Poland -- New Pictures of Lancut Synagogue

The Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ) has posted a gallery of gorgeous new pictures of the synagogue in Lancut, Poland, part of the Hassidic route that it sponsors.

Click HERE for the gallery.

Siam House Restaurant at Taman Molek, Johor Bahru.

The restaurant is just open not long ago, I got the info from the Malfreemaps.com Free GPS map. So we decided to try out for our Sunday lunch.

Siam House Restaurant (N1°31.372' E103°47.095') is located at Jalan Molek 1/30, Taman Molek. Opposite of Scotiabank Taman Molek, Johor Bahru.

The entrance and the interior design was Well decorated! Nice ambience!

I'm not really good in ordering the Thai foods, so the photos in the menu was making the judgement! Haha!
Our order as below...

Siam Pineapple Fried Rice

Red Curry Chicken

Steam Squid

Beef Thai Kuey Tiow (Rice noodle)

This...I forgot what's the name of it. But nice!

The Damage : MYR55.00 included drinks (For 4 adults and one child)

The price was reasonable. All of the foods were delicious, I like the squid very much! We all enjoy our lunch here very much except....

The incidents was :-
First, the waitress deliver the wrong food to our table Twice!
Second, my daughter not feeling well that day, she vomited after taking some rice! My wife quickly brought her to the washroom and we were busy clean up the chair. During halfway on the cleaning, I noticed the waiter was just stand behind me and....SMILE at me!! He was Not Even Help to clean the vomit area but just smile and watching us! Suddenly, I felt so pissed off with their services.
The Manageress apologized to us later, the reason given was they are 'New'. I wondering and surprised The Management running their business with all these poor trained employee?!
I definitely not gonna accept the reason given, it's more like an excuse to me! Will you??

Due to the unhappy incidents, I rated : 2.5/5

If you ask me...will I come back again? Hmm...let me consider...there are many Thai Restaurant at Johor Bahru area...

Siam House Thai Cuisine
G-07, Jalan Molek 1/30,
Taman Molek,
Johor Bahru.
Tel : +607-3578113

* Apologies for the poor photos taken by my mobile phone.

Location map of Siam House Restaurant

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Mount (Gunung) Brinchang Lookout Tower, Cameron Highlands - Pahang

Mount Brinchang Lookout Tower (N4°31.113' E101°22.973') is located the end of the same road from Mossy Forest. I just miss out this post within my Cameron Highlands trip.

After Mossy Forest, we visit this tower which is located just before the Telecom Communication Building at Mount Brinchang. It's situated at the 2032 meter above sea level.

Staircase to the Tower

We were quite fortunate because of the Good weather that day, and we be able to see Ipoh Town on top of the Tower.

Ipoh town from far away. It's on the left of the tower.

On the right, you will the see the Titiwangsa Mountains.

"The Titiwangsa Mountains range starts starts in the north as a continuation of the Phuket mountain range in Southern Thailand, running approximately southeast and ends in the south near Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. The highest elevation is the 2,183 m (7,162 ft) Gunung Korbu." For more info, please visit Wikipedia.

Another view from the tower, are few Telecommunication Tower with Full of antenna.

The antenna on the left might be the MARTS National Link Antenna.

We spent about 45 minutes there and continue our journey to the Time Tunnel Musuem.

Location map to Mount Brinchang Lookout Tower

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My Cameron Highlands Trip - September 2009
* Rosa Passadena Hotel at Brinchang, Cameron Highlands (D1)
* Tanah Rata Town of Cameron Highlands 2009 (D1)
* Dinner at Rosa Passadena Hotel - Brinchang, Cameron Highlands (D1)
* The Mossy Forest of Cameron Highlands (September 2009) , Pahang (D2)
* The Sungai Palas BOH Tea Plantation, Cameron Highlands (D2)
* The Time Tunnel Musuem of Cameron Highlands, Pahang (D2)
* Lunch at Cameron Highlands, Pahang (D2)
* Mr Nachimuthu's Strawberry Farm at Brinchang, Cameron Highlands (D2)
* Big Red Strawberry Farm of Cameron Highlands, Pahang (D2)
* Bala's Holiday Chalet at Cameron Highlands, Pahang (D2) - Bad impression
* Traveler Pub and Bistro at Tanah Rata of Cameron Highlands, Pahang (D2)
* The Morning Fruits & Vegetables Market at Brinchang, Cameron Highlands (D3)

