Year of the Tiger

The upcoming lunar new year heralds in the Year of the Tiger, according to the Chinese zodiac. Over the years, I've found that a number of other Asian countries have roughly similar zodiac animals. For instance the Korean zodiac is identical to the Chinese one. The Vietnamese zodiac differs in three animals (the second animal is the water buffalo instead of the ox, the fourth animal is the cat instead of rabbit and the eighth animal is the ram instead of sheep). The Japanese zodiac includes the wild boar rather than the pig.

In most of these Asian countries, the lunar new year is celebrated in grand traditional fashion. I was in Vietnam when I started writing this essay and I observed the Vietnamese preparing for their lunar new year, which they call Tet. It  falls on exactly the same day as the Chinese New Year. Everywhere you went, you could see lots of decorations - arches, lanterns, posters, sculptures, etc. Red is obviously the auspicious colour. And of course, this year the tiger appears in many places of prominence.

All this got me thinking about other incarnations of tigers in our modern culture. I was able to list quite a number of instances where this majestic but fierce animal featured in different aspects of our life.

Tiger in Poetry

I believe it was the Englishman William Blake (1757-1827) who penned the famous poem "Tyger, Tyger" which English literature students in the old days used to have to learn by heart. I guess these days not as much attention is paid to this rhyme, but who knows ... it IS going be the year of the tiger soon so there may well be a revival of interest.

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire in thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, and what art?
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand, and what dread feet?

What the hammer? What the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb, make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
 
Tiger in Business
 
I'm writing this at an airport cafe, so it's probably natural that I first thought about Tiger Airways, the low-cost carrier owned by Singapore Airlines and a few others. This airlines plies routes mainly in Asia and parts of Australia.

Do you recall the slogan "Put a Tiger in Your Tank" ? Of course you do. That's from the oil company Esso. One marketing campaign I remember even involved a little bushy striped tail being given out to drivers, which they could attach to the cover of their fuel tank.

Tiger in Sports

This one is quite obvious. Tiger Woods has been a golfing sensation for many years now, until his recent fall from grace over a series of affairs. Still a lot of golfing observers are predicting he will make his comeback pretty soon.

Tiger in Entertainment

In the world of books and movies. there was Shere Khan, that fearsome character from Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book". I suspect many of us remember the Disney cartoon much better than the book itself.

A more friendly Tigger appeared in A.A. Milne's "Winnie the Pooh".

Even from the world of Chinese action movies, I still remember that Golden Harvest made a flick in 1973 called "The Man Called Tiger", starring Wang Yu (of "The One Armed Swordsman" fame).

And I'm told that "Flying Tigers" (1942) was a second-rate movie about a band of American Mercenaries called upon by China to help fight the Japanese two years before Pearl Harbour. It even starred John Wayne.

In the area of music, there was a song "Eye of the Tiger" released by the group Survivor in 1982. This song was also used in the Sylvester Stallone movie "Rocky III".

Tiger in Food

There's a certain brand of frosted cornflakes, that we used to occasionally eat for breakfast when we were young which has a tiger character too. Remember Frosties ? Remember Tony the Tiger?

I'm sure you can think of other instances where tigers have been culturally prominent. Do share them ...

In the meantime, an early Happy Lunar New Year of the Tiger to everyone ...

Shopping, Sights & Snacks in HCMC, Vietnam

The wife and I made a short visit to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) last weekend. We took time off on Friday and Monday, so it was kind of a long weekend. The reason for the trip was to attend the wedding of one of my Vietnamese colleagues. We stayed at the Sheraton Saigon on Dong Khoi Street (in District 1). This is at the centre of HCMC, and from there we were able to wander around the main shopping areas, visit some of the prominent sights and also enjoy some Vietnamese snacks.

Here's a short visual documentation of our trip, for those who haven't yet been and may be contemplating a trip to Vietnam. Believe me, it's a very charming country.

The first photo shows the Sheraton Saigon hotel (the one on the right). Very comfortable and truly excellent service. The other tall building is actually another well-known hotel - the Caravelle. It was prominent during the American War (which is how the Vietnamese refer to the conflict we usually call the Vietnam War), when Western journalists and diplomats used to base themselves there. There's a particularly well known rooftop bar.

