Budapest visit 3 years ago

Tibor and Tunde

In June 2009, my wife and I visited Budapest on the invitation of our friend Tibor Csombordi, who is the boss of the company Amtest, Hungary. It was after our 4 days visit to Paris, and Budapest was raining, unfortunately. We arrived by Maglev Air, the national airline, and were picked up at the airport by our friends. 

                                                                   Chain Bridge  

 Our hosts, Tibor and Tunde, were wonderful guides and they brought us to St.Anne's      church in downtown Budapest, and later to the Chain Bridge overlooking the Danube river. Hungary is fast developing and they have many lovely places to visit, such as Lake Balaton,the downtown Budapest market and up to the Buda castle.

Budapest or Buda - Pes! is so called, because, the rich nobles lived on the high point on the south of the river, called Buda, while the poorer people lived by the river's edge, or Pes!,

Signs of the 1967 uprising, when Hungary was part of the USSR, and the holes were caused by  machine guns

In 1967 there was a Spring Uprising in Hungary, which was bloodily put down by the Soviets as Hungary was part of the then USSR which has now been broken up into many undependent countries. The memories of that uprising are still fresh, as many Hungarians still hold on to their Communist beliefs even though it has been almost 20 years since the breakup of the Soviet Union.

                   

Vietnam 37 years after the Vietnam War

Kannan outside the Basillica, modeled after the Notre Dame in France

          This is a revisit of Ho Chi Minh city, which I did with my colleague Kannan last year, sometime in May if I recall correctly. This was the 2nd visit for me, and I noticed that while the traffic was just as horrible as the first time around, there was evidence of more high end cars such as the Porsches and Mercedes Sports cabriolets.


          The country has developed very quickly after the 1997 Asian Crisis, whereby the Military Government has allowed lassaisz faire business to operate in a free market fashion.There are many tourist attractions in and around Ho Chi Minh city, such as the Banh Tenh market, the Cu Chi Tunnels which housed the Freedom Fighters or Viet Cong, the monuments celebrating Marxism and the Reunification Palace (see below).

The people of Vietnam are a proud people, and history will show that they won the war against the major superpower of the day, USA, against superior technology, firepower,chemical weaponry and sometimes downright genocide. As stated so eloquently by Marlon Brando in his epic Apocalypse Now, he said something to this effect :


" the side which can embrace the horrors of the war will win "


        War is dirty, horrific and tragic. Whoever can break through the psychological barrier of sanity and embrace or accept the insanity of the deeds done, even though their are many Rules of Engagement during war, as stated in the Geneva Convention, will ultimately prevail.


         After my last visit to Ho Chi Minh, and visiting the Vietnam War Museum, viewing the horrific torture chambers and prisons which the US army had and illtreated the Vietcong, all in the name of 'freedom and democracy', I had a major paradigm shift, or an 'Ah Ha !' moment.


         In the name of freedom and democracy,there are countries controlling other smaller ones for their ultimate political,social or business agendas. Its never about 'democrary' or 'freedom', unfortunately. 


        Look at the USA, it is technically bankrupt, its leaders are chosen from bipartisan parties either the Republican or the Democrat Party, and the leaders have to make good on the promises they gave to their backers who funded them during the election run-up. Is this a good thing ?  Definately not. They may even push though populist policies which seem good for the short run, and in the long run bankrupt the country.


       The USA is a dangerous and degenerating place, in certain states, it is legal to bear arms or carry weapons to protect oneself, in the name of freedom. So if everyone is packing a weapon, what happens when a heated argument occurs, or when someone loses his cool, or snaps ? There are many cases of young teenagers killing dozens of schoolmates, senseless, all in the name of Freedom. Remember Virginia Tech, the Asian schoolboy with a crazy attitude, and went out to massacre close to 30 students. Do you see anything remotely similar in any other 'less free' country ??


        Gangs still rule in many cities, homeless people are everywhere, there are Tent Cities, Food Kitchens, Occupy Main Street, jobless MBA graduates, entire neighbourhoods burned down by the banks who have reposessed the entire block and not finding any buyers, decided to tear down everything, and leave the ground bare, else, there will be destitute people breaking in and squatting. The amount of people moving in a downward spiral runs into the tens of millions, generations after generations have lesser and lesser oportunities of breaking out of the poverty cycle. What is wrong with this society ? 


Plenty   - see above. 


         Vietnam is still run by communist leaders. People are generally happy, there is little or no beggars in the city. There is enough food to feed everyone, it is safe to walk the streets at night. People are generally happy, prosperity is coming to the citites. What is wrong with this system ?   30 odd years later ?


Nothing.    


Do not believe what you read in the popular 'news'. Who is running it and what are their agendas ?? Think carefully.


     
  
   
          

Sensei Chia's birthday celebration - after strenuous 1 1/2hr workout

Our  chief instructor, Sensei Chia K.F. recently had a birthday on 31st March. So, I decided to buy him a small cake and drinks to celebrate the occasion after the class on 1st April. No joke ! Here are the pictures of the happy occasion, although there are only 20+ trainees here, the total dojo size is about 50 when you add the people who come only occasionally. There are about 200 members, and most have dropped out or stopped for work, travel, family or age related reasons. For a 15 year old club, this is not too bad a record, and  I hope we can expand the club far and wide within Singapore.

