The Secret Garden@1 Utama

What is the Secret Garden?

It is a 30.000 square feet rooftop garden, 35 metres above the ground in the 1 Utama shopping mall complex. It was opened for public viewing on 25th May 2009, but it was only a few days ago that Aric and I visited it, more than 15 years later 😉 .

Most of my Malaysian friends know about this Secret Garden, but not many have actually visited it. One reason may be that the garden is open only on Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays, from 10 am to 10 pm. Another reason could be that it can only be reached by lift and only one of the many lifts in 1U goes to this garden.

We went on 31 October, Deepavali. The shopping mall was crowded, but in the garden there was almost nobody.

Of course we took many photos. Here is a selection, there are about 500 different species.

The garden is well-designed with many winding foot paths.

Here are flowers and general views. without comments.

There are benches where you can rest and enjoy the peaceful atmosphere.

A beautiful pond

There is even an (articial) waterfall. The other picture shows a marble statue, donated by Dr Francis S.P. Ng, a former Deputy Director-General of FRIM. He was engaged to design and manage the Secret Garden. More info here .

A very unusual growth. Aric managed to take a picture of it, pointing his camera upwards.

Some more pictures.

It was a very nice experience. We will come back soo, in the evening, when the garden lights are on.

The Sak Dato temple in Broga

Broga Hill is a popular hiking destination, but I had never heard about a Sak Dato temple in Broga , until Aric suggested to visit this temple, as it was famous for its monumental statue of the Monkey King.

It’s about a one hour drive from KL Broga Hill is located in Selangor, but the village and the temple are situated in Negri Sembilan.

The temple is a Datuk Kong temple, where Chinese devotees worship not a Taoist deity, but the “spirit of the land”. The tradition started in the 19th century when Chinese settlers arrived in the country. Often Datuks were once humans who were greatly respected by society. After their passing away, people started to worship their spirits for protection. Often they were Muslim Malays. Interesting about this temple is that Sak Dato was an Orang Asli. He supported the Chenese tin miners in the 1860s and probably became a Taoist himself. See also the appendix

Here is the entrance of the temple. Most Datuk Kong temples are smaller, often even just shrines. This is a large complex , apparently very popular, although it was quiet during our visit.

Climbing the steps, we soon reached the statue of Guan Yin, the goddess of Mercy.

A large hall is dedicated to her.

Climbing further we arrived at the Sak Dato hall.

The interior is simple without images. Inside the hall we noticed a picture of the former PM Mahathir, handing over a National Temple Beautification Award.

There is another Sak Dato shrine in a cave next to the hall. Probably the original one. There is also the grave of the Sak Dato. It was originally located inside the cave, but has been relocated to its present position..

Climbing highere there is a split.To the right leads to a hanging bridge, we first explored the left side which took us to a kind of park with an intriguing collection of art works and statues. A very enjoyable place.

A dragon-turtle is pulling a cart with treasures and a bit further on there are the animals of the Chinese Zodiac.

Of course we had to take pictures with our Zodiac signs,

The park must be a popularr destination for families. There is a wishing tree but you can also hang your wishes here. Everywhere benches donated by devotees. There is also a stall, but it was closed during our visit.

Finally we went to the suspension bridge and walked to the hill qwhere the statue of the Monkey King is located. Quite a steep climb up.

A warning sign for dogs, but the dogs we met were peaceful and sleepy.

I am sure all Chinese know about the Monkey King, one of the main characters in the 16th century novel Journey to the West. For those who don’t know this wonderful folk tale, you can download it here .The statue of the Monkey KIng is mentioned in the Guinness Book of Recirds as the tallest one in Malaysia. It is quite impressive. The other picture shows the monk Tripitaka and his other helpers.

Aric had brought his drone to take video and pictures. Here are a few.

In the hall inderneath the statue, walking around three times is supposed to bring luck.

After visiting the Monkey King, we had to walk down and cross the bridge again.

After our visit (about 1.5 hour) we drove to Semenyih for dinner.

Nice food, steamed cuttlefish with lemon and garlic, paku belacan and deep fried tilapia

Nice, relaxed atmosphere

And a beautiful sunset

A perfect outing.

Appendix

Although the Sak Dato temple in Broga is a popular destination, with numerous hits when you Google for it, it was not easy to find background information.

I found useful information about the Sak Dato temple in this scholarly publication ( page 209-211).

The Temuan, an Orang Asli group, were the earliest inhabitants of Broga. Because of rich tin ore, Broga was settled in the 1850s by Hakka miners from Huizhou, China.

Broga became prosperous, first because of tin, later rubber.

During the Japanese Occupation (1941–45), many shops in Broga were burned by the Japanese and many villagers fled. In 1950, the British colonial government resettled the Chinese in the area in Broga New Village.

