Muesli cereal

Gahh....I'm reduced to taking this for breakfast for the next few days until my supply of muesli cereal runs out. I bought them a long time ago when I thought I could have them in the office, while still working with JobStreet. But I didn't like it and I stopped eating it. Then I had to bring the rest home when I retired. And the bottle has been lying around the kitchen for the past three months. I've been postponing finishing it since then, but I suppose that I'll really have it do something with it. Waste not, want not. So excuse me while I do back into the kitchen to finish my cereal....

Shakin' and rockin'

Michael Barrett would probably not have made a lasting impression on the music front if not for his stage name. But today, he is acknowledged as one of the best interpreters of rock and roll music. He was part of The Sunsets but achieved his greatest success after going solo in 1978. There was no turning back. All in, he released 14 albums but all I have is this one (although I do have a CD compilation of his hits):

You do know whom I'm talking about, right? No other than that other rocking Welshman, Shakin' Stevens!

Side One: Lovestruck, Hot Dog, Is A Bluebird Blue, You And I Were Meant To Be, Without A Love, Shame Shame Shame
Side Two: Shotgun Boogie, I Got Burned, I Guess I Was A Fool, Make It Right Tonight, Little Pigeon, Do What You Did

Life according to Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne started off his musical career with a short stint in The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. I bet you didn't know that, did you? But after that he became a solo artiste whose songs were often interpreted by artistes such as Joan Baez, Tom Rush, the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and the Byrds.

I have this album by Browne which was recorded at possibly the lowest ebb of his life. The songs had rather dark and sombre titles, and were about love, life and everything in between. According to the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, there was a sense of despair which was derived in part from the suicide of his first wife, Phyllis, in 1976, two and a half years after the birth of their son, Ethan. Was that his son on the back cover of the album?

Side One: The Fuse, Your Bright Baby Blues, Linda Paloma, Here Come Those Tears Again
Side Two: The Only Child, Daddy's Tune, Sleep's Dark And Silent Gate, The Pretender

The Buddy Holly music wagon

During his lifetime, Buddy Holly (real name Charles Hardin Holley) released only three albums. However, an Internet search on "Buddy Holly" would make it seem like he was one of the most prolific and successful recording artistes of the 1950s.

Truth is, yes, he did record a lot of songs, including demos and home recordings, but these never saw the light of day. It was only after his death that the record companies began churning out album after album in his name. For example, Coral Records was able to release brand-new albums and singles for 10 years after his death. As the technical quality tended to be very mixed, his demo recordings were overdubbed by studio musicians to give them a fuller sound for commercial release. That's why I really don't know what's real and what's not any more where Buddy Holly is concerned.

But it's acknowledged that he was a great pioneer of rock and roll. Unfortunately, his success lasted only 1½ years as he died in a light airplane crash on 3 Feb 1959 that also snuffed out the lives of Ritchie Valens and JP Richardson. His works inspired and influenced a whole lot of his contemporaries and later musicians, notably The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones and even Bob Dylan. His death too inspired people like Don McLean with his American Pie album.

I've only one compilation album of Buddy Holly's songs. It may not have his greatest all-time hits but to me, it is good enough for my listening pleasure.

Side One: Brown-Eyed Handsome Man, Rock Around With Ollie Vee, Ready Teddy, Rock Me My Baby, It's Too Late, Blue Days, Holly Hop, I'm Looking For Someone To Love, Crying Waiting Hoping, Peggy Sue Got Married
Side Two: Rave On, Love Me, Baby I Don't Care, Ting-A-Ling, Tell Me How, Love's Made A Fool Of You, Baby Won't You Come Out Tonight, Dearest (Umm Oh Yeah), Slippin' & Slidin', Everyday

Penang's original Tambun biscuits

I'm sure most everybody would be familiar with the tambun biscuits-in-a-box as sold by Ghee Hiang, Him Heang and loads of other imitators. Nowadays, there are all sorts of flavours too ... original, coffee, durian, etc. In my opinion, the original is still the best.

Traditionally, the tambun biscuits were not sold in boxes. Instead, they were sold in packs of fives. Five pieces of the biscuits would be rolled up in paper and sold just like that across the counter. No gimmicky marketing stuff. Just plainly wrapped in translucent paper..There would be two varieties: the sweet ones wrapped in paper printed with red ink and the salty ones wrapped in paper printed with blue ink.

