Merlion struck by lightning on Saturday

I find this piece of news quite amusing and funny hahaha..

Merlion statue at Singapore River struck by lightning; suffers slight damage By Claire Huang, 938LIVE | Posted: 28 February 2009 2219 hrs

SINGAPORE: In a rare incident, Singapore's longstanding icon, the original Merlion statue, at the mouth of the Singapore River has been struck by lightning.

One witness told MediaCorp Radio's 938LIVE that orange sparks flew when lightning struck between 4pm and 5pm at Merlion Park.

Staff in the vicinity said they heard an explosion followed by a loud thud when broken pieces fell to the ground.

About 30 people dashed into a nearby restaurant for safety.

Other onlookers continued to take photos of the 36-year-old tourism icon.

the Merlion now has a bald spot on its head :)

Great Live Band near my house!

I happened to drop by Yong Kang Park on my way home after dinner and came across a live band performing... there was a huge crowd and after a while I guess I know why :)

The band playing is called Spoon-de-Chop, they have been performing at Yong Kang Park for the past 8 years, always on Saturday nights... the band is very international, comprising Taiwanese, Japanese, an American and a Macedonian... they play a diversity of music as well, from Chinese songs to Japanese songs to Taiwanese songs, even solo performances in English and Macedonian... the lead singer is Japanese and really talented; he plays the harmonica, guitar and San Xian (a three-stringed instrument).. what's really cool about them though, is that they play for beer and not for money :) talk about combining passions for music and booze...

I sat there to watch and listen them play for almost 1.5 hours, along with quite a number of other residents...

Here's a clip of them performing the very well-known Suki Yaki (上を向いて歩こう)

and here performing Grandfather's Clock in Japanese (大きな古時), a really beautiful children's song (google the lyrics if you are interested) which I learnt in music class in primary school



More clips that I recorded can be found here:
Folky Japanese song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BwFcLNsxUM
Chinese song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5Y0M52ZDhc
Shima Uta 島唄 (yes the AIESEC dance song): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk8NNojfvqg
Sanshin no Hana 三線の花: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hwg6m7ptSs

To find out when they are next performing, check http://spoondechop.blogspot.com/

Quick and Short post

Yesterday (saturday, 28 Feb) was a pretty happening day so I took a lot of photos and videos, but since I'm still uploading and sorting them out, here is just a quick, short post about politics and quirkiness in Taiwan...

This is the main gate of the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, taken by me on 28 Feb 2009


This, however, is the same gate taken by me on 6th May 2005 during my 1st visit to Taiwan

The words on the same gate are different!!
It's actually because the previous party in power, Democratic Progressive Party or DPP, under Chen Shui Bian decided the name was not appropriate (related to Taiwan's history and the significance of 28th Feb, or 228 incident) and changed it from “大中至正” literally translated to mean "Great Mean/Perfect Uprightness" to “自由廣場” or "Liberty Square". This was done in December 2007.

What's interesting, is that now that the Kuo Min Tang or KMT under Ma Ying Jeou is in power, the gate will soon be updated to its original name of “大中至正”

Perhaps this is a way of boosting the economy through government spending on infrastructure and construction... Let's see when the exact date of change is.. since I stay about 20 mins walk from the Memorial Hall, I just might make a trip down..

p.s. thanks to Sandy for telling me about this on Friday :)

Ingenious way of being environmentally friendly

Last week, I went to 7-11 to buy dinner and they helped me microwave heat my noodles... then, the lady at the counter used this amazing blue thing!

Here it is before it's true purpose is revealed... a harmless blue piece of something...


actually....

It's a carrier made of paper-ish kind of material!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Just cut grooves of the appropriate length at appropriate spots and you get this amazing and ingenious creation!!!!

We should have this in Singapore, anything to reduce the amount of plastic bags we use....

Rats!

As much as Chinese New Year is over and we are officially in the year of the ox, some still are living in the past...

so yes! There are rats in the office! actually the rats are in the whole building... since we're right beside the MRT station, and since there's a whole lot of underground construction work going on at the main road in preparation for a new MRT line, the rats have been activated into action inside offices... and our office has not been spared! We have found rat droppings, rat pee, stashes of food bits, chewed up paper bits as evidence on the floor and on some desks... It's almost like they're taunting us!

so we had to call in the office management people... and here's what they did: put sticky boards in the ceiling, put food on the boards and hope that it catches one if not some of them...

Here they are in action, placing the boards up in the ceiling...

And this morning, they found 1 victim! (last week they caught 3 but I didn't get a photo of that).. Here's the unfortunate rat stuck to the board... it's quite small, just like the 3 from last week... my colleague says it's because they're young and inexperienced that they got caught... the bigger, older rats are smarter and know to avoid the traps...

