May 27

juesatta awakening foundation – collecting donation for Rumah Seri Kenangan Cheng

By Involvement
juesatta awakening foundation logo (draft)

juesatta awakening foundation logo (draft)

Today I received a call from a friend, Kok-Liang and asked to arrange a trip to Rumah Seri Kenangan Cheng in Melaka on this coming Friday. It is one of the government old folk’s homes in Melaka where homeless senior citizens can take refuge. Furthermore, he wants to make some donation to the center and hopes our friends can be part of it.

I was touched by Kok-Liang’s words and action; he told me that we must realize how lucky we are and should have pity on the less fortune ones. Immediately we called up a few friends and got good responses and support. We will be collecting donation from friends till Friday, then purchase daily necessities and donate to the senior citizens staying in Rumah Seri Kenangan Cheng.

Our dear friends, we sincerely hope that you can give your support or join us for the trip to the old folk’s home on Friday. May all beings be happy 🙂

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May 26

Bangkok: Chinatown

By My journey, Photography
The street of Chinatown of Bangkok

The street of Chinatown of Bangkok

The last day in Bangkok before we departed to Krabi, Boon-Huat and Wei-Seong left us back to Malaysia in the morning and didn’t join us to Krabi. Wee-Peng, Meng-Hong and I would not want to waste our last morning in Bangkok, so we decided to get to the Chinatown of Bangkok, one of earliest Chinese community’s areas in Thailand.

Meng-Hong (left) and Wee-Peng at a Chinese lanterns stall in the Chinatown of Bangkok.

Meng-Hong (left) and Wee-Peng at a Chinese lanterns stall in the Chinatown of Bangkok.

Originally a community of Chinese traders relocated and settled here in Chinatown from Rattanakosin (the old City) in the 1700’s, and continues their own traditions and religious practices. The area is quite unlike the rest of Bangkok, relatively untouched by modern development. To us, it seemed like a little Hong Kong with Chinese businesses and Chinese characters’ signboards everywhere and it was not difficult for us to shop for Chinese goods.

Jewelry and gold shops and pawnshops are very popular in today’s Chinatown and can be found almost anywhere. Besides, there are also morning markets with stalls selling garments, textiles, stationery, souvenirs, second-hand parts and equipment, electric goods, computer parts, antiques, imported musical instruments, and local delicacies at a bargain, often at wholesale prices. We had packed up our belongings and so we didn’t plan to buy anything, but to do a leisurely stroll through the morning market.

Another common sight in Chinatown is Chinese food stalls. These stalls set up by the roadside offer a wide variety of quick inexpensive meals or popular Chinese food from simple bowls of noodles and soup to grilled meat, fresh seafood, sweet cakes and the locals’ favourite roasted chestnuts. Though we had a very simple breakfast at one of these food stalls of bread with condensed milk and teh tarik (literally pulled tea), and they were really sweet. Thais are really strong-flavour lovers.

It was only a half day tour in Chinatown then we headed off to the airport and took a flight to our next destination, Krabi. The whole trip in Bangkok for 4 days was so fun and pleasurable to witness and experience the Thai’s culture and customs, Songkran water festival, the Red Shirts, shopping, nightlife and people-watching. May the people in Thailand find peace and be happy.  🙂

Some of the photos I took in Chinatown of Bangkok:

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May 25

[新闻] 超市当场宰杀开卖鳄鱼、鲨鱼引争议

By Compassion
出售的活鳄鱼和鲨鱼。(实习记者杨天啸摄)

出售的活鳄鱼和鲨鱼。(实习记者杨天啸摄)

前天，丰台区镇国寺北街永辉超市草桥店开业，在生鲜卖场公开销售一条两米长的鳄鱼，鳄鱼一天内被分部位订走，此举引发市民争议。

市民张女士称，前天，她去新开业的永辉超市购物，在生鲜区看到一条嘴被捆住、四肢被固定的鳄鱼，约有两米长，旁边是介绍食用鳄鱼的好处和一些食用方法，引来大量市民围观。张女士称：“太残忍了，鳄鱼是国家保护动物，怎么能公开销售？”

昨晚9点，记者在永辉超市生鲜部找到了这条被捆的鳄鱼，在鳄鱼旁，还放着一只宰杀的鲨鱼。很多市民在摊前围观，质疑鳄鱼真假的市民试图用手去抚摸。销售人员指着鳄鱼不停起伏的腹部称：“它是活的。”

