Great Reminders from the How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies and Before the Coffee Gets Cold

How to make millions before grandma dies (Pic source: Google.com)

"How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies premiered on April 1, 2024, and is now hitting cinemas worldwide. It is currently rated at 8.5/10 on IMDb, with 97% positive rating from Google users, and has made THB 320.7 million in Thailand alone, as of June 2, 2024." - Lifestyle Asia

I heard about this when I was staycation in Batam with my friend two weeks ago. She had been wanting to ask me to watch this together since it was cheaper to watch movie there. But since we both were busy, we could not watch. Until yesterday, finally I grabbed my hubby to watch it together with me.

He was wondering what kind of movie it was. I just told him it was a Thai movie and I bet, he believed my taste, so he just agreed and joined. He was struck in awe upon seeing a fully occupied theater on Thursday evening (not even weekend), and people was willing to sit at the most front rows because every where else was occupied. "It must be really good," he claimed inside his heart.

After finished watching, I understood how it had become really famous not only in Thailand, but worldwide, especially in Southeast Asia. The movie depicted Thai Chinese life and culture, which was also applicable to any other Chinese immigrants in Southeast Asia countries like Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Filial piety, favoritism upon boys, and greed upon wealth/ inheritance came hand-in-hand and usually appeared when someone old and sick was going to die - realistically and sadly. The young "good for nothing" boy - who had initial intention to benefit something from the upcoming grandma's death, changed his heart through love and over time as he spent more time together and closely with his Amah (grandma). 

It was heart wrenching. I could hear sob sounds somewhere inside the theatre when the movie was almost ended. I did not cry though, in fact, I laughed more while watching it. Thanks to the boy's character that was lighthearted and always wanted to see his Amah smiled :) 

Before the Coffee Gets Cold Quotation - Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Our parents were getting old each and every day. One day, soon or later, one thing or another, we might have to face such thing in life. I hope my parents would be blessed with good health all the time and they could spend the rest of their days happily and full of love despite living away from their children. Hope they can gain happiness from travelling and seeing the world, spending time together with their children, grandchildren, friends, and families.

The above picture was taken from the "Before the Coffee Gets Cold" book by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. Three sequels were published with the almost same stories over and over again, on how customers had the opportunity to travel to a time of their choosing, as long as they followed a long list of rules.

"There is only one seat in the café that allows time travel; the seat is only available when the ghost that usually occupies it goes for a toilet break; once back in time, customers can't leave the seat; the only people in the past who can be met are people who have visited the café; whatever happens in the past, the present won't change; and, most importantly, the customer has to return to the present before their cup of coffee goes cold (around 1 hour)." - Source: Wikipedia.org

In real life, whatever had passed, would never return. Just like a broken vase that could not return to its initial form. As Amah said, "What has been done, cannot be undone." 

Hope the movie and the book would be a great reminder to all of us to always treasure the people surrounding us, to feel grateful of their existence, and in any way possible, to spend more quality time with them - be it near or far, and to love with all of our hearts, not because we expect something in return.

A Little Reflection

Are you wasting your time???

It has been a while since my last post. How are you doing guys? Hope everyone is doing good and blessed with good health. Covid has changed so many things in us but hope that it will not let us being defeated by it

I have heard many bad news for the past 2 months of who have had it and who could not manage to survive. The death happened to anyone, be it young or old. I can not imagine how the related person have to face it and go on with their life.

This will only be a short post as when I looked at the quote above, I had a sudden inspiration to write this. 

Ok, alright. Because of Covid, we can not travel. And well, I can not travel. So I have plenty of time to spend. Naturally, I should spend it doing something like working, back to workforce life. 

I can choose to go back doing the office job, fully use the qualification I attained years ago and get the salary I deserve, or doing something else, something I love doing, something my passionate call me for, but the return may not be high or enough. Well, for some people, money is never be enough right?

Since a year ago, I had chosen to work part time, a job that many people generally are capable to do, whether you have experience or not. And fate brought me to land to another place, which is more suitable for my liking and personality. 

