Piazza Duomo Milano - Dec 3rd 2017 (Sunday)

This was taken on 3rd December (Sunday) 2017, at the Piazza Duomo ; the weather was typical of Winter (about 3 - 5 deg C) with some wind chill. However, the skies were clear and the shopping arcade beside the Duomo would be packed with visitors from the world over.See the marble arches just as I pan to the left of the Duomo Basilica. 

Leornardo Da Vinci spent some time here, as did Michelangelo and the rest of the renaissance artists, for this and Florence were the places to be and some of their finest works are located here and in Florence.

Da Vinci's famous Last Supper  fresco (painted on the wall) is located at Santa Maria delle Grazie chapel. The monastery was a traditional one for refectories although the room was not a refectory at the time when Leonardo painted it.

Rumour has it that during the 2nd World War, the chapel and its surroundings was amazingly spared the worst of the bombings hence this priceless work of art could be viewed by millions thereafter.  

Milan is a fashionable city, all the top fashion brands have their large boutiques there, so rest assured that the trendy, wealthy and gawking tourists will make a beeline for the high end boutique shops there. 

View from the Top of St Peter's Basilica in Rome December 2017

One of the most unforgettable memories I had was climbing to the top of St Peter's Basilica in Rome, walking through the narrow maze of some 150 odd steep steps and taking in some of the most wonderful scenes of all of Rome. 

The image of all the Saints and Apostles below us and the throng of the thousands of people in the main square are some of the wonderful memories I had of that time.   

December 2017 ; Beautiful winter's day, slightly overcast, a little drizzly.

Perfecto, as the Italians would say. 

    

Soto Ayam (Chicken Noodle Soup Malay Style) 5 Star

Sardine Puff ; A delight to eat at $1.50 each 

Best Tasting Soto Ayam ; $ 5.00 per bowl 

Singapore is a culinary paradise, we have so many good cuisine all in one 800 square kilometre of island. 

Today, I decided to try more of the tasty treats along Killiney Road, so I ventured to have breakfast at the Killiney Curry Puff shop along what else, Killiney road. I went there around 10.20 am and was pleasantly surprised that the shop had just opened and the curry puffs were freshly made.

Soto Ayam 

I ordered one for starters and bought home 2 for the young men at home. I also ventured to try the Soto Ayam (chicken) which is basically a noodle chicken broth with fried shallots, fresh bean sprouts, cut spring onions and some deep fried crispy chilli ( I decided to forgo too much of that and removed most of it).

Much to my delight, the Soto Ayam is the best I have tasted in a long while. The chicken stock is rich (read : it will raise your cholesterol levels so be warned !) and very tasty.  The shredded chicken is probably roasted first and then the chicken is cut into strips. The yellow noodles are springy and soft.

All in all, a superb dish for $5.00.

Killiney Curry Puff (Sardine).

This must be good, I reckoned, as the big sign outside advertised Killiney Curry Puff and not Nasi Padang or Nasi Kandar like so many other Malay restaurants. 

One bite into the savoury puff and I knew it was a great snack. The exterior pastry is not flaky with butter like the traditional curry puffs, it is more firm, much like the spongy savoury taste of a prata (made from bread flour).

The sardine inside was compact (ha ha packed like sardines I can almost hear you say) and with some chilli mixed into the paste. No potato and other stuff mixed inside ; that is the reason why it is so satisfying. 

The whole puff took just 30 seconds to wolf down but boy it is worth its $ 1.50. 

Try these dishes if you happen to be around Killiney Road :

Killiney Road Curry Puff

93 Killiney Road (shophouse)

Singapore 239536.

Monaco - a view of the Blue Coast ; Cote Azur

This is a glorious video of the Cote Azur taken along the way to Monte Carlo. The time is about 5.30 pm and it is December 2018 in the winter time.

Downside of living in Singapore - my perspective

As a Singaporean, having lived here all my life, with the occasional long trips (1 month or longer each in 1984, 1986 and 1987) I can safely give the following criticisms about Singapore.

1. Expensive 

-  Costs of living are high, compared to many other parts of Asia. 

New car prices or ownership of a new car in Singapore is the most expensive in the world ($90,000 and upwards for a new car). A person can easily buy a decent sized apartment in a good neighbourhood in Kuala Lumpur, 2 condominiums in Bangkok Thailand and in many parts of Indonesia, China, Philippines etc. 

-  The price of unleaded petrol is also exhorbitant comparable only to places like Paris and Frankfurt per litre. The price of premium unleaded 98 Octane petrol VPower from Shell costs S$ 2.75 or US$ 2.00 per litre. In the US, petrol or gas as they call it, is priced at U$ 2.00 per gallon (or 4 litres). 

Ouch. 

- Flats (Government owned) and private : while they are of good quality, the price of some resale HDB flats in mature estates can reach close to S$ 1,000,000 and sometimes breaking the $1 M barrier. These are for units closer to the city and can only be purchased by Singaporeans. 

A resale flat means that the original owner must have bought and lived in the flat for 5 years or longer. From an original 99 year leasehold air space, the lease may have run down perhaps 5 to 10 years so there is only 85 - 94 years left on it.  

