Closest opposition

Where possible, I like to take pictures of the objects in the night sky. Unfortunately, I do not own a telescope and I am limited by the basic equipment I own, which is an Olympus E-PL7 camera and a standard 40-150mm zoom kit lens. The moon is one of my favourite subjects but once in a while, I get lucky with photographing Jupiter. The past few nights had been bad for photography because of the rainy weather or thick cloud cover. But last night was clear enough. As I stepped out of the house to throw away some rubbish, I glanced upwards hoping to see the planet which I knew, at 591 million kilometres away, would be at its closest to earth in 70 years. And I did see the planet. It wasn't as bright as I thought, but it was bright enough for the camera. For the record, Jupiter at opposition occurred at midnight on 26 September 2022, Malaysia time. Thus, when I took this picture on the 27th of September at 11.23pm, it was already almost 24 hours later. Only three of the four Galilean moons could be observed. From the top down, they were Callisto, Ganymede and Europa. Io couldn't be viewed because it was transiting across Jupiter's surface last night.

EarthSky.org described Jupiter as "more like a failed star, not massive enough or hot enough inside to spark thermonuclear fusion reactions, but some 2½ times more massive than all the other planets in our solar system combined. So for Jupiter to shine as stars do, you’d need some 80 Jupiter’s – rolled into a ball – to be hot enough inside to spark thermonuclear reactions." All I can say is thank goodness for that. If Jupiter had been big and hot enough for its own thermonuclear reactions, our solar system could have had two hot stars in rotation around one another and life on Earth might not have been possible at all. And hence, no blog by SS Quah to read. 😁

Eating through Hatyai

During our two-days, one-night sojourn in Hatyai, my extended family literally ate our way through the short holiday. Except for our dinner on the first day, I can term the food as generally good and rather memorable at times. About our dinner though, it was so ordinary that I can't quite remember where we went. Thus, no short review about what we ate. But, these places I mention below were where we really enjoyed ourselves.....eating!

Nanyuan noodle restaurant, Tanrattanakorn Road, Hatyai

This place should be a very good introduction to food when one arrives in Hatyai. They have roast duck as their signature choice as well as shrimp wanthan, sway kow (water dog?), char siew (BBQed pork) and crispy roast pork. To me, the restaurant had set a benchmark for the rest of our time here. How to resist the food here? Will definitely return if I'm in this city again.

Nora Plaza, Thumnoonvithi Road, Hatyai

We didn't come here to shop but to enjoy a bowl of thick and gorgeous bird's nest soup. The average cost was 300 baht per bowl, which included a variety of topping such as gingko nuts, strips of coconut or dried lychee. After that, one can pop into the adjacent department store for some local Thai products. We did look around, but my wife and I weren't that keen to pick up anything from here.

Lee Garden Plaza Hotel

This popular hotel, car bombed by separatists in 2012 but the situation is back to normal now, is the main focal point for tourists in Hatyai. We walked there after our rather forgettable dinner at a local restaurant somewhere else. Lots of street food vendors there but we were only attracted to the stalls selling these small sweet pineapple and a bowl of coconut ice cream. I remember partaking these small pineapple in Vietnam but they are widely available here too.

Che Seng Tuehuan Kiamchai, Tambon, Hatyai

We had our breakfast (or was it brunch?) here, all 12 of us crammed inside one toot-toot taxi. Imagine taking a heavy meal consisting of rice, roast pork, braised pork knuckle, sour vegetable soup with pork entrails and braised tau pok at nine o'clock in the morning (Malaysian time). What's unique about this place was the way they presented their roast pork. Other than that, I think the food was quite ordinary too. The Covid-19 global lockdowns must have had badly affected the tourism business in Hatyai like everywhere else because the toot-toot driver insisted on waiting for us while we finished breakfast.

McDonald's, Central Hatyai, Kanjanavanich Road, Hatyai

Anyone going to Thailand should make it a point to visit any one of the McDonald's outlets for their pork burger since this is not available in Malaysia. We thought this would be a good place for lunch before leaving for home. All of us had a burger each; although the choices were very similar to what could be ordered from a McD in Malaysia, the exceptional exception was that one could substitute the beef patty with pork. And that was what we all did. For me, I ordered a double cheese burger with pork patties. And you know what? For a group of 12 persons like us, the total damage came up to 1440 Baht. Converted to Ringgit, it was RM173. It's impossible to pay this amount back home in Malaysia for 12 persons! And these were set meals to boot!

