Back from Holiday

Has not been blogging as I was on holiday in Tokyo (again!) for last 2 weeks and out of office for a conference on Tuesday and Wednesday. So this is actually my 2nd days in the office after my holiday!

As usual it was a nice “relaxing” shopping and eating trip and Tokyo remains still one of my favourite pilgrimage place.

Still in the process of sorting out some stuff from Tokyo and will post some of the nice stuff I get back from Tokyo.

I always try to get stuff that are Made in Japan while I am in Tokyo. Sadly this is getting more and more difficult and cheap labour cost from China is hard to ignore.

Last year the Nano block I bought from Japan are all Made In Japan but this year they are slowly being manufacture in China. So I took this opportunity to grab a few of the Made In Japan left.

Will blog more about my trip in the coming days!

Why you should not be spending your money here.

Singapore is turning into one of the worst place to buy things.

I travel quite a bit every year and the more I travel the more I realised you should not be spending you money in Singapore.

Things are so much cheaper even in other first world countries like Japan and USA.

I can understand if the importer have to factor in the shipment cost but this “cost” are averaging at about 20-30% of the selling pirce at their home countries.

Do note these selling had already factor in the profits.

I have seen some even cost 100% more then when they were in their county of origin.

I did a quite research on the average salary of an Engineer in Singapore, Japan and USA.

In Singapore and an Engineer earn about US$1,731, Japan US$2,530 and the States US$4,710.

So we go less pay but are paying more for the products. Don’t really make senses at all.

Save your money and spend over sea my friends and remember Japan GST is only 5% better then the F**K up 7% with the lousy service.

How much you are worth. The Singapore male citizen.

So MINDEFT deem you worth only $9000 for serving 2 years + 10 years of reservist.

$10500 if you are not a chow corporal and below.

This work out to be $3500 for your 2 years of Full time NS service. On top of your pay, you get this amount which is going in the your CPF.

Let say you earn $1000 a month (For 2 LTA these days?), for 2 years (Hey I already give you the bonus because you definitely don’t get his amount when you are a recruits or a cadet), you get $27500 after your NSF cycle.

So the max amount you get is $34500 after selling 2 + 13 years of your life to the defence of this country.

Note you are also defending the 2 million FT here.

Fair? My foot.

YOG joke.

YOG: Last-minute ticket sales for empty seats at sold-out venues
18 August 2010

SINGAPORE : Organisers of the Youth Olympics Games are making it possible for more people to catch the action.

From Thursday, if there are empty seats at sold-out venues, officials will be flexible in allowing last-minute fans to purchase tickets.

Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said venue managers will use their discretion to manage the situation. He was speaking to reporters after watching swimmer Rainer Ng clinch Singapore's first silver medal at the Games.

He said: "It will have to be first-come-first-served basis, and it will have to depend very much on the physical situation on the ground. "That's why I cannot have a uniform rule across all venues.

The venue manager will be authorised to make these decisions at a local level." - CNA/al


The question is – Why is there empty seats at sold out venues?

I think it is a know fact by now that these “sold out” tickets are actually bought by MOE (with tax payers money) to be given to their students.

Being teenager I definitely will not go for something that I am not interested in.

So why must our government do thing this way? Trying to make things look like what they are not really is.

If there is no crowd in an events then so be it. You should either make it free entry or reduce the cost of the tickets to pull in the crowd rather the let this shit happened.
I guess they are quite good at generating false statistic in this country.

Screwed up.

I was reading through the ST forum and someone pointed out our dear Singapore Police had gazetted the wrong area during the YOG.

They gazetted National Technological University (Where the Hell is this?) instead of Nanyang Technological University.
Gosh I think someone in the SPF is going to get it this time.

More fantastic idea from the brilliant Elite

Night parking fee up
Price to double to $4; first increase in 21 years
Today Online Aug 03, 2010

SINGAPORE - The car population has outpaced the supply of parking spaces to the point that night parking charges are now going up, 21 years after the last increase.