Fact is, for the new HDB flats while they may costs S$ 250,000 to $400,000 these flats are only for Singaporeans and people enjoy rebates when buying them.  

For condominiums, the price new will range from S$ 600 to $2,500 per square foot depending on location, tenure, access to the MRT and popular schools. Hence condominiums start from prices ranging from S$550,000 onwards. Here foreigners and PRs can purchase these apartments.  

That for many Asians, Americans, and (East) Europeans an exhorbitant price to pay.

-We must be careful so as not to take too large a loan (a maximum of 30% of a Singaporean's gross monthly income can be used to repay the mortgage from the HDB) so that we do not end up being slaves to the flat, or apartment. That would ultimately be a travesty of justice and a poor financial decision made on a couple's part.

- Certain food and drink are expensive ; the price of beer is very high compared to many parts of Asia and  Western Europe. Good International food at the malls can be very pricey. I recall overhearing some Americans complaining about the price of burgers, potato chips and even wine bought from the  supermarket. These import liquors are taxed heavily and the cheapest wine in our supermarket is easily twice that from the same vineyard and sold anywhere in Australia. In Germany a good Riesling costs at most EUR 10 - 15. Here it would be EUR 30 and above.  

2. All year hot and wet weather

Imagine running 6 hours in hot and humid Singapore Ugh ! 

-It gets boring with the heat year round ; I yearn for the lovely spring, autumn and even winter months (I know I am biased only staying for 2 weeks on holiday) but 4 seasons make the weather a conversation starter in many places. In Singapore, its only Hot and Hot and Wet.

Humidity is awful especially if you wore long sleeves or a suit out in this weather.Ugh !

3. Constantly Griping Singaporeans ; Complain Kings and Queens

- I know, we are masters at complaining about everything. Lets start with the traffic (which is not as bad compared to New York, Paris, Shanghai, Bangkok, Mumbai and Jakarta just to name the usual culprits.) is one bug bear. This is especially true when we the motorists pay so much additionaltaxes for the car and there are still jams on the roads for the constant slow lines of traffic caused by the never ending road works (tree-pruning, new upgrading of roads with underpasses or flyovers, new MRT stations). Terribly frustrating at times.  

The additional taxes (see below) 
COE, ARF, and the ERPs are additional taxes on car ownership which us when added up, make our cars easily 3 times the cost of this same car when purchased in USA or Germany.
Its true.  

-  MRT breakdowns get our goat all the time. We complain day and night about the lousy reliability of the trains, the fast pace of life, the queue jumper and the general overcrowding of places of interest 

-  Singaporeans lack the subtle art of being cool ; instead they end up appearing 'kiasu and kiasi' (afraid to lose, lose face and also of death). This is the end product of always being on the treadmill of trying to be ahead of everyone else in getting there. While we are not so blatant as some other (obvious to many) Asians in bad behaviour, we can always show more graciousness and politeness in engaging random people in the street.

  Many foreign people are too polite to tell me so, but this is the general feeling experienced.

- I cite one incident in Hong Kong where I was a bit lost (happens to me from time to time) and wanted to know how to walk towards a certain MTR station ; at the walkway overpass, I approached a middle aged lady with a nice smile on my face and asked her in my basic mandarin how to get to ____ MRT station and whether the route I was taking was correct and the general direction.

Her reaction to me was " Go find it yourself and don't bother me". 

I was aghast at the very unfriendly attitude she had, and hence associated it with all Hong Kong people. This one unfortunate encounter should not tar my impression and cast judgement on the entire community is indeed wrong on my part.


4. Too crowded

-   The place is getting too crowded. Just 15 years ago, we had about 4 million people, now, we have more than 5.5 million, thats 20 odd percent MORE in such a short time. With the new migrants, residents and temporary workers, I feel that this place we call home does emit a certain edginess which can be seen and felt on the roads, this surely reflects the mood of the people about living here.

5. Sense of being Left Behind 

- Again its just my perception than some Singaporeans think that the Government is not doing enough to take care of the potential of the next generation of citizens. Our children have access to the schools based on merit and University education is highly subsidised. However, with the open door to the many foreign students coming here to study and the (perceived) relative ease they (the foreign born) can find a job at the expense of the local kids, then this is something which is to be looked at and policies tweaked so that the local born children do not get left behind.

It would be indeed sad if our children (boys) who have sacrificed 2 years for National Service and end up losing out to people who come in and occupy the prime jobs. To be honest, the small segment of foreign people I meet engaged in some of the jobs in the manufacturing sector are not too impressive to me, and I wonder if a local kid or a senior person is being denied a job. 

The element of Reservist committment is also a sacrifice which our men citizens do ever so often. The opportunity cost for them (ie. perhaps a project will be given to another who does not need to go for reservist training and hence disrupt his civilian job) can be very great and promotion and appraisal reviews must bear that in mind.

These in a nutshell is what comes to the top of my head on this rather balmy Saturday afternoon.

My views are purely mine and are not meant in any way supposed to influence thinking about our Singapore.  

