Slower than claimed

It has come a full circle. The documents that I had sent earlier by FedEx to a friend in Budapest to have them signed are now returned to me. I received the package yesterday from DHL Express, a mere four days after it was handed over to their office in the Hungarian capital. 

Has DHL Express been any faster or slower than FedEx? From the tracking of the two packages, the two courier companies were equally efficient. Four days from one corner of the world to another. 

But of course, they took different routes. My package to Hungary went the way of Guangzhou in China and then Paris in France. My friend's package from Hungary went through Leipzig in Germany and then Singapore.

The only delay as I could see was at the Penang end. Initially from the DHL Express tracking website, the package was estimated to reach me a day earlier. When I first looked at it, the thought coming to me was that it would be impossible. Three days for the package to travel from Budapest to Bukit Mertajam? Impossible.

Yet, I was hoping that it would still happen. Not that I wanted DHL Express to trump FedEx in the efficiency race. Nope. I only wanted to see whether they could deliver according to their estimate.

At the end, no. The package arrived at their distribution point in Penang at about 11.45am of the third day but it stayed there overnight. I received it at about 1pm the next day. DHL Express could have impressed me if they had delivered on time and not the fourth day.

But never mind, I did receive back the documents after all. They are now in my safe hands and awaiting my further actions.

Penang, Kedah and Siam

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/10/29/siam-not-kedah-lost-penang-to-the-british-says-expert/

Siam, not Kedah, lost Penang to the British, says expert
Predeep Nambiar 
October 29, 2021 11:51 AM

A display at the National Museum in Bangkok recognising Koh Mak, or Penang Island, as the first Siamese territory lost to foreign powers, marked with the symbol ‘1’. (Clement Liang pic)

GEORGE TOWN: As a debate over an annual honorarium rages, a heritage expert has given a brief outline of Penang’s history since Kedah leased it to the British in 1786.

Clement Liang, a council member of Penang Heritage Trust, said Kedah had no territorial right over the island when it agreed to the lease because it was Thailand, then known as Siam, that had sovereignty over it.

Kedah leased it without the Siamese king’s knowledge, he said.

Thai history textbooks and the national museum in Bangkok show that Penang island, or Koh Mak, was the first territory that Siam lost to a western power.

Liang said Saiburi, as Kedah was known then, was in subsequent years raided frequently by the Siamese force for its disobedience. In 1821, a war known as Perang Bisik saw Kuala Kedah destroyed and thousands of Kedahans escaping to Province Wellesley for safety and resettlement.

In 1826, King Rama III and British officials signed the Burney Treaty to establish Siam’s independence from European powers.

The treaty recognised Kedah, Perlis, Terengganu and Pattani as Siamese provinces and Penang and Province Wellesley as British territories.

A boundary stone separating Saiburi (Kedah) and Province Wellesley (Seberang Perai) on the northeastern border of Seberang Perai. (Clement Liang pic)

“The Burney Treaty effectively nullified the leasehold status of Penang as agreed earlier between the sultan of Kedah and the East India Company,” Liang said.

“Boundary stones marked Siamese and British territories, some of which are still in existence in Seberang Perai today.”

He said it was only in 1909 that the Siamese kingdom returned Kedah and three other northern Malay states to the British. However, Kedah was given back to the Siamese in 1943 during the Japanese occupation.

He said Penang had long been under British control and the question of its being Kedah’s territory was moot.

“Kedah suffered years of non-recognition and dubious sovereign status, worsened by power struggles in the royal court.

“So, the question of Kedah having the right to claim Penang or even collect the annual leasing fees is no longer valid,” he said.

Lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla told FMT Kedah lost its right to reclaim Penang when it signed the Federation of Malaya agreement in 1948 along with other Malay states.

He said the Kedah ruler signed another Malayan federation agreement in 1957 but did not make any territorial claim over Penang.

“With no specific clauses in the agreements of 1948 and 1957 on Kedah’s claim over Penang, Kedah effectively relinquished its claim on its former territories,” he said.

“The Kedah ruler did not make any claim on Penang and Province Wellesley (now Seberang Perai) in both these agreements.

“Furthermore, the Federal Constitution recognises the state of Penang as having rights equal to any other state in the country.

“Hence, any claim to reclaim it or seek payments for a so-called lease is weak.”

Japan, Day 6: Dotonbori

Exactly four years ago to the very day, my family and I were in Dotonbori, that touristy part of Osaka in Japan which featured the Glico running man advertisement that I had written on previously. How we had ended up in Dotonbori is a story by itself.