Now this is something you don't usually see in Singapore for sure...

One Day Trip to Ping Xi (平溪)

Finally, I took a trip outside of Taipei City!

Place visited: Ping Xi (平溪) area
How we got there: Took a bus from Muzha MRT station, journey was about 40 mins and we alighted at Ping Xi itself...I would have done a chronological commentary but that would have been super long, so I decided to just cover some highlights :)

Train, railway tracks and tiny stations
We basically traveled along the whole railway line at Ping Xi, and it was an interesting experience to be walking on and along the tracks, hopping aside when the train came, alighting and boarding at tiny train stations, seeing the old, quaint train set against the backdrop of forests and rivers...

That's us after walking on the tracks through a tunnel... we were heading from waterfalls to the next station, since the waterfalls were between stations.

Nature everywhere and Waterfalls at Shih Fen
Ping Xi is really beautiful.. it's surrounded by mountains and the Kee Lung river runs through it... everywhere you turn you see nature and green - green trees and even the water looks green... definitely a refreshing changes from life in the city itself...

These 2 are shots from Spectacles Cave Waterfall (眼鏡洞瀑布). The biggest waterfall in the area is actually Shih Fen Waterfall (十分瀑布) but it has unfortunately been closed for a while due to an ongoing legal case between the government and the villagers or something.

Coal Mine Museum at Shih Fen
While most people know Ping Xi for the sky lantern festival, it is actually also famous for coal mining... no mines are in operation anymore today, and the Coal Mine Museum in Ping Xi is the only one in the entire Taiwan set up to commemorate the efforts of the many coal miners from the past... exciting part of the tour was when we got to ride in the coal carts from the entrance area to the museum itself... felt very authentic as we rattled and shook our way along the tracks... the tour guide was very engaging by telling stories of actual Taiwanese coal miners, some of whom still live in Shih Fen... through that, I think we all learnt a lot about the hardships of coal miners, without whom the economy then would not have been built up...
www.coalmine.com.tw

Sky Lantern and Sparkler fun at Chin Tong
We headed to Chin Tong for dinner and of course, sky lantern!


Many thanks to CCLC for organizing the trip and inviting!

Full album of adventures in Ping Xi are here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=221902&id=576355703&l=ceab0

My Welcome Party

My host LC hosted a welcome party for me and all I can say is, it was great!! I had sooo much fun!

The welcome party was held in a cosy little restaurant called 上帝的後花園 and it's located at 台北市大安區羅斯福路三段, which is near the National Taiwan University.

I had a great time meeting the members and the interns from Taiwan. It was especially amusing when some of the members said they remember me from the Summer National Conference 2007 that I chaired... I told everyone that I did not understand Chinese, so as to encourage them to speak English with me. Of course I revealed the truth on the last day of conference but since then, I'm sure I left an impression as "the Chair who lied"

There was also a very entertaining cross-talk performance (相聲）by 2 of the members (GREAT JOB!), an introduction by members about the various must-see spots in Taiwan, and of course, I delivered an introduction about Singapore, myself and AIESEC Singapore... it was really enjoyable doing the presentation, everyone was very participative :)

Here are photos from all the networking :)

What surprised and touched me was that they planned a bunch of presents for me as an official welcome thing... I got 3 sky lanterns (orange, yellow and red which each signify something in life that I don't remember), an AIESEC T-shirt and 2 sets of 3 drawers!! I think they saw my previous blog post about shelves and got me some... there was also a hand-made "Welcome to Taiwan" book containing post-it greetings by members! see how nice they are!!

More pictures will come once I re-organise my desk and officially install the shelves :)

Many many thanks to TPLC for a great evening!!!

Update from past 2 weekends

Here's what I've been up to the past 2 weekends...

8th Feb 2009
Lunch was with Tom and Bing-ge, who were delegates at Singapore NLDS 2006... Tasty hotpot buffet at Xi Men Ding, complete with free flow of Haagen Daz ice creamAfter that, I went for dinner with Sandra and her family (thanks Sandra for inviting!).. Her grandma came along and it was interesting because her grandma and mom say I can speak and understand more hokkien than Sandra and her siblings... hehe...

After dinner, Sandra and I headed to to Lantern Festival held at the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, in celebration of the 15th day of Chinese New Year... it was HUGE with lots of people and a lot of lanterns, even a stage for performances and games (including riddles)...