Those were the days. The biscuits sold simply because of quality and nothing more. By the way, it's still possible to buy them that way.

Australian travellogue: Kings Park

7 Nov 2009. There were two more places in my itinerary on the final day of our visit to Western Australia. We were back at Perth, staying at the same Comfort Inn that we had used when we arrived seven days earlier. And because time was at a premium to us, we checked out of the hotel early and drove across the Swan River to the Kings Park and Botanic Garden.

Kings Park, located at Mt Eliza which is to the west of Perth. From here, it is possible to take in a panoramic view of the city

I suppose if anyone wants a simple overview of the Western Australian flora and landscape, visiting the Kings Park should not be missed. It's probably the biggest park in Western Australia and summarises most everything that you would want to see and experience within the confines of 400 hectares of land. Nearly two-thirds of the Park is natural bushland with more than 300 species of native plants and around 80 bird species. The balance of the Park is made up of cultivated gardens and open recreational space. However, there is really no substitute to going out of Perth to see the great outdoors for yourself.

Top of the list of what we did at the Park was to admire the brilliant display of wild flowers. Of course, it helped that we were there in spring and the flowers were really competing for attention. Then there were the many interesting tracks through the Park. However, we felt a little disappointed with the tree-top walk. I guess the expectation was different after having experienced the one at the Valley Of The Giants near Walpole. Nevertheless, the tracks through the Park proved very educational.

We were impressed by the huge trees that looked like they had been uprooted and then planted upside down into the earth. The Aussies call them baob but I clearly remember that in school, we were taught to us as the baobab trees, native of Africa.

This is the Gija Jumulu at Kings Park, a 750-year-old boab tree. Jumulu simply means boab in the Gija aborigine language. It made a 3,200-kilometre journey from Kimberley in the north of Western Australia because it stood smack in the middle of a proposed highway. It was gifted to the Park by the Gija people.

 
And finally, no visitor could ever leave the Kings Park without admiring the Perth skyline and noticing the war memorials and monuments. The latter were a-plenty and all over the place.

The most pompous among them was that of Victoria. Here's old Queen Victoria with one of her cannons. I know that the sculptors were trying to make her look as regal a possible but unfortunately, I think she looked like suffering from a mild bout of indigestion. From her vantage point up there, I don't regard her as looking amused. Not at all.

Next: Wild flowers
Previous: Sunset dinner

Revolutions

Jean-Michel Jarre's Revolutions was a mixture of several genres of music which included symphonic industrial, Arabian inspired, light guitar pop, ethnic electro jazz and, should I also mention, allusions to disco? The first time I listened to this album, I was a bit apprehensive, not liking the sounds on Side One at all. But Side Two was better.

The tracks revolved around (sorry for the use of this pun) the use of the Roland D-50 synthetiser, with a majority of sound programming gathered from custom sound banks. Coming back to Side Two, it opened with the album's title track, Revolutions. I heard that two versions of this song were recorded. Mine was the original version which has an Turkish flute leading into the song's introduction. The other version had the flute replaced by an Arabian string orchestra which I think was only available in the re-release.

Side 1: Industrial Revolution (Overture, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), London Kid
Side 2:  Revolutions, Tokyo Kid, Computer Weekend, September, The Emigrant

Interlude

Over the next few days - five days in all, actually - I've got to ask my visitors to bear with me as I catch up on listening to a few records in my collection. It's been a long while since I cleaned my dirty old records because I've been busy listening a lot to those albums that I had cleaned previously, and also to the compact discs. You see, I've finally come to accept that it is not enough to have a good stereo hardware system. It is also important to be equipped with decent speaker cables or otherwise, the sound will still suck.

I took up my friend Eric's suggestion to buy a length of QED Micro High Technology speaker cables quite a while back but it wasn't until he loaned me the Belden Indoor/Outdoor Oxygen Free Low Cap Brilliance speaker cables that my system began to sing. Then another friend Long Kin lent me his Audioquest FLX/X-16/2 Long Grain copper speaker cables recently and the mist lifted from my eyes. I had been trying various permutations of the three speaker cables and can verify that I heard subtle differences with all four combinations.

So, after having enjoyed listening to my CD and cleaned-up record collections, it's back to cleaning those dirty old ones to put on the turntable. Bear with me for the next few days, okay?

