Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"

I read this book last year, and as far as I recall, it was one of the bleakest books I have ever read. Heck, even the cover page alone looks depressing.

Here's a short review I wrote about it in Facebook:

Probably one of the most bleak and depressing books I have ever read. The book describes a father and son (both unnamed) who are travelling through the wastes of post-apocalyptic America. On the way, the encounter all sorts of people, marauders, cannibals, man's inhumanity and all sorts of depravities that one can expect to encounter in a dying world.

One question that casts a pall throughout the whole book is this -- why even bother surviving at all? There is no hope or redemption in this land. One major struggle they face is always that of finding food. Nothing grows -- often the only source of food is the occasional caches of canned food that they occasionally stumble across. Obviously, with no additional production of canned food, one can only expect such finds to dwindle as time goes by.

The only redeeming grace is the father's love for the son and vice-versa -- they both recognise that the only reason for them to continue living is because of each other. This book challenges one to ponder the reason to continue living -- even if there is no longer any reason to do so.

Now, I hear they're making it into a movie. I had a look at some of the shots -- and what's this shrubbery I see? What's this greenery? Oh the horror! This is supposed to be one of the bleakest landscapes ever. I had imagined a land covered with ash and soot .... and now I see colour?

Hey, this land is supposed to be dead!! No food can be found !! All the father and son team are relying upon for survival is canned food !! Ok, to be fair, there isn't really much greenery, but the leaves on the ground look ... edible.

No matter. I'll be catching this movie once it comes. I hope it is good.

一剪梅

I happened to hear this song as I was surfing around ... This drama is called 一剪梅 or One Plum Blossom (not to be confused with the Korean drama Iljimae!).

I think it was 25 years ago, when I was still a kid. My grandmother was still alive then, and she would watch this drama series which was showing on Malaysian TV. I don't remember the details of the drama, but I can never forget the song ... brings back memories of those days. And the calligraphy is beautiful as well!

Argh! I'm old!

Fascinating Old News Archives

I was doing some research on the Internet when I came upon a treasure load of archives from Time Magazine. Wow!! I never knew that you could actually read old news articles in Time Magazine, all the way back to the early 20th century. Imagine the research value, not to mention how fascinating it is to be able to see how people think all the way back to the 1930s!

The way news was reported in Time Magazine then is so unlike how it is reported now. It was a lot more colorful and humorous back then. Time Magazine in our times seems so staid and boring in comparison. Take for example, an excerpt from an article from Time Magazine on 28 Dec 1931 titled "Strong Policy":

(Some background has to be given here -- back in Sep 1931, Imperial Japan had invaded and wrested Manchuria from China on a rather flimsy pretext.)

Within 72 hours a new Japanese offensive was launched in Manchuria, characteristically at 4 a. m. and unquestionably under direct control of the Sublime Emperor represented by Field Marshal Prince Kanin. From Mukden, the Japanese base in Manchuria, brigade after brigade advanced southward in the dead of night, to be followed at 9 a. m. by roaring squadrons of Japanese bombing planes. Clearly the Japanese objective was to force the Chinese Army to evacuate Chinchow, the only major stronghold in Manchuria not already held by Japanese.

"We will fight to the Death!" General Yung Chen told correspondents. They, remembering the recent headlong flight of Chinese General Ma after he promised to fight to the Death (TIME, Nov. 30), skeptically remarked to each other, "Oh. yeah?"

Poor General Yung Chen! Hopefully he will meet kinder journalists in future.

My curiosity piqued by the actions of General Ma, I searched for the Nov 30, 1931 article and finally found it, aptly titled Rout of Ma. So this is what happened to good General Ma:

The panting retreaters threw away their rifles, coats, hats, canteens, valuable extra pairs of officers' high boots, to run the faster. In the utter Chinese rout General Ma, who had begun the day by promising " I will fight so long as one Chinese stands by my side!" ended it safely some 30 miles ahead of the main retreat.

