New Fish Tank

My fish tank in living leaks.  So I go to Nanyang Seaview to buy a new tank and I also saw a light for marine aquarium and decide to buy it as well.  The light is expensive at $50.  The new tank is very clear and blue light with white light is bright, very bright.  The LED lamp is quite powerful and hot when in use.

Now I have a wonderful new marine aquarium that looks quite professional.  The total system less than $100.  Best of all my fishes are free!  Free from the Punggol Sea. 

VCR

I was clearing up my work area and throw away a bunch of stuff including one DVR.  I feel bad that my maid throw away my VCR.  Now some of my priceless tapes are useless as VCR are no longer available.  I feel so bad and upset over this loss.

Durians Hot!

We went to the wet market/hawker center to buy our fix of durians.  There are 3 vendors and all doing roaring business.  I went to my father-in-law's regular vendor.  He has become my approved supplier.  He is so busy doing lot of business.  Long queue and wait to get our durians.  I like D13 and so bought 5kgs worth.  The seeds are easily stored in two plastic containers.  All this at the price of $30.  For RM80, we will be able to get a durian feast.  I remember when I go to KL for meeting, one of the highlights for my team is durian feast.  My manager has a approved supplier as well.  This approved supplier will give us good quality durians of different varieties.  It was really nice to see the team enjoying good durians.

Vegetarian Dinner

I invited my father-in-law and mother-in-law for dinner.  They are strict vegetarian.  They pick the place.  It is in a coffee shop where the claypot rice is.  If you do not know the claypot rice, it is along the stretch of road where the library is and then Jack's Place.  The coffee shop is before the defunct movie theatre.  The food is not bad but full of msg.  I feel thirsty after the meal.  I think the claypot rice will be a better choice.  The veg zichar is quite popular and very busy.  There must be many vegetarians living in AMK.

My Friend Had a Heart Attack

I have very few close friends.  Slowly as we marry and have families, one by one dropped off as we are busy raising our family.  At first, we still meet up during Chinese New Year.  But slowly even this once a year meet up is dropped off. 

Recently, we called to get some information that he revealed he had a heart attack.  He said he wake up in the middle of the night to pass motion and felt the symptons.  So he called for the ambulance.  His parents were sleeping in the bedroom.  He just go with the ambulance by himself.  His parents are old, one has dementia.  So the ambulance brought him to Tan Tock Seng.  The treatment was fast.  They wheel him to do angiogram and immediately insert a stent in one coronary artery that is 100% blocked.  He has another artery that is 30% occlusion.  Now he is on concur and statins. 

Subsequently, I read an article in New York Times about death rate due to heart attacks has been declining.  There is a guideline on treating heart attack victims with speed.  So the cardiologists on standby stayed in a hotel nearby.  One cardiologist in the hospital at all time.  There are cases where backup cardiologists are called in when more than one patient are in at the same time.  This explains why my friend was treated immediately by a cardiologist in the middle of the night.

It is a good protocol as my friend now leads a normal life albeit with aspirin and other pills for the rest of his life.  Before, he will have live with a heart at 30% capacity or less limiting his abilities to do anything physically demanding activities other than basic walking.

Kudos to the Heart Attack Protocol!!

Lazy to Write

The muggy humid heat is causing me not to write.  I shut my computer early and go to the bedroom and switch on the aircond.  This small act actually will increase my carbon footprint causing our Mother Earth to heat up further. 

The water and energy consumption does go up.  In the news, in Pakistan more than 2000 has died of heatstroke.  Global warming is starting to keep humanity growth in check. 

This is big picture look.  On a personal scale, we are living at 1 degree North of the Equator.  It is hot and humid all year round.  Living a cooler country will reduce our carbon footprint.  However, during winter we will need heat.

Living in a cooler climate, I will be able to write more frequently and be productive.  Humans are able to survive on a narrow range of temperature, so do most living things.  The Straits Times is publishing articles on the mass extinction of species.  So are we reaching a tipping point?  Can we survive the future?

Another Sweltering Day

In the news, heatwave is killing Pakistanis.  We are lucky to be living in a country where we have enough electricity and water system works.  I ate 2 cups of ice cream.  Yes, cups with about 3 to 4 scoops.  My favorite is Bulla because it is made with real milk and the price is good.  I had late breakfast and lunch.  So my weight will go up with all the snacking in-between.

