Walking about Town

Walking about near the hotels I stayed in is usually my way of passing time and exercising.  University of Auckland is just nearby.  Plenty of foreign students.  The biggest pool may be Koreans.  I pass by loads of them.  I wish they are as good looking as the actors and actresses on the drama but no such luck.  Plenty of mainland Chinese as well.  Then the rest from faraway land speaking exotic languages.

It is easy to get Korean, Chinese and Thai food in resturants.  There are Indonesian, Japanese and Vietnamese food in food court.  So it is an amazing melting pot.  The shopping is poor would be an understatement.  It is appalling.  Very few shops mostly offering souvenirs, pearls and cheap jewellery.  There are plenty of cafes all well frequent by students.  A public library and Sky Mall which look like a casino.  People are still renting DVD here.  What a archaic town!

There are plenty of banks and tellers around.  So I feel lucky to be surround by money which I do not own. 

Maybe because the weather is a lot colder and windy.  So it seems nicer to walk around Melbourne or Sydney.  Brisbane is just a country town.  People here live a good life.  They drink after work hours to socialise.  As I get to know Auckland better, I don't think I can retire here. 

Auckland vs Sydney

Walking about in the late afternoon, I observed the women in Auckland does not seem to be as good looking as Sydney.  As one sociologist puts it, the more beautiful the women, the richer the society.  As the society becomes richer, women spent more money making themselves look good.  Maybe because the weather is colder and the women are in thicker clothings therefore do not have the ability to flaunt their figures.  Even the men looked better in Sydney than Auckland.  So it may be the wealth factor at work.

Auckland is like a university town with University of Auckland beside the town center.  Plenty of foreigners like Sydney- Koreans, Chinese, Indians and other exotic lands(exotic because I cannot decipher the language).  Plenty of tattooed men and women.  Natives are large!  So I see a lot of plus size compared to Australia.  Auckland is slow and is similar to Brisbane.  So I think it is back to Toronto for me in future.

Culture Shifts of Immigrants

Yesterday, I had lunch with my hosts.  We went to a Italian resturant.  I was glad they decided to order and share the food.  I like variety when I eat.  We ordered chicken caesar salad, bacon salmon pizza and fried seafood bowl. 

One of my host is a Kiwi working and living here in Australia.  The other is Hong Kong Chinese who moved to Australia at 10 years old.  The Kiwi is married to a Hong Kong girl who moved to New Zealand at about 10 or 11 as well.

As usual, we talk about things in general.  The Hong Kong Chinese girl who I shall refer to as Flo made a statement - what is rich?  She says if people go to her house, they says she is rich.  However, if they open up her clothing cupboard, she is poor.  She has plenty of things but very poor in clothing.  Interesting!  Flo compartmentize riches in different category of possessions.  How about money?  Flo agrees that many people will look at money as a measure of riches.  Flo is so Australian in her outlook.  Being the first generation immigrant, I expect her to have a lot of Hong Kong values passed from her parents.  Although I am making general statements of Hong Kong residents of pre-1997, it is generally true that Hong Kong residents are obsessed with making money.  During the 80's, my colleagues from HK are obsessed with making money.  So Flo is a surprise for me. 

Flo is keen to do a good job.  She works hard and she asked hard questions.  She drive the training session I had with the group.  I will be sweating bullets if not for the fact that I had personal experience in all the questions she asked.  Interestingly, Flo while driven did not show ambitions that most Hong Kongers had.  This is another virtue she acquired growing up in Australia.

Then Kim(not her real name), the wife of the Kiwi came to sign some legal papers to sell her property in New Zealand.  I have to ask Kim to join us.  She has her toddler girl with her.  The toddler is gorgeous.  She has big eyes and long eyelashes.  She has limited vocabulary but when she asked for food, she looked so adorable.  I was so happy to have a baby with us for lunch.  Kim is a Hong Kong girl as well.  She is so reserved and apologetic.  When I insisted that she eats, she asked for the menu.  I thought Kim did not like the food we ordered and wanted something different.  Then she asked her husband and her hubby says he will pay separately.  This is cultural shift for me.  We are sharing our food and why did she even think that she has to eat separately.  My inate culture is eating together is most important.  Who pays for the meal, we can worry about it later. 

