TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: ISLAND IN THE SUN (2)

If I were to show pictures without any indication that it was taken in Port of Spain, you could easily mistook these pictures as that of Penang.
Take the car registration number plates for example. It starts with the alphabet “P” (which stands for private) although there is also a “T” for trucks and those beginning with “H” are hired vehicles (There are no motorcycles in Trinidad and Tobago with the exception of those used by the police. “Its too dangerous (to be on a motorbike),” according to one driver).Or go up to Fort George, the second highest point on Trinidad. It does look as if you were at Fort Cornwallis (with the cannons and all!)And you wouldn’t believe it but there are many wooden houses in this capital city of Trinidad and Tobago, which are similar to the ones you can find either in Penang, Malacca or Terengganu.
The awan larat carvings of the window sills are beautiful.
Trinidad and Tobago are two separate islands. One island is not known without the other.
The country covers an area of 5,128 sq km. Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two islands; Tobago is much smaller, comprising about 6 per cent of the total area and 4 per cent of the entire population which is estimated at 1.3 million.
It is home of some famous names including cricketer Brian Lara (popularly nicknamed as The Prince of Trinidad or simply The Prince), English premier league soccer player Dwight Yorke, track and field sprinter Ato Boldon and author VS Naipaul.
Trinidad and Tobago also produced Ms World (Giselle Laronde-West 1986) and Ms Universe (Janelle Commissiong 1977 and Wendy Fitzwilliams 1998).
It wouldn’t surprise me if I was told Boldon, in his early years, had trained at the Queen’s Park Savannah.
Our driver cum tour guide Frans Audley proudly told us that Queen’s Park Savannah could easily be the biggest roundabout in the world.
Covering an area of 300 acres, it was formerly a large sugar estate called Paradise Estate.
He was certain that the Queen’s Park Savannah would remain as it is for years to come. “No, no development. I am sure. I am sure,” he insisted when we asked him the possibility of high rise buildings being built right smack in the middle of the park like that in our own backyard.
In the early 1800s, Trinidad and Tobago governor Ralph Woodford bought the land and later donated it to the city. He had laid it out “for the recreation of the townsfolk and for the pasturage of cattle.”
Frans told us that the Queen's Park Savannah is also the location for many of the country's most exciting events, including Carnival and other cultural and international concerts.
There were some wooden houses across the road from the park. No one lived in these houses but they are still preserved by the families who owned it. “Brian Lara lives up there,” Frans showed us a house behind some trees up a hill.
“That house belongs to the Prime Minister’s family but they are no longer using it,” he said as we drive around the park.
We also noticed the Thai restaurant we had dined at the night before. It is on the same row as all the houses. (Well, the only Thai dish was the soup. The rest of the dishes were typically Indian, with curries and all).
Frans also took us shopping for souvenirs at shops near Independence Square. It was formerly known as Marine Square. It was constructed on reclaimed land at the waterfront and was originally called Plaza de la Marina.
We asked Frans what we can buy for TT$1 (US$1=TT$6)). “A gum, maybe,” he said. A fridge magnet, which could easily be the cheapest souvenir for friends and family back home, costs TT$7.But we were more interested to go on a sightseeing of the island. We asked Frans to take us to Fort George. “How come you know of Fort George?” he asked me. It was recommended to us by one of the Prime Minister’s officials who had gone there a day earlier.
It was a small but winding road to get to the top but worth the nauseating feeling in your stomach when you’re up there.
It gives you a breathtaking view of Paria Bay ((“Seriously, its called that?” I asked Frans when he first mentioned the name. “Paria Bay. It’s called Paria Bay,” he said).On a clear day, you can also see Venezuela from Fort George.
Land has since been reclaimed. “The sea was right up here,” Frans said, pointing to the ridge of Fort George.
“Up here, it is different. If you are wearing a wig,” Frans said, jokingly pointing to RTM cameraman Omar Salleh, “it will get blown off. Be careful, my friend.”We could also see many LNG tankers at sea from Fort George. Trinidad and Tobago is the fifth-largest exporter of LNG in the world and the single largest supplier of LNG to the US. The La Brea Pitch Lake, on Trinidad's southwestern coast, is the world's largest natural reservoir of asphalt.
It makes you wonder really, with such rich resources, the country is still very much underdeveloped. It is indeed like Penang in the 1970s.
Incidentally, the main dish here is curry chicken and roti. On the Caribbean Princess, we were served curry as part of the daily lunch and dinner buffet. We either had it with rice or bread.
One night, Frans took the boys out for supper. They told me they ended up at a stall selling something like our roti canai.
I told them maybe if we looked hard enough, we could probably find nasi kandar in Port of Spain!!!

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: ISLAND IN THE SUN (1)

When I told him in an SMS about my flight upon arriving at Piarco Airport, Port of Spain in Trinidad, the other half replied in his usual witty manner. “…very the Amazing Race”, he wrote.
Indeed it was for the media team covering Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s visit to this island famous for the steel pan, calypso and limbo.

Land of the Steel Pan

Almost all of us were on different flight plans. I insisted with the office’s executive making the bookings that I fly direct into London’s Heathrow and connect on BA from Gatwick into Port of Spain (Trinidad) via St Lucia (Tobago). I also requested for a night’s transit in London on the way home.
My Berita Harian colleague flew out of KLIA into Amsterdam and then into London’s Gatwick, before taking the connecting BA flight together with me.
The RTM crew flew a day earlier and had spent the night in London before taking the same BA flight as us into Port of Spain.
The TV3 crew flew on the same MAS flight with me out of KLIA (but I didn’t even see them on the plane!!!) but they missed the connecting BA flight at London’s Gatwick and had to spend the night there before taking the next day’s plane into Port of Spain.
Initially, we would have five hours’ transit in London before the flight out to Port of Spain but an hour delay at KLIA caused us to make other travelling arrangements while in London to get from Heathrow to Gatwick.
The delay, we were told by our “Datuk” pilot (he announced his name over the PA system with the Datuk title) that the co-pilot had to be replaced “because of technical reasons” and that we had to wait for the arrival of a new co-pilot.
We were supposed to fly out at 11.59pm but the new co-pilot was only arriving at 12.30am and by then, we had lost our slot to fly out. We flew out at 1.10am instead.
Arriving at Heathrow, I decided that I could not risk taking the 75-min bus ride to Gatwick. I took the cab instead, which took me 50 minutes but had to pay some 140 pounds. The TV3 crew, I was later told, took the bus instead.
On the way out of the M25, a lorry had overturned and there was a traffic jam. “Don’t worry, luv. I’ll get you there in time. Just after this bend, we’ll go up the M23 into Gatwick,” the cabbie said. He was right. I checked in, luggage and all, just in time.
It was at the boarding gate that I saw the RTM crew and my BH colleague.
On arrival at Piarco Airport in Port of Spain, all we needed to do was follow the CHOGM signages through to the baggage carousel. In fact, there was a dedicated CHOGM lane for immigration clearance, which really expedite our way out of the airport.
At the baggage carousel, we introduced ourselves to the Wisma Putra officer who was to take care of us while we were in Port of Spain. For someone who was supposed to be in the know of the arrangements while on the island having arrived two days earlier than us, he directed us to the wrong shuttle bus.
Instead of taking us direct to the Caribbean Princess cruise ship, the driver took us the Hyatt Regency hotel, which was the venue for CHOGM. He refused to budge when we told him that we were all going to the ship.
We had to unload our baggage from the bus and wait for another shuttle to take us to the ship instead.
By the time we reached the ship, we were all tired out even for the RTM crew who had spent the night in London prior to flying out to Port of Spain. All in all, it took me close to 30 hours to get into Port of Spain.

We were the group that got in first.
In the background is the cruise ship Serenade on the Seas.

