Travel World

Hard Times at Lonely Planet

2010-07-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

Another report about the recent layoffs at Lonely Planet.

Melbourne-based guidebook behemoth Lonely Planet will announce the sacking of 50 staff tonight -- around 10% of its global workforce -- as the global economic downturn continues to gut the tourism industry and guidebook sales.

Staff at Lonely Planet’s Footscray office were informed of the layoffs this morning with management calling a meeting this afternoon to discuss the changes and tap shoulders. A formal announcement is due at 9pm tonight to tie in with owner BBC Worldwide's London-centric media strategy.

A spokesman for Acting CEO Stephen Palmer confirmed the cuts to Crikey this morning and said they will impact all areas of the business. Affected staff were still in the process of being informed that they were out of a job when Crikey called.

In an emailed statement, Palmer said the situation was a "difficult" one but that the company had no choice in the context of the economic downturn.

"I recognise that this is a terribly difficult time, particularly for those whose jobs will be made redundant. I would like to reiterate that I would not have taken this action if there was any way I could have avoided it."

Palmer said the cuts were spread across the Lonely Planet's US, UK and Australian offices and did not comment on the specific divisions affected. But sources have told Crikey that the entire online content production division has been dismantled with extra cuts to be made in support roles. The book production section is said to be immune while images staff and commissioning editors appear to have also escaped the axe.

The cuts were foreshadowed on Monday when BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons gave a speech in Cardiff indicating BBC Worldwide’s operations will be scaled back to focus on its core commercial business of repackaging the Beeb's archive for DVD sales. UK MPs have savaged the company for the $250 million Lonely Planet purchase, claiming it has no links to its core business. The BBC is also under pressure from the UK government to use its licence fees to bail out Channel 4. BBC Worldwide made 112 million pounds last year.

Louise Connor of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance said she wasn't surprised at the decision in the context of the global tourism meltdown.

"It’s sad to see decisions made in England affecting so many jobs in Australia," she added.

Lonely Planet staff tell of a sense of foreboding that has gripped the Footscray office over the past few months. Palmer has regularly used company-wide meetings to give frank assessments about revenue problems and website cost blowouts. Sources say that once the new website was completed, the heat was on middle management to justify ongoing staffing levels.

In October 2007, original owners Tony and Maureen Wheeler sold Lonely Planet to BBC Worldwide for around $250 million. The Wheelers retained a 25% stake and are still swimming in the proceeds of the deal, reportedly mulling plans to spend $12 million on a lavish production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle.

The latest lay-offs mirror a move taken by the Wheelers in 2004 when 40 staff were sacked and those remaining told to forgo a 3% pay rise in the midst of the SARS outbreak.

It is not known whether the 120 staff at Lonely Planet’s Oakland and London offices have been informed of the sackings

The Art of Travel Writing

2010-07-09T15:09:00.000-07:00

If the idea of travel writing leaves you with visions of luxurious vacations in exotic locations completely free of charge and all you have to do is write down your experiences in return, then you need to read the information below. Travel writing is a highly competitive profession, one that doesn’t pay especially well unless you make it to the top, and free travel is usually reserved for the very best writers. However, if you love to travel as much as you love to write and are sure you have something to offer to readers, then you will find the following information incredibly helpful as you pursue a career in travel writing. Below, you will find advice from professionals, tips, opportunities to get to know other travel writers, organizations for travel writers, places to find writing jobs, and resources for traveling.

Freelance Writing Income Plunges to New Lows

2010-07-09T15:05:00.001-07:00

Freelance writing's unfortunate new model

Freelance writing fees -- beginning with the Internet but extending to newspapers and magazines -- have been spiraling downward for a couple of years and reached what appears to be bottom in 2009. (Marc Russell)

James Rainey

With many outlets slashing pay scales, the well-written story is in danger of becoming scarce. The hustle is just beginning for new and seasoned freelancers.
By James Rainey

January 6, 2010
The list of freelance writing gigs on Craigslist goes on and on.

Trails.com will pay $15 for articles about the outdoors. Livestrong.com wants 500-word pieces on health for $30, or less. In this mix, the 16 cents a word offered by Green Business Quarterly ends up sounding almost bounteous, amounting to more than $100 per submission.

Other publishers pitch the grand opportunities they provide to "extend your personal brand" or to "showcase your work, influence others." That means working for nothing, just like the sailing magazine that offers its next editor-writer not a single doubloon but, instead, the opportunity to "participate in regattas all over the country."

What's sailing away, a decade into the 21st century, is the common conception that writing is a profession -- or at least a skilled craft that should come not only with psychic rewards but with something resembling a living wage.

Freelance writing fees -- beginning with the Internet but extending to newspapers and magazines -- have been spiraling downward for a couple of years and reached what appears to be bottom in 2009.

The trend has gotten scant attention outside the trade. Maybe that's because we live in a culture that holds journalists in low esteem. Or it could be because so much focus has been put on the massive cutbacks in full-time journalism jobs. An estimated 31,000 writers, editors and others have been jettisoned by newspapers in just the last two years.

Today's reality is that much of freelancing has become all too free. Seasoned professionals have seen their income drop by 50% or more as publishers fill the Web's seemingly limitless news hole, drawing on the ever-expanding rank of under-employed writers.

Low compensation

The crumbling pay scales have not only hollowed out household budgets but accompanied a pervasive shift in journalism toward shorter stories, frothier subjects and an increasing emphasis on fast, rather than thorough.

"There are a lot of stories that are being missed, not just at legacy newspapers and TV stations but in the freelance world," said Nick Martin, 27, laid off a year ago by the East Valley Tribune in Mesa, Ariz., and now a freelancer. "A lot of publications used to be able to pay freelancers to do really solid investigations. There's just not much of that going on anymore."

Another writer, based in Los Angeles, said she has been troubled by the lighter fare that many websites prefer to drive up traffic. A new take on any youth obsessions ("Put 'Twilight' in the headline, get paid") has much more chance of winning editorial approval than more complex or substantive material.

The rank of stories unwritten -- like most errors of omission -- is hard to conceive. Even those inside journalism can only guess at what stories they might have paid for, if they had more money.

