Malacca, Malaysia

I spent the last three days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) of my March break in Malacca, Malaysia. I travelled up there with Sam and Karen Wee and family; Sam is a school teacher, and his March break happened to coincide with mine.

We stayed with a family by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Gneow (spelling is definitely incorrect - sounds like 'meow', except it begins with 'gn'), a very nice and hospitable couple.

Here are some pictures of the trip:

As I mentioned before, the uploader seems to upload my pictures in reverse order.

A sticker idea for Rob and Nathan.
Jonker (pronounced 'yonker' - a Dutch word) Walk is a famous night market in Malacca.

Making spring rolls at the Gneow's; Sam Wee to the right.

Ingredients: prawn, fish cake, beef, chicken, pork, lettuce, shredded turnip, peanut sauce, chili sauce, egg, dried onions, green beans...

I'm suprised that they actually expect this thing to float... but, this is Malaysia (TIM).

I learned on Saturday morning that I was to attend a wedding at 12:30 pm. Who, in Malaysia, would I know that is getting married? No one. It turns out that no one is 'invited' to Malaysian weddings - anyone can go! So we went to the wedding and ate lunch for free there. Unfortunately, we left before the bride and groom showed up. (See video at the very end).

A man spraying the rice fields with insecticides - don't get too close!

This poor guy was stone dead in this position - you wouldn't find this on the streets of Singapore.

Mr. Gneow - quite possibly the best entertainer I have ever met - hilarious!

This arch became a topic of discussion: what was its purpose? Did it add any structural support to the building. The Romans, who perfected the arch, used it in two major ways: over an opening (gate or throughway) or built into the wall to distribute loads more evenly. At the apex of this arch (far left of picture) one can see that there is a pillar (point load) going up to the roof. The arch is made of small Dutch bricks, but is filled in underneath with large Portuguese bricks. It spans about 20 feet, but has a very shallow bow in it. Because of this fact, I dont think it was originally an arch over a throughway. The reason the latter is feasable is because building plans show that the original floor is not where the present one is - originally the floor was about 10 feet below where you can see the people standing.

The integrity of the arch is somewhat sloppy too; one can see that the builders did a sloppy job, as it becomes flat in one area.

By the way, this is the St. Paul's church, built originally in 1521.


Just below the St. Paul's church is this small square. The building on the far end of the square is the old Malacca Town Hall. Tom Bentley preached here several years ago, and twenty people were saved in one series of Gospel meetings.

Remains of the St. Paul's church.

The Portuguese were the first settlers in Malacca; they built quite the military fortress - only this gate/tower remains. You can still see the coat of arms in the masonry. This gate faces the sea. 500 years ago, I would be standing in the water of the "Straits of Malacca." Now, much land has been reclaimed

I took this picture for one reason - it is St. Francis Xavier. He died in his 40s and was buried/exhumed 4 times; the second time he was buried was in Malacca, which didn't last long - he was unburied after only 22 days! According to history, he worked in the St. Paul's church in Malacca for about 7 years. Anyways, there is a certain university in a place called Antigonish, Nova Scotia which is named after him - which happen to be UNB's rivals - we don't like them.

Pulau Ubin MTB

Pulau Ubin is an island just off the island of Singapore. There isn't much to do here besides mountain biking, hiking, and eating seafood - although it would be an ideal place for a scavenger hunt.

Jecil and I went to Pulau Ubin for the morning. You pay a $2.50 SGD (one way) fare to get on one of these Chinese Junks, which they term as "Bum Boats." The voyage takes about 10 minutes.

Below is the shore of P. U.
You pay between $2-15 to rent a bike here for the day (helmet not included). The bikes are generally fairly shabby - we got the best bikes we could get, and, of course, had to pay the maximum price.
I find these contraptions quite interesting. They remind me of Zambian cable-ferries (minus the shack). In the 21st century, people still do live on these things. I don't imagine they would fare on the high seas.

This is the Jecil and I at the Ketam Quarry. The Ketam MTB trail encompasses the quarry.
This is the typical form of English you will get on P.U. and throughout most of Singapore...
I had to post this picture for some of my family member(s) who happen to be associated with this picture via employment.
People still live in this place too.

The end.

More on NTU

I'm now into the 3rd or 4th week of classes. Things are starting to get a little bit more demanding. Some friends requested more pictures of the university, so I have posted some more below.

About the past week. Not too much excitement. I have shin splints in one leg - I visited the NTU doctor about it and he said that my feet are flat and that I was running too much. I'm working on finding alternative things to stay active. I played squash and visited Little India. A buddy and I are going to the wakeboard cable park tomorrow, and we hope to go to Bali or some other surfing destination next week, DV.

Below is the Nanyang Lecture Theatre Lobby. This place is colossal! See the elevators taking you to the various vomitoria (funny word - google it).

How big do you think that screen and stage is down there. See the next picture to get some visual context.
As I said, this lecture theater is huge. See the exit doors? Compare with screen and stage.
These are about half the seats. It seats 1736 people!
Self-explanatory.
The students live in buildings such as the ones shown in the following two photos.