Meanwhile, our colleagues from Utusan and Bernama flew in from New York and Washington DC respectively, after covering the PM there.
The Utusan reporter arrived a day before the Prime Minister while the Bernama reporter and his cameraman were delayed in Miami and missed Najib’s arrival in Port of Spain.
In all our years of domestic or overseas assignments, we had never stayed on a ship before. A cruise ship that is. I must tell you that we were all very excited over the prospects of staying on the Caribbean Princess.
The Trinidad and Tobago government had the services of two cruise ships, the Caribbean Princess and the Serenade on the Seas, as accommodation for the press and foreign government officials. While we stayed at the Caribbean Princess, some of the Prime Minister’s officials took up cabins at the Serenade.
On the Caribbean Princess, the Commonwealth Secretariat held the Commonwealth Youth Forum while the Commonwealth Business Forum took place on the Serenade.
The Caribbean Princess is a floating hotel. It has all the amenities that a hotel has to offer including duty-free and convenience shops. There are casinos on board but it was not opened while at port. There is also a nine-hole putting course and golf simulator, an outdoor movie screen (where you watch movies under the stars provided it doesn't rain), lounges, internet café and library, a night club and several restaurants (but we didn’t get to utilize any of these amenities because we had spent most of our time outside the ship until late at night).
I guess the only thing that a landed hotel doesn’t have are rooms without windows and these were the rooms that were assigned to the Malaysian media team on the ship.
Once in the room, you’re really cut off from everything else. The only indication of night and day was through Channel 48, which was a close circuit TV showing one position outside the ship.
When in the room, Celcom roaming doesn’t work but Maxis does. And the internet connection via satellite was extremely poor.
We make our way to the media centre, which was next to the Hyatt Regency, after breakfast and returned to the ship close to midnight almost every night. But there were those who returned to the ship for lunch and dinner (willingly going through the hassle of being security screened time and again).
When on the ship, we spent most of our time at Deck 15 where the dining room is.
Deck 15 will be our meeting spot after we stashed our laptops and document bags in our respective rooms.
Over supper of fruits and French fries and loads of coffee, we would chart next day’s agenda and talked about anything under the moon until the wee hours of the morning.

41 CRAVEN ROAD

The first time I tasted his cooking was some 10 years ago when I went to Malaysia Hall in London, which was back then at Bryanston Square. In 1998, I was a fellow at Cambridge University but made my way to London almost every weekend. He had made me kway teow goreng without the bean sprouts. Every time I make my way to London back then, I would surely go to Malaysia Hall for his kway teow goreng.
I had spent one night in London recently en route home from Trinidad and Tobago for the Commonwealth Heads of Governments’ meeting. I had SMS-ed Kak Teh and she suggested we meet at a restaurant at Craven Road in Paddington.
She had mentioned Tuk Din in her SMS but I missed reading it somehow.
The cabbie dropped me a little off from the restaurant at Craven Road because there was a construction in progress. When he asked me for the name of the restaurant, I told him I only had the address given to me by Kak Teh. “41 Craven Road,” I told him.
It was only when I walked along the road and passing the newly-opened Lebanese restaurant that I saw the signage. “tuk din” it reads. “flavours of Malaysia” came right underneath.
My heart skipped a beat.
“Ah, Tuk Din has a restaurant now. Alhamdulillah,” I said to myself.
Kak Teh was on her way from covering a court case for the NST but I was met in the restaurant by Nurul. “Aunty Zaharah is on her way,” she said. She showed me to Kak Teh’s favourite table. There was another Malaysian in the restaurant waiting for his nasi lemak.
I was told the nasi lemak is a favourite here. In fact, there is one particular Sultan who would request for Tuk Din’s nasi lemak whenever he’s in London.
I didn’t try the nasi lemak. Kak Teh and I shared the satay goreng, Mee Bandung (which came in a huge bowl) and Mee Goreng Mamak. Tuk Din also has Air Bandung Muar (with soda) on the menu.
While we were eating, the owner of the restaurant walked in.
“The face is familiar,” he said when he saw me. I reminded him that I used to go to Malaysia Hall with the then BH correspondent Azizi Othman and his family.
I also told him I was at his solemnization ceremony to Kak Midah back in 1998. Also in attendance, if I recalled correctly, was the former CID chief Datuk Salleh Mohd Som, who was in London for some course.
I don’t think Malaysians in London know Tuk Din by his real name, Zainuddin Yahya. In fact, I had looked it up from the NST archives as I firmly remembered NST quoting him for articles regarding Malaysia Hall.
Tuk Din, the restaurant, opened some four months ago. Tuk Din, the proprietor, said business has been good. “On some nights, we have mostly Malaysians in here. On other nights, we have mostly Mat Salleh,” he said.
To my palate, Tuk Din offers the authentic fare. I had been away from the country for more than a week and was looking forward to eating Malaysian food while on transit in London. Tuk Din gave me just that.
But don’t take my word for it. If you’re in London, do try it out.

