Laura Kristen Atkinson

WHEN BROTHERS OF DIFFERENT PARENTS MEET

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

Where have all those young years gone? What happened? All of a sudden, reality hits, we are still very much the same as when we were in school, well at least since our memories serve us well.

A few weeks ago, there was mention in our La Salle@75 WhatsApp (that’s a Social Media communication app on devices like smartphones, electronic pads and computers…for those who aren’t sure) about us, guys, getting together for a physical meet up. It has been many years since we last had one.

Mak Weng Kit straight away replied, “I’m in”. I, too; was game and thought it was a capital idea. As the saying goes, “Time waits for no man”, weeks went by when the suggestion was made.

I decided to buzz Weng Kit for us to meet first, to start the ball rolling with the hope that this will begin a more than once meeting on a regular basis. Then, others can join us in our future meetings.

It was good to know that Weng Kit kept busy by being “Grandpa” to his five grandchildren, two of whom live abroad. He told me that he could only meet after 1.00pm because he had to pick his granddaughter up from school. He made a suggestion that we meet in the coming week at Starling (another place where all the “stars” meet? [in reference to my other articles written about Star Bhavan]) Mall in Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya; or any place I suggested. He would be there.

I counter- suggested Happy Mansion, Section 17, also in Petaling Jaya; as there usually is ample parking space there. Date: The coming Monday. Meet time: 2.00pm. Weng Kit agreed. It was set. The meeting of the year. I was thrilled that it was an “all systems go” for our meet. The following explains why…

Come Monday, I was out on my walk, probably faster than I usually do, in the build up to 2.00pm. Another reason for my faster walk-than-usual was probably because I was held up by my morning replies to my emails and social media. There seemed to be more than the usual numbers, and people seemed to be responding faster to my responses of their original messages to me. I crossed the allocated time I set for this daily morning exercise.

I completed my walk in the nick of time. Had a shower, got ready and spruced up a bit more than usual. Texted / messaged / Whatsapped Weng Kit at the time I was leaving my house and told him I would be at our meeting place, Good Blue Men before 2.00pm.

Traffic was good from Subang Jaya all the way to the venue. I arrived a few minutes before 2.00pm. Weng Kit, arrived just after me, before 2.00pm, too. Punctuality.😁😉

We were both really happy to meet, face-to-face, after many years. The last time we met was our La Salle 1975 batch gathering in 2014. Since then, it has only been through social media.

Weng Kit is a happily retired from business, businessman. The head of a growing “Mak Weng Kit” clan (his son, the third of three children; is getting married at the end of this year), Weng Kit and his wife devote their time to their children and grandchildren. Weng Kit is also an avid golfer, marathon runner and adventurous road bike cyclist going on long cycle trips.

However, his keep-fit activities have temporarily come to a stop because he recently had a knee-cap replacement. Which means, taking things real easy. However, Weng Kit is still looking really good.

Weng Kit has been keeping abreast about Laura, Jeannie and family through all the articles I have been posting on leatherpotato.com . The latest being Laura’s marriage. And of course, the publishing of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT.

We talked very fondly about the past, the time when most of our La Salle friends were in our (Atkinson) No. 21, Jalan Ladang house (which was a few hundred meters away from school). From early morning to late night, every day. The guys used to stay over, too. My sister, Jennifer, had her friends from Convent School stay over, too. 21, Jalan Ladang was a pretty big house. It had a very large compound, all round, with a badminton court, too. Our usual day activities were badminton, football, hockey, table-tennis, and darts. We had many dance parties there, too because of its big courtyard just out of the living room. That house sure had many, many, many great memories.

We talked about all our cherished friends and teachers, many are no, longer with us…Hock Chai, Andrew Rozario, Kien Tat…. our teachers like Mr. Ho Chai Fong, Mr. Julian Xavier and the Lopez brothers (Mr. Joseph and recently, Mr. Anthony), among others.

We talked about those who were our temporary teachers like Dr. Khoo Phaik Choo, who was a temporary teacher when she was 20 years old, and we boys, 13. Over the years, she has become a renowned Paediatrician in Malaysia. Another temp teacher was a person by the name of Kenny. He was a fun teacher, always cracking jokes and communicated well with the boys, maybe because he was not that much older than us.

