Back to Vietnam (Part 1)

This week, I've been back in Hanoi and HoChiMinh City (HCMC) in Vietnam. .

I spent two days in Hanoi, still one of my favourite cities. Hanoi is not very modern, meaning there aren't many gleaming skyscrapers, but that's the charm of the place. Chaotic traffic, with still a majority of motorbikes compared to cars .... A distinct French colonial feel to the buildings and boulevards .... And great cuisine. Actually the French influence on the Vietnamese lives on very prominently in their breads and croissants. Simply heavenly.

I was in Hanoi to speak at a CIO conference and meet some customers. I won't bore you with the details of the conference itself, but I think you guys might be interested in what we were treated to at the post-conference Gala Dinner.

Hmmmm, I suspect this may bring up the visitor hits on this blog ...(remember to turn up the volume)





In case that video clip was too quick for you, here are a few still shots ...

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

Pic 4

Geez, the things I do to bring some CULTURAL EXPOSURE to you guys !!! Now, don't go rushing all at once to buy air tickets to Hanoi now, ok? Ha ha ha ...

Well, that's it for Part 1. I'm still in HCMC till this evening, so can hopefully I bring you some updates later in Part 2 of this posting.

Vrooooom Vrooooom in Singapore Again

This weekend, the Lion City is abuzz again as the Singapore Grand Prix Formula One races are held here for the fourth time. The event is still unique in being the only night races in the world. For those who have never seen it, come next year around this time.

Here are some photos ...

Here's a good view of the Marina Bay Circuit, with some of Singapore's prominent architectural highlights in the backdrop.

Fig 1: The Racing Circuit

Fig 2: Going round the Bend

Fig 3: Red Bull's car driven by Sebastian Vettel

There were also a lot of world-class artistes in Singapore and performing at associated events. Here's one star you might recognise ...

Fig 4: Can you name this hip-shaking babe?

The qualifying races were held tonight, and Sebastian Vettel (driving for Red Bull) made the fastest time.

Well, I'll try to post more details tomorrow when the finals take place. I don't claim to know a whole lot about Formula One racing (I know some of my friends are ... including a certain Mr Sia) but I will definitely be glued to the telly on Sunday night ...

Oh, I almost forgot. These are the Singtel Grid Girls for 2011 ...

Fig 5a: Singtel Grid Girls

Fig 5b: Singtel Grid Girls

Enjoy.

Learning Geography from Songs

Do you remember this catchy number? It was one of my favourites back in school in the early 70s. Turn up the volume on your computer and swing along ....





The song "Is this the Way to Amarillo?" was a big hit for Tony Christie and Peter Kay in 1971. It was originally written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, if I'm not mistaken. Well, you must have heard it umpteen times ....but do you know where in the world is Amarillo? Well, it's a city in Texas, USA. Here's a picture of the city ...

Who says this blog is not educational. LOL.

We also learnt about many other interesting places in the world from songs we grew up with. Some of these places are modern ones, others are historical ...  I'm talking about songs like "Back in the USSR" (Beatles), "By the Rivers of Babylon" (Boney M), "Streets of London" (Ralph McTell) and "London Calling" (The Clash), "Mexican Girl" (Smokie), "New York, New York" (Sinatra & Minelli), "Scarborough Fair" (Simon & Garfunkel), "Waterloo" (Abba) and so on ...  Even Elvis Presley in his heyday had "You Can't Say No in Acapulco".

Let me leave you with another video clip of a more mature Tony Christie with his hit number ... enjoy.

New blog on "The Story of Sarawak"

Hi fellow Josephians of the 70s and all friends who have been following this blog,

Thank you for your support and interest. This blog continues because of you.

Just a short note to tell you that I will soon be creating a new blog tentatively to be called "The Story of Sarawak" where I will try to put together all those postings related to Sarawak history that have been covered in this and its predecessor blog. The reason for this is that I've found that many more people are interested in those historical snippets, and these interested parties may be neither Josephians nor regulars on our Josephian blogs.

I will still include relevant history in this "Josephians of the Seventies" blog, but may copy and adapt some of these postings for the new "History of Sarawak" blog, which will be available on

http://story-of-sarawak.blogspot.com

Thanks all

--- James (aka Website Jaga)

History Textbook from Primary School

Recently one of our schoolmates, ELAS, mentioned this textbook in a Facebook discussion. I remember it well and wish I had preserved mine for posterity ... especially since I'm quite sure my old textbook was a First Edition (the one shown below is the Second Edition).