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Vatican -- Concern over transformation of disused churches

 Presov, Slovakia --- exterior and interior of a synagogue transformed into a department store. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber, 2006

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

What to do with abandoned or disused synagogues (in Europe but also elsewhere), and what constitutes appropriate use for them, are perennial issues affecting preservation agencies, congregants, and other interested parties. After the Holocaust, synagogues in many parts of Europe were sold or seized and transformed for secular use -- warehouses,  shops, apartments, workshops, fire stations, a bakery, libraries, museums, culture centers, restaurants, etc etc.

The Final Statement of the seminar last March on maintaining Jewish heritage sites suggested as best practice:

Synagogues and former synagogues should retain a Jewish identity and or use whenever possible, though each one does not necessarily need to be restored or fully renovated.

Former synagogues, no matter what their present ownership or use, should be sensitively marked to identify their past history.

As part of the effort to restitute communal and religious property, when a property of historic value - such as a synagogue - in disrepair or otherwise in a ruined condition (while in the government's possession) is returned, States should help either by modifying laws which impose penalties for not maintaining properties in reasonable condition, or by providing financial and material assistance to undertake necessary repairs and restoration.

Now, the Vatican has expressed similar concern over disused churches that are sold. According to AFP,
Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, the Vatican's new chief of cultural affairs said Thursday that Roman Catholic churches where there were few worshippers could be sold off. But he urged "the greatest caution" in doing so.

A church in Hungary, he said,  was "transformed into a nightclub and where striptease took place on the altar."

The archbishop, who is president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said dwindling numbers of worshippers at some churches meant it now made sense to sell, or even destroy, the buildings.

"Faced with falling number of worshippers, a phenomenon which we are also unfortunately witnessing in the centre of Rome, churches without any artistic value and which need significant work can be sold or destroyed," he told reporters.

Read full AFP story

Budapest -- JTA Highlights Ovas! and its attempts to save the architectural fabric of the Seventh District old Jewish quarter

 My favorite sign in the 7th district (for a dentist). I hope it doesn't get gentrified away... Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

JTA's intrepid Wandering Jew, Ben Harris, has written a lively story on the continuing battles over the fate of the Seventh District, Budapest's old downtown Jewish Quarter -- and the district in which  have had an apartment for the past 10 years. (It's a good summary -- and I'm glad to see it because I'm due to speak about the development of the Seventh District at a conference in a couple of weeks in Vilnius...)

He highlights the gentrification but also the activities of Ovas!, an organization founded about five years ago, in attempting to save the dilapidated buildings of the District from unscrupulous developers and the wreckers' ball. Ovas! fights the good fight, but to me the group's failure has been to say "no" to tearing down buildings without putting forward strong, positive alternative strategies.

 Poster for Ovas! outside the Siraly cafe on Kiraly street, Dec. 2008. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

I advised Ovas! a little at the start of their activities (they even brought me to brief a city official on my strategic views) and I spoke about the development of Jewish quarters in general at a conference a few years ago organized by Ovas! A number of the people involved (including several of those quoted by Harris in his story) are friends of mine, and I particularly admire the detailed work that Anna Perczel has carried out so passionately over the years. Her book on the buildings of the district is exciting, to read -- but particularly to walk around with.

