Mark, Ian and Tibor went up to the Castle with Dracula

                                         The Brothers - Me, Ian and Tibor (Hungary Agent)

Last March, during my annual visits to Germany to visit our principal supplier, Weiss Technik, the Australian agent, Ian Firth,myself and the Slovenian agent, Alex (formerly part of Yugoslavia) got along pretty well. We had meetings and seminars during the day and merrymaking with loads of alcohol in the evenings.One Wednesday evening, it was snowing lightly and we had been drinking alot at the factory cafetaeria and after dinner, we headed back to our hotel which is in Wettenberg, a small village,situated northeast about 120 km of Frankfurt. We were getting pretty rowdy in the bus leading us to the hotel with the usual swearing and mild drunkedness typical of many German parties.

Anyway, things were getting a bit out of hand and upon reaching the hotel, some of our agent friends opted to go to bed, while the rest checked emails and other recreational activities at the bar in the hotel. Ian, myself and Alex then decided to walk-run up to the nearby castle, we guys tend to do STUPID things when we have WAY too much alcohol and time on our hands, which was like 3km uphill all the way. So, we set of at a brisk walk in our trenchcoats and jackets.


Lynne (Taiwan Agent), Me and Alex (Slovenia Agent)

THIS IS THE LATE WINTER NIGHT WITH SNOW AND WIND BLOWING INCESSANTLY AND AN 8 AM START TOMORROW OF NEW ROUND OF SEMINARS AND MEETINGS.

It was cold,damp and windy. Alex told us he knew the route well and decided to cut through some cabbage patch through some farm area. We made our way up hugging our jackets and trencoats and slipping a little through the soft ground. Alex had a sinister look on his face and he was very quiet, intent on reaching the objective. Ian and I followed him. I knew I had my GREAT chance to spook Ian.

I casually poked Ian in the ribs,and said, "Ian, our friend Alex.Do you know his surname ??"
Ian : " No"
Me : "Alex, whats your surname huh ??"
Alex : " Dracula(ris), !! My name is Alex Dracula !"

THE WIND WAS HOWLING AND THE CAPE FROM ALEX'S TRENCHCOAT FLEW. I half expected bats to fly out from his trenchcoat and the vines from the ground come up and grab our ankles !

Ian's face turned white and he actually grabbed me. We both practically RAN up to the top of the hill where the castle was. Later, Alex and me went all the way to the top of the belfry (top of the tower) and had a magnificent view of the entire town.


                                           At the Top of the Castle overlooking Wettenberg

We later went in to the Mexican bar at the castle to have a couple of schnapps to chill out. Oh yes and swopped our backgrounds and life stories.Turns out we are all about the same age then - 44. But more of that in a later blog.

Treu Stories to entertain our Grandchildren.

Hong Kong Hols in Pictures

Cold Crab Teochew Style


In Lam Kwai Fong


In Tomorrowland Disneyland


May, Betty (long time friend) and Andrew

A short holiday is better than none, so we all set out for a 4 nights
4 days short trip to Hong Kong. I hadn't visited the place in like 9 years or so
and was taken aback when my long time friend based there,Betty told me that it was
populated by 8.5 million residents and citizens. The first impressions are normally the lasting ones so here they are in order of sequence of impression and rating :

1. Crowded and Cramped (-)
2. Small Time Disneyland (the roller coasters are for 4 - 5 year olds) (-)
3. GREAT food and Shopping for anything branded (+++)
4. Sloping streets full of people, no FASHIONABLE people (depends)
5. Fast Pace of Living (depends)
6. Excellent MTR EXCEPT why they can't link Tsim Sha Tsui to East Tsim Sha Tsui is
a mystery to me. (+++)
7. First Class airport and probably Seaport too (+++)
8. Service standard ; slightly lower than Singapore's - which is AWFUL ! (---)

I Like Hong Kong.Its so in your face,so brazenly materialistic,fashionable and with an attitude to living life.

United Sinking of America

Cartoon Courtesy of Non- Sequitor Cartoon Strip

Question for the Day
1.How do you get a small fortune (Say S$ 1 Million) in this Uncertain Economic
Market ?

2. First you start with a Big Fortune. (S$ 10 Million).

Loo Kwong - 1st Marathon in 5 hr 20 minutes

My long time friend and running khaki, Loo Kwong completed the Standard Chartered Marathon on December 7th, his 1st, in 5 hours and 20 minutes.

Congratulations !

Detroits' Big 3 in Big Trouble Again - a Case of Too Little Too Late ?

The CEOs of Chrysler, Ford and General Motors during the grilling by Congressmen


Production Operator


One of the Hundreds of Suppliers to the Big 3 - Seaway Bolt Company


One of GM's Basic Cars


Chevy Volt - GM's first Electric Car


Chevy Camarro, Hoping to be a Bestseller Again ?

