Bin's Birthday

Bin and I have been friends since boarding school in Immanuel College, Adelaide. I then became friends with his other half, Cordelia, at Flinders University of South Australia a year later. I was the best man at their wedding. So we go back a long way.

 

Every year, we get together to celebrate birthdays, be it pre, post or on the actual day itself. Each year is a milestone, for the one celebrating the birthday, and for the rest of us too, as we mark another year of a friendship that has been nurtured for more than two decades.

 

Friendships such as this take effort to maintain but the resulting relationships are worth the while. Our perspectives and priorities may change over time but we will always have a bond that is testament to an enduring friendship.

 

Bin, Cordelia, Brandon and Bryan at The Red Olive, Jaya Shopping Centre, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.

Reunion Trip To Adelaide

More than two decades of friendship requires effort from all parties involved, in particular when such a friendship revolves around a group of four. And when such a relationship survives the test of time, it ought to be celebrated. So, to Adelaide we returned.

 

Buddies at university, called a clique even by some, we made plans to return to the city that brought us all together. A week flies by too quickly, considering planning for the trip had been in the works for a year or so. Nevertheless, we had a great time. Reminiscing, creating new memories, strengthening our ties, nurturing the bonds that have kept our friendship intact all these years.

Ken Lin, Yean Mun and Elsie, thank you for making the travel plans, even without much input from me. Most of all, thank you for the long-lasting friendship that will undoubtedly be one to remember.

 

With Ken Lin, Elsie and Yean Mun at the bridge on campus at The Flinders University Of South Australia.

Reunion Trip To KK

I've just returned from a reunion trip in Kota Kinabalu over the Merdeka holiday, with my good friends from university days. At the request of some of them, I am going to defer from saying how long we've known each other. You see, we are rather sensitive when it comes to age. Suffice to say, it's been quite a long time. I first met Ken Lin and Ken Bin when we were in boarding school at Immanuel College, Adelaide. We then got to know Cordelia, Yean Mun and Elsie when at The Flinders University Of South Australia a year later.

Though we are no longer as close as we used to be, we still make it a point to celebrate special occasions and milestones together. Birthdays, Chinese New Year, Christmas, weddings. In fact, I was best man at Ken Bin and Cordelia's wedding, and then again when Ken Lin married Sally, the latter now the seventh member of the clique. With Elsie in Hong Kong, Ken Lin and Sally in Penang, and the rest of us in the Klang Valley, it takes time and effort to get together. Whilst we have travelled together in groups of different configurations over the years, this was our first holiday together since our final year at uni. Back then we were just six uni students on a trip to Kangaroo Island. This time round, we were seven adults with three kids in tow, with another younger one back in Penang.

Short and compact the trip may have been, it was still much enjoyable. It gave us the opportunity to rekindle friendships, reminisce and spend quality time together. Bonds that we formed years ago remain till this day. We just need to work on keeping our friendships alive. Certainly an endeavour that will be worthwhile.

Elsie, Yean Mun, Cordelia, Bin, Lin and I at Mount Kinabalu National Park in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

Annual Christmas Party

My friends Ken Bin and Cordelia host a Christmas party every year, some years at their home, more recently at their cafe The Olive Tree in Petaling Jaya. I always enjoy this annual ritual. I get to re-connect with their extended family and also celebrate the festivities with our friends Yean Mun and David who are also perenially on the guest list.

This year was no different and we gathered at The Olive Tree on Tuesday evening. I was a tad late as I had a staff birthday dinner to attend first but still had a wonderful time nevertheless. It is always meaningful to enjoy the Christmas season amongst good friends. My friendships with Ken Bin and David began in 1988 at Immanuel College, with Cordelia and Yean Mun in 1989 at The Flinders University Of South Australia. That's more than two decades and whilst our busy schedules have resulted in us meeting less frequently, we still make the effort for birthdays, Christmas and Chinese New Year.

Among all of us, Cordelia does best when it comes to wrapping gifts and decorating the home. I always look forward to Christmas parties at her home. Great food enhanced by beautiful table settings, thematic decor creating a festive ambience. A smaller, more intimate crowd. Next year perhaps.

Photo of me, Mei Lin, Yean Mun, Cordelia, David and Ken Bin at The Olive Tree in Petaling Jaya.

Australia Day

When you've lived in a country for a number of years, you have ties. Emotional and physical ties. I lived in Australia, Adelaide to be precise, for four years - one year of boarding school and three years at uni. After all these years, I still feel a bond. I have school friends whom I have reconnected with via Facebook. I have cousins in Adelaide and Melbourne, relatives in Sydney, good friends in Brisbane. Some clients even. To all of you, 'Happy Australia Day'!

I still remember taking my first Qantas flight to Adelaide (their ads are really engaging), my first tour of the city. I have fond memories of my year at Immanuel College. I have made some lifelong friends while at the Flinders University of South Australia.

I haven't visited in more than a decade but images of the Barossa Valley, Kangaroo Island and the like often come to mind. Once the Ringgit appreciates against the Australian Dollar, I'd very much like to head to Queensland or Western Australia for a holiday. There is still much to see and discover. And am happy I caught this on YouTube a couple of days back.

Photo of Year 12 boarding students at Immanuel College, Adelaide, Australia, courtesy of Thomas Brown.

Bin's Birthday

Here's a photo of my close friends and I from uni days, The Flinders University Of South Australia to be exact. This was taken years ago during Bin's birthday dinner at the now defunct Sizzler's in Marion, a neighbourhood just next to our university.

Of the 6 of us, only 4 are in KL and we have continued to celebrate our birthdays together all these years. Last night we had a meal to mark Bin's birthday, another milestone in our lives.

Don't think we have aged that much ... perhaps just a little rougher round the edges haha!

Photo courtesy of Elsie Wong in Hong Kong.

Back Together On Holiday

You know a friendship is strong when after not having been on holiday together for more than 10 years, you still hit it off and do not get on each other's nerves. I'm on holiday with 3 of my friends from my undergraduate days at The Flinders University Of South Australia. We are in fact in Kota Kinabalu and the trip is to commemorate our friendship that has spanned 2 decades. We were supposed to be a clique of 6 but only 4 of us are making this celebratory trip. Still, it is rather quite an accomplishment considering that we have barely been in regular touch for the past few years.

So far, we have island-hopped to Sapi and Manukan and got sunburnt in the process, pink as lobsters we are. We have trekked at Mount Kinabalu National Park and marveled at nature's bounty, luckily for us including the Rafflesia, not only 1 but 2. We have witnessed sunsets that only Kota Kinabalu can accord. We have feasted on the freshest of seafood and sampled much of the local fare. But what really makes this holiday meaningful is just spending time together with those whom we came-of-age with. The transitional years from teenager to adult are etched in my mind and these friends of mine - Ken Lin from Penang, Yean Mun from Petaling Jaya and Elsie from Hong Kong (I know that Ken Bin and Cordelia would have joined us too if they could have) - form most of my memories of that chapter in my life. And whilst we may not be as close as we were before, they will always remain part of who I am.

Holidays always pass too quickly. We are midway through ours. We have had a wonderful time up to now, but realisation will soon set in that we will be parting ways again in 2 days. We will of course say how much we enjoyed our time together, which is true, wish each other well and promise to keep in touch more often. I will try to keep my end of the bargain and I hope my friends will too. Friendships like these do not come by easily and they certainly ought to be cherished.

Photo shot at the jetty on Pulau Sapi, Sabah.