Update on bad news

Well...he didn't wake up. I was told he passed away this morning and the family is donating some of his organs.

Yesterday around 1:30pm I received a call. The doctor had declared him brain dead and moving him out from the ICU. And the family had to decide whether to remove him from the machine. I said to my friend, "miracles do happen, right?"..."Maybe he will wake up."

I had intended to visit him after work that day. But with such news, I wasn't sure if I should wait. I asked permission from my boss to visit him. I needed to bring a colleague with me. I somehow wasn't sure I could do this alone. Thank God..boss understood and agreed. I left office at 2:30pm. So many things crossed my mind while I was driving.

Steven is not a very close friend of mind. And yet to say that we aren't close at all is also not true. We would stay out of touch for months at times. We hardly meet. But each time when he calls, he would tease me and make me burst into laughters.

I remembered when my dad was so sick and admitted to Selayang Hospital. I was there to look after my dad. He came and gave me moral support. He accompanied me to lunch. When he left, the specialist broke the family some bad news. The doctor had told us to bring my dad home. I was completely broken. And I called him. He was the one who advised me on what to do next. He was the one who gave me the moral support.

Yesterday, I would say was one of the worst days in my entire life. I got to the hospital and saw him surrounded by his family members. They were all crying. His ex-partner who was there told me that the family has decided to remove him from the machine but he was reluctant to go. I was dumbstruck....."You mean Steven said he refuse to go?" The guy said no. Steven is brain dead. He is communicating through a medium. Then only I realised there was a medium seated next to him.

His sisters and mother were all crying. Even my colleague who went with me, who knew not of this man also could not contain her tears. Her sister asked if he is willing to donate his organs to which he agreed. And the family kept persuading him to let go.....they assured him that all will be well taken care. The siblings said they will look after their mom.

Steven is not married but has 2 daughters aged 8 & 4 with a woman. The "wife" was there. She promised to look after their children. She said.."I know these are the 2 whom you loved the most. Don't worry I will take good care of them". With that the "wife" went out to the waiting area and brought the 2 girls. She told them to hug Daddy and to call Daddy.

Then she served tea to his motherwhich usually in a Chinese tradition, it means accepting the person into the family. In this case it is considered she has been accepted as a daughter in-law by the family. Her sister was telling him what has just taken place.

Then the medium speaks again. The medium said not everyone is here. There are a few more people which he wanted to see and he named them. I waited for a while more and then I walked to him and spoke a few word to him. I stroke his arm and it still felt warm. Then I left.

It was and still is very devastating to me. I wished I had stayed longer. I wished I had said more things to him. I just cannot believe he is gone.

Rest In Peace, Steven. May God bless your soul. Amitabha.

Bad news!

I wanted to continue to blog about my Bali trip today but I couldn't. Just a few minutes ago, I received a call. The caller said, "Susan, I have bad news for you". I held my breath, not daring to breathe.

I have been receiving nothing but bad news lately.

Exactly 3 weeks ago, my colleague, a bachelor who lived alone died in the wee hours of the morning from a heart attack. What a shock that was. I woke up at 6:45am only to receive an sms from another colleague at 6:50am informing of his death. He called this colleague of mine at 4am asking for prayers as he said he had chest pain. A few minutes into praying, he was gasping for breath and shrieking in pain. Next was silence. My colleague rushed to his house. Shouting aloud his name when he got there, the whole neighbourhood actually woke up. He used the neighbour's balcony and climbed into his house, only to find the house in darkness. When he got to the bedroom and turned on the lights, he was already gone.

2 weeks later which was actually just a week ago, MJ died. When a friend called me at 7am that morning to break the news, I was neutral. I didn't feel anything. Then slowly when I drove myself to work, I cried. Geez...MJ is gone...forever. He was looking forward to his comeback. Even the title of his tour explains. "This Is It Tour". Adding salt to the wound, the radio stations were paying tribute to him, airing all his numbers. It made me more sad when I listened to You Are Not Alone, my fav number. Till today, I still cried when I read about him. All the news that were slashed on to him were meant to tarnished his image and these culprits certainly did a good job.

