Around the Penang Botanic Garden

Here are some pictures taken at the Penang Botanic Garden recently. The first one here was snapped at the lily pond.

A very simple shot (below) but I was much impressed by the vivid green of this shoot. It's so contrasting to the background.

I just chanced to look up this tall tree and noted that it was actually supporting some other plant life.

Sorry, nothing much to say about this picture, though. I just liked the huge leaves.

And I just liked these flowers too. It's rather unusual to me.

Finally, this is a close-up picture of a rotting tree trunk beside a path. A whole ecological system hidden beneath the bark, I'm sure.

Lunch with old mates

Lunch on Wednesday at the old Sin Kheang Aun restaurant in Chulia Lane, George Town with three of my old mates from school. That's Derek and Kah Kheng in the middle, and Oon Hup on the right. The restaurant was empty when I arrived there slightly before noon but it had filled up within the hour as its regular patrons arrived. Why I say "regular patrons" is because the restaurant's proprietor, Ong, seemed to know many of them by name. In fact, Kah Kheng seemed to know him quite well too. As for me, I don't know him. In fact, I haven't been to this restaurant for, what, 20 years or so? Maybe.

The Sin Kheang Aun is actually a very old restaurant in the city. The moment you step into the place, you are transported at least 50 or 60 years into the past. It exudes a laid back, old world charm which I've always liked. Time stands still in the restaurant but not the prices of the dishes, according to Derek. They have gone up tremendously but then, what hasn't increased in the country lately? Yet, with the old, loyal customers keeping to come back, it says a lot for this quality and quantity of food in this restaurant.

Just an inkling of some of the dishes we ordered: the pomfret (tau tay) in the curry was super-fresh, the prawns were very fresh too and stir-frying them the asam way brought out a particular zing to our tastebuds, the bittergourd fried with meat and salted duck egg was totally out of this world, and the kerabu prawn kept me wanting more and more of the stuff. I hear the restaurant also serves chicken chop which is a popular dish of the Hakka community in Penang.

Fancy a durian farm homestay?

I've known Chang Teik Seng for more than 16 10 years now. Almost every year, I contact him at around this time to catch up with him. He lives in Balik Pulau on the other side of Penang island but normally, I'd meet him at his shop in Farlim Ayer Itam. Not this year, though. I may want to drive all the way to see him at his home.

You see, he's pretty excited. Durian season is starting on 15 May 2010 and his durians are fruiting well. Therefore, Chang (popularly known as Durian Seng among his circle of afficionados) is all set to launch his special “eat-all-you-can” package at his newly opened Durian Villa.

For a RM88, durian lovers can get a one-day pass on his durian farm to eat as many durians as possible throughout the day for breakfast, lunch and dinner, he told me over the telephone. However, if this burpy durian feast is far beyond your ability to experience, there's also a RM25 package to enjoy the durians for breakfast, a different RM35 durians-for-lunch package and a RM45 package for dinner.

In return, you'll get to enjoy different award-winning strains of durian going by such exotic names as the Hor Lor, Red Prawn, Kun Poh Ang Bak, Green Skin Ang Bak, Lipan, D-600, Little Red, D-604 and D-11.

But come, lah, he cajoled me, come to my Durian Villa in Sungai Pinang. Recently, Chang had two air-conditioned villas built at his durian farm so that visitors can also enjoy a bracing homestay on the other side of the island.

Chang told me that he spent more than RM70,000 to build the villas and there are plans to have more. Presently, the two villas are equipped with king-size beds and 32-inch LCD televisions, and they share a swimming pool.

"We are set amidst lush greenery all around us. If you come here, you can watch the sunset as you enjoy the fruits,” he said. "So come lah, bring your friends with you for a sumptuous durian party." I'd love to, Chang, but I've also got to watch my diet. But don't worry, I may take up your invitation to go visit you soon.

In the meantime, here's a short video clip of Durian Seng's Durian Villa. But you'll have to pardon the colour. I must tell him to upload a more colourful version soon. This one's too Avatarish. Anyway, do enjoy the great view and listen to the birds chirping away:

Jose's to blame

How can I have missed this classic quotation from The Special One?

