23 Mar 2011 – Civic Centre

Tue: thanks to AnnChee & SiawChuan for a home-cooked dinner. Nice to spent some time with their delightful children and they too are growing up fast. Jia Jia is now 9, same as Katy and playing the piano. Kelly would have been 6, like Ellie and Tiger is 3, a year younger than JohnW. Has been just over a year ago since Kelly departed from this world and she is missed by all her loved ones. Somehow it seems like yesterday that AnnChee & SiawChuan were passing thru’ SIN en route for their honeymoon!

KCH Civic Centre or Dewan Suarah KCH/1988 is a major landmark in here. The viewing platform at the top of the futuristic Civic Centre tower offers the best all-round views of KCH and the surrounding areas. The city and its hinterland, Mt Serapi, Mt Santubong and even the mountains of Kalimantan are visible on a clear day. Not sure as to why there are hardly anyone there yesterday, perhaps it is a weekday but lucky for my camera and me 🙂

Notice the beautiful big trees and the magnificent colonial white-washed buildings from the White Rajah days! Quite a contrast to the not-so well-maintained Chinese shop houses where Main Bazaar (river front) and #30 is. KLBank used to be there, now Star Company. Across the river is a Malay Kampong/village next to the Astana. It is certainly not your White Rajahs’ standard of living even when they are neighbours! Better watch my words here or might get bitten 🙂

The Torch Ginger is exquisitely beautiful to the extend that it does not look or feel real. This bud (the taste is not so good when the flower blossoms) is use to enhance the flavour of salad dishes. Usually in a lighter shade of pink colour found in rojak/a local salad dish.  The flowers in this pix are picked from Lawrence & Mabel’s garden and this vibrant pink is something new to the eyes that will have to focus towards SIN tomorrow…

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes – Marcel Proust