7th Day - Happy Birthday to Everyone!

Source: Wikipedia

Today, Feb 3, is the 7th day of the new year of the Rooster. And today is officially the beginning of Spring.

The 7th Day of the first month of the lunar year is known as the common man's birthday. In Mandarin it is termed “renri” (人日), while in Cantonese it is 'Yan Yat'. The belief is that everyone becomes one year older on this day. Yes, that's an egg on the Chinese calendar.

Chinese restaurants will be fully booked for dinner tonight. That's a norm. We are only at midway of the 15-day Chinese New Year celebration and dinner gatherings are still ongoing until the 15rh day.

Many people are back at work but many will only return to work on Monday taking extra days off stretching it to the weekend for an extended holiday.

Shopping malls are enjoying a good crowd with their Chinese New Year decorations of phoenixes and lanterns. Here are some nice Chinese New Year decorations in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya (i.e. the Klang Valley), and Penang courtesy of Says.com.

A majestic phoenix at Pavilion KL
Image via Instagram @ndrewsnowdon

The Curve's imperial setup features the gorgeous carvings of Chinese and dragons, embellished in brilliant gold and deep red
Image via The Curve, Mutiara Damansara Facebook

Sunway Pyramid turned their concourse into a multi-level shoplot of yesteryears, complete with Chinese signage and a gigantic rooster statue
Image via Instagram @andrew_movez

It's red lanterns galore at 1 Utama Shopping Centre with a grand centrepiece for special performances throughout the festive season
Image via 1 Utama Shopping Centre Facebook

A scenic sight greets shoppers at The Mines Shopping Mall as they step into a traditional Chinese garden, complete with classic Chinese huts and a garden pond
Image via The Mines Shopping Mall Facebook

In line with the spring festival, intricate lanterns and floral motifs line the pathways of Mid Valley Megamall's CNY attraction
Image via Instagram @nic_kn9ck

In Penang, Queensbay Mall sets Chinese New Year in a winter setting to simply glorious results.
Image via Queensbay Mall Facebook

Lush greenery and blooming flowers surround a 20-ft tall phoenix at Gurney Plaza
Image via Gurney Plaza Facebook

Today is Chinese New Year 2017 - Year of the Rooster

Here's

And may the new year bring you bountiful good tidings and may all your dreams and hopes come true..

Chinese New Year (commonly known here in Malaysia or rather this part of the world, including Singapore) is celebrated over 15 days. Today is the First Day. Every day of this Spring Festival has its own significance. Read about the significance of the First day of Chinese New Year.


Next up is Auspicious Day(s) to start work in the new Year of the (Fire) Rooster - 2017. Stay tuned.

Happy Father's Day to You

To All Fathers out there..

Plus, it's Summertime if you are in the northern hemisphere. So..

Happy Chinese New Year - Year of the Goat, 2015

Happy Chinese New Year!

Source: 123greetings
.. and safe travels too.

You may also be interested to read:
Chinese New Year - On the First Day
Chinese New Year - the Second Day
Chinese New Year - the Third day
Good days to start work in 2015 after Chinese New Year

Happy Valentine's Day 2015

When there is love in your heart, everyday is Valentine's Day; but today is special, so

Happy Father's Day and World Cup reactions

To all Fathers out there, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!
And if you're a footie dad, what better treat than to have the World Cup happening in the same month, yes?

This morning, England vs Italy... 1 - 2. Ouch!

And for an earlier match, someone showed me a similar image as the one I recreated below. See if you can figure it out.

Clever, eh?

Happy Mother's Day 2014

Google commemorates Mother's Day..

Mother's Day is a celebration honouring mothers and motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in spring. (e.g., April–May in the northern hemisphere, October in Argentina, but northern hemisphere spring, May, in Australia).

Malaysia celebrates Mother's Day today this year.  How are you celebrating it with your mother?

2014 Chinese New Year greetings - Gong Xi Fa Cai

Today is 31 January, 2014.  It is also Chinese New Year or also known as the Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year, a festival which is celebrated for fifteen whole days and today is the first day of the celebration.

In reality, the Chinese New Year festival starts with the Reunion dinner on the eve of the festival, in which family members from far and wide travel miles to return home to reunite with each other.

This new year is the year of the Wooden Fire Horse and from the many sources that I came across, this year promises to be a good year generally, better than the last. Being of the wood element, good colours to wear or use are green and brown. As for auspicious dates to start work in the new year you can check out an earlier post, 2014 Auspicious/Good Days to Start work in the Chinese New Year.