The next photo (above) shows the HCMC Municipal Theatre, popularly known as Saigon Opera House, one of the city's landmark buildings situated on Le Loi Street. HCMC was formerly known as Saigon. Even though the name change was imposed in the mid 1970s after "the fall of Saigon" when North Vietnamese forces took over the city and "reunified" the country, the locals ae still fond of using the old name Saigon. This beautiful structure was completed in 1911, under the supervision of French architects. Besides being a theatre, it was once also used as the South Vietnam government Assembly House. These days it hosts Vietnamese theatre and music performances.

Next you can see yours truly with Uncle Ho (i.e. Ho Chi Minh, the much revered leader who reunified Vietnam). This statue is in a small park in front of the grand HCMC People's Committee headquarters or City Hall, which you can see a part of in the background. Unfortunately during this period, the building facade was undergoing some renovations, so there were scaffolding everywhere.

There are numerous architectural influences from the French Colonial period in Saigon but probably none are more French than the Notre Dame Cathedral ! This 19th century neo-Romanesque structure has two 40-meter towers that can be seen from all over HCMC and is the centerpiece of the city’s government quarter skyline. I read somewhere that this Catholic cathedral originally had stained glass windows, but those were destroyed during WWII and never replaced. (For keen eyed shopaholics, Diamond Plaza in the background houses a modern departmental store).

 

This is the front of the General Post Office, a grand building just adjoining the Notra Dame Cathedral. If you think it looks nice outside, just take a look at the interior (below) ...

Shoppingwise, there are many department stores,branded shops (Gucci, Milano, etc) and souvenir outlets in HCMC. But we like to go to where local products are sold. And the best place for this is Ben Thanh Market.

The next few shots were taken within Ben Thanh market.

You have seen some of the architectural influences of the French in the previous photos. Vietnam was part of French Indo-China for many years, and even up to WWII. It was only after the famous Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 that the French forces were finally expelled by the Viet Minh communist revolutionaries under Ho Chi Minh.

With any occupation by a foreign power, I'm sure there were many issues and hardships. But one less documented but positive influence that the French left behind was in the area of confectionery. I truly believe that in Vietnam you can find some of the best croissants and pastries in Asia. Feast your eyes on the display below !

They taste fabulous. I kid you not !

Interesting Photos from Travels in Asia

I've always enjoyed travelling and experiencing new places.

Here are some photos of interesting things I observed on some of my trips to countries in Asia.

This first one - taken at the fashionable Itaewon area of Seoul, capital city of South Korea - is hopefully due to poor English language skills ...

The next one is from Chongqing in China. The logo is surprisingly familiar. So much for Intellectual Property protection.

Here is a shot of a street-side stall on Dong Khoi Street in Ho Chi Minh City, selling some nice looking souvenirs, made up of ... do you see it ...  cans of beer and soft drinks.

This sculpture from the city of Chongqing has something to do with how NOT to erect buildings ...

And finally this stone turtle I saw in a Hanoi cafe tells the story of Hoan Kiem lake and the turtle which retrieved the sword from the king after his wishes had been granted.

May all your journeys be interesting and safe.

Resolutions for 2010

How quickly another year passes by. As I reviewed my list of resolutions for 2009, I was not unduly surprised that I didn't achieve all of them. But just having achieved slightly more than half of them was satisfying enough. And some of the ones I did achieve were very meaningful.

One very significant one was the reunion of former classmates from the 1970s. My class reconnection blog was more successful than I had dared imagine, and finally on 23 Dec, we had a wonderful reunion dinner with almost 70 boys in attendance, not to mention 8 teachers. Another extremely meaningful achievement was making significant progress in our genealogical research. I've now discovered more relatives in Sabah than I ever knew my whole life.

For this year, I'm whittling down my list even further and here it is ...

Health
- make more progress in staying healthy, through diet and workouts
- complete dental work (which started in 2009)

Personal
- make more progress with Mandarin and another language
- reading focus in 2010: History, Wine, Photography & Photo/Video Editing

Professional
- make sales/business development impact on 3 countries
- get professional book manuscript-ready
- update and put "E-Gov in Asia" online (carried over from 2009)
- (re)launch professional blogsite

Family
- get the three Family Tree drafts to shareable form (by mid 2010)
- take two family holidays (possibly one of my life journeys)
- get father's book published

Financial
- improve financial position

Social & Spiritual
- more involvement in meaningful charity work
- explore more community networks


Wish me luck, and stay tuned for mid and end year reviews ...

