WHY HANG SHOES ON YOUR MANGO TREE?

Today being on leave from work gives me some time to write and after completing some errant like paying bills and some banks payment in the morning, I couldn’t stay inside the house because of the heat. I was really hot due to the dry season although last night it was windy and cool.

I carry one of the tables outside the house and set it with drinks and some tit-bits and open my laptop to write about a tip my friend told me about fruit trees not bearing fruit. Earlier on I took pictures of it and the table I set for this posting.

I was telling my friends about my disappointment regarding my Mango tree only bearing only 2 fruits. Actually this was the second time it bears fruit but just a few. He told me to hang shoes on the Mango tree and sure it will bear fruits after that. I was joking with him that instead of Mango fruits coming out, it would be shoes instead. He later relates his story of how it came about hanging shoes on the Mango tree.

When he was working with different unit of our department, he was working at one of the station where his fellow colleagues planted a local orange which never bears fruit after a long time. A security manning the station informed him to hang shoes so that it will bears fruit. It was not long after hanging the shoes that the orange fruit tree bears so many fruits and he was perplexed of the coincident. I was not informed if there were other cases he tried with other fruit trees.

I was not the type of believing this nonsense but what the heck it might prove something out of the blue. It is just like a married couple who tried to conceived but failed and out of frustration will try anything that could eventually succeeded in their quest for a child.

If the hanging of the shoes failed then maybe plan B might succeed. What is the Plan B? Readers of this posting may have some idea and would like to share it with me. However, I will let the readers know if the plan succeeded or otherwise.

Would anyone try this tip?

FATHER’S DAY - DEDICATED TO ALL FATHERS

I was watching television on father’s day when one segment of the prime news at 8.00 pm was dedicated to father’s day where a sacrifice by the father to his son by donating his kidney to his sick son.

Father’s day is a day of honouring father, celebrated on the third Sunday of the month of June every year.

The basic role of a father is not only provider for basic needs but also a protector to his family. He is responsible for protecting the family from physical danger but also from spiritual danger. It is therefore important for him to lead the family prayer and ensure that the children would not tread on the wrong of life.

If the father had neglected his familial responsibility when the children were younger, all iS not lost with modern technology they could get in touch with them just a click away.

I was touched by the sacrifice by the father by donating his vital organ to his son, as he wants his son to live. The son was found to have kidney problem when he was young and the only option was to have kidney transplant. The family decided it that the father donates his kidney to his son.

“ I will never be able to repay what my dad did to sacrifice his kidney to my life. I love my dad and I will study hard and to pursue my ambition ”

Let us not question the love of our father toward us as he may differ his love to each and every one of us. Sometimes father do not show his love to his children in a way that we would like compared to the mothers. My late father for example only showed his love towards me only when he lay in bed seriously sick waiting for his day to come.

My father was a very strict but loveable and he sometimes advocated the use of the cane to discipline us but it was rare. Although he had many mouth to feed and sometimes I was thinking how he raised all of us with only a meager and not fixed income. He really proved to us that being the captain of the family need extra effort to give fairness to his children although it could not be achieved hundred percent.

I was spending the night watching my father in the hospital room way back then and he was really sick. How would you as son felt when your sick father barely could move would give his extra blanket to you which you think would be more needed by him than you? Love you Tama.

Responsible fathers are always there for us when we needed them and never ever think that if your father never shows his love to you, he has a different ways not just hugs or praises.

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY.

TEENS IN THEIR TRADITIONAL DRESS

It was applaud able of the various ethnic groups to involve their young people to their just concluded festival by donning with their ever beautiful and colourful traditional attire which is superb and laced with traditional accessories.

It was indeed in the right direction that young people is expose at their young age about their tradition and custom so that they will carry on with it so that it will not fade away with the older generation.

Although there was some modification about the attire to suit with the time and fashion of today which emphasis more on the body fit attire, the basic of the traditional dress was still there and kept guarded by the elders so that the originality of it remain the same.

Looking at the facial expression of the youth donning the traditional dress, I would say they were happy and enjoy with the celebrity status as they were asked to posed for the camera throughout the parade of traditional extravaganza while waiting for the dignitaries.

It is indeed a good sign that majority of the people donning the traditional attires that day were the younger set of people and hope that they will carry on with their traditional custom. Hopefully as time goes by and the spirit the young people sow during the festival will be pass on to their friends so as more people from this group will be able to learn more about their traditional dress.