When I booked our holiday tickets to Japan in 2017, we did not realise that the Malaysian Budget would be presented in Parliament on the 27th of October. It was my wife's job to monitor the Budget proceedings for her boss, now her ex-boss. That was her job to get into the finer details because, let's face it, bosses are generally useless. They greatly depend on others to gather information for them. What they spew in public as "their opinion" is nothing more than the parroted opinion of other people working around them. At least, that's what happened in her workplace from 2014 till 2020.

Faced with this dilemma, I had to plan a way out for my wife. Since we were going to be in Osaka, we decided to go into one of their tourist centres, plant ourselves in a place with a good wifi connection and she could then work for a few hours while the rest of us were free to explore the area. That was how we ended up in Dotonbori, within walking distance from the Kuromon market.

My first impression of the place was that it was full of entertainment and food outlets. Karaoke joints and sake bars. All sorts of popular food were available. Ramen. Snow crabs. Fugu. Sushi. Yakitori. Gyoza. Eateries along both sides of the canal too. Then there was Starbucks outlet in the Tsutaya store, which we eventually gravitated to. We chose the second or third levels for some privacy but later, decided to go downstairs when the floor closed at five o'clock. But generally, we were still at Tsutaya.

Kinryu Ramen honten outlet with crap seating arrangements for non-Japanese customers who are forced to sit sideways in order to eat properly. 

Crappy attitude too, trying to prevent me from taking a picture of their open kitchen which was open for all to see

Snow crab restaurant

Fugu fish for those willing to skirt with danger, but I guess since this has been on the Japanese menu for centuries, it should be safe enough to eat

But sushi should be a safe bet for everybody 

Souvenirs, anyone?

Gyoza joint

Tsutaya book store with a Starbuck outlet on the ground floor

But books in Japanese, generally

Some entertainment along the Dotonburi canal

Human traffic in the Shinsaibashi shopping mall

A different crowd of tourists when the lights were turned on. The Shinsaibashi shopping mall was in the far distance and the Ebisu bridge just ahead of me

We were caught on a CCTV camera and our image appeared on a huge LED screen on one of the buildings 

A very French way

Meet the woman who killed the President of France with a blowjob. Marguerite Steinheil was a socialite who was famous for her many affairs with very prominent Frenchmen. At the turn of the 20th Century, she became embroiled in international political scandals and once attempted to frame her manservant for the brutal murders of her husband and mother, a crime for which she was heavily implicated but never convicted.

However, it was her relationship with Félix Faure, seventh President of France, that caused her infamy. Steinheil was introduced to Faure at a social event and quickly became his mistress, often visiting his office at the Élysée Palace and disappearing with him into his private chambers. 

One day, Steinheil rung urgently for the servants who entered to find Steinheil adjusting her clothing and Faure having a seizure on the sofa. Within a few hours he was dead. The story that emerged was that Steinheil had been performing oral sex on Faure when he suffered a fatal stroke. Undeniably a pretty awesome and quintessentially French way to go. The President's legacy lived on through a ship named after him, which ironically went down a few years later. Read the hilarious comments to the Quora story here.

Meanwhile, for anyone who loves a good historical crime drama, Paris Police 1900 is a limited-episode television series with an intriguing and often terrifying storyline. The first episode began in 1899 with Faure's death from heart failure while receiving a sexual favour from his mistress, Steinheil. And the story continues from there. I can't wait for it to be available here.

The Hutchings commemorative service 2021

Speech Day 2021

This was a School Speech Day with a vast difference! On 21 October 2021, Penang Free School kept traditions alive by holding its annual Speech Day albeit in a different way. There were no physical gatherings in the Pinhorn Hall, no guard of honour for a visiting dignitary, no chairs for the parents and visitors, no gamelan orchestra to welcome guests into the hall, and no School Band to play the National and State anthems or even the School Rally.

Address by Mohd Mahyidin of the Penang Free School Foundation

Instead, the venue was switched to the Penang Digital Library with only a handful of guests in attendance. I was lucky to be one of them. The Penang Digital Library was chosen as the venue because they had all the ready facilities for a virtual telecast of the event. 

Andrew Lim addressing the Speech Day on behalf of the Old Boys

The two presenters were seated in separate areas of the library's top floor; each of them in front of a green screen which enabled various backgrounds to be shown for viewers tuning in on YouTube. Yes, that was correct too. In an unprecedented move, instead of guests in the school hall, people were invited to sign in electronically and witness the proceedings from their computers or mobile phones. Those of us who were already at the digital library were ushered into small break-out rooms where we could view Speech Day on YouTube while practicing social distancing at the same time.

