日本語は面白くて、難しくて、大好きで、嫌いです。

Japanese is such a f#$%kascinating language because

1) Interesting = 面白い (omoshiroi). In Chinese, this means white face. I suppose things become so interesting that your face turns white.

2) Robber/Burglar/Thief = 泥棒 (darobou). In Chinese, this means muddy stick. I suppose this is a favourite tool of choice for criminals

3) To Apologise = 謝る(ayamaru). In Chinese, this means thank you.

Thank God, there is some saving grace after all.

4) Easy/Simple = 簡単 (kandan) or Jian Dan in Chinese

5) Safety = 安全 (anzen) or An Quan in Chinese

6) To Fail = 失敗 (shitpai) or Shi Bai in Chinese

勉強しなければならない。（To study means to force oneself in Chinese … how apt!）

ではまた。

皆さんの趣味は何。

皆さんの趣味は何。写真撮るとか踊るとか漫画読むどれが大好きですか。

私はいつも日本語が興味です。たまに日本語が使ってけど、今全部忘れた。残念だ。

下手のに、十二月に日本語能力試験の三級を受けるつもりです。友達は、「なぜ」と言ったこと。「日本語が大好き」と答えた。

それで、準備しておきます。毎週は日本語を勉強して、文法を練習して、漢字を書いてします。日本語が非常に難しいですね！しかし、日本語が上手になりたいです。だから、一生懸命、頑張っていく！

日本語で第一回書いて始めます。誤って書いたら、すみません。

どうぞよろしく。お願いします。

I survived Sept 11!

I was booked on a flight back to Singapore from Beijing on that fateful day. When I reached the airport, it seemed like a perfectly ordinary day with human traffic humming and bustling. Airport security seemed unusually tight (or am I overly sensitive?) and caused some minor delays clearing the security.

When I reached the gates for boarding, I was greeted with news that the flight would be delayed. Immediately, this rang an ominous note in my head. When I finally boarded the plane, the journey was met with lots of turbulence and the aircrew had to cease cabin service a couple of times. I heaved a sigh of relief when my feet touched solid ground.

Anyway, here are the pictures as promised.

My humble abode for a week.

Indoor Pool … not sure if it is heated.

ShiMao TianJie … this is one of the newer shopping malls with a digital ceiling … a la those you find in Vegas.

Google BJ … all the hi-tech companies are located in the Science Park within the 4th Ring Road.

Get lucky at the Lucky Shamrock … BJ Capital Airport.

Houses of a bygone era

I was taking a stroll along the Serangoon neighbourhood and was piqued by the unique architecture, reminiscent of a bygone 1980s era. They don’t build houses like this anymore.

Trigger-happy I was and I spent no time whipping out my trusty HTC mobile …  snapping fast and furious.

First off, this orangey building with a circus top is actually a mini-mart to serve the residents in the area.

This is a huge condominium with the car park area almost the size of the compound itself. En-bloc potential?

F**k the dog … beware the 2 stone lions.

A house modelled after the Haw Par Villa

Check out the lamp post. You can only find this in UK.

This is a unique u-shaped house which …

… overlooks a grass field. Here, you can have your personal soccer field at your doorstep … literally.

You can find tables and chairs made of stone in this compound.

In the same compound, you can find the servants quarters on the left.

A Chinese temple nestled among a quiet neighbourhood.

Don’t you agree that old houses possess character?

5 months on …

Not much change from last month.

AUD & NZD continue to outperform while CNY lags behind most currencies. I suppose with more optimistic newsflow from the Southern Hemisphere and potential re-rating of the countries’s economic outlooks and gradual reining in of inflation, these 2 commodity-backed currencies should continue to outgain most currencies.

As for CNY, I suspect the Chinese Central Govt/Bank will start tightening credit very soon as the real estate and stock markets look frothy at the moment. This should help the CNY inch upwards.

Positive Thinking … yeah right?

I am sure many of you would have seen this commercial featuring a myriad of animals having tete-a-tete in a kopi-tiam setting and how they should be contented with having peanuts & coffee in these tough economic times.

Many find the commercial amusing … some find it distasteful or even downright insulting … as if the higher mortals are patronising us and telling us to be contented with and focused on what we have. Not sure which beast maverick in the animal kingdom advertising world thought of that?

First off, the scene reminds me smack of Animal Farm where 4 legs are good and 2 legs bad … Then, I am reminded that all animals are created the same but some are more equal than others. Finally, in the context of Singapore, a peanut could be worth 600 grand. Hence, I am also confused about the messaging of the advert. For the lesser mortals like myself, I wish I have a 600 grand peanut.

For the rare few who have yet to see the advert, this is the url link. Here you can find the flurry of discussion about the advert.

*Shaking head* I would give the creator a D- for creativity and I feel sorry for myself that the papayas have lost touch with the ground. It seems that the more they do and attempt to engage the commoners, the more blunders they make.

Buy, Sell, Hold or Flip???

Queues for property launches seem to be a leading indicator of economic recovery.

In recent weeks, there seems to be a deluge of new property launches taking place over the island. While this may ring in big bucks for developers, agents and the banks (of course, who can forget them?), it does smell of speculators gradually coming back in the hope of a quick flip.

On the stock market front, the bustling markets have completely transformed the doomday scenarios painted by numerous analysts barely 6 months ago. Led by impressive gains in the US market, stock markets all over the world seemed to have ascended the wall of worry to drive spectacular gains. From a low of 1400 to breaking through the 2600 psychological barrier for the STI is not a feat many can claim fame to. However, the Shanghai Stock Exchange managed to beat that by more than doubling its gains since 1 Jan. You do not need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that some of the massive fiscal and monetary injections have found their homes in the stock and property markets.

As for FX, signs of economic recovery bodes well for currencies riding on the next wave of the commodities boom. The Aussie and Kiwi continue their upward march against the SGD but RMB continues its lacklustre performance.

  

Formula Drift

My social life seems to have become more fulfilling these days.

I was invited to watch the Formula Drift Competition held at the Changi Exhibition Hall. For the uninspired, Changi Exhibition Hall is located at the ulu far eastern corner of Singapore, where you get a spectacular view of Pulau Tekong, a place many 18 year olds would shudder at the mere sight of it. The compeition is held over the 2-day weekend but I only have time for the Saturday practice session.

It was one of those scorching hot weekends where you have to slather on lots of SPF, wear a farmer’s hat and Oakleys to avoid sunburn. The sound and smell of burning rubber on asphalt raised the temperature a few notches higher.

 The layout of the event … where the cars, beer and babes are. 

Grand Stand where you are sheltered from the sun … to be honest, its better to get the Walkabout tickets as you can catch the action from different angles.

Practice Car #1 speeds, drifts and crashes

Practice Car #2 trailing closely behind and belching a pipeful of smoke

Not to be outdone, Practice Car #3 does the ditty on the tarmac and comes to a screeching halt.

Hey Bro … do you mind? You are ruining the picture!!!

Where the Money Goes

Its been 3 months since I started tracking these 3 currencies and the results speak for themselves.

Overall, you would have gained 4.8% or $143 if you had invested S$1000 in each currency since 29 March. And that’s not counting the 3% and 2.6% interest you would receive per annum from AUD & NZD respectively.

More than Meet the Eyes

 

I was invited by a friend to a private screening of the movie “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” yesterday. The seats which we were offered were a bummer (3rd row from the screen) and we had to crane our necks in order to watch everything on the big screen. Not an easy feat when there are lotsa explosions and “transforming” taking place half the time. Fortunately, the movie was … more than meet the eyes.

INTENSE!!! The movie caught my attention from the minute the 120-min film started rolling. While it is common for movies to include lots of CGI effects, due credit must be given to Michael Bay and his entire crew for the well-written script as well as the efforts put in by the animators to make the movie as realistic as possible. My eyes stayed glued to the big screen all the time. I remembered the last time this happened was when I watched Speed 1 eons ago.

For those folks who have not watched Transformer 1 (like me), please go ahead and watch this sequel. I did not feel I was left out from the story at all despite not watching the prequel.

And as for other movie-goers whose interests have somewhat been shaken by the critics, I would say “To hell with the movie reviews and go have fun”! I sure enjoyed myself. In fact, I felt like an eight year old all over again.

Now, where did I hide my Optimus Prime toy???