Festival: Happy 57th Merdeka Malaysia

Happy 57th Independance Day Malaysia!

Well, the first question in my mind is what does MERDEKA means to you? For me, Merdeka means we want a good, fair and civilized government who really take care of it's own people. This is what Merdeka really means for us. By having a corrupted and unfair government with no freedom of speech, this would really effect the people so much and this is not going to happen right here in Malaysia.

Merdeka is a day to remember where our country were freed from the other nations civilizations. We were then take over by our first prime minister, Tuanku Abdul Rahman and after that the Barisan Nasional had taken over the government for like 57 years. We will always remember this day as long as the government does not misuse its powers and to put a big pressure on the people. All of us Malaysians celebrates Merdeka together in peaceful and harmony with different cultures together as we must stand put and put our hands together to tackle difficult times to ensure our country that we lived are in peace and harmony state.

SELAMAT HARI MERDEKA MALAYSIA!

 

 

Festival: Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri 2014

Me & Kimmy on behalf of alexleow-kimmy.com would like to wishes all Muslims a Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Finally, all Muslims around the globe and Malaysia will get to welcome the 1st Day of Syawal. Today is the day of joy, happiness and prosperity where friends and family members can get together and enjoy the talk and food together.

During Hari Raya, the Malay counterparts will serve a lot of kuih-muih and biscuits to celebrate Hari Raya. Besides, they also serve the Lemang or Ketupat as well. If you are planning to visit your Muslims friends, remember to be well prepared for the lovely food feast that will be serve. Muslims will also get to enjoy various Raya TV shows throughout the Raya on your local or paystation TV as well.

Please also do drive safely when you are on the road. Remember don't drive recklessly and follow the rules and signs or as well as police instructions while driving on the road. This is to ensure that you will have a safe journey ahead of the Balik Kampung rush. Enjoy yourself on this lovely festive season and remember to take good care of yourself.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI from alexleow-kimmy.com

Festival: Happy Valentine's Day 2014

May God Bless Your Relationship Forever!

This is a special message from alexleow-kimmy.com whereby we would like to wish all a Happy Valentine's Day. No matter you are married or single or already have a couple for yourself, you still can celebrate Valentine's Day too.

Normally, Valentine's Day is a day where couples meet up together and they will preferrably celebrated it during dinner time where they will normally dine in restaurants. But some prefer to dine at home where they will have candlelight dinner as well. Then the male will normally buy presents for their love ones including a bunch of flowers, a box of chocolates etc. Some say, during Valentine's Day, it a day to have sex together to strengthen the relationship. It vary and depends on the individuals.

For those who are single, you still can date your friends out for dinner as well. You may date your female or male friends where they don't have any program or don't have any partners to go out for dinner. You won't know that you might end out with something pretty special after the outings. :) So why not give it a try yeah?

Beware that during Valentine's Day, the price will go up especially for dine in and for flowers. The prices will go up at least double of what you pay and you better be prepared for yourself. I mean you may save more money first before the day arrives whereby you must spend unless you have dine in at home. Enjoy yourself during your Valentine's Day.

 

Festival: Happy Chinese New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai (恭喜发财) 2014

Hi,

Season Greetings yet again from alexleow-kimmy.com and this time the whole Chinese community would celebrate the year of the Horse in bizarre fashion. I & Kimmy would like to take this golden opportunity to wish all the Tionghua community a Happy Chinese New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai (恭喜发财), Wan Shi Ru Yi (万事如意) & Zhu Li Meng En (主里蒙恩)！

Chinese New Year is celebrated in mostly Asian country including Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries as well. In Malaysia, Chinese New Year was celebrated in a joyous and wonderful mood. On the eve of the Chinese New Year, family will get together to enjoy the reunion dinner which symbolizes harmony, peace and gathering. Besides that, the Chinese Community would hang tanglung, 'ong lai' (pineapple), flowers as their decorations at their homes which symbolizes good luck and prosperity.

Childen will be the happiest among all during Chinese New Year because they will get an angpow for the eldest who have already get married. Besides, those who haven't get married will get an angpow too. Cookies and other drinks will be served during Chinese New Year as it marks the new year celebration in a bang! The most famous dishes among the Chinese during the Lunar New Year is 'Yee Sang' or 'Lou Sang'. This is a raw fish filled with different vegetable mince where we get to mixed together which symbolizes everything is good throughout the new year (see pics).

