restarting golf...

last evening, saturday... started golf lessons again, beginners with 10 lessons. While the Orchid Country Club lessons that started late last year to early 2008 were not completed, I do hope I will be able to complete this particular series of lessons, especially since this is now a solo-session thingy. Cannot trust my upcoming schedule...

One of the things I like about golf courses and driving range had been the evening/night view. After the 1-hr session, there were some golf balls left and Marc left me to drive them OTOT with the pitching iron.

Blackberry Bold perspective

Nokia N80's perpective

the christmas - new year period has so far been an enjoyable time, spent with family and friends. despite that, during a recent day of leave, i found myself enjoying a few hours of solitude at one of my fav cafes...

to more good things in life... cheers!

the "fat shirt" ...

background
my sis got for me these 2 shirts a while back, and they were just a little too tight for me. this black one could at least fit snugly at that time, but as time went by and business trips began to increase in frequency, that black shirt became tighter at the mid-section. i had 2 colleagues who would tell me that i was fatter each time i wore that shirt, with the lady saying "your tummy is growing... how many months already?" the shirt went back into the wardrobe and did not see the light of day for some time.

present
and so when i saw the shirt last weekend, i was a little surprised and disgusted that the shirt was a little moldy. this meant that i had been out of shape for pretty long ! with my recent bouts of illness, training for the marathon and the marathon itself, i had finally slimmed down sufficiently, and could put on that shirt without looking too bad. phew...

not sure how long my "slimness" would last, but perhaps, i should just chuck this shirt away when it does not fit again this time round.

X'mas lightings along Orchard

Drove along Orchard just a while ago... was almost in the X'mas mood...

Marathon 8

Never knew my knees could hurt so bad... the marathon that I had just completed took place on a fabulous Sunday, with a wonderful weather that should have given the runners advantage over previous runs... but the body is weak.

I ended up walking much of the last 15 km, but better to have my knees intact. :-)

A quick flashback ...
1. Mobil Marathon 1999 5hr 48 min
2. ExxonMobil Marathon 2001 4hr 33 min
3. StanChart Marathon 2003 5hr 00 min
4. StanChart Marathon 2004 5hr 22 min
5. StanChart Marathon 2005 4hr 47 min
6. StanChart Marathon 2006 4hr 50 min
7. StanChart Marathon 2007 4hr 32 min

and today's timing is about 4 hr 53 min (give and take 1min)

I guess having only trained up to 1.5 hrs is really insufficient to prepare for the marathon, and I better buck up next year!

5+1 showers

shower
... jogged for 1.5 hrs
shower
... badminton for 2 hrs
shower
... grandma's b-day "lunch"
** heavy shower -- rain **
shower
... wedding dinner (with a "wrong hotel" episode)
shower
... sleeping soon

location & frame of mind

Was at 2 separate "beach resort" locations over the recent month, and while it would have been a nice place to relax, these were only resting points for work (and unfortunately flu for most part of one).

the one in South Korea ...

As the year draws to an end soon (it is scary how fast 2008 is going by), I am looking forward to a more leisurely december. More time for sports, rest and perhaps nice time at the beach.

But for now, it is another trip to Indonesia!

a very busy time

gosh.., it has been almost a month since my last post. work has just been crazy, and i am so drained that i just wanna phase out every chance i have.

(random photos on the way back from Ginza to the hotel)

had been to taiwan and japan since the last post, and while still in the midst of all the incomplete work, there is another trip to thailand... it is supposed to be fun work, but that is little comfort when there are still loads waiting to be done.

weekend in Changzhou (again?)

i'm back in Changzhou again!

so much to do recently, that i feel so drained everyday. and finally had a puking session after getting too much to drink lats tuesday. that did not feel good. (duh...) it was after 3 glasses of 白酒 and a glass of beer. and i did manage to puke only when i returned to the room. however, my aim wasn't great, and the drainage of the bathroom sucks... btw, this happened in Heze and not Changzhou.

with the current toxic milk scandal, I wonder how much melamine I had already ingested from my first visit till now. but i really like milk and diary products... and how about the milk in coffee? oh good grief... anyhow, i still had my cereals with milk this morning. the waitress was pretty funny, when i asked her candidly if the milk they served (this is the Traders Hotel) was safe, and she smiled sheepishly, saying "最好还是不要喝".

well, i really should get some work done, before going to town for dinner later. should really do things to bring my spirits up, instead of mopping around in the hotel.

