Besides collecting stamps, I also look out for rare coin for my private collection. I have an album of coins dating back to my father’s time. And they are getting rarer because they are no longer in production. They are a form of investment besides being a hobby of sorts. Rare coins are hard to come by and only the trained eye can tell its value. I am still learning to tell the difference by reading widely from books and the internet. Sometimes, you can go to ZoomCoin and look out for such items that are worth collecting. And you get the genuine stuffs. They are compact and easy to keep in a coin album.

The whole of last night and until this morning, I lay awake all the time, shutting my eyes but I just could not fall asleep. Perhaps my mind was too active from reading a book in MPH plus the fact that I am enriching my vocabulary by trying to remember difficult words which I come across in the newspapers. Since I could not sleep, I naturally went downstairs to begin blogging at about 6:00am. My dad thinks that I have paid posts to do, but far from it. I have given up hope of doing paid posts anymore and have ventured into writing articles for lower payment. Not as lucrative as paid posts previously but it is still moolah in my Paypal. Now I am feeling groggy and less alert.

I was paid USD36 for a week’s work of writing 10 articles for a client from India. She has overflow work from USA, and sub contract them out to me. She used to be a medical transcriptionist earning USD750 a month until her hearing problems due to repetitive work and now she is into writing articles for USD450 a month. Not bad for someone who works from home with a young daughter. I am now into working with words for my part time job. And I love to write and read widely for a richer vocabulary. I keep a list of the vocabulary that I have learnt from the newspapers and search out the meanings from Google and from my own dictionary. This make reading all the more fun

English is the lingua franca and international language used worldwide. You stand a better chance of being employed, presenting oneself and communicating better if you are English educated. Besides, for myself, I can write more convincing blogs after studying in Convent Green Lane, and learning English. For today, I just completed an online job writing a scholarstic research paper on System Framework for Psychiatric Nurses in an Acute Setting for USD16, for 4 pages, double spacing. Since the big PPP is running dry for me with no more opps to take up, I have ventured into writing research papers for students. It pays just as well, but with more research needed and I supposed a bit tougher. It also requires hours and hours reading, and hence, more time is needed researching and revising the paper. Just like PPP, there is ranking for writers and if you are caught plagiarising the material, you will be banned from the system. Just hope that I can get off well in this new venture of mine plus getting to earn some pocket money.

I had a very good weekend vacationing in Dorset Hotel in Larut Road, Penang. It was located just opposite Kentucky Fried Chicken’s outlet in a colonnial bungalow. It was also conveniently located opposite my church known as Georgetown Baptist Church with English services at 9:00am, 11:00am and Hokkien service at 4:30pm by Pastor Yeoh Guan Hock. That’s one of the reason why I booked this hotel instead of staying in Vistana Hotel like last weekend. Our church service venue has been changed from Relau to Larut Road in town. This is a much bigger place and better location which is quite established. Below are the photos taken from my camera.

View from our hotel room in Dorset Hotel.

See the Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet at the bottom. Another view from our hotel room.

Writing table with lamp and mirror.

How comfortable the huge sofas in the lobby.

Bathroom of our hotel room. There’s a basket of freebies like shampoo, shower cap, cotton buds, sewing kit and soap in the corner.

The huge kingsize bed.

I just make a donation of just 1k RM to the Thai orphans through Pastor Cheah Chee Moon. His dream is to ensure the homeless children under his care in Chiang Rai, Thailand, acquire a sound education. To achieve this, the 46-year-old Penangite recently embarked on a fund-raising mission to collect money for the schooling expenditure of the 56 children in his centre, called Agape Home. Riding a 30-year-old Honda Cub, Cheah travelled from Thailand to Singapore through the west coast of peninsula Malaysia.

“I am hoping that people will generously donate a ringgit for every kilometre covered.” said Cheah, who expects to have ridden about 6,000km by the time he returns to Thailand. Cheah’s involvement with orphaned and destitute children in Thailand began in 1984 when he went there as a missionary worker.

He found that there were far too many of them, some ending on the streets after both their parents succumbed to AIDS. “Some of these children were also HIV-positive and needed special care,” said Cheah. “My heart went out to them and I decided to take up the challenge of giving them a better life.”

He added that these street children had little opportunity in life and no way of acquiring an education. After years of working hard as a missionary to take care of their needs, he set up Agape Home several years ago to take in destitute children and give them a proper education.

According to Cheah, he wanted the children in Agape Home to go as far as possible academically. “Once they are well-educated, they will be able to take good care of themselves,” said Cheah, who runs the home with the help of four workers. He said homeless children had better opportunities in Malaysia compared to Thailand as there were many centres in Malaysia catering to their needs.

Cheah can be contacted at 016-408 3401 or call 012-227 2289 (Pastor Albert Ong). For security purpose, I am not putting the bank account number here or the bank account name. Just send Pastor Cheah a message and he will sms you the banking details to make the donation for a worthy cause helping the orphaned kids.

Tags : Agape Home, Pastor Cheah Chee Moon, make a donation, orphaned kids

Chap Goh Meh represents the fifteenth and final day of the Lunar New Year period as celebrated by Chinese communities. The term is from the Hokkien dialect and refers to the fifteenth day of the first month, which is the occasion of the first full moon of the New Year.

The occasion is marked by feasting and various festivities, including the consumption of tangyuan. In traditional Chinese culture, it is also celebrated as the Lantern Festival or the Shang Yuan Festival. In Southeast Asia, however, it coincides with the Chinese Valentine’s Day. It is also when young unmarried women gather to toss tangerines into the sea, in a hope that their future spouse will pick it up – a custom that originated in Penang, Malaysia. In the past, this was also the only day that unmarried ladies could be seen with their partners.

Tags : chap goh meh, chinese valentine’s day, throw tangerines

Here are some photos taken around this season at various places to whet your appetite. I shall be going to Haadyai from tomorrow morning until the third day of Chinese New Year. In the meantime, there won’t be any blogging as I take a break. The van will come and pick us up at around 6:00am tomorrow to Lee Garden Hotel in Haadyai. My parents plan to get lots of cashew nuts which are cheaper there. Happy Chinese New Year to all my readers!

Shop selling all kind of Chinese New Year paraphernalia.

Red pussy willow. Commonly used to decorate homes during Chinese New Year.

Turquoise intricately designed antique bowls.

Pots of kumkuat that resemble mandarin oranges are a hot buy.

What kind of fruit is this?

Large red fans hanging from the ceiling.

The buffet dinner was themed Seafood with slipper lobster, prawns, salmon, oysters and more.

Prawns and more prawns. Nice decoration.

Seafood buffet dinner with meat and veges.

Good selection of dessert with custard, chocolate mousse, etc.

Outside the hotel with tourists resting by the pool.

Beautiful swimming pool lined with palm trees.

Foot Massage in the Hut.

The room that I stayed 2 weeks back in Parkroyal Hotel, Penang.

The room furnishings.

Carpark view outside my hotel room.