Great Singapore Sales

GSS is on and looks quite successful in Takashimaya. Queues are long and never ending in all the cashier counters. I must say the economy looks like is strengthening. The stock market has gone up in the past few months. The future looks a brighter, a lot brighter.

When retails do well, there will be a pull through effect for the factories to get orders and increase production. This positive cycle will continue and gave all of us stronger future due to increased economic activities.

Amazing Thai Women

I think Thailand has the most beautiful women in the world. Thai women are slim with excellent proportions and the sweetest "kah" every time they answer. My heart always melt at their "kah", hands clasped together and bowing respectfully. They are so gentle and feminine. They are very exotic even for Asian like me. Maybe I am a half ang-mo(Caucasian).

I read that Russian women are beautiful, very beautiful. I doubt they can beat the Thai. Physically, Russians may be more attractive. Thai has a culture of polite, soft spoken temperament and respect. So they get my vote for the most beautiful woman on Earth.

Welcome, BT's Visitors

Thank you for dropping by, BT's visitors. I appreciate you visiting me when I am not well. It is very comforting all of you drop by. My visitor's log when up dramatically. I am feeling much better now. My throat is still sore and body weak. Day by day I am strengthening and will continue to record my improvements and then my life.

Parent-Teacher Meeting for my two youngers boys in the last two days. B2 is average in his performance and average in school. He is in Express Stream and desires to go Science Stream for his Secondary Three. However, his Maths is weak and may not be able to make it to Science.

B3 however has excellent feedback from his teachers. His weakness is Chinese. The 20 marks drop in Chinese cause him to drop to 5 position in class. His teacher is very happy with his performance and behaviour. So mummy reward him with a toy.

By the way, B2 is boy #2 and in Secondary Two and B3 is boy boy #3 and he is in Primary Two.

Dragon Boat Festival aka Rice Dumpling Day

Today is dragon boat festival in China. It is 5th day of 5th month in the lunar calendar. Commercial Rice dumplings is at peak price now. Many families still practise the tradition of making their own rice dumplings to pray. My family do not have this tradition. We are more Western in lifestyle. We celebrate Christmas, sometime we carryover from our life in Canada. We love Christmas time in Canada.

I can't even remember what this rice dumpling day is for. So much for my knowledge of Chinese tradition.

Powerful Flu

The flu bug I caught is very powerful. Usually flu last 5 to 7 days. This time it is much longer. My colleagues were together with me in Bangkok were sick as well. One landed in hospital in Shanghai. He is suffering from cough, headache and dehydration. Is the flu bug getting more virulent?

Our symptons are a lot more violent than usual. Or are we weaker today than before?

Good Morning!

I was very tired last night. Flu symptons hit me like a ton of bricks. All the sudden just do not feel good at all. Weak, dizzy, dehydrated, and the urge to lie down, I fell asleep as soon as my bed hit the pillow. Alas, sleep was interrupted by the need to go to the washroom at least 5 times last night. I drink a litre of soya bean milk before going to bed.

It is early and I am up. Throat is sore. It is not nice to be sick!

Difficult Teen

B2 is killing me with his rude and unreasonable behaviour. I have no idea how he turned into a monster just by reaching his teen. He is a difficult child growing up and now impossible. I am such a failure.

Slowly but Surely

Recovering from flu takes time. My "up" time has increased dramatically vs CRIB in medical speak (complete rest in bed:)). However, energy level drop very quickly and I tires out in 15 mins or less. The power of micro-organism. Like the movie, The War of the Worlds, Martians all powerful machines killing all Earthlings in their path succumb to Earth based viruses and Earth prevails and Martians all die of viral disease.

Flu is cause by virus which is just genetic material floating in the air, or on the surfaces our hands. Everything we touches, we both leave and pick up virus. Once a virus has a host, it become alive and multiply quickly into billions and trillions in matters of hours and days. This make the host sick and if weak, the host will be overcome i.e. dies. The medicine we get from the doctor is to relieves our symptons. Our body will form antibodies and fight the virus and kills them all eventually. In effect, our body will heals itself. Only recently, there is antiviral drug like Tamiflu.

Sleeping the Whole Day

I am not good at falling sick. I slept throughout the day and now feeling wide awake. The good thing is I am still able to blog unlike the past few days where I lost desire to eat or blog.

I realise my stomach is not reducing even though I do not have any appetite. I have plenty of stubborn fat. My weight drops to 86kgs. But today I am back at 87. Hard to lose and easy to gain.

Drinking plenty of fluids means going to the toilet every often. Yet I am dehydrated and have a "heavy" head. Heavy head is drowsy and throbbing but not really a headache. It is hard to explain. The feeling of general unwellness in the body. Sometimes even feel like dying. It is just a common flu and I have such nightmares!

I hope my body recovers soon and I am back to norm.

Down and Out

Sorry for not updating my blog in the past few days. I was down with flu. Tuesday night, I did not sleep well. I thought maybe it is the hotel bed. On Wednesday, my discomfort increase as the day wears on. By dinner time, I felt really bad and lost my appetite.

