Continue from My Memoirs (Part 3)
Those days, my siblings and I like to enjoy our ride in Dad’s Hillman. I can still recall the smell of heated leather from the seat cushion. In the sixties, Cars were not installed with air conditioning then. The best comfort we have to make do is with a blowing fan – fitted onto the middle of the dash panel. And as time progressed, these seat materials would slowly evolves to other fabrics, such as vinyl and synthetic leather which do not usually emits the kind of aroma smell of the seasoned leather of the yesteryears.
Speaking of the aroma of smell, I could still vividly remember the smell of complete freshly fried chicken, which elder brother had won as a consolation prize at the fun fair. The fun fair was an annual affair held at the Pesta Stadium along the Perak Road at that time. Our whole family has had a fantastic meal that evening. At today standard, these meals are nothing to shout about. But during those days, having a whole fried chicken for meal is a rarity, which is only served on special occasion.
The shout of ‘koay ta lum’ (dessert made from pandan leaves, coconut milk and flour) and smell of ‘assam laksa’ always linger in memory during my younger days. These are the two signature desserts, that vendors carry and balance their wares on a long bamboo stick, who ply their trades on the five foot ways. They ply their trade by wearing a sort of ‘turban’ (head cloth) and use it to balance a big basket over their head and with a long bamboo stick over their shoulder to carry one pot of ‘laksa’ soup burning over a small stove at one end while the other end carries 3-4 layers of bamboo basket containing varieties of dessert. You cannot miss them for one can smell the appetizing aroma blocks away.
In the sixties, ten cents (10cts) can still buy you a big chunk of ‘koay ta lum’ and a bowl of ‘assam laksa’. As time progressed into the present age, that piece of one ‘koay ta lum’ and a bowl of ‘assam laksa’ takes approximately sixty cents (60cts) and three dollars (RM3.00) respectively. Nowadays, these vendors peddles their wares on a three wheel scooter and instead of shouting the traditional way, they would honk out their sales. However, one could hardly had a chance to enjoy these desserts nowadays as you would probably missed these vendors as they would be miles away by the time you come out of the five foot way. Sadly, this is the disadvantage of evolution. Nowadays, these desserts are sold under their actual names as ‘char-koa’ and can be found selling at ‘pasar malam’ or the night market.
Other vendors, like the ‘hum-chin peng’ (fried flour dumpling) man together with his ‘hong-tau sar’ (signature red bean dessert) is a must try in those days. He used to sell his stuff as he pushes his four wheel wooden cart all along the narrow streets of Georgetown. Those who are now in their 50’s and 60’s could still remember him. We actually miss his ‘hum-chin peng’ when we shift away from Chulia Lane.
Another must try street hawking stall in those days is the ‘lor-bak’ and ‘hei-si’ (minced meat in roll and fried prawn cracker in mixture with flour). This man is more up to-date, as he plies his stuff on a tricycle stall. So as he fried the prawn cracker, the aroma from this prawn mixture flour will sure entice your appetizer. And also with the sleight of his hand, he can cleanly cut a century year egg (fermented egg) into six equal pieces. Being young and native, we were curious as to how he could perform this magic. Later we found out that this vendor had hidden a tough thread (cloth string for slicing through the eggs) in between the utensils for this purposes.
As for ‘junk’ food, we have had our fair shared of ‘ting-ting dong’ (hard rock candies), where the vendor would chip away with his small hammer and chisel like tool to ‘cut’ away your cents worth of candies. Usually, this same vendor also sells the ‘mug-ah tong’ (maltose honey slurps) where a thick bamboo stick is dipped into a clayed jar of honey slurp and twirled around to scoop up your five cents worth of portion. So as brother and I had a total of ten cents (10 cents) between us, we would buy both and shared the items altogether. And yes, we sometimes fought over on who will get a bigger portion.
As much as our mouth water and yearn for all the above simple savory food at that young ages, we could not bring ourselves to sample these food often, as our budgets or so called allowances were limited to five cents (5 cents) on a well behaved day and nil when we play taunt.
