Chinese New Year Photos and News Please!

Dear friends, you are invited to share your CNY experiences, feel free to send in photos, news, etc!

I'm not sure whether the reunion gathering was held this year or not, if anyone knows, do update us.

Chinese New Year celebration in Australia

Dear friends, William in Adelaide has kindly contributed another article about the CNY celebration in Adelaide.

Chinese New Year celebration in Australia

You must be interested in how Chinese New Year celebration is in Australia. Unlike Malaysia where everybody is busy decorating, cleaning the house and preparation for the new year eve dinner, there is no such culture here among the Chinese. The Chinese who stayed long here might have forgotten the traditional Chinese New Year. Last December, I experience the Christmas celebration in Australia and I found it very similar to how we celebrate Chinese New Year. Some people are taking three weeks leave for the Christmas and shopping centres are open until mid night in the week before Christmas. Family members came back for the Christmas eve dinner like we are having the new year eve reunion dinner.

I am lonely this year as my family is still in Malaysia. The new year eve morning happens to be Saturday morning and I visited the Adelaide Convention Centre as I read from a news article that Sarawak Government sent a group of developers (CMSB), Architect (KDI) and Engineer (Minsar) to visit Adelaide Convention centre in 2004 while they are planning for the Sarawak Convention Centre. Below is a photo of Adelaide Convention Centre that I took from River Torrens and a black swan which swim in the river. Is the proposed Sarawak Convention Centre resemble Adelaide Convention Centre?

I called up Pastor Ling who is same year as us in Sacred Heart Last Friday stating my intention to participate in the Church New Year Eve dinner on Saturday night. I brought two pizzas as everyone has to contribute one dish. The weather inside the hall is very hot and I believe it is above 40 degree Celcius. About half the members who participate are from Sibu. The rest are from China, Singapore etc. A church member who run a restaurant here donated two big plates of “Lau Seng”. The restaurant owner name is Ah Loke and he is three or four years our senior at Sacred Heart. There were good food and interesting sharing. Instead of celebrating a family based reunion dinner, we have a group reunion dinner.

Sorry for the poor quality of the photo as I took it with my hand phone. There was an introduction to the history of Chinese New Year and Pastor Ling talked about “God of fortune” and “Why nobody every see the wife of God of fortune” which was very interesting. The dinner and sharing section after that were good but the heat was unbearable. I left the party earlier as it was getting really too hot.

The weather on Sunday is getting chiller following a cool change in the afternoon. I was having dinner with my principle engineer who is a Singaporean and his Singaporean Malay friend. Singaporean Malay are open and we shared our view on regional politics, culture etc which was very interesting. There were Lion dance inside the restaurant as well as in the street of China Town. The Lion dance performers are not Chinese. They are Aussie! The Lion was collecting Ang Poh from the patrons.

Well, this is my little story on my Chinese New Year experience. Tell me yours.

Happy Chinese New Year 2007!

Dear SHS friends, wherever you are, wishing all of you a very happy Chinese New Year of the Golden Boar!

May all peace, health and wealth be yours this year.

Regards, Sie Chiong

Announcement on SHS 88-90 Reunion 2007

Dear all,

I am putting up this announcement on behalf of John Fam. Due to the recent arrival of a baby girl in his family, John is unable to go back to Sibu this year to organize the annual gathering as promised.

He is asking for volunteers to help take over this task :) Any takers, kindly contact him asap to make the arrangements, CNY is less than 3 weeks away!

New Template

Its been almost a year since I started this blog, so I thought I'll switch to a different template. Hope you guys like it.

I also took the opportunity to search back the SHS website again, and this time I seem to have found a newer version that was completed in 2001. It looks like its not been updated in a while, but it looks much nicer than the previous efforts. Have a look by going to the link on the right side of this blog.

Settling In Adelaide, Australia

Our dear friend William Lee moved to Adelaide, Australia recently and he has kindly wrote us an article about his experiences there. Here's his story:-

Settling in Adelaide, Australia

I finally returned to the Australian city of Adelaide where I studied between 1988 and 1994. A lot of people asked me why Adelaide, it's a small country town. I am from a small city and town like Kuching and Sibu and have not lived in big city life. Adelaide size is just fine for me. It's also known as 20 minutes city as you could go to any location in the city within 20 minutes. I like Adelaide because of its well planned streets, convenient public transportation system, good schools and universities for my kids and most importantly we are treated equally and fairly. Adelaide has a population of one million and enjoy Mediterranean climate.