And starting February, apart from my part time job, I had started to pursue my interest related to something I used to love, but not die-hard loving, which was crystal. 

I was mesmerised by the beauty of the nature. They were nature too, built in over million and billion years naturally. And they were believed to carry many positive benefits with them. 

When I started my second part time job, I often felt unease. It might be due to a new place, and also the nature of the job that needed me to deal with items that could harm me, such as: knife, cans, slicing machine, hot pots and pans, hot water, oven, and so on. 

Bruises and cut wounds took turn tattooing my parts of body every week. Actually, it was something that I could avoid, but somehow, it happened. So I started wearing crystal to work: a pair of earrings, necklace (that I hid inside my shirt), and 2 bracelets (one left and one right - they were put in my pockets when working).

Somehow I could feel the energy from it. They might not prevent me from getting wound and blisters, but they helped me in keeping myself calm when it happened. 

It was somehow giving me calm effect, believed that they were there to protect me, give me strength and confidence, calm me down when it was busy or angry, and they too, helped me in clearing the misunderstanding, encouraging me to speak up what my heart was saying, and at the end, won the heart of my colleagues. 

You may or may not believe, but I personally feel it inside me and what change it has brought me into.

Both part time job and crystal interest may not give me enough money to live by. In fact, every month I spent most of my salary to purchase the crystal. But anyhow, I still feel that it is better than taking the full time office job that would not make me happy because the motivation would be to earn bigger money, but not because I like the nature of my job. 

So since it is part time, I do not work every day. One week, I may work 2 to 4 days only. The rest of the time, I spend it to engage myself in buying crystal (physical and online), getting design inspiration, learning how to do it, making it, and so on. This way, I can use my creative side in making DIY crystal bracelet too upon the buyer request.

For now, my sisters are my greatest supporters. Few close friends are also supporting me too. To be frank, I do not earn much from it. Because I am happy enough that they too believe in the goodness from it. Just as long it can cover the cost, that is enough. 

So going back to the quote above, I just want to tell myself, and to confirm it, that there is no rules that I must work office job, earn lots of money, in order to call myself living my life in decent way. There are still many other choices that I can make (while I am still given that choice), and still call it living my life according to my wish, my passion, my love, and then work out with the little money that I earn. 

Most important, keep my health (both physically and mentally) in good state by developing positive thought as much as possible, spread good things around to people surrounding me, live stress-free life (the more you earn, the more you attach your life style with it), learn how to balance (when to buy and when to stop), use my other talent in good way (in this case, my creative side), and just be myself. Be happy and content with everything, and never compare my life with other people. 

With this post, I hope you can reflect into what you are currently doing in your life too. Whether you are living your life according to what you want, whether you can fulfil your dreams or on the way into it, and so on. Always remember, there is no right and no wrong, but it is better if you can give yourself a chance to follow what your heart is saying. Wish you all a great day ahead!!! Stay safe and take care!!!

Gyalo by Au Lingi Jamtsho

"Gyalo" - means victory!!

"Gyalo" - a victory cry in Bhutanese language, or if translated, would read as "Victorious!!!" This title was chosen by the author, as army was all about the victory, and it related very much with the victor, a person who defeats an enemy or opponent in a battle, game, or other competition, as translated by the dictionary.

To be frank, it was a very much awaiting book for me. Not because my name was mentioned in the "Acknowledgment" page as "Singaporean Bhutanese," but because it was actually Au Lingi's first attempt in writing, even before his published book - "The Night Hunter." 

Nice handwriting, Dawa! ;)

Thank you for Dawa Knight who sent me this book upon knowing his lady friend would make a trip to Singapore more than a month ago. Since he did not have time to get Au Lingi's signature, he signed it on his behalf on the cover page hahaha... and very proud with his beautiful handwriting :D

Only after returning from my long holiday trip I finally managed to have "me-time" to concentrate reading it and now finally writing a review about it :)

The content of the book was about Dorji, who initially intended to become an engineer when he was young, but fate led him to join the NDA (National Defence Academy).

