Gone with the wind....

The weather had been darn hot lately, even though the north have been raining cat and dog, our side remains calm.

The night has been intolerably hot and air con is needed as a good induction factor for a good night sleep.

Life was simple back in Malaysia. I remembered those days when 3 of us staying in the single story terrace house back in Tg. Malim….no air con, no big screen TV, no Tidafor for me to sunk into…

but there was this big padang(field) for us to take an evening walk, hawker who sold hand-made yummy red bean bao….

but yet it had gone with the wind..

I really missed it…..

first trial....

I harvested some pineapple and some beet root...
I have no idea what to do with it and finally one idea flashed across my mind - fruit vineger...
Did some reading over the net and finally decided to give it a shot.....

fever and school

I had always advised parents that don't sent their child to school if they are feverish. Sometimes, the parents would ask me why, and I would give them a standard answer ,"would you be happy if some sick kids infected you child in school ?"
Well, Ving had felt that Xian was "warm" in the middle of the night. We had a temperature check and he was 37.5°C. I shut off the aircon and within minutes, his temperature had risen to 37.9°C. Well, although he had no cough nor sorethroat. I think he is sick. That evening, he was complaining of fatigue during his piano class and I did not pay any attention....
As Wednesday school was half day and his temperature was 37.2°C in the next morning, we had allowed him to go to school the next day.
After he came back from school, Xian's temperature had risen to 38.5°C... By then, he is noted with mild cough.
He was barred from school the next day and he had been anxiously asking me how to chase the fever away.... he was so keen to attend school today morning. Unfortunately, he was still febrile and he was tearing in his bed and asking me if I could let him attend school, he is actually worried about his computer project and very keen to complete it....
Well, I turned down his petition and told him that not everyone is lucky as he is; he doesn't need to wait in the clinic/hospital when he got a cold, the rest of his classmate need to wait for their turn in the clinic.
Well, it is a 3d weekend and hope he recoverd by then....

land of query

 Few weeks ago, a car had accidentally rushed into a flooded tunnel; a mother and 2 children were trapped. The rescue department had successfully rescued the children but not the mother. Family members of the victim did not show any gratitude but yet queried the rescue was faulty.

Months ago , there was this young NCO who was sent to disciplinary confinement prior to his discharge from service. The procedure was noted with fraud. Some had concluded that the superior officer was to give him a “code red”(as in a FEW GOOD MEN).

He had later suffered from heat stroke and rhabdomyolysis complicated with acute renal failure after heavy physical exercise during the confinement. He collapsed in his cell and later passed away. His family demanded that the accused superior officer to be charge in the criminal court instead of the military court as the military court might rule in favor of the senior officer. The event had lead to a major demonstration and the legislators had listened and the law was altered; the military court would only function during wartime and all criminal case involving arm forces would be trialed in the criminal court. The family demand was accepted but when the court ruled that the patient mishap was due to his physical condition the family had yet again queried about the verdict…

Query had become a norm for the locals, they queried about everything when the result is not in their favor…..

As a service provider, I had encountered similar incident but with grace, I was able to pull myself out without lesion…need to be very careful in the future…

surprise...

A little surprise for me when I opened my browser today, a touching greet by Google....
It had been an exciting week for me...
the 70km ride, the eye tearing endoscopy examination which almost choked my airway, It is truly an memorable week for me.
Well, life goes on.... 
There is lots of excitement waiting for me in the near future:
June -> seminar in the ministry college located in Hua Lian (5-6 hrs drive ...3d2n)
July -> busy month as Lem is taking his long vacation
August -> a trip to Sri Lanka, hope to make it to "World's end"...
September -> medical relief trip to Satun...
Still, I am less than 3 hrs to get off from the ED desk....

The no pain no gain ride

After a poor night sleep, we had started our prep for the ride. Xian was excited and with his new sunglasses (actually it is mine which I had bought many years ago -> as I don’t feel comfortable using sunglasses, I had placed it elsewhere for quite a long time) he is all set to go….

I arrived at the school at 7am and Xian had found his gang and joined the pack.

I was still nervous as we were placed in the first team to push out; can we catch up with the team ?

After the short ceremony, we started our ride. It started with a slow ride around the township and later proceeded to the outskirt and we stopped at a school for rest after 14km of ride.

