A Royal invitation

Courtesy of a connection of one of my teammates we were granted an invitational game by Royal Selangor Club on their 'sacred' turfs, namely the Royal Selangor Club football pitch which is one, if not the best, maintained football pitch of Malaysia.

Gosh, it felt like walking on sacred ground, the pitch was perfect, almost as smooth as a billiard table, and the weather conditions were near-perfect for a friendly game of the club's veteran squad vs our mix of youngsters and vets.

Did I mention that we were up against 'veterans'? Now, don't make any hasty conclusions.....those veterans are a well-oiled outfit, doing proper team warm-up, listening attentively to the guidelines of their coach as opposed to our amateuristic pre-match approach.

Well, the flow of the game went up and down, with both sides giving eachother no quarters. 3 periods of 30 minutes and have to be fair, Royal Vets had the slight upperhand over us. The final outcome was a draw 1-1 which was a fair result, and we couldn't believe our eyes that those 'oldies' continued to play a game amongst themselves after our fixture with them. Talk about fondness of the game.

http://www.rscweb.my/rsc2//

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Selangor_Club

Voor degenen (o.a. Kim Long Tang!!!) die twijfelden of dat ik het echt meende betreffende de match tussen mijn ploeg en de clubke Royal Selangor Club....ziehier het bewijs!!! Nah gij!! :p

Kampung

A trip to the kampung (hometown in Malay) of my wife's nephew-in-law turned out to be quite a mini-adventure in itself.

As it turned out we were a party of 6, so instead of traveling by 2 cars, Uncle Toh pulled out an old Mitsubishi Pajero from his workshop, the looks of it were okay, but horror.....the airconditioning barely worked and as it was a typical Malaysian day (sunny, hot, humid)....the car slowly turned into a furnace during our 1 1/2 hr trip. Mind you, when the car was at cruising speed the aircon system managed to pump out some cool air, but whenever we were stationary (traffic jam or at the toll plaza) things got seriously overcooked.

So instead of going straight to our destination we stopped at a small restaurant and dozed ourselves with cool drinks and a quick snack. Gosh, we needed that.

Anyway, I've visited the place quite some years ago and it looked like time had stood still. Apart from some minor upgrading works, the partially wooden house was basically the same as I remembered it. Mind you, they do have modern amenities like running water and electricity and a proper loo. Aircon is non-existent, but the evenings are cool enough according to the occupants of the house. But such a huge difference with city-houses. The grandfolks raised their seven kids there and now its the grandkiddo's turn to be raised in this house, more than a dozen in total. One would expect that tranquility is nowhere to be found but the opposite is true......sure there are kids around doing what kids always do, playing, screaming.....but the setting of this house in the middle of practically no-man's land almost guarantees a 'silence' that we city-folks cannot imagine it exists.

Rearing their own chickens, harvesting quite a selection of veggie's, fresh fruit in abundance....what more can one ask for?

When we left the place I was wondering whether these people are really better off than us, city-folks? If yes, why do all the young people move to the city then? Boredom? Money?

Food for thought.........and oh yes, we still had to endure the trip in the oven-baked car back to town.

KLM.....modern way of flying?...no Thanks.

KLM.....National Dutch carrier and the pride of Holland

Yeah, right.....

Self service kiosks, and I thought they were only intended for the hurried business travellers, but somehow somebody in the KLM back office had the luminous idea to make it compulsory for all their passengers.

No more need for presenting tickets, just slot in your passport, and hupsakee....your boarding pass is printed out.....and if you are a party of a few people travelling together, don't be surprised that the lot of you are randomnly seated. Lucky enough for us, that Laetitia is a minor, so the computer was intelligently programmed enough to award us with 2 seats next to eachother......phew, that went smooth enough.

Then off to to luggage counter....(can't call it check-in desk anymore, can I?) where the ladies in question just handle the luggage......aiaiai, 9kgs overweight and 270 euro's fine......even with putting up our angel faces we couldn't budge the ladies in accepting our 2 pieces of heavy luggage without paying. Okayokay.....emptied our luggage on the spot and all the clothes in 2 plastic bags.....