To continue.......
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
My Memoirs (Part 3)
Continue from My Memoirs (Part 2)
Grandma’s two daughters, where the elder one, whom I called Ku-cheh (elder aunty) had a string of failed courtship which left her a very depressed person. As she always keeps to herself, communication breakdown was the norm, especially towards her immediate families. However, she was kind and helpful to most strangers who drop by to chat with her. She spent the later part of her life at the family house along Chulia Lane.
The younger daughter, Lai-ku (younger aunty) marries her sweetheart who lives next door. Lai-ku has 3 off spring of her own. While her children, lou-piu, (my cousins) are in constant contact with us now, lou-piu’s children could now hardly recognize us or vice-versa. And this is so-called generation gaps.
Dad, being a young mechanic in those days, used to repair and trade used cars for a living and he would sometimes drive a Hillman or a Chevrolet home, the ones that has protruding tail lights. Being young and native, my brother and I called them the ‘Fei kei’ car
Dad used to drive the family to the ‘kow-mar tou’ the Esplanade, at the Fort Cornwallis and the ‘san-mar tou’ at the Gurney Drive, where we used to enjoy the ride on the ‘merry-go-round’ carrousel, the swing and the ‘ king-kong pan’ (see-saw)
A type of horizontal platform with centre pivoted and balanced, where each person sits at both end, with own legs to push up and down, making ‘king kong’ noises when platform’s end touches the ground
Mind you, I believe this is the only place where you can find such a playground in those days.
At the age of five, I remembered shifting house, away from Chulia Lane, away from Grandma, away from the neighbor hood buddies where we had our fair share of playing games together. Brother and I missed our favorite games of glass marbles, top spinning, water gun battles, green unripe berry (for bullet projectile by elastic band) on wooden gun battles, hide and seek (where you can even hide blocks away) and yes, flying kites.
We stayed put for a year at the corner house situated at the end at Counter Hall which connected the Terengganu Road (just a stone throw away from the now framed P. Ramlees’ house). In front of the house is a small little steam where the children from the neighbor hood spend their time catching ‘peacork fish’ (guppy fish) with their bare hands.
Of course, there are a lot of greenies in the ‘san deng’ area, which gives us another pastime – catching fighting spider. We would carefully ‘scan’ through the wild berry hedges that usually grown along the fences surrounding the house. We would pick up and consume those wild but red ripen berries! How native we will then, without considering the facts that these wild fruits could be poisonous. But we lived through.
Those days, as Counter Hall is consider ‘out-of–town ‘area or ‘san deng’ (small village), was also a flood prone area.. Coming down town from the ‘san deng’ in those days, one must always drive through the big hump along the Perak Road which is just in front of the Penang Stadium. Only then after the big hump, the area would only consider as down town. (At least, this is what dad told us).
To continue......
Grandma’s two daughters, where the elder one, whom I called Ku-cheh (elder aunty) had a string of failed courtship which left her a very depressed person. As she always keeps to herself, communication breakdown was the norm, especially towards her immediate families. However, she was kind and helpful to most strangers who drop by to chat with her. She spent the later part of her life at the family house along Chulia Lane.
The younger daughter, Lai-ku (younger aunty) marries her sweetheart who lives next door. Lai-ku has 3 off spring of her own. While her children, lou-piu, (my cousins) are in constant contact with us now, lou-piu’s children could now hardly recognize us or vice-versa. And this is so-called generation gaps.
Dad, being a young mechanic in those days, used to repair and trade used cars for a living and he would sometimes drive a Hillman or a Chevrolet home, the ones that has protruding tail lights. Being young and native, my brother and I called them the ‘Fei kei’ car
Dad used to drive the family to the ‘kow-mar tou’ the Esplanade, at the Fort Cornwallis and the ‘san-mar tou’ at the Gurney Drive, where we used to enjoy the ride on the ‘merry-go-round’ carrousel, the swing and the ‘ king-kong pan’ (see-saw)
A type of horizontal platform with centre pivoted and balanced, where each person sits at both end, with own legs to push up and down, making ‘king kong’ noises when platform’s end touches the ground
Mind you, I believe this is the only place where you can find such a playground in those days.