The second part of the ride was very rough as it covered the notorious mountain road which had more than 10 ascendo-decresendo slope. The second part of the ride had started with a sprint and I was quite worn out when we enter the mountain road. Xian was still energetic but yet he is also being drop off from the leading team. After 20 min of ride, I was exhausted but yet struggled to complete the ride as I would have to know if Xian had made it to the check point safely. It was the worst ride of my life, the F20W was designed for long distance ride and custom for negotiating slope, but I could manage to ride at a speed of 10km/h max.

I had found Xian at this dangerous down sloping curve, he was sitting along the roadside where 2 staffs were standing beside him guarding him and preparing to send him onto the collecting bus.

This was the slope where Xian fell..

looking from the other end of the curve

I stopped beside him and did a quick check on him; he had abrasion over his left elbow and knee. The bicycle was ok with some scratch over the left handle. I told the staffs that Xian could continue and he started the ride again.

We finally made it to the second check point and after a short rest and were greeted by Ving and Yun who have missed the most perilous part of our ride. 
After a refreshing supplement of ionized drink and some food, we were on our way again. I could barely pedal than and my thigh had cramped after 5 mins of struggling.

I was picked up by Ving minutes later and headed toward the 3^rd check point.

We met Xian at the check point and after lunch I had joined the ride again.

The rest of the 14km ride was smooth and I completed the ride with Xian. 

Xian had learnt a lot from  the ride - pain , gain, sharing and much more....
As for me, I learnt what is called aging and definitely would have to get a 26" mountain bike if I wanted to take part in such ride in the future.

D-1 days…

I had brought Xian to the riverside for a test ride, trying to final tuning of our bicycle. During the ride, the head master had joined us and he had told me that the route would be adjusted, the hazardous mountain route would be shifted to the morning and the ride under the highway would be rerouted to the afternoon.

Well, good news but yet the mountain route still scare the hell out of me, can we concur the route or be concurred ?

We did a round in the local supermarket buying a good load of ionized sport drinks… There are total 5 students from Xian grade taking part in the event and there would be a good time for Xian to experience sharing…

I did not enjoy a good sleep that night....

da ride....

2 more days before the ride…

I had an exploring tour with Ving yesterday as Ving and Yun will be acting as our support team on this ride.

Although the brochure claimed that it is a 100km ride, however the tour is estimated at 70km like last time.

About 1/3 of the ride is under the shed (there is this bicycle lane under the overriding high way), however the 3^rd resting area was about 300m above sea level  with a slope of 10 degree stretching over 1.5km.

The path leading back was quite narrow with multiple up sloping and down sloping... 

My conclusion was it would be a tough ride after the 3^rd stop( after lunch).

No way to talk Xian out from this ride at this point as 2 of his classmates are taking part and there is no room for him to chicken out. I had to stick with him .....

Ving and Yun will be cruising behind our trail during the last part of the ride as the ride is considered as a perilous one in my opinion.

I got my edge 800 to guide us if we are lost and with the new edge 510 pairing up, we would be trackable along the path....

Serena revisited

The 1st car I bought in Taiwan was the Serena. I was eyeing on a 7 seater and with my budget, there was only a hand full to pick from. As Lem drove a Cefiro, he had introduced me to the sales reps that sold him his car.
After the test drive and I took her home few weeks later.... with 2 kids that is less than 5 years of age, it had served us very well, it spacious space had allowed us to manned the 2 kids with ease.
While I walked into the clinic today, the pharmist had asked me if I could drive the them up to the hill as the driver had taken leave. The mobile medical team would mostly come with a driver and I could enjoy the nap during the cruise. Sometimes, the nurses would act as the driver...
There was a new Outlander parking at the car park and I thought I would have the chance to try it out. After seeing a few patient and concluded the morning clinic, I had walked to the car park and saw the little silver waiting for me...
The little silver is the 1 of the 2 mobile vehicle belong to the clinic. The old Mazda Tribute was replaced by the Outlander lately....
Little silver was the upgraded model with 2500cc instead of the 2000cc model which I owned.
I took a smooth drive up hill with the pharmist and 2 nurses. Handling was poor as it was and the 2500cc did not provide any advantage on the ascending route...
Well, nice to drive it again and maybe next time, I would have to rent one when I am back to the homeland...