Malaysia of Yesteryear (In Videos)

2011 Pan Asian Jiu Jitsu international.

Just a short note here. About 12 of us from the academy found ourselves in Manila on June 18-19, for the 2011 Pan Asian Jiu Jitsu international competition. At the ripe old age of 40 I competed against some younger guys. I only had 2 matches : won the 1st one and lost the 2nd one.

The team performed beyond expectations with a total haul of 15 medals including 4 Golds. Team work and camaraderie was excellent and played a huge role in the team's success. A word of thanks also goes out to our coach Marcos Escobar for cornering all of us during our fights (and for enduring our silly mistakes during the fights) AND to the other team members who although did not join us in Manila, gave us their time in helping us prepare.

Ling Sen Tong Temple

Took a drive to Ipoh this morning for work and on the way back I decided to stop by the Ling Sen Tong Temple, a Taoist temple located at the foot of a limestone hill just outside Ipoh. Apparently this is the first of 3 temples located on the same stretch of the road or shall we say on the same side of the Gunung Rapat.

I've taken a few shots of the temple with my handy Nokia N8 and believe me the pictures do not do justice to the place which are way nicer. Except for a few visitors, the temple grounds were generally empty

Three famous characters from Journey To The West

This is the neighbouring Nam Thean temple

On the grounds of the temple itself you will find many swiftlets. The nests of some species of swiftlets are built entirely from threads of their saliva, and are collected for the famous Chinese delicacy bird's nest soup. Check out the video below of the swiftlets nesting on the temple arch.

If you are interested, here's the map to the temple location :


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You Are What You Eat

When it comes to food, Malaysia is the place to be.

Malaysian Hospitality

It goes without saying that we Malaysians are well known for our hospitality. Usually if the season is right, we bring our foreign friends to have a go at the King of Fruits aka the Durian, and usually the results are hilarious as you can attest from the above video.

This time round we have our friend Prof. Thiago 'Monstro' Borges who hails from Brazil. Despite what you see in the video, I am sure deep, deep, deep, deep down he really likes Durians and can't wait for the next time we have another go.




It also goes without saying that Durians will energize you like nothing else. It even gives you Capoeira skills...hahaha.