More from the Pangguni Uthiram festival in Bukit Mertajam

Maybe I should share a few more photos from the Pangguni Uthiram festival in Bukit Mertajam yesterday. These were taken in the late afternoon when I was returning from the island. As usual, I had forgotten about the traffic jam in the town and drove smack into it. However, the jam gave me an opportunity to see this Hindu festival from up close.

First, this was the scene at the junction of the Kulim Road and Jalan Maju. The chariot carrying the image of their Hindu deity had stopped there before turning back to its main temple, the 117-year-old Sri Mangalanayagi Amman Devasthanam Temple. While most of the devotees were Indians, there were also quite a number of Chinese devotees. In fact, there was also a float from a Chinese temple that had joined in the festivities.......

The chariot is on the left. On the right is a make-shift roadside Hindu temple. Can see several Chinese devotees mingling in the crowd.

These are the people who will be pulling the chariot back to the Sri Mangalanayagi Amman Devasthanam Temple. It's a welcome rest for them as they wait for all the devotees to finish. However, it was a long, long wait as it was almost an endless stream of devotees.

The offerings were fruits and flowers. Bananas and coconuts were prominent.

Two of the more colourful characters in the crowd. Of course, I know the significance of the cow in Hinduism. It's their sacred animal. So, for this man to dress up as a cow, complete with four udders, well, it's his way of celebrating the festival. I've no comment about the chap in blue, though...

I was just about to go off when I saw this procession from the direction of Kulim, led by this determined-looking woman with a baby in her arms. That's why I say the line of devotees seemed rather endless. Just as the priests in the chariot thought they had finished with the devotees around them, here comes another batch of them,

Anyway, I had to leave. But on the way home, I stopped by the Hindu temple outside my neighbourhood. They were also having their own celebration. In fact, they were preparing the kavadi carriers and other devotees who would be making their way down to the main temple later.

I was much surprised to see a lion dance troupe and quite a number of Chinese participants. For example, this man was pulling this cart from the hooks on his back. Of course, it wasn't all his own strength as others were helping by pushing the cart along.

Awesome, both the above picture and the one below. To have a clearer view, just click on the images.

Finally, I just want to give a close-up view of the cart that I had mentioned earlier. Not only is there an image of the Hindu deity, there's also a small statue of the Laughing Buddha. By my reckoning, the Pangguni Uthiram festival is tailor-made for both the Tamils and the Chinese to get together and worship.

I heard that there was a fire-walking ceremony at the main temple in the town later in the evening. However, that should a story for some other day as I gave that a miss. Nothing will get me into another traffic jam, especially with 20,000 people expected there!

Pangguni Uthiram in Bukit Mertajam

I was caught in a little traffic congestion while getting out from my neighbourhood this morning. Seemed that there is a Tamil religious festival today, the Pangguni Uthiram.

A search on the Internet revealed that Tamils observe the important Pangguni Uthiram festival in the Tamil month of Pangguni (March/April). Panggguni Uttaram celebrates the wedding of important deities in the Hindu religion. In 2010, Pangguni Uthiram falls today, on 29 March. The importance of this day is that the Uthiram Nakshatra (star) coincides with the full moon day of Poornima.

It is widely believed that Lord Shiva married Goddess Parvathi on this day. Another legend indicates that Lord Muruga married Devasena on Pangguni Uthiram day. It is also believed that Lord Rama married Sita on this day, and another important wedding that took place is the one between Andal and Sri Ranganatha (Lord Vishnu). So you see, these are some of the weddings of these important Hindu deities.

Intrigued, I wandered around Kulim Road and came across this small Hindu temple beside the BM Recreation Club. Some ceremonies were in session, including devotees paying penance by having their bodies pierced by various religious objects.

The accidental world chess champion

Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov was a fine baritone singer who once attended an audition with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 1950. Unfortunately for him, he was unsuccessful. Nevertheless, the appeal of music remained very strong in him and on many occasions he gave stirring recitals to appreciative private audiences in the old Soviet Union and perhaps outside the country too. Sometimes, he would be accompanied by concert pianist Mark Taimanov.

I first met this great man briefly in 1982. That was in Lucerne, Switzerland. The second and last time that I bumped into him was eight years later, in 1990, at the VIP Lounge of the Subang international airport. On both occasions, I found him to be a very polite gentleman who always had time for his admirers.