I have temptation to migrate back to Australia since 2000 but the idea never put into action mainly due to my commitment to my family and also discouragement from my previous bosses. They had migrated to Australia before and could not settled in and therefore advised me not to go. According to one of my boss, life in Australia is very tough and he had to work as general worker. Around 2005, John Wong had a chat with me concerning his intention to migrate to Sydney. I told him that if I ever go back to Australia, I still will stay in Adelaide. However still no action taken. It was until end of 2005, I visited the South Australian Government Immigration booth during South Australia expo at Crown Plaza Hotel, Kuching. I was told that the state government is encouraging migration.

I went back at that night, browsed SA immigration website and fill out a on-line application form. After two weeks, I received a nomination letter from the SA Government. I then proceed to apply to DIMA and managed to get permanent resident visas by early 2006. Getting the visas and the final move to settle in Adelaide is a distance away. There are lots of planning like selling my property, car, searching for job and obtaining Australian professional engineer qualification. By September 2006, I have solved most of the problems and I quit my job and landed in Adelaide in October 2006.

I have to bring my whole family for the initial landing and we have to land before the dateline otherwise our visas are void. The state Government arranged for airport pick up and arranged a house for us at the beautiful suburb of Golden Grove.

My daughter in front of 5, Jupiter Street, Golden Grove

Golden Grove neighborhood

I spent the first two weeks bring my family for Adelaide city tour. We did not have a car at that moment and we traveled by public bus to all destinations. My children who had never catch a bus before enjoyed most of the trip. The bus here is punctual within 1 minutes of the schedule. If the trip is well planned, there is no problem. We visited a strawberry farm, Zoo, botanic garden, Glenelg beach and the busy shopping mall.

Waiting for bus

Strawberry farm

Rundle Mall

My wife and children returned to Kuching leaving me looking for jobs in Adelaide. I managed to get an Electrical Engineer job after my second interview starting one week later. I canceled my subsequent job interviews.

Since my family had left, I rent a room within walking distance to my office. I walked to work for almost a month until I get my Toyota Camry Vienta. It's a 2000 used car costing $8000.

Toyota Camry Vienta V6 3000cc

Initially working in Australia is not easy. Australia and Malaysia have the same system and standard inherited from the British. The only different is that there is strong enforcement of the standard in Australia regardless of who you are. The design work here has to meet higher standard than Malaysia and there are more regulations and laws governing the job. I was told by my management that I will be continued after my three months probation on this Thursday. With a permanent position, I could proceed with bank loan application to purchase a house.

My plan is to relocate my family to Australia before June this year. I thank God guidance during this time as he has blessed me making my planning possible. Our new church pastor is Pastor Ling Tiong Ting. I don't know if any of you could recall him. He is in the same year as us at Sacred Heart but in the art stream. If anybody interested to migrate over, I might be ever to offer some help. You can contact me on leechuching@gmail.com.

Gathering in Puchong

Stephen Yii, Eng Soon, Stephen Chung, Chuan Ming and myself had a small gathering at Chung Hua restaurant last Sunday.


After the dinner the wives and kids went back and we went to Kopikau in Bandar Puteri to chit chat some more!

We are planning to have another gathering on 1st February, so those of you who are in Klang Valley, feel free to call me if you wish to join us.

Happy New Year 2007 to All

Wishing all SHS 88-90 gang a very happy new year 2007! Its the year of the Golden Pig according to the Chinese calendar, an auspicious year for business and a year of prosperity.

I'm sure 2006 must have been a hectic year for most of us, what with family , work and social commitments. Recently I saw the movie Click starring Adam Sandler, and was reminded of the danger of living our lives in perpetual "Fast Forward".

For the year 2007, my wish for everyone is to be able to press the "Play" or even "Pause" button on their own lives, and to be able to spend more time enjoying the company of close friends and family. For those of us with living parents or grandparents, they are not getting any younger, why not spend more time with them this year? A friend shared with me her story of her parents staying with her for a month recently, and how she really cherished that month.

And last but not least, if anyone of you would like to be given access to this blog so that you can post articles, or would like me to post an article on your behalf, feel free to let me know via my Gmail account.

Take care and all the best.

Where is everyone now?

Met up with Paul Ting the other day when he was down in KL, and I started wondering where everyone is at the moment.

