My mother defeated the COVID19 virus and is back home

 A post I made on Facebook a few days back.

Our Ima is finally back home and happy. 

We did not even have time to mourn the passing of our Baba, our Ima was hospitalised the same day. It was my childhood friend Dr. James Elangbam who convinced me to have my mother hospitalised. We thought that she would be in for a couple of days but in the end, it turned out to be a roller coaster ride of 21 days – emotionally, mentally and physically, especially as we are all so far away. It was like a Korean drama – my wife corrected me; it was more like a Hindi movie with a happy ending.   

She was initially diagnosed as asymptomatic, and the doctor expected her to be discharged in a few days but later her oxygen saturation or SpO2 levels dropped and she had to be put on oxygen. Later she became so weak, that she could not get up let alone walk to the bathroom. At one point, Dr. Goldie was visiting her and found that Ima’s SpO2 levels had actually gone down to 70 – something really serious for those who are not aware. Then, there was the problem of her blood sugar which was erratic – sometimes really low and then shooting up. Just a couple of days ago, she literally collapsed, and it was Che Thoi, who had the presence of mind to quickly feed her some food and alert the nurses.  She slowly recovered and we really must thank Che Thoi, our cousin, who really took great care of her. 

Anyway, we are really glad that she is out of the hospital finally. She is not out of the woods just yet but when they last checked her SpO2 levels before leaving the hospital, it was 99 (which is good) without oxygen support. 

There is a long list of people who helped us reach this point. First of all, I would like to thank the Almighty God who opened the hearts of so many people to help and guide us. Dr. James was among the few who got back in touch with me when I reached out to many of my doctor friends on Facebook. He along with Dr. Reena Arambam, part of the RMC colony gang, helped us to get Ima into Shija Hospital. Dr. Reena was in constant contact with us, even when she was down with dengue. Vimala Rajkumari who helped us to get Ima a room at the hospital. Ka Meghraj who was always there with us – advising and listening to us. This has brought us close to our cousins Che Thoi, Suranjoy Singh Loitongbam, Asangbam Satyabarta Singh, Sonalika Khoirom and Dipu Khoirom. Our Aunts Nene Mutum Hemabati and Nene Tondon. We don’t know what we would have done without them. We cannot forget Newmai and Rose who took care of Baba during his last moments. I also reconnected with Dr. Ashangbam Vivekananda Singh, through Dr. James. Thanks so much for the oxygen concentrator. 

Last but not the least, our spouses Ezlika Ghazali, Fred and Sumit Taluja and our children, for supporting us during these few tough weeks. 

Please forgive us if we missed anyone here. I know a lot of friends and family prayed for her. 

We will not forget your kindness.  May God bless you.

Dilip, Juliana & Diana 

Tok Tan's Clan family day at Sarang by the Brook

Last weekend, joined the rest of my wife's extended family (Tok Tan's clan) - all 40 of us, for a get-together at Sarang by the Brook at Kuala Kubu Bahru. It is about and hours drive from our house in PJ.

This is a unique hotel made of used containers in the edge of the jungle with a nice pool in the middle of the compound. As they say, it is not really the venue but the people you are with which matters. We had a great time.

Also learnt a lot of new things about my wife's family background, especially about her grandfather who was once a jailer in Changi prison in Singapore under the British and later under the newly formed country of Singapore. However, he decided to come back to Malaysia and as a result was not able to get his pension from the Singapore Government. 

Apparently he was really strong and a master in silat (the martial arts which originates from the Malay peninsula), Jujitsu and Akido - the later two which he learnt from the Japanese during the Japanese occupation of Malaya. 

It is a nice concept but it could do with a bit of maintenance in the rooms and around the place. Things are starting to look a bit dated and beginning to fall apart. Was a bit worried that it would be a bit hot inside the rooms, even with the air conditioning as there was no insulation but fortunately it rained in the evenings and it was actually cold. 

Most of the cooking was done on Thermomix. An amazing hi-tech cooking tool - will write a review about it later.

Renting a house - the only option for now.

Sometimes I find that many from the Baby Boomer generation are quite clueless with some of the issues that the current generation face.

Quite recently I was having a chat with an uncle and he was shocked when he learnt that we were paying RM2000/pm as rent for our house. He asked why I did not buy a house instead. The house I stay in has a market price of about RM1 Mil. Paying about RM2000pm, I can only afford a 2+1 condo costing about RM400K in the outskirts of the city with a down payment of around RM40K + extra charges around RM20K upfront for lawyer's fees, etc.

I guess most of them do not realise this because many of them already have a house which they bought a long time ago when owning a landed property was not a dream but something you could achieve with a bit of hard work.

Now, if I wanted to buy a landed property around PJ, I would have to cough up around RM6K every month for nearly 25 years. More than half my salary and I will be probably be retired long way before the end of 25 years.

In other words, I can only dream of a house in Kelana Jaya, PJ. So renting is the only option for now unless I come by some good fortune.

Found this great link which asks you: "Are You Financially Ready To Buy A House In Malaysia?"

End of year road trip

We recently went on one of the longest road trips I have ever driven.

First we drove up to Lumut to pick up my daughter who had been in a camp at Pulau Pangkor. It was a distance of nearly 200 KM.

From there we then drove to George Town, Penang, which was approx. 180 KMs. We stayed a night at The Northam All Suite Penang on Gurney Drive. A "luxury hotel|" which did not really live up to our expectations. Bit dated decor, old TV with bad reception and a jacuzzi that did not work. I don't know why but I did not complain despite the fact that it was one of the most expensive hotels I had ever stayed in. Maybe I was too tired or because it was the among the few places available during the holidays.

