Political Earthquake and Tsunami struck New South Wales.

A political earthquake struck the state of New South Wales in Australia at 6 pm yesterday after the close of the state election. It was soon followed by a tsunami which none of the residents in NSW have seen in the last one and the half decade. The toll of many defeated Labor politician kept rising as ballot boxes were counted and electorate results televised throughout the evening. The final toll might not be known for sometimes until the search and rescue team of the Labor party go through the election wreckage to determine just who has survived the carnage of yesterday election.

Aftershocks continued through the evening and were felt across the state after Barry O’Farrell led his Coalition Party to a historic wipeout of Labor. As the state’s 43rd Premier, Barry O’Farrell promised his victory speech to “rebuild NSW” once the dust had settled. But if O’ Farrell lives up to his promise, it will be month – not years, before the residents start to see a difference in public transports, traffic congestion and hospital waiting list.

The tsunami caused by Coalition snatched away as many as 29 seats from the Labor and was heading for a statewide swing of about 17 per cent, although the Labor hoped to retain as many as 21 seats – eight more than the worst prediction, Luke Foley, the Labor’s campaign director conceded: “The heartland is gone.”

The outgoing Premier Kristina Keneally survived the earthquake in her electorate but struggled in her seat, suffering a swing of at least 10 percent. She quit as labor leader last night as she admitted in her concession speech Labor had deserted voters.
“The truth is the people of NSW who entrusted us with government for 16 years, did not leave us,” she said. “We left them.” My mind is still preoccupied with her conceding statement while I blog, but at the same time begin to wonder about the coming general election back home. What can we learn from this political earthquake and tsunami?

Adios Summer and Hola Autumn ...

Today is the first day of autumn in Australia, we can’t wait sooner for cooler nights to proclaim the summer done and gone. We just had a bewildering summer of natural disasters brought upon us by the 2nd strongest La Nina weather pattern in Australia since record began. It had brought unprecedented floods and cyclones in northern Australia to the bushfires in Western Australia. In fact the whole country was affected by it. The rain which fell in Queensland flowed into New South Wales and South Australia; inundated and devastated many farmlands and houses along its path. The current La Nina will go down in history as one of the most expensive for Australia, with billions of dollars of flood and cyclone damage and billions more in lost crops and productivity. But Mother Nature has wreaked havoc before. Scientists have identified more than a dozen events since 1950, lasting from several months to more than two years. The Brisbane floods in 1974 which killed 14 people and cyclone Tracy, which struck Darwin that year killing 71 people, both occurred during a La Nina weather event. In any events, the recent Australian summer will be remembered for its extreme wet weather, influenced a La Nina weather pattern in our region that contributed to the establishment of a tax levy and a political debate over carbon tax in the Australian Parliament.

Although it is autumn as of today, the late summery weather still continues and remains the same according to the week-long weather forecast. But as late summer turns into autumn, my summer vegies will be coming to an end of their season. This morning I have harvested some green chillies to use them as vinegar-pickled chillies for my hokkien mee or fried bee hoon. I will post the recipe for the pickled green chillies once I get them from my sister in law.

Earthquake destroys Christchurch's icon...

The city of Christchurch in New Zealand was hit by a fatal earthquake at 12.51 pm (10.51am Sydney time). It has since been shaken by frequent aftershocks as many as 65 in the last 24 hours that hamper the rescue team’s effort to bring out people still trapped in rubbles of collapsed buildings. The death tolls stood at 65 and John Key, the Prime Minster of New Zealand, warned the toll may exceed 200 with many people still trapped in demolished buildings across the stricken city.

Live TV broadcasters described the city as a war zone, with dead bodies lying on the streets, buildings collapsed, cars and vehicles flattened like pancakes, water, sewer and gas lines ruptured and earthquake liquefaction swamping the central city in live coverage across the Tasman Sea to Australia since yesterday.

