August 2007 – pierreo.com – Join me on my journey

The ZOO at night, un-Singaporean shopping, The Bay Run and Yen Nee’s Wedding Photos

Posted on 29 August, 200710 May, 2010 by pierreo

On Friday, it was Freddy’s birthday. Ben and Jon needed to inspect the set-ups at the zoo for Saturday’s Family Day. We therefore decided that we would cycle there. Freddy, Ben an I left from Ben’s apartment and were met by Jon soon after we arrived at the Zoo – only a 13 km ride, but some traffic and two long hills.

The Zoo was closed, but we had special permission to go in. Ironic that my first visit here is this way. I have been to the Night Safari (and really like it) but never the Zoo itself. I did not get to see any animals, other than the dark silhouette of two baboons. However, I was able to realize that the setting is very nice, and that there seem to be no cages between the visitors and the animals. We were driven around in an electric buggy by two security guards, who made sure we stayed out of trouble.

After the inspection, Yen Nee and Marilynn joined us with a special birthday cake for Freddy.

They also had durian – my friends were surprised when I did not hesitate to have a piece. I am glad that I can still surprise them some times.

Here is a photo of the whole group who was there:

Yen Nee (more about her later), Pierre, Freddy, Ben, Marilyn and Jonathan.

On Saturday, I needed to do some shopping. I have never been a good shopper. Usually, it is “go-in-get-what-u-need-and-get-out”. This goes totally against the ‘national sport’ here in Singapore – shopping centers, and there are many of those, are usually packed on Saturdays and Sundays, and not really empty the rest of the time with people doing a lot more looking than they are buying. None the less, I bought a pair of dress trousers, a new weather station and the latest Harry Potter’s book all in less than one hour, including the bus rides to and from Orchard Road.

On Sunday was the annual SAFRA Shears Bridge Run and Army Half Marathon, also this year called the “Bay Run” as the end was on the new floating stage in Marina Bay. I was signed up for the 12km run, as I did not feel ready yet for a ½ marathon. This is a popular run and there were thousands of people at the start at 7AM. Ben and Jonathan were doing the ½ marathon and had left at 5:30AM. The start was delayed 15 minutes as the VIP (one of the local members of Parliament) was not there to give the start… I will never get used to the local’s flexibility with time.

Here is a picture of the start. You can try to find me somewher close to the stage. I am wearing a red shirt and a bow-tie.

Very soon after the start, the route gets on to the East Coast Parkway (ECP) and crosses the bridge for which the race is named. When you drive over this bridge in a car, it does not feel like much, and in less than one minute, it is all over. When running, it is a whole different story! I do not like climbs when I am running. And this is a major climb. The bridge has more than 25 m of clearance underneath; the climb seems to go on forever. Reaching the top, I was totally spent, and still had more than 8 km to go. The downhill portion allowed me to recover a little, but not as much as I was hoping. The rest of the race was a struggle. Immediately after the exit from ECP on Fort Road, we rejoined the route of the ½ marathon, and the crowd on the street increased significantly, with a lot of people just walking. Only 3 km to go and I am not going to give up. The finish is through the new stadium at the marina (I took some nice Fireworks shots from there last week) and onto the new stage. Done! The time is not very good, about 10 minutes slower than I was hoping, but I did it (the results are out and I am 85th out of 229 Men Veterans – you can read all about the race on www.safra.sg). The exit is back through the stadium, unfortunately, where the crowd and the heat makes it almost unbearable! My shoes are “sqwishing” at every step from the accumulation of sweat from my legs! Even though the temperature was not very high, the humidity was, which made this a tough run. No photos, yet, but I will try to add some later when they are available.

Last week, there were fireworks here. The stage is just huge as you can see here:

The stands can sit up to 27000 spectators! Here is one of the pictures I took last year, from Shears Bridge

and one from this year – sitting down

It is unfortunate that the smoke from the fireworks hides significantly the skyline of Singapore.

My day was not finished yet!

At 10AM, I joined the rest of Papillion for a Photo Shoot. Yen Nee had asked us if she could take some of her wedding photos with the team on a Dragon Boat – we enthusiastically agreed and immediately embarked on a massive planning effort. Vincent negotiated with his friends at the SDBA to get us a brand new boat, with a golden drum; Ben looked for the best locations and tried desperately to find a date when most of us could make it. And today is the day.