2 days ago, my aunt came down from Kelantan. She had not been well and went for a check. The hospital found a "growth" the size of about 5cm on her liver and told her they do not know what it is and said to come back again 3 months later for another check to determine if the "growth" has differ in size. Hate to say this...but heck...WTF...?? Anything can happen in 3 months! Do we wait and go back 3 months later and then to be told that this is end stage cancer? What is this doctor saying?? It's a human life here....geez.....Anyway, she is here for another check and will be getting her report tomorrow. From the look of the scan, it doesn't seem good. Pray that there is cure to her problem. Pray that a miracle will happen.

Back to the call which I received a short while ago. A friend called to inform that our friend collapsed during a meeting at his office today and is now in a coma. It seems chances of survival is very slim. There is blood clot in his brain. He is in ICU now. I must make a visit to him tomorrow. Pray that he will wake up.

Just about a month ago, my neighbour passed away. Every morning I will pick up his daughter and send her to school together with my son. They are both the same age. I can see all his 3 children have very good relationship with him. If he is not working outstation, he will take his children to the market, and fetch them back from school. He died of a heart attack in outstation. When I received the call at 2:30pm on that faithful day, I told my mom...no..it can't be true. Maybe my son had heard wrongly. I said pray that it was a mistake. When I got home that evening, I saw canopies already been set up outside his house. What more could that mean? He has 3 young children. The oldest aged 10 followed by 9 and 7.

God.....why is this happening? It feels like some kind of punishment to me. Will I have to be here to watch my friends slowly depleting one after another? Please...I don't think I can take anymore of these.

Bali Tour - Part 4

Still on Day 1, from the wood carving factory, we went to Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary in Ubud.

As usual, we were warned about what the monkeys can do. We had to be very careful with our bags and cameras. These creatures are known to snatch them away. To be honest, we weren't very keen when we heard we need to purchase tickets to get in. (Ticket costs Rp15,000 for adult and Rp7,500 for a child). I mean, after all, it is only monkeys.

But on the other hand, this place is one of the tourism spots. Since we were already there, might as well take a look and see how Bali monkeys look like.

At the entrance, a lady was selling bananas, costs about Rp6,500. Supposedly for feeding the monkeys. As she waited for business, she fell asleep. She must have realised that we were snapping her picture and she woke up. Kind of pity her. She must be tired. Pregnant and needed to sit there throughout the day just to make a living.

Standard of living in Bali is very low.

As we walked in, the monkeys came to us. They were big monkeys. Some kind of like sneaked behind us. My cousin got so scared, she hugged her bag and froze each time she sees a monkey walking towards her. She even refused to hold any of the bananas. 1 monkey just came forward and snatch a banana from Edrik. No joke..I was getting pretty nervous too. I started asking myself if this was a good idea after all.

As we walked further in, we noticed some of them play in groups. Our tour guide explained that they have their own gang and territory. Suddenly, we heard some shrieks. We turned and saw a few foreigners running away from some monkeys. The monkeys were fighting. One must have crossed over to the other's territory. Very gungho...I tell you.

Unorganic bin. Hehe....pretty interesting.
Monkey Forest is very big. Along 1 side of it is a cemetery.Also in the forest, is a temple. The gate was locked. Apparently females are not allowed to enter this temple.

As were leaving the forest, we saw some monkeys about to take their bath.

Bali - Part 3 - Official tour now begins

Our first stop was to the batik factory. I wasn't impressed with the end products simply because they are being sold in USD and it is very expensive. So I decided to walk out of the selling area and went over to a group of people who were working on the batiks.

The wax which is always kept hot with low fire so that it remains liquidified.