After You, Central Hatyai, Kanjanavanich Road, Hatyai

This dessert café serves an astonishing array of snow ice cream. Located on the first floor of the shopping centre, it was known to attract long queues of people who wait patiently for hours before a table became available. Luckily for us, visiting Hatyai on a weekday rather than a weekend, there was space for 12 people. No, wait....I meant 10 of us. My nephew and his girlfriend went missing. All I can say is that they missed out on the fun.

Ped Restaurant, Samnak Kham, Dannok

We had our dinner here in Dannok before crossing the border back into Bukit Kayu Hitam. In my opinion, the tomyam here was much better than the one we had in Hatyai and it was an opinion shared by the rest of us in the group. A short observation about Immigration and Customs control. On the Malaysian side, everyone was required to scan their luggage both ways and we could be checked by the Customs personnel if necessary. Not so on the other side. The Thais seemed so relaxed over people taking things across the border. I can't quite remember our luggage being checked at all.

 

Fun family trip

My wife and I joined our extended family on an overnight trip to Hatyai last week. We had been talking about this trip for quite a while now. Ever since my father-in-law died last July, we had been wanting to take my mother-in-law for a short overseas holiday. She's the homely type, always preferring to stay home and not venturing out unless it was for very pressing needs, like marketing. When my father-in-law was alive, her excuse was that he needed looking after since he was a stroke survivor and couldn't move much without walking aid. And besides which, dementia had already started to creep in. 

But now, there should be no more excuse for her. Or so we thought. We wanted to take her mind off recent developments and enjoy her new freedom. That was when we, including my brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, bandied about with this idea and that idea. The initial plan was to visit Taiwan this November but the idea was shelved as the travel agent told us that the country had not opened up yet. Then, after we had firmed up on Chiengmai, my mother-in-law did not want to go there; her new excuse being it would be too many days away from home. 

Eventually, we settled on a very short Hatyai trip and the planning began in earnest. It would be a makan trip, eating our way in and out of Hatyai. In all, we had 12 pax. Eight or nine more from our extended family in Penang were unable to join in for various reasons. I can only imagine how boisterous and chaotic the group would be if everyone had been able to come along. 😁 

So last Thursday, the chartered mini-bus arrived at our house to pick us up at six o'clock in the morning and we were finally on our way to Thailand. Here are four pictures of all of us together.

This was at the Magic Museum, basically meant for the kids in us. There are 12 in the picture, but only a keen eye will be able to spot the 12th one.

Savouring on of Hatyai's delicacies: bird's nest soup

On the toot-toot before setting off for one of Hatyai's markets

Cramming 12 persons into a table was quite demanding but we achieved it twice

Did I say four pictures? Well, there was a fifth family photograph which was taken at a Siamese temple. With me holding the calico cat, I had to look over my shoulder lest the jealous tiger statue behind me sprang into life 😁

Singing Daisy Bell, part 2

Three years ago I stood on this stage of the Cititel ballroom to sing a very poor version of Daisy Bell. It was the favourite song of Dato' Tan Chin Nam who had died in 2018 and I had wanted to honour his memory. When the Malaysia Chess Festival was organised again earlier this month after a long hiatus due to the coronavirus lockdown, I told the organisers that I wanted to honour Tan Chin Nam again. But I wasn't planning to do any singing by myself again. No more singing, I had promised myself soon after the 2019 chess festival. What I wanted was for the GACC boys and girls who were helping to run the chess festival to organise themselves and sing Daisy Bell. I had downloaded a version of this song and had stripped out the vocals. thus leaving a so-call karaoke version. Thus on the first evening of the chess festival after the Merdeka team open championship had concluded its first day, I made a pitch to the organisers. Basically, it was a pitch to the prospective singers. Everyone thought it was a good idea and I left it at that.

I returned to the chess festival on its penultimate day. As the closing was on the next day, it was imperative that the GACC singers had their practice that very night. Somehow, we had to assemble outside the Cititel as the ballroom had already been locked up. It was quite surreal to have a group of people standing among the parked cars and singing Daisy Bell not once but twice. But I was glad that they did get the hang of the song quite well. They also put in a practice the next morning before the start of the final round. Unfortunately I was around but someone did record the practice. And quite a hilarious session that was, as the boys and girls created a new version of the song for dedication to the chief organiser, Hamid.