We need to launch the boat ourselves and than row all the way to the Oasis Bridge, where there are steps that can be negotiated with a wedding dress. For the special occasion, I am actually wearing my black bow-tie with our normal rowing uniform (I wore the bow-tie for the run as well, and got some very interesting looks from other runners – I am hoping that there will be some good photos too). As we arrive by water, the bride and groom were coming by land. For a little over one hour, we rowed in circles with the wedding couple at the front, in the middle and at the back of the boat; with Yen Nee amongst the boys and her husband with the girls and many other combinations. Other dragon boat teams practicing around us were clapping and sending their best wishes as well. We are now famous. A local photographer happened to be there and posted two photos on STOMP (http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/viewPost5084.aspx)

Here is one of them, in case you do not want to go hunting…

After the shoot, and after a well deserved shower, as usual when we get together, we went to eat. Thanks to Samuel, we re-discovered the excellent fish noodle shop we used to go to. For a while, they had moved and we did not know where to. Now we can safely go back to the Old Airport Road

new HawkerCenter and have excellent white fish noodle soup with milk, and a beer of course.

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Culture, Food, Sports, Travel

Jurong Island Race, Tokyo, Lau Pa Sat, BBQ, Casinos and a Typhoon

Posted on 19 August, 200710 May, 2010 by pierreo

There are so many possible titles for this post but all would say too much. You’ll have to read to the end to see what this is all about.

The Jurong Island Dragon Boat Race has been ‘owned’ by ExxonMobil (EM) in the last few years, ever since Georges (the then Chemical Plant Manager) extended a challenge to all of us in 2003 after no EM teams even got into the finals. Our top men’s team “EM Ace” and our ladies’ team “The Tiger Lilies” have each won their respective competition three years in a row (2004 to 2006) and last year we had four Gold and one Bronze medal. However, our competition is constantly improving, and there are several new teams this year, always an unknown quantity.

We knew we were in for a long day after the second heat of the 2007 competition on Saturday 4 August. EM Ace finished third in their heat and only the top two in each heat qualified for the final. They would not get a 4^th consecutive victory.

Fortunately Sea Blades (often, and unfairly, referred to as the ‘other’ men’s team) did qualify for the final in the open competition, Roaring 40s qualified in the veterans, the Lilies were directly into the ladies finals (as only three teams were entered) and Papillon qualified with the 4^th best time overall for the mixed final after finishing a close second in our heat.

Our ‘Old Men” won their final, by 0.05 seconds; the Lilies did even better, winning by a mere 0.01 second. Sea Blades was a very close third in the Open.

Papillion is ready and eager in preparation for the final of the mixed competition (front to back, right than left rower – Desmond, Jonathan, Su Li, Christy, Dawn (hidden), Yen Nee, Samuel (hiding), Ken, Ben, Myself and Patrick in the back). We actually won it by 0.03 seconds, but we were disqualified because we ended the race in the wrong lane, actually locking paddles with the second place team in the lane next to ours. It was a decision we could not dispute even if our ‘mistake’ probably did not influence the ultimate outcome of the race.

Last year, we had the best time of the heats and fell apart, due to our own lack of race experience, in the finals. This year, we did OK in the heat and much better in the final, leading all the way from an excellent start, and still did not get our ‘toy’ – the gold medal.

I really think now that we are jinxed!

We know that we gave it our all and we were first across the finish line. Nobody can take that away from us. Two EM teams were very disappointed by the results that day. It was very heartening,though, to see how all the other EM teams rallied around them in the true spirit of teamwork. You can see from the attached photo that we have a very large Dragon Boat family at ExxonMobil. They all helped a lot in making us feel better after what was very much a disappointment.

No time to celebrate, or commiserate, as that same evening at 11:30 PM I am off to Tokyo for a training class. I sleep the “sleep of the just” in the plane, undisturbed by the events of Saturday, and really tired from all the efforts and excitement; when I finally wake up, we are only ½ hour out of Tokyo. I am surprised to discover that the temperature is in the high 30’s and the humidity in the 90’s. Not the ideal weather to ‘explore’ a city; and not what I remembered from previous visits (until I realize, of course, that the other visits were in December and January!). I walk around the Ginza and Imperial Palace areas for the afternoon before meeting others for dinner at the hotel. In the middle of this very modern city, I run into young (20-year old) women wearing very traditional kimonos and wooden shoes yet talking on or texting with their very modern 3-G telephones.

That evening, we go to a ‘shabu-shabu’ restaurant right down the street. No one really speaks much English in there and there is no English menu, but we still manage to get a lot of excellent food, and really cheap for Japan and especially Tokyo. Next day training and another excellent dinner. Tuesday, back to Singapore. Typical business trip. I saw a lot of airplanes, airports, busses, taxis, subways, hotels and offices and very little of Tokyo itself.

