The Bore with More

Que sera sera

2009-11-11T22:17:00.002+08:00

I still cannot believe that the day I collected my car was the day the plate number came out first prize in the 4D draw, and needless to say, I did not buy cos, honestly, I was busy in the office and forgot all about it...

I was going around telling my colleague yesterday that I will buy 10 big and 10 small. But being the risk-averse person I am, I think I might have bought 20 big at the stall. That would have been SGD40,000!

Which got me thinking - what would I do with $40,000?

I really think I would have given $8,000 or $10,000 to charity...

Then I'd have bought a case of Clos des Papes 2007, since I just saw the offer this afternoon.

That would have left me with SGD26,000, which, me being boring me, I'd have put into the bank without spending on anything else significant, I think...

WTF!

Sigh

2009-10-14T20:16:00.002+08:00

So here I am, back writing on the blog again!

I swear, it's not that I did not try to write... in fact, I started typing at least 5 or 6 times, but never got round to writing enough sensible stuff to bother to post... I guess it's mostly cos I have very little angst in my life these days, and there's not that much happy nor sad stuff to write about..

But things changed today... I'm stuck waiting at the airport lounge for 6.5 hours between flights.. had a nice long shower, and was left with 6.3 hours to kill... guess I should have stayed in HCMC for the afternoon, gone for a nice 2 hour body massage, then land with enough time for dinner before catching the next flight... oh well..

Anyways, the motivation today to post is, how I really wonder whether some people think things through before they make the biggest decisions of their lives... Friend N from the army called 10 minutes ago, and asked for help... basically, he's in the final process of getting divorced with his current Thai wife, and has met a Vietnamese girl in Singapore ("V")... V was arrested some time ago for selling contraband cigarettes in Singapore, served her jail time, and was deported... she was carrying his child at some point, but had a miscarriage...

So N says that he wants to marry V, and wants to get married in Vietnam, then have the marriage registered(?) in Singapore, and then try to bring her in to live in Singapore permanently...

What are the chances that the govt will allow her to live in Singapore permanently? I'd say zero.. so I tell him that I think that the chances are very slim, and ask him what he'd do if he married her, and the Singapore govt rejects the application for her to be in Singapore? He says, errr... then "we fly up fly down lor"...

Geez.....

Now we know...

2009-03-18T08:44:00.002+08:00

Bike

2009-03-16T20:22:00.002+08:00

To think that I just read yesterday of some guy who ran across the expressway, and caused a motorcyclist to get killed when he got caught under a lorry when he / the lorry tried to swerve...

I was driving home today along the PIE in the jam that occurs pretty much everyday between Toa Payoh and the BKE exit... there was a motorbike around 4 metres in front of me, and suddenly the bike skidded right in front of me and slid a few metres on the road... thank goodness there was a jam and everyone was going slow, otherwise, err....

Really goes to show (i) when its your time, its your time, and/or (ii) you can be the most careful driver on earth, but if you are suay1, no one can help you even if its not your fault at all....

Trade 0001/2009

2009-03-09T09:49:00.002+08:00

I have not bought nor sold shares in at least 10 months, but today was the first time I dipped my toes in the water again... I still think the downward bias will continue for quite some time, but bought some Straits Asia Resources at 80.5 cents.. let's see how it goes!

0951 hrs: 82 cents :D

Sabo

2009-02-24T09:21:00.002+08:00

CAPITALAND , Southeast Asia’s largest developer and Singapore’s biggest mall operator, will pay part of its managers’ bonuses this year in shopping vouchers.

‘Staff will receive shopping vouchers in March, and the amounts range from $750 to $10,000,’ a CapitaLand spokeswoman said.

‘About $1 million worth of vouchers will be distributed in total.’ CapitaLand earlier this month said it will raise around $1.84 billion via a rights issue after reporting an 88 per cent slump in fourth-quarter net profit due to weaker sales in Australia and China. — REUTERS

Whoever is outed as being the person in HR who proposed paying bonuses in shopping vouchers confirm kenna a hundred thousand curses yesterday :D

Weight loss

2009-02-16T15:30:00.002+08:00

2009 has been my most serious attempt at weight loss to date, which, unfortunately, is not too serious. But I have been exercising 3 times a week, and trying to cut down on food intake at dinner.

Also bought a digital weighing scale some 2 weeks ago, so I know about each daily 100 / 200g change in weight. Now I know how I pretty much fail in my attempts to lose weight... I lose weight 4 days a week, and gain weight the other 3 days...

090212

2009-02-12T21:49:00.002+08:00

Today was my first overseas trip since I got back to Singapore... was only to KL, but was really looking forward to being able to get out of the office...

Was supposed to meet someone at KLCC, but he was urgently called away somewhere else, so we had to meet at the National Heart Institute instead! :D Imagine signing documents hunched over a little desk in a hospital...

And, aviation deregulation sucks! I didn't know that my air ticket now is valid only on SQ, but not Malaysian Airlines nor Silkair, which mean that although I showed up at the airport at 3:45pm, I could not get on the 5:30 MAS nor 6:00 Silkair flights!!! Angry...

Just realised in the cab on the way back home that the cab company now programs the GPS system to inform the cabbie that he's speeding... talk abt nanny states and Big Brother....

Noooo....

2009-02-11T13:28:00.002+08:00

I'd be the first to agree that the script for Grey's Anatomy sucks, but Dr. Izzie Stevens is so eye candy, especially now that the stupid Denny ghost thing is over... I'm definitely not watching it after she's gone!

youth

2009-02-09T10:33:00.001+08:00

I've forgotten what it feels like to be that age... so love... haha

DBS

2009-01-20T15:19:00.002+08:00

I guess it's easier for me to feel this way since I'm not a victim of the debacle (neither am I a DBS shareholder), but the below forum letter hits the nail right on the head. Let's see how our friends respond / try to squirm out of this one:

DBS financial products: Why must shareholders absorb the loss?

IT WAS reported that DBS has completed its review of complaints related to structured financial products. The amount is estimated to be $80 million.
The report said the bank will absorb the loss. In fact, it is the shareholders who ultimately absorb the loss. Throughout this saga, I, as a shareholder, have seen no specific communication from management to assure me that my interests will be well taken care of.
There is either mis-selling in each case, or there is not. If there is, the bank should indeed compensate investors. However, as a shareholder I must insist that there is assurance that those responsible are also held accountable - this could include (but may not be limited to) the relationship managers in question, the head of wealth management or equivalent (there must be leadership and accountability, not to mention that the bonus would surely have reflected 'successful sales' over the past few years), and, to some extent, the risk or compliance manager who approved the policies and procedures that were supposed to prevent misselling.
Surely the shareholder cannot be left to suffer this loss alone, without those responsible being taken to task.
We have heard little so far from DBS management. Perhaps it is time we heard explanations.
Kevin Kwek

WTF

2009-01-20T12:53:00.001+08:00

I went to the UOB ATM to try to withdraw $500, but it said that the max was $400, so I withdrew $400. Next thing I know, I get 40 $10-notes!

At least tell us there are no more $50 notes lah!

Temperate country education

2008-12-30T03:16:00.003+08:00

2 very important things I learnt whilst living in Europe:

a. there is special anti-freeze windscreen wiper fluid

b. look up at the roof to check for falling snow before you step in or out of the door

To Do List

2008-12-26T04:28:00.002+08:00

1. Greasy fried bee hoon
2. Fish bee hoon
3. Dim Sum
4. Chicken rice at Wee Name Kee
5. Bak Kut Teh - Keppel or Balestier
6. Nasi Padang
7. Fried oyster cake
8. Chai Tau Kway
9. Roti Prata - 1 egg and 1 kosong
10. Indian rojak
11. Popiah - Balestier
12. Congee
13. Otah
14. Satay
15. Chinese mutton soup
16. Nasi lemak
17. KFC
18. Yong Tau Hoo

Argh!

