, here’s a sample… Click on the image to enlarge.

More photos to come.

Chinese New Year Celebration

This year’s reunion dinner was more like a mushroom feast.

 

Went back to my mom’s Kampung the next day and found out that many of my relatives are now Apple ambassadors… Kampung people also getting more and more advanced these days…

There are a lot of cute children also….

By the way, tried out the Canon 5D Mark II. Quite a good camera, I must admit. No samples here, cause I don’t have a CF Card reader with me, and the owner didn’t bring back any transfer cable. Next time perhaps.

Just a short update… More TK.

Lou Sang

Days before Chinese New Year, I already participated in a few Lou Sang…

It’s nice to share the joy and happiness with your family.

Here, wishing everyone, Happy Chinese New Year, have a safe journey home.