Saturday, December 30, 2006

happy new year 2007

today is the 30th dec 2006, the second last day of year 2006.

would like to wish all my friends a happy new year & good year ahead.

where will i be on the eve of new year. well, i will be in the jungle with the nature to welcome the new year. 2007.

enjoy the last few moment of the 2006. those who party & out for drinking, make sure u drive home safely, mata-mata is watching u on the road.

cheers & happy new year........................

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

11th malaysia national jamboree 2006














sunday morning travel to ulu bendul in kuala pilah with jeff (my jamboree buddy) to take a look of the on going malaysia jamboree.

first stopover at kedah campsite, then in selangor campsite, met mr ngoo adc petaling & chit chat with him before taking a tour on the entire jamboree campsite. this jamboree has the jamboree mood to me even thou i am not a participant. as a visitor i can say this is a jamboree.

the organiser fully utilised the camp area with the help from various government agencies from works dept, the police force, the army & so on.....

impress with the following where permanent signboard(not wooden signboard) are put up indicating jamboree area, slow down in speed for cars, buses, lorries & etc.....














met some old friends at the jamboree site. visited all the cantingent campsite, the main arena, the activities area, the plaza area.

impress with tham's badge collection at the exhibition area. met badrulhisham( former adc petaling now adc for baling district in kedah) at the exhibition area. i must say tham's & the rover crew put up a good exhibition as one of the activity for the jamboree. great!!!!!

if you want to know more, search for the star online where some articles have been put up covering this jamboree.

oh ya, scouts & leaders of selangor especially petaling district, be prepared for year 2010 where selangor will be the host for the upcoming 12th malaysia national jamboree.

if selangor will be the host, then left perlis state still not yet host malaysia jamboree before besides than those federal state like kuala lumpur, labuan.....

so far the states hosted malaysia national jamboree

1966 penang
1970 melacca
1974 johor
1978 sarawak
1982 kelantan
1986 pahang
1989 perak
1992 sabah
1997 trengganu
2002 kedah
2006 negeri sembilan
2010 selangor
2014 perlis (may be, i am not sure who will be the host)

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

travelling here & there (part three)

philippine... only been to manila for about a month, mainly is for work & everyday starts work very early in the morning & end very late. rushing for dateline ma, not sending me to manila for holiday ma. i can remember most of the morning i'm taking jolibee fast food. most of the building outside has guard arm with firearm guarded.

south africa...first time to johannesburg was in 2001, nothing much i know about the place, die la, sure eat mac-d for most of the meal la. end up having good meals with a very in-expensive price. visited some culture village, the sun city, gold reef city, casino, lion park, water front, flee market, scout shop & etc.........

buy some souvenirs, spend a day in scout shop. standard, really got tones of thing to see and grab. buy almost the whole shop. talk to the scout executive, and guess what.... he gave me souvenir, it is from mafeking. mafeking is means "place of stone". yup, gave me some stones originally from mafeking. (if u r scout, please don;t tell me you don;t know where is mafeking). then he show me a binoculors, this bino is old & craft with bp's name. ( scouts, u know who is bp) shoot u 300 times if u don;t know. u will not believe it i am holding bp's binoculors. speechless...........

singapore ... stayed in singapore for 2 years before heading back to malaysia.
most frequently visit this city, at least once a year until i joined current company where the no of times increase where company have a branch office in singapore & i have to go there for work assignment on adhoc basis.


south korea ... with about 10 scouts attend the 17th asia pacific jamboree in mount sorak 1996, mount sorak is about 20km away from dmz zone.(do u know where is dmz zone). sorak san also hosted the 17th world jamboree in 19991. same place. nice mountain area. stayed with the korean family for a few days, great, visited seoul, most of the famous tourist places

2nd time there again recently is only for transit on seoul vancouver trip. met up with captain simon & mei yee in seaoul before heading to vancouver for vacation trip in last may 2006. (is a new airport)

sweden ... it is just that the nearest town from copenhagen is malmo, only 35 min, therefore just don't want to waste the opportunity putting my foot print on the soil of sweden. posted in my previous post about malmo, take a look.

the next time i have chance or think of going to sweden i guess will be in year 2011, because the 22nd world scout jamboree will be host by sweden. tell you, scandinavian country is damn expensive.

switzerland... as is parrt of the knotiki tour package in 1995, was in lucerne, nice place, stayed over a nite there, visited the mount pilatus/titlis, the famouse chapel bridge, the lion monument. i remember that one plate of mixed rice with 3 dishes cost rm45. the most scary part is the cable car up to mountain. damn scary


thailand... first time 1987 is to the 2nd senior scout jamboree in cha-am, with a bunch of friends always fun fun fun......