Media analyst and former newspaper editor Alan Mutter worried last month about the ongoing "journicide" -- the loss of much of a generation of professional journalists who turn to other professions.

Writers say they see stories getting shorter and the reporting that goes into some of them getting thinner.

A former staff writer for a national magazine told me that she has been disturbed not only by low fees (one site offered her $100 for an 800-word essay) but by the way some website editors accept "reporting" that really amounts to reworking previously published material. That's known in the trade as a "clip job" and on the Web as a "write around."

"The definition of reportage has become really loose," said the writer, also a book author, who didn't want to be named for fear of alienating employers. "In this economy, everyone is afraid to turn down any work and it has created this march to the bottom."

One Los Angeles woman who also requested anonymity writes frequently for women's magazines and fondly recalls the days when freelance pieces fetched $2, or even $3, a word. Though some publications still pay those rates, many have cut them at least in half. And story lengths have been reduced even more drastically.

The writer, who once could make $70,000 a year or more, said she is now working harder to bring in half that much. "It's just not a living wage anymore," she said.

Los Angeles freelancer Tina Dupuy gained acclaim last year when she posted a YouTube video to shame editors at the Tampa Tribune into paying her $75 for a humor column on the "birthers" -- the political activists who contest President Obama's U.S. citizenship.

Up for a challenge

She said many other papers have stopped paying for opinion columns altogether --narrowing op-ed contributions at some papers to those already in syndication or those with day jobs at chambers of commerce, corporations, think tanks and the like.

"These corporate-sponsored pieces threaten to push people like me out," Dupuy said.

That's not to say that she is getting out of the business. After an earlier career in stand-up comedy, Dupuy has learned to hustle and to be "psychologically very adept at rejection."

It can be challenging, but Dupuy makes a living. "For someone who had to drive for hours to get to a gig -- to get $100 and a beer bottle thrown at them -- this is heaven," she said.

Indeed, relative newcomers like Dupuy or those who have spent their careers as freelancers -- like Matt Villano of Healdsburg, Calif. -- sound much more resilient about the revolutionary changes in publishing than the former staff writers and longtime freelancers.

The 34-year-old Villano -- whose outlets include the San Francisco Chronicle, Fodor's travel guides, Casino Player and Oceanus magazines -- said some writers struggle because they have fuzzy, arty notions about their work. They need to act more like small business people, Villano said, diversifying their skills and the outlets they write for.

Despite the endless hustle, Villano said he would not give up a career that has taken him from whale watching in Maui to the baccarat tables of Las Vegas. "I like the diversity," he said. "I like doing it on my own terms."

Villano strikes me as considerably more resilient, and sunny, than most people who write for a living. To make a go of it, the majority will require not only his flexibility, but a return of a more stable financial base for journalism.

With the advertising-driven income in a state of disarray, the source of future freelance dollars remains in doubt.

Philanthropic, nonprofit sites (ProPublica) will take up some of the slack, while other new models (Spot.Us) ask consumers to make micro-payments to put writers on specific local stories. Other websites (True/Slant) pay bonuses for stories and commentary, with writers getting paid more as they deliver bigger audiences.

It's hard to say if any, or all, will succeed. But the sooner they can take the free out of freelance, the better. Until they do, we can only imagine what we'll be missing.

An update from the road... we're on our grand tour and we're in Montenegro!

2010-05-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

This is the longest I've gone without posting on my poor neglected Cool Travel Guide. You want to know why? Drop by Grantourismo and you'll see that we've been a tad busy on our yearlong grand tour of the world, which we embarked on in February in partnership with HomeAway Holiday-Rentals. So far our trip has taken us from Melbourne via Dubai to London, Marrakech, Essaouira, Madrid, Jerez, Barcelona (pictured), Ceret, Perpignan, Paris, and now we're in Kotor in Montenegro. We're busy, but we're meeting some amazing people, having some extraordinary experiences, and we're generating some top quality content of which we're really proud: go take a look! I won't be neglecting Cool Travel Guide for much longer though... I have plans to re-launch the blog very soon, which I'll share with you shortly. In the meantime, do come and visit us at Grantourismo - even if it's just to drop by and say hello!

Series of Steaks from Thamara Cafe, Taman Bukit Indah, Johor Bahru

2010-05-18T17:21:00.059-07:00

Wanna share the New series of Steaks from Thamara Cafe, Taman Bukit Indah, Johor Bahru.

Grilled New Zealand prime Striploin with Beef Jus served with Mesclun Salad & Mashed Potatoes.

Grilled New Zealand Prime Steer Rib-eye with Special Beef Jus, Mashed Potatoes
and Mesclun Salad

Grilled New Zealand Tenderloin with Portobello and Special Truffle
infused Beef Juice, Mashed Potatoes and Mesclun Salad

Grilled New Zealand Tenderloin - Medium (Pinkish and succulent)

Grilled New Zealand Tenderloin served with Red Wine Jus

If you are Steak Lover, you definitely won't miss the steak serve by Thamara Cafe! Probably the Best Steak in town!

Related post :

* Thamara
Cafe at Taman Bukit Indah - Skudai, Johor.

Thamara Cafe

14, Jalan Bukit Indah 16/7,

Taman Bukit Indah, Johor Bahru.

Tel : +6012-7373103 / +6016-7171434

Business hour : 11AM - 10PM
(Close on Monday)

Location map of Thamara Cafe, Taman Bukit Indah

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Grand Paragon Hotel at Century Garden, Johor Bahru

2010-05-18T17:21:00.057-07:00

Grand Paragon Hotel 4* (N1 28.867 E103 45.700) is one of the famous hotel at Johor Bahru at the moment. It's located at the junction of Jalan Harimau and Jalan Seladang of Century Garden (Taman Abad), Johor Bahru.

We stayed here for one night on the day our company having the Annual Dinner at the Sky Lounge (26th Floor) of Grand Paragon Hotel. The room rate we had was a special discount! I only paid MYR160.00 for a room with 2 Queen bed. That was really reasonable because the published rate on their website is MYR230.00 for Standard room and MYR250.00 for Deluxe room.

The 2 Queen Bed room was spacious and so do the bathroom!