At the age of five, I remembered shifting house, away from Chulia Lane, away from Grandma, away from the neighbor hood buddies where we had our fair share of playing games together. Brother and I missed our favorite games of glass marbles, top spinning, water gun battles, green unripe berry (for bullet projectile by elastic band) on wooden gun battles, hide and seek (where you can even hide blocks away) and yes, flying kites.
We stayed put for a year at the corner house situated at the end at Counter Hall which connected the Terengganu Road (just a stone throw away from the now framed P. Ramlees’ house). In front of the house is a small little steam where the children from the neighbor hood spend their time catching ‘peacork fish’ (guppy fish) with their bare hands.
Of course, there are a lot of greenies in the ‘san deng’ area, which gives us another pastime – catching fighting spider. We would carefully ‘scan’ through the wild berry hedges that usually grown along the fences surrounding the house. We would pick up and consume those wild but red ripen berries! How native we will then, without considering the facts that these wild fruits could be poisonous. But we lived through.
Those days, as Counter Hall is consider ‘out-of–town ‘area or ‘san deng’ (small village), was also a flood prone area.. Coming down town from the ‘san deng’ in those days, one must always drive through the big hump along the Perak Road which is just in front of the Penang Stadium. Only then after the big hump, the area would only consider as down town. (At least, this is what dad told us).
To continue......
Friday, December 14, 2007
My Memoirs (Part 2)
Continue from My Memoirs (Part 1)
I used to remember Grandma telling us that she had four sons and two daughters. Two eldest sons were taken away during the Japanese occupations to work on the ‘Death Railway’ of the infamous ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’.
Forced labour was used in its construction. About 200,000 Asian labourers and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) worked on the railway. Of these, around 100,000 Asian labourers and 16,000 Allied POWs died as a direct result of the project. As history goes, my two ‘Ah Pak’ are two of the many Asian labourers perished during that period. (Later, some young man came back alive to report to Grandma – that they had seen her two sons being held at the death railway)
The third son dies of malaria – due to lack of health care between these periods. During the occupation, the Japanese solders came for the ‘chok ching’ (to capture) young men at various part of George Town, and along the Market Lane / Chulia Lane. And at that fortunate time, his fourth son (my dad) was having diarrhea in the toilet and thus ‘miss’ him. Fate or miraculous escape, as you would call it. My dad grew up to become a handsome young man, whom the neighborhood addresses him as ‘Sie Khor’ or the fourth brother.
This fourth brother met up with my mom one fine day – through the introduction of his colleague (an uncle, I now called ‘ah Jeong’). Mom is the younger sister of uncle’s wife (now whom I called ‘tye yee’). And after a whirlwind courtship, both Mom and Dad were married.
I can still vividly remember Mom telling us siblings that on her wedding day during the tea ceremony, one of the ‘ah mah cheh’ suddenly went into trance and started to speak in some strange Cantonese, which later interpreted as one of the ‘Ah Pak’s spirit (Grandma’s other lost sons) desired to adopt the newly wed couples’ offspring as ‘their’ children. ‘They’ even presented her with 3 Russian diamond rings for the tea ceremony. These rings were later found (interpretation from the trance) in one of the hidden drawer at one of the many ancient cupboards. Strange as it may sound but till to this day, I have one of this Russian diamond ring in my possessions. Myths or Facts?
Hence, with the above strange incidents and in the memory of Grandma three lost sons, I and my siblings are taught to call both Mom and Dad as “Ah Sum’ and Ah Shok”. But as time progressed well into our adulthood, we fine tuned into calling Mom and Dad as ‘Lou Mou’ and ‘Lou Tau’ in Cantonese, which literally means Mother and Father in plain language
To continue.....