then only in 2002, went to bangkok, sattahip, pattaya for the preparation of malaysia contingent to the 20th world scout jamboree. leading 178 scouts and leaders to the world event held in sattahip.

also with current company, i need to travel to bangkok for meetings with customer, exhibitions, sourcing for material & meeting up with suppliers.

so far in total i have travel to about 20 countries. suprisingly i have not & i am yet to visit one of the popular distination of many others, that is hong kong. not that i don't want to go but happend a few times where i plan to go but due to other factors, the trip has been put off. wait la, sure got chance wan...

another place thinking of going is the usa, but as many of u know, getting a visa is "mkf". my boss as md of the company want to go there for an exhibition also got turn down on visa application. wait lor.... only will go get the visa when in year 2009 i guess, to prepare for the 100th year of scouting celebration with bsa & attend their national jamboree.

travelling here & there (part two)

united kingdom (uk)... first time to uk is after the world jamboree in holland, was staying in freind house. this is the place where the europe tour with kontiki starts. after the short 9 days europe tour, we are back to this starting point. stayed in london, do some sight seeing & also visited the gilwell park, wanted to go to brownsea island but due to forest fire, we are not able to visit the island.

the 2nd time i am there was in sept 2001, stayed in london down for a day before heading to gilwell park for gilwell reunion with my friend that i met during my first visit gilwell park 1995. he is a 70 plus scout leader. at the gilwell reunion campfire nite, i suppose to meet a special person during that nite, bp's daugther betty clay suppose to come for the campfire but i unfortunately she is not able to do so end up i met with bp's grand daugther gill clay. great.

scouts, if u know campfire tradition is suppose to keep some ashes from this campfire & bring it to the next campfire & sprinkle some ashes onto it & then at the end campfire keep some ashes again & carry forward to the next one..... do you know that ?????? well, just to let u all know, i keep some of the ashes until now from the gilwell reunion 2001 campfire

remember clearly that the day i touched down kl is the day 9/11 where world trade center in ny gone with the plane.

july 2007 will be my another trip to uk for the 100th years of scouting & 21st world scout jamboree.

indonesia... first time to indonesia was actually last year i think. indonesia as in batam island from singapore for a tour trip & tour. yeah. not bad for the starts, waiting to go jakarta. simon, mei yee & cynthia have been staying in singapore for so long & is their first to batam island.......

italy... remember that part of the europe tour covered in italy was venice. yeah, nice place, what there have there....... water, gondola, bird shit, pick pocket, expensive place. pizza. never go to rome.

the 2nd time was there with cookie(cynthia) in 2001, this time i was in rome, florence, pisa.. the musuem, the pisa tower, the vatican city and scout shop. i remember well this scout shop give me some problem to find it because shifted and i don;t speak italian, looking high and low and after spending half a day, at last managed to find the scout shop which is really out of the way.. almost give up.


japan... with 16 seniors scouts & 2 leaders, we head for 12th nippon national jamboree in akita, north of tokyo about 550km. via osaka then tokyo with all nippon airways. me with another leader was upgraded by the group staff to business class from kl to osaka. good enough arleady. yeah. spend a day tour in osaka then off to tokyo. hosted by japanese family for home hospitality program before to akita for jamboree.

the picture shown is day trip to disneyland tokyo (l-r)john goh, steven wong, tracy, chim ts(this is big chim), myself, michelle & jun joy

after jamboree stayed in tokyo youth center for a day before heading home to kl, total spend about 14 days in tokyo for my first trip.

was in japan tokyo again in year 2001 with cookie, this time is on our own and spend a week there. visited my friend joseph who posted there for temporary work assignment, do some sightseeing, visit the toyota showroom, i think in yokohama, visited the japanese family hosted me for home hospitality during my first trip with the scouts. infact we put up a night again. thank you mr mayumi.

jordan... 1995 world scout jamboree was held in holland, to save some cost on the airfare & at that time the cheapest airfare we can get is by royal jordanian, no choice lor, take lor, what to do, "ghost asked you to be poor ah, stand up for it lor". what do you expect, everything in from kl to amsterdam via jordan and from london back to kl via jordan again for only rm1800. in-expensive leh.

transit in jordan for 6 hours with karyew, jeff & myself, put us in a hotel for 6 hours, what can u do there... nothing, eat, sleep & took some photos. nothing u can see from the hotel, near to airport, only sands & waited for the next connecting flight to amsterdam.

netherlands... as i mentioned that the 1995 world jamboree held in netherlands, spend about total of 20 days in holland, in amsterdam city, with erik bekker & magda, jamboree before we depart to other part of europe. first time to europe & impress with all the infra. basically we are there for the jamboree and about 9 of us attended the jamboree..

