Impressions furtives – Kuala Lumpur & Singapour, mai 2012

Déjà 4 ans depuis ma dernière visite à Kuala Lumpur. (février 2008 – voir blog). Ici pour la réunion annuelle du Comité Asie-Pacifique de la CISAC.

Descends au Anggun Boutique Hotel, situé dans le quartier Bukit Bintang – dans le fameux “Golden Triangle”, à quelques minutes où nous habitions, il y a déjà 15 ans (je me suis rendu jusqu’au “Regency Tower » sur Jalan Ceylon)!

Un petit hôtel, à peine quelques 20 chambres, dont la mienne, faisant face à la rue (un peu bruyant mais on s’y fait…) Charmante, meublée d’antiques (vrais ou faux?) Seul inconvénient: la douche! Aucune pression et très peu d’eau! Petit déjeuner au dernier étage, à l'extérieur (photo, çi-bas)

Reminded (YLT magazine, issue 16) of the disappearance 45 years ago (in 1967) of Jim Thompson, the American businessman credited with reviving the interest in the Thai silk industry with the establishment of his own company (that still thrives today). He disappeared in mysterious circumstances, still not elucidated; he would have gone for a post-lunch walk in Malaysia’s Cameron Highlands, on an Easter Sunday, never to be seen again. He was 61 years old. Many theories abound – from getting lost in the much denser jungle at the time, to being kidnapped by remaining Communists for his alleged CIA past (the fact that his older sister was violently killed a few months later served only to renew speculation in his mysterious disappearance!) Amazing that Thomson’s story still has so much currency today!

Je sais que les choses ont changés en Malaisie depuis 15 ans, mais Anwar est toujours dans les nouvelles, encore poursuivi en justice – injustement selon lui – par le gouvernement (je veux dire par l’appareil judiciaire!); la « Malaysian Airlines » est toujours déficitaire, et à la recherche de quelque 3 milliards de dollars cette fois!...

Dîner avec un ami de longue date, dans un restaurant huppé – même un peu-très prétentieux, avec des portions qui s’amenuisent de plus en plus, à mesure que leur prix s’élève! Ancien représentant de Bombardier, il fait maintenant dans la poésie et la philosophie – conversation stimulante!

A Singapour. Dernier voyage, il y a 5 ans, s’était terminé à l’hôpital – une semaine à Tan Tock Seng Hospital (陈笃生医院), pour soigner et guérir une rupture de l’œsophage (syndrome Mallory–Weiss)! Attention à la diète cette fois!

Descends ailleurs qu’à l’hôtel où se tient la conférence : je préfère le Naumi au Ritz Carlton local. Le Naumi Hotel, « boutique hotel » reconstruit, il y a peut-être 5 ans, là où était « Le Métropole » (et son restaurant-apothicaire chinois si bien connu!) Que 4 ou 5 chambres –plutôt grandes – par étage. Situé à côté du « Raffles Hotel ».

Après le « socializing » et le dîner, promenade solitaire vers minuit (seul temps peut-être où l’humidité est supportable!) Promenade nostalgique – Clarke Quai (encore bruyant à cause des « show cases » de « Music Matters »), Boat Quai (beaucoup plus calme, c’est la fermeture), Fullerton Hotel… puis les théâtres de l’Esplanade, et l’énorme « Marina Bay Sands Hotel » qui se profile plus loin, avec cette immense structure, comme un bateau qui flotte sur les 3 tours qui constituent l’ouvrage principal (de Moshe Safdie).

Singapour s’est « enrichi » de quelques casinos (qu’on appelle ici plus politiquement correctement « Integrated Resorts », dont le Marina Sands Hotel et le « Resort World Santosa » sur l’île du même nom. Leur établissement avait fait l’objet d’un référendum à l’époque (2005?), et Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) s’y opposait si j’ai bonne mémoire. Mais il avait laissé le jeu de la « démocratie » l’emporter! Seule concession aux « valeurs morales » si strictes et chères à l’île : un billet d’entrée de S$100 imposé aux Singapouriens, pour éviter la « dégradation sociale » des classes moins fortunées du pays (et que LKY disait, de Tokyo hier, qu’il aurait dû être de S$500)!