Top was what viewers saw on YouTube while bottom was what viewers don't see

The annual speeches by the School Captain, Harish Jeyarishi, and the Headmaster, Shamsul Fairuz Mohd Nor, were telecast live from the digital library. As for the President of the PFS Foundation, Mohd Mahyidin Mustakim, and the Guest of Honour, Andrew Lim Tatt Keong, their speeches had been pre-recorded earlier. 

Like last year when the pandemic first hit our shores, prize-giving was reduced to a minimum. Only some essential prizes were given out. But I heard that this was also because the school had been closed for much of the year and there were no mid-term examinations. Without the examinations, it was not possible to have prize-winners and prize-giving like before.

This online version of the Speech Day at Penang Free School ended within an hour and we emerged from the rooms still thankful that this tradition of the School, together with the morning's commemorative service at the tomb of Robert Sparke Hutchings, was intact although in a different format. It would have been a shame if the pandemic had forced them to be cancelled.

Remembering Robert Sparke Hutchings 2021

It had been a damp and most surreal morning. Amidst a pandemic that just won't go away, a group of about 20 people kept tradition alive by attending an almost normal Hutchings commemorative service at the old Protestant cemetery in Northam Road this morning. Of course, everyone were masks on and everyone kept their distances from one another. For once, there were no handshakes, no fist bumps and even no elbow bumps. But all the same, we acknowledged each other with nods of our heads and the pleasant conversations after that. Just like old friends would after long periods of not meeting face-to-face.

Seven o'clock was still dark as we all trooped along the gravel path in the cemetery before veering off right onto the grass to pick our way across the tree roots and broken/abandoned graves of forgotten, unnamed and unknown people, and arriving at a very familiar point: the grave of Robert Sparke Hutchings.

It is amazing that his grave still gets a visitation every year when his rested neighbours have all been largely ignored. Even the grave of Francis Light in the same cemetery, despite his eminence in Penang's history, is forgotten by society today. But then, Hutchings is not any ordinary resident of this historical cemetery. As the founder of Penang Free School and the person who lent his name to Hutchings Primary School and Hutchings Secondary School, he is well remembered by the schools every year on the 21st of October. But mainly Penang Main School.

Soon after we arrived at Hutchings' grave, Revd Ho Kong Eng conducted the first half of the service before handing control over to the new Archdeacon of St George's Church, Revd Dr Stephen Soe. It was all over within 17 minutes, including all the readings, observance of a moment's silence, laying of wreaths by the representatives of Penang Free School, Hutchings Secondary School and St George's Church, and finally, the singing of the anthems of both schools. Thereafter, the posing for photographs to end the morning's service. 

Clifford Stoll

It was 1990 or 1991. I was still in charge of the ATM Centre at Ban Hin Lee Bank. Already at that time, computer security was an issue that commercial banks in Malaysia had to contend with. Although branches were connecting to their Head Office through their own private telecommunication network, there were still possibilities of security breaches. Someone at the Information Technology Division recommended that I read a certain book, IF I could find it.

It so happen that I did find this book a few months later at the British Council library. I borrowed it and for the next few days, I couldn't put it down. It was that interesting. The book was by Clifford Stoll, an astronomer turned computer sleuth. His book was The Cuckoo's Egg, which described his adventure in ultimately tracking down someone who had hacked into the central computer system at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

It all started with an anomaly of 75 cents of computer time in 1986. The nascent days of the Internet. That someone who hacked into the Berkeley Lab computer had used up nine brief seconds of computer time without paying. Nine seconds, equivalent to 75 American cents. Stoll was assigned to find out what happened. One thing leading to another, he discovered that the person had found his way into military systems across the United States. 

Tracing backwards, the greater surprise was that the hacker was dialing into the German telephone network from a computer in Germany and then connected via satellite to Berkeley Lab. Nowadays, I would be very much surprised to learn that this hacker was simply using a 1,200-baud modem to break into the US military systems but that was technology in those days and that was the type of modem used. None of the speedy 100Mbps or 300MBps broadband lines we typically have today. 

Finally, a trap was set for this hacker named Marcus Hess, and he was eventually caught and tried by the German authorities for selling military secrets to the KGB in the old Soviet Union. Today, Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg remains the go-to bible for computer security experts. Many of his early methods of detecting unauthorised intrusions in computer systems are still in use, although they have been upgraded and improved over the decades.

