talkshop

Today, father and i watched X-Men 2 together on his souped up home theatre system. While away in Shanghai, he has cleverly upgraded his sound system with a second hand 5.1 sound setup, displayed in front of us in full grandeur.

Strangely, i thought that such multi speaker setups should be installed in surround sound mode, not all 5 of them facing us. It just sounds like 5 times the volume all the time. Still, the dynamic range and warmth of the sound has dramatically improved, can still feel the cinema feeling a bit. Its not all bad in the end!

We proceeded to Bedok North Block 85 hawker centre for our dinner. We chose the famous Chan BBQ, despite having had that at Newton the day before. Interestingly, the newton bbq seafood is light years behind Chan BBQ in terms of taste. I feel quite sorry for the busloads of tourists who clamour to newton everyday to get a taste of the "local flavour".

What is more sorry is about Chan BBQ, the owner is getting old in age and it just feels like a matter of time before he stops making his spicy bbq seafood chilli spread. Without that key ingredient, all seems lost for Block 85. The rest of the bbq seafood stalls just do not make the cut.

Mr Chan also lamented on how the new generation of hawkers were unable to learn their skill properly, thus being unable to reproduce that original flavour, burnt crisp or fragrance. Nowadays, who wants to be a hawker siah?! Takes a lot of balls for anyone with a diploma or degree to get into this line.

Most of us would rather run a cafe or something.

For those of you who love bbq seafood or have heard of him or Block 85, waste no time. For it might not be long before his retirement period. And that fiery bbq chilli spice he makes may become an urban legend for kids in Bedok! Who can forget the fragrant and sour taste of his bbq sotong? Plus the sweet sweet spicy chilli involved in making Singapore’s favourite bbq stingray?

Check his stall out as listed below.

Chan BBQ
#01-258 Market & Food Centre, Block 85,
Bedok North Street 4, Singapore 460085

反对磁浮，保卫家园
Link: Shanghai Citizens Protest Train Extension

 What a nice ring to it.. Who would have thought there would be a day where a protest in China would go smoothly. With the new Maglev extension plans running through several property districts, residents (in fear of radiation effects) have gone to the streetsto get their voices heard.

 Check the link for a video clip, video websites have better think carefully about uploading this video without incurring the wrath of the government. Who knows, anything can be shut down to protect the social peace of the country.

Dear friends,

i have returned to sunny Singapore in a bid to complete the rest of my studies and return to the working world. Having seen the studying side of NUS for the past 2 weeks, i have to admit… being a student is more fun and carefree than in the working world. I guess the only thing that matters in the working world is your contributions to the company and people who appreciate your efforts.

this blog has laid dormant and possibly died-ed in the whole year since i was in Shanghai due to the slow broadband (paradox) and the Great Firewall of China. back in those days, Flickr, Blogspot and Wikipedia were known banned items on the web although they are slowly being lifted. Currently as of now, Wikipedia is the only known banned one left.

while now slacking in the business library, which has an awesome selection of business related books, i will pack up and go for my EE4210 (Computer Communications Networks II) lecture and think about new year resolutions for 2008.

Loyal and disloyal readers, i am back for more posts! 

Regards,
BX

1. Always have a Welcome Ceremony and Event Flag For some reason, staff always dig this kind of ra-ra performance. We must have team leaders, leader badges, team flags, slogans and most of all…. An opening speech! To remind ourselves to forget ranks, grudges and even gender, just for this 2D1N retreat. All in Mandarin…

2. Make sure transport is fully planned ahead “上有天堂，下有苏杭” A great injustice it would be, if our destination trip was not either in Suzhou or Hangzhou. Nevertheless. The sane choice would be the latter for its convenience from Sheshan. Transport is a killer, all parking places are extremely costly. On weekends, the roads are jammed packed with vehicles wanting a glimpse of West lake. Watch out for the mountaineous roads, big buses hate that kind of action, it will be a time-consuming ride for them up those hills.

3. Travelling by foot is one of the many options West lake provides many options and locations for a retreat. Walking is an option but there is also paddling boats, bicycles and cab.. The West lake rental bikes are interesting, they come with proper suspension systems, making the ride smooth and fun for everyone. Boat rides, paddling boats are available and also be used to reach the inner islands of the lake. Watch out for the occasional storm warning, all water transports will be suspended at the slightest notice.