I used to remember Grandma telling us that she had four sons and two daughters. Two eldest sons were taken away during the Japanese occupations to work on the ‘Death Railway’ of the infamous ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’.
Forced labour was used in its construction. About 200,000 Asian labourers and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) worked on the railway. Of these, around 100,000 Asian labourers and 16,000 Allied POWs died as a direct result of the project. As history goes, my two ‘Ah Pak’ are two of the many Asian labourers perished during that period. (Later, some young man came back alive to report to Grandma – that they had seen her two sons being held at the death railway)
The third son dies of malaria – due to lack of health care between these periods. During the occupation, the Japanese solders came for the ‘chok ching’ (to capture) young men at various part of George Town, and along the Market Lane / Chulia Lane. And at that fortunate time, his fourth son (my dad) was having diarrhea in the toilet and thus ‘miss’ him. Fate or miraculous escape, as you would call it. My dad grew up to become a handsome young man, whom the neighborhood addresses him as ‘Sie Khor’ or the fourth brother.
This fourth brother met up with my mom one fine day – through the introduction of his colleague (an uncle, I now called ‘ah Jeong’). Mom is the younger sister of uncle’s wife (now whom I called ‘tye yee’). And after a whirlwind courtship, both Mom and Dad were married.
I can still vividly remember Mom telling us siblings that on her wedding day during the tea ceremony, one of the ‘ah mah cheh’ suddenly went into trance and started to speak in some strange Cantonese, which later interpreted as one of the ‘Ah Pak’s spirit (Grandma’s other lost sons) desired to adopt the newly wed couples’ offspring as ‘their’ children. ‘They’ even presented her with 3 Russian diamond rings for the tea ceremony. These rings were later found (interpretation from the trance) in one of the hidden drawer at one of the many ancient cupboards. Strange as it may sound but till to this day, I have one of this Russian diamond ring in my possessions. Myths or Facts?
Hence, with the above strange incidents and in the memory of Grandma three lost sons, I and my siblings are taught to call both Mom and Dad as “Ah Sum’ and Ah Shok”. But as time progressed well into our adulthood, we fine tuned into calling Mom and Dad as ‘Lou Mou’ and ‘Lou Tau’ in Cantonese, which literally means Mother and Father in plain language
To continue.....
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
My Memoirs (Part 1)
How times flies!
My memory flashes through just like yesterday. It was in the late 1950’s, in my earliest childhood, then staying along Chulia Lane, a row of pre-war houses – sandwiched between Tong Kong coffee shop and the Sin Keng Onn , a Hainanese restaurant. I still remembered pedaling the tin made 4 wheel toy sedan through the corridors on the upper 5-foot way pavement and hooting away the rubber stud horn to all those who stands in my way. It was also during this period, this ‘lang ting tang’ man comes around singing your fortune for a few cents. (Many also known him as Tan Tong Tong)
I guess, I was then 4-5 years of age enjoying my childhood and without a care and worries in this much materialist world. Born in the Independence year, it was during the curfew period where my dad had to bring mama to the maternity hospital for her delivery. I had 3 other siblings. Being second in the family, I had an elder brother and two younger sisters
During this time, Piu Pak (Grandma’s brother-in-law) used to buy toys for brother & 1 almost every other night. Always buy two toys at one go, for if not, brother and I would always fight over for it. Be it a toy wooden sword or a mechanical wind up toy car. To this day, my brother can still vividly remember me crying over the broken toys murmuring ‘mou nan mou need’ (in Cantonese) which virtually translated like ‘not cracked, not broken’.
Our toys buying day’s ends abruptly when Piu Pak announced that he wanted to go over to ‘Park Hoi’ (Butterworth) to look for work and that is the last we heard of him.