DUTY TRAVEL NOV 23 TO DEC 4, 2010

I’m leaving for the island of steelpan, calypso and limbo tonight.
The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is located in the southern Caribbean, lying northeast of Venezuela in South America and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. It shares maritime boundaries with other nations including Barbados to the northeast, Guyana to the southeast, and Venezuela to the south and west.
To get there, I am flying via London. It will take about 13 hours to get to Heathrow and flying out to Port of Spain (in Trinidad) out of Gatwick. Flying time from London to Trinidad is about nine hours. With transit time included, it’ll take more than 24 hours to get to my destination.
We’re staying on the Caribbean Princess while there for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting which will take place on Nov 27.
Yes, we Malaysians will be celebrating Hari Raya Aidiladha on a cruise ship in Trinidad and Tobago. Till then, Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha Maaf Zahir Batin ato all Muslim friends.

Malaysia and F1

I have held back writing about the Lotus F1 team.
I would be ranting if I did and it wouldn't be at all fair for the promoters of the team.
But after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced the formation of the Lotus F1 team by the 1Malaysia F1 Team Sdn Bhd (read the FIA press release here), statements after statements were made by the team promoters.
First, we thought there was government involvement through Proton. Then, it was clarified that it was in name only through Lotus.
But there was this particular statement by a team director that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
It was about the team seeking sponsorship to help the Malaysian team survive its first season in 2010.
They’re looking at the GLCs for sponsorship but I rather the GLCs undertake CSR for the betterment of the Malaysian people. Isn't 1Malaysia all about People First, Performance Now?
The team director was also quoted as saying “What is wrong with asking for sponsors from GLCs like Petronas? If Petronas can sponsor a foreign F1 team, why should the national petroleum company not sponsor a local team?"
Let's do a little historical background as to the country’s and Petronas’ participation in F1, shall we?
If we want to talk about the races, we first hosted the Grand Prix in 1940 (Read here for the article I wrote earlier).
As for the F1 proper, our participation started in 1996 when the government through Tourism Malaysia signed a two-year sponsorship deal with Sir Jackie Stewart’s Stewart Racing Team. Both the government and Sir Jackie did not give the official monetary figure for the sponsorship but it was back then touted to be in the region of RM20 million.
Under the sponsorship, the “Visit Malaysia Year” logo was painted on the body of the race car (the team was later bought by Ford and became Jaguar Racing in 2000, which in turn became Red Bull Racing in 2005).
Two years later in 1999, Petronas became a sponsor of an F1 team namely Sauber. It was the same year the Sepang International Circuit became home of the Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix.
Why did Petronas go into it?
Its chairman and CEO Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican said Petronas’ initially involvement was for branding.
“Petronas needed a needed a vehicle to promote the Petronas brand and Malaysia, and it has become a huge extension of our involvement in motorsports. It fits into our lubricant business. And it creates acceptability of our products in the market and that is important because we are competing with the premium brands of the other oil companies,” he had said in a newspaper interview early this year.
And how successful has it been for Petronas?
“It’s been very successful. It has brought us to the same level as our global partners and competitors. F1 has a large following in Africa and when they see the Petronas logo, they immediately link it to F1. It helps reduce the learning curve for other people to know about us. It’s the same in Europe, Latin America or Asia. When we introduced our lubricants in China, we did it at around the same time as the F1 race in Shanghai and we were immediately recognized,” he said in the same interview. Mohd Hassan said Petronas’ involvement in F1 “is a business expense.” “It is not about being part of the elite and it is not a waste of money.
“The annual cost for us is about 5 per cent of what it would have otherwise cost us to achieve global brand exposure. And 40 per cent of our revenue comes from international operations. It is a justifiable expenditure.
“Domestically, we have created a lot of awareness. We have our CSR (corporate social responsibility) work like the Petronas Tech Tour that goes to visit rural towns and schools all over the country to promote awareness of F1.
“We bring about 300 children from all over the country through an educational competition to Kuala Lumpur to spend a week when the F1 is here. These kids are from the most remote villages in Malaysia and we expose them to science and technology, and F1, at a young age.”
To my mind, Petronas cannot be expected to support all local initiatives because someone says it has to. It should consider what benefits it would derive from its investments or sponsorships.
Furthermore, the Lotus F1 is touted to be a private sector initiative. There are large private entities, besides the GLCs (which by the way, are government entities by virtue of the government shareholdings in it through the various government investment-linked companies) that the 1Malaysia F1 Team Sdn Bhd can approach for sponsorships.
And these companies cannot be seemed less patriotic if it doesn’t sponsor the team. Like Petronas, it has to look at the returns of its investments in the local outfit.