The Penang Trap

I honestly feel that Penang is a trap for many of our youth today. I’m referring exclusively to Penangites here.

Penang is a great place to live, no doubt. It’s really safe (before 2005), and you can get pretty much anything you need here. For people who love food, it’s a potbelly’s haven. For those who love shopping, there are tons of shopping complexes. If you’re looking for employment, the FTZ is a source for a huge chunk of jobs on the island. And finally if you seek solace, there’s the sand and sea, the tropical jungle and the rolling hills.

But the sad fact is many of the younger people especially those who have just graduated have fallen into this comfort zone, unwilling to move on to greater things elsewhere. Many assume that since everything is readily available here, there is no need to venture out into life beyond the island.

This sorry state of mediocrity is really stunting the potential that some of our youth have within them. They have to understand that Penang is but and island. Life here is great, but it may not be the best place for you.

Here's why---->

One:
The standard of living in Penang (in-state GDP if you must), is much lower compared to Kuala Lumpur. It goes beyond the financial. And it will remain that way indefinitely.

Two:
Certain industries have yet to really flourish in Penang. The entertainment industry and the financial market are examples of such trades.

Three:
Penang can only be the main hub for the electronics industry in Malaysia for so long. Companies are looking (forget China) to Kulim which boasts more land at a cheaper price.

Four:
Poor planning has led to the state losing some of its natural treasures. One example is the now extinct mudflats at the Koay Clan Jetty. Keep an eye on the Penang Hill.

Five:
Despite numerous changes to the traffic system of local roads, the traffic in Penang is still in a very unpleasant state.

Six:
The protection of a certain “preferred” race is causing laws to be bent in their favor. As a result blatant displays of law-breaking can be seen around town. Just drive along the coastal highway at around 5pm and you'll see what I mean.

Why am I beating down the State when I should be advocating it as a homegrown Penang boy? Simply because I have been beyond the bridge and seen what is outside. And like anyone who loathes muddling in mediocrity, to me, the grass is always seems greener on the other side.

Some Humor...

Wargh, they fixed the lights right on top of my cubicle. Now I cant doze off. Grrr...

Here are some jokes to brighten up the day:

ONE:
NASA finds out that ordinary pens don't work in space bc of gravity. What do they DO?
They fund a blue ribbon joint effort with MIT to develope a pen that works any where under any conditions in only 4 years at a cost of 500mil.

What do the Russians do?

Use a pencil.


TWO:
Why don't cops ever send speeding tickets through e-mail?

Cos their mails never get through the spam filter.

--------------------------------

Back to work!

The Comback of the Tidal Wave??

Tonight over dinner, my parents brought up the issue of a doomsday prophet here in Penang. Shocking news really. This pastor who’s from an independent church claims to have had a vision of a 40 storey…yes, 40 STOREY tsunami hitting Penang Island in the next few days.

Apparently a few other members from her church have seen a similar vision too. As a result, she has printed about 1000 CDs of her warning message and has distributed them all over town. Is it causing havoc? I’m pretty sure it has the potential to.

She, along with a couple of her church members has fled over to the mainland. My mom commented that two of her students were absent from school since yesterday, leaving a note informing the school of the impending disaster.

So what do I make of something like this? I cant really say. But if it’s a 40 storey tsunami, wouldn’t it affect the other surrounding regions? Why was she so specific as to say that it would only affect Penang Island? Also, how come it was only she that got the vision and not other pastors from other churches on the island?

My residence is pretty close inland, so I’m pretty safe. Goodness, imaging the level of “oh thau-ness” (shame) that the pastor must face if this event indeed did not come to pass. According to her, it should happen from now until around Sunday. But then again, if it were true, she’d probably say “I told you so”.

But then again, lets say the tsunami doesn’t hit Penang. Maybe she could claim that she prayed against it and that changed the heart of God. But of course her running away doesn’t really inspire much confidence in that claim. Sounds like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” storybook doesn’t it. Boy I loved those books.

Anyway, if you don’t hear anything strange happening by Monday, just forget that you ever read this post.

Stomachs of Steel

Malaysians must have some of the strongest stomachs around. Goodness, it’s only been two and a half months and I’ve already had three bouts with food poisoning. The most recent one was yesterday.

I went to the doctor and he said that it was either appendicitis or food poisoning. Interestingly enough, the pain was where my appendix is (used to be actually). I had my appendix removed after a severe attack in 2002. It was during the World Cup final match featuring Brazil vs. Germany. I remember the day clearly.

