Sketch - a girl terrified by ghost

Drawing by Annabelle Bong on 29 Oct 2010.

UOB joins the market

In the past, we only have Maybank offering gold saving accounts. At the time when Maybank first launches that service, not many of the people are interested in investing in gold or precious metal. It could be that the people needed a ready cash just to get through month by month. Later, Public Bank also offered such service to the public. Well, it is not just gold saving accounts but also gold bullion and minted gold coins. If you check and compare Maybank and Public Bank gold price rates, you would note that there are differences. Generally, as for now, Public Bank offers a better rate for the public.

Now, we see another bank offering the same service. UOB has entered the market and the good news is that it is giving a better rate to the public compared with Maybank and Public Bank. So if you have extra money that you would not spend for maybe a year, I would advise you to invest it in gold savings account. Or if you are in USA, check out United States Gold Bureau. You may find a better deal there.

Sickness averted

Due to the haze that is blanketing the many states in Malaysia, my whole family is showing signs of sickness. Annabelle, Ezra and Mommy are down with flu, slight fever and cough. As for me, I experience low body immune system yesterday, feeling tired and weary the whole day. In times like these, I turn to Usana Essentials, taking it twice yesterday instead of my normal once a day. Yes, I know it says that I should take 3 times a day but I can't afford such luxury. And with extra doses of sleep during the day, my body recovered. Thank God for that.

I'm praying that God would provide wind to clear the haze, or pour down heavy rain on the hotspots in Indonesia. Maybe, just steer a portion of the super-typhoon Megi to Indonesia so that the burning would stop.

The haze is back

Every year, around this time (Sept, Oct, Nov, and Dec) when the dry spell is on, we can see the haze in this country. Sigh...because of the greed of some companies in Indonesia that blatantly practice open burning to clear the land to cut cost, the people in Indonesia and Malaysia have to suffer. Bahhh...and even after so many years, both governments seems to be doing nothing about it.

When the haze is here, our health suffered. Itchy eyes, itchy throat, coughing, fever etc etc. Grrrr....hate it when innocent people have to suffer because of other people's greed.

Sonic Gear speakers

Another thing left by my tenants is a set of Sonic Gear speaker Blue Thunder 1 model. And here is a picture of the same model.

I guess the tenants use this speaker for their room theater set. Being students in the local university, having a room theater set is much cheaper than going to the cinema every time they want to watch a movie. Those who love to hear music will surely get a good set of speaker and Sonic Gear speakers are considered good speakers.

No, I'm not a music lover. If I have lots of money which I don't have especially when the tenants left a hefty outstanding bills for me to pay, I would prefer to buy buy gold instead of buying pc speakers. At least I know my money will increase over time.

Anyway, before the Sonic Gear is sold (yes, I intend to sell it if there are interested buyer) I might as well make full use of it and plug it to my desktop.

Eating crab

In Sabah where the price of crab is very cheap. Cheap as in RM6 per kilo compared to about RM25 per kilo in Melaka. Cheap as in the same price as the small, not so fresh fish that you buy in Melaka. Our host bought for us the crab for our meal and it was delicious. Mind you, the cooks are secondary students staying in the same house. And I thoroughly enjoyed it very much.

Tip of Borneo

Imagine my excitement when we were told that we will be going to the Tip of Borneo. Yes, the northern part of the island of Borneo. Check out this map and you will see the tip of Borneo.


We arrived there at around 5.30pm to look at the sunset. It was beautiful, though the sun was partly hidden by the clouds.

Of course, it would not be complete without any pictures taken as proof that I stood at the tip of Borneo. Here's the proof...hehehe.

Dumbbells

The tenants also left some other things besides the big Dunson bags. No, it is not gold bullion. I wish they had left some gold bullion but that is not so. Now that the gold price is increasing, I'm sure I can get back some money to pay the outstanding bills that my tenants failed to pay. Better leave wishful thinking and get back to reality.

Another thing that the tenants left is a pair of dumbbells each weighing 3.5kg. It has been a long time since I exercise using dumbbells. Now that the dumbbells are with me, I started using them. And it feels great to be able to exercise again. My biceps and triceps are beginning to find their shapes again. hahahaha...at least there are some known and seen benefits of the tenants leaving without telling us.

