San Francisco 2011 – Cycling – East Beach

As tourisy as it may sound, cycling in San Francisco was extremely fun. A friend of mine suggested that we go cycling after the conference and she invited 2 of her others friends from Japan and Brazil.

I haven’t cycled for more than 10 years hence riding a bike was quite difficult for me. Nevertheless, my friends and I cycled from 10am to 7pm. In the end of the day, I had sunburn, my bum hurts and it almost destroyed my thighs!

We started off our journey by taking the vintage cable car from Ellis Street to Hyde Street. It’s US$5 per trip and there’s usually a queue to get on it.

We got off at the last station and walked towards the Blazing Saddles to rent a bicycle for ourselves. The rent is US$9 per hour.


I wonder how to ride this..


We were given a short briefing on where to go. Our main destination was of course the Golden Gate Bridge.


Directions to our destination. In text form.

My friends rode the bikes without any problem while I struggled with it. It took me a while to get used to it.

We passed the East Beach. I was there a day before. Loads of activities going on there. We stopped by there for a rest and pictures.


Mummies congregation!

To be continued..

Straits Settlement Court Documents

When I was chambering, I followed my master to his friend’s office for a meeting. It was my early days of chambering hence everything was new to me.

The first thing that struck me in this office was, “Wah so many pretty girls in this office!”. And in fact, all the staff that I saw were girls!

So anyway, the second thing that struck me was a framed old Court document. It was probably around 100 years old.

Ever since then, I was determined to have an old Court document framed in my office (no, I’ve never though of having an all-female office workforce!).

6 years later, I finally got hold of some old Court documents. Thanks to eBay.


Writ of Summons prepared by Messrs. Aitken and Ong Siang, a Singaporean law firm established by the first local-born lawyer Sir Song Ong Siang and his friend from Raffles Institution, James Aitken. The form of a Writ of Summons hasn’t change much till today.


Summons in Chambers prepared by the firm of Messrs Joaquim Brothers (what a cool name). Court starts at 11am in those days!

Messrs Joaquin Brothers was a firm established by two Armenian brothers, Joe and John Joaquim. It was dissolved on 15 September 1902. John Joaquim died in September 1902 after “cold on the lungs”. John Joaquim was Agnes Joaquim’s brother, who found Vanda Miss Joaquim, Singapore’s national flower.

One of the founders of Allen & Gledhill, Rowland Allen worked in Joaquim Brothers until 1895.


Close up of Summons in Chambers prepared by Messrs. Allen & Gledhill. It was started by Rowland Allen, who came out to Messrs. Joaquim Brothers in 1895, having been called to the English Bar in 1893. Mr. John Joseph Gledhill joined him in 1901. It is one of the oldest surviving firms in Singapore.


This Summons in Chambers was served to Messrs Braddell Brothers, another surviving law firms. Founded by two Irish gentlemen, Sir Thomas de Multon Lee Braddell and Robert Wallace Glen Lee Braddell, the sons of the first Attorney-General of Singapore in 1883 and Singapore’s third-oldest law practice.


Order obtained before Justice Andrew John Leach. The book “One hundred years of Singapore” written by Braddell, Roland St. John; Brooke, Gilbert Edward; Makepeace, Walter in 1921 has a short info about Justice Leach:-

When Mr. Justice Gatty was appointed Chief Justice of Gibraltar, the vacancy on our Bench was filled by the appointment of Mr. Andrew John Leach, who had been educated at Sir Roger Cholmondeley’s School, Highgate, and St. John’s College, Oxford. He was called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1876, and practised in Hongkong for some years, acting as Puisne Judge and Attorney-General on several occasions between 1887 and 1895.He retired in 1904, and shortly afterwards died of cancer, from which terrible disease he had been suffering in Singapore, and which made him naturally rather irritable on the Bench.

Mr. Justice Leach was the best equity lawyer we have ever had in the Straits. He was very genial and full of humour, a keen cricketer, and a golfing enthusiast. He was rather a terror in his Court, where his sarcastic remarks and sharp tongue lashed impartially Counsel and litigant. Legal stories are not generally so humorous to the public as to the lawyer, and ” laughter in Court ” frequently follows a remark that seems far from funny ; but the following account of an occurrence in Mr. Justice Leach’s Court possesses genuine humour.

