Concorde Hotel Car Park

My Korean friend was here yesterday.  We had lunch in the Kopitiam in CentrePoint and then ice cream in Cold Stone, followed by latte in...I cannot recall the name.  It is something and Dough.  The coffee is not bad but pricey as it is served in very small glasses.

I did not know but the carpark in Concorde Hotel is right in front of the hotel and not at the basement.  I did not have the chance to get free from the hotel.  What a booboo.  Anyway, I know now.  The basement car park is for the shopping mall and not for the hotel.

So if you are driving, do remember to park right in front of the hotel.

Roy, the CPF Champion

One small guy can do so much with his fingers.  All he did was used his fingers to click and gather information and put them together.  He analyses with great details.  Some felt his calculations were wrote.  I think they are either PAP supporters or paid to write those commentaries.  At the end of the day, CPF returns are dismal.  Meanwhile, GIC and Temasek are making wonderful returns. 

The retired teacher during Hri Kumar put out an excellent point.  Stop telling us this percentage and that percentage.  Please return to me my money. 

What Roy has accomplished is incredible.  He managed to force the government media, Straits Times to write about CPF.  The government is also responding and talking about CPF.  Sadly, no answers.  All we hear that the lawsuit and false allegations.  Nothing about our CPF.  Nothing about how we can get back CPF which is "our money according to Tan Chuan Jin, Manpower Minister."  Really?  If it is our money, what so vague and so many rules and obstacles? 

Roy is famous and he should be.  He champion for most Singaporeans who need to understand what happens to "their money".

Heatwave and Eel

It is extremely hot today.  I drank loads!  It is interesting.  With such high temperature, many are still out at the PCN exercising.  So keeping healthy is really important to many Singaporeans.

I used to collect baby eels when it rained to feed the arowana.  Usually, I just leave them in the pond.  The PCN drainage has been improved.  So no more eels or earthworms to collect after heavy rain nowaday.  Yesterday, B3 was trying to catch baby guppies in the pond.  Then he found something moving.  He got a shock to find that it was an eel that is almost 2 feet long.  I was wondering how come 100 goldfishes I put into the pond has disappeared.  I thought it was the kingfisher.  So I put fishing lines across the pond to discourage the birds from fishing, but my fishes continue to disappear.  Now I know the reason.  The little 4 inches long eel has become 2 feet!  We caught one.  I do not know if there is another lurking in the pond.

My pond is full of water plants.  So it is easy for the eels to hide.  I hope no more eels so that the goldfishes I put in can grow to large size.  My pond is now like an eco-system.  The guppies are reproducing and plenty of baby guppies swimming around.  Sometimes, they go to the arowana side and probably get eaten up.

Father's Day

We went to buy Cat's Mountain Durian for my wife's father.  He is a vegetarian and it is hard to get the food suitable.  He has a weakness for durians especially expensive varieties.  So his daughter like to buy the most expensive durian for him.

My boys wishes Happy Father's Day in the morning.  We went to Changi Terminal 2 for lunch.  After lunch, we went to McDonald's for B3 to claims his free coke.  Of course we spend more money.  He has to have an ice-cream and then the cinnamon roll with icing.

I cook up the beef brisket for dinner.  All three boys like it as it is tender.  The meat is seasoned with Prime Rib salt and Turbino sugar.  Good thing is the meat is vaccuum sealed as it has been sitting in the fridge for almost two weeks.  The meat smells ok and tasted fine.

We ate durian for our night snacks.  A good way to end Father's Day.

Back from Blog Blackout

Blogger is banned in China.  So I was unable to update my blog.  It took me a while to remember.  I was wondering why I could not access some of my regular sites which I read like Bertha Harian as well as my own blog at first.  I have not travelled to China for two years now.  So I have forgotten about censorship.

Shanghai is warm and humid.  I am staying in a different part of the city now instead of People's Square.  It is offices rather than shops and no more bookshop for me:(, only luxury brands like Prada and other snob consumer products.  I am glad to be back home.

Shanghai

It's been a long time!  I am going Shanghai tomorrow.  I have not gone there for more than 2 years.  It is like going back home as I will be staying in the People's Square.  It is a place I am familar with.  I like the place as I know the supermarket and the resturants there.  I like the bookstore as it carry DVDs and English section.  Still it is not like Taipei where the Eslite bookstore has more English titles and a section with Scientific toys.

Shangai is easy with the maglev and subway.  I am looking forward to a busy city.

Pierce Reservoir Lobster

B1 and B3 decided to go fishing in Pierce Reservoir for lobsters.  They managed to catch 5 - one huge male and 4 smaller females.  This is the first time we caught such a size.  So instead of putting them in the pond and letting them escape, we are putting them in a fish tank with a filter pump.  Hopefully, they will grow and reproduce.  I am quite happy we can set up the system quickly.  Now we have a chance to see if they can grow with the dry food pellets for terrapins.  My arowana has grown quite big now.  I do not know how long arowana lives and if I should release into the wild.  Maybe I should keep till it dies of old age.

Beautiful Afternoon

The sky is blue and sun is shining.  It is a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  Hot and humid, it is an invitation to the pool for a cool dip.  I have been reading on the internet on the Return Our CPF protest.  It is very interesting and Han Hui Hui is very impressive.  She is a good speaker using English, Mandarin and dialect.  A true blue Singaporean.  I can see Hui Hui's calling.  She is passionate about her cause and strike an emotional cord.  I can see she will go far and be a strong contender for politics.

I think it is time to go to poolside and read my books.

Solar Controller

I think I have damaged my solar controller.  I was stupid and lazy not to fix it back properly after testing a new controller.  Now my original controller which was working is no longer working anymore.  This Phocos controller from Europe cost me $60 or more.  I have to buy a replacement controller from China.

First home cooked meal after a few months!!  Tonight dinner is our first home cooked meal by our new helper.  She speaks Mandarin and Hokkien.  So my wife, a Cantonese girl is quite good at using her Hokkien now.   She never speaks Hokkien other than to scold me or make sacastic remarks.  Like everyone knows, the first words you learn in a new language are all the bad words.

Pandan Loop

I have been in Jurong for the past two days.  It is new office I have to go.  I had a visitor from US.  Bala is an Indian living in US for the past twenty years.  He is a ball of energy.  He talks fast and pushes hard at his agenda.  He is a good guy.  He does listens as well.  I am glad he is quite open to feedback on the meetings.  I am also glad to contribute to the knowledge pool and enjoys sharing and talking about technical stuff.  I am back to my elements again.  Only thing is it is like to my old office -  Bureaucratic!

Drainage Improvements on the PCN

I missed all the creepy crawlies I could catch after thundershower at the PCN nowadays.  I used to be able to pick up earthworms large and small after heavy rain.  Just pass under the TPE, there are eels squirming around as well.  The drainage has been improved, so now the water do not flow out onto the paved track.  So nowadays no earthworms or eels.  I miss having the ability to give free live food for my arowana. 

My arowana has grown large on a diet of live fishes and earthworms.  Today, I gave it only dry food pellets.  It still get live seafood as baby guppies managed to go through the net which I use to isolate the guppies and goldfishes in the pond.

It is much nicer to ride after rain but no more worms or eels to collect.  But there are plenty of lizards in sunny days.  One I saw a fat toad, a couple of times - snakes.

School Holiday

There are plenty of tents at the Punggol Point Campsite.  I wonder how it is like to live out.  But together with all the kids, they are out for mischief when I am asleep.  So it is easy to become victim of tomfoolery.  Along PCN, school kids are out for their field trips.  Maybe their CCA programs.  So the PCN is quite lively.  It is so unlike my time when camping is quite backward.  Now the tents are so easy to set up and light weight.  Field trips are easy on the PCN where the pathways are tar surface and the landscape is manicured.  It is nice our kids have some outdoor activities.  It is good for "survival skills and character building".

Back to ... Pappa Mia

We decided to go back to Pappa Mia for lunch today.  We try out different food.  This time we have curry laksa and nasi lemak with oriental chicken.  I also tried the Kopi-O.  The kopi-o is ok, I noticed it is from a machine.  Curry laksa is average, nasi lemak is above average.  It is B3's first day of holiday and he order the mango ice with transparent pearls.  At the airport, B3 saw his classmates.  After lunch, we go to Four Fingers to buy the Korean Fried Chicken home.  There is a one for one deal.  So it is not bad.  The chicken tastes good but I was thirsty after eating them.  The MSG level must be quite high.