From Nov 1, non-resident motorists and visitors at public housing and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) car parks will pay double for overnight parking: From $2 to $4.

In 1989, the increase was from $1.50 to $2.

While the 34-year-old scheme was implemented in car parks where there were sufficient lots to meet season parking needs, "most" of these car parks are so "heavily utilised" that residents with season parking tickets face "difficulties" finding a spot at night, the Housing and Development Board and URA said yesterday.

The higher charge will "better manage the parking demand" and "safeguard the interests" of season parking ticket holders, the two statutory boards added.

The half-hourly night parking charge of 50 cents will remain, though.

The new $4 night parking coupons will be on sale from Oct 15.

Motorists can continue to use the $2 night parking coupons by displaying two such coupons.

Some Members of Parliament wondered if the latest measure is enough.

Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Lee Bee Wah, who receives one complaint a week from residents facing parking difficulties, pointed out that the non-resident group is not sizeable. And while the spike in overnight parking charges "may deter some non-residents from parking", the overall number of cars - and the supply of parking lots - remain unchanged, Ms Lee noted.

Jurong GRC MP Halimah Yacob reiterated that the problem requires "proper planning, a strategy of how to ensure there's enough parking places in Singapore. And that kind of planning is not only confined to just HDB, it has to be planning on the part of the Ministry of Transport as well".

On its part, HDB is planning to add 5,000 more parking spaces in the next three years….



This is actually a really dumb “solution”. It did not solve any problem at all.

The problem of shortage of car park will not simply disappear if you increase the cost. If it does, the fare increase in 1989 would have solve this problem.

The only winner out of this fare hike is URA. They has the opportunity to generate more income.

The fact is there is a shortage of car park. The question is why?

How many percent of a car park lots are being issued to season parking holder? Did HDB/URA issued more season parking (to earn more) and therefore causing these season parking holder unable to find a parking lots?

For example out of 100 lots avail. Does HDB keep 50 lots for season holder or 90 lots?

A simple solution is to increase the percentage of lots reserved for season parking holder. This is fair as they are resident of the area and is paying a monthly fee. They should be guaranteed a parking space.

And of cause a long time solution is to build more parking lots.

What they are trying to do now is what I call the ostrich mentality. “There is no problem if you don’t see any problem” By burying you head in the ground.

The Maids and the dogs.

I see many maids walking the family dogs around my estate and only occasionally I see the some owners walk their own dogs. Roughly 20% of the time.

I can’t help wondering why people who can’t spend time walk their dogs want to keep one (or two) in the first place?

Are the dogs just some expired toys? A status symbol? Or maybe a pre-children child?

To me a pet is a part of the family. It should be treated with the utmost care and loves like the rest of the family members. If you can’t afford the time or money and make so scarify for your pet, then you jolly well don’t get one in the first place.

Letting your maid do what should be your responsibility really show what kind of person you are.

Bad year for MIW

3 floods in less then a month. Which they say will only happen once in every 50 years.

Police man hand cuffed reporters.

Man was killed by falling tree.

Ferry wheels struck by lightning.

Gosh I bet this year no election until some one in while go for his “feng Shui” consultation.

They think we are stupid again.

Punters have fair chance at gaming machines at integrated resorts
29 June 2010

SINGAPORE : Punters at Singapore's two integrated resorts have a fair chance at winning at the slot machines and other electronic games.

That is because the gaming machines have been certified to have met international standards, according to SPRING Singapore.

The national standards body said all electronic gaming machines such as slots and electronic table games have been tested and verified by laboratories which are accredited by the Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC) or its Mutual Recognition Arrangement partners.

They have also met the technical standards required by the Casino Regulatory Authority of Singapore (CRA).

Both the machines' hardware and software have been tested.

Tests on software included the communication protocol among the table machines that are linked to a server and the random number generator.



Have you ever wonder that it is not the interest of the Casino to let you win?

Same go for the “Casino Regulatory Authority” as they received taxes from the Casino earning.

Therefore the more the Casino earn from the general public, the more the authority earn.

