Unique Malaysians

Malaysians are a unique people and there are many endearing things about us. Let me share some with you.

No matter what race we belong to, we have some characteristics in common. One of these is our friendliness. It is so easy to strike up a conversation with someone you don’t know. Just smile and the ice is broken. Pretty soon we will be talking as if we are old friends, each having found out about our families, w hat we do, etc., etc. This would be considered as rude and intrusive in western society. I remember as a teacher trainee in the UK, we trainees were told that we should never ask strangers such personal questions. Cultural differences!

The other thing is the way we speak. We have our own lingua franca, or Manglish (Malaysian English) and this is unmistakable. No matter where we are, within Malaysia or abroad, the minute we hear Manglish, we know those people are Malaysians. Another way of putting it is Mangled English. Only Malaysians ( and perhaps Singaporeans ) can understand it. Others will not be able to make sense of it.

“Go stun, go stun, somemore, somemore..ok stop lah.” This is what you can hear when someone is giving instructions reversing a car. “Go stun” is to go backwards, or to reverse.
“Where got like that one?” Read “ How can it be?”
“You don’t know, meh?” Read “Don’t you know?”
“ Aiyah, can die one!” Read “ Oh dear, this is bad.”
“Wah, so nice. Can eat or not?” Read “ Wow, so delicious. Can I have some?”
“ Eh, long time no see! So stylo mylo now lah.” Read “ Hi, haven’t seen you for a long time. You’re very stylish.”
“ Your friend got come or not? Still wanna wait, ah?” “Read “ Has your friend come? Do you still want to wait?”

This is how Malaysians speak when they meet. However they readily change register when in formal situations. They will speak correctly. However, we feel very comfortable and at home with Manglish when we are with friends and family.
Another thing peculiar to us is that we always ask “ Have you eaten?” whenever we see our friends or elders. We don’t say “How are you?” Food is a very important part of our lives.

Malaysians will never want to be anything else.
It’s great being Malaysian.

More Fruits

This morning my marketing bag was full of fruits. My granddaughter had just discovered how delicious the Duku Langsat and Rambutans taste. So I bought three and a half kilos of Duku Langsat and two and a half kilos of Rambutans. This morning’s rambutans are very crispy and the flesh comes off the seed easily. They are also juicy but not too sweet.


I also bought one and a half kilos of Klenthong, a fruit from the same family as Duku Langsat. No this is not another name for the Duku or Dukong as it is called in Sabah. As you can guess, the Duku Langsat is a hybrid, derived from the Langsat and the Duku.

These three fruits although similar in appearance taste different. The Langsat has a thinner skin and it can be sour if you are unlucky.

The Duku Langsat is sweeter and the skin is slightly thicker than the Langsat’s.
The Duku is bigger and has a thick skin and it is also sweet. I didn’t see any Duku this morning or I would have bought some.


The Klenthong is also sweet and its skin is thicker than the Langsat’s too. However the fruit segments have a fragrance that is different from that of the Duku Langsat.

The papayas are for my daughter. She loves them but my grandchildren have yet to try eating them. They are not adventurous in trying out whatever is new to them.


I also bought some pink guava. These have seeds inside which are edible when the fruit is ripe. The guava is said to be richer in vitamin C than the papaya.

However the papaya can be eaten ripe or unripe. When it is unripe, it is usually cut into thin slices and then pickled in vinegar and sugar. This makes a very tasty appetiser.

The fruits, except for the papaya and guava, have to be eaten within 3 days or they will no longer be fresh and won’t taste good. The rambutan hair will wither and the skins will turn black. The fruit can still be eaten but its taste is not as good as the first two days. The duku langsat and klenthong will also turn brown and some will go bad.

We love fruits so all these will be consumed by tomorrow evening!!

How lucky we are to be living in a land of plenty. There is such a great variety of fruit that we are spoilt for choice.

Children bring joy. They grow very fast and before you know it, the toddlers have become pre-teens.

It was such a joy to see my niece and her toddler son when she flew in from Hong Kong for a short visit. The little boy has grown taller and can speak more than he could when I last saw him in March. According to his mum he can even scoot around on his new scooter.
His presence really brought sunshine into our days, especially those of his grandparents.


My niece in Melbourne just got engaged. It didnt seem that long ago when she was a teenager in school. Her parents have just flown off to celebrate her birthday with her.

Time really flies. My own grandchildren are in their pre-teens now. Eleven years have passed since they returned from the UK to live with us. We've had the privilege of seeing them grow out of babyhood into toddlerhood and soon they will be teenagers.

With the coming marriage of our son, we hope to have a grandchild by this time next year. That is really something to look forward to. My sister already has five grandchildren.
We ourselves have left the turbulent years behind us and now enjoy the autumn season in life. The other day in the checkout lane in a supermarket, we met a couple of friends whom we had not seen for more than a decade.

Keeping in touch with friends and family no matter how far flung they are in the world, is of utmost importance. Relationships are what matter most in life. They often define the quality of our lives. Nurturing them the way we nurture the flowering plants in our garden will lead to stronger friendships and closer ties.