On this happy occasion of the Spring festival, let me wish you and your family..

Wait, there's more..

Source: Google
Happy Lunar New Year, everyone! May the new year bring you much happiness, good health and prosperity!

Selamat Hari Raya Haji

Kuala Lumpur is quiet today.  It is a public holiday, a day where Muslims celebrate Hari Raya Haji as it is known here.  Muslims make up more than 60% of the nation's 28 million people.  Whenever major holidays are celebrated, the city is sort of deserted as people leave the city for their hometown to celebrate the occasion with their loved ones. 

Let me take this opportunity to wish all friends and readers here a Selamat Hari Raya Haji.

The weather here in Kuala Lumpur is wonderful today to be celebrating this happy occasion.

A reader here asked whether shops will be open in the city. Rest assured that Kuala Lumpur hardly sleeps. Shops, shopping malls and complexes are open every day of the year and during all public holidays be it Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali or Christmas.  Restaurants,  fastfood outlets included, are open, so are entertainment centres.

Welcome to Kuala Lumpur!

Selamat Hari Raya 2013 - Aug 8

Best wishes for a Selamat Hari Raya!

Yay! School's out. Offices are closed. KL's blissfully quiet with KLites already back home in their hometown. Celebrations all around!

It is always been known that the city is the best place to be during a major festival such as Hari Raya and Chinese New Year. The truth is out there as evidenced by this picture of the sparse traffic condition at the Jalan Duta Toll Plaza yesterday, the eve of Hari Raya.

Image source:  The Star/Bernama

Happy faces on Hari Raya.. a typical kampung (village) scene, cows, coconut trees, happy children in new baju raya (New Year clothes) playing with makeshift toys as depicted here of children playing with a betel nut tree frond..

Image source: The Star

Oh, not to worry if you are already here in Kuala Lumpur as shopping malls, food and entertainment outlets are open for business. You will get to enjoy a quieter city of less traffic congestion, both the auto and human kind.

Happy Father's Day 2013!

To All Fathers and Father-figures..

..and a Google doodle for you on this Special Day..

Happy Wesak Day

Today, May 24, is Wesak Day or Vesak Day. It is a Public Holiday here in Malaysia so we get a day off. Schools, banks, government offices, and admin departments in big corporations are closed.

A kind friend shared some Buddhist wisdom (from FunFunky.com) which I've picked the following to share with you:

The Relationship between Anger And Attachment

Attachment is a negative attraction that we succumb to, inside our consciousness, regularly and it gives rise to ego, which in turn is the root cause of all suffering. Suffering, in turn, is experienced at an emotional level through the various different forms of anger. We need to realize this phenomenon very deeply because this happens many times in each day of our lives inside our consciousness. Then we can see exactly from where our anger arises and we can correct it.

So if we don't want to suffer from anger, the solution is simple - we don't get attached to anything or anyone, to any expectation, any particular desired result. Sounds difficult at first, but the same solution can be put in a way that would seem easier to achieve, we don't lose our spiritual identity or individuality in something we are not, in anything or anyone that is physical. That does not mean we shouldn't possess any material objects and not experience joy by using them. It also does not mean we start remaining aloof from people that we love. Nor does it mean we don't have goals and ambitions at the workplace, etc. We do. But our relationship with them changes. Our relationship becomes one of detachment and not of attachment.

And what is a relationship of detachment? Detachment means that we possess all of them but we are no longer dependent on any of them, for our peace, contentment and happiness. We choose to be peaceful, content and joyful irrespective of whether they are there with us or not. So when cars get banged into (which can happen at times) and when people close to us are harmed or insulted or they leave or are separated from us due to any other reason (which is also bound to happen) or when jobs are lost (which is inevitable), we don't react angrily and suffer as a result. We have realized everything in life comes and goes; everything is born and comes to an end. We also realize that every process taking place in life is unpredictable and not always controllable, and must end. Things do and will happen. We know this is a reality. Every time we get angry it means we are having an argument with this reality of life.

Happy Wesak Day. May your day be as peaceful and as beautiful as it can be!

Tulips for Mother's Day

Source: The Star
It's springtime in Paris where tulips and primroses are in full bloom in front of the Eiffel Tower as pictured above. Remember there is a Tulip Sale for Charity at the concourse of Sungei Wang Plaza today from 11am onwards. Surprise your mom with tulips this year. Buy her a pretty bunch of tulips flown in by KLM all the way from the Netherlands.

