Comparing a lifetime with a candle..

With the recent occurrences of the passing away of a few high profile personalities, I could not help but had on some occasions compare the similarity between a lifetime with the burning of a candle. Candles come in all kinds of shapes, length, sizes..some even scented. 





It reflects the qualities of the candles. Candles burn under different types of conditions..windy, calm, some protected in lamps etc..the different environments that the candles burn in..but one thing for sure,the flame will burn out one day..
All living things will have their lifetime end one day, you can be the Prime Minister's mother, you can be a Minister of State, you can be a Member of Parliament, you can live to be more than 100 years old..but we all still have to face this fact.

All over the world, new lives are created while many also ended at the same time. It has been like that since the beginning of time. When we were younger, the people who were passing away around us used to be our grandparents..as we grow older,the people who are passing away move towards our parents' generation. Before we know it, it's going to be our friends or ourselves ultimately going to face the end of our lives.


My uncle passed away recently alone at home and it was until hours later when we got the fireman,together with the Police to break into his flat before we discovered the fact. He was 61 years old and I did not expect he will no longer be around at this age. 


My uncle was a smoker and drinker just like me..in fact,he was the only one in the family who had these habits. He was just a simple,straight forward 'candle' with not much of a formal education and handicapped in one arm since he was young. 



When I went to school, had a very restricted amount of pocket money from my parents and it was this uncle who would supply me with a 4 figure amount of pocket money..I never felt poor as a student. When he passed away with only twenty-something dollars in his bank account, can you imagine how really awful I felt..? The real legacy that he left behind for us cannot simply be measured in dollars and cents.


One of the last conversations he had with me was when we were smoking at the birthday party of my nieces. He told me in Teochew that smoking is not good for health at all..don't smoke lah..I did not expect that to be our last real conversation. 


When he did not appear at the market as usual,my family got worried and asked me to go up to his place to take a look. I knocked on the door and called out to him, but there were no response. I thought he must have gone out somewhere..what I did not know at that point in time..he was already dead in his kitchen..





The one thing that I am very sure..this uncle of mine, when his candle was burning bright, he lighted up the lives of all members in my extended family..especially that of his many nephews and nieces. 
Is your candle lighting up the lives of other candles around you?

Singapore 2010- Youth Olympic Games

Since before the beginning of the YOG here in Singapore, it has been lambasted from many aspects: For example, exceeding it's original SGD$100+million budget to almost SGD$400 million, YOG lanes, disappointed opinions on its opening ceremony & concert, poor ticket sales, ill treatment of volunteers, sub-standard food, sub-standard construction, "arranged" supporters from MOE & Mindef, and even possibly mass food poisoning !


All the above are gathered from various non-mainstream media online for obvious reasons. My guess is that it is so prolific online because these angles presented are not appropriately covered by the main stream.


All these criticisms aside, yes, our inaugural Singapore 2010 YOG may not be anywhere near perfect. My questions here for those who had criticized aspects related to this event, especially fellow Singaporeans: Why not we put the criticisms aside and give our support in one way or another while it is ongoing? We can do the critics later, but for now, let's go support Singapore's effort in the 1st YOG in this world, buy a ticket, watch an event, cheer the athletes, whatever!


The above picture shows the tickets belonging to myself and a few fellow activists from the Workers' Party Youth Wing for a YOG event later today. We are going to give our support as Singaporeans. 

Singapore or Thailand?

This is a very testing time of my life when I have to make a seemingly easy, but actually quite tough
decision of where my offspring should be born. I think I should have about 2 more months to make the decision before it is not safe for my wife to fly. I posted a link in my Facebook for my friends to
comment and help me out in my weighing process. 


I am in this situation not because of wanting anything to do with dual citizenship nor anything to do
with my wife not being able to secure PR in Singapore(subsidies for child birth). For the benefit of people in similar situation(s),procedure for registering your minor born overseas can be found here.


Altough my wife can understand simple English, but she is unable to understand about 70% of what my Gynae told her. On my side,altough I understand what the doctor says,but I am not the one giving birth...So far,my spoken Thai language is not too bad, but I will be unable to translate vocab like "Pelvic floor exercise", for example, into what my wife can understand.


The other reason is the one month confinement period after giving birth. Space constraint(for mum,child& nanny), suitable candidates for confinement nannies(preferably can speak Thai & do Thai style confinement cooking & household chores).


Should I take the easy way out and just put my wife through the whole process where so many others have done it before,with or without complications/problems..or should i seek if there are other alternatives which is much more difficult on me(imagine all the flying around,looking for a place to stay for a while in Thailand,confinement nannies, transport to & fro hospitals, the headache of having to register my child born overseas at ICA etc..etc..)