Anway, I was called on stage during the closing ceremony to introduce the song, and after some hiccups when the back-up GACC singers failed to appear, I duly passed the microphone to the capable hands of the two main singers, Jonavhan and his sister, Jonavene. They did a good job to urge the audience to sing along with them and, as could be seen in the video below, Tan Mei Sian (the organising chairperson of the Malaysia Chess Festival) and Tan Lei Cheng (the chairman of IGB Berhad, main sponsor for the Malaysia Chess Festival) thoroughly enjoyed themselves singing to Daisy Bell.

More 𝙩𝙖𝙤 of half-boiled eggs

The eggs are not too well taken with the mobile. I've shadows
falling on them. But definitely, they are soft-boiled eggs.

I was having my half-boiled eggs (I shall refer to them as soft-boiled eggs in this story. Half-boiled wggs, soft-boiled eggs - they mean the same to me) for breakfast this morning when suddenly, I remembered that "Oh no!! I had forgotten to write about the Teoh Seng Lee method." Teoh Seng Lee is one of my facebook friends but I have long known him personally long before we connected on facebook. He runs an under-the-radar coffee joint called Harvey's Café at the Gleneagles Hospital in Pangkor Road, George Town and I can vouch that his caffé latte is brewed from some of the freshest coffee beans in Penang. I've enjoyed his coffee occasionally at the hospital but don't get me wrong: I went to the hospital for his coffee and not to consult any specialist! Teoh Seng Lee is also the honorary Consul for Russia and if anyone wishes to have their future studies there, he is the person to turn to.

But back to the topic of soft-boiled eggs. Several months ago, he said that he was very fastidious when it comes to making soft-boiled eggs. "Some of my friends have asked me about my soft-boiled eggs." he wrote on his facebook. "I like the whites to be soft and the yolks semi-cooked. You can tell that I’m fussy when it comes to food," he continued. Who doesn't like the whites and the yolks of their soft-boiled eggs to be perfect, let me ask you? You do, right? I certainly like them this way too and I've my own way of making them. 

However, let's concentrate on Teoh Seng Lee's method. He says that his soft-boiled eggs are made by placing two eggs into a small pot of room-temperature water. Important for the eggs to be completely submerged. Then he brings the temperature up to 83°C (another important point, this. 83°C. Almost boiling but not quite boiling) before turning off the fire and covering the pot for exactly 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, it’s ready to eat. 

The bottle on the right is the furikake, a mixture of sesame seeds,
seaweed and other ingredients. Normally sprinkled on rice but works
on soft-boiled eggs too. It should be available from the bigger
supermarkets. 

Furthermore, he uses large eggs, 60g each, directly from the refrigerator. No need to warm them up to room temperature first since the water is always brought up to exactly 83°C. For that, a digital thermometer is a must. No guessing the temperature. If Jumbo-sized 70g or 80g eggs are used, the time must be adjusted by adding 1½ or three minutes respectively on the timer. Best to buy a digital kitchen timer for this purpose. "When you love soft-boiled eggs," he says, "it’s worth the hassle." 

Finally for embellishments, he likes to spike his special soft-boiled eggs with freshly ground black pepper, truffle salt and Japanese furikake sprinkles.

Of Penang, Bencoolen and Balambangan

Will today's state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London will go down as one of the most watched events on television in history? I should believe so. She had lived an incredible life, an incredibly long life, and for most people throughout the world, she was the only Queen that had sat on the throne in the United Kingdom. In fact, outliving many people. Stories abound saying that she had 15 British Prime Ministers serve under her and had seen 12 Presidents come and go in the United States during that time. Another small snippet of trivia is that since our country's Independence from Great Britain in 1957, there have been 16 rotational Yang di-Pertuan Agong during her time as Queen. 

Today, Penang will fly the state flag at half-mast to honour Britain's late Queen, following in the footsteps of Pahang and Selangor. [An update: All government departments and agencies in Penang and Negri Sembilan flew their state flags at half-mast today while Perak would do so for three days in respect of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.]

Meanwhile, I see many comments on facebook regarding this decision, not to much as to agree or disagree with it, but to say something else about Free Malaysia Today's write-up that "Penang became Britain’s first colony in Southeast Asia in 1786, with George Town later becoming the capital of the Straits Settlements, a group of territories that included Dindings (now Manjung, Perak), Melaka and Singapore." It's all very interesting.

