What My Mother Taught Me

My mother, Anna, will be 78 this year. She lived through the 2nd World War and married my father, Geoffrey in 1959. She came from a once wealthy family whose fortunes tumbled after my maternal grandfather left the family in Hong Kong.She is the eldest in the Wen family of 4 sisters and 1 brother and all who are residing in Singapore.
She is very thrifty on herself but doted on us 2 sons and although her wealth came through shrewd property acquisitions and stock market picks over the last 25 years, she never splurged on herself like taking expensive holidays overseas. When the time came for us 2 sons to enjoy some overseas holidays, she readily gave with love.
A personal assistant in the Ministry of Health for over 30 years, she still keeps in touch with many doctors who are active in the Ministry or who have left. A personal friend was the famous pathologist Dr. Chao Sie Ching who passed away in 2000.

So what did my Mum teach me ?
1. Don' sweat the small stuff.
2. A dollar saved is a dollar earned
3. Help a friend in Need

Here's to you Mum

Shanghai - A City moving at Top Speed

Night View of Pu Dong taken from the Bund


Top Speed of 431 km/hr !


Pic shows Kannan and Somsak beside the 'Lie Che' or Mag-Lev Train


Pic shows Pu Dong from the Huang Pu River

St. Andrews Dinner - 30 Years since I left school !

Saturday 30th was an exceptionally memorable day for me and for all my school friends from St.Andrews. As we had 'graduated' from Sec 4 in 1978, this was especially meaninful for all of us. There were several whom I had not seen for 30 years but apart from the expanded waist-lines, receding and / or some greying hairs all of us looked like our boyish selves.Our Form Teacher Mr. Victor Wee was present at the next table and we were thrilled to meet him again.

To the 'boys' of 1978, Chew Ping Nan,Pang Seng Meng,Chandakanth,Gurdeep,Thedasidas,Michael Lim,Paul Lim,Jimmy Lee,Andrew Lee,S. Iswaran,Peter Chin,Ng Tong Yang,Ow Hing Choy,Faisal Alsagoff,Edward Ong,Fong Kar Yew, Jay Su Kian Teck,Loke Khoon,Paul Ezekiel,Heng Chow,Chiu Loo Kwong,Freddy Choy and Malcolm Lim Kian Leng ;

May our bonds of friendship last for as long as we live.

UP AND ON !!

Hazy Day 28 -08-08

Today I was downtown at about 9.15 am and noticed that the sky was exceptionally hazy so I decided to stop my car and amidst the drizzle, went out near the Padang to snap this shot.
If it reminds you of anything related to 9-11, well that day is just around the corner.

Singapore Bay Run 2008 - Half Marathon ; Good Weather but Lousy Route Management

I ran my 5th Singapore Bay and Army Half Marathon today in a time of 2 hours 15 minutes and 53 seconds. While the weather ws cool and breezy, the race management was BAD. The race director(s) were probably army personnel who had never thought of how the route would be run with 10,000 runners and made poor errors of judgement. My thoughts :

1. The start at 6.30 am was fine but there were approximately 10,000 runners doing the 21km and from the start, we headed down from Espanade Bridge down Shenton Way and barely 500 m into the race, we were running through a Construction Site!
Yes, construction workers from Bangladesh,China and India were on either sides of the new Marina Boulevard cheering us on. NUTS.

2. The roads cordoned off were only 1 to 2 lanes at some points so it was very squeezy and we were bumping into each other as well as elbowing or maneuvering round the slower runners.

3. Water Points - Poorly managed by the various army units; they underestimated the number of runners and even as I was in the faster 25% of the runners, they were running out of water. They had the cups and the water but did not estimate properly how many cups to place on the table. Many times, runners DON'T WANT to hang around waiting for the water to be poured. Wastes time.
Worse still, the umbrellas of the water points all had 100 plus signs but NO ISOTONIC DRINKS.

4. Streetside festivities - Its more of a distraction rather than a booster ; too few and far between. Give me the Cheerleaders anytime.

5. 14 km to 17.5 km - I don't understand this route at all. They opened a new road hardly tarred,narrow and worst of all, with potholes, nothing but cleared land on either side. No supporters, no water points, no nothing. Felt like something out of
army trekking. We should stick to the road and forget the Marina Barrage segment.

6. Marina Barrage - Big deal, another land bridge. So what ?

Mr. Race Director - I wonder why I take part every year, spend $35.00 and go through all of this ?

12 hours before Race Day 24th August

Its less than 12 hours before I run the Singapore Bay 1/2 marathon and the preparations are all done ; I managed a good 8 hours on Friday night and I hope to have at least 7 hours of solid sleep before I can do my best. The number on my bib is V8989 which is a nice number and the Championchip is positioned nicely on my ASICS.
Though I have had minimal training - running 2 to 3 times a week for about 8 km mostly, I am confident that I will manage about 2 hours 15 minutes ; the time I posted last year which is about 6 minutes and 30 seconds per kilometre. I will run with a bottle in hand - like a drunk - and bring along 2 PowerGels.
Wish me luck. It should be fun

Wen - Steady ; Jia Wei - You Rock

Singapore's Table Tennis Ladies Captain,Li Jia Wei tried her best in the true Olympian spirit but was not able to overcome a gritty Guo Ye (World No.2). She lost in the Bronze Medal playoff last night -22nd August 2008 and there were 4 million Singaporeans cheering for her with every singles smash,lob,backhand and topspin plus every airpunch she made.

One may view her dainty moves around the table-tennis table as similar to a 'princess' and compare that to the gtitty Chinese No. 2 as a 'tomboy' but there is no denying that Li Jia Wei is a world-class athlete and the Beijing Olympics have proven that she is indeed in the top 5 table-tennis players in the world right now. She wrote on her hand "Wen" which meant "steady" to ensure that she kept a steady head and control her emotions.

Yes, she was disappointed and cried but I admire her discipline,tenacity,mental toughness and most of all her sacrifice to reach the pinnacle of the sport which has given Singapore so much to be proud of. The world remembers only the winners but not those who had slogged for hours every day for the last 10 - 15 years to compete in a match or race lasting no more than 1 hour or even 10 seconds (see 100 metres) and at the end there is nothing so show for it, if you are 4th,5th 16th or 35th. Ordinary people will never understand or experience the feeling of this greatness or happiness or sorrow - at the highest levels such as the Olympics.

At the end, it is the Olympic Creed which we should be mindful what Bishop Etherbert Talbot said in 1908 :

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part,just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle.The essential point is not to have conquered but to have fought well"