Grandma (Dad’s mom) used to sell bananas to vend away her time, pushing her 4 wheel wooden cart to the near by Central Market at the Carnarvon Street and Campbell Street junctions. Her favorite site is in front of Ghee Heong, the dim sum shop, by the road side (Campbell Street) just opposite the Market. As a kid, I like to trot along together with her to the Market. And many a times we used to ‘chow kwei’ to get away from the council officers who came running after the traders and Grandma, being considered an obstruction traders along the ever busy market place.. In the afternoon, Grandma would shift to another site down the road near the Boon Wah textile shop. At night, she would sell her fruits along Chulia Street, which is the main road. Those days, I can still remember, the City Council bus (Tram) still run on rail by Double Decker which later evolves to free driving by single Decker bus.
Grandma, being illiterates would show the same exact amount of coins to the passing sailors, who asked ‘how much’ when pointing to the bunch of bananas they wish to buy.
To continue.....
My memory flashes through just like yesterday. It was in the late 1950’s, in my earliest childhood, then staying along Chulia Lane, a row of pre-war houses – sandwiched between Tong Kong coffee shop and the Sin Keng Onn , a Hainanese restaurant. I still remembered pedaling the tin made 4 wheel toy sedan through the corridors on the upper 5-foot way pavement and hooting away the rubber stud horn to all those who stands in my way. It was also during this period, this ‘lang ting tang’ man comes around singing your fortune for a few cents. (Many also known him as Tan Tong Tong)
I guess, I was then 4-5 years of age enjoying my childhood and without a care and worries in this much materialist world. Born in the Independence year, it was during the curfew period where my dad had to bring mama to the maternity hospital for her delivery. I had 3 other siblings. Being second in the family, I had an elder brother and two younger sisters
During this time, Piu Pak (Grandma’s brother-in-law) used to buy toys for brother & 1 almost every other night. Always buy two toys at one go, for if not, brother and I would always fight over for it. Be it a toy wooden sword or a mechanical wind up toy car. To this day, my brother can still vividly remember me crying over the broken toys murmuring ‘mou nan mou need’ (in Cantonese) which virtually translated like ‘not cracked, not broken’.
Our toys buying day’s ends abruptly when Piu Pak announced that he wanted to go over to ‘Park Hoi’ (Butterworth) to look for work and that is the last we heard of him.
Grandma (Dad’s mom) used to sell bananas to vend away her time, pushing her 4 wheel wooden cart to the near by Central Market at the Carnarvon Street and Campbell Street junctions. Her favorite site is in front of Ghee Heong, the dim sum shop, by the road side (Campbell Street) just opposite the Market. As a kid, I like to trot along together with her to the Market. And many a times we used to ‘chow kwei’ to get away from the council officers who came running after the traders and Grandma, being considered an obstruction traders along the ever busy market place.. In the afternoon, Grandma would shift to another site down the road near the Boon Wah textile shop. At night, she would sell her fruits along Chulia Street, which is the main road. Those days, I can still remember, the City Council bus (Tram) still run on rail by Double Decker which later evolves to free driving by single Decker bus.
Grandma, being illiterates would show the same exact amount of coins to the passing sailors, who asked ‘how much’ when pointing to the bunch of bananas they wish to buy.
To continue.....
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Old Penang / SXI
Photographs 
, a photo session.
If the page could not download, try this link;http://www.flickr.com/photos/21375019@N06/
Note: Pictures of Old Penang - Courtesy of Kevin Cragg / Geoff
, a photo session.If the page could not download, try this link;http://www.flickr.com/photos/21375019@N06/
Note: Pictures of Old Penang - Courtesy of Kevin Cragg / Geoff
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
50 years Anniversary Bash at SXI
50 years Anniversary Bash at SXI
The big Five-0 had finally arrived for many of us whom was born in the Independence year. The National day celebration was just yesterday and today being 1st September 2007, many of us ex-Xaverian have had gathered for the big bash at the main entrance of our beloved school, The St Xavier Institution.
Yes, being a bit lazy to drive back alone, I have managed to catch hold a NICE bus ticket for this trips back to Penang. At 1100 hours sharp, my bus departed from the KTM old station. The bus journey was smooth and comfortable and arrival on Penang Island four hours later. To kill time, I drove my brother’s Kia Carnival over to Campbell Street / Kg Malaba to bite on some hawker’s fare.
