Once Upon a Time in London

London has spent lavishly in preparation for the XXX Olympiad -- some $15 billion, according to the New York Times. In spite of the hefty price tag, cities around the globe compete for the honor of hosting the Olympics, not only because it means being the center of the world's attention for two-and-a-half weeks, but because it affords the host city a rare chance to reinvent itself. Indeed, after the 2012 games, East London will have a new cable car, the Royal Docks will have significant new developments, and the city's skyline will boast several additional skyscrapers. But this is not the first time that London has grown overnight. The tail end of the 19th century was also a period of rapid urban transformation -- one in which many of the landmarks that now define the city were constructed.

In the throes of the Industrial Revolution, London was where working horses suddenly began to compete with railroads on city streets. "Day was shining radiantly upon the town then, and the bells were going for the morning work," author Charles Dickens wrote a little more than 150 years ago about Coketown*, a fictitious northern English industrial town. "Domestic fires were not yet lighted, and the high chimneys had the sky to themselves. Puffing out their poisonous volumes, they would not be long in hiding it; but, for half an hour, some of the many windows were golden, which showed the Coketown people a sun eternally in eclipse, through a medium of smoked glass." Read more.

The London that Dickens captured was chaotic -- one of smog, children running on the street, and venders hawking wares -- but it was also a modernizing city. Historian Alex Werner* says that Dickens must have had a photographic memory, so clearly did he shape his work around the lives he witnessed. Indeed, Werner named his latest book of photographs, Dickens's Victorian London, for the English novelist and social critic. Using the archives of the Museum of London, Werner has gathered some of the oldest photographs of London, taken at a time when the city was "the global capital in the century of empire." Here, Werner's curated photographs show what London looked like the last time it underwent major transformations.

Anwar's in OneAsia report.

'Quay' The Urban Savvy?

Hantu Laut

Rated by Tatler Travel Guide 2010 among the best 'Urban savvy"

I am not a reader of this ostentatious society magazine, happened to stumble on it on the Internet.

My wife and I stayed at the hotel for one night to check out whether it lives up to its reputation.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with this less is more place, they have rooms or suite rooms tastefully designed, clean, functional and a bathroom that bespeaks opulence that most ladies would go head over heels to have it in their homes.

This is not run of the mill room you find in many large hotels , it's trendy, it has all the trappings of luxury and comfort, big flat screen LCD TV, DVD player, double-glazed glass to keep the street noise out, motorised curtain, dimmer to all lights, remote controlled ceiling fan, huge writing table and a huge air-conditioner that can give you the Arctic cold and all for a steal.... US$130 and a give back of $30 which you can spend on food, booze or whatever you fancy in any FCC outlets.

If you are not familiar what FCC is, it's stands for Foreign Correspondents' Club and has a number of hotels and F&B outlets in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.The Quay and another sister hotel the FCC Hotel are both owned by FCC.They also have affiliated clubs in Bangkok and Hong Kong.

The room we stayed has a small balcony that overlooks the Tonle Sap/Mekong River and bird eyes view of the Sisowath Quay Esplanade that brings daily hive of activities at dawn and dusk but would become completely empty during the day.

If you see rubbish in other parts of the city this place seemed to have been spared the squalor of a poverty stricken nation. More amazing the Tonle Sap which ebbs and flows into the Mekong is so free of rubbish, flotsam and jetsom it makes Kota Kinabalu waterfront looks like one big watery landfill.

After all the veneer of refinements and good tastes, you wouldn't believe what we got to dry our bodies with.

The guy from Tatler must have liked the frayed worn-out towel, or  was given one of those voluptuously fluffed and expensive towel because the hotel probably got wind of what he is up to.

The towel reminds me of all Sutera Harbour Hotels where the towels have seen better days, from the Magellan to Menukan and Kinabalu Park, where you get a big 'Good Morning' (you know what I mean) towel as your bath towel.

These are small annoyances we can put up with.The bigger bombshell came later at night, noise of people chattering that seemed to come not from the street below but from the corridor outside our room.Annoyed, I went outside to check but could not see anyone but soon found the source.The hotel has a huge airwell running from the ground floor where the lobby and restaurant is right up to the 4th floor, the highest floor where our room is situated.

Another thing, none of the free Wi-Fi in the hotel work while we were there.

So much for being 'urban savvy'.

It would have been a very nice place if they can iron out the minor irritations.

Lest, I forget, they are also very thoughtful of your health and well being, they keep a stock of condom in the room which you can use but have to pay for it if you are a single man in need of companion to while away your night .

The Quay

Ranked among the best 'Urban savvy' hotel.

Hot and captivating, Phnom Penh is Graham Greene-ish, dissolute and beguiling. Away from the whirling ceiling fans, the deep-fried spiders and the honking mopeds is a new, simple, modern nook that’s absolutely charming. A sister to the famous Foreign Correspondents’ Club, it has just 16 carbon-friendly rooms, full of granite-edged tubs and Arne Jacobsen chairs. This is the place to be in the city of misfits (the capital of a country whose own King spent many years as a ballet dancer in Paris), overlooking the Mekong, the main artery of all Asia, and surrounded by street cafés bristling with baguettes and local spices. The bistro is fantastic – amazing hot lemongrassy soup – and there’s a great pool. The Quay is an immediate hub, the hot hangout.