A woman waxing the batik. This process is done so that in the later part when ink is applied onto the material, the wax will prevent the ink from smearing unnecessarily to other parts of the cloth.

Hand painting the batik once waxing process is completed.

Halfway waxing, this lady stopped and did something else. She was kind of weaving the coconut leave.
And the outcome is this. I soon found out that this is like a bowl for offerings to their gods. They would usually place flowers, tiny biscuits, some fine leaves and then a joss stick. They would pray at the entrance of their houses or shops. After that they place it on the floor. Practically everywhere I went, I see these. Some has got more simple design. This is the best design I have seen so far.

Next, to the silver factory. Almost all the places has statues like this at the door front. It is also some kind of dewa which they pray to. In Bali everyone is fond of using flowers.

Even the dewas...the Balinese placed fresh flowers on them. And a lot of these dewas has a cloth wrapped around them. Like a sarong. But what does it symbolise...I do not know.

A woman at the silver factory working on a pendant. I must admit it is a very, very tedious job. You sit long hours and uses much of your eyesight. Mind you, no machines seen at the factory, not even a single one. We were told the accessories or jewelleries sold are all handmade.

I saw some nice earrings but it was too expensive. After that we moved on to the art gallery.

Before a painting is being put up for sale, it is initially sketched like this.

Followed by painting.
We left the gallery and headed for the wood carving factory. Along the way, we saw some shops selling wood products by the road side and requested for the driver to stop.

Upon visiting one of the shops, I was caught by surprised. Huh...?? Ku-ku bird for sale? I was really, really curious on why they needed to carve this. for DIY purposes? Curious but didn't have the guts to ask.

Our next stop at the wood carving factory. This man carving a sculpture. All are hand carved.

Do you think the mermaid managed to achieve orgasm through our massage?

Bali - Part 2 - Hotel Tour

I was awaken by the sound of an old lady who slept in the next bedroom. My handphone alarm has not rang. Why on earth did she wake up so early? My..oh..my..she had a voice louder than an alarm clock. I set my alarm at 6:30am only to be awaken at 5:30am - the time shown on my handphone. I got up and told her to ssshhhhh.....it's only 5:30am. And she exclaimed...hah?? 5:30am the sky where got so bright one?

Alamak, she's quite right also. I checked my wrist watch and found out it was almost 7am!!! Damn! I forgot my handphone has got auto time setting for worldwide time. But then, how do you explain about that "no time difference thingy"? Beats me, I am still puzzled until today.

So, we all got up. Opened the windows and saw beautiful view. We quickly showered and went to the coffee house for breakfast. The coffee house has a Balinese setting. They served continental breakfast buffet style. Not many choices but it tasted pretty good. The environment was really good. Shady and breezy with the fans running and some soft Balinese music in the background much to our joy.
Waiting for omelette

Next, we went strolling around the hotel. The name Puri Bambu tells all. It's filled with bamboos. Something which I adore.



At the poolside.


Taken from part of the compound

Still at the hotel's compound



As we strolled, we came across a humane looking monkey right on tree.
Flowers blooming at the garden.
I don't know what this is. I think it is a deco item. Actually towards the left hand side there is a reading corner, sort of like a mini library. Guests can actually sit right at the patio and read while enjoying the scenery at the same time.
While waiting for the tour guide to arrive, at the entrance of Puri Bambu.

Bali - Part 1 -before departure, during flight and upon arrival

I have been wanting to got to Bali since a long, long time. Somehow...some issues would just surface and then I had to put the trip on hold. I remembered the Bali bombing which created fear in all of us. Then came SARS. This time round, Dad actually tried to talk me out because of A(H1N1). Sighhh.....it just had to happen. Dad kept saying, today's news said this....today's newspaper said that...bla bla bla. For days he tried to talk me out of it. No, I don't care. I was adamant about my trip. I must go. I have put it on hold for so many times!

