Light at the End of the Tunnel?

The final ruling of the top court of Malaysia, the Federal Court on 23 September 2022 to put former prime minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak behind bars is unprecedented in the history of Malaysia.

Just seven years ago in August 2015, many Malaysians thronged the streets throughout the country to fight for a better country whose government would uphold justice, transparency, accountability and equality through the Bersih 4 Movement (Read here). In 10 May 2018, Pakatan Harapan defeated the Barisan Nasional government and took over as the new government of Malaysia. Reform was immediately initiated. This includes gathering of all evidences through the Attorney Office to prosecute Najib Razak, mastermind of the 1MDB scandal. Sadly, barely 22 months after Pakatan Harapan came to power, it collapsed on 22 February 2020 because of collusion of some of the ruling members of parliament to form another government, an act termed the Sheraton Move. It was a very sad day for many Malaysians who had voted for a change of a better government. That incident prompted me to reflect whether there would be light at the end of the tunnel for Malaysia (Read here). 

Fortunately, the legal proceeding against Najib continued despite of the change of the government. Finally on 23 August 2022 which was a week shy of the 59th year of the founding of Malaysia on 31 August, many Malaysians applauded when Najib was finally put behind bars.

With this latest dispensation of justice by the judiciary without fear or favour, there is hope that light may be found at the end of the tunnel for Malaysia.........

Trekking Gunung Tampin

I first climbed Mt. Kinabalu in 1972 (Read here). Then in 1987, I successfully climbed and reached the peak for the second time. Since then, I could remember walking at most 4.5Km each round at Tun Fuad Stephens Park. Hence, when the idea of climbing Gunung Tampin was floated at Aenon Health Care, I was a bit apprehensive. 

At Aenon Health Care, daily exercise in the form of walking is highly recommended. As long as it was good weather, I diligently followed the routine. After having walked twice daily each 2.4Km length for five days, I was ready to give it a go to trek Gunung Tampin. It's 4Km one way from the base to the peak where the Telekom tower is erected. The average gradient of the tarred road is 12%. 

On 2 August 2022, ten started the climb just past 4.30pm. It took me 84 minutes to reach the peak and then another 50 minutes downhill. The uphill speed of 0.8m per sec proved the uphill walk was indeed challenging. However, the downhill speed of 1.34m per sec is considered reasonable. Six made it to the peak, three men and three ladies! 

Definitely, the daily walk at Aenon in the previous few days has helped both physically and mentally for this particular climb!

Daily walk from the Centre to the main road.

Met the Founder, David Fam (third from left) and his wife in one of our daily walk.

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Small waterfall approx. midway of the climb.

We saw quite a sizable number of cyclists
cycling to the peak!

Thumb up to the successful climbers!

Transformation from Old Rubber Plantation to Health Centre

The story of the transformation of an old rubber plantation to become the existing Aenon Health Care is a phenomenon one.

Any first timer to this place which is tucked in undulating terrain and away from city centre would find the location challenging, especially from the feasibility of construction. Beside the hilly terrain, the prevalence of extensive massive boulders spread over the whole area would render levelling of the site uneconomical.  Yet, the ability of the developer of Aenon to build all the buildings without removing any of these massive boulders is just incredible.

Sunrise in days of good weather is an awesome sight.

The huge boulder at the back reminds me of
"Ayers Rock" in Australia!

The designer and builder were rather ingenious and they managed to incorporate some of these huge boulders into the building structures without the need of removing them.

This area has an unusually high concentration of baya weaver. I recalled first seeing these birds in Cape Town in South Africa in May 2013 (Read here). These birds are easily recognized by their hanging retort-shaped nests woven from strands of reeds and grass. Typical nest designs seen here are: one has two openings at the base while the other has extended cylindrical-shaped narrow entrance at the base to deter potential predators. It is said that nests are made by males to attract the female partners.

Freshly made green nest to attract potential female partner.

