One Night in Bangkok - Oct 16th 2008

On a short business trip to Bangkok, I suggested we try something out of the ordinary,which was to visit the site of the protestors from the Peoples Alliance for Democracy or PAD, who want the Somchai Wongsawat led PPP Govenment out of office as they allege that the PPP are proxies for the ousted Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra. The earlier Prime Minister, Mr. Samak Sundaravaj had resigned barely 2 months ago.

Tawatchai and I went at 9pm on Thursday night with some sense of trepidation, adventure and curiosity fired up in us as barely 1 week ago on October 7th, the 2 rival groups had clashed and the police had intervened leaving 2 dead, and hundreds wounded,some critically. The protestors had camped in Government House and had put up barricades, such as tyres, barriers and sandbags (See picture). They were already there for 114 days !. The atmosphere was almost like a carnival and there were stalls selling Hand Clappers, Bandanas and T shirts saying "Change Politics Thailand 2008" in Royal Yellow,Black and White.

Walking towards the main stage, you could see people sleeping on the mats and inside tents,inside the compound of Government House.There were many big screens showing the main Opposition speakers like Sonthi and others making their speeches.Thousands of unused water bottles were piled up. There were tents offering food and water for all protestors and as you approached the main stage, you were frisked for any concealed weapons. Interestingly all the people in the compound were volunteers from the local Universities or people linked to the Opposition parties,ordinary working folk and lots of elderly people. The Police and Army kept their distance, at least 2 - 3 kms and the Army compounds housing the elite Army was all quiet.

There were reminders of the deaths, 2 dummies were laid on the ground to resemble those fallen, and I was humbled to witness the very tolerant Thai people making their voices heard. How will this all end ?

Thoughts on Financial Crisis - What about the "Little People"

As I was having my morning coffee at Starbucks today,I felt I had to put in my 2 cents worth for the "little people" as Sebastian put it. The people who are working
day in day out for their take-home pay and struggle to make ends meet. That is
probably about 90% of the general population at large. Spare a thought about :

1. The retired couple who lost as much as $250,000 when they were approached by the
Bank's Relationship Manager in a 'Capital Guaranteed' Minibond Investment fund.

2. The workers who are seeing inflation going up as much as 10% per year for basic
necessities like eggs,rice,vegetables,poultry.

3. Oil prices fluctuating up and down and people giving up their cars for public
transport.

4. More and more companies will go under, credit will be tighter,more unemployment
will be upon us and even more people will be pushed down to the 'newly poor'.

As my friend puts it, "it will all come to pass", the world at large has had 2 World Wars,Great Depression,Oil Price Hike in 70s, SARS,Asian Tsunami,9-11, multiple global recessions. We are still around.

Be patient,take stock,take a long term investment view. Don't worry,be happy.

I don't drive a Ferrari so I don't need to feel bad when I am forced to sell
something which I don't have.

Pose Running

This is a great "how to run without injuries" book which I have incorporated
as my key reference running manual. The author is Dr. Nicholas Romanov, a Russian turned American citizen.
The essence of Pose Running is to run on the 'ball' of the foot, that is, the area just behind the toes and use the elasticity of that area to bounce off and from there on,to propel forward as if running down an inclined slope.
Many people run with the heel hitting the ground first which is the cause of many heel and ultimately hip injuries so the Pose run should be practised the following :

1. Maintain a slightly tilted forward stance-as if you are about to tip over
2. Back to as straight as possible
3. After your body's centre of gravity has tilted enough, you will be forced to
move or fall on your face, that is the time to propel forward
4. Run

I tried the Pose Run for last year's marathon and achieved my best time ever
without any major cramping. Verdict : It works ! Thank you Nicholas !

F1 in Singapore

Singapore hosted F1's first ever Night Race located in the City District of
Marina Square,Stamford Road,Raffles Boulevard and Raffles Avenue. With more than 500 million people watching and easily half of Singaporeans either at the Race circuit,at the local pubs,restaurants or at home, it was an enormous success with plenty of thrills,crashes,screw-ups (Ferrari mainly) and the never to be forgotten "yeeoum" sound of the V8s of those phenomenal cars driven by the ice-for- blood drivers of world class standard.

For the record, Fernando Alonso (Renault) won with Nico Rosberg (Williams) and Lewis Hamilton (MacLaren Merceded) taking 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Lewis Hamilton leads by 8 points in the 2008 drivers category. Felipe Massa - poor guy - lucked out when the pitstop turned into a refuelling nightmare with the fuel pipe still stuck into his car and those stocky mechanics ran the 100 m to the car like they were in slow motion ! They need someone from Jamaica in their team.

I tried very hard using both my mobile phone 3.2 MPixel camera and the Olympus 7.1 MPixel with ASA400 shutter but could not freeze frame these speedsters.

F1, Singapore has arrived finally.

Ah Beng without wheels - a self descripton of Myself

A funny thing happened when I was out for my weekend run yesterday, let me explain. It ALWAYS starts like this, I plan to do a 8km or a 10 km around my housing estate. I had planned to start at around 6 pm and run the loops at the forest near our house - filled with lovely flame of the forest trees and a family of wild cockatoos, followed by the route to Mount Rosie, Malcolm Road, Whitley Road, back to Bukit Timah Road. That is 1 loop and 5 km (I measured). I planned to run 2 loops or10km as part of my marathon preparations for the end of year Standard Chartered Marathon.

I started rather slowly wanting to 'take it easy' at about 7min / km pace and up it later on. As I finished the firstloop in the forest, I heard some footsteps and turned back. It was another runner, a Caucasian chap about 30+ and quitefit looking. He was running about the same pace as me. "Run your own race" I mentally told myself as I ran according to my pace.

The footsteps got louder and soon we were side by side. We did not say a thing or greet each other as is sometimes the case, we runners are very friendly most of the time. I on one side of the road and he on the other. Soon he was starting to up his pace a little. "What, you wanna race issit ?" I mentally told him. " Not on MY HOME GROUND you won't !". So I increased my pace somewhat to about 6min 30 secs per km.

We both came to the foot of Mt Rosie, I could see he was struggling. I opened up and 'attacked' the hill. With each step I caught him by a few feet. Three quarters up the hill I caught up with him and could hear his panting. I ran like a man possesed and sprinted down the hill past the community centre and ran below 6 minutes per km all the way on Duneran Road and back to my house. I turned to look back triumphantly at the 'small victory' I had achieved and saw him about 100 metres behind.

I was out of breath when I reached my house. I cooled down and had a swig of Gatorade.

Oh and I stopped, thats was it I was puffed out running a fast 5km all focussed on beating an angmoh and messed up my plan to run the 10km distance.

So much for planned my Long Slow Run for 10km. Me the Ah Beng without wheels just spoiling to race anybody.

Strategy for Tough Times - Which One are You ?

RECESSION, WHAT'S THAT ?


RECESSION, IT WILL NOT AFFECT ME IF I DON'T KNOW ABOUT IT !


CHASE HARDER FOR MY DINNER,STAY LEANER,PLAN,CHANGE DIRECTION,ATTACK

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