The bathroom of the room at Grand Paragon Hotel, JB.

We checked-in about 1pm, and have plenty of time to explore around the hotel area....

The main entrance. The staircase at the end is towards the Japanese Restaurant at M Floor.

The lobby area is spacious!

You will fall asleep if you relax on the sofa, because the Air-Conditional was cold...

Nice Lightning!

Japanese Restaurant at M Floor

After the Ground and M Floor, we continue to 11th Floor, the swimming pool...

The swimming pool of Grand Paragon Hotel

The swimming pool is kind of special which located outdoor and in the shape of half circle. It's not the Olympics size but it's comfort enough...

I woke up late in the next morning and I missed the breakfast! But my wife and my daughter were enjoyed the delicious breakfast very much!

Overall, we are satisfied with the 4 stars Hotel and the staffs are very friendly! It's worth to have a comfort stay at Grand Paragon Hotel, Johor Bahru.

Rated : 4.8/5

GRAND PARAGON HOTEL

18, Jalan Harimau, Century Garden, 80250, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.

Tel : +607-268 5222

Fax : +607-268 5333

Email : info@grandparagonhotel.com.my

Website : www.grandparagonhotel.com.my

Reservation Hotline : 607-268 5331 / 607-268 5332

Location map of Grand Paragon Hotel, Johor Bahru

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The Sky Lounge Of Grand Paragon Hotel, Johor Bahru

2010-05-18T17:21:00.055-07:00

The Sky Lounge is situated on 26th Floor of Grand Paragon Hotel, Century Garden - Johor Bahru. The company I attached with was held the Annual Dinner in the lounge on January 2010. That gave me a chance to explore the Highest Lounge in Johor Bahru for the moment!

The entrance of Sky Lounge, Grand Paragon Hotel

The dinner started about 7pm on that day, before that...some of my colleagues already enjoy their ice cold beer in the lounge. Alcohol is serve mostly for the local or foreign company when they celebrates their Annual Dinner. Even the Wine and Liquor were serve in the house, but I'm only enjoyed the Tiger Cold Beer...:)

The beer serve in 'Tower', during the 'Happy Hour', the charges is MYR108.00 and MYR128 after 'Happy Hour'.

And the foods served on that night was pretty delicious, they had Local food, Japanese food and International food...

The foods for the night :-

The local food and fruits

I Love the Japan Sashimi on the left!

I had this Roast Lamb a lot! My favorite! :)

There were Only 3 Lovely Ladies (waitress) serve the party in such a big Lounge on the Top of the Hotel...They did it well!

The Lovely waitress of Sky Lounge

Beside the foods and drinks, there was a Nice Red Piano display on the left of the stage. The performer play some nice song during the performance...

The RED Piano in the lounge

Another advantage of the lounge is...you can take the Johor Bahru city photo from the open air balcony! Because of the height of the Hotel, the vision is from Johor bahru City till Singapore. That was nice! I will share in my next post.

As usual, our colleagues and guests arrived about 8pm. Everyone were enjoy their food very much! Following with performer on the stage and lastly...the lucky draw. The First price was a 32" Sharp LCD TV! But I didn't get it...:)

I was attracted by the lighting in the lounge while others were busy with their foods....

There was a Cigar Bar at the right side of the lounge, if you are cigar lover, you will definitely love the environment!

Overall, we were satisfied with the services provided and also the foods. The dinner party end about 12 midnight and left some colleagues and guests chit-chatting until 3am in the morning! (I'm one of them...)

I'll be back again, not for the alcohol but for the spectacular night view of Johor Bahru!

Johor Bahru Night View from Sky Lounge, Grand Paragon Hotel - Johor Bahru

2010-05-18T17:21:00.053-07:00

When I started to shot, the sky still bright and just about getting dark...So I have to snap as many as possible before everywhere lights up!

South west from Sky Lounge, this is Jalan Tebrau and the white building on the left is Crystal Crown Hotel of Johor Bahru.

The pink building is Pelangi Plaza. And the Busy junction is between Jalan Tebrau, Jalan Kuning and Jalan Harimau.

The South East of Sky Lounge. Where you can see Selesa Hotel and City Plaza. Johor Straits is at the back and Singapore is behind the Straits.

Zoom in view...where Sembawang of Singapore is behind the Johor Straits.

Time run fast and the buildings and vehicles are lights up partially...

The traffic was heavy on that Saturday evening at Jalan Tebrau.

Very soon, all cars were lights up! And Pelangi Plaza too!

The traffic condition still bad...

Same as Sembawang, Singapore.

Look at the traffic congested at the junction above and Jalan Tebrau below...

Jalan Abiad in the middle and Jalan Serampang on the left. At the end of the road is Leisure Mall of Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru.

All the photos above were taken (without tripod) from the outdoor balcony of Sky Lounge - Grand Paragon Hotel, Johor Bahru. I was standing there for more than 2 hours! Just cannot resist the beautiful Johor Bahru night view! Till that I heard someone calling from the lounge inside : "Hello friend!! Your beer getting Warm!" Haha! I had to step in the lounge to entertain my clients and also myself....I almost forgot it was actually my company Annual Dinner!

I will Definitely back again to shoot the Beautiful view of Johor Bahru! I will bring my tripod next time. Wanna join me?? :)

Mui Seng Nyonya Curry Fish Head at Melodies Garden, Johor Bahru

2010-05-18T17:21:00.051-07:00

This is One of the Curry Fish Head I'm hunting for more than a decade! Their shop was at the middle of Jalan Molek 3, Taman Molek, Johor Bahru during year 1997. After they had swift...I couldn't find it anymore UNTIL...today! Why I need to find it so desperately? Because, I love the Flavorful Nyonya Curry Fish Head, that simple!

Mui Seng Curry Fish Head (N1 29.456 E103 45.737) is located at inner ring street of Melodies Garden of Johor Bahru. I couldn't get the street name correctly because there was No signage at all...(please refer to the map below)

It was found by one of my friend who was also the fan of the Curry Fish Head. So, we went to the long lost stall without a second thought!

