Massage by stepping on you

 

Massage style where therapist holds on rail and steps on u. Ashiatsu
This ancient practice -- which involves a massage therapist literally walking on your back -- has been performed by Buddhist monks for centuries and is now available in various forms across America.

http://www.massagetherapy.com/articles/index.php/article_id/836/Ashiatsu-

 

Dr sung yat seng

Father of modern China

Snail mail

Posted a month ago in China has not arrived

christmas ham

 Something sinfully tasty is my brother Charles' ham. Charles is a lawyer by trade but I suspect he is secretly wishing to be Masterchef Australia. Here he is, sharing with my son his secret recipe.




skin, it is full of collagen, and is good for your skin.

food parcels.

Thousands have been lining up outside the Auckland City Mission as the lead-up to Christmas puts the pinch on people's wallets.

Nearly 2700 people have queued up for emergency food parcels and gifts in the past two weeks, and 80 per cent of those are women, missioner Chris Farrelly says.

every year, organizations like City mission, Salvation army collect goodies to make food parcels for the poor. Last week, there was an announcement telling people not to donate chick peas ans tomatoes. The radio DJ didn't think very kindly to this.  He mentioned the phrase beggars can't be choosers.  they say the recipient didn't know how to cook these. I am not surprised about chick peas, but tin tomatoes, they can always make tomato soup or spaghetti Bolognese.

I once helped in the soup kitchen of City Mission.

Inside chinas rapid speed rail

Fast as the bullet train

Wooly night shade

Woolly nightshade

 

Solanum mauritianum fruit -  

 

This fruit tree is at the corner of my deck. Right now, in Summer, the tree is in it's different stages. There are little clusters of  purple flowerlets. There are new fruits and yellow ripe fruits.
New Zealand native birds come and eat them. Once, Rose and I tried to eat them. there are a lot of little seeds. each fruit is about the size of a small glass marble that my brothers used to play with their mates in Sibu.  We didn't dare to eat more other than to taste them. Birds eat them. It is sweet but has a slight bitter taste.
Upon close examination, there are a small set of leaves hidden inside the big leaves.
Woolly nightshade has naturalized in New Zealand. It had arrived there by 1880, and is now well established from Taupo northward. Woolly Nightshade is poisonous and handling the plants can cause irritation and nausea. The dust from the plant can cause respiratory problems if exposure is prolonged. Because of its ability to affect human health and because of its aggressive and fast growing character it is illegal in all areas of New Zealand to sell, propagate, or distribute any part of the plant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum_mauritianum

http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.co.nz/

 

Tobacco plant

No! not  the plant you get your tobacco from. But a beautiful flower in summer.

a young contributor

I contributed this and earned $5.  a monthly magazine from the 1960s called "The Dolphin"? It was published by the Borneo Literature Bureau, which was a body owned by the Sarawak Government and formed in 1959.
I contributed to this and earned a princely sum of $5.  A very valuable experience for a teenager, My first paid writing. I wrote an article. The midnight feast. Was paid five dollars. Little did I know that would pave the way I would write books.

Hong Tian Wu / Red Sessile Joy Weed (红天乌)

the medicinal plant HUNG TIEN WOO. is grown in Singapore and Malaysia. Because off its burgundy red color which looks like blood, the Chinese practitioners believe that it is good to detoxify our body, cleanse our blood, relieve high blood sugar and cholesterol.

My friend told me and recommended that I try it. As I am open to anything that could be good, I went to the local wet market and bought a couple of bundles and brewed it with Chinese sugar dates. I was the only one in the family daring enough to drink it.

I asked my Sister Rose, and my sis in law. They both plant them this herb in their garden.
The native Malaysians call it DAUN KURMA MERAH and they eat them as a vegetable as well as using it as a herb.

 For five yrs we planted them in the parapet floor of our 2nd floor apartment. Now staying in HDB Executive Apartment so no place to plant. Bro'in-law scheduled for heart angioplasty but cancelled as his condition improved after drinking the HTW tea

Is it Utopia?

In 1907, my great grand father brought  his sons and families to be pioneers to develop Borneo. Some of the families remained in this hot tropical land. We have become professionals, and they in China living in a land where time has forgotten.

This year, 2017 I went back to Kwong Ning, home of my ancestors, home of the bamboo plant for the first time. Now, nobody comes to collect them even for joss sticks. My cousin chops some for firewood, and the blade like joints for firewood for cooking and heating.

We went from 26 degree in Kwang Zhou. To 16 in Kwang Ning to 10 in Guilin in three days.

Cousin Pui Hang showed me the abandoned buildings. Here, was a crude probe to the entrance. I asked Pui Hang if she ever wished her Dad never wished he had remained in Borneo.

She asked," it seems to be Utopia, but is it?"

ShiZiLou Restaurant in Nanjing

ShiZiLou

Restaurants in Nanjing

+86 25 8360 7888

Hu Nan Road ShiZi Qiao 29, Nanjing, China

Treated and dined like a queen. 28 morsels person. I ordered a normal portion of escargot. Friends from 34 years ago, hui min and Fong land wanted to show us Nanking small eat

Taste the colours of the rainbow with Gong Cha’s new bubble teas!

Media release: 21 November 2017

Taste the colours of the rainbow with Gong Cha’s new bubble teas!

Taste the deliciously sweet and savoury flavours of Gong Cha’s new range of bubble tea suited to all palettes! Served hot or cold, your taste buds are transported to the streets of Taiwan with the best tea beverages money can buy! The hardest decision you’ll have that day will be choosing which flavour to go with!

