Monday, January 28, 2013

Makan Trip to Kuala Selangor - 28 Jan 2013

The last day of a long weekend... and what better way than to head out to Kuala Selangor for our first makan trip of 2013, as announced by our convenor, James Sia - Janji Ditepati!

A group of 14 adults and 5 kids took to the road, and the first stop was the Tanjung Karang fisherman's wharf, recommended by Jay Ooi. 

Low tide at the river mouth
Where the good stuff comes in!
Jay 'feeling' the fish!
Jay giving Bobby some tips!
Busy 'fishing'!
What we came here for - FRESH FISH!
Lots of good fish to choose from!
Keeping an eye on their 'loot'










Who would have thought that we would spend more than an hour here and several Colemans filled with freshly caught seafood!

By 1pm, the stomachs were rumbling and the beer-thirsty men (I'll leave it to you to decide which one) finally decided to move on the the main agenda - lunch!

And so, the RSC convoy headed back towards Kuala Selangor for the much anticipated seafood makan-makan. 

Local joint for lunch!

A crowded restaurant is always a good sign!












Hmmm... who's the kid?

James 'Chinaman' Andrew tak kasi chance langsung!
Alex 'Pacemaker' Voon back in action!
Again, thanks to Jay Ooi, we were treated to a seafood lunch at a local joint (not the usual ones on stilts by the river bank, which targets local tourists).

All in all we had 10 dishes, lots of delicious spicy sambal (courtesy of Bobby Ho's home made recipe) and a sufficient number of cold Tiger beers!

Deep-fried pork!
Kungpow mantis Prawn
Fried 'flatfish'
Steamed Bawal
Sotong goreng
La la la la la la la la....
But, the shopping was not done. After lunch, a small 'breakaway' group descended upon another local shop for more local delights... this time, led by James Sia!

More fish!?

Still considering...











The goodies"


All kinds of Ikan bilis










Finally, at almost 4pm, we hit the road to head home... but, alas, we were caught in a traffic jam! After crawling along for almost 15 minutes, we finally found the source of the jam - It's called 'Cendol Bakar'!!

You would never imagine that a local cendol stall would need RELA officers to keep the traffic in order! Oh well, I guess someone has to check it out... and Charles Lim volunteered!
Cendol Bakar!

Drive thru cendol - first in Malaysia?

Cendol Pulut + Durian  RM 3.50 (Left) Cendol VVIP  RM 2.50 (Right) 
According to the Berita Harian write-up on this place - 'resepi kami menggunakan gula merah yang dibakar terlebih dahulu' - There you go!

Can you believe it? 
Next makan trip... hmmm... I hear the words 'Ijok Beggar Chicken' whispered in the wind...

Sunday, January 20, 2013

RSC Mini-Beach Hockey - 19 January 2013

Our annual makan kecil this year was re-engineered by our young Sports members and the ‘New Year Mini-Beach Hockey’ was held at RSC Kiara Sports Annexe on Saturday, 19 January 2013.

Well... there was no beach, not even the pool... but no one really cared, because the players (who turned up in their colourful attire) had good fun playing ‘hockey’ with our own unique set of rules and the weather was just perfect on this Saturday evening!

Team selection the traditional way - throw in your sticks!
The 'beach' hockey players!
The Hats
The Hatless
Rules of the game – Played with a takraw ball, no tackling, no running with the ball, only pushing allowed (no hitting!) and our ‘keeper’ plays the other end! A goal is scored when the ‘keeper’ catches the ball using a hat!

The new rules made the game interesting and demanded a lot of creativity from the players to adapt to the situation.  As usual, there were the ‘disputes’ with our volunteer umpires, especially the usual noisy players (you know who you are!), but everyone played with great sportsmanship and it ended up with a score of 7-5 (the winners were the ‘hatless team’).



Whilst the players went to shower and change into their tropical attire for the night, the organising team was busy setting up for the dinner event. Door gifts, prizes, trophies, PA system, food...  and most importantly, the beers!

The dinner started at 7.45pm, and was well attended by our section members. We had almost 70 pax, including wives and children, and also the privilege of having the President and the Sports chairman in attendance as well. We were extremely pleased to have had so many section members and their families turn up for this event and it was great to see several new faces too!

In fact, it turned out to be a gathering of Hockey Olympians of sorts, as we had Freddy Vias, Dato’ Yogeswaran, Dato’ Poon Fook Loke, S.Bala, Colin Sta Maria and Stephen Van Huizen at the event, amongst several other ex-national players. In fact, Dato’ Poon won the Whiskey Award for being the oldest player on the pitch! 




Ladies first, of course!
A collection of Olympians - Dato' poon Fook Loke, Freddy Vias, Stephen Van Huizen, dato' Yogeswaran, Colin Sta Maria, S.Bala 
It was a busy night for the RSC F&B staff. The drinks flowed freely and the crowd made quick work of the food, especially the satay!  After everyone had their stomachs filled, it was time for some activities, starting with the awards presentation.

The ‘awards’ presented by our Convenor, James Sia were as follows:
1.          The Top Dog Award (Best Player) – Maninderpreet a.k.a. Minnie
2.          The Whiskey Award (Oldest Player) – Dato’ Poon Fook Loke
3.          The Happy Meal Award (Youngest Player) – Sriraam Vikneswaran
4.          The Breezy Award (Best Dressed) – I.Vikneswaran
5.          The Coconut Award (Worst Dressed) – Jay Ooi


The kids were not forgotten and were ‘rewarded’ with prizes sponsored by James Andrew, through an ‘angpow’  lucky draw. Our resident entertainer, Vincent, also amused the kids with his balloon animals. He was a definite favourite with the kids!