Now we stood there in the limbo, with 2 trolleys, 2 rucksacks, and 2 plastic bags filled to the brim. Inside the terminal found a locker to deposit our load (at a bleeping ransacking fee of 6 euro's) and spend our 4 hours waiting time loitering around. But at least we were allowed to haul ourselves onto the jumbo.

Onto the airplane itself, fully packed with holiday-goers (don't those peeps realize its the Great Depression now? They should save some bucks instead of going for holidays).

Inflight entertainment? What entertainment?! Just an overhead screen showing some bad movies and programmes, but I can live with that.

But what I certainly can't accept is the snail service......I guess in an effort to curb expenses, KLM has appointed a skeleton crew to serve the fully loaded plane. One lady, one only.......!!!...served our row of 13.....I counted, 52 peeps, and since we were seated at the backend of her section it took a bloody 40 minutes for her to do her round. Well, I can assure you that the juices in my stomach were working overtime just by sniffing the odour of processed,heated food.

And if the food was decent enough, I could have lived with it....but nah, look at the picture above......I know, I know.....it has to be recyclable, save the environment,....but come on this is a joke, isn't it? Cardboard plate, with food wrapped in plastic containers and by the time it reached us, semi-cold.

Am I the only one complaining? From the looks of my fellow passengers they shared the same thought.....

KLM might be cheap, but don't they try to advertise themselves as the pride of Dutch hospitality again. 'Cos if this is an example of Dutch hospitality......thanks a lot indeed!

Santa Clause and Santarina's

Back nach dem Heimat.....

Just in time for Santa Clause to exactly locate my girl, 'cos I thought that even he can't untangle the fact where Laetitia would be on Xmas day itself. (KL-Hong Kong-KL-Belgium-KL, and all that in 6 weeks time).

Santa Clause finally caught hold of her on the streets in Belgium and asked her where her Christmas letter was.......the little gal rapidly produced a small letter and dutifully passed it to Santa. Phew....in the nick of time I'd say.

On our way back home we stumbled upon a few Santarina's who were doing the surveying rounds for Santa Clause, and we told those Santarina's that Laetitia is back home, in case Santa Clause forgot.

Ofcourse, Santa Clause has no memory loss......and on the eve of Xmas, Santa really stopped by and finished his milk, ate some of the cookies, took along the carrot for Rudolph the reindeer and deposited a present for our girl.

Santa really cares..........thank you Santa Clause

Thank You for the generous hospitality

December 23rd and on our way back home.

Been a few years that I've been back to my home town, leaving everyone I know in Belgium and dearly care for behind....

Time has flown, quite fast indeed.....and everybody's life went on....

Didn't know what to expect when Laetitia and me arrived here a few weeks ago.......but we were gladly surprised by the more than generous hospitality rendered by everyone.  

Foremost my dear mum, my bro, his wife and little kiddo.......and relatives and friends with whom I've lost contact with over the years......

Thank you....thank you very much for making this trip of us a truly enjoyable  experience. 

We do hope that you are able to stop by at our humble 'nest' in the future and get a taste of our 'MaBel' (Malaysia-Belgium) hospitality,  it might be a bit far, but never say never........our door is always open for the lot of you.....

And to those whom we have not visited, please accept our  sincere apologies.....18 days wasn't enough to finish our Tour of Belgium......your address is jotted down on our to-visit list next time 'round.  'Crossing my fingers'

Weinachtsmarkt

Weinachtsmarkt.....Kerstmarkt.....or X-mas market. A German/Austrian phenomenon that takes place a few weeks before Christmas.

And ofcourse the city of Antwerp hopped onto the bandwagon of this jolly trend. Saves us the trouble of going all the way to Germany. Despite the gloom of worldwide recession business at these X-mas markets is still brisk and thriving. Nothing beats the wintercold with a warm glühwein, hot chocolate and tons of hot snacks, many happy merrygoers and accompanied by X-mas music blaring from speakers all over the place.