At the press conference last week after Inter Milan had beaten Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals, he said that Barcelona would probably accuse him of causing the Icelandic volcano eruption which disrupted the Spanish club's travel plans.

Mourinho said: "The way they are, tomorrow we will probably read I am to blame for the volcano." Then he added: "Maybe I do have a friend in the volcano and I am responsible for that."

BTW, be ready for the second leg of this semi-final clash between these two teams at 3am tomorrow morning. Should be fascinating to see whether Barcelona can overturn the deficit from the first leg.  

Touring Beijing

I may not want to write a travellogue on my recent trip to Beijing but that doesn't mean that I cannot comment anything about it. And boy, do I have several observations to make.

Touring in a Group
First thing is, big group tours are inconvenient but may be necessary evils. A group that is no bigger than 10 persons is fine but not when it consists of about 30 people. Why? Because it is impossible for the tour guide to meet the needs and demands of everyone in his group. There's also a lot of compromise required of the tour group. Some will want to go here, some will want to go there; some will keep within the time allocated for visiting a place, some will exceed the time and then keep everybody else waiting. My wife and I were in a group of about 60, so that made the situation even more challenging for all.

Language
If I have a better choice, I would want to visit Beijing, or any other place in China, at my own pace and leisure, but I know that it is difficult because both my wife and I can hardly get by without knowing Mandarin. Maybe she does understand this language slightly better than I. Me? Sorry, lah. So the only option possibly open for me is to join a tour group to China. Safety in numbers. Assistance in numbers.

Of course, this is my own shortcoming, so I cannot put blame on anyone for it. I was complaining to my friend, Herbert, that it's so difficult to learn a new language. Is it our age, I asked him. (We were born just days apart.) He said it's because we don't expose ourselves to the language constantly day and night. He was suggesting an experiment. Why not, he said, that I just turn on a Chinese language programme on the radio day and night, and try listening to it though I cannot make head or tail of the conversation at the beginning. Sooner or later, the jigsaw puzzle will fall into place. That's his theory of learning a new language. I forgot to ask whether it had worked for him.

Cultural Show

The first time I looked at the itinerary, I moaned out loud to my wife: "Oh no, not the obligatory cultural show." Why must group tours to China start off with a visit to an acrobatic show? I'm sure you can envision it: girls twirling table cloths with their toes or balancing spinning ceramic plates on rods, men prancing about through hoops or showing off their cheoreographed Wu Shu movements, women balancing on men's shoulders or swinging about in the air on trapezes or ropes, the whole works. Sigh...this visit is obligatory on us. But of course, you still have to be impressed with them. They have practised so hard till perfection.

Food
Then there's the question of food during a group tour. Somehow, the food can always be better. The restaurant can always be better. They are never the nicest places. They are never the most delicious of meals. They are all rather standard fare. If you see an omelette in one restaurant, you will see the same omelette dish somewhere else too.

Then it's every man (and woman) for themselves. Never mind your table manners. It's not like home where it's good manners to leave the food on the main plates until you actually want it. On a tour, if you like something, take it first or otherwise someone else will take it. So food gets piled up on your own little plate. You may look greedy but this is a fact when sitting down at a table with strangers.

Speed. Don't eat so daintily or slowly during travel for the same reason: the food will disappear all too quickly from the table as you masticate your first mouthful. It's not like you are travelling just the two of us together, remember? This is a group tour with lots of other people. It sounds rude but if they don't care about leaving any dish behind for you, why should you care about them in return?

Finally, just a little comment about groups consisting of people with different religious backgrounds. For common meals, food is always restricted to what they can eat and what they can't eat, where they can eat and where they cannot eat. And that's no joy during a holiday.

Tourist Spots

Neutral areas in Beijing like the Imperial Palace or the Great Wall are fine to visit for tour groups comprising people of different beliefs or backgrounds, but places that suggest - even remotely - of having been used previously for the purpose of deity or ancestral worship are definitely out of the question.

For example, in China today, Cheng Beng has lost it's original significance. It's now a cultural practice rather than something considered as religious. During Cheng Beng in China (and we were there at the right time), the Chinese people still visit their ancestor's grave but it's just for the purpose of cleaning it up, not ancestral worship.