Jour d’élection (partielle – Hougang) ces jours-çi : couverture égale entre le parti du gouvernement (le « People’s Action Party – PAP) et l’opposition (Workers’ Party - WP) en première page du « Straits Times » : les choses ont effectivement changé! Le gouvernement de Singapour (où LKY n’est plus que « Mentor Minister » - toujours présent à 88 ans cependant – et moins influent) s’est « ramolli »!

Dîner au "Saint-Pierre". Propriété d'Emmanuel Stroobant et de sa femme, chinoise si je me rappelle bien. Dernière visite remonte à il y a près de 10 ans. Rénové; moins "froid" qu'avant. Emmanuel (chef belge, que nous avions connu à KL) n'y est pas. Déliceux cabillaud ("black cod" - ou plus communément appelé morue!).

Singapour, le 26 mai 2012

NYC – 3 days in May (3)

Enough of museums; this is a beautiful, warm, sunny day, and things will happen outside! So we went for crossing the East River on the Brooklyn Bridge.

This is, as I recall, the first serious bridge built between Manhattan and Brooklyn. I remember seeing a documentary on this, flagging the engineering prowess its construction represented. This was at the end of the 19th century. It was the longest suspension bridge in the world for some 20 years, since its inauguration in 1883. The bridge has a pedestrian pathway built in its center, above the automobile traffic level. At times of public transportation strikes or catastrophes (such as nine eleven), it is the main means of crossing the river, to the point that it may sway, or “wobble”, when too many people are using it! Not today though! People, mostly tourists but also lots of locals, are walking or running it, or biking it. A bunch of school kids stopped us, and Cynthia answered their questions, in response to some school assignment.

Once crossed over, off to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which is inaugurating this week a new visitor center, a 22,000 square-foot, plant-covered roof top building! garden in the middle of this humanity – so quiet, so pastoral! I must admit, for an agglomeration that is often described as the largest in the world, between Central Park and this Garden, there is a lot of green! A walk in the middle of a rose garden, all colors and smells, in such glorious sunny weather, what a delight (much more for sure than the excuse for lunch we had at its café!)

Returned to Manhattan, in the East Village, to see the girls and have a coffee at the (very rococo) Bowery Hotel, where Eric, Laurence and Béatrice are staying. Across the street where Core 77 has elected to erect its pavilion and make its contribution to NYC Design Week! Then time to for the airport – not an easy task to secure a taxi on the streets of New-York at 5 on a Friday…even less easy to leave the island in this traffic! (Ehud Barak, currently minister of Defense of Israël, did not help the situation with his “walk in the ‘hood”…along with his considerable security detachment!) NYC, May 18, 2012

NYC – 3 days in May (2)

Early morning, walked up to Central Park, to go to the Metropolitan Museum. Beautiful! The sun is shining throughout! A few thoughts to remember the one that conceived the Park – Omsteld – a book about him a few years back – and “Angels of America” – the scene at the fountain!

Visit the Met: 2 exhibitions. The Met's Spring 2012 Costume Institute exhibition, Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations, shows what links Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada, two Italian designers from different eras in an imagined conversation between these iconic women… exploring similar themes in their work through very different approaches. The show exhibits several designs from the two designers – by Schiaparelli (1890–1973) from the late 1920s to the early 1950s and by Prada from the late 1980s to the present – who argue on different sides – all made up…

And then, on the roof of the museum, Tomás Saraceno on the Roof: Cloud City, a young artist from Argentina who has created large interconnected modules of mirrors that one walks by and in! By such weather – glorious!

Followed by a light lunch at Petrie Court Café and Wine Bar... in the Museum…and a digestive walk in Central Park back to the hotel. (The wonderful music of the “Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain” in my ear…watching the film…)

Graduation ceremony in the afternoon at the Beacon Theater, on Upper West Side – Dominique received her Master degree from the NYU Gallatin School. A few hours, mostly spent looking after Béatrice, running around, full of energy…. Photos, and then we all went (by subway – probably the most expeditive way to get around NYC!) for a celebration dinner at ISA, a new restaurant on the South side of Williamsburg in Brooklyn (Cynthia had spotted a short review in the NYT weekend magazine a few weeks ago). Unusual; the latest creation of Taavo Somer, I read, who had designed a couple of other well-known simple restaurants in Manhattan. The chef is Ignacio Mattos. Wood predominates, and a fairly simple menu. We had the cod (soft, barely cooked), the duck (could have been warmer!), and wine – an Alsacian Crémant for a toast and bottles of white and red from Italy. The porridge that was served to Béatrice ended up being had by the adults – it was delicious. We had appetizers as well (beef tartare in my case) and desert (although nothing memorable that I can recall…) and coffee. Recommended. And then we all went home, back on Manhattan.