Yes, we, the boys from the 1975 batch have been blessed with an amazing spectrum of dedicated teachers. A couple more of such teachers today are Mr. Michael Xavier; and Mrs. Sivakumar. Mr. Xavier, who is in our Whatsapp group, never fails to wish us with his “Good morning guys and take care message, each morning. Mrs. Sivakumar, whenever we reach out to her, will respond to us. She never looks a day older than when she taught us in class back in 1972. She was our History teacher in Form Two.

Soon, far too quickly; it was time for us to go back to our family lives. But not without Weng Kit having gotten his very own personalized copy of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT. He paid far more than the price of the book, which I thanked him for and said that it will be passed on to a needy cause. Weng Kit has always been a generous person.

We took this picture👆, too. Definitely one for the album.

I think what Weng Kit and I felt which we did not talk about, did not see the need to, or there were no words at that time to describe it; was the aura of re-uniting in person. That is friendship taken to a different level.

We will work towards making meetings like this on a more regular basis. We don’t need a major reason to do so. However, Weng Kit reminded me that this is our 50th anniversary year of the 1975 La Salle Klang alumni. I told him that I am in with him, to organize a re-union of sorts for the boys of that year, and the teachers, too. That will be interesting.

SEIZE THE MOMENT WITH SPARKS OF JOY AND BATIK CAPES THIS WEEKEND

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

What a fun time it was for the Batik Influencer, Jeannie (who oso [the word “also” pronounced this way by some people here😁] happens to be my wife); and myself, recognised by more and more people as the “Hatted Writer” (This recognition is gaining traction), at our stint at Amcorp Shopping Mall last weekend. It was fun from the word “Go” when we set up our booth until we packed up to leave.

People started streaming in, browsing all the things that were displayed on the tables. Soon enough, others started checking the various Batik Cape Creations under the JEANNIE’S OWN label. Before long, the buying started. JEANNIE’S OWN Batik Cape Creations were very limited in stock, making it exclusive to those who purchased one or more of them.

A moment of humour.

Off and on, Jeannie and I managed to get short rests here and there during the day. I have to admit, I managed 40 winks…ok ok…it was 57…I counted😉😂. That super short power snooze was a great help as I had about a couple of hours sleep before getting up to come to the mall. The reason for the short sleep (or lack of it) during the night was because I had a couple of essays I had to work on, while the ideas were still fresh in my mind.

The Hatted writer (me) and the Batik Influencer in one of those rare moments of rest and “regroup”. 😉😀

Over the weekend, multiple numbers of the book were snapped up. I had a lady who was an avid reader stop by. After reading the back cover, she got a book. I was happy to personalise it for her.

With Derek Fernandez, who asked me to personalise his book, dedicating it to his wife.
The Man from MCMC with his copy of the book, with the Hatted Writer.

Another book acquirer was Derek Fernandez. He is one of the senior guys at MCMC, heading a very major portfolio. He showed me an app that he and his team had developed, one that is going to put “Speedtest” an excellent app itself, until now, in the bin. With this new app, you can test the broadband speeds from wherever you are. When testing the speed in an area, even if in a shopping complex as such, and the speeds fall below its approved level, it will send the speed result to the broadband provider and at the same time, to MCMC to take whatever action necessary.

With Derek Fernandez, the man from MCMC. Here he demonstrated on my phone, an app which he led in the development of it.

Derek, demonstrating, on my phone, an app which he led in its development. I think it is a super-cool app, one that everyone would surely want to have on their smartphones. I have downloaded this app on both my smartphones.

Avid book reader had to get my book, especially since she could get a personalised message from the author. 😀

Several people who had purchased the book earlier / previously, also turned up, just to chit- chat. Many were curious as to how I came up with this book, and discussed the various articles and chapters. They are eager for me to write my next book. Wow! That is motivation.

Jeannie, the Batik Influencer; modelling one of her Batik Cape Creations under her JEANNIE’S OWN label.

As the saying goes, “How time flies when we are having fun”, holds true. Before long, the weekend came to a close.

Engaging with a customer’s enquiry on one of our items on display.

Now, this weekend, which begins today; is at hand. Both, Jeannie the Batik Influencer, and I, the Hatted Writer; invite all you beautiful people, to come by. “You come by now, you hear!”, a line taken from the very famous tv show, The Beverley Hillibilles of the 1970s / 1980s.

