RANDOM PHOTO ALBUM - PART #6

Here's the next installment of random photos of Kuching ...

Fig 1: Cineplex (can someone tell me the actual name of this building?)

This must be the most colourful building in Kuching. For those who don't know where it is, this cineplex and multi-storey carpark is located on the site where the old Rex cinema used to be. With a bold design such as this, it's probably safe to say that you either absolutely love it or you absolutely hate it.

Fig 2: Carpenter Street

Here's the Chinese-style archway which stands at the beginning of Carpenter Street. Not sure when it was erected, but there seems to be a general trend to putting up such arches - like the one at India Street, and the one at Padungan Road.

Fig 3: Grand Margherita hotel

The Grand Margherita Hotel was formerly called the Holiday Inn Kuching. I think they changed the name only in 2008. Not sure what the reason for the change was. Perhaps the previous management weren't making adequate returns from running this establishment.

Fig 4: Tay Hak Hak grocery shop on India Street

When I was in Kuching, I recall the family used to always buy coffee powder, "laksa liau", sugar, salt and other food items from this old shop at the beginning of India Street (near the old Court House end). There weren't many supermarkets then (probably the only one in the 70's was Ting & Ting Supermarket), so small standalone grocery shops like Tay Hak Hak catered to the majority of households.

Apart from the last one, all photos in this entry came from (or via :-) Leonard Sia (leosia@tm.net.my). Thanks Leo!

Three Wishes

Have you heard this one?

A man walks into a restaurant with a full-grown ostrich behind him. The waitress asks for their orders. The man says, "A hamburger, fries and a Coke," and turns to the ostrich, "What's yours?" "I'll have the same, if it’s ok with you" says the ostrich.

A short time later the waitress returns with the order. "That will be $9.40 please," and the man reaches into his pocket and pulls out the exact change for payment.

The next day, the man and the ostrich come again and the man says, "A hamburger, fries, and a Coke." The ostrich says, "I'll have the same, if it’s ok with you." Again the man reaches into his pocket and pays with exact change.

This becomes routine until the two enter again. "The usual?" asks the waitress. "No, this is Friday night, so I will have a steak, baked potato, and salad," says the man. "Same," says the ostrich. Shortly the waitress brings the order and says, "That will be $32.62." Once again the man pulls the exact change out of his pocket and places it on the table. The waitress can't hold back her curiosity any longer.

"Excuse me, sir. How do you manage to always come up with the exact change out of your pocket every time?"

"Well," says the man, "several years ago I was cleaning the attic and found an old lamp. When I rubbed it a genie appeared and offered me three wishes. My first wish was for good health. My second was that if I ever had to pay for anything, I would just put my hand in my pocket and the right amount of money would always be there."

"That's brilliant!" says the waitress. "Most people would wish for a million dollars or something, but you'll always be as rich as you want for as long as you live!" "That's right. Whether it's a gallon of milk or a Rolls Royce, the exact money is always there," says the man.

The waitress asks, "But, sir, what's with the ostrich?" The man sighs, pauses, and answers, "My last wish was for a tall chick with a big ass and long legs who agrees with everything I say."

I loved this one, and I hope you did too.

Jokes aside, if YOU had a genie willing to grant you three wishes, what would YOU ask for?

Kuching A to Z (Part 3)

Here's the list of "D" and "E" items people associate with Kuching. From your contributions, it seemed like there were quite a number of "D"s and very few "E"s ...

D
Diana Ho, an elegant and eloquent GP teacher at St Joseph's in the 70's, who obviously had a lifelong impact on some of our form mates. We're not sure where she is now. Ms Ho, if you happen to be reading this, you'll be happy to know that you're well loved and remembered.

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Durian & Duku (Langsat), very popular fruits then and now. 'Nuff said.

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Datuk - the honourific title bestowed on those who have made significant contributions to the state. As far as I know, two of our form mates have gotten theirs - warm congrats to Datuk Justine Jinggut, a senior political leader of SNAP and Datuk Firdaus Bujang / Anthony Macpherson, CEO of New Straits Times !
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Dewan Undangan Negeri (D.U.N.) - that huge building that's being built overlooking the Sarawak River, and will serve as the state assembly when completed. Personally I think its location destroys the calm serenity of the river scene. Any architects in our group would like to comment on the design?
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MV Doulos - a ship (I believe one of a number of ships, another called MV Logos) run by a charitable group which sails around and stops at different ports in our region, selling books and doing social work. The Logos & Doulos (and maybe some other vessel which I might have forgotten) visited Kuching a few times during our secondary school days. I'm not too sure about the details of their social work, but I do remember they carried a lot of interesting books that we couldn't find in Kuching (at that time anyway).

E

Electra House was Kuching's very first "shopping mall" - long before Kuching Plaza, Sarawak Plaza, Boulevard and Spring were even conceived. It was built on (naturally) Jalan Power in the late 60s (I think) and housed the SESCO main office. A bit run-down these days, but still sees a lot of human traffic because of its very central location. Back when we were in school, we probably spent quite a bit of time there. I was very familiar with an Indian bookshop on the top floor.

(photo contributed by Leonard Sia)

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Escalators - I remember the time when the first escalators in Kuching were installed in Kuching Plaza. Many families went there just to have a look at it, and hesitatingly try it out. Up, down, up, down ... went many, and not just the children. Invariably, there were the few little mishaps, like some kid falling off or someone getting their pants caught in the moving parts of the escalator. Fortunately no one was seriously injured.

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Well, guys & gals, that's all for this part. I invite you to start suggesting the "F", "G" and "H" of Kuching ...

Reunion 2009

The purpose of this post is to help us organise our next Reunion Celebration in 2009. It will be 33 years since we were all in Form 5 in 1976. Furthermore all of us will be hitting (or have hit) the Big 5 in terms of age. We might even use the tagline "Life Begins at Fifty" (only a suggestion, lah! Other inputs are of course welcome.)

We need to first agree on two key things - WHERE and WHEN.

WHERE
There have been a few locations suggested:

(A) Mr Sinos proposes the exotic location of Siem Reap, Cambodia. Imagine dining and dancing with the famous and historic Angkor Wat in the background. As Sinos is based there, he is familiar with the place and can help advise us on travel and accomodation. A few others have already expressed interest in this option.

(B) Kuala Lumpur is another suggestion, as a number of old boys are based there, and KL does have a lot of shopping malls, eateries and drinking spots to amuse us.

(C) Of course, the default venue is our home town Kuching, which is convenient for many who are still living there. For those flying in, we can take the opportunity to visit relatives, and perhaps also make a visit to our old alma mater.

We are still open for other venues, so do give your suggestions.

WHEN
Instead of pinning down the exact date now, which might be difficult, I suggest we first decide on the month. Since it is already March, I don't think it's practical to expect that the reunion can happen until the second half of the year, perhaps no earlier than August. What do you guys think?

So I suggest to you after reading this to give us at least two things in your comments - which venue you prefer (either A, B, C or somewhere else that you suggest), and which month would be better for you? And for this feedback, try not to be anonymous, ok?

Any other feedback or ideas relating to this reunion are most welcome. Over to you ...