Beautiful World

N & G Art Gallery Open Day Special: A Gathering of People

2009-11-25T18:37:00.000-08:00

Never mind the thousands of Golden Stingrays (inset) that gather off the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The biannual mass migrations seem mindless, very unlike the gatherings of people at N & G Art Gallery where like-minded creative people gathered to draw, paint and make handicrafts. Boiterous children and youngsters have a field day as they participated in competitions and parents trooped in to lend their support. There is always fun and laughter when parents support children in their endeavours!

A gathering of people at N & G Art Gallery Open Day...

More of N & G Art Gallery Open Day Special coming up!

N & G Art Gallery Open Day Special: Little Picassos

2009-11-22T05:30:00.000-08:00

Perhaps, the picture of the lady sitting on a chair with the cat perched on the shoulder (inset) isn't your cup of tea. You could just pick your grouses on anything - from the inporportionate face of the lady or the gruesome rags she wears to the stiff robot-like cat that stands like a sore thumb in the rather distorted background. But mind you, that is Dora Maar au Chat or Dora Maar with Cat, a 1941 painting by Pablo Picasso and one of the world's most expensive! Many times, we come across paintings far prettier than this and we just pass them up. At N & G Art Gallery, the little children there paint simply with their hearts, producing warm pictures that delight the hearts and souls. It's N&G Art Gallery Open Day! Have a fill of the works of the little Picassos! Applaud for they deserve it!

Art pieces of little children at N & G Art Gallery...

More on N & G Art Gallery Open Day coming up!

Ringing the Nose

2009-11-08T22:55:00.000-08:00

Twelve-year-old Suzannah Pabla pierced her nose and got suspended from the public school she attended in Boutiful, Utah, USA. Suzannah Pabla said piercing her nose made her feel closer to her roots in India. Body piercing is however banned in her American school. The school officials however compromised later when they noted that nose piercing is an Indian cultural choice and not a religious requirement and allowed her to wear an unobtrusive stud in her nose. The truth however is nose piercing could be both a cultural and religious practice. In India, nose is pierced for beauty and in Ayurvedic medicine, the practice is said to facilitate childbirth. Otherwise, piercing is done to honour the Hindu goddess of marriage, Parvathi. People could really get irrational over religion.

Fancy wearing a nose ring? Have your pick!

Love is in the air!

2009-11-04T22:51:00.000-08:00

If you are from the disco era, perhaps you will remember the 1977 John Paul Young's number which Krush, Cher, Rupert Everett and Colin Firth all made a cover of - Love is in the air. If you have good thoughts, you would defintely feel love in the air! You could even see it in the air! Have a fill of John Paul Young's Love is in the air, and make this a beautiful world, won't you? It is easy if you try and you can begin with good thoughts. Create an environment with positive energy with your good thoughts! Good thoughts fill the air with love!

John Paul Young's Love is in the air...

A Traveller's Tale:Snacks at Gurney Plaza

2009-10-04T06:09:00.000-07:00

The trip to Penang ended on a happy note. Before making for home, I had with my room mate and another friend visited Penang's Gurney Plaza and had had some delightful Taiwanese snacks in one of the fancy restaurants there. Then it was off to the movie. We watched Dwayne The Rock Johnson's Race to Witch Mountain. This was supposed to be the first Disney movie in 2009 to open at #1 in USA. It was a light movie which would please the kids. And were we kids then! We ought to be kids once a while!

At Gurney Plaza, Penang...

... Taiwanese Snacks!

A Traveller's Tale: Streets of Fairyland

2009-10-04T05:59:00.000-07:00

Batu Feringghi seems like a perfect name; Feringghi in Portuguese is foreigner and Batu Feringghi or Foreigners' Rock, attracts what else but foreigners. In the past, British, Dutch and Portuguese fought over Penang Island as if they owned the land and today, many foreigners are attracted to this strip of beaches on its northern coast which is Batu Feringgi. Besides restaurants and souvenir shops, there are numerous large hotels like Golden Sands Resort, Grand Plaza Parkroyal Penang and Shangri-La Resorts to cater both local and foreigne tourists. At night, part of Batu Feringghi lit up especially when a bazaar of make-shift stalls selling clothes, snacks, DVDs and souvenirs open up for business. That night my friends and I practically walk the streets of fairyland! We have always been in Fairyland, haven't we?

Batu Feringghi at night...

