Local Events – Page 3 – pierreo.com

The 5-Yearly Genealogical Migration

Posted on 12 November, 200821 July, 2011 by pierreo

Just like the great migrations of Wildebeest and Zebra in the Serengeti and the Monarch Butterfly in North America, my kind migrates as well. However, we are miserly of our efforts and therefore only do so every 5 years.

At least since 1954, the known descendants of our common ancestor Hans O have been meeting somewhere in Europe but I seem to recall evidence (an old photo) of a reunion already in 1931. The last reunion was in Boppart (Germany, along the Rhine River) in 2003 and therefore we met again this year in Chantilly (France, near Paris).

There are now 12 generations of descendants – I am the 11th generation and my ‘code’ in the family tree is 13511131112 – it means that I am the second child of my father, who is himself the first child of the first child of the first child of his great grand father Hermann O and so on.

One of my cousins Cathrine O (number 135111311231) actually married her great grand uncle (many times removed) Christian O (number 13537323) who is a member of the 8th generation, but only a few years older than she is. They met at a family reunion 25 years ago.

The format of the reunion is generally the same. Everybody gathers on the Friday evening for “Registration” in the hotel selected for the occasion. Just like all good conventions, we have name tags just to remind ourselves who we are (and not all names end with O any more as there are many descendants of female lines who have adopted, some may wonder why, another name!)

Dinner was a first opportunity to reacquaint with people we do not see on a regular basis – this is even more the case for me as I live far away from everybody else. Most people came from Europe (France, Germany and Belgium) but a few also came from the US.

Saturday morning and the fun begins. While one group decides to visit the stables of the Chateau de Chantilly, known for horse dressage, the rest visit the Abbaye de Royaumont, founded by the King of France known as Saint Louis

The garden is very nice as we approach the buildings

Everybody listens intently to our guide in the musical chapel

and than in the garden where she explains all the medicinal plants which were grown by the monks. We are blessed with beautiful sunshine.

The old cloisters are still almost intact

But only this corner tower remains of the church, which must have been really grandiose – it was destroyed after the French Revolution, in a period when many monasteries were destroyed, and monks fled to Belgium and other neighboring countries.

The monastery had a very ‘sofisticated’ system for latrines – up to 60 monks could use it at the same time, in silence! It seems to fascinate our group…

Here are some of the organisers of the week-end. This is not a minor activity. Planning usually starts a year in advance and final attendance is confirmed several months early. Just for the visit of the Abbaye, we had three guides, one of which needed to speak German. All these arrangements needs to be in place in order to keep things flowing smoothly.

Lunch was at the restaurant of the stable in Chantilly after which we visited the castle of the same name.

O’s were seen meandering from one location to the next

Once again, several groups were guided through the ‘chateau’.

One room above all others attracted my attention: The Chinese room, with oriental motifs that were not necessarily Chinese, but everything East of Arabia used to be associated with China!

That evening, big dinner with speeches and lot’s of merry making.

On Sunday, we visited Senlis, a small town that can trace its history back to Roman times with a roman wall and a stunning church. There is something up there ….

Ah, yes – the church …

old Norman architecture

and a nice place for lunch.

That marked the end of the week-end and time for O’s to return to their own pastures, until 2013 when once again they will gather in Brussels.From here, I headed for the Normandy Beaches made famous by the D-Day landings, but that will have to wait for another post in the future …

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Culture, Retrospective, Travel

Life After Cars

Posted on 23 September, 200825 May, 2010 by pierreo

I had a glimpse of the future on Sunday, and it was not as bad as some people predict.

There is a documentary on the “Discovery” channel called “Life After People” which shows how Earth is going to decompose after the disappearance of all people. This was an introduction to how we may progressively get there as carbon based energy sources are running out.

On Sunday, cars were not allowed in Brussels – and people went ‘nuts’. There was a party atmosphere everywhere, helped by the excellent weather. I took advantage of this opportunity to walk around a lot and take some pictures of Brussels under unusual conditions.

In front of the Kings Palace (his working palace in town since he lives in a larger one just outside Brussels) the street was covered with sod and transformed into a pic-nic ground.