Pappa Mia at Changi Airport

Today, my wife suggested we go to Pappa Mia.  We tried this Malaysian-style resturant who is started by ex-Mandarin chef last week when B1 returned home from his Korean holiday.  The chicken was good and seafood fried rice according my The Wife is now the No. 1 Fried Rice better than the Prawn Fried Rice she loved in Din Tai Feng.  The food is good and bring me memories of being in Malaysia.  I ate by myself a number of times at this kind of upscale kopitiam style resturant.  With the KL team, I usually let them suggest where they like to try.  They know my favorite is the traditional kopitiam food.  But we do enjoy Tony Romas, Sunrise Roast Duck, Chilli's, Penang Resturant, Madam Kwan and many other nice resturants in KL.

Pappa Mia is like PappaRich, OldTown, Uncle Lim or Kluang Kopitiam in KL.  The menu has Fuchook, Curry Hor Fun, Mee Goreng(very authentic as my next table had this dish), satay(my perennial favorite), steamed and toasted kaya bread, chendol and other Malaysian hawker dishes.  I like the food and the ambient.  So this may become one of my regular haunt since I stopped going to KL nowadays.

Niece in Mt E for Test

My niece has tachycardia and has check-in to Mt E for testing.  She has to go for blood test, MRI on her abdomen, 24 hr telemetry and 24 hr urine test for dopamine.  My poor niece has been suffering for so long with fainting spells.  She is very adorable when she was young.  I always remember walking with her and she will chat with me the whole time.  I always reminisce my time with her.  It was golden time and I love her so much.

It was yesterday that she has to check in.  Her friend was with her the whole time.  While waiting for her to do MRI, I chatted with her friend.  She is a 35 years old divorcee working as a social worker for children with disability in a school in Hougang.  She is so good to my niece keeping her company all the way.  I am very happy she is there to support.  I am glad my niece has good friends. 

Mata Puteh Bird

This morning, I was working at my home office as usual.  I heard a loud bang and then a bird came fluttering down and hang on to the ferns I have on my balcony.  It stay there for a while hanging upside down.  So I got a little curious and get nearer to see and it is not fly away.  So I decide to catch it but it flew off but was confused and knock against the glass wall.  I managed to catch it and take a few photos before releasing it.  I have been wanting to hold the live bird by hand whenever I see them flirting around my plants and this morning my dream come true!!

 

Inderjit Singh's Response to President's Address

It is a whiff of fresh air from Inderjit Singh.  Unlike another Singh who throw a bomb on an ant, Inderjit won my respect for speaking out for Singaporeans.  He point out to the realities of the ground and give out real-life examples. 

Kudos to Inderjit for his frank opinion.  Kudos to him for speaking out.  Kudos to him for pointing out the systemic flaws of meritocracy, of scholar driven policy making and systemic discrimination against Singaporeans studying medicine overseas trying to do internship in local hospitals.

The analogy is correct - Singapore is a 6-star hotel, a playground for the rich and rich immigrants.  The question which American politicians asked "Are you better today than 5 years ago" is a good acid test. 

PMETs are not protected from their employers.  I believe foreign workers and maids has better protection than a Singaporean PMET.  Something is seriously wrong when the government is perceive not to protected our own.  Even wild animals protect their own kind.

Will the government take the feedback and change?  Only time will tell.

National Skin Center

B2 has a lot of rashes.  We brought him to see our family doctor and was told she will refer him to dermatologist or a skin specialist.  So she wrote a referral letter and this cost us $32.  Then we head straight to National Skin Center to get treatment and did not use her referral letter.  At NSC, the cost of consultation is $90.  So just seeing the doctor cost $114 with the walk-in fee waived since his condition is quite bad.  He then has an injection and drugs.  The total cost of medicine is $38.  So just for see a doctor for skin condition cost almost $200. 

Medical cost is really high in Singapore.  Citizens are paying through our nose for basic healthcare.  And our government is key to the increased in our daily expenses.

Eating Out

We have been eating out lately and it is not healthy.  My weight keeps on increasing.  I love to buy snacks after meals.  For example, I bought Famous Amos cookies for my boys after dinner but share and ate a lot with them.  I usually buys 300 grams to get the 50 grams "free".  So more cal consumed.  This afternoon in the hawker center beside Fu Lu Shou, there is a temporary market with additional stalls for rice dumplings.  So after lunch, I bought from different stalls to try out the taste of the different manufacturers.

At 91kg, my weight is way past my normal range of 89kg.  My ideal weight is 82kg or less.  However, I always tell myself I am better than this guy or that guy whenever I see someone bigger than me.  It is a psychological device to console my lack of discipline. 

Michigan Professor Exchange Program

This afternoon I was cycling in the PCN as usual.  I like it when the park connector is quiet as I can listen to my music, audiobook or simple reflect as I cycle.  It is far more restful to cycle when there is no need to keep watching out for pedestrians or joggers especially little cyclists!  I decide to turnaround at the water playground.  An Ang Mo lady wearing NParks uniform was waiting and signalled to me.  She asked if I can do a survey for her.  I obliged as I enjoys the parks and want to make their job easier.  I was surprised she is there at that odd hour.  I asked her about it since it is going to rain, there was hardly anyone.  She says they just want to capture park users at all time.  She is a Professor on an exchange program.  She is a nice middle age lady.  She lived and work in Michigan park. 

This bring back memories of my training trip to Chicago.  I was getting training on repairing diagnostic test machine in Chicago.  Temperature was below zero fahrenheit!  The cold was really intense.  Even the short walk from carpark to the building was a torture.  The training was two weeks.  So one of the trainee asked me what I will be doing on the weekend.  I told him I have no plans.  So he invited me to his home.  It was a three hours drive in a rural area of Michigan.  He was a warm host.  He brought me to do ice fishing.  It is quite interesting to drill a hole in the lake and sit there to talk while waiting for the fish to bite.  The fishes are quite small. 

Michigan is a nice place but cold and snowy in winter, very similar to Toronto.

Wu La La

I have no idea but suddenly I just utter out "wu la la"!  It is a meaningless expression but it mean I am excited.  I have no idea what I am excited about either.  Sometimes subconsciously I am just happy?  Maybe it is just work.  I manage get my answers quickly.  It is fun when things go smoothly:)

Takashimaya has 10% sales going on, so my wife wants to get a cleanser for herself during lunch.  I explore the food section as usual.  I noticed two RIJC girls eating chocolate softserve icecream and the label on the paper cone holder states Godiva.  So I starting hunting for the Godiva store.  After scouting the typical area, I saw another woman holding the ice treat coming towards me.  Ah ha moment!  I walk toward her direction and past her.  Then stall come to view.  It was outside Cold Storage checkout counters.  I remember tasting samples of hot chocolate from Godiva in our trip to US.  It tasted heavenly.  We bought a bottle back.  As it was expensive, we try to save it for as long as possible.  Unfortunately, it spoils.  So our money was wasted.  My philosophy change.  If we buy any food item tat is expensive, we have to consume it while it is still fresh.

I bought the chocolate ice cream for her and a milk chocolate shake for myself.  The wife was concerned that about consuming food in Taka and I was scolded.  It is hard to be a husband.  Getting a favorite snack for the wife and totally unappreciated.  Adding insult to injury was being reprimanded.  In Hokkien, pai cho lang.

House Lizards

It seems my house is infested with house lizards.  There are lizard poos everywhere.  The lizard can be quite sizeable.  I like to keep my doors and windows open and they keep coming.  It is hard to trap them.  I like to catch them and feed them to my arowana.  However, my reactions are slowing down and they are eluding me!

I need to find a better way to catch them.  I have a trap but so far it caught only one lizard.

8.5Kg Water Melon

Fairprice is not the cheapest.  Specialty shops for fruits or toiletries are far better value.  However, the good thing about Fairprice is I can weigh the fruits before deciding which fruit out of the big pile to chose.  Water melon was on special last week and I weigh the watermelon and chose between the 8.5kg and 8.0kg.  500 grams more for the same price.  The watermelon is $6.80 each.  I like the large watermelon as they are likely to be ripe and sweet.  This time I was lucky that it is sweet and juicy.

Since the weather is hot, it is nice to have cold watermelon to cool down.

Emergency Couple

We spend the weekend watching this drama series since the actress came to Singapore to promote the show.  It is a little funny at times but has good storytelling with several love triangles.  Watching TV series can be tiring.  But it is good relaxation as we usually do work around the house with the show on.  My wife will do household chores and I will cut fruits.

B1 go to Korea this morning.  He took Cathay as it is quite good value.  The travel time is a lot longer with a 3 hours layover.  His flight is 8am and he landed 8m which is 11 hours of travel time.  He is there with several classmates.  So he will have fun.