2008-12-11T02:05:00.000+08:00

T minus 4 weeks

2008-12-06T03:56:00.002+08:00

Tomorrow, Saturday, marks the 4 weeks I have left before I go home. Perhaps the reality hasn't fully sunk in yet, but I'm actually quite looking forward to being back in Singapore. I have been continuing with my work for the Asia business unit during my time here in Europe, so I know what's going on. And it helps that I start with a promotion :D

But in many ways, Europe has been the land of milk and honey... the money was fantastic, I get an apartment and a nice car, and I don't really have to worry about taxes next year since those for my time in Europe have been covered by the company. Before this year, the only places in Europe I've ever set foot were London and Paris, and yet in my 8 months here, I've been seeing various parts of Europe pretty much 80% of the weekends. Too bad there's the Schengen agreement, otherwise my passport would likely have been 90% full by now... heh....

It's funny that Oslo felt somewhat like home after some time, but Geneva never really gave that feeling. Funny, because I had a stream of visitors in Geneva, or maybe that's actually the reason - that I was surviving on my own in Oslo and therefore had to root myself... In Oslo, I knew what my favourite part of the city was (Frognersteren), but I can't quite say the same for Geneva.

Apart from these 2 home bases, the 2 cities I thought were the nicest to visit were Berlin and Barcelona.

I'm thankful for the friends and family who visited, and will be visiting. It was a really nice feeling when my brother and I travelled together, and stayed with me in Oslo. I remember the Jap curry rice and spaghetti I cooked those evenings, which he gave the thumbs up to. K was the first friend to visit, back in the end of Sept, followed by YB in November. After living alone for months, it was nice to have laughter in the middle of the night, having someone to warm my feet again my pressing against her, etc :D

Come 15 Dec, there will be 7 people staying in my apt at the same time! And 6 girls at that! Imagine how we'll have to fight for the use of 1 bathroom... heh...

I let a young Singaporean whom I got to know here stay over at my place this past week so that she does not have to pay for a whole month's rental at her place, given that she's going to be travelling for the next 3 weeks. It scares to think that living alone has made me grouchy in the sense that I want things done my way and am un-accomodative, etc.

I go back to staying with my parents in January... quite a few people have asked if this is possible, but to me, there was no realistic alternative... it's nice having other people around, even if I don't talk to my parents that much... plus someone to do the laundry, and saving at the very least $2000+ in rent a month...

I've kinda decided to buy a car... am eyeing the 1.8l civic so as not to be extravagant, since I hope to buy another apartment sometime after end 2009, and hope to get another expat contract at some point in the not too distant future... it was a little disappointing to see the list price shift from $72k in the last round to $75 this week... but I guess generally speaking the price can only move down, given that we haven't seen 20% of the bad times yet...

Guess that's it for now... have decided to go to Milan tomorrow, notwithstanding the fractured foot.... let's see how far I get!

0.816%

2008-12-04T18:19:00.003+08:00

My housing loan just got repriced yesterday for the next 3 months at a "princely" rate of 1.516% :D

That's 0.816% (which is SIBOR) + 0.7% -- if that ain't low, I don't know what is... living overseas in the past 8 or so months makes one realise some of the things we otherwise do not know we should be grateful for... my colleagues owning apartments in Norway usually pay 8 or 9%!!

Quick sayang me!

2008-12-04T00:39:00.002+08:00

It's official - I saw the doctor today, and he confirmed I have a fracture in my foot.

The 100m I walked from my apartment to the car park, and the 80m from the clinic to my office, were the slowest since I was 3 years old probably...

But what's amazing is how nice these atas clinics are! The doctor comes out to the waiting room to bring you in, and even though I'm not registered in the clinic's database / state social security system, they said they will send me an invoice by post! Don't want to see what the bill is tho!

Think before you say yes

2008-12-02T21:43:00.002+08:00

A colleague parked his scooter illegally / improperly in the airport over the weekend when he went to Paris, and had it impounded. I was not too busy today, so I said yes without thinking twice when he asked me to accompany him to the yard to collect the scooter, and I'd drive the car back whilst he rode the scooter.

It was only 3 min from the yard that I realised, once again, that the car in question was a manual and I have not driven one in the past 11 years, except (i) for 5 minutes when HJ was supposed to go to ROM and needed a driver, but gave up and drove himself and his bride, when he saw how rusty I was, and (ii) for 15 seconds this year in Oslo when I got my company car, which I nearly rammed into the wall when I did not step on the clutch (and the rental agent left in first gear) when I turned the ignition switch.

Said colleague was not amused, and declared that he was not going back to the office to get another colleague to help out, and I could either ride the scooter or drive the manual car. Smart me thought that the scooter would be easier, but I promptly lasted for all of 25m before I fell.

So it was the car. I'm surprised I did not maim anyone, though I might have accelerated the demise of the car in question. Stalled it 3 times during the 20 minute drive, which is actually quite amazing. But twice, it was cos I did not realise I'd slotted it into 3rd gear and not first, and created some burning smells in the cabin :S Not to mention the embarassing rev-ving noises during the first 3 minutes when I re-learned 11 years of un-learned half-clutch-ing.

On hindsight, it was a little reckless. At 1 or 2 points, I'm sure I was too pre-occupied with handling the manual beast to fully check the side mirror when I switched lanes, etc.

In fact, the victim today was me. Still have a foot which hurts quite a bit when I walk and try to flex it.

Moral of the story: Think before you give answers.

Jungfrau

2008-11-12T23:32:00.008+08:00

Sunbathing topless on Jungfraujoch with my trusty army boots

First Week in Geneva

2008-11-07T20:43:00.013+08:00

Spot the polar bear!

:O

2008-10-30T18:50:00.002+08:00

Bergen

2008-10-30T02:19:00.016+08:00

The Brygge

It's a little icky to realise the holes are where the flippers used to be

Our followers - 2 sheep

Shingapore

2008-10-19T14:29:00.002+08:00

I am back in Singapore!

Landed yesterday afternoon, and have eaten chicken rice, satay and yong tau hoo since then :D Not to mention sleep 8 hours on the plane, and 13 hours last night... I woke up at 8:20am, thought to myself "it's 2:20am in Switzerland" and decided to sleep 5 more hours... heh.

But it's a short trip back, cos the main reason for coming back is work trips elsewhere in the region. But I've got my priorities correct, cos I've already bought most of my re-supplies, including 2 cans to stewed pork knuckles, which will come in really handy for quick meals, and the gravy for frying with bee hoon...

In other news, it's amazing to see the first 4 storeys of the Marina IR up already... nothing like it to remind you that the opening is just 12 months away... and being away really reminds one of how good most aspects of Singapore are... I've had to go to a certain middle eastern country several times over the last 5 months, and it's amazing that the official word each time I'm there is that the airport will be open in "2 more months", with no end in sight. Now, to just be ready to dish over the SGD100 to even get in....

R&J

2008-10-19T14:27:00.001+08:00

The CNA website had this to say about 2 teenagers being stabbed:

A friend of the two victims said that the group of about six teenagers had been in Plaza Singapura when they noticed another group of about ten teenagers looking at them with contempt.

"[l]ooking at them with comtempt" sounds so Romeo & Juliet :D I bite my thumb at you, sir...

Heh

2008-10-16T17:50:00.002+08:00

Commies

2008-10-10T02:50:00.003+08:00

“The Bush administration, which took office as social conservatives, is now leaving as conservative socialists."

Fight! Fight Fight!

