Thank You Google

Thank you Google for giving me back my blog LAISI.
The admin at Google believed me after I have made several more reports. They allowed me to reset my password and now I have my blog again to carry on posting new stories.
I have yet to check my Gmail and I am sure it is accessible again.
I had given up all hope and told them to just cancell both the email and the Blog. Lucky thing they are also people who feels for people like us.
You are really wonderful people at Google.
In the meantime I have already set up another blogsite also by the same name of LAISI but with a different URL. I am in the process of copying all the posts from this site to the new site. I guess i will be maintaining both sites and making posts at both sites just to be sure that should one go down again, there is the other one to be used. So dear readers, you can use either one and you will still be able to read my posts.
Now I am feeling rejuvenated and will be making new posts with much gusto.
Again I want to thank you people at Google.

A Bird In The Sky

A group of young boys and girls were happily taking picture with an old caucasian man in front of Istana Balai Besar next to Istana Jahar which is now a museum in Kota Baru, Kelantan. The activity caught my attention while I was on my way to the Income Tax Board's office nearby.

A group of teenagers taking photograph with Mr. Fuchs. Sorry for the poor image as it was taken with a cheap handphone.

On my way back to the car I saw the old man sitting alone on a long wooden bench browsing through his copy of lonely planet, the Bible of most backpackers. My curiousity got the better of me so I approached him.

Mr. Fuchs with the Kota Bharu Landmark in the background.

The Arch as the background to the picture of Mr. Fuchs.

Istana Balai Besar is the palace where all the official ceremonial functions are held.

Intricate carvings on the door of the side entrance to Istana Balai Besar.

The main building in the Kampung Kraftangan(Handicraft Village). The lady in the picture is a contractor doing some measurement to a new job.

"May I share this bench with you?" I asked him as a matter of courtesy.
"Oh go ahead and do whatever you like" He answered in impeccable English with a thick German accent. In my years of dealing with tourists I could discern the various accents like German, Australians, English, and Americans among the caucasians. The French and Italians don't speak much English and their lapses into their own language are dead giveaways. Those from the Scandinavian countries still escape me. Spotting their country of origins based on their accent was quite fun. I did fail to identify them on several occassions though.
Thinking hard on how to break the ice, I dug into my backpack and brought out my newly aquired toy, the Twinhead laptop. Booting it on I prepared myself to draft a new posting to put on my blog.

The old man couldn't resist the sight of the new notebook and with twinkling eyes he asked me "So your are connected to the internet?".
"No. I have yet to buy the modem that will allow me to be connected from anywhere. I will get one soon". I replied not even sure how soon is soon.

"I am Zawawi" I said extending my hand to him which he gripped back warmly.
"I am Ernst Dieter Fuchs" he replied. Seeing my perplexed expression he spelt it out one by one and I dug into my backpack to retrieve my notebook and wrote his name. He explained the last name Fuchs as to mean fox in English.
"I am a blogger" I announced with pride of my new preoccupation as if it was a full time occupation which can earn me an income that can support my life. What a laugh if he were to find out that I didn't earn a single sen from it. I explained a bit about what I meant by blogger and being a very learned man he understood what I meant.
"May I write about you?" This request of mine opened the floodgate and he acceded to my request by telling me more about himself.

So here is the short summary of Mr. Ernst Dieter Fuchs' travel that he managed to divulge and share with us all.

At the age of 65, Mr. Fuchs is a senior citizen and enjoyed some benefits of being one. One of which is the benefit of having accumulated enough wealth to travel the world without having to work at all if he so wishes, to support himself and his travel expenses which ain't much considering he does most of it using busses and railways and sleeps in guesthouse as long as they are clean. On most railways of the world he even get a discount as a senior citizen. He has sold his house in Germany and without a permanent address the German government will not allow him to vote.

"What is my one vote when there are millions of other voters who will vote?". I have no comment to that statement.

The Royal Guest House located close to Istana Jahar, Istana Balai Besar and Kampong Kraftangan. Mr. Fuchs could have stayed here.

