I can recall being the spoiltbrat of the family among 6 siblings. I recall listening to the turnable then and radio comes in a box. Actually there was a recording which came with oversize magnetic tap (a bit like a bigger cassette tapes).

My first view of a television was standing on the sidewalk through the grill of a electronic shop in Gaya Street. The owner of the shop would come and switch on the tv at 7pm and return to switch it off at 9.30pm. That was his style of marketing.

I remember meatball soup was RM1 which mum use to buy at the stalls in front of where the high court is today and that soup would last for lunch and dinner!

Movies were a treat and on special occassion such as Easter or the King’s birthday we would get free movie tickets.

Even eating chicken meat would be on festive season such as Chinese New Year.

I watch the parade that goes around the town during the Governor’s birthday and Malaysia day celebrations.

I recall small planes (presumely courtesy of the Sabah Flyinh Club or Sabah Air) would fly by the town dropping leaflets and a sort of ticker tapes making those occassion more memorable.

We use to see eagles at the end of Kota Kinabalu town which is Tanjung Lipat. Yesn there was’nt even a coastal road then.

The current Millimewa store was the central market and the whole of Segama Commercial ships were the sea.

Everything that time looks tall and big. We stay on the third floor of a shoplot along Beach Street in the middle of town. And we did even have to lock our front doors!

The neighbours knew each other and weekend would be a mahjong session among the adults with our playground being the rooftop where we play our usual game of ‘play catch’, police and thief, marbles and others.

My mum used to plant some vegetables using wooden crates or boxes on the rooftop.

Life were more simple then. It was so carefree. Its was a time of no worries. Its sure was fun and its these memories which I hope to share with my grandchildren and generations to come.

More to come……..

Since I had checked in via web for my flight, I went straight to the departure hall.

While clearing the security check, I cringe my neck looking out for a kompang group with some holding the traditional ‘bunga mawar’ inside the hall.

I told myself maybe it inside the gate when I passed through immigration.

I put on my best smile with a good morning greeting to the airline ground staff upon entering the departure hall. Still nothing yet.

Maybe during boarding I told my self.

But then where would they hide the kompang group? Where are the entourage that accompanied a special fanfare occassion?

I kept my spirit up. Waiting patiently for boarding. I am feeling lucky.

Yes, before the first flight out there is no delay so the anoouncement for boarding was made.

As I queue up, still no fanfare. Maybe on the tarmac I thought.

Alas, as you may read on boarded the aircraft and yes I discover I am not the Air Asia 100 million guest.

Sigh! I was hoping for the free 100 tickets.

So here I am drafting this story during the flight using my BlackBerry. (I remember telling a Ms. Kathleen of AA many years ago “you are not suppose to use your handphone during the flight even if you are very senior in the airline!”. Her reply was “its a BB and it allow me to check my email during the flight”.)

So much for my hope being the 100 million guest. Maybe in my next flight on the 15 October 2010.

Or wait….there is still hope. Maybe when I land later………….

Update: landed early and faced the fact that with no special welcoming fanfare I accept the fact that I did not make it as the 100 millionth guest of Air Asia….

Wonder when will 111 millionth be? Hmmmm….

My condo friend Raymond Chung brought me for a nice meal of fried beef noodle after a trip to Beranang, Semenyih. The restaurant named Soo Kee’s Son (Meng Chuan) Prawn & Beef Fried Noodles is situated at Jalan Imbi.

Apparently it is a second generation owned business which has carved a name for themselves in the local and tourism community.

For me this is my first time there and I have no complain since I was hungry and Raymond was buying (thanks Raymond).

One thought though was, I keep thinking of the 77 year old widow (whom we visited earlier with Raya goodies and cash) who is taking care of her 5 grandchildren in Beranang. We really should count our blessing and be happy with life.

Below is some photo of my meal. The total bill was RM55 inclusive of a chinese tea.

Beef fried flat noodle (kueh teow)

Check out the price

In this advance age of technology where anyone with a credit card could just drive up to a kiosk and top-up the tank self serviced.

What if d few attendants outside are on their toilet or lunch break and it so happen the Ministry enforcement happen to witness non Malaysian filling RON95.

Is the station to be blamed? Maybe a set of rules should also be set for those motorist who flagged the ruling instead of only the station to be responsible.

It was another Sunday with nothing pretty much to do. So a good way to kill some time and boredom would be to head down to the Petaling Jaya State (PJ State) area for a time of car bazaar activity.

Yes, its here every Sunday that any one (individuals and car dealers alike) bring their cars or vehicles for sale. The melting point would be at the MBPJ multi storey car park building.

One can viewed all type of used cars of various models being offered for sale. You may be able to bargain for a good buy or get some freebies thrown in by the dealers.

So if you are ever bored or fancy some car shopping, this is a ‘lepak’ adventure of another nature.