I lost my hermit crab in the aquarium.  It is unusual as the hermit crab has been there for a few weeks.  So I don't know how it can escape.  Maybe the water is too hot and it found a way to get out.

My internet is spotty and I have to get new homeplug to get better transmission.  The homeplug deteriorates after a few months.

Hot Hot Day

Summer is here.  I am drowning in the humidity.  It is so hard to be productive.  So nice to be in aircond comfort if available.  Unfortunately, I am not paid for the utility plus I like to save energy.  So I am using my solar powered fan when I am working.  I hope cool weather come soon.  It is another two to three months. 

A Lovely Day

I was up early and went to the wet market to drink tea.  The rest of the family sleep in and we go to Imperial Treasure for lunch.  After lunch, we have to go to Far East Shopping Center to pick up B3's school uniform.  I explore the place again.  The Shaslik Resturant is still there.  Many maid agencies are there as well.  My surprise was to see Altas Chiropractor.  Altas was in Capitol before the renovation.  I thought it moved to another location.  It must have moved again to Far East Shopping Center.

I have a leisurely afternoon and nap at the poolside.  After nap, it is riding in the PCN.  It is not fun as the PCN is very crowded and have to keep avoiding people.  We had homecooked meal and take a walking trip to the mall.  This conclude the relaxing Sunday.

AMK Market

I like to go to the market early in the morning.  The hive of activities of hawker preparing food, green grocers arranging their vegetables, fishmongers bring in huge boxes of seafood packed in crushed ice, dry sundry stalls moving out the shelves in the tiny space of their shops, early birds like me drinking their choice of caffeine some with breakfast of fried beehoon or fishball noodle.  The mundane sights and routines of everyday is peaceful existence.

Charcoal Grill BBQ

I invited my siblings for dinner and decided on charcoal grill.  It takes a long time to do the grill.  I should buy the stainless grill as my current grill is too small and take long time.  I enjoys the process of cooking.  So I am always at the fire doing the grill.  It is fun to have them gathering over to talk.  The cooking process took a long time.  From 5pm to almost 8pm.  So I will buy the bigger grill to short the time and also allow others to cook.  It is very nice to cook the food for my family.

I was up at 6am and go to market to buy the fresh meat and fish.  I am glad everyone enjoys the bbq meat.  My pickled cucumber was not so popular although they like it when they tasted it but the fact there are plenty left is the true indicator of the popularity.

My sister is having toothache and need a dentist.  She is worried about the cost at $1,500 just for root canal.  It is quite expensive nowadays.  I know it used to cost $500 and today the price gone up 3X!!

Body at Punggol Point

This morning I cycled in PCN and make a loop.  I have not done so for a few weeks now as my new hobby is net fishing.  Just before the Seafood Center, there are several police cars and a tent with POLICE proclaimed loudly.  I notice a brand new white van with sign Crime Scene Investigation.  I thought it may be murder since it requires the service of CSI. 

In the afternoon, I went to Punggol Jetty to catch fish and ask the Immigration Police.  He says it is an Indonesian who fell off the ship two days ago.  I told him the body looked fat.  He says it is bloated up after two days. 

This evening every thing look normal with families, joggers and people just out to relax and past time.

Luo Han Fish Lookalike

Today, I caught big fish, I mean big compare to the small fishes I scoop up.  The size is about 3 inches.  This fish look like a Luohan fish.  I got lucky.  He who hesitates is lost...so I just used the net without waiting for it to get nearer and caught it.  It turned red in colour inside when I put it in the bottle.  It was still alive when I put it in my saltwater aquarium.  But later it died.  It is fairly big and I do not know if my arowana will ignore it like a couple of large fishes I put in before.  This time it go for it and tries to eat it.  It is a challenge as the fish is bigger than it mouth.  I am glad the luohan fish did not die in vain.  It is fresh food for my arowana.  My arowana is feasting on fresh seafood nowaday. 

Satay Bee Hoon

I have a late lunch as my meeting is from noon to 3pm and actually run way over.  After my meeting, I scoot over to Chomp Chomp.  Most of the stalls are not open yet except for the satay beehoon, two satay stalls and a drink stall.  I explore the Indian coffeeshop and another coffee shop that is opposite Standard Chartered Bank.  Slim choice!  Finally, I decided to try the Satay Beehoon.  A serving is $4.  It is like a small snack as I am still hungry after finishing.  The cuttlefish is tender and crunchy.  I wish the satay sauce is more robust.  There is a prawn and a couple slice of tau pok.  Overall, I will rate the Satay Beehoon above average.  I do not usually eat this dish and thus take my opinion with a grain of salt!