As a precaution, I enquired about Tamiflu tablets। Then I bought my multi vits including vitamin C. I increased my dosage intake। Just to convince myself that I have better back-up with stronger immune system. Not only that I had to buy masks - 1 box (50pcs). You might wonder why on earth would I need 1 box. Well, I am travelling in a group of 8. I estimated each person to use 3 masks for each route. And that's not all. I went looking for hand sanitisers. Making sure each of them has a bottle. Ok॥I have to admit I have been very kiasi and kiasu...but hey....better safe than sorry.

I don't want any of us to be infected or to be quarantined under suspicion due to my stubborness. It ain't fun to have a police standing outside your door for a week though you have not committed a crime. Because we were all so kiasus, before arriving at the airport, we donned on the masks।

We were the only people in that flight with masks। I thought I was being overly paranoid until I hear a passenger in the same flight sneezing away। Phew! Good thing I had the mask on.

The mask is pretty uncomfortable. It feels warm. I almost wanted to remove my mask while inside the airplane. And then suddenly I heard "Achooooo......". Oops.....and again "Achooooooo......". Aiyoyo...I changed my mind. Stick to the mask. My cousin and her mom who initially refused to put on the mask immediately took it out from their bags and donned it. Kakakakkaka..... As we were travelling in the evening, we managed to catch the sunset from inside the plane।

During flight, I kept trying hard to figure out about the time zone। Here's what happened। I called AirAsia to check if theire is any time differences and the girl said , yes...Bali is 1 hour behind us। Ok॥that's fine। I checked from one of the webs in the internet and yes, there is 1 hour difference। But when I looked back at my ticket, and calculating backward and forward, using my own logical explanation, I was not able to figure out how the time zone work। AirAsia girl said flight time is 2 hours but ticket showed 3 hours। So there has to be some kind of time difference। Still thinking hard, I heard the announcement...."we'll be landing shortly। FYI there is no time difference between Malaysia & Bali"। Huh?? No time differences?

Not trusting my ears I checked with the airport authorities when I got to the ground. Yeah.....no time difference. Ok, I told myself....1 last try...I'm going to ask differently this time. I approached a taxi driver. I said, "Excuse me, can I know what is the time now?". Taxi driver looked at his watch and said, "It's 10:30pm now." Hmm...that confirms it. No time difference. So much for my hard thinking during my 3 hours flight. Duh!

There are 8 of us....16 biji of eyes scanned the arrival hall, all on the lookout for our hotel driver. Saw so many people with signs but none that showed Puri Bambu Hotel. Oh dear....I went walking around, checking with strangers who has signage with them but was turned the other way round. No one could see what the signs said. All that I approached, none showed Puri Bambu. I decided to call the hotel. Darn, I was not able to get through. Not because the line was engage, more so like I have no connection. That's Celcom. I had to borrow one of our member's phone..DiGi user and it got through. My cousin who is a Maxis user couldn't get through either. The guy at the hotel said driver is already at the airport. He told us to walk to information counter and he will get the driver to meet us there. And yes, we found him. Aiyoh...I told the driver. Hold your signage high high. Don't hold low low. You place it around your waist area noone can see. Poor guy....he was apologetic and very patient with us.

We told him we were hungry. And he took us to have Nasi Padang at a small warung.The food tasted good...either that or we were all very hungry. Cost us 395,000 Rupiah. Quite frightening to have a meal which costs hundreds of thousands.

We checked in with welcoming drinks. 2 big interconnecting bedrooms greeted us. It was really spacious. We got excited for a while and not long after we fell into deep sleep.

Back in action

I lost my blogging sense. That was why I stopped blogging for more than a month. At times when I wanted to blog, some things would just crop up and there goes my ideas and creativity.

Well...I am back again after a good, short holiday. Feeling refreshed and fully recharged, I am back in action..be it work or blog.

Coming up next, I will be blogging about my holiday with loads of pictures to share.