Batam Island Grilled Fish : Ikan Bakar Cianjur - near Batam Centre

There are many ferries leaving Singapore on daily basis from Harbourfront Center 

we took Majestic Ferry service which has like 10 departures each day starting from 8am.

Yesterday, we visited Batam Island, a short 1 hour ferry ride due south of Singapore where there is still vibrant manufacturing (mainly of medical and electronic products) industry.The isalnd consists of a large island and a number of smaller ones, and is the neighbour of Bintan island.Batam islands consist a total of approximately 1,700 sq km of land, mostly for agricultural use and there are several industrial parks for manufcaturing. There are approximately 1 million people residing in Batam.

My colleague and I took the 9.50 am ferry together with another 60 odd people making their way there for holiday and business visits. Batam follows Indonesian time, which is 1 hour behind Singapore's time, so we arrived at Batam Center at approximately 10.00 am. 

The 500,000 (S$ 50) rupiah visa is applicable and payable upon arrival at the Immigration centre. We arrived at Batam Centre (there are 2 ferry arrival points, Sekupang and Batam Center) and took a  short taxi ride to visit our first customer.  

Gurami Asam Bakar (Fried Fish), Ayam Bakar (Grilled Chicken) and Bittergourd with Egg 

Around noon we headed to the Ikan Bakar Cianjur Restaurant, an air conditioned place near Batam Center to try their famous Gorami fish.

We ordered the fried fish with sweet and sour sauce, also the grilled chicken with honey and the bittergourd and egg dish and a serving of rice. Coffee Indonesian style rounded up the meal. 

Grilled Chicken Breast and Thigh 

Dada Bakar and Paha Bakar

Piece de Resistance - Gurami Asam Manis

The fried fish tasted pretty good, but the sweet and sour sauce lathered over it was a disappointment. This dish alone cost 12 dollars or Rupiah 115,000. 

The grilled chicken was in my opinion, only average. We can get better grilled chicken and rice at food courts, they are called Ayam Penyet (goreng fried or bakar grilled). The meat was lean and the taste sweet as is with many Indonesian dishes.

The bittergourd with egg was the satisfying dish, right on the money in my opinion.

The juices we had (lemon and avocado) were alright ; nothing exceptional

Coffee to end the meal tasted rather bitter and they did not strain the ground coffee leaving the coffee at the bottom of the cup, rather odd, I would say.

My review :  

Food :  3.5  / 5     

This is Batam after all. So for lack of better understanding of the locale (I am sure there are many better ones all over the island and I mean coffeeshops serving Nasi Padang and typical Indonesian food).

Service : 3. 5 / 5

Ambience (Cleanliness) : 3.5 / 5

Price : Rupiah 335,000 or S$ 33.00 (US$ 24 for 2 persons with 10% tax included). Expensive by Indonesian standards. 

Total   : 3.5 / 5   Just slightly above average. Not cheap at all by Indonesian standards  

Would I eat there again ? NO.  If I have other recommendations, I would not eat it again. Not outstanding but also no bad experience either. The plentiful customers local and foreign means that there is some reputation to the place. Price is also not cheap which is a departure of my previous experiences visiting Batam (maybe 5 years ago or longer).  

As a parallel, it is like Sombon seafood in Bangkok Thailand ; seafood cuisine catering to tourists who are visiting Thailand for the first time and want something 'local' without getting TOO ripped off. If you catch my drift. 

I will venture to try different places with recommendations from friends who frequent the place.

For the diehards who want to try Indonesian food without disappointment : 

IKAN BAKAR CIANJUR

Jalan Engku Puiri,

Core Batam Centre 8

BATAM

Ask any Taxi, Grab or Uber driver ; they should know it well.

Venice ; The Last Years

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Please click on the ^^  above mp4 video to view the video. 

This was the unforgettable trip we made in Dec 2017, the video of the Rialto river coming up and the lovely 16 - 18th century buildings on both sides of the waterway. With global warming going on unabated with each passing year, low lying cities like Venice will be completely submerged in 50 years or less, so predict climatologists. My wife and I visited this wonderful spot in December 2017 and were enchanted by the waterways, the buildings which were built in ornate Baroque style and of course the many boutique shops of all the famous brands like Dior, Chanel, Hermes, Boss, Bottega Venetta, Louis Vuitton and Prada - all with payment options like Alipay, Wechat pay and the traditional forms of payment.

Surreal view of a boutique shop along the narrow streets of Venice.

This phenomena highlights the growing influence of the Chinese tourist dollar, which has been steadily coming in, first as a trickle, now a fast flowing stream. Much to the delight of the tour operators, the sales industry and of course the museums etc.    

St Mark's Basilica Dec 2017 

The Apostle Mark, one of Jesus's 4 apostles who ventured into Egypt and was instrumental in the  setting up of  the Coptic church  in the first century A.D. My late father Geoffrey must have taken inspiration from Mark's gospel in the Bible to Christen me as such.

Mark the soldier and Mark the apostle.

Mark the Tourist ; 5 th December 2017

I am glad he chose such an inspirational and great man, and was not swayed to name me after one of the members of the Beatles (Ringo or Yoko) or Rolling Stones  (Mick or Keith)

Outside our hotel, 6th December 2017