A Traveller's Tale:A Little Temple by the Sea

2009-10-04T05:51:00.000-07:00

On our way back from Teluk Bahang Reservoir, we stopped at a beach.I was tempted to pick up and take home some litte clay oil lamps strewn there but didn't. We saw a little Indian temple which I heard,holds a special floating chariot procession each year, special in that the procession takes place in the sea! It must be the Sri Singamuga Kaliamman Temple we came across. Hindus from as far as Singapore flock here around February or March each year during Maasi Magan or the month of Maasi in the Indian calendar to pay homage to the female deity, Sri Singamuga Kaliamman whom some claimed to have seen roaming the beach with her lion. During the festival, lanterns would be released on the sea which really reminds me of the Thai Loy Kratong Festival as well as the one special morning which I had spent in Varanasi, India. A tree near the temple had what looked like charms or talisman tied to its branches and there was even a little shrine for Buddha! I suppose Gods unlike man could live together!

At a beach in Teluk Bahang...Can you spot Lord Buddha?

A Traveller's Tale:Views that Mesmerize

2009-10-04T05:42:00.000-07:00

Penangites get most of their drinking water from Sungai Muda; that's a river in Kedah in the mainland. However, there are a few reservoirs in the island such as the Air Itam Reservoir, Mount Erskine's Guillemard Reservoir and of course, the Teluk Bahang reservoir which incidently is just a stone throw away from Hutan Lipur Teluk Bahang. We could just walk there but then, of course, it would be too tiring and we had a car. So, as they say, if you have it, why not you flaunt it?; or more accurately, in our case- if you have it, why not use and take advantage of it? We drove up a tar road to the reservoir where we had a blissful stroll and a panoramic view of the surrounding. In the horizon, it was mostly either green or blue, never mind the white clouds and the golden beaches and the occasional ugly orange roofs of houses. There is a lush tropical forest in the area and where the sea meets the beach, somewhere the salt water merges with the fresh water of a lake called the Meromictic Lake...I have yet to see this lake which sources said to be near Pantai Kerachut...

At Teluk Bahang Reservoir...

A Traveller's Tale: Little Gems

2009-10-04T05:26:00.000-07:00

The next afternoon, I had some time off. Aw pestered me to go out to Georgetown but I was not very keen having just been there the week before. Later, we settled for nearby Teluk Bahang where at one time, a fisherman there purportedly caught a mermaid (inset) . The news was a fake of course but then, there are genuine attractions in Teluk Bahang. My roommate, Ong drove us to a little green spot in Teluk Bahang which I was not aware of all these while - The Hutan Lipur Teluk Bahang. It is a forest reserve in Penang, a little one but a gem, no doubt. There are man-made structures which mar it though; it's like having cracks on a piece of gem, but you'd still enjoy taking a stroll here, admiring some locals who may be taking a dip in the cool, clear water of a little gurgling brook. If you have time, you may even want to trek there like we did. You'd enjoy looking at the colourful flowers and mushrooms that grow wild on the floor of a lush tropical forest! There are gems on the forest floor!

At Hutan Lipur Teluk Bahang... Look for the little wonders on the forest floor...

A Traveller's Tale: Dropping off and Picking up

2009-10-04T05:05:00.000-07:00

After having dim sum in Ipoh, Mau Wei did not immediately drive me to Penang. First, of course, she would have to drive me north to Simpang. She dropped me off there and I travelled to Taiping while the rest travelled in the opposite direction to their homes in Kuala Sepetang. Mau Wei was to pick up her mother there too and at about two, I was back in Simpang, waiting for Mau Wei to pick me up. I remember the road to be terribly congested and the journey to Simpang to be terribly slow that day since a by-election was being held in Bukit Gantang . After that, it was not straight to Penang as I'd like. It was first to Tambun in Penang where we had lunch and Mau Wei's mother was dropped off. Then, it was to Thuan Hee's house in Green Lane, Penang Island where he was picked up. Finally, it was to my hotel in Batu Feringghi. We had a respite there, walking the beach and then Mau Wei and Thuan Hee had to go and naturally, Mau Wei who was returning to Tambum would have to drop off Thuan Hee in Green Lane. Life indeed is a series of dropping off and picking up!

A Respite in Batu Feringghi, Penang...

