George Town is not a city in Malaysia?

George Town is the first city in Malaysia, long before Kuala Lumpur. It is also recognised internationally as the second largest city in Malaysia, as indicated in the article from the Star at the bottom of this post.

Royal Charter of Penang's City Status
Wikipedia - George Town, Penang

the said Municipality of George Town shall on the First Day of January in the Year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fifty seven and forever thereafter be a city and shall be called and styled the CITY OF GEORGE TOWN instead of the Municipality of George Town and shall thenceforth have all such rank, liberties, privileges and immunities as are incident to a city.

But wait... What are the cities on Malaysia's own list?

Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Johor Baru, Kuching North, Kuching South, Kota Kinabalu, Shah Alam, Malacca, Alor Star and Petaling Jaya.

Where is George Town? How can an internationally recognised city not recognised by our own government?

Having been to some of the cities in the list above, and being brought up in Penang, I find this fact really peculiar.

From the Star - KL drops to 16th largest city

KUALA LUMPUR and George Town are no longer the 11th and 48th largest cities in the world, Kosmo! reported.

It said the position of the two cities were now 16th and 64th out of 100 of the world's largest cities.

The-not-so-modern Tate Modern

This is my 4th year in London and I've yet to visit Tate Modern which was created in year 2000. So I've decided to visit this modern art gallery with Johanna, via the Millennium Bridge, yet another icon in London yet to be explored by myself.

We got off the tube at St. Paul's Station. Johanna has brought along the Canon Powershot S2 IS camera. Some flowers have bloomed in the flower bed outside St. Paul's Cathedral. The usual cloudy and gloomy weather made it difficult to take good shots of anything around.

Johanna's attempts at St. Paul's Cathedral

We proceed to Tate Modern across the Millennium Bridge a while later. Finally I've set foot on this infamous bridge - wobbly when it was first launch due to poor construction.

I took this shot of Johanna from Millennium Bridge


St. Paul's Cathedral from the South end of Millennium Bridge

The building which housed Tate Modern looks more like an old boring factory rather an art gallery, especially a modern one.

As expected, we saw a few giant slides in the vast hall of the gallery, something which excited Johanna, but not me. Yi Duan has told me about these slides few months' back, which was one of the reasons why I wanted to bring Johanna here, as she loves speed and height, especially when combined. However the queue was so long that we decided not to try it out in the end.

One of the giant slides, photo taken by Johanna using tungsten WB preset

We strolled through the exhibition halls one by one, attempting to see what was on offer. In the end we've decided that modern art is not for us. So I guess that was going to be our last visit for a long long time.

Phantom of the Opera

Johanna & I watched our second musical last night - Phantom of the Opera. We were a bit disappointed that lastminute.com only informed us last minute (pardon the pun) that they could not offer us the best seats as we have originally purchased. Instead they offered us the next best seats at the Royal Circle which are £5 cheaper each.

Johanna & I made it just on time to Her Majesty's Theatre as she was only allowed to leave work at 6.45pm. We were disappointed that our seats are at the extreme left of the Royal Circle, which restricted our view from one part of the stage.

Having watched the musical once in the same theatre nearly 5 years ago, another time on silver screen and listened to the soundtrack for gazillion times, I am all too familiar with the musical, especially the soundtrack. What impressed me most in my first theatre visit to Phantom was the scene where the Phantom brought Christine to his underground lair on a boat. It looked so real.

Tonight I was a bit disappointed with the vocals, especially of the Phantom and Raoul, especially in the first half. The singing was nowhere near Jean Valjean (John Owen-Jones) of Les Misérables. But the fantastic prop sort of made up for this. For me, Phantom's prop is its greatest strength relative to other big musicals - the Phantom's underground lair, the falling chandelier, the 'transparent' mirror, etc.

Nevertheless, it was still a great night out. Johanna intended to come back again to watch everything in the best seats.

Finally cleared two of my three favourite musicals. Too bad Miss Saigon is not in London at the moment. Perhaps Madam Butterfly could be a good substitute.

Chinese New Year in London

Chinese New Year Eve Dinner

This is the 4th time I celebrated Chinese New Year away from home. Unlike the other 3, this time I have family members as company - my wife, my sister and my wife's uncle's family.