All our items on display for sale, including a SpongeBob SquarePants in a purple amphibious-like vehicle and another – a little penguin with wheels.

Copies of the book, SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT, amongst the many diecast cars of various model scale sizes and types, up for sale.

As the Batik Influencer showcasing one of her creations while emphasizing the beauty of Batik it has to offer the world.

The Batik INFLUENCER, Jeannie; modelling her latest creation from her JEANNIE’S OWN LABEL

We had enquiries on many of our product offerings and also about the upcoming weeks which we also be around in the same booth location.

Four ways… It’s so easy.

Address:
Amcorp Shopping Mall,
Booth 1.08, 1st Floor, ,
8, Jalan, Persiaran Barat, Seksyen 52 Petaling Jaya, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Date: March 15th – March 16th,  2025
Time: 10.00am to 5.30pm (can be extended to 7.00pm)

A FUN WEEKEND SEIZING THE MOMENTS WITH BATIK CAPE CREATIONS AND SPARKS OF JOY

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

The weekend that was.

What an exciting time last weekend was at our F1.08 booth at Amcorp Mall.

Saturday started with a slow sort of idyllic morning. I guess people were soaking in / absorbing the first morning of the weekend. Many would have been quite reluctant to get out of bed, I guess. Except the Batik Influencer, me, and a whole lot of people in the country. We were up and out of bed at our usual time, like always.

The first thing we do when we get up each morning, is to make our beds. It gives us a sense of accomplishment – one task completed, starting off the day on a right footing.

We loaded the vehicle with all the barang – barang (things that we were going to put up for sale). We were at our booth in Amcorp Mall at half nine in the morning. Got the booth set up in no time at all. Before long, visitors starting streaming in to visit us.

The Batik Influencer, who also happens to be the wife of the Hatted Writer (me); almost immediately was strutting her stuff. Batik was like second nature to her. Both, men and women; were equally interested and impressed. Her Batik Cape Creations under the “JEANNIE’S OWN” LABEL; was fast snapped up.

The Batik Influencer with some examples of JEANNIE’S OWN Label Batik Cape Creations.

By the end of the weekend, the Batik Influencer had many new friends. And, many of the Batik capes; had been acquired by new owners.

Stefanie was one of the earliest in the day to obtain her copy of SPARKS FOR JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT

Andersen Lee, a property investor; was the first to get his copy of my book, SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT. He was thrilled to have his copy personalised by me with a message.

Mr Law Yaw Bang with his personalised copy of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT.

Soon, there was a steady flow of people enquiring about the book, and other things we had on display. I had the opportunity of meeting many, many (I wanted to use the word “multiple” but [not however] – more ooomph in expression) followers / readers of http://www.leatherpotato.com over the two days at the booth. In the process, many people purchased a copy of my book. All wanted the book personalised with a message from me.

Vanesha, second from right, with her son, her aunt and her mother (far left). She just got her personalised copy of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT.

It was another great weekend where we had the opportunity of meeting people and making new friends in the process.

The Batik Influencer, doing her stuff with her ultra unique, ultra chic JEANNIE’S OWN Batik Cape Creations.

There are more than one or two ways of wearing the JEANNIE’S OWN Batik Cape Creation.

This weekend, we will be at the same booth, F1.08 (First Floor). We are expecting a whole new crowd of people, plus our existing friends.

There are new pieces of JEANNIE’S OWN Batik Cape Creations, however, these are limited. There are always unique and are limited edition in their own right. Come and become owners of one or several pieces. They make amazing gifts, too.

SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT: The book, through the many stories it holds and tells, is a keepsake for people of all ages, both young and older. When you turn each page, the feeling of paper, the scent of ink with words printed in it on each paper, stories that pop up and take you to the scenes like the time when the exhaust pipe fell off the car – a hilarious scene; or when we, as parents, spent 15 hours in a day at the pool just for a 35 second race – the commitment the athletes put into that 35 seconds. These are stories that can be read many times as each time can put the reader in a different scene.

Here is Stefanie with her personalised copy of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT. Also, notice my latest tattoo?

Zoe, (second from right) my youngest reader / customer, and her family; with her personalised copy of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT

Among those who obtained their copy were Stefanie; Vanesha; Laura’s (our daughter) sister-in-law, Zoe; Mr Law Yaw Bang and Nur Azalina. Zoe, who will be turning 12 years old; is my youngest reader / customer.