The signage rather small if you pass by that street

The shop environment is hot, and not spacious! I monitored the customers
were coming in non-stop, and it filled up the place in just a
minutes....We were waiting for about 10 minutes to get our table.

Our order below :-

1)
Nyonya Curry Fish Tail (Signature dish) (instead of head, we try on the tail)

2) Curry Pork Ribs
(Signature dish)

3) Braised
Pork Belly cook with vegetables

4) Salted fish Bean Sprout

Nyonya Curry Fish Tail serve in claypot

Curry Pork ribs serve in claypot

Pork belly with vege

We were very satisfied with the food. Especially after hunting for more than a decade! Haha! The Nyonya Curry Fish Tail taste same as those day we had it before! Great! Same as the delicious hot & spicy curry pork ribs! The tender pork belly was also tasty enough! We had a heavy lunch that day. :)

The damage was MYR76.00 (included drinks) for 4 adults. It was reasonable price.

Apologies that forgot to ask for the business hour...but they are operating in day time.

* Photos taken by Nokia E71

Location map of Mui Seng Curry Fish Head

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Restoran Bayu Laut at Kampung Senibong, Johor Bahru

2010-05-18T17:21:00.049-07:00

This Restoran (restaurant) Bayu Laut (N1 29.109 E103 48.839) is located somewhere nearby Senibong Village of Johor Bahru. The operating hour 11am - 12am midnight. (It is a Malaysia Halal Restaurant.)

The environment is clean, peaceful, relax and nice. You can enjoy your meal beside the Johor Straits over looking Sembawang of Singapore. I love it when I discovered about weeks ago, it was recommended by a friend - Wong.

Restoran Bayu Laut

This Restoran is selling Malay and Western foods. The waiter was friendly and can converse in English.

Let me show you the surrounding and the scenic view from the Restoran...

(it was a cloudy during my visit, apologies for the poor photos...)

Background is Johor Bahru City

Sembawang of Singapore

Where you can see the Famous Nasi Lemak Senibong

Fisherman back from the 'Kelong'.

Kelongs are everywhere...

I visited this Restaurant twice. I had the Malay Chicken Rice on my first visit.

Chicken Rice from Restoran Bayu Laut

The chicken rice was Nice and so do the Teh Tarik. Price is reasonable.

Then I brought my family here for lunch on the second visit. We ordered the 'Set Lunch' and others...

The Set Lunch of Restoran Bayu Laut included a mixed vegetable, ayam penyet (chicken), Claypot coconut soup with Balitong (a kind of Malaysian sea snail or kind of Whelk) with white rice and 2 glass of Sirap Limau (Lime Syrup). I Love the Special Sambal very much!

Mixed vegetable

Ayam Penyet (Chicken)...but it seems more like a bird to me...

Balitong (Kind of sea snail) Coconut soup

The Sirap Limau (Lime Syrup)

The Special Sambal of Restoran Bayu Laut

Beside the Set Lunch, we also ordered the Fried Rice (Malay style) and Mee Goreng (Malay style fried noodle) .

Fried Rice

Mee Goreng (Fried noodle)

Overall, we were satisfied with all the foods! Except the soup and the snails, which was not suitable for our taste. I love the chicken very much!

The damage for our lunch : MYR28.00 included drinks for 4 adults and one child. It was really reasonable especially in this environment!

Rated : 4/5

I might not taste the Western food because I have a better choice - Thamara Cafe. :)

You can just drop by even for your evening tea break in this calm and relax restaurant! I think it might be a Good idea for me to bring my notebook and blogging here, sound's nice?

* Photos taken by Canon EOS 450D

Location map of Restoran Bayu Laut

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Qing Ming Festival 2010 at Penang

2010-05-18T17:21:00.047-07:00

Origin Of Ching Ming (Qingming)

Qinming Festival originated from Hanshi Day (寒食节, literally, Day with cold food only), a memorial
day for Jie Zitui (介子推, or Jie Zhitui, 介子推). Jie Zitui died in 636 BC in the Spring and Autumn Period. He was
one of many followers of Duke Wen of Jin before he became a duke. Once, during Wen's 19
years of exile, they had no food and Jie prepared some meat soup for
Wen. Wen enjoyed it a lot and wondered where Jie had obtained the soup.
It turned out Jie had cut a piece of meat from his own thigh to make the
soup. Wen was so moved he promised to reward him one day. However, Jie
was not the type of person who sought rewards. Instead, he just wanted
to help Wen to return to Jin
to become duke. Once Wen became duke, Jie resigned and stayed away from
him. Duke Wen rewarded the people who helped him in the decades, but
for some reason he forgot to reward Jie, who by then had moved into the
forest with his mother. Duke Wen went to the forest, but could not find
Jie. Heeding suggestions from his officials, Duke Wen ordered men to set
the forest on fire to force out Jie. However, Jie died in the fire.
Feeling remorseful, Duke Wen ordered three days without fire to honour
Jie's memory. The county where Jie died is still called Jiexiu
(介休, literally "the place Jie rests forever"). Source from Wiki.

My parents ashes were kept at the columbarium (N5 24.790 E100 17.648) between Penang United Hokkien Cemetery and Batu Gantong Crematorium. There are thousand and thousand ashes urn are kept it tidy in the building.

We went to pay respect and the normal ceremony to my parents in the early morning. And the area was packed of peoples, that is normal for every year 5th of April.

Inside the building

I meet one old lady who come every year. She told us that she do the praying for her son...sad stories are everywhere...

Beside the building is the Penang United Hokkien Cemetery

The Qing (Ching) Ming season is meant for the everyone to remember their 'Anchestors', but today...most of the peoples I know, they are mostly mean for themself! Example, you pray and follow the ceremony, you are bless! Or else...you will in troubles! My goodness! Almost nobody remember who are their 'Ancestors' anymore...many of the local youngsters also quite superstitious...

Every time during Qing Ming Festival, it's always make me recall the Chinese poem from Du Mu :-

"清明時節雨紛紛,路上行人欲斷魂,借問酒家何處有,牧童遙指杏花村."

"A drizzling rain falls like tears on the Mourning Day; the mourner's heart is breaking on his way. Where can a winehouse be found to drown his sadness? A cowherd points to Almond Flower (Xing Hua) Village in the distance."

