lunch with mi amigos

aaahh...there's nothing like having lunch in the middle of the field where all you can hear is the sound of birds chirping, smell of fresh air, no deafening siren blaring to you ear and surrounded by two people who don't speak a single word of english. the only communication you had during moment was the occasional eye contact and head nodding.

thursday afternoon in central park

view from the belvedere castle overlooking the great lawn in central park. don't think i need to lie down under the sun to get a tan. its all natural here.

norwegian spirit

saw the norwegian spirit passed by while i was enjoying a cup of coffee at the world financial center just the day. look quite impressive and went by pretty fast too.

irish hunger memorial

went for a walk down by battery park and came across the irish hunger memorial. quite interesting structure and it has an excellent view of jersey city from the roof top of the memorial.

beras naik harga

ok i used to think i can't live without eating a bowl of rice at least once a day. however, i found out that i can actually survive without it. well...not too long though because they will be days when i would crave for some fried rice mixed with chinese sausage (lapchong) and smothered with sriracha hot chili sauce and soy sauce.

anyway, today i packed my lunch from home and i had boar's head turkey wrap with lettuce and honey dijon mustard and couple of mandarin oranges for snack. sounds yummy isn't it? well, since the price of almost everything in the store has risen nowadays and the last thing i would expect is that rice is becoming a controlled commodity in the us. well, I am glad to know that i can survive my day without having to live only on rice. i can eat anything else for meal but, honestly, potato and mac cheese is just not my thing. ok, well, chocolate and ice cream too, i will be just fine without them.

pope benedicto xvi

i left home early just to check out the crowd on 5th avenue who were waiting for the pope. i thought i was going to be the first one there. lo and behold, people were already singing and praying on the side walk.





so, i joined the crowd waiting for the pope to pass in front of us on his way to st.patrick's cathedral. i stood right in front of the plaza, between 59th and 58th street. to make the story short, after a bit of excitement, helicopter flying by and police siren at 9am, the pope and his entourage zoomed by in front us to the cathedral. i was only able to catch the front of the limo.


it was only 9am and i was not going to wait until 1pm. so, i decided to go for breakfast and come back at 1pm. this time i decided to wait for him on 72nd street. the area was not that packed when i got there at 12.30pm but more people showed up as we got closer to 1pm. i would say 90% of the crowd was spanish speaking community and came as far as california.




one crowd down the street were beating the drums and trumpets non stop.
so, as the excitement built up and you knew that pope was going to pass by any time soon when 1/2 a dozen helicopter hovered above you and the drum beat were getting louder.
you couldn't help but get excited too. the side started to get packed and crowded.


and yes, i got a picture of the pope in his pope mobile but can't see his face. i remember thinking while i was taking pictures that i should be looking at the pope instead of focusing on my camera and hope that i got a good picture, unfortnately, i am a bit disappointed with the outcome. see for your self. however, it was a great a feeling to be able to be that close to the pope who was literally 10 feet away from me. hopefully, in the future i would have another opportunity to see him.

i remember...sandakan old market

the old market in sandakan is all gone. when you thought about it, its actually quite sad because it has been there since after the world war II. i guess malaysian have the tendency to tear down any thing that is old and replace it with something that is as ugly as whatever the name of the new building that they built in that area. that particular area where the old godown once stood all the way to the old market should have been gazetted as historical area because of its significant role in the development of the city of sandakan in the early years. agnes keith in all her books had mentioned few times how she used to look down from her house to that area and watched the steam ships docked right along the jetty which i presumed that particular area, and unload their cargo. one can only imagine the hustle and bustle of that area that served as the town center of sandakan at that time. note the last two pictures are the same of the building taken decades apart. the recent picture shows the new building on the left of the photo which, by the way, was built on a reclaimed area.

prince of malaysia

every saturday afternoon during summer, all the rich and famous at the hamptons will gather under the big white to watch the bridgehampton polo match. well...i don't think any of them are really interested in the polo match. most of them are there to enjoy their cocktails and pose for the camera hoping to be seen or noticed in the magazine. i somehow found these pictures and totally forgotten that i was at there in 2004 under the big white tent. and somehow had these pictures taken with the other wannabes at the polo. how japanese was that. but anyway, someone actually told one of the ladies in the picture that i am a prince from malaysia. you can only imagine how many people wanted to talk to me. well, mostly old ladies anyway. but boy, did i have fun that afternoon.

...about yesterday

i was taking picture of the crowd yesterday when i spotted this man. at first i saw a glimpse of his face and realized that he actually look kind of scary. i snapped few pictures of him and waited forever for him to turn around and show his face again. he did finally turn and in split second, i almost missed him and barely had the chance to take his picture.

about shea stadium

by the way..i didn't get to go to shea stadium last week. one of my student came to see me on the day of the game and told me that he needed 2 tickets. so, i figured i just give him my ticket and drop by at shea stadium on my way home and see if they have any tickets available. lo and behold, they sold out and i was without a ticket. anyway, to make the story short, all my students went and had a great time. they had these pictures to share with me.