The first Kayak Challenge.

One side of the medal given to all participants who complete the race.


The other side of the medal given.


Kayaks are ready for the participants to use.


The canoes or kayak which were numbered assembled at the Semeling jetty. Every two participants are allotted a number and that was the number of their kayak.


There are more than a hundred kayaks ready for the event.


And this is the Semeling River and this picture is taken at the starting point.


Boats at the jetty where the starting point was. The Semeling bridge is in the background.


Mangrove trees near the jetty. These mangrove trees line the river up to the sea at Pantai Merdeka.


Md Zin and some of the acquaintances we made.


Getting acquainted with other participants. The one in the red T-shirt is the blogger.


And here's the long Semeling Bridge.


One of the participants looking for his kayak.


And here's my friend with our kayak in front of him.




And the participants are taking their kayak down to the river.


And the kayaks go into the river at the jetty.


























The first runners-up in the challenge receiving their prizes.




The young man who has one leg too short. He got a present for being the only disabled person in the challenge.


The oldest participant given a hamper by the organisers.


The most senior participant at age sixty-four years; that's me, the blogger.


The hamper I was given.


A beautiful view of a structure at Pantai Merdeka, probably for the life-guards.

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On Saturday, Eager to join in the fun of paddling a canoe down the river from Semeling in Central Kedah to Pantai Merdeka, I awoke before the alarm for six-thirty sounded. It was still dark at five in the morning.

Using the time allowed me to relax and do something else I turned to this blog and wrote one of my postings. At that time of the morning, the speed of the line was good and I went in easily unlike the past few days when I was told the server could not be found.

When I finished writing at six, there was still sufficient time for me to go out and hunt for my breakfast, a packet of rice, half an egg and fish. To this I added my finely sliced raw organic vegetable which I grow in my own garden.

Dressed for the event, I searched for bananas which is a useful convenient food for quick energy. Then I fetched my partner, Md Zin, and we headed for Semeling at seven-fifty. He was waiting for me outside his house, just as anxious to be on the move to the canoeing event. We reached the place at about eight o'clock. We met the organisors of the meet whom I have been introduced to three days earlier when i volunteered to help take one of the canoes from a beach near Pulau Sayak to Semeling. We were told the number of our canoe. By nine o'clock, we had taken the canoe down to the river. In the meantime the sky was threatening to wet all the participants. That did not cool our enthusiasm even a little bit. In fact, for me, one who has always enjoyed being in the rain, I was happy at the thought of refreshing rain dripping onto my face and body as my body heated up in the coming activity.

Md. Zin and I paddled for a short while to warm up for the kayak challenge. Then, we exchanged talk with the other participants instead as we did not wish to tire out ourselves. It was a event in which we had to paddle a distance of eighteen kilometres.

Then at ten o'clock, all one hundred and five canoes lined up across the river to start. The prize for the first forty persons to arrive at Pantai Merdeka beach was a hundred ringgit. Looking around most of the participants were young men and women not more than forty years old. The older ones were about fifty years old. All of them looked fit, tough and strong.

After the start, it was non-stop paddling all the way to Pantai Merdeka. Of course, we did stop to drink water three times during the race. It was a beautiful morning with a cool breeze and a few drops of welcome rain on the way. We passed mangrove swamps, mobile platforms of fish cages patrolled by dogs. There were sparsely populated villages along the river sides and sometimes we had to struggle against the current as it tried to move us out of our course. One canoe, the type which was built with air trapped inside the bottom of the canoe, capsized and they occupants of the canoe had a difficult time climbing back into the canoe. Luckily for them, a few patrol boats were at hand to pick them up and assist them.

In two and a half hours our canoe reached Pantai Merdeka where more than sixty canoes had already beached. We were later told that some arrived more than half an hour after us. The minute we climbed out of our canoe, we were greeted by the organisers, one of who put a metal around our neck. For me it was one interesting and much sought for experience, that day being the second time, I have ever paddled one.

After a good meal, we attended the closing ceremony, where the prizes were given away by a lady from Tourism Malaysia, Kedah. After which there were eighty lucky draws for things donated by some companies, sports bodies and universities. Hampers were given to the youngest, oldest, a disabled and a foreigner participant of the day's event and the oldest at sixty-five years of age was me!

After that we had to thumb a lift to Semeling where I had parked my car. Tired, no doubt about that, but full of gratefulness for the opportunity to be a part of that wonderful, thrilling paddling against the current as the water moved upstream. And I proved to myself that i am still game to take on many things in life even with very much younger people as my competitors. What a beautiful exuberant day it has turned out to be!
(Photos cannot be loaded as the line is very, very slow.)

Be aware that childrem learn fast.

"F*** you," he shouted to the sister.
The mother was shocked at the words the first time she heard it from her son. "What did you say?" she inquired the little son who has just returned from the kindergarten.
Laughing with delight at the mother's astonishment at his mastery of words in just a few hours, he replied, "I said f*** you."

