Coming Home

It is always a great feeling, coming home and to see the people you want to see. My favourite is still my girlfriends. We’ve over the years, grown closer and gradually maturing into womanhood (hopefully and not so hopefully).

We spent one of our best memorable nights at a lounge in Starhill Gallery. We were entertained by a good vocal and a string of familiar tunes. Of course, the night was never complete without coffee, cakes and some alcohol and not to mention, our Gisele and Nutritionist.

As we were getting on our act, my best friend dedicated “The Look of Love” simply to celebrate. The tune quickly set the mood for the night, full of love.

As our company of great friends chatted away, I could just ignore one of the greatest highlights of the night, The Pavilion, where I could just see it lit up so grandly and becoming one of the great landmarks in KL city.

Celebrating Mid-Autumn in Nyon

After almost a month away from Switzerland, I do feel that I miss this place which is so close to my heart. Upon touching down, my lovely travel companion and I packed for our trip to the Rheinfall (North East of Switzerland) and thereafter Nyon (South West of Switzerland). We had our free breakfast at the hotel’s cafe as our rooms were not ready for checking-in when we first arrived. Feeling excited about our trip as usual, a little delay did not bothered us that much.

Once we arrived at Zurich HB Station, we purchased our tickets to Rheinfall where we need to get off at Schaffhausen, bordering Germany in the north east of Switzerland. The journey took us about an hour at a reasonable $23 Swiss Franc. I must say, the trains here are extremely efficient with good interconnections to almost every part of Switzerland and at almost anytime! Being too engrossed with the scenery outside, we overshot and got off one station after Schaffhausen. Nonetheless, the 20-minute walk to Rheinfall proved to be one of the highlights as we saw the tranquillity of life along the riverside, flowers and apple trees grown in the gardens too.

We planned to spend our time till 2pm in Rheinfall, one of Europe’s most magnificent waterfalls. We had made arrangement to meet Swiss Aunt in Nyon at about 6pm. With only about two hours to tour Rheinfall and we got off the wrong station, we did maximised our time taking photos and videos with the water running almost too near to our face! As we got nearer and lower to the waterfall, our adrenalin rushed even faster. We were delighted with the view where we witnessed a calm river Rhein along the countryside and dives into a great fall. What a trill indeed!

Sharp at 2pm, we left Rheinfall at the right station this time. Feeling a little exhausted we could not wait to get back to Zurich HB and then buy our tickets to Nyon. Once again, the tight connection left us little time to buy some food and drinks. Thank goodness for my lovely travel companion who brought along some Twistee (tomato flavour) and chocolate wafer. I snacked on and fell asleep on and off.

In about two and a half hour, we reached Nyon. We got off and excitedly looking for Swiss Aunt. We managed to arrive slightly earlier and Swiss Aunt had no problem getting off from her work at the second-hand shop earlier too.

After an almost frantic look-out, we finally met Swiss Aunt. She gave us a big hug, smile and a warm welcome to her city. She walked us to her car, her little green Opel which is such a lovely car to have! You really don’t need a big car here as Swiss roads are narrow and you only travel short-distant. When we were at the carpark, my lovely travel companion spotted a rainbow right above us! What a great sign of the city welcoming us!

Swiss Aunt took us for a scenic drive to introduce us to the City of Nyon. She also introduced us to her friend Coco (if I recall her name correctly) who works with her at the second-hand shop. I was truly amazed when she could just walk out of her car with the engine running and trust that no one will steal her car. Well, back home, we obviously are too afraid to do that.

After the brief introduction to Coco, we headed back to her apartment. We’re so excited as this would be our first encounter with living in a Swiss residential apartment. Her apartment is amazingly beautiful, simple yet so comfortable! I love the sight from her balcony over-looking the Jura mountains. You can really see how the clouds move and choose to hide the mountains sometimes.

After freshening ourselves up (upon the insistent of Swiss Aunt who always want to make sure we stay comfortable) , we headed to an Italian restaurant nearby. We had such a great dinner and chatted a little bit. She told us how amazed she was, knowing that we had travel from one end of Switzerland to the other in just a few hours! We certainly had seen the gradual change in the languages spoken by the Swiss from Swiss-German to French which is Swiss Aunt’s mother-tongue.

As it was mid-autumn according to the Chinese calendar, we surprised Swiss Aunt with some mooncakes and decorated her balcony with a few colourful Chinese lanterns. We also brought her some "piglet cookies" wrapped in really fancy packagings. Swiss Aunt was so happy and started to hang them around the house! We thought, something that we took for granted how beautiful our festival is, to another, is such an eye-opener! We also played candles just like the good old days of childhood and how the candles created a fire almost uncontrollable just like childhood! We felt so embarrassed with the fire and candle wax that stained her balcony. But Swiss Aunt is ever so graceful and said that’s nothing. Nevertheless, we vowed to get it cleaned before we leave.

