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