6 to 8 years Returns for Solar Energy System

I saw the ads by a company claiming 6 to 8 years return for solar energy.  It is intriguing as I am a green fan.  I may explore this further and see what is the possibility for my home.  We can now sell the energy back to the grid.  So the system is much simpler as there is no need for battery.  I have a few issues to deal with as it may affect my gfa or gross floor area.

I like the fact I can have a smaller carbon footprint.  The price will be high but it is worth the good feeling about saving Mother Earth.

Good Deal in Fish and Co

B1 was out with his friend and came home for dinner.  Since mummy has Fish and Co voucher for her birthday from my eldest sister, he says we should eat there.  While queuing up, he read the poster for joining Fish and Co VIP member.  The annual fee is $50 but we get 80points credit equivalent to $80 in value.  In your birthday month, you get a free 1 person platter.  So we joined and since it is mummy's birthday, we had the free platter.  So our meal comes $77 for which we paid $50.  Not a bad deal.

Slow Fruit Juice Dinner

My wife lent out our family slow fruit juicer to her classmate who was diagnosed with Stage 3A lung cancer.  So we have to open our spare unit to use.  Grapes and Thai Honey mangoes were on sale in Fairprice.  So we bought lots of them and juice them for dinner tonight.  It is very filling meal!!  The fruits were sweet.  We had organic apples, globe grapes, green seedless grapes, honey mangoes, banana and carrots.  We had so much juice in the fridge to the next few days.

Slow juicing is supposed to be much better than the traditional centrifuge high speed spin juicing.  The antioxidants are not destroy through slow juicing.  The best is actually cold pressed but the machine is very expensive.  Slow juicing or cold pressing is best way to extract fruit juice and important for cancer patients. 

The juice taste better too.  We had a healthy dinner tonight.

Change in TV Recording

When we had our first born, we bought VCD for our boy.  He grew up on diet of Barney, the Pink Dinosaur and Bananas in Pyjamas as well as the Magic School Bus on poor quality VCD and video tape.  Our second boy was born and we started to buy more DVD but they were still expensive.  The video quality is much better than VCD.  Second boy like Power Rangers, Iron Giant and Ninja Turtles.  However, our last baby did not watch dvd.  He is watching Youtube.

So even the "new and latest" technology of dvd-9 and HD-DVD is becoming obsolete.  It is video streaming and many free websites.  No wonder, the price of dvd has drop to rock bottom.  Nowadays, I watch video on my phablet i.e. Samsung Note 3.  It is so convenient that I hardly switch on my TV. I even stop watching news.  The technology change had impact my reading habit as well.  I no longer read as much in the airplane.

Vesak Day

It is Buddha's Enlightenment Day.  I was up early to wake to prepare for my work as it is not a public holiday in Hong Kong or US.  So it is about 1pm before we set off as a family to go to "4 Horses Road Temple" or the Kuan Yin Temple in Queens Street.  The temple is full of devotees.  We all went to pray and donate.  It is something we do and all 3 boys donated their own money today.  There is a blind singer/busker who sang very well and we drop dollars note to her as well. 

After prayers, we went to Bugis Junction Food court for lunch.  Even though it is about half past two, the place is jammed pack with diners.  It is nice to have all my 3 boys out as family for our activities.  Dinner is just maggie mee with black bean tofu.  After dinner, they watch Police Story 4.  It is too long and draggy for me.  There are too many flashbacks.  I cannot sustain my attention for such complicated movie, so I gave up and come to my home office to write my blog.

First Starfruit

I have been trying to grow something that bear fruits for years.  My first success is papaya.  That is because my maid from Philippines use a coke bottle to hang it on the tree as the papaya tree was male.  I bought a coffee plant which had plenty of fruits in the nursery when we bought it.  After planting into our front yard, there were plenty of flowers but no fruits.  Same with chiku plant I bought in the Tiong Bahru wet market.  There were a couple of fruits when we brought the plant home.  The plant is still thriving today with lots of green leaves but no fruits so far.

Now I have a Starfruit!

Electric Scooter from Unitrade

I sent the electric scooter back for fixing.  When I went to pick up, the front wheel is still not balance.  Neither was the disc brake.  The man fixing it claimed he is from the "manufacturer".  He told me not to expect disc brake like a car.  I said even on a bicycle, it is flat and smooth.  He insisted that the front wheel and the disc brake are working and "it is like this".  I was very disappointed and upset.  To pay seven hundred eighty dollars for unbalance wheels both front and rear and shaky handle is terrible.  No wonder it is so tiring to ride.  The handle was shaking so much that it is vibrating my arms.

What this repairman did was to loosen the disc brake making it impossible to brake hard.  This way, it reduces the noise the brake and wheels made.  However, it is still very unstable.  I am thinking I must buy a new scooter with reputable brand in future.  At least I can expect some basic quality.

Happy Mother's Day

We went to Arab Street for our cheap and good Malay lunch.  Unfortunately, the place to very pack and we have to look for another place.  So we ended up in Prince Coffee House.  This is Hainanese style western cooking.   We had their Mother's Day special menu, mixed grill and ikan kurau set.  We also tried their beef hor fun, oxtail stew and Hainanese pork chop.  The lunch cost us $100 in a fair hot environment.  The food is quite good.  Only complaint is aircond should be better for the price we are paying.

We also try their Apple Pie and butter cake.  They are quite traditional and tasty.  We had a repeat purchase of Yam cake which is mummy's favorite.  I am glad now I have a good source of traditional apple pie.  When I was in Singapore Poly, I used to buy apple pie from Fuji Bakery a neighbourhood bakery shop in Holland Road when I walked home.  Finally, I found the same taste since more than 30 years ago.  What a treasure!

Mother's Day Dinner

We had a family dinner with my in-laws for Mother's Day.  This time my wife swing the family from the usual Greenland Vegetarian resturant to Imperial Treasure.  The food fits both veg and non-veg.  It is food I can enjoy instead of eating a wee bit at a vegetarian resturant.  My wife will make sure she ordered enough vegetarian dishes for her parents and eldest sister.  Then the rest of us enjoy the Peking Duck, deep fried pork chop and xiao long bao.  The veg dishes are 3 types of eggs with spinach in superior soup.  long beans with chopped mushrooms, steamed buns with veg fillings and plenty of desserts.

I think my in-laws enjoy the food.  I know my nephews and brother-in-law enjoys the meat dishes very much.

Best of all, the meal is cheaper than in vegetarian resturant.

Together

B1 is studying here.  So all 3 Bs are together with us.  We are very complete.  I am very happy to have our meals together.  I know that my boys will fly the coop as in a couple of years they will be going to work and then get married.  I hope they will continue to live with us and their wives if possible.  But it is also good that they set up their own home as they will have major adjustments when two persons with different personalities and upbringing live together.

For now, I am very happy that my brood is growing up well and will contribute positively to society in future.

Electric Scooter

I bought my scooter from a shop in Golden Auto building.  The battery driven scooter is from China and 800W.  The front wheel is not aligned properly.  So it is quite shakey and noisy whenever I brake.  Overall, it is a neat toy.  It is nice to go about without using muscle power.  But I get tired by holding on to the handle of the front wheel.

I called the vendor today.  He says to bring back.  I shall bring it back on Saturday and see it can be fixed.

Overflow drainage

It is important to have backup.  My balcony was renovated by the developer to fix the waterproofing.  The contractor cover up the drain hole for excess water due to sloppiness.  Luckily, I noticed and ask the Far East Project Manager to reinstate the drain hole.  Initially, he insisted it looked better.  I was quite adamant as I have seen water coming out from the drainhole of my neighbour's unit.  So I know it worked!  So I am glad I insisted as this afternoon during the thunderstorm, the dead leaves clogged up the drain hole and water was flowing out from the overflow pipe. 

I am always happy to see a system working.  I have to clear the trap to let the water flow out but as a system person, it is good to see a backup system working. 

Hot and Humid

Summer is upon us.  We have hot and humid weather.   LKY is righIt is difficult to focus with the heat.  With our city continuing to grow and built up, the temperature will only rise.  Our government is concerned with economic growth.  I hope they start to focus on sustainable growth.  The citzens are under stressful conditions with the overcrowding.  We have become a society of rat races and non-stop racing.  You can only fall by the wayside.  No other option for Singaporeans.  While the globalization is causing a lot of dislocation everywhere, we should have options not to race.

Electric Scooter

I cycle every day when I am not travelling.  Sometimes I suffers from fatigue and yet I want to go out.  At first, I thought I will get an electric bike.  But now there are electric scooters.  So I am seriously toying with this idea.  Electric scooter can go up to 25 to 30 kph.  The speed is not bad.  The height is low.  So it look like safer than e-bike.  I have been researching through the internet.  It seem like the EVO is not bad.  It is an interesting toy. 

