茶飯不思

買唔到呀，買唔到呀，搵咗成個禮拜都搵唔到，去咗stanley街，萬成、天祥同照相館都搵唔到，剩係搵到啲2手機。但係啲2手機除咗舊款之外又賣到同新機差唔多價錢喎，你叫我點買喎。仲諗住下個禮拜去ankor wat用架...唔得今日無論如何都要買到，最多係amazon買既啫。

我想要海鷗

其實平時久唔久都會影吓想，但係都數碼相機。最近終於將呢一兩年影既相晒出來，但係效果非常之差，顏色唔夠鮮明同細緻。所以就想學人影菲林相，咁係囉就不如玩medium format啦，相既質素仲靚啦。
最係入門就睇中咗呢部Seagull 4A-107既機，大概千五蚊到，都算係幾抵玩。可能下一次我會話你知我已經買咗囉。
有興趣既可以睇吓呢到既測試報告呀

ile fontaine

星期六晚請咗朋友來家吃飯，頭菜、主菜都難唔到我。由於家中法國人堅持要有甜品才算係一個完滿晚餐，不至失禮朋友。所以就胆粗粗咁整咗個睇來比較易整既ile fontaine。點知係最後整焦糖個下....我好低b咁放隻手係滖緊既焦糖中想試吓味，結果就係一個前所未有咁大既水泡啦!
為咗大家著想我無放張受傷後既相俾大家欣賞....而我係到打既每一個字都係字字有淚架...真係痛到呀!!!

出竅-你竅唔竅

昨日睇到某雜誌介誌呢個靈魂出竅指南既網站，本人我其實無宗教信仰，所以無話信唔信。不過呢個網站都好pro吓，又有faq，又有出體練習，又有理論，又有研究，所唔信都要去望望。個網話出咗體之後可以去旅行，都唔錯可以唔使俾機票錢....

Homemade pasta

Vivain前排整咗homemade pasta，咁所以我又試吓，其實都唔係太難，只係要多啲時間。不過做出來既pasta比平時係街買乾身同新鮮既都好唔同，感覺係多啲"咬口"，好食好多。如果你想試整既話，留你email俾我，我寄個recipe俾你啦。

My bestfriend in Lao

Just got an update from my friend, just want to share this with everyone. Don't take what you have for granted!

Hi ya I just want to thank you all once again for your donated money.

I had such an amazing experience. I just wished you guys were there to experience it with me, Nikki and my other friend Phorn. The photos here are taken form my phone so they are not good qaulity. Nikki will send me the proper pics so I will send it to you once I get this. She has the photos of the donation run and the students.

I just don't know where to start. The experience the feelings, the people, the location. But please do read this entire letter as I really want to take you there one day to experience such an amazing feeling and perhaps you can also pass this on so people are aware of it.

As you know last year Carsten and I went to a small village on the outskirts of LuangPrabang, Lao. This year we Nikki and I decided to go to an orphanage school, 25km from downtown LuangPrabang. We thought this was such a great idea.

Some background information about the orphanage school:
Student's age ranges between 10 to 18 years old. Both male and female.

Some of the kids we heard have no parents (called Gumpoi kids) and some of the other kids only have a father or a mother (called Gumpaa kids). Some of the students still have relatives who can't support them. It is located 25km from downtown LuangPrabang.

Most of these kids are there basically because

1) There is no one to look after them. A lot of them are form broken families. Ie when the widowed parent (mainly mother) enters a new marriage mainly for survival. Unfortunately kids from previous marriages brought into new families are not welcome and is seem as a disgrace no matter what the circumstances. So therefore the mother doesn't have choice and so leaves them at these schools.

2) The kid's parents have died and that there are no family members to support them. Normally with Lao families their relatives will be able to look after them but a lot of times they can't even support themselves so they have no choice.

Support:
At the moment there is some government assistance and donation given to these gifts but as you know it's never enough. For example these kids get 90,000kip per month. Sounds like a lot doesn't it?. But 90,000 kip equals $9 US a month…. That less than 30cents a day for their survival. This 30c goes towards the cost of accommodation/shelter, food, clothing and miscellaneous things like soaps, detergents not to mention medical supplies for the day.

Food
I was asking them one time about what time they wake up for breakfast I was shocked when one of the boys named Dee (17 years old) embarrassingly said that "they don't have breakfast as the doesn't get enough funds for them to have three meals a day so they need to skip out on breakfast" instead they have lunch at 11am and dinner at 5pm instead. Imagine that, 10c or less will enable a student to have breakfast for a day. For the times I went to see them and from what the head master (Mr Uthokorn) told me is that what they have for lunch and dinner is a large ball of sticky rice given to them on the hand and a small bowl of vegetable soup to go with it. This accounts for 95% of their standard meals.

