Shanghai

I spent a couple of days in Shanghai.  It is quite nice in a way.  I met another fellow Singaporean when checking out and he offered me to take a ride with him.  Originally, I declined as I had the returning maglev ticket.  I changed my mind so that we have each other company.  It was a win-win.  He has two girls and one boy.  His girls are doing well, one teaching in Oregon  as she has a PhD in Comparative Literature.  The other girl is in King's College in England.  I don't remember him talking about his boy.  Maybe his study is not good.  I shared with him about my three boys as well.  I guess he will remember B1 since he is in Law school.  I had an enjoyable homeward journey.

Shanghai Shanghai

Will be travelling to China tomorrow morning.  So no more blogging until I return which is Saturday.  So I do not have the chance to register my trip events.  I usually walk about the hotel.  I should go to Nanjing Road to take a walk there as I have not been there for long time since my hotel is now in different part of Shanghai.  I am lazy, I usually walk around the hotel vicinty rather than take train to go anywhere.

Naked Neck Chicken Soup

This morning, Mummy want to make chicken soup.  She reminded me not to chop it up.  I went to the wet market in Amk Ave 1 and 10 to drink tea and buy Omega eggs.  Then move on to the Ave 5 and 10 market to buy Naked Neck Chicken.  Sakura Chicken is $7.50 per kg.  Naked Neck is $8.50 per kg.  Sakura chickens are free from antibiotics.  Naked Neck are also free from antibiotics and has better tasting meat according to the vendor. 

Actually to boil soup, the meat are boiled to the point of tasteless.  So I am not sure if there is much difference between naked neck and Sakura.  Mummy spent the morning cleaning up the chicken and boiling the bones.  Then she put the chicken pieces to boil for the rest of the day.  She is very happy when B3 keep praising the soup.  He really enjoys the soup and has 3 helpings.  This makes Mummy so happy.  The chicken soup tastes like Essence of Chicken.  So I like it a lot too!

I do recommend Naked Neck Chicken as it makes our dinner very enjoyable.

Punggol Point Losing Fishermen

The catch must be bad nowadays.  There are less and less men doing fishing nowadays at Punggol Point.  Even the Cisco police tells me the catch is poor.  The men are doing recreational fishing so will not starve.  However, the joys of catching some good fishes is diminishing and therefore they are likely to fish somewhere else.  Usually, there is a group of 5 or 6.  These days, I see only one or two.  I wonder if the pollution is getting worse or the fishes are not reproducing as they declined due to overfishing by the commercial fishermen.  Luckily, the baby fishes are still plentiful and I could catch them for my arowana.

Family Lunch

My eldest sister organised a family lunch in Marche, Suntec City.  The price is at resturant level but self service.  It is quite popular with families with young kids.  So the resturant is very noisy.  We sat beside the spaghetti station and there are lots of smoke and cooking smells.  So we did not stick around for too long and go for a bit of shopping at the mall.  There are still some sections not occupied yet.  The mall does not seem to be exciting anymore.  I find Takashimaya more appealing.  I enjoys the Chinese resturants and the flagship Kino is there.  Then Lucky Plaza can give me local foods plus money changers are convenient for frequent traveller.

Catching Up on Sleep Debt

This morning, it is wonderful to wake up without the alarms.  I am a little surprise that I slept close to 10 hours.  I wonder how much sleep debt I have.  Also I have sleep apnea.  I measured myself before using the instruments I sold before.  I had a few hundred episodes every night and voice my concerns to the doctor that I sold my machines to.  He is nonchalant and not concerns at all.  He said his patients has thousands of episodes and told me not to worry.  I think the field is still new at that time.  Today, the doctors who specialised in sleep study are more sophisticated and have better training and research. 

It is expensive to treat sleep apnea.  We have to sleep in the sleep lab.  A technician will be there monitoring the night through.  My boy had sleep study done before.  I could not remember if there is any treatment after that for him.  I think not.

I had my turbinate reduced.  It helps in my breathing but my sense of smell has deteriorated.  So there is a trade off.   I do not like my ENT surgeon for not letting me know the potential risks.  He just says do not think about it. 

Great Fruits Deal in Chong Pang

Competition is great for consumers.  There are two fruits stalls in Chong Pang that is intensely competing with each other.  So the grapes, mangoes, jackfruits and other fruits in season are of better value than other wet markets.  Papaya is $2 per fruit in Giant Express.   So I stocked up on fruits this morning.  Large Barnfield oranges (code 4012) is $6 for 5.  Far better deal than Fairprice which I had bought yesterday for $6.95 for 8 small ones.