4. Do not, ever, do a seminar style retreat Self explanatory..

5. Organizers must never look shagged out Despite all the fire fighting, last minute arrangements, finance issues, AWOL personnel and non-stop fitness testing activities, it is always important to keep a positive and fun-loving outlook for your participants.

6. Never do outdoor events in the Summer unless that’s the whole point The summer is indeed a difficult environment to work with, mountain climbing is a killer in this heat. Keep your men and women sufficiently hydrated at all times. Heat stroke is a delicate situation to deal with in the midst of anything. And then there is Tip 8..

7. Always celebrate victories, big or small The key point of having a successful retreat is to bring a group of strangers together and have them become friends at the end of the day. With daily operations being important in our line of work, it is a great opportunity for key personnel to interact, forget past grudges and get to know one another in a level beyond work.

8. Torture is always a fun element in games and activities Never miss any chance to let people laugh at themselves or go through terrible situations. After all, without the blood and sweat, how can people appreciate the good times? People deserve a chance to bring the best out of themselves, voluntarily or.. Involuntarily.

I am teaching English to the caddies in the golf club. Sounds like a piece of cake especially when Singaporeans are quite well versed in both Mandarin and English. But I can assure you, that the situation is quite the opposite. The first thing that hit me in the face was phonics aka 音标. The alien language that you see in dictionaries following the word you are looking for is it. It is used to help you pronounce the word properly according to whoever created the dictionary.

For a start, things got off at this kink. The mental pressure on the caddies were uphill as well. We had our fair share of communication issues, plus the fact that I am not an English trainer by profession, it makes it doubly harder to get my point across or convince them my method of conversation pieces are correct.

When I speak to my boss, they are unable to understand our conversation, except the first and last word: Hello, Byebye. The teaching methods are greatly different in Singapore and China. I would be a fool to think that I can apply the singapore method and achieve Singaporean results. However, I try to reconcile the two by going through words and phrases they need to understand and familiarise in order to move their English levels upwards.

Despite the weird and awkward moments, I am glad to be part of the teaching industry, its quite gratifying to see your students or cute caddies in my case, learning and using new words in their daily life. It is my hope that I would be able to prepare them soundly for the HSBC Championships, something they can take away and converse with foreigners and famous foreign golfers on and off the course.

At Shentrepreneur, mixers and get-togethers are something we like to organize and present for our fellow Singaporeans. The SHEN twist to any networking session is to get both the junior and senior Singaporeans together for a night of introduction, sharing and fun.

Recently, on the April 15th 2007 at the Regent Hotel, SHEN organized the Business Executive Night (BEN) with the same goals in mind, to benefit the younger generation of overseas Singaporean students or executives from the battle hardened Singaporeans who had worked in China before. And ensure the ties between overseas Singaporeans, young and old, are as strong as ever.

We are proudly sponsored by the Singapore National Arts Council, in aid of their China tour to introduce the best of Singapore with the help of our most prominent local artists. The sit-down event includes speakers from various backgrounds and industries in China, comprising of
• National Arts Council, on their goals for Singapore Season in Beijing and Shanghai
• Mr Ignatius Lim of IE Singapore, on the business outlook of Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang
• Mr Beaver Tan of Microscreen, on the general aspects of business in China
• Mr Henry Rahardja of Bakerzin, on the challenges Bakerzin faces in China
• Mr Peter Low of LK Consultancy, on the value of Singaporean executives in China
• Ms Jenny Lee of Granite Global Ventures, on never say die in China
• Ms Sharon Tan of Velocity Scorecard Asia Pacific, on community service with the SSBA in Shanghai

The event was slated to end at 9pm but the combined experiences of our speakers proved that 5 the allotted time was simply not enough to express their views and vision for China. Regretfully, we closed the event at 930pm and our guests, junior and senior were still reluctant to leave, huddling forward to catch more insights and gems from our esteemed speakers.

The BEN committee extends our congratulations and gratefulness to all involved in making this event work. Our heartfelt gratitude also goes to NAC and our plethora of speakers for making this night a valuable sharing session, something we can all bring home to think about.

