April's sun

Well, it is just mid-April now but the temperature has gone up to 40 degrees which is a little too early then normal. We feel it and now we can't even have our lunch outside and no more BBQ. It is too hot to do all the outdoor activities. We hope that we will have a little rain to drop down the temperature for a while. At this time, I just hope that I am somewhere else where it is a little bit fresh.

At night, the temperature goes down only to 32 degrees.....huhuhuhu.

It's difficult

There is a time when it is too difficult to handle, I feel like hiding myself in the nature, going back to where I'm coming from. Borneo is really a dream for me to be. With its nature and beauty, it helps me to forget for a while what I am facing. But that is only a dream. We can't always run away when we are facing a bad time. To be in Delhi it is just so hard as nothing here that i can depend on. I love Borneo and hopefully one day I will be there again.

Save our Borneo....

Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH
Meenz et Laurent

Untold story

Medical Tourism or Health Tourism has become a significant aspect of the global health care and travel industry. India, with its medical skill pool and associated infrastructure has emerged as a major health care destination.

But what happen is when you stay in India you will see yourself how dos it work. It is so sad to see the hygiene at the hospital here. Of course, I have only seen the hospitals around Delhi. Some of them is really in bad condition. That is only the hospital that I am talking about. The hospital's staff is another story: how they can keep the hygiene for the hospital while they, their own cloths are so dirty. What happened to me last December was, the nurses in my wad could ever forget my lunch and from that time I'm asking myself what else did they forget to give me or in the other way around.

India may have its medical skill but it does not know the service. How to serve people? They are far behind. Without the service, we will always feel unwelcome in this country.

The other story is the doctor: the doctor wants to do or to give you too much and for nothing....that's happening when you are foreigner. For most of my friend who has given birth here, it was a nightmare for them. A few weeks ago, one of my friend has given birth at one of the best hospital in Delhi and during the time that she had to push the baby out, the doctor was busy talking on his mobile phone. I 'm not sure if this had happened anywhere else.

If you are pregnant, I advise you to have a second opinion from other doctor. And then, check carefully the medicine which has been prescript to you. You'll never know.

It's Holi again...

Holi is celebrated at a time of the year when everyone has had enough of the chilly winter and looks forward to the warmth of the sun. Trees get fresh leaves that are at their glossiest best and th flowers begin to pop open to claim their share of fun in the sun. For this celebration you may look for your old T-shirt and pants as when you come back home, you won't look like a human but it is fun :-)).

Happy Holi to all.
Laurent and Meenz

The people and vegetables

Today, having lunch at Italian Cultural Center, New Delhi. For almost 3 years we leave here but we have never try to go. Well, about the food: it is good as it is really hard to find the authentic test in Delhi or I believe where ever in India. Italian foods has adopted with the Indian test (with curry or other spices). Not only here, it's happened everywhere. I am happy that Laurent still can join for lunch as at working place, they have a problem with the computer.....no internet means no work. This is the way how it works nowadays. But for some, they still have a time to complain about how they didn't receive a vegetable last saturday :-(. If receiving the vegetable every Saturday become so important in their life.....I really don't know what to say. Of course because it is for free :-)). Like....we have to grab all what is free.............yes, that is the people.

Yesterday, we had a great time having a BBQ with Lisa + two children, Yuka, Flavien, Ceydric and us. The menu is of course, lamb shoulder marinated with honey and mustard, tuna fish with herbs, prawn tikka and so many differences of salad. We enjoyed the good with the pleasant weather. Welcoming the spring time.....I could say this perhaps.

Tomorrow, well, I have to fly back to Malaysia....settle up what I have to do since lone time but I didn't have much time before. I just hope that I won't have to stay for a long time this time. We'll see.

Big kiss from Delhi/Gros becs de Delhi

After 4 days in Langkawi

Enjoying the seafood

Underwater world

Underwater world

Kampung Tok Senik Resort.

