In light of this coming Christmas, we have pledge to do something different for the next 12 months, culminating at Christmas 2011. The season and essence of Christmas have always been about giving. Shopping for perfect presents, inviting guests for Christmas dinners, sharing Christmas tunes in carols and the list goes on.

But the core of it all is this – God gave his one and only Son, so that we have life, and life abundantly. And it is in His giving that we find meaning in our day-to-day life.

So this Christmas we’re climbing out of our comfort zone by stretching the season of giving far beyond December into the other 12 months of the year. We’re hoping to enlarge our giving for the reason that God gave and our life has been abundant thus far (not necessarily always in the form of material goods or money, but always… always far above what money cannot buy – love, joy, peace…)
That said, we have decided to launch our own personal project called ‘The Gift’. Every month we will make a donation to a cause and will feature them on our blog. The causes that we plan to support can range from healthcare, education, sanitation to anti-human trafficking. We will dedicate a feature in our blogs for these causes in hope that it will challenge and inspire our friends and blog readers to find out more about real-issues that surround us and hopefully to extend some help too.

Our very unprecedented feature this December are the Invisible Children. This organisation seeks to end human trafficking in the nature of child soldiers in East Africa, by using media, film and social activations – to educate and ‘promote’ the action across the world. The war in East Africa has been touted the longest, and Invisible Children seek to inspire and at the same time, empower people and nations, to stand up and call for change.

Aside from rallying the cause, Invisible Children works on building and rebuilding schools, providing books and a sound education, assisting in water and sanitation and also creating a sustainable long term training program for young Ugandians to have a better life in the future.

You can read more about the war and its history here, but it is also translated in the movie they filmed in 2003 called, Invisible Children: The Rough Cut. You can purchase the movie on their website, or if you are close proximity with us, feel free to borrow.

To be more aware, read more about their story here, and you can browse their website which is loaded with much in depth information. Support the kids in their Bracelet Campaign, the Legacy Scholarship Program, or many other programs listed on their website.

Invisible Children biggest achievement would be their ‘We Want Obama’ campaign that ran for a few months this year which resulted in having the President of the United States, inviting them to the Oval Office and passing a bill against the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act into law.

Believe it or not, since the introduction of recycling bins in our kitchen, we have just been constantly surprise (and appalled) at the mounting recyclable waste accumulated over time. Almost every product we buy off-the-shelf has an element that can be recycled.  Everything from plastic wrappers, plastic bottles or cups, old newspapers, cereal boxes, juice cartons, tin cans – the list seems endless!

As if that’s not enough of a waste shocker, according to statistics from the Department of Environment (DOE), an average Malaysian produces 0.8kg -1.2kg of waste per day. That’s an average of 30kg of waste a month! Statistics also show that the biggest waste contributors come from urban areas. Yes! Urbanites like you and I who thrive happily on convenience and spend blithely without thinking twice.

The horror does not end here. If waste is not separated at disposal point, EVERYTHING (literally everything) ends up in the landfill. No waste collector will care enough to rummage through our garbage and pick out what can be recycled and what can’t. Hence, all of us need to play our part, and it all starts at home.

We’ve tried to minimize our waste by bringing Tupperware containers when ordering take-out, declining plastic bags at the supermarket and refusing to take plastic cutlery instead using our ‘SPORKS’ when on the move. Still there are products we can’t avoid buying despite realizing how laden it is with excessive packaging.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by rubbish (literally), especially when information is sparse even in a thriving city like KL. So here are a few tips to help make recycling easier for you!

How to start? While fancy colour-coded recycling bins would be a nice inclusion at home, a simple box or garbage bag is really all you need to sort and hold your recyclables. We bought ours from IKEA (although not the wisest decision since we’re adding up on plastic purchase – however esthetic elements and durability won us over). You will need at least 3 bins/boxes/containers, for; paper, plastic and aluminum.  Another for glass if necessary.

What to recycle? Virtually all newspapers, magazines, junk mail, cardboard, cereal & juice boxes, glass bottles, plastic wrappers, aluminum and tin cans are recyclable. Remember to flatten boxes and aluminum cans before dumping it into separate bins. As for plastic bottles, remember to remove the cap and rinse the bottle. Both the cap and the bottle go into the same bin but will be sorted again at the recycling center.