Calling on Chongqing, China

I had an interesting four-day business trip to China last week. Cisco held a Public Services conference in Chongqing, and I was invited to moderate some sessions. This gave me the opportunity to have a nice albeit short look around the city after the conference.

It was my first trip to the city of Chongqing, in the Sichuan province. Chongqing is a port city situated in the south-east of the Sichuan Basin between the Yangtze and Jialing River.The municipality, one of four directly administered by the central government, has some 33 million inhabitants. The place is known for its hot & spicy food (especially the famous Chongqing Hot Pot) and for being the place where those intending to take a cruise down the Yangtze River and see the Three Gorges Dam, usually begin their journey.

We were most fortunate to have had Fiona Liu, a Chongqing local, as our tour guide. She spoke perfect (and I really mean PERFECT !) English, and was very knowledgable about the city. She brought us to many interesting places and educated us with many facts about the city. I thoroughly recommend her as a guide to anyone wishing to visit Chongqing. You can email me for her contact.

Chongqing skyline

Note the muddy brown Yangtze River (from left) and the dark green Jialing River (right)

Historically, Chongqing was the wartime capital of China during the Second Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945). Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek made it his base, and the city was heavily bombed by the Japanese planes. Fortunately, due to its mountainous environment, many people were saved from the bombing. One can still see some old air-raid shelters in the hillside. In late November 1949, the Nationalist KMT government led by Chiang Kai-shek, under attack by the Communist forces, fled the city and went over to Taiwan.

Recent statistics reveal that Chongqing is one of the fastest growing cities in China, and indeed everywhere in the city, one can see huge construction projects being carried out. The China central government is also trying to develop Chongqing as a major financial centre.

Our group standing in front of the Great Hall of the People, Chongqing

We visited the China Three Gorges Museum, which was right across from the Great Hall of the People, separated by a huge square where residents were exercising, strolling about or socialising with one another..

The China Three Gorges Dam Museum, Chongqing

(gives a lot of background about this monumental engineering feat. The Three Gorges hydro-electric dam is the world's largest electricity generating plant, and when fully operational by 2011, it will have a total electricity generating capacity of 22,500 MW)

Road Warrior meets Ancient Chinese Warrior

(In the background, you can glimpse the Chongqing Opera House)

I had a chance to walk through Jiafangbei, the main shopping district of Chongqing ...

The place was thronging with people - shopping, having family outings, watching street performances and displays, taking in the festive mood (they had all manner of  X'mas decorations out too!) ...

I sat down for a roadside snack with an "old local resident" ...

There was even a sizeable choir performing in the centre of the shopping district.

That evening, we ventured to the restaurant district at Nan Bin Lu for dinner. This is just by the river bank. There were boat restaurants, al fresco dining, Chongqing hotpot joints, and all manner of brightly-lit eateries, bars and pubs.

China is an absolutely amazing place. Each time I visit, I find myself astounded by so many things - the culture & history, the people, the cuisine, the architecture, the development  ... and the relentless pursuit of growth and success. No wonder economists forecast that China will become the world's largest economy within two decades.

Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival  ( zhōng qiū jié in Mandarin ) is also known as the Moon Festival. It is a popular East Asian celebration of abundance and togetherness, dating back over 3,000 years to China's Zhou Dynasty. In Malaysia and Singapore, we also refer to it as the Lantern Festival or "Mooncake Festival."


The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar (usually late-September or early October), a date that parallels the Autumn Equinox of the solar calendar. This year it falls on 3rd October 2009. This is apparently the ideal time, when the moon is at its fullest and brightest, to celebrate the abundance of the summer's harvest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are several varieties.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar (the other being the Lunar New Year). Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-Autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together. Other interesting customs include: carrying brightly lit lanterns, putting pomelo rinds on one's head, burning incense in reverence to deities, planting Mid-Autumn trees,and collecting dandelion leaves for distribution among family.