Poor Grammar

I was horrified to see such poor grammar in my last entry on the heading.  I must have changed my mind as I type.  Still I did not read my own writing.  Hence publishing it indicates my sloppy attitude and weak command of English.   I have corrected the grammatical errors and would like to apologise for the bad English.

So Many Want to live in Landed...

It is covet living in a crowded city like Singapore.  Everyone aspire to live in a landed home.  Developers will advertise the "luxurious" lifestyle.  The message is clear - you have arrived if you live in a landed with a Mercedes or BMW 7 series in the garage.  I do not have a Mercedes or BM.  However, living on the ground floor does have it attractiveness.  No window grills needed.  A lot more space when you need by extending to the ground outside. 

Recently, we discover rats!  Today, we caught one rat on the sticky board.  We caught two before.  One escaped out of the trap leaving behind its tail.  I will need to replace my traps regularly from now onwards.  There are so many of them.

So this is the problem with living on the ground level or in a landed.  The pests issue can be a big pain.  The mynah birds will come to my backyard and shit onto our clothings and eat our food.  Maybe it is better to live in a condo.

Aftereffects of Spicy Food

This morning during my regular "business" or clearing my bowels, I noticed fresh blood when I was wiping my a**.  Last night Sichuan dishes is coming out with a vengeance!!  The effects are so immediate and clear.  I am not good with spicy dishes.  With a weak stomach, I should not be eating spicy food any more.  I guess it is important that anything that goes in must come out.  So I better "don't anyhow eat". 

I was thinking of bringing my two boys to try out.  Now, I doubt I should be causing them stomach upset.

Chinese Satay

We have dinner at a Chinese resturant serving Sichuan food and bbq stewer meat.  The food is quite good.  It is right in AMK Central beside Cash Converter near the bus terminal.  The menu is quite good and authentic mainland Chinese food.  The patrons are all from PRC except for my family.  So the number of PRC living in Ang Mo Kio must be high enough to sustain resturants and food stalls from China.  Only thing is B2 and B3 were not with us.  So we have an excuse to go back there again. 

Chicken and Apple Pie

My boys and I were strolling around Arab Street like tourists.  Along Beach Road there is a shop that sells Chicken Pie, Apple Pie and Yam Cake.  The proprietor came out when we paused to look at their signs.  He is very enthusiatic.  He says he has been around for more than 30 years.  He moved from Bukit Timah to Prince Cinema to Beach Road.  He is in Beach for 3 years now.  I want to try all his stuff but B1 protested and suggest we just buy the chicken pie.  I also bought the yam cake as it is mummy's favorite.  Yam cake is $11 and Chicken Pie is $7.50.  We had them for dinner and they are quite tasty.  I wished I bought the Apple Pie.  Apple pie is my favorite pastry.  I will have to go back to buy the Apple pie to try.  Motherhood and Apple Pie is the American traditional way.  Since I love apple pie so much, I may be half American!

Ali Baba's Place

Do you know where is Ali Baba's Place?  We drove past this place and I told my boys it is historic area.  B3 was very young.  He watch a lot of the Disney movies.  He said this is Ali Baba's Place.  It was so apt!  I was so impressed and tickled that I always refer to this area as Ali Baba's Place. 

We went there for early lunch.  There are a few good choices.  We go to the one offering nasi padang.  The meal cost us $65 which is reasonable.  We had two curry chicken, two fried chicken, three beef rendang, fried long beans, brinjal, sayur lodeh, ikan panggang with kitchup and fried fish fillet with green chilli.  We are very full.  Then we took a walk around.  It is such a touristy area.  Seems like plenty of tourists know this place well.  It is fun to mingle with the tourists.  The holiday atmosphere is relaxing.

So after talking so much, what is Ali Baba's place.  Most of you would have guess it right, it is Arab street.

Discussions with B1

B1 wants to join me for cycling today.  I told him about an article TRE and how a 50 plus man committed suicide because he cannot access $200K plus in his CPF account.  This man is desperate as he has 2 school going kids and lost money on his business.  He think if he is dead, his kids will have access to the CPF monies. 

I told him something is wrong if the policy supposed to help citzens end up killing them.  He says this man would have earn at least $6K/month.  He is not managing his finances properly, there are missing information, etc.  He feels that there are ways to solve the problems.  However, my position is in Canada, no old folks need to clean table, collected rubbish or recyleables for pittance.  The social welfare system make sure people are taken care of when they are old, infirm or poor health.  In Singapore, you will be paying and paying then you die after you run out of money to pay for healthcare.

In a way, B1 think like PAP.  I gave him the example of his mum's cousin who went to see his MP for help on credit card debts.  The MP asked the cousin to go to the bank to negotiate.  However, the bank only operates on working hours and the cousin is in a low level job that he will be fired if he takes time off.  The MP will never understand and think the cousin is either stupid or not cooperative.  

We are not a compassionate society.  So many people who desperately needed help have to take extreme measure of killing themselves to solve their problems.  In Canada, no one is desperate as the social security system will take care of all its citzens and landed immigrants.  It is not a perfect system but Singapore should be more compassionate.

Teochew Porridge

B1 is studying for his exams and needs to eat fish. Mummy find the standard and taste of Teochew Porridge stall in AMK Ave 5 and Ave 10 hawker center acceptable.  The teochew porridge stall is very popular.  The queue is long.  There are at least 3 types of steamed fishes - promfret, ikan merah or red fish filet and a small complete ikan merah or at least it look like ikan merah to me.  There is also deep fried batang fish fillet and steam anchovy-like fish.  The fishes are fresh and does not have the fishy smell or taste.  Other dishes are also quite good.  So our boys enjoys the food and best of all, it is quite economical as the meals usually cost below $30 for 5.

Stay at Home Day

Mummy is works hard for the family.  So when she says let's go to Imperial Treasure for dim sum brunch, off we go.  Imperial is a very popular resturant.  We go early so that we can get seats.  The food is good but this time B1 and I had to go washroom immediately after our meal.  I suspect it is the chilli as both of us dip our food with chilli whereas the rest of the family did not.  After lunch, we take a short break to visit Kinokuniya on the World Book Day sales.  I bought a guide book on Shakespeare for B3.

Then it is home sweet home.  B1 has to study for his exams and B2 and B3 enjoys watching videos on their computer or tablet.  I read The Sunday Times at the poolside.  So it is very relaxing to spend the day at home.  We bought frozen pizza and CP Mexican chicken wings for dinner.  It is simple but still requires time and effort to set up and clean up afterward.

All 3 boys help in the cleaning up.  I am happy they are contributing to the maintenance of our household.

A Good Day

I am happy all my boys are in the living room after dinner.  We had bbq chicken wings and potato chips.  After dinner, I peeled Barnfield oranges and cut an apple.  Then a nice plump HongKong papaya.  I have no idea why it is called Hong Kong papaya.  Maybe the origin of the papaya is from HongKong.  The papaya is not as flavorful as Hawaii or Solo papaya.  But the papaya is big and can be sweet although usually it is not sweet.  It is also quite bland.

This morning, B1 had a Contract Law exam.  So we left early to send him to school and then off to SOT for B3's tuition.  I had massage in Wan Lin to relieve my tense muscles.  After massage, B3 had to go back to school for his remedial class and he finished at 4:15pm.  B2 spend his time studying.  It is routine day with everyone safe and sound.  I am grateful for the good day.

Life and Death

I read Tao when I was in Secondary school.  Reading on Taoism bring understanding and joy about life.  I am naturally brooding type.  Reading Chinese Philosopy of Tao relief of thinking how difficult life can be.  Lao Tze says the moment you are born your death is confirmed.  Life and death is interwined.  The yin and yang or duality of life.  If there is life, there must be death.  Without death, there will not be life.

We always avoid death and assume life goes on forever.  Live like there is no tomorrow - this come from the West.  I always wonder how?  I like to live life to the fullest but we still have to earn our living.  Maybe I do not understand the statement.  Live life to the fullest does not mean you stop working to earn money.  I always think live life to the fullest means doing whatever I like and this does not including working for a living.

In Chuang Tzu stories, there is a sage who uses the skull as his drinking vessel.  He does not attached the skull to a scary thing of a dead person's head.  I on the other hand, still prefers my mug.  This mean I am not ready to practise Tao.

Bucket List

Thinking about death, a bucket list seems to be mandatory in articles I read.  I never thought of a bucket list.  Even now, I could not think of a bucket list.  What is gnawing me that I will be unable to shut my eyes if I meet death.  I have no idea.  If I dies, I die.  I am satisfied with my life and what I have done and achieve.  Can it be better?  Of course!  It could be worse too, so no complain from your truly.