Is this the real spirit of X-mas nowadays? Ofcourse it is, just look at all those happy faces around.......Merry X-mas everyone!!!

Het Groot Dictee der Nederlandse Taal

http://grootdictee.nps.nl/

Dictation.....

I've always considered myself quite adept at dictation, especially with Dutch.  And yesterday evening it was the 19th edition of the Great Dictation on the local tele down here.  

Never participated before but I was intrigued by it since it has been quite an awful long time that I've written in my maternal lingo....and also there had been some minor adjustments to the correct spelling.  So I tested myself out with pen and paper.

Hohohoo, 47 mistakes......I was totally shocked by my deficiency, ..... way above the average (34 mistakes) of the Flemish participants but in the neighbourhood of the Dutch average (45 mistakes).  And I don't consider that a good result at all....on par with the Dutchies.....argh.

About time to brush up my lingo again....

Oud-SintJannerke die denkt dat die zoals in de goede oude dagen de Nederlandse spelling nog steeds onder de knie heeft.......

Vergeet het maar......een langdurig verblijf in het buitenland en de nieuwe spelling hebben me de das omgedaan.   En gooi er nog een paar franse woorden bij en ik was gezien........

Terug met beide voeten op de grond dus.  Is het al te laat om mij nog bij te scholen?  Natuurlijk niet.......tot de volgende editie dus.

Handy girl ?!?

Blimey, didn't know that our girl had hidden talents.

My bro asked her to help him out with repairing her cousin's, Brian, trolley....and she immediately helped out.

Diligently listening to uncle's instructions and fastening the loose bolt on the trolley with a spanner till it was bolt tight. Bravo girl.

I was scratching my head as she barely helps me out with my handyman duties. Should ask my bro for some useful tips in order to get my girl going.

Jess DeGruyter, a genius in the making

Iedereen kan poezie schrijven, doch het is niet velen gegeven om dit daadwerkelijk ook te kunnen publiceren.  Jess DeGruyter is daar hoe dan ook in gelukt om zijn schrijfsels naar de buitenwereld toe te laten uitzwermen zonder enige inboeting/indijking van zijn artistieke kracht omwille van de commercialisering ervan.  En dit geld ook voor zijn verwezenlijkingen op pellicule....allemaal gerealiseerd met een nijpend tekort aan budget. (Ben benieuwd wat hij in zijn mars heeft wanneer hij op een dag een no-limits budget ter beschikking heeft staan, wie weet).

Een ode aan Jess DeGruyter, iemand die ik al sinds mijn tienerjeugd ken, broer van mijn 'beste' vriend.  En alhoewel we mekaar niet veel zagen, rekende ik hem tot mijn selecte 'vrienden'club....iemand waarmee ik vrijuit kon babbelen.  Een manusje-van-alles, van cineast tot poëet.  Chapeau voor iemand die niet in de pas loopt van het hedendaagse vercommercializeerde wereldje van de communicatie.....enkel tijd zal uitwijzen of zijn eigenwijze manier van werken hem de verdiende lof zal brengen (buiten het enge literaire wereldje welteverstaan), .... 

'k Zou zeggen kop op Jess.....tijden mogen dan niet gunstig zijn voor iemand zoals jij, doch het leven is een cyclus.....you'll reap the rewards bigtime one day.

Voor diegenen die niet weten wie Jess Degruyter is....hieronder zijn er een paar links van zijn oeuvre. Enjoy it....

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=390087869

http://jessdegruyter.be/

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=vwRHwxgKwno

Mummy, we are almost back home!!

Final leg of our Belgian trip and looking forward to go back home again.

My Love, mummy,....less than a week and we're back home sweet home. We miss you dearly.

And to lessen the pain of us not being with you past 2 weeks, Laetitia and me picked out an appropriate gift for you......what it is? That you have to find out yourself.

