Reunion III

Seen Nang, Hari and Hoong; cousins and uncle. You will notice that Hari and Seen Nang like being seen together at our family gatherings. Lots to talk about, these guys.


Nik, David and Geetha: there wasn't much for them to eat at the dinner - being vegetarians and all - but Nik seems quite full and fed, gulping down questions, news, answers, etc... it was a non-stop whirling churning. This was time out!


Pok Meng and Pok Lai, 5th Uncle's beautiful daughters.


Little Women: Pui Yan, Pui Yi, and Sangametra. Isn't it amazing how much Sangametra looks like her cousins?!


Nik and Hoong. See if you can find any similarities here.

Reunion II

The Brothers Lamarazov: Ghooi Hoe, Ghooi Ket, and Ghooi Hoong. Notice the factory-churned out faces - with minor adjustments, of course.
Apologies for the blur photo: it wasn't the wine nor the brandy... just age!


The Cousins Lamarazov: Hariraam Tingyuan and Seen Nang. Notice the differences and similarities?
Apologies again for this blur photo of two good looking young men. The hand is getting old!


Hoong and Suzan. This was of course after the great big dinner. Much to smile about, then.


Mei Fong and Pui Yan. This was after two glasses of red wine... no problem!


Nik serious about a point, and David, non-committal... or was there too much noise at the table?

Reunion in Kuala Lumpur I

There was Chinese tea and red wine together with the scrumptious, rich, flavourful, gorgeous 8 course meal at the Turf Club restaurant.


The Big Guns: Tho Wah, Poon Wah, and Chun Wah; or Tai Pak, 5th Uncle and 6th Uncle to most of us.


Mum and Dad. This was after most of the dishes from the meal.


Hoe Chye and Nik. Too little time and too much to catch up on. Can a picture speak a thousand words!?

Chinese New Year Greetings!

Kung Hei Fatt Choy!

May this New Year

bring peace, prosperity & good health

to all in the family!

Lots of love & xoxox
Hoongkie & Suzan

P/S : More pictures later. This one is of Hoong & Etta, one of our doggies.

Giri is Seven

Giri turned seven on 28th January which fell on a Sunday. On Sunday mornings, we get together for prayers at the Temple of Fine Arts. So Giri got the chance to do the finale of the prayer session which is to wave burning camphor in front of the shrine. This is to remind ourselves constantly to seek the light of Divinity in all things.


Then, Giri got to hear the birthday song sung to him by everyone. Of course, Sangametra had to help her brother with the cake. After the song and cake cutting, Giri offered the cake to all the elders first, to get their blessings.


That evening, our good friend Shangita and her daughters, Nritta and Aditi, came on the monorail with us to Berjaya Times Square for a nice family dinner there. With the Chinese New Year coming, we found ourselves posing in front of a red gazebo.

The Sky Changes

Caught a mountain of a cloud just behind the KL Tower and Twin Towers.

more stellar photos

here are more photos, as requested! the one of nina is when she is newly born, the ones of mum dad and nik are later that day, and the one of me and gary is day 2, taken by the local paper.

Will put one on of anya when she is here next week (she is working in Bali at the moment).

Pui Fun's name in Chinese

Hi Sarah and Gary. here is how stella's chinese name is written in chinese. the spelling given is phoneticised cantonese: "pui fun". the other version "pei fen" is in mandarin, and written in pinyin, the international standard for phoneticised chinese. as you can see, it is a lovely name: esteemed fragrance. add to this thought other associated ideas and you have possibilities like "reputation, honour, sweetness of nature, achievement and success". why is this? the idea of "fragrance" is that it travels in the air, unbounded. so stella has it in her charts to touch others. add the idea of "stella" which means star, and the idea of reputation and honour and inspiration is affirmed even more positively. stars shine and always guide. these are just a few thoughts...

Stella Eve Pui-Fun Browne

Hello All

Here are a few photos of our new daughter Stella. She was born at home in the throes of fireworks at 12 minutes past midnight on the 1st of January 2007 - what an entry to the world! It truly was a "stellar eve". As she was the second baby born in the state this year, we were interviewed the following day to appear in our local paper (please note, headline does NOT refer to us!).

