Ghost Festival and World Cat Day

Yesterday was World Cat Day and I did the unforgivable. It passed without my being aware of it. I mean, I know 7 August was World Cat Day, but yesterday was an extremely busy day for me. Mum was in pain the whole morning, and up to 12:15pm, she still couldn't get up to have her breakfast. Then, hubby and I had to go to Kwong Tong Cemetery & Columbarium, where my father-in-law's urn was kept, for the ghost festival. When I returned, mum was still in pain. And so I forgot all about World Cat Day until this evening, when I went online. I'd have to make it up to my kitties.


The ghost festival began on 31 July 2011 and would last till 14 August 2011. Growing up, I was a curious child. I would ask my late grandmother about the Taoist rites that I saw our neighbours along the road performed. One of them was the ghost festival. 


The Taoists believe that when a person dies, Ox-Head and Horse-Face (Goo-Tau Beh-Bin in Hokkien), two fearsome guardians of hades, would escort the departed soul to the king of hades (Giam Loh Ong in Hokkien) for judgement. If they had been good, they would be in a midway 'house', a place in between heaven and earth. If they had been bad, they would be punished and tortured in purgatory (picture their hands and feet bound in chains, being whipped, and locked up in cells). 


According to Taoist mythology, once a year, on the first day of the seventh lunar month, the gates of hell would be opened and that is when the ghosts utilise their 15 days' annual leave. That said, there seems to be a conflict of whether the ghosts' holiday is 15 days or 30 days long. Perhaps the ghosts are now entitled to 15 days' medical leave, taken together with their annual leave??!


Anyway, if you'd like to read more about this mythology, at the bottom of the page are a few links.


At the columbarium yesterday, there was a big paper ship. I was told that the dead will be taken on a holiday to China. 

The ticket for the voyage

Effigy of the King of Hades...I wonder if he'll be going to China, too?

Related post:

Hungry Ghost Festival (Pesta Hantu Lapar) --blogged in 2008

Links:

Ox-Head and Horse-Face

The King of Hades, or Giam Loh Ong

Shi Xin Hui @ Teen Fest 2010

Photo courtesy of Shi Xin Hui

First, a disclaimer. I was educated in a national school, which means I was taught in the Malay medium. There was only one English book, the English Language book. Since I'm not Chinese-literate, please excuse me if I make some mistakes here and there.


Last night, Teen Fest, a Chinese magazine, held a concert to celebrate something. I'm not sure what, due to my not understanding Chinese. The concert was a chance for local artistes to give back to their fans. There were quite a number of performers, most of them unknown to me and hubby, but not to the Malaysian public.


The only reason I knew about the concert and was there was because Shi Xin Hui was one of the artistes performing. She was born and raised in Malaysia, but became a celebrity in Singapore (another talent taken away from Malaysia.) Click on the link above to read more about her if you don't already know. Or, visit her Facebook page.


Despite the disappointing amateurish stage setup, Xin Hui gave an amazing medley performance from her top hits 'From Taipei to Beijing' and 'Queen', and the theme song from the NTV7 series 'Forever Friends' where she also had a starring role. She really is a star. She has that unmistakable celebrity aura the minute she steps onto the stage, the X Factor, as what Simon Cowell would say.

Being interviewed..... sorry, I didn't understand the dialogue, only that the host asked if Xin Hui is a Malaysian.  ;)

A chance for fans to take a group photo of their idols.

Selamat Hari Raya Adilfitri

Wishing all my Muslim friends Selamat Hari Raya Adilfitri and have a safe trip if you are going to balik kampung. 

Zhang Ti @ Genting

The Arena of Stars, Genting, is one of the most happening place that I know of. They hold more concert events per month than any other place that I know.

It was only a day before that hubby and I went to the Michael Learns To Rock concert in Genting, and the very next day, we went up again, this time bringing my mum along for the Zhang Ti concert.

