Sunday, December 30, 2012

Bye 2012, Hi 2013


For me, my highlights in this year (2012) have been all about star-fruits and mangosteen.

star-fruits (carambola)

mangosteen fruits (garcinia mangostana)

But anyway, farewell 2013

sorry it didn't happen, wakakaka

And welcome 2013.


Happy New Year to all Malaysians and other friends (Aussie, Thai, Indon, Singaporean, Viet, Cambodian, NZ, Chinese - Mainland, HK and Taiwan - Korean, Pommie, French, Canadian, US, Paki, Egyptian, Lebanese, etc).

It has been a reasonably good year for me, and I hope for same or even better in 2013, to jolly and to kong-more-samkok with my mateys.

What did I achieve in 2012 - well, nothing spectacular but a better job, more travelling, and hey, I get to eat mangosteen in China after umpteen years of missing the fruit each time I returned to Malaysia.


Yes, when I was back in Penang in 2004 to vote for my Penanglarng, Zulkifli Mohd Noor, in the Bukit Bendera (BB) federal constituency and again in March 2008 (that time to vote for Liew Chin Tong in BB, and my ADUN Lim Guan Eng in Ayer Putih) I couldn't find any mangosteen, wakakaka.

Ayer Itam, Penang

Yes, you can get mangosteen in Australia but the quality is terrible and the cost worse (bloody prohibitively expensive). However, availability of durian and its cost are moe man t'ai thanks to imports from Thailand.

So when I was in Yunnan and Guangxi (China) about 3 months back I gorged on the succulent fruits. From my Aussie mateys' own experiences with mangosteen and their shocked observations of the quantity I took (bloody cheap lah, RMB15 per kilo only), they were fairly worried I would suffer tummy upset, but hey ho, my tummy had been lined up with Penang kampung toughness.


Additionally I also gorged on star-fruits (carambola) which was about RMB4.50 per kilo. The last time I had decent star-fruits was in KL some 10 years ago, though I grew up with a star-fruit tree in front of my old house in Ayer Itam, Penang. I have to admit the quality of star-fruits I obtained in KL were bigger, sweeter and overall superior to the one from my tree.


Before my recent/latest feast of star-fruits in Guangxi and Yunnan, I did partake of same in New Caledonia  when I stayed with a French family in the capital Noumea. They have two star-fruit trees in their backyard but the fruits were very small and not sweet at all. Mind you, I love the sweeties there, wakakaka.


I've also taken up sudoku after being convinced by a Malaysian doctor whom I met in China during my last trip there that it helps relieve tension. But I feel terribly tensed each time I couldn't solve one.


Anyway matey, it's drinking time liao, so Happy New Year. Cheers

Wakakaka.


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