As I turned the page, it reflected how Dorji began his journey - the NDA training at Pune, India, at a place called Khadakwasla. He was only in late teens that time. The book told us how tough the training as an army was. "If someone says 'life is hell,' he is a cadet, and if he says 'that was the best part of my life,' he probably is an ex-NDA," would perfectly describe the life at the NDA.

Drills were part of the training and he had to go through so many 'birthing' procedures before he finally attained a senior officer status in the army.

For the details of the story, you have to flip the book and read it by yourself. All I could say was that it was a very realistic story that one should face if he chose to join the army.

Au Lingi Jamtsho - looks dashing and smart in his uniform :)

When I asked Au Lingi if the story was written based on the true story, he replied me like this, "This was fiction. However, Gayle Foreman says that every fiction has its base in fact." And he admitted to me too that he was once wanted to become an engineer, but landed up becoming soldier. Hehe... 

I was asking him too if it was really his "Uncle" who led him to join the army, and he confessed that it was his cousin cum childhood friend who joined the NDA one year before him, and not his Uncle, as what the story was written. And his reason was a way too simple, "I saw him all dressed up and got attracted to it." Hahaha.... You were indeed cute lah Au! ^^

So, I'd let you conclude yourself how far it was resemblance to the author's own life experience :)

Here in Singapore, all 18-year-old male Singaporeans and second generation permanent residents are required  statutorily to undergo a certain period of compulsory service in the uniformed services, which we usually call National Service or NS. Depending on the physical and medical fitness, they usually have to serve two-year period as Full-time National Servicemen (NSFs). It can be at the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), Singapore Police Forces (SPF), or the Singapore Civil Defense Forces (SCDF).

And after completion, they would be considered as operationally ready, and still have to go through reservist once every year so that they won't forget what they have learned and to use their ability in realistic situation until the obligation period over (with a cap up to 40 years old).

Ah Boys to Men 1 to 3

To describe the life of the NSFs, which was very much alike with what Au Lingi described in his book, there were movie made by local director called Ah Boys to Men series 1 to 3, which was made in mixture of realistic and humorous Singaporean way (in Chinese language with English translation).

Therefore, while reading upon the Gyalo, it reminded me of the army scenes as directed on the movies (including ways to fake the sickness, stealing sleep from many sleepless nights, teamwork and survival skills inside the jungles, cadet's spirit of unity and brotherhood when facing punishment, etc.)

However, I found that it was great that Au Lingi put much of his real life experience with army training places in India and Bhutan as the locations into this book so that fellow Bhutanese would feel the glimpse of army life which exist surrounding them. He too put it in more literally way with some story plot which connected one thing to another and beyond the drills capacity.

I saluted him for his rich vocabularies and his excellent ways in describing a person and situation, especially when English wasn't the major that he took during his school days (in fact, he was studying science!!!)

And I saluted him too for being gentleman, a man of his character (in which you could see from the way he treated others), calm, and polite from the outer side but deep inside he was very much observant, highly committed and responsible person.

Perfect with tea and biscuits in cool evening :)

Overall I enjoyed reading "Gyalo" very much. Before ending our conversation, he reminded me about the life of the army -
"Remember, there is no runners up in war. You are either good or dead," and as the two golden rules mentioned in the book, "Ours is not to question why. Ours is but to do our die." 

Our Times 我的少女時代 Movie Review

Last week during meeting with my Indonesian besties, one of them told us about the movie above. She said it was very good and recommended us to watch. She even wanted to watch it together with us, again! Wow! I was kind of wondering, what kind of movie it was until my friend wanted to watch it repeatedly. Since what I had these days was time, I agreed to her recommendation almost immediately. So yesterday, three of us watched the movie together.

Our Times 我的少女時代 (Pic source: Google.com)

Every time I watch movie, I tried not to find out what the movie was about as I preferred to face whatever it was with an empty and open heart, and let whatever surprise to unveil itself. I didn't even know which country produced the movie. I knew it was Chinese, but not sure whether it was from Singapore, China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan.

