From Dengkil, we then proceeded to Malacca, about two hours behind schedule. First stop was for dinner at the Atlantic One Nyonya Restaurant and then a short 45-minute diversion to Jonker Street before we ended up at the Hotel Rosa for the night, rather tired after a whole day on the road since seven o'clock in the morning. There would still be two full days of travelling ahead of us.
My wife and I spent the last weekend on a jaunt through Malacca and Kuala Lumpur. In the company of several Theravadin monks and many of her friends from the Nandaka Vihara Meditation Centre in Bukit Mertajam.
You see, the Nandaka Vihara was arranging a trip to visit the Dhammavijaya Meditation Centre in Dengkil, Selangor, and the organisers thought it would be a good idea to take the monks on a sight-seeing trip to nearby Malacca and Kuala Lumpur as well.
Incidentally, the visit to the Dhammavijaya coincided with their annual kathina celebration. This year's celebration was significant as the founder of the Pa-Auk monastery in Burma, the Sayadaw Bhaddanta Acinna, was there as well. So last Saturday, we all took a chartered bus to Dengkil, spent about two hours at the Dhammavijaya.
I was passing along Prangin Road this afternoon and noticed that the barricades along this main road in George Town had been removed, revealing the restored Sia Boey which has been touted as the first urban archaological park in the country.
Intrigued by what I had been reading about this place in the past months, I decided to go take a look at the place. Luckily, I was able to find a nearby place to park the car. What I saw when entering from the northern entrance was a rehabilitated Sia Boey, not as a market but as a refreshing green park in the city. There was a waterway with clear water and Japanese carp were swimming in it.
But as we now know, this wasn't the original canal at all; not the canal that carried filthy water all the way to the sea. No, this was a closed off portion of the original canal that had been cleaned up. Unseen to visitors to Sia Boey, however, the murky water has been diverted into a parallel underground or covered-up conduit.
Several months ago, this project had attracted a lot of incredulity and controversy when pictures appeared of how fish was now swimming and thriving in what was once the murky waters of the canal. Could it really have happened that Penang had succeeded finally in cleaning up the infamously filthy Sia Boey canal?
Then it became known that in reality, the dirty water had simply been diverted into a separate conduit that had been constructed in parallel to this old stretch. There were accusations of a deception and the authorities were forced to clarify the situation.
Anyway, all this is behind us now and it is time for us to appreciate the good work that had been done to rehabilitate Sia Boey. Apart from the heritage Sia Boey building which used to house the old wet market and the fish pond running beside it, there is also a children's playground at one end of Sia Boey. It's a little green lung in the midst of the city and I am okay with that.
Somehow, you would begin to realise that your contributions may be starting to bear some fruit when you see positive changes around you.
For example, I've been in the committee of the Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society for quite a while - since its inception, actually - and one of our objectives is to reconnect Penangites with this doctor who had been largely forgotten with the passage of time.
After all, it has been 140 years since Dr Wu Lien-Teh was born and 109 years since he fought and won against the dreaded plague. Next January would mark the 60th anniversary of his death.
I've written about him several times on my blog too; click here to read.
Recently, I was alerted that there was a new road in George Town, which connected Jalan Kampong Jawa Baru with Jalan SP Chelliah, and it was called Jalan Dr Wu Lien Teh. That got me pretty excited and I made it a point to track it down.
So now, in addition to Taman Wu Lien Teh (mind you, this is the name of a road and not a garden) in a residential area opposite his alma mater, Penang Free School, and a Jalan Wu Lean Teh (a misspelling, no doubt) in Ipoh, there is a new Jalan Dr Wu Lien Teh in Penang.
Apparently, the Penang Government must have listened closely to all the noise that we in the Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society have been generating since 2012 and decided that it was time to remember this great man again. A real-life Penang-born hero.
And I can tell you that we, the Old Frees around the world, are feeling pretty chuffed as well, ever since I broke the news on facebook and in my whatsapp postings.
Or maybe, the fact that the bust of Dr Wu Lien-Teh is now displayed prominently on the grounds of the Penang Institute in Brown Road had something to do with it. The bust, which is a gift from the University of Harbin in China, is an irresistible attraction. Standing in the front of the Penang Institute for a few years now - it used to be located at the Penang Medical College - it can hardly be missed by visitors.
I saw this post on the Rega Turntables group on facebook, not because I like listening to Led Zeppelin myself but because of the technical issues that the writer was complaining about.
He was wondering why the vocals and drums in the louder moments of his Led Zeppelin and The Doors remastered vinyl records sounded harsh. Moreover, sound distortion was increasing towards the end of a side.
