Summary of 2025

JAECOO J7 Test Drive

If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of - Bruce Lee. That's my idol's philosophy on Life and I've been following his principle, which in short means, Live as if tomorrow is your last day. It's been an interesting year, yet again, as I happily wander about in search of food and experiences, and made new friends along the way, to enrich my life with knowledge and memories that i can look back and cherish when I'm no longer mobile or for those who may want to read about my Life. Nothing planned but to cherish the adventures, learnings and opportunities as they come.

Studio Shot

January - Pickleball is the current trend and I started my year playing at the local private sports centre with friends. It's not difficult to play if you've had swung the tennis racket, played ping-pong and badminton. Similar but not the same! The Kitchen, being the no-go zone, is a 'dangerous' place to be - to dink or be 'dinked'. A group of photographers from China organised a professional photography session and the photo on the right is the result of it. Chose 5 out of 70 shots as each shot costs RM70.00. Distributed mandarin oranges to the community as part of the activities of MPP Zon 12, a residents' group formed to assist the MBSA Councillor. Met fellow environmentalists at the symposium organised by the Department of Environment at Whyndham Hotel, Klang. One of the topics shared was the country's industrial and township planning. It was an eye opener for me, knowing that such deep thought had been given to separating the homes from the factories.

Hainanese Clan Gathering

February - Rode to Sabak to attend a friend's son's circumcision event and had a delicious meal of Malay cuisine. After the 2.5 ride, it was a relief to take a rest. Still in Chinese New Year mood, went to gathering of fellow Hainanese friends at Datuk Sri Foo's residence, to have fun and laughter over food and drinks. Brought the family for a once a lifetime experience at sailing a yacht, organised by the Royal Selangor Yacht Club under the program 'Everything That Floats'. Attended 3 funerals and the month ended with successfully obtaining the letter from Puspakom to clear the replacement car engine, for updating JPJ to issue a new car ownership grant. It's possible without the runner's service but I had to visit Puspakom four times, which cost me RM209.54 in total.

KKTownhall Meeting

March - a Townhall meeting organised by ADUN Kota Kemuning Preakas, was held to brief residents on the progress of amenities & services rectification works and infrastructure improvement plans. It's the fasting month and a Buka Puasa gathering of friends was held at Kota Permai Golf & Country Club. To experience more of the community, a massage session was arranged at a resident's beauty enterprise and it was a good experience with the special hair wash recliner bed complete with face and leg massage. Now I begin to appreciate pampering one's body, to show gratitude to the perfect body that I have, not being handicapped in any way.

Durian @ Raub

April - what's Malaysia if there's no durian consumption, right? This calls for a ride to Bentong, Pahang and we enjoyed two fruits before making our way home. Putra Height's PGU gas pipeline explosion occurred on 1.4.25 and I couldn't believe that such a catastrophic event could happen close to where I stayed. A week after leaving MPP Zon 12, joined as a volunteer with SERVE Selangor to help clean up the disaster area of Putra Heights. Attended a Hari Raya gathering of residents at Taman Sri Lembayung and a good one hour of gaiety over delicious Malay cuisine. Another funeral to attend. Health is important and a visit to a physiotherapist to experience the electromagnetic and laser heating treatment for muscle related issues, was a eye opener for me and I appreciate this new knowledge where technology is able to assist the body in recuperation. Not forgetting the staycation at Morib.

Food Tasting @ Crowncrust

May (Part 1) - arranged for a session to test drive the Proton e.MAS7 and an exhilarating ride with the almost inertia-less acceleration and creature comforts within the car. An article was contributed to Weekly Echo. Two weeks after attending a funeral, accepted an invitation to a friend's son's wedding and had the chance to experience an Indian ceremonial wedding. Learn To Sail, an event organised by the Royal Selangor Yacht Club, a day's training on the waters of Port Klang, showed me the challenges of finding wind to sail and the technique of keeping to the navigational route on water, which is very different from driving a car. Helped with recording niece's ROM on camera and had a good collection of memories recorded digitally. 