2008-10-03T22:57:00.002+08:00

Citi's press release w.r.t. Wells Fargo deal with Wachovia:

CITI STATEMENT ON WACHOVIA'S BREACH OF EXCLUSIVITY AGREEMENT
Wachovia's agreement to a transaction with Wells Fargo is in clear breach of an Exclusivity Agreement between Citi and Wachovia. In addition, Wells Fargo's conduct constitutes tortious interference with the Exclusivity Agreement.

The Exclusivity Agreement provides, among other things, that Wachovia will not enter into any transaction with any party other than Citi, and will not participate in any discussions or negotiations with any third party. The Exclusivity Agreement also provides that the parties would be irreparably harmed by any breach of the agreement and that the remedy of specific performance of the agreement is appropriate.

Citi was negotiating in good faith and nearly completed the definitive agreements required to consummate the Citi/Wachovia transaction that was announced on Monday. The value of the Citi agreement to Wachovia shareholders was substantially in excess of Wachovia's closing price on Thursday, October 2nd. Citi has also been providing liquidity support to Wachovia Bank since Monday's announcement.

Citi has demanded that Wachovia and Wells Fargo terminate and not proceed with any proposed transaction, any conduct in furtherance thereof, or any other act in violation of the Exclusivity Agreement. Citi has substantial legal rights regarding Wachovia and this transaction.

With or without this transaction, Citi maintains an unmatched, globally dominant franchise with strong liquidity, total deposits exceeding $800 billion and a Tier 1 capital ratio of 8.7% as of the second quarter.

Icarus

2008-09-26T21:41:00.000+08:00

This is way cool! Soon man can fly!

Copenhagen

2008-09-14T23:10:00.012+08:00

Nyhavn

The Royal Yacht

Floating Bar

Happy plugs

Nordic-land

2008-09-14T22:53:00.013+08:00

The planes I take keep getting smaller and smaller... now I am taking truboprop planes even!

My new fav hotel under SGD250 a night

View from the hotel

Old Town

All that for two people

It's a Russian tradition for newlyweds to padlock a bridge, and then throw the keys into the river

Velo

2008-09-09T16:40:00.002+08:00

To say something like that, either they really think we are stupid, or they are stupid...

Some of the points made are totally irrelevant!

Berlin

2008-08-24T20:45:00.010+08:00

Edinburgh

2008-08-24T20:36:00.007+08:00

Home...

2008-08-24T20:34:00.002+08:00

Only in Singapore...

...

2008-07-25T13:31:00.001+08:00

Don't we all know some people at work who are like that? :D

Norge

2008-07-25T05:37:00.001+08:00

Dunno if you guys in Singapore hear this song much, but it's plague-ing the airwaves in Norway, and I love it!

Pet Peeve

2008-07-24T17:37:00.003+08:00

I really hate it when people use the word "share", in the context of "I'm going to tell you something", although I have to admit that I use it myself on occasion.

It must have been one of those words which have been developed by sales people, because "tell" sounds too "i know something and you don't, so you better listen to me" whereas "share" sounds more unaggressive and altruistic.

Needless to say, the word has been adopted by all the insurance / bank sales people who have undergone some training or other, as well as the legions of god's armies in all their various forms... I bet you can see me momentarily cringe or my back shoot up straight when I hear "let me share [x]..."

Shrinking $

2008-07-24T16:35:00.002+08:00

Dublin

2008-07-22T13:27:00.007+08:00

Misc photos

Grey's Anatomy

2008-07-20T16:11:00.000+08:00

I don't really watch the show, but the song and the video is pretty nice!

Tired

2008-07-18T17:53:00.004+08:00

Thank goodness I'm staying in Oslo this weekend... was hoping to do some beach-ing, but seems like it's gonna rain both days...

Hee hee

2008-07-16T16:44:00.004+08:00

EDIT: HEY! ISN'T THE SAYING "MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL"? SO ACTUALLY THAT MEANS THAT THE ANSWER IS "WOMEN = EVIL"!!! :D

Thanks to the person I stole the pic from

Ducks

2008-07-16T16:42:00.001+08:00

awwww

x-ray

2008-07-11T18:37:00.002+08:00

2 months after I got into Oslo, I finally am going for my residency x-ray examination today, and it's not due to any tardiness on my part...

Would have infected half of Oslo by now if I really had TB :D

Sticker shock

2008-07-03T19:23:00.003+08:00

Just when I think it's not possible to be shocked at the prices in this land anymore, I wanted to buy some spring onions for fried rice yesterday, and really had to bite my lips when I forked over the cash...

SGD4.50 just for the spring onions you see above! I think I should start growing my own...

Stingy

2008-06-24T22:06:00.004+08:00

For some reason, when it comes to razor blades, I'm quite stingy... the idea of paying $3 for a blade which remains sharp only for 3 or 4 weeks is quite painful... so for some really irrational reason, I suffer razor burns by holding on for too long...

But it's only razor blades - for example, for toothbrushes, I change them every 8 or so weeks once the bristles start being "misaligned"...

My money

2008-06-24T22:06:00.001+08:00

It's going to be a super long term investment alright...

Sad

2008-06-22T17:48:00.002+08:00

I've been back in Singapore for 8 whole days (without having to leave the island), and am quite sad that the time has come to go back to Oslo... definitely sadder than when I left for Oslo, and the last trip back, during which I only had like a weekend in Singapore so it didn't feel like much...

The good thing is that I've been able to meet many of my good friends, and the trip ended on a high note with A&E's wedding yesterday... they will likely be the last wedding amongst my close friends for some time to come... I think it says something nice about what friends the couple are to the 3 people who had to help most when these 3 all had to come back from long distances..

It was definitely the least and most stressful wedding I've ever had to help with.. so unstressful in the sense that there was no briefing until the evening itself, and apart from decorating the bridal car, there was no hard work done till the evening.. but the most stressful for I had to speak, which, if you know me, is something I really hate.

Unlike the last time I left Singapore for Oslo, I really don't know when I will next be back. If nothing else, I have weekend trips planned for several of the weekends in the next month or so...

But that also reminds me that the days in Oslo are fast running out as well, and I better get round to doing and seeing the things I want to / should do.. that should be seeing the rabbits roaming Gessholmen, driving to Holmolken ski jump, a few more of the musuems, and hiking at Nordmarka.

Comparing the costs of flying within Norway to seeing other places in Europe, I don't think I will be visiting anywhere else other than Bergen, at least not till the snow comes..

Another colleague from Singapore will be posted to Oslo by the middle of July, and she will be there for 2 years. Saw the photos of the apartment which was gotten for her, which is really nice! And she stays just 350m away from my place, so it seems we will take turns to cook! She doesn't eat pork, but that's just as well cos I've not seen pork in the supermarket near our place. And most importantly, I don't have to hand wash my clothes anymore! I'm surprised I written about this yet, but the laundry room in my apartment is a shared one at the basement of the building... you open a door, walk down 10 or so steps lit only by a single light bulb, then turn right and walk for maybe 20 steps.. it's really dark and errie, fresh out of a horror movie... Needless to say, I've only bee down once, and that was when my 2 colleagues were up in Oslo during my first week there.. :D

Your government

2008-06-20T23:19:00.002+08:00

It was in today's papers that a NUS student who was walking through Clementi Woods was "sexually assaulted", which I take to mean raped. Following the incident, the police rounded up 200 foreign workers from the nearby worksites and took their blood samples, tested their blood, etc. If I am not wrong, the paper version of the newspaper added that these foreign workers were from 3 ethnic groups.

I know the crime in question is very serious, but tell me that there isn't something wrong when the police has the ability / guts / feeling that they have the right to round up 200 random people, just because they are nearby, for testing. And the fact that the samples were taken from people from different racial groups seem to suggest that the victim / police do not know who to look for, so they just whack lor.