A Traveller's Tale: A Windfall

2009-10-04T04:47:00.000-07:00

One Sunday, Mau Wei wanted to treat us to some dim sum in Ipoh. Ipoh, the capital of Perak,by the way is a city less than an hour drive away from Taiping.Mau Wei had a windfall of one thousand Ringgit and had also wanted to treat Yen Yen and her hubby who were just back from Ireland to breakfast. But I was going to Penang on an assignment that day and I would have to report before six. Since dim sum would be in the morning, Mau Wei said there would be ample time. But I thought that would be rather inconvenient since Taiping is located between Ipoh in the South and Penang in the North and that would mean moving in opposite directions. Would you mind driving me to Penang then? I asked Mau Wei. She was and that was it. Soon, the four of us were in her car travelling along the North-South Expressway to Foh Sun, the Chinese coffee shop that offers mind-boggling dim sum. You'd have windfall even if you don't know it!

Dim sum in Ipoh, Perak...

For more dim sum, visit Dragon Descendants!

Lesson from Starbucks

2009-09-27T23:37:00.000-07:00

Days before she left for New Zealand, Swee Ling had paid me a visit and treated me to some green tea in Starbucks. It was a pleasant experience for me, sitting in a comfy air-conditioned room, seeping a big cup of tea but probably it could be a pretty expensive experience too especially for my benefactor. For two big cups of tea and some chicken pie, the bill came to over RM 30 which is exorbitant for Malaysian standards. Simon Bryant, a history professor at Temple University in Philadelphia and author of Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks said that if he were to own a coffee shop, it would not be like Starbucks which have conversation-killing Wi-Fi. He said the sense of community is missing from Starbucks. Instead, he would have a big, round table strewn with newspapers to stimulate discussion. Thanks Swee Ling for the tea and thanks Professor Simon Bryant for the lesson! Not everything is about money!

It's not all about Sex!

2009-09-25T20:41:00.000-07:00

A 107-year-old woman from Kampung Bukit TokBat in Terengganu, Malaysia, Mek Wok Kundor , better known as Tok Wook, is looking for a new husband. Her current husband twenty two, 37-year-old husband, Mohd Nor Che Musa Mohd Nor who was held at the Sungai Besi drug rehabilitation centre would probably leave her for a younger woman. Tok Wook said she felt lonely without a companion and was merely looking for someone to accompany her in her twilight years. Marriage is not all about sex!

Crab Feasts

2009-09-21T19:43:00.000-07:00

My nephew and I just love crabs. I remember the days when we would drive down to the seafood restaurants in Kuala Sepetang or Matang just to have a bite of the crustaceans. An e-mail was forwarded to me about an unscrupulous restaurant in Tambun, Penang which served parasite-infested crabs but touch wood! We were lucky and always have fresh healthy crabs in Matang and Kuala Sepetang. Nowadays, when my nephew comes home from Kuala Lumpur, we would still go out for our crab feast and on one one occasion when we didn't go out, we were pleasantly surprised to find a tray of crabs at home. My sister-in-law had bought crabs for the whole family. It is cheaper to cook your own crabs at home and more hygienic too, considering the fact that there are unscrupulous restaurateur around but if whether in restaurants or at home, they bring the same pleasure especially if you are eating with the people you love and care!

Crabs!

Lecturers in the Limelight

2009-09-14T23:44:00.000-07:00

One day - two reports- four lecturers- that would place lecturers in the limelight, I would say. First, two Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) lecturers were reported to have got away with stern warnings after having plagiarised materials from the Internet to produce a guide book. Then, two more from a private college were reportedly caught for khalwat or close proximity during a raid by religious department officers in Prai. To the uninitiated, khalwat, according to Malaysia's Syariah Criminal Provisions Act (Federal Territories), Section 27, refers to a situation when any man who is found together with one or more women, not being his wife or any woman who is found together with one or more men, not being her husband, in any secluded place or in a house or room under circumstances which may give rise to suspicion that they were engaged in immoral acts is guilty for an offence and is liable to a fine or imprisonment. The lecturers in the second case were in a hotel room at 2.15am and the man though fully dressed had his belt removed while the woman was sitting at the dressing table. To the pure, dark shadows evokes wild thoughts!Just enjoy the cartoon below, won't you?

Head or Tales?