Uncle Michael invited us over to his house for the new year eve's dinner. As usual Auntie Yu Hsiang single-handedly prepared everything for the guests which included their friends and neighbours.

It was probably the biggest Chinese New Year feast I've ever participated in. We really felt at home despite not celebrating in Malaysia.

More photos @ http://jihying.com/photos/?f=cny_dinner

Chinese New Year Celebration in London

On Chinese New Year day, Johanna, Jih Hoay & I decided to join the celebration at Trafalgar Square. It was organised by the Council of Westminster. There was a stage show which included singing, violin performance and lion dance. The whole square was so crowded! We moved on to Chinatown after that only to find the place totally packed.

More photos @ http://jihying.com/photos/?f=cny

Two worlds apart

Probably that's why our neighbour is two worlds above us...

Let Pak Lah fly SIA
Restless Native

I refer to the letter Private jet: Give Pak Lah a break by JTB.

It is the attitude similar to those expressed in the above letter that fuels personal aggrandisement among some leaders in this world. Most of us attribute this kind of mentality to pillagers of economies – usually some despot or crank ‘real Third World’ types. Jean-Claude Duvalier (Haiti), Idi Amin (Uganda) and a host of African leaders come to mind although some Middle Eastern cranks have also joined the bandwagon of late.

In stark contrast, the ex-prime minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew almost always flew Singapore Airlines (First Class on a normal scheduled service wherever SIA had the service or he chartered it when it was not a SIA-served destination). His reasoning was that it was a more efficient use of scare resources.

In fact, in his book Third World to First, ex-PM Lee remarked on the very topic, stating that it was the leaders of the more-economically backward countries that try to outdo each other with ostentatious demonstrations of wealth such as private jets, grand yachts and Cadillacs.

What he should have stated is that backward minds (such as fills the ranks of the BN) that are low on content but high on ego, provide the catalyst for such immature ‘show-offish’ behavior. The end result, sadly, is that the rakyat will have to underwrite all these extravagances.

It is not just the initial cost of purchasing a jet that is a drain on resources – it is the associated maintenance, the 24-hour stand-by crew, inventory of spares, maintenance log etc., that nickle-and-dimes you to death!

As for a personal luxury yacht allegedly bought with public funds, there should be a full-bore investigation, not by the ACA or the BN kampong-homeboys in parliament but by an empowered and independent third party.

Yes, JTB, I expect our PM to fly aboard RMAF C-130, a Nuri helicopter or take a MAS flight on his official travels. If MAS is ‘prone to delays’ or if he is ‘off-loaded in London due to over-booking’, then book him on Singapore Airlines just to drive home the point that MAS is a slipshod airline compared to SIA – sad but true.

The prime minister will find such experiences edifying. He will learn how the average Malaysian fares in a typical MAS flight. He may then remember that he is answerable, in the end (come voting time), to the rakyat and be more prone to do his job after that experience.

Yes, JTB, we are painfully aware that we, the beguiling rakyat, voted for him. At that time we had hoped that, in the wake of the rot and filth that his predecessor left behind, he would (being a ‘simple man vs. the bigot that left’) change things around. We had assumed that voting for a public representative was to be taken as an honour to serve the rakyat. However, we have realised during this time that the BN leaders assumed that we had given them all blank cheques that could be used to fund all their fantasies.

We all invest, to some extent, in our hopes. Unfortunately, the hopes, the trust and the goodwill we put in Pak Lah seems to have been abused. We all also live and learn in this world. We will not make the same mistake twice, come election time.

Gong Xi Fa Cai 恭喜發財

Happy Chinese New Year!

新年快樂 萬事如意

From
Jih Ying & Johanna
致穎 書敏 賀

Candlelight Dinner

I've always wanted to make a candlelight dinner for Johanna but have not executed this plan all this while.

Deciding not to pay for inflated price for dinner, gift or flowers on Valentine's Day, I made up my mind to make grilled lamb steaks served in a candlelight environment.

