Reunion at Siem Reap (Day 1)

The day finally arrived. Some of the guys (a few with spouses and children) began coming into Siem Reap from Sat 29th August, while my family & I took the Silkair flight from Singapore at 1030 this morning, together with James Kuo & family, and Chen Liang Fang. We landed just before noon.

What a welcome! Our friend Sinos was there on the airport tarmac, greeting us the moment we stepped off the plane. And when we had passed Immigration and Customs, there was a banner greeting us with the most familiar logo of St Joe.

Here are some shots taken at the airport when the different groups arrived...

A mini-bus brought us to the Borei Angkor hotel, just 20 minutes away.

After checking into the hotel and meeting the rest of the guys, we went for a nice Cambodia local lunch.

Here are some of the photos taken at our lunch at Bantaey Srey Restaurant.

After lunch, it was off for a tour of the Lake Tonlé Sap (the Great Lake), the largest freshwater lake in south-east Asia. The Tonlé Sap is unusual for two reasons: 1) its flow changes direction twice a year, and 2) the portion that forms the lake expands and shrinks dramatically with the seasons. From November to May, Cambodia's dry season, the Tonlé Sap drains into the Mekong River at Phnom Penh. However, when the year's heavy rains begin in June, the Tonlé Sap backs up to form an enormous lake. So for most of the year the lake is fairly small, around one meter deep and 2,700 sq km in size. During the monsoon season however, the Tonlé Sap river, which connects the lake with the Mekong river, reverses its flow. Water is pushed up from the Mekong into the lake, increasing its area to 16,000 square km and its depth to up to nine meters, flooding nearby fields and forests. This floodplain provides a perfect breeding ground for fish.

The Lake Tonle Sap outing was an interesting and also quite a moving experience. We saw how the people lived in floating villages on the banks of the lake.

The level of poverty was heart-breaking. As our boat made its way on the lake, smaller "sampans" with one or two people (often young children) would come up alongside our boat, and the kids would jump over or paddle over in a small basin boat & start selling souvenirs to us. Naturally, many of our group put a few dollars in their palms, often even without taking their ware.

We also saw "sunken" forests, ie. trees which were submerged in the high water level of the lake.
In the evening we went for dinner plus traditional Apsara show. "Apsaras" are the legendary Angkor angels. The dancng ladies were beautiful and graceful, and the performance was very colourful.

After the show, we went back to the hotel and went to the music lounge on the top floor of the hotel. There we found the St Joe banner strung up above the bar.

What an incredibly packed first day ! It felt that we had done so many things already.
Our host did a fantastic organizing job. A million thanks to Tuan Sinos !
xxx

Siem Reap, Here We Come !

It's almost here ...

On the morning of Sunday 30th August, a number of Old Boys from St Joe Form 5, 1976, some with families, will be arriving in Siem Reap, Kingdom of Cambodia.

Confirmed for the three day visit are

• James Kuo, wife & 3 daughters (flying in from Singapore)


• Harry Goh & wife (from KL)


• Nick Lau (Hanoi)


• Chen Liang Fang (Singapore)


• Robert Chin & wife (Kuching)
  
• Jensen Ng Khoon Teck & wife (Kuching)


• Norbert Liew (Kuching)
  
• James Yong, wife & daughter (Singapore)

So start packing your clothes and cameras and old photos (if you have any to share). This promises to be a most memorable trip.

Thanks to Bartholomew Sinos and others for helping make this happen.

Videoclips from Ipoh Kopitiam Reunion

Self-explanatory. No comments necessary.

Just remember to turn up your PC volume & click the play icon.

and now the other one ...

What great memories these videoclips will make !

xx

More Photos from Ipoh Kopitiam Reunion

First the group photo & PC's birthday cake-cutting ...

hopefully this time with all the handsome young men in the picture ...



"Say cheeeeeeese, everybody!", the shutterbug lawyer exclaims. In the shot are GL's princess Sharlene, & JK.

Good friends meeting and chatting about old times.

"Ooooooh, goodness me!" (or words to that effect). Now who did birthday boy Pip just see ?

JY and wife VKL, attending the reunion virtually from Singapore.

... and CLK from Vancouver, Canada.

BW's spouse Mei Ling and son Calvin were also there for a while ...x

More photos later ...

xx

Lunchtime Reunion at Ipoh Kopi Tiam (23 Aug 2009)

A lunchtime mini-reunion was organized by GL, BC and BW at the Ipoh Kopi Tiam, Kuching today. There were many attendees - in person and online.
xx
Here are the photos as the party began ...

Slowly the group forms ...

More friends arrive ...

GL and JK are here. JK is back for a holiday. He's normally based in Plymouth, UK


The place is equipped with wireless Internet access. Here come the Notebook PCs ..

