Egypt 2009 ; Will I be able to go there again ?

With the family outside the Valley of  the Kings

     The trip to Egypt in 2009 had an almost magical feel to it. We were transported from modern metropolis Singapore to a five thousands year old civilisation which believed in hundreds of gods representing the Sun, Moon, Earth, Underworld, Next World, all living things. All of these beliefs never stood the test of time - 5000 years. Now the major religions are Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism though these are still at most 2000 odd years old.

      The trip was coordinated by the established travel agent Commonwealth Travel Company, and our tour guide was a competent lady from Singapore, named Anna Chan. We did our first part of the 9 day tour living inside a cruise ship for 4 days travelling down the famed river Nile, the longest river in Africa. It has spawned thousands of colonies along its lenght and many TV series and motion pictures have filmed its glory.

     The recent Arab Spring in 2011 has overthrown the long time president Hosni Mubarak, and now the country is in the throes of electing a competent Government though the signs of the country stabilising is not there. Many traders are moaning the loss of the lucrative Tourist trade when many millions of people would flock to Egypt to see the cradle of ancient civilisation and how the people in those days lived and died. A fascinating country to visit as well as a fascinating old world culture where the kings of those time, the Pharoahs, were more interested in the afterlife or death than in ruling their Kingdom. That is why you see the Pyramids of Giza, outside Cairo which are built for the then Kings of the superpower of the day, 5000 - 1000 years ago.

    It almost defies belief, that primitive people had the modern technology to build such engineering marvels that have withstood the test of time.  Many have speculated that there were alien 'friends' who helped in the design and fabircation, as the angle of the pyramids are set at 33 deg from the horizontal throughout, something which is near impossible, unless one has the latest field instruments - again something which is very difficult for the mind to conceive.

     The people those days rode by donkey, as is reported in the Bible too. Till today, the donkey and the horse is still used as a means of transportation ! 

Good things never lose their application I guess.   

   

 

Mustafa Shopping Center - 24 Hours Non Stop 365 days a year

This photo of Mustafa Centre is courtesy of TripAdvisor

                                                Selling Everything to Everyone


       Located at 145 Syed Alwi Road off Serangoon Road, I took my visitor from India, Sanjeev Kumar to Mustafa's to get a feel of how a Mega Shopping Center is like. 'It' is in fact 2 huge buildings spanning the entire stretch of Syed Alwi Road with shopping from Basement 2 to 2nd floor, so 4 floors in total.

       Owned by Mr. Mohammad Mustafa Shamsuddin, he was a trader who built his business following his father's death when he was just 17 years old. His original shop was at High Street where there are some remaining shops from the old days. The High Street was the place to go for shopping in the 50s and 60s. I was just born then, but I remember my parents brining me to Robinson's Department Store - the only major department store in Raffles Place when I was about 1 and a half years of age. High Street was the neighbouring shoopping place. Things were much simpler then. I will put up some photos of that time in future posts.

      Anyway, during this trip, we checked out the Gold Department (an entire Basement 1 is devoted to this). Many Indians who are working here like to buy gold, at $ 67.20 per gram, and $710 per 10 grams. Bangles, chains, bracelets, pendants, necklaces you name it, Mustafa has them. In addition, according to Sanjeev, the variety and craftsmanship of the gold products are far wider and superior to what many Indians can find at home. Price when converted to rupees is basically the same, however if the Indian family is working here, the earning capacity is far higher than in India, so it makes sense for them to cart some home to give to their families and loved ones.

     So, there is a pharmacy, travel agent, hotel, car showroom ( I heard but didn't see), restaurants, cafes, health food store (GNC), massive supermarket with (for example) 50 brands of perfumes, sports goods, Indian traditional wear (saris), electronics, children's section, electronics, cameras, PCs, laptops, TVs, household goods, you name it, there is some variant of it being sold at Mustafa.

     What I didn't like was the service (in your face take it or leave it), and the prices are practically the same prices one gets from downtown electronics, department stores, and supermarkets. It only offers the convenience and perhaps massive variety of household products and 24 hour shopping. Go during the morning (say 8 - 10 am) when the road is less bustling, car park lots by the roadside are plentiful and the small shops nearby are not blasting one Hindi hit after another.

     I will not fancy shopping there at 3 am in the morning. The area is located near a  notoriously  red light district. So the people milling around will not be the family and business types.



  

Life is like playing Sudoku

     Living life is like playing a game of Sudoku. For those new to the game, it is all about filling out 9 squares with numbers ranging from 1 to 9 with no repetitions in any square or line, horizontal or vertical. Once you have 2 of the same numbers on any line (except diagonal), you have made a mistake.

     Its very easy to learn, but like most things in life, very difficult to master. I have been playing Sudoku for almost 10 years if I can recall. So after playing for alomost 10 years I thought I could do practically any Sudoku,having ,mastered the techniques of elimination, Gwendolin's thread in the forest, pairs and finally just counting numbers. I was wrong. So practice does make one very adept at the game, but like life, you get thrown a 'curve ball' and all of a sudden, you are stuck at a game and wondering what ever happened to your sense of logic, or even couting skills.

