Rashes: A General Understanding

Initially, I do have an intention to make this post since a month ago. However, this post would has some interrelation to a friend's illness at that time. I am worrying to attach some 'exaggerating' pictures related to such disease, since it can be really gross for someone who has such illness to look at those images. In addition, this post may cause her not able to perform well in her exams. Anyway, she has recovered.


Caption: my hand with minor rashes

I encountered the same illness approximately two months ago, when I start to struggle with student's coursework. The significance of stress causes all these, not only to my hand, but all over my body (except my face). Rashes commonly from the head and slowly spreading downwards. It is itchy! horrible! distracting! I know it could be worse if i scratch my body at that time, so i apply different medicine to stop the itch. *touch wood* you will not believe how terric it is to have rashes ALL OVER your body unless you experience it *touch wood*


Caption: the most ghastly rash due to plantation oil

I have been reading medical articles online, and perhaps, looking for Dr. Rui for discussion again (we always discuss something related to health when we are free). He believe this is some kind of skin disease called the Eczema. I tried to understand this illness in more detail, so I went for some articles. I found that eczema is a kind of skin disease. Well, in fact, there are lots of different skin disease. But eczema is definitely one of the most common type. Seriously, we can not undersand eczema (can only predict) entirely since skin disease is originally complicated. Plus, I am not a medical doctor, so I will try to understand based on what I read, listened and discussion with a doctor. Eczema will not spread from one person to another, so if you see a person with rashes all over his body, do not worry, it should not trasmit to you.


Caption: eczema

Eczema may caused from different symptoms. I heard eczema will most commonly inherit from your parents / grandparents genetically. We called that as atopy. Atopy represents family tendency to a variety of allergic conditions (i.e. asthma, fever, eczema etc). If that is the reason for you to have eczema, then there will be no cure. Well, most medical doctors may also tell their patient the same thing, that is, the form of eczema may appear on a person's body without a proper reason. Yes, no reason to cause rashes to appear on your body!

Eczema is a form of redness, swelling, itching and dryness, crusting, flaking, blistering, cracking, oozing, or bleeding. This may be due to some popular reasons, such as dryness and recurring skin rashes. Of course, there are different reasons which causes eczema. According to Dr. Rui, (1) the detergent/soup that we have used, (2) infection from different bacteria (we called that as germs or epiphyte) from the allergic of food, (3) the changes in hormone levels (affecting women's monthly period) may trigger eczema. From my understanding (from reading and personal opinion), the (4) environmental effect (i.e. the changes of weather, such as from cold to very warm) is one of the factor. I have observed plenty of cases related to rashes, and the environmental effect should definitely be included. Secondly, the (5) rose of stress level in a person is an additional factor. Other relevant factors may include irritations such a pollen and dust (this a very minimal cause to me).


Caption: atopic eczema in the hand


Caption: xerotic eczema in the leg


Caption: seborrhoeic dermatitis in the head

Dr. Rui explained to me in a more detail manner, telling me that there are several types of eczema; atopic (family disease based on hay fever and asthma), contract (wet allergic), xerotic (dry skin), seborrhoeic dermatitis (related to dandruff). I did not asked him in detail to explain when he told me eczema normally ONLY take place on the arm and leg. It will rarely occur on a person's body entirely. This makes me a little confuse. The rashes appearing on mine and my friends body entirely, and not only the 2 segments of our body.

If so, eczema is not the case.


Caption: dermatitis

Therefore, Dr. Rui suggest a different possibility of skin infection, that is the dermatitis. Dermatitis is originally a general term for skin disease. In other words, Skin disease > Dermatitis > eczema. It looks like eczema is one of the cause of dermatitis. Confuse isn't it? Dermatitis is a wider range of skin disease than the eczema. Therefore, both eczema and dermatitis share different concept, whcih means they are similar but NOT the same. According to Dr. Rui, eczema will usually only affect our knee and the front of our elbow. It may 'sometimes' affect our chest, face and neck (but I think only at one section), but that possibility is just too minimal if that relates to our situation. This means, if a person's body is affected entirely, that must be an extremely serious problem. It could not be eczema in that case.