So, finally I knew. It was Taiwan produced movie. You could read the movie plot from here, However, what I wanted to bring it out here in this post, was that... the movie title was really fitted perfectly remembering our times. Our times?

Check out the movie trailer above or click here.

Three of us were schoolmates during senior high school's time but not during junior high school. However, we went through the same generation's time, trends, liking, idols, and so on!!! So, the moments when the movie turned back into Lin Zhen Xin youth's time (it was most probably back to late 1980s and 1990s), it brought us back to where we were, especially our school's time (late primary to senior high school's time).

Four Heavenly Kings (Liu De Hua, Aaron Kwok, Jacky Cheung, and Leon Lai) - Pic source: Google.com

My dear sister would probably still remember how I wrote and imagined that I had special dating dinner, even slow dance after that, with Leon Lai or 黎明, one of the Hong Kong famous four heavenly kings (singers), right after his concert at our town. Hahahaha.... :D True enough, I was not the only one. In the movie, many were even imagining to be their wives. Lol!!!

We all used to collect their cards that we drew from the machine after we put coin inside, put their posters in our bedroom, and collect anything that had their faces on it, including the magnet address book that you could open up so long. It was also our times when we still used landline telephone at home, used Walkman to listen to our cassette collection, played Gameboy, used hairspray and hairdryer to make our bangs still and going up steadily, used red color lipstick for special occasion, when roller skate was one of the trendy sport to play (I even played too!), and so on.

In our country, basketball was also considered as the sport games that cool guys in our school used to play. The scenes there reminded us of how we were used to be like them, supporting their games from afar, and would blush and laugh out loud when the guy that we liked giving a glance at us, and so on. Even when the guys passed by our classroom. Hahaha... My bestie who happened to be in the same class with me knew it best what I encountered those days! ;)

This movie was simply bringing our memories back to alive!!! We were laughing out damn loud while watching those scenes!!! Until I had to be reminded that two persons who were sitting next to me could not stand the way I laughed :P

We could feel that almost everyone in the cinema enjoying the movie so much. There were ups and downs, happiness and sad moments. Laughter and cry was part of the movie as well. Thumbs up to the director. The ending part was definitely everyone of us's dream and wish to come true. So, what are you waiting for? Go and book your ticket now lah!!! Perfect for weekend dating! ;)

Books read and movie watched for the first half of the year 2015

June is coming to an end soon. Despite the busy schedules and previous troubles on my head, reading is still my priority and my passion that fills my days with. Below please find the list of the book read during the first half of the year of 2015.
   

January 2015

January 2015:  
1    Kisah Tragis Oei Hui Lan - Agnes Davonar
2    The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer
3    How to Fall In Love - Cecelia Ahern
4    Diary of a Taxi Driver - Cai Ming Jie PhD
5    Cabbies: The Inside Story - Reflections of a Singapore Taxi Driver - Sam Huang
6    The Dusty Sneakers - Kisah Kawan di Ujung Sana - Teddy W Kusuma and Maesy Ang
7    Love Me Or Leave Me - Claudia Carroll
   

February 2015

February 2015: 
1    The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank; Edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler
2    The Strange Library - Haruki Murakami
3    The Kitchen God's Wife - Amy Tan
4    Don't Worry Be Hopey - Ajahn Brahm
   

March 2015

March 2015: 
1    The Sleeper - Emily Barr
2    La Ama - Chador Wangmo
3    Adultery - Paulo Coelho
4    The Rosy Project - Graeme Simsion
5    The Rosie Effect - Graeme Simsion
   

April 2015

April 2015: 
1    Nocturnes: Five Story of Music and Nightfall - Kazuo Ishiguro
2    The Inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai
3    The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
    

May 2015

May 2015: 
1    The Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell
2    Three Wishes - Liane Moriarty
3    Aunty Lee's Delights - Ovidia Yu
4    The River's Song - Suchen Christine Lim
   

June 2015

June 2015: 
1    A Man Called Ove - Fredrik Backman
2    The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry - Gabrielle Zevin
3    Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng
4    The Little Paris Bookshop - Nina George

This year too, I develop a habit to watch movies. Sometimes when it's difficult to digest the book, or to wonder how it's been translated into movie, I'd watch its movies instead, while other reason doing that is merely entertainment. Some are really good when it's translated into movie, while some has lack of the literature details.

