Where the rice comes from.....

We live in the Rice Bowl of Malaysia...and even in the city of Alor Star, paddy fields are a common sight. The scenery changes with the different stages of paddy planting.On the last Saturday evening of the school hols, we decided to go cycling in the paddy fields...something we have not done for ages. The little one followed us, her brother too dug in his own world; being emo and all that!! Teenage version of the PMS?? The 2 bicyles had just gone to the shop in the morning for some minor repairs... talk about changing our lifestyles. With the petrol pump price at RM2.70 now, the bicycles will be seeing the road more often. Anyway, it's set to head upward still. Today's petrol price will seem relatively cheap by next month! Our first stop at the irrigation canal. What caught my eye was a rather big crab trying to resurface and catch the small fish. This is the first time we've seen a crab here, at the paddy field.I always like this time of the planting season cos everything is so green and alive. Kinda lends a vibrant touch to everything. The day was a little cloudy but it's good to see so much green. One does feel kinda alive with that sort of vibrance. In some places the paddy is ripening, hence the golden hue. Everything will turn golden in a couple of weeks. This is kinda charming, the kampong seemingly untouched by the trappings of modernity. All over, you see these islands in the middle of the paddy field. That is why you have places named Pulau Nyior in Kedah. They are islands but in the paddy fields. Kinda interesting. And you have also have a place called Pantai Johor with no real beach. Wonder how they came up with names for a place those days of old.Noticed the small pink and red pretty things I mentioned in one of my earlier postsSaw many more here. Curiousity got the bettter of us... we plucked one of the stalks and I mashed them up. They were all gooey...like egg yolks. They were actually eggs! Came back, did a search and came up with golden apple snails.Those pretty pink things were actually snail eggs! They are actually pests... aiyah!!Back to the paddy fields... water hyacinths grow wild and some were flowering. They are really quite beautiful.At another section of the canal, water lilies grow unabated. In time to come, when the new planting season begins, the farmers will clear the canal again. The water level will be so low that you can actually walk into the canal. But it is a muddy place. Leeches abound!We saw quite a lot of fish in the canal... one of these evenings, we'll try to bring a net to catch them. A simply put together bridge to enable quick crossings. It's not meant for those faint hearted. One wrong step and you might actually end up in the canal.All of us know that paddy fields are heavy users of all kinds fertilisers and pesticides-the unseen pollution; visible pollution .... where there is man, there is bound to be rubbish. You can find plastic bottles in the paddy fields!It was an interesting cycling trip, one which our little one enjoyed immensely. We had to rush home as it started to drizzle but by the time we got back, it had stopped.

Oil prices.... conspiracy anyone???

An article from today's The Star "Fax Error Sends RM22bil Fraud Mastermind to Jail caught my eye. Why? Because this guy appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List after earning 4.15 million pounds in just 5 years. And his wealth acquistion method? Deceit and lies. At the age of 39, Virendra Rastogi and father of 2, managed to trick respectable people into investing in his metal trading firm. He supposedly ran 324 client companies which traded with the US, UAE, HK and Singapore for 6 years. But when investigators did their homework, the sham came to light. Their leads took them to a cowshed in India, a launderette in New Jersey and the home of an elderly couple who sold scrapbooks. And these were supposed to be million dollar establishments.

Interesting?? I thought it was cos it made me think about our present 'oil crisis.' Here you have a man, who have managed to dupe so many into giving him money... supposedly for valid investments. In part I think globalisation and advancement in communication technology probably play a very big part in his huge 'success' here. Your victims can come from all over the globe! Otherwise, you can only scam in smaller amounts....like the RM100 million Johor case. This one didn't go global, so the amount was not so dramatic!

Was reading Idris Jala's comment on oil. He says production cost of a barrel should be around US$30 per barrel. Yet prices are now hovering close to US$130. News of the slightest unrest, be it environmental or man made, would send prices heading northwards like crazy. Some people say it will hit US$150 by year end. So where does all the extra profit go? Why is it that companies have not started mass producing cars using alternative fuels. Was just watching on Discovery this new concept car called Hyper Car which can run 93 miles per gallon. Clean technology! And this technology was developed back in the 80s. The beauty of this car is the extra energy can be put back into the energy grid. Yet no real effort has been made to produce such cars in earnest. Lots of people in the oil industry or related industries will be out of jobs if this car takes off.