2005 after ten years, i was in amsterdam again with cookie. this time even thou is short stayed but manage to do some sightseeing esp looking at the actual windmild(infact i never see a real windmild in 1995) and meet up with erik bekker and the family, this time with 2 more twins, their son & daugther. tom & milou. great








new zealand... went to auckland for a few days with cookie, captain of the flight was simon and senior fo was joe. with all jokers around, really have fun. we visited our friend plus classmate joon & lee poh too. landed in auckland airport & i was being stopped by the police at the custom. asked this asked that, asked me if i have taste drugs before, i replied no & mentioned that death penalty in malaysia & life prison. no way. pai sei, let the crews waited just for me. sorry about that, blamed the police. later found out that 2 weeks before i landed in auckland, some malaysian brought in estacy pills, tones of it. see la, malaysian boleh.... really boleh. good lah, goto jail.

continue in travelling here & there (part three)...................

travelling here & there (part one)

since young, i have the opportunity to travel here & there until today, some countries i am there for work, transit or passed by. travelling,most of the time is fun and enjoyable one but one thing for sure is, your piggy bank will always empty.

this morning suddenly come into my mind that actually how many countries i have been to & ehhhhh....... i think quite a number of countries besides than singapore & thailand where i am frequently travel to this 2 countries for work purposes.......

australia... i have been to australia for 3 times and this is the country where i first travel to oversea when i was 11 years old with my mum, sis & brother to visit my sis in melbourne. nothing much i can remember but is fun, first time travel ma, is on a mas dc-10 aircraft. the 2nd time is to attend the 1st asia pacific jamborella with my seniors and scoutmater and the last time i went australia is 1987 for the 16th world jamboree in cataract scout park. wow.... 20 years already. time flies...........................

austria... during my europe tour in 1995 after jamboree in holland, passed by austria as i am on the kontiki tour with coach. i can remember is a nice scenery with mountains covered with snow. famous with the crystal...

i remember the former chief commissioner dato' hamidin told me that he was one of the selected scout from the entire malaya at that time to represent malaya to the 1951 world jamboree in austria. the journey to austria took 3 months by boat... believe it or not.....

belgium... after the 1995 world jamboree in holland, some of us followed the belgium scout contingent back to antwrep, brussel. jeff, kar yew & myself putting up at the scout hostel while vincent & kwee kiat plus 2 scouts are staying with the scout family for home hospitality. cookie told me that when u in belgium must try the mussle. well, we did that & is good taste. the 3 stooges went for tour on our own in brussel before heading back to holland again.

canada... is one of my most recent vacation trip infact just few months back (may 2006) only. if u read my previous posting on this canada trip. places covered during the vacation bnaff national park, rocky mountains, victoria garden, vancouver, visit ja+(my friend from thailand staying in vancouver now) & last but not least, the scout shop in vancouver town.

denmark... during the hari raya 2006 short break, i went to copenhagen. i have put up a series of stories about this trip of mine. please read the posting of copenhagen one, two, three, four, five, six & last seven for more........& this scandinavian contry is damn expensive to spend......

france ... also after 1995 world jamboree in holland, this is part of the tour with kontiki & paris is one of our destination. visited the musuem, the lourve, the effiel tower, the night scenery, monalisa. as you know very little english converse in france, so we also pretend we don't speak english beside than japanese, mandarin and bahasa only... everytime, huhhhh, ahhhh, hand signal don;t know & etc....good, chicken & duck talk & u ask for it

germany... first time to the vineyard & stayed overnight near the rhine river. most of us are not a good drinker, with wine tasting also killing us. remember we stayed in munich for a night too. bmer, bmer.... the ultimate driving machine, everywhere in town.


continue in travelling here & there (part two)..................

Monday, December 04, 2006

scout jamborees & me

every jamboree is unique & not a single jamboree is identical to me............ every scout (youth) average out will only have one chance to participate in one jamboree as a youth but i am lucky enough to participated with 3 jamboree as a youth.

the word jamboree to a 13 years old scout like myself is a damn big word at that time.......what is that? all this thanks to my senior scoutmaster at that time who open up not only my eyes but the entire scout group from then on jamboree.

read thru the previous posting and find out more what is a jamboree.....

since the day one i'm into scouting until now, i have participated in the following jamboree as a youth, leader, jamboree staff, international service staff, contingent staff, contingent leader & last but not least as visitor too.