Shelter:
Some of the fortunate kids live in concrete shelters (funded by the Japanese) but since more and more kids arrived the newer kids have to live in Bamboo houses (bearing in mind that LuangPrabang is up in the mountains and it's really cold there at night a lot of the times and the wind comes straight through). When I was in side one of there shelters I ask one of the students why is there only one homemade bamboo bed and the others have to sleep on the floor. One of the students named Tai (18 years old) replied "that is my bed; I managed to collect old nails from the village and streets day by day and cut bamboo myself and build the bed myself". The kids would be lucky to find a nail a day.

Our Donation
We asked around before we went and people told us that there were around 100 kids there. So with the money we went on a 4WD ute to the local outdoor market and did our budgeting for 100 kids.

What we bought with the money from Aus ($185):

200 writing books

200 red pens

200 blue pens

200 pencils

200 rulers

96 (4 box x 24) instant noodles

40 (10 packets x 4) soaps

10 Rattan balls (similar to volley balls but smaller and made of bamboo like material)

When we arrived at the school
When we got there, we were amazed how big the school was. We located the headmaster and found out that there weren't 100 kids but 600 kids altogether.

So Nikki and I just started to get in there and do our best. The headmaster gathered the poorer of the poor first in a line and the other poorer students continued after that. Initially I was nervous and scared and embarrassed about the little amount we had. But we just concentrated and sorted out individual packs that had books, pens, pencils, rulers, noodles and soaps. The line was very long but we still managed to hand out things even after 30 mins. But as supplies diminished so did the hopes of the students in the lines.

I had only 10 pairs of things left that I bought in Bangkok. The headmaster called out those who had no parents to come forward and one at a time we gave the thongs to them. We had two left and the headmaster called out again "who has no father or mother" then a boy (named Tai, same boy as the above) gently and embarrassingly and quietly whispered out "I don't…. I don't have a father". I really felt for him because he missed out on the books and pens as he came late and he only ended up with these thongs. We also gave the rattan balls away to each grade but we missed out on 4 grades who didn't receive them. But I guess they can share it around.

We ended up getting a tour of the place and I was touched as did Nikki. Not only the kids were poor but they all seem to be level minded and slightly more happy than we expected.

We said our good byes and left back to LuangPrabang. In which Nikki left for Bangkok the following day to head down south to continue her volunteer for the Tsunami.

I stayed in Luangprabang and mentioned about that day to a friend (Phorn) whom wanted to go there.

So I suggested we should do that, as I really felt for Tai as he missed out on a lot of things and we can get more rattan balls for the other grades.

Second day at the school
This time I went with my friend Phorn on a motorcycle…… I drove..(yes me, driving a motorcycle on a dirt road ) to the local markets, Phorn got some more soaps and Rattan balls, nets whilst I got some clothes, shoes and soccer balls, soccer uniforms for Tai. (I couldn't leave LuangPrabang not doing something little for him). So we got to the school in the afternoon and yes they were having sticky rice and vegetable soup. I discreetly gave the things to Tai who was extremely shy and Phorn gave the rest to the school. We hung around a bit. The kids started to get use to me and started talking to us. Initially they were all shy as we passed them they kept of giggly and whispering to each other "look look falangs" (foreigners)…. But I giggled with them as said "Bo Man, Kon Lao" which means that's not right…we are Lao…and they were shocked to hear we can speak Lao. So we got speaking to some kids who have told us about what happens there on a day to day basis. They seem to be content and very friendly. Some even spoke better English than some Thai people I have met. English is taught now and then by a Lao teacher. Anyway, I am glad they were talking to us and that we were able to joke around together. They showed us the beautiful river down from their school which next to it had their vegetable garden. Each grade had to water and be responsible for their patch of garden near the river so that they grow their own vegetables. It was such a beautiful setting.

We had to get going as the sun was about to go down. Going though the mountains on a motorcycle is very cold, but managed to get back to town before pitch darkness. I jumped right into bed and had a big rest as I was worried about catching a cold anf flue…. Which I surprisingly didn't.

Third day at the school
I was totally drawn to going back to the school and the river, so Phorn and I went back there but this time with our board shorts. We planned to swim across the river to the little village beside it. We stopped to say hi to the students and some of them came along and joined us. They were so nice to show us the river. The river was initially very cold. (A lot of the students choose to bath here as oppose to the running taps at the school) The water ended up being nice. It was funny as when we were swimming, they become friends just like any other friends, no barriers no differences just simple fun. One we got out of the water then I and them instantly noticed the change. Ie when I was putting on my sneakers and change of clothes and they were just wearing the same clothes they had and some didn't even have towels. It was weird because once we put on our clothes there seem to silence and shyness again because they can see such a big difference with the have and have nots.

We went back to say goodbyes and this is when I found out about the bed situation. So we decided to get some nails for them. We went to get a kilo of big nails and a kilo of smalls nails. We went back their and gave it to the students in Tai's room. I asked him if that was enough for this particular dorm. Tai said "its more than enough, I will show the others how to cut the bamboo and we can borrow the cutting knives from our friends and we can make the bed for everybody in this room".