I am deeply shocked and saddened by the human toll and devastation of an historical city I last visited in 1989. I can still remember that I have had taken a few photos in front of the Christchurch Cathedral on a cold winter day with a young Singaporean family who was travelling in a caravan across New Zealand together with me. To see the iconic cathedral’s spire collapsed to the ground is a terrible symbol of the earthquake’s impact to the city. This Anglican cathedral, a 130 year old with its neo Gothic architecture is one of New Zealand’s popular tourist drawcards, as much a symbol to Christchurch as the Merlion is to Singapore.

The Past and Present Chinatown of Singapore

Each year, in present Singapore, as the Chinese New Year approaches, bustling night market stalls in Chinatown become even busier than usual, thrown into a frenzy of activity by the annual street light-up of colourful fairy lights and temporary street archway lit up with traditional Chinese red lanterns along the key streets in Chinatown - Eu Tong Sen Street, New Bridge Road, South Bridge Road, Pagoda Street and Garden Bridge. Hundreds of stalls selling traditional foods such as sweetmeats, waxed duck, and cookies, flowers, Chinese handicrafts, and customary New Year decorations compete with each other for business and patronage in a noisy but orderly manner. Although this annual happening is as old as Chinatown itself, I still think it is quite different from my memory, growing up in Singapore when it was a British colony. Chinatown was lined with wholesale produce shophouses together with families living in crowded quarters in the side-streets and alleyways. From a pigeon's eye view (I have long suspected that pigeons were commonly kept not as pets but as a food supplement instead), the old Chinatown with its orange brown terracotta roofs and people milled around,disappearing then reappearing among the stalls was a gigantic pasar. Beside the terraced shophouses, the streets were lined with stalls selling fruits, fish and meat and other household sundries and goods. Countless small lorries and private-chauffeur driven Austin cars with tai tai and their black and white uniformed amahs doing their rounds of daily marketing were there too. Here and everywhere, trishaws, push-carts, baskets slung on bamboo poles summoned into the important task to load and unload their wares and produce were tangled into a chaotic scramble. People were shouting and bickering and vehicles were honking, demanding to pass, everything either moved at a snail's pace or was stuck in a total knot. Amid those noises and activities crescendoed towards the Chinese New Year, the typical daily greetings between between my mother and other housewives at that time were "Are you getting ready for the New Year?' or Are you done with your tee kueh (nian kuo) ?''
Gee, the Chinese New Year is upon us again soon. We haven't prepared any traditional goodies yet, but my wife is going to prepare kueh bulu this weekend for the makan session we are having for the New Year celebration with friends and relatives from home. I'll keep you posted with the recipe when it is done.

Home and Away...

We have been inundated with emails from Singaporean parents, enquiring about the types student accommodation and concern of living safety for their child who is coming to study and live in Sydney for the first time. Before I continue, let me thank those for writing to me and treating me as if I am one of their uncles in their extended families. As a parent, I can understand their deep concern especially when their child is leaving home for the first time and starting university in another country can be a daunting prospect. To many students, finding a place to call home, for the duration of their overseas studies is one of the most important steps in the initial part of this process of leaving home and away. And finding just the right place for you can make your experience as an overseas student much more enjoyable and beside sparing your parents from worrying from the start.

To be honest, I am better at dishing out recipes than to advice on the type of accommodation for your child. But since I have gone back to uni as a full-time student and graduated in 2008, I have had a good understanding of the student living environment in and off the campus. There is a variety of accommodation options available to students and they range from accommodation dorms or units owned by the universities to private rental accommodation offered by landlords and leasing in Sydney. I am pretty sure that every university has a housing office to assist students to find accommodation while they are studying at the university. There are two sides of the proverbial coin debate between these two type of accommodations. The University Accommodation / Student Accommodation Houses are basically self contained dorms or units rented to students, so that you have your own bathroom and kitchen or share bathroom and kitchen facilities. These can be pretty lively and social, but students will need to adhere to any University policies for behaviour and social events. While university knows very well that every 18 years old student is probably not going to obey any strict behaviour codes, these places will probably expect a level of maturity and consideration. On the other side of the coin, students may decide to rent a house or unit from a private landlord, maybe as part of a group with other students. You are usually responsible for all of their own meals, or as part of a share agreement with their housemates. These share houses can often be noisy places, with lots going on, depending on your housemates. Most suited to independent, social and lively students. But keep in mind that you will be liable for part of any expenses involved in damage to the property... and may be evicted if you are a nuisance!
My final advice is to make use of the internet to find out what possibilities are available, long before you bid farewell to mama and papa at the Changi airport!