Location:	Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Website:	thequayhotel.com
Reservations:	Cleveland Collection (tel: 0845 450 5732
Rates:	Double, from £70, including breakfast.

Retracing the sailing bravado of Filipino ancestors

Kota Kinabalu: They were the first Filipino group to climb Mt Everest from its north face and reach the top not just once but three times! Now they have decided to test their mettle on something equally extraordinary.

"Going to the sea in an ancient migratory barangay sail boat is more than coming down to earth," joked Art Valdez, 61, leader of "Voyage of The Barangay" which sailed into the beach off Kinabalu Yacht Club, Saturday.

Before breaking into international waters into Sabah on its way down to Singapore, then upwards to Vietnam and Shanghai, Valdez and his flotilla of three barangays had spent a year sailing around the Philippines, making 80 stops in all.

The international leg first took them to Sandakan, then up to Kudat, around the tip of Borneo to Kota Kinabalu. Everywhere they went, they were greeted with rousing welcome.

"We are out to show the young the sea is part of the natural environment and part of the natural highway for the peoples of the Philippines and Southeast Asia," said Valdez, a friend of Tengku Datuk Dr Adlin, Chairman of Sabah Tourism Board.

"It unifies rather than divide us," Valdez added.

"What we are riding on is a closest possible replica of a boat dug up in coastal waters of Butuan City, Mindanao, which was carbon-dated to 320AD or the 4th Century," noted Valdez.

"Riding that now and purely powered by wind and sail gives the young confidence that we can do it again the way our forefathers did it."

The significance of the Butuan barangay rests on the fact that it was the first wood watercraft ever dug up in Southeast Asia. Hence the artifact is evidence of early Filipino craftsmanship and their seamanship skills before the arrival of Spanish colonisers.

The barangay is believed to be the chief means by which the ancestors of Filipinos migrated to the country. "Its original builders are our nomadic seafarers - the people of Samar who are the Bajaus of the Philippines, similar to the Bajaus in Semporna. The Barangay is like your lepa but this is a big lepa - 61ft long, 11ft wide, 5ft tall while the second one is 81ft long and 14ft wide," Valdez said.

"The boats are built with no plan, no design, no measurement except on the head of the master builders and fastened with wood pegs and only two people can do it - the Samar people and one trip in northern Philippines," Valdez said.

Barangay is an Austronesian word meaning "sailboat" but when the Spaniards arrived in the 16th century, they found the Filipinos already had a civilisation of their own and living in well organised independent villages called barangay.

"Voyage of The Barangay's passage to Kota Kinabalu from the Philippines with Shanghai as their destination hopefully by October, is part of a yearning to trace the migration route of our forefathers.

Not just Filipinos but also the people of Southeast Asia, the people who live in the Pacific and even the Indian Ocean," Valdez explained.

"Our forefathers came from the southern coasts of mainland Asia, in Southern China, Vietnam and Cambodia," he said.

In the interest of safety, they hug the coast down Borneo and up Indochina rather than facing the big waves crossing the Bashi Channel going north to Taiwan from the Philippines.

"The barangay built to the original specifications using wooden pegs to hold things together is not structurally strong to stand up to very rough waves.

"In fact we experienced a scare in Mindanao where our boat almost got smashed," he said.

"The weather is the challenge but our biggest danger is the possibility of being hit by big ships because we are wooden and so we can't be seen on their radars," Valdez said.

To avoid this threat, a radar detector is fitted at the tip of the mast of one of the three baranays which together carry a total of 35 voyagers.

Tougher still is to comply with the legal requirements of the international stops which is riddled with bureaucracy, Valdez said.

The barangay will be opened for public viewing between 9-11 am and 3-5pm today (Sunday), to learn the purpose and history, said Ms Quek I-Gek, Sales and Marketing Director of Mountain T0RQ Sdn Bhd.

"One purpose is to raise funds to help cover the cost of completing several thousand nautical miles which needs quite a lot of money," said Ms Quek.

Their corporate sponsors include San Miguel Corporation, Tao Corporation, Holcim, Agatep Associates and Coleman. Ms Quek's contact is 019-8138162.

Daily Express

Nostalgia In Shit, The Hovel Of Kota Kinabalu

Hantu Laut

The pictures below is a Malay kampong smacked right in the middle of the city centre of Kota Kinabalu.This is a ghetto of the highest order.

Click to enlarge






















I used to live in this kampong some 45 years ago.

Kg Sembulan, is now an indescribable hovel and a horrifying sight and smell.Your eyes and nose behold!

Why has this kampong become such a squalor?

Ask the shameless and apathetic state leaders that have come and go under the BN flag.Ask UMNO leaders what have they done to the NEP? To help the bumiputras or to help themselves.

This kampong is now known as the black area of KK where drugs of all kinds can be found and a hideout and shelter for criminals and illegal immigrants.

No UMNO leaders have made any attempt to redevelop the area or resettle the villagers because they were afraid to upset them that may cost them a few thousands votes.They prefer to let the villagers continue living in the shit-hole to perpetuate their own self-preservation.

Below are the palatial homes of some UMNO leaders.









The palace of an UMNO Sabah minister
















The mansion of a youth head of the party

Now, you know where the NEP help goes to.

Can you blame Nazir Razak for saying the NEP was bastardised?