Taipei Airport - Orchid Exhition

When I was returning from Taipei on 11th May 2012, I saw this orchid exhibition in the Tai Yuan Airpot. They were fresh and beautiful. I was told that Taiwan exports orchids. In fact, Kota Kinabalu should have the correct climate for growing orchids. My neighbour used to grow orchids but the fertilizer which they applied once a week had really strong unpleasant smell. After a while, they gave up because of the constant care you must give to orchid to see it grow nicely.

Anyway, enjoy other people's fruitful harvest!

Old Age Spot/Liver Spot

I started to notice pigmentation and old age spot 10 years ago when I was 40 years old. The spots are getting more and more on my cheeks, forehead, hands and legs where they are exposed to the sun.

I don't usually go out in the sun. Most of the time, I stay in the house. Living in Kota Kinabalu, you just can't escape from the sun. My house is corner terrace house. My room is full of sun-shine from 6.30am to 6.30pm. I can feel the sunlight even sitting in my room.

The pigmentation and liver spots are really annoying. I try to cover my hands and my face as much as possible when I drive. I suppose it helps a bit.

My friend asks me to go for laser treatment. However, laser treatment is expensive. The skin specialist also tried to sell me her sun-screen and other things that she said will help but these things are too expensive. The advice she gave was to keep away from the sun and to bring along an umbrella.

Browsing through the web, it says that drinking apple cider vinegar and applying aloe vera on spots and pigmentation and cleanse the liver and to lighten the affected areas accordingly.

Someone gave my husband aloe vera. I am using it to apply on my face when I come home from outside. I have sensitive skin. I believe this worsen my skin condition. Anyway, just drink the apple cider vinegar and use aloe vera for one or two weeks to see whether there is any improvement.

Are We Ready For A Housing Loan?

Done some calculation to find out whether we are financially fit (wise?) to take up a housing loan.

The BLR is 6.6. Shopping around, the bank can offer BLR -2.2% to -2.4% if the house is more than 70% completed. Otherwise, first year is -2.5%, second and third year is -3.45%, following year is -2.4%.

Assuming taking up a loan of RM500K for 15 years, the monthly installment is RM3800. It should be less than 50% of your income. After faithfully pay for 15 years, the interest that you have served comes to 38% of  principal. Which means you would have paid RM700K for the house. If the tenure is 20years, the interest comes to 55%, and 30 years would be 85%.

Back to 15 tenure years, from RM500K to RM700K, if the price of the house inflates at more than 2.4% p.a., and assuming you did not do any renovation or maintenance to the house, you are gaining if someone pays you for more than RM700K.

However, like what I have mentioned earlier, for our situation now, there are short term goals to be fulfilled before we come to this kind of investment which is quite risky for us. Since both of us are already more than 50 y.o., and two children are yet to complete their higher education, we should hold on while looking for other investment tools.

Is This God's Will?

In our life, we are bound to encounter ups and downs. We are faced with choices. When we are uncertain of what to do next, or when we are not happy with what and where we are now, or when it seems to be better to change our mind, we would ask God. Is this what you have prepared for me? If you have not prepared for me, this thing should not have put before me. If it is not your will, why don't you stop it?

Deep down inside our hearts, sometimes we cheat ourselves. We know what God wants us to do. But if what God wants us to do is not as good as the other choice, we would find excuses and reasons. We blind our hearts by arguing with God.

However, very often, it doesn't matter which choice we choose. God will allow. As what Pastor preached, read the Bible and let the verses speak to you. Pray to God so that you have time to listen to God. It is very strange to realize that the person we talk most with everyday is ourselves. Spare some time to speak to God, and listen to his answer by reading the Bible.

Investing in Property

In Kota Kinabalu, the price of houses keep going up. They said buyers come from Lahad Datu, Tawau, Brunei and overseas. The rich are getting richer. The poor are getting poorer. People who own Oil Palm plantation are making a lot of money as the world demand increases. Many have converted their land from rubber plantation, cocoa plantation, forest, into oil palm plantation.