Failing to find the recipe I wanted, I had to come up with one myself. Teriyaki sauce, ground coriander and chili powder as the marinade, onions, chopped garlic and mint sauce for the gravy, grilled potato and tomato with butter as the sides, finally garnished with dried oregano and basil leaves, and coriander leaves as decoration. The result wasn't disappointing at all. The best thing is getting to eat in the most comfortable environment - home.

More photos @ http://jihying.com/photos/?f=candlelight

Chinatown & Valentine's Day

Having known that the lanterns are up in Gerrard Street in Chinatown, I've decided to make a trip there after class for some shots. Unfortunately it was getting dark and it was a cloudy day hence it was difficult to get the exposure right as the sky was easily overexposed. Since it was Valentine's day, I took the opportunity to take some shots of flower stalls at Covent Garden on my way back.

Some of my efforts below. More shots at my photo albums site @ http://jihying.com/photos/?f=chinatown_valentines

Entrance to Gerrard Street




Men queueing up for flowers @ Covent Garden

Football on Valentine's Day?

I find it rather amusing that there is live football on national TV (BBC1) tonight - FA Cup replay between Bolton and Arsenal. I wonder how many men will choose to watch football instead of dining out with their girlfriends or wives, and how many disappointed women this live telecast would have created.

Happy Valentine's Day to you all

祝天下有情人終成眷屬

But please remember that it is the love that you show everyday that counts. So don't end up paying unreasonable prices for dinners, flowers, gifts etc. It's a trap by profit hungry companies!

Makan-makan

Over the weekend Johanna & I had Hong Lim & Whuan Ting, Yi Duan and Yee Yung at our flat for lunch as an early celebration for Chinese New Year.









More photos at http://jihying.com/photos/?f=cny_lunch

My photo blog

I've been undecided for the last few months whether to build my own photo blog or to use a third party one such as Blogger. In the end I've decided to create a new Blogger account @ http://photo38.blogspot.com

Will be adding photos from 2000 to date bit by bit over the next few weeks.

每逢佳节倍思亲

While clearing some old files in my laptop, I came across these two photos. They were taken during my undergraduate final year in London - made me realise that for the 4th time in my life I won't be spending Chinese New Year with my parents and my brother. Nevertheless, Johanna and I will be celebrating with her uncle's family and my sister will be around as well.

In case you wonder what the title means... It is a Chinese proverb which reads mei feng jia jie bei si qing, meaning that one will miss one's family many times more during festive period.

In my room @ Peartree Court, 2002


Sitting in front of the Chinese New Year couplet at our (Wan and Jeff) kitchen, 2002

Snow!

As expected, heavy snow fell while we were sleeping this morning. It was still snowing when I woke up.

This is only the second time I've witnessed snow falling, the first was during my second year while in Glasgow. Today's one is definitely heavier. I quickly grabbed my digital camera and shoot this video.

As planned, I followed Johanna to work since I have planned to take some shots of this rare occassion. However, sleet ensued after that and washed away most of the snow on tree branches, denying me the opportunity of shooting some great shots. Nevertheless I still ended up in Hyde Park and took a few shots. As it was flurrying, my attempt to kept the lens dry were in vain and that affected the shots I took. Hope there'll be better opportunities in coming days, if not I might have to wait for many more years for the same opportunities. Well, patience is the key to good photography. As a newbie I'm starting to learn this.

More photos at http://jihying.com/photos/default.asp?f=snow/

雪 · 诗

等待雪的到来...

“开卷清凉意，吟来涤俗襟”，读过雪诗的人大都有这种美好的感觉。自古以来，文人雅士皆以赏雪、吟雪、听雪为风雅之事。不看烦耐之时，几片雪花扑面而来，悦目清心，胸襟也为之一豁，自然快活许多。人善想象、联想，但未必都能成为诗人，诗人自去写诗，不成诗人的便编故事。因此雪的故事也不少，有的还非常生动。例如《汉书苏武传》说单于幽禁苏武于大窖中，不与饮食。逢天雨雪，苏武吃雪与旃毛，并咽之，居然“数日不死，匈奴以为神”。