This came as a bit of a culture shock, because in Singapore, the same style lantern festivals happen BUT during the Mid-Autumn Festival instead... and all along I thought that chinese all around the world did the same (I seriously remember my primary school chinese textbook having a story about Mid-Autumn Festival and complete with illustrations of children playing with lanterns)...

Here's a video I took of the main display lantern lighting up...



Photos at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=220090&id=576355703&l=17587

14 Feb 2009
It's amusing that some buses actually wish people Happy Valentine's Day on their digital signboards... anyway, I had lunch with Elmo and Mino at a nice Japanese place, after which we headed to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall to visit the Andy Warhol Exhibition... Taiwan is the first stop the exhibition is making within Asia and since it was a Saturday, it was really packed... I wonder if there'll be so much attention if the exhibition is in Singapore...

I also finally met some of the other AIESEC interns, all of whom have been in Taiwan for at least 6 months already... unfortunately for me, they've already done their traveling around so I'm still on the lookout for travel buddy(ies).

this coming weekend will mainly feature my welcome party on Saturday (including an introduction of Singapore) and if the weather turns out ok, I just might make a trip to Danshui on Sunday...

After 1 week at work

So I have now officially finished 1 week of work... and since everyone is asking how is it, it's easier to post it here instead of repeating for every single person :)

in summary, I'm totally enjoying work. I like the company, the culture, the colleagues, and the opportunities presented in the tasks and assignments that I do. I do think there's a lot that I still need to learn and get used to such, things like business culture, dealing with people, finance and management terms in chinese and of course getting a better grasp of the industry and general business environment here in Taiwan... It's also interestig to see management concepts that we learnt in AIESEC being applied on a much bigger scale here, and I resolve to take some time to go through some of those concepts as I learnt it so that I can be sharper on my feet when seeing them in application at work...

Here are some photos of my office and desk area

building where my office is located, right beside Da-an MRT station

View from my desk (front view and window view)

We also had a BBQ gathering at my boss's weekend house, to celebrate the success of the 5th Anniversary event held last Friday... The house was in a villa area on a hill along the outskirts of Taipei county so it was very peaceful and nature-y... plus Sakura was in bloom so I got my first experience of Taiwan Sakura!

Here's the link to the BBQ photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=218537&id=576355703&l=7b4f8

Saving the Earth and Saving Money

I was a bit irked that my desk at home only has 1 drawer (which is quite shallow) and that there are no additional shelves provided... That meant that my desk is usually quite cluttered, since I can't put food stuffs into my cupboard...

So... I did a bit of improvisation and here's what my desk looks like:
Yes I used the box that my water boiler came in and made myself a shelf...

Here it is close-up... I didn't have any twine at home (not yet) so I used a rolled up plastic bag and threaded it through the edge for extra support...

Then I got random and decided to make something out of some extra card board left, and the cup holder I got from my drink during lunch... so... I made a handphone/stationery holder:
Also, my desktop dustbin is now stuck to the side of my fridge to free up space on the desk...

Yay for saving the earth and saving money... I just need to find a shop that sells twine and then I can do something for hanging/airing clothes...

Chilling

Nothing like just chilling with a cup of hot tea on a Saturday afternoon at the park...

Quirky bits of Taipei

Here's a list of things I've noticed since being here that are kind of quirky a.k.a. different from what we usually see in Singapore

1. My weather forecast predicts "sprinkles" on some of the coming days. Sprinkles being light rain and when I say light, I mean REAL light... If you say rain in Singapore, we think thunderstorm or cloudburst or shower with visible rain drops. Today, I walked around in sprinkle rain weather. It's pretty much a fine spray like the kind you get when spraying from a spray flask (or when you spray perfume... it's like a fine mist of TINY droplets)
2. The streets are pretty clean DESPITE there not being many dustbins around. I imagine Singapore is so clean BECAUSE we have sooo many dustbins everywhere.
3. Most eating stalls, whether restaurants or road-side stalls, provide free tissue paper for their customers. The "put a tissue packet to book a seat" act from Singapore will fail miserably here
4. People are encouraged to not throw their used toilet papers into the toilet bowls. There are dustbins provided within each cubicle for this purpose. Apparently some parts of the sewage system still isn't powerful enough to deal with toilet paper.
5. People here will rather stand than sit on the priority seats in the bus and trains.
   