Czech Republic ... quickly, before the charms are lost ...

Czech Republic (21-25 June)

From my impression, Prague had always been one of the most intriguing locations in Europe. Heard a lot about this lovely city when it first opened its arms to tourism, and people were all commenting about how great this city was. Of course, I was there more than ten years after hearing and reading about all that...

The astronomical clock & the old town square... how often does the square get "vandalized"? EuroCup 2008 coincided with our visit, and the square was set up for people to watch the matches together. We had the chance to watch the quarterfinal matches there.

The views of the city from elevation can be breath-taking. The view of Prague castle looks as magical in daylight (above) as well as at night (below). I particularly liked the view along the river at night.

Felice had the greatest idea ... to go to a play/opera/ballet at one of the nice places in Prague. And that we did. We did not care what we were watching, since there were probably not many shows that we could understand, being in Czech Republic and all. The venue was most important. And we wanted to dress up. Hee hee... Even though it was bloody hot that day, we were wearing things that made us (mostly me) regret eventually.

The Opera House was small, but looked very nice on the inside. The ballet was Cinderella, so it was (1) very easy to understand, and (2) was a very family-oriented program. People were dressed well too, so we weren't too out of place. As it was summer, while the ballet started around six and ended before eight, the streets were very warm even when we left... ooo... I definitely cannot survive in that kinda condition for long.


Cesky Krumlov

Heard good things about this UNESCO Heritage Site, and decided to spend a day there. While it was pretty and all, it was a place which would be better experienced by spending a night there, and doing activities like trekking or kayaking. Somehow, I can imagine living in a place like this. :)

世纪婚礼 - Jun 27-29, 2008

It has been more than a month since the vacation in Europe, and I had not managed to allocate any time for presenting and sharing the photos and stories from the trip with the wedding of the century…

Now that I am in Taiwan, where I can get more than 6 hours of sleep everyday, it is time to do some “work”. Don't expect too much for my photo editing skills (or even photo-takings skills for that matter), since I only have Microsoft Photo Editor at my disposal here.

1st up, the wedding of the century. Now, this was a one-of-a-kind wedding. The groom wanted a medieval themed wedding and invited people from all over the world to take part. It was incredible...

the wedding march, from the hotel to the cathedral ... traffic stopping

after the cathedral proceedings, exiting with style!

proclamation from the bride and groom

Now, how many weddings have you been to where they have fireworks, or pyrotechnics, or firing cannons? How about a castle setting, with a massive yard dinner on well decorated tables and archaic cutlery? And people all dressed up, in various costumes, from young kids to the older folks? And probably not many weddings would be accompanied with live poultry, goat, pigs and cow... ha ha ...

And for those wondering, this type of wedding is not common in Switzerland.

dumb city guy

wouldn't usually call myself dumb...

arrived at this remote site in Taiwan by late afternoon, and instead of scouting around for food options, i lazed about in the room until 7+... and then found that everything nearby was closed. on asking the receptionist, there was supposedly a 7-11 "nearby". About 20 minutes or more by walking.

and so, the idiot in me decided to jog there. and being the 路痴 that i am, i did not clarify the directions and ran ahead. and so off i went, into the night, hunting for somewhere to buy dinner.

the roads were not well lit (1). seriously, Singapore is like a glowing indoor city with the lightings we have. here in Taiwan, the street lamps were far between, and there wasn't any pedestrian tracks (2). so i ran in darkness, along the light traffic (3), without any idea if the direction i was heading was right (4). running along, i heard dogs barking away, which was fine, until there was this one barking that did not seem to become distant with my jogging pace... was the dog chasing me? what if the owners of the dogs did not chain them down (5)? and so i ran faster...

giving up when i did 40+ minutes, i decided to make a U-turn. let's make it back when i am still in one-piece. so with the 5 main reasons above, i conclude that i am pretty dumb today! i should have (i) gone looking for food when i first arrive, (ii) take a cab to look for food instead, and (iii) leave the jogging for day-time when there is light.