     So my conclusion for Sudoku ? Play the game, but sometimes, we get stumped and are thrown down unceremoniously to the basic beginner level every once in a while, just like Snakes and Ladders.

Siyeong jetty - having fresh catch of the day, barely cooked

This video was taken just a week ago at Siyeong jetty, when the fishermen have come in with their catch, most of the fish would be displayed at the jettyside and the people will go to the jetty and choose their catch of the day. Many would eat it sashimi style, that is, raw. The prawns and shellfish will be washed and cleaned, perhaps boiled, and then eaten with the vinegared sweet spicy sauce, or just with some soya bean sauce and wasabi (horse radish). In a previous post, my host Paul, my colleague Sean and myself had the sashimi fish Korean style. It was an unforgettable experience.

12 Apr 2012 Myeong Dong Street 10, Seoul

Myeong Dong Street 10 

Walking Street with hundreds of small shops 

A must visit place is Myeong Dong Street 10 in Seoul. We requested our host Paul to drop us there, and he obliged by sending us to Nam Demoon area, which is basically like a night market area or 'pasar malam' which sells everything from toursist souvenirs, to Korean ginseng, to KPop memorabilia to fake Tshirts, ties and bags. Not very classy but my colleague Sean and I had a decent time shopping. 

After buying our obligatory take home things such as ginseng, chocolates and KPop memorabilia, we had a lovely dinner along the roadside costing us a princely US$ 50. We thought we were ripped off but the next day our host told us that in Seoul, a simple dish cooked even in a small dining hall costs Won 10000 or US$ 10.00. As we had ordered 5 dishes, the bill rightfully came to US$ 50. In addition, we both enjoyed the Korean Soju or rice wine.

On weekends it gets really crowded with tourists and locals

As we were walking back to the taxi stand, I remembered that the Myeong Dong Street 10 was nearby and so we ended up at the more famous Orchard Road style street with all the brand names and small cosmetic shops selling many brands ranging from SK II, to the Korean OIPE skin care line. I was quite amazed that the Korean men, also take good care of their skin, as can be seen by their TV, KPop and movie stars. I was quite influenced by the apparent discipline in facial hygiene that before I returned, I bought several after shave lotions as well as a famous brand's, Kiehls'  dermotological skin mosituriser. 

Shops selling the latest KPop offerings, CDs,DVDs, Posters, Mugs, you name it

So, coming to the end of a very nice work cum relaxing visit to S.Korea, my impression of the country is that watch our world, S. Korea culture and products are coming soon to a store near you !   They are already world famous brand names in our countries such as LG, Samsung, Kia, Hyundai, Sangyeong. This is only the tip ot the iceberg. Wait 5 more years and sea what other things they will dominate in.

My guess it will be in the music, drama soapies, and a cheap travel destination.

Korean style Sashimi ; Woogong Port

There are literally about a hundred stalls all selling the freshest live seafood, the fish are kept alive barely in tanks with pumped -in oxygen

Fresh from a recent trip to Korea last week, our host Paul, was kind enough to bring us to have lunch at Siheon City's famous Woogong Port, where on weekdays, there are hundreds of small stalls selling live seafood. 'No big deal' - I thought. I was wrong. The multitude of shops all sell the live fish and shellfish, just caught that morning and displayed for immediate eating. Yes, immediate eating. Sashimi sraight off from the tank !! Welcome to Sashimi Korean style.

After taking our orders, the stallholders get to work expertly slicing off the skin and bones

Korea was a Japanese colony for many years, and one of the popular eating habits which they copied form the Japanese was the fine art of eating raw and fresh fish. Hence 'wher" (Korean for sashimi) is extremely popular in the seaside towns such as Siheon. In fact, the very first day we arrived, Paul brought us to eat the fresh seafood from the restaurant and one dish in particular was the barely alive octopus. The legs were still moving on the plate while we ate them !

                           The task is done in a matter of minutes under these expert hands

Anyway, after the skilled hands of the stallholders finished, the meat was placed on a bed of radish and we were instructed to go to the nearby sitdown restaurant to enjoy our meal. It was in my opinion, one of the most tasty sashimi I have ever eaten in my life. There was little need for the light soya sauce or even the wasabi, the meat was so tender and fresh that it tasted like some very fine sponge with no sea smell or flavour.

        Stalllady boss instructs us to bring the sashimi to the sitdown restaurant nearby

The whole cost of 3 fish ?  Plus a hot and sour steamboat soup when we couldn't stomach any more fresh food ?   An unbelieveably low price of US$ 30.00 in total. Just US$ 10.00 per person. A meal in any of the fine restaurants in Seoul would set us back around US$ 300 or US$ 100 each person easily.

Its time for the freshest sashimi on the planet.

After 4 trips and many dinners, lunches on tour, in ski resorts, I can finally say that I have tasted the BEST Korean dish (apart from the Korean BBQ, BiBimBap, Ginseng Chicken soup, Fried Chicken and countless of nice things) so far.

I am looking forward to more trips to Korea in the near future, for work,play and for exquisite dining.

Seize the Day. 

Train - Save me San Francisco

Really cool video from Youtube from one of the coolest bands around. The look on his face at 3 : 20 says it all.


Cest la Vie !  Thats Life !