(See my own JTA story from 2004 about Ovas! by clicking HERE)

Gozsdu Udvar is a controversial restoration/gentrification project in Budapest's Seventh District. In later August/early September, part of the annual Jewish culture festival took place here. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Harris notes some of the corruption involved in the development of the District (fast becoming one of the city's trendiest neighborhoods for cafes and pubs). Many of the developers involved are Israeli.

Gyorgy Hunvald, the mayor of District 7, which includes the Jewish quarter, was deeply involved in selling off historic properties and allegedly making buckets of cash in the process. Hunvald was arrested in February and is now in jail facing charges of bribery and abuse of office.

Perczel sketched out a mind-bogglingly complex story of how investors, developers and the authorities in District 7 colluded to sell off properties, move people out of their homes, and tear down historic buildings for redevelopment. Some aspects of the corruption she describes border on the comical, as when a document that the district was obliged to take into account in formulating its development plan was declared secret and sealed for 15 years.

         Read full story at JTA web site


I began writing about these battles nearly 10 years ago, around the time that I got my apartment, when the local government in the Seventh District (local administrations in Budapest have more power than the city-wide administration) had drawn up plans to punch a pedestrian walkway, the "Madach Promenade", through the district.

When I wrote a "Letter from Budapest" on the issue for Business Week, gentrification of the area was just beginning, but  issues had already festered for years -- actually, for nearly a century. Planners had dreamed of building a new "Madach Avenue" through the district -- and in the 1930s had gotten close: they tore down the so-called Orczy House, a rambling center of Jewish life in the city, and in its place built a brick apartment complex with a huge archway that was to be the gateway to the new Madach Avenue. World War II put an end to these plans.

The Madach Promenade, in fact, is the latest incarnation of a grandiose dream that city planners have tried to implement at intervals over the past century. The failures left the district in limbo, compounding damage done by war and communist-era neglect. Three years ago, architect Andras Roman singled out the Madach plan as an example of how a bold but misplaced vision contributes to urban blight. In ''The Tragedy of an Avenue,'' which appeared in a Budapest cultural journal, Roman traced the failures to the city's behavior as a living organism. City planners, he wrote, ''didn't realize that a city wants to progress by its own rules. It is an inner process that resists the artificial.''

Today, despite all the plans, this process persists. In fact, many locals doubt that the Madach scheme will ever come to pass. But the state of limbo may turn into a fait accompli. Demolition by neglect is a byproduct of inertia, and vacant lots can be more valuable than those with old buildings on them. The Seventh will change, but perhaps not as anyone now envisages.

         Read full Business Week story
 
        Read my 2004 JTA article about OVAS!

Big Online Jewish Postcard and Photo Resource

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

An article in the online Jewish Magazine has led me to the web site of Stephanie Comfort, who has collected more than 9,000 postcards, most of them pre-war scenes of Jewish life and places, all over the world.  Comfort writes:

When asked what I do I often reply " I collect dead Jews" - their photos, their market places, their shtetls and towns, their Synagogues, their festive occasions, their lives in black and white and their deaths in the Holocaust. I try to recall a particular face whenever I say Kaddish as all members of most of the families were murdered at the same time and ask others who look at my postcards and photos at my Exhibitions to do the same. My Rabbi at one occasion told me that I am "ransoming the captives"….especially when most of my postcards come from Eastern Europe or Nazi family albums. A good many of the cards in my collection are from the late 1880's and what are called Cabinet Cards taken in photography Studios. I was born with the "collecting gene". 

 In addition to the web site she maintains  a flickr stream with thousands of old postcards -- and also photographs, some of which she has taken.

There are numerous old postcards of synagogues (sometimes along with present-day photos of the same site). Some of them are mis-labled. But I found images that I had never seen before. In particular, it was exciting to see so many views of the destroyed neolog synagogue in Bratislava, the Wilhelm Stiassny synagogue in Malacky, Slovakia, and the Lipot Baumhorn synagogue in Lucenec, Slovakia -- all of these views showing the synagogues standing in old Jewish neighborhoods that also were destroyed.

