Chinese New Year Decorations at the Market 2010

Red is the auspicious colour

Sunday 31st January. I accompanied my wife to the Tiong Bahru market for our usual wet market shopping. Normally I will wait for her in the car while she shops for the household fruits and then I make a beeline for home to prepare breakfast for the family. Today, I decided to go in to savour and experience the atmosphere of one of Singapore's most established wet markets the Tiong Bahru market. Situated at the junction of Kim Tian Road in Tiong Bahru neighbourhood, it had undergone a major revamping of its outlook and now it is housed in a spanking clean 2 storey building. The ground floor houses many poultry, chilled pork and fresh fish stalls, plus many fruit and vegetable stalls. It is so well known that many hawkers have made lots of money for themselves and their children over the years. My wife's regular vegetable stall owner put 2 sons through overseas university and one is a policeman and the other a civil servant. You will find Japanese, Caucasian permanent residents or citizens shopping here because it serves only the freshesh and the best.



Flowers sell aplenty especially before and during CNY

As it is barely 2 weeks to Chinese New Year, the hallway is festooned with red banners and lanterns signalling prosperity and good wishes for the New Year. There are rows upon rows of flower pots for people who want to change their greenery and plants in their houses so brisk business is made. Newness of things signifies change of fortunes from bad to good as is all things red. There are red flowers, red banners, red clothers, shoes and of course red packets or 'ang pow'. The year of the Tiger is expected to be fraught with some difficulties as with every Tiger year but I believe with every challenge, there is opportunity, as in the Chinese word 'wei qi'.


Beautiful Flowers

Business challenges as with life challenges must be handled head on and as a Tiger, I have to show no fear and press on with all my might. This is what I would call the 'Showtime'.


Its very busy at the fruit stalls

My Morning Run

It was a warm and humid morning. The 7.40 am start time at Anglo Chinese School (where my sons study) had come and gone.My 2 sons were already in school and here I was lacing up my running shoes for my first 5K run in 10 days. I was feeling overweight,having spent the last 2 weeks travelling to first Thailand for 3 days and then this week to Kuala Lumpur for 2 days.

This week had started on a stressful note as I had to make my way to KL for a series of meetings. There were some concerns on my business dealings which I had to attend to personally and the meetings would determine how I was going to proceed on certain things. I put aside the past days activities and focussed on running.

It was 7.45 am and off I started on my run. I was feeling fresh from a 7 hour sleep and hoped to make a good time. I had set myself a goal of running 5 km in 30 minutes and normally would run around that time, depending on my energy level and enthusiasm.

"Why run ?" is a commonly asked question of me over the years. Well why not ? The benefits far outweigh the negatives
and I have been running for the greater part of my life. I never really thought about it but if I had put my mind to it in my younger days,safe to say, I would have been a very good runner and possibly be able to represent my school or university.
Alas, I was distracted by other options before me, such as taking part in the University debates, playing waterpolo, swimming and squash. I am not one to boast but I represented all these sports and activities at University, school and club level at some point in my youth.

Running for me is for 3 main reasons :

1. STRESS RELIEF : In today's highly stressed and competitive working world, stress levels are high, especially if you have to manage a business, a growing family and also volunteering time for a charity.I have had my fair share of IBS or irritable bowel syndrome (gastric pain), sleepless nights and tension headaches so running is one quick way to alleviate these stress related diseases. However, the body has to exercise ENERGETICALLY at least 30 minutes before endorphins (feel good chemicals) are released. The endorphins are similar to morphine and are your body's natural defense mechanisms to protect itself and immunise itself. It also calms the nerves and does a whole lot of good to me. its a fact that since I started running, I have not had a single visit to the ENT doctor for almost 10 years - touch wood.

2. LOOKING GOOD : Who doesn't want to look good ? By running, my body automatically and speedily releases all trapped gases and liquids through sweat, flatulence and all manner of toxic substances are discharged. It is a proven fact that weight loss during rigorous exericse is normally water loss but coupled with lesser appetite due to the peristaltic or digestion process slowing down, I am less hungry than if I am not exercising. So I look leaner and trimmer, I think.

3. TO ACHIEVE A GOAL. Each year I set some personal goals, so for my health,it is to run at least 1 marathon, or ideally 2,time permits. The marathon is the pinnacle of distance running and to be able to run it in a decent time, say 4 hours and 30 minutes is one of my life's goals. So far, my best time has been 4 hours and 48 minutes, timed on 2007.