Dr. Richard Chan

May (Part 2) - a drive to Kuala Lipis, Pahang was arranged after an invitation from a fellow photographer friend who's also the popular dentist in this town. Indulging in photography as a personal hobby and promoting the places of interest and activities within this township, he certainly have a mission in Life, besides spreading God's words. A hiking session to the Forest Reserve was arranged with Appu, a soft spoken Indian man about 60 years of age. To access the starting point of the hike, we had to take a boat ride across the fast flowing and wide Sungai Jelai. Going inside the estuary, we were shown interesting rock formations and the boat glided through a low roof cave. Elephant foot markings were seen (1st time for me) and the bat cave was in complete darkness, with the bats fluttering around us in the dark as they were surprised by our presence and odour of guano completes this cave experience.

JPT Writing Class

June - learning to write comments about politics sans emotional attachment, is a good skill to have and Liyana Marzuki, a former Deputy Public Prosecutor, taught us the way to express our thoughts in a neutral manner, during a sharing session under her brand 'Jangan Pajak Otak' - JPT. The advanced writing class was held in October this year. A visit to Rumah Papan in Pandamaran, showed us the idyllic life in a village, with homegrown vegetables and fruits. We were exposed to Gac fruit and we enjoyed a drink made out of this fruit. The fruit is orange in colour and looked like a slightly elongated grapefruit. Another health service experience was held at an infra red sauna at Gamuda Walk. A dry sauna in a booth with infra red panels at the sides, provided the deep penetrating heat to the muscles, as a form of pain relieve treatment. Compiled my thoughts on a memory of life in Bangsar.

Kuching, Sarawak

July - Writing is a habit I've a strong interest in and another article goes to Weekly Echo. Started the month by attending a free health check session organised by Alpro Pharmacy. AI based retina check revealed high blood pressure issue. Hmmm. A dinner treat by niece at the Crocodile Farm Seafood Village Restaurant was a nice surprise. Four months before the SPM starts, went to school to collect son's report card and received advice from his class teacher. Mum, it's been 4 years since your passing and this month, we remember you by conducting an anniversary prayers. A happy ending for the month as I joined my friends in Kuching for a 3D2N trip where the highlight was the kayaking adventure, paddling through Category 1 waters, with the forest canopy providing a cool shade as we raced each other and experienced 2 sections of rapids, the fun captured digitally on camera by the adventure company's photographer.

Pickleball @ TofuRally

August - joined a Pickleball group and learned a lot by playing with the better players. It's not a difficult game but there's combative and defensive skills to learn. The community representative invited me over for a Bubur Asyura event at Taman Sri Lembayung. Helped with stirring and cooking the cultural porridge. Owner of Hainan Village invited me for a food tasting session and we exchanged opinions. Jeffrey, a JAECOO car showroom representative, gave me the experience of driving a new car model. Premium continental car experience at SEA level of pricing. It's been 4 months since the Putra Heights explosion and fire, went to meet a friend to inquire about his welfare and his sharing of experience over the disaster. More pickleball at Play@bkgcr followed by a trip to Kluang to wait for the Agung's arrival on the ETS train at this new station. This Pickleball month ends with a session with the TofuRally group, administered by the owner of Eesoy Kota Kemuning. Not forgetting the family as I returned to Malacca to meet brothers for a get together and updates on each other.

With Sara & Family

September - daughter had a first trip to Pulau Ketam with her college mates. Trusting her to take care of herself and practising independence. Met with a long lost friend from Singapore who came down with her family. 28 years zoomed past and we caught up for updates and meals. A cousin had her house warming in Nilai and family members met up. A friend had the idea of using the community badminton court to practise pickleball and I supported his suggestion by gamely meeting up for practise during weekends. Signed up a health wellness package with The Living Centre, investing RM10,000 to evaluate whether it's a dubious package for the gullible new patients.