The plaintiff was a young man, whom we will call Isaac Moses, and he arrived in Court accompanied by his mother, a large lady dressed in her best satin dress, and wearing a hat composed principally of red feathers ; she took a seat near the witness-box. The son entered the box, and before being sworn was asked by the Judge what was his name. ” I key ” was the reply. ” What does Ikey stand for?” came from the Bench. The silence of astonishment overwhelmed the plaintiff. ” Will you answer me ? ” came sharply from the Judge, who glared at the witness through large spectacles.

The witness shuffled, but no words came from him ; his mother said in a stage whisper, ” Isaac,” which the young man promptly repeated. ” Tell that woman to sit at the back of the Court and keep her mouth shut, or I’ll turn her out,” thundered the Judge.

” What’s your other name ?”
” Mo—mo—motheth.”
” Very well, Isaac Moses, now you can be sworn.”

A Bible was handed to the witness, who, grasping it quickly, was about to kiss it, when a roar came from the Judge, who was well known to be a devout Roman Catholic, ” Stop—what are you ?”

The witness dropped the Bible and stared at the Judge tongue-tied for some seconds. This was too much for the mother, who, hiding her face behind a large fan, whispered loudly to her progeny:” Say you are a Roman Catholic, Ikey !”

Doubtless the ceiling fell and justice was done ! An eye-witness told the writer this story, and it is too good to escape preservation.

I’m looking for more of these Court documents especially those dated back in the 1700s and 1800s and also Japanese Occupation period court documents. If anyone knows where to get them or knows of a good place to frame antique documents, please let me know!

Nasi Lemak 2.0

Last year, controversial Malaysian Namewee posted a video about his efforts of getting government funding for his movie. His application for funding was rejected simply on the grounds that it is not a Malay language movie hence not eligible for funding.

He sought the help of various politicians to overcome this rule but it was all in vain. He now seeks the help of the Prime Minister to overcome this problem. His journey is documented in the videos below.

His journey moved me to tears. It is a simply story on what non Malays have to do to achieve their goals in Malaysia. We, the non Bumiputeras and the “kaum pendatang”, can all relate to this. Our parents or seniors have instilled hard work and determination into us. Where we are today is due to the Government’s policies.

Hats off to Namewee for highlighting this to the world.

Related Post: What do the Chinese want?

Celcom – Roaming SSR

[Advertorial]

Celcom recently launched a roaming package for its users who are travelling overseas. It’s a great package for me especially when I travel quite a bit and have internet withdrawal symptoms when I travel.

I ranked a RM1,000++ bill when I was in Koh Samui and Singapore. The worst was when I ranked RM4,000 when I was in the US last year. Fortunately, I overcome my internet addiction when I was in San Francisco. My Blackberry laid in the safe deposit box untouched for 10 days!

So anyway, the new package allows you to roam in the following countries and telco in a single roaming rate of 98sen/min:-

  • Singapore (M1)
  • Bangladesh (Robi)
  • Cambodia (Hello)
  • Indonesia (PT XL)
  • Sri Lanka (Dialog Telekom PLC)
  • The rate of 98 cents will in the above countries if you call home, call local numbers, receive incoming calls, call BACK to Malaysia (via Roam Saver *120*) or send SMS (with the exception of Singapore where the charges will be 0.65cents per SMS.

    There is also a Daily Unlimited Data Roaming Plan – to access the internet on your mobile all you want when travelling in the above countries – at RM38/day!

    That’s not all, when you roam with Celcom to any other part of the world, you’ll still enjoy a single flat roaming rate based on the zone you are in.


    *Zone 1 (Singapore) – rates apply when you roam with any other Singapore operator other than M1.

    Visit the website for more information.
    Celcom Exec
    Celcom Biz

    Young Lawyers Convention 2011

    If you have the time, please attend. It’s a great opportunity to meet new other fellow lawyers and make new friends. Networking among lawyers is useful especially when you are a specialist. A senior IP practitioner once told me that most of his clients came from referral from other lawyer friends.

    The Young Lawyers Convention started off as a platform for Young Lawyers to meet and exchange views.

    The 1st Convention was held at Kuantan around 6th April 2003. At that Convention, the Young Lawyers issued a Statement calling for the repeal of S46A, LPA. That provision bars Young Lawyers from being elected as Bar Council or State Bar Committee members.

