No time for blogging, isn’t it a shame. In the mornings I tend to my terrace garden. The are quite a few nice flowering plants there though the rainy season is not very kind to some of the more fragile blossoms.
Wisdom of the East
May 29, 2009
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Charming Hotels in Asia: The Savoy in Yangon, Myanmar
May 1, 2009
The entry to the hotel
Yesterday I got my visa from the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok so that I can attend a meeting in Yangon next week. Last year I visited for the first time and stayed in a charming little hotel, called the Savoy.
The reception area
The rooms
I know there are many more charming places in Yangon. I love the Savoy’s colonial atmosphere, the transquility and the quiet. I alos liked the food and the wines. However, because of time constraints last time, I did not have a chance to talk to the cook. Why the cook you might ask? Well he is supposed to come from Luxemburg. That’s my Mosel neighbourhood. This time I am going to talk to him about food and wine.
Restaurant at the second floor, Kipling’s what an enticing name.
The Rossini, Italian restaurant at the ground floor
The wine cabinet at the Rossini restaurant
The wine selection is quite interesting; I remember Italian, Chilean and Australian wines. I will check them out next week. I’ll tell you more after my return. Keep tuned in.
Please visit the hotel’s website for more information.
Address:
Savoy Hotel
129 Dhammazedi Road, Yangon, Myanmar
Tel: +95-1 526289 526298 526305
Fax:+95-1 524891 524892
Email: res-savoy@myanmar.com.mm
gm-savoy@myanmar.com.mm
Website: http://www.savoy-myanmar.com
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The North-South Pipeline III: No water!
April 22, 2009
I was not surprised when I read on The Age today that the North-South pipeline would fall short as regards the volume of water it would bring to Melbourne in its first years. The article spoke of “dramatically less water”, in total about 160 billion litres less than originally predicted. Per year this amounts to 10 billion litres instead of the 75 billion carrying capacity. Consequently, the pipeline will not alleviate water shortages in Melbourne.
We the local rural people said that from the beginning. One of the consequences is that water prices for consumers will also rise (between 70- to 80 %). So will the costs per unit of water transported. I was always of the opinion that the projected costs of A $ 600 million could never be met anyway. Wait until the final figures are released, I assume it will be around 1 billion plus. This is what the Melbournians will have to shoulder in addition to the rising water costs. After the devastating bush fires in exactly the same region, the rural areas are unable to contribute to taxes and public finances anyway.
The Victorian Government is still refusing to reveal its exact pipe flow projections for the years 2011 and 2012. Tim Holding, the Water Minister, was hiding from The Age. Well, latest at the next election he has to come out and face the music. That’s the time when we are going to punish the Brumby Government for its arrogance and aloofness. But it’s no pleasure to be right in this case. The damage cannot be undone. We should erect a memorial to Brumby and its people.
Useful link: Plug the pipe
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Keliling Jakarta, dari TPS ke TPS
April 9, 2009As election observers we toured the city today from polling station to polling station. It was the third time in 10 years that I did this. As always it was a wonderful opportunity to get to know the locals. We were warmly welcomed at every place with open arms and smiles; we were invited to join and see what was happening. People were so proud of their democracy and rightly so. Indonesia is a beacon of democracy in Asia.
We also visited the neighbourhood were I had lived during my time in Indonesia. When the neighbourhood chief saw me, he ushered my “in” (the voting booth is in front of the mesjid) and I had to sit with him on the steps of the little mosque for a long chat. It was as if I had not been away. He invited me to join the polling station team for lunch which I had to decline because of other commitments.
Only much later did I have time for a coffee, my favourite: “kopi tubruk”, a thick sweet brew. In addition a kretek (clove) cigarette, and I felt as a “wong cilik” (normal or ordinary person) again. It is so good to be back. And the parliamentary elections will certainly be a success. Hidup demokrasi.
