QE Hospital KK Demolition Week 09

It was Week 09 of the QE Hospital KK Demolition. I was feeling more disappointed as the progress was not very visible.

The top of the left staircase had been whacked ...

... and they made a start on the right staircase.

I had planned to drop in on The Drifting held yesterday and today at The Penampang Cultural Hall (Was that an oxymoron? drifting and culture). But my "old" bones, joints and muscles were aching. So I stayed home.

I went ten-pin bowling on Friday night for the ACCA team (versus The CPA Australia Team). It was the first time I had bowled for at least 15 years.

QE Hospital Demolition Week 08

Week 08 of the demolition; Was it enough progress to complete by December?

The excavator was still there.

They were starting to hack the staircase on the left of the building.

Of course there was another staircase on the other side of the building.

Real Property in Florida Going Cheap in Kota Kinabalu?

This advertisement was in The Daily Express yesterday (16 September 2010). It could be property from empty land to houses or condos. Presumably they are all foreclosed properties from Financial Institutions.

Anyway, what and why are not the issue here.

Florida is 16,798 km from KL, let alone Kota Kinabalu. There is the whole of Europe in between, Hong Kong, China & Japan to the north, Singapore and Australia to the south.

Isn't it funny that these properties couldn't be sold in all these better-known (probably richer) places before reaching us in little Kota Kinabalu? Is it possible that these properties have more down-side potential than upside potential? The advertisement said prices 50% down from pre-crisis. Didn't the experts say that prices went too high due to the over-borrowing (sub-prime, home equity loans ...)? Now there is high unemployment (low financial capability of potential house-buyers), high stock of unsold properties, and uncertain future economic outlook. Is it more likely that property prices will go down in the future or is it more likely to rise?

The advertisement also said "Opportunity of A Lifetime". It didn't say "Opportunity of A Lifetime for Profit".

Here's a report from CNBC (also yesterday 16 September 2010) titled "Foreclosures Rise; Repossessions Set Record" about the record level of repossessions in August 2010.

Malaysia Day 2010 - Kota Kinabalu

Today, 16 September 2010, has been named Malaysia Day (a public holiday from this year on). This First Celebration of Malaysia Day is held at Kota Kinabalu (Sabah). The events today included A Choir Competition (Morning), an exhibition at The Kota Kinabalu Community Center, and the official event at Padang Merdeka.

The Malaysian flags galore;

and A Beautiful Rainbow over The Flag.

The Main Grandstand at Padang Merdeka.

As usual, the VIPs will be seated and covered, the other officials will be seated, ...

while The People were pushed behind the tape to stand or sit on the ground.

The on-going preparation of the pyrotechnics.

The Big Fireworks for the finale.

One of the night's act practising.

A Songbird....

Another Songbird ...

Some guy singer ... (I think you probably realised I don't know much about Malaysian singers!).

The Choir from St Joseph School, Papar (Winner of The Choir Competition this morning).

Presumably another of the night's act; roller-bladders with flags.

The Big screen behind the stage...

with the usual "Last Minute Problem"!

Not wishing to hang around for the next three hours waiting for the VIPs to arrive and the speeches, I decided to leave. The Rainbow over The Stage at Padang Merdeka Kota Kinabalu will hopefully be A Good Omen for Sabah and Malaysia.

Gantian & Jesselton - An Updated Post

In a posting on 7 June 2010, I mentioned some historical "facts" about Gantian, and Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu).

During the La Salle Alumni Dinner I attended, one of my classmates (Jeffrey C) told me that Gantian was on the mainland and not on Pulau Gaya.

That was true. The British North Borneo Company did started with some buildings on Pulau Gaya. This website, The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog, gave the full story with interesting photos.

Apparently those first buildings were built on a jetty. So presumably the place did not get a name. After the burning by Mat Salleh in 1897, it was decided to relocate to the mainland; to Gantian, a place in Tuaran. Only in 1899, after Gantian was abandoned, was the present day site selected and the town was named Jesselton.

There are lots of interesting photos on that blog; well worth a visit.

QE Hospital KK Demolition Week 07

Week 07 did not show any dramatic progress.

The excavator was not seen today. Perhaps the Hari Raya holidays had slowed the works.

Hari Raya Open House 2010

Hari Raya Aidil Fitri fell on 10 September 2010. It was the end of Ramadhan for the Muslims faith in Malaysia. Hari Raya brought the now customary Open Houses; both the official ones and the personal ones.

Not knowing the Ministers and Bigshots, I didn't go to the official ones (The Chief Minister and The State Ministers held one at the Likas Sports Complex on 11 September for the public; if I remember correctly, the TYT Sabah usually has one too).


Instead I went to an open house held by the retired Datuk MD of the company I once worked for.

The Host greeting all the visitors.

The ones expecting the crowds will have these awnings and tents.

The food included Roast Lamb, soto, rendang, ice kacang, kuih, and cakes.

Ah, an old friend. Time to stop taking photos and start socialising.

Another Lyssa Zampa

Another Swallowtail Moth (Lyssa Zampa) flew in.

It was more than 6 inches across. The last one was on the wall near the ceiling so I couldn't get a good angle for photos. This one rested on the fridge and then on the floor; so more photogenic.

They are big but very fragile. One heavy touch and the wings crumble to dust.

I used flash for all the photos. So the usual "red-eye" effect was there. Another website Habitatnews said that as these moths were seasonal and coincided with "the month of the hungry ghosts", some chinese believed that these were the ghosts of their ancestors coming back to check up on them!

QE Hospital KK Demolition Week 06

Week 06 of the demolition show some more visible progress on the top level.

Interestingly enough, the demolition contractor had brought a Hitachi excavator up to the rooftop to knock down the pillars and beams. I thought that the hospital structure was marked as unsafe; so can an excavator be safe to use up there?

Tests of Predictions

One of the points that Nassim Taleb made in "The Black Swan" was that the future is uncertain, unpredictable, and most importantly; unquantifiable. But it is impossible for an expert (any expert in any field) to just give subjective comments without some quantified remarks.

An example is; The Financial Analyst says the profit for Co. ABC will go up this year. Is that acceptable? Would we not WANT him to say the profit will go up by RMX or X%? Due to the demand by the audience, Taleb says most "experts" will not say the truth; which is "I don't know how much". Instead they will use some formula, some reasoning and give a figure.

Let us collect the "predictions" I see in the papers (local and national). They will mainly be Malaysia-centric. Then let us see how accurate are these predictions.

Let's start with:

1. ECM Libra revises year-end FBM KLCI target to 1,480
   (Daily Express 4 August 2010)
2. OPR may remain at 2.75pc for end 2010 and 2011 : Morgan Stanley
   (Daily Express 4 August 2010)