The key thing is this, in setting this difficult goal, I have to break it down into many small minute goals, on a daily, weekly,fortnightly and monthly goals before I can have the stamina base to run the full 42 km. To set the bar too low, to say run a 10K would be meaningless for me as I can routinely run 10K in a single run so THE GOAL MUST BE SIGNFICANT.

If I have no goal to aim for, I will not achieve anything significant

So here I was at the end of January, starting out running 5km in the morning and hoping to increase my run distance to 10km in February and longer in the coming months. It was a sweaty and tiring task which at my age of 47, I realise that I don't have time on my side-but I have, I must think positive and move forward.

The first 100m up was up a slope of Goldhill Avenue. I was running at mid pace,doing a gallop and me knees, calves,hamstrings and upper body all work in tandem. It was relatively easy at first.At the top of the slope,I reached the playground and headed towards the 'forest'- a lovely wooded area at the back of Swiss Cottage Estate. I aimed to run 10 rounds around a rectangular concrete field. As I headed into the forest, I spotted an elderly group of people doing their morning "Qi Gong". So I cut short my 10 rounds so as not to disturb them and ran only 1 round.

After the fun in the forest, I ran 6 rounds around the Goldhill Park, which was about the equivalent distance of the 9 rounds and head towards Mount Rosie Road,where my son's friend, Yue Meng,lives. My pacing had been quite regular and I was feeling energised from the fresh air in my head and lungs. I saw several residents in the park and along the way I made an effort to greet them,although not all returned the greeting, some of them casting away their looks as I approach and some returned my nod with a hearty "good morning".

I have some worries and stresses,but assure myself that over time, I can overcome all of them and running is a good way to have time to myself to think through my problems independently and work out possible solutions.

At Mount Rosie's end,I turned towards Malcolm Road, and there the struggle began. I was not fit and started feeling sluggish.Damn, I thought, the last few days I had been feasting on sinful foods in Malaysia like Nasi Bryani,chicken wings and pizza and their calorie addition was taking an adverse effect on my overweight body. I was struggling - and with just half way of my run, I wanted to stop and walk.

"Don't walk, assess yourself!" I mentally chided myself. I checked my 'system'.Everything was OK, except for my left patella (knee) which was aching a little.Everything else from my lungs,my breathing,my legs and my upper body were doing just fine.I just felt sluggish. I did not want to roll over and fall asleep, No, I was just running at too fast a pace !

So I slowed down my run and laboriously ran up the Malcolm Hill. At the top, my stride opened up and I increased my cadence (stride distance) and at the same time increased my footstrike frequency. (Number of times your foot hits the ground per minute).

At the bottom of the hill at Tanglin Constituency Club,I hit the checkpoint (literally). This was a traffic sign board which marks the 3/4 mark with about 1.5 km left. I extended my hand and hit the checkpoint on purpose, "Clang" !. Now I had to push on beside the traffic congested Whitley and Dunearn Roads to reach home. I was filled with renewed enthusiasm and the thought.

"Don't stop, you can do it !" My heart was pounding and my pace was regular, although a little slow. I thought about how far I had come and how much more I had to suffer before reaching the end point.
It was tiring and overwhelming just thinking about finishing it.

"Carry On !" Ignoring the ache in my lungs and my left knee, I pressed on with all my might and race with the pace my tiring limbs could muster." I must reach the end and finish the goal." I told myself.

Turning round the bedn towards Goldhill Avenue, I finished with a flourish and raised my hand in salute to the day. I had finished the race. My race, my challenge. The pain had subsided and all that remained was the satisfaction of finishing it and in good time too. 30 minutes and 12 seconds.

"Tomorrow will be another run"

A new year, another run

Passion Run

2010 is the year of the Tiger, and as a a Tiger, I intend to make known my personal running goals to eveyone :

These are :

a) Run 2 marathons ; and also to break the 4 hour 30 minute mark in 1 marathon
b) Run in as many warmup races to the year end Marathon.

