Mount Tomamu

     This is the 'easy' slopes of Mount Tomamu, where my family and I are staying at the Towers (Twin Towers) at the base of the mountain. There are a total of 17 slopes, ranging from 'beginner' ( in reality one needs to be able to control one's skis - and an intermediate skier) to intermediate and 'advanced'. They even have pistes (ski trails) which the expert skier has to register his ability at the front desk before you are allowed on these untried (for many months before the ski season opens) paths and one literally has to depend on one's skill in going down sometimes a 60 degree slope.

      In late January or February, depending on the amount of snowfall, the resort will offer "Heli Ski", this is for the expert skiier, who is prepared to take extreme risks and be dropped off from a helicopter at a height on the mountain, perhaps 3000 ft and he will then have to find his way down, else he risks certain serious injury or death, if he goes down an ice-covered cavern, like you see in movies. Of course the resort authorities know the mountain well, but its really a lot of  mountain to cover with so few trained support staff on skimobiles.

      Going forward, I hope my company can do well enough in future to incentivise the staff by going on an all expenses trip such as this. Wishful thinking ??      

Video of the powder snow in Hokkaido

This video shows how soft the powder snow in Hokkaido, where my wife was filming my son and I outside the restaurant and I dove my hand in to the snow only to get an icy shock. See my reaction after I put my ungloved hand into the snow. 

White Christmas from Hokkaido

Night Scene of our Tower Hotel from the Forest Mall

     Dear friends, I was busy the last 10 days or so, and did not have time to update my blog. I heard some crustacean had 'highjacked' it for a few hours while I was intoxicated with sake and sashimi, but rest assured that nothing like that will happen again. When the SMRT says that the trains will be running fine the next day, see what happened ?  For one to maintain a high level of transport efficiency, one has to do thorough reliability checks and aging tests, like using stress screening equipment, to ensure the long term reliability of their hardware, ie. trains and their tracks is up to standard. 

       This picture was taken when we first arrived in Tomamu ski resort, Hokkaido on 18th December, the Towers in the background are where my family and I stayed for 5 days, and the weather was snowing for maybe 4 days, the atmosphere was quite unreal and the photos which I took were quite undescribable, but really pretty pictures.

         Here's wishing a belated Merry Chistmas to all my friends and followers of my Blog. Whats that picture of the Crab in a previous post  ??

A belated Merry Crhistmas from Hokkaido Japan - from a friend

                                               Thats me, with some parsely and lemon.

         Hello everyone, my name is Kani, Japanese for Crab. I have hairy legs like Mark and I have taken over writing this blog, as he is too busy eating my fellow crustaceans or crabs. He's full of crab right now, and also has too much Sake to write anything sensible in this column, so I took pity on him, and decided to write this post. He was too busy on holiday in December to post anything for over 3 weeks, shame on him !

        Anyway he threatened me that he would eat me soon enough, if I did not do something useful, so  I decided to write this post. Our species are called Snow Crabs, or Long Hairy Leg Crabs and we live off the cold waters of Hokkaido island. The Japanese have long been catching our kind for centuries and we are best eaten, grilled, deep fried or steamed with some vinegar. I don't think humans taste anything like us crabs, and we have many hundreds of offspring, much more efficient producers than humans, though I heard humans are causing havoc with the world we live in, with their cars, aeroplanes and airconditioners, leading to many natural disasters caused by their neglect. Its time for everyone to DO THEIR PART to save our world.
  
         Uh, Oh, that fellow, Mark is eyeing me right now, I better sign off and hide behind this parsely.    
If I don't see you again ; "Merisu Chrismasu " and " eat Vegetables !! " Forget Crabs ! They take too long to eat ! "          
      

Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon 2011 Route

     I have been wanting to upload the route for the Standard Chartered Full Marathon 2011 which starts on Sunday morning at 5.00 am at Orchard Road outside Mandarin Gallery,unfortunately the uploader only accepts .jpg and .jif files, so anyway to help me mentally visualise the route, I will list down the main roads,

a) Orchard Road outside Mandarin Gallery
b) Dhoby Gaut
c) Stamford Road
d) Chinatown Station (MRT)
e) Robinson Road
f) Esplanade Drive
g) Temasek Avenue
h) Park beside F1 Pit Building
i) Nicoll Highway
j) Mountbatten Road
k) East Coast Park  Fort Road
l) East Coast Park Bedok Jetty  (21 km turnaround)
m) East Coast Park return
n) Sheares Bridge
o) Singapore Flyer Road
p) Marina Barrage
q) Padang      (End Point)

    Wish me luck !  I have trained for at least 4 months on and off, so I hope I can complete it in a time below 5 hours, say 4 hr 45 minutes. Depending on the weather, and my preparation, I hope its not wishful thinking !!

 

Happy Birthday to my Mum, Anna Abisheganaden

Picture taken in 2006 during my Mum's 76th birthday,which is 30th November

She would have been 81 today.

Almost 1 year has gone by since you left us,

The pain of separation is still raw and 

The love still lingers in my heart for you,

My dear Mother,

Rest in peace in Heaven, with Papa

Happy Birthday, with much love

Your Son, Mark 

Tiong Bahru - a step back in time

The blocks retain the facade of the 1970s, 

with circular staircase landings erected on the outside of the block

      Nestled between the bustling Chinatown People's Park Complex and Bukit Merah lies the lowrise Tiong Bahru estate. It has been slated by the Government for conservation, amidst the rapid development of our country. I drop my wife and maid there every Sunday at the wet market to buy the fish, meats and fruits and vegetables. While the market is termed a 'branded' market serving only the best choice fish, cuts of meat and vegetables, it has a strong following amongst many elderly folk and a fair number of people come there in the Benzes, Audis, Lexuses  and Porshes from all over the island to buy the weekly groceries.

              The wide walkways and space for the groundfloor units to have their little 'garden'.
                                 Something which is only unique to older estates such as these

      The estate next to the Tiong Bahru market has retained its laid back charm, with the low rise HDB blocks a major attraction for many yuppies or young urban professionals. Its facade is of that from an earlier less complicated time and around the neighbourhood there sprouts many small bookstores, boutique shops and knickknack shops which give this neighbourhood a quaint 'Notting Hill' feel.

       I will find some time to explore the place and have a good cuppa while reading a book - one day.