So he ruled out appendicitis and gave me medication for the food poisoning. I was grappling with a cold last week and was prepared to go to work yesterday. Then this silly thing happened that prolonged my absence at work. My supervisor actually called me this evening to tell me what to expect when I return to work tomorrow, and it aint pretty.

Most of us are familiar with the phrase “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”. Well, the opposite is also very true. Have a stomachache and it can literally bring a man to his knees.

It’s so sad now that I have to be even more selective of the food I take. I live in Penang man. For heaven’s sake, it’s the food capital of Malaysia! This predicament reminds me of the malay saying that goes something like “ayam mati di atas beras”. Probably doesn’t mean the same thing.

So tomorrow it’ll be back to work for me…*drags feet.

Narcissistic Numbers

I feel that it’s pretty silly when a band comes up with a song about itself. Or even worse, a singer writes a song about his/herself. I’m not talking about referring to oneself in general terms but as specific as the name of the band/songwriter. I think it’s really narcissistic of them and it’s all about self-advertising.

I’m sure many of you who have listened to a couple of rap tracks have heard the names of the performers in their songs. What’s the point in that? Why mention the names of the featured artist in the song? It’s all about promotion, promotion and promotion I’m sure.

Heard of the track by Eminem that goes “Will all the real Slim Shadys please stand up?” For those who aren’t aware of it, Slim Shady is an alias that Eminem picked up during his career. Not only does he rap about him having many imitators, he also steps on a couple of celebrity feet in the track. His trademark style of course.

But the group that clinches the trophy for self-glorification on a track is the Backstreet Boys. Yup, that 90’s track which had the chorus going “Backstreet’s Back alright!”. *groan. What lameness. And you guys even had the cheek to release that song as a single. Go take a hike. Well, at least they do show some promise of growing up with their latest single: Incomplete.

Male PMS!! >=0

I actually do have an encounter with such a being. Label it Emotional Instability, but I tell you it’s a real male version of PMS.

This guy can seem totally fine on some days. He’s chatty, makes jokes and gets along fine with the group. A real joy to have around when the guys are hanging out. But on others, he can be a total tree stump. Just clamming up, merely stealing our oxygen in the car for no reason at all.

If this were a one-off thing, then yeah we could say that he’s having a hard time and his case wouldn’t warrant the label “Male PMS”. But this seems to be a pretty regular occurrence. I haven’t plotted the data on a calendar, but man, it’s regular enough that it’s starting to really tick me off.

I did recall reading about Male PMS on Alvin’s blog here. But it turns out that Alvin was actually talking about a case in India where a young boy had an actual medical condition where he was actually menstruating. Through where? Go read the article for yourself. *cringe*

Living is a lifelong process, and I guess that such people are placed on earth next to us to teach us mercy. Just as Rick Warren labels them: “Extra Mercy Required”.

Dude. Keep it up and you’ll end up losing a lot of friends. Seriously…grow up.

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Children of the World

I was surfing around this Singaporean based photographer's forum called ClubSnap and stumbled upon this really nice thread. It's a thread where the photographers post pictures of children that have been taken all around the world. Really inspiring stuff.

Out of respect for the photographers (which some people wont understand), I will just post the link where you can view them instead of hotlinking the pictures.

Enjoy:

We are the Children - Portraits of Children Around the World

Oh Snap!!

... my tastebuds are shot! I dont even know what my chicken soup tastes like? I could be drinking hot water blindfolded and I wouldnt be able to tell the difference!! Gah....


Owh...Mom sez it's nice. :)

Under the Weather...

I'm sorry for being rather consistent with some pretty morbid titles for my entries. It's just a pretty trying week for me health-wise.

Just as I feared, my sore throat has progressed into a full fledged flu. Now my nose is runny, phlegm clogs my pipes, I have dry cough and my lungs hurt. My merciful supervisor allowed me to take 1/2 of the day off after I told him that I felt like cr*p.

Along the way home, I stopped by Tesco to pick up some stuff. I actually wanted to get a stool for my studio (more on that later). But I ended up getting one whole kampung chicken and a couple of packets of chinese herbs. No, I dont know how to mix and match them, so I got the ones that come in different combinations. Makes pretty darn impressive herbal soups :)

I've just made myself a potful of soup. Hopefully the big rat of the house (my brother) doesnt rob me off my hard work. He stole my mango lassi last time and I still havent gotten over it. *grrr...

Anyway, last night a photographer friend of mine dropped of a flash unit. I bought it from him so I could use it for my studio. For those of you who dont know about it, yes, I'm setting up a photo studio in my room. Painted the walls and everything. I'll get some backdrops later on. I've also got some willing models lined up. It's gonna be real fun :)

*snap snap!!