Kampung Tok Senik Resort

Kampung Tok Senik Resort

Kampung Tok Senik Resort

Big Kiss from Kampung Tok Senik Resort/Gros Becs de Kampung Tok Senik Resort

Road to Langkawi

Tais on the beach of Pantai Cenang, Langkawi

7 January 2009

After spending 2 nights at Cameron Highland and enjoying the cool weather we continue our journey to Kuala Kedah with a hope that we will find a place to sleep there tonight or at least to arrive early to catch the ferry to Langkawi. Well on the way we stopped at Semenggol, Bukit Merah for a quick lunch then again on the road. The weather is hot. Some of us managed to sleep. Around 3.30pm we arrived to Kuala Kedah and we managed to get the tickets to Langkawi. The fare is about RM23.00 per adult and RM17.00 for each children above 3 years old. The trip takes 11/2 hours and finally we reached Langkawi at 18.00pm.

After a long journey in the car and the ferry, I guessed everyone of deserved a little of cold drink and snakes. We stopped for a while at KFC. Laurent and Francois tried to get a rental car; the price is about RM50 per day. So we have taken 2 cars. As Kampung Tok Senik Resort was ready to accept an early arrival, we headed there in the evening and we received a family suite. Sometime it is nice to travel during the low tourist season. We can have fun more and the hotel territory is so quite. So, lets have fun.........:-)

The photos and event will be updated later when we find a good internet connection or when we remember to take all of computer cable with us. Thank you very much to Starbuck Langkawi, to give us this opportunity to use a free wifi.

Big Kiss from Langkawi/Gros becs de Langkawi

Back to Cameron Highland

Here we are in the nature again.....Cameron Highland. For Laurent and me, we come back here quite often and, for Ariane and Francois they were here at least 10 years ago with Elisabeth. To Babette, we can tell you that there has been so many changes from that time when you were here. I take this opportunity to fill up a little my blog which is hungry with the story since I left or ever since I was stuck in the hospital. The 6 Conus at the moment are enjoying the waterfall and hopefully Tais will accept the activity easily.

Well, tonight will be a second night we spent our time in Cameron Highland. 2 nights we sleep at Bala Guest House. Such a beautiful house, like Tais say "La belle maison". Old english house style, full with the flower all around us.....feels like we are in fantasy land. This morning, we visited the tea plantation and tried to explain to the children a little about the tea processing. Well Tais kept saying that she wanted to go home.....which home:-)).

Tonight, perhaps we will have a dinner at MerryBrown, a restaurant where we can find chips, noodles, rice and above all, a fried chicken. We just have too as the children needs to come back to their diet.

Tomorrow, we will head our journey to Kuala Kedah and will spend 1 night in the fishing village. As we have never been there before, I just hope that it will be easy to find a guest house and hope that Tais will be alright by the time she sees the sea. Sometime it is not easy for the a samll child to travel.

Once, I will have a connection internet again, sure there will be more to tell and more photos will be updated.

Big Kiss from Cameron Highland....from all of us, les 7 Conus.

25 Dec`- Les 5 Conus sont arrives.

For the 1st day in Malaysia - Samy discovered the mangosteen. Clea wanted to go for shopping at 10.00pm and Tais has waken up all of us at 4.15am.



The next day, before shopping we had our lunch at the KLCC food court where Samy tried the coconut juice and they have all taken the fish & chips. We all went shopping for a while and got back home at 6.30 pm. We all went to the swimming pool and had a dinner at R & K satay. Three of the children loved satay even Clea (so surprise). Until now, everything goes smoothly accept for the night that Tais keep waking up Clea & Samy.......with Ariane & Francois need to open their regulation bible in the middle of the night.

Happy Holiday for all of us :-)

It's a Christmas again

It's Christmas again and also it's a holiday for most of us. As we will leave to Malaysia tonight and don't even know when we can connected again to the world, we would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry....merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2009. We hope that it is not too early.

