Guilin-Day 1

After the ignominous start to the trip, we landed in Guilin airport with no further incident and was met by our guide, Siow Tung who directed us to the van he had hired to ferry us to the city. The van used the regular road and here was quite a bit of traffic around. Perhaps it was the evening rush hour. I looked around at the scenery but was sorely disappointed that while there were a few of the famed limestone hills, they were hardly significant nor worth mentioning. This is Guilin?


Dropped of behind our hotel, we had to pass through a lane of rubble to get to the front. Here Siow Tung checked us in and after dropping off our luggage, proceeded for dinner at a restaurent around the corner from the hotel. It must be a popular restaurent as most tables were occupied with Chinese men mostly dressed in black and, a normal feature of China, most puffing away after a meal. Thankfully, we were led to a separate room and made sure the door remained shut to prevent the smoke from leaking in.

Being the only Mandarin speaking one in the group, Woon did the ordering. We were so hungry most of the dishes tasted wonderful. No pics here but will upload later. After dinner, we decided to do a recce of the hotels in the vicinity and ended up taking a walk along the main market thoroughfare of Guilin. We checked out a few lower end hotels for those who may be interested to backpack and ended up at the Banyan Tree Park which was beautifully lit. (Pics later)



It had been drizzling since we left the restaurent and the rain got heavier as we walked along the main street. I stopped to buy a cap (Pink) and we return to the hotel for a good night's rest. The weather was freezing, not to mention wet, and the wind blowing did not help matter. What, I wondered did the next day hold?

Back from Guilin!

A funny thing happened on the way to China: our flight got recalled an hour after take off (we had already flown past Penang) and the pilot decided for safety's sake to return to LCCT. According to the stewardess, it's just a minor technical fault but its better to be safe than sorry. We were offloaded back to the transit waiting lounge which was packed like sardines with travellers, but nonetheless, manageable.

No problem for us, but a couple of tour groups from Kelanton and elsewhere had to miss their first day's itinery. To make up for the inconvenience, Airasia provided us with basic nasi lemak packets; not bad considering we'd already had our breakfast on board. While Wendy et al wondered if we could put in a claim for the Airasia compensation for delayed flights over four hours ($$), AirAsia was smart enough to time their delay and we were allowed to board at 11.30. Those waiting for the return flight would, however, qualify for compensation! After being in the Guilin airport 2 hours, its not a great experience and I'd willingly forgoe the $$ to get back on time!

So much for the initial entry. Will post details of trip and pics later. Back to work today and a full time table!!

IN MEMORIAM - MYRA (1997 - 2009

She came to us from the SPCA; We were looking for a short haired pet but she won us over with her lovely fur and soulful eyes. She has a history of heartworms. She had a short sharp bark that would wake us up in the nite. She was good watch dog and was prone to snapping at stangers' feet. She loved cat food and would sneak into the kitchen for a 'treat' sometimes. She has lovely long wavy fur but as she grew older was prone to ticks and mites so much that we would spend hours de-ticking her. She loved walks and would bark excitedly and jump about whenever she saw us getting ready to go. She was always the loudest then; She had a bad ear infection problem but she was healthy and sweet and we didnt mind that she could no longer hear us call her in her later years.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES AND THE GOOD TIMES; WE LOVE YOU ALWAYS!!

Dilemma

TO RUN OR NOT?

Promises - an update on the KL flood fiasco

News report from the Star (MSM):

PETALING JAYA: In just two hours on Tuesday, Kuala Lumpur saw more rain than it normally would in two months.

Not just that. The rain, which started in the afternoon, was so intense that it caused Sungai Gombak to quickly swell and overflow.

This resulted in the flood havoc in several parts of Kuala Lumpur. Vehicles in underground car parks were submerged and thousands of motorists were caught for hours in a traffic gridlock that continued past 9.30pm.

Describing the rainfall as exceptional, Department of Irrigation and Drainage director-general Datuk Ahmad Husaini Sulaiman said 75mm of rainfall was recorded within two hours.

“Normally, we receive about 30mm in a month. The rain (Tuesday) was so heavy and the intensity so great that Sungai Gombak could not cope with the buildup of water.

Flood damage: Sundry shop owner Chin Wing Ching assessing the damage to his shop at Jalan Rahmat off Jalan Tun Ismail after flash floods hit Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday evening. The intense rainfall caused Sungai Gombak to overflow and submerge parts of the city. — CHUA KOK HWA / The Star

“Coupled with the capacity of Sungai Damansara and the drainage system in the city, the amount of water was just too much over a short period of time.

“Tuesday’s situation was serious and caused a lot of distress to many people, and we want the public to understand why it happened,” he said yesterday.

The Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART), generally seen as the answer to the city flood woes, was not “utilised” as it was designed to divert excess water from Sungai Klang.

Ahmad Husaini said SMART was not closed to traffic as the concentration of the rain was not over Sungai Klang.