Take Back the Past...

I'm still kind of struggling with my sore throat. Fortunately it hasnt "progressed" to a full fledged flu, as it usually does. Gotta keep chugging down water and sucking on Difflam to suppress it. Man, I hate the aftertaste.

I decided against going to work today. Felt that I needed a break. So I decided to take a nice drive around Penang to look for some desecrated pre-war buildings. There are tons of these acts of sacrilege scattered around Penang. I'm sure most Penangites can recognize some of these pictures.

I find it really disheartening every time I see one of these "clownified" giants. Some people have too much money and buy these buildings only to turn them into tasteless eateries and nightclubs. And when their business goes topside, all that's left is that gawdy looking structure that at one time used to be the pride and joy of a resident.

I wish the Penang Government could do something about this, but in this day and age, money talks. Morals, traditions and other scared values are only secondary.

Without further delay, I bring you....among Penang's ugliest:


Formerly known as Safari in Pulau Tikus, Burmah Rd.


Unknown abandoned bungalow along Macalister Rd.


Pre-War Government quarters along Burmah Rd.


Pr-war shoplots opposite Little Shanghai, off Burmah Rd.

Some people have really poor taste...

The Return to the Sanctuary

*Ahem Ahem...

Gotta clear my throat cos I developed some kind of throat infection this morning. I dont think that it's got anything to do with me being stressed out because I did get enough sleep yesterday. 3 hours in the afternoon. :P

Anyway yesterday the same four guys returned to Kuala Gula to shoot more pictures of BIRDS (Bet Alvin is jumping for joy now). The trip this time round was a little bit of a letdown because we couldnt get the boat. So we ended up walking for abour 4kms through a laterite soil path along the mangrove swamp and then through an oil palm estate.

The walk turned out to be quite interesting as we found a lot of other animals besides birds. We were even fortunate enough to stumble upon an otter which was rolling around in the dirt. I didnt know that there were wild otters in Malaysia. *Scratch scratch.

So at the end of the day, I had more pictures of dragonflies, crabs and mudskippers than birds. I guess it's a welcome change as I'm sure you readers are quite tired of birds on my blog by now. :)


If you have an otter wink at you, you know you're alright!


Stoned dragonfly that gladly posed for me.


Fiddler crab with really cool coloration.


Photographers in the wild...


Outta my way!!

Thanks Kelvin and Tse Chien for the last two images

Hell On Earth

Last Sunday I joined a Photo Malaysia Northern Chapter outing to Sungai Kog, in Kulim. We were expecting a great photo op in some unadulterated jungle with stories that it’s teeming with animals and exotic birds. Well, take everything with a pinch of salt I’d say.

We ended up trekking through some really uncharted jungle, led by two guides who hacked their way through all kinds of foliage. But along the way, we were faced with a menace much worse that the unforgiving terrain. Leeches.

Goodness, they were everywhere. Every single step of the way, you could see them moving along the ground looking for their next host to feed on. Some of them were even perched up on leaves waiting to pounce on any unsuspecting mammals…..namely us.

Each one of us had about 30-40 leeches easily, latched on to our legs. Some of them even got up to our bodies. The horrible thing about those suckers is that they inject you with an anti-coagulant which prevents your blood from drying up. So when you yank a leech off, the wound that is left behind will bleed for hours. We were bleeding like slaughtered chickens.

I bet that none of us were thinking about anything remotely related to photography, as we gingerly thread across the trail freshly made by our guide. Some of my friends who weren’t fit enough had trouble keeping up, so after about 2 hours of trekking, we decided to head back. We missed out on seeing the waterfall that we had planned to photograph. Oh forget that! I’m going home!!

During lunch, I discovered that I had transported another two “hitchhikers” with me. That really freaked everyone out. A blot of blood suddenly appeared on my shirt, and then I knew that one of them just finished feasting on me. One of my friends had a patch of blood on his inner thigh. Bad joke, but it looked like he was menstruating.

Well, I’m glad it’s over. At least now I can say that I have grappled with leeches. Hopefully it will be the first and the last I’ll see of that wretched kind.

These are a few of the handful of pictures that we managed to take througout the ordeal....


What's on my mind now? A nice bath, a cold drink.....


Bloody sock, thanks to our squirmy foes.


Team LeechFest 2005.

Thanks to Tse Chien and Kelvin Khor for the pictures :)

Three Guys, A Girl and a Night Market...

Hmmmmm....

Tonight after Saturday night service, I went to meet up with my usual hang-out group for some late night shopping. Batu Ferringhi is probably the best night market in Penang at the moment. Always open at the same place at the same times.