C'est de nouveau Noel et aussi les vacances pour tout le monde. Comme nous allons partir pour la Malaisie ce soir et nous ne savons pas quand nous pouvons connecter avec du monde de nouveau et c'est pour cela que nous vous souhaitons Bonne Fetes de fin d'annee.....2009 et bonnes vacances.

Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

Good bye to Mrs & Mr Dreyer

Together we say goodbye to ambassador and his wife. Celebration has been made in a modest way with local employees and their family.

An emotion smile from both of ambassador and his wife, Sonoko.

Children singing an Indian National thyme and there were few games that has been organised to celebrate the departure of the ambassador. It was fun.

How am I doing?? After a real adventure at the hospital, well I'm fine. For those who doesn't know what happened; actually I was admitted at the hospital few days ago for having so much pain on my left chest. We found out that I suffered from an ovarian cyst which was 4cm large. If I had a choice, I might not end up at this hospital. But at the same time I prayed and I prayed. Finally, last thursday, the doctor has told me that everything was fine. All the result was good. It is time to go for a holiday even Laurent faces so much problem in schengen installation. Hopefully we can go......

Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

Terror in Mumbai

Well, it was quiet in Delhi this weekend as there was an election on Saturday. All the shops were closed due to a lots of reasons and further more the attack in Mumbai does make everyone of us afraid to go out even to the market. I am used to that feeling ever since we arrived in Delhi but what else can we do, just wait for the transfer which will be in two years time. I never feel secure everytime during our visit in other city in India. Perhaps I am a little paranoid but I think in this country better to feel unsafe.

Of course for a lot of people everyday life must go on, I am happy for them. Hiding like me at home also won't help anything. Perhaps also, I am tired to go out there, I am tired to see so many people around me....I am tired to see the men pissing around, yes, most of all, I am tired of the hassle. That is me tying to find a reason why I don't like to go out.

I am asking myself; how India wants to tackle to terrorist problem with the number of its popullation. Even I cannot imagine of how they're going to find the suspect with the similar feature of face that we see everywhere. Everyone looks so innocent and yet looks suspicious at once. For me they look the same.

Another story that I sould reveal here is for our smoking friends and family; it is prohibited to smoke in the public area in Delhi. Where is the public area; means everywhere even at hotel's terrace. Where they serve the food, there you cannot smoke. But urinate, as you may know, it is one of the national sport in India. People can urinate anywhere they want even right on your dining table too, it will do. I found that is so funny they don't allowed smoking at public area while urinate can. Isn't it definded the Incredible India.

Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

Self-Deception

It is part of the human nature always to judge others very severely and, when the wind turns against us, always to find an excuse for our own misdeeds, or to blame someone else for our mistakes. The story that follows illustrates what I mean.

A messenger was sent on an urgent mission to a distant city. He saddled up his horse and set off at a gallop. After passing several inns where animals like him were normally fed, the horse thought: 'We're not stopping to eat at any stables, which means that I'm being treated, not like a horse, but like a human being. Like all other men, I will eat in the next big city we reach.'

But the big cities all passed by, one after the other, and his rider continued on his way. The horse began to think: 'Perhaps I haven't been changed into a human being after all, but into an angel, because angels have no need to eat.'

Finally, they reached their destination and the animal was led to the stable, where he greedily devoured the hay he found there.

'Why believe that things have changed simply because they do not happen quite as expected?' he said to himself. 'I'm not a man or an angel. I'm simply a hungry horse.'

Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

Pollution in Delhi during winter

It seems a nice weather in Delhi now to walk around or to do some outdoor activities. But when winter has started, the air which cover Delhi is also polluted then ever. From the satellite picture which has been taken last week, shown that Delhi is one of the polluted city in Asia.

The huge smog-like plumes, caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and firewood, are known as "atmospheric brown clouds". When mixed with emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for warming the earth's atmosphere like a greenhouse, there are the newest threat to the global environment.

Soot levels in the air were reported to have risen alarmingly in Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata. Brown clouds were also cited as dimming the light by as much as 25% in some places including New Delhi, Karachi, Shanghai and Beijing. The clouds have been found to be more than 2km thick around glaciers in Himalaya and Hindu Kush mountain ranges.