The final and most interesting activity was our tropical boat race. It was a boat race with a twist! The selection of drinks include coke, orange juice and beer in an Oktoberfest mug, hence the mix of ‘boat racers’, which included the kids and spouses! All ‘boatracers’ were presented with a 2013 note book courtesy of James Sia.




A big thanks to the organising committee – Charles Lim, Vincent Mariadass, Aiman Hakim and Tang Chun How, for a job well done and looking forward to more of such events in the future.

Monday, January 14, 2013

RSC New Year Mini-Beach Hockey 2013


Come join us for the RSC New Year Mini-Beach Hockey 2013 on 19 January 2013 (Saturday) 5pm at Kiara Sports Annexe.

All RSC Hockey section members are invited. We hope to see all section members at this event!

Come in your most colourful beach wear for the mini-beach hockey, which will be played with a whole set of 'new' rules suitable for players of ALL ages! Don't forget to bring a change of clothes for our dinner as well.

You are most welcome to bring your spouse/partner and children to spice things up!

Please RSVP (including no. of pax attending) to charleslim72@gmail.com by 14 January 2013 (Monday), so that we may finalise the dinner arrangements.

See you folks there! 

Hockey Personalities... featuring FREDDY VIAS




“Who is Freddy Vias?” – That was my first question, when I was asked to write about him. Freddy Vias, Wilfred Vias or more affectionately known as Uncle Freddy is a hockey legend, I was told.

Meeting him for the first time on a rainy November evening, it was indeed a delight talking to Uncle Freddy as he shared stories of his days growing up by the railways along Jalan Travers, how he developed his passion for sports and his contributions in sports and the society as a whole.
Uncle Freddy is the eldest son amongst 3 siblings of the Vias family. He is renown for his talent in sports and was educated in St John’s Institution, Kuala Lumpur. Following in the footsteps of his late father, Uncle Freddy first picked up cricket at the Selangor Indian Association field at Kampung Attap, where he spent almost all his free time as a young boy. His sporting talent was quickly recognised by the railway men and he was soon indulging in many other sports such as hockey, football, tennis, badminton, golf - you name it, he played it! In fact, during the Japanese occupation, he even played baseball. “That’s the only sport they knew how to play!” said Uncle Freddy. 


Uncle Freddy was selected to play for the national hockey team in 1954 and was the captain of the Federation of Malaya team that played the first ‘international’ on the Padang in Singapore. He featured most prominently in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, and back in the days where sportsmen played for the love and pride of the country, the Malaysian hockey team had to raise their own funds! Uncle Freddy held the fort on the left-side of the Malaysian defence and terrorised the opponents with his powerful hits during short corners, up till his retirement from international hockey in 1961.
Spot the Vias in this 1947 St John’s Institution class photo!


Freddy Vias the Multi-Talented Sportsman!
In 1964 Uncle Freddy started his tertiary studies in Social Studies at University Malaya (Singapore campus), Dunearn Road on a government scholarship. Despite the many requests from his campus mates to pick up the hockey stick again, Uncle Freddy stuck to his books. At 36 years of age then, he was the oldest student in his class and very determined to prove that age was no barrier. Graduating 2 years later, he returned home to continue his work as a Probation Officer with the Ministry of Social Welfare.

A qualified hockey and cricket umpire, Uncle Freddy continued his contributions to the sporting fraternity in the many other administrative positions. He was the first Secretary General of the National Sports Council (NSC) and was also the first Sports Manager of our club! The Sultan Ahmad Shah (SAS) veterans team was also initiated by Uncle Freddy on the sidelines of the Royal Selangor Club when he mooted the idea to the then Yang Di-Pertuan Agung of Malaysia in 1980s and continued to manage and coach the team until the early 1990s.


With his years of experience in the Ministry of Social Welfare (and subsequently at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports), his education background and his passion to help people, Uncle Freddy was asked to start the counselling centre at the Church of St Francis Xavier in the 1980s. The centre has helped scores of parishioners and continues to operate today. Uncle Freddy is still passionate about the centre he started almost 25 years ago and continues to contribute his time and effort to people who need it most! 

Performing his duties with the Ministry
To his surprise, Uncle Freddy’s involvement in the Olympics was ‘revived’ in 2008 when he was asked to participate as one of the 80 selected torchbearers in the Malaysian leg of the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay through the streets of Kuala Lumpur. The relay, which started from Dataran Merdeka to its final destination at Suria KLCC, covered a distance of approximately 20 kilometres. What an honor it was for Uncle Freddy!

Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay - Light the Passion, Share the Dream
Dataran Merdeka, Royal Selangor Club, KL
When asked how he fills his time these days, he says he enjoys reading all sorts of literature and books, especially ‘gripping’ mystery or crime books and his daily newspaper. The benevolent Uncle Freddy donates all his old books to Convent Bukit Nanas so that others may share his passion for reading and knowledge.

After spending just over half an hour with Uncle Freddy, I must declare that this man is not just a hockey legend, but he is one fantastic human being. His warmth, sense of humor and caring nature was immediately apparent to me, and was confirmed when his wife of 48 years, Rita, whispered to me ‘Freddy is a fantastic husband and father’ as we walked out of the study room at his house in Petaling Jaya.

Catching up with old friends!
At 84 years old today, Uncle Freddy can still spring a surprise or two! He may be slow on his feet these days, but certainly not slow with his witty comments, especially after he has warmed up with his drink of choice!

A thoroughbred Johannian, one can only imagine what a charismatic and delightful character he must have been in his younger days!

Uncle Freddy, we must meet up again soon for some fellowship and drinks!