Happy New Year....

Pakdokter hosted some close friends to usher in the New Year at pakdokter's residence. The children were definitely 'missed'......Rastam had too short a break to come home from Tokyo and Raena went back to Edinburgh to celebrate the Hogmanay and the New Year with her friends.

Pakdokter's regular travel companions, Ravee and Siti and Dollah and Sandra, and long-time friend Imelda, as well as pakRosli who will now be based in Jakarta instead of Dubai this year were our guests.( Linza, pakRosli's partner had to babysit their son, Russo, who unfortunately came down with an exacerbation of the chronic otitis media which the poor boy suffers.....hopes he gets well soon...). Of course, Natasya ( Dollah's daughter) and her partner Neil ( who came down for a holiday from Melbourne) were also in the small party.

pakRosli, Ben Haron and Ravee..


pakRosli, Ben haron, Ravee, Neil..

Imelda, Sandra, Siti (sitting) and Natasya..

Pakdokter's partner had a minor makeover done to the residence with new colours to the wall and mirrors to one side to add depth to the sitting room. Some of her own art-works were also put up on display.

new mirrors on the wall..

'kecak' in oil....

Angkor Wat....in oil...

view of paddy terraces from our 'dream villa' in Bali...

the 'kecak' dancers to the left...

'sakuras' in bloom

spring in Kyoto 2009....

Pakdokter's partner spent the whole afternoon sweating to come out with the Japanese-style salad and the pasta putanesca. We also had a whole roast turkey and a selection of gourmet beef/turkey/lamb sausages for the meaty stuff. The food went down well with a bottle of Jura single-malt, a round of Turkish 'raki', some red and white wines as well as champagne at the strike of the bell and the burst of fireworks across the city skylines.....

'masquerade' 2009....

'the 5 musketeers'

from Class of 77 UM Medical School..

heart surgeon Ben Haron, Pathologist Fred, shrink pakdokter

Ob/Gyn Siti and Internal Physician Ravee...

off with the mask....

a blue and pink New Year cake....

Happy New Year to all........

Edinburgh.....white and freezing...

Pakdokter's daughter, Raena, after a short holiday in Kuala Lumpur, went back to Edinburgh yesterday to celebrate the Hogmanay and the New Year with her friends, and hopefully secure a job some time next year. Pakdokter received a message from her just now saying that Edinburgh was 'white' and 'freezing'!...

At the same time, pakdokter's friends, Alastair and Pat, from Perth in Scotland, sent their Christmas and New Year greetings with some pictures of 'winter wonderland' at their residence.....

Alastair and Pat ......

Merry X'mas.....

Pakdokter and family celebrated Christmas Eve at medical school buddy's( Dollah and his partner, Sandra) home. Sandra is a fantastic cook and pakdokter had requested her during our recent holidays in Edinburgh, to cook the 'roast lamb'. The spread included a whole grilled salmon folowed by Christmas pudding, Christmas meat pies and Christmas Pannetone! We thoroughly enjoyed the dinner, made merrier by the presence of our daughter, Raena, who came back for a short holiday and by Natasha (Dollah's daughter) and Neil(Natasha's partner) who came down from Melbourne for their year-end break.

Raena, Natasya and Neil...

pakdokter's partner (seated) with host, Sandra Abdullah...

the salad, grilled salmon, roast lamb and potatos..

The Chateau Margaux went down well with the meat dishes and the single-malts from Scotland reminded us of the great holidays we had in Amsterdam and Scotland recently.

Merry X'mas to all.......

The Interport Match against Hong Kong Golf Club...

Saturday, 19th December 2009

We checked out of our hotel in Shenzen early Saturday morning and headed out for Hong Kong to play in the Annual Interport Game against the Hong Kong Golf Club. The CIQ to Hong Kong was a short 30 minutes drive from the hotel but the queue of mainland Chinese going to Hong Kong for the weekend made the immigration checkouts of China and into Hong Kong a near nightmare. What more with our golf bags and luggage to carry along.....

From the border, the Hong Kong Golf Club at Fan Ling was just another 30 minutes drive at the most. We we entertained to a brunch at 10.30 am by the ever hospitable host at the Hong Kong Golf Club and the competition was played from 11.30 am.

A total of 28 golfers from the RSGC played against 14 pairs from the HKGC.

Pakdokter partnered pakTgAzman against HKGC's Patrick Lam and Billy Lau. Patrick and pakdokter had known each other since the Quad Games in Pattaya 2 years ago and we had played in some other games after that. Patrick played to a handicap of 22 while Billy to a handicap of 18. Pakdokter and pakTgAzman played to our 24 handicap.

Pakdokter scored a par at the hole-8 par-4 where we started our game. And at most times of the games pakdokter's partnership with pakTgAzman led the game until the last 2 holes when we were square with 2 holes to go. PakTgAzman's form came back at this stage and ensured a victory for our team. To be fair to our rivals, Billy was not in his best form. He had sufferred soft tissues injuries to his shoulder and neck recently from too much golf which greatly affected his swing. Otherwise pakdokter and pakTgAzman would have had a more difficult time to beat them.

Pakdokter's most memorable part of the game was when pakdokter hit a great drive at the Index 1 par-4 hole No-4 ( 428 yards) and sent the second shot with the 3-wood to a distance of about 195 yards to land the ball about 10 yards from the pin. A par at this hole helped keep the pair ahead against the Hong Kong opponents!...

However, in the overall competition, the Hong Kong Golf Club beat the RSGC by 15 points against 13 points.

pakdokter and pakTgAzman at the club terrace..

at the half-way hut for hot coffee....