Yulp. That Woo Hing shop is just round the corner and being a true WIS, not stopping over to browse is not my nature. And before I know it, I was staring at one Tudor Chronograph (pre-Tiger) with black tachymeter; black dial with 3 sub white dial comes with bracelet. Boy! How my heart race that very moment. Did I say; ‘I always wanted one’. No? They have one last piece left and the price is fair and even more attractive than that pre-owned Tudor Chronograph, I had last checked at the Times Square. So what’s now? Yes. You guess it right! About 10 minutes later, I proudly walk out with the watch on my wrist to source for my ‘chow-down’. After a tasteful plate of ‘yin-yang’ (Hor-fun) at the coffee shop next door, I proceed to drive over to my old school.
I arrived at school early, an hour before the big bash starts at 1900 hours. Noticed that no one else had show-up as yet, I took the opportunity to do a quick de-tour around the school vicinity. Armed with my Fuji Finepix digital, I went about capturing a few good shots of my beloved school..
A few guests, I mean - classmate has arrived by then. We were staring at each other, we recognized each other but could not recall names. We shook hands, exchanged greetings and no, we did not shed any tears. We are men, remember. Of course, the guest of honor is our Bros. Charles. And my! He looks very fit, a man in his nineties. (I believe) We shook hands, exchange a few preliminaries. Bros. Charles is the man, whom many had admired from afar in the schooling days, but have not had the guts to approach the great man to say a simple ‘hellos’. Well, you know, those were the Principal – students’ days back then.
By now, our group had grown larger by the minutes. Facial recognize amid the grey, bald and spare tyre features comes in various shapes of body’s misfit are for all to see.
Our groups were then taken on a tour down the memory lane through the school corridors by our organizer – Mr. KS & M. We make straight to the school canteen compound, where everybody who is anybody seizes the opportunity to take snap shots. I, of course, take this opportunity to be photographed with Bros. Charles.
Without much ado, we then proceed to walk over to the E & O Hotel on the next block. It was a nostalgic walk, as a matter of fact – with all the old buddies tagging along. Reaching the E & O Hotel, we went straight to the sea front. The sun was about to set. Beautiful picturesque scenario, I would say with air of nostalgic feeling.
Bros. Charles was given the honor to give the opening speech. And after that our school song;
Here goes; (For those who know the chord / lyrics, come on let’s sing along)
1. All through our college a voice is resounding,
Promptly respond to your duty's sweet call,
Hearken you all for the trumpet is sounding,
Your Mater's proclaiming her watchwords to all.
Chorus :
Forward her children dear, ever with hearts sincere,
Render with joy to your Mater her due;
All that is vile reject, Heaven will e'er protect,
Sons of St. Xavier's, valiant and true.
2. Labour will conquer your motto still bearing,
Forward with courage in ways that are just,
True to your standard be doing and daring,
As faithful Xaverians in Heaven your trust
Free flowing of beer around here and plenty of good food on the buffet spread. So as many of us buddies switching tables with plenty of ‘boozing’ around. The same goes for photo shoot session.
I must say; ‘Yam-pau, sek choi’ (Cantonese translation; Drink till get drunk, eat till enough). And we merry around till the cows come home. So as the cows need to go home, so do us. We bade goodbyes to everybody who is anybody and promises to meet again but the question is when……
My special thanks to Mr. KS and M for making the above big bash a success.
Cheerio……
P/s; Let me absorb this system to post some photographs……see flickr
The big Five-0 had finally arrived for many of us whom was born in the Independence year. The National day celebration was just yesterday and today being 1st September 2007, many of us ex-Xaverian have had gathered for the big bash at the main entrance of our beloved school, The St Xavier Institution.
Yes, being a bit lazy to drive back alone, I have managed to catch hold a NICE bus ticket for this trips back to Penang. At 1100 hours sharp, my bus departed from the KTM old station. The bus journey was smooth and comfortable and arrival on Penang Island four hours later. To kill time, I drove my brother’s Kia Carnival over to Campbell Street / Kg Malaba to bite on some hawker’s fare.