When the meeting ended, the taxi that I booked did not come.  Worse is that I cannot get another taxi in as the taxi who took the booking is somewhere else and refuses to let go since it is a good fare.  So my Kiwi host drove me to a train station.  On the way we talked.  I learned that he lived in England for a couple of years.  At the age of 15, he has been mixing with Asians so he understand my surprise about his wife not eating our food.  He says he has a reverse culture shock when at the 23 when he just returned to New Zealand, his brother invited him to have a meal with some friends.  At the end of the meal each calculated his share and paid the bill. He had not split bills with his own friends for many years.

This is interesting learning for me.  Now that my boys grew up in Singapore, they have the Singaporean culture and outlook in life.  I wonder how much cultural tension I would have with them if we had continue to lived in Canada.

Walkabout

All I do is walkabout George Street.  The place is full of people.  I am glad to join the crowd.  Plenty of beautiful women and many down and out people too.  I feel sorry for them.  The down and out of men and I have not seen any woman yet.  Like other developed countries, there are people who fall through the cracks.  It is so much better in Canada.  The social safety covers everyone.  So no begging on the streets if I recall correctly. 

The weather is beautiful.  I wear a pair to walk so it is comfortable and relaxing.

Impression Changed

I always thought Sydney is better city to live as it is a bigger city.  This evening walking to Chinatown, I found that actually Melbourne is cheaper and has more variety.  It is very narrow definition of a good city but hey food for the stomach is a very very important criteria.  The food choices in Melbourne seems better than here.  So now I think maybe Sydney not be as good as I thought before. 

Tomorrow I will have a chance of exploring the city more.

First Bad Weather, Now Flight Delays

I come all the way to the airport with plenty of time and the bad weather I blogged about a few hours ago is affecting all the flights in and out of Melbourne and Sydney.  So I am stuck in the airport feeling tired and sleepy but cannot do anything other than wait.  I hope I get a chance to get to Sydney and have decent sleep.  Otherwise, I will be a wreck tomorrow for all day meeting and training.

The wind was very gusty and strong.  So I can understand why the aircraft will have a hard time taking off or landing.

Bad Weather in Melbourne

I have a one hour window which I thought I can go and enjoy Melbourne before I leave.  But no luck!  The rain was pouring and it is "horizontal rain".  It is so windy.  So I have to come back to my room and do blogging instead.  I am sorry I did not get the chance to explore the city and is stuck in the room getting ready for my next appointment.  I would have love to walk and exercise and feast my eyes on the sights of downtown Melbourne.  No luck!  I thought I could try out some tidbits or snacks the vendors may be able to offer. 

I hope Sydney is better.

Losing Track of Time

Travelling from one city to another every couple of days can be confusing.  I keep forgetting what day it is.  My host was confused about the date during last night's dinner.  I can understand because I am not sure what day it is today.  All I know is I have to keep checking so that I do not miss my appointments and flights.  It is so fast.  I do not realise tomorrow is Thursday. 

Downtown Melbourne is nice.  I understand what my wife always harp about.  The goods on the shelves are dated and behind time.  For latest fashions and books, cities in Asia seems ahead.  Maybe it is due to the size of the population.  The population in cities in Asia are so much bigger and therefore have the economy of scale to take in a broader range of products.

A Fruitful Day in Brisbane

I had a long day and I did not sleep well last night.  I had good dinner at night.  It is fillet steak 200gms.  I could not finish the steak although I ate up all the french fries and rocket salad.  Brisbane is a very slow city.  I like the University of Queensland.  The campus is huge and plenty of research going on.   I wished I am a student again.  Lots of beautiful people.  I think it is also the food and the air.  The physiques are optimum and firm for both sexes of young adults. 

I like the casual atmosphere of university.  Everyone is carrying books and plenty of cafes to sit and discuss intellectual pursuits.  I wish I am an expert in something so that I can work in a University as a Professor.

Quiet Brisbane

I landed in Brisbane.  The way to the hotel is so so quiet.  Everything is closed by 7pm!  I stayed in a hotel right beside the train station and only one or two bars are opened and 7-eleven.  Luckily, there is 7-eleven.  Otherwise you cannot get anything after 7pm in Brisbane.  My host tells me it is a country town really.  I am in total agreement.  It is going back to rural living.

Good Week

I had a good week.  It is nice to get a big order from a new customer and another customer paid up after numerous reminders and follow-ups.  I should not delve on work too much as it is boring to readers.  It feels good and I like to share my joys.  Joy shared is joy doubled.