I bought some medicine from the Pharmacy. In Thailand, antibiotics can be bought without prescriptions. I had zithromax and a spray for my throat. The antibiotics do not work. I was coughing all night long and all my involuntary muscles are strained and in pain. I was shivering while my body is feverish. I felt like I am dying.

I returned home earlier than scheduled and went to see my family physician. I am feeling better now. I am so glad to be home.

While I am so sick, non of my boys asked how am I or do anything to make sure I am comfortable. I told my wife we should adopt a daughter so that we will have some one to care for us when we get old.

Warm and Humid Bangkok

First time for me to stay in Dusit Thani. It is in downtown and has easy access to Central World and Siam Paragon. MBK or Maboonkong is not as exciting as 20 years ago. Maybe my taste has changed. Kinokuniya is in Paragon and there is a 20% for business books.

Bangkok is warm and humid as usual. The pedestrian path which is five foot wide and only two feet for pedestrians. 3 feet taken by the numerous stores and hawkers selling snacks. There are plenty of potholes and work-in-progress repairs. Walking requires concentration on the footpath as well as avoiding people. It is also entertaining just to see the different merchandise and exotic food for sale.

B3, The Champion Catcher

B3 caught a few big mudskippers. He also caught quite a few baby crabs. We put them all in the tank for observation. It is literally full of life now. Hopefully, it become a ecosystem. It is wonderful to see the super tiny crabs wandering about the tank. They are like little puppies. There are lot of holes with the crabs burrowing into the mud. Good thing is we can observe some of the holes where the glass meets.

A Silver of Mangrove Swamp

This morning in the library, I browse through a couple of books on aquarium. One had instructions on making a brackish water aquarium. I had a inspiration. The mangrove swamp in SengKang will be gone in a couple of years. There are plans in place to make it into fresh water reservoir. So I am inspired to bring a tiny silver of the swamp back home to observe.

First I dug out a few small mangrove seedlings as instructed together with the mud. Pour sand at the bottom of the aquarium and add brackish water. The water level is low and the sand rise up above the water for mudskippers and crabs to have both water and land. B3, our youngest boy caught a few mudskippers and two baby crabs. We brought them home and make a tiny mangrove swamp terrarium. It is very interesting. I hope my terrarium works!

Asia, the growth engine

Demographics! This is what I learn from the book, The Great Depression Ahead by Harry Dent. Demographics cause this depression. 35 to 45 years are the economic drivers. They produce a lot of economic value-add and consume big ticket items like cars and houses. With houses, they will to equip themselves with other big ticket consumer durables like washing machines, tvs, computers, etc. Hmm! Makes a lot of sense to me.

The demographic study for China is China will grow old before growing rich. This is driven by the one child policy. When young population is smaller than the population age 65 and above, the economy will contract. House prices will drop. Is economy everything? Is money or wealth creation all that important. I wonder.

Indicators are showing Positive Signs

The news are reporting the economy slowdown has shown signs of recovery and turning around. This is wonderful news. Stock markets have been going up.

China shares are up, bank shares in Singapore are up as much as 50% in the last two weeks. Wished I have bought some shares earlier. Good thing is my shares that are underwater i.e. below cost is recovering. Although not above cost yet, it is far better than a couple of weeks ago.

I am more optimistic about the future and the economy.

Meditation CD

Today in Kinokuniya, I bought a Meditation CD. I had several cds on meditation and do not find them any good so far. This time is a totally different. The CD does not give any intruction. It is just sound of beating heart and metronome at theta brainwave rate. I will try out and see if this works out better for me. Meditation is the best way to deal with stress. However it is very tedious and hard to form a habit, at least for me. Wish me luck....

Soft Bed Stiff Back

Radisson Hotel in Shanghai has soft beds. The pillows are thin. Today during my chiropractice treatment, I complained my back is very stiff and sore. He complains I did not come consistently. I am not sure if I will continue. My back is has not improved much under treatment. In fact it got worse. I will have to keep my yoga exercises to strengthen my back.

I also realise the bed in Radisson Hotel is too soft for me. It cause my back to stiff and do not allow proper sleep and rest. Hard beds are godsend. It is easy to tell if the bed is giving problem. Getting up after meal and my back "locks", it is are clear indicator that the bed is too soft.

It is ironic soft cause stiff and inflict pain.

What a Day

B3 temperature run high this afternoon. He is listless and then he vomited all over me as I was carrying him. After a hot shower, we head straight to the hospital for a checkup. He had blood test and had negative for dengue antigen i.e. he is not infected with dengue fever.

The status yellow mean all visitors need to fill up contact information and get temperature checks for entry into hospital. We have been sent runing around as the system is changing all the time. Security is tight with only one entrance and exit.

I am glad B3 is having a normal flu. Still it is a nerve wracking and tiring wait at the hospital.

Home

It is nice to be back home again. I realise I forgot to write about the dust in Shanghai in my entry below. Shanghai is a cosmopolitan city. It is very dusty. Just walking out the street will dry my throat out. Also all the merchandise that I touch has a layer of dust. The dust level must be at an unhealthy level. In the malls, the dust settles on everything. I brought mask there for H1N1 flu but did not used as there are not many people with flu symptons out on the street. However I forgot to use the mask for dust.