    At the 2nd Convention at Pangkor, the Young Lawyers came up with a revolutionary Statement. On 30th January 2005, the Young Lawyers issued a statement demanding :-
    1. S46A LPA be repealed
    2. Formation of a Shadow Council to shadow Bar Council
    3. Reform the Bar elections, electing Bar Council members
    4. Improving Professional Development classes (then known as CLE)
    5. Better information be disseminated and published to members on better Professional Practise.
    6. Improving Pupils Welfare
    7. Revamping Bar Council Secretariat
    8. Increasing legal activism

    Many proposals at the 2nd Convention is being implemented by Bar Council, till today.

    By the time the 3rd Convention in 2008 came, S46A(1) para (a) was removed from the LPA. That freed the Young Lawyers to be elected as members of the Bar Council or State Bar Committees. With that in the background, the 2008 Convention set out retain the existense of Young Lawyers Committee and to ensure the lawyers are protected and defended.

    Held at Penang, the 2008 Convention was crucial to ensure the Young Lawyers movement continued, despite the removal of S46A LPA. For a long while, many sees the S46A LPA as the principle batter cry for YLC, and that the YLC was created to give the young lawyers a platform to speak, since the LPA at that time disallowed young lawyers in the Bar Council/State Bar Committee. However the 2008 Convention was a water shed in the history of YLC, as Lawyers attending that Convention endorsed the Statement to demand that YLC remains in existense and that the removal of S46A LPA does not lead to the closure of YLC.

    This coming Young Lawyers Convention focuses on improving the young lawyers, to ensure the Bar becomes better. A better Bar, would only mean better laws, which we hope would eventually lead to a better country.

    San Francisco 2011 – Golden Gate Bridge – Pacific Catch

    After finding our way to a bus station from the East Beach, we had a quick dinner at Pacific Catch. I chose this place because it was packed with people. They say a packed restaurant normally serves good food (but not always true).

    The recommended meal here is their fish and chips which is served with sweet potatoes fries. It was my first time trying sweet potatoes fries and I must say it was damn good! I wiped the plate clean!


    Hot chili – something reminding me of home.

    The dinner was so quick that we threw our money on the table when the bus home arrived. We didn’t even wait for the change!

    Address
    2027 Chestnut St
    San Francisco, CA 94123-2701
    Tel: (415) 440-1950
    http://www.pacificcatch.com‎

    Map

    View Larger Map

    San Francisco 2011 – Golden Gate Bridge

    I didn’t see much of San Francisco until the end of the conference. Some people say you haven’t been to San Francisco if you haven’t seen the Golden Gate bridge. Since my my colleague is leaving earlier than me, he was determined to see the bridge before leaving.

    We took a bus from the city and ended up in a remote housing area. The roads were empty and no one was on the streets. We were lost! The bus didn’t drop us at the correct location and I didn’t bring my map!

    Fortunately, we found a man recommended that we head to the East Beach to see the Golden Bridge. Without a map, we walked toward the direction that the man recommended.

    We were greeted with the sight of a yacht harbor and joggers. We were on the famous Marina Blvd.


    It was freezing cold but yet some joggers were in their tees and shorts.

    Along Marina Blvd, there were loads of nice waterfront houses. All with unique designs.

    After walking for few minutes, we reached Crissy Field. It looks like we were walking towards “the Light”.


    Behold! The San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge!


    And Alcatraz!

    After taking a few pictures, we were head home. Again we were lost. Fortunately, some strangers guided us to a bus stop to the city.

    To be continued..

    Happy 10th Anniversary to www.xes.cx!

    This blog has finally hit a milestone. 10 years old!

    10 years ago, never once I thought this blog could last for so long. I must thank my guestbloggers who had kept the blog on going. Of course, long time and current readers must be thanked.

    I guess this blog started picking up when my former university house mates started contributing.


    Our house in Sheffield. Got ghost one.


    Former housesmates.

    Friends and strangers started commenting on our blog entries. Soon, I had random strangers coming up to me saying that they read my blog.

    Building websites have always been my interest. It all started back in 1997 using a Geocities hosted website, a few GIFs (consisting of characters from the King of Fighters and a bouncing ball) and a guestbook. Dad posted a comment on my guestbook stating somewhere along the lines of, “I like the bouncing ball”.