The Sak Dato Temple in Broga is one of the oldest Datuk Gong temples in Malaysia.
The temple still holds many old plaques; the oldest one was offered by a devotee Li
Yuchang to Sak Dato in 1904

Since 1910 , the Sak Dato procession at Broga has been held annually, even during the Malayan Emergency. After the establishment of Broga New Village in 1950,entry and exit were strictly controlled, so the villagers brought the spirit tablet of Sak Dato to a small new shrine in the New Village. Following the end of the Emergency, the villagers returned the spirit tablet, and renovated the old temple in 1965. In 1991, the temple was renovated again, at a cost of MYR700,000.

Also useful is the inscription next to the grave of Sak Dato

.So the original shrine in the cave is old, the worship of Sak Dato started in 1868. His bones were relocated a few times (?) after the temple was rebuilt in 1991 and finally put in the present grave only last year (?)

Finally here is a very readable travelogue, written in 2013, where renovation of the Guan Yin timple is still going on.

So the Sak Datu temple is old , but the enlargement and extension are recent.

I found confirmation by looking at the historic imagery of Google Earth, This screenshot shows the sutuation in 2010. I have marked the places where I took pictures. There is not yet a park, and there is no suspension bridge. They are working on the Monkey King

Here the situation in 2022

The Sak Dato temple committee has been very successful in developing the temple to attract more visitors.

My first waterfall in 2024

There have been years when I visited more than twenty waterfalls, but that is over for various reasons. In 2023 I visited one waterfall only, during Chinese New Year, the Lata Juang.

As an octogenarian I have decided to visit only waterfalls with easy access “grandfather falls haha), so I was interested when my friend Edwin recently updated me about Lata Khong. When Khong and I “discovered” this waterfall, almost 20 years ago, access was already quite easy. Now the local Orang Asli community has made a cemented footpath for the last 100 meter to the fall , making access even easier. It makes sense they charge a small fee for parking and entry.

When we arrived in the kampung , we were shocked that access to the fall was impossible. An OA boy explained that a few days earlier the police had inspected the access road and decided that it was damaged/dangerous. Not really clear what kind of damage. Closure until January!. Read the hand-written notice.

That was disappointing, we had been driving from KL for about one hour, so what to do? The solution was to visit the Chamang waterfall near Bentong, another grandfather fall in the same region. I first visited this popular fall in 2004. The recent heavy rainfall made it even more impressive now.

Also here “development” has taken place, it is now called Taman Eko Rimba (Ecological Jungle Park) Chamang, with opening times and an entrance fee (RM 10 for me, a bit steep). There were a few tourists only, they stayed for a while at the huge signboard, then left.

Workers were constructing something new, we could not go down to the waterfall.

Which photo would you prefer?

Even with all the development the Chamang waterfall is still a very attractive one, but you must look for a suitable view point.

On our way back we had lunch at the Fantasy Valley restaurant in Kampung Bukit Tinggi. Very scenic location along the Tanglir river.

Aric ordered Claypot Prawn Glass Noodles and veggies. Big Udang Gala (Freshwater Prawns), not cheap, but so delicious!

Although we couldn’t visit Lata Khong, it was a very pleasant outing.

The Mandelbrot Fractal

In the 1991 edition of the Guinness Book of Records the Mandelbrot Fractal is mentioned as Most complex object in mathematics? , with as explanation: A mathematical description of the shape’s outline would require an infinity of information and yet the pattern can be generated from a few lines of computer code.

Here is the Mandelbrot Fractal.

When you zoom in on the outline of the fractal, you will see more and more details.

And you will notice that there are smaller copies of the Mandelbrot.

Connected to the main shape in a complicated way.

Same shape, but often a bit distorted.

Infinite detail.

I learned about the Mandelbrot fractal around 1985 and got hooked right away ;-). On my PC I wrote programs to generate the Mandelbrot Fractal myself. In 1988 I attended a symposium organised by the Delft University, Fractals and Computed Art. I submitted one of my fractal images to a contest but didn’t win a prize :-(. I gave talks about the topic to my students and in 1990 to a group of senior citizens..

More than ten years later I built my own website and of course part of it was about fractals.One page, Fractals, describes in more detail than above my experiences with the Mandelbrot fractal. The page has many broken links. but is still worth reading . I also wrote a tutorial, (in Dutch). aimed at high school students, It became quite popular, because I had written a number of interactive Java applets, where you could play around with the various aspects of the Mandelbrot Fractal.

However, in the years that followed, it became more and more difficult (and now even impossible) to run Java applets, because of the security risks involved.

A few months ago, after talking with friends, I decided to translate the tutorial into English and look for a replacement of my applets. There are many interactive applications on the internet related to the Mandelbrot Fractal, but it took me time to find the ones that fit well with my tutorial.

I am very pleased with the final result. Click on the screenshot below to enter the tutorial.

Enjoy the beauty of mathematics!