1st asia pscific jamborella, dandenong, australia 1984
2nd senior scout jamboree, cha-am, thailand 1987
16th world jamboree, cataract scout park, australia 1987
7th malaysia national jamboree, teluk batik, perak 1989
8th malaysia national jamboree, tambunan sabah 1992
18th world jamboree, holland 1995
2nd selangor jamboree, templer's park selangor 1996
17th asia pacific jamboree, mouth sorak korea 1996
9th malaysia national jamboree, besut trengganu 1997
12th nippon national jamboree, akita japan 1998
3rd selangor jamboree, templer's park selangor 2000
20th world scout jamboree, sattahip thailand 2002

the future 11th malaysia national jamboree, ulu bendul 2006 & 21st world scout jamboree, uk 2007......... the future starts today.

scout jamboree

it is jamboree fever time again...... with malaysia national jamboree around the corner(from 12th dec to 19th dec), i would like to take some space to share with others what is a jamboree. besides than the malaysia national jamboree, the 100th years of scouting & 21st world scout jamboree will be near soon (july 2007, only 8 months away) .

many scouts, leaders & close friends of mine have asked me the same questions over the years, what is so good about scout jamboree. u have spend not only money, time to lead & attend jamborees with the scouts. what is so good about it...........

well, my answer is " words cannot explained totally what jamboree is all about, u have to be there to experience yourself once............"

i remember clearly once a scout(chim ts, now in australia) told me, "sir, if u never spend those money for jamborees, today u will be easily driving a bmer.....the ultimate driving machine" yeah.....

again all i want to say is " march march march on the road with me, to the boy scout jamboree....."

what is a jamboree
A Jamboree is an event organized by Scouting for young people, where the Scout method and principles and adherence to the Scout Promise and Law are practised according to the highest standards. It is a gathering of Scouts who wish to share the fellowship and brotherhood of World Scouting and, above all, to have fun! A Jamboree is the “mother of all activities” of a Scout’s life, something every dedicated Scout looks forward to and whose memories are cherished deeply afterward. In a Jamboree, Scouts expand their hearts and minds learning new things and discovering a rich assortment of novel experiences. Such a gathering requires all the basic services provided by a city – shelter, water, market, hospital, fire department, toilets and showers, garbage collection and disposal, etc. – with the exception of a prison!

An instant “tent city” blossoms on the site of an international Jamboree as ten to thirty thousand young people from all over the world troop in for a week of education, fellowship and fun with fellow Scouts. Their eager anticipation electrifies this self-ruled community, infecting everyone with a boundless enthusiasm regardless of what country they come from and the language they speak. The more diverse a Jamboree, the better! The diversity of races, religions and languages makes it more interesting for young people as it gives them the opportunity to interact and make friends with Scouts from other countries and to learn about different cultures.

why hold an international jamboree
• A Jamboree is held to promote Scouting of the highest quality, one that is faithful to the mission, principles and method of Scouting and adapted to the needs and aspirations of young people.

• A Jamboree whose participants come from different countries is organized to develop among scouts the awareness that they belong to a world organization.

• An international Jamboree shows the world the unity of the Scout Movement and promotes the image of a universal educational movement open to all young people, contributing to the development of young people to become better citizens in their local, national and international communities.

• An international Jamboree gives young people a way to make friends with other Scouts from different backgrounds, develop greater understanding, tolerance and cooperation, or, as B-P said, “for Scouts to assume new responsibility for promoting peace and goodwill.”

• An international Jamboree shows the strength and size of the Scout movement and promotes national pride among young people hosting this great event.


who attends the jamboree
A Jamboree is organized for young people who are registered with national Scout organizations. The minimum age for participants in Jamborees should ordinarily be between 14 years and not more than 17 years old, though national or regional Jamborees may be held for younger members. Because the Jamboree is an event for young people, the number of adult leaders should be strictly limited to camp duties only. They could be either Troop Leaders, or serve as members of the sub-camp staff, contingent staff, programme staff, etc. Past Jamborees have shown that the desirable proportion of adults to young people in a Jamboree should be an average of 1 adult per 9 youth members.

when a jamboree is held
The 1st World Scout Jamboree held in London brought together 8,000 Scouts from 34 countries and showed the world what Scouting was and what Scouts could do. Since then, there have been 19 World Scout Jamborees held every four years. So far the quadrennial interval has been interrupted only twice: first, during the Second World War and, 1979, when the political turmoil in Iran caused the cancellation of the 15th World Scout Jamboree. Because of the size of the Asia-Pacific Region, Regional Scout Jamborees are usually held once a year, usually in conjunction with a national Jamboree. National Jamborees may be held every four years, depending on the policy of the national Scout organization. Normally, a Jamboree lasts for seven days, which could extend up to ten days inclusive of arrival and departure…


(JAMBOREE (c) 2001, WSB, APR)