6. Plastic bags cost money here. It's not that expensive but reinforces the whole "use sparingly" mindset. Singapore really needs to learn from Taiwan about this.
7. The garbage trucks here make rounds and play music to signal their arrival. People wait at designated spots at designated times to dispose of their rubbish (that they have sorted beforehand)
8. When taking the bus, you have to check a sign above the driver's seat that will tell you whether you pay for your bus fares when you get onto the bus, or when you get off the bus. Their easycard system only requires them to tap once, unlike the EZ link in Singapore where you tap twice.
9. People give way to cars here. At certain intersections where cars are allowed to turn from the smaller street into the road, they will not wait for the pedestrians to finish crossing. Unlike in Singapore where you will see vehicles waiting for all pedestrians to be gone before turning.
10. Coffee here is mainly found in convenience stalls or in Cafes/restaurants. I have yet to find the equivalent of a Singapore coffee shop where one can buy kopi at equivalent of SGD 80 cents.
    

Ok that's all I have noticed for now... more soon as I go along I am sure.

Group photos on Yang Ming Shan

As promised in the previous post, here are the group photos!

Night out on Yang Ming Shan with friends

It happened that last night, the Taiwan LCPs of 0506 were having a dinner reunion so Nick invited me along. And I'm very happy that I went!

I had met up with Nick and a friend of his earlier for dinner and he brought me to eat... Hainanese Chicken Rice! Yes and it's the same as what you get in Singapore! Especially the chilli... ummmmm I miss the chilli already... not all eating places here provide chilli and those that provide the sweet kind of chilli sauce. Nick says that kind of sauce is usually just bought from the supermarket. Anyway, the chicken rice stall is opened at the food court of Taipei 101 building and by a Singaporean as well. It costs NTD 150 (about SGD 7) for a chicken thigh set (with oyster sauce vegetables) but it's a huge portion.

So after that first dinner, we went to meet the other LCPs (Nick, Sandra, Eric, Elissa, Hugo and Marty) and headed to Yang Ming Shan for our second dinner! It's amazing! I'll let the photos speak for me.

This is what the restaurant looks like. They have an indoor section where the wooden hut is, the downstairs section is for BBQ meals.

On the left side of the wooden hut, it's the rest of the outdoor space. The tables closest to the fenced balcony are heart shaped and so, ideal for couples looking for a nice romantic spot to enjoy dinner. :)
There's a small protruding platform where you get an amazing view of Taipei at night. (click to enlarge image)

Because we were sitting outdoors to enjoy the scenary, it also meant we were in the cold (about 18 Degrees last night). So they have portable heaters. You can't really see the flames here cos of the lighting but they are there, and quite effective! Later the restaurant even provided blankets for us :)

The food is really good too and totally worth it for big groups! They ordered the set for 6 to 8 people, which comprises 6 bowls of rice, 6 dishes you can pick from a list of about 20 and a soup served with the stove so it stays boiling. All for about SGD 20 per person. Considering the location, the scenary, the ambience and all, I'll say that's a really decent price to pay.

The restaurant is called 草山夜未眠 and is a definite recommendation. Just make sure you have a car to get up to Yang Ming Shan. We took a group shot with the night scene as background but that's in Eric's camera so I'll wait for him to upload it :)

Getting to Know my Company

Today was the first day I stepped into my company. I'm not officially starting work yet (officially start next Monday on 9 Feb 09) , so it's more of a day to introduce myself and be introduced to the people working there, as well as to get a better understanding of my detailed job scope.

My company is Atelligent Global Consulting Corp. and it's located right next to Da An (大安）MRT station. That makes it 3 bus stops away from my place, and takes about 30 mins at max considering the time I take to walk from my apartment to the bus stop, to wait for the bus and to go up to the office. So it really is very convenient, and many people have suggested that I buy a bicycle to get to work (or the MRT station) and back.

The company is quite small, I met 6 of my colleagues today, including the CEO. Already I really enjoy the environment: very open, very cosy, no hierachy etc. Everyone's very welcoming and pleasantly surprised at my level of chinese. The previous intern they took was from Brazil and so I guess they had a bit lower expectations :)

Anyway I had a chat with the CEO and here's what I'm going to be working on

Economy / Industrial Studies
Reading assigned articles in management journals and in certain newspapers, summarizing the articles and translating into Chinese. If my boss is using some content for speech or publication, then I will help in the material preparation too.

Project Support
Attached to one of the current client projects, assisting in the project execution (mostly around understanding product and marketing)

Knowledge Database Consolidation
Sorting, updating materials and content for the database, possible further expansion of the project. Also allows me to go through past project materials and understand their methodology

Those aside, I will probably support where I can for admin or logistics or market surveys or whatever that comes up.