You've got to wonder...whether there is any greater conspiracy to keep the prices of oil up? Or whether there is any country, cartel, groups which are raking in the huge profits now? The world we live in today is so connected that it is so easy to spread information and misinformation. And we also have those futures and commodities traders...people who buy into the future. I do not understand the mechanism completely but I should think that it should be quite possible to manipulate the world market. By the way, crude oil for July delivery was at US$139.12 on fears that Israel will attack Iran.

After all when you look at the wealth distribution, the world's richest 1% own 40% of the world's wealth. So, how difficult can it be to get one group of people to manipulate prices of commodities?? And they are from this group.

Take our rice crisis. A couple of weeks ago, the prices went spiraling up because we were told that there was a shortage. Day before, BERNAS said they were able to get rice from Thailand at a very low price. So they are lowering the price of their fragrant rice somewhat. If memory serves me right, a few weeks ago, I thought we were informed that the Thais did not want to sell any rice to us cos they have a shortage too. Now, suddenly, even before the present planting season is over, we can suddenly get cheaper rice. Somewhere in the last few weeks, people in the rice business have made a killing. But rice is staple food, you can't keep it up for too long without worries of riot which are happening in the Philippines, Bangladesh and a few others more. In Malaysia, with the fuel increase, something has to come down to placate the people. Already there are people taking to the streets, in small groups so we are told.

Random Shots on Panorama

Just testing out photomerge.. I think it's just wonderful how technology can assist us in making things easy...

ACS Sitiawan Panorama

[click on the pic to get a bigger view]


Sitiawan Convent

[click on the pic to get a bigger view]

Tea time...what a bunch of ladies do.

This was tea yesterday, at a friend's place...nothing fancy but definitely something I cherish. She took the trouble to prepare all these and invited us over to hang out. Yup! Adults need to hang out sometimes too. These are some of the fond memories with friends that I will always appreciate. So what do ladies do when they gather for tea? First, they eat of course!Next, they yak and yak. 8) How to run from this? Everyone has a story, joke, personal stuff to share. And to top it, this is not just the time to feel young at heart but also to act young. 8)
And, also to share stuff made. This lovely etui box was made by Lee Fun. It's a really lovely piece of handicraft, very quaint. When you lift the top off, the pentagon opens up and you can put all your neat sewing stuff on each side. Her take from here.And what else we did...share our latest buy from our shopping excursions. This round it's batik talk.Then, there are the serial buffs who cannot miss their shows. So, as the tv show ran, there were also running commentaries.... What about? Oh, the show, the addiction to such shows, our silliness of going back to it repeatedly even though we know it's a waste of time, of the bond that is built watching it together with our loved ones....the list goes on. So who says watching the serials doesn't have its positive side? 8)And finally, we talked about the plates and cups... found out probably 3 generations of people have dined using this set. It came from England, passed down from father to daughter. They've got these exquisite prints on them. Beautiful!
Turned it around and found this label behind. Did a search and found that Grindley is still around...So who says tea time can be boring??? I gained so much in one afternoon. Add that to good company....one word sums it all - MEMORABLE!

Changing lifestyle..

Changing lifestyle! That's what I see in the coming weeks, if not months. For too long Malaysians have been used to cheap fuel. Owning a car may no longer be an option for many but the existing public transport system is not exactly efficient too.

For families with school going children, sending kids for tuitions, music lessons and all the other activities may start to take a toll on the families' expenses.

Food prices will be going up too, the usual excuse, increase of transportation costs. Everything will go up. There will be less disposable income for many. Soon the unions will also be demanding that salaries be revised. Inflation will definitely be heading northwards. Gomen says 5% but many think it will be higher.

By the August, if the government does allow the petrol pump price to reflect the global price, I wonder whether our economy can absorb that kind of shock. Over the last few months, the increase should have been allowed, albeit incrementally.