It's definately dangerous to health but we were really enjoying our tennis tournament last week. Even we have lost the tournament but we were happy to participate and myself, I just have a minor injury on my back.

Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

I can't get in

Acsa (American shop), in Delhi, there is a strange look that has been thrown to me everytime I visit the shop and today, I decide to go there again as I may need certain thing from the shop. As I am standing before it, a man at the door says:
'You can't come in.'
My intuition tells me that he is saying this purely for the pleasure of saying 'No'. I explain that I've come a long way; I try offering him a tip; I try being nice; I point out that this is, after all, a shop which I have an authorization to go in. Suddenly, going into that shop has become very important to me and I try to show him my authorization card but he just ignore me.
'You can't come in,' the man says again.
There is only one alternative: to carry on and see if he will physically prevent me from going in. I walk towards the door. He looks at me, but does nothing.
As I'm leaving, two other couples arrive and they, too, walk in. The old man does not try to stop them. I feel as if, thanks to my resistance, the old man has decided to stop inventing ridiculous rules. Sometimes the world asks us to fight for thing we do not understand and whose significance we will never discover.

Another day that I leave in Delhi.
Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

Arabian cooking

BARKUK (Lambs with prunes sauce)

1kg Lamb leg or lamb shoulder
300g Prunes
100g Shelled almonds
1 Onion (sliced)
80g Butter
Cinnamon sticks
Sesame seeds
Honey
Olive oil

Soak the prunes in water for 30 minutes. Cut the lamb into 5 or 6 pieces. Put the meat in a saucepan with 2 - 3 sticks of cinnamon, the sliced onion, butter, a pinch of salt and 2 glasses of water. Cook slowly for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the lamb, set it aside and keep it warm.

Squeeze out the prunes, and put them in the pan along with 5 tablespoon honey, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, caramelize over a moderate flame.

Toast the almonds in a skillet with 3 tablespoon olive oil, and toast the sesame seeds in the oven. Serve the meat with the prune sauce, garnish with the almonds and sesame seeds.

Bon appetit.
Laurent et Meenz

Beraya di Seri Maya

Lemang; without lemang, Hari Raya would never been the same. Lemang is a sticky rice cooked with coconut milk and inside the bamboo. Lemang is always served with chicken or beef rendang. It's delicious.

This was break fasting time at Yati's place. Not enough chair to sit, so we have a dinner on the floor
The third hari raya, we received a family who came from Penang, Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur. The apartment was full but it was really fun even we had to cook almost the whole day. We have never thought beraya at Seri Maya could be happening:-))

Just chose which one you like :-))

Big kiss from Seri Maya/Gros becs de Seri Maya

Jerash

Jerash just another one of the romain city in the ancient time. People before knows how to have fun:-))
Jerash - Deuxieme attraction touristique de la Jordanie, apres Petra l'ancienne cite de Jerash a ete habitee, sans discontinuite, depuis 6500 ans.

L'age d'or de la cite remonte a l'Empire romain et la site est aujourd'hui repute comme l'une des cites romaines les mieux preserves au monde. Dissimulee sous le sable avant d'etre decouverte et restauree durant 70 ans, Jerash est l'exemple meme de la planification municipale romaine, vaste et formelle, dans tout le Moyen-Orient. Elle est ornee de rues pavees, a colonnades, d'immenses temples sur la crete des collines, de theatres ravissantes, de places publiques spacieuses, de thermes, de fontaines et de murailles percees par des tours et des grilles.

Sous son placage greco-romain, Jerash conserve un savoureux melange d'Occident et d'Orient. Son architecture, sa religion et ses langues sont le fruit du melange et de la coexistence de deux puissantes cultures, celle des greco-romains dans le bassin de la Mediterranee d'une part, et celle des arabes de l'Orient d'autres part.