EMBARRASING MOMENT - A KETTLE FOR WASHING HAND

I was watching the Asian food channel a TV program last night where Chef Wan was telling his foreign guest about the use of the kettle as in the picture. I remembered my brother telling me his embarrassing moments when attending a Hari raya party he attended where he was invited by his friend a long time ago.


When attending open house or any party you will find this kettle, sometime a very beautiful kettle, placed amongst the dish served in front of you. It would be wise if you just follow what others do with the table manners if you are not well verse with the do’s and don’ts of other races. It would be more appropriate if you ask questions of what or how you go about the things in front of you.

You: Is this kettle for drinking water?

Host: Sorry, this is for washing your hand. Do you want some drinking water?

You: Yes please, thank you.

My brother was served with air bandung drink and after finishing his drink he need some water to drained the sweetness in his mouth. Without thinking and thought that the kettle in front of him was containing water, he helps himself with a glass of water and drank it. The host and his family gasp in horror watching him empting his glass of water and politely informed him that the water was for washing hands. He was really shocked and embarrassed of his misfortune.


So people, next time if you see the same kettle in front of you be aware that it is for washing hand and not for drinking.

THE FOUR BLESSED LOOKS

Look back and 'Thank' God.
Look forward and 'Trust' God.
Look around and 'Serve' God!
Look within and 'Find' God!’

'I asked God, 'How do I get the best out of life?' God said, 'Face your
past without regrets. Handle your present with confidence.
Prepare for the future without fear!''

'Without God, our week is: Mournday, Tearsday, Wasteday, Thirstday,
Fightday, Shatterday and Sinday. So, allow Him to be with you every day!'
'Life is short, so forgive quickly. Believe slowly... Love truly.
Laugh uncontrollably.
And have a wonderful journey!!

Just to share with you, for you to ponder and reflect.

TRADITIONAL PRAYER BY A BOBOHIZAN

I have attended ceremonies involving the traditional Magavau, monogit or praying for the sick and the praying for the soul of a dead person by a Bobohizan or priestess.

SANDAVANG - pieces of metal and some says pieces of human bones tied together used during the chanting of prayers by Bobohizan.

The most basic items used for the ceremony are a gantang of rice, paddy seeds, knife, a jar of alcoholic drinks, chicken, pig and many other things. Usually it depended what type of prayer was about also. This is only my observation and might be not totally correct.

The ceremony begins just after sunset and the bobohizan or priestess and her attendants sit on the floor in the living room and start chanting prayer. This goes on far into the night and it depended wholly by the bobohizan whether gong is beaten throughout the ceremony.


A mixture of metal and some says bones from human were used for making sound as the bobohizan chants prayer with her hand moving the metal and bones to make a sound, a very eerie sound indeed. The object is called the Sindavang and nobody could use it except the bobohizan.

The ceremony ended the next day with the merry making as a mark of thanksgiving. Part of the cooked food like the chicken and pig was given to the Bobohizan and attendants as a token of appreciation to them.

It was some of my vivid memory of the traditional prayer and the memory of getting the food my grandmother get as an attendant to the bobohizan.

BAMBOO SHOOT COOKED WITH KAMPONG CHICKEN

Today being Sunday is spent mostly at home after visiting the Kaamatan festival last week. Actually the Kaamatan open house at the federal level is on at the Padang Merdeka now in Kota Kinabalu but it should be better for the tourist and outstation people to attend it.


This morning as usual I went to the Sunday market bought bamboo shoot to make one of my favourite bamboo shoot soups. Usually I will cook it with pork but today I opted for a kampung chicken cut in big pieces with the skin removed. I was charged fifty sen for the skin removed. For just a simple dish of fresh bamboo shoot and kampong chicken costs me almost twenty ringgit. The chicken cost RM15.50 and the bamboo shoot RM4.00 and before we reared kampong chicken and look for the bamboo shoot, it should have been free.

I was tempted to buy the sambal chili which looked as appetizing as it is used as a condiment or as a side dish and it can be very hot for the uninitiated.

Me : Sambal apa ini?

Towkay : Sambal Chili dicampur dengan tomato serta udang.

Me : Pedas kah?

Towkay : Boleh tahan … pedas.

Me: Bagi satu mau cuba.

