Sunset by the beach.  I love this.

No.  In the zoo you see the animals in their cages/enclosures.  In this safari we see the animals from within our car.  It is the.....

The other tame animals move about in groups and stay in  their own area.  I presume that's their feeding ground.

My wife and daughter love to jump for the camera just to see the effect in picture.  During our recent europe trip there are many photos of them jumping all over.  The most funny photo is the one showing my daughter like flying with the wind besides the Canterbury cathedral in England.  In fact the wind was very strong at that time.

Take a look at the photo below which I have uploaded onto my Flickr account.

During our stay in England my wife and myself decided to go to Hampton Court on 13.5.2011 and we took a train from Surbiton train station direct to Hampton Court station.  I do not want to see the palace as I am not a fan of old palace.  So we got our tickets to the garden instead and enjoyed it.  It's big and beautiful.

My holiday in England is coming to an end.  I will be flying back to Penang, Malaysia this Saturday.  This is my third trip to England and is the most enjoyable.  This time I stayed for six weeks. 

My daughter and son-in-law are now working near London and are staying in Surbiton, Kingston-upon-Thames.  It is a very nice and quiet place with parks and pond and shops nearby.  Since both of them are at work most of the day, my wife and myself have lots of time to "get to know" the area.

In Malaysia it is impossible to walk far due to the very hot weather.  Here is so cool and windy and we can walk for miles.  On the first day, after our return from Europe trip, we walked to Kingston, about an hour of walking as we are not sure of the bus route.  Yes, we do take the bus on our later trips to this busy town.  Our next "discovery" is the smaller town of Surbiton, which is about 15 minutes of walking and another one nearby, Tolworth.  We took the train to Hampton Court and London too.

We went to Woburn Safari Park and Canterbury and during the recent Bank holiday we spent 3 nights in Cornwall, Wales.  We really have a great time - thanks to my daughter & son-in-law.

Now I  have lots of interesting photos  and it is going to take me some time to sort them out before uploading onto my website. 

Our first destination was Heidelberg, Germany.  So from London to France to Belgium, Switzerland and arriving in Germany in the evening.  What a day!  This is really a once in a life-time experience.  

Our return journey took us to Rome, Vatican city, Venice, Florence, Brussels, Aosta, Paris and London.

Passion fruit - I love it.  We have 2 plants in our garden with lots of fruits.  I know passion fruit is good and has health benefit but not the actual value.  As for avocado I have tasted this twice and like the rich creamy taste (this fruit is very expensive in Penang).  From what I've read these fruits have fantastic health benefits.

Avocado:  The following is an extract from an article written by Junji Takano under Health Benefits of Avocado.


Avocado is one of the most recommended fruits as well as a food for bodybuilding and medicine for cholesterol-related heart diseases.

Also, did you know that avocado or an avocado extract is good for prevention or treatment of “breast cancer” as well as “prostate cancer”? Some information states that a toxin found in avocado can kill cancer cell. However, the toxin mentioned here is not identified completely. Scientists believe that the toxin has a great effect on the myocardium (heart muscle tissue) as well as on tissues of the lactating mammary gland.

Avocados contain “oleic acid”, a monounsaturated fat that may help lower cholesterol.

In our studies, patients with high cholesterol levels who ate avocados showed clear health improvements. After a week of avocado diet, patients had significant decrease in cholesterol contents.

Avocado is a good source of potassium, a mineral that helps regulate blood pressure. Adequate intake of potassium can help guard against circulatory diseases, like high blood pressure, heart disease, or stroke.

Diets containing foods that are good sources of potassium and low in sodium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke. One cup of avocado has about 23% of the Daily Value for folate, a nutrient important for heart health.

Another study showed that individuals who consume folate-rich diets have a much lower risk of cardiovascular disease or stroke than those who do not consume much of this vital nutrient.

Not only avocado has a rich source of monounsaturated fatty acids including oleic acid, which has recently been shown to offer significant protection against breast cancer, but it is also a very concentrated dietary source of the "carotenoid lutein". It also contains measurable amounts of related carotenoids plus significant quantities of vitamin E.

Please read the entire article.

Passion fruit:  From iloveindia.com under Benefit of Passion Fruit.