And the park between the palace and Parliament was most crowding than I had ever seen it. It seems strange that just because cars are not allowed, people seem to do things they can do at anytime, and all decide to do the same…

But what struck me the most was the quiet. Streets were silent, except for the singing birds, the church bells ringing occasionally and, unfortunately, the siren of an ambulance passing quickly. Church bells sounded louder than I remembered, since they were unfiltered by the usual loud background noise. That is almost a glimpse of the past – life before cars – when the church bells were probably one of the loudest sounds that most people would hear.

I also brought me back to 1973. During the first oil crisis that year, Belgium banned all car traffic on Sundays in order to save petrol. We were living near the Atomium at the time (the only remaining building from the Brussels World Fair of 1958) and I would go out early on Sunday morning with our dog Chika (an Irish Setter) and my bicycle. She could run free with me, and really stretch her legs. At times, I remember her looking back at me, while I was pedaling as fast as possible to keep up, and than she would run away, just showing off how much faster she was! We could cycle on local streets and even the start of the Brussels to Antwerp highway since there was absolutely no traffic. On the way back, I would stop at the bakery for bread rolls (a specialty in Belgium for Sunday breakfast) and than go home just as the rest of my family was waking up.

Back in 1973, I was pretty much alone on the streets. Today, there were thousands. People were cycling and walking down the Rue Royale, normally full of traffic even on Sunday.

On the Boulevard Botanic, I ran into a group wearing T-Shirts with the inscription “Le Beau Velo de Ravel”. I am afraid that you need to know French in order to appreciate the play on word. The sentence sounds like “Ravel’s Bolero” but means “Ravel’s Beautiful Bicycle”. I also saw a contraption – a tandem bike – like I had never seen before. The lady, with the red crash helmet is sitting on the front wheel in a recumbent position while then man is sitting in a normal position; both have a set of pedals…

As I was walking around, I remembered that I did not have many pictures of Brussels. as I was building my websites, I looked for pictures of ‘home’ and could find plenty of Singapore, some of the Chicago and Houston, but none of Brussels. I walked around the city to compensate for this shameful situation.

I new there was a statue of Mercator in the Petit Sablon. Now I will be able to replace the print I have a him with this better view in my blog theme. He is one of my heroes – he devised a way to represent the spherical world on a flat sheet of paper that made map making possible. Without maps, no travel and without travel, what would I do?

The church of the Grand Sablon is one of the most beautiful in Brussels. The stained glass windows are the best, but very difficult to photograph.

In the Place Royale, a new museum dedicated to Magritte is taking shape. During construction, the building is covered by a “trompe-l’oeil” in the style of the artist.

Just North of the Sablon, there is a small park that most people are not aware of. My sister just discovered it a few weeks ago. The Parc d’Egmont is stuck in between modern building and renaissance palaces with a terrace caffe just to allow you to enjoy its peace a little longer.

The Grand Place, of course, remains the most visited area in Brussels and well worth it. City hall is finally free of scaffolding.

The houses around the square were all build during the period of 1690 to 1710, mostly by worker’s guilds showing their skills and wealth.

The movement is not limited to Brussels. In London on Sunday, they had closed part of the city streets to allow cyclists to visit all the major sites without having to worry about cars. Other cities in Europe have occasional days without cars. I do hope that this takes a hold and happens more and more often. There is not universal support though – I saw one store with a sign “Closed because of Car Free Sunday”. The owner must have thought nobody would be there to shop. He did not see the 20 people looking into his store front just while I was there. Maybe next time he will be wiser and continue ‘business as usual’.

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General

I do work … occasionally

Posted on 13 September, 200820 January, 2010 by pierreo

Let me just make sure that every one remembers why I am here.

Even though it looks like my days are spend training for competitions, competing and travelling around the world, I do occasionally find the time to work also.

And work can be rather intense at times, even though, fortunately, it remains a lot of fun.

Here is one ‘typical’ day for me …

My alarm clock wakes me up at 5:55 AM, just in time for the 6:00 AM news on BBC World Service.

After the news, I get out of bed and get ready and I normally leave the house at about 6:20 AM. I have to arrive at the Jurong Island Check point before 7:00 as the queus become much longer after than. I need to scan my badge to prove that I have a right to enter, than an armed security guard inspects my car, including the boot (or trunk depending on where you learned your English). At this time of day it takes less than 5 minutes to go through, but at 7:30 or later, it may take as much as 20-30 minutes.

