Goodbye 2011

It has been a year of waiting. The very last memory of what we did last year was the lunar new year, eating and feasting with our relative and friends. At times, we had to even visit people that we do not want to visit and have to wish them with good luck. What kind of world is that? Lunar new year is a time to forget the bad things and start a fresh. It never happened. It is for the businessman to finish all the uncleared debts.

The second thing that we could remember was endless of friends coming to Singapore to visit us and we are really happy about that. Opps, that started from the year before that, with Romina and Johanna during October 2010. They didn’t stay with us but we were together for some time. Thanks to Desmond Kong and Cindy that helped us ferry them around.

Then, there is:

Ruru, met and lived together in Australia

Dave, USA, that he helped us in our worst time of our trip.

Kamil and Iza, we never met them before but have been contacting each other during our trip. We ended up meeting in Singapore.

Teresa from Chile, we met in Columbia. She is a real backpacker! Time was to tight for us to bring her around because at the same time, the swiss team, Saskia and Andrea, were with us in our house. It was a reneion party for us with the Swiss team. We had so much to do in Singapore with them! They stayed with us for 10 days and still, Sentosa wasn’t in the queue.  It was too little time.

Adi, from Indonesia, we brought him around to have a short visit of Singapore’s bike shop because he was on a study visit.

Gary Wong and his girlfriend, staying with us for a few days and we enjoyed the Chilli crab meal.  We met Gary when he was in India.

Don at Canada, Vancovour, came home one day telling Ashley and Scott: look what I found on the road! They were so surprise that it wasn’t any cats or dogs but 2 RTW bikers. That’s how we got to know Ashley and Scott. They didn’t stay with us but we had fun on our truck, going round and round Singapore.

Mark and Senne were the first bikers that we hosted. We have not met them before but it was our pleasure to provide them with a space to crash on. Glad that they enjoyed Singapore but the red tape that Singapore has disallow them to bring their Australian registered bike in.

Did we missed out anyone?

Then we remembered the 2 election campaigns that were involved. Thanks to the internet, we could know more about the government and the policy behind it. It seems that everything is sensitive in Singapore. Which is not a sensitive area or topic in Singapore? I cannot think of any. Anything can be turned into sensitive! By involving in the campaigns, I see things differently and know more about how it is being run. I get to know more people and get different views. Who knows? Maybe one day I might run for the Presidency of Singapore. Luckily we are not affected by the natural disaster in Singapore, which consisted about the flood, the ponding and the MRT train breakdown.

Then there is rides, holiday and bike complaint. The 10 days ride to Kota Bahru and Gua Musang was satisfying for the both of us. The ride to Malacca for the recent 3 nation charity ride was another fun ride with our close friends. The only ‘holiday’ that we could remember was the trip to Pulau Tioman for 1 week, then, we realized how comfortable it was to have our bike and tent, minus Hope Too. And the worse of all, no body has confident that he could save Hope Too’s problems. Maybe our next blog we will try to: Africa Twin for sale in Singapore.

There’s another chapter about our problems faced during the last 6-8 months for considering publishing a book. Lets not talk about it now.

2011: looking back, nothing has been achieved. Though we have come back from the days living on the road, I must say that the trip is not completed.

It is not completed. Why not?

Samantha told me today: many new businesses today, they need to choose between income or moral value.

I listened to a speech and the great man said: to save the world, we must

无条件的 服务一切众生 ，爱护众生。谈附带条件是行不同的。

In English, it means to: service all living beings and love them, without conditions. To negotiate for conditions will not be workable.

We shall take this 2 as our guideline to what ever we do in the coming years.

2011: Seems like we have unfinished task to do from the trip.

We will not forget you.

Our best Christmas gift In Singapore

We are really proud of our friend, Kevin and EiEi. They are able to teach her 4 years old daughter to learn the difference between

What is 'want'

and 

what is 'need'.

When we go to the $2.00 shop, many times we see things that is really cheap and tell ourselves:

so cheap, buy first, keep at home, you don't know when you are going to use it. If you never buy and when is needed, then you have to come back here again.

At this time, I would apply their theory 'want/need'. 