Of course,if i wish to stop thinking about this, I will take the easy way out..but if you are my wife,what would you prefer?


Allow me to share with you a video clip from the recent Singapore National Day celebrations- [HD] Kit Chan - Home (National Day Parade - August 9, 2010)
My personal preference of course..but i got 2 months to think it thru..

Travel to "Teochew Land", Shantou(汕头), China Part 6

We finally came to the highlight of the Shantou trip - Visiting my relatives. I have never seen these relatives before this trip, but they are the siblings of my grandfather and their offspring are supposed to be my cousins etc..etc..

My father's cousin met up with us(and together with the grandchildren) and Shiya(my neice) got a bicycle ride..i think it's her 1st!

When I visited my grandfather's old house,the walls seemed like its falling apart. The part that I think is most intact is the well section..a very old well..


Guess who had the most fun for this leg of the journey...?




I think it must definitely be my niece Shiya!
For Travel to Shantou series, see also: Part 5 , Part 4 , Part 3 , Part 2 , Part 1 .

Travel to "Teochew Land", Shantou(汕头), China Part 5

My sincere apologies for taking my time in my blog updates. I was away on another holiday.
I will try my best to finish wrapping up my Shantou trip ASAP. In this update, I will talk about this place I visited. It was the residence of a very rich Shantou family in the past and now,it is a protected tourist's destination. This family got the same surname as me..





It has a very super big courtyard and you can see it the moment you step thru' the entrance..



There are so many buildings annexes on this property that one can easily get lost in it.
I was quite surprised to find a well in an alley in the compound as I always had the idea that wells should be located in some 'ulu'(distant,quiet corner) backyard where some ill-treated maid would jump in to commit suicide in some of the old Chinese movies I saw when I was young..



I think I am too fat to even squeeze thru the well's opening..let alone be a rickshaw man..

Let me show you a few more photos I took of this place..



Oh yes..they got this very big water feature in a section of this property. I think it is equals to at least the size of 3 Olympic-sized swimming pool..






Altough the buildings are more than 100 years old and may not appeal very much to 'youngster' like me..but I can imagine the glorious past this family must have had..



For Travel to Shantou series, see also: Part 4 , Part 3 , Part 2 , Part 1 .

Travel to "Teochew Land", Shantou(汕头), China Part 4

One of the most famous foods from my Teochew motherland: Fried Oyster Omelette!
It is also one of my favourite food.
According to our tour guide, this is one of the most famous restaurant over there...


Despite the fact that we just had a full lunch, we simply cannot give this a miss..

For approximately the price 6 SGD, there were more oysters than eggs! I hope to have the chance to go back to eat it again because I am missing it already as I am writing this blog post.

The next 'famous' thingy around here I am going to mention is this fruit named Fo Shou(佛手)..
I got to see the real life plant with fruits on it!

What people here do is they will keep the fruit till it turns black in colour, and many more years after. It is supposed to get better at curing certain ailments the longer u keep it. Of course, the older it gets, the more expensive it is.

The next 'famous' thing over here that I am going to touch on..the Lionhead Goose(狮头鹅) and its liver. This is one of the biggest species of goose known and it originates right here in Shantou. I did not managed to get one on photo,but u can take a look at the size of its eggs..

Travel to "Teochew Land", Shantou(汕头), China Part 3

While travelling in China, sometimes it is inevitable that your tour guide will bring you to tea appreciation sessions and usually,at these places,the prices are about 5 times that of what a local would pay. Even at 5 times more, it is not that expensive at all..if you do not have much time to shop around comparing prices of tea,you can buy a bit here and there to try at these tea sessions.



The difference I notice here in Shantou as compared to the Northern parts of China lays in that they don't really use teapots here, but just a larger tea cup to hold the tea leaves and distributing the tea into smaller cups. I have since mastered the art of using the big tea cup from this trip.

They have such big containers for tea leaves..I call the big ones tea drum..


During our journey, our tour bus suffered a burst tyre on the expressway, but with a bit of good luck, our driver was able to very quickly find a tyre shop at the next exit to change the tyre.



Well..I did try to use the opportunity to act as if i was part of the action..


As we carried on the journey shortly after,I was really surprised to see many wind turbines( a form of renewable energy generators) along ranges of mountains that stretches as far as my eyes could see..Impressive! The impact hit me like how the grand opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics did!



I cannot help but feel like China had already overtaken Singapore in terms of new technology and its implementation. To think that here in Singapore,we still have not move on from talks of getting a nuclear reactor generator..feels more like taking a step backwards.

Can young S'poreans afford public housing in S'pore today?

Can young S'poreans afford public housing in S'pore today?