I saw these interesting figurines when I was at a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur. It depict the art of bowing.  In many Asian countries, bowing is a sign of respect that you give to someone important or to the elders.  The figurines in the photographs illustrate the Asian bow.  But in real life, there is no need to tip or bend yourself so much to lower your body. Also you must make sure there is enough space between the 2 persons if that person needs to bow back; otherwise they will both get a bump on their heads.

But nowadays, it seems that not many people have the habit to bow. Perhaps the younger generation feels that there is no need to do so. Respect can also be given in other forms like a warm smile and a handshake.

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I enjoy looking at interesting figurines, work of arts or anything that seems interesting. That is why is it important to bring a camera along whenever possible. I seen many people taking photos with their mobile phones with built in cameras when they are on holidays. Personally, I still prefer to take photos with a camera, as it gives me the exact shots and flexibility that I need.

In the year 2011, I will hope to put up more photos and blogs in my site. I saw that traffic stats in this new site is picking up. I would liked to express my sincere thanks for those visiting this site.

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I attended a house warming party of a close friend who has just moved in into his new semi-detached home in Malaysia. It is a beautiful two storey house with a beautiful manicure garden in the front and back of the house. Houses in Malaysia are very affordable as compared to the landed properties in Singapore. But for foreigners who wish to buy a property in Malaysia, they are only allowed to buy a property with price of at least RM500,000. Even with this restriction, the prices of property is still very affordable in Malaysia.  A brand new house has the feeling of clean, bright and youthful look, that is what I liked of newly built houses and condominiums.

My friend told me that he will be putting two lion statues in front of his house ( at the gate) or in addition another pair right outside the wide main door of his home. He is still shopping for the right pair of lions suitable for his home. At that time, his sister in law interrupted and she felt that putting a pair of lion statues looks so lame and old fashioned. His sister in law being a staunch christian do not believe about the old traditional Chinese beliefs of the lion statues and she felt that such a belief is nonsensical.

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I told his sister in law that the lion statues is a symbol of power, good luck and a good protector. Whether any person believe in it or not, it does not matter. What matters is the owner of the house or building who feel good about having a pair of lions in their premises. I told her that if she felt that this is mere superstitious, then tell it to the HSBC bank. Asked why a giant global bank like HSBC bank insists of putting a pair of old fashioned lion statues in their HQ building? She could also posed this question to many successful companies in Asia which placed a pair of lion statues outside their spanking new buildings. A pair of lion statues represents power and prestige, period. The Chinese belief that a pair of lion statues serve as a protector against evil spirits is real. I jokingly told her that if her home is being infested with evil spirit one day and her pastors and church members are unable to help to get rid of it, then get a pair of fierce lion statues and get it blessed it by a good monk – then put it in her home. She can then see first hand the mystical power of the lions in getting rid of the evil spirits and bringing peace to her home.

I firmly believe that what we do not believe or do not know, we should not judge or ridicule. Anyway my friend had ignored his sister in law and will proceed with his plan to place the pair of lion statues in his home. I always felt that if you are down and out of luck for months or years and is unable to get out of it, you should try a different approach to alleviate this problem. Yes, we all know that we need to work hard, work smart and being discipline ( no excessive gambling, drinking, etc ) . But there are times when all that we have done right, including daily prayers have not help – that is when need additional effort to boost our luck. Never under estimate the mystical power of lion statues. You can see many lion statues in many tall buildings and beautiful homes in Asia, it is placed there for a reason and it works.

If you are keen to find out more about Malaysia and Singapore, just follow the link below: –

ImageSingapore.com

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Whenever I feel tired, restless and low in energy, I will do a couple of things to boost up my life. First of all, I will make sure that I get enough sleep and rest. I will also take more nutritious food and drink like ginseng, Chinese herbal soup and energy drink like Pocari. Daily exercise also help in getting my body back in fitness. Sometimes, despite all these things being done, I still have the feeling of low energy and stress. That is when I head down to the nearest place where there is plenty of water. It could be the sea, a waterfall, a reservoir/lake or even a simple beautiful man made pond. I will simply seat there for at least an hour and let the water elements work on my body.

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Water has a calming and positive effect on my body. The Chinese firmly believes in the importance of water as part of the landscape to enhance health and wealth. That is why in Asia, you can see so many beautiful buildings with water elements such as fountains and ponds incorporated in their landscape. The sound of water derived from a fountain can be a calming effect on our mind’ and it also transfer positive energy into our body. I have the habit of sitting next to a fountain or a beautiful pond with fishes whenever I am free. For best effect, I try to do this alone and not bringing friends and families with screaming kids running around. I mean how can a person focus on the sound of water and the beauty of nature ( fishes) when you have kids screaming and your friends chatting non stop? You should treat it as an important therapeutic session that you must do alone in order to gain the maximum benefits from water elements.

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According to Chinese Feng Shui, water is the most important symbol of money.  This is because there is a positive chi energy generated from moving water that give us wealth and health. So if you intend to built a fountain or a pond in your home, make sure that the water is continuously moving and not stagnant. So make water therapy a part of your life and I am sure you will see the positive benefits it brings to your life.

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This is my first post on my new site – beginningless.com  Frankly I haven’t really thought what main topics I would like to post on this site. My interests in life is about health, food, internet marketing, money, and travel. So I will be writing on these these topics most of the time. But I will also post anything that is interesting; and I take a slow and leisure view on how this site is going to grow.

I can see that lots of people are quite stressed out nowadays. When I sit and chat with my friends, inevitably the topic of money, rising cost of living, stress in workplace, family life and health are normally the topics of discussion. Money will always be a pressing issue with most of us. For those who has lost their jobs, the lack of money will create a major crisis in the family. During the last few years, I have seen so many of my ex-colleagues, friends and acquaintances being retrenched or conveniently removed from their jobs by their companies. What followed after losing their jobs is the lost of confidence in themselves; and at times the feeling of guilty and unworthiness. Luckily, quite of number of them who were jobless are able to secure an alternative employment after job hunting for a few months. Most of them could not get back their previous job status or match the level of their last drawn pay. So if a person is getting say 40% less in pay compared to his previous job, then he must budget and live within his budget and expectations. On a longer term, he could plan and see whether he could move up the corporate ladder again; or look for a job with better pay and benefits.

Support from our family members and friends are important when we are facing a crisis in life. So it is important to keep them close especially during good times, when we have a tendency to forget or neglect our family and friends. I remember clearly a ex-colleague ( called him B ) of mine who had lost his job and have 3 young kids and a wife. His desperate search for job for the next 2 months was fruitless. Eventually he got a job through a mutual ex-colleague whom had moved on to a new company. B was able to get an immediate offer of a job because he was nice and helpful to my ex-colleague when they were working together previously. So the moral lesson here is – We will be rewarded in the future when we are nice and respectful to people around us.