Yes, children learn real fast and they are so innocent about what they had inadvertently learned that they they reveal their knowledge to all they come into contact with. In their innocence, they believe all knowledge is good, be it vulgar or not. So, in a way, it is easy to know what they have just learned so that parents can remove the dirt and filth immediately before the use of such words become a habit.

It depends upon the parents whether what has been learned will be in usage. Learning that such words are in existence and there are people using them is acceptable but if it comes into the child's everyday language, then he has acquired the use of unnecessary language. Such language is not useful, in fact detrimental to the child's welfare, in life. As adults, when we understand that someone has been brought up with the use of such language, we might accept it but there are times when such use of language becomes embarrassing besides it being unnecessary.

So parents should be aware of what their children have learned and discourage or encourage the usage of the newly acquired knowledge. If unnecessary or harmful knowledge has been learned and practised, it could lead to the child's future downfall.

One such harmful habit is acquired from friends or pushers who invite unwitting children to try smoking and from there to cigarettes spiked with drugs. And if the child learns that his parents dislike smoking, the child may even have the new knowledge concealed from the parents. However, parents who are aware or close with the child will be able to smell the difference. The smell of cigarette smoke in the mouth or fingers of smokers is strong. (When I was a teacher, I had been able to detect the smell as a student walked past me after returning from a smoke. Upon searching the pockets I had found cigarettes and a lighter in such a student, evidence that he smoked.) If the parent were to explain to the child the dangers of smoke in our lungs, then it might prevent further practice of the activity.

Of course, not all knowledge or activity is bad, just as not all knowledge or activity is good. Knowing a child's knowledge and interest early, parents can assist the child to be involved more deeply into it and have it become a hobby or stepping stone to further knowledge and interest in books with such knowledge. Interest in books can lead the child to improve his language capabilities and other interests. And from here, the sky is the limit as far as the acquiring of knowledge is concerned.

Besides knowledge, another important aspect of interests is the eventual realisation that there is so much to know, learn and do, making life so meaningful and wonderful. It makes life not just eating, resting, sleeping and working but living and enjoying each day, thus such a person looks forward to each precious minute with eagerness. That's what makes life precious!

The best in any level of society anywhere.

We find the best and the worst in any level of society. Through knowledge of happenings in our world, I have no alternative but to come to such a conclusion.

Just a month ago, I read in the news about this homeless man, a Mr. Dave Talley, who found a backpack. In the backpack were three thousand, three hundred American dollars in cash. Well, a man without money to even secure a small home somewhere must be really poor. Right or wrong, he could have easily persuaded himself to believe it was God's way to help him out of his predicament. He could have slipped the money into his pocket and walked away from the backpack. All that he did not do.

He did not steal it, an act I know some people would stoop to perform, given half the chance. Among the poor, there are thieves and among the rich and powerful, there are those in authority who become even richer through corruption which in my mind is also a kind of thieving, robbing someone in a persuasive way, using the authority they hold just as a common thief would a knife.

No, he did not touch a cent of that money. He returned the full sum as well as the backpack to the owner. Mr. Talley must have known the address from information he found in that backpack. That is what made me say a prayer for that man. He overwhelmed me with the beauty of his deed. Whatever his religion is, he is certainly more god-like than many.

To me, he is the walking example of honesty and greatness. No matter where he is, I wish him my very best. Perhaps, in his present position, he is able to perform his mission well, perhaps indicating to all that you do not need to have anything to be generous, that greatness lies not in the external form but in the inner self of a being.

Veterinarians' 2010 Convocation in Universiti Putra Malaysia.

A person's achievement in one of life's many successes depends upon his responsibility to go through the tough studying that is required to pass examinations to reach a particular goal in life. This is the story about Ong Jin Seng who has gone through the first part of his life striving for excellence in many things.

In today's world, knowledge, be it from school, an institution or an expert is of utmost importance if one were to wish to become one of the best in his/her spere or niche in life. Knowledge through trial and error or experimentation is very slow although possible. So, the best option is to obtain it from somewhere. Of course, there are people who have succeeded in business through hard work and hardly any knowledge but this is where luck plays an important role. Depending upon luck to succeed is full if uncertainties. In fact most who depend upon just luck and hard work alone in business fail. Those with success stories based on luck and hard work are the exceptional cases.

After his standard six examination, he was selected to be one of the few non-Malays to enter a residential science school. Always among the top scholars, at the age of fifteen, he won the top prize in Malaysia in an English essay competition on a Japanese film conducted by the Japanese Government. For that, he got a one-week home-stay in Japan.

Throughout his life, his interest in nature has been consistent and so when he successfully for a veterinarian course in the university, he had his dream come true.
Even as he studied, he spent more time on his creatures than on the course, although that was not neglected at all. As a result of this great interest, he finally received his degree this year in October. Even before the convocation, he was already employed by the well-known Underwater World in Langkawi, Malaysia.

Despite the amount of work he does each day, he found his first job interesting and fun. Forever on the search for knowledge on animals, fish and other exotic creatures, I believe his work is more a hobby than a job; for each time I talk to him, it was always about his work with the penguins and fish. One of his pets at the Underwater World is his cute baby penguin. From what he has told me, life must be beautiful. I am happy for him.