Penang & Taiping, 2024

My blog post headings tend to be descriptive rather than imaginative. Here is a blog post I wrote two years ago: Penang & Taiping, 2022 😉 . Very similar, first two nights in Penang, then one night in Taiping. But also different, in 2022 we went with friends, this time it was a trip of Aric and me, like the trips we made earlier to Teluk Intan, Seremban and Melaka.

On our way to Penang we stopped at the Sungai Perak R&R for coffee and Cekodok Pisang (fried banana balls).

We had lunch in Bukit Mertajam with Assam Laksa. Aric is an assam laksa fan and on our trips he is always looking for new laksa stalls. He has a website, Assam Laksa Review, which contains at the moment 28 Assam Laksa shops. This one was very good, Aric gave it a rating of 9 out of 10.

Crossing the (old) bridge to Penang island.

In Georgetown we usually stay in heritage hotels, but this time Aric had booked a very modern one, the OZO hotel in Argyll road. Interesting car parking, you drive the car in a lift, and then it is transported to its place. When you need it again, the car comes out of the lift, nicely rotated 180 degrees!

Another interesting detail, the lobby is at the 20th floor. We had a comfortable room on the 18th floor.

A room with a view !

Recently Aric had bought a new camera for time-lapse photography and that was the main reason he had booked this hotel. Here he installs the camera to take pictures every ten seconds.

After a short rest we went out again, to visit an art exhibition, the Galeri Khazanah. A temporary exhibition of Malaysian artists, from 19 July until 17 August, in the beautiful UAB building, the headquarters of Khazanah Nasional Berhad , the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia.

Free access, after registration. An interesting collection with 46 diverse artworks by 31 modern and contemporary Malaysian artists.

A variety of styles, abstract, realistic etc.

Left the exhibition poster. The other two pictures show augmented reality artworks. The white base is empty, but after scanning a QR code , a 3D artwork appears for a while in your smartphone camera, positioned on the base. Amazing,

Our dinner plan was to go to a lok-lok restautant.  In 2022 we visited with friends the Peng Hwa Lok Lok in Pulau Tikus (No 2 in the link above). But it was closed this time, so we went to another one, the Ah Beng Lok Lok at Padang Brown (No 1 in the link). Also closed! Then we realisded that probably the night before there had been a Hungry Ghost event. So we gave up and found another simple stall, where I had prawn mee (also known as Penang Hokkien mee).

Back in our hotel, we enjoyed the night view. This is a “normal” picture taken with my iPhone.

And here is the artwork made by Aric with his new camera. It is a collage of 150 time-lapse pictures, with a diagonal slice of each picture.

As we had a very early dinner (around 6 pm), we got a bit hungry and went out around 10:30 pm for supper. Within walking distance from our hotel, there is a popular restaurant for prawn mee and loh mee, the Green House. We had to queue! It received a Michelin Bib gourmand, never heard about it, it is a bit similar to what my friends here call VFM (Value for money). My second prawn mee this day, better than the first one 😉 .

Walking back to our hotel, I was as usual impressed by the beauty of Georgetown.

The next morning we had breakfast with fried carrot cake, pau and coffee, in a cafe near our hotel. Befiore checking out, we had a look at the infinity pool on the 22nd floor. OZO is a bit like a little brother of the iconic Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore ;-).

One reason to visit Penang was to meet our friend Lim Chong Keat (LCK). He is the owner of the Bellevue Hotel on Penang Hill, we had booked to stay overnight there and had arranged to meet him in the afternoon. So we had a few hours to spend.

We drove to Bayan Lepas, near the airport. Aric knew about another laksa stall there, but first we visited a small waterfall, the Air Terjun Sg Ara. Never heard about it!

Unfortunately the laksa stall was closed, but nearby was a “famous” stall where they sold prawn crackers. We bought two and then went looking for another stall where we could have lunch.

We found another stall nearby where they sold Mee Siam, Mee Siam is a bit similar to Assam Laksa, it originated from Penang but can now be found all over Malaysia and in Singapore. Very tasty and the prawn crackers were the best I ever had.

After lunch, Aric suggested to visit the Wat Chayamangkalaram, a Thai Temple, famous for its large gold plated Reclining Buddha. The temple was founded in 1845 and is the oldest Siamese temple in the state of Penang.

The main hall , with the Reclining Buddha inside, is well guarded

The Reclining Buddha is one of the world’s longest (about 32 m from end to end). Very impressive.

The main hall also has a columbary.

You can spend hours here, but it was a very hot day and the bright sunlight was almost painful to the eyes.

Opposite the Siamese temple. there is a Burmese temple, the Dhammikarama temple. which is even older, founded in 1803. Both are Theravada temples. Because of the hot weather, we didn’t stay long.

Just a few more pictures. The pots in the pond are slowly rotating. The idea is to throw a coin into a pot, when you manage to do that , it will bring you good luck. Not easy.

When you are interested in Buddhism, you can just take a free book, but only when you are not a Muslim.

The two guys are happily carrying the temple bell.