My mum idolises Zhang Ti and she kept talking about Zhang Ti throughout the journey. According to her, Zhang Ti started coming to Penang to perform way back in the late 1960s, and she and her late sister-in-law (my Ah Kim) would go to his concerts.

Despite being in his 60s, age hasn't slowed him down one bit. His voice is rich & powerful, resonating across the fully-packed arena. I found myself asking my mum disbelievingly throughout the show if he was always this spontaneously hilarious. It's hard to believe someone could so spontaneously fit words into tunes. He's a singing stand-up comedian!!

Apparently he is lengendary for answering questions posed by the audience with songs or making up songs on topics selected by the audience on the spot with his unique brand of risque humour. And his rapport with the audience is amazing.

There was good-natured ribbing all round, with some really outrageous topics/questions selected by the cheeky audience, such as:

1) Zhang Ti, please sing a hairy song (this is one of the funniest & probably naughtiest)
2) Zhang Ti, one minus one equals two
3) Zhang Ti, how many fathers do you have
4) Zhang Ti, please sing a mute song (another extremely hilarious performance)
5) Zhang Ti, please sing a Japanese song

Except for a couple, the requests were accompanied with money, mostly RM50 to RM100, although one man gave him as much as RM500, and another gave him a RM5 Genting's casino coin. The latter has probably lost all his money at the casino, and that's all he had left. :)

And....Genting might not be over the moon to hear this, but the RM5 casino token was worthless....Zhang Ti sang two sentences, broke off abruptly, and said, to the roars of approval from the crowd, "I've earned my money. That's all you're getting for a RM5 casino coin." :D

Below is a video of the Japanese song request. My apologies for the shakes in the camera....I was laughing so hard that I couldn't keep my camera steady. Pay attention to the "Japanese" in the words....

Enjoy...........

Michael Learns To Rock @ Genting

Quick note: This is the only photo I could upload successfully. There appears to be some problems with the server, and all other photos and videos were not uploaded successfully, despite my having tried to do so for the past three days.


Michael Learns To Rock, the band that PAS Youth tried to ban from coming to Malaysia, the concert that Nasrudin termed as "a festival of sin" finally took place last Saturday night at The Arena of Stars, Genting. And they brought a lady with them, someone called Randi (not sure of the spelling) who played the bass guitar.

I wish I could upload some of the videos I took, especially the new songs from the album Eternity, and their one and only rock song, to quote Jascha Richter. And boy, I say this in all sincerity, Michael Has Finally Learned To Rock. If you were there, and saw a lady who couldn't sit still but kept moving to the beat of the music, that was me.

At one point, I think it was the song 25 Minutes, while Jascha Richter & Mikkel Lentz left the stage and worked the crowd, the audience lost it and mixed the song up with All Out of Love by Air Supply. The crowd was happily singing "All out of love, I'm so lost without you....." until Jascha ran back to the stage and got the crowd back to the right note. Talk about being confused. Or maybe the fault is not theirs, for Air Supply will be in Genting on 4 October 2009.

And......remember the song Take Me To Your Heart? The one which sounds like one of Jacky Cheung's songs? According to Jascha Richter, he was riding in a cab in Shanghai when he heard this song being played on the radio. He didn't understand a word, but he loved the music. And so, he wrote his own lyrics for it.

Since I am unable to upload the video I took, I'll post their studio recording I found on Youtube. It's a very beautiful piece of music, with an equally beautiful lyrics (they did a better job than Jacky Cheung).


One thing I must say about Michael Learns To Rock is that they are very obliging. When they came back for the encore, they performed quite a few songs, instead of just one or two. A truly amazing performance.

On a different note, driving back at night from Genting has always been very life-challenging. I hope the management would do something about the exit from the 9th floor of Genting Highlands car park (the one adjoining the Genting casino). It is extremely foggy at night, and if one does not know that there is a divider in the middle, one would have driven into it.

And it doesn't get better after this exit. The road leading down to the main road is curved and with visibility reduced to just the front end of your car, you won't even know what hit you. I remember my school in London would close when it got that foggy.

