Thursday, November 30, 2017

In Memory Of My Silent Reader

On 7th November, I received a surprise email from a silent reader CK from Singapore. The minute I read the first paragraph of his writing, something unseen jumped out of my phone through his email. My hair stood up very fiercely like Christmas trees on my head and I had the most terrible goosebumps ever. My skin all sprouted tiny lumps like a fresh chicken just being plucked all the feathers. Gosh! The mangled spirit just stood beside me and actually grabbed my leg while I was seated on the comfy chair alone in the office's conference room. I read on the email's message and CK was pouring out his grievances over the death of his childhood friend who was just killed in a car accident. In the wee hours, his friend navigated his own speeding Estima which hit the roadside and flipped over. The impact threw his friend out of the car and landed on the road for other cars to run over him to death. He was just 30 years old and this gory accident mangled his whole body. The victim's body had been cremated after the funeral but his badly mangled soul really came to find me. I had no choice but invited this poor wandering spirit to follow me home. I am not lunatic but I can swear that this is all true. The reasons CK got in touch was because he dreamt of his departed friend appearing in his vivid dream where he knew clearly his friend had passed away. He remembered I had a similar encounter when my dead friend came to inform me that he had passed away and had to sadly move on already.......(BLOG) I have been exchanging over 60 emails with CK ever since, from doing prayers and making merits for his departed friend besides talking all the paranormal stuffs and grandmother stories.

Now this recent incident of CK's friend reminded me of another case that happened exactly 4 years ago, in November too. One silent reader from Penang wrote to tell me that her very young son Adrian Lee had just died suddenly after complaining of a severe headache. Adrian's brother took him to see the doctor and was advised to be admitted for further observation. Adrian passed away at the hospital in less than 24 hours. I could imagine the terrible shock, painful loss, sadness and anguish a mother had to face on seeing her youngest child dying before her. She told me that my blog brought so much memories for her as it was like a daily ritual when her young son and her would check to see my blog updates in the morning while having breakfasts. They both enjoyed reading whatever nonsense or paranormal stuffs that I shared. Now that he had gone, the heart broken mother found it so hard to read my blog alone and decided to write to share her griefs with me. My tears flowed down unashamedly like Niagara Falls at my office table as I could feel her deepest sorrow. My office colleagues pretended not to notice me wiping tissues but they were stealing side glances. 

I thought over the matter very carefully on how to reply this very sad mother. I was going away for my vacation the next day and planned to do some prayers or merit making for her son Adrian after my trip. Nothing was certain but I was about to reply her email...... Suddenly, my computer's screen got jammed and the whole desktop vision turned haywire and twisted like kaleidoscope image in colours! I was damn shocked to experience this the first time and heard a soft voice calling my head. It was the boy Adrian himself and he tried to communicate. Again, all my hair from my head, my pubic areas till my toes all stood up like lighted Christmas Trees! I tried so hard to press my keyboard and banged my mouse but nothing happened. I kept mumbling to the boy not to scare me by sitting on my pc's monitor. His frequency actually caused all the distortions on the screen and when he slowly moved, the screen's image also moved. Whooooa!! That was so scary till my balls fell down and any old man could have died of heart attack on my table.

I slowly picked up my balls and guts to compose myself. I spoke to the boy's spirit gently and told him that I would be replying his mother. He should not stop me as I had every good intentions to arrange prayers and merit making for him later. I told him that I was flying to Chengdu the next day and then hike up the beautiful Mount Emei in Sichuan Province of China. I told him that it was already winter and snowing beautifully in Sichuan. I invited him to follow me to visit Chengdu if he wished to. "Now please let me have my PC screen back to normal so that I could reply your mummy", I snorted back. The spirit let go and my computer was back to normal. I replied the mother that I was going overseas and offered my deepest condolence before asking for the boy's particulars and photo. She replied me quickly and attached his photo and details from the Obituary Ad placed in the newspaper. I was so sad to see his very handsome face and what a fate that he had to die so young. My heart was very touched that he was my silent reader for so long and we had never met up.



What happened next??.... 



This boy Adrian's spirit, really followed me up to the plane and flew to Chengdu with me & my wife. He was sitting inside my backpack all the way. My wife saw this little spirit but had no idea that I had invited him along. We stayed at a very huge suite room of the 5 star Rhombus Fantasia hotel which had a separate bedroom, living and walk in closet areas. I would not be able to afford this luxury hotel if not because of their Winter's low season that sent the prices knocking off 70% discounts. The young boy's spirit was happy and comfortable with so much privacy for him to hide himself esp the walk in closets. 

We boarded a bus to another town away from Chengdu to climb up the hill to see the famous Giant Buddha of Leshan which I have blogged HERE



In the above photo, there was a beautiful butterfly that followed me all the way up. I was swinging both hands to play with the butterfly which was at my eye level over the green plants. The boy's soul was happily sitting on it like a taxi so that he need not have to walk up in the winter cold.