Here is my personal message whereby if you are travelling on the road, please drive carefully and stay focus on the road. Don't drink and drive too. Drive slowly and don't rush yourself because your family is waiting for you at home wanting you to return home safely. Enjoy yourself during this festive season and remember to drink more water to keep yourself healthy on a hot chinese new year. Happy Reunion Dinner and Happy Tiger Year to you all. Stay tuned on my blog for more latest Chinese New Year activities happening throughout this week.

Festival: Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner 2014

Hello All,

Upon arrival of the Year Of the Horse, today is the day to gather together as a family to enjoy our Reunion Dinner before we usher the first day Of Chinese New Year. Reunion Dinner is the most important event for all of us to be remembered no matter where you are because it's symbolizes the traditional event where no matter what, we have to gather together to eat, laugh and enjoy to show respect to everyone in our family.

There are many ways of preparing the Reunion Dinner. The normal and traditional way of preparing is of course preparing a lot of dishes like Fish, Prawns, Meat, Pork but some would prefer Steamboat style. For ME, I am going for steamboat this year like previous years and we have been practicing it for the past 3 years.

No matter what you eat, it's still the reunion dinner that should not be missed. If you are driving home for Reunion Dinner, remember to drive safely on the road and for those who already reached home and reading my BLOG now, enjoy your precious and wonderful time with your family. alexleow-kimmy.com would like to wish the Chinese Community a Happy Chinese New Year, "Gong Xi Fa Cai", 新年快樂.

Festival: Happy Thaipusam 2014

alexleow-kimmy.com would like to wish all Hindus a Happy Thaipusam. Enjoy yourself in this festival and remember to be extra careful on the road.

Thaipusam (Tamil: தைப்பூசம்) is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (Jan/Feb). It is also referred to as Thaipooyam or Thaippooyam in the Malayalam language. The word Thai-pusam is derived from the month name Thai and Pusam, which refers to a star that is at its highest point during the festival. The festival commemorates both the birthday of Murugan (also Subramaniam), the youngest son of god Shiva and his wife Parvati, and the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a vel (spear) so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadman.

 

Skanda (or Murugan) was created during one of the battles between the Asuras and the Devas. At one point, the latter were defeated several times by the former. The Devas were unable to resist the onslaught of the Asura forces. In despair, they approached Shiva and entreated to give them an able leader under whose heroic leadership they might obtain victory over the Asuras. They surrendered themselves completely and prayed to Shiva. Shiva granted their request by creating the mighty warrior, Skanda, out of his own power or Achintya Shakti. He at once assumed leadership of the celestial forces, inspired them and defeated the Asura forces.

 

Kavadi Attam is a dance performed by the devotees during the ceremonial worship of Murugan, the Tamil God of War. It is often performed during the festival of Thaipusam and emphasizes debt bondage. The Kavadi itself is a physical burden through which the devotees implore for help from the God Murugan. ^[ Generally, Hindus take a vow to offer a kavadi to idol for the purpose of tiding over or averting a great calamity. For instance, if the devotee's son is laid up with a fatal disease, he would pray to Shanmuga to grant the boy a lease of life in return for which the devotee would take a vow to dedicate a kavadi to Him.

Devotees prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer and fasting. Kavadi-bearers have to perform elaborate ceremonies at the time of assuming the kavadi and at the time of offering it to Murugan. The kavadi-bearer observes celibacy and take only pure, Satvik food, once a day, while continuously thinking of God. On the day of the festival, devotees will shave their heads undertake a pilgrimage along a set route while engaging in various acts of devotion, notably carrying various types of kavadi (burdens). At its simplest this may entail carrying a pot of milk, but mortification of the flesh by piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with vel skewers is also common. The simplest kavadi is a semi circular decorated canopy supported by a wooden rod that is carried on the shoulders, to the temple. In addition, some have a small spear through their tongue, or a spear through the cheeks. The spear pierced through his tongue or cheeks reminds him constantly of Lord Murugan. It also prevents him from speaking and gives great power of endurance. Other types of kavadi involve hooks stuck into the back and either pulled by another walking behind or being hung from a decorated bullock cart or more recently a tractor, with the point of incisions of the hooks varying the level of pain. The greater the pain the more god-earned merit.