... by the way, i did not get my dinner. oh, just as well... i am getting fat anyway. better be dumb but look good than otherwise, i guess.

Team Singapore, Short-sighted driving & Lazy weekend

before i begin to put in the long-delayed photos of the Europe holiday and wedding, i must relate my experience of this lovely weekend.

work had been busy and crazy, sucking so much energy from me that i was almost like a zombie by friday. so i was not in the mood to plan too much for the weekend. volunteered to drive the Bride (not in Kill Bill) to the airport for her morning flight on Saturday... early Sat morning. And at the airport, we met Team Singapore, departing for Beijing (same flight as her). There was a large following, of people cheering them at various stages. And my cynical self surfaced.

there was this recent discussion on the support that Singaporeans give to our athletes, that when they come back defeated, there is seldom a well-deserved welcome. some people blamed it on the lack of publicity on their return time, while others were apathetic about the sports team. on this saturday morning, the noise level from the crowd was nice to have, but then when i saw the make-up of the crowd.

See if you could tell what i meant from the photos above...


Short-sighted driving
I was curious today, while driving in the evening. The evening sun was glaring and as i had not put on my contacts, the sun-glasses were not suitable for use... or were they? Being playful, i took off my glasses and went with the sun-glasses with a -3.50 short-sighted vision. It was actually quite okay! Surprise surprise... i was not as blind as i thought i was. of course i couldn't really see the lanes, nor the cars with my side mirrors (gasp!) but it was safe enough with the kinda speed i was going at. However, I should not dare to try this with my pathetic night vision.


Lazy weekend
Did nothing much this weekend. Less than 2 hrs of jogging in total, about 500 m of swimming, about 2 hours of playing with the kids (before i knocked off), and now, shopping, eating and "working" at Raffles City. It was kinda nice to not have any expectations and just BE.

Project EuroWedding ends ...

Returned about 24 hours ago... after the 18-day europe tour (though it is probably more accurate to say 17).

will spend the next couple of days sorting through the loads of photos and trying to recall how to work before work travelling begins again, and will put some of the interesting episodes and photos from the trip soon. watch out for it! it is going to be legend.... dary (gotta watch "How I met your mother" to understand this)

Day 0 of Project EuroWedding

it was a crazy day at work, with not enough time to complete the tasks at hand... made worse as I would be "out of touch" for the next 18 days. It has been quite a long while since I had more than a day beyond close proximity to my work laptop. Now, I would be thousands of miles from it... guess I should be happier than, you know, paranoid.

well, most of the plans are in place, and we will make the best use of our time there. for legs of the trip that we had not made ample plans on the itinerary, we will just make them up as we go along.

here we go...

back at last, for a while

after 27 nights, 17 flights, many road travels and hotel stays, i have finally reached home, and had the much needed rest... where 10 hours of sleep was truly 10 hours long. besides the aches in the body (punishing badminton session on sat), i must say that i feel rested at long last.

just came home from fetching my parents. it was just from a bus-stop distance away, but since they asked, and i was really free, why not... then only at the carpark at our place, i noticed that my parents were walking really slowly, and i only found out later that my mom had strained her back in the afternoon (and it was only cos my father offered that information). I felt a little ashamed that I did not ask earlier, but then, I was smiling within. Smiling becos there they were, chatting happily, arm-in-arm and walking very slowly. :-)

the essense of the upcoming vacation planning is complete, with only some to-do lists to be thought through! yeah! 2.5 weeks of break from work. hope i will not be too stressed before or after that at work.

Beijing weekend

i was planning grand things for this trip: get the wedding suits tailored, meet up with the soon-to-be-weds, go to the Great Wall...