Bathing with pond water

Sounds interesting. Yes, it is. Cool and refreshing pond water. No, I did not bath at the banks of the pond. The pond water is being pump to the bathroom. And here is the pond which is situated behind the bathroom. When you don't see where the water comes from, you would enjoy the fresh and cool water. Furthermore, because of the hot weather, bathing and scrubbing your body with the cool pond water is indeed a bliss.


The water smells of mud. And tasted muddy. The night where we stayed at the house, I had to bath and brush my teeth at the middle of the night. That's why I know how the water tasted like. The next afternoon, all of us learn the truth about the water.

Dunson Luggage Bag

The tenants left the apartment without informing us. When I went there to check, there are still some of their things that is still left at the apartment. There are some big bags that are left in the apartment. They packed their stuffs in the bags, unimportant and unnecessary things like the curtains. Had to clean up the apartment and since new tenants are coming in, I had to bring back all the bags and other usable things. The three big bags are Dunson luggage bags. Still in good condition.

Maybe I will sell the bags as I don't need to use it. Furthermore, the tenants still owe me over RM2.5K in outstanding bills. I wonder how much can I get if I sell those big Dunson luggage bags. Anybody interested? I'm willing to sell it cheap just to get back some money to pay the unpaid bills.

Outstanding bills

When we went to check out our apartment to see whether our tenants are still there or not, we found out that they have left the apartment without informing us at all. What a irresponsible tenant. The apartment is in a mess. Sometimes I wonder how on earth they can live in such a messy place. Rubbish are not thrown away in the rubbish bin but just left on the floor. I think even if they drop any gold coins there, they would have difficulties finding it in such a mess.

What is worse is that they left without paying the outstanding bills. Water bill amounting to RM53.00 and electric bill amounting to a whopping RM2.5K. Yes, that's RM2,500.00 which is about 5 months rental amount. Grrrr... why is that stupid TNB does not disconnect the electricity when the bills are not paid on time.

Tenants disappeared

Our apartment tenants paid the monthly rental almost promptly every month. As such we did not suspect anything amiss until the end of last month. When we sms him to pay the due rent, there's no reply from him. Our calls are not answered. Suspecting something amiss, we went to the apartment to check out.

The apartment is in a mess. Lots of rubbish not properly thrown in the rubbish bin. And the rooms are empty. Seems like the apartment has been vacant for more than two weeks or more. Sigh... I hate it when this kind of things happen.

Vacancy in rural area - doctors

Went to Pitas, Sabah, at the island of Borneo. It is accessible by road though some parts of the road are not smooth. It took about 3-4 hours ride from Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of Sabah. There's no bus service but you can take the taxi. The taxi is more of 4WD or in our case, a Toyota Unser, capable of carrying 7 passengers at one time.

The journey is a pleasant one. You can see the paddy field, hills, jungle, oil-palm estates and lots of green scenery. We were told that the state has built one big hospital in the Pitas district but unfortunately, there is lack of doctors and nurses. I'm sure there is no lack of nursing scrubs or uniforms for the medical staffs if ever they are posted there. Most of the doctors prefer to work in the big cities where they would get better pay/income.

I guess it takes a person who is committed to help the poor that would answer the call to serve in rural areas. And this kind of person/doctor/medical staffs are not easy to find. Even with various incentive including regular supply of scrubs clothing, not many would want to answer the call.

Would you answer the call to serve in rural area where the people are poor?

Looking for old course-mates

While in Sabah, I remembered one of my course-mate named Daisun in university. We studied law and he was one of the Sabahan students who made it to the top law school in Malaysia. When we graduated, we lost contact with each other. I was told once by him that he would go back to Sabah to practice law.

I wondered whether Daisun is practicing in Sabah. If he is, then he would have his own legal firm or a partner to one the legal firm there. I assume that he would be a litigation lawyer as that would fit his personality, handling various lawsuits like Accutane lawsuit or even be a criminal defense lawyer. Would I be able to recognize him? Hopefully, if he has not become too fat or change his familiar gestures. Maybe, one day I will see you again Daisun.