If you wanna read more about Qing Ming Festival, please click here.

The map location for above building

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Zi Wei Yuan Steamboat Restaurant at Butterworth, Penang.

2010-05-18T17:21:00.045-07:00

Zi Wei Yuan Steamboat Restaurant (N5 26.334 E100 23.200) is located along Jalan Raja Uda of Butterworth. The shop is opposite the Appollo Hawker Center of Jalan Raja Uda. I believe this restaurant is started business not too long ago, it's quite new...

We were having our dinner here on the Qing Ming trip back to Penang.

The restaurant serve two type of steamboat (included the fish), 'Fried Fish Steamboat' and 'Grouper Fish Steamboat'. We took the Grouper Fish Steamboat...

I was surprised when I look into the milky soup! And we Love the tasty soup Very Much!!

Zi Wei Yuan Charcoal Steamboat

Only about 3 minutes, our table was filled with seafood dishes. But still have to wait for about 5 minutes to let the soup heat up...(that's the advantage of having steamboat! Haha!)

Cutterfish

Scallops

Big prawns

Squids (Sotong)

Pork ball

Beside the dishes above, there were some pork intestines, vegetables and noodles too...and the special chili sauce was great!

The homemade chili sauce

I like the DIY small fan power by Rechargeable Battery that continuously blow from the bottom...it last till we finish everything on the table.

The special DIY small fan

Once we started to taste the delicious seafood steamboat, we cannot stop until everything finish! :)

We were satisfied with the foods especially the 'Soup'! It was bit sweet and spicy, this was the first time I ever taste such a nice soup!

The Damage - MYR145.00 for 4 adults and 1 child (Included A jug of Chinese Herbal Tea). Reasonable price and we will be back again on our next Penang trip!

Zi Wei Yuan Steamboat Restaurant

6525, Jalan Raja Uda,

Butterworth.

Tel : +604-3312736 Mobile : +6012-4524741

(Close on every Wednesday)

Location map of Zi Wei Yuan Steamboat Restaurant

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The items selling in this shop are Not for us! Chai Leng Park, Butterworth - Penang.

2010-05-18T17:21:00.043-07:00

I accidentally discovered this shop during the Qing Ming Festival at Chai Leng Park, Butterworth. Too bad, forgot to take down the shop name...only remember the street name as 'Lebuh Kurau 3'.

It attracted me to stop our car and got down to snap some photos! Because whatever it sell from here are NOT for us! It is for the peoples who pass away!! Yes, "Spirits" exactly!

The shop at Chai Leng Park

Look carefully each item in the photo, most of them made by paper! Haha! It's meant for Chinese praying ceremony.

This is the local culture, they believe 'burn' all these items (during the praying session) to their Love one or relatives who passed away, the 'other side' will receive and they will be Bless. (yeah, I mean from 'Hell') Do you think so? You tell me...

Paper made Heineken Beer

LV Ladies bag

The culture existed since I was a kid. But I never expect you can burn
the 'Heineken Beer' and even the 'LV' ladies handbag now! Wah! That must be A drunkard or A person who Loves LV very much before!

I'm really admire their Innovative mindset of business. What do you think?! :)

Beautiful dress for women, but not for us!

I just cannot imagine that...if someone walk in and said : "Boss, why you sell fake or imitation LV bags here??" or maybe someone who drunk and walk in at night : "Boss, give me 6 cans of Heineken!!" That might bring them a tour to Hell for free! Haha!

Padang Brown Lok Lok, Penang

2010-05-18T17:21:00.041-07:00

Padang Brown Lok Lok (N5 24.861 E100 19.003)

My last visit here was about 10 years ago! My parents like to bring me here when I was a kid...during that time, everyone at Penang just named it The Padang. And I only realised this time the area called "Padang Brown", I believe the Restaurant on Penang Hill was named from the same person 'David Brown'. (Correct me if I'm wrong)

The Padang Brown Hawker Center of Penang

We were having our lunch here after the Qing Ming Festival. I missed the Lok-lok very much, and I felt comfortable and enjoy having the lok-lok even under the hot sunny day! :)

The Lok-Lok

The empty table was fill up in a minutes! And it has everything on the table...

"Lok Lok is similar to a steamboat where fresh food is skewered on
bamboo sticks and cooked in a pot of boiling water, dip into the
special sauce and you are in for a great time trying 30 over different
varieties. For example fresh clam, cuttlefish, fish ball, sea snail,
jelly fish." Source from here.

Beside the foods, I also love the chili sauce very much! Which mixed with dark sweet sauce which I cannot find elsewhere at Johor.

The Chili and the Dark Sweet Sauce for the Lok Lok

Some photos of the Lok Lok...

Spring roll with crab meat

The Jelly Fish

Beside the Lok Lok, I also ordered the Penang Assam Laksa. And surprisingly, it was delicious! Almost the same standard as the Famous Ayer Itam Assam Laksa!

The Damage for the Penanag Padang Lok Lok : MYR55.00 included drinks for 4 adults and 1 child. My stomach was full and it last me until 10pm dinner! Haha!

Location map of the Padang Brown Lok Lok of Penang

View Larger Map

A postcard from France

2010-05-18T17:21:00.039-07:00

By Mirino

Maybe the idea of 'A postcard from France', will encourage a flagging contributor to send the odd one, based on selected news items from the French press, to Wind Rose Hotel more regularly. Hopefully it will also incite readers to make constructive comments.

To begin with, and as the Polanski case was alluded to here before, it might be appropriate to refer to a recent article on him from Le Figaro.

Polanski had just published a text confided to 'La Règle du Jeu', a site directed by Bernard-Henri Levy, stating that he can no longer remain silent. He considers that he is the victim of lies. According to him, the threat of extradition and legal proceedings in the USA for what he had done so long ago, are based on trumped up charges.

The Franco-Polish actor, writer and film producer maintains that his sentence of 42 days in a Californian prison in 1977 per 'having had sexual relations that year with a 13 year old adolescent', correspond with the sentence for which he was condemned and which he had thus already endured.