XXX Counting down the final days XXX

Love from Mainyee and Laetitia

A telephone conversation

Setting : Saturday afternoon December 13, making a telephone booking for a reservation for 14 persons at a buffet restaurant. (Pls note that this conversation took place in Dutch)

Me : Hello, is this 'Peking Wok'?

Lady on the phone : Ya, this 'Peking Wok'.

Me : Is it possible to book a table for 14 this evening at half past six?

Lady on the phone : 14? Nooo, today 13, tomorrow 14.

Me : ?!? Excuse me ?!?

Lady on the phone : Today 13, tomorrow 14 !!!

Me : Aah, no I mean, I want to book a table for 14 for this evening.

Lady on the phone : Today?! You change to today and not tomorrow, December 14?

Me : Y'eeeeees, today...is that possible at half past six?

Lady on the phone : How many people?

Me : (becoming slowly annoyed now)....14 people.

Lady on the phone : No problem, always place here. What is your name?

Me : Manyee.....M-A-N-Y-E-E

Lady on the phone : Eeeuh what? M-A-N ?

Me : Manyee.....M-A-N-Y-E-E.....two E's

Lady on the phone : Manyeo correct?

Me : (exasperated)......ya, whatever. G'bye.

Lady on the phone : Till this evening.

Somebody should send this lady in question for a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Course ASAP.

Anyway, when we reached the resto in question I took a glance at the booking list....and yes, a certain 'MANYEO' had made reservation for 14......No wonder my friends who arrived earlier had no luck in retrieving my booking, lol. 'MANYEE' was not on the list.

Guns

Guns .... one might wonder how mankind can be fascinated by such a destructive device. In the hands of wrong men, it creates havoc and misery upon the victims inflicted by it.

My bro had the luminous idea to round up a gang of friends (Wim, Michal, Luc, Eric and Kim) for a round of airsoft gun battle. Using replica of real guns, powered by batteries and shooting plastic pellets, it is the near thing of real combat. Our gang was pit into battle against a bunch of Dutch fella's....and so it became a Belgium vs Holland game (with MainWah opting for the Dutch side to make the 2 sides even.....the traitor!!!).

2,5 hours of total mayhem, in a near pitch-dark warehouse .... the inevitable friendly fire (thanks Kim), the forbidden close-combat shots (yeah Luc....you really pissed those Dutchies off).....wins and losses.....pure adrenaline and curses. Cooling tempers down with a drink and buying those grumbling Dutchies a round.....no harm done, only some ego's bruised.

Boys will be boys.....no matter what one's age is. But heck, the day after, every single one of us bore the result of this supposedly harmless game......sore body all over, red spots on the body indicating the hits received.

Ofcourse, back home MainWah couldn't resist showing off his arsenal of gas powered guns. Wow, that's a different league altogether....lethal till a certain range (if not lethal, it can still inflict tremendous amount of pain......an example, one shot can still penetrate an empty tin can on both sides at a distance of 50 metres). And yups, little gal after hearing about our excursion playing airsoft guns wanted to hold a rifle in her hands herself.

And I always thought that girls only play with Barbie dolls........phew......I'm definitely mistaken....I better adjust to the modern era.

De Muze

"De Muze"

Imagine yourself an old jazz pub, where the interior has barely changed since its ineption in the 60's. Live jazz music every evening, relaxed atmosphere, drinks and titbits which are simple but oh so tasty and affordable.

And ofcourse, I did spend a good portion of my late teens and early 20's here in this pub, lounging with my friends of that time.....

Was strolling in the neighbourhood and Laetitia told me that she was thirsty and hungry and instead of opting for the fastfood joint/quick snack....I took her to this pub.

I guarantee you, in no time was she settled in, making herself comfortable, having a hot chocolate, eating an apple pie and reading her magazine......how blissful

Yes, it's dark, the smoke of cigarettes is constantly in the air, service is slow..... but nothing beats the atmosphere......ask the little lady.....kids are frank.

There you go, make De Muze a definite stop on your next trip to Antwerp. You will not regret it.