Chinese New Year is not a public holiday...

If you are planning to escape from the crowded Chinese New Year festivities in Singapore and come to enjoy the peace and quiet of Sydney during the festive break, you will be disappointed. Likewise if you are a newly arrived student leaving home for the first time and nursing the lonely prospect of eating the New Year Eve's dinner on your own, do not despair. Although Chinese New Year is not observed as a public holiday in Australia, Sydney with its significant Chinese migrants populations claims to have the largest Chinese New Year Celebrations outside of Asia with more than 600,000 people attend the festival annually, making it one of the most popular events on Sydney’s annual calendar. This annual festival has events that span over three weeks including the launch celebration, outdoor markets, evening street food stalls, Chinese top opera performances, dragon boat races, a film festival and multiple parades.

This year's festival will run from Friday 28 January to Sunday 13 February 2011, with the Twilight Parade and fireworks on Sunday 6 February expected to attract more than 100,000 people to the city streets. Well, to our new and lonely Singaporean students, why not joined holiday crowd to see the martial art experts and entertainers from Hubei who will be joining more than 2000 local performers to present a dazzling street spectacular with colourful costumes, floats and music. And if you still miss home and desperately homesick and want to join and share our makan, we can probably accommodate another five people at our dinner table in our home.

Sydney is cleaning up for the Year of the Rabbit?

Kerbside cleanup collection is a common sight at this time of the year in many Sydney's suburbs, where local councils normally organise two bulk household collections per year, and that householders are issued with a brochure two weeks before collection is due. General household clean-ups are limited to 2 cubic metres to 3 cubic metres depending on where you live. Accepted collection items such as unwanted furniture, old mattresses, household appliances and bric-a-brac for collection are placed on the nature strip at the front of your property no earlier than the weekend before the cleanup date. But these days, teams of professional kadung guning men go through your thrown-out items and salvage anything that has a recycle value before the council's contractor comes. In case you are a new arrival in Sydney, please check with your local council on what is acceptable or not to be included in the cleanup collection as Council’s contractor has the right to refuse any unsuitable items such as, car tyres and parts, household hazardous waste, renovation and building material and garbage and food straps. And if you have unwanted items which are still in good condition, consider donating them to charitable organisations. Not only it'll benefit the less fortunate but you are also doing a good deed to the environment too.

I am not sure anyone beside me have noticed that the cleanup collections in my neighbouring suburb of Eastwood, where a large Chinese community resides are getting bigger than usual. But I am pretty sure that it is not a collaboration between the council and the many Chinese families performing their annual clean up together . But rather a coincident that in a fortnight from now, we will be bidding farewell to the tiger as it passes the baton to the rabbit to start a new zodiac sign in the Chinese Zodiac cycle. The start of a new zodiac is also celebrated on Chinese New Year which falls on the 3rd of February this year along with many other customs. One of the customs for many Singaporean Chinese is to have the annual House Cleaning before the new year begins. I can still vividly remember my mother took this annual task rather seriously. On the designated day, beginning early in the morning, all of the furniture in the family's house was covered with sheets of old newspaper serving as a drop sheet before the walls and ceilings are swept down with brooms made from the ribs from coconut leaves in which a bamboo pole was attached so that the cobwebs on the eaves can be reached. Then the entire house was scrubbed clean from the floor to the window sills. Furniture was moved about to make sure each corner of the house was thoroughly cleaned. The older children were assigned to polish the pair of candle sticks and the big brass josstick urn with brasso and the red ribbons and tinsels on the tablets and urns were replaced with new ones. Even the family ancestor's altar had a makeover for the coming new year.