Scottish Highlands

27 June 2010ows
On the 2nd day, we drove up to Glasgow and Edinburgh, seeing more grazing land with sheep, cows and horses in the meadows, lazying themselves in the hot summer sun. Glasgow is not a tourist city, we found out later, even though the tourist brochures say so. There is the Buchanan Street, a pedestrian walk lined with some shopping outlets and the George Square, where we saw the statue of Sir James Watt, the one who discovered the steam engine (pardon me, if  I am wrong). So we moved on to Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. Here, life is more vibrant, looking at the city centre, the Princes Square and the shopping malls. Of course, everybody is enjoying the sun, on the streets and in the park. At some street corners, you can hear the beautiful melodic sounds of the Scottish bagpipes. Edinburgh is famous for its castles, namely the Edinburgh Castle and the Balmoral Castle(Scottish home to the Royal Family), perched strategically on the hill tops.

PSSS...The Istana Negara is now being built somewhere in Damansara Heights(?). Hopefully, DBKL does a good job of this project in line with the majesticity that the King's Palace will command to tourists visiting Malaysia.

Scottish Highlands

26 and 27 June 2010
We are off to Scotland these 2 days. Travelling on the motorway M6 towards the North along the country side was a wonderful experience for all of us. England is having a hot summer right now, with temperatures rising 20's to 30's centigrade.
Basically, England is an agricultural country, with a vast expanse of productive grazing land. Despite the Indusrial Revolution, agriculture is still the main stay of her economy.
We stayed at a B and B hotel, the Ravenshill House Hotel owned by Sheila, the owner-cum-manager. It is a beautiful country house converted into a B and B hotel facility.We had a sumptious dinner - roasted beef and of course haddock - all agricultural products from the nearby farms!
Actually, we were quite surprised that on the menu, there was this item Malaysian chicken served with savoury rice. We found out later that Sheila met a Malaysian chef on one of her holiday trips on a ship and they exchanged recipes then. As Anthony Bourdain, the celebrity chef, once said in Asian Food Channel over ASTRO, food is an international language. Very true indeed!
Psss. Actually, I have often dreamed of providing a B and B facility for the tourists coming to Shah Alam, the capital city of Selangor. However, I have reservations going into this venture because tourism is not the core industry in the state of Selangor, not for the next 10 years or so....

English Summer

24-25 June 2010

The past two days in London are sunny and bright - summer is already here even though in June. People are donning their colorful summer clothes and the parks are full of children playing in the sun. People are seen sipping their afternoon tea at the sidewalk cafes. Flowers are blooming. Everybody is enjoying the sun. In fact, the weather forecast said that this weekend is going to experience a mini heatwave with temperatures soaring from 20's to 30's. 

24 June 2010
Recycling has been a big issue in Gt Britain. All sorts of advertisements by corporate bodies are all over the place, on buses, in the tubes, all promoting the mission of going green. We were at Pret-a-Manger a few times to take a bite or two and I noticed that even the napkins also carry the green message. "This napkin is made from 100% recycled stock (Pret's environment department is militant, we're makng headway). If Pret staff get all serviette-ish and hand you huge bunches of napkins (which you don't need or want) please give them the evil eye. Waste not want not."
Quality too is their goal - their food labels carry the following message "Made today. Gone today. No 'sell-by' date, no nightlife.
These are little observations I made which can be practised by our local Malaysian food vendors. They should serve with the customers in mind - their serviettes are at the counter top at the cashier and we can get to use them only upon request.
NB: PUSPANITA organised a Recycling Seminar towards the Green Mission on 23 June, with the main objective of developing compost fertilizer from domestic waste. Hopefully it is a successful seminar and the ladies will benefit from this new knowledge of recycling waste within their household environment. http://www.puspanita.org.my/

Psss. Our Malaysian palm oil industry has always been practising this green mission towards Zero Waste. Every part of the palm  and their process is being studied to produce palm-based products and services with R&D and innovation. http://www.mpob.gov.my/

21 June 2010

Harrods sale is on now since 19 June. So we had a peep at the Big Sale. As usual, the branded goods are going for 40-50% discount. However, after the conversion to our Malaysian Ringgit, the prices are still too steep to own a branded bag. A Vaentino bag would cost GBP999, a Louis Vuitton is also in the same range.  The Harrods Department Store has been bought over from Al-Fayed. Hence, with the new management taking over, the Memorial for the late Princess Diana and Dodi might not be there anymore. But the Harrods mascot will definitely remain forever!.
Later in the evening, we went to the Charcoal Kebab House at WoodGreen. To me, they serve the best kebab in London. The food is delicious, the serving is big and the price is reasonable at only GBP4.50 per plate. I am pretty sure they use either oilve oil or sunflowerseed oil as salad oil in their cooking. I wonder when these restaurants will use our palm oil, maybe never at all because Malaysia is not promoting enough usage of palm oil as salad oil.
While there, we met a family friend from Shah Alam who is doing her Masters at Middlesex Uni, where my son graduated last July 2010. A very small world indeed!

English Marriage - English Style

20 June 2010

Today, we drove down to Southampton to witness the exchange of marriage vows, this time in traditional English custom. The venue is at Rhinefield House, a very laid back family hotel right in the middle of some forest. The toastmaster told me that this hotel was previously owned by Sir Richard Branson, the multi-billionaire owner of Virgin Airlines. The marriage ceremony was a beautiful one indeed. You have to witness the ceremony in order to feel the ocassion. "....commit to you, love you till death do us apart....  