Anchovies

Low tide the water is full of floating rubbish.  There are many schools of fishes.  Today, I caught anchovies.  So it is different fishes from previous catch.  So it is interesting to be surprised by the different types of fishes in Punggol Sea.  I am happy with the richness of our sea.

Electrical Tape Alone is Not Good Enough

I fixed up a new water pump and UV light to clear the water.  I used an extension wire and strip the wires and twisted the copper together and tape it up with electrical insulation tape.  It rained and the circuit breaker tripped.  I got an electric shock while troubleshooting the water pump.  So I took out the tape and strong burn smell hits me.  I found the wires are all burnt.  So water must have entered.  I have to cut out all the burnt wires and re-stripped them and twist them together again.  However, this time, I use the electrical connectors from Canada.  I hope it last longer.  With the connectors, the seal is much better.

"Fishing" at Punggol Beach with B1 and B3

B2 went to work.  B1 and B3 decides to follow me on my fishing trip.  We caught a number of small fishes.  B1 was eyeing a big fish.  Unfortunately, he was unable to go near this fish.  We had good fun and enjoys our outing.  My arowana has a good meal when we return home.

I also brought back a fairly large slug which two aunties asked me what it was.  They are intrigue by the creatures on the shore.  The slug is like a abalone without shell.  I also noticed that the goby fish I put in the saltwater tank outside is inside my pond.  So it may have escape and decide to live in freshwater.

Durian Season

Look like durian is back in season.  Price is still quite high.  I expect it to go down soon.  The "Cat Mountain King" aka maoshan wang was $30/kg a couple days ago and is now at $15/kg.  The price is still very high.  One durian is more than $30 and you get only 10 seeds or less.  The other type of durian is going for $20 for 3.  So may be a better deal.

Durian has high calories.  I am price sensitive and will wait for price drop before buying.  It is nice to see the thornly fruit again.

Free Fun

I love the fun of catching fishes and shrimps from the open sea.  It is not exactly free as I have to purchase fishing nets.  Also my bicycle is all rusty as the sea water spill onto the rear wheel and drive chain.  I love the fact I do not need to pay for $X for y hours.  I can go any time and not worry about peak hours.  Only problem is sandfly bites which are nasty and leave permanent scars.

Today, I caught different types of small fishes.  So it is quite fun to have different fishes in the aquarium.

Hua Ting

I had working dinner in Hua Ting tonight.  The meal was excellent except for the black pork.  It is not so nice even though it was tender.  Carpark is free but the meal cost a bomb.  It is quite good food anyway.  I always enjoys Hua Ting meals.

Mt. KK

My family went to Mt KK for company outing before.  We took the van up.  There are some organised activities like walking along the suspension bridge which was very flimsy.  The bridge is built with aluminium ladders and planks of wood in the middle.  B3 was young and wifey still remembers this "adventure".  She always reminds me how dangerous the walk was.  With the tragedy, she is questioning why send kids to Mt KK which is very risky.  Although, it is act of God, there is no need to tempt the devil.

My position is we need to get out of our comfort zone.  However, I am not sure if at P6, kids should be handling such challenges without much preparations.  Maybe they did have preparations.  So the next step we need to have as a nation is resilience.  We must recover and learn from it.

My nephews are studying in this school and one of the classmates who come over to their home to play is gone.  It is shock.  My condolences.

Hawker Food

I love Japanese food especially the yakitori and tonkatsu.  But I love our hawker more.  So in the last two days, I ate Chicken Rice, Wanton Mee, Fried Kway Teow, Chinese Satay, Mee Rebus, Malay Satay and 8 Treasures Taiwan dessert.  I am such a glutton.  I am gaining back all the weight I lost.  In Japan, no sugared drink and plenty of walking since the most convenient and economical form of transport is trains and subways.  Walkalot everywhere.

Here, it is teh ci, teh halia and go by car to the hawker centers.  So the lifestyle is so much healthier in Japan.

Happy Memories of the Holiday

After spending one week of wonderful weather it back to humid home.  It is so nice to walk for long distances and hardly breaking into sweat.  Now I am perspiring while seated.  The humidity and heat is hard to get used to.  I was walking all day long in Osaka and Nagoya. 