Tailoring was done last night, and I was supposed to check it out this morning, in case there are corrections to be done. My friend and her husband-to-be had a home BBQ and I joined them and their two friends at their appartment. After getting lost on the way there, and 6 flights of stairs in darkness, I found them, and had a great time with food, red wine, and whisky... and cigars for two of them. By the time I was back to the hotel, I was tipsy and a bit too happy for my usual self.

anyhow, i tried to do some work and drank my routine cuppa coffee before turning in at about 2 am. and I had set an ambitious 6.30 am to wake up. well, i woke up at 2pm, destroying all my plans... Rushed to get out of the room to check out the clothes, which fit okay. Perhaps it is cos I was easy. Now, the only thing left to do is to get a luggage (cos mine just died) and maybe do some sightseeing before 6pm. It is now 3.25 on at Saripon's Pizzeria at Xiu Shui Jie...

--- ---

the above was written while having breakfast/lunch/tea... I did get a luggage (not a great price, but hey, not as if I have much of a choice at this moment), and only got to go to the Beihai Garden. Dinner was pleasant, but the usual tourist stuff was not accomplished at all. Oh well, there will be other times in future. Meeting up with friends was entertaining, so I do not regret oversleeping this morning. Less than 20 days to their big day.

more than usual

It was disturbing, with the heightened security for entering China thru' Harbin. It had always been a breeze to come to Harbin or Dalian, that I had come to take it for granted.

On walking towards the immigrations, I was looking intently at my blackberry with one hand, and passport with arrival card on the other. It came as a surprise when one of the immigrations officer asked me where I was from. On ascertaining that I am a Singaporean, and my boss joined me, he asked us to go to a waiting area, without any explanation. Soon, a number of people, including some elderly passengers from Australia joined us. Two Chinese nationals and one Korean also joined in the group, while the other Chinese nationals and Koreans went smoothly across.

Guess it was pretty awkward for us travellers, and probably for the security officers too... they tried to ask everyone to take seats, when there was obviously not enough for all the people they had brought in. And some people weren't too interested to sit down, and would rather know what was going on. Anyhow, me and my boss were called in to have our hand carry luggages checked. They checked through EVERYTHING... took all the papers and flipped through them. Checked every compartment, and asked about almost everything. Cameras were turned on, and photos were browsed. Laptops and thumb drives were taken to be inspected away from our sight, which was pretty disturbing for me.

I maintained to be cheerful and cooperative throughout the situation, since there was nothing that I could do to ease the situation. Whatever they wanted to check, I let them, and was very obliging to provide all the details that they wanted. The security officers that handled me were quite friendly, though they did not divulge what they were looking for or why they were going such a thorough inspection.

Well, not everyone was this lucky or patient with them, and the ladies were probably the most upset... and some photos in some cameras were probably lost in the process. And they did not allow the folks to go to the washrooms unaccompanied, making everyone feel like prisoners. Of course this was to be expected for a heightened security situation, but seriously, nobody there looked even the least bit dangerous.

We made some small talk with the Australians. A very nice lady (Trish) was sorta a head of the group, and was trying to look out for the rest. However, they had difficulties communicating with the officers and I went forward to help. Just some translation. Of course she had her points, that the elderly travellers were all tired and needed to rest, and the security officers had their red tape and could not be very flexible, so being a translator for that part of the conversation was not the most fun. But we managed to get the security officers to go out to help them inform their travel agent about the situation, and ensure that the agent remained waiting for them.

The whole ordeal took a little over 90 minutes and it was just lucky for us that we were not in a hurry. But this was enough to convince us to really avoid coming to China until the Olympics is over. Well, hope the rest of the China trip will be much better!

Korean "storm"

As I sat on the flight to get to Incheon from San Fransico, I looked at the time on the entertainment system… Time at SFO… Time at ICN… and my laptop had Singapore’s time. And then I looked at my analog watch and decided to set to Korea’s time. Try to imagine adjusting the time on an analog watch, where the minute arm turns round and round … with the limited lighting conditions, I was temporarily brought into a movie-like sequence, and it was almost like magic, a little magic in life... where the hands of time went spinning round and round. After 2 weeks of U.S. clock, it is time to get back to the regular time zone. I returned with some Coach bags, lots of incomplete work, important assignments and some heavy feelings.

and the "storm" refers to a flurry of activities here in Korea. it was nice to revisit some places, as well as going to a new one. the weather had also been excellent here, though I hadn't the time or mood to roam around, and quickly, 4 days had passed...

a troubled period

at this point of time, i'm half way through the current work trip with the U.S. leg complete, and customer visits will begin soon. work is piling up quickly and there is no chance that i can settle stuff before the wedding in June... and there is more clarity on the uncomfortable situation here...

i had thought that it was awkward when some new people came to the Singapore office to replace some existing staff as their functions were to be migrated to another location. the transfer of knowledge and equipment took place over a year, but imagine how the outgoing staff must have felt. it was awkward when i was not directly involved... it is much worse now, with some of my colleagues leaving. 4 to be exact. and during the meetings and meals, i was very conscious about what i say. maybe too conscious... if i were closer to them, we might have been more candid. but it would not make a difference.

well, this is no time to be too affected by the current situation. less than a month away from the long await trip.

Baseball in Houston & Walking around in Boston

Houston ...
As part of the team building, we went to catch a game of Houston Astros vs Chicago Cubs at the Minute Maid Park... a game of baseball that is. As the last baseball game (or 40% of a game) that I had watched was more than 2 years ago, the knowledge of the game was almost negligible. Luckily for me, the new R&D manager who was sitting by my left was enthusiastic enough to share his knowledge of the game. Not that I would be a fan of baseball in any case, but it certainly made the activity more interesting.







Boston ...
after a (adjective not to be included) meeting in Boston, there was time for me to roam around a bit. as i was still under the weather, it was difficult to really be enjoying the whole opportunity. as it turned out, Boston looks like a great city to live and work in. Perhaps it is because the weather is pretty excellent and not freezing cold, like it would be more than half the time in a year.

the beginning of a long one

it was a very long sunday,.. with an extension of 13 hours by travelling to Houston. while i was healthy and sharp at the beginning of the flights, i was sneezing like mad just before i slept 3 hours ago, with a throat in pain right now. Ouch...

this is the beginning of a long one... a long work session. Austin in a couple of hours, Houston for the days after, Boston for the weekend, Houston for some meetings, Korea for a few customer visits, China for a couple of follow ups. Feels tiring just thinking about it.

the labour day special

April - it was a Bintan overnight department meeting, a messy meeting in Japan, some difficult meetings in China, with many proposals being due, and then a mid-duration work trip in Korea... Kinda tough, especially when I had very little time back home, and lotsa follow-up items not done. But it was good that I did not get a chance to go for the conference (otherwise known as a holiday for the "participants" who were not there to meet customers and discuss work). Missed a trip to San Diego and stayed at Daesan, South Korea instead? Fine by me.

Too early at Daesan with the delays that went on and most of the time was spent doing work from other customers. But as I followed the work pattern of the other people around me, it became 12-hour shift days, so more time was spent at "work" than I would have liked. Energy level went to all time low for the past few days... so really glad to be leaving today. However, there is still one more stop before I get back. Back to Yeosu!

20 RMB and charity?

Was walking back to the hotel after a nice dinner when a family of 3 walked past me and then spoke from behind me. The man asked if I could spare some money to buy some food for the child. There was a very young child in the woman's arms, and my heart immediately went soft. "Okay", and I went ahead to the convenience store nearby.

Of course there was some thought in my head that these people might not be genuinely in need, but what is a little money for food gonna hurt? Instead of following me into the convenience store, the man was shy and asked me to just get anything. I insisted, so that he could choose the food for the child. It was nice that he wasn't expecting much, and kept apologizing. Even when I wanted to get some food for him and his wife (I had assumed their relationship as a family unit), he kept saying that it would be enough to just have food for the kid.

Anyhow, I went ahead and got them a little food and drink, without thinking very much. After thanking me, and before I left, the lady went on to ask if it was possible for me to get them a cheapest room, so that they can stay for the night to wait for their family to turn up tomorrow. The man said not to bother me anymore, and it was good enough that they had food. I did not think it was appropriate for me to do anything more, and who knows if the "charity" would escalate. But as I left them to eat, my heart did go out for the kid...