La ville moderne de Jerash est situee a l'est des ruines. Bien que l'aspect ancien et le nouveau se retrouvent dans la meme enceinte, la ville a pu se developper loin des ruines grace a une conversation et a un amenagement soignes.

In Jerash, for those who loves the festival: you can partipate in Jerash festival which taking place every year in July. For further information, visit www.jerashfestival.com.jo

Big kiss from DEL / Gros becs de DEL

Having fun in Dead Sea - 05th July 08

It is really a fun place to be. To float in the water without making any effort.....just great. Unfortunately, we can't stay too long, not more then 15 minutes. But you always can come back in the water anytime you like.

Here is Laurent, having a mud musk all on his body.

La mer morte.

La mer Morte beneficie d'un heritage historique et culturel qui lui est propre. On pense qu'elle fut le siege de cinq villes bibliques: Sodome, Gomorrhe, Admah, Zeboim et Zoar (Bela). Aujourd'hui, sa cote partiellement habitee, est tres paisible. Ses paysages n'ayant presque pas change depuis l'antiquite, elle represente un lieu privilegie pour des promenades en voiture. Vous pouvez egalement prendre un bain de soleil, nager et diner; ou vous detendre dans l'eau, au gre des clapotis, et constater avec emerveillement que vous ne coulez pas! Delectez-vous avec un message relaxant ou assayez un bain de boue prelevee dans la mer pour profiter des ses mineraux et vertus apaisantes.

Big kiss from DEL/gros becs de DEL

Jordan and its history

Day 3 - Leaving Petra and heading to Al Karak, we have made a stop at Shawbak Castle. Situated at least one hour on the north of Petra.


Al Karak - Before heading to Dead Sea, we have made another stop at Al Karak.

Ancienne forteresse des Croises, Karak s'eleve a 900 metres au dessus du niveau de la mer et siege a l'interieur de l'enceinte de la vielle ville. Encore aujourd'hui, la ville arbore de nombreuses batisses ottomanes du XIXeme siecle qui ont ete restaurees, ainsi que des restaurants et des gites. Mais c'est sans conteste le chateau de Karak qui domine.

L'habitant le plus celebre de la ville fut Renaud de Chatillon, dont la reputation reste inegalee en matiere de perfidie, de trahison et de brutalite. Lorsque Baudouin II mourut, son fils, lepreux de 13 ans, rechercha la paix avec Saladin. Cependant le roi lepreux mourut sans heritier et c'est alors que Renaud de Chatillon lui succeda en gagnant la main de Stephanie, la riche veuve du regent de Karak qui avait ete assassine. Il rompit soudainement la treve avec Saladin qui se presenta a nouveau avec une armee gigantesque prete au combat. Renaud de Chatillon et le Roi Guy de Jerusalem menerent les Croises et subirent une terrible defaite.

La premiere expansion de l'Islam au-dela de la peninsule arabique etait dirigee vers le nord, en Jordanie. C'est la qu'eurent lieu les premiers contacts entre l'Islam et le monde byzantin non arabe, et donc des batailles strategiques au VIIeme siecle: les batailles de Muta, de Yarmouk et de Fahl (Pella). De nombreux compagnons et leaders militaires du Prophete Mahomet furent eriges en martyr et enterres en Jordanie. Leurs tombeaux sont aujourd'hui des sites de pelerinage tres importants pour les musulmans pratiquants, comme Al Mazar al Janubi, a 25 minutes seulement au sud de Karak.

Shawbak - Le chateau de Shawbak, seul temoin de la gloire passee des Croises est a moins d'une heure au nord de Petra. Autrefois appelle <<>>, Shawbak remonte a la meme epoque troublee que Karak. Elle est perchee sur le flanc d'une montagne et ornee vers le bas de nombreux arbres fruitiers. A l'exterieur, le chateau est tres impressionnant avec sa grille imposante et son triple mur d'enceinte. Malgre toutes les precautions du constructeur le chateau est tombe aux mains de Saladin, 75 annees seulement apres sa construction.



Big Kiss from DEL/Gros becs de DEL