Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Lotus - from young to old





Pictures shown here with lotus at stages of young to old. This reminds us about Life Cycle. Every living creature has to go through the process of Birth, Old, Sickness and Death (生,老,病,死). We cannot avoid this cycle and have to face it graciously. More importantly for us is to be a useful person, of no harm to other people, contribute positively to humanity and live happily during our life time.

This is exactly reflected in lotus. It is grown in muddy pond, grows up graciously, cherish the world by its flowers and sow the seeds for future life.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Snowy House



Internet technology has again amazed me. It is giving me chance to view a place that I never set foot on it. The Snowy House belongs to a distant friend of mine whom I seldom meet. We chat in the web more than we did in person. The house really look fantastic to me. Due to vast different in currency exchange rates, I may not have the chance to visit the house physically. Perhaps this friend can sponsor me? Ha! ha!, just joking yah!

Thanks for sharing. See you soon.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Dutch Architecture


You can find Dutch Architecture in Muar. Do you believe it? Well, it is true. There are traces of the Dutch's presence in Malaysia, especially in the state of Malacca. According to history, if I am right, Dutch first landed in Malacca. You can find more of the Dutch Architecture in Malacca which are the favourite tourist spots now. Muar, being the nearest town to Malacca, has some of the traces of the Dutch's presence.

The Dutch culture has somehow influenced the local people's way of life.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

A trip to Muar, Johor, Malaysia






Gary's Garden had a trip down to Muar, a coastal town near to Malacca. We managed to take a few nice shots during the trip and would like to publish these photos to all of you. We visited a friend's house which was renovated recently. We really admired the house and especially like the house's water pond with waterfalls. The waterflowing sound really made the atmosphere soothing and relaxing. The pond is a home to mini koi fish and two turtles named George and Mildred. The interior of the house is tastefully renovated. The family are surely warm hearted and nature lovers.

Another house we visited is full of flowers. The garden is full of flowers and it has lots of varieties not found in Gary's Garden. We wish to thank the couples' hospitality for allowing us to put up two nights with them. The couples are number one garden lovers. The trip to the garden was really an eye opener to us.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Lotus seeds - resemble a shower head?



In appreciation of the support of a blog pal, Kenny Point of Gardening Secret, I decided to post photos of lotus for his viewing pleasure. Lotus is a sacred plant to me as it represents purity. Though it is grown in muddy water, it still can grow elegantly. Its flowers are just facinating and we can feel the atmosphere of calmness and peacefulness when lotus bloomed. When the flower faded, the seed will grow and they are edible. The seeds taste nice and chrunchy. Most Chinese believe the seeds have medicinal values. The lotus roots are well-liked by the Chinese to boil lotus root soup, and believe me, the soup tastes delicious. So, what we can see here is that lotus plant is a very useful plant to all of us. Perhaps Kenny Point may want to try to plant some lotus plants in his garden.

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Bravo! Gary's Garden's Kids





I attended my son's school prize giving day a few days ago. My son received a trophy for his best performance in class. Bravo! son, keep in up. His position in his class has improved from 41st last year to No. 1 this year. This was mainly due to improvement in his proficiency in chinese language, which is the main language being used in school. I wish to thank my wife for her dedication in coaching him to achieve this far. The achievement was a history now and most importantly is the journey ahead. The best efforts from all of us must continue, and not just stop here.

The headmistress's speech during the prize giving ceremony touched on many aspects in moulding a kid. One of them was that "kids are always kids, they never grow up in the eyes of every parent". Do you agree with the headmistress's view? I do not agree. For me, as a parent, our role is to give our best within our mean to our children so that they can grow up to be a person of good characters and can be independent. Our role in this is diminishing as our kids grow from day to day. We must pass the 'baton' to them one day and not keep on holding to it. We cannot treat them as kids forever, even though, in our hearts, we prefer to be like that. Do you agree with me?

Also posted here is a trophy of my daugther, who got No. 1 in her kindergarten class last year. This year, no ranking for her since her new kindergarten does not adopt the ranking system.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Chinese Hokkien Bak Chang



These are Chinese Hokkien Bak Chang or dumplings wrapped with bamboo leaves just out from Gary's Garden kitchen. Thanks to my blogger friend http://preciousmoments2.blogspot.com who leads my wife over to interesting blogs sharing recipes of various chinese cookings. This is the first attempt by my wife in making Bak Chang. I am very proud and satisfied with her achievement.