Each morning when we did our morning walk, we saw an old Chinese couple tapping rubber in the adjacent estate.

Much of the land is now planted with fruit trees and durian trees. Rubber plantations are likely to slowly disappear especially with the shortage of rubber tapers.

"Indulgence" in Aenon

It's not entirely wrong to say that spending a couple of days in Aenon for a health program is a form of indulgence. 

Beside food and daily exercise, one will be assigned a series of treatment recommended by the in-house doctors daily. These treatment are prescribed based on whatever abnormalities or health issues both past and present made known to the doctors.

All treatments are non intrusive and without prescription drugs. Natural ingredients are used for all the treatments. Some of the prescribed treatments for guests are:

• Infrared shoulder & neck with gentle massage for shoulder and neck pain.
• Infrared knee & charcoal poultice for knee for knee pain.
• Salt glow and steam bath.
• Hot foot bath & chair massage.
• Garlic hot foot bath.
• Warm vinegar sit bath and the list goes on.

Attendance to any of the program is not compulsory. Many simply sign up and go there to relax! We signed up and joined with an open mind and participated in all the activities offered. Beside spending  significant time with old friends together for almost two weeks, the experience has been worthwhile and life changing!

Steam bath.

Health talks.

"Graduation"

The participants.

A Journey to New Eating Habits

Aenon Health Care in Tampin advocates NEWSTART in all the programs they offer - Nutrition, Exercise, Water, Sunlight, Temperance, Fresh Air, Rest & Trust in God. 

Our very first experience in nutrition started with our first meal in the form of a vegetarian lunch immediately after we checked into Aenon on 27 July 22. The meal looked impressive and balanced. It was delicious.

We decided to sign up for this Health Camp after being introduced by our good friend Jenny during our trip to Singapore in May this year.

Our journey to revamp our eating habit began that very evening starting with the dinner. It was nil solid food but a mere half-litre bottle of mixed fruit juice - this is what they called therapeutic juicing. For the next three days, we were rationed with half a litre of mixed fruit juice for breakfast, then lunch and dinner. This was in preparation of a detox for the liver. The process was rather torturous whenever we saw our friends sitting next to us enjoying their sumptuous meal!

Left: Carrot, spinach and cucumber. Right: Beet root, carrot and celery.

At the Dining Hall.

With Jenny and her husband, Patrick.
The awesome ambient during outdoor breakfast in a way
helped to make our therapeutic juicing program easier!

Sumptuous lunch enjoyed by our friends next to us!

We celebrated our final bottle of fruit juice - guava,
apple & aloevera after three days!

The liver cleansing process ended with drinking a concoction of olive oil, lime juice and epsom salt two hours after our final bottle of fruit juice. That was not a very pleasant experience.

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We had expected solid food for our next meal after the detox process. However, it was not the case. It was just a bowl of potato soup - at least we had something salty finally!

Our first proper solid meal for lunch!

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Of the three meals provided daily, portion for lunch is the highest. Fruits are provided at every meal - at least three variety with nuts added sometimes.

There was no meat, no coffee and no snack provided. There was also no tea break in between meals. Though coffee is not encouraged because of the caffeine content, I believe it's more to do with the religious reason. The Centre Operator, members of Seventh-Day Adventist has a list of prohibited food items.

BREAKFAST

The kitchen staff took great effort to prepare breakfast in terms of nutritional value and appearance. The many dishes we had enjoyed deserved to be documented. They all look fabulous.

LUNCH

Among the three meals daily, quantum for lunch was the largest. 

Occasional additional side dish after cooking lessons!

DINNER

Dinner was rather simple and of lesser quantity. They do not advocate heavy meal in preparation for bed time.

The 10-Day stay at Aenon is a life changing experience. Beside gaining significant new insights and knowledge about food, spending time together at this Centre with long time friends since my university days in the 1970's is truly enjoyable and memorable!