Both dermatitis and eczema (or other related skin disease) could not be cure since there is no cure originally for skin diseases. So doctor may only prescribe medicines to control the symptom from spreading to a wider range in your body or treating the patient to feel better, and thats about it. Dr. Rui suggest that the current medicines that we have in this world may only cure clarified diseases. This means that other minor diseases such as flu, coughing etc., or perhaps more harmful diseases such as AIDS, cancer (tumor) etc. may only be treated and / or control since up-to-date, these diseases could not be cured entirely. This is also a reason for many ongoing researches trying to explore cure for many diseases in the medical field.

We may reduce the irritation of eczema with different medication approach.

Mild steroid cream and emollients suppose to be effective IF YOU get advice from the doctor and / or pharmacist before using them. I heard those two may produce some serious side effect (i.e. your skin may become thin and fragile, or worstly, when your body significantly absorb the steroid, it may lead to a different type of skin infection - that would be worst), so be extremely precautios and seek for a doctor before using them. If those two will not help at all to reduce the rashes on your body, then try going for a strong steroid creams that your doctor can prescribe (again, make sure you get advice from doctor before using it).


Caption: some antibiotics to reduce the impact of rashes

Using antibiotics is an alternative to steroids, and may seem to be safer to use (I have been using them to reduce the itch and irritation of skin when i have rashes all over my body). First aid antibiotic ointment such as flucloxacillin or erythromycin, or the one that I have been using (combination of Neosporin - antibiotic, and Mobiko - to reduce the itch) seem to be extremely effective for me. However, you may only get "Neosporin" in the US and not other countries whilst the Mobiko only from "Malaysia"? I am not 100% sure though. Some anti-itch drug cream may also help to reduce itch (i.e antihistamine).


Caption: chinese medicines

Chinese medicines may also help. But sometimes, the measurement of chinese herbs exceeds the amount that your body may accumulate will produce side effects to a person's liver or possibly damaging it. This has been reported in some medical articles. If the rashes are due to environmental effects, then you should try avoiding dry skin. To do so, try using some moisturizing cream since it is one of the most effective self-healing treatment to prevent dried skin.

If you are too stressful, make sure you relax, drink plenty of plain and warm water, and try consuming more vitamin B suppliments (B complex consist a spectrum of vitamin B that a person's body may require, such as B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, B12, and additional such as B13 - B22 , Bh, Bm, Bp - each produces different function) if you dont usually consume foods that contain all the vitamin B. I heard vitamin B complex will improve a person's nervous system. If so, vitamin B complex should be quite effective in the reduction of stress. Sometimes, the sleep deprivation effect may also cause the increase of a person stress level (I will write a post related to stress and ways to optimise stress in the next few posts). I will also suggest to consume some 'warm' milk before sleeping. I have tried it myself and it sometime helps!


Caption: the outcome from scratching eczema / dermatitis

One major reason of consuming those suppliments, and perhaps going through mediciation processes (i.e. as mentioned in the above, or going to meet the doctor in a hospital, in the dermatology department) may ONLY help to reduce the itchness of the skin disease. Remember to not scatch itch red patches (rashes) if it is visible at anywhere on your body, else it may worsen the condition since rashes will normally expand its range when a person start scratching it.

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Solar Maximus Festival

Few different names were given to such festival, such as the Rice Dumpling festival and Duan Wu Jie (in chinese). This festival is normally celebrated on every 5th day of the 5th lunar month of the chinese calendar, producing a chinese proverb which goes something like 'double fifth'. This year in 2009, the “Fifth of the Fifth” falls on May 28. Traditionally, the festival is a widely celebrated festival amongst the Chinese. Intentionally, they wanted to pay a respect to the famous chinese patriot and poet, namely Qu Yuan (pinyin: 屈原).

Caption: a sculpture of Qu Yuan

This is what I heard. The chinese would usually do two things on that day, that is (1) eating rice dumplings (chinese called that as zongzi) and (2)participating in dragon boat races. You may ask, why do chinese eat dumplings then? An extremely short history of this festival is that traditional chinese people would eat the rice dumplings on the dragon boat competition. The two activities were correlated to the day of death of Qu Yuan on the fifth of fifth.