The ancient story for this Bak Chang was related to a well-loved patriot in China who committed suicide by jumping into a river. The Chinese wish to offer this patriot with food but worried that the food offered my be eaten by fish, so, they taught of a way by wrapping the glutinous rice with bamboo leaves and threw into river as offering for this patriot. The Chinese will celebrate the Bak Chang Festival in a day (I don't know the date) of Lunar calender, but this tradition is slowly forgotten among Chinese.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

A Profession called Hunters


As a nature lover and god fearing person, Gary's Garden is of the opinion that, except when wild animals form part of the food chain of a native, there should not be a profession called HUNTER. The nature is the rightful place of abode for wild animals. We human should leave them in the jungle and should not hunt them for reasons such as profession, food or past-time. These animals have their own family, they may be a child, a father, a mother, a sister, a brother to someone, right? Every hunter should think again, if he or she is a wild animal and shot by a hunter, what will happen? Its family's members will be in sorrow, right? A recent case of tiger poaching in the state of Kelantan, Malaysia, was a disaster to mankind. It reflects the selfishness of a human being. Every single life is precious, irrespective of a human or an animal. If someone kills somebody, he or she will be charged for murder. But, if a hunter kills a tiger, will he be, by right, charged as a murderer also?
Posted here is a picture of a little bird born in Gary's Garden and came back to visit us, how nice!!! This was an achievement to us.

Friday, November 04, 2005

Malay Architecture



These are the replica of a typical Malay house and ponduk (i.e. hut). They can be found in a Malay Kampung (Malay village). The architecture reflects simplicity, friendliness and elegance of the Malays who usually hold 'open house' party to invite friends of all races and faiths to their houses during Hari Raya celebration. The open house concept somehow is adopted by all other Malaysian during their Chinese New Year, Christmas, Deepavali, Harvest Day and so on.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

SELAMAT HARI RAYA





Today is the first day of Hari Raya celebration for all Muslim in the world. After one month of fasting, all Muslim start to celebrate this important event in Muslim calendar. In Malaysia, festival like Hari Raya is celebrated by not just Muslim, but with peoples of all faiths. Perhaps, you can find this festival is celebrated within a Malaysian family which consists of different faiths. This shows the importance of ‘blood relationship’ which bind a family together. We Malaysian are proud in this and just wonder why this can happen in Malaysia (and more interestingly, in a family) but not in some other places. Gary’s Garden believes peoples of all faiths can co-exist as we believe all living creatures have their rights to live in this world. So, why bother what religion he or she adopts? More important thing to do is to live happily in this world, right?

Gary's Garden wish to post a few flowers to reflect the diversity of Malaysian of all faiths and races.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Powder Puff (Calliandra Species)







This is a small to large shrub which has flowers resemble a ladies powder puff. It has become a favourite for nectar feeding birds and bees. We normally describe it as 'Rambutan Flower' as it resemble a rambutan, a fruit well liked in the tropical.

Sunday, October 30, 2005

The Sun of Lotus



Posted here are the first moment of a lotus bloomed at Gary's Garden. It really looks like a sun. Its aroma is the nicest at this moment. When the petals drop completely after a few days (normally about 3 days), the 'sun' will turn green and grows bigger each day. Its seeds taste nice and have medicinal value.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Orgnanised Tour to Kuantan, East Coast of Malaysia



Some time in June 2005, members of Gary's Garden were organising a trip to Kuantan, a serene town in the East Coast of Malaysia. Perhaps you can use Google Earth to locate Kuantan. It was a refreshing trip after hectic workload as an Accountant. Kuantan is a beach town. A beach nearest to town is named Teluk Chempedak. The beach is at a bay and its wave is most suitable for surfing. It is somehow like beach shown in the American TV serial 'Baywatch'. Apart from that, there is a seaside park called Taman Gelora. The park is surrounded by Rhu Trees. This make the park a very cosy and it is resemblem of scenery shown in Korean TV serial. The photo was snapped using NIKON COOLPIX 3700 and was taken from Taman Gelora overlooking the South China Sea.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Internet Technology 亙联网科技



Someone has requested Gary's Garden to post something about internet or IT technology in the website. Initially, I thought that the topic was somehow not related to the site but on second thought, internet technology has enable Gary's Garden to share our view and passion to the community at large and reach out to all of you. Without this technology, publishing or sharing of view is unthinkable. We should be grateful to this technology as the peoples are far apart physically but the technology has made us feel like we are staying next door. It is amazing, right? Inventions of VOIP products like Skype, MSN Messanger, Yahoo Messsanger, Hello, just to name a few, have made the world even smaller. We are not divided by boundaries. So, if the IT technology can made the world bounderless, why should we human demarcate boundaries, right? What do you think? Here, we wish to attach a photo of lotus leaf so to ease your reading.

