Dance like no one's watching

Someone told me that when Margaret Thatcher visited Singapore, she made a comment that she & Lee Kuan Yew were similar in the way they ruled a country, however, LKY was more fortunate because he had many more years to roll out his policies.  I am unable to verify the authenticity of that comment, though, even if taken as a parable, I still see the point it is trying to make. 

I believe that one of the reasons why Singapore has moved from being a Third World country to First World so quickly is because the same party has been in power for the last few decades.  Think about it.  Elections have to be called every 5 years.  If the ruling party changed every time, it means that the newly elected party has only 5 years to implement whatever policies it has for the country.  It will probably take about 2 years for the newly elected party to run off the policies implemented by the previous government, by which it only has up to 3 years to implement its own policies, plus plan for the next elections.  Given the short frame of time, it is almost practically impossible for the ruling party to do any real long term planning for a country.  Will the government be able to do any sort of 5-year & 10-year blueprint?  For long term plans that are midway in execution, what happens to them when the ruling party changes?  Do these plans get abandoned?  Modified?  How effective & efficient will the country be if long term plans get disrupted all the time?

People have jokingly called Singapore’s ruling party a dictatorship.  But I think how Singapore’s political system has differed from a dictatorship is that although the same party has been in power for many years, there has been proper succession planning & renewal at the top ranks.  As a thought, is it necessarily bad that the same party has ruled for so many years?  Having the same party in power has ensured that plans and policies have been followed through.  Sure, there may have been some wrong decisions made, or opportunities missed.  What’s important, however, is that the people who made those decisions were also around to rectify & improve things.  I feel that that’s way better than having new politicians come in all the time, give their 5-year shot at running the country, then either moving back to the private sector to earn big bucks leveraging from their political career, or running off because they screwed up.

People talk about our ruling party having “group think” but I think the herd mentality is more applicable & evident in people who bash the government, just for the sake of complaining.  There will always be opposition parties in Singapore and there is merit in that.  What I hope is that Singaporeans will cast a meaningful vote.  Vote for the party that can take our country forward, not for the one who makes the greatest noise.

I’ve generally had a healthy distrust of insurance agents.  I think my annoyance started when I received numerous cold calls from agents wanting to sell me insurance.  Come on.  Life insurance is essentially a “BCP” (Business Continuity Plan) for an individual.  You get injured, sick, etc, and you bank on the insurance policy to keep you going financially.  In the worst case scenario, if you die, the policy should ensure that your loved ones need not be burdened with financial concerns.  So why on earth would I entrust this to a complete stranger?  I mean we talk about being careful of strangers we meet in Internet chat rooms and these agents think I’ll entrust something as important as my insurance needs to a caller over the phone?

That said, I’m actually severely under insured.  I only have 1 insurance policy to my name… and… the payout isn’t much.  The reason for that is that when I was younger, I didn’t have any dependents to take care of.  If anything, I was probably more a liability & expense to my parents than an asset.  Genetics have also shown that I’m not high risk for any major illnesses like cancer, heart problems and so on, so there wasn’t any pressing need to get more insurance.

Now that I’m older, however, I’m starting to think maybe I should get a bit more insurance.  Though my parents don’t depend on me for their retirement at all, but I’d like to leave something for them should I kick the bucket.  An act of filial piety if I’m not around to take care of them anymore. 

I thus decided to call the 1 & only insurance agent I trust… my old friend from school, fellow hostel mate & ex-colleague from my first company.  I asked him frankly what’s his company good for… and he said they’re good in investment linked products & endowment policies.  So I thought perhaps I can buy an endowment policy for future savings.  Sounds good since I’m not very good at saving money nor investing the little savings I have.

Okie dokey.  Gotta get back to work… need to earn $$ to pay that insurance premium…

It’s been more than a month since the Tohoku earthquake & tsunami devastated Japan.  The nuclear plants are still damaged and no one knows the totality of the damage.  I’ve thought about this a few times but am still unable to understand why on earth did Japan choose to use nuclear power.  Japan has huge energy needs.  Yes yes.  I know all that. But… for a country that suffered 2 atomic bombs, shouldn’t they, of all people, know how painful a nuclear fallout could be?  Sigh. I just don’t get it.

All good things must come to an end.  Had farewell drinks with a colleague just now.  She’s been with the company 15 years and will now be moving to our competitor.  It wasn’t a big group… just 9 of us… but it was a good time of laughter & idle chatter. 