Buy 1 pant for $59.90 and get 50% for the second item on the same purchase. It's really cheap but, do we really want it or do we really need it?

When things are needed, we would spend the effort to get it, no matter how much it cost. Be it expensive, be it far away or be it needed to queue up for because something is needed.

What about something that I wanted? That is for Christmas or some other festive season. If you go to the shopping mall, the Christmas tune makes you want to buy things. You receive letters at your mailbox telling you the best gift to buy for you loved ones. Will you be emotionally moved by it? Me not.

Christmas is just a date for us, a fixed date to meet our loved ones. No matter how busy we are, we will keep this day for them. Having a feast and gift exchange is secondary.

So, make a point now, don't get influenced by the Christmas mood at shopping mall. You are strong enough to resist that. Your loved ones are thinking of you.

Think about how many people had loved you when you are a cute baby and an adorable young boy/girl. They are the ones! 

Don't cry when they leave the world one day because life is not eternal. Cherish them when they are around.

The best Christmas gift is an iphone 7?

Start sharing with everyone about what is 'want' and what is 'need'.

Happy holidays and don't drink and drive, it is dangerous, not because you will get fined!

R-rated movie on Singapore home TV

I noticed there is a new religion within everybody.

Most family has the altar in their house, usually in the living room.

They believe what the god in the altar is preaching and everyone practices what this religion tell them to do, think or behaves.

But many do not know that this religion is being backed up by businesses.

it is the TV.

People pray their soul to the TV and believe what the TV says.

The news on TV shows bomb explosion in middle east countries, indirectly it is telling us something.

The TV has shows of famous actor using and talking about some product, indirectly it is telling us something.

The TV series shows broken family, children suicide and some other sad drama cases. Indirectly it is telling us that it is normal.

Mr X says: why did you scold your maid?

Mrs Y said: you never watch the TV? if I don't scold the maid, she will be ... and ...

Now, most movies and TV series are being sponsored by enterprises. Be it educational or not. Example, in Singapore, there is a telecast: Crime Watch. I think it is good as it has educational purpose. It is supported by the relevant enterprise to help crime prevention. Then, there is variety shows being backed up by large supermarket chain, telling everyone that they are doing well.

All I want to tell you is that there are agendas behind our TV show.

One same story, can appear in 2 different views, depending if it appears on

星期二特写TuesdayReport
http://www.facebook.com/TuesdayReport2011?sk=wall

or

前线追踪 FRONTLINE
http://www.facebook.com/QianXianZhuiZong


it's how they present one story to the viewer, it depend on how they want you should think.

This program is backed up by a furniture enterprise:

http://entertainment.xin.msn.com/zh/tv/channel-8/programmes/courts-2.aspx?cp-documentid=5474447

This program is backed up by some renovation company:

http://entertainment.xin.msn.com/zh/tv/channel-8/programmes/home-makeover-2.aspx?cp-documentid=5476232

This one back by some travel related company:

http://entertainment.xin.msn.com/zh/tv/channel-8/programmes/japan-flavor.aspx?cp-documentid=5606453

it is the independency of the media company. do you know why Al Jazeera news is not avalible in Singapore? they have very good view on matters and do not side any party. I'm not sure whey they are not avalible on TV, even on our cables.  http://www.aljazeera.com/



I must say our Singapore Media has done a very good job, at least there are no R-rated movie after 11pm.

Can I add the word 'free' before the word 'R-rated'?

IPPT, National Service in Singapore

I went to IPPT last Saturday with Tan Chong Wei and Vernon at Maju Camp.

IPPT = Individual Physical Proficiency Test

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPPT_Award_Badge

It is a compulsary test for all male citizen that is still eligible for national service.

for the past 10 years since I ended my full time national service of 2 years, I had always achived a silver award for the test until last Saturday.

Some of you may think that you have not even have the chance to pass. It's ok. All I want to tell you is that health is degrading if you don't keep it up.

My first test station was the shutter run. In order to get the silver award, I have to hit 10.7 seconds and below. I tried 2 times and the best was 10.8 seconds.

After that, I feel dizzy and wanted to vomit.

That was my very first time that I have such feeling.

