Ideas for Year End Holidays

2011 is drawing to a close and the year-end holiday season is almost here again. I've had some suggestions for a blog posting for us to discuss holiday plans and give each other some ideas where to go, what to see, how to grab the best deals, how to get there, etcetra etcetra ...  Who knows ... perhaps a few families might decide to get together for a joint holiday. After all it has been some time since the last class trip :)

So today, our "Josephians of the Seventies" blog will try to play the role of holiday planner.

Let me start by listing some questions, just to trigger discussions ...

*  Family holiday or solo trip?
*  What do you look for in an ideal holiday?
*  Are "guided tours" better or do you prefer "free and easy"?
*  Do you have an overall multi-year holiday plan (on where you'd like to go)?
*  Where did you go last year?
*  Where are you considering this year?
*  When and where was your all-time best holiday, and why?

Okay, let the conversations begin ...

Bro Columba in Singapore

Last evening, a group of around twenty Josephians from different years hosted Bro Columba to dinner in Singapore. Ta Ker is on his way back to Sarawak.

Here are a few photos from the evening. See who you can identify ...

Fig 1a

Fig 1b

Fig 2

Fig 3

Fig 4

Fig 5

Fig 6

Fig 7

Fig 8

Perhaps I'll add more photos later  ...

An interesting CNNGo article

Hello lads, apart from you guys and gals, it seems someone else has come across this blog. Last week, an Associate Editor from CNNGo asked me for permission to use one of the photos on the blog for an upcoming article.

Well, the article is entitled

Asia: Where the ghosts of the West's forgotten bands live on

and here's the link ...

http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/play/asia-ghosts-wests-bad-bands-live-433150?page=0,0

Check it out.

Did you spot the photo?

Great Dates this Year

From the title of this post, I suspect some of you are thinking of other things. C'mon now, don't let your imagination run away with you.

I'm referring to calendar dates, many of which have been quite interesting and special in this year 2011.

This posting will examine some of these dates ...

First there were the dates containing all 1's

1st Jan 2011 (1.1.11)

11th Jan 2011 (11.1.11)

1st Nov (1.11.11) and

11th Nov (11..11.11) ... this one is seen to be especially auspicious.

Then there were the so-called "binary dates" - binary meaning 1 and 0, as anyone with a bit of computer knowledge knows. So these dates were

10th Jan (10.1.11)

1st Oct (1.10.11)

10th Oct (10.10.11) and

11th Oct (11.10.11)

Then there were what I like to call "double barrel" dates, which mirrors or repeats the numeric sequence in an interesting way, like

11th Feb (11.02.2011) 

and today .....  20th Nov (20.11.2011)

Dates like 11.1.11, 11.11.11, 11.02.2011 are symmetrical dates, because you can read the digits from left or right. Sentences with the same properties are called palindromes. Some famous ones are "Able was I ere I saw Elba" (supposedly said by Napolean after he was exiled to the Island of Elba) and "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama" (about the  chap, Ferdinand de Lesseps, who developed the Panama Canal) ...

But I'm digressing. We were talking about calendar dates. Dates have been studied by astrologers, historians, numerologists, and feng shui consultants over the ages. I'm not a believer in any special significance of these numbers, but I realise that a proportion of the world's population do, and mass behaviour have a certain way of making things happen. Those of you who dabble in the stock market will know something about this ...

Anyway, today's a very nice date. So let me wish all of you an absolutely nice day.

Musical Interlude: Old Songs I'd Almost Forgotten

This posting simply pulls together a few old, nice-sounding songs I liked during the 70s. I haven't heard them for a long time and it's really nostalgic to listen to them again after such a long time ...So sit back, turn up the volume and enjoy !

The first song "Funny, Funny" is one I heard countless times from the radio, but I didn't imagine the band members of  Sweet looked like this. No MTV channel back then lah ....





This next hit from the Bay City Rollers came out during 1974 when I was in Form 3 ... now where are my old tartan pants?




I never thought of it back then, but this next song from the early 70s is all about desertion ... Have a listen and tell me if you agree with me  :)




I am willing to bet that you won't be able to listen to this next song without thinking of a certain brand of softdrink. Any takers?




Although the Seventies was three decades ago, it still seems like Only Yesterday ...




And that of course was the incomparable voice of the late  Karen Carpenter.

Hope this little selection transported you back to the Swinging 70s for a while ...

Be Prepared

Many of our schoolmates were Boy Scouts back at St Joe. The Scout movement was started by Robert Baden-Powell in UK in 1907, and has spread to more than 200 countries around the world, with some 38 million members. Scouting in Malaysia started with the state of Sabah in 1913. Sarawak followed in 1915. "Be prepared", the motto of the international scout movement, has always been a good reminder for facing the vicissitudes of life.