I've no idea when exactly I acquired my own copy of this book but it was not too many years after my initial reading. It only showed how impressed I was with the tale. I was very happy to rediscover the book in one of my cupboards recently. I'm rereading it. Still can't put it down often enough. After all, good computer espionage stuff is hard to find.

PFS 100 years ago

With Speech Day fast approaching at Penang Free School this Thursday, perhaps it is timely to say that the occasion has not always been observed on the 21st of October. Even as recently as 2017, the school's Speech Day was held on the third of October, for reasons that escape me now. And exactly a hundred years ago when Ralph Henry Pinhorn was the headmaster, Speech Day had been held on 9 September 1921. 

Here is an extract from the Singapore Free Press newspaper one day later. The report on the Speech Day appeared right at the end of the newspaper extract. It did not mention the Resident Councillor by name but that should be Gilbert Amos Hall who was appointed as Resident Councillor of Penang twice from 20 October 1919 to 27 February 1920 and again from 31 January 1921 till sometime in 1922. 

The other picture showed a card signed by Pinhorn to accompany a book prize. Standard VIII is the equivalent of today's Form Four. The picture comes courtesy of Sean McCusker from the private Nostalgic Peninsular Malaysia facebook group.

 

K Siva Segara

Learnt recently from my schoolmates that we have lost yet another teacher. Siva Segara joined Penang Free School's teaching staff in 1964 and was our Form Teacher in 1968. From a career in teaching, he went on to a profession in Law and eventually opened his own legal firm in Kuala Lumpur. He had been a lawyer since 24 October 1973, and he had left Penang Free School soon after teaching us. Question: Did our antics in class finally convinced him that the way forward was to change his career? Or was it the realisation of a long-burning ambition for him?

Anyway two nights ago, I was asked to contribute to a small memorial booklet which his daughter was preparing. After thinking for a while, I decided to write this tribute: "When my friends and I were at Penang Free School in 1968, Mr Siva Segera was our Form Teacher. His subject was Mathematics. But in a sub-conscious way, he taught us perseverance as well. There's this memory of him that he could draw incredibly huge, round circles on the blackboard. Starting from a point at the bottom of the board, a smooth circular motion of his arm was all it took him to complete the circle and end up near the start point. Of course, it was not always a success but he persevered and would try again when the next Maths question demanded a circle. So rest well in peace, my old teacher, your former pupils remember you." 

PG Wodehouse, Tom Sharpe and John Mortimer

When I was younger and needed a big guffaw or a small chortle in my life, I turned to books. Not any ordinary book, mind you, but books by British writers. As far as I was concerned, only they - the British writers - could have such a flair with words. Words to make me laugh my head off when I was alone with myself. Words to make me smile politely when I was surrounded by people. 

I discovered PG Wodehouse in the 1980s when I was a constant lunch-hour visitor to the British Council in Green Hall, George Town. To my amazement, their library was filled with all types of books and magazines that agreed with me. I could spend hours reading here, except that I had to rush back to the office when the lunch hour was over.

(By comparison, the United States Information Services Library or USIS Library was like a damp squib. In the 1960s and 1970s, I was aware that there was a USIS Library in Penang, located at the India House in Beach Street. But though it was an informative place, I never quite enjoyed visiting it. Eventually, the USIS Library in Penang closed in the 1970s, I think.)

Apart from Wodehouse, I soon got to know other British writers like Tom Sharpe and John Mortimer. From that time onwards, crossing the Penang Ferry was no longer a boring process. From the moment I plonked down on the benches to await the ferry's arrival at the terminal or while the ferries were plying the Channel, a book would appear on my lap and I could spend maybe 30 minutes with the books. Oh, if only I could have laughed out loud but I had to stifle myself so many times.

Over time, I built up a small, modest collection at home. Only 16 books in all. Titles by Wodehouse, Sharpe and Mortimer. Three days ago, I decided to donate these books to The Old Frees' Association. They shall be for their Library which I hope is now the richer by these books as well as my nine other books by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn. Like I told the staff at the OFA, these were not worthless books that I was attempting to discard but rather, my precious books which I'd like to share with more appreciative readers.

Capricornus

Last night's sky at 10.40pm. Jupiter, Saturn and the crescent moon were all roughly aligned on the same straight ecliptic line. When I enhanced the image digitally, I was surprised that I could make out the faint stars which I would not be able to see with my naked eyes. My little camera could, even though the lens was only an ordinary standard zoom lens. It was the constellation of Capricornus. As the major stars are not that clear on this blog, I've drawn lines to connect them together. Tonight, the moon will be even closer to Saturn and when tomorrow night comes, it will be close to Jupiter. By then, it will be almost impossible to make out the Capricornus stars as the brighter moon will over-shine them!