Meljev Singh: "Britain's first colony in Southeast Asia was not Penang. It was Bencoolen in Sumatra. In fact Penang is not even the first British colony in Malaysia. That honour belongs to the island of Balambangan off the coast of Sabah."

Karpal Sekawan: (Replying to Meljev Singh) "Bencoolen, yes. The East India Company took it over in the 1680s and a century later it became a colony – a year before Francis Light "founded" Penang. Balambangan also began as a possession of the East India Company, but it was not a colony until it was subsumed into the Penang Presidency and then subsumed again into the Straits Settlements."

Meljev Singh: (Replying to Karpal Sekawan) "A colony simply means a group of settlers settling in an area that is under their political control. Bencoolen and Balambangan would have qualified as colonies from the moment the British acquired them in 1685 and 1762 respectively. As long as the British had a settlement, which they did in both places, they were colonies. If the area remained uninhabited, then they were not colonies. Balambangan became a Residency in 1785, not a colony."

Picture from facebook

Karpal Sekawan: (Replying to Meljev Singh's "A colony simply means a group of settlers settling in an area that is under their political control. Bencoolen and Balambangan would have qualified as colonies from the moment the British acquired them in 1685 and 1762 respectively.") "No, there were legal and other consequences when a possession was officially recognised as a colony. For example, all residents became British subjects, which they were not when their land was only a possession of the East India Company. These differences came into play every day. Legal status, privileges, and requirements were different even between the Straits Settlements (a colony) and the Federated Malay States (not a colony). As for this ("Balambangan became a Residency in 1785, not a colony.") Yes, as I noted above, Balambangan did not become (part of) a colony until it was subsumed into the Straits Settlements via Penang. Thanks for your remarks. I hadn't thought about Balambangan for some time. It's good to be reminded."

Meljev Singh: (Replying to Karpal Sekawan) "The staff of the EIC were British subjects to begin with. If I was to use the definition of a colony you have given, then Penang itself would have only qualified to become a colony when the EIC relinquished the island to the Crown in 1867. I think what you meant here is Crown Colony whereas what I mean is simply a British colony meaning a colony of British settlers. That may explain our difference in opinion. Crown Colony is an official status given to a place whereas colony simply means a group of settlers coming to a new place and assuming control of that place."

Karpal Sekawan: (Replying to Meljev Singh) "When I mentioned "residents" of a place becoming British subjects, I was not referring to "the staff of the EIC." Thanks again."

Meljev Singh: (Replying to Karpal Sekawan) "The staff of the EIC do not qualify as British subjects? In the case of any new British settlement, the first settlers would have been EIC staff. Being British subjects, their presence is enough to justify calling the place a colony. Why differentiate Penang from Balambangan or Bencoolen when all of them went through the same process? If you want to argue that all the residents of a place need to be subjects of a certain occupying power, then even Penang would not qualify as a British colony simply because not all of its residents at any one time were British subjects, even after 1867. There was no point in history that all of Penang's residents were British subjects. Some came from elsewhere to settle. Therefore, was Penang ever a British colony?"

Karpal Sekawan: (Replying to Meljev Singh's "The staff of the EIC do not qualify as British subjects?") "Not what I said, which was this: 'For example, all residents became British subjects, which they were not when their land was only a possession of the East India Company.' By "all residents" here I meant "native residents," as you can infer from "their land." I should leave it at that. Thanks again for your thoughts.

Meljev Singh: (Replying to Karpal Sekawan) "I think we both have a different set of definitions as to what constitutes a colony. For me, i take it from the dictionary implying that it is a group of non natives settling on a foreign land and taking political control of it. You have added a number of caveats to your argument, of which I don;t know your sources. As such, I cannot fully agree. Still, I respect your opinion. Thanks for sharing your knowledge."

Eugene Quah: (Replying to Meljev Singh) "May I add to this interesting topic. According to the research of David Kenneth Bassett of SOAS, Bencoolen (Bengkulu) was founded after the demise of the earlier Presidency of Bantam (Banten) in Java. I highly recommend the reprint of his thesis by USM. Fascinating read. “The Factory Of The English East India Company At Bantam 1600-1682 (HC).” James Lancaster himself help establish the Factory at Bantam in 1602 (elevated to presidency in 1617). Lancaster stopped at Pulau Rimau off Penang in 1593 for a few months to help his crew recuperate from scurvy."