As usual, the place was hot and humid. I still cant get used to the weather here even though I've been here for like almost 3 months already. But I managed to survive the ordeal. We made our way through the narrow sidewalk which was lined with shops, stopping occasionally to take a look at some illegal merchandise and MMmmmm... knockoff soccer jerseys :)

Yew San, Huan and Weng Khong got themselves CDs. I wasnt particularly interested in them because I only had RM50 with me at the time. Was saving up for a nice jersey which I did not manage to find in the end. Tiff got herself a henna tattoo done for RM5. That was pretty interesting.

We ended our outing with some supper at this place aptly named "jiao sai" or "bird shite". It's this place near the Police Sation next to Komtar that sells really great maggi mee goreng tomyam tambah telur mata kerbau (*phew!). It's called "jiao sai" because there are a lot of crows there that roost at trees nearby at night. Those birds are pretty frequent crappers and when you get a bunch of them together, you get periodic carpet bombings here and there.

Not to worry as the eatery is at a pretty safe distance from the nearest tree. Of course there's also the option of eating indoors. Hmmmm....

Oh and I also got to test out the new church camera. It's a Canon S2 IS and it's a really great performer. I was impressed. I love it and I think I'll get one for myself!



Yew San and Huan save the Malaysian economy....


Tiff gets a henna done, much to the amusement of the other blokes...


Sigh....photog is never seen, and when he is....he barely is :(

Oriental Speech Deficiencies

I've discovered that throught my time as a pseudo-working class citizen, I've become a morning radio talkshow junkie. I'm typically on the road from around 7.45am to 8.45am and during that time I just cannot sit in my car encapsulated in silence. I'm sure many of you can relate to this.

So yeah I flip between Red 104FM and Hitz FM as those are the only two radio stations that serve cuisine palatable to my auditory fancy. Some of the things they say or do on radio are downright dumb, but hey...it's ok to take in a little junk before immersing yourself in the mundane 9-5 routine.

Today's topic was about the issue of some chinese people substituting their "R's" for "L's" and vice versa. I've had more than my fair share of encounters with such people. All I can say is, it's downright hilarous. Some can take it, while others retaliate with colorful profanities. Oh well....

The interesting thing was, there is actually a couple of mandarin words that start with the letter "R". So why should there be a problem with pronouncing the words with the letter "R" in it? We have "Ri Ben (Japan)", "Ri (Hot)", "Rong Yi (Easy)", "Ru Kuo (then?)", "Ran Hou (?)", "Ren (person)" and a couple more which I cant remember.

Ah...then they went on to look for "R" words in Cantonese and Hokkien. Guess what... they couldnt find a single word. Hmmmmm....

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Just for old times sake, let me bring back this interesting simulated conversation with an old friend of mine from Seremban.... ;)

"Oik, my computeh got wireless aleady!!"

"Yeah, so what? Some laptops have Centrino chips inside mah. Got wireless la."
"No no! Not that wireless. My computeh is INFECTED with WIRELESS!!"

*grin

Mixed Signals...

*Sniff *Sniff
Me: Eh, Muru ah. You hear that? Someone crying ah?
Muru: Yea eh. I go check it out.
A few seconds later...
Muru: No laaa...someone laughing lar!!
Me: She athsmatic or what?

So I was in the middle of work and then I heard this monotonous voice, which was interrupted intermittently by something that sounded like sobs from a depressed damsel.

I alerted my supervisor who quickly when to check...only to discover later that it was someone making a girl laugh by telling her some jokes. Goodness, some people laugh sounding like they are crying. That's SAD.

Then I stumbled upon this picture:


Now doesnt that look like a woman who's been caught red handed in the act of taking a swipe at her company laptop out of frustration? Yes, now wipe off that sheepish grin cos your boss caught ya!

Yahooooo-dee!! Mazeltov.

HomeRun Review

Pic courtesy of www.homerunthemovie.com.sg

Amongst the many many wonderful things I can say about this movie is "What a masterpiece".

Although this movie was released in 2003, I only got to see the whole thing this morning. I heard about this movie before but I dismissed it as another one of those B-grade Singaporean productions. But when I saw some snippets of it while I was down in KL, I told myself that I had to see this movie.

An interesting fact is that even though this movie was shot it some quaint little town in Johor or Pahang(if I'm not mistaken), it was banned in Malaysia. I really have no idea why. But what a shame, really, because this offering from the famous director Jack Neo is literally a "home run".