Here's a rundown of the people that I know at the moment:-

Klang Valley - Stephen Chung, Liu Chuan Ming, me, Eng Soon, Peter Yii, David Hii, Ngu Sia Hook, Lieng Tee......who else?

Kuching - Stephen Yii, Paul Ting, Kok Sey (aka Eric Phang), Anthony Ting, John Wong, Yii Chiong......who else?

Sibu - David Kuok, Ching Chai, Joseph Sia, Tiong Kuong Siong........who else?

UK - Simon Ting

Beijing - Chua Hock Lim

USA - Gerald Lim ----- hey Gerald, where's the post you promised earlier this year? :)

Labuan - Frankie Jeffrey

Sorry for lack of postings

Dear all,
My apologies for not updating the blog regularly since April. But I really appreciate all who have made the effort to post comments - keep them coming!

Recently I met Liu Chuan Ming, who had been staying in my Taman for the past three years but I never bumped into him! He works overseas quite often, so I guess that's why I never saw him.

Eng Soon has also moved to my Taman earlier this month and he's now busy doing up his house.

I will ask these two guys whether they are willing to be profiled for this blog to let everyone know how they've been.

On another note, I'm glad to see Stephen Yii, John Fam, David Kuok and Sii Jing joining the blog as well. Welcome! Please feel free to log in to blogger.com and post your own articles.

I would also like to welcome warhammer, although I'm not sure who you are, though I have my guesses :) Thanks for the lyrics to the Vitamin C song, it really reminded me of the olden days.

With election fever going on in Sarawak, perhaps those of us in Sarawak can post some articles about what is going on over there for the benefit of those in other places. Some pictures would be nice, too.

Sarawak Elections are here again ....

The elections for the Sarawak State Assembly are upon us again. The Sarawak election is unique in that it is the only one among all the Malaysian states to be held outside of the Parliamentary elections.

As in the past, the opposition doesn't stand much of a chance to win more than a seat or two, let alone wrest the state from BN. The only question would be the margin of the victory.

The most memorable for me was the 1991 one, when PBDS mounted a strong challenge as the opposition. Unfortunately, things fizzled out in the end, and PBDS was never the same after that.

I've never had a chance to vote in Sibu before, because I registered as a voter in PJ back in 1996.

Anyone going back to their hometowns to cast their votes this time around? Any interesting stories to tell? :)

Of people who made a difference in our lives

With the recent release of SPM and STPM results, my thoughts went back to 20 years ago, when I was in Form 3 and going to sit for SRP (equivalent of PMR nowadays).

My class, 3A8, was not in a good shape and Bro. Albinus was a bit concerned. So, he decided to force the entire class to come to the school at night to study. I still remember cycling to school via Tiong Hua road every night after dinner.

Bro. Albinus visited the classroom every night to make sure we were all there. At the end of the year, the results spoke for themselves - almost everyone got decent results, including myself.

To this day, I always remembered what Bro. Albinus did that year, and what a difference it made for all of us in 3A8.

News on Eng Soon

Our friend Pui Eng Soon called me up a few weeks ago. He's moving to KL from Shanghai, and by coincidence he bought a house in the same Taman as me! The first thing he said when he found out was, "Yay, got mah jong kaki!" LOL


He'll back in KL at the end of March, so when I catch up with him I'll update you guys :)

Sie Chiong

Paths Crossed

Sometimes, no matter how big the world is, its always small enough for you to bump into your old friends :)

In 1989, when I was at Taylor's college, Ting Siik Siew and Eng Kia Hock were in the same college. During that time, Stephen Chung and Peter Yii were my mahjong kakis during weekends. Kong Lieng Tee went to my uni in UK in 1992.

When I came back to KL in '96 I met Stephen Yii and Anthony Ting again. Later Eric Phang came to KL to work and stayed with me for a few years.

David Hii married one of the girls from my church, and soon I'll be working for him :)

And various times in my 10 years in KL, I met Dennis Chua Hock Lim, Liu Chuan Ming , and Ngu Sia Hook.

Who did you bump into since you left SHS (not counting reunion lah :) )?

Roaring 80's (Our Wonder Years)

Each generation will usually remember the most the decade that they grew up in, and for us it was the roaring 80's.

It was the time of the 2M era (Mahathir and Musa), Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Challenger disaster, the Philippines People Power (20th anniversary this year!), Rubik's cube (still remember how to solve it?)

It was also the time of the rise of the PC, though in those days they ran at 16 Mhz (!) and had 640 kb (!!) of memory.