Vasily Smyslov, born on 24 Mar 1921, was 89 years old when he died of heart failure yesterday in a Moscow hospital. He could have had a professional career in music but he achieved great success elsewhere.

Did I mention that officially, he was the seventh world chess champion? Yes, he certainly was. He took part in the final of three world chess championship matches in 1954, 1957 and 1958 and on all three occasions, he played with Mikhail Botvinnik. The 1954 match was drawn at 12-all but in 1957, he beat Botvinnik 12½-9½ to claim the title. There was a rematch the following year which Smylov lost 10½-12½ and allowed Botinnik to reclaim it.

Since then, he had never ascended such great heights again. He still took part in the Candidates world championship cycles but never again did he qualify for the right to meet the reigning world champions of the day.

In 1983, at a ripe age of 62, he surprised the chess world by advancing to the final of the Candidates cycle in which he met a young, rising chess star by the name of Gary Kasparov. The dynamism and aggressiveness of the younger player put paid to any more of Smyslov's hopes and he went out of the cycle with a 4½-8½ defeat. As we all know, Kasparov went on to become great chess rivals with Anatoly Karpov for many, many years.

In his final years, Smyslov won the inaugural Senior World Chess Championship in 1991. His last tournament was at the Klompendans Veterans versus Ladies tournament in Amsterdam in 2001. He never played competitively again. His last published Fide rating was 2494.
 

Choong Khuat Hock's murder: Suspect picked up

Some latest developments on the Choong Khuat Hock tragedy. Early yesterday morning, Police located the missing black Mercedes Benz belonging to Choong Khuat Hock. It was recovered at a parking lot near a pub in Taman Desa near Jalan Klang Lama. The find was made after a tip-off by a member of the public.

After a quick inspection, the vehicle was towed to the Brickfields police headquarters for forensic examination. Definitely, fingerprints may be crucial to this case. According to the police, the car may have been left at Taman Desa for about at least four days. Its front tyres were flat.

A bit later, the Police was confident enough to name Adam Brahim Djaghlouli, an Algerian man, as the one they were seeking to "assist them to solve Choong's murder". This is usually a euphemism to mean that this chap is a suspect in the case.

The Police said that Adam had been a close confidante of Choong for about a year and could be the last man to see Choong alive. “Our investigations show that Adam entered the country with an Algerian passport last year but used a Jordanian passport when he entered in 2008."

Then at around midnight, this suspect was arrested at a rented apartment in Taman OUG, Jalan Klang Lama, in Kuala Lumpur. According to Bentong Police, the man called them after learning that he was being sought.

"Following the call, police from the Brickfields station and Bentong district headquarters went to the man's apartment in Taman OUG. He was cooperative and did not resist the arrest," the police said today. He is now believed to be still remanded at the Bentong district headquarters.

Note: What happened was that the decomposed remains of Choong, a noted financial analyst, was found in a ditch off the Karak highway in Pahang on 13 Mar. He had been reported missing for about four days already. Even at that time, the newspapers were saying that Choong was last seen with a "middle-eastern" man on 9 Mar evening. As this sort of information could only have come from the police themselves, they must have been sure of themselves already. It was only a matter of time before they picked up this "unidentified" man, unless he had already fled the country, and the police were pretty sure that he hadn't. The trail to this Algerian certainly wasn't cold.

On Wednesday, Choong was cremated at the Nirvana Memorial Park with about 100 of his relatives and friends present. "It is all over," lamented his father Freddie Choong Eng Eong. "Whoever his murderer is, whether the murderer would be arrested, only God knows. I have told everything I know to the police. Please stop speculating; just allow them to investigate the case so that justice is swiftly served," he said. I think we've got to respect that.

Earth Hour disappointment

I'm quite disappointed with this year's response to Earth Hour in my neighbourhood. When my family left for dinner earlier today, we had made it a point to switch off the lights so that if we had to return later than 8.30pm, we could return to a house in darkness.

Yes, our dinner function lasted longer than expected and we arrived back at Taman Jernih in Bukit Mertajam at about 9pm. The first inkling that Earth Hour was being ignored was that one of the bigger houses in my neighbourhood was completely switched on, including the garden lights.

I was further dismayed when I drove around the neighbourhood and observed an almost blatant disregard or ignorance for this global environmental event. Along the road where I live, only one other house was in darkness. The rest were lit by various degrees.