"I am accused of having avoided US justice, but in the 'pleading guilty' procedure I had recognised the facts and had returned to the USA to purge my sentence".

Roman Polanski (76) was arrested the 26th September last year in Switzerland and has been assigned to residence since the 4th December.

"I can no longer remain silent when the victim has been dismissed by the Court of California after having asked several times to stop the proceedings of my case", he also underlines.

"I can no longer remain silent because the United States continue to demand my extradition, more to deliver me as fodder to the media of the entire world than to pronounce a judgement on which an agreement was made 33 years ago".

                                        ____

My own view is that justice can hardly prevail if it chooses to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the actual victim of the crime and her repeated demands. I also have the impression that Polanski has never been overly appreciated in the USA, and suspect that the atrocious Manson killings may also have something to do with it. (If one remembers, whilst Polanski was working in Europe, his then pregnant wife, the actress Sharon Tate, was brutally stabbed to death in the Polanski residence in California with several other, horribly murdered victims. This was in August 1969, and carried out by members of the Manson gang. Manson (74) is still alive, seemingly without any regrets, and is even a 'cultural' source of influence in America.

Whilst there doesn't appear to be any 'rabid witch hunts' going on in the States for real pedophiles, whether they be the ecclesiastic kind or otherwise, Polanski, on the other hand, seems to incite fierce suspicion and resentment, and this perhaps even more so in the State of California than anywhere else in the USA.

                                         _____



                               Italiano

UK set for hung Parliament

2010-05-18T17:21:00.037-07:00

The BBC predicts a hung Parliament with David Cameron's Conservatives as the largest party (with more than 500 general election results in out of 650). And who will move into the famous address on the right may not be obvious.

PS: Britain Wakes Up Speaking Italian (Best Wishes!)

Re-readings

2010-05-18T17:21:00.035-07:00

“ “For this reason,” the abbot continued, “I consider that any case involving the error of a shepherd can be entrusted only to men like you, who can distinguish not only good from evil, but also what is expedient from what is not. I like to think you pronounced a sentence of guilty only when ...”

“... the accused were guilty of criminal acts, of poisoning, of the corruption of innocent youths, or other abominations my mouth dares not utter …”

“… that you pronounced sentence only when,” the abbot continued, not heeding the interruption, “the presence of the Devil was so evident to all eyes that it was impossible to act otherwise without the clemency’s being more scandalous than the crime itself.”

“When I found someone guilty,” William explained, “he had really committed crimes of such gravity that in all conscience I could hand him over to the secular arm.” ”

—Umberto Eco, THE NAME OF THE ROSE, translated from the Italian by William Weaver, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc and Martin Secker & Warburg, 1983. Originally published in Italy in 1980 under the title Il nome della rosa by Gruppo Editoriale Fabbri-Bompiani, Sonzogno, Etas SpA.

It’s almost as if he could indifferently look into the past and the future, and anticipate the issues of the present time while recalling those of a remote past...

I love re-reading my favorite books, and this time it’s The Name of the Rose’s turn. Generally speaking, it’s a wonderful adventure, always new and always different, because every time we re-read a book, we ourselves are new men and women, having been made such by the vicissitudes of life, by our personal experiences and achievements, both spiritual and intellectual. No one is the same person they were even as long ago as yesterday. That’s why re-reading great works of literature is such a wonderful experience: the more you read them, the more you fall in love with them. To say nothing about a book such as the Bible, the book of the books—I’ve lost count of the times I’ve re-read it…

Why the West’s economic prosperity can no longer be taken for granted

2010-05-18T17:21:00.033-07:00

As the Times of London put it, Stephen King writes scary stories, but Stephen D. King writes scarier ones. He is the chief economist of the London-based HSBC, one of the largest banking and financial services organizations in the world, and Losing Control: The Emerging Threats to Western Prosperity is his first book. And a scary book indeed, according to the reviews I’ve read so far (I’ve never been an avid reader of economics, and that’s why I don’t really know if I will read the book, though according to the Times “You don’t have to understand the carry trade or know what a Gini coefficient is to read this book, but it helps”—what terrifies me is that but it helps…).

What is it about this book that is so scary? To put it up very simply, the thesis is the following: The international financial crisis that began in 2007 is but one result of the emerging nations’ increased gravitational pull. In other words, the baton of economic progress is passing to states such as China and India. This suggests that the decades ahead will see a major redistribution of wealth and power across the globe that will force consumers in the United States and Europe to stop living beyond their means.

Or, put more simply, “Be prepared, the worst is yet to come.” Yet, Stephen D. King also offer us a few possible ways out of this unpleasant situation. The main one is the creation of three big monetary unions—an expanded euro zone along with currency unions in Asia and the Americas. But, as The Economist puts it, “Mr King fails to make a convincing case for why such a reform would ever happen or why it would lead to a more stable global monetary system.” That’s also why, according to The Economist, the book “is more a series of provocative comments than a convincing argument.”

Another way out of the bind, with regard to the UK, is that, instead of limiting immigration, Britain should dismiss border controls and protectionism and welcome immigrants, and, painful though it may be in the short term, open ourselves up to the full force of global competition.

At a symposium in Trinity College Dublin last month to promote his book, just to make it clear what the whole thing is all about, King provided some curious information and a series of thought-provoking data. Very interesting reading indeed.

He also quoted the response of the UK economics profession when the queen asked why no one had seen the bank crisis coming: “Your majesty, the failure to foresee the timing, extent and severity of the crisis and to head it off, while it had many causes, was principally a failure of the collective imagination of many bright people, both in this country and internationally, to understand the risks to the system as a whole.”

Failure of imagination: term used to describe circumstances wherein something that was possible to predict or foresee was, in fact, not predicted or foreseen. Hope you got the hint.

One can't solve a crisis of debt by increasing the debt

2010-05-18T17:21:00.031-07:00

A postcard from France    By Mirino

In view of the last post, this interview from Le Monde seems suitable.

Thorsten Polleit is the head economist of Barclays Capital in Germany. He is very critical of the massive rescue loan of the euro zone States.

'How do you judge the rescue plan of 750 billion euros for the euro zone?

