The Street of Harmony

This is where it all started. It seems that Francis Light founded Penang from here and the cenotaph is a tribute to him.

It is 5.55 pm and I am waiting for my flight to KL to attend the World Innovation Forum. Yes, am spending a lot of time away from home these days. But next week will be a whole just for us (me and my wife) and we are flying off to an exotic island for our honeymoon. I am not kidding! When I told my boss (the VC) yesterday, he gave me a strange look.

This morning I joined some of the participants from the RCE Conference for their heritage walk in George Town along the Street of Harmony. Here you will find temples and mosques from various religions including Islam, Christainity, Buddhism, Hinduism and what the flyer says is the "Chinese religion, which combines Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism". I have walked those streets many times, especially with other foreigner visitiors and the three batches of Australian students. I went because I especially wanted to hear what Dato Anwar Fazal had to say. We were joined by Khoos Salma who is a prolific writer on heritage and history of Penang.

And I wasn't disappointed. These are some pictures from the walk.

The minaret at the Kapitan Kling mosque. This one of my favourite places to take photos. (look at the sky)

The Kapitan Corner Nasi Kandar. A Hot favourite but a little pricely.
Harold ordered a large prawn, a piece of beef and 2 ladies finger (orca) and it cost RM8.30.

Nami and Harold enjoying nasi kandar.

The beautifully restored Teo Chew Temple which won a UNESCO prize.
Hey, did I tell you I am Teo Chew too? It seems Teo Chew people are very low profile.

Now to support local businesses. This one of our (wife and I) favourite restaurants.
Serves authentic Hokkein dishes. Famous for its 3 cup Chicken, steam tofu, oyster omellete, fried tapioca flour noodles and much more.

An Angel made my day!

It's been a while since I have blogged. Been busy, of course.

Today, I took on the role of the Official Unofficial Photographer, again. There's an International Conference of Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE) for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) today and tomorrow and there was also a ceremony to celebrate 40 years since the laying of the foundation stone for USM. So basically, I was "running" in and out and it got hot and I got sweaty. So, when I got back to the Conference from the foundation stone ceremony, my shirt was out, my top button off, my hair plastered with sweat ... and two angels said I looked handsome. One of them actually has a name called "Angel". So, that made my day! Thank you, Angels.

Guess which one is the "Angel".

So this is the handsome me, photo taken by the Angel. The ladies told me to look macho.


Now here's the serious stuff. About 100 participants from 34 RCEs representing 15 countries are putting their heads together at the USM campus discussing ways to save the World. I was able to meet some "old" friends from my previous meetings (Ziole from Brazil who are I met in Halifax; Harold, Zinaeda and Brendan from Nayoga; and a few others) and got to know a few new ones. Am in my office waiting for the official reception/dinner at the EQ (am much cooler but not showered yet, so I hope nobody complains about me being smelly during dinner).

In the afternoon was a short ceremony to remember the laying of the foundation stone for the Penang University College (predecessor of USM) which was carried out by Tunku Abdul Rahman (first Prime Minister of Malaysia) on 7th August 1967. The foundation stone was actually layed in Sg Ara and it is still there but efforts are being made to bring it to the USM Campus. There were some interesting snippets of memories told from the people involved with the early formation of USM including the lobby from Penang people to get the current campus (which was formerly a British Military barracks) and they succeeded because Tun Abdul Razak decided that education is more important than warfare. Another juicy information was that the British sold the military camp to USM for just one dollar. And the Japanese gave a loan of 13 million dollars (big money those days) to help build USM.

This is a replica of the foundation stone (made with styrofoam) at the DTSP

Now I got to go do some more serious work.

Roma certainly was not built in one day

And they are absolutely right.

Roma has more tourist than Napoli, that’s for sure. They are everywhere on the streets of the Roma. You would think that if you have seen one old building you have seen them all. Are they just here to soak up the scorching sun? Are they really history buffs absorbing 2000 years of ancient history as the tourist guides with their state-of-the-art broadcasting technology rattles off facts and fiction with such conviction and dedication? I see many travellers with thick travel guides but I am content just reading the signboards on site. I have learnt from experience that I don’t have the capacity to process the deluge of information – I don’t bother to remember anything except one or two key points.
Yes, I am impressed with Roma, especially its rich history, after visiting the Colloseo (the rest of the World refers to it as the Coliseum) and the San Pietro (where the tombs of the Popes are located) and the Fontana di Trevi. I decided on the hop-on-hop-off bus (cost 16 euro) as I was burnt out from all the walking in Napoli. It got me around but I was right, the service is overrated. If I had the energy I would have preferred the local public transport.

Can you believe I had halal roast chicken for brunch on my first day in Roma? There seems to be a big demand for halal food here where I am staying right next to the Roma Termini (Rome Train and Bus Terminal). I found this place through the Internet. Very cheap, 41 euro per night but they give a discount of 5 euro if you pay in cash. I looked at the receipt but it does not state the dates when I am staying. I asked politely to have it written but even after trying to oblige me, I still didn’t get what I want. I am leaving only tomorrow morning but I had to pay the lady before she leaves her station at 9 pm. Weird. Yesterday, I asked for the remote for the air-con and was told that the air-con is central. I told her it was not on in my room but she looked at her monitor and said it is on. So, I opened the window to let the cool breeze in. Today, the aircon decided to come alive. On the website, the hotel claims to provide Internet service but when I asked, I was told that because of new regulations by the government on controlling access to the Internet (after the terrorist attack), the hotel could not afford to provide the service. But hey, no loss, there many Internet Points (shops) all around (some better than others). So, don’t believe everything you read on the web. Having said that, I think what they are doing to these old solid buildings is wonderful. In this building alone there are 4 or 5 small hotels, each taking certain floors on certains wings (30 or 40 rooms each hotel). The rooms are tiny but clean and newly renovated. The staff? Some are both friendly and distance. They are weird. They say thank you but don’t go out of their way to be friendly. Who cares? I am out of here tomorrow.

Finally, food. I have been having pasta, pasta and pasta for one week. So, last night I gave in to my urge to have Chinese food. I had Beef Noodle Soup, Roast Duck and Jasmine Tea. That cost me 19.50 euro. But I love the noodles so I went back again for dinner tonight. The people are very friendly and attentive and since I speak a sprinkling of Mandarin, that seemed to get some attention. If you are ever at the Roma Termini and crave for Chinese food, the restaurant is just directly opposite the terminal on Gioberti.

Goodbye Roma. Goodbye Italy. I promised to bring my wife one day for a 2nd or 3rd honeymoon. Ciao.

Roma, 16th July 2007