Caption: rice dumpling with bamboo leaves (i)


Caption: rice dumpling with bamboo leaves (ii)

To celebrate this festival, my aunt has made some of the rice dumplings for us. It tastes brilliant. Okay, what is a rice dumpling? In summary, it is made of glutinous rice and stuffed with some fillings (such as chinese black mushroom, salted duck egg, drief shrimp, chestnuts, scallops, chinese barbeque pork etc.), and finally wrapped with bamboo leaves. I heard washing the bamboo leaves is extremely difficult, since the leaf emerge blades that may cut your finger? This is all i know :)


Caption: traditional rice dumpling with red bean filling


Caption: rice dumpling with pork

Anyway, Happy Rice Dumpling Festival to you!

Guess game

Guess what ?

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public $__table = 'foreign_service'; // table name
public $id; // int(4) primary_key not_null
public $name; // varchar(32) unique_key not_null
public $description; // varchar(255)
public $created; // datetime() not_null
public $modified; // timestamp() not_null default_CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

/* Static get */
function staticGet($k,$v=null)
{ return Memcached_DataObject::staticGet('Foreign_service',$k,$v); }

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Independent Project: Singing Performance

One of my music friend, Ka Ka who has chosen singing as a part of her performance in one of her final project. She sang a variance of songs (English, Spanish, German etc.) and really amused me with her voice. I seriously do not believe she has such a great voice (very different from the way she speak to me in real life). When I first listen to her singing, i was not only impressed by her voice, instead, her willingness of expressing her talent infront of many audiences (and two of her instructors). You have performed really well!


Caption: a picture of Ka Ka in the recital room at Trentpark, UK

Well, if people who do enjoy listening to opera music, such as those work performed by Pavarotti (a very popular italian operatic tenor), then they will like Ka Ka's singing very much. Opera is quite different than normal singing since it is not really a type of singing, instead, a type of art with which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work that combines both musical notes and text. The text is also known as Libretto. Glad she allowed me to paste her copyright on this blog for the purpose of sharing it with my friends. Thank you!

She performed in 4 different music. The first music is in chinese, followed by three other music (in the second video) in different languages. Please enjoy!

Music one



Music two

Reminder: What Can I Bring to the UK?

Nothing! We seriously can't bring anything to UK anymore.

It is getting near to June again. This means everyone is getting ready to purchase every possible stuffs (i.e. foods) to be brought to the UK. Therefore, I think this post is fairly important as a reminder for people who plan to pay a visit to the UK especially for people who plan to (1) visit for the purpose of their son / daughter's convocation, or (2) for holiday purpose. I will leave this post on for few days so people who plan to travel to the UK may read. On the other hand, anyone who has not exchange their currency (GBP), please do so before it is too late. I am expecting the currency rate to increase up till GBP 1.00 = RM 6.00 in July.


Caption: black and medium-sized hairpin


Caption: safety pin (medium-sized)

You may feel a little surprise of why are those two materials (black hairpin and safety pin) posted in this post. In fact, this is a reminder for people who plan to visit their son/daughter/friends who are graduating. Due to the differences in size for the graduation hood (which I have observed different graduates having the same problem every year by year), I strongly recommend you to bring some black hairpin (for the hood) and safety pin along (for the gown). The hairpin need to be black in colour, to match the colour of the hood. They can be handy during the graduation ceremony :D

Please also make sure to keep them in your big lugguage (NOT in hand luggage). The reason for not keeping in your hand luggage is that sharp objects are strictly prohibited.


Caption: Home office in UK

The home office in the UK (website address: HERE) has been very strict on foods to be brought into the UK since December 2008. They strongly believe that certain foods may carry different disease which could devastate their environment and agricultural. Therefore, please ensure to NOT bring any prohibitted foods into the UK. The home office in the UK strongly stress on their slogan: "Do not break the law, check the rules before you travel".


Caption: foods the home office stresses at

I am making this post relatively simple to understand by splitting information into different paragraphs.

According to the home office in the UK, any people travelling from / within the European countries may bring any foods into the UK, as long as the food is free from disease (you need some proof for that I assume). This rules apply to sending / receiving your items through postal. However, if you are travelling OUTSIDE the European countries, then DO NOT bring any prohibited foods stating in the below. The reason is that the immigration officers in the UK will take these away and destroy them and no further action will be taken. If you are bringing more than you are allowed, they will seize the whole amount. They included: "Bringing in goods that are banned is illegal, and there are heavy penalties for smuggling. If you fail to declare any items that are not permitted, you could face severe delays, and prosecution".