If the police government does not respect their rights, do you think they will respect yours?

Human touch

2008-06-17T02:56:00.003+08:00

Has a really nice dinner with YJ today, and on the way back, she asked me what was the thing I wanted to do most during this trip back to Singapore... I thought quite hard - I don't have any obvious food cravings, nor anything I really need / want to buy, so after thinking for a few seconds, the answer was "human contact".

I didn't realise it at first, but yes that's the one thing I miss most about being in Oslo... that it's not easy just to pick up the phone and call a friend (which reminds me, bloody hell, I've been living in the apartment 5 weeks now, and the internet still isn't up, so it's difficult to msn people, and obviously I can't use the Skype phone which I bought just for Oslo), no one I know well enough to hug / ask for a hug from, nor to meet for dinner and not fear that you will run out of things to talk about, etc.

When I saw OM on Sunday, 1 of the things I said to her was "you know, I haven't touched a woman in 3 weeks" as a joke, and we both laughed, but that's the dire state of affairs... come to think of it, apart from the people who give me change at the cafeteria / supermarket, I really don't get any skin contact.

I remember how I used to ask my friends how, if they were able to retain only 1 of their 5 senses, which it would be, and most people choose sight? It's probably still sight for me, but touch comes a really close second... ~~I will sell my sense of smell for a million bucks~~

+++++

So I'm back in Singapore, partly for A&E's wedding this weekend. Picked up the vest for the suit today, and I must say it looks pretty nice, although owing to my own fault, the vest should have come together higher up..

I've ran at least 5 friends' weddings as the "general", but have always been able to get away with not making any speeches, but not this time round. If you know me in real life, you know I'm no good with such situations, which is a little worrying.. but we shall see.

+++++

And after this week, I don't think I will be back for some time... if nothing else, I have booked flights to Dublin next weekend, and Edinburgh the week after. Bought the Edinburgh tickets on a whim at SGD800(!!!) on a budget carrier, and promptly regretted it... oh well...

Then it's 1 or 2 weekends to explore the rest of Oslo which I have not yet seen, and hopefully CC gets to come and visit, and my brother comes over! After which, it should be 2 more weekends before I leave Oslo for Geneva... boy that sounds quick alright...

+++++

Got my increment letter today... am pleasantly surprised! :D And cos I am on the expat package, the increment in actual dollars is multiplied *evil laughter* Now I don't see so bad for the silly Edinburgh tickets...

OK, that's it... will see if I have photos to post...

Cat and Mouse

2008-06-09T03:21:00.002+08:00

It was a pretty regular week at work... starting at 0745 and leaving at 1630, printing recipes during the day to try in the evening, going to the supermarket after work to buy the food for dinner, cooking, watching tv (the cable tv finally got installed, but does not have the programs we are used to) and sleeping.. a couple of the days, I ta-pao-ed food and walked to Vigeland Park around 800m away, picnic-ed by myself eating, reading and soaking in the sun...

Weather has hit 30 degrees this past week... of all the windows in the house, only the ones in the master bedroom open fully.. the ones in the living room have been painted shut, and the one in the kitchen only opens a gap of 4 inches or so... think I need a fan soon..

Took the car out for a proper drive for the first time yesterday... went to Huk Beach on Bygdoy at 0900, and it was nice and peaceful for 2 or so hours, until the crowds descended upon us.. But driving also meant a cat and mouse game with the police, cos there is very limited streetside parking at the apartment, and I beat the police by perhaps 2 minutes when I by chance saw them outside my apartment... dunno what the fines are like, but in a place like Oslo, they can't be cheap! Thank goodness I can park at the office, which is about 4 min walk away.

Gonna spend these few days in Mumbai... finally I don't have to cook my own dinners! :D Can't wait to squeeze down a supersize-me American breakfast tomorrow! to catch the 0630 flight, I had to wake up at 3:45am, and when I left home at 0430, it was already surprisingly bright already... but it also revealed that Oslo has a serious drinking problem.. tons of beer cans and bottles lying on the street, which means that people had been sitting / squating at the roadside drinking all night long.. and at the steps of 7-11, you see groups just sitting there and drinking at 0430 in the morning..

Misc photos

2008-06-02T15:02:00.011+08:00

Some photos taken the past 2 weeks or so:

I had bought this Citronella plant during my 2nd visit to the supermarket, and when I left on my 1-week long work trip, I had no choice but to leave it in the common garden and hope the rain would come sufficiently regular... guess not

Just 1 day after coming back from the work trip, super-watering it, and viola!

Vigeland Park - this was during the first week in Oslo. Given the glorious sun this past week, I shall attempt new shots today or tomorrow.

Guess the number of nekkid bodies!

My stash of Asian food...

My car! Would much prefer it to have been in black.

3 things I love most about the apartment: the kitchen catches the sun in the morning, and with a large table and window, it's nice to eat breakfast, read the paper, with the radio in the background. My favourite radio station here - can listen online!

3 things I love most about the apartment: mosaic tiles for the bathroom... I really like the understated color too..

3 things I love most about the apartment: old-style glass windows, where u can see the ripples in the glass, which distort the image seen through it.

Geneva

2008-05-24T22:17:00.002+08:00

Before I start about Geneva, pleased to say I've cooked my first proper meal myself in the apartment! There's a supermarket around 200m away from the apartment, and I go there after work around twice a week. Picked the salmon fillet (cost SGD12 for 300g) and 2 cupped palms of mushrooms... rubbed the salmon with salt, pepper and some herbs, and 6 min of frying later, viola! As for the mushrooms, I basically poured some sesame oil, oyster sauce, parsley, olive oil, water, and sauteed the stuff... didn't taste so good :D

+++

Since I was going to be away for 8 days, I had to throw out some food in the fridge... it was slightly painful getting rid of $40 worth of unspoilt stuff..

Which reminds me of a story about 1 of my best friends, HJ - back when he was serving NS, he was leaving alone in a 1-room flat.. to save money and minimise the risk of fire, he decide to switch off the power supply in the house before he went on a 3-week training trip to Taiwan... didn't realise that the fridge needed power, and when he came back, the flat was a biohazard battlefield! Being short of cash then, he could not throw it out, but had to pay at least 2 friends to help clean it up... I was told that they had to wear hankerchiefs around their noses, and use plastic bags to remove the yucky stuff :D

And on my first week here, I bought a citronella plant from the supermarket... it nearly died cos I didn't know I was under-watering it, and after I have it half a big glass twice a day, it's sprightly! To give it a chance at life, I sadly put it in the common garden... hope it rains often enough when I'm gone! Was tempted to stick a note on a stick in the plant which said "Please take care of me when my owner's gone", but thought that's just inviting someone to steal it...

+++

Went to Geneva to meet the 2 other team-mates who are involved in the maritime law portfolio. Our office in Geneva is a villa, with it's own nice courtyard and a bull which looks kinda like the one in Wall Street :D

Dinner was my first time ever at a 2 Michelin star restaurant, which was pretty darned nice!

Also went to see 2 possible places to stay... 1 was an apartment which is around 1200 sq ft, in a suburb 10 min drive from downtown... Geneva is so small that we actually passed vineyards on the way to the apartments! 3 bedrooms, and with a balcony that has a view of Mont Blanc!

The other place, though I didn't get to see the actual unit, is downtown but on the "wrong" bank of the river, 3 min walk to the tram stop to the office, as well as the central train station... and 2 streets away from the red light district of Geneva... there's even a Singaporean food restaurant in the next street...

A little torn between the 2, but am pretty sure I will choose the downtown apartment in the end...

+++

I'm actually typing this at home in Singapore! Have meetings back to back in Asia the next few days, and then I go back to Oslo on Wed night, with a fully loaded luggage containing contraband from Singapore...