NYC, May 17, 2012

NYC - 3 days in May (1)

My daughter’s graduation (Dominique) from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study brought us to NYC.

Took advantage of our visit to see a few plays: two revivals, Jesus Christ Superstar of course – a must for Cynthia and anyone closely associated with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival! Could not pass Des McAnuff ‘ s “flashy” – to use the expression of the NYT’s critic Isherwood – revival of Tim Rice’s and Andrew Lloyd Weber’s pop-rock musical of the 70s, brought down from Stratford. A JCS sans Nolan (replaced by his understudy today); I like Chilina Kennedy (she can’t do no wrong in my book!). Great performances also by Josh Young as Judas and, of course, by Bruce Dow as a very sassy and girly King Herod. All actors from the Stratford theatre company. Then Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, the latest revival of the 1960 Broadway hit (it had been “revived” once before in 2000). Quite dated but a fascinating political thriller, plus a few prescient “pearls of wisdom” – about TV and politics, polls, etc. – that are still ringing very true. Smashing performances by old pros such as Angela Lansbury (the consummate political convention operator) and James Earl Jones (as the relaxed, still conniving but dying former President); I like Larroquette as Secretary William Russell, the patrician candidate, less McCormack (Will in TV’s “Will & Grace”) as Senator Joseph Cantwell, the ruthless underdog. I hadn’t seen the play before, but I remember vividly the 1964 film, with Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson (no need to say who played whom!) based on a screenplay by Vidal himself (a bit of trivia: Ronald Reagan would have been turned down for a role in the film because of lacking that necessary “presidential look”! Also Vidal would have apparently cheerfully admitted that he meant the character of William Russell, the upper class candidate, to remind people of Adlai Stevenson and that Joe Cantwell, the plebeian underdog, was based on Richard Nixon!) In between, oysters and lobster (with Cava and Sauvignon Blanc) at John Dory Oyster Bar, next to the hotel where we are staying. (Çà fait bien 30,000 mètres d’altitude, survolant le froid, la neige plus bas, le Groenland, ou la Mongolie…en route pour l’Asie…)

Staying at the ACE Hotel. Opened 2 or 3 years ago. Have stayed at the hotel of the same name in Portland (there are 4 of the same inspiration in the US – the first one at Seattle, and the latest one at Palm Springs). Same style, large room, with the turntable, even a guitar this time, and the NYC afternoon sun in, the marble top dining table, the separate WC. Perfect. Located not too far south of Times Square. Only issue, the room doorknob, the key – it does not work when we want it to work! A hotel run by younger (hipsters?) people, in a transformed building – the “Breslin, a grimy single-room-occupancy hotel at the corner of 29th Street and Broadway”.  (update: see very interesting article in the NYTimes magazine, Sunday Nov 11, 2012, about the hotel and its neighbourhood)

To describe the room, in the words of the New York Times travel critic: “…This (room) had the promised king (size bed), plus an old dining table, a collection of retro office chairs, a 1950s-style refrigerator filled with snacks and drinks, and even an Epiphone guitar. An indie band would have a great time jamming here, but I found the unadorned black and white walls and harsh lighting depressing. The bed was comfortable, except for the scratchy Pendleton blanket; the TV had an easy-to-use interface, though few premium channels….The bathroom: The one whimsical touch — a faux-Victorian mirror bearing the words “Love Is Meant to Make Us Glad” — wasn’t enough to break the brown-tile boredom. The tiny soap-on-a-rope over the sink was a smart way to avoid slimy bar syndrome. The shower — a brass head over a tub (not in our case - no tub!) — had plenty of water pressure… The lobby doubles as a bar... the Breslin, a new restaurant from the owners of the West Village gastropub Spotted Pig... Also adjoining the lobby is a branch of Stumptown Coffee Roasters, out of Portland, Ore. Wi-Fi is free throughout the hotel…” We probably enjoyed the place more than she or he did… Would I stay here again? Despite the $100 credited back because of the difficulty with the door? It remains to be seen…

NYC, May 16, 2012