超市生鲜部的主管黄先生称，鳄鱼已经在一天内被订走，将在周日（今天）当场宰杀，分部位进行销售。黄先生称：“鳄鱼和鲨鱼都是人工养殖的，不是野生的。”

据了解，2003年，国家林业局对54种驯养繁殖野生动物的商业性经营利用实施解禁，其中鳄鱼也包括在内，但经营单位必须具备《陆生野生动物及其产品经营利用许可证》，方可经营。

昨天，记者提出看超市出售鳄鱼的相关证明，永辉超市的前台负责人刘先生称，超市从农贸市场购进了鳄鱼和鲨鱼，对方都提供了检疫报告和许可证， “卖方提供相关证明，我们就能进货公开销售，超市不需要提供证明”。

[source: http://sci.ce.cn/zrqq/201005/23/t20100523_21433501.shtml]
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May 25

Hubble catches planet being devoured by its star

By Rambling

AFP/NASA – This NASA artist's concept image shows that the hottest known planet in the Milky Way galaxy

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Hubble space telescope has discovered a planet in our galaxy in the process of being devoured by the star that it orbits, according to a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The doomed planet, dubbed WASP-12b, has the highest known surface temperature of any planet in the Milky Way — around 1,500 degrees Celsius (2,800 degrees Fahrenheit).

But it could be enveloped by its own parent star over the next ten million years, the paper’s authors have concluded.

Using a new instrument called the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph that was installed on Hubble in 2009, the researchers observed how the planet was whipped into an elongated shape by gravitational forces.

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May 22

爱极乐行动党‧9日捐血运动当天

By Involvement

捐血运动０９五月１０

爱极乐行动党‧9日捐血运动举办在武吉波浪的BB Bazar旁边举行。很多居民都热情响应这项捐血运动，此区州议员邱培栋也在此活动中感激居民的踊跃参与。

好友Tracy-Tea要去支持这次的捐血活动，相约了Kok-Liang, Sek-Cheh, Wee-Peng与我到武吉波浪的BB Bazar。感谢Tracy、朋友昌栋与热情的居民响应这一次的爱极乐行动党捐血运动。这次的捐血活动反应非常成功！
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May 22

Bangkok: Chatuchak weekend market

By My journey, Photography
Chatuchak weekend market - a boy was doing double "teh tarik"

Chatuchak weekend market - a boy was doing double "teh tarik"

Taking a break from all the temples, we decided to do some shopping to the Chatuchak weekend market, the largest market in Thailand. The market is sprawling 35 acres and comprised of more than 15,000 shops stalls. It’s perhaps one of the largest weekend markets in the world too. Though it is not available everyday, Chatuchak weekend market opens on Saturday and Sunday, and it’s believed to attract over 20,000 of visitors each day. Fortunately we had a weekend in Bangkok when we could visit the market.

A less fortunate child and his mother at the Chatuchak weekend market

AA less fortunate child and his mother at the Chatuchak weekend market

Chatuchak weekend market is a shopping paradise! There is a huge range of products including household items, books, trendy clothing, Thai handicrafts, religious artifacts, collectibles, foods, and live animals. We were surprise to see how huge the market is and the varieties of merchandise sold there, nearly everything under the sun. Like a sea of infinite possibilities, we navigated through Chatuchak’s army of stalls and tried not to get ourselves disoriented. Sarcastically, almost all of what we had bought and had seen in our shopping for first few days in Bangkok and Pattaya could be found from the market and at good bargain too.

We would prefer to have cheap street food than classy and expensive restaurant’s meal. Hence Chatuchak weekend market would be our best choice to have our lunch. The foods offered are very variety and cheap. Thais are strong-flavor lovers which results their foods or drinks being usually sweeter, and more spicy, sour, and salty than other cuisine, yet delicious. So we started our feeding frenzy there. Within 2 hours, we had a bit of everything including fried chicken, spicy stir fried pork, meat and fish balls, satay, mango sticky rice, pineapple, coconut juice, teh tarik, iced blended coffee, durian ice-cream, snacks and much more.

Chatuchak weekend market is one must never missed in Bangkok. It was totally worth our time to discover that its wealth of culture provides for good opportunities to make wonderful finds. The market too attracts a colorful crowd of hawkers, tourists, beggars, street artists which provided me with interesting sights for photo taking:

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