At 4 pm we arrived at the family house of the Lim family. LCK was still talking with a group of botanists from the University of Malaya (UM).

With him we drove to the Bellevue hotel.

The Bellevue Hotel was originally the residence of William Halliburton, the first Sheriff of Prince of Wales Island, as Penang was called in those days. We have stayed a few times in the hotel , I love its old world charm. . The view from the veranda is fabulous.

We had a chat and a drink with LCK. He is an interesting personality, architect of the Komtar tower, now a botanist of international renown, with a wide interest in classical music, a “universalist” like his role model Buckminster Fuller.

A view of the hotel from the garden. And a view of Georgetown. In the garden a geodesic dome. There are many memories of Buckminster Fuller in the hotel.

We had local dishes for our dinner, prawns, veggie and tom yam soup.

Here is another creation by Aric, made with his new toy. This time it contains 30 time-lapse slices.

Rain during the night, still cloudy in the morning. Nice temperature.

The walls of the corridor have informative posters. We had a local breakfast, nasi lemak.

The hotel has an aviary, with several peacocks and other birds.

Around 11am we got transport down to our car. We drove back to the mainland where we found another laksa stall for our lunch. This time in Butterworth, not really special, Aric’s rating: 5-6 out of 10.

On our way to Taiping heavy rain. As usual I had booked “my” room in hotel Furama.

My friend George was also staying in Taiping, we are both friends of Suet Fun, so we invited Goerge & Jenny and Suet Fun & Peter for a dinner in Soon Lee. We thought no booking was needed, as it was the Hungry Ghost month, but that was a mistake, the restaurant was fully booked. So instead George suggested Restoran Kampoung Wan, a good alternative. Delicious food and a pleasant atmosphere.

The next morning we had breakfast in the Rainy Corner, around the corner from Furama. Very good coffee.

It is always a pleasure to be back in my adopted hometown. Here is the famous Dobi Line.

A few weeks ago I had received photos of the Lake Gardens, almost completely dried out after a long dry spell, unusual for rain town Taiping. Now the water level was back to normal.

This time I had a special reason to visit Taiping, I wanted to see how the reconstruction of the two pasar buildings was going on. To be honest, I was impressed by the progress. Left the former chicken, beef and mutton market in April, right how it looks now.

A few more pictures. I will not discuss the issue whether this kind of rebuilding contributes to heritage preservation, but at least they are rebuilding. I hope the original stall holders will return, a bit worried that it might become like Pasar Seni in KL.

A visit to Taiping is not complete without having a look at what I call the Shame of Taiping. The Rest House and the building next to it. The illegal entrance to the Perak Railway /PWD building is still there, but it was now in a makeshift way closed with iron wire. Good that I didn’t enter, because actually the inhabitant was sleeping.

The two heritage buildings have been neglected for many years. In 2019 I wrote a blog with the sarcastic title Taiping Bandar Warisan (Taiping heritage town) about them.

In my blogTaiping, April 2024 I mentioned that in March an ambitious project was launched . Quotes from that blog:

The ambitious plan is to restore/rebuild the two ruins and transform them in a 4-star boutique hotel! Many VIP’s were present. and The “Taiping Boutique Hotel” is expected to be completed in two years.

The glamorous posters are still there. But nothing else happened, as far as I know. Completed in two years ?

We took the old road to Kuala Kangsar and passed the tombs of Long Jaafar. Very well kept.

We stopped for a while in Kuala Kangsar, because I wanted to visit the grave of Major Hawkins. He died on 4 January 1876 during the Battle of Kota Lama , speared by a Malay warrior. Read my blog The Battle of Kota Lama for more info about this battle.

At Bukit Chandan, next to the former Government Rest House (now Casuarina Hotel) lies a small Christian cemetery. Part of it is a war cemetery, Only 16 graves from the Perak War (1875-1876). There is a memorial with information about this (minor) war. Sabri Zain who pointed out a mistake in my blog (right <-> left), told me about this grave. It was easy to find.

Our trip had a nice, unexpected ending. On our way back, Aric mentioned a Cave Temple that was clearly visible from the North-South highway, but where exactly he was not sure. Using Google we managed to find it, it is the Kong Fook Ngam temple.

The temple is just one of the many cave temples around Ipoh. Officially it is closed on a Monday.

But a friendly caretaker let us enter and told us that there was a “Crystal Cave” behind the actual temple. We were allowed to explore. What a spectacular surprise.

Here is a collection of pictures taken in the huge cave complex. Really amazing.

Back in the temple, I bought a candle and placed it at the Reclining Buddha.

What a trip! Full of variety. And yes, with a lot of food.

Muar trip, July 2024

One year ago I joined Paul and Fahmi on a trip to Kota Bharu. This year they invited me again, a 3D2N trip to Muar. I had visited Muar more than 10 years ago, see my report Penarikan Recce. Here are two maps of Muar, one from ~1940, the other one a Google Earth screenshot. I have marked a few POI’s and the location of our homestay. A bridge across the Muar river has replaced the ferry.