Pre-war Jewish postcards showing synagogues, genre scenes, religious observances, cemeteries, and portraits are a popular collector's item, and several books showcases collections have been published. There are also a number of on-line showcases for these. among them is a web site showing postcards from the collection of Frantisek Banyai, now leader of the Prague Jewish community.

Pangkor Seafood Village at Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Pangkor Seafood Village (N3°06.876' E101°36.762') located at Jalan SS24/8 of Petaling Jaya, which is opposite of Fatty Crab Restaurant.
Our initial plan was Fatty Crab, too bad it was close that day! So we just had our dinner opposite before we left Kuala Lumpur.

Pangkor Seafood Village of Petaling Jaya

Another reason which attracted us was this banner below... :)

Crab promotion - Eat 2 free 1!

We were there about 6pm, it was not crowded yet. The restaurant was quite clean...

Since this was our first time here, we let the waitress to recommend the foods...whatever she mentioned, we just OK.

Our order as below :-
1) Deep Fried Tou-Fu (Signature Dish)
2) Assam Fish Head
3) Honey Chicken
4) Vegetable
5) Kam-Heong Crab (Signature Dish)

Deep Fried Tou-Fu comes with special sauce

Assam Fish Head

Honey Chicken

Vegetable

Kam-Heong Crab (Signature Dish)
Ordered 2KG free 1KG, look at it! Like a small hill!

Overall the foods were great! Especially the Assam Fish Head, we Love it very much! Taste was different from Muar Assam Fish - Merlin Restaurant and Malacca (Melaka) Assam Fish - Bei Zhan Restaurant. Special!
The rest of the foods we rated above average, but...I just felt the crabs taste just ok...average. But the quantity was scary!! Haha! (We ordered 2KG, and 1KG free cos of the promotion)
We spent about an hour to slowly finished all the Crabs.

The total Damage was MYR155.00 included drinks. (For 6 adults and 2 children). Very reasonable! The crabs cost us MYR65.00.

Overall rated : 4/5

We enjoyed the meal here...
Anyway, it's just because of Fatty Crab Restaurant was close, unexpectedly we tasted another Great Assam Fish at Petaling Jaya! I will still come back for Fatty Crab for another comparison. :)

Location map of Pangkor Seafood Village at Petaling Jaya

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Budapest -- Heads Up for Hanukkah Festival

 Lighting menorah at concert, Hanukkah 2008. Budapest. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

The old Jewish quarter in Budapest, in the city's inner Districts 6 and 7, will be hosting a big festival throughout the eight days of Hanukkah -- the evening of Dec. 11 through Dec. 19. The main sponsors are the JDC and Marom (the youth group of the Masorti, or conservative, movement). The web site is only in Hungarian so far, and I have not seen the full schedule of events yet, but there are to be concerts, lectures, guided tours, workshops, etc. I've been asked to take part in some sort of conversation on the first night.

About 30 local businesses --cafes, shops, art galleries, pubs, restaurants,  synagogues, the JCC and the Jewish Museum -- are taking part in one way or another.   This is much much bigger than the Hanukkah festival last year, which mainly took place at the Siraly cafe -- I posted a video on this blog of the klezmer/punk/hip hip/fusion party I went to during those events.



That is:

Bálint Ház (JCC)
Bar Ladino
Boulevard és Brezsnyev galéria
Carmel Étterem (kosher restaurant)
Dohány utca synagogue
Dupla (restaurant)
Ellátó
Fröhlich Cukrászda (kosher pastry shop)
Garzon Cafe
Hanna Étterem (kosher restaurant)
Humusz Bár
Kádár Étkezde (lunchroom)
Klauzál Étterem (restaurant)
Klauzál13 Vince Könyvesbolt és Galéria (bookstore and gallery)
Kőleves (restaurant)
Kuplung (club)
Lámpás
M Étterem (restaurant)
Mozaik Teaház és Kávéház (tea house an cafe)
Mumus (club)
Orthodox synagogue
Rs9 színház (theatre)
Rumbach utcai synagogue
Sasz Chevra (Lubavicsi) (Chabad synagogue)
Sirály (cafe)
Spinoza Ház (cafe/theatre)
Szimpla (cafe)
SzimplaKert (cafe)
Szóda (cafe)
Take5
Tűzraktér
Jewish Múseum