Singapore, in the last 3 years has been organising plenty of races, we now have :

a) Adidas Sundown night race (42km and 84km) - May
b) Zoo Run - 10 km in memory of Ah Meng, the famous zoo mascot who died in 2008 -Feb
c) Northeast Run - 21 km in March
d) Mizuno Mount Faber Run in June
e) Safra Army and Half Marathon in August
f) Standard Chartered Full Marathon in December


On the picture above is the Passion Run and I have signed up as part of a team with a teammate to run a total of 50km.I can't wait to start training !

If anyone from QRA is interested to sign up and join let me know, I would be most happy to fund the registration and 1 night's stay for this event as I have always encouraged taking up this sport as a healty way of life.

The Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone is the most valuable communication artefact in modern history. Found by the French in 1790 in Al-rashid (Rosetta,Egypt), it contained a decree from the Ptolemic period about some taxes of the people. Why is it so important and what is the fascination about a stone ? It is the first item ever to have 3 separate languages written (or chiselled) into it, thus enabling people to decipher and finally interpret the ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic language. The stone was owned by the British due to the treaty of Alexandria where they had control over Egypt during the 18th century.

The stone is not large, about 115cm in height, 75 cm in width and just 24 cm thick but the decree was written in Hieroglyphic - which was used by the ancient high priests during those times, as well as Demotic - short form slang Egyptian and Greek thus allowed latter day historians to decipher and translaate and finally understand the hieroglyphic language.

It is housed in the British Museum, for the viewing of people the world over although Egypt has formally asked the British to hand over their national treasure. I would really like to view this historic piece firsthand.

Ancient Civilisations Exhibit at National Musuem

Neckace worn for burial

Fresh from my holiday trip to Egypt, I chanced upon a rare exhibition in Singapore called Ancient Civilisations at the Singapore National Musuem. It is being held till early April 2010 and it is well worth the 1 to 1 hr hours spent, especially for those who want to have a glimpse of the ancient Egyptian obsession of burial and afterlife as well as learn some the their mathematics processes. They were really far ahead of their time then and their graphical language - hieroglyphics was also the first recorded languange in ancient history as they had the means (by papyrus) to document their works for history.


Serapheum Sphinxes

I invite any of our QRA personnel from Malaysia and Thailand, when in Singapore, to spend a short time to widen your horizons and understand an ancient civilisation. It is perhaps the ancient Egyptians obsession for thousands of years with the afterlife that all their burial chambers and tombs nowadays are tourist attractions. It however gives one a glimpse of how magnificent the ancient peoples lived and the artefacts which they created are still being made today.

An example is the royal necklace used to adorn the mummy, it is made from Egyptian marble,alabaster, turqiose,onyx,opals and other stones. Each stone carefully selected, chiselled and shaped accordingly. A lot of work must have gone to fashioning the right shape, colour and texture of the stones and hence the finished product, the necklace is a piece of art.


Pharoah Horemheb with Horus

Another obsession of the ancient Egyptians was the creation of their gods, which were plentiful. One of the most popular is Horus, who was the son of Osisris and Isis. He was the hero in mythical legends as he sought to avenge his father's death, Osiris and ultimatly killed Seth,his father's killer. Practically every New Century Egyptian pharoah has a statue or sculptre built in his honour. Here we see Horemheb sitting with Horus.



4 Canopc jars containing the body organs

These jars are used to store the body organs of the dead Pharoah. Each jar carries specific organs such as the heart, lungs, liver and kidney. Ancient Egyptians believed that the dead would be reborn so they would need their organs in the afterlife.

New Year New Beginnings

My family

Every year, we have 2 celebrations, Christmas, which is celebrated with my parents' siblings and close friends and New Year's Eve with my own close friends from Singapore and Australia. Last year (yes 31st Dec is now categorised as last year), we had dinner at my house again and the pictures below show what my wife had prepared for our friends whom we meet, sadly,only once or at most twice a year. As we move on well into the middle age, we are well aware that time is the MOST PRECIOUS resource and once it is gone, we cannot recapture or regain it back, unlike other resources like money and enthusiasm. As I looked back on the year, I am generally pleased with the way it ended, just as it began. In 2009, business wise we performed better than 2008, with sizeable orders from our neighbouring countries Thailand and Malaysia. Singapore business for the first half to 9 months was pretty bad.