Minion Quote :)

Below are the list of the movies I watched for the first half of the year 2015 :)

January 2015:
1    Night at the Museum 3
2    Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt book
3    PK
4    The Interview
5    Big Hero 6
6    Annabelle
7    The Book Thief - Markus Zusak book
   
February 2015:
1    The Best of Me - Cecelia Ahern book
2    Love, Rosie - Cecelia Ahern book
3    The Theory of Everything - Biography of Stephen Hawking
   
March 2015:   
1    Penguin of Madagascar
2    The Fifty Shades of Grey - E.L. James book
3    Frozen
4    Cinderella
   
April 2015:  
1    The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro book
2    Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro book
    
May 2015:  
1    The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger's book
2    Skin Trade
3    The Great Gatsby - novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald
4    John Carter
   
June 2015:   
1    Travellers and Magicians
2    Samsara
3    Jurassic World
4    Minions

So, let's the spirit continue and most importantly, enjoy every bit of your life the way you live it! :)

2D1N Trip to Batam Island - Day 2

Selamat pagi!!! :)

Good morning!!! :)

After a very long day at our first day in Batam, we woke up the next morning at 8.30am and had breakfast provided by the hotel. They served simple Indonesian dishes like bubur ayam or chicken porridge, fried rice, fried beehoon, chicken curry, sautéed vegetables, bread and jams, coffee and tea, also choices of sunny side eggs and/or omelets.

Must do in Batam!!!

At 10.10am we headed to Reborn to have 2-hours Balinese massage, just few meters away from the hotel doorstep on the right, to relax our body muscles after months of stressful work and hours of walking the day before.

Reborn Therapy Price List

From 10am to 2pm on weekdays, it's happy hour where we were entitled to get 30% discount on any package. Do take note okie?? ;)

After that we checked out from our hotel and had our lunch at the Nagoya Hill food street. My friend recommended me Ayam Cabe Ijo, However, due to the start of fasting month (first day, in fact), the hotel staff was afraid the store was closed in the afternoon. Therefore we tried the second recommended makan place called "Warung Cobain".

Warung Cobain at Nagoya Hill, Batam 

It's kinda similar with Ayam Penyet Ria, but this time we tried their sambal cabe ijo (green chilli) to be eaten with the fried chicken, Rawon (black beef) soup, chicken satay, fried petai (smelly beans), and not forgetting my favorite Avocado juice (with chocolate milk). Hhmm... and it all cost us S$8 :)

Meal with a great view @Pempek Kolecta - Batam 

We were all full and refreshed. We took our bag and headed to Mega Mall again at Batam Centre. Since we still had plenty of time, we decided to watch movie again :D The show started at 2.25pm. We watched the cute Minions this time ^^ After that we shopped again at the Hypermart buying some necessities and went to Pempek Kolecta to sit down, eat snacks and enjoy the free WiFi hehehe..., plus enjoy the beautiful sea view ;)

'Til we meet again :)

We sat there until it's time to board our ferry. The sun was setting when we departed. Leaving beautiful memory for both of us. We shall go back again soon!!! Sampai jumpa!!! ^^

The Rainbow Troops - Laskar Pelangi by Andrea Hirata

The Rainbow Troops by Andrea Hirata

It’s a novel written by an Indonesian author – Andrea Hirata – that has been sold for more than five millions copies and has been translated to over 20 languages worldwide.

The novel won many local and international awards, including the award from New York Book Festival 2013 under general fiction category. Read more about the author here.