If you dont know Jack Neo, you should. Simply because he was the one who directed awesome laugh-out-loud comedies like One Leg Kicking-2001, I Not Stupid-2002 and the Best Bet-2004. I've seen all of those movies and all three possess elements that us locals love and enjoy....a sense of realism and relatability. Just something for our Malaysian filmmakers to think about. ;)

Another thing that I appreciated about this movie is the world class performance of the young actors and actresses. Especially the young Megan Zheng (pic) who really set the bar even for actors/actresses more than twice her age. *standing ovation

Homerun is a story about a brother and a sister living in poverty. The story revolves around their struggle to share the one pair of shoes that they own. I'm not going into too much detail for the fear of spoilers. But what I will say is this... if you havent seen it, by all means do.

If you're a guy and while watching this show you struggle to hold back your tears.....let if flow man. It's okay. *grin

The Birth of www.PenangOnAPlate.com

Hmmm...

I was thinking the other day... Even though there are a couple of sites which feature Penang as a great place to eat, there isnt a one-stop site for a list of all the best places to eat in Penang.
Actually there are a few, but they're basically just like a badly written textbook. No pictures, no diagrams, etc. All you get is a brief description of where this place is (good luck to you tourists), and that it's "Sooo gooood!". But is that really enough?

So I've come up with this idea to have a site called www.PenangONAPlate.com which will feature a listing of the best places to eat in Penang. The site will be organized by catergory (eg. Foreign or Local, Spicy or Non-spicy, Indian or Chinese, etc.). On top of that, there will be pictures of what the eatery looks like, and even directions to get there (complete with map).

There, of course, will be a little writeup on each of the places. I wont be the only one reviewing because I can be a little biased at times, and also I dont claim to be a know-it-all when it comes to Penang food. So there will be guest reviewers too.

I'll probably have to rent server space so there will be a need for funding. Well, there will be a paypal link and hopefully we'll get donations (fingers crossed). If the site is successful enough, maybe we can get PDC (Penang Development Corp) or the Jawatankuasa Induk Pelancongan to sponsor us.

So is there anyone interested in joining the PenangOnAPlate team? Get in touch with me and we'll get something started. I will need writers (with a passion for food), photographers (no need to be a pro) and coders (HTML, SQL, XML, whuddever).

I do realize that thinking alound like this will have its consequences. So though there may be people leeching of ideas from me, well......if there's a new site that comes up stemming from this idea, I guess we'll just have to do better than them. A little competition never hurt anyone.


Some places to draw inspiration from:
http://penangfaces.chanlilian.net/

KenyNeo's Penang Restaurant Tips

http://www.malaysiasite.nl/hawkereng.htm



Doubt this will help, but anyway:
©Michael Ng 2005

Finding Love in the Workplace...

I was sort of thinking the other day...lets say I was actively seeking someone to spend the rest of my life with in Motorola. What are my chances of successfully getting hitched?

Answer: Not very good.

I realized that it's really difficult to even chill with my colleagues as they're so professional at work. How would someone go about tackling a person in the office? Would it even be advisable to go after a fellow engineer? I guess if there was an incident where there was an "urge to merge", it would go like this.....

Scenario 1:
Girl: Hey Guy, could you help me set up the soldering iron?
Guy: Yeah sure....
(After a few moments)
Guy: Wow, you're really good with that soldering iron. But I think there's something you have to work on. Want to talk about it over supper tonight?

Scenario 2:
Girl: Goodness, it's really late. And to think that we dont get any OT.
Guy: Yeah man, I'm hungry. Want to have dinner with me?

Scenario 3:
Girl: Gosh, the traffic jams I have to face getting to work....
Guy: Hey, lets carpool! I live 5 houses from you! Ooops...I'm not supposed to know that!

I think I might have crossed the line with an engineer in my department. I asked her if she had any life outside the workplace. She said no. All she did when she got home was to take a shower, have dinner, read the papers and then sleep. She admitted to getting about 9-10 hours of sleep a day. *huh?!

Then she said that there are some young engineers with kids. She wondered how they could handle it. Then I replied by saying that it was ok if the engineer was a guy. But if it was a girl, then it would be really hard because of the kids. (Awkward silence then followed) *gulp!

Imagine having a couple where both parties are engineers. Engineers, on a good day typically get home by around 6-6.30pm. When they're really busy, things can get stretched to about 10pm. How sad would that be? The household would be vacant for most of the day. Their interaction would probably be limited to 4-5 waking hours. Of course they have the weekend to make up for it.....but what a life!

The Perfect Gift...

Question:
What do you give a man who has everything?



Answer:
A hard time.