A lesson to schoolchildren today ... don't be too hasty to throw away your old textbooks after exams are over. They might be valuable one day.

But have you ever wondered who was Vernon Mullen, whose name we were familiar with for a number of years during our youth? Well, I did some investigation. Apparently he was a Canadian educator who did some teaching of English in different parts of the world, including Sudan, Ethiopia, Sarawak and China. Mullen was in Sarawak from 1957-1963 and again from 1965-1968. Apart from the familiar history book above, he also published his memoirs "Them Lions Will Eat Them Up: Teaching English Around the World" (Voyageur Pub, 1999). I'm still looking for a copy for my collection so if anyone has any ideas where I can find one ...

Malaysia Day (16 Sept)

To All Malaysians ...


              Happy Malaysia Day !


              Peace, Freedom & Equality for All !

Elton John coming to Singapore

Looks like the Yellow Brick Road is diverting to the Lion City ... looks like certain reptilian inmates of a farm along East Coast will soon be doing the Crocodile Rock  ...

Yes, Sir Elton John will be coming back to Singapore on his "Greatest Hits Tour".

Presented by Marina Bay Sands, it's  going to be a One Night Only event at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 20th November 2011.

For more details, click on THIS and ALSO THIS and THIS TOO ...

So any of you going for this ?


Added Later

17/11/11 : Sir Elton John is in Singapore. They even named an orchid after him ...

Oh,  his partner David Furnish and their adopted son Zachary is here too !

Asian Superstitions That I Remember

Growing up in a Chinese family in Sarawak, one can't help being exposed to many Chinese superstitions that some of the (usually) elder folk in the family may believe in and caution us against. I still remember a few of these superstitions and beliefs, and I'd invite you to share what you recall from your childhood years.

Anyway here's a dozen that I recall .... some may not be entirely accurate or even correct ... after all it HAS been a long time since I heard them and the old grey cells are getting a little bit rusty. Hehehe ...


(1)  You should not point at the moon ... if you do, you risk your ear getting sliced. Yikes!

(2)  You should not pee in a banana grove ... if you do, you may see ghosts and spirits. BOO! Eeeek!

(3)  No clipping of finger or toe nails at night ... I'm not entirely sure of the repercussions. I think the clippings will either attract spirits or be stolen by spirits

(4)  When lying on your stomach (e.g. while reading), you should not raise your legs ... Doing this risks  your parents' deaths. Woah ... serious this one!

(5)  Pregnant women should not sit on the edge of a bed and sew ... This risks the backside of the to-be-born baby being sealed. Ouch ... not a good thing!

(6)  Pregnant women cannot make use of a hammer and nail ... this risks miscarriage.
      (Gee, I seem to know a lot about pregnant women superstitions ....)

(7)  A cracked mirror brings 7 years of bad luck.

(8)  If you look through a "poon kee", you can see spirits.  If I need to explain what a "poon kee" is, you're probably not from Malaysia or have never done any gardening.

(9)  When sweeping the floor, the broom must not touch anybody as it will bring bad luck to that person (or is it to the sweeper? I forget ...)

(10)  When moving to a new residence, it is advisable to cook a pot of rice and bring this with you to the new house. This ensures you will always have food to eat at the new place. Certainly not a bad thing.

(11)  During meals, one should not stack up the empty plates ... Doing this, you will have no end of debts. (Aiyaaaa ... like that, how in Japanese sushi restaurants?)

(12)  When eating rice, don't leave any uneaten grains on the plate ... if so, will have pock marks on face ("mopeng" is the word, I believe).

Well, these are twelve superstitions I remember being told about. Share what YOU remember. I'm sure there'll be lots more. Over to you for comments please ....

The Dark Side of the Mooncake

Today is the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhongjiu Jie), also sometimes called the Mooncake Festival or Lantern Festival. This is a popular harvest festival dating back over 3,000 years to the Chinese Shang Dynasty period. The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese calendar, which is sometime in September or October on the Gregorian calendar. It also corresponds with the Autumn Equinox when the moon is supposed to be at its fullest and roundest.