Specialising in both milk and fruit teas, Gong Cha has released thirteen new flavours to add to their already extensive collection ensuring even the most discerning palates are catered for.

Most bubble tea recipes are a tea base combined with a milk or fruit juice and shaken, then tapioca pearls (the ‘bubbles’) or fruit jelly can also be added as an option when the tea has been mixed. The mixes are made fresh in each store daily to ensure maximum freshness and flavour for all!

With the simple instructions on how to order a drink, you are able to customise each of the drinks - adding and removing toppings, choosing the sugar level and having the beverage hot or cold.

Founded in 2006, Gong Cha has quickly blossomed into one of the fastest growing tea brands in Australasia with over 600 stores across Asia, USA, Australia and now in New Zealand. Treating all customers like royalty - Gong Cha’s aim to create the perfect blend for each person that walks in the door, similar to the offering of tea to an emperor in China thousands of years ago.

For more information, visit http://gongcha.co.nz/, https://www.facebook.com/gongchanz/ or https://www.instagram.com/gongcha_nz/  

-Ends-

 

Written on behalf of Gong Cha by Impact PR. For further information or images, please contact Mark Devlin, mark@impactpr.co.nz (021509060).

 

 

WINNER CANNES GOLD LIONS 2017

WINNER CAANZ GOLD AWARD FOR BEST LONG TERM STRATEGIC CAMPAIGN

 

floral: Watsonia's

http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.co.nz/

 Watsonia's are tall, slender and dramatic. The blooms open from the bottom up which extends the flowering period. 

Blunt Umbrellas

used to have this scenario, now with NZ design umbrella, it should be wonderful not having to ditch a broken umbrella. Just hope it is not too heavy and expensive.



https://www.bluntumbrellas.com/nz/

WHY BLUNT™?

Friends

When I was young, I learn this ditty.

Make new friends,
But keep the old.
One is silver,
And the other gold.

I had left my home town for more than 40 years.
These old friends always entertain me and transport me around whenever I return.
There are 5 of us who started primary one at six years old.

green green bamboo of home.

Next month I will be returning to my ancestral home in China. I have never been and am getting excited. The family income was bamboo. I wonder if they still have it.

succulents

http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.co.nz/

Parnell Festival of Roses.

Parnell Festival of Roses 2017

Sun 10:30 AM · Parnell Rose Gardens · Auckland

http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.co.nz/

One of my Fav places in Auckland

sago

 My first recollection of sago was the "Sago liap". Liap being small. They were small round hard compacted sago flour.

My maternal Grandpa Kong had a grocery shop and produce collection centre. Ibans come sell their rubber, and buy things from Grandpa. We saw the Ibans buy the sago liap and eat them at the shop.
We took the sago liap and ate them. They didn't taste good, hard texture and dry. They stuck in our teeth.Grandma chided us in what would now be unPC. 

Years later, Sis E went to teach in Mukah and learn from the Melanaus to eat with peanut, ikan busu aka ikan belis. All the ingredients were raw, and I couldn't stomach them. May be I was already allergic to peanuts.

Today, the Borneo Post published a photo on Sago symposium where my younger sister is involved. I wonder if Margaret was thinking of Grandpa's sago liap while she was researching it. There she is, 2nd from the left, Dr Margaret Chan.

Photo shows Sis E's grand daughter eating Bario Highlands worms similar to sago worms.

Niah Caves, Sarawak

Niah National Park, located within Miri Division, Sarawak, Malaysia, is the site of the Niah Caves limestone cave and archeological site. Niah National Park was 31.4 km² when it was gazetted in 1974.^[1] Nomination for World Heritage status of the Niah Caves was sent to UNESCO in 2010. The cave is an important prehistorical site where human remains dating to 40,000 years have been found.^[7] This is the oldest recorded human settlement in east Malaysia. More recent studies published in 2006 have shown evidence of the first human activity at the Niah caves from ca. 46,000 to ca. 34,000 years ago.^[8]
wiki.

The caves are also well known for the birds' nest (Swiftlet) industry. They are a popular tourist destination in Sarawak. Every section of the ceiling in the caves where there are birds roosting is privately owned and only the owner has the right to collect the nests. Collection is done half-yearly (usually in January and in June). The collector climbs up hundreds of feet on a single pole to the cave ceiling and scrapes off the nest in flickering candlelight.

Another activity is collecting guano. the droppings of these birds that fall down the cave floor. This job is not for the weak hearted. Climbing up and down is dangerous especially when you are strapped to have sacks of heavy odorous guano.

I have not been to Niah Caves. my guides tell me that the smell of the guano it very strong and will make the trip unpleasant. So I went to the Mulu caves. There are bats but the smell is not that bad.

Photos by my friend Noel Balan. He captioned them Local’s carrying kilos of guano everyday to earn a living. What are your excuses? Complaining about tired? hot weather? trafic jamm ? wifi slow ? 

Guano (from Quechua "wani" via Spanish) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds, seals, or cave-dwelling bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to its exceptionally high content of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium: nutrients essential for plant growth.


Quechua /ˈkɛtʃwə/, also known as runa simi ("people's language"), is an indigenous language family, with variations spoken by the Quechua peoples, primarily living in the Andes and highlands of South America.^[3] Derived from a common ancestral language, it is the most widely spoken language family of indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably some 8–10 million speakers.^[4] Approximately 13% of Peruvians speak Quechua.^{[5][better source needed]} It is perhaps most widely known for being the main language of the Inca Empire, and was disseminated by the colonizers throughout their reign.

Thanks: Noel Balan.