Happy Halloween !

To all those who celebrate this ...

Boo !

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !

Josephians Mini-Gathering in Singapore

Last evening, my family and I had a very nice dinner with two other  Josephians, both of whom were also at St Joe in the Seventies. They were Ignatius Lee (living in Singapore) and Ken Lai (living in Australia).

L to R: Ignatius, James & Ken

To make things more interesting, here's a little quiz for you (total 20 points)

Q1.   For 2 points, can you put them in the order they attended St Joe (earlier to later)?

Q2.   For 3 points, can you roughly guess the years each person was at St Joe?

Q3.   For 4 points, can you name 2 products/services being shown in the photo?

Q4.   For 11 points, can you comment who is the most good looking? Ha ha ha ha .....

Attractive "no prizes" for the one with highest score ....

Class of 76: Chance Meeting

Here's what our roving photographer Ben Wong caught on camera, in front of Sarawak Club around noon today.

These boys from Form 5 (1976), N. Subra and Raymond Goh Boon Phin, have not met each other for many, many years. Perhaps since their days at St Joe?

Looking good, guys.

Always nice to witness such reunions ...

Happy Deepavali 2011

In a few days time, our Hindu friends will celebrate Deepavali (also called Devali or Diwali). Popularly known as "The Festival of Lights", this is a very important festival in Hinduism.

The word "Diwali" translates into a "row of lamps". The festival involves the lighting of small clay lamps filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil.

To my friends who celebrate the occasion, have a Happy Deepavali, and to all others have a good holiday.

Bro Columba's Upcoming Visit

Here's an email sent out by fellow Josephian, Ruth Wong, who is now working in Singapore. The message is targeted at Josephians based in Singapore. I guess those of you in Sarawak may want to make your own arrangements for dinner or meeting with "Ta Ker" ...

From: WONG Yeang Lam Ruth (ELL) [mailto:ruth.wong@nie.edu.sg]
Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 7:53 AM
Subject: Bro Columba's visit 2011

Dear all

As some of you know, Bro Columba will be passing this way in Nov, on his tri-annual visit to the Land of the Hornbill. He has expressed a preference for meeting up with smaller groups for more meaningful interaction. However, he stressed that if that is not possible, then he’s ok with meeting up with a big group as we did in the past. He understands that we are all busy working people J

I have drawn up his itinerary and indicated the available makan slots (available from Ruth). The plan is that you gather some friends and “chope” a slot. I wld appreciate the “coordinator” of each slot providing the following information:

1.      Coordinator’s name (Year in Form 5 or Form 6 – just to help Bro C place your group)

2.      Contact no.

3.      Suggested venue

4.      Start time of gathering

I am happy to coordinate the dinner for 25 Nov (Fri), and welcome all those who’d like to join me in this slot. Just let me know and I’ll contact you again nearer the time re the venue.

Thank you.

Regards

ruth

National Institute of Education (Singapore)
http://www.nie.edu.sg




Those in Singapore who are interested in participating, please contact Ruth directly. I'll probably join Ruth and the others for the dinner on Nov 25th, provided I don't have any last minute travel.


I believe Bro Columba will be in Sarawak between 28th Nov to 12th Dec 2011.

The Secret Sanctuary

On my recent trip back to good ol' Kuching, I was introduced to this awesome place called The Secret Sanctuary. In the marketing pamphlet it is positioned as a boutique cottage .... in reality it is a mini-hotel, a restaurant, a showcase of Sarawak architectural design, a chill out joint and a place to get connected to nature. Filled with rustic furnishings, native designs and much greenery, it is certainly a good place to relax and meditate.

Fig 1: I love the hammock

The place is located off that big roundabout near Stutong Market, Kuching Specialist Hospital and ICAT College. You should take the road which leads to ICAT College, near the Nissan showroom.  Anyway I think there's a little map in the pamphlet which I'll take a picture of ...

Well, here's one of the attractions ...

Fig 2: The Pool ... Isn't the water inviting?

We had a delicious dinner here - an eclectic blend of native and Chinese food, so appropriate for Borneo. This is obviously quite a popular place. That evening we were there, there was a big Halloween Function in one of the halls, and we could also see quite a few tables with diners and in addition, there were other Japanese or Korean tourists strolling around the place.

Here's the pamphlet giving more details of the place ...

Fig 3: Pamphlet

Finally there's a cute little doggy named Barry and a couple of fat cats, belonging to the owner.

Fig 4: Cute doggy named Barry

I recommend you guys check out the place - either to stay, have dinner or as a venue for parties or corporate functions. Call Cyril Lim at +6019 888 8986 or email him at cyril@thesecretsanctuary.com.

I think I may come back and stay a few days at The Secret Sanctuary to work on my next book.

Scenes from the Sunday Market, Kuching

For those of you who are living away from Sarawak, these are some colourful and heartwarming scenes from the Sunday market at Satok Road, Kuching. Enjoy but be careful ... they may also make you hungry!

Fig 1: Chillies and other hot stuff

Fig 2: Roots and shoots

Fig 3: Reminds me of the "Banana Boat" song ... Day-O ...

Fig 4: Lemang and friends

Fig 5: "Very fresh, very cheap ..."