Below please find the synopsis of the book:

“Ikal is a student at the poorest village school on the Indonesian island of Belitong, where graduating from sixth grade is considered a remarkable achievement. His school is under constant threat of closure. In fact, Ikal and his friends – a group nicknamed Rainbow Troops – face threats from every angle: skeptical government officials, greedy corporations hardly distinguishable from the colonialism they’ve replaced, deepening poverty and crumbling infrastructure, and their own low self-confidence. 

But the students also have hope, which comes in the form of two extraordinary teachers, and Ikal’s education in and out of the classroom is an uplifting one. We root for him and his friends as they defy the island’s powerful tin mine officials. We meet his first love, the unseen girl who sells chalk from behind a shop screen, whose pretty hands capture Ikal’s heart. We cheer for Lintang, the class’s barefoot math genius, as he bests the students of the mining corporation’s school in an academic challenge. Above all, we gain an intimate acquaintance with the customs and people of the world’s largest Muslim society.

This is classic story telling in the spirit of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner: an engrossing depiction of a milieu we have never encountered before, bursting with charm and verve.”

He is not only a great author. He is much more than that. He committed himself to education and literature by creating Indonesia’s first literary museum at his home village in Belitung Island. This non-profit institution is designed as learning center that provides free workshops and learning especially for poor students.

Find out his amazing Museum Kata Andrea Hirata here. I find it ridiculously amazing on how he could fulfill his dreams and make it into realities. Please look at the link I gave you and see the pictures.

Fyi, Belitung island is an island located on the east coast of Sumatra island in Indonesia. It’s well known for its pepper and tin. Look at the map below so that you can imagine what kind of place Belitung island is, how far is it from Singapore and Jakarta.

Belitung island - pinned in red

It’s such a beautiful work and inspiration. If one day you can be such a great author and earn lots of money, don’t you wish to use that money to build such a place of your dream and help those who are less fortunate to get free education and improve literacy? It's also a place to express the artistic talents and skills there.

Introducing his books in different versions - Andrea Hirata

Providing storytelling, free school/lesson, singing song with his guitar, introducing his novels and the museum to overseas guests/tourists have been his common activities over there, apart from writing his stories.

There is a movie made based on this novel in year 2008, in Indonesian language, also called Laskar Pelangi. I just watched it two days ago from my sister-in-law VCD that I borrowed, but I heard the movie is also available in Youtube. Check it out when you free so that you can view how Belitung island looks like and the environment back in those years plus many other things like people, culture, surrounding natures, lifestyles, and so on.

The island is blessed with beautiful beach with many big stones. I went there many years ago when the book hadn’t existed yet. My sister-in-law was born and growing up there. Her relatives are still staying there.

Photo with Andrea Hirata - the author of the Rainbow Troops or Laskar Pelangi

And you know what? My two dear lovely guys were much luckier than me. Both of them just visited the Belitung island earlier this year. They visited the Museum, met the author there, and my hubby was even taking personal photo with him. Oh, how envious I am!!! They also went to the beach where the film scene was taken and again, took their photo there :)

My love at the Rainbow Troops movie site - Belitung, Indonesia

From that time I got to know about this book, but only last week I managed to get it from the library accidentally (most probably fate ^^). It’s such a nice story, which I think you should read it too. But I was thinking that it might sound different from the original Indonesian version. I should find it out soon as my sister-in-law has the Indonesian version copy. She even bought the other three books that he wrote.

Tourists from Singapore at Laskar Pelangi movie site ;)

Btw, they have published the book in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal by Penguin Publisher. So try to get it from the nearest bookstore in India. Perhaps, you may like it and get inspired too :)

Beautiful sketch by Au Kinzang Tshering :)

It was on 5th March when I commented on Acho Tshering Dorji's (the Bhutanese blogger cum book writer - "Living the Bhutanese Way" was one of his creations) sketch, which was drawn by his former roommate back in college days, who was not only a blogger, but also a self-taught artist who had great amount of passion for an art of drawing and painting.