Count Down

Last night was spent writing out the wedding invitation cards. No, not my wedding by my son's.

This morning I was all set to hand deliver some of the cards to relatives. However, being the absent-minded person that I am, I left the cards in the car and went in my brother's car to have breakfast, after which he would send me to my aunt's house to hand over the invitation cards. I didn't realise that I had come without the cards until we were almost at our destination.

So now there will have to be another trip to deliver those cards. The same thing happened later on. I went to my sister's house twice today but forgot the cards each time! How's that for a record?

Must be the excitement that the wedding is soon to take place! The cards are very pretty, the design chosen by the young couple.

Tomorrow I will be handing out more invitation cards and posting the rest to old friends. It is wonderful to know that friends of long standing will be present to witness and share our joy in our son's marriage.

This is the moment that most parents look forward to, the marriage of a child. We look forward to welcoming our daughter-in-law into the family and mind you we have a large family as we are a family of ten siblings and all of us have children and grandchildren as well.

No more Pain!!

Last night was the first night that I slept through without waking up in pain at odd hours. It was such a relief as I had been suffering from elbow tendonitis for many months and each movement brought pain, even in sleep.

Visits to the doctor and the physiotherapist brought little relief. The physiotherapy department in the government hospital has many patients needing attention and appointments are hard to come by so an ultrasound treatment once in three weeks hardly has any effect.

I went to the private physiotherapist once a week and it was all I could afford.

Fortunately, a new physiotherapist began work in the government clinic and this young lady is so caring that she asked me to go for treatment twice a week before clinic hours so that she could personally attend to me. It is thanks to her and the private physiotherapist that my elbow has now recovered.

That there is such a kind and caring young lady in government service has renewed my faith in human beings. She went out of her way to minister to my elbow and for that I'm very grateful to her. She has made a difference and added a rainbow in my life.

Now I can go about my chores without feeling pain.

Branded Fruit!!

We are enamored of brand names. Wherever we go we can see famous brand names on bill boards, in shopping malls and high streets. Fruits also come branded!!

You only have to look at Asian fruit stalls. The vendors will tell you that their durians are branded, such as Musang King ( mau sang wong ), Ang Hay ( Red prawn ) D 24, XO, etc., etc. There are so many that I can’t keep up. The other day, one vendor told me his is called Durian Belimbing ( Starfruit Durian ). The fruit tasted good but a tad too sweetish. I prefer my durians bitterish.

Rambutans also come branded these days. I bought the D24 on Sunday. When you buy fruit such as rambutan or langsat, you can always try them first to see if they are sweet or their flesh comes off the seed easily. Then only you decide whether or not to buy. The vendor usually doesn’t mind. He will tell you to go ahead and try, so confident is he that his fruit will not be rejected.


Of course these branded fruits come at a premium price, especially the Musang King durian, which my brother says costs RM30.00 or more per kilo. You can guess how much one fruit will add up to, with its thorny shell.

The D24 rambutans cost RM4.00 per kilo while the others ( unbranded ) cost either RM2.50 or RM3.00. However there is a difference in the texture of the flesh.

Both the rambutans ( RM3.00 and RM4.00 ) were good. The flesh came off the seed easily and they were sweet. When you buy rambutans, you want the ones whose flesh comes off readily and not those that stick to the seed so that you don’t really get to eat the fruit at all, just taste the juice. It can be frustrating trying to bite into the flesh which simply refuses to come off.

There is a subtle difference between the D24 and the other one which I bought. The flesh of the D24 is more crunchy and its sweetness is slightly different from that of the other rambutan. There is also a difference in their shape and hair.


The D24 has got longer outer hair and is elliptical in shape while the other is round and has shorter hair.

Rambutans really taste good when you chill them in the refrigerator.

The langsats are just coming out and the fruit on sale were not very sweet. They come in medium length clusters. You don’t want to buy those that are big because the seeds will be big. These are very bitter I you happen to bite into them. So go for the medium-sized ones. They do have a milky sap when you squeeze them open. It is sticky and bitter. The yellowish skin is thin and the fruit inside are white and segmented.
The flesh should be firm. Langsats can be very sweet and it’s very easy to consume a lot of them without realizing it, especially when you are watching tv.

Have you Laughed lately?

Have you laughed lately? Do you like laughing? Do you like people who laugh a lot?

If you have answered 'yes' to these questions, then congratulations! You are a happy person and you lead a happy, healthy life.

Laughter is a potent healer that improves our breathing and our natural immunity.

When we laugh, we release anxieties, stress and tension. This in turn decreases depression, defuses anger, takes away our sense of loneliness.

Laughter is contagious too. When someone bursts out laughing, emiting loud

booming laughter, we are at first surprised and then we too begin laughing.

It evokes positive emotions and has a therapeutic effect on us.

So if you haven't laughed lately, go on, have a good laugh. The healing power of laughter will have a positive effect on your mental health and well-being.