Kudat Fish Market

While back in Kudat with the younger daughter, we went to the fish market just to check out what was available for sale. Kudat was a rather prominent sea port long time ago, and the port still plays a role in export and import of goods. It is not uncommon to see boats from the Philippines coming to unload live fishes which will then be kept in cages until they have reach certain more marketable size. In talking to the fish rearer, it would seem the live fishes were caught by divers among more heavily corralled areas.

Anyway, at the fish market, these were some of the fishes up for sale:

The brown fish was probably a kertang, a smallish giant grouper which unfortunately will never make it to its true potential size. The other fish is a 'angkoli', wrasse, a very edible corral fish, highly prized.

Wide array of fresh corral trouts, groupers and other type of fish.

This gentleman held up the rather pathetically dead baby shark for Josie who also gamely walked over and showed him this picture.

One of the more sad sight. A dead sail fish. This is supposedly a protected specie, but, I guess the fishing folks in Kudat do not know this.

A hammerhead shark minus it's fins. Notice how it has been sliced in two.

This has got to be the biggest barracuda I have ever seen. Must have been some 20kg. The guy who caught it along with all the other barras at the back ground said they went out in a small sampan, and when the fish is hooked up (using 25lbs hand lines), they will just let the fish drag the sampan along until it tires itself. After that they will just haul it up. According to him, there are even bigger ones!!

Dragonfly

Took these pictures of a dragonfly that flew into the kitchen one evening....

Greetings, the Right Way

There are many ways to greet someone, be it a casual friend, someone you are meeting for the first time or even someone important.

The Inuit will rub noses when greeting each other.


The Japanese will bow when they meet someone. The lower one bows the more respect one has for the one you are greeting.


In Malaysia, the correct way to meet someone of importance is an art form to itself. It is poised, required a lot of practice and general reflects a lot of various cultures gleaned from across the world (read, Globalised greeting).

The correct steps (which must be strictly adhered to) are:

1. Body must be bent at least 90 degrees; like the Japanese the lower the bow, the more respect for the visitor
2. The greeter must use both hands to clasp the one being greeted
3. The greeter must tilt his/her head sideway (not more than 20 degrees) to better get the correct 'feel'.
4. Greeter must pucker up at least 1 inch to kiss the hand that is clasped; the longer the lips are puckered out the greater will be respect shown.

See picture below for example:

Life Changing Sacrifices

TRACKING THE SYSTEM: Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad arriving at the Express Rail Link station in Putrajaya yesterday, the second day he was trying public transport from his home in Jalan Tunku in Kuala Lumpur to his office in Putrajaya. His verdict after two days? “It’s not so convenient since there is no bus connection from my house to KL Sentral to take the ERL to Putrajaya. My wife has to send me to KL Sentral and my driver picks me up in Putrajaya. He will be bringing the matter up in the Cabinet today. Shahrir is a frequent user of ERL to KLIA. (The Star, 11 June 2008)

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Mr. Minister, I am so humbled by your approach and dedication to your job. For you to go to the extent of trying out the ERL from Sentral to Putrjaya so that you could identify with common folks must be seen as an act of compassion and complete devotion to the poor rakyat.

I would have greatly admired your temerity if you have only taken the bus as well to get to Sentral and then follow on with another bus at Putrajaya to wherever important meeting you may have next.

I can imagine your wife must have sent you to Sentral in the comfort of a fully air conditioned Mercedes and at Putrajaya, your driver must have waited with your Mercedes, engine on and air condition on maximum.

Somehow, I cannot seem to understand and grasp the great sacrifices the ministers are making in order to identify and suffer together with the rakyat. It must be hurting like hell now since allowance has been docked by 10%, they can only have local holidays (nothing about reduction in actual amount used tho).

My million $ (of RM) question: since when ministers need allowance? Do they have to pay for anything at all when they go out? when they play golf, they have to pay the green fees? The caddy? So, what is 10%?