When we arrived in Muar it was still too early to check in, therefore we first drove to Tanjung Emas, a public park near the mouth of the Muar River. It was a bit too hot to explore, we decided to come back in the evening.

Driving back to the town, we passed the impressive Sultan Ibrahim Jamek Mosque, constructed bewteen 1925 and 1930. This royal mosque looks more like a palace.

We passed the former High Court Buildings.

Before we had lunch, we visited some of the murals of Muar. In recent years there has been a proliferation of mural paintings in Malaysia, starting with the iconic ones of Zacharevic in Penang. Sometimes (often?) of mediocre quality. Muar is teeming with murals, and although there are enough of the simple ones, often depicting cartoon characters, there are also many that have artistic value. Commissioned by the town council? They show aspects of traditional culture, heritage and nature. Here are a few.

This huge one shows, in the form of a a mural, many of the heritage buildings of Muar.

For reasons unknown to me, Muar has been officially named (since 2012 only!) the RoyalTown of Johor (that should be Johor Bahru, right?). Muar, the town of Murals, would be more appropriate. Murals are really everywhere.

Time for lunch. We went to a famous Mee Bandung restaurant in the town center.

The food was nice. There was a photo collage of illustrious visitors on the wall, for example the Sultan of Johor 😉 .

Of course we had also our pictures taken. Maybe we will end up on the wall as well?

After our lunch we continued looking for more murals. I was surprised to find this collection of art works in one of the lorongs (back alleys). Not graffiti-based, but almost like in an art museum, complete with description tags!

I was pleasantly surprised by the general atmosphere of Muar. There are lots of nice facades, often painted in bright colors. Looking at the dates on several gables, the city must have had its heyday in the 1920s .

It is a very clean city, some lorongs are decorated with ornamental plants, the five-foot ways are well-kept, and everywhere you find rubbish bins.

Our homestay was modern and comfortable, three bedrooms with aircon and fans. In a nearby supermarket we bought some groceries and we took a rest.

In the evening we went out again to an open-air food court in the center of town, near the Muar river. Muar is the fourth-largest town of Johor, but it still has aspects of a fishing village. The food court had a very relaxed atmosphere. We had otak-otak, sata(r) and satay.

After our dinner we drove back to Tanjung Emas, where we walked around and took pictures. There were more people now, but not as many as I expected.

The next morning we went for breakfast to the cafe of Pak Inchik. I had Roti Pool, one of their specialities.

Starting our walk, we first had a look at the Muar High School. The building dates back to 1915.

We continued visiting more murals.

Of course there is more than only murals. Left the Old Dutch Houses, right the Nattukkottai Chettiars Temple, dedicated to Lord Murugan.

And I found one ruined colonial building. As my followers know, I have a fascination for those remains of past glory. I would have liked to explore inside (like I did and do in Taiping), but the building was thoroughly fenced.

We had coffee in a famous Muar cafe, named Kopi 434.

Finally a last round of murals. I always like the 3D-ones. The last one is also a bit 3D, a relief created against the wall. Beautiful

Asam Pedas (Sour and Spicy Fish) is a speciality of the region, there are many eateries serving it, but not for dinner. We found one for lunch, Pak Ndak, again beside the Muar river. They also served fresh oysters and we could not resist the temptation 😉 .

We had seen enough murals. Fahmi and Paul had found on Google that Muar had an Art Gallery. We decided to have a look and found that it was not an art gallery but, according to their FB, a “new community concept”, There was a cafe and a shop where they sold objects made of rubber tree wood. I was intrigued by a wooden phone holder, shaped as a resonator, to amplify the sound of the phone. I bought one 😉

Back to our homestay for a rest. Dinner later at a Malay restaurant, not far from our homestay, as we were lazy to drive again into town. We had nasi goreng, fried squid and Thai salad.

The next morning we checked out and went to Pak Inchik again for breakfast. This time I had Lontong, delicious.

One last POI during this trip, outside Muar, the Beca Gergasi Muar, a giant tricycle. You may wonder who decided to create this object here, in the middle of nowhere.

Halfway on our way back, we stopped for lunch in Tampin (Negeri Sembilan). The Lomak Salai restaurant is really an experience, a kind of Malay style IKEA restaurant.

You just take a trolley, and collect the dishes you want. A place to keep in mind for a next visit.

It was an interesting trip, well organised by Fahmi and Paul. Fahmi is a vlogger with his own YouTube Channel . He created a vlog about this trip, have a look.

My 80th birthday

Usually I celebrate my birthday privately, at home with a birthday cake or in a restaurant with a nice dinner. The exception was my 60th birthday, which I celebrated with a small group of friends at Maxwell Hill, here is the report: My 60th Birthday 17-4-2004 . In Chinese astrology there are 12 zodiac signs and 5 elements, after 5×12 year your life cycle is full and a new one starts. That’s why that birthday is an important one for Chinese. By the way, I am a Wood Monkey.