I still have a 10 km drive on Jurong Island to get to Area 17 – I am not sure where the ‘code names’ came from – where I need to park my car, scan another badge that gives me access to the plant and take a bus to go to my office. There are regular shuttle buses, so the wait is not long. After about 3 km and a stop at the PDO-X, I get to Area 18, where my office is, at about 7:30. All these “Areas” (there is an area 16, and 24, but so far I have not found Area 51) are temporary facilities for the SPT Project (Singapore Parallel Train – the MEGA-Project I am working on). Just to give you an idea of the size of this project:

We recently celebrated 5 million manhours without a loss time injury – and we are not even measuring construction progress as we are still in site preparation
We expect 14000-15000 workers at the peak of construction
We have at least 12 major contracts with engineering and construction companies around the world
Currently we have people in Houston, Yokohama, Tokyo, Reading and Singapore working on this project.

So, as you can see, there are reasons to be busy.

During a typical day, I will take my bicylce to go into the plant and see how construction is progressing, or look at equipment that has been recently installed, or just to do a safety audit and insure that all is being done with Safety as the first priority. All of us are asked to do at least one safety audit every week.

I will also take a shuttle bus 2-3 times to go to other offices around the plant for meetings or discussions. There is also lunch, which until recently was only available at the main plant cafeteria – therefore a shuttle bus ride required for that too. The cafeteria at Area 18 is now open, so we can avoid that extra ride.

Because of the number of people scattered around the world, a lot of things happen with e-mail. I typically have 50-80 unread e-mails when I come into my office. It is very easy to get into an ‘infinite loop’ with e-mails and I have decided that if I cannot resolve an issue after 2-3 e-mails back and forth, it is time to talk, even if this requires an early morning or late night call to find the right people. I think this has helped me getting things done quicker in general.

Part of my responsibility is the SPA-X Project. It is a very significant expansion of the SPA Plant, which I helped to design and build between 1996 and 2001, the reason for my stay in Singapore. For this we are working with FWP and MCD, two very large contractors. We only have a small crew and therefore we are heavily dependent on them to manage the work. A lot of time each day is spent to make sure that they can do that efficiently by removing “barriers” that always seem to come up. A recent example had to do with temporary offices – the base plant requires a permit which needs many signatures. Each person, before he signs, will usually have some ‘additional’ requests and I had to cut through these to get the permit. Not always fun, but challenging, and requiring to discuss with many different people.

I leave the office around 17:30 to 18:30, depending on what comes up at the end of the day, and retrace my steps of the morning: shuttle bus from Area 18 to Area 17 via PDO-X, get into my car and drive out of Jurong Island – there is no check point to go out so traffic moves well. However, there is always traffic on the AYE and therefore it takes me longer to get hoe, ususally between 1h30 and 2h.

I am not necessarily done with my work day.

Once or twice a week, I have teleconferences in the evening. Because of how disperse the team is, the only time that we can get everybody together is 21:00 Japan, 20:00 Singapore, 14:00 UK and 7:00 Houston time. So I will be on the phone for anywhere from 30 to minutes to 2 hours on many different subjects.

I am certainly not complaining … I just want to make sure that my readers realise that there is another side to my life which, after all, pays for all the fun ans games I normally share on these pages.

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Sports

The 2008 Round Singapore Cycling Challenge

Posted on 22 August, 200821 July, 2011 by pierreo

It all started a few months ago, after a regular Friday Night cycle. I was not even there that day.

We kept discussing and finally decided that we should organise a cycling adventure that would challenge us, and others. Who are “WE”? Here we are at the end of the event (from left): Wong, Freddy, Kar Hui (ESRC President), Eric, Ben and I, with our “Organisers” shirts.

Oh Yes – I forgot to say – the event I am talking about is an all night marathon: cycling 125 km around Singapore Island.

We managed to find a local group to help with the logistics and we actually were able to convince some 60 people to sign up for this, with the help of the ExxonMobil Sports and Recreation Club (or ESRC). ESRC paid for more than half of the total cost, which made this much more affordable for all.

We started on Friday 08/08/08 at 8PM – an auspicious date in Asia as 8 is a lucky number (Beijing did not chose this date by accident!). People filed in gradually

and Papillon was well represented

A lot of work went into making sure that all the bicycles were in top shape, and safe, with lights, brakes and a comfortable saddle. All riders were required to wear a helmet.