'One cannot solve the problem by additional debt. To support certain countries suffering from a debt crisis, the governments will still have to borrow. It's not a solution. The urgency for the euro zone today, is to announce a credible strategy of reduction of deficits. If the pressure of the markets have become so strong, if the investors are losing confidence, it's precisely because such a concept doesn't exist. It's time to clarify this.

'What should be done?'

'The decisions are the recourse of each government, at national level. One should decide how to reduce expenditure, to reduce the deficits as soon as possible, to engrave these objectives in marble as we did in Germany by establishing a mechanism in our constitution to reduce the debt... One must remember that from the very beginning, had the stability pact been fully respected, this situation would never have occurred.

'Thanks to this plan, wasn't the risk of contagion of the Greek crisis nevertheless countered?'

Yes, with regard to the countries threatened in the immediate future. But it's the quality of credit of notable States which will cause them to suffer from the consequences. The conditions of loan of the lending countries will undoubtedly be degraded. In fact the problem only shifts itself, and in the long term it's likely to worsen.

'Does the decision of the European Central bank (ECB) to buy national debt threaten its credibility?'

'It's clear that if the ECB acts in this way, it's because the European governments wish it. There's an instrument of monetary policy which doesn't seem to be decided in total independence. This decision is very problematic: in the long term such a program is likely to create inflation as well as a lack of confidence of investors.

'What is the situation regarding the long term stability of the euro?'

'If the States don't find the means of reducing their debt which often reaches intolerable levels, the euro is seriously threatened. The creation of the single currency has been a vast experiment of which the result is now uncertain. Especially if things continue in such a way, with certain countries condemned to pay again and again sums increasingly more important.

'Do you believe that Germany will recover the money of the loans made in Greece?'

No, on the contrary, I don't believe that the sums will ever be reimbursed.

(Remarks put together by Marie de Vergès)

                                         _____



   Italiano

The Austrian School of economics: its Italian roots

2010-05-18T17:21:00.029-07:00

Several early Italian economists influenced the development of continental European economic thought in the centuries before Carl Menger, the founder of the Austrian School of economics: Gian Francesco Lottini (1512–1572), Bernardo Davanzati (1529–1606), Geminiano Montanari (1633–1687), and Ferdinando Galiani (1728–1787). Galiani, in particular, with his contributions to value theory, interest theory, and economic policy, had a great influence on the Austrian School of economics itself. Read this article at the Ludwig von Mises Institute website to learn more. Here is an excerpt:

Galiani believed that government generally should not interfere in the natural workings of the economy. A government that attempts to stimulate all sectors of the economy, agricultural and industrial, stimulates nothing. Stimulation means that a particular sector is given preference over the other sectors, and how can one sector be given preference over another if all sectors are stimulated?

Quite interesting, indeed. It’s also interesting to note that Friedrich Nietzsche, who was an expert in matters of intellectual excellence, in his Beyond Good and Evil pointed out his “friend” Ferdinando Galiani as an example of Cynic of genius and described him as “the most profound, sharp-sighted, and perhaps also the foulest man of his century” (please note that foul, in Nietzsche’s vocabulary, is perhaps the greatest compliment…). He also wrote that Galiani “was far profounder than Voltaire and consequently also a good deal more taciturn.”

Furthermore, Galiani’s 1769 Dialogues sur le commerce des blés, written in French with vivacious wit and a light and pleasing style (you can read it here), delighted Voltaire, who in his Dictionnaire philosophique (“BLÉ ou BLED”) spoke of it as a book in the production of which Plato and Moliere might have been combined, and described it as a cross between Plato and Molière (“[Galiani] trouva le secret de faire, même en français, des dialogues aussi amusants que nos meilleurs romans, et aussi instructives que nos meilleurs livres sérieux”). What is surprising is that Galiani is still relatively little known.

[Thanks: The Commentator]

'Scandals were part of the Third Mystery of Fatima'

2010-05-18T17:21:00.027-07:00

It has become more and more clear in the past few weeks, to all fair-minded observers, that the attempts to pin dirt on Pope Benedict have failed, and that Benedict’s tougher stance against abusers started in the latter years of his tenure at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It has also become clear that then Cardinal Ratzinger had been thwarted in his efforts to pursue a church trial against Rev. Marcial Maciel (the founder of the powerful religious order the Legion of Christ), involved in child sex abuse, and that upon assuming the papacy, Benedict moved against Maciel, ordering him to live a life of reserved prayer while also launching an investigation into the order itself.

At the same time, this doesn’t mean, by any means, that sexual abuse by Catholic clergy is not a reality and a real problem. On the contrary, the truth is that the Church is facing its greatest crisis in modern times. And that’s what pope Benedict basically said yesterday, speaking to reporters accompanying him on a flight to Portugal. In fact, striking a markedly different tone from other church leaders, Pope Benedict issued his strongest condemnation of the sex abuse scandals rocking the Catholic Church (far more harsh than his March letter to the Catholics of Ireland). Unlike cardinal Sodano, for instance (at the start of the Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square last month), instead of attempting to “minimize” controversy over pedophile priests as hostile press coverage and/or “petty gossip,” he said: “Attacks on the pope and the church come not only from outside the church, but the suffering of the church comes from inside the church, from sins that exist inside the church. This we have always known but today we see it in a really terrifying way.”

As it was not enough, Pope Benedict, who is expected to travel to the pilgrim shrine of Fatima where Catholics believe that Mary appeared to three young shepherd children in 1917, described how the sex abuse scandals were part of the so-called Third Mystery of Fatima. “Besides the suffering of Pope John Paul II in the Third Message,” he said, “there was also indications as to the future of the Church. It is true that it speaks of the passion of the Church. That the Church will suffer. The Lord said that the Church would suffer until the end of the world. Today we are seeing this in a particular way.” “The answers that the Church must give,” he added, “are penance, prayer, acceptance, forgiveness and also justice because forgiveness cannot replace justice.”

In other words, one might think that, as the archbishop of Vienna Cardinal Schönborn put it in a highly unusual attack on a fellow cardinal (Angelo Sodano), “The days of cover up are over.” And it was time for this to happen. There’s a time for everything, they say, even though there shouldn’t have been any time for cover-ups. But what’s done is over with, and the future began yesterday. Perhaps the Latin adage, Oportet ut scandala eveniant (it’s good that scandals happen), has never been more appropriate to describe a particular historical period, although at times one would be tempted to question its wisdom.