2009-09-11T09:09:00.000-07:00

I remember once when I was still a child, my late mother told me of the time when the Japanese were in charge in Malaysia. That was for a brief period during World War II, long before Hiroshima and Nagasaki got bombed. The British who were colonising the then Malaya had been defeated by the Japanese and had taken heels, leaving the people at the mercy of the Japanese soldiers. Mother was a maiden then and like all young girls at that time, she'd most probably smear her face with charcoal, making it messy and unappealing to Japanese soldiers who were said to have taken girls by force from their families. Of course, she did not get to come face to face with the soldiers at all since all stops were pulled to avoid the misfortune of meeting one. Mother told of wading knee-deep in streams in the villages in bids to hide from the soldiers, burning family photos to avoid detection and there were tales of horrors like men having their head chopped off...The last tale particularly comes to live when these photos taken during the Nanking Massacre in China ended up in my e-mail box. Photos talk!

The Horrors of the Nanking Massacre...

Check out Dragon Descendants for more photos on Nanking Massacre!

A Black Day

2009-09-04T00:50:00.000-07:00

It's almost 11 September and I am immediately reminded of 9/11, the dark spot in 2001, the day Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners and intentionally crashed two of them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others working in the buildings. Terrorists, I suppose have existed even before we realise it. Just before the first World War, for example, General "Black Jack" Pershing. the Military Governor of Moro Province, Philippines, dealt with 50 terrorists who launched a number of terrorist attacks against the United States. The Internet rumour had it that 49 of the 50 terrorists were tied to posts execution style and shot with bullets that were smeared with pig's blood. The dead were then dumped into a big hole and covered with pig blood, entrails, etc. Both incidents, I suppose brought sufferings but while the latter was just an Internet rumour, the former had been recorded for all too see. It's a wonder so few people could bring so much damage and human sufferings.

Just When You Think It's safe!

2009-09-02T07:27:00.001-07:00

When I reread the story of Sleepy Beauty who pricks her finger and falls asleep, I started to wonder about this thing called safety pin. A safety pin is said to date back to the Mycenaeans during the fourteenth century BC during which time, it is known as fibula. The modern version was reinvented by an American, Walter Hunt and today, is commonly used to fasten pieces of fabric together. In fastening cloth diapers, the safety clasp prevents the baby from being jabbed and I suppose then, it earns the safety part of its name. But then of course, if you have seen the use of some of these pins in Punk rock fashion, you would wonder again about its safety. Nowadays, nothing seems safe. Not even sex!

Safe sex, anyone?

No Gap

2009-08-29T04:25:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, right after attending Bee Suan's wedding luncheon, Mau Wei suggested that we went for a movie. So, there we were, Mau Wei, Hoi Thien, Chin Heng and I, at the cineplex in Taiping Sentral, watching a Pixar 2009 computer-animated comedy-adventure about a cranky old man and an overeager Wilderness Explorer who fly to South America in a floating house suspended from helium balloons. Up is a delightful movie to watch especially for the young at hearst and in one scene perhaps, when George Bizet's classic musical score, Carmen Habanera was played, it probably strikes a chord with the older audience. The old and new could co-exist in harmony, can't they? What's this about generation gap? Let's just let both enjoy Carmen... Habanera ...

Maria CALLAS sings Carmen HABANERA in Covent Garden...

Carmen, Chinese Version by Ge Lan...

Carmen Habanera by a five-year-old boy (instrumental)...

Carmen, Sesame Street's Version...

Man VS animals

2009-08-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

Liudmila through her post To Feel like an animal at first glance seems to imply that there is a possibility for man to feel what an animal feels. She was actually writing about the BBC report on the virtual reality exhibit on display at the annual Siggraph conference in New Orleans, US which enables visitors to experience the extreme ranges of sight and hearing that many animals have, which means they would be able to know how it is like to see with birds' ultraviolet vision or hear with whales' ultra-low frequency hearing. Perhaps, being able to do all that would allow man to feel what an animal feels but then again, wouldn't it be better if man would get to feel what another man feels?

Man and Animals...

Visit Plant and Animal Talk for more animal photos!

Veil! Veil!

2009-08-21T18:57:00.000-07:00

In Malaysia, the Ministry of Health has ordered a school, SMK USJ 12, to be closed for nine days There was much anxiety after a teacher had died and people were speculating that it was due to complications from the Influenza A(H1N1) virus which caused the much dreaded Swine Flu. Nearer home, in Taiping, I have heard of someone in Batu Kurau dying and another unkind rumour had it that a doctor in a local private hospital had passed away after contracting the disease from his patient. The rumour turned out to be false. Rumour mongers, I suppose are never of much help in this type of situation or in any situation at all. Some people here have also started to wear masks in the streets. An e-mail I received said that this does not really help as the virus is not air-borned and any bacteria or virus that ended up in the mask will breed because of the moisture and warmth and thus cause more havoc. Anyway, if the masks help, it's high time then to realize the importance of veils...