I almost wanted to give up after hearing much news about some young and energetic people collapse and died after doing exercise.

Vernon and Tan was encouraging. We knew each other since 1999 and had been together for the worst scenario. You really know a person's character when trouble comes. Example, a group of friends gather and meet for a meal. Everyone is very hungry. yes, something like 11pm and still waiting for dinner. once dinner is served, you can see who is rushing to grab the food for themselves first. Yes, those are the ones that is going to die and think of themselves. For the past decade, I have been observing friends around me. Vernon and Tan are there. it's tough during the training but they persisted helping each other first before themselves.

There are lots of story that I want to tell about my times during the 2 years full time national service. I think it will be better for my friends to tell you about me, maybe they can publish a book about me.

What I think about them? well, next year will be end of our service. It will be for me to see and for you to judge. Maybe after reading our story, you would encourage us to continue our service till 45 years old together since we enjoyed it so much.

Sorry I can't post any picture here... this is highly sensitive... I am staying in Singapore. I am being watched over.

just want to share my feelings with you.

cheers!

HTC phone, Fujitsu Laptop, Brother Printer : Singapore

I had a Brother MFC-6490CW.

It can scan A3 paper.

It is an all in one printer.

When we came back from RTW, one of my industry partner advise me to buy this because he only had a A4 paper scanner, so he can use mine to scan. But after a while, he was ahead of me and maybe forgotten about me. So this $550 printer is left here for collecting dust.

We still can use it for other purpose, we tried our best to love this machine.

There is a warrantee of 1 year. We contacted Brother Printer and Fax and the technician came down. They could service and replace parts for us for free because the problem of this machine was raised within 1 year of purchase.

After diagnosing, the technician told us that it's the printer head.

I asked why would the printer head be faulty?

'maybe there is dust...so you should always open this, this, then this to clean with this this and this. But you see our term and condition, within 1 year, replacement for parts is free except for this list of item, that include the printer head.'


That is a fine print on the terms and conditions!

But Brother Singapore is on good will to replace this for free if you purchase 3 color ink from us today at S$XX.XX.

Well, overall, I must say that the machine is taking up time and space in my house.

Remember I told you about the Fujitsu incident that happened last year?



We went to repair my Fujitsu laptop in Singapore when we came back.

We bought it just for our round the world trip.
It had been a very good traveling laptop.
We bought Fujitsu because they have #1 WORLD WIDE WARRANTY!!!
The specification is the same as the other brand we wanted to buy but the other brand is 30% cheaper and do not have WORLD WIDE WARRANTY.

 #2 Fujitsu provide free 1 year WORLD WIDE WARRANTY 3 years LOCAL WARRANTY.

When we were in Brazil, Sao Paulo, something went wrong with my laptop.
We need to wait about a week to get a reply from singapore to know were can we sent in our laptop for servicing since it is still within the 1 year WORLD WIDE WARRANTY. Yes, after one week, we got the right person to talk to and the nearest place to sent the laptop is USA! we have to ship the laptop to USA?! no thanks.

This is what they call WORLD WIDE WARRANTY.

When we come back, we went to the Fujitsu servicing center at Funan Center to resolve the problem of our laptop that had been bothering us for the last 2 and half years.

The laptop is still under the 3 years LOCAL WARRANTY.

Friends, do not think that warranty is everything is FOC. We have to pay S$80++ to the company just to let them have a look at the laptop that they sold me 2 and half years ago, then i have to wait almost 1 month for a part to arrive in order to get it solved. When the part arrive, I have to hang around Funan for 5 hours to wait for them to repair.

We must compliment HTC Singapore.

Samantha had some issue with her HTC Desire S mobile phone. She called up HTC and they were able to come to our house to pick it up. We were not comfortable about giving our phone to someone so we went to the customer care center at No. 1, Harbour Front Ave, #01-06 Keppel Bay Tower.

It was a wait and the phone was taken in with some question asked and form filling. They say the repair will take about 3-5 working days. We went back.

In the end they did not keep their promise. Instead of 3-5 working days, the phone was sent back to our house within 2 working days and it was 100% repaired.

HTC Care Singapore did a good job!