So, to the management of Genting, it would mean a lot to your regular customers if you could install some reflectors or tiger-eyes to aid the motorists when the fog descends on the mountain. Thank you. :)

Related post:
Michael Learns To Rock in Malaysia Again

Hotlink Parties with Hitz FM

Last Friday night, our friend Daniel Lee invited hubby and I to The Mist Club @ Bangsar. What he omitted to mention was that it was a Hotlink and Hitz FM party. The result of the oversight was, I left home without my camera. Not only that, as it was a rainy night, I was dressed more for the anticipated chill of the club rather than for a party (I could still remember how cold the club was the last time I was there).

Despite the rain and lack of publicity (in my opinion), a decent crowd turned up for the event. It started at 8pm, but since we had thought that we were just going to the club for a drink with Daniel, we only arrived close to nine, in time to catch Elvira before others like, Rachel Henry, Elvira, Point Blanc, James Baum, Kraft and others came on stage.

The highlight of the event, and also the closing act, is none other than our very own home-grown Reshmonu. The guy really knows how to work the crowd. He got even the wall-flowers shaking and moving.

The photos below were taken from Daniel's Blackberry phone. If you find the quality less than pleasing, please call him personally to lodge your complaint. :)

Reshmonu was the last to perform. He was amazing.

..............and...................
.......................................
.......................................
.......................................
............ta-daa................

We had our picture taken with Reshmonu....he was next to us at the 'Very Idle People' lounge while waiting for his turn to perform! :)

Elvira in one of the earlier performances

Rachel Henry

Point Blanc

Now, what was that DJ going on and on about each time he came onto the stage? Hmm.....something about 300 sms for the price of RM1 from Hotlink or something like that....please check with Hotlink for details. :)

Michael Learns To Rock in Malaysia Again

Calling all Michael Learns To Rock fans!!! They're here again....and....AFTER twenty-one years, they're STILL LEARNING how to rock at Genting Highlands on 5th September 2009. :)

For the benefit of those younger than me (ahem!), Michael Learns To Rock was formed as a cafe-band in 1987 by a group of high school Danish students, Jasca Richter, Kare Wanscher and Mikkel Lentz.

A year later, Soren Madsen joined the group and they entered the city's annual talent show. The group won and they suddenly found that they had to stick with their hastily formed name, even 21 years later.

They tried changing it to MLTR, but later switched back to the original name. Maybe, just maybe, if they had consulted me, and renamed themselves Michael Has Learned to Rock instead of MLTR, it might have met with better success?? :)

Anyway, Soren Madsen left the group in 2000, and the trio decided to continue without him.

So, what are you waiting for? All Michael Learns To Rock concerts are a sell-out, so get out of your seat now and get your tickets at any Axcess outlets or book them online from Genting's Online & Reservation & E-Ticketing.

See you there.......thanks to Genting. :) :) :)

25 minutes


That's Why You Go Away

Liu San Jie at Genting

Last Sunday we went up to Genting for the much awaited musical, Liu San Jie. The pair of tickets were complimentary from Genting.

The last time I was there for a concert from my mum's era (Catch Ling Po at Genting), the crowd was mainly from her age group, men and women of 60 years old and above. I expected it to be the same for the Liu San Jie musical.

True enough, at 7:15pm, the crowd started waddling in, oops, I mean, walking in. :) Some were my mum's age while others were older. However, this time round, I can't lay claim to being the youngest audience as there was a handful of guys and gals in their twenties.

By 8:15pm, except for some late-comers, nearly all the seats at the Arena of Stars were filled. Our former Health Minister Dato' Chua Jui Meng, one of the VVIP (Very, Very Idle People??), was there, too.

I must say the performers, especially the lead singer who played the protaganist Liu San Jie, were good. They put up a contemporary show, combining the old folk story with some modern dance movements.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that the lead singer is better than the actress that played the same role in the 1961 movie. She has a better voice than the 1961 actress who was a bit shrill. And she is definitely far better looking, too. Quite an eye-candy for the old men there. :)

It is no wonder that all the tickets were sold out and Genting had to extend the performance to one more night, on Tuesday, due to demand.