Children often hear the tale of the moon fairy living in a crystal palace, who comes out to dance on the moon's shadowed surface. This legend of the "lady living in the moon" goes back to ancient times, to a day when ten suns appeared at once in the sky. The Emperor ordered a famous archer to shoot down the nine extra suns. Once the task was accomplished, the Goddess of Western Heaven rewarded the archer with a pill that would make him immortal. However, his wife found the pill, took it, and was duly banished to the moon. Legend says that her beauty is greatest on the day of the Moon festival.

The other famous legend surrounding the Moon festival is linked into Chinese history. During the Yuan dynasty (AD 1280-1368), China was ruled by the Mongols.  The leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (AD 960-1280) were unhappy at being subject to foreign rule, and began to furtively organise a rebellion. The rebel leaders, knowing that the Moon festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Baked into each moon cake was a message outlining attack plans. The mooncakes - which the Mongols did not eat - were the perfect vehicle for hiding and passing along these plans. Families were instructed not to eat the mooncakes until the day of the festival, which was when the rebellion took place, and the government was overthrown. This led to the establishment of the Ming dynasty (AD 1368-1644).

Great stories, huh? Would make great swordfighting movies ala Shaw Brothers or John "Red Cliff" Woo. Anyway, always good to know the legends, customs and traditions behind any festival. Now who says this blog is not educational? LOL.

For those who celebrate it, do share how you spent your Mid-Autumn Festival ...

Formula 1 Fever Grips Singapore

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Vrooom. Vroooom. This weekend is when the Formula 1 Night Races happen, right here on the Singapore street circuit. It's the second time the F1 races are being held in Singapore. And things are beginning to heat up in this normally prim-and-proper (some say clinical and comatose) Lion City. There are posters everywhere. The TV and news media are chock full of articles and pictures of cars and the sexy lasses called the SingTel Grid Girls (kinda ambassadors for the event). I even notice ordinary drivers revving their engines a bit more, and occasionally letting their hair down with spurts of speed and execution of risky overtaking maneuveres on the Singapore roads.
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Anyway for the F1 event, there are practice runs today, qualifying rounds on Saturday, leading up to the Grand Finals on Sunday. Should be pretty exciting for racing enthusiasts.
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Different people I know have varying opinions on the appropriateness of street circuits for motor racing, and some even question the realism of Grand Prix in general. And recent revelations of Renault's transgressions on this very same circuit a year ago simply reflect the utmost importance that some automotive companies place on being victorious ... win at all costs it would seem !
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Here's a map of the street circuit, around the Marina Bay area.

I must admit I haven't been a huge fan of F1. I don't follow the sport that closely and in fact until last year's race in Singapore, I hardly knew my Hamilton from hamburger, or my Schumacher from my shoe ... but still I have to say that it was quite a thrill watching the race last year, albeit on TV from the comfort of my living room. I'm not particularly partial to sweltering conditions, deafening noise and choking exhaust fumes ... but all my friends who have seen it "live" wax lyrical on the experience, and chide me for staying home.
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Of course, whether one watches it at the circuit or on TV, what many people look for are the crashes and mistakes and pitstop booboos (like last year where one car drove off from the pit with the fuel pump still not dislodged). Talk about schadenfreude !!!
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Even if one is not into F1 racing, a good thing about the Singapore F1 is that during the period, lots of entertainers and celebrities are in town. This year, the following artistes are performing at various venues: Backstreet Boys, Chaka Khan, Mavis Staples, Travis, and others. I'm told that even busty Beyonce is in town to do a concert !!! And there are also local and regional performers including Indigo, Electrico, Rivermaya, Strikeforce, Wicked Aura Batucada, Alemay Fernandez and the Dim Sum Dollies.

What I also find very interesting to observe, is how some of the familiar streets in central Singapore are being transformed into a nocturnal racing circuit. Huge panels of lights have been installed all around the track, the roads on the circuit have all been heavily reinforced so that a crash from a high-speed vehicle would not damage the surrounding infrastructure too much.

Ah yes, here's a badly taken videoclip of me driving on one section of the F1 circuit, a few days before they blocked it off for the event. Enjoy ;-)

I'll probably update this post over the next few days, with significant events relating to the F1 extravaganza. So do stay tuned.

Vrooom. Vrooom. Vrooom. Let the race begin !!!
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