Meanwhile, gold is rising ...

2010-05-18T17:21:00.025-07:00

Will the euro bailout work? No, the bailout has slowed the euro’s slip, but it hasn’t solved the problem. That’s what the gold market seems to think, in fact the price of gold is rising against every major currency, not just the embattled euro. This, according to Royal Bank of Scotland foreign exchange strategist Greg Gibbs, is because the market sees the true scale of the sovereign risk problem, the solution and fallout:

If the market won’t buy the government bonds, the central banks have to. There is no other choice. The alternative is just too damaging for the economy to contemplate. If the central banks don’t buy the debt, then governments are forced into a budget surplus (a surplus is required to cover interest payments on existing debt). Imagine the carnage if major economies were forced from double digit deficits to surplus, you are talking Great Depression type scenario or worse.

Even getting close to that outcome is too bad to consider, so when borrowing costs start to rise, as they did recently in the Eurozone periphery, making borrowing difficult, the contagion spreads to equities and global asset markets. This forced the Eurozone governments to promise to throw money at the problem. The US$ 1 trillion bailout package only has some credibility because it involves core countries and the IMF which still have relatively low borrowing costs. However, the package would have little bite if the ECB were not involved. The ECB’s purchase of government bonds (monetization) is critical. It is the most credible source of funds since it creates the money.

It is undoubtedly true that the actions of the ECB this week make it clearer than ever what the real threat of the sovereign debt problem globally is. All countries, not just the Eurozone, when push comes to shove, when bond yields start to rise because of sovereign default risks, will force their central banks to buy the bonds (monetize). You can talk all you like about sterilization, but when the central bank is forced into this path, you can be sure they will not be raising cash rates. They will aim for negative real rates, and until the fiscal house is put back into order, they will aim for nominal GDP growth. Whether this arises from higher inflation or real growth will be of second order importance.

Even though inflation is yet to break out, the price of gold is telling us that this threat is very real over the longer term. People rightly so do not trust fiat money anymore.

Via Chicago Blog.

Climategate - How the science of global warming was compromised

2010-05-18T17:21:00.023-07:00

It was James Delingpole who, on his Telegraph blog, coined the term “Climategate” to describe the scandal revealed by the leaked emails from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, namely, the conspiracy behind the Anthropogenic Global Warming myth, and the greatest scientific scandal of our age. “The reason why even the Guardian's George Monbiot has expressed total shock and dismay at the picture revealed by the documents,” he said, “is that their authors are not just any old bunch of academics. Their importance cannot be overestimated, What we are looking at here is the small group of scientists who have for years been more influential in driving the worldwide alarm over global warming than any others, not least through the role they play at the heart of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).”

To refresh everyone’s memory on what this whole thing is all about, here is the accurate reconstruction of what happened provided by Spiegel Online International, the English edition of the German news magazine Der Spiegel: How the Science of Global Warming Was Compromised (and how the conflict between climate researchers and climate skeptics could be resolved).

One more tip for those looking for a different perspective on the climate debate than the MSM gives you: be sure to tune in to PJTV.com/ICCC: LIVE coverage of the Heartland Institute’s 4th Annual International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC-4)—a worldwide gathering of global warming “realists”—on May 16-18 (direct interviews with participants and live streaming the keynote speakers).

First written for The Metaphysical Peregrine

The Polanski case: prosecution vs. persecution

2010-05-18T17:21:00.021-07:00

Several film directors attending the Cannes film festival have signed a petition in support of their colleague Roman Polanski, currently under house arrest in his Alpine Swiss chalet, asking the Swiss government to refuse an extradition request from California, just a few days after a California judge denied Polanski’s request to unseal testimony in the 33-year-old case (but Hollywood star Michael Douglas—in Cannes to promote Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps—said he would not sign the petition).

The signatories include the Franco-Swiss director Jean-Luc Godard, and French directors Mathieu Amalric, Bernard Tavernier and Xavier Beauvois. What Polanski advocates think is that, also in the light of what the Franco-Polish film director himself has recently maintained, he is unjustly persecuted. “The United States continue to demand my extradition,” he said, “more to deliver me as fodder to the media of the entire world than to pronounce a judgment on which an agreement was made 33 years ago.” The essence of Polanski’s claim is that he was led to believe that his time in a state facility in Chino would constitute his full sentence, and has been frustrated for the past three decades as US authorities have maintained otherwise.

That’s why, as one who is against any form of persecution, even by judicial means, based on race, nationality, political opinion, personal beliefs, habits, cultural mores, etc., and even though I have to admit that I don’t like Roman Polanski as a person—for what he did, not for what his private views may have been or still be, and apart from my own personal beliefs, habits and cultural mores—I have felt morally obliged to wonder whether he might actually be a victim of persecution because of what he represents. But in all honesty, after reading everything I could get my hands on about the subject, I have come to the conclusion that there is no persecution, just prosecution.

And this even without considering the new allegations by British actress Charlotte Lewis, who on Friday accused Polanski of abusing her just after her 16th birthday. If anything, what is most surprising—and very similar to a persecution—are some reactions to Charlotte Lewis’s allegations. France’s culture minister Frederic Mitterrand, who admitted to paying “young boys” for sexual acts while on holiday in Thailand, referred to them as “pseudo-accusations.” Without the least doubt or hesitation. “I got into the habit of paying for boys,” he wrote in his 2005 autobiography The Bad Life, “[…] All these rituals of the market for youths, the slave market excite me enormously. One could judge this abominable spectacle from a moral standpoint but it pleases me beyond the reasonable.” It’s the world turned upside down.

A Super-Darling Cake and Accessories for a Baby Shower

2010-05-18T17:21:00.019-07:00

Last week we were pleased to be hosting a very special baby shower, and even more pleased when the cake arrived from Montilio's. It was so different! Definitely a showpiece, and so appropriate to go with the rest of their decor items.

I hope you enjoy getting a peek at this charming event.

Juli