Bhutanese children book cover - The Three Friends (Source: Facebook - Kinsart)

Children books illustrated by Au Kinzang Tshering (Source: Facebook - Kinsart)

I called him Au Kinzang Tshering. The above books were illustrated by him. He drew it for Mdm Chador Wangmo, a Bhutanese tale story writer. You might have seen or bought the books before at the DSB Enterprises or Junction Bookstore back in Thimphu.

Au Kinzang had also his own Facebook page called Kinsart. You could find more of his drawings and illustrations over there by liking his page :)

In the comment, I was asking him if he could draw me too. Perhaps it's because of Acho Tshering comment, who asked him to draw me in Kira, the next day he was asking me about it on Facebook message. Very fast, he agreed to draw me, told me that he would try to finish it by end of this month.

I tried to find my photo with Kira and decided to use the photo with Phurba Thinley, the 13th Bhutan National Awards winner as a male lead actor and comedian actor, whom Riku and I met accidentally along the Nordzin Lam road during the first day of the Thimphu Tsechu last year. Riku was the one who noticed his presence and he was also the one who stopped him and asked him if he could spare little of his time to take a photo with me and that was how the photo below was taken. Thank you la Riku! :)

Me and Bhutanese comedian King, Phurba Thinley :)

I sent the above photo to Au Kinzang. And that night, Au Kinzang tagged me and posted the below picture on his Kinsart page - sketching again.

First sketch

Wow, that's a pretty fast starting! It showed how passionate he was towards drawing!

Second sketch

Yesterday night he tagged me again on the second sketch. Wow, he drew it beautifully. Maybe it was even more beautiful than the real me hehe... And if you noticed on what Au Kinzang commented into the sketch, I think he wanted to give me this sketch, finish it as soon as possible, as a gift for celebrating the Woman's Day, which fell yesterday, 8th March 2014. Wow! I was very happy la! He kept on working on the sketch and asked my opinions about it from time to time. I told him if it would be great if he drew nice Kira for me. That's also why he wrote that I deserve a Kishu Thara (a beautiful pattern of hand-woven clothes in Khoma).

Final sketch by Au Kinzang Tshering - Kinsart

Just minutes before midnight Bhutan time,  he finally finished his sketch. Look at the beautiful Kishu Thara on my Kira! Also the cute bag "♡ Bhutan". I wish I have a real ones! Haha... Wow! Thank you so much Au Kinzang! I'm very honored to be drawn by you. I can see your passion on it. Within 3 days time you finished drawing it beautifully! Name same kadinche-la Au!

Below is the photo taken during first bloggers' meeting held last year August, where Au Kinzang Tshering attended with other famous bloggers in Bhutan :)

Photo courtesy: Passu Sir :)

From left to right: Riku Dhan Subba, Au Kinzang Tshering, Nawang Phuntsho, Sogyel Tobgyel, and Passang Passu Tshering.
hand-woven cloths from Khoma

CNY long weekend

Happy Chinese New Year!!!

First day of Chinese New Year (CNY) was spent by visiting relatives house. Every year, if we weren't abroad, we would visit my hubby's eldest Uncle's and my hubby's grandma's house on the first day. Other uncles with their families would go there too, so we would meet each other.

Aem (the eldest uncle's wife) would usually prepare a lot of food at their house and asked us to stay for lunch. They knew I was vegetarian on first day of the year so they cooked and provided a vegetarian meal for me. I think I was the only one hehehe... They even asked me to bring the leftover vegetarian food back home so that I didn't have to trouble myself thinking on what to have for dinner.

Suan Pan Zi or Yam Abacus Seed

She made and cooked the Hakka traditional food called yam abacus seed or suan pan zi. It was made of yam and tapioca flour, cooked with cuttlefish stripes, mushroom stripes, and seasoned with some sauces and black pepper. It required lots of work to prepare this dish.

It's said that by eating it, people would be good at counting money,  which preferably own money (hopefully had lots of money to count) hehehe...

