Thank You For The Beautiful Memories

As promised, we visited Stadium Merdeka for the 2nd time for the closing ceremony of the KL International Tattoo 2007 only to be greeted by the sign that said "Tickets All Sold Out". It was a shocking moment but I recovered fast enough to resort to my devious self to gain entry into the stadium. I walked towards the organizers' room and explained to them my need to enter the premises and requested for their co-operation in turning my dream into a reality. With God's graces, the organizers allowed me to carry out my activities but with a promise not to leave the place until the end.

I took many photos with the crowd and most of them complemented me on my I Love MY t-shirt that I bought from one of the stalls at the Fun Fair in Putrajaya. All of the people whom I approached that night agreed to be photographed with me and my 3 buddies after I explained to them the reason why I need to be photographed in a large crowd. It certainly proved that we Malaysians are a very friendly lot and always willing to help one another in times of need.





























Unfortunately, in the middle of taking photos, the rain started pouring like cats and dogs. I rushed to the placed where the large drums were stored under the canvas, lifted it up and push my cut out under it as well. Once my cut out was out of danger of being soaked to pieces, I looked for a place to shelter myself and to my dismay, found none. Those with umbrellas were already sharing theirs with others and the stairways were already jam packed to the max. I had no choice but to brave the rain out in the open. The onslaught lasted about 25 minutes and by the time it stopped, I was drenched to the bone. I was feeling very cold but told myself that I would never break my promise to the organizing committee.









So all through the night I was shivering especially when the wind was blowing. One thing I have to say, the closing ceremony proved to be a very exciting one. There were international participation from Jordan, US Pacific, NZ, Scotland, Singapore, France, India, Pakistan, Brunei and many more. The whole event was designed to create an evening of entertainment for the arm forces as well as the general public. It was being held in conjunction of Visit Malaysia 2007 and it certainly provided all of us with fantastic entertainment.









My favorite performances were by Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. Their precision and complex dance movement made them truly unique and a sight to behold. The other countries put up a dazzling performance too and it was a great feeling to have witnessed them dedicating songs and dances just to commemorate our 50 years of independence. At the end of the show, the public was allowed to mingle with the performers and I grabbed that chance to have many photos taken with them. The result was beautiful beyond my imagination as the colors of their costume were so vibrant and coupled with the smiles on their faces, these shots were something that deserved to be placed in my "Kodak Moments" album. Thank you all for making it such a beautiful experience in my life.

Joy To The Canine World

Even though still tired from last nights outing at Genting, I pushed myself to join a group of friends at Bandar Utama Park for a canine carnival organized by Pet-N-U. I had always wanted to become a vet since young but unfortunately that ambition remained unattainable to date. 2 years ago I left my employment of 9 years to seek a more fulfilling journey as a groomer, animal handler as well as having my own diving website. Life indeed is much more meaningful and my close interaction with my furry friends had made me become a better person. Stress in not something I associate myself with nowadays and because of that, I’m a happier person. I totally agree with the idea of animal being able to act as a therapeutic tool to a human being as they provide us with undying love, devotion and would continue to do so until they day they die.





When I got to Bandar Utama, the crowd was already building up. I was just in time to witness the official launching of the event by Dato’ Dr. Tan Kee Kwong, a dog lover as well as a MP for Segambut area. I had the chance of taking a few photos with him as well as introducing him to the competition. Dato’ Dr. Tan wished me all the best and reminded me not to easily give up. I assured him that I would not and with a firm hand shake, I left the organizer’s tent in search of other dog lovers to take photos with.



I met up with an old friend from the grooming school at her booth, Puppy Cottage. We exchanged notes and talked about the old days. She told me that she is doing well and I believed her. You see, this friend of mine genuinely loves animals. She will not discriminate any of them but instead is focused to provide the best service to each and every client that goes her way. Rachael introduced me to a couple of her customers and we ended up talking about our favorite topic, canine & feline family members as well as my intention to donate a percentage of the reward to animal shelter as well as organizing a party for a group of orphans if I were to emerge the winner of the competition.





After that I was lucky to met up with Ms Shoba Mano and her husband who are very active NGOs in campaigning against animal abuse and together with Ms. Sabrina Yap, helped abandoned animals by providing them a shelter at The Furry Farm Friends as well as running a dog healing program called Dr. Dog where they visit old folk’s homes as well as orphanages and allowed their dogs to provide the healing link to these people. You see, dogs are powerful animals who can somehow read our emotions better than other humans. When someone has gone thru a tough life especially after being abused by someone, they tend to lose faith in establishing human contact. They will tend to shy away and if help is not provided at an early stage, their condition will worsen as they will end up a loner, forever remain a recluse and may turn up as an abuser in the future. Fortunately, in most cases where humans have failed to bridge the gap, the dogs at Dr. Dog Program on the other hand succeeded to pull these people out of their shell. At the sight of the dogs, they started smiling and after a few hand strokes across the body, a hug and numerous licks, you could hear their laughter and soft whispers being spoken to the dogs’ ears. You will see that these unfortunate people started to show more interest in life and develop a sense of self respect to have a renewed goal in life. They look forward to receiving more visits by their four legged friends and best of all; they started talking about these visits with other people.

I was also fortunate to finally met up with Joy, the dog who lost part of his jaw due to the senseless beatings he received from Indonesian foreign workers who called him “haram”. Joy had undergone grueling surgery performed by two prominent vets and yet part of his jaw had to be removed. Joy has been adopted by Peter and from what I saw; he is having a much better life now. Both Shoba and I had the chance to talk to a journalist from NST about Joy’s journey and how he has totally recovered from his trauma. We were also shot by a TV station but no promises were made for the recording to be aired within the week. I totally felt at home with the people at TFFF and very proud to have made acquaintance with them. I truly hope that I could win the competition as I would want to donate part of the prize to them in order to create more awareness about their noble cause.


















Before I left the park that day, I managed to take more photos with other dog lovers as well as being spotted by a few of them. I left the park feeling very happy as I know that no matter how harsh the world is right now towards strays, there are good people like Sabrina, Shoba & Peter who would take extra measure to help them.