However, their watermelons are expensive as they sell by weight.  For watermelons, I go to Kaka or Ta Jie in AMK Ave 1 and Ave 10 market.  Large 6kgs melons are only $6.90.  Durians is in season but the quality is still so-so.

Business Lunch

Had lunch in Din Tai Fung.  Only appetitizers.  Although I feel full, I ate durians, potato chips and other snacks when I am back.  Somehow I need to eat a lot even though I am not hungry.  The meeting was very good.  My customer want to expand business with us.  So it is good that he gains trust.

Nowadays, I find using Skype quite fun and allows me to engage small talk with my colleagues even though they are in different office.  So I am feeling less isolated.

Busy Day

I had a busy day.  Early in the morning, cooked breakfast for B3 and B2.  Then send B3 to school and stop by the hawker centre for my morning tea.  I wanted to replenish the eggs but omega 3 is out-of-stock.  The butcher has a long queue.  So no grocery this morning. 

It is work time and I enjoys interacting with my colleagues on-line.  Yes, working from home has lots of advantages but the drawback is isolation.  So even a small interaction is gold!

Lunch is Plaza Sin.  The carpark is more reasonable at $1 during lunch time.  I had single strand noodle.  The food is ok, I am not likely to go back.  After lunch, I had a quick check on right abdomen.  The doctor thinks it is an infection.

More work and dinner is just ice cream with Awfully Chocolate cake.  The day ended so quickly with so much done.

Shocking Inflation!!

This afternoon, I went to Maxwell Hawker Center for lunch.  I loved the China Fritters aka Ngoh Hiang Gwang Chiang.  I may have not been there for a year.  The price has gone up.  Egg slice is now 80cents instead of 60cents.  Ngoh Hiang is 90 cents, fishball is 50cents each.  Wow, no wonder no more queue. 

After lunch, I thought I will buy some egg tarts back and the price has gone from $1.40 to $1.80 each for coconut and $1.30 to $1.70 each for regular.  I could not stomach the increased in price and forgo my treat.  Anyway, my boys are not home until evening.  So it is easy to resist my usual temptation to buy snacks back home.

Eating at hawker centers is so expensive nowadays.  No wonder the retirees are struggling.

Ma Maison Tonkatsu

We went to Takashimaya Imperial Treasure for lunch.  They have table for 6 and 4 but not for us.  So we went to Ma Maison for Tonkatsu instead.  There is free flow of rice and cabbage if everyone of us orders a set meal.  So the total bill become quite high. Almost double that of Imperial Treasure.  Our boys enjoys the meal as they like an extra bowl of rice.  Daddy and Mummy have one bowl each. 

The meat is quite good.  We also have deep fried prawns.  During meal, mummy talks about today's hot topic - women having affairs and divorcing.  She hope our boys chose wisely.

Fish Manhattan Deals

Fish Manhattan is quite busy during lunch today.  They have deals for the month of May.  I noticed the resturant usually is not so popular.  The pricing promotion does help increase volume.  We had the enchanted feast for 4 which cost $80.  So plus plus, the total bill is below $100.  For this price we get a fried platter and a grill platter, 4 soups, 4 drinks and two deep fried bananas with ice cream.  No bad.  We ate up everything except for the rice that come with the grill platter.  I think we did not touch the rice at all.

Restriction for Blogging in Hong Kong

It is not possible to blog in Hong Kong this trip.  I did not have problem before.  Then again, I have not been to Hong Kong for about two years.  Maybe there is a change in policy or internet access.  I noticed the security sign is up here as well but I can write.

Hong Kong

I am in Hong Kong and have difficulty trying to write my blog.  I think there may be control in the internet. I can read my blog but unable to write. So I use VPN to sign in and it works!

Hong Kong is so busy and vibrant.  Lots of people walking about in the streets and in the MTR.  I enjoys the resturants and the street food.  I was with my colleague and we had stew beef for dinner.  It is quite salty, so it is not so healthy.  The weather is warm and humid but more comfortable than home.  Tomorrow morning, we have meeting with our customer and have to take train to Sheung Wan.  It will be early start.

New Ubin Seafood

Today, we celebrated Mother's Day with my eldest sister at New Ubin Seafood.  We had a table outside and it is quite warm.  We ordered the beef which cost $78.  It is almost half the cost of the whole meal!  The beef is quite tender and the black fried rice is pretty good.   This time the meal seems a little too salty for our taste buds.  It is quite flavorful due to the strong seasoning.  We had the prawn paste chicken, boss beehoon, spinach with 3 eggs and fried hokkien mee.  This simple meal cost $160!! 