The largest Thaipusam celebrations take place in Singapore, Mauritius and Malaysia. It is a public holidays in several states in Malaysia including Selangor, N.Sembilan, Penang, Perak, Johor, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur. The temple at Batu Caves near Kuala Lumpur offen attracts over 1 million devotees and 10 of thousands of tourist. The procession to the caves starts at the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur in the heart of the city and proceeds 15 kilometres to the cave, an 8-hour journey culminating in a flight of 272 steps to the top.

In Malaysia, although rare, scenes of people from different ethnic groups and faiths bearing "kavadi" can also be seen. Thaipusam is also increasingly being celebrated by ethnic Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia. Thaipusam is also celebrated at other cave temple site, the Sri Subramaniar Temple in Gunung Cheroh, Ipoh Perak and at the Nattukottai Chettiar Temple along Jalan Waterfall in Penang. Temple Secretary P. Palaiya Sri Subramaniar Temple in Gunung Cheroh reported that about 250,000 devotees participated in the festival in 2007, including 300 "kavadi" bearers, while 15,000 came with milk offerings.

Festival: Happy New Year 2014

Hello folks,

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And auld lang syne!". I kicked off my wishes to all of you with this wonderful lyrics taken from the song Auld Lang Syne. It was a meaningful song as we say goodbye to the year 2013 in bizarre fashion. Of course, many good or bad things happened this year as we should look forward and hoping for a more better fortune during the year of 2014.

alexleow-kimmy.com would like to take this golden opportunity to wishes its readers a Happy New Year 2014. In 2013, where good memories shall be kept and bad memories shall be thrown away. In our resolution for the new year, we hope that we would continue to blog actively without fail and sharing the best things to you readers out there. This year we will be tying the knot for both of us and we feel wonderful. We would also change our motto from "We Appreciate Your View" to "Thanks For Visiting........" as a thank you message to all of you with your precious visit towards my blog. I would also like to remind you while party all night long while counting down to the new year, please drive safely on the road and don't turn the happiness into tragedy. Good Luck folks in the new year ahead! :)

Enjoy the song Auld Lang Syne below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acxnmaVTlZA 

Festival: Merry Christmas 2013

Season Greetings Everyone!

It's the time of the season again where the whole world celebrated Christmas. Christmas is a time where we enjoy ourselves with Christmas Songs, Christmas Carols, Presents, Christmas Decorations and Party. In ancient times, Christmas is a time where Jesus was born in Bethehem or in other words, it's Jesus (christian) birthday. So, in conjunction with the Christmas celebrations, alexleow-kimmy.com would like to wish all its readers a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

In Shopping Malls, you can actually see various Christmas decorations as well as they will play christmas songs to enrich your shopping experience. While you are shopping at the malls, you can actually enjoy the feel of Christmas and of course crazy discounts awaits you at a very affordable price. There will be a special appearance of Santa Claus awaits you to give you presents too. This makes your christmas shopping more meaningful and interesting. Check it out there!


In churches, people celebrate Christmas by singing Christmas Carols and exchanging gifts among each others. They also wishes each other Merry Christmas & GOD Bless You! The atmosphere in churches was electrifying too as they usher or countdown for Christmas in a peaceful and joyful manner with a group of choir singing, leading the crowd at the church to sing along to usher the celebration. They also prayed for peace and happiness among their families, countries and the world too as they are too many crisis going on.

Overall, Christmas is a time to share and care among ourselves and to gather together with friends and families to chit chat among ourselves. Remember to take care of yourselves during this festive season and don't forget to be extra careful when you are on the road. Happy Holidays!

Festival: Happy Deepavali 2013

I on behalf of alexleow-kimmy.com would like to wish all Hindu's readers of my blog a Happy Deepavali. May the year 2013 brings luck, prosperity and of course a brighter light to you and your blessed luck in future. Hindu's around the globe celebrate Deepavali (also known as Festival Of Light).