The participants were devided into 2 groups and after a short speech by the “Chairman of the Organising Committee”

yes, me! – with Derk (SCP Plant Manager) and Kar Hui (ESRC President) watching! – a safety briefing and a short warm-up, we were off just around 9PM. No there is no total eclipse, or meteor shower or low flying aircraft … we are just stretching our necks!

Group 1 led the way

soon followed by group 2

We had several stops planned along the way, with ability to refill our water botles, and some food. One of the first stop was at the Kranji Beach Park, on the North shore of the island, where the Japanese first invaded Singapore in 1941 while all the British guns were pointed South towards the open sea… The stop is also an opportunity to chat and see how well we are holding up. Eric and I, as organisers, can take some time out to pose for a memorable moment

As the night went on, we kept cycling. To Sembawang Park, than Seletar Air Base, than Pasir Riis and Changi Village, and ultimately, the toughest road in Singapore!

It is not tough becuase it is uphill – indeed it is perfectly flat. There was not much wind, and, at that time of night, no traffic. There are no muggers lurking on the shadows, and no birds just waiting to let go just as you pass under the tree.

It is tough because we arrived there at 4AM and it is long, straight, long, boring, long and most of all it seems to go on forever – did I mention it is long? It is a 5 km stretch right along one of the runways of Changi airport. At 4AM, and after 90 km, it is tough! Several people indicated to me that they almost fell asleep while riding; others said they were ready to give up. Ben and I broke the boredom by racing down the road, trying to catch a group that was ahead of us. While the rest of the trip was done at a sedate pace, mostly in the low 20 to 25 km/hr, I reached 42 km/hr on this stretch, just for fun…

We stopped at the Singapore Sailing Center along East Coast and finally at Labrador Park at 7 AM. The sun was coming up and it was a glorious morning. About 55 people had left the evening before; we gained one along the way, and only lost two so there were still 54 riders full of energy, ready to complete the adventure.

We made a ‘massive’ entrance into West Coast Park just before 8 AM on 09/08/08 – Singapore National Day!

Ben and I finished together, just like when we are rowing – him on the right, me on the left (as we are facing, so on the picture, he is on the left and I am on the right, just in case you have problems recognising me…)

And everybody else soon followed.

We were not through for the etnertainment. We had 6 people who celebrated their birthday in August, and so we had a cake for them.

A final family photo

And we went home for a well deserved rest.

I was actually full of energy. I did not sleep all day and only started to feel sleepy around 9PM that evening, after watching the Singapore Airforce doing a special show for the National Day Parade. I did sleep quite well that night, and did not do anything on sunday, other than take this picture of the odometer on my bicycle recording the distance we had covered!

Overall, a very, very nice night. Nobody was hurt, nobody got lost and everybody seemed to have a lot of fun.

I am sure that we will have more of these in the future

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Culture

Yen Nee’s Wedding

Posted on 9 February, 200810 May, 2010 by pierreo

Last week, I attended Yen Nee’s wedding dinner at a local hotel. All Papillon was invited and we occupied two full tables.

I am not sure if other guests are glad that we attended – the bride and groom certainly seemed to enjoy our ‘entertainment’.

This is not the first Chinese wedding I have attended, but it was very much different from all the others. I never knew how much fun one can have with two eggs and two grapes. But I am getting ahead of myself.

For the entrance of the bride and groom, we had a series of ‘explosive’ confetti cannons – unfortunately, for you and me, I do not have any pictures – but the floor of the hotel ballroom looked quite different after our salvo (8 separate confetti shooters along the aisle). Throughout the dinner, we had many cheers for the new couple. Here is the full group of us

One big happy family. At the end of the dinner, it is customary for the bride and groom to go from table to table to greet guests. We were the last tables to be so honoured and we had a few surprises in store.

First the bride has to take two eggs, introduce them at the bottom of each pant leg of the groom and has to make them travel all the way to be extracted from his collar . Here is what is looks like:

At first it is rather easy…

but you have to be careful

The eggs did not break and so we were ready for the second exercise: the groom has to eat two grapes hanging from the neck of the bride

blindfolded, of course, and the grapes are kept moving …

We had an excellent time – I just fear that we may not be invited again to another celebration. It is clear that the hotel will ask for a supplement if we are involved again!