1. We got lost in the Shanghai Expressways

A journey from Sheshan to Tomson sure is no joke. What should have been a 1 hour journey turned out to be a 2 hour ride on the highways of Shanghai. We knew we screwed up when we saw a sign telling us the Pudong International Airport is 15km away. You have to believe me when I tell you thats really far. The Pudong Airport is about a 45 min cab journey to the city centre.

Many a time, we stopped in the middle of expressways, making calls to the company driver to ask him for directions. Its quite pathetic thinking back, we had quite a bit of horning from many drivers on our predicaments.

We stopped to ask for directions 3 times before we finally found a huge poster of the BMW Asia Open staring at us. The season is just mid winter and spring, the weather is quite cooling for joyrides such as the one above.

2. The Car is more important than the VIP Label

My boss drives a Santana. If you do not know what it is, its just an old car that looks very low class. Despite the VIP car label displayed brightly, Tomson security still had a good mind to stare at us and try to lead us away from the VIP areas. You should have seen their puzzled faces when my boss says he is hear to see their boss. Perhaps, they thought we were here to do construction work (施工). =)

One security guard kept insisting the VIP lots are filled. Only on hearing his boss’s name, he relented and led us to the VIP carpark. Needless to say, it was filled with many empty lots.

The BMW Asia Open ends today on Sunday, after days spanning from the competition itself, food fests, marquees of exhibitions and sponsors, its an event well done. Last Thursday, my boss took some of us on a site inspection to see how and what some of the best Golf Tournaments in Asia are doing.

Not just the BMW Asia Open in the Tomson Pudong Golf Club, the Shanghai Silsport Golf Club also held the Volvo China Open about a few days before. The continuous action ensured that no one will miss any of the action from both sides.

Tomson is a beautiful golf club, the first thing that struck me was how massive the estate was. When you first enter their grounds, the first thing that greets you is rows and rows of varying grandeurs of villas and townhouses. And then, there is the Clubhouse. Tomson is aged 10 now, age has shown in some areas if you have an eye for detail but their maintenance and refurnishing work has ensured the club has a posh and clean look, both inside and outside.

As our boss has VIP tickets, we were given a personal tour of the club grounds and surrounding tournament estate to see how fellow golf clubs run their events. The river that runs through the whole golf course stems from the local river and we can see carp, lengths of 60cm(!), swimming about in the waters. The weather is good to begin with, nothing to stop the golfers and their fans from enjoying the rest of the day. One little oopsies came in the form of Ernie Els walking to the next hole. Turns out that his platoon of volunteers, for controlling crowds, were not paying him any close attention. He was literally mobbed on the way to his next hole, it must be very frustrating and distracting for him.

The greens in the club is absolutely beautiful, the varying colours of the rough, fairways and the greens make the land look as if like a garden. And we managed to catch a glimpse of Tomson’s very own Mt. Fuji and Great Wall of China. You will not be able to miss it in the following images!

See the snowcap?

See the, errrr, wall?

And we ended the day with a rest at their cafe in the clubhouse. The next moment was absolutely perfect. We had the perfect sunset view from an entirely glass paneled club cafe, with the 18th hole and the river stream as foreground for good measure. I just don’t understand why didn’t I take a picture of it..

G is for Greens
O is for Oxygen
L is for Land
F is for Friendship

Who would have thought a sport as classical as golf would represent so many things? I didn’t until I started work at the Shanghai Sheshan Golf Club.

A tribute to fellow NOC applicants out there who are looking forward to their resume and interview processes =)

Here is some valuable “job-hunting homework” from Messmer : The 5 most-frequently-asked questions in the first 10 minutes of an interview:

1. Can you tell me a little about yourself? — Concisely discuss your professional goals and interests as they relate to the job opportunity. Your answer should provide insight into why you are the right fit for the position and the company.
2. What do you know about our firm? — Research the business beforehand and be prepared to describe how your skill set and experience will help you contribute to its success.
3. Why do you want to work here? — Whether it’s the company’s values, history of success or reputation in the industry that attracted you, respond in a way that shows you understand the organization’s priorities and business objectives.
4. Why are you looking to leave your current position? — Keep your answer focused on the opportunity — for example, a chance to advance your career. Remain positive and avoid disparaging other employers.
5. What is your most significant professional accomplishment? — Cite an achievement that demonstrates your abilities and shows you value results.

With all the noise out there, trying to gnaw away attention that HR people have while interviewing you, its good to know that these questions are usually the must-prepares.