To take the nice and heart-warming moment away, closer to the hotel, a lady and her kid approached me too, asking for money to buy food for the child. Deja vu? I was not too keen to bother this time round, especially when the kid was doing a fake whining cry. But after they bothered me for some distance, I decided to just give them 5 RMB. Small amount, but anything to get them off my back.

On reaching the hotel, I went to talk to a few hotel staff at the concierge. There were two ladies there, and when I asked if it was normal for people to be asking for aids on the streets, they told me that these people were most likely just cheats. And the kids may not even be their own (gasp!). Another female staff joined in, and we started chatting, and one of them elaborated on the locations where this sort of situation was even more prevalent. Oh well... as long as the little child gets to have some food, it really doesn't matter if the "parents" cheated or not...

Back in Changzhou ... last leg of this almost-3 week trip

Came back to Changzhou after the presidential election in Taiwan, and now to get continue with the never-ending work. Of course this is to be expected, but a real break would be nice.

Another nice song from Ken Hirai...

Taiwan Elections - Short of the finalization

The gap is pulling further, and it is firm that the blue camp won. Mr Ma had won the elections with KMT, to lead Taiwan for the next 4 years.

fireworks celebration in Kaohsiung - (a DPP-stronghold) ...

On the TV, the DPP supporters are very upset, but at the moment, the fervent supporters are still gathered waiting for the counting to be completed, even though the results are already clear by now. Wonder if I will see anything when I venture out for dinner in a couple of minutes...

Taiwan Elections - Counting of Votes

Wow... there is live screening of vote counting, with the numbers jumping in the main screen of channel TTV. They were also focusing on this particular location where the vote numbers had been known to coincidentally match the overall results in the previous election. A few more hours before the results are finalized.

Taiwan Elections

Today is the day!!!

People started voting at 8am, and the news channels have been covering all the various aspects of it. There had been footage of the previous president and wife's voting, footage of the wife of one of the most influential business person in Taiwan, shots of the presidential hopefuls doing their various things.

The opinion poll results are currently showing that the Blue Camp (KMT) is in the lead in most localities, but things may change towards the end of the day...

election fever in Taiwan; KMRT; Ken Hirai

for someone who has lived in a politically sanitized country all his life, the vibrance of the political scene in Taiwan was refreshing. Don't be mistaken, cos I am not unhappy about the peace in Singapore, but it sure gave me some interest in looking at the activities that are taking place around where I am right now. Voting will take place on Saturday, and I guess I will be glued to the TV to catch the latest updates.


KMRT
The mass rapid transit is finally up and running, and they had "free travel" for one month, up till 6 April. When I was here more than a year ago, the cab drivers were saying that this would be an expensive toy, to be used by only visitors, students and the elderly. The rationale was that the locals were all very used to going around in their cars and scooters, and were unlikely gonna be interested in limiting their mobility with the trains. Well, during this free travel period, lots of locals and foreigners alike were taking this mode of transport. They despatched lots of urshers to maintain order at the stations, and hopefully people will be used to allowing passengers to alight before boarding the trains, etc. We shall see, especially on how the situation will be when they start to charge for the rides...

A local had told me that this free travel period coincided with the election period for a very specific result. After he said that, it became very clear that they were not only trying to get people interested to give the KMRT a go...


Ken Hirai 　堅。平井

a great time in Shanghai

Decided to pop by and stay in Shanghai for a night, in between the China and Taiwan legs of this current work trip. I always have problems switching from work mode to fun-travel mode. So why did I decide to go to this exciting city instead of staying back in Changzhou where I could get more work done?

it was only the chance of meeting up with a friend whom I made last August (see previous entry) -Tianxiang-ge ( :P sounds intimate, right?) that had me decided on going to Shanghai the saturday that just past, instead of staying in Changzhou where I could be getting more work done.

Eating along the river, strolling at the river for the afternoon view and later the night one, joining the crowds in the subway, prowling the streets of xintiandi, sipping coffee/tea lazily in the afternoon, walking in the cool air of the night along Nanjing Street... the company made the day most memorable.

Thanks John. Hope to see you in Singapore some time.