My only "complaints" are that the stage setup was not more elaborate, and that the part of the match-maker sent by the tyrant, Mo Huairen, was a bit dragged out. I found the match-maker's performance a little draggy and exaggerated.

But all in all, a most enjoyable performance. Thanks for the complimentary tickets, Genting. :)

The arrival of the audience

The audience

Some late-comers

The curtain call

Related post:

Spot Check at Uncle Lim's

Who Says Michael Jackson Is Dead??!!

Yup, Michael Jackson is not dead. We saw him at the Official Opening Ceremony of Nikonian Academy last Saturday. Well, Michael Jackson Celup (impersonator), anyway. :D

Nikonian Academy Tel: 03-6142 6188

No.13, Jalan PJU 5/21, The Strand, Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya

Type of business: Camera shop and photography courses available

Besides the Michael Jackson Celup's performance, there were two flame-eaters to thrill the crowd.

Free photoshoots of Nikonian Academy's obliging model

Michael Jackson Celup's performance.. :p

Spot Check at Uncle Lim's

"Darling, do you wanna conduct a spot check on Uncle Lim's today?" hubby asked at around 3pm yesterday. "Sure, darling."

I remember when my mum came to live with us five years ago, when she heard this question for the first time, she was puzzled. "Huh? Who is Uncle Lim?" We don't have any relatives with the surname Lim, not by a long stretch, so she had no idea who or what on earth we were talking about.

"Uncle Lim is our nickname for Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, mum." "Why do you need to conduct a spot check on him?", mum was curious. "Not on him, mum. Spot check on his staff to make sure they are working hard and earning their keep." By then mum was confused. "What has it got to do with you guys whether his staff is hard working or not?" "Because we are going to contribute to his coffers. Well, either that or we're going to take some small loose change from him." :-)

Five years on, and mum knew yesterday that she won't be seeing us for the next few hours when she heard that question yesterday. Although the original Uncle Lim has passed on to eternal peace, this "honorary title" has sinced passed to his son, Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay.

One of the attractions for me in Genting is their Be A Star Karaoke. The dinner or lunch package is very reasonable (RM15++ and RM13++ respectively). It includes 2 hours' karaoke session in a private room, tidbits and dinner and soft drinks. Well, the food quality is not something to shout about, but we're not there for the food, are we? ;-)

While we were in the casino, one of their staff approached us with their Genting Worldcard Rooms Fair promotion. You "buy" one night and get one night free. Without a second's hesitation, hubby, using his Genting Worldcard, booked 2 nights' stay at Resorts Hotel for only 9 GP.

So, looks like this year, we celebrated my birthday in Genting, and we'll be celebrating hubby's birthday AND our 7th anniversary in Genting. I wonder if Uncle Lim would like to throw in a complimentary romantic candle-light dinner for us?? Lol... :-)

On a different note, I have been given two tickets to The Fairy Singer - Liu San Jie The Musical, compliments from Genting. (Thanks, Genting!!) My mum grew up around Huangmei Deow and San Ker musical movies and this performance, based on a Chinese musical movie in 1961, will be a special treat for her.

The story is about a lady called Liu San Jie who was well known for her great singing voice. She would always sing when she worked in the fields. Her songs were about the local landlords who repressed them with over-taxation. I understood from my late grandfather that at one point in Malaysian history, Liu San Jie's music was banned in this country. It seems that for some reason, the government at that time equated the Liu San Jie music with communism.

Anyway, I took the liberty to record the promotional video clip outside the Be A Star Karaoke to whet my mum's appetite. I hope Uncle Lim will not sue me for recording this. :-)

On our way home, we met with a 2km long traffic jam. Yeah, it's a sign that the holiday is over and people are rushing back to KL to work the next morning.