Patrick Lam, Billy Lau, TgAzman, Azizi Yom Ahmad...

Alex Hwang, Devindran, Goh Kee San, Chong Kuet Yoon..

Goh Kee San, Chong K Y, Steven ( who came in from Shanghai),

Thomas Chun, Pong ( standing)..

Pong and Captain Lee Tak Suan ( standing)

Chong, Alex, Devindran, Goh K S..

Japan Fusion..the biggest Japanese Restaurant in Shenzen?...

18th December 2009

Dinner for the night was booked at the biggest Japanese restaurant in Shenzen by the name of 'Japan Fusion'. Driving through what pakdokter suspected was the financial district of Shenzen, China's enormous wealth was on display here. There were large malls with all the designer names one could think of. The Louis Vitton outlet was easily twice the one in KL at the Starhill.

Japan Fusion took two whole floors of a highrise building. It could easily seat 1000 diners. Despite of this, unless pre-booked, expect a bit of waiting for the table.

The group left it to Mr Alex Hwang, RSGC's Korean restauranter to do the ordering.

We had generous helpings of shashimis, tempuras, beef teriyakis, and an assortments of fried vegetables and fried rice. With the magnum bottle of warm sake, everyone must have had a great night after a fantastic day at the Olazabal Course of Mission Hills.

Korean Malaysian Alex Hwang Il Rok charged with making the orders..

waiting for our table...

one of the many food bars...

helping to warm tea and warm sake

while the dishes were being prepared..

abalone mushroom on the teppan...

one of the shashimi dishes apart from the meguro and salmon...

tempuras while the prawns were cooked...

cooking and cutting the prawns was an art in itself...

The Olazabal Course at the Mission Hills...

18th December 2009

The game at the Olazabal Course of the Mission Hills was the highlight of this golf tour. Mission Hills was located about one hour from downtown Shenzen. We left early that morning to make sure that we did not arrive late as the day before when we travelled to play at the Long Island Golf and Country Club.

RSGC does not have any reciprocal arrangement with Mission Hills, so we had to pay the full fee to play here. It cost each of us about RM500 ( RMB 1030) for the green fee, buggy and caddy. Tip for the caddy was recommended at RMB100 each.

The clubhouse of the Mission Hills was itself a 5-star luxurious establishment. The many golf shops sold all the branded golf wear on the top floor and the golf sets and equipments on the lower floor. It was like a small golf mall actually. And of course, nothing was cheap.

Mission Hills courses were located at 3 different sites. The Olazabal Course where we were booked to play at shared this location with the Duval Course as well as the Sorenstam Course. The Olazabal Course has been the site for the World Cup of Golf Competitions, and the most recent event took place here just 3 or 4 weeks ago. So the course was very much still in competition condition.

pakdokter at the lobby of the clubhouse..

Christmas was also in the air here...

pakdokter and pakdokter's caddy called 'Cherry'....

the caddies have an affinity to choose 'fruity' names...

pakAzizi's caddy was 'Apple'...

pakTgAzman's caddy was ' Honey (melon)'.....

hmmm....what a 'fruitful' bounty.....

see how happy pakTgAzman was with his 'Honey'....

Thomas, Pong,Alex,TgAzman,Chong,Azizi,Goh,Lee and pakdokter...

Pakdokter played in the second flight with regular partner pakTgAzman and Captain Lee Tak Suan. Captain Lee Tak Suan was RSGC Club Champion for 9 times and despite his age, still plays to a handicap of 14. Pakdokter and pakTgAzman played our usual bet of 30/10/10.

TgAzman has always played well during the overseas golf tour. He had beaten pakdokter by a mere 2 balls at the Long Island Golf Club and was in form to continue his slaughter of pakdokter at this course.

Hole-1 of the Olazabal Course....

TgAzman hit a drive like a pro and sent the second shot close to the apron.....

being 1-up against pakdokter, TgAzman declared that he was a 'tiger'...

pakdokter corrected him by saying that he should be a 'crocodile'...

at this par-3, pakdokter hit into the bunker but managed a sandy par

to square the game..

pakdokter had another par at this par -3 from an elevated tee to the downhill green...

it was a close match in the 1st Nine

TgAzman won the game but lost the dommie

after being 2-up at the 7th hole with two to go...

he took 2 balls in the 1st Nine

The 2nd Nine was a closely fought match throughout the game. The two of us were square until the 16th hole which was the signature hole of the course. At the par-3 17th hole pakdokter sent the drive into the rough while TgAzman hit a lovely shot that landed the ball almost 3 feet to the pin. He got a par and went to the last hole 1-up against pakdokter. At the 18th, TgAzman hit a long drive that landed in the middle of the fairway but pakdokter's drive unfortunately ended up in the water. There was little chance for pakdokter to square the game and conceded 8 balls to TgAzman, having doubled up the game at the 2nd Nine. TgAzman gleefully took home 10 balls from pakdokter and promised to buy pakdokter the lunch. He has yet to buy pakdokter the lunch as Captain Lee paid for the lunch for all the 3 of us at the clubhouse. The clubhouse had a menu that included dishes from Soith East Asia and pakdokter settled for a plate of Phad Thai which was washed down with a mug of San Miguel.....

the Signature Hole No-16..

TgAzman's drive landed in this bunker..

his second shot looked like it went OB across the wall

but was deflected on to the buggy track

he took a free drop for the 3rd shot and put it on the green

for a 3-on for the signature hole!...

what a game for someone with a 24-handicap....

he 3-putted for a 6

and pakdokter squared with a 6 after arriving at the green

with a 'managed' 4 strokes

a group picture at the club lobby..