Of course, reaching eighty and becoming an octogenarian is considered a milestone by many. But statistically it is the last milestone I will pass and that gives me mixed feelings.

Therefore I wasn’t planning to have a special celebration this year. Aric and I had booked an overnight stay in Colmar Tropicale on 16 April. But Aric’s relatives consider me part of the family and insisted that I should at least have a birthday dinner with them.

We had this dinner in Sg Besar, not far fromParit Baru, Aric’s hometown. One week earlier, on 10 April. Interesting cultural difference, in many Western countries it is considered bad luck to celebrate a birthday BEFORE the actual date, but ih Chinese culture it is taboo to celebrate it AFTER the actual date ! So we followed the Chinese tradition 😉 .

Aric and I arrived early in Parit Baru and had enough time to relax and walk around a bit.

The family had booked a private room in a seafood restaurant in Sg Besar. Two tables, 18 pax.

Left the senior table, of course I was by far the oldest. Right the table with Aric’s nephews and nieces.

Aric had gone to the restaurant in the afternoon to discuss the menu. As he knows my food , preferences, it was a very delicious dinner, here are the dishes.

From left to right, top row: Seafood Noodles,Steamed Chicken (a restaurant speciality), Prawn Curry. Middle row: Deep Fried Cuttlefish, Steamed Pomfret. Vegetables with special Sauce. Bottom row: Tofu Soup with crabmeat, Fresh Clam Soup, Steamed Yam with Pumpkin and Ginkgo .

After the dinner there was the traditional birthday cake. Not just an odrinary cake, but a durian cake for Uncle Jan ;-). A real beauty.

Blowing out the candles (while doing a wish) and cutting the cake.

The traditional group photo.

One week later, on the eve of my birthday, we drove to Colmar Tropicale. When we checked in at the reception, they told us that we got an upgrade to a suite. Almost an apartment, with a separate livingroom.

We had a nice view of the surrounding forest and even got company from a family of Dusky Leaf Monkeys.

Colmar Tropicale is a kind of extravagant “folly”, based on the French town of Colmar in the Alsace. It is basically a hotel, where the rooms are located in the various French houses. There are a few restaurants but there is not much else to do. We walked around and took pictures.

We had dinner in one of the restaurants and walked a bit more. Romantic atmosphere.

This photo was taken 5 minutes after midnight. I am an octogenarian now

Breakfast was included in the room rate. They had made an attempt to make it Western/French, even with a variety of cheese. But hahal, no pork or bacon.

After breakfast we enjoyed the cool fresh atmosphere. It had rained during the night and was still foggy, very scenic.

Before driving back to KL, we visited the Japanese Garden. A popular tourist attaction, with many flowers, even an (artificial) waterfall. Visitors can rent Japanese clothes.

Our plan was to have lunch in the Wonderland Valley restaurant, but they had their weekly closing day. So instead we went home and in the evening had a sumptuous Korean BBQ dinner.

I had told my friends that I was not going to have a gathering for my birthday. However, a few of my waterfall friends called me that they wanted to drop by for a short while and give me a present. How could I refuse that 😉 ? Here is the present they gave, a waterfall puzzle. For me a symbolic gift, as I had decided some time ago that I would no longer take part in “real” waterfall exploration.

I may write another blog post later about getting old.

Journal Dutch trip 2024 (last part)

This is the last part of my journal about my Dutch trip 2024. Here are part1, part 2 and part 3. The last week of my stay was more relaxed than the hectic first month.

Wednesday 29 May

A (rainy) rest day. In one week time I will fly back to Malaysia. Enjoying another raw herring for lunch.

Thursday 30 May

In the morning I took my bicycle to visit the Amstel park. It has a famous rhododendron valley and I was hoping to see it in full bloom. But I was too late, only a few bushes were still in bloom. The weather was nice and the park is beautiful.

In the afternoon I visited my friend Lambert again in the care home. I had bought some cake to cheer him up.

Friday 31 May

My friend Yolanda celebrated her 75th birthday and organised a party. Here she is, radiant as ever, surrounded by her children and grandchildren.

It was a pleasant meeting, followed by a nice Japanese style dinner. In the left photo I am making a toast with Angela, one of Yolanda’s oldest friends.

Saturday 1 June

In part 2 of my journal I wrote that my waterfall gang had presented me with a jigsaw puzzle for my 80th birthday. And that the puzzle was a VERY difficult one, without much structure. Actually it was TOO difficult for me, I hardly made any progress. I asked my siblings if any of them was interested and my brother Ruud wanted to give it a try. As I had sorted the puzzle pieces according to color, I put them back in separate plastic bags. I wish him good luck.

