Shenyang Ku Gong Palace Visit - 3rd July '26

A recent visit to Shengyang China, unveiled a pleasant surprise. Our hosts, Hyperbaric Manufacturer Canta Medical Systems brought us to visit the Chong De (the last Manchu emperor) palace called Ku Gong. China was ruled by the Manchu (Qing dynasty) for almost 3 centuries before the formation of the Chinese Republic in early 1900s (1912 I believe). The first President of China was San Yet Sen. The last emperor was Pu Yi.  

Shengyang was the old capital city before it was moved to Beijing. 

There is the much larger palace in Beijing called the Forbidden City. The buildings there are very similar to the Cu Gong in Shenyang except much larger. 

It is a sprawling place, with easily 3 million square feet in area. There were many courtyands, as well as the sleeping quarters for the emperor and his officials.

With our principal host and guide Karen. 

The signs of technology and culture is apparent for all to see, and when we were there, our gorup of 15 were the only foreign tourists visiting. The vast majority were Chinese national or local tourists.

Many were dressed in the old imperial clothes of the emperor (yellow) or the empress or princesses.

One needs to be relatively fit to climb up and down the stairs to visit the palace and their buildings. 

Sheng Ji Soya Sauce Chicken - Best Tasting in the World

 

Located at the corner of Geylang Bahru Hawker Center, is this stall called Sheng Ji Soya Sauce Chicken. Run by 2 sisters in their 70s, the stall offers chicken rice, braised chicked Stewed feet (for collagen) and chicken noodles.

Last Saturday, after my run at ECP, I tried it out, just for fun. I had ventured and used the basic social science principle. If there is a queue of people waiting to order the food, it MUST be of a certain standard.

I was not disappointed. The soya sauce chicken was the best I have had in years. I am not even a soya sauce chicken rice fan, but one bite and I was in gastronomic heaven.

The meat was tender and the skin, was oh so flavourful. The rice was nice and not clumpy.

The 'jiao zhi' or dumplings were robust and had the nice water chestnut inside to give it the crunchy feel. Some other folk who were in front of me ordered like half a chicken with 2 big bags of noodles (yellow mee kia and white kway teow)

I ordered the S$ 8 (with more ingredients or jia liao) and it was an extremely satisfying lunch and so cost effective.

I plan to buy this meal for my family very soon.

Shen Ji   

69 Geylang Bahru (Hawker Centre)

#01-13 (at the far end of the hawker centre)

SGP 330069

Rating 

Taste : 4.9 / 5

Price (Value for money) : 5 / 5

Ambience : 3 / 5 (Hawker Centre environment no air conditioning).

QRA'S athletic chambers for worldwide sports clients

                           Athletic chamber for up to 4 athletes at Sport Singapore

Presenting QRA's athletic chamber with control of the following parameters listed below :

a) Temperature

b) Humidity

c) Sunlight

d) CO2 removal

e) Altitude

f) Rain

QRA is only one of four worldwide manufacturers or system integrators of athletic chambers for enhancement of elite sportsmen. There are numerous studies showing that the Live HIgh Train Low and High program has its benefits on sports performance. (LHTLTH). 

The basic concept of altitude training is such :

> At sea level (or 20.9% O2), the average person consumes O2 and his VO2 max helps convert the oxygen together with the ATP (produced from mitochondria in our red blood cells) into energy to produce work.

> Within each cubic centimeter of blood, there is (for example) 10 buckets of haemoglobin which carry the O2 to the various parts and these are functioning well. So if there are 10 buckets and O2 at 20.9% is considered as 1 unit, then the work done is 10. Or 10 x 1.

> At higher levels, where the air is thinner (at base camp Mt Everest at 5000 m), the O2 is something like 16.5 % or 2/3rd the O2 level at sea level. Logically speaking the person who has 10 buckets of haemoglobin will then function at 10 x 0.67 or 6.67. Hence every step he takes is only at 2/3rd the energy since O2 is crucial for the work to be done by the human body.

> With controlled environment, where the athlete (or person) is sleeping at 16.5 % for up to 2 weeks, he will amazingly produce (if that is the right word) more haemoglobin buckets to compensate for the low 02. So with adequate sleep and activity at the higher altitude (we call it acclimatization), our bodies will eventually create up to 15 buckets of haemoglobin, so as to produce 10 output. 15 x 0.7 is 10 at higher altitude. 

> The sleep rooms at high altitude (Sports Singapore has the facility) produce these environments for sleep and daily activity, so after roughly 2 weeks, the athletes would have 15 buckets of haemoglobin.

> Now if they were to train or run races  at 20.9%, their output work done will now be 15 x 10 or 15 which is 50 % more than what they were previously. 

> This means a tremendous improvement in performance, sportsmen will actually run faster, and produce a lot more energy especially at races or high level games like football, basketball tennis, the list is endless.

> Imagine running 30% faster than your opponent who once was as fast as you !

> You would be able to reach the ball quicker, your reaction time would be faster and you would score many more goals than any other ordinary player. Its a dream ?

Why dream ?

The reality is here.

Contact :  

mark@qra.com.sg 

qrasales@qra.com.sg 

for more information  

or visit 

website : www.qra.com.sg.