Yulp. That Woo Hing shop is just round the corner and being a true WIS, not stopping over to browse is not my nature. And before I know it, I was staring at one Tudor Chronograph (pre-Tiger) with black tachymeter; black dial with 3 sub white dial comes with bracelet. Boy! How my heart race that very moment. Did I say; ‘I always wanted one’. No? They have one last piece left and the price is fair and even more attractive than that pre-owned Tudor Chronograph, I had last checked at the Times Square. So what’s now? Yes. You guess it right! About 10 minutes later, I proudly walk out with the watch on my wrist to source for my ‘chow-down’. After a tasteful plate of ‘yin-yang’ (Hor-fun) at the coffee shop next door, I proceed to drive over to my old school.
I arrived at school early, an hour before the big bash starts at 1900 hours. Noticed that no one else had show-up as yet, I took the opportunity to do a quick de-tour around the school vicinity. Armed with my Fuji Finepix digital, I went about capturing a few good shots of my beloved school..
A few guests, I mean - classmate has arrived by then. We were staring at each other, we recognized each other but could not recall names. We shook hands, exchanged greetings and no, we did not shed any tears. We are men, remember. Of course, the guest of honor is our Bros. Charles. And my! He looks very fit, a man in his nineties. (I believe) We shook hands, exchange a few preliminaries. Bros. Charles is the man, whom many had admired from afar in the schooling days, but have not had the guts to approach the great man to say a simple ‘hellos’. Well, you know, those were the Principal – students’ days back then.
By now, our group had grown larger by the minutes. Facial recognize amid the grey, bald and spare tyre features comes in various shapes of body’s misfit are for all to see.
Our groups were then taken on a tour down the memory lane through the school corridors by our organizer – Mr. KS & M. We make straight to the school canteen compound, where everybody who is anybody seizes the opportunity to take snap shots. I, of course, take this opportunity to be photographed with Bros. Charles.
Without much ado, we then proceed to walk over to the E & O Hotel on the next block. It was a nostalgic walk, as a matter of fact – with all the old buddies tagging along. Reaching the E & O Hotel, we went straight to the sea front. The sun was about to set. Beautiful picturesque scenario, I would say with air of nostalgic feeling.
Bros. Charles was given the honor to give the opening speech. And after that our school song;
Here goes; (For those who know the chord / lyrics, come on let’s sing along)
1. All through our college a voice is resounding,
Promptly respond to your duty's sweet call,
Hearken you all for the trumpet is sounding,
Your Mater's proclaiming her watchwords to all.
Chorus :
Forward her children dear, ever with hearts sincere,
Render with joy to your Mater her due;
All that is vile reject, Heaven will e'er protect,
Sons of St. Xavier's, valiant and true.
2. Labour will conquer your motto still bearing,
Forward with courage in ways that are just,
True to your standard be doing and daring,
As faithful Xaverians in Heaven your trust
Free flowing of beer around here and plenty of good food on the buffet spread. So as many of us buddies switching tables with plenty of ‘boozing’ around. The same goes for photo shoot session.
I must say; ‘Yam-pau, sek choi’ (Cantonese translation; Drink till get drunk, eat till enough). And we merry around till the cows come home. So as the cows need to go home, so do us. We bade goodbyes to everybody who is anybody and promises to meet again but the question is when……
My special thanks to Mr. KS and M for making the above big bash a success.
Cheerio……
P/s; Let me absorb this system to post some photographs……see flickr
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Watch Hunting - Malaysian style
Hi to all. Recently I was in the market for an mid-market watch for my wife. I promised her one - which was quite long overdue (promised her, last year till this year, still haven't bought any as yet). I have offered her my Date-oyster, but she declined - commenting it as a "ah pak" watch. She wanted a "big" dial watch (not any small girly dainty pc), our objective. An understated, yet fashionable mid range watch.