However, he said, once the Batu and Jinjang flood retention ponds were completed by the middle of this year, such situations could be averted.

The ponds have an increased capacity of 4.5 million cubic metres and 2.5 million cubic metres respectively, enough to hold excess water from Sungai Gombak and Sungai Keroh.

A Meteorological Services Department officer said Tuesday’s rain was due to weak and variable winds which caused an unstable atmosphere.

“We are now towards the end of the north-east monsoon which brings about sudden changes of atmosphere. The inter-monsoon season is expected to start in April,” he said.

Thunderstorms can be expected in the afternoon over the next few days in the Klang Valley and the west coast but the rainfall was not expected to be unusual.

............

Right remember that when they finish spending RMXYZ million on the drainage system and it starts raining....in the meantime, the poor sods working/living in downtown KL has to suffer shit (sic).

SMART? Wat SMART?

The day the heavens opened up and let the forces of nature let rip onto KL city....

It must been catastrophic for those working in KL especially Jalan Ipoh, PWTC, Jalan Duta and its environs. Yet another thunderstorm rippied through the city and within a few minutes, caused hours of delay, and $$ losses for businesses in KL. Here's a news report:

Chaos as flash floods hit city

By : Fadhal A. Ghani and Alang Bendahara

Thousands of city folk were affected by the flash floods following a two-hour downpour yesterday evening. - Bernama picture

KUALA LUMPUR: Sungai Gombak overflowed its banks causing chaos that had not been seen in more than three decades in the heart of the city yesterday evening.

Areas which were hit for the first time included the basement car park of the Putra World Trade Centre and large stretches of Jalan Ipoh where vehicles were completely submerged.

The other areas affected by the flash floods included Bulatan Dato Onn, Pudu Raya, Pantai Dalam, Bangsar, Segambut, Jalan Raja Laut, Jalan Kuching, Jalan Ipoh, Jalan Pekeliling, Jalan Kinabalu, and Jalan Duta.

A Kuala Lumpur City Hall emergency unit spokesman said water levels started rising during a two-hour downpour which began just after 4pm.

Thousands of office workers were stranded in their buildings when power supply was cut off and thousands more endured more than three- hour jams for journeys which normally took 30 minutes.
At PWTC, more than 1,000 visitors and staff were trapped in darkness after a power outage. When they made it to the basement, they were shocked to find their vehicles submerged.

City Fire and Rescue Department assistant director (operations) Azizan Ismail said they sent divers to the basement car park to look for victims, but fortunately there were none.

He said the basement car parks in surrounding buildings were also affected by flash floods.

Azizan added that the Sentul Fire and Rescue Department station which is situated just across PWTC was also hit by floods.

At Jalan Ipoh, which rarely sees flash floods, water levels were recorded at between one and two metres high, completely submerging vehicles.

To add to the city folks' woes, RapidKL's Kelana Jaya line LRT service, was also hit by a power failure which disrupted train operations for more than an hour beginning 5.58pm.

Power was restored gradually from 7.15pm and the train service resumed in stages. Normal service was restored at 7.47 this evening.

RapidKL chief executive officer Suffian Baharuddin said due to the power failure, massive passenger congestion was experienced at the LRT stations along the Kelana Jaya line. It took RapidKL several hours to clear the congestion.

Hers' s more pics:



Disastrous huh? Imagine if you'd been one of those whose car got flooded or stuck at PWTC. The MSM are of course downplaying the magnitude of the event by only cursory reporting, but questions are being raised about THE SMART tunnel which was supposed to contain the deluge of water from storms and prevent such occurences of floods. So what happened?

Here's some comments from The Malaysian Insider regarding the news:

Again?
written by MNair, March 03, 2009

Whatever happened to the SMART tunnel? Not so smart anymore, eh? What a waste of billions!

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SMART Tunnel??
written by Cyrus, March 03, 2009

Wow our SMART tunnel is so smart and effective!! I think it should improve its efficiency by flooding the UMNO building also!

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• +8
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...
written by DR Arshavin, March 03, 2009

Smart Tunnel.....?? What happened ??..after spending all the dumb money ??

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• +6
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...
written by Kee, March 03, 2009

Wow!!! what a real SMART failure!

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• +5
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all the shit............
written by zuriana, March 03, 2009

All the shit has inundated the "SMART" tunnel again .....all our money is gone to SMART POCKETS !

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• +3
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...
written by nik271, March 03, 2009

all umno's fault. billions of ringgit of rakyat's money wasted on poor infrastructure. all because umno is corrupted.

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• +3
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Smart Tunnel 2 ?
written by FromFourthWorldCountry, March 03, 2009

Another BN money making project, why not we not yet bankrupt.

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• +2
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...
written by Richard Yeo, March 03, 2009

aiyah SMART tunnel not meant for flood mitigation...it's SMART cuz it represents the intelligence of the cronies that got the job :)

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• +3
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God is reminding..
written by JustAPowerlessMalaysian, March 03, 2009

Is God providing a reminder to the people at PWTC?