Nutritional Value of Passion Fruit Given below is the nutrient value per 100 g of Passion Fruit 

• Total Fat -1g
• Sodium - 28mg 
• Total Carbohydrates - 23g 
• Dietary Fiber - 10g 
• Sugars - 11g
• Protein - 2g
• Vitamin A - 1272 IU
• Retional Activity Equivalent - 64 mcg 
• Beta Carotene - 743 mcg 
• Beta Cryptoxanthin - 41 mcg 
• Vitamin C - 30 mg
• Vitamin E - 0.02 mg
• Vitamin K - 0.7 mcg
• Riboflavin - 0.13 mg
• Niacin - 1.5 mg
• Vitamin B6 - 0.1 mg
• Folate - 14 mcg  
• Food Folate - 14 5.6 mcg
• Dietary Folate Equivalents - 14 mcg
• Calcium - 12 mg  
• Iron - 1.6 mg  
• Magnesium - 29 mg
• Phosphorus - 68 mg
• Potassium - 348 mg
• Sodium - 28 mg
• Zinc - 0.1 mg
• Copper - 0.086 mg
• Selenium - 0.6 mcg
• Total Fat - 0.7 mg
• Saturated Fat - 0.059 mg
• Monounsaturated Fat - 0.086 mg
• Polyunsaturated Fat - 0.411 mg
  

Both articles are worth reading in order to know the full value of both fruits.

During my childhood days I used to follow the lion dance troupe around come Chinese new year.  As time passed I see less and less of the lion dance and as I get older  it would appear to be performing a disappearing act. 

So it was a pleasant surprise for me to see the lion dance in Jakarta, Indonesia.  Not only in 3 places, but face to face just like my younger days.  I was really surprised  while I was waiting outside the market for my wife and daughter-in-law when the "lion" came dancing in the morning.  It was just the eve of Chinese new year!

Read the following news in the China Daily:

Strict ban badly needed to cut smoking, experts say (Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-02-25 16:02 Comments(0) PrintMail Large Medium Small

NANCHANG - Comprehensive tobacco control laws that include a complete ban on smoking in enclosed public places are badly needed in China where tobacco use and second-hand smoke kill roughly 1.2 million people a year, a group of health and legal experts said Friday.

Speaking at a seminar in eastern Nanchang City, China's leading tobacco control expert Yang Gonghuan said about 768 million Chinese, or 72.4 percent of the country's non-smokers, were exposed to second-hand smoke.

Yang, deputy director of Chinese Center for Diseases Control and Prevention, said people breathing in second-hand smoke were also exposed to serious health risks such as lung cancer and coronary heart disease.

She said a large percentage of China's non-smokers inhaled toxic second-hand smoke in public places such as restaurants, office buildings, and even schools, hospitals and public transport.

More than three dozen Chinese health and legal experts were invited to attend the smoke-free legislation seminar in Nanchang Friday to lobby for the passage of a city smoking ban touted as the toughest in the country.

The Regulation on the Control of Harm Posed by Second-hand Smoke has been shelved after its second reading by the Municipal People's Congress in December last year.

Those who opposed the bill said though it met the recommendations of the World Health Organization's (WHO) smoke-free initiative, it was too "tough" and "difficult to enforce" in China.

Ying Songnian, a law professor at China University of Political Science and Law, told the seminar that while it was difficult for smokers to quit, it was easy to prevent non-smokers from being harmed by second-hand smoke.

Ying said many Chinese cities had enacted tobacco control laws, but none of the laws was as strict and comprehensive as Nanchang's draft regulation.

The original text of the regulation required a total ban on smoking in 11 categories of public places, including offices, schools, medical institutes, public transport, malls, sports venues and Internet cafes.

The ban is to be extended to hotels, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, beauty salons, mahjong houses and other entertainment venues from January 1, 2013.

Ying said if the bill was passed in its original form, Nanchang would set an example on smoke-free legislation that many cities would follow.

China has ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. But experts say its implementation falls short of the government's promise, mainly due to interference by the country's powerful tobacco industry.

China's state tobacco monopoly is also the world's largest cigarette maker, China Tobacco Corporation. Tobacco revenue accounts for roughly 7 percent of the government's tax income.

During my earlier trip to China, in 2009 to Hangzhou, Suzhou & Shanghai,  I could not tolerate the smoking habit of the people.  I mentioned in my trip write-up that "everywhere you turn people will be lighting up".  The smokers can be very rude - they will blow the smoke straight to your direction and onto your face.

I do not see any change during my recent trip to China again.  The young are now picking up this bad habit.  It would appear that support for the tobacco industry here is getting stronger.   Good for the farmers and also the government.