Sunday 2 June

A visit to Alphen aan den Rijn, my hometown. My youngest brother is living now in the ancestral home with his family. I arrived by train, he was waiting for me. In the right picture I am standing in the garden. The top window was in my room, when I was a teenager. The family has been living in this house for 75 years!

The front garden is often admired by passers-by. In the backyard I had a chat with Nina, my sister-in -law.

As usual we visited my parents’ grave and planted some new shrubs.

When we were kids, my mother got help from a young girl, Janny, who soon became a friend of the family. When my brother told me that she was still alive, now 88 year old, I said that I would love to meet her. It was a remarkable meeting, she told us many details about her and our past. She started helping my mother in 1949, when she was only 13 year old. A few years later she went to the Martha Stichting in Alphen , a home for uncared for children. I always thought she was there as a pupil, but she explained that she worked there as a group leader. A very nice meeting.

After bringing her back home, Otto brought me to the Martha Stichting, now no longer a home, but a beautiful park. The right photo show the main building, now an Arts Center, called Park Villa.

A beautiful park surrounds the buildings. When I was a kid, it was out of bounds and the Martha Stichting had a rather negative reputation.

I used my visit to Alphen to cast my vote for the European elections, held in the Netherlands on 6 June. As I don’t have my domicile anymore in the Netherlands, I am a postal voter, so I needed stamps to send my vote. Otto provided the stamps 😉

Before I left Alphen, I had dinner with Otto and my two nephews, prepared by Nina, wo had to work that evening. Xander and Aswin are identical twins, when they were kids I could not tell them apart, but they have developed differently and now I can 😉

Monday 3 June

n the morning Annelies, a former colleague, came to visit me in Backershagen. We had coffee and cake and had a lot to talk about, because we hadn’t seen each other in years.

The last few days before my departure, I always am busy preparing the apartment, washing bedsheets, vacuuming the floor etc. I have to empty and clean the fridge, so I try to get myself invited for dinner 😉 Usually Inez does that the last night, but she was not free that day. Instead I visited her one day earlier, she had prepared a nice Dutch meal, melon with smoked ham as a starter, meatballs and spinach as main.

Tuesday 4 June

The last evening for departure I visited my friends Johan and Edmund in Vinkeveen. We had a drink in their nice garden and enjoyed Surinam food, prepared by Edmund.

A view from their garden and Edmund’s meal, BBR (brown beans and rice), a popular Surinam dish.

Wednesday 5 June

My brother Pim picked me up at 6pm, we were early at Schiphol airport, time enough after check in to enjoy a coffee and a snack.

Schiphol can be overcrowded with long queues for the security check, but this time it was a breeze. The flight was full, but I managed to sleep a few hours.

Back in Malaysia now and trying to overcome my jet lag

Journal Dutch trip 2024 (part 3)

This is part 3 of my Dutch trip report after part 1 and part 2. Mostly meetings with friends, a busy program.

Thursday 16 May

I met Mike and Marjan in Malaysia through the Dutch Expat Society, almost 20 years ago. We became friends and after they returned to the Netherlands we kept in touch. This time I visited them in Huizen, where they liveow and where Marjan had prepared a nice pasta dinner.

Friday 17 May

I had planned a visit to my former principal Carel Poeder and his wife Joanne, but I felt exhausted after meeting family and friends almost every day, so I needed a rest day. Pity.

Saturday 18 May

A meeting with my nephew Aswin. We had a beer in the Blue Tea House in the Vondelpark. It was beautiful weather,

And we enjoyed a beer from the local Amsterdam brewery ‘t IJ (try to pronounce it when you are not Dutch).

Sunday 19 May

I went by train to Gouda where Nellisa and Ed were waiting for me at the station. We share an interest in naturism. In Malaysia it is frowned upon, but in Europe it gets more and more common. Ed and Nellisa have a house in Gouda, but in the summer season they stay on the naturist campsite De Bessenhof in Reeuwijk. A very pleasant visit. More pictures on request haha.

Monday 20 May

Lunch with Roald, once my student, now a friend, we know each other more than forty years. We met at a very interesting restaurant, A Beautiful Mess , run by people with a refugee background. Delicious food from various cuisines. I also met Stefan, Roald’s husband.

Tuesday 21 May

Meeting ex-colleague Rene and his wife Caroline in Nieuwegein. Has become a tradition, either my place or theirs. Always a pleasure.

Wednesday 22 May

Dinner with another ex-colleague, Dick, in restaurant Elements, another tradition. It is a training restaurant of a vocational school. Students have to show their skills, both in the kitchen and in the restaurant. Very good service, creative dishes and not expensive.

I had Tataki (Japanese) , Coquille (French) , Sea Bass (?) and Kheer (Indian). All delicious , and including wine only 42 Euro pp.

Another beautiful day. Sunset at 9:37 pm as seen from my apartment. In a few weeks time it will be the Summer Solstice.

