Category: Personal

  • Single but Coupled

    I read with interest Isabelle Tessier’s article entitled I Want To Be Single – But With You  in HuffPost recently. Essentially, it’s an expression of desire of people who don’t want to lose themselves the moment they get into a relationship, and to approach them with the mindset of still being one’s true self rather…

  • Fairness at last? The Turing Apology

    Last Easter weekend I watched the film The Tuskeegee Airmen (1995), the story of the struggles that black American aviators went through in order to fly WWII missions for their country. From automatically labeled as unfit to fly due to epilepsy by flight surgeons, to the levels of prejudice from their fellow servicemen, it was…

  • Ancestral Journey: Day Three

    When I awoke on the Saturday, it was with a bit of alarm, as the weather forecast had been for rain and the streets in Huizhou were wet.  I was concerned whether we’d be able to go visit the grave of ancestor #1 — not that it would really have stopped me (or probably many…

  • Ancestral Journey: Day Two

    The next day we decided to take the morning off to do some sightseeing of Huizhou.  We visited the scenic West Lake area, ascended the Sizhou Pagoda, and walked through the nearby market to buy mui choy, the local specialty of preserved mustard cabbage.  The wet market portion sold various live treats like turtles, frogs,…

  • Ancestral Journey: Day One

    We met up in the morning with the rest of my relatives from Malaysia and Hong Kong: several uncles, an aunt, two granduncles, and a grand-aunt.  After a reunion dim sum breakfast, the fourteen of us headed for Huizhou on a chartered tour bus, crossing the Hong Kong SAR / China border. Upon our arrival…

  • Ancestral Journey: Prologue

    My trip to China came about through the rediscovery of the Chung family ancestral home in Tam Tong, a village near the city of Huizhou in Guangdong province.  Chung Jen Miau, my great-great-grandfather, and his family had left Tam Tong for Malaysia in the early part of the 20th century.  Several generations later, descendants of…

  • Scotland 2008

    A few images from our recent trip to Scotland. View towards Glencoe Clan Memorial Stone at Culloden Field Ruins of Elgin Cathedral