Similarly, public temples have lost their original purpose. Though in private, the Chinese people may still worship a deity or two in their homes, none is seen in the open. Point of fact: the Temple Of Heaven is definitely a tourist spot. Has been for many, many decades. It used to be a place of worship for the Chinese emperors but now, if you go there, people are visiting the complex to see the buildings, take in the view and basically have a good time by relaxing, participating in group social activities like singing, dancing and gambling, and even treating it as a playground or exercise yard. All very innocuous. Nothing suspicious, nothing ulterior, nothing indoctrinating, nothing to fear. And yet because of the word "Temple" in the name....this tourist attraction was not in our itinerary. Similarly, the Ming Tombs was also not in our itinerary although we could have visited or passed through the place while enroute to the Great Wall.

Of course, you can still visit such places but they will have to be optional tours and at your own time. If it is not too much out of the way, the tour bus may still drop you off there and pick you up later but entrance is on your own and touring the place is on your own. Getting lost is also on your own.

I've griped enough for today but I'm not done yet. I've still one more thing to say about shopping in Beijing but I shall leave that to another day.

Plagiarist?

I'm dumbfounded. Canadian folk music legend Joni Mitchell has just labelled her equally legendary folk music contemporary, American Bob Dylan, a "plagiarist". That's a very strong word for one icon to hurl at another icon in the modern music industry.

According to Mitchell, "Bob is not authentic at all. He's a plagiarist and his name and voice are fake. Everything about Bob is a deception. We are like night and day, he and I."

Fade away, not!

"It is rubbish. There is no truth in it. I have no intention of retiring. As I've said time and time again, the only thing that determines my staying here is my health. Unfortunately for you lot, I'm in rude health. You'll be gone before I'm gone, don't worry."

Lily pond's back to normal

Whenever I am at the Penang Botanic Garden, which is not often enough, I always try to make it a point to stroll to the lily pond. In my opinion, it's the best place to be at the Garden as it's more secluded and cooler than the rest of the place. Here is the entrance to the lily pond which is next to the Orchid House.

The two parallel paths to the pond are short walks, probably not more than 50 metres from the road that goes round the Garden. The paths are well shaded and the whole place is, well, full of greenery. To complete the picture, there's even a small stream flowing between them.

I was very pleasantly surprised when I visited the pond on Wednesday. The water has returned and the pond is brimming with life. I don't know when this had happened, but I was greatly disappointed the last time I was there in June last year. Then, the pond was dry as a bone.

Here's another view of the pond. I think it's fantastic how the lilies are thriving.

And yet another picture. I was impressed that the water was clear. No murkiness at all. The Garden authority has done a good job to revitalise the place.

A song of joy

It's an old, old story but often repeated. A long-forgotten piece of music is picked up for radio play by a present-day announcer or host and an entirely new audience takes an instant pleasure to the music and the song shoots up the charts and becomes a best-seller.

On 10 March 2010, someone called Rush Limbaugh (he may be a big radio celebrity in America but he means nothing to me here except a name) played a piece arranged by Argentine composer-conductor-arranger Osvaldo Nicholas Ferrara - his version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's first movement of the Symphony No. 40 in G Minor K550 - and the exposure pushed the song's popularity from #136,705 to #1 on Amazon.com's rankings.

Until then, Ferrara - better known in music circles as Waldo de los Rios - had almost faded into oblivion, having died in 1977. In my opinion, his most memorable contribution to present-day music was his interpretation of Ludwig von Beethoven's famous Ninth Symphony, the Ode to Joy, that was given a dramatic lungful by Spanish singer Miguel Rios in 1970.

Don't expect too much from this album if you are a classical music purist. In the 1970s, symphonic rock was at its most popular and Ferrara was just one of many musicians attempting the classical music-rock music crossover. Way back then, adding modern-day rhythms and percussion to classical music helped to open up a whole new audience. And even today, this album continues to attract people who seldom appreciate classical music. My wife, for instance, took one brief, fleeting listen to this album yesterday morning and asked that I play it for her this Sunday afternoon.