古来诗人爱吟风弄雪。雪前，写候雪，忆雪，祈雪；雪时，写赏雪、谢雪、庆雪；雪霁后，又写玩雪、拜雪、残雪等。陆游62岁冬喜逢大雪，曾作过一首《谢雪方拜天庆庭中雪复作》，诗曰：“佩玉姗姗霭众真，竟烦一雪慰疲民。未看舞鹤随风盖，先喜飘花集拜茵。耕垅土膏千耦出，市楼酒贱万家春，使君老去悲才尽，诗句难追节物新”。中四句以诗人赏雪、农家出耕、市楼酒贱多方位地写出瑞雪喜庆，诗笔清洒。古人曾言：“诗思在灞桥风雪中、驴子背上”，可见诗与雪的缘分很深。诗人爱写雪诗，雪诗自然就多，名句也就很多，现摘引如下，以供读者把玩：

雪花鹰背上，冰片马蹄中。
雪岭无人迹，冰河足雁声。
烟蓑春钓静，雪屋夜棋深。
乱云低薄暮，急雪舞回风。
雪霁山疑近，天高思若浮。
战退玉龙三百万，败鳞残甲满天飞。
忽如一夜春风来，千树万树梨花开。
玉阶一夜留明月，金殿三春满落花。
三千世界银成色，十二楼台玉作层。
江山不夜月千里，天地无私玉万家。

上举诗中诸句，皆有手到擒来之妙。虽做诗不易，非日积力久和呕心沥血不得成，但是落纸为诗，却有貌似至易与貌似至难之分。至易者，貌似至易，天工化成。其实都从极难中来，非情性技巧不成。至难者，貌似至难，妆点沉重，却自易变中来，非功夫技巧不成。雪诗中语精意炼、全篇精彩的，是唐代柳宗元的《江雪》。诗中前两句说“千山鸟飞绝，万径人踪灭”，以千山、万径绘出背景空间，展开一个面。后两句“孤舟蓑笠翁，独钓寒江雪”，以前面“鸟飞绝”和“人踪灭”作衬，写面上的点，“孤”与“独”之清寂、苦衷，俱不言自喻。清代朱庭珍《莜园诗话》中说：咏雪诗最难出色的同时又推崇《江雪》，正可见此诗之妙。写雪诗的其他佳作亦甚多，笔者试分类拈出，以供雅鉴。

　　写雪，有苦雪、喜雪两类。若赏雪中作他想的，又有雪中写人或物二类，或者有些景中情或情中景二类。不便一一，仅就苦、喜二类略举数例。

　　写苦雪的，大致写贫家屋破衾薄、灶冷腹饥之叹，或者先写喜雪，最后转写苦忧。清代黄景仁的《晓雪》就很有代表性。诗以“岁晏苦听风声愁”起写夜闻风声，次以“晓来重衾足不热，却怪纸窗明太彻”承写晓寒（不知雪霁，反怨纸窗明太彻），接着忽地一转，写道“小童狂喜排闼来，报到空庭已堆雪”，喜出望外。先离后合，用离合法。即有喜庆，必思饮酒，这时才发现家中倾囊无钱。于是，回到冷酷的现实，感叹一番。最后，以雪不止“随风飘扬低复起，散入千村万村里。山僧持帚仰看天，昨夜橱空已无米”作结。避开自家去写山僧，可见诗心之妙。“山僧持帚仰看天”，形可入画，寓意当颇为深远；“昨夜橱空已无米”，写山僧所想，实则为天下穷人同一苦声。此诗写穷苦，不做酸俭呻吟之语，既见骨气，又见诗风。

　　雪兆丰年，写喜雪自比苦雪为多。宋人尤延之的《正月二十八日大雪》当属此列。此诗作于淳熙八年，当时冬旱，忽地飞雪，天呈瑞兆，冬饥之民以为有望于秋收，皆大喜。故此诗人写道：“一冬无雪润田畴，渴井泉源冻不流。昨夜忽飞三尺雪，今年须兆十分秋。占时父老应先喜，忍冻饥民莫漫愁。晴色已回春气候，晚风摇绿看来眸。”首二句叙起，述出旱情。次二句转写喜雪。对仗工整自然，口气依然承首二句。纪晓岚曾评此诗“病在轻快”，然窃以为似欠公允，甚觉此等句貌似至易，正从极难中来。后四句虽然稍平，然而欢欣与希望交织而出，也绰有深情。

The Pursuit of Happyness

Also known as In Pursuit of Happyness

This is definitely the saddest Will Smith film I've ever watched. It is one of the very few American films that deal with people going through hardships.