Day 11

2008-05-21T18:55:00.003+08:00

Heyhey! I'm still alive, and kicking! Surprising, cos all I had for breakfast was a bowl of muesli, and am planning to skip lunch! Not hungry for some reason, and I tend to eat dinner around 6 plus pm if I'm cooking anyways.

Nothing terribly exciting has been happening... all of my stuff finally came last Friday, meaning that I have the playstation to keep me entertained... or so I thought, until I fail to clear the level required to advance further in the car racing game, and felt really nauseous whenever I play the first-person shooters...

Some colleagues from the Singapore office were in Oslo last week, so we spent the weekend together, and I had a proper dinner with multiple dishes on Saturday night.. heh.. no rice dishes at home yet cos I haven't had the chance to go buy a microwave...

Was supposed to get my car last Friday, but when it came, and I switched on the ignition, it lurched forward and died... the reason - manual car. So it was promptly returned, but they could not get me an auto the same day... Monday came, and I was told I was taking over the car of a pretty senior guy who is leaving the company.. it's an Audi... I hope it's an A6...

Went running yesterday to Frogner Park... it's amazing to be out there under the sun, when it's fairly quiet.... but I need to buy a windbreaker for the cold days...

Will be leaving for Geneva tomorrow, and then flying to Perth over the weekend... I get to spend Saturday night and Sunday morning at home in Singapore!

Planning to cook salmon for the first time in the apartment tonight! Had to abandon the complex recipes cos I'm not going to be around to use up the other ingredients, so it's gonna be plain old pan fried style... speaking of which, I saw reindeer meat in the supermarket... must try it some time! :D

Photos

2008-05-14T11:34:00.008+08:00

These cost SGD150+

My apt block is the one on the left.

Backside of the apartments

Sitting room

Kitchen, which might just be the biggest room in the house!

New Opera House

View of Aker Brygge from the old fortress

Day 3

2008-05-14T11:08:00.002+08:00

My first day of work.. was told by some colleagues (obviously out of touch with the realities of Oslo) that the work hours in the office were 7 to 3, or 8 to 4. So i showed up at 0745 to look for my HR coordinator, but she was not around. In fact, hardly anyone was around until 0830...

I'm using a room belonging to a team-mate who's on 1-year maternity leave... she definitely has more than 1 kid, cos the room has kids' paintings and all.. totally not my style (for now).. haha... it's my first time having a personal room in 5 years! The feeling was a little strange...

Typical first stuff, like being introduced to 20 different people and promptly forgetting who's who...

Seems that I might be going back to Asia for work as soon as next weekend! :D Which reminds me, I better start booking air tickets today...

Cafeteria food sucks! Was already warned about it before I came, but to see it was a shock all the same... the nominal price option is basically a salad bar, and if you pay something like SGD5, you can go for the hot option, which is basically a soup and pork cutlet or something like that...

Went to see my apartment after lunch! Turns out it was not the one they told me about earlier, but a smaller one 4 min walk from the office... like LJ said, close enough to run home if I need to take a crap.. haha... will post the photos, which speak for themselves...

Dunno if I've mentioned that there is a colleague in the office here who's a Singaporean (but grew up in San Francisco)... she's been a dear in telling me about the places to go to get this and that, etc., so I managed to find a supermarket 3 min walk from home... made 2 trips yesterday, and managed to stock up on most of the staples...

Full day meeting, followed by dinner with team-mate from another European office at Aker Brygge along the waterfront... will be interesting eating dinner in broad daylight at 8+pm :D

Day 1

2008-05-12T11:39:00.002+08:00

Landed in Oslo at 9+am yesterday... for all the stories about "contraband" food being stopped and searched, there were no customs officers at all!

Took my first SGD250 taxi ride ever, which incidentally took only 35 minutes...

It being a Sunday, where the non-food establishments aren't open, and Whit Sunday at that, there was quite little to do. Saw the palace from outside, walked the main thoroughfare, and decided that I'd go check out what my apartment looks like from the outside since I had the address.

Typical 4-storey European apartment building with nice big windows, above a restaurant and a clothes shop, and a H&M just across the road. Then it was still early, and I decided to see what the walk from "home" to the office (which is just 3 min away from the hotel) is like. It took around 15 min on a slight downhill slope, through a really nice quiet neighbourhood, with fruit and vegetable shops with their wares outside, etc.

Got back around 4pm, watched a little tv, and fell asleep without dinner... which brings me to now!

Heart of the Matter

2008-05-10T09:27:00.002+08:00

First heard this at the Sex and the City movie trailier.. ignore the video, but the song is nice!

My life in 0.8m3, 1 luggage and 2 hand carry

2008-05-09T22:04:00.002+08:00

When I was told to move, I had absolutely no idea how much stuff I was going to have shift. And whilst I did start by buying a whole bunch of stuff from Giant 1 evening, it was hard to move beyond that and start shopping in an organised manner.

I would take lunchtime trips to Orchard Road so as to use up as much of my Tangs, Robinsons and Taka vouchers as possible. My $50 at Tangs got me some cookware (which I did not bring in the end.. haha), the $80 at Robinsons was used to buy Riedel glasses which I'm not bringing either... Then I went to Taka and realised that because their range was far wider, I could get stuff for very ok prices!

Another tip to bear in mind if you are / I am ever moving from Singapore again - the first place one should go is Daiso or the other $2 shops. You'd be amazed at the number of items you can get there which look pretty decent and would cost quite a bit more elsewhere.

To deal with the lonely nights in Oslo, I thought and thought, and finally bought a PS3. You should also have seen the amount of food pastes and other food items I'm bringing... pretty much the size of 2 of the boxes that we buy A4 paper in... if there's one thing I will come away from Oslo with, it ought to be good cooking skills!

The movers came on Wednesday, and my stuff to be air freighted came up to be 0.8m3. Because I couldn't get a seat on SQ, my luggage entitlement is only 30kg, but I've just weighed it, and it's only 25kg. Lele, in case ure wondering, yes, the white polar bear stuffed toy is coming with me in the air freighted cargo!

So I will be leaving tomorrow night, landing on Sunday morning, and start work on Tue morning as Monday is a public holiday. I should be staying in the hotel till Thursday morning, and hope to be able to do something with the apartment by Wednesday. We'll see how far the company's allowance for fitting out the place gets me! Hello WMF cutlery and more Riedel glassware! :D

Perhaps it's that I've come to look at the bright side of things more easily, but my life has been pretty good generally... like 2 colleagues will be going up to Oslo around the same time as me, and likely 1 of them will stay in my apartment the first weekend I'm there, over the Norwegian Constitution Day weekend. I guess we will get to play PS3 and eat dinner together!

Because this is a public blog, I'm a little reluctant to say too much about work, but big boss is leaving, and as a result of some musical chairs activities, there is a possibility that the stint may be cut short as they may need me back in Asia by Aug / Sept, in which case, if the stars are aligned, I will get to head the legal function for Asia! Well, it's a team of 2 or 3 people, but a very positive step in the right direction I believe... I'm not usually the kinda person to very openly ask for a promotion and all that, but I surprise myself in the way I've been lobbying for the promotion the past few days...

Through Facebook, I got to know a Singaporean lady who is working in the same company as me in Oslo! She's an absolute dear, offering to pick me up at the airport, helping me to open a bank account, etc. :D

I've pretty much been able to meet the friends in Singapore that I needed to see before I go off - guess the notable exception is YJ... I really hope she gets to come and visit!

OK... guess that's it for a last post from Singapore for a while... stupidly packed my memory card reader and camera cables in the courier / freighted packages, so I don't think you will see photos for a while.. but they will come!

Real good!