Tossed salad with virgin Olive Oil from Hungary

There have been sad and also one tragic moment, when Kannan's son passed away in mid December due to a fall. I am deeply saddened by this event and sent him and his wife Arlene our deepest condolences.Events like these tell me that life is indeed very fragile and we should not waste even a minute of it wallowing in self pity, wasting time in mindless activities like playing computer games, EPL football matches and excessive Facebook updates, to name a few. Several staff left the company and I am most grateful for their contributions,namely Rufus (Service Manager) in Malaysia and Tawatchai (Manager) in Thailand. I would also like to thank Rick for his efforts in Singapore in 2007 and 2008.


Cous cous with almonds,pistachios,pomegranates and other goodies

On the more positive note, we received 5 new orders in October, November and December for sales in Singapore, when the first 8 - 10 months were quite barren.So I am looking for a more positive start t 2010 than 2009.

On my personal side, I ran the Half Marathon in August clocking 2 hours 20 minutes; which was slightly better than 2008. Unfortunately as I injured my Illitiobal band after playing squash, I decided to quit my attempt at a 5th marathon which was the Standard Chartered Marathon. The year 2009 was also the year I travelled to many countries, in April, I went to Vietnam for the first time. Early May, I went to Giessen Germany for the Weiss Technik International Sales Conference, June I was in Paris France and Budapest Hungary for a private visit, October I visited my wife in Hong Kong and in December my family visited Egypt. I am blessed and most appreciative to have good family and a stable company to be able to take time off.

THANK YOU MAY, THE BOYS AND THE TEAM AT QRA.



Beef Stew Simmered in Wine ; Champagne Sangria in Glass

So for 2010, what lies in store for me ? Personally I have set myself targets which I have been setting for over 6 years now. Each year I set some goals both personal and company wise to challenge and make a difference and hopefully improve aspects of my life and help those around me. However in 2010, I think it would be wise if I added to my goals the following extras :

- Serve the community (charity or social work)
- Laugh more and have a balanced life


Fried Salmon with Dill Salad

I hope all my friends who are reading this post make some resolutions for the 2010 and beyond, it is going to be a tumultous 10 years and lets ride it well ! I am born in the year of the Tiger and it is my year. Have a good year of the Tiger !!

Daily Egyptian Life

Shop selling nuts like cashews, pistachios, almonds and assorted peanuts

On the 3rd day, we visited Edfu and Kom Ombo, small cities in the south of Egypt.These photos were taken when I was riding at the front of the horse carriage giving me an elevated view of the city/town and managing to observe the daily life of ordinary Egyptians. Firstly, the pace of life here is very slow, so it the cost of living (I guess). An Egyptian can probably get by with 3 square meals a day for as cheaply as U$$ 1 - 2. Many of the crops,foods and fruits are grown locally as is the various varieties of nuts. Unfortunately, I did not get to see how the Nubians (Southern Egyptians) live but I heard from the tour mates that they have small brick huts with thatched roofs and bare floors. Running water from taps should be available in most houses and so is electricity, but no so in the countryside.


Karate Kids

Most men dress in the traditional Gallabilya which is a full length one piece gown which covers from the neck down all the way to the ankles. In major cities, like Cairo, the men are dressed more in the Western style with jeans, or business suits worn. I mentioned before the Egyptians are friendly to foreigners and alwyays are curious where we are from. They have a vague idea of geography so when we mention 'Singapore' or 'Malaysia' they exclaim that they know of people who have been to Egypt from those countires but probably think our countries are somewhere in China.



Outside a police station ; people making reports of crimes

The women and normally decked head to toe in black and cover their hair with a Burqa (head scarf). A joke is that they look like overgrown 'ninjas' or Japanese assassins. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism has been around for about 30 years since the Ayatollah Khomeni took over power in neighbouring Iran and there are many powerful Muslim clerics in Egypt as is in the Middle East.


A pita bread shop

Most of the houses here look unfinished and brown in colour or no colour. To me they look like slums but are actually apartments for people, so it goes to show how backward and poor the country is. Many buildings had the top part with the girders sticking out into the sky, as if some part of the roof has not been completed,and they look like buildings with 'work in progress' but people are actually occupying them for some time now.



A typical bazaar or market selling fresh produce

We did not dare venture into the bazaar here as it looked quite dirty and not knowing the language could easily be harassed to buy things which we don't need.




Boys hanging outside school

Lastly, I took this photo of boys hanging outside their school-just like Singapore or any place int the world, the boys would like to hang out with their friends for as long as possible before they go home ! Some things are the same all over the world !