 This holiday is enjoyable for the family.  It is much more fun when the yen is weak.  So now most of the resturant meals in Japan is cheaper than Singapore.  All except for the sushi lunch in the fish market in Osaka which cost about S$200.  The fresh and nice sashimi at value price is enjoyed by B1.  All 3 boys experienced McDonald's yes McDonald in Japan.  My boys had a wonderful time looking for and buying gifts for their friends and themselves.  I had a good time relaxing in the cafe with latte.

One thing I noticed is Japanese women did not improve their looks unlike their Korean counterparts.  I remember when I first travel in the 80's, their attractive level is quite similar.  Maybe Koreans are slightly better.  Now the Korean women have porcelain smooth skin where Japanese have blemishes and pimples which my boys pointed out to me.  Thinking back, I now realised I did not notice any of the plastic surgery or skin clinics which is everywhere in Seoul.

Random Thoughts on Nagoya and Fukoka

I am at Nagoya Airport penning my blog.  Nagoya is not a friendly town.  I feel we are in a small town and outsiders not welcome.  The superficial facade of Japanese courtesy is still there.  However, I do not feel any genuine warmth.  In fact, quite a few interactions it was quite hostile even though the polite gestures were there.  It seems like foreigners are distainful and should be out of their homes.  The food scene is poor but there are plenty of Starbucks (compared to big city Osaka).  I like the yakitori and the packaged cooked food of departmental stores.  Resturants seems to be very similar and not many streets food or kiosk with snacks.

In contrast, we rave so much about Fukoka that our friends decided to go and try see for themselves.  Our experience is Fukoka is so much more fun and warmer.  The sashimi and sushi were excellent.  The chefs even though do not understand a single word of what we said is very happy to custom our order to our taste with gestures and "doe so".  They even watch us put the food in our mouths to see our reactions and then laugh happily when they see we are enjoying the food they made.

Fukoka is a small town like Nagoya.  This is where comparison ends.  The demeanour of the folks in Fukoka is a contrast.  Yes!  Fukoka, we will go again!

Cool and Sunny

We are lucky today.  Yesterday, was raining all day and today it is bright and sunny.  Amazing change.  Like everything, we appreciate today far more since we had bad weather.  Otherwise I don't keep marvelling how wonderful today is. 

B3 and I went to the Electric Museum which is free.  It is quite interesting.  After the Electric Museum, we went to the Science Museum.  It is free for B3 and I have to pay on 400 yen.  Quite a good deal compared to Science Center.  The Science Museum has a lot of exhibits.  There is a huge tornado generator.  Both father and son had a wonderful time.

One thing I noticed is after lunch and dinner, I had running stomache.  It may be the cold tap water that was served.  I drank a lot of the water and I only realised now that it may be the water rather than the food.

Rain Rain

It is raining all day.  So we get wet while walking around town.  This reminds me of our times in Rome.  Our shoes got wet and it is cold.  B3 followed me to hotel.  He keep insisting on going back while I was browsing in Maruzen bookstore.  Maruzen has 7 floors of books in her own building in Nagoya.  Pretty amazing!  Although the shelves on English books are limited, I like to see what is essential stock for the little shelf space.  Usually, I have some of the books.  But there are others which I like to have but unfortunately, I have no more shelf space at home too. 

We are staying in Best Western Hotel and there is a Starbucks at the ground level.  B3 like the new flappuccino.  And he want a Venti and chocolate chunks cookie and I have a Caramel Machiato.  So our stop before going to our rooms is over 1,500 Yen.  

For dinner, we went to the yakitori resturant that we went last night.  I loved bbq meat.  This time I ordered a lot more food and our bill is almost doubled yesterday's!  But I enjoys the authentic flavors.  Only complain I have is the sauce and food is a little too salty.  After dinner, my boys bought sashimi again for snacks in their room.

My boys gained a lot of weight this trip.  This is an eating tour for us!

Sushi and Sashimi Discounted from Lo Everyday Price!

The sushi and sashimi in Japan are priced much lower than in Singapore.  The fishes are much fresher.  It must be volume and competition.  My boys loved to eat sushi and raw fish.  So they are having a good time especially the prices dropped during closing time.  Departmental stores closed at 8pm.  Basement 1 and 2 have a wide range of cooked food.  After 7pm, many cooked food and prepared sushi and sashimi boxes will go at a discount.  It starts at 20% and then go to 50%.  The sashimi that is priced about $40 will be about $23 in Japan.  At 50% discount it is only $10.  8pm Japan time is 7pm or dinner time for us.  So my boys are have a great time when it come to food.  I do not like raw fish and missed out the fun of a good deal.