So it is a joke that they are assuring punters they will have a “fair” chance of winning at the slot machines as they had been tested by the SAC. (With interest is for you to lose)

Hmm… does not make sense right?

Also note they did not say what is “fair”?

Fair to them may not be fair to you.

They may set the machine to give winning when it has reached a certain taking per day.

So let just say that this article is just bullshit.

Shooting in Woodland Mall???

Was reading Google news just now and realised there had been some shooting incident at Woodland! See last article in the picture below.


Will actuall it is a screw up by Google filtering system.

Apparently there is a Woodland Mall in Montgomery and google somehow classified it to be a Singapore news. Haha....

No Sick Phase

I call this period the No Sick Phase.

It meant you die die cannot on sick leave. Why? It is because of the World Cup.

Whoever fall sick during this period is automatically classified as “Keng”.

It doesn’t matter whether you are genuinely having a fever of 44 C or has a cast around you feet, if you call in and tell your boss that you are sick your will be classified as a “Chao keng”.

Another No Sick Phase that I identified is during the BMT.

All recruit who fall sick during this period are again, automatically classified at “Bloody kengster” that is true unless you are a “white horse” where all thing you say is classified as the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

I feel that you body need rest to recover from “minor” sickness etc flu, headache.

If you do not get sufficient rest when you develop this warning signals your body give you, you will be dead if you still push your body any further.

So I guess that’s explained why there are people dying in BMT as recruits are afraid to be labelled as a “Chao Keng”.

A couple of year ago I went back to my army unit for my FFI. I saw my docket and realised I only felt sick twice in my 2years 4 month in the army.

Once in BMT where I had a fever and once back in my unit when I had chicken pox.

I also remembered “remote diagnose” is invented in the army.

That is where the Medical Office can tell whether you are sick or not from 10 meters away without even touching or looking at you.

Anyway you will be diagnose with “Chow Kengster” with attend C bunk no matter what. Unless you have to be stretcher in, then that will be a different story.

So if you are catching the world cup, do remember to eat right, drink lots of water, exercise and have enough rest because it is still 2 weeks till we are officially out of the No Sick Phase. (Which will be back in 4 years time)

Youth Olympic Games

Suddenly I notice Giant Billboards promoting the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) about 10m wide x 6 m tall start to spring up at various locations in Singapore.

I personally saw a couple in Tampines and Pasir Ris.

It has a big picture of the 2 clowns....er… no mascot with message like “Resident of Pasir Ris support the Youth Olympic Games”

I got a couple of questions

Firstly nobody asked me whether I support the YOG or not. So how can the town council say for everyone in the constituency that we support the YOG.

To be more accurate the billboard should read “ Pasir Ris Town Council Support the YOG” or “ Singapore Government support the YOG”.

Second question I got in mind is how much does this colorful billboards cost and who is paying for them? The various Town Concils, (Since they got a good record for collecting conservancy fee or the Ministry of Youth and community development?

Anyway I think it is a pathetic way of them trying to generate some interest in the YOG.

Hitting below the belt

Town councils fare generally well in first management report

10 June 2010 1157 hrs (SST)

Town councils have received their first-ever report card from the Ministry of National Development.

They were assessed in four areas in the inaugural Town Council Management Report (TCMR): estate cleanliness, estate maintenance, lift performance and management of service and conservancy charges arrears.

Most of them fared well in the assessment which took place from last October to this March.

All 16 town councils scored at least a level 2 for cleanliness on a scale of 1 to 5 with one being the best and 5 being the worst.

Four town councils - Tanjong Pagar, Marine Parade, Bishan-Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio-Yio Chu Kang - secured the highest level of 1.

The best performer was Tanjong Pagar Town Council. It achieved top ratings for all except estate maintenance.