I do not have mountains to climb, aeroplanes to pilot, places to visit, or special things to do.  What would I do say if I have 10 million dollars.  Travel around the world?  I travel for work and it is enough.  Live in a beach or play golf?  Not for me.  I used to think I have plenty of books to read.  Now while I still read for pleasure, there is no pressure to catch up on my reading.  Reconnect with all my friends and relatives?  They are all busy.  I am happy to meet my nieces a few times a year.  I am also happy to have my sisters over as well.  Now I even meet my brother once in a while taking his taxi.

I have no desire for big pets.  I actually like to build a water features.  But never really get to it as I find reading the water landscapes books more interesting than actually doing.  I lost interest in flying model planes.  I bought lot of science kits but let B3 build them.  I write my rambling blog with no specific theme or interest.  It is just my online diary.

So for me, it is life as usual.  Work, eat, love.

Thinking about Death in a Stormy Afternoon

Thunder rumbling.  Rain shower come and go.  Here I am still at my computer wondering and thinking.  Reading Final Exams bring forth thoughts about death.  I do not know how to deal with death. 

I have an aging mother living 12,000 miles away.  I also wonder the possibility of sudden passing due to accident or even disappearing while in a flight to work.  Once we had heated discussions in the car(it is good to have serious discussions as it is a captive audience) about our boys taking care of me in future when I am old and senile.  "Just make sure I die of a comfortable death." is all I am asking them to do.  My boys have their own ideas how they want to run their lives.  I have no issue once they leave home.  However, they will need to abide by my rules when they are living at home.

Many a time I also wonder what am I going to do if and when my mother move on.  I am designated to take care of her matters as I lived in Canada before.  I dread and hope this moment will never come.  I enjoys calling her and make my boys call her regularly.  I have no idea what exact she want and how I can do being so far away.  It is a scary position to be in.  I hope the day will never come.

The Final Exams

I am listening to the audio version of this book.  It is riveting!  Pauline is a talented writer.  The stories flows well.  I keep listening as the different stories unfold while I exercise.  Pauline is a liver transplant and cancer specialist.  She makes Taiwanese proud!

In-grown Beard

I have this persistent pimple on my chin.  Squeezing it this morning, I was surprise it is still solid bump tonight.  So I decided to see if it is an in-grown hair.  I have this sharp point on the other end of my pimple squeezer(if there is such a term).  I dig a little bit and a small loop of hair stick out.  When I use the pincer to pull it out, the hair is an amazingly long.  Probably more than one inch.  I am glad this irritant is out!

King and Maxwell

I had to wait for hours for my Samsung phone to be checked.  So I bought King and Maxwell by David Baldacci to read while waiting on Saturday afternoon.  It is a page turner!  I managed to finished the book by Sunday evening.  The plot is a little weak.  It is about a man who wait for 25 years to take revenge on the President of United States.  This man's parents committed suicide as his father was made the scapegoat of the Iran Contra incident.  Alan Grant grew up, join the army and marry the daughter of US Marshall in Procuremnt office.  He stole one billion euros and bought satellite time to control " the beast".  The beast is the name of President's car.  This car is controlled by computer and Alan Grant used the satellite to break into the security of the computer and cause the beast to jump into the river.  President happened to be so busy that he only has time to talk to Michelle Maxwell in the car.  Of course Michelle manage to save herself and the President.  All well ends well.  It is quite exciting and like a movie or drama I have to suspend my skeptism and beliefs in some of the events as it is a little illogical.

Good Sunday

We went out for lunch.  First to try a wanton mee stall that is famous on Jalan Besar.  Unfortunately, the coffeeshop is closed on Sunday.  So we continue to Chinatown for braised chicken noodle but no carpark and ended up in Maxwell market.  We had Ah Tai Chicken Rice.  Ah Tai has lesser queue than Tian Tian.  I prefer Ah Tai as the service is better.  The chicken rice are quite similar and there is no point in queuing up for something that taste the same.

Dinner was at home with ginseng chicken soup.  My boys esepecially B3 loves the soup.  It is a good homestyle soup in a pouch.  After dinner, all three boys go to Fairprice to replenish their supplies of snacks.  Thank you, Buddha for a blessed Sunday.

Recovered from Apple iPhone

My boys managed to help me recover my contacts from Apple iTune.  We used an old iPhone and then restore my old phone.  From the contact, they export out and merge it into a new Google account.  The whole effort of working through to transfer contacts took more than 3 hours.  Even then I lost all my recent contacts that were put in during the time the Note 3 was in use after my iPhone was decomissioned.  This is where Apple is superior to Android.  In Apple when I restores, all my old Apps were there.  In Samsung backup apps KIES, they were all lost!!!  Biggest pain in the butt!

What A Mess!

I send my phone for checking and Samsung Service Center reset my software.  So now everything is in a mess.  Although I backup using Kies as advised.  The restore function did not work well.  Now I recover some data but many are lost.  What makes it worse is I have no idea what I have lost.  So it is time to start all over again.  What a big pain in the butt!!!

Long Weekend

It is nice to get a long weekend especially after a busy week.  I think we will be eating out just like everyone else and will have long waiting time for our food.  I have been pondering about the question of life and work.  The Straits Times editorial on Wednesday, April 16 headline "Just what to do after work?" 

I quote "When the golfing  and buddy-lunch routine become stale and reading unread books turns out to be more chore than pleasure, reality will strike home with a vengeance."  I have many books unread and have intention to read them on retirement.  However, I also realise a lot of my books are no longer relevant if I am not working.  They are books on Leadership, Management and Selling.  Coming long weekend is nice as I do things with the boys.  After that it is back to work.  However, if the long weekend become a permanent fixture, I may have a challenging keeping myself occupied.

Note 3 Battery

My Note 3 battery run down very quickly in the last few days.  I called Samsung Service and waranty is 6 months which mean my waranty is over since my Note 3 was bought on Oct 11 2013.  The customer service asked me to switch off the phone to charge.  Now the battery seems to work better.  I do not know how long this will last.

Seems like the batteries for Samsung phones do not last.  My barber told me he has 3 Samsung and all them gave me battery problems after one year.  I am monitoring my battery performance and see if the quick discharge occurs again.

Mundane Stuff - Hair Stylist

Why am I blogging about hair stylist?  My hair is long and gets unruly and out of control.  My hairdresser (since he is the salon owner and not a barber shop) is a vegetarian.  He cooks for the family.  So he is a very good father.  He looked after his kids well and cooked for them.  He says his kids are not following them as much.  They asked for permission not to follow them sometime when they go out as a family.  He asked me if I am experiencing the same thing.  Yes, I told him we both are going through the lifecycle as kids grow up and become more independent.

A Busy Workday

It is a regular workday.  I am thankful that everyone is safe.  It feel good that Buddha bless us with an uneventful day.  Plenty of work to do and boys have their own school work except B2 is on school holiday as he is in Poly and terms timing is different.  I am grateful for the food on the table and my boys are healthy and well.

It is good to get rain which will help my grass to grow again.  My roof garden has turned brown and is slowly recovering. 

I forgot!  My starfruit tree has bears fruits and the starfruits are growing bigger everyday.  I wonder how they will taste like.

No More Red Lanterns

Come to think of it, Keong Siak Street was a famous red light district.  Today, there are no red lantern hanging out shops.  A few years ago, I do not remember exactly how many, I still see a pair of large red lanterns on one of the shop house.  That time I was visiting Whatever.Com, an Australia pschic place.  It offers good Australian coffee and books on Occult.  I usually go for flat white and I can browse and read the books before buying.  Unfortunately, the place closed down.  The owner was ex-wife of Christoper Tan(?, I am not sure the surname) but Christoper was a well known gyneacologist hired from oversea.

Now, Keong Siak street offers good wanton mee and there seems a couple of very popular food place there.  I saw the zhichar was very popular.  I also tried the bak kwa which was featured in Straits Times.  It is okay.  Taste is different.  I still prefer Lim Chee Guan.  There is also a boutique hotel.  I hope the place stays the same with all the old shops.

Super Expensive Lunch in Keong Siak Street

I decided to eat the wanton noodle in Keong Siak Street.  The queue was incredibly long.  So I walk around to look at the alternatives.  Further down the street, there is a Nonya food stall.  It is not as busy and the food on display looks appealling.  I had rice with curry chicken, beef rendang and sayur lodeh.  The cost of the plate?  $9.50!  I was shocked by the high price for chap chye png albeit nonya style cooking.  So I asked for the details.  The China told me beef is $4, curry chicken is $3.50 instead of usual $4 since I have two meats and sayur lodeh and rice is $1 each.  Eating this self service hawker stall at resturant price is incredible.