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General

Papillon Cycling

Posted on 27 January, 200810 May, 2010 by pierreo

I am back in Singapore after an extended trip to Belgium and France.

Christmas was a series of parties (three in total, including the Osterrieth gathering, where unfortunately only 60 people showed up) during which I was able to see most of my family. I also spent some time with friends and relatives outside of these parties. I always go to Belgium with mixed feelings – I am very glad to see family and friends, but it is not really a relaxing vacation, and I tend to eat too much.

After Belgium I spent two weeks in France. My mother was not very well, so I spent time with her and my father. I still managed to spend a week in “my house” – actually the first time that I stayed there as the ‘owner’ since I bought it from my parents in 2005. Rajan, Julie and Georgia joined me and we had very nice trips together to Avignon, Cassis and Digne-les-bains.

As I said, I am now back in Singapore where ‘normal’ activities have resumed. I am doing a lot of cycling, swimming and running, getting ready, right now, for the Biathlon which will be held at the beginning of March, but also looking forward to the Triathlon in July.

Last Saturday, Ben organised (very well I should say) a cycling outing for the whole extended Papillon Clan. We started on the East Coast Park with a Safety Briefing by Freddy

and then we cycled about 20 km to a first pit stop at Changi Beach

We actually ran into Richard (one of the team with whom I had done the ‘ironman’ triathlon last year) while we were relaxing – he was on his way back from Changi Point, where we were heading for refreshments

Some had 100 Plus – but Ben and Freddy brought me a beer. They know what I like! We also celebrated Samuel’s birthday with a cake and a song

We cycled back to the starting point but on the way, Ben and I bought some chicken rice and satay so we could have a pic-nic

It was a very civilised pic-nic, we also had excellent wine (one bottle of white and one bottle of red) and Belgian chocoloate!

At the end, we prepared a short video of the team and good wishes for Yen Nee’s upcoming wedding (this Sunday as a matter of fact). It was a very nice day out.

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General

Just for Fun

Posted on 4 October, 200720 January, 2010 by pierreo

Live, from Singapore, it’s the Comedy Hour!

Something funny happened to me yesterday, 3 October. I was running late for my usual Wednesday evening teleconference that starts at 8:30 PM so I started the oven and threw a frozen pizza in it. Just as I was leaving the kitchen, I noticed a large cockroach so I got my can of “Raid” and zapped it. Since the smell was bad, I closed the door between the kitchen and the living room, and relaxed while getting organised for the phone call. After 15 minutes, I went back to the kitchen, only to find out that the door, some how, would not open. It seemed locked as the handle refused to turn.

No problems, I have the key to open it. Tried one key labeled ‘kitchen front’, without success; tried the other key labeled ‘kitchen back’ with the same lack of result.

Only solution, since now there is smoke coming out of the oven, is to go out the front door, in through the back door and into the kitchen from the “maid’s room”. However, since I have been running, and just took a shower, I better put something more on than just the robe I am wearing.

I get dressed and go out, than back in and rescue the pizza. When I try to get back into the living room, the door still will not open. The handle refuses to turn from the other side as well.

It is now time for the call to start, so I rush, with the smoldering pizza, back out the back door, and back in through the front door and dial in to our weekly call.

An hour later, and most of the pizza eaten, I am back where I started – with a locked door between my kitchen and my living room. None of the keys (I try them all several times) work. I go back into the kitchen (out the front door, in the back door again) and try from the other side still without success. I try to take the lock apart, but there is no way to do that. I try to take the hinges apart, but that too is impossible.

In desperation, I decide to try again the following day – today by now.

When I get back from the office, I try several ways to open the door but still without success. I repeat the maneuver of “out-the-front-in-the-back” and back again several times to prepare my dinner and finally call a repair man, who fortunately can come tomorrow to try and rescue me.

It is not until you cannot do something that you realise how much you need it. I never realised how often I end up walking into the kitchen over one evening.

Now I sit here and write this post, pondering if it is worth going “out-the-front-and-in-the-back” and “out-the-back-and-back-in-the-front” just to get a piece of chocolate from the refrigerator. Knowing me, the answer is obviously “yes!”, so I better go now.