Nagoya

This morning, we check out of our hotel in Osaka and take the bullet train to Nagoya.  After checking in, we took a walk along the main street of the hotel.  B1 remark that he is glad there are a lot less people.  In Osaka, there are so many people all the time.  During peak hour, it is very congested.  Nagoya is a small town.  All the big brands are here and plenty of Starbucks too.  But the feel is so different.  The people are not friendly to foreigners.  One legally blind and I say he is legally blind because he can see my wife standing and waiting for me to pay the resturant meal used his stick to hit her without any reason.  It is an awful start when we arrived in Nagoya.  There is no much to do here anyway.  So it was good we spent some time in Osaka.  It is a much nicer city to explore for city folks like us - window shopping and food hunting.

Redbean

In the land where I do not read the language, I depend on blogs for my reading pleasure and mind stimulation.  I decided to go to Redbean blog aka Chua Chin Leng.  I like his analysis of the Singapore Education system.  Singapore ranked top in worldwise tests for 14 and 15 years old.  Singaporeans grew up with unemployable skills set.  Foreigners create jobs for Singaporeans.  Interesting to highlight the paradox. 

Coming into Nagoya, we have to queue for more than an hour and half to get to immigration.  There are 5 immigration officers for Japanese but only two or three for foreigners even though the queue for foreigners is extremely long.  In Singapore before the electronic gantries, there were only two immigration officers for Singaporeans and at least 5 to 6 immigration officers for foreigners.  Yes, we want tourists at that time.  Today, we want foreigner workers.  Seem like we are obsessed with non-Singaporeans to create jobs for incapable and inept natives.  My cousin was married to a NUS PhD in Physics.  He is a lecturer in NUS but it discriminated at work as his PhD is from a Singapore University.  Made-in-Singapore means low quality, inferior product.

Exhausting Climb

Mummy is very tired from the trip.  Plenty of climbing up the stairs to see the deers.  Once you go into the reserve, she cannot leave the boys to come home herself.  So she was stuck there.  It is almost 6pm when I met them at Hashin foodcourt in basement.  We walkabout to look for a resturant to have dinner and settle on a ramen resturant.  The ramen is not even close the Ichiran.  We had Ichiran ramen for dinner last night and it was so so good!

We ordered too much food and almost could not finish.  Our boys are enjoying all the Japanese snacks.

Walking about Osaka Station

I have a good time walking about and around the train station.  It is nice to visit after so many years.  Many shops stayed and many shops have changed.  Resturants have also changed.  It is nice to renew my memories of this place.  My boys went to Nara to visit the parks and see the deers.  I do not want to travel too far.  I am glad I am back in my room to blog.  It is more relaxing for me this way.  The weather is warm, so it is easy and relaxing just to walk out.

It is good to come to a safe place where I can let the family go out on their own.  I am not sure if we are in Cape Town, I will be able to let them go by themselves.

Osaka Holiday

We took the red-eye to Nagoya.  It was very tough on the sleep pattern.  From Nagoya, we head straight to Osaka.  We can only check-in after 2pm although we arrived about half past 12.  So we went for lunch.  After lunch, we kill time at the shops.  We check-in at about 2:30pm.  Once we check-in, we fall asleep.  My boys were good.  They woke up to do the tourist stuff.  I slept right through and woke up at 11pm.  I read the papers I took from the aircraft.  At 2am Japan time, I went back to sleep and woke up this morning at 8am.  It is almost 15 hours of sleep in one day and night.  The bed is soft and uncomfortable.  I have backache all day long today.  The location of the hotel is very good as we are right at Osaka train station.  Plenty of tourists from Singapore and Malaysia in the same hotel.

It is great to bring the family to the place I usually go for work although I no longer covers Osaka.  I am glad see Daimaru, the Belgian wafer stall at the train station.  My family covers more ground than me as I only walked around the hotels I stayed in.  Some places brought back memories as I stayed in different hotels and had been there before.

My boys have a great time eating the whole street!  We keeping trying out different street food.  It is fun for them   We also buy sushi at discount just at closing time in Takashimaya.  They are happy to get good value.