Tuesday evening, I had dinner at Lau Pa Sat with friends. Ben and I arrived early and even though we were clearly together, the taunts seemed to treat us separately, pulling me in one direction and him in another, as if they could not believe that we would actually have dinner together. We finally got a table for eight and had immediate offers of satay and all sorts of other foods. The ‘Tiger Girls’ we there too with jugs and mugs – not those jugs for those of you with a dirty mind! – I am not sure you could call them ‘girls’ any more as they had probably been doing this work for quite a few years…

On Wednesday, I discovered that Singapore can still surprise me. I found a legal gambling hall! Papillon was having its annual BBQ at the Costa Sands Resort. I arrived early so I started to wonder around the place. A door caught my attention as there was ‘Jackpot” written over it; I reallt expected to walk into a ‘casino-themed’ restaurant. I walked instead into a room with 2 dozen slot machines and nobody asked me anything or tried to stop me, and the world did not end, and the police did not come out from behind one-way mirrors calling “Everybody put your hands up – this is a Sting Operation”. I had seen ‘game rooms’ very discreetly hidden in some private clubs, but I had no idea they existed this openly available to the general public. We had satay, bacon and mushroom skewer thingies (the new Papillon signature dish if we can find a better name for it), hot dogs, pork chops, otah, chicken wings, mee goreng, and much more. We had chocolate cake and champagne when Freddy and Christy finally joined us. We watched the videos of our last races – it is the first time that I am actually seeing myself rowing – and saw that we did very well in the CCG (bronze medal) and in the JI Race. We talked ‘till early in the morning while others played Mah-Jong (I am still not sure if they play with the correct rules here!). I had to go home early (I got there at 4AM) because I had an early flight to Hong Kong that same Thursday morning.

I finally figured out how to go directly from Hong Kong Airport to Macau. But it cost me a brand new tube of toothpaste! My first time in Hong Kong, I went there first and than to Macau. On the last day, I took the ferry back to Hong Kong and immediately the train to the airport (a 4 hour trip!). On the second trip to Hong Kong, I decided to start with Macau. Coming out of Immigration and Customs, I asked how to go directly to Macau, and was told that there is a way, but you have to do so before Immigration. I had to take a train followed by a ferry for another 4 hour trip. This time, I was determined not to miss it again. Just to make sure, I decided that I would only have carry-on luggage, one small back-pack, so I had ultimate flexibility. I found the desk for the ferry to

Macau and got a ticket for the 3:30 sailing. However, I had to re-enter security after I got my ticket, and there, they confiscated my brand new tube of toothpaste because it was, allegedly, over the maximum allowable volume of 100ml! Singapore did not seem to mind, but Hong Kong said NO!

Macau is a very interesting mixture of modern and traditional. Upon arrival at the ferry terminal, the announcement is made in Chinese (I suspect Mandarin rather than Cantonese) then English, Japanese and finally Portuguese. 10 years later and it is still the second language here in Macau. Even new signs, erected since the end of colonial rule, still include Portuguese. Most restaurants have a sign which says “Estabelecimento de Comidas” followed generally by a typical Chinese name such as ‘Tin Fock Lai’.I

am staying at the new Wynn Macau Casino Resort.

Macau has changed a lot since the last time I was here for Chinese New Year in 2004 (a potential future post?) and yet some things have not changed. I went into the historical district for dinner and found a little restaurant where I had excellent food for little money. They had one menu which was translated into English but I really had to have imagination to attempt to understand what the actual food would be. They have “fired fish brain with chilly” and “beef tenderness”; since they had fried in other places, I was puzzled by ‘fired’ which was repeated for many dishes; I am still not sure what ‘tenderness’ was all about – I know that mores are a little looser in Macau but I doubt if that had anything to do with it – I do not think that they were offering sexy massage with dinner; you only get that with a hair cut!

The weather is not very good as Hong Kong and Macau are under the influence of the trailing edge of the latest typhoon. Wind is not strong but there is a constant threat of rain and there is a complete cover of low clouds. The light is grey and would remind my of my native country of the temperature had not remained around 30 C. It should get better later as the remnants of the storm are moving away from here.

The biggest change is the construction of mega-casino resorts such as Wynn’s where I am staying. In 2004 the Casino market has been opened to competition and several of the major Las Vegas companies are establishing a presence here.

You can see about the weather on this shot from my camera-phone. The three-coloured tower on the left is a new resort being built (from the lion statue at the front, I suspect it may be MGM) and in the middle of the picture is the Wynn’s Resort where I am staying. You can also see several sets of tower cranes for new buildings. Further along the same view, Sands is finishing their resort and Venetian is also under construction on reclaimed land South of Macau – they are building a resort larger than the one in Las Vegas. In the last year, Macau has surpassed Las Vegas as the largest gambling city in the world in terms of money played! And they are building here twice as fast as they are in LasVegas.