Thursday 23 May

During my stay in the Netherlands, my soulmate Inez and I always try to organise an outing. This time we went to Den Bosch on a day trip. I took so many pictures that I decided to write a separate blog about the day: Dat gaat naar Den Bosch toe. Highlight of the trip was a canal cruise on the Binnendieze.

We came back in Amsterdam quite early and I was so excited about A Beautiful Mess, that I invited Inez for dinner there. She was enthusiastic too.

Friday 24 May

Our UK friend Rodney arrived by plane in the afternoon, I had to prepare my room as a guestroom for him. In the evening we went out for some shopping. He liked the green environment of my apartment.

Saturday 25 May

A full walking day in town. As I have only one bike, we had to walk to the nearest public transport, about 10-15 minutes away. I live in a suburb of Amsterdam, with lots of green.

We started at the Leidseplein, from where we walked to the town center. Rodney had visited Amsterdam about forty years ago, so everything was more or less new to him. The FEBO is an iconic automat fast-food restaurant, an Amsterdam icon. We also had a look at the flower market.

We visited the Begijnhof, a courtyard with almshouses, dating back to the 14th century.

|And of course the Royal Palace and the National Monument on the Dam Square.

Walking to the Pancake Bakery for lunch, we had a look at the Westerkerk and passed the Anne Frank House.

The Leliegracht, one of the lesser canals, very picturesque

In the Pancake Bakery we had the traditional Dutch bacon pancake with syrup.

We finished the day with a quiet dinner at home. We walked more than 12.000 steps, not bad for two octogenarians.

Sunday 26 May

Rodney had shown interest in the Van Gogh museum, so I had booked tickets for it. We had a time slot, but still there was a big crowd.

Here are a few pictures of Van Gogh’s paintings. The Potato Eaters (1885) and Tree Roots (1890), the year he ended his life.

One of his famous sunflower paintings and one of his Irises paintings

It was the first time in decades that I visited the Van Gogh museum. Not being a fan, I found it more interesting than I expected. But what made my visit special, was the temporary exhibition of Matthew Wong, a Chinese-Canadian artist , who was inspired by van Gogh.

Here are two of his fascinating paintings. More about him in my museum blog (hopefully to be published soon).

Monday 27 May

After two busy days, we took it easy, as Rodney was flying back in the afternoon. I found that there was another FEBO in the shopping mall near my apartment. We had a light lunch there. Rodney is holding in his hand the famous Dutch kroket.

Tuesday 28 May

Then it was time for me to transform the guestroom back into my office. My first rest day after a long time.

Dat gaat naar Den Bosch toe

When I am back in the Netherlands, it has become a tradition to have an outing with my “soul mate” Inez. This time our destination was ‘s Hertogenbosc, the capital city of the North Brabant province. The name of the town is usually shortened to Den Bosch. Dat gaat naar den Bosch toe (That goes to Den Bosch) is the title of a Dutch folk song. Click here to listen.

It is less than one hour by train from Amsterdam. We arrived around 11 am and first went for coffee with a Bossche Bol.

We were lucky that we could get tickets for the Binnendieze cruise, because it is a popular tourist attraction and tickets for that day were almost sold out.. The Binnendieze is a river/canal system within the city walls of Den Bosch, very different from the Amsterdam canals, because a large part is vaulted.

The boats are electric “whisper” boats and as most of the canals are at the back of houses, you don’t hear the din of the city life. Amazing. Our experienced guide told many interesting details about the history of these waterways.

Here are a few more photos. The canals are so narrow that you have to keep your hands inboard and sometimes duck your head. Does the last photo remind you of Gaudi? The architect who restored this vault, was clearly inspired by him 😉

The cruise took about one hour and was the highlight of our outing. But Den Bosch has much more to offer. We walked to the market with the statue of Hieronymus Bosch, who lived here

And we visited the St. John’s Cathedral, a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, with a complicated building history (1220–1530).

Many artworks inside

Visiting a church I always like to light a candle (and make a wish). The organ of the cathedral is one of the most important ones in the Netherlands.

The Noordbrabants Museum was next on our to-do list, but Inez suggested that we should visit first the Slager museum, dedicated to the many painters in the Slager family. I had never heard of them, apparently they were well known in Den Bosch.

Left an interesting painting by Piet Slager sr, depicting the veterans of the Battle of Waterloo. Right the world-famous painting of the Marskramer (the Wayfarer) by Hieronymus Bosch. But wait a minute, something must be wrong, that painting is in the Boymans museum in Rotterdam!

Actually the paining is a reconstruction of the original. The museum shows reconstructions of many masterworks in a temporary exhibition Het Geheim van de Meester (The Secret of the Master). Click here for an explanation (in Dutch).

After our lunch we visited the Noordbrabants museum for a short while, as we had to board the train to Amsterdam before 4 pm (our tickets not being valid during rush hours). The museum has a good collection of paintings by Jan Sluyters.

Back in Amsterdam we had dinner in restaurant A Beautiful Mess.

A short outing this time, but very enjoyable.