It's quit exciting cos it's a lot of interaction with colleagues and learning about the industry, company and the kind of consulting that they do. It's also cool as the company will be hosting 3 symposiums this year around various topics and I'm sure I will get to participate and support. Already they have a networking event on Friday at a fancy hotel and I get to go. Plus the boss is quite open in terms of adjusting my JD based on what I wish to learn and all. Oh and another plus point is that they have a mini library of management books and articles in english and chinese so I don't have to worry about running out of books to read here :)

I forgot to take a photo of my office building so that shall wait. We had a welcome lunch for me too and unfortunately I didn't bring my camera along to lunch.

But I guess you can tell I'm liking the people, the company and the opportunities here already.

My Apartment

Many people have asked where I am staying, what kind of apartment and so on...
So... I am staying alone, in a single room apartment.. It's in the 大安 area and the nearest MRT station is by that name as well...

Before I arrived, this is what the room looks like.. empty,bleak...


Now it looks like this!

my bed complete with pillow, bed sheet and very cosy comforter blanket!

desk with mini "living area" of vitamins, tissue and water.. I get wireless broadband too...

I set up one of those multi-hangars thing beside my door to hang stuff.. and luggage is finally stowed away on top of cupboard since everything is unpacked!

Now I just need to await the arrival of my tv set and my fridge... it comes with an attached bathroom by the way.. I just didn't take any photos of it...

My neighbourhood is quite happening... My apartment is right behind a school, and is 5 mins away from 鼎泰蘴 (the queues there are forever so long).. It's also 5 mins away from a few small streets full of food stalls, cafes and shops selling anything.. Also passed by a park where some youths were performing music and kids were playing at the playground... My place is also a 15 mins walk from 師大 area, where there is another night market with lots of food and with a shop that sells everything for living and home use... I bought EVERYTHING so far from that shop...

鼎泰蘴 Ding Tai Feng (ORIGINAL!)

師大 Area where night market is

Quick Update from Taipei

Yes I am alive and well and in Taipei :)
In my apartment right now... a small cosy room located quite near my office and within 5 to 10 mins of lots of food and shops

pictures coming soon!

Cos I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane....

Yes I am leaving on a jet plane very soon... on a one-way ticket as well...

Heading to Taipei, Taiwan to begin a new life in a new country, and working for Atelligent Global Consulting Corp. for 1 year...

Just got my Resident Visa on Monday so that I am entitled to stay in Taiwan for 3 months... More importantly I will need it to get an Alien Registration Card (ARC) and proper documentation to work legally...

so it's all progressing nicely... :)

Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009!

I took some time to reflect on the 31st of December 2008, and managed to compile my thoughts about some of the major things that have happened in 2008.

You can find it at http://www.geocities.com/tuitionmatch84/My2008.pdf

Thanks to everyone who was a part of my 2008 :)

Discrimination or not??

This was featured in The Straits Times on 22 Dec 08

'Carriers shouldn't marry'

KUALA LUMPUR - HIV carriers should not be allowed to marry, in order to avoid having sick children, a top Malaysian politician was quoted on Monday as saying.

'Somebody who is very sick like that should not be allowed to get married,' Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, chief minister of northern Perak state was quoted as saying by New Straits Times newspaper.

'If there's any breeding, sorry for having to use that word, the embryo will also carry the same virus. So that is even more unfair because you are actually passing that disease on to the child.'

He had been asked to comment on a statement by an official of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia that Muslims who test positive for the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, would still be allowed to marry.

An aide to Mr Nizar, who is a member of the opposition Islamist party Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), said the minister was referring to both Muslims and non-Muslims.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak was quoted last week as saying all Muslim couples in peninsular Malaysia must undergo HIV screening before getting married.

The debate on the right of HIV/AIDS carriers, especially Muslims, to marry comes as mostly Muslim Malaysia is struggling to allay concerns of a rise in hardline Islam.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said last month Muslims are allowed to do yoga but without chanting, reversing an outright ban that had caused a flap in the country.

The government has also threatened to shut down a Catholic newspaper for using the world 'Allah', saying it could inflame the country's Muslim population.

Politically dominant ethnic Malay Muslims form about 60 percent of the population of roughly 26 million, while the ethnic Indian and Chinese minorities include Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians. -- REUTERS

Should this be considered an act of discrimination against HIV/AIDS carriers?
Is it a move that makes sense to protect the future generations born into such families?
or is it a statement that claims inability of HIV/AIDS carriers to be responsible when it comes to family planning?

after all, marriage is about a union of two individuals and does not in all cases lead to the couple having children. A couple comprising a HIV/AIDS carrier can still share the same food, can still kiss, hug and hold hands, can have sex (precautions can be taken but there are no guarantees of course so it depends on the couple) and spend the rest of their lives together in love, till death does them part...

Reminds me of the huge debate about Proposition 8 in California, USA regarding gay marriages...

What do YOU think?