This afternoon lunch at Waterloo hawker center, three nasi lemak, one ayam penyet with sayur lodeh and two pieces of beef rendang cost $19.  Less than half the price of equivalent food in Keong Siak Street.  I wonder those who patronise the Nonya stall must be very willing to pay high price for lunch.  Now wonder the queue is so long that the wanton mee stall.  It tastes so good and price is at $3.50 per plate. 

Weekend, Hurray!

I do look forward to weekend.  This mean I am not enjoying work as much?  Weekend is a different routine.  Tuition and eating out are the key highlights.  Sometimes, I have therapeutic massage.  Cycling take a toll on the muscles and massage release the constant tension of the muscles that work hard especially calf muscles. 

I do not know what I will do if I retire?  Can't imagine having a 7 days weekend!@#@#$!!  I will be nuts!  I still love to work and enjoys dealing with work issues. 

Today is a good day.  I cooked Hae Mee for dinner.  The Wife is busying with filing our tax returns.  I consider myself a good cook.  My hae mee would have been popular if not for the insecticide smell of our noodles.  We have fogging today.  I wonder if the residues are on our cooking utensils.

Not Keeping Up with my Blog

I promised to myself to write everyday so that I can improve.  But recently, I am slacking.  I am not sure if it is writing fatigue.  Many blogs are interesting.  I only write about myself.  I do not comment on social issues or have juicy stories.  Books are my main interest other than work.   

I should blog about my boys.  B1 is struggling with arguing and presenting on his feet.  Today is his moot court and he is improving according to his friends.  He says he is the worst presenter of the 4 in his group.  I worry about him.  He does not like to stand up or stand out.  Always keeping a low profile.  Now he is in a course that he has no choice but to speak and have a stand.  I am glad he is getting training and practice.

B2 is very sick today.  He is feeling nauseous since afternoon.  Luckily, he vomited out most of the content in his stomach in the evening.  I hope he recovers by tomorrow.  I am not sure if it is food poisoning or stomach flu.

B3 will be having his mid-year exams soon.  He made mashed potato for dinner tonight. 

I went to Foodie Market.  Now all the meat are no longer on special.  Prices have gone up.  I bbq ribeye steak, 1.5 inch thick.  I overcooked it and the boys still like it. 

Busy Busy

Had a wonderful Sunday resting.  I was tired and did not write my blog. 

Today is a busy workday.  Have plenty of follow-ups to do after meetings my business partners.  Luckily, I also managed to do my exercise.  Feels good to use the muscles and pump my heart. 

We are busy earning money in order to live.  We need money for food, water and shelter.  So I wonder if it is better to be a monk.  But monks also have to work with prayers, doing preaching, funerals and other monk duties like maintaining the temple.  I guess once we are born as human, we have to work for a living while animals forage or hunt for food.

I have to read my book In Praise of Idleness to see how I can be idle instead of working:)

Beautiful Yokohama

I am so impressed by the space and beauty of Yokohama.  The city is more spacious and not as crowded as Tokyo.  There are plenty of resturants and all the fastfood are represented.  The gigantic ferris wheel and harbour are gorgeous.  Water is not filled with boat.  I loved the scenery.  I had Indian dinner there.  The food is ok. 

This trip I had most of my favorite food - okomotoyaki, yakitori, tonkatsu and Tully coffee.  It is time to go home.  I am glad to go back home via Haneda.  It is so much more convenient than Narita.

Distracting CNN

Whenever I am in the hotel room, I have the TV on.  However, this time it is only CNN.  The report on Fort Hood whom one soldier killed 3 others and wounding 16.  It is very distracting and the story repeats and repeats.  I have to turn it off.  The American mass media can be mind numbing.

With the TV on, I do my work, surf the net and write my blog.  I just turn off the tv and the silence is welcoming.  The American news are in your face type.  BBC world news is far more soothing and analysis more refined and gentlemanly.  The shrill American values about family and the tragedy upon the individual family who members are killed are magnified.  In contrast, the Japanese grief quietly.

Japanese Style Hotel

Japanese style hotel has small rooms and everything is cramped together.  There isn't any space.  Small chair and table.  Then a tiny sofa chair with a box for coffee table.  The TV cabinet is tiny and still contains tiny fridge and a shelf with kettle and cups for coffee and tea.  The bed is parked at one side of the room with silver of space for walking.  Window is a tiny square glass. 

The rooms all come with breakfast.  Self-serve, there are rice and soup with pickles.  Since this hotel caters for foreign tourists, there are scrambled eggs and tiny burgers, crossants for carbo.  Wifi is available only at the reception area which also double as breakfast lounge.  It is incredibly compact and same space has multiple use. 

Luckily, the hotel I am staying has one English CNN.  I stayed in Japanese hotel before.  The tv usually does not cater for any foreigners at all. 

Yakitori

I have yakitori dinner with my new colleague.  It is his first to this yakitori resturant and he keep saying it is good yakitori.  It is the Japanese way.  When the food is good, he has to keep mentioning it.  I like this resturant as well and will keep going back there.  I love the fresh bbq with very little seasoning.

We have 3 meetings today.  But we have wait for long time to between meetings as we are not allowed to go to the meeting early.  Anyway, this is the Japanese way.  I had too much coffee and too much food.  My meetings went well.  My new colleague is impressed by our positive relationship with our business partners.  I am proud of this feedback.

Chinese Chinese Everywhere

Here I am in Ropponggi.  In my hotel, again, the Chinese tourists.  Lots of them.  It is incredible everywhere I go the tourists are in your face.  It is like a tsunami of people unleashed.  The weather is pretty good.  So I had a walk to Ropponggi and have dinner at the Outback.  I could not eat much and have only half a slab of my favorite bbq - baby backribs. 

This trip, I am likely to gain weight.  Two bbq dinners so far.  Tomorrow, will try Friday's if I have no dinner with my host. 

Tokyo has more kids about.  Starbucks which was usually empty is full this evening.  So I think the economy has improved.  It is more vibrant and people are out and about on a Wednesday night.

Huge Group of Chinese Tourists

I am staying in downtown Seoul and the Chinese tourists are simply descending here.   There are more than 10 buses of tourists.  The Chinese are like Japanese tourist in 1980's.  That was when the Jap Yen were very strong.  Today, hardly any Japanese tourist, mostly Chinese.  Feng shui lun liu chuang.  Fortune changes with time...

I have early flight tomorrow morning and will have to get up early to go to Gimpo airport.  Luckily, it is Gimpo.  Otherwise I have to get up even earlier.

Nice Weather in Seoul

It is nice to come in spring.  Weather is cool and comfortable.  Due to the one hour difference, I am not sleepy and can enjoy the night life.  The crowd is out and about with the warmer temperature.  Many mainland Chinese tourists are here too.  I also heard Cantonese which may be from Hong Kong or Southern China.  It is a short trip here.  I have only one day here i.e. tomorrow and then off to Tokyo.

It is Seoul vibrant here.

Vegetarian Food Coffee Shop in Hougang

This morning I am meeting my in-laws for breakfast.  I went to the Hougang Coffee Shop which specialises in Chinese vegetarian food.  There are 3 long separate queues.  One for drinks, one for fried beehoon and all the various varieties of vegetarian dishes and last queue for roti prata.  The vendor is very successful.  The menu is broad.  I noticed mee siam, mee rebus and tahu goreng.

It is very interesting to see the people coming and going.  Most of the patrons converse in Mandarin.  Some in English and dialects but they are the minority.  Also vegetarian eaters seem like a close knit community as I notice many patrons seems to know each other.  Maybe they go to the same temple.  I had my tea and read the Sunday Times while waiting.  I had a good time observing all the customers come and go.

My father-in-law is happy with the variety of choices he has for his breakfast.  He loved to eat like me.  He was furious when he had to eat plain food after his open-heart surgery.  He keeps complaining to his surgeon.  He is happy to queue up as he has lots of options.  I did not eat any of the food as it is not my kind of food.  I came back home and make smoked duck sandwich with focaccia bread.  It tasted heavenly.

Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck

My eldest sister invited us for dinner.  Only 13 seats available.  So my baby sister's family and my family are there together with her two girls.  My sister's birthday is next week.  The Imperial Treasure place is chosen by the younger daughter.  She ate there before.  My boys like the food there.  We had two ducks.  The Peking duck is not bad but not spectacular either.  Most of the dishes are quite good.  B3 enjoyed the deep fried prawn in salted egg yolk sauce.  The cashew chicken is fried with celery.  The sweet and sour pork is average only.  They like the spinach in three eggs sauce.  We have a good time to catch up with each other. 

I am happy to have quality family time with my sisters.