Nevertheless despite the growing awareness for Ferrara's music, there may be better interpretations of classical music out there. My own favourite symphonic rock-classical music crossover comes from an obscure band known as the Munich Sound Symphony Orchestra. I've only their music on cassette but in the 1970s, this band released some of the meanest interpretations of classical music that I had ever heard. It started me off on the road to appreciating real classical music.

Anyway, Grandes Exitos is the title of a compact disc, a recent compilation of Ferrara's music, from which this Rush Limbaugh had lifted the Mozart Symphony No. 40 for airplay last month. This is not Grandes Exitos but Sinfonias, where the song originated from. 

Side 1: "Ode To Joy" Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in D Minor (4th movement), Schubert's Eighth Symphony in C Minor (1st movement), Mozart's Symphony No 40 in G Minor (1st movement), Brahms' Third Symphony in F Major (3rd movement)
Side 2: Dvorak's Symphony No 9 (4th movement and 2nd movement), Haydn's Symphony Of The Toys in C Major (2nd movement), Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 5 in E Minor (2nd movement), Mendelssohn's Fourth Symphony in A Major "Italian" (1st movement)

"please kindly fill out our Customer Registration Form"

At the risk of yet again being labelled a grumpy old man by an ex-colleague from my old JobStreet days, I'm airing a frustration - an unhappiness, actually - over a recent small incident.

There I was, making a simple email enquiry from a company in Taiwan about two of their products and my initial message to them was forwarded to a sales staff.

After waiting two days - that's how fast and eager they are about procuring new business, a lady there finally wrote to me and asked me to go to their website and fill in a form "...in order to reply to you and offer our service to you more quickly and more efficiently..."

Thanks but no thanks. Gosh, all I really wanted to know was the price for the product and the shipping cost to Penang. It really baffled me that the company was unwilling to disclose the information until I completed the registration form. No time for all that, unfortunately.

Maybank2U's (almost useless) TAC request

[This is a brief update dated 29 Nov 2013: I've been noticing that this post of mine does receive some viewing occasionally. It was written way back in April 2010. Connectivity conditions have improved considerably. Getting a response to the Maybank TAC requests are now much faster. So if anyone still wants to read the rest of this story, please go ahead. Just bear in mind that everything I wrote about is now rather old news. Thank you.]

For a long time already, banks here in Malaysia have instituted a security measure known as TAC.

This acronym stands for Transaction Authorisation Code, a security code that is sent to a user's mobile by SMS whenever an online transaction is attempted.

TAC provides a second layer of identity authentication before a person is allowed to do specific online transactions. If a TAC is not requested or if the TAC is not keyed in (or wrongly keyed) into the online field, the transaction stops there.

Maybank, of course, is one of these banks employing this security measure. For a long time, for perhaps two years already, I've been trying to avoid using Maybank for online transactions. Not that I'm not confident about the security of their system. No, it's because I'm so fed up with the tardiness of their system. Two years on, and Maybank still haven't improved on it.

Just this morning, I thought that, well, let me give the bank a chance to see whether their services have improved. So after logging into Maybank2U, I tried a transaction and requested for a TAC at 10.27am.

I waited....

And waited....

And waited still some more....

Boy, do I have the patience to wait. A real sucker, aren't I?

If after a while the user does not log out from Maybank2U, their system will warn him that they would log him out in 30 seconds. Three such messages appeared on my laptop and three times, I had to click and tell them to continue with my session.

And finally, at 10.41am, the TAC notification came in by SMS to my mobile. That's a 14-minute wait to complete a TAC notification. And that is completely unacceptable for a huge bank like Maybank. It's supposedly Malaysia's premier bank and yet, their TAC service is shitty and inefficient. Nothing has changed in this respect in the past two years.....

Choong Khuat Hock's murder: Police no nearer solving the case

I've written much on the drama of Choong Khuat Hock, the financial analyst who was found murdered in a ditch off the Karak Highway in Pahang. A suspect was later picked up by the Police. According to a recent story in the Sun2Surf website, the suspect has been cleared of the crime. Clearly, the Police is no nearer finding a solution to the murder mystery today than yesterday. Here is an excerpt from the news item:

KUALA LUMPUR (April 13, 2010): The Algerian arrested in connection with the murder of the country's top financial analyst Choong Khuat Hock has been cleared of the crime but is being held for allegedly committing other offences. 