有人建议我们发佈有关亙联网科技项目的在我们的网站. 起初我们以为这根本没有关系到我们的主题. 可是在想一想, 如果没有这门科技, 本网站根本无能发佈我们的意见与想法. 你以为能?

Herbal Plants



These are the herbal plants collection of Gary's Garden. We were told that the maroon coloured one can be consumed for lowering down our cholesterol level while the other one, which we called them 'Ginseng Leaf' can be used to cook soup. The plant is named 'Ginseng Leaf' as its roots look like ginseng. Some peoples dried them into tea leafs. We were told that both of the plants are grown wild in Indonesia and the Indonesian seldom consumed them. What a watse, right? There are so many cases of heart disease and hunger in the world and yet very few peoples know the quality of such herbs, what a shame, right? Perhaps our scientists can do research on them and contribute to the welfare of mankind. We in Gary's Garden believe that we human should use our resources to discover the potentials of the nature for the benefit of mankind, because we have no other place to go, except earth. We are impressed with what National Geographic did in discovering our nature.

这两样草药是我们所种植的. 我们相信红色的可以用来降低胆骨淳. 另外一个叫人参叶, 因为它的根长得很像人叁. 它可以用来煮荡. 在印尼很普遍, 可是很少人食用. 很浪费是吗? 科学家们应该发觉我们的大自然. 因为地球是我们唯一的家. 我们应该多多支持 National Geographic 所做的研究.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Apple Flower 苹果花


Do you believe apple can be grown in the tropical? Believe me, they are growing in Gary's Garden. Of course, they are ornamental apples and are edible. The apple is rich of vitamin C and my kids love it though it is kind of sourish. You can view the ornamental apple in my profile photo. I will introduce herbs in Gary's Garden in future updates.

你们相信苹果也能在热带地方生长吗? 我们园艺已经成功长出小苹果. 图片显示园艺里的苹果花. 下一回我们会节绍一些药材.Posted by Picasa

Friday, October 21, 2005

Hibiscus - National Flower of Malaysia 马来西亚的国花




Gary's Garden's collection of hibiscus. There are three species of hibiscus in our garden. Hibiscus is Malaysia's National flower and it is common in Malaysia. Traditionally it was mainly red in colour and Chinese called it "BIG RED FLOWER". The photographs were snapped using Nikon Coolpix 3700 digital camera,

这些是马来西亚的国花, 也叫大红花. 在本国是很普遍. 一路来这种花大多是红色的. 所以人们都叫它为大红花.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Hycinth




Gary's Garden presents herewith our hycinth collections. Hycinth is a very hardy plant and survive on water. Some hycinths flower while some don't. The toughness of hycinth resemblems Malaysia's Prime Minister's wife, Datin Seri Endon Mahmood's character, who died today morning. We Malaysian will miss her for a long long time, for sure.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

HOMEPAGE GARY'S GARDEN 以本站设为首页

We, Gary’s Garden will keep our site updated and improved to cater for peoples from all walks of life. We have put in shortcuts to various interesting sites and nice music for your surfing pleasure. If you want to go to interesting and healthy sites, Gary’s Garden is your choice. You may want to homepage Gary’s Garden instead of just bookmark it? Anyway, it is your choice, but you will never regret homepage Gary’s Garden.

江山河园艺将为你们服务. 我们将会为你们带来有趣及有益身心的网站, 讯息及美丽的音乐. 我们会为你的方便着想. 试试看以我们为你们的首页.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Hoya is blooming everywhere 开满了花





Gary's Garden is full of hoya flowers now. These flowers emit nice fragrance especially during dark.

花园里开满了Hoya的花朵, 並且撒发出美的花香.