Our lunch today is in Old Hong Kong at Chomp Chomp.  It is quite pricey but the food is "very Cantonese".  I would love to have other ethnic food but mummy always insist on Chinese.  So Old Hong Kong it is.  B1 was a little shock at the cost.  He is a very thrifty boy.  I am not sure if he is born this way or when he was growing up we were very tight on spending as we are still a young family with little disposable income.  He had toys but not as much as his baby brother.  So I think it may be growing up in a controlled and measured expenditure atmosphere makes him a much more thrifty boy than B2 and B3.  Anyway, I also think even though the food tasted good, it is not value for money.  Once is a long long while is fine as we should enjoy good food.

Tomorrow is travel day!  Must bring books to read.  Nowadays, I find writing actually quite relaxing too.  So I write too.  And it is fun to read my travelog especially in the train in a foreign land.

Hectic Day

It is a hectic day for B3.  He has to do practice papers, attend Chinese tuition and just working to prepare for exams under the watchful eyes of Mummy.  Daddy is laissez faire good at nagging and nothing else.  B3 will be totally out of control playing computer all day long.  Mummy should take the credit for all the successes in our boys have in future.  I wish I know how to help our boys to work toward a successful future.  I only know how to cut fruits after dinner and bbq meats for our meals.  Or do something I always enjoys i.e. buying my favorite snacks and other food items home for them to try.  I always remember eating nice snacks that my father brought back home.  Guess I am just passing on the tradition of bringing "famous snacks" home.

Friday's

I wonder if Friday's is still in Singapore.  It is in Seoul and quite good.  I like the food and atmosphere.  The bbq ribs is quite good.  The food is very good but sinful.  Good for the stomach but bad for the heart!   I am a food lover.  So it is hard to lose weight.

Since today is Friday and I am thinking what to write for my blog, I could only think of food.  Our dinner was simple fried beehoon as we ran out of food to cook.  It is nice to have simple meal with our boys.  Although I like B1 to go oversea for his studies, I am very happy with that we have dinner with all our 3 Bs every night.  I exaggerated!  Not every night but most nights.  It is a nice family gathering where we will have fruits or durian mooncakes.  We all have sweet tooth, so it can be ice cream and we just talk.  Tonight we spent time to go through Maths papers with B3. 

Life is good when the family is together.

Count Down to PSLE Exams

It is getting down to the wire.  Mummy is managing the timing and process tight.  All of us have our duties and all our activities have to be managed around B3 as his exams is getting near.  It is really stressful.  B3 is complaining but still following mummy's orders.  He find ways to sabotage as well.  He is quite adorable when he follows instructions.  Mummy even massage him so that he can feel being fuss over.

With this I am glad I am out of the house and out of the highly stressed environment.  I will have TV to keep me company for the next 3 weeks. 

Silver Anniversary

Today is our silver anniversary.  We celebrate by having a nice Chinese lunch at our favorite resturant, Hillman.  My boys noticed the place is patronised by Japanese only.  B3 was in school as PSLE is iminent.  B1 and B2 is with us.  A true Cantonese, mummy loves the cooking so much that she keeps praising the food.  Hillman is traditional Cantonese cuisine.  Other than lunch, the rest of day is just like any other day.  B3 comes home and have "paper chicken" and naan for snacks.  After which he has to do the papers to practise for his exams.

I also like the Pakistani food and takeaway Chicken Tikka.  I noticed this coffeeshop was reviewed by Wong Ah Yoke, the Straits Times food critic in 2009.  I ate there first time last week and found the food quite good.  I think once a food outlet had been reviewed, the standard must be quite high.

Busy Travelling for 3 Weeks

Next week onward, I will be on the road and in the aircraft for 3 weeks.  It is back to back travelling in Australia and New Zealand.  After that, it is to Taiwan.  We need to drum up more business and doing it in person is the best way.  I am excited about meeting up with customers.  This is the enjoyable part of my job.  I just do not enjoy the long and tiring travel.  It is like a love-hate relationship. 

It is fun meeting people and friends in different countries and enjoying the local food.  But going through security and waiting in the airports are no fun.  

Creative Thai

 

This video is so touching.  The advertisements in Thailand are very creative, funny or poignant.  Please click and see for yourself why it is so popular.

The Wonder of Beauty

This short article by Richard Lim is write so well.  The introduction is a regular day on a routine of going down to basement car park after dental appointment he saw a beautiful woman.  After that he quoted different authors and their prose on beauty.  It is amazing read.  It shows he read widely and remember what he reads to be able to research and pull out all the right quotations.  I am not familiar with all the authors he mentioned.  I guess I read different genre.  I wonder how he can read so widely.  I always enjoys reading. But I am not a good writer.  I do not research or quote as I write.  It is what is called popular writing.  I need to become an essayist and research and write on a topic. 