Some of the replies sounded convincing and interesting enough to me. For example, one opinion was that the latest records do not have the best dynamic and if the music had all been recorded very loud they might sound distorted. Often, they were also recorded close to or slightly above the limit (above zero decibel most of the time). This would then distort. Further more, if the last songs on each side were generally loud they could also have higher peak levels, dynamics that give distortion and aggressive highs. These were some disadvantages of buying remastered records, They are louder, they distort and they sound aggressive in the highs compared to the original pressing. Plus, the current remasters are made from decades-old master tapes. They were never going to sound quite as good as the original pressings.
I was in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend and had rushed back to Penang on Sunday night so that I could attend this day celebrating the 203rd anniversary of my alma mater, Penang Free School. Here are my selected pictures from an eventful day.
At the grave of Robert Sparke Hutchings with the representatives of Penang Free School at about 7.20am. The Hutchings Secondary School Prefects are at the back.
With Mahyidin Mustakin, President of both the PFS Foundation and Old Frees' Association Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. He asked me who were behind the 10 educational videos and I told him that Siang Jin and I were from the Class of 1970. And he duly acknowledged us in his address at Speech Day.
With Goh Keat Jin, Chief Executive Officer of Maybank Asset Management in Singapore. He was the guest speaker representing the Old Frees at the Speech Day ceremony.
With my old schoolmate, Sukumaran. We came all the way from the mainland: me from Bukit Mertajam and Suku from Nibong Tebal.
The ever-present School Band started the day's proceedings with their rendition of the National and State anthems upon the arrival of the Governor, and then rounded up Speech Day with this version of the School Rally.
The question is who did better? Did the Free School boys and girls sing the School Rally better than the Old Frees at the OFA annual dinner? Who sand with greater gusto?
With some of the Penang Free School Prefects and members of the School Magazine Editorial Board: Afan, Krisada, myself, Dylan, Luvinaash, Yu Yan and Yan Tatt. (I've yet to see the magazine, though, despite holding up a copy.)
With my fellow chessmates Low Han Boon and Terry Ong
My wife and I with some of the remnants from our Ban Hin Lee Bank days: Quah Lean Hin and Ng Khye Wai. There were at least three more at the OFA annual dinner whom I totally forgot about. Sorry about that!
With my old Westlands Primary School schoolmates, Wong Chye Chye and Yeoh Oon Hup. Yes, we really do go back a long, long way.
With Loh Lean Kang, Aryan Singh and Tan Soo Choon
With some of the people that had attended our PFS student leadership workshops over the years: from left, Yu Yan, Yan Tatt, Adrian, Gautam, Nicholas, Tharswin, Aryan, Lean kang, myself, Soo Choon, Diviyha, Harish, Afan and Gokhulan
Two years ago on 4 Nov 2017, we wife and I were in Kuala Lumpur when we heard that a heavy rainfall in Penang had flooded several low-lying areas on the mainland. We were due to return home on the next day but on the train, we learnt that the flood situation in Penang was actually very extensive.
We were concerned that even though we could arrive back at the Bukit Mertajam train station, it would be almost impossible to get home if the flood waters were preventing taxis from picking us up. In fact, a taxi driver we called told us then that it would depend on whether he could drive into the train station. Luckily for us, he could and we reached home safe and sound.
Although our house in Taman Jernih was not affected by any flood water, the people in Taman Sri Rambai probably had it the worst. Flood waters had risen about four feet into their homes and all their furniture, electrical appliances and motor vehicles were all spoilt or severely damaged.
For about four weeks now, it has been raining very heavily in the afternoons in this part of the country. It was a big relief when the rains started coming in the last week of September to clear away the thick haze that had enveloped the peninsula.
But the rains have not stopped. Nice, clear, brilliant mornings would give way to dark clouds by mid-afternoon and more often than not, the day would end with a heavy deluge.
The rain yesterday evening was particularly heavy too. We had driven to the Wembley St Giles Hotel on the island for The Old Frees' Association annual dinner and initially, we weren't too aware that the rain was coming down hard.
But it did come down hard and word started filtering in gradually that the roads around Bukit Mertajam were almost impassable to traffic. Along the busy Jalan Song Ban Kheng, we heard that the residents of Taman Sri Rambai were starting to move their cars to the road shoulder in anticipation of rising flood waters.
I checked Google Maps and indeed, the roads leading to my neighbourhood were all marked in deep red. Possibly, traffic could already be at a standstill. If we wanted to go home, yes, it was still possible but it would have to be a long diversion south.
I continued checking the Map constantly to see whether traffic was moving again. By 11.30pm when we left the hotel, traffic looked almost back to normal. I therefore took the chance to drive home on my usual route, and it was quite all right.
This afternoon, I received some pictures showing the extensive damage to the Cherok Tokun hill in Bukit Mertajam.
Same like two years ago, the rushing flood waters had severely damaged the tarred road as well as the many tracks around the recreation park. The road surface were almost destroyed while thick mud coated the car park. Worse, water was still gushing down the hill. This was also a repeat of 2017, coming some two years later.
From this point on, I think I shall let the pictures do the talking. They were taken this afternoon at the Cherok Tokun hill.