During this Mid-Autumn Festival period, many Chinese and Vietnamese are likely to consume a lot of delicious mooncakes.

These days, the mooncakes come in all sorts of interesting flavours ...

and shapes ...

There is also a story you might have heard about the role of mooncakes in a Chinese uprising against Mongol rulers (during the Yuan Dynasty) in the 14th century. In this tale (which I'm not sure is fully supported by historical facts), the mooncakes were used as an early form of e-mail ... the "e" being "edible" rather than "electronic" .LOL.  Anyway as group gatherings were banned, it was very difficult for the Chinese to make plans for a rebellion. So one bright chap called Liu Bowen (from Zhejiang), who was a confidant of the rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang, suggested timing the rebellion with the Mid-Autumn Festival. He applied for and got permission to distribute thousands of mooncakes to Chinese residents in the city to bless the longevity of the Mongol emperor. Apparently the Mongols did not eat mooncakes, so inside each cake distributed was concealed a piece of paper with the message "Kill the Mongols on the 15th day of the eighth month". And on the night itself, the rebellion was successful and the Mongols were overthrown. The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) was thus born.


Like everyone else, I like my mooncakes too. My favourites are tau sar, ling yun, single or double yolk and the ones with mixed nuts. Yummmmmmmy ...

However doctors and healthcare professionals have always been cautioning against over-indulging in mooncakes. They say that a small mooncake may contain as any calories as a bowl of rice! As mooncakes are generally made from flour, sugar and butter, one egg-yolk filled mooncake weighing about 60 g can contain up to 270 calories. That would take an averaged sized person about an hour to walk off, says a nutritionist friend of mine.

A health report from Taiwan that I read also noted that aside from moon cakes, many people also celebrate the festival by eating barbequed and processed meat, which are high in calories and sodium. Eating too much of such foods not only led to weight gain, but consuming more sodium than is recommended on a daily basis could also strain the kidneys and the cardiovascular system, the report said. Some health bureaus in China advised people to consume only moderate amounts of moon cakes and where relevant to substitute meat for vegetables such as mushrooms and green onions when having a barbeque. Pomelo, another traditional Mid-Autumn Festival food, is also recommended because of its high vitamin C content. The fruit is also known to lower cholesterol and decrease risk of heart disease.

.
Well, having shared all that, I must say it's only once a year and so long as we don't go overboard with stuffing our faces with mooncake, it should be fine ... tau sar, ling yun, double yolk ... here I come !!!!

HAPPY MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL !!!

An 80's photo from Sky Sim

Here's a nice nostalgic shot from the 80's, sent to me today by Sky Sim (now living in Oz).

Here's his brief note ...

Subject: Photo from 1980
From: skysim@iprimus.com.au
Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2011 19:21:21 +1000

Folks

While trying to clean up the computer to make more space I came across this photo buried in there, taken around 1980, when I was on my holiday in Kuching from studies in the UK.

Obviously the fashion then was batik edges on the T shirts! Sadly Tan Chin Chai who was a close classmate is no longer with us.

James, can I trouble you to share this photo on your St. Joe website.

Sky

.

With pleasure, my friend. Keep sending in these photographic gems ...

Coins, Stamps and Other Collectibles

I was in Bangkok for work last week and picked up this set of local Thai coins from a little shop on Sukhumvit Road. Nothing particularly antique about these coins at this point but who knows maybe in thirty or forty years they might be worth something.

Fig 1a

Fig 1b

This particular collection was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of King Bhumibol Adulyadej's accession to the throne on 9 June 1946. The King is much loved and revered by the Thai people. Everywhere one goes, one can see pictures of him on walls, in magazines and as posters.

This reminded me of the various collections some of us had as we were growing up. How many of you collected stamps? Coins? Interesting rocks? Movie or sports cards?

I used to have some old Sarawak notes, like the one below ...

Fig 2

Some of you may also still have the old Japanese "Banana Money" which was used during the Japanese Occupation years of 1941 to 1945.

Fig 3

The moment the Japanese fell, these notes became largely valueless (except perhaps for historical value). My father once told me that after the War he even saw a toilet with its walls completely plastered by these Japanese Banana notes.

Well, I'd like to hear about interesting collections you may have had when you were teenagers (for this posting, let's exclude your collections of girlfriends or boyfriends, shall we? LOL)