I was told that the many apartments(condo) behind 1Borneo were bought by Japanese, Taiwanese and out-stationed people. They have excess money that they can buy with cash. In fact, many are left vacant because many bought just as investment. Is it wise to follow suit? Do you want to buy a property that may worth less than your housing loan, when you couldn't afford to pay in cash? Do you want to live in an apartment or flat when your neighbors choose to leave theirs vacant?

It seems impossible that the property price will drop because the price of property keeps going up. Looking at US, everything is possible. When your housing loan is more than the price of your house, the bank will make you pay the difference. This has never happened in Malaysia, but it may.

If you assume the property price inflates at 6%, instead of purchasing the property now, how about investing your money in bond that will very likely to give you such return? When the price of property drops, you can buy with the money that you have saved. Don't forget you have to pay interest to the bank if you borrow from them. Be a smart investor.

Purchase our second house

My husband came home to share with me about a double storey terrace house in Kasigui. Property prices keep going up. Some Sabahan have so much money that they keep buying houses. My husband thought it might be a good idea for investment or to stay after we retire.

Piling has been done. When we went to view the place, it is very strange that no one was there. I only saw two Chinese altars. The location is behind Tun Fuad Park. If you come from Jalan Kolam, turn right to Dongonggong. The location is half way to Dongonggong. The land was previously a hill.

The developer needs to sell off 65% of the house before the bridging bank can release the money for them to start building the house. We like the location, and the developer said he is selling for RM630K but he offered us RM500K because he urgently needs to sell off two more to get the bank to release money for them to continue the project. He requested us to pay him RM5K immediately to book the house, and he will arrange the bank officer to meet up with me. If the loan is not successful, he will return the deposit to us.

My husband was attracted by the "discount". Furthermore, his friend said he has booked the only bungalow in that estate.

Whenever coming to big money deal, my conservative personality will come into play. Whatever I learned from RFP and instinct questions come into practice. Who is this developer? From his attire, does he look reliable, experience, and knowledgeable to be a developer in Kota Kinabalu? Why does he want us to rush into paying him the deposit without assessing our affordability? Does he have any previous similar project for me to assess him? Why doesn't he give me a name card?

Since he didn't pass my questions, I turn down the idea. Logically, RM500K is an expensive purchase. Shouldn't we shop around before making our decision? I do not want such commitment to tie us down, as we have other short term and urgent goals to achieve before this long term goal.  Paying a few thousands a month for the housing loan is not an easy task. We take longer time to decide whether we should change a new set of sofa. Mistakes are made when decision is done in a haste. So, just brush aside the "opportunity".

Esau and Jacob

Esau and Jacob were twin brothers. Much good was preached about Jacob. Praise about him who valued the birthright of first born and cleverly made Esau to sell his birthright for a bowl of of stew. Praise about him for other stories written in the Bible.

In our society, if I were to meet two persons who ensemble both of them, I would preferably more comfortable making friend with Esau. Esau's personality is straightforward. You can predict what his mind is thinking because he doesn't play trick. I would be very careful with Jacob who is so clever (cunning is a word more appropriate to describe) to take advantage of others, even his own wives and children.

I love the verse in Gen 33:9 when Esau told Jacob that what he had was sufficient, he didn't want anything from Jacob. Esau was so happy to see his brother. From the verses, Esau seemed to have forgotten what his twin brother did to him when they were young. However, Jacob was conscious that the unethical conduct he did to his brother was hard to be forgiven for a normal person. Esau has gotten over that and lived happily after his brother left. The Bible didn't mention whether Esau remained a hunter only. However, I would assume that he had his own herds of goat, eves, camels, cows... for he said "what I have is sufficient".

Looking at Jacob, his life was miserable. He had to leave his house to run away from his brother after stealing his birthright. Jacob was a man who preferred to stay at home. Running away must not be a good feeling for him. He ended up with 4 wives who often fought with each other. His daughter was molested, his beloved son was sold by his other sons, he had to sell off his belongings in exchange of food during famine, and he died away from home.

When I read Genesis, I don't see how Jacob benefited from getting the birthright. I would rather be Esau.

Anyway, I gather that I should not envy what is not supposedly mine. If I really want what I do not have yet, I should do it in an ethical way. Otherwise, I would suffer more. As what the Ten Commandment said, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

Civil Servant-EPF or Pension scheme?