Where to bring your recyclables? At certain locales, DBKL, MPPJ or Alam Flora will have designated days to pick up recyclable waste. Ask your neighbours if you are not sure. Another option is to bring your recyclable waste to recycling centers around your area.

Alam Flora has made life simpler for all of us by listing down recycling centers within Klang Valley. It’s best to identify a center near your home or office for added convenience. Click HERE to see the list.

Alternatively, if you feel like doing a good deed, you can send recyclables to a disabled home in SS2, PJ. They collect recyclables to sell in order to earn money to run the home. There are drop-off boxes at their centre.

Lovely Disabled Home
No 1, Jalan SS 2/5, (opposite Taman Bahagia LRT station)
47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
Contact person: K.K Lum (Director) @ 03 78739622 / 013-3409622

In the age of digitization, finding a physical photo album or prints are hard to find. Photos are burn onto CDs, uploaded on Facebook, shared on Trip Advisor and emailed to friends. Whilst this digital phenomenon has made destinations more ‘accessible’ and it has also allowed friends to digitally travel with other friends without leaving our seats – it has also rid us of the nostalgia of flipping through physical photo albums and cleaning dusty albums whilst having a good laugh or cry over memorable milestones.

Since technology is moving so rapidly, we figured that one day, photo albums will not exist and we better create an option before its to late! We still want to have the assurance that pictures and physical memories can be accessible in the event our nation’s power source goes kaput or if our hard disk crashes.

So we decided to continue our meticulous efforts in creating scrapbooks! We’ve spent hours sorting through colours papers, choosing borders, buying embellishments, sticking, stamping and stenciling – it’s what we do with our free time, our together time – reliving our trip once again through the creation of our 4th photo book.

Another exploration – this time to Ampang Lookout Point. It’s quite secluded and I don’t think much people know about until and unless the word gets around. I found out about this place when some friends surprised my sister on her 20th Birthday. Ray (my sis) started raving about it and finally decided to suss it out for ourselves.

It is quite far off about 40mins from PJ and the directions are quite misleading too. We got lost initially but managed to get back on track. The drive was worth the while. For avid photographers who are looking for mid-aerial views of KL city scapes – this would be a snapshot haven for you. For those who want a different dining experience with fresh hilly air and a starlight panorama of the city – this would be a unique gastronomic experience. If we have friends visiting from overseas, this would be a great place to bring them.

We strolled our way up the hill and there to greet us were 2 restaurants. One was serving some steamboat Chinese cuisine and the other a fusion of Mediterranean and Italian. We chose the latter called Bread & Olive.

To help our stomachs digest the heavy meal, we climbed up the watch tower and Terence got busy camera. The weather really helped as visibility was close to perfect and we could literally see every street lamp on the road. KL is beautiful to behold!

It is extremely ironic that I’ve yet to fully explore KL city when other cities intrigue me to the core. I roam the streets and alleys of Hanoi, whistle my way through the blocks of Melbourne and New York and exhausted my steps in the tiny city of Perth – yet I still don’t remember major roads in KL city! Quite a pity I reckon.

Since it was predicted that CNY would leave the city roads clear of traffic, we did some exploring by foot and wheels. We drove to Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve where our 2 hour hike would start. The terrain is mild and easy on those looking for a stroll in the forest. We attempted the shorter trails first then the longer ones. There was one that took us right up to Menara Kuala Lumpur. We walked up to the base of the tower and since it was still quite early – 8.30am, not much was happening.

Then two corn cob shaped building caught my eye. KLCC was just a stone throw away, we decided to walk there instead of driving there. The familiar feeling of slipping our feet back into tourist/travelers shoes set in. We were exploring our own city now because it felt so foreign. Signs we don’t usually look out for somehow seem to be staring in our faces. All my life I had this prejudice about KL signages. KL will be the last on my list when it comes to good signages. But I found that quite untrue for this particular part of the city we were exploring. It was actually pedestrian friendly with arrows pointing us in the right direction. Thumbs up to DBKL!

We initially wanted to get tickets to the Sky Bridge since we were already there. But to our surprise the queue was already catterpillaring when we got there at 850am. Instead we had a long relaxed breakfast and headed back on foot to Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve and lingered awhile at the mini zoo at the base of KL Tower.