19 June 2010
Whenever we are in London, we never miss going to Portobello Market, claimed to be the world's largest antique market. Great Britain is a very old institution, hence it is antiques galore every weekend at Portobello Road. Then we are off to Windsor to visit the world famous Windsor Castle. While walking through Windsor, I noticed a very effective advertisement by McDonalds which says "Our beef is reared on British and Irish Farms" - very interesting indeed. It is a known fact that, McDonalds is a very good patron of Malaysian palm oil. Hence, British meat and Malysian palm oil are  good partners in the snackfood industry, feeding the whole world with their finger lickin' burgers and French fries.
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Muslim Marriage - English Style

18 July 2010

Our London trip this time around is also to attend the wedding ceremony of my daughter Irina's sister in law to an Englishman who is a converted Muslim. We had a wonderful experience witnessing the solemnization of the marriage vows performed by the Imam of Regent Mosque. Then, the whole wedding entourage was treated to a sumptious dinner at a Turkish Restaurant, complete with a belly dancing performence during dinner.

Acquiring Knowledge

17 June 2010
Today is my grandson Jazyl Adam's 2nd Birthday and he is very lucky to have 3 generations of his family to celebrate his birthday right in the middle of London city. He is a new generation kid, very exposed to IT gadjets, having his own Ipad. And he learns a lot from the games and programmes uploaded by his IT daddy.  Children today are so vulnerable to all the advancements in ICT technology that if they don't embrace the technology, they will definitely be left behind. Jazyl must acquire knowledge at an early edge in order for him to keep up with all the challenges of the world that he is growing up in. Happy Birthday my dear grandson.....May Allah Bless you Always.

Save the Animals

16 June 2010
While walking towards the Hays Gallery from the Tower of London, I saw a very interesting campaign towards preserving the Elephants. There in the middle of the sidewalk were seated various elephants in multi-coloured motifs waiting for some kind-hearted corporate companies to buy them up, and the money would go to the Fund setup to save them from becoming a dying species. The concept behind this can be applied to the Orang Utans of Borneo, whom environmentalists believed that the Malaysian oil palm plantation industry is driving them away from their natural habitats, despite our Government's efforts to develop forest corridors for these animals to seek protection. Our big players in the Industry, Sime Darby, IOI, KLK, FELDA, etc,  must take a hint from this campaign.

13 Jun 2010

The British Monarchy is a very well-respected institution in Great Britain. Hence, visiting Buckingham Palace and watching the Changing of the Guards Ceremony is a must in the visit itinerary of any tourist in England. Since my sister-in-law is a first-time visitor here, we went to Buckingham Palace again. Later, we visited the Queen's Gallery, the Westminister Abbey, Big Ben and the London's Eye.
I have always marvelled at the great preservationist attitude of the British - preserving everything historical about their great country. This attitude must be emulated by our Government and supported by our fellow Malaysians. The early beginnings of our Malacca Sultanate, our Sultans and Rajas of each state - they are the national identity of Malaysia. They are the symbol of unity, strength, solidarity and identity of our great nation. Just like the Queen, our Yang Di Pertuan Agong is head of the Constitutional Monarchy in Malaysia.
I personally feel that the tourist visits to our Istana Negara or the Malacca Sultanate Palace should be made more interesting with performances of Silat, just like the Changing of the Guards Ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
 Psss...Whatever happened to the Eyes of Malacca?

London Again!

12 Jun 2010

I am back in London to look up my son who has just started working with Scottish Power, an energy marketing company based outside London. It is a new experience for him to be working here in London amongst the Mat Salleh, after a short stint with MOFAZ UK, a Malaysian-owned company, based in Northampton for about 6 months or so. I believe anyone must be exposed to the hard rituals of working life in order to enjoy life as a whole.
As a tourist on a visit visa, we went around shopping the usual outlets - Bicester Village, Oxford Street. I don't know, there is this magic about London that people go there year in, year out, without feeling bored about the place. Ask any tourist to London, and they cannot explain to you why they are charmed with England and keep on coming back.
I read somewhere that The Queen is asking a further 6 million GP to upkeep her Palaces. I for one fully support Her Majesty's request because she is atrracting tourists all over the world. The tourism industry is raking in millions to maintain the English economy. God save the Queen.

JASES - Old School Alumni

29 May 2010
Our Jasin Secondary English School in Malacca celebrated her 50th Anniversary this year 2010. So the school management invited the old pupils to celebrate the auspicious ocassion. YB Dato' Ir Wee Ka Siong, the Deputy Minister of Education, who himself was a former student, graced the wonderful ocassion. Looking up old friends after leaving school is a joyous meeting indeed. For further news on the celebration, check out the school website http://www.smkdb.blogspot.com/. All of us felt very nostalgic to be there, looking at the schoool field which now had been used to house the school library and other administrative buildings. However, old memories were lightened up when we saw the building at the entrance still looked intact - the former Headmaster's Office and the teacher's room - which are now used for different functions. The school had really expanded - new wings, new blocks, new activities, new enthusiasm amongst the younger set of children and teachers alike to lead the way. Congrats and syabas to all of the Management Committee on the success of the 50th anniversary celebrations!