At the Table

The Bride and the Bridesmaid

At the dinner

I sang in Jen's wedding, which to me was a daunting task. I'm glad it's over. Hah..must thank Rachel (in the above picture). A brilliant pianist who amazingly covered my singing flaws as I clumsily missed a line or two...

Jen's Church Wedding

What a way to grace a church wedding: the bride's arrival in a London Cab! Rueben and Jen's wedding was set in an autumn theme. Well, that explains the brown tones of the bridemaids' dresses and the orange bouquet that Jen was holding.

Sunflowers along Orchard Road

Thought this was really a pretty sight. More sunflowers, please!!

Shanghai's Bund- a blend of the old and new

Walking down the bund boasts architectural glories with a mixture of post modern buildings and buildings infused with french history and culture. It's also the intensity of the sensory experience that makes the walking journey an intriguing one:the sight of pressing mass of pedestrians, neon lights, the blaring sounds of honks and the smell of diesel leaves a distinctive yet disorienting feeling.

Along with me were two Taiwanese colleagues. Great time....

Shanghai Hot Pots

Shanghai Grandeur

Shanghai offers a dazzling array of food and eating out in Shanghai is a social lubricant where families gather to have a good meal or the nouveau riche to flaunt their wealth. The first dinner I had with my client was awesome but our table had too much food. We had almost ten cold dishes and probably another ten for main dishes. Almost bursting when I left...

My later meals were equally appetizing. Check out these restaurants when you are around the area. Shanghai Uncle (the link is not working) in the Pudong area and QuanJuDe Restaurant at Purple Mountain Hotel http://www.pmhotel.com.cn/w8.htm for the world renowned Peking Duck.

Pictures above illustrate slicing of duck at QuanJuDe restaurant and the other dishes I sampled at the Shanghai Uncle restaurant.

Technolodgy: Aid or liability?

I arrived in Shanghai and accommodated myself in a god forsaken hotel located in an obscure industrial park approximately 30 minutes away from the city. Although I am staying in a sequestered area, I do not have much to yammer as the hotel comforts are satisfactory (clean and comfortable).

BUT, I was overly perturbed when I realised my internet connection could not work at 1am in the morning. You see, I was supposed to receive a document from my boss late in the night/ early in the morning so that I could present "stuff" to my client during the meeting in the next day. Not a techy person, I thought my laptop had configuration problems. I tried all means to get it fixed, playing around with icons I normally did not touch. (Crap, obviously). Finally, my grouchy, restless and tired self resorted to calling the front desk and seeked help. 15 mins later, a scrawny young man sauntered into my door, fiddled with my laptop for half an hour and told me that it still could not be fixed. What he said triggered a cranny in me. I was quite frustrated but then I realised how dependent I was to the internet. This was a trivial matter but the effect, detrimentally significant!

Think about it, how many times a day do you check your mobile phone?; how many hours are you on the internet?; how many times do you conduct a google search? I would estimate approximately 1/3 of my waking hours currently is spent doing the above following. Then you begin to wonder how people conduct research in the past. Writing articles on a typewriter and churning statistical tables using calculators seem to be a chore. But nobody complained, or rather, it was a norm where things were moving slower. However, with current technology, we are expected to produce services and complete chores in a shorter period of time in an efficient and effective manner. With PDAs and Blackberrys, we are expected to reply emails on a timely basis. With tele-conference calls, we can hold meetings with colleagues from countries simultaneously. And with information databases, computer and statistical programs, there is a set of expectations that we must fulfill. Gone were the days where you can escape fingerpointing when you can't reply an email on time (quiet exaggerating here, but you know what I mean) or complete an article with good amount of research. I am not bad-mouthing technology, but there is only 24 hours in a day and we are expected a lot much more.

Technology: Aid or liability? You decide...

I do sound like a grouchy bitch. Hah.

Shanghai again.

I have been to China twice, both times to Shanghai. I'll be going to China again, and yes, Shanghai again! Posted there for work, but very fortunately, only two weeks...=) Much work to do, so little time.

And by the time I'm back, I gotta prepare for Jen's wedding. Chasing time....I need a break. I wanna see Monty...December it shall be..hang on there.

Arne back again..

Arne returned to Singapore again recently to see his client. Managed to catch up and have tea, very relaxing. He is one lucky bugger, never at one place for more than 2 weeks and always staying in fanciful hotels. But then again, travelling all the time can be tiring. ...