The 10% is nothing more than a symbolic gesture to show all and sundry that they are more powerful and more important than the rakyat.

Period.

Back to Kudat, Sabah

It has been sometime since my last trip back to Kudat....

The trip later part of this week will only be 4 days, but it will be good to see parents, relatives and friends again.

In case you don't know, Kudat is officially recognized as the poorest district in the whole of Malaysia. The area has the dubious distinction of having the highest incidence of poverty, and coupled with the drastic increase in fuel cost last week, it is virtually guaranteed the poverty rate will increase further.

There are folks who literally live from day to day, are already doing whatever measures the government has been prescribing. Planting own vegetables? They have been doing this for generations. Save electricity? Heck, that is so easy when the supply of electricity is non existent. East less rice? Sure, they have ubi kayu, and maybe once in a while, some sweet potatoes, if they still have leftovers after selling what miserable quantity they can in the market. Change life style and habits? Sure, if they don't need to continue living.

In Semenyih, where I work, pisang emas maybe bought at RM2/kg. In Kudat, the last i bought, it was RM3 for the whole bunch, maybe some 5-6 kgs. Unfortunately, that is just about the only item that is cheap. Manufactured food stuff definitely cost a lot more.

However poor the people may be, one common trait prevail. People always share what they have. And perhaps that is why life is still at a slower pace...

On your mark... get set... GO!!!

The biggest increase ever in price at one swoop of the pen....

It has to come, just a matter of time....

The level of anticipation and probably more than a dash of impending doom, on Wednesday, 4th June 2008, by the highly rumored announcement of an increase in the cost of petrol has yet to settle down.

Any motorists on the road on the the 4th June would have been caught in massive jams as people thronged petrol station nationwide to try their level best to fill up their tanks for the last time at RM1.92/l. Queues snaked at every station that still have stock causing tolled highways to be jammed.

Petrol stations owners refused to make transaction by credit card and all sales were in hard cold cash, pay first, thank you. I stopped to fill up simply because my low fuel warning light was already flashing. I was the last to fill at pump #1, at Esso along Litrak Puchong. The thought that the next tankful will cost an additional RM50 is quite daunting.

Malaysia for a long while has been enjoying relatively cheap petrol price, but I simply cannot agree with the method the price increase was implemented. Instead of a firmly transparent but gradual monthly increases, a 40% increase will send shock waves through the whole country. The whole economy can be thrown into a tailspin by such an impromptu act. Whether the action taken was well thought over or not will be the topic for debates by historians later...

Goods and services across all segments and sectors of the economy will be affected. There will not be any person at all who will not be affected, even if you live in the most remote jungles.

The repercussions will slowly but surely boil over...

E200 Fuel Consumption

UPDATE 4th June 2008

Resisting the temptation to go faster is the hardest part; with little Kancils overtaking on the left and right, and buses breathing down at your back, trying to maintain speed below 90kph is not easy. BUT, the long term benefits maybe substantial.

My new fuel consumption recorded yesterday morning:


The time taken to reach office was the same, average speed was essentially the same, but fuel consumption was 0.3l/100km less.

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With the ever increasing cost of fuel, it is imperative that no efforts should be spared to conserve fuel consumption for vehicles.

After reading an article somewhere recently on what any driver with a little bit of effort and determination can do to save fuel, I tried out a few ways of driving to see what can be achieved.

1. Be gentle on the acceleration pedal. This is a truly simple yet amazing act. Unless absolutely necessary, do not stomp on the pedal.
2. Drive below 90 kph. I tried it this morning, and achieved the lowest average consumption per 100km i have ever achieved yet with the E200.


3. Remove roof racks etc unless they are being used. I once had a Thule rack on top, and noticed that the consumption was at least 15% more than normal.
4. Service the car on time.

There are a lot of other things that can be done, but from my stand, the most effective is to not drive more than 90 kph. Instant result...