Slowly Convinced

I am getting convinced by the China Study.  It reminds me of macrobiotics diet of Japan.  We need to eat brown rice and oats.  The complex carbohydrates will stop diseases from progressing and may even reverse them.  The China Study showed a case where heart blockage was reversed!!  It is amazing research. 

So dinner tonight was GABA brown rice.  However, my dishes are chicken soup, smoked duck and cucumber.  So it is not healthy but a start.  The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step.  I will cook more brown rice and slowly increase more plant diet and decrease my meat consumption.  My weakness is barbarque.  I am good at bbqing meats!  I will need to reduce my impulse to buy potato chips when they go on sale.  Good thing is I buy plenty of fruits.

Next week I am travelling and my boys will not be eating much fruits.  I wish they will cut fruits themselves.

The China Study

I bought this book on 23 Aug 2009.  It was highly recommended.  However, I did not read it and it has been sitting my bookshelf until today I looked for it.  The reason?  I was looking for the exact date I bought it.  I am listening to the audio version now and it is good information and learning on the food we eat.  Rather how to eat healthily based on research.  The good thing about actual book is you can look at the content and flipped the pages you want.  Also easy to browse and read the parts that is relevant.   I know I need to change my diet to improve my health.

Causal Visitor

Late afternoon a friend from KL dropped by.  He told me he is coming about 6:30pm but arrived at 5pm instead.  We talked and talked.  He want to try out solar energy and sell the electricity back to the utilities.  It is a good idea with good returns as the law in Malaysia allow people to sell electricity back.  I wish Singapore government has the same laws.  Maybe they do as the Haus in Serangoon is supposed to have this feature.  I have to do more research and check with Sin Power.  I just check on the internet.  The return in Malaysia will be worse than Singapore as the tariffs there for electricity is lower.  If his project is successful, then we can have a business model.

Regular Maintenance and Update

My wife is someone who keep updating our house.  Today, we have the electrical contractor here to repair our down lights.  Since it cost $70 for them to come, she decided to get new lights to change.  So we change and add new lights to our house.  Now everywhere is very bright.  The mistress of the house is a typical Chinese.  Everywhere must have bright lights.  Whereas I prefer to save electricity and have light only where it is needed.  She always complain my work area is too dark.  I used only a desk lamp and only when I really needed it to read.

Now with all the new lights we can save some electricity as we used LED and T5 lights.  So we have to spend money to save money.  Net, I don't think I am really saving anything...

30 Lessons for Living

Whenever I cycle, I listen to music or audiobook.  30 lessons for living is interesting and engaging.  The lessons are told in mini vignettes.  So it is like listening to stories of the folks interviewed.  Lessons like chose your mate carefully, travel more, between work that pays more or work that you enjoys but pay less, go for work that gives you fulfilment.  I am half way there as the interviewees are between 70 to 99 years old.  I still find the lessons useful and wise.  I asked my two older boys to listen but they are not paying much attention.  Anyway, I will make them put the audio files in their phones and they can listen at any time when they are in the train.

Swee Choon Dim Sum

B3's birthday today.  He went to support his friend who is singing in SOTA concert hall.  Ticket cost $15.  Since he finishes at 6:30pm, B1 suggested we eat out for dinner.  Then I read this:17-most-delicious-restaurants-under $15 tody.  Swee Choon Dim Sum is in this list.  I made a mistake before thinking I could lunch there with my wife.  It is open from 6 to 6.  I did not read carefully.  It is 6pm to 6am.  Since it is rare we eat out as a family and we always eat Skinny Pizza when we are in Plaza Singapore, we decided to try Swee Choon even though we have to queue and wait for a table.

B1 and B2 get down to get a number first.  I have to look for a carpark.  Little India is just full of Indians.  My wife is so stressed by them jaywalking and blatant disregard for vehicular traffic.  Having been to India, I can handle it.  I was more stressed by her constant reminders to watch out for this and that in a high pitch and stressed manner.

Anyway, back to Swee Choon.  The dim sum is pretty good is the verdict my picky and sensitive palate of The Wife.  My boys like most of the food too.  We ordered too much and have to put our leftovers in a doggy bag.  The bill came to $94.80.  Since there is no service charge, we gave the balance as tips.  The service is pretty good.  The environment is not good as we were seated in the backlane.

A Sweet Sec 4 Girl from St. Margaret

This morning I was at Bugis.  It is donation day for YMCA.  As I walk along the road, there is this tiny girl standing forlornly waiting for donation.  She did not ask me even when I approach.  I have to let her know I am going to donate.  I asked if she is in Sec One as she is very petite.  She smile and says she is in Sec 4.  I was surprised first by her size and then also by the fact she is Sec 4.  I know in Sec 4 you are basically exempted from CCA to prepare for "O" level.  She told me she has not reach her 100 hours yet.  So she has to do the donation drive.  I feel sorry for her standing alone in the sun.  She probably did not have any friends who need to complete the hours required.

She is very sweet as she answer my questions easily instead of looking scared or sulky.  I think this girl is well brought up and will do well in life.

30 Lessons for Living

Life lessons for the old Americans.  The advice are given in a narrative format.  Just like listening to short stories.  So it is quite interesting.  How to live and how to be happy.  What is important in life...and all the basic questions of going through traumatic up and down of living.  I listen to the audio book version and it is an interesting read. 

Learning to BBQ

I always love to barbaque since I am a meat lover.  I just put the meat into the grill and then watch for the reactions of my "customers".  However, there is no system.  It is whatever spice I use and there is no name for my cooking other than bbq.  Kino is having 20% and I am tired of management, leadership, motivation and self-help.  So I bought a book on bbq and hope to improve my skills and acquired different ways of bbqing my meats.  I learned that grilling squids need a weight on the squid.  Now I know why my squids never looked like they have been bbq.

With my new book, hopefully my skills will be raise a notch or two.

More Ambitious Solar Projects

Now, I am going to purchase 100 watts flexible panel.  It will generate 8amp peak and will require a controller.  I am thinking of what to do next.  A bigger battery and inverter so that I can use the power generated for home appliances.  The other way which is more expensive is to get 12V devices like light bulbs and fans.  Slowly I will be getting there.  Maybe solar water heater as well.  Solar water heater is a lot more ambitious as I will need plumbing contractor to run the water pipes.  Slowly I am getting "greener".  I still need to get my kids into conservation mode.  So far, all my maids are a lost cause when it come to saving water and power.  They are big waster of energy - during ironing and water while washing dishes and clothing.

Solar Water Pump Arrived

The solar water pump which we bought over the internet finally arrived.  It took about 5 weeks.  It is a very tiny pump but hey it worked!  It needed strong sunlight to make the water shoot up properly.   However, I am happy.  To think I spend more than $600 for water pumps that did not last and worse of the 3 sets of pump and solar panel, one panel was cracked and could not be used.  Today, the price is so reasonable and pump a lot more reliable.  Technology has improved the mechanism and the solar cells.  So I am going to take a more ambitious step of spending a few hundred dollars for a flexible solar panel.  This way I can do a bigger project.

Happy as Rain

I just returned home from Bangkok.  In the morning, I was in the mood to clear my pond of some aggressive fishes as all my small goldfishes disappeared.  So I start by removing all the water lilies and the rectangular stones supporting the pots.  After I clear all the heavy stuff off the pond including the fountain, I put all the docile fishes into a holding pail.  It is easy to net them.  Then comes the hard part.  The fishes which I want to get rid of are extremely fast and agile.  They keep eluding my net.  Finally, I had a brainwave!  The fishes are big now.  So I use the rectangle plastic fencing to keep pets with a compound and slowly drag it across the pond.  Even then the smaller fishes managed to jump over the fencing back into the water.  They are so smart!!  The larger ones are caught and I put them together with the arowana.  They are so fast.  So I suspect they will be able to survive for a long time.  Maybe they get eaten up when they sleep.  The fishes caught from the wild are true survivors.  They are extremely fast and know where to go. 

As I was messing around the pond, it started to rain.  I wasn't paying attention except B3 sang out to me that it is raining in a very happy tone.  I was focusing on ridding my pond of pests I brought home and eating up my goldfishes.  I am completely drenched by the time I finished.  The rain keep coming and coming.  It actually rained for a few welcome hours.  Rain starts at maybe 9am and stop around 3 pm.  The trees on the CTE were brown when we were going to Orchard for lunch and on the way home, many trees have buds showing up.  It is the wonder of nature.  All ready and quick to capture the opportunity to grow and reproduce.

I am happily drenched this morning.

Good Conversation with Taxi Driver

I have a good ride home from the airport.  The taxi driver is hokkien and close to my age.  We have plenty to talk about.  Move from kampung to HDB.  Losing touch with all the extended family members.  Meeting family members once a year during Chinese New Year and a host of similar issues facing us living in a city today.  For example, we have to keep working to pay bills.  Both husband and wife have to work and no time spend with the kids.  No more balance life anymore in Singapore especially since the government import cheap labour to keep Singaporeans competitive.

Work Done! Time to Go Home

I am so happy when I finished my last meeting today.  It is getting ready to go home.  Although I love the food and people here, it is nothing like home.  It is nice to walk to Siam Paragon and go to Kino to browse.  Many books are the same but some are different.  Also the layout is different.  So it is a relaxing browse for me.  I enjoys a different Kinokuniya!

Food Heaven

Best way to describe Bangkok.  The variety of good food is broad and very unique flavors and tasty.  I who live to eat is in heaven.  My weight will go up if I cannot control myself.  I can live here permanently as the cost of living is low and healthcare affordable.  I will love to retire here if I have a choice.

Politically, there are some issues.  Thailand, the land of smiles - no longer true, is still the land of polite people.  The train systems are fairly good.  I like the fact I always take train from airport to my hotel.  It is safe and many pretty girls to look although they are mostly enhanced by cosmetic surgery. 

Sizzling Bangkok

The temperature of Bangkok is like Singapore.  The heat is quite unbearable.  I drank lots of water and hot green tea in my meeting.  My host told me this kind of temperature usually occurs in April.  So summer starts early in Bangkok.  There is drought in the farms areas up north.

I am just thinking... random thoughts.  We, humans are impacting the climate and maybe it is not us.  However, we can still continue our way of living using electricity to cool our homes, our offices and shopping malls.  We also use divert water and therefore can continue to live our ways as usual until it comes to a drastic halt.  It is a scary what kind of surprises may be ahead for mankind.

The Malaysian Way?

Having personal experience many years ago when my flight from KL to Singapore did not land, I know how scary it is for the loved ones.  My prayers for all the passengers, crews and their loved ones.

UPDATE [11:00pm]: Vietnamese media is quoting search and rescue officials as being 'surprised' at how tight-lipped the Malaysian government is. According to VN Express, Vietnam’s Chief of Air Administration Lai Xuan Thanh (above, left) says they are receiving very little information from Malaysian partners, with most updates coming from international media.

UPDATE [8:35pm]: Malaysian authorities hold press conference, but stonewall most media questions. Questions that they dodged include:
1) Was there a security lapse? Who is Malaysia Airlines' insurer?
2) What possibilities and angles are you looking at?
3) Did the passengers traveling on stolen passports look like they were German or Italian?

They also confirmed that:
1) Search radius increased from 20 nautical miles to 50 nautical miles
2) Countries assisting in the search include: Vietnam, China, Singapore, United States, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines.
3) Australia sending support as well.
4) Air search to take place between 7am and 7pm. Naval search goes on round the clock.
5) Malaysia also searching in the Straits of Malacca due to reports that MH370 turned back.
6) No signal from the plane's Emergency Locator Transmittor (ELT).
7) Altogether, 34 aircraft and 40 ships involved in search for MH370.

No Information from Malaysian Airlines

The current air disaster is a shocker.  On the news many relatives are frustrated by the lack of information.  After watching the news, my wife remembers one time I was returning home from KL via Malaysian Airlines.  The aircraft did not land in Changi Airport due to "weather" conditions and turned back to Subang (before KLIA).  My wife was panicking and asked the Malaysian Airlines counter what happen and why my flight has not arrived.  They keep telling her they do not know.  Meanwhile she see all other flights have landed and only my flight was "missing".  Meanwhile, we were stuck in the aircraft and unable to leave to make phone calls.  It was 5 hours later that I landed.  Two later flights from KL by Malaysian Airlines had landed before my flight.  It was a harrowing experience for my family for 5 hours not knowing what happened with no information and then seeing to later MH flights from KL landing into Changi. 

When I heard that other planes were landing and only mine did not, I do not think it is the weather that prevent the aircraft from landing in Changi.  All I know is I stop flying Malaysian Airlines to KL.

Disappearance of MH370

MH370 bound for Beijing from KL "disappeared" two hours into the flights.  Onboard 239 people are missing.  Two oil slicks found off the coast of Thailand near where the aircraft disappeared.  So the prognosis does not look good.  I searched for the location of Devil's Sea but it is nowhere near the flight path of MH370.  Devil's Sea is off the coast of Japan near Tokyo.

I pray for the safety of all onboard.

Under The Weather

I am feeling under the weather.  It is hot and dusty.  I think the air is very unhealthy.  I can see the haze and smell the smoke.  So I go to the NEA website to check the PSI index and it show 42 well within the healthy range.  I find this hard to believe.  Maybe our PSI is not measuring the air quality we see and smell.  Maybe I am just too sensitive.  I am not sure if the index is to reassure ignorant person like me.  It sure does not make sense to me!

Starfruit Tree

My starfruit tree needs lots of water.  I water on alternate days and today I notice some of the leaves have turned yellow.  The drought is causing so much stress to the greenery.  The bushes and grass have turned brown along the PCN in most places.  Some areas under the shade of trees is still green.  This is how relentless the sun is.

I better give more water to my starfruit tree.  It was bearing fruits before the dry weather cause it to shrivel up and drop all the leaves and budding fruits.

Clementi Town Center

This afternoon, we go to Clementi Town Center for lunch.  The prices there are quite reasonable but the quantity is very little.  The Loh Mee in one of the coffee shops is excellent.  I also like the price of sugar cane drink.  There are many changes in Clementi town center.  I cannot recognised it anymore.  Nice high rise condo, suburban shopping malls and connected train station and bus terminal.  It is an amazing change.  The saddest thing for me is Clementi Bookstore is no longer in existence.  It used to sell University textbooks at very competitive prices.

Experimenting with Compost

I am not so successful in making compost.  It seems of rotting vegetation and the need to air it is important.  Maybe I shall keep it closed and let the anaerobic process complete it work.  Methane is form and this can be harness for gas.  I noticed that the seeds are quite tough.  They will sprout when I put the "compost" in my soil.  The organic material go through the process of decomposition.  There are fungus, maggots and other yuckly bugs.  Yet, the seeds did not break or are affected by the different organisms that thrive on breaking down the organic waste.

Stainless steel go through heat and fire.  Seeds go through smelly rotting muck.

Eccentric Ka Jie

Eccentric is a better word for a Ka Jie who thoughtlessly put her siblings in a spot.  Actually, she is not thoughtless, she is just volunteering other people without discussion or seeking their permission.  So in order to get out of the situation, you will offend a third party as she will offer your service right in front of the third party thus obligating you on purpose.

I recall a lunch with a colleague many years back in Yishun.  We were gossiping about another female colleague.  She caused a lot of issues in the office.  He finally said "you know, when woman don't get married by 35 years old, she become perculiar."  I remember laughing and told him he got it reverse!!  It is because the woman is perculiar which is why she is not married by 35 years old.

In England, old bachelors are usually called eccentric, rarely spinsters.  Well, Ka Jie is a piece of work:)

Presumptuous Ka Jie

Once upon a time, there was a couple.  This couple had many daughters and one son.  The son is a very previous thing.  But this is not about the boy.  It is the eldest daughter.  Eldest daughter is a very thrifty girl.  She works hard and is one of the most experienced person in her company.  She has some interesting traits.  Her friends like to borrow money from her and they do not return the money and she wouldn't dare to ask any of them to return the money she lend to them. 

Many years has passed and now the couple is quite old.  So they decided to go to China for tour.  Their eldest and youngest daughters being filial girls decide to see the old couple off in the airport. Eldest girl is a spinister and does not drive but youngest girl is married and husband drive a nice continental car.  So youngest girl volunteered to pick up her big sister aka Ka Jie(in Cantonese) somewhere in the east.  When they arrived at the pickup point, Ka Jie got in the posh continental car and instead of closing the door, she moved further in and another woman got in.  Ka Jie tells brother-in-law to send this woman to Bedok. 

Along the way, the conversation continues and the woman asked Ka Jie "excuse me, what is your name?"  It is very interesting that Ka Jie asked her brother-in-law to be a free taxi driver for a total stranger who she just spoke to for a few minutes at the bus stop.

What do you think of Ka Jie's action?  Should Ka Jie give a ride without asking the driver whether it is alright to detour?  Is Ka Jie presumptuous?  Is Ka Jie taking advantage of the brother-in-law who is offering her a ride?  Will a normal person offer to give ride to a total stranger?  Should the stranger take advantage of Ka Jie?  Or is the stranger testing whether Ka Jie's offer to give a ride real?