European countries include: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus*, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland (Republic of), Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal (including Madeira), Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK. The home office accept these countries as a part of the EU (Andorra, Canary Islands, The Channel Islands, The Isle of Man, Liechtenstein, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland). Although Gibraltar is part of the EU, it is outside the Community customs territory so is therefore treated as a NON-EU country. The home office in UK include this statement: "Though the whole of Cyprus is part of the EU, goods from any
area of Cyprus not under the effective control of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus are treated as non–European imports".

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Meat products: any fresh, cooked or dried meat such as beef, lamb, pork or chicken and such products as patties, curries, ham, biltong, pot noodles which contain meat, meatballs, meat pickles, cured or cooked sausage, pate and meat paste. Live snails, dead snails still in their shells and water snails are also
not permitted.

Dairy products: fresh, dried or concentrated milk, cream, butter, ghee, mithai, cheese and products containing fresh cream. Maggie mee and 3 in 1 drinks (i.e. milo, nescafe, ovaltene etc.) are strongly RESTRICTED.

Fish Products: fresh, dried, cooked, cured and smoked fish and fish products, such as canned tuna, fish sauces, prawns, shrimps, squid, lobster, crab and crayfish.

Bivalve products: oysters (including oyster sauce) mussels, clams, cockles, scallops, whelks and winkles.

Egg products: omelette, mayonnaise and dried eggs.

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Caption: No prohibition of foods to people who travel from the European countries

1. Travelling from the European countries
1. There are no restrictions on meat and dairy products.

2. There are no restriction on animal products (i.e. fish, bivalves such as oyster, mussels and clams), honey and egg.

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2. Travelling from other countries (besides European countries)
1. If you are travelling from other countries than Croatia, the Faroe Islands, Greenland or Iceland (you are allowed a combined weight of up to 10kg per person), then you should NOT bring any meat and dairy products into the UK.

a. If you travel from Croatia, the Faroe Islands, Greenland or Iceland
1. You are allowed up to 10kg combined weight per person.

2. You are allowed up to 20kg combined weight per person of fish and fish products (including dead bivalves) or the weight of one fish whichever weight is highest (except caviar of sturgeon species where you are only allowed 125gms per person).
Fish can be dried, cooked, cured, smoked or fresh but fresh fish is only allowed if it is gutted.

3. If you are travelling from the Faroe Islands or Iceland, there is no weight restriction per person.

4. You are allowed up to 10kg combined weight per person of other animal products.

5. you are allowed up to 10kg combined weight per person of special foods of powdered infant milk, infant food, pet foods and special foods required for medical reasons provided that:
a. The product does not require refrigeration before consumption.
b. It is a product in commercially branded packaging.
c. The packaging is unbroken unless in current use.

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Caption: restricted foods to be brought into the UK (other countries)

b. If you travel from other countries (i.e. Malaysia, China etc.)
1. You are not allowed to bring in any meat or dairy products to the UK.

2. You may bring in a limited quantity of other animal products, such as fish, bivalves, honey and eggs.

3. You are allowed up to 2kg combined weight per person of other animal products (ie other than meat, dairy and fish products) such as honey, eggs and egg products, snail meat and live bivalves.

4. You are allowed up to 2kg combined weight per person of powdered infant milk, infant food, and special foods required for medical reasons provided that:
a. The product does not require refrigeration before consumption.
b. It is a product in commercially branded packaging.
c. The packaging is unbroken unless in current use.

5. You are also allowed up to 2kg of pet food made from animal products required for medical reasons subject to the same conditions above.

6. You are restricted on bringing fruits, vegetables, seeds and bulbs into the UK. Some plants, soil and other plant products (including potatoes) may not be brought to the UK unless you have obtained the relevant official certificate or licence.

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There are other items, such as alcohol, tobacco and perfume which are restricted if you are travelling from certain countries, and some items, such as unlicensed drugs and weapons, which are banned completely.