Since I couldn't eat it on that day,  they put aside the balance and was given it to me. Hehehe... I felt pampered though. Thank you Aem for your kindness and care ^^

Deep fried Ngoh Hiang

Same thing when we went to my hubby's grandma's house. The 2nd Uncle cooked dinner for us. Since I was vegetarian,  he prepared two types of vegetables with mushroom especially for me. He also gave us 4 rolls of his handmade frozen Ngoh Hiang, mixed of minced pork, prawn, crunchy bangkuang, some flour and egg, rolled with beancurd skin so that I could eat it the next day by deep frying it at home. Thank you 2nd Uncle! I really had 'kou fu' wor!!! ^^

At both places we chit chatted and mouth busy chewing some snacks and tidbits. Hehehe... It's time where we usually gained weight eating high-calorie and fattening food, such as: rou gan or bakwa, pineapple tarts, fried crackers, etc.

2nd day of Chinese New Year - We spent the day to rest at home. Usually people could visit friend's or other relative's house. My brother and families had gone back to Indonesia, so did my Indonesian and Malaysian friends. So I didn't have any place to go.

The weather was very hot too, made us lazy to go out. Therefore, we spent our time fully staying at home - eating, reading, sleeping, eating, watching TV, reading, and sleeping again hehehe...

Journey to the West - Conquering the Demon (pic source: Wikipedia.org)

There were few Chinese movies that we watched. But there were two that I enjoyed so much. I will introduce the two of them here. First one: "Journey to the West - Conquering the Demon (in Chinese: 西遊·降魔篇)". 

This is a 2013 film directed by Stephen Chow and Derek Kok. Many of you should have heard about "Journey to the West" before. It's a Chinese literary classic stories written by Wu Cheng En, a very famous stories. We watched the long series since we were very young but they made it as movie in action-comedy style here. The Ost song title "Love of a Lifetime" or "一生所爱" sung by Shu Qi 舒淇.

The Sorcerer and the White Snake (pic source: Wikipedia.org)

The second one, also based onthe famous Chinese legend, "The Legend of the White Snake", a movie titled "The Sorcerer and the White Snake", a 2011 movie. This one was directed by Ching Siu Tung and was played by the famous martial artist, Jet Li, now a Singaporean. This film depicted a sad love story between human and demon. It was really sad la.... :'( The Ost song - "Promise 许诺" - sung by Raymond Lam and Eva Huang was very nice :)

If you have any access to watch it (by buying the DVD or downloading it online somewhere), go and watch it. I think you will love it too :)

Kwan Im Temple @Bugis

Day 3 of CNY - We went to Bugis, had our lunch at the hawker center, and prayed at Kwan Im Temple. Many stalls were not opened yet. We had to queue for quite some time to get our food and drinks. Prices were deliberately increased too during this time as they knew many stalls were closed and we still had to eat and drink. I ended up buying Fried Chicken Briyani rice from the Indian stall where I didn't have to queue hehehe...

The temple was very crowded. People would usually go there to pray, especially in the beginning of the year. Many stalls were there such as: fortune telling stall, donation stall, flowers and joystick stalls, etc.

We went up to 2nd floor of the opposite building to pray to Tai Sui. "In Taoism, those whose Chinese Zodiac is offended or by their sign conflict or clashes with the Tai Sui of the year are advised to go through a prayer session with a Taoist Priest to ask for blessings in obtaining Peace and Good Fortune throughout the year." - source: Wikipedia.org

This year, those who were having Horse, Rooster, Rat, and Rabbit Zodiacs were advised to pray to Tai Sui. We just went there, and they knew already our purposes. We paid around S$17-19 depending on types of praying that we needed to have. Just told them our horoscope and how old we were. The person would prepare few things to pray. One auntie would be there to pray for you. At the end we could give some money for them as a token and there would be one red packet filled with a card which was believed to protect us throughout the year. Just hope things would go smoothly and we would be blessed with good health and safetiness throughout the year.

Once it's done, it was shopping time! Hehehe... Quite lots of shops had been opened. We walked and had our dinner then went back home. Tomorrow I'm going back to work like usual and will be busy for month end closing. Well, hope all of you had enjoyed your weekend too! Wish you all the best for this Wooden Horse year! Jia you!!! ^^