However, Uncle Ho, former holder of the gambling monopoly in Macau, is not giving up without a serious fight. His main casino was always the ‘Lisboa’ but he had gambling halls in most other major hotels. He is building an incredible tower (it may look like it should belong to Playboy instead when it is finished – look for the bunny ears coming up…) with a huge Casino underneath. The Casino is already open even though the tower is not yet completed – you do not need a hotel here in order to attract visitors to the casino. Hidden under the tree, to the left of the massive building, you can almost see the entrance to the old casino, which used to be by far the largest in Macau – just to be sure you do not miss it, here is a blow-up of that same area. It also gives you a better idea at the actual size of the new tower.

I tried my luck in several casinos and made it without losing too much money, actually a lot less than I was ready to loose, mostly due to two big wins which made up for all the small losses.

I headed for Hong Kong on Saturday (lucky for me I did not try to do it Friday as all the ferries were cancelled due to bad weather) and just walked around to reacquaint myself with the city. The weather continues to be bad and therefore I am not really tempted to go anywhere far. However, the views of Hong Kong Harbour, with low grey clouds, can create dramatic images such as this one.

The large building in the middle disappearing in the clouds is the tallest in Hong Kong and there are twenty more floors that are currently. I doubt that they can see the sun above the clouds even on the top stories…

On Sunday, 12 August, I was heading back to Singapore, 8 days after the beginning of this post.

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Sports

Not the week-end I had in mind

Posted on 2 August, 200710 May, 2010 by pierreo

Last week-end did not turn out exactly as I intended.

And I am not one to like that … I tend to plan ahead and not be too happy when I have to change my plans.

After all the time spend with Papillon and practicing for the Dragon Boat races, this was to be a week-end for me. While I enjoy being with good friends, I also need time for myself regularly.

On Saturday, I was very nervous. So much so that I could not really eat much all day. I tried to relax by preparing, testing and re-testing all my equipment, but that did not help much. I went to explore the race site, but that did not help either.

On Sunday, I was awake early, and just went to East Coast Park. I was as ready as I will ever be for my first Triathlon.

I still had to wait a long time. I saw the start of the “Elite” Race, both men and women and saw the finish of the men race two hours later. And I was still waiting.

It was finally the time for us ‘mortals’ to depart. Ladies went first; men over 50 were next and at 10:30, it was finally my turn to dive into the water. The start of the swim is always difficult because there are a lot of people trying to swim over, through and across each other. I had two laps of 750 m each ahead of me. The first lap went OK. As I dove back for the second lap, I could see really black (and I mean BLACK) clouds approaching. By the 250 m mark, the wind was getting up and whipping waves of 1 to 1.5 m; the rain was not far behind. The last 250 m of the swim, which I barely survived, were the toughest I ever had to swim. The sea was like a washing machine, with waves 1.5 to 2 m high coming from all directions. There were kayaks and jet skis around to help any swimmer that might have a problem. I actually glanced at a jet ski rescuing a kayak that had capsized! I finally got out of the sea in driving rain.

Just a thumbnail, but it proves I was there …

It was now on to the bike, and 40 km ahead of me. I rested a bit during the transition, but quickly got on all my ‘stuff’ and waded through the mud to get to the bike start.

I started on the first lap of 10 km.

By the way, for all those who wondered, it is not that bad to ride a bicycle with wet pants.

The going was tough as the wind was still building, and the rain was still falling. The return was even tougher, as it was against the wind. By the time I arrived at the starting point, ready to start my second lap, the organisers stopped us and I found out that they had stopped the whole race as conditions we getting too dangerous. Lightning was detected nearby and therefore they preferred to stop and wait.

I had just swam and cycled for close to one hour and I was not sure that waiting was really what I wanted to do. I discussed with a friend who left 20 minutes after I did, and he told me that he was not even allowed to do a second swimming lap. He was also the last group to be allowed to leave.

I decided to go home.

Than I called my friends from Papillon who were racing in a “Charity” race on the Singapore River, representing ExxonMobil who was one of the main sponsors. They told me that they were in the finals and so, I went to watch.

When I arrived, I was coerced into rowing. Vincent was king enough to let me use his team shirt as I did not even have the right uniform; I left my camera, phone and wallet with friends and I decided that I did not really mind if I got my shorts wet.

Fortunately, we had help from unexpected friends:

and our vice captain Jonathan had put on his ‘game face’

We were competing in the “Open” division, and therefore against mostly men’s teams.

The race was tough, and very competitive. First, second and third were separated by only 1.5 seconds and we finished 0.08 seconds ahead of third place! Silver medal for Papillon.

We were part of the award ceremony with Derk Hartgerink (the Chemical plant manager) also waiting for his reward as a sponsor

and we finally got our reward – and the whole team rejoiced once more with the Singapore skyline in the background

Not quite what I had planned, but sometimes, that is good too!

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