Bentong police chief Supt Rosli Abdul Rahman said the 33-year-old foreigner has been remanded further to be investigated for cheating and extortion cases reported in the Klang Valley.

He said the man is also being investigated for offences under the Immigration Act for allegedly tampering with the entries in his passport. It is learnt that he had entered the country in 2005 but his passport showed his entry into Malaysia two years ago.

He said police had contacted the Algerian embassy and their officials are assisting investigators.

The man who was a close friend of Choong was arrested after he surrendered himself to police on March 30 and was remanded till Friday.

About a week after Choong's body was found police had released a photofit of the Algerian after calls for him to surrender failed.

Rosli said police also detained a Nigerian who is also said to be a close friend of Choong in the Klang Valley last week to assist in the probe.

However, he said the man will be released soon as investigators found no evidence to linking him to the case.

"We found no incriminating evidence linking both these foreigners to the case. We are still gathering clues and hope it leads us to the person behind the murder." he said.

He urged those who may have information which can help solve the case to call the Bentong CID at 09-2222222.

Being despotic

Whatever they are selling, I'm not interested to buy. Not from a shop that calls itself ... Despotic. No way!

BM hill: Reached the top

So finally after a break of almost three weeks, I've resumed my exercise regime at the Bukit Mertajam hill. And yesterday afternoon as I drove into the park at the foothills, the first thing I noticed was that the new archway at the entrance had been completed. Mmm, okay, I thought to myself, not bad at all.

I decided to go up the way of the dam. Occasionally, I do use this track. It's a well-worn hill path that skirts the left edge of the whole park and while it goes to the top of the hill, which is about 430 metres above sea level, I've always emerged after about a 40-minute leisurely climb to join the tarmac road.

But yesterday at the spur of the moment, I decided to follow another fellow hiker and climb all the way up to the top. I haven't done it before but then, there is always a first time for everything. It was a slow climb, that was for sure, because I didn't know what to expect. The way was certainly tougher than anything I had encountered before on this hill. At certain parts, it was almost an 80-degree climb and I had to support or pull myself up with the tree trunks. Nevertheless, there was never any danger along the way. Just had to take it easy and pace myself for the whole journey.

The climb ended at the transmission towers and I took almost an hour to reach there. The effort was not too bad except that during the latter part of the climb, there was just nobody else using this path beside the other hiker and I. The earth track, though well worn, was devoid of other people, even on a busy Sunday afternoon.

As a footnote, I should just mention that the most boring part of the climb was the descent. The condition of my knees being the way they are, I could not risk going down the same way as I went up. So it had to be a long monotonous walk down the tarmac road. Fifty minutes of dull monotony.

No pictures taken of this climb, however. I left my regular cameras at home as I had not anticipated climbing this way when I left home. And the in-built camera on the mobile has started to give me problems. It just won't snap any picture any more. Darn!

Leech up your nose

Nose-dwelling leech? Right. This story on the BBC website had me imagining for a while whether there could be anything grosser than that!

Indeed, a gross nose-dwelling leech. Discovered by an international team of scientists in Peru three years ago.

According to the story, they extracted the leech, measuring 65 to 70 millimetres, from the nose of a nine-year-old girl who admitted bathing in lakes, rivers and streams. The girl's parents had noticed a black worm moving inside her right nostril and sought medical attention.


It has been given the name Tyrannobdella rex which means tyrant leech king. The making of another T Rex.

This Peruvian story is enough to give me goosebumps. So what else has my wild mind been imagining? Methinks, the only common leech up anyone's nose would be this one.

Fog you!

My neighbourhood looked so unreal, as if some distant volcanic ash had descended on Bukit Mertajam and given us a spectacular sunset. But truth was, the foggers from the district health department came at about 6.30pm today to carry out a widespread fogging exercise of the whole neighbourhood.

Time to do my taxes

Yes, there's no escaping that time of the year again.

Donganmen Street, off Wangfujing

A friend cornered me about a month ago. He had a kind of concerned look on his face. "I heard," he said finally, "that you are going to China on holiday?"