To All Mothers, Happy Mother's Day,  May your day be filled with love and happiness.

Happy Labour Day and Happy Birthday!

Labour Day is celebrated on May 1 this part of the world. Today is Labour Day which is a national public holiday. Banks, government departments, offices are closed for business. Google Malaysia commemorates this day with a Google doodle as in the doodle below.y

Happy holiday!

Would you believe it, I know four people (all female) whose birthday falls on May 1? Yep, four of them! Let's put it this way.. you could go shopping for presents one shot.

Happy birthday, best wishes for health and happiness, my dear friends.. and a song for you, First of May by BeeGees.

Happy International Women's Day 2013

Today, March 8, is International Women's Day, a day dedicated to all women in the world. Google as usual commemorates significant world events with their brand of artistry, their Google doodle. Here is this year's doodle for International Women's Day 2013.

The United Nation's theme for International Women's Day 2013 is "A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women," while International Women's Day 2013 has declared the year's theme as The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum.

According to Wikipedia, the day is an official holiday in Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Macedonia (for women only), Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, [citation needed], Nepal (for women only), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Zambia.

In some countries, such as Cameroon, Croatia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia,[citation needed], Bulgaria [citation needed] and Chile, the day is not a public holiday, but is widely observed nonetheless. On this day it is customary for men to give the women in their lives – mothers, wives, girlfriends, daughters, colleagues, etc. – flowers and small gifts. In some countries (such as Bulgaria and Romania) it is also observed as an equivalent of Mother's Day, where children also give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.

In Italy, to celebrate the day, men give yellow mimosas to women. Yellow mimosas and chocolate are also one of the most common March 8 presents in Russia and Albania.

Source: Wikipedia
Aren't these lovely and different from the ones we have here in Malaysia? Mimosas found here in Malaysia are the purplish-pink kind at least I have not come across yellow mimosas. Have you?
To read more about what some countries do on International Women's Day, Wikipedia has the information.

Ladies, Happy International Women's Day. May this day be positively memorable for you!

Source: 123greetings

Chinese New Year - On the First Day

Today is Chinese New Year, meaning the First day of the 15-day Chinese New Year or Spring festival.

"Happy Chinese New Year and Kong Hei Fatt Choy!"
The above is a common greeting the first time we meet friends and family throughout the Chinese New Year, i.e., any time within the fifteen days of the festival.

What do Chinese families normally do on Day 1 celebrating the first day of the new lunar year?

In the old days, firecrackers would be set off before they go out visiting. It is believed that the noise from firecrackers can drive away evil spirits. The red colour in firecrackers also symbolises good luck in traditional Chinese culture.

Today in Malaysia, as in many parts of the world, setting off firecrackers is an offence. However, for official functions, permits can be obtained for setting off firecrackers usually along with a lion dance or a dragon dance.

On the first day of Chinese New Year, we visit elders and senior members of the extended family including parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, uncles and aunties, and others in their homes and wish them a happy new year.

If distance is a constraint, advancement in technology has helped bridged the distance.

During Chinese New Year, we are required to mind our language remembering to be mindful about using positive words and refrain from using unlucky words such as 'die' or 'bad luck'. Swearing and losing temper is a no-no.

On the first day, it is customary to observe a vegetarian first meal. For most of us, this is one day in a year, slaughtering of animals is refrained.

On the first day, sweeping the floor is definitely out. This is akin to sweeping away good luck. Brooms are normally kept out of sight. Doing laundry and other cleaning chores are also avoided.

Breakable items such as crockery are handled with care. This is because a breakage could be an omen of an unhappy incident in the family. Sharp objects such a scissors are also kept away. Clipping of nails and washing of hair are also avoided on the first day of Chinese New Year.

Traditionally, red is the colour for Chinese New Year. The colour to avoid is black. These days, other colours are also favoured to be worn that are believed to bring good fortune in the coming year.


This year Google has an interesting interactive doodle for Chinese New Year that involves a game with snakes and goodies associated with the holiday, this being the Year of the Snake. You can go to Google search to play the game.

Again, Gong Xi Fa Cai!


Related article:
- Chinese New Year Eve - Reunion dinner

Happy Chinese New Year 2013!

My best wishes to You and Your Loved Ones for a wonderful lunar new year of the Snake and may all that you wish for come true in the year.

Happy New Year! Gong Xi Fa Cai!