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Eye Catching Wear


The latest in swimwear from Lenny's 2005 Spring/Summer collection, modelled by Brazilian top model Ana Hickmann
Eye catching swimwear you won't be seeing at local beaches or pools
Photos courtesy of Reuters

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Long Long Hair Hay

Tran Van Hay, a Vietnamese traditional medical practitioner, helds from Chau Thanh district. Length of hair over 6.2 metres or 20.34 feet. Already has his name written in the Vietnam Guinness Book of records and hoping to gain entry in the world's Guinness record book soon. Last hair cut 31 years ago. Last shampoo in 1998. [AP Photo/Thanh Nien]

The Guinness Website lists the current record for longest hair, set in 1997, as being held by Hoo Sateow of Chiang Mai, Thailand, hair length 5.15 metres or 16ft 11ins.

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Taiping Railway Station

The old home town looks the same,
As I step down from the train,
And there to greet me is my mamma and my poppa;
Down the road I look, and there runs Mary,
Hair of gold, lips like cherries,
It's good to touch the green, green grass of home.

[Tom Jones]

For a historical take on this railway station, click here. i used to enjoy my back to varsity ride on the train in the good old days. My friends and me, we would try to enjoy the very last day of the holidays ronda-ing around town till it was time to rush to the station to board the midnight mail train from Taiping to KL. The train would leave Taiping sometime after midnight and we would arrive in KL before 7AM. So there was time for us to make it for our lectures. Often with the lecture hall lights dimmed, the tired ones among us would just doze off. Can't remember any of us, dopey ones, being caught. The whole trip from Taiping to KL would see us aseated on the steps chatting about all that we had done or accomplished or failed to do during the vacation break. Those were the days [Mary Hopkin].

A visitor looks at Rasputin's penis displayed at the first Russian museum of erotica in St. Petersburg. The museum was founded by Igor Knyazkin, the chief of the prostate research center of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. 

In a more innocent age, it was said that Gregory Efimovich Rasputin's legendary power over women was due to his piercing eyes.
But a new museum of erotica here suggests that the mad monk's charm may instead have been, ahem, concealed beneath his cassock.
Measuring 28.5 centimeters (about 11 inches) -- allowing for shrinkage caused by pickling -- Rasputin's penis displayed in a tall glass bottle is, to put it delicately, a big attraction at the museum.
Director Igor Knyazkin said he bought the object from a French antiquitarian for 8,000 dollars (6,600 euros), along with several of Rasputin's hand-written letters.
Rasputin's aura of sexual power and mysticism lives on. Some Russians think just by staring at the object, they can cure sexual impotence. One visitor asked Knyazkin if this is true. "Without a shadow of doubt," he replied with a smile. For a more detailed report on AFP, click here

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Tolkienism & Tokenism

There is Tolkienism and there is Tokenism. Let our Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop explain ::


  Tokenism

Then there is Tit for Tat and Quid pro Quo.

And what's this, you may ask? Presently this building along Jalan Eastern is untenanted. The last it was the Catalogue Shop and before that it was the Lido---one of Shaw Bros chain. It is waiting for a new tenant, just who or what might that be? 

This rundown building use to house the last of Taiping's many cinemas and theatres, Mandarin Theatre, the others were Rex, Carlton, Sun, Capitol, Lido, Majestic/Cathay. With competition from video tapes, vcds and dvds, the y were slowly closed down. The Mandarin soldiered on but finally had to close when it accidentally caught fire. Taiping has been cinemaless for the past many years and appears to remain so.  

This is Jalan Kota, in the middle is the historical clock tower [which is badly in need of a new coat of paint]. Behind it is the building housing Fajar Supermarket, Panorama Hotel and Coffee House. On the right in the foreground is another newly completed building, this replaces two 'famous' Taiping landmarks, Wah Bee Hotel and the clinic of the late Dr Ong Sim Keat. On the left of the pic are to be seen 2 of Taiping tim sum restaurants :: Kum Loong and Sin Kuan Kee. 

What you see in this pic may appear to be a hotel or apartment buildings but it is actually the almost completed new central block and ward wing of Taiping Hospital. In the foreground is the new carpark. These 2 blocks tower over the other building in the hospital compound. They were planned under RM5 but now that we are into RM8, they get to be completed. Kerk was the MP then, now Kayveas has taken over and will probably take the honours of officially declaring them open for use. The day this foto was taken, 5th June, was a sunny morning indeed. 

Another new Taiping landmark, this is the FGA building which is to be found at the start of Jalan Raja Sulong, Medan Taiping. It is easily found as the Meridian Hotel and HSBC Bank are near by. The rocket like structure you see is the spiral staircase which winds its way up. Another landmark near by is one of Taiping private medical centre::Taiping Medical Centre. 

This is a recently completed building, it is located just opposite the Central Restaurant in Jalan Barrack. The St George's School is just next door across the road.