Indranee Rajah, vice-chairman of Tanjong Pagar Town Council, said: "(First), the staff worked really, really hard and two, input from residents. Our Residents' Committees as well as the residents have been quite diligent in bringing things to the attention of the town council which allows for fairly quick response. "

What the Tanjong Pagar Town Council did was, their officers, especially the property officers, general manager and the staff, they put in a lot of effort on the ground, in terms of identifying the things that needed to be improved, and taking concrete measures to try and implement them.

In the other areas of assessment, most town councils also achieved at least a level 3.

However, town councils in opposition-held estates didn't fare as well.

Potong Pasir for instance scored a level 5 in several areas of assessment including maintenance and arrears management.

Hougang estate also scored 5 for arrears management.

No other estate scored a five in any area of assessment. But residents in Potong Pasir appear to take the poor assessment in their stride.

"It's okay because at least they clean it every day. And I see the person cleaning the lift and sweeping the corridors," said one resident.

"I see a big improvement from previous years, such as the roadside, the gardens, the walkways," said another.

Putting things in context, however, the National Development Ministry says the TCMR should not be used as a basis for comparison between towns. That's because each town differs in terms of its residents' profile and property profile. Hence, it says a more appropriate use of the result is for monitoring the performance of town councils over time.

Ms Indranee Rajah said: "What the assessment process does is that it makes the town councils think about their KPIs (key performance indicators) - these are the things we have to achieve. It also helps the residents to focus on what they want and it helps the town councils to know that these are the things the residents want.

So I guess it's helpful, because it gives you something to shoot for, and you can works towards improving it. Besides the town councils, the job of looking after an estate must be shared.

"Residents must also play their part in keeping the estate clean, because it's good for us," said a resident.

When letter start to appear in the Straights Times Forum this week regarding Potong Pasir cleaniness I knew something fishy is about to happen.

And true enough, yesterday PAP...... opps no the Ministry of National Development reported the performance of all the town councils.

And as expected if you read this article there is the mention of Tanjong Pagar, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Ang Mo Kio (Hmmm .... seem to remind me of some inportant people) did exceptionally well and Potong Pasir and Hougang are lousy.

This is a hit below the belt in boxing term.

Come on, we know the election is coming and I can believe the ruling party resort to such childish tactic.

Note: I thing one of the criteria of scoring will is “Least outstanding conservancy fee , Most conservancy fee being collected” Er… wait a minute doesn’t that meant it is bad for us if the town council collect hell lots of money from us?

Now thats what I call efficiency

Singapore chickens out on protest
2010-06-10 10:04

Singapore - A US animal rights activist said he was prevented by police on Thursday from staging a one-man protest in a chicken suit at a KFC outlet in Singapore.

Basse, a Manila-based campaigner for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), said he was whisked away in a police car after he arrived by taxi outside the restaurant in a working-class district.

"I am now in my hotel room. I am under functional house arrest. I will stay in my hotel room under police surveillance until I leave tomorrow (Friday)," 24-year-old Edward Basse told AFP.

Police in Singapore, which has some of the world's toughest restrictions on protests, had no immediate comment.

"It took a long time, the questioning, perhaps a couple of hours. I was scared, but that is what I have to do for the chickens," Basse said.

"They confiscated my bags and the chicken costume, as well as the poster," he added, saying he did not expect to be charged and would leave Singapore voluntarily.

‘KFC’s cruel practices’

In Singapore, protests are only allowed at a designated public park located on the fringe of the business district. Otherwise, any public demonstration or march needs a police permit.

"I was scared but they treated me fairly okay," Basse said of his stay with the police.

"I am here now (safe) in my room, but what I went through is nothing compared to (the treatment of) the chickens."

Jason Baker, Peta's regional director based in Hong Kong, said Basse was a vegetarian outraged by KFC's allegedly cruel practices against chickens.

"He made a decision that a voice needs to be given to the animals that KFC abuses," said Baker.



Its amazing how efficient the SPF can be especially for protester and people from the opposition parties.

Note Edward Basse was “whisked away in a police car after he arrived by taxi”.

Either someone tip off the police about Edward checking in the hotel with a chicken suit so he was being trailed by the police or KFC called the police when the spotted a human size chicken. No matter I got to say the police appeared faster the superman in this case.

