I Believe I Can Fly

A couple of days ago, my kids were watching the Ice Age 2:The Meltdown animation at home. I could hear them giggling and all three of them were stoked on the part where Crash the possum was flying through the air and singing, "I believe I can fly..." before crashing into a tree in mid flight.



Ever since that day they have been singing, "I believe I can fly..." and could not complete the rest of the lyrics... LOL. Many of us will remember this famous hit song by Roberta Kelly. And I am sure you have continued by humming, "... I believe I can touch the sky..." Well, that was what happened to me. For some reason, I got to humming along with my kids for a couple of days. I could only remember part of the extremely catchy chorus.

So today, on the way home while stopping at traffic lights, I decided to used my mobile phone to search for the lyrics on Google. I showed the lyrics to my 2 sons and we started singing the chorus.

I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day
Spread my wings and fly away
I believe I can soar
I see me running through that open door
I believe I can fly
I believe I can fly
I believe I can fly

Before long I asked my seven years old son, Jordan, "Do you know the meaning of 'soar'?" He replied that he did not. And so I explained that it means "flying very high in the sky and gliding in the air".

Then just out of curiosity, I asked him if he knew what it meant, "running through that open door"? Without hesitation, he replied, "Go to heaven lah."

I was quite stunned with his reply. It never occurred to me that he could grasp the abstract in such a perceptive manner when he offered his interpretation. I am definitely no literati and have no idea if the interpretation of "open door" equates "heaven", but now, I would certainly give it due consideration if I were to analyze the deeper meaning of the lyrics.

Later, when we reached home, I searched for Ice Age 2 on YouTube and found the above clip and an excellent William Hung rendition of "I Believe I Can Fly".



Such an inspiring song, no matter who sings it!!!

Yeah!

Is this an Apple Tree?

My wife's sister-in-law gave her this plant a while back and told her that it was an apple tree. I could not believe it. Apple trees don't grow in Malaysia right? They need a more temperate type of climate right? Anyway, it has been more than 4 months and the plant had started to fruit.

The fruits sure looked like apples. My kids were pretty excited and could not wait to eat them. The taste was a bit sweet and tangy. The texture felt like apple.

In the end, what I think gave away the "apple" was the seed. There was only a single seed and it was definitely too big when compared to the apple that we normally buy from the supermarkets.

Hmmm... hybrid "apple"?

Jakarta's Efficient Bus Transportation System

After staying in Jakarta for three days, with my colleague's help, I have learned to use the city's bus transportation system. I must say that for a city of 8.5 million, their bus transportation system is pretty efficient and I am suitably impressed.

Jakarta does not have any sophisticated light rail or monorail transportation system to shout about. But their super efficient bus transportation system seemed to outclass the former. This particular bus transportation system I am referring to is operated by Transjakarta.

Dedicated bus lanes criss-crossed the city. These bus lanes are demarcated by low barriers that prevented vehicles other than buses to use the lane. Due to this simple use of barriers, the buses are able to travel their routes extremely efficiently. Passengers do not need to worry if the buses will arrive on time or not. A bus will stop by the bus stop almost every 5-10 minutes. In fact, I dare say that I will get to the destination faster using the bus than a car... LOL.

Another unique feature of the Jakarta's bus transportation system is that the bus lanes are located in the middle of the road or highway. Thus, all the bus stops are along the center serving both sides of the road.

Personally, I think the city planners in Malaysia have a lot of valuable lessons they can learn from their counter part in Jakarta!


The overhead walkway that led down to the bus stop in between the roads.


Walking down to the bus stop.


Video showing the arrival at a bus stop during extreme rush hour. Check out the number of people queuing up to board the bus.

In the video, don't I look like a pro knowing exactly where to go when I got down the bus? LOL... actually my colleague, Tien Soon, was behind guiding me... LOL...