Tugu Negara (National Monument) at Kuala Lumpur

Tugu Negara Malaysia(National Monument)
We visited this park after our late breakfast on Day 2 in Kuala Lumpur. This was my second time visit the National Monument. It's actually nice to walk around the area...

It's also a nice place for photography

The entrance of the National Monument

You will pass by the Lotus Pool before the monument. I like the design of the iron Lotus in the water.


Once you pass by the pool, the Tugu Negara Malaysia (National Monument) is in front of us!




"Tugu Negara, literally the "National Monument" in Malay, is a sculpture that commemorates those who died in Malaysia's struggle for freedom, principally against the Japanese occupation during World War II and the Malayan Emergency , which lasted from 1948 until 1960. It is located in the Federal capital, Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysian Houses of Parliament is situated near the monument.
The monument depicts a group of soldiers holding the Malaysian national flag, the Jalur Gemilang, aloft. Each of the bronze figures symbolizes leadership, suffering, unity, vigilance, strength, courage and sacrifice.
Every year on July 31, Hari Pahlawan (Heroes Day), the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the Prime Minister and heads of military and the police would pay their respects to the fallen heroes by laying garlands at the monument." For more info, please click here.

Constructed in 1966, the monument is 15 meters ( 49.21 feet) tall, made of bronze and was designed by Austrian sculptor Felix de Weldon, who was also responsible for the famed USMC War Memorial in Virginia, United States.

In 27 August 1975, the monument suffered extensive damage due to an explosion set off by a communist terrorist. It has since been restored to its original state on 11 May 1977. A fence was then erected and the complex was declared a protected area between sunset and dawn. Every day at dusk, a soldier raises the national flag and lowers it at dawn.


My daughter was happily running around the area and I was busy snapping photos at the surrounding...

The path to walked back to the entrance will pass by this small hall which was full of name on the ceiling.

The names of the Heroes...

we spent about an hour here. Relaxing and refreshing.
Before we leave the park, I noticed this cafe which situated on the small hill. It's named Tuguview Cafe. Looks nice decorated.

Decoration on the wall

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Ole Ole Bali Restaurant at Solaris Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur

The Ole Ole Bali Restaurant (N03°10.511' E101°39.602') is located at Solaris Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur. This restaurant is recommended by Lau. We reached there almost 8pm, and the underground parking was quite convenience.

I like the Balinese cozy environment but it's a bit dark for dining if you sit outdoor. We placed our order immediately because most of us were starving...:)

Cozy environment of the restaurant

I cannot remember what was in the package, but all of us ordered each with different combination. Myself had a Steak and Lamb Chop...

Steak and lamb chop, mash potato, corn and vege.

Other packages as below...

Extra rice we ordered.

I don't know whether all this foods was authentic Balinese food, but I really enjoyed it! It taste differently from others Indonesian restaurant and delicious! The portion they served was more than a person can handle, so...we share among ourself. But I finished my steak & the lamb chop! Haha!

Carlsberg - MYR38.00 per jug

The good dinner have to go together with beer! Haha! We had a jug of Carlsberg cost MYR38.00. Reasonable price.

The Damage was : MYR260.00 for 6 adults and 2 children included drinks. Thanks Lau's for treat us this wonderful dinner! (Every package cost around MYR35.00)

Rated : 4.5/5

I will visit it again if we are happen to be around here!

Street of Solaris Mont Kiara

Location map of Ole Ole Bali Restaurant


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