2008-05-03T11:13:00.000+08:00

Their other songs

Siem Reap

2008-05-02T16:36:00.007+08:00

Was in Siem Reap and Angkor park last week... some photos...

The pool at the FCC, where we stayed.

How many faces can you spot?

Getting ready

2008-04-18T09:53:00.004+08:00

Time to get my affairs in order, ~~write my will (anyone wants any of my possessions?)~~, and stock up on the stuff I'm gonna bring.. spent a pretty penny yesterday on the following:
a. groceries: almost SGD250 (yikes)... I have definitely never had a grocery receipt this long!
b. computer stuff like USB card readers, webcam, etc.
c. recipe books
d. pre-paying for my wine storage till Feb next year...

Pepsi

2008-04-18T09:50:00.001+08:00

It's obviously an over-generalisation, but did you know that Indians generally do not like gassy colas (yet)?

Wheels

2008-04-16T00:05:00.003+08:00

So it seems that I will be entitled to a car in Oslo and Geneva, with petrol paid! :D It's getting better and better... heh

I wish!

Odyssey

2008-04-13T20:44:00.002+08:00

As 1 of the "terms" of encouraging me to join the present employer, my ex supervisor essentially promised that I would get a 6-month stint in 1 or 2 of our offices in Europe which have Legal's representation.

Just my ex supervisor quite within 2 weeks of me joining the company, so whilst his heart was one gold, there was no longer anyone who would push that issue on my behalf. And to be quite honest, the response given by big boss during the team retreat at the end of last year cast serious doubt on it.

But someone else agreed to take the matter up on my behalf, and for the past week, we've been finalising the terms of the trip. And I signed on the papers today. I will leave around 10 May for Oslo and be there till end-August, and then spend the remaining time till Christmas in Geneva! :D

To be honest, I'm a little apprehensive of the likely loneliness in Oslo... am thinking of buying an XBox / PS3 / Wii to keep me company during the long weekday nights! But I guess the upside is that with 36 days of leave left for this year (18 regular days + 8 more for expats + 10 carried over from 2007) and at least 2 budget airlines in each of Oslo and Geneva, there should be enough time to explore Europe! In fact, I think I wanna go NYC again some time this year! :D

Anyway, we'll see...

Magic number

2008-03-30T13:26:00.002+08:00

Ever wondered how many people can fit into a airplane washroom? We know that 2 people can fit in there given the stories of the mile-high club, but now we know 3.5 is possible as well.. I saw a mom, granny, maid and kid all go into the same washroom, presumably to coax + hold down + strip the kid so that he could pee or crap..

Singaporeans are really weird...

I love Dot

2008-03-28T21:45:00.002+08:00

See the words?

MCP

2008-03-25T14:58:00.001+08:00

This is hilarious!

hee hee...

2008-03-19T08:19:00.000+08:00

ROD loh!

2008-03-16T12:17:00.003+08:00

Finally got round to clearing my useless army stuff... especially since I'm going to be throwing quite a lot of them away, I thought I'd better take a couple of photos.

This is the famous "army scarf", which we use to block the sun / mosquitoes when we sleep in the open during the day, but more importantly, literally wipe away the blood, sweat and tears... I've had this one since ACT, and decided against throwing it away.

These are all going to be thrown away. From top clockwise:
(i) army metal mug, which goes into the webbing, but given the un-hygenic conditions they are exposed to, I don't think anyone I know ever used them.

(ii) non-army "german army jacket" which I bought from the Beach Road army market sometime during 1996 or so to try to act / look cool... eeew.. haha

(iii) army standard pack no. 2 - this goes into the full battle order, and I'm embarassed to see that I used to have ugly green and cream colored undies :D This is also during the days when our PT kit was green, with plain green t-shirt and camo green shorts

(iv) army standard pack no. 4 - goes into the FBO as well, if you were ever inclined to kiwi your boots whilst fighting a war in the jungle

(vi) army standard pack no. 6 - misc. stuff like candles, and most importantly, toilet tissue!

(vii) army sewing kit - definitely no use for this anymore!

(viii) green nylon rope - to secure your weapon / radio set to your webbing during river crossings. There is also a longer hemp one to tie yourself to the main rope for crossings... Thank god we did this only 2 or 3 times... the feeling of squishy wet shoes for 3 days in a row is indescribable...

Purple light

2008-03-14T09:59:00.003+08:00

Purple light, in the valley.
That is where, I want to be.
With my three best companions,
With my rifle and my buddy and me.

5BX, Sibei jialat.
SOC, lagi worst.
Every morning, doing PT.
With my rifle and my buddy and me.

Booking out, see my girlfriend.
Saw her with another man.
Heartbroken, back to army.
With my rifle and my buddy and me.

ROD, back to study.
Got degree, so happy.
Can't forget, days in army
With my rifle and my buddy and me.

Purple light, at the war front.
That is where, my buddy lies.
If I die..would you bury me.
With my rifle and my buddy and me

I was reading a certain law school classmate's blog, whose unit stood down pretty much the same time as mine, and it brought back memories of the stuff that my platoon mates and I did to / for one another back in those days... it was pretty darned amazing..

The above song is none other than Purple Light, which I suspect was really the first army song I was thought when I started BMT... though now that one looks at the lyrics, it doesn't make very much sense... how can one's "three best companions" be his rifle, his buddy and himself? And what is this "purple light" thing, and what's it got to do with any other part of the song? Speaking of which, the army also taught me the only Hokkein song I know - ai bia jia eh yar..

Attention all gamblers

2008-03-09T20:07:00.002+08:00

If you're a gambler, I think you'd be pleased to know that betting for Formula 1 from our very own Singapore Pools starts on Tuesday! Some of the bet opportunities look downright daft, and the risk-reward of others look a bit suspect, but what the hell eh?

And to entice you to set up a phone-betting account, they are throwing in $25 in free credits!

Mosquitoes

2008-03-07T17:24:00.002+08:00

After 1 week of being bitten by mosquitoes in the Singapore jungles on training, I just had to suffer the same in India - got at least 3 bites on the plane back from Mumbai, which made me scratch and scratch and scratch during the red-eye flight and meant I got next to no sleep... am sure there couldn't have been more than 200 mosquitoes on the plane, so how could I, out of the 300+ passengers, get a disproportionate 3 bites??

If it was any consolation, the tv screen on my seat broke down on the way up to Mumbai (wasn't planning on watching anything anyway) and I was given a USD100 voucher as an apology to spend on in-flight sales... don't see anything I want / need - would much rather have gotten credits for air ticket purchases - might settle for a bottle of JW Blue Label to stash away for the day I make my first ~~billion~~ ~~half billion~~ ~~million~~ ~~half million~~ quarter million...

Maybe if I had complained about the mosquitoes, I would have gotten another USD100 voucher... heh..

Misc.

2008-03-02T20:12:00.002+08:00

I don't know what to write about...

Nothing much's happened recently - well, I've been away at reservist this past week. The camp is literally like 7 minutes' walk from my place, so I guess that's the silver lining of the cloud, or whatever that figure of speech is. Food sucks, which is a drastic turn from the grub we had in Tekong during the last in-camp training, where the fish & chips actually came with tartar sauce!

If someone asks me to use 1 negative word to describe myself, my answer without any hesitation is "impatient", and boy oh boy is the army the surest way to demonstrate my impatience... as we like to say, in the army we "rush to wait, and wait to rush"... we woke up at 5:30 to leave at camp for training which is supposed to end by 12pm (lunch would wait for us back in camp), but because of rain / missing equipment / planes flying over our life firing area / vehicle movement ban during life firing, we only got back to camp at 5:30pm on a freaking Saturday. The only consolation was the opportunity to ~~kick down~~ push aside doors and shoot live ammo at targets wearing hats with red stars on them a la SWAT teams. It was hilarious that all of the "hostages" were pictures of Indian thambis :D

With some luck, it's gonna be my last reservist training ever! I sure am gonna miss the zoo that is my platoon, and the same army stories being told by CW for the 86th time...