"Yes," I answered, "what's up?"

"You're not attempting another travelloque of your holidays there, are you?" he asked.

I looked at him. He tried his best to look normal but his fidgeting betrayed his slight anxiety.

"What if I do?" I replied provocatively.

"Well, please don't! Please don't write a travelloque about China," he blurted out. "I can't take it. A travelloque about Australia is fine. Telling us what you did in Australia is fine but please....not about China. Especially, not about...Wangfujing!"

Aha! So that was what our conversation was all about. My friend was not looking forward to knowing what happens at Wangfujing in the evenings.

But first, what can I write about Wangfujing when I haven't even been there? Until I spoke with him, I must declare that I haven't even heard of Wangfujing, let alone visit the place. But now that it has been mentioned, how can I avoid not going there now?

It turned out that Wangfujing is one of the poshest tourist places in Beijing. You won't find any locals shopping there, only foreign tourists. The road is lined with eating outlets and shopping malls stacked with designer clothes and all eyeing the magical foreign currenc. Yes, even in a communist land, money is King.

Oh yes, the road also sports an adult shop. It's positioned strategically below a restaurant, see. When we were there, I noticed one of Saw See's colleagues and her 12-year-old daughter seemingly peering into the adult shop. A liberated mom, I thought. But I was wrong. They were only looking at the restaurant's neon-lit menu on display above the adult shop.

People think that Wangfujing is home to the night food market. Actually, the market is not along Wangfujing Street at all but along Donganmen Street which is a road off Wangfujing Street. However, the place is not so difficult to find. Just follow your eyes, nose and ears and you will see, smell and hear people heading towards the night market.

The speciality of the place is the exotic fare on display there. Don't go there if you are easily offended. Don't go there if you feel squeamish looking at all sorts of strange stuff. Don't go there if you are an animal rights activist. The Chinese will sell anything that moves and have their backs to the sky. And they include starfish, silkworms, beetles, grasshoppers, sea horses, crabs, scorpions and animal innards and offals such as the intestines, kidneys, hearts and what not. See what I mean? The only thing I did not see were roast rats but I'm sure they'll be available if you ask!

How do you say "Kyrgyz"?

One geographical fact I learnt today. Kyrgyz is the name of the ethnic group and language of the people in Kyrgyzstan. I don't know whether you'll agree with me or not but Kyrgyz is a beautiful word. I'm fascinated with it. This six-letter word doesn't contain any vowel at all and yet, it is totally pronunciable. 

According to a very helpful guide to pronunciation on the BBC website, we have got to say this word as KUR-giz, with the emphasis on KUR. The zed is pronounced as in the word "zoo".

What brought on this guide is that with Kyrgyzstan in the news lately, many people from non-eastern European countries are having difficulty taking in all those Kyrgyz names. Personally I do not have much problems with most Cyrillic-sounding words although I don't understand their language at all. I don't know, maybe years of reading chess books have helped. Many top chess players come from this part of the world and you get to know their names and how to say them. And I can tell you, they can be pretty weird.

Anyway, as much as the BBC guide was helpful, it was also filled with some incomprehensible verbosity. Take this as an example: "...the original Kyrgyz pronunciation of Kyrgyzstan contains sounds which are unfamiliar and "foreign" to many native English speakers, such as the close back unrounded vowel and the voiced uvular fricative."

Aiyoh...what's the meaning of "close back unrounded vowel" and "uvular fricative"? I've no time to find out, actually, so I shall have it leave them at that.

That same BBC guide also included something else: the pronunciation of the word Manas, which is the site of an American airbase in Kyrgyzstan. I shall leave it to you to go see how its pronounced correctly on the BBC website. You'll be amused.

Lizard ballad

This, here, is Axl Rose. lead vocalist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses.

And this, here, is NOT Axl Rose.

But he looks like a decent clone of Axl Rose, doesn't he? If you still don't know who he is, take a look at this video first.

Still clueless? Well, perhaps this picture below will help.

The Axl Rose near-lookalike is none other than the American billionaire Warren Buffet making a cameo appearance in this music video promoting GEICO, a wholly owned subsidiary of Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway.