Pain and no gain....

Ok, I spent SGD 70, to participate in a half marathon.

A first real marathon I ever took in my life.

Bad decision to only train for twice before the race.

The consequence, 4266 out of 6000+ participants.

And, a pair of limping and swollen feet.

Happy though!

贪新忘旧

我是一个贪新忘旧的人。
我会忘记你昨天的任性，爱上今天可爱的你。

Move!

Sensei said: " If you don't move, you cannot throw ! If you move, you don't need to throw!"

Guess I have to move more. To achieve more ?

Childhood Dream

It's been 6 months since I started working in Singapore.

My boss told me that he will have a performance review meeting next Tuesday.

When I think about it, I haven't been doing anything that is bringing in income to the company.

Looks like the best candidate to be retrenched if the company is having financial crisis.

By then I shall start pursuing my childhood dream of starting a Nationwide Fried Kuey Teow chain......hahahahahaha

The art of acception

Last night in training, Sensei gave me a great lesson. 

Among the highly philosophical quotes he mentioned are :

" Old habit is in the blood, difficult to change. Persistence is needed to change."

" If you resist, you will face more resistance. "

"The more negative enery you point towards your opponent, the more negative energy he will return to you."

"If someone bump onto you on the street, do you blame him? He might be in a rush, therefore unaware, but you are the culprit yourself as well, as you are not aware. It takes two people to create a conflict."

Simple, but it did make me thinking!

Harry Ng Sensei, Shosin Aikido Singapore (6th Dan)

The Reason I Love him

Had a ball basketball and recalled this player called Hakeem Olajuwon.

Watch the video, and watch top plays #1 and #2.

Amazing, spectaculor and that's what inspires me how to play basketball.

http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.php?content=video&url=http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/top10s_specialties/top10_olajuwon_careerplays.asx&video=

But, I respect him for his other side in life most, as quoted from Wiki:

"Olajuwon was still recognized as one of the league's elite centers despite his strict observance of Ramadan (e.g., abstaining from food and drink during daylight hours for about a month), which occurred during virtually every season of his career. Olajuwon was noted as sometimes playing better during the month, and in 1995 he was named NBA Player of the Month in February, even though Ramadan began on 1 February of that year"

No excuse for Muslims to feel lazy in the month of Ramadan isn't it?

Be a Malaysian

Regardless of being in mamak stalls, fastfood outlets, fine dining restaurants or pubs,wherever you see Malaysians gather, the current political scenario is one of the topics of discussion.

With Malaysiakini, Malaysia Today, Chedet.com, and blogs of various politician, suddenly, every internet-abled Malaysian is a political expert.

We spend time discussing issues, debating bills that was tabled, talking about policies that should be abolished/ created, and at the end of the day, we the so called "Mamak Political Experts" have ZERO conclusion and not to mention, ZERO actions.

For those who all talk no action, like myself, here are something we could do, and should start doing to ensure Malaysia is a better place. Take your pick.

1. Help out in political events / campaign for your local candidates
2. Donate to political parties
3. Be a political leader among your family and friends.
4. Do what a Malaysian should do.

After seriously evaluating all the options, I found that:

Option 1 is not my cup of tea. Also, this option is only applicable during campaigning period, which only happens once every 4 years? or sooner if there any by-election. Plus, its just too labour intensive, and shall leave this option for those who are highly motivated, not me.

Option 2 is a noble thought, and a costly one. What will my RM100 do towards a better Malaysia? Maybe can pay for a few of option 1's volunteer's meals and transportation? Nah, Unless I can donate something like RM 1mil, I won't bother. People always think they contributed by giving money, but patriotism is more than that.

Option 3 is great and you have to have some creditable knowledge in the current political scene to do it.I know I can do it. But, I would rather be a source of information that a political leader/ adviser among my family and friends. Debating with people who supports different parties is tiring! And I don't hope to be charged for defamation or sodomy.

Option 4 poses a great question, what should a Malaysian do towards a better Malaysia? Firstly, you need to imagine what your 'dream country' should look like. Seriously, I do not know how living in a dream country feels like.I definately do not know your defination of a dream country. After traveling quite a bit around the world, I still think Malaysia is the best place on earth for me. The food, the people, the natural scenarios, the way people speaks, the political jokes and the so called 'discrimination' claimed by everyone, its just too unique.

I like Malaysia, and over the years, things change, and the country needs some tweaking. Every Malaysian is expecting a major change, but as a normal Malaysian who cannot bother to act upon option 1, option 2 and option 3, I would do what a Malaysian should do, which is -- Be a Malaysian.

However, being a Malaysian is no easy feat.

You need to:

Thoroughly understand the history of our country.
Know the reason why Independance is sort after?
What happened before and after independance.
Understand why various political parties exists?
Understand what happened during May 13 incident.
Understand what NEP is really about.
Understand the plight of other fellow Malaysians.
Understand how the parliment works.
Understand and practise your rights as a Malaysian.
Think for yourself if petrol prices in Malaysia can really be as cheap as Saudi Arabia?
Learn the basics of inflation and growth.
Think for yourself, when things get bad, is it because of a race, a religion or its because of a few people who has misused their authorities?
Make friends with everyone, learn more about each other. Share your opinions between your friends of all races.
Find out if there's any country in the world that have no prejudice, racism and is fair to everyone?
Question yourself, how can you be part of a better Malaysia.

In fact, the list could just go on.

Even though born and lived in Malaysia for 25 years, I am still trying be a Malaysian.
Better start late than never,or worse yet, complain and do nothing, right?

Why so BIG?

The only reason I could think of, for them to serve in such a big bowl is:


To soak and wash my face with the leftover soup !?

To force or to follow

When I was young, I was hoping to do things my way, and have everything done in favour of myself.

Some years later, I discovered it is simply impossible to have everyone following your instructions, and things don't change because you want it to.

So, I started to learn the art of influencing.
I learnt different skills, the skills of persuasion, skills of motivation, skills of speaking, skills of deceiving, skills of lying and even the skills to threaten.

Alas, after years of trying, the world is still round, I still can't have free food in MacDonald's, can't get the stray dogs to listen to my stories and can't have a free Hull City FC jersey delivered to my doorstep.

Finally, after years of trying, I gave up. Instead of having people follow suit, I try to blend and follow suit. To follow whatever others are doing, is never difficult, but to follow and to maintain your own principles along the way, while not losing your own identity is.

I hope I can do it better.

我怕

幼时，总是爱挑逗她。
从她身边走过，看她依然潮气蓬勃，仿佛每天都睡得很好。
从她身上散发的快乐气息，让我不禁上前搭讪。
天真的我，还以为她会与我对话。
我靠上去，她吓着了。
低下了头。不敢望我。
好可爱！

去了英国后，不再与她见面。
还一时忘了她。
时隔多年，竟然在新加坡重逢。

这个偶然的相遇，让我不知所措。
是感觉陌生了，还是受狮城生活节奏影响？
我竟然只是呆呆的望着她，快步的从她身边赶过。
说不出一句话。

是怕她不认得我了吧！
如果我靠过去，她不害羞了，也不低头了，我会否很失望？

我怕。
我怕失去童真，我怕失去纯真。
我怕失去美丽的童年回忆。

Perceptions and Deceptions

When mentioned about how much more fun it is to live in Malaysia, my Singaporean friend immediately responded :

"It's more dangerous in Malaysia-leh and politically it is so unstable now-leh, can easily get killed on the road or on the streets-leh! "

"But I have no problem staying there throughout my life!"

"You might just have been lucky! Look at all those media reports in the newspapers and TV, you must be joking to say its safe there! and to drive on PLUS highway is never safe......and ....."

"....................................."

As a seasoned traveler, (although most of the time for business) I am well aware that every country has crime and their social problems. Yes, each and every one of them, the Brits have too many drunk people on the streets; the Americans can virtually buy a gun from their supermarket and start shooting people at will; the Japanese commit suicide as often as we eat ice cream; and murder/rape/traffic accidents DO happen in Singapore!

Someone get killed in Singapore

The only major difference is, what kind of perception does the people have on their own country and on other countries. Top that up with the microscopic coverage of the media, be it CNN, BBC or Channel News Asia, a small incident that does not affect anyone could sound like a disaster for that country. However, when the country is peaceful and doing well, it will not be reported, as the news will not sell, true?

Someone get killed in Singapore, again

No news means good news for the citizens, but not to the media.

Luckily, Malaysia is not the only victim, and it's not the worse victim.
One of the worse victim, due to the irresponsible bias media coverage is Pakistan.

Being assigned there for a week for business, I managed to "interviewed" several working-class Pakistanis.

Local Pakistanis are generally very friendly,even if you do not give them money!

"Do you think Pakistan is a safe country?"

Local #1:"Why is it not safe? Do you see any sort of violence throughout your stay?"

Thousands of devotees visiting the Tomb of Abdullah Shah Ghazi

"How is the political situation affecting your daily activities?"

Local #2:"Nothing, people are still busy with getting money to feed their family, and the political system does not directly affect the bureaucratic system over here. For example: the Prime Minister can change, but the Ministry of Education still runs, the Ministry of Finance still does it work, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority still ensure the development mobile phone networks."

"What do you think about your President?"

Local #3:" There's a President and the Prime Minister. The president is not holding any actual power, he's the one who is always in the media spotlight, but he does not do anything. In contrast, the Prime Minister holds actual governmental power, and he keeps the country running."

A sneak shot of the President's Office, highly secured!

Though I've only visited two cities in Pakistan, Islamabad and Karachi, but I could confidently conclude that, despite all the negative reports on the country, the people here are too busy to plant bombs in the city where they can easily kill their own friends and relatives. (Bombs only planted at certain foreign offices). The Talibans are not from Pakistan, and the people here are well fed due to overwhelming agriculture produce and there's a lot to see, eat and experience in Pakistan.

Busy scenes on the streets of Karachi, climb the bus!

There's briyani rice,mangoes, bananas, peaches, Pashmina shawls, Cashmere carpets, the colourful buses and trucks, the small un-metered yellow taxis, the more than dirty streets and the out-of-nowhere huge shopping malls.

Taxi ride here could not cost more than RM10 no matter where you go!

With good agriculture conditions, and a strategic geographical location, there's every reason to believe, that the country of Pakistan could emerge as a powerhouse in the future. Just do not write them off yet!

Ride on the bus instead!

Land without Landmark

Was sent to some weird place in another part of the world.
This is the land where you can find good Arabic and Indian food.

Mutton Briyani Rice

This is a place where most of the locals dress up in Kandura and Keffiyeh.

Back to school?

Streets are small and old, and are usually crowded.

Gold is said to be cheap here, I wonder why?

Another tourist imagining all those golden bracelets are his....

Abra is a local name for a small wooden boat, used to transport people over the creek.

Hell yeah, lots of people using the water taxi!

I had some free time before leaving this place, and asked the taxi driver to bring me to some interesting place, and he took me to.......

This is so sad......WTF!

And he 'accidentally' drove pass a couple of buildings by the name of Emirates Towers.

They are building MRT also......

And I was told this is the most interesting place in this city.....how sad is it to have a self acclaimed 7 start hotel as your city's landmark......at least we have the Petronas Twin Towers in KL ! Haha......

Oh, in case you do not know already, it's called Burj Al-Arab and it is in Dubai!
And no, Dubai is not a country! Dumb ass!

Henderson Waves

New things attract attention, and new buildings attract crazy Singaporeans and its foreign workers, like us, who have nothing better to do during weekends.

Its advertised in the local papers that a new pedestrian bridge was built somewhere in one of the nature parks, and was named Henderson Waves. Its the highest pedestrian bridge in the world, wow, that's some selling point and thus became a 'must-see' item in Singapore !

Four languages on a signboard, shame on you Malaysia.

We started our journey near Harbourfront MRT station. We have to track uphill towards the jungle.....and was amazed by our first 'sight'. A weird looking tree.......that resembles....something.

A tree?

The old saying of "There's two sides of a coin" sounds very true when you can think that :

1. There's nature within the hustle and bustle of the city of Singapore.
2. There's no escape of the view of the city even though you are in any nature park of Singapore.

It depends on how looks at it though....

Concrete Jungle within jungle?

Nevertheless, we dragged our body towards the peak of the hill......which is around 65m above sea level......

Old liao......

We still go on with our main business, taking photos along the way.

You know you see an artistic person when he takes photos in weird angles.

The bridge is crooked, no wavey, no, it straight.....urgh...it confusing !

Trying to be an artist

A wavy bridge?

Good day out, some light workout and some good photo shooting.
It's considered an excellent outdoor trip in Singaporean term, or at least to foreign workers like us.

Anyway, too lazy to write a lot,(maybe nothing to blog about)so read the description in the photo here yourself!

Spice up your life !

It was a normal Thursday evening. Was off from work early, took a swim and had dinner at Tiong Bharu Plaza with friends JC and JA.

First timer to the restaurant, I was quite amused by the name in chinese 别府面馆 (Benpu Menkan) and its decoration which resemble Hell.

Only then I know they are well-known to serve spicy Japanese ramen. Being adventurous, and to accept the challenge of a dare from JC and JA, I ordered the Oniyama Jigoku (Ramen with Fried Chicken from Hell) and with a spicy rating equivalent to 8 chilli padis. For your information, there are choices from 1 chilli, 2 chillies, 4 chillies, 6 chillies and a maximum of 8 chillies.

Notice the chilli rating under the food description

Me:" I would like to have Oniyama Jigoku, 8 chillies please!"
The waiter even suggested :" Are you sure? I suggest you to just take 4 chillies la...."
Me:" Why? 4 chillies and 8 chillies same price woh......8 chillies la!"
Waiter: "ok ......"

JC, in fear I could not finish the spicy noodles, ordered Tatsumaki Jigoku with 1 chilli so that if the worse case happen, we can mix both noodles together and create a 4-chilli noodle.

JA ordered a seafood paperpot and promised to finish a bottle of sake if I could finish the 8-chilli ramen.

The noodles arrived shortly, looking and smelling spicy.

Looks intimidating

Looking at the shock across the table, the waiter kindly asked :" Do you want a glass of ice cold water?"
Me:"Wah, look down on me? I want hot green tea instead!" (actually its better to drink hot drink when you take spicy food la...)
Waiter: "Ok....."

Picking up the unusually large spoon, I tasted the soup for a start, and man, it's spicy, but still tolerable after my hell-like spicy food eating training in Indonesia.

Then I started eating the ramen....and I started to feel the burn in my mouth.

Couple of minutes later, my stomach started catching fire.

And after 10 minutes, I was virtually crying while eating ramen.........

Amazingly, after like 15 minutes, I don't feel anything anymore.....and I managed to finish the whole bowl of ramen, not including the soup of course.

Job done! Viva King of Spice!

Disappointingly, JA did not keep her promise to drink down a bottle of sake.......and I sacrificed without any returns.

JA, you owe me a bottle of sake!

JA's Seafood Paperpot

They even mention the spicy rating on the receipt! Don't play play!

Batu Caves

I got to admit, I've not been to Batu Caves, until last week.
If its not because my colleague Dr.Stefano from Italy insisted, I won't be there.

That's how an Italian PHD holder in Transmission Network looks like when he drinks from a coconut.

The entrance to Batu Caves is impressive, with the world's tallest statue of Lord Murugan blinding our eyes with its shiny gold paint.

The smart Italiano challenged me to run up the stairs.......not knowing there's a couple of hundred of it............


Ok, its just 272 steps in exact. But it did made us sweat a whole lot!

Why did they ever tried to number the steps?

Looking back from inside the cave

There's not a great deal inside the cave, just a couple of shrines and some monkeys wandering around. Not too interesting.

I did manage to capture this funny picture of my colleague though......haha

This is how he got his PhD....determination and dedication