During the Deepavali day, Hindu's will go to the temple to perform their prayers and give blessings to their God. After performing the prayers in the morning, then they will welcomed their invited guests to their house where various food and drinks will be served to their guests. Their traditional cookies during Deepavali are Muruku's and several other cookies such as egg tarts, chocolate cookies, Indian sugar cookies etc. Besides, when you visit your Indian or Hindu friends, you will see their houses will be lighten up with a bundle of lights to celebrate the Festival Of Lights. Kids and adults will celebrate Deepavali with new clothes as a great start to the year and enjoy themselves on that day. 

 

Remember during this festive season, be extra careful on the roads and drive safely. Don't drink and drive and don't overspeed as well as it kills. Enjoy yourself during the festive season and remember to take care of yourself and don't fall sick. Drink lots of water and keep healthy. HAPPY DEEPAVALI to all! :)

Festival: Happy Mooncake Festival (中秋节快乐)

Hello to all readers of alexleow-kimmy.com :

Thank you for your continous support towards my blog and as day goes by, there are more and more visitors who came in and read my blog. Appreciate that you guys and girls could spend some time in visiting my blog and here I would like to take this golden opportunity to wish all Chinese a Happy Mooncake Festival. Mooncake Festival can be considered a big festival for the Chinese as they will celebrate it mostly at their homes. Normally, they will organize BBQ, steamboat or open houses to invite all of their fellow members and friends to celebrate this festivals together. During the modern days as well, they will also celebrate at restaurants where one big family gather together to celebrate the mooncake festival.

 

Of course the main course for this festival or event is to have mooncakes on the table. There are various mooncakes now in the market including various choices to choose from such as Fruits, Lotus Seed Paste (蓮蓉), Sweet Bean Paste (豆沙), Five Kernel (五仁), Snow Skin (冰皮), Jelly and many more that I could not list down here because the lists is too long. Mooncakes will be served on the table on the mooncake festivals day to mark the celebration. Besides, they will be lots of food serve on the table as you can see children's lighting up candles and tanglung's in front of the housing compound as well as prayers being held to pray for the moon. Chinese believe's while praying the moon, you will get wealth and prosperity as well as safety for the whole family.

During Mooncake Festival this year, I will be staying in KL with Kimmy as Kimmy's mother had prepared some food for us to usher the mooncake festival today. I hope I will have a wonderful time tonight and to all of you who are enjoying the mooncake festival just like me, enjoy yourself and remember don't drink and drive. HAPPY MOONCAKE FESTIVAL from alexleow-kimmy.com.
 

Festival: Happy 56th Merdeka Malaysia

Happy 56th Independance Day Malaysia!

Well, the first question in my mind is what does MERDEKA means to you? For me, Merdeka means we want a good, fair and civilized government who really take care of it's own people. This is what Merdeka really means for us. By having a corrupted and unfair government with no freedom of speech, this would really effect the people so much and this is not going to happen right here in Malaysia.

Merdeka is a day to remember where our country were freed from the other nations civilizations. We were then take over by our first prime minister, Tuanku Abdul Rahman and after that the Barisan Nasional had taken over the government for like 56 years. We will always remember this day as long as the government does not misuse its powers and to put a big pressure on the people. All of us Malaysians celebrates Merdeka together in peaceful and harmony with different cultures together as we must stand put and put our hands together to tackle difficult times to ensure our country that we lived are in peace and harmony state.

SELAMAT HARI MERDEKA MALAYSIA!

Festival: Selamat Hari Raya 2013

Me & Kimmy on behalf of alexleow-kimmy.com would like to wishes all Muslims a Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Finally, all Muslims around the globe and Malaysia will get to welcome the 1st Day of Syawal. Today is the day of joy, happiness and prosperity where friends and family members can get together and enjoy the talk and food together.

During Hari Raya, the Malay counterparts will serve a lot of kuih-muih and biscuits to celebrate Hari Raya. Besides, they also serve the Lemang or Ketupat as well. If you are planning to visit your Muslims friends, remember to be well prepared for the lovely food feast that will be serve. Muslims will also get to enjoy various Raya TV shows throughout the Raya on your local or paystation TV as well.