Most civil servant will opt for pension scheme because at retirement, you will get half of your last paid salary for pension for life. Should you pass away, your spouse will continue to receive the pension for the length of her/his life.

If you were to compute the size of your EPF when you retire, you may want to consider otherwise. Assuming your salary increases at par with inflation rate, say 3%, and EPF given you 5.5% dividend every year until you are 60 years old. With starting salary of RM21,600, you last paid salary will be RM55,622. The EPF will accumulate to RM669,369 at retirement. If EPF continues to give you 5.5%, you will get more than 50% of your last paid salary every year.

Other thing to consider would be how certain you are to stay as civil servant for the length of your working life? If you were to give up your job, your pension scheme will be gone. Think carefully, before you make up the decision that you can not change later.

幸福 Blessed

I found my cooking skill improving this one or two years. Frying mee as breakfast for the family is an easy task for me now. I didn't know how to fry mee before. A chicken can be cooked in 3 different ways that my family enjoys so much. Stewing mutton in Chinese style really bringing up our appetite. Steaming fish that needs special skill is no longer a hard job for me.

Now that I am 50, I finally get the feel to be a good chef. No doubt, cooking needs patience and the people you are cooking for must be those that you love.

Baking cookies is tiring as you need to stand by the oven patiently, a tray after another. But once the fulfillment of my children eating my cookies come to my mind, I don't mind anymore.

Very soon both of them will be away for study. I know they will come back, for my cooking. And before I realize it, I'll will cooking for my grandchildren....

Takaful Malaysia Motor Insurance

My sis-in-law owns a Toyota Avanza. Her 2 children drive her Avanza while she uses her Myvi. It's unfortunate that the Avanza had a few accidents over the past 2 years. There were 3 times for last policy year. AXA rejected the renewal because of the many claims. Allianz also did not accept this as new case. All the GI companies have linked up their information systems. They are able to tell how often have you claimed by checking into the system. There is no way you can lie. Allianz replied that they don't reject existing customers, but put on loading if the claims are too many. It is really unfair for AXA to refuse renewal. Anyway, I helped my sis-in-law to look for an insurance company that agrees to accept, and, bingo, thanks to Takaful Malaysia. There is no loading and they even give 10% discount for walk-in customers.


If you were to shop for a housing loan, hire purchase, personal loan and pawn service, don't forget to drop by Islamic banks. I think very often they are fairer to customers, including non-muslim.

Walking into debt?

I am worried. My brother-in-law requested my husband to be his guarantor for his scholarship to UK. In his agreement with the seminary, the tenure is eight years, otherwise, my brother-in-law is to pay back based on pro-rata calculation. I objected to this, but my husband obliged because he is his brother and he was very firm that he would complete the tenure.

However, in less than two years, they are sending their daughters back to Hong Kong. I believe very soon my sister-in-law will find reason to return, even before getting a job. Then, follow by my brother-in-law, who, to my opinion, does things following his instinct.

Proverbs 11:15 

He who puts up security for another will surely suffer, but whoever refuses to strike hands in pledge is safe." My brother-in-law asked me not to worry, he said he will not burden me. I do believe he does not want to burden me. However, he is a naive and also an ignorant person. How not to worry? He doesn't have an actual figure of how much to pay back, and how much does it cost to live in Hong Kong, at least how much he should have for his income if he were to work in Hong Kong, etc. When he doesn't even have facts and figures, how can I not be worried?  Grow up..... When they walk away from this country, am I and my husband walking into debt? God, open their hearts, to live realistically!

Coconut water

I bought 2 coconuts for RM4.50 in Foh Sang this morning.  The coconuts are from Kota Marudu. I requested the man to open up the coconuts and hold the water with the jug I brought along. When I reached home, I scooped the coconut flesh into the coconut water, and left it in the refrigerator for refreshing drink after lunch. Yummy.

It is really cheap to pay RM4.50 for 2 coconuts that is sufficient for 5 large cups.

Coconut is a gift of God for us living in Kota Kinabalu. It is natural isotonic beverage. It contains natural sugar, salt and vitamins, potassium and chloride.

We all love it!