Anyway, this is my public diary and it is getting me disciplined to write every day.  I am used to writing now.  I just need to improve everyday and get better everyday.

PSLE Stress

PSLE is in two weeks.  Mummy is working B3 on the practice papers.  B3 is tired and stressed.  There are many problems that he still cannot solved in Maths.  I wonder how he is going to do in exams.  He still has English, Chinese and Science to go.  I hope he can do well to go to a good school.  Plenty of questions are quite complicated although solvable and needs time and intense thinking.  I wonder how the kids can perform under time constraints and pressure.  It is terrible way of assessing a kid's abilities.

I am stressed by the exams too as I have to help figure out the problems.

Eye Bleeding

My left eye is bleeding.  I have no idea as there is no symptoms - no itch, no pain, nothing.  Vision still the same.  The reason why my wife notices is because we visit my neighbour in the hospital after her cataract operation.  This makes her notices my eye problem.  I have a eye lash stuck under my eyelid.  Other than that it is just normal due to my sensitivity to allergens.  I have vitamin C and eye drops.  It is so expensive to see a specialist.

Life in a Circle

My ex-colleague in Canada has relocated to her birthplace in Hong Kong.  On her facebook, she writes she is registering her twin girls to her alma mater Primary school and found some of the teachers who taught her are still there!!  The teachers must be very young when they taught her she wrote.  I commented that she is a young mother:) 

This incident reminds me of the circle of life.  After we are born, we grow up and go to school and then to work.  Get married and have kids.  Our kids go to school and the cycle continues. 

Fishing!

B3 and I went fishing.  But longkang fishing.  We have a net and catch small fishes from the pond in the PCN.  It is travelling back in time.  My boy had a great time.  I started it off by bringing the fishes yesterday.  He is intrigued and very interested as there is variety of fishes.  Today, he caught all the fishes.  We even have a baby soon hock in our pond.  It is interesting to have an ecosystem at home.

Taxi Stories

Think life as a taxi driver is ho-hum?  Think again. Taxi drivers are blogging their on the fares and rides.  Many have interesting stories.  They are looking at the bright side of things considering most lost their jobs and turn to driving taxi to earn a living.  Many interesting encounters and not so interesting.  Just like my life.  I am just an average Joe or in Singlish Ah Huat or Ah Beng.  I just blog about the books I read and my daily routines.  I do not meet lots of people nor do I have an adventurous life.  I do significant amount travel for work.  It is just meetings and wine and dine. 

Many bloggers have special themes.  Food is universal favorite especially to Singaporeans.  Just google taxi blogs and a whole bunch will show up.

Hell's Corner

The tale is gripping at the end.  The master storyteller keep it at is intense pace at the end.  It was hard to put down.  I am glad I read fiction again although it can be time consuming as I keep bringing the book everywhere on the weekend.  The twist is interesting as well.  It is always the so-called "old man" in his sixties that is so attractive to exceeding capable women who are spies and double agent.  Also very gorgeous looking.  I like to be the protagonist.  Always the writer is a man and writing about his fantasies.  I, of course enjoys reading the dream of being a hero with plenty of gorgeous wonder women who is interested in me and I am not interested in them.  Holala!  What a wonderful dream because the women incapacitate strong burly bodyguards and yet so nice and tender to Oliver Stone. 

Eels

The heavy rain last night cause the eels to come out onto the track in the PCN.  I caught 3 live ones and put them on to my pond.  They immediately swim about and venture into the space where the arowana is and were eaten up.  Actually one keep coming out of the pond and into the soil.  The ants were attacking it, so I put it back into the pond.  Unfortunately, eels are not a pond dweller and keep venturing into the danger zone.  Of course it is a matter of time, the eel was eaten up.  It is very interesting.  Other small fishes know to avoid that part of the pond but not the eels.  They will keep going in circles around the edge of the pond and venturing into the danger zone for them

Kevin Rudd Lost!

On Wednesday, I put on my blog that I will place my bet on Kevin Rudd and I lost!  Tony Abbott won the election and is now going to be the Prime Minister of Australia.  What a bummer!  Anyway, this is really nothing to do with me except I will going to Australia in a week from now.  I will get to hear the views from the Aussies.

I hope Abbott is a good Prime Minister. 