Definitely one of the most heartfelt Hollywood films I've ever watched in recent years.

It is inspired by the true story of one man's struggle to pull himself and his son out of poverty in the 80's.

Will Smith plays Chris Gardner, a bright and talented salesman who is struggling to make ends meet. Despite trying his best, luck is not on his side. His wife has to work double-shift to support the family. In the end she buckles under the great pressure and reluctantly leave Chris and their 5-year old son Christopher, just as Chris landed himself an internship with a leading stock broking firm.

From here on, life gets tougher for Chris. He had to pursue the unpaid internship while taking care of Christopher, collecting him from his poorly-run daycare, which has its name spelled wrongly - Happyness with a 'Y'.

Very soon, Chris runs out of money and was evicted from his flat. Homeless, both father and son have to put up in a public toilet on the night of eviction. Watching Chris sitting on the lavatory floor crying, with his son sleeping in his arms is the saddest part of this film. Just imagine how terrible he feels as a father who could not even provide a roof for his 5-year-old son.

Despite all these, Chris never gave up. He soon found his way into a homeless shelter where he worked very hard for his internship while honouring his committment as a loving father.

As expected Chris came out triumphant in the end.

Both Will Smith and his real son were very convincing in this film. Definitely an award-winning performance.

"If you want something in life, go get it, period!"

FAQs for this film from IMDB

Are there any differences between the movie story and the real story?

The Dean Witter internship wasn't unsalaried, but had a $1,000/mo. stipend.

The internship lasted 10 months, not 6.

Chris Jr. was 18 months old, not preschool aged, when his mother left him with his father.

They were not rejected from a women's shelter; Glide Memorial, where they stayed in the movie and in real life, was a single mothers' shelter at the time.

He did not have to work short hours; in fact he started early and stayed late.

He was a bone scanner salesman, but not self-invested; he quit the job before taking the internship.

Surprise birthday cake & Les Misérables

Birthday Cake

After a hectic week preparing for the group presentation for the Introduction to Strategy & Business module, finally we presented the case study on Ready-to-Eat breakfast industry to the whole class. Phew! Great to be the first group to offload this burden.

I was getting ready to leave the class when Yi Duan and Yee Yung asked me whether I could stay back for a while. I told them I was planning to meet up with Johanna (on half day leave) who should be arriving at Cass pretty soon only to find out to my surprise that they have got me a birthday cake!

I insisted in having only 1 candle... Make it simple

We proceed to the cafe in Cass to celebrate. Johanna arrived just in time to join in. For someone who only got the first proper birthday cake at the age of 17, the past 11 years have been a 180-degree change.

Johanna arrived just in time to celebrate together


My Bank Negara juniors, Yi Duan and Yee Yung


My coursemates who celebrated with me. A big thank you to you all!

Les Misérables

To be frank, I am quite disappointed that I haven't brought Johanna to a musical since our arrival in September. Last week I finally decided that we should make use of 31 January to watch our first one. Since there's a 2-for-1 deal for Les Misérables, it was an easy choice.

Les Misérables is one of my favourite musicals, other than the Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon.

After a Beat the Clock meal at Belgo Centraal in Covent Garden (yes, mussels!), we proceed to Queen's Theatre at Shaftsbury Avenue.

Queen's Theatre is smaller than The Palace Theatre where Les Misérables used to be running. However the I noticed that the cast for Jean Valjean is still the same! I found out today that he (John Owen-Jones) has been voted the greatest Jean Valjean in West End's Les Misérables production. He has also played the phantom in the Phantom of the Opera for nearly 4 years in before rejoining Les Miz. He is also highly regarded as the phantom by reviewers and critics. I totally agree with these opinion as his voice is a world apart from the others.

Johanna, who has read the storyline prior to the show, totally enjoyed the show even though the songs are not new to her since I have been playing the soundtracks on my laptop every now and then.

It has been a happy day for me definitely.