    My earliest blog entry dates back to January 2001. It was during the times of www.xes.net.my, which I had before I registered the xes.cx. Back then, I didn’t know these postings are called as blogposts.

    Before all these blog postings, my website served as an online photo album for my friends to see. This blog has gone so public that I am reluctant to post friends’ pictures here.

    There were 2 goals that I wanted to achieve during the early days of xes.cx, 1st was to hit 500 unique visitors a day and 2nd was to make money out of it. Both have been achieved long time ago.

    The launch of Nuffnang marked the monotization of this blog. I used the money from Nuffnang as down payment for my Mum and my car.


    2nd payment from Nuffnang

    Of course, this blog has brought me many good things – from meeting many new friends to various media appearance (for a list see About xes.cx page).


    Asian Blogger & Social Media Conference @ Times Square Hotel

    Thank you all again for the support. Hope this blog will last a lifetime and read by generations thereafter (if I get it in print!).

    If there is any of blog entries here that you enjoyed, please feel free to comment.

    San Francisco 2011 – Overview

    After 10 days in the San Francisco, I’m finally back in Malaysia. Home sweet home!


    Union Square

    San Francisco is a beautiful city. It’s extremely hilly – even hillier than Sheffield. It has plenty of beautiful buildings with great architecture.


    A shopping centre just for ladies!

    The only complaint that I have is that there are many homeless people on the streets.

    The demographic of San Francisco is quite strange. On one street you have all the high end retail outlets but on the next street, you’ll find homeless or dodgy looking people roaming around.

    Many of these homeless people harass passerby for spare change or even to make strange comments. Some were out of their mind – screaming incoherent words out of nowhere. I’ve learned that the best way to deal with them is to ignore them. It works!


    There are many street buskers too. This one took a photo with Will Smith!

    The weather wasn’t very kind. It was extremely cold and even rained at some days. I had to wear 3 to 4 layers of t-shirts before going out. One friend got sick and was slapped with a USD300 medical bill after seeing a local doctor. Fortunately for me, all I had was sore throat.

    I spent 5 days attending the International Trade Mark Conference (INTA). This is my 3rd time attending this conference and it was good. Great networking sessions and met plenty of new (probably 60 over) and interesting contacts. I met some old contacts and spent great time with them. Networking is not the amount of people I meet but the amount of quality time I spent with them.


    Conference area. Spent a lot of time here meeting people. When I have free time, I will chat with some random stranger.

    We arrived a day early to accustom our body clock to US timing. Unfortunately, we took a nap at 2pm, with the intention of waking up an hour later, but woke up at 7pm instead. Gah.

    With regret on our mind, we walked to Chinatown for dinner.


    Took us almost 20 minutes – went through a tunnel


    Was briefly entertained by a Chinese band


    But was served terrible food. Uh.

    During the conference, day time was spent on meetings and night time was spent on receptions or dinners.


    Had meeting at an associates’ office. Great view!

    Receptions were held at very nice places except for one reception where we lined up for 45 minutes under the rain. The bouncers were only allowing 2 to 3 people every 5 to 10 minutes. Some people gave up halfway and went away. When we were about to get in, the bouncer announced that the venue is full and they are no longer taking anyone in! Some chaps were so furious that they started swearing at the bouncers. We, on the other hand, adjourned to a cafe nearby with our Chinese associates.

    I stayed in a boutique hotel called Hotel Abri. It was a nice hotel with excellent facilities and location. It’s just a few minutes away from Moscone Center, the conference venue.

    After the conference, I moved to Globetrotters Inn Hostel, which was a far cry from Hotel Abri. My hostel has only a bed, a sink and a chair. No heater and table! I had to use the window ledge to put my laptop :s

    The hostel is pretty much run down and not very clean. However, service was great. When I was waiting for my bus to take me to the airport, I bumped into a staff of the hostel. She was concerned that my bus was late and even called the bus operator for me. It was very kind of her.

    I extended my stay for 2 nights to check out San Francisco. I went cycling, did some shopping and visited the gay center of San Francisco namely Castrol Street.

    The journey back to KL took me around 20 hours. It was rather uneventful except for one occasion where a lady decided to disembark from our flight before flying. I thought she had some prediction that the flight will crash. At that point, I thought this flight will be the end of me :s

    More details about the trip later!