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Home coming – Jakarta
April 9, 2009It’s more than six months now that we moved and left Jakarta for Bangkok. The parliamentary election provided the perfect opportunity to return to the country which was my home for 10 years. There is, however, just not enough time to catch up with all the friends, and because my professional life is so much ruled by plans, time schedules and meetings, I am somehow averse to making appointments beforehand. I rather leave it to chance and mood, drifting can be so liberating.
Tonight we arranged on very short notice a get together with old friends, friends (Jasmin, Florian and Nelly)
I had passed my last evening with before leaving Indonesia for good. Sebastian came along as a “ring in” as we say in Australia. We had dinner, surprise surprise, at the Gourmet Garage. It was as if no time had passed at all. I was home again (one of the many homes my life provided me with).
Although we had left behind an empty house six months ago, we had also left with a heart full of love, a bag of mystical stories and friendships for a lifetime. It’s a good feeling to return home. Thanks folks for all the kindness and the warm welcome.
PS: By he way, I found an article by Fitri Wulandari which she wrote for Reuters on wine consumption in Indonesia to which I had the opportunity to contribute a little.
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Lazy Saturday in Bangkok
April 4, 2009
My blue water lily
This is the first weekend in a month that I have for the family. It’s already April, 25% of 2009 are over. We took it easy. Breakfast on the terrace, some exercise, some gardening (after last nights thunderstorm), and listening to many stories the girls had to share with me; that was the morning.
Last night’s thunderstorm played havoc with my pots
For lunch we went to a small restaurant in our neighbourhood. The Thai food was delicious. We enjoyed the food with Singha beer. It is so nice to wander the small streets in our part of Thonglor. We passed by the many little shops, the eating places on the street, our little mosque, taxis waiting for customers and the tuck tucks or motorcycle rickshaws.
Thonglor footpath
Four in a restaurant
A selection of delicious Thai salads
Eat, ate, eaten
I will introduce you to this restaurant at another time.
In the afternoon we watched “Sita sings the Blues”, a most wonderful little film.
Enjoy what is left of your Saturday!
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A day of mourning
February 22, 2009The wildfires in Victoria are far from over. Temperatures are rising again, the land is dry, the wind blows and accidents happen.
Today thousands gathered at the Rod Laver arena in Melbourne for a memorial service for the 209 people who perished in the fires. Many speakers from politics, religious figures and representatives of the communities lauded the spirit of the survivors. The devastation triggered also the best in human behaviour. The extent of co-operation, the mutual help, the support, the kindness and assistance extended to the ones who lost beloved ones, their properties and their businesses is amazing. Also the Australian government is doing a good job.
We cannot do much here in Bangkok. As consolation I would like to share a poem from Omar Kayyam, one of my favourite poets.
Ah with the grape my fading life provide,
and wash my body whence the life has died,
and in a winding-sheet of vine-leaf wrapped,
so bury me by some sweet garden side.
Source: The FitzGerald Rubaiyat, 1859, LXVII
Omar Kayyam
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Judging the wine judges
February 21, 2009
The Royal Sydney Wine Show has successfully completed its annual awards tasting a couple of days ago and the results can be downloaded from the web. When I browse through the long and impressive list of award winners I contemplate the fact that the fate of wine is fickle.
I cannot but think of the recent article by Prof. Robert T. Hodgson about the performance of wine judges on the American Association of Wine Economists website. The title of his paper was: “An Examination of Judge Reliability at a Major U.S. Wine Competition”.
My burning questions is: Are these findings as regards the reliability of wine judges from the USA also applicable to our Australian wine judges or to the Europeans? I am afraid that the most likely answer would be a “yes”.
And what were the main findings of Prof. Hodgson’s experiment? Well, we can conclude that wine judges were proven to be quite unreliable. Only about 10% of judges could judge wines consistently in the experiments, meaning that they were able to replicate their score within a single medal group. To put it another way: 90% of the judges were not able to come up with the same ranking for the same wine.