At birth she weighed 3.9kg (about 8.6 lbs) and was 52cm (about 20.5 inches) and is very strong and healthy. She has a fantastic pair of lungs which she loves to exercise. She loves bathing and being carried in a sling close to us - we love it too! Love from Sarah and Gary

jo at uluwatu

pik kay & pik yue were asked to remove their specs cos the monkeys at uluwatu are famous for grabbing stuff from tourists.they were in for a surprise/shock when pik kay was "attacked" by them.they snatched her precious toys attached to her bag.she was totally upset.poor girl.but we managed to get over it in time to enjoy the breath-taking view.

pk & py at pura tirta empul

this is where the natural springs are located.the locals come to pray & cleanse themselves.pik yue & i had to wrap a sarong around ourselves cos it's holy land & we had to be properly covered.

pk & py at tanah lot

this is the most photographed spot in tanah lot.this place is a must-see.everyone comes here for the sunset.i was very happy cos this time around there was a festival going on.i took lots of pics & a few videos.i can spend the whole day here just enjoying the breeze & sounds of the waves!

Night Clouds

Caught this at 11 pm after it had rained a bit here. The clouds so low, it feels like we are in a situation of epic proportions.




The cloud bank moved and shrouded the Twin Towers and KL Tower from our view.

The Colours of Night

It's interesting how the different time of day gives the same scene a different mood...

Changing Views

It's 6.45 am. The sky is a soft blue with the brightening day.



It's 7.15 am, and the morning sun got caught as a sliver of gold against the pale blue. Sometimes it is good to watch out for other things in life. Thank God for 18th floor views.


7.30 am, and the soft sunlight brings out the radiance of white.

Giri's Free Hand Drawings

Giri did this in one minute, without any erasing of the lines he had drawn. Notice that he is keen on creating outlines of the letters he writes. At first, I thought he drew an impression of me, but it turned out he thinks Hari is king!


He did this Ganesha smoothly and expertly. I don't know why he titled it "Amma is a Queen"!


This is a pix of Giri when he was four or five. It is one of my favourite pix of him...

Sunday Morning

After breakfast, and seeing that it was going to be a soft and cool day, we decided to park ourselves on the balcony to do some writing and drawing. Giri and Sangametra are of course excited about this.


Here is the avid writer and artist. She spends a lot of time writing her Tamil alphabet, and drawing flowers and things.


This is a painting Sangametra had done a month ago, all on her own.


This is the view from our balcony, eighteen floors up in the sky. You can see Petronas Twin Towers as well as the KL Tower.

Sangametra's Friends

Dharmishta and Gururaj are Sangametra's friends whose mother, Gowri, works with Geetha at the Temple of Fine Arts. Dharmishta, whose name means "personal dharma", incidentally was named by Swamiji. Swamiji had another name for Sangametra after she was born: Dharmasamvardhini, which means "the one in whom dharma resides", yet another epithet for the Devi. Gururaj is Dharmishta's little brother, and as you can see he is full of smiles and energy.

First Day at School

It's the first day of school and Hari and Giri are in their school uniform. Hari is in Form Four this year, after getting rather good results for his PMR with 3 As and 4 Bs. He is a school prefect.
Giri goes to Standard One. He is quite excited about school and looks quite smart in his new uniform.


Below: Giri and Geetha get ready for school. One thing for sure, Giri loves the idea of being independent, doing things like buying snacks from the canteen and making friends straight away with some of his new classmates

My Little Princess

This is what my little princess Sangametra looked like when she was just one year old. She is still tiny but she packs a good punch with her voice and her assertiveness. This pix was taken in august 2003.



This is Sangametra with her favourite girl cousin Janice (Geetha's brother Mahen's daughter). Sangametra is now four years old and looking forward to going to school. Janice lives in Klang with her elder sister Leela May and her mother Marissa, and her grandmother. This pix was taken on New year's Day at Mohan's house. Mohan is Geetha's eldest brother who used to live in Canada but now has found a wonderful position in HSBC in Cyberjaya.