Moto Maniac - MBTK Trail

October - a 10 years thought realised by walking the elevated pathway to Taylor's College, starting from the BRT station at Sunway GEO. Motorcycle riding adventure is always welcomed and we tried the motorcross bike and trail organised by Moto Maniac called Mad Bastard Trail Killer. Costs about RM300.00/pax. Attended first session of ECP & Bemer by The Living Centre. There's 35 sessions of ECP in total. Celebrated 22 years wedding anniversary over dinner and I had purchased a new ring for wifey. Liyana Marzuki shared detailed strategy to express political thoughts amidst the attacks by cybertroopers in JPT's Advanced Class. The month of Deepavali, attend MP Klang Ganabatirau's open house, which has been an annual event for me. Celebrating culture and food with friends. Applied for Touch n Go's Visa card and it's quite a joy to use this debit card, which deducts expenditure money from the e-wallet account. Another method of managing my finances. Tried my luck at submitting claims from late father's Allianz insurance coverage and wondering how much did 40% allocation represent.

ILMUChat Community

November (Part 1) - Ever since Ronin 2 was formed, haven't rode with them and met them for the 1st time on 1.11.25 for breakfast, our common interest being motorcycle riding. The new pickleball court at Kota Permai Golf & Country Club looked inviting with pink colour courts, so it deserved a try. Participated in an ILMUChat pre-launch review and feedback, organised by YTL AI Labs, Malaysia's LLM trained on local language and data. The event was held at Moxy Chinatown one weekday night. It's a privilege to be given the opportunity to participate in a national movement.

Uncle From Australia

November (Part 2) - A few days later, paid a visit (my first) to the Singapore Embassy to submit my application to close the CPF account as I no longer work there and having received an e-mail from CPF last April and a reminder in October the same year. Yup, I had procastinated for over a year and rallied over the struggle to complete the form after successfully finding the supporting documents e.g Singapore PR IC, CPF letter (24 years ago), old passport bearing the Singapore PR stamp, etc. The money was banked in after a wait of 11 days although they had mentioned a processing period of 12 weeks. I've always believed in doing things for people while they're still alive and hence, spent a day driving my uncle around to visit relatives as he came visiting from Australia. Everyone is getting old and it's important to create the images for posterity, for memory recollection at a later date when souls have departed to the next world. Tried the public transportation network from Sunway GEO to Kota Kemuning and it was a hop from the BRT to the LRT before getting onto the free feeder bus by the Selangor government, to complete the journey.

Premium Coffee @ HisBrew

December (Part 1) - Received compensation from Allianz for father's insurance payout after his departure. Photography is my hobby so it's only natural that I capture my niece's wedding ceremony in digital format, freezing the moments of eternal bliss. I always say - take 100 shots, there will be at least 5 good ones, and I proceeded to shoot 1,600 frames and finalising the summary at 398 shots. The joy of being debt free was realised by paying up the balance of the 2nd house loan, clearing it 15 years ahead. Brought ADUN Kota Kemuning Preakas Sampunathan for a premium brewed coffee at HisBrew, a local roastery, for a friendly chat and update. The next day, experienced my first manicure and pedicure treatment at the 2 month's old Nguyen Beauty V'lage as there's a promotional offer of RM109.00. Anything goes to obtain experience, right?

Hakka Villa, N9

December (Part 2) - the final event of the year would be this annual family gathering to celebrate mother-in-law's birthday. She's 85 this year. A drive to Kg. Pantai, Negeri Sembilan and struggling up the 100 metres muddy and slippery slope before reaching the paved road to the Hakka Villa, our abode for the night. Designed in a circular manner, there's 4 spacious bedrooms and we had a fun BBQ on top of this hill, with wind so strong that there's no need to fan the charcoal while setting up the briquettes to burn. The picturesque terraced plantation sets the mood for a serene getaway from the city.

I've certainly had fun with 2025 and anticipating a better 2026, with more fun and laughter.