I am happy to go out with my eldest sister.  She has been voted the best Da Kor as she is the favorite among all the aunties and uncles my boys have.

Family Down with Sore Throats

Last night, Mummy and B1 did not sleep well as they get the sore throat infection.  They are the last two to fall in our family.  It started with B3, then B2 and I developed the infection 3 nights ago.  B2 went out with his girlfriend.  The rest of the family fell asleep exhausted by the infection.  I drank ice lemon and the sugar and caffeine is sustaining me.

I turned on the airconditioning for them so that they can have more restful nap to recover from the infection.

Tonkatsu Dinner

My wife cooks tonkatsu for dinner tonight.  She learn how to cook Japanese style tonkatsu from ABC cooking studio.  It is quite similar to those we eat in Japanese resturants or fast food.  ABC is a good cooking school.  Now we get to eat proper Japanese style cooking.  The pork chops are from Cold Storage at half price.  Even so, it is only slightly cheaper than market price as the price in Cold Storage for meat is quite high.

Sore Throat

I am officially down with sore throat.  I could not have restful sleep last night and have bloody phlegm this morning.  Now I have running nose.  It is so troublesome to be unwell.  I still do my regular exercise.  However, I do not push myself. 

The weather also make strenous exercise difficult with high heat and high humidity.  Punggol Beach is full of fishes but I did not catch any.  I just feed my arowana with the fishes in the saltwater tank.  With the heatwave, I now seriously think of relocating to a cooler country.

Blazing Hot!

It is hard to concentrate in this hot and humid afternoon.  I am looking at my numbers.  It is the highest in growth compared to other division.  We did well this year, so the reward is the highest increase for next year.  Such is the way of the corporate world.  The better you do, the more you have to do.

Chinatown Black Sauce Chicken

We decided to have lunch in Chinatown for black sauce chicken.  Half a chicken, $3 liver and gizzard, a plate of chicken feet and a bowl of dumpling soup.  3 plain noodles and 1 rice with 2 drinks total $38.50.  We could not finish our food and has to bring home the leftover.  The chicken is good but I usually eat only the organ meat.  Chinatown is full of tourist when we take a walk after lunch.  I enjoy a day without work!

Wonderful Party

Our party is at One Canberra.  It is a new EC and TOP 4 months ago.  The unit is only 90 sq m with 3 bedrooms and a store room.  The kitchen is nice and cosy.  The clothes hanger is retractable.  There are many units.  It comes with bbq pits, tennis court and swimming pool.  The carpark is also massive and there is no separate visitor lots.  So it is quite convenient.  There is a big monsoon drain right beside the property.  My ex-colleague unit has clear view in the kitchen and the living room is right beside the main road.  So is a little noisy in the morning.

We had a great time talking and catching up on each other news.

BBQ Party with Ex-colleagues

This evening, I have a bbq party organised by my ex-colleagues when we were working in Yishun.  I worked in this company from 1995 to 1999.  Oh my gosh!  This is 17 years ago.  Time flies!  With Whatsapp we keep in touch.  So the modern technology does help us stay connected.  One now lives in New Zealand and another work in China.  It is quite amazing that in this small group more than 3 has left Singapore.

I am looking forward to catch up with everyone.

Meeting my Cousin on Friday

My cousin from my mother's side came and we had lunch with them.  I have not met her for many years.  She is now married and has a two years old girl.  The toddler has very bright eyes and very adorable.  They will be emigrating to Canada.  Her husband is a Canadian and went to live in Canada in his teens.  He studied in University of Alberta.  He run a Christmas gifts, candles and toys manufacturing business.  I am happy for her.  She has a good family now.

Entertainment Saturday

I invited my cousin to fishing yesterday.  So we had a wonderful time with her husband, daughter and daughter's classmate from Hong Kong and the boy's mum.  Joslin has bright eyes and although shy is quite easy with strangers.  It is take time before I can carry her.  Sebastion is quite reserved and reticent.  His mum just divorced his father in Hong Kong.  So he is adjusting to new environment.  He is so much bigger than Joslin.  He take his nap while on his mother's lap.  So mummy sits for more than two hours waiting for him to wake up.

It poured in the afternoon.  So we waited for the rain to clear and then bring the kids to Punggol Point to fishing.  Unfortunately, Joslin fell asleep and so did not fish.  Sebastion has a good time playing with sand in the sandpit.  We did not stay long as Joslin was asleep.  So I send them back to hotel and home.

We had a wonderful but tiring day.