I made merits for him by donating to sponsor the new temple's roof tiles. In the photo, I was writing his name on the roof tiles, besides donating cash to the donation boxes. I had to pray and mumble out the merits being dedicated to the soul of the boy. It is always very important that the family should always conduct proper prayers and lots of merit making for the deceased before the 49th day. This is the Law of the Universe and not mere superstitions.

Later, he followed us by bus to catch another bus at the Emei's terminal which was covered by heavy snow falls. There was so much snow everywhere covering the streets and vehicles around the Emei town. The boy's spirit was so excited and very happy to see snow for the first time.


The view atop was simply fabulous and very breathtaking. The heavens opened the clear skies for us to see the panoramic view of the mountain range in Tibet. You can read up from the post of Mount Emei and see the beautiful mountains above the clouds. We relaxed up there for many hours!

Back to the hotel in Chengdu, I wrote an email to inform the mother that her son's spirit had followed me overseas and I actually visited Chengdu and Mount Emei for our pilgrimage trip. I informed her of the merit making and shared all the photos. The mother was too surprised as she found it too hard to believe that her family members had also dreamt of the boy going to a foreign country in Winter. He was very happy and smiling to show he was boarding at the bus terminal with snow everywhere. They saw the dream of the mountains exactly like my above photo and thought that boy had probably gone to heavens. The dates of our trip matched precisely with the date of their dreams. They had no idea what the dreams was trying to tell them earlier.

My friend in KL who kept me in the loop of their email updates with HH The Dalai Lama and his Tibetan Rinpoches, had informed me that he was going to attend a big praying session in India. It was a very huge prayer session presided by HH The Dalai Lama where thousands of monks and devotees would gather in prayers together. The timing was just so perfect and I gave my friend Adrian's photo and particulars for them to bless and pray to deliver his soul to heavens. The parents were so touched and grateful to hear the good blessings and closure for their son. They made a trip to KL together with other family members and gave me a big dinner at Supertanker Restaurant. We met up for the first time and it was a touching & memorable evening.


His Holiness The Dalai Lama




***


Thursday, March 9, 2017

City Wall @ Xi'an - China

It was our second trip to this ancient capital of China which has the most interesting historical sites and mountains. The last trip in 2012, we barely had enough time to visit this famous City Wall of Xian which is the most complete city wall that has survived all the fierce battles in China.

So we made sure we allocated one full day to visit the whole city wall and enjoy the panoramic view! We truly enjoyed riding bicycles around the whole city wall.

Come let's tour the walls now....




1. I was told many times that my past lives were in China &
once fought in many battles alongside the Chinese Emperor's army.




2. This beautiful City Wall's fort was built during the reign 
of Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty 
(Year : 1368-1644)




3. The map covers 13.7 kilometers (8.5 miles) in length 
with a deep moat surrounding it.  




4. The City Gates stand with grandeur and look very majestic 
as a prominent landmark in Xi'an especially when lighted up
at night fall.



5. This solid looking ancient steps of the city wall , 
is ranked as one of the largest ancient military defensive 
systems in the world.




 6. It is very wide and spacious all around. You need to pay
a fee to get inside to enjoy the panoramic skyline of Xi'an city.




 7. There is a booth to rent bicycles and a shop that sells
many types of interesting souvenirs. You can buy from them
at fixed & very reasonable prices.



  
 8. Look at the cute letter box!



9. There are almost a thousand bicycles for grabs!
In Summer the whole place is very hot with big crowds.
That's why we chose winter when the crowd is smallest
and the wind is cold.


10. That's my wife with wrapped face. She cycled very fast
as she has 2 expensive bikes at home and has joined
the inter state cycling in Malaysia!


11. Some outer walls are higher and this side is the inner wall.



 12. This is another City Gate.



  
13. Many bridal couple would come here for photo shoots.




14. All tourists stopped to look at their photography
session with a nice spectacular backdrop.


15. There are several buildings inside the City Wall.


 16. I loved these very old Chinese houses that stood outside the walls. 



17. This is one of the many viewing posts for
looking out at intruders.


18. We stopped a few times to 'Wefie' for remembrance.

  
19. More benches to relax and browse their smartphones.



 20. I spotted this magnificent looking Tibetan Buddhist Temple.




21. The same temple looks huge and lengthy in area size.


22. This is another side of the City Gate.


23. My wife who is a Tai Chi gold medallist, stopped
and did a warm up exercise in this ancient site.


24. It is almost 2 hours and they are still shooting
the wedding photos in the grey weather.


25. These are real solid ancient walls where the soldiers hid to
peek at the enemies.


26. I could see the entire Railway Station Of Xi'an where
we boarded the 24 hour train ride to Dunhuang.


27. It was a victory for me to race across the huge City Wall on a bicycle.
I have prayed in a temple that I will visit Xi'an again.