What could have gone wrong after last year's very encouraging response? Lack of awareness? Maybe, because I only saw a half-hearted involvement by both the federal government and the Penang state government, as well as the private sector. Overall, I believe there wasn't enough promotion or publicity of this event. And no political will to make it succeed in line with global efforts. So I would consider Earth Hour 2010 a failure, generally in Malaysia and specifically in my immediate neighbourhood.

Two early albums by John Scofield

I've read that John Scofield is arguably one of the "big three" of current jazz guitarists along with Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell. He has been around for a very long time, since the mid-1970s but his influence ascended the heights in the 1090s when everyone wanted him to be a collaborator on their albums.

Take note of some of these big names that Scofield had worked with: Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Charles Mingus, Joey Defrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Billy Cobham, George Duke, Jaco Pastorius, John Mayer.

His music is generally jazz fusion, funk, blues, soul and other forms of modern American music. Here are two of his early records in my possession. Who's Who was released in 1979 so this is very early John Scofield stuff. Flat Out came out nine years later. Of course in between these years, Scofield had remained very prolific.

Side One: Looks Like Meringue, Cassidae, The Beatles
Side Two: Spoons, Who's Who, How The West Was Won

Side One: Cissy Strut, Secret Love, All The Things You Are, In The Cracks
Side Two: The Boss's Car, Science And Religion, Softy, Evansville, Rockin' Pneumonia

Football distractions

This is real tight at the top of the English Premier League table. For the top three contenders, only two points separate the leaders from the third-placed. And with only seven games remaining for the 2009/2010 season, who among them have a better run-in to the title?

This Saturday, Manchester United will be playing Bolton, Chelsea will meet Aston Villa, while Arsenal will be up against Birmingham.

But after that, Manchester United's next game will be against Chelsea on 3 Apr. Now, that's a big one which should be the most crucial test between the two teams. If Manchester United win, the pressure will be slightly off them. Then they play Blackburn, Manchester City (another interesting game which is too close to call), Tottenham, Sunderland and finally, Stoke. Mustn't forget that there's also the Champions League games to distract them.

After Chelsea's match with Manchester United, they will still have to face Bolton, Tottenham, Stoke, Liverpool (which is a very important game for both teams for their own reasons) and Wigan. Chelsea are still in the chase for the FA Cup and for my own selfish reason, I hope they will be bothered by it.

And in the meanwhile, Arsenal will face Wolverhampton, Tottenham, Wigan, Manchester City, Blackburn and Fulham. Oh yes, Arsenal are still in the Champions League so let this keep their minds off the Premier League too. Let it distract, distract, distract!

But broadly, it looks like Arsenal may have the easiest run-in among the trio, Nevertheless, anything can happen in football. In fact, there are banana skins everywhere. My team is Manchester United and I hope - I really, really hope - that they'll managed to avoid any slip-up from now until the end of the season.

Australian travellogue: Sunset dinner date

6 Nov 2009. Of course, this being our final night in Western Australia, we needed to have a really good meal to remember the vacation. It must be something rather special to surpass all that we have tried the previous few nights.

On our arrival in Perth seven nights earlier, we had the most delicious pork ribs at the Comfort Inn; then it was an incredible plate of fettucini in an Italian restaurant in Albany on the second evening, black pepper steak at the Comfort Inn in Walpole on the third evening, trout in Pemberton on the fourth evening, and a Chinese dinner in Busselton on the sixth evening. Don't ask about the fifth evening: we choose to have a hurried meal in a take-away.

Therefore, what could surpass all the fine food that we have had so far? On the seventh evening in Fremantle, we headed to the Kaili's seafood restaurant at the harbour. Have heard a great deal about this place and they had all been good. Intrigued, I decided to taste for myself and see whether all the reviews were well-founded.

When we arrived there at about six-plus, there were already quite a number of people there. Originally, we wanted to sit outside but the air was starting to get a bit nippy. So, we decided to move inside for a much cosier environment. Here's a photo of the restaurant. See how that kid was straining his neck to see what the people on the other table was ordering? Quite cute...

Saw See ordered a plate of scallops and she was thrilled by the plate that came out from the kitchen.

As for me, I went for nothing less than a lobster. One whole lobster for about AUD50, or about RM150, which, I'm sure, is still cheaper than the prices in Malaysia.