On the bright side we did not stay much in the Hotel and the highlight of the trip was a drive to Batu Ferringhi and dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, Penang.  My daughter was quite excited as it was her first visit to a Hard Rock Cafe anywhere.

It was crowded and we did not have any reservations but as we were about to drive away, the guy at the gate directed me to staff parking which had a few spaces. It was packed and we were asked to wait. We left our contact details and went to their shop to browse around. And as usual ended up buying a lot of their branded merchandise.

We then drove up to Kuala Perlis (approx. 180 KMs) and took a ferry to Pulau Langkawi (about 1 hour and 15 minutes) .

At Langkawi, we met up with my my in-laws who had flown there. We stayed at a house together. Not very comfortable but it was OK. Did some sight seeing and also discussed some potential future investment.

The highlight was the boat ride to the Kilim Karst Geoforest Park (Kuah). It was the first time I saw a monkey swimming in the sea (getting peanuts thrown by tourists). A money actually climbed into our boat and the kids were feeding him peanuts. Also saw the sea eagles after which the Islands are named as well as some bats in a cave.

Finally it was time to go back. However, we were way too tired as the traffic back to KL from Kuala Perlis was really bad and at some places we actually did not move for several minutes. We then decided to take a break at Ipoh (approx. 280 KMs). My wife booked online via her mobile phone and we stayed at the Impiana Hotel for the night - again quite dated but quite comfortable.

Called room service and my food was delicious but my sis-in-law was quite annoyed that her chicken was not fully cooked and we complained. The hotel refunded us the cost of that dish when we checked out (but only after my wife had a "long chat" with the lady at the reception.

We finally set off and reached our house about 2 and half hours later - a distance of nearly 195 KMs. Fortunately we set out in the morning and missed some terrible traffic jams later the same day.

I have to say, after more than 1000KMs, 3 hotels and one home stay, it was amazing to be back home and to sleep on my own bed. 

Back in Malaysia 1: Housing and Driving

After eight years in the UK, we packed our bags and moved back to Malaysia. It has been slightly more than a month now and our years in the UK already feels like a dream.

Our first priority was to find a place to live. The first few weeks were pretty hectic. We were in my in-laws and lived out of our suitcases until we finally found a house to rent nearby after looking at several condominiums and houses. The agents wanted to know all kind of personal information, namely our ethnicity, our occupation, number of kids, etc., etc. Apparently, several landlords will not rent out their places to people of a particular ethnicity. This was something shocking as we did expect this in multi-ethnic Malaysia. We did not have this kind of issues a few years ago. Maybe an area of research interest for my sociologist friends. Compared with our small house back in Coventry, the house is massive and some rooms are still empty. Unlike other Malaysians, we did not bring back furniture and have to buy everything new.

Skyscrapers have come up everywhere. New highways and flyovers as well. I now need a sat-nav while driving as I am not familiar with some of the roads any more. Some of our favourite hang-out places have disappeared or have moved while others have not changed at all.

Talking about driving, it may be my imagination and years of driving in the UK but the drivers now seem to be more aggressive here and will break the traffic rules if they can get away with it. I have a huge issue with people who simply do not use their side indications while changing lanes or cutting into your lanes. One of my friends told me that a lot of drivers are so selfish that they speed up when you indicate to change lanes or move in from a side road. I do a lot of defensive driving now and will give way to other drivers, sometimes annoying my wife a lot. May be I am more mature now and I just want to take it easy and get to my destination and home safe.

Noticed a lot of foreign auto brands on the roads - I may be mistaken but seems to be more Toyotas and Hondas on the roads as compared to Proton cars now. And every 2nd car is a Perodua Myvi - the most popular model for now. Also seems like there are a lot of luxury brands - mostly older model Mercedes. But the fact is that there are lot of cars on the roads. I noticed that some houses have 5 cars parked out in the front. We have 2 in front of ours - my dad's car which I am using and my wife's new car, which we just got day-before-yesterday. Until the public transport improves, I guess more and more people will be using their own cars. A trip from my in-laws house to our house just 7 minutes away, can sometimes take up to half-an-hour. Definitely cannot rely on the estimated times given by my sat-nav.

Anyway, that was in brief about the housing and driving issues we faced. I will be blogging more about life here in Malaysia.

West Midlands Safari Park - 3rd Visit

This was our 3rd visit to the Safari Park - this time with my sis-in-law and her family.

Not sure why but this time, we saw fewer animals but we had fun.

WARNING: Loads of pictures coming up.

Noah's ark

See how huge that Rhino is

Ostrich

Here you are allowed to feed the animals

You are not allowed to feed the camels. They have a nasty bite. Looks smug, doesn't he or she?

My daughter tackling the wall. Much better than last time.

Hungry Hippo

Two lost kids

Trip to the highlands 2013 - 2: Great Glen, Scotland

Updated 22/8/2013 with more pictures

Some more pictures from our trip to the Scottish highlands during the Easter break.

This was a short trekking trip from the Great Glen Water Park, where we were staying, to The Eagle Barge, a floating restaurant at the South Laggan Locks. The weather was great and the distance (about 1.5 miles) was just right for the kids. It was my son's first trekking trip as well.

The path was really nicely maintained with some great views of the Caledonian canal.














Moss on the ground






Boats passing by