This is the end of the North Spine. The North Spine is one of the two major "Spines" of concrete buildings.
Looking up the North Spine. I feel strangely as if I'm trapped in a Halo 2 game as I stroll to and from classes. Dad said something quite similar, "I feel like I'm in a computer game."
The end.

Chinese New Year - CNY

So this is the second group of new-year festivities I have gone through so far this year (2011). This is the Chinese Lunar New Year, and this year (2011) is the year of the Rabbit. CNY eve started on Wednesday at 12 noon - all schools and Chinese-run businesses close. CNY days were Thursday - Sunday (everything is still closed), and the festivities will continue for two more weeks. So yes, CNY is a pretty big thing over here.

I haven't blobbed for a while, so I'll just share some pictures I took during the past few days.

(Again, the pictures seem to have uploaded in reverse order.)

Below, we have Chi Wei on the left and Wee Boon on the right. On Sunday afternoon/night a group of us from the assembly went out for dinner. At the men's end of the table the conversation topic focused on parachuting (Wee Boon is a commander/parajumper in the military) and the itinerary of the Joo Chiat Gospel Hall Easter conference coming up in April (Wee Boon is checking out the proposed itinerary).

On Saturday, Wee Boon and his wife Jeziral (sounds like Jezreel) had all the young people over for a steam boat lunch and games. I've had steam boats (aka hot pots) in Canada before, but not quite as extravagant as this one. In accordance with the nature of the steam boat, we ate for 2+ hours.
Below, and early picture of the steam boat set-up. The victims of the steam boat include (but are not limited to): lamb, beef, pork, crab, clams, scallops, prawn, fish-balls, beef-balls, pork-balls, chicken balls, lettuce, noodles, among others.
This is Meng Chong. He and I are the people at the assembly who don't have family members around here; therefore, we were invited to a reunion dinner at the Wee's.
Family reunion dinners are usually strictly traditional in that only family members attend - Meng Chong and I were happy that the tradition at the Wee's house had some degree of flexibility. Here we are at a family reunion dinner on CNY eve.
Another note on the reunion dinner: Only sons and unmarried daughters are invited back to the father's house for the reunion dinner. As for the married daughters, they go with their husbands to his father's house for his family reunion dinner. This tradition is very Roman-like, and it is structured parallel to the idea of the Roman patria potestas. I conclude: When in Rome and in Asia, do as the Romans do.

The Car Game

Here we are again - in the most posh area of Singapore, this time at night. This place makes Americas wealthiest cities look like ghettos. Pictured behind dad and I are the buildings I blobbed about in times past. From left to right: Singapore Flyer, Museum, and the Marina Bay hotel and shopping center.

We decided to take a stroll towards the Hilton at Orchard. Keep in mind that in Singapore a Honda Fit fresh from the lot will cost you SG$87,000 - about CAN$67,000.

These pics are taken outside the Hilton Hotel. I was about to call a tow truck to remove the Audi and BMW750i li which were parked along behind this USD$183,000 Mercedes AMG SLS.

Next, was the Lambo Superleggera checking in at $560,000.
Moving on... to the Ferrari 458 Italia, not a bad car, with an MRSP of $580,000 - to be Chi Mei's next purchase.
Lambo SuperLeggara and Ferrari 458 Italia from the back; however, this is not the whole story...
From the top: Lambo, Lambo, Ferrari 458 Italia, Lambo SuperLeggara, Mercedes AMG SLS. But wait, we're missing one more Lambo.
There it is - just below the words "Singapore", parked on the opposite side.
The newest member of the Lamborghini club.
Ferrari California - MRSP <$200K. I didn't get a change to snap any shots of the Bentleys, Alfa Romeos, Rolls Royces, etc.
Last, and definitely the least. This is at Peter and Chi Mei's condo - a pretty sick Mits Lancer. This car has more gauges on the dash than a 747.
And again.

Sentosa, Orchard, and Chemical Engineering @ NTU

Dad was feeling sick on this day, so he didn't climb with me. This is at Sentosa Island (our second visit). It turns out that the Island was given its name via a contest. People were told to put forward their best choice. The son of the President put forward "Sentosa". Where did he get this name? From a private medical clinic called the "Sentosa Medical Clinic". The significance: the Sentosa Medical Clinic was given its name by its founder and operating doctor, Dr. Peter Wee, an elder in the Joo Chiat Assembly here in Singapore.

This is the Sentosa beach. Locals claim it is clean as opposed to the East Coast Beach which I swam at the other day. My opinion: they are both very clean compared to most beaches on PEI.
Those lines are a bunch of zip lines. The line begins at the platform at the top of the climbing wall above.
This is Orchard - a ridiculously expensive shopping destination. According to Wikipedia, there are 78 shopping malls in Singapore (which is 1/8 the size of PEI).
Po Po seem to travel in large groups.
This is the Center of Design and Media at NTU.
Scott wanted to see the Chem. Eng. building. This is the back side of it, and next are a couple of shots from the front.
It's about 7 or so levels high.
And makes any building from UNB look like it was built in the stone age.