The same picture without the lines! Can the faint starts be seen without guidance?

Living in Seang Tek Road

Seang Tek Road and the surrounds were my playground for the first 26 years of my life. After almost 40 years later, why does it still feel like only yesterday that my family moved away from this part of George Town? I was born in this neighbourhood, at a nearby maternity home in Hundred Years Lane (this is quite an absurd translation of the road's actual name, Lorong Seratus Tahun, into the English language and besides which, I can't recognise the building now even if it still stands), and this neighbourhood was my haunt well into my adult life. Even when I studied in Petaling Jaya, I would head back to the familiar comforts of my home in Seang Tek Road at the slightest opportunity, be it a long holiday or only a short stay.

My attachment is still there. It is so obvious to see that I have an affinity for this corner townhouse at Number 10, Seang Tek Road which I grew up in. It still stands today, although it is a far cry from the warmth and homeliness of its distant past. The owners have renovated it and the tenants have turned it to commercial use. Only last month, I returned to this road just to look at the building again....

Last week, I decided to recreate the interior of my old home on paper. Drawing the plan to the best of my memories of the house, this is the best I can do, however. I tried drawing to scale but unfortunately, the dimensions are an approximation only. However, I am confident that I haven't deviated much from reality.

The townhouse, like all pre-war buildings was long and narrow. The internal width of the house was a mere 12 to 13 feet. But it stretched way back, possibly some 70 feet. Like many typical pre-war Straits townhouses on the island, it would feature a five-foot way, a main hall, a staircase, a sitting room, a dining area, an air well, a kitchen, a bathroom, a rear courtyard and a toilet located right at the very end.

Upstairs, the main bedroom would look over into the street below and there would be a small spy hole in the floor to look at anyone calling at the house, if we were all upstairs. There was also a second bedroom and then a terrace at the back. No bathroom though, so all ablutions will have to be performed downstairs.

Let me put the numbers and alphabets into the proper perspective.

On the ground floor, A was the five-foot way paved with terracotta tiles. A complete misnomer in this case, because the five-foot way measured 7½ feet from the granite edge to the front wall. In fact, almost the whole house was laid with these tiles. B was the main hall, C was the sitting room, D was the open dining area, E was the kitchen, F1 was the granite-paved floor of for the air well which was set about eight inches lower than the floor of the dining area. A shallow drain ran along the edge of the dining area and kitchen, took a left turn to go around the perimeter of the rear courtyard and the water emptied itself into the large drain outside the house. F2 was the walled and cemented rear courtyard.

Going on to the numbers, there were two main windows (1a) at the front of the house. It was very normal for the windows to sport vertical metal bars for security. The two halves of each window opened inwards. Above the windows were air vents. The main wooden door (2a) featured some vertical slits and simple carvings, and it was secured by a latch lock. During the day time, the latch lock would not be engaged and all that prevented the door from opening out was a simple cabin hook. Behind this main door was a massive wooden door (3) which swung inwards and would be left open from mornings till night-time. When the two halves of the door were closed, they were secured by a pair of thick wooden latches. 

we placed a rectangular table (4a) arranged squarely in the middle of the main hall, surrounded by a chair on each side. A small table (5) on the right wall held a Pye radiogram. I could spend hours listening to the radio, especially to the RAAF radio station broadcasting on 1445kHz from Butterworth. The space between it and the window was for parking a bicycle. Along the other wall, my father would park his Honda C50 motorcycle. Later when I owned my own Honda CB100 motorcycle, I would park it beside the bicycle.

The family worshipped Kuan Imm and a painted picture of the deity was placed at the main altar, a cupboard (6) which faced outwards towards the main door. A wooden cabinet (7) filled with a grand-uncle's books and magazines sat right next to it and on it was placed the memorial tablet of my maternal great-grandparents. Also having pride of place on the right and left walls of the main hall were huge portraits of the great-grandparents and other senior relatives. 