I wander what my next-door neighbours think of this strange behaviour?

Added on Friday 5 October

Saved by “Magical Mr. Mestofeles” – aka Mr. Lam. He is a do-it-all repairman who works for the agent managing my apartment. I am very happy that I kept his number and he was very happy to get a little money on the side.

The lock is replaced – the door works, and for now, I plan to leave it open ALL THE TIME. I am not ready for another episode of “out-the-front-in-the-back” and back again any time soon!

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Culture, General

The Blood Drive

Posted on 21 September, 200710 May, 2010 by pierreo

For many years now, I have not been able to donate blood. I did so for many years while I was living in the US and than, opportunities just did not happen.

When I first moved to Singapore, I was pleased when EM organised a blood drive soon after the start-up of the plant in 2001. I was very disappointed when I was told that my blood was not accepted because I just happened to live in the UK during the late 1980’s ‘Mad Cow’ scare. That ban still exists and therefore I cannot donate blood in Singapore.

This year, I decided to do something about it – and had one of the most humbling and sobering experiences of my whole life…

Every year, EM organises a blood drive not only in its own offices, but also in public areas around Singapore. Last Saturday 15 September, this was happening near the Singapura Shopping Center right on Orchard Road. Since I cannot donate, and many of my friends were involved in the effort, I decided to volunteer to help out.

I showed up right after our Dragon Boat practice. After receiving the obligatory blood-red t-shirt, and my friend ‘Calvin the Camel’ to attract attention, I was directed to the area between the shopping center and the MRT (subway) station to ‘convince’ people they should part with one pint of their precious blood.

I grab 10 blood-red balloons, a bag-full of packets of napkins and I head for the very crowded sidewalk. How tough can this be? There are hundreds of people out there every minute and I should be able to talk a few of them into this generous donation.

At first, I am not sure how to approach people and quickly find out that most people do not really want to be approached by me either… From meters away, they cross to the other side of the sidewalk just to avoid me. Others do all they can not to make eye contact. When I try to give a balloon to the small kids, they get pulled away from me by parents afraid that I will then ask for money. When I try to hand adults a packet of napkins, they shrug and move on. I have never been ignored and avoided by so many people in my life.

A few people listen, and walk away saying that they will think about it. I met many people who also happen to ‘work for the Red Cross’ and even more who just happened to have a blood drive in the school/company/neighborhood next week and therefore could not donate today. Five people were leaving Singapore that very same night.

After a couple of hours of standing outside, and mixed success, I decided to go see how some of my friends were doing inside. Su Li, Yen Nee and Cassy were lucky to get to work the MRT station where it is air-conditioned.

I cool off for a while, and its back to the sidewalk for more solicitations.

There are, or course, the successes. I was able to convince 8-10 people to part with a whole pint of their precious blood. A whole family of three agreed to donate. Sometimes, I had to disappoint people telling them they were not eligible, even though they were willing. A group of tourists from the Philippines were willing, and I only found out at the last minute that they were tourists, and therefore not eligible. There were many people who were too young, or who did not have their ID.

One gentleman was very gracious and explained to me that he had been donating blood for many years. However, this year, he turned 60 and therefore he is no longer eligible. Just before he stepped away, he turned around to look at me and said ‘Thanks for what you are doing’. As I looked at him puzzled, he added ‘Not many foreigners would do what you are doing.’ That alone compensated for all people who ignored and avoided me.

At 5:30PM the word went out that we were done and registration was closed. In one day, we collected 247 donations. Over the full week, EM collected 1117 donations for the Singapore Blood Bank. Quite a success which required the help of a lot of people. After we had cleaned up and packed all the equipment that something like that requires, we took a few group pictures to remember the day.

As you can see, a lot of people and many friends that you should recognize from previous posts.

Saturday was an eye opening experience for me as, for the first time, I was on the receiving end of how I have been treating people trying to get my attention, and money,and various other donation, for many years. I have ignored them as much as I have been ignored. I avoided them as much as I was avoided. Occasionally, I would give them a little attention, with no intention that it should go any further – just as they now did to me.

I am certain that the next time I encounter young people, or old people or anybody trying to collect money for charity I will look at them in a totally new light, and be much more willing to listen, support, and donate, when I can. A sobering experience, but a very positive one overall.

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Culture, Sports

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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