Meljev Singh: (Replying to Eugene Quah) "I did a bit more reading yesterday. Apparently there is an older British possession in Southeast Asia which is the Run Island in Indonesia which was acquired by the EIC in 1616 and was a shortlived colony until the Dutch chased the British out. This was before the British had any colonies in India. Perhaps it is the oldest British colony in Asia. Other than Bantam, the British also had factories at Surat and Masulipatnam in India as well as at Kedah and Pattani by the start of the 17th century. All were founded in the 1610s. I am sure there were others I am not aware of. But what makes Run Island different is that the island was entirely acquisitioned by the EIC, similar to Penang and Balambangan whereas factories were simply a space granted by a local ruler to the EIC for trade or to conduct whatever activities they needed to conduct and not ownership of land. And yes, James Lancaster was the first Englishman to land at Penang, which he did in 1592. As far as I know, the first Englishman to reach Malaysia was Ralph Fitch who was in Melaka by 1588."

Senior citizen card

I'm not going to say anything about my wife's age but suffice to say, she qualifies for a Senior Citizen's Touch-N-Go card from RapidKL. I applied for one many years ago and now, it is her turn. 

Thus, when we were in Kuala Lumpur recently, I brought her to the RapidKL registration outlet at the Pasar Seni station to apply for this card. It was a very simple and straight-forward process: the counter staff took her picture and issued the Touch-N-Go card immediately. No need to wait unless there was a long queue, and there was none except for a couple of visually impaired persons who we allowed to jump ahead of my wife. We didn't mind at all. 

The main benefit of this card is that it can be used at the automatic gates at a discount on RapidKL buses and both the MRT and LRT trains in the Klang Valley, although I don't know whether it is also applicable on the KTM Komuter trains. Forgot to seek clarification from the counter staff. The card will also be an emergency back-up for us back home in Penang should we ever need to use it to cross the Penang Bridge but obviously, it will be at full fare and not the discounted bridge rate.

Remembering Ban Hin Lee Bank

𝐁𝐚𝐧 𝐇𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐤 or 𝗕𝗛𝗟 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗸 was Penang's own homegrown bank which was swallowed up by Southern Bank as part of a financial industry-wide consolidation process in 2000. Southern Bank was in turn taken over by CIMB Bank in 2006. The question is, could BHL Bank had survived by itself within its own niche market into the 21st Century? Was consolidation necessary in the first place?

 

60s nostalgia in Kuala Lumpur

Still on the subject of food, I must say that Penang folks are spoilt for choice when it comes to good local food of any type. Take Nyonya food, for instance. There are so many restaurants on the island that serve good Nyonya food. That's why when I go to Kuala Lumpur, I don't care much about Nyonya food there, knowing that any craving for Nyonya food can always be satisfied by coming home to Penang within a few days! 

So when my daughter took us to dinner at a place called Old China Café somewhere in the Petaling Street area of Kuala Lumpur and I discovered that its menu includes Penang Nyonya dishes, I was a bit hesitant at first. However, my daughter was adamant that we went there and I couldn't blame her because she stayed in Kuala Lumpur and to find a gem like this café meant a lot to her. Anyway, I found that their chicken curry kapitan was one of the best that I've come across for a long while. We also ordered their sambai petai sotong and belachan puchok paku. For dessert, we shared a bowl of their bubor chacha topped with a generous dollop of mashed durian. For the record, the owner of this café speaks Hokkien and I can only presume that he is from Penang like us.

After dinner, we walked around the corner into an alleyway which led to the entrance of a place known as Kwai Chai Hong (鬼仔巷). Why it is named such, I don't know. But I do know that this is in the Cantonese dialect which was mainly used in Kuala Lumpur during the olden days. Maybe less so now in KL In the Hokkien dialect, Kwai Chai Hong will most probably translate into Kooi Knia Hung: hung meaning lane and kooi knia referring to children who are as naughty as little devils! 

By the way, the very prominent pre-war Panggong building there is not actually a cinema. Rather, it's one of those new-style eateries or cafés. And this alleyway is actually a back lane that has been privately restored about four years back. Obviously, it is now a tourist attraction in KL. Walking through this back lane and looking at the art installations - murals, decorations and wall paintings - gave me an unmistakable feel that I had wandered through a time tunnel to the 1960s. We saw some interesting eateries there but having finished our dinner at the Old China Café, there was no more eating for us that night but only to take in the sights! Coming out of the place, we lingered near a camera crew that was filming a scene outside the Panggong building.

Sambai petai sotong

Chicken curry kapitan

Belachan puchok paku

Durian bubor cha-cha