In the same article, General Honjo, in his attempt to justify the presence of Japanese soldiers in Manchuria:

To demonstrate the independence of these Chinese regimes General Honjo called attention to the fact that the Chinese Government of Southern Manchuria at Mukden had just adopted a budget of their own diligent devising. When correspondents asked the puppet Chinese for a copy of this budget they were told, "Come back tomorrow and you can have it. It has not yet been translated out of Japanese."

Hahaha, what subtle humour! Or another example, the manner in which the words of Ki Inukai, the Japanese premier in the 1930s were recorded:

...... the first interview granted to Tokyo correspondents last week by Premier Ki ("Old Fox") Inukai lost much of its quaint, cackling obscurity, became significant and fairly clear. With a bony forefinger the white-bearded Premier traced an imaginary map of Manchuria on the jade-green cover of the table behind which he sat.

"Manchuria!" he chuckled. "Hee, hee. hee—why, we wouldn't take Manchuria as a gift! We'd have to look after all those 30,000,000 Chinese and feed them, heh. heh. Now the Chinese are a peaceful people. They're not warriors by any means and they really hate to fight. I know the Chinese well. Anyone who knows China's long history, the characteristics of the race, the vastness of the country, must realize that for Japan or any other nation to try to wrest from them any part of their territory would be an impossible task ...... It is the war lords there who have caused all this trouble. The greedy war lords are one of China's greatest drawbacks."

I wish our leaders would go "Hee hee hee" and "heh heh" in the news. Makes them look more human. I think the Japanese premier is a funny guy! Somehow along the way, either our leaders or the people who report about them have lost their sense of humour.

Now, why don't reporters write like this anymore ???

Missions Trip to Cambodia - Day 1

6 Nov 2008

My kind brother Jun Ming has already done a very excellent writeup (much better than what I can ever write) about what we did in Cambodia, so I am not going to write about it again! You can read it here.

What I am going to do however is to add my own thoughts on top of what Jun Ming has already written.

As we had to leave our homes by about 4am in the morning, I decided not to sleep. Thus I was pretty much knocked out when we arrived at the airport. I was expecting to head straight to Phnom Penh. Little did I know that the plane took a little detour to Siem Reap. While we were flying over Siem Reap, I saw what looked like a large body of water.


Picture taken from another site, but this is roughly what we saw.

"Eh? How come there is a sea in the middle of Cambodia?" I thought. I later learnt that it was the Tonle Sap. Should've paid more attention to my Geography teacher.

Anyway, after arriving in Phnom Penh, we boarded the bus that would take us to Battambang at about 10am. We were told that it would be a 3-hour ride .... but ended up taking 7 hours instead. Along the way, the bus stopped three times. We were all very hungry, and were eager to dig our teeth into some delicious Cambodian cuisine ... until we saw this.

Courtesy of Jun Ming

As you can see from the picture, with the exception of the mango and the pomelo, the food weren't exactly uhhh ... what we were usually accustomed to. There were also a lot of houseflies, and that more or less killed my appetite.

So much for lunch! It was pretty much a similar scene at all three rest stops. Kah Ong, the courageous one amongst us, bought a roundish, green-looking fruit. Most of us tried one of the fruit and stopped there -- the brave Kah Ong finished the rest (he later revealed to us that he had a stomach ache after that).

We arrived at Battambang at 5pm (after a looooooong 7-hour ride). Suel Pratt (the lady in orange), the YWAM Coordinator at Battambang was there to greet us.


Courtesy of Jun Ming

Finally, we had some food that was edible !! Yum yum !! When we arrived at the Guest House, the cook at the place cooked us some pretty good food too. For a moment, I wondered if they cooked Chinese food specially for us. But I later learnt that a typical Cambodian meal is actually very similar to Chinese food.

At the Guest House, we were greeted with the loud, deafening blare of music from some really happy neighbours. At moments, it sounded like Cambodian music. At other times it sounded like Buddhist chanting. It was really loud, and I mean LOUD. Anyway, they continued to share their joy with us until 10pm, before the music ended.

The rest of the day is pretty much summed up in Jun Ming's article, which you can read here.