So we tucked into the food and have to admit that it was a most satiating evening. I think everybody on their travels through Perth and Fremantle must make it a point not to miss the absolutely fresh seafood. Kaili's is not the only seafood restaurant in town. Anyone adventurous enough is bound to come across other great seafood joints all over the city, except that for Kaili's (and some others), a view overlooking the harbour and the setting sun was an added bonus.

Next: Kings Park
Previous: Fremantle Markets

The tragedy of Choong Khuat Hock

As a follow-up to my earlier blog post, it's been confirmed through a DNA test that it was indeed Choong Khuat Hock's decomposed remains that was found abandoned in a remote area off the Karak Highland in Pahang on 13 Mar 2010. Earlier, Choong had been identified visually by his father and maid through his clothing, but a confirmation by a DNA test was required for death under such circumstances. I can imagine how difficult it must have been for an aged man to see his son in this condition.

Police had said a post mortem showed Choong died of a blow to his chest caused by a blunt object at least four days earlier, which meant he was killed just hours after he was last seen at about 6pm on 9 Mar. It has been reported that closed-circuit television had shown Choong at an unknown location with an unidentified "middle-eastern" man. Police ruled out business rivalry and kidnapping as the motive behind the murder and said they believed the killing was over personal matters. Unfortunately, Police seemed to have failed to track down this suspect - not yet anyway - and with each passing day, the trail gets colder.

Choong's obituary announcement has already appeared in the newspapers. The remains will be cremated tomorrow and a memorial service held the day after. The tragedy has stretched on for almost two weeks and is already very hard on the family. So, I can well suspect that both ceremonies will be very private affairs for family members and close friends only. I don't expect much news to filter out.

Choong was a prominent financial analyst with his asset management company, Kumpulan Sentiasa Cemerlang. He belonged to an illustrious family in Penang and his uncles - Eddy and David - were not only prominent businessmen and Old Frees but also national badminton heroes. Both Eddy and David were inducted into the Badminton World Federation's Hall Of Fame in 1997 and 1998 respectively.

Will you go "Ahhh!" too?

The "Girl From Ipanema" album. Few albums can match this one for pure listening pleasure on a warm, lazy Sunday afternoon. Go on, try it. Just put on the music and relax....

Stan Getz (tenor saxophone) and Joao Gilberto (guitar, vocals), featuring Antonio Carlos Jobim (piano) with Tommy Williams (bass), Milton Banana (drums) and Astrud Gilberto (vocals). Recorded 18-19 Mar 1963 at A&R Studios, New York City.

An historic photo: Joao Gilberto (guitar) on the left, Antonio Carlos Jobim (piano) in the centre and Stan Getz (tenor sax) on the right

Tracks: The Girl From Ipanema, Doralice, Para Machuchar Meu Coracao, Desafinado (Off Key), Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars), So Danco Samba, O Grande Amor, Vivo Sonhando (Dreamer). Bonus tracks: The Girl From Ipanema (45rpm issue), Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars) (45rpm issue)

Australian travellogue: Fremantle Markets

6 Nov 2009. I've a little admission. In my haste to go visit the Fremantle Markets, I had almost failed to recognise the fabled Cappucino strip when I walked through it.

You see, we had parked the car at Packenham Street which was quite a distance away from the Markets and we walked through Bannister Street before going on South Terrace. I could see the Fremantle Markets in the distance and I kept telling Saw See to hurry up because that would be our next destination.

But I do remember coming across quite a number of restaurants and eateries along the road, such as Dome, Mexican Kitchen and the Mad Monk Brew. Their tables and chairs lined the whole road. So what could all these mean?

Unfortunately, nothing at that time. Nothing registered at all. Nothing. Nothing at all. I was only focussed on getting to the Markets. Nevertheless, I was still using the camera as a reflex action to take photos of my surroundings. Much later, I discovered that these photos were indeed of the Cappucino strip without realising it at the time! Talk about luck...

Pretty soon, we arrived at the Fremantle Markets. Like most of the buildings we had seen in this part of town, this was an old heritage building that was built in 1897, making it 112 years old.

My first reaction: was that the interior just like the E-Shed's. Perhaps busier, perhaps more variety, but basically much the same stuff to lure tourists to part with their Aussie dollars. But we didn't mind. The hustle and bustle of the place excited us. It suited us fine.

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay there for long and we had to retrace our steps back to the car. There was one final big destination for us in Freo and we had to arrive there before the day got dark.

Later: Succumbing to temptation
Previous: The E-Shed