For us, I guess we'll have to learn to conserve. Must make it a point to cut down on unnecessary electricity consumption. Trips out must be carefully planned so as to reduce the number of trips made. Changing lifestyle is necessary...to accommodate the price increase soon to hit every sector.

Petrol hike...78sen this round!

Scenes of petrol kiosks from around Alor Star after news broke about the increase in petrol price. 78 sen is a big deal! The government has announced that cars under 2000 cc will be given a rebate of RM625...which is actually not very much. But then again, the price increase in inevitable. All over the world, petrol pump price has gone up. The thing is, this is definitely going to cause another round of increase. And this may fuel inflation. Everything will go spiraling up, that's quite certain.Tomorrow it seems there will be a press conference by TNB. There will be an increase in the electricity tarriff. A lot of people are going to feel the squeeze.
But then again, it is also crazy to expect the petrol prices to continue to be subsidized. As it is, Singaporeans and Thais come over to buy our petrol. Fishermen make a killing just selling their subsidized diesel too. Also, perhaps this is now time to look into our public transportation...in many places they are in near shambles, Alor Star is no exception. Hybrid cars should be encouraged.....right now they are way too expensive. Our government hasn't exactly been promoting them!
We'll just have to learn to cope with this because if the government keeps subsidizing petrol prices, other more important stuff like food and development will suffer. Only thing is, we should not have wasted so much on unwarranted projects....the unnecessary space programme for one. And also, if you take a look around us, there are wastages everywhere. If money could be saved here, I guess we'd be in a better position too.
So, looks like we'll have to brace ourselves for more to come.

On a Tuesday...

Made plans to make sushi the night before...so after getting all the stuff we needed from Giant and Tesco, we got down to business. Lil girl had her chance at it too....but cannot roll yet. So she was given the task of spreading the ingredients onto the rice. Anyway, we had fun chomping down the hand food that was being churned out. Tried with salami and asparagus but didn't go down too well. Asparagus was okay but the salami taste didn't seem to compliment the sushi.
In the evening, after Ling had her usual class with the girls (lil Rainbow and Sze Hui), while I had my nap; supposed to be a 5 minute nap but turned into a 2 hour sleep; we decided to go catch fish again. This time we ventured to the paddy fields at the edge of our taman.

This is a quaint little railway bridge over a small river. You can walk right under it...even as the train passes right on top...and feel your little world shake! 8)
It's quite scenic here. One can really just sit back and enjoy the country side...what's left of it. When our boy was smaller, we used to cycle here at every opportunity. The kids would sometimes follow us on their bicycles....all 5 of them! Once we even saw a 6 foot (I think, cos by the time the head got to the other side of the road, the tail was still touching the opposite side) python slithering across the road. The kampung folks gave a chase, of course. Never knew what happened to it. That was a couple of years ago, when Uncle John was still around!
Trying very hard to catch the fish in the former paddy field...didn't have much success with the bigger fish but they managed to catch quite a few baby fish.
The road under the track is just high enough for a Kancil to go under. This is a shortcut to some of the houses which dot the paddy fields. The other alternative is quite a few kilometers further, jimat petrol.
Some random shots of the surrounding area. This is a quaint little bridge which has been there ever since we moved here. It looks rickety but is actually quite sturdy still.
Saw a little girl playing on her hammock. Looks so idyllic and carefree! Beyond are the fields, green and growing. This is another place which we would cycle, with its narrow laterite roads.
Don't know what this is but thought it was quite unique. It turns even redder when it gets the water. Do not know whether it is a fungus or flower...most certainly not an insect since it didn't move! But quite pretty!
At night, I went for my badminton game. After that, we went out for supper with the Lohs...today is Papa Loh's birthday! The girls got him a cute toy... printed at the side there for those age between 4 to 80!! 8) And tonight too the girls had their first taste of century egg, after which they said it was like a Fear Factor thingy. It was really funny watching them swallow it. Ha! Ha! Lil Rainbow is spending the night at their place....her version of camp since her big bro is attending a camp now, I supposed.