The implications of this are clear. The winner of a bronze medal might receive a different award (or indeed no award at all) in the same session by the same judges if the wine had been presented moments later or earlier. This is of course great news. If the costs of participating in wine competitions are low for you, just submit. Otherwise do not bother with these kinds of quality assessments. Just go with your clients: if they are happy and buy your wine why should you care what wine judges say about your product.
An Examination of Judge Reliability at a major U.S. Wine Competition
by
Robert T. Hodgson
Journal of Wine Economics, Vol. 3, No. 2, 105-113
Abstract
Wine-judge performance at a major wine competition has been analyzed from 2005 to 2008 using replicate samples. Each panel of four expert judges received a flight of 30 wines imbedded with triplicate samples poured from the same bottle. Between 65 and 70 judges were tested each year. About 10 percent of the judges were able to replicate their score within a single medal group. Another 10 percent, on occasion, scored the same wine Bronze to Gold. Judges tend to be more consistent in what they don’t like than what they do. An analysis of variance covering every panel over the study period indicates only about half of the panels presented awards based solely on wine quality. (JEL Classification: Q13, Q19)
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Two Hills Vineyard after the fire
February 15, 2009Over the last couple of days I have read so many heartbreaking stories about the fire-storms in Victoria. They brought tears to my eyes. It is incredible what people went through and are still going through; the grief, the loss, the incomprehension, the suffering. Incredible. It takes so much courage to rebuilt and battle on.
At Two Hills we are lucky that the fire could be stopped in time. Michael sent some pictures. He says they don’t do justice to reality. How could the house and the vineyard survive?
Everything is black, he says, no grass or scrubs left. In the first picture the vineyard is to the right. The water in the dam is quite low. The second picture shows the vineyard. We will have some “toasted” grapes, I guess.
Our dam seen from the hill
The vineyard after the fire
It was very close (Chardonnay block in the background)
The pumping shed still standing
Among others (for instance the Upper Goulburn Winegrowers Association), our distributor, the Old England Hotel in Heidelberg, Melbourne has already offered to buy smoke-tainted wine to support us and all other grape growers who suffered because of the fires. Tragedies have some good; they bring people closer together, to help and support each other.
For the sake of the victims, we have to battle on.
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Victor and Sheryl
February 14, 2009
The vine: sign of life
This post is dedicated to Victor and Sheryl from “across the road” as we say in Australia. They are our neighbours, neighbours we did not know until very recently. Well, not that we would personally know them as yet. But Victor and Sheryl and a bunch of fire-fighters we have to thank that our house in Two Hills Road is still standing. Victor and Sheryl defended it against the flames. Without them, it would have been cinder, and ashes. From the bottom of my heart I would like to thank you for saving this little shed of ours.
How do I know this? Well. Michael, my brother-in-law went up this morning and called us from the vineyard phone. The fire came about within one meter to the back of the house. If the gas bottle there would have caught fire, the shed would be history and with it all our belongings. Not that there is much valuable stuff in the house, but all the photos of the kids early childhood and other small pieces with huge emotional baggage attached to it.
It seems that the fire cam from the bush at Katy’s Creek, from the back of our block and from there burned its way through to the front of the property. Michael says the whole place is blacked out now. Our neighbour Ken’s hay shed and the pine trees on the hill are gone; so is his machinery shed, but his house is standing as well.
After the opening of the road, residents are returning to their properties. Emotions are raw, people are grieving. After more than a week of constant alert, attention, listening to the radio about the latest news, rumours, terrible life stories, witness reports, pictures of burning bush on TV and in a near or closer distance, smoke and haze people are just exhausted.
Thanks again to Victor and Sheryl and the firemen and all our friends down under keeping us informed and also our many other friends worldwide inquiring about our safety during the last couple of days.
We were lucky in Two Hills Road it seems. No life and no property lost what a stark contrast to Kinglake and Marysville. We will be returning to Glenburn only at the end of June. We will clean up, plan new trees and bring order to the place once again. Hope we see you one day. Welcome to Glenburn.
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The Man from Mosel River 