 |
| L-R: Pauline Toh, Catherine, Seong Saw, Val Allan, Ching Neng Bin - photo taken in Taiping Mall on 06.04.2015 |
Append below our email correspondence:
Dear Mr. Ching Neng Bin,
I
will balik kampong (to Taiping) this early April 2014 (to bond with
family members and next of kins, after a 5-year gap), arriving in KL on
April 2, and departing
on Apr 12.
I
plan to be in Taiping (my hometown) around April 5 – 9, and if you are
available, can I meet with you for lunch (depending on your schedule and
availability,
either in Ipoh or Sitiawan is fine with me).
I
read your travelogues all these years and the thing I should do next is
to meet up with you in person, shake your hand, go out for lunch with
you, and talk,
talk, and talk to keep the OBS spirit going strong.
Regards,
Seong Saw.
7th March 2015
=========================================================
A very good-morning Seong Saw,
Great news, definitely looking forward to meeting you and your family in Malaysia.
Plan A: If you can come over to Sitiawan, you can also meet up with Mr Val Allan the retired OBS warden and I buy you lunch and dinner. We can also visit the OBS and the surrounding areas in Seri Manjung. You can also stay a night in my parent's house in Sitiawan.
Plan B: We can also drive to Taiping to meet you.
Keep in touch
Ching Neng Bin
HP:012-5053199
7th March 2015
=========================================================
Dear Mr. Ching / Mr. Allan,
Thank you for your generous offer. But as a freshman, I must pay respect to my upper classmen and my OBS elders. So please allow and let me buy both of you (and the spouse is also included) lunch on this first meet.
Plan A is best.
If you can let me know the name and address of the restaurant and the date / time for lunch, I will meet all of you there. I will be wearing a white collar T-shirt for lunch, so it is easy to spot me.
I had visited Sitiawan when I was very young. Only once, about 10 years old then. And I have also lived and worked in Sitiawan before (1982 – 1984, age at that time 26 - 28) but that was a long time ago. I do not know how much development had changed the township landscape since I left. For that, I will find out when I visit this April.
Since
I am on a tight schedule, l am only good for lunch, and my apology for
been unable to accept your generous offer to visit Seri Manjung, OBS,
have dinner,
or stay overnight on this trip. Maybe next time.
On
this trip after a 5-year gap, I need to go about my round of paying
homage and catching up with my next of kin as many as possible, some of
which I had not
seen since 1986 (the year I left for the US). And that was very long overdue. Ooph..will try best. Better late than never.
Regards.
Seong Saw.
10th March 2015
=========================================================
Dear Seong Saw, tentatively we fixed it on 6th April for lunch.
Will keep in touch as we move nearer to the date.
Ching Neng Bin
11th March 2015
Dear Seong Saw,
Latest development is that Allan's relatives and friends from Perth is also arriving in Taiping on 6th after visiting Cameron Highlands. They too would like to meet us in Taiping for dinner. In view of this, the best option would be for us to drive up to Taiping to meet you for lunch on the 6th. and then get to meet Allan's relatives for dinner. Please advise.
Ching Neng Bin
24th March 2015
=========================================================
Dear Mr. Ching,
Can I wait for you on April 6 about 12 noon at this Taiping iconic landmark?
Clock Tower of Taiping
Address: At the center of downtown on Jalan Kota,
GPS coordinates: 4 deg 51’ 7.74” N, 100 deg 44’ 30.78” E
I think the Panorama Hotel is located very close by to the clock tower too.
Seong Saw,
25th March 2015
=========================================================
Dear Mr. Ching and Mr Allan,
It is an honor to have lunch with both of you - two distinguished OBS elders and gentleman. I will cherish this moment for a long, long time.
And
to make it easier to spot me on the street by the Taiping clock tower,
attached herewith are some mug shots of my family hiking trip in the
Narrows, Zion
National Park during our summer vacation of 2013. The bottom mug shot is that of a hiker standing in silence in the Narrows, magnetized by the awesome beauty of mother nature.
I had gone on for an Army crew shot since then. Make it a lot easier to comb the crown?
Looking forward to lunch on April 6.
Seong Saw
25th March 2015
Seong Saw
25th March 2015
Dear Seong Saw
Wow! What a beautiful place for a photo-shoot. This photo is fit for the National Geographic magazine. Looking forward to seeing you in Taiping soon.
Ching Neng Bin
26th March 2015
Dear friends,
Lunch appointment in Taiping on Monday April 6 about 12 noon, copied and confirmed.
Attached
also are some mug shots my family took of the Antelope Slot Canyon on
our 2013 road trip , while enroute to the Colorado Rockies Mountain.
The
Antelope slot canyon is in a desert area in the Indian Reservation
Territory, a scared Indian sanctuary reachable on special 4WD truck
operated by the Navajoa
Indians community only.
Private parties vehicles are not allowed in as this is NATIVE INDIAN LANDS! And the NATIVE INDIAN LANDS are equally captivating and mesmerizing!
Even
though after all these many years of road trips on US soil, driving
long and far, my family still have many miles to go, and many more
places to see and
explore. The US is such a very big place and it may be impossible to see it all in this short life.
Seong Saw
27th March 2015
27th March 2015
 |
|
Antelope
Canyon is a slot canyon in the American Southwest located on Navajo land,
Arizona.
|
 |
|
Antelope
Canyon was formed by erosion of Navajo Sandstone due to flash flooding.
Rainwater, especially during monsoon season, runs into the extensive basin
above the slot canyon sections, picking up speed and sand as it rushes into the
narrow passageways.
|
 |
|
Over
time the passageways eroded away, making the corridors deeper and smoothing
hard edges in such a way as to form characteristic 'flowing' shapes in the
rock.
|
Dear Mr. Ching,
The United States of America is a beautiful country.
It is blessed with so many natural wonders.
27th March 2015
=========================================================
=========================================================
=========================================================
Dear Seong Saw,
A note to say thank you for meeting up with us
and the exchange of stories down memory lane.
We will remember you for a long time and hope one
day we will meet again. As like all ex-bounder would
shout "ah chooi hey". So long my friend from USA.
Ching Neng Bin
7th April 2015=========================================================
Dear friends,
I arrived home safely in the US on Sunday night Apr 12 and was back to work on my 2-wheel iron horse the next morning. Jet lag or no jet lag, life in the work place goes on as usual here. As the saying goes, the salary man works till he drops!
Thank you very much for taking the time off to go out for lunch with me in Taiping; I will cherish that moment for a long time. And looking forward to meet all of you together again another day in the near future.
Till then, Ribuan terima kasih.
Quotable quote: Life is not about waiting for the storm to stop; it is about learning to dance in the rain!
Regards,
Seong Saw
15th April 2015
Till we meet again next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment