For all you people living in Singapore, I am pretty sure you guys know something about EZ Link cards, right? Come one, even if you don’t take the bus or MRT, you guys should know that it does exist. It’s usually used to pay for our bus fares and MRT fares. And the thing is that it is contactless. Like those access cards you see people use when entering buildings and stuff. All you have to do is to place your wallet (with your EZ Link card) on the terminal and you can pay for your bus fares. You don’t even have to take our the EZ Link card out to “tap” at the terminal. It’s very convenient and I like it. I normally just take out my wallet and tap when I take the bus or MRT. Now, how about Cashcards? Yes, they are used by car owners to pay for the ERP gantry fees you see popping up on the roads everywhere. Oh, it is used to pay for everything else as well. We are talking about a cashless society nowadays. Everywhere you go, it is either card or bust.

Anyway, what is happening now is that Nets (which controls the cashcard monopoly in Singapore) has introduced the Combi Cashcard. What this means is that it is both a contact and contactless card. You can use the old type which slots into a card reader or use a “contactless” terminal. Oh, sure it is good that we don’t have to slot our cashcards into the reader anymore, plus the contactless ones are much more reliable than the contact ones. However, the problem is that the Combi Cashcard interferes with your EZ Link card. So if you have both the EZ Link card and the Combi Cashcard in close proximity, then it won’t work. When you “tap” the terminal with your wallet, nothing happens. I had thought that my EZ Link card was faulty and very nearly bought another one. One of my friends told me that it could be due to the Combi Cashcard that is causing all the problem. You need to take away the Combi Cashcard for the EZ Link card to work. I tried it and yes, it works after that.

Well, this is the example of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Both the companies who owned EZ Link and the Combi Cashcards are government owned. They are controlled by the government and everything they do has to be approved by their boss, who is the government. Yet, we see that the cards (which are very necessary for Singaporeans) are interfering with each other, thereby rendering both useless. This is what I would call incompetent, but I won’t say it out loud. And I won’t keep both the cards together either.

No, I am not kidding you. In Singapore, you can get away with murder if you are NOT a Singaporean and the victim is. Please read the following article here.

Basically what happened is that a Chinese National who works in a kitchen stabbed his supervisor with a kitchen knief (and he died) but the judge decided that the Chinese National was “not responsible” for his action because he had a “moderate depressive episode” and he was “provoked” by his supervisor. So I guess next time if my supervisor shouts at me, I will have to respond by stabbing him and then shout “We Singaporeans are not easily bullied”. Oh but wait, I am a Singaporean, probably will get life in prison or be hanged by the state. Plus my boss is probably one of those powerful elites.

Of course there are cases which there were killings with provocation but seriously, this happened in a big open workplace not some dark corner in Singapore. The supervisor didn’t really provoke the kitchen helper as claimed by the judge, he probably was overworked or stressed, just like everyone else in Singapore. And I am pretty sure the kitchen helper was also overworked and stressed. My boss shouts at me every time, but I didn’t take my pen and stab him in the eye because I am angry. Some of my co-workers are very nasty, I didn’t stab them with my stapler because I have a “moderate depressive episode”. Come on, even the defense lawyer had asked for 6 years for the sentence, but the judge gave him 4 years. There is something fishy. Even the fishes in the sea knows that this is very fishy. And shouldn’t this be a hate crime as well  since the kitchen helper has expressed hatred against the supervisor?

So, now I am asking everyone in other countries to come to Singapore and start stabbing Singaporeans. Or if you want something less extreme, just go around and beat up some poor Singaporean, especially those without money. In Singapore, if you assault someone, it is NOT a criminal offence (except to rich govt officials). They need to fork out a huge sum of money before they can even prosecute you. Woohooo! Avoid rich/elite people (you can spot an elite because he wears white and can travel to anywhere in Singapore within 20 minutes) because they got connections. Best thing, if that Singaporean hit you back, you can get a knife and stab him to death and shout ” We xxxxians are not easily bullied, bitch!” You get only 4 years or less if you are well-behaved in prison! 4 years for the thrill of killing a Singaporean? What more could you ask for? Or you can just fly back to your home country and forget all about it. No Singapore government official will care at all. After all, the dead are just useless and talentless Singaporeans. Our lives are not worth much after all. Nice country right? Come and enjoy! We all love being stabbed and beaten.

Oh by the way, you shouldn’t shout at any government officials. If you do that, the police will invite you down for a very long talk. This may be considered as “criminal intimidation” and you could be jailed up to 7 years for this hideous crime. Yes, that’s 7 years in prison for shouting at the government officials.

In Singapore, a lot of us (Chinese) nowadays don’t cook for our reunion dinner. We usually go out and have our dinner in the restaurants, saving us a lot of time and effort. Of course, that is not the ideal situation since I always like home cooked meals instead of those from the restaurants. I always miss all those nice traditional food that my mother used to make. And during this very peak and busy night, the food they cooked are probably of a lower quality than what is usually served. Plus, it is definitely more expensive than normal. Perhaps 2 to 3 times more than usual. But what can we do? It’s Chinese New Year eve! Everywhere you go, restaurants are all fully booked and unless you are planning to have your reunion dinner at McDonalds, then you are out of luck.

So here is my advice to you, book early! Don’t wait till the last moment before you book your seats in the restaurants. I think a lot of restaurants are already fully booked, so you better get your act together and decide on which restuarants you would like to spend the evening with your family. Or you could cook yourself. Get your sisters, mother or someone and start preparing a list of cookery and ingredients and buy them early. Cookery, you can probably buy a few weeks before Chinese New Year, which means NOW! Ingredients, you get it a day before or if you have a freezer, get them the weekend before.

If you are looking for a list of Chinese Restaurants in Singapore,  please take a look at my directory. Of course, reunion dinners are not restricted to just Chinese restaurants, you can even try those Fusion restaurants.

I am sure that every Singaporean knows that gambling is a serious problem in Singapore. Everywhere you go in Singapore, you will find those 4d booths, even in housing and neighbourhood areas. Although gambling is actually illegal in Singapore, legal forms of gambling like buying lottery tickets and betting on soccer and race horses is allowed. And now, with the casinos (or Integrated Resorts) going to open in 2009, we will see even more forms of gambling.

Even now without those casinos, we can see that there is a serious gambling problem. I know that for a fact. Several of my friends cannot control themselves. They spend all of their salaries gamlbing. Yes, well, sometimes they do get lucky and make a few quick bucks here and there, but overall, they are still losing tons of money to gambling. And even if they win, they will probably spend it on something stupid instead of investing or saving their money. Luckily for them, they are single, so at least they don’t have anyone that depends on them for food. But how about others with families or perhaps parents who depend on them for their daily bread?

The problem is greed. And in Singapore, we are flush full with it. Just look around you and you will have to agree with me that Singapore is a paradise of greed. Our leaders are greedy and by definition, the people will be greedy too. It’s both a good thing and a bad thing. Singapore is economically strong, but the problem is there is no satisfaction. We just want to make more and more money, irregardless of the actions. Thus, a lot of people turn to gambling in the bid to get rich quick.

I myself think that the casinos will cause more problems than it will solve. Of course, there are experts in the Singapore government that think otherwise. Or they just think with their wallets and don’t even care about the social problems it will cause. Just imagine, the gambling problem is already so acute with so little forms of gambling. Come 2009, the casinos will open and just think of the ways people can gamble away their money just a stone throw away! And now, they can spent it in just one night in one place. Those big money and high risk gambling tables are just waiting for these people to throw money at them. How do we cope with this problem? Gambling is addictive, there is no doubt about that. People get a thrill at the chance of winning big and living off those winnings without the need to work. But seriously, how many people will be lucky enough to win so big? Very very few, I would gather.

So this is my advice to you gamblers out there. Think of your family and your children. Gambling is not the solution to your financial woes. In fact, we all know that it will most probably make it even worse. If you have a gambling problem, admit it now and go seek help before it is too late and you lose everything.

Below is a list of sites where you can get some help:

http://www.camp.org.sg/gambling.cfm

http://www.ncpg.org.sg/faq.html

http://www.care-centre.org/RayOfHope/index.html

Hi there, I am pretty sure by now, you guys know that I live in a tiny island called Singapore. And in Singapore, what we do best is eat. It’s like a national past-time for Singaporeans who are willing to travel for hours just for some great food. Of course, these group of people are probably not working, perhaps due to being too rich or being too retired and should be shot or sent to some concentration camp in Jurong. Anyways, before I get distracted again, I am here to introduce to you Singapore’s great variety of food. We have all kinds of cuisines from India, China, Malaysia, Australia, France, Italy and so on and you will be pleasantly to see what Singapore can offer you. However, if you are think that the prices of food in Singapore is cheap, you are probably smoking too much weed. The food in Singapore is, well, I have to say, a bit on the high side. I won’t say Singapore’s food is expensive as compared to the Europe, but it isn’t cheap either.

The best place to taste the local cuisines, you have to visit the hawker centers. These are just clusters of stores selling food but seats and tables are shared about the tenants. I am sure a lot of you know about the “food-court” concept you see nowadays in the shopping malls. It’s sort of like this, except that it is dirtier and you get to share your seat with birds, cats and dogs. And sometimes, there will be friendly people walking around asking you to buy tissues or donate to charity. Oh, the hawker centers are usually open air and with the Singapore weather, it can get kind of hot in the hawker centers. But Singaporeans like it there, so you can expect crowds there during lunchtime/dinnertime.  What is amazing is that nowadays, we can find exotic food like French food, Italian food and so on in these hawker centers as well.

If you are more in restaurants,  Singapore has a lot of them too. You can find restaurants everywhere, in town centers, in the city area and even in museums. Restaurants are like locusts which you cannot get rid of. And usually they are the most expensive of the lot. But to be fair, if you want some of the best fare you find in Singapore, you can only taste them in restaurants. Those evil hotels have stolen all the best chefs in Singapore, give them fancy unpronounceable names and force them to work in the Hotel restaurants, leaving us mere mortals with nothing but crap food. Okay, I am exaggerating of course but still I have seen it happen.

If you would like to read up more on Singapore and the cuisines we have here, please take a look. Better yet, come to Singapore and enjoy all the great food you can find. Or you can always try Malaysia, where the prices there are much cheaper and the food a lot better.

It’s looks like it’s going to get warm again right here in Singapore. After weeks of rain and more rain, Singapore is actually getting warmer. The weather the last few days is all sunny and even with forecast of slight rain (in fact they say thunder and showers today), I never see a single drop of it. I just love forecasts don’t you? And they even claimed that they are seldom wrong in their weather forecast. Wuhahaha, ego and more ego. The meteorological service of Singapore is another great example of why our government is so damn competent that they need even higher paychecks and bonuses. Oh, they did get in right on Saturday, it did rain heavily for a while. For that, I am glad that my tax dollars is actually working and providing me some benefit.

Usually December is the rainy season in Singapore, perhaps that’s how they “predict” the weather - by taking historical data and compiling it and getting the result. Whatever it is, I am sure the following weeks will also be sunny and warm. Not really good for someone like me who hate the heat. But I hate the rain too. You mean, you get wet and cold and stuff. But warm weather is great for gobbling down ice cold smoothies or ice cream. Cold weather is great for sleeping, if I have don’t have to work that is. But you know, if I don’t work, I don’t eat. So, cold weather or not, I still need to work.

Ok, back to the warm weather thing, I think that Singaporeans should be prepared for the warm spell. I have seen a lot of people carrying umbrellas and raincoats along, which was alright the last few weeks. But now, I really doubt that it will rain that often and mainly passing showers. So keep your umbrellas at home and enjoy the fine (but hot) weather. And the holidays are coming. This Tuesday, it’s Christmas, next Tuesday, it’s the New Year. And in February, we will have Chinese New Year! Yup, two days of holidays and a much needed break from all the stress of Singapore.

Take a look here. This is one huge monster of a plane, right? It’s a double decker plane, which means that it’s just like a double decker bus with two floors of seats. The first flight route will be from London to Singapore to Sydney. And it looks good, especially if you have the money to board one. Even the economy class comes with bigger leg room (very important!), large LCD monitor (TV) and it is supposed to be ergonomically designed, which simply means that it is more comfortable. Yes, it should be. I always hate taking budget airlines. These are really crappy planes with no service to speak of. Not to mention, we get delays and delays without any explanation or compensation. Everyday in the forums, you will see people complaining about budget airlines. However, I always believe that what you pay is what you get. Don’t expect good service from budget airlines. Some flights cost like S$70 per trip and a taxi trip can cost up to S$40 per trip right here in Singapore. So guys prepared for the worst when you travel budget airlines. I still think SIA is one of the best airline service in the world, even though they are pretty expensive and the management are probably rich, greedy corporate types.

Is it also interesting to note that the prices for economy class should not be too expensive compared to SIA’s other plane tickets, which is good news for people like me. I guess it is because they still need their planes to be full in order to make profit. Understandable. However, the prices for business or “suite” class is another thing. Be prepared to pay a lot, and I mean a lot. Looks like they have cabins, beds and other shit for passengers who are loaded. I wonder whether I will have the means or the opportunity to take one of these planes in this lifetime? And I never took first class (business class as well) before in my life.

Take a look at SIA’s offical website on the A380!

Oh it’s the time of the year where we all sit down and think of what has happened during the past year. I guess it has been okay for me. Sure, I had to change job because one of my former company’s directors stole a lot of money and fled to China and the company had to shut down. But other than that, it has been no much problems for me.

However, I have one serious complain about the general economic situation in Singapore - the rising cost of living. I don’t mean a little inflation here and there, but massive increases overall. Just look at our bus and train fares, the prices of tickets have increased by around 10-20%. No kidding! How about taking taxis? Yes, the prices for cabs have also increased and is set to be increased yet again. How about food? Well, officially bread prices have increased by 20%. Officially means that the prices are controlled by some baker’s association. I am sure that you will see some bakeries increasing by more than 20%, those greedy bastards. How about food and groceries? Of course the prices for food and groceries have increased. No longer are vegetables considered cheap alternatives, they are now costly! Even made in China products are now very expensive. Expensive in Singapore of course, but not in other countries. How about shop rentals? Yes, that has increased as well, so this result in the same old vicious cycle of price increases. And let’s not forget about the recent GST increase, which was supposed to “help the poor”.

Well, everyone blames someone else for the price increase. Bus companies blame the raising fuel prices. Taxi too. Food prices, they blame the weather. But if you look at Malaysia and our neighbouring countries, you don’t see any price increases there. Weird right? Weather changes is supposed to be global and should affect everyone. And you know what is the weirdest thing, we get our food sources from Malaysia and Indonesia! And the easiest is to blame on the high cost of rental. There is no denying that one, but those rentals are actually controlled and manipulated by the government. I guess when you increase prices is it best not push the blame to someone else, than to admit that you are greedy.

For me, I guess it’s still okay. I don’t mean I earn a lot, just that I am single and without much commitment. However, there are others who are not so lucky. In fact, I believe that a lot of people are affected. Their salaries are already so low, yet everywhere they go, they see price increases. How about those who have a lot of commitments like family, elders and children? Those too are seriously affected by this artifical inflation. Well, that’s life in Singapore, just have to accept it or the alternative is to vote wisely which most Singaporeans cannot do.

For the poor Singaporeans who takes the public bus to work everyday. You can find the explanation here.  I have quoted a portion of it here.

Why does the Bus Captain drive so slowly?
We hope commuters can appreciate that traffic conditions on the road can vary. Our schedules, however, can only be planned to meet what is usually the expected traffic condition at the various times of the day. There will be times when the traffic conditions are unusually clear or congested and this often results in buses being too early or late.When traffic conditions are especially clear, our Bus Captains are required to regulate speed if they notice that they are ahead of schedule. This ensures that the Bus Captains keep the arrival times at the bus stops as close to the planned schedule as possible to avoid any disruption like bus bunching.

So now all of you understand why the buses are so slow? It is because of unexpected clear traffic in Singapore, a country the size of a dot and with more than 4 million people squeezed in it. Yes, nearly every non-elite lives in an high rise pigeon hole, but seriously, what do we mere mortals know? You can get unusually clear traffic in Singapore everyday. In fact, you can get unusually clear traffic even if there are probably tens of thousands of vehicles on the road everyday. And it also happens at the peak hours with “unusually” low traffic as well. Although I myself never faced such things in Singapore, everything is possible. We don’t know everything. So we have to forgive the bus drivers for driving slow and their thoughtfulness in preventing “disruptions” like “bus bunching“. Yup, we sure don’t want that to happen in Singapore, a very efficient first world society. What would foreigners think when they see such things happening on our roads? Two buses plying the same route arriving at the same time?! That would be shameful to our government and to Singapore on the whole. It would be much better to let foreigners see crowded public buses full of people in the morning “rush” hour take their own sweet time to travel their route right?

I am sure that the SBS is ensuring everything will be running smooth for Singapore communters. You see, SBS has Singaporeans in the hearts. They plan all their bus schedules to ensure that Singaporeans will able to meet together in the buses. I mean, Singaporeans are always so busy, rushing here and there trying very hard to make a living, they seldom meet and enjoy each other’s company. So SBS has planned it such a way to ensure that you will always meet a lot of people on your way to work or school. The more people you meet, the better he chances of you meeting someone you know. And even if you don’t know anyone, you could start a conversation with a stranger in the packed sardine can bus. The idea of “misery loves company” is the motto of SBS. I for one certainly look forward to more great years ahead with SBS. They are the greatest! Go ahead and increase the salaries of the big bosses and directors there. They really deserve it.

Hello guys, I am back here again to introduce to you yet another useful stuff. It’s called the library. You know what a library is? Well for the less adventurous, it’s sort of a bookstore where you can find all sorts of books, magazines, media and stuff. However, you can use it for free. yes, you heard me right, you are borrow the books and magazine in the library for free! It’s just like the Internet, just that it is free and has less spam and hardly any porn. All you have to do is to register as a member (usually it’s free) and start borrowing books home to read. It’s that simple. However, note that some reference materials cannot be borrowed home, it’s for reference only.

If you are living in Singapore, you can find libraries in most of the regional centres. For example, I am staying somewhere in Ang Mo Kio, so the nearest Library is at Ang Mo Kio Central. Just a 10 minutes bus ride from my house. Of course the bus ride is expensive, but it just takes too long to walk. And in Singapore, if you walk under the blistering heat, you are asking for a heat stroke. As you guys know, I am a bookworm, so I spend a lot of my time at the library, like once per month. The rest of my time is spent online, trying to find ways to prevent hunger and poverty around the world. Well, someone got to do it, might as well be me right?

You can all sort of information in the library as well. I usually go there to look for books on body building because I am planning to be a body builder. If you are looking for old newspaper articles, you should be able to find it in the library. Although not all regional libraries have the complete range of information, you should be able to get partial information. And if you are looking for movies/documentaries/cd-roms, some libraries do keep a lot of variety. A lot of students did their school projects right there in the library. Often you will find students huddle together trying to piece together information for their projects.  When I was a student, I used to go to the library to study. But during the exam periods, the library will be packed with hordes of students. So if they make too much noise, do everyone a favour, go over and smack them in the head, hard.