Usually a sambal paste does not really taste so hot compared to this one. This sambal is really very hot which does not suit me at all. I will try to add a couple of lime juice to offset the hot taste or otherwise it will end up in the dustbin. The bamboo shoot soup dish will wait as I skipped my lunch today. Enjoy the pictures.

MISS MALAYSIA 2009 - FAMILY HER BIGGEST SOURCE OF PRIDE AND JOY

Miss Malaysia-Universe 2009 Joannabelle Ng Li Vun of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah said her family is her biggest source of pride and joy.

' I come from a very simple and poor family. My father is a mechanic and my mother a housewife. Sometimes, she sells egg and beef rolls and other foodstuff at the market.'

' I am not embarrassed about my family at all. I am really proud of them and where "im from. Why shouldn't I be? They are the reason for who I am today. My parents have always encourage me to fulfill my dreams because they don't want me to have a hard life and to struggle like they did. I love them very much.'

I really salute and respect this young beauty Miss Malaysia 2009 for her frank respond of where she came from and her family background. How many people when they are on the top will tell their background to the media. She has the gut and look at the situation positively and could handle it in different ways.

She would like to be successful like one Malaysia's top Model Amber Chia who is also from Sabah. She would like not only as successful but also like a brand where people will remember.

SURIA_KK FM DJ DI HONGKOD KOISAAN

Apabila saya sedang sibuk mengambil gambar sumandak berpakaian tradisi nampak pula DJ popular Suria aka Othoe lalu terus mengambil gambarnya tanpa minta izin.

Nasib Othoe cool dan lalu posing dengan jari rocknya itu. Sempat lagi bersalam dan ucap Kotobian Tadau Kaamatan lagi. Terima kasih Dj Othoe sebab berposing.

Bila dengar Othoe ke udara hari Isnin, macam suaranya tak timbul mungkin terlampau berteriak aramai tii. Hari Selasa langsung suara Othoe tidak kedengaran nasib baik hari Rabu keluar balik suara dia. Atuuk Koi mungkin dia minum air takob-akob yang di rendam dalam air panas. Selamat bersiaran DJ Othoe.

PHOTOGRAPHER – GOT YOU!

Click pictures for better viewing


A reporter's job or role is to essentially report news. It involves two steps: To collect information (from all possible sources) and then you write down the story in a journalistic style. (Remember you are writing for a reader/listener/viewer/surfer.)

A blogger’s role is to write something that interest them alone, whether it might not interest to many readers. They try to make something interesting at their own satisfaction and a kind of trying to share some topic through their blog.

Actually I am not writing about reporter or blogger but just to share my experience with other photographers and bloggers to get a best angle for any interesting object or events.

I was at the KDCA hall last year to get the picture of the winner of the beauty contest when I only mange to snap the hands, head and camera of the photographer as I cannot get to the front. I was frustrated then but this year I was well prepared and took a very good spot but out of almost 20 shots I took only about half were good due to jostling of photographers behind me which unable me to take good pictures. I only uses cyber-shot camera and I guess I need sponsors to buy me one. Interested of having the Nikon D90, which is very expensive, that is more than RM4K.

I took pictures of fellow photographer during my niece wedding just for fun then but during the Kaamatan festival at KDCA, again I took pictures of them with their antics and expensive cameras.

Looking at some of the photographer, most of them are professional working for a living out of the pictures they took and a sizeable number with cyber-shot camera mostly bloggers or individuals and tourists.

KNOW YOUR TRADITIONAL FOOD - P3

Sabah is blessed with a rich variety of traditional food created by its multi-tribe and indegenous groups. Wild plants, tropical fruits and many types of herbs are turn into their traditinal dish.

Many rivers and streams or ponds provide an abundance of freshwater fish for their tantalising and appetising traditional food.

The Kadazandusun developed ways of preserving their fish and various types of tropical fruits for example the ever popular 'Nonsom Bambangan'.

The just concluded traditional food competition held at Hongkod Koisaan, Penampang was proven that traditional food is still popular with the local people.

With a little bit of culinary skill and ability to creat more presentable dish, traditional food could be introduced as a choice at any major restaurant or hotels as an addition to other local or foreign cuisine in the future.

A stalk of a Yam was one of the dish presented during the food competition. It is also good cooked with a good number clams or bivalve mollusks with water just manage to cover the yam stalks and clams.

Some of the organisers and participants of the food competition in a group photo with their traditional food dish.