Missions Trip to Cambodia

I have always had a heart for Cambodia ever since I watched the film The Killing Fields when I was eleven years old. Although I vaguely remember the movie, the horrors and the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge against their own people is something that was permanently etched into my young mind. The Khmer Rouge was a Cambodian communist party that ruled Cambodia from 1975 - 1979. One in four Cambodians died during their reign of terror. For Cambodian Christians, it was even worse -- only one out of ten survived the horrors.

Just thinking of all the suffering that the Cambodians have gone through is heart-wrenching. This is the reason why I chose to go to Cambodia for my missions trip. The other reason is because I truly feel blessed by God, and want to bless others in return.

We went to Battambang, a province in the northwestern part of Cambodia (labelled "Batdambang" in the map below), next to the Thai border.



The trip lasted for six days from 6 - 12 Nov. The trip was divided into two parts:

Spending two days in a church in a village about an hour's drive from Battambang city

Visiting orphanages in Battambang city

What an experience it was! I cannot say that I have not been touched by that week in Cambodia. Indeed, God has developed in me a burden for the Cambodians. It has definitely changed my perspective of life too .... A typical Cambodian worker earns only US$ 1 - 2 a day. What little suffering I have to endure in my life becomes so small when one considers the challenges the Cambodians face in their daily lives. I should be contented with what little I have.

It was also a trip where I was able to make a few new friends -- Yee Kheng, Kah Ong, Anne and Haydee, as we spent one week traveling and serving together. Indeed, we got to know each other a lot better as a result of this trip! I will definitely not ever forget this time in Cambodia.

Misplaced Mobile Phone

I know this is a small thing, but still I must thank God for it.

It so happened that I had misplaced my mobile phone (I have no idea where lost it). I realized it when I got home. Immediately, I got down and prayed to God, asking Him to help me recover the phone, and just trusting Him with it.

I tried calling my mobile number -- it was not even on. So I figured it was probably gone forever .... with my phone lists and SIM card. I found myself doubting for a moment -- perhaps God is not going to answer this prayer.

An hour later, my colleague (of all people!) contacted me, telling me that he had my phone. I did not even go to work today. So how did it even end up with him? God truly works in mysterious ways!

God is good indeed!

One Year Hiatus

It has been almost a year since I've updated this blog. So much has happened in the last year! I laughed. I cried. I loved. I hated. I was filled with joy. I was filled with deep sorrow. God has blessed me abundantly. God has humbled me. God has refined me through trials -- I have gone through the valley of the shadow of death.

But God has never abandoned me. Even in my darkest days, He was with me, and I have been deeply humbled by Him.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." -- James 1:2-3

I must confess that there was a time, when I did not really love God. I went to church every week, read the Bible and prayed -- but it was a lifeless Christianity. And if I prayed at all, I had to ask God to help me love Him. Perhaps, this is God's answer to my earlier prayer -- just that it was not how I expected it. Then again, I cannot see how else He could have done it. How do you break a hardened heart? It was just ... perfect.

While in the valley, one always wonders if God is there. When a person goes through severe trials, he can either draw closer to God or drift away. During those dark days, I was in great danger of the former, and I shudder at the thought! I am grateful that God has brought me back to Him.

This one thing I know -- If you truly seek God with all your heart, you will find Him.

Empire of the Sun

I caught Empire of the Sun during my days with Citrix in some hotel somewhere. The movie is about a British boy in Shanghai, who is separated from his parents during the chaos of World War II. He is later captured by the Japanese and sent to the Soochow Creek Internment Camp, where the European prisoners of war are held. The war is portrayed from the perspective of the boy, and how he deals with the world that is crumbling around him. Alas, I was not able to catch the full movie then.

Now, thanks to YouTube, you can catch the movie in full! Just enter the following search terms in YouTube: "Empire of the Sun - n/17", where n can be any number from 1 - 17.

Here's part 1/17 of the movie:



If there has not been a lawsuit against YouTube already, you bet one will be coming up soon -- and it will be to the detriment of us folks out there who would like to catch old movies that are no longer easily found in retail outlets.