We retired early after a cup of hot chocolate that Swiss Aunt made and she quickly told us our itinerary for tomorrow. In her cosy room, it is decorated with all things from South East Asia. I saw some paintings from Bali, a Buddha statue for peace and serenity, a dream catcher and photographs of her mother. I had such a good sleep and I woke up to a noiseless city thinking that I want to live here forever!

Swiss Aunt prepared breakfast for us with a really beautiful table-setting, the next morning. I was so impressed by her attention to details. We had cereals and bread. We also had some instant Korean noodle, courtesy of my lovely travel companion.

After a hearty breakfast, Swiss Aunt drove us towards the Jura Mountains. There, we saw some scenic view, typical Swiss houses and small vineyards. As we drive, Swiss Aunt played a great guide telling us the history, the geography and some language lesson too!

After the mountains, we headed to Geneva. The drive only took us about 30 minutes. We toured the City of Geneva in her car and we had very limited time before our next train back to Zurich. Along the drive, we saw the famous Geneva Fountain and the skyline of old European buildings with famous brands of watches and banks. We also saw the WTO buildings, International Red Cross headquarter and of course, one of the United Nation headquarters beside the one in New York. Suddenly I thought of AJ when I saw the UNHCR sign. Also, we passed by the US Mission which is fully-guarded with uniformed personnel. Swiss Aunt also purposely drove pass Michael Schumacher’s home in Gland!

We spent almost a good three-hour drive on the road. Before we left for Zurich, Swiss Aunt took us for lunch and treated us with some chocolates! We felt so embarrassed by her generosity and my lovely travel companion actually queued up at a different cashier to avoid Swiss Aunt from paying. As for me, I just took two chocolates for Bro, not wanting Swiss Aunt to pay anymore. After that, we treated her with desserts and tea with pleasure.

Our short stay in Nyon ended with so much lovely memories. We and Swiss Aunt felt so blessed to be in a state of having friends of different cultures and from different countries. So amazing how the spirit of friendship and love can unite us.

In the ride back to Zurich, I did not felt sleepy at all as I want to savour the view of Lake Geneva and the villages and vineyards along the track which have decorated the Swiss countryside with so much beauty and scenic abundance.

My Huckleberry Friend

I am almost coming to an end of reading Audrey Hepburn. It took me such a long time to want to finish it. Partly is because, I do enjoy reading every pages that descibed her in a way, I believe, how truly she was. So admirable.

It started with a shock, because I knew so little about her except watching Breakfast at Tiffany's a few years back, when I got so mesmerised by her androgynous beauty. Then I went on to watch My Fair Lady and lately Roman Holiday. As I progress with the pages, I could almost see and imagine her. The descriptions of her in Givenchy, her style, her simple enjoyments, her fears, her will and determination, her love for everyone and all that, really did touched my heart.

As I am coming nearer towards the end of this book, together with the end of her life, I am truly saddened, burdened by a sense of loss and regret of not knowing enough about her earlier on. She was so Buddhist to me. I think I will miss her dearly. As I prolong the last few pages, I will reflect and think of her as one of the greatest lives ever lived.

Soul of Seoul

This capital of South Korea should be named as the fashion capital of the region! If Paris is known for her haute couture then Seoul should be known for her highly fashionable clothing for the masses! Not only the clothing are priced reasonably but they also made for people of all styles!

My lovely travel companion is an expert of this city and she took me to most of the accessible shopping districts namely Sincheon, Myung-Dong, Dong Dae-moon, Nam Dae-moon etc. As we marched through these districts, we sampled the street food along the way too. Cute little eats which taste as lovely as they look. I am slowly becoming a convert to why I should love this Oriental city like my travel companion. Before this, I always prefer the European cities.

With clothing as cheap as 3,500 to 5,000 won I can easily buy a few pieces and alter my style once in a while. I am truly happy with all this cheap buys and they do all fit me well despite lack of fitting room facility.