Everybody and his mother has an opinion on whether the Federal Government's bailout loan of US$ 25B
to the Big Three car companies will really make a difference to them surviving this Global Financial Crisis. One camp is the compassionate one which says " Save them, look at the downside, if they go, they will cause a total of 1 million jobs lost and maybe hundreds if not thousands of co-related companies from direct vendors to indirect suppliers like the towns and cities where the Big 3 have their factories, the shops,restaurants,newspaper vendors, ice-cream parlors etc. etc. will all take a hit, as far as business is concerned"

The opposing view held by several economists and which I favour (right or wrong) is this ; let the capitalist forces decide. If businesses all follow the rules of revenue generation and profit creation then those companies which suffer years after years of losses and always requiring money to shore up capital are firstly not taking care of their shareholders and key investors.To make matters worse, the big 3 car companies were known mainly for making petrol guzzling SUVs, huge MPVs and were very slow to focus on the future trends of Green manufacturing such as the EURO standards of carbon monoxide emissions (EURO IV and now V),something which the European makes were onto since signing the Kyoto Protocol in 1992 to cut Greenhouse Gas emissions (3 gases are carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and CFC gases like R13 and R23). The US has always rejected the implementing of the protocol citing China's increase in Carbon emissions as the reason. The point here is that the US is the biggest emitter of Greenhouse Gases on a per country basis since the 2nd world War,2 x times more than any developing country !. Another key point is that China has signed and ratified the Kyoto Treaty while the US of A has NOT! One need look no further than the current US President to realise that the whole issue is about oil and a country overly dependent on oil for energy and the President whose family is in the oil business is a symbiotic relationship.

"You buy the big gas guzzlers, I ensure the gas stays cheap, everyone is happy, XXXrew.. the rest of the world "

Then came 2008 and the oil prices spiked tremendously to a high of almost US$ 150 per barrel.So what happened, everybody and their mother started switching to smaller, greener (hybrids like the Toyota Prius) and even taking public transport. The Big 3 saw their sales plumment, along with the collapse of their SUV and MPV markets.So they go cap in hand, to plead the US Congress for a bailout of US$ 35 B. The same old story and excuses abound.

The reason that, the failure of these companies will result in x numbers of jobs and lives in jeopardy due to the financial fallout. OK, now Congress has approved US$ 25 Billion to give them an extension,again for how long ? One certainly hopes they have the products for the new generation and expectations of car owners which is so obvious :

a) Fuel Economy - We owners don't want to be highjacked by the oil barons again and again
b) Greener Cars - Lower CO emissions which pass the latest EURO V standards
c) Reliable Cars - People still prefer Japanese cars due to their perceived reliability

My only viewpoint is that THE BIG 3 HAD IT COMING. If they had difficulties making consistent profits during the so called boom years after September 11 2001, they will have even more difficulties NOW. Good Luck to Them !! If they go under, so be it. BITE THE BULLET.

Goodbye ACS (J) Building

Time to Say Goodbye, pic shows Andrew.

The ACS (Junior) Building at Peck Hay Road (off Clemeceau Avenue North) will be torn down as part of the Ministry of Environment's and the School's efforts to revitalise all school's facilities and amenities. Although it is an improvement for the better, I am saddened that the building where many of my 2 Boys happiest memories from 2000 to 2008 will be gone forever, and that the Old Boys 'collective experiences' will forever be remembered in old photos and in digital blogs and cyberspace.


Banner at the Entrance

The relentless pursuit of 'Development' and in the name of 'Progress'has yet again claimed another victim. I am not an Old Boy of Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) but I always feel a tinge of nostalgia and pride whenever I pass by Upper Serangoon Road and Woodsville Road, where my Alma Mater, St. Andrew's School still is standing with all its dimpled pink walls (yes) and clock tower still standing.



The grand Old Lady

I will one day bring my Boys to St Andrew's School and will beam with pride and possibly some mischieviousness say, "I had my schooling experience here, this is MY school ! I had alot of fun and caning here !!"


View from the Playground



The foyer where the principals used to give his/her briefings


Some last postings in the canteen

Topless in Europe - Life in the Fast Lane

This photo was taken in June 1997, the year the first signs of the Asian Financial Crisis was starting to hit. The COE (Certificate of Entitlement) in Singapore that year was hovering around S$ 50,000 after having hit a record high of in excess of S$ 100,000 (!). I was in Germany for the agents' Worldwide Sales Conference for a week and my then business partner booked the Mercedes Benz SLK 420 convertible to rent for 3 days for a (then) reasonable sum of S$ 1,200 (about S$ 400 per day after converting from Deutchmarks). Petrol costs on the other hand, were another matter altogether ! Price per litre of petrol was hovering around DM 2 (S$ 2.00) per litre in France and DM 1.70 (S$ 1.70) for Germany.

To drive a luxury car in Europe is frankly one of us guys' pleasures and to drive a convertible at 240 km/hr on the Autobahn - there are no speed limits except for a few stretches near the big cities like Frankfurt, Cologne or Munich, is really something to be experienced. The Germans really DO appreciate and understand the mechanics and decades of technology advancement of the car (this is the country which produced the first petrol fired vehicle - Daimler) and the weather during spring / summer is perfect for this land tourer with the top down. Showy, YES but then LIFE is to be savoured within ones means isn't it ?

There is nothing quite like it over in this part of the world, firstly because of the humidity in S.E.Asia,and secondly there is NO WAY one can get by driving in Singapore or Malaysian highways at 240 km/hr without worrying when the 'Uncle Sam' (traffic police) is going to pounce on you.