BHAG - Set a Big Hairy Audacious Goal ;

We have only on chance around the block called 'Life' so, why sit back and just do the bare minimum ? Maybe the reason is "fear". Fear of failure and making a fool about oneself. A good friend called Jane put this very clearly to me yesterday. "The only thing to fear about is fear itself". What exactly does this mean ?   When you are fearful, you are worried about the consequence, such as looking bad, potential injury and even possible death. So, if you can face the fact of losing face, where people laugh hysterically at you, where you have succumbed to a torn muscle, or broke a bone, where you have even cheated death. Then you ask yourself. I have been through it all !! What else is there to fear ????

     Go out and do something worthwhile with you life. Set a Big Hairy Audacious Goal as said so eloquently by Mr. Sim Wong Hoo (CEO of Creative Technology, the little company that captured the Sound in the PC world). 

      Set yourself a BHAG,break it down to smaller parts, and just do it !!!  You will be shocked at once you have achieved it. 

      Fear is nothing to be fearful. Who dares wins BIG. 

Friends - cultivate your hobbies early, plan to do things for life

            


 A good friend of mine reminded me yesterday that the well-off people are more 'kiasi' meaning scared to die when they are at the end of life. Why ? Because they have worked so hard to achieve all the material trappings that life has to give, beautiful houses, boats, planes, cars, holidays, that they never
want to let go.

         Compare that with the homeless, down and out, poor people. When you have nothing, what are you afraid of losing ? We came into this world, naked, with nothing. We leave this world, also with nothing.
Yet, the world is driven by businesses, and building empires that enrich the leaders of the 1st World. How wrong a focus we have in life !!

        The leader Alexander the Great, when we found out that he was dying, made strict instructions to his subordinates that his casket must show him with his hands open and face up. Why ? So to tell every one, that he left with nothing. This great conquerer of much of the European and Asian world. On the other hand, the Egyptian pharoahs, were so obsessed with their riches and things on earth, that they built for decades pyramids which would house all their many earthly treasures, including killing their many wives and concubines plus have thousands of  slaves put to death together with them so that they could serve their master in the afterlife.

        I think, all of these practices are works of people who have lost their direction in life, thinking only of their magnificence and glorious existence, megalomaniac, or requiring a pychiatrist to bring them back to the real world.

      Belief in a religion would help all of us adjust to the light speed of progress in this world, work would give us a sense of purpose, having a family would teach us sacrifice, and impart a  sense of responsibility and selflessness, and plan to have hobbies as well as make the effort to give back, however little you can, to the less fortunate.

       I am blessed to have wonderful parents, a supportive wife, and 2 heirs. I am most appreciative of my position in life. I have a number of hobbies, and finally, I want to give back, because at the end of the day, what matters is not so much what you achieve for yourself, but what good you can do to enrich the lives of others.

      Seize the day, friends and readers of this blog.

TEDx Inspiring Women of 2011 - Tan Le ; Australian of the Year

      This video was taken in December 2011 featuring the most inspiring women in the Technology, Entertainment and Design field worldwide. Tan Le was 4 years old when she was one of the many thousands of 'boat people' fleeing Vietnam during the divisive war from 1963 - 1975. Her short 10 minute speech moved many to tears, as her family of 3 women, grandmother, mother and her overcame all adversities, working terribly hard for years to eke out a living, and to improve their impoverished lives.
      When you have adversity thrown into your face -  what do you do ?  

1. Say, its fated ?   My response - Bullshxxx. Life is a sequence of totally random events, good for some, 
    bad for others, and making the most of your life is up to you. Good, bad, wonderful,tragic, ecstatic,
    never to be forgotten or painful. This is life.

2. Back down and hide and lie low ?

3. Make the best of the circumstance. When Life throws you lemons make lemonade.

    Carpe Diem. We go around the block only once. Whether you want to stroll, run, ride, drive,fly or crawl  is up to one person, YOU.
 

Taking the Great Leap Forward

         When you run your own business, you know one thing for certain. No one owes you anything. You need to go out and secure the orders and bring food to the table to not only yourself but also to the staff reporting to you.

          Its never easy, and there are many scary parts, managing cash flow, reporting profits year on year or if there is a loss one year, double up efforts to turn around the business else, it will go one way only after that  - down. Howeverer, if the lucky breaks come and you are in the right place and at the right time with the correct strategy, you will be rewarded magnificently - far, far more than all the rest of your cohort who went out and worked for an employer as they would also run the risk of being retrenched, and in the later years, would be in difficult positions to get rehired, due to their age. I personally know of 3 friends who 'made it big' amassing more than US$ 20 million each in assets so far  and they are all businessmen.

      One is my business partner, the other 2 are my university classmates who never excelled academically, but came out and started their own businesses early and were able to ride the events management (read managing of Trade Shows) and money markets respectively.

        I have never regretted my decision to setup my own business and encountered one breakup in my previous company in 2002, a  'failure' in the sense that the partners who went into the business never felt that through all the sacrifices put in, the monetary rewards were satisfying. We were struggling because of an outdated model, so I decided to leave and setup my own 'show'. 100% by myself, with no bank loan, or partners, just my life experience and a strong desire to succeed much more than before.

       "Failure is the mother of success. If you haven't tasted extreme failure, how can you savour success to its sweetest taste ?'

        Seize the Day my friends. Savour Life and Go out there are make something of your Life.