Aching and Aching

My right jaw is aching like hell.  I took two super strength painkillers and it is still hurting.  The bone must be mending or maybe the food is causing issue.  It is really uncomfortable.  Luckily, it is not throbbing pain.  I do not know how much longer it take for my gum to heal. 

Teeth is so important and so expensive to fix nowadays.  When in pain, I think of the worse case scenario.

There an event going on in Bugis+.  It seem like the black guy is quite popular and the mall is crowded and the crowd all yell in unison.  It is something!  The energy is electric.  Unfortunately, B3 tuition is due and we have to leave the mall.

In-laws Dropped In

My parent-in-laws came to visit this evening.  They want to find out more about the prices of the industrial units they are looking at.  My mother-in-law will bring fruits and other small gifts.  It is her usual practice.  She will always bring something.  We do not bring anything when we go.  They are vegetarian and it can be sensitive to bring wrong kind of food.

We treat them with mooncakes and Chinese tea.  They also like the durian mooncake.  Both B1 and B2 are out.  B1 has a birthday party and B2 has school dinner at Swensen's.  So only the youngest grandson is home.

Reading a Book is different from Listening

I borrowed the book version Not a penny more, Not a penny less by Jeffrey Archer even though I have listened to the whole book.  I found that reading the print version is different.  There are certain part I noticed and realised I did not hear it on the audio version.  I am sure it is verbatim.  My attention span is distracted differently using sight vs using hearing.  Alot of time I am listening while exercising.  So my attention span do wanders.  I find I am more detailed with the print version.  Also it is easy to re-read whereas trying to go back to specific sections in audio tracks is quite challenging.  Flipping pages to find interesting snippets is much easier with print as I can scan very quickly and location the section and read slowly.

Now I find reading thrillers an enjoyable pastime.

Slowdown

Yes, business is slowing down.  It is worrying.  Currency crisis and unstable stock markets.  I am not so optimistic as in the beginning of the year.  Talking to other suppliers, they are saying the same thing.  The 2nd half is weak.  The slowdown happen in June July.  Now more and more sectors are hit.  Will the economy slowdown?  How many more workers will be retrench?
It is going to be a long uncertain road ahead.  I wonder what will our government do?  It is tough to deal with such uncertainty.

Australia is going for election.  Who will win?  I will place my bet on Kevin Rudd.  He is well known and has better public profile than his rival Tony Abbott.

Molar taken out

My gum has been bleeding excessively.  I went to look for my dentist and found the condition of my molar has deteriorated.  The bridge I had lasted for more than 30 years.  My dentist told me they usually last for 15 to 20 years.  I had the bridge replaced before.  So they think I had my money worth.  I still think dental treatment is very expensive.  Now a dental implant cost $5K per tooth.  Bridge is $1200.  So price of treatment has gone up but so have the ability to do more with our teeth.  I do not know.  Teeth is the most important asset.  Actually all our body parts are important assets.  Any one of the them is down can cost a lot of money for treatment or even maintain basic life.  So kidney failure means huge expense every month.  Or losing an arm or leg or whatever.  It is terrible.  Let's not delve on horrible stuff and focus on positive aspect of life.

Life is good when we help others and joyful when we have kids.  So live and let's live.

Magnificent Thunderstorm

After dinner, the sky opens.  Lots of incredibly brillant light flashes followed by thunderous claps.  The rain was so heavy that my backyard is flooded.  I was looking out to see the storm and my three boys joined me.  The sky is just grey and pink(due to electrical activity?)  I loved the lightnings.  They are wonders of nature.  The sky lit up with an awesome flash and then it is back to the grey sky again.  Now it is all quiet and peaceful.  The rain is good for my plants.  I just wished I have a way to capture the water for recycling. 

Eating More at Home

Seems like my appetite is back!!  I am eating a lot more than when I am in Bangkok.  Maybe the pamelo caused tummy upset.  I am eating a lot more and my weight will be creeping up again.  I also ate more fruits and have more fluids due to heat.  Food is wonderful in Thailand but my stomach is used to home cooked food.  Soup is very important and we had chicken soup that is white in colour and it tasted fabulous. 

All boys are home and we had lots of fruits after dinner - nectarines and loc sweet oranges.  The honey melon from Myanmar is very good too.  My boys eat more healthily when I am at home as mummy does not prepare fruits for them.  They get only carbo, protein and vegs. 

B3 and I tried to make toffee.  We boiled condensed milk for an hour.  It turned lightly brown and still smells like condensed milk rather than toffee.  We will need to redo our experiment.