Category: Culture

Happy Songkran

Happy Songkran to Thai friends and Happy New Year to friends in Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. It is also the Khmer New Year. Also Burma’s traditional New Year. Many people know it as the Water Festival where friendly dunking and splashing is a ritual, especially in Thailand. It is also celebrated in parts of northeast India, parts of Vietnam and Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, China.

I called a friend in Cambodia last night and he said it is a long holiday weekend. Happy Holidays.

#songkran #waterfestival #thailand #culture

Memories of Qingming – Part 1

This is one of my favourite photographic memories from the graveyards on Tomb Sweeping Day. 15 days after the Spring Equinox, the Chinese sweep or visit the tombs of their departed loved ones annually.

The weather may be wet and gloomy on that day in 2008, but the Qing Ming Jie (清明节) (or Ching Ming Festival) tradition of burning paper offerings was captured in this image of cold against warmth.

To capture the silhouettes of relatives (strangers) surrounding the tomb and bonfire, I climbed down low on the hilly terrain.

Olympus E-510, 1SO 400, f4.5, 1/320 sec.

#qingming #tomb #bonfire #tradition

Kindness Is The Language Which The Deaf Can Hear And The Blind Can See

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see ~ Mark Twain

True Colours.

Sad to say, some of my fellow Malaysians are the most horrible and racist people when it comes to treatment of Bangladeshis. At a gas station, I saw a guy violently punching the perspex at the payment window and cursing the Bangladeshi cashier because he was served late. In a fit of anger, he threw the pump nozzle on the ground and drove off.

Saw another guy threatening to slap a Bangladeshi worker at a car wash because there were a bit of fingerprints on the windscreen. I have witnessed many other incidents of aggression, rudeness and mean behaviour towards these gentle people.

The Bangladeshis are easy picks because they are mostly meek, gentle and peaceful people.

I’ve met many Bangladeshi and migrant workers from other countries over the years and became good friends with them. First met them at regular restaurants, retailers, car wash yards, clubs (where they worked as janitors) and other places. Treat them with respect and they always reciprocate. Extend your friendship and they’ll do likewise. Humans are like that, whichever nation they are from.

One of them is my friend Aman from Bangladesh who worked here for 17 years without ever returning home once. He finally saved enough to get married and to buy a generator for his parents’ house in rural Bangladesh.

Here is a picture from 2007 where Aman (second from left) with his fellow countryman, and an Indonesian housemate hosted a simple and much-appreciated Hari Raya lunch. It was nice ethnic food in their tiny rented flat in Tiong Nam. The guests were his Malaysian colleagues and me.

#bangladesh #bangladeshi #migrantworker #friendship #hariraya #malaysia

with Alex Wong, Eric Wong and Felicia Suah

Ancient Speed Dating Is Painfully Slow

China didn’t have Speed Dating organizers back in those days, I guess. I attended a Speed Dating event once. I wrote an article about my experience at the Speed Dating meet but forgotten where I published it. Will find it later.

That Chap Goh Meh night, girls were busy writing their Facebook user name, mobile number and age on a mandarin orange before throwing it into the lake. Hopefully, they used water proof marker pens. Heh. I always suspect the custom was invented by traders to sell unsold oranges.

I didn’t like what I saw. In spite the trouble by the girls, boorish guys were trawling the lake with scoop nets. They then inspect each scooped up orange briefly and discarded the rejected ones back into the lake as quickly. So insulting for the girl still standing there. I wonder if it was the Fb username that didn’t meet the criteria.

It is also an insult to an ancient tradition. Such losers, these bunch of guys at Taman Jaya.

Restaurant 168

My long time friend Anna Har took me out for lunch and to do some street photography today. It is a meaningful and deeply appreciated gesture. Anna didn’t want credit, at first.

I told her it may inspire other friends to volunteer. As I told Anna, it not only provided the needed physical exercise but the outing is also mentally therapeutic to be able to talk to a friend.

For lunch, I told her ‘let’s find a place with real character and attitude’. Not some hipster joints. We chanced upon this famous restaurant named 168 at the back of the former Majestic Cinema in Pudu. It has plenty of character plus the food is good.

Looks like a shop in old Hong Kong. The Jalan Brunei area is a vintage and forgotten area of Kuala Lumpur.

Panasonic Lumix GM-1, ISO 200, f4.5, 1/200 sec.

#restaurant168 #pudu #wantonmee #currymee #streetphotography