Here's a photo, courtesy of Pierce Chow, showing the IX Kuching Scout Group of 1978.

Fig 1

See how many individuals you can name.


Further Additions

Sky Sim (Form 5 in 1976) just sent me another old  photo. I'll leave it to Sky to tell you the year and occasion. He was the Group Leader then.

Fig 2

Here are a few more from Sky. Unfortunately some of these are not as clear as the first one. We're trying to get a better scan, but in the meantime you'll just have to squint a bit  :-)

Fig 3

Fig 4

Fig 5

Fig 6

Fig 7

Don't get all knotted now ... share any photos and stories from your scouting days ...

Boys in Blue

A happy mini-reunion in Kuala Lumpur ... All three are from the Class of 76.

And no reunion is complete without good foooood .....

JK, JY & PC

And KL is certainly a foodie paradise ... 

Yummy Sarawak fare in KL

Hmmm ... how did Kuo get to be so tall?

Tu Kar and Glass Noodles

Ahhhhhhhh .... BURP !

Selamat Hari Raya Haji

How time flies. Another year has passed ...

To all Muslim friends, have a blessed celebration. To all others, have a great holiday.

SKY comes home

LIVE Pictures ... Posted probably while it is still happening ... 950pm

The gang at the Badger Bar, Sarawak Club with visiting buddy Sim Kuan Yang (aka SKY), who is based Down Under.

See if you can name everyone in the photo

Looks like all having a good time, boys of 1976 !

Best Food Checklist (Kuching)

Many Sarawakians who live outside of the state and don't come back frequently will often crave the local food. I know that for me and many others I know, each trip back to Kuching is like a culinary pilgrimage ... we rush here, there and everywhere to stuff ourselves with our favourite fare - be it kolo mee, laksa, rojak or dozens of others.

So I've always wanted to make a checklist of where to get THE BEST of each kind of popular dishes. This posting is going to be very interactive, as I'm going to ask you guys and gals in Kuching to tell me where in town you think the best of each of the dishes can be found. I will simply provide some of the categories, and fill them in based on your comments and suggestions. So please give as many comments as you like.

Kolo Mee
* Sin Lian Shin, Green Road

Sarawak Laksa
*  Foody Goody, Stutong
*  Choon Choon
*  Mega One Food Court, Kings Centre (just outside Smart Supermarket)
*  Thompson Corner, Tabuan Road

Tomato Fried Mee
* Open Air Market
* Sarawak Club, main hall

Fishhead Bee Hoon
*  Lee Cafe, Stutong

Char Kueh Teow (with beansprouts)
* Merry Park
* Kenyalang Park market

Gu Bak Mee (Beef Noodles)
*  Open Air Market (opposite Electra House)
*  Corner coffeeshop opposite Rex (night only)
*  Foodcentre at Spring Foodcourt

Mee Rebus
*  Court House canteen (to get in, either commit a crime or get Uncle George to bring you in :-)

Rojak
*  Open Market
*  Coffeeshop at King's Centre near GL's office (which block George?)

Satay
*  Lau Ya Keng

Hay Pia
*  Da-Light Foodcourt, just next to King's Centre
*  Peterson's Corner, next to Satok jungle produce market
*  Coffeeshop (on corner) opposite former Rex cinema (now cineplex)


Lui Cha
* Next stall to above Hay Pia stall at Da-Light
*  Big Mouth at Jln Dogan


Poh Piah
*  Choon Hui (near Hotel Grand Continental)
*  Kwong Hup, Jalan Keretapi
*  BDC

Kueh Chap
* Lau Ya Keng, Carpenter Street

Bak Moi
* Lau Ya Keng, Carpenter Street (morning & evening)
* Ling Loong, entrance to King's Centre

Curry Rice
* Nam Kwang, 3rd Mile Bazaar

Roast Chicken with Ginger Rice
*  Corner coffeeshop opposite Rex

Ayam Penyet
*  Eating area next to Old Mosque in town

Pork Leg Rice (aka Tu Kar Peng)
*  Lee Cafe (near Heritage Restaurant, off Song Thian Cheok Rd & Ban Hock Road)

Bak Kut Teh
* Mega One Food Court, Kings Centre (just outside Smart Supermarket)

Kachang Ma
* ????

You can also suggest other food that I might have left out.

If this interactive posting works out for popular food in Kuching, we may do Sibu and Miri also ...

Musical Interlude from the 70s

Time for some music. Turn up the volume and enjoy these cool hits from the 70s ...

This one has some cute animations ...





This next one was big too ... hmmm, I suddenly feel like having an Iced Lemon Tea ...





And who could forget the Bay City Rollers? Bring out your tartan outfits ...





I don't think I ever saw this cartoon version, but the song was certainly a favourite at St Mike's ...





Well, hope you enjoyed those. Any other songs you remember from those days?