Oh boy...

2008-02-14T20:37:00.000+08:00

Imagine being in this plane when it landed...

Leviathan

2008-02-09T12:20:00.000+08:00

Hee hee... esp. the little AOL fish missing out on all the action..

Botak

2008-01-10T21:57:00.000+08:00

I know I shouldn't be laughing cos I too am losing hair, but if you zoom this photo, it's quite funny to see a pretty-much-bald guy with shiny pate going for a haircut at the $10 place near my office.

I really wanted to take a photo, but was shy, hence the distance and inferior quality... probably shaky cos I couldn't stop giggling too!

Stocks

2008-01-07T20:11:00.000+08:00

Pretty interesting article on prediction of the US / global economy / markets for 2008 - the guy tries to come up with 20 possible improbable events in 2008, which historically have a 20% to almost 50% chance of happening.

Some of them (1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 12, 13 and 20) don't look so improbable to me actually...

:(

2008-01-07T13:47:00.001+08:00

Was supposed to have a work trip to Sydney, but the location has been changed to some other place in Australia... there does my chance to take the A380! :o(

Riders Cafe II

2008-01-06T21:31:00.001+08:00

Went to Riders Cafe again! This time for dinner, and with M&M... finally, a couple of photos:

By day

By night

Exterior

Riders Cafe

2008-01-05T17:46:00.000+08:00

Finally got round to doing lunch at Riders Cafe today - a friend had told me about it when her uncle's family were planning to open that establishment, and it sounded like a darned good idea.

I had driven past the building several times in the past back around 2001 maybe, when I was going to the driving range down the road, admiringly seeing the Westerners lounging around there (Bukit Timah Saddle Club) in the yellow-bathed lights whilst I was a poor fresh grad just starting off in life, and told myself that one day, I will be there - so here I was today :o)

Food's pretty ok - what I liked was that we showed up at 11:45am and were still in time for breakfast, which are served on weekends till 2pm. Needless to say, I got the eggs benedict, and OM got the mushroom pasta, which both turned out pretty well. We also managed to get 1 of the tables on the verandah overlooking the stables (not really a pretty sight tho), which was nice and windy. Was nice and quiet, no one / kids making lotsa noise, and with only 5 or so out of the 15 tables occupied throughout the time we were there.

Maybe what I liked most was the fact that the place is clearly lovingly operated (the coasters have a horseshoe chopped on them, which you can see were manually done using a rubber stamp), and does not try to be pretentious or anything that it really isn't. Not to mention that the prices are much more attractive that that place next door to it, which is nice, but well...

Maiden

2008-01-02T09:39:00.000+08:00

My maiden foray into the stock market in 2008 - a very modest 2 lots of Yanzijiang for $1.99.. let's see!

Giving

2007-12-30T15:47:00.000+08:00

Was recently told about this site, where you can be your own micro-finance lender to people in need of small(ish) amounts of money to get their business / lives going in needy parts of the world.

For an amount as little as USD25 (which you can remit using your credit card), you can be 1 of the lenders to someone to set up a shop, make a difference with his current plot of farmland by buying efficient equipment, etc. I'd be the first to say that I was rather skeptical initially, but ~~if Oprah Winfrey says it's good, it can't possibly be bad right?~~ when you look at the repayment record on the loans in their website, it's quite heartening!

There weren't many borrowers to choose from when I logged in (because of the amount of publicity the site has gotten recently), but I've put in a small amount to help set up an electronics store in Iraq.

See if you can help!

Beijing photos

2007-12-29T22:18:00.000+08:00

Scary eh?

Zipline - ain't me

Da Dong - peking duck and other yummy dishes

Real classy!

Beijing chapter of the Polar Bear Club, I guess... we saw some of them after the emerge from the swim... the testicles and dicks definitely shrank from the cold :D

As I said, nicest SGD110/night room I've stayed in

Beijing

2007-12-29T17:50:00.000+08:00

Was in Beijing on holiday this past week, and it was great!

Stayed at the Park Plaza Wangfujing, which has a great location in Wangfujing where a lot of the shopping is, and is relatively near to the attractions like the Forbidden City. Nicest SGD110 hotel I've ever stayed, and you can get this rate directly from their website.

Needless to say, we went to climb the great wall - the initial plan was to do the 4 hour hike from Jingshanling to Simatai, but there was a (relatively un-exercised) girl amongst us, and considering that it had snowed the week before, we decided to do the less strenuous stretch eastwards from Simatai instead, which was still pretty nice. Took the rickety cable car up to the 8th (out of 12) tower, and was immediately accosted by 1 "personal assistant" in the form of the local villagers for each one of us, on the pretext that the climb would be dangerous and we would need someone with "local knowledge" to guide us, but it was amply clear that they had picture books / t-shirts / models of the great wall in their bags.

Apart from our "PA"s, it was nice that we only bumped into around 15 other people during our 3 hours on the wall, as compared to the horror stories you hear about Badaling and Mutianyu. At the 2nd tower on the way down, you can take the flying fox zipline, which we did - the first 10 seconds are exciting, but after that you only start hoping and praying that the line doesn't break and plunge you into the icy depths below :D

At the foot of the zipline, there was a frozen lake with a layer of snow, and we had the most fun for 30 minutes, including our own waltz-es skating on the ice, me splitting my pants, and a friend's futile attempts to make a snow angel. Will post the videos if they are sufficiently anonymous.

We got a driver to bring us to the great wall and back, and he was top class in terms of service and all. Email me if anyone ever wants his contacts.

And I had 1 of the 5 nicest Chinese meals in my life in Beijing! We went to Dadong (someone else's photos here) on the recommendation that their Peking duck as 1 of the best in Beijing, but whilst we all felt that we've tasted many better versions back in Singapore, the other dishes were truly inspiring - have never ever tasted such sweet bamboo shoots, and totally flaky flash-fried vegetable leaves for example. Best part? Cost only $40 per person for 6 dishes.

The other good meal we had was Ke Jia Cai next to Qianhai, which has splendid Hakka food, including mei(2) cai(4) kou(4) rou(4) and lotsa piping hot stews, which was just what we needed after hours of the crazy cold...

All in all, a pretty nice trip, and if nothing else, another tick in my fairly short list of places I wanna visit in China - what remains is Xi'an (which I'll try to do on an overnight train the next time I have a business trip in Beijing) and maybe the train to Lhasa.

St. Regis

2007-12-29T17:34:00.000+08:00

If you were wondering what it looks like inside a room at the St. Regis Singapore, here you go!

Too bad the views are a bit yucky.

Waiting for someone to start writing reviews of the food establishments there.. they look good!

Paris photos

2007-12-23T02:41:00.001+08:00

Winnie and friends speak French... also, the look of the cartoon characters are different from those in our days

Bleak winter morning

There's something lovely about clear winter skies... if I were the guy who had to transport / pull this back to Paris from Egypt, I'd be cursing and swearing for years and years...

Do people try to steal / scrape off the gold in all the monuments?

Ile de la Cite is probably my favourite area in all of Paris - this is facing west

and this is facing east at Place Dauphine - the photo doesn't do justice to the tranquility and beauty of the place

Saint Chapelle... the panels pretty much contain most of the stories in the Bible

C'est magnifique! Had to pay for them on my own dime, so I only bought 6 for personal consumption :D

A kiss for the first person to guess where this is.

Sleeping in the presence of greatness! Actually I was guilty of the same...

So drama...