I called the police regarding some illegal teen gathering in the middle of the night making hell lots of noise and it took them 40min and 3 calls later for a police car to appear.

Wonder if I told them there is some opposition parties member in the group will they appear within 10 secs?

Funny MV (CCB)

Post here for my future reference! Haha damned funny!

Media Cock

MediaCorp to telecast Singapore's table tennis win over China
03 June 2010 1609 hrs (SST)

SINGAPORE: MediaCorp will telecast on Sunday the historic win by Singapore women's team over China in the recent World Team Table Tennis Championships in Moscow.

Singapore's trio of Feng Tianwei, Wang Yuegu and Sun Beibei rocked the sports world when they beat reigning champions and world number one China 3-1 to become world champions.

The media group says it has just secured the telecast rights of the event.

It explains that "live" telecast rights were not made available to free-to-air broadcasters.

Channel 5 will air the event in its entirety at 3pm on June 6, with an encore telecast at 9am on June 12.

MediaCorp says its extensive TV coverage of recent SEA Games, FINA Arena Swimming and the recent AFC Asian Cup Qualifier featuring the Young Lions underlines its firm support of the sporting achievements of Team Singapore athletes.

The group says it will continue to bring key competitive events and matches to viewers, subject to broadcast rights considerations. - CNA/ir

This is really pathetic!

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t even know the Singapore Team are in the final of the Table Tennis World Cup until news broke that they has won.

Ok fine so they have won. Congratulation. That’s all.

Now our dear media cock went to secure “the rights” to broadcast the game.

Shouldn’t they do it in the first place to show the “live” programme.

Shouldn’t they promote the event before the final game so Singaporean are aware that our China B team had made it to the final?

Media cock gave me a feeling that they don’t want to bet of Team Singapore and therefore is unwilling for folk out money for the “live” broadcast.

Now everyone know the Singapore Team has won and now they want to telecast its. WTF?!

Its like go buy the TOTO after they had announce the draw result.

And in the end the still has the cheek to say they have “its firm support of the sporting achievements of Team Singapore athletes.”

Wonder will they go ahead and secure the rights of telecast is Team Singapore has lost to China in the final.

Onitsuka Part II

My No 2 Tiger from Taipei. Mexico 99 Deluxe

Think I somehow became a shoes collector.

"The Great Singapore Sales"

Went to Orchard to do some errant on Saturday and man I regretted it almost immediately.

Having 4.3millions population really sucks but couple in the first weekends of School Holidays, the long weekends and the Great Singapore Sales, Orchard road felt like an oversized sardine can.

Was actually eyeing the Nespressor Machine for quite sometime now and I thought it will be a good time to get it at the GSS especially when Takashimaya card holder normally get 10% off on top of the what discount there is.

Turn out to be a real disappointment.

If I remember correctly, last year they offer 10% off the machine and with the Takashimaya cards you get total of 20% off.

The Citiz Aeroccinno is listed at $678 and this year offer is only $50 off plus 10% off which come up to $565.20. Far short of the 20% price of $542 I was looking at.

A check on the website and I found out the same machine cost only about S$400 in UK.

Singapore really sucks.

Look at the mark up $678 - $400 = $278.

Who say Singapore is a cheap place?

Wonder where all the shoppers come from? Better take you spending power elsewhere if you have the chance.

So anyone heading to UK please let me know.

Back from Taipei (Again)

Had not been blogging for some time as I was in Taiper (again).

As usual had a fantastic time shopping and eating and eating.

Will review more of stuff I got from Taipei soon.

Also spent my birthday there and its nice for the hotel to throw in a birthday cake for me. Nice touch.

Onitsuka Tiger

Took my new Tiger for a spin over the weekend.

Bought it in Taipei last month. Cheapest place to get a Tiger.

Will be looking out for another pair next month.

Hee....

Fresh from the factory.

Looking good.

Side view.

The sole.

Made in Japan.