I see Beauty in many things. And like the ghosts that only speak to you if you notice them, they tell me wondrous tales. With my camera and my thoughts, I captured these as faithfully as I can to share with you. And by doing so, they gave me the reasons. And though the thousand reasons may not all be sweet and some indeed bitter; they are still reasons to live. Come to think about it, that is Life, isn't it?
Sadly, I've had enough time... to see darkness envelopes my beloved country...
Darkness envelopes my beloved country
The Fifth
of May was the darkest day in Malaysian Electoral History with massive voting
frauds that returned the incumbent to power. At this moment, 100,000 Malaysians of ALL races are gathered
in Kelana Jaya Stadium, Petaling Jaya mostly wearing black to protest against
this abomination. This image represents the darkness that covers our nation and is the page profile picture of many Malaysian in facebook.
And like the legend of the moon eclipse where the noises created by the people
drove the sky dog from consuming the moon, the thunderous voices of the people
shouting “Ubah!” (“Change!”) attempts to drive away the evil consuming our
land.
Please
google Malaysia Election Fraud and go to YouTube to see the “evidence” of
fraud. Prepared to be shocked!
I've had just enough time to... enjoy my moon cake and look at the moon
Taken in the Shanghai Bakery Exhibition
There are several distinctly
different types of moon cakes but the most recognized is the Guang style with
its thin smooth pastry-like skin and rich lotus bean paste. A yolk or two of
the duck egg is usually added. This cake is only served once a year and
available during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Thus, it becomes a very popular
tradition to give a box of moon cakes to relatives and business clients during
this period. It is a multi-billion dollars business in China and many bakeries
made their entire year’s profit during this single month.
The humble moon cake has been
associated with the overthrow of the Mongol of the Yuan Dynasty. To spread the
words of a unified revolt, a secret message was put into the moon cakes that
were distributed to the oppressed Han people. It said “Drive out the Mongols on
the 15th of 8th lunar month!”. On that day, the populace
answered the call and overthrow the Mongols and established the Ming Dynasty in
1368.
Another famous legend associated
with the Mid-Autumn Festival is the story of the Ten Suns and the Lady of the
Moon. You can listen to one version of the story in the You-Tube below. For me,
the Mid-Autumn festival will always be about carrying lanterns and walking
through the dark street together with friends when we were boys. We were too
poor to buy the colourful paper lanterns so we made our own with milk cans that
has cut-out patterns, stringed together with wires attached to a bamboo stick. We
burned a candle inside the can and viola!, we have our tin can lantern. They
are crude but indestructible! We will then create a ruckus by banging upon
anything creating an unbearable din to drive away the dog that was trying to
consume the moon. Sadly, this boisterous tradition is no longer practised by
today’s kids. Not many even know about it. I think I will reach for my cup of
Chinese tea and the slice of moon cake now…