Look, that's Khim (Mrs JK) sitting next to Pip ...

More friends meet up ...

Yum. That looks like curry chicken rice. Nice, Sim?


Bob Chew chatting with JY and CLK (m) ...

Nice cake. Happy Birthday Pip !
(Pip's normally based in KL, but is back in Kuching for the weekend)


Cake cutting online ...


Here's a group photo ... can someone name the individuals?




It was obviously a very fun session for all.

(More photo updates as I get them ...)

xxx

Kuo's Visit & Mini-Reunion in KL

Yesterday, five or six friends came together for lunch at the Ming Room, Bangsar Shopping Centre in KL when James Kuo dropped by for the day. I won't list the names as I'm sure regular readers of this blog already know them.

It's been a long time since some of them last met Kuo, who's now fixing hearts in Plymouth, UK. Still looking pretty fit, though a little thinner on top.

Kuo flew back to Kuching later that day. No doubt there'll be more reunions to report soon.

xx

1959: The Year Everything Changed

This is the title of a book by Fred Kaplan that I've been reading. I thought the year might catch your attention, as it did mine when I chanced upon a copy in a KL bookstore.

Yes, yes .. I know what you are thinking - the most significant thing that happened in 1959 was that all of us were born. And of course I fully agree :-)

But in addition to that momentous event, 1959 was apparently also significant in a number of other ways, as is chronicled in the book.
Kaplan, a Slate columnist, takes a contrarian view to the common wisdom that the 1960s were the source of the cultural shift from pre-World War II traditions to the individualistic, question-authority world of today.

In Kaplan's view, the watershed year in this transformation is 1959. He delves into that year's cultural and political scene, citing Miles Davis and his revolutionary album Kind of Blue; William Burroughs and his equally revolutionary novel, Naked Lunch; and the opening of Frank Lloyd Wright's radically designed Guggenheim Museum in New York City as examples of fundamental breaks with past conventions.

Kaplan highlights three 1959 events that he convincingly argues were catalysts for paradigm changes:

• in relationships between men and women (the drug company Searle sought FDA approval for the birth control pill),
• in how citizens view their government (the first American soldiers were killed in Vietnam), and
• in communications and information transfer (the microchip was introduced to the world).

The blurb on the inside front cover also gives you a pretty good idea what's in the book:

"It was the year of the microchip, the birth-control pill, the space race, and the computer revolution; the rise of Pop art, free jazz, “sick comics,” the New Journalism, and indie films; the emergence of Castro, Malcolm X, and personal superpower diplomacy; the beginnings of Motown, Happenings, and the Generation Gap—all bursting against the backdrop of the Cold War, the fallout-shelter craze, and the first American casualties of the war in Vietnam.

It was a year when the shockwaves of the new ripped the seams of daily life, when humanity stepped into the cosmos and commandeered the conception of human life, when the world shrank but the knowledge needed to thrive in it expanded exponentially, when outsiders became insiders, when categories were blurred and taboos trampled, when we crossed into a “new frontier” that offered the twin prospects of infinite possibilities and instant annihilation—a frontier that we continue to explore exactly fifty years later, at an eerily similar turning point."

Good read. Interesting insights.


Details on the book
"1959: The Year Everything Changed"
by Fred Kaplan
Wiley (2009)

Food Paradise, Kuching (Part 2)

Good news for foodies ... here are more reviews from Gourmet Lawyer's gastronomic tour of Kuching. Over to you, Georgie boy ...

"We start with what is 'arguably the best kolo mee in kuching' at Green Road. Made in the old traditional style, dryish and oily. Yum!!!" xx

"The next photo shows the kolo mee shop at Green Road in case readers want to make a beeline for it. "

(WJ note: The shop is called Sin Lian Shin in case you old foggies can't make out the print on the signboard)

xx
"Next is the Kueh Chap at Carpenter Street (lauyakeng) at night. My daughter thinks it's the best. She won't eat any other."

"Next is the Fish Head Porridge also at Lauyakeng. Some say the one at the Open Air Market is better, but the parking is easier at Carpenter Street at night. "

"Also, opposite Lauyakeng is a stall that sells the juiciest fried chicken with the crispiest skin - heaps better than KFC."

xx
"Here are some of the stalls at the Open Air Market on the other side, nearer the taxi stand. Remember Ik Hng?"

(WJ comment: Yeah, I remember many evening meals at Ik Hng, with family and friends. Their Lok Bak (deer meat) with Ginger was one of my favourites!)

"The next photo is of the bestest curry in Kuching. Its proprietor is a chap called Basil and his stall is at Merry Park in Tabuan Jaya. This is vouched for by none other than our school mate Ben Wong."