When he was 14 he did his first overseas travel with his uncle to neighbouring Holland and Belgium. That was when the travel bug hit him and he made up his mind to travel the world. Single mindedly he focus on his desire to travel the world one day. One of the things he did for his preparation was to study the languages of the world. Over the years he mastered six other languages excluding his mother tounge German. The languages he mastered are English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese and Korean. Definitely more than enough to travel the world without having to use any interpreter. He could even be one himself.

After selling off his house, he began his epic journey 15 months ago on the 18th September 2006 heading for Italy where he stayed for 15 days, then took the ferry to Greece and stayed there for 25 days. The next leg of the journey was a 25 days stay in Turkey before taking the bus to Iran. He was proud to be a German as he can obtain a tourist visa to Iran unlike The Americans who can't. He volunteered the informations that beside Iran the Americans cannot travel as a tourist to North Korea, Libya and Cuba. He has his own opinion of Mr. Bush and Mr Blair which isn't nice for me to put it in here. Just use your imagination OK?

While in Japan, he taught the Enlish language and while in Korea he taught the German language.

Surprise of surprise he told me he felt safe in Islamic countries while he was robbed in Christian countries naming Mexico and Guatemala where he was robbed in 1980 and he said Columbia was another dangerous country. During that period he did the American continents from tip to tip from Cape Horn to Alaska except the Canadian countries. What a miss otherwise he might have met my good friend U Lee.

It was while travelling around Bulgaria that his drink was spiked and he went to sleep for ten hours while the seemingly friendly people that he began to have trust in robbed him of whatever belongings that he carried. The people at the German embassy considered him lucky as there were other incidences where the victims didn't get to wake up at all. At least he lived to tell his story and kept his precious life intact.

Two elderly Japanese gentlemen relaxing in the vicinity of Kampung Kraftangan.

All in all he had travelled to 111 countries including small countries like the Vatican and San Marino, however small are still independent countries. In the process he had expended 17 passports and the one he was carrying was his 18th. He rattled off all these numbers without referring to any notes as he didn't write notes and all were stored in his memory. Such great memories can only be sustained in a healthy body which he definitely has. Without fail for every 2 and a half years or thereabout he had been hiking the Himalayas to at least the 5,000 metre level without the aid of any porters and sleeping in the open without even the the use of tents. His highest point was 5,600 meters. A no mean feat for a 65 year old.

To achieve his ambition to travel the world, he decided to stay single throughout. He had witnessed the many problems and breakups in marriages which made him think it was unnecessary for him to get hitched. Having to answer to a wife wasn't his cup of coffee either. He wanted to be a free man like a bird in the sky, flying to anywhere that his heart desires.

(U Lee, you can forget him as he won't be buying your book on Ninjalogy containing the ways of how to seduce a woman).

By now Mr. Fuchs should have proceeded by bus to Kuala Terengganu, Mersing and on to Singapore before moving for Indonesia to spend about 20 days for his second visit there.

Before parting he gave me another surprise by reciting the Al Fatihah albeit with a German slang.

I promised him that I would be posting this story within ten days of our encounter and this is about time.

Mr. Fuchs, if you are reading this, I would like to wish you the best of luck and a may God bless you with a Happy and Prosperous new year.