Related posts:

What A Magical Holiday.....Thanks to Genting

48,000 Cars Went Up Genting In Two Days

Slot Machine Tips

Up In The Clouds And RM600 Richer

What A Magical Holiday....Thanks to Genting

Being a member of Genting World Card gives you certain benefits such as a special invite on your birthday. And in addition to their Happy Birthday special invitations, members also stand a chance of being randomly picked to be invited to a night's stay at one of Genting's hotels plus a magical show.

So, if you're not a Genting World Card member yet, hurry up to the mountains and apply for one. Membership is FREE and it's for life.

Now, what got me so happy was that this year, hubby got a random invite at the same time as I got my Happy Birthday special invite. Combined, we got two nights' stay at Genting!! An excellent way to spend one's birthday, don't you think?

Included in the birthday invite was:-

1) One night's stay at Resort Hotel, deluxe room.

2) A ticket for two to Dreamz show --- we got upgraded to PS1 tickets, which put us very close to the stage. Yay! :)

3) A complimentary dinner for two at Be A Star Karaoke that included 2 hours' free karaoke session. We had a great time shouting and screaming to Linkin Park, Bon Jovi, Guns N Roses, Queen & Beyonce, albeit off-pitch (and off-timing, too). Lol.

We've seen previous seasons of Dreamz, and while the last one was more stylistic, this new season offered some interesting delights. It's worth checking out, especially the globe that has 5 motor riders inside. I kept expecting them to crash into each other as they literally flew from one side of the globe over another rider to land on the other side.

After the show, we stayed back for a photography session with the white tiger. We were last in line, and by the time our turn came, the tiger was getting irritated and a llittle bit unco-operative. It growled and kept rising up from the floor.

After asking permission from the tiger's handlers, we stroked it trying to pacify it, but that only made it more irritated. Hmm....I wonder why Whitey the tiger (its name is Yubuz or something that sounded like that) didn't like being stroked while its cousin, Blackie the cat could be pacified with strokes.

Anyway, the photographers had to take a quick shot as the tiger rose from its position, resulting in a less than sharp picture of the tiger.

As for Resort Hotel, I think it could do well to include a sign in Chinese in the lift. When we stepped inside a lift, we found that the guests there were standing around asking each other if the lift is spoilt. The lift doors didn't close and they couldn't activate the floor buttons.

What they didn't know was that they had to insert their card key into the slot below the floor buttons to activate the lift. There was a sign in English just below the card slot, but I guess they either can't read or had never used a card-accessed lift before.

The room we stayed in

Related posts:

Spot Check At Uncle Lim's

Up In The Clouds & RM600 Richer

Slot Machine Tips

48,000 Cars Went Up To Genting in Two Days

Qing Ming in Malaysia

Yesterday was Qing Ming. In China, people visit the graves of departed family members, sweep the tombs and plant trees at the grave sites. They also celebrate by flying kites, singing and dancing. And they do this on Qing Ming day itself.

In Malaysia, people start visiting the graves of the dead 10 days before Qing Ming, and continue doing so until 10 days after Qing Ming. In Malaysia, there is no singing or dancing parties, neither are there kite-flying or planting of trees. 

So, what do Malaysians do at Qing Ming? Well, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'm just going to be economical and post pictures instead.

An onslaught of incense and candle smoke greeted us upon our arrival.

Saw a family overcome with emotion.....must be their first Qing Ming.

Mini "planter-boxes" (sorry, don't know what they are called) were provided by the temple for devotees to sacrifice food and burn joss sticks to the dead.

Where are those people going, with joss sticks in hand?

Hmmm.....let's follow them.

Oh I see.....they are going upstairs to call the dead from the columburiams to come downstairs and eat the food they have brought.

A close-up look at the food....some brought beer, too!!

And.....if there's a prize for the most expensive offering, this family should get it. A roast pig!! Wow, the dead has better food than me....Lol..!!!

While the dead is munching away on the food, the living is taking a rest under the shade. My mother-in-law told me that the dead has finished eating when the joss stick has burned out.