“Interesting…I like”, she seems to be thinking to herself.

Dass of Display Asia, gave me a heads up on what my next book should be about. Admittedly, I have started the “machinery of my mind” as to what my next book should be about.

Nur Azlina, a fellow writer; with her copy of my book, SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT.

I am with Nur Azlina (third from right holding a copy of her newly acquired, personalised copy of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT) and her family.

Come, and bring your whole family, and share your experiences, too. Jeannie and I look forward to seeing all of you. See you there.

Address:
Amcorp Shopping Mall,
Booth 1.08, 1st Floor, ,
8, Jalan, Persiaran Barat, Seksyen 52 Petaling Jaya, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Date: March 8th – March 9th, 2025
Time: 10.00am to 5.30pm (can be extended to 7.00pm)

SPARKS OF JOY – MEETING WITH OLD FRIENDS

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

The journey from Pee Jay or PJ or Petaling Jaya (in full) after picking Jeannie up from work to Shah Alam was a long one, right from the word “Go!”. So, we decided to grab early dinner. I have to clarify something.

Today, there are more words and phrases that mean more than what you actually intend to say. Here, when I say “grab”, I don’t mean call Grab service or “Grab our meals over to where we are”. I mean to say “get” early dinner. I can hear some of you ask, “Why didn’t he say just that? “Get” early dinner. I used the word “grab” to emphasize that we were in a hurry.

Yesterday, when Jeannie, Laura and I were heading (going, for some) to KFC in Sea Park (I think), we passed by a restaurant called “Seapark Dessert”. It brought back memories to Jeannie and me of some over 25 years ago. “Some Over” is a bit of a stylo description.

Over 25 years ago, Jeannie and I used to work in Kuala Lumpur. By time we finished work and waded through traffic jams, it would be over 9.00pm. So, we’d swing over to one of the eating places in PJ to have dinner. One of those places was “Seapark Dessert” , though at that time, we never really took notice of the name of the coffee shop (now “restaurant”). I love bubur pulut hitam, bubur kacang merah and bubur kacang hijau. And so does Jeannie. We’d usually have noodles for our main course and one of this bubur choices for dessert. It was the coffee shop that we often visited because they were usually open to late in the night. This place was very popular at that time. Many a time, we had to wait to get a table for ourselves.

So, passing this coffee shop yesterday gave me the idea to stop by there for dinner. We wondered if it was as good as the last time.

The restaurant looked pretty much the same as the last time. It was a sort of a split-level, and there were quite a few people already. The time was around 5.45pm.

Jeannie ordered Yam cake and bubur kacang hijau. Jeannie said the yem cake was really good. The texture, the taste, the freshness. I am not a sort of a “yam” person. I will take her word for it that it was really good. Jeannie has been in the food industry line for multiple years. She is one of the most qualified persons in terms of experience to give opinions on food.

Her bubur kacang hijau was quite nice. I had a couple of spoons full to taste it.

Jeannie’s order: Bubur Kacang Hijau and yam cake.

My order: Pulut Hitam and 2 curry puffs

The curry puff I ate was nice. It was quite large, tasty, but not spicy. “Spicy” in the Malaysian or Asian context usually means very hot. However, looking back at History during school days, the Portuguese, Dutch and English traders were drawn to this part of the world for its spices, like pepper, cloves and other spices. For the discerning food eater, he or she will be able to detect the spices, which includes but not limited to chili.

The bubur pulut hitam was nice. My mother set such a high standard for the bubur pulut hitam, bubur kacang merah and bubur kacang hijau she used to make. There was hardly ever a time that anyone would come close to how she used to make these desserts. But, we have to settle for what we can get now.

Yes, they are big, and tasty.

Before long, we hit the road and got to the Stadium Pusat Akuatik Selangor or Selangor Aquatic Stadium in Shah Alam, just after 7.00pm. Lots of good memories rushed back to Jeannie and I. This used to be our “first home” when Laura used to train and compete here as a swim athlete representing the state of Selangor as a state swimmer and as a club swimmer for PADE Supersharkz.

As we walked to the pool deck, we saw both Coach Ong Jin Kooi and Coach Mark Chua. Coach Ong was the first to greet us as we got on the pool deck. It was nice to see him after a long time. He looked just the same. Strict with the swimmers and also father to them.