Please keep in touch via email. Mine is mohdzawi@gmail.com

The Search For U Lee

It was with a heavy heart that I deleted Moonlight and Roses from my blog roll. What is the point of keeping it there anymore since the blogsite is no more available after the blog owner deleted the blog for good. The reason for deleting it is only known to the blog owner who went by the nick U Lee or Uncle Lee to most bloggers. It must have been a painful decision for him to do it after painstakingly building it up from scratch. Furthermore, the blog has such a large follower.
Anyway, the blogowner had the courtesy to inform his readers via his last blog of the impending deletion bringing forth many comments for him to carry on blogging or at least keep the blog going. Everyone respected his decision and a few expressed their hope that U Lee will come back again sometimes later.
Being a newcomer to the blogging world and a recent visitor to Moonlight and Roses, I was only able to read the last few blogs namely the touching story about Donna and the hauntingly beautiful description of Canada during the recent falls. The beautiful pictures accompanying the story of Canada did justice to the detailed description. I was hoping to read the rest of the blog during the seven days it remained available. As with any form of procrastination, by the time you are ready to read it, it was already too late and no more there.
Rita Ho in her blog I'm Making Notes wrote a beautiful tribute to U Lee in one of her blog Uncle Lee - One Fine Gentleman. Rita Ho described him as a man who wrote from the heart. Rita’s post attracted many comments from avid readers of U Lee and non-readers as well. Of note were the comments from Ruby Ahmad, Puteri, Akmal, aidan's mama and papa, cat cat, jt and Daphne Ling(not in order of appearance). Ruby Ahmad commented that her gut feeling told her that U Lee’s departure from the blogsphere will just be a temporary one and he will comeback some day. What nice hope she was giving us.
Puteri of Puteri’s Musing enticed us with a peek into what we have missed on U Lee’s Moonlight and Roses by providing a link to some episodes of The Faded Letters, one of U Lee’s most moving story. Somebody told me that The Memories Of The Way We Were was another gem from U Lee but the best attempt at forensic internet search by Puteri failed to find it. What a Loss!
The only hope that we have now is to get U Lee to make a comeback to blogging. I hope that he had the hindsight to keep a mirror image copy of Moonlight and Roses before deleting it; otherwise, he will have to redo it from scratch again and come up with an even better version of his stories.
After reading those few episodes of The Faded Letters, I bet U Lee will be shedding loads of tears again if he were to redo the same story since it was a true story of his life that happened some 30 years ago.
U Lee, we would be most grateful if you could come back and share with us whatever the joy and sadness that you had experienced so that others may learn a lesson or two from it. From the bottom of my heart, I beg you to come back.

The World is Full Of Surprises

If only one of my fingers were to press on the enter key, Nick Habgood's email would be gone and I wouldnt have known its content at all. A new potential friend would be lost. As luck would have it I overcame my earlier fear that this email in my inbox from an unknown name could be another one of those African scam where somebody inherited some fortune and need some immediate fund to get it out of Africa. To most gullible people the prospect of sharing a bounty can always tempt them to part with their small fortune. Some Malaysians did fall for that scam.

Nick's email was peculiar in that it was in my inbox and not the spam box. The extension was azini.com a profound similarity with the name of my youngest daughter whose tale of childbirth and marriage was carried in my two latest postings. My curiosity overcame me and I opened the email. This was what Nick Habgood wrote to me:

(I have permission from Nick Habgood to reproduce this email and for any link to Azini Capital)

Dear Mohamad

I hope that you don't mind me emailing you but I have been reading your blog and noticed that your daughter's name is Azini. I think that it is a wonderful name. Please send her my regards.

In 2004 I set up a venture capital (investment) firm here in London, England. I wanted to find a name that was unique and for which I could secure the URL. I wrote down a long list of the starts of words and then a long list of the ends of words and then started putting them together until I found something that I was happy with. I came up with the name Azini and believed this to be a completely unique name. Now I am starting to learn that it is not as unique as I first thought. Lots of people ask me about the name and comment on how much they like it.

Perhaps you would be so kind as to tell me where the word or name "Azini" comes from and what it means. Somebody has suggested that Azini is a the name of a city in eastern Iran. Is this correct?

Many thanks

Kind regards

Nick Habgood

Azini Capital Partners LLP
Surrey House
Eden Street
Kingston-Upon-Thames
Surrey
KT1 1ER

http://www.azini.com/

I was stumped. I thought only fellow bloggers read my blog. Now I have a partner of Azini Capital of London reading it! I replied to the email explaining how my wife and me came to name

my youngest daughter Azini. infact all of my children has a name beginning with the letters Az with the eldest girl being Azura, younger brothers Azrin and Azuan. Azini is just the logical choice for the youngest daugther.

despite of his meticulous search for a unique name for his company, Nick Habgood has chosen one that happens to be the same name as my daughter who was born 24 years ago in 1983. What a beautiful surprise for both Nick and me. I have suggested Nick to visit Malaysia sometimes soon and he is considering coming during the next season of Le tour D' Langkawi, a cycling event which he would like to see.

For those friends in England, why not see how Azini Capital can help you to invest some of your surplus fund?. You can access Nick Capital and Partners via the above link.

The above is a picture of Nick Habgood with his partner Michael Bennett. Nick is the one on the right.

Nick, this article is dedicated to you.