And what is this?? A city council dumpster on fire??

On closer look, it is paper cars, paper money and paper clothes being sacrificed to the dead. 

Some families wanted to make sure those offerings get delivered to their departed family, so they wrote their names and address on the boxes. Well, that was what they told me when I asked them about the yellow paper with Chinese writing on the boxes. 

It was also a hey-day for the beggars who lined up the roads & pavements at Kwong Tong Cemetery. In anticipation of a good day, they came armed with huge, plastic containers (about 10" in diameter). They weren't disappointed as their bowls are filled to the brim with RM1 notes. I saw them bunching up the notes and stuffing them into their pockets to make room for more donations. Too bad  I forgot to take a picture of them. It was hot and the smoke was getting into my eyes, and I was getting a bit grumpy.  :(

Pasar Kutu & Homemade Soaps

Pasar kutu??? Yes, pasar kutu, or....as I have literally translated from English......flea market. 

Well, actually, a flea market is called pasar lambak in Malay (at least, I think so), but I really think it's more fun to call it pasar kutu, as in, a market of fleas. hahahaha!!!

Anyway.....yesterday, hubby and I popped by the flea market at Amcorp Mall. The flea market operates from 10am to 6pm, Saturdays & Sundays. A table rental is RM30 on Saturdays, and RM50 on Sundays. 

Although the flea market has been around for years, this is only our second visit there. Most of the vendors are retired people selling antiques, stamp collections, old black & white photos, collectibles like coal irons, records, record players and even magazines dating from 1960. And some items that are so antique that I couldn't quite figure out what. 

There was a table that sold homemade soaps, which the vendor claimed he made them himself. Now, that really got me interested, as I love homemade soaps made from natural ingredients. 

But at the same time, I was puzzled, as from what I understood, lye, a basic ingredient in soaps, is not available to the individual. Only large organisations like Palmolive could buy it as lye falls under the poison or hazardous category. So, how did the vendor make his soap? Did he import lye from Indonesia?

His answer was no. In fact, he had never heard of lye, even after I spelled it out for him. He said he did not use lye, and does not know what lye is. So, how? To satisfy my curiosity, we bought a scrub bar that he claims is what people use to make their skin fair. Hubby wanted to look as fair as me, so he was sold immediately. :))

This is the soap we bought. It's RM5, and the vendor said it could last 3 weeks, used on a daily basis. The ingredients are: curcuma aromatica extract, rhinacantus nasutus extract, palm kenelate, perfume (essential oil), glycerin & water. 

Hmmm.......no lye. The ingredients don't mean a thing to me. Hope my cousin, the soap-making expert, could help me understand the ingredients better.

I also bought a pot of plant for my mum. Blackie my cat & master had chewed my mum's precious plant until it is all gone, and my mum had been moaning the fact that it's not available anywhere in KL, not even in the nurseries in Sungai Buloh. She was beginning to think she would have to make a trip to Penang to procure this plant.

It costs only RM5, and the vendor said he grew it himself in his own garden. It is an indoor plant and must not come into contact with sunlight. Hope Blackie will leave this plant alone. So far, he hasn't noticed it yet. :))

48,000 Cars Went Up Genting In Two Days

Yesterday, we set off to Genting and found that quite a few people in KL had the same idea. We were caught in a massive stand-still traffic jam and had no choice but to park along the side of the road halfway up the hill and walked the rest of the 2 km or so.

The police told us that there were 23,000 cars that went up to Genting on Thursday and 25,000 yesterday, before they closed off the access.

We were relieved when we finally saw Pangsapuri Ria....less than one kilometer away!

The usual "boatman" is dressed in a Chinese costume

Blackie the CAT: Aiyoh! I could have told you humans that it's better to stay home like I did during Chinese New Year. Tsk-tsk

Related posts:

Up In The Clouds & RM600 Richer

Slot Machine Tips

What A Magical Holiday....Thanks To Genting

Spot Check At Uncle Lim's