I bet Shanghai residents will have high incident of respiratory diseases. Clean air smells so sweet. Relatively clean air that is.

Dust and More Dust

Taking a walk down memory lane. I took a walk along Nanjing Road East reliving all teh walks I used to do when I was Shanghai when I first come to China actively. Nowadays, I stayed in the hotel near People's Square which is right downtown. People's Square is very busy and commercial. It is full of offices, Capitaland building is right here with a mall on the lower floors and offices in the high floor. Nanjing Road East is more like Orchard Road in Singapore. Many hotels and malls along the street, high fashion and global premier brands dotted the malls. At night, street vendors are out. Now they are selling pirated books instead of DVDs. The books looked smaller than the original. I am not sure about the quality of the paper or printing. As they are all wrapped in plastic, browsing is not possible. At one-third the price, I guess it is not really necessary. Anyway, it is well-known bestsellers.

This is great. Intellectual properties at rock bottom price. By the way the books are all English, it seems like pirated Chinese book market has not developed yet.

Green

China is now home to more solar cell manufacturers than anywhere else in the world. There are many opportunities for my company though not as much as we like. Wind turbines are here but very small scales machines. In many ways, I feel solar and wind energy may be the way of the future. The way to reduce our carbon footprints and reduce global warming. I like the keep the our Earth for my future generations.

It can also be difficult with economic consideration conflicting with my altruistic desires. For example, hybrid cars are way too expensive. If the money I save in petrol cost is not sufficient to cover the capital cost, is it really "green". Maybe more energy inputs made hybrid cars more expensive. Maybe it is the economy of scale. If hybrid cars become more popular, then cost may come down.

I am now re-considering my decision to buy a hybrid car if I need to change my car.

Boom in Solar Energy

PV or Photovoltaic aka solar cells exhibition is humongous. 6 cavernous exhibition halls. Endless product display of different types of solar panels and supporting products.

Long Queue for Health Check

The queue is extremely long but moving. It took about 30 mins just to clear the health check station. After that everything is a breeze. Taking the Maglev is fast. 15mins for the ride and max of 15 mins wait. Shanghai is quite organised and well run. Reminds me of Singapore:))

The weather is very comfortable cool with clear sky. Air is dusty but not polluted. There are just people everywhere.

Shanghai, Here I Come

With the flu bug going around and increased security, work still have to go on. So I will be off tomorrow. I dreaded the increased in security and the extra long wait to clear from one station to another.

Whatever it is work still has to get done. So it is time to pack my bags and fly off to work.

Close to Nature

SengKang Garden attracts lots of visitors. There are lots of photography buffs who take pictures of bird's nests. The nests are quite unique. They are made of fresh grasses. My wife feels those nests are like bungalows. The nests are big and hanging nicely up in the gigantic tree, well-spaced out. It is really interesting.

In the afternoon of Labour Day, a group of radio control boats enthusiats are putting their speed boats to their paces. Meanwhile my sons and I discover loads of shellfish on the river banks. Unfortunately, the water is very dirty and smelly. There are also many crabs and mudskippers. Many different birds can be seen flying around other than the usual city birds such as common mynahs and sparrows.

We are really doing well as a city to have nature flourishing. Singapore is indeed a city in a garden.

All Well Ends Well

I am so glad that the old guards in AWARE is back. New Exco has "graciously" step down. Dana Lam is the new President. It is an interesting drama. Now the excitement is over. I am watching Talking Point in Channel News Asia where Eugene Tan, A/P of Law in SMU, Dana Lam, President Aware and Braema, Aware Member.

Watching Josie Lau, previously in Talking Point and now Dana Lam, I feel that Dana is a lot more steady and less emotional. Current Aware Exco is more open and transparent and even temperament. I wish her all the best for Aware.

Fantastic Shopping Hours

Borders is open till midnight Fridays and Saturdays. This is the first time I go to Borders for late night shopping. It is very vibrant in the store. Many browsers and the cashier's line is always there. So the extended hours works well for Borders. I think Borders is getting more competitive. Selection in Kino is extensive. However, only 20% discount is given during school holidays. However Borders gave 25% or 30% with additional 10% for members. List price is usually the same with minor differences if any.

So I am a price sensitive shopper as I have switch my allegiance to Borders recently.

Church of Our Saviour

Straits Times today reports "Pastor Hong says he is not anti-homosexual. He also said that the church would not allow its pulpit "to be used to intentionally teach anything that would arouse social tensions, divisions and unrest"... In the weekend sermon posted on the church's website, Pastor Hong urged the women in his flock to "be engaged" and support Ms Lau and "her sisters" at Aware."

Isn't the contradiction clear? With such a such hypocrite leader, it is now clear to me why many Christians are hypocrites. Very righteous humbugs indeed. Everything they do is for the good of others. Some Christians in their zeal to convert others would claim that even convicted murderers will go to heaven if they "accept" Christ.

If one can get away with murder, what regards or respect this person has for his fellow human? I wish Buddha is here to guide these Christians and teach them the Middle Way.