Separating the main hall from the interior of the building was a wooden latticed partition (8) which rose from the floor to the ceiling, broken only by two open entrances. On the other side of the partition was a corridor that led to a storeroom beneath the staircase (9). The staircase came with simple balusters supporting the handrails. All were carved from wood and very darkly shellacked. It had a landing zone halfway up and at this point, the direction of the staircase turned 360^o before continuing to the top floor. From the upper half of the staircase, it was possible to peer through the lattice work of the partition and look down into the main hall. In the sitting room was a long table or t'ng toke with detachable rounded ends (10) which served as my grandmother's bed at night. The two hemispherical halves could be combined together to make a round table. All that remains today in my possession is the middle portion. The two other pieces were claimed by one of my grandmother's siblings when the house was taken back by the landlord. There was also a small cupboard (11) for my books, a sideboard (12) and a single bed (13) for my grandfather. A window (1b) beside this bed opened out into the air well yard.

From the sitting room, a door (2b) opened out to the dining area. Against the wall was a small table (14) that held a small wooden cabinet that my grandmother had nailed together herself and which I'm still using today, a dining table (4b) for six people and the first of two food cabinet or chai too (11b). Beyond the dining area was the airy kitchen with a traditional Chinese stove (15)  right smack in the middle. The other chai too was located here too. A cemented brick water-through (16) and bathroom (17) faced the kitchen. I remember that we reared small fishes in the water-through to get rid of unwanted mosquito larvae. The unnumbered criss-cross pattern next to the bathroom was a wiremesh netting stretched out to become the drying area for washed crockery.

The walled courtyard at the back of the house had multiple uses. First, this was the area to dry our washed clothes. Second, we had three chicken coops (18) lining one side of the wall. At first, there were a few chicken but when I was older, I don't remember my family rearing anymore and the coops were largely left empty. Third, maybe they were used for keeping the unused flower pots because outside the coops, the area was used to grow all sorts of potted plants. Lots of them, actually. The squat toilet (19) was in the corner at the far end of the house and could only be accessed by a flight of three steps. It was a lucky thing that this house no longer used the bucket system and there was an efficient flush system in use. There was a small charcoal hut (20) at the other corner. A metal door (2c) opened out into a wide back lane which led to Perlis Road. 

By comparison, the top floor was very spartan. It was basically the sleeping quarters for the family: G was the main bedroom at the front of the house, while H was the second bedroom. The floorboard was of timber planks laid out lengthwise and resting on huge timber beams that ran across the house. The rooms were partitioned off with wooden planks to a height of seven or eight feet and above were latticed vents for air flow.

The three windows (23) of the main bedroom were equipped with wooden louvred shutters and they opened out into Seang Tek Road. Looking out directly from them, I could see the hills of Paya Terubong.  The interior was spacious. Even with the double bed, mirrored side table, cupboard, a standing clothes hanger and my baby cot moved in, there was still a lot of space left. The bedroom door (2d) led to a long corridor. On the right was a small storeroom (25) and then the top end of the staircase, immediately after which was the door (2e) into the second bedroom. A window (1c) looked out into the air well space. There were clothes cupboards arranged along the wall as well as another book cupboard for me. I certainly had a wealth of books around me!

A wooden door (2f) led to the open terrace (J) at the back. It looked over the void area (K) on the ground floor - from the air well to the rear courtyard - and the roofs of the kitchen, bathroom, toilet and charcoal hut. On the back ledge were balanced three or four pots of plants. There was also a pipe bringing running water to the top floor but there was no bathroom here. A drainpipe at the far corner directed the flow of rain and waste water to the shallow drain on the ground floor. 

We lived in this house until 1980 when the landlord took it back. We were given some monetary compensation for the eviction and we went on to stay in Lorong Zoo Tiga. That was before we made an eventual big move to the Taman Siakap area of Seberang Jaya on the mainland in 1983.

Music of the 1960s

Bumped into this video on YouTube recently. I found it very interesting from two points of view. First, it showcased the evolution of popular music in the 1960s. Second, these were the songs from my growing-up years. Until today, I consider the music of this era to be the most pleasant to my ears. 

We are unity

 Awesome message by a group of special needs citizens of Malaysia. Please go to YouTube and give their video a Like to show your appreciation.

Japanese serials

I know of many people who are deep into South Korean serials on television. As for my family, we've become rather partial to Japanese serials. Ever since we watched this Izakaya Bottakuri on Netflix several months ago, followed by the Rurouni Kenshin movies, we hardly miss an hour or so of some Japanese television series per day. 

The latest we have been hooked on are Midnight Diner, The Road to Red Restaurant List and The Way of the Hot and Spicy. There is a common theme running through all these television shows: food. We found it quite fascinating how the Japanese have woven the topic of food into them. And successfully at that! But who's complaining about the feasts for the eyes? Certainly not us.