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Showing posts from February, 2010

Hokkien New Year at Chew Jetty, Penang

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Chinese New Year is a celebration of the the first day of the lunar calendar, and lasts for 15 days. However, for the Hokkien community in Penang, the 9th day of Chinese New Year is also another celebration of the new year. Penang has a large Hokkien community, whose ancestors were immigrants primarily from Fujian province in China. The Hokkien New Year is to celebrate the day when the Hokkiens escaped mistreatment by ruthless army in ancient China by seeking refuge in a sugarcane plantations. The Hokkiens emerged unharmed on the 9th day of Chinese New Year, and it was then considered as new year for the Hokkiens. The 9th day of Chinese New Year also coincides with the birthday of the Jade Emperor of Heaven ( Thni Kong Seh ). The Hokkien community in Penang celebrates Thni Kong Seh around midnight on the eighth day, by praying to the Jade Emperor of Heaven (or Thni Kong). While most homes would have their own celebration and prayers, the largest celebration was in Chew Jetty. A

Kate Hudson's Cinema Italiano

I simply love Kate Hudson's Cinema Italiano from the latest movie by Rob Marshal, Nine ! I didn't know that Kate Hudson can sing and dance!

The teams racing around the world

I love The Amazing Race. I have watched all the past 15 seasons (my short post on Season 15 is here ) and I simply love the concept. The show could have even encouraged my travels! After a long wait (well, not really that long since the last season just ended a couple of months ago), Season 16 is finally here! However, the first two episodes made me wonder - why did the producers cast teams with questionable intelligence (trying not to be rude here). Here are the six teams which started me wondering... Brent & Caite - Dating Models Caite was THE former Miss Teen South Carolina who made a complete fool of herself when she tried to answer the question "Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?". You need to watch her attempting to answer to believe it. She proudly said that she will prove her intelligence in the course of the show. But guess what - she and her boyfriend received a penalty in the firs

The clan houses of Penang

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Clan houses has always been part and parcel of Penang, that they never really occupy my thoughts. So, I do not claim to be very knowledgeable on this topic. However, after walking around the Penang’s heritage site area for the Chinese New Year Cultural and Heritage Celebration , I was fascinated by the number of clan houses there are in Penang. During the 1800s and 1900s, there was a huge stream of Chinese immigrants, primarily from Fujian province of China, who arrived in Penang. The many immigrants from Fujian province also explained why the Chinese in Penang are using the dialect Hokkien from the area. In order to maintain a sense of community for the new immigrants, the Chinese formed clans associations and build clan houses. These clan houses, also called “ kongsi ” in Hokkien, are usually part meeting hall and part temple for the clan. These clan associations were based on surnames or the area (or clan) that the Chinese are formed. Some of the surname-based clan houses are t

Penang's CNY Cultural and Heritage Celebration

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On the 7th day of the Chinese New Year , Georgetown, Penang has been organising a Chinese New Year Cultural and Heritage Celebration every year – and that was even before the city was given the UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 2008. It used to be just a small scale celebration of the Chinese New Year, but the celebration has been getting bigger over the past years. This year, it fell on 20 February 2010 and was packed with activities, performances, exhibitions and stalls selling food, handicraft and painting. It was, in other words, packed with all things related to the Chinese in Penang, and swarming with people of all races and ages, and of course, with tourists who happened to be lucky enough to be in the island then. (Below is a photo of the main entrance to the celebration.) It was held at the heart of the heritage site, comprising the Acheen Street, Armenian Street (below), Cannon Street, Ah Quee Street, Soo Hong Lane, Chulia Street and Kampung Kolam. It was organis

Trip down under to Sydney

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{ Australia Feb/March 2009 - Sydney, New South Wales } Walking along the streets in Sydney brought back memories of the days when I was studying in Australia, the people, the view, the shopping centres, the buildings – everything. We were back in Sydney, Australia for a few days on a business trip in February 2009. The business trip to Sydney was only for a few days, and we only managed to travel around Sydney for the weekend and during the evenings. After Sydney, we planned to travel around South Australia for almost a week (but that would be on another posts). We took Singapore Airlines on the A380. If you ever had a chance to take the A380, try to get a seat on the upper deck. The seats were bigger I believe, and as the economy class section was smaller on the upper deck, the Singapore girls (as the air stewardess were known as) would be able to serve you better. Once we touched down and collected our rental car, we drove to the city for lunch. We went to Haymarket for di

Movie: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

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I have to admit that I do not know much about Greek mythology. I had a brief encounter during my holiday in Antalya, Turkey when I learnt a little about it, which I briefly noted about it here . While I know that the whole mythology was regarded as a myth, I wonder if there are any elements of truth in it. Regardless of whether it was all a myth or it evolved from something real, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief was quite an entertaining movie. It reminded me of the Harry Potter movie series but to tell you the truth, I am not sure if it would become as big as the Harry Potter franchise. One main thing I noted about the movie was how unashamedly American the movie was. For examples: Why would so many gods, demigods and other Greek monsters be located in America? Why is Camp Half-Blood, a training camp for demigods, be situated in America? Why would the entrance to the underworld be in Hollywood? Why would the entrance to Olympus be on top of the Empire State Building? F

Happy Chinese New Year!

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To everyone that celebrates the Chinese New Year...  Happy Chinese New Year!  May the year of the Tiger brings you health and happiness! As always, home is great during Chinese New Year, with many things that remained pleasantly unchanged. The Chinese New Year is celebrated on the first day of the lunar calendar and fell on Valentine's Day this year. It lasted for 15 days. I just realised that in Singapore, they used the (politically?) correct term “Lunar New Year”, which I believe is to dissociate it with the Chinese and to generalise it as the beginning of the lunar calendar. I find that quite unfortunate as the new year celebration that marked the first day of the lunar calendar is a very “Chinese” celebration around this region. In China, it is called the Spring Festival as it marked the beginning of Spring. Obviously, in countries like Malaysia and Singapore where there are not seasons, we can't really call it the Spring Festival. Regardless of what we call it, it i

Food and history in Melaka

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My earliest memory of Melaka, or Malacca as it was spelt in English, was from my history lessons during my school days. According to a legend, Parameswara, a prince from Palembang, was resting under a tree while hunting when he saw a deer push a dog into a river in self-defence. He was so impressed by the courage of the deer and took it as a good sign to create an empire in that area. He decided to name the place "Melaka" after the tree that he was sheltering under. After many (failed) plans of going up to Melaka, we finally put our foot down and decided to drive up there in June 2009. With two cars and together with some of my colleagues, we drove up to Melaka from Singapore for a weekend trip. The plans were, or rather the only plan, was to eat, eat and eat! However, as it would be my first in the city state, I decided that I wanted to do a little sightseeing as well. Melaka was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with my hometown, Penang, in July 2008. Our