Paris

2007-12-23T02:16:00.000+08:00

When I started work in the present company, and heck, until some 1 month ago, I would never have expected that I would get a work trip to Paris, but it happened!

Extended for 2 days on my own dime, but apart from that, all other expenses were paid for by the company, including some mighty fine Angelina hot chocolate (I paid for the Laduree macarons myself though :()

Have never been to Paris before, and it was truly amazing! Probably a cliche many times over, but when you see for the first time the Eiffel Tower standing out in the gap between buildings on the Metro, it suddenly dawns upon you that you are in a truly like-no-other kinda place.

Anyways, some personal (and therefore subjective observations):

Musee D'Orsay kicks Louvre's ass! (although now I know the meaning of "cour Marly" here)
The Paris Museum Pass rocks, especially if you have a short attention span like me and want to see more places without the pain of paying full fare for some short visits
It's probably off most people's 3-day trip in Paris, but the Pantheon was nice, if nothing else then because of the Foucault's Pendulum, the quietness, and the surrounding university premises - it's nice to see and feel the "I am going to change the world" vibe of the can-make-it University of Paris students, and the courtyard in the faculty of law with the bikes and all was nice too.
Rubber wheels on the Metro are fantastic - we should consider getting some of them things...
I cannot survive for more than 2 days on breakfasts without eggs and meat.

Photos to follow!

...

2007-12-10T21:10:00.000+08:00

I really hope our government knows what the hell they are doing with our money

I love giraffes

2007-12-09T15:16:00.001+08:00

Link

Chickin

2007-12-08T10:51:00.000+08:00

Was told by my colleagues from another office on Tuesday that I was to be in Haikou for a meeting on Friday morning. Had absolutely no idea where Haikou was!

The ~~assholes~~colleagues didn't tell me that the meeting was only for 3 hours, and that they would be leaving the same afternoon; because the are few flights between the 2 places, and the last minute nature of the meeting, I had to connect through Guangzhou on Thursday and Saturday... there is ABSOLUTELY nothing to do in Haikou! I walked into the shopping mall near the hotel yesterday afternoon, and there were less than 10 shoppers (more than 30 retail staff though) in a mall the size of, say, Palais Renaissance! How many people are going to buy RMB2050 Mont Blanc wallets?

I am glad to report that there is Hainanese chicken rice in Hainan, albeit I only saw it at the Meritus Mandarin hotel, which in any case also runs the Mandarin Oriental in Singapore selling the same dish :D

My momma hates me

2007-11-24T13:17:00.001+08:00

See anything funny about the above pic? The remisier is called "Annie Ho Ann Nee"! Good grief...

2007-11-23T13:18:00.001+08:00

I was so bored with Tampa that I decided to take the 7am flight out of Tampa to NY instead of the 6+pm one as originally scheduled, in order to spend a day in NYC... which turned out to be a wonderful decision! But not without a few small problems - the corporate travel agent told me that there was a good chance my bags would get lost if I left them in the care of Continental / Newark airport for more than a couple of hours whilst waiting for the connecting flight, and there are no more left-luggage facilities in the airport, so I had to book the cheapest car possible at the airport to rent for a day to dump my bags in the meantime - I didnt even get to start the engine of the car until I got back in the evening, when I drove all of 80m just to return it...

Once that was done, it was really easy - NJ transit train to NY Penn station. Once you step out of the train station, it's Macy's! Not that I bought anything there.. but it's amazing that it's only my 3rd time in NYC, but I could remember the way to get to quite a lot of the places... went east, past H&M and the main Old Nacy store, then NY Public Library (and the park next to it), and to Grand Central Terminal where a finally managed to get a free map.

Ta-pao-ed lunch at Grand Central, and then walked to Central Park to sit on the grass for lunch and read the Sunday papers... had a squirrel eye my food from 2m away, but when I threw him some crumbs, he deigned it not sufficiently fit for his consumption...

And what else better to do after lunch then a nap? Walked to the Oval, sat down leaning against a tree, and I actually fell asleep for 90 min! That was a really surreal feeling, for I wasn't even planning to be in NYC up to just a few days before, and here I was wasting time sleeping, but yet at some of the nicest places possible... Plenty of Chinese-ethnic couples taking their wedding photos at Central Park - guess it's just 1 of those things us Chinese like to do...

View from lunch spot

1 of the 3 ice-skating rinks I saw - this was at the park next to NY Public Library, and the other 2 were at Rockefeller and Central Park.

Tampa - part 2

2007-11-21T14:14:00.001+08:00

I stand corrected on the post below; the most exciting moment in the Tampa trip was when we a few of us who are involved in shipping matters visited our vessel which happened to be in port then - various parts of the vessel had calendars of nekkid / hard-core pictures, and it was hilarious seeing how, upon realising that 1 of the guests was an elegant looking lady whenever we entered a new area of the vessel, the crew there would try to stand in front of the calendars so as to block them from sight.

Tampa

2007-11-21T13:41:00.001+08:00

I've never been to Tampa before, so was looking forward to our global legal team meeting there quite a bit. Unfortunately, I needed to be in India before the trip, and my admin person gave me a guilt trip about changing the flights and incurring extra charges because the fares have gone up since the ticket was booked, etc.

Turned out it was just as well, since the place was darned boring (unless I was prepared to take a car and drive to Orlando / the east coast for Disneyworld, the Kennedy Space Centre, etc. Tampa only has 2 malls worth talking about, and the other attractions (such as Ybor City) are just lame...

In fact, come to think of it, the highlight of the trip was Westin's Heavenly Bed, which I must say is amazing..

View from the hotel room

The CMI mall at Ybor City

Eeendia

2007-11-20T10:48:00.000+08:00

Wow, it's been eons since i wrote something.. a little tired to write much, plus nothing much has happened apart from work...

But I leave you some photos! We usually stay at a nice hotel in the suburbs when we are in Mumbai, but this time, because group CEO was visiting, we got to stay in the main part of the city, and where else but at the Taj Mahal Palace...

View from the balcony of the room - feels like it could be somewhere in Europe, until you see the massive bird shits on the balcony walls, and the language being spoken from underneath you :D

Too lazy to rotate the photo... if you crane your neck to the right, that's the sigh from outside my room... she's a grand old lady alright...

Now crane your neck to the left...

This is where I get breakfast every morning... and good English afternoon tea, with the cut lemons for the tea wrapped in their individual "tea-bags" so that the seeds do not drop into the tea upon squeezing..

At Elephanta Island - guess someone really likes potato chips

If this ain't love, I don't know what is...

First Growth

2007-10-31T21:20:00.001+08:00

Had to go to Crystal Wines today to pick up some (cheap-ish) wines which I ordered some time ago but never got round to picking up. Whilst waiting for them to take out what I had ordered, an ah pek in short sleeve shirts, "Crocodile" pants and slippers walked in, flipped casually through the price list, and asked for 6 bottles of 2000 Haut Brion.

That's a cool SGD10,000! I didn't stick around to see what happened thereafter, but imagine carrying SGD10,000 worth of wine in 1 hand, flip-flop-ing all the way home... maybe he stopped by at Cold Storage on the way back and bought a loaf of Gardenia too... or a packet of chicken rice... that would be hilarious :D

Power 98

2007-10-31T21:16:00.000+08:00

Power 98 FM turned 13 today... which reminds me, a few JC classmates and I used to own the small Sony FM receivers back in 1993 / 1994, and I clearly recall listening to their test transmissions, where they played the best songs without any DJ speaking... hard to believe that's 13 years ago..

Just this past week, I managed to find 2 JC classmates on Facebook!

PB&J

2007-10-29T21:52:00.000+08:00

This is most certainly the best love story on tv right now... maybe this ain't the best youtube video on PB&J, but I love Mika's Happy Ending, particularly the woman singing the chorus!