And who could forget the video games - Pac Man, Frogger, Space Invaders, pinball; though they were later banned by the government.

And most of all, it was the time of the golden era of pop. Though I also love listening to the edgier stuff of the 90's and beyond, nothing could compare to the sheer purity of pop of the 80's. I mean, do you guys remember Madonna (Like A Virgin, Crazy For You, Live To Tell, Papa Don't Preach), Michael Jackson (Beat It, Bad, Billie Jean, Thriller), Lionel Ritchie (All Night Long, Say You Say Me)?

And I remember doing my homework to the following songs that my neighbour used to blast out at night - Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Tears For Fears), Brother Louie (Modern Talking), Within You'll Remain (Tokyo Square), Wild Boys (Duran Duran), Glory of Love (Peter Cetera), How Will I Know (Whitney Houston).

And of course, there's also Pet Shop Boys (West End Girls), A-Ha (Take On Me), Johnny Hates Jazz (Turn Back The Clock is one of my most favourite song ever!).

And due to the wonderful world of the Internet, you can relive those glorious days! I trawled around a bit on Google and found numerous sites dedicated to the 80's. Here's a selection of the ones I found interesting:-

80's Nostalgia - an especially comphrehensive site that covers 80's music, TV, movies, and memories.

80's Movies - a site with an exhaustive list of all movies made in the 80's.

80's Music Site - as the name implies, everything you could possibly want on 80's music.


What do you guys remember most from that era? What were your favourite songs and movies?

Frankie's Profile

Dear SHS friends,

Frankie has kindly agreed to be the first to be profiled on this blog, three cheers for him!

Frankie, if anything not accurate please let me know :)

Frankie went to UiTM after SHS and graduated with a law degree in 1997. He then worked in a few law firms before going to Labuan in 2003 to work for EC Trust (Labuan) Bhd as Chief Legal Counsel. Here's a current photo of him hard at work :-


Frankie's happily married to Cornelia E Tahing (Sino-Kadazan, in case you're wondering) since December 2002 (just 4 months after me and 2 months after Anthony Ting :) ). Cornelia's working at Nexus Karambunai Resort, Sabah (a lovely place that I've always wanted to visit) Here's a photo of Cornelia and Frankie:


Anyone wants to keep in touch with Frankie, just leave message on this blog or you can go to his blog (see link on the right) and leave a message there.

Thanks again, Frankie! Really glad to hear from you and find out how you're doing. Hope to visit you guys in Sabah/Labuan one day :)

Friends, anyone has our photos took during our school day?.

Anyone who has our old photos took during our school day, please email to patrick in order to enable everyone to view and refresh their memory during the younger days......it would be fun and excited for those who like to see our friends' face some 15++ years ago...don't be selfish to share the photos ok.....cheers....

eric pks.

Found a long lost friend! - Frankie Jeffrey

Frankie Jeffrey emailed me recently, after losing touch with him for eight years :) The last time I spoke to him was 1998 when he was working in Klang. He's now working in duty free heaven - Labuan. Take a look at his personal blog here. Good to hear from you, Frankie!

Sie Chiong

Where are our former teachers now?

I was just wandering around on the Net last night, when I suddenly thought of using Google to look up where our teachers are nowadays.

In the end, not much results, but I did manage to find out that Mr. Ong Chin Kim (the maths and physics teacher) is now in Penang, in SMK Raja Tun Uda in Bayan Lepas.

I tried Mr. Yong Choo Tiong, but didn't get any hits, but someone told me he's now the principal of SMK Methodist in Sibu.

Apart from that, I heard Bro. Albinus is in Kuching, while Bro. Hillary has passed away.

Anyone knows where our other teachers are?

Come and Participate!

First of all, many thanks to all who wrote to me and your words of encouragement.

While I don't mind continuing to keep putting up articles by myself, I think it'll definitely be more fun if everyone participates as well. This means putting your comments on the blog, contributing posts, sending me news and photos to post, etc.

A blog is just another way for us to keep in touch with one another, but the communication can't be just one way, right? So, come, participate! :)

I've set the comments to allow anonymous, so you don't need to be a blogger member to post your comments. Just select "Anonymous" when you post your comment. Forgot how to comment? Just click on the Comments link at the bottom of each post and go from there :)

Eric, I'm still waiting for your first post! You can write on anything you want.

Regards,
Sie Chiong