Memories - ah.. the wonderful feeling of looking back.  Now I am able to scan into my computer my old photos of my earlier travel to Thailand, New Zealand, Australia and England.   The old photos had been put aside but not forgotten.  Our memories are not so good but the old photos still bring some good feeling of our travel.

During my children's schooling years only my wife did the traveling as it would cost a bomb for two of us to travel together and at the same time have to take care of school/college fees.

My first destination was Chiangmai, Thailand in 2001.  Thereafter,  a few destination each year. 

I will upload whatever photos I can scan into my 'earlier travel" section.

 
What a life 02/19/2010
 
What a life - this is my experience during my recent trip to Jakarta, Indonesia.  Being poor means one will do anything just to earn a few cents - excluding crime and begging.  The man in the photograph is a villager who is doing the job of a traffic police (seldom seen here).  In view of the volume of traffic and narrow roads, the vehicles from the side lane will not be able to turn left or right.  Therefore, this man is doing a social service to road users and earn some money from some good & appreciative drivers.
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I could not imagine the situation when my son told me about it as no one can just simply take over the job of a traffic police.  I took this shot outside the place where we stayed (behind the wall).

Being poor do not mean that the people are rude and of poor behaviour.  The Indonesians that we came across are very polite - in the shops and other places we went.  The workers in the shops and restaurants do not wait for you to approach them for help.  When they noticed that you are not familiar or looking for something they will immediately come to your aid.  Low salary but good attitude.

Read more of my trip to Indonesia under "my travel".
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Friendship 02/01/2010
 

 Friendship

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 Yes, friendship is important in our lives.  It is more so when we are old.  It is good to see the young enjoying such relationship with each other irrespective of nationality or religion.  "Friends are forever" - I like this and I've received many friendship cards from my friends/stumblers from Stumbleupon.com, one of the many social networking sites.

There is another side to this friendship thing.  There are those who are not genuine and  will have no second thought to "abandon ship" when there is nothing much to gain from you.  After all it takes all type of people to make the world.   Befriend all and enjoy a rich  and valuable experience. 

The older people can get lonely because of restricted movement, less energy to go out and get things done, less contacts/friends, etc.  Friends, therefore, are very important to them.  A relative of mine do not "subscribe" to this "friendship forever" feeling.  This relative believes in "buying" friendship.  As such, when the money "dries up" so do the bought friendship.  Old age can then be very terribly lonely.

As the world is becoming more competitive, people have to work harder and longer hours in order to stay employed.  Asians are known to spend more time in the workplace than home.  My son leaves for work at 6.00am and would not be home until after 8.00pm weekdays.  So different from my time when we can meet up with friends after work before heading for home.

I am quite selective in choosing my friends.  Well "birds of a feather will flock together".  I do know someone who can make friends with a busload of strangers within a few seconds.  I witnessed this during my trip to Hangzhou, China.  I was surprised to see my brother-in-law's wife talking to everyone in the bus as soon as we were seated and the bus started to move.  Fantastic!!