If you have other nice photos from this fascinating place, send them to me at jslyong@hotmail.com .

The Sarawak River

One of my favourite views of Kuching is that of the Sarawak River. The familiar image of the "teh si" coloured waterway meandering gracefully through downtown Kuching, with the Matang or Santubong mountains in the background, is one that evokes feelings of peace and tranquility (for me at least).

In the old days, boatmen used to row their little "tambangs" to ferry people across the river for as little as 5 cents per passenger. These days, the boats are more often than not motor powered and I'm sure the price is a lot more than 5 cents.

Fig 1

Fig 2

Fig 3

I can even imagine that much of this broad scenery (apart from that DUN monstrosity) remaining relatively unchanged since the day when the adventurer James Brooke sailed down the river in "The Royalist".back in 1839, about 170 years ago ...

Just look at this painting from the early 1800s ...

Fig 4

I also like the look of Fort Margherita, nestled among the foliage. This fort was built in 1879 by the Second White Rajah, Sir Charles Brooke, and named after his wife, the Ranee Margaret. It was supposed to protect Kuching from marauding pirates and other enemies. Fort Margherita is also where during my childhood n the sixties, the 8 o'clock cannon was fired every night without fail.

Fig 5

Added later

I also took a tambang trip across to the kampong side of the Sarawak River. Here are some more photos ...

Fig 6

Fig 7

Fig 8

Fig 9

Fig 10

Fig 11

Fig 12

Well, enjoy the pictures. I'll add a few more once I get them.

Whether you are living in Kuching or staying overseas, do share your recollections of the sights and sounds of this lovely place.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Two days ago, the world's innovation light dimmed slightly when the legendary Steve Jobs passed away. The well-known story of this creative genius has been repeated in many websites and news items over the past days, so I will not go into it again here. Instead let me relate a bit of my own experience with Apple.

My first real personal computer, which I got in 1980, was an Apple II Plus and it played a big part in getting me through my Computer Science degree when I was in London. After my first year working with mainframes and minicomputers which I found frustratingly cryptic and unfriendly, it was refreshing to encounter the Apple II microcomputer. I remember the beige unit came with a green monitor screen (default 40 characters wide unless you bought the additional 80-character card), two 5.25"  floppy disk drives, and 64Kbytes of RAM. As a student I could not afford the newly released Winchester external hard drive which could hold a "massive" 1 Mbyte of data.

Yet on this humble platform, hundreds of innovative software applications were born. Some of you old foggies may remember programs like Visicalc, Apple Writer, Wordstar, Harvard Business Graphics, Accounting Plus and PERTMaster (a project management software I was quite good at). And then there were games like Space Invaders, Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Centipede, Astroids and Olympic Decathlon.

Here's a rare photo of me from 1980 ...

I was a true Apple fan back then. I attended almost every Apple show. I belonged to an Apple User Group in London. My 3rd year project was developed on the Apple II Plus. I even had a white sweatshirt with a huge Apple logo (the old rainbow striped one), which I often proudly wore.

It's been 30 years since those heady days, but being the hoarder that I am, I still have my original Apple II Plus computer stashed somewhere in our storeroom. I doubt it works any more, and even if the hardware does function, most of my floppy disks would be mold-infested by now. Maybe one day I can auction it off as a collector's item.

Steve Jobs may have had a relatively short life (by today's longevity standards) but he has touched millions of lives and his company Apple will likely continue to be a huge creative force for many years to come.

The ending words of Steve Jobs' convocation speech at Stanford in 2005 resonate with me: "Stay hungry. Stay foolish." It is in essence a caution against complacency and arrogance. I believe it will help all of us in our careers and our lives if we heed these words. R.I.P. Steve.

Back to Vietnam (Part 2)

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, is a colourful and vibrant city with about 7.5 million people..

I stayed at the Sheraton Saigon hotel, which is located in the city centre in  what is known as District 1. The street is called Dong Khoi.. Here's a picture of the front entrance area.

Fig 1: Sheraton Saigon

A walking tour of District 1 will bring one to the Saigon Opera House, City Hall, the Post Office, the Reunification Palace and Ben Thanh Market. There are also lots of shops, cafes and restaurants around.

Fig 2: Pho Bo for breakfast ... mmmmmm

When in Vietnam, one should miss out on the Pho Bo or Beef Pho. It's a little bit like our "Gu Bak Mee" in Sarawak,   but the soup is simply heavenly, especially when you add the different vegetables, leaves and dips that go with the dish. If you do not take beef, there's also the chicken version (Pho Ga).

Fig 3: Vietnamese musicians at the lobby of Sheraton Saigon

Outside on the streets of District 1, it is common to find branded name shops co-existing with street vendors such as the one in the photo below.

Fig 4: Street Vendor in Saigon

I've often heard people liken the city pair of Hanoi and HCMC, to Beijing and Shanghai. I think this comparison is quite apt in many ways. For instance, I've been told that Hanoians don't particularly like the people from HCMC, and vice versa. In a similar manner, there has always been this tension between Beijing dwellers and Shanghainese.

Well, that's it for today, folks..

Hope to see some comments from you ...