Please also do drive safely when you are on the road. Remember don't drive recklessly and follow the rules and signs or as well as police instructions while driving on the road. This is to ensure that you will have a safe journey ahead of the Balik Kampung rush. Enjoy yourself on this lovely festive season and remember to take good care of yourself.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI from alexleow-kimmy.com

Festival: Happy Valentine's Day 2013

May God Bless Your Relationship Forever!

 

This is a special message from alexleow-kimmy.com whereby we would like to wish all a Happy Valentine's Day. No matter you are married or single or already have a couple for yourself, you still can celebrate Valentine's Day too.

Normally, Valentine's Day is a day where couples meet up together and they will preferrably celebrated it during dinner time where they will normally dine in restaurants. But some prefer to dine at home where they will have candlelight dinner as well. Then the male will normally buy presents for their love ones including a bunch of flowers, a box of chocolates etc. Some say, during Valentine's Day, it a day to have sex together to strengthen the relationship. It vary and depends on the individuals.

For those who are single, you still can date your friends out for dinner as well. You may date your female or male friends where they don't have any programme or don't have any partners to go out for dinner. You won't know that you might end out with something pretty special after the outings. :) So why not give it a try yeah?

Beware that during Valentine's Day, the price will go up especially for dine in and for flowers. The prices will go up at least double of what you pay and you better be prepared for yourself. I mean you may save more money first before the day arrives whereby you must spend unless you have dine in at home. Enjoy yourself during your Valentine's Day.

Festival: Happy Chinese New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai (恭喜发财)

Hi,

Season Greetings yet again from alexleow-kimmy.com and this time the whole Chinese community would celebrate the year of the Snake in bizzare fashion. I & Kimmy would like to take this golden opportunity to wish all the Tionghua community a Happy Chinese New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai (恭喜发财), Wan Shi Ru Yi (万事如意) & Zhu Li Meng En (主里蒙恩)！

Chinese New Year is celebrated in mostly Asian country including Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries as well. In Malaysia, Chinese New Year was celebrated in a joyous and wonderful mood. On the eve of the Chinese New Year, family will get together to enjoy the reunion dinner which symbolizes harmony, peace and gathering. Besides that, the Chinese Community would hang tanglung, 'ong lai' (pineapple), flowers as their decorations at their homes which symbolizes good luck and prosperity.

Childen will be the happiest among all during Chinese New Year because they will get an angpow for the eldest who have already get married. Besides, those who haven't get married will get an angpow too. Cookies and other drinks will be served during Chinese New Year as it marks the new year celebration in a bang! The most famous dishes among the Chinese during the Lunar New Year is 'Yee Sang' or 'Lou Sang'. This is a raw fish filled with different vegetable mince where we get to mixed together which symbolizes everything is good throughout the new year (see pics).

Here is my personal message whereby if you are travelling on the road, please drive carefully and stay focus on the road. Don't drink and drive too. Drive slowly and don't rush yourself because your family is waiting for you at home wanting you to return home safely. Enjoy yourself during this festive season and remember to drink more water to keep yourself healthy on a hot chinese new year. Happy Reunion Dinner and Happy Snake Year to all of you. Stay tuned on my blog for more latest Chinese New Year activities happening throughout this week.

Festivals: Happy Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner (年夜飯) 2013

Hello All,

Upon arrival of the Year Of Snake, today is the day to gather together as a family to enjoy our Reunion Dinner before we usher the first day Of Chinese New Year. Reunion Dinner is the most important event for all of us to be remembered no matter where you are because it's symbolizes the traditional event where no matter what, we have to gather together to eat, laugh and enjoy to show respect to everyone in our family.

There are many ways of preparing the Reunion Dinner. The normal and traditional way of preparing is of course preparing a lot of dishes like Fish, Prawns, Meat, Pork but some would prefer Steamboat style. For ME, I am going for steamboat this year again like previous 2 years. My mom will usually cook the traditional way in previous years but these 3 years, it had been different.

No matter what you eat, it's still the reunion dinner that should not be missed. If you are driving home for Reunion Dinner, remember to drive safely on the road and for those who already reached home and reading my BLOG now, enjoy your precious and wonderful time with your family. alexleow-kimmy.com would like to wish the Chinese Community a Happy Chinese New Year, "Gong Xi Fa Cai", 新年快樂.