Monday, October 27, 2008

Prices of goods go up fast but inches its way downwards

Bought a MAS ticket to KL and found the prices still remained the same as before even though the price of oil had plummeted from USD 140 to below USD70 per barrel.....yet the surcharge has not gone down...

I suppose all's the same including yr roti chanai...exception is the Hokkien mee in Pulau Tikus (one of the best in Pg) still RM2.50 for a bowl of the best Hokkien Mee in Pg.

Yeah it's always the same....prices are slow to come down...still got old stock lah

Friday, October 24, 2008

Walking the streets of Ole Georgetown

What a delight to walk casually along the old part of Georgetown...in particular along the roads near the banks ...the beach street-church street bishop street area....

Along Church street...the newly spruced up and restored Perankan museum is a sight to behold...I think it looks better than the cheong Fatt Tze house....

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Rain in Penang exposes our stupidity

They say too much of a good thing can ruin it.....well rain has always been good for Penang...it flushes away all the filth in the streets and the sudden gush of torrential rain de-clogs all the drains and pushes all the sampah to the sea....and the great sea absorbs all the dirt and neutralizes it.

Thats' the theory anyway...but with the increase in population and the increased use of hydrocarbon based non-degradable material.......they all just float in the seas or sink down but don't disintegrate for a zillion years....piling up the garbage bin of last resort...no wonder our oceans are dying....

It is sad, how our newly acquired habits will finally ruin us. We used to wrap our stuff with old newspaper or brown paper but now we do it in plastic...we used to carry rattan baskets to the market but now we go there empty handed but come back with at least half a dozen or so plastic bags....

Slowly but surely we are choking ourselves to death....with plastic and more plastics...

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Financial Melt down ---& will Pg be affected ?

If u hear what our BN pollies have to say...u would be forgiven to think that we Malaysiana are martians and we live light years awya from this planet earth..."we won't be affected."

Come on....even if our banks do not have with sub-prime loans in their portfolio, their clients business will be affected...the American consumers are already curtailing their purchases...consumers' confidence through out the world is at an all-time low....and this will translate to lower demand...& less orders for the manufacturers.... already the Chinese factories are feeling the adverse impact with many factories closing down and workers thrown out of jobs....

We will be affected and for places like Pg...the impact will even be worse....

Sunday, October 05, 2008

The birds had flown away.....

Growing up in Penang in the 60's & 70's, one can still savour the sights and sounds of birds in the leafy suburbs of Penang. I used to stay with a relative at the Government Quarters located at the end of Macalister Road...and as a 7 year old boy could remember the many different birds that visited the big compounds there....

Notable amongst them are the noisy murais, a bird with a black and white plummage, that would zip up and down trees busy making a marvellous call....

The many types of Kingfishers would also call at the garden. There are the distinctively yellow ones, and a multicoloured one with blue and red feathers...

Occasionally, a pair of eagles would appear...they sometimes make a distinct call.....and at night the owls would come out and scare the 'daylights' out of me...

One thing for sure, i could not remember any black crows...they were in Butterworth near the Mitchell Pier....

But where have all the birds gone....

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Blessed Penang

Came back from Laos today after a gruelling one week trip that involved trains, planes and taxis and a four hour traffic jam in Bangkok horrendous traffic......

Firstly, Penang is blessed with so many doctors, clinics, and hospitals, where any sick person can easily accessed. It does not matter whether they are rich or poor. The rich can go to the private clinics and the poor can go to Government hospitals and clinics.....

The quality of the Government hospitals and clinics here are excellent.....

Compare to the people of Laos...in my three visits to Vienchang & Savannakhet...clinics and hospitals are a rare sight...

Yes in so many ways we are so blessed... and we hardly know it!