It's amazing what a little nail does. Even though one little nail may seem to be useless, invaluable, rusty and old, it too can give comfort, bring people together, it not only builds structures but also builds relationships and can also increase standards of living. We often take too many things for granted. Thank you once again for allowing me to pass on your generosity. Hoping the next time you see a nail you will think of the students.

If you happen to go to LuangPrabang, make sure you stop over to visit these lovely students. My friend Phorn (the owner and manager of LaoLao beer garden and Khob Chai Bar…. On Chao Siphoupan and Phousi street/road) will able to direct you there.

Please feel free to pass on this to all you know and for them to contact me of they are interested in donating or if you missed out on this one as I will try my best to see them again this year. Also I talked to lots of tourist about this school and they all wanted to go visit it. So I am also trying to organize a donation run for tourist in LuangPrabang.

Ps if anyone is willing to also donate some money so I can developed a website for this school please feel free to chip in and tell me. I have already asked some volunteers to design it for me I just need help with the cost of hosting and registering it i.e. around 6,000 Baht (200 Aus)


Email: dannymanichanh@gmail.com

Take care , all the best and hope to hear from ALL of you soon.
--
Danny Manichanh

買咗個grill pan竟然可以開心咗成日

之前唔記得係邊到睇到中環開咗間賣高級西餐煮食用品既上樓舖，星期六終於叫到Michel同我一齊去。入到去真係開心死我，我成日都好想買既le cruset's grill pan 都係賣$4百幾蚊，平時要成7百幾架。雖然係同一間廠造，但係就唔係用le cruset既名，不過個樣同品質就完全一樣架。除咗個grill pan之外仲有好多好正既廚房用具，而且價錢都唔貴。我仲買咗個焗爐溫度計，因為我個焗爐既無溫度計所以焗餅既時候就好難去預時間，所以有咗佢就好方便。
如果你有興趣可以去望一望Pantry Magic

第二年的渣打馬拉松-10km

上年第一年，今年已經係第二年，可能因為之前有預備，都係馬場跑咗幾日。所以昨日覺得無咁辛苦，而且有我小學同學同佢老公Alex一齊跑，互相支持，一路跑一路傾吓計，而且都好多人一齊跑，所以似嘉年華會多個馬拉松(雖然都係跑得10km,但係我成日都咁講話係馬拉松架，咁個活動係咁叫架嘛)

係到好多謝Michel一早陪我起身，Vivian同Alex一路支持我，Vivian由於之前個日仲係腸胃炎，昨日應該都跑得好辛苦吓，希望佢今日好返啦。

好明年捉埋Michel一齊跑!

嫦記

其實都唔係發生今日既事，應該係星期三啦。無，由於已經煮咗4日飯，所以就提議出街食飯，咁又好耐無來過嫦記，所以就決定走幾條殺上去。
一開lift門，就會聽到"嫦記、"豬"記"，真係爭得激烈。其實我兩間都試過，味道差唔多，不過"豬"記就比較多新野，不過我本人就鐘意嫦記，因為佢服務好啲同埋啲餸無咁怪。
嗰晚叫咗椒鹽鮮魷，strawberry牛柳同西蘭花帶子。
椒鹽鮮魷 - 好味但係似避風塘多過似椒鹽
strawberry牛柳 - 賣相幾差，睇唔到有strawberry，但係就味道都唔錯，同沙拉骨同一個醬。
西蘭花帶子 - 賣相同味道唔錯，帶子食落幾新鮮，西蘭花又唔會抄得太"林"或太硬，啱啱好
跟埋汽水兩枝都係200蚊，幾經濟，你地可以試吓呀。

開飯啦介紹

好忙既一日

由於大老細今日來咗香港同我地做2006既planning，同當然係話俾我地知今年加幾多人工同出幾多花紅。我就無乜祈望，但求足夠交税都好。我之前講條友仔，上年成日話佢以前個老細好闊佬，呢個老細唔夠胆同HR話要多啲咁話。今年就話　「邊會多呀，個個人都係跟同一個formula計出來架啦！」，真係佢講晒。其實佢年紀都幾大﹐五十幾，但係就對仔女好細個，所以都理解佢點解成日要係老細面前整古我，屋企成家等佢養喎。

點解做人要咁假

今日食晏，本來一組人唔係咁鐘意technical既一位同事(點解唔鐘意，真係有排講，慢慢會話你知)，點知佢啲"口靚"唔同佢食飯，個個走晒，咁為咗扮大方同唔好今組人關係咁差，所以都叫埋佢一齊食飯，我同事都問點解。或都睇開啲會開心啲呢.......會唔會呢?

其實當我好悶或心靚唔好都會睇去馬仔市集，不過佢近來好忙....都會有時兩三日先睇到佢既日記，等都等到頸長埋。

Voila! 第一次blogging

都係第一次，點解唔係好知。不過當我睇番我隻波仔既相，好掛住佢 (2003年離開我)，想係到舒發少少咁啦。

仲係新年期間，我今年既目標係要準時返工，睇吓一年之係有無做到啦!