Another memorable encounter was that, us, four ladies stormed into a casino! With a free rolling chip each worth 10,000 won, we giggled our way to Seven Luck Casino and hoping to win some cash, at least to cover our meals throughout our stay here. I must say, we were all quite lucky and at least have won one bowl of Bi Bim Bap each. The rice bowl has become our daily staple together with Kim Chi and other Korean side dishes. Well, we can’t be staying in this place where all four of us were the reason for head turners. I wonder, what are so different of us compared to them? Maybe we were just slightly tanner, that’s all. Anyway, we human can always tell when someone is not local. How quick our mind can discriminate…

50-Year-Old Baby

A friend reminded me that he was looking forward to an article about our nation’s 50th anniversary recently. In fact, I already have something to write about it even before the faithful 31st August. I guess, the unavailability of tools which is my laptop or even a pen and paper have prevented me from jotting down my thoughts but mainly, I attribute it to the change of hectic-ness in my lifestyle lately.

But being a good re-caller of past events, I certainly think it helps a lot for me to recall the feel, the whole context of my thoughts and put it in writing even if the latter takes place much later. I can always recall the broader issues but never the minor details though.

As a new patriot at heart, I do have my share of thoughts but sadly, I only feel it when I’m not in the country. Such, is the dilemma of many of us who love our nation dearly but somehow, when we’re in it, we tend to focus on the wrong side of things. We tend to question how things really work here and why things happen this way. Are we lacking of good literatures to educate us on Malaysia? I remember reading Off The Edge and a writer wrote that we’re Malaysians when we’re in overseas but when we’re in Malaysia, we are Malay, Chinese, Indian etc. Why?

Our nation is still a young one compared to most of the countries in the Western World. I suppose, what we are going through now is natural of any nations en route to becoming a developed nation. But being a developed nation should be cautioned not to be construed as being developed economically only. Do think about developing intellectually, politically and culturally also, and the journey should not blanket the development of societal consciousness. If we question culturally how developed we are, we are still not known for our integrity yet.

Then again, in today’s world context, to survive is to have a strong economy, where this pursuit left many negative side effects. Competitive advantage, some said, but let’s think about our distinguished competitive advantage. What can we actually offer? We may have a good breath of things but how about depths? We may have sufficient infrastructure but, do we know how to innovate? More important fundamentally, do we know how to maintain it? Even more so, do we build something of impeccable quality in the first place?

I may be too immature to understand what exactly our nation is going through now. But I think I can be proud occasionally when I see the iconic KLCC but I’m sure I want something more concrete. Reality begins when we start wanting. So let’s want for an ethical Malaysia to start with.

Dame Anita Roddick

I woke up to this news this morning in Abu Dhabi. I feel wrecked as one of my idols passed away. Dame Anita Roddick will forever be remembered for starting a business with all the right intentions and successfully transformed it into a revolution in the business world. She proved that, business and ethics can be mixed and it's not an oxymoron as many would have thought. She had a heart for many environmental causes and her undying spirit to fight unfair trade practices will be honoured and continued to be remembered by her creation, The Body Shop.

Language Imperfection or Clever Disclaimer?

Recently, I have been in this dilemma of pursuing my passion for writing (and being proud of it) and my disability of being perfect grammatically in my language. No doubt that, by posting this online, I am declaring that I have decided to put the former into precedence. I suppose, my language imperfection should not stop me from filling the white pages which is rightfully my expressions.

To explain my case, I must say that I regret not having a strong fundamental in English language while at school, secondary level to be exact. I was not paying too much attention on the importance of this language. Furthermore, without some needed factors to boost my interest, I had slipped into the great deep recession level of my grammar ability.

However, my confidence was regained when I started studying for my degree and I had reached quite a comfortable stage in expressing my thoughts as accurately as possible. Well, good enough to earn myself the classification I had always dreamed of.

When I started working briefly in the corporate world while doing my final year, and fresh after my graduation, I felt dwarfed and crippled once again by my language ability. Somehow, I could not express myself well enough to be “corporate” or “agency” enough whether through writing or speaking. I attributed it to my inability to be comfortable in these situations or was I just too impatient or immature? I just could not blend in and I did felt alienated.

Naturally, I knew that the corporate world does not belong to people like me as I just don’t possess the natural ingredients (which we like to use the terms, passion, motivation etc) to thrive or even to survive in this competitive culture. I just don’t have the tenacity, maybe because I always wanted and treasure different things in life. Or maybe that’s just who I am, an introvert who prefers to be isolated sometimes.

Nevertheless, I feel blessed now with my current situation. After all that I went through, my tough times of searching what I finally felt at peace with, I think I should not let my often omitted “ed”, “s” or whatever sentences that should be structured differently to qualify as grammatically correct, to restrict me. After all, I do plan to improve on my English by taking a course with British Council when I have the chance. I must say, this is not an empty promise that I will allow myself to make. Let’s see.