During the first 2 years I was with the company, this group of us used to have drinks after work quite often.. but as people left the company, the number of times we met slowly reduced.  Oh well, that’s why we should always cherish the good times ya?  You never know when it’ll come to an end!

Had sort of an epiphany a few days ago… a revelation of sorts.  Occurred to me that I feel that my blog is at its most “real” and most meaningful when I write down my thoughts.  Sort of like how one might share one’s innermost thoughts in a diary.  The thought just came to me while watching The Seventh Day and seeing how Nikki Chow’s character pen her thoughts on her blog.  Will try to write more often… even if the post is very short. 

Had a great weekend. Why is it over so fast? Boohoo!

Time to sleep. Going to be so tired tomorrow. Bleah!

I finally understand this. Indeed, the hurt one may cause and the resulting ill effects when one sins in thought is no less than when one sins in deed. A person who passively accepts a third party’s advances is as bad as the third party.

This us why God tells us to keep our hearts pure.

Finally got an answer tonight. Before I joined my current company, I also interviewed with a trade credit insurer. After going through 3 rounds of interview, I was told by HR that I stood a very good chance, and they asked me to wait 2 weeks for the CEO and his deputy to return from overseas to know the result.

Before the two weeks was up, my current boss made me an offer and I accepted. Thus I never knew for sure if the other company was really keen on hiring me (the recruiter withdraw my application when I told him I accepted another job).

Today, I had drinks and dinner with the person who would’ve been my boss had I joined the insurer. I asked him if they were really going to hire me back then and the answer was yes. He had already given the approval as the head of department and left it to HR to negotiate terms with me. All this while he was under the impression that HR made me an offer but I declined. I told him that was not the case! Although my current company was my first choice, the fact is, the offer was never made known to me! Really sounds like a case of screw up by HR.

Anyhow, this is all in the past now. This same underwriter is also open to me joining the company he’s in now but I’m not so keen on the opening.

That said, only God knows what the future holds. Never say never!

More food photos!!

I hardly hardly eat street hawker food in HK… the one and only time was when I shared this erm… flour egg balls thingy with Azure last year.  After trying the curry fish balls, however, I’m totally in love with it!  Yummy!  I prefer those that just come with the “curry sauce” rather than those with peanut gravy mixed in.  🙂

Tried the spicy pork cube noodles from some random Cha Chan Teng.  Paled in comparison to my now defunct Kam Moon Kok.  *Sad*.

My friend’s pork chop bun… looks not bad… but the slice of pork was a little small I think.

Booze Queen’s breakfast.  The Polo Bun with 2 slices of butter looked sooooooooooooo delicious!

Happy to share that the French Toast at the random Cha Chan Teng was as good as the one from Kam Moon Kok.  The secret is to spread a bit of peanut butter inside the thick toast before dipping it in egg & frying it.  And I eat it by pouring tons of syrup on top.  YUMMY!

Ok… Gonna leave the last set of photos from Tai Ping Koon Restaurant for another day… Heh.

The trip was extremely fun despite the terrible inconvenience and distress caused by Jetstar (they kept sending me SMSes & e-mails saying my flight itinerary changed, despite me logging into their system to confirm the amendment to my return flight 3 times.  Then on the night before my  flight to HK, I got an erroneous SMS saying that even my departure flight was changed when it wasn’t!)

Shopped quite a bit & ate even more!  Only sad news is that my favourite cha chan teng, Kam Moon Kok, has closed.  Learnt from a neighbouring Chinese medicine shop that they sold the shop to this real estate company and closed.  I guess they cashed out.  Sob.

Anyway, I didn’t take much photos of my companions nor me this trip… my photos are all of… FOOD!  Here’re some selected shots!

Saw this on Jetstar’s menu.. poor chicken.. had its balls crushed and laughed at?

Che’s Restaurant

Fried fritters in cheong fun.  Not bad.  The fritters were light & crispy, cheong fun skin was thin.

Custard & salted egg bun.  Really love this.  I like the balance between the sweet custard & the salted egg bits.  There is also a generous amount of filling!  Slurp!

Siew mai.  I’m not a fan of the siew mai at Che’s ‘cos I find the meat a little fatty.  It’s tender & tasty & the skin is thin… but I don’t like the bits of fatty meat inside.  Heh.  Personal preference.

