Excursion 1 - Independence Hall and Liberty Bell

Many of you people in Malaysia (and UNITEN in particular) must have been rejoicing due to your midterm break and the Merdeka Day celebrations. Anyway, like many of you who 'celebrated' Merdeka, I celebrated Malaysia's 50th ala Americana at the Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell in Philly during my ISO's first excursion to the city center.

With just 2 tokens and a map....

I got on a 15mins bus to city center

but for those who want to go round philly like a tourist, there's always the 'other' bus.

Me and the National Guard! the nuns behind must be bewildered !

The walkway leading to the independence Hall. There are many garden-like lakes integrated into the hustling city center.

The statue of Commodore John Barry, Father of the American Navy, situated right in front of the independence Hall.



The Independence Hall. Notice that nobody is allowed to walk on the walkway there. Intruders can be arrested by the National Guards.

The clock tower, very similar to the Abdul Samad building. It also houses the draft of the declaration of independence.
They even fly the American flag here...

Liberty Bell, which is just opposite the independence hall.

Me and the Liberty Bell :-)


Some details which i was not bothered to read..


Ryan, who wanted to pose with the bell's inscriptions.

For people who are lazy to read (like me), there's always a commentary in 11 different languages :p

Some memorabilia capturing the essence of liberty, in the eyes of the Americans.........

Welcome to the Ivy League !

UPenn is the first US university, or so they claimed.


Founded by Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of United States. sorry bout the quality of the pic. Was rushing with the group for an excursion at city center


As an ivy league institution, it is one of UPenn's many annual traditions for the president of the university to place a brick to commemorate the IVY DAY.


and planting an ivy plant on the preliminary quadrangle....


The walkway on campus...squirrels, known as UPenn's rodents here are very widely found on campus


This is the house where 'addam's family' lived. The movie/cartoon/series was filmed using the College Hall as their eerie mansion, inspired by its cartoonist, Charles Addam who is from UPenn. This is also where the admission office is situated and admission decisions are actually made inside this building !


This is the Fisher Fine Arts library, 1 of the 15 libraries in UPenn. It's probably the oldest library on campus.

The walkway leading up Houston Hall, where the Hall of Flags are situated.


If I'm not mistaken, this should be Logan Hall. The sun is really bright during the day and Philadelphia's weather is roughly the same like Malaysia during summer.

The walkway leading up College Hall, the center point of the campus.

Moving-In Days

Some even shipped their humongous luggage in this FED EX truck....


The various newspapers in Philadelphia. Just drop a coin in and collect the papers.


The ever-helpful and friendly volunteers helping in during the moving-in days...


The walkway outside my hostel. (and the gas guzzling SUVs!)


UPS and Fed Ex drop of boxes.


The volunteer posed for this photo !!! Free water !!


The underground train station (in the middle). Can actually hop on to New York and New Jersey.


A case of exploitation....


The buggies on campus for people who are tired of walking ....


Oh yea, i forgot to include this in my previous post...this is my washroom

Happy 50th, Malaysia !

Nationalism has never ceased to bend human institutions to the service of mankind...
I love this article ever since i read it last year ....

Excerpts from the NST;
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Time to defend Malaysia for the Malaysians

Just Sayin’

Brian Yap
New Straits Times

WHEN I first read the statement by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak about the post-Merdeka generation being unappreciative of the country’s history and easily influenced by Western liberal ideology, I thought he was talking about me.

It was early in the morning, and my mind still groggy, susceptible to the influence of my ego.

By the time the coffee kicked in however, I realised that such an important person probably has better things to do with his time than read this column and comment on it. I also remembered that I’m not influenced by Western liberal ideology.

Later, it occurred to me that when he reportedly said, “These post-Independence kids do not realise that racial harmony today did not happen on its own,” he might be giving advice to members of his own political party.

My concern for this country isn’t inspired by Western-style liberalism nor Eastern-style whatever. To be honest, my political awakening, like many of my generation, was the result of the Anwar Ibrahim saga in 1998, and I take inspiration from more Malaysian leaders than Western ones.

I’ve read books concerning the history of this country, including those by Rehman Rashid, K. Das, Patrick Keith and others. They explained to me why Malaysia is the way it is today, more than anything I ever learned in school. I’m not claiming to be a historical expert, but neither am I completely unappreciative of the country’s history.