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• +4
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...
written by swipenter, March 03, 2009

Look Ma! Another white elephant!!!!!

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A RM2 billion SMART Disaster
written by HJ Angus, March 03, 2009

They forgot that even with a SMART tunnel, drains must be cleared and grass cut on a regular basis.
Guess the DBKL folks are not so smart after all!

http://malaysiawatch2.blogspot.com/2007/06/kl-flooding-you-cant-stop-telling-lies.html

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Flash Floods Wreak Havoc in KL & Government spending good money on silly project
written by kkh, March 03, 2009

Refer to the Opinion by John Lee on Feb 27 on Government spending good money on silly project and my comment on Feb 28.

Today incident has proved that the project implemented is not up to mark and with the extra water from Pahang, it will keep the main river all the time full with water and if there is rain, it will definitely create the flash floor problem and create a traffic standstill in KL and Selangor and certain parties are making money out of it and the rakyat suffer.

The main reason that the flash flood occur is that previously when there is rain, the rain water will be soak into the earth and it take hours or days to reach the river, with the development going one, all surface is either been concreted or tar, and this make the rain water reach the river within minute or second.

The best solution to reduce this flash flood is to enforce the retention pond on the ground to beautify the landscape or retention tank on top of condo or apartment, from the pond or tank, additional piping to use the water for flashing toilet, gardening, washing cars will not cost much and this will definitely good for the environment and use less treated water and this will definitely avoid the water privatise company from sucking more money from the rakyat.

By reduce of the flash flood, there will be less traffic jam and we can safe the precious time of our rakyat and less wastage of fuel which is one of the richest resources of our country where I do not know how was it been manage and how waste the wealth been distribute to the rakyat or just benefits certain party or crony. Not to mention the reluctant of the government to improvement the public transportation to save fuel to reduce the burden of the rakyat to avoid purchasing cars to avoid the below burdens

1)Paying the heavy duty for the car. (heavy duty on imported car)
2)Paying interest to the bank as most car purchase is on loan.
3)Paying the tolls rate which is keep on increasing
4)Paying the road taxes.
5)Paying the licences fees
6)Paying the fine if do not follow the law strictly, example wearing the safety belt at the back seat at the speed of less that 80km in the city, this is only encourage corruption for the none professional police and JPJ offices. While this is been fine, the person who break the speed limit and endanger other peoples life can get away easily by paying the nominal fines and the reckless driver who kill many and there is not heavy penalty to the driver and the bus company director.
7)Burning the fuel away so the Petronas can make extra profit but do not how they distribute the wealth of the nation
8)Burning the fuel away where the fuel price is higher than the market rate.

With the economy crisis, BN and PR should put there different aside and look into how to improve the economy and the welfare of Malaysia Rakyat and make sure all the project going to be implemented is transparent and benefit all Rakyat and not only benefit the crony of certain party.

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SMART tunnel is a Huge Longkang meant for collecting toll during dry season...
written by ThrowShoes, March 04, 2009

SMART tunnel is a Huge Longkang meant for collecting toll during dry season...

Collecting toll is the main purpose, UMNO BN only smart for money.

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Who's the not so smart one here?
written by oik, March 04, 2009

If anyone here cared to check, they'd know that the SMART tunnel diverts floodwater from a different river than the ones that overflowed at PWTC and Jalan Ipoh yesterday. Dataran Merdeka used to get flooded quite frequently when there were very heavy downpours. Was it flooded yesterday?

....................................

On reflection of yesterday evening, it was a blessing in disguise that we left late for the run 'cos by that time, it was pouring and I persuaded the girls to stay in (an inducement in the form of a Paandi dinner) rather than driving into KL for Carmen's pilates class. (Turns out got cancelled probably due to same reason) By the time we reached the NKVE and closer to Shah Alam, the rain had subsided, or rather we were away from the storm clouds. Though it threatened to pour before and during the run, the winds blew in the right direction and we were blessed with fine cool weather for the circle and on down on site. (Run was incomplete for many as the 2nd? 3rd? check could not be broken despite sweepers due to miscommunication!)

Again, GOD IS GOOD!!

Positivity

Yahoo! Finally got mah parking tag and space at KPD whcih means i don't have to make the 7.30 rush for parking at PBD to NOT get a parking ticket. Really appreicate the parking attendant lady for being so patient , so I bought her some chocs and biscuits as a farewell appreciation gift. Maybe also to celebrate finally getting my parking tag!

The other piece of good news: maybe getting my laptop back today if CIC keeps to their word. BUT...I aint believing it till I see it!! Even then, there's no guarantee that problems may crop up again if what I hear from colleagues is to be believed! Seems that its a common occurrence and CIC and HP may take ages to fix the problems.

Other stuffs in mind: Guilin trip and convocation yet to fix plus replacement classes. One step at a time and keep trusting Thank you Lord!