Armed with a long annual leave (December/last year), we went watch hunting (Malaysian styled)in the Klang Valley. First stop, we were at the Bintang Walk (heart of KL) went into the Star Hill. Whew! What a sight. All the watch affectionarios would surely loved this place. You could spend countless hours browsing around here. This is a up-market boutique with all the big names in watch making.
I was wearing simple - cowboy jean with t-shirt and wearing my Seiko 5, thus making us not a potential customer in a would - buy scenario. One of the sales people did actually approaches us (no-smiles) that’s it, and went on his way. We make a quick exit and went over to Sg Wang Plaza. Here, we stop over at Rolex AD, exchanged a few 'hellos' (whom I knew - with my years of window browsing/shopping on watches).Check out some sport model/s...nil, only GMT11 (Pepsi) is in stock. Price increased yet again (annual affair-lah)
Still in the same complex, I stopped at a Grey outlet for Panarai/s. Ahem, you would not have believe this, this guy stocks various model (aplenty)of Panarais and he is quick enough to bring out a few models for me to check out. (now, this is what I called service orientated). The models are all new in box (NIB) with papers, quite fairly priced, I would say. Interested, but a big NO for my wife taste -too big for her dainty wrist.
My next stop?. Many would not have agreed with me - the Central Market. Here is a shop that sells many pre-owned Rolexes. A piece of advise here, you have to know your wares in order to shop here. But anyway I have known this operator well, and have his goodies from his 'safe' to be displayed in front of me. Well, the pc that caught my wife attention is the Cartier Pasha - dual time with silver dial. Not too big and yet not small for her wrist, she quietly tele-message me with her eye contact (the kind of communication where only wife/husband understands). And after some hacking, bellowing and hard bargaining, we settled for a fair price. and she is one happy woman. You might say, why buying pre-owned?. Well, she just told me, she eyeing and is up-grading to another model next year, if our pocket/s permits Thank you for your time reading this episode of mine. Hope you not getting bored by now. Just my 2 cents worth. DC
Armed with a long annual leave (December/last year), we went watch hunting (Malaysian styled)in the Klang Valley. First stop, we were at the Bintang Walk (heart of KL) went into the Star Hill. Whew! What a sight. All the watch affectionarios would surely loved this place. You could spend countless hours browsing around here. This is a up-market boutique with all the big names in watch making.
I was wearing simple - cowboy jean with t-shirt and wearing my Seiko 5, thus making us not a potential customer in a would - buy scenario. One of the sales people did actually approaches us (no-smiles) that’s it, and went on his way. We make a quick exit and went over to Sg Wang Plaza. Here, we stop over at Rolex AD, exchanged a few 'hellos' (whom I knew - with my years of window browsing/shopping on watches).Check out some sport model/s...nil, only GMT11 (Pepsi) is in stock. Price increased yet again (annual affair-lah)
Still in the same complex, I stopped at a Grey outlet for Panarai/s. Ahem, you would not have believe this, this guy stocks various model (aplenty)of Panarais and he is quick enough to bring out a few models for me to check out. (now, this is what I called service orientated). The models are all new in box (NIB) with papers, quite fairly priced, I would say. Interested, but a big NO for my wife taste -too big for her dainty wrist.
My next stop?. Many would not have agreed with me - the Central Market. Here is a shop that sells many pre-owned Rolexes. A piece of advise here, you have to know your wares in order to shop here. But anyway I have known this operator well, and have his goodies from his 'safe' to be displayed in front of me. Well, the pc that caught my wife attention is the Cartier Pasha - dual time with silver dial. Not too big and yet not small for her wrist, she quietly tele-message me with her eye contact (the kind of communication where only wife/husband understands). And after some hacking, bellowing and hard bargaining, we settled for a fair price. and she is one happy woman. You might say, why buying pre-owned?. Well, she just told me, she eyeing and is up-grading to another model next year, if our pocket/s permits Thank you for your time reading this episode of mine. Hope you not getting bored by now. Just my 2 cents worth. DC
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