***



Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Otaru City Of Canals - Hokkaido

I would vote Otaru as the most interesting place to visit in Hokkaido. It is a small harbour city which you could make a day trip from Sapporo by train. We only covered Sapporo, Otaru, Muroran & Chitose towns during our trip.




We walked out of our Sapporo hotel to visit a small Buddhist Shrine
which is located on the next block. Here is the nice entrance
to the shrine.




This is the Amitabha Buddha's Shrine which was closed on that day.





Our hotel is just next block to this Hosui Susukino Train
Station in Sapporo. It is very easy to reach everywhere once
you are inside the train station. We connected our way to the main
Sapporo Station and hopped to the line that took us to Otaru.


OTARU CANAL CITY - HOKKAIDO




It takes slightly over 1 hour by a normal train which passed 
through many picturesque snow scenery and mountains along 
the way. Here at the Otaru Station, there is a Tourist Information
Booth where there was a friendly lady who spoke Japanese,
English, Mandarin and Cantonese!! She advised us to take the
public bus to the end of the bus route and get off.



 My postcard pose at the lovely old buildings with European
architectures during Hokkaido's colonization during the 1800s.




They have many lovely old warehouses and herring mansions that line
along the famous Otaru Canal.





 We had to stop by the world famous Hokkaido Ice Cream parlour.
They have the purest lavender and melon flavours. Too many to choose.



  
Here is my yummy 6 flavoured ice cream! Sluurrpss!!




There are many fresh seafood restaurants along
the many streets in Otaru.



It was my first time seeing Snow Crab alive!


  
The prices scared me!




We took a ropeway (cable car) up to Mount Tengu.



Mount Tengu is a very popular ski resort in Hokkaido.



This is the panoramic view of Otaru Town with its harbours
and the Shakotan Peninsula across the seas.





***





Tuesday, February 14, 2017

68th Sapporo Snow Festival 2017

We just got home after a week long holiday in Hokkaido, Japan. It was a wonderful experience for my wife to see real snow falling from the skies for the first time. She screamed so excitedly like a happy child again. In the past, she had seen plenty of snow in China and even South Korea during our ski trip but the snow didn't fall from the skies then. 


NEW CHITOSE AIRPORT - HOKKAIDO, JAPAN


  
Our overnight flight took over 8 hours from Kuala Lumpur
to Sapporo at Hokkaido, Japan. We had difficulty to sleep well
even with the front row's spacious "hot seats".




 This is the New Chitose Airport which is very huge and
made headlines recently when the China tourists had
a nasty brawl inside with the airport officers over the
unexpected delays due to snow storm.




 They have many interesting facilities inside the airport
such as retail shops, seafood markets, museums,
children's play lands and even a spa with a hot spring
onsen for the public to relax.



 They have ample sitting areas to have coffee or browse
your smartphones with free WIFI which was very powerful.



  
The famous ROYCE chocolate factory in Hokkaido
took up large areas to house their chocolate museum,
cafe and retail shops!

  
There are so many types of chocolates here!




 We saw many cute and lovely cakes, desserts and ice cream
sold in many shops. They are so creative and innovative!



This is one of the many seafood mini markets indifr the airport
that sold all kinds of seafood catch from Hokkaido's famous seas.




 They sold many frozen crabs, fishes, squids and everything
from the ocean..... Yes, inside the airport!



68th. SAPPORO SNOW FESTIVAL 2017




 We took a train from the airport and arrived at this Sapporo's
JR Station which was full of people and excitement inside.




 It is always packed with locals and the thousands of tourists 
who arrive each day to discover Hokkaido.



  
 My wifey outside the Sapporo's JR Station.
It was -3 degrees C.



  
Yours truly posing outside the Sapporo's JR Station.




The snow festival was held in 3 different park areas in Sapporo
but we only visited the main one at Odori park.
They had many stalls selling barbequed seafood, sake
and souvenirs.
 


There were many snow sculptures on display and we came
here because Sapporo's Snow Festival has always been rated
the BEST. It is different from Ice Carvings.



Yours truly with 2 cute Japanese cartoons.




 They even built Donald Trump.




 Everything was so white and would hurt our eyes!
So we wore shades.



You could guess who is this singer?




 The snow man and I.




We made our way walking through their mile long shopping
area underground and spotted this talking robot who was
so talkative, friendly and welcomed everyone in
any language you wished to speak.


  
We stayed for 2 nights at the popular red lights area in Susukino
district and my wife's eyes went wide seeing the hot
GROs wearing skimpy G-strings ogling at their
customers at the full window views of the drinking clubs!


  
We enjoyed so much eating the Japanese barbeque
food which was delicious and hot to keep warm
together with a bottle of sake wine.



  
We toasted and cheered "Kampai"

Happy Valentine's Day 
to all the readers!


***





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