Just like old times. Except that, in those days; we never thought of taking pictures of our food.

I thought I won’t know any of the current group of swimmers and I won’t recognise any of them. Surprisingly, there were quite a few swimmers who were just beginners some years back; who recognised us, especially me. They came up to say hello and ask how we were. One of the swimmers who was in Laura’s batch and is now amongst the fastest and most experienced in the country, George Ng; came up to say hello, too. He asked how we were. I think he is still connected to Laura on social media. Good to see him.

Finished. The meal was filling. One curry puff was meant to be given to an old friend that we were about to meet after dinner.

Coach Mark was all smiles to see us. It was a long time since we last connected. We sat down in the press room where we talked about old times. He remembered Laura’s 50m and 100m Breast, and 100 free times with accuracy. These are great coaches who are not just only interested in what their swimmers do at the pool and competitions, but also take a close interest in what they do away from the pool. There is that amazing bonding between coach and swimmers and vice versa.

We were happy to hear that Selangor did very well in the recently completed Malaysian International Age Group (MIAG) championships. Never one to take anything for granted, the coaches in the Selangor team, i.e. Coach Ong, Coach Mark, Coach Marilyn (Mark’s sister) and others; began preparing the swimmers again, to be at more than their best, both on deck and off deck.

We brought each other up to speed with where we are now.

Coach Mark and Coach Ong each obtained a copy of my just published book, SPARKS FOR JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT. There are stories, articles and multiple pictures of Laura in her many years with her team swimmers and coaches.

The curry puff filling. It was quite tasty.

Coach Mark Chua, Laura’s competitive swim coach, who is also Selangor’s senior coach, PADE and Orca junior elite team coach, with his copy of SPARKS FOR JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT.

This is supposed to be the “Let Loose / freestyle” photo.

Get your copy of the fast selling SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT at leading book stores in the country. You can also get your copy through me. I will personalize it with a short message for you.

WHAT IS A TEAM?

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

ANY NUMBER OF PEOPLE CAN WORK TOGETHER, YET THEY ARE NOT A TEAM.

BEING A TEAM IS ABOUT HAVING RESPECT, TRUST AND CARE FOR EACH OTHER. BEING A TEAM IS NOT JUST ABOUT BEING SUCCESSFUL; IT IS ABOUT HAVING A SET OF VALUES AND LIVING BY IT.

PERFECT: CHAPATI AND NESCAFE ICE KAW

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

A day of driving, miles and miles; 2 hours 57 minutes on the road travelling.

Was I travelling outstation, in between towns, from one state to another (inter-state by another description)? You can say a little bit of all of the above.

My daughter, Laura sent me a message that she needed a ride back to her house after work. I immediately agreed. Her office is somewhere North East (depending on where you are at) of Kuala Lumpur at Damansara Heights.

I did the usual (most of the time. How many of you would tell some one who is waiting for you that you are just around the corner, when actually you have not started your journey? ) and left the house 5 minutes to the hour of 5.

Indian delight – curry puff and paruppu (dhal / lentil) vadai.

It had begun to rain heavily. I was hoping that it would stop quickly as I did not want the car to get wet in the heavy rain. I just sent the car for a good wash and vacuum this morning. After about half an hour, the heavy downpour did not look like it was going to let up anytime soon, so I made my way to Laura’s office.

The trip to Damansara was smooth despite the heavy rain. As I got into the PJ (Petaling Jaya) section of the Federal Highway, the rain had stopped. I got to Laura’s office a few minutes before she was supposed to finish work. She sent a message (or the local term is, “She Whatsapp-ed me”) to say that her boss had called her in for a last minute meeting. Being the great dad I am (pat on my back😇), I said, “No worries. Take your time”. Waiting for her gave me some time to work on an article, no, not this one; on another one. I am working on several articles at the same time. I saw a movie (I forget the name now) once of an artist who worked on several canvass pieces of art at the same time. She worked on whichever picture gel-led (pronounced as “jelled”) with his mood / feelings / thoughts at that time of his work. Likewise, I am doing the same.

My writings / drafts of unfurnished work are all on my ideaSketchpad💡. Some work have been on the backburner for months. Inspiration has not got me to complete them yet.

Laura was done with her meeting within half hour and we headed back to Subang Jaya. As we got into PJ; we hit the traffic jams. We used Waze to get us the shortest route. All of PJ was hit with massive traffic jams, full force. Waze led us through a route that we had never or probably used once or twice before. We were moving – slowly.

We got back to Subang Jaya within an hour which probably saved us half an hour to three-quarter of an hour compared if we took our usual route (which is using the Federal Highway) back. This new route helped us avoid the Federal Highway altogether. We went through SS3, Kelana Jaya, behind Paradigm Mall, pass the Glomac building, onto Jalan Lapangan Terbang Lama (I think), then onto the flyover that went straight into Subang Jaya, pass Subang Jaya Medical Centre, towards the roundabout near Sri KL school. (Those living in and around Subang Jaya will know this route, or at least, most of it.)

After dropping Laura off at her house, I decided to go to where all the stars meet for a comfortable and nice meal – Star Bhavan. Laura could not join me as she had other plans.

Star Bhavan is a restaurant that caters for a meal whether you are alone, or with someone or with a group of people.

Some of the variety of snacks offered by Star Bhavan. They have a large variety of Indian sweets (snacks and cakes) – not many places offers many different sweets and cakes.

I ordered my usual (most of the time) – chapati (such an easy word, yet the spelling can be a bit confusing. Localised [nowadays], it is spelt as “capati”, without the “h”) and Nescafe Ice Kaw. Ever since I started seriously working on reducing weight, I eat chapati most of the time. No diets. I have never been on a diet, at least consciously.

I go for my daily 10 kilometer (km) to 11km brisk walk, everyday; and on most days, I don’t eat lunch. I also minimise my sugar intake as much as I can.

Some of the large variety of sweets and cakes for those with a sweet tooth and more. I love many of them including the Ghee Mysore Pak and the yellow ghee balls (2nd from left, bottom row).

It makes common sense: burn / work off more calories than what you take in to lose weight. No rocket science needed to come up with a “I’m on a diet, too”. So far, my weight has come down by 9kg and fluctuates between the 67kg – 69 kg band. It has been hovering around this range for the last one and a half months. I am still working at it. My target ideal weight is 63kg.

One for the camera.

Back to my chapati and Nescafe Ice “story”.  I often have this meal combination when I am here. It seems light but it’s just nice for me.  Once in a while, I will add on an additional potato or a spicy fried chicken, chicken varuval or a spicy potato dish. Today, is one of those once-in-a-while days.

Dinner for one.

My meal was quick to arrive. There were three small side dishes that came with it – a “set” in the chapati tray. The “set tray” has 4 compartments, if I may call them that – one large and three small. The large one is for the main serving, in this case, it was the chapati. The three compartments were filled with what I call three different curry gravies. No, not right.

The white condiment was coconut chutney. The greenish condiment was some sort of potato dish, maybe it is a green curry. The other was a natural curry. 😀

This is an unusual potato dish with beans. Very spicy. Very tasty.

I decided to “live it up” – I ordered an additional potato dish. This looked like a dry curry dish, promising to take “spicy” to the next level. It was quite unusual. It had big beans (the baked beans type) in it.

Potent stuff. At least to those who are only used to eating 1 or 2 chilis in their food.

Green “curry” dish?

The delicious, spicy, yet not too spicy coconut chutney – sort of a sambal dish.

Capati (pronounced “char-par-tee” [as it sounds])

What can I say about this meal? It wasn’t fanciful nor was the dish patterned with sauces used to design or decorate. It sure was delicious, all the way, right to the last tiny flaked piece of chapati and dried potato curry with beans and coconut chutney. The only thing fanciful about this meal was the price, I guess. It was more than reasonable, I sure was satisfied. It was a good meal. And the Nescafe Ais Kaw – was just right. It complimented my dinner very well. I will be back for more meals in the future.

Spicy potato and large beans dish. Really delicious – one of Star Bhavan’s best, by far.

Bean vadai. Excellent for breakfast, tea or snacking during any time of the day.

I picked up some bean vadai and currypuffs to go, for my next morning’s breakfast.

BARE FEET 10 KILOMETER WALK – Pt2

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

cont. from BARE FEET 10 KILOMETER WALK (28th January 2025)

Yes, this is part 2, a continuation of the earlier essay. After all, it was a long walk in the sand (most of the time, I was on the sand).

An early morning light, gentle cool breeze was blowing ever so softly. It didn’t seem to come in from the direction of the sea. It was not strong enough for people to pause everything they were doing to say, “ah yes, I feel the breeze”. Most things are taken as a given or for granted, or with a “so what?” attitude.

The sun was up, not overhead. It was still in the distant east, but climbing at a steady pace to meet its overhead position at noon.

As I stretched my gaze to the edge of the sea in the distance, I could see ships, three of them, all keeping a safe distance between each of them, move from the south upwards to the north (I still have my sense of direction). This would mean that many of them would have made their way from ports in the east like Sabah, Sarawak, China, Japan, and other countries to the west, upwards to Europe and the U.S. Come to think of it, this would mean that vessels travelling from the east, going around Peninsular Malaysia; would be travelling on the right side of the Straits of Malacca, going up north to Europe and the rest of the west.

Therefore, vessels coming from the west, would use the left side of the Straits of Malacca (closer to the Indonesia), and go around the peninsular to head to the east. The narrow Straits of Malacca is one of the busiest sea lanes in the world, with about 94,000 ships (200 ships per day) (1) passing through it each year.

I got the walking exercise on the Samsung Health app on my Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 Ultra fired up. I think Samsung’s Health app is one of the most comprehensive health information trackers there is available today. It is worth noting that this is one of the most accurate health data providers. It tracks almost all of my health extensively on a daily basis. The caveat I place on it is that the information it comes out with are only indications to how I am doing, health wise. Nevertheless, I find it fun to use.

The length of the beach was only about 300 meters long. So, I was walking up and down, from point to point and return, quite quickly. At the beginning of the “journey”, the beach had quite a lot of people on it, though not enough to say it was crowded. After a few laps on the beach, I removed my cheap, rubber slippers and parked them next to where Jeannie had left hers. It was the spot, water-wise, where Jeannie was in the sea.

When I started walking bare foot (feet?), I had hardly covered a few hundred steps. I found that walking on the damp sand was easier that in the dry beach sand, where each step , I sunk in the sand by a few millimeters, and momentarily, lost my balance, due to the unevenness of the sand. This was kind of slowing me down, too; as I like to keep a quick pace and complete my daily walk within the 1 hour 50 minutes to 1 hour 57 minutes.

As I walked on the damp sand, my speed (pace) picked up. After a short while, I had created a trail of footprints back and forth. I knew they were mine. First of all the pattern and path were the same, to and fro. Then, the size of the footprints. It was size 8,9, or 10 (depending on which country measurement is used). I usually use US size 9.

Within an hour, the crowds on the beach had swelled up. People who were there for sometime, must have been wondering to themselves while watching me walk down the beach to the other end, and then return, then go down the beach again, creating laps, “This guy is crazy or what? (“Or what?” is very Malaysian. Not quite sure if a statement has been made or a question has been asked), patrolling the beach up and down”. What must have made them even more curious was that the sun turned up its heat, like it had a knob to raise or drop its temperature; and yet, I was walking like there was no stopping me.

During my walk, I allow my mind to roam freely. Sometimes, I take in the scenes around me, the people and any thing that may be out of the ordinary.

Letting my mind roam freely is freedom. No Artificial Intelligence (AI), Chat GBT or anything like that can ever mimic the mind of a human, that’s my belief. The creators of these technologies would like you to believe that these technologies do, until you ask them if their minds can be replicated. More important question, “Will they allow their minds to be replicated?”

As I passed the 8km distance I walked, I realised that I was at my usual regular speed as per my daily walks. Before long, I crossed the 10 kilometer distance, and hit 10.46 kilometer when I achieved the 15,000 – step goal.

Wow! I actually walked 10 kilometers barefooted. That was a record of sorts for me at least. It seems like a crazy thing to do when I think back. Sure, the beach and sand were kind to my feet. Not much pebbles or any other thing that otherwise would have hurt my feet. I did feel a couple of blisters building up though; but not too serious.

I walked back to my slippers which I laid next to Jeannie’s on the beach. They were gone, both pairs were stolen! I waved Jeannie to come up from the water and asked if she noticed someone around our slippers, as they had disappeared. Jeannie said she was too busy enjoying herself to notice any slipper thief or anybody that resembled a slipper thief (not that she or even I, would know what a slipper thief looks like).

