I love Paris in the Sprintime

The Arc de Triomphe taken from Avenue Champs Ely'see

       2 over years ago, my wife and I took a 8 day trip to Europe, 4 to Paris and 4 to Budapest. It was late Spring and the weather was perfect in Paris. Sunny, a little breezy and that crisp freshness in the air. 

May is into fashion, so we visited all the branded name shops along Avenue Champs Ely'see and Georges  V. The strange (well probably not strange to the Parisians) thing is now most of the buyers, say 80 pecent are by women is from Asia, particularly China and South East Asia. So there will be a some Chinese or Vietnamese Chinese (2nd generation, their parents migrated perhaps 30 - 40 years ago)  sales personnel attending to us. So, the sales people would be a mix of Asians, some French people (I am guessing) and some very handsome males (obviously gay) serving us. Paris is the gay capital of Europe, as San Francisco is the gay capital of USA. 

May, myself and some guy who happened to be in the picture,

Jardin au Tuileries (Tuileries Gardens)

 The city's infrastructure is rapidly crumbling, sad to say, as can be seen by the aging Metro, the horrible traffic jams and poor road maintenance. However, the city has a fascinating charm and joie de vrie (joy of life) to it. Parisians and the visitors love it for its playfulness, their not too serious outlook and their every changing fashion, which makes it a must visit destination for fashionistas the world over from Sydney to Shanghai to Sao Paolo. May enjoyed the visit so much that she went again last year for 6 days with her girlfriend to learn some French cooking, plus enjoy a wine tour. 

        

    With the airfares staying as affordable as they are (about S$ 1,300 for a return economy class ticket on Air France) and the 'cheap' EURO (compared to our strong Singapore dollar), I dare say we will want to visit Paris soon. 

      

    Cest la Vie.    

River Nile - River of Life

                                                                  Sunset at the Nile

      This was taken in December 2009, at Luxor along the river Nile. You can see the felucca's (sailing boats) berthed by the riverside and a cruiseship moving Southwards. The picture is quite beautiful and many thousands of years ago, the Egyptians lived (like today) along the River Nile, thus creating many gods and beliefs for their existence.

Statues of Amenhotep III by the Nile 

The reason for this belief was that in the very old days (5000 years before Christ was born), there was no technology like irrigation, and water retention tanks and the like. So in summer, the Nile would oevrflow its banks after the rainy winter and spring, and the land would be full of minerals from the river and hence be fertile for growing crops and feeding their farm animals. So life in Egypt and lower Africa depended very much on the river Nile to give it fertility and hence Life. They would pray to their pagan gods for good weather the following season, and give animal sacrifices etc. Such were the practices of the day then.

Simple Concrete and Mud Houses flanking the Nile

    The Nile is still a great source of minerals and nowadays, Tourism. Many cruise ships ply the Nile taking tourists from the world over to places like Luxor, Kom Ombo, Philae, Aswan, and up north to Cairo and even Alexandria. It is certainly a river of great importance and prominence.

Cruise ship run by Movenpick group of companies (Switzerland) 

    I call it the River of Life.

Target : Lose 5 kg by this year end

     Thats me just 3 - 4 years ago (2008) when my wife bought me a nice Zegna shirt, which showed off the lithe frame I used to have. Since then, my weight has increased about 1kg a year. Many people make excuses like "Oh its the middle age spread", that means that your basic metabolism slows down thus making it diffcult to burn off excess calories, for the same dietary input. You may eat the same portions, but the weight just goes up. The additional weight does my heart and lungs no favours, so the more lightweight I am the better it is for me. 

So my goal this year, is to break 70 kg. I am 74 kg now, and I will do it by sheer willpower, exercise and less snacking.

    I have done this before in 2002 - 2005 and I was weighing a slender (to me 66 - 67 kg). I felt energetic and motivated, running 10 - 14 km 4 - 5 times a week, waking up at 5 am and hitting the road. It was a tremendous feeling after the run, all sweaty, and then going for a nice cool bath or dip in the pool. I literally seized the day back then for 5 years or so. 

    The feeling of being so alive is wonderful. 

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.