What I do know is that Malaysians, including those born before Merdeka, have been consistently calling for the repeal of certain laws for decades now. So while young people like myself like to think everything begins with us, we have to admit we were beaten by those before us. So the call for a more transparent and democratic society can hardly be the sole domain of youth influenced by Western ideology.

It is certainly timely to ponder these issues - after all, tomorrow is the 49th Merdeka. No doubt a time for celebration, but the commemoration of the fruition of a tough struggle should also be a time to remind ourselves to continue our efforts to realise the nation envisioned all those years ago. The danger is in mistaking Merdeka as simply a time to be nostalgic and wave flags.

Malaysia, after all, is a work in progress, and democracy a conversation. For better or worse, Malaysia is inevitably a multi nation, made up of many cultures, religions, ethnicity and languages. The basis for our nation is enshrined in our Constitution, which can be amended, but should only be done so consensually. Until that is the case, however, that is the document we are all bound by.

If it is true that the young take the past for granted, then it is equally tragic to take the future in the same way. This is what worries some of us . And when I say us, I don’t know if it’s a hundred, a million, or, uh, just me, but there’s a sense that the multi-cultural nature of our society is no longer as prized as it should be. Multiculturalism is being stigmatised, when racism and social inequality are the true enemies.

My disappointment with all the race talk lately lies not so much with what was said, but the fact that people still fall for that kind of talk. Someone says something, another side defends, and both end up looking like champions of their respective communities. This has happened many times in the past. It’s hard to blame politicians for committing themselves to certain communal causes when it’s what Malaysians still want. If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t work. I mean, if I wanted to move up the political ladder, I wouldn’t promise a further hike in petrol prices. That would be political suicide. Playing the race card, however, isn’t.

This Merdeka, maybe it is time to demand for leadership that will not pander to the basest of our feelings like mistrust and selfishness, but someone who will find what is great about us, and use that as the framework of our co-operation. You know, something like what the founding fathers of this nation did.

When I say it’s time for us to move beyond laws that stifle democracy and open debate, I am inspired by the talk of Malaysians having a First World mentality, something mooted by our Prime Minister himself. And when I say I long for a day when we find a new political paradigm, where pandering to narrow communal interests is frowned upon by everyone, I don’t think I’m influenced by the West. Instead, I suspect it has to do with the whole Bangsa Malaysia idea constantly being thrown about. Don’t look at me, I didn’t come up with it.

If after almost 50 years, we’re not getting any closer to that coveted goal (some might even say we’ve drifted even further apart), then we have to admit that nation building hasn’t been effective as we hoped. If so, it is time to address this. There are already too many people defending their respective races and religions. What we need are more people defending Malaysia. Selamat Hari Merdeka

M_Y__N_E_W__R_O_O_M__ STOUFFER

Hi all, sorry for the late update, the past few days have been extremely hectic. Just got back from a woo-ha-ha excursion at the Rittenhouse Square, a 'posh' city center (the bukit bintang of philadelphia la which houses those up and trendy outlets etc). Yup, i got to the states safely. The 30hours odd-journey has caused some brain-floating-syndrome but no jet lag surprisingly. The funny thing is that the Americans and some international students have some real problem pronouncing my name, thus i'm officially known as XHIAENG LEIGH. Never mind why they prefer to roll their tongues to sound 3 vowels instead of 2.

First Day : ROOM 242D STOUFFER

Checked in around 9 here...noticed that my front door has been infested by various appointments letters from so and so.......oh yea..the GA gave me the crocodile tag for my door :-)

Open sesame .......

oriental culture : no shoes/slippars allowed across the rabbit ...


messy messy room.....


Glimpse of the air-cond/heater near the window....

my blue linens with conforter.....



my closet which could fit 6 of myself in it........

my pile of snacks....got some bran raisin bran from my GA and some mugs from the service fair. The land phone in my room can't call out though it can receive calls.....

my tree-pronged-lighted study table....the light on the far left cost me USD 12....

the numerous Penn leaflets, wrist strap, SEPTA railway & bus booklet and whistle from the service fair...
View from my window : This is the Wharton, UPenn's Business school. The university security personnels congregate 24/7 with their bicycles and batons here.....