Har gow – I love this ‘cos of the super fresh and crunchy prawns.  The skin could be thinner though.

I didn’t order the beef tripe but was told it was pretty tasty.  It comes with some dried beancurd skin that’s hidden below the tripe. 

Egg tart.  This really has to be eaten when it’s fresh out of the oven so that the egg in the middle is still gooey and the flaky crust melts in your mouth!

Char siew cheong fun.  I’ve always liked this ‘cos the char siew is lean & the soya sauce makes the entire dish very tasty.

Dumpling in chilli oil & vinegar.  First time I tried this at Che’s.  Average… Booze Queen says the one from Din Tai Fung in Singapore is better (will try that soon!!)

Che’s signature crispy char siew pau.  This is the epitome of crispy char siew pau!  The crust is crispy, sweet & buttery at the same time.  The texture sort of reminds me of the Rotiboy bun that took Singapore by storm a few years ago.  The char siew inside is tasty & moist with gravy.  Excellent!  This never disappoints!

Lotus leaf rice.  Looks normal right?  Wait till you see what’s inside…

There was a fresh scallop, baby abalone, dried scallops, mushroom & meat!  Super tasty!  Probably the best lotus leaf rice I’ve ever tried.  Yummy… Will definitely have this again on my next trip!

I can’t remember the exact name of this dish.. white sesame & black sesame ball or something.  Anyhow, it was good.  Really like how the black sesame inside flows out the minute you bite the ball.  *Slurp!!

Yat Lok

Tried the highly recommended roast goose from Yat Lok.  I really liked the skin – super crispy & tasty even after being soaked in the soup.  The meat, however, was smelly!!!!  Only ate some parts that were less odorous and gave the rest to Iceman.  Bleah!

Tim Ho Wan

This is an apparently well known 1-star Michelin dimsum place.  It opens at 10am but Azure got us there at 9am and she obtained pole position in the queue!  Well done!

Check out the losers in the queue behind us!

The dimsum was pretty good… but I didn’t like it more than Che’s… the pricing, however, definitely deserved that 1-star!  Super cheap!  The 4 of us paid what 1 of us paid at Che’s!  (In other words, the price was like a quarter of Che’s!)

Funny English. Heehee.

Phoenix claws aka chicken feet.  Hehe.  I didn’t (and don’t) eat this but I recall those who ate saying that the way it’s done is pretty different from Singapore… so… maybe it’s not not nice… just that it doesn’t match our expectations.

Char siew cheong fun.  The parsley (“yim sai” in Cantonese) inside totally ruined this for me.  The only thing I thought was good was the super thin cheong fun skin (better than Che’s).

Har gow – average.

Siew mai – I didn’t really like this.  Somehow the taste wasn’t that fantastic. 

Crispy char siew pau – there wasn’t enough crispy bits on the skin.  The char siew was also a little too sweet so the blend between sweet & buttery/ salty wasn’t there.  Really paled in comparison to Che’s.

Pan fried carrot cake.  Bland.  Tasteless.  🙁

Lotus leaf rice… I can’t remember much about this except it was super salty and we couldn’t finish it.

Steamed pork ribs.  I think this was not too bad.  Tasty.

For dessert, we had this osmanthus flower & wolfberry seed cake.  It was good.  Light & refreshing, I like the bits of flowers & wolfberry inside.  Good!!

Tong Tai Seafood (Temple St)

Sweet & sour pork ribs.  Not that good.  I wouldn’t order this again.

Kangkong in bean paste.  I thought this was average only.  The kangkong was a little “old”… would have been nicer if it was more tender.

Salt & pepper squid with vinegar dip.  Super love this!!!

Pomfret steamed in soya sauce (Cantonese style).  I really hate pomfret ‘cos I find the flesh very smelly but this one was actually not too bad (I pinched a small piece).  Maybe ‘cos it was taken fresh from the tank… or maybe pomfrets in HK are less smelly… I don’t know… but my friends agreed this dish was the highlight of the night for them.

Claypot bittergourd.  The gravy was tasty.  (Can’t say much ‘cos I don’t eat bittergourd.  Haha).

Razor clams cooked in black bean sauce.  This was not bad.  Would’ve liked it more if it were spicier!!

Ah… beer… Tsingtao… one of my favourite…

Ok… that’s all the pics for now.  Just way too many food pics and my stomach is churning like crazy.  Will post the rest another time!  *Drools*.

Picture credits: Nokia N8!!