Veil! Veil!

Check out Simple Joys for more masks!

A Traveller's Tale: A View of Penang

2009-07-28T00:32:00.000-07:00

After the visit to Penang's Botanic Gardens, it was off to the 65-storey 12-sided geometric block which sits atop a 4-storey podium - Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak or more commonly known to locals as KOMTAR Tower - Penang's tallest building. There, besides shopping, one could take an elevator near Maybank to the top floor to take a view of the city. Incidentally, The World Heritage Committee meeting in Quebec City had on 7 July 2008, added eight new cultural sites from the Straits of Malacca, to Papua New Guinea and San Marino to UNESCO’s World Heritage List and this included Penang, or more specifically, George Town, the city founded in 1786 by Captain Francis Light and named after Britain's King George III. The city has mutlicultural heritages, having influences of both Asia and Europe said to be due to over 500 years of trading and cultural exchanges between East and West, but for Penang in particular, I suppose it would be more accurate to say that it was due to all those years of colonisation by the British. British used to be the colonial masters in this part of the world and elsewhere too in Asia making it at one time,The Empire where the sun does not set. But, of course the sun will havt to set. And now that it had, that ended one day in Penang!

At the top of Komtar Tower...

...you'll get to have a view of Penang...

A Traveller's Tale: A Gem of a Garden

2009-07-28T00:24:00.000-07:00

It was not even time for lunch when our trip to Universiti Sains Malaysia ended. Someone asked me where we could go where one would not have to spend a dime and I suggested Penang's Botanic Gardens along Jalan Air Terjun in Georgetown. The Botanic Gardens which is also known as theWaterfall Gardens because of the cascading waterfalls nearby , was established in 1884 from an old quarry site and had Charles Curtis as the first superintendent. Originally it played a role in research and botanical activities but since being handed over to the previous Penang State Government, the Gardens function more as a park and most of the herbarium collections of Curtis and successive superintendents had been transferred to the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Even then, I suppose this little park where one does not have to purchase a ticket to enter is still a gem in its own right. Many gems in this world are free!

Visiting Penang's Botanic Gardens...

Quaint trees originating from South America...

Students taking a stroll in the park...

Manicured gardens...

Foreign tourists in the Botanic Gardens...

A Traveller's Tale: Gross Delight

2009-07-28T00:20:00.000-07:00

Wayang Kulit, the shadow puppet theater, has been designated by UNESCO as the best masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage of humanity and why not, it is both the most ancient and most popular form of puppet theatre in the world! Long ago, in Indonesia,the Hindus had through the theater, introduced stories from the Mahabharata or the Ramayana to the local populace but then, they were said to have used rod puppets. Islam forbids the display of God or gods in human form and when the religion took root in Indonesia, the Muslim religious leaders forbade King Raden Patah of Demak, Java from watching the theatre in its traditional form. Instead, the theatre was modified to display only the shadow of the figures which had been chiselled carefully out of leather with very fine tools and so,wayang kulit was said to have been born.In the museum in Universiti Sains Malaysia, besides wayang kulit puppets, some very big figures were on display. They look rather gross compared to the traditional puppets but somehow, drew peals of delights from the younger set who recognised some of these figures as their favourite characters from the blockbuster, Star Wars. Figures, no matter how gross, attract!

Gross exhibits in the museum...

A Traveller's Tale: One Day in Penang

2009-07-28T00:06:00.000-07:00

One day, I just had the opportunity to visit Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang, the university which once caught the limelight for a blunder in the intake of new undergraduates. Then, a number of government and private institutions of higher learning were having a road show for students in its premises but I was more gamed for the little museum it had, tucked away some place. I remember years back, I had wanted to pay the museum a visit but never got to doing it. So, at last, I had the opportunity to take a peep at this little museum.Opportunity comes knocking just when you least expect it!

Young students packing the Career Fair in Universiti Sains Malaysia...

Wayang Kulit, a shadow puppet theater and puppets exhibited in the little museum in Universit Sains Malaysia...