It did not bother us as our “feet protectors”, otherwise known as slippers; weren’t expensive. We walked barefoot back to the hotel, satisfied with ourselves; that she spent time in the water and I, did my 10 kilometer walk – both having accomplished what we set out to do for the day.

If you have a chance to do something wild (not too wild, I hope) or something out of the (extra) ordinary, please share it in the comments. I am not sure if I will pull off another “stunt” like this again.

NOTES:
1. Wikipedia

BARE FEET 10 KILOMETER WALK

/ Alan Atkinson / 1 Comment

Not really a good idea. I should have thought of that before I started it this morning.

Early Saturday evening (known as mid-afternoon or late afternoon by some)… We’ve settled in at the hotel. Rested for a while from the drive. My wife, Jeannie; was eager to feel the sands that made up the beach. Looked white (an illusion), initially, it was more a tanned white.

With a little (not much needed 😉) persuasion, I agreed to accompany her on this sandy expedition. Laura, our daughter, said she was good where she was and didn’t want to trade the comfort of her bed and air-conditioning to walk in the sands, more often than on the sand, (Much persuasion. When you get on the bed, you don’t want to get out of it because the weather is hot outside. Have a Spanish or Mexican siesta, perhaps?).

We took a short ride in the lift, down 5 levels. When the lift doors opened, an immediate response that you wouldn’t be faulted for expressing would have been, “this is a secret cave. Maybe it would lead to the Batmobile”.

No such thing. It was the hotel’s basement which they called the “games room”. It had a variety of indoor games and activities that would keep you occupied if you did not want to go to the beach.

Now, you would wonder why people would come and stay by the beach and not want to go to the beach, not wanting to feel the sands and the biting, salty sea waters? I wonder. Not forgetting, have the sun’s rays lash out at you from 93 million miles away. Maybe, just being there, knowing that the scenic view is close at hand was enough. And getting the whiff of the ocean, too; it’s undeniable, the salt that is.

We made our way to the beach which was about a 100 meter walk. The beach was crowded. There was still enough space for more people to get some fun out of it.

Jeannie got into the water after a short walk in the direction away from the hotel. That part of the beach wasn’t too crowded. She was in her element, enjoying the water. I opted to walk on the beach.

I walked at the edges of the waves as they came up the beach. I was ankle-deep in water, whenever the waves breached the unmarked fringes and came past me.

The beach was clean and pleasant to be on. Everyone was happy. Jetskis, and a variety of boat rides were available for those who wanted to “go out to sea”.

I thought I’d do my 10km walk on the beach. I found that sinking in the soft sand was OK, I guess. The “sinking in the sand effect” was slowing down my pace, slightly. This was the dry part of the beach.

After walking a couple of kilometres or so, rain clouds soon formed above us and before we knew it, heavy rain came down on us.

We spent the rest of the evening back at our hotel room. It was one of those rare occasions where we just chill-ed / relaxed, without having to do much. That is the word, “Do”. Sometimes, we just have to do something to be doing something, instead of not doing anything but being the present, which can be considered as doing something.

Breakfast at the hotel was early at around 8.18am. Buffet style, the spread (choice) of food was both local and western. The breakfast hall which had a seating capacity of over 100 people, was crowded with people. We managed to get a table with quite a bit of space around us. I like elbow room. My elbows tend to go up, outwards, when I cut through my food.

The food was good. Jeannie and Laura went for a mix of local and western. Laura had her Nasi Lemak (a must have wherever she goes), and a bit of a western style meal, leaning more to an American breakfast. Jeannie had a little bit of everything, which was quite a lot in the end. I went for some scrambled eggs, a couple of sausages, local fruit, fruit juice and black coffee. The three of us enjoyed our meal.

The Batik Influencer was eager to head down to the beach and into the Straits of Malacca (the sea, which is world renowned and one of the busiest shipping lanes, Straits of Malacca). So, she and I made olur way down to the beach while Laura headed back to the room to chill.

Jeannie wasted no time getting in the water. I started my 15,000 step walk, which would make up just over 11 kilometers.

to be continued…Pt 2

Did I say relax? Therapeutic.

This is how it’s done…without the surfboard.

Footprints in the sand – mine; all 11 kilometers of it. You can tell by the size 8, 9 or 10 (depending which country shoe size measurement).