The moon is rounder in Mars

Whenever people learn that I am working overseas, their immediate response is "WOWW! "
Hughh? It is not as endearing as one imagine it to be. All those myth that the pastures are greener elsewhere are just pure fantasy.

Quite often, we are unsatisfied with our present life. We desire a change for the better. When help is not arriving, the only way out is to seek for possibilities beyond our geographical surrounding. After all, isn't that what's the tv program has been trying to sell us?
The so-called higher salary is being compensated for the higher living costs. You wonder why a tube of toothpaste costs two times more. You also cannot under stand why a box of Panadol pills is 3 times more expensive.

You have not experienced queuing at 3.00 in the morning, outside the authority’s premises, in the winter snow for the application of your working permit. When the office opens, only the first 20 applicants will be accepted. The others have to return the next day to try their luck again.

You wonder why you are being refused to enter a furniture shop. The sales person tells you “We have nothing for you to buy here.”

You take pains to learn a new language that is so different from your own. You are frustrated because you cannot express yourself well and cannot understand fully of what is said. Hence, you are being taken as being stupid.

Just because you eat fish with its skin and you enjoy fried chicken wings, people ask you: “why you people eat things that we throw away?”
You rush to the supermarket immediately right after you finish work. The shops are closed at 7.30pm and also on Sundays.

You are curious to know why out of 200 people in the train, you are the only one being spot check and demanded for your passport.

The new friends you make do not share your sense of humor. They are amused when someone slip and fall, while you laugh at puns in the words. They avoid inviting you to most of their parties or gatherings in order to avoid the tedious questioning of where, when and how they befriended you.

When you return to your home land after some time, your old friends have moved on with their life. The skills that you have are now obsolete. Suddenly you are alone and have to start all over again. and you wonder if life has really become better after you went overseas.......

I love DURIANS

It is kind of contradictory. To work so hard in the gym and then go straight to the durian stall and fill myself up with the fruit. Once out of the train, immediately I get the calling. Thin but characteristic trace of sweet mesmerising aroma floats in the air whispering “come here, come here”. I speed up my walking pace towards the stall. It is not going anywhere. What is the hurry?

Why some people are not fond of durian? Don’t they know that it is one of the most ingenious invention by nature? Otherwise how do you explain its hard shell and thorny spikes of the exterior? It is to protect itself from insects and animals. The more protective the fruit is, the better it tastes.
Obviously, there are people who do not have good taste. To know how to love a durian, you have to be a connoisseur of the very fine things in life.

It is always exciting because one can never know what you get. There are such a big variety of the pulps in terms of appearance = white, yellow, deep yellow, wrinkled, firm. The texture can be whipped cream, cheese-like soften, fibrous. It can have a nutty taste, fruity, bitter-sweet and sweet. Don’t forget that durian is a high source for Vitamin C, has lots of dietary fibre and give high energy. It has no cholesterol or sodium. It even leaves a sweet aroma in your fingers for 24 hours. What fruit that let you eat it and also give you a free perfume?

I love durian. I can eat it day and night. If you find the durian odour in my mouth offensive, just stay away from me. You can kiss me after the durian season is over.

To rest in peace, please let me be buried under a durian tree.

Travel to HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City)

After a short 4-days’ trip to Ho Chi Minh city, someone asked me if I like that it. It's not easy to answer because that trip did not fall into my usual travelling habits.



Broadly speaking, my trips are classified into two types.

Tourist trip
The main aim is to relax the physical and to invigorate the mind. The time between wakefulness and sleep is spent in retail therapy, trying out my bargaining skills. When the legs are tired, I pamper them with massages. Diet is thrown out of the mind. Evenings will become an adventure to seek the best night spot in town. Hotels with comfortable beds. My favourite tourist destination for such kind of trips are Bangkok, then Barcelona and Berlin. (coincidently, all these city names begin with the letter B)

Travelling trip
Exploration is the main objective so light luggage is a must. Sometimes it gets tough, especially with the harsh climate and the extreme temperature. In this kind of trip, local people is the most important factor that determines the level of enjoyment. Difficulty in communicating with the locals can be one big obstacle. There will be no visits to nice restaurants but to taste the real essence which the local people savour. The key word is “Do what the locals do”. It makes me humble because there is so much things to learn from them. How they live and what they think. They are special because they are different. Discovery can be tiring yet fulfilling. A camera in hand is vital too.
My favourite travelling trip destination are Bombay, outskirts of Guangzhou, Casablanca.



Ho Chi Minh city is too modern to be explored yet it is not as colourful to be a popular tourist destination. Therefore it does not fit into my 2 travelling motives. Fortunately I met a few local friends there whose warmth and kindness made me discover a new aspect of travelling. The friendship was bonded by a geninue respect and understanding. Now I realise travelling needs not be hectic or comprise with lots of fanfare. A drink by the road side kiosk in the evening, a motor ride and some shared laughter is just as good.

For a few good friends, it is worthwhile to travel a few hundred kilometres.

Desire for happiness

“Do you desire happiness? Answer with honesty.” My friend SMS me.

That question caught me off guarded. “Don’t have answers” I replied.

“Just a ‘YES’ or ‘NO’ answer.” My friend insisted.

I suppose everyone will give a “YES” answer. Who doesn’t want happiness? That makes the question quite redundant and even slightly stupid in the first place. Why ask something when you already know the standard answer?

Only babies laugh openly when they are happy. As a teenager, we laugh at the silliest joke. The mildest remark will make us giggle among our classmates. It was the age of innocence and carefree soul.

As the baby pass gradually being withdrawn from us, so is our laughter. Soon we realise that laughter doesn’t represent happiness. We laugh merely because we are amused. That’s all.

So I rarely laugh heartily nowadays. I learn to contain most of my emotions inside me. I do not rejoice aloud when my health is going well. A new shirt doesn’t make me jump with glee. I don’t clap when my bank shows some extra cash.

The amount of love that I receive from my partner is sufficient to last me 2 lifetimes. I am blessed to have a few good friends who genuinely care about me. There is a decent apartment to shelter me from rain. The freedom I have is more than I could ask for.

Alright, my life has little excitement and almost no enthusiasm. All in all, you can call me jaded. But deep down inside, I am blessed.

Maybe the actual meaning of happiness for a person of my age could be NOT being unhappy. If one desire happiness, he is focusing on things that we do not have, thinking that he will be happy after getting them. Why not just count the things that we have?
So my answer is “No, I don’t desire it. Because I am already living happily.”