1,000,000 Views. Thank you and this post is dedicated to my family

 

John, Mum and Papa (1987) 

This blog will hit 1,000,000 views in the next day or two. I wish to dedicate this milestone to my beloved parents, Geoffrey, Anna as well as to my younger brother John. 

Though my parents are not here in this world anymore, I believe somewhere they would be happy  sharing with me on the quiet satisfaction on reaching this milestone.  When I started this blog way back in 2008, I just wanted to keep a journal of my life journey and wrote whatever came to my mind then. 

                    May many blessings be upon you wherever you go. 

            Surely goodness and mercy be upon you and yours for the rest of your days. 

                                                      12th July 2026. 

 

QRA's Lab is at Full House. Thank you clients and friends !

Out Test Lab at 21 Toh Guan Road East, # 04 - 02 is full. Thank you to all our wonderful clients and associates who have supported us all these years. We could never have made it without your continued support and we are QRA International are forever grateful for this.  

Going forward, we will be expanding our test capabilities, to add new equipment, add new partners and also aim to attain the ISO 17025 within the next year. The new tests which we aspire to do are :

a) Temperature Cycle Tests according to MIL STD 883 D 10110.7 

b) Stress Screening Tests (5 C / min)

c) Pressure Cooker Tests   121 C 100% RH

d) Drop Test

e) Peel Test

f) Leak Test

g) Seal Test

Do visit our website :  www.qra.com.sg for the latest from us ! 

Dialect films. Let more of them be screened in Singapore.

I refer to the brouhaha about the latest film, Dear You, in Chaosan dialect, where literally  thousands of Singaporeans have gone to Johor Bahru to watch.

I profess I am not a dialect speaker, although my heritage is Cantonese, hence the pull of the grandmotherland and motherland is watered down and the ethnic attraction of going back to China or India respectively is practically 0 in my consciousness.

I am proud to be half Chinese. I acknowledge my mother and grandmother were Chinese citizens, but I am a patriotic Singaporean and will remain so. I am very happy to witness China's progress in the last 30 years or so, developing from a poor country till today, a highly industrializing and ultramodern powerhouse, at least from what I observe during my visits to tier 1 and tier 2 cities.  

The issue is about the wanting to connect with the 'lao jia' or hometown for the people who were born there. Many years ago, from the early 20th century to late 20th century, many Chinese people fled China to come to S.E. Asia to look for a more prosperous life, hence, the men left their womenfolk back in the villages and sent back qiaopi or monthly remittances to feed the family who were probably living a hand to mouth existence.  When China started the road towards market capitalism in the mid 1990s, it steadily uplifted hundreds possibly 1 billion people in the last 25 to 30 years from dire poverty to middle class wealth and standards of living.  

Life is short, and it is a shame that the authorities and censorship board still retains archaic regulations which are not applicable in modern day Singapore. I do not think that there will be people - after watching the movie - will want to pack up and migrate to Suzhou province. 

When the speak Mandarin program was kickstarted. This was targetted at Chinese Singaporeans more than 60 years ago, to foster Mandarin as the mother tongue, this program and policy was the right one. Chinese of all dialects speak 'Pu Tong Hua' in China and this unifies the peoples North and South.

Let there be many more screenings of Dear You in Singapore. Many families, want to just spend quality time with grandma and grandpa and organize a family outing, so why make it so trying that there are so few screenings here ? 

There are foreign films aplenty in Singapore, so why limit the number of screenings if the demand is greater than supply ? 

Do something meaningful for the people, our  Government leaders. 

Everything can be amended if it poses no threat 

Approaching a major milestone in viewership 1,000,000 - A Humbling Experience

 

Marshal Zhang Xue Liang - Generalissimo of Lioning Province. 

Within the next week, I estimate that this blog will reach the 1,000,000 viewership mark. I intend to continue writing to the best of my ability and give my opinions on as many things as I can during the course of this lifetime. I would be happy for people to challenge my views and to have a debate, as no one person, religion nor political party has the complete understanding of world and domestic events so there must and always need be, to have dissenting voices, not for the sake of dissenting, but to ensure that whatever views which are prevailing ones can be challenged and fairly.

Marshal Zhang's Mansion.

I have always had a soft spot for the smaller or inferior player, be it in football, in a street fight, football match or even in political debates. The reason is that the smaller and so called inferior player or team is ready to tackle the big boy head on. That shows grit, courage and persaverence. Something which you find in the winners of the business world nowadays. 

Every company starts small and had numerous setbacks, Apple was born out of Steve Jobs garage, Alibaba Jack Ma was a failure in the interview and got rejected after applying for more than 100 and going for 30 interviews.

These people persevered. They showed true grit, courage, and believed in themselves. It is not the smartest in the room or lecture hall who makes it big in the corporate world. It is the person who can get whacked up time and again, brush himself from the ground and start afresh. Its a humbling and humiliating experience. 

Ku Gong - The Imperial Palace of the Manchu Emperor (Qin Dynasty). 

When this blog finally hits 1,000,000 views, I will just open a bottle of white wine, go down to my little corner somewhere and look up at the starry night. That feeling and experience will never come again so I will savour it like its the best thing to do.

Seize the Day 

Carpe Diem