Below are some of the pictures I took at the convocation.

Lessons from the life of Abraham Lincoln.

Today I read about one of the most famous man in the world who got where he was through true grit and determination. His life is a series of failures that only ended in success through his ability to face hardship and overcome the many obstacles that stood in his path. He is none other than the 16th president of the United States, President Abraham Lincoln.

This man was born into poverty, so poor that his parents were driven out of their land in 1816 and young Lincoln had to do rough and tough jobs to support them when the family moved to then Perry County in Indiana. At the age of nine, he lost his mother.

Then, in 1832, at the age of 23 years, he started a small general store with a friend. He sold out his share of the store to the friend who died soon after leaving him to settle a debt of one thousand dollars. Unable to pay the debt, he became a bankrupt which took him 17 years to settle. Yet, his will to succeed did not lessen.

Even in love, it was no smooth sailing as his first love died even before the proposed marriage. His second match with a woman did not lead to marriage either. Eventually, his luck came in the form of Mary Todd and they were married till death did them part. Their successful married life is a lesson to those who have failed in their very first love.

Lincoln became a lawyer through his own study. In 1837, he was admitted to the bar and from then on we find his contempt for slavery. To act on this, he entered politics where he lost many times before he was elected. His election to the state legislature was only successful at his second attempt. After that he lost when he sought to be the speaker of the state legislature. He lost again when he ran for Congress and was only successful at his second attempt. As a congressman, he did a good job. Yet he failed to be re-elected two years later.

He failed in many things. He failed to get the post of land officer in his own state. He failed to become a senator. He failed to get his party's nomination for vice-presidency.

Such failures could have stopped a lesser man. Yet, in 1860, he was elected the President of the united States of America.

As the president, he turned to his mission of freeing the slaves. To him it was an injustice that could only bring harm to the nation to have masters and slaves. In the eyes of God, all men are equal. In the eyes of this president, all citizens are equal and his greatest mission was to rid the country of slavery. It took a war to do it and he unknowingly gave his life to achieve it, for just six days after the surrender of the Confederate Army to his cause, he was assassinated.

From the story of his life, he must have been given the mission to end slavery in America. To me, he not merely ended slavery in America, he showed the world that all men are born equal and slavery as well as ideas of master race are an injustice which should never be allowed to happen. Never in any religion or God-fearing people can such ideas of slaves and masters be promoted. Even our all powerfult God never consider Himself to be Man's master. He is God, our creator.

Understanding people.

"That couple talks too much," she complained to me.
"What happened?"
"Well, the lady, for example, would talk at such speed that I did not have the chance to put in any comment. She goes on and on and it is so fast there just was no way i could say anything," her annoyed voice clearly told me her unhappiness.
"I thought all of you like each other as only the three of you seem to be able to hit it off," I gave her my observation.
"The other day, she was telling me about their son in Japan again. I wanted to tell her I have heard about that son many times already but she just went on talking so fast as if knowing that I was going to tell her that," She looked unhappy alright.
"I know. Perhaps they have only one son and must be hell of a proud about the son'e achievement. And since yours are the only ears willing to listen, she had to unload everything onto you," I tried to pacify her.
"Hummp! And that husband of hers! You know what happened? The other day, he told me relatives took them to an expensive restaurant and spent RM400 for just a meal for the four of them. And he was so upset about the extravagance! I told him it was alright as it was just once in a long while. At that, his voice was raised and condemnation was written all over his face as he told me never to say 'once in a while'. I was really flabbergasted at his tone of voice, as if he were lecturing his son or daughter. I really never expected that. Oh, my god! He always talks as if only he knows what is right!" and her voice rose a little higher at this point.

I did not want to encourage her to talk more about the couple as she was obviously too heated up at the thought of them and what they had said. Quietly, I told her that it is possible the couple was not fortunate enough to have the matured balance she has and it could be due to a number of factors. The factors could be poverty at childhood stage or when compared with other relatives their parents financial level could be the lowest and these could bring about some kind of inferiority complex. So they have to put on a kind of attitude towards money and success as a shield. It is a complex thing and we ought to be happy that we are not in that kind of situation where we have to put up a superiority complex to counter it. Sad is the situation of such people if they cannot find a way to remove the complex. "And that is why," I explained to her, "The couple, especially the man, always has to win in any argument or discussion. They have to put themselves into a one-track mind to prevent hurt to their fragile ego."

Such people ought to be helped rather than disliked. Of course, during their lifetime, some friend could have to get them to see and understand their problem. Unfortunately, such people are not easily helped unless they themselves can see their own problem and are willing to overcome it. In fact, they are in great need of a psychologist. Even now, they must have not realised that people avoid them because of their 'My way is the best. My method is the only one. No one can be more correct than me' attitude.

Since such people cannot be helped, we should not aggravate the situation but just have a cordial relationship with them, for without clashes there can be no sparks to heat up the atmosphere.